This teaching poem “the Bhagavad Gita” is classified among the “Upanishads”. These so-called forest books were written down by students from the mouths of Yogis who lived in the Himalayan forests. “Kurushetra” (the land of the Kurus) symbolizes the place where the Soul wages its eternal struggle for expression.
There are a number of notable issues that are important in this context:
- The first chapter of the Bhagavad Gita connects to the Mahabharata story.
- Many passages hark back to age-old rites and sacrificial ceremonies:
- Making sacrifices to the Self;
- Showing gratitude;
- Experiencing unification (Yoga);
- God dwells in man like a drop from the ocean;
- The aspect of God in man and man in God (narunarayana);
- The liberation from the delusion of illusion; (IV,24)
- Giving up the fruits of action (III, 9 and 19)
- The Buddhist aspect of non-violence (ahimsa);
- The explanation of the yoga forms, such as Karma Yoga, Bhakti Yoga and Raja Yoga;
- When Arjuna stood between the two armies, he as a human being experienced the futility of war (I 35-39 and II 4-9). However, he forgot his inevitable destiny (dharma) as a warrior (ksatriya caste). The chariot with horses, the green flag with a monkey as a symbol and Krishna as his driver has a deeper meaning. It gives a total picture of humanity:
“Behold man, living in his earthly body (chariot), seeking the ultimate truth, following his destiny (dharma), drawn by the senses (horses), riding over the realm of the objects of the senses (earth), driven along by desires (bondage), captured by thoughts (monkey), connected to nature (green banner), with Krishna as charioteer at his side (the deity exalted above all duality, but ever present).”
From the point of view of “dharma”, Arjuna had to fight and kill people, including friends and relatives. After all, Arjuna had to protect society against evil. Krishna therefore calls him to account. He points to the fact that the Soul can never be killed and there is the great illusion. Krishna then begins his teaching. (II 11, 31,40, 52).
Arjuna asks his first question (for help) at the deepest point of his crisis: “What is the mark of him who is stable in thought, steadfast in meditation. What does such a wise man say, what are his actions; what are his actions like?”
The following compilation provides a summary overview of the dialogue between Krishna and Arjuna. This dialogue may provide the audience with answers to their own questions about Yoga.
Compilation
The eighteen chapters from the Bhagavad Gita are now discussed, a number of relevant texts (questions by Arjuna and answers by Krishna) are quoted. The texts and order have been slightly adjusted to ensure that the dialogue between Arjuna and Lord Krishna flows as a whole.
Vishada Yoga (crisis)
21, 44-45.
Request Arjuna: “Add my chariot into the midst of both armies, O thou Unchangeable One!”.
Vyasa: “If the sons of Dhritarashtra, with their weapons in hand, killed me in battle, defenseless and unarmed, it would be better for me. Having thus spoken, Arjuna sank into the back of his chariot and threw away his bow and arrow, overcome with grief.”
Sankhya Yoga (Subtle Science)
4, 30-31.
Ask Arjuna: “Why should I attack with my arrows Bisma and Drona, my two teachers, who are so venerable, in battle?”
Answer Krishna: “This dweller in every body is ever invulnerable, O Bharata; therefore you should not grieve for any creature. Moreover, if you fulfill your own duty, you ought not to doubt; for a warrior nothing is more welcome than a just war.”
Karma Yoga (action)
1, 7, 19.
Ask Arjuna: “If You value insight over action, O Janardana, why do You incite me to this terrible act?”.
Answer Lord Krishna: “He who, controlling his senses by conscious thought, performs actions without attachment, O Arjuna, is an excellent man. Therefore, without attachment, always perform the action that your duty requires; for by performing actions without attachment, man attains the Supreme.
Jnana Yoga (Knowledge)
4, 23-24, 42.
Ask Arjuna: “How should I understand that Yoga, the supreme secret, has been handed down by the Gods?”
Answer Lord Krishna: “The eternal Brahman as an offering, the eternal Brahman as for a purified mind, are offered in the eternal Brahman, as fire by the eternal Brahman, who while performing actions is absorbed in meditation in the eternal Brahman.
Of the man who is self-interested and balanced, whose thinking is grounded in wisdom, whose works are sacrifices, all actions melt away. Therefore, with the sword of the wisdom of the Self, eradicate from your hearts this doubt born of ignorance; be grounded in Yoga, O Bharata.” NB. See also Krishna's further answer under Vijnana Yoga(7).
Sannyasa Yoga (renunciation)
1.6-7.10
Ask Arjuna: “Renunciation praises You, O Krishna, and likewise praises You for Yoga. Which of these two is the best? Tell me this with certainty?”.
Answer Lord Krishna: “Without Yoga, O mighty-armed one, renunciation of actions is difficult to achieve. The sage, harmonized by Yoga, soon attains eternal Brahman. He who has attained harmony through Yoga, whose mind has become pure, whose senses have been subdued, whose Self is the Self of all creatures, is not defiled, though he act. He who acts and places all actions at the feet of the eternal Brahman and abandons all attachment, is not affected by karma, any more than a lotus leaf is affected by water.”
Dhyana Yoga (meditation)
37, 35, 44, 47.
Ask Arjuna: “What path does man tread, O Krishna, who does not control himself, but has faith, whose thoughts wander from Yoga and who has not yet succeeded in it attain perfection in Yoga?”.
Answer Lord Krishna: “It is undoubtedly true, O mighty-armed one, that the mind is difficult to control and restless; but in never-ending practice (in Yoga) and in non-attachment one can subdue the mind. Yoga is difficult to achieve for a restless mind, but it can be achieved by the one controlled by the Self with the help of rightly focused energy. Through Yoga practice in this and previous lives he is irresistibly drawn. And since he desires to know Yoga, he rises above the Word, to the realization of the eternal Brahman. Of all Yogis, he who worships Me with full faith, who abides with his inner Self in Me, who reveres Me, is considered by Me to be completely balanced.”
Vijnana Yoga (Higher Knowledge)
27, 30.
Further, Lord Krishna answers: “By the illusory nature of the pairs of opposites arising from attraction and repulsion, O Bharata, all creatures are born in utter delusion, O Parantapa. Those who know Me as the knowledge of the elements, as the knowledge of the divine beings, and as the knowledge of the sacrifice, they, harmonious in thought, will know Me at the hour of their demise, they are capable of that knowledge, that memory , to be preserved intact and they merge in Me, the Self, and attain liberation.”
Brahma Yoga (Creator)
1-2, 3-5, 16, 28.
Questions Arjuna: “What is the eternal Brahman, what is knowledge of the Self, what is action, O Purushottana? And what is meant by knowledge of the elements; what is knowledge about the Radiant Ones? What and how is knowledge of the sacrifice in this body, O Madhusudhana? And how will You be known at the hour of death by those who have submitted to the Self?”
Answer Lord Krishna: “The Imperishable, the Supreme, the Absolute is the eternal Brahman; Its essential nature is called knowledge of the Self; the emanation which causes the birth of creatures is called action. The knowledge of the elements concerns the transience of nature; knowledge about the Radiant Ones concerns the life-giving energy; knowledge about the sacrifice speaks of Me as dwelling in the body as an inner Witness, O you best among creatures. And he who, when he dies, in the hour of death, keeps his thoughts solely on Me, is completely absorbed in Me, there is no doubt about that.
The worlds, beginning with the world of Brahman, come and go, O Arjuna; but whoever reaches Me will not be born again. He goes to the supreme state of the Primal Beginning.”
Raja Yoga (Royal Secret)
34, 2.
Lord Krishna further answers: “Therefore (in meditation) focus your attention on Me, follow your dharma, be devoted to Me, offer your sacrifice to Me; prostrate yourself before Me in humility; thus becoming harmonious in the Self, you will come to Me, as I am your highest goal. Royal science, royal secret, the initiations; to experience intuitively, to live according to dharma, very easy to practice, imperishable.”
Vibhuti Yoga (Divine Potencies)
16-18, 19-20, 10-11, 42.
Ask Arjuna: “Do you wish to fully proclaim to me Your divine glory, in which You dwell, permeating these worlds with Your life? How shall I know You by constant meditation, O Great Yogi? In what qualities are You to be meditated upon by me, O Blessed Lord. Declare to me once more Your Yoga and Your Glories, O Janardana; because I can never get enough of Your inspiring words?”.
Lord Krishna's reply: “Be blessed. I will communicate to You the most important of My divine Glories, O best of the Kurus; for there is no end to My forms. To those who always practice balance, worship Me with love, I give the Yoga of discernment and wisdom, through which they come to Me. Abiding in their Self, out of pure compassion I, through the radiant lamp of wisdom, destroy the darkness born of ignorance. I, O Gudakesha, am the Self, enthroned in the heart of all creatures; I am the beginning, the middle and also the end of all beings. But of what use is all these details, O Arjuna? Having pervaded this entire universe with a tiny portion of Myself, I always remain who I am.”
Visvarupadarsana Yoga (Divine Forms)
4-8, 13-14, 34-35, 47, 54-55.
Ask Arjuna: “If You think that these Delights can be seen by me, O Lord of Yoga, then reveal Yourself as Your imperishable Self?”
Answer Lord Krishna: “Behold, O Partha, my forms, a hundredfold, a thousandfold, diverse in nature, divine, of many colors and shapes. Behold the Adityas, the Rudras, the two Asvins and also the Maruts; behold many wonders never seen before, O Bharata. Now behold the entire universe, the movable and the immovable as one in My body, O Gudakesha, and whatever else you desire to see. But with your ordinary eyes you cannot behold me; I give you the divine eye. Behold My divine Yoga.
Arjuna, by My grace you have been able to behold these Supreme Forms, revealed to you through Atma Yoga, radiant, all-pervading, without end, which was from the beginning, which no one has ever seen. Thus, only through devotion to Me can one behold Me, Arjuna, come to know My essence and be completely one with Me, O Parantapa. He who performs actions for My sake, he for whom I am the supreme goal, he who is devoted to Me, freed from all attachment, without hatred towards any being, he will come to Me, O son of Pandu.”
Testimony Vyasa: “There Arjuna beheld the entire universe in all its manifoldness as one whole in the body of the God of Gods. Overwhelmed, deeply impressed, but also bewildered, Arjuna, whose hair stood on end, bowed his head before the Lord Krishna and then, with his hands together,j in all humility bore witness to all that he had seen and experienced. Om shanti, shanti, shanti”.
Bhakti Yoga (devotion)
1-2, 4, 9, 12, 20.
Ask Arjuna: “Those devotees who are ever-balanced worship You and those who worship the Imperishable, the Unmanifest, which of them is now the most skilled in Yoga?".
Answer Lord Krishna: “Those who, with their attention fixed on Me, ever balanced, worship Me, filled with absolute trust in Me, these, in My opinion, are the most harmonious in Yoga. Controlling and subduing the senses, considering all things equally, delighting in the good of all, they too will be absorbed in Me.
But if you are unable to fix your attention firmly on Me, then try to come to Me through the Yoga of practice, O Dhananjaya. Acquiring correct knowledge is better than constant practice of concentration; meditation is again better than knowledge; better than meditation is the renunciation of the fruits of action; renunciation of the fruits of action immediately brings peace. Verily, those who with complete confidence follow the true wisdom as expressed here, who keep Me in mind as their highest goal, who revere Me, they are dear to Me above all else.”
Kshetra-kshetrajna Yoga (Matter and Mind)
1-2, 5-6, 11, 19, 21, 23, 26, 30, 34.
Ask Arjuna: “Matter and mind, the field and the Knower of the field, knowledge and that which is to be known, this I would like to know, O Kesava?”.
Answer Lord Krishna: This body, O son of Kunti, is called the field; that which ever knows is called the Knower of the field, by those who know. Know that I am the Knower of the field in all fields, O Bharata. Knowledge about the field and the Knower of the field, that is, in My opinion, Yoga wisdom. The great elements, the sense of self, intuition, and also the invisible, the 10 senses, thinking and the 5 objects of the senses. Desire, aversion, joy, sorrow, intelligence and determination, these in short form the field and its transformations. Persevering in deepening the knowledge of the true Self, realizing the purpose and essence of all knowledge; that is what is called Yoga wisdom; anything that goes against this is in ignorance. Know that matter and spirit are both without beginning; know also that the transformations and the modes all arise from matter.
The spirit, seated in matter, enjoys the qualities emanating from matter; attachment to the qualities is the cause of his birth from a good or evil womb. He who thus knows the Spirit and the matter with the qualities is not born again here.
Know also, O best of Bharatas, that every creature that is born, whether movable or immovable, comes from the union between the field and the Knower of the field. When he realizes that the existence of the diversity of creatures is rooted in the One and emanates from it, the Eternal attains Brahman. Those who - with the eye of wisdom - see the difference between the field and the Knower of the field, but also know how to free the creatures from the clutches of matter, ascend to the Supreme.”
Gunatraya Yoga (modes of matter)
5, 9, 14–18, 20, 21, 26–27.
Ask Arjuna: “What are the characteristics of those who have transcended the modes of nature, O Lord. How does he act, how does he transcend the forces of matter?”
Answer Lord Krishna: Harmony (satva), motility (rajas) and slowness (tamas), these are the three modes of matter. They, O Arjuna, bind the Indestructible Dweller of the body to that body. Harmony (satva) man attaches to bliss; motility (rajas) to action, O Bharata. Inertia (tamas), which veils wisdom, man, on the other hand, attaches to ignorance. Now if harmony (satva) prevails, at the time of the death of the embodied man, he passes on to the spotless worlds of those who know the Highest. When he leaves the body, when motility (rajas) prevails, he is born among those addicted to the action; when he passes into the state of indolence (tamas), he is born from the womb of the unreasoning.
The fruits of good deeds are called harmonious; but the fruits of mobility are sorrow and pain; and the fruits of sloth are ignorance and stupidity. From harmony comes wisdom, from agility comes greed; delusion comes from indolence. Those who are founded in harmony rise upward; the mobile dwell in the middle sphere, but the slow go down, possessed of the lowest qualities.
Now when the inhabitant of the body has transcended these three modes from which all bodies have come, he will, freed from birth, death, old age and sorrow, taste the nectar of immortality. He who serves me by the Yoga of devotion, if he has risen above the modes, is fit to merge into the eternal Brahman. For I am the abode of the eternal Brahman and the Imperishable Nectar of Immortality, the Eternal Justice and the never-ending Bliss, that “I Am””…
Purushottema Yoga (the Supreme Consciousness)
1-3, 7, 11, 13, 17-20.
Lord Krishna further answers: “With its roots up and its branches down, the tree (Ashvattha) is indestructible, we are told; he who knows this is a true connoisseur. Downwards spread its branches, maintained by the modes of matter; the objects of the senses are the lots; and its branches and fruits produce the fetters of action in the world of men.
An immortal eternal particle of My Self is transformed into the world of the living as a living spirit, veiled by matter it envelops itself with five senses and consciousness, sixth. Yogis too, in their pursuit of unity, become aware of it, but even if the ignorant would strive for it, they will never realize it, because their sense of I is untrained. Pervading matter with My life force, I sustain all creatures; and through the delicious Soma juice, I nourish all.
The highest energy is the Other; the Supreme Self; it is all-pervading and sustains the three worlds, as the imperishable Lord. Since I am beyond the changeable and the unchangeable, I am called the Supreme Consciousness by men and in the books of wisdom. He who, free from delusion, thus knows Me as this Supreme Spirit, worships Me with his entire being, O Bharata.
And thus I have passed on this most secret teaching, O you guiltless one. May he who has heard this, when his task is fulfilled, receive enlightenment, O Bharata.”
Daiva-sura-sampad Yoga (divine and demonic qualities)
1,3-5, 7, 12, 16, 21-23.
Lord Krishna further answers: “Fearlessness, pure living, steadfastness in the Yoga of wisdom, generosity, self-control, self-sacrifice, studying wisdom books, austerities and sincerity. Alertness, forgiveness, strength of mind and determination, purity, absence of envy and pride, this O Bharata shows one who is born with divine qualities.
Hypocrisy, arrogance and conceit, wrath, malice and unwiseness, he who is born with demonic qualities, O Partha, exhibits. The divine qualities will lead to liberation, the demonic to slavery. Do not grieve, you are born with divine qualities, O Pandava.
Demonic people know neither the right way of action nor the right way of abstinence; there is no purity in them, neither is there decency nor truth in them. Bewildered by all kinds of thoughts, entangled in the web of delusion, addicted to gratification of desires, they fall down into the defilement of matter. Threefold is the gate of this lower world, which destroys the self: lust, hatred and greed; let men forsake these.
A man freed from these three gates of darkness, O son of Kunti, works out his own welfare and thus attains the highest goal. Therefore, be guided by ethical standards and the Self in your life choices. Knowing what they mean, you must fulfill your task in this world.”
Sraddhatraya-vibhaga Yoga (Divine Faith and Trust)
1-4, 23, 28.
Ask Arjuna: “What is the state, the ultimate fate of those who, disregarding the ethical precepts, sacrifice without faith and trust, O Krishna? Is that harmony, mobility or slowness?
Answer Lord Krishna: “Yes, threefold in nature is the faith and trust of those who have a body. The faith and trust of every man is according to his nature, O Bharata. His faith shapes his character; as he believes, so is he. Harmonious people worship the Radiant Ones; active people worship the gods and demigods; the others, the people of darkness, worship the shades of the dead and the spirits of nature. Also the sacrifice, the food, the speech, the austerities, the alms are threefold in nature. AUM TAT SAT (the primordial sound that is I) is the threefold designation of the eternal Brahman. With these three words ancient Brahmins, Vedas and sacrifices were consecrated.
However, whatever is done without faith and trust, whether sacrifice, gift, penance or whatever, is called untruthful (tamas), O Partha; it is null and void, here and hereafter.”
Moksha Yoga (liberation)
1-2, 7, 14-17, 45-48, 57, 70, 72-73.
Ask Arjuna: “O mighty-armed one, I would like to know the true nature of renunciation, abstinence and dharma?”.
Answer Lord Krishna: “The sages call the renunciation of actions motivated by desire: self-renunciation. Renouncing the fruits of all action is called abstinence by these sages. Self-renunciation and abstinence, as well as dharma, are also threefold in nature.
Besides, it is impossible for someone who lives in a body to completely refrain from action; but whoever forsakes the fruits of action, he truly practices abstinence. The seat of action (the body) and the agent (the I-consciousness), the different organs, the various kinds of actions and also providence (karma); whatever actions a man performs, with his body, speech or mind, whether right or wrong, these two are the root cause of action. And since this is so, he who, through untrained thinking, mistakes only his own self for the agent, has no insight, for his thinking is clouded. He who is free from selfishness, whose thoughts are undefiled, does not kill, even if he kills these peoples, nor is he bound by the act.
Every person achieves liberation when he is absorbed in his dharma. Listen, how liberation is achieved by man who is completely focused on his dharma.
By adhering to dharma, worshiping Him from whom all creatures arise, through whose life the All is pervaded, one attains liberation. It is better to fulfill one's own dharma, however without merit, than to fulfill that of another.
He who fulfills his dharma, imposed on him by his own nature, does not burden himself with new karma. One should not forsake the dharma received at birth, O son of Kunti, however imperfectly fulfilled.
Everything one undertakes is surrounded by shortcomings, like a fire by smoke. Therefore, always turn your mind to Me, mentally surrendering all actions to Me, completely filled with Me, taking refuge in the Yoga of Divine Intuition (dharma); for he whose thoughts are utterly unattached; who controls himself and has given up all his desires (abstinence), through this renunciation reaches the highest perfection.”
Final question Lord Krishna: “Have you heard all this, O son of Pritha, in meditation? Is your delusion caused by lack of insight and discernment now undone, O Dhananjaya?”
Arjuna's final reply: “Gone is my delusion by Thy grace, O Thou Unchangeable One. I am determined; my doubt is over. I will act according to Your word.”
Thus ends the Mahabharata, in the beautiful Bhagavad Gita, the teachings of Krishna to Arjuna.
Klaas Stuive
Yogabrahmacharya