Gita 18.73 – Harmony with the Supreme is the sure sign of enlightenment

Transcript

This is an AI-generated transcript and may contain some errors.
This is Archana’s concluding response on hearing the Bhagavad Gita, Bhagavad Gita’s full message. And herein, this is actually a response to a direct question by Krishna in the previous verse. Here in the verse, Arjuna asks, So he asks, So Arjuna, have you heard properly, With one-pointed intelligence, With concentration, With affective consciousness, With structured awareness of knower, And has your ignorance of your knowing.
First, from Dhananjaya, So Arjuna, you are celebrated as a collector of wealth, Dhananjaya. Now, I have shared with you the supreme wealth of the topmost wisdom. So has it dissipated your ignorance and illusion? So, the first question, have you heard with concentration? That is interesting, because there could have been a lot of distractions.
It is a war field, and although initially, in Bhishma’s presence, the war codes were followed properly, And so when Krishna and Arjuna, when Arjuna put aside his bow, To talk something with Krishna, Bhishma asked his soldiers to check themselves. So, but still, the fact that there is a battlefield, There is a battlefield in a public place, in public land, that could have distracted Arjuna. And more importantly, right at the beginning, Arjuna was overwhelmed by emotions.
2.1 describes how Arjuna was overwhelmed. He was overwhelmed by compassion, And internally he was overwhelmed by emotions, And externally, his eyes were filled with tears. 2.2 says, Krishna spoke those words.
So the point is, because of the external internal situation, The external imminent probability of the war, And the internal war-like attack of strong emotions on Arjuna, It is quite likely that he could have been emotionally distracted. So, Krishna asked Arjuna, have you heard attentively? And yes, attention is the first necessity for comprehension. The student is not attentive, there is no question of the student understanding anything.
So the first question that Krishna asks is, Have you been able to hear attentively? And then after that, he says, Sometimes you will be attentive, But still, the subject may be too high, Or for whatever reason, we may not understand the subject. So then Krishna is checking first attention, Then he is checking comprehension, And the way he checks comprehension, Is by checking its effect. If Arjuna has comprehended the verse of Gita, Then the result should be, There is ignorance and there is illusion.
If they are destroyed, Ignorance and illusion, what is the difference? Ignorance means to not know. And illusion means to know falsely. So, for example, When a person doesn’t have eyes, That means the person was blind.
But in a person, it’s a false vision somehow. That means, Like Duryodhana in the Mayasabha, Where there was water, he thought there was land. So, a blind person, Dhritarashtra, when he was moving around in that Mayasabha, He would move around, If he had been moving around, He would have moved around very cautiously, With someone to guide him, Because he knew that he didn’t have eyes.
Now, Duryodhana had eyes, And those eyes misled him. So, ignorance means to not know what is the right thing. To not know at all.
And illusion means to know falsely. So, in the context of the Gita, Guru said that, Ignorance means to not know that we are the souls. And illusion means to think that we are the bodies.
So, Ignorance means to not know that we have a spiritual core. To not know that we are parts of God. And illusion means to think that we have an existence, Entirely independent of God.
So, when a Shrestha has such ignorance, An illusion is destroyed. That is Krishna’s question. Now, Arjuna’s answer is revealing.
Arjuna says, So, Krishna says, Arjuna is using the same word, Shrestha, nashta. Yes. The moha has been destroyed.
The memory has been restored. Restoration of memory refers to the point that, What Krishna spoke to Arjuna, Was not entirely new and unheard. Yes.
Krishna, Arjuna had heard many times before, That about one’s spiritual identity, About the principles of karma and yoga, And of the world. He had forgotten it. And of course, in this specific context, How all that applied, For a person about to fight a war.
So, the coherence of the principles, As well as the relevance, As well as the relevance, In this particular setting, That was what, Krishna stressed. That was what was special, You could say unique, Or very important. But overall, Arjuna had known this, And Krishna’s words, Reminded him of it.
So, the illusion is destroyed. And how is the illusion destroyed? By the restoration of memory. And how has all this happened? तक्पसादा मया चिदाव तक्पसादा means it’s all mine.
Your mercy, O Lord. तक्पसादा मया चिदाव O Lord, you do not fail me. You are चिदाव.
You are infallible. The word अच्छुत, Is one of the many names that is used to refer to Krishna in the Bhagavad Gita. But significantly this name is used, More prominently at the beginning and the end, And now so much, During the course of the Gita.
So, Initially, Arjuna tells Krishna, सेनयोर्भयोर्मध्यम् वथम्स्थापयमे अच्छुतम् यावनितान्दिरिश्यमु योधुकान्वस्तिताम् So, right at the start, in the first chapter, Arjuna tells Krishna, सेनयोर्भयोर्मध्यम् Arjuna gives it to Arjuna, वथम्स्थापयमे अच्छुतम् O Arjuna, please position my chariot. And by that, यावनितान्दिरिश्यम् By which are you able to see, योधुकान्वस्तिताम् Who are here to fight? So, the point is that, Krishna tells Arjuna that Krishna argument is used over there in the world, Achyuta. So, we often expect that if God is unfailed, that means he will always act according to our expectations.
In fact, at one level we could see the line of command at the start of the Gita was that Arjuna gave the orders and Krishna followed. So, there is much added between the two arguments. So, this kind of expectation can cause problems.
It can, sooner or later, will lead to frustration because Krishna knows better than us what is best for us. And his plan doesn’t always agree with our plan. And that’s why we may end up misleading ourselves if we don’t take care of the truth.
Don’t take care means keep in mind carefully that if Krishna is the controller, then we are his servants. So, sthito sthigata-sandevam kaleshevacinuktava Krishna being the controller and the line of command being from Krishna to Arjuna and not from Arjuna to Krishna That is stressed in Arjuna’s last words kaleshevacinuktava I will do your will. I will act according to your words.
So, sthito sthigata-sandevam I am well situated. Properly situated. sthito asmi Now, Arjuna was always on the chariot.
That was as far as the physical situation was concerned. But as far as the emotional situation was concerned sthito asmi He was not always well situated. He was actually emotionally he felt torn, not at all inclined to fight the war.
So, he was physically there on the war field but his heart was not there in the war. And eventually, at the start of the Gita he had decided that he is fighting. But now, he says, I am well situated.
gata-sandeha gata-sandeha Sandeha is doubt. Sandeha and samshaya are synonyms. So, Arjuna says that my doubts have gone.
Now, when we are on a journey desires, material desires they and doubts Desires and doubts are two primary distractors. They prevent us from making progress, moving onwards. Arjuna did not have, in a specific situation, the problem of desire.
He had been ready to live as a beggar also. Better to live as a beggar than by killing my own relatives. gurunahatvapi mahanubhavan shreyo bhoktam bhaikshinapi gadoke hatvakamastu gurunikaiva gurunjiriyahona prudhir pradigdhan So, he was saying that instead of killing my worshipable elders it is better that I live by begging.
So, that had been his extraordinary detachment and determination. So, his problem was not of desire distracting him. His problem was of doubt distracting him.
So, usually desires spring from the mind. The subtle body which obstructs us it obstructs us through desire that springs from the mind and it obstructs us through doubts that spring from the intelligence. And through both these we often are kept in illusion kept away from Krishna.
So, here it is stated that both desire and illusion both desire and doubt are removed by the Bhagavad Gita. Krishna repeatedly tells this throughout the Gita that mayi arpitatmanodhyaya offer both the faculties of the subtle body to me that indicates, put aside desires and doubts. So, in this specific situation Arjuna had doubts and nashto and he is saying over here katasandeva that my doubts are now gone.
So, sometimes different people interpret the Bhagavad Gita in different ways. And now of course Krishna has given the human mind the capacity to interpret things in different ways. So, even a straight forward statement a person wants, a person can interpret that statement in very peculiar ways.
So, that level of capacity is there for people. And especially now in post-modernist thought spreading throughout the world. Post-modernism has several characteristics.
One of them is the rejection of authority. Deconstruction and thereafter destruction of all sources of authority. So, their idea is that a book does not have one meaning.
But the book’s meaning is socially constructed not just by different societies but the book’s meaning is individually constructed by each reader. And with this idea a person often stays stays inflated by one’s own interpretation of the book. Thinking that I have given a new interpretation.
I have come out with something original. Now that idea of original is especially for books like the Bhagavad Gita an idea of original can be very damaging. Because the Bhagavad Gita is meant to be like a manual for understanding or you could say a road map.
Now if someone starts interpreting this symbol on the road map of a river as their own and then drives accordingly the person will meet with an accident. So, it will definitely not be post-modern and deconstructionist about everything. If we start saying that if Google Maps gives a direction if we are having some pathfinder, some path-guider for us in our car and then that particular direction turns right after 300 metres we say actually it does not mean turn right it can also mean turn left.
No, we cannot interpret that. Yes, there are philosophical concepts in the Gita they are profound but philosophy leads to a particular kind of action and that action is very clear. Arjuna, again in the Bhagavad Gita did not practise Ashtanga Yoga he did not practise Yama Yoga he fought the war.
Now action can either be Karma Yoga or it can be Bhakti Yoga. And if we see as Krishna goes towards the end his message becomes not so much Karma Yoga which is being taught in the initial chapter of the Gita but it is in a confusing way, unambiguously emphatically Bhakti Yoga is such a powerful message such a unambiguous two stressors sarva that give up everything else and make up only this very little room for ambiguity in interpretation Now we see the similar Bhakti Bhakti essence or stress of Bhakti in this last answer of Arjuna also because what we see is he is not saying simply that I will work with attachment I will act according to your words usually in Karma Yoga they focus on attachment not on devotion because the Karma Yogis focus more on disentanglement from the world from protection from karmic consequences and they may not know at least at this stage what the ultimate object of their worship is whereas this verse is clearly an expression of devotion where Arjuna is saying I will carry out your instructions I will act according to your will so in this way we see that if we let the Bhagavad Gita speak for itself it points very clearly towards a Bhakti conclusion not towards this spiritual free for all where one can interpret in whatever way one wants yes, one can interpret but that is not that is not the conclusion of the Gita that is one’s own take on the Gita Krishna very Arjuna declares over here Krishna very unambiguously calls for devotional surrender to them and Arjuna’s conclusion I will do your will that is also a devotional assertion he is not just saying I will fight so yes he is going to fight but the but here in the Bhagavad Gita has grammatically expanded Arjuna’s conception so that now he sees the fight not just as a fight but he sees the fight as an opportunity to serve Krishna as an opportunity to express his love for Krishna and in Arjuna’s specific context the the context required him to fight in other contexts something else may be required and Arjuna’s focus is on that point that I am not just fighting the purpose of my life is not just to fight it is to do your will so the willingness to become an instrument of God is the perfection of enlightenment enlightenment as we can see from the flow of the Gita its conclusion is not just sitting in some mystical pose where where it is disconnected from the world but Arjuna really says that he has understood his illusion is destroyed his doubts have been removed all of which are indirect way of saying that he has now become enlightened but even after becoming enlightened he is not claiming to have he is not going into some state of mystic oneness but rather he is focussing on becoming one oneness is there but its not in existence but it is in intelligence it is an intention where Arjuna’s will becomes one with Krishna’s will and thus he agrees to do whatever Krishna wants and that is an opportunity that all of us have to raise our conceptions and thus act in harmony with Krishna’s will and thus by doing this we can all attain the level of freedom from illusion and enlightenment in our respective situations what may comprise acting in an enlightened way may vary according to time and place and certainly we have to consider that specific situation consult guru sadhu shastra pray to the lord and based on such prayerful and guided contemplation we can decide finally what is to be done and what is not to be done but ultimately the bhagavad gita is quite clear that the state of enlightenment is not about attaining some mystic perfection of some impersonal merging or oneness the bhagavad gita talks about attaining the mystic perfection of becoming situated in devotion to Krishna karishye vachinam tava this is a very beautiful short text to meditate on when we are confused, Krishna I want to do your will please guide me we can pray like this, express our devotional intention to Krishna and seek his guidance accordingly in whatever situation comes in our life