Video 27

27. Bhagavad Gita l Chapter 3 Verses 1-3 l Swami Sarvapriyananda

Oh Vasudeva Suton daivam come such an Adama Dunham Devaki paramon and krishnam vande a jagadguru so in the bhagavad-gita we have completed the second chapter which is basically the the essence of the teaching the entire teaching what Sri Krishna wanted to say all of Vedanta has actually been taught but then then why are there sixteen more chapters to go there eighteen chapters in the bhagavad-gita the thing has to be explained in detail you will see a new chapter starts where Arjuna asks a question the certain things which are not clear and Arjuna asked the question when Arjuna asked the question we say yes that's what I wanted to know and so a new chapter starts the second chapter start at the third chapter is called Karma Yoga Karma Yoga the second chapter is Sankhya yoga sang-hee yoga here means the way of knowledge and the second third chapter is karma yoga the way of adi the yoga of action not the way of action the yoga of action before we get into this among the many commentaries on the bhagavad-gita over the last say from Shankar Acharya Steinman words many great philosophers Saints have written commentaries in Sanskrit different schools of Vedanta and afterwards in other languages too down to our present day and of course there have been many translations including one last year here in America and there was a review I think in New York Times or something somewhere and the reviewer said apparently to read the Gita is to be seized with a desire to translate it so there are endless translations and Yale University last year conducted a summer camp on the bhagavad-gita on the English translations of the bhagavad-gita and they collected they made a collection of all the English translations that have ever been done of the bhagavad-gita now among the ancient commentaries I referred to of course Shankar Acharya commentaries famous Shankara harsha i refer to that i refer to the this one which is Sridhar Swami's commentary it's called sweet hair tikka or subordinate tika tika means a gloss it's not a full-fledged explanation it's just certain difficult words and phrases are elucidated it's a very very nice short commentary the different kinds of commentaries impartial VAR tika tika this is not the time to go in depth but just a few words about them they had a whole system of off commentaries and sub commentaries and sub sub commentaries so the original texts like the opening shots or the bhagavad-gita or the Brahma sutras so great teachers would write their own commentaries so the original commentaries were called Pasha Pasha is a full-fledged commentary where the writer the commentator is expected to set out a full system of philosophy so if Shankar Acharya wants to establish non-dual Vedanta his Varsha should reflect arguments to establish non-dual Vedanta on the same text the same open assurance the same bhagavad-gita the same Brahma sutras but Shankar Acharya gives a lot of arguments to say why non-duality is the import the the point of all of these teachings the same texts are taken up by others like ramanujacharya for example to 300 years after Shankar Acharya who writes commentaries full-fledged commentaries bashyam but where he gives arguments to prove a qualified monastic interpretation of the same Upanishads and bhagavad-gita especially bhagavad-gita and Brahma Sutra and so on so that's one kind of commentary what is it called bashyam russia in fact in the himalayas if you go to the monks there shankara's followers they call Shankar Acharya bhagawan boze Shekhar or Basha kharabagh awan the the master teacher the master commentator our Lord the master commentator Bhagwan Vishakha then there is another kind of commentary called wat tiga war tikka is in verse form it's a commentary on the commentary on the first commentary on the Varsha what what does it do what's the point it's not to establish a new system it's to clarify points which may have remained obscure in the original commentary so to give an example Shankar Acharya wrote a commentary Varsha on the taittiriya upanishad brethren accompanied shot for example and then the war tikka was written by suresh for Acharya who was maybe the senior most of Shankar Acharya the eldest and certainly one of the most learned of Shankar Acharya disciples I'm talking a lot about Shankar Acharya it's relevant this week I think yesterday was the birthday of Shankar Acharya and the after tomorrow I'm going to speak about Shankar Acharya so Suresh for Acharya wrote the wat tikka on shankara's Varsha so Shankara in adwaita Vedanta tradition Shankar Acharya is known as bash Shekhar and Suresh watch areas known as vertical Carra the writer of the war tikka of the worst commentary so what does the what tikka do it takes up the original commentary of Shankar Acharya and then clears points which may be obscure which may have remained untouched upon by Shankar Acharya so it comments on Shankar Acharya commentary but the vertical is in verse 4 they say in sanskrit there are definitions of what is Arctica what is of russia the vertical definition says Akhtar looked at rock tanja octa means whatever has been said by Shankar Acharya the Vorta kakera has the right to comment on that uh nocte what has not been said by the washing of a Chikara by Shankar Acharya the vertical car as has to fill up the gaps in in explanation direct on which are said but with difficult in Shankar Acharya commentary it's difficult so that has to be clarified and there are commentaries like this one which are called tika or English word is gloss where just the words of the original are explained a little more the tika car of the writer of this class has no right to set out a full-fledged system of philosophy has to just follow the original and give a simple commentary this is used to teach the novices for example bhagavad-gita is taught twice to the novices in billerman where they the novice monks are trained so that once in the first year the two years training first year they're taught the bhagavad-gita beginning to end with the help of this commentary and the second year they are taught the same thing all over again with the help of Shankar Acharya scumming tree so before one goes on to something like Shankara Cheerios commentary it's easier to take up this one but there are many others why I am saying all this is a point to it there is another commentary which is almost contemporary with this one Madhu sudent Saraswathi who was a contemporary of contemporary of chaitanya mahaprabhu sri chaitanya he was a great great philosopher he wrote a commentary an independent commentary on the bhagavad-gita strictly according to the teachings of Shankar Acharya non-dual his commentary that commentary is called good heart deepika the lamp of the profound inner meaning of the bhagavad-gita which is a very beautiful commentary written about five hundred years six hundred years ago so in that module Sudan Saraswathi is commentary gujrat the Deepika when he begins the third chapter what we are going to do now but he begins the third chapter he takes the occasion to give an outline of the entire teaching of the bhagavad gita chapter wise in one paragraph so which is a very masterful exercise now I'm going to tell you what he has said but before that a caution we are always told that read the original before going to the commentaries we are told and there's a reason why because when you go to the commentaries the commentators have an agenda so they want to paint the bhagavad-gita as a non dualist text or a dualist text or some kind of particular angle is there before your mind gets colored by that you can take up you should read the original just go through the original verses then you might say then what is the point of reading the commentaries the point of reading the commentaries is these are very profound thinkers they are great Saints they are enlightened Souls so their reflections are very valuable very enriching you know I read only the original well even if you read the original you are interpreting it if you're thinking at all then you are interpreting it and your interpretation is that they'll at the level of your understanding of your personality which is good one should make that effort but also enrich one's understanding by looking at these commentaries so with that caution in mind that mother Susan is painting her mother Susan service with he is painting her a picture so what he says is in the first line he gives an outline of the entirety of spiritual life he says first by the practice of karma yoga I'll tell you very quickly what he says first by the practice of karma yoga once mind is purified from the purity of mind comes the fourfold qualification for Vedanta you remember we make the discernment between the eternal and the non eternal vairagya a dispassion for the non eternal shut some putida six for discipline 6 for treasure what are they control of the mind Dhamma control of the senses to diksha a spiritual fortitude then operati withdrawal from sensuous enjoyments Samad Hana focus shut da a faith in the teacher and end the text so six four DS will come and moksha to UM an intense desire to be free of samsara these four they are called southern joy to start the fourfold qualifications for Vedanta with this the Vedantic study becomes effective effective means leads to enlightenment if these are not strong enough you may understand way tanto you may attend you mean like Vedanta but you'll still crib and complain it's not delivering so it's not Vedanta fault Vedanta did tell you that you need these fourfold qualification where do these fourfold qualifications come from from purity of mind where does purity of mind come from karma yoga so the performance of work in the spirit of karma yoga leads to fitness 4-valent remember whose interpretation krishna does not say this directly but this is Madhu pseudonym saraswathi's structure it leads to fitness for Gianni yoga for Advaita Vedanta for Vedanta non-dual Vedanta then he says saruba karma sanyasa then works a renounced one renounces ritualistic works and worldly works and now dedicates oneself to Vedanta which are a sahih table Bhagavad bhakti Nisha he says the next stages we are along with her with this vedantic inquiry what we are doing here a deep devotion to God is cultivated leading to he says stuck to a Ganon Ishtar enlightenment arises and then nishta one stays with that enlightenment dr. agon knowledge or realization of the reality what is the reality we know in advaitha be done to the realities ah hum brahmasmi dr. Ouma see I am the absolute that thou art that becomes a reality and Medusa's answer so she says next you stay with it dr. Yanna nishta stay with it the result of staying with that will be he says of Indian ability ignorance is removed and one enjoys jeevan mukthi enlightenment while freedom while living freedom by living until he says until the results of the prayer of the karma the Karma which generated this body until the results of that are exhausted and this body drops of it dies and so then he says next is v-day her Mukti the do mock tea means the body drops off and that enlightened person remains as Brahman as in its infinite nature as Brahman all of this in one sentence oh I have to memorize it then I should have got it right I'm almost tempted to bring it and reread it talk to you all right if you remember I'll do it next time okay remind me I'll do it next time in one sentence very beautiful the whole of spiritual life but the chain is to repeat once again from karma yoga purity of mind through purity of mind the fourfold qualification from Vedanta and with the fourfold qualification of Vedanta comes renunciation of all works interesting we have to think about this renunciation of all works karma sarva karma sanyasa combined with he says Vedanta vichara vedanta waka vichara Bhagavad Victini straw cultivation of Atlantic enquiry with devotion to God leading to ganon East huh enlightenment and staying with that enlightenment leading to jeevan mukthi freedom by living leading to finally videhamukti freedom after the dropping of a of the body this is the whole scope of spiritual life in Advaita Vedanta then he goes on what does each chapter do he's a second chapter gives you the essence of the teaching whole teaching then he says the third chapter tells you about karma yoga which is going to tell you how to remember what is karma yoga to give rise to purity of mind then the fourth chapter and the fifth chapter they tell you in more details about karma yoga and then lighten meant arising out of it how to practice vedanta sha phenomenon especially needed 2006 chapter is about needed the asana at the end of the sixth chapter he says the first six chapters okay here's one more thing which Medusa's answers where he says according to him you know the great Vedantic sayings maha vaakya that thou art taught to ama see that the word that stands for brahman thou stands for you you are that that thou art the according to him the whole of bhagavad-gita 18 chapters can be understood as that thou art so the first six chapters tells you what you really are thou in Sanskrit plumb padartha taught - Amma see that means that it's very close to the English that that or that - um means the that - Amma see that thou art now the first six chapters tell you who or what you are not the body not the mind the witness consciousness beyond the body and mind that's the that's where the first six chapters culminate - um but after he says then the next six chapters he says from chapter seven to chapter 12 tells you about that here that means Brahman or God saguna brahman not yet guna Brahman saguna brahman not the absolute the god of religion so chapters seven - chapter chapter 12 is cultivation of devotion to God understanding what the ultimate reality is and cultivation of a devotional attitude taken to that that is chapter six - chapter 12 the nature of God and devotion to God then from then chapter 13 he says brings the two together that thou art the iQue Jana the oneness so actually God is not God you are not you you are your consciousness existence consciousness please God is also existence consciousness please that way you are one in the same just as the wave and the ocean ocean is like God wave is like the individual but both of them are actually water yes so that is understood he says in thirteenth chapter he says Prakriti Purusha we are Viveca the understanding of what is consciousness and what is nature Chaitra chapter 13 chapter mother's answer so this is what is 13 chapter it tells you about the trauma sea brings it together then 14 chapter enlightenment jeevan mukti realizing that one how one lives the word used in 14 chapters guna theta going beyond the three gunas enlightened living at the enlightened life 15 chapter he says para a raga Purushottam yoga that means one one is established as I am Brahman what is life like what is it what is that like 15 chapter 16 chapter manifesting the divinity in life he says daivi sampad the d was so called divine qualities to be to be cultivated not at that time from the very beginning so that your enlightenment is expressed literally if you put it in very simple words one becomes a saint the saintly qualities divine qualities 16 chapter 17 chapter talks about the specific kind of Shraddha he says sattvic Shantha necessary for developing divine qualities the eighteenth in the last chapter according to mother Susan Saraswathi is a summary of the whole teaching of the entire pack of Earth gita putting it all together in 18 chapter so that is mother Susan service with this picture of the bhagavad-gita again if you have read the Gita you might say nice but I have a couple of questions yes see the thing is when you are trying to draw a picture summarize in one paragraph seven hundred verses of so much material is packed in there you have to oversimplify so is it really true that the entire bhagavad-gita is that thou art a to a mercy maybe not but it's certainly one way of looking at it that's one way of looking at it a non duelist would be very happy with that way of looking at it that thomassie first six chapters to UM thou the real nature of you the next six chapters the real nature of that saguna brahman God and the last six chapters bringing them together that thou art neither the Jeeva Norrish whare but near guna Brahman the absolute all right that's so much for the big picture now back to chapter three what's happening now in Chapter two do you remember Krishna had concluded very beautiful verse see the procure the nature of the enlightened person Asia Brahm he stood apart on a improper we move here to East it to us Sierra Montecarlo ap brahmana romanovitch Fe this or Juna is the state bra the bra Nick state the state of the absolute being identified with the absolute fully enlightened even if one gets a taste of it at the very end of one's life at the very last moment of one's life one still attains near one so this is what he ended with now Arjuna has a question third chapter first verse Arjuna watch Juna watch joyous each it karma nasty joyous each a karma nasty mata dear janardana Metabo dear Jinnah that came car monaco day mom that came car monaco day mom neo ja c cache of a neo Jessie cache of so Arjuna asked the question she says if knowledge Gianna enlightenment is greater than superior to action then why are you pushing me into this terrible action o Krishna now what is behind this question there is a deep misunderstanding a very unnatural misunderstanding behind this question he says clearly I had some problem and I came to you chapter 1 chapter 2 you started teaching me a second chapter and the first thing you taught me is you're not the body the body dies but we still go on living you're not even the mind beyond the body and mind you are the spirit absolutely or existence consciousness place and way to and then what do or what is what you have to do you don't have to do anything you have to realize that you already are one with God you already are divine you just you're just missing it so the the solution to the problem is to realize that I am from Hell and this realization is done by knowledge Gianna that's what you taught first and then at the end you taught me how the enlightened enlightened means lit up by what not neon lights lit up by knowledge so knowledge if one gets the spiritual knowledge what is what is that enlightened person like and then you taught me that so far very clear you are telling me to cultivate knowledge Gyan a spiritual knowledge spiritual realization enlightenment and I am on board with that Arjuna feels that's what I want to do I don't want to fight this horrible war I just want to you're right I will go and study and meditate and become enlightened very good but the catches in between started talking about duty and work and you have right to the work alone not right to the results of the work and do not take to inaction but do karmayoga you started talking about that and you conclude you say that one should you should go and do this thing itself what what you're about to do which one should i do you see Arjuna's confusion is it seems Krishna is recommending knowledge gana yoga having talked about Gianni yoga how good it is because it is the solution to your problems after that in the conclusion he says now do karma yoga he cognitive dissonance here tell me one which one am I supposed to do using you're recommending spiritual knowledge and enlightenment and then you say that do action go and fight this war which is in front of you what is the nature of Arjuna's question his question is he thinks there's a there's a deep-rooted misunderstanding he thinks they're actually two but they're not actually two they are actually part of one spiritual journey I need to fly out to say California now what you say Swami take a taxi a cab to LaGuardia and then take the flights to to LAX I say tell me one you're confusing me cab or flight I said no take both how can I take both you have to take both without taking the see the plane will get you to California that's the way people go but without taking the cab you can't get to the plane it's our subway or whatever it is so one is preparation one gets you ready and the other one delivers the goods so karmayoga is preliminary it prepares what mother Susan sell sudhi said by karmayoga purity of mind and the fourfold qualification then bygone yoga enlightenment so preparation is necessary those four fold qualification necessary if we don't have that if we do not do karma yoga enlightenment is not possible and if you do karma yoga but we do not do gana yoga then again enlightenment will not happen it is but knowledge which leads to enlightenment but that knowledge will not dawn upon us without Karma Yoga often what you know where the shoe pinches is because we black the necessary qualifications and the necessary qualifications Ghana Yoga Yoga Yoga means qualifications they come from a performance of unselfish action karma yoga what krishna was telling him is this look you have come to fight this battle Arjuna's situation remember battle here is just a way of putting it when the almost none of us are going out to fight a battle what it means the battlefield is your life it could be a school your home and again don't mistake me battlefield we go go back home and start quarreling with husband wife children why because we learned we have to fight with you have to fight the battle no not that kind of fighting yes you have to face up to what is what life presents you with now Arjuna you have come to the battlefield after all Arjuna or before all this bhagavad-gita and all he's a warrior he has come to the battlefield he has worked hard to put together that army and to fight against the evil doers it's only at the last moment that is never fails him and that he feels that what's the point of fighting this battle I don't want the Kingdom at the cost of all this bloodshed it's I know those are the bad guys but but is it worth killing so many of our kinsmen and all of that so krishna says you came here for selfish reasons this is what this is a meaning of krishna's teaching you came here for worldly reasons Arjuna came here to came to the battlefield to get the kingdom which is rightfully his and his brothers came here to get the kingdom he came to the battlefield to take revenge on the wrongdoers he came to the battlefield to punish the wrongdoers all of which are allowable are already perfectly alright within norms of society but now he has lost interest on those in these worldly goals now he is enthusiastic about the spiritual struggle which krishna has told him that i want to become enlightened so he feels this is not necessary I'm going to go away I'll just maybe I'll just stay in the Vedanta Society or something like that you know I won't turn up for my job tomorrow and you take the kids to school I'm not interested anymore I have had no more worldly pursuits people do that actually and what krishna this question is is a deep question the krishna now says what you were doing for worldly very good worldly reasons the same thing now you must do same thing but now you must do it as a spiritual practice why after all I want enlightenment I am Brahman how is turning up in the office and taking the kids to school and doing the groceries how is that going to make me realize I am Brahman krishna says is going to tell us those same activities the same is karma the same karma performed unselfishly now for the purpose of enlightenment serves not to give you enlightenment serves to purify the mind get the mind ready get the mind ready ready for what for the Enlightenment which will be given by Vedanta by by that tower by by Vedantic knowledge so if vedantic knowledge gives me enlightenment let me go straight to Vedanta won't work I remember reading Swami Ashok an energy in San Francisco in the 1950s he's writing a letter he says I know when I tell you to do karma yoga many of you are rebellious your group is writing to his disciples you're grumbling and thinking Oh Swami doesn't think I am ready for meditation well I will show him and then he writes yes you will show me but not in the way you think yes I've come to you sitting down for meditation what are the signs sitting down for meditation sleepy I want to be the Buddha but sleepy buddha swami prabhavananda genius book Sermon on the Mount according to Vedanta you know one of the Beatitudes is blessed are the pure in heart for they shall see God see how direct that teaching is blessed are the pure in heart for they shall see God and mother Susan cerruti says the first thing required is a purity inner purity how do you do that how do you become pure in heart karma yoga and Swami from han ji says how do I know I don't think I'm impure how do I know that there's and there is I need karma yoga programs he he he just gives a very simple example he says right now right now stop reading just try to hold on to thought of God in any any form you know my krishna or my christ or whatever it is just hold on to that thought you will notice within seconds it's your mind you have made up your mind I'm going to think about Krishna now or Shiva now or whatever or ohm my mind I want to make it do something within seconds the mind has gone this way or that way why that he says if it does that and for most cases it does that if it does that it shows deep-seated impurities what are impurities one needn't feel bad about it is just conditioning lifetimes this lifetime in many lifetimes past we have spent in chasing the things of the world what are the things of the world form and sound and smell and taste and touch now I'm a Rupa gündüz Persia shabda of the attractive things of the senses and the mind has become colored with that now when I want the mind to meditate it won't it will come back to that what it finds pleasant so that is the impurity of the mind and a powerful way of cleansing the mind is Karma Yoga blessed are the pure in heart for they shall see God directly if you put it in Vedantic terms blessed are those whose minds are pure so that they will get enlightened they will realize I am from that you still have the question yes no no it wouldn't be it's the same teaching I remember reading an article written by one of our modern why I mean why is becoming a commentators why is within quotes I would I call them wise guy he's he said Krishna look what Krishna did in the Gita he taught Arjuna to fight a battle so bad if Arjuna had met a Buddha Buddha would have taught him given him the message of peace and there wouldn't happen in the battle I think I'm an objective picture of Krishna and Buddha both going people who have not the slightest interest in spiritual life the whole aim is worldly now they fancy themselves to be commentators on anything from A to Z and then they make this if it was a nicely written article makes no sense whatsoever if you have read the Gita if you have read the same number pada these are not social tracts these are not you know something to do with with with how society should be run what is it's it's not the the charter of the United Nations it's not that these are these are teachings for enlightenment people who make these comments I mean that article these are peace people if you push a little further if you look at the background the person that person has no interest in spirituality is convinced that there is no God no in enlightenment is a committed materialist and therefore when with those eyes they look upon religion whether it is Christ or Krishna Buddha chaitanya Vedanta or bhakti or whatever it is when they look upon religion they see only the social side of religion the only the ethical side of religion of the problems with gender and problems with caste all of those are interesting dimensions they are not the core of religion so yes so would the history have been different no they wouldn't have been different they would have given exactly the same teaching but yes it could have been closed in different language and different stories and a different approach both here Krishna is talking about moksha he is even using the word Nirvana for God's sake and Buddha is talking about did one he just wouldn't say for God's sake he just dropped the god part of it somebody joked that you know the the poet who talks about the loss of belief in God he talks about the guard shaped hole in the human psyche and somebody quipped that the Buddhists replaced the guard shaped hole in the human psyche with a hole shaped guard should avoid all right so judge Jessie jet karma nasty if you think better than karma woody woody here means knowledge gianna here good so words differ according to context but they may mean intellect here Buddha means knowledge what knowledge knowledge of the Atman which you have taught in the second chapter if you think that is far superior or Krishna or janardana that Kim karma Nagori Imam neoege why why are you pushing me into action and not good action bad action this is terrible action war is the worst possible action in human affairs why are you pushing me into this I think one reason is if spirituality can be practiced on the battlefield the worst possible place in any kind of human affair then how much more so we can practice spirituality in our office at at home and in our communities we often think it's difficult oh it's so much it you are saying that because Swami you are a monk among stay in ashrams or in mountain tops but Krishna is not a monk Arjuna is not a monk and they are not in an ashram so it is possible to be spiritual in the midst of the battlefield of life I think that's the meaning of this whole thing Krishna is not advocating violence remember Krishna tried to stop it and not only that if this was about war and peace it was about war and peace for a thousand fifteen hundred years at least Hindus have been reading the bhagavad-gita and studying it and writing commentaries all the commentaries I told you about Shankara chair is comentary Sridhar Swami's coming to D Ramanuja smugglers come into the mother Susan's car commentary so on all the old commentaries down to the present age none of them ever even take it as a question of is it a question of what should we fight wars or should we not fight for us even that question does not come up at all everybody from the very beginning without any route takes it as a teaching a spiritual teaching about one's personal life how could mothma gandhi derive a hundred fifty years of math pagani this year how could my math magar gandhi derive non-violence from the bhagavad-gita if it was about war not at all it's not about it's all about that it would be of no interest to a thousand years of hindus reading it if it was about fighting wars it would have no relevance to our our day to day life it's not about that so Carmona Karim ahora means terrible a horrible action you're pushing me into horrible action so yeah the doubt in his mind is he's thinking krishna is offering him an option choose one or two one of these to pick one pick one karma yoga Organa Yoga Krishna is not offering him an option Krishna Krishna is telling him about the spiritual journey which starts with karma yoga and culminates with Gani yoga so Arjuna follows this up with another with the second part of the same question verse number two the army training back in the Amish rainy Baba kena budem yeshiva me butum you Siva me today come but initiative today conversion is GTO Yiddish Rioja mop new yarn Yoshi no armed with a mixed message yeah that's a good way of putting where am I sure I never was mixed with a mixed message you are conceived you're confusing me as it were-- but dim Moriah see here Buddha means my intellect in verse number one Buddha mean knowledge men's knowledge of the self Who am I here Buddha means intellect you are confusing my understanding my intellect with a mixed message as if more see eva a as if Y as if because Krishna is the teacher here is not actually accusing the teacher that would be irreverent you see this is a very interesting thing that when you approach the spiritual master when you approach spiritual teachings in fact any kind of teaching the correct approach is what is reverence the reverence is I am sure you are right I am sure this is right I don't get it that's why I'm asking a question there's another kind of question this question of a skeptic the person who wants to learn and a person who is already a canoe is convinced that this is all nonsense so the question of the skeptic is I know you are wrong and I'm going to prove prove that you are wrong if you go into a class into NYU or Columbia and go to a physics class or a math class convinced that the professor is a liar and the textbooks are fake news and you are not going to learn anything not going to learn anything does that mean then you can't ask questions of course not you must ask question see this is the fine line it's not a question of believing something that that with that approach will not work in in where in Vedanta look at what Arjuna says today come Verdun is Cheeta he says pick one and give me a clear one pointed instruction tell me one thing tell me one thing is like asking for orders in like a soldier okay I'll tell me to do this when should I get up how many times should I repeat the mantra how many times do I bathe what should i eat what should I not eat how should I sit so those are very good instructions and Krishna will give plenty of instructions times to come but the core of Vedanta is not like a drill sergeant who's going to bark out instructions and you follow to the letter no one must understand in Vedanta one must understand it's after all the path of knowledge it works through your understanding it works through your intellect we're not talking about intellectual understanding here but intellectual understanding is a must in Vedanta one must grasp it first and then that intellectually grasped truth deepens into enlightenment it's still beyond the intellect but it goes through the internet you cannot say all right I believe you if you go to a class here the math class I'm talking about and the professor tells you about calculus or something and you say and he says did you get it and said no but you are great I believe you the professor is going to tell you hey I don't want you to believe me I want you to understand and to understand one must ask questions but ask questions with what attitude I am sure you are right professor I'm sure the textbook is right but I don't get it could you explain it to me once again yeah so that is the approach and Arjuna that's why he's saying you're confusing me as if I know you're not trying to confuse me I'm confused why don't you tell me one thing see the deep-rooted misunderstanding is still there one of the two he wants one of the two by cab or by plane how do I get to California tell me one thing one going back to this module Susan says with his big picture this one there is something he says there just a little bit I want to touch upon this serova karma sanyasa sannyas literally means renunciation sannyasi means a monk so there's a great stress on renunciation but remember here renunciation means renunciation itself it does not literally mean a formal monastic life it could be a formal monastic life there are three options here one is the traditional Hindu idea of the four stages of life brahmacarya grhastha vanaprastha sannyasa the preparatory stage of life the student life then the householders life you marry have a family and you're cultivating spirituality all throughout from the very beginning then a retired life children have grown up and gone away and now you focus you withdraw from you draw more and more from direct engagement with the world and you concentrate on your spiritual practices and finally you leave everything all worldly possessions relationships and you you are alone in your search for God that is formal monasticism so one becomes a monk formally at the end who becomes a monk not everybody one has to be ready for that it's not compulsory never was you want us to be ready for that and one can become among so that's that's option one path one another way to formal monasticism is straight away from your preparatory straight of life this is from in the open issues it's there Ramachari oddvar griot woven Artois how do you become a monk you can become a monk from the preparatory student stage of life from your householder stage of life and from the retired state of life from any of the three the what is the condition he says vairagya the moment you have dis passion for the world a search for God a complete dis passion for the world you are qualified to become a monk formerly so that's the second state that's how for example we in our order we become monks and there's the second option that is from the very beginning from this before you get into householder life that's one way also but both of these are formal monasticism it's not that's also not miss really necessary is it necessary to become a monk yes is it necessary to become a formerly a monk outside no one must be an internally among that attitude and the spiritual attitude is one and the same to be truly spiritual and truly monk-like inside it's the same thing so one can still be in the householder life one can still be in the householder life and once one makes up the once mind that enlightenment is my goal then worldly pursuits no longer on my goal that is what is meant by serve a karma sanyasa that is what krishna is actually recommending to Arjuna Arjuna was ready to become formally become a monk krishna says no third option remain where you are keep doing where you are this is the best way for spirituality for you transform your daily activities into spiritual practice and go ahead it is exactly like becoming a monk but internally internally so and that internally becoming a monk is the real thing externally when we put on robes and still be not at all monk like internally if one has desires that's that is called a disaster so externally one gives up all monastic pursuits or all worldly pursuits and internally worldly desires are there terrible condition it's much better to be in the world and have worldly ambitions and try it out and work there and grow spiritually and then let go of it and remember this is a one-way thing it's not that you ever come back I've become oh I have now become monk like I've become enlightened I have I'm a jeevan mukthi or something now let's come back to the job and there are some other things which I had to do in life so let me take it over now it's done I'm I'm a Buddha now let me go back and I really wanted to check out that okay if iPhone and the vacation in the Caribbean and thing those things I wanted I didn't have time to do that now I can do that no that never happens and people people have a wrong idea sometimes I remember funny in a funny story I was when we when I got we get the vows of monasticism in two stages first is called the vows of brahmacarya that you get at five after five years of joining the order four to five years and then after a total of nine to ten years you become one gets the vows of formal vows of monasticism so about five years in when I the day I got I still remember I got the vows of the first set of vows of being a Brahmachari I remember I thought well I left home five years ago maybe I should tell my mom that I have got the the vows an island nice new name and a big new Sanskrit name it's called Jana brother Chaitanya that was my name so this usually when you get the vows of raw material Chaitanya name is given that's how chaitanya mahaprabhu is his name was Krishna Chaitanya that's why it's called shaytani Mahaprabhu his first monastic name was Christian Chaitanya hi my name is Gianna beretta Chaitanya which a long name which basically means the one whose vow is knowledge in Gianna beretta Chaitanya basically means a bookworm of course yes so I was quite proud of it and and those were days before mobile phones and all and so there was one phone under the staircase in the old monastery and you had to go there it's quite a scary thing too it's like running the gauntlet because there would be glares of older monks looking why are you making a phone call that's the whole thing to whom and for what so anyway I thought I should tell my mom because you know it's even if you're a monk or whatever is you have to impress your mom so I went and caught so after five years you know I told her look I've got my vows today and my new name is Brahma cherry gonorrhea Chaitanya and my mom said good now you can come back home no no no no no that's not the point I'm sure if I had said that I'm enlightened now I know I'm Brahmin she would have said good now you can come back home Swami Vivekananda's mother she was very proud of him when he came back from the West having spread Vedanta to the West the world Parliament of Religions sort of given the message of awakening to his countrymen starting the monestery the Balu remote and all so she came and she was happily moving around on the grounds of the new monastery and she thought my norine has done this Noreen and we wake and understood his mother's psychology and he said to her no not your Naren it's by His grace Sri Ramakrishna's grace he can raise a thousand Vivekananda's from the dust if he wants to it's me it's not me she even thought that oh he has done all these wonderful things good this is one last thing you know I wish he would settle down you know get married and he has done everything else so mom's being moms no this is not child's play it's not one more thing you do in life this is the end of all activities in life all the game of life life after life what we have done it culminates in this the picture that Madhu students are also the drawers before you is the ultimate story of our lives that's what it should all go towards there's nothing more beyond that from the finite to the infinite from darkness and to light from the real to the unreal and from death to immortality that is the ultimate purpose of life there's no coming back after that that story has to tell the monkey mind must become a monk mind so that is the basic idea of sannyasa of renunciation of become of monasticism some religions do not have monasticism Judaism does not have monasticism in India Sikhism doesn't have monasticism Islam in general does not have monasticism though though in all religions whether they are whether it's Judaism or Zoroastrianism or Islam or Sikhism there are all these people who are like monks you know like prophets like ascetics there where in the desert the the prophets of the Old Testament these to live like monks so that was always there but formal monasticism may not be there in some religions but if you actually look at the teachings of that religion basically turns your mind into a monk mind basically the really serious seeker becomes like that that common teaching is then every religion some religions have formal monasticism Hinduism Buddhism is a heavily monastic Jainism is heavily monastic Christianity is again like Hinduism has both Catholic Christianity especially as monasticism from the very beginning from from the time of Christ on words so there always have been monks and nuns in Catholic Christianity yes and the Orthodox Russian Church Eastern author they have mysticism the reflected consciousness yes what is the question the question is is Jadhav Haase the same as Brahman or is it an object first one must realize what is Qi devarsi the awareness that we feel right now that is called reflected consciousness reflection of what and in what when you look at your face in the mirror your face is the original face and what you are seeing there in the mirror is the reflected face you are the original consciousness Brahman Atman whatever you call it but the mind catches within quartz as it where this consciousness and channels it the what the work what we feel right now we feel aware this awareness which we feel is it Brahman no not not Brahman in itself notice something about this awareness this awareness which we feeling now it increases and decreases sometimes you feel very alert sometimes you feel dull sometimes you feel sleepy and sometimes you are completely - sometimes it's gone deep sleep this this reflected awareness is gone so that which comes and goes cannot be Brahman purple should the Brahman it guna Brahman it cannot be near guro abdomen that which is subject to increase and decrease sometimes sharp clear awareness sometimes dull and diffused it cannot be remember the Brahman is constant Brahman does not come and go so Chi de obras is not Brahman but but if you say if it you keep seeing everything is Brahman so see raava's also should be Raman yes Gudivada is Brahman plus name and form of CWA's in the sense that everything is Brahman the book is also Brahman the body's in that case also Brahman the mind is also Brahman the rocks and stones are also Brahman ultimately how Brahman plus Maya name and form in that case T Thomas is also Brahman but if you are asking Brahman as sat-chit-ananda in itself what we must realize ourselves to be when Sid Ava's is not that it's like the reflected face in the in the mirror it's very close it's very similar that's why the mistake can happen in janaba as a reflected awareness one must ask what is it a reflection of from there just like a reflected face if you look at the reflected face and you can turn in your understanding away from the reflected face towards yourself in the same way turn in your understanding away from the awareness which you are experiencing towards yourself the real aware awareness capitalist self yes in a question yes not only that is karmayoga preliminary practice yes in remember framework in ad weight of Iran in shankara's Advaita Vedanta not just medicine what this wisdom is very loyal to Shankar Acharya Shankar Acharya this book sridhar Swami they all have that framework what is the framework just keep it in your mind the framework is problem solution method keep three rows make a matrix three rows problem solution method what is the problem in purity of mind what is the solution purity of mind what is the method karma yoga notice it doesn't say it will give you enlightenment what will karma yoga do it will remove the impurities make your mind pure problem scattered mind solution concentrated mind method dianna yoga Raja Yoga remember again it does not say Raja Yoga will give you enlightenment it did he give you a concentrated mind remove the scattered Ness and give you concentrated mind then with a purified and concentrated mind come to the last stage what is the last problem ignorant I don't know who I am what is the solution knowledge how does that come viana yoga Gyana yoga will give you knowledge that is enlightenment so jnana yoga gives enlightenment and immediately what Arjuna was the mistake Arjuna makes is Oh gyani Yoga gives me enlightenment let me go straight there Southwest will take me to California I don't need you girl I need Southwest no it won't work that way that's why the first two steps have to be accomplished the monkey mind has to become a monk mind that is stage one and two only that kind of mind whether you are formerly a monk or not you can be a warrior like Arjun also with that kind of a my mind when you come to these teachings it will lead straight to enlightenment before that well it leads to I attended many classes I really like that teaching it's really cool it's it's very deep it's very profound I can write or give lectures and write books about it are you enlightened not quite it won't work unless those two levels are done somebody from California actually sent me a picture it seems they have published they have these Zen Diaries so somebody has published a Zen diary for 2019 and in one page there's a code they have got codes for every page one page is when the monkey mind becomes a monk mind then you will be enlightened Swami server pre Ananda and said the text was congratulations now you've got your own codeine you are being quoted that monkey mind becoming a monk mind that's the whole point of karma yoga yeah that's why it's a preliminary practice would be mohair see for me tell me one today cavada nice chip-in ash Rioja mop new yarn by which I shall attain what is good what is Krishna's answer by now we know with all this discussion krishna will tell you have to do both correct we just read the verse verse number three sri bhagavan watcher three bhagavata lucas Mandriva Donita loke smin vivid Aisha pure approp tamiya Naga putih probe tamiya jana yoginah sancho nam jana yoginah song carnem karma yogi yogi nam karma yogi yogi nam o arjuna this path has two stages and this has been declared by me since times past put our probe Tommy Annika by meat has been declared the path has two stages for those who are in the stage one in the I give it in three stages right so stage one and two the path the stage one of karma yoga and the stage stage two of meditation both of them together or Karma Yoga far for him he says for those who are in the in the word beginners karma yogi no yogi now so preliminary practice karma-yoga jnana-yoga and then the next part of the journey is through Gyana yoga spiritual path the path of knowledge for whom santiana hears the words of all technical Sanka means those who are fit for sank here means Atma vichara would be that means at Magana self-knowledge those who are fit for self-knowledge for them Gani yoga so should I sign up for the soup kitchen and stop coming to Vedanta Society don't do that I'm have to do karma yoga this this is not so the Krishna's told me told know what it means it's it must all proceed together you must all proceed together but what it certainly does not mean is that I want to become enlightened so I'll stop doing whatever I was doing in life and now I'm why I've become spiritual no that is foolishness I have seen it happen again and again people it's disastrous in India I've seen people run run off from their schools especially young people run off from the schools and I've seen them in the Himalayas I myself when the first time I went to the Himalayas and it was going wonderfully sitting and meditating magnificent the snow pigs and the glaciers and you beg for food and the simple food and the atmosphere itself is so divine and uplifting you spend your time in prayer meditation study and in solitude I thought this is great I had just become a newly minted monk ten years this was after I got my final vows this second time I didn't call my mom so after got my final vows a newly minted monk and off I went to the as high as I could 10,000 feet gonna go three in the Himalayas and it's hot this is great I should have come here why did I spend ten years in the ashram working in the school and the kitchen and the office and I should have come straight here and then I immediately realized no it's because I spent those ten years in training that my mind is is taking straight to meditation exactly what he says Johnny yoga in a song Keanu once you mind is prepared then it settles down even there there is a whole spectrum some of the monks who stay there for years and years I got to know them after some time they open up and they become friendly and speak with you if you're a monk and they said to me something interesting they said we watch the monks who come here those who come here we watch them two three days after that they become Restless those who come here to meditate we don't mix with them we know that they were not going to last after four or five days is think about it mostly we are driven to such places out of a restlessness of our mind I don't like this any more I want peace and calm and a sublime yes but the peace and calm and sublime after a few days it is just rocks and wind and ice and and an absolute solitude becomes absolute loneliness if the mind is not prepared it's a terrible thing society is a support people can go crazy that way so after some time people can't take it they run away I remember this person young man he was working for progression idealistic so he wants to do something for society joints and NGO of what is called a non-government what's called a nonprofit here doing some work he was working for a non-profit he told me then he got upset why you can predict if you are mature enough you know the young idealistic man comes into non-profit why wanting to change the world and those who have experienced the world you will say ah we know the next step what happened politics inside the organization CD asks how do you know everybody knows he you don't have to tell me then this is horrible the world is horrible the nonprofit is also horrible now what the only last thing remains is God so off I go to the Himalayas and then I sit in a cave and meditate he's to come for the first few days used to argue with me after that he began to trust me and like me and then he opened up after a few days he said such bull town what magical church any luck that I'm telling you really Oh mark I heard anything I mean I'm now unhappy everything's a nap even this is I'm making it's making the unhappy now where do I go where do I go now why is it the problem is not outside there are problems outside but the real problem is inside this is saying wherever you go there you are there you are yes in the cave also you are there and you don't like living in a cave with yourself now imagine if you can't bear your own company why should anybody else bear your company the real attitude of a monk I've heard it from a monk who stayed there in the Himalayas for decades and decades till the end of his life I asked him he's very happy was sitting there I'll end with this surrounded by kids who were visiting in summertime there's to play with him he he looked like exactly like you know the Lord of the Rings there's a that Mathemagician the Gandalf is there exactly like that white dress up to the ankles and long they are much longer than Gandalf the magician and the long dreadlocks which is to keep curled up he was Punjabi so very tall and fair powerfully-built old man and the kids loved him stare at him he's something amazing so as I said see you are you are happy you know surrounded by people who love you when they're coming to people trust you and coming to you for advice and children playing around in the ashram but when it's winter six months in the winter with snow and ice up to your knees and remember if it's 25 degrees outside it's 25 degrees in your in your room too because there's no inter inner heating your bed is also 25 degrees so in that condition what do you do then when it's a howling wasteland of ice and snow and snowstorms he has seen snow leopards there in - room prowling outside so his answer now I'm happy or monk and then I'm happier imagine a tub or Bheema Jumeirah town I'm I'm very happy now mark and at that time and even happier that's possible because you have found something the mind is prepared otherwise sharply cutting away all this blaming the world outside is a recipe for disaster spiritual disaster yeah Karma Yoga is important and we'll pick up from this name next next class we have a visitor this month is for visitors right we're getting so many visitors so a meter Dan and he's the head a president of our ashram in Fiji Fiji Islands yes sir he was going to come he's going to talk about bhagavad-gita for mental wellness so he's going to speak about it next so basically the theme of karma yoga in our modern perspective is this enlightenment and God realizations all very well what about the rest of my life I have a family a job a community my own finance health all of that what about that all that comes under karma yoga so that's why karma yoga is very very important it's the answer to the practical questions of spirituality apart from all the high philosophy Oh Shante Shante Shante hurry he owned that sat sri ramakrishna Aparna must