The purpose of studying Gītā is moksa - free from the sense of bondage. We call it “sense” because there is no real bondage. Bondage means things which hinder me to get what I like and get rid of what I don’t like - sukha-prāpti and dukha-nivrtti. Therefore our entire life is doing anrta-nivrtti (eliminating undesirable) and paramānanda-prāpti (attaining absolute happiness which is the nature of one-self). The happiness we want is absolute because we want to be happy in anytime and any condition (not limited by time and space). And that kind of happiness happened to be my own true nature. Since this is so, only through ātmajñānam, moksa is possible. What is ātmajñānam? It is knowledge of the nature of myself which is ever free / never bound. It is the only way to free oneself from this sense of bondage. Since bondage is not real, therefore it can be removed only by knowledge, if it is real, it can never be removed by any means. Because what is real, it is not negate-able (abadhitam satyam) means it is inherent / nature. Just like heat is the nature of fire, when it is removed, there is no more fire, since there is no entity apart from its svarūpa - true nature. If bondage is not inherent in me, why do I have the sense of being bound? Because I am taking bondage which is not mine to be mine. This is called superimposition which is happened mutually between ātmā - me and anātmā - body mind senses.
Therefore when we see freedom / moksa is to be gained as something different from me, I will never get it. If it is not my nature and need to be gained, means it is also not real because what is gained in time also will go away in time. What is real is never goes away in all three period of time (past, present, future). That is me who is ever conscious, ever exist, ever ānanda in waking, dream and deep sleep state. If you say that I am ever happy in deep sleep may be I can accept, but in dream and waking why am I not happy all the time? How do you explain this experience?
Because I am taking body-mind-sense-complex to be me. This is one side of superimposition. Just like in the clay pot, the form pot is take to be clay, then all the attributes of the pot is superimposed into the clay. In the same manner when I am taking the body-mind-senses to be me, when the body is sick I think “I am sick”, when the mind is stress, I think “I am stress”.
Another side of superimposition is when the existence and sentiency of ātmā is mistaken belong to body-mind-senses. Just like in the clay pot, where the name and form of the pot is just an idea where itself doesn’t have any substantive material on its own. The existence of the pot depends on the existence of the clay, the smell of pot is the smell of the clay, colour of pot is the colour of clay, yet we see only the pot and missed the clay. In the same way in this name and form alone I think “I am”, therefore when this body is perishing, I think “I am perishing”. I never see there is the satyam ātmā behind this mithya body.
Therefore the entire drama of samsāra is caused by the ignorance of the nature of oneself being ānanda. And this wrong conclusion only can be corrected by the true knowledge of myself which is called ātmajñānam. This is what Gītā presents the means to reach the end which is moksa - attainment of absolute happiness which is the nature of myself.
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