Bhagavad Geeta: The way of Sri Krishna

Bhagavad Geeta: The way of Sri Krishna

The knowers of Truth have equated Sri Krishna with Reality or Paramatman. The plan and purpose of Vedanta is to lead the aspirant towards the Reality. Seemingly man is encaged within a mortal coil. His physical frame seems to be caught within the clothings; but the putting on or off the raiment does not in fact affect the body. Thereby it neither gains nor loses in stature. Such even was Sri Krishna’s identification with His body. For the guidance of the world, He had just assumed that mortal frame as if in play. While ordinary mortals lean towards One or the other system of philosophy, in Himself Krishna was not a Dvaitin, Visishtadvaitin or Advaitin. He was not touched by the wranglings of the philosophers. These three schools of thought, on the other hand, ever pay homage to His Personality. Each system attempts in its own way to contact and create a relationship with Him according to its convictions. Sri Krishna is ever Himself. Inspired by His Proximity, His Presence and His Personality these three systems of philosophy have vied with one another in glorifying His Exuberance.

The Bhagavad Gita does not exhort anyone to be a dualist, a qualified monist or a monist. “Wake up to your supreme consciousness. Be established in your divine nature. You are omnipotent in your sphere Perform your duty with ease and spontaneity. You have not come into this world to drag on a wretched existence. There is an inviolable and holy relationship between you and this world. It is yoga to make this relationship operative. Do achieve this in a magnanimous manner. Through effective functioning let all of your faculties pay homage to your ever-expanding consciousness. As the blossom sends forth its fragrance, let your love become all embracing and inspiring. Like the blazing sun, may your intellect throw lustre on all that you contact. When you wake up to this spiritual eminence, Advaita, Visishtadvaita and Dvaita take their respective places and function in the hierarchy of your enlightened personality.” In this manner the Yogeswara exhorts the souls to become yogis.

It is remarkable that Sri Ramakrishna followed in the footsteps of Sri Krishna. He was not concerned with the relative merits of religions. Neither did he ransack his brains to find subtle differences among the multifarious systems of Advaita, Visishtadvaita and Dvaita. His entire attention was focussed on transforming life into a spiritual dynamo. He was seized with God-intoxication. If he ever made any physical effort, it was for the worship of the Supreme. The thoughts and feelings that crowded in his mind came in as a result of his search for God. Nothing in the world was alien to his all-embracing divine love. Apart from God he claimed none as his associate, kith or kin. The grace of the Lord was the only fortune that he inherited in superabundance. With characteristics such as these, Sri Ramakrishna Paramahamsa was the embodiment of all the traits of perfection mentioned in the Gita. But he was not given to the study of the Gita or any other scripture. He was an antipode to all book-learning, sacred or secular, What he expounded to others were none other than his personal experiences that came to him as a result of his prolonged and intense spiritual life.

In this commentary have been incorporated such of the teachings of Sri Ramakrishna as seem in tune with the trend of the Gita. This venture, we know, is far from perfection. Pondering over the utterances of these two mighty spiritual giants, one feels that there is endless scope for striking parallels between them. Creeds, cults, dogmas and philosophical disputations are all kept out of this commentary. To make the various kinds of spiritual Practices explicit and practicable is the endeavor made in this commentary.

Source: Srimad Bhagavad Geeta-Commentary by Swami Chidbhavananda