Spiritual Evolution According to the Bhagavadgita: 5. Swami Krishnananda

Chinmaya International Foundation (CIF) 

is with Gauri Mahulikar at Chinmaya Mission, Sidhbari.

May 5 at 5:33 AM · 

Dharamsala, India · 

Upanishad-mala – A Primer of 108 Upanishads is an invaluable guide for seekers of Vedanta. This primer presents a complete list of the 108 Upanishads as mentioned in the Muktikopanishad, along with succinct summaries of each.

 It serves as an essential reference for both seekers and scholars, paving the way for future volumes featuring full translations and detailed notes. 

The book was ceremoniously released on two significant occasions, marking the beginning of an ambitious project by the Chinmaya International Foundation (CIF) to offer English translations and notes for all 108 Upanishads listed in the Muktikopanishad.

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

🌐 To explore the wealth of the Upanishadic wisdom and to keep this sacred companion by your side, visit:

🔗 Chinfo Website: https://bit.ly/upanishad-mala

🛒 Amazon: https://amzn.to/42XS9IO

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

The book was released during the Chinmaya Jayanti Camp at Sidhbari, on the auspicious occasion of the Nakshatra Jayanti of Pujya Gurudev Swami Chinmayananda. Pujya Swami Swaroopananda (Global Head of Chinmaya Mission) released the book by presenting copies to Swami Advayananda (Acharya, Sandeepany Vedanta Course), Swami Prakarshananda (Acharya, Hindi Vedanta Course at Sandeepany Himalayas) and Ms. Manisha Khemlani (CEO, Central Chinmaya Mission Trust).

The book was also released at Adi Sankara Nilayam during the 5-Day National Textual Workshop on Mahavakya – Sankarabhashya. Prof. Mani Dravid Sastrigal, revered scholar of Advaita Vedanta, released the book and handed over copies to Swami Sharadananda Sarasvati (Acharya, Vedanta Sadhaka Course), Br. Ved Chaitanya (Upacharya, Vedanta Sadhaka Course) and Prof. Gauri Mahulikar (Academic Director of CIF).

This marks a significant step forward in bringing the wisdom of the Upanishads to the world, under the guidance of Guru Parampara.

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

Wednesday 14, May 2025, 10:00.
Article 
Scriptures
Spiritual Evolution According to the Bhagavadgita: 5. 
Sami Krishnananda
(Spoken on February 24th, 1973)

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

The Bhagavadgita is a Brahma-vidya and a Yoga Shastra. It is the doctrine of the Absolute and also a description of the methodology of approach to this reality by way of practice. This practice is yoga. What is yoga? It is the adjustment of consciousness to the law of the Absolute. This is yoga. Or, if we would like to put it more mildly, it is the tuning of our consciousness to the next higher reality so that we go higher and higher, from the lesser to the wider.

Now, the tendency of consciousness to grow to a higher state of existence implies a restriction of those tendencies in us which limit us to the bodily existence and the perception of the particulars, the individuals; this restriction is called atma-vinigraha, or self-control. If we persist in entertaining animal tendencies, how can we be called human beings? So to be human implies automatically the necessity to control those tendencies of the animal. If the animal tendencies are to be given a long rope, where comes humanity in us? We do not attack people like a tiger or bite like a snake, though subconsciously these tendencies are still in us. We check these tendencies so that we may be human. This checking of the lower tendency is called self-control, sense-control.

In the same way as to be human we have to control the animal tendencies by putting a check over them, in order that we may be divine and godly we may have to transmute even the human qualities. Just as the animal instincts look unbecoming in the eye of a human consciousness, the human tendencies which look all right today are also very unbecoming and untrue from the point of view of divine perception. While evil and selfishness are bad from the point of view of the human perception because they are animal tendencies, what we call goodness and social life is also a limitation and to be outgrown in a higher divine consciousness.

So, this is the way we have to constantly bring home to our mind that there is a higher purpose in our life so that our very restlessness in life becomes a fillip and a push to take us higher into the knowledge of that which transcends us, and we maintain ourselves by the hope of the achievement of a higher purpose. The higher pulls us towards itself. This irresistible urge of the pull of the higher is evolution, as I mentioned. That is why we cannot keep quiet even for a moment because the higher is pulling us. If the higher were not to pull us, we would be satisfied with our present state of life. We would not ask for anything. Desire, which keeps us restless and unhappy in life, is the blind groping of consciousness for the higher existence, for the higher form of life.

Desire is a blind groping; it is not a clear perception of things, yet it gives an indication that something is wrong with us. When we open our eyes to the meaning behind these desires and urges, we are said to be endowed with viveka or understanding, discrimination. This is the first prerequisite of spiritual enlightenment. Viveka, vairagya and shad-sampat – this understanding of the higher purpose of life and an automatic detachment from the lower instincts, together with self-control, constitute the base sadhana for spiritual life.

This itself is not sufficient. These qualifications, viveka, vairagya, shad-sampat, etc., are supposed to be only preparatory for the reception of the higher knowledge, which is classified under what we call the sravana, manana, nididhyasana process. Even mere discrimination will not do. A mere attempt at self-control is not sufficient because spiritual knowledge is not the negative repression or the control of the senses merely, but a positive realisation of higher values.

*****

Continued

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