My Gita by Devdutt Pattanaik

Author:Devdutt Pattanaik [Pattanaik, Devdutt]
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
Publisher: Rupa Publications Private Limited
Published: 2015-11-04T18:30:00+00:00

Rediscovery of Atma

Puja

It is significant to note that the asuras seek Brahma’s boons and the devas seek Brahma’s help. The asuras are not interested in Brahma; only in his possessions. They perform tapasya not to attain wisdom that takes away insecurity, but to simply acquire powers known as siddhis. The devas are interested in Brahma and are directed to Shiva, Vishnu and the Goddess, a calling for the inner journey that grants wisdom, hence takes away insecurity. But the devas do not complete this inner journey.

As the Puranas remind us repeatedly, after either of the gods or the Goddess vanquishes the asura and Indra gets back his paradise, he goes back to his old ways, feeling entitled and finding joy in material things, getting insecure with yajamanas who do too much yagna and tapasvis who do too much tapasya, unable to enjoy his prosperity as he feels his paradise is under siege, much like successful people in the world today, who think of God only in bad times and forget about God in good times. For them God is all about their own fortune, not everybody’s fortune. For them there is no God within who enables the world without.

The asura is one who is striving for success. The deva is one who is, or has been, successful. A determination to be successful drives the asura to do tapasya. Fear of losing what they have or fear of never getting back what they lost makes the devas seek Brahma. The asura does not believe that anyone will help him. The deva believes that God exists only to help him while he does not exist to help anyone. In other words, the asura does not believe in atma whereas the deva believes in param-atma, but has yet to realize jiva-atma, the human potential.

The description of the condition of the asuras in The Gita is brutal and resonates with what we see in the world around us, where great value is placed on what you achieve and what you possess.

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