Gleanings from 'Holy Geeta' by 'Swami Chinmayananda'; for the seekers of 'Self-Realization' and 'Sahaja Samadhi'.

Gleanings from 'Holy Geeta' by 'Swami Chinmayananda'; for the seekers of 'Self-Realization' and 'Sahaja Samadhi'.

General introduction To 'Bhagawad Geeta'
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IF THE Upanishads are the text-books of philosophical
principles discussing man, world and God, the Geeta is a
hand-book of instructions as to how every human being
can come to live the subtle philosophical principles of
Vedanta in the actual work-a-day world.

Srimad Bhagawad Geeta, the Divine Song of the Lord,
occurs in the Bhishma Parva of the Mahabharata, and
comprises eighteen chapters, from the 25th to the 42nd.
This great hand-book of practical living marked a positive
revolution in Hinduism and inaugurated a Hindu
renaissance for the ages that followed the Puranic Era.

In the Song of the Lord, the Geeta, the Poet-Seer Vyasa has
brought the Vedic truths from the sequestered Himalayan
caves into the active fields of political life and into the
confusing tensions of an imminent fratricidal war. Under
the stress of some psychological maladjustments, Arjuna
got shattered in his mental equipoise and lost his capacity
to act with true discrimination. Lord Krishna takes in
hand that neurotic mind of Arjuna for a Hindu treatment
with Vedic truths.

Religion is philosophy in action. From time to time an
ancient philosophy needs intelligent re-interpretation in
the context of new times, and men of wisdom, prophets,
and seers guide the common man on how to apply
effectively the ancient laws in his present life.

If we try to digest properly the implications of the Geeta's
advice in the light of Vedic lore, it becomes amply clear
how actions performed without ego-centric desires purge
the mind of its deep-seated impressions and make it
increasingly subtle in its purification and preparation for
greater flights into the Infinite Beyond. To explain this, we
will just try to review a little the conception of the mind
and its functions in our day-to- day life.

Mind is man. As the mind, so is the individual. If the mind
is disturbed, the individual is disturbed. If the mind is
good, the individual is good. This mind, for purposes of
our study and understanding, may be considered as
constituted of two distinct sides--one facing the world of
stimuli that reach it from the objects of the world, and the
other facing the "within" which reacts to the stimuli
received. The outer mind facing the object is called the
objective mind--in Sanskrit we call it the Manas--and the
inner mind is called the subjective mind--in Sanskrit, the
Buddhi.

That individual is whole and healthy in whom the
objective and subjective aspects of the mind work in
unison with each other, and in moments of doubt, the
OBJECTIVE MIND readily comes under the disciplining
influence of the SUBJECTIVE MIND. But unfortunately,
except for a rare few, the majority of us have minds that
are split. This split between the SUBJECTIVE and the
OBJECTIVE aspects of our mind is mainly created by the
layer of egoistic desires in the individual. The greater the
distance between these two phases of the mind, the
greater the inner confusion in the individual, and the
greater the egoism and low desires which the individual
comes to exhibit in life.

Through the five "gateways of knowledge," the organs of
perception, all of us experience the world of objects
around us at all moments of our waking state. The
innumerable stimuli that react with our sense organs
(receptors), create impulses which reach the OBJECTIVE
mind and these impulses filter deep down to the
subjective stratum through the intervening layers of
individual ego-centric desires. These impulses, thus
reaching the SUBJECTIVE mind of a person, react with the
existing impressions of his own past actions that are
carefully stored away in the subjective layer and express
themselves in the world outside through the five organs of
action (effectors).

At each moment, man meets with different patterns of
these stimuli, and thus constantly gathers new
impressions in the 'subjective-mind.' Every set of impulses
reaching it not only adds to the existing layers of
impressions already in it, but also gets coloured by the
quality of these Vasanas hoarded within. When they are
translated into action, the actions carry a flavour of the
existing Vasanas in the 'subjective-mind.'

All of us live constantly meeting a variety of experiences;
and at each incident, we perceive, react with the
perceived, and come to act in the outer field. In this
process, we unwittingly come to hoard in ourselves more
and more dirt of new impressions. The 'subjective-mind'
gets increasingly granulated by the overlapping
signatures of our own past moments. These granulation
make the 'subjective-mind' dull and opaque, and form, as
it were, an impregnable wall between ourselves and the
spiritual Divinity that shines eternally as pure
Consciousness in all of us deep within the core of our
personality.

The theory of Vedanta repeats that reduction of the
Vasanas is the means of volatilizing the mind. When I
look into a mirror and do not see my face in it, it is not
because the mirror is not reflecting the object in front of it,
but because the reflected image is not perceptible to my
vision due to, perhaps, the thick layer of dust on the
mirror. With a duster, when I clean the mirror, the act of
cleaning does not CREATE the reflection of the face, but it
only unveils the reflection which was already there.
Similarly, man is not aware today of his divine spiritual
nature because the 'subjective- mind' reflecting it is thickly
coated with dull Vasanas gathered by it during its egocentric,
passionate existence in the world.

To bring the subjective and the objective aspects of the
mind together into a happy marriage where the 'objective mind'
is well-disciplined to act faithfully as per the guidance of the 'subjective,' is the Yoga pointed out in the Geeta. This is accomplished only by the removal of the dividing factor--the ego-centric desires. The typical word used in the Geeta to indicate this practical implication of Yoga is self-explanatory--Buddhi Yoga.

When this happy marriage between the subjective and the
objective aspects of the mind has taken place, thereafter
that equanimous Yogin becomes skilled in action("Yoga
Karmasu Kousalam"-- "Dexterity in actions of Yoga"--
II,50), and he, with his objective-mind,' reacts intelligently
and faithfully to the external stimuli; his actions become,
as it were, a purgation of the already existing Vasanas in
his 'subjective-mind.' Thus, through intelligent action, an
individual can exhaust his existing impressions and
ultimately redeem his 'subjective-mind' from the
granulations and make it more clear and crystalline.

This idea has been emphasized by great commentators
like Sankara, who tirelessly repeat that selfless activity,
performed in a spirit of ego less adoration and reverence to
the divine ideal, would ultimately result in inner
purification. This, according to Sankara, is the most
unavoidable pre-requisite before the subjective mind can
turn inward seeking to rediscover the sanctuary of the
Self, the Spiritual Reality.

Spiritually viewed, the 'subjective-mind' is thus a secret
weapon in man to be used as an OUTLET for the existing
impressions that have come to be stored up in it. But the
tragedy is that the average man, in his ignorance, misuses
this dangerous weapon and brings about his own
annihilation. He uses it as an INLET and creates, during
his selfish activities performed with low motives, a new
stock of mental impressions. In order to exhaust them, nature provides new equipments (bodies), in which the same ego comes to live, repeatedly, life after life. The message of the Geeta clearly
points out that actions are not to be avoided and the world
of objects is not to be denied. On the contrary, by making
use of them intelligently, we must strive selflessly, and
force the very Samsara to provide us with a field for exhausting our mental dirt. An unhealthy mind divided in itself, as we explained earlier, becomes an easy prey to a host of psychological
diseases. Weakened in its constitution, it easily becomes a victim to all contagions. Arjuna was an average educated man, and from the details of the Mahabharata, we know the environments in which he grew up. But for the entire Mahabharata, we would not appreciate so fully Arjuna's mental condition, without which Krishna's message would have fallen flat upon the readers.

Therefore, the Geeta is an intrinsic part of the entire Mahabharata and the classic would have been a hotch-potch story, without
pith and dignity, if Srimad Bhagawad Geeta was not in it and the Geeta would have been a mere philosopher's riddle-poem without the Mahabharata background. The story and the poem together are an organic whole; each devoid of the other would be ineffectual and empty.

Modern psychology exhausts volumes in describing to us the dreary results of suppression and repression of emotions. There are many moments in our lives when we KNOWINGLY suppress many of our emotions; but more often in our day-to-day life, we, UNCONSCIOUSLY, repress many of our sentiments. Repressed emotions accumulate a tremendous amount of dynamic energy
which must necessarily seek a field for expression, and unless they are properly guided they would boomerang back to destroy the very individual. Though there are no direct explanations of any repressions of emotion in Arjuna, a careful student of the story can easily diagnose that the great hero on the battle-field came under the influence of his repressed conditions and behaved as a victim of perfect neurosis.The causes for his emotional repressions are not far to seek. A great hero, confident of his own strength, was made to live amidst the unjust tyranny of his
Machiavellian cousins. At the same time the great archer
could not give vent to his nature because of the righteous
policy of "Peace at all costs" of his eldest brother, Yudhishthira. These repressed emotions found a healthy field for expression in the severe Tapas which he performed during his life in the jungles.
During the last year of their lives INCOGNITO, the Pandava family had to serve as menials in the palace of the Raja of Virata. The carping injustice and the cruel indignities of the situation caused, no doubt, a lot of repression in Arjuna's mind. But even these found a healthy field of expression in the battle that he had to
wage against Duryodhana's forces that came to challenge
the Virata-might.

After their long and strenuous trials, when the Pandavas
at last reached their native kingdom, their tyrant cousin,
with no rhyme or reason, denied them not only their right
to half the kingdom, but also all terms of conciliation.
The shrewd, blind Dhritarashtra, father of the Kauravas,
probably understood the psychological condition of the
great warrior, Arjuna, and on the day previous to the
great war, he sent Sanjaya, his emissary, to Arjuna with a
secret message. This message, full of mischievous import,
sowed the seeds of dangerous ideas in the mind of Arjuna,
directing his energies caused by the repressions of his
emotions into wrong channels, so that he became a hapless neurotic in the face of the great challenge. We shall read in the First Chapter the very same arguments and ideas repeated by Arjuna faithfully from the message he had the previous day from his uncle.

On that fateful day when both the armies were getting
into formation, Arjuna asks his charioteer, Lord Krishna,
to drive the chariot to a point between the two forces, so
that he may review the enemy lines. Larger in number,
better equipped, more liberal in supplies and commanded
by well- known personalities, the Kaurava formation,
expanding itself like an "eagle," stood poised to swoop
down upon the smaller army of the Pandavas. This was a
sight severely challenging the mental stamina of the
Pandava hero. His 'objective-mind,' under the impact of
the stimuli, could not find any reaction from its
'subjective-mind (Buddhi), because the shattering of these
two aspects was complete due to the intervening layers of
his egocentric assumptions and desire-prompted
anxieties. The dynamic forces released in his mind due to
the repressions were not properly channelized, but were
mis-directed by the suggestions of Dhritarashtra's words,
and therefore, the greatest hero of the times, Arjuna,
suddenly became a despondent, bewildered, neurotic
patient.

The 'Krishna-treatment' of this patient of psychological
derangement was certainly a specific cure, inasmuch as, in
the last chapter we definitely hear Arjuna declaring that
all his "delusions have ended." The rest of the story of
how, having come into his own, he became a rejuvenated
warrior of tremendous strength and valor, is quite well known
to all students of this great classic.

In varying degrees, every man is a victim of this 'Arjuna-
Disease' and the 'Krishna-cure,' being specific, is available
to all of us at all times in the philosophy of the Geeta.

In the Second Chapter, which is almost a summary of the
entire Geeta, Krishna indicates the two main lines of
treatment. One is a "treatment of idealism" wherein
Arjuna is directed to a greater reality than his mind, ego
and intellect, and thereby the divorce between the
'subjective' and the 'objective' aspects of his mind is
eliminated to some extent. In the second half of the same
chapter, we shall read and come to understand how
selfless activity will purge the existing Vasanas in the
individual. Arjuna being a Kshatriya, his mind was
colored by the impression of Rajo-guna (activity), and so
he needed a battle-field to exhaust those impressions.
Thus, we find Krishna repeatedly goading his friend with
the words, "Get up and fight." This need not necessarily
mean that the Geeta is a war- mongering scripture of the
ruling-class. It is a call to each one of us to get up and fight
the battle of our own life, according to our own Vasanas
(Swadharma), so that we may exhaust them and thus gain
inner purity.