From Peanuts to the Geeta!

May 22, 2011

Today's "The Sunday Times" in Singapore had a great Classic Peanuts cartoon strip.

In the wonderful 'ladder of fall' metaphor that occurs in the 62nd & 63rd verse of Chapter 2, Śrī Kṛṣṇa delineates the steps that lead us to anger and from anger to complete loss of self-respect and possibly destruction.

It all starts from constantly thinking of something we want; this leads to attachment that gives rise to a craving for the object of desire; anger rises when the object is not attained; anger deludes the intellect; this delusion makes us forget time, place and the people involved; this 'forgetfulness' leads to a loss of intelligence which in turn leads one to destruction.

Here, our protagonist perfectly embodies the statement in 2-63:
क्रोधाद्भवति सम्मोहः सम्मोहात्स्मृतिविभ्रमः
krodhaadbhavati sammohaH sammohaatsmR^itivibhramaH .
From anger comes "delusion" ; from delusion "loss of memory".

Hari Om and Namaskaar until the next post.

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Everyday Geeta

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