Fix Your Mind On Me

“The philosophy of the Gita is not for the weak or cowardly person who is afraid to face life as it is. It is for the heroic one, who is ready to face the challenges of life in the effort to evolve into godliness. The Bhagavad Gita does not teach an ethical sentimentalism that loves to look on nature as good and beautiful and refuses to face her grim and frightening mask. Unless we have the courage to face existence as it is, we will never be able to arrive at a solution to its conflicting demands. Harmony has to be achieved in and through the disharmony that we cannot deny. War and destruction seem to be the principle not only of our material lives but of our mental lives as well. Life is a battlefield of good and evil forces. We are placed in the center of this field, now swayed by the good, now drawn by the evil. As in the Mahabharata war, the latter appears to be far stronger than the former.

Like Arjuna, we stand in this no-man’s land between the opposing forces. Every moment we are faced with decisions and controversies. Perplexed and torn between the warring forces within ourselves., we know not which way to turn. The famous pictorial representation of the Bhagavad Gita, in which Arjuna is seated in the chariot with Lord Krishna holding the reins of the four white prancing horses, is an allegory of our conflicted life. The chariot represents the body, with Arjuna the jicama, or the embodied soul, seated within. Lord Krishna is the Paramatma, or the cosmic soul, who has ever been his boon companion but whom he has not recognized as the Supreme. The four horses represent the four aspects of the mind: manas, buddhi, ahamkara, and chitta (mind, intellect, ego, and collective consciousness). This mental equipment drives us like uncontrollable horses, hither and thither, in its mad quest for enjoyment. Arjuna, the embodied soul, was faced with a  violent crisis that seemed quite incompatible with his aspirations for a spiritual life, or even a moral life. But he had the sense to realize that by himself he was hapless, and therefore he had given over the reins of his life into the capable and willing hands of his divine charioteer, who steered him through this dangerous battle with ease, protected him, and led him to a glorious victory.

In all their years of friendship, Arjuna had never thought of turning to Krishna for advice because he had always considered himself competent to solve his own problems. Now, at that crucial hour when he should have been at the peak of his mental and physical powers, he found himself a wreck, his mind torn and perplexed as to his duty, and his body weak and helpless. Only then did he think of turning to the Lord, and having surrendered his ego, he begged him to come to his aid.

The Lord within us, who is our boon companion, waits patiently for us to play out our game of make-believe as the sole hero of our life’s drama. He waits patiently until the day dawns when we stumble  and realize that without the director we are helpless. Only then do we turn to him for help. At this point, the Lord rushes to us like a loving mother, points out the clear-cut path of duty, assists us to avoid forces of evil, and even carries us across the treacherous crosscurrents of life, if necessary. The message of the Gita is thus addressed to the fighter, the person of action, for whom life is a battlefield, as it is to all of us. Kurukshetta (battlefield of the Kurus) has to be conquered before reaching the haven of dharmakshetta (field of virtue). Life is not merely a battlefield but also a field where righteousness prevails.

The teaching of the Gita is therefore not merely a spiritual philosophy or an ethical doctrine but a yogashastra, which gives us a clear idea of the practical application of these doctrines in daily life. The recipient of the doctrine is Arjuna, the prototype of the struggling human soul who is ready to receive the great knowledge through close companionship and increasing nearness to the divine self within him, embodied as his charioteer. The teacher of the Gita is, therefore, not only the God who is transcendent but also the God within us, who unveils himself through an increasing knowledge. He is also the God in us who instigates all our actions and toward whom all human life proceeds and travels. He is, at once, the secret guide to our actions, the highest source of knowledge, and our closest friend, companion, and relation.

That is why the Gita’s message is still as fresh as when it was first given five thousand years ago, for it is always renewable in the personal experience of every human being. The central idea is to reconcile and effect a unity between the inner, highest spiritual truth in ourselves and the cosmos on one hand and the outer actualities of our life and action on the other. Thus, it is a guide for each one of us in our day-to-day lives. Whatever the problem we might face, whether horrifying or sanctifying, it can be solved by the application of the Gita’s teachings. Its meaning is so deep that the more we read it, the more we learn from it, and the more we live according to its teaching, the more our level of consciousness rises. Its message is of eternity, and so it has a timeless significance for all of us. It is not a message conveyed in a mere temporal language to suit a specific occasion. Rather, the occasion was taken to convey to the eternal individual the knowledge of its relationship with the Eternal Absolute. The union of the jivatma (the individual embodied soul) with the Paramatma (the Supreme Spirit or Cosmic Soul) is the final consummation of the Bhagavad Gita. The word gita means ‘song’ and the Bhagavad Gita is the Song of God and therefore the song of life – of existence and omniscience, leading to bliss – sat (truth), chit (consciousness), and ananda (bliss).

The first chapter is known as Arjuna vishada yoga, or the yoga of Arjuna’s despondency, in which he refuses to fight with his relations,. The Lord listens to his arguments quietly, and it is only in the second chapter that he begins his beautiful sermon. Krishna explains to Arjuna that each person has a certain duty in life, his swadharma, which depends on his station, birth, and position in society as well as on his nature. This duty should be followed regardless of personal prejudices and with (no?) attachment to the fruits. The work itself brings its own reward…

In the last and eighteenth chapter, known as the yoga of liberation through renunciation, the Lord summarizes all that has been said before. He reiterates that the real sannyasi is the one who has renounced the sense of being the doer of actions and such a one is also the real tyagi (renunciate), for sannyasa is not a mere matter of wearing ocher robes and giving up home and family life. It entails a renunciation of the mind, of clinging attachment to the things of the world. Such a one can live in the world and play a part in the cosmic drama, as an instrument in the hands of the Purushottama.

Thus, Arjuna has to play his part, has to renounce his tamasic attachment to relatives and take up his mighty bow in the interest of the world at large. As the Gandiva is in his own hands, so also is he in the hands of the Divine Archer. Krishna’s final words to his beloved disciple Arjuna and through him to the world are, ‘Fix your mind on me, and you will surely attain me. This do I promise you, for you are dearly beloved by me.’ And once again as a final benediction, ‘Having renounced all dharmas, take refuge in me alone. Verily I promise you that I shall free you from all sins and lead you to liberation.’

We carry the burden of our lives like mindless donkeys, not realizing that the Lord within us is ever ready to bear the brunt of our lives, to laugh and cry with us, to nurse and suckle us, to care for and comfort us. No one is born alone and none needs to die alone, so why should we live alone? Into this Kurukshetra of life we are propelled like Arjuna, not alone and helpless as we think but ever protected by the charioteer within us. He has ever been with us and is every ready to help us, provided we allow ourselves to be helped. We must take off the armor of our separate egos, with which we think we are protecting ourselves but with which we are actually barricading ourselves against him, the Parmatma and Purushottama, nearer to us than our nearest, dearer than the dearest, sole friend, sole relation, sole guide for the whole of humanity. Therefore, surrender to him and live in harmony and peace devoid of cares, like the fortunate child who cuddles into his mother’s arms and is carried by her through the bustle and turbulence of life.

Tenderly, the Lord asked his beloved Arjuna, ‘Have you listened to my teaching with single-pointed concentration, O Arjuna? Has your delusion born of ignorance been destroyed? At these words, Arjuna, with his mind clear and his nerves and muscles made as firm as steel, fearlessly replied, ‘By your grace, O Lord, my delusion has gone, and I have gained my senses. I am now fixed in my resolve and will do as you command.’

Say this, he sprang to his feet and gave a blast on his conch Devadatta, while Krishna blew the Panchajanya, sending a thrill of joy through Pandava ranks and a shock of fear through the Kauravas. At the end of the sermon, Sanjaya declared to the blind king, ‘Blessed am I, O King, for by the grace of Vyasa, I have heard this thrilling disclosure by the master yogi, and Partha, the wielder of the bow, there will be prosperity, victory, glory, and righteousness. This is my firm conviction.’ Krishna and Arjuna stand for the jivatma and the Paramatma, the embodied being and God, seated together in the chariot of the body.

When human being and God stand united, when the individual works in collaboration with the Divine, when he or she becomes the living conscious instrument of the Divine, then there can never be defeat. Righteousness and victory are the natural offspring of this blissful union.

The self is never born, nor does it ever perish,
nor having been born will it be born in future.
This self is unborn, eternal, imperishable, and ageless.
Though the body is slain, the self does not perish.
As the spirit in our body wanders on through childhood,
youth, and old age, so it wanders on to a new body.
Of this the sage has no doubt.

~ Srimad Bhagavad Gita”

~ Jay Kshatri

Photo ~ The Arjuna Wijaya Statue was unveiled in August 1987, near the Air Mancur intersection on the southern tip of Jalan Merdeka Barat in Central Jakarta near the Monas Square. The statue depicts Arjuna going to war in a chariot driven by God Krishna.

Indonesia is the world’s fourth most populous country, the most populous Muslim-majority country with 86.1% Muslims, while Christians stand at 8.7% and Hindus at 3%.  This results many cultural practices being strongly influenced by a multitude of religions.