Video 43

43. Bhagavad Gita I Chapter 4 Verses 1-3 I Swami Sarvapriyananda

[Music] [Music] welcome everybody to the fall session of the bhagavad-gita class i trust all of you are keeping well and thank you for joining us we were able to complete the third chapter of the bhagavad-gita before we closed for summer and we will start the fourth chapter today so just to take a very quick look back in the first chapter arjuna's sorrow we are introduced to arjuna's troubles basically that represents sorrow and suffering in human life the human condition and in the second chapter krishna gives a solution an answer a very deep profound answer to the question of suffering how to overcome suffering and the answer we know what krishna gave in the second chapter was knowledge of the self this dramatic very profound revelation that we are not this limited person that we are not this limited body or this limited mind we are this infinite existence consciousness place which is which is the real nature of the soul it's called the atman the self and we do not know this we have no inkling of it and therefore we think that we are this limited person this individuality which we have got right now this limited mortal being subject to birth and aging and disease and death want and suffering and that's all we know about ourselves so what krishna said is that if we if we know our real nature if we could discover this reality which is already there and we realize that we are this atman or brahman then all our suffering would be at an end we would realize that chidan and rupa hashiba of the nature of consciousness and bliss this would become a living reality not just something read about and fear in theory not just something that we believe in but actually experienced and that would put an end to all our sorrow now naturally arjuna's primary question was not about philosophy not even about enlightenment his question was about the problem which he was facing the problem of this action which he had to undertake this battle he had to fight against his own relatives should he do that or should he not do that so basically the question of action it is wonderful to know that our real nature is infinite existence consciousness place and hopefully we will realize it but what about this present life what about this person even if i am not it i'm still stuck with it it still appears to me i'm still experiencing it the people around me the problems of life and the inevitable problems of the passage of time of aging and decay and death the problems of loss and suffering which we are seeing so much now because of the pandemic we are exposed to it all the time the suffering all around us the threat this invisible threat of infection and disease and the news of near and dear ones getting infected suffering some have had lost have lost relatives and near and dear ones and we read about well-known people famous people across the world who are passing away because of this illness so we are continuously exposed to the frailty of human existence the how frail life is how even innocent transient life is so what do we do with this life with this body and mind there krishna sets forth the doctrine of karma yoga so the the way to realize the self is gana yoga the path of knowledge and the way to spiritualize our limited life the life which we have right here how do we spiritualize this how do we handle it sri krishna gives the great teaching of karma yoga of detached selfless action converting our action into a worship of god spiritualizing our action so this was the teaching in the second chapter in fact the second chapter is the essence of the geetha krishna does not beat about the bush he goes straight to the point so he has given the central teaching atma gyana self-realization and shankaracharya says tadupaya bhutam the way to that so karma yoga spiritualizing our day-to-day life is a way to self-realization is a help to self-realization is a necessary preparation to self-realization so this is what krishna teaches and that is the theme of the bhagavad-gita again at the very end 18th chapter the gita has 18 chapters so at the very end he will again quickly summarize the entire teachings in different words so in between it is the teaching in detail from chapter number three to chapter number 17 everything is said in detail it reminds me of a professor of communication i had when i was a student so he said the rule of giving a speech or giving a talk the rule is tell them what you are going to tell them then tell them and finally tell them what you have told them so first you have to say what you're going to say and then say it in detail and then finally you sum it up you say this is what i said so that's that's the perfect formula for transmitting knowledge and that's what has been done in the bhagavad-gita even shorter formula i heard i read somewhere is how to give a talk stand up speak up shut up stand up speak up shut so notice the whole project of the bhagavad-gita is enlightenment god realization moksha whatever you call it so gita is what is called a moksha sastra a text a scripture which deals with the ultimate goal of human life human immense emancipation liberation freedom from suffering that is the purpose of the bhagavad gita why i'm saying this is not that you cannot find other things in the bhagavad-gita there's a lot of material in this amazing insights into human psychology you can find leadership lessons for management studies you can find i know there is there are professors of uh business management not listening to us right now so yes you can actually find uh wonderful insights into leadership wonderful insights into how teaching can be done education how to teach something wonderful insights into the human psychology insights into friendship and into the control of the mind into overcoming sorrow endless insights one can gain from this but the gita is primarily not a text of of education business management or even physical health although there are teachings about how to be healthy how to eat well all of those things are there it is primarily a text of enlightenment of god realization it's called moksha sastra why i'm saying this is i remember during my fellowship at harvard we had a course on the bhagavad-gita and there was discussions see unless this is known that it leads to confusion so is the gita a text dealing with warfare because the context is it's a it's a civil war between two groups of cousins basically so what what is the gita's philosophy on warfare it is not about warfare if you say no it is no use you are saying it but the bhagavad gita is definitely set in the battlefield so it must be about warfare no it's not because i am seeing it for over 1400 years all the commentaries the oldest commentary we have on the bhagavad-gita is shankar acharyas about 1400 years ago but after that so many ramanujacharya's commentary and sridhara swami's commentary abhinava gupta's commentary madhvacharya's commentary so many commentaries the classical sanskrit commentaries it's a big corpus of work nowhere do they ever discuss the issue what kind of war is it should this war be fought or not fought that is not the issue that is just the setting the background and very quickly the discussion becomes about about knowledge and the self about god about devotion about meditation about transforming action into spiritual practice about yoga basically so that is what the central message of the bhagavad-gita is the central message of the bhagavad-gita is nothing other than the central message of the upanishads so the the teaching of of spiritual knowledge that is the central message again not denying the fact that you can derive lot of benefit lot of insights for different spheres of human activity from the bhagavad gita but the central purpose so i insisted again and again in the class remember the central purpose is moksha otherwise you'll end up with these tangles in this confusion what is why is krishna not talking about the war arjuna's question was about the war once krishna starts teaching he's teaching vedanta the war is left far behind if it was about the war it was really about the situation in the mahabharata about the kauravas and the pandavas and the issues between them and the war what interest would it have to us today why would mahatma gandhi be interested in the bhagavad-gita would draw his inspiration from the bhagavad-gita so why would generations of indians and non-indians in recent times why would they derive inspiration from the bhagavad-gita if it's about a war fought between an ancient times between two groups of cousins since like a civil war in some some royal dynasty thousands of years ago what interest would it have except as a historical curiosity no it is not about war it is about human life and the possibility of a deep solution to the question of suffering in human life a wonderful spiritual philosophy how to live a much better life and how to attain the goal of human life what is the goal of human life how to attain it and how to live a very deeply fulfilling and satisfactory life in this world where your life is a blessing to you and to everyone else around you so that's the purpose of the bhagavad-gita in the third chapter arjuna asked for further details about karma yoga so remember when we are studying from the advaita vedanta perspective the paradigm is clear we do not know we are brahman or atman and we need to know that we need to realize it so ignorance is the problem and knowledge is the solution but knowledge will not come unless the mind is prepared unless the character is ready so to prepare the ground all the other sadhana spiritual practices meditation selfless service devotion to god karma yoga raja yoga bhakti yoga all of these in the advaita vedanta paradigm they are all useful they do not directly lead to moksha into enlightenment and liberation but they are very useful they prepare the ground and then when the when the seeker is prepared the teaching of vedanta the teaching of self-knowledge it works you get liberation so that is the paradigm now why i'm saying that is that is from the advaita vedanta perspective so advaita vedanta will say yes it's a moksha rastra every system of indian philosophy will say yes the bhagavad gita is a moksha sastra i mean of of orthodox indian philosophy we will say bhagavad gita as a moksha sastra but what is the central message is it knowledge or is it devotion is it action that will depend upon the the school of philosophy you adhere to in the advaita vedanta school of philosophy the central teaching is knowledge but if you go to one of the vaishnava vedanta schools they will say the central teaching is bhakti so it depends on on the paradigm the intellectual paradigm through which you are examining the bhagavad-gita now chapter 4 so chapter 2 is the whole bhagavad-gita in a nutshell chapter 3 is a detailed analysis of karma yoga and its relation to ghana yoga chapter 4 is actually about ghana yoga chapter 4 is also about gyani yoga the path of knowledge but there are other details there are interesting things for example this is the first time that krishna will speak about himself as an avatar as an incarnation of god so that's a very interesting detail so let us start the fourth chapter i'll chant the first verse i [Music] what does it mean the blessed lord said krishna said this immutable yoga this unchanging spiritual teaching i taught it to the sun god viva swan who taught it to manu and manu proclaimed it to ikshwaku so what's going on here this is basically what is called um gyanas tutti or geeta stuti a praise of the knowledge the knowledge which has already been imparted in second chapter and third chapter yoga karma yoga the way to attain self-knowledge and the preparatory practices of karma yoga these have already been taught second chapter third chapter now krishna is saying this spiritual knowledge which i have taught you just now i taught it to the sun god ikshwaku in the days of yore i taught it to sun god ikshwaku who taught it to his son this is not their two sons here s-u-n and s-o-n sun god is s-u-n uh the name used is viva swan the worst one is the name of of the sun why it means that which nourishes food annam anna means food so food is nourished by the sun what it means is the sun obviously causes evaporation and rainfall which helps in the growth of crops also the sunlight as we know it helps in photosynthesis and the growth of plants basically food is nourished by the sun the sun is called viva swan the sun god at the beginning of creation i gave this knowledge to the sun god and and then the sun god passed on this knowledge to to his son now it is esson son who is manu and manu passed on this knowledge to the ancient king ikshwaku so he is giving the lineage of this knowledge one of the ways in which knowledge is praised is in ancient scriptures you will find it in the old testament also i remember i went to this synagogue which is very close to the vedanta society just two blocks away it's the oldest synagogue in the united states more than 300 years ago the spanish portuguese synagogue so i attended one of the shabbat there and they were reading from the uh the torah and a lot of it was this is the son of this he was the son of this and the son of this person was that person and so on so it's a lineage similarly here he's giving a lineage of this knowledge already he's indicating who he is it can't be this krishna this krishna was um was is a contemporary of arjuna born a few years just before arjuna how could he give this knowledge to um to the sun god who the you know which is created at the beginning of the universe probably so so here is indicating two things i have given this knowledge in ancient times one of the the primary role of the avatar is to teach spirituality the primary role of the avatar is to teach spirituality it will come later in details but when we say chat the mantra to sri ramakrishna the one who establishes religion so to re-establish our faith in religion that spirituality is real that it's a real solution real answer to our questions that it is of enormous benefit to us that it takes us to the real goal of human life this is taught by the incarnation so that is the prime role of the incarnation and this he says i did this i taught this knowledge at the beginning of creation to the sun god viva swan and viva swan taught it to to his son manu manu is regarded as the the origin of the founder of the human race in sanskrit human beings are called manavaha so manava comes from manu and each cycle each time the universe is created and it exists for some time you know we have a cyclical theory of creation existence and destruction so the universe has been created and existed and it was destroyed many times in the past so in this present cycle every every cycle there is a uh manu who creates the human race so this is the way it is understood so in this cycle the manu is called the particular manu who was there at the source of all our human beings is called vivasvatamanu so you will see in sanskrit hymns and in rituals the word will come again and again in the age of the vivasvataramanu who is this this is our age the universe we live in so that vaiva swatamanu who was at the beginning of the human race you can take it in a symbolic form that god has given this spiritual knowledge that's all it means in the upanishads it it comes munda ko panishad it says i gave this knowledge of the vedas to brahma just at the beginning of creation and brahma taught it to the rishis so in the vedas and the upanishads it is god who reveals this knowledge to the first sentient beings long before there are human beings so this spiritual knowledge comes and that's another indication that the bhagavad-gita is nothing other than the essential spiritual knowledge which is given in the vedas the vedas are this mass of spiritual knowledge some of it is karma kanda which is to help human beings to achieve their worldly goals kama dharma dharma here is the ritualistic religion of the vedas karma and urtha means our worldly goals of prosperity of pleasure we can we can take the help of the ritualistic portion of the vedas to achieve um satisfaction and happiness in this world and the next world but the essence of the vedic teaching the highest veding teaching is spiritual and that is found in the upanishads which are also parts of the vedas the the highest the final the ultimate teaching of of the vedas is in the upanishads that's why it is called vedanta anta here means not just end it really means siddhanta the final conclusion the conclusive highest ultimate teachings of the vedas and those essential teachings of the vedas found in the upanishads has been taught now by me krishna to you arjuna where second chapter and third chapter so what i taught you is in the essence of the upanishads and what is the essence of the upanishads it's the final teaching ultimate teaching of the vedas and all of this the vedas and upanishads those teachings i have been giving to all sentient beings from the beginning of creation that's the meaning of this verse and what did manu do he gave it to the ancient kings starting with ikshwaku now notice one thing they are all householders just like krishna and arjuna so one important point that spirituality is it just for rishis for monks and sages no all of them who are being mentioned here so in some sense the sun god is also a householder and there probably is a mrs sun god also and then manu is definitely a householder ikeshiwaku is a householder they are all griestas krishna is agriasta arjuna is the grayasad so they are all a lineage of householders that means this highest spirituality they can attain perfection through this people from ancient times through this these practices people have been attaining liberation overcoming suffering attaining moksha um what else abdyayam yoga he says the unchanging eternal spiritual teaching yoga here means the spiritual teaching just take it as yoga and karma yoga together there are different interpretations there is one commentator who says that see third chapter was talking about karma yoga so that that is being continued here so fourth chapter when he says i taught this eternal yoga krishna means i taught karma yoga too but you can take it as the whole spiritual teaching shankaracharya takes it as the entire spiritual teaching this whole upanishadic teaching in the gita which i have given you is eternal is unchanging it is the essence of religion this is what is meant by sanatana dharma eternally this this knowledge spiritual knowledge has been existing from age to age it is given to human beings it is the essence of all religions you see i say that vedanta is at the core of all religions one might say isn't it being fanatical to say that i said no by vedanta i don't mean that you have to use the word vedanta upanishads or gita basically this highest spirituality this is to be found in all religions elder suchly he used the term perennial philosophy perennial philosophy very beautiful book he shows the highest spiritual thoughts are found very directly very powerfully in the vedanta in india but in its essence it is there in every religion without it a religion will not be a religion i will be as so bold as to say without this vedantic ideas the central spiritual ideas religion is just a mass of myths and superstitions so every religion has this core and that's why he says abdi i am this unchanging spiritual truth from age to age you find it just as an aside i'll just actually in the first chapter he talks about that tattwa masi the highest truth of the upanishads that i am brahman that's the ultimate reality that you and the ultimate reality of the universe are one reality and then he makes an interesting observation he says the usual academic way of dealing with it is that in the vedas you find a gradual evolution of ideas from polytheistic to one ultimate god of the universe and then from ritualism to knowledge to to meditation to knowledge to ultimately the identity ahmram has me so like an evolution but elders actually says my instinct is that this ultimate spiritual truth was always there with humanity even in prehistoric times he says it's quite possible there were spiritual people who realized this now recently i was discussing this with swami tadaanandaji who is now in brisbane he's our new head of our our new center in new zealand but right now due to the the pandemic lockdown he is in brisbane in australia he was doing some research with the australian aborigines which were a very ancient people so they have something called the dream time uh a spiritual state they talk about and he was saying this this ancient idea of this this fundamental idea of the divine unity that is one reality underlying all of nature and one must identify with it they have it they have had it for i mean the aborigines have been there for at least 40 000 so long before our civilizations or the world civilizations came about they were there and they had some kind of you know pre-advertising knowledge of this divine unity so it's there everywhere abdi i am now at this point what i'll do is in this ram sugdasjee's book geeta the sadhak sanjivani he has made many wonderful observations so i will quickly share those with you about this first verse or fourth chapter so he also mentions notice that they are all grihastas whoever has been mentioned here ah in this first verse so spiritual realization is possible not only in monastic life but also in household life this is one central point then the second point he makes the relationship between jiva and brahman between the between the human and god is eternal relationship now i would like to interject something here ram sugdesti was a vishishtadvaitan he was not non-dualist so the qualified non-dualism of ramanujacharya says not that you and brahman are one brahmas me not in that sense in vishishta dweta there is one divine reality brahman which they identify with narayana and all of us all sentient beings all living jivas we are all parts we are one with narayana but we are parts of narayana not identical so we have a relationship with god relationship is of part and whole in sanskrit amsha amshi another term used is seisha sheishi all sentient beings are called sheisha or amsa parts aspects of the divine whole and the divine whole god brahman narayana is called amshi or sheishi we all have all heard of naga on which vishnu reclines so that's where the term comes from shesha now what ramsar dusty says so our relation with god is eternal you don't have to do anything to establish that relationship it's already there and the path to god realization the path to the realization of this relationship what is the path what is the path the path of knowledge the path of meditation the path of devotion the path of devoted service karma bhakti gyana dhyana all these paths these paths are also eternal your relation to god is eternal and your path to god is also eternal that's an important point he wants to make our relation with god is already there you don't have to establish a relationship so notice the difference between advaita advaita would say you and god are one reality identical he is saying you're not identical but you have a relation with god but both are similar in one sense that your identity with brahman that you are brahman is already there we just don't know it and ram suggest or vishishta dwight vedanta ramanuja is saying your relation with god is already there we don't know it so what do you have to do why don't we know it because we are engrossed with the non-eternal our eternal relationship with god is forgotten not recognized because we are engrossed with non-eternal what is non-eternal anitya work the activities with the people with the objects of the world with the events of the world good and bad with the temptations and the terrors of the world all non-eternal if it's non-eternal then it's not divine but we are engrossed in that and we have forgotten our eternal relationship with god then the way out is he says is shown by karma yoga all the non-eternal parts which we we see right now body my actions my possessions surrender all of them to god say i and my lord that's all everything else is for samsara for the service of god not for me so if you surrender our non-eternal relations with the world and hold on to the eternal relation with god this is the way this is essence of karma yoga he has given seven nice insights into karma yoga from his entire commentary and just drew it out seven nice insights which i will quickly share sun god the example of sun god viva swan so he says that he i mean ramsay does he says look at the sun which shines and gives light and heat to the world selflessly and continuously always active blazing forth always active and the light which the sun shines on the world is completely detached from what it shines on it shines on the good and on the bad it shines on good events and bad events it shines on problems and shines on solutions and it is not affected by anything in the world so he says this is a great model for karma yogi continuously active and totally detached so sun is a very great model for karma yogi so that's a nice insight and sun is always there you see the sun now you can remember what is the sun doing karma yoga sun is doing yoga i should also be like the son i should continuously act give and be detached not be affected by anything which is non-eternal the second insight he gives is see we always act to get we do all our actions to get things from the world and notice in all our experiences in the world whatever we do food and music and engagement and our electronic devices our friends and relatives education all of it all kinds of pleasure and achievement in the world kama and artha all kinds including name and fame glory all of that it declines in its value we chase it we get it when we start enjoying it very quickly the happiness we get from it the satisfaction we get from it it declines so i was reminded of the first teaching in economics the law of diminishing marginal utility the whole point of economic activity is that we have desires and this desires must be satisfied for that we do economic activity work and produce things consume things as we consume things the things which we want they give us satisfaction but the satisfaction the the thing to notice is the satisfaction from the first unit of consumption eat a cookie lot of satisfaction eat a second cookie less satisfaction eat a third cookie no satisfaction eat a fourth cookie you'll be like you'll feel sick so marginal utility the utility from the each additional unit of consumption declines so this was one of the first things that is taught to us in economics and this uh brahms dusty says this is the nature of all worldly bhoga it is he sounds like a pessimistic reigning on our parade all your activities all humans he says they are doomed to end in dissatisfaction the you are doing it everything for satisfaction the satisfaction will disappear just like that very soon bound to all the anitya impermanent entities in the world if you chase them it could be a person it could be money it could be activity it could be some status it will disappear very soon and if the satisfaction from it will disappear on the other hand the satisfaction from the lord from bhakti from meditation from karma yoga and from knowledge from all the yogas the satisfaction keeps on increasing and even when one attains god realization it's not that the satisfaction is now then steady or declines no prama he says the bhakti becomes prema love of the lord intense love of god and that every day every hour it is increasing narada bhakti sutra also says pratik sanam moment to moment it keeps on increasing just the opposite of all worldly pursuits then this is the um second insight third insight how should one do karma yoga he says in hindi abner abner three things don't work for yourself don't want anything for yourself and don't possess even the things are there but mentally don't say these are mine all of this is the lord's i will do everything for the lord i do not want anything for myself everything i do is for the worship of the lord yes i may want good things for other people let others be happy like swan video said give give and never look back he who looks back his ocean dwindles into a drop so the idea of karma yoga is just the opposite of the usual idea of karma karma is we do things for ourselves and we want things and then we get those things we identify these are mine these are mine he says reverse all of that all the same activity can be done mental change in the perspective i am not doing it for myself one but then don't you want anything no i don't want anything he says it's foolishness to want whatever you want will disappear into from within minutes from within a short while all satisfaction from those things will disappear and the things themselves will also disappear soon and then the third thing is never say that these are mine even though you have don't worry i mean it's not that all your positions will disappear everything will be there but mentally say all this belongs to the lord these people around me my relatives they are the lord's people people colleagues at my work people in my community the lord has come in in those forms so not mine and not for myself and not work for myself so three things don't work for yourself don't want anything for yourself don't even have the sense of possession even when things and people are around you fourth fourth point is kamana mamata asaki same thing in other way he's saying these create impurity desire creates impurity more you give up desire less desire there is the more purity you will feel within yourself a kind of freedom and a natural holiness will come to you the less identification you have mamata means identification this is mine that is not mine these are my people those are not my people all are my people and i am detached from all so that is the more you are detached the more you are attached more impurity more you are detached more sense of purity will come and asakti asakti is attachment actually the mamata is identification it is mine and not mine ascertains attachment to a work to a place to a food to a person our attachment should be to god and through god to everybody else my lord is present in all of them fine but my attachment is the law to the lord and lord alone this is purifying the opposite is it creates impurity in the mind then the next point he makes is fifth point should there be no desire for result he says no there should be no desire for the result of my actions karma yoga no desire for the result of my action but that does not mean that i will not have a gay a goal there must be a goal there is a goal in life the goal in life is to experience god is to realize god is to overcome suffering is to attain moksha spiritual goal is there so karma yoga has the highest goal but no selfish desire for results so desire for result is not the same thing as not having a goal there is a goal of life and all my karma yoga is for the goal of life but um the desire for results is given up lot of people ask how can you do anything if you don't have a desire you can do something you have if you have a very high goal of purpose in life you just don't have a it's not a personal selfish desire the goal in life is god realization that does not mean that there is going to be particular selfish desires then the sixth point he may says is very beautiful he says once you start acting in this unselfish way karma is converted into karma yoga the power of god will act through you the power of god will manifest through you how you see the lord is continuously engaged in the welfare of all beings if you if we start engaging ourselves our time energy money and the welfare of all beings then our purpose and god's purpose we may be tiny and god is cosmic but our purpose is now in harmony with god's purpose you desire the welfare of everybody god also desires the welfare of everybody so the power of god starts working through you and we see it it's not a rhetorical point he's making i see it all the time ordinary person is transformed into something extraordinary just because that person does not want anything for himself or herself and wants good for others may not even believe in god but once the person wants something just good for others and has no personal acts to grind then a unique power descends on that person tremendous i know this person has so many such examples i know who transformed their lives ordinary people became extraordinary just because they gave up their ordinary desires and they only had the desire of goodness for others and their lives become becomes extraordinary and then finally one a practical suggestion neither seek nor avoid this swami vivekananda saying neither seek nor avoid so now i'm going to practice karma yoga so now what are you doing i am browsing to see a suitable you know program action social service program which will which is worthy of my great karma yoga from now on no don't have to do that he says in hindi ram sugdas ji whatever situation one is in with whomever you are in with whatever resources you have maybe you have no resources at all just yes person who who is completely helpless may be a person just lying down in the bed and sick that person also every situation can be spiritualized whatever situation one is in with whomever we are with and whatever little resource we have if i change my attitude to it that i am going to worship the lord with all of this and i don't want anything i don't identify with anything i don't possess anything if i do that it becomes karma yoga so these are the seven nice insights into karma yoga ram suggasti has given let me quickly take questions i don't know are there people who have raised hands giant okay so let me just go ahead then verse number two verse number two foreign the royal sages have known this yoga rajashi means a royal sage a king a philosopher king basically royal sages have known this yoga thus traditionally transmitted or valiant prince due to lapse of long time passage of time this yoga has perished in this world so what is he saying here first of all the concept of a rajashi raja is a king so again kritriyas the warriors who are all householders it's not enough to be a householder or akshatriya one must be a philosophical or a spiritual householder a spiritual king swami vivekananda has spoken about this how you find in the history of vedanta this knowledge has been handed down from kings and princes even in the upanishads you find janaka is a is a it's an emperor um there are others also ajatasha you find they are emperors and kings swami vivekananda said these ancient monarchs they were people of enormous power and responsibility if they could find time and the motivation to practice these things how much more so we should be able to do that we keep complaining we have no time we are busy are you more busy than an emperor not today's emperors who are figureheads but in those ancient days so they are rajarshi they found it useful that this is something useful for their practical life for their their action their ruling the kingdom and for their own spiritual life also and so they practiced it rajarshi parampara pratham so it has been transmitted from teacher to students sometimes they were teachers and students sometimes from parents to children sometimes we find fathers teaching the sons sometimes we find mother teaching the children so it has been transmitted down in an unbroken lineage and at the source of which is krishna he says i taught it at the beginning but what happened here mahata over time this transmission of knowledge decays it degenerates the essential message is lost and religion becomes overcome like a like a garden with weeds the flowering plant the whole point of the garden is now lost because now there are all kinds of weeds and brambles and patrons what happens is it's nothing it's not the problem with religion not the problem the original teaching it's just human frailty rituals overcome the the spirit is lost ritualism predominates or politics comes into play violence comes into play or greed uh enters into religion organized religion then the necessity of the organization becomes more important than the spirituality unethical practices creep into religious organizations all of this leads to degeneration so the commentators say the teachers and the practitioners of the spiritual knowledge they become distracted by the many temptations of the world and they lose the spirit of the original teachings so many temptations krishna is saying to arjuna in mahabharata today if he saw our temptations and our attractions all around the distraction caused by digital age so many devices and he would be stunned i don't know what he would say daniel goleman who who coined the term emotional intelligence so he has written a book focus on concentration because he has heard he was he is saying that he has heard so much from teachers and parents and corporate executives how young people today little kids and even teenagers or even young men and women are so distracted that they can't concentrate from moment to moment their attention keeps flickering and one main reason is this digital technology which we have social media and everything else in fact right now there is a documentary called social dilemma so many people are seeing it now i also saw it recently um and it's about the danger of of social media and after seeing that i'm hearing in university campuses among young people many people are switching off their facebook and their twitter and all of that they're coming out of it because it's so scary when you see that how distracting it can be it is distracting for all worldly pursuits you cannot study properly you cannot do your job properly you cannot maintain your relationships in the household properly and what it what damage it will do to religion spirituality that is beyond imagination so social media distraction in those days also krishna is saying lost degenerated becomes ineffective uninspiring we see before the coming of sri ramakrishna people are losing faith in religion whether religion is just a mass of superstition uh it's just for uneducated people we educate people educated in english education whether we are sophisticated we are like the british rulers and all this local religion hinduism it's all for less educated people less fortunate people we don't believe in all these things so it required somebody like sriram krishna to come and demonstrate at the doorstep of calcutta the doorstep of the the capital of the british empire so you see it was the very strategic meeting place between the western world and india the capital of the british empire in calcutta in those days and the doorstep of that sri ramakrishna demonstrated in his life day in and day out god exists god can be experienced and if god is experienced god is realized the purpose of human life is fulfilled the goal of human life is fulfilled that is the whole purpose of this whole drama of human existence so he demonstrated this and the faith of people was reestablished and he says i chose you krishna says to arjuna why arjuna he says because he will say later on you are my friend that's why i have chosen you arjuna asks the question please teach me and that's why krishna teaches so one must be a willing student to be to be fit for it arjuna represents all of humanity so by teaching arjuna krishna is transmitting the knowledge revivifying that knowledge which was has become weakened over time the same knowledge yoga bhakti yoga karma yoga raja yoga all of this sri krishna is teaching with new force again in the bhagavad-gita to arjuna so that it will be transmitted to the to humankind again exactly like what sri ramakrishna did through swami vivekananda among all the disciples he picked one specifically who would spread it across the world in this age again one more point this also prevents fanaticism the very idea that religious practices can decline through no part of the religion itself and it requires new teaching a new way of understanding religion again new way of presenting religion in a fresh way this prevents fanaticism otherwise what happens is any new attempt will be condemned this is not what is the original teaching and original teacher that much only is right what we find in our old books in our old teachers that's it nothing new can happen in religion why not this idea is very common in hinduism that great teachers will come you may accept an avatar you may not accept an avatar but great teachers will keep coming from age to age and will present religion in a fresh new form as he said the essential teaching is eternal it's there he says from the beginning of the creation i have been giving this teaching but it is given newly each time and a new demonstration of the truths of religion is done each time then number three saivayamayata that same ancient yoga has now been proclaimed to you by me for you are a devotee and my comrade knowledge of this yoga indeed is the highest mystery so it is self-explanatory that yoga which has been which has declined over the centuries over the millennia i have i have given this teaching again to you and he says why you are my friend not only my friend there are many others who are my friends bhaktosi you are devoted devoted to me you have surrendered because arjuna before the second chapter he said i don't understand i give up you teach me so that has to be said i would like to learn and i would like to change and change my life by accepting your your teachings so once we take the position of a student the lord is most willing to teach us bhaktosi may sacrate one great swami who taught the bhagavad-gita many years ago not before well before my time but i got his notes in the first class of the bhagavad-gita he would always say remember who is teaching you this is not a pundit a scholar it's not your professor it's not a philosopher the lord himself incarnation of god is teaching you accept the teachings with that kind of an attitude that kind of a tremendous reverence and alertness this teaching will transform my life it's the most precious thing in the universe for me so that is the attitude one takes to this teaching this is the highest secret one of the names for upanishads is also a secret secret in what sense in the sense that it is valuable it is most valuable supreme secret why most valuable is because it removes all suffering and gives us permanent satisfaction it fulfills our purpose of life whatever we are doing we are doing it unwisely we are seeking satisfaction but we are doing it unwisely you seek it seek satisfaction from the world outside never going to get it seek satisfaction from spirituality from god realization guaranteed that you will get it so uttamam this is the supreme secret and why secret because it is hidden from us it is right here in front of our noses not even front behind our noses it is you yourself but unfortunately our attention is turned outwards so we don't see it it has to be taught it has to be shown pointed out um and i have taught you now arjuna you can imagine he has a quizzical expression on his face he's like hold on i've heard all you said but you are now saying that you taught you krishna you taught it at the beginning of creation to the sun god but you were born just yesterday you're just a little couple of few years older than me i know you are the son of vasudeva devaki you are my contemporary and the sun god was created at the beginning of creation of the universe how could you teach the sun god so that is the question so this is the occasion for krishna to declare himself as an avatar as an incarnation of god not just your friend and not just the son of vasudeva and devaki i am the lord of the universe i'm just reminded of srirama krishna talking to m suddenly in one place he says suddenly he turns upon m and he says tell me i know all your past and your future and suddenly m is overcome by something he does not he feels something you know and he folds his hand he says yes lord you know. so few people recognize girish ghosh recognized narendra recognized but he argued against it and doubted it till the very very end it was very difficult to say this simple man most people think is a madman is he god this simple man who is the charioteer arjuna is a warrior and his chariot a driver shafter is krishna this is god very difficult to accept so arjuna asks this question number four i'll do this and we'll stop and see take questions there might be one or two questions here arjuna [Music] arjuna said your birth was later that of sun viva swan much earlier how then am i to take it that you imparted this yoga in the beginning you know the beginning of the universe how is that possible so this is the question and krishna will use it to introduce the the concept of avatar incarnation of god that we will see next time yes i think giant somebody has asked a question yes so that means the spiritual lesson should always be learned by a realized master and self-study might lead to misinterpretation um realized master the two components to the question you just asked one is can self-study be lead to misinterpretation should it be learned from a teacher second part is does the teacher have to be a realized and enlightened being the answer to the first one is yes it might lead to misunderstanding so it's good to learn it from a teacher just as we are doing it now we are studying it together so that's all right you can learn it from a teacher but does it have to be an enlightened being an enlightened teacher the open issues are very clear about this who is an enlightened teacher we don't know how do we know you might feel a person is very spiritual and that's the most you can feel i feel this person is advanced this person is spiritual unless you are enlightened yourself how will you know who else is enlightened so what the upanishads say is three criterion for a teacher three criteria one is brahmanista akama and then abram and shrotriya brahmanista three qualifications one is the teacher must be a full-time teacher a full-time spiritual aspirant not a part-timer you know that i am this business tycoon and also in my spare time i'm a guru that might work with you know pilates or you know hata yoga you can do that you can do it in your spare time teach some exercise some to some people no problem but spiritual life if you're going to a spiritual teacher you must be fully committed to it your life must be entirely dedicated to spirituality brahmanista means one who is dedicated established in brahman literally it would mean an enlightened person who is free you know jivan mukta but those are rare it's good enough if a person is completely dedicated in spiritual life and has nothing else the whole one pointed i think that i am a seeker of spirituality i am this is my entire life and has been so uh for many many years so what we do in our our order is the president of the order the vice president of the order the ones who give spiritual initiation and who are the gurus for many many decades they have been monks of the order who are completely dedicated to spirituality and we others monks and devotees have observed their lives and this is obviously this is a worthy person i will take initiation from this person so that's brahmanista second that's also not enough the other thing that we required is um srotria shruthiya means shruti means the upanishads vedas a person who is well versed in spiritual knowledge so when you are a teacher it could it's quite possible that it's sometimes a person may be deeply spiritual but not learned in in the in the formal sense of the term so there must be some spiritual lore which you can transmit not everybody is equally cut out to be a teacher so swami vivekananda and swami advocate both were enlightened but it is vivekananda was a world teacher so that other this mass of spiritual knowledge which a teacher has to master to be able to transmit effectively so you have to know see notice this is a knowledge which is being handed down god handed it to the sun god and then through that to manual and to ikshvak went down like a long series of uh teacher and student what was being handed down was realization being handed down was enlightenment being handed out not possible it's that that knowledge system which was being handed down sometimes well sometimes not so well but it was being handed down what is it that decade did enlightenment decay that's not possible it's that knowledge system that handing down process became corrupt and then it has to be freshened refreshened again so shrotria one must be a master i mean in our system you have to be a master of advaita vedanta you must know the upanishads you must know the brahma sutras and the bhagavad gita you must have learned it systematically so that you can teach it so that is called shrotri second and the third qualification is is akamahata literally it means not destroyed or damaged by desire very nicely termed not damaged by calm or by desire so the search for personal gratification is dangerous if if a teacher does it is a position of power and respect so you often hear of cult leaders who demand absolute obedience and they um and it leads to you know there's so many stories of awful forms of exploitation so the guru the teacher must be free of any desire for personal gratification may have a desire for the welfare of others but the welfare of the students but not for himself or herself not damaged by desire it should not be here is uh vedanta i'm teaching you and then now you must obey me and i'm like in charge of your lives like a some kind of a little hitler or something like that no that should not happen so these three qualifications srotria brahmanista aka mahata then a person can be a guru you can learn from that person yes and is there a special reason why the supreme vedanta has been handed down to the rulers of the world both brahmins and so there is a a whole lineage through which rishis and you know the sages and monks and the brahmins they have got it also but the kshatriyas have also got it um that that's one another line of transmission that we find from ancient times onwards and it shows that it's actually a very practical system of knowledge every one of us we can use it it's not abstract philosophy only it's it's literally the highest spiritual knowledge i mean involve my little exploration of different traditions different philosophies i have never found as something as profound as deep as relevant as rational and as powerful as direct as this vedantic teaching advaithic teaching so both and and the brahmins also yeah all right uh before we end i'll make a little appeal to you since our ashram has been closed physically we haven't had visitors because of the pandemic and so financially we also suffer we don't get the donations we used to get earlier so i'll just uh request all of you to make a small donation whatever seems suitable to you you can just go to our website the vedanta society of new york website you'll find a small thing donate at the top you click there you can donate through paypal that is easiest or you can send a check it's which it'll be very good if uh we if you can donate like we give small donations uh after the class it's what bill used to do you know those of you is to you have come here at the end of the class bill who's now 96 now he would get up and totter across the room with a little basket so bill's basket is now virtual so whatever seems reasonable to you just make it a habit of giving like these small donations regularly all right let me end with a shanti prayer oh so [Music] take care let me see all of you take care stay well stay well thank you swamiji thank you thank you thank you take care namaste namaste namaste thank you