Hari om everyone,
We started the class with chanting bhagavadgeeta chapter 2. We have learnt up to verse 15 and will continue to learn and practice as we go along.
This week, we finished reviewing chapter 13 of the bhagavadgeeta. We began with a brief recap of the points brought up in the previous weeks – we recollected our discussion of the nature of reality which is split between consciousness and matter. The consciousness cannot directly interact with the world and only does so through matter. We discussed a process of encountering pleasure and pain is called samsara. We discussed the sorts of temptations we face in life from video games to dessert – and how pleasure can turn to sorrow. If we continually eat desserts, we may enjoy the first one but by the tenth, we wish that we had never eaten it in the first place! We can go through life going from pleasure to pleasure and pain to pain but this is a miserable lifestyle.
The traits we discussed last week, as well as Krishna's discussion of nature earlier in the chapter, are to prepare Arjuna and any other listener towards liberation from the vagaries of life (moksha). Liberation is not merely a concept for sages and Swamijis; we discussed the four paths laid out by Krishna towards liberation tailored towards people of all dispositions and natures. The first path is the yoga of meditation which is the attainment of liberation through introspection and meditation; this is for individuals who possess a high level of detachment (vairagya) from the world. The second path is Saankhya yoga or the yoga of knowledge – this is for individuals who have less detachment to the world than the first. These individuals attain moksha through a study of scriptures and contemplation of philosophy. The third path is for those more action-oriented individuals who can't simply study – this is for people like Arjuna – this is Karma Yoga or the path of action. Through the performance of one's duties, one slowly detaches themselves from the fruits of their actions and prepares themselves for moksha. Liberation is not merely restricted to the action-oriented or intellectual – even those individuals who are ignorant or incapable of following the other paths, simple faith and worship of the Lord can allow one to attain liberation. The chief example of this is drawn from one of the stories told at the end of the Satyanarayana puja – we discussed the humble woodcutter who spent the money of his extra sale on performing the puja with utmost devotion and continued living a pious life in faith and thereby attained moksha.
While moksha and the nature of reality as described by Krishna might seem like abstract philosophical concepts, there is much to gain from this chapter as it lays out a strategy to deal with the numerous temptations we face in life. We can get pulled along by the highs and lows of life and suffer accordingly or we can aim towards a life lived in equipoise aiming towards vairagya which will insulate us from such shocks. That should be our aim.
Wishing you all a wonderful rest of the week.
Regards,
Raghav and Rashmi.
