Is really Bhagavad Gita “an extremist literature” spreading “social disorder”?
***********************************
Sings Sri Krishna in Chapter Eleven, Verse Fifty-five of Bhagavad Gita:
मत्कर्मकृन्मत्परमो मद्भक्तः सङ्गवर्जितः।
निर्वैरः सर्वभूतेषु यः स मामेति पाण्डव॥
matkarmakrnmatparamo madbhaktah sangavarjitah
nirvairah sarvabhūtesu yah sa māmeti pāndava|
“This man, O Arjun, who acts only for my sake (matkarmah), rests on and is dedicated to me alone (matparmah), in complete detachment (sangvarjitah) and freedom from malice towards all beings (nirvairah sarvbhooteshu), knows and attains to me.”
The four essential requirements of the evolutionary discipline by which a man can achieve spiritual perfection or transcendence (of which human life is the means) are indicated by the terms: “matkarmah,” “matparmah,” “sangvarjitah,” and “nirvairah sarvbhooteshu.”
“Matkarmah” means performance of the ordained act-the act of yagya. “Matparmah” is the necessity of the worshipper’s taking refuge Lord Sri Krishn and of complete devotion to him. The required action is impossible to accomplish without total disinterestedness in worldly objects and the fruits of action (sangvarjitah). The last but not the least requirement is “nirvrairah sarvbhooteshu”: absence of malice or ill-will towards all beings.
Only a worshipper fulfilling these four conditions can attain to Lord Krishn. It hardly needs saying that if the four ways urged by the last verse of the chapter are observed, the resulting state is one in which external war and physical bloodshed are simply out of the question. That is one more instance that the Geeta is not about external fighting. There is not one verse in the poem that supports the idea of physical violence or killing. When we have sacrificed ourselves through yagya, remember only God and no one else, are completely detached from both nature and the rewards of our action, and when there is no malignity in us towards any being, with whom and for what shall we fight?
The four observances lead a worshipper to the stage at which he stands entirely alone. If there is no one with him, who shall he fight? According to Lord Krishn, Arjun has known him. This would not be possible if there were even the slightest touch of malice about him. So it is evident that the war waged by Arjun in the Geeta is against fearful enemies such as attachment and repulsion, infatuation and malice, and desire and anger, that rise up in the way of the worshipper when he engages in the task of single-minded contemplation after having achieved an attitude of detachment to worldly objects as well as rewards.
In Chapter Fifteen,Verse Seven of Bhagavad Gita, Lord Krishna sings:
ममैवांशो जीवलोके जीवभूतः सनातनः।
मनःषष्ठानीन्द्रियाणि प्रकृतिस्थानि कर्षति॥
mamaivāṁśo jīvaloke jīvabhūtaḥ sanātanaḥ|
manaḥṣaṣṭhānīndriyāṇi prakṛtisthāni karṣati
“The immortal Soul in the body is a part of mine and it is he who attracts the five senses and the sixth-the mind-that dwell in nature.”
Now with the above exposition, let us analyse : Is really Bhagavad Gita “an extremist” literature and a literature spreading “social discord”?
Bow down in lotus feet of most Revered Gurudev for such teaching to me.
.
Humble Wishes.
~mrityunjayanand.
.