Gita Acharan

Out of ignorance, one tends to grab material possessions thereby leading to the bondage of action to accumulate. When the first ray of awareness sets in, one starts thinking of renunciation like Arjun is trying here. The confusion lies in what to renounce. The usual tendency is to renounce all karmas or actions, as we label them as good or bad by our ever judging mind and in this scheme of things,...

Arjun asks, "O Krishna, you praise renunciation of actions (karma-sanyas) and yet you also advise their performance at the same time. Tell me with certainty, which is the better path." (5.1) On an earlier occasion too, Arjun was looking for certainty (3.2) between the paths of Sankhya (wisdom or awareness) and Karma (3.1). Krishna, however, does not advise renunciation of karma (action) and instea...

Krishna says, "He who has relinquished work by yoga and has torn apart his doubts by wisdom, becomes poised in the self; actions don't bind him (4.41). Therefore, take shelter in yoga by cutting this ignorance-borne doubt dwelling in your heart with the sword of wisdom." (4.42) Krishna advises us to use the sword of wisdom to free ourselves from the bondage of action (karma-bandhan).  'Regret' is...

Once the creator was thinking about where to conceal 'that' wisdom after attaining which nothing is left to be attained. His wife suggests a high mountain or a deep sea but both were discarded as man can climb or swim. It was then decided to keep this wisdom inside man, while man searches for it outside for lifetimes. This metaphor makes it easy for us to understand when Krishna says, "Certainly,...

Arjun's despondency during the Kurukshetra war is due to his feeling that he is committing a sin. He feels that killing one’s teachers, relatives and friends (1.36) is nothing but sin and that we should turn away from such sinful action (1.38). He is even more perturbed by the fact that he and his brothers were preparing to kill their own brethren out of greed for the kingdom (1.45). Krishna repea...

The ability to learn throughout life is a human endowment. The fundamental question is how to learn and what to learn. Krishna says, "Know 'that' by prostration, questioning and service, the wise who have realised the Truth will teach you the knowledge." (3.34) Prostration is humility, humbleness, willingness to understand others' points of view and open-mindedness which is an indication of overco...

Krishna talked about yagna (selfless actions) at two places (3.9 to 3.15 and 4.23 to 4.32). He cautions (3.9) that motivated actions bind us (karma-bandhan) and advises action to be performed without attachment. He further indicates that the selfless action of yagna holds the supreme power (3.15) and in the beginning, using this power the creator created (3.10). He gave many instances of yagna (4....

Some activities in the human body like the beating of the heart are automatic though they may follow a set rhythm while some activities like the limbic system can be controlled. But breathing is unique as it is both automatic and can be controlled. In the context of yagna (selfless action) and breathing, Krishna says, "Some offer prana (incoming breath) into apana (outgoing breath) and apana into...

Having ‘Fire in the belly' means being full of energy and enthusiasm for pursuing one's desires, interests and duties in the physical world. When such energy is used for self actualisation it is called 'yoga-agni' or the yogic flame. In this context, Krishna says that some offer all their sense activities and the functions of life force as oblations in the wisdom-kindled yogic flame of inner contr...

Yagna symbolises sacrifice or selfless actions. In this context, Krishna says (4.25), "Some yogis perform sacrifices to gods; others perform sacrifice by offering sacrifice itself in the fire of Brahman (Supreme God)." For one living without awareness, living is just gathering and preserving. The next higher stage of living is sacrificing things, thoughts and feelings. It's like sacrificing the se...

In the Gita, some words like anaasakti and veet-raag represent the crux of the Gita. While aasakthi (attachment) and virakti (detachment) are two polarities, anaasakti transcends these polarities. Similarly, veet-raag is neither raag (fondness) nor viraag (aversion) but transcends both. These polarities are nothing but the radiance of ahankaar (I the doer) and once dropped, one transcends all pola...

The question of vikarma (prohibited action) or sin is very intriguing. Arjun is also in this very dilemma and says that sin alone will accrue by killing relations in battle (1.36). In fact, cultures have defined various karmas (actions) as sins and the list changes with time. In the modern context, countries have their penal codes which mandate some actions to be crimes or sins and thus punishable...

A hungry fox tried to reach for grapes hanging high above, failed and moved on bringing itself to think that the grapes were sour. This familiar story presents several angles on the issue of handling disappointment, contentment and happiness.  Contemporary psychology talks about 'synthesising happiness' as one of the functions of the human brain to help us move out of difficult situations. The fox...

Every culture evolved some dos and don'ts for peace in society and with the evolution of justice systems, some don’ts have become punishable crimes. Criminal jurisprudence requires both intention and execution to be present in a crime. Intention is the thought behind the crime and execution, the physical side. Proof of both components is essential to convict any person of a crime.  If we take the...

‘Acts of commission and omission' is a phrase commonly used in the legal lexicon. A driver failing to apply brakes at the appropriate moment has committed an act of omission resulting in an accident. This act of 'omission' or akarma (inaction), leads to karma (action) of accident.  Similarly, while performing any action, we choose from many different options available to us. When we exercise one o...

            Krishna says that actions do not taint him nor does he have a longing for fruits of action. He also says that whoever realises him is thus not bound by actions (4.14). This reinforces Krishna’s words (2.47) that we have right over karmas (actions) but not over karma-phal (fruits of action).          As Paramatma, even he follows the same. Krishna tells us (4.13) that he is the non-doer...

                 The world as we know it consists of both truth and falsehood. A careful examination would indicate that falsehood is nothing but a misinterpretation of the truth, either due to our circumstances or due to limitations of our senses and mind. In the well-known rope and snake analogy, the rope is the truth and the snake is the falsehood that doesn't exist without the rope. But, till...

               The physical entities are governed by predictable behaviours and properties. Krishna gives insight into the relationship between the all powerful un-manifested and manifested when he says, “In whatever way people are devoted to Me, in that measure, I manifest Myself to them. All men, in every manner, pursue a path to Me.” (4.11)             This is firstly an assurance from the Lord...

             In the Gita, both Arjun and Krishna use 'I' and 'ME', but the meaning and context of usage are different. Arjun’s 'I' refers to his physical body, possessions, feelings and beliefs extending to his family, friends and relatives. Our situation is no different to that of Arjun. Essentially, we consider some things to be exclusively ours and the remaining to be not. When Krishna uses 'I'...

Just as a rotating wheel needs a stationary or changeless axle to rotate, the ever-changing manifested physical world needs the calm and changeless unmanifested entity to sustain its existence. Arjun, like us, is at the level of the manifested human body and is worrying about the death of his relatives, who are just manifested entities. Krishna, the supreme lord, presently in a manifested form exp...

Bhagavad Gita is a coherent blending of two levels and we need to be aware of this to understand the Gita. Sometimes Krishna comes as a friend or a guide to Arjun explaining the daily issues faced by humans. Sometimes he comes as Paramatma (super-soul) and in that state he says (4.1) that I gave this imperishable Yoga to Vivasat, which was handed down in succession to raja-rishis (royal rishis) an...

A desire filled Tulsidas was desperate to meet his newlywed wife. He crossed a river at night mistaking a corpse to be a wooden log; used a snake as a rope to climb up the wall to meet his wife, only to be rebuked by her that he would be better off with an equal passion for Lord Rama. He was transformed that very moment and he went on to author the revered ‘Ram Charit Manas’. Tulsi’s story helps u...

Krishna clarifies that just like fire is enveloped in smoke; a mirror by mal (dirt); an embryo by the womb; Wisdom is covered by desire that is an insatiable fire, which is the constant enemy of the wise (3.38-3.39). Earlier, Krishna had said that gunas have the capacity to hypnotise (sammohit) us. Desire, born out of rajo guna does the same. He further elaborated (3.40) that the senses, mind and...

Arjun enquires, (3.36) "How can a man perform evil even against his will as if he is compelled." This is the most common question that arises when the first ray of awareness sets in.  Krishna says (3.37) kaam and krodh (anger) are born out of rajo guna and are great evils full of insatiable craving. Beware of them to be the foulest enemies here on Earth. Krishna uses the word kaam which is an extr...

Krishna says that (3.35) swa-dharmam (own-nature or reality) is superior to well accomplished para-dharmam (others nature or reality) even when the former is devoid of merit. It's better to die in swa-dharmam than to be fraught with fear in para-dharmam. This intricate verse creates more doubts than clarity in our minds. In a sense, this verse is purely contextual for Arjun in the Kurukshetra war....