Thus Spake Krishna, the Charioteer

This Janmashtami day is the opportune time to invoke Lord Krishna and remember his eternal lessons as  given in Gita. Given that all is not well in the country, the overwhelmingly large youth population is just wishing for things to improve and waiting for an  avatar to descend to ameliorate the country’s conditions, Gita perhaps offers the right prescription. The life is like the war of kurukshetra  where the battle between Dharma and Adharma continues on a regular basis. But the youth is waiting for the Lord to fulfill that famous promise as given in chapter IV verse seven of the Gita.. This incidentally is the most popularly quoted verse  which says that, ‘whenever there is decay of righteousness in India and rise of unrighteousness, I manifest myself to protect the good and destroy the wicked, and establish a righteous order in every age. So we are waiting for him to descend, desperately. But  this has to be understood in a broader perspective. The Lord is within us also and that is why He has said – ” That thou art”. That means you and the Lord are one. It has also to be understood that the Lord though manifests himself , but he is there only as a Charioteer – a friend, philosopher and guide. He does not fight the battle, as was the case in the battle of kurukshetra. The Lord did not fight. He was only guiding Arjuna. Yes, the Lord did  motivate Arjuna to fight but that is about all. And this has to be realized. One has to fight his own battle. Of course one must dedicate it to the God. Because, without God’s wish nothing can be achieved.  This is why the Lord has very categorically stated in the Gita, in chapter II verse 47 while explaining the philosophy of Karma yoga to Arjuna. This is again a very popularly quoted verse of Gita that says that one has the right to action only and never to the results and therefore, the results of action should never be the motive, nor should there be attachment to inaction. But, this is not to suggest that actions will not bear fruit as many assume. Sincere efforts for the right cause will give the desired result as the Lord will ensure that. The Lord guarantees ‘yogakshemam vahamyaham’ in chapter IX verse 22, that is, I will take care of my devotees.

The confusion in the society prevailing today and the feeling of helplessness in the people is all due to the fact that the yogeshwara in them is made to lie dormant, neglected, uninvoked. The material has taken over the spiritual. Gita suggests a judicious blending of sacred and the secular. The spiritual and the material values need to be happily wedded to one another. Even the Lord would not have achieved anything in the battle field of kurukshetra without Arjuna fighting the Dharmayuddha.

Arjuna, with his bow and arrow represents, “the confused, limited, ordinary mortal having all his innumerable weaknesses, agitations and fears”. When he throws down his instrument of effort and achievement, the bow, and reclines to impotent idleness, no doubt, there is no hope for any success or prosperity for this hero. But when he is “ready with his bow:, when the ordinary mortal is no more idle but has a readiness to use his faculties to brave the challenges of his life, then, in that man, we recognize a “ Partha, ready to take charge”.

Krishna in the Gita stands for the  marriage between secular and the sacred. When a community or a nation gets its masses awakened and prepared to endure, act and achieve, and when that generation is conscious of and has firm belief in the spiritual purity of head and heart, that generation achieves prosperity, success, and tranquility of mind. 

The Gita inculcates the virtue of perseverance in the face of lurking failure. It makes us realize that we have a right to actions only and not to the results, and that success and failure are two sides of the same coin. It tells us to dedicate ourselves to duty, and duty per se.