Gita Acharan

T rembling, saluting with joined palms, bowing, overwhelmed with fear (11.35), Arjuna 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). Arjuna 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). Arjuna bows, prostrates and seeks His grace as a son from father; a lover from a beloved; a friend with a friend (11.44). Arjuna is delighted to see what had never been seen before, and at the...

D ifferent belief systems describe Paramatma with different names and in different ways. Depending on our belief system, the appearance of Paramatma differs and if He appears before us in a different form, it would be impossible to recognize Him. Similarly, Arjuna was treating Krishna like a friend for decades. He couldn’t recognise that Krishna is Paramatma till he saw His Vishwaroop . 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 Arjuna, the same would happen to any of us when we reach that eternal state of surrender. We would realise that everyone around us is a part of Paramatma . In other words, every ...

K rishna shows Arjuna a glimpse of the future where the warriors are entering the mouth of death and says that Arjuna is merely a nimitta-maatra (an instrument in His hand). Krishna further clarifies that even without Arjuna, none of them will survive and hence he should fight without stress. The journey from ‘senses centred’ ahankaar to ‘ Paramatma centred’ nimitta-maatra is a tough one. The natural questions are, how to achieve it and what are the 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 Arjuna had, which is called memento mori. Secondly, painful (helpless and miserable) situations can give us glimpses of nimitta-maatra , but the pleasure (success or victory) situations can give us a long lasting one especially when used with awareness and gratitude. Nimitta-maatra is t he most effective antidote to ahankaar , the sense of personal do...

A rjuna sees that all the warriors are getting crushed by the teeth of Krishna’s Vishwaroop . Krishna says that warriors have been 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 Arjuna to leave the battle even though Arjuna’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 Arjuna 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 mental burden and perform the karma (action) in hand as an instrument of Paramatma . This active acceptance is the best way to reduce our ahankaar and never-ending stresses of day-to-day life. For example, an electric wire conducts...