In this thought-provoking segment, Swami Bhoomananda Tirthaji discusses Bhagavad Gita’s enlightened views on death, and life.

Sri Krishna removes Arjuna’s misconception of death in verse 2:12:

न त्वेवाहं जातु नासं न त्वं नेमे जनाधिपाः ।
न चैव न भविष्यामः सर्वे वयमतः परम् ॥ १२ ॥

na tvevāhaṁ jātu nāsaṁ na tvaṁ neme janādhipāḥ
na caiva na bhaviṣyāmaḥ sarve vayam-ataḥ param

The “I” in every one of us is always present. The existent can never become non-existent or different, and will continue to exist. That means, I can never cease to exist. In reality, we are “existence”.

Change only occurs in the body level. Our personality is not the object body, but the Subject “I” which is nothing other than the unchanging substratum of all that exists as the changeful world. 

Swamiji’s talk is all the more relevant in these trying times of Covid 19. We are limited in what we can do to counter it physically, but there is plenty we can do with our heart, mind, wish and will. Nature has given our body immunity to fight the virus, but even more so it has given us the mind and intelligence.  Swamiji exhorts us to surround this virus with the power of our inner personality. 

Krishna effectively imparts to Arjuna the understanding that death is but a transition, not an extinction. With this right perspective, Arjuna drops all considerations of death. He then starts enquiring about life itself, with all its undulations. Krishna’s answer to Arjuna’s enquiry is one that Swamiji has been exposing tirelessly for the past 65 years from innumerable platforms across the world. 

Before going into Krishna’s analysis, Swamiji challenges us with a question, “What is your life?” –  something most have never thought about. Considering the amount of time and energy we spend studying and analyzing the subjects we require for our professional life, it is unthinkable that we spend no time at all probing and analyzing our life itself!

Swamiji then launches into Sri Krishna’s summary of the whole life with verse 2.14 –

मात्रास्पर्शास्तु कौन्तेय शीतोष्णसुखदुःखदाः ।
आगमापायिनोऽनित्यास्तांस्तितिक्षस्व भारत ॥ १४ ॥

mātrā-sparśās-tu kaunteya śītoṣṇa-sukha-duḥkhadāḥ
āgamāpāyino’nityās-tāṁs-titikṣasva bhārata

Our life is constantly an interaction between our senses and the objects around us. Interactions are taking place because of the senses, not the objects. Senses initiate the interaction, objects are merely present. When the interactions take place, the outcome is either one of two – sukha (happiness) or duhkha (unhappiness).

In other words, as long as we are living, repeated interactions will take place, and repeated sukha-duhkhas too. Sukha-duhkhas are not our creation. Swamiji urges us to “borrow intelligence” and understand that we do not have to work or strive for sukha or duhkha, they are a natural outcome of all interactions. Therefore, we do not need to worry about their coming and going. We simply have to go on doing whatever we are doing, knowing that the inevitable impacts will come in the way of either a sukha or a duhkha.

We are generally not bothered about sukha, only displeased about duhkha. So, what does Sri Krishna ask us to do?

āgamāpāyino ’nityās – these sukhas and dukhas are all transitory, they have no power to last at all. What need have we for anything that does not last? Therefore all we have to do is, tāṁs-titikṣasva – simply forebear them. Forebear them by evaluating them with an enlightened intelligence. 

Duhkha is necessary to experience sukha and vice versa. The one naturally follows the other, and by that same token brings the other. Duhkha brings sukha, and therefore is a friend, not foe. Sukha on the other hand drives us to duhkha, and therefore is not to be sought. That is why Krishna exhorts Arjuna to develop an attitude of indifference towards both. 

The question then naturally arises – HOW do we forebear these sukha-duhkhas? The answer is in verse 2.15 –

यं हि न व्यथयन्त्येते पुरुषं पुरुषर्षभ ।
समदुःखसुखं धीरं सोऽमृतत्वाय कल्पते ॥ १५ ॥

yaṁ hi na vyathayanty-ete puruṣaṁ puruṣarṣabha
sama-duḥkha-sukhaṁ dhīraṁ  so’mṛtatvāya kalpate

sama-duḥkha-sukhaṁ dhīraṁ so’mṛtatvāya kalpate – without unduly exalting over sukha, and being aggrieved over duhkha, develop an attitude of indifference towards them.

In our mind, sukha and duhkha rise and fall like waves. In between the two is a space where there is no sukha or duhkha. The more we contemplate on this in-between space, the impact of the sukha-duhkhas progressively diminish. Therefore the sukha-duhkhas are necessary for us to understand the in-between presence, which is called the Self. He who is able to pass through sukha-duhkhas with a mind that is not afflicted or tormented, is fit for liberation.

Ultimately, Swamiji says, this is the key that Krishna provides for our life – the whole world with its infinite variety bestow only sukha-duhkhas in our mind. When we are equanimous to them in our mind, we have won over the entire world.

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In this discourse Swami Bhoomananda Tirtha Ji helps us understand the true nature of spiritual excellence and how one can achieve it by enriching one’s mind and intelligence.

The pivotal message is that the mind is the core of one’s personality and it can be refined. It is the inner instrument that comprehends the external world as well as helps us look inward to realise our Self. It is capable of building the inner personality and giving the impetus for excellence.

Swamiji dwells on the many aspects of how the Self activates our inert and insentient body and makes it capable of sensing and comprehending things. The Self activates our mind and intelligence, which in turn activates our senses that lead to our actions.

When talking about experiencing life, Swamiji places major emphasis on our mind, which is quintessentially spiritual. He calls it the crux of human personality and existence, and goes on to say that, “Our mind is not a part of the physical body, it is associated with the body. The mind is not physical or material. Every experience belongs to the mind, and our life is experiential. Life is equally interactional; all interactions arise from and terminate in the mind.”

Our mind is the fulcrum of our life, all our experiences are in the mind. 

The essence of the first part of Swamiji’s discourse is: “Excellence comes from the right appreciation and analysis of our experiential and interactional life. We must want to be excellent in all that we think, speak, and act. Our thoughts, words, and actions emerge from within the mind. Excellence is a coordinate of our own personality, the mind and the intelligence. It does not belong to inanimate objects.” 

So for any kind of excellence, we need to refine our inner personality, enrich it, empower it, elevate it, strengthen it, and expand it. That is the only way.

In the second half of the discourse, Swamiji takes us back to the Kurukshetra War. Two armies have assembled in the battlefield and war cries have been raised by both. When it was almost time for the discharge of arrows by both the sides, Arjuna asks Krishna to steer the chariot to the forefront and station it there so that he could survey the enemy lines. Krishna drove the chariot and positioned it before Bhishma and Drona. Seeing his beloved grandfather and his venerable preceptor right in front, Arjuna crumbles. 

The invincible hero Arjuna is overcome by grief and distress at the prospect of having to kill Bhishma and Drona in the imminent war. A heartbroken Arjuna loses his composure and resolve. The powerful Gandiva slips off his hand. His skin burns; throat gets parched. He sits down deluded and devastated, almost giving up. After thirteen years of preparation for this war, he now finds the same war sinful. He tells Krishna that he wants to retreat. He contemplates leaving everything behind and becoming a monk, living off alms. During the course of the dialogue that ensues, Krishna advises (Bhagavad Gita 2.38): 

सुखदु:खे समे कृत्वा लाभालाभौ जयाजयौ |
ततो युद्धाय युज्यस्व नैवं पापमवाप्स्यसि || 38||

sukha-duḥkhe same kṛitvā lābhālābhau jayājayau |
tato yuddhāya yujyasva naivaṁ pāpam avāpsyasi || 38 ||

“Fight, but treating alike happiness and distress, loss and gain, victory and defeat. Fighting in this way, you will never incur sin.” 

Swamiji explains the entire scene with matchless power and reason, emphasizing how Krishna touched Arjuna’s inner resources, provided him with clarity, and resolved his torment and confusion.

He redeemed Arjuna from the constrictions and delusions of his mind to the level of reason and rationality, inspiring him to overcome his internal conflict and march forward with a purpose.  Krishna thus sets Arjuna on a path of performance and excellence.

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