Gita 02.11 – The ability to harmonize the walk with the talk characterizes the wise

Bhagavad Gita 2.11 Ashocha Nanvashochastram Pragyavadamsya Bhashase Gatasona Gatasumsya Nanushochanti Panditah This is Bhagavad Gita 2.11 Shri Bhagavan Vacha Second time the words of Bhagavan these words Shri Bhagavan Vacha are coming first was 2.2, 2.3 but that was before the super significant event of Arjuna surrendering Karpanya Doshopahata in 2.7 happened so there although it was Shri Bhagavan only speaking but he was speaking more as a friend here Shri Bhagavan will be speaking as a guru and Prahasanniva he was smiling to see the change in the mood of his disciple but appropriating the right but assuming the rightly grave mood now Bhagavan starts speaking and he calls a spade a spade Ashocha Anvashochastram Ashochaan so the word Shochati Vishidantam Shokam Lamentation Grief those words have come repeatedly while describing Arjuna and Krishna says Ashocha Anvashochastram that actually that which is not worthy of being grieved Ashocha Anvashochastram you are grieving for that Pragyavadams Chabhashase you are while grieving for that which is not worthy of grief you are Pragyavadams so Vada means words Pragyavadams is the words of the wise you are Chabhashase you are speaking so it's interesting Krishna is not saying you are wise he is saying you are speaking the words of the wise so you are speaking wise sounding words the idea is that just speaking wise sounding words doesn't make a person wise what makes a person wise is actually living according to those words so even a stage actor can mimic the words of great thinkers can memorize and mimic those words but that does not make the stage actor into a great thinker similarly Krishna is telling Arjuna that your words are lofty but your actions belie your words your words speak of great wisdom but your actions show that you are lacking in wisdom Ashocha Anvashochastram you know what is worthy of lamentation and what is not worthy of lamentation that varies according to a person's wisdom according to a person's maturity you know when children are playing and say children are building sand castles on a bank of ocean on the on the coast of ocean of a sea and then as the high tide rises and all the things get drowned the the castle starts getting destroyed by the rising of the water the child may cry but the parents will not cry why although the parents feel the distress that the child is going through and they would want that the child not go through that distress but they also know that there are certain things which the child if he is not ready to learn by hearing he has to learn by experiencing this is one of them so what we grieve about reveals the level of our consciousness and what children grieve about the parents do not grieve about similarly as we grow spiritually we do not grieve so much about temporary things so that which is not worthy of lamentation Arjuna you are lamenting for that so this is actually a form of disapproval chastisement it's like telling a person almost on the face bluntly that you are there are double standards you are being a hypocrite you are not walking your talk so you are not walking your talk Krishna is telling Arjuna that you are saying that you quote scripture and you that you have heard from heard Hrithish Shruma he said in 0.43 and you are quoting about so many long term future social consequences so all these sound like the words of the wise but you yourself your demeanor is not like a wise person so the point is that we all need to walk our talk if our words are to be trustworthy if if we can speak eloquently speak insightfully speak rhetorically and these can all have an impact but the point is that people especially those who are serious seekers they want to not just to hear things that sound good but they want to see those things demonstrated in the life of those people who are teaching those things and leave alone others actually actually affecting others we may titillate others mesmerize others by our expertise at word processing but if you have to transform others they need to see living inspirations of what are inspiring teachings are being given but apart from that even ourselves speaking high sounding words won't benefit us we need to actually live those words and living those words requires that we work with determination in making our actions harmonize with our words so the ability to subordinate emotion to reason is one of the characteristics of maturity this does not mean suppress human emotion but it simply means that we recognize that emotions can be misleading and emotions can be distracting and sometimes emotions can even be degrading so we need to check those emotions check in a double sense check means observe and check means stop so we need to use our intelligence to check our emotions to observe our emotions to evaluate them and to stop them whenever it is required so that is actually the sign of true learning so unworthy causes one need to get very excited about those things so for example if somebody is talking about writes about the great problem of poverty in society and is talking about how so many people are suffering and this and that and what the government needs to do and like that one keeps talking about poverty and talks in very good sounding ways but then suddenly that person gets the news that oh India lost a cricket match that person practically breaks down becomes hysterical comes on the verge of breaking the television so now naturally the question will come up if you are so concerned about the poor now the state of the poor where they are actually battling for getting a meal battling to live that is a far graver problem than say India losing a match even if that may be a very big match now of course those who are addicted to sports cricket may not feel like that but the point is their feelings are subjective and especially when somebody is waxing eloquent about some other subject which is far graver in terms of being a matter of life and death matters of life and death are objectively definitely far more graver than the result of a particular match so then such a person to get worked up about say the result of a cricket match that would be unbecoming so that's a very rough example but the point is Arjuna is talking about very grave consequences based on in terms of scripture but then he is missing on a very fundamental teaching of scripture and that's why his words his actions and words do not do not harmonize so Krishna will guide Arjuna to walk his talk not by bringing his behavior down to the level of his emotions level of his unexamined emotions but rather raising his emotions to the purest level and raising his behavior also to that level so that there is a congruence between emotion and action at the transcendental level in pure devotion and that's how towards by the end of the Gita Arjuna will actually be able to act wisely thank you.