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| Feed your soul |
“Bhagavad Gita has solutions to all our problems.”
We often come across this line in our daily life. Intrigued by this belief, I always wanted to explore the wisdom encapsulated in the Bhagavad Gita, as well as the holy scriptures of other religions. In the 2020 lockdown, I seized this opportunity. I took up this Hindu Holy scripture available at my home and began reading. It was a simple translation of the Sanskrit Shlokas.
But it was in May 2023 that I felt the urge to revisit the Bhagavad Gita and as this time I read it with a more thoughtful perspective, I searched for a commentary that could help me unlock its true significance.
My search led me to ‘Krishna Talks with Arjuna’- The commentaries on the Bhagavad Gita by Sri Paramahansa Yogananda. This book has opened up a completely different world for me. It’s a blend of logic, and divine wisdom with the use of scientific terms. Some of the facts and lessons I have learnt so far include:
- Every character of the Mahabharata is an analogy of our psychological tendency (as shown in the picture) and the war between the Kaurava and Panadava reflects the internal wars we go through every day or sometimes every moment of our life.
- The war is actually between King Soul (Shri Krishna) and King Ego and his army (Bhishma and the Kurus).
- Each verse of the Gita is significant. I read the first verse and thought that it was merely an introduction, but it is full of profundity.
- The whole story of Mahabharata depicts the life of a human being. The first stage, i.e., a child’s development is governed by the soul’s intelligent powers which represents the early life of the Pandavas. Then in youth, they succumb to sense desires which symbolise the ‘Game of Dice’. After that, the 12 years of banishment represent evil experiences in a human’s life that bring several physical and mental changes and also spiritual advancement (13th year of disguise). Finally, on the battlefield, King Soul wins against King Ego, which depicts the confrontation of life with renewed strength.
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| Symbolisation of characters; Source: Krishna Talks with Arjuna |
The majority of people opine that we should look for spiritual advancement during our old age when we are done with our ‘responsibilities’, to which my sister often says ‘Of what use is understanding the meaning and ways to live our life when it’s about to end?’
This blog is a compilation of teachings of the first Chapter of the Bhagavad Gita.
Introspection
One cannot decipher the hidden meaning of the first verse of the Gita by merely reading its translation.
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| Verse 1 of the Bhagavad Gita |
The text tells us to question ourselves at the end of each day. What psychological tendencies overpowered us during our day? Which side won?
For the introspection of the senses, the following questions are to be raised:
- Q. Did I keep the Noble Vision alive during the day and see good in everything, or was I attracted to more material objects and faces?
- Q. Whether the beneficial truth/sincere praise guided my thoughts or I was influenced by the flattery?
- Q. Whether the aroma of good healthy food guided my senses, or I was attracted to the odours of unhealthy food?
- Q. Did I eat good food or was I in the daily battle with greed that overpowered the right-eating habits?
- Q. Did I experience the warmth of the sun and the sensation of a cool breeze or have I entirely insulated my body and mind by submitting myself to comforts and luxuries?
- Q. Did I have harmonious thoughts and involved myself in soul-awakening songs, speech, and words or have I often bombarded the universe with angry, cruel and ugly vibrations?
- Q. Were my hands involved in constructive work or service or was I grasping for more possessions during the day?
In my view, JOURNALING could be considered an example of this introspection. Many people regularly engage in this self-talk, which is also recommended for good mental health.
Why is it difficult to practice Meditation and the Power of Meditation
Verse 2: This verse simply reads that King Duryodhana (Material Desire) looks at his enemies and is about to ask his Guru Drona something.
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| Verse 2 of Bhagavad Gita |
Here, Guru Drona symbolises ‘Samskara’ (“the impressions left by past thoughts and actions, which create a strong inner urge for repetition”).
It depicts that every person is about to follow the spiritual path (perform meditational practices), however, whenever a person tries to go in this blissful direction, the Material Desire becomes alert and approaches Samskara. Samkaras basically represent the joys of past habits of a person which are difficult to oppose.
In simple terms, the feeling of desire (Duryodahan) in every person tries to discourage them from following spiritual practices by luring them or showing them the memories of past pleasures (Drona).
This verse is quite relevant in the context of our life as whenever we try to exercise the power of self-control and perform meditation, several thoughts occur in our mind that tempt us not to follow this path.
To quote some instances given in the book, whenever we try to meditate, our mind creates thoughts such as:
๐ญ Your favourite television show is on…
๐ญ Remember you wanted to call your friend about next week’s party…
๐ญ Now is a good time to do those neglected chores…
However, a life without the will to attain self-realisation or wisdom becomes monotonous. An ordinary person exercising self-control can easily overcome this strategy of Material Desire and Past Habits.
Quoting a line from the book, “By such habits, man becomes like a machine, a human automation, fuelled with food, automatically performing tasks sluggishly and unwillingly, without joy or inspiration, and partially shutting down its activities by sleep— only to repeat the following day, the same routine”.
Verse 3: The son of Druapada was Dhrishtadyumna, who symbolises ‘Calm Inner Light of Divine Perception or Intuition. He was a skilled pupil of Guru Drona (Past Habit). The equation which leads to the formation of the ‘Calm Inner Light of intuitive divine perception’ is:
Past Habit + Practice of meditation = Calm Inner Light of intuitive divine perception
This verse points towards the power of meditational practices. The intuitive forces guard the King Soul in the battle against the powers of evil Habit and Material Desire.
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| Verse 3 of Bhagavad Gita |
In our day-to-day life, we often find ourselves drawn towards certain actions or decisions from our inner being and we call it our ‘INTUITION’ or sixth sense. These intuitive forces are nothing but the result of our past good habits and get stronger with the regular practice of meditation, thereby arming against the sense desires (King Ego and his army).
Degrees of Meditation
While meditating, we often find ourselves achieving something which could be focusing on one of these:
- Breath
- White light
- Between the eyebrows
- Purpose of life
- Happiness, and so on.
Or some people take it as an occasion to let their mind wander freely or even engage in introspection by posing purposeful questions, seeking some answers or a direction to navigate through their life situations.
The Bhagavad Gita strongly advocates meditational practices for a meaningful life.
In Verse 10, Bhima symbolises life force, a link between matter and Spirit. Realisation is not possible unless the energy is turned towards the Spirit. With the breathing exercises, the life force is not supplied to the sensory organs which stops the thoughts of material desires, thereby, helping the meditator to attain a deeper state of focus.
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| Verse 10 of Bhagavad Gita |
Three broad degrees of meditation are (Source: ‘Krishna Talks with Arjuna’):
- Jada samadhi- This is the temporary state of keeping oneself away from increasing desires or attachments. If we try to keep our mind blank, we move into an unconscious trance for a short duration. There is no awareness or realisation in this type of meditation.
- Savikalpa samadhi- In this state of meditation, the person becomes aware of the Spirit beyond creation and experiences the bliss of meditation. However, in this stage, the meditator does not lose its identity unlike in the next stage.
- Nirvikalpa samadhi- The meditator achieves oneness with the Spirit and can perform their daily material duties with no loss of self-realisation or soul consciousness. This is the supreme degree of meditation.
Thus, Verse 10 of Chapter I talks about awakening Bhima or our life-force control to fight our daily battles.
What is Ego?
“Intuition is like a light, a flame of knowledge, that comes from the soul.”
Each of us possesses some of its power, but mostly it is undeveloped. And a person with largely undeveloped intuition lives in a chaotic world, mostly guided by Ego.
Animal = sensations + instincts
Human = Ego + sensations + some discriminative intellect + latent intuition
The Ego is “I-ness” that creates the power of thinking, feeling, willing, etc. It is the consciousness of being identified with the body.
Ego in an ordinary human is not pure Ego, it is its identification with the intellect, mind and senses. That is why we interpret Ego in a negative sense and Mahabharata represents the war between King Soul and King Ego.
When we sleep, these faculties become inactive, and we can come into contact with ‘pure Ego’ or ‘Soul’. However, that state is also disturbed by dreams and waking up. Deep, dreamless sleep gives the experience of a blissful Soul, making the person a temporary saint while snapping all titles and status.
If this state is achieved in meditation, it leads to spiritual growth.
The Ego cannot be destroyed without its consent. This was depicted in Mahabharata as Bhishma who symbolises King Ego revealed to the Pandavas the only way of killing him in the battle.
Hindrances in a peaceful meditative state
If there's no Ego attachment to the body, there would be no Material Desire and without any desire there will not be a Habit or Samskara. Thus, Ego's existence is not possible without Material Desire and Habit.
Verse 12 of Chapter I depicts the situation of a person getting disturbed or distracted while in a meditative state. When we are in a meditative state, our breath is calm and peaceful. However, our Ego gets worried and rouses body consciousness, thereby giving rise to desires of the material world. This again makes our breath uneven and our mind restless.
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| Verse 12 of Bhagavad Gita |
Performing proper breathing exercises, having conscious control of our life, and training our body with patient discipline are some of the ways to attain this peaceful meditative state without hindrances.
Right posture of meditation
"Just as a rubber tube, squeezed in the middle, stops the flow of water forward or backward… during meditation, the squeezed spinal nerve plexuses obstruct the retirement of energy from the senses to the brain."
In Verse 20 of Chapter I, the bow symbolises the bow of meditation. In other words the posture of our body during meditation. Keeping our spine and neck straight, shoulders pulled back, chest forward, and abdomen in is the right posture to meditate for the easy flow of life force through our spinal centres.
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| Verse 20 of Bhagavad Gita |
Here Lord Krishna symbolises the Spirit, When Arjuna (self-control) is ready to fight all the forces of senses, then Lord Krishna (the Spirit) becomes our charioteer or guiding power.
Feminine and masculine sides and self-control
We all possess masculine and feminine sides. The masculine nature consists of powers of discrimination, self-control, judgement, etc and the feminine nature comprises love, sympathy, kindness, joy, etc.
In an ideal being, both these aspects are perfectly balanced. If reason lacks feeling, it becomes calculating, harsh, and judgemental; and if feeling lacks reason it becomes blind emotion.
In Verse 27 of Chapter I, Arjuna is dominated by the 'feminine emotionalism of unwise sympathy'.
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| Verse 27 of Bhagavad Gita |
For a perfectly balanced state, the path of self-control is essential.
Now, we often ask this famous question— "Why were the senses given to us if we are not to enjoy them?"
The answer is that for greater pleasure and pure joy, it is essential that a person forgoes indulgence in materialistic pleasures.
After all, we all know that the end goal of all our goals and tasks is peace and contentment.
Why can't we enjoy material and spiritual pleasures together?
In Verses 38-39, Arjuna asks —"If the pleasure-giving senses and wisdom-bringing forces are both members of the same family then why can't he live with both at the same time?"
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| Verses 38-39 of Bhagavad Gita |
This question is quite relevant in the real-life context where we can usually question why can't our good and bad habits exist side by side.
However, it is not possible to have harmony as long as two contradictory forces work in our life.
This is like carrying on a business of adulterated food on one hand but engaging in the free distribution of food to the poor on the other.
Or it's like speaking in a harsh and painful tone to our colleagues or employees at our workplace but becoming soft-spoken with our loved ones.
The best way to cultivate a taste for good habits is to start the day with meditation right after awakening from sleep. In this way, we keep a check on our mind and can enjoy the pleasures of life without giving rise to sensory attachments.
Some other teachings
Following is the list of some additional facts and lessons from the First Chapter of the Bhagavad Gita:
- Mantras are the result of the spiritual experiences of great sages during their meditation. So, they are one means of tuning with the divine forces. This reminded me of the story of Sage Vishvamitra who discovered the Gayatri Mantra (a 24 syllables mantra) for common people. Also, the perfect Sanskrit alphabets (the older sister of all Indi-European tongues) was evolved by the saints. According to the renowned scholar Sir M. Monier Williams: “The Devanagari character, in which the Sanskrit language is written, is adapted to the expression of almost every known gradation of sound; and every letter has a fixed and invariable pronunciation”.
- Our individual characteristics of behaviour are in large measure the sum total of all our habits. Habits are formed by consciousness which can be changed by thinking or dreaming differently.
- Spirituality does not teach us to renounce the world and live in Himalayan caves. “The ideal is to be ‘in’ the world and yet not of it”.
- Arjuna in Mahabharata represents ‘Self-Control’ who is standing between the armies of his friends and foes and questioning Lord Krishna (The Spirit). The First Chapter depicts our situation when we start the regular meditational practices and follow spirituality, there comes a phase when we wonder if we are being foolish to be on this path as we are not enjoying our sense pleasures to the fullest. We start doubting this path as we get restless and distracted by our life situations. In the next chapters, Lord Krishna provides answers/solutions to the questions posed by Arjuna.
We know that in a world full of temptations and luxuries, it seems nearly impossible to lead a life guided by our spiritual texts, however, if we observe carefully around, a few people follow them with ease. They are surrounded by pleasures but are not really attached to them and can live contently without these material desires.
When in a situation like that of Arjuna, “one should relax and not be too strict in disciplining the unruly child, his unconventional mind. This state is finally overcome by concentrating upon the peace born of even partial renunciation and reasonable effort in meditation, enjoying moderate appeasement in wholesome sense pleasures”.
Source ‘
Krishna Talks with Arjuna— A Book by Sri Paramhansa Yogananda.
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