My Gita

by Devdutt Pattanaik

feminine view of history looks at every event as the fruit of the past (karma-phala) as well as the seed of future tendencies (karma-bija),

In the various translations, commentaries and retellings, we do find a common tendency to appreciate the relationship between the self (Arjuna) and the other; those who stand on our side (Pandavas); those who stand on the other (Kauravas);

Then we will appreciate the idea of God (deva, bhagavan, brahmana, avatara), located in all of us, that helps us cope with our fears that disconnect us from society. Lack of faith in the divine within makes us seek solace outside, in property (kshetra, maya). Because of this, a tug-of-war ensues between the inside and the outside.

Arjuna’s vision is expanding, focus is giving way to perspective, attention (dhayana) to awareness (dharana) as his gaze finally rejects the boundary separating the self from the other, and action from responsibility. This is darshan! Focus and Perspective In darshan, there is no judgement because there are no boundaries, no rules, no separation of right and wrong, mine and not mine.

In darshan, one sees a fluid world of cause and consequence, where there are no divisions, boundaries, hierarchies or rules. Rana-bhoomi and Ranga-bhoomi A world created based on judgement evokes rage. Life becomes a battleground (rana-bhoomi) like Kuru-kshetra, where both sides feel like victims, where everyone wants to win at all costs, where someone will always lose. A world created by observation evokes insight, hence affection, for we see the hunger and fear of all beings.

The world into which we are born is imagined as a stage full of actors but with no script, or director. Everyone assumes they are the hero, but discover they are not the protagonists of the ongoing play. We are forced to play certain roles and speak certain dialogues. But we revolt. We want our own script to be performed and our own dialogues to be heard.

Rebirth takes away the sense of urgency and the quest for perfection that are the hallmarks of Western thought.

Your reality is different from my reality, because your body is different, your filters are different, your experiences are different, your knowledge is different.

the body is visualized as a series of containers. The flesh is the outermost container and is made up of the senses. It is composed of food and serves as food, and so it is called the container of food (anna-kosha). It is animated by the container of breath (prana-kosha). Within are the container of thoughts (mana-kosha), the container of beliefs (vi-gyana-kosha or buddhi-kosha) and finally the container of emotions (chitta-kosha).

In the absence of conceptual clarity, the dominant emotion is fear, fear of losing opportunities, fear of threats, fear of achievement, fear of abandonment, fear of invalidation.

Like animals that seek food for their survival, humans yearn for meaning for their sanity: what is our value, our purpose and our identity in this world? As long as we seek validation from the world around us, we are entrapped by aham. As soon as we realize that all meaning comes from within, that it is we who make the world meaningful, we are liberated by atma.

But humans can imagine: we can imagine a world that is stable and controlled, all evidence in nature and culture notwithstanding.

Those who believe in karma do not blame. They do not judge. They accept that humans live in a sea of consequences, over which there is limited control. So they accept every moment as it is supposed to be. They act without expectation. This is nishkama karma.

When we do exercise our choice, when we value other people’s needs alongside our own, we are following dharma. When we stay focussed on our own needs at the cost of others’, we are doing adharma.

Dharma is more about empathy than ethics, about intent rather than outcome. I follow dharma when I am concerned about your material, emotional or intellectual hunger. I follow adharma when I focus on my hunger at the cost of yours.

We have learned to valourize sacrifice, where there is giving without getting. We even celebrate worship, where getting is a surprise, a bonus, not the outcome of any expectation. This, despite the fact that the last hymn of every yagna and puja is always the chant of expected outcomes (phala-stuti). Perhaps we have been conditioned to be ashamed of human yearnings, maybe by mendicants of the Buddhist, Jain and Hindu orders who chose to renounce the world. Perhaps our preference for socialism in the post-Independence era made us frown upon the idea of exchange, as it reeks of a trader mentality.

Krishna equates the senses to cows (indriya-go-chara) that graze on the pasture made of various kinds of stimuli. Yoga turns our mind into the cowherd who determines what the senses should or should not graze upon.

Action focussed on intent is better than action focussed on outcome.

Arjuna needs an anchor, a support, someone to lean on, the comforting hand

God increasingly becomes a psychological concept.

The Hindu idea of God, presented through language and the liberal use of metaphors, is located inside humanity, not outside.

Brahmana represents a state when humans have totally overpowered the animal brain; in other words, outgrown fear.

Arjuna, to expand your mind, use intelligence to draw your mind away from sensuality, so that there is no self-obsession, aggression, arrogance, desire, anger, possessiveness, attraction or repulsion. You are content in solitude, consuming little, expressing little, connected with the world and aware.—

the power of faith in the divine is demonstrated over skill and strength.

Though limitless himself, he submits to the limited truth of those around him.

Darshan of the other enables us to acknowledge and accept their inadequacies. This makes them neither small nor helpless. It just makes them different.

cannot control the karma of the student; he can only focus on the svaha of his yagna, plant the karma-bija and not seek control over the karma-phala.

Sometimes, you can see more than me, but you pretend to know less so that I don’t feel intimidated by you. I do the same for you. We do not feel superior when the other is vulnerable; or inferior when we feel helpless. This is what sustains our relationship.

We will discover how every organism has little control over his or her own capabilities and capacities that are dependent on their natural material tendencies, or guna, which in turn is shaped by karma.

Unless the heart feels secure, the head will not accept the reality revealed by darshan: the reality that humans are helpless before the force of nature, that karma determines the circumstances of our life and guna determines the personality of people around us.

The guna are three (tri-guna): tamas, rajas and sattva. The tendency towards inertia comes from tamas guna, the tendency towards activity from rajas guna and the tendency towards balance from sattva guna. The three guna cannot exist without the other. They are like three phases of a wave: tamas being the movement downwards towards the nadir, rajas being the movement upwards towards the crest and sattva being the balance, the point at which there is a pause.

some decide when to follow and when to lead, and know that the world can be changed only cosmetically with technology, but not in essence, at a psychological level.

Identity comes from within, not without: from kshetri, not kshetra, from dehi, not deha.

This ability to create a boundary, and shift boundaries, between what I consider mine and what I do not consider mine comes from maya, the unique human ability to measure, delimit and apportion.

Insecurity fuels desire (kama) for more, and so acquiring more becomes the purpose of life. We get angry (krodha) when we don’t get them, become greedy (lobha) once we get them, get attached (moha) to them, become intoxicated with pride (mada) because we possess things, feel jealous of those who have more and insecure around those who have less (matsarya).

Reality is allowing things to come to us naturally and not seeking things that do not come to us naturally. Wisdom is bearing the fruit we are supposed to bear and not wanting to bear fruit that we cannot bear.

Human society conditions us to cling to things around us, gain identity through relationships, titles and estates. In other words, culture celebrates moha and mada.

This is a metaphor for a mind consumed by passion, seeking gratification in the material world and suddenly finding the world turning against it, becoming even more hostile. The solution is not to fight harder, for that only leads to the crocodile tightening its grip. The solution is to stop fighting and have faith that another force will intervene.

As long as we don’t have faith, we carry the burden of solving all problems. We will be impatient and fight and cling. Wisdom is enjoying things that drift in and letting go of things that drift away, like watching the waves drift in and out of the beach.

I want you to need me. If you do not need me, and only give me, without taking anything from me, I feel inadequate, meaningless, valueless and purposeless. In wanting me, you illuminate me and contribute to my fulfilment. Likewise, you want me to need you. If I do not need you, if I am dependable but detached, you will feel insulted, hurt, unwanted, and I will appear patronizing.