Negative prompt: feathers
“As unnecessary as a well is to a village on the banks of river,
so unnecessary are all scriptures
to someone who has seen the truth.”
{Humility or self-referential undermining? Either way I like it.}
***
“What a great man does
ordinary people will do;
whatever standard he sets
everyone else will follow.
In all the three worlds, Arjuna,
there is nothing I need to do,
nothing I must attain;
and yet I engage in action.
For if I were to refrain
from my tireless, continual action,
mankind would follow my example
and would also not act, Arjuna.”
{Why does Krishna care? Regardless, lead by example, set the standard of greatness.}
***
“The wise man does not unsettle
the minds of the ignorant; quietly
acting in the spirit of yoga
he inspires them to do the same.”
{Be an inspiration, not a troll.}
***
“He who can see inaction
in the midst of action, and action
in the midst of inaction, is wise”
{Center effectiveness. Patience sometimes required.}
***
“A man unattached to sensations,
who finds fulfillment in the Self,
whose mind has become pure freedom,
attains an imperishable joy.”
***
“For the man who wishes to mature,
the yoga of action is the path;
for the man already mature;
serenity is the path.”
***
“Of ten thousand men, perhaps
one man strives for perfection;
of ten thousand who strive, perhaps
one man knows me in truth.”
{Do you even strive?}
***
“Others, on the path of knowledge,
know me as the many, the One;
behind the faces of a million
gods, they can see my face.
I am the ritual and the worship,
the medicine and the mantra,
the butter burnt in the fire,
and I am the flames that consume it.“
{Something so powerful and poetic about that assemblage.}
***
“they reach the world of the gods
and enjoy an indescribable
bliss, although after eons
of those vast and glorious pleasures,
when their merit is spent, they fall back
into the mortal world;
impelled by desire, they achieve
only what will pass away.”
{Transcendence leads to a pleasure garden? Merit is something to spent down over eons in heaven? One of the most sad, counterintuitive passages.}
***
(Context: Who are you, Krishna?)
“of swindles, I am the dice game;
the splendor of the high and mighty;
determination and victory;
the courage of all brave men;”
[…]
“Whatever in this world is excellent
and glows with intelligence or beauty-
be sure that it has its source
in a fragment of my divine splendor”
[…]
“I am death, shatterer of worlds,
annihilating all things.
With or without you, these warriors
in their facing armies will die.
Therefore stand up; win glory;
conquer the enemy; rule.”
***
Arjuna said:
One man loves you with pure
devotion; another man loves
the Unmanifest. Which of these two
understands yoga more deeply?
The Blessed Lord said:
Those who love and revere me
with unwavering faith, always
centering their minds on me-
they are the most perfect in yoga.
But those who revere the Imperishable,
the Unsayable, the Unmanifest,
the All-Present, the Inconceivable,
the Exalted, the Unchanging, the Eternal,
mastering their senses, acting
at all times with equanimity,
rejoicing in the welfare of all beings-
they too will reach me at last.
But their path is much more arduous
because, for embodied beings,
the Unmanifest is obscure,
and difficult to attain.
{I love that Arjuna essentially asks, ‘what level of abstraction is best for all this stuff’? And Krishna says, more or less, the peasants should probably just worship me literally. It’s simple and will produce good behavior. If you’re going to go abstract (which would appeal to those who can’t stomach bending the knee to fantastical beings), then you better embody the practice and it’s pretty hardcore.”}
***
Now, Arjuna, I will tell you
about the three kinds of happiness.
The happiness which comes from long practice,
which leads to the end of suffering
which at first is like poison, but at last
like nectar — this kind of happiness,
arising from the serenity
of one’s own mind, is called sattvic
Rajasic happiness comes
from contact between the senses
and their objects, and is at first
like nectar, but at last like poison.
Happiness is called tamasic
when it is self-deluding
from beginning to end, and arises
from sleep, indolence, and dullness.
***
“But we should know better, Krishna: clearly seeing the harm caused by the destruction of the family, we should turn back from this evil. When the family is destroyed, the ancient laws of family duty cease; when law ceases, lawlessness overwhelms the family; when lawlessness overwhelms the women of the family, they become corrupted, the intermixture of the castes is the inevitable result. Intermixture of the castes drags down to hell both those who destroy the family and the family itself; the spirits of the ancestors fall, deprived of their offers of rice and water.”
{No wonder the caste system has been so brutally durable.}