My Gita Part 5

Bhagavata in Narrative Timeline The Bhagavata is distinct from the Ramayana and the Mahabharata. The Ramayana and the Mahabharata focus a lot on masculine anxiety over power and property. The Bhagavata focusses on feminine anxiety about abandonment and affection. Anxieties stem from our desire to survive. In nature, the quest for survival gives rise to s.e.x and violence. Hermits, however, seek to give up s.e.x and violence completely, through practice of celibacy and non-violence, in order to be rid of all anxiety. Householder traditions seek to minimize anxiety by regulating s.e.x and violence through rules of marriage and property. The Ramayana elaborates this. The Mahabharata reveals how rules can be manipulated with clever logic, and how this can take us away from the path of dharma. The Bhagavata elaborates on the emotions (bhava) that underlie rules, s.e.x and violence, and places primacy on emotions over rules. If Buddhism speaks of shunning desire to break free from suffering, if the Ramayana and the Mahabharata speak of regulating desire with responsibility, the Bhagavata qualifies desire with love.

The Bhagavata creates an emotional highway between the devotee (bhagata/bhakta) and the deity (bhagavan), transforming intellectual and pragmatic Vedic conversations (Upanishad) into effusive adoration (upasana). Here, the self (jiva) can be the parent, like Yashoda, to the divine other (param), who is the child. Here the self can also be a lover, like one of the gopikas who pines for the divine other, who is the beloved. When Radha comes along she even transforms the divine into a lover who pines for her, the beloved. The seed of the Bhagavata traditions can be traced to The Gita itself.

Arjuna, the one who offers me, with affection, a flower, a fruit, some water, a leaf, I accept.-Bhagavad Gita: Chapter 9, Verse 26 (paraphrased).

Here, the devotee is expected to be active in devotion and cling to the deity like a baby monkey clings to its mother. In other verses, the devotee is expected to be pa.s.sive in devotion, like a kitten trusting that its mother will take care of it.

Arjuna, give up all that you are doing and have full faith in me. I will free you from all fetters. Do not worry. -Bhagavad Gita: Chapter 18, Verse 66 (paraphrased).

Cat Mother and Monkey Mother In both cases, G.o.d is placed on a pedestal: G.o.d is the parent and saviour. In the Ramayana, Sita has no doubt that Ram will find a way to rescue her from the clutches of the mighty Ravana. In the Mahabharata, when her husbands fail to protect her, Draupadi turns to Krishna, who prevents her public disrobing at the hands of the Kauravas. The emotional highway between devotee and deity moves one way-the devotee is dependent on G.o.d; G.o.d is not dependent on the devotee.

Arjuna, I know that those who existed in the past exist in the present and will exist in the future. None know me.-Bhagavad Gita: Chapter 7, Verse 26 (paraphrased).

But there is a festering incompleteness in the Ramayana and the Mahabharata. At the end of the Ramayana, Ram abandons Sita. Despite being faultless, she finds herself the subject of street gossip and is cast out of the palace, forced to fend for herself in the forest. At the end of the Mahabharata, Krishna grants Draupadi her revenge by ensuring that all the Kauravas and their commanders are killed. But revenge comes at a price: all of Draupadi's children, her five sons, are killed too. The jiva-atma feels abandoned. Has the saviour failed?

Bhagavata traditions take this conversation forward. The one-way emotional highway becomes two-way, involving not merely transaction but transformation. The Bhagavata s.h.i.+fts the balance of power.

In the 1,000 years that followed The Gita, the doctrine of Bhakti was elaborated. It took two distinct routes-the masculine route, based on submission, celibacy and restraint, embodied in Hanuman; and the feminine route, based on affection, sensuality and demand, embodied in Yashoda and Radha. The masculine route was favoured by the mathas, the Hindu monastic order. The feminine route was favoured by the devadasis, temple dancers who used the performing arts to connect the ma.s.ses with the divine.

One can say that the masculine route, grounded in celibacy, was the route of Vedanta, and the feminine route, grounded in pleasure, was the route of Tantra. These two thoughts emerged as distinct branches from the seventh century onwards. This happened because the old division between the Buddhist hermit and the Hindu householder was collapsing. The Hindu householder started adopting hermit practices like vegetarianism, while Hindu hermits began reaching out to the ma.s.ses through song and dance, practices previously a.s.sociated only with the household.

More importantly, knowledge transmission was no longer top-down. It did not just come from priests who performed rituals and kings who rode chariots and controlled the land. Ideas were even coming from the bottom upwards, even from cowherds who wandered the countryside with their cattle in search of pastures. In the new discourse, G.o.d was not a feudal overlord to whom one submitted. G.o.d was a commoner who sought affection and returned affection. The distant Ram was overshadowed by the more accessible Hanuman. Krishna, the cowherd, beloved of the gopikas, overshadowed Krishna, guardian of the Yadavas and guide of the Pandavas.

Masculine Submission and Feminine Affection The story of Krishna's childhood mimics a Greek epic until we start considering the role of the women. It begins with a prophecy that Kansa, the dictator of Mathura, will be killed by his own nephew, the eighth son of his sister, Devaki. Kansa imprisons Devaki and kills all the sons she bears. To save the eighth child, Devaki's husband, Vasudeva, takes the newborn across the river Yamuna to the village of cowherds, Gokul, and switches babies, bringing back a cowherd girl child born the same night. Years later, when Krishna returns to Mathura and kills Kansa, his true ident.i.ty is revealed. But many still refer to him as the son of a cowherd, rather contemptuously, an indicator of social hierarchy. But family name and honour, so important to Ram, do not matter to Krishna. He has discovered something deeper-love-that conquers all anxieties.

Krishna owes this discovery to the milkmaids of Gokul and Vrinda-vana. They collectively raised Krishna as their own child, showered him with affection, indulged his pranks, suffered his mischief, admonished him when he crossed the line and loved him as a mother would, even though none of them had given birth to him. This is parental love (vatsalya bhava), embodied in Yashoda.

Krishna and Yashoda When Krishna becomes a youth, his relations.h.i.+p with the gopikas changes. Pranks give way to flirtation. The child is forgotten as the man takes over. The women now quietly slip out of their homes at night when their family is asleep and go deep into the forest (vana), unafraid to dance in a circle around Krishna, who plays the enchanting flute. There are pa.s.sionate disagreements, demands, separations and reunions. He is not their brother, father, son or husband. Theirs is not a relations.h.i.+p governed by niti (law) or riti (tradition). Yet, in his company, they feel alive and secure. It is a relations.h.i.+p that springs from within, and is not forced from without. Everything is authentic but private, for it is beyond the comprehension of the public. This is love evoked by presence (madhurya bhava), union (shringara bhava) and even absence (viraha bhava), embodied in Radha.

When Krishna leaves the village of Vrinda-vana for the city of Mathura, he promises he will be back. But he cannot keep that promise. He sends his friend, Uddhava, to inform his village of his decision to stay in the city, and to comfort them in heartbreak. Uddhava's advice is intellectual in approach and monastic in spirit: he speaks of the impermanent nature of things and the importance of letting go. Radha replies with a smile- she is not afraid of pain and suffering and abandonment. In fact, she relishes it, for it reminds her of Krishna. 'He is the black bee who moves from flower to flower, but I am the flower that cannot leave its tree. He has transformed me, enabled me to turn into a fruit that contains the seed of love.'

Krishna and Radha The abandoned women of Gokul and Vrinda-vana, be it the mother, Yashoda, or the lover, Radha, express what the abandoned women of the Ramayana and the Mahabharata do not: love, not anger. They do not judge Krishna. They don't expect him to ask for forgiveness, because there is nothing to forgive. They do not begrudge him his ambitions, his compulsions and his adventures. They don't want him to turn back. They accept the nature of nature: nothing lasts forever, everything changes. They want their beloved to move on his outer journey, just as their love for him inspires them to undertake their inner journey. They are no longer dependent on him. But they will always be dependable for him.

This att.i.tude of the womenfolk has a huge impact on Krishna. Being G.o.d is not about being limitless, it is about allowing the limited and including the limited, despite all their shortcomings, as a wise parent allows a child to grow up and go on his or her own path. Krishna acknowledges his indebtedness to the gopikas of Gokul when despite being male, he always strikes a very female pose, the tri-bhagna. This makes him the purna-avatar, the complete incarnation of Vishnu to walk the earth.

In the Bhagavata Purana, we find the story of how Yashoda once found baby Krishna eating dirt. She scolded him and forced him to open his mouth so that she could wash the dirt away. But within his mouth she beheld a vision of the whole universe, similar to the one Arjuna sees in Chapter 11 of The Gita. It terrified her. For a moment she realized the awesomeness of her child. But then she resumed her maternal duties, bathing him, feeding him, educating him, admonis.h.i.+ng him when the neighbours complained about his pranks, even punis.h.i.+ng him when he disobeyed. He might be G.o.d, but she was his mother. For her sake, the deity became a child. For his sake, the devotee stayed a mother.

Yoga may expand our mind, but love demands that we contract ourselves so that our lover does not feel inadequate or inferior. This conscious contraction of divinity is why the infinite bhagavan descends on earth as the finite avatar, experiencing death as Ram and Krishna for the benefit of his devotees. In Chapter 11, Arjuna wants to see Krishna in his cosmic form. A curious child, the thought excites him.

Krishna, I have heard in detail the grand nature of the world, how things fold and unfold. I am curious to see your divine form that you describe. Show me, if you feel I can handle it.-Bhagavad Gita: Chapter 11, verses 2 to 4 (paraphrased).

But when Krishna does display his form, its awesomeness ends up intimidating Arjuna, for it suddenly makes him aware of his insignificance in the cosmic canvas.

Krishna, I am happy to see your secret form, but it frightens me. Return to your original form, please. -Bhagavad Gita: Chapter 11, Verse 45 (paraphrased).

The thousand-armed G.o.d becomes the two-armed friend and charioteer once again. If devotion to Ram makes Hanuman expand and become bhagavan, then affection for Arjuna makes Krishna contract to become an avatar. He is like the mother who pretends not to see the child while playing a game of hide-and-seek. Though limitless himself, he submits to the limited truth of those around him. These are the games (leela) the deity-parent plays with the devotee-child. The aim of bhagavan's contraction (avatarana) is to uplift the devotee (uddhar). For bhagavan can see all slices of reality and can make the bhakta see more than just the one.

Expanding and Contracting Ram uplifts Hanuman, but Krishna realizes that Arjuna does not have the same capacity and capability as Hanuman. However, he does not make Arjuna feel small. Like Yashoda and Radha, he never judges the Pandavas, never makes them feel guilty for gambling away their kingdom. He simply prepares them to face the consequences of their action.

Darshan of the other enables us to acknowledge and accept their inadequacies. This makes them neither small nor helpless. It just makes them different. A student may not learn because he does not have the capacity, or because he does not have the will or because he does not have the resources. None of these makes the wise teacher unhappy, for he knows that teaching is about the student's benefit, not for his aggrandizement. He cannot control the karma of the student; he can only focus on the svaha of his yagna, plant the karma-bija and not seek control over the karma-phala.

Likewise, a wise man never argues when a less learned man argues with him. He knows when to expand and when to contract, when to give and when to receive. Darshan of the limited other enables the self to gain insight into the human condition and further expand the mind. By submitting to the truth, the yajamana experiences brahmana.

A hermit does not want to do yagna. A saviour is only a benefactor (yajamana). But a lover is both benefactor (yajamana) and beneficiary (devata). In The Gita, Krishna identifies himself with the input to the yagna.

Arjuna, I am food for the child, exchange for the adult, offering to the dead, medicine to the sick, the chant, the b.u.t.ter, the fire, the libation.-Bhagavad Gita: Chapter 9, Verse 16 (paraphrased).

Then, in another verse, Krishna becomes the recipient of the output.

Arjuna, offerings made with affection to other deities eventually reach me. I am the recipient of all libations. Most do not recognize me, and so falter.-Bhagavad Gita: Chapter 9, verses 23 and 24 (paraphrased).

Ram may be the saviour of the downtrodden (pat.i.ta-pavana), stoically bearing the burden of royal responsibilities and suffering personal tragedy, but Krishna is also a lover. He gives and receives. He is not complete without Radha. In Radha-bhakti, the jiva-atma may seek param-atma in the forest and dance around him, but Krishna also yearns for her, filling the forest with his lovelorn chant, 'Radhe! Radhe!' And while Sita and Ram are separated by social laws and remain heartbroken in separation, Krishna and Radha move on with their respective lives-Krishna always carries Radha in his heart, and Radha always carries Krishna in hers. For Krishna, his time in Gokul may be limited, but his love for Radha is limitless.

Hermit, Saviour and Lover Radha, however, is excluded from many Krishna-bhakti traditions, such as those of Shankardev in a.s.sam and the Mahanubhav panth of Chakradhara Swami in Maharashtra. There is no Radha image in most major temples of Krishna outside the Gangetic plans, such as those in Puri, Pandharpur, Udupi, Guruvayur or Nathdwara. Radha's unabashed eroticism and the rather Tantric approach of mutuality was not universally accepted, especially suggestions that Radha was older and was Krishna's aunt (either Nanda's younger sister or married to Yashoda's brother), metaphors that sought to intensify the social inappropriateness, so as to amplify the genuineness of the emotional connection. Preference was given to the nameless milkmaids of the Bhagavata Purana whose love (prema) is seen as pure, uncontaminated by eroticism (kama). Or the entire Bhagavata lore came to be dominated by Yashoda, whose maternal love is not as discomforting as Radha's love.

For centuries, the devadasis of Hindu temples sang the song of the cowherd ('Gita Govinda') that describes the intense emotions of Krishna and Radha revealed secretly, at night, outside the village, in the forest. The voice of the devadasis was silenced in the early twentieth century as they were deemed prost.i.tutes. Greater value was placed on the Hindu monastic order that preferred the celibate Hanuman and the song of G.o.d (Bhagavad Gita).

s.h.i.+fts in Bhakti Literature The Gita speaks of bhakti as devotion, with G.o.d occupying a higher position and the devotee submitting to him. However, in Chapter 18, Verse 65, he does refer to Arjuna as 'one very dear to me' (priyo-si-me), indicating love. Gita Govinda wipes out the hierarchy and transforms bhakti into affection. In it, Krishna begs Radha to place her feet on his head to cure him of the poison of longing, lines that, legend has it, Jayadeva himself hesitated to write, but Krishna wrote for him, thus indicating the power of love.

Sometimes, you can see more than me, but you pretend to know less so that I don't feel intimidated by you. I do the same for you. We do not feel superior when the other is vulnerable; or inferior when we feel helpless. This is what sustains our relations.h.i.+p.

You and I have no control As the mind expands, you and I will accept how helpless we really are, how limited our control over the world is. We will discover how every organism has little control over his or her own capabilities and capacities that are dependent on their natural material tendencies, or guna, which in turn is shaped by karma. It will dawn on us that we are not agents who can change the world, we are merely instruments of the world, that is constantly changing. In this chapter we shall explore the three guna. From here onwards, the conversation becomes less emotional and more intellectual: we venture from bhakti yoga to gyana yoga as we understand the role of insecurity and ident.i.ty in shaping our choice of action. Krishna elaborates on the guna in chapters 14, 17 and 18 of The Gita.

In Chapter 3, Arjuna speaks of the inability to control the mind.

Krishna, how is it that despite unwillingness, humans do bad things?-Bhagavad Gita: Chapter 3, Verse 36 (paraphrased).

He was perhaps thinking of his eldest brother, the upright Yudhishthira, who could not stop himself from gambling away their kingdom, his brothers, their wife and even himself. Or perhaps he was thinking of his elder brother, the mighty Bhima, who could not stop himself from killing Kichaka, the lout who tried to abuse Draupadi while they were hiding disguised as servants in the palace of Virata, despite Yudhishthira's express instructions to resist every urge to reveal their secret ident.i.ties, for if any Pandava was recognized before the end of the stipulated period, they would have to go back into exile for another thirteen years. Or perhaps he was wondering why his grand-uncle Bhisma and tutor Drona were fighting on the Kauravas' side. Krishna attributes this inability to guna, the tendency of matter.

Arjuna, in your conceit you may declare that you do not want to fight but your nature will compel you to do so, shattering all resolve.-Bhagavad Gita: Chapter 18, verses 59 and 60 (paraphrased).

Krishna mentions guna early in his discourse in Chapter 2 of The Gita, but elaborates on it only later in chapters 14, 17 and 18. In between, he takes Arjuna on a detour: the inner journey of discovering the divine nature of dehi. This exploration of bhagavan and bhakti in the middle third portion of The Gita marks an acknowledgement of the role emotion plays in cognition. Unless the heart feels secure, the head will not accept the reality revealed by darshan: the reality that humans are helpless before the force of nature, that karma determines the circ.u.mstances of our life and guna determines the personality of people around us. We can, at best, understand these, but we cannot control them. Attempts at control only contribute to inescapable and often dreadful consequences that haunt us lifetime after lifetime, generation after generation.

Arjuna, mind and matter have always existed and from tendencies of matter all forms that exist have come into being.-Bhagavad Gita: Chapter 13, Verse 19 (paraphrased).

Darshan reveals that humans are propelled by desire, animals by fear, plants by hunger, but what eventually manifests depends on the guna that const.i.tutes each individual. Even elements and minerals that have no internal or external drive, no hunger or fear, are continuously transforming because of guna. Guna is what causes clouds to expand, temperatures to s.h.i.+ft, rivers to cascade, volcanoes to explode, the sun to rise and set, tides to ebb and flow and winds to blow even when there is no life around. Guna is the nature of nature, the root of its diversity and dynamism. The atma within observes the dance of guna.

Arjuna, the truly wise can see that restless nature is the agent, not the immortal one within, but all diverse forms depend on, and emanate from, that one.-Bhagavad Gita: Chapter 13, verses 29 and 30 (paraphrased).

Guna Underlies All Actions The guna are three (tri-guna): tamas, rajas and sattva. The tendency towards inertia comes from tamas guna, the tendency towards activity from rajas guna and the tendency towards balance from sattva guna. The three guna cannot exist without the other. They are like three phases of a wave: tamas being the movement downwards towards the nadir, rajas being the movement upwards towards the crest and sattva being the balance, the point at which there is a pause.

Tri-guna as Parts of a Wave In the elements, tamas guna dominates, which is why they have a tendency towards inertia, unless acted upon by an external force (first law of thermodynamics). In plants and animals, rajas guna dominates, which is why they grow and run to overcome hunger and fear in order to survive. In humans, the sattva guna dominates, which is why only humans are able to trust and care for strangers, empathize and exchange. But it does not mean that all humans are sattvik. While humans have a strong sattvik component compared to animals, plants and minerals, amongst humans there is a differential distribution of all three guna.

Arjuna, when sattva s.h.i.+nes through all body gates, there is happiness and understanding; when rajas s.h.i.+nes through, there is greed, restlessness and l.u.s.t; when tamas s.h.i.+nes through, there is confusion and indolence. At the time of death, if sattva dominates, rebirth takes place in happy and knowledgeable realms; if rajas dominates, rebirth takes place in action-filled realms; if tamas dominates, rebirth takes place in lost, decaying realms. From sattva comes knowledge, from rajas desire and from tamas ignorance.-Bhagavad Gita: Chapter 14, verses 11 to 17 (paraphrased).

Guna impact not just matter but also the mind. Thus, thought and emotions also display the three tendencies. Therefore some people are lazy followers, some are driven leaders who want to change the world and some decide when to follow and when to lead, and know that the world can be changed only cosmetically with technology, but not in essence, at a psychological level. Tamas guna stops us from thinking, so we follow the trend. Rajas guna stops us from trusting anyone but ourselves. Sattva guna makes us care for those who are frightened, intimidated by the diverse and dynamic reality of the world.

Different guna dominate at different times. Tamas guna is dominant in a child who follows the adult parent. Rajas guna is dominant in a doubting, fiercely independent, energetic youth who strives to make his own path. Sattva guna is dominant in the mature, who understand when to be silent and when to speak, when to follow and when to lead.

The guna can be seen literally or metaphorically. They explain the diversity of nature, the diversity of ecosystems, plants, animals and humans, the diversity displayed by each living creature in various stages of his or her life. When we react unconsciously or involuntarily, unaware or unable to control our impulses, we are being governed by our guna. Guna results in karma and karma creates guna. This creates the fluid material world: the complex canvas of our existence.

Arjuna, there is none born on earth or in heaven who is free of the influence of the three tendencies. -Bhagavad Gita: Chapter 18, Verse 40 (paraphrased).

Chapter 17 informs us how the three guna can express themselves as external activities: faith (shraddha), food (ahara), exchange (yagna), austerity (tapasya) and charity (daan). In tamas, the tendency is to be lazy and confused, and so there is mimicry of the other. In rajas, the tendency is to achieve, dominate and impress, and so there is initiative and aggression towards the other. In sattva, the tendency is to understand and be happy, and so there is gentleness and affection for the other.

Arjuna, everyone's faith is in line with their nature. They are what they believe. The satvik wors.h.i.+p those who give on getting; the rajasik wors.h.i.+p h.o.a.rders and grabbers; the tamasik wors.h.i.+p ghosts. Wors.h.i.+p need not be based on scriptures, and can involve harrowing penance and torture for self-aggrandizement, hypocrisy and pa.s.sion. Different is the food we like. Different is also the reason for exchanging, being austere or charitable.-Bhagavad Gita: Chapter 17, verses 4 to 7 (paraphrased).

Chapter 18 takes things further and cla.s.sifies even internal aspects of our being, from knowledge to activity to personality to intelligence to willpower to happiness, to the three guna. Each time, tamas involves backward movement and no thought, rajas involves forward movement with self-absorbed thought and sattva involves appropriate movement, forward or backward, taking even the other into consideration.

Arjuna, the tamasik gives up action fooled by others; the rajasik gives up action in fear; the sattvik never gives up action, only the fruits of action, doing not just the nice, shunning not the nasty.-Bhagavad Gita: Chapter 18, verses 7 to 10 (paraphrased).

Tri-guna Within and Without In Chapter 18, Krishna attributes human apt.i.tude and talent (varna) to the guna.

Arjuna, it is these tendencies that create the four apt.i.tudes: scholars.h.i.+p, leaders.h.i.+p, entrepreneurs.h.i.+p and servitude.-Bhagavad Gita: Chapter 18, verses 41 to 44 (paraphrased).

Our talents come from our guna. This does not mean that every talent can be mapped to a particular guna. It does not mean that scholars.h.i.+p comes from sattva guna, or leaders.h.i.+p and entrepreneurs.h.i.+p come from rajas guna or servitude comes from sattva guna. It means that the three guna, in different proportions, manifest as scholars.h.i.+p, leaders.h.i.+p, entrepreneurs.h.i.+p and servitude. We will find scholars who are rajasik, sattvik or tamasik; leaders who are rajasik, sattvik or tamasik; entrepreneurs who are rajasik, sattvik or tamasik; servants who are rajasik, sattvik or tamasik.

Mapping Varna to Guna From around 2,000 years ago, we find in Indian society a discomfort with fluidity and a great desire to fix things with rules. Genetic studies have shown us that India's infamous caste system, which began as professional guilds, became increasingly rigid from this time onwards. This was the time when the Manu Smriti and other such books, that reduced dharma to a set of rules (niti) and traditions (riti), came to be written. Rules were aimed to create predictability and so greater value was placed on gender and lineage, than talent. Communities (jati) started following a particular profession that maintained their fidelity by insisting that the sons follow the father's trade and daughters not marry outside the community. The Manu Smriti mapped these jatis to the varnas: thus it was a.s.sumed that children of priests would be scholars, children of kings would be leaders, children of traders would be entrepreneurs and children of servants would be servile. Further, these varnas were mapped to guna: Brahmin jati was mapped to sattva guna, Kshatriya jati and Vaishya jati to rajas guna and Shudra jati to tamas guna.

The Manu Smriti, and other such law books, are more political and prejudiced than accurate, for every community has members of all three guna. And in every community there will be those who think, those who get things done, those who calculate and those who follow. The Manu Smriti reveals the human attempt to control the world and make nature predictable by forcing people to follow the vocation of their fathers. It is all about trying to fix a fluid world, a futile effort according to The Gita.

The Mahabharata, for example, speaks of Karna, whose talent as archer overrides the social demand that he follow his father's vocation and stay a charioteer. No matter how hard we try to fix things, nature will break all boundaries and rules. Varna will always overshadow jati. Duryodhana appreciates Karna's talent while Draupadi, the Pandavas, Bhisma and Drona reject and mock Karna. Duryodhana sees in him an opportunity and the rest see him as a threat. n.o.body is a yogi. They are either attracted (raga) or repelled (dvesha) by him. No one sees Karna for himself, beyond his varna and jati, that he cannot stop himself from pursuing his pa.s.sion for archery, logical arguments notwithstanding, for such is the power of one's guna.

Mapping Jati to Guna Likewise, marriage rules are designed to regulate the desires of humanity. But guna will force us to challenge these rules. Thus in Ramayana, though married, Parashurama's mother Renuka desires Kartaviryarjuna, Gautama's wife Ahalya desires Indra and Ravana's sister Surpanakha desires Ram. Renuka is beheaded, Ahalya turned to stone and Surpanakha's nose is cut off. None of these brutal actions stops nature from changing its course. Guna will continuously make people take decisions that even their mind opposes.

A judge tends to see sattva guna as superior and tamas guna as inferior, but the observer knows that sattva guna is the most desirable simply because it is least threatening while tamas guna is least desirable because it is burdensome. Rajas guna is glamorous and seductive, for it is a.s.sociated with ambition and determination and is seen as far more proactive, compared to the reactive sattva guna.

The observer also distinguishes the sattvika from the yogi-the sattvika's tranquillity is effortless and inborn, while the yogi's tranquillity is the outcome of learning and effort. The yogi pays attention to the other, which distinguishes him from the sattvika.

'Arjuna, the wise observer does not hate what is there and seek what is not there amidst light or activity or delusion. He knows that it is the tendencies of matter at work, and so is always indifferent to the s.h.i.+fts around, always at peace, amidst pleasure and pain, gold or clay, when loved or unloved, when treated as friend or foe, in honour or disgrace, if praised or blamed.'-Bhagavad Gita: Chapter 14, verses 22 to 25 (paraphrased).

Views on Tri-guna Krishna points to rajas guna for all desires (kama) and anger (krodha); tamas guna for all laziness and confusion; sattva guna for a balanced, responsible view. The moment we say that the agent is the guna, we don't take credit or blame, nor do we give credit or blame. In other words, we don't judge. We are able to connect with atma. The moment we judge, attribute agency to others or ourselves, for fortune or misfortune, we disconnect from atma and give rise to aham. In aham, we don't accept the power of guna and blame people for our problems. We then seek leaders if we are tamasika, followers if we are rajasika or simply disconnect if we are sattvika.

Arjuna, the lord resides in everyone's hearts, deluding them with a sense of control while making them go round and round like cogs in a wheel.-Bhagavad Gita: Chapter 18, Verse 61 (paraphrased).

A yogi accepts that the stubbornness of Ravana in the Ramayana, Kansa in the Bhagavata Purana and Duryodhana in the Mahabharata are the results of their guna, which is beyond their control. As bhakta, he attributes their behaviour to the games (leela) of G.o.d. This makes it easier to make even the undesirable part of a yagna, rather than simply exclude them.

Response of Different People to Villains

We are all a masala box of guna, with one guna dominating at different times. We can all be lazy, a.s.sertive, detached or engaged. Yoga makes us aware of the guna at work.

You and I value property Guna may determine our body and our personality. Karma may determine the circ.u.mstances of our life. But humans have the power to create their own ident.i.ty by creating and claiming property, or kshetra. Society values people more as proprietors, than as residents of the body, for property is visible and measurable. As a result, 'mine' becomes more important than 'me'. The gaze s.h.i.+fts from the inside to the outside. Krishna speaks of kshetra before he speaks of the tri-guna, in Chapter 13 of The Gita, but in My Gita kshetra is discussed after guna, as it flows better into the following chapters by introducing us to the social body, the artificial expansion of the body, found only in human society.

To stay alive, animals need to know the ident.i.ty of the other: whether the animal around them is a predator (can it eat me?) or prey (can I eat it?); mate (can we produce offspring?) or rival (can it grab my food or mate?). They need to locate the other, and thus themselves, precisely in the food chain and pecking order.

Humans do not have to bother about food chains and pecking order. But we wonder who we are, and about our relations.h.i.+p with those around us. What is our purpose? How are we valued?

Purpose A thing in nature has value only if it can be consumed as food. The sun, the rain and the earth did not have any value until trees came along and sought sunlight, water and soil as food. Likewise, plants had no value until animals sought them as food. Animals had no value until other animals sought them as food. Who seeks humans as food? Can humans be of value without being consumed?

Value Chain = Food Chain Speculation along these lines led to the composition of the Rig Vedic hymn of humanity (purusha sukta), which speaks of the consumption of man, and the Yajur Vedic ritual of dismemberment of the human-animal (purusha-medha). Both hymn and ritual were composed a thousand years before the composition of The Gita. Both can be taken literally or metaphorically. The literal approach a.s.sociates them with human sacrifice: this idea appealed to the nineteenth-century European Orientalist notion of exotic India, of the 'n.o.ble savage'. The metaphorical approach draws attention to the human ability to give meaning to each other, and nourish each other emotionally and intellectually. In the Upanishads, it is common to equate food (anna) with meaning and ident.i.ty (atma): food is what all living creatures seek; meaning is what only humans seek. The same idea is visualized in Chapter 11 of The Gita, when Arjuna notices Krishna's universal form consuming humans.

Krishna, I can see the warriors of their side and ours rus.h.i.+ng into your mouth, being crushed between your teeth, entering your blazing mouth like rivers running into the ocean. Entire worlds hurry to your mouth to be destroyed, like moths to flame. You devour all the worlds with your many fiery mouths.-Bhagavad Gita: Chapter 11, verses 26 to 30 (paraphrased).

This vision taken literally can be terrifying, as Krishna appears as a predator, even a villain. But when the blindfold of judgement is removed, Arjuna understands the metaphor: by consuming the Pandavas and Kauravas, Krishna is giving them value. He is declaring that they nourish him, thus extending the logic. Arjuna realizes that he exists as 'food' for those around him. He brings value to his brothers, to his cousins, to the world at large. They are also 'food' for him. They nourish him, give him value and purpose. This consumption is both material and psychological. Withdrawal from the battle would mean denying the others meaning.

Man as Food But while Krishna eats, he is not really hungry. He declares that he is immortal, and so does not fear death, and does not need food. He declares he is infinite, and so he cannot be separated from the other-he is both the eater and the eaten. He eats, not because he is hungry, but to make the other feel valued. And he allows himself to be eaten to nourish the other. In other words, he is a yogi who does not seek meaning from outside; he gets his ident.i.ty from within, from the atma.

'Arjuna, I am the ritual, I am the exchange, the offering, the herb, the chant, the b.u.t.ter, the fire, all that is offered.'-Bhagavad Gita: Chapter 4, Verse 24 (paraphrased).

Meaning From Within and Outside Before the start of the Kuru-kshetra war, the Pandavas and the Kauravas once came to Krishna for help. Krishna offered them all that he had: one could have Narayani, his fully equipped army, and the other could have Narayana, his own unarmed self. The Kauravas chose Narayani while Pandavas chose Krishna. Narayani is Krishna's resources, all that he has. Narayana is all that he is. The former is tangible and measurable, and even outlasts death, hence preferred by the Kauravas over the latter.

The Kauravas mimic the behaviour of the asuras in the Puranas who prefer Brahma's boons to Brahma. The Kauravas and the asuras seek material nourishment, not emotional or intellectual nourishment. They seek 'his' not 'him'.

During a yagna, Narayani is exchanged: 'mine' becomes 'yours'. If this is done with consideration of the hungers and fears of the devata, then the yajamana has a relations.h.i.+p with the devata. If, the yajamana, is only focussed on his hungers and fears, then it is simply a transaction with the devata where more value is given to 'what you have' rather than 'who you are'.

Relations.h.i.+ps and Transactions Economists value the Narayani called wealth. Educationists value the Narayani called literacy. Politicians value the Narayani called power. Feminists value the Narayani called gender. Employers value the Narayani called skill. Physicians and surgeons value the Narayani called the body. Society is not interested in Narayana-what a person is: his hungers, his fears, or his potential. Things matter more than thoughts. Property becomes a subst.i.tute for feelings. Hence the purpose of life has become all about acquiring more and more Narayani. In The Gita, the concept of Narayani is presented in Chapter 13 as kshetra.

Kshetra literally means a farm, a manmade s.p.a.ce created by domesticating nature. In nature, there are no farms. Humans turn forest into farms to produce food. They mark out the boundaries, uproot the trees, clear the land, till the soil, sow the seeds, permit growth of crops and get rid of weeds. The farmer protects the farm and the produce fiercely. Born of his effort, he claims owners.h.i.+p of the farm: 'It is mine'. Other humans acknowledge it: 'It is yours.' Thus, the farm becomes his property. The property nourishes him, physically and psychologically. Physically it gives him food. Psychologically it gives him an ident.i.ty of a farmer. He feels ent.i.tled. The property also grants him immortality, since he can bequeath it to his family, who are also his own.

Field versus Farm In nature, there is no property. There is territory that animals fight over to ensure they have enough food supply. Territories cannot be inherited; they go to the strongest. Properties, however, can be inherited. The son gets the estate, the t.i.tle and all the accompanying wealth, power and status from the father.

In the Ramayana, during the forest exile, when Lakshmana draws a line (rekha) around Sita's hut, he very publicly defines what is Ram's kshetra. Within the Lakshmana-rekha, Sita is Ram's wife; outside she is just a woman for the taking. Kshetra thus is an artificial construction, not a natural phenomenon.

Me and Mine In Chapter 2, Krishna speaks of deha and dehi, the body and resident of the body. In Chapter 13, he speaks of kshetra and kshetragna, the property and proprietor. Another word used for kshetragna is kshetri. The resident transforms into the proprietor as the body expands to include t.i.tles and estate.