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The world knows Krishna for the acts of mischief he did right from his childhood and remembers him for lifting a mountain to save the village folks from the fury of the rain god. The world also remembers him for killing many demons and Kansa, the mighty king of Mathura. The world knows him for the unfettered love of the Gopis for him. The world knows him for bringing back to life the son of his Guru. The world knows him for his role in the battle of Mahabharat and in the ensuing victory of the Pandavs. The world knows him for the teachings he gave to Arjun in the form of the Bhagavad Gita before the commencement of the battle. The world knows him as God and Lord or a prophet/avatar. The world knows much more about the divine games of Krishna. But what the world does not know is that the knowledge and wisdom given by Him in the form of the Gita, more particularly the wisdom of Karma Yog, is the sovereign secret science whose objective is to free all human beings from sorrow, old age and death and make them Supreme Imperishable Beings.
The Bhagavad Gita, a holy book of India, contains the discourse given by Lord Krishna to Arjun, His friend and disciple, before the start of the battle of the Mahabharat. This battle was fought about 5,000 years ago between the Pandavs and the Kauravs who were cousins. The Gita imparts self-knowledge to human beings, reveals the goal of human birth and shows the path for attaining that goal. Though known as an ancient Indian scripture, the Gita contains the message of God for every person. And so do all other holy books. They, too, contain the message of God, spoken through different prophets at different times in different words.
At the very beginning of His discourse, Lord Krishna gives self-knowledge and reveals that the human being is not a man or a woman but God. He says that the all-pervading indestructible God embodies all bodies, that is to say, God has assumed the human form and is living in the world as a human being. All human bodies are of the same God that pervades all. To live and propagate in the world, God has assumed both male and female forms. Though the same God dwells in each human body as living being but due to the ego, beings look at the body as ‘I’ - a man or a woman, and fail to perceive that they are God. Further, this being is eternal and indestructible, who neither dies nor ever ceases to be but lives in different bodies, birth after birth. All humans are eternal living beings; they neither die nor are they killed. They only leave their worn-out bodies and go to new ones.
Although the human being has made tremendous progress in science, technology, art, culture, medicine and other fields, he has yet to make progress on the path of self-knowledge. He has to understand the truth declared in the scriptures and realise that he is God. In other words, the God embodying the human body has to realise that he is God, not man. Verses 15:7-10 of the Gita elucidate that the human being is a fragment of the all-pervading God and is an eternal living being. It further says that God acquires the body with the senses and the mind, and when He leaves it, He takes the senses and the mind and goes to another body. While in the body, God draws the senses and the mind to Him and enjoys the objects of the senses. However, in the body the ego deludes God. He does not perceive that He is God but looks at the body as ‘I’/man/woman. Only those who have the Gyan, that is, true self-knowledge, perceive that God embodies all bodies and enjoys the objects of senses while dwelling in all bodies.
Lord Krishna reveals in the Gita that there are only two ways by which man can be free desire and the ego and become same to all by realizing that all beings are God. First is the path of Gyan or knowledge, called Sankhya and second, the path of Yog. After explaining these two paths He says in Verse 5:6 that it is difficult to become free from the hate and desire by Sankhya but he who is established in Yog quickly attains Brahm, the Bhava or consciousness of sameness towards all.
Yog has two branches - Buddhi Yog and Karma Yog. As explained earlier Buddhi Yog consists of renouncing the fruits of action by fixing one’s intellect on the thought that all fruits are of God and God is experiencing the joys and sorrows. Buddhi Yog frees the person from desire and the ego and makes him a non perishable being whereby he becomes a non-perishable being and stops changing the bodies.
Although Buddhi Yog can make a person non-perishable and give him peace and happiness, it can not make him a Supreme Imperishable Being. A non-perishable being can live up to the end of the day of Brahm but he is also destroyed at the approach of the night of Brahm to take birth again at the beginning of another day of Brahm.
Verses 8:17-20 of the Gita reveal that a day of the all-pervading Brahm or God is of thousand Yugas (aeons) and his night is also of thousand Yugas. During the night of Brahm all beings, who are eternal and indestructible, dwell in the unmanifest Brahm. At the beginning of a day, all manifest beings stream forth from the unmanifest and at the approach of night, they dissolve into the unmanifest. In this way all beings are born again and again at the beginning of the day and are dissolved helplessly at the approach of night. The beginning of a day of Brahm is called creation and the approach of night is called dissolution.
Whereas a non-perishable being is destroyed at the approach of the night or dissolution, a Supreme Imperishable Being is neither destroyed in dissolution nor is he born in creation, as revealed in verses 14:1-2 of the Gita. A person can become non-perishable by renouncing all fruits of action to God by Buddhi Yog, but to become Supreme Imperishable he has also to practice Karma Yog.
Whereas Buddhi Yog consists of renouncing the fruits of action to God, Karma Yog consists of mentally renouncing action itself to God by saying within during action that ‘God is (or God you are) performing the action’. A person who practices Buddhi Yog can be free from desire and the ego but he can not be freed from attachment with the three attributes of Sattva, Rajas and Tamas ( purity passion and delusion ) that are present in the nature of all beings.
Lord Krishna reveals in the Gita that all actions from the bodies are performed by the attributes of nature, and not by the beings. When the beings, who are deluded by the ego think that they perform the actions, they are attached to the attributes that perform the action. The attachment of the beings with the attributes of nature is the cause of there constant births in different bodies. The following verses of the Gita reveal this clearly:
All actions are performed by the Gunas of Prakriti [attributes of Nature]; he who is deluded by the ego thinks, ‘I am the doer.’ Chapter 3:27
Prakriti is said to be the cause behind the act, its instrument and its doer, while Purush is said to be the cause behind the experience of joy and sorrow. Chapter 13:21
Prakriti is said to be the cause behind the act, its instrument and its doer, while Purush is said to be the cause behind the experience of joy and sorrow. Chapter 13:21
Purush, seated in Prakriti, enjoys the attributes born of Prakriti. The attachment with attributes is the cause of its birth in good and evil wombs. Chapter 13:22
As long as a person thinks that he performs the actions, he remains attached to the three attributes of nature that actually perform the actions. A person who performs action by Karma Yog and thinks during actions that God/Nature is performing the action, he is freed from attachment to the attributes and attains the Bhava (consciousness) of God. He will then be freed from sorrow, old age and death and will attain immortality as revealed in the following Verses:
When the seer perceives no doer other than the attributes and knows beyond the attributes, he attains My Bhava. Chapter 14:19
Having crossed over these three attributes arising from the body, the dweller in the body is completely freed from birth, death, old age and sorrow and attains immortality. Chapter 14:20
Though man has made unparallel progress in material knowledge, he does not have self-knowledge. He does not know that he is God and eternal living being, who neither dies nor ceases to exist but simply keeps changing the bodies. He does not know that he is not the doer of any actions and all actions are performed by his nature comprising of the three attributes of purity, passion and delusion. He does not know that he takes constant births in different bodies due to attachment with the three attributes that perform actions. He does not know that he can save himself from old age and death and live in the same body forever by transcending the three attributes of nature and attaining the attributeless Bhava (consciousness) of God. He does not know that to save himself from sorrow, old age and death, all he has to do is to change his thoughts and think that he is not the doer of any actions, as stated, clearly, by Lord Krishna:
He who is united and knows the truth thus thinks, ‘I do nothing at all’ and in seeing, hearing, touching, smelling, tasting, walking, sleeping, breathing, speaking, releasing, seizing, opening and closing the eyes, believes that only the senses are moving among the objects of senses. Chapter 5:8-9
Karma Yog is the highest wisdom of God that can free the beings from stress, diseases ageing and death and make them Supreme Imperishable Beings who will live not just until dissolution but even beyond. Whereas the renouncement of fruits to God by Buddhi Yog can unite the beings to the Bhava or consciousness that is God, the Karma Yog can endow them that all-performing Bhava or consciousness. Like Buddhi Yog, the practice of Karma Yog does not require a person to make any change in his life style and actions. While performing his all actions he has to simply say in his heart that ‘God is (or God you are) performing the action. A simple renouncement of all actions to God will free a person from the three attributes of purity, passion and delusion. He will become free from the ego and desire and will attain God’s attributeless Bhava or consciousness of sameness towards all.
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