View source for Bhagavad Gita Ch18 part 48 on 29 May 2022

== Full Transcript(Not Corrected) ==
Om Jananem Sharadam Devem Ramakrishnam Jagadgurum Adapatmetayo Shritva Pranamami Mohor Moho
Om Vasudevasutam Devam Kamsachanuramardhanam
Devaki Paramanandam Krishnam Vande Jagadgurum
Sarvopanishadho Gavo Dogdha Gopalanandanah
Partho Vatsah Sudhir Bhokta Dogdham Gita Amritam Mahat
Mukam Karoti Vachalam Pangum Langayate Girim
Yat Kripatamaham Vande Paramanandam Adavam
Today, according to Sri Ramakrishna's calendar, is a very sacred day.
This is called Halaharini Kali Puja.
Usually, Kali Puja is done on two occasions.
One is that which comes practically in the month of May,
but the more important one usually is that which comes after Durga Puja.
And today happens to be the first one, that which occurs in the month of May.
This is called Halaharini Kali Puja.
Many of our devotees do not know the meaning of the word.
Halah means results.
Results of whatever a person has done in all the past lives until now,
and our bodies, our minds, our present happiness and unhappiness
is the result of all that we did in the past.
And if we worship the Divine Mother today specially,
then she will eat up.
Harini means one who destroys, one who eats up,
and when there are no results of karma phalas,
this whole samsara, transmigration will not be there.
In other words, today, out of her infinite grace,
the Divine Mother will eat up all our samskaras,
all our karma phalas and grants us complete liberation.
This is the first sacredness of this day.
Second, on this particular day,
Sri Ramakrishna had worshipped the Holy Mother as a 16 year old virgin
and offered everything that he obtained until that time
and made her the trustee of all that he had offered to her.
Henceforward, you will be the Divine Mother
and you will be distributing to your children
according to your discretion,
which really means no discretion,
which really means she will look upon all her children equally.
She will not judge like any other mother
whether my child is good or bad.
If only the children choose to call her with love,
with sincerity,
you are my mother, I am your child,
and she will use the powers entrusted to her by Sri Ramakrishna
and advance in spiritual life.
Finally, she has the power to grant liberation if we wish.
And that is the second significance of today's day.
On this sacred day,
may the Divine Mother bless us all with bhakti and with knowledge
and may we continue our spiritual journey
in the form of especially these discussions.
That is the context.
Now, by the grace of Bhagavan Krishna,
Bhagavan Ramakrishna and especially Holy Mother,
who is the embodiment of Saraswati,
the Goddess of Wisdom,
we have been able to successfully complete
18 chapters of the Bhagavad Gita.
In our last class yesterday,
we had explored the meaning of the 18th chapter.
The 18th chapter is really the very essence of the entire Bhagavad Gita.
Just to recollect that all of us are possessed of
or we have been controlled by three gunas.
The purpose, goal in life is to move from the lower guna,
which is Tamo guna, to Rajo guna, to Sattva guna.
And Sattva guna, when it is dominant,
it will decide clear understanding,
clear goal, a strong will power
and all the favorable things that can advance our spiritual progress.
And the final step in that spiritual progress
is complete surrender to the Divine.
Why?
Because these three gunas are the very constituent elements of Mahamaya
and the power of Mahamaya belongs to the Divine Lord.
It is the power of the Lord.
In another way, it is the Divine Lord,
manifestation of the Divine Lord.
And unless we surrender to God,
surrendering to Mahamaya,
surrendering to Vidyamaya
is equivalent to surrendering to the Divine Mother
and Bhagawan, Creator, Ishwara, Parabrahman, whatever name we choose to call it.
And only through that way, by His grace,
the Maya consisting of three gunas is completely withdrawn
and once the three gunas go away from us,
we become free.
Samsara, Prakruti, Worldliness,
everything is nothing but synonymous names.
So when three gunas are gone, Maya is gone.
Just as when we wake up completely,
all the dream world will vanish like magic.
So also this Samsara will disappear.
But this Mahamaya can be overcome only by the grace of God
and the grace of God comes in the form of
right understanding,
right determination,
right speech,
right thinking,
and right actions.
And then as Bhagawan Buddha puts it,
right Samadhi.
And that is the essence of the 18th chapter.
O man, God and His grace.
God is the goal, His grace,
to receive His grace
through our effort.
And where we are ready to receive the grace
and God's grace is always there.
Not that at some point, some place,
for some reason it manifests.
It is always there.
Like the cool breeze,
we have to open, unfurl the sails as Ramakrishna says.
And that is the goal of life
and we become free.
This is the essence of the 18th chapter
and this is the essence of the entire Bhagavad Gita.
But in a formal way,
we have to recollect.
It is a kind of recollection.
And this analogy comes to me
that there is a Sutra literature,
literature of aphorisms.
An aphorism is nothing
but the teaching of the teacher.
After an elaborate explanation,
he compresses the whole teaching
into a meaningful small sentence
consisting of as less words as possible.
And this works like a mnemonic,
reminder that which arouses our memory.
And there it is,
Brahma Sutras, Dharma Sutras,
Yoga Sutras, Bhakti Sutras,
they are all elaborate explanations given,
but in the end given to the student
as pegs, as files.
The moment file name is remembered,
the entire file can be pulled out.
The content becomes extremely clear.
And that is what this 18th chapter is like.
So we have journeyed through this Bhagavad Gita
and especially I have tried to interpret it
in the light of Sri Ramakrishna,
Holy Mother and Swami Vivekananda.
And why also it will become clear
in today itself
when we hear the words of Swami Vivekananda.
So all these few years of so much,
so much of explanation of 700 shlokas
must be recollected.
It may not be possible to recollect
every single shloka,
but if we recollect the essential points,
that's very, very useful for us
because there are three steps.
First is listening.
Second is deeply pondering,
cogitating, thinking
until all the doubts are clear,
the essence becomes very clear
and then we have to make it our own
by deep meditation upon them.
And it is this third step
that really is capable of transforming our lives
and making it blessed.
That means we will slowly progress in spiritual life
and one day we are sure to attain to God
and nobody will be left over.
I do not know how many classes it will take,
but I can definitely tell not more than
two or three classes.
So with this purpose in mind,
let us go through the essence.
Bhagavad Gita occurs in the
Brihishma Parva of Mahabharata.
Mahabharata is called an epic,
Itihasa,
but it is really not an Itihasa,
not a historical fact,
presented in the form of
a beautiful explanation,
easily understandable
through the stories
of good and evil people
and in between
pearls of wisdom have been given.
This Bhagavad Gita
occurs in the Brihishma Parva.
A few more details,
I will come a little bit later on
because I would like to
first bring to our notice
that what the great ones
have really said about Gita
because even to
understand the greatness,
the glory,
the Mahima,
Gita Mahima,
we are not capable.
We can only rely upon the words
of these great people
so that we can have faith
and through the eye of the faith,
Shraddha Chikshu,
we can view this entire Bhagavad Gita,
then Shraddha will slowly percolate.
It is only a person with Shraddha,
intense faith,
who will be able to understand
and transform the life.
This Mahabharata is called
Panchama Veda,
the fifth Veda.
And what does it mean?
In Hindu lore,
in Vedanta philosophy,
we have four Vedas
which are the primary scriptures.
They are not human-made,
man-made,
but it is God
directly manifesting
in the form of
these four books.
They are not books.
They are knowledge itself.
And these Vedas contain two parts.
The first part is called Karmakanda.
The second part is called Gnanakanda.
And many people misinterpret.
Only few people really understand.
Vedas, scriptures,
never teach anything which is useless,
which is redundant,
what is called Arthavada,
mere eulogy.
No.
Only that which is true
and only that which is really beneficial
for the good of humanity.
That is only presented in the Vedas.
The first part is meant as a preparation.
The second part is called experimentation.
Only these two parts,
Karmakanda and Gnanakanda,
which I prefer to call
Dharmakanda and Brahmakanda.
So the purpose of the Mahabharata
is to present the teachings of the Upanishads
in the form of stories,
illustrations, etc.
It is a marvelous encyclopedia
of human life in every aspect.
Enlightening man externally,
intellectually,
aesthetically,
morally,
and spiritually.
And this particular scripture
that is taught by the Lord
is called Bhagavad Gita.
Bhagavad means Bhagwan, God.
Gita means song.
Whatever comes out
from the mouth of a mother
who is addressing her child
is the sweetest thing in the world.
So this is the sweetest song.
And whatever comes from the mother's mouth
is nothing but that which is
for the welfare of the child,
for the good of the child,
for the happiness of the child,
for the health of the child.
This Bhagavad Gita is compared
to the Supreme Mother
whose only purpose
is to bring about the welfare
of the entire humanity.
Whoever is devoted,
have faith,
and then read it,
listen to it,
study it,
talk about it,
of which we discussed
at the end of the 18th chapter.
So Bhagavad Gita means
the song of the Lord,
the song of the Divine Mother.
It's a direct teaching of Krishna to Arjuna.
It's a dialogue between God and the soul.
Every soul is longing to be with God.
That is the real purpose.
So who is Krishna?
Krishna is Truth.
Krishna is God.
Krishna is Knowledge.
Every sincere sadhaka is Arjuna.
Now what do these great people,
like say Ramakrishna,
especially because we are followers,
most of us are followers of Ramakrishna,
Holy Mother and Swami Vivekananda,
and direct disciples.
What are these great people?
What do they say about it?
Bhagavad Gita is the very essence of Vedanta.
Vedanta is another name for Upanishads.
That's why we chant every day,
every time,
Sarva Upanishad Gavaha.
All the Upanishads are compared to cows.
Krishna is the milker of the cows.
And the essence is this Bhagavad Gita,
compared to the milk of a cow.
And the drinkers, enjoyers,
are those sincere sadhakas
who would like to advance in life.
This Bhagavad Gita is a Moksha Shastra primarily,
that which tells us who we are,
and that which helps us
get rid of this limitation,
bondage, transmigration,
samsara, rebirth.
It is also a Dharma Shastra.
What is a Dharma Shastra?
If life is compared to a game,
and every game has its own peculiar,
specific rules and regulations.
If life is a game,
and there are specific rules and regulations,
and we must be aware of those rules and regulations,
and when we play the life,
the game called life,
according to the rules and regulations,
life becomes a greatest blessing.
And Dharma is that.
I gave three different meanings earlier.
Dharma means immediate duty.
Dharma means expansion of self,
by identifying oneself with everything else,
called morality.
And finally, to know who we really are,
and become totally free.
So, it is a scripture of liberation.
It is a scripture how to be very happy,
even in this world,
and at the same time,
progress towards the real goal of life.
And it is depth practical psychology.
All these roles,
rolled into one grand symphony.
This is called Bhagavad Gita.
In the latest psychological terminology,
it is the greatest CBT book.
CBT means what?
Cognitive Behavioural Therapy.
This is a marvellous development
in practical psychology,
that we cannot change the world.
We cannot change the situations.
For example, the present situation.
Study the present situation with the eye of wisdom.
Take the example of the war that is going on,
Yuric Crimea.
First of all, many people tried.
Probably Russians also tried.
Probably Putin also tried.
But nobody can stop it.
Why?
Because the world is not run by Putin,
or Ukraine, or America, or Britain, or India.
It is run solely by the will of God.
It has to happen.
And whatever happens in this world,
has a meaning.
It is our goal to find out the meaning.
Because nothing happens without the will of God.
And whatever happens by the will of God
has a deep meaning.
And whatever happens by the will of God
is for the good of everybody,
which we do not seem to realise immediately.
But look back.
And then we say,
well, now I understand.
That was very good.
Had it not happened,
we would have been in a worse situation now.
So it is this kind of wisdom
with which we have to look at Bhagavad Gita.
Bhagavad Gita is a book which knows
every problem of life
and has the right solutions for all of them.
And all problems, according to Vedanta,
is comprised of three sections,
classified into three sections.
Adhyatmika, Adhibhautika, and Adhidaivika.
Simply put together,
it means physical problems,
mental problems,
and spiritual problems.
And nobody can escape them.
Everyone has to face them,
either in the past,
or now,
or in future.
There is no escape.
Because that is what is life.
And that is what Sri Ramakrishna's wisdom
comes to our understanding.
His world is like the curly tail of a dog.
It is not going to change.
But it need not change.
In fact, if it changes,
it won't be a world.
On the other hand,
this is the greatest blessing.
Whatever the power of God,
Mahamaya does,
it's for good.
And that simple fact,
most people do not seem to understand.
Why does God create a world
which is full of suffering?
People do not understand
that suffering is the ultimate severe.
Misery is the gift of God.
Suffering is the grace of God.
Only suffering can remove
all the negativity from us
and see life as it is
and help us go to God,
progress to God.
Nobody had become a great person
by eating sweetmeats.
So, Bhagavad Gita is a book
which knows every problem of life
and has right solutions for all of them.
It has solutions for the
external physical problems.
It has solutions for psychological problems.
It has solutions for, of course,
spiritual problems.
Now, Sri Ram Krishna and Swami Vivekananda
had the very highest regard for it.
Swami Vivekananda used to carry
a copy of the Bhagavad Gita
and Imitation of Christ
among the few books
that he used to carry.
And here is what Sri Ram Krishna says,
You see, there is no need to read
too many of the scriptures.
If you read too much,
you will be inclined to reason and argue.
It is not necessary even to read
the whole of the Gita.
The purpose of reading the book, Gita,
is served if one practices renunciation.
Then he goes on to explain it.
Ram Krishna says,
What is the significance of the Gita
Nangtha, that is Sri Ram Krishna's
Advaita Guru, Totapuri,
whom he used to address as Nangtha,
means the naked one.
He used to be naked.
He used to teach me thus.
What you get by repeating the word Gita
ten times fast
is the essence of the book.
If we repeat Gita,
Gita, Gita, Gita, Gita,
it is then reversed into Thagi,
which means a person
who has renounced everything for God.
The essence of the Gita is
a man renounces everything
and practices spiritual disciplines
and realizes God.
Whether a man is a monk or a householder,
he has to shake off all attachments
from his mind.
He alone has understood the secret of the Gita,
who has renounced his attachment
to lust and gold
and has directed his entire love to God.
Sri Ram Krishna
teaches every man
to become a Thagi,
Tyagi,
Tyaga,
means renunciation.
What does it mean?
It means giving up
our false notions about ourselves
and realize our real nature
that we are the children of the immortal
Amrutasya Putraaha.
Now what has Swami Vivekananda
got to say?
Here are a few words.
Then the Gita,
no matter commentary on the Vedas
has been written or can be written.
Final statement.
Essence of the Shrutis or the Upanishads
is harder to be understood.
Saying that there are so many commentators,
each one trying to interpret in his own way.
Then the Lord Himself comes,
He who is the author of the Shrutis
to show us the meaning of them
as the preacher of the Gita.
And today India wants nothing better,
the world wants nothing better
than that method of interpretation.
What do you find in the Gita?
And what do you find in the commentators?
What do you find?
Book torturing.
But you find in the Gita
there is no attempt at torturing any of them.
They are all right, says the Lord.
For slowly and gradually
the human soul rises up and up
step after step
from the gross to the fine,
from the fine to the finer
until it reaches the absolute, the goal.
Then what is in the Gita?
This is what is said.
Even the Karmakanda is taken up
which so many commentators,
especially Shankaracharya
criticizes mercilessly
and ever since his time
post Shankarites
go on criticizing without understanding
that Veda is an integral whole.
It has no divisions.
Here is what Swami Vivekananda says.
Even the Karmakanda is taken up
and it is shown
that that is also equally valid.
Images are valid indirectly.
Ceremonies, forms, everything is valid
only with one condition.
They help us acquire purity of the heart.
For worship is valid
and leads to the goal
if the heart is pure
and the heart is sincere.
And all these various modes of worship are necessary.
Else, why should they be there?
Religions and sects
are not the work of hypocrites
and wicked people
who invented all these
to get a little money
as some of our modern men
suggest to think, to believe.
However reasonable that explanation may seem,
it is not true
and they were not invented at all.
They are the outcome of the necessity
of the human soul.
They are all here.
What are all here?
Ceremonies, rituals, mantras, repetitions,
yajnas, pujas, pilgrimages, etc.
They are all here
to satisfy the hankering and thirst
of different classes of human minds
and you need not preach against them.
The day when that necessity will cease,
they will vanish along with the cessation of that necessity.
But so long as that necessity remains,
they must be there
in spite of your preaching,
in spite of your criticism.
You may bring the sword
or the gun into play.
You may use the world with human blood
but so long as there is a necessity for idols,
they must remain.
These forms and all the various steps in religion
will remain
and we understand from the Lord Sri Krishna
why they should.
Just a little commentary of my own on this.
Islam doesn't accept any other religion.
It is fanatical about saying
salvation comes only through our religion.
And especially Hinduism
is pure idolatry.
This is why
Swami Vivekananda was forced to say
you may bring the sword
and try to convert people.
You may bring the gun as Christians have done
whether they are in China,
or in India, or in Africa.
You may use the whole world with human blood
and that's what has happened
and that what is happening
and that what will happen
if sufficient power is given
unto these fanatics.
But so long as there is a necessity,
so long as man has not outgrown
the need for these aids,
helps, symbols,
they will have to remain
and they will come in one form or the other.
We continue from Swami Vivekananda's quotation.
This great poem, the Bhagavad Gita
is called to be the crown jewel
of all Indian literature.
It is a commentary on the Vedas.
It shows us that our battle for spirituality
must be fought out in this life.
So we must not flee from it,
flee from life,
but rather compel it to give us
all that it holds.
As the Gita typifies
a struggle for higher things,
it is highly poetical
to lay the skin in a battlefield.
Krishna in the guise of a charioteer to Arjuna
leader of one of the opposing armies
urges him not to be sorrowful,
not to fear death,
since he knows he is immortal,
that nothing which changes can be
in the real nature of man.
Through chapter after chapter,
Krishna teaches the highest truths of philosophy
and religion to Arjuna.
Practically, the whole of the Vedanta philosophy
is included in the teachings of the Bhagavad Gita.
And then he summarizes
knowledge of the Atman
is the highest aim of the Gita.
The Bhagavad Gita is the best commentary we have
on the Vedanta philosophy.
This is the secret of work
to attain which is the goal of the Vedanta.
He who in the midst of the greatest activity
finds the sweetest peace
and in the midst of the greatest calmness
is most active,
he has known the secret of life.
Krishna shows us the way how to do this
by being non-attached.
Do everything, but do not get identified with anything.
You are the soul, the pure, the free all the time.
You are the witness.
This is the central idea of the Gita
to be calm and steadfast
in all circumstances
with one's body, mind and soul,
centered at his hallowed feet.
Wherein lies the originality of the Gita
which distinguishes it
from all preceding scriptures?
This was the question put by Swamiji himself.
It is this.
Though before its advent
Yoga, Jnana, Bhakti
each had its strong adherents.
They all quarreled among themselves,
each claiming superiority for his own chosen path.
No one ever tried to seek for reconciliation
among these differing paths.
It was the author of the Gita
who for the first time tried to harmonize them.
He took the best from what all these sects
then existing had to offer
and threaded them into the Gita.
On 4th January 1900
Vivekananda told in a lecture at Los Angeles, California
One of the greatest lessons
I have learnt in my life
is to pay as much attention
to the means of work
as to its end.
And he was a great man
from whom I learnt it.
And his own life
was a practical demonstration
of this great principle.
I have been always learning great lessons
from that one principle
and it appears to me
that all the secret of success is there
to pay as much attention to the means
as to the end.
My commentary.
In fact, Swami Vivekananda goes to say
Once you have fixed your goal,
the end, forget it.
Now pay all attention to the means.
And the person from whom Swami Vivekananda learnt
this great lesson
was not Sri Ramakrishna.
It was Pabahari Baba of Ghajipur.
Now I will give a small quotation
from Mahatma Gandhiji.
This is what he has to say.
When doubts haunt me,
when disappointments stare me in the face,
and when I see not one ray of light on the horizon,
I turn to Bhagavad Gita
and find a verse to comfort me,
and I immediately begin to smile
in the midst of overwhelming sorrow.
My life has been full of external tragedies
and if they have not left any visible
and indelible effect on me,
I owe it to the teachings of Bhagavad Gita.
This was what Mahatma Gandhi had to say.
I just now recollected an incident
from the life of Swamiji.
Sometime in 1897 or 98,
I do not recollect,
there was a terrible economic downturn.
The whole world was suffering actually.
That was one of the greatest
economical disasters that happened.
Thousands of people had literally committed suicide,
unable to live a life.
One day, one of such people
who was thinking of committing suicide
in a highly depressed state
came to know that there was a Hindu Swami
who was to lecture nearby in a hall.
He did not know much about
but anyway he went.
He came out and then he turned to his wife.
I do not know who that wife was.
He said, it is absolutely fine.
After all, these things happen in life.
Let us continue with life.
How did this transformation for a man
who was thinking of suicide come about?
Because Swami Vivekananda had taught
the essence of Gita.
What did Swami Vivekananda preach
throughout his life?
He said Upanishads.
I have preached nothing but Upanishads.
Of these only two ideas,
fearlessness and the immortality of the soul.
And that was what he said.
In what words he said, we do not know.
But that transformed the man's life
and said if that is the truth
and nobody can say after hearing Swamiji
that may be the truth.
It is the truth.
Because truth was speaking
and the man's life was transformed.
And that is what transforms.
Even today, the imitation of Christ,
the new, what is called,
the Gospel of Christ,
New Testament,
or the teachings of Buddha,
the Bhagavad Gita,
have that tremendous, unimaginable power
which transforms the lives of human beings
and it will continue
so long as the present Yuga continues.
But same thing will happen,
will be repeated,
as Bhagavan Krishna said,
the same truth I have taught to Manu
who was last Yuga, last creation.
So as I said,
these are the three important people.
There are hundreds, thousands of people
who have nothing but praise for Bhagavad Gita.
But it is enough for us to understand.
If such great people,
whom we revere as incarnations,
greatest people on earth,
if that is their understanding of the Gita,
we have to humbly bend our heads,
accept their words and say,
I may not understand,
but O Lord, grant me the capacity to understand.
Dhiyo yonah prajodayat.
Now a little bit I will talk about Bhagavad Gita.
This is only an outline,
what they call a bird's eye view.
Bhagavad Gita is a Hindu scripture
that is part of the epic Mahabharata
in a particular chapter called Bhishma Parva.
Parva means a chapter
and there are 18 chapters,
like 18 chapters of the Bhagavad Gita
and chapters 23 to 40
of the book 6 of the Mahabharata
called the Bhishma Parva,
just when the Kurukshetra battle
was about to take place.
This Bhagavad Gita contains
around 700 shlokas,
slight variation is there,
but more or less 700 shlokas
and is divided into 18 chapters
and the speciality of this is
every chapter is titled as Yoga.
For example, Arjuna Vishada Yoga
is the title of the first chapter.
Sankhya Yoga is the title of the second.
Karma Yoga is the title of the third,
etc., etc., etc.
Why?
Because every chapter
contains the essence of the entire Bhagavad Gita,
of course,
but it pays special attention
to certain particular points
of either Karma Yoga, Bhakti Yoga,
Raja Yoga or Jnana Yoga.
That is why the title of the chapter
is derived like that
and every chapter is titled as Yoga.
But here is something very special note
we have to observe.
At the end of each chapter,
whenever anybody chants,
he ends up chanting
Iti, Shreemad Bhagavad Gitas,
Upanishads, Brahma Vidyayam,
Yoga Shastra, Sri Krishna Arjuna Samvade,
such and such a chapter, etc.
Arjuna Samvade Yoga Nama,
Prathamo Adhyayaha,
Sankhya Yoga Nama,
Riti Adhyayaha,
Karma Yoga Nama,
Kriti Adhyayaha, etc.
This is most important for us to understand.
Iti.
Thus, Shreemad.
Shreemad means that which bestows.
Shree.
Shree means prosperity.
Shree means success.
Shree means happiness.
Just let me insert.
In India, Lakshmi is very aptly called Shree.
Unfortunately, we don't say Saraswati is Shree.
Actually, Saraswati, Lakshmi,
they are all one and the same.
Saraswati means knowledge, wisdom.
Both intellectual knowledge
as well as practical knowledge.
If it is informational knowledge,
it is called intellectual knowledge.
If it is put to use and made practical,
that is called wisdom.
So, how many people,
just writing small applications,
have become multi-millionaires today?
We can see that one.
But here, Shree means prosperity,
not money.
Very often, many dull people,
dull-witted people,
identify Lakshmi with money.
What will you do with money?
If you are sick, what will you do with money?
If you are stranded in a desert,
what will you do with money?
If you can't digest even boiled water,
what will you do with money?
If you are in prison,
what will you do with money?
If everybody hates you,
what will you do with money?
If you are totally depressed,
people don't want money.
People don't want objects.
That is why it is very important to understand
what is it man wants.
Dharma, Artha, Kama and Moksha.
I will come to that in a little bit detailed way.
But here is just a hint.
If you ask a person,
what will make you happy?
He says, if I get more money,
I will have security,
I will have health,
I will have happiness.
No.
If you ask, I will give you a billion dollars.
Will you be happy?
Yes.
So, will he be going on eating
some notes for breakfast,
some notes for lunch,
some notes for dinner?
No.
But what does he do?
He wants to buy food materials,
houses, cars, etc., objects.
So, is he going to eat, let us say,
food material?
Yes, of course he will eat.
But is that what he wants?
No.
The food, first of all, is meant to live.
Second, it is meant to give him happiness.
It is for happiness.
Man does not want to live.
If a man has provided everything,
but with meaning, without meaning,
then nobody wants to live in this world,
however rich he is.
That is why people commit suicide
when they find no meaning in their life.
So, what is the meaning?
I want to be happy.
I want safety, security.
I want wisdom.
I want Sat.
I want Chit.
I want Ananda.
Beautifully expressed in three mantras.
Every Hindu child is supposed to be
that may I never terminate my life.
Asato Ma Sadgamaya
Tamaso Ma Jyotirgamaya
Mrutyor Ma Mrutangamaya
And is there any way we can have all these three?
Yes, that is what Bhagavad Gita,
that is what Srimat,
that which bestows upon us,
that wisdom, that prosperity,
that Satchitananda.
And it is everything that came out of the mouth of Krishna.
That is why it is called Bhagavat,
directly from the mouth of God,
like the Sermon on the Mount,
from the mouth of Jesus Christ,
which is the greatest Vedantic work.
Bhagavad Gita's songs, every line of the song
is useful to somebody or other.
And what is this Bhagavad Gita?
The essence of the Upanishads.
So Upanishads.
What is the Upanishad?
That which Siddhilekarana loosens the bondage,
that which destroys the bondage or ignorance,
and that which bestows self-knowledge,
that is called Upanishad.
And this Bhagavad Gita is called Upanishads.
Every chapter is a Upanishad.
Every sentence is a Upanishad,
directly or indirectly.
And what do these Upanishads do?
Brahma Vidyayam.
They bestow upon us, lead us to knowledge of Brahman,
which is self-knowledge.
Atma Jnanam.
Who am I?
I am Brahman.
And then how to attain to that?
Yogashastra.
Yogashastra means practical Vedanta.
Every chapter, it applies only very little time
for the enumeration of the principle,
but gives the greatest time and space
how to execute them from different points of view
for different people of different natures,
how they can all be held wherever a person is.
And that is why it is called Yogashastra here means
not only it is Yoga.
Yoga means that which brings about a union
between our Jivatma and Paramatma,
between individual soul and the God.
So this Gita is the essence of all scriptures,
all Vedas, all Upanishads,
all essence of all the Upanishads.
That is called Bhagavad Gita.
And life is a battlefield.
The very beginning of this Bhagavad Gita
occurs with the question of Dhritarashtra
in this field of action,
in this field of righteous action.
Dharmakshetre, Urukshetre.
My children and the children of Pandu,
ignorance has already started separating my children,
your children.
What did they do?
Gathered together, fighting,
hoping against hope
and knowing unconsciously all the time
that he is going to be completely thrown
into the greatest sea of depression.
After how long a time?
Just wait for less than 3 weeks,
18 days, that's all.
So life is a battlefield
but it is a righteous battlefield
means it takes note of,
life takes note of every action that we do
mentally, vocally or physically
and it gives its result
and nobody can cheat life.
We think that we can cheat.
A clever thief thinks,
a clever murderer thinks
I can do such an action
that police will not know,
public will not know,
stupid person doesn't know
that within him, the Divine Lord,
all the 24 hours, even while the person is asleep,
he is watching, keeping a watch,
note like a CCTV
and noting down everything
and then awarding the results of every action
sooner or later
and appropriate result,
nothing exaggerated,
nothing underlined.
So Bhagavad Gita,
first of all is both
a Prayasastra as well as a Shrayasastra
that is a beautiful guideline, guidebook
both for worldly happiness
as well as spiritual happiness,
for lower happiness
as well as higher happiness.
Bhagavad Gita is a true guide
which if followed faithfully
can give us both
first worldly happiness,
second spiritual happiness
and how can we get worldly happiness?
So this is where the four Purusharthas,
desirable human goals,
not desired human goals
but desirable human goals.
If a person is wise, he will desire.
They are the famous four
Dharma, Artha, Kama and Moksha.
These four values of human life,
goals of human life
are subdivided into two.
The first is called Prayas for worldly happiness.
The second is called Shrayas,
the permanent, eternal, infinite happiness.
That is I am Brahman
and thereafter there will be no Samsara.
So here the first step,
always we have to climb through the first step,
second step, third step.
Then only we come to the fourth step.
There is no dichotomy here.
There is no conflict here.
There is no opposition here.
So there is no conflict
between worldly happiness
and spiritual happiness.
But we see this conflict.
We see so many so-called
spiritual teachers
teaching this world is Mithya.
This world is,
worldly happiness is only temporary.
Yes, it is true.
Whatever you say is true.
But how many people
are able to understand you?
You must show every person
taking, understanding
where he is standing
and show him not the hundredth step
from him but the second step
from where he is standing.
So this conflict comes only
if the rules of the game
of life are not played rightly.
That means if Dharma is neglected,
Dharma means what?
Playing,
observing the rules
of the game of life correctly.
And if we neglect,
some happiness will come.
A load of unhappiness
accompanies it and that is
what creates this conflict.
So ultimately,
there is no conflict.
As I said, Bhagavad Gita,
Upanishads, Vedas, one integral whole.
There is no dichotomy there,
division there, opposition there.
They are not enemies.
It is like first step, second step,
etc.
Now, every scripture must teach
three things. Any scripture, whether it is
Christian scripture, Islamic
scripture, Buddhistic scripture,
Hindu scripture,
Jain scripture, Sikh scripture,
any scripture by
worth its name must
teach three things.
This is beautifully outlined by
Bhagavan Ramanuja.
Tattva, Purushartha
and Hita.
Tattva means what is the truth?
What is the reality?
What is the truth? Each soul
is what Swami Vivekananda
at the beginning
of his book Raja Yoga
has put it so beautifully
and nobody can
condense the teachings of Upanishads
like Swami Vivekananda.
Whatever he preached as I said
is first of all
from the Upanishads.
Secondly, he showed that there is no
conflict between the different
so called apparently
conflicting views of
different Upanishads, different
Rishis, different teachers. There is no
Thirdly, there is a
harmonious whole leading
from the lower step
ultimately leading to the highest step.
Only when we look
at things from the highest and try
to judge, then only
every step below that
highest step seems to be
contradiction. There seems to
be conflict. Gita
completely harmonizes
all Yogas, both
householder's life, student's
life, semi-retired life
and complete dedicated
life to God.
There is no. Between
Karma Yoga, Bhakti Yoga, Raja Yoga,
Jnana Yoga, between worldly happiness
and spiritual happiness,
between all religions,
between all sects,
even if a person doesn't belong
to any religion.
I am a prophet. I do not believe in God.
But Swami Vivekananda says,
you do not need to believe in God.
But you believe in yourself.
Believe that you are the
Supreme. You are the
immortal soul. Have that
faith in yourself. And that is
true religion. And that is what
Bhagavad Gita does.
So first, the truth has to be
told, which is, everything
is God. There is nothing other
than God. And you are that God.
Second, if that
truth is truth, then
what should be the goal of life?
This is called teleological
urge. If we are
God, and we do not know
that we are God, but our
inner nature
does not allow us to keep quiet
and behave like a worldly person,
maybe for a short time,
but we are all seekers.
Nobody is without seeking.
We may seek for a long time in darkness
in the wrong way,
but ultimately what we are seeking is
only God. God means
infinity and eternity.
And that is the highest goal.
Consciously, we have to formulate
it, find out a path,
and work towards it.
The goal is to manifest this
divinity within by controlling
nature external and
internal. That is
called Urushartha.
That is what is the goal
of human life. But there must be
a way how we can
put it into practice
and realize it
in our day-to-day life. That is called Hita.
Sanskrit term. Don't bother
too much. So
is there a path?
The Vedantic answer,
Upanishadic answer, Bhagavad Gita's
answer is, and
I will put it in the words of Sri Ramakrishna,
Jyotamot
Tatopad. Infinite paths
are there to the realization
of the infinite.
Not one. A child has his own
path. A adult has
his own path. Man has
his own path. Woman has his own path.
A old man has
old man and woman have their own paths.
A sanyasi has his own
path. A householder has his own path.
A Christian, a Hindu,
a Jaina, a Buddhist, a Sikh,
a Muslim, they all have
so-called different
paths but they are not really
different. But
take up one path,
work hard, sincerely
and by the grace of God
each one will
realize. This is what Swami Vivekananda
summarized. Do this.
Manifest this divinity within
which is the goal of life
either by work or worship
or psychic control or
philosophy by one or more
or all of this and be
F-R-E-E.
This is the whole of religion,
doctrines, dogmas,
ceremonies, books,
temples, churches
are all but secondary details.
We will talk about it
in our next class.
Om Vasudevasutam Devam
Kamsachanuram Arthanam
Devaki Paramanandam
Krishnam Andhe Jagat Kurum
May Ramakrishna,
Holy Mother and Swami Vivekananda
bless us all with Bhakti.
Jai Ramakrishna.

[[Category:Bhagavad Gita]]