The spiritual and the social according to the Bhagavad Geeta

The spiritual and the social according to the Bhagavad Geeta

The individual in society has to adapt himself to his environment in the light of the unity of life in the Divine. The stages of life differ in different persons and their Dharmas or duties in life are based on these stages of individual development. The Bhagavad-Gita recognises the temperamental diversities among individuals and the consequent classification of duties suited to their evolutionary stages which determine their Guna and Karma. In all countries there are the philosophical and the spiritual, the active and the militant, and business-loving and the trading, and the work-a-day populace naturally inclined to manual work. These distinctions are not artificially created with any motive behind, but these represent the outward social system revealing the inner aptitudes of human beings.

Svadharma is the duty prescribed to a person in accordance with the stage of life in which he is placed, not by any other person or persons, but by his own inner characteristics which he manifests in his daily behaviour and actions. The fourfold social classification is meant to ensure a happy and loving union and fellowship among all people, who, due to their inherent tendencies show their fitness for varying activities in life and not a general equality in thought and deed. It is not possible for all men and all women to think alike and act alike. This kind of equality is not ingrained in the very essence of life in the world.

Life is a display of heterogeneous species of beings and the fourfold grouping of persons is a broad division of mental dispositions and abilities for knowledge and action. The social good depends upon the proper regulation of the society, not merely by the force of the administrator, but by a loving understanding of one’s own position, each for himself, and placing oneself in that particular status for which alone he is meant according to the inner law governing his nature. The members of society are interdependent and their welfare is sought by their social classification relative to the qualities and the actions corresponding to them (Guna-karma-vibhaga). The preservation of the hoary culture of India may be attributed to this wise scheme of life based on natural laws and sanctioned by the promptings of the inner nature in man.

The Gita is, no doubt, a great exponent of the ideal of social and universal brotherhood. It notes, however in this respect, that individual life, family life, social life, universal life and divine life cannot be ultimately separated from one another, but these represent only the stages of the growth of the individual towards the realisation of Divine Perfection. Brotherhood has a meaning only when it is grounded in Selfhood or oneness. Dharma or righteousness determines the good of the society and the universe is a big society of beings inhabiting its different parts. He who seeks the well-being of the society cannot do so by forgetting the fact that the society is within the universe which is the integral whole, conforming to the laws of which is necessary both for the individual good and social good. The universe, too, is not a self-explained truth in itself, but is the expression of the harmony and reality that is in the highest Divine Being. “When one realizes that the diversity of beings is centered in the One, and has spread from That alone, then, he attains to Brahman” (XIII. 30). The Dharma of this Reality is the standard with which the Dharmas of the universe, the society, the family and the individual are fixed. As the reality of Brahman is indivisible, universal love and absence of selfishness and attachment become the Dharmas of the universe and all its contents. All beings are to be loved impartially and without infatuation, because the fact of the existence of all beings is the one Absolute Self. The virtues to be cultivated as enumerated in the Gita, especially in its Thirteenth and Sixteenth Chapters, are the sine qua non of leading a happy and good, noble and spiritual life individually as well as socially. Through the possession of divine virtues, more stamina and inner spiritual strength, the brute in man is overcome and the immortal principle within is unveiled.

The ideal of the social ethics of the Gita is Loka-sangraha, the well-being and solidarity of the world. This is brought about by each individual through the performance of Svadharma in the spirit of non-attachment and self-surrender and with the knowledge of the immutable nature of the Atman. Svadharma aims, at the same time, at Sarvabhutahita or the good of all beings. The fabric of society is to be so constituted as to aid its members to realise the supreme Ideal of life. As all beings share the one Life which is the whole and of which they are parts, their development lies in their being in harmony with that Life. The perfection of the part is the unity of the whole. Mutual love and the execution of duty in loyalty to the whole is the means to the blessedness of the individual and the society. When each one does his own duty without reluctance or desire in his mind, the welfare of the society is ensured, for wherever action commingles with the knowledge of the Divine Purpose that is behind this visible universe, there shall be “prosperity, victory, glory and firm policy” (XVIII. 78). The Gita declares that the Sastras should be taken as the authority in determining human conduct, which shows that society rests on the basis of the eternal principles of morality and spirituality.

Life is essentially a divine worship. Activity in this world is really the adoration of the Virat of the Visvarupa of the Lord. The individuals are ‘Nimittamatra’ or mere instruments in the fulfilment of the divine Law. Life is a Yajna, a holy sacrifice, and the world which is the Dharmakshetra or the field of righteous action is the altar at which the individual offers himself to God-Being. Dharma which is the ethical value governing the individual exalts him to Moksha which is the Infinite Value and the Goal of life. Everyone should conform to Dharma which supports life and which shall protect him who protects it through dispassionate practice. God Himself is ‘Sasvata-dharma-gopta’ or the protector of the eternal Dharma. Dharma is the source of material and spiritual good. Artha, Kama and Moksha have their basis in the observance of Dharma. God-realisation is the highest Dharma of all beings and all other Dharmas are subservient to this. This ultimate unity of all in God has to be realised in the entire universe (VI. 29, 30). The whole existence is the one conscious living truth of God who pervades it inside and outside and second to whom nothing can ever be (IX. 4, 5). All thoughts and actions should conform to this absolute ideal. Only when life is lived with this noble spirit of the dedication of the self to the one common and supreme good which is to be realised in God alone and nowhere else, the weal of the society is secure. When the Goal is forgotten, life becomes a misery. When life is founded on virtue and knowledge and the consciousness of the Highest Reality, it becomes Divine Life.

Source: All About Hinduism by Sri Swami Sivananda

(Sri Swami Sivanandaji is a world-renowned Saint of the Advaita Vedanta and Yoga Darshanas. A medical doctor (Surgeon) by profession, he founded the Divine Life Society which today has hundreds of centres worldwide. Swamiji has written over 200 books and is the Deeksha Guru of World Famous Swami Chinmayanandaji).