Why My Gita

T he Bhagavad Gita, or The Gita as it is popularly known, is

part of the epic Mahabharata.

The Bhagavad Gita

 The epic describes the war between the Pandavas and the
Kauravas on the battlefield of Kuru-kshetra. The Gita is the
discourse given by Krishna to Arjuna just before the war is about
to begin. Krishna is identified as God (bhagavan). His words
contain the essence of Vedic wisdom, the keystone of Hinduism.
Ramkrishna Paramhansa, the nineteenth-century Bengali
mystic, said that the essence of The Gita can be deciphered
simply by reversing the syllables that constitute Gita. So Gita,
or gi-ta, becomes ta-gi, or tyagi, which means 'one who lets go of
possessions.'

गीता गी+ता ता+गी तागी �यागी

(Gita = song) (Tyagi = one who
lets go)

Gi-ta to Ta-gi

Given that, it is ironical that I call this book ‘My Gita’.

I use the possessive pronoun for three reasons.

Reason 1: My Gita is thematic

The Gita demonstrates many modern techniques of communication.

First, Arjuna’s problem is presented (Chapter 1), and then
Krishna’s solution (chapters 2 to 18) is offered. Krishna
begins by telling Arjuna what he will reveal (Chapter 2);
he then elaborates on what he promised to tell (chapters 3 to 17);
and finally, he repeats what he has told (Chapter 18). Krishna’s
solution involves analysis (sankhya) and synthesis (yoga)—slicing
the whole into parts and then binding the parts into a whole.

2 My Gita
The solution itself is comprehensive, involving the behavioural
(karma yoga), the emotional (bhakti yoga) and the intellectual
(gyana yoga). However, no one reads The Gita as a book, or hears
every verse in a single sitting.
Karma Bhakti Gyana
yoga yoga yoga

Summary Summary

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18

Problem Solution

Chapter Architecture in The Gita

Traditionally, a guru would only elaborate on a particular verse

or a set of verses or a chapter of The Gita at a time. It is only in
modern times, with a printed book in hand, that we want to read
The Gita cover to cover, chapter by chapter, verse to verse, and
hope to work our way through to a climax of resolutions in one
go. When we attempt to do so, we are disappointed. For, unlike
modern writing, The Gita is not linear: some ideas are scattered
over several chapters, many ideas are constantly repeated, and still
others presuppose knowledge of concepts found elsewhere, in
earlier Vedic and Upanishadic texts. In fact, The Gita specifically
refers to the Brahma sutras (Chapter 13, Verse 5), also known as
Vedanta sutras, said to have been composed by one Badarayana,
sometimes identified with Vyasa. Further, at places, the same
words are used in different verses to convey different meanings,
and at other instances, different words are used to convey the
same idea. For example, sometimes the word ‘atma’ means
mind and sometimes soul; at other times other words like dehi,

Why My Gita 3
 Krishna and Sanjaya may speak exactly the same words, but
while Krishna knows what he is talking about, Sanjaya does
not. Krishna is the source, while Sanjaya is merely a transmitter.
Likewise, what Sanjaya hears is different from what Arjuna hears
and what Dhritarashtra hears. Sanjaya hears the words, but does
not bother with the meaning. Arjuna is a seeker and so he decodes
what he hears to find a solution to his problem. Dhritarashtra
is not interested in what Krishna has to say. While Arjuna asks
many questions and clarifications, ensuring the ‘discourse’ is a
‘conversation’, Dhritarashtra remains silent throughout. In fact,
Dhritarashtra is fearful of Krishna who is fighting against his
children, the Kauravas. So he judges Krishna’s words, accepting
what serves him, dismissing what does not.
Krishna Arjuna
(source) (seeker)

Sanjaya Dhritarashtra
(transmitter) (judge)

Me You

Overhearing The Gita

I am not the source of The Gita. But I do not want to be

merely its transmitter, like Sanjaya. I want to understand, like
Arjuna, though I have no problem I want to solve, neither do
I stand on the brink of any battle. But it has been said that the
Vedic wisdom presented by Krishna is applicable to all contexts,
not just Arjuna’s. So I have spent months hearing The Gita in the
original Sanskrit to appreciate its musicality; reading multiple
commentaries, retellings and translations; mapping the patterns
that emerge from it with patterns found in Hindu mythology;

Why My Gita 5
 and comparing and contrasting these patterns with those found
in Buddhist, Greek and Abrahamic mythologies. This book
contains my understanding of The Gita, my subjective truth: my
Gita. You can approach this book as Arjuna, with curiosity, or
as Dhritarashtra, with suspicion and judgement. What you take
ruth away will be your subjective truth: your Gita.
The quest for objective truth (what did Krishna actually say?)
invariably results in vi-vaad, argument, where you try to prove
that your truth is the truth and I try to prove that my truth is
the truth. The quest for subjective truth (how does The Gita
make sense to me?) results in sam-vaad, where you and I seek
to appreciate each other’s viewpoints and expand our respective
truths. It allows everyone to discover The Gita at his or her own
pace, on his or her own terms, by listening to the various Gitas
around them.
The truth
Vi-vaad

My truth Your truth

Sam-vaad

Argument and Discussion

Objectivity is obsessed with exactness and tends to be

rather intolerant of deviation, almost like the jealous God of
monotheistic mythologies. But meanings change over time,
with the personality of the reader, and with context. Subjectivity
challenges the assumption that ideas are fixed and can be
controlled; it celebrates the fluid. Modern global discourse tends

6 My Gita
 Shankara

But the Mahabharata is about the household, about

relationships, about others. It is essentially about a property
dispute. Arjuna’s dilemma begins when he realizes that the enemy
is family and he fears the impact of killing family on society as a
whole. Krishna’s discourse continuously speaks of yagna, a Vedic
ritual that binds the individual to the community. He elaborates
on the relationship of the individual, whom he identifies as jiva-
atma, with divinity, whom he identifies as param-atma, which is
etymologically related to ‘the other’ (para). The Buddha spoke

8 My Gita
of nirvana, which means oblivion of individual identity, but
Krishna speaks of brahma-nirvana as an expansion of the mind
(brahmana) that leads to liberation (moksha) while ironically
also enabling union (yoga), indicating a shift away from monastic
isolationism. That is why, in Hindu temples, God is always
visualized with the Goddess as a householder, one half of a pair.
The devotee looks at the deity (darshan) and the deity, with large
unblinking eyes, looks back; the relationship is ‘two-way’ not
‘one-way’.
What you and I and
the whole world can become
Param-atma

Jiva-atma Para-atma
What What
I am you are

Relationships

In Chapter 5, Verse 13, of The Gita, Krishna describes the

human body as a city with nine gates (nava-dvara-pura): two
eyes, two ears, two nostrils, one mouth, one anus and one genital.
A relationship involves two bodies, two people, the self and the
other, you and me, two cities—eighteen gates in all. That The
Gita has eighteen sections, that it seeks to make sense of the
eighteen books of the Mahabharata—which tells the story of
a war between family and friends fought over eighteen days
involving eighteen armies—indicates that the core teaching of
The Gita has much to do with relationships. It serves the needs
of the householder rather than the hermit.

Why My Gita 9
 3 4
5
2 6

Nine Gates

Before starting on these eighteen chapters we shall briefly

explore the history of The Gita. After these eighteen chapters, we
shall discuss the impact of The Gita on Arjuna.
Writing My Gita helped me expand my mind. I discovered
more frameworks through which I could make better sense of
reality. I hope reading this book informs your Gita and helps
you expand your mind. Should the urge to find a fixed single
objective truth grip you, remind yourself:

Within infinite myths lies an eternal truth

Who sees it all?
Varuna has but a thousand eyes
Indra, a hundred
You and I, only two.

10 My Gita
 Before My Gita:
A Brief History of The Gita

B efore the Bhagavad Gita, or God’s song, there was the

Vyadha Gita, or the butcher’s song.

Vyadha Gita
ago, after Mauryan Emperor Ashoka popularized the Brahmi
script through his edicts.
Democracy, socialism, capitalism,
Modern
nationalism, secularism

Orientalist Translation

Puranic Arrival of Europeans

Hinduism Bhakti Regional songs

Arrival of Islam

Puranic Temples, Stories

Arrival of Greeks and Huns

Buddhist Script, Monasteries, Monarchy

Vedic
Upanishadic Speculation
Hinduism

Vedic Rituals
Not drawn to scale
Proto
Hinduism Indus

Hindu History

Before we proceed, we must keep in mind that the historical

approach to Hinduism is not acceptable to all Hindus. The
ahistorical school of thought sees all Hindu ideas as timeless. The
rather chauvinistic proto-historical school sees all Hindu rituals,
stories and symbols, Vedic or Puranic, as having been created
simultaneously over 5,000 years ago. These have become political
issues, which influence scholarship.

14 My Gita
 History seeks to be everyone’s truth, but is limited by
available facts. More often than not, what is passed off as history
is mythology, someone’s understanding of truth shaped by
memory, feelings and desire, available facts notwithstanding.
However, it is never fantasy, or no one’s truth.
Gita
Vedas Puranas Bhakti
Historical
BC AD approach
BCE 0 CE
Before Common Era Common Era

Vedas
Puranas
Bhakti Proto-historical
approach

Vedas Vedas Vedas

Puranas Puranas Puranas
Not drawn to scale

Bhakti Bhakti Bhakti

Ahistorical
approach
0

Historical, Proto-historical and Ahistorical Schools

We must also guard against a masculine view of history

based on conflict and triumph alone: natives versus colonizers,
polytheism versus monotheism, Hindus versus Buddhists,
Christians versus Muslims, Shias versus Sunnis, Shaivites versus
Vaishnavites, Protestants versus Catholics, Mughals versus
Marathas, democracy versus monarchy, theists versus atheists,
capitalists versus socialists, liberals versus conservatives. This has

Before My Gita: A Brief History of The Gita 15

been popularized by Western academics and their love for the
Hegelian dialectic, where thesis creates antithesis until there is
resolution and a new thesis. This approach assumes that history
has a natural direction and purpose.
An alternate, feminine view of history looks at every event as
the fruit of the past (karma-phala) as well as the seed of future
tendencies (karma-bija), without the need to play judge. Thus,
we can see the writing of the Gitas as a response to, not an attack
on, Buddhist monasticism, and the feminization of Buddhism as
a response to, not an appropriation of, the idea of the Goddess
found in Hindu Puranas. No idea emerges from a vacuum.
Different ideas amplify from time to time. Old ideas coexist
with new ones. Contradictory ideas influence each other. Here
the world has no beginning, no end, no value, no purpose. All
meaning is created by humans, individually and collectively: the
boundaries we establish and fight over.

Buddhist Bhakti

Vedic Puranic

Vedic Buddhist Puranic Bhakti

Masculine and Feminine Approaches to History

In most parts of the world, a new idea suppresses and wipes

out the old idea, but in India, thanks to the abstract nature of

16 My Gita
 Influence

Vedas
Gita Puranas
Upanishads

Elaboration,
Illustration

Influence, Illustration and Elaboration

Gitas and the Reframing of Hinduism

Two thousand years ago, South Asia was torn between two
extremes. On one side were kings who established great
empires, such as those of the Nandas, Mauryas, Sungas, Kanvas,
Satavahanas, Kushanas and Guptas, which heralded great
prosperity but also involved great violence. On the other side
were hermits (shramanas) such as the Jains, the Ajivikas and
the Buddhists, who spoke of the household as the place of
suffering and sought solace in the solitude offered by monasteries
(viharas). More and more people, including kings, were choosing
the hermit’s way of life over marriage, family vocation and family
responsibilities, causing great alarm. Chandragupta Maurya
embraced Jainism. His grandson, Ashoka, embraced Buddhism.
For 2,000 years before this, society was dominated by Vedic
lore. At the heart of the Veda was the ritual called yagna, which
involved exchange, giving in order to get, thus establishing a
relationship between the yajamana, who initiated the ritual and
the other—family, friends, strangers, ancestors, gods, nature and
cosmos. It was all about the household.

18 My Gita
 Vedantic Hinduism (Mathas)

Early Buddhism (Buddha renounces family)

Hermit

Householder

Vedic Hinduism (Yagna)

Puranic Hinduism (Shiva marries Shakti)

Later Buddhism (Bodhisatva, Tara)

Bhakti Hinduism (Krishna and Radha)

Tension Between Hermit and Householder

There were hermits in these Vedic times too: the rishis,

who were married but chose philosophical exploration over
material ambitions; the sanyasis, who had chosen to renounce
the household after completing all household duties; and the
tapasvis, who chose to be celibate in the pursuit of occult powers
(siddhi). The Vedas presented a world where there was no
conflict between the householder’s way and hermit’s way, as in
the legendary kingdom of Mithila ruled by Janaka.
Vedic ideas were transmitted via the hymns of the Rig Veda,
melodies of the Sama Veda, rituals of the Yajur Veda and even
the spells of the Atharva Veda. The idea of including the Atharva
Veda in the list of Vedas is a much later phenomenon. Still later,
the epic Mahabharata and even the Natya Shastra—that discusses
art and aesthetics—came to be seen as the fifth Veda.

Before My Gita: A Brief History of The Gita 19

 Multiple expressions
of Vedic idea

Rig Sama Yajur Upanishad Gita Purana Agama

Veda Veda Veda (speculation) (song) (story) (temple)
(hymn) (melody) (ritual)

Transmission of the Veda

The narratives by ‘Vyasa’ were called the Puranas, or chronicles,

which included the epics Ramayana and Mahabharata that spoke
of family quarrels over property. They were also called Itihasa.
Itihasa, taken literally, means stories from the past. Itihasa, taken
symbolically, means stories that will always be true: past, present
or future. They reiterated the concept of ‘iti’, which means ‘as
things are’—accepting the reality of sex and violence, desires and
conflicts in relationships, household and life.
Those who affirmed iti were the astikas. Those who denied iti
were the nastikas. Later, as Hinduism turned more theistic, iti
denoted faith in God, and so astikas and nastikas would come to
mean believers and non-believers.
Unlike monastic orders of Buddhism, which spoke of
withdrawal and renunciation, these narratives spoke of liberation
despite engaging with society and upholding responsibilities.
Household quarrels and property disputes were always resolved
using Vedic wisdom presented in the form of conversations.
Often, the conversations were turned into Gitas, made lyrical
using the anushtup metre, where each verse has four sentences
and each sentence has eight syllables.
The Mahabharata itself has many Gitas, besides the butcher’s
song and God’s song. In the Shanti Parva, Book 12 of the

Before My Gita: A Brief History of The Gita 21

Mahabharata, Bhisma reveals nine Gitas to the Pandavas: the
prostitute’s song (Pingala Gita), the priest’s song (Sampaka
Gita), the farmer’s song (Manki Gita), the ascetic’s song (Bodhya
Gita), the king’s song (Vichaknu Gita), the retired man’s song
(Harita Gita), the demon’s song (Vritra Gita), the philosopher’s
song (Parasara Gita) and the swan’s song (Hansa Gita). Outside
the Mahabharata, there are the Ashtavakra Gita, Vasishtha Gita,
Ram Gita, Shiva Gita, Devi Gita, Ganesha Gita and many more.

Vedas
Puranas

Mahabharata
Ramayana
The Gita

Other Gitas

Locating The Gita in a Sea of Scriptures

The Bhagavad Gita, of course, remains the most widely read

of the Gitas. It is the counsel of a chariot-driver called Krishna
to the chariot-rider and archer, Arjuna, just before the start of a
war at Kuru-kshetra between the five Pandava brothers and their
hundred Kaurava cousins. It is so popular that today, when we
say Gita, we mean the Bhagavad Gita.
In its final form, the Bhagavad Gita had 700 verses, split into
18 chapters, of which 574 are spoken by Krishna, 84 by Arjuna,
41 by Sanjaya and 1 by Dhritarashtra. There are suggestions that
the Bhagavad Gita originally had 745 verses. It is a conversation,
though it does seem like a discourse, which takes place over
ninety minutes while fully armed soldiers on either side wait

22 My Gita
the frightened calf, Arjuna, with the milk that is The Gita. It is
through works such as these, usually presented as songs, that the
wisdom of The Gita reached the masses. It is in this phase that
the Bhagavad Purana, or simply Bhagavata, which describes the
earlier life of Krishna as a cowherd, became the dominant text of
Hinduism. It is also during this phase that The Gita started being
personified as a goddess, and hymns were composed to meditate
on her (Gita Dhyana) and celebrate her glory (Gita Mahatmya).
Gita Jayanti, the eleventh day of the waxing moon in the month
of Margashisha (December), was identified as the day when
Krishna revealed this wisdom to Arjuna, and the world.

Gyaneshwara

The third wave involved ‘translations’ by Europeans—

eighteenth-century European Orientalists such as Charles
Wilkins, who was sponsored by the East India Company, and
nineteenth-century poets such as Edwin Arnold, who also
introduced the Buddha and many things Eastern to Europe. They
sought an objective, hence correct, reading of The Gita, implicitly
introducing the suggestion that commentaries and retellings
and poetic renditions were mere interpretations—subjective,
contaminated by artistic liberty, hence inferior. The translators
were Christian and, like Muslims, immersed in Abrahamic

Before My Gita: A Brief History of The Gita 25

My Gita

Vishwa-rupa
 Inner world of thoughts Outer world of relationships

Paralysis Analysis
Chapter 1

Dehi Yagna Karma

Yoga

Bhagavan Yoga

Bhakti
Yoga

Bhakti Gunas Gyana

Yoga

Moha Kshetras

Chapter 18
Moksha Atma-rati
Brahma-nirvana

The Architecture of My Gita

My Gita 31
 Themes in The Gita Chapter Themes in My Gita

Arjuna’s despair 1 Observation (darshan)

Summary of analysis (sankhya) 2 Rebirth (atma)

Informed action (karma) 3 Mortal Body (deha)

Appreciating exchange (gyana) 4 Body’s immortal resident (dehi)

Detached action (sanyasa) 5 Cause and consequence (karma)

Inner journey (dhyana) 6 Appropriate conduct (dharma)

Inner potential (vi-gyana) 7 Exchange (yagna)

Rebirth or liberation (askhara) 8 Introspection (yoga)

Special secret (raja-guhya) 9 Trust (deva–asura)

Description of divinity (vibhuti) 10 Potential (bhagavan)

Sight of divinity (vishwa-rupa) 11 Expanding the mind (brahmana)

Form or formless (bhakti) 12 Contracting the mind (avatar)

Proprietorship (kshetra) 13 Tendencies of matter (guna)

Tendencies of matter (guna) 14 Proprietorship (kshetra)

Potential (purushottam) 15 Measurement (maya)

Believers (deva-asura) 16 Attachment (moha)

Diversity of devotion (shraddha) 17 Liberation (moksha)

Summary of solution (moksha) 18 Union (brahma-nirvana)

32 My Gita
 limited army, but he has the veteran and the invincible
Bhisma on his side leading his limitless army. Having
said so, he orders his soldiers to guard Bhisma at
all costs.—Bhagavad Gita: Chapter 1, verses 2 to 11
(paraphrased).

Duryodhana’s words as described by Sanjaya reveal irritation,

insecurity and agitation, despite the fact that he has eleven
armies, and the Pandavas only seven.

Sanjaya

Sanjaya then proceeds to describe Arjuna’s entry into the

battlefield. Arjuna looks confident, bow in hand, on his chariot
drawn by four white horses, with the image of Hanuman, the
mighty monkey god, on the flag fluttering above. He asks his
charioteer, Krishna, to take him to the centre of the battleground
in the space between the two armies. There, in no man’s land, the
enormity of the unfolding tragedy dawns upon him: on either
side are family and friends. Elders, teachers, uncles, nephews,
sons-in-law, fathers-in-law. Before him are those he should be

You and I do not have to judge 35

 Dhritarashtra
Mine Not mine

Kauravas Pandavas
Family
Duryodhana Enemy
Family

Family Arjuna

Observing Kuru-kshetra

Here is the very reverse of the psychological blindness

displayed by Dhritarashtra and Duryodhana: Arjuna’s vision
is expanding, focus is giving way to perspective, attention
(dhayana) to awareness (dharana) as his gaze finally rejects the
boundary separating the self from the other, and action from
responsibility. This is darshan!
Society
Family
Target

Action
Result
Repercussions

Focus and Perspective

In darshan, there is no judgement because there are no

boundaries, no rules, no separation of right and wrong, mine and
not mine.
Dhritarashtra is unable to do darshan because of memories
(smriti); he bears a deep grudge. He was born blind, yet it was he

You and I do not have to judge 37

 Dhritarashtra
Mine Not mine

Kauravas Pandavas
Family
Duryodhana Enemy
Family

Family Arjuna

Observing Kuru-kshetra

Here is the very reverse of the psychological blindness

displayed by Dhritarashtra and Duryodhana: Arjuna’s vision
is expanding, focus is giving way to perspective, attention
(dhayana) to awareness (dharana) as his gaze finally rejects the
boundary separating the self from the other, and action from
responsibility. This is darshan!
Society
Family
Target

Action
Result
Repercussions

Focus and Perspective

In darshan, there is no judgement because there are no

boundaries, no rules, no separation of right and wrong, mine and
not mine.
Dhritarashtra is unable to do darshan because of memories
(smriti); he bears a deep grudge. He was born blind, yet it was he

You and I do not have to judge 37

who was never seen. Not by his uncle, Bhisma, who decided that
Dhritarashtra’s younger brother, Pandu, should be made king
instead of him. Not by his wife, Gandhari, who decided to share
his blindness by wearing a blindfold, rather than compensate
for it. Not by his beloved son, Duryodhana, who preferred the
advice of his maternal uncle, Shakuni, to his own. Not by his
advisor, Vidura, who always praised Pandu’s five sons, but never
his hundred. Unseen by all, he is simply paying the blindness
forward.
Arjuna also has many reasons not to do darshan: the Kauravas
tried their best to kill him and his brothers when they were
children; they humiliated him and his brothers repeatedly in
a gambling hall; they dragged the Pandavas’ common wife,
Draupadi, by the hair and attempted to disrobe her in public;
they refused to return Indra-prastha, the Pandava lands, even
though the Pandavas had kept their side of their agreement and
spent thirteen years in exile; the Kauravas even refused offers of
compromise for the sake of peace. Yet, Arjuna finds it hard to
respond to the Kauravas’ blindness with blindness.

Smriti = What is remembered

Prejudice

Gyana = What is told Vi-gyana = What is heard

Memories Distort Observation

In an attempt to goad Arjuna into action, Krishna reminds

him of the sufferings of his brothers and his wife and of his duties
as a warrior, a brother and a husband. Krishna even questions

38 My Gita
Arjuna’s manliness (Chapter 2, Verse 3) when he mocks his
action as those of a non-man (kliba). He speaks of the glory of
paradise that awaits him if he dies, and the satisfaction of victory
that awaits him if he lives. But none of these have any impact
on Arjuna. He refuses to let memories strip him of empathy. He
does darshan and that makes him a worthy recipient of The Gita.
Long before the war, when negotiations for peace had broken
down, Krishna had revealed his cosmic form (virat-swarup)—the
same form he shows Arjuna during the course of his discourse—
to both Dhritarashtra and Duryodhana, perhaps to impress upon
father and son that his words needed to be taken seriously. But
Dhritarashtra, granted momentary sight, had simply declared
his helplessness before such awesomeness and shrunk back into
blindness, while Duryodhana had seen it as a magician’s trick.
Both father and son refused to see what was shown. They clung
to the view that they were the victims. Thus, showing does not
guarantee seeing. Telling does not guarantee hearing. Gyana is
not vi-gyana.
In judgement, the world is divided: good and bad, innocent
and guilty, polluted and pure, oppressor and oppressed,
privileged and unprivileged, powerful and powerless. In darshan,
one sees a fluid world of cause and consequence, where there are
no divisions, boundaries, hierarchies or rules.
Judgement Darshan

Right / Wrong Fears

Mine / Not mine Hungers

Rana-bhoomi Ranga-bhoomi

Rana-bhoomi and Ranga-bhoomi

You and I do not have to judge 39

afterlife in heaven or hell. Science endorses only one life, as the
afterlife or rebirth defies scientific measurement.
Scope of Indian mythologies

Anadi Ananta
Start Finish

Scope of Western mythologies

Dharma and Non-dharma Mythologies

The idea of rebirth can be seen at metaphysical, social and

psychological levels. Together they change our view of life.
At a metaphysical level, rebirth helps us explain the
inexplicable, and replace conflict with acceptance and peace.
Why are some people born into rich families and some into poor
families, some to loving parents and some to cruel parents, some
with talent and some without? Who is to be blamed?
In Abrahamic mythology, the explanation of everything is
God’s will. Our sufferings are the result of disobeying God’s will
and law, having fallen under the spell of the Devil. All will be well
if we repent of our sins, accept God’s love and demonstrate it by
following His law. This assumption fuels guilt.
In Greek mythology, wealth and power are seen as having
been cornered by the privileged few, and heroes have to fight
these oppressors, bring justice and offer equal opportunities to
all. This assumption fuels rage.
Science offers no explanation, as science is not about ‘why’, but
about ‘how’. For the why, the social sciences invariably turn to

44 My Gita
Greek mythology with its oppressor-oppression framework that
resurrected after the European Renaissance, 600 years ago. Or it
creates a new god: the people.
In Hindu mythology, there is no one but ourselves to blame
for our problems: neither God nor any oppressors. The idea of
rebirth aims to evoke acceptance of the present, and responsibility
for the future. Our immortal soul is tossed from one life to
another as long as our mind refuses to do darshan. This is made
most explicit in the story of Karna in the Mahabharata.

This life or
next life
My circumstances Their circumstances

My action Reaction Other people’s

action

My Action, My Circumstance

Karna is a foundling brought up by a charioteer, who rises to be

a king through sheer talent and effort, and discovers much later
in life that he is of royal blood, abandoned at birth by his mother
Kunti, who went on to marry King Pandu. Kunti’s children are
none other than the Pandavas, who constantly mock his lowly
status and who are the enemies of his benefactor and best friend,
Duryodhana. Before the war, Karna has the option to switch to
the opposite side, where as the eldest of the Pandavas, he would
become the rightful heir to Pandu and the first of Draupadi’s
husbands. But Karna chooses to stay loyal to the Kauravas.
During the war at Kuru-kshetra, everyone and everything turns

You and I have been here before 45

we have played roles in them. We must not assume that the story
we encounter, experience or remember is the only story in the
world. Our lives are the outcomes of roles performed in other
stories. Even if we don’t remember those stories or those roles, we
cannot escape their consequences.

‘Arjuna, when I take form, particles of myself form the

various beings in this world and I draw the mind and the
senses to me. It is I who experience the world through
the senses. When I lose form, I carry memories of these
experiences to the next form, just as the breeze carries
fragrances. The wise see me enjoying and transporting
myself so. The unwise don’t.’—Bhagavad Gita: Chapter
15, verses 7 to 10 (paraphrased).

Past Present Future

Karmic baggage

Impact of Past on Present and Present on Future

At a social level, the idea of rebirth expands the canvas of

our lives and brings perspective. It reminds us that the world
existed before us and the world will exist after us. Like us, many
people have sought to change the world and make it better, even
perfect, but while changes do take place technologically, no real
change takes place psychologically—people are still jealous and

48 My Gita
 Vishnu

(churn)

Deva Asura
(Tug-of-war)

Deva, Asura and Vishnu

In the Ramayana, Vishnu encounters Ravana, who refuses

to give up Sita, even if it means the death of his son and his
brother, and the burning of his kingdom. In the Mahabharata,
Vishnu encounters Yudhishtira, who gambles away his kingdom,
his brothers, his wife, even his own identity, rather than simply
accept defeat. He encounters Duryodhana, who would rather
plunge his family into a war that will kill millions than give
up a ‘needlepoint of land’. There is pride, jealousy, rage and the
rationalization of all desires. These patterns are neverending, and
can be experienced in every society, at all times.
Creation of
Search for physical,
food and emotional,
meaning intellectual
property

Fear Rules
Boundaries

Violation Conflict Judgement

Darshan Breaks the Cycle

50 My Gita
 Vishnu

(churn)

Deva Asura
(Tug-of-war)

Deva, Asura and Vishnu

In the Ramayana, Vishnu encounters Ravana, who refuses

to give up Sita, even if it means the death of his son and his
brother, and the burning of his kingdom. In the Mahabharata,
Vishnu encounters Yudhishtira, who gambles away his kingdom,
his brothers, his wife, even his own identity, rather than simply
accept defeat. He encounters Duryodhana, who would rather
plunge his family into a war that will kill millions than give
up a ‘needlepoint of land’. There is pride, jealousy, rage and the
rationalization of all desires. These patterns are neverending, and
can be experienced in every society, at all times.
Creation of
Search for physical,
food and emotional,
meaning intellectual
property

Fear Rules
Boundaries

Violation Conflict Judgement

Darshan Breaks the Cycle

50 My Gita
 b ir t h
of re
h
at
P Path of
realization

World of wisdom
and immortality

The Two Paths of Rebirth and Liberation

This life is not the first time you and I have

experienced each other. We have been here
before, but we have not learned, from past
experiences, that much of life defies explanation
and control, that life always offers a second
chance and that the world existed before us and
will continue to exist after us. As long as we resist
reality, we will not discover the immortal, and go
from lifetime to lifetime, hungry for meaning and
validation.

54 My Gita
The body of a rock is different from the body of a plant, which is
different from the body of an animal, which is different from the
body of a human. And so, what a rock experiences is different from
what a plant, animal or human experiences. Human experiences
are further complicated by different modes of expression: some
humans express accurately, others imaginatively; some speak
literally and others use metaphors. Further, what is reality
for humans cannot be the reality of God. Hindu mythology
constantly refers to this four-fold division of the world—the
world of elements, plants, animals and humans. Symbolically, it
is represented by the swastika.

Humans Animals

Elements Plants

Four-fold Division of the World

The elements (bhutas)—sky, earth, wind, water and fire—

constitute the world. However, they do not experience the world,
as they do not possess organs (indriyas) to sense or respond to
what is around them. Stars, rocks and rivers are not sentient.
They move, but do not act. They do not seek opportunities or
avoid threats. They do not feel or think. If they do, we do not
know, as they cannot express themselves, or at least we cannot
fathom their responses. They do not seem to experience death,
as they do not demonstrate any struggle for life. Even fire, that
needs fuel to survive, does not seek out fuel. It simply dies out

56 My Gita
the world feels) or sensory experiences (what is actually sensed)
is unique to human beings and unique for every human being.
Your reality is different from my reality, because your body is
different, your filters are different, your experiences are different,
your knowledge is different.
Krishna experiences every slice (bhaga) of reality, that of
elements, plants, animals as well as humans. That is why he is
called God (bhaga-van) in The Gita.

Arjuna, know that I am the sun, the moon, the fire.

I am the sap that makes plants blossom. I am the
digestive fire and breath of animals. I eat. I think,
remember, understand and forget as humans do. I am
the transmitter, the teacher, the scholar and the wise.
I am the perishable and the imperishable. And that
which supports both.—Bhagavad Gita: Chapter 15,
verses 12 to 18 (paraphrased).
Manava (human)
Chara
Jiva Pashu (animal)

World Achara (plant)

Ajiva (elements)

Many Bodies in Nature

In Vedanta, the body is visualized as a series of containers. The

flesh is the outermost container and is made up of the senses. It
is composed of food and serves as food, and so it is called the
container of food (anna-kosha). It is animated by the container
of breath (prana-kosha). Within are the container of thoughts

58 My Gita
(mana-kosha), the container of beliefs (vi-gyana-kosha or
buddhi-kosha) and finally the container of emotions (chitta-
kosha). In plants, there are only the containers of the flesh and
the breath. In animals, there are the containers of the flesh,
breath and emotions. In some animals there is also the container
of thoughts, influencing emotions. Only in humans is found the
container of beliefs, ideas that humans use to make sense of the
world around. Our thoughts and beliefs shape our emotions; our
emotions also determine our thoughts and beliefs.

th Ton
Mou g ue
s
nd

Sk
in
Ha

Emotion
Feet Eyes
(Chitta)
i)
Int

dh

llig
ence (Bud
e

m s
ag na
I

inat
ion (Ma
se
An

Se
No

a)
us

nsa
tion (Indriy
Gen
ital Ears

Response organs Sense organs

(Karma-indriya) (Gyana-indriya)

Five Containers of the Body

These five containers create three realities: sensory reality that

depends on the flesh (indriyas), emotional reality that depends
on the heart (chitta) and conceptual reality that depends on
imagination (manas) and intelligence (buddhi). Elements
(bhutas) inhabit none of these realities. Plants (a-chara) inhabit

You and I experience life differently 59

the sensory reality. Higher animals (chara) inhabit the emotional
reality as well. But only humans (manavas) inhabit all three.

Truth

Reality Myth Fantasy

Everybody’s truth Somebody’s truth Nobody’s truth

Sensory Emotional Conceptual

experience experience experience

Physical world Psychological world

Three Realities

What distinguishes humans from the rest of nature is our

ability to imagine reality. We can conjure up the opposite of
what we experience. While the senses experience pain, our mind
can imagine happiness. While the senses experience pleasure,
our mind can imagine sorrow. While the senses experience form,
our mind can imagine formlessness. While the senses experience
finiteness, our mind can imagine infiniteness. While the senses
experience mortality, our mind can imagine immortality.
Imagination helps us create concepts, which filter our sensory
inputs and ultimately impact our emotional experience. Thus,
we can imagine a rock or river to be a deity and so condition
ourselves to feel joyful whenever we encounter that rock or
river. Our emotional experiences can also inform and shape our
concepts. So, when a rock or river gives us joy in some way, we
declare it must be a deity. Concepts therefore help us rationalize
emotions; emotions help us rationalize concepts—it is a two-
way process.

60 My Gita
 Rational filter

Sensory Imagined Emotional

experience concepts state

Sensory Emotional Imagined

experience state concepts

Rationalization

Mental Processes

When presented with the same stimuli, all plants and animals
of the same species usually respond in a similar way. Variations
are few, and mostly in higher animals. However, the same set
of stimuli is read differently by different humans who harbour
different concepts. This is why Dhritarashtra, Duryodhana
and Arjuna respond to the battleground of Kuru-kshetra very
differently. The journey from human to divine is to achieve
conceptual clarity and appreciate the world as it is, while
empathizing with how others perceive it.
But are concepts real? Are they not products of the
imagination? How can we value imagination?
This distinguishing of the imaginary from the real overlooks
the fact that humans are humans because of the ability to
imagine. All the things that we value—justice, equality, free
speech, human rights—are actually concepts churned out of
imagination, just like ideas such as God, heaven, hell, rebirth and
immortality. We may classify these ideas as secular or religious,
rational or supernatural, value one over the other, but they are
essentially creations of humans, by humans, for humans. They are
artificial constructions, not natural phenomena. They have no
independent existence outside humans.

You and I experience life differently 61

 Even our identity (aham) is essentially how we imagine
ourselves, a concept. Nature does not care for our tribal roots,
our social structures or our cultural hierarchies. It does not
care for how we qualify our actions or judge each other. Yet our
identity matters to us, as do our concepts, because we are human.
Our concepts establish our humanity and help us cope with the
terror of nature and biology.
Cultural ideas enforced through authority

God Property
Heaven Justice Based on
Based on the
Hell Equality material reality
supernatural
Rebirth Nation
Soul

Imagined Concepts

That Arjuna grants himself an identity (Pandava, Kaunteya,

Kuru), gives meaning to people around him (friends and family),
ascribes value to his action (good or bad) and predicts its
reactions (collapse of society) stems from his ability to imagine,
construct or inherit boundaries and inhabit conceptual spaces. It
is an indicator of his humanity.

Arjuna, the senses exist beyond the physical;

mind beyond the senses; intelligence beyond the
mind. Beyond intelligence is your sense of self. By
knowing who you really are you will conquer all
yearning.—Bhagavad Gita: Chapter 3, verses 42 and 43
(paraphrased).

62 My Gita
 The conceptual reality of Krishna—where immortality is a
fact—makes him function without fear, and gain insight about
life without imposing the filter of conflict. The conceptual reality
of Dhritarashtra and Duryodhana—where victimhood is a fact—
makes them function in rage, imagine persecution and harbour
an intense desire to change the world. Which imagination is the
appropriate one?
Science does not share The Gita’s enthusiasm about
imagination. Science values the finite, the measurable entity,
while The Gita values the infinite (ananta) and the immortal
(nitya), which are unmeasurable concepts.
The reality constructed by science is dependent on measuring
instruments. However, it is easier to measure things than feelings.
This is why physics, chemistry and biology are considered ‘pure’
sciences, while psychology is considered a ‘pseudo’ or ‘imperfect’
science. We can at best use bodily responses to emotions to
understand the functioning of the mind, as neuropsychology
and behavioural science tend to do.
The humanities, subjects such as sociology, history, economics,
management and politics, which involve humans, are no longer
called ‘social sciences’ because while the data may be computed
scientifically, the analysis is invariably influenced by the prejudice
of the analyst, the philosophy he subscribes to and the concepts
he believes to be true.

Imperfect Psychology
Physics Pure (partly Sociology
Chemistry (measurable) Science measurable) Anthropology
Biology No human bias Influenced Economics
by bias Politics

Classification of Sciences

You and I experience life differently 63

 That being said, concepts do play a key role in science,
especially mathematics. Zero (shunya) and infinity (ananta)
are called imagined numbers, because their existence cannot be
proven in material reality. I can show you one tree, two trees,
three trees, but I cannot show you ‘zero trees’ or ‘infinite trees’.
These have to be imagined.
Civilizations existed and thrived without the knowledge
of these concepts for centuries. Buddhist, Jain and Hindu
philosophers of India conceived both infinity and zero over
two thousand years ago in their attempt to understand both
the psychological and the physical world. The hermits preferred
the concept of withdrawal into oblivion, hence zero, while the
householders preferred the concept of embracing everything,
hence infinity. Today, zero and infinity play a key role in
calculus and help scientists around the world solve technological
problems of the real world.
Imaginary Real Imaginary
number number number

Nirvana Jiva Brahma-nirvana

Oblivion Life Union
(conceptual) (material) (conceptual)

Concepts in Philosophy and Math

Like infinity and zero, immortality is also a concept. By

introducing it, Krishna increases the canvas of Arjuna’s experience
and expands the denominator of his existence. It makes him look
at life differently—this life is not the only life we live; it is but one
of many lives; our actions have infinite consequences; we have
limitless choices, if we open our mind to them. Thus, a shift in

64 My Gita
imagination brings about a dramatic shift in identity, meaning,
value, assumptions and aspirations.

Arjuna, people worship limited deities, limited as

they are by their nature and their yearnings. From me
comes their faith. From me comes fulfilment of their
faith. The restricted stay restrained. Those who shatter
the boundaries discover me: the limitless.—Bhagavad
Gita: Chapter 7, verses 20 to 23 (paraphrased).

Science

Non-measurable
Real Literal

Numbers Language

Imagined Metaphorical
Non-measurable

Concepts

Literal and Metaphorical

Those who are comfortable with imagination appreciate

metaphors and symbols. Those who are not prefer the literal. Only
through metaphors and symbols can one convey the conceptual.
Without poetry, you cannot communicate ideas that are not
material and measurable, like love, or justice or remarkability.
But The Gita recognizes that the world is made up of different
people, those who can only deal with the tangibility of mortality
and those who can deal with the intangibility of immortality

You and I experience life differently 65

Right at the start of The Gita, Krishna refers to dehi, the immortal
that dwells in the body.

Arjuna, weapons cannot pierce it, fire cannot burn

it, water cannot wet it, wind cannot dry it. It is
everywhere, at all times, fixed, immovable.—Bhagavad
Gita: Chapter 2, verses 23 and 24 (paraphrased).

Later, he refers to dehi as atma, the immortal located in the body,

but beyond the reach of the senses and the mind.

Arjuna, detached, tranquil, assured, the observer

resides in the city of nine gates.—Bhagavad Gita:
Chapter 5, Verse 13 (paraphrased).

Me You Your world

Me My mind My world

Bird Watching the Bird Eating Fruit

68 My Gita
 The Rig Veda speaks of a bird that watches another bird eating
fruit. This is a metaphor of the world (fruit), the body (bird
eating fruit) and the dehi (bird watching bird eating fruit). We
can watch others, and ourselves, seeking ‘fruit’.

Deha Dehi

Deha and Dehi

Krishna describes dehi, located inside the body, very much the
same way as he describes purusha, located inside all of nature that
surrounds the body. If dehi is within the self, purusha is within
the other.

Arjuna, prakriti is responsible for all events around you.

Purusha, resident of nature, experiences these events
as painful and pleasurable circumstances.—Bhagavad
Gita: Chapter 13, verses 20 and 21 (paraphrased).

The body we inhabit, and nature that is all around our body,
is tangible (sa-guna). What resides in our body, and in nature,
is not (nir-guna). Deha and prakriti are within the reach of the
senses; they are bound by the rules of space and time, which
means that they can be measured and are impermanent. Dehi
and purusha, however, are outside the reach of the senses, and
are not bound by rules of space and time, which means that they
cannot be measured and are permanent.
Deha is part of prakriti. But is dehi a part of purusha? Since
both are immortal and infinite, neither can be confined by space,

You and I seek meaning 69

nor can they be separated. In other words, dehi is the same as
purusha.

Arjuna, it is both in and out, inside the animate and

the inanimate, far as well as near, difficult to gauge as
it is subtle. It is not divisible yet appears divided in
separate beings. It is what brings together and creates
anew.—Bhagavad Gita: Chapter 13, verses 15 and 16
(paraphrased).

Deha is that which separates us from other entities. Dehi is

that which unites us to others. Deha establishes individuality.
Dehi establishes universality. We discover deha through analysis
(sankhya), by figuring out what isolates us from the world. We
discover dehi through synthesis (yoga), by figuring out what
connects us with the world. Arjuna’s deha is not the same as
Duryodhana’s, Arjuna’s deha is not the same as that of the horses
that pull his chariot, but the dehi in Arjuna enables him to feel
the fear and hunger in every living creature, and its absence in
non-living creatures.

Body Deha Dehi

Outside body Prakriti Purusha

Visible Not visible

Measurable Non-measurable
Sa-guna Nir-guna

Deha and Prakriti

70 My Gita
 Para-atma

Para-atma Param-atma

Jiva-atma

Wheel

Exploration of the relationship between jiva-atma and param-

atma, between dehi and deha, purusha and prakriti, bhagavan
and bhakta, has led to the many schools of Vedanta, schools that
seek the essence of the Vedas. Advaita saw no difference between
divinity and humanity; dvaita saw a complete separation; bheda-
abheda saw humanity as part of the divine.

Param-atma = Jiva-atma Advaita

Param-atma ≥ Jiva-atma Bhed–abheda

Param-atma ≠ Jiva-atma Dvaita

Different Schools of Vedanta

Many see dehi as the seed of the purusha-tree. Each seed is

separate from the tree, dependent on the tree, yet containing the
tree. This idea is expressed in a beautiful hymn on completeness
(poornamadah poornamidam) found in the Isha Upanishad:
‘This is complete, that is complete, from completeness comes
completeness, when completeness is added or subtracted, it still
remains complete.’ This hymn refers to the concept of infinity

72 My Gita
 Para-atma

Para-atma Param-atma

Jiva-atma

Wheel

Exploration of the relationship between jiva-atma and param-

atma, between dehi and deha, purusha and prakriti, bhagavan
and bhakta, has led to the many schools of Vedanta, schools that
seek the essence of the Vedas. Advaita saw no difference between
divinity and humanity; dvaita saw a complete separation; bheda-
abheda saw humanity as part of the divine.

Param-atma = Jiva-atma Advaita

Param-atma ≥ Jiva-atma Bhed–abheda

Param-atma ≠ Jiva-atma Dvaita

Different Schools of Vedanta

Many see dehi as the seed of the purusha-tree. Each seed is

separate from the tree, dependent on the tree, yet containing the
tree. This idea is expressed in a beautiful hymn on completeness
(poornamadah poornamidam) found in the Isha Upanishad:
‘This is complete, that is complete, from completeness comes
completeness, when completeness is added or subtracted, it still
remains complete.’ This hymn refers to the concept of infinity

72 My Gita
and the capability of human imagination. You are complete in
yourself; I am complete in myself; yet we are part of a wider
human narrative. Like the seed of the tree, we are part of
completeness, as well as our complete selves.

Jiva-atma

Jiva-atma
Jiva-atma

Jiva-atma

Jiva-atma

Fruits of the Param-atma Tree

So what exactly is dehi/atma/purusha? Various metaphors are

used to describe it in The Gita: the ocean that is fed by rivers
but never overflows (Chapter 2, Verse 70); the sky that is ever-
present but always detached (Chapter 13, Verse 33); the sun that
illuminates everything (Chapter 13, Verse 34). From Chapter 7
onwards, Krishna personifies the idea and starts equating himself
with dehi and purusha, using the first person. Though Krishna
sports a male form, he refers to his ‘wombs’, indicating the
metaphorical nature of the language used.

Arjuna, forms and formless are my two wombs. I am

the start and the end, the thread on which the world
is strung like jewels. Nothing else but me.—Bhagavad
Gita: Chapter 7, verses 6 and 7 (paraphrased).

You and I seek meaning 73

emotions. Emotions affect our mind and shape our concepts.
When there is conceptual clarity, we experience tranquillity
(ananda), no matter what the sensory experience is. Atma then
becomes an idea that offers conceptual clarity, that establishes
connection (yoga) with the world as it really is, not what we
imagine it to be.

Tranquility (ananda)

Conceptual clarity (atma)

Heart
Head
Body

Atma as Conceptual Clarity

In the absence of conceptual clarity, the dominant emotion

is fear, fear of losing opportunities, fear of threats, fear of
achievement, fear of abandonment, fear of invalidation. The
emotion of fear impacts the way we think and what we believe. It
contaminates the filtering of sensations and choice of responses.
It creates a vicious cycle where atma is eclipsed by aham, our
judgemental self.
Conceptual clarity draws attention to language, a key theme
of the Vedas. Many animals use language to communicate. Their
language is descriptive. Human language is used to analyse,
construct and convey complex meaning. Through sound,
image or gesture meaning is conveyed. That which is expressed
(shabda) contains layers of meaning (shabda-brahmana), some
literal, some metaphorical. These evoke multiple emotions (rasa)
and experiences (bhava). Shabda is tangible (sa-guna), shabda-

76 My Gita
brahmana is intangible (nir-guna). Only through shabda, can
shabda-brahmana be expressed and experienced. If we imagine
our body as a shabda, then we are containers of meaning.
Only thorugh our bodies can that meaning be expressed and
experienced. When Hindus say that everything around us has
atma, and bow to rocks and rivers, plants, animals, and humans,
it is an acknowledgement that everyone and everything is
meaningful and valid.
Word

Sound
Body

Meaning Identity

Atma as Meaning

Like animals that seek food for their survival, humans yearn
for meaning for their sanity: what is our value, our purpose and
our identity in this world? As long as we seek validation from
the world around us, we are entrapped by aham. As soon as we
realize that all meaning comes from within, that it is we who
make the world meaningful, we are liberated by atma.

Arjuna, this fabulous all-encompassing being who

resides within you, who is me really, and you really,
is that which observes, approves, enables and enjoys
ultimately.—Bhagavad Gita: Chapter 13, Verse 22
(paraphrased).

You and I seek meaning 77

 When we say that everything around us has atma, and we
bow to rocks and rivers, plants and animals, to people around
us, living and dead, we essentially mean that everything around
is meaningful and valid. Who decides this? The dehi within, as
well as the purusha without. We give meaning to others. We get
meaning from others. We give meaning to each other. We may
die but things continue to be meaningful, for atma never dies.
There is always someone to give meaning.
Animal Humans

Food Identity

External Internal
validation validation

Anna Aham Atma

Food and Meaning

Plants and animals, including humans, seek food.

Additionally, humans also seek meaning: the dehi
within the deha, the meaning within the word,
the soul within the body, the metaphorical within
the literal.

78 My Gita
 In nature, gravity forces movement in all things inanimate.
Plants defy gravity and grow towards the sky, propelled by the
fear of death to seek sunlight and consume it as food, along
with minerals and water pulled up by their roots. Animals graze
and hunt and migrate for food. The act of eating is violent, as
elements and plants and animals are devoured by the hungry.
Where there is life, there is hunger. Where there is hunger, there
is food. Where there is food, there is violence. Where there is
violence, there are consequences. Nature is violent, as the hungry
seek food. This is the fundamental truth of life.
In human society, violence is regulated. Forests are destroyed
to make way for fields. Riverbanks are destroyed to create dams
and canals. Natural ecosystems are wiped out to make way for
human settlements. In the Mahabharata, the Pandavas burn the
forest of Khandava-prastha to build their city of Indra-prastha.
The price is high: the resident snake people, the nagas, never
forgive them or their descendants.
In human society, violence transforms: it is not just physical.
It is also psychological, as people are stripped of their freedom,
bound by rules, located in hierarchies and restricted by
boundaries. Culture is created by domestication: the violent
control of the earth and the violent control of the human mind.
Animal For food

Violence Domestication of
nature For food
Human Culture
For identity
Domestication of
human mind

Forms of Violence

80 My Gita
 So when Arjuna wonders if it is better to withdraw from the
battle, Krishna does not endorse this apparently noble choice.
For non-violence is only possible when one gives up hunger, and
no one, not even a hermit, can give up all hunger. His body needs
nourishment and for that he needs food. The act of cultivation
of food is violent, as is the act of keeping away those who wish
to steal our food. Only the non-living (a-jiva) are non-violent
as they are not hungry. The living (sa-jiva) eat; eating involves
violence.

Arjuna, even when you do nothing, you still act. By

simply withdrawing from society, you do not get
freedom. Everyone who is born, who is alive, who is
dependent, acts, compelled to do so by nature itself. He
who controls the senses but has a mind full of cravings
is a pretender who fools himself. Do what you have
to do, rather than not doing anything at all. You need
to act if you want your body to function.—Bhagavad
Gita: Chapter 3, verses 4 to 8 (paraphrased).

The atma, resident of the body, is never hungry, and so does

not crave food, and so is not violent. It witnesses this hunger-
propelled violence, without judgement.

Fear of death Hunger Violence Consequences

Deha
(bhaya) (kshudha) (bhog) (karma)

No No No No
Dehi fear of death hunger violence karma

Hunger and No Hunger

You and I have to face consequences 81

 Arjuna, as I do not bind myself to the fruit of my
action, my actions do not entrap me.—Bhagavad Gita:
Chapter 4, Verse 14 (paraphrased).
Problem Gaze of
Gaze of Action Western
Hindu Solution mythology
mythology
New problems

Certainty of Endings

This criticality of a climax or goalpost is alien to Vedic thought.

Arjuna, those who yearn for pleasure, power and

paradise, constantly have their eye on the fruits of their
birth, their actions, their rites and rituals. They focus
on the Vedas cosmetically. They don’t see the meaning
within. They never attain wisdom.—Bhagavad Gita:
Chapter 2, verses 42 to 44 (paraphrased).

Hindu mythology sees destinations as artificial milestones.

What is natural, however, is action. Every action has a reaction,
immediate results and long-term repurcussions. Karma refers to
both action and reaction. It is cause as well as consequence. It is
stimulus as well as response.
Fruit
d
See

Past Present Future

Karma-bija and Karma-phala

You and I have to face consequences 83

 Arjuna, as I do not bind myself to the fruit of my
action, my actions do not entrap me.—Bhagavad Gita:
Chapter 4, Verse 14 (paraphrased).
Problem Gaze of
Gaze of Action Western
Hindu Solution mythology
mythology
New problems

Certainty of Endings

This criticality of a climax or goalpost is alien to Vedic thought.

Arjuna, those who yearn for pleasure, power and

paradise, constantly have their eye on the fruits of their
birth, their actions, their rites and rituals. They focus
on the Vedas cosmetically. They don’t see the meaning
within. They never attain wisdom.—Bhagavad Gita:
Chapter 2, verses 42 to 44 (paraphrased).

Hindu mythology sees destinations as artificial milestones.

What is natural, however, is action. Every action has a reaction,
immediate results and long-term repurcussions. Karma refers to
both action and reaction. It is cause as well as consequence. It is
stimulus as well as response.
Fruit
d
See

Past Present Future

Karma-bija and Karma-phala

You and I have to face consequences 83

world where no one is trustworthy, a world where no boundaries
are valid, where no commitment is sacred, and where integrity
has no value. So he concludes his action is paap: karma that will
result in misfortune. He considers not fighting family as punya:
karma that will result in fortune. But Krishna points out that it
is difficult to distinguish between action that is meritorious and
action that is not.

Arjuna, there is appropriate action, incorrect action

and inaction, difficult to distinguish. The wise can spot
action in inaction and inaction in action. The wise act
without clinging to the results of action, are content
with whatever is the outcome, and so are unburdened
by merit or demerit.—Bhagavad Gita: Chapter 4, verses
17 to 22 (paraphrased).

Elements Plants / animals Humans

Motion Instinctive action Imagine stimuli

to find opportunity and Choice of response
avoid threat
Inaction Action
Judgement
Good Bad

Action of Various Entities

In the Ramayana, for example, Dashratha keeps his word to

Kaikeyi and agrees to give her the two boons she is entitled to.
Integrity is good. But the result is the exile of Ram. That is bad.
A reaction may be good in the short term but not in the long

You and I have to face consequences 85

term. In the Bhagvata Purana, Krishna kills Kansa, the dictator
of Mathura. This is good. But Kansa’s enraged father-in-law,
Jarasandha, burns Mathura to the ground. This is not good. An
apparently good action can have a bad reaction. In the Ramayana,
Sita goes out of her way to feed a hermit and ends up getting
kidnapped. Likewise, an apparently bad action can also have
good results. In the Mahabharata, the burning of the Khandava-
prastha forest, which kills many forest creatures, enables the
building of the Pandava kingdom of Indra-prastha.
Good Good
Sex
Celibacy
Action Reaction
Violence
Non-violence
Bad Bad

Karma

The complexity of karma is demonstrated in the following

Telugu folk tale based on the Mahabharata: a little girl was
drinking milk from a pot when Karna’s chariot rolled past.
Startled, she dropped the pot. The pot broke and the earth
soaked up the milk. The girl began to cry. Karna saw this,
stopped the chariot and decided to get the milk back for the
little girl. He took the moist earth in his hand and squeezed
out the milk in the pot, much to the girl’s astonishment and
delight. Everyone praised the great warrior. Thus, Karna’s action
yielded an expected output. But the outcome was unpredictable.
The earth was furious that Karna had squeezed milk out of her.
She swore that one day she would take her revenge. So on the
battlefield of Kuru-kshetra, she grabbed hold of Karna’s chariot
wheel, squeezing it as hard as he had squeezed her, forcing him to

86 My Gita
alight and pull the wheel free. And while he was thus distracted,
with his back to the enemy, he was shot dead. His blood fell on
the ground and the earth soaked it all up. Karna’s action thus
had two reactions, an immediate one and a subsequent one. The
immediate one was perceivable. The subsequent one was not.
The latter reaction created the circumstances of Karna’s death.

Action 2

Action 1 Short term Long term

(Result) (Repercussions)
Choice

Stimulus Circumstances

Sequence of Cause and Consequence

In the Hindu scheme of things, circumstances are not created

accidentally, or by others, but by our own actions of the past. We
can appreciate this by analysing the Ramayana. Who is responsible
for Sita’s abduction by Ravana? Should we blame her for taking
a risk and feeding a hermit? Should we blame Lakshmana who
cruelly cut the nose of Ravana’s sister Surpanakha? Or should
we blame Surpanakha who tried to kill Sita so that her husband,
Ram, would be free to love other women? Should we blame
Ram who refused to indulge Surpanakha’s desires because he
wanted to be faithful to his wife? Or should we blame Sita for
accompanying Ram into the forest where rules of marriage have
no meaning? Should we blame Ram’s stepmother, Kaikeyi, for
demanding his forest exile? Or should we blame Ram’s father,
Dashratha, for giving boons to Kaikeyi that the royal family was
bound to uphold? Even if we identify the cause, can we control

You and I have to face consequences 87

 Dharma is popularly translated as ‘righteousness’, which
involves following punya and shunning paap. It has also come to
mean religion, which is essentially about rules that come from a
supernatural or superhuman source. So much so that today verses
from The Gita are often translated using the tone of a judge and
saviour, similar to that in Western mythologies. It appeals to our
yearning for a hero. So, verses 7 and 8 of Chapter 4 are typically
translated as, ‘Arjuna, in age after age, whenever humanity forgets
the righteous way, and functions in unrighteous ways, I manifest
to save the good and punish the bad, to restore order in the
world.’ Such a translation, full of moral outrage, makes no sense
to one with a perspective of infinity, who subscribes to the idea of
karma, and so acts without an eye on any particular outcome. So
we need to revisit the traditional meanings of dharma.
Hero Saviour Avatar

Kills oppressor Reforms villain Evokes humanity

in everyone
+
Sees no one as
oppressor or villain

Hero, Saviour and Avatar

In Jainism, dharma refers to natural movement that stabilizes

nature; adharma is artificial stillness that destabilizes nature. In
Buddhism, dharma is the path that helps us accept the transitory
nature of all things, including the self. In Hinduism, dharma
means realizing our potential: changing ourselves into the best
we theoretically can be. What is that?
Humans are the only living creatures who can expand their
mind and see the world from another’s point of view. This ability

90 My Gita
enables humans to empathize, to care for the other. To empathize
is dharma. Failure to empathize is adharma. With this definition
in mind, the above verse can be translated very differently:

‘Arjuna, in age after age, whenever humanity forgets

its potential and functions as it should not, I manifest
to inspire those with faith and shake up those without
faith, so that humanity never ever forgets what it is
capable of.’—Bhagavad Gita: Chapter 4, verses 7 and 8
(paraphrased).

In any situation, plants and animals think only of themselves,

their hunger and fear. At best they may think of the hunger and
fear of their young ones, or that of their herd and pack. Dogs
do think of their masters, but only their masters, no one else.
They are driven by the instinct of self-preservation and self-
propagation. They do not have the wherewithal to function in
any other way. Humans, however, can sense other people’s, even
strangers’, hunger and fear, and create resources to provide for
and protect others. It is the one thing that makes humans special.
The Gita Modern thought

Intent Action Objective

For whom? For what?
Self (adharma) Wealth
or Power
Self + other (dharma) Revolution

Role of Empathy in Action

Plants and animals do not help others consciously. They

cannot help, because they simply do not have the neurological

You and I can empathize 91

wherewithal to do so: the enlarged neo-cortex that only humans
have (we can imagine otherwise though, as we often do in fables or
on anecdotal evidence). They do not expect help either. Humans
can help and expect to be helped, which comes from the ability
to imagine and respond to other people’s suffering. Animals have
no choice but to follow their instinct. Humans do have a choice.
When we do exercise our choice, when we value other people’s
needs alongside our own, we are following dharma. When we
stay focussed on our own needs at the cost of others’, we are doing
adharma.
Animal Human

Instinctively focussed on Imaginatively comes up

self-preservation or with resources to also
self-propagation support others

Empathy

In nature, plants and animals use their strength and size and
cunning to survive. This is called ‘matsya nyaya’, literally ‘fish
justice’, which means the same thing as ‘jungle law’ in English—
might is right, survival of the fittest. But words like justice and law
are human concepts that we impose on nature to make sense of
it. Justice and law presuppose the existence of a judicial system of
judges and lawyers; in nature, there is no such system. Forces and
counter-forces within nature ensure self-regulation. Dominating
the weak, consuming the weak, in order to survive, is the way of
animals. For them, it is instinct, not aspiration. When humans
display animal behaviour, such as domination and territoriality,
it is adharma, as they are indulging the self.
In the Ramayana, when Hanuman is crossing the sea, Surasa,

92 My Gita
a sea monster, blocks his path. Hanuman begs her to let him
go as he is on a mission. The sea monster does not understand.
Realizing that the creature is unable to appreciate his situation
and is blinded by hunger, Hanuman increases his size, forcing
Surasa to open her mouth really wide. Hanuman then quickly
reduces himself to the size of a fly, darts into Surasa’s mouth and
slips out before she can snap her wide jaws shut. In this story,
Surasa is no villain for blocking Hanuman’s path and Hanuman
is no hero for outsmarting Surasa. In nature, there are only
hungry predators and their food, the prey; villains and heroes are
human perceptions.

I am not a victim. I am not a villain.

I am prey. I am predator.

Big Fish and Small Fish

In nature, every creature has to fend for itself. There are no

rules in the jungle. Rules exist only in human culture to restrain
the strong and enable the weak. Ram submits to these cultural
rules; Ravana does not. However, in the Mahabharata, despite
rules, the way of the jungle thrives. In fact, rules are exploited
to further domination and territoriality. At Kuru-kshetra, a

You and I can empathize 93

hundred Kaurava brothers use the might of their eleven armies
to twist rules and deny the five Pandava brothers, who have
only seven armies, access to Indra-prastha, which is Pandava
land and their livelihood. The Pandavas cannot afford to burn
another Khandava-prastha, destroy more forests and ecosystems,
to create another city simply to accommodate the Kauravas’
greed. Besides, there are no guarantees that the Kauravas will
not crave that new city too. Withdrawal would mean starvation
for the Pandavas, and legitimization of the Kauravas’ bullying.
The Pandavas act according to dharma—they have no choice
but to fight for their survival, as no one empathizes with them,
no one even accepts their offer of compromise. The Kauravas,
though, practise adharma as they could have empathized, shared,
compromised and prevented the war, but they choose not to.

Pandavas Kauravas
5 Brothers 100 Brothers
7 Armies 11 Armies
Have no other source of livelihood Can let go or share
Willing to compromise for peace Will not let go or share
Will not compromise for peace

Kuru-kshetra

Cannot be expected to Have built no city of

burn another forest for their own
building another city

Matysa-nyaya in Kuru-kshetra

The Gita acknowledges the diversity and dynamism of the

world. Everyone is born with a different capability (varna): some

94 My Gita
advise society (Brahmins), some protect society (Kshatriyas),
some feed society (Vaishyas) and some serve society (Shudras).
Everyone has to go through different stages of life (ashrama):
a student (brahmacharya), a householder (grihastha), a retired
person (vanaprastha) and a hermit (sanyasa). The Puranas tell us
that society is constantly changing; every culture goes through
four phases (yuga) moving from innocence (Krita) to maturity
(Treta) to struggle (Dvapara) to decay (Kali). How does one
uphold dharma in different contexts?
Typically people come up with rules—traditions (riti) and
laws (niti), and equate them with dharma. Compliance then
becomes dharma and non-compliance adharma. But things are
not so simple. What matters more than action is intent, which is
not tangible, hence rather invisible.

Varna Ashrama Yuga

Brahmin Brahmacharya Krita
Kshatriya Grihastha Treta
Vaishya Vanaprastha Dwapara
Shudra Sanyasa Kali

Diversity Dynamism

Diversity and Dynamism

Rules vary with context. In the Ramayana, which takes place

in Treta yuga, Vishnu is Ram, eldest son of a royal family. In
the Mahabharata, which takes place in Dvapara yuga, Vishnu
is Krishna, youngest son of a noble family, who is raised by
cowherds but who performs as a charioteer. They are expected
to behave differently. Ram is obligated to follow the rules of the

You and I can empathize 95

serves as a lawyer to defend their stance.
But while Ravana and Duryodhana judge, Ram and Krishna
never do so. They never complain or justify. Ram does not justify
the mutilation of Surpankha (karma-bija) and silently accepts
the end of his happiness that follows (karma-phala), for after
that event Sita is kidnapped, and even after her rescue, the two
are separated thanks to gossip. Krishna does not resist when
the killing of the Kauravas (karma-bija) causes their mother
Gandhari to blame and curse Krishna and his family (karma-
phala).

Krishna Rama
Empathy
Ravana Duryodhana

Rules

Dharma Versus Riti and Niti

Vishnu is not angry with Ravana or Duryodhana or

Duryodhana’s commanders, for he can see the roots of their self-
obsession and psychological blindness. These come from a sense
of isolation and abandonment. They feel they have to fend for
themselves and there is no one who can help them; and so, rather
than realize their human potential, they regress to their animal
nature, focussing on outrunning imagined predators, fending off
imagined rivals and consuming imagined prey. When humans
behave as animals do, despite the human ability to outgrow
animal nature, it is adharma. It evokes compassion in Vishnu.
For him, the villainy of Ravana and Duryodhana is viparit-
bhakti, reverse love, born of hunger, fear and a yearning for love.

You and I can empathize 97

Krishna declares that the only action worth doing is yagna.
Yagna refers to the Vedic fire ritual, 4,000 years old, nowadays
abbreviated to the havan.

Arjuna, all actions other than yagna entrap us. Yagna

alone liberates us.—Bhagavad Gita: Chapter 3, Verse 9
(paraphrased).

The association of yagna with a battle seems strange. However,

in The Gita Krishna looks upon it as a metaphor, indicative of
relationships. To appreciate this, we have to look at the basics of
a yagna.
He who initiates the yagna is called the yajamana. He invokes
a deity (devata) and offers him food (bhog) exclaiming, ‘Svaha!’,
meaning, ‘This of mine I give you’. He hopes that the invoked
deity will give him what he desires (prasad), exclaiming,
‘Tathastu!’ or ‘So be it’. This indicates an exchange.

Devata
Gets then gives
Is invoked
Yajamana
Gives then gets
Invokes

Yagna

Yagna is a very special form of exchange, where we can give

and hope to receive. It is give and get, not give and take. When

100 My Gita
we take without giving, we become the oppressors. When we
give and don’t get, we become the oppressed. Feeding the other
is dharma. Not expecting reciprocation is nishkama karma.

Arjuna, the wise define renunciation as giving up action

and detachment as giving up expectation.—Bhagavad
Gita: Chapter 18, Verse 2 (paraphrased).
Svaha
Bhog
Yajamana Devata
Tathastu
Prasad

Yagna

The yagna is mentioned in the first verse (rig) of the first hymn
(sukta) of the first book (mandala) of the collection (samhita)
known as Rig Veda because it is a reminder of our humanity. No
animal feeds another except its own offspring; at best, its pack or
herd. Humans can feed everyone around them. Humans can also
return the favour. To trade is a very unique human phenomenon.
Trading behaviour has been documented in chimpanzees and
vampire bats, but nothing on the human scale.
Exchange creates a network of expectations and obligations.
Yagna thus is the cornerstone of sanskriti (culture). This idea
echoes the sentiment of modern economists who see the market
as the foundation of society.
When humans began exchanging, we stepped out of the animal
world. From exchange came ideas of mutuality, reciprocity,
expectation, obligation, debt and balancing accounts that shaped
culture. Yagna is a ritual reminder of this very human ability.

You and I can exchange 101

 Arjuna, way back, Brahma created humans through
yagna and declared that yagna will satisfy all human
needs. Use yagna to satisfy the other and the other
will satisfy you. If you take without giving, you are a
thief. Those who feed others and eat leftovers are free
of all misery. Those who cook for themselves are always
unhappy. Humans need food. Food needs rain. Rain
needs exchange. Exchange needs action. Exchange
began with divinity, that primal spark of humanity.
Those who indulge themselves, those who do not repay
it backwards, as well as pay it forward, break the chain,
are miserable and spread misery.—Bhagavad Gita:
Chapter 3, verses 10 to 16 (paraphrased).

In the Kalpa-sutras, which elaborate Vedic household rituals,

the yajamana is advised to perform five yagnas (pancha-yagna)
to feed everyone around: the self, the other, family, birds and
animals and ancestors. When we do that, the boundary between
family and stranger is removed. As the Upanishads say: the whole
world becomes family (vasudaivah kutumbakam).
Self

Ancestors Family

Animals
Birds Other

Yagna for Relationships

102 My Gita
 There will be no confusion.—Bhagavad Gita: Chapter
4, verses 26 to 35 (paraphrased).

In Puranic lore, he who gives upon getting is a deva; he who

seeks retrieval of what he thinks has been stolen is an asura; he
who grabs, takes without giving, is a rakshasa; he who hoards is a
yaksha! He who does not participate in the yagna, does not give
or want to get, is a shramana or tapasvi, the hermit, much feared
in the Puranas as the cause of drought, hence starvation. Within
us is the yajamana, the devata, the asura, the rakshasa, the yaksha
and the shramana. They manifest in different interactions.
Deva: Entitled

Asura: Invaders / Deprived

Brahma’s Rakshasa: Grabs

sons

Yaksha: Hoards

Tapasvi: Withdraws

Brahma’s Sons

Once, as Shiva was passing by a yagna-shala, where a yagna was

being conducted, the wives of the yajamanas, the yagna-patnis,
ran after him, begging him to satisfy them. The yajamanas got
upset and created, out of the yagna, a whole bunch of monsters.
Shiva destroyed all the monsters and then began to dance. He
used various gestures of his hands and feet to convey the wisdom
of the yagna that escaped the yajamanas, that the yagna existed

You and I can exchange 105

 Animal nourishment Human nourishment

Food Food, clothing, shelter (material)

Emotions, ideas (psychological)

Different Types of Yagna Food

A wish (sankalpa) always precedes a yagna. It is about asking

for whom are we performing the action: for the benefit of the self
(aham) or the benefit of the other (para)? Who is the beneficiary
(aradhya)? And who is merely the instrument (nimitta)? In
nishkama karma, the devata is the aradhya and the yajamana is
the nimitta.
Desire, Beneficiary
obligation (aradhya)
or or instrument
affection (nimitta)

Yajamana Devata

Expectation
or
acceptance

Approach to Exchange

In the Ramayana, disruption happens because characters

act for their own pleasure at the cost of others and resolution
follows when Vishnu acts for the pleasure of others, not his
own. It is Dasharatha’s desire for sons, Kaikeyi’s desire for the
kingdom, Surpanakha’s desire for pleasure and Ravana’s desire for
domination that cause disruption. Ram works not for his personal
happiness, but the happiness of Ayodhya. In the Mahabharata, it

You and I can exchange 107

 Animal nourishment Human nourishment

Food Food, clothing, shelter (material)

Emotions, ideas (psychological)

Different Types of Yagna Food

A wish (sankalpa) always precedes a yagna. It is about asking

for whom are we performing the action: for the benefit of the self
(aham) or the benefit of the other (para)? Who is the beneficiary
(aradhya)? And who is merely the instrument (nimitta)? In
nishkama karma, the devata is the aradhya and the yajamana is
the nimitta.
Desire, Beneficiary
obligation (aradhya)
or or instrument
affection (nimitta)

Yajamana Devata

Expectation
or
acceptance

Approach to Exchange

In the Ramayana, disruption happens because characters

act for their own pleasure at the cost of others and resolution
follows when Vishnu acts for the pleasure of others, not his
own. It is Dasharatha’s desire for sons, Kaikeyi’s desire for the
kingdom, Surpanakha’s desire for pleasure and Ravana’s desire for
domination that cause disruption. Ram works not for his personal
happiness, but the happiness of Ayodhya. In the Mahabharata, it

You and I can exchange 107

all using yoga.

Arjuna, practise yoga with conviction and without

dismay, for it will connect you with that from which you
are disconnected, and unhook you from your sorrow.
—Bhagavad Gita: Chapter 6, Verse 23 (paraphrased).
Sankhya Yoga

part

Analysis Synthesis
(whole into parts) (parts into whole)

Analysis and Synthesis

Nature is full of discrete units: planets, stars, rocks, rivers,

plants, animals and humans. These units are naturally drawn
together or pulled apart by certain forces of attraction or
repulsion. In the physical world, these forces have been observed
at inter-planetary as well as sub-atomic levels. In the biological
world, they manifest as animals seeking opportunity, such as food
and mates, and shunning threats, such as rivals and predators.
This attraction (raga) and repulsion (dvesha) is part of life.
Dvesha

Raga

Raga–Dvesha

You and I withdraw in fear 111

all using yoga.

Arjuna, practise yoga with conviction and without

dismay, for it will connect you with that from which you
are disconnected, and unhook you from your sorrow.
—Bhagavad Gita: Chapter 6, Verse 23 (paraphrased).
Sankhya Yoga

part

Analysis Synthesis
(whole into parts) (parts into whole)

Analysis and Synthesis

Nature is full of discrete units: planets, stars, rocks, rivers,

plants, animals and humans. These units are naturally drawn
together or pulled apart by certain forces of attraction or
repulsion. In the physical world, these forces have been observed
at inter-planetary as well as sub-atomic levels. In the biological
world, they manifest as animals seeking opportunity, such as food
and mates, and shunning threats, such as rivals and predators.
This attraction (raga) and repulsion (dvesha) is part of life.
Dvesha

Raga

Raga–Dvesha

You and I withdraw in fear 111

 Yoga enables us to be aware of these natural forces of attraction
and repulsion, and not be swept away by them. Krishna equates
the senses to cows (indriya-go-chara) that graze on the pasture
made of various kinds of stimuli. Yoga turns our mind into the
cowherd who determines what the senses should or should not
graze upon. Thus, yoga has much to do with the mind, and it
complements yagna that has much to do with society. Yagna is
the outer journey, while yoga is the inner journey that Arjuna has
to undertake.

Yoga Me Yagna
My mind You
(introspection) (action)

Yoga and Yagna

Arjuna feels that if he withdraws from the battle, all problems

will be resolved and there will be peace. However, not fighting
a war does not tackle the underlying hunger and fear. It simply
denies and suppresses the hunger and fear and the consequent
rage, which then ends up festering secretly as people ‘pretend’,
awaiting to explode more intensely at a later date. Outer peace
does not guarantee inner peace. Further, it does not take into
consideration the other’s thoughts and feelings. Arjuna’s desire
for peace, howsoever noble, may not be shared by Bhima or
Duryodhana, who are ready for war. Forcing his noble view on
them would be judgement, devoid of empathy, hence adharma.
Arjuna may not want to do yagna, but he cannot stop others from
doing so. Our decision to act or not act cannot be insensitive to
the feelings of those around us. Hence, any discussion on yagna
is complemented with discussions on yoga. While yagna focusses

112 My Gita
on tangible giving and getting, yoga focusses on discovering
intangible thoughts and emotions of the yajamana as well as the
devata, the boundaries that we create and use to include some as
family and exclude others as enemy.

Arjuna, your mind is your friend and your enemy. If

you control the mind, it is your friend. If your mind
controls you, it is your enemy.—Bhagavad Gita:
Chapter 6, verses 5 and 6 (paraphrased).
Yajamana Devata
Svaha
Hunger Hunger
Tathastu

Mind of the Yajamana and the Devata

The value of the mind slowly amplifies as The Gita progresses.

In Chapter 3 of The Gita, Arjuna asks whether Krishna values
knowledge over action. Krishna replies that he values informed
action. In Chapter 5 of The Gita, Arjuna asks if Krishna values
action over renunciation. Krishna replies that he values detached
action. Informing the mind about the exchange and detaching
action from the expectation of results demand that Arjuna take
an inner journey.

Arjuna, the exchange of knowledge is greater than

the exchange of things for ultimately all exchange
culminates in the mind.—Bhagavad Gita: Chapter 4,
Verse 33 (paraphrased).

You and I withdraw in fear 113

dhyana, we become attentive and focussed. With samadhi, we go
further within, experience our emotions and discover fear!

Steps
Yama
Niyama
Asana
Pranayam
Pratyahara
Dharana
Dhyana
Samadhi
Relationship

Perspective
Discipline

Regulate

Physical
Empathy
Activity

Posture

Mental

Body
Focus

Social
Block

Emotions
Intelligence

Mind
Senses
Breath
Flesh
Self
Other

Container

Patanjali's Yoga

Fear (bhaya) is a neuro-biological fact. It is the first emotion

that manifests with the arrival of life. It is a critical emotion,
essential in the struggle for life. For it evokes hunger (kshudha)
and makes the organism seek food (bhog) to nourish itself.
Fear of death by starvation makes trees grow, seek out and
grab sunlight as well as water and nutrients from the soil, so

You and I withdraw in fear 115

crumpled, hence connected, is referred to as atma. Yoga is about
un-crumpling and reconnecting, moving from aham to atma.
Pain Knots/Twists
Pleasure caused by
memory

Aham Atma

Aham to Atma

The Gita reveals a familiarity with all the practices referred to

in the Yoga-sutra. Krishna speaks of using the breath to make the
journey from the outside to the inside.

Arjuna, ignore the onslaught of external stimuli and

focus between your eyebrows, regulating inhalation
and exhalation at the nostrils, to liberate yourself
from fear, desire and anger, and discover me within
you, I who receive and consume every offering of your
yagnas.—Bhagavad Gita: Chapter 5, verses 27 to 29
(paraphrased).

There is reference to meditation in The Gita: sitting still and

calming the mind until one’s breath is natural and rhythmic.

Arjuna, sit still on a mat that is neither too high nor too
low. Your head, neck and back aligned, still your senses,
focus your mind, gazing at the nose-tip.—Bhagavad
Gita: Chapter 6, verses 11 to 13 (paraphrased).

The point is to make one's way through the turbulence of the

You and I withdraw in fear 117

 in wisdom.—Bhagavad Gita: Chapter 2, verses 55 to 56
(paraphrased).

This divergence from the Yoga-sutra is not surprising, as

mythological tales inform us that Patanjali was a serpent who
overheard Shiva revealing the secret of yoga to Shakti. Shiva
is a hermit. His path is suitable for the tapasvi who does not
wish to engage with the world. Krishna speaks to the yajamana,
the householder, and the whole point of yoga is to facilitate
engagement with the world. If the tapasvi is focussed on the inner
journey, and if the yajamana is focussed on the outer journey,
then the yogi takes the inner journey in order to be better at the
outer journey.

Arjuna, the yogi is far superior to a hermit who

withdraws from the world, to a scholar who understands
everything but does nothing, or a householder who
does everything without understanding.—Bhagavad
Gita: Chapter 6, Verse 46 (paraphrased).

Patanjali

You and I withdraw in fear 119

The words ‘deva’ and ‘asura’ refer to divinities in the Veda, and are
roughly translated as gods and demons, but Krishna uses them
differently. A deva is one who accepts the reality of atma; an asura
does not. Thus, Krishna sees devas and asuras not in supernatural
terms or as inherently good or evil, but as people who value the
dehi and those who don’t, respectively. The asuras are trapped
by the literal and the measurable, while the devas appreciate the
metaphorical and the non-measurable. Those who do not look
beyond the body and material reality, says Krishna, have no hope
of freedom, despite any material accomplishments.

Arjuna, those who think as devas do are eventually

liberated and those who think as asuras do are forever
trapped. Fear not, you think like a deva.—Bhagavad
Gita: Chapter 16, Verse 5 (paraphrased).

While asuras are equated with non-believers (nastikas) and

devas with believers (astika), the split is not so simple. Devas may
believe, but do they experience?
Non belief Belief Experience
(asura) (deva) (bhagavan)

Non-Belief, Belief, Experience

The Gita presents atma as a fact, hence in Chapter 17, Verse

23, the phrase ‘om tat sat’ is used, which roughly translates as
‘that which is forever true’. It is the closest we get to the definitive
article ‘the’ in Sanskrit. This fact, however, can never be measured,
therefore from a scientific point of view it can never be proven. It
can, however, be experienced (anu-bhava). Believing is a cognitive

122 My Gita
process, an acceptance of a conceptual truth. Experience is an
emotional process, the journey from the head to the heart. To
enable anu-bhava, one has to simultaneously perform the inner
journey of yoga and the outer journey of yagna.

Arjuna, those who cleanse themselves with

contemplation and meditation discover me, embrace
me, find shelter in me and are liberated from yearning,
fear and anger.—Bhagavad Gita: Chapter 4, Verse 10
(paraphrased).

Two thousand years ago, hermits (shramanas) popularized

the practice of yoga, but they did not care so much for the outer
journey of yagna. They valued the inner fire of the mind (tapa),
not the outer fire (agni) of the altar. While the word tapasya
is used interchangeably with yoga, tapasya refers to the inner
journey, while yoga refers to the inner journey that eventually
leads to an outer journey. The hermits were tapasvis, who valued
meditation and contemplation, not exchange. They can thus
be differentiated from the yogis, who valued meditation and
contemplation as well as exchange. Hermits valued withdrawal
over engagement, celibacy over marriage, isolation over union
and zero (shunya) over infinity (ananta). In other words, hermits
caused a rupture between the inner and outer journeys.
Shramana Yajamana
Tapasya Yagna
Yoga
Yogi

Rupture of the Inner and Outer Journey

You and I hesitate to trust 123

 In the Puranas, this rupture is made explicit. The devas prefer
yagna but not tapasya. The asuras prefer tapasya but not yagna.
Both are the children of Brahma. Indra, leader of the devas, who
is not committed to the inner journey, is eternally insecure: he
fears those who perform yagna and tapasya, and considers them
as rivals. So he disrupts the yagna of kings by stealing their horses.
He sends damsels known as apsaras to enchant sages immersed
in tapasya and irritates them by seducing their neglected wives.
Asuras, on the other hand, are visualized as performing tapasya
and obtaining, from Brahma, many powers that overpower
Indra. Thus, devas are portrayed as entitled, insecure beings
while asuras are portrayed as deprived, angry beings. Though
half-brothers, these sons of Brahma do not like each other: the
devas fear the asuras and the asuras hate the devas.

Insecure
Indra
Steals horse to Seeks Brahma’s
disrupt ritual help to destroy
Sends
damsel
to enchant
Powerful Powerful
king demon
Powerful
hermit

Stealing Horses, Seeking Brahma's Help and Sending Damsels

In the Vedas, the devas and asuras are celestial beings. But
in the Puranas, they are clearly rivals. The Europeans identified
asuras first as Titans, in line with Greek mythology, and later as
demons, in line with Abrahamic mythology. This causes great
confusion, as the asuras are neither ‘old gods’ nor ‘forces of evil’.

124 My Gita
rise of the ritual known as ‘puja’ that forces the devotee to look
at the divinity outside himself through images in the other, thus
enabling the yoga of the self with the world around.

Puranic
Vedic Buddhist
Period
Period Period
(Gita)
Yagna Tapasya Puja
yoga

Rediscovery of Atma

Puja

It is significant to note that the asuras seek Brahma’s boons

and the devas seek Brahma’s help. The asuras are not interested
in Brahma; only in his possessions. They perform tapasya not to
attain wisdom that takes away insecurity, but to simply acquire
powers known as siddhis. The devas are interested in Brahma and
are directed to Shiva, Vishnu and the Goddess, a calling for the
inner journey that grants wisdom, hence takes away insecurity.
But the devas do not complete this inner journey.
As the Puranas remind us repeatedly, after either of the

126 My Gita
 desire, he tumbles into a hell of conceit and envy and
rage; born again and again in similar wombs; trapped
in the same context. Seeking more, getting angry
when he does not get what he seeks and seeking more
when he gets what he seeks, he is unable to escape the
darkness and find the light of happiness.—Bhagavad
Gita: Chapter 16, verses 12 to 22 (paraphrased).

The description above seems like judgement,or a wish, but

is in fact observation: the inevitable outcome of what happens
when we believe material things will bring us satisfaction, when
we see humans as bodies who perform and accumulate, when we
see the world in technocratic terms, devoid of meaning and a
larger narrative. We expect things to give us pleasure but instead
they fuel more yearnings, thus creating addiction, which fuels
greed. We want more and more, and feel angry when we don’t
get what we desire.
Abode of devas

Akash Swarga
(sky) (heaven)

Physical Psychological
Bhu (earth)
description description

Pa-tala Naraka
(subterranean (hell)
world)

Abode of asuras

Swarga, Pa-tala and Naraka

128 My Gita
 In the Puranas, the residence of the asuras is called pa-tala, the
subterranean realm; this is where they belong, just as the devas
belong in the celestial realm, the sky above. But in The Gita,
the residence of the asuras is called naraka, or hell. Pa-tala is a
physical description but naraka is a psychological description:
lack of faith results in hopelessness and rage and hence creates
hell.
Victory over the devas does not bring the asuras satisfaction.
Victory over the asuras does not provide enlightenment to the
devas. Both are trapped in a merry-go-round, unable to break
free. Yet, Vishnu ascribes greater value to the devas over the
asuras, for the former look beyond the material, for some time
at least. Both the Pandavas and the Kauravas are fighting over
property, but at least Arjuna is listening to possibilities beyond.

Invoked

Deva wins Deva loses

Vishnu
Asura loses Asura wins

Forgotten

Cycle of Victories and Defeats

Yagna of the devas is good, as it forces us to look at the

param-atma outside. Tapasya of the asuras is good, as it makes
us discover the jiva-atma inside. But we need the two to inform
each other. Only yagna is action without understanding. Only

You and I hesitate to trust 129

and became the rulers of the world. Then came the Olympians,
the children of the Titans, who overthrew them. The Olympians
feared that the humans would overthrow them, and so kept
them in place through the Fates. But occasionally, grudgingly,
they admired a truly independent and defiant being: the hero,
whom they gave a special place in the afterlife. The pattern here
is overpowering, absorbing and appropriating the conquered.
This mythology also shaped the worldview of the Romans who
controlled the Mediterranean 2,000 years ago.

Gaia

Mother
Overthrow
Giants

Titans Overthrow

Children Olympians Overthrow

Creation Humans

Greek gods

But then 1,700 years ago, in order to unify an increasingly

divided empire, the Roman Emperor Constantine converted to
Christianity and rejected all old gods in favour of the God of
Abraham, who allowed worship of none other but Him. This
God of Abraham was the creator of the world, distinct from
the world He had created, who laid down rules of how humans
should behave if they wished to return to heaven. This idea
formed the basis of Islam as well. But the Muslims rejected the

134 My Gita
Christian claim that Jesus was the Son of God; they believed
that Jesus was a prophet, like Abraham and Moses before him,
but the final prophet who really mattered was Muhammad. The
question of who is the true prophet continues to divide those
who subscribe to Abrahamic mythology.
God
Br
ing Forg
s m ive
rld
n

De
Helps man an s m
ma

wo ba an

str
es ck
es

at

oy
e ho
h

Cr

s
me
nis

wo
Pu

rld
Genesis Original Prophets Apocalypse Rapture
sin

Commandments

Abrahamic God

The God of Abrahamic mythology is constantly described as

jealous and possessive, someone who does not tolerate false gods.
The God of Hindu mythology does not create such divisions,
and is seen present in diverse local and folk deities, who serve as
portals of a larger singular divine entity.
One can say that the Abrahamic idea of God seeks purity,
and so shuns contamination by the ‘false’, while the Hindu
idea of God seeks completeness, and so keeps including many
incomplete ideas of the divine in the journey towards infinity.
This could account for why the legacy of pre-Christian Europe,
America and Arabia has been completely wiped out or hidden,
while various Vedic, pre-Vedic, post-Vedic and extra-Vedic

You and I have potential 135

atma is what one is and para-atma is what the other is, then param-
atma is what one and the other can become. The identification
of God with humanity starts being passionately debated. From
an abstract and mystical concept, God increasingly becomes a
psychological concept.
Brahmana
Vedas Aranyakas Upanishads Puranas

Purusha Prajapati Atma Manifesting as

is is within and ishwara,
divided united without bhagavan, Shakti

History of Hindu God

Two thousand years ago, in the Puranas, divinity was finally

personified and given the form that we are very familiar with
now. In fact, The Gita plays a key role in the shift. In the pre-Gita
period, God was a concept. In the post-Gita period, God became
a character in human affairs.
The old abstract words—purusha, brahmana, prajapati, atma—
were gradually overshadowed by two new words: ishwara and
bhagavan. Ishwara referred to the seed of divinity and bhagavan
referred to the fully developed tree of divinity, laden with fruits
and flowers. Ishwara is associated with Shiva, the hermit, whose
marriage to Shakti creates the world. Bhagavan is associated with
Vishnu, the householder, whose awakening results in creation and
whose slumber results in dissolution. Between awakening and
sleeping, Vishnu takes many forms to walk the earth, including
that of Krishna. The Puranic Shiva and Vishnu presuppose
the existence of the Goddess, who is nature, hence mother of
humanity, as well as culture, daughter of humanity.

You and I have potential 137

 Bhagavan

Shakti

Ishwara

Ishwara, Bhagavan and Shakti

The God of Abrahamic mythology shies away from form. The

God of Hindu mythology is both formless (nir-guna-brahman)
and embodied (sa-guna-brahman), as described in Chapter
12 of The Gita. Without form, He is neither male nor female.
With form, He may be birth-less and deathless, as in the case of
Shiva, Vishnu and the Goddess, who are described as self-created
(swayam-bhu) and not born from the womb (a-yonija). Or He
may experience birth and death, as any womb-born (yonija), as
in the case of Ram and Krishna.
Though formless, the God of Abrahamic mythology is
addressed, even visualized, in masculine terms. The God of
Hindu mythology is visualized as sometimes male, sometimes
female, sometimes both and sometimes neither. Thus, Krishna
refers, in Chapter 7, Verse 6, to the world of matter and mind as
his two wombs (yoni), while also speaking of how he places his
seed in the womb of Brahma, in Chapter 14, Verse 3. Krishna
also describes himself in feminine terms. In Chapter 10, he
identifies himself as the Ganga River and the wish-fulfilling cow

138 My Gita
Kamadhenu. Naturally, in Maharashtra, the poet-saints had
no problem referring to the local form of Krishna, Vitthal, as
Vittha-ai or Mother Vitthal.
The God of Abrahamic mythology has no family or any such
human relationships. In Christian mythology, He has a son, but
no wife. The God of Hinduism is visualized as a householder
who deals with mundane human issues in temples and tales.
Although the word ‘brahma’ remains sacred throughout
Hinduism, referring to the divine potential in all things, the
god Brahma in the Puranas is not worshipped, as he is visualized
as the unenlightened householder, who seeks to control the
Goddess, chasing her relentlessly against her will, and so loses
a head to Shiva. Shiva is worshipped as the enlightened hermit
who is turned into an enlightened householder by the Goddess.
Vishnu is worshipped as the enlightened householder who
takes responsibility for the Goddess and adopts various forms
to protect her while she provides for him, becoming Ram when
she is Sita, and Krishna when she is Radha, Satyabhama and
Draupadi.
Brahma
Unenlightened
householder

Goddess
(world)
Shiva Vishnu
Enlightened Enlightened
hermit V ishn householder
u s l ee ps

Shiv
a g e ts m a r rie d

Hindu Trinity

You and I have potential 139

of va-nara to nara to Narayana. It involves the uncrumpling of
aham, the frightened mind, and the eventual discovery of atma,
the secure mind. This is what it means to be brahmana.
Narayana God Other realization
Nara Human Self-realization
Va-nara Animal Self-preservation
Self-propagation

Expansion of Mind

The word brahmana has two roots: expansion (brah) and

mind (manas). In the Rig Veda—depending on usage—it refers
to language, the power of language to expand the mind, and the
expanded mind. The student was referred to as a brahmachari,
one who was expected to behave such that his mind expanded.
Later, it came to refer to ritual manuals (brahmana texts), and
eventually to keepers of these texts (the brahmana caste, more
popularly known as Brahmins). Even later, it became a character
in the Puranas, Brahma, the creator of the world, who is so
consumed by his creation that he forgets his own identity and
becomes unworthy of worship. Vishnu enables the many sons of
Brahma to expand their mind. Some succeed, some don’t. In the
Ramayana, Ram enables the transformation of Hanuman from
the servant, Ram-dasa, to Maha-bali, a deity in his own right.
In the Mahabharata, Krishna struggles to transform the Pandava
brothers and partially succeeds. Unlike in Greek epics, where the
human protagonist transforms into something extraordinary, in
Hindu epics, the human protagonist is God, who enables the
transformation of those around.
The Gita uses the words ‘brahmana’ and ‘brahma’ to refer to

You and I can include 147

the sacred: the human ability to expand the mind and discover
divinity and find meaning everywhere, as elaborated in the
following hymn often chanted by Hindus before meals.

Arjuna, the one who offers food is divine, the food

that is offered is divine, the one who receives the food
is divine, the one who consumes the food is divine.
Everything will surely become divine to one willing to
expand the mind.—Bhagavad Gita: Chapter 4, Verse 24
(paraphrased).

This idea takes the shape of a story in the Puranas where the
people of Ayodhya are amused to see Hanuman biting into the
pearls given to him by Sita. ‘What’s the use of these pearls,’ says
Hanuman, ‘if they do not contain Sita’s Ram?’ Hanuman then
tears open his chest to reveal Sita’s Ram. Hanuman thus reveals
his deep understanding of dehi—what is located within the
deha. He seeks dehi everywhere and thus expands his mind and
finds brahmana.

Hanuman’s Dehi

148 My Gita
 When Hanuman follows Ram back to Ayodhya, he observes
how Ram casts out a pregnant Sita, following street gossip about
her soiled reputation due to contact with Ravana. But he does
not judge Ram. He observes how Ram, as scion of a royal clan,
cannot break clan rules and must uphold clan reputation at all
costs. He observes how Ram never abandons his people, even
though they are being petty, nor does he try to convince them of
his wife’s innocence. Ram refuses to be Ayodhya’s judge or Sita’s
lawyer. He simply refuses to remarry: he may have abandoned
the queen, but he will never abandon his wife.

Arjuna, he who sees the divine as present equally in all

things does not hurt himself by hurting others and so
attains the ultimate state.—Bhagavad Gita: Chapter
13, Verse 28 (paraphrased).

Hanuman also observes how Sita refuses to return to Ram’s

Ayodhya, though not even for a moment does she doubt his love
for her and her love for him. In a world of rules, everyone makes
choices and every choice has consequences. Karma applies to
Ram and Sita too. No matter what the circumstances, neither
Ram nor Sita abandons dharma. Hanuman thus realizes what it
takes to be Narayana: to be independent, yet dependable.

His truth
My truth
Her truth
Your truth Other truths

God's Truth

You and I can include 151

 Hanuman serves Ram, God without, and discovers the God
within. Krishna serves Arjuna and displays his divine form, so
that Arjuna feels reassured and secure enough to the make the
inner journey, which will enable his outer journey.
Hanuman enters the Mahabharata when the Pandavas are in
exile. Unlike Ram who is at peace despite being exiled for no
fault of his own, the Pandavas feel like victims even though it is
they who gambled away their kingdom.

Other Truths Her Truth My Truth Her Truth Your Truth

Expanded Mind

Hanuman encounters Bhima as he walks through the forest

like an entitled prince, refusing to go around rocks or trees,
walking straight, expecting animals to stay clear of his path, so
different from the caring and accommodating Ram. In the form
of an old monkey, Hanuman reclines on Bhima’s path and refuses
to make way. ‘Kick my tail aside and go ahead. I am too weak to

152 My Gita
There are over forty names by which Krishna is addressed in The
Gita, but only one refers to his pastoral roots: Govinda, which
means the cowherd.

Specific to Krishna Specific to Vishnu Generic names for the divine

Govinda (1.32) Achyuta (1.21) Adideva (11.38)

Hari (11.9) Adhiyajna (8.2) Amitavikrama (11.40)

Hrsikesha (1.15) Adikarta (11.37) Aprameya (11.17)

Janardana (1.35) Ananta (11.37) Apratimaprabhava (11.43)

Keshava (1.30) Ananta-rupa (11.38) Bhutabhavana (9.5)

Kesinishudana (18.1) Ananta-virya (11.19) Bhutabhrun (9.5)

Krishna—(1.28) Arisudana (2.4) Bhutesha (10.15)

Madhava (1.14) Bhagavan (10.14) Deva (11.14)

Madhusudana (1.34) Jagannivasa (11.25) Devadeva (10.15)

Sakha (11.41) Jagatpati (10.15) Devavara (11.31)

Varsneya (1.40) Kamalapatraksha (11.2) Devesha (11.25)

Vasudeva (7.19) Mahabahu (6.38) Isha (11.44)

Yadava (11.41) Purushottama (8.1) Ishvara (4.6)

Sahasrabahu (11.46) Kala (11.32)

Vishnu (10.21) Mahatma (11.12)

Visvamurti (11.46) Mahayogeshvara (11.9)

Visvarupa (11.16) Parameshvara (11.3)

Visvesvara (11.16) Prabhu (9.18)

Yajna (3.9, 4.23) Prajapati (3.10)

Prapitamaha (11.39)

Ugrarupa (11.31)

Yogesvara (11.4)

Yogi (10.17)

We cannot imagine Krishna today without cows, cowherds

and milkmaids (gopikas). But the lore of his childhood amongst
pastoral communities was elaborated and put down in writing

156 My Gita
 only after the composition of the Mahabharata and The Gita, in
the fourth-century Harivamsa, the fifth-century Vishnu Purana,
the tenth-century Bhagavata Purana (also known as Shreemad
Bhagavatam, or simply Bhagavata) and finally, the twelfth-
century Gita Govinda by the poet Jayadeva, which introduces us
to Radha.

Gita
Not drawn to scale

Harivamsa
Ramayana
Vishnu Bhagavata Gita
Mahabharata Purana Purana Govinda
Today

2,000 1,500 1,000 800

years earlier years earlier years earlier years earlier

Bhagavata in Historical Timeline

In the Harivamsa, great value is placed on Krishna’s parents,

Nanda and Yashoda, who are cowherds, and his secret dalliances
with gopikas. We are introduced to the rasa-mandala, the
circular dance formation. But here, Krishna is not exclusive to
any one gopika; he dances with all. In the Gita Govinda, which
was written a few centuries later, Radha appears and demands
exclusive attention. In both, Krishna ultimately leaves the
cowherd life and moves to Mathura, and thereafter gets involved
in the events described in the Mahabharata. Many regional works
that followed etched this pastoral Krishna, son of Yashoda,
beloved of Radha, in the Hindu mind. Collectively, we may call
all of this Bhagavata lore. Whatever be the historical timeline, in
terms of narrative, and psychologically, the Bhagavata is located
between the Ramayana and the Mahabharata.

You and I can accommodate 157

 Treta Dvapara
yuga yuga

Ramayana Bhagavata Mahabharata

Krita Kali
yuga yuga

Bhagavata in Narrative Timeline

The Bhagavata is distinct from the Ramayana and the

Mahabharata. The Ramayana and the Mahabharata focus a lot
on masculine anxiety over power and property. The Bhagavata
focusses on feminine anxiety about abandonment and affection.
Anxieties stem from our desire to survive. In nature, the quest
for survival gives rise to sex and violence. Hermits, however,
seek to give up sex and violence completely, through practice
of celibacy and non-violence, in order to be rid of all anxiety.
Householder traditions seek to minimize anxiety by regulating
sex and violence through rules of marriage and property. The
Ramayana elaborates this. The Mahabharata reveals how rules
can be manipulated with clever logic, and how this can take us
away from the path of dharma. The Bhagavata elaborates on the
emotions (bhava) that underlie rules, sex and violence, and places
primacy on emotions over rules. If Buddhism speaks of shunning
desire to break free from suffering, if the Ramayana and the
Mahabharata speak of regulating desire with responsibility, the
Bhagavata qualifies desire with love.
The Bhagavata creates an emotional highway between the
devotee (bhagata/bhakta) and the deity (bhagavan), transforming
intellectual and pragmatic Vedic conversations (Upanishad)
into effusive adoration (upasana). Here, the self (jiva) can be

158 My Gita
the parent, like Yashoda, to the divine other (param), who is the
child. Here the self can also be a lover, like one of the gopikas
who pines for the divine other, who is the beloved. When Radha
comes along she even transforms the divine into a lover who
pines for her, the beloved. The seed of the Bhagavata traditions
can be traced to The Gita itself.

Arjuna, the one who offers me, with affection, a flower,

a fruit, some water, a leaf, I accept.—Bhagavad Gita:
Chapter 9, Verse 26 (paraphrased).

Here, the devotee is expected to be active in devotion and

cling to the deity like a baby monkey clings to its mother. In
other verses, the devotee is expected to be passive in devotion,
like a kitten trusting that its mother will take care of it.

Arjuna, give up all that you are doing and have full faith
in me. I will free you from all fetters. Do not worry.
—Bhagavad Gita: Chapter 18, Verse 66 (paraphrased).

Cat Mother and Monkey Mother

You and I can accommodate 159

 Submission
Masculine Achievement
Devotion

Feminine Abandonment Affection

Anxiety Comforts

Masculine Submission and Feminine Affection

The story of Krishna’s childhood mimics a Greek epic until

we start considering the role of the women. It begins with a
prophecy that Kansa, the dictator of Mathura, will be killed
by his own nephew, the eighth son of his sister, Devaki. Kansa
imprisons Devaki and kills all the sons she bears. To save the
eighth child, Devaki’s husband, Vasudeva, takes the newborn
across the river Yamuna to the village of cowherds, Gokul, and
switches babies, bringing back a cowherd girl child born the
same night. Years later, when Krishna returns to Mathura and
kills Kansa, his true identity is revealed. But many still refer to
him as the son of a cowherd, rather contemptuously, an indicator
of social hierarchy. But family name and honour, so important
to Ram, do not matter to Krishna. He has discovered something
deeper—love—that conquers all anxieties.
Krishna owes this discovery to the milkmaids of Gokul and
Vrinda-vana. They collectively raised Krishna as their own child,
showered him with affection, indulged his pranks, suffered his
mischief, admonished him when he crossed the line and loved
him as a mother would, even though none of them had given
birth to him. This is parental love (vatsalya bhava), embodied in
Yashoda.

162 My Gita
 Krishna and Yashoda

When Krishna becomes a youth, his relationship with the

gopikas changes. Pranks give way to flirtation. The child is
forgotten as the man takes over. The women now quietly slip
out of their homes at night when their family is asleep and go
deep into the forest (vana), unafraid to dance in a circle around
Krishna, who plays the enchanting flute. There are passionate
disagreements, demands, separations and reunions. He is not
their brother, father, son or husband. Theirs is not a relationship
governed by niti (law) or riti (tradition). Yet, in his company,
they feel alive and secure. It is a relationship that springs from
within, and is not forced from without. Everything is authentic
but private, for it is beyond the comprehension of the public. This
is love evoked by presence (madhurya bhava), union (shringara
bhava) and even absence (viraha bhava), embodied in Radha.
When Krishna leaves the village of Vrinda-vana for the city
of Mathura, he promises he will be back. But he cannot keep
that promise. He sends his friend, Uddhava, to inform his
village of his decision to stay in the city, and to comfort them

You and I can accommodate 163

in heartbreak. Uddhava’s advice is intellectual in approach and
monastic in spirit: he speaks of the impermanent nature of things
and the importance of letting go. Radha replies with a smile—
she is not afraid of pain and suffering and abandonment. In fact,
she relishes it, for it reminds her of Krishna. ‘He is the black bee
who moves from flower to flower, but I am the flower that cannot
leave its tree. He has transformed me, enabled me to turn into a
fruit that contains the seed of love.’

Krishna and Radha

The abandoned women of Gokul and Vrinda-vana, be it

the mother, Yashoda, or the lover, Radha, express what the
abandoned women of the Ramayana and the Mahabharata do
not: love, not anger. They do not judge Krishna. They don’t expect
him to ask for forgiveness, because there is nothing to forgive.
They do not begrudge him his ambitions, his compulsions and

164 My Gita
 You Me You

Me
You You

Expanding to include me Contracting to comfort me

Brahmana Avatar
Bhagavan

Expanding and Contracting

Ram uplifts Hanuman, but Krishna realizes that Arjuna does

not have the same capacity and capability as Hanuman. However,
he does not make Arjuna feel small. Like Yashoda and Radha,
he never judges the Pandavas, never makes them feel guilty for
gambling away their kingdom. He simply prepares them to face
the consequences of their action.
Darshan of the other enables us to acknowledge and accept
their inadequacies. This makes them neither small nor helpless.
It just makes them different. A student may not learn because he
does not have the capacity, or because he does not have the will
or because he does not have the resources. None of these makes
the wise teacher unhappy, for he knows that teaching is about the
student’s benefit, not for his aggrandizement. He cannot control
the karma of the student; he can only focus on the svaha of his
yagna, plant the karma-bija and not seek control over the karma-
phala.
Likewise, a wise man never argues when a less learned man
argues with him. He knows when to expand and when to
contract, when to give and when to receive. Darshan of the

You and I can accommodate 167

carries Radha in his heart, and Radha always carries Krishna in
hers. For Krishna, his time in Gokul may be limited, but his love
for Radha is limitless.
Shiva Ram Krishna
Hermit Saviour Lover & Beloved

Outgrows hunger Indulges hunger Indulges hunger

& demands food

One way Two way

Hermit, Saviour and Lover

Radha, however, is excluded from many Krishna-bhakti

traditions, such as those of Shankardev in Assam and the
Mahanubhav panth of Chakradhara Swami in Maharashtra.
There is no Radha image in most major temples of Krishna
outside the Gangetic plans, such as those in Puri, Pandharpur,
Udupi, Guruvayur or Nathdwara. Radha’s unabashed eroticism
and the rather Tantric approach of mutuality was not universally
accepted, especially suggestions that Radha was older and
was Krishna’s aunt (either Nanda’s younger sister or married
to Yashoda’s brother), metaphors that sought to intensify the
social inappropriateness, so as to amplify the genuineness of
the emotional connection. Preference was given to the nameless
milkmaids of the Bhagavata Purana whose love (prema) is seen
as pure, uncontaminated by eroticism (kama). Or the entire
Bhagavata lore came to be dominated by Yashoda, whose maternal
love is not as discomforting as Radha’s love.
For centuries, the devadasis of Hindu temples sang the song of
the cowherd (‘Gita Govinda’) that describes the intense emotions
of Krishna and Radha revealed secretly, at night, outside the

You and I can accommodate 169

village, in the forest. The voice of the devadasis was silenced in the
early twentieth century as they were deemed prostitutes. Greater
value was placed on the Hindu monastic order that preferred the
celibate Hanuman and the song of God (Bhagavad Gita).

Mahabharata Bhagavata Gita Govinda

Masculine Feminine Erotic and Transgressive

Shifts in Bhakti Literature

The Gita speaks of bhakti as devotion, with God occupying

a higher position and the devotee submitting to him. However,
in Chapter 18, Verse 65, he does refer to Arjuna as 'one very
dear to me' (priyo-si-me), indicating love. Gita Govinda wipes
out the hierarchy and transforms bhakti into affection. In it,
Krishna begs Radha to place her feet on his head to cure him of
the poison of longing, lines that, legend has it, Jayadeva himself
hesitated to write, but Krishna wrote for him, thus indicating the
power of love.

Sometimes, you can see more than me, but

you pretend to know less so that I don’t feel
intimidated by you. I do the same for you. We do
not feel superior when the other is vulnerable;
or inferior when we feel helpless. This is what
sustains our relationship.

170 My Gita
 Element Plant Animal Human

Tri-guna Tri-guna Tri-guna Tri-guna

+ + +
Hunger Hunger Hunger
+ +
Fear Fear
+
Desire

Guna Underlies All Actions

The guna are three (tri-guna): tamas, rajas and sattva.

The tendency towards inertia comes from tamas guna, the
tendency towards activity from rajas guna and the tendency
towards balance from sattva guna. The three guna cannot exist
without the other. They are like three phases of a wave: tamas
being the movement downwards towards the nadir, rajas being
the movement upwards towards the crest and sattva being the
balance, the point at which there is a pause.
Sattva
s
ja

Ta

as
Ra

Tri-guna as Parts of a Wave

In the elements, tamas guna dominates, which is why they

have a tendency towards inertia, unless acted upon by an external
force (first law of thermodynamics). In plants and animals, rajas
guna dominates, which is why they grow and run to overcome
hunger and fear in order to survive. In humans, the sattva guna
dominates, which is why only humans are able to trust and care

174 My Gita
 Element Plant Animal Human

Tri-guna Tri-guna Tri-guna Tri-guna

+ + +
Hunger Hunger Hunger
+ +
Fear Fear
+
Desire

Guna Underlies All Actions

The guna are three (tri-guna): tamas, rajas and sattva.

The tendency towards inertia comes from tamas guna, the
tendency towards activity from rajas guna and the tendency
towards balance from sattva guna. The three guna cannot exist
without the other. They are like three phases of a wave: tamas
being the movement downwards towards the nadir, rajas being
the movement upwards towards the crest and sattva being the
balance, the point at which there is a pause.
Sattva
s
ja

Ta

as
Ra

Tri-guna as Parts of a Wave

In the elements, tamas guna dominates, which is why they

have a tendency towards inertia, unless acted upon by an external
force (first law of thermodynamics). In plants and animals, rajas
guna dominates, which is why they grow and run to overcome
hunger and fear in order to survive. In humans, the sattva guna
dominates, which is why only humans are able to trust and care

174 My Gita
 penance and torture for self-aggrandizement, hypocrisy
and passion. Different is the food we like. Different
is also the reason for exchanging, being austere or
charitable.—Bhagavad Gita: Chapter 17, verses 4 to 7
(paraphrased).

Chapter 18 takes things further and classifies even internal

aspects of our being, from knowledge to activity to personality
to intelligence to willpower to happiness, to the three guna. Each
time, tamas involves backward movement and no thought, rajas
involves forward movement with self-absorbed thought and
sattva involves appropriate movement, forward or backward,
taking even the other into consideration.

Arjuna, the tamasik gives up action fooled by others;

the rajasik gives up action in fear; the sattvik never
gives up action, only the fruits of action, doing not
just the nice, shunning not the nasty.—Bhagavad Gita:
Chapter 18, verses 7 to 10 (paraphrased).

Knowledge Charity

Exchange
Internal Faith Tri-guna External
Devotion

Personality Renunciation

Tri-guna Within and Without

In Chapter 18, Krishna attributes human aptitude and talent

(varna) to the guna.

You and I have no control 177

 Arjuna, it is these tendencies that create the four
aptitudes: scholarship, leadership, entrepreneurship
and servitude.—Bhagavad Gita: Chapter 18, verses 41
to 44 (paraphrased).

Our talents come from our guna. This does not mean that
every talent can be mapped to a particular guna. It does not
mean that scholarship comes from sattva guna, or leadership and
entrepreneurship come from rajas guna or servitude comes from
sattva guna. It means that the three guna, in different proportions,
manifest as scholarship, leadership, entrepreneurship and
servitude. We will find scholars who are rajasik, sattvik or tamasik;
leaders who are rajasik, sattvik or tamasik; entrepreneurs who
are rajasik, sattvik or tamasik; servants who are rajasik, sattvik
or tamasik.
Tendencies (guna)

Tamasik Rajasik Sattvik

Intellectual   

Managerial   
Talent
(varna) Entrepreneurial   

Service provider   

Mapping Varna to Guna

From around 2,000 years ago, we find in Indian society a

discomfort with fluidity and a great desire to fix things with
rules. Genetic studies have shown us that India’s infamous caste
system, which began as professional guilds, became increasingly
rigid from this time onwards. This was the time when the Manu

178 My Gita
for himself, beyond his varna and jati, that he cannot stop
himself from pursuing his passion for archery, logical arguments
notwithstanding, for such is the power of one’s guna.
Tendencies (guna)

Tamasik Rajasik Sattvik

Brahmin   
Classical Kshatriya   
categories of
caste (jati) Vaishya   

Shudra   

Mapping Jati to Guna

Likewise, marriage rules are designed to regulate the desires of

humanity. But guna will force us to challenge these rules. Thus
in Ramayana, though married, Parashurama’s mother Renuka
desires Kartaviryarjuna, Gautama’s wife Ahalya desires Indra and
Ravana’s sister Surpanakha desires Ram. Renuka is beheaded,
Ahalya turned to stone and Surpanakha’s nose is cut off. None of
these brutal actions stops nature from changing its course. Guna
will continuously make people take decisions that even their
mind opposes.
A judge tends to see sattva guna as superior and tamas guna
as inferior, but the observer knows that sattva guna is the most
desirable simply because it is least threatening while tamas
guna is least desirable because it is burdensome. Rajas guna is
glamorous and seductive, for it is associated with ambition and
determination and is seen as far more proactive, compared to the
reactive sattva guna.
The observer also distinguishes the sattvika from the yogi—

180 My Gita
the sattvika’s tranquillity is effortless and inborn, while the yogi’s
tranquillity is the outcome of learning and effort. The yogi pays
attention to the other, which distinguishes him from the sattvika.

‘Arjuna, the wise observer does not hate what is there

and seek what is not there amidst light or activity or
delusion. He knows that it is the tendencies of matter at
work, and so is always indifferent to the shifts around,
always at peace, amidst pleasure and pain, gold or clay,
when loved or unloved, when treated as friend or foe, in
honour or disgrace, if praised or blamed.’—Bhagavad
Gita: Chapter 14, verses 22 to 25 (paraphrased).
Judge Yogi
Good people Sattva
have Sattva
sattva guna All people
Rajas have
Tamas Rajas all gunas
Tamas

Views on Tri-guna

Krishna points to rajas guna for all desires (kama) and anger
(krodha); tamas guna for all laziness and confusion; sattva guna
for a balanced, responsible view. The moment we say that the
agent is the guna, we don’t take credit or blame, nor do we give
credit or blame. In other words, we don’t judge. We are able to
connect with atma. The moment we judge, attribute agency to
others or ourselves, for fortune or misfortune, we disconnect
from atma and give rise to aham. In aham, we don’t accept the
power of guna and blame people for our problems. We then seek

You and I have no control 181

leaders if we are tamasika, followers if we are rajasika or simply
disconnect if we are sattvika.

Arjuna, the lord resides in everyone’s hearts, deluding

them with a sense of control while making them go
round and round like cogs in a wheel.—Bhagavad
Gita: Chapter 18, Verse 61 (paraphrased).

A yogi accepts that the stubbornness of Ravana in the

Ramayana, Kansa in the Bhagavata Purana and Duryodhana in
the Mahabharata are the results of their guna, which is beyond
their control. As bhakta, he attributes their behaviour to the
games (leela) of God. This makes it easier to make even the
undesirable part of a yagna, rather than simply exclude them.
Tamas 'I will do as others do.'
Rajas 'I will destroy him.'
Threat
Sattva 'I will withdraw from him.'
Yogi 'I will engage with his fears and hungers.'

Response of Different People to Villains

We are all a masala box of guna, with one guna

dominating at different times. We can all be lazy,
assertive, detached or engaged. Yoga makes us
aware of the guna at work.

182 My Gita
 To stay alive, animals need to know the identity of the other:
whether the animal around them is a predator (can it eat me?)
or prey (can I eat it?); mate (can we produce offspring?) or rival
(can it grab my food or mate?). They need to locate the other, and
thus themselves, precisely in the food chain and pecking order.
Humans do not have to bother about food chains and pecking
order. But we wonder who we are, and about our relationship
with those around us. What is our purpose? How are we valued?

Does not
seek food

Seeks food Seeks food Seeks food and meaning

so establishes so creates property
territories

Purpose

A thing in nature has value only if it can be consumed as food.

The sun, the rain and the earth did not have any value until trees
came along and sought sunlight, water and soil as food. Likewise,
plants had no value until animals sought them as food. Animals
had no value until other animals sought them as food. Who
seeks humans as food? Can humans be of value without being
consumed?

184 My Gita
 Elements Plants Animals Humans ?
Food Hungry
Food Hungry
Food Hungry
Food?

Value Chain = Food Chain

Speculation along these lines led to the composition of

the Rig Vedic hymn of humanity (purusha sukta), which
speaks of the consumption of man, and the Yajur Vedic ritual
of dismemberment of the human-animal (purusha-medha).
Both hymn and ritual were composed a thousand years before
the composition of The Gita. Both can be taken literally or
metaphorically. The literal approach associates them with human
sacrifice: this idea appealed to the nineteenth-century European
Orientalist notion of exotic India, of the ‘noble savage’. The
metaphorical approach draws attention to the human ability to
give meaning to each other, and nourish each other emotionally
and intellectually. In the Upanishads, it is common to equate
food (anna) with meaning and identity (atma): food is what all
living creatures seek; meaning is what only humans seek. The
same idea is visualized in Chapter 11 of The Gita, when Arjuna
notices Krishna’s universal form consuming humans.

Krishna, I can see the warriors of their side and ours

rushing into your mouth, being crushed between your
teeth, entering your blazing mouth like rivers running
into the ocean. Entire worlds hurry to your mouth to
be destroyed, like moths to flame. You devour all the

You and I value property 185

 worlds with your many fiery mouths.—Bhagavad Gita:
Chapter 11, verses 26 to 30 (paraphrased).

This vision taken literally can be terrifying, as Krishna

appears as a predator, even a villain. But when the blindfold of
judgement is removed, Arjuna understands the metaphor: by
consuming the Pandavas and Kauravas, Krishna is giving them
value. He is declaring that they nourish him, thus extending the
logic. Arjuna realizes that he exists as ‘food’ for those around
him. He brings value to his brothers, to his cousins, to the world
at large. They are also ‘food’ for him. They nourish him, give
him value and purpose. This consumption is both material and
psychological. Withdrawal from the battle would mean denying
the others meaning.
Food
Security Skill
Love Talent
Human Human Society
Food Wealth
Security Identity
Love Status

Man as Food

But while Krishna eats, he is not really hungry. He declares

that he is immortal, and so does not fear death, and does not need
food. He declares he is infinite, and so he cannot be separated
from the other—he is both the eater and the eaten. He eats, not
because he is hungry, but to make the other feel valued. And he
allows himself to be eaten to nourish the other. In other words,
he is a yogi who does not seek meaning from outside; he gets his

186 My Gita
identity from within, from the atma.

‘Arjuna, I am the ritual, I am the exchange, the

offering, the herb, the chant, the butter, the fire, all
that is offered.’—Bhagavad Gita: Chapter 4, Verse 24
(paraphrased).
Introspection Exchange

Atma Me You

Validation Value to
from within others

Meaning From Within and Outside

Before the start of the Kuru-kshetra war, the Pandavas and the
Kauravas once came to Krishna for help. Krishna offered them
all that he had: one could have Narayani, his fully equipped
army, and the other could have Narayana, his own unarmed self.
The Kauravas chose Narayani while Pandavas chose Krishna.
Narayani is Krishna’s resources, all that he has. Narayana is all
that he is. The former is tangible and measurable, and even
outlasts death, hence preferred by the Kauravas over the latter.
The Kauravas mimic the behaviour of the asuras in the Puranas
who prefer Brahma’s boons to Brahma. The Kauravas and the
asuras seek material nourishment, not emotional or intellectual
nourishment. They seek ‘his’ not ‘him’.
During a yagna, Narayani is exchanged: 'mine' becomes 'yours'.
If this is done with consideration of the hungers and fears of the
devata, then the yajamana has a relationship with the devata. If,
the yajamana, is only focussed on his hungers and fears, then it is

You and I value property 187

simply a transaction with the devata where more value is given to
'what you have' rather than 'who you are'.
Relationship

Me Mine Yours You

Transaction

Relationships and Transactions

Economists value the Narayani called wealth. Educationists

value the Narayani called literacy. Politicians value the Narayani
called power. Feminists value the Narayani called gender.
Employers value the Narayani called skill. Physicians and
surgeons value the Narayani called the body. Society is not
interested in Narayana—what a person is: his hungers, his fears,
or his potential. Things matter more than thoughts. Property
becomes a substitute for feelings. Hence the purpose of life has
become all about acquiring more and more Narayani. In The
Gita, the concept of Narayani is presented in Chapter 13 as
kshetra.

Meaning Do I matter?
Value Do I nourish others?

Purpose What nourishes me?

ls e I am what I have/do
Fa
Identity
Tru
e I am my hungers, my fears and my
potential to empathize

Meaning (artha)

188 My Gita
simply a transaction with the devata where more value is given to
'what you have' rather than 'who you are'.
Relationship

Me Mine Yours You

Transaction

Relationships and Transactions

Economists value the Narayani called wealth. Educationists

value the Narayani called literacy. Politicians value the Narayani
called power. Feminists value the Narayani called gender.
Employers value the Narayani called skill. Physicians and
surgeons value the Narayani called the body. Society is not
interested in Narayana—what a person is: his hungers, his fears,
or his potential. Things matter more than thoughts. Property
becomes a substitute for feelings. Hence the purpose of life has
become all about acquiring more and more Narayani. In The
Gita, the concept of Narayani is presented in Chapter 13 as
kshetra.

Meaning Do I matter?
Value Do I nourish others?

Purpose What nourishes me?

ls e I am what I have/do
Fa
Identity
Tru
e I am my hungers, my fears and my
potential to empathize

Meaning (artha)

188 My Gita
 Kshetra literally means a farm, a manmade space created by
domesticating nature. In nature, there are no farms. Humans turn
forest into farms to produce food. They mark out the boundaries,
uproot the trees, clear the land, till the soil, sow the seeds, permit
growth of crops and get rid of weeds. The farmer protects the
farm and the produce fiercely. Born of his effort, he claims
ownership of the farm: ‘It is mine’. Other humans acknowledge
it: ‘It is yours.’ Thus, the farm becomes his property. The property
nourishes him, physically and psychologically. Physically it gives
him food. Psychologically it gives him an identity of a farmer. He
feels entitled. The property also grants him immortality, since he
can bequeath it to his family, who are also his own.
Forest Forest

Field

Field versus Farm

In nature, there is no property. There is territory that animals

fight over to ensure they have enough food supply. Territories
cannot be inherited; they go to the strongest. Properties,
however, can be inherited. The son gets the estate, the title and
all the accompanying wealth, power and status from the father.
In the Ramayana, during the forest exile, when Lakshmana
draws a line (rekha) around Sita’s hut, he very publicly defines
what is Ram’s kshetra. Within the Lakshmana-rekha, Sita is
Ram’s wife; outside she is just a woman for the taking. Kshetra
thus is an artificial construction, not a natural phenomenon.

You and I value property 189

 Narayana
Kshetragna Narayani
Kshetri Me Mine Kshetra
My hungers My property
My fears My relationships
My potential My status
My achievements
My knowledge
My opinions

Me and Mine

In Chapter 2, Krishna speaks of deha and dehi, the body and

resident of the body. In Chapter 13, he speaks of kshetra and
kshetragna, the property and proprietor. Another word used for
kshetragna is kshetri. The resident transforms into the proprietor
as the body expands to include titles and estate.

Arjuna, the wise know the body as a farm and the mind
as its farmer. This body, your farm, is constituted by
the five elements that make up your flesh, your notion
of who you are, your intelligence, your emotions, your
sense organs, your response organs and the pastures
that your senses graze upon, and all that causes pain
and pleasure, attraction and revulsion.—Bhagavad
Gita, Chapter 13, verses 1 to 6 (paraphrased).

In the Upanishads, kshetra is seen as the third layer of deha.

It is the outermost layer, known as the social layer (karana-
sharira). Then comes the physical layer (sthula-sharira) and
finally the mental layer (sukshma-sharira). Social body refers to
property inherited at birth or earned through effort. Physical
body, container of beauty, skills and talent, is the flesh, which

190 My Gita
is acquired at birth. The mental body comprises our sensations,
our feelings and our ideas and, most importantly, how we
imagine ourselves. The mental body is the resident-owner, dehi-
kshetragna. When the mind outgrows its dependence on kshetra
and deha, it discovers atma. When we die, the deha is cremated.
We live behind kshetra. The dehi/kshetragna/atma move on to
the next life if still dependent on deha and kshetra, else it breaks
free entirely from the unending waves of rebirths and re-deaths.

Karna Arjuna

Mental body Ambitious Insecure

Physical body Archer Archer

Social body Servant Prince

Three Bodies

In the Mahabharata, both Arjuna and Karna are talented

archers. In fact, Karna has the distinct advantage of being born
with celestial armour and earrings that cling to his body like flesh.
But society respects Arjuna more than Karna, because Arjuna is
seen as a prince of the Kuru clan and legal heir of Hastinapur,
while Karna is seen as a charioteer’s son, even after he is made a
warrior and king by Duryodhana who admires his talent with the
bow. For society, kshetra is more important than deha. No one
cares about dehi.
So much value is given to the external that neither Arjuna
nor Karna look within for identity. Arjuna derives his identity
from his talent (archery), his inherited title (Pandu’s son) and
the estate he cultivates (Indra-prastha). Karna also derives his
identity from his talent (archery), but he distances himself from

You and I value property 191

his inherited title (charioteer’s son) and strives to earn new titles
(Duryodhana’s friend) and estates (Anga). Identity based on
what we have is aham, not atma.
The karana-sharira is an outcome of karma—past karma and
present karma. What we attract naturally towards us is based
on past karma. What we bring forcibly towards us is based on
current karma. Arjuna’s royal status is based on past karma, as
is Karna’s association with charioteers. Neither of them chose
this. It was an accident of birth. Archery is their inborn talent
that they inherited and honed with effort. Arjuna’s association
with Indra-prastha, and Karna’s association with Anga, are the
outcome of effort. Or are they? Were these properties supposed
to come into their lives after a struggle? It is not easy to answer
these questions. Karana-sharira remains mysterious. It travels
with us from our previous lives into our next lives, gathering
impressions of karma, keeping a record of debts that we are
obliged to repay.

Social body

Inherited Created
Hastinapur Indra-prastha
of Kauravas of Pandavas

Two Types of Social Bodies

Property and proprietors exist only in culture (sanskriti),

not nature (prakriti). The divide between nature and culture,
forest and field, is a consistent theme in Hinduism. In the Sama
Veda, where hymns of the Rig Veda are put to melody, songs are
classified into two: songs of the forest (aranya-gana) and songs

192 My Gita
of the settlement (grama-gana). What applies to the forest does
not apply to the settlement: in the forest, the rules of man are
meaningless, not so in the settlement. The Pandavas realize this
during their exile.
In the forest, Arjuna shoots a wild boar and discovers it has
been struck by another arrow, that of a tribal, or kirata. As
entitled prince, he claims the boar as his. But the kirata does not
recognize him as prince, and demands that the two fight over
it like two alpha males fighting over a territory or a mate: the
winner takes the prize. In the forest, Arjuna realizes his social
body does not matter. Only his strength and skill do.
In the final year of exile, the Pandavas have to hide, keep
their identities secret. As per the agreement with the Kauravas,
if discovered in this year, they would have to go back to the
forest for another twelve years. During this period, they take
employment as servants in the palace of Virata, king of Matsya.
They discover for the first time what it means to be a servant,
when one has nothing to offer other than skills and so become
the objects of constant abuse and exploitation.
Pandava

With estate and title Without estate and title

Kings of Servants of
Indra-prastha Virata

The Pandavas as Princes and as Servants

Without their titles or estates, the Pandavas had no value.

To get back their kshetra from the Kauravas naturally became
the purpose of their life. Krishna’s conversation with Arjuna,

You and I value property 193

however, is not to enable this. It is to teach Arjuna that while
society may value him for his kshetra, while securing that kshetra
for his family should be his purpose as property is vital for his
family’s survival, he must not derive his identity from property.
Identity comes from within, not without: from kshetri, not
kshetra, from dehi, not deha.
What I am What I have
Atma Varna
Narayana Me Narayani
Dehi Deha
Kshetri Kshetra

Source of human meaning

You may value me for what I have and what I do.

But I am not what I have or what I do. If you love
me, focus on who I am: my hungers and my fears,
and my potential to focus on who you are.

194 My Gita
of measurement.
Measurement helps us to label and categorize all things
around us in order to make sense of the world. We organize the
world into understandable units, such as the periodic table of all
elements in chemistry, or the various taxonomies of plants and
animals and diseases in biology. Measurement is key to science,
to understanding nature. However, with measurement also
comes judgement—we not only classify, we also compare, create
hierarchies, hence compete. This gives rise to conflict.
Not mine

Other

Me — Mine Yours — You

Mine and Not Mine

The kshetragna cannot be compared to anything, as it is

infinite and immortal. The atma within you is the same as the
atma within me. But if you and I are not in touch with our atma,
and we do not empathize with each other’s hungers and fears
and potential, we will compare our respective kshetras to locate
ourselves in a hierarchy and give ourselves an identity.
When value comes from what I have, then the more I have,
the more valuable I become. And so I want to ensure that I have
more than you. That is why in the Ramayana, conflict begins
with comparison. Kaikeyi hates being junior queen. So she wants
her husband, Dasharatha, king of Ayodhya, to crown her son as

You and I compare 197

or gyana. When Krishna speaks of the three guna, our minds
position sattva as better than rajas and rajas as better than tamas.
When Krishna speaks of the four varnas, we place Brahmins over
Kshatriyas, Kshatriyas over Vaishyas and Vaishyas over Shudras.
This is all because of maya.

Me Mine

Growth

Me Mine Mine Mine Mine

Mine Mine Mine Mine

Mine Mine Mine Mine

Mine Mine Mine Mine

Materialism

In nature, there is a pecking order. But animal domination

is not aspirational; it is necessary for survival. Domination
ensures they get access to more food. Humans dominate to
grant themselves value, and feel good about themselves. Social
structures are designed to grant humans identity. They are
invariably based on comparsion of the social body, what we have:
wealth, knowledge, contacts and skills. Kaikeyi, Gandhari, Kunti,
Pandu, all compete on the basis of their sons. Who has more
children? Whose children are stronger, or smarter? Whose son is
king? I am better than you because what I have is bigger or better
or faster or richer or prettier or cheaper or nicer or nastier than
yours. By comparing our titles and estates we validate ourselves,
make ourselves feel significant and relevant.

You and I compare 199

 Arjuna, the veil of measurements and hierarchies
deludes all those who try to make sense of this material
world with its three innate tendencies, unless they
accept the reality of me, who cannot be measured or
compared. Those trapped in this delusion of imagined
boundaries behave like demons.—Bhagavad Gita:
Chapter 7, verses 13 to 15 (paraphrased).

Maya distracts us from infinity and immortality, from the

feeling that the world can continue without us. Maya makes us
feel important.
Smaller than this

Bigger than this

x
x
No valuation
as nothing to Valuation possible
compare with in presence of comparable other

Measurement

In the Puranas, there is a sage called Narada who travels from

house to house comparing people’s talents, titles and estates: his
wife is more beautiful, his son is more talented, his daughter is
married to a richer man, he has more followers, his kingdom is
larger, she has more jewellery... This comparison evokes feelings
of inadequacy and jealousy in people. It fuels ambition and
ignites conflicts. Having created the tension, Narada walks away
chanting, ‘Narayana! Narayana!’ But no one hears this. They are

200 My Gita
tried to weigh Krishna against gold. But we can lock infinity in a
symbol, as Rukmini did.

Measuring Krishna

Arjuna, I am infinite and immortal and yet, respecting

the ways of nature, I bind myself in finite and mortal
measurable existence.—Bhagavad Gita: Chapter 4,
Verse 6 (paraphrased).

Thus in temples, a rock (pinda, linga) or a fossil (shaligrama)

can represent the formless divine. It is our imagination that gives
value to things, purpose to an activity and identity to a thing.
We can give meaning or wipe it away. That is the power of maya.
It is the power of God bestowed upon us humans. Maya is often
called magic, for it has the power to make the world meaningful,
transform every word into a metaphor, every image into a symbol.

202 My Gita
 Deity
Rock

Human Ability to Attribute Value

Maya can divide and separate, cause conflict by comparison.

It can also turn anything around, change reality for us, for our
mind can give meaning to anything. For example, a hermit
may see sex and violence as horrible, while a householder may
see sex and violence as necessary, even pleasurable. Maya can
divide the world. It can also unite the world, serve as the glue to
a relationship, as we expand our boundaries to include whoever
we wish. Duryodhana’s inclusion of Karna, a charioteer’s son,
but exclusion of Arjuna, his royal cousin, is a case in point. That
is why, in colloquial parlance, maya also means ‘affection’, that
which binds relationships together.
When people say in Hindi, ‘Sab maya hai,’ it is commonly
translated as 'the world is an illusion or a delusion'. What it means
is that the world can be whatever we imagine it to be—valuable
or valueless, fuelling ambition or cynicism.
In Vedanta there is a popular Sanskrit phrase, ‘Jagad mithya,
brahma satya!’ It is translated as ‘the world is a mirage and
only divinity is real’. 'Mithya' means a measured limited truth
created through maya. So the phrase can also be translated as
‘the material world is an incomplete reality, made complete by
imagination and language’. We can manufacture depression and

You and I compare 203

our true identity is intangible and immeasurable (kshetragna)
seems quite unbelievable, as it can never be proven, only believed.
So we cling to goals or rules, to property or relatives, to titles or
ideas, and fight over them as animals fight over territory. Animals
fight because the survival of their body depends on it. Humans
fight as the survival of their identity (aham) depends on it.
Clinging is comforting. Insecurity fuels desire (kama) for more,
and so acquiring more becomes the purpose of life. We get angry
(krodha) when we don’t get them, become greedy (lobha) once
we get them, get attached (moha) to them, become intoxicated
with pride (mada) because we possess things, feel jealous of
those who have more and insecure around those who have less
(matsarya). Material reality thus enchants us and crumples our
mind several times over. These are called the six obstacles (ari-
shad-varga) that prevent the mind from expanding, the aham
from transforming into atma and discovering bhagavan.
Atma

Mind

Senses

Desire (kama)
More Vicious
loop
Fulfilled Not fulfilled

Rage (krodha)

Kama and Krodha

You and I cling 207

our potential be realized without deriving our identity from it, or
without denying its existence, is the hallmark of wisdom.
Immortal,
infinite.
‘We are same’
Spiritual identity
Invokes empathy

Atma Me You Atma

Mine Yours

Mortal,
finite.
‘We are different’
Material identity
Evokes evaluation

Same or Different

Arjuna, all beings follow their nature. Even the wise act
according to their nature. What is the value of restraint
then? Your senses will naturally be drawn to or revolted
by things around the body. Do not let them beguile you
and distract you from discovering yourself.—Bhagavad
Gita: Chapter 3, Verses 33 and 34 (paraphrased).

To want nothing (shunya) is as delusional as to want everything

(ananta). The wise want nothing but accept whatever comes their
way, letting it pass when it is time to part ways. Ram is not Ram
because of what he has on account of his birth (royal status) or

You and I cling 209

anything that comes in its way. It is determined to get what it
wants. From mada comes the word madira, which means wine.
From mada comes the word Madan, which refers to Kama, god
of lust.

Musth
(elephant’s ichor) Mada

Kama Madan

Krishna Madan Mohan

Wine Madira

Mada: Literal and Metaphorical

But Krishna is also called Madan Mohan. He even turns into

the enchantress Mohini. Vishnu and all his incarnations are
associated with a lot of sexual and violent behaviour. But these
are distinguished from attachment and revulsion, for Vishnu's
actions are designed to give value to those around him, not derive
value for himself.
In the Ramayana, Ravana demonstrates this mada when he
refuses to give up Sita, even after Ram kills his son, Indrajit,
and his brother, Kumbhakarna, and Ram’s army of monkeys
set Lanka aflame. He clings to Sita and refuses to turn to Ram.
He finds meaning in Sita because he sees her as Ram’s property.
He wants to violate Ram by claiming Sita, whom he views as
Ram’s property. Ram, though, does not see Sita as his property,
but as his responsibility. Ram, however, does not seek to violate
Ravana; he simply wants to rescue Sita, for her security is the
responsibility of the Raghu clan, into which she was given in

You and I cling 211

marriage. He fights not because he wants what is ‘his’ back, but
because he refuses to value ‘her’. In fact, after the battle is over,
he does not expect her to follow him; he offers her a choice to
go wherever she wishes and she chooses to return with him to
Ayodhya.
In the Mahabharata, when Krishna kills Kansa, he simply kills
a man who threatens his life. It is an act of defence, not offence.
This is violence, not violation. There is no desire to dominate
Kansa, to hurt or humiliate him. However, Jarasandha feels
violated, because Kansa to him is his social body, his property, on
whom his self-esteem rests. He attacks Mathura, intent on killing
Krishna, and burns the city to the ground. This act is violation,
adharma. Later, with the help of Bhima, Krishna gets Jarasandha
killed. Again the desire is not to hurt or humiliate Jarasandha or
dominate him, but to enable Yudhishthira to be king, make him
sovereign, something that Jarasandha would not have allowed.
Duryodhana’s decision to disrobe Draupadi and not return
Pandava land comes from the desire to violate the Pandavas. By
violating them, he nourishes his aham. Krishna does not want
Arjuna to do the same. He wants Arjuna to fight without seeking
to violate his enemies. He does not indulge Bhima’s bloodlust.
Violence is unavoidable in the world, for it enables the living
to nourish themselves, but violation is nothing but a vulgar
indulgence of aham for its own self-aggrandizement.
Attachment
Me Mine

Violence Violation

Violence and Violation

212 My Gita
 In the Bhagavata Purana, there is the story of Gajendra, the
king of elephants, who in a state of ‘musth’, enters a pond of lotus
flowers to sport with his harem of cow elephants, when suddenly
a crocodile grabs his leg and drags him underwater. Gajendra
tries to escape, but in vain, as no one comes to his rescue.
Lost, helpless, he prays to Vishnu, who appears and strikes the
crocodile away.
This is a metaphor for a mind consumed by passion, seeking
gratification in the material world and suddenly finding the
world turning against it, becoming even more hostile. The
solution is not to fight harder, for that only leads to the crocodile
tightening its grip. The solution is to stop fighting and have faith
that another force will intervene.

I am victim.
He is villain.

That is food
Gajendra Moksha

In the story, Gajendra chooses to see himself as a victim and

the crocodile as a villain. If he wins, he will be hailed as a hero and
if he loses, he will still be hailed as a martyr who died trying. But
the observer can see that the crocodile is no villain: it looks upon

You and I cling 213

Without is the world of things, people, our relationships, our
desires and frustrations. When we derive value from the outside,
we assume that our identity is the anxious aham. So Krishna
advises Arjuna to use the axe of knowledge (gyana) to cut down
all secondary roots, take refuge in the primary root of atma and
liberate himself. This is moksha, liberation, where we no longer
seek validation from the outside, but feel eternally validated
from the inside. Moksha is liberation from fear.

Arjuna, he who truly understands the truth of mind,

matter and material tendencies is liberated from
rebirth, no matter what his lifestyle.—Bhagavad Gita:
Chapter 13, Verse 23 (paraphrased).

Purusha

Atma

Guna
Karma

Aham
Kama
Krodha
Moha

Upside-down Banyan Tree

You and I can be generous 217

 The Buddha spoke of desire (tanha, in Pali) as the cause of all
suffering. Hence he advised people to shun desire by accepting the
truth of life—nothing is fixed or permanent, not even identity.
The Gita, however, speaks of two kinds of identity: external
identity or aham, based on property, and internal identity or
atma, based on wisdom. Aham is the fruit of fear. Atma is the
fruit of wisdom. Aham is the seed of kama, krodha, lobha, moha,
mada and matsarya. Atma results in moksha. With atma, we
don’t cling. We don’t seek control. We simply let go. We become
generous. And we allow.
Validation Insecurity Security Validation
from from
outside within
(aham) Cling Let go (atma)
Moha Moksha

Hoarding Generosity

Mada to Moksha

Arjuna, one who gives up conceit and ownership and

craving, in other words the sense of 'I', 'mine' and 'me',
will always find peace.—Bhagavad Gita: Chapter 2,
Verse 71 (paraphrased).

How we give things away to others is a good indicator of

moksha. In a yagna, a svaha can be either dakshina, bhiksha or
daan. Dakshina is payment for service received. In other words,
with dakshina we repay a debt (rin), complete a transaction and
are free from all obligations. Bhisksha is charity, a good deed
(punya) for which we expect something in exchange—respect,
admiration, acknowledgment or blessings. Daan is giving

218 My Gita
indicator of moksha. Moksha follows when we do not feel
we have to cling to our wealth or dominate people around us,
because we do not derive our identity either from our wealth
or our power. Wealth and power are just tools to make our life
comfortable, and enable those around us.
Dakshina Bhiksha Daan

For service For status Unconditional

rendered of the self for the other

Types of Charity

Another indicator of moksha is allowing, which is essentially

emotional generosity. We notice that the Ramayana ends in
tragedy, with Sita being banished. The Bhagavata also ends with
heartbreak, with Krishna promising Radha, the gopikas and
his mother, Yashoda, that he will come back, but not returning
because of his obligations in Mathura. Even the Mahabharata
ends with the realization of the curse hurled by Gandhari at
Krishna for not preventing the death of her children, or those
of Draupadi.
However, a sad Sita is not angry at Ram. She knows him and
understands him well, his wisdom, his love, as well as the burdens
of kingship that limit him. A heartbroken Radha is not angry
at Krishna. She too understands that Krishna has to walk his
path, and even she cannot be his companion, as she has familial
obligations. A thoughtful Krishna is not angry at Gandhari.
He understands her rage, her inability to take responsibility for
her blindfold that contributed to her children’s insecurity. Sita
does not derive her identity from Ram. Radha does not derive

You and I can be generous 221

her identity from Krishna. Krishna does not derive his identity
from Gandhari. All three are immersed in dehi, atma, kshetri,
brahmana and bhagavan. Each one is an inverted banyan tree,
forever nourished by the sky, and forever nourishing the earth.
Mind

Limited Limitless
me = mine me ≠ mine
you = yours you ≠ yours
me ≠ you me = you

Limited to Limitlessness

Am I aware of my fears that make me greedy,

stingy and controlling? What stops me from
being generous materially, emotionally and
intellectually? Liberation, essentially, is letting go
of our insecurities that disconnect us from others.

222 My Gita
leaders of monastic movements, such as the Buddha, for example,
and the Jain tirthankara Parsva-nath. By making Vishnu occupy
the same seat, the Puranas were communicating the message that
a great man did not have to be a monk; he could also be king.
The Gita is Vedic wisdom customized to the needs of king and
kingdom. The kingdom needs the king but the king also needs
the kingdom.

Under the Serpent Hood

The Gita introduces a subtle tension between the concepts of

dharma and moksha. Dharma demands social engagement, while
moksha is about social disengagement. Dharma is about building
relationships. Moksha is about abandoning relationships.
Dharma binds people to society. Moskha enables them to break
free. In Vedic times, dharma was seen as appropriate for the
youth, while moksha was seen as appropriate for the old, until
followers of Buddhism and Jainism popularized the hermit

You and I matter to each other 227

culture and made it part of the mainstream, 2,500 years ago. In
Vedic Hinduism, dharma is valued over moksha. But in Puranic
Hinduism, moksha starts being valued over dharma, indicating
the growing influence of Hindu monastic orders for the past
1,000 years.
Purusha–artha: that which makes human life meaningful

Dharma Artha Kama Moksha

Everything Wealth Pleasure Liberation

for the and power for for for
other self self self

Tri-varga of Vedic period

Chatur-varga of Puranic period

Inclusion of Moksha

Today we tend to see moksha as aspirational, almost the goal of

Hindu life. But the concept of ‘goal’ makes sense only in one-life
cultures, where existence has an expiry date. In rebirth cultures
there are no expiry dates, hence no goals, only pursuits that make
our endless life meaningful (purusha-artha). Originally three
categories (tri-varga) of pursuit were identified: dharma, artha
and kama, or social obligations, power and pleasure. Later,
moksha was included as the fourth category (chatur-varga). A
judge finds moksha to be the best of the three, while an observer
is able to see the contextual appropriateness of each varga. While
artha, kama and moksha focus primarily on the self, dharma
alone is about the other. This is why Krishna keeps speaking
about action, not inaction, engagement, not withdrawal.

228 My Gita
 Forest / Nature Field / Culture

Buddhist Prince of
Hermit
Kapilavastu

Hermit of Shiva Purana Householder

Kailasa of Kashi

Ram’s birth
Ram’s in Ayodhya
education

Ramayana Ram’s marriage

in Mithila

Ram’s
exile

Ram’s kingship
Sita’s of Ayodhya
banishment

Birth of
Pandavas Education in
Hastinapur

Escape from
assassination
Building
Mahabharata
Indra-prastha

Exile after
gambling
War and victory
at Kuru-kshetra
Retirement

Return of the Buddha, Ram and the Pandavas from the Forest

You and I matter to each other 231

 Forest Field

Householder
Nirvana
Hermit

Unenlightened (Adi = first note)

Householder
(Sama = return
to first note)
Hermit Brahma-nirvana

Enlightened

Return to the Origin

If Indra’s heaven, swarga, is about indulging desires, hungers

and fears, and Shiva’s heaven, Kailasa, is about outgrowing
desires, hungers and fears, then Vishnu’s heaven, Vaikuntha, is
about outgrowing desires, hungers and fears of the self by gaining
perspective on the desires, hungers and fears of others.
Vaikuntha is located on the shore-less ocean of milk. This
ocean of milk is a metaphor for nature (prakriti), its shore-less
state indicating that it has no purpose or destination, and milk
indicating that all wealth is ultimately churned out of nature.
Here Vishnu lies in deep slumber until the cries of the earth
goddess wake him up and force him to watch the rise and fall of
human societies, the alternating victories and defeats of the devas
and the asuras who seek control over the world. Vishnu descends
in various moral forms (avatars) to help everyone appreciate
the reality of nature (prakriti) and the potential of humanity
(purusha).

You and I matter to each other 233

 Besides being a saviour, Vishnu is also an enjoyer (rasika) of the
various flavours (rasa) of existence. His temples contain dancing
halls (natya-mandapa), food halls (bhoga-mandapa), assembly
halls (jaga-mohana) and wedding halls (kalyana-mandapa). They
are associated with fine music, fragrances and garments.
Unlike the independent Shiva made dependable by Shakti,
Vishnu displays vulnerability and dependence on the other
when he descends as Ram and Krishna, for the other also wants
to feel powerful and valued, and this can only happen when
the self ‘consumes’ the other. I want you to need me. If you do
not need me, and only give me, without taking anything from
me, I feel inadequate, meaningless, valueless and purposeless. In
wanting me, you illuminate me and contribute to my fulfilment.
Likewise, you want me to need you. If I do not need you, if I am
dependable but detached, you will feel insulted, hurt, unwanted,
and I will appear patronizing.
Wisdom for both that
neither receives

Boons for Saviours for

asuras devas

Brahma

234 My Gita
 Vishnu stories in the Ramayana, Bhagavata and Mahabharata
reveal how he experiences birth, death and even heartbreak. Both
Ram and Krishna display human emotions, yearning for the
beloved. Though God, Ram cannot be with Sita, Krishna cannot
be with Radha. Yet they do not turn bitter, angry or vengeful.
They love unconditionally.
This idea of a vulnerable god, who gets as much as he gives,
is unique to Hinduism. While the transformation of the wise
Buddha of old Buddhism into the compassionate Bodhisattva of
later Buddhism mirrors the transformation of the hermit Shiva
into the householder Shankara, the idea of Vishnu, who is at
once king and hermit and lover, who not only cares for but needs
the other, is unique to Vaishnava mythology.

Hermit to Householder

Neither Sita, who Vishnu abandons as Ram, nor Radha,

who he abandons as Krishna, begrudges him. They also love
him unconditionally. Love, in either case, does not guarantee
happiness. Love, in either case, does not manifest as control.
Loving is its own reward, the ultimate human possibility. This is

You and I matter to each other 235

atma-rati, feeling fulfilled in doing the deed without expecting
a reward, referred to in Chapter 3, Verse 7. This is the outcome
of brahma-sthithi, being firm in the understanding of human
imagination, referred to in Chapter 2, Verse 72. It follows
accepting oneself as nimitta-matra, instrument of a larger
narrative, referred to in Chapter 11, Verse 33.
Prosperity
Prosperity Peace + Peace
Swarga Kailasa Vaikuntha

My hunger I am not I am not

is satisfied hungry hungry but
Conflict I care for
your hunger
Naraka

Hunger not
satisfied

Swarga, Kailasa, Vaikuntha

Buddhism popularized the hermit practice of shutting the

eyes and contemplating (dhyana) while Puranic Hinduism
popularized the householder practice of opening the eyes and
seeing the deity in the temple (darshan). In one, there is focus
on the inner journey. In the other, the inner journey is meant to
facilitate the outer journey.
The Buddhist concept of nirvana offers freedom from suffering
by realizing that even the idea of the self is manufactured by the
mind. The Gita’s concept of brahma-nirvana offers awareness of,
and empathy for, the manufactured anxieties of the other, their
need to control and dominate and cling, their inability to let go

236 My Gita
despite being enabled and empowered to do so. The more we
observe the other, without judgement, the more we see ourselves
mirrored in them. We realize our manufactured anxieties that
indulge our manufactured selves.

Arjuna, he who is always aware of the divine, and unites

with the divine, within and without, will always be at
peace and blissful.—Bhagavad Gita: Chapter 6, Verse
15 (paraphrased).

Typically, we are trapped in a world where there is conflict

between my kshetra and your kshetra. I compare what I have
with what you have and this leads to conflict and competition as
between the Pandavas and the Kauravas. Darshan begins when
I look at your aham, the hungers and fears that constitute your
imagined identity, and discover my aham, fears and hungers
that constitute my imagined identity. This is what Krishna asks
Arjuna to do. Only then do we discover the atma that permeates
all beings and all things, that is infinite, immortal and at peace.

My My
Self insecurity property

Your Your
Other insecurity property

Aham Kshetra

The Journey of The Gita

You and I matter to each other 237

 After My Gita:
Yet Another Discourse by Krishna

A fter The Gita, there was the Kama Gita, the song of the god
of desire, and then the Anu Gita, the follow-up Gita, both
narrated by Krishna. This is how they come about.

Kama Gita
happy ending, or else life is a tragedy. These are typical of finite
narratives, where there is only one life to lead.

Chaos Order

Problem Solution

Climax of Finite Narratives

The word ‘perfect’ cannot be translated in Sanskrit, or any

Indian language. The closest we come to it is excellent (uttam)
and complete or comprehensive (purnatva), a reminder that
Eden is not a Hindu concept. There is no fall from perfection, as
in Abrahamic mythology. Nor is culture a journey out of chaos
into order, as in Greek mythology. We can at best keep expanding
our mind, keep getting more understanding, as we make the
journey from limited reality (mithya) to limitless infinite reality
(satya). Wisdom comes with the realization that other people’s
karma that impacts our life cannot be wished away. And this is
most evident in the concept of Ram Rajya, the ‘perfect’ kingdom
of Ram described in the Ramayana.
In Ram Rajya, everything is predictable, everything is pure,
all wishes are fulfilled and everyone is taken care of. But then
a Brahmin’s son dies prematurely, because a ‘low-caste’ man
called Shambuka wants to be a hermit and so has abandoned his
vocation. And people gossip about Sita’s stay in Ravana’s palace,
and a washerman (dhobi) calls it a ‘stain’ on the reputation of
the Raghu clan. The desires and meanness of others are beyond
Ram’s control. To restore perfection, Ram has to do terrible
things: kill an innocent hermit and banish an innocent wife.
Aspirations are crushed and people are abandoned, in order to

After My Gita: Yet Another Discourse by Krishna 243

create predictability and purity for the rest. The horrific price of
perfection is thus demonstrated. The physical and psychological
violence generates more karmic ripples that end up as turbulent
waves lashing against the perfection created. Shambuka’s cry and
Sita’s anguish haunt Ram Rajya from without. Ram Rajya turns
into rana-bhoomi, under siege by those excluded, like Indra’s
swarga surrounded by angry asuras.
Eventually the Treta yuga gives way to Dvapara yuga, where
upright men like Bhisma and Karna allow the Kauravas to thrive
while honest men like Yudhishthira gamble their kingdom and
their wife away, even when Krishna walks the earth.
Does that make the Ramayana and the Mahabharata tragedies,
since they do not have happy endings? Attempts to classify the
epics so are themselves judgemental, against the very spirit in
which they were composed. The epics simply end with the death
of their protagonists: Ram dies in Book 7 of the Ramayana while
Krishna dies in the Mausala Parva, Book 16 of the Mahabharata;
Arjuna dies in Book 17. Ram walks into the river Sarayu, and a
stray arrow kills Krishna. Both have a smile on their lips when
they die for they know death is not the end: another life awaits.
Arjuna on the other hand slips while climing a mountain and dies
in disappointment, having failed to reach swarga.
Birth Death
of Ram of Ram

Previous life Ramayana Bhagavata Mahabharata Next life

Birth of Krishna Death of Krishna

Beginning and End of Hindu Epics

244 My Gita
 The Gita does not aspire for perfection. Hence, there are no
rules in The Gita, only three paths to establish relationships:
karma yoga, bhakti yoga and gyana yoga that deal with human
conduct, human emotions and human identity. These three
routes are interdependent. One cannot exist without the other.
Without karma yoga, we have nothing to give, or receive from,
the other. Without bhakti yoga, we are machines that feel
nothing for the other. Without gyana yoga, we have no value,
purpose or meaning. There can be no bhakta who does not do or
understand. There can be no gyani who does not do or feel. There
can be no karmi who does not feel or understand. The optimal
functioning of the hands (karma) depends on the head (gyana)
and the heart (bhakti). A yogi simultaneously does, feels and
understands.
No exchange

Gyana Bhakti

Yoga

No affection Karma
No meaning

Interdependence of the Three Yogas

Krishna presents these three paths to Arjuna like a mother lays

out food. Arjuna has the option of eating what he feels like, what
his body craves for. No matter what he eats, he has no control
over the digestion, what his body will finally assimilate. The final

After My Gita: Yet Another Discourse by Krishna 245