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Bhagavad Gita Chapter 3 - Lesson 1 of 11

CHARACTER SKETCH

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❖ Yudhiṣṭra is embodiment of Integrity— the power of words, vāk śakti.

❖ Bhīma is embodiment of Authenticity— the power of thoughts, mano śakti.

❖ Arjuna is embodiment of
Responsibility—the power of feeling,
prema śakti.

❖ Sahadeva is embodiment of Enriching— the power of living, ātma śakti.

❖ Nakula is embodiment of causing reality for others.

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CHARACTER SKETCH

❖ Śakuni, the maternal uncle of
Duryodhana embodies the pattern
of self-hatred, which is cunningness
personified.

❖ Droṇa represents all the best knowledge one imbibes and the teachers one encounters, who guide us but are unable to take us through to the ultimate flowering of enlightenment. It is difficult to give them up since one feels grateful to them. This is where the Enlightened Master, the incarnation steps in and guides us.

❖ Duryodhana, represents one’s ego or
root-pattern, the most difficult to
conquer as it leads one to self-
destruction. One needs the full help
of the Master here. It is subtle work
and even the Master’s help may not be
obvious, since at this point, sometimes
the ego makes us deny and disconnect
from the Master as well.

Character illustration inside feather-framed circle
Nithyananda Paramashivam

CHARACTER SKETCH

❖ Karṇa is the repository of all good deeds and it is his good deeds that stand in the way of his own Enlightenment. Śrī Kṛṣṇa has to take the load of Karṇa's puṇya, his meritorious deeds, before he could be liberated. The Enlightened Master guides one to drop one's attachment to good deeds arising out of what are perceived to be charitable and compassionate intentions. He also shows us that the quest for and the experience of enlightenment is the ultimate act of compassion that one can offer to the world.

❖ Bhagavan Śrī Kṛṣṇa, the 8th most powerful purnāvatar of Ṃaha Viśnu, is the embodiment of pure celebration, boundless love, compassion, and completion.

Bhagavan Śrī Kṛṣṇa is the only
incarnation demonstrating and
expressing Ṣarva Ṃangalatva all the
auspicious qualities and all dimensions
of an avatar during His physical
happening. The līla Bhagavan
Śrī Krsna is one of sheer innocence
and simplicity, in a peace-loving,
diplomatic, conflict-free way.

© 2020 Sri Nithyananda Paramashivam. All Rights Reserved.

Portrait of young deity / king with Krishna in background

Till now everyone blames Bhagavan Sri Krishna for this Kurukshetra war but that’s the greatest sacrifice Bhagavan Sri Krishna did to save the planet Earth. If Kurukshetra was not conducted at that time under the controlled conditions and direct supervision of Bhagavan Sri Krishna, planet Earth would not have survived more than three years.

The wide spread availability of the Astra shastras without Shastra, without the knowledge and vision, was posing a huge threat to the whole of humanity and planet Earth, and for life itself. The greatest achievement of Bhagavan Sri Krishna is destroying all the weapons in one controlled condition and saving planet earth, eliminating the nuclear weapons and the knowledge of these nuclear weapons to save humanity from total annihilation.

Portrait of Nithyananda Paramashivam
Book on a stand with light rays

Bhagavad Gītā appears in the heart of Mahābhārat in Bhīṣma Parva, the sixth chapter of its eighteen chapters. Veda Vyāsa, the narrator, in glorifying the Gītā sings, 'the one who drinks the water of Ganges (the sacred river for Hindus) attains liberation, what to speak of the one who drinks the nectar of Gītā?

Gītā is the essential nectar of the Mahābhārat, bhāratamṛta sarvasvam as it is directly spoken by Nārāyaṇa, Bhagavān kṛṣṇa Himself.'

Portrait of young Sri Nithyananda Paramashivam
A warrior on a rearing horse holding a spear against a bright sun

The armies assembled in the vast field of Kurukṣetra, now in the state of Haryana in modern day India. All the kings and princes were related to one another, and were often on opposite sides. Facing the Kaurava army and his friends, relatives and teachers, Arjuna was overcome by remorse and guilt, and wanted to walk away from the battle out of total powerlessness unbecoming an invincible warrior among warriors.

Portrait of Nithyananda

Śrī Kṛṣṇa's dialogue with Arjuna on the battlefield of Kurukṣetra out of His utmost concern and love for him and humanity is the content of Bhagavad Gītā. Of its seven hundred and forty-five (745) verses, Bhagavān Śrī Kṛṣṇa sings the Gītā in six hundred and twenty (620) verses responding to Arjuna's fifty-seven (57) enquiries.

Śrī Kṛṣṇa persuades Arjuna to give-up his powerlessness unfitting an Ārya—the spiritually evolved one who understands human life and urges him to raise himself again as Parantapa—the conqueror of enemy, and take up arms and vanquish his enemies. They are already dead,' says Śrī Kṛṣṇa, 'All those who are facing you have been already killed by Me. Go ahead and do what you have to do. That is your responsibility. Do not worry about the outcome. Leave that to Me.'

Krishna on throne within peacock feather motif
Krishna adorned in gold crown and ornaments playing the flute
Nithyananda Paramashivam

अर्जुन उवाच

ज्यायसी चेत्कर्मणस्ते मता बुद्धिर्जनार्दन ।
तत्किं कर्मणि घोरे मां नियोजयसि केशव ॥ ३.१

arjuna uvāca

jyāyasī cetkarmaṇaste matā
buddhirjanārdana tatkiṁ
karmaṇi ghore māṁ niyojayasi
keśava

Arjuna says: O Janārdana, O
Keśava, Why do You make me
engage in this terrible war if
You think that knowledge is
superior to action?

POWERFUL COGNITION

Anything that talks about one and only one solution is born out of survival instinct, never out of inspiration. Arjuna is asking for a single instruction, Kṛṣṇa only gives inspiration

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व्यामिश्रेणेव वाक्येन बुद्धिं मोहयसीव मे ।
तदेकं वद निश्चित्य येन श्रेयोऽहमाप्नुयाम् ॥ ३.२

vyāmiśreṇeva vākyena
buddhiṁ mohayasīva
me tadekaṁ vada
niścitya yena
śreyohamāpnuyām

My intelligence is
confused by Your
conflicting words. Tell
me clearly what is best
for me

Silhouette of Krishna playing the flute

POWERFUL COGNITION

Arjuna is a kṣatriya, a warrior, he wants a clear instruction. But the destination is not important; the journey is. The goal is not important; the path is.

Portrait of young Krishna seated

श्रीभगवानुवाच
लोकेऽस्मिन्द्धिविधा निष्ठा पुरा प्रोक्ता मयानघ ।
ज्ञानयोगेन साङ्ख्यानां कर्मयोगेन योगिनाम् ॥ ३.३

śrībhagavānuvāca
loke'smindvividhā niṣṭhā purā
proktā mayānagha jñānayogena
sāṁkhyānāṁ karmayogena
yoginām

The Lord says, 'O sinless
Arjuna, as I said before, in this
world there are two paths; Self
knowledge for the intellectual
and the path of action of the
knowing

POWERFUL COGNITION

Arjuna is a kṣatriya, a warrior, he wants a clear instruction. But the destination is not important; the journey is. The goal is not important; the path is.

Nithyananda thumbnail

न कर्मणामनारम्भान्नैष्कर्म्यं पुरुषोऽश्नुते ।
न च सन्न्यसनादेव सिद्धिं समधिगच्छति ॥ ३.४

na karmaṇāmanārambhānnaiṣkarmyaṁ
puruṣo'śnute na ca sannyasanādeva
siddhiṁ samadhigacchati

A person does not attain freedom from
action by abstaining from work, nor
does he attain fulfillment by giving up
action

Peacock feather

POWERFUL COGNITION

Abstaining from work or moving away from work cannot give you freedom from action. To have freedom from action, your inner space needs to be purified, your inner space needs to be the space of completion

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