Class Summary for Oct 7, 2018 - Chapter-2: 38 to 40

Summarized by :  Jeetendra Chandwadkar

Chapter 2 (Slokas 38 - 40).​

============================================​

These are a transition from Saankhya wisdom to Karma yoga.​

Discussion started with few points such as "Ultimate v/s Relative Reality", Action in Dharma and doing ones Duty.​

Duty was broken down as - Doing our duty without being attach of likes/dislikes and Fear of result (or more precisely "Attachment to a Specific Result").​

Then the concept such as Preparation for Action v/s Action itself(doing) was elaborated by moderators. In it Nitya Sadhana which helps Intellect controlling the mind during the action and attitude such as Why me v/s why not me should be cultivated.​

Example of doing a Child Project with or without a specific Target (School exhibition) was talked about. What was our mental attitude while doing that project, either attachment to the Grade or doing just for Fun part without any attachment to end result.​

​

An issue was raised regarding Gita teachings just enhancing us Intellectually but very hard to use at Practical purposes. A need for moderators giving  personal day to day real life examples will be useful and benificial to all.​

One talk about was, Patient at doctors office and Doctors not being emotionally supportive and insensitive. As part of medical profession is the duty of doctor is "Patient caring" or "Problem fixing without caring" and move on to next Pateint in line.  Hiding behind emotions or doing right things. ​

Another example of IVY League or College Pressure on High performance students and their stress factors .​

The next example was Job related pressure and performance issue leading to suicidal tendencies. and one of the area overlook was EQ (Emotional intelligence) which is different than having a high  IQ and landing a good Job.​

Ability to maintain the Balance in every situations;​

All of these is Self journey and self effort, no quick fixes, practice Gita preaching's.​

​

Then Swamiji videos for Chapter 2 verses 38 -39 was played, which reiterated the same point discussed and in a better way pointing to few examples.​

 Like: accepting result with attitude such as "Better luck next time, be a sportsman,​

 Don't get disappointed, situation are there, you play the game (win or loose is just an outcome),​ Success and failure are 2 sides of coins.​

Play with the nature of the waves (aka Situations etc), enter in their rhythm and always do the best without attachments.​

Then Gurudev also explain the concept of ACT v/s ACTION - In Human Intelligent Action is work;​

whereas in plant and animals, they are set of response with instincts and impulses.​

​

At the end the subjective analysis of slokas 38 - 40 was summarize:​

Karma yoga - Purifies the mind;​

Bhakti yoga - Focus the mind (example of computer disk defragmentation process); and​

Gyana yoga - Realization (Physical, mental and phycological Freedom from Attachment).​

An example of Farmer cultivating the crop with Vyasarika buddhi was discussed, whereas he takes Step by step process and performs his work and duty, knowingly that there are lots of factors effecting the end result (i.e.: the final Crop produced)

Class Summary for Sep 30, 2018 - Chapter-2: 34 to 37

Summarized by :  Ram Sudheendra

We started the class with Pranayaama and Meditation and moved on to the summary of previous session’s chapters 30 to 33.  The summary got escalated to more debates and discussions on Dharma. Some of the questions raised during discussions are...

What is your Dharma?

Who defines one’s Dharma?

Swardharma: How it differs for every individual?

What is expected and What are you capable of?

Some of the examples discussed are:

·        A rich man who has the capability to sponsor food for the poor,  but he is bad at cooking should not try to exhaust his desire by cooking

·        Doctors duty towards his patients

·        A person in distress

We also discussed the importance of chanting the slokas and proper pronunciation of letters and words that can sharpen the intellect and increase one’s attention.

Class further discussed on Preyas and Shreyas and how man’s transactions and achievements revolve around these two paths of convenience and righteousness respectively. Humans can decide to take short term pleasures that lead to downfall or take the path that is difficult in the beginning, leading to long term good benefits of self and the people around.

Sheyas discussion then lead to the importance of one’s duties. All individuals have duties to perform for societies greater good. Communities are messed up when individuals do not perform their duties in the righteous way.

Class chanted slokas 34 to 37:

Krishna continue his teachings to Arjuna who is hesitating to fight in the war. Krishna says that people around Arjuna will talk about this dishonor and all his honor that he has earned and famous for, will disappear instantly. People will never forget if Arjuna continues this path that makes the dishonor worse than a death. The great commanders in the army who looked up to Arjuna as their hero will doubt his skills and conclude that he withdrew from this battle because of fear.  Arjuna’s enemies will disgrace his valor with foul language, point their finger at him and laugh at him as a hero who ran away from the battlefield. This will bring great suffering to Arjuna rest of his life and history will remember this forever. It does not matter Arjuna loses or wins this battle, it will always bring positive gain either way and for doing his duty by fighting this battle for noble cause of Dharma. Doing so, if he wins, Arjuna will rule his kingdom and enjoy the earth and attain Veera-swarga or if he looses and dies in the battlefield, he will still obtain a heroes’ heaven.

Class chanted slokas 38 to 40:

Krishna reminds Arjuna the importance of doing his duties will not acquire any sin. Even though there is pleasure and pain, gain and loss, victory and defeat, engaging himself in the battle and performing his duty as Kshatriya, treating all of these pairs of opposite the same, will remove all sins. It does not matter if he kills many of his enemies in the battle field, which he is destined to do.

Krishna says all these teaching to Arjuna are belonging to Saankhya philosophy to achieve absolute reality that can end all sorrows caused from various attachments. Going forward Krishna will teach Arjuna how to attain wisdom by performing Yoga which will end the cycle of birth and death. Here Yoga means Karma-Yoga, the way of life and action taken daily be an individual and its consequences. Krishna says that this Karma-Yoga protects everyone from fear. Krishna brings this topic since Arjuna is still looking for more answers and justification from Krishna to overcome his fear of killing his own people.