Bhagvad-Gita: Treatise of Self-help - Page 20/50

Or is thechaatur varnyamHis real will, whether one likes it or not? The answer could be found in the Lord's averments as one reads on. The four types of beings the Lord identifies by their nature and disposition are - the virtuous, the vile, the passionate and the deluded. Isn’t the proposition that people of a given nature and disposition could be bracketed into one single caste so absurd? After all, even a given family provides many shades of human nature in its members, won’t it? That being the case, could Krishna be so naive as not to know about it! Above all, hasn't He declared in s 29 ch.9,

‘None I favour, slight I none

Devout Mine all gain Me true’.

Slokaslikechaatur varnyamthat would be encountered intermittently in theGitaare but mischievous, if not malicious, interpolations meant to buttress the Aryan caste prejudices and thus should be dismissed as such.

1

Thus spoke the Lord:

Advice this to Sun I gave

Told he Manu

Ikshvaku thus got in turn.

2

Followed world My word for long

Lost which mankind in due course.

3

It’s but love I nurse for thee

Made Me reveal this Secret

Wisdom Supreme I gave Sun.

4

Thus spoke Arjuna:

Born of now, how come Thou

Did Sun advise there for long!

5

Thus spoke the Lord:

Born all here times umpteen

Aware am I but know not thou.

6

Beyond the pale of birth ’n death

On My volition I take birth.

7

Wanes if good ’n vile gain reign

Know it's then that I come forth.

8

It’s thus I from time to time

Manifest here to uproot ill

And uphold well for public good.

9

Grasp who this true self of Me

Are bound to become one with Me.

10

So with who lead poised life

Reining in their base instincts.

14

Detached Am from what happens

It's this knowledge that frees man.

15

Men of yore all came to know

That's how one can free himself.

16

Aspects action, inaction too

Wont to puzzle the wise even.

17

Apart actions’ rights ’n wrongs

Inaction no less confounds man.

18

Grasping action, in non-action

Inaction in action, discern wise.

19

Whoso privy to this truth

Gives up wants all senses seek.

20

He that content leans on none

Resigned he lives in thick of things.

21

Mind if keeps thy greed at bay

It’s no sin thou meet thy needs.

22

One that truly well realized

Happy being with his share

Rids of envy from his mind

Easy he feels ever engaged

Treats he alike grief ’n joy

Wins ’n losses not to speak.