Category: Bhagavadgita

When you feel responsible for everything that happens in your life, you will feel that everything is joyful, because nothing can make you powerless. So, empower yourself with responsibility and unlock the power of feeling.

.Reading time 14 minutes.

In these verses from 2.31 to 2.38, Kṛṣṇa works on Arjuna at two levels. At one level He talks to Arjuna at the super conscious plane educating him on what the ultimate Truth is.

He talks to Arjuna about how the undying and indestructible spirit lives on. Here, Kṛṣṇa addresses Arjuna’s fears about killing his svajanam, his relatives, elders and teaches him that what he considers to be the end of life for these people is just one step in their journey.

It is not what you do that matters; it is who you are being that matters. It is your space that matters. Whether you are being complete or incomplete matters. Read More

You cannot fight life or death. They are both beyond you, out of your control. You can marvel at them and be happy and joyous.

.Reading time 8 minutes.

When you understand what Kṛṣṇa is saying in these verses (2.26 – 2.30) you get over any fear of death . In fact you will celebrate death.

Sometime ago, when I was delivering a discourse in India, news arrived that my father had died. I continued with the discourse. Later that night, many of our disciples traveled with me to Tiruvannamalai where the body lay. If you see the videos of this event, you will find that my mother never once cried. She is a very traditional person, brought up in a rural environment that sets great importance on social behavior. When one’s husband dies one is naturally heartbroken; especially as in the case of my mother and father, who were very close to each other. His departure would have been a great loss to her. She understood the meaning of these verses of Kṛṣṇa without me ever having to explain them to her. Read More

Once we understand what Krishna says, that death is like changing a worn-out garment, our fears will disappear.

.Reading time 7 minutes.

Kṛṣṇa continues with Sāṅkhya, the knowledge of completion:

Just as man casts off his worn-out clothes and puts on new ones, the Self casts off worn-out bodies and enters newer ones, anyāni saṁyāti navāni dehī (2.22).

nainaṁchindantisaśtrāṇi nainaṁdahātipāvakaḥI
na cainaṁ kledayanty āpo na śoṣayati mārutaḥ II 2.23

Weapons do not cleave the Self, fire does not burn It, water does not moisten It, and wind does not dry It. The Self can neither be broken, nor burnt, nor dissolved, nor dried up. It is eternal, all pervading, stable, immovable and ancient. Read More

Just decide that life is for others! All the best things will be showered on you. You will get back to the space you were in when you were born, the purest space of life, the imperishable space!

.Reading time 6 minutes.

Violence and killing are not merely physical acts. They are psychological compulsions acted out of incompletion in the physical realm. The ruler of a country who orders warfare against others is the violent one, even if he hides behind his throne. Violence of the mind carries on as the vāsana or desires; the essence of the spirit, that incarnates from birth to birth. That is the horror that does not end with death. The spirit is violated, degraded, and degenerated by this attitude of violence.

A violent man is always a coward, an inauthentic person who does not have the courage to face the truth. He does not have the sensitivity to treat others as he expects to be treated. He goes out-of-integrity, losing his power of words, isolating himself in a cocoon of lies, using the excuse of defending himself, and commits violence against others. Read More

Once a person understands that death, like birth, is merely a passage, and sees the continuity of being, the fear of losing one’s identity disappears along with fears of sin and hell.

.Reading time 8 minutes.

Kṛṣṇa when slapped with shock by Arjuna, this is the right description I will give, Kṛṣṇa wakes up! The first thing that comes out from Kṛṣṇa is Sāṅkhya yogaḥ. In Sāṅkhya, you are recognized as a soul. The idea taught to you about you is – you cannot be cut by weapons, you cannot be burnt by fire, you cannot be made wet by water, and you cannot be blown away by air. Nothing can do ‘nothing’ to you. Nothing can be done to you by anything.

Understand, the moment Bhagavān is opening His mouth, you are given an amazing introduction about you!

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What does have existence, what is truly real, exists now, has always existed and will exist forever!

.Reading time 8 minutes.

We are all made of body, mind and spirit. The body is tangible; we can feel its boundaries. When a part of the body is sick, we can feel the discomfort. As long as we feel the body working smoothly, we say we are in good health.

What is unclear or unknown to us is that there is something within us that does not perish at death. Kṛṣṇa clarifies here that this is the Self, Ātman, the energy that never dies.

Our mind is subtle. We do not feel the mind in the same way as we feel the body. We do not feel its boundaries. Yet, we feel the effects of the mind: thoughts, desires, emotions etc. Modern scientific studies have shown that what we term as mind is spread all over the body. Mind and its intelligence are inbuilt into our cellular structure. Recent studies have shown that it is our root thought patterns not genetics, which in turn arise from our earliest experiences of powerlessness, which define the birth and development of our mind, and in turn influence the cellular structure. Earlier it was believed that genetic modifications to the cellular structure influenced the way we cognized. Read More

As long as we are in this present moment, we have a pure perception without any patterns, only then we are truly complete and integrated.

.Reading time 4 minutes.

The best enriching philosophy on the planet Earth is Kapila’s Sāṅkhya!

Do you know why?

Because Kapila has no patterns.

Kapila is established in completion—the space of pure perception! No patterns are involved in the processing of information through the senses. The fire is seen as the fire. Not even an iota of the idea of heat or cold is superimposed on it! Superimposing any idea on life takes away the joy of life. The great news for human beings is that māyā (illusion) can be transformed. Perception can be transformed. You can become enlightened!

O humanity! I am here to give you the great news! Perception can reach completion! When you bring completion into the perception, a moment of perception can literally bring enlightenment! Read More

You need to realize that it is not the outside scene, but the innermost perception you carry for the outside scene, which is impacting you and giving you the experience of your reality.

You need to realize that it is not the outside scene, but the innermost perception you carry for the outside scene, which is impacting you and giving you the experience of your reality.

.Reading time 5 minutes.

A blind man was sitting in front of a huge fire with a burning stick in his hand. Somebody came and asked him, ‘What is this? Such a huge fire ! Don’t you see? What are you going to do about it?’

The blind man said, ‘Yes, yes! That is why I took this burning stick and put it on my eyes. Now I am not seeing the fire!’

Can that be the solution?

You may laugh now, but all your solutions are usually of this type. And you even accept as your master, the fool who tells ‘Take the stick and put it on your eyes!’ Will not seeing the fire, solve the problem? Burning your eyes is not going to give you liberation from the scenes you are seeing. Look in! Shrinking from life is nothing but putting the burning stick in your eyes! Read More

When one understands this difference between what is eternal, nitya, and what is ephemeral, anitya, one becomes a seer and knower of Truth.

.Reading time 6 minutes.

Kṛṣṇa says that the sensory experiences, mātrā-sparśhaḥ are all temporary. Feelings of hot and cold, śītoṣṇa, sweet and sour, wet and dry, experiences of pain and pleasure, sukha-duḥkha, as well as other experiences of like and dislike are all temporary, anityāḥ. These experiences do not affect the centered person who is qualified to be enlightened, so amṛtatvāya kalpate.

These sensory experiences are anitya or impermanent and unreal. Moreover, they are relative. What may be considered hot by one person may not be perceived as hot by another. Read More

Sāṅkhya does not speak about God, because completion itself is given the place of God.

.Reading time 6 minutes.

Please listen!

Anything which does not allow, anything which stands in between you and the present moment, acting as a barrier; which does not allow you to connect completely with life and with other people in your life in the present moment, is what I call incompletion.

So, the first thing you need to do in life is bring completion. Kṛṣṇa does not mean that we existed in the form that we are here now, or that He was present always as Kṛṣṇa in the form we imagine Him to be, with a flute and a peacock feather. He means that our spirits which are eternal, always existed and will always exist. In our spiritual state, that of our soul, we are divine, one with the universal energy, Brahman.

The gist of the second chapter, Sāṅkhya Yogaḥ is that you are the soul, that you are complete, that you are divine and that you are God. Read More

You were there in the past, you are in the present and you will be in the future; you do not die. You existed before birth and will remain after death. Whatever dies, can never live. Whatever lives can never die.

.Reading time 9 minutes.

Sañjaya says Kṛṣṇa was smiling as He uttered these words. Kṛṣṇa must have been laughing at Arjuna. ‘You fool; you pretend to be wise and quote the scriptures.Who do you think you are quoting the scriptures to? What can you understand of what I Myself have said?’

Kṛṣṇa continues: ‘Never was there a time when I did not exist, nor you and all these kings, and never in the future shall any of us cease to be.’

na tv evāhaṁ jātu nāsaṁ na tvaṁ neme janādhipāḥ I

na caiva na bhaviṣyāmaḥ sarve vayam ataḥ paraṁ II 2.12 Read More

The first idea with which Krishna is sorting out Arjuna’s problem is Sankhya Yoga. He is a person established in the knowledge of completion!

.Reading time 10 minutes.

Even though it is written here in the past tense, I feel Kṛṣṇa should always be addressed in the present tense. He is still relevant, present to each of us today. We cannot say, ‘Kṛṣṇa was’ but ‘Kṛṣṇa is’, not ‘Kṛṣṇa said’ but ‘Kṛṣṇa says.’

Once again, having lamented about what he is being forced to do, and not wishing to do what he is expected to do, Arjuna, like a petulant child sits down saying, ‘Govinda, I am not going to fight, na yotsya iti govindam (2.9).’ It is as if Arjuna is waiting to be persuaded. He is seeking an explanation. Kṛṣṇa says to him gently and smilingly, ‘While speaking learned words, you are mourning for what is not worthy of grief – aśocyān anvāśocas tvaṁ prajñā-vādāṁś ca bhāṣase. Those who are wise lament neither for the living nor for the dead – gatāsūn agatāsūṁś ca nānuśocanti paṇḍitāḥ (2.11).’

The words that you use to enrich yourself, will only come out to enrich others.

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