Vyadha gita -its lofty philosophy of Karma Yoga

 Vyadha Gita, literally means Song of the Butcher,  is part of Mahabharat and is actually a collection of  teachings  imparted by a Butcher to a Brahmin Sannyasi. This is our heritage and none less than Swami Vivekananda extolled Vyadha Gita as the essence of Karma Yoga. A Butcher , a housewife and a Brahmin Sannyasi are the three characters in this mystical story occurring in Vana Parva section and is told by Sage Markendeya to Yudhistra, the Pandava Prince.

Lord Krishna, it seems, says in Srimad Bhagavata Purana that this Butcher is someone who attained perfection /realisation/emancipation by Satsanga.

So let us dvelve a little into that incredible story where a Brahmin Sanyaasi is taught Dharma and Ahimsa by a Butcher of all the beings!! In terms of social heirarchy Vyadha is at the lowest status when compared to a brahmin and yet this story finds a prominent place in Mahabharata ,which is acclaimed as the Fifth Veda.

A young Sanyasi went to the forest,meditated, did penance. After years of Yoga practice, and hard work, he was sitting under a tree, when some dry leaves fell on his head.He looked up and saw a crane and a crow fighting on the tree-top .He angrily glanced at them at uttered" How dare you throw these dry leaves upon my head", and a flash of fire emanating from him burnt up the poor birds immly.Such was his Yogic power and he felt elated that he had acquired such powers in his grasp that could burn others if he became angry.Next day he went to a house asking for alms as per his daily ritual and cried out "Mother, give me some food". A woman from inside the house answered "Wait, I will come". In the meantime he felt angry and due to arrogance he thought to himself "This wretched woman has asked me to wait without knowing the power I have". The woman politely answered " I am neither a crow nor a crane!". The Sanyasi fell at her feet and asked her how she came to know of the incident which happened in the forest.She replied " I do not know any Yoga or meditation like you do; but ever since my birth I was ding my duty to my parents initially and now after marriage I am looking after my husband as he fell sick. I have been doing my duty cheerfully and wholeheartedly.that is all.But by doing my duty I have become illumined; thus I could read your thoughts and know what you had done in the forest.If you want to learn further you can go to such and such town and meet the Dharmavyadha(Righteous Butcher)". Sanyasi felt reluctant to go and learn from a Vyadha(Butcher) but he realised that there must be a reason behind this and so he went to meet Dharmavyadha.Vyadha was in his workplace cutting meat and the moment he saw this Sanyasi he enquired whether he was sent by the said woman. He listened to his teachings which are called Vyadha-Gita. According to Dharma vyadha

"no duty is ugly, no duty is impure. My birth placed me in these places,situations and environments. In my boyhood I learnt the trade; I remain unattached, and I try to do my duty well. I try to do my duty as a householder, and I try to do all I can to make my father and mother happy. I neither know your Yoga, nor have I become a Sannyasi, nor did I renounce this world and go into a forest; But all that you have heard and seen has come to me through my way of doing my duty without any attachment and that is my way of life".

Swami Vivekananda says that this Vydha Gita contains one of the highest flights of Vedanta. This story on Karma Yoga of doing one's duty wholeheartedly ,whatever be the station of his life ,without attachment to the results, makes one fully enlightened and leads to the realisation of the soul.

Thus Ved Vyasa unhesitatingly has called this also a Gita.

Indian politicians -their precept and practice

 It is said "there is a world of difference between precept and practice"- more so with our politicians and the gap widens when they speak about it more.!!

It is generally thought that Political lies are always for exploiting the ignorance of the public. Mostly they are manipulative for winning the elections. But there are times like Obama lies about Health care inorder to push through some legislation to benefit the larger society(link).

However coming to India, Politicians throw promises at the people mainly to win elections and then they renege on the promises made.

In the recent few weeks there are lot of accusations by the Opposition parties against the Central Govt that Question Hour in the ensuing Parliament has been abolished muzzling the freedom of MPs to ask Govt questions about peoples' problems to elicit answers from the Govt. But there are two stark statistics contradicting the so-called champions of freedom of expression in the Opposition. In the last few years Question hour in the parliament has been wasted for 60% of the time by the unruly Oppositions marring the proceedings of the house. Another interesting point is that in the Opposition ruled West Bengal Question Hour has been suspended by the Govt in view of the prevailing pandemic.!!

So this is clearly double standards adopted by the Opposition and it is raised against the Central Govt only to embarrass it and score some brownie points in the media.

Many of the Opposition ruled State Govts prune the budget of the local bodies saying that the State level finances are severely constrained. But if the Central Govt does it, all of them raise their voices against the Centre saying that the Central-State relationship is severely undermined and the trust of cooperative federalism has been betrayed by the Centre. They have no such qualms when they repress the local bodies by not releasing the funds to them. These are the doublespeak adopted by the opposition parties as a matter of right and pride.Our society does not relish this behaviour of politicians which they do not understand.

Centre and States are like two important organs of the body which is India. Both must work in tandem and in coordinated rhythm. Brain cannot let the Heart down and Heart cannot afford to stop blood supply to Brain. They cannot be at loggerheads with each other. This is the fundamental concept which Politicians must keep in their minds while performing and discharging their Constitutional duties.

Plato's Cave theory and Advaita!

 Plato in his magnum opus Republic has given an Allegory of the Cave which is widely called Cave Theory to emphasise on the lack of education on our nature which is similar to the prisoners inside the cave .Prisoners inside the cave see only images of reflection which are only shadows of the reality in the dim light.Plato being the disciple of Socrates has written this as a dialogue between his brother and Socrates. The prisoners free themselves from the bonded chains in the caves and come out and see that what they have experienced is not reality but reality outside the cave exists. This allegory shows that the human senses when chained to the cave do not allow humans to think beyond the cave images. In this allegory Plato keeps mathematics, geometry and deductive logic at the third and highest level of education.

There is a similarity of this to Indian philosophy of Advaita, in which in simple terms it is said that what we experience is not the reality and it is more like an illusion what we dream in our sleep. Adi sankara when explaining this illusory phenomenon says that this happens due to Avidya or lack of education which is awareness. When we realise our true self we become one with our Creator and realise there is only one Absolute and there is no second- "A dvaita"- only" Brahmam Sathya" and this "Jagat(Earth) Mythya(myth/illusion)".

So in a way both the concepts of philosophy talk about Education or lack of it and its effect, impact on human understanding. Human minds are conditioned by experiences, perceptions and memory impressions and their interplay, without comprehension of the reality or the true nature of human existence.

Bhagawan Krishna in his Gita also emphasizes on this Avidya (Chapter 4)and suggests ways to come out of it(chapter 5). The best and the easiest way is to surrender our ego to Bhagwan and continue with our duty selflessly without any attachment to the fruits of our actions.