Message 49

Basel, Switzerland, 1 May 2002

What is the Bhagavad Gita?

Gita is perhaps the gunpowder, dynamite, exploding for over fifty centuries blasting our fragmented consciousness (mind) into full consciousness (‘no-mind’). Gita is consistently inconsistent and that is why no dogma can be derived out of it. No orthodox religion can be created out of Gita. It is an anathema for scholars as they do not find any kind of theology in it. Gita generates perceptions for living, not concepts and doctrines for preaching. Gita is a rebellious quality to be imbibed, not a revolutionary idea to mobilise mafias and gangsters in the name of religion. Gita is the masterpiece of human religious genius in all its splendid and profound complexities. It is one of the most studied and translated text in the history of world religious literature. Gita has made its mark as the standard and universal work transcending all the limitations of human ego, mind and intellect. Gita has pointed out towards the Pure Intelligence-Energy, the Chiti-Shakti, the Purusha-Prakriti. Gita has intrigued and eluded interpreters and translators. The poetry, the rhythm and linguistic contribution in Gita are superb and par excellence. Understanding of Gita happens in our bone marrow and blood-cells through repeated chanting and contemplation. Gita invites us to be available to the holistic consciousness of choiceless awareness, that is, to the ‘ignorance’ which knows – not to the ‘knowledge’ which is ignorant! Gita is the unique world view that tolerates and requires holding together multiple positions simultaneously so that religion holds whole mankind and does not degenerate in bigotry and battle. The war in Gita is symbolic. It is the war between wickedness and wisdom, between mindlessness and ‘no-mind’ with mind as the bridge. Duryodhan is mindlessness, Arjuna is mind and Krishna is ‘no-mind’ i.e. pure intelligence (chaitanya). Gita liberates us from our prior self-preoccupied identities. Gita sets us free from disintegration to integration (yoga), from reaction to action (Kriya Yoga), from longing to living (swadhyay), from paradoxes to pure consciousness (Ishwara Pranidhan), from Prakriti (inherent traits and tendencies) to Purusha (transcendental truth of enlightened existence). Gita is the wisdom of sacrifice of the fruits of action, the distinction of Gunas, the emergence of equanimity, and the importance of non-doership.

Gita explains the nature of compassion of Pure consciousness (Krishna) stating that Krishna appears as so many gods, sages, trees, horses, elephants, lions, weapons, demons, mantras, warriors, rivers, mountains, Vedic hymns and much more. He is manifested as all that is excellence, worthy of worship and all that inspires ascension to true self from the limits of the conceptual self. In no religious text other than Gita, elucidation of the distinction between liberating and binding conditions of the mortal humans has been made available so profoundly.

Gita does not issue any moral warrant, nor does it deliver any sermon on the mount. It is enlightened way of detached action. The message of Gita transcends the limits of orthodox Hindu and of all other theologies. Multiplicity has been the rule in Gita and mutual paths have been allowed to exist in complimentarity. Gita is a gentle tolerance allowing various practices and positions. Only in Gita, the explicitly non-theistic Sâmkhya can appear alongside with the thoroughly theistic Bhakti approach without any disturbance to the supreme energy of holistic understanding. Krishna finally says in a pivotal verse (XVIII : 63) “Thus to thee by me has been expounded the wisdom that is more secret than the secret. Having reflected on this fully do as thou desirest.” No gurudom, no following, but only flowering, to be a light to oneself. This is a tribute to mankind indicating that the greatness of man is that none can save him. The humans have to save themselves or they will destroy each other as they have done in the past and are still doing! No God, no Son of God, no enlightened ones can save – understand this for God’s sake! Not the intellectual understanding of the shoddy little mind! But the supreme understanding of ‘no-mind’ – Krishna!!! Don’t try to find a scapegoat for your dependency, attachment and craving through a saviour, an avatar, a prophet, a paramahansa, a maharshi, a swami, a lama, a guru, a marketed yogi and so on. Inaction of the ego-centre (not idleness) is the highest form of action. ’Nirāśīryatacittātmā tyaktasarvaparigrahaḥ śārīraṁ kevalaṁ karma kurvannāpnoti kilbiṣam.‘ “Performing action with the body alone, without craving and attachment, with all motives of acquisition abandoned, one does not incur any evil”. (IV : 21)

Gita must be chanted and meditated upon again and again. Only then the real wisdom camouflaged in Gita is revealed and realised. More about this in the next Message (no. 50). In the meanwhile, let us ponder over the final verse (XVIII : 78) of Gita, in which Sanjay poetically proclaims: – “Wherever there is Krishna (pure intelligence) and wherever there is the archer Arjuna (intellect ready to transform), then and there will surely be splendour, victory, wealth and righteousness”.

KRISHNAM VANDE JAGAT GURUM

Download the Message in PDF format: Message 49: What is the Bhagavad Gita? (English)