Gita 08.23 – The Gita unifies diverse Vedic concepts in a devotional framework
Bhagavad Gita 8.23 यत्रकाले त्वनाऽवृत्तिम् आवृत्तिम् चैव योगिनः प्रयातायांतितंकालं वक्षामी भरतर्शिभाम् वक्षामी भरतर्शिभाम् Vakshami, I am speaking this. Bharatarshibha, O Arju, O best of the Bharatas, Rushabha, best leader. What is Krishna speaking, Vakshami? यत्रकाले त्वनाऽवृत्तिम् यत्रकाले त्वनाऽवृत्तिम् That time, अनावृत्ति, wonder, will not come back.
आवृत्तिम् चैव योगिनः आवृत्तिम् चैव योगिनः Or Yoginah will come back. प्रयातायांतितंकालं प्रयातायांतितंकालं The going as such, the ways of going, the times of going, कालं. Vakshami, I'll speak this.
So Krishna is continuing the thread of thought from earlier about departure which leads to coming back and departure which leads to not coming back and he is connecting that theme with another important Vedic theme. आवृत्ति, अनावृत्ति So, आवृत्तिम्, this Krishna talked about in 8.15 when he said that अब्रम्भुवनालोका पुनरावृतिनो अर्जुनमामुपेत्यतु कौन्तेय पुनरजन्मन विध्यते So there he said that, from the lowest to the highest planets, if one go पुनरावृतिनो, one will have to come back again. And when he said, मामुपेत्यतु कौन्तेय, if you attain my abode, then you will not have to come back.
पुनरजन्मन विध्यते So after speaking this, now he speaks about how one can have a similar trajectory of returning or not returning with some other factors in consideration. Krishna has talked about how in the 15th verse and in fact the whole 8.14 to 22, the section was analyzing how by worshipping Krishna and by aiming for Krishna's abode, one will not come back, whereas going to any other abode will cause one to come back. But in the broad Vedic tradition, it was understood that if one departs at a particular time, one comes back and if one departs another time, one doesn't come back.
It is called the देवियान पित्रियान and how that analysis of देवियान पित्रियान relates with Krishna's analysis over here. That is the question which has been raised and that is the question which Arjuna will, which actually the question has not specifically or exclusively been raised by Arjuna, but Krishna in one sense anticipates that sort of concern that because that's a related topic. You know, if someone tells us that, okay, if you take this treatment, you'll be cured, but if you do this, this, you'll not be cured.
But then if we have heard something entirely different, if you do this, you'll be cured and if you don't do this, you'll not be cured. Things will become, stay as it is or they will become worse. Then we may want to have a clarification.
Okay. How is what you are telling me related with what I have heard earlier? So similarly, existing at that time was the understanding about देवियान पित्रियान and how that relates with what Krishna is going to speak or Krishna has already, what Krishna has already spoken that so Krishna will summarize the देवियान पित्रियान and then he will conclude by talking about how the path of bhakti supersedes the technicalities of देवियान पित्रियान. One of the features, defining features of the Bhagavad Gita is that it integrates the wide variety of methods which are there in the broad Vedic wisdom.
It integrates, Bhagavad Gita integrates all those methods within a theistic devotional framework. There is a western Indologist, when he encountered Hinduism, he said Hinduism is not a religion, it is a museum of religions. That means there is so much variety and the variety is so amazingly diverse that it could fill up a museum.
So there is a museum worth of diversity of religious forms within what is called today's Hinduism. And of course, a good amount of what is called as a major amount of what goes on in the name of Hinduism now is having very little scriptural antecedent. But despite that, even within scripture itself, there is a wide variety of, there is a wide amount of diversity that's to accommodate different people who have different moods.
The broad Vedic culture recognizes that there are different people in different moods, Satyoguna, Arjoguna, Tamoguna and accordingly use them customized methods for gradual elevation. Now, within this variegatedness, sometimes what is suited for people at one level, for example, people in Tamoguna may be given a particular kind of worship, particular kind of sadhana by which they make some limited elevation from that level to a higher level. Now that kind of worship might seem incomprehensible and even odd if not abhorrent to those who are in Satyoguna.
That is if they do not have a sympathetic and holistic understanding of the Vedic program. So Krishna here is going to tell how all those things are related with what he has been discussing. So how the broad variety of Vedic paths can be integrated within the framework of Krishna Bhakti that Krishna discusses at various places in the Bhagavad Gita.
So Krishna goes far beyond discussing the specifics of Arjuna's questions. Arjuna's question specifically was, is it right for me to fight? And he phrased it more generically as, what is dharma? What is my dharma? And his question was on dharma and actually dharma, what is dharma? That is the defining question of the Mahabharata also. And beyond that, there is the concern that we as sadhakas are at that time Arjuna.
So while addressing Arjuna's question about dharma, Krishna addresses various themes and concepts connected with dharma. And the Living Gita tradition goes beyond that also and addresses the universal concept of action and consequence of action and what we should do and on what basis should we decide what we should do. So all the subjects are what make the Bhagavad Gita a living book.
And that's what we focus on when we analyze the Bhagavad Gita today. That the Bhagavad Gita takes a specific question and expands it to its universal dimensions and it is those universal dimensions that speak down again to us, to our specific situations. That's how the Bhagavad Gita remains an enduringly relevant book.
Thank you.