The Bhagavad Gita

The Bhagavad Gita, according to Ravi, is perhaps the single most important text to emerge from India. I have a number of editions, including those by Juan Mascaro and Radhakrishnan, and this is a hugely valuable addition to scholarship around the Gita. At the recent Mystics and Scientists conference, Ravi remarked how rare it was for people to be both scholars and seekers, which he is. Having been a professor of physics, philosophy and comparative religion, he has now intensified his work as a seeker, although both the scholar and the seeker are represented in this text. Ravi first became aware of the Gita when he was 11 and was struck when his father read out the 19th verse of the seventh chapter: 'At the end of many births, a wise person comes to Me, realising that all there is is Krishna. Such a person is a great soul and very rare.' His father said to him that he could tell him these words but did not really know what they meant, and wished for him to find a teacher or teaching so that he could understand its real meaning. This has surely shaped his quest.

In 7:3 we read: 'Among thousands of human beings scarcely one strives for perfection, and among those who strive and attain perfection, scarcely one knows Me in the full truth of My being.' This is a reminder that most of us spend our lives on the horizontal, material dimension without establishing a real vertical connection with the spiritual level. We may do so for a while, but are subject to many distractions as the monkey mind leaps between the branches. This tension typifies the central metaphor of the Gita, namely struggle and battle between the higher and lower within ourselves. One of Ravi's teachers was Jeanne de Salzmann, about whom he wrote in his book Heart without Measure, and who is extensively quoted here. She spoke a great deal about the higher or finer energy and the role of the human being and the body in channelling this as a contribution to evolution. In this respect, the question what do I serve is a critical one. As Ravi observes, we are capable of transcending self-will and becoming an instrument of Krishna or Christ. Salzmann remarks that energy cannot be without relationship: 'if it does not serve I intentionally, then it automatically serves the ego…. Unless there is the I, there is only the ego. One recognises the presence of I from the fact that I wishes to serve.' (p. 109) Elsewhere, she is quoted as saying that we can either be an unconscious slave or a conscious servant.

In the West, there is much talk of freedom, but for Ravi the most important freedom is not for the self but from the self, which is vairagya. We each have our svadharma or responsibility in accordance with our svabhava, or essential nature or inner calling. In this sense, we can all make our own contribution to order in the widest sense, both through mindful attention characterised by yoga and through right action. Here we come to one of the fundamental teachings of the Gita, action without attachment to the fruits of action. Taken one stage further, this becomes sacrificial action, and Ravi characterises sacrifice as central to the spiritual life of transformation. In this process, we can move from unconscious reaction to conscious response.

One of the hallmarks of Ravi's translation and commentary is the width of his erudition. He quotes liberally and extensively from East and West as well as from sages like Plotinus and the Cloud of Unknowing. He sees self-transformation as the sole purpose of all spiritual disciplines, and remarks that all spiritual teachings in India, unlike the biblical ones, are insight oriented, in other words involving jnana or what we in the West would call gnosis. It is significant that the Gnostic Gospels have made a comeback as this element was largely excluded from the canonical texts. I think he is right in saying that Krishna, as opposed to Christ, is primarily a teacher rather than saviour, although this is also is the view of Gnostics, who spend time on opening the eyes of the spirit.

Beyond gnosis, though, is perhaps the state of unknowing referred to by Ravi: 'an open mind is passionately searching and always unknowing…. True religious mind is silent, free of fear and self-importance, innocent, open, and vulnerable, full of wisdom but unknowing, willing and able to be surprised.' (p. 122) As the mystery deepens, 'it is known but there is no no one who knows it.' Ravi distinguishes scientific from spiritual mysteries, which he regards as unsolvable: 'they call for a radical transformation of our whole being, including the mind, so that we may come to a different level of the mind.' (p. 204) Here, the mystery can be lived and dissolved as action, knowledge, meditation and love support each other in an ever finer and finer quality of being of the searcher (p. 251).

In response to the verse cited by Ravi's father, the Yogi sees the Self and everyone and everyone in the Self (6:29). Thus they can become impartial, beyond attachments to knowledge, action and indolence, corresponding to the three gunas of sattva, rajas and tamas, extensively discussed in this edition. This translation and commentary is the result of over 60 years of reflection and practice and is essential reading for both scholars and seekers since the central elements of the spiritual life are universal in all times and all places. We are all engaged in a struggle at some level, but it is our responsibility to choose that level consciously and work on refining our being and actions. The French writer Buffon once said that 'le style, c'est l'homme meme' - a person's style expresses their essence, and in this respect I was struck by the Hasidic story about a man who was asked whether he visited his master to hear his words of wisdom. "No", he replied, "I want to see how he ties his shoelaces." Everything we do mannifests our being, but the question is how consciously we act. Studying this book can enhance and refine our capacities to help make us more conscious servants.