Essence of the Gita part one

The Essence of Bhagavad-Gita

The Great Conversation

   What makes the Bhagavad-gita such a singular work? There are many epic and heroic poems, sagas of war from the ancient world. Perhaps the Iliad and the Odyssey are the most well-known. Many books describe ancient combat, the lust for battle, the tragedy of war. Many of these confront important moral dilemmas. And yet, when the time for battle comes, the hero accepts his fate and enters the fight. A hero who refuses the call to adventure is a coward. It is rare to find a hero who enters a great conversation at the moment of truth. And yet at the outset of battle in Kurukshetra, all the action pauses to hear a dialogue between a man in great crisis and God Himself.

   To find a similar argument against war in Greek Mythology one might cite the example of Odysseus feigning madness to avoid Agamemnon's call to arms in his siege of Troy.

Then there's Achilles refusal to fight. But Odysseus avoids war out of self-preservation and family affection where Achilles sulks in his tent out of anger and pride. At no point in the ancient Greek epic do we find any metaphysical discussion between gods and men about the nature of soul and karma.

The central conflict in Mahabharata is the battle of Kurukshetra.  And the key moment is the beginning of the battle. The pivot point of the entire 100,000 verse work is Arjuna's crisis of conscience. If Arjuna decides not to fight, the battle is lost. Without Arjuna, the Pandavas are finished.

And yet his crisis of conscience is not based on weakness, although Krishna tells him not to be weak. He is concerned with the future of the dynasty. If war destroys all the great heroes of an age, what will be left? Society will be ruined. The very principles of religion will suffer. Customs and traditions will fall by the wayside, women and children will be corrupted. The whole system of caste and social order will never recover.

Arjuna is not concerned with pride and adventure, booty or gold, kingdom and fortune. Even his duty as a warrior, a principle he has always cherished, has no value for him. He stops his chariot just as hundreds of thousands of warriors are ready for blood, and in the heart of the battlefield puts down his weapons. He will not pick them up again until he is convinced.

   The dialogues of Plato are set in the gardens of the Greeks, where young men discuss abstract ideas about justice. But the dialogue between Arjuna and Krishna is set on the plains of Kurukshetra where men of iron and steel are about to commit wholesale slaughter. The ideas they discuss are far from abstract, but would influence the fates of thousands of heroes.

  The highest ideals of the Greeks may be expressed in the Platonic dialogue called "Crito" where Socrates drinks poison while discussing the soul. http://classics.mit.edu/Plato/crito.htm But Socrates is always more interesting for the questions he asks than for any real answers about the meaning of life. Whereas Arjuna will not be satisfied simply by putting interesting questions. Unlike Socrates who seems satisfied to merely ask questions, Arjuna wants to get to the meaning of life before he sacrifices his own in battle.

   Sometimes we overlook the nobility of Arjuna when looking deeply into the meaning of the Bhagavad-gita, since Krishna Himself dismisses many of his questions as being superficial. But it is Arjuna's nobility which elevates the conversation to the highest level.

    Nor do we find such a conversation anywhere in he Bible or the teachings of Christ to his disciples. Jesus Christ found himself teaching in parables to fishermen and carpenters.  If he were able to discuss the inner meaning of spiritual life with an intimate disciple, we have no record of such a discussion. For a true parallel, we would need to know what conversation Jesus Christ had with his Heavenly Father while in the Garden of Gethsemane. There it is said the Lord Jesus asked his Father to remove the cup of wrath he was about to drink. What dialogue He may have had with His Son, we can only imagine. What would God have said to Jesus Christ in his moment of doubt?

     In the Gita we have a conversation by a man in crisis with God Himself, Krishna. If you could have a conversation with God in a moment of crisis, what questions would you ask? Arjuna asked about karma, dharma, yoga, work, action, sin, knowledge, religion, duty, the goal of life, self-realization, the nature of reality, God, time, and the world. As hardened warriors held their bow-strings tight, Arjuna paused his long enough to ask about the nature of the soul, death, and the Supreme Reality.

   Any one of us who have passed through a moment of crisis know what Arjuna felt. And like Arjuna, we can take solace and inspiration from the  words of Krishna and the message of Bhagavad-gita even in our darkest

Bhagavad-Gita forms a small chapter  in the Bhishma parva of the  Mahabharata,  a 100,000  verse Sanskrit epic describing  the  Kurukshetra war between the sons of Pandu and the sons of Dhritarashtra. This battle was supposed to have taken place some 5000 years ago in the holy place known as Kurukshetra  where over 6 million warriors had gathered. As he rides into battle,  Arjuna, the warrior king,  will is filled with doubts and asks his friend, Krishna,  God himself, or an avatar of divinity, to instruct him in his correct duty according to Dharma.

The Bhagavad-Gita comprises some 700 verses   in Sanskrit  and deals with questions about yoga, Dharma, karma, meditation, duty, the nature of the universe, the soul, God, and the universal laws of time and space.

Of the various commentaries on the  Bhagavad-Gita, the most important are those of Sridhar Swami, (the first commentator) Shankar  ( 5th century A.D.)  Madhva  (10th Century) Ramanuja, (11^th Century)   as well as those of Baladeva Vidyabhushana, (after Madhva) and Vishvanatha Chakravarti Thakura. Apart from these, the commentaries of Bhaktivinoda Thakura, (19^th century) and Bhaktisiddhanta Saraswati Thakura (20^th Century) are most enlightening.

The most popular translation of Bhagavad-Gita ever published was that of A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada, MacMillan 1967 which sold over a million copies.

 There are of course hundreds of translations and commentaries of the Bhagavad-Gita, but the above mentioned translations follow the traditional schools of Bhagavad-Gita interpretation that I have been made popular by millions of Hindus over the last 2000 years.

The Bhagavad-gita is a great conversation.

 Contents of the Bhagavad-Gita:

In his Gita-bhashya commentary Ramanuja relies on the Gita-samgraha of his teacher Yamunacharya, which summarizes the Gita as follows: 

“It is the doctrine expounded by the Bhagavad-gita that Narayana who is the Supreme Brahman, can only be achieved by means of bhakti which is brought about by observance of the dharma, acquisition of knowledge, and the renunciation of passion.”

 According Yamuna’s version, the first six chapters of the Bhagavad-gita instruct us on gaining a well-founded position in understanding karma or action and jnana, or knowledge, where action should be dedicated with knowledge in yoga to achieve a harmonized relationship between soul and Supreme Soul.

The first chapter of the Gita is largely introductory material. As the opposing armies stand ready for battle, Arjuna is overcome, and expresses his inability to perform his duty as warrior.

Arjuna's Crisis of Conscience

       This first chapter of the  Bhagavad-gita is often overlooked as a superfluous prologue to the real heart of Kṛṣṇa's teachings. And yet we may find the real key to the meaning of the Gīta in Arjuna's crisis of conscience. In fact the chapter has been titled, arjunaviṣādayogaḥ,  अर्जुनविषादयोगः, in keeping with the formality of titling each chapter according to the Yoga system taught within. So what yoga system is examined here in the first chapter?

      Some thousand years after the battle of Kurukshetra was fought and settled and the Mahābharata composed by Vedavyāsa, the philosopher Plato began to establish the model of Western philosophical discourse on the basis of dialogues. Today, of course, this is commonplace, but most critics credit Plato for inventing the form. Actually, we may find the precedent for the dialogues of Plato in Bhagavad-gita and the dialogue between Kṛṣṇa and Arjuna.

     If a dialogue has no conflict, it is flat, bland, lifeless. Mere catechism lacks the character of true dialogue. At the beginning of Bhagavad-gita, there is a tremendous conflict. Armed men are about to assault each other in an all-out battle for dynasty, pitting gurus against their disciples, grandchildren against grandfathers. It is to be the bloodiest conflict of ancient history, eclipsing even the Trojan War. But while the Iliad contains no philosophical dialogue, the Mahabharat gives us the Bhagavad-gita at its very center. Just as the Trojan War hinges on whether Achilles will fight, the Battle of Kurukshetra hinges on Arjuna's willingness to fight. Without Arjuna, the Pandavas and Yudhisthira are lost as is their cause: dharma.

     Homer's Achilles is moved by vengeance for the death of his lover Patrocles. Vengeance has brought Arjuna to the brink of war, but before he dives into the slaughter, he pauses. He has a moment of doubt. This doubt is what fires the conversation between Kṛṣṇa and Arjuna. Arjuna does not enter the matter as a true believer, but as a reluctant warrior.

    As Arjuna begins his conversation with Kṛṣṇa he looks upon the gathered armies and sees cousins, brothers, fathers and sons, even gurus ready to kill and die. He lays down his arms, overcome with compassion. But Arjuna is not a coward as sometimes he is depicted; he is the greatest warrior of the ancient world celebrated in thousands of lines of Sanskrit. He has already defeated Shiva in a hunting duel, contested with his father Indra the god of thunder himself in the burning of the Khandava forest. He has conquered an entire race of ghostly warriors, the Nivata-kavachas and sent them to hell. Arjuna is no shrinking violet.

   No coward would singlehandedly demand that his chariot be drawn up in the no-man's land between two opposing armies when arrows are beginning to fly.  And yet, after having been primed for this battle, having won the greatest weapons of war from the gods, instead of entering the fray swinging his sword and firing arrows from his famous Gandhiva bow, he has a moment of doubt. 

     Vishada can mean "despair, despondency." I think in today's parlance we would call it a "crisis of conscience." The Bhagavad-Gita takes us on a journey from despondency and suffering to enlightenment and bliss. But we begin with Arjuna's crisis of conscience.

     It may seem a conceit to call "Crisis of Conscience" a form of yoga. And yet if "yoga" is a system for bringing us in contact with the divine, that journey often begins with doubt. If we don't take time to question who we are or what we are doing, we may never confront ourselves with the truth about reality. Arjuna's crisis of consciense makes him doubt everything. He questions Krishna: Why must he be a warrior? What is the place of society, religion, duty, self-consciousness, God consciousness? What happens when duty and religion clash? Arjuna is no fool. He has participated in discussions with great sages and saints from the Kamyaka forest to the heavenly planets. He is well-acquainted with Vedic conclusions about duty and karma. And yet his crisis of conscience allows him and us to explore the deepest questions through his conversation with Kṛṣṇa.

   If Kṛṣṇa Himself takes us on a tour of every possible yoga and practice, Arjuna exercises every possible doubt, not from the rehearsed questions of a learned professor, but with the aching doubt of a seasoned warrior, reluctant for spilling further blood. The intensity of his crisis of conscience is matched at every step by the truths of Kṛṣṇa's message. 

  In the end, Arjuna's crisis of conscience is our own. If we approach the message of the Gīta in the same spirit as Arjuna, inquiring, but willing to accept truth, we may aspire to achieve the same enlightenment. "Crisis of Conscience" as yoga is useful, especially if we approach a realized master submissively and in a spirit of inquiry.  Arjuna's yogic crisis of conscience is sincere, and his dialogue with Kṛṣṇa and the truths contained therein conclude in the highest understanding of yoga: the yoga of divine love.

      Sanjaya, the narrator, describes Arjuna’s crisis:

“And having spoken thus on the field of battle, Arjuna, overwhelmed with grief, cast aside his bow and arrows and sat down on his car."

Sañjaya said, "Seeing Arjuna tearful in his moment of crisis, the slayer of Madhu, Bhagavān Śrī Kṛṣṇa said, '"How has such a crisis come upon you, O Arjuna? Your weakness is unbecoming one of noble birth; it will close the doors of heaven to you and lead to infamy. This is not the time for such cowardice. It is unlike you. You are a conqueror. Leave aside this softness of heart. Now stand and fight!'"

"But Arjuna said, 'O Madhusūdana, how can I attack my reverent grandfather, Bhiṣma and my teacher Drona with sharp arrows in battle? It would be better to live by begging. The feast of triumph would be stained with blood. I don't know which is better: to kill or be killed. Even conquering them all there is no victory, for I am only killing my own family. My heart is heavy and my mind is confused. I can no longer understand what to do. I am overcome with the vice of compassion. I have no idea what is right and wrong. I surrender myself completely to you. Consider me your disciple and teach me."

Chapter Two: Knowledge of the self.

In the second chapter of the Gita, Arjuna excepts Krishna as his guru or  teacher and asks his advice in his moment of doubt. Here are the real teachings of the Bhagavad-Gita begin.  The teaching of Krishna is for the sake of Arjuna, who, overcome by misplaced love, compassion and anxiety about dharma and adharma, has taken refuge in God.

In the second chapter of Bhagavad-gita, Krishna explains the nature of the soul or atma. This analysis of the soul or atma is called “sankhya” which means “breaking it down.” Krishna analyses the soul’s nature in relationship to the world of space and time. Krishna explains that a “sankhya” analysis is helpful in understanding our true position.    Throughout his analysis Krishna makes constant reference to the word “yoga.” Yoga has many meanings. To “yoke together” is a popular way to understand the word Yoga.

It’s important to understand this word, yoga. The idea of yoking two things together is a useful point of departure. The yoke was first used in agriculture on the  south Asian continent. India is credited with having invented this system for bringing two  bulls under control for the purpose of pulling a plow.  It is commonplace to consider yoga as a way of harmonizing with the divine. What has this to do all with pulling a plow?

The word yoga may be seen as  referring to any method which brings  opposing elements in harmony. Two bulls  tend to go off in different directions; The yoke creates a team of oxen essential for agriculture.

Our world is filled with dichotomies; the split between positive and negative,  the yin and yan,  male and female,   space and time,  quantum relativistic worlds, the spiritual and material  aspects of our existence.

 Yoga strives for balance, harmony. When Krishna speaks of karma yoga, he isn’t referring  to a particular set of practices or techniques meant to bring about a result. In fact what he’s describing is the need to bring one’s action into balance, into harmony with one’s spiritual nature.

In the West, we’re accustomed  to think of yoga as a kind of technique for stretching. People practice yoga to bring their body into harmony so they can cope with the stress of material life. But the idea of “yoga” has a deeper purpose. We can think of the word yoga in terms of  “harmonizing” two disparate elements. Just as a conductor harmonizes a number of musical instruments into a synthetic unit, the orchestra, so we  balance the different conflicts of life in harmony through different forms of “yoga.”

One may think of different schools of yoga in terms of  Hegelian dialectic:  thesis, antithesis, synthesis. Whenever two  Ideas are balanced, they produce a higher synthesis in a new idea.  Karma alone is noxious; when it is balance with yoga it becomes sacrifice. Knowledge alone is toxic and leads to doubt one’s own self. But, balanced in yoga, knowledge, or jnana as it is called in Sanskrit,  leads to enlightenment. 

Krishna’s essential message in Bhagavad-Gita  is simple: When action and knowledge are in perfect balance, they lead to the higher synthesis of dedication and divine love.

The proper balance of understanding and action, love and sacrifice is the subject of discussion in Bhagavad-gita. Krishna and Arjuna dialogue about the different practices, forms of meditation, and strategic life-views that lead to a life in balance and harmony. Krishna concludes that the highest balance is found in dedication. This dedication to the divine principle is called bhakti and is considered a superior yoga than mere action or knowledge.

 In the second chapter of the Bhagavad-Gita, Krishna  begins by explaining that the soul or atma is eternal and survives the death of the body. In fact,  it moves from one body to the next, evolving consciously from one lifetime to the next.

This temporary world has no eternal reality. As such it is an illusion, and a wise man is one who can distinguish the temporary and eternal reality’s. As a person puts on new clothes, leaving aside the old and useless ones, so we change bodies from one lifetime to the next.

Chapter Three: Sacrifice, or Karma-yoga

Krishna therefore advises Arjuna to do his duty and follow the path of karma-yoga, for if he avoids his duty there will be bad karma. Duty must be done without consideration of reward. If work is so dedicated to divinity, it will become purified there will be no fault in any action. Karma-yoga here has the connotation of  “sacrificial work,” or work in harmony with a higher purpose.

Arjuna is a warrior and should therefore do battle. Harmonizing action and duty will bring about the transcendental perfection called samadhi, or “perfect balance.”

Krishna goes on to describe transcendental perfection for ones whose mind is fixed in meditation.  Arjuna becomes confused: he asks Krishna, “which is better action or meditation?” Action is called karma. Meditation here is jnana.  The word jnana  can also mean knowledge.  Arjuna is concerned whether  it is better to follow the path of action or karma yoga, or to follow the path of knowledge and wisdom which includes meditation, jnana-yoga. Kristin explains further what he means by the perfection of duty or, karma-yoga.

 So begins the third chapter. Krishna  says  that  action is unavoidable No one can avoid work.  Work without sacrifice  is sinful,  that is to say it accrues the sinful reaction in karma.  Work without sacrifice is selfish.  Selfish work has a karmic reaction, but unselfish work, or work dedicated to a higher purpose frees one from  karma.  Work dedicated to God  is purified  by sacrifice.   This is the essential message of the Vedas. 

And so in the third chapter of Bhagavad-Gita Krishna explains the need for sacrifice in accordance with the Vedas. Sacrifice may also bring some benefit, but one should not be attached to the benefits of sacrifice just as one should not be seduced by the flowery language of the Vedas. Action in sacrifice is better than worldly action or materialism. One who can free himself from ego and dedicate action to a higher power will advance two higher plane.

Materialism is condemned. Krishna explains the psychology of attachment and maintains that the senses and mind may be controlled through intelligence. Once the intelligence is convinced about the need for sacrifice, the mind and senses can be brought under control. If work must be done, it should be done in the spirit of sacrifice or for a higher purpose and not selfishly.

 At the end of the third chapter, Arjuna still can’t understand what to do. He doesn’t really grasp the essence of Krishna’s teaching. Is he advocating meditation? Or does he recommend  duty? And what is  Krishna’s authority?  How can he say that one yoga is better than another?

Chapter Four: Transcendental Knowledge

 The fourth chapter of the Bhagavad-Gita begins when Arjuna wants to get at the source of Krishna’s advice.  This chapter begins with epistemological considerations. How is  true knowledge transmitted?

Krishna explains that transcendental knowledge should be received from a realized soul who in turn has received that transcendental light from a higher, realized soul.  Analysis will  only get us so far.  Real progress will be made when we come in contact with a bona fide teacher. Self-realization is a nonverbal experience that may be transmitted from teacher to disciple through divine sounder mantra but can only be truly realized through practice. ( Sadhana)

Krishna asserts his own divinity as an avatar to Arjuna and assures him that his advice is sound. He explains that the avatars of God  descend whenever there is a decline in religious principle called Dharma.

Since the war is an example of the decline of  dharma in the world, Krishna has appeared to set things right.  He explains that those who understand this knowledge about divinity including the principal of avatars  need not return to the cycle of repeated birth and death (Samsara).

Krishna explains that those who devote their lives to divinity need not fear for future births and deaths. When karma yoga  is performed as an act of dedication to the supreme, there is no need to fear rebirth. But, thus performed should be free of attachment and the different influences of material nature,  sattva, raja, and tamas.

Just as light reflected through a prism breaks into different colors, our experience as conditioned souls in the material world is colored by these three influences. Sattva is the influence of truthfulness, Raja, passion and creation, Tamas, survival. Our psychology is tinged by these, and depending on the concentration of sattva, rajas, or tamas, our character may be molded. Just as pure water is rare, pure sattva, pure goodness, is difficult to find. 

This is a more subtle analysis than the Manichean universe of goodness and evil, where God and the Devil are at war. The version of good and evil found in Bhagavad-gita is not a question of sin and purity, darkness and light. It has more to do with color theory than black and white. The black and white world of good and bad is, in fact, an alien concept in the Mahabharata itself. The idea that we have only one life to live and that it must be lived in sin or in purity is not the version given by Krishna to Arjuna.

The soul passes from one body to the next in an endless chain of birth and death, broken only by spiritual realization. The karmic influences that drag us down our lift us up are not creations of the devil but result from our own attachments to the world. These attachments are not questions of sin and purity. Our lives are not black and white cases of heaven and hell, but more subtle permutations of our own egoistic involvement in the world of exploitation.

And the world of exploitation is a product of our own ego perception, a symphony of colors and influences that captivate us birth after birth. Insanity is a question of repeating the same action again and again, expecting a different result. And so like the donkey, fooled by the carrot on a stick, we march on and on in an illusory world of our own perception in ignorance, passion, and goodness.     Here again we meet the Hegelian dialectic: the Vedic universe is not a world of black and white, but one with gradations and hues. The modes of material nature are not black demons who seduce us into wrong action as opposed to white angels who would lead us into salvation; the gunas or modes are products of our own egoistic determination to exploit, to continue our karmic voyage.

So, not black and white, but a world of colorful influences, modes, gunas. Three colors produce the myriad of hues perceived by our eyes. In the same way the interchange of influences color our world Is an action good or bad? It’s hard to say; there’s an touch of goodness, a shade of darkness, a tone of compassion.

Arjuna’s dilemma is to decide on a course of action: good or bad, right or wrong, action or inaction. Krishna tells him that even great sages and saints are baffled in trying to understand the difference.

And so, the need for divine guidance, a teacher, a guru, one who knows the path, one who has been enlightened or at least knows someone who has seen the light.

Because attachment is born from the influences of material nature, one should try for detachment, freedom from the influences of material nature. A good way to become from from attachment is through sacrifice. 

Here,  in the fourth chapter of the Bhagavad-Gita, Krishna gives a more elaborate explanation of what he means by sacrifice. And his concept of sacrifice is not merely limited to the physical plane; sacrifice may have a psychological dimension. One may sacrifice not only one’s actions ( karma), one may also achieve sacrifice to meditation and concentration on the divine (jñāna-yoga)  or even through the eightfold path published on the yoga, following the system of asana, yoga-postures, yama, self-control by accepting positive practices, self-control by avoiding negative practices, pranayama, breath-control, pratyahara, renunciation, dharana, surrender, dhyana, meditation, and samādhi, perfect self-balance.

Above all,  it is important to seek the truth by approaching a bona fide spiritual master or guru,  a teacher who can lead one from darkness. A real guru is one who can impart the truth on the basis of his own personal realization, and in accordance with what has been given in the Scriptures by realized saints as well as the previous avatars. 

Blind following  and absurd inquiry are both condemned.  One must approach the guru who is genuine with a submissive attitude of service and make real inquiry into the purpose of life. By such knowledge one cannot only understand the essential nature of all living beings but their relationship with the absolute.

Krishna says that this transcendental knowledge  is the mature fruit of all mysticism. Now that Arjuna understands clearly the nature of work, karma, or action, the importance of knowledge in detachment, and work and sacrifice, he should come to the proper conclusion.

Armed with transcendental knowledge about proper conduct and sacrifice it is time for him to act. Arjuna should fight, both as  duty and  sacrifice.  He should fight  as an act of dedication,  free from attachment.  His attachment to family and society is mundane.  His compassion is misplaced. Free from the influences of ego and materialistic religious duty Arjuna must fight.

So ends the fourth chapter of the Bhagavad-Gita.

Chapter Five: Sacrifice, Knowledge, Renunciation,Dedication.

 And yet, Arjuna is still not satisfied.  He doesn’t understand the difference between karma, meditation, and yoga. If self-realization is so important, then why should he fight  at all?  Wouldn’t it be better for him to renounce everything and go off into the forest  as a yogi?  What has violence to do with self-realization?

What he doesn’t understand is that while Krishna’s message  is universal its application may differ according to one’s ability or level of consciousness. 

Society may be divided into different classes of men and women according to their qualification. Some men and women qualify as intellectuals and professionals, others as leaders and organizers. Some people are best as entrepreneurs and businessmen.  

And then, there are those who function well in the service industry or in production in the manufacture of goods. These social divisions are also referred to in the Bhagavad-Gita. 

One’s  path of self-realization  may be qualified by his position within society.  While we are all equal in spirit, as a practical matter we have different capacities for self-realization. 

Generally speaking, it isn’t good advice to tell a family man with many responsibilities to walk away from his material life and take up the path  of renunciation.  Not everyone has the same vocation for spiritual practice. 

The universal message of sacrifice and dedication must be fine  tuned for the individual  according to his personal level of consciousness as well as his place in society. 

And so, Krishna says, it is not fit for Arjuna to renounce the world. Renunciation in yoga practice is not for everyone. What is best for  Arjuna, Krishna says, is to do his duty as a warrior.

Each of us has our own  pathway to truth; it is not proper for us to give up  the path which is suited for us for another more dangerous path.  One who follows another’s path is destined for  ruin. 

The yoga of renunciation is improper for Arjuna, since his work, his karma, and his duty, his Dharma, is of a more passionate nature. After all he is a warrior   both by birth and training.  Those of the more gentle and intellectual nature, the brahmanas and sages,  wandering Saints  and mystic yogis of the Vedic age can take the path of renunciation. They are more given to self  abnegation by nature.  Gentle and saintly souls can lead a life of quiet contemplation; Arjuna is better suited for combat and competition. His heart  yearns for contests at arms.   He is not suited for the contemplative life of a mystic yogi.  But he can reach the same goal through self-dedication by karma yoga.

Krishna explains that it is not action itself that must be renounced, but attachment to its results. It is better to sacrifice the results of our work to a higher power. One must understand that both work and its results are temporary. And so real sannyasa or renunciation consists in giving up our attachment  to the results of work.   One must strive for perfection, sacrificing the results of our work to a higher power. Krishna says that one who neither hates nor desires the fruits of his activities is known to be always renounced. Such a person, free from all dualities, easily overcomes material bondage and is completely liberated.

At the beginning of the sixth chapter, this is re-iterated by Krishna as follows: The Blessed Lord said: One who is unattached to the fruits of his work and who works as he is obligated is in the renounced order of life, and he is the true mystic: not he who lights no fire and performs no work.

     The 5^th Chapter Of Bhagavad-Gita has been summarized by Yamuna  Acharya: in his Gitārthasamgraha  “The 5^th Chapter sets forth the easy practicability and quick efficacy of karma-yoga, some similar topics, and the knowledge of  Brahman.” (कर्मयोगस्य सौकर्यं शैघ्र्यं काश्चन तद्विधः। ब्रह्मज्ञान प्रकारश्च पञ्चम्माध्याय उच्यते॥ karmayogasya saukaryaṃ śaighryaṃ kāścana tad vidhaḥ| brahmajñāna prakāraś ca pañcammādhyāya ucyate||)

 Bhaktivedānta Swāmī refers to this chapter about karma-yoga as “Action in Kṛṣṇa Consciousness.  He comments, “ This chapter is a practical explanation of the Krishna consciousness, generally known as karma yoga. The question of mental speculation as to how karma yoga can give liberation answered here went to work in Krishna consciousness is to work with the complete knowledge of the Lord is the predominate in such work is not different from transcendental knowledge. Direct Krishna consciousness is bhakti yoga and jñāna-yoga is a path leading to bhakti-yoga.” 

     

His point here is that when one is in full transcendental knowledge of the relationship between the soul and the Supreme Soul, he will naturally dedicate his actions in divine love or bhakti-yoga. A truly realized soul will come to the conclusion that action performed in love is the best form of knowledge. Therefore, both karma and jñāna culminate in  bhakti.

     Chapter Six: Yoga and Meditation

 Since Arjuna has expressed an interest in understanding the nature of meditation,  Krishna expands on the understanding of mystic yoga in the sixth chapter,  called the yoga of meditation, dhyana-yoga.

     Krishna continues,  “ when one is no longer attached to the objects of the senses, nor to actions, and when one renounces all resolves, then one is said to have risen to devotion.  For one who controls the mind, his mind is his best friend. Anyone who fails to control the mind soon finds that his own mind as his worst enemy. One who is equal and fixed on the self amid cold and heat, pleasure and pain, and also honor and dishonor is the true mystic. He who views equally well-wishers, friends, foes, strangers and those who are different to him is distinguished above all others.”

 Since  Arjuna has asked Krishna to enlighten him on the path of yoga, Krishna begins a discussion  on the nature of aṣṭanga yoga,  or the eightfold path of enlightenment.  He tells Arjuna that to practice yoga one must go to a quiet, peaceful, holy secluded place. 

     According to Krishna’s instructions in the Bhagavad-gita, “One should lay kuśa  grass on the ground and then covered with a deerskin and a soft cloth. The seat should be neither too high or too low and should be situated in a sacred place. The Yogi should then sit on it very firmly and practice yoga to purify the hard by controlling his mind,  senses, and activities and fixing the mind of one point.” 

  Bhaktivedānta Swāmi has taken great exception with the modern practice of yoga and finds little authenticity in such societies. He points out that sacred places are very difficult to find. Even in India many of the sacred places have been contaminated. In any case there very difficult to reach especially for Westerners.   

        He said , “the so-called yoga societies in big cities may be successful in earning material benefit, but they are not at all suitable for the actual practice of yoga. One who is not self-controlled and whose mind is not undisturbed cannot practice meditation.
     Therefore in the Bṛhan-naradiya Purāna it is said,  "in the iron age of Kali when people are short-lived, slow and spiritual realization, and always disturbed by various anxieties, the best means of spiritual realization is chanting the holy name of the Lord. In this age of quarreling hypocrisy the only means of deliverances chanting the holy name of the Lord. There is no other way. There is no other way. There is no other way. हरेर्नाम हरेर्नाम हरेर्नाम एव केवलम् कलौ नस्त्य् एव नस्त्य् एव नस्त्य् एव गतिर् अन्यथ

harer nāma harer nāma harer nāma eva kevalam kalau nasty eva nasty eva nasty eva gatir anyatha.”  

(Bhaktivedanta Swāmī, Bhagavad-gītā As it is, Chapter 6, verse 12)

An excellent means for meditation in the Kali age is the holy name:

hare kṛṣṇa hare kṛṣṇa kṛṣṇa kṛṣṇa hare hare

hare rāma hare rāma rāma rāma hare hare

हरे कृष्ण हरे कृष्ण कृष्ण कृष्ण हरे हरे

हरे राम हरे राम राम राम हरे हरे
  Of course, Bhagavad-gita is spoken at the conclusion of the Dvapara age, thousands of years ago. And so,  Krishna continues to describe the eight fold yoga path. He explains the process for meditation, breath control, fasting and physical self-control, proper regulation of the mind and intelligence, purification of consciousness, samadhi and nirvana, which in this case does not mean the cessation of material existence but the end of our participation in the world of exploitation.

     Material existence is temporary, hence illusory. For the soul there is no cessation, because it is eternal.

     Arjuna rejects the yoga system as being far too difficult for an ordinary person to practice. Heasks, "What happens to the fallen Yogi? Does he not perish like a riven cloud with no position in any sphere?"

Krishna reassures him, saying, "The transcendentalist engaged in auspicious activities does not meet with destruction either in this world or in the next. One who does good is never overcome by evil. Sincerity is invincible." In the end according to Krishna, the best yogi is one who chooses the path of divine love. Such a yogi is very dear. This form of yoga is called bhakti.

      Krishna concludes by making a case for devotion as the highest form of yoga. He ends the chapter by saying "And of all yogis, the one with great faith who always abides in me, thinks of me within himself, and renders transcendental loving service to me: he is the best of all yogis. He is the most intimately united with me and yoga and is the highest of all. That is my opinion."

योगिनाम् अपि सर्वेषां मद्गतेनान्तरात्मना श्रद्धावान् भजते योउ मां स मे युक्ततमो मतः

yoginām api sarveṣāṃ madgatenāntarātmanā śraddhāvān bhajate you māṃ sa me yuktatamo mataḥ, BG. 6.47

A quick sketch of the Bhagavad-gita may skim over many subtle points; the Bhagavad-gita is worthy of deep study. Here we are only trying our best to give a condensed synthesis of the general ideas. For a more extensive study, I recommend consulting the original text. Bhagavad-gita As It Is by Bhaktivedanta Swami is an excellent version. 

But allow me to continue.

Philosophy is often divided into different categories:  epistemology, or how we know what we know; ontology or the study of being itself; metaphysics, or an analysis of the nonphysical world; and ethics, or how to conduct ourselves in this world on the basis of a moral point of view.

In the first six chapters of the Gita, Krishna has rehearsed various ideas about ethics. According to the Vedic view of ethics, or proper Dharma, there are four pillars to right living:  honesty, compassion, purity, and austerity.  And yet at the beginning of the conversation between Krishna Arjuna, mere ethical principles are demonstrated as belonging to the relativistic world of karma. Krishna begins his discourse by reminding  Arjuna of the temporary nature of the world. 

Death is inevitable for the body; and yet the soul is eternal and transcends  of the corruption of the mortal body.  Krishna asks Arjuna  to go beyond his ordinary concepts about Dharma and ethics and consider the transcendental life of the soul. Society consciousness and God consciousness may work in harmony. But many religious and ethical principles are really meant to serve society conscious. God consciousness and sacrifice take us to a higher plane. When sacrifice  is coupled  with transcendental knowledge it leads to divine love.

Arjuna’s concern with ethics  begins the conversation,  but by contemplating the nature of the eternal soul Krishna brings a conversation to a higher level.  He is interested not with mundane ethics,  but with a transcendental ethic that begins with sacrifice and leads to dedication with the benefit of transcendental knowledge.

The discussion on sacrifice and ethics that sustains the third chapter of Bhagavad-Gita leads  Arjuna into epistemological questions: how do we know what we know? If transcendental knowledge is important, how do we come in contact with such knowledge?

Krishna explains the real transcendental knowledge is revealed. The  infinite is not infinite unless it can reveal itself to the finite. Revealed knowledge comes in many forms: sometimes God himself  descends as an avatar to reveal divine truth.           

And sometimes the divine spirit  comes to us through the guru principle. One who is interested in understanding the truth should approach the spiritual master to whom the truth has been revealed.

Chapter Seven: Ontology of the Absolute

In this way, questions of ethics and epistemology have been discussed in the first six chapters of the Bhagavad-Gita. The word yoga has to do with a harmony or balance between action and knowledge, as between the eternal  individual soul  and the supreme soul.

Now in the seventh chapter of the Bhagavad-Gita Arjuna directs his inquiries towards ontological questions: what is the nature of being? What is the difference between the individual soul and supreme soul? 

What is the nature of time and space? How does the material nature unfold from the spiritual nature? If consciousness is subjective in the world object, then what is the nature of the subjective evolution of consciousness? 

The seventh chapter of the Bhagavad-Gita takes us into profound metaphysical territory.  Here we explore  some challenging ontological questions.

Krishna describes the nature of the absolute: the material energy or prakriti, to achieve or spirit soul, and the origin of both the perceived world and the super subjective world in absolute consciousness. 

Here Krishna himself reveals himself as divinity: the origin and dissolution of all energy. He describes in further detail the characteristics of the three modes of material nature, sattva, rajas, and tamas,  and explains their influence in the perceptive world.

In light of the above mentioned, he describes the different gradations of truth seekers, classifying as  impious those who have no interest in God.  

And in this way he describes four classes of pious empires men including general truth seekers, religionists of all different stamps, and ultimately those who seek to dedicate themselves in divine love. Worldly religionists will find only temporary results  as they pray to God for goods and services. Men who worship the gods for temporary things will find only temporary results. Those who do sacrifice for the absolute will find eternal benefits. 

Krishna gives the Vedic version of the material creation.  He rejects the idea that the space-time continuum is an independent reality asserting that everything constituted by the three modes of material nature is not self dependent essence independent of God but springs from him alone. 

While he contains and comprehends all they do not contain and comprehend them. This is the distinction between God and his creatures they are all informed by the divine but their changes do not touch the integrity of the divine. He is not subject to anyone else while all things are subject to Him.

Veiled by His creative power, Divinity is not visible to all. The world of exploitation, bewildered by the illusory potency, called Maya, is unable to recognize the unborn, unchanging nature of Krishna’s divinity.

He explains the situation of the soul at the time of death and the relationship between consciousness and matter, as well as his manifested and manifest energy.

The seventh chapter may be titled “Relative and Absolute conceptions of the Supreme Truth.” Yamuna Acharya summarizes it as follows:

“The 7^th Chapter of Bhagavad-gita discusses the exact knowledge of God, its concealment by prakṛti, the resorting to God, the divisions of devotees and the superiority of the enlighteneed one.

bhaktabhedaḥ prabuddhasya śraiṣṭyaṃ saptama ucyate svayāthātmyaṃ prakṛtyāsya tirodhiḥ śaraṇāgatiḥ

भक्तभेदः प्रबुद्धस्य श्रैष्ट्यं सप्तम उच्यते स्वयाथात्म्यं प्रकृत्यास्य तिरोधिः शरणागतिः

(Yamunacharya, 10^th Century)

Bhaktivedanta Swami comments, “many subjects have been discussed in this chapter: the man in distress, inquisitive man, the man and want material necessities, knowledge of Brahman, knowledge of Paramatma, liberation from birth to death and disease, and worship of the supreme Lord. However he who is actually elevated Krishna consciousness does not care for the different processes. He simply directly engages himself in activities of Krishna consciousness and thereby factually attains his constitutional position as an internal servitor of Lord Krishna.”

Bhagavad-Gita chapter 8

His curiosity piqued, Arjuna asks about the Supreme  Spirit or Brahman.   Krishna defines  the supreme reality, the self, the material world, and the importance of worldly religion and the different gods who control the Sun the moon the wind the rain and the elements.

The  Eighth chapter begins with a definition of terms:  the Sanskrit may prove a bit technical  for the beginner. But let's take a look.  Arjuna asks Krishna to define Brahman, Adhyātma, and Karma, which should be understood by those who aspire to surrender themselves in devotion and become free from birth and death. He’s also interested in the as  the meaning of Adhibhūta and Adhidaiva, which terms are valuable for those who aspire for promotion after death to a better life in an earthly paradise or heavenly planet. Also he is concerned with Adhiyajña. And above all,  in what manner will someone know God and his dying hour?

Krishna answers that the word Brahman refers to what is akṣara, or indestructible. Adhyātma is “the self.” The living soul is sometimes referred to in the Vedic literatures as Brahman  or indestructible spirit.  The word Brahman is also used to refer to God in a general way as absolute spirit. This sometimes confuses people into thinking that God and the individual soul are one. 

The Advaita commentators headed by Shankar insist on this one-ness. The problem for the Advaita school is this: If all is one, if each individual soul equals the Supreme Soul in spirit, then what is this material world? “Maya,” they say. “It is all an illusion. When the illusion falls away, you will realize yourself as One with God, or the infinite spirit, Brahman.” Because they conclude that the world is an illusion, the advaitavadis are also known as mayavadis, or those who advocate the theory of maya.

The absolute idealism of the mayavadis is difficult to support.   Their theory of maya  leads to many preposterous conclusions.  The followers of dualism, on the other hand,  conclude that the world is real,  while its temporary aspect gives it the quality of a dreamlike state. Reality is based on perception. 

When  the Supreme Being,  in a kind of dreamlike state, perceives the world  metaphysical reality congeals into physical reality. The world perceived by the individual soul  is at the same time observed by the supreme soul. The observed world exists as long as the supreme  spirit acting as Paramatma  gives it reality. So the world is real,  but our participation in it is a kind of shadow dance.  The soul is indestructible,  while the sun, the stars,  and all the planets will eventually turn to dust.  True reality is eternal.  the followers of duality insist that both God and the soul exist eternally.  The difference between them  is something like the difference between the sun and the sun's ray.  The sun is the energetic source, while the individual  particles of sunlight  are its potency. Both are Brahman or spiritual, and both are akṣara or indestructible. The distinction is one of source and effect, of gradation and intensity. The Supreme Spirit or Parabrahman is infinite where the indivividual  jiva particle is infinitesimal.