Gita Acharan

A rjuna enquires, “How can a man perform evil even against his will as if he is compelled” (3.36). This is the most common question that arises when the first ray of awareness sets in. Krishna says, “Lust, anger and greed ( kaam , krodh and lobh ) are three gates of hell leading to the destruction of self. Therefore, one should abandon all three” (16.21). Kaam (lust) and krodh (anger) are born out of rajo guna and are great evils full of insatiable craving and we should beware of them, as they are the foulest enemies here on Earth (3.37). Krishna further says that rajo guna is raagatmak (nature of passion) giving birth to the desires and it binds the embodied soul through attachment to action. If we take the example of a car, the movement or speeding up is a quality born out of rajo guna and the accelerator is an instrument to achieve this. Similarly, slowing down or inertia is the nature of tamas and the brake is an instrument. The driver represents satva guna...

K rishna says that sthita-prajna is neither excited by sukh (pleasure) nor agitated by dukh (pain), is free from raag (attachment), bhay (fear) and krodh (anger) (2.56). This is an extension of 2.38 where Krishna tells us to treat sukh (pleasure) and dukh (pain); labh (gain) and hani (loss); and jaya (victory) and parajay (defeat) with equipoise. Krishna places great importance on freedom from agitation, saying that the devotee who neither agitates the world nor becomes agitated by it is dear to Him (12.15). All of us seek sukh but dukh invariably comes in our lives as both exist in pairs of dwandwa (polarity). This is like bait to fish where the hook is hidden behind the bait. Sthita-prajna transcends these polarities and attains dwandwa-atheeth . It’s pure awareness that when we seek one, the other is bound to follow - maybe in a different shape and after a lapse of time. When we get sukh with our planning, ahankaar gets elated. However, when dukh follows sukh...