'); } /* 20-11-24 product zoom slider */ .pr-left-slider { float: left; width: 50%; } .slide-thumbnail img { height: 380px; object-fit: contain; } .slide-thumbnail.bottom-thumbnail img { height: 120px; object-fit: contain; cursor: pointer; border: 1px solid #DBD2CC; } .pr-left-slider .owl-nav .owl-prev{ position: absolute; left: -12px; top: 50%; transform: translateY(-50%) rotate(180deg); } .pr-left-slider .owl-nav .owl-next{ position: absolute; right: -12px; top: 50%; transform: translateY(-50%); } @media (max-width: 991px){ .pr-left-slider { width: 100%; float: none; } .pr-left-slider .owl-nav .owl-prev{ left: -5px; } .pr-left-slider .owl-nav .owl-next{ right: -5px; } } @media (max-width: 767px){ .slide-thumbnail img { height: 280px; } .slide-thumbnail.bottom-thumbnail img { height: 80px; } .pr-left-slider .owl-nav{ display: none; } } /* 21-11-24 */ .resources-main .cs-font.small-head.p-l-video-link:hover { background-color: #F16122; color: #fff; } .video-listing-tag .bg-scripture-list .p-l-video-link ,.video-listing-tag .scripture-list .p-l-video-link { min-height: 110px; } .video-listing-tag .bg-scripture-list ,.video-listing-tag .scripture-list { margin-bottom: 20px; } .single-discourses .scripture-sub-listing { padding-bottom: 60px; } @media (max-width: 991px){ .video-listing-tag .bg-scripture-list .p-l-video-link ,.video-listing-tag .scripture-list .p-l-video-link { min-height: 72px; } .video-listing-tag .bg-scripture-list ,.video-listing-tag .scripture-list { margin-bottom: 0px; } .single-discourses .scripture-sub-listing { padding-bottom: 20px; } } /* 02-01-25 */ .global-event-table .td2.td-program { width: 30%; } .playlist-track-slider .carousel-control-next-icon,.playlist-track-slider .carousel-control-prev-icon{ min-width: 30px; background-image: url('data:image/svg+xml,'); } .playlist-track-slider .carousel-control-next, .playlist-track-slider .carousel-control-prev { opacity: 1; } /* 28-01-25 */ .event-tab-content .event-tab-grid .event-content-block:first-of-type { margin-top: 30px; }
Ma Gurupriya
Sanjaya said: To the grieving Arjuna, who was overpowered thus by sympathy, with tears dimming his vision, Madhusudana (Krishna) spoke thus:
Lord Krishna said: From where has this unmanliness befallen you, Arjuna, in this critical hour? Neither is it honoured by the wise, nor does it lead to heaven. It only brings disrepute.
Do not give vent to this kind of unmanliness, O Partha (Arjuna). It does not behove you the least. Such meanness of heart is trifling indeed. Eschew it outright, and get up, O scorcher of enemies!
Arjuna said: How can I, O Madhusudana, counter Bheeshma and Drona with arrows, those who deserve worship from me, O Arisudana (Krishna)?
Instead of killing these high-souled Teachers, it is better to live here on alms. After killing the Teachers, whatever we enjoy in this world will be stained by their blood. We will also have abandoned dharma and moksha of the fourfold purusharthas, clinging only to artha and kama.
We do not know which indeed is better, more virtuous – whether we should win or they should win over us. After killing whom, we do not aspire to live, those very souls are standing in front on the side of Dhritarashtra.
Overpowered by narrow-mindedness, deluded I am in adjudging the right path of dharma. So, I beseech you to tell me decisively what will fetch lasting good. I am your disciple. Instruct me, who has taken refuge under you, my Teacher.
I do not see anything to redress the sorrow scorching my senses. Gaining unrivalled kingship on earth or lordship over gods above, will be of no avail to me.
Sanjaya said: Having told Krishna (Hrishikesha, Lord of the senses) like this, Arjuna (Gudakesha, conqueror of sleep), the tormenter of enemies, became silent telling Govinda (Krishna), “I shall not fight.”
Krishna (Hrishikesha) spoke these words, as if smilingly, to him, who was standing aggrieved between the two armies.
Lord Krishna said: You are grieving for those who should not be grieved for at all. The spiritually wise grieve not for the living or the dead!
There was no time when I was not, you were not, or these kings were not. Nor shall all of us ever cease to be.
Just as the one dwelling in the body undergoes childhood, youth and old age, so too is the transition from the body. The wise one is not deluded about it.
Contacts between the senses and their objects, O son of Kunti, produce sukha-du:khas (joy and sorrow), like cold and heat. O Bharata, they come and go, hence are transitory. You must forbear them.
Whoever is not tormented by these, O Purusharshabha (Arjuna), that wise human, equanimous in sukha-du:khas, is fit for immortality, liberation.
The ‘unreal’ has no expression. The ‘real’ will never cease to be. By experts in the knowledge of Truth, the difference between the two (the Real and the Unreal) has clearly been ascertained.
Know that, by which all this is permeated, to be indestructible, imperishable. None will be able to destroy this permeating presence.
But these bodies in which dwells the eternal, indestructible and immeasurable Self, are said to be terminable. Hence fight, O descendent of Bharata!
Whoever knows this Soul as killer and whoever knows It as killed, both of them do not know the truth. The Soul neither kills nor can be killed.
The Soul is not born, nor does It ever die. After having been present, It will not cease to be either. Unborn, ever present, permanent, most ancient, It is not killed when the body is killed.
How can one who knows this indwelling presence as indestructible, eternal, unborn and inexhaustible ever kill another or cause another to kill?
As clothes put on the body are discarded and new ones worn instead, so the indwelling spirit leaves aging bodies, and takes up new ones.
Weapons do not pierce the indwelling Soul, nor does fire burn It. Neither water wets It, nor wind dries It.
This Soul cannot be cut, burnt, wetted or dried. This is eternal, everywhere present, unshakeable, unmoving and ever prevailing.
This Self is said to be indistinct, unthinkable, changeless. Knowing this to be so, you ought not to grieve.
Even if you think of the Soul as ever getting born or ever dying, then too, O Mahabahu (Arjuna), you should not grieve like this.
For one born, death is certain. For one died, birth is also sure. Over this unpreventable plight, therefore, you ought not to grieve.
The beginning of all beings is indistinct. Their end too is unknown. The middle state, namely the duration called life, is alone distinct. This being so, what is the point in grieving?
Rarely one sees this Soul as wonderful, speaks of It as wonderful, hears about It as wonderful. And even after hearing none comes to know It well.
In the body of all, the indwelling Self is ever indestructible. Hence you must not grieve over any being.
Considering the ethical propriety of your own conduct, you should not vacillate. For a fighter, there is no greater good than a righteous, ethically proper war like this.
Immensely fortunate are the kshatriyas (warring community), who get the opportunity to fight a war of this kind, which chance has brought, opening the gates to heaven.
If you will not fight this dharmic (righteous) war, then you will be incurring sin, as it will mean disregarding your own duty and fame.
The whole society will spread interminable ill-fame about you. For anyone honoured widely, such disrepute would be worse than death.
The great chariot fighters will regard you as having retreated from war out of fear. Having held you in great esteem so far, they would talk very lightly about you.
Those who dislike you will indulge in ineffably malicious gossip about you, condemning your skill and merit. Is there anything more miserable?
If slain, you will attain heaven. If you win, you will enjoy the prosperous earth. Therefore, by all means, O son of Kunti, get up with full resolve to fight.
Evenize your mind towards sukha and du:kha, gain and loss, victory and defeat, and then engage in war. Thus you will not incur sin.
This, as told, is the wisdom of the Self. Hear now the wisdom of yoga, equipped with which, O Partha (Arjuna), you will cut asunder the bondage of karma (action).
In this yoga path, there is no loss of effort, nor any adverse outcome. Even a small measure of this yogic pursuit will save one from mighty fear.
In this (yoga path) there is but one factor – resoluteness of intelligence. Comprehensions of the un-resolute are multi-branched and endless.
Those unwise people who expatiate on the flowery words (eulogizing statements) of the Vedic rituals, believing that there is nothing greater or superior, O Partha, to them the resoluteness of intelligence will not dawn, because their mind is driven only by desires for wealth and enjoyment, and they are interested only in heaven, rebirth, and fruits of actions. Being extremely passionate about enjoyment and prosperity, their heart is robbed away by sensory indulgences.
Those unwise people who expatiate on the flowery words (eulogizing statements) of the Vedic rituals, believing that there is nothing greater or superior, O Partha, to them the resoluteness of intelligence will not dawn, because their mind is driven only by desires for wealth and enjoyment, and they are interested only in heaven, rebirth, and fruits of actions. Being extremely passionate about enjoyment and prosperity, their heart is robbed away by sensory indulgences.
Those unwise people who expatiate on the flowery words (eulogizing statements) of the Vedic rituals, believing that there is nothing greater or superior, O Partha, to them the resoluteness of intelligence will not dawn, because their mind is driven only by desires for wealth and enjoyment, and they are interested only in heaven, rebirth, and fruits of actions. Being extremely passionate about enjoyment and prosperity, their heart is robbed away by sensory indulgences.
Vedas deal with and bestow only such things as come under the three guṇas constituting Nature. Be indifferent to the very guṇas. Rising above pairs of opposites, dwell constantly in the true being, leaving all concern for preserving whatever possessions you have (kshema) and gaining whatever you further need (yoga). Be self-regulated and have an integrated personality.
When everywhere it is flooded, of what use is a well? That would be the case with Vedas for a spiritually enlightened Brāhmaṇa. (Vedas with their promises are irrelevant to him.)
Your fitness, maturity, is only to pursue activities, active life (karma-niṣṭhā), and not for exclusive wisdom and contemplation (jñāna-niṣṭhā). But while doing activity, foster not any delusional clinging to its outcomes of sukha and du:kha, the dual mental responses. These responses should not be the motivation for work. At the same time, be not given to inactivity, idleness.
Do all your acts, but remaining established in yoga, leaving the usual delusional clinging. Preserve an even attitude to fruition and non-fruition of whatever you do. Such evenness is defined as yoga.
O Dhananjaya (Arjuna), the usual course of activity, which fixes your attention on the fleeting external results alone, is far inferior to buddhi-yoga, wherein the intelligence preserves evenness. Seek refuge under yoga-buddhi. Those clinging only to objective results are miserly. (They lose the benefit of inner enrichment and lasting fulfilment.)
One with intelligence attuned to yoga outlives both virtue and vice. Therefore, dedicate yourself to yoga. Yoga is verily dexterity in performing all kinds of actions.
The wise, given to reflection and rumination, abandon the usual results of actions, and get freed from the cycle of birth, activity and bondage, to reach the torment-free supreme abode.
When your intelligence, crosses the quagmire of delusion, then will you grow indifference to whatever you have heard and are yet to hear.
When your intelligence, flung by the conflicting views of scriptures, becomes steady and stable within, then will you attain yoga, the spiritual communion.
Arjuna said: How will you, O Keshava, describe the one of stable consciousness (Sthita-prajña) absorbed in meditation? What does the one with stable intelligence (Sthita-dhee) speak? How does he rest? And how does he interact with the world?
Lord Krishna said: When one relinquishes all desires engendered by the mind, and remains contented in his own within, he is said to be a Sthita-prajña, one with steady consciousness.
With the mind not smitten by du:khas, fostering no desire for sukhas, he who rises above attraction, fear and anger is a Sthita-dhee.
He who transcends his constricted fondness, and does not unduly compliment or condemn whatever auspicious or inauspicious meets him, his consciousness is stable and steady.
When one is able to withdraw completely his five senses from their respective objects, just like the turtle does its limbs at will with facility, his consciousness has become steady.
By not indulging in sensory delights, the objects apparently recede, but leaving behind the lingering taste for them. But the taste too vanishes after realizing the supreme Truth.
O son of Kunti, senses are strong, turbulent. They violently pull away the mind of even a discreet and striving seeker.
Restraining all of them (senses), remain self-collected, focussing on Me (the Supreme). Whose senses are under control, his consciousness is steady.
By reflecting upon the sensory objects, begins the clinging towards them. From it, crops up desire, then flare up hatred and anger.
From anger springs forth strong delusion, from which arises forgetfulness about oneself, which leads to loss of discrimination. Thence follows total destruction.
With senses brought sufficiently under self-control, hence freed from the grip of attraction and repulsion, he who deals with world objects with self-restraint, attains placidity.
In such placidity, dissolution of all sorrows takes place. For one with a placid mind, the intelligence soon becomes poised, steady.
An unregulated person (with unbridled senses) cannot have enlightened intelligence. Much less can he have meditational absorption. For the un-meditative, there will be no peace. For one missing peace, can happiness ever be?
Of the roving senses, whichever the mind follows, that robs away the discrimination (wisdom), just as the gale carries away a boat on the sea.
Therefore, O Mahabahu (Arjuna), only when all the senses are well restrained from their respective objects, one’s consciousness becomes stable and steady.
What constitutes night to all beings, in that the man of spiritual restraint is awake. Wherein beings are widely awake, the spiritually awakened sees it as night.
As the ocean in which waters (of rivers) enter filling it to the brim remains unmoved, likewise the one into whom enter all experiences (unsought and causing no agitation), attains peace, not the one running after objects of desire.
He who, leaving all desires, lives and moves freed from all cravings, possessiveness and ego, attains peace.
This is indeed, O Partha, the state of abidance in Brahman, the supreme Reality. Attaining this, one no more gets deluded. Even if one gains it at the end of his life, he attains redemption by uniting with Brahman.
Om – the symbol of Brahman, tat – that singular Reality (Brahman), sat – the ever abiding presence (Brahman).
Thus ends the second chapter entitled Sāṅkhya Yoga, during the Srikrishna-Arjuna dialogue in Śrīmad Bhagavad Gita, constituting Yoga-śāstra, which falls within Brahmavidya as presented in the Vedic Upanishads.
Ma Gurupriya
You Might Be Interested In
Swami Nirviseshananda Tirtha
Swami Nirviseshananda Tirtha
Ma Gurupriya