Gita Acharan

  Krishna says, "Abandon all dharmas and take refuge in Me alone. I will liberate you from all sins, grieve not" (18.66). While verse 2.14 can be taken as the beginning of the Bhagavad Gita where Krishna says to ignore the transient pleasure-pain polarities which are caused when senses meet sense objects, the verse 18.66 can be considered as the end of the Gita. Krishna uses the word ' dharma ' and certainly he is not referring to religion or faith or righteousness as all of them have different meanings to different people. Bhagavad Gita is not a book of religion but of natural principles that govern our lives. On the other hand, a lot of clarity comes if we take paradigm or subjective reality as the meaning of dharma. Paradigm is the combination of our opinions, imaginations and understandings about the things around us or the way things are from our point of view. It is like the partial understanding formed about an elephant by a blind person by touching only a pa...

  Krishna asks, "O Arjun, have you heard Me with a concentrated mind? Has your ignorance born out of delusion ( sammohan ) been destroyed?" (18.72). These are the final words of Lord Krishna in the Gita. Firstly, ignorance is always born out of delusion. There are two fundamental delusions we are subject to. One is caused by the three gunas (yoga-maya) (7.25) and the other by polarities of longing and aversion (7.27). ‘ Yoga-maya ’ separates the manifested lower nature (apara prakriti) and un-manifested higher nature (para prakriti) to prevent us from knowing HIM (paramatma) as unborn and imperishable (7.25). This ignorance can be destroyed by knowledge of the self (5.16). The second delusion arises out of our belief that we can attain happiness through our senses. The polarities of longing and aversion are generated when senses meet sense objects (2.14) and these polarities create delusion. The solution is not to get attached to external sensual pleasures and instead,...

  Krishna says, "This (Gita) is never to be spoken by you to those who are not austere ( a-tapasyay ) or to those who are not devoted ( a-bhaktaya ). It should also not be spoken to those who are averse to listening and especially not to those who cavil at Me" (18.67). The spiritual journey of unconditional love and eternal joy is adventurous as well as lonely at times. It is a path where we are not only expected to shed all the beliefs we gathered in our lives but also the sense of attachment to our physical possessions, feelings and relationships. That's why very few reach its destination (7.3). Hence, one should pursue it like tapasya with devotion. On the contrary, when it is pursued out of curiosity, it leads to the illusion of knowledge which increases ahankaar . Coming as 'the existence', Krishna mentioned about not caviling at HIM. It is the path of accepting and embracing all the diverse and seemingly contradictory aspects of this existence without a...