Gita Acharan

Trembling, saluting with joined palms, bowing, overwhelmed with fear (11.35), Arjun says, "The world is delighted and rejoices in your praise; rakshasas (demons) flee in terror and siddhas (perfected ones) bow (11.36) as you are the primal cause even to Brahma, Lord of Gods, Abode of the universe. You are the imperishable, the being and non-being, that which is supreme (11.37). You are the knower, the object of knowledge, and the supreme Goal. By you is the universe pervaded, Being of infinite forms" (11.38).  Arjun further says that HE is Vayu (wind), Yama (God of death), Agni (fire), and Varuna (sea god) (11.39); and offers salutations (11.40). He continues, "You are the father of this world, of the moving and unmoving, greater than the greatest, none equal to you" (11.43).  Arjun bows, prostrates and seeks HIS grace as a son to father; a lover from a lover; a friend from a friend (11.44). Arjun is both delighted to see what was not seen before a...

Different belief systems describe Paramatma in different ways. Depending on our belief system, the appearance of Paramatma changes and if HE appears in front of us in a different shape or form, it would be impossible to recognise. Similarly, Arjun was treating Krishna like a friend for decades. He couldn't recognise that Krishna is Paramatma till he saw HIS Vishwaroopam . He profoundly apologises and says that "Thinking of You as my friend, I presumptuously addressed You as, 'O Krishna', 'O Yadav', 'O my dear Friend'. I was ignorant of Your majesty, showing negligence and undue affection. And if, jestfully, I treated You with disrespect or insulted you, while playing, resting, sitting, eating, when alone, or before others —for all that I crave forgiveness" (11.41-11.42). Like Arjun, the same would happen to any of us. When we reach that eternal state of surrender, we realise that everyone around us is a part of the same Paramatma . E...

Krishna shows Arjun a glimpse of the future where the warriors are entering the mouth of death and says that Arjun is merely a nimitta maatra (an instrument in HIS hand). Krishna further clarifies that even without Arjun, none of them will survive and hence he should fight without stress.  The journey from 'senses centered' ahankaar to ' Paramatma centered' nimitta maatra is a tough one. The natural questions are, how to achieve it and what are its indicators of progress.  Nimitta maatra is an internal state, not a skill that can be mastered. One easy way to attain it is to have clear visuals of inevitable death, as Arjun had, which is called memento mori. Secondly, painful (helpless and miserable) situations can give us glimpses of nimitta maatra , but the pleasure (success or victorious) situations can give us a long lasting one especially when used with awareness.    Krishna earlier indicated that HE is the brilliance (10.41) and it is realising th...

Arjun sees that all the warriors are getting crushed by the teeth of Krishna's Vishwaroopam . Krishna says that warriors are killed by ME and you are merely nimitta-maatra (an instrument) (11.33) and hence fight without feeling distressed (11.34).  Incidentally, Krishna didn't ask Arjun to leave battle even though Arjun's enemies are already killed by HIM. Instead, HE tells him to fight without stress. The clear indication is that nimitta-maatra doesn't mean inaction. Inaction is another suppression that builds internal stress. Even if Arjun leaves the battle physically, the war wouldn't have stopped and instead, he would have carried the burden of war mentally wherever he went. On the other hand, Krishna indicates to drop the burden mentally and perform the karma (action) in hand as an instrument of Paramatma . This active acceptance is the best way to reduce our never ending stresses of day to day life. For example, an electric wire conducts electric...