Summarized by Sridhar Vaidyanathan:
-The class started off with our Omkar routine followed by prayers and Pranayama & meditation.
We did a recap from our last class of verses 27 and 28 of Chapter 8.
We watched a couple of videos of Gurudev on verses 27 and 28 and discussed the explanation & meaning.
Subjective analysis of verses 27 and 28.
Don’t have any attachments or desires.
Have a giving nature.
Be your own master and don’t surrender to the whims of the world.
We need to be good and intelligent (like Lord Krishna).
Excerpts of verse 27
The ignorant souls who are attached to the world remain entangled in the bodily concept of life. The relentless souls who strive for Yogi or union with God are true Yogis. They recognize themselves to be tiny fragments of God and his eternal grace. They also realize the temporary nature of the materialistic world and the futility of running behind the same. Therefore, instead of chasing sensual pleasures they endeavor to enhance their love for God- Such souls are on the path of light.
On the other hand, they ignorant souls, who are under the influence of Maya- the material energy, recognize themselves as only the body and the material world around them as the source of their pleasure. They continue to live trough the miseries of material existence, being disdainful towards Lord and his eternal opulence. Thus, such souls follow the path of darkness.
Excerpts of Verse 28:
In this verse, Lord Krishna reveals that those yogis who follow the path of light reap rewards beyond what other processes can bestow.
Even though, one may undertake vedic sacrifices,perform pooja’s and engage in charity or accumulate knowledge of the self, without devotion to God ,it is not the path of light.
All of these good deeds can only yield temporary material rewards, However devotion to God leads to liberation from the bondage of the material world. Therefore, the yogis who have realized this truth detach their minds from the material world and attach them to God alone.
By trading this path of light, they attain eternal happiness. This verse emphasizes the importance of devotion and realization in transcending worldly limitations and reaching the Supreme Brahman.
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Message and Key Pointers from the videos:
Knowing that these are the 2 paths, the yogi never gets dejected or disappointed in life.
One needs to continue to walk the path of spiritualty despite desires/ vasanas arising in our mind.
A yogi knows that the Lord will give one the exposure in Heaven in order to exhaust those vasanas but every attempt should be made to eliminate them and the pursuit should always be there. The person will be taken through the dark path(moon path) and would return back.
Incase there are no such desires but there are subtle vasanas which still lurk around, one need not worry as Lord will take that person to Heaven and he/she will be well looked after quarantining in the most comfortable place, the person will be sent back again!
One should not be worried about such things,but follow the spiritual path religiously and ignore all the worries associated with the vasanas.
Therefore under all circumstances and al conditions,time & place one should get established in Yoga and be regular in contemplation.
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Hearing all these Arjuna still has a doubt as he is an orthodox Hindu and complains Lord Krishna to be a blasphemer.
Arjuna has a doubt in his mind that Lord Krishna has prescribed him a course to be taken at a high level but forgot to mention about the smaller details which he has always been hearing/studying all through his life.
Lors Kirshna clarifies his doubt that as Arjuna is a learned and qualified person, hence he expects him to follow all the smaller details that he hasn’t mentioned in is higher plan.
Story No 1: King of the village
There was once a village where in anyone can choose to be the KING. As a king that person gets to enjoy all the benefits and luxuries alongside ruling that village for a period of 5 years. At the end of the tenure of 5 years the king would be sent by a boat to a distant island which is inhabited and there is virtually no existence there.
Any king who goes to that island never returns back or no one ever hears about them anymore.
There as this young person who wished to the King to the surprise of everyone since most of the people who wanted to the be king were all elders who had lived their life as such. However this person was very enthusiastic and wanted to be the King.
He became one and ruled the village efficiently and as his tenure was drawing to an end he still seemed very cheerful and happy which again was surprising to all since the earlier kings would be afraid of venturing into the inhabited island.
In order to ensure that the king doesn’t come back or runaway, he was accompanied by 2 boatmen who would ensure that he is shifted to the inhabited island and then would return back.
This young king as usual was accompanied by the boatmen on his journey to the island at the end of his 5 years. When the team reached the island, they saw to their surprise that it was complete with all infrastructure and civilization and was as abundant in resources as their village.
The young king during his tenure had slowly ensured that this island would be made habitable and sent a team of workers who built all the infrastructure and ensured that the island is completely livable by the time the king’s tenure is done with.
Moral of the story: We all should live our life knowing about the ultimate goal and focus on things accordingly rather than waste time in futile things. We all know that one day we are going to die, but how to live is in our hands and we should focus on those things as we live.
Story No 2: Bus Driver and Father of the Church
A Bus Driver and a Father of a Church died around the same time. On the day of judgement, the bus driver is being sentence to heaven and the Father of the Church is being sent to hell. Hearing this the Father was aghast and questioned the Lord the decision to do this. He felt that being a clergyman and doing pious things he automatically would have earned a berth to Heaven as against the bus driver.
The Lord clarified that the Father always only spoke about Hell with this devotees and the entire energy in the church was full of negativity as he would teach them about what happens if bad deeds are done and constantly remind them of hell whereas the bus driver, because of the way he drove all the passengers in the bus were in constant remembrance of the God thinking that they may die anytime.
This was a humorous take on the way we should focus our life only on positive things and positive energy as against things that are negative and would lead us through the dark path.
Hari Om!
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