Class Summary for March 14, 2021 - BG - Chapter-5 Slokas 1-6 & 7-12

 Summarized by: Shilpa Sail

Starting the class with meditation helps us calm our minds and prepares us for the class.

We discussed the following-

1)Clarification of verses 1 to 6. Further discussed karma sannyasa and karma yoga from the grihastha aspect, which applies to most of us attending the class. 

2) Watched Gurudev's video on verses 1 to 6

3) Started with verses 7 to 12.

In the grihastha life, we have to understand how to imbibe karma sannyasa and karma yoga virtues. Both paths complement each other; they are like starting from different points but going to the same destination.

When we are in grihastha life, we have to renounce the fruits of our actions mentally. You perform all the duties of a grihastha but are not attached to the results.

Renunciation includes physical and mental. Start by renouncing smaller items like tea, coffee, and new clothes, and that will prepare us for the journey, which is renouncing ego.

Fruit on a tree after it gets ripe falls down. Like the fruit that drops at the right time, we have to perform all our actions as the tree and then let go of the results of the action.

We have to focus on the sadhana and trust the process. Complete trust and faith in the sadhana and the process are required. 

A prerequisite to acquire jnana yoga is to purify/clean the mind by going through karma sannyasa and karma yoga.

Most of the class's questions revolve around family, kids, and job; this shows the entanglement we have in this grihastha life.

True "freedom" is free from the attachment of actions, their activities, and the corresponding result.

Treat every action as a means of purifying your mind. Then there is no gain or loss, and it helps us cleanse our minds. This will help in letting the attachment to action go away, and thus, the attachment to result will not be there.

Absolute self-abidance is the ultimate state. We have to be happy with ourselves. Knowing it is an inward journey, which is the ultimate state, for example, a lotus leaf. Lotus grows from the mud, yet it rises above the water. Also, the leaf floats on top of the water surface. It does not soak the water through but runs off. 

When we are tired, we go to sleep, and we don't care about things going around us. In life, we have to give up the craving and the tendency to accumulate material pleasures. 

We have to develop vairagya and be free from the attachments and treat every action of our BMI for self-purification. Start with a detachment to the results of the actions and finally being detached from the action itself.