Mar 11, 2004, 12.01am IST
TRISHLA JAIN.
Krishna’s teaching was meant to facilitate the merging of Arjun's individualised consciousness with the infinite consciousness. Krishna recommended ' karma-yoga ' and 'bhakti-yoga' as two methods of reaching the divine. Arjun asks, Renunciation of action and discipline — which is better? Gita 5.1). Krishna replies: "Both effect good beyond measure; but of the two, discipline in action surpasses renunciation of action" ( Gita 5.2). Krishna advocates that the only way to attain everlasting equanimity is to free the mind of bondage to the 'worldly' world and understand the nature of the self to become one with the eternal spirit.
Krishna asserts action cannot be avoided, and should be performed without consideration of the "fruit of action". Progression on the ladder of karma was associated with good action: one who did good things in life moved up the ladder.
However, as related by Krishna in the Gita, good action is by no means enough. Good action merely implies the appearance of doing good to achieve good. True enlightenment, the very top of the ladder, may only be achieved by controlling the senses, sublimating the body and even the self to merge with the eternal consciousness. The Gita elevates the requirements for attaining Nirvana from mere progression on the ladder by performing good to actually becoming pure from within.
The divine seeker must first condition his mind and heart to be separate from his actions and those around him. "A man of eternal renunciation is one who neither hates nor desires; beyond dualities, he is easily freed from bondage" ( Gita 5.3). Krishna tells Arjun that he must free himself from transient, undulating negative-positive pulls of the world. In this effort, Arjun must have "Detachment, uninvolvement with sons, wife and home, constant equanimity in fulfilment and frustration" ( Gita 13.9). He must perform all his duties to his family, without the hope of reward.
By mastering the senses, one can overcome the separation between the worldly body and being. "Seeing, hearing, touching, smelling, eating, walking, sleeping, breathing, the disciplined man who knows reality should think, 'I do nothing at all. It is the senses that engage in sense objects'"( Gita 5.8, 9). Krishna says that this can be done by meditation focused on breath or by understanding that the body, through its senses, engages in action.
The self begins to transform itself into its virgin state. The enlightenment-seeker just is — physically in the prison of the 'worldly' world but mentally, emotionally, spiritually separate from it. Death and doom must be seen as being equal to birth, celebration and creation as dualities of the universe.
After understanding the nature of the self, the knowledge-seeker becomes one with the Brahman. The Brahman, or the infinite spirit is described as "imperishable, ineffable, unmanifest, omnipresent, inconceivable, immutable at the summit of existence"( Gita 12.3). It is a state of pure consciousness, when a person's very being completely comprehends the nature of its internal state and the external universe. Moving up on the ladder of karma to break the cycle of birth and death is an internal adventure, not something that can be done merely by good action, meditation and renunciation of the material world. Krishna teaches that it is not necessary to actually leave the confines of the birth-death cycle to be absolutely free from it. By controlling the senses and mind, and subsequently performing worldly action as sacrifice, we will know the truth that will set us free.
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