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Commentary on the Bhagavadgita - 12- 2. Swami Krishnananda.

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 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Tuesday,  August 31, 2021. 8:14. PM. Discourse 12 : THE FIFTH CHAPTER CONTINUES : THE CHARACTERISTICS OF A PERFECTED PERSON : 2. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 1.All processes in this universe—evolution, involution, activity of any kind—are said to be taking place on account of a peculiar propensity in the gunas of prakriti. Therefore, the Supreme Lord is not supposed to be directly responsible for either what we call creation or destruction, or for any kind of activity taking place. His participation in creation is secondary, just as the sun, the solar light, is responsible for everything—life and death in this world—and yet the sun is not directly connected.  This is a very interesting verse in the Bhagavadgita : "Na kartritvam na karmani lokasya srijati prabhuh "

The Relevance of the Bhagavadgita to Humanity : 13.4. Swami Krishnananda.

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-------------------------------------------------------------------------------- ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Monday, August 30, 2021. 8:29. PM. The First Six Chapters of the Bhagavadgita CHAPTER-13. The Supremely Friendly Power - 4. (Spoken on Bhagavadgita Jayanti) -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Now, while it is true that God operates even in conditions which are not cognised by the human mind, and that every operation is an operation by God only, yet it is consciously felt only when the ego opens up its gates. That conscious feeling of the coming of God into our practical life is the Avatara of God, the Incarnation, though in a way we may say there is an Incarnation every moment of time, like the rays of the Sun perpetually bathing the Earth. For the Earth there is no sunrise and sunset. All the twenty-four hours of the day the Earth receives the light of the Sun this way or that way, so

Srimad Bhagavad-Gita : Chapter-17, Sraddha-traya-vibhaga-yogam : Slokam-4.

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---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Sunday, August 29, 2021. 7:13. PM. Srimad Bhagavad-Gita Chapter-17. Sraddha-traya-vibhaga-yogam :  Slokam-4. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Slokam - 4. "Yajante  sattvika  devan  yaksharakshamsi  rajasah, pretan  bhuta-ganamscanye  yajante  tamasa  janah." --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Translation : sattvika  janah  =  those  who  are  of  satvic  guna  ( good  character ); devan  yajante   =  worship  Devas  ( demi-gods ); rajasah  =  those  who  are  of  the  rajasi  guna  (  a  character  of  passions,  look  for  gains, etc ); yaksha  rakshamsi  yajante  =  worship  yaksha-s  and  rakshasa-s  (  demons  ); anye    tamasa  janah  = and  others  the  tamasic  guna  ho

A Study of the Bhagavadgita - Chapter 7.7. Swami Krishnananda.

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 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Saturday, August 8, 2021. 10:01.PM. Chapter 7:The Entry of the Absolute into the Relative - 7. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- The method of meditation is very briefly discussed towards the end of the Third Chapter in two verses, but it is the essence of the whole matter: it is possible to overcome longing, desire for objects of sense, only by intense meditation through a gradational process.  This is also described in detail in the Sixth Chapter.  "Indriyāṇi parāṇy āhur indriyebhyaḥ paraṁ manaḥ, manasas tu parā buddhir yo buddheḥ paratas tu saḥ (Gita 3.42); evaṁ buddheḥ paraṁ buddhvā saṁstabhyātmānam ātmanā, jahi śatruṁ mahābāho kāmarūpaṁ durāsadam." (Gita 3.43).  This is a brief statement of a longer, more detail

The Teachings of the Bhagavadgita - 10.7. Swami Krishnananda.

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----------------------------------------------------------------------------------- ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Friday, August 27, 2021. 6:39. PM. Chapter 10: The One Supreme Absolute Alone Is - 7. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- The fifteenth chapter again describes the nature of this universe, with a different type of emphasis – the subject which was touched upon in the thirteenth and the fourteenth chapters already. The thirteenth, fourteenth, and the fifteenth chapters concern themselves with cosmological themes, creation, and the entire series of the levels of manifestation, God's role in this creation and man's relationship to God, the connection with the universe, with the other principles, and so on. These are all in varieties of ways mentioned in the thirteenth, fourteenth and fifteenth chapters.  The fifteenth chapter has an importance of its own because it very po

The Philosophy of the Bhagavadgita : 12- 5. Swami Krishnananda.

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 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Thursday,  August 26,  2021. 9:29. PM.  Chapter -12. God and the Universe - 5. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- But the greatest devotee of God is he who asks for nothing from God—not even knowledge, not even enlightenment, not even freedom from suffering—and such devotees are rare to find. The mind is made in such a way that it has always a need of some kind or other. And to imagine a condition of the mind where it has no need whatsoever is difficult. The highest devotion asks for God alone, and not anything through God, or from God.  The superiority of this sort of devotion should become obvious to any thinking mind, because to ask for anything from God, or to utilise God as an instrument in the acquisition of anything exterior to God, would be to reduce God to a category infer

Commentary on the Bhagavadgita - 12- 1. Swami Krishnananda.

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 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Wednesday,  August 25, 2021. 7:09. PM. Discourse 12 : THE FIFTH CHAPTER CONTINUES : THE CHARACTERISTICS OF A PERFECTED PERSON : 1. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------- ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- "Yogayukto visuddhatma vijitatma jitendriyah, sarvabhutatmabhutatma kurvann api na lipyate."(5.7).  In this verse, the characteristics of a yogi, a perfected person, are described. A person who is united in yoga is a yogayukta. Such a person is also a viśuddhātmā: his lower self has been purified in order to reflect the higher Self in itself. He is also a vijitātmā: a person who is perfectly under control of himself; jitendriya: whose sense or

The Relevance of the Bhagavadgita to Humanity : 13.3. Swami Krishnananda.

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---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Tuesday, August 24, 2021. 8:29. PM. The Fir-st Six Chapters of the Bhagavadgita CHAPTER-13. The Supremely Friendly Power - 3. (Spoken on Bhagavadgita Jayanti) ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- So the Fourth Chapter commences with a startling and persuasive message of giving a healing and balming touch to the anxious soul that has been listening to such a complicated and difficult message of prakriti and the gunas, and their involvements, and the senses getting subjected to the operation of the gunas, and an apparent helplessness of the individual in this vast field of cosmic activity. That may be there; let us accept it. But there is a remedy for this apparent problem which one involved in the cosmic operations of the gunas of prakriti is facing. The touch of the finger of G

Srimad Bhagavad-Gita : Chapter-17, Sraddha-traya-vibhaga-yogam : Slokam-4.

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 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- --------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Monday, August 23, 2021. 8:13. PM. Srimad Bhagavad-Gita Chapter-17. Sraddha-traya-vibhaga-yogam :  Slokam - 4. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Chapter-17. Slokam-4. "Yajante  sattvika  devan  yaksharakshamsi  rajasah, pretan  bhuta-ganamscanye  yajante  tamasa  janah." ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Translation : sattvika  janah  =  those  who  are  of  satvic  guna  ( good  character ); devan  yajante   =  worship  Devas  ( demi-gods ); rajasah  =  those  who  are  of  the  rajasi  guna  (  a  character  of  passions,  look  for  gains, etc ); yaksha  rakshamsi  yajante  =  worship  yaksha-s  and  rakshasa-s  (  demons  ); anye    tamasa  janah  = and  others  the  tamasic  g

A Study of the Bhagavadgita - Chapter 7.6. Swami Krishnananda.

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 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Sunday, August 22, 2021. 7:25.PM. Chapter 7:The Entry of the Absolute into the Relative - 6. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ So, who is seeing the world? “I am seeing the world” – don’t say that. Prakriti is seeing itself. Prakṛteḥ kriyamāṇāni, : A person is working through the ego only, centring himself in the consciousness of himself excessively.  Kartāham iti manyate : I am doing. Neither are you doing anything, nor are you perceiving anything. Your consciousness of being an agent in action is due to the ego that is predominant in you, and your feeling that you are perceiving an external world is due to the operation of the gunas of Prakriti, both subjectively and objectively. Therefore, caution is the watchword of a spiritual seeker. It is difficult to live in this world whic

The Teachings of the Bhagavadgita - 10.6. Swami Krishnananda.

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---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Saturday, August 21, 2021. 7:38. PM. Chapter 10: The One Supreme Absolute Alone Is - 6. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------- So the prakriti so-called, the matter to which reference has been made in the thirteenth chapter, is constituted of three forces – sattva, rajas, and tamas – which is the theme of the fourteenth chapter. The idea that the universe is a solid, material, brick-like substance is removed from our mind by the teaching that the whole universe is force. Here we have a corresponding philosophy of German philosopher Leibniz – the universe is made of force – and this is also of modern physics. As we are told, all great men think alike, whether they are from the East or the West. When we reach the top of the mountain, we will see the same thing, whoever we are. So al

The Philosophy of the Bhagavadgita : 12- 4. Swami Krishnananda.

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 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Friday,August 20,, 2021.7:40. PM.  Chapter -12. God and the Universe - 4. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Describing the possible character of the movement of the soul towards God, we are told that there are four types of aspiring souls, all these aspirations being regarded as worthwhile and very valuable in their own way. Our love for God is variegated in its motivation. And the more perfect is the love or aspiration, the greater is the chance of one’s realisation of God, experience of the Absolute. The more we try to consider God as an outside object, even in a philosophical sense, the more is the difficulty that we will encounter on the path, because God resents any kind of a relinquishment of Him to the limbo of an objectivity of perception.  If God tolerates not an