Study of the Bhagavadgita : Chapter-2 : Post- 11. - Swami Krishnananda.

-

 


----------------------------------------------------------------

Wednesday, October 21, 2020. 07:22. PM.

Chapter 2: The Background of the Bhagavadgita-11.

----------------------------------------------------------------


1.

Firstly, the notion of reality is not clear in the mind. Whatever your consciousness encounters and believes to be real should be regarded as real for you. It is difficult to define what reality is. That which is subject to transmutation or change is not supposed to be absolutely real, but is perhaps relatively so. But as far as consciousness is concerned, it will certainly cling even to relative realities because though they are relative, for the time being they appear to be real. We see a continuity in the flow of a river, though we are told a thousand times that every minute new water is flowing; so is also the case with the burning of a flame in a lamp. Though everything is transitory and everything is moving and we are today totally different from what we were when we were little children – we have changed completely and are not static entities – yet we cling to our own selves as something which is relatively perceptible as a workable reality. So anything that consciousness accepts to be worthwhile, of some utility, will be regarded by it as real, and cannot be rejected. The world is unreal in some sense, but it is real in some other sense. Whatever be the sense in which it is real or unreal, that sense is important to us.

2.

Now, we cannot mix up issues when we take to the path of spirituality, or Yoga. Communion with reality is the purpose of Yoga. The Bhagavadgita will try to disillusion the mind of Arjuna as to what is proper for him, because the propriety of a thing depends upon its relatedness to reality. A thing that is connected to unreal things, or phantoms, is not proper. That which is related to reality is proper. But what is reality? This was a confusing issue before Arjuna’s mind, and he fell down totally helpless psychologically, asking for redress of his woes: “I am here before you, Krishna, the great Master. I do not know what is good and proper for me.”

3.

Thus the disciple approaches the Guru. He moves towards the Guru in a state of distress and confusion of mind, sometimes looking back at the world as being not so bad as he thought, and at other times feeling that the world is worth nothing – that it is a vale of tears. This circumstance caught hold of Arjuna; and with this, the First Chapter of the Gita closes.

End.

Next- Chapter- 3. The Transmigration of the Soul

To be continued ....

=================================================================

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

The Teachings of the Bhagavadgita - 8.1. Swami Krishnananda.

-
Image
  ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Sunday, March 21, 2021. 07:57. AM. Chapter 8: Creation and Life After Death -1. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------- The Bhagavadgita is a moksha-shastra, a scripture on the science of the liberation of the spirit. Thus it follows the course of the return process along the same lines as the evolutionary process of the descent of the soul from the Supreme Being. The first six chapters may be said to be engaged in an exposition of self-discipline from the individual point of view, the integration of the human personality and the preparation of the whole man for the greater task which is yet to come – namely, the at-one-ment of the individual with the set-up of the universe. Some of the interpreters and commentators on the Bhagavadgita hold that the first six chapters have a relevance to the significance of the term 'twam' in the famous Upanishadic p
Read more

Stabilising the Mind in God: The Twelfth Chapter of the Bhagavadgita-2. Swami Krishnananda

-
Image
======================================================================= ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 20/11/2019. (Spoken on June 26, 1983) ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ #Srimad Bhagavad Gita : Chpter-12. Slokam-s 8 to 11. ======================================================================= Mayya eva mana adhatsva mayi buddhim nivesaya, nivasshiayasi mayy eva ata urdhvahm na samsayah. - Slo-8. Aatha cittam samadhatum na saknoshi mayi sthiram, abhyasayogena tato mam ichaptum dhananjaya. - Slo-9. Abhyasepy asamarthosi matkarmaparamo bhava, madartham api karmani kurvan siddhim avapsyasi.-Slo-10. Athaitad apy asaktosi kartum madyogam asritah sarvakarmaphalatyagam tatah kuru yatatmavan. - Slo-11. ======================================================================== So the first
Read more

A Study of the Bhagavadgita : 33 - Swami Krishnananda.

-
Image
================================================================================= Saturday 01, June 2024 06:40. Chapter 7: The Entry of the Absolute into the Relative -3. Post-33. ================================================================================= There are endless connections of this type. The relationship of adhyatma and adhibhuta is involved in an infinite variety of degrees of ascent and descent. This imperative of the presence of a consciousness between adhyatma and adhibhuta in various degrees is the reason why you sometimes feel there are many gods. Sometimes the question arises: Are there many gods, or only one God? There is only one God, the Absolute, but inasmuch as it manifests itself as an interconnecting link between subject and object through millions of degrees of ascent and descent, it looks as there are millions of gods. It is as if there are millions of governments merely because there are millions of officials in a centrality of administration. There is
Read more