KRISHNA SMILES

Chapter 2 Krishna is said to be avatar of Lord Vishnu

On smile of Krishna a historic moment has arrived. Arjuna laments and prays for clarification as to why he should not participate in war. This is a moment of soul awakening . We can recall Spinoza in his book “improvement of understanding”

“I thus perceived that I was in a state of peril and I compelled myself to seek with all my strength for a remedy however uncertain it may be”

In Tamil we can compare with Thirumangai Alwar.Thirumangai Alwar was a king turned into dacoit. He distributed the proceeds of robbery to charity of devotees of God.

One day LORD VISHNU himself came down along with His consort Mahalakshmi. They came in the garb of bride and bridegroom. Alwar attempted robbery on them and in the process bite his foot to remove an ornament God was wearing in the foot. On contact with His Holy Feet His soul was awakened and he started pouring பெரிய திருமொழி.

The First song or Pasuram is given below

வாடினேன் வாடி வருந்தினேன் மனத்தால்

பெருந் துயர் இடும்பையில் பிறந்து

கூடினேன் கூடி இளையவர்-தம்மோடு

அவர் தரும் கலவியே கருதி

ஓடினேன் ஓடி உய்வது ஓர் பொருளால்

உணர்வு எனும் பெரும் பதம் திரிந்து

நாடினேன் நாடி நான் கண்டுகொண்டேன்

– நாராயணா என்னும் நாமம்

Though Arjuna and Alwar had different backgrounds leading to soul awakening there is no doubt that they got Bliss.

This Bliss, Alwar calls Bliss as “ உணர்வு எனும் பெரும் பதம்.” One may ask a commonplace question. When Arjuna refuses to fight Krishna could have reminded aboutuntold agonies inflicted on Pandavas by Kauravas. They have insulted Draupati. Her oath of revenge is still pending .Pandavas were chased out of the country. They had to live incognito for 1 year and so on.

Krishna wants this situation to be used to elevate Arjuna to Higher pedestal. He wants to impart higher knowledge. He is not satisfied with a mere victory in war.

The crux of this issue is Arjuna like rest of us is enveloped in veil of ignorance. He is trounced by passions truncated by self pity and is in the mood of abandonment of action. Sankhya yoga –chapter 2-sets out to answer his queries. It may be pointed out that chapter 2 contains nucleus of rest of GITA. Hence one must understand philosophical background of chapter2, that is Sankhya Yoga.

Briefly Sankhya means counting of the categories which constitute the phenomenon of world. It constitutes principles that constitute the world. Take for example a new house. Though it is called House it is a collection of number of constitutents say brick and mortar, steel etc.

Similarly Sankhya philosophy goes into the structure of the phenomenon. Consciousness identifies phenomenon. The identifier is called Purusha and identified is called Prakrit. There are lot of discussions on connection between Prakrit and Purusha. The power of Purusha injects reality into the phenomena or object. This Purusha is called soul or Jiva.

SLOKA 17 OF SAMKHYA KARIKA lists out the following reasons that show existence of soul.

1) The soul exists because

a) All aggregates of components are for the sake of another.

For example in a house cot, chair, sofa etc are available. This indicates that there is a user and they are subservient to a user. All composite things are ultimately for a non-composite thing that is unitary-soul. A corollary to above is that soul does not have attributes. Only a compound entity will have Gunas.

KRISHNA enumerates attributes of soul in various verses especially verses 13 to 17.Entire Gita leave alone chapter 2 is based on this.

2) There must be a controlling agency. Mind supplies to intellect (buddi) various impressions. Buddhi identifies pleasure, pain and delusion. This is submitted to the controlling agency which is final. Why should it be final? This is to avoid finding another agency and there will be no end to it. This avoids regressus ad infinitum.

3) Another reason is that things of enjoyment (bhogya) are the visible things like the intellect and the rest. They cannot become visible without an observer. There is a seer beyond visible things and that is the soul. THUS THERE IS AN EXPERIENCER OR OBSERVER.

4) Another reason is the concept of emancipation. Emancipation implies final cessation of pain and suffering resulting in BLISS. This emancipation cannot take place in buddhi or mind or other instruments. Why? This cannot take place in composite things. This will take place only on an entity which is simple and non-agent. This entity got entangled and hence can aspire for emancipation. So we find activities of sages gear towards the emancipation of soul.

Thus existence of the soul is established .But the question remains whether the soul is one or many. Here opinions differ. But that is a complicated subject. It needs special study. Also the relationship between soul and God is open to debate between various schools of thought. The soul has only one attribute-if we may say so- that is it is a pure witness, neutral, and non agent.In fact at higher level it is not even doing witness function becasue that is also an act.Strangely enough the soul or Atman is not working but it’s presence causes work.

Soul is a non-matter and hence does not suffer from modifications which matter or Prakrit is subject to. For example matter is acted upon by physical laws such as laws of motion, thermodynamics etc, BUT SOUL IS SIMPLY BEYOND ALL THIS. KRISHNA enumerates ideas of soul in various verses especially verses 13 to 17, Entire Gita leave alone chapter 2 is based on this.

Krishna is Advising Arjuna and through him to the rest of us the following truths.

Avoid attachment to results of action-this does not mean imperfect execution caused by carefree attitude. In fact during war Lord Krishna has cautioned Arjun and other Pandavas on various occasions. These words of caution have turned the tide against Kauravas and ensured victory.

This is called Nishkamya karma. Even in western philosophy there are echoes of this concept. Most notably Kant in his concept of “Categorical Imperative” ordains that duty should be done perfectly for it’s own sake.

சார்புணர்ந்து சார்பு கெடஒழுகின் மற்றழித்துச்

சார்தரா சார்தரு நோய்(kural 359) மெய்யுணர்தல

This kural aptly sums up nishkamya karma. Also Krishna is emphasising that living in idleness without work is a sin.

Spiritual reasons for Nishkamya karma

1) law of karma : Every action brings forth reaction. In Vedanta sense it entails rebirth And puts the Soul in cycles of birth and death. Hence reaction (attachment to results) is advised to be avoided in the interests of spiritual progress.

2) As seen earlier Atman is resident in man’s self. Atman does not have any experiences physical Or mental. The purpose of life is to identify with soul rather than mind or body.

3) It brings forth peace of mind.

4) Having got rid of anxiety attachment, work can be done efficiently.

5) Negative emotions will overwhelm in case of failures. Success will bring overreactions Which in turn will result in many undesirable consequences.

Reasons for advice against inaction

Spiritually speaking every person is born with bundle of karmas accumulated over the number of births. This will not get exhausted except by good actions. By keeping idle the weight of Karma will be felt and Prakrit(nature) will be furious on the individual w குறள் 606ho is not acting and idle.

படியுடையார் பற்றமைந்தக் கண்ணும் மடியுடையார்

மாண்பயன் எய்தல் அரிது குறள் 606 மடியின்மை

THIS KURAL APTLY BRINGS OUT THE CONCEPT STHITHA PRANJA:

This is another concept developed in chapter2. The aim of Krishna is to make Arjuna a Sthitha Praknja. He is the one who is unaffected by polarities of life like pain, pleasure Heat, cold, life, death etc. Why? He is fully aware of the fact of residency of soul which is unconnected with Soul.. Therefore he receives blessings of the LORD.

இன்பம் விழையான் வினைவிழைவான் தன்கேளிர்

துன்பம் துடைத்தூன்றும் தூண். (KURAL 615) ஆள்வினையுடைமை

This kural aptly brings out the above concept.

This is the crux of chapter2 of sankhya yoga which KRISHNA preached. One can speak volumes but due to constraints a gist has been given to stimulate interest on this subject. TILL we continue again

HARE RAMA HARE KRISHNA