Geeta Aahoron-‘I’ is inclusive

June 29, 2026

K SIVA PRASAD

In the Gita, both Arjuna and Sri Krishna use the word “I,” but the meaning and context of use are different. Arjuna’s “I” refers to his physical body, possessions, feelings, and beliefs, which are limited to his family, friends, and relatives. Our situation is no different from Arjuna’s. We consider some things to be exclusively ours and others to be ours. When Sri Krishna uses “I,” it is inclusive. We perceive contradictions and polarities in sense objects due to the limitations of the senses, and Sri Krishna’s “I” encompasses all these contradictions. Sri Krishna says, in the same vein, “I am birth as well as death.” While Sri Krishna is the ocean, we are drops in that ocean. However, due to ego, we consider ourselves separate. When a drop gives up its own existence and merges with the ocean, it becomes the ocean. Sri Krishna indicates this when he says, “My birth and actions are divine, that is, supernatural. Thus, a person who understands this from the very beginning does not take birth again after leaving the body, but attains me.” (4.9) Indeed, realization means the renunciation of ego and the ability to accept contradictions. Sri Krishna uses the term Vitrag (4.10), which is neither attachment nor detachment, but a higher state where attachment and detachment are considered equal. The same applies to fear and anger. Sri Krishna uses the term jnana-tapas, which is nothing but disciplined living, and many of us practice it. Tapas performed with ignorance becomes an intense pursuit of sensual pleasures and material possessions. Sri Krishna advises us to pursue jnana-tapas, which is a conscious and disciplined life. He says, “Many devotees of mine who had previously been completely free from attachment, fear, and anger and who remained devoted to me with unconditional love, have attained my true form after being purified by the austerity of appropriate knowledge