Class Summary for May 2, 2021 - BG - Chapter-5 Slokas 19-24

 Summarized by: Sree Sekhar Palaparthy

We started the class with initial prayers, naadi shodana pranayama and brief meditation.

No thought state:

 We looked at a question about how to meditate upon “No thought” state. Meditating is not doing anything but is to get to a state over  time by consistent practice of Sadhana. The silence between the Om is what to focus on

 Thoughts are like series of events in mind and watching them could help breaking the sequence of other thoughts; End of the day introspection i.e., reflection of a day’s activities before going to sleep, definitely helps along with regular Sadhana

 2 approaches to settle down the intense flow of thoughts, before starting the meditation, could be to do

o Japa (chanting a nama and listening to it)

o Pranayama

Handling situations

 We discussed about the current Covid situation and how people are reacting to it,

 First set of people are ready to accept the fact, by doing what can be done, and not worrying more about it

 Second set of people are panicking/fearing about what is to come

o Based on one’s own package/vasanas, lead them to react one way or the other

 Gurudev, even during his last moments was able to share his teachings to the nurse serving him which made her become his follower/disciple. One can reflect upon how Mahatmas and gurus deal with the situation of facing death fearlessly.

Verse 19,20,21,22,23,24 translations:

Sloka 19:

Those whose minds are established in equality of vision conquer the cycle of birth and death in this very life. They possess the flawless qualities of God, and are therefore seated in the Absolute Truth

Sloka 20:

Established in God, having affirm understanding of divine knowledge and not hampered by delusion, they neither rejoice in getting pleasant nor grieve on experiencing the unpleasant

Sloka 21:

Those who are not attached to external sense pleasures realize divine bliss in the self. Being united with God through Yoga, they experience unending happiness

Sloka 22:

The pleasures that arise from contact with the sense objects though appearing as enjoyable to worldly-minded people, are verily a source of misery. O son of Kunti, such pleasures have a beginning and an end, and so the wise do not delight in them

Sloka 23:

Those persons are yogis, who before giving up the body are able to check the forces of desire and anger; and they alone are happy

Sloka 24:

Those who are happy within themselves, enjoying the delight of God within, and are illuminated by the inner light, such yogis are united with the Lord and are liberated from material existence

Discussion points:

 Knowledge needs to be lived at a point, as mere knowledge doesn’t help to realize

 Intellect always tries to relate to something, however, realization is even beyond intellect

 We all need to practice detaching  the lower cause and attaching to a higher cause (example: giving up watching TV, and practicing yoga or reading a Bhagavat Gita sloka etc)

 Real happiness doesn’t come from anything which is material, including any objects/persons

 A wise person/realized one would be very sensitive to any desires or attachments, like an eyeball is sensitive to even a small particle in the eye

 One needs to keep the dependency of happiness away from the materialistic objects/persons

 Passion and anger can exist, as long as you are controlling them and not the other way around. To be able to do so, one needs extreme practice (Sadhana)

o As a drunken person, has no control over the car, similarly one who has un-balanced attachments and desires, has no control over his path towards the ultimate goal

 One has to replace a fire of desires with a lamp of knowledge

Gurudev’s video on Sloka 19

 The realized one, or one who knows the absolute reality becomes the absolute reality.

Examples:

o when a river reaches the ocean, the existence of river as an identity ceases and it becomes one with the ocean

o when the dreamer wakes up; he realizes that the dreamer was none other than himself, and in waking state dreamer becomes the waker

Conclusion:

Finally, we ended the class with an example (story) about how a mom working in a field has a part of her consciousness on the baby lying in the cradle at all times; similarly, we need to transact in this world, but always have our consciousness focused on the Brahman (reality)