Ayurveda Initiative For Global Health

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...

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...