Sankhya Yogam

First was Vishad Yogam and this is Sankhya Yogam. Before entering Sankhya Yogam I want to clear some doubts. Some people put some useless questions about Bhagavad Gita. In fact, answering those may also be a useless activity, but it is better if we can clarify them before they prick us later. Some say “Did Krishna really preach Bhagavad Gita? The whole of 700 shloka to Arjuna in the middle of the battle field ”. Bhagavad Gita is written in a poetic (chandassu) way, that dosent mean during the Mahabharath times people spoke in a poetic way. What Krishna and Arjuna spoke was deliverd to us in a poetic way by Maharish Vyasa, because there is divine power in chandassu. Again we don’t have to wonder about did they talked in the whole of 700 shlokas there? If we read Bhagavad Gita at a constant speed we can read whole of 700 shlokas in 1 ½ hrs. And from Bhagavad Gita if we remove all the उवाच uvachas it takes approx 1 hr 15 mins. This speed is when one is reading in a chandassu. But in a normal conversation the speed will be much higher. There won’t be any music between shloka also the other person won’t ask you “tell me in what ragam or chandassu should I speak?” etc. What ever they are talking is been depicted here. Any how if we take the summary it is around 20 mins. Moreover the armies on both the sides were following a yudha niti (battle rules).
Some people say that the discussion between Lord Krishna and Arjuna who was also a Pundit was delivered in a more elaborate manner by Maharish Vyasa. So their conversation has been explained by Maharishi Vyasa in 700 verses, so that a comman man can also understand. This interpretation can also be cosidered correct because in Bhagavad Gita we can see the mantras of Upanishads as it is. If asked “Did Lord Krishna quote those while talking to Arjuna?” Who knows, it might be possible. He might have quoted only a line as Arjuna can understand but for us to understand few more lines could have got added. That is why Adi Sankara said that Veda Vyasa described the conversation between Arjuna and Lord Krishna in 700 shlokas. He also said that Lord Krishna used Arjuna as an instrument to give his preaching. That is why it is said पर्थो वत्स सुधिर्भोक्त सर्वो उपनिशदो गवो “Partho Vatsa Sudhirbhokta, Sarvo Upanishado gavo”
Sri Krishan is a milkman. All his job is to feed the cows and milk them. That is why, he is called Govinda and Gopal Krishna. If asked what are these cow herds. They are nothing but Vedas and Upanishad Mantras. After the Govardhanagiri event when Nanda and others realised that Krishna was none other than Lord Narayana they requested him to show his divine form. Then Krishna took them to Parandhama and revealed himself as the Paramatma. How? As छन्दोभिही सेव्यः Chandobhihii sevyaH. Which means all the Vedas and Upanishad mantras took the form of cows and admist them Krishna was living in that Golokam. This means he is the essence of facts postulated by Vedas and Upanishads. Thus Krishna is the only one who can milk them as they would listen only to Him. But to milk a cow a calf has to be present. For that, He used Arjuna as the calf and gave us the milk. Thus it is said
सर्वो उपनिशदो गवो दुग्धो गोपल नन्दनः।
पर्थो वत्स सुर्धीभोक्ता दुद्गम् गितम्रितम् महत्॥
Sarvo Upnishado gavo dodha Gopal Nandnaha
Partho vata Sudhirbhokta dudgam gitamitam mahat

Hence all that we are going to listen from His mouth is the essence of Vedas and Upanishads. That is why Arjuna is viewed as a instrument here.
In Bhagavad Gita there are 18 chapters, these 18 chapters are divided into 3 parts by Bhagavad Gita intelletuals. Each part has 6 chapters, called त्रिषद्गम् Trishadgam. The first 6 chapters are called Karma Sadgam, the next 6 chapters (7-12) are called Bhakti Sadgam and the last 6 chapters (13-18) are called Jnana Sadgam. We should not see each as independent. Here the Bhakti Sadgam has been put in the center, the strength of the center is that it can stretch its hands to both sides. We have a neeti called देवदेहलिदत्त देपम् Devadehalidatta depam which means that if we place a deepam (lamp) on the border of the house then it will light both outside and inside of the house. That is why Lord Krishna placed Bhakti deepam in between Karma and Jnanam. This means Karma and Jnanam without Bhakti are useless.
We are in the first Shadgam of the Trishadgas. Krishan’s dialog has still not started and will start in this chapter called Sankhya Yogam which means a solution that has to be known by Sankhyam. We have a saying in our sastras as द्वैतं अद्वैतं Dvavitam Advaitam which means “there is no second to the second” this saying arose because of this 2nd chapter. That is the impotance of this chapter. Some over intelligent people said that only 2nd chapter is said by Sri Krishna and the rest of the 16 chapters are filled by other people. But what they meant was Lord Krishna has given a complete picture of Jnanam in the 2nd chapter itself and that is how all the great people talk. They don’t divide the subject into Introduction, Subject explanation and conclusion. When they talk, they have a complete and dense knowledge in their initial words itself. That is why we can find clear, complete and dense Jnanam in Lord Sri Krishan’s initial words. So there is no problem in considering the 2nd chapter as a complete book by itslef. That is why when people read 2nd chapter they recollect the verses for rest of the 16 chaps. This means the rest of the 16 chaps were used to explain elaborately what is told in 2nd chapter.
In this regards our current President APJ Abdul Kalam was asked which was his fav book and he replied that it is Bhagavad Gita without any hesitation. In fact, any wise person would say that. After saying that he said he reads Sankhya Yogam every day. And continued saying, “please don’t stop at the religion and try to grow beyond to reality (tatvam).” This is very important thing because the religion which grows to the tatvam will be called an Adhyamika margam otherwise it will be another instrument for fighting. Any language is to be used to express one’s feelings and not to fight as whose language is greater. Religion has to be used as as instrument to enlighten ourselfs and to travel towards GOD and not to entangle in the web of useless discussions.
The word Sankhya is also used in Darshan sastras. We have a darshan called Shankhya Darshanam which is also called kapila darshan that is, the darshan told by Kapila Maharishi. See there are so many ways of finding Jnanam. That is why a western scholar says “What is this world” “Who is the creator of this world” and to find answers to all these questions great experiments have been carried in India than anywhere in the rest of the world. Others only thought what this body is and how to keep it happy by various artificial solutions. But only in India we have done extensive study to understand the secret outside the boundry of this body. Different thoughts came and we have also invited those thoughts from all corners of the world. आनोभद्रा क्र्तवोयन्तु विश्वतः
We have a lot of darshanas and of those Kapila Maharishi’s darshnam is called Sankhya Darshnam. It is natural that we remember that when we talk about Sankhyam Yogam.


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