2 Gita course Chp 2-5 Detachment: What it is and isn’t (GEV)

 

Disclaimer: This transcript was generated using AI and may contain occasional errors or inaccuracies.

See how we can move forward and make this more relevant. So, we will be doing an overview of the Bhagavad Gita, but we are not going to do a Gita overview, but I am not planning to do a chapter-wise overview, because that will become very technical. We are going to each chapter and summarize each chapter.

I am going to do more of a conceptual overview of the Gita. That means, what are the concepts that the Gita talks about and how those concepts are developed so that Arjuna can be freed from distress or like we can say Arjuna moves from living in pain to living with pain. So, while doing this conceptual development, we will address various themes in various chapters and we will try to go chapter-wise, the focus would not be on a chapter-wise development.

So, basically, Arjuna moves from confusion to clarity, from not knowing what to do to what to do and there are three steps in the argument, in the Krishna bits. Now, those three steps can be divided into many further steps, but broadly, there are three steps associated with three fundamental tenets of the Gita's worldview. For those three steps, I will be summarizing in terms of acronym ACT, A-C-T.

And the three tenets that the Gita addresses are Jagat, Jeev and Jagadish. That the world, we understand the nature of the world, we understand the nature of the self and we understand the nature of God. And if you understand these three things, then we can face life with much more clearer perspective.

So, let us begin. So, these three steps, these three are not necessarily associated with the three chapters, three sections of the Gita, because these themes come in all the chapters, many different places. But, so once we understand the worldview of the Gita, all these three, when we understand properly, that helps us to find a profound meaning in our life.

And that profound meaning can make whatever distress might be there in our life, it will make that distress bearable for us. That is how we move from living with pain, living in pain to living in pain. So, Arjuna knows he has to fight a war and he does go on to fight it.

And he has to shoot Arjuna, Bhishma and Drona. But Krishna gives him a vision that makes it bearable. So, just to illustrate this point, that say, one of the things Krishna tells Arjuna is that the first thing he says is that we are not our physical selves, we are spiritual beings.

So, Arjuna is thinking that I will kill Bhishma, that kill Bhishma, kill my grandfather. How, how can I do that? How is that bearable? How, that is unacceptable, that is intolerable. But what Krishna tells Arjuna is that Bhishma is a soul who will get a new body.

And that understanding, that comes to the forefront of Arjuna's consciousness. Now, still there is pain, because he will no longer have the association of Bhishma. His grandfather will no longer be there in his life.

But that understanding, that the body is like a dress. वासाम सी जीडा नहीं था दिहाया That just as when we, when a dress grows old, we discard that dress and we get a new dress. Like that when the body grows old, the soul discards the body and gets a new body.

And the purpose of this is not to justify indiscriminate killing of the body or destroying of the person, person physically. But it is just, let us say that this is going to happen. But this is basically the first teaching of the Gita.

See, war means death. That is a very real and often inevitable possibility. Now, the death can be seen as a termination, as the end of existence.

Or death can be seen as a transition. And the Gita's first teaching is that we learn to see death as a transition. That there is a part of us that continues to exist even after born again.

So the reason why Krishna introduces the concept of the soul, because in one sense the strongest argument of Arjuna is that the last word he says, Krishna addresses Arjuna, you are not actually killing them. They are souls and they will go to another body. So death can be, if you consider a sentence, death can be seen as a full stop.

Or death can be seen as a comma. And what the Gita essentially says is that we are all spiritual beings. We are souls within the body.

And as a soul in the body, why we want the welfare of both? The welfare of both is desired. But relatively speaking, the soul's welfare is much, much more important. Because the soul is enduring.

It's like if somebody is staying in a rented house. Now, they would like to keep the rented house also very well. But if it's a choice between protecting the person and protecting the rented house, okay, let the rented house be demolished or be destroyed.

You run out if there's an earthquake. No, we don't try to hold the house up. We run out of the house.

So the body is like a rented house for us. And don't reduce Bhishma to just a body. He is, this is the person living in the house.

The person is much more important. This is the first point that Krishna makes in 2.11 to 30. In response to Arjuna, in the section 11 to 30, he focuses on Atma Gyan, the knowledge of the soul.

And the repeated theme that comes in 25, 26, 28, 30 is Do not lament. Once you understand that the soul is enduring, do not lament. Now, having said this, after that, okay, Bhishma is not going to die.

But does that justify my fighting? That is the bigger question. And then Krishna starts addressing that question. So, you know, education has two distinct aspects to it.

One, to complexify the simple and to simplify the complex. Now, we may say education only means to make something simple. Well, not necessarily.

If somebody says, you know, this person murdered someone, they should be hanged. Okay, but then complexify the simple. It's simple.

If they are murdered, a murder should be hanged. Okay, but, you know, in what circumstances were they murdered? If they killed? Maybe that person was about to kill them and they killed in self-defense. And that gives a completely different spin to the whole thing, isn't it? So, reality is often quite complex.

And we may approach reality from a very simplistic framework. Like somebody who has a hammer and then a small kid finds, oh, hammer, you can push out, you hit a hammer and the nail goes in the water, it dies. You discover the power of the hammer.

For somebody who has a hammer, everything seems to be like a nail. Just smash it, smash it, smash it. Now, life is not that simple.

So, the Gita does both of these things. Arjuna is thinking at his level. So, actually, this particular diagram I am going to make, this would be a fairly complicated diagram.

But this, in one sense, summarizes the intricate thought flow of the Gita. So, Arjuna is basically thinking there are two options for him, fight or don't fight. And fighting he associates with work or act.

And don't fight, he associates with renounce. And he is thinking that not fighting or renouncing, oh, I fight and I get a kingdom. That's not killing.

Is a kingdom worth killing one's own relatives? It's not worth it. So, he sees only these two options. Now, what Krishna does is, he tells that actually, there are multiple categories.

So, for example, if you renounce, there can be premature renunciation. There can be mature renunciation. Premature renunciation means, if somebody may renounce things just because they are frustrated.

Now, that, okay, first, let me complete the categories, then I will explain the categories. There is premature renunciation, there is mature renunciation. Then if you work, you associate with basically act.

So, there can be sinful action. There can be attached action. And there can be detached action.

Now, sinful and attached are not the same thing. Like say, if we have a child, and we care for the child, we will be very attached to our child. But there is nothing sinful in that.

It's a responsibility for us. But say, if somebody wants to want something to get something for the child, and because of that, they decide I'll rob and I'll steal and I'll lie. That's what will make it sinful.

So, there is, there are multiple grades. What Krishna is doing is, what is simple, actually, it's not that simple. So, let's look at, so sinful action and attached action, the difference is very clear.

Now, attached action and detached action, that is a significant theme in the Gita. But attached action means, we think, what's in it for me? And detached action is, okay, it's, I do this because it's my service. It's my responsibility.

It's what I'm contributing to this. That is what matters. So, attached action means, it's like, this is what I contribute.

That's the focus of detached action. Attached is what I get. So, now, what is the difference between premature renunciation and mature renunciation? Premature renunciation, this is basically frustration.

In life, everyone gets frustrated at times. When they're frustrated, they say, I just don't want to do anything like this. So, about 25 years ago, when I was in Pune, and one boy came to our temple and he said that, what is the process for becoming a brahmachari here? Now, I had never seen him in the temple, it was a very small temple.

So, most of us knew who used to come. So, I asked him, so, do you really want to become a brahmachari? He said that, I'm going to decide by Sunday. Okay, what is going to happen on Sunday? He said, I proposed to a girl, and she's going to reply by Sunday.

If she refuses, I'll become a brahmachari. So, now, that, I suggest, rejection in a relationship is no qualification for renunciation. The difference between renunciation and frustration is the differentiation between fasting and starving.

So, fasting means, it's like, I have the ability to get food, but I have the resolve to not eat. But starving means, that I don't know ability, although there is strong desire. I want food, but I just can't get it.

So, frustration is, we want something, but we're not able to get it, so just quit it. But if the opportunity comes to get it in the future, we'll want it. So, many times when renunciation is there, if it is because of frustration, then that is not a sustainable renunciation.

Krishna tells Arjuna, right now, you're saying, I don't want to fight. But tomorrow, if you hear news, that the Kauravas are committing atrocities, they are tormenting innocent people, then the warrior within you, the protector within you, will not be able to stay peaceful. You say, I won't fix this.

But if you renounce the world, the idea is that you should not be so, you should not care for that. So, premature renunciation is where, it is unhealthy, it is unsustainable. It can even be hypocritical, where one just wants the fame and prestige of being a renunciate, while privately wanting to indulge in the pleasure.

So, now, among these, intuitively, which ones do you think Krishna recommends, and which one does Krishna not recommend? What about premature renunciation? Does he recommend that? No. What about mature renunciation? Okay, it sounds reasonable, Krishna would recommend that. So, let's put a yes.

Sinful action? No. Certainly not. Attached action? No.

Hmm, yeah, it's no exactly, but let's put a small no over there. I'll tell you what. What about detached action? Yes.

So, now, associated with these categories, Krishna brings in different paths now. For mature renunciation, there are two paths. There is Dhyan Yoga, and there is Gyan Yoga.

And with respect to detached action, there is Karma Yoga, and there is Bhakti Yoga. So, now, attached action is what the Gita calls as Karma Kanda. And Krishna does not reproach that, but he certainly doesn't recommend that.

Now, this is V-Karma, sinful action. V-Karma is the opposite of Karma. It's something which is not to be done.

Now, premature renunciation is what the later Acharyas call as Phalgu Vairagya, false renunciation. So, Krishna mentioned this especially in 3.6. This he talks in mainly in Chapter 6. Gyan Yoga, he talks about various places, especially 13 to 18. V-Karma, he talks about this in 3.22 to 3.24, among other places.

Karma Kanda, he talks about in many places, especially he talks about this from 2.31 to 3.37. Karma Yoga, he talks about it from chapters broadly from 3 to 5. And Bhakti Yoga, he talks about from chapters 7 to 12. And then he comes out with 18 in the end also. So, that's why I said this, this particular diagram in one sense summarizes the entire Gita, what is being said over here.

And initially, Krishna starts by telling Arjuna that, as I said, he's talking about the point that you have to function in the world. We talk about three things. What is the acronym? ACT.

A-C-T. So, his first point is that we all have to be. The A is, it's the mature enunciation and detached action, both of them Krishna recommends.

But actually, he recommends this much more. So, then the specific context of the Gita, Krishna actually does not recommend Dhyana Yoga or Jnana Yoga so much. He recommends Karma Yoga and he recommends Bhakti Yoga the most.

This is where it comes in 1866. And why does that? We will come to it eventually. So, when Arjuna is saying that, okay, fighting, not fighting is better than fighting, Krishna says that basically more important in the action that you are doing is the intention with which you are doing the action.

Now, the action certainly matters, but the intention also matters. Essentially, see when we are going to do the question of what is the right action. So, basically in ethics, there are broadly two kinds of ethics.

One is categorical ethics and the other is contextual ethics. Categorical means basically reality. So, basically, if this is the reality, it just decided divided into neat categories.

This is right. This is wrong. This is white.

It is black. And everybody has their basis for such categorization. So, for example, somebody may say that speaking truth is right, speaking lies is bad.

And yes, it is true to that, no doubt. But suppose there is a terrorist mob on the right and they are targeting a particular demographic and our friend belongs to that demographic and a friend comes running and knocks on our door, please, please hide me somewhere, save me. And we take our friend and hide him in our basement somewhere.

And those rioters come in, knock violently on our door. It is illegal. Now, what should we do? Should we speak the truth? Well, is lying good? No.

But in this context, while speaking truth is important, but there is a higher value which is protecting a person's life. So, basically, contextual ethics, what it says is that we have to look at the, so, categorical just looks at the content of the action. Did you speak the truth or did you speak the lie? But contextual ethics looks at the content of an action.

It also looks at the intent of the action. And it also looks at the consequence of the action. So, when all three are considered, then a decision is made that is much more reflective of reality.

That what is the, what did we do? Why did we do it? And what was the result after we did? So, Arjuna is starting with categorical ethics. He is saying that, okay, how can I fight against my relatives? That is just wrong. Although a part of Arjuna also knows that, okay, we should actually fight.

I mean, I had to fight because I am a warrior. But how can I fight against my relatives? So, at least at the start of the Gita, the primary criteria that Arjuna is using is fighting against relatives is bad. And then he has various reasons for that.

So, Krishna tells Arjuna that basically, all three factors have to be considered. And now, which is more important when? Sometimes the intent may be more important. Sometimes the consequence may be more important.

Sometimes the content may be more important. It varies. Just to give an example of these.

Say suppose a doctor diagnoses a particular patient and prescribes a medicine. And then that medicine has some, it is contraindicative. There are some side effects.

And the patient becomes compliant with the disease process. Now, was the doctor wrong in doing that? Well, it depends. If the doctor did not read the case history of the patient and give the medicine, or the doctor had the case history but did not consider it, then it is the doctor's mistake.

But suppose there was no indication from the case history that this medicine could have contraindicative, then it is not ethically, professionally wrong. Still, the doctor may feel, oh, you know, this is complicated. We will do this.

We will do this. Doctor may help treat the patient. But so, in that case, although the effect was bad, the consequence was bad, still the action itself cannot be considered to be wrong.

Although the doctor may want to do more research and find, okay, in this case, maybe I will not prescribe this medicine in the future and learn from experience. Sometimes, especially where the hospital themselves just become like big business, there the doctors may just want to make sure that they get some, they meet their quota of recommending, say, CT scan or this or that. They may intentionally complicate a treatment.

That is also possible. So, the intent, you may say, you are actually giving treatment only. You are only doing diagnosis.

But the intent is not so just to be sure the patient does not have complications. The intent is to make sure that you meet whatever the hospital is expecting you to target. That could make it bad.

So, intent, content and consequence, all three need to be considered. And what Krishna does primarily is elevate the intent. He says that you are only thinking about the fighting or not fighting.

I have to ask you, look at why you are doing what you are doing. And then Krishna also tells Arjuna how with the elevated intent, when you fight, the consequence will also be better. The results will be more auspicious.

So, how does this elevating of intent happen? Like, as I said, I will be making things a little more complicated before I make them simple. But that is a part of education. So, let us look at one of the most confusing verses in the Veda.

And I hope some of you will enjoy the confusion. Let us look at this. But this verse talks about this particular theme.

So, let us recite it. So, Krishna is telling here, such a person is buddhiman, such a person is wise. Who is the person who is wise? So, the vision of the wise, Krishna is telling.

What is that? So, in action. See in action. karmanya akarmaya pasyet akarmani ca karmaya akarmani karmanya in action, see in action.

karmanya akarmaya pasyet akarmani ca karmaya Inaction, or rather you can put it in inaction, see action. Now what does this mean? We may say that this is the criteria of being intelligent, then maybe we have to question whether we are intelligent, but let us consider an example to illustrate this. Say if a riot is going on, if a riot is going on and the police do nothing.

Now, by doing nothing, they are doing a lot, isn't it? They will be culpable for doing nothing. The riot is going on and the police say, I didn't do anything. Somebody says, I didn't do anything, I don't have anything to be ashamed of.

I didn't do anything, that's what you have to be ashamed of, isn't it? Bad. So in crime, there are crimes of commission and crimes of omission. So crimes of omission is where you are supposed to do something and you don't do it, you overlook it.

So if the police do nothing, then in their inaction, see action. So action basically here means culpability, responsibility. You will get karmic reaction for what you do.

You will be held responsible for what you do. By not doing anything, you will be considered a criminal. On the other hand, the police attack the rioters, attacking someone, injuring somebody, it's not a pleasant thing to do, that's not necessarily an enjoyable thing to do, but when the police do attack the rioters, they will be, police will be not culpable.

Because why? The action was for the right purpose, the purpose was to protect citizens, to quell the riots. So essentially, the vision of the voice is that we can't just look at actions superficially. We have to look at the context in which the action is done.

And based on that, we decide. So for Arjuna, the application is, Krishna is telling Arjuna that if you don't fight, you will be culpable. We are like the police who don't stop the riots.

You do nothing, but by doing nothing, you become culpable. So, when Krishna is speaking this, as I said, what he is talking about is, we look at the intent of the action, and looking at the intent of the action is much more important than just looking at the content. And this is where, if you go back to this particular diagram, you remember this, Krishna is talking about these five different things.

That premature renunciation, mature renunciation, sinful action, attached action, detached action. So, detached action, this itself can seem to be like an irony, or what is it, detached action, not exactly irony, it is what in English is called an oxymoron. Oxymoron is basically two opposite ideas brought together.

That was a brilliantly stupid answer. Well, is it brilliant or is it stupid? Two ideas are brought together simultaneously. That was heroic cowardice.

Either it is heroic or you are a coward. How can the two come together simultaneously? So, normally speaking, if somebody is detached, why would they do anything at all? Isn't it? I was speaking in Harvard, and after that, one person, I was speaking on the Gita, Gita Vastu for purposeful living, and there is one person, he says, I have read the Gita. He says, the Gita tells you to be detached, and if it tells you to be detached, then how can you be purposeful? He says, be detached from the results, and being purposeful means seeking some results.

When we have a purpose, it means we want to do something. He says that, how can the Gita teach purposeful living? And on top of that, if we are detached, what will even motivate us to do anything? Many of us may have heard from the verse, Karmanneva Adhikaraaste, Maa Phaleshu Kadachitam. So, now for most people, the fruits are what motivate them to work.

Many self-help books will tell that, have a clear vision of what you want to do. Begin with the end in mind. The clearer the picture of what you want to achieve, the more will be your motivation to do things.

So, is, and the Gita is saying detached action, what does it actually mean? So, basically, there is a difference between fruits, Karmanneva, Phaleshu Kadachitam. Fruits, we can translate as results, and goals. So, results come after the work, goals are set before the work.

So, in the same section, Krishna says, don't be attached to the results, that's 247. But in that same chapter, just a few verses earlier, in 241, Krishna says, Yavasayatmika Buddhi Ekeha Poornanmala. He says, have one purpose.

And those who are not one-pointed, if you don't have one purpose, then the world will create thousands of purposes and you will get nowhere in life. Bahushakha Yanantasya Buddhiyo Avyavasaya. So, Krishna is not telling us, don't set goals, that's fine.

He says, don't be attached to results. Now, what is the difference? Again, as I said, goals are what we set before we do an activity. Results are what we get after we have done that activity.

So, normally, we think that if I do an action, I will get the result. The action leads to the result. And to some extent, this is true.

If I am thirsty, I stretch my hand, I take this bottle of water, I drink. I quench my thirst. So, action leads to result.

But most things in life are not that simple. Basically, what the Gita says, there is action, there is present action. And then there is action that is the past action, that is past karma.

And when we get a result, it is not just coming from our present action. It is actually a combination of present and past action that leads to results. That now, how much is the component of the past action? We don't know that.

Let me just give an example of what present and past action mean to results. Say, two people may pick up a violin and start playing a violin. Now, one person plays a violin and everybody comes close to hear.

Other person plays a violin, everybody goes as far as they can. Now, the action is the same. But the result is very different.

Now, it's because the first person has practiced violin for maybe weeks or months or years. Maybe the person has talent. Naturally, so, the present action is playing the violin.

But that alone does not determine the result. So, present action plus past action, both combined to produce a result. And the past action can go to varying degrees in the past.

It can go to the past six months, it can go to past one year, it can go to past one lifetime, it can go to multiple lifetimes in the past. So, basically, the actions can range from where basically, if the component is 100 action, 100 result over here. It can also be that my action is 100 over here, but from my past minus 100 comes out.

And the result I get is 0. Sometimes, it can also be that my action is 0, the past is 100 and I get the result. So, all these combinations are possible. That means, let's say, some people are just phenomenally talented.

You know, on YouTube, basically, some videos of some small kids, they're just still in diapers, and they're playing the harmonium. Now, what practice have they done now? From this life, they're just what we call as prodigies. They've done no practice, but their 100 action is coming from the previous life, from the past.

So, when Krishna is telling Arjuna, detached action, he says that, if your intent, his intent is what? That I want to do the right thing, I want to do the duty. Now, if your intent is right, then don't be too fixated on the results. That, will this result come? Will that result come? Our focus should be on what we are contributing to the work, to the endeavor, not what we are getting from the work.

If our focus is too much, at every moment, we are always, what will I get out of this? What will I get out of this? What will I get out of this? Then, we will never be able to focus, we will never be able to dedicate. So, when Krishna tells detached action, in Arjuna's context, this detached action can be both Karma Yoga, it can be Bhakti Yoga. But in the first few chapters, Krishna is talking about Karma Yoga over here.

So, the first six chapters, but basically, the idea is that he is telling that you focus on doing your duty and what results come, don't be too fixated on that. Because the results are not in your control. Now, this does not mean you don't care for the results.

It is like, to somebody cooking food, and they say, I am detached from the quality of the food. Well, no, you cannot be detached, you have to be concerned. But we understand that sometimes things are not in our control.

So, detachment, what it does not mean, it does not mean irresponsibility. It does not mean apathy. It does not mean lethargy.

These three are different. Lethargy is laziness, apathy is I don't care for that. Lethargy is I don't care to do the activity only.

Apathy is I don't care what happens. Irresponsibility is where I will just do what I want to do without considering detachment. So, detachment is none of these things.

What Krishna is saying about detachment is basically, when we are acting, it is maturity. Maturity in understanding how things work in reality. So, Arjuna has been put in a situation where he has to fight a war.

That is not an option for him. Now, what is going to result from the war? He goes in with a virtuous intention. But he doesn't fixate too much on the results.

So, detached from the results, detachment is not, as I said, lack of concern. It is not that I don't care for the results. It is rather we care for something bigger than the immediate results.

Something bigger than the immediate results. And what that bigger is, will be revealed as the Gita moves forward. I will make two quick points and then we can have question answers.

So, in Chapter 3, basically this Karma Yoga is talked about in Chapters 3, 4 and 5. Now, generally speaking, say, if we are a teacher and somebody asks us a question. Then, okay, we answer the question. And then after some time, the same person asks the exact same question again.

Then, what is likely to happen? So, if same question is repeated, there are two unhealthy responses. One is, repeat the exact same answer. The person may say, yeah, actually, hearing is not the problem.

I got the answer, but I did not get the answer. So, repeating the exact same answer is not very helpful. The other would be, insult the intelligence of the questioner.

I just answered the question. Are you so dumb? You forgot already? Now, again, this is not very helpful. So, basically, why I am mentioning this, in 3.1, 3.1 and 2 and 5.1, Arjuna asks the same question essentially.

But, how does Krishna respond? That shows his expertise as a teacher. So, basically, the same question is repeated. The healthier way to respond is, answer from a different perspective.

Okay, you did not get the previous perspective. You did not get the previous answer. Let me answer from a different perspective.

And then, generally, a good answer will try to answer from maybe 2, 3, 4 different perspectives. And then, at least one of the perspectives, it clicks with the questioner. Okay, this makes sense.

That does not, this makes sense. So, we will see, this is in the Karma Yoga chapter only, but overall, if you look at the Gita, the same question, essentially, is asked in 2.7, in 3.12, in 5.1, 5.2, 5.1, and finally, in 18.1. At each of these places, Arjuna answers the questions differently. He takes the discussion deeper and deeper as he moves ahead in the discussion.

So, in the third chapter, Arjuna is essentially saying the same thing that, no, actually, inaction is better than action. This chapter is saying inaction is better than action. The same thing, but Krishna answers from different perspectives.

And let us look at these two different perspectives. So, this is the point of an expert teacher. Let us look a little bit about these two different perspectives.

And then, we will conclude this fifth chapter. Sixth chapter, we will discuss in our next session. So, here, in the fifth chapter, in the third chapter, Krishna has talked primarily Arjuna is saying, should I fight? Should I not fight? So, Krishna says that if you do not fight, your renunciation will be premature.

You will be a mithyacharya. You still desire the results, but internally, you are giving up the actions. Now, in the fifth chapter, when Krishna speaks, Krishna takes to a spiritual vision of all of reality.

What he is doing is, he is telling, how do actions really work in this world? And what is the best way to function when we have to work? So, this theme will come later in the Bhakti Vyasa section also. We pointed there, but I will make it here because in Bhakti Vyasa section, we will discuss other things. See, broadly, when actions happen, there are three factors.

There is God's will, there is free will, and there is evil. So, God's will is Jagdish. Free will is the Jiva.

And evil is the Jagat. Jagat means Prakriti, material nature. It is the conditioning that happens within us.

So, what do I mean by this? That when somebody does something, it could be that when somebody goes and drinks. Let us consider the example of drinking. Now, it could be because of free will.

They went and drank. But, sometimes a person says, I am not going to drink. And Oscar Wilde said that giving up smoking is the easiest thing in the world.

I have done it over a hundred times. So, I gave up smoking, I quit smoking, I didn't give a damn. It comes back to me again and again.

So, what happens over here is, it is the drinking is now the word evil. What it means is, it is the Anartha. It is a dark conditioning that is there within us.

Arjuna also voices this predicament when he says that I am pushed to do something even if I don't want to do it. That he says, So, free will is where I want to do something. But evil is where I don't want to do it, but still I am pushed to do it.

Now, does that mean we don't have free will? Does it mean that, what has happened to the free will? So, this God's will part, I will talk later. But right now, I am only going to focus on the free will and the evil part. So, in medical literature, also there is a lot of discussion, say about addiction.

Now, there are two broad views of addiction. Addiction is a moral deficiency. You should give up drinking.

Just be strong. You have a strong willpower, give it up. But the other is, it is a medical disorder.

That means it is a disease. If somebody has a disease, like if somebody is coughing, just use your willpower, stop coughing. That's not going to work.

Or if somebody has a digestive disorder, and they lose motions, come on, have willpower. That's not going to work. So, is an addiction a moral deficiency, or is it a medical disorder? What do you think? How many of you think it is a moral deficiency? Okay.

How many of you say it is a medical disorder? Okay, start with one of the views. Yeah. So, in general, in the political world, there is the political right and the political left.

So, in general, in the political right, it is focused on individual responsibility. So, they will hold that addiction is a moral deficiency. You have to pull yourself up by the bootstraps.

Whereas the political left, they are all about social conditions. So, they look at social conditions. That's why their idea is focused on social justice.

Why do people become addicted? Because they came from terrible neighborhoods. They had abuse in their childhood. And there is some truth to that.

But the point is that there are both these views and both these views have some merit to it. So, what the Gita explains is that we all have our nature. And when we act in particular ways, it's like.

So, I was in Calgary. I had a talk in a university which is on top of a hill. And this is winter.

So, while we were going up a winding road up the hill, we saw various snowballs rolling down the hill. And it's fascinating. We saw how those snowballs are formed.

So, it's like at the top, it is not even a snowball. It's a snow pebble. It's so tiny that a person, that person is standing here, that person could just kick it and it'll break apart.

But then as it keeps rolling down, it starts becoming bigger and bigger and bigger. It gains mass. It gains momentum.

And by the time it comes down, that same person would be crushed by it. So, our actions are also like a snowball. So, any behavior, any wrong behavior, it starts as a moral deficiency.

It starts any unhealthy behavior, any unartha. It's when a person drinks for the first time. Nobody is born with a bottle in their mouth, at least not an alcoholic bottle.

So, nobody is born with a cigarette in their mouth. So, it starts as a moral deficiency. You could say that somebody is a terrible, somebody is in a terrible neighborhood.

Okay, but still, they make that choice. But over a period of time, as the conditioning starts becoming stronger and stronger, then it becomes a medical disorder. When it's a medical disorder means, that means that just willpower is not enough to cure it.

Now, again, when we say medical disorder, it's not that willpower is irrelevant. Like if somebody has a digestive disorder, then willpower is not enough. But at the same time, willpower is necessary.

The doctor says, okay, for the next one week or next three days, you just take some soups, don't take any heavy food. To follow that requires willpower. If the doctor says that, okay, take this medicine, even if it's bitter.

That willpower is required. So, here also, willpower, it's necessary, but it's not sufficient. Willpower is necessary, but it is not sufficient.

So, we all have free will, and we all have conditionings. And those conditionings can become evil. They can impel us to do evil.

And when this starts happening, at that time, the conditionings become too strong. It's almost impossible to get out of it. So, when Krishna is addressing Arjuna, he says that, you are thinking that it's just your free will, and you will decide you will fight or you will not fight.

But it is not that simple. You are choosing to act, but there are conditionings from within you, which are also prompting you to act. And we need to act in such a way, we all have certain conditionings within us.

We need to act in a way that our unhealthy conditionings are weakened, not strengthened. We need to act in a way that unhealthy conditionings, their grip on us doesn't become stronger, it becomes weaker. And Krishna tells Arjuna in the context of the Gita that, in the Gita, I'm paraphrasing what is in that, he says that if you choose not to fight, you are giving in to weakness.

You may not think it is weakness, you may think it is broad-mindedness. I'm concerned about Bhishma and Drona. But that is weakness.

And when you give in to that weakness, it will become stronger and stronger. And right now, you may choose, okay, I don't want to fight because of these reasons. But once we start doing one thing, it starts becoming worse and worse and worse.

And till eventually, it just becomes impossible to give it up. So this whole thing is called, in philosophy, it's called etiology. Etiology is basically the study of causation.

Causation means, now etiology is sometimes used in epidemiology, in the study of how epidemics spread, how diseases spread, what causes disease. So there's a medical context, but philosophical context also. That when we are acting, what is it that is making us act? So sometimes we get angry.

And afterwards, actually, that was not me. What do you mean that was not me? You know, it's like something else possessed me and made me speak like that. And it is to some extent, it feels like that.

So basically, when we are talking about action, we could look at when Krishna, now how am I making this point? We detach from the results. Now, Krishna tells Arjuna, so when we are doing actions, there can be results at various levels. There is an immediate result.

There is an intermediate result. And then there is an ultimate result. So the ultimate result is liberation, is attainment of God.

And that Krishna will talk about more and more in the middle six chapters and in the final six chapters. Now, the immediate result is, in this case, it could be victory or defeat. But the intermediate result will be his elevation.

Elevation means his conditionings going down or his degradation. Degradation means the conditionings become stronger. So, for example, somebody is treating me unfairly, harshly, rudely.

Now, at that time, I can yell at that person. And maybe I can have more power than that other person. And I can force that person to comply my way, especially when there is a power asymmetry.

If I am more powerful than another person, I can just yell at them and get them to do my way. But if I do that, if I use force when it is not necessary, then what will happen is that will become the tendency. Instead of persuading, instead of helping the person see reason, we force them.

And then tomorrow I might come to a situation where force may not work. And I might try to use force. So, if I try to yell and scare somebody, get them to do my way, and then tomorrow I yell and try to scare someone who turns out to be more powerful than me, then not only will I not get the thing done, but I will have made it anyway.

But at that time, it may not be my choice at all. It might be just my conditioning. Because I use force to get my way, that becomes my conditioning.

And I just keep using that force, even without thinking about it. So, Krishna is telling that when you are conditioning Arjuna, don't let the immediate results consume your mind so much that you don't look at other results. So, the results in the world matter, but the results in our mind matter even more.

So, this whole thing can be summarized in one sentence, that we may not be caught for our wrongdoings. Sometimes some people can do something wrong and get away with it. Once a person was going way above the speed limit, and a cop pulled him over.

He says, did you see the speed limit? I saw the speed limit. I just didn't see you. Now, nobody would say like that.

So, fully you have to say that. But most people, they think that if I can do something wrong and I can get away with it, then there is no problem with it. But we may not be caught, and sometimes we may get away with it.

Sometimes, nowadays, it phones, there are apps also. There is an app called Cop Nearby. So, if there is a cop nearby, or maybe the name has changed.

But the idea is, if you go fast, then afterwards you go slowly. We may not be caught for our wrongdoings, but we will be caught by our wrongdoings. Caught for means there is some external agency which is going to catch us.

But internally what happens is, the actions create conditionings within us. And those conditionings will impel us to do the same thing again and again. And therefore, we need to act in a way that is not worsening our conditionings.

We need to act in a way that is going to elevate us, not degrade us. And in that sense, Krishna is saying, Arjuna, you fight, because that is what will free you to ensure that the conditioning of dodging responsibility does not form in you, or evading responsibility just because it is difficult. Once it is formed, it is like starting a snow pebble from the top and start going down, down, down further.

Now, if you do your duty, even if it is difficult, then what will happen is, gradually that difficulty will become more and more bearable. And all the complexity associated with that activity, it will be padma-patra-mivam-vasa. It will be just like water on a lotus petal.

It will, if you are doing it with a higher purpose in mind, then all that complexity, all that negativity, all that attachment that might result, that will just slip away. So, Karma Yoga focuses more on the intermediate effects. It talks of the ultimate, and we will talk about the ultimate effects in our next section on Bhakti Yoga, which we will be discussing tomorrow.

But here, Krishna answers Arjuna's question from a different perspective. Why be detached? Why engage in detached action? Because that will ensure that your conditions become weaker, not stronger. I will summarize what we discussed today.

So, we are discussing Chapter 2 to 5 over here today. So, the first point we discussed is about Krishna in 2.11 to 2.30 gives Atma Gyan. And why Atma Gyan? It is basically to take the wind out of Arjuna's strongest argument.

Arjuna's strongest argument is, how can I fight against Bhishma and Drona? So, Krishna tells Arjuna that they are actually… He says, how can I kill Bhishma? He says, you are not killing Bhishma. Actually, Bhishma is a soul and the soul will get a new body. So, this is a way in which philosophy can immediately provide us some context.

Like we talked about essentially what the Gita is going to do is, from live in pain to what? Live with pain. Pain is going to be there, but the pain is minimized. Then the second point was the most elaborate point.

Education has two different aspects. One is simplify the complex and then complexify the simple. So, if somebody thinks the situation is so simple, if somebody has committed a… Killed someone, they should be killed.

But if they are killed in self-defense, what about that? Consider few answers. So, Arjuna is thinking that simply do not fight or fight. Which he is thinking in terms of act or renounce or act.

So, Krishna says there is… There are multiple factors over there is. There is premature renunciation. There is mature renunciation.

There is sinful action. There is attached action. And then there is detached action.

So, among these premature renunciation Krishna does not recommend. Sinful action, attached action is not recommended. The mature renunciation we talked about in Dhyana Yoga and Gyan Yoga.

And detached action we talked about in terms of Karma Yoga and Bhakti Yoga. So, we focused on the discussion of Karma Yoga. And in the discussion of Karma Yoga, I talked about how there is a difference between setting goals and being attached to results.

So, detachment is from the results, not from goals. So, when you are detached, that is not being… That is not irresponsibility. That is not apathy.

That is not lethargy. So, why should we set goals, but how can we set goals? Krishna mentions this in 241, but do not be attached to results, he says in 247. So, how can it work? That how can we set goals, but not be attached to results? That means that we do an activity, but we understand that it is my action alone does not produce the result.

It is that past actions also contribute. And because we do not know what past actions are going to contribute and how, that is why we seek a result, but we do not fixate on the result. We are more accepting understanding that results may not always come the way we want them.

And the fourth point I discussed was Krishna as an expert teacher. So, when the same question is asked and the question is repeated, there are two unhealthy ways to answer it. One is just repeat answer.

The other is insult the intelligence, how dumb you are, you did not get it. But it better is, what is it? Answer from different perspective. So, when Arjuna repeats the same question that he has asked in 3.1 and 2 in 5.1, then Krishna answers in the fifth chapter by going into etiology.

Etiology is the study of causation. So, when action happens, there are three factors over there. What are the three factors? God's will, free will and evil.

So, we focused on free will and evil at this point. So, we discussed how addiction is initially it is like a snow pebble. Where it is a matter of morality.

But afterwards, it becomes when it becomes a snow boulder, huge. At that time, addiction becomes a or behavior becomes a medical disorder. So, basically, we want to act in such a way that our conditionings are decreased and not increased.

So, for Arjuna, the way he should act is that not dodge responsibility because it is difficult, but act knowing that even if the results do not come his way, he is to be doing what is his responsibility. Thank you very much. Hare Krishna.

So, are there any questions or comments? We have, there is Gaurang Prabhu here with us. Prabhu, would you like to speak some words to enlighten us? Hare Krishna. I would like to express gratitude to all our participants who have come to understand the Gita in a very detailed manner.

When you look at the Gita externally, it may appear very simple. But the number of layers which are involved in trying to understand the Gita are very, very deep. And I think all of us are fortunate to have someone like Chaitanya Charan Prabhu, who uncovers various aspects of the Gita every time, you know, I listen to him.

So, I think the world needs these perspectives because today with mental health crisis, people have a tendency to resort to the pill when they have a mental health crisis. Whereas the Gita is recommending that rather than popping the pill, you can change your perspective. So, I think what you are getting in these two days or three days is various fascinating perspectives on how to not live in pain, but how to live with pain.

Because the world consists of only two categories of people, one who go through pain and the one who know the purpose behind that pain. So, we hope that at the end of these sessions, many of you will have a deeper understanding of the purpose behind the pain. And that's what the Bhagavad Gita is trying to share with everybody.

So again, Chaitanya Charan Prabhu, we look forward to many, many seminars of yours at Govardhan Kovilage. This is your home, away from home. And we hope that many of the people here will get the benefit of your association.

Thank you very much. Give him a round of applause. Thank you.

Do we have time for questions now? Hare Krishna. I am from Mumbai. So, as you spoke about detachment.

So, when we practice detachment, we do not expect anything specific from a result. Over a course of time, we do not have an opinion about it, over the result. Do not have opinion? Yeah, like we want something or we do not want something.

And then, over the course of time, it leads to losing your identity. Like, you do not know what you want and what you do not want. So, is it actually about it that you become numb? Or is it about still holding your identity and having some opinion? Oh, okay.

See, the whole point of detachment is shifting our focus. It is not having no focus. Not one detachment is about that, say, if you are sitting in this session.

Now, maybe the chair is not very comfortable. It is inconvenient. But you could focus on how the chair is uncomfortable and throughout the session, may just not get anything from the session because you are just focusing on the, because somebody is just focusing on the discomfort.

You can say, okay, it is just uncomfortable. But it is not that I have to sit lifelong on this chair. And just for a short while.

So, I can hear this and I focus on something bigger. But I want to learn the wisdom of the Gita. I want to learn some principles which can help me in my living.

So, for us, detachment is meant to be a tool for us to shift our focus to something bigger. So, we can choose to be detached from certain issues. Say, for example, somebody may not be interested in politics.

And politics can raise a lot of temperatures among some people. And say, one person has one opinion, another person has another opinion. And say, I am detached.

I do not really care much about this. I am not involved in this. So, we may not have an opinion or even if we have an opinion, we will not be very strongly invested in that opinion.

So, we may not really fight for it. But if it is our own home and somebody is saying, we have to reorganize the home this way, we have to do this, we have to do that. There, it is something which matters much more to us.

So, it is detachment is not so much about having no opinion. It is about recognizing that not every opinion is equally important or not everything is equally important. So, detachment is letting go of the things that matter less so that we can focus on the things that matter more.

So, if we are losing our identity, then it is not exact, then what we are doing is not so much detachment as it is apathy, just neglecting, not caring at all. So, in one sense, you could say detachment is about choosing our battles. Detachment enables us to choose our battles so that I can live with some losses so that I can focus on a bigger bit.

But if I am not fighting any battles at all, then we will not grow in any way in our lives. If, say, we are detached totally, then the whole purpose of detachment is so that we become disentangled from the world. We become elevated, we become liberated.

But if there is too much detachment, one may become detached from the idea of liberation. So, one may not care for anything at all. That is not, that is a misunderstanding of detachment.

So, another way to put it is, say, detachment is not being cold-hearted. It is being clear-headed. Cold-hearted means having no emotions at all.

Clear-headed means knowing which things matter more, which things matter less, and then making our choices accordingly. Any other questions or comments? The question is that we are fighting. One is that, okay, he didn't… There is also this… And actually, this is a question I have, I have a list of questions, but I will read it first.

So, this is from Chapter 2, Chapter 3, Chapter 10, where Dhritarashtra declined to fight as he wanted to save his relatives for his own satisfaction. So, it kind of seemed like, because he wanted to save his relatives, his Dhritarashtra MP, but it was his selfish desire to save his relatives. So, are you saying that his conditioning is to reduce his selfishness in wanting to save them? Okay.

Is that, and then, how to apply it in our life? It is like, if I want to do something good for somebody, am I selfish? Okay, yeah. How do I put it? It's a good question. See, basically, the conditioning that is being talked about over here for Arjuna, it is that it is to dodge duty during difficulty.

You could say duty itself is difficult, but not necessarily, duty can be done. But like I said, if somebody is a doctor, they go every day to their office, they go to the hospital, clinic. But if pandemic comes, you say, you know, I'll go and leave.

Now, why? It's so difficult, the work pressure is so much. Okay, sometimes there is fatigue and somebody is on the verge of collapse, that's okay. But, if today we consider that to be a difficulty, and because of that, I give up my duty.

Tomorrow, some other difficulty may come. And I will think, hey, you know, this is also difficult. Now, at that time, the difficulty may be really big, but tomorrow it may be smaller difficulty that may deter me from doing my duty.

After that, it is a smaller difficulty, it is a smaller difficulty. So, as the conditioning becomes stronger, then the tendency to dodge duty will become more and more. And that is the conditioning to be avoided.

So, as I said, the Gita can be seen from different perspectives. And yes, was he trying to protect his relatives? And he didn't. Yeah, and that's a natural desire.

But protecting his relatives when they were doing wrong, or when they were supporting those who are doing wrong, that is counterproductive. So, his desire to help others, to protect others is not wrong. But we can't protect those who are bent on doing harm to others.

If we do that, then we become, we become complicit in their wrongdoing. You are also doing something wrong over there. So, does it address your question? Yes, just to save the relatives, then it might be selfish or not.

Then that's fine. But if it saves the relatives when they are doing wrong, that's selfish. Yes.

I would say selfish and selfless may not be the best categorization over there. You could say it's like wise and unwise, responsible and irresponsible. It's responsible to want to protect, see there is, when we want to protect our loved ones.

At one level, the most way we protect them from wrongdoings. That means we give them the wisdom, we give them the resources, like our children. Don't do something wrong.

Then we may protect them from the consequence of wrongdoings. Say, if our child goes away about speed, drives away about the speed limit and is booked. And they say that, you know, you'd have to serve time in jail for one week.

Then we may try to get some way out, you know, we'll pay some fine, do some community service, we'll pull some levers, get some contacts and try to protect them from that consequence. And that is also a sign of love. But if that person is repeatedly doing the same thing again and again.

Sometimes love means stop protecting from the consequences. This is hard love or tough love as they call it. But sometimes we have to let the consequences hit people so that they realize the gravity.

Like if somebody is an addict or alcoholic and there is a codependent. The codependent, the partner of the addict always keeps cleaning up after every episode. And then what happens is they protect the addict from the consequences.

The addict keeps doing more and more. Sometimes you are on your own now. If you don't want to fix it, you have to fear the consequences of your actions.

And that may draw them out of their stupor. My question is related to the trilogy of goal, action and result. So while goal is, while it's not bad to have attachment for the goal.

See, the word attachment has a negative connotation. Yeah. I would say not just having a goal.

Okay, having a goal is not bad. And doing action in pursuance of that goal is also not bad. But as far as the result is concerned, we don't have control and we should not have attachment.

So the question is, you know, can we find the results can be either favorable or unfavorable? So for how long should one continue pursuing the action to achieve that goal? Okay. How long do I have to answer this question? Basically, this issue is addressed in the 18th chapter in the Bhagavad Gita, basically 18, 15 and 16, where Krishna says there are five factors of action. So basically, from action to result, there are three factors.

It's like a bridge with three connecting poles or three connecting boards. So it's the place, it's the endeavor, and it's the ability. So what this means is that suppose we are considering somebody's going to garden.

Now, say they are trying to raise a rose in the Sahara Desert. Now, the place itself can be in hospital. That could be one cause that the result doesn't come.

Now, another could be that the endeavor is insufficient. You try to say like, as devotees, we cultivate Tulsi. Tulsi grows very easily and luxuriantly in India.

But you always try to cultivate Tulsi in America or Canada or Australia. It's much tougher over there. And then you have artificial heating and so many other factors.

You try once, I mean, it doesn't work, try again. You have to try to see what exact temperature will be suitable at that particular place. Sometimes you need endeavor.

So the result may not come because the endeavor is not sufficient. And sometimes it could be that the ability itself is incompatible. That means that person does not have that ability.

The person may have ability in some other field. So, say, if 50 years ago, let's say then 30, 40, 50 years ago in India, rock music was not a big thing. Let's just consider western and something like that.

So suppose some Indian kid likes rock music or say consider some American who likes Indian traditional music. But before Indian bhajans and those kind of things started becoming appealing in the West. Now, if somebody has the talent for playing Indian sitar or Indian traditional singing in the West, they might just not be appreciated.

But if they come to India, they will be loved. So sometimes it could be that when we're not getting a result, it could be because the adhishta, the place where we are is not suitable. Sometimes we're not getting the results because we just don't have the talent in that field.

And maybe it's because we work sometimes. And sometimes it could be because we're not able enough. So we have to consider all these three factors.

And then based on that, we decide. Actually Prabhupada himself, he tried very hard when his Guru Maharaj told him that assist in the machine. So he was already married.

So he thought that let me expand my business. And let me contribute financially to my spiritual master mission. And he tried that for 25, 30, 35 years.

But Prabhupada was a heart of preacher. When customers would come to him for pharmaceutical medicine, he had a pharmacy shop, he would preach it to them. And that was just not being a business person.

That was just not his vocation. That was not his calling. He tried it.

He did his family responsibilities. But then after that, even while he was trying to establish his business, he was also preaching in India. When he retired, he tried to preach in India.

But despite his best efforts, preaching just didn't work. India was not a hospital soil at that time. India was too infatuated by the rest.

And even when he went to America, initially he was treated just like a curiosity object. He was neglected. The people who were the hippies, they just come and go.

And they would eventually have to endeavor for one and a half years. It was a very difficult period. Till he found people who were not just spiritually interested, but people who were spiritually interested in also becoming spiritually committed.

And that's when the movement took off. So we have to analyze. The results are not coming.

What is the cause? Thank you. Any last question before we stop? You talked about from Confucian to clarity in three steps. Basically, act.

Vivaan. And Jagdish. And… Rigat.

Yeah. So you… these two other things like… We'll be discussing it gradually. So actually, I didn't… I said that that is what we're going to develop.

But to talk about the decision-making elements, we have to go into some extent of the context of the Gita. So I mentioned that I'll be talking about the acronym, but I didn't actually get into that. I'll get into that in the next sessions.

Thank you for remembering that and raising that point. Thank you very much. Srimad Bhagavad Gita ki… Jai! Shri Kripa Padi ki… Jai! Jai!