Krishna Loves You: Behaving As Divine Entities Or As Devilish Ones

Hare Krishna! The soldier is prompted by duty to his country, whereas the gangster is prompted by greed.

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|| जय श्री कृष्ण ||
॥ श्रीमद्‍भगवद्‍गीता ॥ 16.24॥


_तस्माच्छास्त्रं प्रमाणं ते कार्याकार्यव्यवस्थितौ ।_
_ज्ञात्वा शास्त्रविधानोक्तं कर्म कर्तुमिहार्हसि॥_


भावार्थ :

हे अर्जुन! मनुष्य को क्या कर्म करना चाहिये और क्या कर्म नही करना चाहिये इसके लिये शास्त्र ही एक मात्र प्रमाण होता है, इसलिये तुझे इस संसार में शास्त्र की विधि को जानकर ही कर्म करना चाहिये। (२४)


Meaning:

Therefore, the scripture is the authority to guide you towards what is to be done and what is not. Knowing this, you should perform actions according to scripture here.

Explanation:

Shri Krishna concludes the sixteenth chapter with this shloka. He says that ultimately it is the prompter of our actions, our motivation, that determine whether we are behaving as divine entities or as devilish ones. If the prompter of our actions is selfish desire, we are heading in the wrong direction. If the prompter is scripture, we are heading in the right direction. Therefore, when in doubt, we should refer to the guidelines in the scriptures on the performance of actions.


A case in point is Arjuna’s fundamental question: is it right to harm another individual? A soldier of the army defending his country and a gangster shooting at a crowd are performing the same action - killing people. But the difference is the prompter of both those actions. The soldier is prompted by duty to his country, whereas the gangster is prompted by greed. Where did the soldier’s duty come from? We could say that it came from the army’s code of conduct. We could say that it come from the constitution of his country. We could say that it came from the values cultivated by his parents.


In all these cases, the soldier’s sense of duty came from a set of guidelines that were founded on something that was much larger than the narrow viewpoint of one individual, that kept the bigger picture in mind. This is what Shri Krishna refers to as scripture. Using the word "here" in the shloka, he reminds Arjuna that such intelligent living is only possible in a human birth, not in any other birth. Now, we come to an interesting question? Which authority, which scripture should one follow? In this day and age, how can one practically lead an intelligent life that follows a selfless set of guidelines, that follows a scripture? This intriguing question is tackled in the next chapter.

Chant the mantra you have faith in

Hare Krishna

The Hare Krishna maha-mantra is composed of three Sanskrit words, which are “Hare”, “Krishna” and “Rama”. According to the scriptures “Obstruction or problem can’t come into their lives, who do chant this mantra continuously”. The Great Mantra is:

Hare Krishna, Hare Krishna, Krishna Krishna, Hare Hare

Hare Rama, Hare Rama, Rama Rama, Hare Hare

हरे कृष्ण हरे कृष्ण , कृष्ण कृष्ण हरे हरे |

हरे राम हरे राम , राम राम हरे हरे ||