A Study of the Bhagavadgita :64 - Swami Krishnananda.

-
===========================================================================================

Thursday 30, January 2025, 08:00.

A Study of the Bhagavadgita:

Chapter 10: The Hidden Meaning of the Seventh Chapter of the Gita-5

Swami Krishnananda

Post-64.

========================================================================================

The objectives of life are fourfold in number – dharma, artha, kama, moksha, as they are called. One who is asking for perfection in the acquisition of these great values of life should be considered as superior even to the one who asks for knowledge in a general sense. Material, emotional and ethical values consummating in the wisdom of the Supreme Being constitute the four aims of life. They are called purushartha. So artha here may also mean purushartha; in that sense, the gradation of ascent is maintained. Thus, the third category of devotees is this, the artharthi. The first is artha, the second is jijnasu, the third is artharthi. But the highest, according to the Lord, is jnana. All these three just mentioned expect something from God. The whole point is this. But what does the jnani expect? He expects only God. He wants nothing from God. The giver of the gift is certainly greater than the gift. Why should you not ask for the one who gives the gift, instead of only the gift? Would that not be wisdom on your part? I want you only, and not anything that you give, because whatever you can give is inside you, included in you. It is part and parcel of your being.

In the Mahabharata, Duryodhana and Arjuna went to Dvarka to seek help from Sri Krishna in the war that was to ensue, and asked for assistance from this master, Sri Krishna. Krishna asked, “What do you want from me? There are only two things with me: I myself, a single individual; and I have a large army. Now you can choose. Either you choose the large army which is almost invincible, or you choose me. But I am an individual, a single person. The army can fight, but I am not going to fight. I have decided not to take up arms. I will only be sitting with you and talking to you as a friend. If you like, you can keep me there with you, but you can expect nothing from me. If you want me sitting there idle, doing nothing, take me; otherwise, if you want the army, take the army.”

Duryodhana was a wise man. Why should he take the idle man? He took the army. Wonderful! He went home and declared to his cousins, his brothers and kinsmen, “We have already won the war even before it has taken place. I have an invincible army which Lord Krishna has given me.”

After he departed, Arjuna was standing there still, and Krishna said, “Foolish man! What made you choose me when I can do nothing for you?” Arjuna, with tears in his eyes, said, “Thou shalt not speak thus. Don't say this to me. I know you are everything. Even your presence is sufficient for me. You need not do anything. You just be. I shall be blessed.”

Arjuna knew the power of Sri Krishna and his ability, which did not consist in his actions, but consisted in his being. The sun does not act with hands and feet; the very existence of the sun is the activity of the sun. The very existence of God is the activity of God. The millions of soldiers that Duryodhana took were like drops, though they were millions in number. But Sri Krishna was an ocean which can swallow all the drops, though it was one. Numerical computation does not work here because the one is greater than the millions.

*****

Continued

========================================================================================

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Gita : Ch-3. Slo-43.

-
Image
Srimad Bhagavad-Gita : Chapter-3. ( Karma-yogam ) Slokam-43. ( Thus, knowing the atma to be superior to intelligence, O brave and strong Arjuna, steady the mind by self-realisation and conquer this insatiable enemy, in the form of lust. ) evam  buddheh  param  buddhva  samstabhyatmanamatmana, jahi  satrum  mahabaho  kamarupam  durasadam. mahabaho  =  O,  strong  brave   Arjuna; evam  buddheh  param   =   thus  superior  of  intelligence; atmanam  buddhva  =  knowing  the  atma,  by  atma,  the   intelligence (the  vivekam/discrimination  and  vicharam/ realisation ); atmanam  samstbhya  =  keep  the  atma  steady  without  oscillations;  (controlling  the  mind   from,  vishayas)     kamarupam  du...
Read more

The Teachings of the Bhagavadgita - 8.1. Swami Krishnananda.

-
Image
  ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Sunday, March 21, 2021. 07:57. AM. Chapter 8: Creation and Life After Death -1. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------- The Bhagavadgita is a moksha-shastra, a scripture on the science of the liberation of the spirit. Thus it follows the course of the return process along the same lines as the evolutionary process of the descent of the soul from the Supreme Being. The first six chapters may be said to be engaged in an exposition of self-discipline from the individual point of view, the integration of the human personality and the preparation of the whole man for the greater task which is yet to come – namely, the at-one-ment of the individual with the set-up of the universe. Some of the interpreters and commentators on the Bhagavadgita hold that the first six chapters have a relevance to the significance of the term 'twam' in the famous Upanishadic p...
Read more

A Study of the Bhagavadgita : 33 - Swami Krishnananda.

-
Image
================================================================================= Saturday 01, June 2024 06:40. Chapter 7: The Entry of the Absolute into the Relative -3. Post-33. ================================================================================= There are endless connections of this type. The relationship of adhyatma and adhibhuta is involved in an infinite variety of degrees of ascent and descent. This imperative of the presence of a consciousness between adhyatma and adhibhuta in various degrees is the reason why you sometimes feel there are many gods. Sometimes the question arises: Are there many gods, or only one God? There is only one God, the Absolute, but inasmuch as it manifests itself as an interconnecting link between subject and object through millions of degrees of ascent and descent, it looks as there are millions of gods. It is as if there are millions of governments merely because there are millions of officials in a centrality of administration. There is...
Read more