Bhagavad Gita Ch17 part 04 on 07 November 2021

Full Transcript(Not Corrected)

Om Jananim Sharadam Devim Ramakrishnam Jagadgurum Pada Padme Tayo Shritva Pranamami Mohur Moho Vasudevasudham Devam Kamsachanuram Ardhanam Devaki Paramanandam Krishnam Vande Jagadgurum Sarvopanishadho Gavo Dobdha Gopalanandana Partho Vatsah Sudhir Bhokta Dobdham Geetha Mritam Mahat Mukham Karoti Vachalam Pangum Langayate Girim Yath Kripathamaham Vande Paramanandamadham We are studying the 17th chapter of the Bhagavad Gita dealing with three types of Shraddha. The rough translation of Shraddha is faith but Shraddha is much more than faith. It is like something which sits on our heads, possesses our entire being and moves us. How we sit, how we breathe, how we lie down, what we think, how we act, how we react, what are our goals and how strong is our willpower, how strong is our memory, how strong is our concentration and what is the quantum of our happiness. Everything, a type of food, a type of dress, a type of lifestyle, a type of house, car, family, children, everything is determined by the word Shraddha. Shraddha is one. It is internal but it can manifest. As I give the illustration, light is one, it's pure but depending upon what coverings it is manifesting through, it can be of the varied colors, varied shapes, varied sizes, varied densities, etc. Now yesterday we were discussing about this manifestation, there is Sattvika Shraddha, Rajasika Shraddha and Tamasika Shraddha. Naturally the question that comes is how do we know? Answer is very easy. Observe the life, the thinking, the dress, the house, the way a person acts and interacts with everything in his life including the person's, the quality of the dream and the quality of the sleep. Of course we can never peep into the dream state, neither into the deep sleep state. So everything depends upon this particular Shraddha but what type of covering we cover it with, we limit it with. Every covering is a limitation. In the fourth verse we have seen if some people's covering is very light and that is called Sattvika Buddhi, they endowed with pure nature, then such a person worships God or Gods only for the purpose of purifying one's mind so that ultimately he can get Moksha or liberation. If a person's mind is restless, Rajasik, Shraddha is there but it is covered with Rajoguna. What does he do? His mind which is covered with Rajas manifests in the form of various I want power, I want name, I want fame, I want to dominate, everybody should only declare my greatness, my glory, my name. Therefore these desires dictate whom through whom he is going to get fulfillment of his own desires. Naturally, demigods etc who are supposed to be the masters controlling these various powers. So he will be worshiping such people but there are people and they are Tamasic people that means their mind is Tamasic mind and what is the Tamasic mind? It is thinking how to harm other people, how to rob them, how to kill them, how to dominate them, how to keep everybody under his thumb. Naturally, there are certain dark forces, evil forces like ghosts, ghouls etc. So he'll be worshiping them. This was the point we discussed yesterday. We do not know what type of mind a person has because nobody can read the mind excepting an enlightened sage. Even psychologists are completely in darkness with regard to the study of the mind but how do they become effective psychologists? By studying the behavior, the talk, the unexpressed desires etc. For that they employ dream interpretation, free talking, doodling, so many things they will do. So only a person who has developed intuition for such a person, he can, the other person's, anybody's mind is an open book like Sairam Krishna used to say I can see the contents of something which is in a glass case so also I can see the thoughts even those things which are suppressed the person himself doesn't know when a particular thought, desire is going to come up, dominate and bring him either up or down. Even the person is not aware but the sages can look into that matter. Since this topic has come, I'm going to give an illustration. So there was a brahmachari in our order at that time Swami Sivananda, a direct disciple of Sairam Krishna was the president. Once this brahmachari was sent to do some flood relief work and then he did wonderful job. He came back and he was given a lot of assistance and all of them having closed the camp, completed the work, came back to Berul Mutt. The brahmachari went to wash and change himself but the devotees directly went to president's room and then he asked how did the work go, relief go. They all praised the brahmachari. He worked very hard, extremely efficient and it was a great success. Meanwhile the brahmachari washed, changed, entered into the room. The moment he entered, the president went on scolding him severely. Of course, nobody could understand. Everybody expected some kind of praise because he just returned from a very successful completion of the relief work. Anyway, who is there to protest against it? Such was the power of these direct disciples. So, the devotees after some time took leave of the president Maharaj and went away. Again at night, the brahmachari came. He was very sensitive and he was still feeling the sting of the scoldings he received especially in the presence of other people. It is a very curious thing. If you scold somebody privately, there would be one type of effect but if you do, even less of a scolding in front of other people, then the person will get much more hurt. So, many monks and brahmacharis came, novices came and they all had a nice chat. At the end, they all returned and this brahmachari was still standing a bit morose and then very affectionately Swami Sivananda asked him, my boy, did you know why I scolded you? And then he said, no Maharaj, I tell you why. I saw that the seed of egotism that you had so successfully completed the work has already become planted and very soon it is going to grow into an implacable enemy in the form of egotism. So, by scolding you, I just removed it because you know that you are able to do all these things only because of the grace, the power, the intelligence that God had bestowed upon you. There is no credit for you in all these affairs. Now, that will not affect you because I have burned that seed even before it could sprout. So, great souls can see not only what is existing but what could exist in future and rear up their heads and bring havoc, disaster in our lives. So, now we do not know anything about these things. Therefore, the only way is by observing their actions. Even observing the actions, there are many ways of observing other people's actions. There are quite a number of people, oh this fellow, he thinks he has done good job even though the person himself is not feeling. So, that is one way. He is after name and fame. He wants this and this and this. Even if the person is God himself, they will criticize him. There are some people, yes, whatever be the motive, what you are doing is extraordinarily wonderful thing and we appreciate it. At least we should rise to this understanding. A person is doing good. Let's not bother about their motivations. Let us appreciate and encourage such a person. So, by observing objectively with reason, we can have a glimpse into the motivations of the people and then we can infer whether all these actions are because of sattva, prajna or tamas. Yesterday, I have summarized some very important points and I want to recollect for the benefit of all of us. First, aspirant seeking peace and happiness, worship benign gods who are of the nature of sattva and those who desire, I hope you took the point. If we are not talking about gods, those who are seeking peace, purity of the heart and real happiness, they choose to worship gods because the gods are endowment of, endowed with sattva guna and those who desire materialistic enjoyments and physical pleasures, worship fierce deities who excel in the manifestation of rajas and people under the influence of tamas, their minds are full of evil. So, they desire to do harm to other people, to rob them, to dominate them, to use them as their bond slaves. Naturally, their attention is turning to ghosts and evil spirits because that is what these ghosts and evil spirits are really doing. That is the third point. Fourth, different beings embodying sattva, rajas or tamas exist and worshippers have drawn to them according to their desires, according to their faith and according to their inclination. Five, but when worshipped with faith, all these, the ghosts also answer the prayers, the demigods answer the prayers, gods also answer the prayers, no effort will go in vain. So, they answer the prayers of their devotees and fulfill their respective desires. Six, from the Vedantic point of view, these deities are none other than manifestations of the Lord only. You may ask, even the ghosts, ghouls, of course, they are also manifestations. If they have any power, that power belongs to God. What about evil? If they are evil, from where does the evil come? Unlike some religions who say God only creates the good because a good Lord can never create evil, Hinduism is not naive at all. It says, if you see evil in this world and since God is the creator and we see both good and evil, so both good and evil must come down only from God. Here also there is a twist. The twist is, so do we know what is absolute good? Because what we interpret as good and the same thing becomes evil after some time and what we interpret as evil happens to be good for some time. I'll give you a small, it is from history but I will give it as an imaginary this thing. Imagine there is a chaotic country, people absolutely brainless, irrational, they don't listen to anybody and there is ineffective government and then somebody from the neighboring country like Saddam Hussein, he will come, take over and he becomes a dictator. Anybody who doesn't follow the rules, regulations imposed by him, they will be shot down dead, hanged etc. and then immediately you will see that the whole country out of fear, they will be obeying the rules and regulations of the motorways, of dress, of prayer, of everything in this world. Now do you say these people are evil or the people are good? Evil has a tremendous beneficial effect because whatever God creates has a beneficial effect. So pain has a beneficial effect, without pain nobody will turn to God, take it from me. Lord Krishna gives a beautiful example, there was a landlord and he has got a manager and this manager is so fierce, so evil that the tenants, they will just to shake in their knees even by hearing his name. So this person whenever he has to go collect the taxes on behalf of his master etc., these villagers, they all present, they are all very respectful and they are all, they pay their taxes whenever they can but they greatly fear. So the fear, whenever the landlord finds any part of his gemindari, his kingdom, what is called faithdom, some disorder, people are not listening, they are not working etc., he will say, the moment the people hear this fellow is coming, they all for everything speak and span. So without fear it is impossible even for God to maintain this world. That is why Lord Vishnu has got all those fearsome chakra, gatha and all those things. Shiva has got Trishula and all those things. We have to understand whatever comes from God is good, evil is also very good but we have to understand according to the nature. Anyway, just a thought flashed in my mind, so I thought I will share it with you. There is in the, what is called some people wanted to bring the law which was existing 15 years and 1500 years back into the country now and everybody, especially democratic countries, they are up in arms that you are evil and your government is bad. Is everything bad? Some things definitely bad whether in democratic governments or dictatorship governments but there are some things very good are there. So there are things that you have to attend prayer, you have to dress in a modest way, you should not become what is called a public type of persons, you have to behave in a particular way. So these values, given freedom, nobody will respect them but here under the pressure of the road, they are forced to do a lot of good things. Of course, that alone will not bring about a change but at least thieving, stealing, robbing and talking, whatever comes to their mind as it is happening in every democratic country practically, these things out of fear they will stop. My point is, whether you agree with me or not is not the point but my point is everything has its value and everything has got both good as well as evil value. We have to understand this but from the Vedantic point of view, the evolution is always from the lower to the higher. So even Tamasic worship is good, it will in course of time lead to Rajasic and from Rajasic to Sattvic and from Sattvic to finally beyond the three gunas and that is the goal of our life to know that Aham Brahmasmi. So rare is the man whose worship is characterized by Sattva. Most men perform their worship under the impulsion of faith characterized by Rajas and Tamas. Now how to slowly evolve? How does a Tamasic person evolve from Tamas to Rajas and Rajas to Sattva and Sattva to beyond the Sattva? How does he do it? So what we have to do is there are certain prescriptions are given but now the Lord is giving that the even every action done by these Tamasic people called demons, it is about whom we have studied very elaborately in our last chapter. These people whatever they do it is terrible. First we will go through this fifth and sixth verses then we will come what is the way to progress in life. Now here This is the fifth verse we are reading. Fifth and sixth verses describe the characteristics of a what is called a demonic nature Tamasic, pure Tamasic nature. What happens? Those vain, unconceited men who impelled by the force of their lust and attachment subject themselves to severe austerities not ordained by the scriptures. Remember this whole 17 chapters started with Shastra, scripture and by scripture I do not mean in fact I do not mean books at all I mean the teachings of wise people who know what is the real meaning of the teachings of the scriptures as interpreted by them but these people they do not think of the scriptures at all. What do you do? What the scripture never prescribed that means they do whatever comes to their mind at least do they have some kind of intuition rationality where they can say that this is right this is wrong no ghoram terrible thing and the lord is talking about Tapasya. Tapasya means austerity. What type of austerity? Ghoram Ghoram means ghoulish terrible and what is a terrible austerity that austerity first it is not prescribed by the scriptures or approved by the wise men second it is always the motivation is to rob, kill and somehow bring tremendous amount of inflict pain upon other people that is called ghoram those who perform this kind of austerity what kind of austerity not approved by the scriptures and ghoram terrible and then what type of minds they have got Dambha Ahamkara Sanyukta. Dambha means ostentation they want to show what tremendous tapasya they have done then as a result of doing these things before they even start their ahamkara egotism is sky high but once they start doing they give certificate to themselves we are doing a type of tapasya nobody before me has ever done and nobody is going to do in future I am the one only one of person Dambha Ahamkara. Dambha means show ostentation ahamkara full of egotism and then why are they doing this tapasya Kama, Raga, Bala, Anvithaha. Kama irrepressible passion desire is of many types many intensities oh I have got a desire I am hungry I want to eat food that is one type I am hungry but I want to eat only what gives me pleasure not what I am able to get it I am not happy and I will go to any lengths to obtain it that is called Raga. Raga means what tremendous unhappiness if my desire is not fulfilled and desire is common but its specific manifestation is completely different so I want only rare medium medium rare stick I don't want anything less than that I want that that very special fish and I gold gold fish or I want something which is exotic type of food it is imported from a long distance or what is called sometimes pigs dig up some kind of mushrooms and they are supposed to be one of the what is called most tasty things so this is Raga and then Raga means intense attachment then Bala unfortunately many of these evil people they are endowed with tremendous amount of both physical and willpower this is something very very surprising a good man most often is a goody goody fellow but an evil person they don't care and sometimes I take example of them many politicians are like that they are outright scoundrels thieves exceptions are there but most of them they are like that but one thing very good is there you know what from all the six sides from all the four directions from below from above what is called all the machine guns are lined up on them they are in the eyeing view of their mirror they want to discharge they get slight opportunity they want to blow them to smithereens but do you think they ever lose their sleep every day hundreds of people are criticizing them a bad name is being broadcast all over the world do you think these people lose even one second of sleep they don't if somebody tells you a word even an unmeaning and then for two years you will not get sleep you have to swallow sleeping tablets what kind of willpower is that so this has got tremendous Bala is there if you study the Hindu mythologies so whether it is Ravanasura, Narakasura, Basmasura, Hiranyakashipu, Hiranyaksha how many numbers of these demons are mentioned in our Hindu mythologies in the Ramayana in the Bhagavata Ravanasura etc etc so these are the people they perform this kind of tapasya and full of ostentation full of show full of egotism but and full of attachment tremendous power I want only that I will not accept anything I am prepared to do anything even destroy the whole world if it helps me to obtain my desire so these people do tapasya that is not enjoined by the scriptures and they are full of pretensions and egotism and then they're all their so-called religious activities are meant to declare to the world that they are religious this is called Dambha what is it religiosity and it is also to increase for the sake of their egotism pride etc and they have very strong desires Kama, Raga, Bala, Anvithaha and then what do they do they also inflict themselves in some of their church monasteries there are what is called self-flagellation that is they take one whip and it it is endowed with very sharp hooks and they go on whipping themselves in the back until the whole body becomes very bloody such type of things are not prescribed at all in any scriptures even Buddha he says the medium path the golden media that is neither two extremes but a middle way that is the greatest way so any austerity that implies self-affliction that is bad for the health bad for the body bad for the mind etc not only it is bad for that but the lord is going to tell they are also afflicting me so when a person's motive is bad it we have to understand his mind also is bad so the motive determines the nature of the tapasya as gave the example Ramanasura what did he want he wanted what is called he wanted to be unequaled emperor of this entire world nobody should be able to conquer him similarly Hiranyakashyapu but in the nature of the world is he who is born he will be growing he will become young he will become old he will become afflicted with diseases one day death is certain even god cannot make our body and mind permanent so these are the people then the lord is further commenting upon these people in the sixth verse and fools that they are fools means what those who misunderstand truth that is called fools there are two words here we have to be very cautious about it one is ignorant ignorant people are those who do not know therefore they cannot even do wrong things but foolish people not only they do not know but they think they know that means they have complete wrong understanding about life about god about themselves about the world about everything and that such a fellow fool torture their bodily organs and me too who dwell within the body know that their fine dish in their resolves so i will give first some examples one is a real incident there was a monk he went into a solitary place and he got a hut constructed and he started staying there and he said i will never see the face of a woman 50 years have passed he was a very sincere person so lot of people sincere disciples gathered heard about him and attracted by him and they became his disciples and they had high admiration because he was self-controlled in everything in food in dress in sleep and full of love everything 50 years have passed and one day evening he was sitting alone in his cottage suddenly he heard the anklets a sound of anklets and immediately unconsciously helplessly he ran to the door to see where what is the source of this sound then he saw there was a village woman she was quite aged she came to gather to some firewood and she did her job and she was going back to the village and women in india usually put on these anklets especially village women etc so this person not that he did not know he grew up in an indian village family and he knew but the power of that unconscious desire was 50 years the person who has managed not to see the face of a woman because the face of a woman is a tempting and then immediately he ran but immediately he realized that is where our story comes in he regretted oh legs you have broken my resolve and you ran without my permission and in in future you are not going to do that so he took a machete and broke both his legs so that in future he will never be able to his legs will not be able to carry out this is what the lord is referring here karshayantaha evirastam who is the responsible is it his mind or is it his legs what can the poor legs do it is the if he had no desire that means even though 50 years he had not seen the face of a woman but his desire to see a woman it is not eradicated from his mind vishwamitra thousand years of his life felt like a pack of cards so these are not to criticize people but to understand that unnecessarily cutting of the legs cutting of the organs of generation they are not going to solve our problems because the mind will fulfill its desires in some mysterious ways much worse than these things so this is what we have to understand they also these people those who do this kind of non-prescribed types of activities including tapasya etc and they suffer and they make more than themselves other people how do they suffer first of all and they obtain some powers because any austerity brings in definitely in its as an end result some power no doubt about it so in that power but with unpurified minds there is more likelihood of doing more evil than good so they afflict other people but more important they afflict me the divinity that which is within why is it so because we will come to that point so why do these demonic people do such a destructive tapasya because they have no thinking propensity their thinking is very irrational that's why the lord says achetasaha here chetasaha means chetasaha means a mind which is capable of discriminating rightly and capable of arriving at the right conclusion but these are achetasaha impulsive lacking discrimination not only do they afflict their own bodies supposing here is a person he is alone he is afflicting on himself but it won't stop there it will be also afflicting the other people more important than that even if there is nobody else they are afflicting me who is dwelling inside the bodies and minds of all these people and we have to understand it mam cha antah sharir astham karshayantah mam me antah sharir astham who is dwelling inside the body in the form of the mind in the form of the body made up of five elements these five elements are nothing but manifestations of the divine lord so in what form the lord is going to suffer he is a witness and he is as a narayana as the antarya mean dweller is observing all that is going on do you think these people they will be progressing in spiritual life by performing this kind of tapasya so the question comes how can they afflict here is if somebody is thinking properly this question comes how can anybody afflict the atman it is not an object it is pure subject it is not subject to any karma nobody can do anything the atman can do everything but nobody can do anything to the atman it is as we studied in especially in the second chapter and many other subsequent chapters that it is eternal witness it can never be affected by what the body is doing mind is doing all these ideas we have seen it is what is called completely detached so why does the bhagavan make such a statement they're afflicting me because the antaryami says first of all i have given a manual when i manufactured this body and mind remember even so-called demon people god did not create them demonic but the persons through their wrong thinking wrong actions as a result they slowly went down and down with the wrong type of samskaras tendencies and then what happens the lord is watching they are as it were killing themselves they are instead of evolving or they are devolving they are going down and down and down why are they going down because they are not confirming to the teachings of the scriptures to the teachings of the wise people they're neglecting dharma they do not know what is dharma they they do not know what is adharma they think dharma is adharma and adharma is dharma they think righteousness as unrighteousness and unrighteousness as righteousness and this is how their actions manifest according to this wrong thinking understanding and in this way they are disobeying the lord anushasanam the lord has said this is my anushasana my commandment and you are not following my commandment what does it really mean it means instead of manifesting our divinity more and more we are covering the divinity more and more this is called afflicting the lord supposing there is a person and you claim he you love that person and you go on throwing that person into the underground and covering that person with thick black cover suffocating that person all the while declaring i love this person only in this case a person is going down and down himself and covering himself more and more this is how non-manifestation of divinity is called giving affliction to the divine lord same idea we find in the third mantra of the shavasya upanishad that so there are people exactly the same words asuras demons so pretya having given up the body because of all the things that they have done while living what do they do they enter into the dense dark worlds and then as if they have committed suicide nobody can commit suicide but it means they are covering up their own divinity that means it will take a long time for them again even to come to the normal state which could have been easily avoided had they only followed the scriptures exactly bhagavad-gita is following the teachings of the shavasya upanishad because earlier to this third mantra see that as long as life is there as long as there is sanity and energy one should follow the scriptures then what happens that fulfill your desires and slowly evolve and the end of the evolution is put forth at the very outset of the shavasya upanishad to see the whole universe including oneself as none other than brahma to see god everywhere which holy mother says my child you nobody is a stranger the whole world is your own make it your own in this sense cognize it recognize it that the whole world is none other than my own self or it is nothing but god and curiously holy mother's teachings the greatest tapasya is to stop finding fault with others and to find one's own fault this is very important so this is how these people are afflicting me and then he says asura nishaya oh arjuna by this when you find this kind of people doing this kind of thing then you know for sure that those people are demonic people they are they bring suffering on themselves on other people they afflicting me all around they are thomasic people now arjuna when you look at it understand why is he telling understanding shankaracharya here he comes to our aid he says if you see other people walking in a particular path and then they are slipping and falling down and getting injured or even dying when you look at it if you still blindly follow them blind means what you are able to see but you don't have that buddhi that these people are falling in front of me so i would i would not like to fall i would try to avoid let me find out some other safe path instead of doing like many sheep following the lead sheep they fall andhenaiva niyamana yathanda are there any lack of such people a billions and billions are there a leader a blind leader says that you have to follow the society how it was behaving 1600 years before now also you have to behave exactly the same way and there are people if you say anything they get very angry and they are likely to cut off your head these are the asuras there so when we become aware this is a wrong way then only there is a chance for us to avoid that path and then bring good to ourselves we see so many people are eating so many sweets and they are suffering from terrible disease they say diabetic is the mother of all diseases when we look at other people and if you keep your eyes open and with wisdom and understanding and rationality you see these people are living this lifestyle and it is not making them happier it is making them unhappy you should be able to instead of blindly following say no i will not follow them let me see there may be other people who are happier fulfilled in life let me follow that is what he said that is the pathway we studied in the yaksha prashna that which is followed by wise people that is how we have to understand so now the question that i raised earlier yes understand intellectually i have to evolve travel from the lower to the higher from tamas to rajas from rajas to sattva from sattva to go beyond sattva remember sri ramakrishna story of the three robbers even the sattva guna cannot take you to your home which is god so how do we bring about it how do we become gunatita how to evolve from tamas to rajas to sattva and then go beyond all the three gunas gunatita that is what the goal how do we do that by bringing about a change in our lifestyle our daily activities such as what such as food jigna tapasya and dhanam the lord details four important values in life i will discuss a little bit about values now so first he is talking about there are three types of food depending upon whether a person is having sattva guna, rajo guna, tamo guna now in the 19th century there was what is some whom some people call the father of the modern psychology in united states of america called william james he had discovered something which is which was supposed to be seemed to be a new discovery but really it was not long before our people knew about it and that is how they evolved a methodology how to make every person evolve manifest more and more divinity what was this person's so-called old new discovery of the old truth that not only actions follow feelings but feelings are also created by actions see if you are angry you you shout angrily and you might beat somebody angrily that is because the emotion the feeling inside automatically transforms our actions outside that is very easily understandable but if you go on pretending that i am angry go on shouting even though inside you are laughing you are pretending to be angry many times we see these actions very slowly bring about a transformation the person really becomes angry and then he he behaves of course he behaves like a angry man by that time it is too late and this subject has been so beautifully elaborated in seven steps in the second chapter what is called sthita prajna rakshanas the characteristics of a wise person realized soul that's i hope you remember two into verses so what is this seven stepped way that this is what exactly the lord is bringing in a graphic way our life starts with food we are born from food we grow in food and again we become merged in food then you see there are certain hierarchical values which i will deal with first necessity is survival survival is means food clothing shelter and then comes okay my i am safe i have security what do i do that means i must do certain things in order to fulfill some of my higher needs this is called yagna so yagna means worship worship means not we need not think the vedic times these to lit a fire and offer clarified butter etc that was at that time now whatever type of worship is it is visiting the temples visiting the ashramas cultivating satsanga going on pilgrimage and performing the duties according to the scriptural injunctions all these fall under this yagna why do we do that in the beginning we do it for the fulfillment of our desires once our desires are somewhat quelled then deep thinking will come and then you say no i have got higher values in life so i want to understand our scriptures what is life about what is the goal of life etc this is the secondary that is i become an enquirer and after enquiring and then i understand god is the only goal because by reaching god i i become completely hundred percent fulfilled for eternity and that's what after all we are seeking man as victor frankl says is a meaning seeking human being and we are all seeking fulfillment when we we are fulfilled when we feel feel satiated then we say life is full of meaning but the highest way of fulfillment is to manifest our own divinity from within us so these are the what earlier the lord also has described first is we are in the state of distress second is in the state of wanting third is we are in the state of inquiry fourth is we are in the state of complete knowledge right knowledge and then the evolution comes to an end so that is what igna is really means fulfillment of lower desires then a little higher desires then the highest desire that is the second higher step then the but how to do tapasya i know i have to realize god how to do there is no other way tapasya what is tapasya to develop vivekand vairagya what is vivekand vairagya i know what is right and what is wrong but it must be followed supplemented supported by giving up completely what is obstructive to my future evolution that is called dispassion so passion is turned into dispassion not by stifling but by getting higher joy higher fulfillment higher meaning in the higher type of lifestyle this is called tapasya and once i attain my goal then i have to share what i have obtained that is called dana so this is how the values change according to this hierarchical first physical needs then intellectual needs then aesthetic needs then moral needs then spiritual needs and this is so beautifully put food igna worship the food mean food ahara igna that means worship that means anything that slowly aids my further development both external and internal tapasya that solely concentrating focusing upon that which is worthy of goal and according to hindu system of values dharma first artha next karma third but finally moksha and once i go on i attain what i want to attain i have the duty if god permits to share it with other people so in that order first food means it includes food shelter clothing physical needs then igna worship then austerity then finally dhanam caring and sharing in that order now i will talk a little bit as we have few minutes time about values so there are values and there are needs so there was a very intellectual person in america he was called alan bloom and he wrote a very beautiful book a closing of the american mind somewhere in the 1960s there was what people call a cultural revolution or the age of the flower children hippies hippies etc at that time the whole culture of the society has changed first in america and then it's what happens in america yesterday happens today will spread tomorrow gradually faster than covid so reviewing this that situation at that time alan bloom this is what he says so what does he say the new language is that of value relativism and it constitutes a change in our view things moral and political as great as the one that took place when christianity replaced greek and roman paganism so when jesus christ was born a tremendous cultural revolution has taken place and that is equivalent to that revolution has been taking place now he writes of course in from the 1960s this one then here is the summary more than the increase in immorality immorality remember hippies hippies any man any woman they reverted to the primitive stage they can sleep with each other there is no morality immorality these are all nothing but certain bygone values old values that is what these fellows have preached and started practicing it why because it is very easy to go down you don't need to do anything going up only requires tremendous amount of effort so here is the essence more than the increase in immorality it is the elimination of the notion of guilt if somebody is immoral there are two conditions there is one person he has done something immoral but he feels terribly guilty and that was what saves the man is going to save the man in future but in this revolution what happened that sense of guilt has been completely eliminated and said there is no guilt so it is this elimination of the notion of guilt from modern man's mind that alan bloom finds profoundly disturbing a drastic change in modern man's concept of morality has taken place it's well known that man has an hierarchy of needs which provide the motivation for his behavior so we will discuss what are these values only when we have this background we can we are in a better position to understand the teachings of bhagwan krishna the teachings of the bhagavad gita because remember one important point i'm making bhagavad gita was preached thousands of years back but the values that have been preached the ideals that have been highlighted and upheld they are as good today and they will be good for eternity and that is why ram krishna is once more incarnated to demonstrate to us the same truths in his life so that we will not have any doubt about the value we will talk about the value of these values in our next class may ram krishna holy mother and swami vekananda bless us all with bhakti jai ram krishna