KUNTI AND DRAUPADI

     These two female characters in Mahabharata who are associated with the Pandavas, particularly the latter, with Arjuna the main character of the Bhagavad-Gita, are of some significance here. Kunti (the sister of Vasudeva, the divine father of Lord Krishna) is the mother of Arjuna, whereas Draupadi symbolizing the five Vedas (including the Mahabharata) is the wife of the Pandavas. This husband wife aspect should be clearly understood in the spiritual perspective of the Gita. Actually, Draupadi is the Kundalini shakti that unites the five plexus of Consciousness from Muladhara at the basal plexus to the ajnya at the eyebrow level. It is Kundalini yoga by which union (yuj) is brought. The jiva gets emancipation once it is united with the unity consciousness. Bhima is considered here as the Prana deva, the vital force that unites the jiva with the brahman. In fact it is a ‘Ramayana’ where Rama is the Sun, and Sita is the earth (with jiva rashi) united by the Life force- Vayuputra Hanuman as Prana deva. Thus everything is brahman only! This has its scientific validity, too. The solar system is one unit of a micro level cosmos and bhurbhuvasvah in the Gyatree japa viniyoga with Pranayama will bring this unity consciousness.

   Mythologically, Draupadi married Arjuna after he won her in the Svayamvara arranged by King Drupada for finding a suitable husband for his daughter. The entire story of Mahabharata is based on the concept of ‘ego’. Arjuna won her hand when he successfully shot an arrow into the pupil of the eye of a fish that reflected in a plate of oil. Duryodhana, too, contested the match but failed; his ego was hurt when Draupadi laughed loud when he failed to hit the bull’s eye and he decided to avenge this ridicule. In fact, Draupadi had an eye on Karna, the eldest of the Pandavas; but Karna, too, narrowly missed the target since a thought of his parentage and its consequences occurred in his mind at that very moment.  When Arjuna came home and announced that he won a prize in the context to his mother Kunti, she not knowing what the prize was, simply said, ‘share it with your brothers’. Having great regard and respect for his Mother, he always obeyed her, and thus, agreed to share Draupadi with his brothers. Later, Draupadi remained loyal to him for she had selected him as her husband in the context. Draupadi is quoted for her single minded devotion to Lord Krishna throughout the epic Mahabharata. She is one of the five virgins among the famous Ahalya, Tara, Mandodari, Sita, despite their married status. They are the celestial nypmphs. This is an indication that these are heavenly characters that are depicted in human form on earth for a specific purpose; it is to drive home the fact that purity of mind and soul are more important than the physical form. Consciousness that pervades the universe is the only ‘Truth’ and its vibration creates these characters (Minds) with different qualities. Thus, the ever fleeting mind is the cause of the world of objects and characters.  No physical body and its sexcapades are attributed to these characters here.

     Kunti is the respected mother of Karna, Yudhisthira, Bhima and Arjuna. The other two- Nakula and Sahadeva are the sons of Madri, the second wife of King Pandu. Kunti’s sons are born out of the celestial blessings from the utterances of the Mantra and thus, not actually sons of King Pandu. Thus, all these characters are of divine origin. In our avidya, we are prone to attribute our human values of deteriorated nature to all these characters. In fact, the entire epic is a blend of mystic and earthly and celestial characters and needs careful attention. To read too much into these characters in human angle will lead to confusion. This is where Prajnya or awareness comes into attention.                                            

‘Prajnyaa’ / Consciousness      

    The Bhagavad-Gita is all about Consciousness. It is the guiding principle here. The Grand Sire Bheeshmacharya is an embodiment of Consciousness. He is the son of the River Ganga and thus, called ‘Gangeya’. His father Shantanu had a desire to marry the celestial nymph Ganga, flowing as a River, symbolizing the eternal flow of Consciousness. The offsprings of the Ganga, the Consciousness, are eight of which the last is Bheeshma; the earlier seven are: the basic consciousness called Muladhara Prajnya (Sansk.) followed by the Svadhishthana, Manipura, Anahata, Vishuddha, Ajna, and the Sahasrara. These are the seven plexus or centres of concealed Consciousness within us. The normal worldly awareness is Consciousness, represented by Bheeshma who remained a celibate, Brahmachari, as per his promise to his mother in order to bequeath the kingdom to his nephew Pandu and Dhrutarashtra, later usurped by Duryodhana. This caused the famous Mahabharata War of Righteousness (dharma yuddha).

The Bhagavad-Gita as Yoga Shastra

     As Yoga Shastra, the Bhagavad-Gita teaches us to be aware of our Self and try to raise the level of our Consciousness. As long as we are working at our Lower Self, living in a state of confusion, ignorance, dualities, and avidya, we are prone to think about good and bad, right and wrong, heaven and hell, and the like. It is the blemish of our soul that comes with our desire, resolve or Sankalpa, and action that ultimately bears the fruits, that binds us to the dualities of this earthly life. Shree Krishna, as Lord incarnate, who has assumed the task of guiding Arjuna through the battlefield of Kurukshetra (the world of dualities), is Pure Consciousness. He is aware of the nature of Arjuna’s dilemma and tells him not to bother about the consequences of his action and do his ordained duty and leave the rest to Him. But, Arjuna cannot understand Him; this, despite the fact that He has already revealed His identity as Paramatman to him several times in the past. Actually, all those who had gathered in the Hall of Infamous Game of Dice have seen Him as the Lord of the Universe and have virtually seen how He saved Draupadi from disgrace when Duryodhana ordered his brothers to disrobe her In puranic version). So, it is open to question whether Arjuna is really conscious of his ordained duties as a Kshatriya to fight the war.    

     In the epic war of Mahabharat, Shree Krishna takes to the task of guiding the Pandavas, and He chooses to be the Charioteer to Arjuna. The Charioteer is pure Consciousness, the ‘guiding force’ and the chariot is the physical body. The five horses that drive the chariot represent the Senses and the reins constitute the Mind. The Lord who sits incognito as the confused Arjuna, here, is the simple story of life. As long as the senses are on errand of the misguided mind, the body suffers! Once, the Consciousness sheds its light and the discriminative Intellect takes the reins of the blind-folded horses and the confused Mind, the mind that was reluctant to attend to its ordained duties, comes to its senses. The Charioteer is in full control of the situation.  “Yoginam Brahma bhavati sarathi” is the doctrine here. For a sensible person, a conscientious person / prajnyavan, the Lord Himself takes ‘control of the chariot’ of life. Shree Krishna stands for supreme Consciousness / ‘mahat prajna’ and Arjuna stands for individual Consciousness Both individual Consciousness and supreme Consciousness are same but for their magnitude. One is a vast ocean and a minuscule particle of it. It is like the ocean and its waves, or the water and its bubbles, for that matter. The minuscule of the drop of water is of the same nature as the ocean but for its vastness and depth.

    Now, the most important thing to remember in Bhagavad-Gita is to know the Divine plan. The central theme is to reveal the secrets of success and happiness. The tenets of the scriptures are woven into the Text of Bhagavad-Gita and the entire Veda is rewritten here. There are many revelations here. In kathopanishad, Yama, the God of Death, reveals the secret of death to Nachiketas. He says, ‘that the human form is the most ideal one to attain to higher and higher levels of existence’. Man is born an ‘animal’ and is promoted to higher levels of the ‘human’ and the ‘divine’ with the process of purification of the soul. It is one of constant progressive evolution. One has to realize this divine plan and strive for purification. Purification of the body, mind and soul is the process and means to attain moksha / mukti / liberation. It is emancipation when the human soul is totally purified. Pure soul is pure Consciousness and pure Consciousness is Parabrahman, the supreme Lord of the Universe. Hence Bhagavad-Gita holds the key to emancipation in its ‘Muktiyoga Rahasya’. Mukti or liberation of the soul from cycle of rebirths comes from Atmajnyan.                                      

     At the outset, it must be made very clear here that the Bhagavad-Gita is an extraordinary intuitional advice to Arjuna that reveals the secret of creation, the origin of the universe and evolution of Man and the very purpose of his existence here. This ‘Eternal Science of the Spirit’ transcends time and space. It is complete Knowledge- the Veda Samhita, ‘Para Vidya’, the ‘Knowledge Supreme’.* 

       No human being on this Planet Earth can ever fully understand and translate these secret words spoken by the Lord Krishna to Arjuna in the battlefield of Kurukshetra, near Delhi, India. It is attempting the impossible; it is describing ‘Brahmavidya’- the knowledge of Parabrahman- explaining the Infinite by the finite, the Abstract Absolute in the concrete relative, here. Anyway, it is with, by His divine Grace and Will, and prodding that this effort comes here as a mere contemplation, dhyan (Meditation), a prayer to Lord. And, the effort is worth a trial, in the purification of the mind and heart. Our ego, the in-built mechanism of our system, is the main obstacle in knowing Him. Further, we cannot understand his thoughts, words or action, for all these are beyond our ability to grasp. Further, it requires a child-like simplicity and innocence to know Him; and, all our knowledge, Intellect, understanding, mind and senses, language and expression are of no use here. They are an obstacle in the pursuit of ‘Truth’. When we drop everything, including our sense of existence in human form on earth, and delve into His realm by sheer dhyan, that He will reveal the Truth, as also, His supreme Self, that too, in a transcendental state of supreme Consciousness! In this state of our non-individual consciousness, merged in Him in trance, everything becomes crystal clear. This is the state of ‘fulfillment’ one attains from the study of the Bhagavad-Gita.

    In spiritual aspects like this, the intuitional knowledge, the language, or the word and its meaning, or the expression, by itself, act as an obstacle to experience the divine! Only divine thought prevails; the divine language is also absent. So we pray in silence:

       “Let the Supreme Lord, who is adored by all Gods and Goddesses, bestow on us the humility, innocence, and the ability to surrender our self and understand Him, perceive Him, and hear Him in His divine sweetness.” The Bhagavad-Gita is the Divine Song, the gospel of Truth, the Lord. It is the ‘Science of the Eternal’, ‘the Spirit of the Soul’.      

      “I am the only one who exist and all other existence are illusory; nothing exists besides Me. I am the Eternal (ananta), Unborn (aja), and omnipresent (sarvanmtaryami), and ever free  . Know Me as thyself.” “Tvam tat asi” meaning, “Thou art That”- realize this supreme Truth, says Lord Shree Krishna. The Bhagavad-Gita enunciates this supreme Principle.

     The term Krishna means, ‘that Anand /joy and happiness which never diminish’; here, ‘krish’ means reduce and ‘na’ means ‘Anand’ /Bliss that never get reduced. It is supreme Bliss, “mahat Ananda”. It is supreme Consciousness, or ‘Parabrahman’. Krishna is called ‘Bhagavan’/ ‘Praramatman’ throughout the Bhagavad-Gita. Bhaga stands for the qualities of divine glory, fame, virtue, beauty, detachment, liberation, etc. He is the Higher Self in the eternal possession of qualities of omniscience. He is love, compassion, and piety. He assures of His divine grace and protection to all like the Sun who shines everywhere and makes no differentiation whatsoever!

  He implores:

 “Sarva dharma parityajya, maameva sharanam vraja”

    Meaning, “Throw away all your wares and come to me, I shall protect you”. Further, He adds:

       paritraanaaya sadunaam vinaashaaya ca dushkrutaam|

       dharmasansthaapanaarthhaya sambhavaami yuge yuge||

Meaning that, ‘He will take repeated birth on earth to protect the pious and the righteous.’ We carry a lot of burden of our own making and find it impossible to move. More often, we do not even realize the fact that, ‘the wares we are carrying are merely the trash that has been with us since many previous lives’ and, surprisingly, ‘it has not been possible for us to drop them’!

    Another problem is that most of us do not even believe in the idea of a rebirth, let alone previous births! In spite of the assurance of the Lord, we worry a lot about this fleeting world of trash and flimsy goings-on, the people around us- of all sorts of minds and moods, etc. For want of faith in Him, the Lord Almighty, we fight among ourselves and foolishly try to defend ourselves, our faith, our belief in the mortal, our strength and prowess, and our skill and technology, our achievements and what not?

      Albert Einstein remarked that, “Having read the Bhagavad-Gita, I find that all other knowledge sounds superfluous”(rather, redundant?).

     This Gospel of Truth- “The Bhagavad-Gita” is the intuitional sayings heard as sublime soundless soundwaves, ‘anahata dhvani’, literally emanating from Pure Consciousness / the Mahat Prajnyaa, the sweet breath of the Lord! It is the ‘Ancient Wisdom’ of much higher status than the Veda and the Upanishads, or the Bhrahma Sutra; unlike the latter, that is much restricted to a few privileged class- the learned section of Brahmins, the Bhagavad-Gita is more popular, and widely known all over the world. It has been translated into German, Russian, French, English and many other Languages. The Vaishnavites have special regard for the scripture since the Golden Age and attach sanctity as the Lord’s anugraha, Blessings. Many others treat it in high esteem, as the prasthana thrayee, dearest as the Veda, the Upanishads, and the brahma Sutras- the ‘Three-in-one’.

       In fact, the words of the Veda are attributed to the skill of the Creator chaturmukha brahma. And his son, the learned Sage Krishna Dvaipayana Veda Vyasa, an incarnation of Krishna, or Vishnu is believed to be the author of almost all the known ancient scriptures, like the Epics and Puranas. There are eighteen epics / Puranas of which the Mahabharata is the magnum opus.  

     It is a voluminous literature consisting of almost a hundred thousand verses in Twenty-eight Cantos (Volumes) cited in the Appendix. It depicts the times and life and work of people of the by-gone days, Dvapara yug a (‘dva’-‘para’ meaning the significant other Age!). Many historians are of the opinion that the epic war was fought for Eighteen days at the plains of Kurukshetra near Delhi and about Four hundred thousand soldiers (Eight Akshohinis) were involved in the battle. But, the Bhagavad-Gita does not discuss the details of technicalities of warfare and, it is altogether a different kind of spiritual scripture that appears as an appendage in the main Text. It has many verses that are juxtaposed, and unconnected! For instance, the Bhagavad-Gita as the Spiritual science is an eternal secret and it is not to be revealed to all and sundry, especially to those who are perverted Non-believers. There are some who even hate the very idea of God and God-head and it is sternly warned here that this scripture should not be revealed to them. But it is essential to educate them and provide them an opportunity to change their attitude in order to make their life fruitful, and this earth a better place to live. The Non-believers are a threat to peace!

     This Bhagavad-Gita as a part of the epic Mahabharata is put in the words of Sanjaya, explaining the incidents on the battlefield to the blind King Dhritarashtra as a running commentary. In fact, Sage Veda Vyasa offered to give sight to the blind Dritarashtra if he wishes to actually see the state of affairs in the battle field; but, the latter refused to see it and would be rest content to hear the on-goings through his able Confidant Sanjaya. So, Sanjaya was given the intuitional eye and extra-sensorial ability to know the minds, thoughts, resolves, words and deeds of the persons in and out of the battlefield. He could see with this divine intuition everything, and thus, narrated at great length what all transpired and happened, word-by-word. Further, it is again surprising that Bhagavad-Gita is an interesting episode that comes as an interlude in the War, carrying with it the Sankhya and Yoga aspects of the philosophy, aiming at fulfilment and ‘Self-Realization’ by different methods of yoga- performing one’s duty with sincere self-less action (Karma), devotion to Lord (Bhakti), higher knowledge of existence (Jnyana), and total renunciation (vairagya or nirasakti) for the sake of liberation of the embodied soul. It is here that the Lord speaks of redeeming a person from the bondage, cycle of repeated births and deaths, on this earth. He explains how the soul or Jeeva gets embodied and embroiled in physical elements and suffers in an illusory world, running after insatiable objective world of hunger, thirst, profit and pleasure. He reveals the secret of ‘Fulfilment’ that lies in realizing and not simply knowing the Truth, Reality of existence. The Bhagavad-Gita is the ‘Vedanta Sara’- the sum and substance of supreme Knowledge. It is the spoken words of the Lord that

has been told to various disciples- not once or twice, but several times, to different persons at different times! Every time the earth was resurrected from the collapse of dharma and the consequent deluge, Shree Hari Narayana has appeared in one form or the other and has rescued it. Sreemad Bhagavatam is the last of the eighteen epics in which the details of creation and all the interesting episodes since its appearance has been described in minute detail. Here the various reincarnations of the Lord are explained. [See Appendix for details]. One such re-incarnation is that of Sage Narada, who narrated the same ‘Mukti Yoga Rahasya’ as ‘Vedanta Sara’ to Sage Veda Vyasa and, again this was retold to many others like, Suka Muni (son of Sage Veda Vyasa), King Parikshita, Vaivasvata Manu, and Shree Madhvacharya also has written a commentary on it. Shree Madhvacharya is a Vaishnavite who virtually held Shree Krishna in his hands and carried Him through the streets of Udupi singing and dancing in praise of the Lord Krishna who came to him in the ship from Dwarka in the form of a statue! Shree Madhvacharya lived in Udupi during the Twelfth Century A.D. and promoted ‘Dvaita Siddhanta’ and he insists that Lord is Supreme and none can ever attain to that status of extraordinary Divinity in human form i.e., Brahma Sayujya. This aspect is still debated in the philosophers’ circle. But, practically speaking, all paths lead to Him as He Himself has made it very clear.

      The very fact that the Bhagavad-Gita, or the entire voluminous Mahabharata epic, for that matter, was not at all written by the Sage, but it was dictated to the God of Impediments, Ganadhipati, also called Lord Vighneshwara* who wrote with one of his tusks! Further, it should be remembered that Ganapati is the virtual son of Lord Shiva and Parvati. Parvati made Him with a lump of clay! Hence, it is all mysterious how a great work of this sort ever came into the hands of the Vedic people. It is their spiritual pursuit and yajnic or sacrificial rituals that gave them supreme intuitional or divine knowledge and creative power that we have these scriptures as Shrutis and Smrutis.

       Thus, for all practical purposes, Bhagavad-Gita may be considered a mysterious nature and of extraordinary sanctity- unspoken and unwritten work ever existed!

       The secret of creation, ‘Srishti Rahasya’** was first revealed to the Sun God by the Lord Sri Hari Narayana. It is Shree Hari Narayana as Govinda who gives the energy, light and creative power to the Sun

God created by Him. The Sun-God told this secret to Sumanvanta Manu, the first ever born human; and Manu told this to King Ikshvaku. The King Pandu of Hastinapura is the direct descendent of King Bharata of Ikshvaku dynasty. In another instance, Lord Vishnu told this to the Creator-designate brahma whom He nominated to carryout the work of creation and revealed the secret when the latter requested Him.

     There are geomorphologic evidences to prove the changing face of the earth over the Millennia and the Mountains, plains, and Lakes stand where none existed. There were six convulsions and belching of extraordinary magnitude accompanied by terrific explosions, earthquakes, volcanic eruptions and incessant torrential down pours that caused total devastation. There are some records of one or two such catastrophic events recorded in the fossil history of recent millennia, too. Anyway, these are depicted as the ‘Pralaya’ at the end of each human history as also, in the history of the earth- just similar to the deluge that washed away the earth as told in Shrimad Bhagavatam. And, every time there was a deluge the supreme Lord came as incarnation restore the earth to its previous pristine glory and furtherance of creation; may it be in the form of a leaf of the Banyan tree, or an animal like the fish (matsya), the Boar (Varaha), or Turtle /Kurma), or a half-man and half Lion (Nr’Sima) or Shree Rama, Shree Krishna, or the Buddha.. The pious and the learned - spiritual Sages were thus saved and their spiritual knowledge (the Veda) traditionally passed from

father to son and teacher to his trusted disciple as the Shrutis and Smrutis.

     They are the Basic Principles of life- the ‘Maha Vakyas’. These Commandments were secretly communicated from generation to generations. Krishna says that “He first revealed this to the first Manu, Sumanvanta.  It was soon lost into oblivion over times. Hence, it was told again to the next Manu at the beginning of the next eon, and the next, like that to all the seven Manus so far. The Seventh Manu is Vaivasvata Manu- one who is the Great–great-grandfather of all the human beings. Thus our genealogy is easily traced to the earliest Sages of repute. These Manus retold the same secret of ‘Reality of Existence’ and the supreme Truth to their children and their trusted disciples. In Dvapara Yuga, the Lord Himself stands as the Charioteer of Arjuna, his Brother-in-law, a trusted friend and disciple. Arjuna is disheartened at the sight of his kith and kin in the battlefield and decides to quit the battle field. Then, the revelations come by divine grace!

   This version of the Bhagavad-Gita, presented as the “Spiritual Essence of the Gita” that promotes emancipation of the embodied Soul, gives the secret of Liberation, “mukti yoga Rahasya”. It is a scientific version with the adhyatmic slant, more relevant today, rather than the one that touches mundane existence. This is a guide book of Meditation, dhyan yoga, to ‘

unite (‘yuj’) the physical and the psychological aspects of the embodied jiva with the Soul. The fundamental principal here is the ‘unity’, synchronizing the four different functions- the physical, mental, nervous and the atman.   So far, the jiva works in a compartmentalized fashion using only the Mind enslaving the body, buddhi and chitta to its advantage due to the overwhelming power of the Ahankar (ego). In a way, ahankar only dictates the jivas’ thoughts and ideas to its advantage. Ahankar (ego) is the prime suspect that one has to discover, investigate and put in its propr place. Its proper place, in fact, is the heart, but it is occupying the Mind, sitting on it on a throne as it were! The entire Bhagavad-Gita is about this

ego’, the - egotist mind, that has gone far away from the precincts of Paramatman, the pure Consciousness (chit/prajnya), Shuddha vidya.

___________________________________________________________

The epic Mahabharata is written by none other than the Lord of Impediments Vighneshwara, Ganaadhipati or Ganesha/ Ganapati as dictated by Krishna Dvaipayana Vyasa, an incarnation of Vishnu.