To say that Bhagavad Gita is a profound scripture would be an understatement. Every time you read it, its verses yield newer meanings. The interesting thing is that one can find what one is looking for in it. For the superficial reader, it is an exciting narrative of an epic war; for the informed one, a philosophy of life. When I learnt about Jaya Row’s series of lectures devoted exclusively to Chapter IX, I rushed to Kamani auditorium on the appointed day filled to the brim with curiosity. How is she going to talk about it for four days when it takes me quarter of an hour to dispose it off?
The organizers, Vedanta Vision, very thoughtfully summed up the chapter under the title ‘The Royal Secret’ in a brochure and followed it up with all the 34 verses in Sanskrit, which I am no good at but sounded extremely melodious when played during the lectures. Fortunately there was an English translation for the uneducated, which right at the beginning promised to declare the ‘most profound secret-knowledge along with wisdom’ but only to one ‘who does not criticise’. Was I destined to be the ignorant one?
Jaya Row is an eloquent speaker who unfolded the ‘royal knowledge’ as one ‘directly realisable, righteous, very easy to practise’. She preferred the original ‘sraddha’ to its poor equivalent in English ‘faith’ since the former has elements of complete devotion and surrender lacking in the latter. Knowledge comes only to one willing to listen with empathy (shravan), think over it deeply (manan) and is willing to imbibe or become what is taught. For those devoid of faith, there is the fearful prospect of return to this mortal world.
Jaya Row changes her demeanour constantly- from a smiling, reassuring one when getting a right response from someone in the audience to a stern school-master like the next moment. ‘Are you understanding or just sitting in an air-conditioned hall?’ Quoting from earlier Chapters of Bhagavad Gita and Upanisads, she explains how the life cycle of an individual is too miniscule in a Kalpa to be much consequence. Therefore, she exhorts, do not worry about nation or the world but save your own self from the destructive influence of an illusory (mayavi) world.
The aim has to be karma or action, which is neither selfish nor even selfless since both lead to desires albeit of a different kind. Discarding ‘vain hopes, futile actions, hollow knowledge’ and ‘delusive nature’, one has to worship the Lord with ‘single-mindedness’. Jaya Row explains how Om formed with sounds a, u and m raises one’s consciousness from the mundane to the divine when chanted with steadfast devotion.
Calling for change in attitude, Jaya Row employs humour to drive home the need to drop negativity in thought and behaviour. ‘You are not upset when a neighbour’s dog barks because you understand it is the prakriti or nature of that creature. ‘Why get upset when your wife barks at you’, she asks tongue in cheek. ‘I am the same in all beings, nobody is hateful or dear to me’, she quotes Verse 29 to emphasize how the Lord and all the worshippers are in one another.
Jaya Row dismisses Verse 32, which clubs those ‘of sinful birth, women, vaisyas and sudras’ as the most misunderstood one claiming women in all scriptures have been portrayed as goddesses. Not very convincing since the tone and tenor of the verse clearly implies that despite being lowly, ‘they also attain the supreme Goal’. It might have been better to accept that perceptions change over time and it is the underlying message in the last verse, which is important. “Fix your mind in Me, be My devotee, sacrifice to Me, prostrate to Me…..you shall come to me.’ Amen!
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