Gita Satsangh: Summary of Bhagavad Gita (Chapters 1 to 9)

[Guest guest]

Namaste:

 

Before we start the Satsangh next week, let us all contemplate on the

summary of chapters 1 to 9 presented below. This will help us to

understand why Lord Krishna wants to describe His Glories at this

juncture.

 

Harih Om!

 

Ram Chandran

--------------------

 

The Bhagavad Gita (the Song of the Lord), is a Sanskrit poem

incorporated into the Mahabharata, one of the greatest religious

classics of Santana Dharma, the Eternal Faith. The Bhagavad Gita

consists of a dialogue between Lord Krishna and Prince Arjuna on the

eve of the great battle of Kurukshetra. Arjuna overcomes with anguish

when he sees in the opposing army many of his kinsmen, teachers, and

friends. Krishna persuades him to fight by instructing him in

spiritual wisdom and the means of attaining union with God (see

yoga). The Bhagavad Gita explains the essence three doctrines –

Karma Yoga, Jnana Yoga and Bhakti Yoga. Karma-yoga is the yoga of

selfless action performed with inner detachment from the results of

that action. Jnana-yoga is the yoga of knowledge and discrimination

between the lower nature of man and the Supreme Self. Bhakti Yoga is

the yoga of devotion to the Supreme Self. The Bhagavad Gita

essentially summarizes the essence of the Upanishads in a nutshell.

 

Chapter one (Arjuna Vishad Yoga) introduces the scene, the setting,

the circumstances and the characters responsible for the revelation

of the Truth of Bhagavad Gita. The scene is the sacred plain of

Kuruksetra and the setting is the battlefield. The circumstance is

the great war between relatives (Pandavas and Kauravas). The main

characters are the Supreme Lord Krishna and Prince Arjuna, witnessed

by thousands of soldiers led by their respective military commanders.

After naming the principal warriors on both sides, Arjuna's growing

delusion is described due to the fear of losing friends and relatives

in the course of the impending war and the subsequent sins attached

to such actions. The dialog opens with a question from King

Dhritarashtra to Sanjaya, about the disposition of the forces on the

war-field of Kurukshetra.

The scene, the setting, the circumstances and the characters

symbolize our struggle to fulfill the desires of our life.

Dhritarshtra represents the physical body and Sanjaya represents the

subconscious mind. Arjuna represents our intellect (buddhi) and Lord

Krishna the Consciousness or the Supreme Self. Our intellect gets

confused with the conflicting nature of our desires and worried about

taking actions with potentials to bring pain and sufferings. The

intellect (Arjuna) seeks the guidance from the inner voice (Lord

Krishna) for guidance. Arjuna represents the which desires to learn

and do that which is right. Lord Krishna, the Higher Self and

discriminating Mind. It is one with the Universal Mind. We, as the

embodied mind, hold a discussion, however brief, every time we make a

choice.

 

In chapter two (Sankhya Yoga ) Arjuna accepts the position as a

disciple of Lord Krishna and taking complete of Him requests the Lord

to instruct him in how to dispel his lamentation and grief. This

chapter is often deemed as a summary to the entire Bhagavad-Gita.

Here many subjects are explained such as: karma yoga, jnana yoga,

Sankya yoga, buddhi yoga and the Atma which is the soul. Predominance

has been given to the immortal nature of the soul existing within all

living entities and it has been described in great detail. Krishna

advocates the control of heart emotion by a man's will. Through this

exercise, tranquility in contemplation is obtained. This eliminates

anxiety. Universal wisdom is available to the calm man. Reflection is

then possible. Objects of sense are to be given an appropriate

importance. Desire, greed, selfishness and pride are to be shunned.

This is true dependence on the Supreme Spirit.

 

Chapter three (Karma Yoga) establishes the fact by various points of

view that the performance of prescribed duties is obligatory for

everyone. Here Lord Krishna categorically and comprehensively

explains how it is the duty of each and every member of society to

carry out their functions and responsibilities in their respective

stage of life according to the rules and regulations of the society

in which one lives. Further the Lord explains why such duties must be

performed, what benefit is gained by performing them, what harm is

caused by not performing them. Plus what actions lead to bondage and

what actions lead to salvation. All these points relating to duty

have been described in great detail. Krishna, esplains that lust-

greed-desire creates the attachment. The insatiable desire for

possession is man's constant enemy. It rages like a fire, and is

unappeasable: It is lust which instigates him. It is passion, sprung

from the quality of rajas; insatiable and full of sin. Know this to

be the enemy of man on earth. As the flame is surrounded by smoke,

and a mirror by rust, and as the womb envelopes the fetus, so is the

universe surrounded by this passion. The senses and organs are

esteemed great, but the thinking self is greater than they. The

discriminating principle—Buddhi, is greater than the thinking self,

and that which is greater than the discriminating principle is He—the

Supreme Spirit, the true Ego.

 

In chapter four (Jnana-Karma-Sanyasa Yoga) Lord Krishna reveals how

spiritual knowledge is received by disciple succession and the reason

and nature of His descent into the material worlds. Here He also

explains the paths of action and knowledge as well as the wisdom

regarding the supreme knowledge which results at the culmination of

the two paths. Thus this chapter is entitled: Approaching the

Ultimate Truth. Spiritual wisdom, when adopted, clears up all errors

of ignorance in the mind. It is the universal purifier. Krishna, the

Supreme Spirit is perceived in all beings and in every situation by

the Wise. Wisdom springs up spontaneously in the wise man as he

progresses. The one-pointed resolve to know and to act as the Supreme

purifies all who adopt this discipline. Those who doubt, who are

skeptical, who will not enquire into the Spirit, or study, can have

no steadiness, certainty or happiness.

 

 

In chapter five (Karma-Sanyasa Yoga) Lord Krishna delineates the

concepts of action with detachment and renunciation in actions

explaining that both are a means to the same goal. Here He explains

how salvation is attained by the pursuance of these paths. The true

devotee cannot be selfish or detach himself from other "creatures."

But, in himself, he must be free of desire and anger, temperate, with

thoughts restrained and have a secure knowledge of the true Self. His

heart and understanding are to be brought under his control, and he

is to be determined to attain liberation from the world of sense-

attachments. By adopting this attitude, he becomes emancipated, even

in his present life, and shares consciously, in the wider life of the

Supreme Spirit.

 

In chapter six (Dhyana Yoga) Lord Krishna reveals astanga yoga, and

the exact process of practicing such yoga. He explains in detail the

difficulties of the mind and the procedures by which one may gain

mastery of their mind through yoga which reveals the spiritual nature

of a living entity. Krishna states that in the process of meditation,

when every desire that arises in the imagination has been abandoned,

and the lower mind, held steady, subdues the impulses that arise from

the senses and organs, and he then finds rest. Krishna further

suggests that Supreme bliss surely comes to the sage with a peaceful

mind free of passions and desires. The Yogi who is thus devoted and

free from sin obtains the highest bliss and unites with the Supreme

Spirit.

 

In chapter seven (Jnana-Vijnana Yoga) Lord Krishna gives concrete

knowledge of the absolute reality as well as the opulence of

divinity. He describes His illusory energy in the material existence

called Maya and declares how extremely difficult it is to surmount

it. He also describes the four types of people attracted to divinity

and the four types of people who are opposed to divinity. In

conclusion He reveals that one in spiritual intelligence takes

exclusive refuge of the Lord without reservation in devotional

service. The best are those who possess spiritual knowledge obtained

by exclusive devotion to Him. They permit the Higher Self to act.

They are rare, consistently follow the path of peace, and are devoted

to the Supreme. These, after many births, discover His ubiquitous

nature and see Him residing in their own hearts, "superior to all

things, and exempt from decay.

Being deathless, the Higher Self, knows all creatures in their

innermost nature. He is unrecognized by the deluded because he

remains undiscovered, "enveloped in his magic illusion." At the time

of rebirth, all creatures fall into the delusion of the opposites

which springs from liking and disliking. It is they who created their

present condition through their choices made in past lives. But those

men of righteous lives whose sins have ceased, being free from this

delusion of the 'pairs of opposites,' firmly settled in faith,

worship the Supreme. They who depend only on the Supreme and labor

for deliverance from birth and death know the Brahman. Those who

permanently rest in the Supreme, knowing Him to be the Adhibhuta, the

Adhidaivata, and the Adhiyajna are the ones who remember Him also at

the time of death!

 

In chapter eight (Akshara Brhama Yoga) Lord Krishna emphasizes the

science of yoga. Revealing that one attains whatever one remembers at

the end of one's life the Lord emphasizes the utmost importance of

the very last thought at the moment of death. Also he gives

information on the creation of the material worlds as well as

establishing a distinction between them and the spiritual world. Here

he explains the light and dark paths in regards to leaving this

material existence, the destination to which they each lead to and

the reward received by each. Krishna suggest that Meditation by the

spiritual Ego and Buddhi on Him is to be continued throughout life,

not merely at the time of death. The power of such meditation enables

the Spiritual Ego to rise to the plane of the Supreme Divine Spirit

when the body dies. Krishna describes this special practice as:

Closing the "gateways" to sense-perceptions, imprisoning the mind in

the heart, and focusing the vital powers in the head. At the time of

death, such as one whose soul-Ego is in his firm control, using the

word "OM," merging it into his individuality, passes into the state

and presence of the Supreme Spirit. Yogis who have attained supreme

perfection are no longer bound by the troubles of rebirth and change.

 

 

In chapter nine (Rajavidhya RajaGuhya Yoga) Lord Krishna reveals that

the sovereign science and the sovereign secret. He explains how the

entire material existence is created, pervaded, maintained and

annihilated by His external energy and all beings are coming and

going under His supervision. The subjects matters covered

subsequently are primarily concerned with devotional service and the

Lord Himself declares that these subject matters are most

confidential. Krishna summarizes the essence of the Supreme Spiritual

Knowledge to Arjuna in this chapter. All this universe is pervaded by

the Supreme in His invisible form; all things exist in Him, but He

does not exist in them. Nor are all things in Him and this is the

Divine Mystery. He causes the things to exist, supports their

existence but at the same time doesn't dwell in them. Taking control

of His Divine nature He emanates again and again creates the universe

and dissolves everything. These divine acts do not bind Him because

He is totally detached from those actions.