Bhagavadgeeta : ( 26/11/2012. )

Bhagavadgeeta : ( 26/11/2012. ) : The Spiritual Import of the Mahabharata and the Bh... : 1: The Plight of the Pandavas : Part :7. But here is a caution that has to be written on a placard when we may have the c...

1: The Plight of the Pandavas : Part :7. But here is a caution that has to be written on a placard when we may have the complacency that we are advancing in the spirit. The rajasuya sacrifice was the crowning glory of success for the Pandavas, but that very glory was a curse upon them which increased the jealousy of the Kauravas and ended in their being turned out of the kingdom into the wilderness. So the little satisfaction, the little vision that we have in meditation, and the little satisfaction that we are on the right path may rouse the jealousy of the natural forces with whom we have not become friends, for reasons which cannot be explained at present. The external forces, the objective forces, are the Kauravas. The forces that are subjective may be likened to the Pandavas. So the Mahabharata is a war between the subject and the object. Now, what this object is, is also very difficult to explain. It may be a pencil; it may be a wristwatch; it may be one sing...

Bhagavadgeeta : ( 26/11/2012. ) : The Spiritual Import of the Mahabharata and the Bh... : 1: The Plight of the Pandavas Part-6. Now, this is a tension between the Pandavas and Kauravas in a very low sense of the term...

1: The Plight of the Pandavas Part-6. Now, this is a tension between the Pandavas and Kauravas in a very low sense of the term—purely from the point of view of psychoanalysis or psychology. But the Mahabharata is not merely a scripture of psychoanalysis or psychology. It is a spiritual epic, which tells us something about our destiny in this world in the context of our aspiration for God-realisation, ultimately. This conflict between the Pandavas and Kauravas is an inner conflict within the spiritual seeker, and what the Pandavas underwent, the spiritual seeker also may have to undergo. The jubilant spirit of a youngster who knows nothing of life ceases when he is opposed by the realities of life. The realities may be social; they may political; they may be economic; they may be material—whatever they may be, it does not matter. They are oppositions of various types which put the spiritual seeker in a state of great hardship as to how to move forward when he is in the sam...

Bhagavadgeeta : ( 26/11/2012. ) : The Spiritual Import of the Mahabharata and the Bh... : The Plight of the Pandavas : Part-5.   The Puranas, particularly, embark upon an expatiation of the war that takes place between t...

Bhagavadgeeta : ( 26/11/2012. ) : The Spiritual Import of the Mahabharata and the Bh... : The Plight of the Pandavas : Part-4.   The Puranas, particularly, embark upon an expatiation of the war that takes place between th...

The Plight of the Pandavas : Part-5.   The Puranas, particularly, embark upon an expatiation of the war that takes place between the devas and asuras, in a cosmic sense. Often people say the devas and the asuras described in the Puranas are allegories of psychological functions in individuals. These are all artificial, modernised interpretations, under the impression that that reality is confined to one section of life alone. We cannot say that there is no cosmic counterpart of the individual psyche. The Puranas are right; the psychologists also are right. It is true that there is a Ganga flowing in us in the form of the sushumna nadi, and there are the Yamuna and the Saraswati in the form of the ida and pingala. There is no gainsaying; it is perfectly true. But there is also an outward Ganga; we cannot deny it. The world outside and the world inside are two faces of the single composite structure of reality. So the battle between the devas and the asuras takes place in e...

Bhagavadgeeta : ( 26/11/2012. ) : The Spiritual Import of the Mahabharata and the Bh... : The Plight of the Pandavas : Part-4. Likewise is the condition of the soul in its incipient, immature, credulous waking. The spiri...

The Plight of the Pandavas : Part-4. Likewise is the condition of the soul in its incipient, immature, credulous waking. The spiritual bankruptcy and the material comforts combined together makes one feel that there is the glorious light of the sun shining everywhere during the day and the full moonlight at night, and there is nothing wanting in this world. The emotions and the periods of understanding and revolutions are all in the form of an orb, where there may be a little bit of gold, a little bit of iron—the one cannot be distinguished from the other. Children, in their psychological make-up, are like an orb—their components are not easily distinguishable. So spiritual seekers lead a very happy life in the earlier stages, imagining that everything is fine. They have not seen the world; they cannot see through the world. The psychological rift occurs when the realities of life begin to sprout forth into minor tendrils and begin to lean towards the daylight of practical...

Bhagavadgeeta : ( 26/11/2012. ) : The Spiritual Import of the Mahabharata and the Bh... : Further inimical tactics were employed—the playing of dice and what not—by the Kauravas, in which the Pandavas were thrown out of the...

Further inimical tactics were employed—the playing of dice and what not—by the Kauravas, in which the Pandavas were thrown out of their kingdom, and they lost the moorings that they had a little while on earth. And, as we all know, according to conditions of the dice game, they had to go to the forest for years, ending with a year in incognito. Torturous life, unthinkable suffering and grief which the human mind cannot imagine, were the lot of the poor Pandavas in the forest. Here ends the Adiparva or the Vanaparva of the Mahabharata, and a sudden shifting of scene of the dramatic performance occurs towards the beginning of the Udyogaparva where the great heroes, belonging to various royal groups like Sri Krishna, came to help the Pandavas, and held a conference as to what was to be done in the future. Sama, dana, bheda and danda were the political methodologies prescribed by the scriptures. All the four were to be contemplated. The first was sama: political conciliation, huma...

Bhagavadgeeta : ( 26/11/2012. ) : The Spiritual Import of the Mahabharata and the Bh... : 1: The Plight of the Pandavas : Part-2. The Pandavas were few in number and they had little help from the royal family, on accou...

1: The Plight of the Pandavas : Part-2. The Pandavas were few in number and they had little help from the royal family, on account of a peculiar circumstance that prevailed in the royal residence. The Kauravas were born of a blind old man called Dhritarashtra, and he was virtually the king, being the eldest. And at the same time, because of his blindness, he was only a titularly head, all the powers actually being vested with the eldest of the Kauravas, known as Duryodhana. So there was a tremendous advantage of political power on the side of the Kauravas, headed by Duryodhana as king, and the Pandavas were helpless in every respect of the term. They did not get any patronage from the elderly king, the blind Dhritarashtra, who had naturally the expected affection towards his own children, the Kauravas. The story goes that there was a deep enmity between the two groups, the Pandavas being harassed every moment, wherever they went, until it came to a point where the Pandavas ...

Bhagavadgeeta : ( 26/11/2012. ) : The Spiritual Import of the Mahabharata and the Bh... : 1: The Plight of the Pandavas : Part-1. The great sage Bhagavan Sri Vyasa wrote a world masterpiece known as the Mahabharata. It...

1: The Plight of the Pandavas : Part-1. The great sage Bhagavan Sri Vyasa wrote a world masterpiece known as the Mahabharata. It is a pre-eminent specimen of forceful literature, coupled with a supernormal power of poetic vision, philosophical depth and human psychology. The Mahabharata is primarily a magnificent narration of a great battle that took place between two families of cousin-brothers—the Pandavas and the Kauravas. Both these family groups, the Pandavas and the Kauravas, were descendants of a common ancestor. They were also known as the Kurus, generally speaking, to indicate that they were descendants of a common lineage or parenthood, originally. These brothers, the Pandavas and the Kauravas, were born of a royal family, and therefore they lived a very happy life, with every conceivable kind of comfort that can be expected in a royal family. The brothers lived as great friends, playing together, eating together, and residing in the same palace. They were taken c...

Bhagavadgeeta : ( 26/11/2012. ) : The Philosophy of the Bhagavadgita : Chapter 1: The Universal Scope of the Bhagavadgita Last part- We know very well, every one of us, that our devotions and our...

Chapter 1: The Universal Scope of the Bhagavadgita Last part- We know very well, every one of us, that our devotions and our religious practices do not cover the whole of our lives. We have a piety inside our rooms, and a different religion altogether when we walk on the road or purchase a packet of biscuits in the shop, are traveling in the bus or journeying in the train. If our confrontation of life in these various aspects in which we are unwittingly and necessarily involved can be charged with the spirit of religion, we can be said to be truly religious, and that God will help us everywhere, and we need not run to another temporal God for solution of our daily problems. All temporality is a manifestation of eternity, and that which is eternal should be capable of interpreting temporal situations, also. And the Bhagavadgita as an eternal message is supposed to be a protection to us even in our temporal dealings and our work-a-day life. It is all things put together, ...

Bhagavadgeeta : ( 26/11/2012. ) : The Philosophy of the Bhagavadgita : Chapter 1: The Universal Scope of the Bhagavadgita  Part (d) Yes; the problems of life are not merely religious problems, and w...

Chapter 1: The Universal Scope of the Bhagavadgita  Part (d) Yes; the problems of life are not merely religious problems, and we should not be under the impression that we can be happy merely by a so-called religious message. If by religion we understand what is in our minds usually – and we know very well what we understand by religion – a scripture which has to be carried on the head and worshipped with a tremendous piety and fear in an atmosphere which has to be uncontaminated by secularity of any kind, cut off from the atmosphere of the give-and-take attitude of people, of shops and streets and the thoroughfares; a temple, a church, a priest, a ritual, we have to study the Gita a little differently.  We have our own notions of religion. And religions there are and have been many and we are practicing them, yet grief-stricken. We are sorry people, indeed, with all our religion. We are weeping everyday, either openly or secretly, and the religion that we have ...

Bhagavadgeeta : ( 26/11/2012. ) : The Philosophy of the Bhagavadgita : : Chapter 1: The Universal Scope of the Bhagavadgita : Part (c) - One can imagine with this introduction the widespread comprehe...

Chapter 1: The Universal Scope of the Bhagavadgita : Part (c) - One can imagine with this introduction the widespread comprehensiveness of the gospel, the teachings of the Bhagavadgita. It leaves nothing unsaid, and the language in which this message is conveyed has behind it an incomprehensible secret. And the deeper we go within ourselves the deeper is the meaning we will discover in it. If our outer personality reads the Gita, we will see only the outer feature of its message. If we study it as a linguist, a Sanskritist, or an academician, we will see only that aspect, a story narrated which appeals to our feelings and emotions, or to our reason. If we read it as a psychologist, we will find there an unravelling of the mystery of the human psyche. If we read it as a rationalist, we will find there arguments for substantiating the varieties of the cosmos; and if we read it as a seeker, we will find there a parent to take care of us, a father and a mother, who will conso...

Bhagavadgeeta : ( 26/11/2012. ) : The Philosophy of the Bhagavadgita : : Chapter 1: The Universal Scope of the Bhagavadgita : Part-(b). And when the theory is grasped, we know how to implement it i...

Chapter 1: The Universal Scope of the Bhagavadgita : Part-(b). And when the theory is grasped, we know how to implement it in our daily life; that implementation is practice. So, here we have Brahmavidya and Yoga-Shastra, the science of the Absolute and the practical teaching on yoga which is the art of coming in contact with the Absolute, and, it is, moreover, something delightfully wonderful and more incapable of ordinary imagination than what we have already noticed. It is a conversation between God and man, which meaning is conveyed by the phrase, ‘Krishnarjuna Samvada’, in the colophon. Krishna and Arjuna are taken as occasions for bringing into highlight the relationship that exists between the Absolute and the relative. The epic has a special artistic grandeur and beauty of its own. That is the glory of a drama, and you enjoy it, though the enjoyment part of it has behind it a teaching, a moral or a lesson to be conveyed. As we noticed earlier, the characters of ...

Bhagavadgeeta : ( 26/11/2012. ) : The Philosophy of the Bhagavadgita : : Chapter 1: The Universal Scope of the Bhagavadgita : Part-a. The Bhagavadgita is a well-known gospel. Very few might have not hear...

Chapter 1: The Universal Scope of the Bhagavadgita : Part-a. The Bhagavadgita is a well-known gospel. Very few might have not heard the name, ‘Bhagavadgita’, for it is almost universally accepted as a scripture, not merely in a sense of holiness or sanctity from the point of view of a religious outlook, but as what has been regarded as a guide in our day-to-day life, which need not necessarily mean a so-called religious attitude of any particular denomination. Our life is vaster in its expanse than what we usually regard as a vocation of religion. And if religion remains just an aspect of our life and does not constitute the whole of life, the Bhagavadgita is not a religious scripture, because its intention is not to cater to a side of our nature or a part of our expectation in life, but the whole of what we need, and what we are. This special feature of the Bhagavadgita makes it a little difficult for people to comprehend its significance and message. While hundreds of expos...

Bhagavadgeeta : ( 26/11/2012. ) : Srimad Bhagavadgeeta : Ch-17. Slo-23. : Srimad Bhagavadgeeta : Chapter-17. ( Sraddha-traya-vibhaga-yogam ) Slokam-23. (Tells the  way to purify Yajnam, Daanam, Tap...

Srimad Bhagavadgeeta : Chapter-17. ( Sraddha-traya-vibhaga-yogam ) Slokam-23. (Tells the  way to purify Yajnam, Daanam, Tapas ). OM   TAT   SAT   ITI   NIRDESAH   BRAPMANAH   TRIVIDHAH  SMRUTAH, BRAPMANAH   TENA    VEDAH   CA   YAJNAH   CA   VIHITAH   PURA. BRAPMANAH    =    To BRAHMAM, OM   TAT   SAT   ITI    =    OM   TAT   SAT   THIS WAY, TRIVIDHAH    NIRDESAH    SMRUTAH    =    THREE   TYPES    OF   NAMES   IN   ORDER, TENA    =   WITH   THOSE   THREE   TERMS, BRAPMANAH    =    THE   CATUR   VARNAS   FROM  BRAPMANA   TO   SUDRA,   AND; VEDAH   CA   YAJNAH    CA    =     VEDAS   AND   YAJNAS, PUR...

Bhagavadgeeta : ( 26/11/2012. ) : Srimad Bhagavadgeeta : Ch-17. Slo-16. : Srimad Bhagavadgeeta : Chapter-17. ( Sraddha-traya-vibhaga-yogam ) Slokam-16. ( Tapas by mind ) Manah-prasadah soumiya-tvam mouna...

Srimad Bhagavadgeeta : Chapter-17. ( Sraddha-traya-vibhaga-yogam ) Slokam-16. ( Tapas by mind ) Manah-prasadah soumiya-tvam mounam-atmavi-nigrahah,  Bhava-samsudhi-iti-etata tapo manasam ucyate. Manahprasadah = Purity of mind; Soumiyatvam = Calm and friendly nature; Mounam = Silence, and mind's concentration as a result of quest on Self; Atmavinigrah = Control on Indriya + Mano + Bhuddhi ( sense-organs+mind+intelligence); Bhavesamsudhi = Purity of Vichara-s (thoughts); Iti etata = These are all; Manasam tapah ucyate = Called tapas of the mind. Here in this slokam Lord Krishna tells that practice of five superior values of life is tapas of the mind. 1. Mana-prasadam : - Our relationship with external world, is with mutual : 1. understanding, 2. tolerance, 2. friendship ; if based on these qualities we can gain and maintain "MANA-PRASADAM". Those who enjoy vishayas, never get peace of mind, their mind gallop (through their indriyas) behind sen...

Bhagavadgeeta : ( 26/11/2012. ) : Srimad Bhagavadgeeta : Ch-15. Slo-15 (2). : Srimad Bhagavadgeeta : Chapter-17. ( Sraddha-traya-vibhaga-yogam ) Slokam-15.( Tapas by Speech  ) ( additional Vyakyanam ) A...

Srimad Bhagavadgeeta : Chapter-17. ( Sraddha-traya-vibhaga-yogam ) Slokam-15.( Tapas by Speech  ) ( additional Vyakyanam ) Anudvegakaram    vakyam    satyam    priyahitam    ca   yat, Svadhyayabyasanam    caiva   vangmayam    ucyate. Anudvegakaram     =     Not provoking anybody; Satyam   priyahitam    ca     =     Truthful,  friendly,   Soft; Yat    vakyam     =     Speech; Svadhyayabyasanam    ca     eva     =     ( and ) Learning ( study ) of Spiritual  ( Bharatheeya Rishies texts ) scientific Scriptures; Vangmayam    tapah    ucyate     =      ( is called ) Tapas by Speech. Vakku ( Speech ) is very strong medium of communication. It exposes the individual's power of intelligence, mental calmnes...