When Krishna deems this world a place of distress (Bhagavad-gita 08.15), some spiritually-minded people take this statement as a prescription for material apathy: “Why try to improve anything at all? It’s futile; just focus on growing spiritually to get out of this world.”
Let’s consider how Krishna himself demonstrates this Gita teaching. At the Gita’s start, Arjuna is in severe distress (02.01). Does Krishna simply tell him: “This world is a place of distress; and you are in distress. Ergo, you have realized the nature of this world. What’s the need to discuss anything more?” No, not at all. Krishna carefully counsels Arjuna to relieve his distress and restore his confidence (18.73).
Moreover, Krishna doesn’t tell Aruna to strive for spiritual growth alone; he wants Arjuna to play his part in the world for establishing dharma. In this context, dharma connotes a social order that is foundational for spiritual growth. In fact, Krishna considers maintaining order in this world so important that he descends personally whenever that order is threatened (04.07-08). And Krishna establishes order by bringing about political change: enthroning the virtuous and neutralizing the vicious.
How do we reconcile Krishna’s actions with his Gita statement? Consider a hospital metaphor. Pain is present in a hospital — patients will experience it and caregivers will witness it. Does that mean nothing is to be done about the pain? Certainly not; everyone needs to work responsibly for minimizing pain in the hospital while striving to be eventually discharged from it.
To apply the Gita, as Krishna demonstrated it, we need to responsibly strive for minimizing distress in this world while ultimately pursuing an eternal transcendental destination.
One-sentence summary:
That the world is a place of distress doesn’t mean we become apathetic; it means that we all act responsibly to minimize the distress in it while striving to ultimately go out of it.
Think it over:
- Is the Gita statement about the nature of the world not a prescription for material apathy? Explain
- How does the hospital metaphor illustrate the Gita’s teaching?
- How does the Gita offer a holistic program for dealing with the world’s distress?
***
08.15: After attaining Me, the great souls, who are yogis in devotion, never return to this temporary world, which is full of miseries, because they have attained the highest perfection.
To know more about this verse, please click on the image
Leave A Comment