It tries to build the philosophy of karma based on knowledge and is supported by devotion
Janmashtami or lord Krishna’s birthday is a popular festival of the Hindus that is celebrated across the country. The place of Shri Krishna, as the lord is called, is unique in the Hindu pantheon of gods for a number of reasons.
He is a god with whom the children identify, he is a god whom the young and the adolescents identify with, he is a god who perhaps can fit in the definition of a modern superman. His wisdom, his strategy, his love stories in the form of rasa, his enterprising spirit, his courage and his leadership are all found in various aspects of modern day culture. His pragmatism, his charisma and his style all are viewed in awe.
In modern management literature there is reference to transformational leadership, a style that inspires the target and motivates him to perform even the impossible. In the Mahabharata war this is what Shri Krishna did to Arjuna, who initially was a reluctant, confused and dejected soul not willing to fight. But it was Shri Krishna’s persuasion and that too in a very uninvolved and dispassionate manner that does the trick and transforms Arjuna into a ferocious warrior who becomes the hero of the Mahabharata war.
This was done through the dialogue between the lord and Arjuna that is popularly called the Bhagavad Gita. It is one of the most popular and sacred books of the Hindus. This Bhagavad Gita is the most eternal of Shri Krishna’s work and a very inspirational text.
Bhagavad Gita literally means the lord’s song which is a philosophical discourse delivered in the most effective manner. The Gita tries to build up a practical philosophy, the philosophy of karma or duty based on gyana or knowledge, and is supported by bhakti or devotion. The fundamental metaphysical teaching of Gita is that ‘the unreal has no being and the real has no unbeing’.
That is the soul is the indestructible, eternal, unborn, undiminishing, all pervasive, immovable and immutable. It is never destroyed. It is the real ‘being’. Only the bodies are destroyed. Since the soul is not subject to birth and death, it does not perish with the body. It is immortal and everlasting. Just as a person casts off old worn out garments to put on new ones, the soul also casts off worn out bodies to enter new ones. The soul is not affected by birth.
This can be understood in light of the concept of moksha or liberation that gives eternal bliss so that the soul acquires freedom from the cycle of birth and death.
The Gita represents a unique synthesis of action, devotion and knowledge. Human beings are complex entities of intellect, will and emotions, the thinking, willing and feeling being. Intellect has given rise to the philosophy of knowledge, the will has given the philosophy of action and emotion the philosophy of devotion.
Though there is no watertight division separating one from the other, the Gita tells us that the ultimate reality can be realised through any of the three, which are called the marg or path.
‘Yoga’ is the synthesis of the three, its literal meaning being union, that is, meeting of the individual with the absolute. A person who achieves this yoga becomes a yogi, who is sthitapragyan — the enlightened one.
The writer is a professor, Indian School of Mines, Dhanbad (Jharkhand). He can be reached at ppathak.ism@gmail.com
