Top Ten Life Lessons from The Bhagwat Geeta – Timeless Wisdom

Human existence is not merely corporeal it has intangible aspects too, only those who realize it are truly liberated.

Hindsight

Arjuna sits in his chariot, refuses to fight, and reasons with Krishna how the upcoming bloodbath is mindless and futile. (Read the first story.)

Krishna asks Arjuna why this ill-timed affection is bothering him and tells him to shun the feeling of impotency and fight.

Samkhya or Gyan (knowledge) Yoga

When the human heart is filled with excessive emotions, we tend to lose grip over the reality that surrounds us and are inclined to fall into the trap of the actions which are disoriented and take us to the path of the actions which are detrimental to our wellbeing.

The further conversation between the two gentlemen reveals what are the different dimensions of human existence, and; what are the tangible and intangible dimensions of it, and how they interact with one another. Arjuna is so preoccupied with only the somatic and impermanent aspect of the reality that he is oblivious of what is subtle and permanent.

Arjuna says that he doesn’t want to enjoy the blood-stained fruits of the outcome of the war where he has to kill his venerated Guru Drona and loving great grandfather Bhishma. We (the Pandavas) don’t know whether it is just to fight or not. Nor do we know the outcome of the war. And such is the situation that those whom we don’t want to kill and live thereafter are ready to wage a war against us.

Arjuna is harping on the same string and further goes on to accept that this is what has weakened him and has made him a coward and says O’ Krishna, I have come to your refuge as your disciple. Please, enlighten me.

Here, Arjuna’s quandary is clear and he knows that the war is inevitable. But in his worldview, it is sinful to kill his own kinsmen and he wants to run away.

Krishna can clearly see that Arjuna wants to run away from the harsh reality and hiding behind socially acceptable behavior and not following his dharma (duty).

O' Arjuna you are not behaving like an enlightened being. The enlightened don’t lament who is alive or who is dead. It is not that you, these kings, and I were not here. We were here and we will be here forever. Our souls are immortal. They can’t be destroyed by any means. As we shun old clothes and wear new ones, our Atma or soul takes new physical forms. The physical reality that our senses perceive is always destructible as our bodies perish one day. Therefore, O' Arjuna what is indestructible cannot be destroyed and what is destructible will anyways be destroyed someday.

Krishna calls it Asat or the untruth. He tells Arjuna that the untruth has no existence or authority. Only the truth exists. And those who can realize the truth that is beyond what our intellect can perceive or grasp are called Tatvadrishata or the enlightened.

The enlightened know that Atma can be neither created nor destroyed. Fire cannot burn it, water cannot drown it, wind cannot dry it and weapons cannot destroy it. It is pristine and eternal. All the creatures in this universe were unmanifested before birth and will be unmanifested after death. They manifest only in between like bubbles on the surface of the water.

This is the ultimate reality that only a great man can see, some great men say it and only the deserving can listen to it. But only a few realize the truth after listening to it. Therefore, the world is largely unaware of the ultimate reality.

Your duty is to fight as the Dharma or law demands it. If you run away, the ignorant will still call you a coward and apostate. This is the reality of this world my friend. Your fleeing from the extant reality is not going to alter anything. It might lead to Adharma or lawlessness. You will be fighting to re-establish order and it is not going to be sinful.

I have told the ultimate truth or Gyan Yoga. Now I’m going to tell you about Karma Yoga which will emancipate you from the bondage of Karma or even destroy it.

Introduction to Krama Yoga

The first principle that Krishna tells Arjuna is that intellect which indulges in Karma Yoga is very decisive. Any other kind of intellect is wandering or unbridled and seeks means of mundane pleasures. Such intellect only focuses on and even finds hymns in Vedas that promise heaven and pleasures of the world.

O’ Arjuna the three kinds of actions that Vedas define are worldly and promise various worldly pleasures. They too are focused on the outcome of the action. The focus on the outcome binds you to those actions. Such hymns have no relevance for the enlightened. Therefore, only Karma is under your authority and command, you have no control over the outcomes of the actions. You should be attached neither to inaction nor to the outcome of the action. Such a state of detached mind will propel you to detached actions with decisive intellect.

Krishna makes every effort to make Arjuna turn inwards. But Arjuna is still stuck with the external world and asks Krishna what are the characteristics of the man with decisive intellect however the external characteristics can be manipulated to a large extent.

Krishan says that such a person remains poised against all odds. The person with decisive intellect always remains impervious to criticism or praise. Any kind of negative or positive emotions don’t cause any ripples in his or her consciousness, and he or she always contended in his or her Atma by his or her Atma and remain blissful.

But, remember, O’ Arjuna those who appear to renounce worldly pleasures only renounce the objects of the pleasure but their consciousness remains stuck with a deep-seated desire to obtain them. And they are not truly liberated.

These remnants of desires in their consciousness make them think of those pleasures and make them again attached to the objects of pleasure. And any hindrance in the desire to seek pleasure makes them angry. Anger generates idiocy. Idiocy creates illusion and loss of intellect. Such a person O’ Arjuna is called the man of indecisive intellect.

Only the person who knows this process turns inwards, witnesses consciously the dance of senses, and keeps their movements in check will someday discover his or her true self while wandering in the maze of his or her inner world. The person who has been liberated from the clutches of his senses in the above-mentioned ways attains bliss and remains forever in such a state.