P for Pride and Ego

The Bhagavad Gita is a treasure trove of knowledge - all that you need to be is an inquisitive student, because only when the student is ready, the master appears! Join me this month in the 'April A to Z challenge,' as I take you through selected verses of this monumental scripture, and try to decipher the amazing lessons it has in store for us.       

Read O for Oneness here.  

         

Translation

Those who are blinded by ego (ahankara), power (balam), pride (darpam), desire (kamam) and anger (krodham), fail to realise that Krishna is the doer. We are merely 'nimitta' - the cause. Knowing this fact, keeps us humble and helps us dive deeper into devotion.

The story of Mahabali and Vamana.

Mahabali, often called Bali, was a powerful king and the grandson of the Lord’s greatest devotee Prahlada. Though he was an asura or demon, he was known for being generous, truthful, and a capable ruler. His kingdom was prosperous, people were happy and he ruled with justice and compassion.

Pride comes before a fall.

Yet, he was arrogant and proud. His vast power and victories had made him feel invincible. Bali had become extremely powerful after defeating the gods and gaining control over the three worlds. His strength, wealth, and popularity made him feel almost unbeatable.

He also considered himself to be the most generous king. He believed he could grant anything and that no one was greater than him.

Vamana humbles Bali.

This is why Vamana, an incarnation of Lord Vishnu, appeared, not to punish him harshly, but to remind him that even the greatest beings must remain humble.

To teach him a lesson, Lord Vishnu took the form of a small Brahmin boy, Vamana. Vamana approached Mahabali during a ritual and politely asked for just three steps of land. Bali was surprised. How much land could a dwarf boy measure with just three footsteps, he wondered. He nudged the boy into asking for more. But Vamana said it would be enough.

No sooner had Bali pledged three footsteps of land to Vamana and poured water from his kalash to complete his vow, Vamana started to grow in size. Bali immediately understood that this was no ordinary boy. It was Maha Vishnu himself. In his form as Trivikrama, the Lord lifted his feet. With one step, Lord Vishnu covered the earth, and with the second, the heavens. There was no place left for the third step.

Bali’s pride is broken.

His pride subdued, Mahabali bowed his head in humility and offered it to the Lord. Vamana placed his foot on it, pushing him to the netherworld. But the ever-compassionate Lord also blessed him for his humility and devotion.

 

Learning to stay humble.

Pride can blind the best of devotees. Staying humble and knowing that whatever we have been able to achieve is only due to the grace of Krishna and not by our own strength or capability, keeps us rooted in bhakti (devotion) and not in darpa (pride) and ahankara (ego).

 

 

O for Oneness

The Bhagavad Gita is a treasure trove of knowledge - all that you need to be is an inquisitive student, because only when the student is ready, the master appears! Join me this month in the 'April A to Z challenge,' as I take you through selected verses of this monumental scripture, and try to decipher the amazing lessons it has in store for us.

     

Read N for (Human) Nature here.

             

Translation

The learned, wise and gentle people (vidyā-vinaya-sampanne) see with oneness (sama-darshinah), a brahmin, gavi (a cow), hastini (an elephant), suni (a dog) and a chandala (sva-paka).  

Here, Krishna talks about looking at everyone with the same vision because no matter who they are, Krishna is present in each animate and inanimate being. The body is different, but what is within, is a reflection (bimba) of him.

The story of Avadhuta brahmana and his twenty-four Gurus.

Lord Kṛiṣhṇa tells Uddhava, his most trusted aide about an ancient conversation between an avadhūta brāhmaṇa – a spiritually enlightened sage, and the great king Yadu, the son of Yayāti.

Mahārāja Yadu, once met an avadhūta who was traveling without a destination, behaving as if he were haunted by a ghost. The avadhuta was in an ecstatic condition, and on being asked by the King, the avadhūta replied that he had received various instructions from twenty-four different gurus and hence he was able to travel in a liberated state. He spoke about his twenty-four gurus and what he had learned from them.

The pancha mahabhootas – earth, air, sky, water and fire.

Earth - be forbearing and serve others (mountains and trees).

Air - remain aloof and untouched.

Sky - the soul, which pervades all material substances, is both indivisible and imperceptible.

Water- be naturally clear and purifying.

Fire - absorb things and yet not be tainted by them, destroy all the inauspicious desires.

 

The Sun, Moon and ocean.

Moon - changes in the body— birth, growth, dwindling and death — do not affect the embodied soul.

Sun - avoid entanglement even while coming into contact with sense objects.

Ocean - remain steady and serene irrespective of success or failure.

 

Birds.

Pigeon - be careful of excessive affection and attachment.

Kurara Bird (osprey) - attachment creates misery.

 

Reptiles.

Python - accept whatever comes of its own accord or is easily obtained.

Fish – control your tongue or lose your life.

Snake – a sage must wander alone, stay hidden and speak little.

 Insects.

Moth – do not fall prey to the allurement of sense objects.

Bumblebee and Honeybee - collect the essential truths from all scriptures, be they great or insignificant (bumblebee), guard against greed and over-consumption (honeybee).

Spider – God creates the entire universe from himself and winds it up into himself.  

Wasp - Whatever one constantly meditates on, that he will surely become.

 Animals.

Elephant – celibacy is important for sadhana.

Deer – do not waste time in mundane/ unfruitful activities.  

 

People.

The Honey Thief - stealing wealth and storing it greedily, inevitably leads to him being plundered.

Pingala - hopes for sense gratification are the root cause of all suffering.

A foolish, lazy child - give up concerns of home, children and reputation and wander freely without any anxiety.

A young girl and bracelets - even if two people reside in the same place, there is every chance of mutual quarrel and useless gossip.

The arrow maker - strictly control one’s mind, concentrating it in the worship of Maha Vishnu.

The avadhuta did not see the earth different from the bee or the girl different from the deer. It does not mean that there is no difference between them, of course differences do exist. But the essence of the story is that he looked at everything with oneness as a result of which he could learn something valuable from each of them. 

(** The story of how these animate and inanimate beings taught the lesson to avadhuta, is quite an elaborate topic to be contained in one blog post. I have therefore mentioned in brief, only the lessons that were imparted.)

Sama darshana.

Since Krishna is present within each being – living or non-living, each being has some wisdom to impart. When we look at everything with the same vision (sama darshana), we realise that the same truth pervades everything, so everything becomes a teacher. 

Krishna himself says in the Gita, 

yo māṁ paśyati sarvatra sarvaṁ ca mayi paśyati 

tasyāhaṁ na praṇaśyāmi sa ca me na praṇaśyati

The one who sees Me everywhere and sees everything in Me, he can never be destroyed, nor will he ever be lost to me. 

Read P for Pride here.

 

N for (Human) Nature

 

The Bhagavad Gita is a treasure trove of knowledge - all that you need to be is an inquisitive student, because only when the student is ready, the master appears! Join me this month in the 'April A to Z challenge,' as I take you through selected verses of this monumental scripture, and try to decipher the amazing lessons it has in store for us.            

Read M for Mind here.      

Translation 

In this verse, Krishna tells us that sattva, rajas and tamas are the three gunas (nature) that humans are born with. How a person acts is conditioned by these modes of nature. 

Our nature is a mix of all three gunas .

Gods are purely sattva, demons are purely tamo. However, we humans are a mix of all three in varying proportions. Each one of us has unique traits because the mix of the gunas is the not the same in each one of us. If a person has more of sattva guna, they act in the mode of goodness - serene, wise, caring, joyful. A person having more of rajo guna acts in the mode of passion - ambitious, workaholics, aggressive, greedy, full of desires. A person with predominant tamo guna acts in the mode of ignorance - laziness, confusion, delusion, negligent, dull. 

A story from the Srimad Bhagavatam - the story of Vena and Pruthu.

King Vena was born in the royal lineage of the great King Dhruva. Yet he was arrogant and tyrannical. He banned all religious rituals and charitable acts. He wanted his subjects to worship him and none else. Vena's atrocities caused his subjects to live in constant fear. Most occupations, especially agriculture, declined. His inherent strong tamo guna, and a destructive rajo guna, were visible in his cruelty towards his subjects, ignorance of dharma, and disrespect of sages. 

Ushering a new rule under King Pruthu.

The sages, seeing the suffering of the people, eventually intervened and ended Vena’s rule by killing him. They then churned the dead Vena’s arms, and the part manifestation of Vishnu himself, Maharaja Pruthu, emerged. Pruthu was guided by sattva guna with a rajas properly aligned.  

At the beginning of his rule, the Earth, refused to yield resources due to Vena’s previous misrule. The Earth took the form of a cow and ran away. Pruthu reined her in and convinced her to provide all resources to nourish humanity. This was on account of his well-balanced rajo guna purified by sattva.

Pruthu was a great king. He ruled with justice, brought back worship and religious rituals, took care of the elderly as an affectionate son and the women and children as a caring father and respected the sages. People followed his guidance. He was the first to create a planned living arrangement for his subjects and the Earth was named ‘Prithvi’ after him. Under his leadership, the earth prospered and people lived in harmony.

The competition for supremacy.

The gunas in us keeping competing for supremacy. Sometimes when sattva becomes prominent, we find ourselves inclined towards worship, helping others, being joyful and calm. When rajo guna dominates, we become competitive, workaholics, aggressive, angry, feel more powerful or ambitious. When tamo guna dominates, we tend to feel lazy, sleepy, make careless mistakes, or are confused. 

We might wonder why we don't feel active all the time, or why our devotion keeps swaying and the peace we find in worship is not the same on all days. The reason is our nature or guna. Whichever guna dominates on a particular day is how we act on that day.

Is it possible to stay balanced or situated in one guna? 

It is not entirely in our hands to balance our gunas. However, being in constant remembrance of Krishna can help us align more and more in the mode of sattva and rajas purified by sattva. 

Read O for Oneness here.

  

M for Mind

The Bhagavad Gita is a treasure trove of knowledge - all that you need to be is an inquisitive student, because only when the student is ready, the master appears! Join me this month in the 'April A to Z challenge,' as I take you through selected verses of this monumental scripture, and try to decipher the amazing lessons it has in store for us.        

Read L for Leadership here.          

Translation

Krishna says that the mind (manas) can be the best of friends (bandhur) for the one (atmanah) who has conquered (jitah) it, but it can become the greatest enemy (satru- vat) for him who fails to do so (anatmanah).

Arjuna’s predicament is the same as ours.

While Krishna speaks about controlling the mind, Arjuna says what we have been thinking. He says,

चञ्चलं हि मन: कृष्ण (my mind is very fickle, Krishna) प्रमाथि (agitated) बलवद्दृढम् (and strong willed/obstinate)।
तस्याहं निग्रहं (to control this mind) मन्ये वायोरिव सुदुष्करम् (is more difficult than controlling the wind) ॥ 

(BG 6.34)

A story from Srimad Bhagavatam - King Ambarisha and Sage Durvasa.

King Ambarisha was a ruler in the lineage of the royal Ikshavaku clan. He was a powerful ruler of the entire world with great control over his mind and senses. He dedicated his actions to Lord Narayana and lived a life of discipline and devotion.

He had observed a scared fast on Ekadashi and was about to break his fast on Dwadashi when sage Durvasa came to his palace. He received the sage with a lot of respect and invited him to have food. Durvasa accepted the invitation and went to the Yamuna River to bathe. Absorbed in samadhi, he lost track of time.

Ambarisha breaks the fast and incurs the wrath of the sage.

The time to break the fast was about to pass, but the king could not eat before offering food to the sage. So, on the advice of the learned brahmanas, Ambarisha sipped a little water to signify breaking the fast so that both dharma and hospitality could be preserved.

When Durvasa returned, he was very angry. He considered even sipping of water as having eaten without feeding the guest. His mind, unrestrained and quick to anger, saw insult where there was none. To punish the king, he took a strand of his hair and created a demon which appeared like the fire of death.

Lord Narayana always protects his devotees.

Lord Narayana not only vanquished the demon immediately and protected his devotee but also released his Sudarshan chakra to pursue Durvasa.  Neither the demigods, nor Brahma and Rudra could protect him. Lord Narayana also could not excuse his offense and asked him to seek forgiveness from Ambarisha himself. Finally, he returned to Ambarisha and begged forgiveness.

The mind can be an enemy or a friend.

Ambarisha, whose mind was his friend, harboured no resentment. He prayed to the Sudarshan chakra for Durvasa’s safety, and the danger subsided. Durvasa, on the other hand, on account of his own uncontrolled mind, which had become his enemy, was chased across worlds.

Let Krishna control our mind.

Krishna says that 'of the senses, he is the mind' - ‘Indriyanaam manaschasmi  - इन्द्रियाणां मनश्चास्मि’ (BG 10.2)

It means that if our mind is engaged in his devotion, our mind can become our greatest ally, guiding us towards clarity and peace. When it is not, it creates suffering even in the absence of any real enemy.

Read N for (Human) Nature here. 

 

L for Leadership

The Bhagavad Gita is a treasure trove of knowledge - all that you need to be is an inquisitive student, because only when the student is ready, the master appears! Join me this month in the 'April A to Z challenge,' as I take you through selected verses of this monumental scripture, and try to decipher the amazing lessons it has in store for us.                  

Read K for Karm here.

Translation 

Krishna says that whatever a leader (sresta) does, the common men (jana) follow. The standards that he sets by his exemplary acts (pramanam) is followed (anuvartate) by everyone (loka).  

A leader worth emulating.

The onus or responsibility on someone who is in a leadership role is immense. Their behaviour, endorsements, and words carry great weight. People are influenced by them and will follow the leader. 

A story from the Ramayana - The exceptional leadership of Janaka Maharaj.

King Janaka was the ruler of Mithila. He is known not just as a ‘raja’ (king) but as a ‘rajarshi’ (a philosopher-king). He showed that it was possible to be surrounded by opulence and yet be completely detached from it. Through his own example he showed that it was not necessary to abandon worldly duties to be a seeker of truth.

A ruler guided by wisdom.

King Janaka was full of wisdom and as described in the Brihadaranyaka Upanishad, his court was always a place for philosophical discussions. Great sages like Yajnavalkya and even female sages like Gargi and Maitreyi were welcome in his court for discussions and debates. He believed that men and women were equally capable and wise. The kingdom and its people thrived in such an environment.

A king who followed his dharma.

Janaka’s actions were guided by righteous duty and sincerity. Seeing the king follow his dharma, the subjects lived a principled and rich life guided by moral responsibilities. He wasn’t attached to wealth and power and performed his duties selflessly. His subjects admired his fairness, and generosity and were propelled to be like him.

A balanced leader.

Rajarshi Janaka showed that it was possible to maintain the balance between being a ruler and being spiritual enlightened. This balance made his leadership both practical and inspiring.

Read M for Mind here.