Karma Yoga - the message ofthe Bhagavad Gita

In the second chapter of the Bhagavad Gita we come across a very important sloka. The situation is this – Arjuna is caught between his duty to wage war and revulsion at the prospect of killing his elders, kith, kin and family whom he has known all his life. A great trembling arises in him, he becomes confused and emotional and he resolves not to fight. He says as much to Lord Krishna who is with him on the battlefield.

In life we need to at times, choose between the good and the pleasant. We need to take clear thought and act accordingly to do what is good even if it is to have unpleasant consequences for others and ourselves. Not unnaturally we sometimes find this very difficult to do.

According to the British thinker Bradley, philosophy is for most people the finding of bad reasons for opinions that they hold by instinct to be true. This is of course rationalization and not true philosophy. We see this now in Arjuna’s case. He is the victim of an excess of attachment, delusion and grief. Emotionally he does not want to fight – and rationalizing this he invokes the aid of non-violence, non-resistance and humanity for withdrawing from the battle. He expects support and consolation from Lord Krishna – he is in such a situation that he cannot think straight.

Krishna can explain to Arjuna the philosophic reasons why he should fight. But he knows that his message will not reach Arjuna in his emotional state. He needs to first get Arjuna to snap out of his emotional state. He needs to give Arjuna strength and give him back his own self-respect. He therefore addresses Arjuna like this: -

“Yield not to unmanliness, O son of Partha! Ill doth it become thee; cast off this mean faint heartedness and arise, O scorcher of thine enemies”.

According to Swami Vivekanand this one sloka contains the whole message of the Bhagavad Gita.

It happens to everyone sometime in their life that they are at their wit’s ends and are completely overwhelmed by life and its problems. It is at such times that we need to rouse ourselves up, gather all our strength and resources and apply it to the battle of Life. Arjuna is lucky in that he had Lord Krishna to help him out when he was overwhelmed by life. Lord Krishna – through this sloka of the Bhagavad Gita – is trying to rouse Arjuna and put him touch with this own strength. Through this sloka Lord Krishna is giving Arjuna back his self-respect – this alone is enough to produce a lasting transformation.

Religion, government, the police and society as a whole operates through a system of rewards and punishments to get members of society behave in acceptable and beneficial ways. But this combination of fear and bribery is not enough to change a person. The moment the inducement or punishment is removed he will again behave badly. Ideally we need to help a person stand on his own two feet, to think independently for himself and decide what is right and what is wrong. This is how we can grow spiritually. If a person can forget his selfish interests, be prepared to accept whatever consequences but still do his duty, we can then say that he is truly an Arjuna – a great warrior. It is then that we are following the path of the Bhagavad Gita.

A carrot and stick policy, a system of rewards and punishments is necessary for the ordinary functioning of society. But no person can be considered great until he or she is able to rise above such considerations and still do what is right.

Krishna is putting Arjuna back in touch with his own greatness – he is exhorting Arjuna to be strong again.

This is the message of the sloka, which I quoted earlier in this article. It is the essence of the message of the Bhagavad Gita.

I hope you enjoyed this article and that it will be useful to you.

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