Gita: The Song of Life – 2
Chapter one of the Bhagavad Gita explains the remorse Arjuna feels when he faces his kin in the battlefield. Unwilling to fight and possibly kill the soldiers—many of whom he knows personally—Arjuna would rather discard his weapons than do battle. Sri Krishna, in chapter two, encourages Arjuna to discriminate between the perishable body and the everlasting soul. The cycle of life and death is nothing but a change of the worn-out body from one life to another.
Krishna goes on to explain that the only ‘doer’ is God Himself, and that a person who knows himself to be God’s instrument is truly ‘actionless.’ Work itself does not bind, only desires bind. Learn to work without any desire or any attachment to the fruit of your actions. Such work, offered as a sacrifice to the Lord, is a step toward self-realization.
( Intro | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 )
Sri Krishna:
“It is shame you turn away from fight,
In frightful ignorance of duty and truth!
Your eyes are blinked, your mind befogged,
By foolish fancies of ‘I’ and ‘Me’ and ‘Mine’.
You labored long,
To gather arms;
You dared a duel, with even God,
To win a weapon.
Be the Hero again!
Face the devil, and finish the game!
Dear brother-in-law, I love you, still.
I’ll give you courage; be a little bold.
Who kills what?
The body? It can’t but die!
Who kills which?
The soul? It can never die!”
“The soul was, is, and ever will be,
Until it reaches God, it’s source!
The body is a dress it wears, for a time;
It is worn and thrown, when badly torn.
Come, son of Kunti, stand boldly up!
As a Kshatriya prince, this is your task:
Help the cause of truth; don’t turn back, and
Act your part—and leave the rest to me!”
Arjuna:
“That is easily said, dear Lord!
If action brings joy, we take it as ours;
If it ends in sorrow, we lay it on You;
If we can neither win nor loose, why, then, act at all?”
Sri Krishna:
“This is the role of everyone:
To be a tool in the hands of God!
Do not gloat, when you win, or grieve, when you lose.
Act well your part—there, all your duty ends!
Who gives you the ground you stand upon?
Who gives you the warmth your blood does need?
Who gives you light? Who gives you might?
Who slakes your thirst, from clouds in the sky?
Are you alone—with no father or friend?
Are all the things you shape, not mine?
Wherefrom did this skill and strength come—
To this ‘you’?
They are there, as yours, because,
I am there—in you!
Then why do you feel—
‘You’ deserve the gain?
Why must you grieve,
When ‘you’ lose?
Why allow your silly ‘I’ to claim:
‘I lost,’ ‘I won,’ ‘I,’ ‘I,’ ‘I,’ ‘I’?”
Arjuna:
“Shall I, then, be a doll or dummy?
Closing my eyes, folding my arms—
No stir, no word, no deed, no plan?
Then, why bid me, to lift my bow?”
( Intro | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 )
