Gita Acharan

A s per the epic Ramayana, king Vali (Bali) was invincible, as he had the ability to take away half of his enemy’s strength in any encounter. Even Lord Rama had to kill him from behind a tree. One way to look at this phenomenon is that Vali was a quick learner, he grasped the skills and knowledge from people and situations as he saw the possibility of Paramatma in them but not enmity. Krishna earlier said that all the world is pervaded by Him (9.4) which indicates that each person or situation is nothing but a facet of Paramatma . However, our ignorance about this basic fact prevents us from being a ‘Vali’. Krishna in this regard says, “The ignorant, oblivious of my transcendental nature as the maker of all creatures, discount also my presence within the human form” (9.11). It’s not just about being ritualistic or heaping praise upon the Lord, but a deep realisation that He pervades every human around us whether we like them or not. Certainly, the journey from ignoranc...

T he quantum fields are invisible energy fields that permeate the entirety of space. One such field is called Higgs field and interaction with this field gives mass to the subatomic particles. The combination of these subatomic particles is nothing but the matter we see around us today. While subatomic particles need the Higgs field to have mass, the Higgs field doesn’t need them for its existence.   This current scientific paradigm will help us understand when Krishna says, “All the world is pervaded by Me in the unmanifested form; all beings dwell in Me and I do not dwell in them (9.4). Nor do beings dwell in Me; behold My divine yoga ! Bringing forth and supporting beings, Myself does not dwell in them” (9.5). To make things simple for Arjuna, Krishna gives an example and says, “As the wind moving everywhere always rests in space, know that all beings rest in Me” (9.6). However mighty or destructive the wind or cyclone might be, it is still bound to be in space. ...

K rishna says, “To you who doesn’t cavil I shall reveal the sublime mystery- knowledge and wisdom. Once this is known, you shall be free from evil (9.1). The royal knowledge, the royal secret the supreme purifier is this, directly realisable, righteous, very easy to practice, imperishable (9.2). Men devoid of shraddha in this dharma , without attaining Me, tread the death darkened path of sansar (mortal world)” (9.3). Krishna sets forth two conditions to be eligible for receiving this royal knowledge. The first is having shraddha (trust). In the absence of shraddha , even royal knowledge becomes a mere arrangement of words. The second is being free of cavil, which essentially means avoiding finding faults. In a contemporary context, this phenomenon is described as ‘we see the world as we are but not as it is’. When people cavil at the same thing or situation in different ways, differences are inevitable, leading to the bitterness we see around. When cavilling is drop...

O nce upon a time, two sworn enemies prayed to God. God decided to bless them both and appeared before each of them separately. The first wished to know what the second would ask for. When God appeared before the second, he requested that God bless the first one first, since God had appeared there earlier. God then appeared before the first. Knowing the second’s intention, the first asked God to grant him double of whatever the second would receive. Blinded by enmity, the second then prayed that he should lose one eye so that the first would lose both; lose one leg so that the other would lose both legs. This spiral of mutual loss continued. This story illustrates a lose–lose game that unfolds when one invests energy in hatred. That is why Krishna advises us to renounce hatred, but not action ( karma ) (5.3) by inculcating the divine quality of forgiveness (16.3). Another learning from this story is that we should wisely invest our time and energy as these are limited a...