Throughout India, there are many religions and ideas that people follow. Mainly, Hinduism is the religion that is most practiced. The three Lords that are the highest forms are Vishnu, Shiva, and Brahma. However, there are many avatars of Vishnu. The one that is the most beloved avatar out of all of them is Lord Krishna. He is the eighth incarnation of Vishnu and is adored by his devotees through his stories.
He is known as the delightful, full of pranks, and playful Hindu God, which gives appeal to much of the attraction and devotion around him. We meet the infant child who has been the delight of Hindu devotion for centuries. We see a mischievous toddler who loves butter and steals it from the houses of the cowherd girls. ” (Oxtoby 41). His worship takes on so many forms and his representation is different in each region of India. In this paper, I will address how the Bhagavad Gita provide the guidelines for Hindus to live a righteous life and want to seek more than what they know and live with a much greater purpose.
Throughout his teachings, there are so many ways in which his followers can find enlightenment, and as I got to know more about this while reading and researching, it was all the more interesting and illuminating to see why he is known to be almighty and why he has so many worshippers throughout the region and beyond. Through the reading of the Bhagavad Gita and the lessons taught in it, it truly teaches us how to live in this world, do our duty, and yet remain wholesome and peaceful within ourselves. We bind ourselves to this world through our desires and our actions, not knowing our true nature and true purpose.
In the Bhagavad Gita, it teaches one, how to discharge from this predicament, not by escaping from the burdens of the worldly life, or avoidance of responsibilities, but by remaining amidst the humdrum of life and facing them squarely with a sense of fearlessness, detachment, and stability of mind, accepting God (Krishna) as the divine, in which, “This whole universe is filled by this person, to whom there is nothing superior, form whom there is nothing different, than whom there is nothing smaller or larger. ” (World Scriptures 33).
Gaining enlightenment in ones lifetime in absence of teachings of Lord Krishna is next to impossible. Krishna’s whole life is mostly chronicled through the Bhagavad Gita in which Hindus read to learn more about Krishna and his teachings. For embracing wisdom needed for reaching the spiritual path, one needs understanding of the Bhagavad Gita in totality. It contains everything worth knowable on the path of spirituality and the path that takes one directly to the portals of God Almighty. In the Bhagavad Gita, Krishna preaches about the path to enlightenment from the practicing of selfless action.
How Krishna presents this is by saying, “Be intent in action…not on the fruits of action. ” (Reichenbach 399). He explains this by talking about Dharma, in which he explains how it is “a person’s innate nature which belongs to him or her as an individual or as a member of a group. ” (Dharma lecture). In the Bhagavad Purana, it talks about who Krishna fought, what he did in his adolescence to when he had to go to Dhwarka, where the Mahabharata took place, which then starts the Bhagavad Gita teachings.
These make his followers learn and realize that Krishna is a much more personable God, by the experiences he had, what he learned from them, and the day to day trials and tribulations he had to face before reaching enlightenment. With the Bhagavad Gita, there is a story, that people refer to, that is the most popular, in which Krishna says to Arjuna to fight and “better to fill your own dharma badly than to try and do someone else’s dharma. ” (Dharma Lecture). The story begins with Arjuna and his family about to go to war with one another.
Although Arjuna has been declared King, many of his family members also want the kingdom. Not wanting to kill any of his family members, Arjuna refuses to fight. Ironically, this is where Krishna steps in and tries to convince Arjuna it is his duty to kill his rebellious kinsmen. Through this, he ends up explaining the major tenants of the Hindu faith, specifically the three paths to enlightenment. These are the three yogas that Krishna tells Arjuna to follow are of the Karma Yoga, Jnana Yoga, and the Bhakti Yoga (Bhagavad Gita Lecture).
To explain these yogas further, the first of the Karma yoga, it is considered one of the more practical paths, and it is the path of action. With Arjuna following this path of action, he would be carrying out his dharma he was born into, since the Varnashrama dharma entails how “ a person has a certain role to fulfill in life, dependent on the family they are born into. ” (Dharma lecture). Secondly, the yoga Arjuna would be fulfilling would be of the Jnana Yoga, which is much more of a mystical knowledge, a seeking to be one with the universe.
It’s mostly about sacrificing ones individuality in order to become one with the divine (Krishna). Arjuna had to realize that he was part of the cosmic whole, in which fighting for his kingdom with all the knowledge (Jnana) he had been taught, was supposed to be a sacrifice he had to make. Thirdly, Arjuna had to follow the Bhakti yoga, which is the most significant to Krishna and his devotees. It is the path of devotion and one in which a person is lead to liberation if fulfilled to the upmost dedication. Arjuna followed this by Krishna’s command, since it would be part of his path in his journey to God.
With this story, it teaches Krishna’s followers, that to attain deliverance, you must not commit actions for praise, but for the purpose of your duty and your devotion to your God, which is a universal teaching that truly makes Krishna a God that is much more realistic in terms of attaining insight in Hinduism. Through the Bhagavad Gita, the ideologies of good and bad within the life of Krishna are also told that provide a solace to his devotees in helping distinguish their actions on a day to day basis. As you can see, Karma plays into most of the teachings of Krishna’s life.
He is set apart by his disinterest toward comrades allies, enemies, neutrals, nonpartisans, foes, friends, good, and evil men. ” (Bhagavad Gita 70). With Krishna’s story with Arjuna, he truly highlights the fact that, a wise man doesn’t concern him with whether or not things in life are good or bad, but rather the action taken. Some internal conflict, in the scope of Karma and the idea of self-realization is also addressed, that adds to the fact that, “The peace of God is with them whose mind and soul are in harmony, who are free from desire and wrath, who know their soul. ” (Vyasa 74).
Krishna teaches that the only path to self-realization is the banishing of all inner turmoil in accordance to his lessons. One of these, not in the Bhagavad Gita, but following one of the main yogas, of Karma, is the story of Mirabai. She showcased how one can have complete peace within them and still carries out their dharma and karma in the same light. Mirabai, was one of his biggest devotees of Krishna and sought out to worship him, sing his songs of adoration, meditating, and didn’t just mainly focus on the duties and prophecies entailed to her as being a married woman/princess to a kingdom.
She was fixated on following her Dharma, in terms of being a wife, carrying out household needs, but never truly had an attachment to any of those responsibilities and never really wanting anything in return. This shows how she was following the teachings of Krishna, in terms of Karma Yoga. With Krishna’s teaching of the path to self-realization, Mirabai did have to deal with her own inner turmoil, which had to do with her parents disapproving her intense devotion to Krishna. They wanted her to care more about her duties in the realm of her being a wed princess and less to serve Krishna.
She then showcases the point of self-realization by understanding that her only goal in life, was to receive liberation and not necessarily care about the materialistic or societal needs set before her. She wanted to be free and able to practice devotion whenever she pleased and banish her inner turmoil to do this. This concept is one that truly brings to light, that our desires are much more irrelevant to what lies ahead. It makes this idea of anyone being able to “Attain Krishna, whether a low caste person, a woman, or a Brahmin,” (Bhakti Lecture) greater, because all that matters is devotion and not one’s social status.
In this paper, I will address how the Bhagavad Gita provide the guidelines for Hindus to live a righteous life and want to seek more than what they know and live with a much greater purpose. Throughout his teachings, there are so many ways in which his followers can find enlightenment, and as I got to know more about this while reading and researching, it was all the more interesting and illuminating to see why he is known to be almighty and why he has so many worshippers throughout the region and beyond.
Krishna’s worship takes on so many forms and his teachings are the reasons why he is one of the most well-known and worshipped Gods in India. He teaches more so, life lessons and how to life a prosperous life in being humble and truly knowing what ones purpose is in life, in terms of worshipping and carrying out their born-with duties. The Bhagavad Gita provides these examples from Krishna’s life, on how to live righteously, which is why it is so highly read and followed from the rest of the religious texts. Throughout his teachings, there are so many ways in which his followers can find enlightenment.
Krishna emphasizes on the four paths (mainly the three I mentioned) of being essential to life, like your action (Dharma), knowledge (Jnana), devotion (Bhakti), and renunciation (Sanyas) that are essential. Krishna basically reiterates that whatever you wish to do with yourself, it must be on these four levels. With these in tow, Krishna in coherence with the Bhagavad Gita, compose the ethics of a man’s attitude towards other people and the whole of the environment, attitude towards the creator, and attitude towards one’s path to self-realization that really speaks to followers far and wide.
