Yagya is not about lighting a fire and burning wood (Chapter 3, Verse 9)
यज्ञार्थात्कर्मणोऽन्यत्र लोकोऽयं कर्मबन्धनः।
तदर्थं कर्म कौन्तेय मुक्तसंगः समाचर।।3.9।।
yajñārthāt karmaṇo ’nyatra loko ’yaṁ karma-bandhanaḥ
tad-arthaṁ karma kaunteya mukta-saṅgaḥ samāchara
This man becomes bound by actions other than that action meant for God.
Without being attached, O son of Kunti, you perform actions for Him.
~ Chapter 3, Verse 9
✥ ✥ ✥
Questioner (Q): What are the actions that one must perform for the God that Shri Krishna seems to be pointing at? What can act as a litmus test to determine that a particular action has been done for God?
Acharya Prashant (AP): Actually, the translation is not quite solid. The verse does not recommend action towards God. The verse talks of ‘yagya’. There is a difference.
Acting in the spirit of yagya is action in dissolution; you are acting to give up something. That's what yagya is. And, acting for the sake of God appears more like acting towards some formal, affirmative, deterministic entity, so that's not exactly what the shloka is saying here. The shloka is saying, all your actions, karma have to be like yagya.
What is yagya? I give up what I have for the sake of something higher. That is yagya. Krishna says, that is the only real way of acting. Do not act for yourself. Do not act for your personal gain or pleasure. Act for a higher cause; higher than yourself, beyond yourself. That's what he is recommending.
So the questioner says, “What are the actions that one must perform for the God that Shri Krishna seems to be pointing at?”
Shri Krishna is not really pointing at any God. Sri Krishna is only pointing at that which is ungodly within us.
So, there is the fire—you know, the yagyavedi? You know how the place where the yagya ceremonies perform look? You know how that looks, right? There is the yagyavedi, then there is a samhita, the stuff that you put in the fire, and then you offer the ahuti. Right? So, this is what I have, and I give it up; I give it up to fire. Now it's gone. And then, symbolically, it is said that “now I have given this up, and the fire god will take it to that god and this god and this god.”
But what is really happening? What is really happening is that you have something right now, and the next moment you have given it up; it's gone.
Shri Krishna is saying, that is the only right spirit of action; action for the sake of dissolution. He puts it beautifully; he says, “Niyatam kuru karmam tvam.” That is right action. Do that action that takes you to your niyati, niyati karma.
Niyati karma does not mean predetermined karma. Niyati karma does not even mean karma that is sanctioned by the scriptures. When he says that you have to do niyati karma, that means, do that which takes you to your niyati, which is your end. And your end is dissolution.
So, what is yagya then? That which dissolves you; that which reduces you. In chapter 3, there are two or three major points that Shri Krishna is making.
One: you will have to act, you cannot avoid action.
Second: most of the people are acting just under the influence of the forces of Prakriti, and that keeps them trapped and in misery.
Third: since you have to act, therefore you must act without the expectation of any consideration for yourself.
That's the spirit of this chapter. Are you getting it?
So, what can act as a litmus test to determine that a particular action has been done for God? No, there is no litmus test to determine whether a particular action is for God. But you can surely test whether that action is for your own personal sake. That is the only thing that you can test, and that can be readily tested. Ask yourself, “Why am I doing what am I doing?” And it's easy. If you do not get a clear answer, just see what you will do with that which you will get from the action you do. We do not just act, right? We act, and then we live to consume the fruit of action, right?
We live on. We wait for the future. The future will bring with it the rewards of what I have done right now. See what those rewards are; see what is it that you are waiting for; see what is it that you are really expecting; see what is the intention. If it is money that your actions will bring, to what use would you put the money? Why do you really need the money? Are you getting it?
It is an exercise in utter caution. It is an exercise in not allowing oneself to keep blindly flowing with the forces of Prakriti, in the stream of time. You are not to allow things to just happen to you. You have to know what's really going on. And if you know what's really going on, then you are free of what's going on. Don't just let things pass under the cover of them appearing “natural”, within quotes. We do things, and when asked for an explanation, we simply say, “Oh, there is no explanation! There is no real reason or intention; it's just natural!” Or, “Isn't it obvious?”
No, it's not obvious. You have to ask yourself. And it is an annoying exercise to keep asking oneself.
You are getting ready to go to the office, your workplace. Don't let that be a mechanical exercise. You have just had your breakfast, you have just taken your bath, now you are tying your shoelaces, and soon you would be pulling out your car and driving straight into the morning traffic. And we do it very-very mechanically, without asking ourselves “why am I taking bath at 7:30 a.m.?” No, not that there is something wrong with 7:30 a.m., but you need to ask. You cannot just do it like a dead man or a programmed machine.
Why am I facing so much traffic? Why am I swiping my card? Why am I logging in into this computer system?
I understand that these questions, as we said, are irritants and they will slow you down. When they slow you down, you face the risk of getting left behind in the race of material progress, right? So you don't want to ask these questions. There is the other fellow on the adjacent workstation and he does not ask any questions. He just comes, logs in and starts slogging. And he is inching ahead of you—and what are you doing? You are busy asking yourself, “But why am I logging in?” Obviously you are getting left behind. But it's worth it.
You must ask these questions. Who is doing? What is he doing? What will he really get from it? These are dangerous questions, you know. This upsets your daily order, daily routine. Therefore, most people do not take the risk of asking. We just go about our daily life as if everything is hunky-dory, right? As if it’s all well settled and concluded.
“Oh, we know! We know it has to be this way!” That's our usual attitude. No, it doesn't have to be this way. And you too know that it doesn't have to be this way, and isn't that why you so fiercely avoid asking the fundamental questions? You are afraid. That's why you don't want to confront yourself. And you are afraid because somewhere you know the truth. You know that you are leading a false life. You know that you are wasting this life.
The mark of the honest man is the willingness to question himself at every stage, at every step. He never takes himself for granted. You should be the last entity you should trust. Trust anything, anybody but yourself. And do not trust anybody you find trustworthy because you cannot trust your own judgement.
Now, that puts you in a vacuum with no ground beneath your feet, right? One needs something to stand on. Otherwise one feels so insecure. If there is nothing to be trusted, how do I live? (Whimpers sarcastically) Maybe this question is not to be trusted. Question the question.
Q: Right now, you were talking about yagya, about giving something for a higher purpose. A few days back, I heard from the volunteer that yagya is giving ahuti; ahuti of your ego, pride and all.
But in many of today’s temples, I see that yagya is being conducted as burning those setups and giving ahuti of ghee and wheat and all that. And it has been practiced for thousands of years and has been carried till now as it is. I see this performing everywhere and I expect it to bring about changes.
But now, after listening to this about the yagya, I feel that it's not about the literal action which should be carried out. It should be the principle or the message behind that action which is needed to be carried, and that is what brings changes. Am I thinking in the right direction?
AP: Yes. In the name of yagya, if you still continue to burn wood, you are doing no good to anybody. Yagya has to be understood in its right spirit. Yagya has to be understood in the spirit of chapter 3 of Shrimad Bhagavad Gita. Here when you see that Sri Krishna is talking of selfless action or action without concern for reward, nishkam karma, and in the same breath he is talking of yagya, then you immediately realize what yagya really means.
Q: So, in today's time it is not relevant to practice that kind of yagya, ceremonial yagya?
AP: It was symbolic even in those times. You see, man’s constitution is such that he needs symbols. Even at those times the burning of wood etc. was just symbolic. What was the real thing? The real thing is there in the Gita. Read the Gita and you will know what the real meaning of yagya is.
Maybe today the symbol needs to be changed. We need a better symbol. We need a more contemporary symbol. In the times of heavy carbon accumulation in the atmosphere when the climate catastrophe is staring at us, I do not think it makes sense to burn something—especially organic material—in the name of a divine ceremony.
Q: So, after analysing this, I come to a point that the yagya which was performed at that time was about giving the ahuti of ghee and grains, items that were luxurious at that time. So they were symbolising that we are giving something, and it is not to be valued that much.
AP: You could interpret it that way.
Q: And now it is just carried as it is.
AP: Yes.
Q: Whereas nobody wants to give the actually luxurious.
AP: No, it is not that nobody understands the real meaning of it. Even today there are thousands of people who really know what yagya means. But unfortunately, they are just in thousands. The ones who do not know the real meaning and intention of yagya are in millions, maybe in billions.
Bonded work is compensation, free work is compassion (Chapter 3, Verse 17-26)
यस्त्वात्मरतिरेव स्यादात्मतृप्तश्च मानवः।
आत्मन्येव च सन्तुष्टस्तस्य कार्यं न विद्यते।।3.17।।
yas tvātma-ratir eva syād ātma-tṛiptaśh cha mānavaḥ
ātmanyeva cha santuṣhṭas tasya kāryaṁ na vidyate
The man who rejoices only in the Self and is satisfied with the Self, and is contended only in the Self—for him there is no duty to perform
~ Chapter 3, Verse 17
✥ ✥ ✥
न बुद्धिभेदं जनयेदज्ञानां कर्मसङ्गिनाम्।
जोषयेत्सर्वकर्माणि विद्वान् युक्तः समाचरन्।।3.26।।
na buddhi-bhedaṁ janayed ajñānāṁ karma-saṅginām
joṣhayet sarva-karmāṇi vidvān yuktaḥ samācharan
The wise man established in the Self should not unsettle the mind of the ignorant one attached to action, but should get them to perform all their duties while dually performing his own duties
~ Chapter 3, Verse 26
✥ ✥ ✥
Questioner (Q): In verse 17, Shri Krishna says that there is no duty to perform for the one who rejoices only in the Self. Yet, when we look at the greats like Mahavira, Buddha or Kabir Sahab, they took huge steps to dispel the darkness of man’s mind, as if they were performing an undeclared duty.
And, in verse 26, Shri Krishna again refers to the wise one and says that he should get others to perform all their duties, dually performing his own too. Is there any contradiction here? And, what makes a Buddha or a Mahavira do what they do?
Acharya Prashant (AP): “The man who rejoices only in the Self and is satisfied with the Self, and is contented only in the Self—for him there is no duty to perform. The wise man established in the Self should not unsettle the mind of the ignorant one attached to action, but should get them to perform all their duties while dually performing his own duties.”
You see, Shri Krishna is presenting the entirety, the totality of the matter of action here. On one hand, he says that in the highest state of Liberation there is no duty, no kartavya left; no duty at all left. That is point one that you have to understand.
At the same time, he says, “Look at Me Partha (Arjuna). Who can bind Me in duty? I have no duty at all! And yet, I keep doing everything.” He presents his own example. You have to look at everything together to get the complete picture.
One hand, he indeed says that the liberated one has really no boundation upon him to do anything. The liberated one has no boundation; he has no obligation to do anything because he is now liberated.
And then he says, “Look at Me Partha! I keep on doing stuff day in and day out!” And he devotes a couple of verses elaborating how much he does; he says, “If I do not do things, this entire world will collapse. So, I do more than anybody else. People work in their limited ways. Look at Me, Arjuna! I work in an unlimited way. My labor knows no limits. Nobody works harder than I do!”
Arjuna is puzzled. “But Sir, didn’t You just say that the liberated one has no duties left to perform? Why do You act then?”
Shri Krishna just smiles. “If you could understand that much, why would you need the Gita?”
So, the common folk has duties because he is not liberated, and the liberated one puts duties upon himself because he is liberated. That’s the way this is.
The one in shackles has to bear kartavya or duties as punishment. You’ll have to live within your duties because you are not liberated. This is your punishment.
And, the liberated one loads himself with duties not because he is full of passion towards the world, but because he has compassion.
Shri Krishna tells Arjuna, “The Gyani, the realized one should work or rather works in an outwardly way, in a worldly way, just as the ignorant one does.” These are very beautiful verses. All the chapters of the Gita are wonderful, but chapter 3 probably stands the tallest. He says, “The ignorant ones keep working, Arjuna. In a similar way, the realized one should also keep working.” And he quotes himself as the foremost example of the worker.
He says, “Look at Me! Here are all the ignorant ones assembled in the field of Kurukshetra to fight. They are working; to fight is their work. And here is Me as well. What am I doing in the middle of this idiotic crowd? All fools ready to cut each other to pieces. Totally stupid people they are, right on both sides! Do they know why they are fighting? Half of them would be dead before the end of the day! But look at them, how they flex their muscles; how they brandish their weapons. Somebody is blowing the conch. Somebody is puffing his chest. Somebody is threatening the other one. And before the sun sets, half of them will be gone—and gone for nothing! Idiots. And in the middle of this crowd, who is standing as a mere charioteer? Not even a warrior—a charioteer. Me! Me! Doesn’t it occur to you, Arjuna, what am I doing here? After all, I’m a realized being, am I not?”
No, Arjuna is not quite sure about it till Krishna displays to him what is commonly known as the ‘virāṭ rūpa’ (universal form).
Krishna is asking, “What am I doing here? They are fighting because they are ignorant. And here I am fighting because I am not ignorant. They are fighting because they are ignorant. And I too am fighting because I’m not ignorant!”
That’s the way the realized one has to live. Outwardly, it will appear as if he’s doing all the things that all the ignorant ones are doing. He cannot shun action. He cannot run away. That’s the message. You cannot run away. They are fighting; you too fight. But, they are fighting from their darkness; you fight from your light. You cannot run away. Shunning action is not possible. You have to fight. The world is the battlefield. To be born is to be born as a warrior. To be born is to be born with weapons and armor. What to do?
Now you know why a Buddha, a Mahavira, a Kabir work so hard all his life. Don’t you wonder? What does he have left to achieve? (Points to various people in the audience) I mean, he’s working because he wants a new car. He’s working because he wants a new wife. He’s working because he wants a new job. What is it that impels the sage to work so hard? That’s the secret; that’s what made Krishna smile.
“Arjuna, you will never really know why I work because I work without a ‘why’. You work for a reason; I work for no reason. And if you have to have a reason, the reason is compassion. You know, you are a man of words. You need some word to satisfy your shallow inquiry, so I give you a word. The word is ‘compassion’.”
If you go to Kabir Sahab, he will say the word is ‘sahajatā’ (being natural). The realized one just works. He doesn’t work for a cause, really. Though apparently, he might declare a cause; he will say, “You know, I’m working for such and such reasons, for such a cause, for such a mission,” such things. But really, he’s just working—just working. He cannot help it. It has to happen. You cannot go to him and question, “But why are you doing it? But why are you doing it?”
Somebody went to J. Krishnamurti and Krishnamurti was saying “one doesn’t need a teacher” and such things. “No Guru is needed and one is sufficient unto himself” and such things. And there was this person, he questioned Krishnamurti. He said, “But aren’t you too teaching? You too are a de facto Guru. And all the time you are railing against Gurus!” And Krishnamurti was almost shocked, it is said. You know how he replied? He said, “But I don’t do it intentionally!” Somebody said, “You too keep teaching and guiding us all the time. Aren’t you my Guru?” and Krishnamurti says, almost as if, you know, caught or accused or convicted, “But I don’t do it intentionally!”
That’s how the realized one acts. He doesn’t do it intentionally. He just acts. He just acts.
Somewhere, if I remember correctly, Krishnamurti also said, “When the flower blooms, the fragrance spreads.” The flower doesn’t really intend to make your day; it just happens. The flower can’t help it; the flower didn’t really plan to entertain your nostrils or your mind. It just happens. He can’t help it. That’s the state of the realized one. He can’t help it. He’s helpless.
“Oh, bad! But we thought he’s quite empowered. We thought if you are realized, then you are all in control of yourself!”
Oh no, not at all. Rather, what you call as ‘realization’ is about losing all self-control. You just flow; flow not in the way the common man flows. The common man flows in the dirty stream of his passions and desires and tendencies. The flow of the realized one is an altogether different thing; it’s a different stream. A few years back, I had differentiated between the two streams, calling one stream as accidental and the other as essential.
But, you know, some smart fellow can actually go to Kurukshetra and accost Krishna, “Sir, what are you doing here? After all, you are Krishna! Your place is in the jungle. And if not in the jungle, you should be found at some other quiet secluded place meditating or perfecting your Yoga. After all, you are the supreme Yogi, aren’t you? How does it behoove a Yogi to be really having the harness in his hand?”
(Reading the question again) “Is there a contradiction here? What makes a Buddha or a Mahavira do what they do?”
No, no contradiction here. And do not ask for a reason. If you’re really honest, then you should know that there does not exist a reason. As we said, if you are interested in satisfying your flimsy curiosity, then you could say the reason is the upliftment of the world. As they say in common usage that “the sage takes birth to redeem the world”, but that’s the language of the world. In the sage’s own language such an expression does not exist. He will not say that he has come to really serve the world or redeem the world or do some favor to the world. He just does what he does. This ‘justness’ is the pinnacle of all spiritual advancement. Sahajatā.
Even Krishna does not really disclose to Arjuna why he runs the entire world or maintains the prakritik (natural) order. He does not disclose. He just says, “I do that, I do that,” and Arjuna is probably not insouciant enough to insist on an answer, so he lets it go at that.
Q2: Just now, you said that the liberated one doesn’t do anything intentionally, he just does it, whereas the non-liberated one acts with a cause. Is there a reason behind it?
AP: There can be two reasons there. You see, if you are someone who is in bondage, then your actions could be in two directions. The direction of the irreligious action is towards the thickening of bondages. If you are in bondages, then there is an irreligious action possible. The irreligious or non-spiritual action is the one that will lead to a thickening or deepening of your bondages.
Then there is the religious action. That is the action called as ‘kartavya’. What is kartavya or dharma? That which leads to freedom from your bondages. So, these two courses of action are possible to the one who is not yet liberated. He can act this way, or he can act that way.
Then there is the liberated one. And the liberated one really does not need to act for himself because he has no bondages left, so he does not need to further liberate himself; he’s already liberated. Yet he keeps on working—and that’s what the wonder is.
If the one in shackles acts, then it can be explained. He’s acting for the sake of his Freedom, Liberation. He is in shackles. You can see the chains, the fetters, you can see. So, he’s working and it is obvious why he is working. He’s a sincere fellow. He’s a sensible fellow. He wants Freedom. This is the religious man.
Who is the irreligious man? Who is wearing chains, and is working in a way that will load him with more bondages. This is the irreligious fellow.
Now, you come to the liberated one. The liberated one needs no religion at all. He has gone beyond religion. In his case, religion has already served its purpose. He needs no religion. Does Krishna follow a religion? No. Krishna is religion itself. He does not follow any religion. There is no dharma, no kartavya for Krishna, and yet he’s found working so very diligently, so very uninterruptedly. Why? That’s what you need to find out. In trying to find that out, the finder will get lost. That’s the great thing about such an endeavor to find. No finding will really happen, but the one who set out to find will get exhausted.
Q3: If the liberated one stops doing work because it is not his compulsion to act, will it then leave no difference between the liberated and the non-liberated?
AP: How will he stop doing? Who will force him to stop doing? He does what he does. He’s alone to himself. Who can stop him from doing what he must? It’s his free will and only he really has free will. You cannot stop him. You can at most physically kill him—go ahead and do that! But still, you cannot really stop him. He will express himself in some other way. The Spirit will remain. One instance of the Spirit, one particular body can be killed, but the Spirit, really, cannot be stopped.
Liberation is not something that happens to a man. It is more abstract. There’s nothing personal. Therefore, I keep saying that the way we usually talk about enlightenment, it’s all bogus. Enlightenment is a myth.
Even the wise ones behave according to their Prakriti (Chapter 3, Verse 43)
सदृशं चेष्टते स्वस्याः प्रकृतेर्ज्ञानवानपि।
प्रकृतिं यान्ति भूतानि निग्रहः किं करिष्यति।।3.33।।
sadṛiśhaṁ cheṣhṭate svasyāḥ prakṛiter jñānavān api
prakṛitiṁ yānti bhūtāni nigrahaḥ kiṁ kariṣhyati
Even a man of wisdom behaves according to his own nature. Being follows by their nature. What can restraint do?
~ Chapter 3, Verse 33
✥ ✥ ✥
एवं बुद्धेः परं बुद्ध्वा संस्तभ्यात्मानमात्मना।
जहि शत्रुं महाबाहो कामरूपं दुरासदम्।।3.43।।
evaṁ buddheḥ paraṁ buddhvā sanstabhyātmānam ātmanā
jahi śhatruṁ mahā-bāho kāma-rūpaṁ durāsadam
Thus knowing Him, Who is superior to the intellect and restraining the self by the Self, slay thou, O mighty-armed Arjuna, the enemy in the form of desire, hard to conquer.
~ Chapter 3, Verse 43
✥ ✥ ✥
Questioner (Q): In verse 33, it is said, “What can restraint do?” and in verse 43, it is said, “Restraint lower self by the higher Self.” They seem to contradict each other. Please help me understand the right place of restraint in one’s life and what comes under its purview.
Acharya Prashant (AP): No, the word is not really ‘restraint’ in verse 33. What is implied is: all mortal beings are following the dictates of Prakriti, and the dictates of Prakriti cannot be disobeyed as far as the physical body is concerned. Be it an ignorant man or a realised man, Prakriti will operate the way Prakriti does; Prakriti cannot be disobeyed.
So, what is being said is here is, “Nigrahaḥ kiṁ kariṣhyati.”
You cannot stop it. Stopping it is one thing and distancing yourself from it is totally another thing. ‘Nigrahaḥ’ cannot be done. This is said in the context of the inviolable control of Prakriti on the body and the brain. “So, Arjuna, you will have to act.” Every being acts because Prakriti is all about action. In Prakriti there is nothing called stillness. Prakriti is change, movement, action.
Then, verse 43 says, “Thus knowing Him Who is superior to the intellect and restraining the self by the Self,” the ‘self by the Self’ has the first self which is the small self (Aham), and the second self is the capital Self which is the Truth, “Slay thou, O mighty-armed Arjuna, the enemy in the form of desire, hard to conquer.”
Here, what is being said is that the entire mechanism, the whole apparatus of Prakriti can be distanced from one’s identity. Right? This distancing itself is the only way available to you to win Prakriti. It is beautifully captured when Shri Krishna says in another verse that Arjuna has to be ‘Nirāśā’ and ‘Nirmama’. He says that “you just have to fight; give up hope from the world, give up attachment to the world, and just fight”.
Prakriti allures us through hope; Prakriti allures us through the promise of completion. It says, “Get attached, and you'll get something special!”
Krishna says, “All that is sheer excitement—won’t help you!” He says, “Yudhyasva vigata-jvaraḥ (Chapter 3, Verse 30). Just fight and be beyond such temperamental excitation.”
Seen essentially, the battle of Kurukshetra is the battle of Arjuna against his own prakriti. This stranglehold of Prakriti upon Arjuna can be clearly seen in the opening chapter. The opening chapter is what is being fought against in the remaining 17 chapters. ‘Vigatajwar’ means, ‘one whose excitation has subdued’.
In the first chapter, all you see is excitation, fever. ‘Jwar’ is fever. In fact, Arjuna would say quite literally: he says, “I am feverish. And my hairs are standing on their ends, my legs are shivering. I am feverish!” This is Prakriti. It will do what it will do. You must do what you have to do, and it took 17 chapters and more to fight that which Arjuna demonstrated in the first chapter.
Again, in the same chapter comes the beautiful message: “Swa-dharme nidhanaṁ śhreyaḥ para-dharmo bhayāvahaḥ.” (Chapter 3, Verse 35)
It took Krishna a lot to explain to Arjuna that Prakriti itself is paradharma. Dharma is that which tells you how to live, what to do, how to make your decisions. When your decisions happen under the influence of Prakriti, then this is not dharma but paradharma. Shri Krishna says, “Fight here against Prakriti and die in the process. Fight against Prakriti and die in the process, but don’t succumb to what your physical and mental tendencies are imploring you to do.”
The message is subtle. It has to be understood. “You cannot fight against your situation in which action is unavoidable. You cannot fight, Arjuna. You cannot fight against your situation in which action is unavoidable.” Arjuna is insisting that it is possible to somehow avoid action. Arjuna is trying to fight against action itself. Arjuna is saying, “I will not act,” so Arjuna's fight is against action itself. Shri Krishna says, “That is not possible. You cannot fight the fight; the fight is not avoidable.” Therefore, what to do?
The answer to this question opens up something glorious for the entire mankind. The answer is: fight you must. And if fighting is mandatory, if fighting is an inalienable part of living, then instead of trying to fight the fight, fight the right fight.
Arjuna is saying, “I’ll fight the fight,” and Krishna is saying, “Fight the right fight because you cannot fight the fight. If you think that you can somehow avoid getting in the fight, if you think that you can somehow avoid taking sides on the battlefield, it is not possible.” Many people try that. Many people say, “No, it is not really important and, you know, we can take some kind of neutral position; we need not fight!” Krishna mocks at them; he says, “They are all hypocrites.”
You cannot take a neutral position because even if you are taking a neutral position, you are still positioning yourself somewhere in the fight. Where have you now positioned yourself? At some so-called middle or neutral point. Maybe you are not fighting from either side but you are fighting the fight, so you are still fighting. Rest assured, there is nobody born who can avoid fighting. To be born is to be born into a fight.
“You will have to fight Arjuna. Fight the right fight. That is Dharma.”
Let us not entertain any delusion that we can comfortably stay unaligned or safe in our happy and secure houses. Those who decide not to fight are actually fighting the wrong fight. They meet a fate worse than the fighters on the other side.
In a battlefield one side emerges as the winner and other side as the loser, and then there is a third side as well. Which is this third side? The one who fought the fight and therefore didn’t enter the battlefield at all. These are the mega-losers. These are bigger losers than the one who got physically eliminated in the battlefield.
That’s what makes the Bhagavad Gita such a commanding scripture. It addresses a situation on a battlefield. It addresses the very complex question of right action.
Q: What are the characteristics of this Prakriti?
AP: Prakriti has no svabhāva; Prakriti only has traits (guṇa). For the sake of convenience, they have been classified into just three: sattva, rajas and tamas. These three traits essentially just tell about three fundamental tendencies of the mind.
There is the tendency that we all sometimes display to remain ground in dark unconsciousness, and we desire pleasure out of it, don't we? That is called tamas. We say we will drown ourselves in liquor. Don’t people do that? Why at this place there is so much hash and weed? I am talking of the city. Why do people do that? There is certain pleasure in losing consciousness. So, that was observed by the seers and they said, that is the one very prominent trait of Prakriti. We love losing consciousness. It's a strange thing, but we love losing consciousness. We love to be drunken and drown.
And. then there is the trait that we all display of energetic and frenzied action: running around here and there, sometimes motivated, sometimes frantic. “I’ll get this” or “I'll avoid that”; “that is to be achieved”; “I am a superstar”; “I am happy!” That kind of thing has been called as rajas. That’s just the tendency of the mind; that’s the way we behave, operate.
And, then there is another tendency we all display. That tendency is to know. “I want to know; I want to know what is going on; I want light.” Nobody likes lies, for example. Do we? In general, we do not. We ask for the truth. Even if that which we mean by the truth is not really Truth, but we at least want facts, don’t we? That is sattva. “Tell me what is really going on.” That is sattva. That again is the tendency of the mind.
So, that's Prakriti. It does not really have a center. And if you insist on determining a center of Prakriti, the center is merely of continuity. All that Prakriti wants is continuity in time; it wants to remain as it is. It wants to remain as it is in the middle of all the changes that are called ‘Prakriti’.
So, a lot of things change; everything changes in Prakriti. Species come, species go, species evolve. So much keeps happening. Universe rises, the universe falls—but Prakriti in itself reaches nowhere; the center does not change. Time continues. Within time this event keeps happening.
Q: So, Prakriti also means a series of changes?
AP: Prakriti is an unchanging series of changes.
Q: And is temporary in nature?
AP: Prakriti is a permanent temporariness. Prakriti is a temporality that is very permanent. Everything is temporary and this temporariness is permanent. That is Prakriti. What is beyond this temporariness and permanence?
Those who investigated Prakriti, they said, “Fine. There is sattva, rajas and tamas. But there has to be real life beyond the three.” So, they said, the purpose of all spiritual enquiry or advancement is to go beyond the three traits or guṇas. They said, “You have to go ‘guṇateet’ or ‘triguṇateet’, beyond Prakriti.”
Q: You are saying that there is enquiry in Prakriti but that enquiry is different from this spiritual enquiry. That spiritual enquiry is not born from the enquiry that is in Prakriti…
AP: No, no. When you enquire, Prakriti is all that you have to enquire into. Except for Prakriti, what else is available to be enquired? Enquiry surely requires an object to be enquired and all objects are in Prakriti, so Prakriti alone can be enquired into.
Q: You said that there are three things in Prakriti. The third thing is: it wants to know.
AP: Yes.
Q: So, that is not enquiry?
AP: That is enquiry, so all enquiry is sattva-guṇa. But then, the enquiry does not alone suffice. Liberation means enquiry and a strong urge to be free of that which has been now known. Therefore, knowledge by itself is often very insufficient. That is the reason you often find very knowledgeable people neck deep in slavery or bondages—because knowledge is again sattva-guṇa, and all the three guṇas are bondages. Sattva-guṇa is the highest because it offers you half a way to move out of your slavery. But only half a way; the remaining half comes from a strong urge to be liberated of that which has been known. Otherwise, you will face a peculiar situation: you will come to know that you are in a bad position, but you will not act to redeem yourself of your bad position.
So, you must now ask Acharya Ji: enquiry comes from sattva-guṇa, that is all right. So, even an enquiry into Prakriti comes from the sattva-guṇa of Prakriti, but liberation requires both enquiry and urge towards liberation. Where that urge comes from?
It’s called Grace. It comes from prayer; it comes from your tears; it comes when you are really desperate.
Q2: Can you talk something about evolution also? Like, it is in Prakriti, it is in individual species, it depends...
AP: Everything is evolving.
Q2: But it depends, it is individualistic.
AP: You look at one individual thing and you say it is evolving. The fact is, in Prakriti everything is evolving. Change is evolution. When the change appears kind of favorable to you, then you start calling it by the positive name of ‘evolution’. Actually, evolution is just change.
Comments
Post a Comment