Video 39

39. Bhagavad Gita I Chapter 3 Verses 35-37 I Swami Sarvapriyananda

[Music] keep admitting people who are still coming in we are studying the third chapter of the bhagavad-gita and in that sri krishna was telling us that that all of us have a prakriti and we act according to prakriti what is prakriti literally the word means nature so we all have a nature now let me make two terms uh let me introduce two terms here which are very important for our understanding at this point swarupa and swabhawa means our real nature or our essence which is the atman we are sachidan and the existence consciousness bliss we are brahman that's our real nature and that's what we we do not know at this point but we are trying to realize that's the whole point of of spirituality to realize what we truly are that is called swarupa our real self let's say a real nature real self the other word is swab swab swab is again nature i mean it's very difficult to distinguish between the words in english subhaba would be our dispositions our personality all right let's put it this way swarupa is the atman our what we really are and swab however is the personality is the individual individual individualized personality so our likes and dislikes our individual quirks uh our you know vasanas the accumulated tendencies the differences between us all of these are in subhava these are generated from lifetimes lifetime after lifetime of experience leaves its marks on us and so in the form of vasanas tendencies desires not only past lifetimes shankaracharya in fact emphasizes the past lifetimes means ancient ancient means not in the this lifetime many many lifetimes passed karma is what we have done and the samskaras are the tendencies which we have accumulated where are they stored they are stored in the subtle body and a part of that gets activated in each lifetime in this lifetime also a part of our storehouse has been activated which forms which you see when the baby is born um from childhood onwards you see each child has its own tendencies but to that is added the experiences of this lifetime so parents teachers our major events in life health sickness trauma all those things together they condition us the conditioning of this lifetime also so in english you can say nature plus nurture nature and nurture together they form the subhava and that the word that shri krishna uses here is prakriti so this distinction must be clear it is true that we are atman but for practical purposes right now what we have to struggle with is our swah bhava or prakriti and this is what sri krishna says sadrisham jayastra is in thirty third verse so according to their own swab not swarupa swab however people act according to swabhaba even enlightened beings even enlightened beings so that accounts for the difference between different g1 muktas in the last time i was saying that so srirama krishna like jillipi jalebi so i'm vivekander liked chocolate now why both are enlightened beings why the likes are different why the dislikes are also different yes in the case of the enlightened being they realize that they are atman suramar krishna of course we consider him an avatar who is beyond ajivan mukta but even then so they know that they are the atman they are fully enlightened they are god realized uh but still when they act in the world they act through their swab however so each jeevan mukhtar will be slightly different and the difference for and for them also the swab bhava does not bind them swabha is not an obstruction they manifest their god realization through their swab power it's in fact each g1 mukta is interestingly different from the from the other some are introverted meditative some are active and dynamic some are very devotional some are embodiments of pure knowledge so these differences are due to this individual subha of the enlightened being in our case our swabhab or prakriti is what we struggle with it's our individualized personality this in fact in the path of enlightenment these are the resources both obstacles and resources that which binds us down prevents us from progressing also there is something good in our sub-harbor something is there which also helps us now what do you do with the swab however what do you do now he says in the 34th verse the swab however manifests itself in our thoughts first in thought then in speech then in action speech um thought speech action so the level of thought it might first manifests as ragadvasa attraction attachment liking and vaisha aversion dislike avoidance and these are all they they arise from our swab from our conditioning in this life and past lives now normally we act according to them what sri krishna teaches arjuna in the 34th verse important verse which we saw last time is that we act our sense organs and our minds they flow according to these likes and dislikes now you have to act as the traffic policemen allow some of them and divert the others stop the others those which are going to take you godward those which are going to take us towards god realization allow that let that come into the mind nourish that and convert that into thought speech and action there are many many things which will come up in the mind from our prakriti each person's prakriti which will divert us from god realization takes us towards the world again traps us in samsara such thoughts don't nourish them don't let them be converted into speech and action by the time those thoughts are converted into speech and action usually it is too late to stop so one must be alert even if one can stop it at the level of speech and action it takes so much willpower that sometimes you succeed and maybe you succeed once twice you will fail whereas at the level of the vritti at the level of the bubble which arises from the depths of the lake of our subconscious when it arises in the bubble form if we can identify and stop it at that level nip it in the bud then then spiritual life becomes easier that that's a core of spiritual practice that skillfully replace the ragadvesa which is taking us away from spiritual life replace it with with um with holy or spiritual thoughts speech and action so that's what sri krishna's advice was to arjuna you remember in 34th verse do not fall in in the trap of um ragadvesha because they are the enemies of a person who um just a minute let me just uh just the view they are the enemies of of those who are on the spiritual path right now 35th verse up to this we have done 35th verse shreyan superior is your own dharma the law of one's own nature though it may have defects it is superior to the dharma of another person though that may be may be superior may be better you may be able to do that better also death in working out your own nature is superior superior but to follow something alien to your nature it is fraught with risk it is risky what does this mean remember what what arjuna was trying to do when he was taught vedanta by sri krishna his initial reluctance to fight this battle was reinforced he said yes this is wonderful i must realize that i am the atman become enlightened and jivan mukta second chapter is tita pragya i must become established in the knowledge ahamram has me and be free of samsara why should i fight this battle let me rather give up all this become a monk go and meditate study vedanta and do all that and that's it so here sri krishna is saying you have your nature your own prakriti and your spiritual life must also be according to your prakriti what you are talking about running away from this and going away and meditating and becoming a monk that is not your prakriti as akshatriya you have a particular nature particular personality your spiritual life also should be according to your to your personality according to your prakriti there he says so one's own nature is better one's own prakriti or once he calls it swadharma so swadhar your own dharma is better even though there are defects what defects because you are a warrior you have to fight this difficult battle where your own relatives you will have to fight against them because they are on the side of evil you have to kill them it's very difficult very unpleasant and nasty duty that has come to you but that is better than trying to do the duty of another he says so you in arjuna's case literally he may die in the performance of his of his duty because it is a battle but it is better to engage in the performance of one's own duty your own dharma dharma the performance of the another's duty is fraught with risk or it is fearful one thing to set aside right away in in today's world dharma means religion so is it talking about our religion versus another religion conversion don't convert to another religion better to die in one's own religion following another's religion is fraught with risk you can directly translate into into something like that no that is not the meaning clearly if you see the text up to now it's not talking about this religion versus that religion at that time there was only one religion anyway because sanatana dharma alone is talking about he is talking about your dharma your prakriti act even spiritual life has to be done according to your own prakriti so that has a specific meaning for anjuna now let me make a couple of points here one is mentally construct a um like a matrix you know two by two matrix so on the horizontal the rows you have dharma dharma so dharma dharma and here on this side you have prakriti your prakriti and not your prakriti so prakriti not your prakriti your subhaba not your soup your subhaba not your word your propriety not your progressive that's the columns is the matrix sort of coming in your mind dharma dharma prakriti not prakriti now if in this you will get four cells so four squares one will be what is dharma and also your prakrti then the one below that will be what is your prakriti but a dharma then the other side will be what is not your prakriti but dharma and what is not your prakriti or not your dharma also now what does it mean you know what is so what for example prakriti nature and dharma so arjuna's nature is that of a warrior and his dharma is right now to perform the duty of a warrior fight the kurukshetra battle that is his prakriti and also his dharma that which is your dharma and your prakriti together is the one krishna is recommending of the four squares is recommending that you should do what is moral and ethical and also according to your nature so that part of moral ethical spiritual life which is according to your nature that's the best one for you to perform that he gives the name swadharma swadharma so that is dharma many things are dharma becoming a monk and going to the himalayas is also dharma no doubt being meditating is also dharma karma yoga is dharma raja yoga is dharma gyana yoga is dharma bhakti yoga is dharma being a righteous householder is dharma being a good monk is dharma all of it is dharma but which one are we to perform so this is a very important insight swadharma if you see another cell just below it if you see i am keeping the matrix in your mind so what is according to prakriti and adharma so often there are many things in our minds raghav advaisha likes and dislikes which forces beyond the limits of morality and ethics so for example duryodhana the villain he wants to snatch away the rightful herit uh heritage of the the rightful you know the inheritance of the pandavas what is not his he wants to take it away and he wants to kill his own cousins and you know snatch away their kingdom why does he want to do that because of greed because of jealousy and where are these just greed and jealousy coming from from his own prakriti from his own subhaba so what this what he is doing what duryodhana is doing in that kurukshetra battle is according to gujduryanas prakriti and his adharma do you see prakriti on prakriti and a dharma if you shift to not your prakriti what arjuna wanted to do was give up all these things and go away and meditate maybe and realize that i am brahmana so that is dharma no doubt about it but it is not his prakriti he is moving out of the the parameters of his prakriti what will happen he'll fail it is very difficult for him to succeed in that way ah then there is one more square at the bottom i am referring to that if you have the matrix in mind it will be very clear at the the other end of that matrix where it is not dharma and not your pakiti also so for a spiritual moral ethical person who is established in ethical life so doing something unethical greedy telling lies is a dharma and also not the prakrti of this saintly person so now you have four four options one is the york prakriti and dharma it is called swadharma another one is your prakriti but a dharma your nature but the things which are which are beyond decency morality ethics dharma then the third one is that it is dharma but not your prakriti not your prakriti not not your nature it will be difficult to follow though it is a good thing its difficult to follow that's what sri krishna is advising against the dharma of another person though you may want to do that that may sound very nice but it is not of use to you it will not make spiritual progress there and the last one is the worst neither dharma nor your prakriti so dharmic and also not your nature so these are the four options and in that he is recommending swadharma that is it something should be your dharma as well as your prakriti now one more point i will make about swadharma there is a way of defining swadharma [Music] the way of defining swadharma is basically useless for us right now i'll tell you also why it is useless but at first it's good to understand what it meant in those days in traditional vedic society it was actually quite easy to define swadharma so what was it five components so dharma is equal to you can make an equation so dharma is equal to five components what is five components what are the five sadhana dharma salhan dharma means general ethics truth self self control um unselfishness all these things which are every human being should follow sadhara dharma ethical life then second is varnadharma varna varna means in those days caste system was there so a brahmins dharma was something different kshatriya dharma like arjuna's dharma was something different so varna dharma what is supposed to be your dharma in society then there is ashram dharma stage of life so broadly there are four stages of life there is the brahmacharya student life when you are young and then the grihastha householder life when you are married and you are in society you have a career and all of that householder grihastha then when you retire out of household life and prepare for you know dedicating yourself to spirituality exclusively that is called vanaprastha literally the forest goer or forest dweller retired person so vanaprastha retired means sort of it's it's a kind of defeatist word that you have retired you're tired and you're retired out of life no vana prasta is there is a purpose a higher purpose now the person is dedicating oneself entirely to spiritual life to god realization the highest goal of human life really your life is starting now when you have dealt with everything else the business of life now you are moving towards god realization then the last one is sannyasa so when you give up everything and there are no more connections with society and you you are entirely dedicated to god realization or enlightenment so this is called asrama dharma that is the third one arjuna was remembered grinhastha arjuna was the krihastha then the fourth one is a combination of these two varnasrama dharma varna dharma cast duty ashram dharma is your stage of life duty and varnasrama is the intersection of these two so for example arjuna was a kshatriya grihastha so brahmin grista will have a different duty available have a different duty akshatriya vanaprasthi will have a different duty so which what is your position in society and what is your position in your stage of life these two together will give you something that is called varnasrama dharma and then the last one is asadharantharmar unique duties unique duties is at that point arjuna was a commander of the pandava army so certain roles are there see you these unique duties at one point you are a parent you have accepted that role you are a company executive you have accepted that role you are a husband or a wife you have accepted that role so those are specific duties which will come if you have accepted it you have to do it so those roles are also part of your dharma um unique duties they will come and go at once time little bit there suppose you resign from a particular job then the responsibilities of that job are no longer yours you're a doctor so when you are in service and you are in on duty you have certain duties which come from that those are unique duties unique to you at that particular time so arjuna also had certain duties because of otherwise he should not have come to that battlefield at all so these five together what are the five sadharana dharma ethical rules for all humanity which are for everybody tell the truth be self-controlled do good to others these things then there is varna from your cast duties ashram dharma your you know stage of life duties then varnasrama the two together number four and last one unique roles that is assad dharma all together these five together will define your swadharma so that is very nice very logical so why did you say it's useless it is useless today because the varnasrama system does not work today it does not mean much we do not follow it and and you know also the caste system has its own difficulties and evils associated with it so practically it is not of much use right now to determine so i want to know my swadharma can i put it input the data into those five variables and then let me get my computer can tell me at any moment what is your swadharma difficult to say um one can take a look at one's roles in life that's an easier way of looking at it are you you're a member of a community you you are a member of a family you have um a job so you have certain responsibilities there i remember many years ago i was asked to take charge of a college i was a young monk at that time foolish also so full of vairagya what are you i'm a monk now i was asked to take charge of a college and the principal of that college before me was a householder a gentleman who had retired after 30 40 years of service so he was handing it over to me so it was a strange transition he was this 60 plus year old and veteran teacher and it was a teacher education college and i was this absolutely young monk i had not even got my son yes i was a brahmacari so he took me and he made me sit there and out of bravado you know we were talking i said see first and foremost i am a monk all these things principle of a college and all that it is does not matter to me he corrected me and a correction which i remember till today he said no no maharaja brahmacari both sadhu and brahmacharya we call maharaja no maharaj that is not right look at the picture behind you are sitting in the principles chair picture behind you saw me awake on this picture is there this is swami vivekananda's chair you have been put there as long as you sit there you are the principal of this college and you have certain duties associated so that you are a sadhu and you consider that first and foremost is great before this you're a sadhu you now you are a sadhu after this also you'll be a sadhu but as long as you're sitting here there are certain duties you cannot you cannot you know disregard them you must acknowledge that you have these duties there is very wise thing to say not just for a duty of a particular place but every role in life this is swadharma all right um i think this is these are the two things that i wanted to say now if if when somebody asked then right now then what is the kind of spiritual practice that i want to do i am a spiritual seeker but also we are in samsara we have jobs and families so what is the sum and substance of all of this the way i understand it is that which takes me towards god is yours is my swadharma that which takes me away from god is not my swadharma and that's a good principle swami vivekananda gives certain other advice he says that which strengthens you accept it as truth that which weakens you reject it as poison that also is a very important indicator is it something that is strengthening you or weakening you that which is that any practice any book any kind of thing you want to take up then swamiji also says that which leads to oneness and unity that is good accepted that which creates division and separation that is false rejected so these are indicators that which is selfish is not your dharma that which is unselfish is your dharma and so on okay before we go on quickly let me answer one or two questions giant um there are two hands i think yes all right yes i could use to say often that turn your mind towards god so if i'm asking practically how does one do that you see for example if i have a bad thought and turn it is it to like something like this something or what is there any practice or what is the practice that you recommend to do that oh this is a very big question and bhagavad-gita has an answer to that yes certainly the drigrish viveka panchakosha viveka vastratra viveka these are all ghyana practices but there are dhana practices also you have an ishta devatan ishta mantra repetition of that there is a surrender to god that practices are not only by our own power but also we depend upon god's power surrender to god there is also the practice of being a well-wisher of everybody and trying to do as much as one can so these are all practices a routine practically a routine is helpful yeah but at a certain point if i have bothered by something how what should i do i mean it's my sahaba that i sometimes think of let's say i'm thinking of bad things about my children so how do i get over that first of all forgive yourself i think just about any parent gets exasperated with the children at some point or the other so don't worry about it but yes all the practices will help you there i have no time to think about these things i must repeat this time for my japa these thoughts come and go i am a sangha thoughts are arising and disappearing it's not that i'm stuck to these thoughts these thoughts are an object i am the witness so or my lord alone is present mysta devata my krishna my rama my ramakrishna is present in my own children also then how can i be impatient with them there's so many different ways yeah in which one can overcome such things and also be a little forgiving of yourself every one of you all have limitations otherwise you would all be jivan muktas by now there is somebody else who has raised a hand this is girish yes my question is this not being a jivan mukta how do i deal with today's social and political issues i can say to myself that this is just a dream it's a waking dream but um that that's sort of an intellectual delusion and and because it's it's a construct that i have i've not realized it myself and and and even doing that seems like uh you know hiding my head in the sand so how do i find my swadharma is that as relates to today's issues outside in the real world if it moves you notice how your mind is reacting to it if it moves you then it interests you and you have a role to play there how did mahatma gandhi who deal with the british rule in india you see you might say what how does mahatma gandhi enter this equation but if you see his his you know my experiments with truth you know to work and autobiographical uh he says that he's a spiritual seeker and you know he says that who am i peop some people think that i'm a freedom fighter some people think that i'm a politician some people think that i am a social reformer but if you ask me i am a simple man in search of god now this simple man in search of god um his tremendous activity to overcome injustice and colonialism was this and was this a dilemma that should i do it or not after all i'm in search of god so i should pray and you know always sing vaishnava janato so no his struggle against colonialism he struggled against castism his struggle for reforming the society all of these things were part of his sadhana so his being a mahatma was not a extra you know like addition to his career as a politician he was basically a spiritual seeker now you have to ask yourself right now what is my duty you are fundamentally a spiritual seeker you are seeking god you're moving towards god realization so how do you deal with the issues in society at your level you must not be diverted also you're not basically a politician or a social reformer that's also that's also there so you will take a stand according to your values and pursue it you have to decide yourself you have to take a call how how much and how far will you pursue it will you go out and demonstrate on the streets will you write blogs or will you pray for the welfare of everybody at what level will your engagement be that's up to you but remember that's always a secondary thing the primary thing is the search for god you have to see what is according to your nature and what feels real and honest to you activism is not actually against spirituality it depends on the seeker that's why this idea of swadharma is really very beautiful it is he is not giving a set of prescriptions that you have to do this and you will not do that what you actually will do in life depends upon your situation depends upon your swadharma what is the if we follow our swadharma that is the shortest and direct route to god realization swami vivekananda put it in a more modern terminology he said follow your own highest ideal look at the words it must be your own ideal it should feel that this is something that's coming from within me it must be natural to me that matrix is very difficult to actually put in practice in today's life verna ashram it does not make much sense today but it comes it's coming very naturally to me but many things are coming very naturally to me because whatever comes naturally to me honestly if you look at it that's that's my prakriti in my prakriti there are many things most of which will not take me god word it will take me towards samsara only so then he adds highest ideal your own highest ideal he did not say spiritual god realization nothing follow your own highest ideal what is highest you must ask yourself what is the most noble thing which i want really of all the things which i want what is really noble god realization doing good to others you'll often see it will be usually an unselfish thing yeah we'll see a little more of that the next verse krishna will take it up why negatively why don't people do it so and what can be done about it is there anybody else who is giant yes swamiji uh actually this question i just want to follow up on that because that is a major problem that keeps coming to my mind you know when i'm faced with a crisis a crisis really not a challenge a crisis especially when it's got to do with the health of somebody really close to you at that time of course the immediate reaction in spite of these three years of really being your student immediate reaction is to be totally distraught extremely disturbed and then gradually you do through all your teachings etc especially mantra and thinking of my ishta you come back in a sense you tend to center yourself and then at the same time somewhere there is this feeling that you know while everybody around you is really very distraught your family is very very upset about the crisis that you're going through that the family is going through it you almost get a guilty sense that you know you're not sharing their grief so as to say you're not you're not suffering enough yeah yeah exactly exactly no no no one i understand first of all one must be as i said a little forgiving towards others and oneself also when one becomes a vedanta student double problem is there one is the usual problem of samsara people are sick and suffering my own health my all kinds of financial problems health problems and everybody what everybody suffers i also have the same problems that's one problem in common with everybody but then then comes one more special vedanta problem what is without the problem i have studied vedanta so i should not suffer i should remain detached why am i not remaining detached second extra problem because of having studied vedanta so no first be a little forgiving towards others and yourself also it is very natural until we are very far along the spiritual path until you are jivan mukta suffering will be there it will affect and one must be honest about it look at arjuna shiram krishna says somebody's son had passed away and she was terribly distraught almost mentally upset you know srirama krishna says that's very natural and the sun child was grown up so losing a child at that age it's it's devastating then he gives an example he says look arjuna after being instructed by sri krishna this whole bhagavad gita which we are reading when his son abhimanyu was killed in the battle he was devastated he recovered after that but he was devastated initially one must be honest yes we will feel that and we will be terribly upset and at a loss um [Music] the the effect of spiritual study and practice is this you recover much much faster you find peace and strength even in the midst of actual suffering not only others are suffering you are also suffering but there is also peace there's also serenity there's also a sense of being centered that is that is what spiritual practice gives the intensity of the sorrow will be lessened and the recovery from that will be much faster these are things which come as like waves in life you know they will come even for jivan mukta they will come for brahmagan is also they will come loss and dishonor and defeat and failure and disease and old age and death for everybody but for the the person who does not have spiritual practice who does not have spiritual insight who is not holding on to god that person is helpless that's what is called in hinduism the bhava samudra the ocean of samsara where you are helpless but the person who has a spiritual practice some kind could be ghana could be bhakti something it's like a like a boat in the bhava samudra which you can catch hold of and be saved from drowning now next hold on to the questions we will go on to the next verse an important verse is coming arjun asks the question [Music] so arjuna asks a question impelled by what gain a prayer pushed by what instigated by what power does a person do wrong things a b person performs something that is papa ani channabi even if he does not want i understand you have taught it comes from prakriti raga does there and following that one may do bad things but suppose we are spiritual seekers now we don't want to do bad things i don't want to say things which i regret later on i don't want to commit sins and yet i do it sometimes why this is this is hindering my spiritual progress what i should do i am not doing what i should not do i am doing even though i made up my mind now my goal is clear god realization is my goal yet i make these mistakes why so arjuna asked this question i think prabhupad last time pointed out that quotation from duryodhana it is very apt here so when people pointed out to duryodhana who's the villain of kurukshetra um that why are you doing these sinful acts why are you committing sin so his famous reply whether it's in the original mahabharata or not i i could not find one source says it's in the ashwamedhakanda but i could not find definitely it's there in a text called pandava geeta so duryodhana says that that um i know what is right what is dharma but the problem is i don't feel like doing it i know what is wrong what is what is uh immoral i know what is immoral but my problem is i can't stop myself from doing it so he is very honest this is the central human problem it's we know a lot of things almost naturally we really don't have to be taught what is right and what is wrong in many cases the sense of right and wrong is natural even little children have it even before they have been taught by the parents a lot of things which are you know even the higher animals have a sense of what is fair and what is unfair what is just and what is unjust and a lot of our our morals it comes from there we we are social animals so we know what is good behavior with regard to others what is not good behavior with regard to others it's almost instinctive but we can we know it but we can't follow it that is the problem we know something to be immoral we criticize it in others and we fall into temptation or fear something and we overstep the limits of dharma we cross over the lakshman the limits of ethics of safety within morals we overstep that and do something wrong and then we criticize it in ourselves also it's called guilt why did i do that why did i say that so why does a person do this now the difference between see arjuna is asking the same thing and uh duryodhana says the same thing but the difference between arjun and duryathan is very important why did krishna teach gita to arjuna why not to duryasana somebody was saying he should have taught the bad guys then the whole world would have been avoided if he could have converted duryodhana into a good person then what that is the real thing arjuna is a good person what is the use of teaching morals and ethics and spirituality to a person who is already good here is the difference duryodhana states this as a matter of fact this is the fact about me i know what is good i don't feel like doing it i know what is bad i can't stop myself from doing it why he says there is some force some power in my heart which impels me in a certain way as it forces me so i do there is there is this power of desire you know uh want and desire and greed and lust and hatred and dislike it comes up from my heart it comes from within me and as it forces me to do so i do i am helpless here notice that no point does he ask a question he is not willing to change he has no interest in learning anything and making a change in his life he's not worried about it or even if he's worried he's not he does not think there can be any change here arjuna notice the way he puts the same fact without wanting to also people do wrong things but he's asking how why what's going on here and what can i do about it this is the small difference but this difference is essential when this difference is there that i want to change genuinely i want to change then only all knowledge all spirituality morality even all you know these days what is there this positive thinking and tony robbins and all they all become effective or seven habits of highly effective people um stephen covey and all the old dale carnegie and all of that they all become effective they require one thing from you from us that i want to change i can't take it anymore this is not good i want to make my life better that yes must come from us then on after that all the knowledge of positive psychology ethics and religion and spirituality and meditation and gyan all of these can become effective these will be relevant to us notice in the bhagavad-gita first chapter krishna does not open his mouth as long as arjuna is giving lectures this is bad this is what i should do and this is what i should not do krishna is simply quietly listening not saying anything the moment arjuna asks a question and says please tell me i want to know then only krishna starts speaking one sadhu in uttarakhand said see the traditional method of teaching upanishads was the student would take a lot of trouble find the guru and then the guru would test him and you would have to stay and put up with a lot of testing and hard life and then only the guru would open and tell you something which is now available in every book in every library now there's nothing very secret about it now referring to people like me they put up not only poster internet advertisement and all that that now here is going to be a lecture on vedanta come in large numbers and join the lecture on veda so that was not the original uh method it's only why was that that so many restrictions were there it's only to increase your eagerness to make the mind of the seeker ready and one pointed and focused so when the instruction is received teaching is received great value is given to it and we put attention to it so many such examples are there [Music] all right now what does sri krishna reply so arjuna shows his readiness notice his attitude he wants to know how can i change things sri krishna says basically the same idea which is given earlier ragadveisha are there our prakrti is there from that likes and dislikes bubble up if you don't control it you will be swept away into samsara that is the answer that's why these things keep happening in our life but he puts it in a very concise and powerful form now what is the problem and what is the solution he will tell in the next few verses till the end of chapter 3 what is the problem main problem in spiritual life and how do you deal with it 3 37 shri bhagavan this is craving this is anger born of rajas rajaguna this craving or kaama it is voracious it's a it's productive of great sin know this to be the enemy in this context in this context means in the practice of spirituality this is the enemy this is the big obstruction nothing outside so kama aisha krodharesha see the problem in spiritual life in every religion they have recognized this this very thing usually it is projected as devil satan something outside in zoroastrianism ar iman is the force of darkness in christianity the satan on islam the shaitaan there is a power outside which makes us do bad things and then each of the bad things greed anger lust they are also conceived of as little demons different kinds of demons and they all torment the spiritual seeker so if you read the lives of the early desert fathers in early christianity first second third century so there were hermits who went into the caves in the in the deserts of egypt and practiced intense tapas the whole path is if you if you look at it from a vedantic perspective you will see it's a bhakti path path of devotion to god and to jesus but there are so many narrations of of demons persecuting them they're actually physically fighting against the demons what are these demons what is this satan it is all this in in vedanta they say this entire thing is our own nature it's deep within us it is our subhava the negative forces in the subhava the raga dwesha which pull us towards samsara to make it more precise kama krodha desire and anger so entirely within us not outside you can project them as as demons but their demons are all entirely within our our own subconscious i went to this monastery in arizona [Music] it's a branch of the you know in in greece there is the greek orthodox church the monastery very very famous mount ethos um which is the mountain where monks stay i think mount ethos probably so they have a branch they have a branch in usa and they're quite a few monks they're all all they've joined recently about i think 20 30 monks are there so i went and i was talking to one of them i was in the book shop there and this monk came to the bookshop we're talking so he was telling me that one has to be always careful because the evil one that means satan is always looking to get you so he's always tense ready to fight basically the idea is that is kama krodha lust and anger these are the demons now shri krishnas in vedanta they are all internal we know the problems are all internal in our mind before i go into it let me just mention here shankaracharya suddenly he decides to he is commenting on the verse he decides to define bhagavan sri bhagavan so bhagavan the lord speak but what does bhagavan mean suddenly he decides to define it so he quotes from the vishnu purana two definitions of bhagavan so let me just give you the definitions just just for information no sorry aishwarya shah that means all kinds of lordliness ishwara bhava that is the control of the entire universe entire universe controller is god that is one one quality varia energy yasha fame no one more famous than god shri ha glory vairagya even god has dispassion so the entire universe belongs to god but god has no sense of position about anything in the universe and moksha god is the yeah bhagavan is the master of moksha our moksha is granted by by the lord's grace kripa shannan these six are called bhaga these six are called bhaga bhagava one the one who has these six is called bhagavan so which are the six aishwarya that is lordliness varia uh energy or virility yashaha fame sriah glory vairagya dispassion moksha liberation salvation the one who has these six is called bhagavan bhagava these are six are called bhagava and one was these six is bhagavan another definition given in the vishnu purana itself [Music] it says the one who knows the source of the of all creation ut all beings and creation itself pralayam and the end of the universe also there's only one who can know that because at the time of creation only god exists individual beings do not we do not exist separately and at the time of the cosmic dissolution everything is destroyed except god so god is the only one who knows these two not only that bhutan are agating coming and going of the individual beings like us our individual destiny also god knows this is one characteristic of an avatar though we cannot directly speak with god but we those like arjuna and other and those who are near sri ramakrishna those who are the company of avataras they notice this arjuna krishna tells arjuna in another chapter we will see he says we have had many births you and i are jonah i know them all you don't i know them all means not only do i know my own births even a jivan mukta will know to some extent his own past lives i know them all not only my own birth but i know all your births also whatever has happened to you in the past and what will getty what will happen to you also i know sudama krishna says to master mahashaya m the writer of the gospel of sriram krishna in one place he says tell me i know your entire past and he immediately i don't know what he felt master he bows down and says yes lord you know everything about your past and everything that's going to happen to you in life so gatti and agathi agarty and gati the coming and going of all individual beings vidyavidya realization knowledge and avidya also maya in which all being sudden delusion both are known to to the lord so such a one is called bhagavan so what is sri krishna's answer kama and krodha you asked what why people do things even if they don't want even if they're spiritual seekers why do they not make progress in spiritual life and why do they slip from spiritual life again and again kama krodha he says desire and anger here also one interesting thing kama krodha ii in sanskrit grammar there should be a dual number you know sanskrit grammar single dual plural so earlier for example if you notice he said two things raga means attachment dwish means aversion so raga and dwish are together two so he used dual number ragadve show he says those two are the enemies here but here he uses the uh singular kama aisha krodhaisha singular instead of kama krodhu he says kama krodha why because both are the same thing they are not different desire is the root when desire our desires are frustrated it becomes anger at the root of all anger even good anger righteous so-called righteous anger if some desire is frustrated something we wanted it to be so it is not so hence anger it need not always be anger if the person responsible or the situation responsible for frustrating my desire is powerful or is impersonal then there will be not anger there will be fear so pandemic whom will you be angry with you can't be angry with the virus but fear will be there my desire for a comfortable safe predictable life has been totally upset now i am whom to be angry with but i can be fearful anxious tense anger anxiety fear all modifications of frustration of desire so karma is at the root if desire is satisfied good then desire should be satisfied anger will not be there desire satisfied is transformed into greed low baha so at the root of karma karma is at the root of lobha and krodha krodha is anger loba is greed it's an intensification of desire so desire unsatisfied leads to trouble desire satisfied leads to trouble kama desire is at the root of all samsara in fact we are talking about it four noble truths in buddhism and the source of is our first novel to dukkha suffering and that the source of suffering is karma desire desire is at the source of suffering let me make a few quick points and i'll take up questions and then we'll stop i've written down some points i wanted to say about this so as i said kama krodhalova sri krishna later will say these are the the straight door to hell kama crow the loba and at the root of that means desire greed and anger but at the root of of all three is desire itself desire is the root then the nature of desire i want something or i do not want something if i want something or i do not want something in both cases it leads to suffering so dukkha is directly related to that want want or do not want remove that want dukkha will not come suffering will not come very buddhistic actually this idea then the third point is and that one may ask then what about the desire for god desire for moksha liberation i love god i want god isn't that a desire to that's also a desire so isn't that bad no the desire for god realization is not bad so ramakrishna says why is it not bad because that it removes all other desires it removes the desire which traps us in samsara desire for god removes other desires and he gave a very nice example sweets so bengali bengalis love sweets so sweets if you eat too much sweets it causes acidity acid reflux and he says sugar candy mystery in english sugar candy misery so he says that is not to be counted among the sweets because if you take that it it combats it fights against acid reflux rock candy yes rock candy so rock candy if you put it in water in fact that is recommended if you have stomach trouble acidity it is recommended as as something to soothe your tummy so that's also sweet but it's not to be counted among other sweets similarly the desire for god it removes all the these worldly desires it actually channelizes all the worldly desires god words some quick differences desire for god is not a desire worldly desire why because desire for god is for the infinite desire for karma is for something finite the objects which we want it may be a person might be a thing a gadget it might be money it might be some activity job place to stay something something limited when you want it thinking it will satisfy me and that is finite whereas the desire for god is desired for the infinite upanishad says that which is the infinite is joy there is no joy in the limited this takes us lifetimes to learn so we try to chase joy in the limited we want to why do we do that we want to become unlimited because that's our very nature we don't know that not knowing our nature so see at the root of desire is ignorance ignorance of our nature not knowing our real nature is the infinite we try to fulfill try to become infinite by keep on adding the finite it will never work so ramakrishna says keep on adding as many zeros as you want zero no matter how many zeros you write still zero if you put one before all of the zeros then every zero gets value what is that one god that is sram krishna's very beautiful way of putting it the second point is every desire karma is desired for anathema not self and desire for god is desire for the atma for our real nature atma anatma third point difference is the desire for the world karma it can never be fulfilled there's a famous verse which says desire if you try to satisfy desire if you become you want us to become satisfied keep on fulfilling desires that's what we all do it will never be fulfilled it just like pouring ghee into the fire the fire just blazes up even more desire keeps on increasing you think i've got so many desires let me fulfill them i will be satisfied no by the time we have fulfilled a few you will find they have doubled or tripled in number variety fulfillment decreases as we go through life fulfilling desires actually total fulfillment keeps shrinking i was thinking look at a child's face you know toddler's face beaming innocent full of joy teenagers face cool relaxed doesn't want even if he's happy doesn't want you to see the joy young person's face busy thinking old person's face [Music] unhappy why the old person should be happier than the baby because the old person has fulfilled so many desires unhappy more desires you fulfill the more it comes then this bhaja govindam shankaracharya sings that balastava the child is engrossed in play with toys the youth the youth is in the young boys engrossed in the maiden boys and girls then the old person is engrossed in cares and anxieties and worries nobody is interested in meditating on brahman shankaracharya is beveling the fact that after all this teaching of vedanta nobody is interested they are interested in other things therefore what do you do bhaja them worship the lord worship the lord fulfillment not possible karma it is a it's a wrong track we are taking karma um whereas god realization is possible fulfillment is possible what proof why should we believe you look at the lives of enlightened people who in whichever tradition whichever religion those who you consider to be saints they are deeply fulfilled they are the only ones who are truly fulfilled ever no matter in their external life whatever challenges they have to face they are internally they are deeply fulfilled um then one more difference is so not only we have desire for things we have desires for the means of fulfilling those desires so money is a means so we have money to buy buy food and houses and enjoyments but we have desired for the means of that also that means the money itself also it becomes an object of desire so things which we desire in the world plus the means to get those things those also becomes objects of desire whereas in spiritual life for god realization the desire for god and there is the desire for meditation and devotion and service and study of vedanta what we are doing right now these are also desires all of these desires are also not to be counted among karma the desires for fulfilling worldly desires are to be counted among karma worldly the desires for those things which will lead us to god realization those desires are also good they are not to be counted as worldly desires and then last one is viveka viveka worldly desires are the result of lack of discernment aviva it is foolishness and put it in other words foolishness stupidity leads to worldly desires and viveka this uh nityanitya eternal non-eternal god alone is real the world is not real this instinctive feeling we have not realized it yet but this feeling is there that leads to the desire for god realization another simple question was so what are the desires how can life go on without desire and what desire should are to be kept or not so life can go on without desire without karma see life depends on on objects people and your actions objects people actions that's what life depends on not on desire so the things in the world food and a place to stay and activities to do and the people around you your own body and mind these are the things which sustain life this can go on without desire desire is internal the things which are which are concerned with life are there out there so they can go on law of karma will keep on giving results and life will go on so you don't have to worry what will happen to the world if i give up all desire no and then minimum necessary for body that is completely acceptable and in accordance with spiritual life food rest exercise even a little bit a little bit of relaxation aha later on krishna will say a balanced life so just because you have to give up all desires doesn't mean that you start starving yourself and not not exercising not keeping up your health no what one must do is what kama does is it takes you away from kartavya ishta devata swarupa that means it takes you away from duty what we have to do in life karma diverts us from that kartavya you have got a mantra and the form of god you meditate on karma diverts you from that takes you away from israel you notice in our own lives it's a very important suggestions you notice in our own life and the self atma our real nature calm all this diversity from that so kartab what you have to do in life desire prevents you from doing that or engages you something else and focusing on god mantra and ishta devata desire takes you away from that and being centered in your nature as atman desire of course takes you away from that how do you do karma yoga is the best solution for giving up karma this is the last point i'll make karma yoga is the best solution what is karma yoga with this physical body notice this gross body physical bodies thula sharira is not mine it is part of samsara it is true notice when we say this is my body i am cutting up this physical body from an ocean of matter which is out there this entire universe out there it's one unbroken ocean of matter i cut off at this skin and say this much is mine the rest is not me this is false this physical body is part of this entire universe your body is part of samsara samsara belongs to god so the entire universe belongs to god including this body mind this a mind is a part of an ocean of mind cosmic mind hiranyakarba not my mind good and bad whatever is there it's part of an unbroken ocean of mind it belongs to god and the causal body which is the karana sharira that is part of the maya shakti of god so basically idea is the three bodies which we have stulla sukshma karana gross body subtle body causal body this is what we have right now we take hold of these falsely illegitimately they don't belong to us we take hold of these and then we try to use it for our own bhoga for our own enjoyment this is samsara acknowledge the fact these do not belong to me they do not obey me i have not created them i don't own them they have come to me as part of this universe this gross universe circle universe causal universe they all belong they are the glories of god knowing this now for the time being that i have i'm in charge of this physical body mental body i use the physical body for the welfare of the world i use the mental body thought of god sort of of of of you know welfare of others well-wisher that i wish everybody well never wish harm to anybody because this mind with which i be wish harm to anybody is not my mind it belongs to god use it to be a well-wisher of the world and the causal body use it for stillness that's the place where everything is resolved in silence physical body for the welfare of the world for the service of god mental body to think well of the everybody in the world to wish everybody well and to love god and the causal body to be in silence and stillness to be absorbed in samadhi on god so this is this is the deepest form of karma yoga swami rangana sanji put it so simply all of this he said when i close my eyes in meditation i find peace within causal body stillness when i open my eyes my attitude is what can i do for you whoever family community world so this is karma yoga let me quickly go through some of the giant do you have people who want to ask something remember yes swamiji so this was a question more about that uh two cross two matrix that you talked about so there actually what is today not my prakruti may be my prakriti tomorrow right like maybe with the experiences and evolving personalities or whatever yeah so swadharma is not like fixed in stone no it is it's dynamic and in fact one must change it one must change it encourage the positive spiritual aspects and bring under control that which is worldly so what is the line that differentiates one from the other to say okay maybe today i'm not ready for something and a few days or months or whatever down the line you will see you will see this what what we would try to do is the four yogas devotion meditation seva and inquiry which are these are the four things that we do yoga bhakti yoga karma yoga raja yoga as we do it you will see something seem mechanical and lifeless the other things seem appealing to you so that is more your prakriti some are by nature they like vedanta which are by nature some are active and dynamic they want to do good to others and it seems alive some are by nature very devotional full of bhakti for god it comes easily to them so do those and as you said keep the other ones also that's what swami vivekananda is teaching was the harmony of four yogas it's not the fault of the other yogas that it does not appeal to me it's the fault of my prakrti yogas are all excellent so as i keep on doing the yogas even if they are little mechanical or lifeless for me at present i will i am slowly changing my prakriti and getting ready to you know to do that they will become alive for me as my prakruti changes yes thank you you're next pranam maharaja um i'm sorry we missed the initial part of your discussion of swadharma but coming back to the topic uh can you comment something about the swadharma of a working mother with young kids like something that's apparently at loggerheads with each other how to deal with that no the as i said swadharma includes your the role that you are playing remember the five components which i talked about uh one of the components was the asadharan dharma that means the unique role that you have so just like i mentioned my own example i took charge of a college and i was not willing to take the responsibility of being the principal similarly so you have a young mother who is working as a career and has got kids very tough role to play because there are enormous demands on your time and energy now both you have accepted if you are working in a job there is a responsibility that you have taken up and you're a mother that's a responsibility that you have taken up and both you must you must do to the best of your ability as far as possible is it possible it's possible it will be a compromise in both cases a compromise you see i used to find this a lot in india i was when i was the principal for college so i had interaction with other professors and you know different colleges in calcutta often the ladies who were teachers they had this dilemma again again generally the husbands don't have this dilemma if they do something in the house they are praised for it that oh see how good and helpful he is but the ladies they have to do both they have to look after their career and be good in that and come back home and do all the work take care of the kids and the kitchen and whatever and people will say yeah that's just her job so it's really difficult and also i noticed women also have a little more than men i think have a sense of guilt they always feel you're not good enough somehow not doing enough i don't men generally think they're doing enough and more than enough then it comes so it's relaxed and so easy you know so yeah the one thing i used to tell them was that whatever you're doing um both are good both are part of your dharma so don't have regrets about it if you are in the midst of a career and you have to take care of kids also yes it will be a compromise so what don't don't regret it and go ahead and do it to the best of your ability if there are some who gave up their job and career look after the kids so there also i told them there also don't regret it own up to the fact that you took a decision to stop working and look after the kids afterwards what happens is 10 20 years later and sit down and grumble that the husband and the kids nobody is giving you credit i sacrifice so much for you and nobody no don't say that also there also you are saying that they should now give me credit for it and nobody's giving me credit credit for what i did no i took the decision it is my it is the role that i took up consciously and i took the decision that i will give up the job and look after the kids and that's what i did i have no regrets about it or i did the job and looked after the kids as far as possible i have no regrets about that also karma yoga is doing all of that as a service to the lord you see the joy comes when you see this body this mind stula sharida sukshma sharira these do not belong to me the lord has given these and i am using it in the service of the lord as long as we appropriate to ourselves a part of samsara this is mine and this what is going on inside his mind now i will use them for my own satisfaction there is no happiness there the lord you have given me this job this samsara and the means to take care of it let me offer the what is lord's in uh to the to what is lords there's a saying in bengali gangajala ganga puja so ganga the river ganga is there how do you worship every puja you offer ganga water but to ganga when you're offering worship what will you offer you love for ganga water similarly to lord samsara whenever you're offering worship through karma yoga we are offering worship with this body and mind which is also part of the lord samsara i take no ownership of it that is the central thing i watch i am the at the level of the physical body i am doing all the actions house community office my career at the level of the mind well-wisher husband children colleagues i'm a well-wisher let me see what i can do what can i do for you when you have that attitude there is freedom and peace of mind and at the end of the day and at the end of the career and of the family life at the end of our own physical life also there will be peace joy and freedom can i ask a question yes so um in workplace when there are like conflicts and you know if you are the person who's supposed to take a decision uh and you you know make judgments to the best of your abilities and when the report questions come like you know you don't really respond to that and you see that as expected and you just gonna offer that to the lord also one of the issues i encounter is that when i look at my own reaction say okay fine i'm not react to it reacting to it does that have a tendency of growing into a spiritual ego that oh so there is this you know like low back but it does not affect me because i have offered like you know yes there is there is but don't overthink it don't overthink it don't agonize over it unnecessarily but were you pointed to something important in karma yoga forgiveness is very important as we continuously practice forgiveness towards others we also earn forgiveness for ourselves this is part of the lord's prayer in christianity so important it's foundational to christianity that you continuously forgive where you think people are hurting you misbehaving against you mentally forgive externally depending on the situation you may have to be firm you may have to be assertive or you may ignore it but mentally keep on forgiving if necessary ask for forgiveness whether the other person forgives or not it does not matter god forgives that is foundational for karma yoga you cannot hold on to grudges and then practice karma yoga yes that's a good point anybody else or we'll end the class we have as usual gone well over time there are two questions yes okay great so um going back to donna a little bit because i love the characters in the maharana because they're so complex and rich and there's not just a good guy and a bad guy everybody's got their things you know how much of dirty donna's personality is because of his karma like is it his karma who's making him do some kind of things like this and also genetics maybe because he's got chikuni who he's related to like egging him on and is shakuni just you know does shikuni know the difference between right and wrong or is he also just you know stoking is he just stoking the fire to get what he wants right um you have a huge project which you have to undertake and i know that about the maha the musical yes yes um so the first point as you said that's very important about the mahabharata the ramayana especially the mahabharata where all these texts geeta or the upanishads or the other advaithic texts they seem so neat and geometrical when you read them but life is messy so when you actually implement it in life and you come into contact with others it's not at all so clear-cut neither the practices nor the results not the characters they are everything is complex and that's why the mahabharata is interesting uh on purpose even the most ideal characters things which look like defects have been introduced into them even the most uh villainous characters things which look like virtues have been introduced into them so yes there is nature and nurture in both of them um one insight i'll share here the karma the desire which propels all of this is um is not because of our genetics or even because of our the nature which has come through many lifetimes now here immediately we'll say but didn't you say all the likes and aversions likes and dislikes they boil up from within because of the conditioning of past lives and this life yes here's the point what krishna is driving at here and he said it earlier also the desire you know the passion or the anger or the greed or the hatred that may boil up from within because of my conditioning that will come up the next moment is open to us for the briefest of moments there is a window of decision-making and opportunity that is open to us if we play that right then our destiny and life takes us godward if we don't seize that moment then what is programmed into us that plays out and that will also make us spiritual but over time through a lot of suffering through a lot of evolution everybody is going to realize god even duryodhana even shakuni um ultimately enlightenment is there for everybody but the the suffering so i'm viveka and the sort of half humorously he said take your time you have infinite time before you but it's only half humorous because it's not a pleasant thing to con consider that many lifetimes we may be whirled around so that the precise answer to your question is the desire the karma which arises and its products greed or anger they arise because of our conditioning both genetics and the influence of the world around us and also the dispositions we have brought as baggage from many lifetimes so they arise that's true but at that moment whether to nurture them nourish them hold on to them and then express it as speech and action or not or to replace it with something which we have learned now we have studied we have learned we have aspired towards peace of mind enlightenment and light um that we have freedom we have that's like our um our free will exactly comes into play yes yes it's like a test all the time it seems like right uh i can put it that way or you can say that it's a power the power of decision making it's like a super power you have to completely change your life even in the tiniest way but that power you have when all the time all the time you've got that power even if i don't exercise it now the next moment when i do it i have it yeah viveka shows me the difference between what i should do and what i should not do and then the decision i will do this yes it's born of viveka without viveka we will not know what to do and what not to do right very good on that note let us conclude today [Music] very good let me see all of you thank you so much thank you thank you take care everybody stay safe stay safe take care oh i can see vasu and who is that with vasu yes thank you thank you take care orinidi is also there no [Music] stay safe