Talks on the Gita — 42: Conflict Between the Divine and the Demoniacal Tendencies — 1
Divine Qualities: The Harbinger of Purushottamyoga
Brothers, in the first five Chapters of the Gita, we saw how life should be lived and its purpose fulfilled. From the Sixth Chapter to the Eleventh, we viewed bhakti from various angles. In Chapters 13, 14 and 15, jnana was discussed. In the Fifteenth Chapter, the whole science of life was seen at a glance. Life reaches its consummation in Purushottamyoga. Nothing remains to be said thereafter.
I cannot bear to see karma, jnana and bhakti separated. I wish to experience complete identity between karma, bhakti and jnana. Every action in life should likewise be full of service, love, as well as knowledge. Karma, bhakti and jnana, all should permeate the whole of life. Every action should be spiritual. This is what Purushottamyoga means.
Now, what does this Sixteenth Chapter tell us? Just as the glow on the horizon proclaims that the sun is about to rise, the rise of Purushottamyoga in life is preceded by the glow of virtues. This Chapter describes this glow — the daivi sampatti (divine qualities) — and also the darkness which this glow dispels.
The Forces of Light and Darkness
Just as in the First Chapter Kauravas and Pandavas are found pitted against each other, here the armies of the divine and the demoniacal qualities have been pitted against each other. It has been the tradition to use allegories while describing the struggle between the good and the evil. There is fight between Indra and Vritra in the Vedas, between gods and demons in the Puranas, between Rama and Ravana in the Ramayana, between Ahura Mazda and Ahriman in Zoroastrianism, between God and Satan in Christianity, between Allah and Eblis in Islam. In all the religions, this fight has been described.
Kurukshetra, the battle-ground of the Mahabharata war, is inside us as well. The one whom I see as my enemy confronting me in the outside world is, in fact, the evil in my mind that has taken concrete shape. Just as a mirror gives my true image, the good and the evil thoughts in my mind have their images in the outside world as friends and enemies.
Fearlessness as Commander, Humility as Rear Guard
Virtues and vices are pitted against each other within our mind. The virtues have nominated a commander — 'abhaya' (fearlessness, or freedom from fear). Fearlessness has been given the first place in this Chapter. No virtue can develop without fearlessness. Fearlessness is the leader of all the virtues.
An army has to be alert about attacks both from the front and the rear. While fearlessness is at the front, humility has been stationed at the rear to guard the army. It is indeed an excellent strategy. In all, twenty-six virtues have been listed here. You may imbibe twenty-five of them excluding humility, but if your ego gets inflated thereby, an attack from the rear will make you lose whatever you have gained. That is why humility has been placed at the rear.
Most of the twenty-four virtues in between — compassion for all creatures, gentleness, forgiveness, serenity, freedom from anger and malice — all these are different terms for non-violence. In fact, all the virtues are contained in truth and non-violence. With truth and non-violence in our armoury, we should march ahead fearlessly. We ought to move freely over the whole expanse of the vast and extensive life.
Against this army of virtues, the army of vices is pitted. About hypocrisy, ignorance etc., the less said the better. Hypocrisy is as though ingrained in us. And of ignorance, it can be said that it has become an innocent excuse for us to cover our lapses. But the Lord says that ignorance is a sin. Socrates had said just the opposite thing: "What you think as sin is only ignorance, and ignorance is excusable." But the Lord is saying that ignorance too is a sin. In fact, both the Lord and Socrates mean the same thing. The Lord is telling us how to look at our ignorance while Socrates is telling us how to look at others' sins. The sins of others should be forgiven, but it is a sin to forgive ignorance in ourselves.
[To be continued]
[Reproduced with kind permission of Paramdham Publication, Pavnar, from Chapter 16 of 'Talks on The Gita' by Sant Vinoba Bhave, 16th edition, January 2005]
"We spend the first year of a child's life teaching it to walk and talk and the rest of its life to shut up and sit down. There's something wrong there." — Neil deGrasse Tyson
"A human being is a part of the whole, called by us Universe... Our task must be to free from this prison by widening our circle of compassion to embrace all living creatures and the whole nature in its beauty." — Albert Einstein