Relevance of the Bhagavadgita to Humanity : 25-1.Swami Krishnananda.

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Chinmaya International Foundation (CIF) · 

Hari Om. This grand mansion - Melpazhur Mana - is the hallowed maternal birth-home of Sri Adi Sankaracharya, the renowned saint and revered Advaita Vedantin. 

The Mana is located at Veliyanad village in Ernakulam, Kerala. 

Today, this place of pilgrimage is named ‘Adi Sankara Nilayam’, and it is the home of Chinmaya International Foundation (CIF). 

The structure as you see now, is a Naalukettu, a quadrangle with an open courtyard in the centre, which is a source of ample sunlight. That's not all, handcrafted wooden carvings with over 120 designs are incorporated into the structure. This makes the house a treasure trove of old Kerala style architecture and art. It is an intelligently designed house incorporating multiple factors such as Vastu, aesthetics and usability, thus reflecting the unique architectural prowess that was well ahead of its times.

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Wednesday, August 31, 2022. 07:00.
Chapter 25: The Lower Self and the Higher Self-1.

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Chapter 25: The Lower Self and the Higher Self -1.

The Bhagavadgita is like a mantra, and the tradition is that when we chant a mantra we must think of the author of the mantra. It is a respect that we give to the author, and he is called the rishi. Here the rishi is Bhagavan Krishna Dvaipayana Vyasa. We have to mentally offer our obeisance to this great Master who has been the medium to communicate this eternal wisdom to everyone. It goes without saying that our heart and soul, our whole body, goes in obeisance to the great divine Incarnation, Bhagavan Sri Krishna, whom we must remember in our minds, must keep planted in our souls in humble submission before we to speak anything on this great, grand, magnificent legacy bequeathed to us. Every time we must offer our prayers to these great divine forces. That is our respect to them, which is required of us.

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yadā hi nendriyārtheṣu na karmasv anuṣajjate,

sarvasaṃkalpasaṃnyāsī yogārūḍhas tadocyate. (BG 6.4)

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uddhared ātmanātmānaṃ nātmānam avasādayet,

atmaiva hy ātmano bandhur ātmaiva ripur ātmanaḥ. (BG 6.5)

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bandhur ātmātmanas tasya yenātmaivātmanā jitaḥ,

anātmanas tu śatrutve vartetātmaiva śatruvat. (BG 6.6)

Here we have a bit of deep philosophical truth presented in a few words. Yoga is the art of Self-recovery. It is the Self gradually becoming aware of its Self. It is self-control, and also Self-recognition. It is Self-recognition in the sense of Self-realisation. All yoga is the systematised process of the self realising its Self. The whole world is the play of the Self. Philosophers have been intrigued in understanding how the whole world can be a play of the Self. There is nothing but the Self everywhere. But how many selves are there? Many selves? Two or three selves? Two selves? One self? These are difficult things to understand. Varieties of points of vision have furnished different kinds of answers to these questions.

There are others who feel that there are many selves, no doubt. The Vaishnava theologians such as Ramanuja, Madhva, Nimbarka, Vallava and Chaitanya all have an inclination to accept the multitudinousness of the Self, but with shades of difference in their opinions. Some feel that each self is different from the other, as we are all different from each other. One person does not seem to have any connection with another person. You can go that way, and another goes this way, without even knowing that the other exists. Do the selves exist in this manner as totally unconcerned individuals? Are they individuals? The Sankhya does not want to think that they are individuals in the sense of little bodies. The Sankhya feels that each purusha, which is comparable to the Self we are speaking of, is infinite. How could there be any commerce between one infinite and another infinite? Such questions are not raised, and they are not answered.

There are totally different selves, says Madhva and his coterie. Each one represents an independent, isolated spiritual unit, a jivatman. A jivatman is bound by maya, ignorance, some sort of confusion, and the great purpose of spiritual living is to cast off this veil of ignorance and live in the kingdom of God. Even in Christian theological parlance it is difficult to understand the position of the liberated spirit in the kingdom of God. The question is not very much mooted in the Bible, nor in rationalistic interpretations of the nature of the salvation of the soul according to Christian dogma. However, there is also parallel thinking in India which says that it is possible for liberated souls to live in the kingdom of God.

In the traditions of theology in India there is the position that in salvation, in moksha, there are categories. One can be free with different types of freedom. It may not be a uniformity. We are free to move anywhere as we like in the kingdom of heaven, in the kingdom of God. This is called salokya, living in the universe of God. God rules that kingdom. Therefore, there is some literal significance even in our calling that realm as a kingdom of God, a kingdom ruled by God, as this earth is ruled by an emperor. And we are totally free; nobody will restrain us. The concept of Brahmaloka in Indian theological parlance is also something like that where the Creator is the supreme deciding principle, and each individual is so transparently free that the extreme freedom that they enjoy goes to such a point of logical perfection that each one is mirrored in the other. In Brahmaloka, each individual, if we would like to call them individuals, is reflected in every other individual, and everyone is everywhere.

To be continued ....

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