Gleanings from the Geeta - II

Yet another masterly verse from the Geeta - the Song celestial

uddhared atmanatmanam
natmanam avasadayet
atmaiva hy atmano bandhur
atmaiva ripur atmanah

Freely translated: "One can only understand and uplift oneself through the prism of one's personality. For all that one knows is but oneself, which is both a friend as well as a foe"

The seventh chapter, titled "Sankhya yoga" - the origins of Duality, has this rather enigmatic exhortation in its fifth verse. In chapters preceding this, the Master has slowly been churning the intellectual and emotional curiosity of Arjuna; and then, abruptly, in the middle of these important series of verses, he throws the ball back to Students court. His intention in this pithy verse is to say: All this talk of philosophy, morals, ethics are meaningless if one does not begin with the basic question "Who am I?", or put differently "who is aspiring to change whom?”. No matter how much indoctrination is accomplished, the mystery of life will remain a puzzle, an existential conundrum, unless one comes to grip with our own personality. The fundamental dichotomy of man lies in the fact that one of part of us attempts to control the other half; unless, we understand this self-binding structure of thought and reach a point of futility in fighting with it - we miss the point of all mystic religions. In fact, the Upanishadic method of dialectic, or self-referencing dialogues of Socrates, or bizarre Koans of Zen, or poetical flights of Sufism are means to bring a novitiate to such an inner understanding - a point when the intellect is stunned and dissolves in the very act of solving a knotty psychological issue; and a new dimension of understanding erupts from such a dissolution or fusion, whatever one wants to call it. The seemingly concrete entities of the “thinker” and the “Thought” must merge into an ocean of unbroken continuity; and that’s an effort that one can take only by oneself into oneself. Like a thorn that pulls out another thorn, one must use the equipment of our personality to dig deeper into ourselves; a point will eventually arrive when the blasted ego will stop struggling with itself, and in that crucial moment of let-go, the inner font of unity is touched forever. Modern Psychology will nod its head at this discovery ages ago. However, one has to be intellectually strong, intensely individualistic to be able to pierce through the veil of dichotomy. It is not for weaklings who believe in temperate piety born out of fear and insecurity.

There is an interesting incident in Vivekananda’s life, which illustrates this point well. The Master was approached by a pious, sickly looking lad who wished to learn the intricacies of Philosophy from him. He had just returned from his triumphant roar at the Parliament of religions and the entire world wanted to learn from him; so was this young boy. However, one look at him and Vivekananda said “You will be nearer to heaven playing football than studying the Bhagavad-Gita….” The intent here was not to be arrogant, but to emphasize that an inner journey into oneself demands tremendous energy, earnestness and intellectual and physical integrity; it can be very fearful, demanding and oftentimes nerve wrecking; but then it is such an individual who has the chance to reach the shores of peace; not others.

So it is important as part of our education and upbringing to fill our kids with self-confidence and individuality. Their intellect should be razor sharp; emotions full blooded; physically agile and energetic. Let them think with clarity and arrive at conclusions. They may be wrong, but they would stand a better chance of correcting themselves if their instruments of knowledge are well oiled and working with precision. As they mature, life will bring them enough opportunities to self-reflect and introspect (Like Arjuna on the battlefield...) - then, it will be easy for them to dive deep and find answers that have been hitherto eluding them. Wisdom grows with integration of ones being to the world outside; and may be fortunate enough to slip into that zone of everlasting oneness and happiness - which is the aspiration of Human species.

God bless….