The World-view of the Bhagavad Gita

The Bhagavad Gita is a code of conduct, a form of practical spirituality that is based on a view of the world – a metaphysic. If we are to make sense of the code of conduct we must first understand the metaphysic.

In Europe and United States – for a time in the 20th Century – the Hedonistic view of life had for a time become popular. According to this view the purpose of ethics and ethical training is to let mankind be happy. Bertrand Russell clearly states this view in Why I am not a Christian when he claims that outside of human desires there is no ethical standard. The Bhagavad Gita is however based on a world-view that is completely opposed to this.

Bertrand Russell is one of the persons whom I most admire and respect of all those persons when I have come in contact with through books or otherwise. Yet as I grow older I find myself more and more tending to the views of Eastern Philosophy and the Bhagavad Gita.

The Hedonistic view of life accepts the ego in man as true and real. According to the Bhagavad Gita and Eastern Philosophy the ego is false. In the words of the Buddha the ego is a fever born of a delusion. The main aim of ethics – according to this world-view – would be to help man realize the falseness of the ego, to rid himself of the delusion. We find support for this view in the findings of Quantum Physics. According to Quantum Physics there is some evidence for the view that the Universe is one organic whole. We are not individuals separate from the rest of existence but inseparable elements of the Universe. The main aim of philosophy, of the ethic preached in the Bhagavad Gita is to help us overcome the delusion of the ego and have us realize our oneness with the rest of existence. In other words the aim of the ethics and code of conduct of the Bhagavad Gita is to help us realize God.

The Bhagavad Gita is known for its emphasis on doing our duty without attachments for or caring about the results. We can understand this emphasis in view of the preceding paragraphs. All work whether pleasant or unpleasant is to be done in the sense of duty. It is the ego that regards work as high or low, and as pleasant or unpleasant. The sense of duty teaches us to disregard these false values. This results in our rising above the petty needs and whims of the ego.

Also by not caring from the fruits of our actions we are led to the habit of detachment. We are no longer overcome by our passions or identified with the mind. We can thus see ourselves, our place in the world and the world itself as it truly is. The quality of detachment is an invaluable gift of meditation and of all philosophy whether eastern or otherwise. Just this one quality is enough to enable us to rise above our circumstances and live reasonably happily in whatever situation that we find ourselves.

The Bhagavad Gita emphasizes – as does Buddhism – the act of being a witness. I have read a number of books related to Eastern Philosophy and all stress the need for being a witness. Eckhart Tolle speaks of the need to dis-identify with the mind. Thich Nhat Hanh exhorts us to live mindfully. Meditation – especially in the Buddhist tradition – lays emphasis on witnessing. All of this make sense when we accept the view that the ego is a fever born of delusion and must be transcended. All these methods of mindfulness – or being present in the Here and Now – are practices that enable us to rise from moment to moment above the ego with its petty whims and desires.

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

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