Chapter 4
Core of the Teaching
.Clash of the Various Conceptions of Duty Clarified
▀ ▄ ▀ Confusion between Disinterested performance of duty and Divine Life
The above discussion leads us to the conclusion that it is a mistake to interpret the Gita from the standpoint of the mentality of today and force it to teach us the disinterested performance of duty as the highest and all-sufficient law.
If we give just a little thought to the actual incident (war of Kurukshetra) with which Gita deals, we will easily understand that this could not be its meaning. The whole incident of the teaching has its origin in an unavoidable and unsolvable clash of the various related conceptions of duty.
This clash has the devastating effect of the complete collapse of the structure made up of useful intellectual and moral concepts which was built upon by the human mind. This incident is the trigger point for the teaching of Gita. It is also the compelling reason for the disciple (Arjuna) to seek the Teacher (Krishna).
In human life some sort of a clash arises fairly often. For example, the clash between :
▀ Domestic duties and the call or cause of the country
▀ Claim of the country and the good of humanity or some larger religious or moral principle
An inner situation may even arise in which all duties have to be abandoned, trampled on, thrown aside in order to follow the call of the Divine within. This situation as arisen in the life of Buddha. It is unthinkable that the Gita would solve such an inner situation by :
▀ sending Buddha back to his wife and father and the government of the Sakya State.
▀ directing a Ramakrishna to become a Pundit in a vernacular school and disinterestedly teach little boys their lessons.
▀ bind down a Vivekananda to support his family and for that purpose to follow dispassionately the law or medicine or journalism.
The above solutions are precisely what the modern mind, taken to its logical conclusion would have us to adopt.
The Gita does NOT teach the disinterested performance of duties. It advocates the following of the divine life, the abandonment of all Dharmas, sarvadharman, to take refuge in the Supreme alone. The divine activity of a Buddha, a Ramakrishna, a Vivekananda is perfectly in consonance with this teaching.
Certainly, the Gita prefers action to inaction. Even then, it does not rule out the renunciation of works. It accepts it as one of the ways to the Divine. If, in a particular instance, the Divine can only be attained by renouncing works, life, all duties and the call is strong within us, then in such a situation, into the bonfire they must go and there is no help for it. The call of God is most important and it can not be overtaken by any other considerations.
･ﾟﾟ･:.｡..｡.:ﾟ::✼✿ - *▀ ▄ Chapter Four - Core of the Teaching ▄ ▀ ✿✼:ﾟ:.｡..｡.:･ﾟﾟ･
End of Note Five
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