GITA AND ITS RELEVANCE TO PRESENT DAY

By His Holiness Sri Sri Ravishankar

 In the world there are two types of people: one are those who are passive and the other who are aggressive. The aggressive people do not achieve  much. the passive people also do not achieve much or do not achieve anything for that matter. It is easier to be aggressive or to be passive. This has been happening in our country. There are people who are very passive: don’t do anything, don’t get involved in anything. And there are people who are very aggressive: they do whatever- legal, illegal, right to achieve [ they want]. Sooner or later both find their hands empty, they feel the failure. But what is Gita’s essence ? is it passive or does it instigate one to be aggressive? Neither of the two! Gita says “Dynamism with Calmness”! ‘Dynamism with Calmness’ is worth having in our life. That serenity which is pro-active is what is needed - what would be the right solution for any problem.

Today’s relevance of Gita- like every other day, in every time — is very relevant to bring that focus in a person, dynamism in a person again with the serenity. They put it: “Yogasta kuru karmani……….samatvam yoga uchyate”  Often people think to do yoga one has to go to Himalayas or some such place. Veda, Yoga has been taught - all the 18 yogas right in the middle of the  war -in the war field! So yoga is the essential union with the Self, is essential to live life in the world. You know the term ‘yogyata’ meaning qualification, comes from ‘yoga’. When the union with the Being - deep inside -happens  then you are qualified to be a human being. To do any job, any function you  need to be integrated with it, you need to be focused, you need to be free  from disease. You need to be aware of what is happening around you. Just watch  your breath. How’s your breath? The more ambitions you have - more frustrations  you have your breath is very hot and quiver. There is feverishness in the  breath. When the feverishness - the quiver - in the breath calms down, the breath goes steady & cool. Then the mind also changes. Food changes the mind, a  breath changes the mind. Your thought pattern -thinking-emotion- everything  changes your behaviour, your outlook towards life. That is why in length Krishna  dealt in the Gita about ‘ahara’, ‘ahara-shuddhi’, ’satva-shuddhi’: satva, rajas,  tamas- the three ‘Guna’s.  One could say it is so irrelevant.

In the war field it is okay you told Arjuna to wake up and fight, but what is the relevance of talking about all satva, rajas & tamas right  in war field ? It has perfect relevance.  Often mothers have this complaint: my child is very aggressive. What food  have you fed him? If you give him too much sweet, too much fried food, too late  in the night and they sleep, sleep is not deep enough, they wake up in the morning [feeling] frustrated & aggressive. In our Ayurveda it is said, when there is food in the stomach [undigested food ?] indigestion happens and it creates ‘Ama’. The ama harbors the bacteria. Shastras says as soon as you get up in the morning if you have sour burp it is sin. The sour  burp [in] early morning indicates indigestion, ama has collected in the body. Sooner or later it is going to affect your brain, your thinking! You are going to say everything in the negative light. Someone comes to you to  greet because they got some promotion or say they got a lottery you will  immediately say: look, they have come to show off! A good gesture [may be] interpreted wrongly. Why? [Because] our thinking process has been affected. How did it get affected? bad food! The Jain dharma has done lot of research about food: what to eat, how to  eat, which food will create ahimsa, which food will create himsa [and so on..]. So ‘ahara’ and ‘vyavahara’ they are connected. So not to eat too late in  the night. In the morning drink plenty of water.  Gita tells us about food. “Pranapana samayukta…….” and also about breath & pranayama. [If] mind is aggressive, do some pranayama, [then] mind calms down. A few ujjai breath [Guruji demonstrates bringing that sound] - breathing from back of your throat. Many of the  mental illnesses will calm down, aggressiveness calms down.

 Yoga brings deep silence within and karma yoga brings dynamism - activity. Taking responsibility in the society is what is needed today- Karma yoga! Karma Yoga is doing the work with total responsibility. A person can do a  job in karma yoga style or do the same job [as] ‘ayogya’, ayogya karma. For example: a teacher can be a karma yogi teacher when she/he takes  interest in the children. But if the teacher’s interest is only in the salary that she/he is going to gets on the 1st of every month, then she/he is not a  karma yogi teacher. Similarly, you can be a karma yogi father, mother. A karma  yogi father really takes interest, looks at the mind of his child: in what  direction his son/daughter is going, what is his/her interests are. One who is not looking in the direction of interest of his child is ‘akarma yogi’. He is  just bothered about getting a seat in a medical college - leaving some money if [child] is not doing well - bribe and get a seat, because he is ayogya. Every job can be done with total responsibility. That is the relevance of Gita today.

 A karma yogi will get siddhi. “Siddhir labhate……”  Are you all here? [a few say 'yes]. Listen just a few are saying ‘yes’. [a louder 'yes' & laughter] There is what is called ‘attention deficiency syndrome. More than 10  minutes one can not listen. Though you are sitting with all the willingness to  listen your mind will slowly escape to the back exit! how to bring that mind back again and again? Arjuna had same problem. “Manodud nigrahann……” very difficult to control. Krishna says “skillfully bring the mind back”. Wherever the mind goes from there skillfully bring that mind back - don’t fight with the mind, just like [bringing] the children back to your home. You know, if you tell your student or teen-age boy or girl ‘don’t do  this’, they will rebel. Your mind is a “teen-age child” that you are carrying  with you and it does not get mature. This teen age child that you are carrying  in your mind, whatever you say it does not want to do. How to bring it back  home? skillfully bring it back. “chaitnyasakta……” it is juicy, ecstasy! And that is what we need.  if you read the Gita from beginning to end there are so many  contradictions. So  Krishna could not convince Arjuna, he could definitely confuse Arjuna, the logic is very different. Everywhere he puts different logic. So people  have  tried to bring ’samanvaya’. They tried to eliminate the contradiction. But  I  tell you: My view is different. You should not eliminate contradictions.  Truth can be revealed only in contradiction, truth is always  contradictory. To go to a place you can say: go right & turn left or go right & turn  right  also. This is “spherical thinking” - the greatest gift to the world of  theology or philosophy, which is not there in any other part of the world!  Whole world is in a confusion - in a mess - and is wondering: If God is all pervading, where do you keep the Saturn? [Is it Saitan ?]. You can not keep Saturn. if you keep Saturn, then God is not Omnipresent. Isn’t it? If god is omnipresent & omnipotent then how could he get angry? God is also capable of doing what he wants to do! Biggest confusion took place with  Saturn somewhere because we have not looked into the ’spherical thinking’. We  always  think about ‘linear thinking: something should begin & something should  end  somewhere. Our Vedanta has [shown] new light to the world though it is ancient.  What is it? Spherical thinking: this could be right, that could also be  right.

 Go straight & turn left is correct as much as go straight & turn right.  Because they both come from different points.  Similarly in Gita, as a friend he didn’t say to Arjuna - Krishna never  said to Arjuna “you first surrender to me, then I will tell you”. No, he simply said: You are my friend, you are so dear to me, I love you so much. it is Bhagavan who said first to the bhakta ‘I love you so much’. When bhakta realizes that Bhagavan loves me so much then his love started blossoming.  We often think other way around, when I show so much bhakti may be God will love me also! No, one who has will give. God, the Devine is the source of  love, only he can love you first. Unconditional love. So in the beginning Arjuna  was told “come on, what would people think of you? Are you not ashamed? See,  what is Krishna doing? He is trying to poke his ego, he is trying to  consolidate  his ego. There are 2 things: the person is in broken ego [because] he saw  all  that yuddha & hridaya daurbalya - weakness of heart, he breaks down. When  a  person brakes down his ego is shattered. [He] is not aware of ego. The  first  thing he says is ‘are you not ashamed? you are a yodha’. What is he doing? He is trying to awaken his ego. it is so interesting: in the beginning he  tries to poke his ego, awaken his ego, strengthen his ego. In the end he says “you surrender that ego to me”!  It had the role to play. Ego is like the covering- the membrane on a seed.  It is necessary as long as the seed wants to remain a seed. the moment seed  starts  sprouting that covering has to give way for the sprout to happen.  It has to let go. A point comes through the knowledge [when] that ego is made to dissolve. In the beginning Arjuna’s ego need[ed] to be strengthened. His  velour had to be awakened. 

 Two things: for a man ego is very important. If you destroy the ego of a  man he is destroyed. For a woman feeling is very important. If you destroy  feelings -bhavana- in a woman she is destroyed; she becomes like a stone. in a  family couple must remember this. A wife should never put down ego of a man;  always pump his ego. All that man wants to show is: look, what I have achieved,  what I have done. Behind all achievement is a ego. So woman will have to  support the ego of a man. Three Ahankaras are there: satvik, rajasik & tamasik. We  are talking about satvik ahankara. Similarly, man should not criticize woman’s parents or brothers or anyone close to her - her immediate close family. That’s it! it will hurt her, she may just take it- she may not react, but you are doing some harm there. Because a woman, a girl is proud of her parental house, she has such a strong and deep bond to her parental house. What do you say? correct? All ladies sitting here? [applaud]. No woman tolerates her husband criticizing her brother/father/sisters. She wants  them  to be honored, respected. She is emotionally linked. Similarly no man  would like his wife to say []..’you didnt do better, see my brother did better’. No man would like to tolerate that.  In the very beginning Arjuna’s ego was worked, a shame was bought on him.  Because  velour wakes up when you are made aware. ‘Look, aren’t you ashamed?’, ego  gets kindled, like in the fire. When you blow & kindle the fire. Like that ego was dumped by the feelings & worked by Krishna and then to attend to knowledge. It was not just ‘josh’. To do anything you need ‘hosh’. To do anything destructive you only need ‘josh’. When we needed to gain freedom josh was necessary.

 Mahatma Gandhi traveled throughout the country, Subhash Chandra Bose traveled throughout the country to invoke josh in  people. Tod-pod karo- break this & that in josh. But even today we are continuing with josh. So create the hosh also - the awareness.  See, everything around you is changing. A person will stop weeping when  josh is created - velour is created. Then [] will not look [how] weak or strong one is. A weakest person will fight when his velour is invoked - his ego is invoked. But that is not enough, hosh [needs] to be created. Look  around -everything is changing -whole world is changing. Do you accept this: your body is changing, mind is changing, thoughts- emotions are changing,  everybody  around you is changing. Any fool can say this. But how do you notice the change? Because there is something that is not changing. The non-changing  in you is dormant; changing in you is dominant. Observe the change -the  dominant change, you get a glimpse of that something that is not changing.  “…here goes another shloka…” To stay in that non-changing aspect in you is ‘abhyasa’. Everyday wake up in the morning and see what is the state of your mind and observe the  state of your mind before you go to bed. Is there a difference?

To read more click http://www.aolcbe.org/gs/gita.htm