Many great personalities and noble men have interpreted Bhagwad Gita in many ways with an intention of bringing this knowledge to the common man so that he leads a better life. Here, I have made a humble effort, with the blessings of my Gurus, Parents and the Bhagwan Mahadev to explain how it looks from a common man' s angle, how one should understand the epic and how should it be applied in one's life. I could not explain lesson by lesson or shloka by shloka, as it may run into many pages. The following is an extract from a discourse conducted by me and I am presenting it here based on the desire of my loving disciples. This has been presented as spoken during the discourse without attaching any literary importance to it. In a very simple language words and passages have been explained so as to reach the common. I would like to present much more on the subject for the benefit of all. I hope and wish this is beneficial to all of you, the humanity, to uplift yourself, the SELF.
Bhagwad Gita has been recited by Bhagwan Shri Krishna first to Surya, then to Manu, and then to Iksvaku . After many years, it was once again recited to Arjuna during the Mahabharata Yuddha. Since thousands of years, the principles of Gita are being preached in different parts of the world. Surya, Manu and Iksvaku were all kings once upon a time and the Bhagwad Gita has been recited to the people at the appropriate time in order to uplift them to lead a quality life. That was the purpose of Bhagwad Gita. Bhagwad Gita does not belong to any caste, creed or religion. It is merely an epic where an acharya, the Lord, a teacher explains the dharma and karma of life to the people, to a disciple. Read at different times, be it in Satyuga, Trethayuga, Dwaparyuga or Kaliyuga, it always appears as if it has been written particularly for that day. The meaning of Puraana itself is: "Puraa Nava Ithi Puraanaha" which means, Old but always New. It is always new; it always has a principle to live, to lead a life.
Some read, some understand, but the knowledgeable person is he who implements it in life. The knowledge without experience is not knowledge. The Bhagwad Gita does not belong to any ism like Hinduism, Islam, Christianity etc. Bhagwad Gita was written during Satyuga and during that time there was only one religion, one caste, one creed, that is all. To make people live happily with the right principles these epics have been written by the knowledgeable men, the sages, Rishis and the Munis. They are our Gurujans. We learn from them how to live because we do not know how to live.
In ancient days, Vedas, Upanishads and Puranaas were created so that people could benefit out of it. It is not merely meant to be tied in a red cloth and wprshipped. Any book is written so that we can learn something from it. Merely learning is also not enough. There are some people who remain learners. What is the use of learning until and unless one can put it to practice, or implement in daily life? What is the use of knowledge which is kept in the store room? To reveal this knowledge, to implement this knowledge, books of this character were created. Whether the Mahabharata Yuddha ever took place or not, whether there existed a Lord Krishna or Arjuna, we do not know. Let us assume it is a story. I am not saying it did not happen. There are lots of evidences that it did take place. But even if it is a story, there are lots of things to learn from it, to understand from it to help us lead a decent life and proper life.
A life is meant for executing your karmaas, your experiences. All of us including an animal, a bird, a plant, a tree are born to execute certain karmaas and go away. This is called Prakrithi. The prakrithi is a Power. What is that Power? The Power is the Supreme Power of the Supreme Lord. What is the shape of the Supreme Power? Does he look like Bhagwan Shiva or Bhagwan Krishna or Jesus Christ or Allah or someone else ---- we do not know. It is not necessary to know because we believe there is a power. We have to believe in that Power, the Supreme Power. Each individual is a Power and there is a Power coordinating all the powers, which is called the Supreme Power, which is called the Lord. We call him God. This also has a meaning: Ishwar --- Param Ishwar, Paramdevta, Ishwaron ka Ishwar ---- ParamIshwar, which is the power of all powers. The execution of these powers is to see that all the powers are functioning properly.
Vedas have been created by the Lord themselves and written by the famous Rishis, by Bhagwan Ganesha, and by many knowledgeable persons. There are four Vedas and 1180 Upanishads. People could not understand Vedas easily, hence Rishis like Vyaasa have written the Upanishads. As understanding these Upanishads was also difficult, during the Chaturyuga, 108 Upanishads were segregated from these 1180 Upanishads. Even then it was difficult for people, so 18 Puranaas were written. The major Puranaas are Ramayana and the Bhaagwatham. Mahabharata Yuddha is a chapter in The Maha Bhaagwad known as Bhagwad Gita.
On the first day of the war, Lord Krishna was chosen as the chariot-rider of Arjuna even though a choice was given to Duryodhana. Arjuna and Duryodhana both go to Lord Krishna before the war starts, as they know that without his help nothing can move in this world. Lord Krishna was sleeping when Duryodhana reached. He sat down at the head of Bhagwan waiting for him to wake up. Duryodhana was full of pride and sitting at the head was an indication of this. Arjuna, being a disciple, a good friend of the Lord, and a very humble and meek person, with no ahankara, no ego, came later and sat the feet of Lord Krishna. When Krishna woke up, he naturally saw Arjuna first. One who sits at the head cannot be seen. This is a very big principle. There is a lesson to be learnt from this. Bhagwan, on seeing Arjuna first, asked him what he wanted. Arjuna replied, I have come for something but Duryodhana has come before me, the choice should be his first. He is sitting at the head. See the humility in Arjuna! Bhagwan exclaimed with folded hands, Oh! Pardon me, Duryodhana, I did not see you. Please come and sit down. Bhagwan offered his entire army on one side against himself without any weapon. Krishna knew that Duryodhana being a materialistic person would opt for the entire army . Having being given the first choice, Duryodhana as expected, asked for the complete army of Lord Krishna, comprising of 45000 soldiers, 14/150000 chariot riders, 12000 elephants etc so that he could win. See the arrogance in Duryodhana. He was overjoyed, he thought he had already won the war. Arjuna was a fool not to have accepted the army even though he was given the first choice!
Arjuna said: Bhagwan, I accept you as my chariot-rider. When you are on my side, it is immaterial whether I win or lose. This is my requirement; I do not want any thing more than this. Lord Krishna said: I cannot carry any weapon, I will be your Saarathi without any weapons. A chariot-driver is absolutely necessary in a war because he is the one who can save the Master. A chariot-driver knows where to stop, how to hide, where to turn, how to turn, so he should be a very intelligent person.
What is the message or lesson to be learnt from all this? Arjuna knows that he who has the Lord with him cannot be defeated.
ARROGANCE, AHANKAR I am much bigger than Lord Krishna, thought Duryodhana when he chose to sit the head of the Lord. A knowledgeable person will never have pride. The pride in him closed all the doors of knowledge. As soon as pride comes in, a human being becomes arrogant. Whatever you have in this life, has been given to you and not earned by you. If you had the capacity to earn it, you would have earned the whole world by now and kept it under lock and key. This knowledge, this understanding has to be there.
CONTENTMENT: Arjuna had this knowledge. He accepted the Lord even without any weapons. This is called contentment in life. Humility makes a person great, not what you have acquired in life, and certainly not your ahankara. When a very rich man is humble and nice, he is regarded as God. A person may have earned a lot of wealth and fame but his arrogance does not allow him to recognize others.
HUMILITY: When you are humble, you do not become small, in fact you become big. By folding hands before others, by bowing before others, one does not become small; on the other hand you will be regarded as very big. You may have noticed a branch laden with fruits is always bent down and a barren branch stands firm and upright. Similarly, only a knowledgeable person can be a humble person; otherwise one is straight with arrogance. The more you grow big, the more you have the load on you - the load of wisdom, and then your head always bows down in humility. Being humble is nice, that is why Arjuna sat the feet of the Lord waiting for him to wake up.
PATIENCE : Duryodhana was sitting at the head of the Lord and was getting impatient. First of all he has come to ask Bhagwan for something; on top of that he is getting upset that the Lord is sleeping. He started coughing and making all sorts of noises in order to wake him up. Arjuna had all the time in the world and said whenever Bhagwan gets up He will give me whatever is necessary for me. Why should I worry about it? So he sat there quietly. See the difference in the two characters. We now start with the first shloka when Dhritharashtra asks Sanjaya:
Dhritharashtra uvacha:
Dharmakshetre kurukshethre samavetha yuyutsava
mamakah pandavaschaiva kimakurvatha sanjaya
(Ch 1, sh 1)
Dhritharashtra asks Sanjaya: O Sanjaya, tell me in the Dharmakshetre of Kurukshethre, on the holy field of Kurukshethra -- eager to fight -- what has happened to my sons and the sons of the Pandavas?
Now, let us analyze the key words here:
Dharma Yuddha : Even in yuddha (war) there is dharma and adharma. Any yuddha for the protection of the dharma is a Dharma Yuddha. Anything done to protect the "Aham" - the true self, safeguarding the "Self" (the AATHMAN and the characteristics of AATHMAN) is a Dharma Yuddha. Normally in a Yuddha, one always thinks of defeating, killing or causing destruction to others, whereas in a Dharma Yuddha, one tries to protect his self even if the other is happy, saved or in whatever good state he is in. This means that his Dharma is his soul's protection in a dharmic way which is more important than destroying others. He thus saves his "self" when protecting his "self". Whereas by destroying others he does not protect his " self". At the same time destroying others creates an unpleasantness in him and leaves him with a feeling of guilt. It is always better to live with his "self" rather than living on someone's corpse.
"We all have to fight a Dharma Yuddha everyday to protect the Dharma of the "self" ".
Dharmakshetre kurukshethre: Even though war is going to take place, it has been depicted as Dharmakshetre. What is the meaning of Dharmakshethra ? Only Dharma can take place. This is known as Dharma Yuddha. Now, what is Dharma Yuddha? There are certain agreements made by the two parties regarding the rules of fighting. Neither party is expected to deviate from the rules. This is called the dharma yuddha. Even in fighting there should be honesty; there should be no cheating. There should be no adharma. What is dharma and what is adharma? Life itself is a struggle. It is a fight, it is a war field. Everyday we are fighting a Kurukshethra, a Mahabharata Yuddha in our life. The dharmic way of leading things, the dharmic way of life, how to deal with the struggles in life, is the principle of Dharmakshethra.
Any kshetra should be a dharmic kshetra. Even an adharmic person should be dealt with or punished in a dharmic way not in an adharmic way. A cheat, a murderer, who commits a crime, is arrested by the police and taken to the court of law. He is given a chance to prove his innocence, and if found guilty, he is punished in the dharmic way. He is not immediately killed. If you also kill him, what is difference between you and him? This is dharma yuddha! Even if a person is doing something against you, you may get angry, you may get disappointed, but deal with it in a dharmic way. Whatever the man has done is because of his ignorance. If you also behave like that, you too are ignorant. Implement the teachings of Bhagwad Gita in your life. Whatever situation you deal with in life, deal in the dharmic way. That is why, even though a fight is going on, Kurukshethra has been called Dharmakshethra . That is why Bhagwan said even though we are fighting, let it be in the dharmic way. We are not adharmic.
What is dharmic way, again? -- Doing dharma. What is dharma? Dharma is 'chitta ki shuddhata' -- the positive thinking. The thoughts should be clear, the mind should be clear, otherwise the actions are wrong. The thoughts should be pure, the thoughts should be cleansed, only then dharma can be implemented. Dharma has to come from your head, from your mind, from your brain, from the innermost of you, from the subtle level body of yours; the vibrations have to come from there. The dharmic riti (practices), the dharmic chintha (thoughts), the chinthana should come from the subtle level. That is how a person can become dharmic. Even in his thoughts, a person should be dharmic. In the 21st century nowadays, people externally behave very nicely, but internally they are not. This is adharma. You are working against your conscience. This leads to a struggle between the body and the mind and when there is a struggle nothing goes right. This is what has happened here also. In the Dharmakshethra fight should be in the dharmic way. A lot of questions come up in the mind. In the first place why the fight itself? That itself is adharma. If Bhagwan Krishna is the Supreme Power, why there should be fight at all? Why he did not stop it, why he did not correct it? Here comes the Karma Yoga. You and me need not be born at all. Bhagwan can sit there and be very happy without all of us. By creating all of us, he has created problems for himself only. Then he has to take the dasaavataaara (the ten incarnations) - come here under a veil, manage us and teach us how to execute our karmas the right way. Why should he do it? Even he cannot stop this! It is the rule of the prakrithi; even Lord cannot stop it. Who is the Lord? -- Lord Krishna is an avataara -- there is a Supreme Power behind him -- that is called the Power of Powers. Why you and me are born then? Why there should be a yuddha? Why there should be a jiva? Why there should be earth at all? Why these creations are there? What is Prakrithi? Have you ever thought of all these things? We, each one of us is a part of the prakrithi. Without us prakrithi is incomplete. The requirement of God will not be there if you and me are not there. Why you and me should be born? We are the pranaas, we are the energies. Without us the world cannot have the balance of energy. The balance of energy is called the prakrithi.
Each and every soul is born to execute certain karmas. People living in Satyuga had very high frequency of thoughts, but gradually, in every Chaturyuga it started diminishing. By the time we reached the fourth part of the Chaturyuga, that is the Kaliyuga, the power of thinking has practically gone. We have become like animals. We can only do whatever the physical eye can see, the physical me can see. We can only understand the physical pleasures. In order to understand this we have taken birth so that our souls can get purified and these souls become the higher power of energy, then only Bhagwan becomes stronger. This is called the Prakrithi! You and me are born for that. We are gaining experiences in life. This is called karma. So do your karmas in the right way, in the dharmic way, is the principle here!
samaveta yuyutsava: Dhritharashtra then asks who are the warriors assembled at the war field.
mamaka pandavaschaiva : Even though Dhritharashtra was a blind man, he was very shrewd. He was always jealous, always envying Pandu. Even though Pandu was the younger brother, he was crowned the King because Dhritharashtra could not see; he was blind. A person who cannot see is incapable of ruling the country. This is the principle here. To see has got two meanings here. Why has Dhritharashtra been epicted as blind at all? Why has Pandu been epicted as a person who can see? Let us analyze these two characters: Pandu: is a person who can see the innermost of himself, the Bhagwan, the Ishwara within him. Dhritharashtra : cannot see. What do we derive from this? He is blind and cannot see from the eyes. He has been depicted as a person who cannot see from within, from his innermost self! A person who has no self-realization is called a blind person. To make you and me understand, he has been shown as an externally blind man. He does not know the importance of God otherwise he would have not asked this question at all -- mamaka pandavaschaiva. Being a king, when there is a war going on, what is his duty, and what should he ask? How are the two groups functioning in the war field? This is what he should have asked. But he was blinded by attachment, he did not have the knowledge of the world, he did not have the wisdom. That is why he said mamaka pandavaschaiva. Pandu had always loved and respected his elder brother. He did not want the kingdom. He left it to his elder brother and went to the jungles to meditate. He said he was not worried and wanted to take sanyaasa. He handed over his sons to Dhritharashtra to look after them as his own sons. He was sure that Bhisma Pitamaha and his elder brother would look after his sons as their own. See the faith the younger brother had on the elder brother! Despite this faith bestowed on him, Dhritharashtra was engulfed in jealousy because he was not a wise man. Jealousy comes to those who are not wise and have no wisdom at all. Dhritharashtra was always envious of Pandu and Pandu putras (sons of Pandu) because they were decent people. Decency leads to jnana and this results only in the right actions. What does it mean to be an educated person or an intelligent person? What is the use of having intelligence or becoming a graduate from a university? There are thousands of graduates all around but unless you behave like an educated person, it makes no sense. This was the condition of Dhritharashtra. Being a responsible person, a responsible king, he should have taken care of Pandu putras as his own sons. Instead, he sided with Shakuni, sided with his own sons and went against the five Pandu putras -- small group of five children against one hundred and one children. What does this signify? This means a bigger power trying to fight against a smaller power, trying to crush the smaller power. If you try to analyze in your own family, you will find that we always try to attack the weaker person. When there is a fight between a husband and wife, and they cannot beat each other, they call the child and beat him. They know he will not resist. Similar was the case of Dhritharashtra. He thought they are only five of them and what can they do against him. Let them be killed, he thought. Was it right? What is the difference then between an ordinary man and a king? A small man should not be crushed. If you want to fight, fight with a person of equal strength or stronger than you, only then you can compare, only then you can know your own strength. You do not become big by crushing a small person. It is only an emotional let out! Dhritharashtra was finding ways and means to eliminate the five brothers in a way that no blame would come to him. This is another crime! By hiring another person to commit a murder, you are committing two crimes: of murdering a person and of making the other person a criminal. Dhritharashtra did exactly this. He was blind, blind in faith, blind in knowledge, blind in understanding -- this man created the criminals- he made his sons the cause. He knew Duryodhana was a very emotional person and could be utilized for this purpose.
Dhritharashtra was scared if Pandu came back what would happen to his children and him? He had this fear. It is the emotions, which create all the problems: anger, fear, greed, and jealousy. He wanted to somehow crush the Pandavas. He showed the difference very clearly here: mamaka and pandavaschaiva. Pandu has become a separate man; he is almost like an enemy. If his sons are the enemy, he is also an enemy! By asking this question, he has separated his sons from the Pandu putras. It is a family fight and not a fight for the kingdom. If it was for the kingdom, the question should have been phrased differently. Here he shows the selfishness. It is Dhritharashtra who created the war in the first place. He asks Sanjaya to tell him who are there on the side of the Kauravas and the Pandavas.
What do Kauravas and Pandavas imply? Kauravas are a huge army and Pandavas a very small group. What does this depict? What should we learn from here? People having bad habits and bad character will always have a large army, a large number of followers. Where as people who are good will always be few in number. This is the creation. This is always there. In our life also this is true. Out of hundreds of people that you come across, there will be only two people who are good. The rest are all working against you, stabbing at the back while externally they pose to be decent. Like Dhritharashtra always said Pandavas are my sons, they are entitled for anything in this world. At the same time, he is the one who has created this fight. As a king, without his permission the fight could not take place, which means that he agreed for the fight. The fact that he gave permission for the yuddha means he had some intention, some motive behind it. Most of the people in our lives are like that. The moment you turn your back they set plots to drown you. These are the Kauravas. Kauravas and Pandavas will always be living so long as the human beings live. It is very easy to acquire bad and very difficult to attain good. There is a Mahabharata Yuddha going on in every human. The Pandavas are the panchendriyas, the Kauravas are the negative thoughts and emotions in a human and Lord Krishna is the AATHMAN. Make your panchendriyas work as wanted by the AATHMAN, only then the negativities ( Kauravas) can be defeated and killed.
We shall now highlight a few important characters of the Kauravas. Everyone has been decided by God as a bad person at one point of time or the other.
Bhisma Pitamaha: He was a great soul, a very honourable person, great grandfather. He used to love the Pandavas very much; they were treated as his own children. He always cried for Arjuna. He was such a strong personality, whatever he said was done in the kingdom; nobody dared to oppose him whether it was Dhritharashtra, Pandu, Duryodhana or even Shakuni. In fact Shakuni could just be thrown out of the palace in a fraction of a second. Then why did he side with the Kauravas? Bhisma Pitamaha was a person who withheld the aham ; his ahankara was prevailed. He had promised his father before he died, that he would always support the throne, the king. The throne would not be affected, was his promise. He had to abide by it! Pitamaha always supported all the kings who came. Does supporting imply that whatever the king says has to be honoured, to be followed? He being an advisor, should have given the correct advice . But his 'ahankara' came in the way. He had made a promise and he would not budge an inch from this. This was his mistake. Flexibility is very important. A promise or a commitment is made at that point of a time depending on the situation. He made a promise to save the kingdom, but now more importance is given to his promise. The promise was meant for the kingdom, not the kingdom for the promise. Bhisma thought he would become small. This was the fear in him, the pride that made him take a wrong decision. First of all do not promise. If at all it has to be made, do make it for the protection of the DHARMA. Once promised, see that it is fulfilled to keep up the DHARMA.
Dronacharya: Another Maharathi in the group. All big personalities are on the side of the Kauravas. Dronacharya himself is an acharya of the Pandavas and the Kauravas . All of them were like children to him. Since childhood he had been preventing them from fighting. Now this acharya could not stop the war. Why could he not stop the war? For his own petty personal benefit! The king of the neighbouring country was a classmate of the acharya when they studied together at the Gurukula. In a Gurukula, the son of a king becomes a king, the son of an acharya becomes an acharya, and the son of a Rishi becomes a Rishi. Unfortunately, Dronacharya was poor and had no wealth. The acharya got married, his job was teaching, he had practically no money. He was blessed with a son. He could not provide milk for the child. His wife used to mix wheat flour in water and give it to the child. One day acharya happened to see this and was sad. He thought that after all the kalaas that I have learnt, I have taught so many kings, so many of my sishyas are doing so well and this is the fate of my own son! Asking from a sishya was belittling himself so he decided to go to his childhood friend who was the neighbouring king and who had assured him of help in times of need. But when the acharya went to him full of hopes, the King was arrogant. He said: Hey, acharya, you are a small Brahmin and I am a king! You think I will grant you whatever you ask for? And you belong to the other country with whom we are always fighting! (With the Kauravas and the Pandavas). Why do you not go and ask your raja? Why should you come to me? I am working against him. How dare you come to this country first of all? You being a praja of that country you are not supposed to cross the border and come here at all! Dronacharya was insulted in front of the sabha (assembly). He felt ashamed; the king turned out to be only a king and not a friend at all. When people attain any position, they forget that they are human beings first, that they are also living with flesh and blood. When they sit on the throne or the big chair, they think they are very big and all others are very small. You are given a position for some time to take care of it. It does not mean that the other person has to be killed. A praja makes the raja and then the raja himself kills the praja. This is what is happening everywhere. Greed and wealth make a person mad. This is the lesson to be learnt here. A person starts behaving erratically . When the money, wealth, position and fame comes, a person loses his balance; he thinks he has earned it. This is absolutely wrong! So many people have contributed for your fame, for your wealth, for your money, only then you have become rich! The king also forgot that the Dronacharya was a good friend, a nice Brahman and a nice person. The human in him had died and he was only a king! In that ferocious mood when the acharya was returning, he went straight to the Kauravas and said a war must take place. When a war takes place all the neighbouring countries would also get involved. This king was a small fry in front of the Kauravas and would certainly get killed. What all a person can do for his own personal benefit? A person wants to buy something but does not have the money to buy that. To earn that money he adopts unscrupulous means. With that unscrupulous money and the unscrupulous method of living how many people get affected in the country and the neighbourhood? This is exactly what Dronacharya did!
Karna : The next Maharathi! No one can defeat the daana-vira Karna! Surya's putra Karna -- no one can kill him! He was given the kavach in daana but all that had been taken away. Karna always had the pride and the feeling of revenge in him against Kunti who did not accept him as her son. He wanted to destroy the mother actually. He thought that since he could not kill the mother, if he killed the sons, the mother would be in grief. This was the best punishment to be given to her, he thought. This revenge in him took a cruel turn. This was not the dharmic way of dealing with it. He was following adharma. Not only that, in order to fulfill his desires, he was supporting Duryodhana. Duryodhana had given him petty pleasures, he gave him recognition, he called him a friend and he gave him the kingdom! See Karna's character! He has been bribed and he has accepted the bribe! Anybody can try to bribe another, but acceptance of bribe is what is important. When you are a supreme person, thousands of people will come to you with bribe. Only if you accept it, you become that. Otherwise you can withstand it. Karna accepted the bribe! Karna alone could have fought with the Pandavas, he alone could have killed Kunti. No body would blame him. Why did he have to take the help of these Kauravas? Mahaan daana Vira Karna has taken the help of the Kauravas.
What are the Kauravas? They are full of negativities, negative energy, always thinking of destroying someone or the other. All their names start with Du : Du ryodhana, Du shashana, even a sister was named Duh shala. Du stands for dushta log, which means full of negativity. From the childhood itself they were full of negative energy and against the Pandavas. Pandavas on the other hand always had positive energy. This was a dharma yuddha between the positive energy and the negative energy. Today anyone who is in power, in order to protect his power and position, will employ 20 anti-socials around him. Who has created these anti-socials? The people who are greedy and always wanted to sit on the throne and then later they themselves have been killed by the same anti-socials! It is a fact. You kill a negative energy and you will be killed by the same negative energy. This is what has happened to these people also. They have always created the negative energy around them, created negative people around them and from the world they wanted to eradicate dharma. Bhisma Pitamaha declared the war open by blowing the shankha :conch shell. The war was declared open, between the Kauravas and the Pandavas, between the negative energy and the positive energy. Even at that point of time, Duryodhana had just been waiting for the war to open, so that he could go and start killing the opponents. On the other side, see the difference, Arjuna request his Saarathi , Lord Krishna to take him to the heart of the war field, to have a view of both the senas (armies), to see how they are positioned. Lord Krishna, being the chariot- rider takes Arjuna to the middle of the field and at that time Sanjaya takes a look on both sides and narrates to Dhritharashtra:
Sanjaya uvacha:
Tam tatha krpayavistamasrupurnakuleksanam
Visidantamidam vakyamuvaca madhusudanah
(Ch 2, sh 1)
Sanjaya said: Madhusudanah, (he who destroyed the demon named Madhu) addressed the following words to Arjuna who is overwhelmed with compassion and drowned in distress and whose eyes were clouded with tears of despondence.
Arjuna says: hey, Madhusudanah, killer of the demon Madhu, my eyes are getting filled, my kith and kin standing there. Bhisma Pitamaha, as my own father, in whose lap I have played as a child, who always carried me and taught me bravery. Dronacharya, who I regard as God, who has given me all the importance, who taught me things he never taught his own son also. Bhramaastra- the utility of which was taught to none except Arjuna as he was the best disciple of Dronacharya. Such great people are standing on one side, my brothers are standing on one side, I am unable to fight, my body is weak and I am falling down. Why did Arjuna feel like this? Because of his attachment, because of his goodness! Even though Kauravas have always tried to cheat them and kill them, the Pandavas are still soft. They prefer to go away and live as beggars but do not want to fight. Lord Krishna says such people are also bad. Why did Arjuna think like this? Not because he lacked self-confidence. Arjuna was a Maharathi. He acquired the pashupatiastra from Lord Shiva. Lord Shiva did not want to give it and also created a lot of obstruction during the thapasya, even then Arjuna acquired it. That was his character. So he is not afraid of fighting, he does not lack confidence in his own abilities, but it was attachment which made him momentarily weak. When Bhagwan saw Arjuna's attachment to the sharira, he said: You are very attached to the worldly affairs, that is why this is happening to you. Most of the people in high position spoil their names only because of the misdeeds of their sons. Every human being is a self-respected person, but there is a saying that a father will bow down his head only for the sake of his child. The father may go hungry, but in order to provide food for the child, he even goes to the extent of stealing! This attachment, this bodily attachment spoils everything. We always forget the truth. Bhagwan says one should not feel like that. When a person is in the grip of the covered eyes, what should one do?
Bhagwan uvacha:
Klaibyam ma sma gamah partha naitattvayyu papadyate
Ksudram hrdayadaurbalayam tyaktvottistha paramtapa
(Ch2, sh 3)
Bhagwan says:
O, Partha, son of Kunti, yield not to unmanliness, it will not befit you. Cast off this petty faint-heartedness and wake up. O, Vanquisher of foes, he says: You awaken from this state of affairs because you have not created anything. It is someone else who has created this. So why this attachment?
Now, what is attachment?
Many people ask how to live in detachment? Living in detachment means - detach whatever is not necessary for the aathman, detach from the desires. As we have already discussed, every human being is born to execute his or her own karmas. When they are born to do their own karmaas, leave it to them. You have no authority to take care of them. Every man is born free in this world. When a bird is born, how much of bank balance does his father have; how much of land does he have for cultivation? It is just born and that's all and the child survives. We human beings always think of the security in our life. We keep huge balances thinking our children would utilize it. One fine morning something happens. The whole thing is off. The child still survives. You die tomorrow? What will happen? This is our worry. We always worry about what we do not know; we always worry about the darkness of tomorrow. For your information, the child is not born with your permission. It has been born to execute its own karmaas. The children select their parents, they are born, they execute their karmaas, and they grow with the parents for sometime because they have to complete certain karmaas jointly. That is why so and so is my father, or wife or child, friend etc. A girl grows with her parents till she gets married. After that the unknown house becomes her own house! What a world! Wherever you go and stay becomes your own house. Your parents are with you till such time you finish your karmaas. Till such time you have to go through it. Then cut it off! These relationships are only for a short while. Do not resist it. Finish the karmaas. Execute your karmaas in a dharmic way, do it honestly and properly, so that you do not suffer later. You think no one sees whatever you are doing? You yourself know whether you are a good person or a bad person, whether you are doing a good deed or a bad deed. No one other than you knows it. You can always analyze yourself -- who you are and what you are. Ask yourself, whatever I am doing, am I doing it right? Your mind will always ask you -- why do you want to do it? What is going to happen tomorrow? Nobody knows. Hence do your karmaas in the right manner, in the dharmic way.
There are three methods to attain the Supreme Power, Bhagwan said to Arjuna when he was grief-stricken. He said: Hey, Arjuna, you are a king! You have certain karmaas to execute. What do you think you are killing? Who are you killing? You think you are killing the Kauravas standing there, who are already dead? You are only sending the arrows to a dead body, nothing more than that. There should be a reason for killing, there should be balance of nature and this has already been arranged by me. This is a very big principle. What does it mean? Lord Krishna says to Arjuna: A person who is filled with pride, filled with ahankara is already a dead man. You are killing the ahankara, the unwanted energies from the world, (not Dhritharashtra or Duryodhana); otherwise the ahankara will take over the whole world. Why should there be a war? War is for equalizing the energy in the field. Positivity and negativity will always exist. God leaves you a choice. Till such time destruction takes place he does not interfere. He is a free-minded person and he has also given you freedom to complete your karmaas but see that you do not disturb others. You have no authority to do that. You have not created others.
How does adharma or negative energy increase in the world? When the world was born there was only dharma. People find means to earn in an unscrupulous way. First one person does, seeing this second person does and so it goes on. Third person thinks if my boss can do it, why not me? Or if my grandfather could earn money, why not me? This is the way adharma spreads. Negativity always attracts people. Four-five friends sit down to drink every evening. Another friend joins them and starts taking nuts. When others ask him, he says I am not drinking, only eating nuts. When he is offered drink, the first few days he refuses, then gets tempted. After all, everyone is drinking, nothing has happened to them, let me try, he thinks. That is how it starts. Murdering the first time is a crime. After that time, as many murders you do, the punishment is the same. This is how adharma increases.
Bhagwan realized that adharma has to be ended. To kill adharma strong powers have to come; some force comes to bring dharma back. There are so many Rishis and Munis sitting in the Himalayas, meditating, all powers originate from them. It is only because of their energy level, their intentions, according to the rule of the prakrithi, they give the energy that is required for the world. There will be a change, there has to be a change, and a positive change. Adharma has to be killed. There has to be a balance. So a war takes place to kill the adharma, to eradicate the bad energy, the negative energy, in order to bring a balance and to increase the positive energy. Everything gets crushed; positive energy starts growing once again. Again from some corner negativity crops up, and it is a recycle. God does not interfere for small things. He gives you a free hand till such time you are not killing each other. Then he interferes and punishes. That is why he says:
Bhagwan uvacha:
Yada Yada hi dharmasyaglanirbhavati bharata
Abhyuttanamadharmasya tadatmanam srjamyaham
(Ch 4, sh 7)
Bhagwan says:
Whenever there is a decline of righteousness, and rise of unrighteousness, O Arjuna, then I myself will come.
You must be wondering why God has allowed the negativities to come up in this world at all? Why not only positivities? If there were only positivities we would never learn! This is another principle. If you have to learn something there should be both sides. If there is no rain, we do not know the value of sunshine. Only when there is darkness, we know the value of brightness. There has to be a bad from which a good can be derived. Only then you can analyze what is good and what is bad. That is why in all the yugas to make people understand this is done. Otherwise everyone would be a Pandava, there would be no Kauravas. Then no activities required, no need to fight, no meditation, just eat and sleep. At the end when everything is nice and happy, you will not work. If I can get food sitting here, why should I work? In order to make me understand this, work has been created. There is only one truth in this world which we have to accept. The path shown by the God -- when we are born, we have to die also. We will not die till we finish our karmaas. Let us complete our karmaas in the right manner. Let us only extend love . For how many days can one look at you in anger and with red eyes? Many people ask me: should we just keep quiet when people abuse us? Yes! Keep quiet and sit down! What did you lose? Did you lose your prestige? Be humble, be nice to him. Ask him why he has done this to you? If things can be settled in a straightforward way, why do you want to fight?
Bhagwan says in order to attain him, we have to change. We should not become what others are. In order to be above the other person, you have to follow the path shown by the God. You just walk; you will never fall down, because he is positive energy. To walk on that path, you have to choose it first. A devil has made a road and so has God. God has made a kutcha, narrow, not a very attractive road. He has no money, as he does not take bribe. The devil is rich, he has made a big road, nice path, he is very cunning fellow, and he has no ethics in him. God has made a path, which goes right unto him. The devil has made a road on which you can drive the car also. Suddenly, one fine turn and there is no more road! The road abruptly ends and you are struck there. You can neither go ahead nor return. You are in his trap! So Bhagwan says first of all choose the right path! We are all attracted to Maya. There will be thousands of maya when you want to go up and there will be a number of people to pull you down. There will be thousands of obstructions on the way. You may look here and there but only to understand, do not get involved. You find a nice show going on, you feel attracted, you stand and watch, you feel this is life, you join the show, you get involved, and you lose your path! Bhagwan says this is Maya, this is attachment, this is attraction.
Ishwara has laid three ways to reach the path: karma yoga, jnana yoga, and bhakthi yoga. Follow this path. Initially it may be difficult, but once you reach there, there will be thousands of people to take care of you. Yoga is union. Through karma, be in union with the God. Through jnana, be in union with the God and though bhakthi, be in union with the God. All the three have to be in this order, and consecutively. One cannot adopt the bhakthi marga initially to reach the God. In order to have bhakthi, one must have jnana first and in order to have jnana, one must have executed the karmaas properly first. You have to read a book first, only then you know what is written there. You cannot just sit in front of a photo, chant a few mantras and expect God to be in front of you. Call Him with love and he will melt. What is love? Oneness between you and Him -- the Ishwara. What is oneness? There is no dvaita, only advaita. How to create this oneness? How to be one with the God? You have always disbelieved Him, always disapproved of Him. You do not want God, you only want miracles. You want to win a lottery, you want your son to be cured, you pray to God. This is the bhakthi marga today. This is not right. To attain God, you have to be with Him; You have to go to his house, he will not come to you. There are different paths to go to his house and these are the three paths shown to us.
Mind, body and spirit should be totally surrendered to the God, that is what Bhagwan says in the 45th shloka of the 18th chapter. He says to Arjuna: You are crying, you fool! You think you are a big Saarathi here? You are a big Maharathi here? Who has created you? What are you today? I will cut your hand in one minute. You will die as an insulted person. Do you want to see that? Surrender yourself to me, be one with me, then only you can attain me, hey Arjuna! For 18 chapters, Arjuna has been asking the same question in different ways: If I get the knowledge, why should I do the karma? Why do you make me fight with these people? If sadhana is the best way, I can go and meditate in the jungles and attain you. Do not make me kill these people. Bhagwan says without karma, how can you understand the sadhana, upasana. Upa -- asana means there is a second asana, you have to be in the same asana as the God, that means you have to totally surrender yourself. How do you surrender yourself totally? You have to live in detachment, that is called karma yoga. Bhagwan then explains how a grihasta (householder) can practice karma yoga:
Bhagwan uvacha:
imam vivasvate yogam proktavaanahamavyayam
Vivasvaanmanave praha manuriksvakave abravit
(Ch 4, sh 1)
Bhagwan says:
I have taught this imperishable yoga to Surya, Manu and Ikshvaku, and now I am teaching you.
He is teaching the three yogas to Arjuna. A grihasta does not have to take sanyaasa to practice Karma Yoga. Karma yoga is the main force of action for the householders. Out of the four stages: celibacy, householder, retired order and the renouncement order, household life is the most important, because it is the household life which provides for the other stages of life. A householder, by performing his duties, can easily realize God. He can be in Grihasta, perform puja and be with the God. He is a bigger sanyasi. To be a swami is very easy. He has no problems of day to day life, no tensions. A grihasta has to look after the petty necessities of the house and also attain God. So, hey Arjuna, do your karmas and then be with me, that is called karma yoga. Find a proper way to fulfill your responsibilities. Do it in detachment.
Bhagwan uvacha:
Evam paramparapraaptamimam rajarshayo viduha
Sa kaaleneha mahataa yogo nastaha paramtapa
(Ch 4, sh 2)
Bhagwan says:
This handed down thus in regular succession, the royal sages knew. But through the lapse of time, this yoga was lost to the world, O Oppressor of the foe, Arjuna.
Paramthapa is a person who does the thapa after performing his duties. If you sit in a jungle and do thapa, it is different, there is no botheration. But doing thapa after fulfilling the duty is great. Do it with detachment, do not do it with expectation of results. How to live in detachment? Wanting to see God is also an attachment. Is it wrong? Desirelessness is required. Self-development, self-revelation is also a desire. Bhagwan says these are two different things: one is a desire, the other is aim -- identify that. Desire is for whatever you want to acquire; wanting to see the God is also a desire. Aim -- what is the ultimate aim in human life? -- to be one with the God! All the other things are desires to achieve that aim. Release the desire and the aim is yours! Walk towards the aim. A person is told that if you walk through this path you will reach God, so he walks only through that path to reach God, this is a desire. Another person thinks that he has to reach, whichever way he goes is immaterial, this is aim. Swami Yatiswarananda talks of spiritual materialists. He who gets carried away by anyone who advises him to go here and there to achieve mahapunya is a spiritual materialist. He wants to acquire all spiritualism. Becoming spiritual is nice, but the desire to acquire it, is not. Being with the God is the aim; all other things are desires. Detach whatever is attracting you. Detach everything that is expecting results from you. This is called living in detachment. Knowing about it and releasing it is called detachment.
In Bhagwad Gita, dharma, artha, kaama, moksha have been explained. Dharma is the dharmic way of living, artha is earning some wealth in the dharmic way, and the utility of the dharmic artha in the dharmic way is called the kaama. Moksha is misunderstood. Some people call it freedom, some call it liberation. What is liberation? Whatever is visible is perishable; whatever is invisible is imperishable. Everything is mortal. An immortal can create a mortal. A mortal cannot create an immortal. A mortal cannot create moksha. That means you cannot create moksha. You are mortal. Your physical body, your mental body, your external body is mortal. So you cannot create moksha. Immortal can only create immortality. What is immortal? Immortal is your soul. The soul creates immortality. Live in thyaaga.
What is thyaaga? A child for 5/6 years plays with marble but after some time outgrows it and wants to play cricket. Plays cricket for a few years and then wants a motor bike. After sometime even this is not desired and he wants a car and it goes on. When marble stopped giving him pleasure, he released it and got involved in cricket. After releasing himself from cricket, he got involved in motorbike and so on. He keeps on liberating himself from one circle only to get entangled in another. He can never attain moksha! He always creates a barrier around himself. After having attained something, we realize this is not what we want. What do we want? A person is given a choice to select what he wants in life since his death is only three years away. He makes a big list, but when he is told that his life is reduced to only 3 months, his list also gets reduced on priority basis. When his life is further reduced to 3 days, his list reduces too. Similarly, life is reduced to 3 hours and finally to 3 seconds! What do you want? PEACE ! To attain this peace, we indulge in a lot of unwanted things. Why do we want to create all the trouble for ourselves? For some people moksha is emancipation. What is emancipation? Do good deeds, help others, feed the poor and you get swarga.
What is swarga? An earned leave for 25 days in a 5-star hotel at the end of the year! You come back and work for another year only to get another paid holiday. This is called emancipation. This is swarga. But you are stuck. Each time you have to come back. So you do not get liberation. Brahmachary Janaka while preaching on Bhagwad Gita, said that a human being is born only to take dukha : sadness. Sukha (happiness) has no place in our life. We have to struggle the whole life because only through struggles we learn. Learning is a continuous process. Unless I starve, I do not know what is hunger. Janaka says that you may understand everything, but unless you walk you do not where the pain is, and how that pain is affecting you. The pain may be different for different people and unless one walks himself, he cannot realize it. This is karma, this is experience. Karma has to be earned; it cannot be given as a gift. When a man is born he has to acquire plenty of dukha for a small portion of sukha. This is the principle. Otherwise people will not do anything. What is moksha then? Moha + kshaya is moksha. That is giving up moha. Even desire to see God is a moha. When you are a part of God, he will automatically take you. Do your karmaas, automatically the union will take place. Fix a pipe to an open tap, the water will automatically flow. You do not have to see whether it is flowing. This is moksha. Detachment is necessary for this. A samsaarik person can always live in detachment. It is said that you should forget all the good you have done to others, and forget all the bad others have done to you. There is no moha. This is detachment. Do not expect results every time. If you walk in the rain, you are bound to get wet. To be concerned as to what extent you are wet, will you fall sick, is attachment. We live with people, look after their needs, food etc, but you cannot die for them. Dying has to be done by them only. Till date no one has died for another. This is the kriya, that is the niyam (law) of the prakrithi. We always decide on the result first and then work. Invariably we go wrong because God has already decided the result. We insist on our children to study engineering or medicine in order to get a good match for the marriage. We decide the results and this weighs on the mind of the child. Acquire knowledge, educate yourself but leave the rest to God. Love someone only to love. Do not expect love in return. Do your karmaas happily because you have to do it anyway.
A woman has to prepare the food for the family. The results are different depending on the thoughts at the time of cooking the food. There are three types of gunas in preparing the food. If you buy food from the money earned in the dharmic way, it will taste nice. The ingredients may not be of superior quality, but the dharmic way of earning enhances the quality of food. Cook with love and a lot of positive thoughts, chant mantras while cooking. Do not just serve food for the sake of serving, serve it with love. Enjoy the food, eat with love. Pray and thank God for the food and then eat. No business talks, only light music, light topics. The world will not turn upside down if you leave the work aside for a while. A grihasta should follow certain principles of life. In the morning pray for a while. Be with the God. Do not cheat Him. Do not worship the idol, worship the ideal. When you close your eyes and sit down no one will ask you what you were thinking. Be honest to yourself. You evoke your own God. Who is God? The you within you. You are a part of the Supreme Power. You do dhyana (meditation), you reveal yourself. Do all your karmaas, but devote four hours to God. Whatever you do in life, be honest to yourself. Do everything in the dharmic way. This will give you a lot peace of mind. Do everything religiously without expecting any results. Nothing is yours, nor have you earned anything. You have been given all the things. The same ancestral house is claimed by so many people as theirs. How can there be so many owners to one house? And if it was theirs, why did you they not take it with them when they died? Only what goes with you is yours, nothing other than that. Remember: nothing is mine, no one is mine, nobody is yours, and we are no body's. The moment you expect results and you do not get it, you are disappointed. If you do not expect anything, whatever you get, you are very happy.
Bhagwan uvacha:
Na hi jnanena sadrsham pavitramiha vidyate
Tatsvayam yogasamsiddhah kaalenaatmani vindati
(Ch 4 sh 38)
Bhagwan says:
There is no purifier in this world like knowledge. He who becomes perfected in yoga, finds it in the self, in course of time.
Bhagwan says after karma yoga, you have to purify yourself. Complete your karmaas and then be in dhyana. To reveal yourself, to understand the innermost you, the you within you, is called the jnana or the knowledge. For this dhyana is required. A person who knows himself. Who has understood the God within him, can only be one with the God. Otherwise how do you know where to fit in? After completing your karmaas properly, get down to dhyana, then renounce the world. After a certain age, sanyaasa cannot be given, as he cannot do sanyaasa properly.
Arjuna uvacha:
Samnyaasam karmanaam krishna punaryogam ca shamsasi
Yacchreya etayorekam tanme bruhi sunischitam
(Ch 5, sh 1)
Arjuna said:
Thou praisest, O Krishna, the renunciation of actions (sankhyayoga) and again their unselfish performance (karmayoga). Tell me for certain, which one of the two is decidedly conducive to my good.
After all experiences, the good and the bad, a grihasta takes sanyaasa, renunciation. You have to renounce yourself for the jnana yoga. Jnana yoga is to be a jnani, a knowledgeable person. Who is a knowledgeable person? A person who has wisdom. A wise person is one who has realized himself, the God within himself. What is renunciation? Renunciation means everything including the physical body. This body is only a temporary vehicle. We do not need it after the karma yoga is over. Realization of the soul, understanding the soul is what is required. Join the soul with the Paramaathman. Yoga or the union of the aathma with the Paramaathman is called the jnana yoga. This can be acquired only through dhyana. When Arjuna asks about renunciation, Bhagwan says release all your desires. You are not killing the Kauravas.
Bhagwan uvacha:
Jneyah sa nityasamnyasi yo na dvesti na kankshati
Nirdvandvo hi mahaabaaho sukham bandhat pramuchyate
(Ch 5, sh 3)
Bhagwan says:
He who neither hates nor desires, should be known as a sanyasi. Renouncer, free from dualities, he is released easily from bondage, O mighty armed Arjuna; he who releases the bondage from himself is called the Renouncer.
Bhagwan says the aham has to be removed. 'I' have to earn this; 'I' must take care of him. Hey Arjuna, renounce everything. He is not your brother. Kill him. He is already dead. You are actually killing the negativities, the ahankara, not them. Understand the sanyaasa. A real sanyasi does not give importance to materialistic things. Where you can create a desire is a material. The desire can be created only for materialistic things. Renounce that; understand the soul, the truth of yourself, the God within you. This is jnana yoga. After this comes the bhakthi yoga. Through bhakthi you attain God. For this you require a Guru. Guru has been given a very great importance in the Vedas and Upanishads. Guru gives you enlightenment, he shows you the light, he takes you for a walk and shows you the path to God. We all require a Guru, an authority to teach us how to attain jnana. We all have five invisible gurus and two visible gurus. When you have a strong desire in your mind to see him, a strong requirement for spiritual development to understand yourself, Guru will come to you. According to the sashtras, Guru comes to the sishya; a sishya never goes to the Guru. You only have to identify him and then surrender yourself totally. In bhakthi yoga, bhakthi has to be both to the God and the Guru. Whether you gain the bhakthi to God or the Guru, you have to totally surrender yourself.
Bhagwan uvacha:
Mayyavesya mano ye maam nityayuktaa upaasate
Sraddhayaa parayopetaaste me yuktatamaa mataaha
(Ch 12, sh 2)
Bhagwan says:
Those who fix their minds on me, worship me, ever steadfast, endowed with the Supreme faith are the most perfect in the Yoga in my opinion.
Mark here, even Bhagwan says: in my opinion. What a lesson we have to learn from this. Lord Krishna is shakthi, he can order Arjuna to attain him, but in all the eighteen chapters, he never said that. He always says: in my opinion. A Guru or God will never force you to worship him. He will only show you the path; the decision has to be taken by you. If you wish to do it, you may achieve it. The Guru has already achieved it. Sanathana dharma says everyone is given a free choice -- free will meditation, free will to do everything. But the free will is not to do something wrong. Here, Lord Krishna has used the free will meditational philosophy. He says in his opinion this is the right way to take sanyaasa. Be with me, understand me, and surrender to me. There are two types of surrender: conditional surrender and unconditional surrender. Give me this and I shall worship you is conditional surrender. I as I am, this body, this mind , this spirit, I am surrendering at your feet. I do not want anything -- is unconditional surrender. Have total faith otherwise manage yourself. Here is an example of total surrender:
A Rishi, a bhaktha and his wife were going on a boat. Suddenly there was a storm and through a hole in the boat water started seeping in and gradually filled up the boat. People were in panic as the water level was rising. This bhaktha had a small kamandalu (pot). He took water from the river in his kamandalu and poured inside the boat. People started screaming at him but he only smiled. After sometime the storm stopped, rain stopped, water started receding from the boat. This bhaktha again took his kamandalu and this time started pouring water out of the boat. People thought he was mad. His wife was ashamed. He said: I have surrendered myself to God. Bhagwan wanted this boat should sink. What is my duty? To help him? So I too started pouring water inside the boat. Then Bhagwan decided to save the boat, again I helped him to do that. I am not here to think. Whatever he does, I just help him. The principle here is: be with Him. If you believe in God, you will also know that he will never cause anything undesirable for you. He is only putting you in the right path, so a few problems might be there. Join with the Imperishable, join with the Omnipresent, join with such Supreme Power, pray to God, chant his name, and help the God to help you. If you resist, how can he help you?
Bhagwan uvacha:
Ye tvaksharamanirdesya mavyaktam paryupaasate
Sarvatragamachintyam ca kutasthamachalam dhruvam
Samniyamyendriyagraamam sarvatra samabuddhayaha
Te praapnuvanti maameva sarvabhutahite rataaha
(Ch 12, sh 3 & 4)
Bhagwan says:
But those who worship the imperishable, the indefinable, the omnipresent, the unthinkable, the unchanging, the immobile, the constant by restraining all the senses, being even-minded everywhere, engrossed in the welfare of all beings, also come to me.
If you want to be with me, do the welfare of others without expecting results. Only do it honestly. Be with me. He also says:
Bhagwan uvacha:
Kleso'dhikatarasteshamavyaktaasaktachetasaam
Avyaktaa hi gatirdukham dehavadbhiravapyate
(Ch 12, sh 5)
Bhagwan says:
The difficulty of those whose thoughts are set on the unmanifested is greater. It is very difficult for such people to reach that. Klesa is only a part of our life. O, Partha.
Bhagwan uvacha:
Teshaamaham samuddhartaa mrtyusamsaarasaagaraat
Bhavaami nachiraatpaartha mayyaveshitachetasaam
(Ch 12, sh 7)
Bhagwan says:
To those whose mind is set on me, I straight away deliver from the ocean of death-bound existence, O Partha.
The person who has concentrated on me totally, he who has become mine, he says, I will always be with him, I will help him. This is called the Bhakthi Yoga. Bhakthi should be without any Klesa or kalanka. Bhakthi is never two-way. It is always one-sided. Bhakthi is a synonym of love. Love with respect is called bhakthi. Bhakthi is also unconditional.
I have tried to share with you the principles of Bhagwad Gita here. Do not go by the katha of Bhagwad Gita. You should understand that Krishna is a teacher, Arjuna an ordinary human being trapped into emotional attachment like you and me. To bring him out of the attachment and to show him the duty of the soul, there is a teacher, a God, a Guru, the Lord Himself. Apply these principles in your life. This is the purpose of Bhagwad Gita.