A student of the Geeta cannot stand apart from his text book, and merely learn to appreciate the theme of the Lord’s Song. An all-out, ardent wooing of the Geeta by the student at all levels is necessary, if the study of the Geeta is really to fulfil the student’s spiritual unfoldment. Consequently, Krishna indicates here two conditions, fulfilling which alone can one profitably listen to the Geeta discourses and hope to gather a large dividend of joy and perfection.
ONE OF FAITH (Shraddhaavaan) — The term Shraddhaa in Sanskrit, though usually translated as “faith,” actually means much more than what it indicates in the English language and in the Western tradition. Shraddha has been defined as “that faculty in the human intellect which gives it the capacity to dive deep into and discover the subtler meaning of the scriptural declarations, and thus helps the individual to absorb that understanding into the warp and the woof of his own intellect.”
Therefore, that faculty in the intellect, (1) to understand the subtle import of the sacred words, (2) to absorb the same, (3) to assimilate, and (4) to make the student live up to those very same ideals, is Shraddhaa. Naturally, listening to the Lord’s discourses can be fruitful only to those who have developed this essential faculty in themselves.
FREE FROM MALICE (Anasooyah) — They alone who are free from malice against the teachings of the Geeta can undertake, with a healthy attitude of mind, a deeper and detailed study of it. No doubt, Hinduism never asks any student to read and study a philosophy with an implicit and ready faith. But the human mind, as it is, will grow dull and unresponsive when it has idle prejudices against the very theme of its study.
The intellect can receive the ideals preached in the Geeta only through the sense-organs, and these ideas must reach the intellect, filtered through the mind. If the mind contains any malice towards the very philosophy or the philosopher, the arguments and the goal indicated therein can never appeal to the student’s intellect. No doubt, the student should bring in his own constructive criticism of an independent judgement upon what he studies, but he must be reasonably available to listen patiently to what the scripture has to say. In short, a student of religion must learn to keep an open mind and not condemn the philosophy before understanding what it has to say.
Such an individual who has attentively listened to the Geeta, who has intellectually absorbed, and assimilated the knowledge, “he too,” says the Lord, “gets liberated” from the present state of confusions and sorrows, entanglements and bondages in his personality, and reaches a state of inner tranquillity and happiness.
JOY IS AN INSIDE JOB — The kingdom of joy lies within all of us. Heaven is not somewhere yonder; it is HERE AND NOW. Happiness and sorrow are both within us. To the extent we learn and live the principles of right living, as enunciated in the Geeta, to that extent, we shall come to gain a cultural eminence within ourselves and live an ampler life of greater achievements.
It is the duty of a teacher to see that the student understands the great Goal and the ‘path’ completely. If the ‘path’ advised is found to be inadequate to bless the student, it is the duty of the teacher to find out ways and means of making the student discover his own balance.
HENCE IN THE FOLLOWING STANZA WE FIND KRISHNA ENQUIRING WHETHER ARJUNA HAS UNDERSTOOD WHAT HE HAS EXPOUNDED IN THESE EIGHTEEN CHAPTERS:
