Saturday, January 14, 2012

021 Can 'I' ever die?

YBREM
Here is a part quote referring to Bhagavad Gita from Gandhiji's writings. Source: Complete Works of Mahatma Gandhi.
Gandhiji's article title PLEA FOR HUMILITY. Young India of 25th June 1925.
Context: He prepared a set of rules for his Sabarmati Ashram. Sent them to Shri Gurudas Banerjee for his views. Mr. Banerjee suggested that an additional vow of 'humility' may be included. In the essay 'plea for humility' Gandhiji elaborated his views on humility and strenthened his explanation with a quote from Gita.




Well has the Gita said, "Passions subside in a fasting man, not the desire for them. The desire goes only when man sees God face to face."
And no one can see God face to face who has aught of the I in him. He must become a cypher if he would see God. Who shall dare say in this storm-tossed universe, `I have won'? God triumphs in us, never we.

The original verse of Gita which Gandhiji seems to have referred to in the above quote seems to be:

Chapter 2 Saankhya Yoga (Chapter which deals with the relationship between the body and the spirit. It has nothing to do with the original sAnkhya philosophy of kapila dealing with numbers 24 consisting of five senses, five elements, five sense organs, five action organs, mind, intellect, ego, inclination).

vishayaa vinivartamtee niraahaarasya deehina:
rasavarjam rasoo api asya param drusht`vaa nivartatee.

English gist from my translation at bhagavadgityayb.blogspot.

When a person of steady wisdom withdraws his senses from the worldly pleasures, he denies them to his body which starves. His desire for the pleasures does not end (subconsciously). It will end when he attains the supreme spirit.



YBREMS:
Desires, ego, feelings, lust, passions, have an inseparable link with body. They will come to an end when the physical existence of the body comes to an end. Whether there is AUGHT (an iota of possession or property of "I") in a person or not, his seeing God and losing passions on seeing God is an imaginary concept. The ideas 'I have won' or 'I have lost' or 'God triumphs' etc. are vague and defeatist. The real conflicts are between the individual and the nature. Between the individual and the society. A society identifies a person by his body and the ideas and impressions he created when his physical body was/is in existence. The passports and numerous identity cards which organisations issue refer to the physical body of a persons and the recognition comes to an end when the physical body is lost. Of course the dead person's name may continue to be associated with his assets and liabilities and verbal and video communcations. Ideas are associated with bodies, and bodies are associated with ideas. When United States shows the slain body of Saddam Hussain or Gaddafi on the television, we associate their physical bodies with the ideas and impressions they conveyed during their life time.


YBREM: I do not want to show disrespect to Gandhiji's views. But, the very idea of a person gaining humility only after his getting God's vision, is not tangible and is imaginary. A person may become more modest, when he realises what he actually is in this society and nature. That means he-she has to resize himself/herself. He has to undersize himself if he has a bigger view of his image. He can raise himself, if he suffers from inferiority. Self-realisation cannot have anything to do with God. A person has to conduct a self-analysis from time to time in the light of his exposure to and experiences from the society and readjust for synchronization and synergies.


YBREM:
When Americans and NATO got Saddam Hussain, Lauden and Gaddafi killed, who triumphed? United States or God? It is United States. National Passions of the United States and the individual passions of Bush and Obama might have gone up.

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