Video 13

13. Bhagavad Gita I Chapter 2 Verses 32-38 I Swami Sarvapriyananda

Oh Vasudeva suitum daivam come such Arnold Ahmad Onam dave aqui para maana and krishnam vande a jagadguru we studied the second chapter of the bhagavad-gita Shri Krishna's teaching on Jionni yoga the nature of the self who am i what am I actually that is now over the next great subject next great theme of the second chapter is karma yoga that's going to come later but in between there is an interlude so where's Shri Krishna is going to talk some common sense to Arjuna so that's the part we are at the verses are simple meaning is also simple not much philosophy in there but we will ignore those verses or dismiss them lightly at our own peril often probably to put our life back in shape this is exactly what we need so let's hear what sri krishna has to say we saw in the last class the 31st verse so her mama peach avec sana we compete tomorrow see her Miyagi you've got shreya none yet kshatriyas shinobi deity onion immediately he says that considering your duty you should not hesitate to perform this admittedly terrible duty of fighting a righteous war against the evil because there is no greater good fortune for action 3 of a warrior than a righteous battle now here the key concept is of swadharma and last time we discussed it I'm not going to go deep into it that's the basis on which Krishna is going to argue his case not now not on the basis of haifa lhasa fear vedanta but on the basis of morality and the sense of honour sense of dignity and duty so that's what's going to happen now for the next few verses up to up to 38 yes up to 38 before he switches to the next great teaching of karma yoga verse number 32 Yod recharge open yard recharge open swear God varam Pritam Swarga drum rhythm tsuki nakshatra apart Sukeena Kshatriya part Levante udemy drishyam labonte udemy duration and happy yo partha are the Kshatriyas who get such a battle which has come of its own accord and is an open gateway to heaven so here if you read closely you'll notice something interesting in the language that krishna uses i had mentioned it last time that often these verses are a direct answer to certain questions that arjuna had raised in the what we saw in the first chapter his objections to this what he's supposed to do right now his objections the language he used for example look at this verse tsuki nakshatra apart he says o arjuna happy indeed is the warrior who gets an occasion like this to a duty which is so clear now happy is the warrior if you contrast this with in chapter 1 verse number 37 arjuna had asked a question so jeonnam he katham hatva tsuki Nozawa how can we be happy by by killing our own relatives which seemed like a very pertinent question but look at the language he used he said how can we be happy if I do can I be happy if I do this and what is krishna saying here happy indeed is the warrior who gets a chance to do to do this see the whole thing's the whole picture changes when the little self self with a small s is removed from the picture with what kind of a mindset had Arjuna approached this battle with a he thought he is going to take revenge on the Kauravas for all the wrongs they have done him that is true they they had wronged him he is going to get the kingdom which is righteously his and his brothers but notice what and there's nothing wrong in this you can't find fault with it it's common sense but there's in a deeper analysis it reveals one thing it is all self-centered it's all self-centered I will take revenge I want revenge I will get the kingdom for my self and my elder brother and my brothers because it is our kingdom now what happens is when suddenly the little self gets a shock my relatives see it still the self my relatives what will I do with the kingdom this is the framework he is thinking now the same thing which was an incentive for him to fight a battle has now become a disincentive he's not no longer feeling motivated because he says that I don't want revenge at this cost what is the you he says what is the use of a kingdom drenched in the blood of our relatives but what is he thinking Kingdom for myself and so what is the use of getting such a kingdom what Krishna is not doing is he's reframing the entire problem not in terms of the little self of Arjuna in terms of what should be done what is the duty of a warrior in this situation it is to protect society from evildoers and not because you are going to personally take revenge on those guys okay those guys are villains but not because you are going to take revenge on them or you will not don't want to take revenge on them no in any case you are appointed by society to protect it this is what you have to do it is not relevant then whether they are your relatives or not if a policeman starts thinking how can I put arrest this guy he is my brother or he is a nephew then Society is in deep trouble so he is reframing it in terms of ethics and impersonal code of ethics and duty and of course it's the direct answer to Arjuna's questions also yatra Chaya without any effort you have got this tremendous opportunity to make your life meaningful you are a warrior you have got a particular duty in society and now an opportunity has come how many people get an opportunity to do something good and great in their life here you are being called upon to do something rise to the occasion and it's a very beautiful phrase sir got drama power rhythm get rid chair without any effort the gates of heaven that swung open for you here he means it in a particular context of Arjuna's to the battle but it is true for all of us in the wider context of spiritual life see literally the gates of heaven in the sense of spiritual life liberation moksha God realization those gates have swung open for us if what a great great blessing it is to hear this message to have this opportunity to have a mind which wants to pursue this we all do otherwise you wouldn't be here today you are they are all spiritual seekers in some sense what krishna is telling us is recognize the great blessing that there is here you're all idealists you might not think of usedo swami not not me you are I forget the name of the book a very recent book Mark Edmondson I think in defense of ideals self and ideals it's it's a very recent book I read the book review and I was browsing through the book itself the first page so shocking like I don't remember the exact language but it could go something like this he says the day of ideals is long past we live in an eminently pragmatic age where everybody wants how to be successful in the society how to make a little more money how to get the pleasure and the power and the wealth that I one can get whatever helps me to get that is practical whatever does not is irrelevant to me and silly and meaningless at worst ideals ideals have been dismissed as delusional or not practical not useful then he goes on to say that the knowledge that we consider to be useful in in society we mean specially advanced societies like this and where more so than in New York the knowledge that we consider to be useful is not spiritual knowledge is not philosophical knowledge is not religious knowledge not knowledge talk about higher ideals and ethics no what we consider to be useful is what is immediately helpful to us to attain our hedonistic goals some kind of practical knowledge is enormous demand to be practical practical practical in what practical to do what to earn a few dollars more to enhance my pleasures the central sign of the pleasures of my senses that's that's what the meaning of practical today and then he goes on in the next third paragraph he goes on to say academia today if you go to college to the University today they are they will relieve you of the guilt of not being idealistic oh it is anybody who's taken a degree today in sociology or philosophy in modern philosophy the cleverest of philosophers are on your side to show that any kind of ideals is foolishness those who follow ideals idealism is somehow sin delusional those who follow ideals are either hypocrites or cheats or they are they are stupid all of them will create views there all the intellectual prowess to create doubt about about whether any kind of idealism just an including of course religion all of that so the whole book is actually a defense of being idealistic in the modern age he says as a result of this what we have we have got is he says they've got poison as a result of this he quotes Nietzsche who was at the source of all of this today but he himself was not he did not approve of it he said this is what's going to happen in the in the wake of what he called the death of God it's going to happen but he was not in support of this he says modern man and modern men at that time 200 years ago he says modern man has his poison spies ins for the day and a poisons for the night the way we keep ourselves engaged in you know in forgetting anything higher and grinder and transcendental everything here now finished so Krishna is saying saying here how lucky we are that we have a mind which believes which feels there is something transcendental can you hear me at the back yeah that there is something transcendental there is something higher to call it God call it moksha call it liberation whatever salvation but something beyond the world of senses we truly believe it we truly believe a spiritual solution for the suffering suffering of you know life is possible in that book market Edmondson he goes on to talk about Buddha Confucius and Christ as embodying the spiritual ideal he says so we are blessed that we have a mind which has this this feeling that the spiritual ideal is possible and it is for me and it is helped it's helpful to me it's real for me and helpful to me so clean up shuck tree apart love until you've done impression happy here krishna of course means it means it in a slightly narrower sense that for you your life will become meaningful if you do if you fulfill your role as a warrior in a good cause all of us are not caught very few of us are called to be warriors but in each of our professions personal life in a professional life we are continuously faced with this decision between what is called shreya and prayer shreya means that which is good for us and for society beneficial I know what is right prayer is that which is easy that which is pleasant and often the two are not the same often that which is easy and pleasant I know nobody is to tell me I know that if I complete my assignment tonight that's the thing I should be doing and not watching a game on TV or by special my favorite soap opera on you know I know nobody is to tell me really but that one is difficult and being a couch potato is easy shreya and prayer I know really nobody has to tell me this so this is what krishna krishna is pointing out suppose one does not do this if one does not follow this path of shreya the debt which is beneficial for me then what will happen 33rd verse Arthur J - umhum umhum attach a diamond her meum Sangram curry chassis Sangram curry chassis Tata SWOT her monkey team cha Tata SWAT her monkey team charm hit - op op-op says he hit pop ups se if you do not do it that which is before you right now then you will number one fail in your duty number two you lose your reputation whatever you have earned till now as a great warrior the person who does the right thing you lose that repetition and third you will actually positively incur sin Papa Papa remember that in India is is common idea the law of karma the law of karma is if you do what is right you know what is right and you do it that is called Dharma and if you do something that has an effect the effect of doing Dharma is called Punia and that Punia gives rise to a result in your life the result of Ponyo put literally if you translate poetry mean merit the result of merit is suka happiness if I consciously deliberately do what I know to be wrong that is called a Dharma not Dharma Dharma and the result of a Dharma is what is called Papa demerit that's the closest word we have to sin demerit and the demerit will give rise to an effect in our lives which is called Duke suffering some kind of suffering so all the suffering and happiness that we get in our lives is due to Patna and Papa and in earlier lives maybe and that pony and power / merit the merit is earned by our own righteous conduct or unrighteous conduct and here krishna is saying not only will you fail in your duty not only will you lose your reputation and and but you also positively incur other mob that is papa as a result of Papa's dukkha suffering you will get suffering as a result of this this is an argument based on you know appealing to a person's sense of duty sense of honour you will lose your reputation often we say that why should we care what other people think of you Krishna will say people will criticize you we should why should you care this is true in one sense but it's also not true none another sense our reputation in society is a good feedback but today we might call feedback often we are delusional about ourselves what other people say you don't have to swallow it completely but check is it true to what extent is it true who said that Socrates I think kabhi does also said it TEP are critics near you they keep you clean without soap and water Kabir does also said it yes Linda any re Rocco keep your keep those who criticize you near you so that they'll keep you clean without soap and water Socrates also said something like that yes that is true so listening to public opinion it's not the poles are not just for politicians for us also you don't have to take a poll but they're interesting exercises that we do when you go through say an MBA for example so what is your self-image and what is the perceived image that means what other people perceive and you'd be surprised often it comes as a big blow or as a shock on the whole the result will always be this we are nowhere near as good as we think we are nobody sees us as as good as we think we ourselves are but also the reverse nobody thinks of us as badly as we think of ourselves often people have low self-esteem lot of people and you have very fine people actually other people see them as no no you're not not bad you're not particularly great either but somebody joked that most people think of themselves as better than average that's statistically impossible how can most people be better than average sri ramakrishna often use arguments like this in midst of all his spiritual teaching he would use a lot of common sense there was this man who in order to avoid the struggle in his village fighting with poverty and keeping his family going he used and but he did generally really liked sri ramakrishna and he had a religious tendency also see it's not false when that person is to come and tell sri ramakrishna i want to stay with you i want to do religious spiritual practice meditation and japa and used to do that too and it's not that it was entirely a kind of made-up thing but it was also neglecting his duties that back home his wife and kids were back home and they're suffering from poverty one day sri ramakrishna said to him sharply and who's going to take care of your wife and kids the neighbors and so he sent him back see sri ramakrishna who encouraged people to come to solitude and practice meditation and spiritual disciplines he sends this man back to samsara to take care of you cannot become spiritual by by escaping escapism and spirituality are not the same thing try myself have seen you know they become monks by giving up all worldly duties responsibilities activities and you become internal monastery but when I was in the monastery the first thing I thought my first day itself I thought I'm going to be taught how to meditate and do puja and study the Gita and things like that though all that was there but they said here is a hostel hostel with students who stay there there are 40 kids there go and look after them sit 40 kids if I'd married I would have had one or two kids maybe 40 kids now over the years I got this feeling maybe I should be like one of those wandering ascetics you know if I stay by myself and I did that I took leave and from the order and and then I went off by myself into the Himalayas I there are times when I begged for food and at least on one occasion I slept under a tree more out of the adventure of it than the sheer necessity but one thing and I lived in a little cottage or over the the river the Congo and in Congo three so one thing I realized was that the structure of ashram life we're in a community you have to get up at this time you have to attend prayers at this time you have to sit with everybody and eat at a particular time you have to clean your room you have to go to the school and teach the kids you have to go to the office and do the correspondence you have to there's one after another throughout the day and you have to do it because it's a community you're part of it and the time you have for meditation in the morning and the evening I found overtype that that short time though I'm tired and there's less time for meditation but that was more effective than when you are completely left to yourself at first it's wonderful I could meditate for hours and hours at the station as you think wow I should have started with this but then two weeks is one thing in 20 years is something else so over a period of two months the longest I did that was for two months at one stretch I found that my day day is sinking to a level lower than what I was doing in Asha then that that showed me that no there is a value to structure in life there's a value to duties in life see the duties in which God has put us we struggle against it but they're not against our spiritual life they are actually helpful for a spiritual life we are in a hurry we want nirvikalpa samadhi right away and my office work and picking up the kids from school it's all disturbing me otherwise I could have become enlightened long ago oh that's what we think don't kid yourselves it's because of you guys that I am NOT enlightened oh no not at all it's because a family and job and society that we have attained a little bit of genuine progress that we have today yes yes yes true he said that don't don't give up your duties by force he used to give a lot particularly gruesome example of a wound a scab is forming over here if you scratch it it'll start bleeding again let it heal and the dead skin will fall off by itself there's in the same way your duty is in samsara will slowly get reduced what happens is when they do get reduced we are so addicted to it we don't think we'd be we are addicted but we are addicted people are addicted to it board up kids they have grown up they have their own family now now we are eager to bring up the grandkids are you really wanted in your kids families maybe a Thanksgiving yes but more than that no there should be a general process of being for being mature and elevating yourself above it the old ashram a system Ramachari ashram aghast ashram wanna Prestage remand neshama that means first you are a student a young person getting ready for life then you are a married person you have a house a job maybe of a family a partner and then you go from that to a retired person retired means retired is our word for it one upper stage the is the much more interesting what it means the one who has gone to the forest sir which means you withdraw not completely you still give society the benefit of your wisdom and your expertise which you have gathered over the years but you are not you are not completely involved in samsara as much and then finally you are ready to become a spiritual seeker all by yourself a monk if not formerly at least internally you are like that that shows a process of maturation I had so many people tell me I have known them friends for example who when we were before before I became a monk when we're in college all they wanted was a noble a fine job with a high paying job and a family and a nice car to drive and a good place to live in and things like that 20 years later I meet them and they've got exactly what they wanted they don't see it that way but I see it literally I know at least a couple of cases where when I was about to become a monk my friends asked why are you becoming a monk what's the big deal and so we had this discussion about what do you want in life and they had told me certain things 20 years later I see that the person has got all of them and unhappy inevitably unhappy who's become happy with those things but it's worthwhile going to that experience now what do you want now they get the feeling that okay I have got a job I have a wife or a husband I have got a family but I feel sort of trapped because in the sense sense begins to grow that this is it there's nothing much more that's going to happen young people won't understand that you wait for 20 years you suddenly realize if you are honest and a little realistic that yes this is it it's only going to get worse from now on kids are going to grow up and go away body is going to get older and sicker and less capable the world is going to move ahead without me so all of these inevitably they're going to happen now what does our society unfortunately a modern society has no antidote to this their only reply is well earned more replaced iPhone 7 with iPhone 8 let's known the answer a little more of the same thing but that's that's not going to solve it what does the ashram a system of ancient India what did they in principle what did they say grace - Rama the householder stage you see the gradation of values karma Arthur Dharma moksha pleasure notice that pleasure is children maybe teenagers are pleasure centric but by the time you are in your 20s or 30s how much of your time is spent in partying in chasing pleasure very little if any most of your time is spent in looking after the family your job maintaining things in the house and in your office and things like that most of your time is spent in fulfilling your responsibilities obviously so that is called art one step higher come a pleasure chasing pleasure and then art career family responsibilities social responsibilities beyond that what's beyond that you expand outwards Dharma is higher than that not just for myself not just for the family now that I have got this expand beyond that so when people who come and say we now what do I do with life now I'm in my 40s and I know I've got a spouse and kids and a career I sort of know it's going to go this way but that sort of feel what else is going to happen in society and what else is going to happen to me in life now he's not as looking for a spiritual answer if I start say that do we sit and meditate and breathe like this and meditate on ohm that's not quite what he's looking for the answer given by the that ashram ah and the gradation of values is that you expand outwards now do something for the larger community it's not an intuitive answer how can I become happier instead of trying to make this person happier try to make other people happier you will see you'll be happier this will not work with for the for the average kid or teenager they have to go through life and fulfill certain personal goals and when that mature maturity comes for some it comes much earlier some it comes much later then expand outwards a family does that in a natural way a family tea makes you less self-centered and more family centered now it's more for the kids more for the family but then you have to expand beyond that it's still biological families biologically have to expand beyond that community people who need your help it will make you happier Swami Vivekananda said unselfishness in the long run is more paying but it requires maturity to understand that we think if I am selfishly pursuing the goal what's the goal make number one happy who's number one I make this number one happy then everything will be alright you keep trying and doesn't work this number one is a black hole can't be filled with anything at one point the maturity must come I will do something for others see a lot of work has recently been done these are very old things but in a modern form positive psychology is working on this so in positive psychology Seligman Martin Seligman authentic happiness they're websites you can go and take the test and find out how happy you are you guaranteed to be less happy after the test then here you know very interesting tests what Seligman found was to put it very briefly he said happiness is a function of three things h is equal to p plus e plus m happiness is a function of pleasure engagement meaning pleasure engagement meaning pleasure is the first thing that we try to do when we I want to be happy so eat a cookie and go to your favorite restaurant or watch a movie the what we run towards to become happy is pleasure and it does give an immediate burst of happiness some kind of little elevation it gives but it's very limited it's very limited why first of all it's transitory the happiness that you get from eating a cookie is just a few seconds once it's down your gullet it's gone the happiness is gone unhappiness starts after that then it's habit forming next time you need more of that or better variety of that the law of diminishing marginal utility in economics the each unit you consume gives you less and less satisfaction so first cookie gives you a lot of happiness second one little less third one little less fourth one nothing at all fifth one you feel sick so diminishing marginal utility because of these reasons and then there's so many other problems for example the we change same thing which is to give make you happy when you're a teenager no longer makes you happy it will just irritate you the same our capacities are limited how much will you eat how many movies will you watch how many vacations will you take take capacity to enjoy you get exhausted you'll get tired you will finally break down if you try to consume too much so all of these are limited and therefore pleasure is not the not the solution for in our search for happiness luckily there is something better Seligman says engagement engagement is much greater happiness comes when you like what you are doing if you are one of those fortunate people who enjoy your careers whatever you're doing it need not be a career sometimes if you don't enjoy the work that you're doing hobby people take up hobbies because of that and activity see the difference between engagement and pleasure is this watching a game on TV is pleasure going out and playing the game is engagement this is the difference actually playing a game out there might not be all pleasurable it's hard work but it gives happiness it gives satisfaction and so Seligman found invariably engagement would give more satisfaction than pleasure remember the equation H happiness total happiness is equal to on one side is H on the other side of the equation is pleasure engagement meaning engagement gives more happiness lasting happiness compared to pleasure but even there there is a limit what coholic people are they work day and night but there are many people who after retirement day break down because there is nothing more in life they feel meaningless helpless nervous breakdown burnout what is the term burnout hmm there is something which gives more happiness than even engagement what is that meaning a purpose a higher purpose in life a meaningful life usually not always but usually meaning always involves usually involves other people where you can do something for other people so he said happiness is a function of pleasure engagement meaning pleasure gives momentary immediate bursts of happiness but it's it's very little and it's very problematic in Raymond gives more happiness than pleasure and meaning in life if you are lucky and fortunate enough to find a meaningful and purposeful life and one clue to that how to find meaning in your life is what can I do for other people how can I make other people happy that will immediately give meaning to your life so these three now when I read this immediately what came to my mind was pleasure engagement meaning do you see karma or Tehama Karma is pleasure literally you can map it engagement is our ties art a literally means wealth but it means career success name and fame in a general sense our ties overall success and attainments in life higher than that meaning and harm I have to stretch Dharma is a wide term but you can stretch it to morality meaning a purposeful life moksha is beyond these three selling men does not include moksha so these three that's why and that's at certain point in life you have to go beyond pleasure and your career you have to expand outwards into what is called Dharma that gives more satisfaction we have gone way off topic oh no not really we have yeah it's true it's a good way to think and not as happy as I want to be all right let me check yes then these are good slogans but what do you mean follow your heart and how many people can follow their heart what Arjuna would say my heart tells me that I will not fight this battle and I want to become I'll going to go to the Himalayas and meditate disastrous for him and for everybody else concerned yes there's a point to that because when Krishna said swab Hara your own nature your heart oh if consistently if it's telling you something that's probably your own nature yeah so that's something to listen to in this society especially especially for the last 30 to 40 years young people have been continuously told that won't find your meaning in life find your purpose in life find what to find your passion in life but there's a pressure and I can't find any passion in life so I am a loser what Krishna says here is go back to the basics are you doing what you're supposed to be doing how are the basics in your life have you have you fulfilled your responsibilities what is the feedback from other people in society about you are those things okay then after that you search for your passion in life in Indian society at least it's changing now but until recently it was just the opposite both have their advantages and disadvantages in Indian society I I know if a kid said oh I'm going to drop out of college and I'm going to paint or play the guitar what are you doing following your passion you'd be condemned all around because a good kid is the one who studies fulfills his duties his or her duties in life what is expected from parents and from the society and all of that if you have done that you can take satisfaction in having done what you're supposed to be doing and there's a negative side to that also there's a negative side to that so there are these two opposites yes where you are going even if you don't do it you don't know alright it is important to have a high goal in life to have a high goal in life these are the things which help us that will should the goal be pleasure no because ultimately it will lead to unhappiness should the goal be my career my hobby my passion is little better than pleasure but ultimately it's still not not enough should it be a meaningful life yeah now what is a meaningful life that will differ from and it may differ at different times in our life also that's why in in India the highest goal was always kept a spirituality which is just sheer meaningfulness if a person has that person doesn't need anything else look at somebody like Mahatma Gandhi so he had this tremendous thing but he is doing for millions of his countrymen and so he didn't need fancy clothes loincloth was enough for him he went to meet the what was that I think not Churchill King George and they asked him mr. Gandhi do you think this is appropriate it's in the movie or just happened really and they do things appropriately dressed to meet the King King George who were all the medals and there is a gorgeously dressed so Gandhi replied I think he wore enough for both of us good really delicious food and prepared by the best chefs not important not important clothes not important well you stay how much you've got in your bank balance how much you have made or what not important why because he's found something which is such so meaningful so fulfilling there is stuff it does not matter we just be irritating let's go and anybody who has found meaning in life I met a few people there was a conference for inspiring young people in India there were some who where the family had got a panel of people who would be young who are young and have done something interesting in their life which would be inspiring for school for college kids among them was where a couple of Silicon Valley millionaires who had their own startups and they had given it all up one was running an NGO in Karnataka to teach school kids in rural Karnataka another was engaged in in an NGO whose task was to gather used clothes so that they could be given to very poor people who did not have clothes things like that now one thing they were asked all of them all of them had given up the so-called pleasurable life or even successful life see pleasure engagement , had given it up and they were doing something else and people were saying who would a great sacrifice you've made wrong I was a moderator for the discussion so I asked all of them now entire panel all of these people were like very motivating people in for society I said do you think you made a sacrifice and all of them said no we have given up something much lower for something much better people think that you are doing something idealistic and you are made such a sacrifice no no even if you're given that old life back I wouldn't take it because I'm much happier now because why are they happier right now they are not earning much less than they were earning earlier they're having much less parties and fun than they were having earlier then how are they happier now meaning the last one Seligman's equation pleasure engagement meaning your feelings sustainable feelings or overtime if if you want a more technical definition psychologists will call it positive effect if that helps yes yeah yes correct correct yes yep so happiness is not just pleasure that's what we just discussed not necessarily not necessarily a person who is has a meaningful life for example so one example the other Seligman gives is of moms with young children so very little of their day-to-day lives is pleasurable and they are often irritated overworked but over the years if you ask them look back on the last five years of raising the kid was it satisfying almost all of them will say it's it was very fulfilling fulfilling any one of that at any point if you ask what is your Delta in this inner happiness they'll say I'm not at all happy - can't you see I'm overworked I don't get enough sleep I am tired and they even say the kid has just ruined my life they may even say all these things but in general because that that this person depends on me that automatically gives though it's biological but it automatically gives a certain amount of meaning to life no I'm not very sure one thing one must understand this imperative to be happy suppose you ask this question now why should we try to be happy at all it's a meaningless question do you see in depth our primary drive is to avoid unhappiness overcome unhappiness and be happy your definition of happen might might change your definition your understanding of happiness you can call it some other you can call them names you can call it satisfaction you can call it fulfillment you can call it bliss I know some very intelligent people should know this idea that we are meant for chasing happiness it's not correct he's a scientist so he has written in his book that whether it makes me happy or unhappy I want the truth I am pursuing I want to solve these mysteries of the universe great and I wondered how can such an intelligent person be so stupid just ask the question discovering the truth satisfies your makes you dissatisfied satisfied that is happiness pursuit of happiness call it pleasure satisfaction joy whatever you call it fulfillment it is primary for all conscious beings and overcoming unhappiness sorrow is primary dispute that disputed think about it if you think a little bit about it you'll see it is there yes why would you want a definition of peace you know it when you have have you've got it you you know it when you feel it yes yes that's a very wise thing to say sir in spiritual life the this pleasure or excitement or thrill that is not happiness peace is happiness yes contentment peace deep peace Yoga Yoga Patanjali Yoga what is the definition of yoga yoga chitta vritti nirodh aha' the complete set is serenity quietness the peace of the mind is yoga that is happiness an immature person thinks a thrill is happiness excitement is happiness in this country especially it's become a fashion to say are you excited in Vedanta this is asked why are you excited what's wrong with you don't be excited that is true peace of mind is a deeper is the deepest happiness okay now let me go ahead 34th verse a key item choppy Buitoni a kitten choppy Buitoni cut each entity cutting each entity of some hovitos shiitake team some hospitals such a Keating murder Nativity murder no dirty deed chatty acute in choppy Buitoni causation TT of diem somehow it was such a cutie Minard austerity people will talk about your everlasting dishonor and for one held in esteem by many infamy dishonor is worse than death so it's an appeal to honor no very not very deep philosophy here it is for a person of repute to lose reputation is far worse than to lose wealth or health or anything else reputation is very important and remember our genus of warrior very well-known Warriors is you're going to lose all of that when people will criticize you what will they say 35 by audronado per atom by audronado per atom monkey antigua hung CNT tuan ma yung Chen hua muhammad o young shot Wamba who motto boot wah COC log album boot wah SI se log album these mighty warriors your colleagues your colleagues your mighty warriors we will think that you have run away from battle because of fear having been highly esteemed by them now you will fall into disgrace in their eyes in their ranking so you are in the top 10 now you'll sink without a trace so this is what he's saying to Arjuna you lose your repetition 36 and he goes on about Java dongs jaedong about Java dongs Chabot hoon vishanti Taba hit up verde shanty tava hitta nin dentist of assam Atum nin dentist of assam artem tato - Karim Newcomb tato do Karim know came what will they say your enemies will be saying many unmentionable things they'll abusive things and they will make fun of your prowess what can be more painful than that so it's something that is bound it's very psychological will work for anybody who has high self esteem anybody who has a high reputation to maintain not somebody who doesn't think much of oneself well I'm no good let people say whatever they want I know I'm no good not for that further not for that kind of person a person who has say a high professional esteem in one's own profession in one's own circles and what really hurts is people in your own circle people whose opinion you value I remember there was this for example at two monks who are strict but in different ways when I was a young novice one monk would shout and yell and scold us and we didn't think much of that because we knew he was very jolly kind of person handy he was a simple person you know and when he got mad at us he would just yell at us and and shout at us and threatened to beat us once he whacked me with a stick or but and it you don't remember that and it's it's alright I mean and I don't even remember the number of times he yelled at me his way of say waking up the novices after it to go at meditate at four o'clock in the morning see his way of waking them up and for most of us we are not used to getting up early in the morning so his way of making up the youngsters would be to go and kick the door in early in the morning it's still dark and you would hear the almighty bang on the door and a shout you rascal how long are you going to sleep up with you I want to see you in the temple I remember the first time I saw that I mean of I was just three or four days into thee I just joined I was sitting and there was this certain I'm meditating early in the morning this blinding light and it's hot I was enlightened I said already it's just been three days and then I saw no interred in the temple this monk this tough monk he's there with with a flashlight he's looking at each of the youngsters to see who has come and who's missing since they're taking names it's dark in the temple so you can't make out who's who that's one side of it that's one kind of person the other kind of person is another monk whose name I won't mention he is only once or twice his cold in me and I'll never forget it in my whole life I mean this scolding was just like this I mean I didn't I did it wasn't a lie it was kind of an evasive thing he asked me to do something and I hadn't totally forgotten about it when he asked me again where is that letter and I said oh yes I'll do it in neglecting to mention that I had forgotten about it I should have said I've forgotten about it I'm sorry I'll go into it now I sort of pretending as if I was about to do it and he called he was a head of the center he said come back here as I was rushing off and disappearing you come back here he just said one the end and I could never forget you as long as I live he just said if that's what you're going to be why be a monk and I felt like I could have sunk through the floor sure because you hold this person in such high repute and if you have fallen low in in his eyes so this is the thing a repetition so krishna is a very good psychologist he says we're philosophy won't what psychology is going to work then 37 what's going to happen if he actually does it either he's going to win or lose krishna's now going to show him both ways he wins at ova props LC sorghum props EEOC's virgam Jeet wah Baksh Aseema him the table book chasse Mahim the smartest account a Twitter account the you'd written Ishqiya the critter nish Jaya if you lose the battle you'll be killed in battle and you will attain heaven reserved for the great warriors who have fought there you known had done their best in battle or if you are victorious then you will gain the kingdom so in both ways you are the gainer see this is an answer to something that Arjuna had asked him just before Krishna starts teaching Arjuna had said in the 6th verse of this very chapter he had said naturally turd with McCotter on Oguri yo-yoed Vijaya Mahadeva na ji you who I don't know when he was saying I won't fight this battle I don't know which is better this thing is so horrible I don't know which is better is it better to lose at least I won't kill these people or is it better to win because winning is good but what good is winning because it'll be a kingdom is gained at the last cost of my relatives blood it's a civil war so I lose whether I win or I die or I lose the battle in both ways and the loser and Krishna says he is reversed the thing he's used the same language to say in both cases whether you win the battle or lose the battle in both cases you are the winner see the whole difference is from taking a selfish attitude to what's going to happen to me versus doing the right thing if you do the right thing whatever the result you are the winner at over perhaps you see sorghum if you are killed you will get the heavenly heavenly realms and if you win you will get the king the kingdom the kingdom of the earth you will get it the commentator says Buckshot dry a pitiable ahaha in both cases you you you are you you come out ahead I remember this this question about somebody asked what should we do in life you just keep on doing what is our responsibility or what is the what is the thing to do in life how do you know what what is going to be meaningful for me Seligman says do the thing which is meaningful do the thing which is purposeful meaningful but even there if you say that whether the slogan is find your passion difficult I've been trying so many years all the passion has gone out of my life but I'm still haven't been able to find my passion gone that is not working but if you say something like find a meaningful life even that also how do you find a meaningful life suppose somebody asks so there was this there is this young man who graduated from India one of India's best engineering colleges and from in one of India's top management schools and those who know IIT and I I am and then what he did was he started an orphanage for kids and now there are more than a thousand kids who don't have parents or at least have one parent or no parents or parents are too poor to take care of them more than a thousand boys and girls he takes care of them and he has been tremendously successful because his approach is not that I'm running an NGO and I'm doing some good to society not that way he says my approach is like I am their father and mother I take unlimited responsibility like real parents will do until the boy of the girl grows up and gets a job and moves out until that time I have full responsibility I take complete responsibility for the child other NGOs what they do is and use our non what you call nonprofits in this country are nonprofits what they do is somebody provides food for the kids somebody provides clothes or somebody provides a school bag or pencils you can't bring up a child like that a little boy or a girl you can't bring it bring up a child like that by getting a half a dozen different agency agencies to provide a few and the necessities of life that's not the way to bring up a kid and he says I will take care of everything for the kid I'm like their parent so he is very very successful he got the indium in the President's Award in India for children's welfare few years ago and so on now my point in raising this is two things we are in a conference together he's a very deep thinker he is very motivated by the way vacant and he reads the writings of awakened and everything that he has done has come out of the teachings of Vivekananda now to two questions here one question is how did he find this meaningful life how did he come to come upon this the second question is what motivates him both are relevant here somebody asked him that where do you how did you decide to do this it's a meaningful life correct like Seligman would say how did you decide to do this his answer was very interesting he's an original thinker he said I didn't decide to do it what what happened was after finishing college I was thinking what should I do and I couldn't come up on any answer so I just thought what should I not do what is it that does not motivate me so do I want to be an executor in a multinational corporation like most of my classmates said no that quite doesn't quite motivate me do I want to be a professor like my teachers know that quite doesn't that doesn't quite motivate me what he just was looking you know what what is the feeling in his own heart like he's saying what is inside you ha he was actually actively searching what comes up with him and then he noticed these children Street children this is in Calcutta outside Calcutta I I am Calcutta he found his street children outside and he felt they need me and I can really help them and does it satisfy me yes he felt a call in his heart I should do something for them and no sooner had he thought then he went out and did it he got three kids he started with three kids from straight of the street he rented a room took the three kids in started taking care of them educating them I remember years later a group of young men had come to start a non-profit and they were asking for advice from me and I asked what's the problem Oh registering the nonprofit there with all these legal clauses and fundraising there are this problem and that problem I said what have you done so far no week I haven't started yet but we have I said contrast it with this guy who is running this model nonprofit he didn't start with the problems he started with with what the kids needed right now they don't have a place to sleep tonight yeah they need a bath they need food they need education and I'm going to provide it the rest will come of course he's extraordinarily talented so the organization is built up is very well organized I mean it's very efficient I start unit that means really it has grown so so so well so notice this how do you find a meaningful life if you difficult to ask if it's you're not getting an answer what is meaningful for me no answer not very clear then find out what is not meaningful for you that is easy easier actually then you might actually stumble upon what is meaningful that was one one question the second question he answered was this thing the question of motivation what motivates you he said I have two kinds of motivations motivators intrinsic and extrinsic extrinsic is I look at what I am doing and how successful I have been and what I need to do next so I started with three kids and then it was 50 then it was 100 then it was 500 now it's a thousand and good we are expanding and doing more and more and why not we are able to do so much but he said I have an intrinsic motivator to that I know this is the right thing to do this is really needed and it should be done now the thing is the extrinsic motivator might not work there are so many nonprofits some of them are not doing well at all maybe I would have failed external extrinsically maybe there would be no money no helpers and the organization might not have really expanded the way it has grown phenomenally it might not have happened but I would still go on because my intrinsic motivator told me this is the right thing to do this is the right thing to do whether you win or lose I still win this is exactly what Krishna is telling Arjuna whether if you take this out look at this point of view then whether you win this battle or lose this battle you lose you win in both cases 38 verse he's concluding his argument suka do case' make retrim suka do Kisame croteau Lala Jo Jo love jiayou jiayou tato you dire you just were total you da are you just naive um pop-ups you see naive imbaba mob up Jesse very beautiful verse happiness and pain or pleasure and pain not happiness in pain pleasure in pain set them aside gained and lost love Halab gained and lost set them aside Jaya Jaya victory and defeat set them aside whether is painful that it's pleasurable whether you are gaining or losing whether you are or whether it's a victory or a defeat set them aside set your heart to do what is the right thing to do then you will not be touched by sin Papa demerits in this is again as subtle not not so subtle indicated to what Arjuna had said in the 36th verse just before Krishna started teaching thirty-six words of first chapter 36 verse the first chapter Arjuna had said Papa may wash our shrine a small we will we will incur sin by fighting this battle Krishna is saying do it in this way you will not get sinned do the right thing without the mental attitude well why am i doing it I am doing it to be it will be it will be I will be happy if I gain and gain means victory defeat means a loss and loss will make me unhappy this kind of happiness unhappiness equation you have set up is bound to make you unhappy set this aside really if you want to be happy then do the right thing without regard to whether you get pleasure or pain you know the this pleasure or pain or happiness unhappiness equation your setup is dependent on gain or loss the common of the warrior in that battle they will be happy if they get if they win the battle in the wind the battle they think it's again in Sanskrit Jaya Jaya means victory victory is lava gain lava leads to suka happiness and our Jaya that means defeat is equivalent to a lava loss and loss leads to Duke unhappiness this equation itself you threw out said them shut this kind of thinking aside do the right thing happiness is guaranteed for you and you will not incur sin nothing was nagging at him that we had this is a battle them fighting and these people are my relatives so if I even if they are bad people but if I fight against them won't I get sin no you will not get sin he will not get sin the mental attitude is important I am fighting against them to snatch the kingdom away from them then it's a very dicey situation if the moral moral thing is is clouded there you're doing it because it's your duty to protect society clarity is there yeah have you heard of jordan peterson he is very famous these days he is he speaks to packed houses he comes to New York sometimes he is a professor of psychology at the University of Toronto but a little controversial but he has written this book which is a huge bestseller it's called 12 rules for success in life or sometimes 12 rules 12 rules of life 12 rules of for life 12 rules for life where the basic idea is exactly this kind of thinking for example set your house in order before you criticize the world in which he has a whole chapter on that that do what you are expected to do first before opening your mouth and finding out what's wrong with others and he said this is a these are the he calls it the antidote to chaos your life is in chaos because of you are violating these rules something like stand up straight when you walk or something like that he says compare yourself not to what somebody else is today but rather to what you were yesterday never compare yourself to other people what they are today that will lead to unhappiness straight away if you want to compare compared to what you were yesterday it may be a little better little worse than that that is a valuable comparison that way that lesson can be learned from that like that 12 rules but basically this kind of thinking yes yes and also the longest tree before that yeah yeah it was it was it was waged for Dharma it would be difficult for durian to be a good ruler because all that the entire history of the Kauravas of Duryodhana until that point was of maliciousness and envy and trying to take away the kingdom which really did not belong to him take it away from Yudhisthira that's how this story is set up and of the Pandavas under Krishna is trying to accommodate them again and again and again and a series of wrongs which had been committed to them on the Pandavas by the Kauravas so that's the history if Duryodhana turns out to be a good ruler after all of this would be little surprising and the Mahabharata does not really say that Mahabharata says in fact Yudhisthira was supposed to be Dharma put through and things like that so yeah it has been set up as a battle of the Dharma against a Dharma just yeah but I will point out one thing neither the context of Mahabharata nor whether the question of the battlefield and battle these are not actually important if the if an ancient Civil War which is hidden in a you know in a gray area between myth and history nor the question of warriors fighting a war in ancient India what utility does that have what relevance does that have to millions of people across the centuries and millennia how many of us are warriors with chariots and bows and swords fighting against relatives for a kingdom no one so why is it relevant to us often we get caught up in the questions which arise from the Mahabharata context who was right who was wrong and a related question is is the Gita promoting violence and war foolishness this kind of question is fully so why is it foolishness because so many commentaries have been written on the bhagavad-gita Shankar Acharya scum entry you have got mad watch Arya's commentary you have got ramanujacharya scum entry you have got Madhu Suzanne service with these commentaries she these are all the ones I know see the Swami's coming these are once we study and there are many many more down to the present age down to the present age not one commentary ever takes it up in the context of a war so are we going to fight war is it is it is krishna teaching us to fight is krishna teaching violence and is he supporting warfare against peace some it's only in the modern time partly with some Western commentators and now some Indian commentators also born out of the sheer perversity of modern time thinking they are raised this question that Gita encourages violence on the face of it it seems to be so if it does why has no commentator never seen it for the last thousand hundred years nobody ever mentions it you know where it comes from this question that we is the Gita if Geeta is talking about violence it comes from - two things one is the tremendous guilt that is as in the West especially in Europe for these huge Wars which took place in 20th century them and both words were entirely secular Wars and nothing to do with religion there is an enormous guilt in the Western mind because of that and because of that these questions keep coming up over linking of war to religion on very bad one thing the second reason why this question comes up is because nowadays in some people they commit acts of terrorism based on religion that's why suddenly it is connected to a geat O'War religion nothing to do with it Mothma Gandhi derives is a doctrine of non-violence and he is inspired by bhagavad-gita yes yes um that's why I said Matt McGann D who took up non-violence as his preferred method of political agitation against the British rulers he was inspired by the same text heed Geeta straightaway if he would think like that Geeta will say you fight a battle but he doesn't say so and again so many people throughout the centuries including monks who are pacifist absolutely so why are we studying the kita are we all going out to fight battles no it's a call to action in our own respective battlefields the clearly the meaning has to be symbolic otherwise we have to give a new interpretation in that case it's this kind of thinking as I said it's the modern sensibility both in the West and now its impact on the on India - I've seen Indian commentator saying that see Krishna thought violence would Buddha have ever said that so there's a well-known writer who wrote that foolishness it's not a problem of the Gita you are thinking about it right now because violence is in your mind hatred violence issues in your mind you are guilty of killing millions of people in the 20th century and what you refer to that that example that's a different issue you see religion is never a good guide towards policy right now it's the heart of the person which is the most important organized religions have always been they always played second fiddle to the powers that be in every country in every civilization you will hardly find the the priests or the research and all standing up in revolt against the Emperor of the No we have always been together this is one reason for that what belongs to Caesar does not belong to God the Caesars who rule on the world is a secular thing the central purpose of religion is spiritual take you to a spiritual life and it becomes a guide to two morality in the world this thing has been lost sight of in the modern world most of the major world religions people think of religion as something that is meant for giving us morals and values it is but not centrally a central purpose of religion is it takes you to God to God realization to moksha nirvana salvation whatever you call it it was well it was well understood in in the past what has happened in the last two three hundred years is that because as Nietzsche said death of God since our faith in God he generally people do not seriously believe in God so God yet something is there God knows what is God but religion is good because it makes us tell the truth and respect each other and all of that so it's a source of values and so we get shocked when somebody uses religion to justify violence because it doesn't seem to make it seems to be against values but religion is not primarily for that you will often find the churches and Pope's have stood with the Emperor's and and the powers which make war throughout history not only in the West everywhere in the world and it's understandable because they really are not invested in the politics they want to protect their own their their temples and churches and the following and the wealth and the power and for that the best thing is to be associated with the powerful person and they will immediate see in the Holocaust the the church there there are there are accusations that they were closely associated with with some debt some collaboration with the Nazis to definitely with Mussolini why you can criticize them now I'll play the devil's advocate here that there is always the first interest is to protect the church itself and are they wrong not quiet because they see themselves in terms of thousands of years not your little war today yeah Sri Ramakrishna's important sees here he has for the first time he has strongly made it clear that purpose of religion is God realization again and again and again he says God exists the purpose of human life is God realization but was of religion is about realization my god you've really gone out to be on time I'm just seeing this stuff let's just hear the question and then we'll end yes yes yes we'll reserve that for the next time because the subject is karma yoga and the reason we did not talk so much about such hidden and and brahman and all of that remember the topic of gana yoga has concluded where we talked about all of these things now krishna is using morality is sense of honor and duty to persuade arjuna to do what krishna wants him to do and now we will go into the philosophy of action what you are asking how do i live life with all this - asif ii how do i live life how do i guide my actions in day-to-day life what do i do with my life now if i want to be an enlightened person that's the very important subject which is coming up next class i'm sorry i really went off beyond time my god Shanti Shanti Shanti hurry he own that Sri Ramakrishna repaired and master