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| Dr. G. Venkataraman with Sri Sathya Sai at Kodaikanal - May 2003 |
Swami of course always does things in His own inimitable style. My exposure to the essence of the Gita came many years ago, during one of those famous Trayee sessions. For the record, Trayee session is the name given by the boys to the evening get-togethers that students have with Swami while He is in residence in Brindavan. One such evening many years ago, Swami casually asked: “What is the essence of the Gita?” Students assembled at the Lotus Feet rushed to offer various replies but Swami did not comment. Instead, He kept asking more and more students the same question; evidently, the correct answer was yet to come. Changing His approach Swami then asked: “What is the last word of the last stanza of the Gita?” The boys shouted, “Mama.” Another question from Swami: “What is the first word of the first stanza of the First Chapter?” A confident reply again, with the boys all shouting in unison, “Dharmakshetre!” Swami now smiled and gently asked, “What do you get when you combine these two words, the very last word and the very first word?” The boys had no problem with this one and roared, “Mama Dharma.” Immensely pleased, Swami then observed, “Yes, Mama Dharma – that is the true essence of the Gita.” Followed then a memorable Discourse on Mama Dharma.
Swami’s analysis of the Gita is not only profound but also unique, being tailored to this day and age. It is very practical, far from abstract, without the confusing interpretations often camouflaged in a difficult and literary style, that scholars present. To understand better the essence of the Gita according to Swami, it is useful to have first a quick overview of the Gita, as taught by Krishna to Arjuna. As is well known, it all started on the battlefield of Kuruksehtra, with Arjuna suddenly developing misgivings and refusing to fight. Krishna then scolded Arjuna severely, after which He carefully explained what Arjuna should do and why. Arjuna was faced with a moral dilemma. On the one hand, as a Kshatriya, he had a duty to fight for upholding Dharma in Society. On the other hand, if he did engage in battle, it would mean that he might have to kill his kith and kin, including his revered grandfather; and killing grandfather was a terrible sin, especially since he had so affectionately cared for the Pandavas.
What was Arjuna to do? Krishna’s advice to Arjuna given on the battlefield is applicable to each and every one of us for the simple reason that we often face such dilemmas in life, wherein there appear to be two calls of duty, both seemingly correct in their own way, and yet contradicting each other. How is one to decide in such situations? Krishna has given the answer. Krishna pegs His entire teaching on the Atma. Almost the very first thing He says is, “Arjuna, you think you are the body. That is why you are so overwhelmed by the prospect of having to wage war against your kith and kin. But are you the body? You are not. You are the imperishable and the eternal Atma. Therefore, act according to your true nature. If you are guided by the Atma, you will find there is only one option, the correct option. Multiplicity of options is the result of deluded thinking.”
Swami has taught us the same lesson any number of times through His query: “Who am I?” As Baba reminds us, we are neither the body nor the Mind, but are what we really are, namely the Atma. Thus, while the bodies may differ, the core of all human forms is the same, that is, the Atma. In practical terms, this means that while the actions that individuals perform during the course of their lives as part of their respective duties might vary, the spirit in which the duty is to be performed remains the same. Further, when Atma is the sole guide, there can be no moral dilemmas ever. To understand this idea better, consider, say, a teacher, a doctor and a student; they all have duties to perform. Naturally, the duties vary and so do the actions performed in discharging these duties. However, the spirit of these actions must be the same across the board. Since all are Divine at the core, all actions performed by the individual, be it a priest, a judge, a politician or whatever, must have Divine fragrance; that is to say, the action must be performed without expectation of any reward or advantage, must be free from attachment of any kind, be totally Selfless, and full of Love. It is such action alone that would be in the nature of the Atma, and duty performed in this spirit is sometimes referred to by Swami as Atma Dharma. Krishna refers to it as Swadharma, while Swami has given it yet another name, Mama Dharma. Three terms, but they all mean the same thing. In brief, man being the embodiment of the Atma, his actions too must always have the Divine flavour.
Sceptics might argue: “Atma Dharma might have been alright in the distant past when life was very simple. However, can it be relevant in today’s complex world?” Careful analysis would reveal that Atma Dharma is not only relevant but also the only lasting and workable solution to the numerous problems of modern Society. To understand this point, let us recall that Arjuna faced a problem because he looked outside and responded to what he saw there on the battlefield. If, on the other hand, he had looked to the Lord resident inside for guidance, that is to say to the Atma, his response would have been different. It is because Arjuna failed to take cognisance of his true nature as the embodiment of the Divine Atma that the Lord in physical form, had to instruct him. The essential point is that one must not be readily swept off one’s feet by what one sees in the outside world. Rather, one’s response to the outside must be guided from within. This is the lesson that the Lord as Krishna taught to Arjuna and which, the same Lord as Bhagavan Baba, is now repeating through His various Discourses to the whole of humanity.
Consumerism dominates today’s world, and in a consumerist Society, most people are focused almost entirely on the glamour of the external world. Thus, it is more or less always a case of keeping up with the Joneses. In recent times, thanks to the TV and the internet, this external focus has increased exponentially and with disastrous consequences too. For example, people are glued to the mobile phone while walking on the street and sometimes even while driving a scooter or a car, totally oblivious to the dangers of doing so: that is the power of the attraction of the external world. The more one is swept by this false dazzle, the farther one moves away from God, allowing, unconsciously perhaps, to slip out of one’s hand, a golden opportunity to return to God. It is not merely a question of letting go a precious opportunity. The more God is out of one’s radar screen, the more complacent one becomes about engaging in undesirable actions.
The rapid growth in white collar and cyber crimes in recent times is the direct result of unholy collusion between ego, atheism, and greed. Wherever one turns, there are serious problems, added to which is a general loss of insensitivity to human suffering and misery. As is often said, it is mostly a case of NOW and ME ALONE. Naturally, there have been serious fallouts. For example, there is now, amongst both the old and the young, a widespread sense of insecurity. Parents are abandoned in their old age and cast aside like old and useless refrigerators or washing machines. And so it goes on. A brief reference must also be made to the current craze about information. Everyone extols the Information Age and is going gaga over it. Experts say that a hundred years ago, information doubled once every eleven years. Right now it is supposed to double every three years, and it is predicted that thanks to technology, twenty years from now information would double every few seconds. Pundits are worried how to deal with this deluge when it hits. If one seriously examines this entire business of information explosion, one would find that most of what passes for information is absolute trash.
Long before the Internet Age, the poet T. S. Eliot wrote:
Endless invention, endless experiments,
Bring us knowledge of motion, but not of stillness,
Knowledge of words, and ignorance of the world,
All our knowledge brings us nearer to ignorance;
Where is the wisdom we have lost in knowledge?
Where is the knowledge we have lost in information?
The cycle of heaven in twenty centuries,
Brings us further from God and nearer to dust!
[Choruses from ‘the Rock’ (1934)]The comment of the Beatles was even more pungent. One of their songs went like this:
He is a real Nowhere Man
Sitting in his nowhere land,
Making all his nowhere plans for nobody
Doesn’t have a point of view
Knows not where he is going to ….
He is as blind as he can be
Just sees what he wants to see .…
That about sums up modern man and his empty life.
Over 200 years ago, Dickens began one of his famous novels with the words: “It was the worst of times and it was the best of times.” Those words apply very much to the present also. Depressing though the situation might appear from this perspective, the future is not entirely without hope. When we see the external world, it no doubt presents a bleak picture but when we turn to Swami, there is hope yet for humanity.
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| Sri Sathya Sai Institute of Higher Learning - Administrative Building |
The remedy is thus quite simple. Love for God also means Love for the Atma, and a person imbued with this feeling will always adhere, no matter what the difficulty, to Dharma. A good person will never commit sin, and Swami’s Institute has shown that it is possible for young men and women to follow what Swami calls Mama Dharma, without any detriment to their worldly success or progress. In fact, tens of thousands of such students have graduated from Swami’s Colleges since the late sixties. Thus, the success of the Institute is no flash in the pan but a sustained one.
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Source: Sai Sparshan 2005 (80th Birthday Offering)
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