Gita Acharan

Arjun's despondency during the Kurukshetra war is due to his feeling that he is committing a sin. He feels that killing one’s teachers, relatives and friends (1.36) is nothing but sin and that we should turn away from such sinful action (1.38). He is even more perturbed by the fact that he and his brothers were preparing to kill their own brethren out of greed for the kingdom (1.45). Krishna repeatedly speaks to Arjun about sin at various times to put things in perspective.  Krishna says, "Even if you are the most sinful of sinners, you shall safely cross the sea of sin by the raft of wisdom (3.36). Just as a blazing flame reduces firewood to ashes, the fire of wisdom reduces all actions to ashes." (3.37) For Krishna sin is like darkness, which is dispelled by the light of wisdom and awareness. The darkness may have been there for a long time or it could be pitch dark but the light instantaneously dispels it.  However, this is contrary to religious preachings ...

The ability to learn throughout life is a human endowment. The fundamental question is how to learn and what to learn. Krishna says, "Know 'that' by prostration, questioning and service, the wise who have realised the Truth will teach you the knowledge." (3.34) Prostration is humility, humbleness, willingness to understand others' points of view and open-mindedness which is an indication of overcoming our ahankaar . Questioning is a kind of feedback loop of electronic circuits where we question everything of what we say and do till questions drop. Service is compassion.   The next question is who is realised (Guru) and how to find them. In Srimad Bhagavatam, Krishna refers to a wise man who says that he has 24 gurus and learnt pardoning from the Earth; Innocence from a Child; Detachment from Air; Avoid hoarding from Honey Bees; Equanimity from the Sun; Traps of senses from Fish; and the list goes on. This implies that Guru is just around as long as t...

Krishna talked about yagna (selfless actions) at two places (3.9 to 3.15 and 4.23 to 4.32). He cautions (3.9) that motivated actions bind us (karma-bandhan) and advises action to be performed without attachment. He further indicates that the selfless action of yagna holds the supreme power (3.15) and in the beginning, using this power the creator created (3.10). He gave many instances of yagna (4.23 to 4.32) and concludes that all of them are offsprings of actions and this realisation would liberate us (4.32). This is the Lord's assurance on liberation. Furthermore, about sin, Krishna indicated (2.38 and 4.21) that action arising out of an imbalance between polarities of pleasure-pain; profit-loss; victory-defeat is the sin that results in karma-bandhan of perpetual guilt, regret and hatred. He further said, "One hoping for nothing and doing mere bodily actions, incurs no sin" (4.21). He concludes that by sacrifice (of attachment) the knowers have destroyed si...

Some activities in the human body like the beating of the heart are automatic though they may follow a set rhythm while some activities like the limbic system can be controlled. But breathing is unique as it is both automatic and can be controlled. In the context of yagna (selfless action) and breathing, Krishna says, "Some offer prana (incoming breath) into apana (outgoing breath) and apana into prana as sacrifice; some are absorbed in pranayama by restraining the courses of prana and apana "(4.29).    The duration and depth of the breath indicate the state of mind. For example, when we are angry our breath automatically becomes fast and shallow. On the contrary, by making our breath slow and deep we can control our anger. This implies that by controlling the breath, one can control the mind which gave rise to many techniques of meditation and pranayama. While explaining 112 meditation techniques to Parvathi, Lord Shiva mentions about 16 techniques that ar...

Having ‘Fire in the belly' means being full of energy and enthusiasm for pursuing one's desires, interests and duties in the physical world. When such energy is used for self actualisation it is called ' yoga-agni ' or the yogic flame. In this context, Krishna says that some offer all their sense activities and the functions of life force as oblations in the wisdom-kindled yogic flame of inner control of self (4.27). In day to day life, we offer sense objects like beautiful flowers and tasty food to the paramatma . This verse takes us beyond this and says that yagna (selfless action) is offering sense activities like taste, beauty or smell themselves and not merely sense objects. Senses keep connecting us to the external world through attachment to sense objects and when these senses are sacrificed, what remains is unity with oneness. Krishna further says that other devotees offer as oblations wealth, self-discipline, and the methods of yoga; while other ...

Yagna symbolises sacrifice or selfless actions. In this context, Krishna says (4.25), "Some yogis perform sacrifices to gods; others perform sacrifice by offering sacrifice itself in the fire of Brahman (Supreme God)." For one living without awareness, living is just gathering and preserving. The next higher stage of living is sacrificing things, thoughts and feelings. It's like sacrificing the seeds of ahankaar (I am doer) into the fire rather than letting them multiply on the fertile soil of the mind. The third stage is sacrificing the sacrifice itself realising that all of them are Brahman .  It can be said that the mind oriented karma yogi keeps looking for action and doing sacrifice is the path for him. The intellect oriented gyan yogi is about pure awareness and he sacrifices the sacrifice itself. While the former is sequential, the latter is an exponential or quantum jump, but rare. However, both paths lead to the same destination.  Krishna explain...