Srimad Bhagavad - Gita

20/07/2019 Srimad Bhagavad Gita : 1. The Yogam of the Despondency of Arjuna : Swami Sivananda 1. Summary of First Discourse The great Mahabharata war between the Pandavas and the Kauravas took place on the holy plain of Kurukshetra. After the failure of Lord Krishna’s peace mission, when He Himself went to Hastinapura as the emissary of the Pandavas, there was no other alternative for the Pandavas but to engage in war for their rightful share of the kingdom. All the famous warriors from both sides had assembled on the battlefield. Tents and wagons, weapons and machines, chariots and animals covered the vast plain. Lord Krishna arrived on the scene in a magnificent chariot yoked by white horses. He was to act as the charioteer of Arjuna, one of the Pandava princes. The din of hundreds of conches, blaring forth suddenly, announced the commencement of the battle. Arjuna blew his conch “Devadatta”, while Bhima, his brother, sounded the “Paundra”. All the other great warriors

19/07/2019 (Spoken at a conference in Delhi on December 27, 1973.) 1. This metropolis of Bharatavarsha, today called Delhi, the headquarters of our country, was originally known as Indraprastha, the capital of King Yudhisthira of Mahabharata fame. This is the spot and the atmosphere wherein was enacted the drama of human life many centuries ago, an enactment which has been recorded for us by Sage Krishna Dvapayana Vyasa in the masterly epic known as the Mahabharata. Not very far from this place is Kurukshetra, the arena wherein were arrayed conflicting forces as the Pandavas and the Kauravas. Therefore, it would be worthwhile for us to contemplate for a few seconds in our own hearts a majesty which once reigned supreme in this very environment in which we are seated today. Righteousness ruled the world in the form of King Yudhisthira, and divinity backed it up as Bhagavan Sri Krishna. Dharma, which was symbolised in the life and personality of Raja Yudhisthira, was found

18/07/2019. The Relevance of the Bhagavadgita to Humanity : Chapter :1.Introduction -6. In a case that is brought before the court, for instance, the contending parties always hold that they are right. Each party argues the righteousness of the cause or the point that they make out, and both are right. This is what they are emphasising. Each party says, “I am right.” Now, if both are right, they cannot differ; but in their conception of the rectitude of their behaviour, they do differ. So the difference has to be bridged by a cementing link, which is the judicial pronouncement. Such a situation arose in humanity when the golden age descended into the denser form of human thought, when such recognition and appreciation of one in respect of the other was not possible. It was not accepted by a certain state of mind that such a one hundred percent cooperation with another is going to be for one’s welfare. “My welfare does not lie in my totally agreeing with another. It mostly

17/07/2019 2. Gita the Mother : Therefore, it was that the father of our nation the late Mahatma Gandhiji of revered memory said that he regarded the Gita as his own mother, by which he meant to say that his very life had been sustained by the Bhagavad Gita, that his thoughts, his feelings, his philosophy, had been nourished by the soul-elevating and strengthening Upadesha of Srimad Bhagavad Gita. As a representative of our nation Mahatmaji expressed by this utterance what Gita ought to be to every Indian. He desired thereby that every Indian, every son of Bharatavarsha ought to make Gita his own, to enshrine the knowledge and the philosophy of the Gita in the chambers of his heart, to illumine his life by the bright flame of Gita-Jnana. It is this pride of Bharatian culture, this gem in the Bharatian culture, Mother Gita, that has ever been the soul of Indian philosophy. It is precisely for this reason that, even though it is just a small book of 700 verses, a mere exposition formi

16/07/2019. (Gita Jayanti Message spoken on December 26, 1982.) 7. This grew into a mighty magnificence of universal expanse which is the supreme shaktipada, as we may say in modern style – God entering man and possessing him, flooding him, overpowering him, destroying his existence itself, frightening him to his core, and compelling this frightened poor spirit to exclaim the very same prayers which were put into the mouth of Arjuna in the Eleventh Chapter : “Mighty being, I cannot tolerate the vision that you put before me.” Perhaps it is the salt doll that, before stepping into the ocean in which it is going to melt, gets frightened at the very sight of it and exclaims, “Enough of this!” When our feet go one inch deep into the waters of the ocean, we get frightened at the waves dashing upon us and we draw ourselves back. We cannot even see the ocean without a sense of shocking fright which passes through the very veins of our body because it is a terror, and we know i

The Philosophy of the Karma Yoga of the Bhagavadgita : 3.  Swami Krishnananda (Spoken on July 15, 1979.) 15/07/2019. 3. Now, all these are the sort of negative attitudes which the mind is compelled to project under the pressure of circumstances. There is a difference between subjection to pressure of any kind and a deliberately chosen rational attitude to things. Positivity has to be distinguished from negativity of every kind. An aversion to something is to be differentiated from a love for something. Sadhana is not an aversion to something. Though it may apparently take a shape of withdrawal, this withdrawal is a conditional act tending towards a positive approach to a larger dimension of life as a whole. Renunciation is not an attitude of disgust with the world. It is a preparatory step that we take to train ourselves for understanding the very same world in a better manner, like the withdrawal of a laboratory technician in a scientific institute, for instance, who may loc

14/07/2019 Srimad Bhagavad-Gita : Chapter-13. ( Kshetra-kshetrajna-vibhaga-yogam) Slokam-35. "kshetrakshetrajnayorevam  antaram   jnanacakshusha, bhutaprakrtimoksham  ca  ye  viduryanti  te  param." Slokam-35. ( One who knowingly sees this difference between the body and the owner of the body and can understand the process of liberation from this bondage, also attains to the supreme goal. ) evam  =  thus; kshetra-kshetrajnayoah  =  between  Kshetram  and  Kshetrajnan; antaram  =  difference; bhuta-prakrti-moksham  ca  =  the  moksham  ( liberation )  of  all  living  entities  from  the  relationship  of  Prakrti (  nature/ Samsaram ) jnana-cakshusha  =  by  Vision  of  Knowledge; ye  viduh  =  those  who  know  this  ( above  details ); te  param  yanti  =  they  attain  Parama-padam  ( Supreme-abode ). Discussion : Lord Krishna concludes this chapter by revealing that those who by the vision of knowledge realise the distinction existing between the ksetra or

13/07/2019 (Gita Jayanti Message spoken on December 26, 1982.) Post-6. This grew into a mighty magnificence of universal expanse which is the supreme shaktipada, as we may say in modern style – God entering man and possessing him, flooding him, overpowering him, destroying his existence itself, frightening him to his core, and compelling this frightened poor spirit to exclaim the very same prayers which were put into the mouth of Arjuna in the Eleventh Chapter: “Mighty being, I cannot tolerate the vision that you put before me.” Perhaps it is the salt doll that, before stepping into the ocean in which it is going to melt, gets frightened at the very sight of it and exclaims, “Enough of this!” When our feet go one inch deep into the waters of the ocean, we get frightened at the waves dashing upon us and we draw ourselves back. We cannot even see the ocean without a sense of shocking fright which passes through the very veins of our body because it is a terror, and we know its

12/07/2019  (Spoken on Gita Jayanti in 1974)    4. One of the difficulties in understanding the gospel of the Bhagavadgita or any such message is that we are expected to think here in an absolutely reoriented fashion. A new educational value is presented to us. One of the things, or perhaps the most important thing that the Bhagavadgita tells us is that we have to think in a new fashion altogether, and the greatest knowledge conceivable is perhaps the art of thinking correctly. Knowledge does not mean the study of  Sankara or Ramanuja. Knowledge is the system of thinking correctly, and we are masters of not thinking correctly. Why? Because we have been caught up in a muddle of circumstances whose values we cannot properly understand; and the relationship we bear with whom, we understand much less. To come to the crux of the whole matter, we cannot easily understand our relationship with the world. This is our difficulty; and therefore, we cannot understand our relationshi

11/07/2019 Chapter 1: Introduction to the Bhagavadgita -2. Post-2. (Spoken on March 3rd, 1974) But it is not necessary that we all should go crying from this world, if only we are sure that we are blessed with this premonition of such a situation arising in everyone’s life. Nature’s laws exempt none, not even the best of men. Everyone has to tread the same route to perfection, and everyone has to confront the same problems and difficulties. We have thus to proceed with great caution, and enter into a field of a newer type of study for the purpose of bringing about a thoroughgoing reorientation of our thought to bring about a rebirth, as it were, into the spirit of right understanding. We become like children when we truly aspire for knowledge proper, and then it is, perhaps, that Truth reveals itself before us. As I mentioned, the Vedas and the Upanishads particularly are regarded, in this country especially, as specimens of the highest type of spiritual revelation. They a

10/07/2019 Chapter IV The Yoga of Wisdom (Jnana-Vibhaga Yoga) (Numbers in the bracket are Slokam-s Numbers)  4. Lord Krishna said, “O Bharata! Whenever righteousness declines and unrighteousness becomes powerful, then I Myself come to birth (7). For the protection of the good, for the destruction of evil-doers, for the sake of firmly establishing righteousness I am born from age to age (8). In whatever way men approach Me, so do I reward them: men follow in every way My path, O son of Pritha (11). He who sees inaction in action and action in inaction, he is wise among men, he is a Yogi, even while performing all actions (18). Whose undertakings are all destitute of desires and purposes and whose actions have been burnt by the fire of knowledge him the wise have called a Sage (19). “Without hope, with the mind self-controlled, having abandoned attachment to the fruit of actions, all greed and envy, always content with whatsoever he obtains without effort, free from the pairs

09/07/2019 (Spoken on September 18th, 1974.) 6. Now, this is not sufficient, and the next six chapters describe something much more. Whatever be the discipline that you have in your own self – you are a well-integrated, psychologically balanced personality – very good, but what is your relationship with the world outside? India is very big, and it is not exhausted merely by your personality, and it is not the whole world. The world is much bigger than even our country, and it has a connection with the whole international system. Inasmuch as you are an organic part of this country as a citizen, well, you would seem to have a connection with other parts of the world also. And this world, which is this Earth, has a connection with the solar system. Physicists and astronomers know what vital connection this Earth has with the Sun and the entire solar system and the Milky Way, and so on. Astronomers tell us that the whole physical universe is an organic completeness, as our own pers

08/07/2019 9. Sri Krishna had innumerable associations, and we are told that he had multiple queens. Again, the divinity in him manifested itself, which contradicted his having many wives—namely, his being present with many people simultaneously. He had so many consorts, and he was as many forms. When Narada went to see how Sri Krishna could manage having so many queens, he went to one palace and found Sri Krishna was taking bath, and his queen was there. “Oh, Narada! How are you? How did you come?” Krishna asked. “My Lord! I am just grateful to you. I came for your darshan,” replied Narada. Narada was inquisitive as to what was happening with the other queens, and went to their palaces. Sri Krishna was there as well. In one palace he was taking his meal, in another he was receiving guests, in another he was performing a havan, and so on. Narada could not understand how Sri Krishna had appeared at all these places. Sri Krishna was present everywhere.  How can this be

07/07/2019 (Spoken on Gita Jayanti in 1973) A Synthesis of Thought and Action-7. If the world is a single unity, of which we are also an integral part, accepted, no object or person in the world relates to us in any paternalistic fashion and, therefore, no one in the world can bring us happiness or sorrow. Our individualised happiness or grief is an immediate outcome of our so-called relationship with certain persons and things in the world which ultimately does not exist, and cannot be justified. The Upanishads speak of the ultimate truth of things. Yo vai bhuma tat sukham : The Plenum is felicity. And what is the Plenum? What is this Bhuma which is the source of real bliss? The Chhandogya Upanishad tells us : yo vai bhuma tat sukham, nalpe sukham asti (Chhandogya Upanishad VII.23.1);  yatra nanyat pasyati, anyat shrinoti, anyat vijaanaati sa bhuma (VII.24.1). --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Chhando