Shrimad Bhagavad 2.16,2.17,2.18

नासतो विद्यते भावो नाभावो विद्यते सतः।

उभयोरपि दृष्टोऽन्तस्त्वनयोस्तत्त्वदर्शिभिः।।2.16।।

Birth (or existence) does not happen to what is non-existent, and destruction (or non-existence) to what is existent; the finality of these two has been seen by the seers of the reality.

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अविनाशि तु तद्विद्धि येन सर्वमिदं ततम्।

विनाशमव्ययस्यास्य न कश्िचत् कर्तुमर्हति।।2.17।।

          And know that to be destruction-less, by which all this (universe) is pervaded; no one is capable of causing destruction to this changeless One.

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अन्तवन्त इमे देहा नित्यस्योक्ताः शरीरिणः।

अनाशिनोऽप्रमेयस्य तस्माद्युध्यस्व भारत।।2.18।।

These destructible bodies are said to belong to the everlasting, indestructible, indeterminable, embodied One. Therefore, O descendant of Bharata, join the battle.

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Here the Lord gainsays about presumptions of life by saying that life is like an ethereal gossamer with no inception and no denouement. This thread has unfathomable depth and insuperable altitude, yet it begins where it ends and ends where it commences. It never ceases to stop and can’t be made to capitulate to the worldly forces. Its existence is not questioned by the influence of nature, nor can its sanctity be contravened by the human actions. That which has ever been begotten can’t be debilitated in any manner, that which has never been engendered can’t be created through any process, the world we live in is constant, all of us tergiversate from one body to another. Wherever there is death, somewhere else life will sprout us as a consequence because as per the Lord, death is nothing but the inception of a new form of life. Those who believe that demist symbolizes a coda of a human life will always be eluded by the veracity of the universe, because death is nothing but a catapult for new life. In this world nothing biotic can be expunged, it can only be made to change its countenance. This is the ultimate truth of life. Those who can console them to accept this truth will never achieve the covetous unity with the atman, they will continue to see disparity in processes which are inherently coherent, they will continue to see anachronism in process which are innately coeval, and this will continue to produce various philosophical and emotional imbroglios and mires for them. For they are restraining themselves from seeing the reality, only pain and self-meditated notions would be visible to them and thus redemption will never come.

The incessant process of transformation of lives and the truth of confluence of pleasure and pain, love and hate, life and death, unity and disparity, inception and destruction are the only truths of life that a man must acknowledge and concede to. Though at first these things seem plumb opposite to each other, yet they complement each other like none other. Deeming them in the manner that the Lord prescribes will be an arduous task because there is nothing as strenuous as steering one’s own thoughts and mind at one’s command. Since we have inured ourselves to the convention of watching these things as opposite to one another, we must unlearn our facile knowledge, flay off our sense of insecurity through regular scholarship and then only we will be able to reconcile those differences in our own heart. I must warn you beforehand that this is going to be a formidable journey replete of hindrances and difficulties. For we are acclimatized to celebrate birth and mourn death, sing praise for origination and lament for the end, it would be extremely difficult to get the reigns of our emotions. You can infer about the challenge posed by this task by thinking of the yogis. The only truth that a yogi needs to learn is hidden in these three shlokas, yet our human predilections and subconscious mar our progress and curb our amelioration and thus make it very difficult to conquer our mind.

It is only through constant practice and toil that we will be able to clobber our base instincts and reach the supreme truth of the universe that Lord wants us to recognize.

JAI HIND, JAI BHARAT

JAI MA BHARTI

Shrimad Bhagavad 2.13, 2.14, 2.15

देहिनोऽस्मिन्यथा देहे कौमारं यौवनं जरा।

तथा देहान्तरप्राप्तिर्धीरस्तत्र न मुह्यति।।2.13।।

2.13. Just as the boyhood, youth and old age come to the embodied Soul in this body, in the same manner is the attaining of another body; the wise man is not deluded at that.

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मात्रास्पर्शास्तु कौन्तेय शीतोष्णसुखदुःखदाः।

आगमापायिनोऽनित्यास्तांस्तितिक्षस्व भारत।।2.14।।

2.14 But the contacts of the organs with the objects are the producers of cold and heat, happiness and sorrow. They have a beginning and an end, (and) are transient. Bear them, O descendant of Bharata.

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यं हि न व्यथयन्त्येते पुरुषं पुरुषर्षभ।

समदुःखसुखं धीरं सोऽमृतत्वाय कल्पते।।2.15।।

2.15. O the best among persons! That wise person becomes immortal whom these (situations) do not trouble and to whom the pleasure and pain are equal.

The lord commences by carving out the distinction between the body and the atman, between our senses and our consciousness and tells that thought may seem indiscernible, yet the gravity of discreteness is them can’t be eschewed. He tells us that just like the aging process of a body the soul too is going through a metamorphosis. As we grow from an infant to fall into the laps of senility, so too the soul is transmuting from one form to another. Nature teaches us that the world progresses by evolution; that species mould themselves to make themselves comme il faut for the time; that the only everlasting thing in the world is evanescent change; that if we don’t prepare ourselves to nestle in the cast of befitting time, we will be vanquished and clobbered by the forces of nature itself. Similarly, Lord tells us that soul is also not excused from the process. Change is ineluctable, though in some cases it is momentarily and in others extremely protracted. Furthermore, Lord edifies that all the emotions and sentiments that we believe are part of our soul and consciousness are not at all any integral part of our emotions. They are just ephemeral stimulation of our external organs and nothing carries enough power to transfix our soul. Our biggest mistake is to believe that we comprise of our emotions, notwithstanding knowing that they will pass sooner or later, we linger onto them and cling to them thinking that they are indispensable. This folly makes us to go through the ups and down of emotions through which those who know the truth of atman are not made to go through. They are never made to tread the formidable path being administered by our emotions and external stimuli because they know that these things are mere illusions created by the body and our impervious soul is not bound by them. Thus Lord asks Arjuna to be unfazed by death and life, grief and merry, hate and love, loath and certainty, indecision and decision, evolution or decadence, equivocation or vehemence. He asks him to concede to the cardinal truth of life that atman is above all and nothing carries enough competence to penetrate the atman. In fact, Lord even goes further to say that those who snub pain and pleasure equally are immortal. That is so because, when we stop dwelling over the matters of our destructible body and raise above the trifles of the external world, silence pervades inside us all. When this silence is further strengthened by our equanimity, nonchalance and indiscrimination, it leads to our unification with the atman and since atman is adamantine, we rise above the bagatelle to become immortal. Immortality thus, comes after accepting that our body is a mere apparel and our soul is what we are made up of.       

JAI HIND, JAI BHARAT

JAI MA BHARTI

Shrimad Bhagavad Gita 2.12

न त्वेवाहं जातु नासं न त्वं नेमे जनाधिपाः।

न चैव न भविष्यामः सर्वे वयमतः परम्।।2.12।।

Never indeed at any time [in the past] did I not exist, nor you, nor these kings; and never shall we all not exist hereafter.

One of the first revelations appurtenant to the world we live in has been brought forth here. That our existence doesn’t depend merely on time is in itself a hard nut to crack. All of our assays germane to the human life germinate in the lap of time. Time girths around our discussions and ideologies, yet Lord says that time has been immaterial in our existence within the universe. Lord Krishna asks Arjuna not to be engulfed in the dilemma that his actions will destroy his gurus and beloved one and contrastingly tells him that nothing in this world can vanquish their existence from the universe. Each one of us was here in the past and will continue to be extant in the future and hence rather than making his heart look woebegone with the terrors of war, he should rather march ahead and fight for victory.

This discourse pertinent to the continuity of life forms the basic tenet of Hinduism. In fact, a very similar ideology is present in the field of Physics. Physics has seen quite a lot of ‘upheavals’ in the last century, Newtonian Mechanics has been left almost redundant in the microscopic world, wave-particle duality and de-Broglie’s hypothesis of matter waves opened a new realm of science which finally led to Quatum Mechanics and then in Quantum Mechanics too, phenomena like Quatum entanglement continue to bemuse physicist around the world; yet one principle that came purely unscathed out of all this churning is the principle of conservation of energy. Physics avers that no matter how you play with the system, energy remains constant: it can neither be created, nor be destroyed. We know this (in Physics) not because of some experiment, but because it has always been observed. Though some elementary proofs regarding basic energy forms are there, yet there stands no proof which coalesces all the different types of energies existing in the universe. Even a single contradictory datum can prove it wrong, yet in the whole history of science (in macroscopic as well as microscopic world), no such case has ever been observed.

In exactly the same terms, Sanatan Dharma avows that life (atman) remains constant, it can’t be impales, immured, destroyed or created. Its ostentatious apparels (our body, our thoughts) may be exuviated, yet its deep ingredients are perennial and will never cease to exist. It flows incessantly and relentlessly (just like energy) from one form to another, it can change its shape, structure or size, yet it will exist in the universe no matter what. It will continue to bear up new apparels, then add a bauble or too, yet beneath the surface it is same and has always been like that.

The only difference between the physical law of conservation of energy and the law of continuity of life is that the former exists in the dimensions of space while the latter exists in the dimensions of time and unfortunately, the human brain can only deal in the dimensions of space and hence energy laws are verifiable but those of life are not. But this should not detract from the immaculate analogy that exists between Physics and Dharma and how both stand on the shoulders of the same giant.

This is one the few shlokas in which Lord enunciates a revelation of universe, which can consume a deluge of descants, in such a terse yet exact manner. Yet, Lord is ineffable in his own ways and we, the mortals, can just try to decipher what he meant using the best of our mediocre senses.   

JAI HIND, JAI BHARAT

JAI MA BHARTI

Shrimad Bhagavad Gita 2.10, 2.11

तमुवाच हृषीकेशः प्रहसन्निव भारत।

                   सेनयोरुभयोर्मध्ये विषीदन्तमिदं वचः।।2.10।।

2.10 To him who was despondent in the midst of the two armies, Krishna, as if smiling, O Bharata, spoke these words.

श्री भगवानुवाच

                     अशोच्यानन्वशोचस्त्वं प्रज्ञावादांश्च भाषसे।
                 गतासूनगतासूंश्च नानुशोचन्ति पण्डिताः।।2.11।।

2.11. While lamenting for those who cannot be lamented on and those who do not require to be lamented on, you do not talk like a wise man! The learned do not lament for those of departed life and those of non-departed life.

Lord commences by shedding light on Arjun’s misconception that indecision stands as a better alternative and then in one single utterance he crashes the notion of Arjuna that after the war, he would be left with nothing but lamentation. He reprimands Arjuna for thinking like a fatuous person amidst the battlefield. In essence, this is the first taste of cosmic reality that Arjuna has been introduced to by the Lord. The first question that comes here is who is Arjuna to lament over others and why should he ever be lugubrious and melancholic regarding to the deaths of the warriors in the world. However surprising it may seem, Arjuna’s saturnine thoughts emerge from his ego. In the deepest realms of his heart, he deems himself as the spearhead of the battle. He thinks that he can bring destruction and wreak havoc on the opposing lines through his might and power and hence Lord deems him to be too silly on this aspect. You can be sad over something that happens because of you but the cosmic reality says that in this world nothing can happen because of us, we are mere evanescent fabrics in the net of reality. If some other fabric gets twitches or extricated, it happens on the will of the weaver of the net rather than the will of some other fabric, yet our preconceived notions compel us that our inner might is capable of bringing about changes in the universe. Similarly, Arjuna believes that if he takes up weapons and Acharya Dron or Pitamah Bhismah die then that would be because of his taking up weapon but he doesn’t know that he is just some other fabric in the cosmic reality net. Nothing can be done on his will, nothing can be stopped on his whims. The reality net doesn’t heed to the capriciousness of his behaviour. The net has existed since much before the existence of Arjuna and will continue even after the demise of Arjuna. When, how and why other fabrics will be plucked depends only on the will of the weaver and hence if Arjuna can affect no outcome and engender no change in the reality, then why should he be so Eeyorish. He, just like other, is a mere impotent thread that must function just as a thread, yet he is thinking of himself as the creator and destroyer of the net. It is as if a child has refused to study because he believes that if he ranks first in the exam, others would have to go away with a lower rank. Here, the child is considering himself the supreme reality, just like Arjuna. Though his own study would never affect the outcome of other’s work, yet he believes that he can generate and alter consequences of various action. It is as if a drop of water is unhappy that it led to a tsunami that killed thousands. Is it the drop that caused the tsunami? Certainly not! Then why should the drop lament?

JAI HIND, JAI BHARAT

JAI MA BHARTI

Shrimad Bhagavad Gita 2.9

सञ्जय उवाच

एवमुक्त्वा हृषीकेशं गुडाकेशः परन्तप।

न योत्स्य इति गोविन्दमुक्त्वा तूष्णीं बभूव ह।।2.9।।

Sanjaya said Having spoken thus to Hrishikesha (the Lord of the senses), Arjuna (the conqueror of ignorance), the destroyer of foes, said to Krishna, "I will not fight" and became silent.

Here arrives the most anticipated moment of the whole of Mahabharata. Bedeviled by dilemma and bemused by his inner self, Arjuna refuses to fight. In the middle of the battlefield when one of the most decisive war of the mankind is to be fought, Arjuna finds himself at odds struggling with spiritual and emotional quandaries. To him, it seems morally repugnant to ever assault his guru, his grandfather and his father-like figures for the want of kingship. To him, the war seems rather futile because having envisaged the debilitation of not only lives but also moral culture, values and ethos that would follow war would be internecine to both the parties. Standing amidst all the warriors, he can now see the lucid future that is slipping towards destruction and finally in awe of his emotions, even Gudakesha (Arjuna), the conqueror of ignorance, can’t keep his senses still. Musing over the debilitation the will be afflicted on his clan once the fight starts, he seems fearful of the future. The visions of the coming annihilation have left his stupefied and now he stands in a mare’s nest. A mélange of emotions have taken hold of him. On one side is an elder brother for which Arjuna is ready to forsake the empires of the three worlds and on the other side there are people who have made him capable of conquering the empires of the three world. The predicament finally leads to Arjuna’s surrender amidst the battlefield. The slayer of foes has been taken down by the constant waves of emotions from both sides of his mind. Clouds of indecision have marred his sight to such an extent that rumination seems impossible and Arjuna feels defeated ever before the inception of the battle, even before taking up arms he is feeling death, even before carving out strategies he is feeling swindled. Such is his agony that the fighter who can silence thousands to death with a single arrow from his quiver seems to be demanding a coup de grace. Having ginormous power in hands and feeling a dearth of life in heart is such a paradox that’s badgering him from within. Peace for him seems to be lie in irresolution, because Arjuna can sense loss in every possible alternative he has. If he fights for his brother, he knows, nothing will remain and incalculable lives will be lost; if he doesn’t fight with his brother, history will remember his as a dastard who forsook his own brother when the family needed him the most. Appreciate the irony of the situation that despite having the Lord himself sitting as his charioteer, Arjuna feels directionless, notwithstanding having the Lord to steer paths for him, Arjuna doesn’t want to tread the path. In everybody’s life, there comes a moment when he has everything he needs and yet life seems so vacuous, a moment when indecision seems to be the only feasible decision.  

JAI HIND, JAI BHARAT

JAI MA BHARTI