Video 17

17. Bhagavad Gita I Chapter 2 Verse 47 I Swami Sarvapriyananda

Oh vasilieva suitum daivam comes a charnel Dahmer Dunham Dave aqui para Mon and Krishna Monday jagadguru so in the bhagavad-gita we were studying the second chapter the teaching about the Atman has been given our real nature now what about our life it's an important question can you hear me everybody the work that we do are we supposed to give it up spend our lives listening to Gita classes and then it's the rest of the time meditating because that's what among does so only in quote-unquote spiritual activities what about the rest of our life so Shri Krishna says no you don't have to give up the activities in fact you must do work how to spiritualize our life that's the next subject and that is the subject of karma yoga how to spiritualize our life and the central verse in karma yoga was is a verse number 47 this is what we were doing last time and it's so important I couldn't complete it last time I had a number of observations to make so I'll make them now 47th words let's repeat it again please chant after me karma Nevada Kirstie Thurman yvathacal rusty ma Felicia kadachan ma Felicia kadachan karma Paula heater boo marker mala heater Ubu Marty Sango Stoker morning Marty Sango stalker money you have the right to action alone not to the results of the action do not act for getting the results of the actions and do not give in to inaction either this is the meaning of the verse now I counted I had a ten observations to make so I'll quickly run through them I had made some of them last time but doesn't matter karma action a very important subject in Vedanta the law of karma or the doctrine of karma is that causes have consequences so whatever we are experiencing in our lives are the consequences or in the language of Gita the fruits of action fruits results of fruits of action pullum in Sanskrit and these are the consequences of causes we have done something in this life or in past lives the causes are karma action so action and result or flow of fruit of action karma and problem karma is action column is result of action and we know this the usual way the law of karma is understood is by the way I'm saying law of karma it's if anybody wants to be nitpicking it's not really a law in the sense of physics law or a scientific law if you can call it a doctrine of karma if you will the way it's usually stated is good leads to good and bad to bad so consciously done moral action Dharma leads to merit podium and that results in something pleasant happening to us suka so the equation is Dharma duniya suka good action merit pleasant result and the opposite is also true consciously done unethical action adharma demerit in sanskrit papa another word could be sin and the result is dukkha suffering so our Dharma Papa dukkha now notice one thing in this chain the first and the last term's we can see we can we can see the good or bad action because it's obvious we do it and we see people doing it and we see the results also in our lives in the right lives of others good and bad things happen in between is the point where it is a matter of of faith or teaching then there is a merit generated or there is a demerit generate you don't actually see the the puddin your power they be merit or demerit now the point I want to make in this is we have a choice about the Karma and no choice about the phalam this verse also makes makes the point you have a right to the Karma means we have a choice - about the Karma what we are going to do about that we have a choice but the result of that we don't have the choice specifically the results which are coming to us now they are generated by past Karma and so we have no choice about that they're going to come to us now as we reckon in the say rites none escape the law good good bad bad there is a little bit of choice about the about the future depending on what we do now the result we will get results accordingly in the future in this life or the next but even there there is not much choice our action will definitely determine the result but the result is not just a consequence of our action there are many other factors involved so therefore with regard to past karma we have no control over the res no choice with regard to future results the Karma we will do now will partially determine the results in the future so this is one observation the second observation which follows from this is immediately free will yes this whole verse in fact all of religion morality indeed civilization depends on us having free will do action when the proper action do moral action do ethical action action without desire what whatever the teaching is it implies that we have the free will if I do not have the free will what's the use of telling me to do this or that so the teaching of karma yoga involves free will I know we have discussed this many times earlier and usually the teaching has been in the ultimate analysis in depth when you when you analyze it we really do not have free will that's a nice philosophical discussion to have and indeed there is truth there and indeed one day we may come to the mystical realization that God alone does everything but until that time the teaching is that considered that accepted that you have free will and act accordingly let alone spirituality and religion let alone karma yoga as I said religion morality ethics our entire legal system nothing is possible unless we we are we assume that people have free will how can you charge somebody with a crime if there is no free will if a person says I did not have a choice I had to do it somebody compelled me to do it with a gun to my head then you cannot charge me for the crime so that means my free will was taken away from me well supposing like that for example you have these insanity arguments basically what are those arguments on grounds of insanity you cannot charge this person you can put him in a mental institution and treat him but you cannot charge him with the crime why because the underlying argument is that the person did not have free will normal free will at least as everybody else had so free will is something that is accepted in every religion as a practical matter all those discussions we have had earlier and I know in the gospel of ceramic ceramic Krishna he questions the fact whether we have truly have free will it ultimately God does everything true that is that's there but for practical purposes taken that we have free will and a corollary of this is that spiritual progress is possible in the human birth this free will which we are talking about it is assumed that animals do not have it even the higher animals do not have it choice about karma doing good action consciously requires free will human beings have it so we have the power to choose and do the right thing animals and then we have no choice over the results the results we have no choice we have to we have to accept the results of our actions but animals have no choice either about the result of action or about action also the action they do is guided by instinct and the result they are getting is because of the past Karma which has generated a animal body for them that means for the sentient being dwelling in that animal body so animal birth slower births nor evil they're only meant for burning out the results of past karma third observation I mentioned this last time the importance of concentration or focus I do not know really if the original intention was this in the verse but one of the commentators where omluke does gene is Hindi commentary has pointed out notice we do all kinds of work but the grammatical number here is singular number car money car money a body cars the car many single of is singular not plural in the work you have the right to D work that means one thing at a time the importance of focuses is is is something that we take a separate talk to talk about swami vivekananda for example he said the difference between an ordinary person and a great person lies in the degree of concentration so that that's the importance he gave to concentration whatever you do take up one thing and pour your heart into it one thing at a time so this is not at all the philosophy of Manhattan multitasking as much as possible I know it's not so not all that easy at all you have to do a lot of multitasking but there was a whole issue of Time magazine on concentration and multitasking it's covered cover story and they went and interviewed important people corporate executives presidents of universities how do they handle so much workload what are the strategies the one I remember was and I think it was the president of a Harvard University at that times among the top Ivy League universities so the Time magazine reporter goes into the office and it describes then there are files all over the place on the floor on the table and then he asked what's your strategy to deal with the paperwork and the president said I asked him to put it on my table and then after some time then it gets too much I push it on into the floor and if nobody comes and yells at me I don't do anything about it somebody comes and yells at me I said okay fine you get it so I think I like the philosophy very nice so anyway the point is I will not dwell too much on it but in today's world the importance of focus Daniel Goldman who wrote will be who became famous because he coined the term emotional intelligence and EQ she wrote a number of books on emotional intelligence but his latest book is on focus the name of the book is focused he says that's what in this digitally distracted age we lack most anyway let it be that's the third observation I wanted to make karmayoga it is true that Karma Yoga involves focus a scattered mind distracted mind whatever the person may be is not a car by you so many such stories I remember a story told to me by sue Heaton and the G Swami Sivananda G he was the abbot of the monastery that I joined order she served Swami pre-mission anda who was a disciple of the holy mother and Swami pre-mission and in his lifetime was recognized as an enlightened person from magani knower of Brahman anyhow now there's an interesting little tiny little incident which sweet Angie told me about Swami Ramesh Chandra so I know the old Swami was practically an invalid he had to be taken out on a wheelchair for his daily you know I can't say it walk or roll outside now one day they were going past the like the garden and there was a worker in the garden who was cutting a tree with an axe and this old Swami he said stop stop and he asked the do worker what are you doing she's cutting the trees for me but look every stroke is in a different place just a little bit up down sideways and then this old Swami who is invalid hands a-shaking he said give it to me and it takes it and gives a few strokes there every stroke is clean and neat and exactly and precisely in the same place and forgotten that story until now just so that is karma yoga another story I remember about the Shankar Acharya of from shrinky area think the earlier one so he was interviewed and by this province Journal magazine so there the interview the interview says that I was talking to the Shankar Acharya and he was answering my questions so Shankar Acharya is the pontiff of a traditional monastery a very old monk so question answer is going on and behind him somebody was putting up up a photo like this was was putting in nails and putting the photo on the wall and suddenly the Shankaracharya stopped in the middle of the interview and looked back at that person and he said the last nail is not driven in properly that person looks surprised what do you mean and the Shankaracharya said I may be wrong about the figures I forgot a long time ago but he said but first the four nails were there and get it placed the photo like that the first nail you hitted twenty-two times the second one eighteen times the third one again seventeen times but the last one only fifteen times now imagine that he's talking to this person and he it's so alert he registers everything that's the sattvic mind Gita says sir Ovid Juarez should Prakasham of a deity as if every sense organ there is a human lit up about our president of our order the tenth president Swami various foreign energy it was a tiny tiny figure of a man when he passed away he was only 26 kgs I heard that's what fifty pounds yeah and he was tiny but the monks the old monks who know who knew him they said that it's like every cell of his body was like a computer chip or something like that you know it's so alive with into everything radiated intelligence karmayoga focus moving on again this is something I'd mentioned I'll quickly move on I'll start to adjust Thomas I will not translate those terms I hope we are most mostly we are familiar with it is from Sankhya and cosmology look there are three options presented here no work giving up the work which Arjuna wanted to do he wanted to I won't do this this is I'm going to stop fighting this war this is one another option is do the with desire I want something therefore I'm doing it that's the way of the world that's Karma but it's not Karma Yoga the third one is do the work as a worship of the Lord or as discharging one's duties without any personal motive there without desire for the results that is Karma Yoga so three three things action without desire action with desire that is prompted by desire and the last one is giving up action giving up action is Thomas SiC Thomas laziness it has no worldly or spiritual benefits at all this destructive the second one is action with desire rajasic that's the way of the world and the result of Rajas is bondage one gets caught in samsara an ultimate result is suffering the third one is action without desire that is sattvic sattvic which purifies the mind so that is Karma Yoga and also in all three cases do not be attached do not be attached to laziness sleepiness dullness destructiveness do not be attached to passionate fulfillment of desires I know I'm running contrary to our the wisdom of today's world but cut that is karma this is Karma Yoga not do not be attached to passionate a fulfillment of desires running from getting this to getting that to doing this to achieving that so that is rajasic Karma but do not also be attached to the results of sattva which is a kind of peace of mind a quietness and happiness which comes out of the purity of mind generated by such - there also at happiness should attachment should not be there I will not repeat it but last time I think I told you the story of the three dacoits with three robbers so one must not be one must transcend the three goodness how move from Thomas to Rajas to Sato that means from inaction laziness dullness if is there then bring in dynamism energy get um and and be about your business and do something and then action is there try to make it more get get serenity evenness of mind and do it as dedicated to God not for the fulfillment of my selfish desires that is from Sir Thomas to Rodgers to cetera I also mentioned the point about disinterested action and uninterested action the question is often raised it comes to everybody's mind this whole business of doing work without desire why should I do anything without desire how can I do anything without desire so disinterested action not uninterested action usually we do something well because I'm going to get something out of it but I will do something well I don't want anything personal out of it I'm doing it for the greater good as a worship of God so in that sense that is disinterested action that is I don't have a an axe to grind I don't have a personal motive behind action sixth point and this also I had mentioned the two things what is our attitude one thing is karma what that we are doing second thing is the results of karma what we are experiencing in life how do you spiritual eyes these two Karma you spiritual eyes in this way all my action henceforth because I am a seeker after liberation I am a seeker after enlightenment so all my action henceforth is spiritual it is a worship of my Lord I'm doing it as a worship of God only for the to please us please my lord to please my beloved that's my only only purpose in doing this action that's for a person who is devotionally oriented bhakti oriented suppose the person is not so oriented only on the path of knowledge all right this action I am doing I am fulfilling my duties acting altruistically for the welfare of others without any personal acts to so that I will get jitter shouldn't a priority of mind do you remember the matrix of spiritual practice and 3x3 matrix good only a few people nodded don't worry I'll keep referring back I'll tell you once in a while again so my attitude for karma is karma from now on all the action from now on is meant for God realization now how can I spiritual eyes this action how can i connect it to God that is my purpose now second what about the iboga that means the experience of the results of action how can I spiritual eyes that things are happening to me good and bad things throughout the day how do I deal with that you see in karma two things are their action and its result so what I'm doing is action and what is happening to me throughout my days and months and life that is a result of action how do I am spiritual eyes the result of action my attitude should be that especially the problem is with suffering so when I'm when the result of action my I am suffering due to some bad action in my past I do not know but unpleasant things are happening to me how do I spiritual eyes that well first of all it's a sign that my bad karma is getting exhausted should be happy my bad debts are being burnt off second it is a very good occasion to remember God every suffering immediately turn to God offer the suffering to the Lord and take refuge in the Lord that thou art my strength I'm holding on to that in whichever form we like third it's also a warning but this pain and suffering because in some sense somewhere I must have done something immoral let me be careful friend in the future then the seventh point seventh observation Krishna says mob fellatio do not be you do not have a right to the results do not be attached to the results you do not have a right to the results the meaning direct meaning is this that we really do not have a right to the results because the result of our action is a product of many factors not just us so many other people are contributing to the result of my action I may so the see the farmer may sow the seeds in the in the field but the rain is contributing the the germs and the bacterial end up in the field are contributing the worms in the field are contributing the soil and the air everything contributes to the coming up of the crops so the result is not entirely the farmer cannot claim that I am doing it only part of it so if I do it it's not if I take if I appropriate the results that's a good word if I appropriate the results I did it so I deserve this and this is this is the result of my action it's not honest it's not really honest but there is a deeper reason why Krishna says you do not have or I do not claim the results for yourself this is psychologically inwardly do not claim the results certainly if you are doing a job and your boss sends a pay cheque to your bank you don't say that I am NOT claiming the results anymore you will confuse the IRS and your boss also that will come but internally that I don't appropriate it why now why not you see when I want the results of my actions it's because I want to enjoy something some desires I want to fulfill in Sanskrit this is called bhakti to the trying to enjoy certain pleasures in the world certain some satisfaction from the world now this book treat what this trying to enjoy things in the world this generates this doership in sanskrit character at Rideau means agent ship I do I want to do these things why to satisfy my desires why so that I will enjoy certain things so enjoy our ship leads to do ership enjoy a ship lights the flame of doership book trick to leads to cut written when I eliminate my desires when I reduce the flame of a boat withdraw the heat generated in order the result is that country tour the agent ship also goes down I don't know if I made that clear this desire to enjoy things if you enjoy the results of carbon that is called vodka to enjoy a ship that actually generates the desire to do things country tour and that doing things for satisfying my desires that's the very nature of worldly karma that's how we get caught so to reduce that cut wreath you have to reduce the desires there don't be attached to the fruits grasping the results of action grassman usually we try to grasp Li pleasant results nobody wants to grasp the unpleasant results so when we try to grasp that I want these goodies coming to me after all they are they are the results from my past karma so why shouldn't I have a right to them yes you are right to them but the more you try to catch hold of them the more you try to enjoy them the more you generate further desire to do things and get results so the upshot is this minimized his desires minimize trying to get happiness from the world a simple life in other words a kind of simple Spartan life as far as possible alright now we come to the crux the eighth observation is how then how can be reduced desires hold on to the question let me finish this this is an important observation how can they reduce desires then this is a question people will ask this so one can discuss this endlessly but a very quick observations some things are collected from here and there how can we reduce desires think upon these four things to reduce desires think upon these four things one is the moment that I have a desire I have generated a void an incompleteness a gap within myself does that make sense up or not drama in sanskrit i have consciously agreed to I am NOT complete anymore it happens without thinking about it I just feel this lack but this lack is not it did not come by itself behind this it is a desire and then that desire I have control over it I have assented to it often you say nobody asked me to sign but when did I sign yeah for the desire it happened by default we we see an advertisement and this is nice Friday sale Black Friday sale it was not there earlier advertisement is there and it creates a desire in my mind Oh some nice things will be there I must go and queue up and stand in a long long queue and incompleteness up or not to UM is generated in me that's remember that's one first the first thing to remember is that and the second thing to remember is that one becomes one loses independence we are basically going around with a begging bowl to the world make me happy make me happy make me happy we lose in de perak time every desire that I have I'll do independence is it worth it we think it's worth it never is till now it has not been in everybody's life so we lose independence swami vivekananda sway slave to a good word slave to a bad word in everything somewhere I want praise from people I've become a slave to it I react with anger and unhappiness when somebody criticizes again a slave to it lose independence so in modern psychology there is there's something called cognitive behavior therapy earlier it was called a rational emotive behavior therapy rebt so there they say we have if you actually write down the assumptions behind our desires our demands it looks so silly I get upset because somebody said a nasty word to me you know what's that why did I get upset what is the assumption behind that becoming upset the assumption is this even if I write it down nobody ever should be nasty to me that's the assumption if you write it down it's so silly nobody ever should say a bad word to me why how is that even possible if I write it down it seems silly but it's unexpressed wait there's a seed behind I mean in my mind that's why I get so upset so this second thing is I lose my independence think about this the third thing to think about is desires if they are not fulfilled will lead to frustration and unhappiness simple fact but a big source of unhappiness in our lives if my desires are not fulfilled it will lead to unhappiness the moment I sign up for a desire I am signing up for unhappiness because most desires in some way or the other will remain unfulfilled or we will get frustrated at some turn up all the other so it leads to unhappiness frustration unfulfilled desires lead to frustration or unhappiness think about that and the last thing of course is the fourth thing to think about this when you cultivate desires they keep on increasing there is no end to what are called wasps on us the impressions in our mind with generate desires the more we try to satisfy them the more they spread and proliferate in Hindu mythology we have the story of yayati the king who wanted to enjoy all sorts of sensuous pleasures pleasures in life then became old and sick and couldn't do so anymore and then he made a kind of Faustian deal with his son that you are a dutiful son the prince said yes give me your youth you become old for some time I want to enjoy more and then again he went on enjoying the pleasures of life in that young body for decades and decades till he realized that there is no way you can come to an end of you know get satisfaction out of by sensuous pleasure pleasures he says just like in a fire you for you poor g-d is the clarified butter in vedic sacrifices in ancient india that was the offering they did but the more you put into it the more the fire blazes forth you can't put out a fire by pouring fuel into the fire so satisfying desires is like they're trying to get satisfaction by fulfilling desires is like that he's just making the fire burn brighter we always think one more thing and then I'm done we think that you know just that just a few things I want and I'm set for life I really don't have any more big things after that no we do there's no end to it a very touching story of a Buddhist monk he was an Englishman he became a Buddhist monk and he writes this story he says when I was a little kid my mom was a single parent so she struggled to bring us up and we didn't have much money so every day in the village I would go to go home from school at walk home and past a store a shop and I would longingly look at the things I knew we were poor we didn't have the money but once there was this very nice toy car and so he said Isis you should stand there this store and look at it longingly and I would go and nag my mother for it but I knew there's no chance because we were poor one day I was walking past the store and this car was no longer there somebody had obviously bought it and I sadly thought maybe some other kid has got it when I went home I saw that my mother had bought it from my birthday and she had put it there the thing is the catch is this I had been nagging my mother all the time saying mom buy me that thing and I'll never ever ask you for anything in my life never ever ask you for anything in my life so when my mom gave it to me and she said remember your promise never ever anything in your life and of course I was delighted I played with it but just as it happens with every kid they played with it for a few weeks then maybe once in a week and then it one of the wheels came off and my mother never threw it away she put it on top of an alloy that stayed there collecting dust but whenever as I grew up I asked for something she would point to that that and I knew what she meant and then he lights it so touching that he became a Buddhist monk later on and he said he has come back because his mother passed away and his mother's in the Indus there's a ceremony when the mother's the coffin is going to be buried he got that toy and he put it in his mother's coffin it was a great lesson that my mother taught me there is no end to this never ever this is not the way to satisfaction so remember these things when trying to reduce desire will it work it helps to remember these things a deeper philosophical point karma and the result of karma are on it impermanent every work has a beginning and an end every result good or bad has a beginning and an end but the self you Atma is nithya eternal the you the eternal self you have no connection with the non eternal Karma it appears and goes with a non eternal result of karma also it can do nothing for you it's a very deep lesson to learn karma fundamentally can do nothing for the Atma then what is the use of all the Karma that we are doing the ultimate use of karma is it will lead to knowledge you need to experience and knowledge which will finally set us free we are trapped in samsara now we have to me think we are body mind complexes so today I was at Columbia University and they have a seminar two-day seminar today and tomorrow on a way to the truth meditative traditions mostly in the Western tradition some Sufi tradition also so I want you to learn something more about this very nice lot of scholars have come from different universities and they're giving a talk so one was on the Greek platanus one talk and the entire talk was what exactly is the soul in patinas means because see they've translated it as Sol Sol Sol is is it well it's obviously not the body but is it the faculties of the mind is it just the faculties of the mind or something apart from the faculties of the mind identified with the faculties of the mind I made the point that in Vedanta this this thing this solution is very clear because Atma mind and body are three things and you can to our understanding we make them into three categories so the word soul is ambiguous see when you say he's a good soul what do you mean this person has a good character is a nice person as a nice personality is kind and affable those are the characteristics of the mind of the subtle body but when you say immortal soul when you use a word immortal soul you mean the Atma the spiritual self so the English word soul is ambiguous it can refer to the spiritual self it can refer to our minds Kharma but the point I want to make here is karma the only use of real use of karma is karma leads to knowledge ultimately karma will through spiritual practices and all ultimately knowledge will come that we are spiritual beings we are not body mind the soul is spiritual soul not the mind so this knowledge is the ultimate goal of all spiritual practices including karma yoga the ninth point I wanted to make is as he says marte Sango has to occur money do not give in to inaction that can happen giving up action the most common thing is people become interested in spirituality Buddhism they rant or something and say I don't like all this anymore my word Lisa I about to give it all up don't if you want to become a monk fine but that's only for a few people who will go into a monastic life but they are also in any good ministry will immediately be put to work so there will be work there else a lot of work the work that we do in the world maintaining your own self taking care of a family job your community work all of that it is not harmful for spiritual life done properly it is an aid to spiritual life convert that into Karma Yoga it will be a great great south and a spiritual practice the spiritual practice God doesn't want us to be trapped in samsara God wants us to be free so how do you convert our action into spiritual practice that's the teaching of Karma Yoga do not give in to inaction there are lots of such people especially among I've seen monks in India wandering monks they end up being nothing better than a little better than beggar sometimes sometimes not some of them are very good but it's not easy to live a life like that very soon one becomes it becomes an indolent kind of life that is inaction and that does not give rise to any kind of worldly benefit obviously not all spiritual benefit so inaction is no good as far as our worldly life is concerned and certainly no good as as far as our spiritual life is concerned so selection krishna says do not give in give in to inaction laziness just being thomas ik indolent i another reason for this giving up work is the way vedanta start gana yoga the path of a rant of knowledge and Jana Yoga the path of meditation is usually privileged above karma yoga so the way it is taught is do you remember the matrix I made that the lowest rung the base is karma yoga then comes meditation then comes knowledge so we get the feeling that look karma is sort of a lower kind of practice I want to do the higher kind of practice the sophisticated end of practice so a me Ashok Ananda he phase in one of his talks in San Francisco I know some of you think that the Swami is telling me to do Karma Yoga he thinks the Swami thinks I'm not fit for meditation well I'll show him and in a second she says well you will show me not in the way you think you will show me let me show you sure that I'm right that's not a good show the last one just a point about the doctrine of spiritualize service which which is of at the foundation of our order Shiva Guruji was ever serving all sentient beings knowing them to be God serving all sentient beings knowing them to be God this is the highest form of karma yoga the basic form of karma yoga here what krishna is teaching arjuna is convert your worldly activities and religious activities all of them into Karma Yoga do it as Duty do it as as as an offering to God that becomes spiritual but here swami vivekananda he got this idea from Sri Ramakrishna this teaching so not just doing your duties as worship of God but every action in fact service to all beings knowing them to be card so not just my duties just just my work but service becomes a way of life that the motto here we have for our order at monomakh short term jagathi teacher for one's own liberation and for the welfare of the world for one's own liberation and for the welfare of the world if you ask a monk of our order what's the goal of your life what are you doing in life for my own liberation and for the welfare of the world very quickly this serving all beings so in our order we have spiritual teaching is of course one form of service what we are doing here so my attitude here is I am serving God in the form of everybody but by this teaching so this is my service it's my service to God it's not I am a guru teaching students not that that's not the attitude in our order but also we have educational services in especially in India you can see our odd is well-known for schools and colleges and university there are medical services hospitals and dispensaries we have famine and earthquake and fire relief wherever it is a disaster Hastur relief so all kinds of relief activities educational activities medical activities they are all the philosophy behind it is we are not doing social work in the Ramakrishna order when we do Kermit's Karma Yoga not in the sense of Social Work Shiva ganas Jeeva saver service to all sentient beings knowing them to be God now there are three dimensions of this quickly the first dimension is its Karma Yoga when you are serving serving is Karma Yoga service is carbon yoga so it's it's work it's Karma Yoga but this same thing is also who pass on our worship meditation because when you feel that all beings are God are you trying to imagine or develop this attitude in the mind when I'm offering medicine to a patient I have seen a monk going into a classroom to teach kids teaching geography or something like that but before going in where nobody thought nobody could see he bows down like this so I asked him why are you bowing down he says I bow down to Sri Ramakrishna in the form of these little children so that's his attitude well that's meditation this is meditation in action I am creatively using my power of imagination creatively visualizing my Lord in the form of all this so whether it's teaching kids in a classroom whether it's offering medicine to storm and the patients in a hospital or food to the hungry so on but you are you see the presence of God in them so it's it's worship it's meditation loop asana and finally it's also knowledge notice the the the language knowing them to be God not imagining them to be God not believing them to be God serve all beings knowing them to be God not imagining not believing knowing them is guiana according to Vedanta it is a fact that they are all God all of them are none other than Brahman it's my fault that I do not see it I do not realize it if it's a fact then knowing them to be God serve all beings so this Shivaji on eg was here this doctrine of service Spiritualized service this is karma yoga this is a pass on our bhakti-yoga plus Raja yoga and this is gana yoga so all the four yoga's are in this doctrine of service so this is karma yoga it is most expanded sophisticated form somebody had their hands up if you still remember your question otherwise whenever you remember it now moving on so these are the ten observations I had good next verse 48 yes yes their life yeah she's asking how do you reconcile them because a primitive life forms predated human life of millions of years so basically the question is how do you reconcile evolution with this what you're trying to ask is specifically in this case then there must have been millions of years where there were only life forms without free will right so is that what you're asking yes yes before us okay so you must remember the Hindu cosmological cycle it's not the first time that we have we are we have been we are coming around here we have been around we have passed through this place many times earlier so the Hindu cosmological idea is cyclical it's not only in the Buddhist the ancient idea was that from Brahman with Maya the entire universe expands from that and you can factor in evolution the appearance of life higher and higher bodies the same sentient beings which existed in the past cycles are still there those who have not yet got freedom or Mukti so big they get embodied in those animal bodies bacteria bodies I'm Eva what is whatever until better bodies better models are available for them human bodies where they can exercise free will generate new karma and this goes on for billions of years you might say that you are now saying billions appears because we have got this new idea by because of cosmology and no the ancient Hindu scale of time actually was in billions of years I am and do you remember Carl Sagan's we were kids there was this TV serial cosmos very nice we were kids we used to watch that there's a book also on that and Carl Sagan writes there that the ancient man's or the ancient and medieval idea of time was very limited so thought thought in terms of 5,000 years or 10,000 years but now our modern physics geology talks in terms of millions of years cosmology talks in terms of billions of years so our idea of time and space has expanded vastly and then he adds there is only one other scale which is equally stole was even more stupendous and that was the ancient Hindu scale of time where they talked about billions and trillions of years and cycles of universes so we have been around many times and they say from beginningless time we are striving towards spiritual evolution and freedom so what happens the universe is created we are all there but not in a physical form until we have bodies we will not be manifest in a physical form we are there in a subtle form and as we get proper bodies life evolves on planets then we get those bodies and then we start evolving the evolve means the nature evolves better and better bodies are found and then we have human bodies we have free will and the cycle goes on in this cycle many people will many of these sentient beings get freedom they will not be part of the cycle anymore many do not and the universe comes to an end billions of years later so they all are be drawn back into the Maya of Brahman for an unimaginable period so there is no time anymore once the universe comes to an end again the universe starts again and the ones who have not got freedom I projected back into the universe to play the game again so this is the stupendous idea of Hindu cosmology Advaita Vedanta adds don't worry decision none of it is true you are eternally free this is a dream that you are dreaming and if you know it then then there is you realize it too it was always alright it's not a multi-billion year project to become enlightened yes the famous verse which Duryodhana said that Jeremy Herrmann not amiability hanami at her mom not so mean pretty I know what is right and that's not my problem right and wrong is not my problem I know what is right but I don't feel like doing it you can hear it from every teenager I know what's wrong I know I know what I'm doing is bad but I can't prevent myself from doing it I can't help it why not why not he says kena Peay David is today in a canopy Divina itani oh you taught me to talk around me there is some force within me which forces me to do it you know that I do it as I'm impelled to do so this is duty attendance position it's a false position he is just giving up the the freewill thing and it is going by the default conditioning there's a conditioning so this is a very interesting Yoga psychology involved here our past Karma's have conditioned as their dead there are desires in our subconscious which are bubbling forth now as the bubble forth from our subconscious they come up as little buds in our mind we are barely aware of them then it becomes a desire I want then it gathers power then we start pursuing it then it becomes unstoppable almost but before it becomes unstoppable we have a window of opportunity tiny fleeting window of opportunity with this choice Arjuna and Duryodhana this is the difference dirtier than I gave up his precious free will gave up means I'm not going to use it you just deny that I have it it's much easier to float along until it's not easy until we get kicks in because we flow to London then the only way God will not abandon us if I do not use my free will for my spiritual evolution then what will happen law of karma will take effect kicks and blows will come life will become God will make it so hard for me then have be forced to change my ways it's much much more wiser to change it before that so Arjuna in the Gita you'll notice it will come later he asks almost exactly the same question to our Krishna which Duryodhan had said only Duryodhana put it as a fait accompli that means accomplished fact Arjuna says puts it as a question Arjuna will ask Krishna that why do we think do things which we regret later even unwilling why are we forced we sort of get as if forced to do things as if swept away by something within us a good person at least a person who thinks of himself or herself is good does something bad why what is it within us that makes us do this so he puts it as a question and how do I come out of this so this is Arjun this is the difference between Arjuna and Duryodhana this this little difference I am willing to change I am willing to listen I want to make my life better I'm willing to come to the Friday class that's the difference that's the difference and I believe that there is a way something is there into spiritual life and I'm traveling to try it out so and then krishna says past conditioning he says karma yoga rajo-guna Sabbath bhava anger and last born of Rajas this is the enemy this forces the sweeps away even the best of intentions do not give way to them do not give in to them do not give in to anger do not give in to las do not give in to greed that means we have free will if we had no option at all then the teaching is useless but we have that option in Yoga Sutras Patanjali Yoga Sutras in the commentary to that by Vyasa there is an interesting insight a very powerful insight it says our deepest desires are in the subconscious mind when you say give up desires I'm helpless because I have no access to those desires if I could erase them delete the files I could but I can't they are out outside my control in the subconscious and they bubble up and then I made a transformed into action then it's too difficult to control I may do it with willpower once second time I will fail but so so and then the commentator says a one with the samskaara chakram our determination day and night rotates this wheel of subconscious impressions and conscious desires if you entertain those desires they will go back again to the subconscious and strengthen that desire that that conditioning will be strengthened nothing very different from what modern psychologists will tell you then what do I do then what's the way out the way out is this when those subconscious desires bubble up into our conscious mind as desires subconscious conditioning bubbles up as desires vasana is conditioning it bubbles up as a rikiya desire in the mind before it becomes strong there is a gap a fleeting window of opportunity where the yogi consciously determines whether this is a helpful desire or not helpful desire I have made up my mind to be a yogi I made up my mind to be a spiritual seeker now this desire which is coming should I say give it a green light or give it a red light and say stop and replace it with something positive it can be done we do it sometimes actually but it's a very fleeting moment if you lose it it will already be expressed and come up in the mind with such force that once will fail with willpower sometimes you will succeed sometimes you'll fail and it becomes a very depressing struggle before that they're not even aware of it after that window of opportunity uncontrollable almost when that window of opportunity can be used and there's a lot of material on the side I remember a paper presented by a scientist from NIMH hands and the National Institute of Mental Health on the effects of meditation one point he made was in the paper results they found that reaction times it slows down when there's a make him the question of a conscious decision instead of automatic decision this slows down allows the neocortex to act need time to act and so a conscious decision can be taken do you see immediately if I if I am NOT unthinking I translate my impulses into action what is called low impulse control then there is no time for philosophy religion self-control discipline no there's no time automatically it will start by default conditioning will be operating but if there is some peaceful mind calm mind it will be aware of the desire bubbling up and before it is translated before I say something or do something there's an opportunity of of replacing it with something positive now the cycle is still going on remember the conditioning desire cycle is going on if I replace it with something positive that which I've replaced it with that positive thing will sink back into my subconscious if I do it often enough when the contents of the subconscious itself will be changed then you will see at one time months years later what is bubbling up from the subconscious is all positive I knew this monk who had gone crazy you sort of lost his mind he would ramble but so whatever comes to his mind he says it outright that everything that he says is about God that means the conditioning has been so strong that it's changed for Phillip for the positive so it can happen Sri Ramakrishna puts it this way he would live near the river Ganga and you would see these boats plying and the boatman they worked very hard with the wood with oars to push the boat out to midstream and then he noticed when the boat is on the midstream it catches the current or the sail unfolds it catches the wind then the boatman sits down relaxes just has his hand on the rudder and on the other hand he smokes a Hubble bubble he says in spiritual life a time comes when the wind becomes favourable things become easy and natural you'd like to get up early in the morning you'd like to meditate you like to study you like to serve others you like to think about God and read about God and other worldly things just are irritating for you continue this is a sign of your time to smoke the Hubble bubble let me just hold on to that just just hold on to the question let me just oh I don't think we can finish this over Hertz next verse alright then ask the question yes you well not get rid of desires we cannot have a blank might make the desires about God Salameh Krishna is to say in Bengali more period they turn the how would you put it in English turn the direction of the stream turn it towards God so if you must be angry desirous loving angry with God desirous of God greedy about card so it could be God but it could be anything positive about doing things for others about meditating replacing say cheap entertainment with something which is edifying or which which will create positive impressions in a number of skillful ways yes otherwise the mind will not be capable of meditating and will not be capable of retaining this knowledge which we had the knowledge of Vedanta that matrix I told you about 3 cross 3 so there the street should be purification of the mind is necessary questions quickly yes yes it can be Swami Vivekanand almost any action can be done to God or for God so as long as one is making an honest living you may stretch the definition of her ethnicity but as long as it is immoral within the bounds permitted by society one can do it for God so I in that case even see in the next verse will say you as a stock trader is a particularly frantic kind of person but it can be done I am doing it for the organization I work for mentally I am up this is where you have put me my lord this work that you have given me I am doing it to the best of my ability and now I do it to please thee and their success and failure place where the stock trader usually has eyes fixed like a hawk all the time that will matter less did I do it well with the attitude of serving the Lord good then that's success and failure becomes secondary it can be done the short answer is yes the Buddha the Eightfold Path remember taught the Eightfold Path Ashtanga martenot astanga-yoga that's different ash Tonga Marga Eightfold Path one of the Eightfold Path one item is Right Livelihood there a commentator makes the point we keep thinking of Buddha's teaching the monks but clearly when he talks about a Right Livelihood surely it's not bad meant only for monks monks is the only one livelihood they go and beg for the food so right livelihood means any moral and ethical path that can be spiritual iced remember a moral action can also be done for one's own gratification usually it is I'm not violating any rules but I'm doing it just for my sake or for my family then that's Karma but to do it as a worship of God that becomes Karma Yoga yeah I've told you the story of how at an airport security checkpoint they stopped me and asked me to give a talk side some of some of you must have heard the the once there somebody asked me what what are the five or we have five craziest places you have given talks one of them was this at the airport's security checkpoint in India and they said I was the only passenger late night flight connecting flight and this I was of course dressed like this so said Swami give us a talk I said now yeah why not and they make you standing on a box and frisk you in India so they made me stand there and then they call the other security people they're all armed with guns and stuff in the command Stan look at me expectantly so I said look it was in Lucknow which is in uttar pradesh as people pass through this place I asked the miss argent and said when you before you come here do you do a pooja worship so he said yes I worship the Lord Hanuman before I come here but then I could get out of my house leave my house in the morning I said all right throughout the day as hundreds of people thousands of people file past you do your job firmly respectfully attentively and every time you pass one person let one person go mentally offer one more flower at the feet of Lord your Lord Hanuman and then he said was delighted said Wow a whole day I'll be worshipping Lord Hanuman well I didn't want Iike puja so whole day worship of Lord Hanuman yeah you can convert almost everything to into karma yoga all right let's stop here today I thought I would do three verses but as usual chanty shanti shanti hurry he that sat sri ramakrishna Aparna Musto