After battling cancer for over 4 year, Anita was given only few more hours by Doctors in Feb’06 but then something remarkable happened. Dying to be me! Anita Moorjani at TEDxBayArea. Or have you read the book “Twenty Cases Suggestive of Reincarnation” by psychiatrist Ian Stevenson(1966) or heard this podcast from NPR Searching For The Science Behind Reincarnation (an interview with Dr. Jim Tucker, a professor of psychiatry and neurobehavioral sciences at the University of Virginia). Or done your own research to say whether you believe in Reincarnation or Not?

Modern Science is at the cusp of another revolution, post materialist phenomenon, about consciousness. Give it a thought and do some fact finding of your own, esp in the domains of 

1. Past life memories – spontaneous (mostly in children) or hypnotically induced,
2. Near Death Experiences,
3. Out of body experiences.

 Krishna continues to help Arjuna in the battlefield of Kurukshetra where he must have looked a bit puzzled with all these unbelievable “properties” of property-less Aatma, that it is constant, immutable, unmanifest, incomprehensible. Krishna says that even if it is subject to constant birth and death, then also you should not grieve. Why? For death is certain for one born and rebirth inevitable for one who dies. So, त्वं न शोचितुमर्हसि – then also you should not worry.

Bottom line remains that – पण्डिताः  ना अनुशोचन्ति 

A lot of us are not comfortable with this concept of reincarnation. Primarily because it has not been fashionable. We will say, “ah there is no evidence, at least I have not seen one”. Who is stopping you though, go and do your research and make up your mind whether it is true or not, on your own, not just hearsay. One can argue that just because it is fashionable to accept the existence of electrons, protons and neutrons – whether you have seen or experienced them yourself or not. Surely, the science books are talking about it and the school teachers have taught us these scientific concepts. It is wise to do the same study about reincarnation as it is related to the most important aspect of our life, our true existence. Have a firm belief about it, one way or another.

Krishna is convinced and he continues to explain what happens between two births. Before birth and after death, beings are not manifest and remain in an unmanifest form. Beings are manifest only between birth and death. So, why worry about something changing from unmanifest to manifest for time being and eventually returning back to unmanifest form.

Krishna further realizes the difficulty of accepting this as such and clearly tells Arjuna that hardly anyone sees, or speaks of, or hears of soul as marvelous, while some do not know it even after hearing about it. 

Yet, summarizing this concept, he says that the soul in the bodies cannot be slain so not mourn for anyone. So, You do not worry त्वं न शोचितुमर्हसि .

The nursery school teacher asked the class, “what do I have in my hands?” 3 candies, shouted the children. Good. Now? 4 candies. Very good. Now? 5 candies. Excellent!

Kids are focussing on and shouting with more energy the word candies, while whole exercise from the teacher is focussed on 3, 4,5 etc. This little game enables the young minds to grasp a difficult concept of numbers. These are not found anywhere in the physical world. Have you seen any of the numbers roaming around or on trees or anywhere else for that matter. Numbers are purely human intellect creation and exists only at that level, yet we are so comfortable using these marvellous concepts in our day to day life.

Much more intriguing and powerful concept is that of Soul in our lives.

We have been told that Soul cannot be cut, burnt, wet or dried. Further, it is said to be eternal, pervading, constant, immovable and is everlasting. So there are few things that we need to accept at concept level and as we progress with our spiritual growth and practice our chosen practices, some of these concepts about Soul start clicking. i.e.

Beyond Change : Soul is constant and everlasting

Beyond Time : Soul is eternal (it is independent of time)

Beyond Space : It is independent of space and is immovable (movement is linked to time and space and both are ineffective here)

Beyond Physical world :It is said to be un-manifest- like the tree inside the seed.

Beyond Mental world : It is immutable, fixed or can’t be changed

Beyond Thought world : It is incomprehensible, hence Impossible to understand.

Such are the “properties” of the one who is beyond properties!

Now, looking at “it” as something farther away can still make sense, just like numbers make perfect sense to us. Accepting “it” to be part of oneself, now that is a completely different ballgame.

Our scriptures are screaming, Gurus are pleading, understand that it is within you, nay, it is true nature of oneself. Further, this is not just a theoretical exercise, rather something to be directly experienced, here and now, Aparoksh Anubhuti.

When we understand, know, experience and realize that a part of ourselves is of this nature, then we should change our attitude towards life. The knowledge of soul helps us to take anxieties and worries out of our life.

This is the power system energising an otherwise lump of bones, flesh, skin etc to lead a life on this planet. Beyond change, time, space, even this physical, mental and thought world. What a power-source it is!

Geometry is one interesting and important subject and it becomes really intriguing when we move from study of 2-dimensional shapes and sizes to 3-dimensional ones. Not saying easy to understand but surely lot more useful if 3D is cracked so to say, and best part is then 2D problems are easy peasy. When we move this analogy to the field of knowing, then one can put the knowing of material world as 2D, lets call it Siksha, learnings, and the third dimension, lets call it Atmagyan, Knowledge.

Literate or Shikshit person is well versed with chosen transactional aspects of this world and becomes an Engineer or Doctor or CA or Manager etc. The transactional aspects of  religious life can also be put into this category. This can be taken more as one end of spectrum for an intelligent person. The other end will be Enlightened or Gyani person who knows about the Soul, Aatma. Krishna says its really difficult to get a sense of Aatma (2.25), because it is subtler than the faculty of understanding, the intellect, Buddhi. In between these two ‘ends’ of intelligent personalities whole host of Karmayogi and followers of Dharma exist. As we have seen previously key aspects to operate at any one of these levels is Location(of sharir), Location(of mann), Location(of Aatma).

Highest form of knowledge, Atmagyan, remains a matter of speculation and experience rather than understanding due to the limitations of the faculty of intellect. What can be known about it though? It is permanent, hence beyond time, so concepts of birth or death, killing or being killed, growth or decay etc do not apply to it. Further, it wears the non-permanent or changing, Anatma, for the purpose of experience in the relative world of name and form and changes this Body as we change our clothes, discarding the old and putting on the new one.

This key aspect of role of non-permanent Body ( and Mind and Intellect) in relation to permanent Aatma is important explanation by Krishna to Arjuna who is deluded with the thoughts of losing the near and dear ones. What happens to the relations and possessions once the Aatma discards current body and moves onto the next one? They are gone too, aren’t they? Just this understanding would have changed the status of superstar Arjuna to see things as they are at this stage itself, but he needs further explanation from Krishna. A key feature of Sanatana Dharma  scriptures is dialogue between Shishya  and Guru where all doubts get cleared.

Krishna further elaborates the 3rd dimensional nature of Aatma in respect to the forces of nature operating in the ‘2D’ material world. Fire has power to engulf and destroy anything in the world, but not Aatma. Tsunami has such a humungous amount of force that we go on high alert at the first sign of water’s this powerful form, but not Aatma. Powerful wind can uproot and dry any part of the world, but not Aatma. Metals and other weaponry from soil can cut and destroy everything, but not Aatma.  All these powerful forces of nature have no impact on Aatma, solely because it is in different dimension. Aatma and Anatma do not mix, like water and oil will separate out as soon as you stop the spinners. Meditate on it till next time!

अर्जुन अपने सारे दलीलों को सामने रखता है और उसके बाद भगवान बोलते हैं कि, “पण्डिताः न अनुशोचन्ति”। बुद्धिमान किसी भी चीज की चिंता नहीं करते हैं। यह एक ऐसा मूल मंत्र है, एक ऐसी कसौटी है, जो जीवन के सारे समस्याओं का समाधान तुरंत समझा देता है। अगर मैं किसी चीज की चिंता कर रहा हूँ तो इसका मतलब है कि मैं बुद्धि से काम नहीं ले रहा हूँ, बुद्धिमान की तरह मेरी सोच नहीं है अभी, उनकी तरह मेरे शब्द नहीं हैं अभी, उनकी तरह व्यवहार नहीं कर रहा मैं अभी।

इसका स्पष्ट कारण भी बताते हैं भगवान कि जो जीवित बच जायेंगे उनकी चिंता नहीं करनी चाहिए और जो युद्ध में मर  जाएँगे उनकी भी चिंता नहीं करनी चाहिए।

वह अर्जुन को आगे बताते हैं कि ऐसा कभी था ही नहीं कि  तुम नहीं थे या मैं नहीं था या ये सारे राजा-महाराजा लोग नहीं थे। ना ही ऐसा कभी होगा की हम में से कोई आगे भी कभी खत्म हो जाएगा।

इस ग्रंथ का, हमारे पूरे सनातन धर्म की विचारधारा का, हम सबके जीवन के सोचने समझने के तरीके की धुरी है यह सोच। इस एक सत्य से अर्जुन के सामने जो इतनी बड़ी समस्या पैदा हुई है वो चुटकी में हल  हो जा रही है। उसका ( और हमारा) राग, मोह, शोक – ये सब पैदा ही विभाजन की मानसिकता के चलते हुए हैं, और प्रभु एक ऐसी बात कह रहे हैं जहाँ कोई भेद है ही नहीं। एक ऐसा सत्य जो सबका है – मेरा, तुम्हारा, यहाँ आए ये सब राजा-महाराजा और बाकी सब लोग पूरी दुनिया में – ऐसा कभी था ही नहीं ये कि ये नहीं थे और ऐसा कभी होगा की ये होंगे नहीं आगे।

प्रॉपर्टी वाले यह बताते हैं कि उनके धंधे में 3 सबसे जरूरी चीजें हैं –  1) Location, 2) Location, 3) Location. यानी किस स्थान पर वो घर या दुकान है ये सबसे आवश्यक जानकारी है। शायद ठीक वैसे ही भगवान जो बात कर रहे हैं उसे सही तरीके से समझने के लिए हमें अपनी location यानी हम अपने को किस जगह से पहचान रहे हैं वो सबसे जरूरी है। अर्जुन जिनके मरने मारने की बातें कर रहे हैं – यह शरीर के स्तर पर अपने और सबको पहचानने के कारण है। फिर जब वो कह रहे हैं कि लड़ाई नहीं करनी चाहिए – तब वह मन के स्तर पर पहचान रहे हैं। और भगवान जिसकी बात कर रहे हैं वो आत्मा के स्तर पर अपने को पहचानने की बात कर रहे हैं। जब हम अपने को आत्मा की तरह जानते हैं तो भगवान हमें सही जानने वाला अर्थात्  पण्डित  कह रहे हैं और ऐसी स्थिति में रहने वाला किसी भी चिज से परेशान नहीं होता, चिंतित नहीं होता। 

यह जानना और समझना बहूत जरूरी है कि हमारा अस्तित्व तीन स्तरों का है – शरीर, मन और आत्मा। हम में से अधिकांश शरीर के स्तर पर अर्थात् मैं और मेरा के ही भाव में पूरा जीवन निकाल देते हैं। कुछ अपने आप को शरीर मात्र से आगे मन ( मन, बुद्धि, चित्त, अहंकार) के साथ जानते और पहचानते हैं और समाज के बुद्धिजीवी कहलाते हैं। विरले ही अपने असली स्वरूप, आत्मा के स्तर पर अपने को जानते हैं और जीते हैं। उनकी पहचान होते है “मैं हूँ।”, बस इतना ही, पूर्ण विराम के साथ। उन्हें किसी नाम, पद, रिश्ते, वस्तु आदि की जरूरत नहीं अपनी पहचान के लिए। 

अब अपने ही अनुभव को लें, बचपन में जब 5 साल के थे उस समय अपने को कैसे जानते थे, अभी याद करने पर कुछ तो ऐसा है जो बिलकुल वैसा ही फ्रेश, तरोताजा है। जब 10 साल के थे तब भी वह अपने आपको जानना पहचानना वैसा ही जान पड़ता था और आज याद करने पर भी वैसा ही है। जब 15, 20, 25,45,75, 105… उम्र हो जाए तब भी अपने आप को उस अंतःकरण में सदैव हम एक ही रूप में जानते पहचानते हैं। शरीर को बदलते देखा है हमने, रोज भी बदल रहा है – बाल, नाखुन बढ़ रहे हैं, और लम्बाई बढ़ी, मोटापा बढ़ता घटता रहता है। मन के विचार तो हर पल बदलते देखें हैं हमनें। लेकिन एक वो तत्व है जहाँ से हम ये सब देख रहे हैं और वो स्वयं वैसे का वैसा ही है फ्रेश, तरोताजा। भगवान इसी तत्व की बात कर रहे हैं, यह पहले भी था और आगे भी रहेगा। दूसरी बात समझने की यह है कि यह तत्व मेरे लिए, आपके लिए, अर्जुन के लिए, श्रीकृष्ण के लिए, सारे राजा-महाराजाओं  के लिए, सबके लिए एक ही है। इस स्तर पर हम सब एक हैं और हमेशा से हैं और हमेशा के लिए हैं। 

अपने इस तत्व को जानना समझना और जीवन को इसके ज्ञान के साथ जीना यही सबसे कठिन माने जाने वाले ब्रह्मविद्या (ब्रह्मा नहीं, ब्रह्म) का मूल मंत्र है। अर्जुन के विषाद को देखते हुए और उसकी शरणागति को स्वीकार करते हुए प्रभु ने सीधा यही समझाया ताकि वह अपने राग, मोह और शोक से उबर सके। अर्जुन की मनोस्थिति बहुत  खराब थी यह देखकर प्रभु ने दया दिखाई और इस परम सत्य को बहुतेरे प्रयासों से, अर्जुन के मन में उठ रहे सारे सवालों के जवाब देते हुए समझाया। इसका हम सबको बड़ा फायदा हो गया क्यूँकि ये संवाद हुआ तभी तो हमारे जीवन को सही तरीके से और पूरे आनंद के साथ जीने का गाइड्बुक, भगवद्गीता हमें मिल पाया। 

गूढ़ रहस्य बिलकुल आँखों के सामने छिपा हुआ हो तो कैसे समझें उसे? यही है हमारी समस्या। इंजीनियरिंग की तैयारी का वाकया  याद आ रहा है जब भौतिकी यानी physics के अध्यापक महोदय ने 12 महीने की पूरी तैयारी में से 2 महीने तो केवल न्यूटन के दूसरे नियम में लगा दिए थे। लेकिन उसकी अच्छी पकड़ से पूरा physics सरल हो गया। गूढ़ बात को पकड़ लेने पर, समझ लेने पर, अपने जीवन में उतार लेने पर, सब कुछ आसान हो जाता है। इसके लिए मेहनत लगती है अपनी बुद्धि को तैयार करने में ताकि महीन बातें समझ सके। ब्रह्मविद्या भी बहुत महीन है, बुद्धि से भी सूक्ष्म, लेकिन जहाँ तक बुद्धि इसे पकड़ सकती है वहाँ तक के लिए तो बुद्धि को तैयार कर लेते हैं ना? उसके बाद के लिए प्रभु कृपा तो है ही!

धीर: तत्र  न मुह्यति

Have you ever had the experience of just one single decision changing your life forever? That one moment of inspiration and going ahead with the call and voila, life is changed! Arjuna experienced something profound which changed him and the course of history, both material as well as spiritual for the entire mankind. But before that, let us understand five steps of problem solving, a framework so to speak.

Step 1 : Sansar Darshanam ( संसार दर्शनम्, truly seeing it)

More often than not we miss properly understanding our own problems. No no, it’s not that we are not smart, we can clearly identify problems in others’ lives. Rather we are experts at identifying issues in other people’s lives. It’s just that when it is about our own, we find excuses and misdirect the issues. This mis-diagnosis is really the cause of prolonged troubles in our lives. Raaga (राग, attachments) to people, objects and situations makes us blind to real issues in our own lives. Seeing a problem as a problem is the first step towards solving it.

Step 2 : Mokshatva ( मोक्षत्व, true desire to resolve it)

Victim mindset is almost like a disease which is widespread in the world. Rare personalities like Dr Ambedkar are there who refuse to accept themselves as victims and get on to do something about the situation. In general, we find it easy to blame someone else and accept oneself as the victim. This removes the ownership to resolve the situation. One needs to truly desire a solution to get out of a mess. Most relish remaining in the mess, whether accept it or not, realize it or not, it’s the easy way out. The very design of India’s Bureaucracy is a prime example of creating and then relishing the mess.

Step 3 : Karpanya Bhaav ( कार्पण्य भाव, Understanding the need of external help)

Our Ego is the biggest stumbling block in getting a solution even when the real problem has been identified. Knowing the need of help is the key. Accepting that I cannot do it myself and seeking help as “I need someone to intervene and help me, guide me, coach me.” is the key.  

Step 4 : Sharnagati ( शरणागति, Approaching and trusting the expert)

Approaching the expert with full trust and dedication that the advice received is for my good and it will be followed. This is true in any walk of life that an expert needs the respect and ‘surrender’ so that they hear out full details for proper diagnosis and recommend the best course of action. This is true when we go to a Doctor or Lawyer or CA etc and equally applicable for spiritual progress. Lord Krishna later tells Arjuna how to approach a spiritual mentor.

Step 5 : Kriyanvayan ( क्रियान्वयन, implementation)

Don’t we leave medicines halfway in the course as soon as we start feeling better, and pay a heavy price as the disease relapses. Executing with utmost sincerity and proficiency (दक्षता) is the key.

Lamenting Arjuna at the prospect of killing his relatives falls into a vicious cycle to reach a stage of utter self pity. He starts dragging Krishna with himself to reach a conclusion, “We are going to do horrible things by killing them so lets abscond”. Krishna goads him for what he has made of himself and even pushes his ego button by saying it’s unmanly and cowardice for you to think this way. 

It is sheer luck of Arjuna that he receives the Grace of Lord in the form of clarity of need of help. He realizes his situation, sees the problem as it is and accepts that he needs help. That cousin and best friend from childhood who is acting as charioteer is needed for him in a new role. Arjuna surrenders and accepts that he needs help from Krishna, his master now. What a lucky guy to make this move! Are we that brave in our moments of  weakness?

Krishna, with a beautiful smile, says simple yet most powerful words, “Wise do not worry”.

पण्डिता: न अनुशोचन्ति || 2.11||

India is facing a huge backlog of Court Cases. Knowing just about a handful of these, one can extrapolate that most of these cases are due to acts done by people in Moha. These civil and criminal cases are due to actions taken by seemingly good people in the state of Moha, delusion, which is nothing but unchecked emotional attachment to person(s), object(s) and situation(s). The wickedness has not come from somewhere outside. True enemy is our greed, anger,  hypocrisy, ego, jealousy and the likes – the birthplace of crime. That is why siblings are fighting among each other, divorces are rampant, parents are left in old-age homes to die alone, relatives are usurping property and so on. These inner enemies need to be won over and one realizes the world is not that bad afterall!

Take the case of Arjuna in Kurukshetra. He came there all set to kill the enemy.  During inspection, he identified them as relatives and kept on dwelling on it to come up with arguments to avoid his duty and abscond. What is the use of winning a kingdom by killing our own kith and kin? These guys have lost their mind and it doesn’t mean we also should not understand and kill them! If we kill everyone from our dynasty, all relatives and friends then traditions practiced over generations will be lost forever. 

He kept on going and started pitying himself to have come to the battleground. He argues that by participating in this war (where he had not been left with any other choice), he will be committing the crime of killing relatives and straightaway go to hell for these sins. Everyone in the enemy camp may have made up their mind to kill or die, but I am no fool and will lay my arms even if they slay me, says Arjuna. This is an example of a person being deep in Moha, which leads to Shoka (sorrow, despondency).

Tendulkar doesn’t want to bat in the world cup final and throws away the bat or Federer doesn’t feel like serving in Wimbledon final, finds himself unable to lift the racket!

Moha, delusion, is of such nature that it makes us eschew our duties, makes us Adharmik so to say. The ability to discriminate between right and wrong, what ought to be done and not to be done goes for a toss. The solid answer of the proverbial “To be or not to be” goes out of the window. 

Moha wrecks duty.

This is why even the greatest surgeon finds himself or herself unable to operate on one’s own child. A high ranking, honest and dedicated police officer finds it difficult to let cases be filed or run their due course for his son’s crime. A teacher gives extra marks to her child for even poorer answers to those written by others in the class. A manager fails to take disciplinary action against a friend from the team who has flaunted rules and regulations at the workplace.  We fail to see the violation of duty due to moha, and even if seen, it gets ignored.

Knowing what needs to be done and what doesn’t, and what needs to be really known in the spirit of leading a life free of emotional turmoil is the real knowing. This is the aim of studying our scriptures. A spiritual guide helps maneuver this forest for picking up the right herbs, roots and fruits.

Big stage is set. Vijaya or Brihannala, the eunuch is charioteer to the young prince of Virata’s kingdom of Matsya, who has single handedly challenged the grand army with all important warriors of Hastinapur. Taking a decision without planning and not thinking of consequences is one of the key signals of a tamasic lifestyle, which will be looked into later on. Virata parv narrates the story of Arjuna in disguise rather than the young prince Uttar who wins the battle using sammohana Astra causing all in the opposition to fall asleep or swoon. Arjuna chooses not to kill any of them. Single handedly Arjuna had defeated all great warriors of opposition who were attacking him simultaneously. This same Arjuna has become despondent looking at the same enemy camp in Kurukshetra. Such is the power of Raaga leading to Moha, to Shoka!

Not that he wasn’t clearheaded of modus operandi to win this war, he knew exactly what needs to be done and wanted to have just one last look before the war begins and the course of the history is moulded by his hands, well by his bow, Gaandiva. Such is the power of unchecked attachment, Raaga for the super-star of his times. What to say of mere mortals like us who are entangled in worldly affairs of earning the next promotion and settling the score with old friends and relatives turned enemies.

Ajuna’s despondency in the middle of the battleground is not due to his lack of ability. It is about lacking the clarity of his duty according to time, role and place. It is not realizing what his Dharma is. How many of us fall victim to our own lack of understanding of Dharma paving way of misery in our lives is beyond count. 

Natural question coming to our mind is, “Whole world says Love is the key to happiness and isn’t attachment just another name of Love”? Raaga or Emotional Attachment is fundamentally different to Prema or Love due to the nature of attraction. 

Raaga is due to selfish reasons while Prema is selfless.

One is trapped in the world of pleasure and pain due to dependence on emotional crutches. Emotional attachment to people, objects and situations (Vyakti Vastu Paristhiti) is the cause of all our pleasure and pain in the world. When we get addicted to these pleasures for want of more and pain to avoid at any cost, this psychological addiction leads to Moha.

Moha is the second stage of excesses of materialistic living. Mohini Shakti, power of delusion, is heavily described in our scriptures from various angles. It has huge potency to get us to start liking what is dangerous for us and hate what is really good for us. A free person would not like to engage in an act but willingly goes for it under the influence of Moha, such is its power. Arjuna was experiencing this as he kept on looking at his enemies yet identifying with them as relatives. He starts counting some 20+, seemingly good reasons why he should not kill them. Aren’t we all deluded like Arjuna due to unchecked attachments and material desires?