Gita 16.07 Observe others actions not to condemn but to help

Transcript

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16.7 there are pluses and there are minuses there are activities which are recommended to be done and there are activities which are recommended not to be done jananavid that is pravrtti and nivrtti respectively and jananavidur asura so asura the demoniac period people do not know what is to be done and what is not to be done so if we are driving on a road and depending on the nationality where we are in sometimes we are told to drive on the left and sometimes on the right but whichever nationality nation we are in we have to follow the rules of that nation if somebody doesn’t follow them they get into trouble so in life life is also like a journey and for the for managing the traffic of life we also need some amount of regulation so jananavidur asura so this regulation in terms of what to do what not to do that is explained in scripture but some people just don’t know about it jananavidur asura na shaucam na pichacharo that they have no shauca they have no cleanliness again you know there are certain activities which are considered cleansing and certain activities which are considered contaminating activities which are considered contaminating are to be avoided but those who do not have a sense of shuchi they don’t get that oh these should not these kind of activities should not be done they just do whatever they feel like doing and thus shauca is not there now shuchi is a state of cleanliness and that comes from achara proper behaviour na shaucam na pichacharo so the achara is not there among such people because they just don’t have that conception of proper achara so overall na satyamdeshu vidyate they don’t speak the truth not only they don’t speak the truth they don’t even value the truth because for them the value of truth is utilitarian if speaking truthfully helps them to move onwards move forward in their life to fulfill their purposes then they will be truthful if not they will not be truthful quite often for the materialistic especially those who are outright aggressively materialistic they are for them as Krishna will mention in the next verse that sense gratification is the goal of their life so for them whatever helps them fulfill their purpose of sense gratification that is what is to be done and whatever doesn’t fulfill that purpose that is to be abandoned so truth is simply a tool for them to fulfill their purposes and truth can fulfill their purpose then they are ready to do that also so therefore the key thing is we all recognize that in the inevitable ups and downs of life there are no shortcuts that in the long journey if we don’t follow regulation then we only invite destruction just like the traffic rules may sometimes require us there is no right turn over here now we may want to go right or we may want to take a u-turn but there is no facility for u-turn there if we take a u-turn where the u-turn is not allowed then the only result is that we increase the danger that we put ourselves in and not only danger sometimes there may be destruction because of that so for us it’s vital to follow the rules for our own safety similarly when we are growing in our spiritual life it’s important for us that we follow rules not for anyone else but it’s not so easy for us to understand how the rules that we are following are for our own good because in the condition stage it does appear as if rulelessness is the way to freedom and rules are the enemies of freedom but that is not necessarily the factual reality even it appears to be the perceived reality yes when we are driving and being able to turn whichever way we want whenever we want it may seem like freedom but actually it will lead to lot of danger and disaster so just like for travelling before a person is certified as being capable of having a license in travelling they have to usually give an exam and they need to know the traffic rules similarly it is our responsibility to know traffic rules and by knowing that we can move forwards in our life so the asuri people they don’t know what is to be done and what is not to be done they just don’t know asura they are the demoniac people there is no there is no cleanliness within them nor is there proper achara within them so if we see what has come before these verses krishna has described briefly the divine and demoniac he has described the divine qualities and he has said now he is going to describing the he is going to describe the demoniac qualities and normally when we look at people we don’t know their conceptions we know their actions and what is the world view that people have that we can learn from the kind of actions that they do so here krishna is giving us first the actions and then from there onwards he will give us the conceptions so here he is saying that actually it is vital we look at people and we look at ourselves this description of the demoniac nature is not so much for condemning others because say in today’s world we may find a significant number of people who may exhibit the characteristics that resemble the characteristics of the demoniac described in this verse that the people’s actions may simply be an outgrowth of the culture that they grew up with and that culture gave them certain conceptions so it is best that we don’t become judgmental towards others based on the actions that they have at the same time we have to be discerning say now we can see the wrong doing especially if we want to avoid being judgmental we can see even wrong doing as a result of infection so if a person goes to an infected area and say there that the infectious disease is spreading through water and there are some people who are drinking the impure water the contaminate water and are falling sick so now the main purpose of the medical professionals who are going there is to offer treatment while offering treatment they also will offer we could say medical enlightenment that this water is not to be drunk among the people drinking that water there may be two categories there are some people who know that water is hazardous for health and still they drink it out of laziness or foolishness or recklessness and there may be others who just don’t know that the water is hazardous there might also be a third category that there are people who know but they don’t know any alternative if the water is contaminated but that is the only water available for drinking water is a necessity and if contaminated water is the only water available that is what they will drink so similarly in today’s world when we see people living godlessly self destructively we need to understand that this kind of living is not necessarily character flaw that can be used to blame those people alone our actions are as a result definitely of our choices but they are not just a result of our own choices they are also a result of our circumstances so say for people who may be eating meat because that is the only way that is what they have been fed since their childhood so we if we condemn them as meat eaters and they say they don’t know what to eat how to eat then actually we are simply exhibiting our own judgmentality without really offering any solution so some people know meat some people just may know meat is bad but before the vegan movement started in the west most people thought that being a vegetarian means eating vegetables and having huge protein deficiencies so they didn’t know about healthy and tasty vegetarian foods so at that time if somebody is eating meat either because they don’t know that there is anything wrong with meat or because even if they know but they don’t know what to do about it they don’t have any alternative then we can’t blame them so our purpose is to not to condemn but to assist and this description of the demoniac at one level we need to apply to ourselves primarily to correct ourselves from whatever demoniac tendencies that may be there within us by following Shastra which Krishna will talk about at the end of the chapter along with that we can also learn to apply ourselves use this as a spectacle to look at people but not look at it in a judgmental condemning way but in a way that inspires us and encourages us to assist people in elevating them just as a doctor’s primary purpose in interacting with others is to heal them