Gita Acharan

  T he fifteenth chapter of the Bhagavad Gita is called ‘Purushottama Yoga ’. The title comes from the following verse where Krishna says, “I am beyond the perishable prakriti (Nature) and am even higher than imperishable soul ( kootastha ). Hence, I am proclaimed as Purushottama (Supreme Being) in the Vedas and in the world” (15.18). Once awareness starts setting in, two fundamental questions we face are: what are we supposed to do and what are we supposed to know? Krishna had already answered this when He advised us to offer all actions of the present moment to Him, regardless of whether they are to our liking or not, noble or otherwise, while remaining free from egotism ( nir-mama ) and desires ( nir-aasha ) (3.30). Krishna answers the second question and says, “The undeluded knows me as Purushottama , knows all. He worships Me with his whole being” (15.19). Though it is a simple and open secret, ‘knowing all’ is when the knowing is at the existential level. Krishna instructed...