Page 6 - All India Magazine Oct-2019

The place was a battlefield, between two armies where mis-
siles were flying. To those who travel on this path, take the lead
in works of this nature, often the realisation, yogasiddhi, comes
and the supreme knowledge dawns, all of a sudden at a critical
and momentous hour which determines the march of destiny in
this direction or that, depending on the nature of their acts. That
knowledge is no bar to action, it is intimately connected with ac-
tion. It is no doubt true that knowledge also dawns in meditation,
in loneliness, when one turns back on one's self; that is why the
sages love to be alone. But the traveller on the path of the Gita's
Yoga can so divide his instruments of mind, life and body that he
experiences loneliness in the midst of a crowd, peace amidst noise,
supreme repose while engaged in a whirl of activities. He does not
regulate the inner being by outward circumstances, he controls
the outer by the inner state. The ordinary Yogin is afraid of life, he
escapes from it and takes to Yoga in the shelter and protection of
an Ashram. Life itself is the Ashram for the Karmayogin. The ordi-
nary Yogin desires an outward peace and silence, a disturbance of
the peace impedes his inner askesis. The Karmayogin enjoys a vast
peace and silence within; this state becomes deeper in the midst
of external noise; any external disturbance does not harm that in-
ner askesis, it remains undisturbed.
CWSA 9:101-02

The Speaker and the listener
In order to understand the meaning and object of the Gita, it
is at first necessary to consider the Speaker, the listener and the
time and circumstance. The Speaker is Lord Sri Krishna; the listen-
er is His friend Arjuna, the most heroic of men; the circumstance is
the prelude to the terrible slaughter of Kurukshetra.
There are many who say that the Mahabharata is only a
symbol; Sri Krishna is God, Arjuna the human soul, the sons of

6 All India Magazine, Oct. 2019