Talking about Love…

As the Valentine's day week draws to a close, mildly popping up the affection in many relationships as well as the retail economy, I couldn't but help reflect on a specific situation in Ramayana where Sage Valmiki very deftly paints contrasting pictures of the different kinds of love. The situation I am talking about is in the end of Ayodhya Kanda when Dasaratha decides to declare Rama as the next King. All hell breaks loose with Queen Kaikeyi, instigated by her maid Manthara, pulls up a political coup to get Rama banished to the forest and her son Bharatha installed as King. Tragedy follows with Rama, Sita and Laxmana going to the forest  and Dasaratha dying from being unable to bear the grief. Bharatha who admonishes his mother for her selfish act, refuses to be the King and reigns as a representative of Rama awaiting his return. This being the scenario,  let's take a look at the different types of love, at varying levels of their nobility, that get played out.

At the lowest level is Dasaratha's love for Kaikeyi. Kaikeyi was the most beautiful amongst Dasaratha's queens and his favorite. On a day of great joy for him, Dasaratha seeks Kaikeyi out to share his happiness of declaring Rama as King. All his great affection for Kaikeyi comes crashing when she invokes her right to the three boons he had promised her and asks for Rama's banishment and Bharata's coronation as King. Unfortunately for Dasaratha, Kaikeyi's beauty was only skin deep.

Next comes Kaikeyi's love for her son, Bharatha. Kaikeyi obviously loved her son more than anything in the world and wanted the best for him. Though easily condemned by many, she probably didn't do anything  worser than what many parents would do today to ensure success for their children. Obviosly Kaikeyi's love for her son was purely selfish and she sacrifices Dharma to satisfy her greed. For this foolish act, Kaikeyi ends up paying the price of losing what she valued most in life, the love and affection of her own son, and lives rest of her life in utter contempt from everyone around her.

At the next level is Dasaratha's love for his son, Rama. Interestingly, Valmiki says that Dasaratha who collapses from grief becomes physically blind after Rama leaves for forest. It  sounds like a great metaphor for the blind love Dasaratha had for his son that in turn becomes the unbearable grief which finally kills him. Dasaratha's love for Rama was nobler than the love Kaikeyi had for Bharatha, but Valmiki is not definitely depicting it as what one should emulate.

Now consider the love Sita had for Rama. Kaikeyi's demand was for Rama to be banished to the forest and Sita definitely didn't have to accompany Rama. Born and brought up in utmost luxury, she probably would have been extremely terrified of living an ascetic's life in forest.  Interestingly, Valmiki says that when Rama, Laxmana and Sita are handed over the valkala to wear, Sita struggles to put on hers and is unable to get it on right until Rama helps her out. When Rama tells her that she doesn't have to go, Sita responds that as a wife, wherever Rama is, that will be her home. Sita's unswerving commitment to Rama again comes to test with Ravana, later on in Ramayana. This is the first of the examples of noble love that Valmiki depicts, a love that is coupled with a commitment to perform one's duty.

Sita was Rama's wife and considered it her duty to be with him. What about Laxmana? Why did he have to take up this ordeal, that too leaving his newly wed wife back in the palace? Laxmana's love for Rama is one of the highest in stature as it involves  the great element of servitude. Giving up the pleasures of life, he serves Rama at every step in the forest, building the thatched huts they live in and staying guard at night so that Rama and Sita could sleep in peace. Even in this noblest love and servitude of Laxmana, Valmiki finds a small defect. When Bharatha comes in search of Rama to request him to come back, Laxmana spots the entourage from a distance and suspects Bharatha is coming with an army to kill Rama. Laxmana strings his bow and gets ready to fight and is held back only because of Rama's good counsel. Alas, even the noblest of love can sometime make us blind!

And, thus Valmiki leads us to what he portrays as the noblest expression of all love - that of Bharatha to Rama. It would have been so easy to Bharatha to take up the Kingship citing the death of his father and the unfortunate exile of his elder brother. Instead, he tracks down Rama in the forest and tries his best to convince him to return. Finally, when it becomes certain that Rama wouldn't budge he carries back the pair of Rama's wooden sandals on his head and keeps them on the throne until Rama's return. Bharatha in fact doesn't rule from Ayodhya and sets up a capital in the village of Nandhigrama. He assumes the same ascetic life that Rama did and administers the country efficiently until Rama's return. Thus Valmiki concludes the Ayodhya Kanda of Ramayana, underlining the nobility of love that is coupled with genuine sacrifice.

Isn't it a great mystery of life that love gets expressed in so many ways, and some times at its best, in times of great misfortune rather than good times? 

Bhagawad Gita - What is in it for you?

Bhagawad Gita - What is in it for you?

Bhagawad Gita is undoubtedly the most popular amongst all of Hindu dharma saastra texts and possibly the most commented upon text too.Any attempt to write about this text appears almost redundant since there are so many resources already available. However, it still looked pertinent to provide a quick answer to the question of 'what is in it for me' from someone who has not had  the opportunity to look deep into Bhagawad Gita.  Therefore, here is a humble attempt .

Context of Bhagawad Gita

Bhagawad Gita appears in the middle of the great epic of Mahabharata. It is a collection of 700 verses that are organized into 18 chapters,   As the Kaurava and Paandava  armies faced off each other, Arjuna who was the commander of the Paandava side asks Sri Krishna was acting as his charioteer, to position their chariot between the two armies so that he could have a close look at who all have assembled on either side. Once positioned in the middle, Arjuna's perception all of a sudden shifts and he now sees on the other side his cousins, nephews, friends, grandfather, teachers etc. instead of enemies. Arjuna who is overwhelmed by the dilemma of having to fight his own family, drops his weapons and asks Krishna for his guidance so that he may do what is right. Krishna's response to Arjuna is the Bhagawad Gita.

This context of Bhagawad Gita is important to us because it is not different from the everyday dilemma that we also face in life, except that in Arjuna's situation, the severity was many, many times than ours. Therefore what worked for Arjuna in Bhagawad Gita should possible work for us too!

Take a look at what we experience in our everyday life.

If this is our everyday state, then here is the million dollar question: Are our key decisions in life influenced more by how we feel emotionally and not our intellectual reasoning?   If you think the answer is latter, I would point you to the latest behavioral psychology researches that are saying otherwise. Bhagawad Gita has an answer to how one can train oneself to lean more towards the latter than former.

Pre-Requisites

The Bhagawad Gita instructions are listened to not just by Arjuna. Sanjaya, who is the charioteer of blind king Dhritarashtra, is able to relay the happenings of the war field to Dhritarashtra, thanks to a blessing he receives from Sage Vyaasa. It is important to note that while the teachings of Bhagawad Gita makes an impact on Arjuna and Sanjaya , it fails to make any impact on Dhritarashtra. This is because, just like any academic course you may take,  there are few pre-requisites needed for this learning to be effective and Dhritarashtra, unfortunately, had none of it. These pre-requisites are:

 In the absence of these pre-requisites, the ability of a student to derive benefit from Bhagawad Gita's  teaching diminishes considerably. In fact,  Sri Krishna starts his teachings to Arjuna only after Arjuna says:

"karpanyadoshopahrata swabhavah

 prichaami twaam dharma sammooda chetah

Yatsreyaan nischitam bruhi tanme

Sishyasteham saadi maam twaam prapannam" (B.G Ch 2, Verse  9)

"Overcome by weakness, I am unable to determine what is Dharma. Please tell me for certain what will bring good in the  long run. I am taking refuge in you as a student"

As evident from his words, Arjuna is clearly looking within himself, analyzing what has become of his character and intelligence, expressing his desire for doing what is good and not necessarily easy, and is eager to know what his Dharma is that he may do it. Finally, Arjuna is ready to embrace the attitude of a student offsetting all his established beliefs. The metaphor of Arjuna positioning himself between two armies and dropping his weapons further emphasizes this point.

Central Themes of Bhagawad Gita

The central themes of  Bhagawad Gita that is relevant to everyday life is masterfully concealed within two sets of opening and concluding words. The Bhagawad Gita text begins with the word 'Dharma' (righteous action) and ends with 'Mama' meaning 'Mine'. How one should approach determining 'Mama Dharma' or 'my righteous action' is one of the key questions that Bhagawad Gita tries to answer conclusively. Sri Krishna's instructions in Bhagawad Gita start with the word 'asochya', meaning 'do not grieve' and ends with the word 'maa sucha', again meaning 'do not grieve'. Grief is an emotion that completely destroys one's character, giving neither an immediate gain nor a long term gain. How to fortify oneself so as to be able to effectively deal with situations that cause grief is the other central theme in Bhagawad Gita.

Three sets of instructions in Bhagawad Gita

There are many different ways to summarize the teachings of Bhagawad Gita. Looking from the perspective of what it offers as teaching, it can be said that Bhagawad Gita essentially offers three distinct sets of instructions. They are:

Why gain 'Right Knowledge'?

Sri Krishna starts the Bhagawad Gita giving a very clear indication of what happens when one lacks right knowledge and perspectives:

asochyaan anya sochyastwam

 prajnaa vaadaamcha bhaashase”  B.G Ch .2 Verse 11)

In the absence of right knowledge and perspectives one would "grieve upon what not be grieved about and become eloquent in justifying the grief arising out of delusion".  Therefore in the absence of right knowledge we will become overly concerned about what we shouldn’t be concerning about and as a result get mired in unnecessary confusion

What is 'Right Knowledge'

 There are three components for 'right Knowledge'. They are addressed in the different chapters of Bhagawad Gita as below.

Why have the 'Right Attitude' ?

In the absence of right attitude, the attraction of experiencing pleasure and gaining success will completely overcome our intelligence and lead us to a state of permanent unrest.

“bhogaiswarya prasaktaanaam

 thayaapahrita chetasaam

 vyavasaayaatmikaa budhi

 samaadhau na vidheeyate”  B.G Ch .2 Verse 44)

"One who has given primary importance to enjoyment of pleasure and gaining of success and has allowed his intelligence to be dominated by desire for them, such a person will never be able to have a focused mind that enjoys peace"

What is 'Right Attitude' ?

Again, there are three key themes that Sri Krishna brings up in discussing the right attitude: They are:

Why take 'Right Guidance' ?

Right guidance is required for one simple reason - this is not easy and it can be extremely confusing as to how one should proceed. Arjuna flatly tells Sri Krishna in the sixth chapter of Bhagawad Gita that he doesn't see this instruction of Krishna as pragmatic because gaining control over the mind is as difficult as controlling the movement of air. Krishna agrees with Arjuna on the challenging nature of the task but disagrees that it is impossible. With right guidance and patient and perseverant practice, it is possible to live in this world basing one's understanding on the 'Right knowledge' and performing actions with the 'Right attitude'.

Krishna mentions one more reason why getting the right guidance is important.

“karmanohyapi bodhavyam

  bodhavyam cha vikarmana

  akarmanacha bodhavyam

  gahanaa karmano gati”    B.G Ch .4 Verse 17)

"One should become aware of what are right actions one should do, what are wrong actions one should prevent and what are wrong actions one shouldn't do for the chain of cause and effect triggered by performance of actions are extremely complex and undecipherable"

What is Right Guidance?

The guidance offered in Bhagawad Gita can again be summarized into three categories:

The final message of Bhagawad Gita: Become a 'Yogi'

Yogi means one who has achieved Yoga. Yoga again means to yoke or unite. While the ultimate spiritual goal is said to be the yoking of individual self with the supreme self, Bhagawad Gita also guide us to think of uniting the four different spiritual paths that it lays out. These four paths are:

1. Janaana Yoga - The path of knowledge
2. Bhakti Yoga - The path of devotion
3. Karma yoga - The path of action
4. Raja yoga or Dhyaana Yoga - The path of meditation

In Sri Krishna's words:

“thapaswibyodhiko yogi

 jnaanibhyopi mathodhika

 karmibhyachadhiko yogi

 thasmaad yogi bhavaarjuna”  B.G Ch .6 Verse 46)

"The yogi is superior to the austerious one, the knowledgeable one as well as one who has mastered the vedic rites; therefore Arjuna, become a Yogi"

Metaphorically, it could be said that Arjuna's chariot driven by Krishna is pictured to be pulled by the four horses, Janaana, Bhakti, Karma and Dhyaana yogas respectively. One who manages to yoke these four horses together in his spiritual quest could fare better than a single horse rider :-)

(Some of the concepts discussed above may require a deeper discussion. If there is sufficient interest,  will try to get to them  in future blog posts)