Gita 02.54 – Non-literal meaning illumines when literal meaning stumps

By consistently rejecting distraction.

Thank you. Arjuna Vachan. This is Arjuna speaking.

So, Krishna has spoken from 11 to 53 verses, so 43 verses. And now Arjuna is asking a question. So, Siddha Pragya, Siddha Pragya, for such a person who is Siddha Pragya, who is well situated.

Krishna, Arjuna uses the word Pragya, which is not being used by Krishna, but Pragya is similar to Buddhi. Basically, it means intelligence. So, one whose intelligence is studied, what is the speech of that person? What is the language of that person? That same person Krishna is referring by, Arjuna is referring by another word, one who is situated in Samadhi.

How does he converse? How does he sit and how does he walk? Now, again, we see that the most important thing in understanding scripture is sometimes simply common sense. Now, if we just take the literal meaning over here, how does he sit and how does he walk? Now, Arjuna is clearly not talking about fashion lessons and he is not talking about a person who is a style expert in sitting or walking. They are in a war field and both of them are themselves very charismatic people.

So, they do not need to discuss such things. And anyway, if you look at the previous context, it is seriously philosophical. It is talking about people who are rejecting even pious pleasures.

It is people who are rejecting even scripturally ordained pious pleasures. And while talking about such people, Arjuna will obviously not talk about simple sitting or walking. So, when the literal meaning does not make sense, at that time, the non-literal meaning needs to be explored.

The standard example in scripture is, if somebody says his house is on the river. Now, houses do not exist on the river. Houses are on the banks of the river.

So, then the bank may not be stated, but it is implied over there. So, we cannot take the literal meaning. We have to take the meaning by adjusting according to the context.

So, here the Acharya has explained that the four questions that Arjuna is asking are not to be taken literally. Actually, the Acharyas do not go about saying specifically that they do not have to be taken literally. Just give us the meaning which is non-literal.

Now, Krishna and Arjuna are discussing in Sanskrit and Sanskrit itself is Deva Bhasha. So, it is not that there is going to be some other Bhasha, some other language, some special language that the enlightened people talk in. So, the word Bhasha here does not refer to language in the literal sense of say, which language? Is it English, Hindi, Marathi, German, Sanskrit or whatever? It is Bhasha.

It means something different. So, Bhashyate iti bhasha. Now, Bhashyate, we know the word Bhashya usually means a commentary.

Technically speaking, generally Bhashya means commentary and Tika means a commentary on a commentary or sub-commentary. But either way, Bhashya means that which comments on, that which describes. So, Bhasha in that sense is that which is used to describe.

So, this means how is that person described and that in turn means what are the symptoms of a self-realized person. What are the symptoms of a self-realized person? Now, the next is Kim Prabhashyata. Now, here Prabhashyata means how does the person use the Bhasha? How does the person converse? That basically means how does the person respond in speech to life? When a person faces ups and downs of life, how does the person respond in speech? Some people get wild when they are successful, wild with elation and they become wild with fury and they don't get what they want.

So, how does this person react? So, actually in order that there be no ambiguity, Arjuna is describing that same person three times in the first line and then and in response Krishna while referring to the same person will use these different references. So, essentially these three references mean the same thing. Sita prajna, intelligence is fixed.

Krishna has talked about buddhirvati tarishati and the buddhi and prajna are the same. So, buddhi has gone beyond has become fixed. So, he's talked about that fixedness of the intelligence.

The next verse also, 53rd verse also he says that So, achala buddhi is same as sita prajna and then samadhi was the word which was used in 53. Dhi also means intelligence of consciousness. So, essentially that person is very fixed, internally fixed.

What are the characteristics? And then kima, sita, prajita, kim. So, what do these words mean? Asita and prajita, they refer to actually asita refers when we talk about sitting, it's not literal sitting, it refers to keeping the senses under control, keeping the senses disciplined. So, not letting the senses wander here and there.

So, asita, just like when we sit, our senses are inactive. So, how does one restrain the senses and keep them inactive? That is the first question, kima, sita. And then there is prajita, kim.

How does such a person, prajita, prajita means to move about. Now, we can't just live motionless without engaging the senses in any activity throughout our life. We do have to act.

So, when the person acts, how does this person act? That's the question. Prajita, kim. So, essentially, the four questions are, how are the symptoms of the person? How does the person speak? How does the person control the senses and keep them silent? And how does the person engage the senses? Or how does the person deal with the senses while being engaged in the world? And these questions will be answered by Krishna from 65 to 72, from 55 to 72.

So, 55, 56 is the answer to the first question. 57 is the answer of the next question. So, 55 answers.

What are the symptoms? Two symptoms will be described. And that same inner disposition is described in the next verse, 56. And how does the inner disposition expresses itself as outer verbalization is mentioned in 57.

So, there is a seamless transition from the first question answer to the second question. So, 56, 57 in that sense, 57 centrally is the answer to the second question. How does the person speak? Then 58 to 63 is the answer to the third question.

How does the person sit? They are the metaphor of the tortoise moving its limbs inside is used, which is actually for inactivity. And then how does the person move about? That is from 64 to the end of the chapter 72. And therein, in 67, the metaphor of a boat on water is used.

Because that is a metaphor which is used for motion. The boat is not going to stay motionless, the boat is moving. But while moving also one has to be skillful and one has to be cautious.

So, that is indicated through that metaphor. We will discuss these metaphors and the related concepts when we come to that verse. But returning to this particular verse, and now what is the stimuli for Arjuna to ask this question? We know that the broader context of this discussion is Arjuna is undecided whether I should fight or not fight.

And although Krishna has given Arjuna the call to fight, the last call to fight came in, explicit call came in 37-38. 38 was to yudhaya jesva. Yudhaya krutnisaya was in 37.

Now, after that, there was a call for doing action, yoga karmasu kaushalam, karmanyeva adhikaraste. There is a call to practice yoga and yoga was said to be involving karma. But then the descriptions of the person were quite somewhat otherworldly.

The person's consciousness is fixed, he is equi-poised on his happiness and distress and person is not disturbed by scripture. So, Arjuna naturally had the question, what are the symptoms of this kind of this perfect person that Krishna is talking about? So, would that person fight a war or not? And, you know, so by understanding the symptoms of that person, Arjuna is asking, how can I become like that person? To become like that person, should I fight or should I not fight? And Krishna will answer the specific questions about symptoms of that person. But the answer about the symptoms, although it addresses the specific, the verbalized question, the symptoms, it does not clarify Arjuna's unstated doubt, which actually express itself as this question of symptoms, that is, should I fight or not? And that question of should I fight or not will be explicitly raised by Arjuna at the start of the third chapter in 3.1 and 2. So, this is the first question that is asked by Arjuna after Krishna begins his serious discourse.

And these questions which will come again and again, they are practically there in almost every chapter except the very small chapters. So, these questions mark significant transition points or significant thought points, or significant junctures of thought in the discussion and they will take the discussion forward and keep the Bhagavad Gita an enlivening and absorbing book, which rather than just becoming dissolving into an abstract philosophical treatise, remains live as a stimulating, thought-provoking and enriching discussion between two great individuals.