Gita 3:43. "Be a warrior and kill desire, the powerful enemy of the soul."
It's becoming more clear that the real battle Arjuna is fighting is the battle each of fight every day. Whereas you might have thought in chapter 2 that Krishna was urging Arjuna to kill his kinsmen, now the great battle of Kurikshetra is a grand metaphor. Like all heroes of myths, we are all on our own epic journeys with our own monsters to face. Arjuna's chariot is a metaphor for his body, and when he's troubled he turns inside, to his charioteer, Krishna, God who lives (according to this Hindu view) in all of us. The problem still remains, though: How does he defeat "the powerful enemy of the soul." And why is desire so bad? Is even desire for heaven selfish? (The Gita says yes!) How can we break the chains of karma? No matter how enlightened we are, we still have daily ups and downs, don't we? How can we find the peace that Krishna describes?
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Posts
10 comments:
Gita 3:19. "Without concern for results, perform the necessary action; surrendering all attachments, accomplish life's highest good."
In our materialistic society, it seems as if everyone is moving away from God because of their greater love for a better house, faster cars, and fancier clothes. This lifestyle is really a form of idolatry; it is exactly what Krishna is warning Arjuna about. Krishna claims that only when a person detaches himself from the end results of an action can he achieve perfect peace and oneness with God. This detachment from the end result will free a person from fear. Once again, Krishna is stating that a person has to conquer himself before he can reach a state of divine supremacy. It is no wonder that the Hindu religion has so many followers. If one of the supreme gods came along and told me not to care about end results, I know I would follow him. Krishna's statements also allude to his willingness to accept everyone. Unlike Christianity, in some forms of Hinduism, a person does not need believe in God for the forgiveness of sins to be saved and go to heaven to have eternal fellowship with God; rather, in this case, all a person has to do is detach himself from worldly pleasures and end results in order to attain perfect peace and oneness with God.
This "detaching from results" idea is a big step forward from dmc's comment for chapter 2. But how do we detach from the results? Do we still try hard?
Gita 3:21. "Whatever a great man does ordinary people will do; whatever standard he sets everyone will follow."
These lines are Krishna's way of telling Arjuna to become a leader. All great leaders have a strong following. If he is a good person he will be followed by people who want to spread and do his good; however, if he is evil, his following is probally not going to be intending to spread the good throughout the world. Krishna is warning Arjuna that if he becomes a leader, that everyone will be watching him, and he must beware of his actions. If he sets the example to his following as a good leader, good things will happen. If he has the power of leadership and misuses it to teach bad things, his followers will be spreading evil in the world. This is the lesson we at Baylor are learning through Leadership Baylor and also is a lesson everyone in the world should learn at sometime.
"Do any actions you must do,
since action is better than inaction;
even the existence of your body depends on necessary actions."
Krishna is telling Arjuna that even though the desire for Heaven is selfish, do what you think is right (if that makes any sense.) He's saying to do everything you possibly can do to find peace in your everday life. I feel like he's telling Arjuna to not be afraid of actions. Actions speak louder than words. If Arjuna can defeat the "powerful enemy of the soul," he'll be a hero? Basically, Arjuna should not worry about what not to do.
Gita 3.38 "as a fire is obscured by smoke, as a mirror is covered by dust, as a fetus is wrapped in its membrane, so wisdom is obscured by desire.”
This is a really cool passage because everyone can relate to it. It is saying that if we concentrate too hard on the things that we want, we loose sight of the things we know or our wisdom. I like how it uses the imagery of other natural things covering up or masking the “real” part, like the smoke covered by smoke or a mirror being covered by dust. Another definition of wisdom says that wisdom is good judgment. We all know that sometimes people forfeit their morals, values, or “good judgment” to obtain a goal that they really want. In context, Arjuna asked why men turn to evil. This was “the blessed lord’s” response. He is telling Arjuna that it is only when men forget what they know and why they are to live, and concentrate only on what they want when evil comes out in the world.
3.12-16 "Being arise from food; food arises from rain; rain arises from worship; worship, from ritual action; ritual action, from God; God, from the deathless Self. Thus, the all-present God requires the worship of men." These passage is extremely interesting to me because its almost like the circle of life, or how you become a person and are able to live and survive. It also kinda gives a pecking order or totem pole of life with God being on top or whatever god they worship.
"In this World there are two main paths: the yoga of understanding, for contemplative men: and for men who are active, the yoga of action." 3.3 This line tells the way to achieve wisdom. There are two yogas for one to achieve wisdom. One yoga is to try to make your mind escape the material world and focus on what is beyond it. The other encourages action and tells one to do any action they must do. One must not be selfish when one is active. I think that the two are connected by recognizing the world beyond the material world and realizing one must be unselfish to go to this world.
Gita 3:9. "The whole world becomes a slave to its own activity, Arjuna; if you wnat to be truly free, perform all actions as worship."
As we get into the Gita, we start to understand how easily a person can get off track. Everyone needs to start to control what they do and not let other people persuade them to do the things that they know is wrong. Krishna is trying to tell Arjuna that even if you are faced with such great challenges, you must still fulfill your duty. He adds that with the metaphor that the world becomes a slave to their activities, and that if everyone wants to achieve their higher truth and perfectness to get to God then they must fulfill there action as a sign of worship to God. This tells Arjuna that by fighting in this battle that this is his way of worshiping God, and it will only bring him closer to perfectness.
Gita 3.6. "He who controls his actions but lets his mind dwell on sense-objects is deluding himself and spoiling his search for the deepest truth"
"In this Krishna is telling Arjuna that although karma yoga is a path to truth and God, allowing yourself to be tied down by material possession can stray you from that path. These so called "sense-objects" can trick a person into thinking they are acting for the greater good of God, when in reality possessions are merely temporary and fleeting, whereas knowledge is boundless and permanent. In so saying Krishna is helping Arjuna understand that his decisions should not be confined ephemeral belongings"
Gita 3.23. "For if I were to refrain from my tireless, continual action, mankind would follow my example and would also not act, Arjuna."
This passage echoes a previous passage in which Krishna is telling Arjuna to lead by example, warning him that whatever he, a powerful person, does, "ordinary people" will do the same. This passage is interesting because Krishna is using himself as an example for why Arjuna should not live a life of inaction. He is telling Arjuna that his actions are followed just as Arjuna's actions are. Even though Krishna does not need to practice a yoga because he is ultimate understanding, if he were to live a life of inaction, his followers, too, would live lives of inaction, which he does not want for them.
Post a Comment