What does the
Bhagavadgita Teach?
What does the Gita teach? The
commentaries on the Gita say that it teaches karma yoga or raja yoga, bhakti
yoga or jnana yoga, a synthesis of yoga, the art of living, and whatnot. But
the Gita itself tells us what it teaches by a colophon, which is in three words
only: brahma-vidyayam yoga-sastre
sri-krishnarjuna-samvade. Actually, these three words mean theory,
practice, and realization.
Brahma-vidya is the science of
the Absolute – that system of thinking which is able to comprehend within
itself at any time the total structure of things. To conceive the Absolute is
to at once take into consideration, in our processes of thought, all things
connected with the object of thought – not only the inner constituents of the
object as such, but also the relations that the object bears to other objects.
The reality of a particular thing is not only in itself. It is also in that
which determines it, restricts it, influences it, conditions it, defines it,
and makes it what it is.
Every individual is an entity
by itself; but this ‘being an entity by itself’ is not so simple a matter as it
appears on the surface. As human individuals, we appear to be totally isolated
persons, and we stand by ourselves unrelated to other things outside. Even if
we are alone in our rooms, we do not forget that our individuality is conditioned
by the presence of the laws of society, of government, of physical nature, of
the thoughts of people in general.
There is a relation of ‘A’ to
‘B’. If ‘A’ is not related to ‘B’, we would not be conscious that ‘A’ is
independent of ‘B’. If there is only redness everywhere, we would not be able
to perceive the redness of things. There is a distinction in the characteristic
of a particular object which is red. That distinction lies in the fact that it
is red and it is not what is not
red. The not-ness is a negative influence exerted on this object.
The existences that are
outside us are not actually outside us. They influence us. Brahma-vidya is the
art and the science of educating oneself in the manner of correctly perceiving
the world as such, including one’s own self in the totality of relations.
In a total perception of
things, we are not in ourselves; we have transcended ourselves. Nor are we in
the object; we have transcended the object. We are in the middle as a blend – a
blending consciousness which brings about a harmony between the seer and the
seen, or between any two faces of reality. In all situations, there are two
aspects: the cause – the causative factor – and the effect upon which the cause
seems to have an impact. It is very difficult for us to see the relation
between cause and effect because mostly we see the cause as one thing, and the
effect as another.
Brahma-vidya is an intricate
subject. It is not just repeating some words of the Upanishads or the Brahma
Sutras or even the Gita. It is the entry of the consciousness into the very
import of the teaching. The Total has eyes everywhere, has feet everywhere, has
hands everywhere because It is neither a subject, nor an object. In the total
perception of things, we are not ourselves, nor are we other than what we are.
We are something beyond what we are, and what is other than what we are. This
is the final import, as it were, of the Brahma-vidya aspect of the
Bhagavadgita.
But, as I mentioned,
theoretical physics has to lead to applied physics. What is the use of merely
knowing things? This knowledge has to be applied in practical life. In a
similar manner, this Brahma-vidya that is the knowledge of the integrality of
things has to be put into daily implementation in our angry gestures, in our
prejudices, in our desires, in our attractions, in our repulsions; in every
situation, this Brahma-vidya has to be there. We have to be total and whole
persons always. We cannot be whole only at some time, and a fraction at some
other time. We are whole everywhere, but if we behave in different ways at
different times and convert ourselves into fractions of human personality, as
it were, we are not living a wholesome life. It is not a holistic approach to
things.
Brahma-vidya is to be applied
in Yoga Shastra, which is the daily application of our consciousness, our
minds, our attitudes, to anything in the world in terms of the lesson that we
have learnt through Brahma-vidya. What is the purpose of this practice of yoga
in terms of the wisdom that we gain through Brahma-vidya? It is sri-krishnarjuna-samvade – the
conversation of the soul with the Absolute. Arjuna’s envisaging the mighty
Krishna is symbolic of the soul envisaging the Cosmic Being in its daily life.
Who can encounter the Absolute?
The wavelength of our individuality and the wavelength of God are in such a
contrast that there is no mingling of these two factors. The Yoga Shastra, or
the practice of yoga, is nothing but the tuning of the wavelength of our
receiving sets to the wavelength of the message that comes from God’s
broadcasting station.
The purpose of Yoga Shastra is
to contact God directly. There is no use of thinking God and praying to God and
feeling God and imagining that one day we will realize God. It is necessary to
confront Him every day. In every atom He is vibrating, as the sun is vibrating
in the solar system. God is a here and a now, and not an afterwards or a somewhere or a someone. He is without these
limitations of the concept of space and time. Contact with God is contact with
timelessness, with eternity, with justness, now-ness and here-ness. Such is the
import of the final teaching of the Bhagavadgita, where the soul communes with
God in its realization of the perfection that it has to achieve finally through
the Yoga Shastra. This is the practice of the discipline necessary in this
world in the light of the knowledge of Brahma-vidya, which is the theoretical
education that we receive of how the world is made, finally.
First we have to know, then we
have to do, and then we have to realize. It is not enough if we merely see and
know, but we have to enter into it. It is necessary for us to enter into God in
our daily life.
The entry into God’s existence
every day is the living of the divine life, and we should not think that this
is a very hard thing. Who can enter into God every day? Where is God? Is He in
some unimaginable infinity? It is nothing of the kind. Outside God nothing
exists. If that is the case, what is the distance between us and God? Distance
is abolished. It is a distance-less, timeless contact. That is possible for us,
provided that we open the gates of our personality, open the windows to the
sunshine of the Supreme Being that is illuminating us perpetually, and melt our
egos which affirm that “I also exist together with God”.
The biblical fall of Satan is
nothing but the story of the affirmation of the ego in the presence of God: “If
you are there, I am also there.” The devotee says, “God Thou art, but I am also
there to contemplate you.” That devotee should not be there at all. Let that
devotee melt, and God possesses him; the ocean enters into the rivers, and the
world melts into the consciousness which is a now and a here.
The Bhagavadgita is a
Brahma-vidya, a Yoga Shastra, sri-krishnarjuna-samvade
– theoretical understanding of the structure of the cosmos, practice of yoga,
and daily contact with God in our practical affairs, which is true divine life.
Excerpts from:
A Colophon of the Bhagavadgita - Discourse 1 Commentary on
the Bhagavadgita by Swami Krishnananda
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