In Gītā-Bhāṣya, Śaṅkara says performance of dharmic actions without hankering after its rewards leads to sattva-śuddhi making us eligible for ātma–jñāna, otherwise śabda of Upaniṣads do have any effect on us
The nīti lies in its very narratives and it is the rasa evoked by these narratives that makes the nīti leap out of the text and take hold of the reader.
Śūrpaṇakhā’s nose was cut off by Lakṣmaṇa as a merciful option when she made an attempt on Sītā’s life. That was the prevalent norm – in India and across the world. Had she been a man, he could have killed her.
Rescuing the Gītā from getting lost in the airy-fairy world of esoteric systems, whether jñāna or bhakti or yoga, and restoring its importance as a worldly text dealing with worldly problems for worldly people, is only the beginning.
Prologue Bharatiyas appear to have regained their familiarity with the terms pūrvapakṣa and uttarapakṣa but I don’t think many of them would be aware of what was actually involved in this process. What issues were…
Ashay Naik is a Sanskrit scholar and a software professional. He is deeply interested in studying Bharatiya culture, political philosophy and theology. He has completed his Honours in Sanskrit from the University of Sydney and is a contributor to the Swadeshi Indology series. He is the author of Natural Enmity: Reflections on the Niti and Rasa of the Pancatantra. He blogs at https://satyanrtam.wordpress.com and tweets at @AshayNaik1.