As you know, I'll be out Friday, and you need to go to the Bullpen. You should have your Gitas (if you forget, you may use an online translation). Read at least chapters 11 and 18, and post one good blog on the lines or the idea of your choice (at least 100 words). If you finish, work on your PowerPoint presentation.
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Ch. 11 page 143
" Only by single-minded devotion can I be known as I truly am, Arjuna- can I be seen and entered. "
Krishna is explaining to Arjuna that the showing of his true form was an extremely poignant moment. This was the first time that any human had seen his true form, and Krishna explains why that is so. He tells Arjuna that there is no exact formula for being deemed worthy of this display. It is not enough to merely recognize God, or to do good deeds, or read scriptures. He shows Arjuna and therefore all humans that devotion is the only path to God. Devotion in the sense that all actions are for God, and we forget about maya- all of our worldly distractions.
"Since this is so, when a man
of limited understanding
sees himself as a sole agent
he is not seeing the truth."
This passage struck me as one of the most universal and truthful passage I have yet to read in the Bhagavad Gita. As a human we are complicated and to fully understand our reasoning, actions, and thought processes, we much first under stand how our minds and bodies work sepearately and together. As a very science oriented person, this speaks to me strongly. I believe this can also be interpreted on a more universal scale. As Krishna is one body consisting of all the universe, we must be aware of all parts of humanity, animals, plants, ect. before we can fully see his greatness. In order to achieve enlightenment, one must be able to see all of the Universe as a whole being working together to find harmony in God.
Ch. 11 pg. 137
Are rushing headlong into
Your hideous, gaping, knife-fanged
Jaws; I see them with skulls crushed,
Their raw flesh stuck to your teeth.
In the above passage Arjuna was describing the sight of Krishna’s ultimate or true form. Arjuna is listing all of the things he is seeing, it seems as though at fist it is beauty, then awe, then horror. Arjuna is seeing god crush men, and there mutilated bodies are sticking to his fangs. I found it interesting that Krishna isn’t releasing these warriors, creating them like he had the rest of the world, but is swallowing them, crushing them, tearing them to pieces in his mouth.
Ch. 18 pg. 191
" No one should relinquish his duty even though it is flawed; all actions are enveloped by flaws as fire is enveloped by smoke. "
Krishna speaks of duties and the importance of each type of humanly duty to be fulfilled. Krishna here explains that we have a tendency to want to give up on a certain task if the task is difficult, or if we believe that it is irrelevant, or flawed. Here he says that all actions that are to be performed by humans are therefore naturally flawed, because humans are naturally flawed. Since we are not perfect like God, there is no way for us to ensure fulfilling any task perfectly. Krishna tells us though that we should embrace our different duties and fulfill them the best that we can, even though we may not be happy with the duties themselves or our abilities to fulfill them.
I liked the last verse of chapter 11, “He who acts for my sake,/loving me, free of attachment,/with all benevolence toward all beings,/will come tome in the end.” I like how Krishna simply put this into words. He very clear with what he is saying. If man acts and lives for Gods sake he will find God in the end. If they live life to fullest and praise Krishna then they have no worries. If they show the same respect to others as they show to Krishna they are fine. If man does everything possible to praise Krishna they will, at the end of there life, meet Krishna in the end.
“Again and again I bow to you,
from all sides, in every direction.
Majesty infinite in power,
You pervade—no, you are—all things.” (140)
I think this passage summarizes the two concepts of dharma and Brahman very clearly. Most Hindus believe that each individual has to worship God by fulfilling his or her personal duty. Because people are different, there are many different ways, or paths, to worship God. The phrase, “I bow to you, from all sides, in every direction” explains this concept well: that all of humanity bows down to God from all directions. When Arjuna addresses Krishna and says, “you pervade—no, you are—all things,” he clarifies that God (Brahman) cannot be defined. Brahman is everything, and he infinitely runs through all things.
Ch. 11.23:
Your stupendous form, your billions of eyes, limbs, bellies, mouths, dreadful
fangs: seeing them the worlds
tremble, and so so I.
Here Krishna reveals to Arjuna the ultimate form of God. The collection of souls that have achieved moksha and become one with God again. This sight is what can only be seen by selfless devotion to God, and is never seen per se but only achieved. Arjuna's divine sight allows him to be the first and only soul to see God in His purest form. Krishna later explains that this is the form of the destroyer. This form seems to empower the righteous souls that have become one with God.
This utility of souls that are in moksha wholly reveals the need for a selfless life, and a soul whose actions are purely devoted to God. Krishna says "you are just my instrument, Arjuna." The soul is used as an instrument in situations of mass destruction and creation. The only way that the soul can accomplish this and still be a useful instrument of God is if it is removed from its desires for the material and can focus on God, undistracted.
I'm at the hospital, all is well, and I'm buoyed by some of your very good comments. Thanks for being thoughtful.
"I see all gods in your body, and multitudes of being, Lord, and Brahma on his lotus throne, and the seers and the shining angels. I see you everywhere, with billions of arms, eyes, bellies, faces, without end, middle, or beginning, your body the whole universe, Lord."
I think these lines are extremely powerful in that they represent how an enlightened person should see the world, thus representing the way we should ourselves see others. We should appreciate the "sparks" of divinity found in others because we are all a part of God. I think it also teaches us to respect every being because its the way we should treat God. Another interesting point is that Krishna refers to the universe as his body earlier in the book; Arjuna just confirms this inside this passage. I think the important lesson to take away from this is to treat others with respect because all of us represent some form of God, and the world itself is the body of the Lord.
“Act always without attachment, surrendering your action’s fruits.”
I like the repeated image that one must focus on devoting all of your time to the action for the sake of the action and not because of any results from the action. It forces one to not focus on winning or losing, consequences or rewards, or even benefits or losses. This has been a constant mantra and piece of advice from Krishna who is imploring for Arjuna and Hindus to constantly surrender their attachment and worldly things. This advice echoes the constantly stated phrase that Stephen Mitchell pre-warned that is prevalent in the Hindu faith: “Let go.” The “let go” phrase obviously encompasses more than just the “fruits” of your actions, but Krishna seems to focus on this one type of letting go.
p. 136- "Seeing your billion-fanged mouths blaze like the firest of doomsday, I faint, I stagger, I despair. Have mercy on me, Lord Vishnu!"
These lines conjured up the image of the eight blind men each holding onto different parts of the elephant for me. Arjuna begs Krishna to let him see Vishnu in his true form, and when Vishnu finally complies, the awesomeness is too much for Arjuna to comprehend. We as humans cannot bear the sight of God because we have not yet been enlightened and therefore we cannot understand all that God is. All we know is that we have an atmon inside of us which is ultimately fated to be reunited with the brahman. We know that we have a darhma from God and we must follow it in order to find wisdom, and with wisdom comes the ability to comprehend the total image of God.
Then, bewildered and astonished, his hair standing on end, Arjuna began to pray with folded hands, offering obeisance to the Supreme Lord.
Within every second of every minute there is at least a partial if not complete action. Actions, after a while, become mundane if repeated daily. Minute to minute, hour to hour, people keep going through actions because they’re used to it. Where is the passion? One of Rumi’s poems explained that people should go throughout daily actions with prayer through passion, whether it is by bowing or by playing an instrument. Here, Arjuna is completely impassioned, spiritually and physically, living completely in the moment and giving all attention to the “Supreme Lord.” I wish we could all have a divine eye so that we could see the greater meaning and importance of everything in this world.
11.32
"I am death, shatterer of worlds,
annihilating all things.
With or without you, these warriors
in their facing armies will die."
I thought this passage was interesting because Krishna is saying that even if Arjuna doesn't kill the men, they will eventually die. This passage reminds me of the first day of class when you said that if you are not able to see God in cancer of a tsunami then you weren't seeing the whole picture. This just reinstates the fact that all things happen for a reason; nothing is out of God's control. While this could be taken as “killing someone isn’t bad because they’re just going to die anyway,” that’s not what it means. Krishna is saying kill if your job is to kill because that is meant to happen.
“Therefore stand up: win glory;
Conquer the enemy; rule.
Already I have struck them down;
You are just my instrument, Arjuna.”
I really like these lines because this seems to serve as the pivotal point of Krishna’s teachings. He has gone on and on about doing your dharma and doing things not for yourself, but for god. Here, I think that Arjuna realizes that not only is this his dharma, whether he likes it or not, but it is also something he must do for god. Krishna tells him that he shouldn’t fear and that he is his instrument; he must fight in the name of god. It is only after he has seen and grasped the concept that Krishna is everything that he understands his responsibility.
pg. 135
“I see you beginningless, endless,
infinite in power, with a billion
arms, the sun and moon
your eyeballs, the flames your mouth”
This is only one set of lines out of many that describe Krishna in his divine form. Arjuna tries to capture the sight of an indescribable form; one as vast as the universe and all encompassing. I thought these lines were interesting because they portray Krishna as containing the whole universe within him, when many Hindus believe that all beings have god within them; it is sort of the opposite affect. This is one of the rare cases when god reveals his true form to a human and even after Arjuna’s description, it is still difficult to comprehend the divine being. All the words that Arjuna uses to describe Krishna go past our knowledge. God is “beginningless, endless” and “infinite in power.” In the end Arjuna asks Krishna to be merciful and change back to his human form because he can not handle the brilliance of god.
I don’t really understand what is meant by saatvic, rajasic and tamasic. The way Krishna describes saatvic, it sounds like he means doing your dharma without thinking of the results, only concentrating on completing the action, which sounds kind of robotic. Tamasic appears to mean laziness and inaction, and rajasic is acting for personal gain. Does that sound right? Also, is this a common view in Hinduism, that everyone should perform their duties without thinking of the results, or is this one of those ideas that the upper class created?
"which is at first like poison, but at last / like nectar-- this kind of happiness, / rising from the serenity / of one's own mind, is called sattvic."
Here Krishna is defining the three gunas of happiness, and he describes the wisest and most noble form of happiness, sattvic, as the happiness that arises from detachment of one's ego from one's actions. He admits that living without concern for one's own joy or sorrow can be like "poison" at first, since one's action is never self-serving and does not lead directly to joy, but one who is sattvic attains ultimate serenity and perfect happiness through his detachment, and this enlightenment is "like nectar" to those who realize it.
"I am death, shatterer of worlds, annihilating all things. With or without you. these warriors in their facing armiels will die."
This gives me a whole new perspective of Vishnu. Most people view God as a merciful being who saves people but in this, Vishnu makes it clear that he has no problem with being the destroyer. It is possibly for shadowing what will happen to Arjuna (he could become a destroyer in some eyes) a decision on who to fight because people will make a decision even if Arjuna isn’t ready yet. I really liked how in the second part of this ("With or without you, these warriors in their facing armies will die.") Vishnu basically tells Arjuna that his decision only affects him. No matter what he does will change the way people act against each other in battle. He has a choice as to which group he wants to help, or he could simply sit on the sidelines and watch. Vishnu continually describes to Arjuna that he can't always worry about how is actions affect the world.
"I do not doubt that you are
what you say you are, Lord. And yet
I want to see for myself
the splendor of your ultimate form." - 11.3
Arjuna's request embodies the human desire to comprehend God in his true form. Somehow, by seeing the Truth, we feel that we will be able to fully understand and perhaps relate to it. However, as Arjuna learns, there is a difference between having the facts laid out before us and grasping the Truth's endless implications. Eventually, in 11.45, Arjuna begs Krishnu to return to his original, comprehensible form. Arjuna, of course, comes to represent that the human mind is incapable of assimilating God and Truth entirely. Perhaps another lesson learned, though, is that Arjuna and we must accept our initial faith in God rather than demand further proof.
“Seeing your human form,
Krishna, I feel at ease;
Once more I am myself,
And my mind has regained its composure”
I think these lines are interesting because they seem to explain why Hindus like to have human-like images of gods. These lines show that having these images help people to relate to God and to feel closer to Him even though they know that God is really so much greater than pictures could ever depict. These lines show that by having human-like images of gods, Hindus can see the God within themselves. It seems that by seeing the human within God, they can probably better comprehend the idea of within humans. When Arjuna says "my mind has regained its composure," he shows how if we feel that we can relate to God, then we are more apt to be able to come to understand what our dharma is and how to fulfill it because it will seem more attainable.
“Not by study or rites or alms or ascetic practice can I be seen in this cosmic form, as you have just seen me.”
With this quote, I realize the vastness and the greatness of Krishna as a god. On last Sunday I went to a Hindu temple, where the Hindus of this denomination had a special service because of the full moon. For these individuals, the full moon meant the grace of Krishna. I realize that I won’t understand because I don’t believe in Hindu. But makes me think of the principles of my faith and others, no matter: who many times one has read the bible/Koran, or who many times a person has prayed; the identifying of lord isn’t reached through practice. The Lord is identified when one truly believes in his/her god; as Christians have to believe in the death and resurrection, Arjuna had to submit himself to his god. In complete submitting one will ultimately see/ feel the presence God, as Arjuna saw Krishna, many other religions claim to see their lord.
“You gulp down all worlds, everywhere
swallowing them in your flames,
and your rays, Lord Vishnu, fill all
the universe with dreadful brilliance” (11.30)
To many Hindu’s, Vishnu is one of the trinity, alongside Shiva and Brahma. Here however, Vishnu is “all worlds”. His brilliance of his true form is contrasted by the destruction he is capable of creating. His true form is too brilliant to behold. However the destruction becomes a part of his brilliance, though it is not the first aspect of Vishnu that Arjuna notices. Lord Vishnu seems to have contradicting traits including “flames”, which are harsh and “rays” which are seen as positive and radiant. It is also said that Vishnu “fill[s] all the universe with dreadful brilliance”. The opposition in “dreadful” and “brilliant” pull together what Vishnu is here. He is “the universe”; he is expansive and splendorous. But alongside the good in the universe is the bad, just like a part of the brilliance in Vishnu is the dreadful. For Vishnu to be “the universe”, he must be everything in it.
Chapter 11-pg.137
"As the rivers in many torrents rush toward the ocean,all these warriors are pouring down into your blazing mouths"
These lines signify the magntiude of Krishna. The oceans are the most abdundant objects on earth. They cover almost everything. The oceans have many different components that combine to make the giant being. This is like Krishna. Many Hindus believe in the "buffet table" method. Almost everything in life is a part of God. All these parts make up Krishna much like all the different rivers make up the mighty oceans.
“Knowledge is better than practice;
meditation is better
than knowledge; and the best of all
is surrender, which soon brings peace.”
This stanza on page 146 is, in my opinion, Krishna’s most simplistic statement of the requirements for a man to enter his kingdom. While metaphorically dense and poetically enriching passages are great to discuss with others, I find mulling alone over the Bhagavad Gita’s constant enigmas to be somewhat tiring for my overly stressed teenage mind, and thus, any stanza with immediate clarity is refreshing. Krishna rates these different religious acts of devotions from okay to really good in a straight forward manner without any fillers. Knowing why you’re doing something is better than just doing it, while the continuous contemplation of why you’re doing something is even better, considering “the habit of meditation is the basis for all real knowledge.” Finally, “the best of all” is the state-of-being Krishna urges time and time again throughout the Gita’s chapters—a complete detachment from all worldly possessions and the utmost devotion to God. For any who can mount this ladder, each rung symbolizing the differing qualities of devotion, Krishna promises peace. It finally all makes sense!
"The storm gods, the gods of light, of sky, dawn, and wind, the angels, the saints, the demigods and demons, all gaze at you in amazement."
I liked this passage because it shows more of a view of what Krishna really looks like. It shows that he's kind of a lead dog. Not only are humans looking at him in amazement, but other gods are as well. It kind of hints that other gods are maybe intimidated by how powerful and bright Krishna is in his true form. Arjuna also speaks of his many mouths, eyes, and bellies and how he is terrified of Krishna in that form. I thought this passage was interesting because it says that other gods, and not just humans, look at him in astonishment.
"Look! Look, Arjuna! The whole universe, all things animate or inanimate, are gathered here-look!-enfolded inside my infinite body."
I found these lines to be very interesting due to the fact that they explain how God is in everything. The lines describe how everything in life leads back to God. Although there are a great number of different Gods in Hinduism, all of them root from one single divine source. This line also perfectly describes the buffet analogy which explains that Hinduism may come in many different forms. Although Hinduism may come in many different forms, they all succeed in ding the same thing. The line also explains that you should respect everything because the blessed lord is in everything.
In whatever action a man takes
with his body, his speech, or his mind,
whether it is right or wrong,
these five things must be present.
p.185
The book gives five elements that need to be considered before taking any action: the physical body, the agent, organs of sense, kinds of behavior, and divine providence. The action, which is happening every second, is most basic in Hindu. Even now, my action(writing a response) needs those five elements(my hand, myself, my eyes, huristic behavior, and perusing this book). Hinduism, as I knew, is the religion that is absorbed into daily lives. I was surprised because Hindu already knew about those from long year ago. Their insight in our human lives was really profound.
The duties of priests, of warriors,
of laborers, and of servants are apportioned according to the gunas that arise from their inborn nature
p.190
After I read this paragraph, I have a question: What is Gunas? I found dictionary and it says that the Sanskrit word guṇa has the basic meaning of "string" or "a single thread or strand of a cord or twine". In more abstract uses, it may mean "a subdivision, species, kind", and generally "quality". The book says that gunas that duties are apportioned according to the gunas that arise from their inborn nature. I reallized that gunas is concerned with inborn nature and it is one of the important aspect in Hinduism.
The duties of priests, of warriors,
of laborers, and of servants are apportioned according to the gunas that arise from their inborn nature
p.190
After I read this paragraph, I have a question: What is Gunas? I found dictionary and it says that the Sanskrit word guṇa has the basic meaning of "string" or "a single thread or strand of a cord or twine". In more abstract uses, it may mean "a subdivision, species, kind", and generally "quality". The book says that gunas that duties are apportioned according to the gunas that arise from their inborn nature. I reallized that gunas is concerned with inborn nature and it is one of the important aspect in Hinduism.
“I see you everywhere, with billions
of farms, eyes, bellies, faces,
without end, middle, or beginning,
your body the whole universe, Lord.
God is present everywhere at the same time. According to Hinduism God creates the whole cosmos/world in himself and there is nothing that is present without him. God is present in everything at all the times. If this was not so, we would come to a question that if God is not present somewhere than what is present there? The answer is unknown. Hence it is God who is present everywhere. God knows everything about this world. He knows all about how he created it and what goes on inside the world. For him there is no mystery. He is the knower of all. He knows the past births of everything and knows about what that animal or person will do in this life and the coming lives. There is nothing left unknown to God because he creates the world himself. There is nothing such as free human will. We think that we are doing something but God has predetermined everything.
“The man who is able to relinquish, beyond doubt, does not avoid unpleasant actions, nor is he attached to actions that are pleasant.”
The definition of relinquish is to surrender a possession or right. In this case, a possession may also be thought of as an emotion. These lines are saying that someone who gives up their emotions still has to perform certain unappealing actions, but they are doing so with good thoughts in mind. It kind of makes me think about the saying, “the means justify the ends”. I’m not sure why, but I feel as though these lines are saying that no matter what actions someone performs, there will always be consequences whether someone is trying to perform a good or bad deed.
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