Pearls of Sri Bhagavat Gita - Chapter 1.40

                                                       

Bg 1.40

kula-kṣaye praṇaśyanti
kula-dharmāḥ sanātanāḥ
dharme naṣṭe kulaṁ kṛtsnam
adharmo ’bhibhavaty uta

Translation: 

In the destruction of family; ancient family virtues perish. With the loss of such virtues, Adharma ( Irrelegion ) takes over the whole family indeed.

                                                                   Import:

When Kulam ( Dynasty ) is destroyed --> Kula Dharma ( family virtues and relegious practices) is destroyed--> Thus Adharma( Irrelegion ) takes place --> Thus because of Adharma ( Irrelegious Principles ) the whole world gets destroyed.

Each one of us is identifed by ones Kulam ( Dynasty ) and each Kulam is identified by its respective duties. The responsiblity of the Brahmanas is to maintain relegious principles and relegious atmosphere, the Kshatriyas were responsible for protecting the nation, the Vaishyas were responsible for economic development ( Business) and the Fourth Varna is to help the remaining castes so that they perform their duties comfortable. For Example Sri Rama says; my Kula Dharma is to protect those who surrender unto me. Only if each performs their respective duty; then not only will the world be relegious but also economically prosper. India has always been known for its diversity in its culture. Its advancement in agriculture, Dance, Pottery, Military, Handicrafts and success in many fields is because of the Kula Dharma which was followed; unlike the western countries which are successful only in one Software industry. Our country was a self sufficient and a completely balanced prosperous country until the British era; when the first onslaught on our eternal Kula Dharma ( Varnashrama Dharma ) happened on account of the british; when they begun introducing machines and thus people started leaving their eternal Kula Dharma occupations.    

Vedanta in Nature - A Farmer

A Farmer plants different seeds in his farm and without discrimination provides adequate water, manures and fertilizers for the seeds to sprout; inspite of this great effort by the farmer; some seeds sprout and grow into nice crops but some do not. Who is responsible for this ? Is there some problem with the seed or with the farmers cultivation? Naturally its because some inbuilt problem within the seed quality.
 Similarly; the Supreme Lord Sri Hari; out of his supreme and causeless compassion for his living entities has given the power of thinking, the ability to discriminate between right and wrong, the vedas consisting of unlimited supreme vedic knowledge, Acharyas who are the embodiment of relegion from whom we can enquire. Inspite of all these facilities if a living  being suffers its because of the living being alone who suffers on account of his anadhi ( eternal) Karma in the form of Papa ( Sins) and Punya ( Pious ) which has been accumulated by him since time immemorial. 

Vedanta in Nature - a Radio

A Radio can be manually tuned so that its able to recieve waves of different frequencies to play a channel, similarly; the material world is called as Prakrthi Mandalam as it has 3 Gunas ( Modes of Nature ) as its constituent i.e Sattva Guna ( Mode of Goodness ), Rajo Guna ( Mode of Passion ) and Tamo Gunam ( Mode of Ignorance ).
The different daily relegious rituals such as Nitya, Naimittika Karmas, chanting of Stothras, Pooja are prescribed in our Sanatana Dharma so that our minds are tuned to recieve the positive Sattva Guna; thus helping man to transcend the lower modes of nature categorized by Rajas ( Passion ) and Tamas ( Ignorance ) deeply imbibed within us since time immemorial. Increase in Satta Gunam is categorized by deep thirst in knowledge to learn and advance in the science of relegion and the science of God. Thus when a person advances in knowledge in the science of God; he realized his own spiritual nature as an atma being eternally subservient to the Supreme Lord Sri Hari and thus begins to render devotional service unto the Supreme Lord. Thus he becomes blissful and attains his original state of Shanthi ( Peace of Mind ) which is an eternal, consitutional right of every living being.

Pearls of Sri Bhagavat Gita - Chapter 1.38

                                                     

Bg 1.38

yady apy ete na paśyanti
lobhopahata-cetasaḥ
kula-kṣaya-kṛtaṁ doṣaṁ
mitra-drohe ca pātakam

Translation: 

These People with their mind overwhelmed by greed, do not see the evil caused by the destruction of the family and the sin of being treacherous to friends.

                                                            Import:

1) Two kinds of Papa ( sins ) was spoken here by Arjuna which the Kauravas were unable to percieve; that is:

                            a) The Destruction of Kula ( Dynasty )

                            b) Being treacherous to friends.

In todays society we find some are very rich with full wealth and nice food to eat but the others have no money and no food to eat and thus suffer from malnutrition. This is all the result of Greed. Also sometimes we do not want others to possess nice things. Because of Duryodhanas greed for power; he did not even hesitate nor mind to destroy even the dynasty to gratify his sensual desire for Power. 

Arjuna says to Krishna " You yourself is born in Yadu Kulam to elevate it and bring fame but you want me to participate in this war and thus result in destruction of our Kulam".

Sri Nrsimha Promises Prahlada " I will not kill any asuras from your lineage". Thus stressing again the importance of Kula ( Dynasty ) which acts instrumental in maintaning relegious principles ( Dharma ). 

2) Importance of Friends

-----------------------------------

a) Sri Rama says to Sugreeva " Even if Vibhishana falsely comes as my friend; i will not leave him under any cause ". 

b) One must never cheat friends; for example becoming very close and thus cheating him of all his wealth etc.

Pearls of Sri Bhagavat Gita - Chapter 1.36

                                                     

Bg 1.36

    nihatya dhārtarāṣṭrān naḥ
kā prītiḥ syāj janārdana
pāpam evāśrayed asmān
hatvaitān ātatāyinaḥ

Translation: 

Hey Janardhana, what pleasures will be there to us in killing the sons of Dhritarashtra? By Killing these wicked people only sin will accrue to us.

Import:

      1) janārdana:       a) The one who is the destroyer of the cycle of birth and death of his devotees.                                     
                                  b) When the Supreme Lord Sri Hari decides and comes to protect his devotees and if somehow obstructs it; he destroys them.       
    2) From the above verse we can observe the quality of deep Compassion(Karuna) in Arjuna that although the Kauravas deserved to be killed; he felt he will get sins by killing them.        
    3) Everyone must learn to be pious(Punya) in ones action and deeply contemplate and avoid commiting sinful acts. Performance of sinful acts(Papa) will lead to complicated mind problems, health problems, our future generations might suffer etc. The endless problems we observe today such as Depression, quarrel, violence, diseases are all because of sinful actions being encouraged in todays society.

Pearls of Sri Bhagavat Gita - Chapter 1.35

                                                   

Bg 1.35

etān na hantum icchāmi
ghnato ’pi madhusūdana

api trailokya-rājyasya
hetoḥ kiṁ nu mahī-kṛte

Translation: 

Hey Krishna ( Slayer of Demon Madhu ), I do not want to kill these people even if they are to kill me; even for the sake of Kingdom of the 3 worlds; what of this world.

                                                    Import:

1) madhusūdana: Arjuna says" You yourself have killed the demons and thus has got the name as Madhusudhana; but you want me to kill my Guru, brothers and thus earn name as GuruSudhana?

2) According to Dharma Sastram, when someone comes to kill us; we can strike back against them. In Mahabharatha, Duryodhana tried to kill Pandavas in many ways; thus killing them will not incur any sin.

3) Arjuna was in such a situation that; say; we have kept someone at a high position in our mind; but if they do something wrong; wouldn't we get bewildered by their acts.