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Bhagavad Gita Chapter 1 9
Chanting only of Chapter 1 by Pujya Swami Dayananda ji
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Bhagavad Gita - Chapter 2 - Saankhya Yoga 46
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Bhagavad Gita Chapter 4 Jnana-Karmasannyasa Yoga 30
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Bhagavad Gita Chapter 6 Dhyaana Yoga 15
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Bhagavad Gita Chapter 7 Jnana-Vijnana Yoga 16
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Bhagavad Gita Chapter 8 Akshara Brahman Yoga 17
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Bhagavad Gita Chapter 9 Rajavidya Rajaguhya Yoga 20
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Bhagavad Gita Chapter 10 Vibhuti Yoga 22
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Bhagavad Gita Chapter 11 Vishvarupa Darshana Yoga 10
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Bhagavad Gita Chapter 12 Bhakti Yoga 16
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Bhagavad Gita Chapter 13 Kshetra-Kshetrajna vibhagah yoga 37
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* श्लोक २६ *
कामक्रोधवियुक्तानां यतीनां यतचेतसाम् ।
अभितो ब्रह्मनिर्वाणं वर्तते विदितात्मनाम् ॥ २६॥
The word यती refers to संन्यासी, not the animal ‘yeti’ found in Nepal.
So for these यती-s, what is an important feature about them is that they are free from काम and क्रोध i.e. free from binding desire and anger.
यतचेतसाम् –
The चेतस्/mind is well mastered.
So for them, विदितात्मनाम् – they know the vision, they know the self, and for them there is ब्रह्मनिर्वाणम् |
अभित: – both here and in the hereafter, in the sense there is no rebirth.
So, this chapter at several places is mentioning freedom from binding desire and anger. You will see this as a theme across the श्रीमद् भगवद्-गीता | And one would think well you mentioned it once भगवान् श्री कृष्ण, why are you repeating it again and again?
Because it requires repetition. Because it has such an influence in my life.
We like to think that we are free, but we are slaves to our binding desires. This must happen, I must have this, or I shouldn’t have it.
And naturally anger is not very far away. Whenever desires are not fulfilled, you don’t know from where this reaction came, but it’s there.
A lot of our reaction- either anger, or helplessness, or sadness, anxiety, भय/fear is linked to रागद्वेष |
And some of it, maybe most of it may be related to this lifetime. Some of it are संस्कार-s from previous lifetimes.
If you’re not able to explain the intensity of certain reactions and you have done some digging into your subconscious mind also, it is possible. This happens very often to meditators. People who have been meditating for a long period of time, they will get some memory and then they will wonder whether it’s from this lifetime or a previous lifetime, because there’s no chance that it happened in this lifetime. So it can happen. But one should not be afraid of meditation. It can stir up some things, but like all forms it will have its dance, and it will go away.
That much one will learn when one is engaging constructively with the mind.
So they(यती) have worked on their desire, they worked on their anger. How? कर्म योग बुद्धि: |
On the one hand of course, an inquiry into the intensity of desire one has.
Some desires are important for us to fulfill before we can really be free of them. Some desires you can wish away, by mere inquiry. But in the fulfillment of the desire, please bring कर्म योग बुद्धि: |
Recognize that the राग you have is also sustained by the psychological order that is ईश्वर, it’s not your fault.
You may have built it up. You have your unique contribution of course, but don’t take it out on yourself.
And so with the राग, align it with धर्म, offer your कर्म to ईश्वर, and learn to accept results.
And the starting point is that I accept that I cannot accept. Then, I am willing to accept. Maybe I can do the ‘a’ of accept. So, little by little.
But this only happens when we see the impact of resistance on your body, on your mind. You’re fighting, you’re fighting. Fighting yourself, fighting the world. Who’s on your side? No one.
So in the name of self improvement we have caused enough damage to ourselves. Not required.
+Quick exercise+
Paper and pen/pencil are needed. Draw a wall in the middle of the paper. The wall is a fortress-type wall, with a semi-circular hollow, so that there is a space inside the wall, and then there is space outside the wall. Make this wall covering the entire page, all across the page, so that there is no space to go on the left or the right.
Now, draw yourself~ like a stick figure, on the inside of the wall. The wall stands for your protection, your armor, whatever that armor is.
Now, bring to mind three to five hurtful statements that have been made about you which you have internalized; you believe it to be true. And those statements, you put on the outside of the wall.
And whatever these sentences are, we don’t need to know. It is as far as possible away from the drawing of you. You can make it very small font also. It is outside of you. Even if you have carried it for a very long time, for months, for years.
So, with a deliberate conscious intention, I refuse to carry this without the other person paying the rent for me carrying this in my head.
I keep external what is external.
Somebody said something. That somebody is external to me. Of course the person was very close once upon a time. It is information. Maybe it was true. Maybe it’s not. Maybe the intensity of it was highly exaggerated. Maybe not. We don’t know. We keep it outside.
I refuse to allow myself to internalize something that puts me down.
* श्लोक २७ *
स्पर्शान्कृत्वा बहिर्बाह्यांश्चक्षुश्चैवान्तरे भ्रुवो: ।
प्राणापानौ समौ कृत्वा नासाभ्यन्तरचारिणौ ॥ २७॥
* श्लोक २८ *
यतेन्द्रियमनोबुद्धिर्मुनिर्मोक्षपरायण: ।
विगतेच्छाभयक्रोधो य: सदा मुक्त एव स: ॥ २८ ॥
In verses 27 and 28, भगवान् श्री कृष्ण is introducing us to meditation. And He starts off by saying something which is so obvious, it doesn’t even need any stating.
बाह्यान् – what is external to you,
बहि: कृत्वा – keep it external.
स्पर्शान् – objects.
So, when He says external objects, people are also included. Because that person is an object of awareness for you.
So if I’m getting ready to meditate, then an important discipline is learning to keep the external, external. But this is all a big mishmash. Internal, external, everything is a big mix-up.
The act of leaving our footwear outside the meditation hall, or outside a lot of Indian homes, maybe other Eastern homes perhaps, is a very nice act. It’s got to do with dirt impurities, and all of that.
But suppose you’re going to a party and maybe you wear different shoes~ party shoes, or stilettos, or whatever. You’re getting into the role. Or whatever is your power dressing, you wear certain footwear. You get into the role.
Then once you leave the footwear, you’re not playing that role.
It’s a simple ritual we do.
In the meditation hall when you walk in, all roles are left behind. It’s not that you have said goodbye to everyone. No. For now, for 10 minutes, 15 minutes, or whatever be the length of time, I am not a mother, I am not a parent, I am not a professional, I’m not the son, or the daughter, or whatever.
I am a simple person.
Scary, for some. Why? Because a lot of our strength, we believe comes from the identity that’s fulfilling for us. It makes us feel like we are making a big difference in this world.
What does it mean to be a simple person? No, no, I don’t want to be. Well, that’s really what we need. It’s the person who is in and through all the roles, who drops the roles, or picks up the roles. Simple person, conscious being.
So by this exercise that we just did, we are deliberately keeping what is external, external. It’s difficult to discern when people who’ve been very close to us have said certain hurtful things and you just swallowed everything the person said, because of your love, affection, respect for the other person.
But objectivity lies in recognizing that maybe some of it is not true. Some of it was over exaggerated. So one is objective. Maybe it’s possible, maybe I was a jerk, maybe. But that doesn’t mean that that applies throughout my entire life. Or maybe I was irresponsible. And that person said, and that really hurt. Maybe about that incident, but not about me, which describes me.
And so these people, they sit in our heads and travel wherever we go, without even a visa, without a passport. Free travel across all borders. So it’s nice to carry the ones we are fond of, always there in our hearts and our minds.
But certain unresolved issues with certain people we carry it, we torture ourselves.
It was bad enough that that person said it once, twice, thrice, but we ensure we are repeating it every day for 10 years and more. Because we need closure.
So please do whatever process you need. If you want you can talk with Swaminiji to initiate the process.
So learning to do this itself, allows you to focus on who you are.
And that’s what He says-
that you keep the eyes~ चक्षु:,
अन्तरे भ्रुवो:~ between your eyebrows.
So you close your eyes.
Why do we close our eyes in meditation? We can have open eye meditation also.
Initially it’s important to close your eyes because deliberately you are stopping associative thinking.
Like right now if you just look around in your room, you look at just one thing, it will set a series of thoughts- Yeah, actually I’m not very happy with the position of this object. I think I should change it a little bit. Maybe that also needs changing. Maybe I should just refurbish this whole setup. Or actually- Oh, I forgot to water the plants.
So, initially in meditation if you keep your eyes open and you try to meditate, you will have this jumping- what people refer to as monkey mind; Swaminiji doesn’t use that term too often.
But you jump jump jump from one thought to another to another to another. And so deliberately we close our eyes, so no visual stimuli.
And then what do we do?
This प्राण and अपान | So the inhalation and the exhalation,
समौ कृत्वा – So if you are inhaling to a count of four, you also exhale to a count of four.
नासाभ्यन्तरचारिणौ – you’re allowing this rhythmic breathing to go on.
One should recognize that the five प्राण-s are a part of सूक्ष्मशरीर |
सूक्ष्मशरीर/ subtle body has 17 factors- 5 प्राण-s, 5 कर्मेन्द्रिय-s/organs of action, 5 ज्ञानेन्द्रिय-s/organs of knowledge, the अहंकार/बुद्धि: and मन:|
So a very effective way of quietening the mind is with the help of प्राण | You may try to work yourself into a sense of peace and quiet. But it is a lot more easier, if you just do this- what is also referred to Anulom-Vilom.
You may still need to deal with some things and that also will happen through some psychological processing, but this is a very good method.
Why? Because it’s tapping into the सूक्ष्मशरीर | It’s stabilizing the प्राण, so then all the other aspects, particularly अहंकार/बुद्धि: is also quietening down.
So the one who has at the seat of meditation, learnt to keep external things external, and done these kinds of practices, so basically a person who can be contemplative,
यतेन्द्रियमनोबुद्धि: – who has mastered the organs of action,
For what? Why so much mastery required? So that you can use the body and mind for whatever are your pursuits.
मोक्षपरायण: – for whom मोक्ष is the ultimate end, the ultimate commitment.
Because productivity for productivity sake just falls apart- you just burn out in the name of productivity & efficiency. And so what? So what if you are productive? So what if you are efficient? So what about it? If you’re still feeling limited, if you still feel like something’s not right. Then what’s the point?
So, all the efficiency, the mastery is all so that we are able to see the truth of who we are. Nothing less will satisfy us anyway.
So सदा मुक्त: एव स: – this person is always liberated. Always liberated means was always liberated, and then of course knows the truth.
So from whom, इच्छा भय क्रोध,
विगत – has gone away, it has sped away.
Relative mastery of fear and anger is very important. So if you’re trying to master anger you need to be able to express your emotions first. A lot of us don’t even express. This is something Swaminiji will likely do a workshop on because it needs a lot of elaboration, maybe some exercises and all of that.
In the past Swaminiji has done the Bhaava series ( 4 lectures available on YouTube ~ https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL5vNI4hvD69p-VPfHM8Jn6AXjye-5csXp).
Swaminiji suggests that we go through these lectures.
There are many aspects of emotional mastery. One of which is self-expression.
E.g. We are so afraid of our anger that we don’t express it, but it’s important to express it. Don’t victimize the other person, but you can express it. You can express it to yourself if it’s inappropriate to express it to the other. So the mastery involves- that I will express my anger, but I will not victimize the other.
Those who know Swami Chinmayanandaji, or who have heard of him, people will get scared of him. Why? Because he would have these anger outbursts. Some people would wonder- how it’s possible, such a wise person given to such anger outbursts. And in the next second after the anger outburst, he could be very warm, very loving.
So sometimes anger has a function to play.
So we are not aiming for absence of anger. We are aiming for mastery of anger. That anger doesn’t have me, I can choose to be angry.
When you see some of the abuse of freewill in terms of injustice and suffering, if you’re not angry one would worry, because you’re not allowing yourself to even feel emotion.
Human body, human medium~ emotion is natural. And emotions are our greatest glory actually, we have to see it that way.
So for this wise person, सदा मुक्त: – this person is ever-free.
Then the last verse, which is referring to ऐक्यम्/oneness, speaking about ईश्वर-
* श्लोक २९ *
भोक्तारं यज्ञतपसां सर्वलोकमहेश्वरम् ।
सुहृदं सर्वभूतानां ज्ञात्वा मां शान्तिमृच्छति ॥ २९॥
ॐ तत्सदिति श्रीमद्भगवद्गीतासूपनिषत्सु
ब्रह्मविद्यायां योगशास्त्रे श्रीकृष्णार्जुनसंवादे
संन्यासयोगो नाम पञ्चमोऽध्यायः ॥ ५ ॥
After speaking about ध्यानम्, भगवान् doesn’t say ध्यात्व~ meditating on the truth. No.
भगवान् says-
मां ज्ञात्वा ~ Knowing Me,
शान्तिमृच्छति ~ you will gain,
You will gain what? शान्ति |
This is not शान्ति as in a thought of peace. This is despite conflict, or whatever there is, That I am that शान्ति: i.e. the nature of the आत्मा |
मां ज्ञात्वा ~ Knowing Me.
So how to know भगवान् ?
He is saying as भोक्तारम् |
भोक्त we generally translate as experiencer.
Here, it is referring to the one that sustains. The one that sustains all the laws, all the principles, all the processes, especially all कर्म – so यज्ञ & तपस्, both referring to कर्म |
So यज्ञ referring to any kind of ritual. This we have already seen in Chapter Four- how different kinds of कर्म can be transformed into a यज्ञ ~ from eating, drinking, breathing, and so on. So the one who sustains all this कर्म, and तपस्, all kinds of disciplines,
who is सर्वलोकमहेश्वरम् – the Lord of all.
So, महा-ईश्वरम् – the one who is so big, that big loses its meaning.
Okay, so बृहत् धातु ~ big, ब्रह्मन्, like that.
So that ब्रह्मन् or ईश्वर who sustains everything,
knowing me as that ईश्वर who wishes well for you.
सुहृद्-
सुहृद् is a very nice word. Little of a tongue twister in terms of pronouncing, it doesn’t have a vowel.
सुहृद् means one who wishes you well, even without you reciprocating the person’s actions.
Like the one who will do a lot for you, whether you acknowledge it, appreciate it and even downright ignore, insult, humiliate ~ भगवान् |
भगवान् still continues to give, continues to preside over the laws of कर्म and all the flow of blessings that are there in our lives.
So if you know of anyone who is more rich, more good-looking, more intelligent, has more money and so on, you don’t want to really spend too much time knowing that person because it makes you feel less.
But here, the one who sustains me, the one who is the Lord of all beings.
Knowing me~ भगवान् कृष्ण is talking as भगवान् obviously.
The person gains that peace or recognizes the आत्मा as that शान्ति which accommodates all forms.
So it’s an equivalent of what is in तैत्तिरीय-उपनिषद् – ब्रह्मविदाप्नोति परम् (२.१.१) – the one who knows ब्रह्मन्, gains ब्रह्मन्; so those kinds of मंत्र-s.
So the one who knows भगवान् as this, because you don’t know भगवान् as someone external to you.
It may start off that way. But you see that you don’t know where you begin and where you end.
Anything you claim to be yours, it is ईश्वर |
No, no, my body ~ it’s all पञ्चमहाभूत ईश्वर |
No, no my mind, you don’t know how complicated my mind is. That’s also pervaded by ईश्वर |
All my achievements ~ pervaded by ईश्वर |
All my complexities ~ pervaded by ईश्वर |
All my unpleasant thoughts ~ that also pervaded by ईश्वर |
All my experiences- good, bad, ugly ~ pervaded by ईश्वर |
All the experiences that are yet to come ~ that also pervaded by ईश्वर |
Then, where are you? Where do you begin? Where do you end? All the way ईश्वर |
So recognizing this to be so; Knowing Me.
Then, how every chapter ends-
ॐ is the only reality. ॐ तत् सत् |
So, That which is the basis of all forms, in and through all forms, and even if the forms collapse, That which always is.
So, इति श्रीमद्भगवद्गीतासूपनिषत्सु – so in this श्रीमद्भगवद्गीता, which is not an ordinary text, it has the depth of wisdom of the उपनिषद्-s, which is the end section of the वेद, also referred to as वेदान्त |
And what is there in this श्रीमद्भगवद्गीता is a dialogue between भगवान् श्री कृष्ण and Arjuna ~ संवादे |
Are they talking about the weather and the climate, and political change? No.
ब्रह्मविद्या – they are talking about the reality that is ब्रह्मन्, and also the discipline that is referring to mastery.
So this chapter, the theme of which was संन्यास-योग, kind of a summary of Chapter 2nd, 3rd and 4th,
नाम पञ्चमोऽध्यायः – 5th chapter.
ॐ