Notes on the Bhagavad Gita (The Song of the Lord)
1st Teaching: Arjuna’s
Dejection
Purpose: the set-up
·
Dhri opens metaphor of battle to interior struggle over
sacred duty (dharma)
·
Sanjaya retells of conversations between Duryodhana and
Drona
·
the preparations for battle, telling the sides
·
Arjuna assumes position exactly between the two armies,
and the discourse with Krishna begins
·
Arjuna feels pity and the emptiness of earthly battle and
victory
·
the dilemma: “I see no good in killing my kinsmen in
battle... evil will haunt us if we kill them... honor forbids us to kill our
cousins” (31-37)
·
“I lament the great sin we commit when our greed for
kingship and pleasures drives us to kill our kinsmen” (45).
·
Arjuna’s argument is centered in maintaining family
duty
What is
the symbolism of Arjuna’s position between the armies? What do each represent?
How
does family duty contrast to sacred duty?
What
does Arjuna identify as the root of evil here?
“How
can we ignore the wisdom of turning from this evil?” (1:39)
2nd Teaching: Philosophy and
Spiritual Discipline
Purpose: samkhya theory
explained, Yoga theory explained
Arjuna is filled with pity
Krishna questions his cowardice
Samkhya theory (renunciation)
·
lesson 1:
“Never have I not existed, nor
you, nor these kings; and never in the future shall we cease to exist” (2:12)
“Contacts
with matter make us feel heat and cold, pleasure ad pain... When these cannot
torment a man, when suffering and joy are equal for him and he has courage, he is
fit for immortality” (2:14-15).
“He who
thinks this self a killer and he who thinks it killed, both fail to understand;
it does not kill nor is it killed”(2:19)
·
lesson 2:
“Look to your own duty; do not
tremble before it; nothing is better for a warrior than a battle of sacred
duty”(2:31)
“If you
fail to wage this war of sacred duty, you will abandon your own duty... only to
gain evil”(2. 33)
“Impartial
to joy and suffering, gain and loss, victory and defeat, arm yourself for the
battle...”(2:38)
Yoga or spiritual discipline
·
lesson 3:
“Understanding is defined in
terms of philosophy; now hear it in spiritual discipline...”(2:39)
“Be
intent on action, not on the fruits of action; avoid attachment to the fruits
and attachment to inaction”(2:47)
“Perform
action, firm in discipline, relinquishing attachment; be impartial to failure
and success- this equanimity is called discipline”(2:48)
·
lesson 4:
“...action is far inferior to
the discipline of understanding; so seek refuge in understanding- pitiful men are
drawn by fruits of action. Disciplined
in understanding, one abandons both good and evil deeds
·
lesson 5:
“...when withdrawal of the
senses from the sense objects is complete, discernment is firm”(2:68)
Samkhya
Theory (renunciation of action)...
Lesson 1: permanence of being
(self), impermanence of matter
Lesson 2: the purpose of life is to
follow sacred duty
Yoga
(disciplined action)...
Lesson
3: “spiritual discipline”(2:39)...
performing actions without attachment to the results in order to follow duty
Lesson 4: discipline + understanding
= inactive action
understanding: to know
lessons 1 and 2
Lesson 5: discernment... withdrawing
senses from sense objects
What is
the nature of A’s pity? What is
it? Pity for what?
What is
the “cowardice”? Is it A’s pity or is
it his reaction to it (inaction)?
What is
courage for Krishna?
Portrait
of the one “who gets it”
The
down chain:
fixation-attachment-desire-anger-confusion-forgetting-misunderstanding-ruin
The up
chain: discipline-serenity-understanding-inner power-peace-joy
The Third Teaching: Discipline
of Action
Purpose: Karma Yoga explored
Arjuna confused about why act
(karma) if understanding (jnana) is better
Krisna discourses on action
·
lesson 1:
“A man cannot escape the force
of action by abstaining from actions; he does not attain success just by
renunciation”(3:4)
“No one
exists for even an instant without performing action”(3:5)
·
lesson 2:
“Perform necessary action; it
is more powerful than inaction... action imprisons the world unless it is done
as sacrifice; freed from attachment, Arjuna, perform action as sacrifice”(3:9)
·
lesson 3:
“Action comes from the spirit
of prayer”(3:15)
·
the qualities (gunas) of nature (3:27-29)
-sattva... clarity
potential consciousness
purpose: illumination
source of: pleasure
-rajas... desire
potential activity
purpose: action
source of: pain
-tamas... dark inertia
potential inactivity
purpose: restraint
source of: delusion
·
lesson 4:
“Actions are all effected by
the qualities of nature... when he can discriminate the actions of nature’s
qualities and think, ‘The qualities depend on other qualities,’ he is
detached”(3:28-29)
·
lesson 5:
“...what makes a person commit
evil... it is desire and anger, arising from nature’s quality of passion”(3:37)
Lesson
1: renunciation (abstaining from action) is not truly inaction, as all choices
are action
Lesson
2: therefore perform action as sacrifice
Lesson
3: source of action- spirit of prayer
Lesson 4:
action caused by the interplay of the three qualities, not by the Self
What is
renunciation? Is it a good thing?
How
should actions be viewed by the actor?
What is
the source of action?
What
are the “qualities”?
What is
Karma yoga?
The Fourth Teaching: Knowledge
Purpose: Jnana Yoga explored
jnana is the ancient
discipline, and that of royalty
Krishna reveals his purpose
“Though myself unborn, undying,
the Lord of creatures... Whenever sacred duty decays and chaos prevails, then,
I create myself, Arjuna. To protect men
of virtue and destroy men who do evil, to set the standard of sacred duty, I
appear in age after age” (4:6-8)
·
lesson 1:
“He who really knows my divine
birth and my action, escapes rebirth when he abandons the body- and he comes to
me, Arjuna. Free from attraction, fear
and anger, filled with me, dependent upon me, purified by the fire of
knowledge, many come into my presence”(4:9-10)
·
lesson 2:
“I created mankind in four
classes, different in their qualities and action...”(4:13)
·
lesson 3:
“One should understand action,
understand wrong action, and understand inaction too...”(4:17)
“A man
who sees inaction in action and action in inaction has understanding among men,
disciplined in all action he performs”(4:18)
“The wise
men say a man is learned when his plans lack the constructs of desire, when his
actions are burned by the fire of knowledge”(4:19)
“Abandoning
attachment to fruits of action, always content, independent, he does nothing at
all even when he engages in action”(4:20)
·
lesson 4:
“When a man is unattached and
free, his reason deep in knowledge, acting only in sacrifice, his action is
wholly dissolved. The infinite spirit
is the offering, the oblation it pours into the infinite fire, and the infinite
spirit can be reached by contemplating its infinite action”(4:23-24)
·
verses 25-30 describe raja yoga
·
lesson 5:
“Many forms of sacrifice expand
toward the infinite spirit; know that the source of them all is action, and you
will be free”(4:32)
·
lesson 6:
“...actions do not bind a man
in possession of himself, who renounces action through discipline and severs
doubt with knowledge”(4:41)
Lesson
1: key to jnana yoga- understand the truth of God, be absorbed by it
Lesson
2: the four castes
Lesson
3: the facets of action, the skill of acting without desire, “DOING NOTHING”
Lesson
4: offer the Self as sacrifice
Lesson
5: sacrifice leads to infinite spirit, source of sacrifice is action, the
highest sacrifice is sacrifice in knowledge (jnana yoga)
Lesson
6: renounce action with discipline, sever doubt with knowledge
What is
the nature of Krishna?
What is
“doing nothing”?
What is
“knowledge” according to Krishna?
The Fifth Teaching:
Renunciation of Action
Purpose: True Renunciation
Arjuna asks which better: renunciation
of actions (samkhya) or discipline (yoga)
·
lesson 1:
“Simpletons separate philosophy
and discipline, but the learned do not; applying one correctly, a mans finds
the fruit of both... he really sees who sees philosophy and discipline to be
one”(5:4-5)
“renunciation
is difficult to attain without discipline...” (5:6)
“Seeing,
hearing, touching, smelling, eating, walking, sleeping, breathing, the
disciplined man who knows reality should think, ‘I do nothing at all... It is
the senses that engage the sense objects”(5:8-9)
·
lesson 2:
“Relinquishing attachment, men
of discipline perform action with body, mind, understanding, and senses for the
purification of the self. Relinquishing
the fruits of action, the disciplined man attains perfect peace”(5:11-12)
·
a portrait of the graduate (the enlightened self)
Lesson
1: jnana and karma lead to the same place and are the same
Lesson
2: the one leads to the other... spectrum, not separates
What is
the difference between samkhya and yoga, renunciation and discipline, jnana and
karma?
What is
sin in this conception of things (5:25)?
The Sixth Teaching: The Man of
Discipline
Purpose: True Yoga
·
lesson 1:
“Know that discipline is what
men call renunciation...”(6:2)
·
lesson 2:
“Action is the means for a sage
to mature in discipline, tranquility is the means for one who is mature in
discipline”(6:3)
·
lesson 3:
1. “remain
in seclusion, isolated”
2. “his
thought and self well controlled, without possessions or hope”
3. “fix
for himself a firm seat in a pure place”
4. “focus
his mind and restrain the activity of his thought and senses”
5. “keep
his head, body and neck aligned”
6. “gaze
at the tip of his nose”
7. “the
self tranquil, his fear dispelled, firm in his vow of celibacy, his mind
restrained, let him sit with discipline, his thought fixed on me”
8. a man
of middles
9. “he
does not waver”
10. “when
his thought ceases... he is content within the self, seeing the self through
himself”
11. “absolute
joy... he abides there and never wanders from this reality”
12. “he
should practice discipline resolutely”
13. “he
should think nothing”
14. “he is
without sin, being one with the infinite spirit”
15. “he
sees the self in all creatures and all creatures in the self”
·
lesson 4:
“He who sees me everywhere and
sees everything in me will not be lost to me, and I will not be lost to
him”(6:30)
“I
exist in all creatures, so the disciplined man devoted to me grasps the oneness
of life; wherever he is, he is in me”
·
lesson 5:
“...the mind is unsteady and
hard to hold, but practice and dispassion can restrain it”(6:35)
·
a discussion of reincarnation for those who don’t quite
make it
Lesson
1: jnana and karma are one
Lesson
2: action and tranquility are two sides of same coin
Lesson
3: the practice of yoga and where it leads
Lesson 4:
the nature of God- presence in all things
Lesson
5: practice makes perfect
What
does the practice of yoga look like, what must one do?
Where
does the practice lead?
What is the nature of God?
What
happens if one does not reach enlightenment?
The Seventh Teaching: Knowledge
and Judgment
Purpose: Exploring God and the
world
·
lesson 1:
“My nature has eight aspects:
earth, water, fire, wind, space, mind, understanding and individuality”(7:4)
“This
is my lower nature; know my higher nature too, the life force that sustains the
universe”(7:5)
“I am
the source of all the universe, just as I am its dissolution”(7:6)
·
lesson 2:
“Know that nature’s qualities
come from me- lucidity, passion, and dark inertia; I am not in them, they are
in me”(7:12)
·
lesson 3:
“...four types of virtuous men
are devoted to me: the tormented man, the seeker of wisdom, the suppliant and
the sage. Of these, the man of
knowledge is set apart by his singular devotion...”(7:16-17)
“Robbed
of knowledge by stray desires, men take refuge in other deities; observing
varied rites, they are limited by their own nature. I grant unwavering faith to any devoted man who wants to worship
any form with faith”(7:20-21)
·
lesson 4:
“But finite is the reward that
comes to men of little wit; men who sacrifice to gods reach the gods; those
devoted to me reach me”(7:23)
“Men
without understanding think that I am unmanifest nature become manifest; they
are ignorant of my higher existence, my pure, unchanging absolute being”(7:24).
Lesson
1: lower(material) and higher(spiritual) nature of God
Lesson
2: nature is in me, I am not in nature
Lesson
3: worship of manifest gods vs. of the unmanifest God
Lesson
4: God is beyond level of manifest vs. unmanifest: pure being
What
are the two natures of God?
What
happens to those who worship aspects of God?
On what
level does God truly exist?
The Eighth Teaching: The
Infinite Spirit
Purpose: cosmic evolution
explored
·
lesson 1:
“Brahman is the indestructible,
the Supreme; essential nature is called the Self. Karma is the name given to the creative force that brings beings
into existence. The basis of all created things is the mutable nature; the
basis of the divine elements is the cosmic spirit”(8:3-4)(sourcebook).
·
lesson 2:
“A man who dies remembering me
at the time of death enters my being”(8:5)
·
lesson 3:
“At break of Brahma’s day all
things emerge from unmanifest nature; when night falls, all sink into
unmanifest darkness”(8:18)
“Beyond
this unmanifest nature is another unmanifest existence, a timeless being that
does not perish when all creatures perish.
It is called the eternal unmanifest nature, what men call the highest
way”(8:20-21)
·
lesson 4:
“Men who know the infinite
spirit reach its infinity if they die in fire, light, day, bright lunar night,
the sun’s six month northward course”(8:24)
“In
smoke, night, dark lunar night, the sun’s six month southward course, a man of
discipline reaches the moon’s light and returns”(8:25)
Lesson 1:
Brahman- the supreme
Self (Atman)- essential nature
Karma- creative force
Gunas- basis of manifest world
Cosmic Spirit- basis of the
elements
Lesson
2: unify with God through remembrance
Lesson
3: the manifest, the unmanifest and the eternal sides of God
Lesson
4: two paths of the devoted dead- the infinite, the finite
What
are the definitions of Brahman, Atman and Karma and the basis of the material
world and the divine elements?
How
does one unify with God at death?
What
are the two lower sides of god, and the one higher side?
The Ninth Teaching: The Sublime
Mystery
Purpose: beyond creation
·
lesson 1:
“All creatures exist in me, but
I do not exist in them... my self quickens creatures, sustaining them without
being in them”(9:4-5)
·
lesson 2:
“As an eon ends, all creatures
fold into my nature, and I create them again as a new eon begins”(9:7)
“These
actions do not bind me, since I remain detached in all my actions”(9:7-9)
“Nature,
with me as her inner eye, bears inanimate beings; and by reason of this the
universe continues to turn”(9:10)
·
lesson 3:
“Deluded men despise me in the
human form I have assumed... In single minded dedication, great souls devote
themselves to my divine nature... others worship my universal presence in its
unity and in its many different aspects”(9:11,13,15)
·
lesson 4:
“Votaries of the gods go to the
gods, ancestor worshippers go to the ancestors, those who propitiate ghosts go
to them, and my worshippers go to me”(9:25).
·
lesson 5
“Whatever you do- what you
take, what you offer, what you give, what penances you perform- do as an
offering to me... you will be freed from the bonds of action... you will join
me”(9:27-8).
·
lesson 6:
“I am impartial to all
creatures, and no one is hateful or dear to me; but men devoted to me are in me
and I am with them... even a violent criminal, women, commoners, men of low
rank, men born in the womb of evil... holy priests, royal sages”(9:29-33).
Lesson
1: manifest forms are not adequate to express God, God creates but also
transcends
Lesson
2: creative pulse of the universe, God acts without desire, Nature is the
substance
Lesson
3: modes of delusion and worship
Lesson
4: you get what you pay for
Lesson
5: do all things as an offering to God
Lesson
6: I am impartial, all can come to me
How is
man in God? How is God in man? How are both not true?
How is
the universe created?
What
are the different modes and ends of worship?
Does
God “love”? What does it mean if God
does?
The Tenth Teaching: Fragments
of Divine Power
Purpose: God is the source of
all
·
lesson 1:
“...desiring your good, I speak
to deepen your love”(10:1)
·
lesson 2:
“I am the source of everything,
and everything proceeds from me”(10:8)
·
lesson 3:
“I stand sustaining this entire
world with a fragment of my being”(10:42)
Lesson
1: the work is for your good
Lesson
2: God is the source of all... even opposites
Lesson
3: even this is only a piece of the Ultimate
What
good are all these words?
The Eleventh Teaching: The
Vision of Krishna’s totality
Purpose: the transfiguration
·
Krishna appears to A in his divine “form”
·
A becomes fearful at the specter of corpses hanging from
bloodied fangs
·
lesson 1:
“I am time grown old, creating
world destruction, set in motion to annihilate the worlds; even without you,
all these warriors arrayed in hostile ranks will cease to exist”(11:32)
·
lesson 2:
“This form you have seen is
rarely revealed... Not through sacred lore, penances, charity, or sacrificial
rites can I be seen in the form that you saw me. By devotion alone can I, as I really am, be known and seen and
entered into”(11:52-54).
Lesson
1: death happens, with or without you
Lesson
2: ultimate truth by devotion (giving up of the self) alone
Why does
Arjuna become fearful of what he sees?
How can
one see the totality of God?
The Twelfth Teaching: Devotion
Purpose: worship of a personal
Lord is better than meditation on the Absolute
·
A asks which is better: bhakti or jnana?
·
lesson 1:
“I deem most disciplined men of
enduring discipline who worship me with true faith, entrusting their minds to
me”(12:2)
“Men
reach me, too, who worship what is imperishable... It is more arduous when
their reason clings to my unmanifest nature; for men constrained by bodies, the
unmanifest way is hard to attain”(12:3,5)
·
lesson 2:
“Knowledge is better than
practice, meditation is better than knowledge, rejecting fruits of action is
better still, it brings peace”(12:12)
Lesson
1: both work, but Bhakti is easier than jnana
Lesson
2: meditation (absorbed understanding)- disciplined action- devotion-
renunciation
What
are the ways to reach God?
What
does “better” mean in terms of a chosen path?
The Thirteenth Teaching:
Knowing the Field
Purpose: discrimination between
body and soul
·
lesson 1:
“The field denotes this
body”(13:1)
“Wise
men call the one who knows it the field knower”(13:1)
·
lesson 2:
“what I deem to be knowledge is
knowledge of the field and its knower”(13:2)
·
lesson 3:
“The field contains the great
elements (five gross), individuality (self-sense), understanding, unmanifest
nature, the eleven senses (ten plus the mind) and the five sense realms. Longing, hatred, happiness, suffering, bodily
form, consciousness, resolve, thus is the field with its changes
defined”(13:5-6)
·
lesson 4:
“Knowledge means humility,
sincerity, nonviolence, patience, honesty, reverence for one’s teacher, purity,
stability, self-restraint; dispassion towards sense objects and absence of
individuality, seeing the defects in birth, death, old age, sickness and
suffering, detachment, uninvolvement with family, constant equanimity in
fulfillment and frustration; unwavering devotion to me with singular
discipline, retreating to a place of solitude, avoiding worldly affairs;
persistence in knowing the self, seeing what knowledge of reality means- all
this is called knowledge”(13:11)
·
lesson 5:
“I shall teach you what is to
be known... it is called supreme infinite spirit (Brahman)”(13:12)
·
lesson 6:
“Know that both nature
(prakrti) and man’s spirit (purusa) have no beginning, that qualities and modes
(gunas) have their origin in nature (prakrti).
For its agency in producing effects, nature is called a cause; in the
experiences of joy and suffering, man’s spirit is called a cause. Man’s spirit is set in nature enjoying the
qualities born of nature; its attachment to the qualities causes
births...”(13:19-21).
·
lesson 7:
“He really sees who sees that
all actions are performed by nature alone and that the self is not an
actor”(13:29).
Lesson
1: prakrti is nature, it is unconscious activity composed of the three
gunas. The body acts and is
unconscious. Purusa is the Self, it is
inactive consciousness composed of the divine.
It is the driver of the chariot
Lesson
2: true knowledge is the understanding of that
Lesson
3: field defined (nature)
Lesson
4: knowledge defined
Lesson
5: picture of Brahman
Lesson
6: prakrti and purusa are both eternal, when man becomes attached to the
interaction of the two in terms of the gunas, he is reborn
Lesson
7: prakrti, not purusa acts... the self is not a doer
What
are prakrti, purusa and the gunas?
What is
the field, the knower of the field and the difference between the two?
What is
true knowledge?
What
causes rebirth?
The Fourteenth Teaching: The
Triad of Nature’s Quality
Purpose: on the qualities
·
lesson 1:
“Lucidity (sattva), passion
(rajas), dark inertia (tamas)- these qualities (gunas) inherent in nature bind
the embodied self in the body... Lucidity addicts one to joy, and passion to
actions, but dark inertia obscures knowledge and addicts one to negligence”
(14:5,9)
“Lucidity,
being untainted, is luminous and without decay; it binds one with attachment to
joy and knowledge”(14:6).
“Know
that passion is emotional, born of craving and attachment; it binds the
embodied self with attachment to action”(14:7)
“Know
that dark inertia is born of ignorance as the delusion of every embodied self;
it binds one with negligence, indolence and sleep”(14:8).
·
lesson 2:
“Men who are lucid go upward;
men of passion say in between; men of dark inertia, caught in vile ways, sink
low”(14:18)
·
lesson 3:
“When a man of vision sees
nature’s qualities as the agent of action and knows what lies beyond, he enters
into my being”(14:19).
“Transcending
the three qualities that are the body’s source, the self achieves immortality,
freed from the sorrows of birth, death and old age”(14:20)
Lesson
1: the three qualities are lucidity, passion and inertia. Each one binds the soul in the body and in
rebirth by attachment, lucidity to knowledge, passion to action, and inertia to
ignorance.
Lesson
2: rewards cycle of gunas
Lesson
3: to escape rebirth is to understand that the qualities are the agent of
action, the cause and perpetrator, and that beyond them is Brahman
What
are the three qualities?
What
are their effects and how do they keep you here?
How do
you escape?
The Fifteenth Teaching: The
True Spirit of Man
Purpose: on seeking Brahman
·
image of the asvattham (peepal tree, tree of life) with roots
in the air and branches in the earth... it brings the soul here
·
cut the tree down and seek life in Brahman
·
lesson 1:
“A fragment of my own self,
having become a living soul, eternal, in the world of life, draws to itself the
senses of which the mind is the sixth, that rest in nature”(15:7)
“When
the lord takes up a body and when he leaves it, he takes these (the senses and
mind) and goes... he enjoys the objects of the senses, using the ear, the eye,
the touch sense, the taste sense, and the nose as also the mind. When he departs or stays or experiences, in
contact with the modes, the deluded do not see [the indwelling soul] but they
who have the eye of wisdom see”(15:8-10)
·
lesson 2:
“There is a double spirit of
man in the world, transient and eternal- transient in all creatures, eternal at
the summit of existence. Other is the
supreme spirit of man, called the supreme self, the immutable Lord who enters
and sustains the three worlds”(15:16-17)
Lesson
1: the embodied Lord- delusion or clarity
Lesson
2: three levels of spirit... transient (ego), eternal (atman), Supreme
(Brahman)
What is
the metaphysical truth of man (a path for the soul)?
What
are the three levels of spirit?
Is
there a link here with the trinity?
The Sixteenth Teaching: The
Divine and the Demonic in Man
Purpose: two sides of man
·
lesson 1:
“Fearlessness, purity...these
characterize a man born with divine traits”(16:1-3)
“Hypocrisy,
arrogance... these characterize a man born with demonic traits”(16:4)
“The divine
traits lead to freedom, the demonic lead to bondage...”(16:5)
·
lesson 2:
a portrait of the demonic
“The
three gates of hell that destroy the self are desire, anger and greed, one must
relinquish all three”(16:21)
Lesson
1: the divine and the demonic traits and where they lead
Lesson
2: the demonic man and his roots: desire, anger and greed
What
are the traits of the divine man? the
demonic?
What
are three big three no-no’s in life?
The Seventeenth Teaching: Three
Aspects of Faith
Purpose: applying the gunas to
other areas
·
men of lucidity...
sacrifice to the gods
savory
and smooth food, promote health
sacrifice
for the act of sacrifice
perform
the three penances with deep faith, without desire
charity
given in due time and place to right recipient
·
men of passion...
sacrifice to spirits and demons
foods
that are bitter, sour, salty, hot... promote pain
sacrifice
for the gain
perform
three penances with to gain honor or respect
charity
reluctant and for reward
·
men of dark inertia...
sacrifice to corpses and ghosts
food
that is stale and spoiled
sacrifice
that is without faith
perform
the three penances for mortification or sadism
charity
at unfit place and time to unfit recipient with contempt
·
lesson 1:
“Honoring gods, priests,
teachers and wise men, being pure, honest, celibate and nonviolent is called
bodily penance”(17:14)
“Speaking
truth without offense, giving comfort, and reciting sacred lore is called
verbal penance”(17:15)
“Mental
serenity, kindness, silence, self-restraint and purity of being is called
mental penance”(17:16)
·
lesson 2:
OM TAT SAT: “That is the Real”-
this is the triple symbol of the infinite spirit...”(17:23)
Lesson
1: bodily, verbal and mental penance
Lesson
2: OM TAT SAT
How do
people of lucidity, passion or inertia differ?
What
are the three types of penance?
What is
OM TAT SAT? What is it good for?
The Eighteenth Teaching: The
Wondrous Dialogue Concludes
Purpose: conclusion
·
lesson 1:
“Giving up actions based on
desire, the poets know as ‘renunciation,’ relinquishing all fruit of action,
learned men call ‘relinquishment”(18:2)
“Action
in sacrifice, charity and penance is to be performed, not relinquished- for
wise men, they are acts of sanctity”(18:5)
·
lesson 2:
“...learn from me the five
causes for the success of all actions as explained in philosophical
analysis. They are the material basis
(the body), the agent, the different instruments, various kinds of behavior,
and finally fate”(18:13-14)
“Knowledge,
its object, and its subject are the triple stimulus of action; instrument, act
and agent are the constituents of action”(18:18)
·
lucidity
knowledge: in all creatures a
single existence
action:
only the necessary, free of attachment
agent:
no attachment to individualism
understanding:
knows the knower and the field
resolve:
acts through discipline without wavering
joy:
first like poison but ends like ambrosia
·
passion
knowledge: distinct existences
action:
by an individualist for desire
agent: anxious
for the fruit of action
understanding:
cannot discern between the knower and the field
resolve:
sustains acts with attachment
joy:
first like ambrosia but ends like poison
·
dark inertia
knowledge: one thing is all
action:
for death or violence or manhood, deluded
agent:
undisciplined, vulgar or stubborn
understanding:
confuses chaos for sacred duty
resolve:
cannot escape dreaming and fear
joy:
from sleep and inactivity
·
lesson 3:
the four castes... priest,
warrior, commoner and servant
“Each one achieves success by
focusing on his own action... Better to do one’s own duty imperfectly than to
do another man’s well... a man should not relinquish the action he was born to,
even if it is flawed; all undertakings are marred by a flaw”(18:48)
“You are bound by your own
action, intrinsic to your being, even against your will you must do what
delusion now makes you refuse”(18:60)
Lesson
1: difference between renunciation and relinquishment... perform positive
actions with relinquishment, renounce negative actions
Lesson
2: five causes, three stimuli and three constituents of action
Lesson
3: the castes and their duties, perform duty that is appropriate, you must act,
i.e. it is a part of the nature of the prakrti with which your purusa is in
contact, your job is to see it rightly
What is the difference between
renunciation and relinquishment?
What are the castes and their
duties?
Is a man actually free not to
act?