Interview with Krishna: Lessons from the Bhagavad Gita đź‘‘
The Bhagavad Gita is one of the oldest manuals on how to live a good life.
It is the most popular Hindu text, and is perhaps most famous in the West because Oppenheimer quoted it as he saw the first nuclear bomb explode.
“Now I am become Death, the destroyer of worlds.”
However, the book is not about death, but about life.
It contains some of the oldest thinking on what it means to live well.
The following dialogue is based on the Bhagavad Gita, though it only covers a small portion of the ideas in the book. If you want more, you should definitely read the book. It's fairly short and can be read in just a few hours.
(If you want to read this in a browser, or share it, here's the link: https://dkb.show/post/lessons-from-the-bhagavad-gita)
DKB: I’ve been trying to make it as an online writer for a long time now, but it doesn’t seem to be working out. I’m starting to wonder if I should just quit and do something else.
Krishna: People who are motivated only by the desire for the fruits of action are miserable. They’re always anxious about the results of what they do.
If you want a peaceful mind, you should never engage in any action for the sake of reward. Do your work without selfish attachments, and strive to be the same in success and defeat.
You are driven by selfish desire, which leads to pain and anxiety.
You are missing the goal of life entirely.
DKB: Oh really? What’s the right way to live then?
Krishna: Pleasures conceived in the world of senses have a beginning and end, and give birth to misery. The wise do not look for happiness there, but find their joy completely within themselves.
When you keep thinking about sense objects, attachment comes. Attachment leads to desire, the lust of possession which burns to anger. Anger clouds the judgment. You can no longer learn from past mistakes. Lost is the power to choose between what is wise and what is unwise, and your life is utter waste.
But when you move amidst the world of sense, free from attachment and aversion alike, you find true peace, and live in the wisdom of the Self.
Working for the good of all beings, the wise attain nirvana in Brahman. Free from selfish desire, and unified in mind, those who realize the Self are established forever in that supreme state.
They live in freedom who have gone beyond the dualities of life. Competing with no one, they are alike in success and failure, and content with whatever comes to them. They perform all work in the spirit of service, and their karma is dissolved.
DKB: It would be amazing to never be affected by failure, and always be at peace. That would make me a lot more productive.
But you lost me with all of the spiritual stuff. What is “the Self” and all the other terminology you’re using?
Krishna: There has never been a time when you and I have not existed, nor will there ever be a time when we will cease to exist.
The same person lives in the body throughout childhood, youth, and old age. And in the same way, at the time of death, that person attains another body.
The impermanent has no reality. Reality lies in the eternal.
The body is mortal, but the Self or the Soul which dwells in the body is immortal and immeasurable. The Self is unmanifested, beyond all thought, and beyond all change.
Every selfless act is born from Brahman, the eternal and infinite Godhead. Brahman is present in every act of service. All life turns on this law. Those who violate it, indulging the senses for their own pleasure, and ignoring the needs of others, have wasted their life.
Those who realize the Self are always satisfied. They no longer seek happiness from the external world, because they have found the true source of joy and fulfilment.
They have nothing to gain or lose by any action.
Neither people nor things can affect their security.
DKB: No offense, but I’m not religious, and all of this stuff is really far out there. That being said, I would like to attain this peaceful state of mind. It sounds very useful for productivity and achieving my goals.
Can you tell me how to get into this mental state, but without all of the spiritual baggage?
Krishna: *sigh*
I see you are stuck in the Guna of Rajas.
DKB: I have no idea what those words mean.
Krishna: These words are difficult to describe in your language, but I’ll try my best. The Gunas are the three fundamental attributes of mind and matter. They can represent different levels of consciousness, or personality attributes.
Your thoughts and actions are determined by your proportion of the three Gunas.
The Gunas are Tamas, Rajas, and Sattva.
In oversimplified terms, Tamas is inertia, Rajas is activity, and Sattva is harmony.
DKB: Oh, it’s like the big five personality traits, but with three things instead?
Krishna: Uh…not really, it’s a lot more complicated than that, but let’s just go with that for now.
Once I explain how they work, you’ll be able to see them in the people all around you.
Sattva is pure, luminous, and free from sorrow. It binds us to happiness and wisdom.
Rajas is passion, arising from selfish desire and attachment, which binds the Self to compulsive action, and greedy ends.
Tamasic people live a life of carelessness, laziness, and confusion.
Sattvic people give simply because it is right to give, without thinking of rewards. Giving with the expectation of getting something in return is Rajasic. Giving without affection or respect is Tamasic.
Sattvic knowledge sees the one indestructible Being in all beings – the unity underlying the multiplicity of creation.
Rajasic knowledge sees all creatures as separate and distinct.
Tamasic knowledge, lacking any sense of perspective, sees one small part and mistakes it for the whole.
Work performed to fulfill your obligations, without thinking of personal reward or whether the job is pleasant, is Sattvic. Work prompted by selfish desire, full of stress, is Rajasic. Work that is undertaken blindly, without any consideration of consequences or one’s own capabilities, is Tamasic.
Sattvic workers are free from egotism and selfish attachments. They are full of enthusiasm and fortitude in success and failure alike.
Rajasic workers have strong personal desires and crave rewards for their actions. They are easily swept away by good or bad fortune.
Tamasic workers are undisciplined, stubborn, and lazy. They find it difficult to get motivation, and are prone to procrastination.
There are also three kinds of happiness.
The joy of Sattva seems like poison at first, but tastes like honey at the end. It is born of a mind at peace with itself.
Pleasure from the senses seems like honey at first, but is bitter like poison at the end. This is Rajasic happiness.
Tamasic people draw their pleasure from sleep, idleness, and intoxication. Both in the beginning and in the end, this kind of happiness is a delusion.
You are only focused on selfish rewards, and have no regard for anything else. You are stuck in Rajas. It is not a great place to be, though it is better than being stuck in Tamas.
DKB: Of course I’m trying to achieve selfish goals, I’m human! Humans are inherently selfish. What else would you expect from me?
Krishna: Selfish desire and anger arise from the Guna of Rajas. These are the appetites and evils which threaten a person in this life.
Selfish desire is found in the senses, mind, and intellect. It misleads them and buries understanding in delusion.
The senses are higher than the body, and the mind is higher than the senses. Above the mind is the intellect. Above the intellect is the Self. Knowing that the Self is supreme, let the Self rule the ego. Defeat the fierce enemy that is selfish desire.
I have talked a lot about living wisely. Let me tell you what it means to live badly.
The foolish do things they should avoid, and avoid the things they should do. They have no sense of uprightness, purity, or truth.
Hypocritical, proud, and arrogant, they are insatiable in their desires. They maintain with complete confidence that “Gratification of lust is the best that life can offer”.
Bound on all sides by scheming and anxiety, driven by anger and greed, they amass money by any means for the satisfaction of their cravings.
“I got this today” they say, “tomorrow I will get that. This wealth is mine, and that will be mine too. I enjoy what I want. I am successful. I am powerful. I am happy.”
This is how they go on, deluded by ignorance, bound by their greed, and entangled in a web of delusion. Whirled about by a fragmented mind, they fall into a dark hell.
DKB: You know, all of these selfish desires would be easier to avoid if I renounced society and went to live in a cave or something.
Is that the kind of life you’re advocating?
Krishna: Both renunciation of action and the selfless performance of action lead to the supreme goal, but the path of action is better than renunciation.
Those who have attained perfect renunciation are free from any sense of duality. They are unaffected by likes and dislikes, and free from the bondage of selfish desire.
But perfect renunciation is difficult to attain without performing action. As long as one has a body, one cannot renounce action altogether. True renunciation is giving up all desire for personal reward.
Those who are attached to personal reward will reap the consequences of their actions: some pleasant, some unpleasant, some mixed. But those who renounce all desire for personal reward go beyond the reach of karma.
Those who follow the path of service, who have completely purified themselves and conquered their senses and desires, see the Self in all creatures, and are untouched by any action they perform.
Fulfill all your duties. Action is better than inaction. Selfish action imprisons the world. Act selflessly, without any thought of personal profit.
Writing is your Dharma. It is your duty.
It is what you were made to do.
So put out the best work that you can, then let go of the results.
DKB: Writing is a very difficult career to succeed at though. Perhaps I should switch to something easier...
Krishna: It is better to struggle in pursuit of your own Dharma than to succeed in the Dharma of another. By fulfilling the obligations you are born with, you will never come to grief.
You shouldn’t abandon your duty just because there are some challenges along the way. Every activity is surrounded by challenges, just like a fire is surrounded by smoke.
Blindly renouncing your duties is Tamasic. Avoiding action because of fear or difficulty is Rajasic.
To fulfill your responsibilities knowing that they are obligatory, while desiring nothing for yourself, is Sattvic renunciation. Those endowed with Sattva are not intimidated by unpleasant work, nor do they seek a job because it is pleasant.
The ignorant work for their own profit, but the wise work for the benefit of all, without thought for themselves.
Strive constantly to serve the welfare of the world. By devotion to selfless work, one attains the supreme goal of life.
If you made it all the way to the end, send me a message and share your thoughts. Always love hearing from you.
Also, if you enjoy the newsletter, you may enjoy my twitter, where I post threads on all the stuff I learn from these books. It's basically the bonus content section.
have a great weekend ❤️,
dmitri (dkb)