|
Commentary by Jayaram V
 |
20. He is never born, nor does he ever die, or having once come into being will he again cease to be. He is unborn, eternal, changeless and ancient. Even though the body is killed, he (the soul) is not slain. |
The nature of soul and its four most important qualities are described here,
besides the fact that it is different from the physical body and indestructible.
Man's behavior towards himself and towards others depends entirely upon the way
he considers himself, upon the identity he gives to himself. If he thinks that he
is mere physical body and subject to mortality, he would lead a very narrow and
insecure life. The body becomes the center of his life and activities, the cause
of his relationships with others and the source of all his suffering and enjoyment.
It becomes his very identity, his clutch in an otherwise confusing world.
If you look carefully at today's world, it becomes very clear that at the centare
of our civilization and our whole field of activity is our chief concern for our
physical existence, its perpetuation and protection. Whether we are waging wars,
increasing our wealth, exploring the world or the space, making scientific discoveries,
organizing ourselves into groups, associations, institutions and nations, making
laws, building monuments or cities or technologies and making or breaking relationships,
and illusions, the main objective is to increase our bodily comforts and luxuries
and achieve maximum physical pleasure and recreation or enjoyment. It is as if the
whole society is obsessed with the needs of the body, its survival and continuity.
No wonder if we want to bring a radical change in our attitude and outlook we must
grow out of this awareness into a different awareness where the body no more occupies
the central place. One reason why religions put so much emphasis on practicing austerities,
negation of the body and discipline of the body is to divert our attention from
physical comforts to spiritual goals.
Attachment to ones family, place, tribe, caste, nation, or race is also borne
out of ones love and attachment to ones own body. I love my family because they
are related to me physically. I love my native place because that is where I am
born and grown physically and where I have experienced diverse sensations and finer
feelings. I love that place because it enriched me physically, nutritionally, materially
and psychologically. I love my tribe or caste because we all share common ancestry
and are in a way physically related. I love my nation because its welfare and success
ensures my physical welfare and success, with its people I share a sense of common
physical identity, culture and history, and its image is but an extension of my
own image, the collective physical image of all the people who live there and share
the resources there. I love my race because I belong to it physically, can relate
myself to it genetically and share with it many identical features, resources and
common heritage, because in its welfare lies my ultimate welfare and because it
gives me the feeling that I am part of larger brotherhood.
Arjuna's suffering is born out of similar attitude. The people with whom he is
going to wage a war are in fact related to him. They are but an extension of his
physical identity, a part of his collective ego and image. Any harm to them is in
a way harm to himself. And unless he stops identifying himself with his physical
being, he cannot change his habitual thinking and become truly spiritual.
Bhagavadgita Chapter 2 Verses 1- 21
|
