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Who is the soul-concerned person and what is the soul-concerned state of the intellect? We have seen from the exposition of verse 2:39 that the intellect is our discerning power, our ability to distinguish and discriminate between what is good and what is bad, between what is right and what is wrong, between truth and untruth, between the important and the unimportant, between the relevant and the irrelevant, between what is "short-term gain, long-term pain" and what is "short-term pain, long-term gain."

A business-minded person can be said to have a business-concerned soul and a business-concerned intellect. A business-concerned intellect is an intellect that is constantly weighing everything from the point of view of what is good for the business and what is not, between what is important for the business and what is not, between what is relevant for the business and what is not, between what is "short-term gain, long-term pain" for the business and what is "short-term pain, long-term gain" for it. A family-minded person can be said to have a family-concerned soul and a family-concerned intellect. A family-concerned intellect is an intellect that is constantly weighing everything from the point of view of what is good for the family and what is not, between what is important for the family and what is not, between what is relevant for the family and what is not, between what is "short-term gain, long-term pain" for the family and what is "short-term pain, long-term gain" for it. Similarly a person who considers the soul to be the most important can be said to have a soul-concerned intellect. A soul-concerned intellect is an intellect that is constantly weighing everything from the point of view of what is good for the soul and what is not, between what is important for the soul and what is not, between what is relevant for the soul and what is not, between what is "short-term gain, long-term pain" for the soul and what is "short-term pain, long-term gain" for it. He may not have heard the words "What good

is it for a man to gain the whole world, yet forfeit his soul?" from Mark 8:36 and Luke 9:25, but he lives them. His every thought dovetails towards one objective – that which is good for the soul. By using the word shreyah in verse 2:7 where he asks Krishna to tell him what is spiritually better for him, Arjuna shows that even in this high-pressure situation in which he is to fight a war, he is thinking in terms of "what is better for the soul." How far from the normal man of today, who doesn’t think of "what is better for the soul" even in no-pressure situations! By encouraging and developing this mindset further, Krishna knows that Arjuna can now be moved one rung up the ladder.

A soul-concerned person has a "one-pointed mind" according to verse 41. The mind of such a person is always thinking of one thing only – "what is better for the soul." In all situations, even in high-pressure situations like what Arjuna was in, such a person thinks in terms of "what is better for the soul." On the other hand, the same verse says that "Many-branched and unendingly diverse are the minds of those who are not so concerned." For those who are not soul-concerned, a hundred-and-one other considerations come into the picture and the person is tossed to-and-fro by the hundred-and-one mutually-conflicting thoughts and emotions. And as verse 44 shows, it happens even to people who are constantly thinking in terms of what they will gain in heaven! In the situation that Arjuna was in, although he shows a sense of being soul-concerned, his intellect has not yet developed through constant use to become soul-concerned. In the words of verse 44, "the soul-concerned state of the intellect has not yet taken place." The intellect has to be developed to reach a soul-concerned state. Intellect is developed through constant use. A business-minded person has so developed his intellect through constantly weighing everything from the point of view of what is good for the business and what is not, between what is important for the business and what is not, between what is relevant for the business and what is not, between what is "short-term gain, long-term pain" for the business and what is "short-term pain, long-term gain" for it, that much of his thinking and many of his habits have become automatic. Similarly a soul-concerned intellect is developed through constantly weighing everything from the point of view of what is good for the soul and what is not, between what is important for the soul and what is not, between what is relevant for the soul and what is not, between what is "short-term gain, long-term pain" for the soul and what is "short-term pain, long-term gain" for it. The more you do it, the better you become at it. Practice makes perfect. Constantly thinking in terms of "What good will it be for a man if he gains the whole world, yet forfeits his soul?" (Matthew 16:26 and Mark 8:36), in every situation, will make you a soul-concerned individual.

Where do you start? You start from wherever you are, in whatever situation you are in. When conflicting desires come in, consciously choose to do what is good for your soul. For example, you may be in a business situation wherein by giving a bribe, you can get your work done to your own advantage and the competitors’ disadvantage. By paying the bribe, you will be doing what is good for the business but bad for your soul. Consciously choose not to pay the bribe and sacrifice your business interest for the sake of your soul’s. Choose what is shreyah for you. Experience the spiritual victory. Feel it. Enjoy it. Savour it. Let alone a "long-term business asset", you would have built a "permanent personal asset" that you will take with you. Your business and material prosperity you will leave behind anyway.

Coming to verses 42-44, is Krishna against the Vedas when he makes such statements? I don’t think so. Because the Upanishads themselves make similar statements about the Vedic rituals:

From the Mundaka Upanishad I, ii, 5-10:

From the Mandukya Upanishad II-37:

From the Amritabindu Upanishad, vs. 18-19:

From the Amritanada Upanishad, vs. 1:

From the Suka Rahasya Upanishad:

Krishna is telling Arjuna to go beyond what is offered in the Vedas. The person who wants to make progress in yoga, has to "transcend and go beyond the written words of the Vedas and the ritualistic principles of the scriptures" he would again say in 6:44. The statements made by Krishna in verses 2:42-44 are similar to the statements that Jesus made about the Old Testament. Some of these statements are:

"Do not murder", "Do not commit adultery", "Anyone who divorces his wife must give her a certificate of divorce", "Do not break your oath, but keep the oaths you have made to the Lord", "Eye for eye, and tooth for tooth", "Love your neighbor" are all statements found in the Old Testament. And to each of these Jesus now makes statements starting with "But I tell you…" A superficial understanding that Jesus did away with the authority of the Old Testament and therefore we are free from those requirements is quite prevalent in certain sections of the church today! That Jesus did nothing of that kind is clear from his other statements regarding the Old Testament, which he upheld to be the Word of God. And let alone do away with those requirements, he is strengthening them, he is making them "complete." He says explicitly in Mat 5:17, before these statements that "Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to make them complete. I tell you the truth, until heaven and earth disappear, not the smallest letter, not the least stroke of a pen, will by any means disappear from the Law until everything is accomplished. Anyone who breaks one of the least of these commandments and teaches others to do the same will be called least in the kingdom of heaven, but whoever practices and teaches these commands will be called great in the kingdom of heaven. For I tell you that unless your righteousness surpasses that of the Pharisees and the teachers of the law, you will certainly not enter the kingdom of heaven." In Matthew 5:21-48, he is giving six examples of how "their righteousness can surpass that of the Pharisees and the teachers of the law." The Pharisees and the teachers of the law in Israel were equivalent to the pundits and "those who were engrossed in the flowery words of the Vedas" in India.

So Krishna is here telling Arjuna to go beyond what is offered in the Vedas. The Vedas prescribed the rituals to please the gods so that they would shower their blessings on man, and good actions that would take them to enjoy the pleasures of heaven. In the Brahmanas portion of the vedas, are described a variety of rituals invoking the powers of the gods, and elaborate promises for the performer as rewards for his actions. Thus, all who had any special wish for some material gain, or for some sensuous enjoyment could find the exact sacrifice for gaining them. "With self gripped by desires of sense gratification, with heaven as the ultimate, they consider birth as the reward of action and prescribe many special rites for moving towards opulence" he says in verse 43.

But that purpose itself is not worth it! What’s the point if after you have enjoyed a few days in heaven, you are going to come back to the earth to learn all those lessons that you had stubbornly refused to learn, being trapped by the power and perfection of Maya? Far better it would be to escape the cycle of births and deaths i.e. achieve moksha!

The people who have heaven as their goal are still working out from the desire for sense gratification. They consider heaven to be the ultimate in sense gratification, offering pleasures that are far beyond and better than those available on earth. The only difference is that while worldly people work out from the desire for sense gratification in this world, the people who have heaven as their goal are working out from the desire for sense gratification in the next life! This is hardly any difference! Both are pitiable! "Those who desire for the fruits of action are pitiable" he would say later on in verse 49. The people who do the karma-kandas prescribed in the Vedas are as pitiable as those who do actions for the fruits in this life itself. Both are living in the future. And living in the future is as pitiable as living in the past. When you live in the future, your happiness is in the future. "Today I will slog so that I will have a better life in the future." And as we all know, tomorrow never comes! The only thing that exists is today. No, not even today, the only thing that exists is now!

He calls the people who are engrossed in the flowery words of the Vedas as "undiscerning." Obviously! We have seen that the intellect is our ability to distinguish and discriminate between what is good and what is bad, between what is right and what is wrong, between truth and untruth, between the important and the unimportant, between the relevant and the irrelevant, between what is "short-term gain, long-term pain" and what is "short-term pain, long-term gain." Now if a person falls for pleasures that he knows are temporary, if a person spends his precious time and energy working for that which is going to pass away anyway, then what else can you call him but "undiscerning"? Whether the "temporary" is on earth for a few years, or in heaven for a few hundred years is beside the point. That is only a question of relative time. Ultimately, the temporary is temporary and the permanent is permanent.

And they boast. "We are going for the ultimate pleasures", they say. They look down upon those who are engrossed in the pleasures of the earth. What big difference is there between them and those who fall for the pleasures of the world? Ultimately speaking, nothing. Their selves are also gripped by desires of sense gratification, only that these are of a higher level. Their consciousness has also been captured by opulence. Only that the opulence is that of heaven, not of the earth. And in such people whose consciousness has been captured, the soul-concerned state of the intellect does not take place. Consciousness has to be in a free (uncaptured) state for it to see what is ultimately good for itself. Like a blind man cannot see where he is going, a person with captured consciousness cannot see what is ultimately good for him.

When you are attached to, and when your consciousness is captured by the opulence of the heavenly delights, the soul-concerned state of the intellect does not take place in you (v. 44). When your eyes are fixed on tomorrow’s glories (whether on this earth or in heaven), your eyes are off the glories of now! "The glories of now" are found in the soul and its relationship with God in the here-and-now. If you live in the future, you will not live in the now, and you cannot become a jivanmukta. If all your time is consumed by thoughts of the future, you cannot enjoy the now, you can’t be free in the now! And how is freedom to be achieved now? That’s stated in summary form in five phrases in verse 45.

Verse 45 states that, "The Vedas object is the three gunas. Be without the three gunas, Arjuna, without duality, established in purity, without possessions and protection, possessed of the self." This is in fact a summary statement of what is required for moksha, and to be a jivanmukta now. There are five phrases here:

1. being without the three gunas
2. being without duality
3. being established in purity
4. being without possessions and protection
5. being possessed of the self

All five phrases are such as would require elaborate explanations in themselves. But since all five are covered in detail in other sections of the Bhagavad Geeta, we will simply note in summary form the most important aspects of these here.

i) Being without the three gunas: This is the first time in the Bhagavad Geeta that the three gunas are mentioned. Since these will be mentioned again quite a few times in the Geeta, and three entire chapters (14, 17 and 18) are devoted to them, it would be good to get an idea about them right away. We will cover them in depth when we come to those chapters, now we only note one important point with regard to them.

The Vedas teach that all the matter in the universe has got three gunas. Gunas can be translated as qualities, traits, characteristics, modes, attributes, features or peculiarities. These gunas are Sattva, Rajas, and Tamas. Sattva is roughly translated as "purity" or "goodness", Rajas as "passion" or "activity" and Tamas as "darkness." These three are responsible for binding the body to the imperishable i.e. Brahman. To get an idea of this we quickly go forward and glance at chapter 14, verses 5 to 9: "Goodness, passion, darkness - by these properties nature is possible. Mighty-armed one, the imperishable gets bound to the body by them. Then goodness, being pure, illuminating and without suffering, by association binds with happiness, and by association with knowledge, sinlessness. Passion is born of attachment, know that it comes out of attachment with hankering. It binds, son of Kunti, the embodied with action. But darkness, produced by ignorance, know to be the spell of all the embodied. Madness, laziness, and sleep it binds to, descendant of King Bharata. Goodness binds in happiness, Passion in action, descendant of King Bharata; but darkness binds to a covering of knowledge, it is said." The gunas then, are what create the bondage. And so, the obvious way out to break this bondage and achieve liberation is "to be without the three gunas."

Krishna tells Arjuna here to "Be without the three gunas." He would say a similar thing in chapter 14, verses 19 and 20: "Nothing other than these qualities are the doer – when a person sees this, then transcending these qualities, the person attains to my nature. Transcending these three properties, the embodied person achieves liberation from birth, death, old age, sorrow produced because of the body." The purpose of life according to the Geeta, and indeed according to Hinduism, is to attain moksha i.e. liberation from the cycle of birth, death, old age, sorrow, and live in Brahman. Since it is the gunas that bind the imperishable (Brahman) to the body, liberation is achieved by breaking that bondage and transcending the three of them as verse 14:20 says. So obviously, an understanding of the three gunas is very important for understanding how to achieve moksha. But we will have to wait for the later chapters for that. At this point we only note that it is these three gunas that bind the imperishable Brahman to the body, that to achieve moksha one needs to transcend the three gunas, and so Krishna advises Arjuna to "Be without the three gunas."

ii) Being without duality: The second thing one needs to do to achieve moksha or to become a jivanmukta in this life is to be without dualities, and this is again mentioned at quite a few places in the Bhagavad Geeta. Says verse 4:22, "Contented with the gain which comes of its own accord, surpassing dualities, free from envy, same in success and in failure, even though he acts, the action does not bind." Says verse 5:3, "Know that the renouncer does not have aversion nor desire, who is free from dualities, he is certainly in happiness and completely liberated from bondage, mighty-armed one." Say verses 7:27-28, "Arising out of desire and aversion, deluded by dualities, descendant of Bharata, all living beings go into delusion on taking birth, scorcher of enemies. But whose sins have gone at the end of their (previous) lives, those pious people are free from the delusion of dualities, worship me with determination." Says verse 15:5, "Without honor or delusion, victorious over attachments and faults, regularly in the supersoul, always disassociated from sense gratification, liberated from dualities, happiness and distress, reach unbewildered that imperishable position."

So what exactly is meant by being free from dualities? It means being free from the pairs of opposites such as happiness and sadness, loss and gain, victory and defeat, good and bad, honor and dishonor, wealth and poverty, fame and no-fame, being with friends and enemies, attached love and hatred etc. We have seen in covering verse 2:38 above, the first three of these. The same principle can be generalized and applied to all pairs of dualities. When to a person, it makes no difference as to what the external circumstances out of these are, he is said to be free from dualities. Again, the state is achieved when you are so much drunk with the bliss of the self, the Atman, that these things hardly make any difference to you.

Note that many people misunderstand "free from good and bad" to mean "free from moral good and bad" and infer that they are free to do anything, including morally wrong activities. But "free from good and bad" does not mean that, because "good and bad" here appears in the list of "things that happen to us" and not "things that we do." Plus it goes against all the moral/ ethical teachings found in many places in the Bhagavad Geeta itself. "Free from good and bad" means being free from the effect of the good and bad things that happen to us, not "free from having any effects of the good and bad actions we do."

iii) Established in purity: Unfortunately in some Advaitic circles, the teaching has come about that "being free from the duality of good and bad" means that we are free to do anything, even the bad acts. The reasoning goes that "since we are consciousness, and everything is consciousness, then it doesn’t matter how we live. Because bad behavior and sins are also consciousness of bad behavior and sins only." At least the Dvaitists have the fear of God, the fear of "someone other" than them, who is much more powerful than they are, and whose inexorable laws no one can go against without paying the price in the long run. In Advaita, there is no "other", the word "Advaita" itself means "non-dual." Therefore, there is no one to fear! And so, living in Advaita brings such tremendous freedom that you can really do anything you want to, without feeling that there is anything wrong about your behavior. If everything is consciousness, then whatever is considered "wrong" by society and the religions is also right! In fact there is no "right" or "wrong". There is only "existence." Whatever is, is! Everything is okay! Lying is okay, stealing is okay, murdering is okay, taking drugs is okay, having sex with your own daughter is okay! Such people go through their lives living and teaching that "everything is okay," drunk with the feeling of superiority of their own belief system, intoxicated by the heady feeling that "they have got it right while the dvaitists are still struggling behind!" To quote the Wikipedia, "Some claim that there is no place for ethics in Advaita, because everything is ultimately illusionary." People who teach such things seem to have torn chapter 16 out of their copies of the Bhagavad Geeta! Krishna bluntly calls them demoniac in verse 7: "What to move towards and what to move away from, the demoniac does not know. Nor cleanliness, nor proper behavior, nor truth is there in them." If "everything is okay" then do they consider Krishna wrong when he distinguishes between "what to move towards and what to move away from", between "proper and improper behavior", between "truth and untruth"? Do they consider themselves more knowledged than Krishna himself?

Ethics and morality very much fit into the Advaitic belief system. In fact without high ethical and moral living you cannot hope to achieve moksha or to become a jivanmukta in this life. The Sanskrit words translated as "established in purity" in verse 2:45 are "nittya sattva sthah". "Nitya" means regularly, "sattva" means purity, "sthah" means to be situated in. Without being situated in purity regularly, both in thoughts-emotions and in actions, you cannot hope to achieve moksha or to become a jivanmukta in this life. The Advaitins who claim that there is no place for ethics in Advaita are simply under a delusion.

iv) Being without possessions and protection: Does not mean that you are to be without owning anything. It means you are to be without a feeling of ownership or possessiveness. "This is mine, this belongs to me and no one else" is the spirit to be avoided. The spirit to be cultivated is rather, "This is God’s, it belongs to God, and God has given it to me for temporary use." About such a person, says verse 4:21, "Free from longing, with a consciousness controlled by the self, giving up all sense of ownership over possessions, performing actions by the body only, he incurs no sin." And in verse 6:10, "A person united with the divine should engage constantly the self situated in a secluded place; alone, with control over his consciousness, free from longing, free from the feeling of possessiveness." What about protection? God alone is to be his protection. Says verse 9:22, "Meditating on me without any other, who properly worships me, because he is always connected to me, I protect the connection and carry him."

The sanskrit word used is "nir-yoga-kshema". Yoga and Kshema include most of the activities carried out by man for running his day-to-day life. Yoga here means ‘to acquire’ and Kshema means ‘to protect the acquired.’ These are the two urges which goad most people into their activities. Thus the two terms indicate all our ego-centric activities motivated by selfish desires to acquire, and to preserve and hoard what is acquired. To renounce these two is to free oneself of the many burdens that lead to a harvest of many sorrows and much restlessness in life.

v) Being possessed of the self: We have already seen something of knowing the self in the preceding discussion. This is going one step further. "Knowing the self" is one thing, "being possessed of the self" is another. "Being possessed" is a term generally used when a person is so much in the grip of a spirit, that he is helpless in the spirit’s hands. If a boy is so madly in love with a girl that he is even ready to kill himself if he doesn’t get her, he is said to be possessed! People who have gone mad are said to be possessed. So being possessed of the self is being so gripped by God’s spirit that you are helpless in his hands! And for a change from other "possessions", that’s a good thing. No, in fact it’s a great thing! People who are in that state are generally accused of being mad by ‘normal’ people. As Jesus was. Says Mark 3:20-22, "Then Jesus entered a house, and again a crowd gathered, so that he and his disciples were not even able to eat. When his family heard about this, they went to take charge of him, for they said, ‘He is out of his mind.’ And the teachers of the law who came down from Jerusalem said, ‘He is possessed by Beelzebub! By the prince of demons he is driving out demons.’" In John 7:20, 8:48, 8:52, and 10:20 the crowd accused him of being demon-possessed.

When you are possessed of the self, you are in God’s grip. You are in the state of yoga that the Bhagavad Geeta is talking about. And in that state, you are truly free, you become a jivanmukta.

The following paragraphs from the Upanishads are worth noting in context of the above:

From the Nada-Bindu Upanishad (vs 18-21)

From the Sariraka Upanishad:

We started off this chapter with the soul-concerned person. The next four chapters deal with four things that a soul-concerned person does: Firstly, he focuses on knowing that one thing which is worth knowing. Secondly, he focuses on getting his spirit right. Thirdly, he limits his activities in this world to those that have for them as their base, "the only worthwhile reason to act." And finally, he makes a sharp and clear distinction between what are man-made rules and what are God-made rules because he realizes that the vast majority of religious and societal rules, more than 95% in fact, are man-made, and he need not give any importance to them. His final concern is with God and God alone. Being in the good books of other specific people, and of society in general, is no concern of his. The next four chapters cover these four issues. After enough practice in living this way, he becomes a "sthitapragnya," the subject matter of the chapter following these four. And living the life of a sthitapragnya paves the way for moksha, the subject matter of the chapter following that. Let’s start with "the one thing worth knowing."