Contents
Gita Madhurya -Swami Ramsukhdas
Chapter III
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INTRODUCTION[The teaching of the GIta is based on man's experience. While starting this gospel [1]Lord Krsna first of all clarifies that the body and the soul are totally different from each other. The body is transitory, unreal, limited and perishable while the soul is eternal, real, omnipresent and imperishable. Therefore one should neither feel sad at the destruction of the perishable nor should have a desire to maintain the imperishable is discrimination. This discrimination is inevitable in all the three disciplines of Action, Knowledge and Devotion. When a man discriminates the self from the body, the desire for salvation is aroused. Not to speak of salvation even the desire for heaven etc., is aroused when a man regards his own self as different from the body. Therefore, the Lord starts His gospel with discrimination.] This topic of discrimination begins with the eleventh verse of the second chapter and continues upto the thirtieth verse. The Lord instead of using the philosophical terminology has used simple terms to enable the people to understand the topic easily. It means that every person deserves God-realization because the human body has been bestowed upon us only to realize Him. So every human being can realize God by giving due importance to discrimination. In this topic even the term 'intellect' has not been used by the Lord. In order to distinguish the real from the unreal, the imperishable from the perishable, the eternal from the transitory and the soul (spirit) from the body; there is need only for discrimination rather than intellect, discrimination is beyond intellect. As Prakrti (Nature) and Purusa (Spirit) both are beginningless [2]. So is the discrimination which distinguishes the real from the unreal. This discrimination has been bestowed upon all creatures by God and it is revealed in the intellect. Birds and beasts also know what should or should not be eaten. Even trees and creeping plants feel hot and cold and experience the favourable and the unfavourable circumstances. Human beings are specially endowed with this discrimination which can release them from the bondage of birth and death and lead them to eternal quietude and bliss. When this discrimination is aroused i.e., when a man can distinguish between the spirit and the body. his affinity for the world including senses, mind and intellect is renounced and his intellect becomes purified and equanimous. |
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