Articles for Saadhana

Harih Om Tat Sat. Jai Guru.

I always point out and emphasize one important point. I believe that this subcontinent India is hosting the longest living society in the world. The greatness of any human society consists in the literature it is able to produce, maybe in any walk of life and not only it produces, it is able to preserve. No literature can be preserved for a long time unless it has got a continuing and eternal relevance. Literature is always meant to be read, absorbed and pursued with its own relevance and application. Unless the literature is classical and eternal, it will not survive at all, people will not look into it.

So the greatness and distinction of any human society consists in the literature it is able to produce, preserve and apply. In this context, I believe India has got its distinction. Why do I say this? Because we have got some literature here, a lot of literature here, all of which are prehistoric. Whenever I say prehistoric nobody can say anything about it. If somebody had something to say then it would have become historic.

Normally the history available to us is extending upto something like 500 or 600 BC. Anything before that , the history can say nothing about it. Then what can say? The literature itself alone can say. All our literature particularly the best and the classical ones are prehistoric. That means they were evolved in times which history cannot access at all. That is how we have our Vedas and they are called immortal and immemorial.

Anybody who read Vedas, who heard Vedas and thought about it, he found that the Vedas were existing far earlier, far earlier, far earlier. The beauty of it, my dear children, is that the Vedas composed or evolved in such a remote past. Even now it is preserved without a change of syllable. Not only that, it is not remaining in our shelves to be referred to by scholars. The Vedic literature is very much in the minds and mouths and tongues of the people even today. That means the Vedic literature was so dear and near to the people that they always learnt them, cherished them, preserved them and they pursued them in their life.

This life relevance, life-relevant character of the Vedas is something very, very amazing. Normally a language changes in the course of two, three or more centuries. But our Vedic Upanishads and Vedas have remained absolutely unchanged for countless millennia. Can a language survive like this? If it survives, what are its special merits for surviving? It is a point to be gone through by great research.

We don’t want a syllable to change in the ancient literature that we have. Previously the Vedas were never written. They were only recited, spoken and learnt by hearing. So from mouth to ear, mouth to ear, that was the sequence. This being so, just imagine! If in any one of the countless generations that passed, either the people who recited the Vedas well and were able to impart the literature to the others, either they were not there or they were reluctant or lethargic or those who wanted to learn were not there, they did not come forward and they were lethargic. If in any one generation if this kind of a laxity had occurred, had been allowed, then the whole literature would have been lost for us because they were never written. This is how I say India is a long living society and not only that, the best society.

Why the best society? The merit and glory of a society consists in the literature it is able to produce and preserve. If a literature survives for countless millennia, it clearly shows that it has got a generational influence. No generation can distance itself from it.

The Vedas are immemorial. What about the other things like Ramayana and Mahabharata? We have got several Puranas, they are called mythological compositions. I always say, mythological compositions are ‘myth’ and ‘ology’. It’s an ology of myths. But Ramayana and Mahabharata are not so. They are called epics. In other words, they are the historic documentation of a period of time and of the people the text deals with. How they lived, they ruled, they conducted themselves, and what was to some extent the nature of the society at the time. So it deals with time, it deals with personalities, it deals with places and different types of events. All these are written in a manner to tell people what are the values which everyone should conform to and strive to preserve in order to live well, gloriously, with contentment, fulfillment and sufficient expansion.

An individual mind can never be selfish. It has to be as expansive as possible. But individuals are by their very nature selfish. Maximum they think only of their family and family members. As an individual belongs to a family, he also belongs to the society, to the nation and to the globe. So this global awareness, global commitment is what makes an individual really a human with the elegance he is meant to have and display.

So our epics are written in an illustrative manner whereby they refer to a certain number of people, their life completely is portrayed and through the portrayal they are driving home to the readers what should be the values, ideals, principles, restraints and disciplines they should live by to make the human life successful, effective and fulfilling.

India was ruled by two dynasties. India had quite a number of kingdoms. But all of them are not referred to. Even at the time of independence we had more than 600 kingdoms. All of them were amalgamated into the Indian dominion. So, the number of kingdoms was much more earlier. Out of them, two dynasties, one is solar, another is lunar. The solar dynasty is described in Ramayana. Ramayana primarily revolves around Sri Rama, his father, his mothers, his brothers, his children. Ramayana particularly discusses the prince and the King Rama. Nothing else is discussed there.

Now when you come to Mahabharata, it was written 5154 years back, historically it is a verified fact. That discusses the lunar dynasty, particularly the one belonging to Hastinapura and the entire narration is how the Hastinapura dynasty when the rulers were flouting and disregarding the fundamental and ultimate values of human life, the whole dynasty declined and got destroyed. So you can say Mahabharata tells us the decline and fall of the Kuru dynasty. Veda Vyasa is the author and he is describing six generations from himself and two generations other than him, above him, before him. So we find the lifestyle, the behavior, in other words, the character, the behavior and interactions of the people at the time extending to eight generations, six of them born from himself in succession.

Our Bhagavad Gita is a part of this Mahabharatam. If anybody considers that Bhagavad Gita is a religious gospel, I feel sorry. It is not at all! Bhagavad Gita records the dialogue, the conversation that took place just before the Mahabharata war between Krishna and Arjuna. Arjuna had thirteen years of preparation to fight this war in which he had done some austerity also. In spite of the thirteen year old preparation, when he came to the battlefield driven by Krishna as the charioteer, Arjuna said “Drive my chariot in front. Let me examine the army and find out with whom do I have to fight.” Krishna drove the chariot and stationed it in front of the commanders of the opposite army. The sight of the army and the leaders unnerved Arjuna to such an extent that he was not able to speak, stand and hold his bow and arrow. So he left everything, started crying in distress and sat on the chariot, unable to stand.

Krishna did not accept the plight. He said “This is not right. You have come here to fight and how can you be sobbing like this?” When Krishna exhorted him to get rid of his sorrow and sympathy, misplaced sympathy, Arjuna was shaken. It is true that he was touched to the quick by the sight and he became immensely sorrowful. But Krishna’s words made him had a deeper touch in him and he felt there should be some meaning and purpose in what Krishna says. So leaving his sorrow he became an enquirer and wanted Krishna to speak more and enlighten him.

Arjuna participating in the dialogue, the conversation extended into something like 2 ½ to 3 hours which was recorded by Veda Vyasa as part of Mahabharata development.

So the entire Bhagavad Gita was with a view to make Arjuna outlive his resistance and be ready to fight the war confidently without suffering from any kind of a dejection or despondency. Only after this conversation, Arjuna stood up, took back his bow and arrow and said “I am now ready to fight not one Mahabharata war, a dozen or score of them. Please guide me and help me.” This is Bhagavad Gita.

Generally a religious text discusses God and the ways and means of getting to Him. Here this was not the discussion. The discussion was to eschew grief, to overcome doubt, to imbibe boldness, to have the right comprehensive vision and inspiration to fight a crucial and otherwise indispensable war which is part of life.

Even now, our world is on the verge of war. The war can be a small or a limited one or a major one. Our air force concentration was really attacked, it was a war, but war by a few terrorists who penetrated into the area and wanted to destroy the whole installations. That is also war. It can be a declared war also. But the country, the world is on the verge of war. And Bhagavad Gita becomes very relevant even now. Whether we should attack and counter the terrorists, if so at what cost and what all damage can occur, can we incur it, should we yield to them or should we prove our counter strength, all these are questions discussed in Bhagavad Gita and which are very relevant for the afflicted and confounded human mind and for the intelligence which seeks a rational clarity and confirmation.

Harih Om Tat Sat. Jai Guru. Jai Guru.