Friends, in the last chapter we discussed Arjuna’s state of despondency (vishad). The Gita’s teaching begins from the Second Chapter.At the very outset, the Lord enunciated the cardinal principles of life.Vinobaji’s  view is that  the term sankhya-buddhi in the Second Chapter stands for the basic principles of life.

Sankhya means Principles or science.Yoga word is derived from word ‘yuj’ which means joining.Yoga means union or integration.Sankhya-Yoga means the art of combining the basic principles of life.We can also say Sankhya-Yoga is ‘essence of Life’.

The basic principles of life are as follows,

(1) The atman (the Self) is deathless and indivisible.

We see living human beings,animals,birds or trees. Once the ‘life or soul’ goes away out of all these,what remains is the ‘body’ without ‘life’. This ‘Life or soul’ is Atman.

We saw in the 20th Verse,

“For the soul there is never birth nor death. Nor, having once been, does He ever cease to be. He is unborn, eternal, ever-existing, undying and primeval. He is not slain when the body is slain.” 

Further, we saw in 22nd verse,

“As a person puts on new garments, giving up old ones, similarly, the soul accepts new material bodies, giving up the old and useless ones.” 

The above 23rd verse describes the ‘Atman’

“The soul can never be cut to pieces by any weapon, nor burned by fire, nor moistened by water, nor withered by the wind”. 

That means Atman never dies. Then where does it go after leaving the body? it is established into another body.

 (2) The body is insignificant and transient.

The body is insignificant and Atma is a very very tiny part of the Paramatma.That is why atma is immortal.We must always remember that , ‘I am not this feeble and mortal physical body; the body is only the outer shell.I am the Self that is imperishable, indivisible and all-pervading.’ This constitutes a whole philosophy of life.

The body is dirty from inside as well as outside.It is Atma ( you) who washes it. The body gets ill; it is Atma(you) who gives it medicine. The body fills barely 6-7 feet of space but Atma is( you are)  free to roam in the whole of the cosmos.The body changes endlessly ( Childhood,young age and old age) you observe those changes. The body is open to death; you are immortal. When the distinction between your body and yourself is so clear,why do you grieve over the death of the body? 

The body is, in fact, like a garment. We can put on a new garment as the old one gets worn out.Similarly Atma changes the body. Atma is imperishable, indivisible and all-pervading.Therefore we should not be afraid of death at all.We dread the word ‘death’. It is considered inauspicious.  People go to the extent of hiring professional mourners! (This is a custom prevalent in some communities in India, particularly in Rajasthan and Gujarat.)

We should certainly not be loveless and hard-hearted; but attachment to the body is not love. On the contrary, true love emerges only when attachment to the body is overcome. 

Life is to be lived for the fulfillment of swadharma and one has to look after the body for this purpose only. It should be given proper nourishment; but there is no need to indulge the palate.We should utilize our body as an instrument. But, instead of using the body as an instrument, we lose ourselves in it. 

 (3) Swadharma must be followed.

Swadharma is in the nature of duty to be performed while the other two are principles to be understood. 

For each of us, swadharma is ‘given’. It comes to us naturally; we do not have to go out looking for it.Swadharma, like one’s mother, is not chosen but predetermined. No matter what sort of person my mother is, she will ever remain my mother. 

Swadharma is born with us.Swadharma is the purpose of our life.We cannot avoid our mother,whatever she is.The same way Swadharma cannot be avoided.Avoiding Swadharma is suicidal.It is  like avoiding the self.We have to move forward along with Swadharma.We have already seen that here dharma does not have meaning like Hindu,Muslim or Christian.Apart from this,everybody’s swadharnma changes during his life based on his experience and attitude.

Karma:Behind a man’s action there are generally two types of attitude. One of them is : ‘If I do something, I shall definitely enjoy the fruit of my actions; I am entitled to it.’This means ,I can accept a little inferior fruit for my defective or imperfect  work.With this attitude,the best possible karma is not possible.

The second attitude is : ‘I shall not act at all if I am not going to enjoy the fruit of my actions.’ This is simply laziness or inertia.

The Gita prescribes an altogether different attitude. It says : ‘You must, of course, act; but do not have any claim over the fruit of your actions’.Whatever work you do, do it the best possible way.So combine Equanimity of mind ( चित्ताचे समत्व ) with your work.

Thus, falatyaga (renunciation of the fruit of actions) proves to be a sound and effective principle. That is why it could be called a sort of yoga or the art of living.

Sthitaprajna:After listening to this, Arjuna says, “O, Lord! You have told me the basic principles of life and explained the art of translating them into practice. Still the picture is not clear to me. Please, therefore, tell me the characteristics of one whose intellect and mind are fully anchored in the basic principles of life and who has fully assimilated the yoga of life. Tell me about such a person who is steadfast in the contemplation of the Lord while working and who is firm like a rock in his settled conviction—a person who can be called a sthitaprajna. In short, how can one recognise him?” In response to this entreaty the Lord has portrayed, in eighteen verses at the end of the Second Chapter, character of the sthitaprajna. 

Sthitaprajna means the one who has attained ‘steadfast wisdom’.But how could there be steadfast wisdom without subduing the senses? Hence the sthitaprajna has been described as the embodiment of restraint.The sthitaprajna reins in all his organs and uses them in desireless and selfless action. It is easy giving free rein to your organs, but it is most difficult to practice restraint and use them in spiritual pursuit.This is extremely difficult and requires Herculean efforts.

That is why after taking all efforts, wherever they fall short ,a seeker should supplement his efforts with devotion ( Bhakti). This is the valuable advice the Lord has given while describing the attributes of sthitaprajna.

We can summarize this by the formula —

 (Nirguna) Sankhya + (Saguna) Yoga + (Saakaar) Sthitaprajna → Sankhya Yoga (Whole Science of Life)

It is bound to lead to brahma nirvana, or moksha, i.e. liberation of the Self and its union with the Brahman. What else could follow?

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