VAHINI.ORG: DOWNLOADS-GEETHA

Chapter 1 I	Chapter 10 X	Chapter 19 XIX
Chapter 2 II	Chapter 11 XI	Chapter 20 XX
Chapter 3 III	Chapter 12 XII	Chapter 21 XXI
Chapter 4 IV	Chapter 13 XIII	Chapter 22 XXII
Chapter 5 V	Chapter 14 XIV	Chapter 23 XXIII
Chapter 6 VI	Chapter 15 XV	Chapter 24 XXIV
Chapter 7 VII	Chapter 16 XVI	Chapter 25 XXV
Chapter 8 VIII	Chapter 17 XVII	Chapter 26 XXVI
Chapter 9 IX	Chapter 18 XVIII	Chapter 27 XXVII

Bhagavan Sri Sathya Sai Baba is the Sanathana Sarathi, the timeless charioteer, who communicated the Geetha Sastra to Adithya and helped Manu and king Ikshvaku to know it; He was the charioteer of Arjuna during the great battle between good and evil fought out at Kurukshetra. When the rider, Arjuna, was overcome with grief at the prospect of the fight, Krishna instructed him in the science of recognising one's oneness with all, and removed the grief and the fear.

He is the charioteer even now, for every one of us; let me greet you as a fellow-sufferer and a fellow-disciple. We have but to recognise Him and accept Him in that role, holding the reins of discrimination and flourishing the whip of detachment, to direct the horses of the senses along the path of Sathya, asphalted by Dharma and illumined by Prema towards the goal of Santhi.

Arjuna accepted Him in that role; let us do likewise. When worldly attachment hinders the path of duty, when ambition blinds the eyes of sympathy, when hate shuts out the call of love, let us listen to the Geetha. He teaches us from the chariot whereon He is installed. Then He showers His grace, His vision and His power, and we are made heroes fit to fight and win.

This precious book is not a commentary or summary of the Geetha that was taught on the field of Kurukshetra. We need not learn any new language or read any old text to imbibe the lesson that the Lord is eager to teach us now, for victory in the battle we are now waging. This Geethavahini is the same stream, refreshing and re-vitalising, brought by the same divine restorer to revivify man caught in the mesh of modern dialectics, in the pride of modern science, in the cynical scorn of modern superficiality. The teaching here set forth will comfort, console, and confer strength and faith.

Let us listen to these words with as much care and concentration as Arjuna had, even in the turmoil of a battle field, and we too will declare when the book nears its final pages, "My delusion is dissolved; I have become aware of my reality, which is God."

The ancient charioteer who is in you and me has responded to the call of the conflict-ridden hearts; He gave these lessons in the "Sanathana Sarathi" that is published from the Prasanthi Nilayam. Now they are with you, between covers, as a book, which you can read as often as you can or must.

May the faith with which you have started to scan these pages grow from day to day; may you be drawn by the ever widening vista of knowledge which this book reveals to the grand glory of the experience of the Oneness, which is the basis of this manifoldness.

To understand the meaning of the Geetha, the reverential approach is necessary. You must take up its study in an attitude of submission and expectancy. For the Geetha is the "milk" of the Upanishads, "drawn" by the cowherd Krishna with the help of Arjuna, "the calf", for all the "dull-witted" to drink and draw sustenance from. There are some who argue that the Geetha as a sacred poem was a creation later than the Mahabharatha, of which it is a part; but whatever may be said of the composition of the Geetha, there is no doubt that the principles and teachings of the Geetha are ancient, nay, dateless. In the first three slokas of the fourth chapter, reference is made to the Lord instructing the Geetha to Surya first and later to Manu; and to the fact that from Manu it reached Ikshvaku and thence to others in succession! So, the Geetha is beyond the category of time and it cannot be assigned to a particular point of time, past or present.

The Geetha is a text for spiritual practitioners, for it emphasises Sadhana, and spiritual attitudes, more than anything else. Every chapter lays down means and methods of reaching the goal of peace and harmony. Now Sadhana is the product of keen and steady yearning for progress. The aspirant must aspire, not despair. He must persevere, not clamour for quick success. The Geetha is as a boat, which takes man across from the self-imposed state of bondage to the freedom which is his nature. He is taken from darkness to light, from lustrelessness to splendour. The Geetha ordains for man disciplines and duties which are free from the taints of Vasanas (tendencies and impulses) that tie him to the relentless wheel of birth and death.

Really speaking, man has come into this Karmakshetra (field of activity) only to engage himself in activity, not in order to earn the fruit of such activity. That is the teaching of the Geetha, its fundamental lesson. The Geetha is the quintessence of the meaning of all the Vedas. Yajnas and Yagas, the outward directed activities are mentioned in the preliminary portions of the Vedas; activities of the mind, like the Upasanas, which are directed inward are mentioned later; and Jnana Yoga too is expounded to minds thus clarified and purified.

Whoever the individual, however scholarly, he cannot escape delusion and so he is subjected to grief, which acts as a brake upon activity. Arjuna, the great hero, capable of great renunciation and of great wisdom, is deluded by the awful needs of war and this grief handicaps his activity too. He confuses the body and the self; he starts identifying the two. He imposes on the Atma (ever untouched by the characteristics of the moving, changing world) the unreal and ephemeral nature of the world and takes this delusion as true. He believes that his duties, as laid down by that false identification, are his Atmadharma! This is the tragedy not of Arjuna alone but of all humanity! Therefore, the Geetha is of universal and eternal value. To study the Geetha is to learn the art of swimming across the sea of delusion. The Geetha is the very voice of lord Krishna. The fact that it has provided consolation and liberation to millions of men is evidence of its divine origin. A lesser person could not have given it that authenticity.

The way it begins and the way it ends, that gives the clue to the subject which it expounds. The very first verse starts with the words, "Dharmakshethre, Kurukshethre...", the word Dharma being the leading word. The last verse of the final eighteenth chapter speaks of "Yatha Yogeswarah Krishna" and this word, "Yogeswarah" sums up the Dharma that is taught. Thus, it is clear that the objective of the teaching in the Geetha is just this: "Remember Dharma; practise Dharma." How significant is this word! All Sastras are engaged in demarcating and defining the nature and subtle characteristics of Dharma. The Geetha incorporates this study and this analysis. It is a textbook of Dharma, in all its aspects. It discusses all the principles underlying Dharma.

Arjuna is the Jivi, the individual. The body is the chariot and the teacher in the chariot is Krishna, the Lord. The charioteer is the Lord, the inspirer of the intelligence, the Brahmam which prompts It in answer to man's prayer contained in the Gayathri Mantra "Dhiyo-yonah prachodayath..." (awaken my discrimination, o Lord and guide me). The Kauravas represent the demonic nature; the Pandavas represent the divine. They are Asat, these are Sat; one is evil, the other is good. And there has ever been a struggle between the two. In this conflict between opposing forces, Krishna (the self, the Atma) is ever on the side of Dharma - the reality which sustains, not the delusion which undermines. If you seek to have the Lord on your side as your guide, equip yourself with the divine nature, (Daivi Sampath), the qualities of Dharma. For the Lord is where Dharma is.

Of course, this does not mean that the Lord is not omnipresent...! Butter is omnipresent in the milk, though it can be made manifest in one location, in the milk, only by the processes of curdling and churning. So too, the Lord can be made manifest in one location by the process of Dharma-sadhana. "Yatho dharmasthatho jayah" - "Where there is Dharma, there victory is achieved." Arjuna was engrossed with the physical aspect and so it was necessary to bless him with the knowledge of the real, the Atmic aspect. The entire complex of Sadhana is directed to the clarification of the awareness of Atma, and the fixing of attention on that. The teaching of Krishna is just this; in fact this is the sum and substance of the search for Truth.

Krishna answered many doubts that had entangled Arjuna, but which he failed to express. "O Arjuna! You are grieving because these kings and princes who are related to you are about to meet death at your hands. You talk glibly of Dharma. But, remember, the wise do not grieve either for the living or the dead. Shall I tell you why? Well, you are feeling grief over the body, which alone decays on death. Did you grieve when the body underwent many changes hitherto? The child disappeared in the boy, the boy disappeared in the youth, the youth became lost in the middle-aged man, the middle-aged man was lost in the aged old man and the old man is lost in death. You never wept for the changes that affect the body so long; why then weep for this one change? Have you, today, the body you had when you were a boy? Where is that frame you had when you tied Dhrishtadyumna up? You still remember that boyish exploit; but the body that achieved it is gone! So too, whatever changes your body may suffer, the Atma, the splendour of the true wisdom, remains immortal. Being established unshakably in this knowledge is the sign of the wise, the Jnani." Thus said Krishna.

"You may ask whether one would not feel sad when the bodies with which one had moved and lived for years go out of sight. But for how many have you to lament, in case it is proper so to grieve! Have you thought of that? Joy and grief are as day and night. They have to be put up with, gone through. If you refuse, they won't stop happening; if you desire, they won't start happening! They are both related to the physical, the material - the body; they do not affect the spirit, the soul. The moment you escape from these two, that moment you are liberated, you have Moksha."

The first discourse which teaches these truths is named Arjuna Vishada Yoga, the despondency of Arjuna. That is the very foundation of the edifice which is the Bhagavad Geetha. When the foundation is strong, the edifice too is lasting. The Geetha built on that foundation, 5000 years ago, is unshaken and unshakable. From this you can infer how strong is the foundation on which it rests and how wise is the person who laid it.

You refer to it as 'despondency'! But that 'despondency' was very beneficial; it was no ordinary 'want of courage'. For it tested his sincerity and steadfastness; it induced him to take unquestioning refuge in the Lord. That is why it is dignified by the name, Yoga. The Geetha which begins with the Vishada Yoga ends with the Sanyasa Yoga; Vishada is the foundation and Sanyasa, the superstructure. Vishada is the seed and Sanyasa, the fruit.

The question may be raised: how could Arjuna be credited with a pure nature, which alone is said to deserve the wisdom imparted in the Geetha. The word 'Arjuna' means pure unsullied, white - he is named very appropriately and he lived up to the name that he bore. That is how he secured the immediate presence of lord Krishna, that is how he became the instrument for the award of the Geetha to the world.

Krishna used the word, Yoga, many times in the Geetha; the state of the individual (or Jivi) during Yoga too is described; yet, a doubt may arise in the minds of those who have read the Geetha that there is no agreement between the word as used ordinarily and as used by Krishna. Krishna has extolled Vairagya (detachment) in some places. At other places, He has declared that the highest freedom can be earned by worship. Various methods of attaining the supreme state of spiritual bliss are also elaborated. In the eighth discourse, there is an account of Raja Yoga, but it is not right to say that the Geetha is a text that teaches Raja Yoga. Complete surrender to lord Krishna, freedom from the threefold shackles which bind one with the external world of objects, the observance of good deeds and virtuous disciplines, these are the principal truths underlined in the Geetha. The Lord holds these forth as the best forms of training in the deepest secrets of inner progress.

The real meaning of the Geetha is not grasped by all. Reputed scholars and writers, though gifted with rare intelligence, have failed to unravel the mystery of its message. Commentators speak of the principle of perfect balance amidst all change, or of the achievement of freedom as more important than anything else. On the other side, others compare the Geetha with the philosophical texts of the west with which they are familiar and start teaching young minds in that strain! Of course, full renunciation is highly desirable. But only a very small number can practise it. If a certain spiritual teaching has to gain universal acceptance, it must have disciplines that can be practised and experienced by every one in daily life and its activities.

The highest Dharma is for each one to follow his Swa - (own) dharma boldly. As regards this problem, there is a conflict between religion and morals. "Gahana karmano gathih", "It is difficult, fraught with danger" says the Lord, speaking of the moral discipline. Which act is legitimate, which not? Which act is sanctioned by morals, which not? Persons have struggled and are struggling to decide these. But Krishna has mentioned the type of acts which are worthy, in the Slokas:

Ah! Note the meaning and significance of these two stanzas. Is not this act of surrender enough to save you and to liberate you from the round of coming to - staying in - and leaving from this world? Thanmana - that is, seeing Him in every being, being aware of Him every moment of existence, being immersed in the Ananda of this awareness; Thadbhaktha - that is, merged in the relationship caused by profound devotion and love to Him; That-yaji - all acts, big and small, dedicated to Him, Krishna, (wish, will, attitude, activity, fruit, consequence) everything from beginning to end, the renunciation of all attachment to the self and the performance of all acts in a spirit of worshipful non-attachment. This is what the Lords seeks from you.

Of course, it is hard to effect this full surrender. But if man makes the slightest effort towards it, the Lord Himself will confer the courage to pursue it to the end. He will walk with him and help him as a friend; He will lead me as a guide; He will guard him from evil and temptation; He will be his staff and support. He has said, [BG, 2:40] "Swalpamapyasya Dharmasya thrayathe mahatho bhayaath" (this course of action, if followed even to a small extent, will save him from terrifying fear). To follow Dharma is itself a source of joy; it is the path least beset with hurdles. That is the teaching of the Lord.

"Maamevaishyasi", "you will come near Me, you will be approaching Me;" that is to say, you will understand My mystery, you will enter into Me, you will achieve My nature. In these terms, Saadrisya (acquiring divine nature), Saalokya (existence in God), Sayujya (unity in God), are indicated. When one has attained the state of realising the divinity in every being, when every instrument of knowledge brings the experience of that divinity, when it alone is seen, heard, tasted, smelt and touched, man becomes undoubtedly a part of the body of God and lives in Him and with him. When this duty to your own progress is taken up, you will get a new strength at the very first step; you will thrill to a new and purer joy; you will taste the fullness of bliss; you will be refreshed by a new holiness.

This Dharma is not laid down or recommended for the extraordinary among men. It is within the reach of all, for all have the hunger for God, all have the discrimination to discover that there is something basic behind all this change. Even the most heinous sinner can quickly cleanse his heart and become pure by surrendering to the Lord in anguished repentance.

Therefore, the Lord's command is that each should pursue the special Dharma laid down for him; each person should plan his life according to the spiritual foundations of his culture; he should give up the 'objective' vision and listen to the voice of God.

Those born in Bharath should deserve the privilege by listening to the voice of the leader of Bharath - Gopala - and manifest the divinity latent in them in every word they utter, every letter they limn, every wish they entertain, every thought they frame, and every act they do for the winning of gross things, such as food or shelter or health.

Then only can this Indian nation demonstrate to the world the excellence of the ancient religion, the Sanathana Dharma, its special gift to humanity, and ensure peace for all mankind. Acts in line with that Dharma alone can confer the strength of spirit which can encounter all crises and achieve victory.

The first chapter is better named "Arjuna Geetha" rather than Krishna Geetha. Overcome by sorrow and delusion, Arjuna turns from war and keeps aside his weapons; he is dejected in his chariot, halted between the two opposing forces; he turns this way and that, puzzled and perturbed; he surveys the faces of his kith and kin; he is overcome by pity; his famous bow slips from his grasp, he is too weak to stand or even sit; his mind wanders into the dictates of the Purva Mimaamsa school of thought. He swears he will not engage in fighting. When Sanjaya reported this to the blind king Dhritharashtra, he was overjoyed, for victory was within grasp! He had neither foresight nor farsight, much less, the divine vision; so he felt happy that his dream of an undiminished empire had come true, without bother.

But Sanjaya who had divine vision felt, "What is this insane joy which is affecting him? When the Lord is Himself on the side of the Pandavas, how can this king's wicked plan succeed?" Then he pictured to himself the ghastly consequences of Arjuna jumping into the fray.

But Arjuna had teardrops falling down his cheeks. There were whirlpools in his eyes. Even the Lord could not bear the sight; He could not remain silent. He felt the pulse-beat of Arjuna and diagnosed the malady. He knew in a trice that the malady of Moha (the delusion caused by false evaluation) had penetrated his three bodies: the gross, the subtle and the causal. The pity that enveloped Arjuna was not 'genuine', He saw. For genuine pity will be endowed with Daivi Sampath (divine elevating impulses and motives); it will not disregard the orders of the Lord. It was really egoism, under the veil of pity. So the Lord decided to cure him of that weakness, "Kripayaavishtam", the Geetha says. Arjuna was helpless, "overwhelmed by pity," and that had to be cured.

Just as a spirit entering a person has to be exorcised, Arjuna has to be freed from fear and cowardice. For he who has the Lord by his side need entertain no fear. What can any 'Bhooth' (spirit) do to one who is the Lord of all the five Bhuthas (elements)? "Vaidyo Narayano Harih." The Lord is the supreme doctor. Narayana was the doctor Arjuna needed and got.

How lucky was Arjuna! Even from the depth of grief, joy will swell. Until the eleventh sloka of the second chapter, it is the story of the despondency of Arjuna; the effect of 'the possessions.' That is why the first step in the cure is "the exposition of Sankhya yoga, the path of knowledge, (Jnana)."

The Amrithopadesa (immortality-bestowing teaching) of Krishna begins from this eleventh sloka; in fact, the Bhagavad Geetha starts from this point. Up to this point it is the description of Arjuna's delusion born of ignorance and dullness of intellect. Krishna, acting the role of witness, allows the despondency to deepen and darken. When at last Arjuna threw down his bow and refused to fight, when he confessed that he had lost all sense of right and wrong, when he prayed that Krishna should teach him the way that will solve his problems best, then, Krishna came forward and said:

"Arjuna! How could this miserable shade of cowardice overtake you now, when you have been clear and bright all along? This is quite unbecoming to the hero you are. The word Arjuna means pure, unblemished character. Why then this grief? The battle is imminent. The clouds of war have gathered and are thundering. The foes in front are awaiting the moment when they could jump into the fray. They have heaped countless injustices and cruelties on you and now they are ready to grab the land that must come to you as of right. You have so far borne all the agony they have poured over you, without stirring even an iota away from truth. You have fulfilled all the conditions they imposed and you have passed through the years they prescribed for your exile. Your attempts to effect a compromise were futile, you could not avoid the clash of arms. We have yielded as much as we could. Now war is the only method by which the eyes of the evil-minded Duryodhana can be opened to his own iniquity."

"This war was decided on, after long deliberation. It is not a hasty resolution taken in a fit of anger. Responsible elders have weighed the pros and cons and come to the conclusion that resort to arms is inevitable. You and your brothers approved all this and appreciated the decision. You have been preparing for this battle with enthusiasm. In fact, you have been immersed in it more than others. How wrong is it for you now to turn back?"

"This war has not pounced on you in a trice. You have been collecting the wherewithal since long. Remember how you struggled and starved and lived on roots and fruits of the forest in order to win the Paasupatha Ashthra from lord Siva, how you went as far as the Loka of the lord of Gods, Indra, in order to win celestial arrows for this battle?"

"I thought that the moment of destiny for the annihilation they deserved has come for the wicked Kaurava brood; but now you have started this moaning dirge! Why this ominous note? Which Sastra lays down this attitude? Think of your duty as a member of the Kshatriya caste: to uphold Dharma, to protect justice. Yours is the wealth of courage, adventure and steadiness. But you are overpowered by this strange detachment, which is pathetically out of place."

"This cowardice brings shame on you and even on your far-famed forefathers. Fie on you? You have dragged down the Kshatriya race into disgrace. War is the royal road for your kind, the road which leads to Heaven. How can you escape infamy, if you withdraw from the field now? You have earned the title, Vijaya, by the prowess of your arm; do not tarnish the reputation you have won by a lifetime of effort. Give up this weakening delusion."

"Listen to me; remind yourself of what happened at Amaravathi. You disregarded the approaches of the divine damsel, Urvasi and when she wanted a son through your grace, you replied, 'Take me as your son.' That revealed you a an incomparable hero. The curse that she spelt on you in her discomfiture helped you at the court of the Virata king to pass off as an eunuch, teaching dance to the royal princesses, is it not?"

"Where has that heroism gone, tell Me. How has this pusillanimity come over such a stalwart? You came to Me and disturbed Me in sleep with your request for help in this battle, from which you are now running away. Am I to help you thus? Have I to watch while you are fleeing? Pluck this delusion by the roots; reduce this fear into ashes. Become a hero again." Thus exhorted Krishna.

Krishna uses four words in this context: Kasmalam (ignorance), Anaarya-jushtam (character that is harmful to the divine nature in each), Aswargyam (quality that destroys the divine in man) and A-keerthikaram (quality that causes the decline of the wealth that is lasting).

These inspiring words that will make the blood of any Kshathriya boil had a tremendous effect on Arjuna. The thick cloud of ignorance which had overwhelmed Arjuna started to melt a little. The Thamas which had made him forget the truth got removed; Rajoguna returned and Arjuna found words to ask, "Katham?" (how). That term reveals much. It shows that the Geetha expounds, not merely what has to be done but even how it has to be done.

Arjuna asks Krishna, "O Madhusudana! Listen to my words: Those who are in the forefront of the battle line are all worthy of worship. The great Bhishma took care of us when we lost our father and brought us up from childhood and shaped us into what we are. He is as a father to us, the grand old man of our clan. And what shall I say of Drona? He loved me more than he loved his own son, Aswathama; I had all his love. He is the Guru who through that love, took me as his favourite disciple and made me into the bowman that I am. Do you want me now to use the skill he taught to overthrow him? Is it right for a son of Bharath to do such a thing? In battle we have to kill our enemies, is it not? Or, can we fight with fathers and teachers, who deserve reverence?"

"You say that heaven can be won by battle. I cannot realise how heaven can be got through the killing of these revered Gurus. If this idea spreads, few Gurus can survive! Whatever you might say, let me tell you this: rather than earn happiness and power through these means, I feel it is better to live on alms collected from door to door. Food won through killing such men is mixed with their blood and I would prefer a meal got through beggary. Well, even if I give up all these qualms and fight, how can victory be counted upon? Expecting victory to come to us, how can I resolve to slaughter these elders and lose both worlds? If by chance they win, then beggary is inevitable, if we win, it is as bad as losing, for of what gain is victory, if the price we pay is the destruction of kith and kin? We gain but inconsolable grief for the rest of life. Krishna! I am at a loss to solve this problem. My intelligence has deserted me. My nature has undergone a vast change; I do not know why I cannot distinguish between right and wrong, Dharma and A-dharma."

"My Kshatriya blood rises up in protest when you prod it so; it is pushing me forward into battle. Fear of becoming the murderer of these revered elders is pulling me back. I am helpless. As you are guiding this chariot, guide me also and show me the way. Moreover, I am no more concerned with worldly prosperity; I crave for spiritual progress only," he said.

From that moment, Krishna became the Guru and Arjuna, the disciple. Arjuna prayed for that status and got it. Until Arjuna accepted that attitude of a learner, his heart was filled with egoism and weakness. The hero had become a zero. He had taken a position the very opposite of that taken up by Krishna.

The reason for all this, if you carefully study the situation, it is nothing but "egoism". Prema is the viewpoint of Krishna and Bhrama (delusion), of Arjuna. He suffered from agony because of that. Then he realised that egoism led only to further ignorance and confusion. He surrendered his judgement to the Lord and saved himself. He said he was but an instrument in the hands of the Lord. Recognising one's error is the first excellence of a good disciple; it is the beginning of wisdom. Only the foolish will feel they know all and suffer from the dire disease of a swollen head.

It is more useful for the student to search for his own faults, with a view to removing them, than to seek excellences so that he might exult over them. A student who does this can progress fast; he is not dragged behind by fear or anxiety; he can move on, with faith in the Lord, on whom he has placed all his burdens. He reaches a state of mental calm, which is the sign of the true aspirant. Arjuna arrived at that stage and then Krishna gave him (and, through him, to all mankind) the teaching that confers immortality.

For whom was the Geetha spoken? Just think of that for one moment. Milk is not taken from the udder for the sake of the cows, for cows do no drink their own milk; Arjuna, the calf, has had his fill; Krishna is ever-content and He needs nothing, not to mention, milk! For whose sake was it that the Upanishads were milked by Krishna to get this Geetha? Krishna says it is for the "Sudhee-jana," the persons who have "Su-dhee". Intelligence that is moderated by goodness; intelligence that is controlled by virtue.

And what of the place where the teaching was given? Between two opposing armies! Therein lies the great significance of the Geetha. On one side, the forces of Dharma; on the other, the forces of Adharma; on one side, the good, on the other, the bad; between these two pulls, the individual, unable to decide which course to adopt, weeps in despair. And the Lord speaks the Geetha to all such and grants them light and courage. Do not think that the distress of Arjuna was just his affair, his problem and no more. It is a universal human problem.

For Arjuna sought from Krishna not Preyas - the pleasing, worldly glory of power and status and wealth; but Sreyas, the lasting glory of full joy. He said, "Preyas is available for human effort; it can be won by human activity or Karma. Why should I crave from You what I can win by my own endeavour? I am not so foolish as all that. Grant me that Sreyas that is beyond the reach of my effort. Sreyas is not the fruit of Karma, it is the fruit of grace!" Thus Arjuna rose to the height of Saranagathi, absolute self-surrender, the state called Prapaththi.

Much can be said of Saranagathi. Man surrenders his dignity and status to other men for various purposes in life - wealth, fame, possessions, pomp, power etc. But rarely does he get the chance to surrender to the Lord for the sake of the Lord! How can he get the urge so long as he craves for the Aadheya and not the Aadhaara? He longs for the object, but does not long for the base on which the object rests. How long can a baseless object satisfy? He wants the gift, not the giver! - the created not the creator, things from the hand, but not the hand! He is running after a nonexistent thing. Can there be an object without a preexistent cause? No; if there is one, it can only be the uncaused God. It is, therefore, sheer ignorance to surrender individuality for the sake of the transitory products of action, the 'caused' rather than the cause. Surrender rather to the basis, the cause and the origin of all, the Sarveswara. That is genuine Saranagathi.

There are three types of Saranagathi: Thavaivaaham (I am thine), Mamaiva-thwam (you are mine) and Thwame-vaaham (thou art I). The first affirms, I am yours; the second asserts, you are mine, and the third declares you and I are one, the same. Each is just a step in the rising series and the last is the highest step of all.

In the first stage, Thav-eva-aham, the Lord is fully free and the devotee is fully bound. It is like the cat and the kitten; the cat shifts the kitten about as it wills; the kitten just mews and accepts whatever happens. This attitude is very gentle and is within easy reach of all. In the second, Mama-eva-thwam, the devotee binds the Lord, who is to that extent 'un-free!' Surdas is a good example of this attitude. "Krishna! You may escape from my hold, from the clasp of these arms; but you cannot escape from my heart, where I have bound you," challenged Surdas. The Lord just smiled and assented; for, "I am bound by my devotees," He asserts so without any loss of self-respect. The devotee can tie up the Lord with his Prema; by Bhakthi that overwhelms and overpowers his egoism. When man is full of this type of Bhakthi, the Lord will Himself bless him with everything he needs. His grace will fulfil all his wants. Remind yourself here of the promise made by the Lord in the Geetha. "Yogakshemam vahaamyaham", "I carry the burden of his welfare."

Next, about the third stage: "Thwamevaaham ithi thridhaa;" this is the Avibhaktha-bhakthi, the inseparable devotion. The devotee offers all to the Lord, including himself, for he feels that he cannot withhold himself. That completes his surrender.

The Thwamevaaham feeling is the Adwaithic Saranagathi, based on the realisation that all this ('Idam') is Vaasudeva and nothing less, nothing else. So long as the consciousness of the Deha or body persists, the Bhaktha is the servant and the Lord is master. So long as the individual feels that he is separate from other individuals, the Bhaktha is a part and the Lord is the whole. When he progresses to the state when he gets beyond the limits of the body as well as of "I" and "mine", then there is no more distinction; Bhaktha and Bhagavan are the same. In the Ramayana, Hanumantha achieved this third stage through Bhakthi.

This same subject is mentioned in the seventh sloka of the second chapter of the Geetha. The word Prapanna used there indicates that Arjuna has the qualification, the discipline of Bhakthi. Moreover, Arjuna had analysed his own faults and recognised them as such. Again, he had awakened from Thamas. Krishna appreciated this the moment it happened. He said, "You are called Guda-kesa, for you are Jitha-nidra - Nidra or sleep is the characteristic of Thamas; how can this Thamas overwhelm you now? It is just a temporary phase; it can never bind you fast."

If Arjuna has, by his efforts, won control over his senses and earned the name Gudakesa, Krishna is Hrishikesa, the Presiding Deity of all the senses! On the field of Kurukshethra both are in the same chariot, one as learner and the other as teacher!

What exactly is the cause of all grief? It is the attachment to the body that produces grief as well as its immediate precursors: affection and hate. These two are the results of the intellect considering some things and conditions as beneficial, and some other things and conditions as not. This is a delusion, this idea of beneficence and maleficence. Still you get attached to objects that are considered beneficial and you start hating the others. But from the highest point of view, there is neither; the distinction is just meaningless. There is no two at all; how can there be good and bad then? To see two where there is only one, that is Maya, or Ignorance. The ignorance that plunged Arjuna into grief was of this nature - seeing many, when there is only one.

Absence of the knowledge of the identity of Thath thwam (the word 'Thathwa,' used to mean principle, enshrines this great philosophical doctrine) is the cause of all ignorance. If this truth is not learnt, man has to flounder in the ocean of grief. But, if it is learnt and if man lives in that consciousness, then he can be free from grief. Many a prescription is recommended, used, published and repeated parrot-like by all kinds of quacks. But they do not go to the root of the matter; they are balms applied to the eye to cure an ache in the stomach. The disease and the drug have no coordination! The ache must be spotted and diagnosed and the drug must be such as will remove it. Then alone can it be cured. Narayana is the only medical expert who can do so. And, He has diagnosed Arjuna's illness correctly and decided on the treatment.

The wound that cannot be healed by external application of balms has to be cured by internal remedies. So Krishna prodded Arjuna with queries. "Why do you weep like a coward? Is it because, Bhishma, Drona and the rest are about to be killed? No; you weep because you feel they are 'your men'. It is egoism that makes you weep. People weep not for the dead, but because the dead are 'theirs'. Have you not killed until now many who were 'not yours?' You never shed any tears for them. Today you weep, since you are under the delusion that these whom you see before you are somehow 'yours' in a special way. When you sleep, you are unaffected by this feeling of "I" and "mine", so you are unaware what happens to your body or the bodies of these 'your men' or to your possessions, items which you carefully remember while awake. 'Mine' is the possessive case of 'I' and so it comes in its trail. The fundamental ignorance, my dear fool, is the identification of yourself with something that is not you; viz, the body. Deha is An-aatma; you believe that it is the Atma. What a topsy-turvy bit of knowledge is this! To cure this A-jnana, I must administer the medicine of Jnana itself."

Thus, Krishna started giving him, in the very first instance, the most effective drug, Jnana. This is detailed from the eleventh sloka of the second chapter. This is a key sloka for all students of the Geetha. Krishna condemns outright two objections that were haunting Arjuna for long, saying that the destruction of the body does not mean the destruction of the Atma and that he is grieving for those he need not grieve for. "Prajnaa-vaadaam-scha bhaashase: You talk like a wise man. You say this is Dharma and the other is Adharma, as if you know how to distinguish them," said Krishna.

Here attention has to be paid to one fact. Arjuna is suffering from two types of delusion: (1) Ordinary and (2) Out of the ordinary. To confuse the body with oneself and pine for the body as if something has happened to one is the ordinary delusion. To discard one's own Dharma - (in this case, the Dharma of a Kshatriya) - as A-dharma is a delusion out of the ordinary. Krishna destroys the first and removes the second. The first is dealt with from the 12th to the 30th sloka of the second chapter; Krishna has to tackle the second as a special problem and explain in eight slokas the idea of Swa-dharma or His own Dharma to Arjuna. These are collectively called Dharmashtakas. Swa-dharma does not bind and produce further birth; it can lead on to liberation; it has to be done as Karmayoga, without attachment to the fruit. Towards the close of the second chapter, there is also the description of the successful aspirant who has steadied himself in a purified intellect, the Sthithaprajna.

Krishna continued His discourse: "Arjuna! Think for a while who you are and what you are proposing to do. You declare you know everything but yet you weep like a helpless woman. Your words proclaim that you are a Pundit, but your acts reveal you as a simpleton. Hearing you, one would infer you are a Jnani; but seeing you, one would find that you are an Ajnani! Your condition is disgusting, to say the least. Well, if I take you to be a Pundit, I cannot reconcile that view with your tears; for Pundits do not grieve over life and death. If they grieve, they are no Pundits. Pundits have the capacity to discover what is fundamentally true. Those who know the secret of the physical, and the mystery of the spiritual, such alone can be called Pundits. How then can they weep over either the embodied or the disembodied? They will not forgo their inner calm, whatever the stress or distress."

The fully ignorant and the fully wise - both will have no grief over the living or the dead. Do you weep because the bodies of Bhishma and Drona will fall, or is it because the Atma of those two will be destroyed? For the bodies, do you say? Well. Are tears any good? If they are, certainly, people would have kept the corpses of their dead and revived them by their weeping. No, it can never be. Immerse the body in vessels of Amritha; it cannot come back to life. Why then weep over the inevitable, the unavoidable?

"You might say that you are weeping for the Atma, the spiritual core. That reveals greater foolishness. Death can never even approach the Atma. It is eternal, self-evident, pure. It is evident that you have no Atma-jnana at all."

"Again, for the Kshatriya, fighting is Swadharma. Do your duty regardless of other considerations. You ask, 'How can I cause the death of Bhishma in war? But they have all come to get killed and to kill; you are not killing them in their homes. Of course, it is A-dharma to kill them in their homes; but on the battlefield, how can it be against Dharma? I am sorry you have not got this much of Viveka."

"It is enough. Get up and get ready for the fray. Why slide to the ground under the weight of all this useless ego? The Lord is the cause of all, not you. There is a higher power that moves everything. Know this and bend your will to it."

"Bhishma, Drona and the rest have come like true soldiers and Kshatriyas to engage in battle. They do not weep like you. Consider that. They will never grieve or withdraw. Arjuna! This is the testing time for you, remember! Let Me tell you this also. There was never a time when I was not. Why? There was never a time when even you and all these kings and princes were not. Thath is the Paramatma, Thwam is the Jivatma; and both were the same, are the same, and will be so forever. Prior to the pot, in the pot and after the pot, it was, is and will be clay."

Arjuna was shocked into awareness and wakefulness by all this. He said, "May be You are God; may be You are indestructible. I weep not for You, but for such as us: come yesterday, present today, off tomorrow. What happens to us? Please enlighten me."

One point has to be carefully noticed here. Thath, that is the Godhead, is Nithyam, eternal; every one accepts it. But Thwam, the individual too is godhead! (Asi). It too is eternal, though it cannot be grasped so easily or so quickly. So Krishna elaborates this and says, "Arjuna! You too are eternal as the absolute. Seen apart from the limitations, the individual is the universal. Prior to the appearance of the jewel, there was just gold; during the existence of the jewel, there is just gold; and after the name-form of the jewel has gone, the gold persists. The Atma persists in the same way, body or no body.

"Though it is associated with the body, the Atma is unaffected by the Gunas and the Dharmas, that is to say, it has no qualities and characteristics. You are unaffected by the changes that the body undergoes when you grow from the infant to the boy, from the boy into the youth, from the youth to the middle-aged man and thence to the old man. You persist, in spite of all this. It is the same when the body is destroyed; the Atma persists. So the hero will not pine over the change called death." Krishna said this with such emphasis that the chariot shook!

Arjuna was still doubt-ridden. "O Lord," he began, "You said that the bodily changes are like the stages of wakefulness, dream and sleep. But we do not forget our experiences when we awake from deep sleep. The experiences of previous births are destroyed in memory by the incident called death." Krishna replied that it was not possible to recall to memory all experiences, but it was possible to recall some. For the Atma persisted, though the vehicle changed.

Arjuna then shifted to another point; a point which pesters many besides Arjuna. That is why Krishna says, "Dheerasthathra na muhyathi, the Dheera is not deluded by this." He does not say Arjuna should not be deluded by this. He intends to teach all wavering minds. Krishna solves every doubt as soon as it arises. He said, "Arjuna! While passing through the three stages, Buddhi somehow manages to keep some points in its hold. But it too is destroyed when death comes to the body. At one stroke, all is forgotten. Memory is the function of the intellect, not the Atma.

"Now consider this: You cannot now tell exactly where you were on a definite day, ten years ago, can you? But you existed that day, ten years ago. About that there is no doubt. You dare not deny your existence then. The same is the case of the life before this which you lived, though you have no recollection how and where. The wise man is not deluded by such doubts, nor agitated by them."

"The Atma does not die; the body does not stay. Do you think that your grief at their possible death will make the Atma of your opponents happy? That is an insane thought. The Atma does not derive joy or grief whatever happens or does not happen. Let the senses keep to their places; there is no reason to fear. It is only when they start contacts with objects, that the twin distractions, joy and grief, get produced. When you hear some one defaming you, you feel anger and grief; but no such agitation can take place if the words do not fall on your ears. The object-ward movement of the senses is the cause of grief and its twin, joy."

"I is like heat and cold; when it is the cold season, you crave for warmth and in the hot season you crave for coolness. The sense-object contact is exactly like this. So long as the world is there, objective contact cannot be avoided; so long as the burden of previous births is there, the joy-grief complex cannot be avoided. Still, one can master the art, the discipline, the secret, of avoiding them or bearing them without bother."

"Of what use is it to wait till the waves are silenced, before you wade into the sea for a bath? They will never cease. The wise man learns the trick of avoiding the blow of the onrushing wave and the drag of the receding wave. But a sea bath is essential. Some people avoid that very thing, because they are too idle to learn the art, Arjuna. Wear the armour of fortitude, of Thithiksha, and the blows of good and bad fortune can never harm you."

"Thithiksha means equanimity in the face of opposites, putting up boldly with duality. It is the privilege of the strong, the treasure of the brave. The weak will be as agitated as peacock feathers; they are ever restless, with no fixity even for a moment. They sway like the pendulum, this side and that; once towards joy, the next moment towards grief."

"Here, some pause has to be made on one point. Fortitude is different from patience. Thithiksha is not the same as Sahana. Sahana is putting up with something; tolerating it, bearing it, because you have no other go; having the capacity to overcome it, but yet, disregarding it - that is the spiritual discipline. Patiently putting up with the external world of duality combined with inner equanimity and peace - that is the path to liberation. Bearing all, with analytic discrimination - that is the type of Sahana that will yield good result."

(Viveka is the word used for such discrimination. It means the capacity to recognise what is called the "Aaga-maapaayina" nature of the objective world; that is to say, the world of objects that "come and go" and are not eternal).

"Generally, man seeks only happiness and joy; under no stress will he desire misery and grief! He treats happiness and joy as his closest well-wishers and misery and grief as his direct enemies. This is a great mistake. When one is happy, the risk of grief is great; fear of losing the happiness will haunt the man. Misery prompts inquiry, discrimination, self-examination and fear of worse things that might happen. It awakens you from sloth and conceit. Happiness makes one forget one's obligations to oneself as a human being. It drags man into egoism and the sins that egoism leads one to commit. Grief renders man alert and watchful."

"So misery is a real friend; happiness spends out the stock of merit and arouses the baser passions. So it is really an enemy. Really, misery is an eye-opener; it promotes thought and the task of self-improvement. It also endows one with new and valuable experiences. Happiness draws a veil over experiences that harden a person and make him tough. So, troubles and travails are to be treated as friends; at least, not as enemies. Only, it is best to regard both happiness and misery as gifts of God. That is the easiest path for one's own liberation."

"Not to know this is the basic ignorance. A person so ignorant is blind; really, happiness and misery are like the blind man who must be accompanied ever by one who sees. When the blind man is welcomed, you have inevitably to welcome the man with eyes, for he is the constant comrade of the blind man. So too, happiness and misery are inseparable; you cannot choose only one. Moreover, misery highlights the value of happiness. You feel happy, by contrast with misery." Thus said Krishna to Arjuna, to teach him the insignificance of all duality.

Then Arjuna resumed: "Madhava! What is the profit if your advice is followed and if the necessary Thithiksha is cultivated. Forbearance is perhaps the only result. There is no benefit, isn't it?" Krishna replied "O Sun of Kunthi! The hero is the steady person who is not agitated to the slightest extent by ups and downs caused by roaring waves on the sea of life; who does not lose the poise which has become part of his nature; who keeps to his schedule of spiritual discipline whatever the attraction or distraction. The wise man is he, who is unaffected by the ever-present dualism of the objective world. He is the person referred to as 'Dheera'."

'Dhee' means 'Buddhi;' it is the quality that makes a person a 'Purusha' or perfect man. It is not the dress or the moustache that marks out the 'man'. Manhood comes with the rejection of the dual. To deserve the status, he ought to earn victory over internal foes, rather than the external. His exploit is to conquer the twin foes of joy and grief.

"Well, you might have another doubt also. (Your heart is a nest of doubts!). You might still question, what is the gain of victory? The gain is immortality, let Me assure you. Things of the world cannot confer that state of bliss. All that they can give is relative, not absolute bliss. When you rise above joy and grief, bliss is absolute, independent, full. Arjuna! You are man among men. So, you have no need of this paltry victory over world enemies. You deserve the bliss of immortality." Thus saying, Krishna began telling him of the science of Atma and Anatma, the discipline by which one can discriminate between the two.

"The Atma-jnani is not bound by the results of Karma; it is only those who indulge in Karma without the awareness of the Atma, (their real Self, unaffected by what they do or feel or think) that do get bound. Like the person who has learnt swimming, the Jnani can safely wade into the sea of worldly activity. If you do not know swimming, but yet enter the sea, the waters will swallow you up and death is sure."

This explains why Krishna taught Arjuna the key science of Atmajnana. The Atma does not kill, nor does it die. Those who believe that it kills or dies are unaware of its nature. The Atma of Arjuna does not kill; the Atma of Bishma or Drona does not die, the Atma of Krishna does not prompt! These are just phases of the cause-consequence duality. The Atma cannot be the cause or consequence of any Karma; it is Nir-vikara, incapable of change.

"There are six forms of modulation or modification: Originating, existing, growing, altering, declining, getting destroyed. These are the Shad-vikaras. Originating or Janma is when it 'was not' and later, 'is'. When it 'is' and becomes 'is not', it is called 'maranam' or death. Janma happens to organic beings, not inorganic things. But the Atma has no organs, it is Nir-avayava. The Atma is not born and so how can it die? Whom does it kill? It is unborn, eternal."

"Just as a person discards old clothes and wears new ones, the Dehi (dweller in the body) discards one body and dons another. The body is to the individual what the clothes are to the body. If you understand the real nature of the Atma, then you would not give way to grief. All the weapons that you wield can harm but the material body; they cannot harm the modification-less Atma. Know this as truth and renounce this despondency."

"The foremost duty of a Kshatriya is to stay on the side of Dharma and destroy Adharma. Consider your good fortune! You have on this battlefield worthy foes like Bhishma and others. This same Bhishma fought in the past with his own Guru, the Brahmin who taught him all the arts, the great Parasurama himself in order, primarily, to carry out his Kshatriya duty. And now you, like a coward, are afraid to take arms against such stalwarts. A Kshatriya finds his duty fulfilled when he upholds the cause of Dharma in spite of all odds. That is the path of progress."

'Kshatham' means 'Dukham', 'Sorrow', and a Kshatriya is he who saves beings from sorrow. A chance like this to wage a war on behalf of Dharma against the forces of Adharma comes but rarely to man. You have been blessed as a Kshatriya to take part in this Dharmayuddha. Just imagine how much merit you will acquire by the service to the world, which you are set to do now. The war that is waged to establish Santhi and Soukhya (peace and plenty) in the world is referred to as Dharmayuddha and this is just such a struggle, where justice is bound to win.

"The Kauravas have desisted from no sin, no injustice and no vice. They insulted elders, deserted the virtuous, defamed the chaste, and wounded the self-respect of the good. Countless are their misdeeds. Now, the moment for retribution has come; they are about to answer for all their crimes. And just at this hour, if you behave like a poltroon, you bring dishonour to your parents, your brothers and indeed to the entire Kshatriya caste."

"You imagine that it is a sin to engage in war. That is a great error. The sin, on the other hand, lies in avoiding the chance to destroy the wicked, in prolonging the agony of the virtuous. Give up your Dharma now and you run the risk of falling into perdition. Hold fast to it, and you are untouched by sin. Be of fixed mind; do not give way to either one or the other among all the dualities of the world." From the 31st sloka of this chapter, Krishna has spoken of this Swadharmanishta, in eight slokas.

One should engage in activity, with a mind steady in the midst of fortune, good and bad. This was what Krishna advised in the 37th sloka. The 39th is a transitional verse for after speaking of "Esha thebhihithaa saamkhya", (I have described to you the Saamkhya arguments), Krishna says that He will go on to teach him the Yogabuddhi or Buddhiyoga and asks him to listen with care.

When the desire to attain the fruit of action is renounced with full intellectual awareness, then it becomes what Krishna calls, "Buddhiyogam." The intellect has to be purified and trained; otherwise, it is impossible to give up attachment to the fruits of action and to continue doing things as either duty or dedication. Such a purified intellect is named "Yogabuddhi." Cultivate it and then, through it, liberate yourself from the bondage of Karma. Really speaking, you, the true you, are above and beyond Karma.

You might say that you will desist from Karma rather than practise the difficult discipline of renouncing the fruits thereof. But, that is impossible. No; Karma is inevitable; one has to do some Karma or other. Not for a single moment can one free oneself from Karma; "Nahi kaschith kshanamapi" says Krishna, in the 3rd chapter of the Geetha.

"Arjuna! Every Karya (deed) or Karma (activity) has a beginning and an end. But Nishkama Karma (desireless Karma) has no such. That is the difference between the two. When Karma is done with a view to the gain therefrom, one has to suffer the loss, the pain, and even the punishment. But Nishkama Karma frees you from all these."

"Desire the fruits of Karma and you get born again and again, caught up in that desire; give up that desire, you are liberated from the flux. The practice of this type of renunciation ends the state of bondage. The main point is to stick to the goal. The goal is Karma, not Karmaphala. Let me tell you that the desire for the fruit of one's acts is an indication of Rajoguna, which does not befit you. Perhaps you will prefer to remain inactive. Well, that is an indication of Thamoguna! It is even worse than Rajoguna." The Lord has laid down four commands: The first one a "do" and the other three "dont's"; the first insisting on the cultivation of strength; the rest requiring the avoidance of weakness.

Of course, it is not Arjuna alone that got such advice; the whole of mankind needs it. Arjuna is only the representative "man". Students of the Geetha must learn this lesson first: that the Geetha is primarily for every seeker.

Another point to be noted is this: Geetha is addressed to man, not to birds and beasts or to the gods or Devatha. Man performs acts prompted by the desire for the fruits thereof; if the act does not yield fruit he will not do the act at all. Profit, gain, reward, result - these, man seeks. But this rule does not apply to those who take the Geetha in their hands, to drink the nectar of the Lord's message. Not all do yearn for the nectar; and, if you do so, it is evident that you aspire for eternal joy, eternal liberation. Then you must pay the price, the giving up of the desire for the fruit of action, and dedicate everything at the feet of the Lord.

If you have an eye on the fruits of your actions, you are liable to be affected by worry, anxiety and restlessness. The question may arise: if the fruits have to be given up, how can one manage to live? But why this weakness of heart, this nervousness? He who has assured, 'Yogakshemam vahamyaham,' will certainly look after that. He will give the wherewithal and the means. All you have to consider is where a happy life is important or is liberation from the cycle of life and death more important? Happy living is only of short duration; the joy of liberation is eternal, unshakable.

On this point many commentators have exercised their intelligence and written differently. Many have said that the giving up of Phala or fruit is advised because there is no right or authority for the doer to desire for the fruit.

This is a great blunder. The Lord has said in the Geetha, 'refuse the fruit' (maa phaleshu), that is to say: the deed yields results, but the doer should not desire the result, or do it with the result in view. If Krishna's intention was to say that the doer has no right for the fruit, He would have said, 'It is fruitless', 'na phaleshu,' (na, meaning no). So if you desist from Karma, you will be transgressing the Lord's command. That will be a serious mistake.

When man has a right for engaging in Karma, he has a right also for the fruit; no one can deny this or refuse his right. But the doer can, out of his own free will and determination, refuse to be affected by the result, whether favourable or unfavourable. The Geetha shows the way: "Do... and deny the consequence." The desire for the result of your action is a sign of Rajoguna: the giving up of action since you cannot benefit by the fruit is a sign of Thamoguna. To engage oneself in Karma, to know that the result will follow; and yet not to be attached to it or getting concerned with it - that is the sign of Sathwaguna.

The Karmayogi who has learnt this secret of "Karma combined with Phalathyaga" should have Samabuddhi, more than Sangabuddhi. For the Sangabuddhi draws him into attachments and entanglements. "This Karma is mine; its results are due to my endeavours. I am the person entitled to it," such are the thoughts which bind the doer. Krishna advises that one should rise above this Sangabuddhi. He declares that Samathwam is the genuine Yoga. (Samathwam yogamuchyathe).

In the second chapter, Krishna has made clear in a general way four principle points: the Saranaagathi principle, the Sankhya teaching, the Yoga attitude and the Sthithaprajna nature. We have noted the first three already. Now about the fourth:

Krishna taught Arjuna the nature and characteristics of the Sthithaprajna when Arjuna questioned him. Arjuna prayed "O Kesava!" and when that appellation was used, Krishna smiled. For He knew then that Arjuna had understood His splendour. Do you ask how? Well, what does Kesava mean? It means, "He who is Brahma, Vishnu, Siva, the Trimurthi." Through Krishna's grace, Arjuna had reached that stage of realisation.

When Arjuna prayed that Kesava must tell him the true characteristics of Sthithaprajna, He replied, "Pratha! He will be free from all desire. He will be stable in the knowledge and awareness of the Atma only."

Now, there are two processes in this: To give up all the promptings of desire in the mind is the negative process; to implant joy, ever-present joy therein, is the positive aspect. The negative process is to remove all the seedlings of wrong and evil from the mind; the positive process is to grow, in the field cleansed thus, the crop of attachment to God! The cultivation of the crop you need is positive, the plucking of the weeds is the negative stage. The pleasures the senses draw from the objective world are weeds; the crop is the attachment to God. The mind is a bundle of wishes; and unless these wishes are removed by their roots, there is no hope of destroying the mind, which is a great obstacle in the path of spiritual progress. When the yarn that comprises the cloth is taken out, one by one, what remains of the cloth? Nothing. The mind is made of the warp and woof of wishes. And when mind vanishes, the Stithaprajna is made.

So the first thing to be conquered is Kama, the demon of desire. For this it is unnecessary to wage a huge war. It is also unnecessary to use pleasing words to persuade the desire to disappear. Desires will not disappear for fear of the one or for favour of the other. Desires are objective; they belong to the category of the "seen". When the conviction that "I am the see-er only, not the seen", the Sthithaprajna releases himself from attachment. By this means he conquers desire. You must watch the working of the mind, from outside it; you should not get involved in it. That is the meaning of this discipline.

The faculty of the mind is like a strong current of electricity. It has to be watched from a distance and not contacted or touched. Touch it, you are reduced to ashes. So too, contact and attachment give the chance for the mind to ruin you. The farther you are from it, the better. By skillful methods, you have to make the best use of it for your own welfare.

The bliss which the Sthithaprajna is immersed in does not arise from external objects; he has no need of them either. Ananda is in every one as part of his very nature. Those with pure consciousness find the highest bliss in the realisation of their own reality, the Atma. That joy is Swasampaadyam (self-earned, so to say). It is known only to the individual; it is self-evident.

Since Arjuna had not know this, Krishna had to clarify it in simple terms in the 56th, 57th and 58th slokas. Joy or grief can be met with in three forms: Aadhyaathmika, Aadibhouthika and Aadidaivika. It is well known that sins bring grief as retribution and meritorious deeds bring joy as reward. So advice is given to avoid sins and perform meritorious deeds. But the Sthithaprajna knows neither the pain of grief nor the thrill of joy. He is not repulsed by one or attracted by the other. He will not retreat before pain or run forward towards pleasure. Only those who are ignorant of the Atma will exult or droop when stricken with joy or grief.

The Sthithaprajna will be ever engaged in Manana, or contemplation and rumination. He is called Muni. His intellect is steady, because the senses do not harry it. One point has to be understood here. Conquest of the senses is essential for Sadhana; but that is not all. So long as the objective world continues to attract the mind, one cannot claim complete success. That is why Krishna says, "Arjuna! Establish mastery over the senses; then you need have no fear, for they become serpents with the fangs removed." But there is still danger from thoughts and impulses which draw you outwards. Desire has no limits; it can never be satiated.

So along with the mastery of the senses, one must establish mastery of the mind also. That is the sign of a Sthithaprajna, not a Gathaprajna (a no-wisdom individual, and not a steady-wisdom individual). Where does the Gathaprajna go? To perdition and nowhere else.

The upward path, the higher stage - that is for the Sthithaprajna. Of these two masteries, if the mind is subdued, that alone is enough; it is not necessary then to conquer the external senses. If the mind has no attachment with objects, the senses have nothing to cling on to; they perish by inanition; love and hate are both starved out of existence. The bonds with the objective world are cut, though the senses may yet be affected by it. For him who has been blessed by an awareness of the Atma, how can anything worldly bring grief or joy?

As the stars fade into invisibility when the sun rises, so too when the Sun of Knowledge or Jnana rises, grief, agitation and ignorance vanish.

Man has three chief instruments: the mind, the intellect, and the senses. It is when these three work in unison and cooperate with one another that either 'immersal in the flux' or 'liberation in the knowledge of the Atma,' is realised. Krishna anticipated that Arjuna will be puzzled to know what will happen "when which operates with which." So He himself provided the answer. "Arjuna", He said, "when the mind cooperates with the senses, you enter into the flux called Samsara; when it subordinates itself to the intellect, you attain the knowledge of the Atma. One path leads to Samsarapraapthi; the other, the Atma-praapthi. The intellect must resolve; the mind must carry out the resolution so made. That is the correct procedure."

The Indriyas or senses have to be fully destroyed. That is the hallmark of a Sthithaprajna. So when all beings are experiencing night, the Sthithaprajna would keep himself awake. When all beings are awake, the Sthithaprajna would be asleep. The literal meaning of this is that what is night for one is day for the other. But that would sound absurd. It would mean the Sthithaprajna is a person who sleeps during the day and keeps awake at night.

The inner meaning of this statement is very profound. Ordinary men are vigilant in affairs that concern the senses that arise out of this world. Wakefulness for them is the care they bestow on worldly pursuits. But the Sthithaprajna is unconcerned with these very things; he is, so to say, asleep. What does sleep mean? It means the happiness resulting from inactivity of the senses. And vigilance? It means yielding to the senses, and catering to them. When ordinary men are pursuing the senses and their demands, the Sthithaprajna is asleep. This can also be put in other words: forget the Atma sthithi and you relapse into Dehasthithi, from the Atma-consciousness-stage you fall into the body-consciousness-stage.

This is what happens to the ordinary man; he sleeps in the Atma stage and wakes into the Deha sthithi. The Sthithaprajna's case is different. He sleeps in the Deha-consciousness and wakes in the awareness of the Atma. He will not awake, even by mistake, in the sensory world, the world where the ordinary man is most vigilant! This is the inner meaning. It is far from the literal meaning, which, if taken as true, would entitle thieves, watchmen and others to the name Sthithaprajna, for all these keep awake at nights and sleep during the day! Only those who have given up traces of desire and become mere instruments can achieve Santhi. Krishna ends the description of the Sthithaprajna with an emphasis on "Kaama naa thyaga" the giving up of desire.

To man sorrowing on the battlefield of life, bewildered by the attractions and the distractions, not knowing where to turn and which road to take, Madhava taught this Sankhya Yoga (second chapter). The other chapters are like commentaries on the teaching in this chapter. "Arjuna! prepare yourself for giving up the mind, for being merged in your own self. Withdraw the mind from the Sabda Sparsa Roopa Rasa Gandha categories, the five elements. Then you become a Sthithaprajna," said Krishna. In this second chapter He elaborated (in the 11th to the 30th sloka) on the Atma-thathwa in a simple, easily understandable style.

Then from the 39th to the 75th sloka, He taught the Dharma-Karma attitude that is essential for attaining the Godhead, an attitude that is based on the Karma Yoga which itself is embodied in the Samatha-buddhi already prescribed.

In 17 verses, from the 56th to the 72nd, Krishna described in the 2nd chapter the characteristics of the Sthithaprajna, and the excellence of that stage. Then, saying that He Himself had established Jnanayoga for the Sankhyas and Karmayoga for the Yogis as means of attaining liberation, He spoke of the importance of Karma.

Every one has to bow to the demands of nature and engage himself in Karma; it is inevitable. Therefore, Krishna said, "Do the Karthavya-Karmas, Karma that is your bounden duty. Being engaged in Karma is to be preferred to not being so engaged. If you desist from Karma, the task of living becomes difficult, nay, impossible.

"The Karmas that do not bind by consequence are those referred to as Yajna. All the rest are bondage-producing ones. Therefore, O Arjuna, give up all attachment and engage in acts, as if they are each a Yajna, sacrifice dedicated to the Lord." Krishna taught Arjuna the origins of Karma, the roots from where the urge to do Karma sprouts and grows; He taught them so clearly that Arjuna's heart was really moved and modified. "The Vedas emanated from God; Karmas emanated from the Vedas; from Karma originated Yajna, from Yajna, Rain; from Rain grew Food; from Food came all living beings. This is the cycle that has to be accepted and honoured.

"Consider this, O Arjuna, I have no need to do any Karma; no not anywhere in the three worlds. I am under no compulsion. Still I am ever engaged in Karma. Think of this. If I desist, the world will be no more. Have steady faith in the Atma; then dedicate all acts of yours to Me: with no desire for the fruit thereof, no egoism and no sense of possession or pride, engage in battle," said Krishna.

If the wheel of Creation is to move smooth, each one has to keep on doing Karma. Whoever he is, he cannot get round this obligation. Even he who has achieved the highest Jnana has to observe this rule. Eating and drinking, intake and release of breath - these too are Karmas. Who can exist without these acts?

You derive benefit from the world and from the community and so some activity on your part is their due. This Brahmaanda, this Viswa, is really speaking a huge workshop; every human being is a limb in this organisation. The limb is allotted a task in accordance with its structure and it must find its fulfilment in doing that particular work. Whatever work one has been allotted has to be done as an offering to God. There is no single thing in the universe that does not engage itself in this great task. Plant and insect, stone and stump, wind and rain, heat and cold, if each of these does not work as per plan, the world cannot subsist. The sun and the moon carry on their routine tasks; wind and fire have to perform their duties without demur. If the earth and the sun refuse to do the allotted duties what is to happen to the world? So there is no one who is Karma-less, but yet with body! It is only when each performs his task without fail, and with care, that the wheel will move quick and smooth.

You may wonder why Jnanis should still do Karma; not only you, but many others may be worried at that statement. Well, people usually follow the ideal set by those in higher levels. Their acts form the basis of Dharma for all. If Jnanis are inactive, how are ordinary mortals to save themselves? They have no guide and so they lose themselves in the easy paths of sensory pleasure. The duty of the wise is to foster the right and to practise it before others, so that they too may be prompted to follow, drawn by the hope of becoming as contented and as joyful as they are. The wise have to do and get done, see and show, so that the rest might be persuaded to follow the example set by them.

"Arjuna! Pay attention to just one fact! How warm is your body now? It may be about 98 degrees; how did it happen? Because, the Sun bears many million times this heat at that distance, is it not? Now if the Sun feels that it will not put up with all that fire and becomes cool, what will happen to mankind? Again, if I desist from Karma, this vast Viswa Karma of working in and through this universe, imagine what will be the fate? That is why I am engaged in Karma, remember. Not that I derive any profit thereby, or get any good, or any fruit."

"Almost everyone in the world is bound by the rule of Karma. But people are so immersed in ignorance that they are unaware of their own moral or intellectual status and of the secrets of Karma. Such can be saved only by being inspired by the example of the great. That is why the Jnani has to be engaged in activity; he has to remove the sloth and delusion of ordinary men. So all have to obey the rule of Karma, without any deviation."

Does the airplane stay on above, denouncing the earth below? Those who have earned the right to travel in it cannot fly towards it and into it! Therefore, to take them in, it has to come down at the places where they gather by previous arrangement, and then soar high into the sky with them. So too, though the Jnani has no desire or urge to do Karma, he comes down into the region of Karma and helps those who would not have otherwise put their talents into proper use. Even great personages like Janaka performed Dharma-Karmas with this view; Aswapathi too did likewise, to save the rest from sheer idleness or wickedness.

Then, in reply to another question of Arjuna, Krishna said, "Kama is the root cause of all evil" and He elaborated on its nature, cause and cure. "He who is bound by the Deha-atma buddhi (the false idea that he is just this body and nothing more) can never hope to conquer Karma; one must acquire the Brahma-Atma-Buddhi (the awareness that he is just Brahmam, and nothing less) in order to be sure of victory. All acts must be performed in the spirit of dedication to the Lord. The universe must be identified with the form of Vishnu, the universal transcendent."

Krishna most graciously made Arjuna imbibe these lessons. Not satisfied with this, Krishna told him that Jnana is the final goal and gain of Karma; Jnana is the treasure that is won by man's efforts to purify the mind and to earn the grace of God; Jnana not merely grants Ananda but is itself the seat of Ananda. Thus He initiated him into Jnanamarga, the path of Jnana.

This subject is carried on till the fifth chapter. Jnanayoga shines as a precious jewel amidst the teachings of Bhagavadgeetha-sastra. Krishna declared "Nahi Jnanena sadrisam pavithramiha vidyathe" (nothing as holy as Jnana is known here)! Even later, in the 7th chapter, He has said, "Jnani thwathmaivame matham" (I consider the Jnani as Myself); the excellence of Jnanayoga has been similarly extolled in many other contexts also in the Geetha.

That is why Jnanayoga is believed to be the most fruitful of all spiritual Sadhanas. All Sastras find their fulfilment in Jnana alone. Dhyanam is just the contemplation of the Jnanaswarupa, which is one's real nature. All are in you, you are in all. You have to get this conviction fixed in your consciousness, by means of analysis, discrimination and intellectual exploration. You have to isolate and dismiss from the consciousness the impressions of the senses, the mind, the intelligence etc. These have nothing to do with the Atma, which you really are. The Atma is unaffected by any subject or object. Even if the senses, mind, intelligence etc. are inactive, that inactivity will not affect the Atma! To know the Atma as such an entity, unaffected and unattached, is the secret of Jnana.

Every single act of yours must be carried out with this Jnana as its background. That awareness of the Atma will guide you in both the out-moving and in-drawing paths, the Pravritti marga and the Nivritti marga; it will not block action but fill it with purpose and meaning; it will build up faith and moral life, it will take man to the realm of deliverance along the road of Nishkama Karma, the renunciation of the fruit of action, and not of action itself.

For the achievement of liberation, Jnana is the direct road. Therefore, it is declared to be incomparably sacred. And, naturally, it follows that ignorance is indubitably the most despicable. "See the universal in the particular; see the particular in the universal; that is the essence of Jnana," said Krishna. "All Kshethras know only one single Kshethrajna. And, who is that? The Atma, that is to say, you yourself, your own self! Know this and you become a Jnani. So realise that the Atma is Param atma; that is the Vijnana." Krishna, who is all-knowing, began to teach Arjuna this Yoga, in order to cast off all doubt from his mind.

"Arjuna! I taught this sacred Jnanayoga to Surya. Then it was handed down from one generation to another till Manu and Ikshvaku and from them, Rajarshis came to learn it. Then it (got) lost in the world. That ever-existing Yoga had to be restored to the world, and so I had to come."

You will not fail to notice the discrepancy of the Yoga being described as ever-existing and the statement that it was lost! Of course the statement was not made without thought. The indestructible is here spoken of as having been destroyed! It is called indestructible or Avyaya for two reasons. Its origin is the Veda, which is free from decline. This yoga on account of passage of time, neglect and disuse, was forgotten. That is to say, it disappeared, it was lost to view, it declined. The statement does not mean anything more. Bringing it into life means, bringing it once again into use, not creating it ab initio! 'Lost to view' is the sense in which the word 'destroyed' is used in a general way. That is how you have to interpret it, for the Lord will never devise a thing that will suffer 'destruction'.

The reference to Surya also merits consideration. The people of Bharath are intimately associated with the Sun-god. The heroes of Bharath, the Kshathriyas, are from the beginning attached to Surya; even for ordinary men and women, Surya is so highly sacred that He has been raised to the status of the great Guru. The sacred scriptures and legends of India have not assigned a status of similar glory to any one else. It is a unique position that Surya occupies. Why, for the whole world, the sun is the visible manifestation of the Lord. And the sun is the source of time. Surya is the father of time (Kala) as the Sastras declare. The sun limits and regulates the number of years each one lives; the sun diminishes every day a fraction of the allotted span. So the sun is the supreme arbiter, the maker of man's destiny. Whether one wills or not, every deed of his is performed under His auspices and dedicated to Him.

Above all, consider the service the Sun does to this world! That is within the daily experience of all; every one is witness to that. The Sun is the source of all life, plant and animal, upon this planet. Without His rays, it will be a desolate waste. He draws up into the sky the waters of seas and lakes, and from the clouds He pours rain on the crops. He is ever the Dharmadevatha, scattering His rays equally on all.

Surya is the great Thyagi for unequaled renunciation. He is the great Yogi; without a second's thought of His own glory or of rest. He performs His duty without thought of reward. He is humble and steady in work. The service He does is something no one else can fulfil. The happiness He contributes is something no one else can confer. But He has no pretensions to pride. He moves above unconcerned with the consequences of His energising mission of service.

Imagine the patience with which the Sun puts up with all that extreme heat, for the sake of the world and of humanity. It is He who keeps the human body warm and comfortable. This material body is so full of energy and intelligence on account of the solar energy that it imbibes. If the sun is idle for a moment, the world will be consumed in flames. Instead, He is fostering the world. He feels it as His mission, His purpose, and not as His service.

It is only in the Karma that is your very nature that you can have fortitude; if it is just an assumed duty, you will find it difficult to put up with the troubles and travails. Assumed Karma is called A-sahaja Karma, and Karma that is the expression of one's genuine self is Sahajakarma. Now Sahajakarma will sit light and A-sahajakarma will induce conceit, or the feeling 'I am the doer,' so it will result in exhaustion or elation, disgust or pride.

Think of this one point: when a man is well, no one will inquire about his health. But if he is stricken with illness or sorrow, every one will inquire why and bombard him with anxious queries. Why this anxiety? Man is fundamentally happy and healthy. His nature is joy; that is his Sahajaswabhava. So when he is happy and healthy, no one is surprised or worried. But grief and sorrow are strange to his make-up; they are the result of a delusion that has overwhelmed his nature. So people get worried and they set about finding out how he got so deluded.

The Sun is teaching us that when one is oneself, there will be no exhaustion or elation, no disgust or pride. The task of Surya is not something imposed from outside and taken up under compulsion. That is why it is performed systematically, and smoothly. He is also exhorting mankind to use the time that He creates and allots, fully and fruitfully; not merely for living comfortably and safely, but for living a moral and elevating life, worthy of the destiny that is man's. Now you can realise why the Geetha was first taught by the Lord to the sun. He is the great Karmayogi, the great Nishkama Karma Yogi.

Krishna is now teaching this indestructible Geetha sastra to Arjuna, the representative of man at the crossroads; and He chose him for he has the same excellences, is it not? Reflect on that for a moment. If Arjuna was not a vessel endowed with such virtues and splendour, Krishna would not have decided to use him as the recipient of the Geetha. The Lord will not give gifts to the undeserving. Arjuna had the dualities that were needed for receiving the teaching and he was chosen.

"When decline descends on the Dharma which has been laid down, I incarnate as the Naraakaara, from the state of Niraakaara, in order to revive it and protect it and save the good from fear," said Krishna. Now this statement might cause some misgiving. You may ask: will not common people then conclude that Dharma is something liable to decline and decay? Will they not condemn Dharma as neither Nithya nor Sathya?

Well. You will grasp the importance of the task of protecting Dharma only when you consider its origin and purpose. God created this Jagath on His own initiative and he ordained various codes for its upkeep and smooth running. There were rules of correct conduct for every being. These form the Dharma.

The word Dharma is derived from the root, Dhr, meaning 'wear'. Dharma is that which is worn. Desa, the Deha of the Lord, is protected by the Dharma it wears; it also gives it beauty and joy; it is the Pithambara, the Holy Apparel of Bharath. It guards both honour and dignity; protects from chill and lends charm to life. Dharma preserves the self-respect of this land. As clothes maintain the dignity of the person who wears them, so, Dharma is the measure of the dignity of a people.

Not only this country, every single thing in the world, has its own special Dharma or uniqueness of duty, and nature. Each has its distinctive clothes! Dharma rules the group and the individual. Take the five elements, the components of Prapancha. Of these, water has movement and cold as its Dharma; combustion and light are the Dharma of fire. Each of the five has its unique Dharma. Humanity for man, animality for animals, these guard them from decline. How can fire be fire, if it has no power of combustion and light? It must manifest the Dharma to be itself. When it loses that, it becomes a lifeless bit of charcoal.

Similarly, man too has some natural characteristics that are his very life-breath. They are also called Sakthis or abilities. They can be identified as 'men' only so long as these abilities are found in them. If they are lost, they are no longer 'men'. To preserve and foster such qualities and abilities, certain modes of behaviour, lines of thought are laid down. Dharma will not decline if these (Aachaaras and Vichaaras) are kept up. Dharma is not imported from somewhere outside, nor can it be removed. It is your own genuine nature, your uniqueness. It is the thing which makes a man out of an animal. How to observe Dharma? By being 'yourself'. If a thing breaks loose from its Dharma and behaves as the whim dictates, then it is doing A-dharma.

This Sahajadharma of man was overpowered in course of time; those who supported it, encouraged it and derived joy from it, declined. So, in common parlance, it was said to have been 'destroyed', though it is something that cannot be destroyed. It is only like the weed overpowering the crop. So the 'establishment of Dharma' is only weeding the field. Now in this iron age or Kaliyuga, Dharma has become a mere matter of words. Dharma is not just the magical manipulation of words. This must be clearly understood. What has to be spoken is Truth; what has to be acted is Dharma.

"Sathyam Vada, Dharmam Chara" - has been the clarion call of the Upanishads, the repositories of Indian culture. These glorious teachings have been forgotten today; they have been turned upside down, in fact. "Dharmam vada,", "Speak Dharma" is the order of the day! That is the first step in the decline of Dharma, this descent from deed to word, the belief that a thing is done when it is only uttered! This is A-dharma, in fact.

But that which is not practised cannot possess strength. The crocodile's strength depends upon its being in water; the strength of Dharma depends upon its being practised. It becomes weak when it is taken out of practice and thrown on the sands of words. Sathya is a matter of speech, it gets strength when it is practised in speech; it is difficult to practise it in action. "Strength" has two meanings here: Animal strength and Dharmic strength. Bhima had physical strength, but as his elder brother, Dharmaja, was by his side, Bhima's strength became Dharmic. The Pandavas were saved by their adherence to Dharmic strength! But for that, they would have suffered defeat even in the very beginning. The Pandavas, without Dharmaja, whatever their resources, would have been an easy match for their opponents. Just ponder over that. How were the Kauravas destroyed, in spite of their vastly superior resources? They did not have Dharmic strength. All that they could rely on was sheer animal strength. The day when Dharmaja and Bhima, those who had Dharmic strength, moved into the forest, A-dharma penetrated into the land of the Kauravas.

So the Dharma that has now been exiled into the forest has to be restored to the villages and towns in order to establish plenty, prosperity and peace in the world. From the reign of A-dharma, the world has to enter the era of Dharma. Special effort is called for when you cultivate a crop; no effort is necessary when weeds and wild grass are allowed to grow. The valuable crop of Sahajadharma has to be cultivated with all care and attention. When Dharma is practised, A-dharma will decline by itself. No special exertion is needed for putting it out of action. Therefore, Dharmasthaapana means in this present context the growth of the practice of Dharma.

What does it mean when people say, "The sun has set?" Only, "It is not visible to us." So too, simply because Dharma is not evident, you cannot say it has gone out of existence. How can it go out of existence? If it goes, it cannot be truth or Dharma. Dharma, since it is associated with truth, is indestructible. To make the Dharma that has become hidden visible once again, that is real Dharmasthaapana. What Krishna is doing is exactly that.

Using Arjuna as an instrument, He is bringing to light the codes of conduct and modes of thought which are laid down as Dharma from the very beginning and once again enforcing their practice. This is referred to as Dharmoddharana. He is reviving something that is lost. This is not work that can be carried out by ordinary men. So, the universal basis, the universal Lord has Himself to assume the task. He alone is Sarvasaktha. He is teaching the world through Arjuna.

If Arjuna was an individual like others, he could not be the recipient and transmitter of this great teaching. So you must infer that Arjuna was really a great man. He is a hero who has defeated not merely the outer foes, but even the inner ones. Weak hearts cannot grasp the Geetha and put it into practice. It is with this full knowledge and this high purpose that Krishna selected Arjuna as the vehicle and showered on him His grace.

Once, while Krishna was conversing intimately with Arjuna, He made this statement: (Note the overpowering grace that Krishna showed!) "Arjuna, you are My closest Bhaktha; not only that; you are My dearest friend. I have no friend so dear as you are. That is the reason why I taught you this supreme, secret teaching."

Reflect on this. Many in the world are only self-styled Bhakthas. The Lord has not accepted them as such. To get the title from the Lord Himself is great good fortune and that is the highest credential. The Bhaktha must melt the heart of the Lord and get from Him the acknowledgement of Bhakthi. If the title is taken by oneself, it gives paltry satisfaction, not genuine joy - Alpathrpthi, not Aatmathrpthi. Arjuna was the only person who got the title from the Lord Himself. So you can understand how pure-hearted, how deserving, was Arjuna. You might say a hundred thing about yourself; you might advance this claim and that; but you must show acknowledgement from the Lord. Without that all your talk is empty boast; Bhakthi must be won by implicit obedience. But that alone is not sufficient. That is why Krishna uses the word, Mithra, (friend) also. The friend has no fear; that makes him a more perfect recipient.

Now we shall resume the trend and go back to the Geetha. When Arjuna listened to Krishna's words, he developed a head full of doubts. He became agitated; not only he, but all men nowadays are worried by doubts. Moreover, in the complex spiritual field and the field of knowledge concerning godhead, there are two interpretations possible: the outer and the inner. Ordinary men accept the outer and those who have some experience of the Lord seek to know the inner.

As the saying goes, 'like the mote in the eye, the stone in the shoe, the thorn in the foot, the faction in the home,' is this 'doubt in the brain'. When such doubts assail Arjuna, who is the representative man, it means they are humanity's own doubts. They can be solved by Madhava, who is beyond and above humanity. That is why Krishna is ready by his side to remove any doubt and plant joy in the heart.

Now, what exactly is the doubt? Krishna was born at the end of the Dwaparayuga; Surya and Manu are persons of the past. How then could these two meet Krishna? It cannot be physical relationship, for many generations separate Krishna from the other two. Krishna is Arjuna's contemporary. How did Krishna teach this Yoga to Surya? To sit quietly listening to unbelievable stories is itself a sign of poverty of intellect. Every moment, Arjuna's uneasiness increased. This was observed by Krishna, who is everywhere and in everything. He said, "What is the cause of the restlessness that I notice in you? Tell Me", and prodded him with a smile.

Arjuna was glad he got a chance. "Madhava! I do not understand your words. They confuse me so much that I am losing a little of the faith that I have in you. But I pray, excuse me for asking this, please solve my doubt. I cannot stand it any more," Arjuna pleaded with folded hands.

Gopala was glad and He asked him what the doubt was. Arjuna then said, "You said that this Yoga was taught to Surya and to Manu; of what distant past are these two? And to which age do you belong? Did you teach them while in this body? That is unbelievable. For this body is only four or five years older than mine. You are not more aged than that. When did You teach them, without my being aware of it? And the sun? He is greater than You, many times greater. He is there from the very beginning, from a past which is beyond our imagination. I can not believe it; no, not even the most intelligent person can prove it as true. Let it be! You may say, 'This is not the body, this is not the Yuga; it was while I was in another body and during another Yuga'. That makes it still more strange. For how can anyone remember what happened in any previous birth? If you say that it is possible to have the memory, then it must apply to me also, is it not? The Sastras declare that only a few divine beings keep such things in memory; the mortals cannot hold them in remembrance. Well, I may accept that you are divine. But I have to accept that Surya, the sun is also divine. How can two persons equal in Divine status teach and learn from each other? When You teach and he learns, he becomes Your disciple, is it not? You must then be taken to be superior to Surya. Let us take it to be so. I accept that you are the Lord, God Himself. That creates further difficulties for me. For why should God be bound by birth and death and activity? When you assume the five-foot human form, is it not a limitation on the limitless? From that infinite limitless universal why should God incarnate as the limited particular? Howsoever I argue within myself, I cannot solve this doubt. Your words are meaningful for you only; they do not convey any meaning to me. My head is confused; give me some guidance, some convincing reply," prayed Arjuna.

Krishna laughed within Himself, recognising that the appropriate moment had come. He said "Arjuna! what exactly do people mean when they say the sun has risen and the sun has set? It is so far as their vision is concerned; that is all, is it not? The sun does not rise, it does not set. I am also like that; I am not born, nor do I die. Men of ordinary intellect consider that I am born many times and that I do many deeds during each birth. Whenever there is the need for the uplift of the world, I become manifest assuming a name and form, that is all; so I am conscious of all My appearance, all My manifestations. I am almighty, I am Sarvajna. Not only I, even you, know everything. But your Jnanasakthi is overwhelmed by Ajnana. I am Jnana itself and so I know everything. When the sun is seen in a mirror, He does not lose either his status or his glory. He is unaffected: his glory is undiminished. So also I am reflected in Prakriti; and that does not diminish any of my glory or status. I remain as almighty and as Sarvajna as ever. I am birthless, immortal. Humans are born as a result of the merit and demerit of previous births. Perhaps you think that this holds true for Avathars also. No. Yours is Karmajanma; mine is Leelajanma. Prayers of the good are the cause of My Janma. The misdeeds of the wicked are also the cause!"

"The Avathara Purushas have no merit or demerit accumulated in former births, which like ordinary mortals they have to pay off in this birth. Theirs is a Leela, a birth taken on. The goodness of the good and the wickedness of the bad provide the reasons for the Avathara of the Lord. For example, take the Avathara of Narasimha. The merit of Prahlada and the wickedness of Hiranyakasipu combined to cause it. As a result of the coming of the Lord, the good will be happy and the bad will suffer. The Avathara, however, has no joy or grief, even when it is enveloped in the body it has assumed. The Avathara is not constituted of the five elements; it is Chinmaya not Mrinmaya, spiritual not material; it can never be disturbed by egoism or the sense of "mine" and "thine"; it is untouched by the delusion born of ignorance. Though men may mistake an Avathara as just human, that does not affect the nature of the embodiment; It has come for a task and it is bound to accomplish it."

"I shall tell you what that task is. It is protecting the Sadhus, punishing the wicked and supporting Dharma. By Sadhus, I do not mean monks and ascetics, who are indicated generally by that word. It means Sadhu-guna, goodness, uprightness, virtue; and these can be possessed by animals and even insects. Really speaking, the promotion of Sathwa guna is the best means of fostering Sadhus. The Avathara is the embodiment of this sacred Guna and so It fosters it, wherever it is found; but since Sanyasins are striving to earn it, they are called Sadhus and supposed to be specially blessed by the attention of the Lord."

"But they are not the only Sadhus. All those who follow Sadachara, who have Sad-seela, who adhere to Sathya, who yearn for the Sannidhi (presence) of Sarveswara (the Lord), who observe Sad-dharma, who consider Sarvajana (all) as Samaana (equal); all of them are Sadhus. Such characteristics are found among the animals and birds even. In the Ramayana, Jatayu was saved as a result of this Guna. That is the reason why the elephant was blessed and the monkeys were given a chance to serve and be blessed with His grace. The same reason prompted the Lord to bless the squirrel. A Sadhu is not made by a string of beads, an ochre robe and a stick in the hand. The clothes one wears and the language one has on the tongue do not decide who is a Sadhu and who is not; it is the Guna that settles it. All animals have the potentiality to be good; so fostering goodness in all is the best means of ensuring the welfare of the world."

"Next, the punishment of the wicked. Those who transgress the limits set for each type or genus of animals, those who indulge in A-Karma, A-nyaya and Anaachaara, and who roam about caught in the coils of Ahamkaara have to be punished; those who have allowed Rajoguna and Thamoguna to predominate and Sathwaguna to be extinguished in them and who have thus lost all trace of Daya, Dharma and Daanam have to be punished."

Thirdly, Krishna informed Arjuna that the fostering of Dharma is also His work. The word Sadhu has another meaning, important in this context. A Sadhu is he who does not deviate from his duty, whatever the temptation and whatever the danger. The wicked revel in creating trouble for such men and in indulging in acts contrary to the injunctions of the Sastras. What then is the establishment of Dharma? It is acting strictly according to the Dharma laid down in the Sastras; spreading among people the glory and the splendour of a life lived in Dharma; stabilising reverence towards the Vedas and the Sastras, towards God and Avatharas and Paramapurushas and the Sadhana that leads to liberation and blessedness beyond this life. It is called Dharma-samsthaapana, Dharmarakshana or Dharmoddhaarana. "Whatever I do, it is all for this high purpose; nothing is for My own advancement. Those who know this secret can escape birth and death," said Krishna.

To feel that the Lord is away, afar, separate from you - that is called Paroksha jnana. To feel that the Lord who is immanent in the universe is in you also as the Atman - that is A-paroksha jnana. If all activity is moved by the dedicatory spirit, the Chiththa of man can be rendered pure. Only those who have pure consciousness can recognise the divine nature of the Lord's Janma and Karma, said Krishna. All cannot so recognise them as divine. Yet, no one should avoid contact with the Lord come in human form. Try your very best and utilise every chance. There should not be any lapse on your part.

This is emphasised in the tenth sloka of this chapter where the signs of the Adhikari, the deserving candidate, are given. "Arjuna! not all can understand the Divyathwam of My Janma and Karma. Only those who are free from attachment, hatred, fear and anger; only those who are immersed in the name and form of the Lord; who know of no other support than Me, who are sanctified by the knowledge of the Atma; only these can grasp it. Those who seek Me undeviatingly, possessing Sathya, Dharma and Prema, will reach Me. This is absolutely true, take it from Me. Give up any doubt you may have."

"Men render the inner consciousness impure by dwelling on the objective world through ignorance. They take delight in mere Sabda, Rasa, Rupa, etc. When they seek objective pleasure they are tempted to secure the objects that give the pleasure; foiled in the attempt, they get restless, hateful and afraid. Fear robs man of his mental resources. It creates anger that cannot be easily pacified. Thus, desire, anger and fear are aroused one after the other and these three have to be removed. Arjuna, revolve in your mind these facts and then act. Become reasonable. Have faith in My words."

Arjuna heard all this and asked, "Nandakumara! Why can Yoga not make this sacred and high stage available for all persons? You announced Yourself as Premaswarupa and Dayamaya. Why then all this partiality? I must declare it as favouritism, for you endow this stage only on Jnanis and deny it to the Ajnanis. I would even say that the Ajnani, the ignorant person who has no discrimination, the person who swings like the pendulum of the clock from one thing to another, merits your grace more. The Jnani knows everything; he is aware that the Jagath is Vishnumayam; why then should it be made further clear to him? Such men have no more need of grace."

Krishna replied, "Yes. Men are usually overwhelmed by such doubts. You represent humanity and so your doubt is humanity's doubt. By clearing your doubt, I can also announce My message to humanity. Listen. Those who seek Me are of four types:

"The first, the Aartha, worships Me only when he is in difficulty and suffers from grief or pain. When he prays to Me, I hear it and I satisfy him only in relation to that particular difficulty, that particular grief or pain. So too, when the Artha-arthi prays for riches or position or power or high status, I listen and award him only the particular thing he craves for. The Jijnaasu is blessed with chances to do Nishkaama-karma, with a proper Guru as guide, with an intellect that is sharp enough to discriminate between Atma and Anatma, and thus helped to achieve the Goal. I bless him so that he is saved from distractions and helped to concentrate on the single aim of liberation."

"I am like the Kalpavriksha. My task is to give each what he asks for. I have no prejudice and no favouritism. Not even the shadow of cruelty can touch Me. No fault can be imputed to Me. The rays of the sun fall equally upon all that are directly in their way; but if something is behind something else, inside a closed room for instance, how can the sun illumine? Cultivate the higher yearnings and you receive the higher stage. The fault lies in the aspirant and his aspiration, not in the attitude of the Lord."

"Arjuna! Man gives up revering and seeking Me, who is his very self. How foolish of him! He is not anxious to reach Me; on the other hand, he pursues lesser attainments that are temporary, untrue, transitory. I shall tell you the reason for this strange and stupid behaviour. Karmopasana gives quick result; man seeks only what is available here and now, in a concrete form, capable of being grasped by his senses. Man, generally, finds reality too difficult to attain; so he is carried away by the attraction of flimsy pleasures, away from the full joy derivable from transcending the senses."

"The achievement of Jnana is the inner victory; it is won after long and arduous struggle. Men do not generally have the needed patience; moreover, they attach greater importance to the gross body