The Bhagavadgita in a Nutshell: 3. Swami Krishnananda

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Tuesday 10, December 2024, 06:30.
Article
Scriptures
The Bhagavadgita in a Nutshell: 3.
Swami Krishnananda.
(Spoken on November 3rd, 1973.)

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Prakrtim yanti bhutani nigrahah kim karisyati (BG 3.33). 

“Ah, is it so?” Arjuna is a very shrewd man. He wants to catch Krishna at every point. “If everything is done by prakriti, whatever I do, even if I go and hit somebody's head, it is prakriti's action only. I can abuse somebody, I can do a sinful action because you say everything is done by prakriti, and who can restrain prakriti? If prakriti does everything, then even sinful actions are prakriti's only, and I may do anything. Is it so?”

“No.” Now, here is a very subtle distinction drawn by Bhagavan Sri Krishna between the causes of sin and the nature of prakriti. Prakriti does not make us commit sin. This is a very subtle point. The Bhagavadgita is very difficult to understand, and not everybody can know its implications. It is very hard, perhaps the hardest of gospels that we have in the world. If everything is done by prakriti – guṇā guṇeṣu vartante – then we have no agency in any action. “I have no agency even in murder,” Arjuna may say. “I can tell lies, and it is prakriti telling lies.”

No. There is a mixture of two elements in every action. That mix-up is not clear to Arjuna's mind, and it is not clear to any one of us. Therefore, we sometimes put a question: “If murder is done, prakriti or God is doing it.” There are some people who say that, but it is not so. The action of prakriti, or the action of God, as we may call it, is different in its structure and pattern and meaning from the individually driven motivated action of an individual. This is the difference between individual psychology and the cosmological significance of prakriti. Cosmology and psychology are two different subjects, and they should not be mixed up with one another. Prakriti's activities are cosmological, whereas the individual's activities are psychological.

Kena prayuktoyaṃ pāpaṃ carati pūruṣaḥ (BG 3.36): Arjuna put a question, “Who drives a man to sin?” Kāma eṣa krodha eṣa rajoguṇasamudbhavaḥ, mahāśano mahāpāpmā viddhy enam iha vairiṇam (BG 3.37): Sri Krishna replied, “My dear friend Arjuna, the sin-incurring forces are not prakriti's gunas, but what are called kama and krodha.” Mahāśano mahāpāpmā: Insatiable, fire-like forces are there in the individual. They are the causes of sin. While the activities of prakriti are impersonal, the psychological impulses of the individual are personal. Prakriti has no individualised desires of its own. While individuals desire personal satisfaction of the body, the senses and the mind, prakriti has no such desires. Prakriti has no friends and enemies, whereas you and I, individuals, have friends and enemies. We like something and dislike something, but prakriti does not have likes and dislikes. Cosmic prakriti cannot have likes and dislikes because when what is liked and what is not liked are both within prakriti, how can it have likes and dislikes? And when prakriti has no like and dislike, how can it have a motive?

Ramakrishna Parmahamsa used to quote on occasion that the Atman is indestructible, and nobody can kill it: ajo nityaḥ śāśvatoyaṃ purāṇo, na hanyate hanyamāne śarīre (BG 2.20). Somebody heard it in a lecture, and he started fishing in the river, killing all the fish. Then someone came and asked, “Hey, you are killing fish?” Ajo nityaḥ śāśvatoyaṃ purāṇo, he said. “The Atman does not die. It is said in the Gita that it does not die. I heard this from the Guru.” Then Ramakrishna said, “This stupid fellow! This is how he understands the Gita.”

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Continued

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