Gita Acharan

  K rishna 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 advises us 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 he is certainly not referring to religion, faith, or righteousness, as each of these carries different meanings for 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 the 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 ...

  K rishna asks, “O Arjuna, 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 unmanifested higher nature ( para-prakriti ) which prevents 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 (7.27). The solution is not to get attached to external sensual pleasures and ...

  K rishna says, “This (the Gita) is never to be spoken by you to those who are not austere ( a-tapaskaya ) 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 toward unconditional love and eternal joy is both adventurous and, at times, lonely. In this path we are expected to shed all the beliefs we gathered in our lives. We are also expected to shed the sense of attachment to our physical possessions, feelings and relationships. That’s why very few reach the 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 existence without any cavil, w...