Introduction To Chapter 2 Of The Bhagwad Gita

The second chapter of the Gitais titled Sankhya Yoga with 72 verses is among the largest chapters in the Gita. It gives in a nutshell the superb teachings that follow in the subsequent chapters.

As we have seen in Chapter 1, Arjuna, overwhelmed by the fact that he would have to fight his near and dear ones, is retreating from the fight and is totally dejected. The chapter continues with the continuing psychological fall of Arjuna.

This chapter also brings out the strategy employed by Krishna to resuscitate  the falling spirits of Arjuna. Here, is probably one of the grandest psycho-analytical technique to manage a distressed person. Krishna never utters one word as Arjuna keeps on ranting about his reasons for not fighting. But once Krishna starts, the strategy employed is simply overwhelming. This is a chapter  for coaches to follow when their players are in distress, managers when their employees are in distress or for any of us when our loved ones are in distress.

As most of us are aware, trying to calm down a totally distressed person by using logic or by commiserating with them is almost fruitless. Have we not experienced this often in our lives? There is an event that shatters us totally or there is a potential threat of an event that shatters us totally. Have we not heard of people committing suicide when faced with a financial disaster? Have we not heard of people totally overwhelmed by events and becoming totally paralysed?  Have we not seen the impact of intense grief brought by the death of a loved one on our emotional well being? When faced with such situations ourselves or when we are in a position where one of our loved ones is in such a situation, how can we bring the person or ourselves as the case maybe to our right thinking stage?

There is a need almost to strike a blow to bring the person back to their reasonable ability to think. I do not mean a physical blow, but an intellectual blow. There is a need to make the distressed person give up all inhibitions about seeking help and making him surrender to a sane person. The way Krishna overwhelms Arjuna almost into intellectual subjugation to his superior intellect, by using the logic of real existence and the meaning of life and death is simply overwhelming. This he does by enunciating the concept of the soul and its transmigration. He also explains the concept of the Life principle and the permanence of the soul.

The Gita, though a very practical text that can be used in day to day life, goes much beyond the mundane existence and shows readers the highest goal and how to achieve it. The three primary paths are the path of action, the path of devotion and the path of renunciation(through the use of the intellect). One of the paths that is summarized is the Karma yoga. The first thing is awareness of the condition that we are in and the next step is to do the right thing. But then, what is the right thing to do and how to do the right thing?  In this chapter, Krishna summarizes what right action means through an exposition of the principles of Karma Yoga or the path of action. He also explains in brief the attitude to be had when doing action, which is a whole new concept, called desire less action. The chapter also briefly explains the path of devotion and the path of renunciation.

All of us talk of being in a stage of perfection or absolute bliss. But what does it really mean? The chapter summarizes  the state of perfection and how an individual in that state acts in the world. Before dismissing this just as a spiritual goal only, it will help all of us realize how effective and efficient we will be in that state in our day to day work too. It is obvious that stress impacts each of us in day to day work. But how we react to stress is what differentiates the winners from the losers. This is not only from the perspective of a superb employee versus a poorly performing employee, but also from a perspective of a good and bad parent, a good and bad spouse, to name a few.

I welcome you to join me in this journey of a fascinating chapter and hopefully at the end of the chapter, we will be aware of the root cause of stress, the impact of stress and how to act in a situation of stress. Hopefully this will enable us to become a better parent, spouse, employee or in total, a better individual, who is able to enjoy every moment of his life.

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3 of my books

As readers may be aware, 3 of my books on spirituality are available on Amazon.com.

I invite readers of my blog to try any of the books and give me feedback so that I can make changes in the next edition.


1. My Humble Understanding  Of Spirituality


My Humble Understanding Of Spirituality

2. Attain Infinite Bliss

Attain Infinite Bliss - A Spiritual Guide

3. The Spirit Of Spirituality

The Spirit Of Spirituality

Introduction To Meditation

Please read my book on spirituality which is available on Amazon.com.
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Whenever any spiritual discussions come up, one point that is surely brought up is about meditation. Many times, when people ask me how I am and I say I am fully relaxed, one of the most common questions is whether I meditate. Meditation means many things to many people. In this article, I will try to give my understanding of what meditation is and whether it should be done.

Before going deeper into meditation, let us pause for a while and recapitulate some of the first principles of the path to enlightenment. I have covered earlier about the three principle routes for a practitioner in the field of spirituality. They are:

1. Karma yoga, the practice of doing every act as an obligation to society and for a higher cause than self gain
2. Bhakti yoga, the practice of living a life of gratitude and attributing every personal success to the people who made it possible
3. Jnana yoga, the practice of discriminating between the real existence which is Brahman and the unreal existence which is this colorful world.

 Now, as one progresses on the above paths, there is s subtle. slow but sure change that happens to a practitioner. His association with anything that is connected to the physical/emotional/intellectual world reduces.  Now, we know that nature abhors a vacuum. As the above practice continues, the vacuum increases and in cases where the practice is done without the proper guidance of a spiritual teacher, there is the likelihood of a person slipping into a disinterested, carefree type of life. These are the type of stories we hear in some types of spiritual camps, where ultimately the people end up in drugs or in some extreme cases even mass suicide, because the anchor that holds them to this world is loosened and there is nothing else for them to hook on to.

All this would happen if the practice is not done under the control of the intellect. Many often in conventional religion, focus is given on Bhakti and Karma. Almost every religion says we should glorify the Lord, praise the Lord, do good tings, not to be selfish etc. Very few focus on building the intellect. Again, I would like to differentiate between Intelligence and Intellect. I am not talking of intelligence gleamed from studying books. I am talking of the Intellect which independent of intelligence acts as a beacon to everyone if properly trained and used. This is where the fourth part of the practice, Dhyana Yoga or meditation comes in.

Through Jnana yoga, we realize that we are not the body/mind/intellect with which we most often associate ourselves. Jnana yoga tells us that there is something much beyond all this called the Brahman and that is my true reality. But just learning about this is of no use. At some point the reality has to fully sink in to become enlightened. I am telling all this to talk about countering the void that could come due to practice of Karma yoga and Bhakti yoga without the guidance of the intellect. With the intellect's guidance, in the absence of association with body/mind/intellect, a practitioner can fill the void with the thought that his association is with the Supreme Brahman.

Let me plot a graph with Time on the X-axis and association with the individual body mind intellect as one parameter on the Y axis and another being  association with the Supreme. Initially my association is highest with my body/mind/intellect. Hence at time 0 or at beginning of the spiritual practice, the graph starts at the highest point on the Y axis.  At the same time if we look at our association with the Supreme, it is almost at zero level and hence this graph starts at the bottom of the Y axis. As time progresses and my practice of Karma yoga and Bhakti yoga continues, there is a gentle drop in association with the worldly objects and this graph begins a slow descent. At the same time assuming there is an intellect governing the spiritual practice, there is a slow uptick in association with the Supreme and with passage of time, this graph starts looking up.

Now to the question of meditation. Should it be done? During the stage when the practitioner is full of desires, any attempt to meditate will be pointless. Meditation is to be done to realize the essential unity of myself with the Supreme. As can be seen based on the graph I explained above, in the initial stages of spiritual practice, the gap between identification with objects and with Supreme is very wide and may not be found suitable to achieve any tangible benefits. As time progresses and the two graphs progress, with the graph of physical identification dipping and the graph of Supreme identification rising, the gap between the two keeps decreasing and at some point, the two intersect, at which point the seeker is in a perfect state to focus on meditation to further their spiritual awakening.

Does it mean that till the point above is reached, one should not meditate? I am of the opinion that there is no harm in meditating so long as the objective is clear and one is ready to face the consequences, if any of meditation. One is advised to seek out a calm lonely place and select a fixed time every day to do meditation. There are several techniques suggested for meditation. Some of them are as follows:

a.Taking an image of a favorite God or angel or spiritual teacher and try to focus thoughts on that
b. Focusing on one's own shadow in the mind
c. Focusing on one 's own image as though in a movie
d. Focusing on a word or "shloka"
e. Focusing on one's own heartbeat
f. Focusing on one's own breath

There is no single technique that can be good for everyone. Readers are encouraged to try any of these and see what works best for them. During initial phase of meditation, it is almost impossible to focus the mind. The nature of the mind is to wander and create thoughts. So a practitioner can become disillusioned about the absolute lack of progress.  But this is very normal. The best strategy is to let the mind wander, but try to be aware that the mind is wandering and slowly bring the mind back to focus. The other issue that is seen as meditation continues is the type of thoughts that crop up. One shudders as to the type of thoughts that come up. This is again natural. Each of us has myriad desires buried in our mind. So long as the mind is active in the physical world, these are suppressed by the normal physical thoughts. But in meditation, when the mind is silent, these hidden desires or vasanas sprout thoughts which may make the practitioner feel disgusted. Again this is natural and should not discourage the practitioner. The strategy is to be aware of such thoughts as they arise and observe them as they pass through the self. The idea is to be non-judgmental and just observe the thought as a third person.

I mentioned earlier that real benefit of meditation comes in a very advanced stage and till that point, it may be useless. So, what is the point of meditation till then. I would see the following benefits:

1. A sense of discipline: Just as a regular physical exercise is a discipline that keeps the body fit in the long run, meditating regularly is a discipline that enables one to keep the mind fit for the long run.
2. A sense of calmness : All the while we are focusing our mind outwards and getting frustrated in the illusory world.Meditation turns the mind inwards generating a sense of calm.
3. A sense of positiveness : During meditation, especially focused on breath, if thought is of all positive things coming in as I inhale and all negative things going out as I exhale, there is a feeling of positiveness.

I encourage readers to mull over this article and give me feedback on their own experiences with meditation.

As readers may be aware, 3 of my books on spirituality are available on Amazon.com.

I invite readers of my blog to try any of the books and give me feedback so that I can make changes in the next edition.


1. My Humble Understanding  Of Spirituality


My Humble Understanding Of Spirituality

2. Attain Infinite Bliss

Attain Infinite Bliss - A Spiritual Guide

3. The Spirit Of Spirituality

The Spirit Of Spirituality