Video 29

29. Bhagavad Gita l Chapter 3 Verses 7-8 l Swami Sarvapriyananda

[Music] [Music] in the bhagavad-gita we are studying chapter three and i had mentioned a couple of classes or several classes ago that um in madhusudan saraswati's commentary i had found one sentence which sort of summed up spiritual life or as spiritual life we see in advaita vedanta that one you know bhagavad gita has many commentaries uh well known among them is shankaracharya's commentary written about 1400 years ago in shankaracharya's tradition that is the non-dualist tradition advaita vedanta tradition there are other commentaries such as this one and this one too i think sridhar swami's commentaries slightly earlier which is a very simple very nice balanced kind of commentary shankaracharya's commentary is called abhasha which interprets advaita interprets bhagavad-gita in the paradigm of advaita vedanta non-dual vedanta and also seeks to establish the philosophy of non-duality what that that involves is when you are trying to not only explain a text but also establish a philosophy there will be sections where you take up opposing points of view other philosophies try to refute them try to establish your position so all that is there in shankaracharya's explanation but if you're not interested in all of that you're just interested in the spiritual teachings of the bhagavad-gita then something like this was preferred so sridhara swami also comes in the same lineage the non-dualist lineage of shankaracharya and this one madusudan saraswati is a great master who lived about 600 years ago 500 to 600 years ago he was a contemporary of chaitanya mahaprabhu you know to whom the the iscon and all this trace their beginnings to that so about 500 to 600 years ago but he was a he was a great devotee of krishna at the same time a great non-dualist he wrote one of the most advanced text of texts of polemical non-dualism called advaita siddhi and he wrote among many other things this commentary on the bhagavad-gita it is called gudhat deepika a lamp on the profound inner meaning of the bhagavad-gita so in this commentary which is extensive as you can see and it's fine print so in that i found at the b he gives extensive introductions to each chapter so the third chapter the beginning of the third chapter we find this sentence nothing new here i've been telling you again and again but in one sentence it's nice to just just to read it out i'll read out the original sanskrit and then translate for you this is this is mother sudan saraswati's introduction to chapter 3 which we are doing now tata to explain further ado at the beginning nishkama karma nishta practice of karma yoga that means nishkama karma literally means unselfish action dedication to unselfish action first tata then next from that arises purity of the of the mind of the inner instrument so purification of mind is the result of karma yoga tata thereafter development of the fourfold qualities as the purity of mind comes together with that comes the four-fold uh qualities for advaita vedanta we keep hearing these the four four entry factors you know um viveka the discernment between the eternal and the non-eternal vairagya a dispassion for the non-eternal then the six disciplines shama damadishat sampati does anybody remember the six disciplines shamah control of the mind and the mind and the senses then control of the body then operating a withdrawal from too much engagement with external you know sense enjoyments then means a spiritual fortitude toughness that can come what may i shall persist in my spiritual quest then number five samadhana focus settle down not once in a while swami i've been following your vedanta following means or last year i came to the class and then no no no it must be consistent systematic effort so samadhana and finally shraddha a faith that what is being taught here is good and useful these are the six treasures which which support you in your spiritual journey so six-fold treasure and then the fourth qualification is an intense desire to be free which actually is the most important thing srirama krishna says just one thing is necessary an intense eagerness vyakulata he says in bengali bakulatha means a great restlessness for god we are very restless about the world and we are very relaxed about god actually so this is just the opposite be relaxed about the world whatever happens it's god's will and it'll take care of itself do you whatever you have to do but the great restlessness for god so those fourfold qualifications say i don't have it i don't have it because the requisite purification of the mind has not been done for that what you need to do karma yoga so far then after that you give up these practices which you are doing karma yoga ritualistic practices remember this is the sequential method as you develop you go on to higher practices what do you replace it with with meditation with with uh vedanta shravana mananana nidhiddhiasana with the study of vedanta with inquiry so sarva karma sannyasa then tata from that so what do you replace it with if you have given up karma yoga and ritualistic puja and all of that bhagavad-gita a deep devotion to god and vedanta vichaara saita along with the inquiry into vedanta inquiry into vedanta means it doesn't three things remember from that what will happen from that you'll be established in tattva-gyana that means me that clarity will arise and you will stay there stay there means you will begin to think like that you will begin to live your life like that it will no longer be i understand it intellectually but practically no you'll see practically it's a fact and then you will begin to live that bhagavad gita again then the result of all of this will follow what is the result and the result of all of this by the um the negation the eradication of the of avidya ignorance which is composed of the three gunas eradication means realizing that it's an appearance it still continues the appearance continues but you know it's not real what's real brahman is real and what is that brahman your real nature so you realize that ignorance disappears that is called jivan mukti free while living that is the the result then this will continue as long as the prada the karma the the remaining karma which has produced this body as long as that continues this body will keep on living enlightened while living at the end of that karma the final liberation the bodyless liberation you're already liberated but with body and after the falling away of the body the you remain as brahman so this is the entire spiritual journey according to advaita vedanta one sentence it just says i have to take a deep breath before i read it so this is one sentence now we're discussing the question was arjuna was asking should i give up all the work and um off i go to the mountains and and spend my time meditating and i won't do this what is in front of me and shri krishna was telling him don't do that you cannot give it up so easily it will remain as long as desires are there in the mind the desire for worldly activity also remains in the mind if you forcefully do it you can do it i will not fight i'm going going off to the mountains you can do it if you do it forcefully what will happen you will sit there in meditation apparently not doing anything sitting in meditation in a cave internally thinking about about the world and and the sense pleasures that you are missing out on and he says such a state is called mithya hypocrisy so as opposed to the one who has forcibly given up activities worldly activities duties work and trying to restrain the mind and sits forcibly trying to meditate internally but failing still thinking about the world we'll say yeah that might be his problem i can do it well try it you don't have to go off to the mountain to try it just sit quietly for five minutes and try i will think only about god and nothing else within 15 seconds you will see other thoughts are crowding into your mind so he says that is not an enviable state in contrast to that it's much better to perform action but then do it with the teaching of karma yoga how there's a skill of how to act in this world how to live in this world so it's a spiritual life because without that teaching if you just live in this world default setting you know computers defaulting becomes a worldly life what people have already and that is unproductive of that does not lead to spiritual development in fact that leads to unhappiness so how does one live in this world and yet be spiritual how does one perform action the duties of life and yet convert those actions into spiritual practice so he says that person who can do that is far better than the person who gives up all of this and sits in the cave thinking about um what he's missing out on you know good and bad or you know if he the the implication is if you run away from your duties as a prince you will sit maybe sit in a mountain cave and you'll be thinking about oh the palace was much better than this you know it would have been nice if i had won the war and lived in the palace it's a desire and does the dislikes and hatreds i should have punished those villains when i had the chance to do it that will go around in your mind not not um something else will go on in contrast verse number seven in contrast to the hypocrite verse number seven yes [Music] is who controlling the organs by the mind performs karma yoga with the organs of action being unattached he excels so what does he mean to say here the the word here tu it means but but in distinction from different from different from who the one we talked about earlier the hypocrite who wants to run away from the challenges of life using spirituality as an excuse they call it spiritual bypassing spiritual bypassing you can't do that there's a famous story that swami vivekananda when he was in banaras as a wandering monk before he came to the united states so there is a durga temple there in banaras temple of durga and there are monkeys and believe you me there they are something the monkey is there they're big and aggressive they all they're all waiting for handouts and you have to give them something so they will chase you if you don't and they like shiny things so they take away your glasses for example they do and the only way to get them back is to bribe them you have to give them something so they toss the glass back to you and uh food they'll put hands in your pockets and your purses to see in your to on your bags if you just see if there's food and they they get pretty aggressive if you don't give them something so swim vivekanda was a wandering monk he didn't have anything and this big monkey started following him around and he started walking faster and they they followed they were running after him he started running they were chasing him until he heard a voice loudly saying face the brutes face the brutes we turned around and looked at them and they sort of stopped chasing him they looked up him at him and then sort of settled away left and vivika and they said that i learned a great lesson for the rest of my life all the challenges of our lives they are generated by our past karma so they are the brutes i'm not saying that the person you like is oh you are that brute swami told me about no it's the fear that we have it's that avoiding that we do what has to be done what has to be said has to be done and has to be said of course gently of course skillfully but still to face up to it other people circumstances one's own health one's own daily life one's own behavior all of these one's own thoughts everywhere face the brute so he says two to that all this is contained in the little um word but in contrast arjuna krishna addresses arjun arjun of course is the name of the prince but this isn't this verse is a nice time to tell you the meaning of the word arjuna you know what it means it means swachha clear pure or clear see the whole teaching is by this practice you will purify your your mind and arjuna the name of the the student his name means pure swatch or clear or pure control the body mind complex indriya here means the senses but which senses not only the five sense organs but the five motor organs also with which we sense when we hear and smell and taste and touch but with which we walk and talk and grasp all this this entire sensory system he says controlling this with the mind controlling or directing this means directing this with the mind now mind here what does it mean here mind means the entire inner instrument the word in sanskrit is very very precise what do you mean inner instrument is there an external instrument there is an external instrument our uh sensory system is the external instrument the physical senses the our eyes ears these are external instruments why why are you calling it external external because they are in contact contact with the external world eyes are in contact with form ears are in contact with sound and tongue with taste nose with smell skin with touch so in contact with external world in contrast to these external senses plus also the motor organs by which we work and we we act walk talk use our hands so we are in contact with dealing with the external world transactions with the external world in contrast to this notice you have an inner instrument mind memory intellect ego your decision making faculties your faculties for feeling for thinking for understanding and memory recollection all of that together is called inner instrument it has four components all are precisely defined you might be surprised to know that mind intellect is defined yes they are defined sankalpa vikalpathmakam mind is that which considers the various possibilities various thoughts which bubble up when it's you have a jumble of thoughts going through your inner sense most of the time that that state of the inner instrument is called mind manas when you have clarity you have knowledge that state of the inner instrument is called buddhi intellect so i'm working out a math problem mind turning away not getting anywhere that's mind the same mind when the flash of illumination comes i get it i have cracked the problem i know it now intellect when you are getting information stored from the past memory that is called chitta and all of this is coordinated by one coordinator that is called the ego ahankara all defined nishayat mika buddhi intellect is that which gives clarity and the determinative faculty then um that which appropriates the functions of everything i am talking if you look at it very very carefully no he said no you are not i is the ego the ego is not talking ego cannot talk it's the tongue and the voice box and the brain be using all of all of its faculties and generating this and the ego says i am talking there the ego is saying i am listening i am walking i am talking i am ego cannot walk it's the body which is walking but the function of the body the function of the senses the function of the other mental faculties are all appropriated by taken up by claimed by and coordinated by ego that's a function ego in itself is nothing wrong only one thing you need to know about the ego do you know what is that all of this which i described now was just a description not nothing new not vedanta you all know it it's a description of it's as much a description as i'm if i say there you are sitting in the chair is that vedanta no just a description of what is a fact right now so i described the fact about you your inner facts right now but there's one thing that you need to know to make it spiritual what ego you are not the ego just as i am not this clock clearly i'm not even the shirt which i'm wearing clearly i am not even the body it's an object why why not the body and we have described discuss this again and again for many reasons though we think we are the body i'm not the body i am not the senses i am not the prana i am not the mind i am not the intellect they are all objects i am not even the i the i sense the ego ankara so manasa when it says by the mind controlled by the mind here is the secret the secret the key to control is this you must have the clarity that the entire body mind system is not i how will you have the clarity vedanti will say just take a look we have discussed it on many occasions it changes i do not change savikar nirvikaara it's an object i am the subject it is inert i am conscious it is external i am internal and subtle bahia and antara it is composite and many it means body mind complex composite and many i am one an individual you are one a commander like this we can give any number of these are not just arguments they are pointers for you to see and you can actually see this as clearly as we see i am sitting here it's a fact you can clearly see it's a fact that i cannot be the body i am not the sensory system i am not the mind either this is the fact that you need to know so swami that's a long way away and the realization of that don't use words like realization long way of it forget that if you have a clarity about it if you believe it if you see it even that yeah i understand what you get well i get what you are what you're saying i understand what you're saying that much if you do stay with that fact give overwhelming importance to this fact and then put it to use what is the use he says use this body-mind complex with the understanding and where is the understanding in the intellect where is the intellect which is in the body-mind complex understand that i am the unaffected witness consciousness here is a mechanism here is a machinery here are apps which are running on my this very smartphone now i will use them i will now direct them this gives you this is the subtlest and most powerful form of control why because this distances you from what is to be controlled as long as you think i am this very difficult to control the moment a desire pops up in the mind i must eat that nice you know delicacy desire has come up from chitta from past experience eyes have got information there is the restaurant and the memory kicks into action brings up the past nice experience and the intellect decides i must have that so desire is there and the ego says my desire i want to eat now how do you stop this if at all you want to stop it you want to redirect it suppose suppose this is not necessary how do you do that if you say now i must exercise willpower and i must stop myself from doing it will work sometimes will not work at other times difficult why is it so difficult because you are fighting against yourself the same eye which says i want it that same eye says i don't want it and immediately conflict this instrument and the controller becomes the same thing are you with me conflict i want it i don't want it both are true you say i want to eat it it's a fact honest and i am on a diet i really don't i really want to follow the diet i don't want to eat it that's also honest both are now pulling sometimes this will win sometimes that will win and that's like how life goes on what he what krishna is telling you here is there is a way out of this there's a way to cut the guardian knot what is the way the way is to realize this thing this thing is a thing just as this is a thing the body is also a thing the mind where desires arise and the ego which claims those desires that's also a thing it's not me if you have that clarity from that point you can now control it control it means take away the senses from that with from which you want to detach it put the senses and the body and mind the body mind system into action where you want it i'll i'll watch a movie no this is time for me to do yoga and meditation what what all right here is the system a desire for watching a movie has popped up clearly i can see it all it's not me this system has to be redirected towards the yoga practice all right redirect it the moment you get mixed up with it becomes difficult swami not so easy not so easy but that is the that is the highest practice there are lower practices lower practices you don't bother with all this strict discipline you know make a routine for yourself there are many many practices but all of them are when you are identified with body and mind but here is going to the core teaching the sankey and teaching that actually you are not the body mind so the senses you have a question yes how does this work with pain if you are feeling it you can't say the body is feeling the pain i am not of course of course certainly certainly first of all is pain an object or not that clarity must come see first of all clarity the beauty of gyana is and the difficulty of ghana is first understand you know happens is um all this philosophy is nice but tell me how to deal with my practical problem my boss yelled yelled at me how do i deal with it now there may be many strategies i'll answer your question many strategies to deal with that and i can tell you that but the way of gyana yoga is set it aside you will know how to deal with it very easily it won't be a problem for you listen again carefully to what i said once that clarity comes you don't have to ask anybody boss yelling reaction in my mind all of that is an appearance in me the awareness i was there before it i'm there during it i'll be there after it it's not me ramana marshy there's the funny story somebody wrote an article criticizing him and sent ramon marshy the first draft and ramana mahashi very con he very very sincerely went through it and corrected spelling and grammar and so devotee said but maharishi is criticizing you and ramana maharishi said no it's he's criticizing some fellow called ramana so much distance from the little person it really doesn't touch him so first this body mind system is an object and this is not so difficult to get not it is not so difficult now pain what is pain it's a sensation something happens in the body see i'm talking about a physical pain there can be emotional pain there can be emotional trauma but physical pain something happens in the body and immediately the nervous system kicks into action and sends you a message it hurts it hurts right especially chronic pain you're aware of it it hurts now are you aware of that hurt of course i am it's of course that's how it hurts if i'm not aware of it how will it hurt i'm aware of it if i am aware of it look at your language i am aware of it i am the consciousness and it the pain is an object in consciousness as much as this object just stay with this this statement is the pain an object i practiced it i don't want to say these things because people will misuse i would pinch myself harder and harder and harder and keep the objective element clear it's a thing it obviously is long before becoming enlightened and all of that you can see right now it's a thing the moment you see it as a thing a very strange thing happens the distress which comes with the pain the inner turmoil that disappears great deal of our suffering our problem is not with the pain our problem is with the suffering a great deal of suffering is because of our inner reaction a doctor a friend of mine who worked in karnataka he's a swami before becoming a monk he was a doctor in the government service there so he said that little girls there they have time and they pierce their ears to put on earrings and stuff now apparently it is painful at the same time they're looking forward to putting on all the nice stuff their mothers have or their elder sisters have and so he said i would literally see they would come for their piercing to be done safely and the girl is smiling and crying at the same time she's crying from the pain but she's smiling in anticipation of all the things she's going to try out is it is it suffering or not yes and no it depends upon your mental attitude to it what sankhya says go beyond it that pain is an object the suffering is your reaction to that pain the suffering can be controlled can be transcended treat it as an object this is an object right but the eyes with which you are what is an uh what is the definition of an object to begin with anything that you are aware of is an object you are the subject you are aware of this you are seeing it it's an object you're seeing with the eyes open and close your eyes is it an object or not that experience of opening and closing was it an object of your awareness the thought i opened and closed my eyes is that an object that thought yes where will be pain in this spectrum it will be a sensation like opening and closing the eyes remember i'm not saying that pain will not hurt everything that is in the external world will remain exactly like that everything that is in the internal world will remain exactly like that but you say i am not it and it is not me not by force by sheer insight by sheer clarity if you try to do it by force like a mantra swami said it's not me pain is not me pain is not people and then you say ouch no by clarity this is the story of swami thuriyan who who's who had this thing to be lanced so the doctor came in it was in banaras at that time the doctor the surgeon there came and said swami you need to put anesthesia otherwise when i lance it it will it will it's very painful swami said just tell me and start your operation i don't need anesthesia so are you sure it's going to be really painful and he did it imagine an operation without anesthesia all throughout it's not that the swami was in deep meditation no no no he was conscious smiling fully aware so didn't it hurt oh it hurt as much full 100 pain and yet he's not suffering this is an amazing thing and the more important instructive thing happened next day when the surgeon came back for dressing the wound so he opened the bandage started dressing it and the swami shouted in pain oh what are you doing the doctor was surprised swami yesterday the pain was it's hurting now i can understand but yesterday the pain was much more and you were sitting smiling and now you're shouting even though there's pain but it's not like that yesterday then the swami said turianji said to the doctor in bengali you should tell me that you're going to do it then i'll take my mind away from it just take my mind away from it is this that i i know it's not me it's that attitude does it work try it start small don't start ambitiously then next time mount sinai i don't need anesthesia that will not work at the beginning unless you have absolute clarity about this there's a funny story of another monk just the opposite of this one the dangers of all of this who was going to undergo a small operation in his hand and the doctor said i'm going to cut but it's going to hurt so i'll put a local anesthesia and the swami said no i've read vedanta this is an object and i am the witness consciousness pain is there pain is not in me the witness consciousness i am aware of the body i'm aware of the cutting i'm aware of the pain none of it is me are you sure swami is yes i've read it all there is the catch i have read it all please start operating the moment the doctor cut uh the swami shouted oh stop stop stop put put anastasia and then the doctor said what happened but you are not the body not the mind and not in the pain and the swami said this works only in hindi unfortunately all those teachings they are in the book i'm sorry in english doesn't carry the punch it sounds better in hindi all the teachings are in the i mean they're theoretical they're in the book it doesn't work in practice it's because that clarity has not been gained it's still some kind of theory it's not theory anyway so pain is one thing it you can at the very least you can reduce the suffering if you try to objectify pain you'll see you'll reduce the suffering you can i have seen it working now using that here the question is karma yoga use that knowledge this body mind is a machine now if your tv tells you you want to watch a particular program tv chat tells you no i like that other sitcom i'm going to watch that sitcom you tell the tv you don't get a choice you are my tv and i'm going to play whatever sitcom i want to watch on it obviously you don't give a tv a choice of program there's a funny uh some magazines a story um a dog here in the united states he got he it seemed whenever they played national geographic or discovery channel animals and stuff the dog loved it and the dog wouldn't let you change the channel it would the moment the owner tried to change the channel the dog would jump in front of the tv like this and look back at the owner so finally they had to get the dog his own ipad and where he watches he is addicted to national geographic and discovery channel and he's learned to swipe also like this with his spouse but no the tv doesn't get a choice the body mind doesn't your mind doesn't get to have a choice you say where you have decided the intellect decides this is the way i'm going to lead my life this is my routine this is what i'm supposed to do this is the way i'm supposed to behave this is the way i would like to behave now if a reaction comes a few harsh words somebody treats me badly and i want to hit back at that person now if i am identified with the mind and i feel this burst of anger i am angry i am going to shout back at the person but if i have this clarity it's a body mind system clearly there's a flash of anger there's that word coming in there's a flash of anger the whole thing is like a tv show no i stopped that reaction i put in another what is called a skillful reaction difficult yes and no not really if you try to do it straight away difficult try to gain this clarity first this knowledge what we have been studying so far remember this is chapter three already the knowledge has been given in chapter two so nehemiah he says when the con sensory system is controlled as as contrasted in contrast with the earlier guy the hypocrite who has forcefully shut down everything the mind has not been controlled he's physically not doing anything mentally the mind is where going wherever it wants to go here you have stepped back from the body mind system and now you're directing the body mind system towards the desirable path and away from the undesirable means detached not attached see attachment to work attachment to results neither action is bad in itself nor are the results of action karma fella nor are they bad in themselves it is attachment to them which is bad it is attachment to them which produces samsara i want this because it gives me pleasure i don't want that because it it makes me unhappy and here ethics tells me no that one is good for you and this one somebody said like a buffet dinner where you have lots of what you want and not enough of what you need so in that way we if you live life like that samsara but you know what you need you know you know what is good thought speech action now you can direct your body mind system towards that and do it skillfully so there'll be resistance why is there resistance why isn't it smooth because of previous conditioning the mind said come on we had so much fun earlier why are you now being so dry and boring and and all this vedanta spoiled whenever you you have to decondition the mind that's why karma yoga is useful so asakta engages the body mind system in action not withdrawing from action forcefully like the earlier earlier guy yeah let me go a little deeper into the earliest way yes so i mentioned i remember in the past we talked about this um story where it's coming from a perspective of yoga but when somebody says you know face the brutes he's also talking about being fear less fearless it is and it is also coming in this sense that why face the brute because these are the practical challenges in our spiritual life if you bypass them and go try to go straight to the gyani state i am brahmana now i am brahmana in the mind the body is doing something else this is called hypocrisy that i think so but i am not actually living like that or in this case the person physically does not carry out what the person wants to do but remains thinking about it in the mind whereas i am the witness consciousness and mind and body are directed towards the desirable goal what i decide this is the way of i'm going to lead my life and the mind and the body follows suit i decide this is the way i'm going to lead my life and forcefully i give up all other actions sit quietly there but the mind is still there that's hypocrisy so face the brute means this is a problem i have in my life let me work it out so in arjuna's case it would mean doing his duty what's in front of him in our case means facing the the facing the brute is the brute is our life the practical challenges of our life right now we always tend to take an easy a way out laziness is an easy way out pleasure is an easy way out and spirituality can also be an easy way out that's what vivekand is talking about facing the brute yes it is harsh not to get angry at them yes but you can if you use anger without letting it consume you see the satwik mind or spiritual mind there may be a flash of anger and you may do what is necessary there entirely considering the merits of the situation and the welfare of that person it's not good to let that person behave in that way even for the welfare of that person and in this case it i need to be firm i need to be assertive and say something but internally you are calm this is one thing that anger is gone the next moment moment you have dealt with it and the worldly mind holds on to that anger till death oh he behave like that with me carries on the feud for seven generations that's the worldly mind can't let go how dare he or she say such a thing to me no not how dare that person is the exact same divinity which is there within me because of the coating of that particular mind that person said such a thing behaved in such a way how can i help can i help will it help if i if i say something behave in this way i can if you think about it you know all the hr stuff you're taught in modern management and how to deal with difficult people and all it all works only if you are calm and stable inside if you lose your cool nothing will work none of those techniques will work yeah so i'm not saying that you shouldn't be it shouldn't react you can react but the reaction should be under your control not out of anger even anger can be used that's why vivekananda said about anger it's a fool who cannot get angry the wise one does not get angry am i making sense yeah you may fail in anger to a child but that doesn't mean you you are angry with the child you actually love the child so many swamis i have had some of the harshest holdings from swamis who seemed very angry at the moment next moment they are the most loving people there is a story of swami premananda who was the manager of below at the very beginning so this young man who later became a monk at that time he was not yet a monk he was visiting and he saw swami pramananda who was who was one of the disciples of srinami krishna always very sweet so then this visitor came the swami turned to him and spoke sweetly and then he turned around some other novice um brahmacari swami primary on the turn to him and primary was very very fair so when he became angry his face became red so his face became red and he started harshly scolding that brahmacari and this visitor he says that as standing there and watching and thinking oh this sadhu has anger this this monk has anger the moment i thought that swami pramaan the turn towards me complete change in expression and the same sweet voice and started speaking with me and says i stood stunned and as i stood stunned immediately turned back to that offending brahmacari and face became red again and he started score scolding it's a demonstration but how is it possible it's possible only in this way with the clear understanding this body-mind system is not me the flash of anger there is also not my anger just as the physical body is an instrument the psychic body the subtle body is also an instrument asakta detached not attached to the do the work or the results of work the work and the results of work if you get attached to them the work belongs to samsara belongs to nature i'm using the sankey and prakriti purusha divide so the work karma belongs to prakriti the results of karma belongs to prakriti use them to serve samsara to serve the world how we'll see one is by doing one's duty to the best of your attitude with ability with whatever is available whoever is there whatever capacity you have in that way use your body mind to serve so karma and results of karma belong to sansara in that case you belong to god or you are the witness consciousness the moment you say i am doing that work and i want that result for myself trapped if you try to run away trapped why why is it trapped because i am still identifying with this body and mind i'm using this body and mind to run away what happens is the moment we say i don't i'm not interested in these things i'm a spiritual person i'm still very much body body-minded then the body will hijack that spirituality what the body wants nothing more than ease and relaxation yes you are spiritual stop doing these worldly things go and sit in a meditation hall that might be it's all not always wrong but it might be tamasik that's what arjuna wanted to do actually somebody had a question yes well the eye principle is taken away what joy is there left in the body of your actions or fruits passions there's nothing left there you know you work like a machine you just watch yourself and it's just an emptiness what's yes no no it's a good question um if you remember in the second chapter of the bhagavad-gita at the end arjuna asks this question to krishna what are the characteristics of the enlightened person stitha pragasika and the first thing that krishna which are accumulated in the heart when they are transcended that i am not it they are not mine i have nothing to do with them shankaracharya comments there he says in this way if somebody tries to live in this way there will be no satisfaction in life guy will go crazy same question he says no the second line krishna says the complete fulfillment in the atman that is there you have to see and try it first of all that's why i understand if you first of all try to you know the swami is telling me i like my uh movies and my and my parties and my excursions and my vacations and swami is taking it all away from me it's an empty life no no swami is not taking it away from you first swami is saying find out what you are krishna is telling us find out what you are you realize you are not this instrument and the conditioning of this instrument its desire the desires will bubble up there which you are conditioned to think of as my desires and in satisfying those desires i found pleasure and this is the only value in life the problem with that approach is there is no satisfaction there you know there is a little satisfaction yes little after some time gone all the efforts of 20 years 30 years 40 years right now all the money and energy spent in trying to be happy where is the result right now net result not there the delightful tastes of the food the wonderful fragrances the flowers you have smelt the wonderful music you've heard the the things that you have seen vague memories fading away almost all of it is faded away little bit remains and if you try to dredge it up and try to regurgitate and chew it on it trying to get the old pleasure back very faint traces of it will be left true or not want to spend your life for the rest of your life like that no is there any lasting peace the sense pleasure i am this body mind and i am going to get pleasure through the body and mind this is what eric from put it the the pleasure the happiness we have in a modern world is building up tension and releasing it i see something on the advertisement people think everybody and all the models in their presence are all smiling if you purchase that car i will be smiling like that also then i work hard get the money purchase the car so for a short while smiling and then again the happiness is gone then what to do let me build up the tension again i've got x now y got y now z build up the tension release the tension so that happiness is sense happiness and that leads to unhappiness almost immediately whereas what he's talking about is not at all empty there's a deep freedom in this now suppose you're a slave day and night whipped by a master and made to work to satisfy the master's desires and so deluded that i become that i think ah i get a nice whipping and i make the food for the master the master says how nice i say oh this is great i'm so happy now when i'm released i don't get a weeping i don't i don't cook the food and the master doesn't smile what joy is there in life no there is joy in that there's for the first time you're released from that that that grindstone what is the grindstone who is the master here body and senses and mind and intellect this whole body mind system has become my master that old sanskrit saying um king karashiya king karak uh what a state i have fallen to i the atman the pure consciousness by the servant of my servants i have been made a servant who is my servant the mind who are the servants of the mind the senses i have been made a servant to the senses i say see this i am running after it trying to see it the tongue says taste that i'm running after it to taste that so freedom from this servitude it gives you great peace try it and see don't worry you don't have to give up anything try it for a hour or two a day and compare it for the other say 14 or 16 hours of your waking time and see which is better it says karma yoga practice karma yoga in this way karma yoga has two parts karma and yoga karma is for the world yoga is for yourself swamiji vikrant put his whole philosophy into this do you remember the motor atmano for one's liberation and for the welfare of the world it's a philosophy of life yoga is for myself i will realize god or i'll become enlightened and i will get permanent lasting peace and joy and the activities of the work i do i lay no claim on that they are for the welfare of others then it becomes karma yoga whereas what was arjuna trying to do he was trying to lay claim to the work this fighting i shall do punish the evil doers and this is the point what i'm trying to do no then samsara starts for you so karma yoga in front of you now husband wife children parents or whatever your relatives job career all of that your personal life treat it as this karma it belongs to samsara i have to do it it is not mine it's not me and it's not mine it is samsaras it's in front of me it will be done this body and mind belong to samsara i'm giving what samsara has given me it back to samsara i am the conscious the witness consciousness if you are of a guyana nature i am the witness consciousness if you are a devotional nature my connection is to god body mind and work connected to samsara my connection is to god samsara would plunge into samsara if you do the opposite my connection is to samsara body and mind then you're caught in samsara so this is how karma yoga works what will be the result services and this karma also remember two things can happen one is karma the thing which is right now in front of you can i convert it into spiritual practice there are only two options one is i'll run away from it which arjuna was trying to do in which many people try to do one moment one becomes spiritually awakened in the sense that i want to realize god i want to become enlightened or whatever you want in spiritual life then you start looking for passport indian visa himalayas what about spouse job kids tell the spouse you pick up the kids from now on job here is my resignation i'm off to the mountains this is one way of dealing with what's in front of your life but that krishna is against that so deal with the what is in front of you in front of you in your life cut up your karma do karma yoga there as as krsna's mentioned try it another kind of karma could be not just your the work which is in front of you but it could be that you want to help others so you have an ngo or an ashram or so for example i'm a monk so my body and mind are put into this great yagya of of jagathitaya for the welfare of the world so my order may put me in a school where i was or a hospital or or a teaching center like this and it's all part of a great service done to the world both ways why i'm saying this is many people think oh karma yoga means i have to start a hospital karma yoga means when i'm cooking in the kitchen that's mine but when i go to the soup kitchen that's karma yoga no not necessarily what the cooking that you are doing in your kitchen can also be karma yoga realize it is samsara this body also belongs to samsara by this i am doing my duty i am serving the world i am the uh witness consciousness separate from this service what is the result the result is this person excels what is excels by the purification of mind one becomes enlightened as a result of this karma yoga one attains purification of mind and becomes qualified for vedanta then eighth verse i thought i'll do three verses today [Music] karma [Music] [Music] continue to do all the actions which which face you not that actions for the work which is done for self sense gratification but your duty so you have a family to take care of you have a job to do this is the minimum duty facing you you have yourself to take care of yes do that all of that has to be done why karma jaya yakar mada work is better than no work the holy mother used to say to all the people who are there well ma kaj loki work is mother laxmi he said she says body and mind both both will be will be good you'll be happy in body and mind will be healthy in body and mind if you keep the body and mind engaged in action in fact krishna will say later on even actions done with desires i want to enjoy myself in this world he says even that action is better than simply sitting quiet because rajas is better than thomas both will lead to samsara but rajas is better than thomas if i say no i want to be rich no no no i've read vedanta there's no point in being rich i'm going not going to do anything are you doing vedanta are you working for spiritual enlightenment no then why don't you go and get a job and be rich no that's worldly that kind of thing that leads straight to tamas and a degradation of a person is far better to be up and doing and then go from tamas to rajas to sattva not get stuck in rajas the problem is if you get stuck in rajas pain will be there suffering will be there so he says karma jiayo hiya karmana karma jaya means greater action is greater than no action see geeta is a philosophy of action you see krishna absolutely he gives no quarter here you must be up and doing and then he says if you do not do action even your personal well-being of your personal your own life also you cannot protect see apply to a person who wants to become a monk this makes very great sense for say a monk in the himalayas the only action you're supposed to do as a monk there i've lived like that for some time you go out once in a day or maybe twice you beg for your food you take a bath in in a mountain river or something and the whole day rest of the day are free you want to study meditate do whatever you want to so he says that even that much is necessary to keep the body and the soul together to to live so action is necessary even if you get up will give up all your worldly duties and go and sit in a mountain cave still the body will die if you don't act it will become unhealthy it will die so shari raya even your daily living will become impossible if you give up action so always action is to be preferred over in action yes satwik action karma yoga is better than karma karma means action with desire sakama karma action with desire i want pleasure i want money i want success action with desire that's better than no action and better than action with desire is action without desire at that crucial point spiritual seekers try to give up action altogether and uh krishna tells them that tells us that no don't give up action altogether action gives a framework for discipline you see the moment in you can see the contrast in monastic uh order what happens is the moment a person becomes comes to become a monk is doing what arjuna wanted to do give up the the present activities of life whether it's family life or job or whatever and come to the monastery to become a monk you know what we do to the novices they don't have time to draw breath we make them so busy on purpose i remember in the early days is get up early in the very very early in the morning well before five o'clock go and open the temple and clean the inner shrine get it ready before the students come for their morning prayers morning prayers conduct morning prayers then meditate and do your japa then go back to your room um i mean get ready for there's breakfast the moment breakfast is over you run to the head swamis i'm telling the exact routine we followed to his quarters where he will conduct a class and you don't want to be there at the receiving end of the glare if you're even a minute late then there's a class where we study the gita and other things with all the other novices moment that is over you rush back to your room take a bath get ready there is school and for me there was cool so i had to go to the school and teach the kids i had class after class at that time i think i was taking i was giving um 24 classes a week 28 classes a week it's hard work catch lunch in between there's no question of the traditional indian nap in the afternoon sure and the evening there is some other duty um we get ready for doing aarothi in the shrine or puja there is sometimes you have your turn to do the morning ritualistic worship of sri ramakrishna evening then there is meditation then you have to look after the the students have had their food and so on and so forth after that you have to meet the swami again you have to have memorized verses of the gita you have to tell the verses to the swami and by the time it's time for bed lights out you rush back finished in the where we train the novices there are 26 bells in 24 hours to the minute not minute to the second so and like that you have to live for for two years why why so many we used to complain i don't get enough time for meditation i don't get enough time for study on purpose why because if you're let free all right take time for meditation what will happen you'll end up going down sleeping mind is not ready we think we can i'm going to sit like vivek and then be in samadhi no no no not so easy there's one i'll end with this story in banaras when swami turian anandiji was there one of the young monks complained there is too much work and in it is a hospital too much work i want to meditate and swami turian and they said all right you go and stay in that room there's a particular room given to him go and stay there you don't have to do any work you meditate but the condition is don't come out of the room just stay in the room and meditate and we'll send your food to you a week went by then swami turian asks somebody somebody else another monk how is that young monk doing oh swami he's talking to the tree outside his window he said all right bring him back and put him to work in there there was one swami swami jandi kananda who wrote many beautiful songs in bengali which is still sung i didn't meet him but i heard this story he became a monk under swami akanda who was a disciple of sri ramakrishna who started the orphanage in in sargachi so the story is swamijanikananda he was a young novice at that time and in the morning at 10 o'clock he was sitting in the temple and meditating so this is time when i'm fully awake and ready four o'clock meditation difficult you feel sleepy but now it's okay i've had my breakfast and my bath and it's all nice i can sit and meditate and swami i come down from outside the prayer room it's a small shrine from outside the shrine he is he's shouting he said hey don't pollute the temple come out here and water the flower flower pots do some work he can see what's going on in his mind once um um the young monks were sitting with swami brahman and then belurumat and they were talking about spiritual matters and wonderful and swami premana was in charge of the monastery the kitchen and everything he shouts from down there hey the vegetables have not been dressed they have not been cut the preparations for the cooking are not not ready where are you all monks were unwilling to live leave his company they were so happy sitting with him he said go tell the swami we have come here to become enlightened not to cut vegetables you are a great swami why don't you bless us with enlightenment then we can cut all the vegetables you want the moment he says this from downstairs where he could not hear the swami shouts back all right meditate all you want i'll do all the work myself but if i hear the commotion of the market place in your minds i'll go there and pull you down by your ears and make you do the work to him what is in our minds is a absolutely open thing if i hear the commercial of the marketplace in your mind this is what the gita says sitting there and thinking about the world so that kind of meditation no good it's far better to do work and regularly meditate remember it's not that you have to do work all the time meditate study worship work the four yogas [Music]