Bhagwad Gita shloka VIII-6 (Commentary)

In Bhagwad Gita shloka VIII.6 (Bhagwad Gita shloka VIII-6) Lord Krishna emphasizes on the point that it is our thought process that governs our destiny of life. People say one is lucky ... God says, "None is lucky". It is merely the fruits of karma, which everyone gets in this life. Even if the fruits pertain to earlier lives ... then also we have no control over it whatsoever. Every Jiva is imbibed with characteristics owing which one performs karma in the present life. If our karma is to make a King out of us ... then, we shall become one unless our karma in the present life does not go against it. The resultant karma at any stage of life is governing and binding upon us. None can go against it. It is beyond the prowess of a human being to counter the effects of the resultant karma.

But, if we desire to take control of our destiny in our own hands then we need to perform karma as per the dictates of our atman (the soul within). One must have read the story of an ordinary mortal who happened to see the daughter of the King one-day in the market. All ordinary mortals were prohibited to have a look, yet he could afford a veiled look and there and then decided that he would marry none other then the princess herself. Time passed by and in the end this ordinary mortal was selected by the King to marry his daughter. It was not a luck but sheer hard work on the part of the mortal to achieve his desired destiny. There was only one goal of his life ... to make the daughter of the King as his bride and he succeeded in that.

As stated in Bhagwad Gita shloka VIII-6 we all can take control of our destiny we truly desire if we put in the desired hard work and planning into it. Nothing is unachievable ... one can surmount the biggest of the difficulties, which may seem totally unachievable in the beginning ... yet, the end is ours.

In Bhagwad Gita shloka VIII-6 Lord Krishna emphasizes the might of the power of thought. It is our thinking pattern which decides the day for us ... none can affect our thinking ... this is the only true power God has given to every human being irrespective of caste or creed, dogmas or religion. Two persons who may have been given the same training throughout their career may be found to achieve different goals in their life ... one may become a King of the country and the other may be found sitting on the corner of the road with a begging bowl in his hand. This is a true case, which happened in USA. Do not leave anything to chance or luck ... you may or may not succeed.

As per Bhagwad Gita shloka VIII-6 choose a goal worthy of yourself and go after it with a firm determination and you shall succeed in the end. Whatever one may be doing at any moment of time ... yet in our thinking we are engrossed in thinking of ways and means to achieve our end. To others we may appear to be idling yet in our inner self we may be nearing our goal. Thoughts never fail us ... it is only the bad thoughts invoking which we doom ourselves to failure. None can save us if our thoughts are not as pure as the air we breathe.

To achieve our goal of life ... we need not scuttle the efforts of others! Only those noble and kindhearted persons can work for the society and make a mark for themselves ... those who think of the society and the countrymen as their own ... all are sons and daughters of God ... whom can we banish ... the kingdom of God is meant for all the children of God ... we need to respect one and all and yet obtain our goal of life.

As stated in Bhagwad Gita shloka VIII-6 While imparting this cosmic Wisdom to King Arjuna, Lord Krishna emphasizes again and again that nothing belongs to a human being ... for the garb of a human being is but a clothing for the atman (the soul within) ... why worry thence! What he actually meant was that we must considering God, the Almighty Creator as our benefactor continue doing his bidding ... for the results are never ours ... the fruits of all karma performed by us are only the domain of our atman (the soul within). Fruits of karma are not meant for the body. We as a human being experience the results yet we can never change them. Every human being while following the path dictated by our Atman can achieve the desired results and for achieving that we need to maintain the harmony between our thinking and the desire of the atman (the soul within). Unless both are in harmony of one another ... we can never expect the desired results.

If we desire to follow the path of spirituality in the next life after leaving this body then we should have practiced spirituality throughout this life. If it has not been so then our desires are baseless. For a mango tree to grow we need to sow the seeds of a mango tree ... we cannot expect grapes to grow if we have sowed guava seeds.

Nurturing a passion of hatred towards one in the present life we cannot expect to be compassionate in the next life. Lord Mahavira and Gautam Buddha ... both were not the result of one life alone ... they practiced spirituality for many lives before they achieved their present status. Becoming a Ramakrishna Paramhansa is not the doing of one life ... one has to spend many centuries concentrated towards a single spiritual goal before one can achieve the desired results.

Bhagwad Gita shloka VIII-6 states thoughts keep flowing to us ... we can never stop the flow ... we can direct the flow towards a particular goal. We cannot only contain the quantity but also control the quality of the thoughts ... by invoking pure thoughts all the time so that we are able to achieve our spiritual goal early. Invoking of pure thoughts all the time needs the grace of God ... one who truly aspires for a noble goal can achieve it.

In a nutshell, whatever we have lived for throughout our life ... we shall get the same in the next life ... before passing on to the next life if you desire a life of your choice ... do the karma accordingly ... then only you shall be able to invoke thoughts which conform to your thinking ... invoking thoughts concentrated towards a particular goal shall win you the day. Taking a practical example- every gardener loves his garden more than anyone else because he lives in it all throughout the day even if he is not physically present in the garden ...

I remember the day when my middle sister landed from Calgary for a marriage and she had planned a month's trip ... looking forward to a lively month ahead ... she made all her programs accordingly ... yet within her mind she always wondering if her two rabbits were okay back in Calgary. She had made all the possible arrangements for the rabbits for a nice and comfortably stay in the basement of her house yet, day and night she worried for their welfare. It was on the 14th day she got a call from my brother-in-law that one of them was ill ... she curtailed her programs and left for Calgary immediately. All these 14 days she was never comfortable as in the back of her mind were her lovely rabbits.