In the previous episode, we had witnessed Bhagawan Krishna explaining to Arjuna as to how he should obey Bhagawan’s words and fight the war, rather than running away from the battlefield and later coming and fighting the war with extreme anger and ego. Bhagawan Krishna clearly points out Arjuna’s mindset here – He is momentarily carried away by emotions towards Bhishmachaarya and Guru Dhronachaarya. If he runs away from the battlefield at this moment without fighting the war, what is Duryodhana going to say? He is going to make fun of Arjuna and ridicule him saying that Arjuna is nothing less than a coward, who is running away feeling scared of seeing the mammoth “show of strength”! As Duryodhana would do this, do we think Arjuna would keep quiet? Where would his emotions go at that time? It will all vanish! Now as Duryodhana ridicules, Arjuna would fume with anger, as his past bitter memories would start haunting him again! Now he would anyway come back to the battlefield and fight against Duryodhana, won’t he? Thus, rather than fighting the war out of anger and frustration, Arjuna can fight the war on the pretext of protecting “Dharma”, can’t he? This is exactly what Bhagawan is trying to make Arjuna understand here. If one does an action on the pretext of “Dharma”, it becomes part of his / her “Karma Yoga” and thereby paves the way for attaining the ultimate “Moksha”, by realizing the “Atma-Saakshaadkaaram”.
Thus, Bhagawan Krishna is clearly building a step-wise narrative beautifully here. Readers have to understand this clearly – The first step is “Atma-Gnyaanam”. With this “Atma-Gnyaanam” if we perform our Karma (Duties / Actions), our mind becomes pure. Only within a pure mind, will “Gnyaana Yoga” prosper! If we meticulously perform the “Gnyaana Yoga” with a lot of persistence and perseverance, it would lead us to realize the “Atma-Saakshaakaram”. Thus, the equation is very clear here! It starts from “Atma-Gnyaanam”, which should lead to the “Karma Yoga” and once we start performing our actions on the pretext of “Dharma”, the dirt in our mind starts getting eradicated. Only once the mind is free and devoid of all the dirt and unwanted thoughts, will we be able to perform the “Gnyaana Yoga” (For instance, “Dhyaanam” or Meditation). Once the “Gnyaana Yoga” starts prospering, we would be able to realize Bhagawan through the “Atma-Saakshaadkaram”.
Thus, this is going to be the crux of the message that Bhagawan Krishna is going to talk about for the next six “Adhyaayas”! He is now sowing the seed for a great discussion in the current second “Adhyaaya” and is going to continue this in great detail in the subsequent “Adhyaayas” to explain how we should perform our actions (Karma), and through this, how we can align our minds towards the “Gnyaana Yoga”. Only through the “Gnyaana Yoga”, will we be able to progress further in our spiritual journey. Now the bigger question here is whether Arjuna is going to accept this path or not. This path might sound very easy, but there are definitely intricacies and nuances all along. However, Arjuna is thinking and having an opinion that going into meditation and penance is easier and this can be done by escaping from his duty on the battlefield. Many of us also have this thought, don’t we? Instead of slogging out every passing day with our various actions, why can’t we go to the forest, renounce everything and sit in penance completely? We might think it’s an easy way out, but the real challenge here is whether we will be able to do it? An interesting discussion is going to commence and let us wait till the next episode for it! Stay tuned! 🙂
The Indian Dharma 