Bhagavad Gita- 108 Talks by Swami Sandeep Chaithanya

64. Accept and then internalize

Do not avoid anything for the sake of it; do not hinder anything. Accept all and then internalize everything to help evolve them to perfection. Non-violence, sense control, compassion towards other beings, patience, peace, penance, meditation and truth are flowers dear to the Lord. Those who always count everything as ‘mine and theirs’ are violent in nature. Even the thought that ‘I am not going to be violent towards anyone’, is violence. The moment we think ‘mine and theirs’, violence has taken birth with it.

Intelligence, knowledge, discrimination, patience, truthfulness, willingness to suffer for attaining the higher, contentment, pleasure, pain, nothingness, fear, refuge, non-violence, equanimity, happiness, penance, charity, reputation or notoriety etc. are workings of the mind, all originated from the Lord. The seven sages (sapta-rishi) and four ‘manus’ are His mental attitudes. Manu’s are the four states of the mind- waking, dreaming, sleeping & awakened (jagrat, swapna, sushupti and thureeya) states. Seven sages are the seven qualities of the mind - cunnigness, profit-motiveness, impracticality, practicality, day dreaming, intellectualism and thoughtlessness. These are like electricity manifesting through different equipment. Breeze, light and heat are all created by the electricity, but these are not electricity itself. One should know the expanse (vibhoothi) and the symbiotic relationships of entities to each other. It is the maya that makes the ‘One’ appears to be ‘many’. ‘Vistaram’ is the concept of expanding the truth to be as vast as the universe. In this, ‘yoga’ is the ‘dettached attachment’. Lord is the beginning of all. Everything is working in Him. By keeping our mind well established in the truth and by integrating the life force (prana) with pranava (Omkara), we would realize this noble and mutually complementary relationship. “Even the divine beings (devas) and sages (maharshis) do not know my origin, because I am the pre-mordial entity existent even before their origin” says the Lord. Devas are senses and maharshis are mind and the intellect. The Lord is beyond all of them.

63. Gita refuses all kinds of discriminations.

Gita refuses to discriminate anyone and declares that all are entitled to learn scriptures. Sr Krishna declares that the traditionally discriminated group of people – the ladies, men of commerce (vaisyas), service class (soodras), people of illegitimate birth – all will attain the ultimate goal by approaching ‘me’. All differences cease to exist when we ‘know’ Him.

Even a criminal- who is the epitome of worst behaviour- would be able to become noble if he applies his mind towards that goal. The culture of Bharatha is not keeping anyone at bay based on their behaviour. If one happens to ‘know’ the Lord, he becomes immortal. Meditating upon the Lord with complete concentration, persevering to gain knowledge, devotional service, etc. are different paths to reach the supreme self. Even the people who worship deities of sensory experiences are also ultimately worshiping the Lord only. He has created them too. But as that worship is not well ordained, there could be some descend. We should show our obeisance to the principle behind the image and not to the image itself. In this impermenant and sorrowful world, one should worship the Lord all the time to attain happiness and immortality. This doesn’t mean that one should chant the Lord’s name all the time. All our day to day activities are to be done by remembering the Lord and with out attachments to the fruits of action. That is the incessant ‘bhajan’, or non stop worship.

Lord is the embodiment of equanimity. He has no love or hatred towards anything. He doesn’t have affection for the one who extolls His virtures nor will He be angry with the one who talks ill of Him. He is not giving anything to anyone either. The Lord exists in those who realize the self, the ‘atma chaithanya’; and they exist in Him. Gita teaches us as to how to become God; not how to get something out of Him.

62. Realize the potential from within

We must endeavour to realize and bring forth the amazing potential latent within us, meaning, we must not forgo the opportunity for us to become the Lord himself. The Lord says in the Gita that “I accept even a drop of water, a leaf, a flower, or a fruit submitted with care and devotion”. This means that He is ready to accept whatever we are giving Him with utmost care- not that He expects us to harvest and submit all the fruits and flowers to the temple. This is about the symbiosis of the macrocosm and the microcosm. This is the jist and secret of life cycle.

All life forms were originated in water. It is the leaf that came out of water becomes our food. Flowering is the process of becoming able to create a progeny and the life of a flower finds its completion in becoming a fruit. It becomes the seed for the next life. When we are able to understand our path of progression from the life force originated in water, our attitude will become submissive and humble. It is this humility that the Lord accepts. If one ‘knows’ this secret once, he becomes the Lord. There is no distinction after that.

Whatever we do –eating, enjoying, submitting material in the sacrificial fire as oblation, giving charitable donations, undertaking penance – all should be done with an attitude of submission unto Him. Then ‘I’ will not be there. We will never be able to say: I did…, or because of me…, or I , or me,…etc. Whatever is being done is all Lord himself. That is service to the Lord. Then brushing the teeth will become ‘brahma pooja’. Taking bath becomes bathing the beloved Lord. Sexual intercourse will be equivalent to a sacrificial ritual. The Lord says that He will look after the one who meditates on ‘me’ without getting entangled with any other thoughts. “Sri Krishna is the one and only god”is not stated as a ‘claim’ here. I am the self and the 'other' gods are thoughts that wander and subjects that are related to senses. Leave all those and concentrate only on the supreme self, that is ‘Me’

61 To take revenge is not the way of “sanatana dharama”

One cannot limit the Lord to a particular time period or to a geographical area. People misunderstand the means of achieving a goal for the goal itself. All known sacred places are now subjects of controversy; be it Jerusalem, Hazarathbal or Ayodhya. Ayodhya is not the name of a geographical area. It is the land where all fighting has ended. People do not understand it to be the human mind itself.

We say that the Lord is the embodiment of compassion and peace; but we get upset and threaten others when someone talks ill of the Lord! It doesn’t make any sense! If some draws a cartoon or says something about the Lord, there is no point in getting upset. No anti-social elements can injure the Lord! When the Lord himself is unaffected, why should we feel injured?

Some see the completeness of the universe through the yagna of knowledge gathering. Some worship the reality as one single entity where as the others worship Him as many. The ritual of yagas, scripturally ordained actions, yagna by the sages, food dedicated to the forefathers, medicines, mantras, the clarified butter poured as oblations to the fire and the yaga of fire are all Lord (Iswara). When accepting these also, do that with the attitude of “everything is Lord”.

All contradictions are also Him, but He is unaffected and He exists beyond all these. Lord is the father, mother, and grand parents of everyone. What we must ‘know’ is the Lord who wears the universe. He is the veda; He is the Omkara, the pranava. He is the ultimate goal; he is the governor, the administrator, the witness and the seat and substratum of everything. He is the friend, the creator, sustainer and annihilator. He is the changeless seed that is imperishable. He is behind heat, cold and the rain. He is the death and immortality. He is the existance in all that exist and He is the emptiness in all that is void. Those who do scriptural rituals reach heaven and when the merits of their virtues get depleted, they return to the realm of human life. Those who are concentrating their efforts in virtuous deeds expecting good results will end up repeating the cycle of births and deaths

60. What we need is logically sound knowledge

Supreme knowledge is beyond logic, but the inquiry in to that knowledge requires a logical approach that is scripturally ordained. Only an ignorant person will keep extolling the Lord’s virtues like a politician blabbering on his favourite topic. Lord says that those who do not realize my noble attribute as the controller of ‘all’, is actually ridiculing me as someone who is dependent on a human body. Inquire in to the attributes of the creater through the created. There is no god separate from trees, water, creatures or the earth.

Everything exists in god just as the air fills vast expands of the space. We also should exist like this. Don’t ‘try to do’ anything, but do everything any way. Gain everything without claiming anything. Deluge is when everything gets absorbed in the Lord (pralayam) and from Him comesforth all living and non-living beings. Due to own innate tendencies, influended by the nature, these will come to life again and again.

These actions do not affect the Lord as He is devoid of any attachment in them. He remains as if He has no interest at all.

Those who have futile desires end up undertaking fruitless actions guided by the useless knowledge are mis-guided in their intellect. They are under the influence of violent, lustful and arrogant nature (aasuriikam). But men of wisdom serve the impershable Lord with one pointed vision realizing that He is the cause of everything. To serve others is to serve Lord. With a humble attitude, one should meditate upon the Lord and extoll His virtues with utmost care and hard work. Any conversation we engage in diligently is indeed a prayer (keerthana). It is this humility that is being portrayed in the Gita as stringing a bow. When we string a bow, the lower end will rise up and the upper end will come down. This is indicative of the ego getting perished and the rising of self awareness. With prostration, we attain the state of self-control.

59. Love all; do not see faults in others

When you love all, you cannot see faults in anyone. Jealousy is the origin of all fault findings. When you superimpose faults in the virtues of others, it becomes jealousy. Only when we are devoid of jealousy we will be able to know the supreme truth.

Knowledge that reveals the principles of the self is the secret of all secrets and the king of all wisdom. It is pure, perfect and it can be comprehended. It is easy to practice and it is in accordance with Dharma. It is imperishable. The Lord who has no specific form, but He fills the entire universe. All are in Him; but He is not in any of them. This is the state of dettached attachment. “I am not the doer, nor the enjoyer”, says the Lord. “I am just a witness of nature”. We also must develop this attitude. Emotions can rise in us, but we should not happen in emotions.
Those who are not careful about this Dharma and its results continue to dwell in the world of plurality. Those who leave this body in fire, day time, full moon and when the sun is in its Northern traverse (uttaraayanam) will attain Brahma. Others who leave in smoke, night, new moon and when the sun is in its southern traverse (dakshinayanam) will return to the world of samsara.

The path of light is the path of knowledge. When the person who does virtuous deeds guided by the path of knowledge leaves his body, it is uttrayanam. Dakahinayanam is the path of people who have the misunderstanding that “I am the body”. So live your life and act beyond the limitations of time. Do not consider that it is ignoble for a leaf to fall in a sewer; nor it is noble just because it fell inside the temple compound.

If our mind runs after any desire, it will not reach its desitnation. So act without any attachment to desires to go beyond all limitations.

58. We are ever awake in Brahman

When we sleep, we are in the Brahman state of being; so should we be in Brahman state when we are awake as well. Worlds such as Brahma loka (experiencial world) are cyclical in nature. They come and go. Even Lord Brahma has birth and death. Only the one who has attained God will get away from the cycle of birth and death and for them there is no return. Lord Brahma’s day time is one thousand eons. Night is also that long. Those who understands this ‘knows’ time. He realizes that we are insignificant in comparison to the universe. Lord is beyond time. Our concept of time starts with the ‘second’ because the Lord is the ‘first’. Gita imparts the knowledge that, it is impossible to comprehend the premordial state of being, that is before time, even before the knowledge itself. An endeavour undertaken without the attached desires, knowing this truth is a true selfless act.

In the day of Brahma, movable and immovable beings spring forth and appear from the latent unmanifested energy – chaitnaya prakriti. In the night, all these will return to the unmanifest state. Our life is also like this; the world around us manifests when we are awake. When we sleep, there is no world. The world is there only for the awakened. Once awake and awakened to the higher state a little, we will realize that we do spend a lot of energy on insignificant things. Living entities come to life again and again with the Lord’s knowledge. Not even a tree leaf will move or fall without his knowledge.

With one pointed devotion, we can attain Lord who is omnicient and ever present in all that is manifested. He is easily accessable to those who remember him incessantly. Let the mind wander wherever it wants, but know that everything is Lord. To attain God is not to get attached to anything impermanent. Pranavam (Omkaram), the essence of all sounds, is the sacred mantra to attain the supreme goal.

57. Observe death just as you witness a sand house being destroyed by the sea

Just as we walk away smiling when we see the sandhouse we made so carefully getting washed away by the sea, we should be able to get away from the attachment to the body when it perishes.

Adhibhootam is the state of being ephemeral. Adhidaivatam is the state of eternity. The Lord is the presiding force in the body and one knows Him even at the time of death. He will know his own nature (Brahma), the eternal and supreme reality, along with its spiritual purport, the Jeeva bhavam. He will also comprehend the nature of karma.

We attain the same state of being as what we remember at the time of shedding our body. Those who remember the Lord at the time of death will attain Him. Those who remember sense objects will attain those as well. Only if we can comprehend the Lord while we are alive and well, will we be able to remember the Lord at the time of death. So our mind should always remember Him. This doesn’t mean that we should be chanting aloud the Lord’s name every moment. It is the state of clear understanding that there is nothing other than the Lord and all our activities are worship of the Lord (Brahma pooja). No one can predict the time of death and so we must incessantly keep the Lord in mind.

By regularly meditating with a steadfast mind, man attains the supreme purusha who is self effulgent. Those who medidate upon the higher, even at the time of death, with one pointed concentration, aimed at the centre of eyebrows will attain liberation. This supreme essence (param porul) is the all knowing, timeless, controller of the world. He is self effulgent as Sun, the atom of the molecules and the substratum of everything, although He cannot be comprehended.

‘Om’ (pranava) is the ‘object’ of silent meditation that is to be done sitting alone at a place without distraction. A life led by remembering pranava will liberate us. This meditation should not be a symbol of conflicts. Displaying the symbol Om on the walls and telephone posts of the streets to threaten others is akin to ridiculing Sanatana Dharma. When we display pranavam outside, it will stay outside. We should wear it inside us and write it on the walls of our hearts. Don’t throw it on the streets as a road divider or for securing own land. People use religeous symbols for these purposes as they know that the government will not touch them in a so-called secular country. The fact is that they do not value symbols of their own religion.

56. Do not describe our world as hell

People who pray to God to liberate them out of the ‘hell’ they are presently in will not flourish. Such people will always make a hell wherever they go or live in. It is not fit for a devotee to portray his surrounding as hellish. That kind of an outlook is against all our scriptures. Treat our surroundings to be the best it can possibly be. Human life is considered to be the most virtuous and the Lord asks us not for making a mere external change, but for bringing the change from within.

Conducting protests and demonstrations in the name of God is not wise at all. One need not establish the Lord’s position and reputation forcefully by protests because He is beyond all that we can do. Leave the people alone when they say undignified things about Gita. Only the imprudent would call a conference to protest against such people.

“I know everything that happened and all that is going to happen because I am eternally present. Although I am ever present, no one ‘knows’ Me”, says the Lord. He means that, no one is realizing the eternal truth which is nothing but the self that is witnessing everything. The pairs of opposites (happiness/sorrow, profit/loss, honour/dishonour, etc.) are direct results of our likes/dislikes and are created by the body. But those who undertake actions with a meditative mind will go beyond the pairs of opposites by removing the misapprehension and they will remain steadfast in their convictions.

“Those who have controlled their minds will know Me even at the time of their death”. This is a spontaneous revelation. Once I ‘know’ it, ‘I’ am not there to know it. I will leave this world knowing that I am beyond the world. Those who strive with the full conviction to attain liberation from the birth-death cycle will come to realize Brahman, spiritual secrets and they will comprehend the karma principle.