Tag Archives: Arjuna

Bhagavad Gita : Chapter Two : Slokas 54 to 61 : Sthita Pragnya (Stable Consciousness) : Audio (Sloka, split sandhis and prose order)

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Bhagavad Gita Chapter Two : Slokas 54 to 72 (end) : with split sandhis and prose order : Sthitapragnya 

 http://ancientindians.files.wordpress.com/2011/10/gitatwo54toend72.mp3

The explanation for these slokas will be in two posts.

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Arjuna asked Krishna what a steady person was like.

“How does a person who is in a state of samadhi conduct himself? How does he speak, how does he sit? 2: 54

Bhagwan said,

“Partha, a sthitapragnya is one who has given up all the desires of his mind and he delights in his Self by his Self.” 2: 55

“A muni, who is unagitated by sorrow and untouched by comfort, who is beyond attachment (raaga), fear and anger, is said to be of steady intelligence (sthitadhI)” 2: 56

“His consciousness is said to be stable, who does not celebrate good (s’ubha) nor despise bad (as’ubha), and is detached everywhere.” 2: 57

“His consciousness is said to be stable, who withdraws his senses from perceptions as a turtle withdraws its limbs!” 2: 58

“His taste for perceptions enjoyable by senses falls away,  having seen the ultimate (the beyond), whereas those who starve the senses, retain the taste for perceptions” 2 : 59

“Even though an enlightened person makes an effort, his senses carry his manas away by force”  2:60

“His consciousness is said to be stable, whose senses are under his control, and who having controlled his senses has engaged in Me” 2: 61

Previous Posts : 

As the author of this content I give you permission to reproduce the material on any media as long as you give me credit as the author/photographer/artist and give a link back to this web-site : Satya Sarada Kandula.

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Bhagavad Gita : Chanting : Chapter Two : Slokas : 1 to 10: Arjuna’s Sorrow at having to kill elders and relatives deepens, he seeks Krishna’s guidance : Audio

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Bhagavad Gita Chapter Two : Arjuna’s sorrow at having to kill elders and relatives deepens and he seeks Krishna’s guidance http://ancientindians.files.wordpress.com/2011/10/gitatwo1to10.mp3

Krishna looked at the great hero Arjuna, who was over come by compassion and whose eyes were brimming over with tears and spoke to him.

(I like to think that Krishna looks kindly at me when I am sorrowing and gives me a few words of wisdom and courage through someone who is near to me at that time!)

Bhagwan, the dispenser of fortunes, Krishna, said, “What a difficult place you have arrived at! It is anArya (ignoble) and leads to infamy and not to heaven! Do not be a klaibya (one of both genders)! It does not suit you! Give up this weakness of heart O scorcher of foes and stand up!”

(Swami Vivekananda’s call to the nation – the first word was uttiSTa – stand up! Kunda Guruji says that Vivekananda is an avataar of nArAyaNa!)

Arjuna said, “How will I kill Bhishma (my darling grandfather) and Drona (my dearest Guru)? How can I target arrows at those, who are worthy of worship? Is it not better to eat alms than kill these elders and enjoy blood stained bhOgAs? I don’t know if it is better to win or lose! The ones we must kill (the sons of Dhritarastra) are the ones without whom, we have no desire to live!

He said, “My nature is destroyed by this pity! My consciousness is clouded with regards to Dharma! You determine and tell me what is s’rEya (welfare) for me. I am your student. I have surrendered to you.

Very rarely does anyone get a student like Arjuna. There are many people who are in dilemnas, but their questions hide a very strong desire. So they ask many people till they get the answer they desire. They don’t have the inner renunciation required to follow the advice of others. And of course there is almost no one who will answer from a standpoint of dharma alone. They will either have a self-interest in the outcome or they will want to side with or against the asker, or they will care ‘what others think’. Besides which they won’t even know what dharma is. And if there are conflicting dharmas then which is the higher one. Also some people like to advice others for the joy of domination. That is why the gItAs are all very important and to me especially the bhagavad gIta. This also why I think people should learn it young and use it as a manual through life and not merely at a retirement age to pass time.

Sankaracharya comments :

And that dispenser of fortunes, (bhagavAn), who is always endowed with the six attributes of gnyAna (knowledge), ais’warya (wealth and prosperity),  s’akti (competence), bala (strength), vIrya (valour), tEjah (brilliance), who is without birth (aja), who is unchanging, who is the Is’vara (the master according to whose will the world acts), whose own nature (svabhAva) is eternally pure, knowledgeable and free, having taken under his control (vas’IkRtya), his mAya (illusion), the mUla prakRti (the primordial force), vaiSNavI, whose self is the three guNAs, by his own mAya was born as if he was one with a body, with an intention to grace the world.

Even though there is nothing that he had to gain by it, in order to benefit the world, he taught the dual vaidIka dharmAs to Arjuna, who was drowning in the great ocean of sorrow and illusion, because  a dharma that is accepted and practiced by a man of high qualities (adhika guna),  will attain heights.

That dharma, as taught by bhagavAn, was bound into the seven hundred verses known as the Gita, by the all knowing vEda vyAsa.

Arjuna said, “I don’t see how to raise myself out of this misery is burning my senses, even if I attain the kingdom of the surAs! (Devas).

Then he said, “O Govinda! I won’t fight!” and he, the one who could control his sleep, fell silent.

Then That one who had controlled all senses, with a hint of a smile, looked at the one who was sorrowing between two armies and addressed him.

I thought that the 2.1 to 2.9 slokas actually belong in chapter 1 along with 1.1 to 1.47, and I guess that they were carried over to the sankhya yoga chapter, because, that is how the adhyaya was divided in the original Mahabharata. Not because they have anything to do with Sankhya philosophy.

I have been having second thoughts as of a couple of days. Arjuna says, “katham bhISmam aham sankhye?” How shall I kill Bhishma (divide him into two or more bits as in beheading etc) in 2.4.

Similarly, in 1.47, the last sloka of chapter one, arjuna sits down in his chariot in ‘sankhya’ – which in this context means battle field.

This second chapter addresses the immortality of the self and it’s “unkillability” if you will!

So Vyasa knew what he was doing when he divided up the chapters. My thoughts sprung from the overload of the name sAnkhya with name of the philosophy!

His choice of words is so apt. Another reason to read the sanskrit text. Someone who is going to listen to 700 verses cannot be sleepy and someone who teaches them must have control over his senses and as Krishna says later (in the anusmRti) in a state of yOga – or – yOgastha!

Other Posts By Me : 

The word “Anarya” used in Bhagavad Gita (Mahabharata)

(Click) Bhagavad Gita Complete : Satya Bhashyam (vyAkhyAnam)

Bhagavad Gita : Audio Files

Adi Sankara’s and Ramanujacharya’s Gita Bhashya Online

Gita Parayanam : Bhagavad Gita Slokas (with Nyasa, Dhyana, Mahatmya , and sandhis) in Devanagari

Sankara’s Gita Bhasyam (My translation and explanation. Work in Progress.)

As the author of this content I give you permission to reproduce the material on any media as long as you give me credit as the author/photographer/artist and give a link back to this web-site : Satya Sarada Kandula.

Bhagavad Gita : Chanting : Chapter One : Slokas : 24 to End: Arjuna’s Fear that fighting relatives is adharma and will have bad consequences : Audio

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Bhagavad Gita : Chapter One : Slokas : 24 to End: Arjuna’s Fear that fighting relatives is adharma and will have bad consequences (http://ancientindians.files.wordpress.com/2011/10/gitaone24toend.mp3)

Krishna brought Arjuna to the space between the armies at his request. He was overcome with the idea that it was his own people that he was fighting and once he won he wouldn’t have any of them to share it with. He thought the entire varNa system would collapse as a consequence and society would go to adharma.

Fundamentally, Arjuna thought he was fighting for a kingdom, only Krishna knew that Arjuna was fighting for dharma. So in the course of the 700 verses of the Gita, Krishna answers Arjuna’s questions and shows him where his Dharma lies.

Even in your own life at work and home and outside – you are constantly called into conflict and yet to fight seems that you are disrupting the peace and harmony of home/office/society. As long as you think you are fighting for your advantage, you may feel like renouncing the conflict. But the moment you are made to realise that you are fighting for dharma, you may leap up to fight and stand steady through the battle however long drawn.

Think of how many conflicts you avoid in a day in India from morning to night and see if that was dharmic or adharmic,  ie see whether it benefits society or harms it. And if the people in the conflict are near and dear to you, and hell-bent on doing harm to the group for their self-interest – see how hard it is to do what is right and how reluctant you will be to fight them. That was Arjuna’s mood at that time!

Other Links : 

(Click) Bhagavad Gita Complete : Satya Bhashyam (vyAkhyAnam)

Bhagavad Gita : Audio Files

Adi Sankara’s and Ramanujacharya’s Gita Bhashya Online

Gita Parayanam : Bhagavad Gita Slokas (with Nyasa, Dhyana, Mahatmya , and sandhis) in Devanagari
Sankara’s Gita Bhasyam

 Satya Sarada Kandula : As the author of the content I give you permission to reproduce the material on any media for respectful use as long as you give me credit as the author/photographer and give a link back to this web-site.