Miscellaneous - Religion   

Direction for life religion

CHENNAI: There are two facets to human life in the world—the material and the spiritual—and an individual needs guidance in both to lead a fruitful life. Two popular texts, the Bhagavad Gita and the Tirukkural, fulfil these requirements. While the thrust of the Gita is spiritual knowledge, the Kural is an ethical work offering wisdom about several aspects of life. Man’s engagement with the world fatigues his mind just as a machine gets heated up when it keeps working. The Kural offers solace by way of inspiration and direction in such moments.

In his discourse, Sri M.K.Ramanan said the Tamil poet Bharati had in his work on the Gita underscored that even though there were classics in Tamil of Kamban, Tiruvalluvar and Elango akin to the Prasthanatraya in Sanskrit (the Brahmasutras, Upanishads and the Bhagavad Gita) one must study the Gita also. The teachings of the Gita cannot be understood by the intellect but with awareness (insight). It is different from the other texts as it was taught by the Lord in His incarnation as Krishna. The crux of His teachings is Svadharma, which is following the duties prescribed by the scriptures. There is a misconception that the Gita impels one to fight. On the contrary it awakens one’s conscience to the necessity of discharging one’s duty. The Gita will offer solace in moments of sorrow and tragedy as the mind will be receptive then to its teachings.

There are several parallels between the Gita and the Kural. At the outset Lord Krishna taught Arjuna the immortality of the Self (Atman) and impermanence of the body when he laid down his arms refusing to fight stating that he did not want to be instrumental for the death of his kith and kin: “As a man shedding worn-out garments takes other new ones, likewise the embodied soul, casting off worn-out bodies, enters into others which are new.”

Krishna then pointed out, “In that case death is certain for the born, and rebirth is inevitable for the dead. You should not, therefore, grieve over the inevitable.” On the same lines Tiruvalluvar says, “Death is like sleep; birth is like awakening from sleep.” This also points to the inevitability of birth and death.

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