Ayurveda Initiative For Global Health

Question - Gurudev, what do you think about the donation of organs after death? Gurudev Sri Sri - Yes, It's good. We can donate our organs. If our organs can come to someone else's help, we should be happy. Donate your eyes, or whichever organs are useful to others. Even if you are not here, your eyes continue to help someone to see. Like when you give knowledge to somebody, that knowledge will continue even when you are not there. People will enjoy it for generations. Though organs may not stay as long as knowledge or wisdom, they can for a short period of time help someone else. The purpose is that if we are useful in any way, while living or after death, we should just do it.

Question - Gurudev, can a woman follow Brahamcharya (celibacy)? Gurudev Sri Sri - Identifying with the infinity is really what celibacy or Brahamcharya is. That means, you don't find any big pleasure in a physical act to experience the joy because the joy is already there. Body has its cycle. It goes through cycles. Consciousness not getting involved in it is the real skill. Now coming to your question - It's your personal choice. If you want to get married then marry. If you don't want to get married then don't marry. There are people who are married and miserable. Also, There are people who are unmarried and miserable. All I want you to be is wise.

Karma Yoga Chapter 3, Verse 7   yastv-indriyāṇi manasā  niyamyārabhate ’rjuna  karmendriyaiḥ karma-yogam  asaktaḥ sa viśiṣyate   But one who, subduing the senses by the mind, O Arjuna, begins to practice Karma Yoga through the organs of action and who is free from attachment, excels.   “…subduing the senses by the mind.” By controlling the senses from the root itself, the mind, one is free: then true Karma Yoga starts. In the Bible it says that the left hand should not know what the right hand is giving. Otherwise, it is better to cut off   your hand and throw it away. Here Lord Krishna says the same thing that Christ would say 3000 years later. He just changed the words, “Cut off the hand and throw it away! It is better than praising yourself.” When you have helped others, then don’t run after praise, saying that you have done this, and that you have done that. Help others and then forget about it! In whatever you do, be free from tha...

Karma Yoga Chapter 3, Verse 6   karmendriyāṇi saṁyamya  ya āste manasā smaran  indriyārthān vimūḍhātmā  mithyācāraḥ sa ucyate   Who controls the organs of action, but continues in his mind to remember   and dwell upon the objects of sense, such a man has bewildered himself   with false notions of self-discipline.   This is what we were talking about earlier. Krishna says, “Whoever pretends to let go of the outside or pretends to do their sadhana, pretends to meditate or pretends to listen, but deep inside, they are not doing it – they are like hypocrites, because they are being fake with themselves.”   Karmendriyāṇi saṁyamya, “one who controls the organs of action...” Controlling the organs of action includes controlling the senses: sight, hearing, touch, taste and smell. But this doesn’t only mean to control what one is seeing, hearing, touching, tasting or smelling. No. You have to come to the point of controlling all ...

Karma Yoga Chapter 3, Verse 5 kaścit kṣaṇam-api  jātu tiṣṭhaty-akarma-kṛt  kāryate hy-avaśaḥ karma  sarvaḥ prakṛti-jair guṇaiḥ   For none stands even for a moment not doing work. Everyone is helplessly made to do action by the modes born of Prakriti .  “For none stands even for a moment not doing work.” Do you remember, what we were talking about in the previous chapter that there is not a single moment when one is not working. Even while you sleep, you are working! So, there is a constant creation of karma. I will go as far as to say that each breath that you take creates karma. That’s why, when you learn Atma Kriya Yoga, we tell you, “Know how to breathe!” You can use what God has given you, the breathing practice in this sadhana, to actually reduce your karma, to burn off your karma.    Prakṛtair-guṇaiḥ means the gunas, which are born of Prakriti. Everybody is bound by the three gunas, but one has to be centred in equal-mindedness. The eternal and p...

Karma Yoga Chapter 3, Verse 4   na karmaṇām anārambhān  naiṣkarmyaṁ puruṣo’śnute  na ca saṁnyasanād-eva  siddhiṁ samādhigacchati   No one achieves freedom from karma by abstaining from works, and no one ever attains perfection by mere renunciation of works.    It is very important to understand this. One may say, “Oh, I will not do this work, because there will be no profit in it.” But here the mind is still hanging onto the work. Krishna says, that if the Karma Yoga is done with such an attitude, there is no freedom. He says, “No one ever attains perfection by mere renunciation of works.” If one is fake with oneself, if one is not in truth towards oneself, freely and happily renouncing work, one will not be free. One will not do the work outside, but it will still play very much in the mind, saying, “I have renounced this, I am a great yogi. I do my meditation properly. My back is straight.” But the mind always continues to play. This is not really do...

Karma Yoga Chapter 3, Verse 3   śrī bhagavān uvāca  loke’smin dvividhā niṣṭhā  purā proktā mayā’nagha  jñāna-yogena sāṅkhyānāṁ  karma-yogena yoginām   The Lord says: In this world there is a two-fold path as I have said before, O sinless one: Jyaana Yoga for the sankhyans and Karma Yoga for the yogis.   Loke’smin: this word refers to the human world, this world of duality. In this world of duality, only man is qualified to adapt disciplines of Jyaana Yoga and Karma Yoga. Krishna says that of all the species, only the human being has the capacity of transcending these two yogas. He says to Arjuna, “‘O sinless one’, you are above this. You are a Maha Yogi, whatever you do will not have any sin in it.”   Krishna says that there are two modes of sadhana, two principle states in which one attains the Divine. The first is, “Jyaana Yoga for the sankhyans” – jñāna-yogena sāṅkhyānāṁ. In this state, one believes in the identity of the soul and Paramatma. On...

Karma Yoga Chapter 3, Verse 2   vyāmiśreṇaiva vākyena  buddhiṁ mohayasīva me  tad ekaṁ vada niścitya  yena śreyoham-āpnuyām   You seem to bewilder my intelligence with a confused and mingled speech of contradictions; tell me then, decisively, the one way by which I may attain the highest good. “You seem to bewilder my intelligence with a confused and mingled speech of contradictions.” Here, you see the state of Arjuna. He is confused. No doubt that this confusion arose in his mind as soon as he heard the Lord say that knowledge is superior to Karma Yoga. “Tell me then, decisively, the one way by which I may attain the highest good.” Arjuna is completely surrendered to the Lord. He just wants to understand. He wants to take every opportunity to get rid of this confusion which is inside of him so that he can attain the highest good.   Arjuna says, “You are confusing me with these words. It is too much for me! I can only understand one way; here there are many...

Karma Yoga Chapter 3, Verse 1   arjuna uvāca  jyāyasī cet karmaṇaste  matā buddhir-janārdana  tat kiṁ karmaṇi ghore māṁ  niyojayasi keśava   Arjuna says: If You hold intelligence (buddhi) to be greater than action   (karma), O Krishna, why then do You, O Keshava, urge me to engage in this   terrible deed?   Here you see that Arjuna is listening with deep attention to Lord Krishna. He understands what Krishna is saying, but there is still a certain doubt inside of him. He wants to grasp what the Lord meant by saying that knowledge is greater than action. He starts to wonder, “How can I understand that?” People with a mind focused on the   outside, always think that whatever they do is right. In such a state, if one doesn’t have the knowledge of the Self, one is filled with pride, one is filled with the ego.   Krishna says, “Take in my words! The words that I am saying will bring Enlightenment to your mind. When the min...

Sankhya Yoga Chapter 2, Verse 72   eṣā brāhmī-sthitiḥ pārtha  naināṁ prāpya vimuhyati  sthitvā’syām antakāle’pi  brahma-nirvāṇam ṛcchati   This is brahmi sthiti, O Arjuna. Having attained it, one is no longer bewildered; fixed in that state at the hour of death, one can attain the Brahman itself.   He who succeeds in attaining Brahman during this lifetime is the best flower of humanity. He enjoys the bliss of the Divine while living a liberated life: he is a Jivan Mukta. Even he who succeeds at the last moment of his life, suddenly, as a reward for his sadhana, or as a Grace from his Guru, if he is fixing his mind unshakably on the image of the Divine, free from egoism, attachment, and desires, he will enjoy a blissful state of existence in the next world. He will enjoy God’s Heaven, enjoy the existence of Narayana, eternally. However, if one has not done one’s spiritual practices, it will be quite difficult to focus the attention on the Divine at the last ...

Sankhya Yoga Chapter 2, Verse 71   vihāya kāmān yaḥ sarvān  pumāṁś-carati niḥspṛhaḥ  nirmamo nirahaṅkāraḥ  sa śāntim adhigacchati   He who abandons all desires and lives free from longing, who has no “I”   or “mine”, and has extinguished the sense of egoistic self-importance,   attains peace.   So when the big, ‘I’, ‘I’, ‘I’, and ‘mine’, ‘mine’, ‘mine’, and ‘this belongs to me’ – when all these are removed from the mind, one becomes peaceful. The feeling of ‘I want this,’ and ‘I want that,’ brings pain to the people of the outside world. Here Krishna says that the one who has great expectations in life, who desires many things, in a very egoistic way, doesn’t have peace of mind. Even if one wants to be peaceful, it’s very difficult, because this self-importance, this egoistic feeling, will eat one up. What you need is humility. Because of your own self-importance, you will never be able to respect others.   Arjuna has asked Krishna,...

Sankhya Yoga Chapter 2, Verse 70   apūryamāṇam acala pratiṣṭhaṁ  samudram āpaḥ praviśanti yadvat  tadvat kāmā yaṁ praviśanti sarve  sa śāntim āpnoti na kāmakāmī   One into whom all desires enter, as rivers enter the fullness of the ocean   which remains undisturbed, attains peace, and not one who craves after   objects of desire.   Krishna says that, even if every desire, even if the whole world presents itself to the true yogi, it makes no difference to him. It’s like the river entering the ocean: when the river enters the ocean, the ocean doesn’t bother about it; it doesn’t change anything in the ocean. Like that, the yogi who is self-controlled always remains calm in every situation. He is unshakably established in God Consciousness. He still has concerns for the world, but he has discrimination and is undisturbed. He is ever-peaceful. He doesn’t want more: he is satisfied with whatever God provides for Him. One has to be in that stat...

Sankhya Yoga Chapter 2, Verse 69   yā niśā sarva bhūtānāṁ  tasyāṁ jāgarti saṁyamī  yasyāṁ jāgrati bhūtāni  sā niśā paśyato muneḥ   The self-controlled one is awake during what is ‘night’ for all beings; when   all beings are awake, that is the ‘night’ to the enlightened one. The experiences of the ignorant man of the world and the man of knowledge are very different. It’s like ‘day’ and ‘night’; but here it’s has nothing to do with actual day and night. Here, the ‘day’ refers to the awakened, the enlightened one, the one who is out of darkness. “The self-controlled one is awake during” the night. Here, the ‘night’ means all the excitement of the outside world. The self-controlled one is awake, which means he is vigilant, he is guarding: the Self is observing and controlling, so that one doesn’t go into temptation. Such a person is wise. Whereas when one is ignorant, it is like one is in darkness: it is ‘night’ for those beings.   For the enlighten...

Sankhya Yoga Chapter 2, Verse 68   tasmād yasya mahābāho  nigṛhītāni sarvaśaḥ  indriyāṇīndriyārthebhyas  tasya prajñā pratiṣṭhitā   Therefore, O mighty-armed, one who has utterly restrained the excitement   of the senses by their objects, his intelligence sits firmly founded in calm   Self-knowledge.   Again Krishna says, “One who is fully focused is centred in the Divine within oneself, and sees the Divine within oneself.”    Krishna addresses Arjuna as ‘mahābāho’: “He who possesses long, stout, and powerful arms.” He says, “You are not weak, you are a great hero and a great fighter! It should not be difficult for you to subdue your mind, to have your mind under control. It should not be difficult for you to have your senses under control and tame them. So control the senses, Arjuna! Control the senses – sound, touch, taste, sight and smell – without any weaknesses. So move! Grow out of this excitement of the senses!”   T...

Sankhya Yoga  Chapter 2, Verse 67   indriyāṇāṁ hi caratāṁ  yan mano’nuvidhīyate  tad asya harati prajñāṁ  vāyur nāvam ivāṁbhasi   When the mind follows the senses ‘experiencing’ their objects, the   understanding is carried away by them, as the wind carries away a ship on   the waters.   When the mind is happy, you should be careful! It is not true happiness, but short-term happiness! “The understanding is carried away by them, as the wind carries away a ship on the waters.” (In the Gita, Krishna is already talking about ships. It’s amazing, you know? Much later, in the dictionaries of the west, you will find references to ships. But the ship was already mentioned five thousand years ago in Krishna’s time!) “When the mind follows the senses…”: if a man’s mind and senses are not disciplined, are not focused on the Divine, his senses will drag his mind along with them; it may affect the intellect. Drawing away from God, one will pursu...

Sankhya Yoga Chapter 2, Verse 66   nāsti buddhir-ayuktasya  na cāpyuktasya bhāvanā  na cābhāvayataḥ śāntir  aśāntasya kutaḥ sukham   For one who is not in yoga, there is no intelligence, no concentration; for him without concentration, there is no peace; and for the restless, how can there be happiness? The man lacking self-control can have no peace of mind and can’t think of God. He’s always running to the outside world; so how can he think and concentrate on the ocean of the supreme bliss? How can he become calm and tranquil? He will not be able to concentrate, because he doesn’t even know what peace is. The mind of the worldly man remains ever-distracted and his heart remains constantly burning and agitated under the impulse of love and hate. He can’t concentrate, because he is busy either loving or hating. He is always concentrating always on lust and anger, greed and jealousy.  Krishna says to Arjuna, “Centre yourself in equal-mindedness. Try your best...

Sankhya Yoga Chapter 2, Verses 64-65   rāga-dveṣa viyuktais tu  viṣayān indriyaiś-caran  ātma-vaśyair vidheyātmā  prasādam adhigacchati   prasāde sarva-duḥkhānāṁ  hānir asyopajāyate  prasanna-cetaso hyāśu  buddhiḥ paryavatiṣṭhate   It is by moving among the sense-objects, but with the senses subjected to the Self, freed from liking and disliking, that one attains a large and sweet clearness of soul and temperament in which passion and grief find no place; the intelligence of such a man is rapidly established (in its proper seat).    “It is by moving among the sense-objects, but with the senses subjected to the Self, freed from liking and disliking, that one attains a large and sweet clearness of soul.” Here Bhagavan is not saying that one should not enjoy what one has. Everything has been given by God. One should enjoy it. But one should not become a slave to it. One should not be attached to it! Krishna says that if the God-realise...

Sankhya Yoga Chapter 2, Verse 63   krodhād-bhavati saṁmohaḥ  saṁmohāt smṛti-vibhramaḥ  smṛti-bhramśād buddhi-nāśo  buddhir-nāśāt praṇaśyati   Anger leads to bewilderment, from bewilderment comes loss of memory, and by that the intelligence is destroyed; from destruction of intelligence, one perishes.   When anger arises in the heart of man, it deprives him of his power of discrimination. He is unable to think, so he will not heed the consequences of whatever he does in a fit of anger. He doesn’t realise what he is doing. When the anger grows, one’s memory starts to get confused, and when the brain starts to get confused, one loses all control. One forgets about relationships; one forgets about everybody around. One also forgets what one has to do, or not to do. In this state, one is unable to plan; one doesn’t have any determination. One loses all reasoning. When one doesn’t control the senses, one is reduced to this state. And when a man is reduced to this...

Sankhya Yoga Chapter 2, Verse 62   dhyāyato viṣayān puṁsaḥ  saṅgas teṣūpajāyate  saṅgāt sañjāyate kāmaḥ  kāmāt krodho’bhijāyate   In him whose mind dwells on the objects of sense with absorbing interest, attachment to them is formed. From attachment arises desire. From desire, anger comes forth.   Here Krishna doesn’t say that you must let go of everything: he is talking about how to let go. This is very important. He says that by constantly dwelling on the objects of enjoyment, the human being develops an intense form of attachment to them. This is true. When the senses dwell on things, like lust and drugs and other things, when the mind and the senses dwell on these many things, you become attached to them and you are not free. This creates more desire to gain even more things. When one dwells on even one enjoyment in the mind, one gets attached to it and finds it very difficult to let it go. And then you create not one, but many more desires. Krishna say...