the bhagavad gita (1)
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THE BHAGAVAD-GITA- DOES IT PREACH HATRED?
Swami Paramapriyananda Saraswati
Even a cursory look at this universal scripture, which teaches all the esoteric associated
with the utmost transcendence of the metaphysical categories of time, space and causation, aeons
before Einstein, should suffice to prove that it literally does the exact opposite. For instance, in
the last eight verses of ch. XII, known as The Group of Eight celebrating Immortality, the Lord
lays down, as the very first condition for Immortality, Adveshta-sarvabhutanam meaning non-
hatred for all entities- living or otherwise. It is strange, therefore, that anyone should level the
charge of hatred-preaching against this universally acclaimed scripture. To mete out another
instance, out of the thousands available, the scripture repeatedly exhorts the earnest seeker to be
Raga-dvesha viyuktah one free absolutely from the twin currents of love and hatred.
Instances can thus be adduced ad infinitum and that, again, at various levels.
Since the words emanate from the Lord Himself, it is simply inconceivable that Lordshould, of all things, preach hatred. Souls hardly ready for the final crystals of a high ly
integrated cosmos can naturally not stand such rigorous stuff and its concomitant complications.
Doesnt T. S. Eliot sum it up finally when he avers: Mankind can hardly bear to much of
Reality?
What does the Bard have to say on these transcendental aspects escaping the fleshy
human eye? There are more things in earth and heaven than are dreamt of in Thy philosophy.
However Horatio may have it taken, the quote instanced should open our information-blinded
eyes to exegetical beauties that open up whole vistas of existential semantics write its
repercussions on our ontological well-being.
The very first words of the Gita naturally draw our attention to a wealth of meaning in
positing an identity, and nothing less, between Dharma Kshetra and Kuru Kshetra which in
the woeful absence of exact English equivalents, can only be rendered as the world of Pure
Being and the world of Action.
The issue at hand being purely experiential in character, none that has not the expected
experience can be allowed to pass loose cavalier remarks on such metaphysically-loaded,
universal scriptures as they have precious lessons for humanity as a whole, living as we do in
such turbulent times.
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Viewing it from the mystics point of view, it must needs be said that we hardly bother to
investigate even simple psychic passions for what they are! It would seem that the love of the
Kantian thing-in-itself is simply not current in our matter-ridden breasts! One can only
desperately lament to say- Oh, whata sorry state of affairs! The crux of the matter is that love
and hate are simply not polarities throwing up between them possibilities of antagonisation but
are only so intertwisted that one almost implies the other, so that for the right envisaging puresouls, the one is to the other in the disguise of implication. The nuances missed, the whole debate
can degenerate from the peaks of the impersonal, academic Truth to the boisterous uproar of the
market-place.
Mahatma Gandhi who manages to be the icon of our times somehow, was a fiery votary
of this scripture, and has claimed many a time that in spells of utter dejection, it would offer him
instant, morale-boosting solace mother-like! He who is past controversy, a second Jesus come on
earth and an unquestioned apostle of peace love and wisdom, hailed the Gita unequivocally as
the very repository of quintessential virtue, efflorescing into the peaks of essential wisdom. What
further testimony be needed to reinforce the pristine glory of this peerless treatise! Asked by him
as to which book is issued the most, the chief librarian of one of the biggest libraries of Londonis said to have replied pat, why, of course, the Gita.
But, as Rilke has famously said, fame is the sum total of the misunderstandi ng that
surrounds a great name. In the instant case, the great name happens to be that associated with
a hoar culture.
The truth of the matter is that the Gita teaches, at least in the initial phases, nor love nor
hatred but Reality in itself, leading us to that coveted knowledge by a step-by-step process of
inner purification. Utterly reluctant to countenance such an exercise, even in principle, we give
vent only to our own degeneracy and ethical turpitude by subterfuging the whole thing through a
host of psychic devices, least realizing that the latter only dig our own graves! As it moves onand on, it unravels before our inner eye, which is the bliss of solitude, whole realms of
experience, until, at last, we realize our self-identity with the Absolute, which alone can at one
stroke put an end once for all to all the million ills that humanity is heir to.
Let us all conjoin the great cause of redeeming erring humanity from the abyss of
prejudice and hatred, of wanton perversions and ugly interpretations, from willful aberrations
and willing transgressions, into the empyrean of boundless bliss and rare wisdom by sparing at
least the holy scriptures from the stink of our malicious natures!
Is this too much to ask?
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