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Bhagavad Gita - Chapter 2 - Saankhya Yoga 46
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Bhagavad Gita Chapter 9 Rajavidya Rajaguhya Yoga 20
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Bhagavad Gita Chapter 11 Vishvarupa Darshana Yoga 3
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38 b Gita 4.31-33
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This class begun with प्राणायाम |
For this practice, first-
(i) Sit comfortably,
(ii) Straight back,
(iii) Gently close eyes.
प्राणायाम is an attempt to regulate the प्राण that keeps us alive. So, in a simple way by using my breath which is always with me physically, I can attempt to regulate it.
Different types of प्राणायाम have different types of results.
We recognize that the प्राण in the body is the same वायु that is outside the body. So, really speaking, inside & outside is just a point of reference. It is really वायु presided over by वायु देवता that is energizing my body, even though breathing is involuntary.
So, with deliberate conscious attention, one takes a deep breath in, holds the breath and then exhales to different counts.
Inhalation should be done fully, and exhalation should be done fully.
Different variations-
1) Inhale deeply to a count of 8, hold for a count of 2, exhale fully to a count of 4.
2) Inhale deeply to a count of 4, hold for a count of 2, exhale fully to a count of 8.
3) Inhale deeply to a count of 4, hold for a count of 4, exhale fully to a count of 4.
Each of these can be repeated, with a few normal breaths in between.
By प्राणायाम, we understand that the process of breathing is governed by the laws of भगवान्, and in our attempt to regulate there is effort involved and that effort we offer unto Him. Really speaking, what is His, we offer unto Him. The effort then becomes a यज्ञ | Because, in the recognition that the प्राण that energizes my entire system is indeed वायु (air) presided over by वायु देवता, I see that I am ever connected to भगवान् through this simple act of प्राणायाम |
To end, one can bring one’s palms together and rub them, and then gently palm the eyes and open them.
The next verse explains how प्राणायाम can be a यज्ञ –
* श्लोक २९ *
अपाने जुह्वति प्राणं प्राणेऽपानं तथापरे ।
प्राणापानगती रुद्ध्वा प्राणायामपरायणा: ॥ २९॥
This chapter is called ज्ञान-कर्म-संन्यास-योग: | So, the topic is ज्ञानम् which is in the form of कर्म-संन्यास and कर्म-संन्यास is not actually giving up कर्म, but giving up the sense of doer-ship i.e. कर्तृत्वम् that is associated with कर्म | Because कर्म is not opposed to ज्ञानम् | We have to really assimilate this. Therefore, one is free to do any कर्म that is in line with धर्म | So, instead of thinking that I will do lots of कर्म, or I will do little कर्म, one should do whatever one needs to do, according to the धर्म of the situation, because कर्म is not opposed to ज्ञानम् |
And so, as a result of this teaching of आत्मा being अकर्ता-अभोक्ता i.e. never the doer, never the experiencer, so then how do we relate to कर्म? How can कर्म serve us? NOT we serve कर्म |
So therefore, to look upon all कारक-s (the factors of कर्म) as ब्रह्मन्, we have to ईश्वर-ize all aspects of our life. And to be able to do this, भगवान् श्री कृष्ण is not encouraging block thinking or any glossing over, as if one does not know how to do यज्ञ (the fire ritual), then one can look at all one’s activities as यज्ञ-
1. दैव यज्ञ ~ offering unto the deities that pervade the different laws of nature.
2. विषय-भोग यज्ञ ~ offering of one’s pleasure pursuits, e.g. eating/drinking, dancing, music etc. So, these can be looked upon as a यज्ञ and therefore one can have moderation in it.
3. दम यज्ञ ~ the way in which we use our organs of action, may be looked upon as worship and therefore accordingly regulated.
4. शम यज्ञ ~ the resolution that is required in response to different situations, because we build up a lot of reaction. So, may one resolve whatever comes up.
5. द्रव्य यज्ञ ~ the offering of धनम्, any kind of giving.
6. तपोयज्ञ ~ any तपस् i.e. any religious discipline that one takes on.
7. योग यज्ञ ~ अष्टाङ्ग योग practices, particularly आसन-s because the ethical basis of योग is यम and नियम, which is धर्म, so everything is involved, but here definitely आसन can also be an offering. Generally now we only consider सूर्यनमस्कार as an offering, but earlier आसन-s had a lot of मंत्र-s associated with them.
8. स्वाध्याय यज्ञ ~ having that discipline in one’s life, in terms of looking at one’s life in the light of the शास्त्र | But, one needs to know a little bit of the शास्त्र in order to look at one’s life. Otherwise, in the name of स्वाध्याय, we will just be observing body sensations, and some people even define स्वाध्याय like this also.
9. ज्ञान यज्ञ ~ a commitment to ज्ञानम् |
10. प्राणायाम यज्ञ ~ This is spoken of here in श्लोक २९ |
So, even this act of प्राणायाम can be a यज्ञ | प्राणायाम is a very important part of अष्टाङ्ग योग, and classically it is taught much later as there needs to be दम i.e. some regulation of the body first before one can get into प्राणायाम |
अपाने जुह्वति प्राणं –
There are five aspects of प्राण- प्राण, अपान, व्यान, उदान, समान |
So, for different physiological functions of the body, प्राण plays an important role and takes on different manifestations. Here, what is being referred to is प्राण and अपान | अपान generally refers to that aspect of प्राण that is responsible for evacuation. But here in this verse, there is a slightly different meeting- अपान is the activity of inhalation and प्राण is the exhalation.
प्राणायामपरायणा: –
Those who are committed to this practice of प्राणायाम, we can take a leaf from their book and commit to doing प्राणायाम every day, because one does not need any material for it, nor does one have to be in a particular mood for it. It is an important aspect that one can integrate into one’s lifestyle.
The beautiful part about प्राणायाम is that it is a part of the सूक्ष्मशरीर |
The capacity for the five types of प्राणा is a part of the सूक्ष्मशरीर which includes one’s mind/अहंकार |
The सूक्ष्मशरीर consists of 17 factors- 5 कर्मेन्द्रिय (organs of action), 5 ज्ञानेन्द्रिय (sense organs; organs of knowledge), 5 प्राण-s, and then अंतःकरण-अहंकार |
So, the capacity for the 5 प्राण-s is there with the सूक्ष्मशरीर |
And so, the beauty is that you can tug one, and then the सूक्ष्मशरीर quietens down. That’s why प्राणायाम has this magical effect. It’s not like all the problems in one’s life have suddenly disappeared, because after doing प्राणायाम they are still there. But, definitely one is more calm and more composed after प्राणायाम, because प्राण is interrelated with the सूक्ष्मशरीर | One observes that when one is disturbed, the breath becomes fast and shallow. But if one just shifts one’s attention to one’s breath/प्राण and just breathes, one recognizes that just simple deep breathing is enough to calm one down and is enough to clear the mind. Why? Because it is a part of सूक्ष्मशरीर |
So, this is an important practice, and the people who are committed to it, they take it to the level of यज्ञ and what do they do? So they do something similar to the प्राणायाम exercise that we did at the beginning of class i.e. the अपान (the inhalation) they offer to the exhalation. Because the meeting point between inhalation and exhalation is a fraction of a second and in this breath regulation one is looking at it as an offering, not as a mechanical process.
So, the अपान/inhalation, when it is more than the प्राण/exhalation, this is what one is offering. And then one also makes the connection with वायु देवता and भगवान्, so it is an offering. And on the other hand, प्राणे अपानं – so when the exhalation is more than the inhalation, e.g. the exhalation is to a count of eight, and inhalation is to a count of four, then the exhalation is much more and so that is as though being offered onto the inhalation.
So what changes a simple activity or a process is one’s attitude behind it. One can do it mechanically also and reap the benefits. But when one sees that every breath that one takes is ईश्वर only, then one cannot say that I don’t feel connected. If one says so, then, the problem is with one’s feeling, as there is no other problem.
So when one is too caught up with one’s mind, one can just see that प्राण is वायु देवता or the laws of nature, and that they are pervaded by भगवान् |
Then there is also प्राण अपानगती रुद्ध्वा i.e. there are also different प्राणायाम-s where one holds the breath. So, one inhales and holds the breath, so there’s no exhalation or any more inhalation. And then, one completely exhales and also holds the breath again for a count of a few seconds.
With this breath regulation one can feel like I’m running out of breath, especially when one does it for the first time to a number of many counts. And so in this breath regulation, there is discipline involved, and so for the people who are committed to प्राणायाम as a यज्ञ, then they can offer this कर्म in the spirit of surrender.
The मंत्र सोहम् is meant to be understood. That स: (He) is अहम् (me).
There is a particular organization that uses this मंत्र while breathing in and breathing out. Traditionally though, this is not done; it is just something to be understood. Because otherwise what will happen is this association will only be with breathing, as the mind is so subtle, that conditioning happens this way. So then one thinks that सोहम् means breathing, but really it is the महावाक्य | So we don’t treat it lightly in this way.
* श्लोक ३० *
अपरे नियताहारा: प्राणान्प्राणेषु जुह्वति ।
सर्वेऽप्येते यज्ञविदो यज्ञक्षपितकल्मषा: ॥ ३०॥
So now one of our favorite topics i.e. food. So how do we regulate our food intake and how that can be a यज्ञ is being pointed out.
So, one does not really have an excuse. Even if one does not know how to do पूजा, one is not exempt from यज्ञ, as all major activities of one’s life have been taken into consideration. This also highlights that the spirit of surrender is really about recognizing the truth that one is pervaded by ईश्वर from a manifestation standpoint.
आहार generally means that which you consume. But here आहार specifically means food.
And how does one regulate food intake? Because there is so much research that is being thrown at us every day- from eight meals, to intermittent fasting, to three meals a day, to liquid fasting, to fruit fasting, to grain fasting and feasting. There’s so much, so how does one know?
So, Ayurveda has one thing to offer- Imagine that the size of one’s stomach is divided into four parts. So अर्धम् (half of it) must be filled by food, in keeping with whatever is one’s culture. Then one quarter is filled by उदक (water) or water-related juices etc. And the remaining quarter, what shall we do? It is for वायु to move around and have a little space to digest. This means that one never fills up the stomach and says that I can’t eat anymore. This is not what is recommended. One must always feel like I can have one more helping but stop, and that is the discipline involved.
There is a Sanskrit श्लोक that describes this ration-
पुरयेदशनेनार्धं तृतीयमुदकेन तु
वायोः संचरणार्थं तु चतुर्थमवषेशयेत्
पुरयेदशनेनार्धं ~ this अर्धम् should be filled i.e. fill up the stomach 50% with food,
तृतीयमुदकेन ~ one quarter should be filled up with water,
वायोः संचरणार्थं ~ for the संचरणम् of वायु i.e. for the circulation of वायु/air, please keep some space,
so, चतुर्थमवषेशयेत् ~ the last quarter you keep it empty. Basically, you don’t stuff yourself.
So, in the simple action of eating, one offers one’s desire to eat more unto वैश्वानर अग्नि |
अहं वैश्वानरो भूत्वा- I am that वैश्वानर अग्नि | ~ Chapter 15, Verse 14, श्रीमद् भगवद्-गीता |
Yes, there are digestive juices that digest, but from the प्राण standpoint there is अग्नि present because it is cooking one’s food twice. So, regardless of what one eats, some cooking happens outside e.g. in the preparation of salad or, overcooked food. Then, partly cooking happens in one’s mouth. This is why since childhood one is told to chew one’s food properly. Then, there is the final cooking that happens in the stomach. This is really how we look at it because there is अग्नि involved. So, अग्नि has different manifestations- जठराग्नि/ वैश्वानर अग्नि is present very much in the stomach. But one should not think that there is a literal fire in the stomach, even though with enthusiasm some people may illustrate a literal fire with flames in the stomach.
Ayurveda places a lot of emphasis on the capacity of the stomach to digest. If one goes to a traditional Ayurvedic practitioner, they ask many details about one’s toilet habits. And it’s surprising but a lot of people are constipated across the world. Everybody has some problem with the stomach. And a lot of health issues are seen related to the capacity to digest food~ over-digestion, indigestion etc.
So, this verse points to वैश्वानर अग्नि | And so through the regulation of food, one can even convert a simple action of eating to a discipline, to a यज्ञ, and offer it in that way.
सर्वे अपि एते यज्ञ-विद: ~ All the different religious disciplines that were mentioned here, what happens to these people?
यज्ञक्षपितकल्मषा: ~ the different kinds of impurities such as रागद्वेष which color our thinking, color our life, color our behavior, and definitely color our mind and our mood, all of that is destroyed.
Why? Because when one looks at any of these कर्म-s~ whether it is about eating, or it is about giving, or it is about any kind of sense pursuit, pleasure pursuit; there are राग-s and द्वेष-s involved. And then, one is bringing in an element of regulation and discipline, and as a result of which one becomes bigger than the राग/ द्वेष |
For instance, earlier if one didn’t have that cup of coffee in the morning, one’s whole day would go for a toss. But after converting it into a यज्ञ, one may deliberately go for days where one postpones the time when one has coffee, or reduces the quantity, or one skips that cup of coffee, without which one couldn’t function earlier. So, we play with this.
Basically, any kind of discipline is an attempt to understand for oneself that I am bigger than the thing that I think that I am dependent on- whether it is a cup of coffee, or food, or an addiction to work, any hobby, Netflix binge watching, or anything really. So, there is some regulation.
Nowhere in any of these verses does भगवान् श्री कृष्ण say to stop what you’re doing and only pray to Me. No, not at all. He said whatever you’re doing just convert it into a यज्ञ | And in the process of this, what happens is that one’s रागद्वेष-s are left by the wayside and one has a deeper appreciation of भगवान् pervading my entire world, including me.