生 活 的 藝 術 之 南 境 知 識 棧

A series of talks of 

The Bhagavad Gita

by His Holiness Sri Sri Ravi Shankar

Chapter 1.  Arjun Vishad Yoga

August 13^th 2007              Los Angeles, USA

The universe is a brilliant expression of consciousness. Everything here you see is nothing but an expression of consciousness in its brilliance. And the purpose of every created object is to remind you that the consciousness which has created this, which is the basic of this existence is most brilliant one. Bharatha means brilliance. Mahabharath means greatest of the great brilliance. The great brilliance has a song to it, has a rhythm to it and that is Gita. Gita means song, song of divine.

Now, when there is a war, you can not sing. War simply means disharmony. Music means harmony. In a war field, knowledge is so far away. But the brilliance is that is why it is most necessary. When there is war, that’s where wisdom is essential. And bringing wisdom not in a palace but amidst war is the brilliance of the divinity. Bringing harmony where it is most needed. Music is harmony. See the dichotomy in a war field can someone sing and talk to you about the Self? When someone does it, then it is not short of any miracle. And one who does it is an expression of divinity. One who did that in the war field, bringing about wisdom of life, the truth about life, indicates an eternal phenomenon.

Life is a struggle when you don’t know the harmony. Everything here appears to be conflicting. The 5 elements are in conflict with each others. Fire does not like water; water does not like fire. Air does not like fire and vice verse. All the 5 elements in creation, actually 4 elements, the 5^th one is just the witness. The 4 elements are in conflict. In the same way, in your body there is conflict. In the war there is conflict. In society there is conflict, family there is conflict. There is conflict between young and old; wise and foolish because the universe is made up of opposites. When it is made up of opposites, conflicts are bound to rise. War is inevitable there.

But what is that which can change the whole scenario? It’s the intervention of the divinity. It’s the divinity which can raise your eyes to the fact that there is harmony, there is beauty, there is music, there is all these beautiful things in the planet. It’s your spirit which appreciates a thorn and makes it a decorative piece, an ikebana or it thrown out in the brush. Your perception changes, everything changes in the world. And when you are blind, then there is disharmony. That’s what exactly happened.

The king Dhritharashtra was blind. When the king is blind, then there is war, it's inevitable. When head of the family is adamant, arrogant and blind, everybody in that family suffers. When a professor or head of the department of a college, university is foolish, doesn’t recognise the real talent then the frustration filters through the whole set up. Same with any business set up, same with anything you take, the head is blind, there is suffering throughout. But the suffering does not just remain down the line, it comes back to the head. And that is exactly what happened in Mahabharatha of which Gita is the central core of Mahabharatha. The king who was blind, he didn’t know what was happening. And the Gita begins with a question.

Often people who are adamant, who are arrogant, who are blind do not ask question. There is no spirit of enquiry in them. They think they know. When you think you know without knowing then you are in deeper trouble. Nobody can help you. But that state doesn’t last too long because when there is problem, it doesn’t stay outside. Whatever problem you create for others, it comes back to you. And so the problem comes back to the king and he wants to know what is happening.

There is a good end for everything. Every conflict has a good end. So the youngest of the sons called Sanjaya. Sanjaya means the right victory. The moment you want to get out of the problem, you are already one step into the victory. Are you getting what I am saying? Realising there is a problem, we are out of the problem.

So, Dhritharashtra, the king calls his youngest of the sons, his last son and asks him

dharma-kshetre kuru-kshetre  samaveta yuyutsavah  mamakah pandavas caiva  kim akurvata sanjaya  1.1

Sanjaya, my dear son, please tell me what’s happening in this dharma-kshetre ? In this land of dharma, in this land of action. This is a land of action. Our universe, our world is a place where law governs. Dharma governs. If our action is accordance with dharma, there is always harmony. If our actions are against the law, against the dharma, we are going to face the music. Knowing this he asks his youngest son “Tell me what is happening in this land? You see it, I don’t. You tell me.”

My children and Pandavas. It’s a mine-ness, you know. Mine, mine, mine, the limited mine blinds a person. The limited understanding. What is mine? And what is not mine? Makes a person miserable.

So Sanjaya starts saying what exactly happens. He has his intuition, he has his inner eyes opened. He was sort of psychic. He didn’t watch a crystal ball. (laughter) but he was so intuitive, psychic, he could see, sitting in the palace, he saw what was happening out there in the field. Because those day there were no cameras. They have to use their inner faculty. No conference calling, no television stations but great inner vision, inner ability to cognise, to recognise, to comprehend things happening far away. Even today there are many people, even among you there are many of you can see things, who can predict, who can visualise what’s happening else where. Sanjaya, the youngest son of Dhritharashtra was an expert in that and good that the king took the expert's help to see what is happening. That’s the beginning of Gita.

Even when you don’t have the ability, take the help of those who have the ability, very first lesson. You can’t do everything by yourself, whatever you can’t do, there are those who can do it, take their help and do it. Take those help and do that. See they are all part of you.

Now, comes Duryodhana’s role. Duryodhana, when he saw the strength of Pandavas with whom he is going to fight, he straight away went to his master complaining about it, his master Dronacharya.

The weakness of a person is that he doesn’t recognise his strength. He looks at the others. When others are found to be much stronger, that’s where you see yourself becoming weaker and more weaker. If your sight is stuck on the other, is never on yourself, you are bound to be weak. He didn’t see himself, his own massive army that he had with him. His eyes were on others. When the eyes were on others, you can’t but complain. You will complain. That’s exactly what he did. He went and just complained and complained “See what you had done. Look at them, they have so much talent. They have so many power. They have so many people there, with me there is nobody.” He started his off-tune music. Duryodhana’s music goes that way, accusation. “Oh, you people, what did you do to me? Nothing!” accusing. Feeling more weak.

So by the hours he was feeling frustrated, angry, tense and accusing his own fellow men, accusing the teacher who taught him. It’s the height of ignorance. Strength comes from gratefulness. Strength comes from recognising one’s strength. Hmm...

Duryodhana after singing his tune, complaining all these things “See, how they are strong, we are weak.” When such complaining is happening non-stop, his grandfather was there. He blew a big conch. Blowing a conch making a big sound, you know, you shift your awareness, your consciousness.

Every instance in Gita is universal in nature. It is not just a phenomenon which happens at one time. It’s a perennial phenomenon. It’s continuously happening everyday. This is the beauty of this whole thing, this knowledge. It’s not limited to time and space. It’s eternal. The "Song Eternal" it's called, because of its value holds good for all generations, to all people everywhere.

So, when the mind starts groaning and complaining, what a wise man would do? He blew a conch, created a sound. And the sound energy uplifted the whole atmosphere, uplifted the spirit of Duryodhana. To make him happy, the great grandfather Bhishma blew his conch. And then names of different conch, the different great men those day blew was so mystical. When Bhishma blew his conch made him happy, that was responded by Sri Krishna. Pancajanya, He blew a conch called Pancajanya, born out of the five. Divine blows a conch which is born out of the five. What are the five? The five elements. The whole universe is a conch of the divinity. And the song or the blow of conch is present in every atom of the universe.

So, Krishna blows a conch called Pancajanya. Our body is born out of the 5 elements. And the voice that is arising from this body is that out of Krishna, it’s that out of the divine. When you realise you are divinity, you are part of the divinity, then you are blowing the Pancajanya.

But if you are a seeker of knowledge, if you are not attained the enlightenment, if you are not attained the fullness of consciousness, you are the seeker of knowledge, what is the conch you are blowing? Devadatta. Devadatta is what Arjuna blew. Arjuna means seeker of knowledge. One wants to know, one who is seeking knowledge. What is the conch he blew? Devadatta means knowing the gift of divine. Devadatta is gift of the divine.

If you don’t understand every cells of your body is made up of divinity or it’s divinity, at least you know this body is a gift of divine. That is the 2^nd stage. Honoring and recognising your body as gift of divinity, the conch that you blow is Devadhata. Like that there is mention of many different type of conches.

Everybody makes noise but there is a little difference in every noise. Even all the discourse, talks are all noise only, are all sounds. Certain sounds create harmony; certain other sounds create disharmony. Certain things stir up things; certain other things even and soothed out the situation. The universe is full of noise. The world is a noisy place.

There is a beautiful couplet, says what is wisdom? What is foolishness? It’s better to say the other way round. If you build a home on the ocean and you are scared of waves, (laughter) there can’t be any better foolishness than that. In the same way, you build a home in the forest and you are scared of animals. And you have built a home in the market place, in the downtown city or on the highway and you are scared of the noise. In the same way, you are being born on this planet, in the world, if you are scared about the criticism or the praises that people give. What is the opposite of praising? Criticism? Something stronger than criticism. Blame! If you are scared of blame and praises, then that it, it is the same as the rest of these other examples. So foolish! Having been born in this planet, should not be scared of criticism and blame.We are so worry about what other people think about us.

And this is exactly happening in Mahabharatha. This field, this universe, living amidst opposites and bringing harmony is all Gita about. Finding harmony amidst chaos, bliss amidst suffering, wisdom amidst foolishness, light in darkness and immortality in a place where everything is dying. That is Gita.

So, the 1^st chapter is called Arjuna Vishad Yoga. Arjuna lamenting. When all the conches were blew, now Arjuna wakes up. The seeker of knowledge says “Krishna, I want to see with whom I want to fight, I am going to fight so put my chariot in between. Show me with whom I am fighting.”

If you are already in one side, you can’t see both sides. And Krishna, the embodiment of wisdom, knowledge knows where exactly to come and park the chariot, from where you can see things impartially. If you are parked of a group, you can never the reality, the way it is. So, Arjuna, the seeker of knowledge was brought and put in the middle of the two forces, two opposite forces. There Arjuna stands and looks at the other side again.

Duryodhana looks at the other side and he was angry and hateful about his own people. There was anger and hatred in him. Now, Arjuna looks at the other person, he feels even more weaker. Now, Arjuna’s weakness is not because they are stronger. He felt such a connection with them. His heart was melting. He says “These are all my people.”

You know, it is easy to fight with enemy but very difficult to fight with somebody whom you love. Love also makes you weak. In the sense that those whom you love or those who love you, they rule you. You can say no to a person whom is not your friend but someone whom you love or love you, you can’t say no to them. Arjuna was caught in this dilemma. “How can I... these are all my people! I am so indebted to them.” He felt absolutely weak. Weak in a sense his hands were shivering. It was not like Duryodhana who stood up and started accusing. Here, he just simply broke down. He says “I can’t do this.”

You know when you can’t do something, and you don’t want to do something, even your heart is not in it, then you talk philosophy. (laughter) So, Arjuna started giving all logical reasons and philosophies, saying “Krishna, what is that you are telling me to do! To fight these people? I would rather go and hide in Himalaya. I don’t want anything.” You know, a sense of renunciation took over him. “I don’t want any of these pleasure.” Because love reigns higher than any pleasure. Always remember in life, if there is a competition between truth and love, love wins, truth fails. That’s why many times spouses, they don’t tell truth to each others. (laughter) Fear of losing the love, they tell lies. When someone tells lies to their own spouse, just remember they love you too much, that’s why they are telling lies. (laughter) Because they can’t affort to lose your love for them. They value your love more than the truth. If there is a competition between love and pleasure, pleasure will lose, love stands.

Arjuna, seeker of knowledge, though he is with the divine guidance right next to him, he was regreting of this decision of war. He was so miserable because love overtook him. Love without wisdom can make you absolutely miserable. And this is what happens today. Many crimes in the society around the world is because of love. You love things or people beyond your imagination then you involve yourself in criminal activities. This is love without wisdom. What you called 'distorted love'. Because jealousy is caused of love. Arrogance is caused by love; greed is nothing but love for material things. Unflinching love for material things leads you to be a greedy person because nothing suffices.

Arjuna was in such delusion. When you are deluded, you speak all high philosophy, big big words. Same he is arguing with Sri Krishna as though he is a scholar, he knows everything. At some point, Krishna has to intervent and put a stop to him. He says “Come on, come on, stop! I heard enough of you.” Krishna comes out

asocyan anvasocas tvam  prajna-vadams ca bhasase  gatasun agatasums ca  nanusocanti panditah  2.11

First shlokas, song that Krishna sang “Hey, come on! My dear, you are talking like a man of great wisdom but you are shaking, shivering.” Look at the body language you can understand whether somebody has the wisdom or not. If someone has the strength, it just comes out through their body language, through their words, through their very behaviour, through the very life, it exhibits. Wisdom exuberants from the personality. But if it’s just from read and heard, it’s just up here, stuck in the intellect, you can make out, it’s not coming from your Self, from your very existence.

The body language shows he is shivering, shaking and crying and he's crumbling but he is talking as though this is all nothing. It’s like a homeless person saying “I don’t want a house. I don’t want... I renounce everything.” If you are already homeless, you have nothing to renounce. (laughter) And you say “I am so dispassionated.” How can you be dispassionated? Yes, if you live in a palace and say “I am dispassionated” that has some value. You have no wisdom and you talk like a wise person. Krishna pulls him up “What are you doing? Come on, wake up!”

The 1^st chapter goes all with Arjuna’s lamenting – Arjuna Vishad Yoga.

Before anyone enters the field of knowledge, your life is a Vishad Yoga. Our life is all these 18 chapters in Gita. In your life, you can see which chapter you are in, where are you stuck? 1^st chapter? 2^nd chapter? 3^rd chapter? Where your life is stuck? You can find out. You can gauge for yourself.

1^st chapter is Arjuna Vishad Yoga – Arjuna laments. He says “I can’t do.” When you are so miserable, say you want to quit. When you become miserable, many times people say “I want to quit!” Whenever you want to quit anything, you want to quit the job, what will you do quiting the job? You will have to find another job that again you want to quit. Or you want to quit your marriage, ok you quit one marriage and then again what you will do? You want to quit the city and go somewhere, you want to run away knowing that your shadow is going to follow you. And farther you run away from the light, shadow is going to be bigger and bigger. It’s not going to be anyway smaller. This wanting to quit is the regret in the mind. Vishad means regret. “Oh, I regret my life. I am sorry, I am such a mess.” Feeling sorry for oneself, sorry for everybody else. This is how a very ignorant people lives their life till the last breath. His one foot in the grave and he regrets that he should have gone to a different school. (laughter) What do you do with that? You went to school some 50 years ago. And now, you sit and regret 50 years ago “I should have gone to some other school, I would have better friends. I would live in a different atmosphere, got different job, I could have done something different.”

Regreting the past is the 1^st sign of ignorance. Anxious about the future is the 2^nd sign of ignorance. And being miserable is the total sign of ignorance. (laughter) This is exactly what we do. And that is the Vishad Yoga, you are in the 1^st step. First of all, you don’t even know you are in such misery. Your Gita, harmony has not even entered the life. But if you become aware of it, then you have gone into the 1^st chapter. But we can’t afford to be stuck there. You have to move on now. The 2^nd chapter is called Sankhya Yoga. Hmm...

So, watch and gauge your position is your life. How often you regret and what you regret? I see poster here and there “Repent! Jesus is coming soon.” You are going to repent because He is coming soon? (laughter) Repent, when you keep repenting, you forget god is in control and god is omnipresent, omnipotent and omniscient. You dismiss god’s omnipresence, omniscience so you keep repenting.

This universe is always the way it is with opposites. And opposites, they compliment each other in some strange manner. You have to raise above the opposites and that is the whole purpose of life. That is the aim of spirituality – rising above the opposites. And Gita is the lift that takes you step by step.

If you want to see the most contradictory and confusing scripture in the world, there is nothing beat Gita. (laughter) Gita can confuse a person because Arjuna himself says it in the further chapter “Oh, I am so confused, why are you confusing me?” because every chapter something different He said.

Because the universe is multidimensional, there is opposite value in it. Contradiction is part of it. It is not linear, it is spherical. Anything that is spherical has contradiction. Seeing your life which chapter you are in, 1^st chapter, 2^nd chapter – Sankhya Yoga where an awareness comes in, what is real? What is unreal? Who am I? And then Gyana Yoga, Karma Yoga; Yoga of action and then knowledge, and then Dhyana – meditation, which stage are you in your life? Final, Moskha Sanyasi Yoga. Bhakti Yoga in between, on devotion, on love and then wisdom.

You just turn back and see in your own life, where your mind was? How you used to take a situation 5 years ago, 10 years ago and how you view it today? Don’t you see a big difference? How mussy mussy you were (laughter) 10 years ago, small thing can trigger you and throw you off balance and how stable you are today. Do you see that? How your hankering for something 3 years ago and today it doesn’t matter to you. More stability and more strength has dawned in your life. Can’t you see this? Turn back and see. If you look back and see most of the time we have spent regretting appears to be utterly foolish! Waste of time! Now, not to regret that now, this is another problem. (laughter)

An elderly woman came and did the course sat in a satsang and says “Wow, what I have wasted all my life regreting about it!” I said “No way to regret any more now.” It’s very subtle, you know? Mind can play so many games. It’s like saying “I am the most humble person in the world and I got rid of my ego totally.” (laughter) sitting and claiming “You know what, nobody could do it in this planet earth, I got rid of my ego!” Oh my god! Where are you going.

And that was the state of Arjuna. He thought he is so wise. Often we think we know it all, we really don’t know. So, life is a movement from “I know it all” to “I don’t know”. From an ugly “I don’t know” get out from here to “I don’t know” a beautiful “I don’t know”.

Arjuna was in such a state of understanding that “he knows it”; Duryodhana was in a state of “I don’t know, get out of here!” but Arjuna says “I know it all!” Now, Krishna has to bring him to a state of beautiful “I don’t know” and that we will see in the next chapter. How Arjuna from a state of “I know it all” “What are you doing to me? Why are you putting me in this spot? Why you ask me to fight against these people make me miserable? What do I get doing all these? And talking all these wisdom, Arjuna was questioning Sri Krishna. Sri Krishna is going to bring him to a state “Well, I don’t know” (laughter)

That we will see tomorrow. Ok!

Jai Guru Dev...