Ayurveda Initiative For Global Health

Question - Gurudev, can you please tell us about the three stages in spiritual practice? Gurudev Sri Sri - Yes, there are 3 stages in practice : 1. Anva Upaya, which includes pranayama, meditation, mantra chanting, exercises, and yoga. 2. Shakta Upaya. This is much more subtle. it is the stillness that you experience at the end of doing all these exercises, it is more internal. There is very little that you do, in fact everything is happening. There is no doer there, nobody doing anything, yet, it is happening, you feel that Shakta Upaya, it is very subtle. 3. Shambava Upaya is a step beyond the Shakta Upaya, just recognition, just awareness. It suddenly dawns, you have no clue, you have no say in it, you can't do anything about it. You are walking, watching a sun set, suddenly, something happens, something opens up. You meet someone, suddenly, you feel some sense of elevation, joy. Whether you are meditating, sleeping, or doing any work, suddenly an awareness, a wakefulness dawns ...

Question - Gurudev, do you really think that it is possible to stop hating someone? Gurudev Sri Sri - Don't stop hating, keep hating them. Do what you find easiest my dear. If doing something is bothering you, and you are finding it so difficult to do, then why do it. If you do something difficult and you still become miserable, what is the point? Do that which is easy and which makes you happy. If hating someone everyday makes you comfortable, makes you happy, just do it. I’m only concerned of your happiness and if hating someone makes you happy and blissful, just do it without guilt. (Laughter) This is not the case. When you hate somebody, they occupy your mind. They are occupying a place in your consciousness, and slowly you become like them. Why you should not hate somebody is because you don't want to be like them. This is the reason.

Question - Gurudev, just being in your presence is so amazing. Why do we need all these meditation practices? Is it necessary to be regular with it? Gurudev Sri Sri - Yes, so that you have something to do and I have something to do. There are four levels :  1. Sanidhya which means feeling the presence. 2. Samipya, feeling close to the Guru or to the Divine. The feeling of closeness has to come from your side. Nobody can make you feel close. It has to come from oneself. 3. Sarupya, being one with the form. Which means there is no difference between me and you. 4. Sayujya which means just dissolving in the Divine.

Question - Gurudev, how do we curb our desires to watch pornographic videos, which is so freely available these days? Gurudev Sri Sri - Do Pranayama. When you do yoga, pranayama, and meditation, these tendencies change, your nature changes. You know that you are not just a body, you are spirit, a scintillating spirit. With the help of these practices, you find yourself elevated to another level.

Question - Gurudev, when you see someone close to you caught up in their head, or in fear, or in concepts, how do you bring them to the level of heart? Gurudev Sri Sri - Just don't worry, they will come back on their own. It is about time and place. There is a couplet in Hindi that says, the world has everything, the world has many gifts, but a person without good karma doesn't get anything.

If there is anything in this universe that cannot be defined, it is love. If you can describe love, then it is far from the truth. Nature of love is that which you cannot express or define. You give flowers, you hug, you prostrate, you offer but still something remains unexpressed. We can only find a little expression, just a glimpse of it. There is a story about Hanuman. He loved Lord Rama. Once Rama asked Hanuman: ‘Tell me how much you love me?’ Hanuman said: ‘My lord I cannot express my love for you, you want to see? I will tear open my heart and show you’. You can see the picture of Hanuman tearing open his heart and showing Rama: ‘Only you reside in my heart.’ There are three types of love: Satvik, rajsik and tamsik. Satvik love is that which does not expect anything in return. Rajsik love, is the love combined with feverishness and a desire to get something back. Tamsik love is love for destroying things. But Divine love is free from all these three. When you love som...

Sankhya Yoga Chapter 2, Verse 61   tāni sarvāṇi saṁyamya  yukta āsīta matparaḥ  vaśe hi yasyendriyāṇi  tasya prajñā pratiṣṭhitā   Having brought all the senses under control, he must sit firmly in yoga, wholly given up to Me; he whose senses are mastered, his intelligence is firmly established (in its proper seat). “Having brought all the senses under control, he must sit firmly in yoga, wholly given up to Me.” Here Lord Krishna says, “Fully concentrating on Me, ‘he whose senses are mastered, his intelligence is firmly established.’” One has to sit in yoga, in meditation. Giving oneself fully unto Him, with a controlled mind, with a mind which is not distracted, the sadhak has to concentrate on his spiritual growth. He has to go deeper, seeking God-Realisation, seeking the Grace of God, seeking to attain Him. This must be his aim. Here Lord Krishna says that one has to first completely surrender and control the senses. After subduing the senses, if the mind is a...

Sankhya Yoga  Chapter 2, Verse 60   yatato hyapi kaunteya  puruṣasya vipaścitaḥ  indriyāṇi pramāthīni  haranti prasabhaṁ manaḥ   Even the mind of the wise man who labours for perfection is carried away by the vehement insistence of the senses, O son of Kunti.   Here Lord Krishna speaks about wise men, the wise people, who have the full knowledge of what is ‘good’ and what is ‘not good’. These people “who labour for perfection” are doing their daily sadhana and are very focused and intense, but they can’t let go of the senses of sight, smell, taste, sound, and touch. Even the wise ones are bound by these objects of the senses. The sense objects may withdraw, but not the taste for the enjoyment of them. As long as an attachment to the enjoyment of sense objects remains in the heart of man, his senses will lead him to the enjoyment of sense objects. His mind, his intellect, cannot rest stable in God, because of the senses which are carrying away the mind....

Sankhya Yoga Chapter 2, Verse 59   viṣayā vinivartante  nirāha‌rasya dehinaḥ  rasa-varjaṁ raso’pyasya  paraṁ dṛṣṭvā nivartate   If one abstains from food, the objects of sense cease to affect one; but the taste for the sense objects remains. The taste also ceases when the Supreme is seen.   Here, food doesn’t only mean the food that we eat. And taste doesn’t only mean the taste of food. Through the renunciation of food, only one object of the senses is renounced. Each of the senses has a different food. Each sense has its own taste. The food of the ears is sound; the food of the nose is smell. If all of these are renounced, automatically all our concentration will be focused on attaining one food – the divine nectar of the Supreme God Himself. And once the Supreme has revealed Himself, the aspect of the supreme reality which is inside oneself awakens – Amrit. Then one doesn’t need anything outside, then one doesn’t need anything secondary. One won’t need an...

Sankhya Yoga Chapter 2, Verse 58   yadā saṁharate cāyaṁ  kūrmo’ṅgānīva sarvaśaḥ  indriyāṇīndriyārthebhyas  tasya prajñā pratiṣṭhitā   He who withdraws his senses from the objects of sense, as the tortoise withdraws his limbs into his shell, his intelligence sits firmly founded in wisdom.   This verse speaks of withdrawing the senses from all objects of self-enjoyment at the time of meditation, thus depriving them of their power to distract the mind and the intellect. Like a tortoise pulls all his limbs inside, leaving only the shell outside, like that, one has to dive within oneself. You can’t pull your hands inside you, but by entering into the cave of the heart, being aware, and sitting in deep, full concentration within oneself, this is true wisdom. But if one is sitting in meditation, yet one is not there, one is somewhere else, that is not true meditation. How many people sit to meditate, but the moment they close their eyes, they ask themselves, “Wher...

Sankhya Yoga Chapter 2, Verse 57   yaḥ sarvatrānabhisnehas  tat tat prāpya śubhāśubham  nābhinandati na dveṣṭi  tasya prajñā pratiṣṭhitā   He who has no attachment anywhere; he who, when encountering the agreeable or the disagreeable, feels neither attraction nor aversion – his wisdom is firmly established.   Earlier we saw that Arjuna asks Krishna, “How does a yogi speak?” Here Krishna says that when a realised soul encounters what is “agreeable or the disagreeable, he feels neither attraction nor aversion.” This is true wisdom. Many people have lots of wisdom in many things, but when you encounter them and you say something they don’t want to hear, what do they do? They fight back, no? They rebel!    In the mind of a true yogi, there is no rebelling. Someone who is fully dedicated to his path, should disregard all negativity and fully focus on his path: if one does this, nothing can move one – neither praises nor insults. When wisdom or knowledg...

Sankhya Yoga Chapter 2, Verse 56   duḥkheṣv-anudvigna-manāḥ  sukheṣu vigata spṛhaḥ  vīta-rāga bhaya krodhaḥ  sthita-dhīr munir ucyate   He whose mind is undisturbed in the midst of sorrows and pleasures is free from desire; he from whom liking, fear and wrath have passed away, is the sage of settled understanding.   Here Krishna says that when the mind is steady and calm, when the mind of a God-realised soul has no thirst for pleasures of the world, when he takes pleasure and pain alike and remains ever-balanced, in whatever kind of experience, he is a Muni. Even more, this intelligence makes him a Muniraj. He is worthy. Because he is settled in understanding, he is allowed to give knowledge, he is allowed to share his experiences of God. Because of his self-controlled and balanced mind, he is allowed to help others. Because of the stability in his state of mind, because he is pure in his actions, he is not bound by anything. He has full control of his spee...

Sankhya Yoga Chapter 2, Verse 55   śrī bhagavān uvāca  prajahāti yadā kāmān  sarvān pārtha manogatān  ātmany-evātmanā tuṣṭaḥ  sthita-prajñās tad-ocyate   The Lord says: When a man expels, O Paartha, all desires from the mind, and is satisfied in the Self by the Self, then is he considered stable in intelligence.  After the total cessation of all desires in the mind, then the sadhak, the bhakta, perceives the true nature of the Eternal, the true nature of God within the Self: within himself, the Supreme Self awakens. The supreme intelligence awakens. The intelligence which Krishna talks about before is the intelligence which the mind understands. Here Krishna is saying that in the one who is satisfied in the Self Itself, what arises is wisdom, Brahma Jyaan, the knowledge of the Divine, through the continued and devoted practice of attaining the Divine. When the mind is unshakably fixed on God, then one becomes stable, of stable mind. When one finds God ...

Sankhya Yoga Chapter 2, Verse 54   arjuna uvāca  sthita-prajñāsya kā bhāṣā  samādhisthasya keśava  sthita-dhīḥ kiṁ prabhāṣata  kim āsīta vrajeta kim   Arjuna says: What is the mode of speech, O Krishna, of one of steady wisdom, who is established in the control of the mind? What does one of steady wisdom say? How does he sit? How does he move?   Arjuna has by now gained profound knowledge. He says, “My friend, here in front of me, is not just a mere mortal. He is Bhagavan Himself, He is God Himself incarnated.” Arjuna addresses Krishna as Keshava, Ke-sha-va: ‘Ke’ as Brahma, the creator; ‘Sha’ as Vishnu, the preserver; ‘Va’ as Shiva. He says, “You are the Creator, the Protector and the Destroyer of this entire universe: thus I address you as Keshava, my Lord.” The tune has changed: Arjuna is not talking to Krishna the same way as before. He is addressing Him with great humility, because he has realised that He is the controller of all three aspects of t...

Sankhya Yoga Chapter 2, Verse 53   śruti vipratipannā te  yadā sthāsyasi niścalā  samādhāv-acalā buddhis  tadā yogam avāpsyasi   When your intellect, well-enlightened by listening to Me and firmly placed, remains unshaken in a concentrated mind, then you will attain the vision of   the Self and attain yoga.    In this state of yoga, the intellect has crossed the mirror of delusion and fully recoiled from the enjoyments of this world and the next. You are not bothered about this life, or the next. You have wholly freed yourself from the fault of distraction, you are fully concentrated, and you take to the practice of meditation on God.    Krishna says, “When your mind is calm, when your mind is not attached to the outside, let your mind be focused on God.” He doesn’t say, “When your mind is controlled, just leave it like that.” He says that the mind must be focused on the Divine form of God, the Divine form of Narayana Himself. So pr...

Sankhya Yoga Chapter 2, Verse 52   yadā te mohakalilaṁ  buddhir vyati-tariṣyati  tadā gantāsi nirvedaṁ  śrotavyasya śrutasya ca   When your intelligence crosses beyond the whirl of delusion, then you will become indifferent to scriptures already heard and to scriptures you are yet to hear.   Here Lord Krishna says that when all this has been eradicated from your mind, when all the negative qualities have been discharged, when your mind has been purified of all impurities, and when your intellect is focused on the Divine, then you realise that there is no ‘good’ or ‘bad’. Even when you hear somebody flatter you or not flatter you, it doesn’t make any difference.    In this verse, Lord Krishna refers to what the scriptures say you should do or should not do. In the scriptures there are always many things that tell you – you have to do this and you have not to do that.    Krishna says that when your mind is completely focused on the Divine,...

Sankhya Yoga Chapter 2, Verses 50-51   buddhi-yukto jahātīha  ubhe sukṛta duṣkṛte  tasmād yogāya yujyasva  yogaḥ karmasu kauśalam   karmajaṁ buddhi-yuktā hi  phalaṁ tyaktvā manīṣiṇaḥ  janma bandha vinirmuktāḥ  padaṁ gacchanty-anāmayam   Endowed with wisdom of equanimity, one discards here and now the fruits of good and evil deeds. Therefore, devote yourself to yoga. The performance of actions with a balanced mind is true yoga. The sages who have united their reason and will with the Divine, renounce the fruit which action yields and, liberated from the bondage of birth, they reach the status beyond misery.   Here, in verse 50, Krishna says that, “A true yogi, endowed with equanimity, easily lets go of good and evil in this very life.” A true yogi is not attached to anything. What he receives, he can give away, without having any remorse. He is free. He does this because he is established in this equanimity. The residue of all virtues and...

Sankhya Yoga Chapter 2, Verse 49   dūreṇa hyavaraṁ karma  buddhi-yogād dhanañjaya  buddhau śaraṇam anviccha  kṛpaṇāḥ phala-hetavaḥ   Works are far inferior to the yoga of the intelligence, O Dhananjaya. Rather, desire refuge in the intelligence; poor and wretched souls are they who make the fruit of their actions the object of their thoughts and activities.   “Works are far inferior to yoga of the intelligence.” Here Krishna says that when one has selfish motives, when one is doing things in a very selfish way, one is devoid of this knowledge of yoga or equality. But when one doesn’t concentrate on the fruit of the action, one attains the Divine. In this context, Krishna is saying that whatever you do, do it with a selfless motive – because if you do it with a motive of attaining something, “wretched souls are they who make the fruit of their actions the object of their thoughts and activities.” This is the pride. This is the ego. People will always claim t...

Sankhya Yoga Chapter 2, Verse 48   yogasthaḥ kuru karmāṇi  saṅgaṁ tyaktvā dhanañjaya  siddhy-asiddhyoḥ samo bhūtvā  samatvaṁ yoga ucyate   Fixed in yoga do your actions, having abandoned attachment, having become equal in failure and success; for it is equality that is the essence of yoga.   Here Krishna is saying, “Fixed in yoga do your actions, having abandoned attachment…” This is what Christ teaches in the Bible that when your right hand is doing something, the left hand should not know about it. It is better to cut if off and throw it away.  In this verse Krishna says that when you do yoga, it will help you to rise above expectations. Yoga will unite you with the Divine. Whatever you do is yoga, when you’re not attached to the fruits of the action. But whatever you do with expectation, will never free you. You will damn yourself, you will get yourself attached to the world. Christ says, “What is the use if you do a service, and then you go around ...

Sankhya Yoga Chapter 2, Verse 47   karmaṇy-evādhikāras te  mā phaleṣu kadācana  mā karma phala hetur bhūr   mā te saṅgo ’stv karmaṇi   You have the right to action, but only to action, never to its fruits; let not the fruits of your works be your motive, neither let there be in you any attachment to inactivity.   As I said earlier, if you work, if you do your duty, but your mind is only focused on what you want to gain, you will never be free. And that work will not be fully effective, because there will always be doubt about whether you will do it properly or not. There will always be doubt about whether you will achieve your goal or not. Because of this deep fear of unknowing, this fear of not doing it properly enough, you will not do it effectively. Here Krishna says that you have the right to action, meaning you have to do your dharma. But you only have the right to do your dharma – the action, the work.   “Let not the fruits of your works be ...

Sankhya Yoga Chapter 2, Verse 46   yāvān artha udapāne  sarvataḥ saṁplutodake  tāvān sarveṣu vedeṣu  brāhmaṇasya vijānataḥ   As much use as there is in a well with water flooding on every side, so much   is there in all the Vedas for the brahmin who has the knowledge of the Self.   In this verse ‘brahmin’ doesn’t mean Brahmin as a caste: a brahmin here means a realised soul. A realised soul who is standing at the brink of a lake overflowing with sweet, life-giving and wholesome water, has no use for a small well. If you are standing by a whole ocean, why would you even want a small bottle of water? You already have the whole source. You don’t need the bottle since you have the source. What use would be a well, when there’s a flood all around it? What use would be all the water of a well, if you have a whole lake? Even so, a brahmin renounces every attachment to the objects of enjoyment and realises God. That brahmin, that realised soul, when he ha...

Sankhya Yoga Chapter 2, Verse 45   trai-guṇya viṣayā vedā  nistrai-guṇyo bhavārjuna  nir-dvandvo nitya satvastho  nir-yoga kṣema ātmavān   The Vedas deal with the three gunas, O Arjuna. You must free yourself from the three gunas and from all duality. Abide in pure sattva; never care to acquire   things or to protect what has been acquired; be established in the Self.   “The Vedas deal with the three gunas,” which are sattva, rajas, and tamas. “You must free yourself from the three gunas and from all duality.” Here Lord Krishna says that everything in this world functions because of the three gunas: sattva, rajas and tamas. Even the Vedas talk about these three gunas. But Krishna says, “If you want to rise, you have to go above the three gunas.” If you are trapped in the game of the three gunas, you will always have judgement. The tamas is always judging the sattva and the sattva is always judging the rajas, and so on like that. Each one is thinki...

Sankhya Yoga Chapter 2, Verses 42-44   yām imāṁ puṣpitāṁ vācaṁ  pravadanty-avipaścitaḥ  veda-vāda-ratāḥ pārtha  nānyad astīti vādinaḥ   kāmātmānaḥ svarga-parā  janma-karma-phala-pradām  kriyā-viśeṣa bahulāṁ  bhogaiśvarya gatiṁ prati   bhogaiśvarya prasaktānāṁ  tayāpahṛta cetasām  vyavasāyātmikā buddhiḥ  samādhau na vidhīyate   Flowery speech, O Paartha is uttered by the unwise who rejoice in the words   of the Vedas, declaring, “There is nothing superior to this!” They are full of desires and have Heaven as their goal. They teach rebirth as the result of actions and engage in various specific rites for the attainment of pleasure and power. Those who cling to pleasure and power are attracted by these teachings and are unable to develop the resolute will of a concentrated mind.   Many people say that the world is unreal. These people who believe that the only goal of life is to attain Heaven are ignorant of th...

Sankhya Yoga Chapter 2, Verse 41   vyavasāyātmikā buddhir  ekeha kuru-nandana  bahu-śākhā hyanantāśca  buddhayo’vyavasāyinām   In this practice, O Arjuna, the resolute mind is one-pointed; the thoughts of   the irresolute are many-branched and endless.   Bhagavan Krishna says, “Because you are not attached to your actions, and you are not attached to the results of your actions, the mind becomes one-pointed. The intellect which determines only one thing, remains unshakeably fixed on it.” The mind becomes one-pointed on God and on God alone. Remaining steadfast in God, nothing can shake that person. Vyavasāyātmikā buddhir. The resolute mind is single-pointed. When the mind is settled for meditation, when the mind is calm and is focused on one goal, nothing can move its single-pointed devotion. The same is true when one surrenders to one spiritual path and looks only to that path; when one has found his way, his path in life, there’s no need to look...

Sankhya Yoga Chapter 2, Verse 40   nehābhikrama-nāśo’sti  pratyavāyo na vidyate  svalpam apyasya dharmasya  trāyate mahato bhayāt   On this path, no effort is lost, no obstacle prevails; even a little of this   practice delivers one from great fear.   “On this path, no effort is lost.” This is Karma Yoga. Krishna says that regarding whatever you do in this world – when you sow a seed in the land, there will be the result of the seed. Even if you fail to protect the seed, it will grow. So on this path of Karma Yoga, there is no loss of any effort. Nothing is lost.   “... no obstacle prevails; even a little of this practice delivers one from great fear.” Here Bhagavan Sri Krishna says that if you do a little effort, if you have first shown interest, even just a little interest, and done a little practice – you have shown the willingness to advance. This will help bring liberation, salvation to your soul. “No obstacle prevails.” There are no rul...

Sankhya Yoga Chapter 2, Verse 39   eṣā te’bhihitā sāṅkhye  buddhir yoge tvimāṁ śṛṇu  buddhyā-yukto yayā pārtha  karma-bandhaṁ prahāsyasi   O son of Pritha, this knowledge which has been taught to you so far concerns Sankhya. Hear now the teachings concerning yoga, for if you are in yoga, by this intelligence, you shall cast away the bondage of karma. In this verse here, you can see that Arjuna is progressing from one step to another. Krishna sees that Arjuna is ready for the next step. He says, “I have been teaching you the yoga of the Self. I have just talked about how you will realise yourself: what you have to do, what you have to let go of, how you have to accept. Now I’ll talk about something greater, because I see that you have the attitude of equanimity inside of you. Now, we can move to the next teaching. Due to this attitude which you have cultivated, Arjuna, now we will talk about the yoga of equal attitude.”    Yoga means equanimity. Due to ...

Sankhya Yoga Chapter 2, Verse 38   sukha-duḥkhe same kṛtvā  lābhālābhau jayājayau  tato yuddhāya yujyasva  nainaṁ pāpam avāpsyasi   Make grief and happiness, loss and gain, victory and defeat equal to your soul and then turn to battle; this way you shall not incur sin. Here Krishna says to Arjuna, “Awake, My dear! Realise, that all this is just a drama put on by Me.” Later on, He will say, “I am the One who does everything, not you.” Here He is just telling Arjuna to awaken, “See it from the point of view of your soul. Don’t see only what your mind perceives.” The Lord again tells him, “Fight Arjuna! ‘Turn to battle; this way you shall not incur sin.’ Treating pleasure and pain alike, O Arjuna, get ready and do your dharma!” He says, “Don’t bother about whether you want to gain the kingdom of Heaven. You don’t desire the kingdom, so you want to run away from the kingdom. So if you don’t desire all these things, if you don’t want the kingdom, then it is easy for ...

Sankhya Yoga Chapter 2, Verse 37   hato vā prāpsyasi svargaṁ  jitvā vā bhokṣyase mahīn  tasmād uttiṣṭha kaunteya  yuddhāya kṛta-niścayaḥ   If slain, you shall win Heaven, if victorious, you shall enjoy the Earth;   therefore, arise, O son of Kunti, and resolve to fight.   As you saw earlier, Arjuna is confused in his mind and even wants to run away from fighting. Here Krishna says, “Your state of confusion has been removed, which means that you will now win the battle, you will conquer the Kauravas. You will be victorious.” He says, “You shall enjoy the Earth, – therefore arise, O son of Kunti, and resolve to fight. You will be victorious in this battle and you will also be victorious in Heaven. You will win both ways.” So this removed Arjuna’s worry about whether he would be victorious or not. Here Krishna says it, “You will be victorious!” Because He knows that Arjuna will have full victory over the Kauravas. This is a tricky point. Krishna says...

Sankhya Yoga Chapter 2, Verse 36   avācya vādāṁśca bahūn  vadiṣyanti tavāhitāḥ  nindantas tava sāmarthyaṁ  tato duḥkhataraṁ nu kim   Many unseemly words will be spoken by your enemies, slandering your strength; what is worse grief than that?   You see, Krishna is using the feeling of guilt, the knife, and putting it inside again. He says, “If you run away from your enemies, the infamy of the public scandal will cause acute distress. It will be terrible. Duryodhana and the other Kauravas will use this; they will enjoy this. They will ridicule you and not only you – they will also ridicule your whole family. They will say to your other brothers, ‘Your brother, Arjuna, ran away.’ They will start calling your family, even your mother, many names. They will speak words of reproach and defame you. If you lose fame, Arjuna, how would you take this?”   You see, the Pandavas also cared very much about their fame. Krishna says, “This will bring great suffering t...

Sankhya Yoga Chapter 2, Verse 35   bhayād raṇād uparataṁ  mansyante tvāṁ mahārathāḥ  yeṣāṁ ca tvaṁ bahu-mato  bhūtvā yāsyasi lāghavam   The mighty men will think you fled from the battle through fear, and you, whom all think highly of, will allow a stain to fall on your honour.   This verse is also about Arjuna’s honour, about how people will look at him. Krishna says, “‘The mighty men’: Bhima, your brothers, Bhishma, Duryodhana, Drona and many others – they all have great esteem for you. If you run away, they will have an extremely low image of you. They will be broken! They will be shocked if you run away out of fear!” Raising the question of fear on the battlefield, Lord Krishna says, “In this state of mind, Arjuna, you are being disgraceful, because a warrior should not have fear. These people will look at you and say, ‘My goodness! Where did this fear come from?’ They will never believe that your motive in fleeing battle was to protect them. How could ...

Sankhya Yoga Chapter 2, Verse 34   akīrtiṁ cāpi bhūtāni  kathayiṣyanti te’vyayām  saṁbhāvitasya cākīrtir  maraṇād-atiricyate   Besides, men will recount your perpetual disgrace, and to an honourable man, dishonour is worse than death.   Here Krishna is using reverse psychology, talking about guilt in another way. He says to Arjuna, “If you don’t do your duty, you will lose your reputation and you will be exposed to sin. People will talk badly of you, but not only that, the rishis and the celestials will all look at you in a questioning way. Your ancestors will also be crying. So, get up and fight! Don’t let people talk ill of you. You are from the warrior clan!”   “...dishonour is worse than death.” It is very important to understand that, during this time, people were very concerned about their honour and about giving their word. When they gave their word, they kept it. They would rather have died than not have kept their word. The Lord reminds Arjuna...

Sankhya Yoga Chapter 2, Verse 33   atha-cet tvam imaṁ dharmyaṁ  saṅgrāmam‌ na kariṣyasi  tataḥ sva-dharmaṁ kīrtiṁ ca   hitvā pāpam avāpsyasi   But if you do not fight this righteous battle, then you have abandoned your   duty and virtue and your glory, and you shall incur only sin.   Here Lord Krishna reminds Arjuna, “If you don’t learn to accept what God is giving you in life and run away from your duty, run away from your dharma, then you are committing a big sin.” If you don’t first accept what God is giving you to do in life, and you don’t realise your dharma, you will fail in life, and you will ‘incur only sin’.   It is because of the fear of sin that Arjuna wants to run away from fighting. But here Krishna turns it around and says, “No, My dear! You will commit sin if you run away.” First Arjuna wants to run away, fearing the sin and the guilt that will come upon him. But Krishna says, “No way, don’t do that! It will be not virtuou...

Sankhya Yoga Chapter 2, Verse 32   yadṛcchayā copapannaṁ  svarga dvāram apāvṛtam  sukhinaḥ kṣatriyāḥ pārtha  labhante yuddham īdṛśam   Happy are the Kshatriyas, O Arjuna, to whom a war such as this comes of its own accord; it opens the gates to Heaven.   Here again, Bhagavan Sri Krishna tells Arjuna, “Happy are the Kshatriyas, O Arjuna, to whom a war such as this comes of its own accord;” He says, “Look! You should be rejoicing! You have not come here to make the war happen, but it came to you! It gives you the opportunity to do your dharma. You should welcome this opportunity to do your dharma. You should accept it! Welcome it!”   “...it opens the gates to Heaven”: when you do your duty in life, accepting what God is giving you to do, it draws you closer and closer to God-Realisation. By accepting what God is giving you in your daily life, you are opening the gates to receive more. By showing that you are doing your duty; by accepting what God gives y...

Sankhya Yoga Chapter 2, Verse 31   sva-dharmam api cāvekṣya  na vikampitum arhasi  dharmyāddhi yuddhāc-chreyo  ‘nyat kṣatriyasya na vidyate   Looking to do your own duty, you should not tremble; there is no greater   good for the Kshatriya than righteous battle.   Krishna again reminds Arjuna of his duty as a Kshatriya, as a soldier. He says, “There is no greater thing for a soldier to do, than to fight. You should not divert yourself from your aim. Knowing now that the soul is immortal and that the body is separate from the soul, why do you lament? You should go and fight! Don’t just stand there and think! Don’t continue to analyse the problem from many different points of view. You are from the warrior caste, so do your duty! This is the natural duty of a Kshatriya – to not run away from a battle. If ‘the Kshatriya’ starts running away from the battle, all is finished! Then all that you have worried about will happen. It will not happen because ...

Sankhya Yoga Chapter 2, Verse 30   dehī nityam avadhyo’yaṁ  dehe sarvasya bhārata  tasmāt sarvāṇi bhūtāni  na tvaṁ śocitum arhasi   This dweller in the body of everyone is eternal and indestructible, O Bharata, therefore, you should not grieve for any creature.   Here Krishna explains that the soul, the dweller in the bodies of all living entities, can never be killed. The Lord says that in the bodies of all human beings in this world, there resides only One Supreme Soul. It is only due to ignorance that one sees differences in the diverse bodies. In reality, there is no diversity: there is only One Supreme Soul which we are all connected to, and which we are all part of. What is in me, is in you. It is in Arjuna. It is in Krishna. Lord Krishna reminds Arjuna, “I am in everyone as the Supreme Soul, Paramatma.” Every Atma is part of Paramatma: every Atma is part of this cosmic body which makes Paramatma, the only One Reality. He uses the word ‘indestructible...

Sankhya Yoga Chapter 2, Verse 29   āścaryavat paśyati kaścid enam  āścaryavad vadati tathaiva cānyaḥ  āścaryavac cainam anyaḥ śṛṇoti  śrutvāpy-enaṁ veda na caiva kaścit   One sees it as a mystery or one speaks of it or hears of it as a mystery, yet none truly know it. That Self, which we look on and speak of and hear of as that which is wonderful, beyond our comprehension, no human mind has ever known this Absolute.   Here Krishna says that the soul is something wonderful and that it’s very rare to meet an individual in this world who has perceived the true wonders of the soul. The soul is not a worldly object. He says, “None truly know it,” because the soul cannot be perceived by the senses, the mind or the intellect. To know something, you usually need the mind, no? But how can the mind perceive something that is beyond the mind? The soul is transcendental and unique. It is the only reality that abides eternally within the consciousness of every human bei...

Sankhya Yoga Chapter 2, Verse 28   avyaktādīni bhūtāni  vyakta-madhyāni bhārata  avyakta nidhanānyeva  tatra kā parivedana   Beings are unmanifest in the beginning, manifest in the middle, unmanifest likewise are they in disintegration. What is there to be grieved at, O Bharata?   In the beginning, before birth, the soul has no connection with this body. “In the middle”, when the body gets manifested, the soul still doesn’t have any connection to the body. And after death, the soul will maintain no connection to the gross body. The soul manifests in a body to do its karma, to finish the karma which had been created in past lifetimes, yet it remains untouched by anything. Then the soul frees itself upon passing from this body: it doesn’t hang onto the body. The Atma goes through this process. Lord Krishna says that this is like a dream world: the dream world is non-existent before and after the dream. It is only during the dream that the dreamer seems to hav...

Sankhya Yoga Chapter 2, Verse 27   jātasya hi dhruvo mṛtyur  dhruvaṁ janma mṛtasya ca  tasmād aparihārye ‘rthe  na tvaṁ śocitum arhasi   Death is certain for those who are born, and birth is certain for those who die; therefore what is inevitable ought not to be a cause of your sorrow.   There are many people and schools of thought who don’t believe in liberation, in salvation. They always think that they have to be reborn, that they can’t attain the Lord. They bind themselves to this wheel of life and death. They are in ignorance of liberation, in ignorance of attaining the Grace of God.    Krishna asks, “Why are you crying, Arjuna? Birth and death are conceived only in ignorance.” If one is in ignorance about liberation, one will never attain it. People who believe that they can’t run away from birth and death – because of their belief – they are stuck in that reality. If people want to believe that, why should you grieve? The drama of birth and...

Sankhya Yoga Chapter 2, Verse 26   atha cainaṁ nitya jātam  nityaṁ vā manyase mṛtam  tathāpi tvaṁ mahābāho  naivaṁ śocitum arhasi   Even if you think of the Self as being constantly subject to birth and death,   still, O mighty-armed, you should not grieve.   Here the Lord explains that the soul is not “subject to birth and death”, what dies is only the body. But you as the soul, you are eternal. He says, “Don’t grieve, My dear, because grieving makes you weak.” Learn to accept this as the Will of God. And when you learn to accept life – everything that happens in life as the Will of God, as a present from God – then you will be free from grief.   Krishna says, “Grieve not, ‘O mighty-armed’.” Again Krishna is addressing Arjuna as the, “mighty-armed,” mahābāho. He means, “You are strong! You are not weak.   Don’t go into weakness.” Bhagavad Gita 

Sankhya Yoga Chapter 2, Verse 25   avyakto’yam acintyo’yam  avikāryo’yam ucyate  tasmād evaṁ viditvainaṁ  nānuśocitum arhasi   It is unmanifest, it is unthinkable, it is immutable, so is it described;   therefore, knowing it as such, you should not grieve.   Here Krishna asks Arjuna, “Why are you grieving, My dear? Why are you crying? The soul ‘is unmanifest, it is unthinkable’”. The soul can’t be conceived by the mind, the mind can’t comprehend it. The mind can’t understand the soul, because the soul   is beyond the mind.   If you are looking at the soul only from the point of view of the mind, do you think that the mind can understand the soul? A mind which is always moving around is, ‘cañcala’, “restless,” dancing and jumping like a monkey, from one thought to the other. How can the mind, which is in constant movement, be still and perceive the unmovable? The mind will always move from one thing to another until one has gone deep...

Sankhya Yoga Chapter 2, Verse 24   acchedyo’yam adāhyo’yaṁ  akledyo’śoṣya eva ca  nityaḥ sarvagataḥ sthāṇur  acalo’yam sanātanaḥ   It cannot be cut, it is incombustible, it can neither be drenched nor dried.   Eternally stable, immobile, all-pervading, ever-existing.   Krishna continues explaining that the soul cannot be destroyed by any weapon because it is indivisible, unmanifest, constant and immutable. Krishna says that weapons don’t have any power to destroy this reality. Here the word ‘weapons’ also refers to karma: Krishna means that karma has no power to destroy the soul. Krishna uses the words ‘stable’, and ‘immobile’ to describe the soul. The soul is still and motionless. The soul is ever focused in the stillness. Whatever is moving, whatever is bound by vibration, is in constant change, and whatever is in constant change, has a limited existence.   “All pervading.” This means that there is no place where the soul is not present. Th...

Sankhya Yoga Chapter 2, Verse 23   nainaṁ chindanti śastrāṇi  nainaṁ dahati pāvakaḥ  na cainaṁ kledayanty-āpo  na śoṣayati mārutaḥ   Weapons cannot cut it, nor the fire burn it, nor do the waters drench it, nor   the wind dry it.   Overtaken by his feelings for his relatives, Arjuna asks, “How can I kill them?” He starts to worry and grieve, thinking, “How could I do that?” Lord Krishna reminds him that weapons cannot cut the soul, nor can fire burn it. Referring in this verse to fire, water, and wind, He explains that the elements don’t have any effect on the soul: neither fire, water, or wind, can do anything to the soul. He says, “Even if the body is cut into pieces by a weapon, the soul is not. Even if the body is burned, the soul will not be burned. Even if water dissolves the body, the soul is not touched by it.”    During the time of the Mahabharat War, the elements were used as weapons.   Here Krishna says that even if ...