Gita Acharan

T he thirteenth chapter of the Bhagavad Gita is called ‘ Kshetra Kshetrajna Vibhag Yoga’ ( yoga through the distinction between the field and the knower of the field). The chapter starts with Arjuna’s question, “I wish to understand what are  prakriti (nature or matter) and  purush (spirit or living entity); and what are  kshetra  (field) and  kshetrajna (knower of the field). I also wish to know what knowledge is and that which ought to be known ” (13.1). Krishna replies, “This body is termed as  kshetra and the one who knows this is called  kshetrajna ” (13.2). Kshetra or field is a scientific term and in that sense this chapter presents a scientific perspective too. In verses 12.13 to 12.20, Krishna talked about various qualities which are dear to Him. Some of them are being content, not attached to anything, shraddha-vaan (one with shraddha or trust), free of ahankaar and forgiving. It is dropping hatred, agitation, desi...

K rishna says, “To whom praise and insult are the same, who is silent, content with anything, who is not attached to a place of stay, stable-minded -are dear to Me (12.19). Those devotees who follow this nectar of wisdom ( dharma ) declared here, endued with shraddha (trust), regarding Me as supreme -are exceedingly dear to Me” (12.20). At its core, the game of praise and insult is the play of ahankaar which gets elated with praise and hurt with insult. When we are centred in the self which Krishna earlier called atma-vaan , praise and insult lose their ability to affect us. This concludes the 12th Chapter of the Bhagavad Gita titled ‘ Bhakti Yoga’ ( yoga of devotion). For easy adoption, a nine-fold path for bhakti is given in Ramayan by Lord Rama to his devotee Sabari . These include Satsang (company of saints), Katha (listening to stories of Paramatma ), Sewa (service), Kirtan (singing), Japa (chanting) etc. These are relevant and practiced even today. This ...

K rishna says, “He who neither rejoices nor hates, nor grieves, nor desires, renouncer of good and evil, alike to friend and foe; to honour and dishonour, alike to experiences of warmth and chill, to pleasure ( sukh ) and suffering ( dukh ), free from attachment, he who is full of devotion is dear to me” (12.17 and 12.18). Essentially, it is witnessing these feelings and emotions rather than identifying with them. A newborn is a ‘universal baby’ with many free neurons in the brain to take care of basic requirements and future challenges. During formative years, many neural patterns are formed based on upbringing, family, society etc. These patterns label external situations and people as either good or bad. Krishna earlier said that, endowed with wisdom, one sheds both good and bad deeds (2.50). This suggests that when we attain the yoga of equanimity, the habit of labelling disappears, as the neural patterns that create these distinctions are broken . The same is reflec...