The beginning - of beliefs and contemplation
A verse in Bhagwad Gita:
The verse in sanskrit:
Nahi Kalyan Krutkaschid durgati tat gacchati |
Translation:
The one, who walks the path of good, always finds salvation.
My Contemplation:
The actual words translate to something like " The one, who walks the path of good, is never harmed/ does not go to hell."
Since the last part is ambiguous, chose to play it safe, by translation it to "always finds salvation".
At times do wonder, do people who always do good are enver harmed?
Or does this verse just mean that the one who does good, may suffer in this world and even die, but after death, he goes to heaven?
Not sure.
But then, doing good for the safe of going to heaven, is just like doing bad for sake of pleasure.
So does it matter?
To me it does.
I try to live by folloing lines:
Do what makes you feel calm and content and happy, right here, right now.
Pursue happiness that is permenant instead of what is a fleeting pleasure.
How successful I have been, is a matter of debate,
but how happy I have been, is something only I can tell.
So regardless of will I suffer or not,
Will I go to heaven or not,
I try to do what I think is right.
I say I try, because I am not always successful.
Perhaps that is why, I am not always happy :-).
But still the above verse of Geeta intrigues me.
I want to find out what is its true meaning and what is the truth.
But until I do, I will just believe, that the one's who walk the path pointed to by their inner voice, the ones who do not harm others (and themselves), are always happy and in well-being.
The verse in sanskrit:
Nahi Kalyan Krutkaschid durgati tat gacchati |
Translation:
The one, who walks the path of good, always finds salvation.
My Contemplation:
The actual words translate to something like " The one, who walks the path of good, is never harmed/ does not go to hell."
Since the last part is ambiguous, chose to play it safe, by translation it to "always finds salvation".
At times do wonder, do people who always do good are enver harmed?
Or does this verse just mean that the one who does good, may suffer in this world and even die, but after death, he goes to heaven?
Not sure.
But then, doing good for the safe of going to heaven, is just like doing bad for sake of pleasure.
So does it matter?
To me it does.
I try to live by folloing lines:
Do what makes you feel calm and content and happy, right here, right now.
Pursue happiness that is permenant instead of what is a fleeting pleasure.
How successful I have been, is a matter of debate,
but how happy I have been, is something only I can tell.
So regardless of will I suffer or not,
Will I go to heaven or not,
I try to do what I think is right.
I say I try, because I am not always successful.
Perhaps that is why, I am not always happy :-).
But still the above verse of Geeta intrigues me.
I want to find out what is its true meaning and what is the truth.
But until I do, I will just believe, that the one's who walk the path pointed to by their inner voice, the ones who do not harm others (and themselves), are always happy and in well-being.
posted by Neel Bhatt (Zero) at 9:26 PM
6 Comments:
wow have you read the entire Bhagwad Geeta
had started reading it once, but could not complete it.
No I haven't read the entire Bhagwad Geeta.
This is an English translation of the verse translated from Sanskrit to Gujarati by someone else.
Sorry if I disappointed you.
And do your own thinking about things you read on this blog.
These are my thoughts about what I have read, not literally "words of God".
__Sashtang Dandvat_
oh Yes i surely will. After all what fun would there be without a little bit of subjectivity? After all it is omnipresent.
Nahi Kalyan Kritkaschid durgati tat gacchati
I think the literal translation of this is:
One not doing harmony begets misfortune. Though I might be wrong (Kalyan = harmony/good, Kritashchid = To do, enact, Durgati = Misfortune, gacchati = begets) but my Sanskrit is long forgotten and weak. Would recommend that you seek its actual meaning. It would be difficult to comment on a line in the Gita in isolation, as its interpretable in multiple layers and is correlated and contextual to the verses in which they reside. A recommended reading of the Gita is Paramhamsa Yoganand’s Gita. For the meaning of any line can at once be spiritual, psychological, and social.
Going by your interpretation, good in itself is relative. For what is doing good? How big is the envelope of your goodness? Will doing good to yourself beget heaven? It surely should, yet if you were to do good to yourself at the cost of others, would that entitle salvation? You talk of doing what you think is right...do you think Hitler was doing something which he thought was wrong?
You say ‘But until I do, I will just believe, that the one's who walk the path pointed to by their inner voice, the ones who do not harm others (and themselves), are always happy and in well-being.’
But Krishna himself is extolling Arjun to take up his arms and decimate his relations. Is he then not doing harm to others?
In which case is Gita false if it doesn’t hold to specific cases? To the ‘you’?
How can such paradoxes co-exist?
But then who’s the ‘you’. As per Hindu philosophy as also as per various other religion, the ‘you’ is generally referred to the divinity within. The Christ or Krishna consciousness. The inner voice, deep within, of the many ‘inner voices’ which does exist, some our fears, some our doubts, some off our ego, some more exotic...there’s one voice calm, still, fearless, unshakable, all knowing, secure...THE TRUTH.
I guess a primal attempt then is to attain this consciousness. Perhaps only then the lines be they from Gita, Bible, Quran or any other such tome be clear. Else, like the blind men of Hindoostan, we groping parts of truth will think one speaks different from the other and all deemed ‘truths’ are contradictory?
Loved the focus of the blog. May you bring in enlightenment through this exploration of yours. :) Had wanted to leave a comment on your blog, but only bloggers are allowed and my blog is at 20six ( www.20six.co.uk/Humorix).
Take care,
Abhi abhi
I am posting here one link, it provides the perfect translation and purport to the verse you have referred above.
http://prabhupadabooks.com/?g=2394
It is from "Bhagvad Gita As It Is"
It will answer all your queries and dissipate your confusions..
I request you to kindly read Bhagvar Gita As It Is from the website: www.prabhupadabooks.com. I will give you a new insight...
Hare Krishna !
Hi Ashwini,
Thank you for pointing to the translation.
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