Gita 04.22 – See scriptural principle in the light of its social context to find its practicability

Thank you. Bhagavad Gita 4.22 yad-ritcha yad-ritcha lābha santuṣṭo yad-ritcha means whatever comes by itself without any extra endeavour lābha means gain santuṣṭo that means being satisfied with whatever one gets by the arrangement of providence dvandva-atito vimatsarha dvandva-atita dvandva is duality happiness distress, success, failure, honour, dishonour they are all dvandva-atita one who has gone beyond these dvandva-atito vimatsarha and non-envious when we are within the dualities then we feel envious of those who are situated better than us if I am not so wealthy and somebody is wealthy then I feel envious samaha-siddhava-siddha-uccha so the transcendentalist is not envious and whatever one gets success or failure samaha-siddha-siddha-uccha krtva-api krtva means to do action even after doing action api na nibadhyate such a person does not become bound so essentially this verse is stating that one will not become bound if one's consciousness is right in that sense this verse is continuing the theme of action without reaction how that can be done the previous verse has stated shariram kevalam karma ghurvan na apnauti kilvisham sharhiram kevalam karma acting only for the sake of maintaining the body that similar theme of simplicity in living is indicated over here by whatever gain one gets by the will of providence now we wonder is this practical and for that matter was this practiced even by arjuna if arjuna had to be satisfied with the dhrucha-labha-santushtho then shouldn't he have stayed in the forest itself thinking that if it is the will of providence, providence will give us the kingdom if providence doesn't give us if we are not getting our kingdom then there is no need to fight which is to accept the will of providence which is that we should stay in the forest now arjuna did not do that and krishna also repeatedly urges arjuna to do his duty for regaining the kingdom which they had lost which rightfully belonged to them so scriptures principles cannot be simplistically divorced from the social context in which their practicality is demonstrated and then they have to be translated into our social context so that we can understand their practicability now so arjuna when it is said dhrucha-labha-santushtho that be satisfied with whatever comes of one's accord that does not mean that we leave our duties to just some fate's accord we have to do our duty very diligently so arjuna as a warrior as a martial guard in a society had a duty to protect the citizens and he did that duty diligently now along with that or while doing that what results come that arjuna will not be attached to now of course when even anarava kshatriya is either hurt physically and needs some relief or is doing his duty to prevent those who are connected with him from getting hurt that means including not just family members but even the society at large of course the kingdom's citizens especially for the king is considered the father of all the citizens of the society so it is the king's duty to protect the citizens and to be assertive in executing that duty even to the extent of fighting when it is required dhrucha-labha-santushtho does not mean passivity with respect to one's duties it refers to detachment from unnecessary desires duty is necessary as a part of one's contribution to society and what will be the exact conception of duty what will be the definition of success within one's conception of duty that can vary from person to person so Arjuna is dhrucha-labha-santushtho Krishna is telling him that means that don't bother too much about this permutation and that combination know that if you do your duty as a Kshatriya warrior whatever result you get you may get a kingdom you may not get a kingdom you may have to fight against your relatives you may have to fight against your against people whom you hate and against whom you like to fight whatever it is dhrucha-labha-santushtho that means do your duty whatever be the situation circumstance providence has put you in dvandvatito vimatsarha dvandvatito and go beyond consideration of success and failure Krishna gives instruction of going beyond duality or seeing duality equally for the first time in 2.38 and after that he is continuing to give this again and again and this really demonstrates the profoundly dramatic or profoundly paradoxical message of the Bhagavad Gita because war is the place where duality is emphasized the most victory is what is desired and defeat is what is loathed is dreaded because defeat would usually mean death and often a painful death if one becomes captured by a brutal enemy so the Gita is stating that one can be samah siddhav siddhav ca that one can be one be equiposed amidst happiness and distress amidst success and failure that indicates how profound the Gita's message is that once we get a spiritual connection an inner connection at a spiritual level with Krishna that that connection is so soolasing, so strengthening so uplifting that the gravest of dualities or the grimest of dualities, the most emotion inducing of dualities in material existence which usually happen at the time of war and of course we don't often see war life you know synthetic version of war is often seen in sports where two competitors whether they be two players or two teams fight against each other and emotions run high so just as playing a game being oblivious to success or failure seems quite difficult so it is with war but just as we may understand that if a player deeply loves the game then the person plays out of love for the game and certainly it's not that the person is indifferent to winning the game, person is definitely concerned about offering the best performance and thereby winning, so it is not that Arjuna as a Kshatriya is unconcerned about the result of the fight and that's certainly not what Krishna wants Arjuna to do but his primary purpose in fighting is not winning, his primary purpose is to see is seeing that activity of fighting as a expression of his love, not just his Kshatriya love for fighting itself as it might be for a cricketer's love for cricket but as a soul's love for service to his beloved, for loving service to his beloved, that is Krishna so seeing in this way if one works then krutvaapi nani badhyate, even if a person acts that person will not be bound by anything in material existence.