The Gita Profile of Ideal Personality

Abstract

The discourses between Krishna (God) and Arjuna (symbolically the human self seeking deliverance from the miseries of life caused mainly by inner conflicts) comprise the Gita which forms an integral part of the Indian epic Mahabharata. Arjuna, although a great warrior himself, refused to fight, though for a right cause, against his relatives and superiors who belonged to the enemv side on the battlefield of Kurukshetra. Krishna, his friend and charioteer, inspired Arjuna to kill the enemies and thereby do his duty as a hero by giving him knowledge about the true selJ (Akshara Purusa) which, being identical with the Ultimate Reality (Purusottama or God), is indestructible and unlike the destructible apparent reg (Kshara Purusa, i.e., I or Ego) which results from identification of the real self with the modifications of matter (Prakriti) under the influence of Maya (Illusion), a power of Purusottama Himself. Purusottama is the ultimate reality; having two aspects of His nature is described as including (a) Purusa (Self or Consciousness), the higher aspect, and (b) Prakriti (Matter), the itderior aspect. By His own power Maya h u s o t t a m a has bound Himself in material frames (consisting of modifications of Prakriti) and become individual selves. Purusa is the individualised form of Purusottama conjectured in this fashion. Putusa is identified with the modifications of Prakriti under the influence of Maya and is subject to worldly sufferings and enjoyments. When the individual realises the illusoriness of his apparent self and the oneness of his real self with the Ultimate Reality (God), he becomes free from all bondage. This is the state of liberation. All things belonging to Prakriti-including the human body, mind, intelligence and egopossess three qualities (gunas), sattva (knowledge), rajas (action), and tamas (inertia) in varying degrees. The gunas are not constant, yet one is usually the more dominant in an individual or object. A person may, through persistent effort sustained by unshaken faith in God and complete surrender to Him, overcome the influence of the gunas by undergoing a sort of gradual spiritual evolution. For a liberated man the gunas cease to interact in the sense that, although the man continues to discriminate between good and bad, cold and heat, praise and criticism, joys and sorrows, and such other opposites of experience, he is in no way affected by them. I le takes them with equal indifference. H e feels the presence of God (the Ultimate Reality) in everything and everybody and develops an attitude of universal love and tolerance. H e does his duties leaving the consequences in the hands of God, himself remaining free from fear and anxiety. H e does not get himself involved in worldly affairs and always dwells in celestial bliss through constant communion with God. All these attitudes of the liberated person constitute the profile of ideal personality conceived of in the Gita philosophy. Such a profile of personality has also much practical value in the sense that it helps the individual face the problems before him in a better way by striking upon a happy balance between the spiritual and material aspects of his lih.