JAC'S BOOK CLUB discussion

THE BHAGAVAD GITA: DYNAMIC FIELD OF HUMANITY
by Tracy Lee Kendall

My friend Tracy Kendall lacks access to the internet and that is why I am posting his review for him. Born in Torrance, CA, he is currently incarcerated in Texas.
Kendall’s writing extends through a variety of fiction and non-fiction genres. Among these are reviews of ancient, classical, and modern works from around the world. His review of the Meditations by the Roman Emperor Aurelias can also be found on this site.
Through these reviews, Kendall attempts to make these works comprehensible and applicable in a neutral manner to help readers of all backgrounds and lifestyles to benefit and flourish without compromising their persons.
Moreover, Kendall explores these works openly and honestly to help resolve contemporary social issues by facing similar or identical issues within the texts and deriving solutions conducive to unity, equality, harmony, compassion, and progress.
Kendall welcomes all comments and questions. Write:
Tracy Lee Kendall (#875004)
Michael Unit (TDCJ)
2664 FM 2054
Tennessee Colony, TX 75886

(Only solid white paper and envelopes are allowed, and no greeting cards. You can also email him through JPAY.COM)

PART ONE



The Bhagavadgita (BhG) is often viewed as a profound ethical treatise or religious classic, and these it is. However, its potential extends throughout the entire human dynamic experience. In fact, when understood in the context of the specific paradigm it articulates, the practical application of the BhG becomes a compass and map of that experience. Accordingly, the purpose of this essay is to provide the key for enabling the application of the BhG in everyday life, individually and collectively.
New readers of the BhG may approach it as a compendium of yoga guides, with chapters to be used as needed; or, from beginning to end, trying to understand the entire text. Alternately, seasoned readers often explore the BhG via theological or philosophical commentaries. While these approaches can be rewarding, readers often miss the unifying paradigm. Why is this paradigm important? Because it encompasses the human experience and its connection to everything else. So with a conscious grasp of the paradigm's dynamic, readers can apply the BhG for personal improvement, harmony, and the ability to connect with and enrich others and the environment (immediate and beyond).
Perhaps the best key to grasping the paradigm appears in the thirteenth chapter:
Kaunteya, this body is explained as the field (13.1ab). So one's 'body' is equated to a field (which is open), rather than an isolated unit. Later, this ‘field’ is described:
This is a concise description of the field
with its derivative [effects]:
the great elements, ego, intellect, and
indeed, the non-manifest,
senses-ten and one-and the five
sensory domains [lit. cattle-goings],
desire, aversion, pleasure, suffering,
the aggregate, consciousness, and firmness (13.5-6).

Thus, readers encounter an experiential template of the human condition, which seems to be organized into the basic components of the field in 13.5, and its derivative(s) in 13.6.
First in 13.5 are the great elements. What these are is not specifically designated in the BhG, and caution should be taken regarding anachronistic interpretations based upon earlier and later Indian texts containing a variety of elemental conceptions. Nonetheless, in 7.4, Sanskrit terms for earth (or soil), water, fire, air (or wind), and space (or sky) appear. This is the traditional ascending order of elements appearing in various Indian religions and philosophies. Conceptions of these elements range from physical constituents to spiritual refinements. Also noteworthy is that at least two (ego and intellect), and possibly three (if the 'one' in 13.5 refers to mind) field components immediately follow the elements in 7.4, as ego and intellect follow the great elements in 13.5.
The next component of the field, ego, is similar to its modern psychological counterpart in that the Sanskrit term, ahamkara, literally means 'I-maker' and denotes what produces a sense of self. However, an important nuance should be noted. In modern psychology, ego is associated with a sense of self identity; yet in the BhG, the 'self' takes on a metaphysical aspect, distinct from the ego identity, as one's true person relative to absolute reality, which the ego obstructs awareness of. Nonetheless, the dangers of egotism outlined in the BhG often parallel modern psychological opinions about the same.
The dangers of egotism warned of in the BhG can be subtle, such as a psycho-religious issue of confounding the ego with activity; or more obvious, including self-flagellation (3.27; 17.5). More universally applicable dangers include obsessive egotism evolving into hatred, or contributing to hazardous negligence (16.18; 18.58). The BhG also acknowledges that egotism can interfere with the ability to have a clear conscience in the midst of difficulty, which
can prevent uncomfortably, yet necessary actions. (18.17, 59). Thus, the BhG provides insight concerning ego in both religious and secular contexts which can prove valuable if heeded when evaluating oneself and others.
The next component of the body-field is intellect. The Sanskrit term, buddhi, has to do with awakening in the context of how we intellectually grasp and reason. The Latin words from which 'intellect’ is derived denote a choice. Similarly, the BhG trifurcates buddhi, and the choices made relative to the three equates to the rudder that navigates the 'body' through reality.
The first type of intellect is virtuous, discerns between when it is appropriate to or not to act, what to and not to do, what is to be and not to be feared, and knows of bondage and liberation (18.30). Next is an impulsive intellect which fails to discern the difference between virtue and corruption, and what to and not to do (18.31). Lastly, there is the blindly corrupt intellect, which promotes thinking that corruption is virtue, and inverts everything (18.32).
The application of this knowledge is a matter of which two (not one) of the types to choose. The impulsive type, while uncontrolled in itself, provides the necessary momentum and energy for either virtue or corruption to be actualized. Ideally, effective ''navigation" through life is achieved by choosing to integrate virtue and impulse. Then, impulse is tempered into directed energy, and one's life engagement is based upon virtue.
Intellect is also the determining factor in actualizing a prominent tenet of the BhG which seems to defy logic: informed action without attachment to the result (2.49). Although confusingly described as non-action in action and action in non-action, it simply means dutifully performing action with self-control, rather than a selfish agenda (3.5-8, 19; 4.18). Conversely, egotism contributes to an intellectual defect, wherein the relationship between one's action and oneself is misunderstood (18.16-17). While contextually more of a psycho-religious issue in the BhG (pertaining to transcendental liberation), it does serve as a workable conceptual framework in a non-religious context as well. This is for two main reasons: 1) it offers insight about defects
manifesting when egotism overpowers intellect; and, 2) promotes cognitive thinking to prevent harm when obsessive attachment to pursuits causes one to neglect themselves and/or others.
Following intellect comes the non-manifest. In the BhG, the non-manifest is descriptive of the true self, or person embodied within (yet not truly identical to) the field/body (2.12-28; 13.22-25). Although Sanskrit terms assumed as synonyms by translators often prevent a full understanding, there are distinct conceptual frameworks in the BhG regarding the human condition. There is the embodiment, which refers to the physiological construct as the
vehicle of the true self/person; and the field/body, which refers to the apparent dynamic experience of the true self/person resulting from the conjunction of person and nature (2.13; 13.5-6, 22-34).
END OF PART ONE

I had vague notions that yoga was more than an exercise. Now I know!