What is the definition of sorrow according to Sri Krishna, what are the main reasons of sorrow?

Question

According to Sri Krishna, What is sorrow? and what are the main reasons of sorrow in one's life?

How can someone overcome from it?

Answer 1

Refer the following from the Gita:

dhyāyatoviṣayān puḿsaḥ
sańgas teṣūpajāyate
sańgāt sañjāyate kāmaḥ
kāmāt krodho 'bhijāyate

If one meditates on 'objects', he develops attachment on them. Attachment leads to desires/lust. Unfulfilled desires lead to anger.

krodhād bhavati sammohaḥ
sammohāt smṛti-vibhramaḥ
smṛti-bhraḿśād buddhi-nāśo
buddhi-nāśāt praṇaśyati

Anger leads to illusion. Illusion leads to bewilderment of memory. When memory is bewildered, you lose the power of discrimination. One perishes when discrimination/intelligence is lost.

So, thinking continuously/meditating on objects culminates in the fall of beings. One perishes if attachment is developed.

The propensity to associate with other living entities is a fundamental characteristic of the spirit soul. Even if you want to, you cannot give up the tendency to associate with other living entities. This is so because we are all part and parcel of Krishna or God, and this tendency is there in Krishna (God). You can see that in any of his incarnations, he is always associating with a close circle of associates who are blissful in his association, and also in the association of each other.

BG Chapter 2, Verse 13

dehino 'smin yatha dehe
kaumaram yauvanam jara
tatha dehantara-praptir
dhiras tatra na muhyati

As the embodied soul continually passes, in this body, from boyhood to youth to old age, the soul similarly passes into another body at death. The self-realized soul is not bewildered by such a change.

He hints that those who are not Self-Realized are bewildered by this illusion of Jagat, because they have not yet realized the Satchidananda. What is Self-Realization then?

BG Chapter 2, Verse 16

nasato vidyate bhavo
nabhavo vidyate satah
ubhayor api drsto 'ntas
tv anayos tattva-darsibhih

Those who are seers of the truth have concluded that of the nonexistent there is no endurance, and of the existent there is no cessation. This seers have concluded by studying the nature of both.

In the Visnu Purana it is stated that Visnu and His abodes all have self-illuminated spiritual existence.

Jyotimsi visnur bhavanani visnuh.

The words existent and nonexistent refer only to spirit and matter.

Says Gaudapāda in his Māndukya Kārikā (IV. 95):

अजे साम्ये तु ये केचित् भविष्यन्ति सुनिश्चिताः ।
ते हि लोके महाज्ञाना तच्च लोको न गाहते ॥

aje sāmye tu ye kecit bhaviṣyanti suniścitāḥ |
te hi loke mahājñānā tacca loko na gāhate ||

‘They alone are said to be of great intellect (wisdom) who are farm in their conviction of the Self, beyond causality and ever the same. This ordinary men cannot grasp.’

Kena Upanishad describes Brahman as the adorable One (IV. 6):

तद्ध तद्वनं नाम तद्वनमित्युपासितव्यं स य एतदेवं
वेद अभिहैनं सर्वाणि भूतानि संवाञ्छन्ति ॥ ६ ॥

taddha tadvanaṃ nāma tadvanamityupāsitavyaṃ sa ya etadevaṃ
veda abhihainaṃ sarvāṇi bhūtāni saṃvāñchanti || 6 ||

‘Brahman is well known by the name Tadvanam; so It is to be meditated upon as Tadvanam, All beings love Him who knows Brahman as such.’

Now Shankara explains Tadvanam as;

तस्य प्राणिजातस्य प्रत्यगात्मभूतत्वात् वननीयम् सम्भजनीयम्, अतः तद्वनं नाम प्रख्यातम् ब्रह्म ।

tasya prāṇijātasya pratyagātmabhūtatvāt vananīyam sambhajanīyam, ataḥ tadvanaṃ nāma prakhyātam brahma |

‘Brahman is well known by the name Tadvanam because It is the innermost Self of all beings and therefore the most adorable, the most worshipful.’

Realization of Brahman as the innermost Self of all beings transforms the individual man into the universal man; he becomes Brahman. Naturally he is then loved by all, just as Brahman is so loved.

So what is this Brahman which promises fanciful results such as turning an individual man into a universal man?? Sounds interesting and fascinating isn't it??

Bhagavad Gita: Chapter 4, Verse 24

ब्रह्मार्पणं ब्रह्म हविर्ब्रह्माग्नौ ब्रह्मणा हुतम् |
ब्रह्मैव तेन गन्तव्यं ब्रह्मकर्मसमाधिना ||

brahmārpaṇaṁ brahma havir brahmāgnau brahmaṇā hutam
brahmaiva tena gantavyaṁ brahma-karma-samādhinā

For those who are completely absorbed in God-consciousness, the oblation is Brahman, the ladle with which it is offered is Brahman, the act of offering is Brahman, and the sacrificial fire is also Brahman. Such persons, who view everything as God, easily attain him.

Bhagavad Gita: Chapter 8, Verse 3

श्रीभगवानुवाच |
अक्षरं ब्रह्म परमं स्वभावोऽध्यात्ममुच्यते |
भूतभावोद्भवकरो विसर्ग: कर्मसञ्ज्ञित: ||

śhrī bhagavān uvācha
akṣharaṁ brahma paramaṁ svabhāvo ’dhyātmam uchyate
bhūta-bhāvodbhava-karo visargaḥ karma-sanjñitaḥ

The Lord said: The Supreme Indestructible Entity is called Brahman; one’s own self is called Adhyatma. Actions pertaining to the material personality of living beings, and its development are called karma, or fruitive activities.

Bhagavad Gita: Chapter 13, Verse 3

क्षेत्रज्ञं चापि मां विद्धि सर्वक्षेत्रेषु भारत |
क्षेत्रक्षेत्रज्ञयोर्ज्ञानं यत्तज्ज्ञानं मतं मम ||

kṣhetra-jñaṁ chāpi māṁ viddhi sarva-kṣhetreṣhu bhārata
kṣhetra-kṣhetrajñayor jñānaṁ yat taj jñānaṁ mataṁ mama

O scion of Bharat, I am also the knower of all the individual fields of activity. The understanding of the body as the field of activities, and the soul and God as the knowers of the field, this I hold to be true knowledge.

Lastly I would like to quote 2 verses so that you get the true nectar of what it is to be merged into Brahman or the Imperishable Truth. One from Bhagavad Gita, the other from Adi Shankara's Bhaja Govindam.

Bhagavad Gita: Chapter 8, Verse 8

अभ्यासयोगयुक्तेन चेतसा नान्यगामिना |
परमं पुरुषं दिव्यं याति पार्थानुचिन्तयन् ||

abhyāsa-yoga-yuktena chetasā nānya-gāminā
paramaṁ puruṣhaṁ divyaṁ yāti pārthānuchintayan

With practice, O Parth, when you constantly engage the mind in remembering me, the Supreme Divine Personality, without deviating, you will certainly attain me.

Adi Shankaracharya speaks thus:

भज गोविन्दं भज गोविन्दं
गोविन्दं भज मूढमते ।
सम्प्राप्ते सन्निहिते काले
नहि नहि रक्षति डुकृङ्करणे ॥

bhaja govindaṁ bhaja govindaṁ
govindaṁ bhaja mūḍha-mate |
samprāpte sannihite kāle
nahi nahi rakṣati ḍukṛṅkaraṇe ||

Worship Govinda, worship Govinda, Worship Govinda, oh fool! At the time of your death, Rules of grammar will not save you.