Chapter 2 Bhagavad Geeta 

·          (2:47): Lord Krishna tells Arjuna to simply work and complete the action instead of worrying about the fruit of the action or using the fruit of action as motivation to do the action.

·         At the same time, Lord Krishna tells Arjuna that one’s lack of focus on the result should not cause him or her to go into a state of inaction and not complete the job.

·         From this slokam, one should learn to live in the PRESENT when completing an action. They should not be worrying about happenings of the PAST or worrying about the FUTURE

·         Also, one should be steadfast when performing an action. In other words, they should concentrate fully with an even mind.

·         Also, the concept of Ishwararpanbuddhi and prasadbuddhi are tied into this slokam and idea. It involves leaving the result in the hands of the Lord and taking the result as the Lord’s Prasad, whether it is a success or failure and moving on.

·         By performing actions in this way, a person will most likely gain success.

·         In the subsequent slokams, Lord Krishna echoes similar sentiments.

·         However, he shifts the focus from action to attachment in (2:55), when he describes the man of Steady wisdom of “Stitha-Prajna”

·         According to Lord Krishna, the man of “steady wisdom” or “Stitha-Prajna” is one is unaffected by both adversity and prosperity, and one who is free of anger, attachment, hate, and desire.

·         This man is steadfast on the Lord.

·         Lord Krishna goes on to explain the negative consequences of attachment in 2:62 and 2:63.

·         Objects lead to attachments lead to desire leads to anger leads to delusion leads to loss of memory leads to destruction of discrimination which finally results in perishing

·         Thus, one should control his or her attachment towards external objects because such attachments can destroy his or her life.

By Sreedhar Ayyala

In the previous class, we discussed chapt. 2 verse 62-63.

This verses were about attachment and how it leads to mans downfall. Krishna explains to Arjuna how this attachment is the source of all evil in the case of the unsuccessful.

62. Krishna first explains that when a man has lingering thoughts of an object, he gets "attached" to the object. This object, when not received, will create a "desire" for this  object. Finally this verse states that as we still do not receive the "object", we start to "anger".

(example) We as humans are very attached to material things, such as food. Certain people love food and develop an "attachment" for it. They constantly crave the food, and "desire" starts to affect them. If they do not receive the food, they get "angry" since they cannot think of anything else but the food that they do not posses.

63. From here, Krishna then shows how "anger" for not having the object meddles and disturbs our mind, leading us to "delusion". When this happens, we "lose our memory" of other things that impact our life. This causes the "destruction of discrimination" making our conscience to leave us. from here, we are a non-intelligent being and as such, we "perish"

(example) Because of our anger, we think of only the food, we forget about our duties, such as studying. We had a test and because our thoughts were only on food, we did not study and failed. With our thoughts on this one desire, we become a more base being, making us unable to fulfill our duties, ultimately "perishing" us.

Krishna tells this to Arjuna to make him understand that he has to control his senses. Once Arjuna does this, he will become a man of perfection. This tells us to control our mind as even though it can positively influence us, it can also hurt us.

By Ashay Morwale