You and your grand design

I have traveled to places where the mountains kiss the clouds,

I have felt the joy of the birds when they jumped into unknown & let go their doubts,

I have dived into the deepest depths of the oceans,

And to the highest peaks of the great mountains,

I have praised the whale’s acrobatic stunts,

And have rejoiced at the birth of new stars.

With the monkeys I have jumped from branch to branch,

With the lions I have done my lunch.

As a flower I have daily offered to you my little offerings,

As a bird and bee I have sung your praise in every uttering’s.

I have run with the charismatic sun on his golden chariot across the sky.

And in lonely nights have soaked in the motherly love of the timid moon.

Haunted by her scars and spreading love by sacrifice...

 I have witnessed the baby earth waking up to its first morning,

From the arrival of Dinosaurs to the great mammoth,

I have seen them all arrive on its face and disappear again

I have seen the changing moods and faces of sky,

From time immemorial I have seen so many things,

I have laughed, danced and watched the nature at every step of its being,

I have changed places, dresses and names,

And the anonymous I with the same curiosity have seen you again and again.

Still I cannot comprehend, define, nor a end can I find,

Of you and your grand design.

                                                                                        -Debabrata Banerjee  

Gita in brief according to my understanding-2

The second fundamental question that arises after this is if the body is the Khetra then who really is Arjuna and who is Krishna? 

Is Arjuna a particular mortal being or does he represent something else.  Before answering the question let us look at the following slokas.

Antabanta ime deha nityasokta saririna,

Anasino prameyasya tasmat yudhasaya bharata….Chapter 2 verse 18.

Which literally means “Fight, O Bharat (Arjun), because while the bodies which clothe the Soul are said to come to an end, the embodied Spirit itself is forever, indestructible, and boundless.’’

Krishna says to Arjuna “Fight o Arjuna as all bodies are mortal”. He goes on to add that "for a Khatriya (Click on highlighted khatriya to know more) there is no such thing as more rewarding as a fight for dharma (lawful)”(Chapter 2, sloka 31).

He also says that “If you lose the war you will win a place in heavens and if you win you will rule over earth” (Chapter 2, sloka 37) although Arjuna had already proclaimed that “Even if I am given the empire of entire earth and the coveted seat of the ruler of heaven, I am not ready to fight this war” (Chapter 2, sloka 8).

Now returning to the question who is Arjuna?

I feel that Arjuna does not represent a man in particular. The word Arjuna represents divine love (anurag) for the god which is born out of piousness (Pandu). Because if he had been a mere mortal then there would have been no point in Krisna standing as guard for him in the battle field when he (Krishna) himself says that the body is mortal and the soul is immortal.  

Now the question that arises is who is Krishna?

If we believe that Krishna is god then we have to look at the portion of Gita which says “There is no such thing as other God. But whenever a man influenced by desire worships any other God then I myself posing as other God satisfy his desire”(Chapter 7, sloka 21). He also says that “all the species upto Brahma is bound by the cycle of life and death” (Chapter 8, sloka 16).

If we believe that he is incarnation stemmed by these sloka of Gita “Whenever there is an increase in ungodliness and unlawfulness over holiness, I manifest myself and come to destroy evil” (Chapter 4, sloka 07) then one should look at the sloka that follows this sloka more carefully. “My Birth and death are divine which can’t be seen through the mortal eyes and only can be seen by a yogi who knows the reality and thus experiencing the divine phenomenon the yogi is saved from the cycle of life and death”(Chapter 4, sloka 8).

So from the above discussion it becomes clear that Krishna is neither god nor an incarnation. Then who is he?

Krishna himself defines who he really is when he says “only by worship carried on through innumerable births does a sage gain identity with him.” (Chapter 6, sloka 45)There is then not even the least distance between them. He says again that “among all who worship him the wise man of realization is I believe identical with me” (Chapter 7, sloka 18). So it is clear that Krishna is a yogi. One who has become one with godhead or the one and only god, Paramatma. Through his mouth it is now that God himself speaks. It is the same state where Prophet Muhammad had reached through yogic practices and so through him was the Quran revealed.

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Gita in brief according to my understanding

Gita begins with the lines, basically as a question from Dhitarashtra, who is asking Sanjaya:

dharma-kshetre kuru-kshetre, samaveta yuyutsavah
mamakah pandavas caiva, kim akurvata sanjaya…..chapter 1 verse 1

Picture-An artist’s imagination of the conversation between Dhitarashtra and Sanjaya.

Litterally translating the lines into English it comes out to be “O sanjaya! What are my and pandu’s children who have assembled in kurukhetra (with the intention of war) doing at present”

But is the question really that simple...Is Gita only a book describing the events occurring in a battle field (more precisely a collection of dialogues between Arjuna and krishna). If Gita really contains the details of the discussion between Arjuna and Krishna on the battle field doesn’t it sound bizarre?

Let me elucidate my point:

If Arjuna had so many doubts cropping up in his mind about the battle wouldn’t it have been better for him to discuss these aspects with Krishna in a safe place…rather than a battle field? And can any of us imagine today that in a war, which is of such high magnitude (both in terms of the no. of kingdom and kings involved and the impact that it would be having on the country as a whole) all the warriors would be standing at attention to let Arjuna clear up his doubts with Arjuna and let the war commence. Or what a type of warrior is Arjuna who asks spiritual questions and comprehends such deep meaning spiritual and psychological massages on a battle field.

What I feel is that the question the metaphorical and has a far deeper significance. In fact the true nature of khetra (field) is revealed at a later chapter in Gita itself, where Krishna says:-

Idam sariram kaunteya khetra mitya vidhiyate

Etad yo vetti tang prahu khetragya iti tatvida………..verse 1, 13th chap 

The verse means that “This body ours is the khetra and the person who knows it perfectly is known as Khetragya”. So it is clear the khetra that was referred to in the opening verse of Gita, is actually body. But our body is one and the opening verse refers to two khetras, Dharma khetra and kurukhetra. Although our body is one but within the one body there exist two distinct, primeval instincts. There is first the pious treasure of divinity that provides access to the Supreme Spirit who stands for the most sublime dharma. On the other hand, there are the demoniacal impulses made up of impiety which lead a man to accept the mortal world as real. When there is abundance of divinity in the realm of the heart, the body is transmuted into a Dharmkshetra (field of dharma), but it degenerates into a Kurukshetra when it is dominated by devilish forces.

The rest of the Gita is actually based on this fundamental idea that this body is the khetra and the battle that happens is between the two forces inside the body one motivated by piousness and other by demonic desires. It teaches the devotees how to reach the god head? What are the ways to reach him? What one achieves by reaching him...

To be continued.....om tatsat (click on hyperlink to continue)