THE HOLY GITA
CHAPTER THREE
KARMA YOGA OR THE YOGA OF ACTION OR THE METHOD OF ACTION
VERSE NUMBER 23
Text in Transliteration:
yadi hy aham na varteyam jatu marmany atandr itah
mama vartmaa ‘nuvar tante manusyaah paartha sarvasah
Text in English:
If ever I did not engage in work relentless, O Partha, men
would in every respect follow My path.
COMMENTARY BY SWAMI CHIDBHAVANANDA:
Staunch adherence to
good and devotion to duty are the characteristics of the great. But the
ordinary people in society do not usually feel inclined to emulate the merits
in the eminent. If there be any lapses in them such as idleness,
procrastination and indifference to duty, these are readily caught by the ordinary.
They even cite these shortcomings in the great as precedents, Sri Krishna is
therefore exemplary in His conduct. In all of His doing He is a model to
mankind.
COMMENTARY BY SWAMI SIVANANDA:
If I remain inactive, people also will imitate Me and keep
quiet. They will all become Tamasic and pass into a state a inertia.
Comments by the blogger:
Some people could come up with a poser that Lord Krishna was
full of action when he walked the earth, but what about the period after His
earthly soujourn?
Krishnavatara was, like any other avatar, was necessitated
to rid the world of the most wicked. And avatar is one of the ways to do this. Acts
of God are other examples. In this chapter, it is stated food is necessary for
Human Beings which is begot by rain and rain is because of sacrifice and so on.
So even rain or shine is because of our sacrifice or not! Rain is not enough. Rain
at the proper time is becuse of sacrifice. Rain at the harvesting season is a visitation.
Always there there is the universal witness or soul
overseeing our conduct and evolving the same very minutely. I have written
about this in my article SAMSARAA AND SAMSKARA. IT IS GOOD TO ONCE AGAIN
REPRODUCE THE ARTICLES.
SAMSAARAM
AND SAMSKAARAM!
Samssram is a
sagaram, or an ocean, in Hinduism; Sri Shankarar defines the word samsaaram in
his bashyam or commentary for Aithreya Upanishdham as maya or illusion, kama or wishes and karma or action or
a proclivity to act as Samsaaram. According to that incomparable saint from a
small village in Kerala, namely, Kaladi, Samsaram is described as an ocean into
which being are tossed. Thus, we are affected by illusion, wants or avarice and
action; in other words, we cannot choose out of these trinity of the ocean that
is Samsaram or worldly life; samsaaram itself is a Sanskrit word for
worldliness.
On the other hand,
Samskaaram, in Sanskrit, means entirely a
different thing in Hinduism: it is a minute unit, smaller than an atom of the
worldly matter, used by the Creator to measure up the actions of the human
beings and other beings and non beings or sentient and insentient; to measure
up their effect, and to evaluate them. This is how our actions and the
involuntary activities going on inside our bodies, and that of this universe,
like the planetary movements and other things and other natural events, and
also Acts of God like the seasonal
changes and cataclysms like the earthquake that shook Napal recently and the deluge
that engulfed the entire Chennai city of Tamil Nadu State in India.
Isn’t it very
confusing? First, samskaaram or the ocean of the worldliness, and then the
samskaaram, which is the infinitesimally smallish unit of the Brhamic
measurement! Could there be any relation between them, and, if at all there is
a relationship, how could it be established? Why should the worldly life be
described as our having been tossed into the ocean? And what the hell is the
matter with the samskaaram? Can’t a human being go through life without
becoming conversant with these ostensibly idiotic words?
SAMSAARAM AND
SAMSKAARAM, HAAA?
WHAT THE HELL DO
THEY MEAN AND WHY THE HELL WE SOULD UNDERSTAND IT?
WHILE THE QUESTIONS
ARE NATURAL, THERE IS MUCH SUBSTANCE IN THESE TWO WORDS, SAMSARAM AND
SAMSKAARAM!
WHILE THESE BASIC
THINGS WERE REVEALED TO THE RIG VEDIC SAGES, GREAT THINKERS LIKE ARISTOTLE
AND RESERARCHERS LIKE CHARLES DARWIN DID NOT GO INTO THEM!
WHILE RIG-VEDIC SAGES AND UPANISHADIC SAGES DELVED DEEP INTO THEM! THAT IS THE
ORIGINALITY OF THE HINDUISM, AND THIS IS HOW THE HINDU WAY OF LIFE HAVE BEEN
ABLE TO WITHSTAND THE ONSLAUGHT OF VARIOUS INVASIONS AND MORE THAN FOUR
CENTURIES OF FOREIGNERS’ OCCUPATION WHO THRUSTED THE MOHAMMADANISM AND THE
CHRISTIANITY ON THEIR SUBJECT!
WE SHALL GO INTO THE PHILOSOPHY INVOLVING SAMSAARAM AND
SAMSKAARAM TOMORROW.
SAMSAARAM
AND SAMSKAARAM—PART 2
We have briefly noted what is meant basically by Samsaaram
or the ocean, which is worldly life indeed, and Samskaaram.
When samsaram
involves or the very incidence of our birth involves our three-fold bondage,
which is very difficult to cross over: they are maya or illusion or taking this worldly life
FOR REAL TO THE ABSOLUTE EXCLUTION OF THE SPIRITUALITY INVOLVED IN OUR
LIVES; kama or wants or wishes which
makes us to make a wish or sankalpa to get something, or to do something. To
get wealth, to build and own a bungalow, or to become a high profile VIP,
anything, even to get a free meal or meal after paying for it, is kama or
avarice or wishes; and then, the natural human proclivity, because those two
things, is the action or the tendency to get activated always. This is samsaara
saakaraa. Why? Because, like an ocean, it is not possible to cross over it,or travel
beyond these trinity of human bondages, without doing and indulging in karma or
activity in an impassioned and selfless manner. But that doesn’t mean it is totally impossible
of crossing this ocean or sagaram, in Sanskrit. Samsaara saagaram could be and
have been successfully crossed over by too many Hindu, Mohammedan and Christian
saints and sages to be able to name.
Samskaaram, on the
other hand, is a very minute unit of measurement. It is with which, the God and
the Creator of the world and the cosmos, has been able to watch over its flux,
and not in the general sense, but in the individual sense. If there is a beach,
knowing the number of sand grains there is absolutely no problem for Him, the Creator. The Bible readers will tell
you that God can tell you the number of individual hair follicles on one’s
head! It is no joke! And this kind of measurement is possible only because of
this very infinitesimally minute unit of measurement in evaluation of the flux
of the universe as also the individual human being’s action and the very flux
of his mind!
In order to be
better informed about such philosophical things and Hindu concepts, the readers
and viewers are advised to follow my domain on Google + my articles on and
about THE HOLY BAGAVAT GITA.
I humbly state that I
have 1849 followers on the domain Philosophy of Religion, and more than seven
lakh viewers. I also state that I am blogging at myresourcefulaunt.blogspot.com
which is a serialized Romantic Comedy. Please follow me there on every Wednesday.
THUS THERE IS AN UNIVERSAL SOUL EVALVATING EVEN OUR MINUTE
ACTION TAKING PLACE IN OUR MINDS!
This universal soul always acts as witness and in that way
it is ceaselessly engaged in action.
So Arjuna, there is no way but to act and carry out your self-ordained
duty. So do it and give battle with a positive mind. Then no sin would be
accrued by you, for inaction is nothing but sin unless you are a Brahma Jnani!
No comments:
Post a Comment