More than five thousand years ago, there was a great civil war between two dynasties in India. This battle was fought in a place which lies to the north-west of Delhi. Countries outside India also participated. That time India included modern Pakistan, Afghanistan, Tibet, Burma, Malaysia, Iran and Turkey. That was known as greater India.
When the two armies were about to battle with each other, something happened there. The chief of one of the armies was Arjuna and his chariot was driven by an outstanding personality of that age, Krishna. Krishna is held in the same esteem by Hindus as Christ by Christians. The only difference is that Christians consider Christ to be the son of God and Hindus consider Krishna to be an incarnation. Another difference is that Christ lived the life of a sadhu and Krishna lived the life of an emperor. However, from his very childhood, he was the master of miracles like Christ.
During the famous battle, Krishna was placed in a very difficult situation. The chief commanders of both sides came to seek his patronage. It was not possible for him to patronize both, so he said, “Here is my army and here I am. You choose one of the two.” One party chose his army and Arjuna chose Lord Krishna himself. Krishna told Arjuna that although he would join him, he would not handle any weapon. So he became Arjuna’s charioteer.
When the battle was about to begin, Arjuna became nervous. He saw his own uncles, brothers, teachers, relatives and friends before him among those he would have to kill. He decided to withdraw from the war. Then Krishna came and instructed Arjuna, and these instructions are known as the Bhagavad Gita. The instructions are divided into eighteen chapters and the title of each chapter refers to one kind of yoga.
The title of the first chapter is ‘The Yoga of Mental Depression’. The title of the second chapter is ‘Samkhya Yoga’. The twelfth chapter is ‘Bhakti Yoga’. The sixth chapter is ‘Raja Yoga’. The eighteenth chapter is ‘Sannyasa Yoga’. In this way, each chapter has the title of a different yoga. One theme is running through the eighteen chapters, which is “renounce the ego and live in the world”. If you can renounce your ego, you can live in the world like the lotus in water. In fact, the instructions in the Bhagavad Gita are considered to be the basis of karma yoga.
Karma yoga means that you can give a great meaning and purpose to any action you perform. Why do you marry? Because you want to have children. Why do you have a business? You want to earn money. These are the aims everybody has regarding his life and profession. This is called karma, but karma yoga is different. When you realize or decide a sublime aim for your life, it is karma yoga. You must realize the purpose of your existence, and then whatever you do becomes karma yoga. In the Bhagavad Gita, life as a whole is accepted within the plan of spiritual progress. This means that whatever you do is part of your spiritual progress and nothing in your life is extra-spiritual. This you have to realize.
September 1982, Rimini