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   1.    Brothers, last week we discussed Arjuna’s state of despondency (vishad). Whenever there is Arjuna-like honesty, straightforwardness and total surrender to God, even a state of despondency attains the character of Yoga1. It is the churning of heart which brings this about. The first chapter of the Gita has been called Arjuna-vishad-yoga. I prefer to call it simply Vishad-yoga, as Arjuna provided only an occasion for the discourse. The Lord did not take the form of Pandurang for the sake of Pundalik alone. Pundalik provided only a pretext for his descent on earth. We see that the Lord is standing for thousands of years at Pandharpur to redeem us all, ignorant creatures as we are, held captive by the bonds of this-worldliness. Similarly, although Arjuna provided an immediate cause for the overflowing of the Lord’s compassion in the form of the Gita, it is really intended for all of us. That is why the general term vishad-yoga is more befitting for the Gita’s First Chapter. Beginning from this vishad-yoga the Gita’s teaching keeps on growing like a magnificent tree, finally bearing the fruit of Prasad-yoga (God’s grace) in the concluding Chapter. God willing, we too would reach that destination during the term of our imprisonment.

2.    The Gita’s teaching begins from the Second Chapter. At the very outset, the Lord enunciates the cardinal principles of life. The idea is that once the fundamental principles, which are to form the foundation of life, are well-grasped, the way ahead would be clear. In my view, the term sankhya-buddhi2 in the Second Chapter stands for the basic principles of life. We have now to take up the consideration of these principles. But before that, it is better to have a clear understanding of the Gita’s terminology.


The Gita has a penchant for using old philosophical terms in new senses. Grafting new meaning on to old terms is a non-violent process of bringing about revolution in thinking. Vyasa is adept in the process. This is the secret of the great potency and strength of the language of the Gita and its ever-freshness and vitality. Different thinkers could therefore read different meanings in the terms used by it in the light of their experiences and according to their needs. In my view, all those interpretations could be taken as valid from their respective standpoints and yet we can have a different interpretation of our own without ruling out any of them.

3.    There is a beautiful story in an Upanishad which is worth recounting here. Once gods, demons and human beings went to Prajapati (the creator) for advice. Prajapati gave all of them only one word of advice: the single syllable ‘da’. The gods said, “We are given to passions and sensual pleasure. So, Prajapati has advised us ‘daman’ (subduing and conquering them).” The demons said, “We are given to anger and cruelty. So, Prajapati has advised us to cultivate ‘daya’ (compassion).” The human beings said, “We are greedy and are always hankering after possessions. So, Prajapati has advised us to practice ‘dan’ (charity and sharing).3 Prajapati approved all these interpretations, as all of them had arrived at their interpretations through their own experience. We should bear in mind this story while interpreting the Gita’s terminology.

Performance of swadharma through the body

4. Three cardinal principles have been enunciated in the Second chapter.
(i)    The atman (the Self) is imperishable and undivided
(ii)    The body is insignificant and transient
(iii)    Swadharma must be followed

Out of these, swadharma is in the nature of duty to be performed while the other two principles are to be grasped through knowing. I have already said something about swadharma. For each of us, swadharma is ‘given’. It comes to us naturally; we do not have to go in search of it. It is not as if we have dropped down from the sky and started walking on the earth. The society, our parents, our neighbours are already there when we are born. We only join this stream of existence. To serve the parents who give us birth is an inborn dharma. To serve the society in which we are born is also our natural dharma. Our swadharma thus takes birth along with us; it can even be said that it is already there for us before our birth. In fact, fulfillment of swadharma is the very purpose behind our birth. Some people say that swadharma is like one’s wife and say that the bond of swadharma is as inviolable and indissoluble as the bond of marriage4. But I do not think that this simile is quite appropriate. I would rather liken swadharma to mother. It is precisely the case with swadharma. In this world we have nothing else to rely on. To shrink from its performance is as suicidal as disowning our own selves. Only through the fulfillment of swadharma we can progress. It, therefore, follows that to adhere to one’s swadharma is a fundamental principle of life.

5.    Swadharma is in fact so natural that its performance should be natural and effortless. But this does not happen or becomes extremely difficult as various kinds of temptations and delusions come in the way. Even if it is practiced, it gets vitiated. The temptations and delusions which strew with thorns the path of swadharma have various forms. However, on analysis, we find only one thing at the bottom of it all: a restrictive and shallow identification of oneself with the body. It restricts one to one’s own self and one’s blood-relations. It erects, as it were, a wall between ‘I and mine’ and ‘they’ which makes anyone on the other side of the wall an alien or even an enemy. Besides, the attachment is restricted to only the physical bodies of the ‘I and mine’. Caught in this double trap, we start creating all sorts of puddles. Almost everybody is busy with this programme. Some puddles may be small and others may be somewhat bigger; but they are puddles all the same, and cannot outgrow the shallow concern with the bodies. Some people confine themselves to the puddle of attachment to and pride for the family, some revel in the puddle of nationalistic pride, some prefer the puddles of castes or religious communities. There is really no end to them. Even in this jail, we have created puddles: one for ordinary convicts and the other for political prisoners. It is as if we cannot live without them. But what does this result into? This has only one result – multiplication of the germs of mean and vicious thoughts and destruction of the healthy state of swadharma.

Awareness of the self that transcends the body

6.    In this situation, the commitment to swadharma does not suffice in itself. Constant awareness of two other principles is necessary. One of them is: ‘I am not this feeble and mortal physical body; the body is only an outer shell.’ The other is: ‘I am the self which is imperishable, undivided and all-pervading’. These two together constitute a whole philosophy of life.
The Gita values this philosophy so much that it enunciates it at the very outset and only thereafter brings in the concept of swadharma. Some people wonder why such abstruse philosophical theorems are there at the very beginning. But I think that if there are any verses in the Gita whose place cannot at all be changed, then these are such verses.

If this philosophy is imprinted on the mind, then the practice of swadharma will not appear difficult. In fact, it will be difficult not to practice it. It is not difficult to comprehend that the Self is eternal and undivided and the body is worthless and transient, as these are the truths. But we should reflect over them, ruminate constantly over them. We should train ourselves to give less importance to the body and more importance to the self.

7.    The body, after all, is undergoing change all the time. Everybody experiences the cycle of childhood, youth and old age. Modern scientists say that in seven years the body undergoes complete renewal and not a drop of the old blood remains. Our ancestors believed that this takes twelve years. That is why they prescribed a period of twelve years for study, penance, atonement of sins or wrongdoings etc. We often hear stories of mothers who failed to recognize their own sons after many years of separation. The body is continuously changing, continuously dying. Is the body your true form? Urine and excreta are continuously dirtying it and it remains dirty even if you go on cleansing it steadfastly. Are you this body? No, the body is unclean; you are the one who cleanses it. It gets ill; you are the one who gives it medicine. It is confined within three and a half cubits of space, while you are free to roam in the whole of the cosmos. The body undergoes change and you are a witness to those changes. It dies, and you make arrangements to take care of that eventuality. When there is such a clear distinction between you and you body, why do you confine yourself to it? Why do you grieve so much over the death of the body? The Lord asks “Is the destruction of the body a cause for grief?”

8.    The body is, in fact, like a garment we wear. We can put on a new garment as the old one fortunately gets worn out. Had one and the same body stuck to the self for ever, the self would really have been in a sad plight. That would have stopped all growth, extinguished all joy and dimmed the illuminating power of knowledge and wisdom. Hence, perishing of the body is not a thing to grieve over. Had the self been perishable that would indeed have been a cause for grief. But the self is imperishable. The eternal self clothes itself in succession of bodies. That is why it is utterly wrong to get attached to a particular body and its relations and grieve over their loss; and it is also wrong to consider some as kins and others as aliens. The universe is a beautifully woven whole. Were we to cut up the undivided self, immanent in the whole universe, into bits of separate selves using the body as a pair of scissors, like a child who willfully cuts a whole piece of cloth with a pair of scissors, would it not be the height of childish folly, and moreover, an act of extreme violence ?  

It is really a pity that India, the land where Brahmavidya (the science of realizing the Brahman5) was born, is now teeming with innumerable incongruent groups and castes. We are so much afraid of death that one wonders whether such fear has any parallel anywhere else in the world. No doubt, it is a consequence of a long period of subjection; but then one must not forget that it is also one of the causes of that subjection.

9.    We are scared of even the mere mention of the word ‘death’. It is considered inauspicious. Jnandeva had to write regretfully: ‘Aga mar ha bol na sahti, Aani melia tari radti’. (Meaning: ‘They cannot bear the word ‘ death’ and cry over death.’) How ludicrous is the loud wailing and the hysterics of the people when death occurs! We seem to feel that it is our duty to proclaim our sorrow to the world in this way. People go to the extent of hiring professional mourners! (This is a custom prevalent in some communities in India, particularly in Rajasthan) Even when a patient is going to die, we do not tell this to him. He is kept in the dark; even doctors do not speak plainly to the patients about it and go on pouring medicines down their throat till the last moment. What a great service it would be if we tell the patient of his coming end, comfort him, bolster his courage and help turn his mind towards God? But we are afraid that the shock may cause the pot to crack before its time. But can death ever come before the ordained moment? Even if it comes a little earlier, what does it matter? We should certainly not be loveless and hardhearted; but love does not mean attachment to the body remains.

When we are freed of that attachment, we would realize that the body is an instrument for service; and then the body would gain its true dignity. But today we regard pampering of the body as the sole purpose of our lives. We have totally forgotten that the fulfillment of swadharma is the true end of life. We have to look after the body because only so can we perform our swadharma. It should be given proper nourishment; but there is no need to indulge the palate. It is all the same to a ladle whether you use it to serve shrikhand (a sweet dessert) or plain curry; it feels neither happy nor unhappy. The same should be the case with our tongue. It should, of course, be able to distinguish between different tastes, but should not feel any pleasure or repulsion. The body is to be paid its due hire, and nothing more. A spinning wheel has to be oiled regularly to keep it in working condition; in the same way we should provide fuel to the body so that we can take work from it. If that is our approach, the body, although having little worth, would become worthy and valuable and can gain true dignity.

10.    But, instead of using the body as an instrument, we confine the self to the body and contract it whereby the body, having little intrinsic worth, loses whatever worth it has. That is why the saints vehemently say, ‘Deh aani dehsambandhe nindavi, itaren vandavi shwansookaren.’ (Meaning: ‘One should censure the narrow confinement to the body and the blood-relations and venerate others including the pigs and the dogs!’) Do not, therefore, worship the body and its ties all the time. Learn to relate to others as well. The saints are thus exhorting us to broaden our horizon. Do we ever open our hearts to others outside our narrow circle of friends and relatives? Do we ever try to identify ourselves with others? Do we let our swan-Self out of the cage of the body into the open air? Does it ever occur to us that we should widen the circle of our friends continually so as to ultimately encompass the whole world and have a feeling that the whole world is ours and that we belong to the whole world? We write letters to our relatives from the jail. What is special about it? But would you write to a thief convict - not a political prisoner - whom you have befriended here, after his release?

11.    The soul is ever restless to reach out to others. It longs to embrace the whole world. But we cage it in the body. We have imprisoned the soul and are not even aware of its existence. From dawn to dusk, we are busy in looking after the body. Whether it has grown attractively plump or not is our sole concern. It appears to be the only source of joy to us. But even animals experience sensual pleasures. Would you not like to taste the joy of sacrifice, the joy of controlling the palate? Feed a famished hungry stranger, even though you are yourself hungry and you will realize how joyful the experience is.  A mother has a taste of this when she expends herself for her child. In fact, even when one draws a small circle around the ‘I and mine’, one is unconsciously striving to experience the joy in the enlargement of the self. Thereby the self, otherwise encased in the body, is released to a limited extent and for a little while. But what sort of a release is this? It is just like a prisoner coming out of his cell into the prison courtyard for some work. This hardly satisfies the self’s aspirations. It seeks the joy of unbounded freedom.

12.    In short, (i) a sadhaka (seeker after truth) should avoid the by-lanes of adharma (unrighteousness) and paradharma (the dharma which is not his own) and take to the natural and straight path of swadharma. He should follow it steadfastly. (ii) Bearing in mind that the body is transient, it should be used for the sake of the performance of swadharma and should be given up for its sake when the need arises. (iii) Remaining ever aware of the external and all-pervading nature of the self, the distinction of ‘mine’ and ‘thine’ should be removed from the mind. The Lord has expounded these three principles of life. One who follows them would undoubtedly have, some day or the other, the experience of ‘Nardehacheni sadhane, sachchdanandpadavi gheden’ (Meaning: Using the human body as an instrument, one can reach the exalted state of sat-chit-ananda6.

(To be continued…)

[Reproduced with kind permission of Paramdham Publication, Pavnar from Chapter 2 of ‘Talks on The Gita’ by Sant Vinoba Bhave, 16th edition (Jan 2005)]


Notes:

1.    Yoga means union or integration. It entails detachment from suffering and perverse propensities and, in fact, from all outside interests and integration with the Divine. Different types of yoga are different means or processes to achieve such integration, that is, liberation or salvation. Yoga can also be defined as the art of practicing the fundamental truths of life for this purpose.

2.    It means the wisdom in accordance with the Sankhya. Sankhya is one of the six systems of the Indian philosophy. However the Gita uses the term here in a different sense.

3.    The words daman, daya, dan  all begin with ‘da’.

4.    In the Hindu tradition, marriage is not considered a mere civil contract that could be annulled at will. It is rather a sacred obligation.

5.    Brahaman is the Absolute, the Supreme Truth, ultimate reality, the Supreme Self which is transcendent as well as immanent. The concept is, in fact, too grand for conceptualization and description. The Upanishad has, therefore, to speak of the Brahman in negative terms: ‘The Real is not this, the real is not that’.

6.    The supreme Truth, or the Brahman, is said to have three aspects – sat, chit and ananda. Sat means being, that which really exists. It also means abiding, actual, right, self-existent essence. Chit means perception, knowledge or consciousness, while ananda means bliss.

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