Saturday, July 26, 2014

In Lord Krishna's stories of Bhagavad Gita, where is karma shown?

The idea of "action" or "deeds" related to one's existence
in this life and those that follow is something that Krishna espouses to Arjuna in the
Gita.  Essentially, the entire work focuses on this notion of
"karma" or "deeds."  Arjuna approaches Krishna, uncertain of what he should do.  He
finds that he is incapable of fully being able to carry out his "deed" or what he is
supposed to do.  Seeing the opposition filled with family and friends, and knowing that
he is posited against them, Arjuna asks what he should do.  He asks Krishna how to carry
out his karma when he knows that it is filled with suffering and pain.  Krishna responds
in the lyrical manner that he should surrender unto him.  In recognizing that Krishna is
the supreme and ultimate truth, Arjuna will find the strength to be able to carry out
the deeds that prove to be difficult.  At the same time, Krishna argues that what
"deeds" are done in this birth to him will allow Arjuna to be able to move on in his
next birth, for Krishna is the ultimate reality that is transcendent in this life and
the one that follows.  In this construction, one sees that karma is full recognition of
Krishna, something that Arjuna could not see at the start of the discourse with Krishna,
but is something he envisions at its end.  It is here where karma and deeds become one,
and the more one places unto Krishna their deeds in this life, their karma becomes
properly aligned in the subsequent births.

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