Swami Chinmayananda on the Mahabhaarata

In simple words, the Mahabhaarata was a fight between good and evil, namely the Pandavas and the Kauravas. The Pandavas were only five in number while the Kauravas were a hundred men. What does this signify?

It means that in our daily life, we face problems, too many of them, and our life itself is a Kurukshetra. In this, the good forces are few and the bad ones dominate. What an apt analogy!
But, the confused, despondent Arjuna is awakened by the Saarathy, and the Pandavas go on to rout the Kauravas. That is, shedding one’s ignorance and strengthening the resolve to defend Dharma are the only things that are needed to defeat even a seemingly monstrous opposition.

Everyone must have seen the beautiful picture of Arjuna in the chariot driven by Krishna, with the flag of Hanuman, in the Kurukshetra battlefield. Here, the horses pulling the chariot represent the sense organs. Each of our sense organs may attract us to different pleasures in life, but without control of our senses, we will reach nowhere. This control is symbolized by the reins held by the PaarthaSaarathy, which coordinate the movement of the horses. This is the real meaning of self control. Abstinence does not mean running away to the Himalayas when you’re tired with the problems of life. Instead, it means shaping your thoughts appropriately and channeling your energies in search of the purpose of life. That’s why the Geeta itself was not preached in a serene environment in the mountains. The choice of the grueling battle scene to give such a glorious lesson itself says that the message of the Geeta is not just for retired old men and women who have nothing else to do, but one that needs to be understood and practiced during one’s productive lifetime. Postponing the study of scriptures for old age is like thinking of reading a washing machine manual after it has become old, rusted and spoilt!
Om Namo Bhagavate Vaasudevaaya!

Source: Geeta Lectures given by Swamini Vimalananda and Swami Tejomayananda of the Chinmaya Mission, which the writer was fortunate to attend.

Let noble thoughts come to all from all sides!

Aano bhadra krtavo yantu vishwatah
This means "Let noble thoughts come to all from all sides".
This verse is from the Rig Veda, and has also been adopted by the Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan
as its motto.Hindu scriptures are full of such gems-simple statements driving home a profound truth.It is obvious that we must gather noble thoughts, so what's so great about this verse?

Here's my interpretation:
Let's take our epics for example.In the Mahabharata, the heroes are the Pandavas and the Kauravas are the villains. Similarly, in the Ramayana, Rama is the hero and Ravana, the villain.
Both these historical accounts describe the victory of good over evil-nothing seemingly special about this as there are countless stories across the world which talk about the victory of good over evil.

However, the standards of "good" and "evil" in the Ramayana and Mahabharata are not so simple. If we take SOME mortal characters in these epics, we can see that they had both good and bad sides to their personalities.

In the Ramayana, Ravana kidnapped mother Sita and also kept a lot of people as captives in Lanka, and thus became a sinner. Hence, he got what he deserved.
However, there is another side to him. He was a very devout Siva Bhakta. Indeed, the ShivataandavaStotram composed by him is one of the most moving hymns to Lord Siva.
Here, we need to appreciate his Bhakti while rejecting his anti-Dharmic activities.

In the Mahabharata, Yudhistira is described as the virtuous son of Yama, the Dharmaraja,
and an icon of rightousness.However, even he committed a grave mistake-he had no business to gamble his wife with the Kauravas after he lost everything else.
What we need to learn from his character is only his positive side.

Now, we can relate this with the Rig Vedic verse mentioned above-
We need to accept good thoughts-no matter where they come from.
It is interesting to note that in the magnum-opus Arthashastra, the great Chanakya
starts with salutations to both Dakshinaamoorthy (The Guru of the Devas) and Sukrachaarya (The Guru of the Asuras)- implying that one must imbibe good ideas from everywhere.