Bhagavad Gita Ch16 part 21 on 24 October 2021

Full Transcript(Not Corrected)

OM JANANIM SHARADAM DEVIM RAMAKRISHNAM JAGADGURUM PADAPADMETAYO SRIDHVA PRANAMAMI MUHURMUHU VASUDEVASUTAM DEVAM KAMSACHANURAMARDHANAM DEVAKI PARAMANANDAM KRISHNAM VANDE JAGADGURUM SARVOPANISHADOKAHO DOGDA GOPALANANDANA PARTHO VATSAH SUDHIR BHOKTA DOGDAM GEETAM RITAM MAHAT MOOKAM KAROTI VACHALAM PANGUM LANGAYATE GIRIM YATKRIPATAMAHAM VANDE PARAMANANDAMADHAVAM In our last class we have been discussing the 19th verse of the 16th chapter called the chapter dealing with the divine as well as demonic qualities So the Lord is telling there are some people who are the demons, not the Chandramamas, werewolves, teeth and other things People who look even very handsome, having plenty of wealth, power, position, social condition, living in luxury But not only they are cruel, but they also torture other people So as I mentioned earlier, there are two sorts of worldly people The one class of worldly people, very mild people, live and let live, that is their policy But the other type of people, they will not allow others to live Only they want others to live, but as their slaves, as their bondsmen, as catering to their own happiness They derive a peculiar psychological pleasure from exercising all power over these people So we have discussed in detail that what happens to these people Well, one thing we have to keep in mind that forever they are not going to go down and down But apparently, because of every life, they are strengthening these worldly tendencies They go down and down and down So what happens? These cruel haters, these evildoers, these vilest of men, I hurl them into the wombs of the demons In the cycle of births and deaths These people have to be reborn again and again for a very long time Until they reach the rock bottom And then because of the suffering, because of the unbearable conditions of living They slowly wake up and then they understand this is all brought about by our own deeds So we have to undo them So the climb starts, the return journey of the soul starts I am not sure whether each one of us go down and come up I think most of us do that anyway So we are now in this condition So why all these characteristics have been so graphically described? So that people who want to be happy and here I insert something a little bit lightly We are all selfish We want to be happy We want to be healthy We want to be rational And we want unbroken happiness If we want really, there is only one way That is the way of Dharma and then spiritual life Spirituality is the solution to every problem of life Do you want money? Yes, you can get money Do you want power, position, honor, respect? Yes Do you want some special talents? Yes You can get it by the grace of God The first part of the Vedas is full of that But until that time, these people go down and down because every life they strengthen their evil samskaras And that means they do evil deeds That means the result of their evil deeds catches up with them And they suffer very much But according to Vedanta, they are all children of God No one is excluded So they also will come up slowly And the divine Lord brings them up And suffering is the surest way of turning them towards the face of the God Making them journey towards the feet of God So even though the Lord is telling in this 19th verse I put them down The I means the divine Lord doesn't do it But he has to do it like a loving mother Chastising, correcting her loving beloved children So this is the punishment It is not a cruelty But it is a corrective procedure Carrot and the stick The famous psychological how to tame our minds Carrot and stick So when we say the Lord does it He is not partial But he does it for our own good first of all And he does it because of our own actions That is how we understand That is the first point Second point is Nobody will be going down and down A time must come they reach the rock bottom And start their return journey And this time like the young one of the Homa bird In Shri Ramakrishna's teaching They look up to their parents And fly straight back to the parent That's what we discussed Now we enter into the shloka Verse 20th Verse 20th Having fallen into the wombs of the demons And even lower species And being deluded from birth to birth They take a long time to attain me Ocean of Kunti But keep on going down and down To the lowest state Fools means those who disregard God Disregard righteous behavior Do not do what is appropriate to a human birth They are called fools Or in other words ignorant people And Asurim, Yonim Yonim means life Asurim means demonic Being born in most unfavorable conditions They keep on traveling from less favorable To more unfavorable conditions Apannaha, attaining them Life after life But not for a long time What happens? Without attaining me Without nearing to me Without coming nearer to me They go down and down As I mentioned Always we have to supply that word for some time So Shankaracharya is giving beautiful commentary Asurim, Yonim, Apannaha Being born, having acquired birth among the demoniacal species Pratipannaha, mudaha, avivekinaha Fools Fools means ignorant people Ignorant people means non-discriminating people That is they have the faculty of discrimination But they misuse it They have faculty of reasoning But rationalizing Psychological language That is justifying whatever they do Giving plenty of reasons Why they do, what they do Janmani, janmani, pratijanmani In every birth Being born into the lowest species that are possible Where tamas, deep darkness of ignorance prevails And what happens? These indiscriminate people go down and down And what does it mean? Without attaining me In fact doing just the opposite Going further, moving further and further away from me Unable to reach me But the funny thing is That they want God only If you ask these people Do you believe in God? Most likely they say Sometimes they say Yes, yes, we believe in God But God is there to be our servant We will do some austerity And many of these demonic people We have to admire them Years and years together They perform the severest austerities All for what purpose? Self-glorification Self-power Self-respect So they want Let nobody be equal to me Let nobody defeat me Let me be able to subdue All the three worlds In Hindu mythology Etc, etc Our mythologies are full of these stories Of these asuras Whether it is Hiranyakashipu Ravanasura They attain everything Only by the grace of God But they misuse it Then how do they attain to this tremendous power? Here is something I have to tell you There are so many good people Who are under the greatest misnomer That they are not asuric people They are not demonical people But they don't have strength They are what Swami Vivekananda used to make fun and call Gudi gudi people Useless people Cannot do anything They don't have physical strength Intellectual strength Or will power Or aesthetic sense Much less moral or spiritual strength And they pride themselves We are harmless people We don't do anything bad Swami Vivekananda in fact used to say These demonical people Are far superior Far more advanced Than these so called gudi gudi people Why? Because these people They enjoy the world These people They are capable of performing Superhuman austerities So nothing comes without austerity Everything they gain Comes only through the austerity But they misuse it for some time But the same Divine Who had granted them these powers He takes pity upon them Slowly In the form of stick Not carrot First carrot Then stick He will turn their lives So These people are great Now I said There are some people Who say Communists for example We don't believe in God But It is a wrong statement Why? That is why I wanted to bring your notice to this Why? Ask these people Do you want health or not? Yes Do you want wealth or not? Yes Do you want knowledge or Right knowledge or not? Yes Do you want to be happy or not? Yes Do you want unbroken happiness or not? Yes Do you want the highest type of happiness or not? Yes Yes Yes For everything I want to be Sat I want to be Chit I want to be Very blissful But what is wrong? The thoughts The actions They Betray A wrong method Indiscrimination And slowly They go down So that is what First They will have a better life Better birth They Go down and down And each Further birth Is worse and worse than Before But as I said They will also Then There is not the possibility So long as they are behaving in that way Of coming nearer to me But Not that forever There is no eternal hell According to Hinduism In fact, Swami Vivekananda clarified Hinduism doesn't accept sin It only accepts Ignorance Ignorance makes a person Think appropriately Means According to their sinful nature Sinful thoughts Sinful speech And sinful activities Which only pile up More and more Unhappiness and suffering Therefore And the way of the righteous The way, the path That great saints Sages, great people Have trod Appropriate It will take a long time But for the moment It is far away from them They don't even see a right path Through this These people They seem to be going down and down But the all-compassionate Divine Mother Is watching them Allows them to go down That is also her play And they suffer And one day Their piteous cry Ma, I want to be happy Please make me happy This is the prayer A suffering person says Relieve me of my suffering Is that all? Not merely relieve From suffering But make me a very happy person Then slowly Their own conscience Unfolds the Coverings And then he says Oh, I have been misbehaving That's why all the sufferings I have brought Upon my own head Amishwakha Each one of us Have to go through that path Only when we At last understand That all the sufferings Small or big For a short time or longer time Have been not the will of anybody It is not fate But it is the result of My own thoughts And subsequent actions, activities So then there is only one way I keep on continuing These evil pathways And at the same time want to be happy That's not going to happen So I will turn I will have to turn Willy nilly at some point And after some time I discover the joy Of the righteous ways Then life becomes A jump from lower happiness To higher happiness So Here some of our wise people Give us Why do these people, these demonic people These worldly people Become so arrogant That's what Sri Ramakrishna says Which I have given appropriate Quotations A frog once somehow obtained A rupee and once An elephant was Passing over that way And this frog had the timidity To get up and say Hey you, get out of my pathway Don't you know who I am Not knowing that The elephant can snuff out its life In a millisecond So why do these people Become so arrogant Because of the fault of Both themselves And the world Because of the fault of Both us as well as They also themselves Themselves we can understand What happens, they have wealth They have power And they have position And they have also sometimes Very good learning etc So, but what is the most Important thing What is it that the world really admires Yasyas This is what Bhartruhari Says in his Neeti Shataka This word Kanchana has been Literally lifted by Sairam Krishna Kama and Kanchana So, a person Who has got wealth What is it He is born of a high Respected family Even though he might be Born of the lowest family Sa Pandita is the greatest Scholar, Sa Shrutavan He is the most learned man Gunagniha, that person Wealthy person is endowed With all wonderful qualities Sayeva Vaktha And he is the only speaker in the whole world When he speaks The whole world listens and says This person, he knows how to make money So, his knowledge is Righteous knowledge Why? Because I also Want to follow his footsteps And become like him Such a Darshaniyaha And if we have to have any Opportunity, we must have Darshan Like Bhagawan's Darshan Then we feel Very very gratified I want to see Prince of Britain Minister of India President of the United Nations Etc, etc All the Gunas seem to have been Gathered, not really This is what worldly people think Wealthy people Are the greatest people Worthy of imitation When I say wealthy, not only wealthy Celebrities Whose footsteps everybody Is following, including Our own devotees And through Facebook Through so many of these What is called social media Through telegram Through twitter And so many things are there How much time they are wasting So Barthruhari again comes and says For a devotee, the most valuable Thing in life is Time Let us see what Barthruhari says Where is happiness for the people? Where is happiness? Why? Happiness requires What we call, time So, here he is describing Even if a person Has got 100 years of Lifespan What happens? Man's lifespan is limited to 100 years 50 years of it is spent In the darkness of nights Of the remaining half That means 50 years Half, 25 years Spent in childhood and old age How many years are left out? 50 years in sleep And 25 years in old Childhood, that means State of ignorance, old age State of uselessness And the rest 25 years, illnesses, Buryments, earning money Service of others Where is the happiness for creatures? Whose life is as fickle As the ripples of water Remember Ayur Nasyati Pashyatam Pratidinam Yatikshayam Yavanam Pratyayanti Gataha Puranna Divasaha Kalo Jagad Bhakshakaha Lakshmi Toya Taranga Bhanga Vidyut Chalam Jeevanam Dasmanmam Sharanagatam Tvam Rakshashembo Raksha Rakshadunam Shiva Aparadakshama Punasutram That by, while, even when We are looking, by the time I started this class Already 23 minutes 24 minutes is gone Never again to Come back. So we have to Be very very Aware Conscious of the passage of time That's what happened to Sri Ramakrishna When he wanted Plunge to attain the Divine Mother. First thing was He became extremely conscious Of time. He stopped Even eating. He stopped Talking with people, gossiping on other Things. Fools do Not understand the Value of time. Not only that What happens to all their wealth These fools do not know Anything can happen to their wealth Again Bhattruhari comes to our Most marvelous Psychologist in this world He is telling us. I recommend Go to, through Of his most famous Verses, books One is Neethi Shataka 108 verses on Moral life or Common sensical wisdom Golden rules of life And the other Viragya Shatakam. 100 plus Odd verses on Dispassion Incomparably Beautiful verses Which Swami Vivekananda Used to quote very often So you can get freely All these things. This is Best way of spending time Each verse is like A diamond for us So what happens to this wealth Dhanam bhogo Nashaha. Tisro gathayo Bhavant vittasya. Wealth Disappears In three ways. Dhanam If you give charity, it Disappears. Bhogo But if you want to enjoy yourself Purchase the best houses House, houses, best Cars, best Materials of enjoyment Or Nashaha. Simply Overnight stock market has fallen Everything is gone Or the king has taken away The government has taken away Or the What you call, the thieves Have taken away. But Most of all, when death comes When illness comes When old age comes What are you going to do? You cannot even digest barley water As they say. So this is how The fellow who doesn't Share it with others Then he attains, his wealth Attains to the third stage Which means he will lose it Or He cannot even enjoy it. So You also enjoy within Limits. You also Care and share with others And then there are three Demons. These demons Are a great burden On earth. About These demonical people About whom we are talking It is telling A people who do not Have true wisdom Neither Austerity Neither charity Neither right knowledge Neither good character Neither good characteristics Nor dharma. No righteousness In this world, such people Terrible burdens to Mother earth. Not only that In the form of They are only having Human dress But they are in fact These people move about Like animals It is also not correct to say Animals do not behave like that Only human beings Behave. To compare these people To animals. There are noble Animals are there. You show Little love. You show little Give little food to your dog Whole life it wags its tail In gratefulness. You give anything Next time don't give And this fellow is plotting To how to kick you out How to throw you out But what is the Way out? He says Cultivate Satsanga. This is the first Teaching of Sri Ramakrishna Cultivate holy company What is the power of holy company? Tell me What cannot be attained By the cultivation Of holy company That is Ignorance is completely destroyed And the speech Becomes full of Truthfulness And the person Becomes endowed with Tremendous amount of Self respect and respected By others Such person He destroys all the Results of his sin The mind becomes Very very pleased Kirtim dikshu tanoti His good name Spreads everywhere Not only for the time being For all times That is the essence of satsanga So cultivate it So now we come to the Next shloka This triplet Under which are comprehended Different demonical qualities Though they are infinite in number By avoiding that pathway Of the demons By adopting to the righteous means All these Demonical qualities Become rejected Which are the root cause of all Problems in life So what are we talking? The next verse is summarized There are three gateways to Hell Lust, Anger Greed And that is what Sri Ram Krishna Has said Kama and Kanchana He took only the first one Kama means lust Desire is ok I want to survive I have to eat I want to drink water I want to work hard I want to acquire good learning Fine, I want to tread The path of righteousness Fine, these desires are called Divine desires Spiritual desires So why is the Lord describing In the 21st verse Because if we can Avoid these three Gateways, that means How many gateways to hell? There are many But three Rajadwaras Royal doors That means huge doorways are there Even if you close your eyes You can enter You don't need to enter three doors Any one door will do Are you having terrible lust? Uncontrollable lust? Yes, you have already entered there Not that you have to enter You are already inside Do you have Tremendous amount of anger Both suppressed and Expressed, then you are already Within that hell Are you greedy? That means God has provided you With everything that is more than Sufficient, are you Content? Are you happy? Are you grateful to God? You want more and more That is another gateway to hell That means going Away from God is called Hell, approaching Higher to God is called Heaven, that is Being described in verse 21 So these are the three gateways Leading to the ruin of the Self, lust Wrath and greed Therefore let man Assiduously Announce these three Why are these being described? So that we become aware Of them and say Am I having lust? Let me try to Overcome it Am I having Krodha? That is Wrath Terrible hatred, terrible Anger, terrible sense of Taking revenge upon others That is, do I want to suffer? We are not talking about other People suffering, we are talking about Our own suffering, do I Want to avoid this suffering? Then never approach these Three, so that means do not Become angry Then am I greedy? Every devotee must Sit and every day Try to answer these three Put these three questions And honestly answer And most people again they Answer in the positive way Not knowing That their behaviour is Just the opposite of what They are thinking of themselves So that we can Avoid it, avoid lust Desire, desire Is okay, the desire to Survive is okay, the desire To manifest our potential Divinity is okay The desire for Treading the righteous path For cultivating holy company For practicing spiritual disciplines For adoring God For singing God's name For meditating For approaching great sages and saints They are the Right ways to get rid of These three, so What happens, Shankaracharya says So Trividham tri prakaram Three types, narakasya praptav In order to enter Into the hell Idham dhwaram nashanam atma That means they become separated From their true self And they are entering into hell Hell means as I said That is what Swami Vivekananda Has beautifully defined While defining what is dharma What is adharma Adharma is hell, dharma is heaven What is dharma That which takes us Nearer to God, whether it is a Thought, whether it is a speech Whether it is an action That which takes us nearer to God Is dharma And the opposite is adharma So, etu dhwaram Pravishanneva, by just Entering into any of these Three doorways Atmanashyati, one becomes Further from sat Further from chit Further from ananda He will be unhealthy, he will be Rational, of course such a Person can never be A happy person at all, that means he will be A greatly suffering person Shankaracharya says When a person is endowed with These three, lust, Anger and greed Then he can never attain The four goals of human life Purusharthas, what are they Dharma, artha And kama, remember When Hinduism Is positing these Four goals of life All of them are spiritual All of them are conducive For one to go nearer To God But these three They take us away From God and that is why They have to be assiduously Consciously with effort To be avoided So, kashmichit Purushartha, not even one Goal of human life Is nayogyobhavati These three can never take one And we have to understand This lust, this anger This greed, they include The other three Kama, krodha, lobha Moha, mada And matsarya Therefore it is said They are the doorways For self-destruction What is it that creates This destruction, self-destruction Kamaha, krodha Tatha lobha, passions Lust, anger Greed Therefore, beware So, give up these three Because these doorways Are the destroyers Of one's own soul That means, I will be away from Bliss Therefore, one should Renounce all these things So, positive This is negative expression Positive expression The great Shankaracharya being So, whatever has been said in this particular 21st verse is It is Of renunciation O Lord, you are a Thyageshwara Grant me a little bit of that Thyaga So, what happens if I Renounce, what do I get out of it And that is being Beautifully put by Bhagwan Krishna In the 22nd verse The man who Became successful In avoiding these three Gates of darkness Ignorance O son of Kunti Practises what is good for himself And thus Attains the supreme goal So, Being free From Lust, anger and greed O Arjuna These are Doorways of darkness Tamas means darkness Tamoguna Means inability to Separate what is right from wrong On the contrary The ability To think of right as wrong And then wrong as right And follow only What a man thinks is right This is human nature, human psychology Even if we have Got something called Right knowledge, if that right Knowledge happens to be wrong Knowledge by the sages But we think it is the right knowledge If it happens to be wrong Knowledge, it can only lead us To further samsara Further unhappiness Etc. So, he who becomes free These three Again and again Passions, anger And greediness Then what happens He only does good to himself Let us remember Swami Vivekananda's diamond statement Not even golden statement In this world Nobody can do any good to others If you are doing any good To other person In fact, indirectly and directly You are doing good Only to yourself So, if we can avoid These three Nobody will be benefited by that But I myself Those who practice They will be benefited Then what is the benefit Param Gathim Param Gathim, supreme state What is it? Atma Jnanam Self knowledge What is it? God realization Brahman realization Aham Brahmasmi That is the highest goal He will reach Again When a person Becomes freed from these Three, what is called Demonical qualities All the demonical qualities Have been compressed into these Three, that is passions Anger and greed Then he awakens He becomes very very aware All this time I am sliding down very fast Now, I will not allow Myself to go down Then what happens Immediately starts cultivating Holy company Approaching wise people And surrendering themselves To these wise people They follow the path of the wise people Which is also called a Scripture Then what happens They do good Only to themselves Whatever this person Has been doing, all the wrong things Now he stops doing it So he cannot even Do it Now he starts Travelling in the opposite path The path of righteousness Through this effort Gradually Don't expect That in one life he will achieve it Slowly, slowly, slowly So first Avoid all the negative things Then start acquiring all the 26 qualities We have discussed earlier By trying to acquire them So gradually He tends to the supreme What is that supreme goal? Moksha, liberation He becomes free He need not return to this world Now Bhagavan Krishna is telling Now what is the way to follow? Ok, I understand Through experience, I have been doing Wrong things and I have been suffering This suffering has awakened me Now I want to turn back And make my travel Towards My own Atman, Bhagavan Brahman, God What is the way? Parivarjanasya A person who has overcome All these demonical qualities And everything He will never again do it So he wants to tread The path of righteousness For him Scripture is instrumental For that very purpose The importance of scripture Is being described in the Next two verses Now when I say scripture Does it mean that I have to Become a literate person I have to become a person who has to Study the scriptures No, no, no, what is meant is If you are a literate person Then it will be You can get All the wonderful books The lives of great saints The teachings of these great saints For example For the followers of Ramakrishna The gospel of Ramakrishna The life of Ramakrishna Teachings of the direct disciples Especially Swami Vivekananda And his complete works etc They are his best scriptures What are these scriptures? They are nothing but pure Vedas Put in modern language Vachana Veda A person is sincere Christian, Bible Especially the New Testament If a person is a Muslim Then for him The pathway of the Sufis Because Sufism is the Spiritual path And right interpretation Of the scriptures So when we say scriptures We have to understand Two points very clearly First point is Scripture is nothing but The expression The expression Of realized soul I have realized this To the extent humanly possible They will express in human language That is called a scripture Only of a realized soul Not even a sadhaka Only a realized soul That is the first point Second point is The scriptures These scriptures are eternal They are valid for all time Because truth is truth It doesn't care Honour any time But at the same time The truth has to be interpreted According to the changing circumstances That is why The great Swami Ranganathanandaji Maharaj Eternal values for a changing society He will not throw out The values But you will have to rightly Interpret them Suitable for a baby Suitable for a young person Suitable for a middle aged person Suitable for a old person Suitable for a monk and nun Suitable for householders Suitable for students Suitable for everybody That is there, common things are there So that interpretation Should come from a great saint And here I am telling Every realized soul Is none other than God Whatever comes from such a person's mouth Is coming directly From God only Therefore Pray earnestly And God will provide you A right guide It is not the lack of right guide It is the lack of our receptivity If we are ready When we are ready The teacher, the teaching Is absolutely ready So this is the way Shastra means The interpretation Of the eternal truth about God About spiritual life About how to be free from this world But it must come From a realized soul But it can be interpreted Even by advanced sadhakas Because Any advanced sadhaka Would not be an advanced sadhaka Unless he followed The righteous way And whatever he has been following And enjoying the experiences They are only Truthful ways So That is whatever way The great people have trod That is the way for us We have discussed this point very beautifully In the Iksha Prashnas So That is to say How to give up all the wrong things And how to understand And follow the right things That is possible Only from the teachings of the Scriptures So what is a scripture It consists of Do's and don'ts Do these things For example In the Taittiriya Upanishad Sathyam Padet So speak only Truth Dharmam Chara Sathyam Vada Dharmam Chara Only this has points to do it Practice righteousness Then what does it say That Swadhyayan Maa Pramadaha Never never neglect negative language Study of the scriptures Pondering over the teachings Of your Guru, other sages And saints Never try to neglect The service of your mother and father Etc Never neglect your family's welfare Never neglect to earn Wealth and support The students, the old people The government And indigenous people The monks and nuns Etc This whole topic The commandments To a departing student In the Taittiriya Upanishad First chapter Eleventh section You will get it So this is being said in the 23rd verse The scriptures of the authority As to what is to be given up And what is to be followed What is Nishedha And what is Vidhi Etc He who discards The injunctions of the scriptures And acts upon The impulse of desire Retains neither perfection Nor happiness Nor the supreme goal Here the most dire warning Is being given Never try to follow your own wisdom Because you are a fool You are an ignorant person You are a blind person If a blind person attempts Either to move forward Or to lead other blind men They all fall into the Ditch of this ever Recurring samsara Transmigratory So the Lord is telling Yeha, a person Endowed with Sincerity But Shastra with him That a do's and Don'ts of the teachings Of the scriptures He says, what is there I can also think about it I don't care for these scriptures He behaves As his impulse As he thinks it is intuition But it is nothing but foolish thoughts In psychological Lingo There are some people, I hear That God's commandment I must go and kill those fellows So many cases are there They behave according to the Impulses that carry them What is the result of that kind of Behavior He doesn't progress in life He doesn't attain perfection He will not be even happy Much less There is no happiness for that person Either in this world or in the Other world The importance of the Scripture, but as I said It doesn't mean you go and start Reading Bhagavad Gita etc Go to some person And then ask him, even psychologists Are there, go there And pay little money if necessary And then try to find out What are your faults He will be able to ferret out All the faults And then it will be very useful And he can give you plenty of Good advice Because many psychologists Are extremely intelligent Wise people And they may not follow the path But they can show us the path So What does the scripture do Akartavya Gnanakaranam Scriptures are the Mind of knowledge What knowledge? Akartavya means What should be done It's a beautiful word That means you must do it When there is red light You must stop And when there is green light You must start It is now a question of choice So Akartavya Gnanakaranam In other words Do this Never do this Giving up the Directions of these scriptures He behaves according to His whimsies, his fancies Which he thinks They are absolutely right He is full of Desires, full of lust Full of anger Full of these things He is never going to get out of that Circle, cycle Of transmigration Such a person He doesn't become a qualified Person in order to pursue A spiritual life Even to just as a medical student He must have certain qualifications Even to undertake This study So a spiritual person Must do exactly the same thing Such a person, how do we know Because when a person is not happy For me, most of the time That means he is doing something wrong His thinking is wrong His actions are wrong There is no happiness For such a person in this world Neither can such a person Go to higher worlds of higher happiness Much less Self-knowledge, attain self-knowledge And become completely free From all these trammels Of this samsara Transmigratory existence Concluding this The Lord is telling In the 24th shloka This is the last verse In the 16th chapter So Arjuna O spiritual aspirant Anywhere, therefore Let the scriptures be your authority In understanding And practicing what ought to be done And what should never be Even thought about Having learnt These injunctions and prohibitions Of the scriptures You should do your work in this world That means, first you understand What is to be done, follow it Second, you understand What should not be done And completely renounce that There is only one way As I said again, that you go to a wise person If you have a teacher, you are more fortunate Ask him And surrender yourself to him Don't go on questioning If you are choosing a teacher Go on questioning But after choosing a teacher You should never be able to Question him Surrender So naturally the question comes And I have dealt it many times What if I was ignorant I thought this was a wise man But he turned out to be A rogue A very demonic type of person Masquerading in the form of a holy man But I tell you If you are a qualified student Endowed with Shraddha, devotion Then you have nothing to worry The divine lord comes out Even through the mouth of such a person And whatever The person utters, he may not mean it But it will bring The highest good to you Tasmāt shāstram pramāṇam Jñāna sādhanam Therefore Shankaracharya says The only way How to progress in spiritual life Jñāna sādhanam Shāstram pramāṇam The pathway is the teachings Of the scriptures Te tava for you Kārya akārya vyavasthitau What to do and what to give up Kartavya akartavya evasthayaam For understanding What is your duty And what is not your duty What is detrimental to your own good Athahat mātvā buddhvā Learning from the scriptures Learning from the sages and saints Mātvā buddhvā Having known, having understood Shāstra vidhānoktam So whatever that is the Highest teachings of the scriptures Scripture is nothing but God Vidhe vidhānam shāstram eva vidhānam Shāstra vidhānam kuryāt Na kuryāt itve evam lakṣaṇam This should be done It should not be done So tena uktam having understood it Svakarma Now that is going to be your duty Yath tat kathum iha arhaseen That means That you gather all your strength And then Try to progress in spiritual life Iha ithe karma adhikara Bhumi pradarshanartham ithe Iha means in this world Iha means in this life Iha means at this moment At this moment You might have done so many other things But now you are an awakened person You understand Like the young one of the Homa bird Turn your face towards your parents And start moving Towards them And with this The sixteenth chapter is over It is a most marvelous chapter What is the essence? That there are two types of people in this world The divine and the demonic Two natures Spiritual nature and worldly nature Worldly nature Gradually it makes us Worse and worse Unhealthy, unhappy And we go on being born into Lower and lower states of Consciousness But a time will come By the grace of the lord The teleological urge will make us Guard us to forward We turn our attention Towards our own parent Who is none other than Bhagawan Or God or our own self And we start giving up All these demonic qualities And acquiring All the wonderful qualities And slowly We move and after Some time We progress We reach God, we become one with Him We become liberated And thereafter we enjoy Eternal bliss May Ramakrishna, Holy Mother And Swami Vivekananda Bless us all with bhakti From next class onwards We are taking up the 17th chapter May Ramakrishna