The Bhagavad Gita How to Know God and How to Act

The two main characters in the Bhagavad Gita are Krishna and Arjuna. They are in a chariot on the Battlefield of Duty. Arjuna has been trained since childhood in the martial arts and he is the leader of an army about to go into battle in a righteous war. Krishna is an avatar, an incarnation of Vishnu who is one of the Hindu trinity, the personae or masks of Brahman.

The word "person" derives from the Greek persona which means mask. Interestingly, the first time "person" was published in English, it was used in a theological context to refer to the Christian Trinity as the persons of God. In this context "person" meant mask, and if the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit are "masks" of God then what is behind them? This sounds very much like the Hindu concept of Brahman.

Just before the battle is to begin Arjuna begins to have doubts about the morality of fighting especially because the opposing army is led by his cousins and childhood teachers and old friends (and since he also knows that his charioteer is really Brahman). He questions Krishna about his dilemma and the rest of the Gita is their conversation about the relationship between political duty and the religious life. It is an allegorical debate between the human being and God about how to know what is right and how to act.

Basically, Krishna describes two paths to salvation to Arjuna: the path of contemplation and the path of selfless action. Krishna advocates the second path, also known as the path of Karma Yoga, for Arjuna.

The path of contemplation is the mystical route to spiritual knowledge. It is the attempt to turn inward and ignore the distractions of maya in order to obtain a direct intuitive knowledge of Brahman. The goal is Samadhi which literally translates "a bringing together." This goal is the total disappearance of all that is not Brahman - all objects of sense and objects of thought including the self cease to appear to exist - all is Brahman.

But Krishna does not advocate this path for Arjuna; it is not his fate. Arjuna was born into the warrior caste and it is his duty to fight. But he must fight absolutely selflessly, without any attachment to the fruits of his labor. Krishna says again and again that Arjuna must make no distinction between killing and being killed but must act nevertheless.

Think about the difficulty of this. Imagine being involved in hand-to-hand combat with the terrors of the battlefield all around you, yet you are to be careless of your possible death and the deaths of those whom you kill because you know that all is illusion. You must act because that is the fate you were born to but you must not act out of the desire to win or the fear of losing. Do this, says Krishna, and you will reach salvation.

The Bhagavad Gita



krishna and arjuna from the bhagavad gita indian holy book brahman hindu ancient asian religions