Few scriptural works qualify as both smrti as well as sruti or ‘revealed text’. The Bhagavad Gita is held as such. It is revered as the rare ‘scripture of liberation’. What this liberation is, who seeks it, who is the giver of liberation, who, the enjoyer, through what methods is this liberation procured and what all the multifaceted results of such a liberation, is the subject of this colloquy between the main players of the Gita, Sri Krishna and Arjuna at Kurukshetra, the predestined battleground. Sri Krishna, the Supreme Teacher instructs his friend-turned-disciple, Arjuna, the embodied soul lost in the myriad works of maya, in the ways of liberation for right action along the path of Dharma. And what Dharma is too gets a good airing in this precious gem of a text.
Many commentaries there are on the Gita. The interpretations though, are variously coloured and treated, never steer away from the one suggestion that the embodied soul, that most of us can conclude we are, has another life in freedom and joy, an unlimited capacity in taking upon oneself all tasks that are divinely decreed, that the swabhava, or true essence within, knows to be its natural way towards fulfillment of its existence, its potentialities, its manifestation.
Sri Aurobindo, in his commentaries that take the form of Essays on The Gita, teases out the integral approach inherent in the Gita in dealing with human life, a life not very unlike one lived upon a battlefield, whether it is in one’s home, work place or within the heart of oneself or all three combined and more.
The Gita must be about the only scripture, one can, with a measure of confidence say, that addresses a man of action, as it were, positing him right in the midst of a battle-field, between two armies on the verge of war. The setting is of immense import, physically, psychologically, mentally, vitally. The sense of an immense conflict on every side sometimes floods in upon us too, at moments, intense moments of crises. In such a setting, the gallant warrior breaks down, drops his bow and falls upon his knees, refusing to fight the good fight, his excuses those that we too are likely to utter during moments of crises, and which crumple as feeble in the presence of The Immanent Teacher. This is a scripture that aims at transformation from within. We can state this somewhat valid assumption then, that where there is man, there is action and where there is action, there is strife and where there is strife, a guidance is called upon and wherever this cry is, a Gita appears, an Upadesh, so to speak, from the mouth of the realized to the seeking and calling spirit, bound, crying to be set free, liberated.
Sri Aurobindo, in his divine pragmatism, posits the Gita for us in its right place in our lives as he begins his Essays on The Gita, which were first published in the Arya: “..what we can do with profit is to seek in the Gita for the actual living truths it contains, apart from their metaphysical form, to extract from it what can help us or the world at large and to put it in the most natural and vital form and expression we can find that will be suitable to the mentality and helpful to the spiritual needs of our present-day humanity.”
Taking a daring step onto the battlefield, let’s hear out the Song of the Lord sounding deep in the din…
Many commentaries there are on the Gita. The interpretations though, are variously coloured and treated, never steer away from the one suggestion that the embodied soul, that most of us can conclude we are, has another life in freedom and joy, an unlimited capacity in taking upon oneself all tasks that are divinely decreed, that the swabhava, or true essence within, knows to be its natural way towards fulfillment of its existence, its potentialities, its manifestation.
Sri Aurobindo, in his commentaries that take the form of Essays on The Gita, teases out the integral approach inherent in the Gita in dealing with human life, a life not very unlike one lived upon a battlefield, whether it is in one’s home, work place or within the heart of oneself or all three combined and more.
The Gita must be about the only scripture, one can, with a measure of confidence say, that addresses a man of action, as it were, positing him right in the midst of a battle-field, between two armies on the verge of war. The setting is of immense import, physically, psychologically, mentally, vitally. The sense of an immense conflict on every side sometimes floods in upon us too, at moments, intense moments of crises. In such a setting, the gallant warrior breaks down, drops his bow and falls upon his knees, refusing to fight the good fight, his excuses those that we too are likely to utter during moments of crises, and which crumple as feeble in the presence of The Immanent Teacher. This is a scripture that aims at transformation from within. We can state this somewhat valid assumption then, that where there is man, there is action and where there is action, there is strife and where there is strife, a guidance is called upon and wherever this cry is, a Gita appears, an Upadesh, so to speak, from the mouth of the realized to the seeking and calling spirit, bound, crying to be set free, liberated.
Sri Aurobindo, in his divine pragmatism, posits the Gita for us in its right place in our lives as he begins his Essays on The Gita, which were first published in the Arya: “..what we can do with profit is to seek in the Gita for the actual living truths it contains, apart from their metaphysical form, to extract from it what can help us or the world at large and to put it in the most natural and vital form and expression we can find that will be suitable to the mentality and helpful to the spiritual needs of our present-day humanity.”
Taking a daring step onto the battlefield, let’s hear out the Song of the Lord sounding deep in the din…
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