Lord Krishna concluded his entire teaching
with the 66th Sloka of Chapter 18 of Bhagavad Gita. In verses, 65 and 66 Krishna gives a
summary of the BG. He has summarized the sadana of Karma yoga in 65th verse and the sadana of Gnana yoga in the 66th verse. Gnana yoga is doing Saranagadhi as per lord Krishna. It is a total internal change or attitudinal
change in a person earned by Knowledge
of ‘Atma’ by doing Shravanam, Mananam and Nidhithyasanam. Understanding
brings about a change in his attitude, change about the world and himself. This
attitude is called Saranagadhi. This is an internal change in oneself. His
values will continue and all his duties will continue depending up on his
Ashrama Viz., Grihastrashrama, Sanyasashrama etc. There will be no change in
his external lifestyle. The difference is only in his internal lifestyle borne
out of knowledge of the Self ‘Atma’, gained by him through Gnana yoga. Before
gaining knowledge, I looked upon Body, mind as owned by myself. Ahankara and mamakara (It is I and it is mine) were playing inside me. There was
ownership and controllership of my
Family, possession and so on. It is the ownership and controllership, which is
silently changed in my mind by gaining Self-knowledge. By gaining Self-knowledge, I remove my doer ship. Upanishads
say through Self-knowledge alone liberation or Moksha is possible.
The winding up slokas of Bhagavad Gita are
from verse 67 to verse 78. Four qualifications are required for anyone for the
study of Gita. They are Tapas (disciplined life), Bhakti (reverence
towards acharya, desire to learn Gita and appreciation of the validity of his teaching), Shisrusha
(doing service to learn from a Guru)
and Anasuya (a non-judgmental mind).
Whoever is propagating the teachings of Gita is doing the greatest service to
Krishna Bhagavan.
Krishna wanted to solve the spiritual problem of Samsara caused by
Raga, Moga and Soga. Attachment to people (Bhisma and Drona) and grief caused
by death etc. are emotional problems. Emotional dependence is the fundamental
problem of Samsara. Gita is an attempt to solve both ethical and spiritual
problem of Arjuna. Arjuna was under delusion
(should I fight or not) in the Kurushetra war. Krishna asks Arjuna “did the
delusion gone out of your ignorance?” Through his teaching Krishna removed the
delusion regarding Dharma. Delusion caused by ignorance regarding dharma is
gone after hearing the teaching of Lord Krishna. Gita teaches us how to live in
the world. We have to change our attitude and see Eswara everywhere and in
everything (11th Chapter). We have to see the world as the very
Bhagavan’s body.
An attempt to follow the teachings of Gita to
the extent possible by a person makes his family a harmonious one without any
fight. Also World will be a place of harmony. For a Kshatriya, fighting a
dharma yudham is Swadharma (rights).
Gita says remember your responsibility and your rights. With this Sanjaya’s
remarks is also over. BG teaches us the Art of Living. Essence of Gita is
Liberation through Self-knowledge.
Be blissful.
S.Sekar, Contact: sekrajc@yahoo.com
