In the previous episode, we had witnessed the continuation of Bhagawan Krishna’s accord to Arjuna, pertaining to how one should be able to adapt to various situations and act accordingly. Bhagawan makes this point especially with reference to Arjuna here because he is the one who is struggling to come to terms while seeing his own family members standing in front of him, waiting to have a go at him. Arjuna is getting carried away emotionally and grossly mistakes the understanding between what is his “Dharma” and what is not, in this particular situation. Killing another living being might be considered wrong in general, but it is the situation and the context that decides whether this act is as per the “Dharma” or “Adharma”. Thus, adapting to changing situations and making decisions accordingly is a hallmark of successful leadership. We’ve been seeing the present day’s relevance too in Bhagawan Krishna’s words. If a leader doesn’t know how to find a balance between his / her thoughts, emotions, etc. in maintaining fairness, this itself will ruin the leader sooner or later. So when we say that we need to strike a balance in whatever we do, it also includes taking a neutral stance towards resolving issues. If a leader takes sides and starts supporting one set of employee’s against the other in an organization, bias would creep in automatically and this loss of balance will eventually lead to the downfall and unpopularity of the leader. This is what we’ve to understand as we move ahead from here.
Now coming back to the context of this discussion, Bhagawan Krishna revolves around the point that we’ve to adapt to the situation that is around us, and we cannot change the situation in our favor. For instance, if there are a lot of mosquitoes where we’re seated, all we can do is to protect ourselves with maybe a mosquito net or something else, to prevent the mosquitoes from biting us. However, can we start saying that we should take an initiative to eradicate the entire species called mosquito? We can’t do that, isn’t it? If we’re travelling from one place to the other and the road that we take is bumpy, all we can do is to either drive slowly on the bumpy road so that our vehicle doesn’t get damaged, or, we should avoid that road and take a different route. However, can we go and take the stones, gravel, road laying machines, etc. and start re-laying that bumpy road by ourselves? Will this be possible? The answer is “No”! If we do so, won’t we get penalized for our actions by the government? This is what Bhagawan says that situations might be uncontrollable in nature. It is we who have to be able to adjust and adapt to the situation and act accordingly. Hence, patience and perseverance is very important in whatever action that we perform.
Thus, moving further, Bhagawan tells Arjuna thus, “Oh Arjuna! Please understand one thing – This “Deham” that all of us have depends completely on our “Karma”! If the “Karma” associated with this “Deham” is over, it is automatically subject to destruction. Nobody can change this rule of nature. However, if one thinks that the “Atman” is also subject to destruction alongside the “Deham” when the “Karma” is over, this is utter stupidity! The “Atman” can never be destroyed. Thus, we’ve to understand two things here – The “Deham” is subject to our “Karma” and is destroyable. The “Atman” is not subject to “Karma” and is undestroyable. The “Atman” has no concept of destruction. Neither the “Atman” can be cut into pieces, immersed inside water, pinned to the wall and destroyed!”
So for today, let us understand up to this point and in the next episode, we shall discuss the shlokas associated with this concept and what Bhagawan Krishna explains through the shlokas. Stay tuned! 🙂
The Indian Dharma 