Chapter 3 here
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?
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I think the lines “by worship you will nourish the gods and the gods will nourish you in turn; by nourishing one another you assure the well-being of all” are interesting because they seem to say that acts of worship are those that help others. These lines seem to connect back to the idea of Brahman and atman because they show how if people nourish Brahman, they are also nourishing the atman within all beings. These lines also emphasize the belief that people are all connected because people are all a part of God so if people are nourishing God they are nourishing everyone. I also think the lines “knowing the Self, sustaining the self by the Self, Arjuna, kill the difficult-to-conquer enemy called desire” are interesting. I think it is interesting how desire is considered to basically be the root of all evil. I can see how some desires could drive people to be sinful, but it seems that some desires could be a good thing because they can drive people to do good in the world, to improve the lives of others.
“The whole world becomes a slave to its own activity, Arjuna; if you want to be truly free, perform all actions as worship”
Like all of the lines in this book, they can be interpreted in many different ways. When I first read this, it made me think about the ties between the earth and human beings. It’s almost as if it could mean that human beings are treating the earth as a slave to do whatever activities they please on it. The second part of this line reminded me of our class discussion about god being in everything such as a chair. If we want to be free, we must treat everything and do everything as if god is in it. If we do this, then it seems as if you are justifying yourself for using the earth.
“Nourished by your worship, the gods
will grant you whatever you desire:
but he who accepts their gifts
and gives nothing back, is a thief.”
In the above passage I believe that Krishna’s advice to Arjuna is that mans’ greatest gifts are also his greatest sin. To have this gift of power wealth and to abuse the privilege is the same as theft. Krishna is stressing to Arjuna not to be selfish, to use the gift of power he was given by the gods to lead his four brothers and to battle against the Kauravas, to stand in the middle of the battle field and not fight would be a sin of an act of thievery.
“The wise man does not unsettle the minds of the ignorant; quietly acting in the spirit of yoga, he inspires them to do the same.”
I especially like this overall repeated theme that one must not fall into the follies of inaction. This chapter begins with Arjuna’s question of “What must I do to arrive at the highest good?” With these lines, it is apparent that an aspect to arriving at the highest good is to be a good leader that inspires others. I especially liked that Krishna added that even he, such a holy person and already achieved leader, could not fall into a pattern of inaction because then others would follow that same inactive pattern. Obviously ignorance and inaction are not the right path, while inspiration and action are required for greatness.
Whatever a great man does
ordinary people will do;
whatever standards he sets
everyone else will follow.
It's said that every generation has a social reform leader. This passage describes all of them. When Ghandi rose to be great, he was followed and his actions copied. Ghandi created an entire movement which we read in History texts books today. Many people have the potential to be good, faithful, honest, ect. they just need someone to stand up and tell them how to. Then need a reason and a leader. Abraham and Moses came to lead the Jews. Jesus came to lead the Christians. Muhammad came to lead the Jews. Krishna and many other avatars came to lead the Hindus (not all, of course). Some people are meant to be great, but greatness doesn't simply appear. You must have people believe see the greatness and follow it.
For if i were to refrain from my tireless, continual action, mankind would follow my example and would also not act, Arjuna.If Knishna did nothing everyone else would follow by example and don nothing. So this world and life would be pointless/
3.14
Beings arise from food;
food arises from rain;
rain arises from worship;
worship, from ritual action;
These lines make me think act and result. Actually the next two lines tells where all starts…from the deathless Self. Gods are pictures of the Self. It’s just easier to believe in something if you can imagine it or see it. But the point of these lines is the cycle of life. The poem says that gods gives the rain and the sun, and the sun and the rain grow the food. But in deep inside it says the beings and food is the Self. The chapter is about how a wise man does not need actions and how he controls his mind, and how anyway you must do some action and it should be performing all actions as worship. And by worshiping you control your mind and body. I think this kind of means that “when you are a bigger part of the Self you get more from the Self”. It said wrong, but maybe you can see the point of this comment.
The superior man is he whose mind can control his senses; with no attachment to results. he engages in the yoga of action. 3.7
I take Far East class this semester and I learned about Confucius. Confucius said he was completely free from four things: He had no arbitrariness of opinion, no dogmatisms, no obstinacy, and no egotism. My quotation says that the superior man is he whose mind can control his senses. I realized that main thought is not different. Confucius people tried to be free from those four things and become a superior man. Based on Bhagacad Gita, I think people in this book also want to achieve them and they use yoga. Through people engage in the yoga of action, they try to be a superior men.
“He who fails to keep turning the wheel thus set in motion has damaged the working of the world and has wasted his life, Arjuna.” I thought this line described the power of human choice. The line explains that everyone has a choice to either worship or not worship God. In addition to having that decision, one also has the knowledge of knowing the difference between a good decision and a bad decision. Therefore if one has the choice to either make a good decision or bad decision and chooses to make a bad decision, then he is polluting the world and wasting his life. The line in essence describes the importance of making good decisions. By making bad decisions not only is one hurting himself, but also the people around him.
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