A Study of the Bhagavadgita : 9-4. Swami Krishnananda.

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Thursday, January 13, 2022.7:00. PM.

Chapter : 9. The Yoga of Meditation.4.

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Atmaiva hy atmano bandhur atmaiva ripur atmanah. 

Who is your friend in this world? 

The higher Self is your friend, not somebody sitting outside you. That outside person can also become a friend only insofar as that person who is apparently outside can be associated livingly, vitally, with the adhidaiva consciousness. Otherwise, that outside person is an outside person only. You cannot have any real friendship with anybody in the world because of the independence that each one is maintaining. If the independence is slowly mellowed down by its association with the higher divinity with which it is connected as the adhidaiva, the friendship can be forged.

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The friend of the Self is the self, and also it is the enemy of the self. The higher Self is your friend, to the extent your lower self is surrendering itself to the higher Self's demands. The higher Self is an enemy – God Himself is the opponent, and He will see everything is set at naught with all your effort – if this highest Self, which is God Almighty, is not put in the proper context of our relation with Him. God-consciousness, divinity-consciousness, adhidaiva-consciousness, higher Self-consciousness mean one and the same thing, so you may take it in any sense you like.

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Furthermore, the higher Self is something that is immediately above us, which can be experienced as becoming the controller of the lower self only if we are able to live according to the dictates and the requirements of the higher Self. 

What are the requirements of the higher Self? 

The higher Self is less in need of the senses to acquire any kind of satisfaction. The higher Self is less in need of association with physical pleasures and social contact. The more you feel satisfied with your own self and feel happy when you are alone in your room, you may be said to be moving in the direction of the true higher Self. But if when you are alone you feel miserable and immediately want to get out and meet a friend in the marketplace or speak to anybody on the way, you are a distracted person.

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Each one can judge one's own self as far as the progress that is made in his spirituality. 

There are many tests. 

This is one test : Be alone to yourself. For how long can you be alone to yourself – for hours and hours, or for some days? 

If you can be alone the whole day, from morning until evening – if you do not want to see anybody, and you are the happiest man in the world even if you do not look at anything – if that is the case, it is a great touchstone of your progress. 

But if you feel miserable after half an hour – the legs are aching, the back is not able to straighten itself, and the mind says to go out and chat with someone – if this is the case, the lower self is controlling you. 

You are in the lower self only, and the higher Self has not taken possession of you.

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To be continued ...

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