Srimad Bhagavad - Gita

01/04/2019 Chapter- 1: The Twofold Character of Cosmic Life-11. Post - 11. Our spiritual sadhana is not a mere activity such as running a shop. It is not a business. People go to ashrams and do something, then go back home and do another thing, so it ends in various kinds of doings, but the inner pith of their personality is untouched. They go as they came, which is very unfortunate. To regard spiritual sadhana as a mere outer activity, without any relation to the inner consciousness of our being, would be to treat typhoid fever by putting on a beautiful shirt. The typhoid fever will not go, even if the shirt is beautiful. Similarly, all sadhana which is purely of an extraneous nature will look beautiful on the outside but inwardly leave us in the same place. So let sadhana be a turning of the tables round within the structure of our own mind, a vital transvaluation of values, a change in the very outlook of our life. The whole secret is in our hands. The magic is in our ow...

10/03/2019 Srimad Bhagavad-Gita : Chapter-13. ( Kshetra-kshetrajna-vibhaga-yogam) Slokam-31. yada  bhutaprthagbhavam  ekasthamanupaśyati, tata  eva  ca  vistaram    brahma sampadyate  tada. * "When a sensible man ceases to see different identities, which are due to different material bodies, he attains to the Brahmam conception. Thus he sees that beings are expanded everywhere."  bhuta-prthak-bhavam  =  the  various  and  different  bhavam  of  bhuta-s; ekastham  =  situated  in  one  ( i.e, all  diverse  entities  are  in  one )  so; tata  eva  vistaram  ca  =  from  that  one  itself  took  diversity; yada   anupasyati  =  when  one  sees ; tada  brahma sampadyate   =  then,  ( he )  attains  the  Absolu...

09/03/2019 The Gita according to MAHATMA GANDHI :  1.THE FUNDAMENTALS-1. We shall now turn to a study of that Wisdom and that Art as revealed in the Gita. Perhaps the best way to do so is to present a brief interpretative analysis of the various discourses. But before we start with the analysis, it would not be out of place to indicate what we might call the permanent background of the Gita. It starts with accepting certain "unanalysable ultimates" — the Self, the Absolute, God, and the Universe and certain fundamental postulates. It presents no philosophical treatment, as it is really addressed to those who assume these ultimates, for the simple reason that the author's purpose was to expound the ordinary man's mission in life rather than to present a philosophical system. Thus, when Arjuna approaches Krishna with an appeal which recalls, 'What in me is dark, illumine,' He does so by a sudden flash light revelation of the Unborn, Ageless, Deathle...

08/03/2019 (Gita Jayanti Message spoken on December 26, 1982.) 2. In religious lore and in mystical circles we hear of God giving darshan or vision to yogis, to disciples, to Gurus, to devotees, and to all those who look after Him, who look to Him for succour. In the Puranas we have instances galore of God giving vision to tapasvins, to devotees, and He speaks. How does He speak? In what language? He can give vision to any person in any country, speaking any language, and it does not mean that He will give vision only to people in India. But how does God speak? So this is the difficulty felt by human language or mortal tongues in actually deciphering the way of God in relation to man. This is the reason why each commentator on the Gita has his own viewpoint and interpretation and meaning read into the words of the Bhagavadgita. It was what is usually called an apocalypse, an enlightenment; a flood of radiance burst forth before the soul of Arjuna. We can imagine anyth...

07/03/2019 (Spoken on September 18th, 1974.) 2. As I mentioned, the first six chapters deal with personal discipline. They deal with the individual, the person, the human being as such, how a human being can be integrated psychologically, morally and intellectually. The human personality is not exhausted merely by the physical body. You or I as an individual person does not mean merely this physical vesture that is visible before the eyes. The personality of a human being is more than the physical body. Your character, for example, is the determining factor of much of the success that you are expected to achieve in the world. Your character is not merely the demeanor of the physical body; it is an internal manoeuvre of your mental makeup or status of consciousness. The way of thinking, the inner conduct of the psychological organ, and the capacity of your reasoning faculty to comprehend things all combine to constitute your personality. Now, what is the human personality, w...

06/03/2019 Chapter 1: 1.2 1.Introduction -2. In a similar manner, there is one law which decides the way in which subsidiary laws should be framed. Even our eating habits and our modes of behaviour, conduct and relations are conditioned by it. It is not that we can live as we like. We have a freedom, and every citizen in a country has a freedom. We are all free people. Everyone is free. We do not look like criminals or shackled persons. Everyone is aware of some sort of freedom. We can do certain things according to our wish and according to our freedom. But this free will of ours, this freedom that is sanctioned, is conditioned by certain norms of behaviour which we cannot violate. So even freedom can be limited by certain sanctions. In a sense, we may say there is limited freedom. But we need not be very much concerned over this limitation that is set over our freedom because it is necessary that individual freedom should be so limited in the interest of a larger welfare, b...

05/03/2019 (Spoken on Gita Jayanti in 1973) A Synthesis of Thought and Action-5. The Upanishads are the basic building bricks of the basis of the structure of thought to precede human action in general. I do not mean any particular action specifically. Human action in general, whatever be its nature, is to be preceded by a type of thought, which is beautifully represented in the Upanishads. We cannot go into the vast details of this scientific subject in the few minutes available to us here, but suffice it to say that while the thoughts of the Upanishads lay the foundation for a universal approach to things, the Bhagavadgita gospel brings into high relief the daily operation of this thought in every nook and corner of the world through each and every action of the individual. The problem of Arjuna was a sentimental and an emotional one, sentiment and emotion having overpowered his understanding, preventing him from thinking in the right direction and urging him to take a deci...

04/03/2019 Sri Krishna’s Brindavanam and Dvarka Lilas : 5 The Rasa Lila has many a meaning, as commentators would tell us—namely, it is the dance of the whole cosmos around the central pivot of the Absolute. The whole cosmic dance is demonstrated there. The feminine nature of the Gopis, which is the nature of the components of creation, is comparable to its counterpart, the centrality which is the Absolute. The Absolute Supreme Being does not evolve. It does not dance; it acts as a central nucleus of the entire creation, which dances in all its particulars. To mention again, Sri Krishna was born to demonstrate cosmic perfection, and not to reiterate man-made laws and regulations. There are no human ethics for God. Though God has His own ethics, they are not comparable to human understanding. God is very just, it is perfectly true, but His justice is different from the nature of justice that we can think in our mind. God can dissolve the whole cosmos. Where is the justice in ...

03/03/2019 (Spoken on Sri Krishna Janmashtami, August 25, 1978) There were great masters in ancient times who had thought over all these problems of life. We are not the only people who are thinking along these lines. There were towering personalities, great statures which stood above us right up to the heavens, as it were, and found that this mystery cannot be explained in logical terms. Science, mathematics and logic are inadequate to the purpose. The great mystery of human aspiration cannot be explained by anything which is at present under the control of the human being, even including the intellect and the ratiocinating powers. The great thing, the wonderful thing, the vista of perfection that one holds before oneself, is incapable of definition in language. This was well thought out by great geniuses of the past. One such Master has come down to our memories today – the great Krishna Dvaipayana Vyasa, the author of the Mahabharata and many other scriptures attributed t...

02/03/2019 The Tree of Life : Srimad Bhagavad Gita : 1.10 Chapter- 1: The Twofold Character of Cosmic Life-10. Post - 10. Well, the seed is restless. It has to become the tree. We cannot curb its force. Our movements from place to place are nothing but our seed of the mind moving as the branches of the tree of our own experiences. Nobody can rest quiet : na hi kascit kshanam api jatu tisthati akarmakrt (B.G. 3.5). We will go crazy if we are locked up in one room, just as the seed will struggle to burst forth in some way or the other when circumstances for it become favourable. Unless we are able to know what this mysterious urge is which keeps us always on tenterhooks and never gives us anything, we will not be able to live happily in this world. We may go to any doctor, any Guru, but we will be the same person. Nobody is going to help us unless the light comes from within us, because our conviction is our guide. Our faith, our stability and logical conclusiveness of a...