Bhakti Shastri (144) – Bhagavad Gita Chapter 18 Text 43 to 48

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Hare krishna welcome back to the bhagavad-gita bhaktashastra course here in the 18th chapter we are discussing how karma yoga gradually elevates through yoga to bhakti yoga and within the arrangement of karma yoga we are discussing varanashram how the system of varanashram involves gradual spiritualization of one’s material activities so we discussed the qualities of a brahmana in the previous class let’s move forward and discuss the qualities of a kshatriya yeah so 18.43 shouryam tejodhrutir daksham yudhejapya palayanam dhanam ishvara bhavasya shatram karma swabhavajam so shouryam tejodhrutir daksham um here we see shouryam these are the qualities shatra karma sabhavajam shatram karma the previous verse was brahma karma now it is shatram karma swabhavajam this is born of their nature so what are these qualities let’s look at them one by one shouryam shourya shouryam shourya basically refers to heroism, courageousness, chivalry where a person is ready to do adventurous things and is ready to take up great risks to do those adventurous things so kshatriyas are as the word kshatrayate iti kshatriya indicates that they are meant to protect others and for the sake of protecting others they often have to put their lives into risk and they are ready to do that in fact they are happy to do that because everybody in life needs some source of excitement some sort of stimulation some source of satisfaction now different people get it through different things so those who are brahmanically inclined those are intellectuals they get it by studying new books understanding new concepts learning new things in terms of things which give intellectual titillation and stimulation and gratification uh similarly kshatriyas they have the sense of adventure another quality will say yudhe chaapi apalayanam we will discuss this yudhe yudhe means battle chaapi apalayanam apalayanam means not running away so different people have their different sources of stimulation and we need to understand that these stimulations are not necessarily in terms of right or wrong they can be made right or wrong we can say that some are material some are spiritual say a devotee when the devotee is remembering krishna gets spiritual stimulation that is correct but that doesn’t mean that we can suddenly and completely relish only devotional stimulations so we are at the material level of consciousness material level there is goodness passion ignorance and above that there is transcendence so the soul delights in everlasting and ever new spiritual stimulations with krishna so the devotee remembers krishna the devotee sees krishna the devotee touches krishna devotee serves krishna in various ways and all this brings spiritual simulations that are a source of great satisfaction in fact the supreme satisfaction the greatest satisfaction but till we come to the spiritual level of consciousness we all need some kind of stimulation excitement satisfaction and we get it through different things depending on our propensities so shouryam so shourya is heroism so by taking out taking out means by fighting against evil by fighting against those who do misdeeds and in that way winning in that way protecting the innocent protecting those who may be victimised people get a sense of satisfaction and that is the sense of that’s how they get the self-worth and the satisfaction so that is what is talked about over here now this is this is not necessarily a wrong thing but this is we may say that that sort of stuff which movies are made up of which in which there is a macro hero who is out to beat the bad guys and that is attractive to people so is that necessarily materialistic not necessarily if it is within the precincts of dharma that means the hero protects people according to the principles of dharma so then that sort of protection is essential because this world is a place of danger and the place where there are evil people who are out to do evil things so shouryam tejo means power so kshatriyas they would have formidable power you know me we may see bows and arrows and we may have some small bows and arrows which children use for playing nowadays however the bows and arrows that the kshatriyas would use in their wars they would be very heavy very strong and not very easy to use because in a for the arrow to have sufficient power so that it will go a long distance and actually penetrate the body of the opponent it requires to be discharged with great force and to discharge with that much force the kshatriya has to have that much power to pull the string and even the string has to have adequate power adequately adequate strength so that when it is pulled back and then released it will shoot the arrow so same with the weapons so nowadays when we use say machine guns or bombs or cannons or even weapons of mass destruction the physical strength of the warring factions doesn’t play much of a role although in face-to-face combat in hand-to-hand combat or direct combat it plays a significant role but the point is the kshatriyas have to be strong so that is the idea of kshatriyas shouryam tejo dhruti ridaakshyam dhruti means determination so actually determination is required for everyone for all varanas but especially in this world to get things done is not easy kshatriyas are essentially meant to not just do things but get things done. Eshwarabhav it is said that brahmanas deal with ideas kshatriyas deal with people vaisyas deal with animals and shudras deal with things so dealing with things is shudras dealing with animals is vaisyas dealing with human be people is kshatriya’s role and dealing with ideas concepts principles uh that is the realm of the brahmanas of course this is not a watertight division everybody has to deal with everyone else even the kshatriyas deal with ideas and even the shudras deal with people and but the point is primarily we are talking about the focus of the thrust of each person’s occupation is different so for this purpose to get things done is quite difficult to delegate manage so one of the other qualities will be eshwarabhav eshwarabhav now normally now eshwarabhav may be seen negatively the idea that i am the eshwara so we often say that the idea that i am god i am the controller i am the enjoyer that is what has got us to the material world and that’s what keeps us in the material world so that is considered normally to be undesirable treat and yet krishna talks it over here uh in more or less a positive light he’s describing the qualities of each varna and he’s talking about those qualities in a desirable sense that these are good qualities which people in each varna should cultivate and therein he is saying that the kshatriya should have eshwarabhav so what does it mean actually in this world somebody has to take the role of a eshwara somebody has to if things are to be done there has to be some controller so if a project involves a team and the team involves 10 people working or there may be some bigger projects you know 5000 people working so there has to be some controller who will direct and guide and supervise that is a functional necessity every kingdom needs some governing authority there has to be a king or some other governing authority like that so somebody has to take up the eshwarabhav the role of a controller so and that person if that has the eshwarabhav that means here eshwarabhav just doesn’t mean the mentality it also means the ability in one sense eshwarabhav is there in everyone who would not like to have other people who are dancing at once back and call and are ready to obey everything that one says so that is not the essence of eshwarabhav eshwarabhav as is recommended over here is that we all understand that ultimately we are under the supreme lord the supreme lord the supreme controller and he is the parameshwara but to get his will done in this world he needs agents and some of those agents are also eshwaras that means whatever is to be done over here it is done through agents so even when krishna’s will is to be done in this world there have to be competent people who do it so that is how kshatriyas come into the role so those check those people who have the capacity the ability to manage delegate lead they if they become godly then they will become eshwaras in the service of the supreme eshwara so it’s not wrong to be heroic as long as our heroism is not independent of krishna’s supreme heroism now you see in the ramayan lord ram is the supreme hero but hanuman is also extraordinary hero so in fact the sundar kand which is considered to be among the most beautiful one of the the beautiful most beautiful kind of the ramayan it is largely focussing on hanuman in fact you know ram’s mention is only slightly in the beginning and at the end but it’s entirely about the exploits of lord ram of hanuman so although lord ram is not present still he is present in the sundar kand that means he’s present in the heart of hanuman and he’s present in the heart of sita so hanuman is also a hero and he’s also a great hero people talk about being human you know bhaktas talk about not just being human ever being hanuman what does that mean to develop the hanuman spirit that the hanuman being the hanuman spirit is to love and serve and act wonderfully in the service of the supreme lord kshatriyas are like that so sauram tejo dhruti daakshyam daakshyam means expertise so expertise in various things when wars we fought then how the forces should be arranged you know how the military phalanxes should be arranged what strategy should be used okay i have this many forces and yet i have to attack an enemy which has more forces better weapons and how do i strategise so all this is very important to discuss daakshyam that is expertise sauram tejo dhruti daakshyam then yudhe chaapi apalayanam apalayanam means never running away hmm kshatriyas are so heroic that when they go out to fight in the war either they go to fight to win or they go to fight to die and they are confident that if we die in a dharma yuddha then we will attain heaven so yudhe chaapi apalayanam apalayanam one is not afraid to one doesn’t run away from the and then so daan is an extremely important function of kshatriyas actually it’s an important function of everyone especially anyone in the household or order krishna has talked about this daan earlier in the 17th chapter when he talked about daan in the three modes but along with that he has talked about in the 16th chapter also when he talks about abhayam sattva samshuddhi when he describes godly qualities at that time he describes daan as a quality a godly quality and that especially pertains to kshatriyas so there it pertains to grihastas so daanam daanam is the inclination to give charity so the idea is that the kshatriya collects taxes and the kshatriya builds the national treasury and people who are in need the kshatriya gives charity to them this is all kshatriya karma this is how the kshatriyas work so these are the desirable qualities of kshatriya and if you look at the life of kshatriya like arjuna or parikshit or even the way krishna lived we see these qualities the kshatriyas display in their functioning so now let us look at the qualities of vaisyas and shudras also so so krishna is describing in two lines a and b the qualities of a kshatriya sorry of a vaisya and then c and d he is describing the qualities of a shudra so krishi is agriculture is cow protection vanija is trade or business these are the activities of a kshatriya sorry of a vaisya so essentially vaisyas are the if we compare the so remember the comparison the social body the shudras are considered to be the feet the vaisyas are considered to be the stomach the kshatriyas are considered to be the arms and the brahmanas are considered to be the head so in this way all these are important in terms of how they contribute to society every one of them contributes in a different way and every contribution is significant because every contribution helps a person to move closer to krishna now when a person moves closer to krishna through if that person is of course doing bhagvatarpit karma that means the person is working for the supreme lord we will see about bhagvatarpit karma a little later but the idea here is that every person according to one’s nature can contribute to society as well as progress towards transcendence so there is the varanashram arranges for material cooperation and it also spiritual felicitates oh sorry facilitates not felicitates facilitates spiritual advancement so krishi gauraksha vani jama krishi is agriculture gauraksha is cow protection you know and some bhagavitas translate this or some western scholars when they translated the bhagavad-gita they translated gauraksha as cattle rearing but prabhupada insisted that we can’t translate as cattle rearing it is cow protection cattle rearing is often used so that it indicates that the cattle are reared so that eventually they’ll be slaughtered but that is never done in the vedic culture actually now from a financial point of view you know any investment that doesn’t give good returns that should be abandoned so for example if a business person starts a business and then it doesn’t give profit it starts giving losses so what would a business person do just abandon it and we start another business just give off that business so that money-minded mentality is to some extent natural but it can become undesirable if it dominates a person’s consciousness and a person starts thinking of everything in terms of money so to prevent this domination of the consciousness with money to prevent a unidimensional viewing of everything in monetary terms the vaisyas are ordained to do certain activities even if they don’t seem to be financially viable so a cow when she’s giving milk is considered to be productive but when the cow stops giving milk now she may not be financially productive anymore so at that time it might be a temptation to slaughter it or to send it to a butcher to sell it to a butcher to slaughter it and that should not be done the vaisyas should consider that the cow is like a member of our family the cow that’s why the word is often go mata the cow is like a mother and even if the mother becomes old the mother has given milk in the now in the mothers breast feed the children with their own milk the mothers love the child so we take care of the elders similarly once you take care of the elderly cows also now some sceptics argue that and india has so many cows which people try to protect and then there are so many people who are starving over there so some sceptics they who want to some they they want india to widely adopt a meat centred diet and to take a cow cow flesh they say that if india doesn’t eat the cows and the cows will eat india that’s how they try to play around with words and provoke people into cow slaughter and they try to say that in fact there is a phrase in english called holy cow and this is that means if somebody has an irrational affection for something which it is something which is considered to be very valuable so sacred that it just cannot be questioned then that is called as a holy cow that’s the phrase that is used so so for example you could say that evolution is the holy cow of materialistic science that means materialistic scientists especially atheists you know they just consider the evolution is true come what way come what may they just think that this is what it must be that holy cow as i said it means that whatever happens they feel that actually this must be correct however this is not the notion that uh the in the traditional vedic culture is there about holy about cows you know cows are considered holy because they are dear to krishna and krishna is the supreme lord uh it’s not just because of their financial value you know people ask that if okay if you allow milk buffalos give more milk than cows yes it may be true but krishna is gopal he is not bhaispal you know krishna loves buffalos also krishna loves all living beings but he’s a person as a person he has certain affections you know why does krishna wear a peacock feather why does not some other fear why why does krishna play a flute why not some other other instrument krishna is a person he will do whatever he likes to do and his choices are sweet they are supremely independent and at the same time they’re supremely sweet also so krishna loves cows and that’s why culture exalts cows but even if you look at it from a rational financial perspective actually if society is agrarian is based in agriculture is centred in agriculture then actually speaking the cow can benefit a lot of people so cow gives dung and cow urine so cow urine can be used as a treatment in any medicines as a as a medicine in and of itself and as a medicinal element for many things also and similarly the cow dung is a very valuable source of manure it can be used for fertilisation of of ground and more importantly it can be used as fuel it’s an invaluable source of fuel in fact in these days when people are considered concerned about the environmental costs of fossil fuels fossil fuels they have oil and petroleum and things like that which are drained from which are sucked out from the earth and that itself causes a lot of environmental harm and then when they are transported over millions of miles at times to where they are going to be consumed that transportation costs so much and that transportation leads to so much pollution also and eventually the fuel is used at that time the fuel also sends out toxic fumes which also cause pollution so when the environmental cost of fossil fuels is so high when there is already a widespread network of use of alternative fuels that means the use of cow dung as a fuel source and why should that be disapproved or discouraged in fact that is a the cow dung fuel is a is what is mostly used in urban areas sorry in rural areas for cooking and it is extremely valuable and useful so even if you look at it from the financial perspective it is not true that Indians need to eat cows to survive rather actually it is because Indians are eating cows that is why survival is becoming difficult why because actually if you see India was prosperous generation after generation after generation for millennia now right from Alexander in the third fourth century bc there are so many invaders who have come to India what was the reason for invaders to come invaders don’t come to poor areas invaders want money and that’s why they attack and try to loot wealthy areas so where did India get its wealth from and often the invaders would come the cities would be devastated they would be plundered and yet within a few years the cities would again or at the most a few decades the cities would again become centres of poverty or centres of prosperity why because the cities were the centres of prosperity but the cities were not the sources of prosperity the sources of prosperity were the villages and that source of prosperity came from the Krishigo Rakshavani Jam from especially cow protection and from agriculture agriculture so India is a prosperous and prosperous land and even now it can be prosperous if it has its priorities right you know if India has abandoned natural resources it has a very in many most parts it is a conducive climate and now what we’re talking about India at now because why are we talking only about India the principles of Bhagavad Gita apply all over the world and not just all over the world they apply all over the universe not just all over the universe all of existence which consists of many universes but we’re talking about India because as as far as our historical memory goes back our means human historical memory goes back from the perspective of modern history then India is the land where Vedic culture has been present for several millennia so the Vedic culture that was there and the prosperity was there because of the cooperation between the different Varanas and Goraksha and Krishi they they were the sources of prosperity so in today’s economy agriculture is largely trivialised other occupations are glamorised and actually there’s no reason to trivialise agriculture because it is the source of food for everyone and that’s why it’s very important that agriculture be given its adequate importance in the economy socio-economic structures and in the priorities of people so Vaishyas were respected people now if we see the books like Gopal Champu which describe Gopal Champu is written by Jiv Goswami and this describes the life of the Vrajavasis and of course the Vrindavan is transcendental but at the same time in books like this we also see glimpses of Vaishya culture so the Vaishyas were also very god-centred and they were also have very having a lot of respect for Brahmanas but they were also diligent in their duties even Krishna would go out to herd the cows so the idea is that even the Vaishyas take care of playing their part in Brahminical in culture now Brahminical culture means not that its culture is meant for the Brahmanas or only participated in by the Brahmanas no it is a Brahminical culture when we use the word it refers to a culture that is guided by the Brahmanas so they are not the sole power centres but they are the sources of moral and spiritual authority and through them the whole culture so the whole society stays on a path of morality and spirituality so that’s Brahminical culture so Vaniji also means that one takes a proper profit but not disproportionate profit where one makes a huge amount of money while other people starve so Krishi Gaurakshan and then after that Paricharya Atmakam Vidhi means serving others that is the propensity that is the that is the role of the Shudras now why is it so it’s serving others because actually a wide gamut of operations can our activities in professions occupations can be included in the Vaishya activities in the Shudra activities but their basic role is that they are assisting other Varanas and even Shudra is not a necessarily a value judgement or something undesirable if certain people have certain propensities they act according to those propensities so that is the way society lives and society progresses so it’s not necessarily any way wrong the idea is here is not a matter of wrongness or rightness it’s a matter of appropriateness according to individual nature so now some people also have the idea that actually women don’t have an independent Varana women simply where do Brahmin Shudra Shudra where do women fit in over here the idea is that women are just having the their husbands now this actually if you want to think of it on the logical point of view it doesn’t make sense because it’s not Janma Karma so the husband may have one nature the wife may have another nature so if they have different natures then one has to individually see that sometimes the wife will be more Brahminical and the husband may be more more of a Vaishya nature sometimes it may be opposite also so the idea here is not to label people as belonging to certain Varnas it is to customise professions according to predilections customise professions according to predilections predilection means one’s own inclinations one’s own tendencies so from the logical point of view the husband and the wife are two separate souls they have had their own past different kinds of and they have been brought up born and brought up and then they are now uniting so it’s not it it’s not that both will necessarily have the same Varana so in the Vedic culture it would be best where a person would marry within the same Varana because then the likelihood of having compatibility would be greater so that is true but it’s not that automatically it’s not that the woman is like appendage to the man and the woman automatically has the same Varana as the man the woman may have a different Varana but in general marriages within the same Varanas are encouraged so that there is a greater likelihood of compatibility so now after discussing about these different Varanas let’s go on to the discussion about how all this can be spiritualised so 18.45 so by doing one’s own Karma means to be engaged or to be following to be the word Ratha means to be absorbed so means one’s own Karma so this will refer to what has been talked about in the previous three verses Brahman Kshatriya Vaishya Shudra so whatever is one’s one acts according to that, samsiddhim labhate naraha, a human being can attain perfection.
And so, karma niratah siddhim, that while being engaged in one’s karma, siddhi, so Krishna is talking using the word siddhi and samsiddhi in the third and second lines, yatha vindati tachrunu, yatha vindati, how one can attain this, oh Arjuna, hear this. So, let us understand this. The implication of this verse is very significant.
Actually, varanashram can be of different types. That means, that varanashram can be whatever the way Bhakti Sanskrit Thakur has explained this, Bhaktivinoda Thakur has also explained this based on the Vedic scriptures. He says there is Vedic varanashram, then there is Asuri varanashram, and then there is Daivi varanashram.
So, Vedic varanashram was based on birth, but in general, in the past, the birth would be more or less compatible with the varna, because with the nature, with the sabhava, because if a brahmana and a brahmani unite, they will attract a brahmanical inclined soul in their womb, as their child. And that is how, one’s birth would normally harmonise with one’s varna. But that was not necessary.
There are, even in the original Vedic scriptures, there are various references which indicate very clearly that if a person has a different varna, then that person should be engaged according to that varna. Like, engaged according to the different varna. So, rather than focussing on the point of birth, the focus was always on qualities.
And if a person has a different set of qualities, that person can accordingly be considered to be a member of a different varna. There is a very famous anecdote of Satyakama Jabali, who wanted to go to Gautam Rishi for getting brahmanical education. And Gautam Rishi asked him, who is your father? And he went to his mother and then his mother told that, I have been a maid servant and I don’t know who your father is.
So, he went back and told that to his Satyakama and to his spiritual teacher and he said, oh, you are a brahmana. Why? Because you have the brahmanical quality of truthfulness. So, actually, the brahmanas are determined by, not just by birth, but also by qualities, primarily by qualities, actually.
So, that is the traditional Vedic Varna Ashram. So, what is prevailing in India today and it has been prevailing for a good amount of time is Asuri Varna Ashram. Asuri Varna Ashram means that the characteristics of asuras is that they actually delight at the bodily level.
All their pleasures are at the bodily level. That is asuric inclinations, asuric tendencies. And because of that asuric tendency, what happens is that this identifies strongly with the body.
So, even spiritual institutions like Varna Ashram, they reduce them to the body level and assume that, okay, one’s body determines one’s varna. And then the higher caste, they take power and they try to, they take privilege and they instead of cooperating for the growth of the social body, they exploit the lower caste for their own selfish purposes. And this is very, this has taken on often very ugly shapes.
And because of that, there are lower castes who rebel against the higher caste. In fact, the spread of Buddhism and Jainism, which happened in Indian history, that is basically because culturally these religions offer the lower castes an escape way from the domination by the higher castes. And similarly, there is also an anti-propaganda in India based on political parties and quota allocations.
All this is based on history of exploitation. But the history of exploitation is not because of what is there originally meant to be in the Vedic culture. It is because of degradation of the Vedic culture.
So, that is Asuri Varna Ashram. And then there is Daivi Varna Ashram. Daivi Varna Ashram is like the idea that different people, everybody is meant to serve Krishna.
But depending on one’s individual nature, one can serve Krishna. So, normally in the Vedic Varna Ashram, the progress is linear. That means, a Shudra, if a Shudra does the duty properly, then the Shudra in a future life will become a Vaishya.
Vaishya, if does duty properly, Vaishya will become a Kshatriya. Kshatriya will become a Brahmana. Imagine, Brahmana will become liberated.
So, that is how the progression is. But within Daivi Varna Ashram, the progression is vertical. It is not just linear.
It can be directly upwards. That means that even if a person is acting as a Shudra or a Vaishya or whatever, if that person devotes oneself to Krishna, practises devotional service seriously, then from whatever Varna one might be, one can attain liberation. So, Krishna is talking here about this Daivi Varna Ashram.
He is not talking about the Vedic Varna Ashram and definitely not talking about the Asuri Varna Ashram. So, he is talking about the Varna Ashram in which, by doing one’s activity, one can become liberated. So, let us see what Krishna is saying.
So, we describe the process in the next verse. So, Krishna is using the word Siddhi once more in this verse. He has used the word Siddhi and Samsiddhi in the previous verse.
Siddhim Vindati Manavah. Human beings can attain perfection. The key over here is, whatever one’s work one is doing, one’s prescribed work, worship that Supreme Being.
So, this is the closest the Bhagavad Gita comes to the common idea of work is worship. People have the idea that work itself is worship. But if we look at what Bhagavad Gita is saying, Bhagavad Gita never says anything like nothing like that.
Here, what is Bhagavad Gita saying? By your work, worship Him. That means, by devotion to the Supreme Lord, translate work into worship. Not that work is automatically worship.
Rather, when we devote ourselves to the Supreme Lord, we spend time in worshipping the Supreme Lord and then after that we do work. Then that work, we develop a spiritual consciousness by serving the Supreme Lord and then we carry that spiritual consciousness over into our daily activities and that’s how we get ourselves spiritualised. That’s how work becomes worship.
So, karmana tamabhyarcha. And who is that tama? Krishna has not yet come to the level of bhakti yoga. That’s why He is still talking in the third person.
So, here He is referring to that Supreme Lord and He described the characteristics of that Supreme Lord. Yatah pravrttir bhutanaam. From whom all living beings come.
The pravrtti. Pravrtti can mean living beings. Pravrtti can mean all of existence.
From whom all of existence emanates. Now, Krishna has already talked about He being the source of all of existence several times. He’s talked about especially in 10.8 when He says, aham sarvasya prabhavo.
Everything comes from Me. So, yatah pravrttir bhutanaam yena sarva-midam tatam. So, that Lord is not only the source of everything, but the Lord, that Supreme Being pervades everything.
That Supreme Being actually exists in all of creation. So, it’s like a parent who is the source of the children, but then the parent also explains himself to provide for the children. So, then if the parent is the source of the child and is the provider of the child, then what is the duty of the child? The child’s duty is to cooperate with the parent.
So, similarly, Krishna is yatah pravrttir bhutanaam yena sarva-midam tatam. He’s source and he’s a sustainer and therefore svakarmanatam abhyarcha. So, the Vedic Varanashram system which Krishna is talking about is based on this principle of reuniting with our Supreme Lord, with our Supreme Father through the spiritualization of our work, by offering our work for His pleasure.
Siddhim vindati manavah. In this way one can attain perfection. So, Prabhupada explains in the Purport that everyone should think that he’s engaged in a particular type of occupation by Rishikesh, the master of the senses.
So, it is Krishna as Rishikesh, he is engaging us in the various services. It’s not that we are doing the services on our own. It is he who is engaging us.
And when we understand this is the role that Krishna has given me to play in His plan and His order of things, then I do my part in Krishna’s plan. So, that’s how we move forward. Now, Krishna, naturally a question will come, okay, but there are activities which are not very easy to do, which involve some kind of mismatch.
That Krishna address is over here. Shreyan svadharmo vighunaha paradharmāt svanushtitāt svabhāvanyatam karmāt kurvannāpnauti kilvishyam. So, this in the next verse, Krishna will address this problem of problematic prescribed duties.
Problematic prescribed duties means that sometimes one may feel that my duty is too troublesome. Therefore, I don’t want to do this. But Krishna is saying no.
Shreyan svadharmo vighunaha. It is far better to do one’s own svadharma. Shreyan svadharmo vighunaha, even if it is having some faults, vighunaha, it is faulty or imperfectly wrong.
Paradharmāt svanushtitāt as compared to paradharmāt, because svabhāvanyatam karmāt. When one acts according to one’s karma, kurvannāpnauti kilvishyam, one will not accrue karmic bondage. The idea is that all of us have our responsibilities and when we execute those responsibilities responsibly, then we progress.
We progress spiritually. We progress in moving towards Krishna. So, Krishna is telling over here, better stick to one’s prescribed duties.
So, this is especially addressing Arjuna’s concern that he is thinking that violence is undesirable and especially violence against one’s relatives. How can one do that kind of violence? So, better I should not fight. So, Krishna is saying that, okay, tolerance and forgiveness, they are the qualities of, they are the qualities of brāhmaṇas.
So, in contrast, the quality of a ká¹£atriya is yuddhe chaapi apalāyanaṁ. So, that is actually an indirect reference to Arjuna’s situation also. Arjuna, you cannot run away from the battlefield.
That is against ká¹£atriya nature. You have to fight. So, he is saying that vighunaha, even if it appears faulty, but you will become purified by doing your prescribed duty.
So, it is like a hospital where different patients who have different afflictions are given customised medicines. So, each patient has to take one’s own medicine. One cannot take somebody else’s medicine and expect, oh, that medicine is more palatable.
My medicine is not so palatable. No. Whatever is the medicine best suited for me, I take that medicine and by that I get elevated.
So, ká¹£atriya’s activity in the ká¹£atriya dharma may involve killing, but killing is also essential for maintaining law and order. Violence is also required sometimes. So, one should accept that.
So, Krishna will now give an example of how, even if there are faults, one should not give up duty because of sahajam karma kaunteya. So, sahajam means born with karma is sadosham, that along with karma, there may be some fault, but even if there is fault, natyajet, one should not give it up. Sarvarambha hi doshena, that all activities have some faults, just as dhuma is smoke, agni is fire.
So, fire is considered to be auspicious. Fire is used in yajnas, fire is used for cooking, fire is used for warmth. Now, as compared to that, smoke is not considered desirable.
Now, smoke does not illumine, smoke obstructs. Smoke may go into the nose and it may irritate and smoke is not what is considered to be the mouth of agni. So, normally when a sacrificial fire is put, the fire should come out nicely over there.
For that, there is smoke. Smoke is considered to be an obstacle, but whenever there is fire, there is smoke and one has to expertly handle the fire so that the smoke goes away and the fire blazes forth. One has to tolerate the presence of the smoke as long as it is there.
So, similarly, one has to tolerate faults in one’s prescribed duties. So, even while doing any particular duty, there will be some things which are palatable and some things which are unpalatable for us. So, we recognise the certain things that are unpalatable and put them aside, tolerate them.
So, a brahmana may have to do some fire yajnas in which there has to be killing involved. So, the brahmana understands, okay, this sort of killing is there, I will accept it, no problem. Because I do it within scriptural direction, then I do not get bound by it.
I can still get elevated. So, in this way, this whole section is telling us that one should act according to dharma and thereby get elevated. We will discuss now, from this next verse onwards, the transition will go to Jnana Yoga.
That we will discuss in our next class. Thank you.