The Bhagavad Gita in the Lay Spiritual View
“Considering your dharma, you should not waver. For a warrior, there is nothing better than fighting evil. The warrior who faces such a war should be happy, Arjuna, for it presents itself as an open gate to heaven. But if you do not participate in this battle against evil, you will suffer disgrace, violating your dharma and your honor.” (Bhagavad Gita II, 31-33)"
It is often asked whether and how the teaching of Advaita (non-dual), the spearhead of Indian philosophy, can be of advantage, or simply received by Western minds that are extremely speculative and devoted to dualistic empiricism. In fact, only some seekers of truth, who sanctify their existence in search of the Self, are truly interested in the Knowledge and Awareness of the unity and inseparability of life, manifested in its single parts (individuals) as in a sort of hologram that repeats in each of its fractions the knowledge of the whole.
Yet in the Hindu tradition there is a scripture of non-dualistic matrix that seeks to integrate a teaching of
dharmic implementation (carrying out one's duties in harmony between innate propensities and the evolutionary drive) with the theory of the Absolute that contains everything and in which everything manifests itself by its spontaneous emanation. This text is the Bhagavad Gita, the most spiritual part of the epic poem the Mahabharata.
In the Bhagavad Gita it is equally stated that "All is One" and that the Atman (the Absolute Self) is already perfect in itself and is present, as an intimate nature, in each of us, but at the same time advice (or instructions) is given on how to realize this truth. In a certain sense in the text the sage Krishna,
metaphorically addressing Arjuna, his disciple, incites him to act, as if the small self (ego), which he recognizes as his self, were real. At the same time he instructs him not to consider the advantages or disadvantages of his actions as his own but as a simple consequence of a dharmic fulfillment.
This inner attitude of acting with "detachment" is also considered in the Buddhist doctrine of anatman, according to which man is devoid of any "I" and even of the Self, but it warns the seeker about such teachings that can, if disseminated indiscriminately and interpreted inappropriately, produce decidedly deleterious results. Nagarjuna himself, a great Buddhist logician and founder of Vacuism or the Middle Way (Madhyamaka), warns: "Emptiness, misunderstood, ruins the man of short-sightedness, just like a snake badly grasped or a magic formula badly applied". For this reason, Krishna's teaching contains apparently conflicting indications, sometimes the Absolute is indicated as the only reality, other times it is urged to carefully consider the conveniences and opportunities of dharmic action.
Perhaps this swing between freedom and justice is what is really necessary for the Western mentality, whose direct proceeding in a straight line, essentially justified by contingent and utilitarian reasons (also defined as scientific to give them a complete sense) has made individuals lose the capacity for
personal discernment and discrimination.
But truth is not something that can be transmitted as a common knowledge of external things, as a process. Truth is the quality of Being and can only be experienced directly and not told.
The great mysteries based on silence are not profaned with impunity. Approaching them lightly or believing that they can be transmitted without the necessary qualifications exposes one to serious risks: first of all, madness and loss of orientation. The language commonly used (vaikhari) possesses only a quarter of the power of the word; the Vedic rishis maintained that it cannot describe the trace left by a bird in the air. Hence the need to perceive one's true Essence through empathic communion with a true Master who has realized the Truth in Himself.
From this it can be deduced that even the most refined scripture, such as the Bhagavad Gita (not to mention inferior scriptures such as the Bible, the Gospels or the Koran) cannot transmit Knowledge,
it can only awaken an interest in research on the part of the reader genuinely interested in the Truth.
This is totally contrary to the dictates of religions that are based on the "book", the so-called "revealed" dogmatic texts that lead to the exasperation of the conflict between man and nature of Judeo-Christian origin, to the nihilism and materialism implicit in a certain ritualistic Buddhism and to the dualism disguised as non-dualism arising from the misunderstanding of the advaita doctrine in a certain new age – which considers the phenomenal world a sort of
appearance that is neither real nor unreal (maya). These obscurantist positions have favored the development of pernicious forms of scientism that reduce the person to a mere biological mechanism.
And it is in the Bhagavad Gita that it is possible to find some very explanatory sentences on the subject, that is, on the meaning of acting in the world and the formation of individual karma, which obviously must be read with the understanding that even such teachings are an ignorance (disguised as knowledge) to erase other ignorance
(which we call empirical knowledge). Because... spirituality is something that concerns the interiority of the individual and cannot be learned from any book. And this is exactly what we Westerners would need, imbued as we are with scientistic or religious dogmatism.
Paolo D'Arpini
It is often asked whether and how the teaching of Advaita (non-dual), the spearhead of Indian philosophy, can be of advantage, or simply received by Western minds that are extremely speculative and devoted to dualistic empiricism. In fact, only some seekers of truth, who sanctify their existence in search of the Self, are truly interested in the Knowledge and Awareness of the unity and inseparability of life, manifested in its single parts (individuals) as in a sort of hologram that repeats in each of its fractions the knowledge of the whole.
Yet in the Hindu tradition there is a scripture of non-dualistic matrix that seeks to integrate a teaching of
dharmic implementation (carrying out one's duties in harmony between innate propensities and the evolutionary drive) with the theory of the Absolute that contains everything and in which everything manifests itself by its spontaneous emanation. This text is the Bhagavad Gita, the most spiritual part of the epic poem the Mahabharata.
In the Bhagavad Gita it is equally stated that "All is One" and that the Atman (the Absolute Self) is already perfect in itself and is present, as an intimate nature, in each of us, but at the same time advice (or instructions) is given on how to realize this truth. In a certain sense in the text the sage Krishna,
metaphorically addressing Arjuna, his disciple, incites him to act, as if the small self (ego), which he recognizes as his self, were real. At the same time he instructs him not to consider the advantages or disadvantages of his actions as his own but as a simple consequence of a dharmic fulfillment.
This inner attitude of acting with "detachment" is also considered in the Buddhist doctrine of anatman, according to which man is devoid of any "I" and even of the Self, but it warns the seeker about such teachings that can, if disseminated indiscriminately and interpreted inappropriately, produce decidedly deleterious results. Nagarjuna himself, a great Buddhist logician and founder of Vacuism or the Middle Way (Madhyamaka), warns: "Emptiness, misunderstood, ruins the man of short-sightedness, just like a snake badly grasped or a magic formula badly applied". For this reason, Krishna's teaching contains apparently conflicting indications, sometimes the Absolute is indicated as the only reality, other times it is urged to carefully consider the conveniences and opportunities of dharmic action.
Perhaps this swing between freedom and justice is what is really necessary for the Western mentality, whose direct proceeding in a straight line, essentially justified by contingent and utilitarian reasons (also defined as scientific to give them a complete sense) has made individuals lose the capacity for
personal discernment and discrimination.
But truth is not something that can be transmitted as a common knowledge of external things, as a process. Truth is the quality of Being and can only be experienced directly and not told.
The great mysteries based on silence are not profaned with impunity. Approaching them lightly or believing that they can be transmitted without the necessary qualifications exposes one to serious risks: first of all, madness and loss of orientation. The language commonly used (vaikhari) possesses only a quarter of the power of the word; the Vedic rishis maintained that it cannot describe the trace left by a bird in the air. Hence the need to perceive one's true Essence through empathic communion with a true Master who has realized the Truth in Himself.
From this it can be deduced that even the most refined scripture, such as the Bhagavad Gita (not to mention inferior scriptures such as the Bible, the Gospels or the Koran) cannot transmit Knowledge,
it can only awaken an interest in research on the part of the reader genuinely interested in the Truth.
This is totally contrary to the dictates of religions that are based on the "book", the so-called "revealed" dogmatic texts that lead to the exasperation of the conflict between man and nature of Judeo-Christian origin, to the nihilism and materialism implicit in a certain ritualistic Buddhism and to the dualism disguised as non-dualism arising from the misunderstanding of the advaita doctrine in a certain new age – which considers the phenomenal world a sort of
appearance that is neither real nor unreal (maya). These obscurantist positions have favored the development of pernicious forms of scientism that reduce the person to a mere biological mechanism.
And it is in the Bhagavad Gita that it is possible to find some very explanatory sentences on the subject, that is, on the meaning of acting in the world and the formation of individual karma, which obviously must be read with the understanding that even such teachings are an ignorance (disguised as knowledge) to erase other ignorance
(which we call empirical knowledge). Because... spirituality is something that concerns the interiority of the individual and cannot be learned from any book. And this is exactly what we Westerners would need, imbued as we are with scientistic or religious dogmatism.
Paolo D'Arpini