The Relevance of the Bhagavadgita to Humanity -1.1.4 : Swami Krishnananda

22/04/2019
Chapter 1: 1.4
1.Introduction -4.


We know how happy we are to be members in a single family of brothers, sisters, father, mother, and so on. We feel happy by our coordination with other members in the family, notwithstanding the fact each one has an independence. It does not mean that any member of the family will subjugate another. There is no such intention of any member in a house. One brother will not consider another brother as a subordinate. Yet, the very fact of there being cooperation, which gives them so much satisfaction and security, is an automatic restriction on each one’s freedom.

Each one is ready to sacrifice his or her freedom for the sake of giving that very kind of freedom to another member in the family, by which act of limitation of one’s freedom, one does not feel unhappy, but more happy. We are one. So, there is a larger integration and a wider form of security and a sense of welfare sanctioned to each member in this coordinated family. By the very fact of the limitation we set upon our freedom in the family, we become more happy than we would be if we granted infinite freedom to ourselves, to the exclusion of everybody else’s welfare. This is a little homely illustration of the way in which we may be able to live in this world.

But there is something hidden behind this little mandate and prescription that I placed before you to understand the cosmical set up. It is not true that we are always so much cooperative, even in a family. I am now placing before you an example of a hundred percent cooperative family. That is a wonderful thing. If each one understands everyone else one hundred percent, nothing can be better than that. But there are occasions even in a family when such a kind of one hundred percent understanding of another is not available due to various reasons, and there can be any number of reasons.

The idea of the son may not be fully in harmony with the wish of the father, and two brothers may have different ideas in the performance of their daily vocations, and so on. There, a greater thought has to be exercised in the manner of running a good family. In fact, administration of any kind is not necessary if everyone is one hundred percent cooperative, and if one hundred percent understanding is available in each one in respect of everybody else. If that is the case, no government or administration is necessary.

To be continued ...