Class Summary forApril 14, 2024 - Bhagavad Gita Chapter-8 ver 23- 26

 Summarized by Bala Dhandapani:

The class discussed points from the April 7^th session

Summary/recap:

Goal to reach Mukti is also a bondage.

With Krama Mukti path, one reaches Brahmaloga.  Brahma teaches how to give away the desire to get Mukti, then one would attain Brahman.

Class watched Gurudev’s videos 23, 24, 25 and 26

Summary of the videos

-          Sun represents Spirit and Moon represents Matter

-          When sun comes up everything is dynamic and active

-          Moon is reverse – one would sit down and watch

-          Gurudev points out that no one says Honey Sun !! only Honey Moon !!.

-          Moon represents matter and sun represents energy and dynamism

-          Moon path and sun path is a way of saying.  Moon path is still attached to the matter and enjoyment.

-          For a Karmi, above are the 2 paths

-          Gurudev further expounds on the 2 paths.  The path of no return (Light/Sun) and the path of return (darkness/Moon)

-          Those who are NOT attached to matter and only to spiritual takes the Sun/Light/Bright path. 

-          Those who are attached to matter takes the Moon/dark- road of smoke path and reaches heaven and comes back.

-          The sun and moon paths are the 2 choices always available. 

-          Krama mukti is liberation in stages

Subjective Analysis:  Practice Karma Yoga, Bhakti Yoga and Gyana Yoga through Shravanam, Mananam and Nidityasanam. 

Class Summary forApril 7, 2024 - Bhagavad Gita Chapter-8 ver 23- 26

Summarized by Anand Santhanam:

Summary

Pursuit of happiness. 

- As we look inward, we will realize the ultimate truth. 

- The cycle of manifest and unmanifest continues

- The supreme is the one that is always the seer. When something is moving there is always a constant that is observing the change. Because of this constant observer, we know that there is a change. 

- There is difference between love and devotion. 

- Differences in the Shruti, Yukthi and Anubhavam. 

Sloka 23-26

These are very controversial slokas

There are two routes taken by the Atma

- Moon path allows the Athma to enjoy the fruits of your action, and then come back for “re-birth. This is applicable for most humans who indulge in materialistic or selfish actions.

- Sun path attains moksha

Those who do their un-selfish karmas and also meditate on the supreme Brahman, attain moksha. They will initially go to Brahma loka, where lord Brahma will provide knowledge. They they will eventually merge with the Brahman at the time of Pralaya. 

Few exceptional cases who are totally surrendered to the Brahman, and perform actions only for the welfare of this creation reach Brahman directly. 

Themes

- path of ignorance has Vaasanas. Involves hell/heaven and rebirths 

- Path of knowledge leads to Brahman/Moksha either through Brahma loka (Krama Mukthi) or Directly (Kaivalya mukti). 

Class Summary for March 24 2024 - Bhagavad Gita Chapter-8 ver 20- 22

Summarized by Bala Dhandapani:

Chapter 8, The Imperishable Truth

After pranayama and meditation, salient points from previous class were summarized. 

Pursuit is an action.  Happiness is already in us.  How to realize is to remove the veil.

Theme from previous class

Beyond the manifest state and unmanifest state is Brahman

All of us are in pursuit of happiness  à Brahman is the absolute happiness

There is no return once we realize. 

How to get there à one need to raise above the common materialistic world through undistracted focus and Unwavering devotion

 

Class watched Gurudev’s videos

Salient points from the videos

Verse 20

Vasanas are exhausted in the manifest phase.  There is a constant cycle of unmanifest -manifest-unmanifest which is also the cycle of creation and dissolution.  There is a larger unmanifestation that is Brahman.  He (Brahman) is present in everyone and everything.  Mind is changing constantly and so is Intellect.  Everything is changing constantly, but there is a changeless in the midst if all these changes is Brahman.

Substitute a lower vasanas with a higher vasanas.  Hold on to something that is not changing. 

Intellectually no one will accept on the changeless.  How do you know that everything is changing?

Who is experiencing these changes, the experiencer – so the experiencer has to be changeless to recognize. 

Example:  OPT OP₁T₁ OP₂T₂ Perceiver and Thinker can be changing, the changeless is the observer. 

To see the change one need to be the changeless observer. 

Verse 21

Akshara means Immutable, this is the Supreme goal to be reached.  The changeless is the Supreme State.  Once reached the state cannot come back.  The Infinite state is beyond time and is permanent and immutable. That is the Supreme State not the Krishna who is Devaki Putra. 

Krishna is giving instruction on how to contemplate in the next verse.  Pure consciousness is the true nature. 

 

Verse 22

To the Supreme Purusha one need to be total loyal and with complete devotion with no otherness. 

Ananya bhakti  is no other thought – Total Bhakti. 

What is Devotion ? Devotion is the love for the Supreme. 

Difference between Love and Devotion.

When someone is in love with another (like a teenager) we say Fallen in Love , “fallen” is going down.  Where as Rising in Love is Devotion. 

Lower – Love,  Higher – Devotion.  Emotion is love, love lifted to a higher alter is devotion. 

To understand devotion, analyze love.  Love is the identification with the beloved, more of me in my beloved.  Bhakti is devotion to the Lord.  How much one totally surrender to him and ready to suffer for him is devotion.

Devotion is Total identification to the lord, not by mere saying. 

Everything is existing in space.  Consider the relationship between waves and ocean.  We all are waves of the consciousness.  Narayana is one essence. 

Subjective Analysis

Practice:

Shruthi à dedicated focus in learning,

Yukthi à Understanding what you have learnt, doing the analysis- even taking experiences from others and understanding the same.

Anubhavam à your own experience, reiterating and validating the experience.

From Shravanam, Mananam and Nidityasanam learn with intensity from an intellect perspective     

...

Class Summary for March 3, 2024 - Bhagavad Gita Chapter-8 ver 20- 22

 Summarized by Rajesh:

• We started with a recap of the last class
• Time dilation works every night while we dream.  On average, dreams last for 90 seconds - we live lifetimes in a dream.
• Sum of ignorances is Maya (?)

Verse 20, 21 & 22

Verse translation

• Verse 20:  Transcendental to this manifest and unmanifest creation, there is yet another unmanifest eternal dimension.  That realm does not cease even when all others do.
• Verse 21:  That manifest dimension is the supreme goal, and upon reaching it, one never returns to this mortal world.  That is My Supreme Abode.
• Verse 22:  The Supreme Divine Being is greater than all that exists.  Although He is all-pervading and all living beings are situated in Him, yet He can be known only through devotion.

Discussion about verses

• We can’t take for granted that Devotion is the only path from this last line - Karma Yoga & Jnana Yoga are also necessary.  Famous example is of a disciple to Swamiji - “I’ve gone through the Bhagvad Gita 21 times but nothing has changed.”  Swamiji asked the disciple “how many times has the Bhagvad Gita gone through you?”  It is about dropping the ego and having true faith.
• We can’t be just professional Jnanis or professional Karma Yogis. We need all three - Jnana, Karma & Bhakti.  In my own interpretation, we need theory & practice along with belief.
• Karma Yoga, especially Nishkama Karma or the self-less or desire less action, cleans our minds.  We have to focus this free space in our mind with Bhakti Yoga, otherwise the mind is filled with other thoughts.  Ultimately, we get Jnana.

Theme

• Manifest state is represented by Waking and Dream states
• Unmanifest state is represented by Deep sleep state
• Beyond both Manifest and Unmanifest states is Brahman
• All of us are in pursuit of happiness -> Brahman is ultimate happiness (anandam) [There is no ‘pursuit of happiness’, at least not externally or materialistically.  We are ‘ananda’ but we have not realized it.]
• There is NO coming back from this!
• How do we get there?  Raising above this common materialistic wold through Undistracted focus and Unwavering devotion!

Class Summary for Feb 25, 2024 - Bhagavad Gita Chapter-8 ver 17- 19

 Summarized by Shivkumar Natarajan:

We began the class with a review of the last class

• We then read verses 17,18 and 19

• We then discussed a few basic concepts about time from Sanatana Dharma  

• Time has been perceived to flow in great cycles called yugas. 

• Time is circular in nature . As described in the Puranas a kalpa is regarded as a day of Brahma. A Kalpa equals 4.32 Billion years 

• A Mahakalpa is 100 years of Brahma. Each Kalpa has 1000 mahayugas. 

• There are four yugas : Satya Yuga, Treta Yuga, Dvapara Yuga, and Kali Yuga that follow in a circular nature

• Each yuga is of different duration. The nature of people is different in different yugas. There is a slow decline in mans virtue as the yuga progress. We are currently in beginning of the Kali Yuga that began at the end of Mahabharata. 

• Each kalpa has 14 Manvantara's

• A manvantara, is a cyclic period of time identifying the duration, reign, or age of a Manu, the founder of mankind. In each manvantara, seven Rishis, certain deities, an Indra, a Manu, and kings (sons of Manu) are created and perish. Each manvantara is distinguished by the Manu who rules/reigns over it, of which we are currently in the seventh manvantara of fourteen, which is ruled by Vaivasvata Manu.

• A pralaya is described to be an equal length of time, referred to as a night in the life of the deity. This form of the dissolution is caused by the sleep of Brahma, and is hence named after him. It is called 

• Brahmapralaya or Mahapralaya 

• After the completion of 1,000 four-age cycles or a kalpa, a great flood is unleashed on Bhumi, the earth, by Prakriti, the personification of nature. This is called as Prakritapralaya. At the end of which Prakriti fuses with Purusha, assimilating Buddhi, becoming Brahman.

• We even touched upon the fact that each of the deities are in fact a post earned by individuals due to their Purusharthas and  upon completion of their tenure they get replaced

• A fact mentioned on the TV serial and book Cosmos by the author Carl Sagan was mentioned where Of all the religions of the world only one religion came close to the scale of the universe was Hinduism

• A question comes to ones mind as to when did all this begin. We expect a space or time when the entire creation began. But this is a illogical question. Creation continues to happen every moment and every time

Theme 

• Why was all this discussed by Krishna

• Krishna is giving a bigger picture that helps us understand the pair of opposites and how we need to treat the same

• Microcosm level

○ Avyukta : Unmanifest level : Deep sleep state where vasanas are dormant

○ Vykta  : Manifest State: Waker and dreamer state where vasanas are manifested 

• Macrocosm Level: This same philosophy applied to the entire creation

• We need to treat the pair of opposites with equipoise. Why worry about other opposites ?

• Thus Brahmas day starts with Satya Yuga (manifesting) and ends with Kali Yuga (unmanifesting)

• Same witness exist in all of us. We feel age of body but otherwise we don’t feel any different from within

• We need to stop using creation/destruction as the true behaviour is that of manifesting and unmanifesting that happens

• We then continued watching Gurudev's videos from 214 to 217

214

• Saturday and Sunday we feel time fly by us in no time

• During weekday we experience time crawls

• Even though time moves in same way it’s the experience of time that causes it to seem different

• When we are in sorrow we feel time crawl

• In heaven thousands of years where the devas are happy it may seem like 1 day for them. 

• Time is subjective . Depends on mental mood of person 

• Bramhmaji's day is Shashrayuga i.e 1000 of years of time 

• When the cosmic mind is tired it rests (similar to how we are exhausted after a days work). Nature then folds the equipment to rest. Similar to our rest in the macrocosm rest happens. As per the knowledge folks they defined the time when deluge/pralay happens

215

• The moths have a very small lifespan . 1.5 hrs. They come when rain happens and 1000's are born at same time and they die in very short span as per mans chronological timespan. And when they die they become fodder to ants.

•  Similar to human looters that come when there is a disaster

• Thus to a moth he has lived a lifespan but for a human it’s a very short time

• In the same way in a macrocosmic life the time flies so fast that as compared to their single day to us it is eons that have passed

216

• We need to understand macrocosm via our own life (microcosm)

• In the night when tired of the world outside the equipment's are tired and our resting as they cannot function with efficiency. At that time our private world: Name , family, friends, status, wealth all disappear. And next day the moment we get up the entire yesterday's world nothing is removed nor added but present over there in perfect continuation.

• From the manifest where we have direct experience of body/mind and intellect it goes to unmanifest (sleep) into you and then it goes back to all vasanas being manifest in perfect continuity. This is called creation

• Thus every day we create the world and at night we have deluge where our private world is folded

• It is not the creator desiring

217

• Entire world of names and forms are helpless. They manifest in the day and unmanifest in the night. It is the question of the play of the mind. When you look through your mind in morning everything is there 

• When I look through colored glass there is color everywhere and when removed there is no color. The color is not in the object outside  nor in color of my eyes. It is the medium/misinterpretation through which I am seeing outside 

• So one who has folded the mind and gone beyond the mind sees the world as it is and not  misinterpreted by the mind by seeing the world through their vasanas 

• On the other hand you/I are helpless and we cant protest against it. This is how we are playing in the world . World coming and going rhythmically . All this is the play of the mind

Subjective Analysis : Nothing in creation is permanent