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In particular, to have real, selfless love, regardless of the object, is to love Krishna, the ultimate good.
This kind of love, called bhakti, is far more potent than obs...
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Whatever you do, make it an offering to me – the food you eat, the sacrifices you make, the help you give, even your suffering. In this way you will be freed from the bondage of karma, and from its results both pleasant and painful. (9:27–28)
If Arjuna can live in complete union with Krishna’s will, doing everything for Krishna alone, then by that very purity of will he will be free from selfish motives and thus released from karma.
28 In this way you will be freed from the bondage of karma, and from its results both pleasant and painful.
First, Krishna is the Atman, the inner Self in all beings. It is fitting that this be mentioned first, for of all his myriad manifestations this is the most important, at least to the struggling spiritual aspirant that is Arjuna. Krishna is Arjuna’s innermost Self, and that is how he is to be known in contemplation. Of all the forms in which to meditate upon Krishna, the Atman is mentioned first.
Then, after overwhelming Arjuna with this stupendous list of divine powers and revelations, Krishna asks casually, “But what use is it to know all of these details? The important fact is to know that I am, and that a tiny portion of my being supports all things.”
I am the true Self in the heart of every creature, Arjuna, and the beginning, middle, and end of their existence.
I am the feminine qualities: fame, beauty, perfect speech, memory, intelligence, loyalty, and forgiveness.
I am the silence of the unknown and the wisdom of the wise.
Hinduism has allowed a place for the path of knowledge as well as the path of devotion; here, however, the Gita stresses the efficacy of devotion.
The teachers of the Upanishads told their students to seek knowledge of the Atman, their true Self. The consummation of this knowledge was to know that the Self within was one with Brahman, the ultimate reality pervading all things. This was encapsulated in the statement Tat tvam asi, “You are that” – that imperishable being, that immortal Reality. Brahman, the nameless, formless Godhead, could be known only in the superconscious state.
seeking an eternal, indefinable, hidden Godhead is rather a tall order for the average (or even above average) person.
Fortunately there is the path of love; for when God is loved in personal aspect, the way is vastly easier. According to the Hindu scriptures, God can be loved as a merciful father, a divine mother, a wise friend, a passionate beloved, or even as a mischievous child.
if Arjuna is not able to focus his devotion, he should learn to do so through the regular practice of meditation. Even love and devotion can be cultivated through regular practice; they needn’t be regarded as mysterious forces, divine gifts of the spirit.
If even the attempt at regular practice should fail, Krishna is still not ready to let Arjuna admit defeat. He should, Krishna says, work selflessly without desire for the fruits of his labors.
Better indeed is knowledge than mechanical practice. Better than knowledge is meditation. But better still is surrender of attachment to results, because there follows immediate peace.
That one I love who is incapable of ill will, who is friendly and compassionate. Living beyond the reach of “I” and “mine” and of pleasure and pain, 14 patient, contented, self-controlled, firm in faith, with all their heart and all their mind given to me – with such as these I am in love.
“This body of mine is my field. I sow good thoughts and actions, and in my body I reap the results.” The Buddha explains, “All that we are is the result of what we have thought: it is founded on our thoughts; it is made of our thoughts.” What we think, we become, for as Emerson says, the ancestor of every action is a thought.
Verses 7–11 then describe the person who understands his or her own true nature. This is an attractive picture of the modest, truly wise person who is in control of his or her own life.
Those who know truly are free from pride and deceit. They are gentle, forgiving, upright, and pure, devoted to their spiritual teacher, filled with inner strength, and self-controlled. 8 Detached from sense objects and self-will, they have learned the painful lesson of separate birth and suffering, old age, disease, and death. 9 Free from selfish attachment, they do not get compulsively entangled even in home and family. They are even-minded through good fortune and bad. 10 Their devotion to me is undivided. Enjoying solitude and not following the crowd, they seek only me. 11 This is true
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Some realize the Self within them through the practice of meditation, some by the path of wisdom, and others by selfless service. 25 Others may not know these paths; but hearing and following the instructions of an illumined teacher, they too go beyond death.
They alone see truly who see the Lord the same in every creature, who see the deathless in the hearts of all that die. 28 Seeing the same Lord everywhere, they do not harm themselves or others.
The quality of sattva combines goodness, purity, light, harmony, balance. In terms of evolution, sattva is on the highest level. Rajas is energy – or, on the human level, passion – which can be both good and bad. In personality rajas may express itself in anger, hatred, or greed; but it also provides motivation, the will to act. Rajas is ambitious, which is not altogether a bad thing for the evolution of the soul. It is definitely superior to the third guna, tamas, which combines inertia, sloth, darkness, ignorance, insensitivity. This is the lowest state in terms of evolution; for tamas means
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In any given personality or phenomenon all the three gunas are likely to be present.
no mix of the three gunas is stable, for it is the very nature of prakriti to be in constant flux. The gunas are constantly shifting, always changing in intensity.
such a person is detached from the constant shifting and interaction of the gunas. Identified with the Self, he or she realizes that the gunas and their play are external – even the emotions and thoughts that seem so personal, so interior, are really only the play of prakriti. Thoughts and emotions, and ahamkara itself, stop at the gate of the inner Self. The Self abides in the inner chamber of the heart, always at peace, whatever forces of prakriti may storm outside.
The illumined man or woman maintains a joyful evenness of mind in happiness and sorrow.
Sattva predominates when rajas and tamas are transformed. Rajas prevails when sattva is weak and tamas overcome. Tamas prevails when rajas and sattva are dormant.
Cut down this strong-rooted tree with the sharp ax of detachment; 4 then find the path which does not come back again.
Not deluded by pride, free from selfish attachment and selfish desire, beyond the duality of pleasure and pain, ever aware of the Self, the wise go forward to that eternal goal. 6 Neither the sun nor the moon nor fire can add to that light. This is my supreme abode, and those who enter there do not return to separate existence.
Krishna grants that they may attain their desires, enjoying wealth and power, but their destination is hell – a hell of their own making, often in this very life, as their karma bears fruit.
One of the least likable characteristics of “demonic” personalities is their sense of self-importance. They like to give gifts ostentatiously and offer ritual sacrifices; this legitimizes their wealth and makes them feel respectable and esteemed. They like being generous if it will make them look good.
Lust, anger, and greed are the three doors to hell that Arjuna must at all costs not enter.
The Gita holds that no lasting progress is possible on the spiritual path without self-discipline.
The sattvic kind of tapas is offered for a truly spiritual goal; rajasic tapas is performed to gain a selfish end, probably the admiration of others. Deluded by tamas, a person will undergo painful, foolish practices to try to gain power over, or even to injure, others.
The mantram Om Tat Sat affirms that only the good really exists; the opposite word, asat, implies that evil is transient and therefore is not ultimately real.
An act done without shraddha is asat, unreal; it cannot have meaning either in this world or the next.
Human nature is made of faith. A person is what his shraddha is.
Those who are sattvic worship the forms of God; those who are rajasic worship power and wealth. Those who are tamasic worship spirits and ghosts.
To offer service to the gods, to the good, to the wise, and to your spiritual teacher; purity, honesty, continence, and nonviolence: these are the disciplines of the body. 15 To offer soothing words, to speak truly, kindly, and helpfully, and to study the scriptures: these are the disciplines of speech. 16 Calmness, gentleness, silence, self-restraint, and purity: these are the disciplines of the mind.
When these three levels of self-discipline are practiced without attachment to the results, but in a spirit of great faith, the sages call this practice sattvic. 18 Disciplines practiced in order to gain respect, honor, or admiration are rajasic; they are undependable and transitory in their effects. 19 Disciplines practiced to gain power over others, or in the confused belief that to torture oneself is spiritual, are tamasic.
Giving simply because it is right to give, without thought of return, at a proper time, in proper circumstances, and to a worthy person, is sattvic giving. 21 Giving with regrets or in the expectation of receiving some favor or of getting something in return is rajasic. 22 Giving at an inappropriate time, in inappropriate circumstances, and to an unworthy person, without affection or respect, is tamasic.
renunciation of the fruits of work is essential. Perhaps the verse in chapter 2 said it best – that we have control over our work and actions, but we have no command of the results.
karma-phala-tyaga appears again and again, and the literal translation is “renunciation of the fruits of action.”
In this life we can never be sure that things will turn out as planned.
Krishna talks of three kinds of happiness – a practical application of the abstract theories of Sankhya (18:36–39).
The Gita is not especially interested in caste – the social hierarchy of Hindu society – but we do find a short explanation here.
The work proper to each of the four castes is then described. In general, the Gita takes a liberal view of caste, and it would be wrong to interpret this chapter as supporting a rigid caste system.
2 To refrain from selfish acts is one kind of renunciation, called sannyasa; to renounce the fruit of action is another, called tyaga.
