Thoughts on Bhagavad Gita

Hello, It's been a loooong time since the last post...

Lately, I've been spending my time indoors. From 5-7 I stay in my room, either play piano, read, or sleep if I'm tired. In my quarantine time, I've finished my 8th grade book The Grapes of Wrath and started plenty more. I've also cleaned up my room, taking after Dr. Peterson's suggestion.

Recently, I started reading Bhagavad Gita (Professor S Radakrishnan's Sanskrit to English translation) out of curiosity as to what one of the most respected Hindu scriptures recommends as the proper way to live life. So far, it is interesting to hear about Lord Krishna's recommendations on what the ideal individual should do and what the aim of life is according to this great scripture.

The nature of the dialogue to have the ultimately flawed disciple, Arjuna, communicating with the ideal Lord Krishna, who has supposedly achieved the highest state of life, makes it convenient for me as a reader to relate to both central characters. Arjuna, as someone like me: affected by a chaotic mind, doubtful, and seeking answers to his uncertainties regarding how to make decisions, how to live; and Krishna, as the ideal version of myself, who has achieved the ultimate evenness of mind and independence, with no reliance upon anyone or anything but what is inevitably permanent, his own soul.

As I was reading, I've written down some of my takeaways from the first couple of chapters of what I've read so far. Here they are:

• Mental control and evenness of mind is better than a state of mind afflicted by clamor/chaos, and is achieved through practicing yoga.
• The soul is eternal and not ephemeral like the corpse, but rather detached from the body. For this reason, Lord Krishna advises Arjuna in the second chapter to not worry about having to slay the enemy in war, as the body of the opposing warriors are perishable, but not their soul.
• Tying into the next point, Krishna in the Gita stresses the importance to Arjuna in following his duty as a Kshatriya, and that he is privileged to have the opportunity to be fighting as a warrior.
• Men are obligated to fulfill their duties regardless of the results. Krishna says that a painter should not paint anticipating fame or external reward, but merely because painting is his duty.
• With that said, working is a fruitful action. In Radakrishnan's translation, Krishna says "Yoga gives you superpowers". However, he elaborates by mentioning the following point which ties into the previous bullet: Efforts to practice yoga in order to obtain superpowers are futile.
• Ironically, as Radakrishnan mentions, the premise of yoga is to achieve evenness of mind and renounce all humanly desires, but the motivation of the man who seeks superpowers is quite the contrary.
• In commentary, Professor Radakrishnan describes how the final stage of live entails a complete renunciation of life's needs and lifestyle. Following this outward renunciation, an inward renunciation is also achieved, and upon seeing God, the individual even loses all desire to tend to his mortal desires.

In brief, my understanding from Krishna's teachings to Arjuna boils down to: Do your duty, only because it is your duty. Leave behind humanly desires. Achieve evenness of mind.

I find a few similarities between these ideas put forth in Gita, as well as postulates of Christianity and Buddhism. Like Buddhism, Hindu practice of yoga involves inward reflection, achieving inner balance and mental control, and disciplining oneself against human temptations. (In the case of Buddha, keeping himself incredibly still to the point that snails climb up and find comfort on his bald head) In the case of Christianity, keeping oneself away from so-called "sin", indulgence in one's humanly desires. David Blaine's endeavors in resisting temptation in the most physical sense, including confining himself in a box for weeks at a time, enduring pain, and even resisting his urge to breathe by submerging himself underwater, remind me of this ideal taught in the Gita of self-discipline and duty.

Out of these commonalities between concurrent religions, I come to suspect that it is human nature to acquiesce into short-lived sources of pleasure, and also that not giving into such desires brings one closer to God. This ties into my view of religion as a reflection of human consciousness and what we view as the correct choice. Based on what I know, I value studying religion because it gives me insight into others' solutions to their existential concerns regarding the proper course of action in life, how the individual should make decisions, even the sense of humility and gratefulness. It is simply a way to give the consciousness satisfaction and a set of guidelines to attribute meaningfulness to our lives. In line with this idea, Lord Krishna states in the Gita that it is worth worshipping the personal god over an absolute one. With that, I'd like to end this post on a scene in The Grapes of Wrath of which I was reminded, in which the preacher mentions that sin is only that which we believe is sin.