Gita Dhyana slokas

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+¨¤É i´ÉɨÉxÉÖºÉxnùvÉÉ欃 ¦ÉMÉ´ÉŽùÒiÉä ¦É´ÉuäùʹÉhÉÒ¨ÉÂ** 1 **

Om. Oh! Goddess Mother, Oh! Bhagavadg¢t¡, (you who were) taught by Bhagav¡n N¡r¡ya¸a himself for the sake of Arjuna, the son of P¤th¡
(Kunt¢), (you who were) faithfully collected and reported by the ancient sage, Vy¡sa, (and placed) in the middle of the Mah¡bh¡rata, (you who are) in eighteen chapters, you who have the nature of showering the nectar of non-duality, who is the destroyer of the life of becoming (saÆs¡r¡), again and again I invoke you.

xɨÉÉä%ºiÉÖ iÉä ´ªÉÉºÉ Ê´É¶ÉÉ™ô¤ÉÖräù ¡ÖòšôÉ®úÊ´ÉxnùɪÉiÉ{ÉjÉxÉäjÉ*

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Oh! Vy¡sa the one whose intellect is vast, whose eyes are clear and as pleasing as a fully blossomed lotus, who lit the lamp of knowledge well by filling it with the oil of the Mah¡bh¡rata, to you, my salutations.

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YÉÉxɨÉÖpùÉªÉ EÞò¹hÉÉªÉ MÉÒiÉɨÉÞiÉnÖù½äþ xɨÉ&** 3 **

Unto the one who is the wishfulfilling tree for those who have surrendered, who has the whip in one hand and the symbol of knowledge in the other, (and) who milks the nectar that is the G¢t¡ — unto that K¤À¸a, my salutations.

ºÉ´ÉÉæ{ÉÊxɹÉnùÉä MÉÉ´ÉÉä nùÉäMvÉÉ MÉÉä{ÉÉ™ôxÉxnùxÉ&*

{ÉÉlÉÉæ ´ÉiºÉ& ºÉÖvÉÒ¦ÉÉæHòÉ nÖùMvÉÆ MÉÒiÉɨÉÞiÉÆ ¨É½þiÉÂ** 4 **

The UpaniÀads are the cow; the joy of cowherds, K¤À¸a, is the one who milks; Arjuna is the calf; the one whose mind is clear is the one who drinks the milk; and the invaluable, timeless G¢t¡ is the milk.

´ÉºÉÖnäù´ÉºÉÖiÉÆ näù´ÉÆ EÆòºÉSÉÉhÉÚ®ú¨ÉnÇùxɨÉÂ*

näù´ÉEòÒ{É®ú¨ÉÉxÉxnÆù EÞò¹hÉÆ ´Éxnäù VÉMÉŽÖù¯û¨ÉÂ** 5 **

I salute K¤À¸a, the Lord, the teacher of the world, son of Vasudeva, destroyer of KaÆsa and C¡¸£ra, the greatest joy of Devak¢.

¦ÉÒ¹¨ÉpùÉähÉiÉ]õÉ VɪÉpùlÉVÉ™ôÉ MÉÉxvÉÉ®úxÉÒ™ôÉäi{É™ôÉ
¶É±ªÉOÉɽþ´ÉiÉÒ EÞò{ÉähÉ ´É½þxÉÒ EòhÉæxÉ ´Éä™ôÉEÖò™ôÉ*

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ºÉÉäkÉÒhÉÉÇ JÉ™Öô {ÉÉhb÷´Éè ®úhÉxÉnùÒ Eèò´ÉiÉÇEò& Eäò¶É´É&** 6 **

With Bh¢Àma and Dro¸a as its banks, Jayadratha as its water, G¡ndh¡ra
(áakuni) as the blue lily, áalya as the shark, K¤pa as the speed of the water's flow, Kar¸a as its breakers, A¿vatth¡m¡ and Vikar¸a as its killer whales, and Duryodhana as its whirlpools, the river of battle was indeed crossed by the P¡¸·avas, because the boatman was K¤À¸a.

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¦ÉÚªÉÉnÂù ¦ÉÉ®úiÉ{É€óVÉÆ EòÊ™ô¨É™ô|Év´ÉÆ漃 xÉ& ¸ÉäªÉºÉä** 7 **

May the spotless lotus, Mah¡bh¡rata, born of the waters of the words of the son of Par¡¿ara
(Vy¡sa), having the meaning of the G¢t¡ as its sweet fragrance, with its many stories as stamens, fully opened by the revealing stories of the Lord, Hari, relished happily day after day by the honey bees who are the right thinking people of the world, (this lotus of Mah¡bh¡rata) which destroys the blemishes of Kali-yuga, may it be for our good.

¨ÉÚEÆò Eò®úÉäÊiÉ ´ÉÉSÉÉ™Æô {ɃÙÆó ™ô"óªÉiÉä ÊMÉÊ®ú¨ÉÂ*

ªÉiEÞò{ÉÉ iɨɽÆþ ´Éxnäù {É®ú¨ÉÉxÉxnù¨ÉÉvɴɨÉÂ** 8 **

I salute K¤À¸a, the Lord of LakÀm¢ (wealth), whose nature is fullness, whose k¤p¡, grace makes the mute eloquent and causes the lame to scale mountain tops.

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ªÉºªÉÉxiÉÆ xÉ Ê´ÉnÖù& ºÉÖ®úɺÉÖ®úMÉhÉÉ näù´ÉÉªÉ iɺ¨Éè xɨÉ&** 9 **

To the Lord about whom Brahm¡, Varu¸a, Indra, Rudra, and the Marut-devat¡s praise with divine hymns, the one whom the singers of the S¡maveda praise by singing with a full complement of the limbs (of singing) in the order of pada and krama and the UpaniÀads, the one whom contemplative people see with minds resolved in him in a state of meditation, whose nature the celestials and demons do not know, unto him, the Lord, my salutations.

 

GAYATRI MANTRA – Swami Dayananda Saraswati

An Initiation in to the Saastra

The Gaayatrii mantra is so profound in the meaning, that if you have studied the whole Vedas. This mantra appears in all the four Vedas: Rg, Saama and Atharva. It is a very potent mantra and has been chanted by people for ages. At the time of the investiture ceremony of the sacred thread (upanayanam) the boy is initiated to the Gaayatrii mantra. For him it is only a prayer, and he is given only a simple word meaning so that he knows what he is praying. This initiation into the Gaayatrii mantra opens up for the boy the mother lode of the spiritual wisdom the Vedas.

Preparing the Mind

Chanting a mantra helps you gain a certain insight into your mind. While chanting, you generally use the mind, and thus chanting reveals the ways of the mind. When you begin chanting a mantra, you discover that your mind is occasionally distracted from your intended activity, because the mind is used to mechanical thinking.

In mechanical, goal-less thinking there is no question of intrinsic distraction. One thought can lead to another thought, and yet another, and so on. For example, you see a car. You notice it is a Ford. A Lincoln like the one you used to have. You think of the places you went in that car, and so on. This is how a pattern of thinking evolves with reference to an object, and this continues until there is an external distraction. Then another pattern starts. The worst part of mechanical thinking is that it automatically gets into an undesirable thinking pattern. Even when you do not want to be sad, you become sad. You do not have any control over the way you think. So, you cannot really predict what is going to be the next thought. If you become aware of your thoughts, you can at least be conscious of what is happening. That requires a certain space between you and your thinking. Then you can perhaps direct your mind. You need not think yourself into sadness, frustration or anger. This would be very useful for an adolescent, and that is why mantra initiations take place at that age.

When I give my mind an occupation, like chanting a given mantra for a few minutes, I have made a commitment to myself as to what my next thought will be unlike in mechanical thinking. Because of this commitment, I know that the given mantra will be my next thought. If any other thought occurs and starts a chain of thoughts, it is clearly an infraction of the commitment. Once you have made a commitment, distraction becomes evident. To bring back the mind, Lord Krsna says in the Giitaa:

yato yato niscarati manascancalamasthiram
tatastato niyamyaitad aatmanyeva vasam nayet

"For whatever reason the mind which is unsteady and in a constant flux goes away, may one bring it back from there by restraint into the power of one's own self".
6:26

Thus, whenever the mind moves away from the object of contemplation, bring it back. That is also a part of meditation. Thus, deliberately, the mind is brought back.

The Three Meanings of the Word Om

Om is a beautiful one syllable word. In the Kathopanisad it is said:

sarve vedaaha yat padam aamananti
tapaamsi sarvaani ca yad vadanti
yad icchantaha brahmacaryam caranti
tat te padam sangrahena braviimi Om iti etat

"I tell you briefly of that goal which all the Vedas
with one voice propound, which all the austerities
speak of, and wishing which people practice Brahmacarya: It is this, Om."
1:15

The Gaayatrii mantra starts with the word Om. It is a name, abhidhaana, for the Lord. Abhidheya, what is implied by the name Om, is also the Lord. Here, the meaning of the name Om, the Lord, is the cause of the creation (jagat kaaranam). There are three approaches to arrive at this meaning.

Linguistic Meaning of Om

In the linguistic sense Om is a word from the Sanskrit language having its own root. It is derived from the root "ava" which is in the sense of raksanam, protection, and also sustenance. Therefore, "ava - man" means the one who protects and sustains this entire creation (jagat) by lending his existence and consciousness.

By the rules of Sanskrit grammar, the suffix "man" in the word "ava - man" loses the last vowel and what follows it, which gives "avam". Through vocalization process, "va" becomes "u". Further, "a" and "u" combine to form the diphtong,"o", finally yielding Om.

Super-Imposed Meaning of Om

This is where the Upanisads load a certain meaning upon " a "," u ", and " m ". It is super-imposed deliberately, like on a cloth you super-impose the entire constitution of the country and call it a national flag. Thus, here " a " implies your waking world - your physical world. The " u " is the subtle, thought world. The " m " is the unmanifest, causal state, as in dreamless sleep. The unmanifest, comes to manifest as a dream at the thought level. And when you are fully awake, it becomes completely manifest at the physical level. In the physical body you experience the physical world. Therefore, the totality of the physical world as the waker, the thought world as the dreamer, and the unmanifest world as the sleeper is " a - u - m ". This is you, the world and God, all in one.

Phonetic Meaning of Om

The manifest world (jagat) is seen as one; but severally, we can say it has many forms with corresponding names. Every form is the Lord's form and the name for that form is the Lord's name. If the Lord is all and you want to give the Lord a name, a name not in any particular language or alphabet, a name that is purely phonetic, that includes all the names that are there, what should you do?

In any language, when a person opens the mouth and makes a sound without any other effort, it is "a". When you close the mouth and make a sound it is "m". All other sounds in any language fall between "a"and"m". All the words in all languages are made up of letters and letters are, even if there is no script, are sounds. The one sound that represents all these sounds produced by the letters "a - u - m " is

OM

Meaning of the Mantra

Om bhuurbhuva svah - Om is equated with bhuuh,bhuvah, swah. They stand for the earth, the beings, and anything beyond our comprehension. Thus, everything from the earth to beings and onwards to the unknown is called "bhuurbhuvasvah". Thus, the Lord, Om, is everything.

Tat saviturvarenyam bhargo devasya dhimahi - 'tat varenyam' the one that is most worshipful, the one that should be worshipped by you. Whomsoever you worship, that worship goes to the Lord alone. Even when you worship a particular deity, it is the Lord's aspect. 'bhargah', all knowing. 'savituh devasya', the sun, spotless and bright. The Lord is effulgent and all knowledge. And that Lord is the one upon whom we meditate or whom we pray to, 'dhiimahi'. We pray, with our heart and mind, to that Lord who is effulgent, all-knowing, all -consciousness and most worshipful.

Dhyo yo nah pracodayaat - 'dhiyah', the thoughts, the mind; 'nah', ours; 'yah', the one; 'pracodayaat', illumine or brighten. The meaning is; "May He (the Lord) brighten our minds." Note that not only do you pray for yourself but for others also. In order to live a peaceful life, a meaningful life, people around you also should be content. Otherwise there will be problems as you deal with them on a day-to-day basis.

The Pursuit for Maturity

The word 'pracodayaat' also has another meaning: 'to direct.' Thus, the meaning of the last line can be: 'May He direct our minds to the ways of thinking that will lead us to our own growth toward proper clarity and self-discovery'. Our whole life is determined by our own thinking. Clear thinking and good decisions are what make the life of maturity and growth. Life is nothing but a series of decisions. And those decisions have to come from a clear mind. Being prayerful brings clarity and His grace. Prosperity and such come whin right decisions are made. When you are invoking the all-knowing Lord ('bhargah'), you are invoking the knowledge. And when you understand Him to be bhargah , your mind becomes effulgent, brilliant, clear. There is nothing more fascinating than clarity. It is that clarity we invoke. This is the greatest blessing one can have. Thus, we pray 'May He lead our minds to right thinking'.

Om Tat Sat

Discovering Trust In Ishvara

The purpose of all study of Vedanta is to discover yourself to be the person who is content and secure in yourself, at all times. While working you are comfortable with yourself and the world, and in retirement you are comfortable with yourself and the world. When we are not comfortable with ourselves … and so naturally we are not comfortable with the world.
Supposing you are walking with shoes inside which is a thorn. Can you be comfortable? You cannot. The thorn is piercing your flesh and it is very painful. Exactly at this time your friend comes upto you and tells you his sad story .. will you be able to sympathize with him? No. You are concerned with your own intense pain…. You have to get rid of that first and only then can you attend to your friend.
The thorn of pain is lodged firmly in the human heart…. the pain of the sense of isolation, the pain of loneliness, the pain of not being understood, the pain of loss of loved ones, the pain of painful memories, the pain of sadness, hurt, fear, anger and guilt. Because of this accumalated pain we cannot be comfortable with ourselves.
In many cases it is accumulated pain… meaning it is not the pain of the immediate present…. Rather it is the pain of the past remembered in the present that is is bringing the pain… or it is in anticipation of a pain in the future.
A mentor told me a story. “There was this man who was standing in front of a mirror and his finger began to bleed. He looked at his bleeding finger in the mirror. Then he quickly went and got some medicine and a bandage and bandaged it. He quickly healed. But in his mind the image of reflection of the bleeding hand was stuck. He never looked at his healed image in the mirror – only the damaged one was left behind. So he would always be stuck with that image – that he was damaged.
Supposing in your work place, you were insulted badly by your collegues, or because of a cruel conspiracy of people, you had to leave your job. You become very depressed and sad. You see yourself as having been hurt by other people. After a few months you get a new job which you like and you are happy. Yet you keep brooding about the past job’s unhappy end and feel hurt again and again.
It is exactly like the man in front of the mirror, who saw his bleeding finger in the mirror. Even after the problem with the finger has been taken care of, he still holds on to his idea of being hurt, because he is stuck with that image of himself being damaged – he is heavily identified with it and so keeps on cmplaining,.
Actually in real life no such damaged person exists – still because his mind is loaded with the image of the bleeding man … he lives with that damaged image and suffers thinking that he is damaged today. The damage was in the past. It is over. It is no more there today. Today that damaged person does not exist. But he is so identified with that image of damage that even today he moans and cries everyday, spoiling his each day.
In this way, we also load our minds with the image of a damaged person that does not exist in the present …. We have to learn to take each transaction as it happens and refuse to carry over and clutter our minds with the damaged images of the past. The past is PAST. It is dead – gone. Refuse to identify with the past, dead, gone images. Refuse to chew on past pain. Refuse to continue to look at the reflections of damaged person of the past or the anticipated damaged person of the future. Simply live in the present. In your every present moment you have the choice of either
living in the painful remembered past or joyous past that does not exist today
or the anticipated IMAGINED painful / joyful future
or LIVING IN THE PRESENT MOMENT.
Remember, the past does not exist NOW, the future also does not exist now. In the NOW are you going to waste your time weeping about the non-existent past, or the non-existent future? If you do …. That is what we will call as psychological time. It is psychological time that is painful….. because this is only imagined - meaning it does not exist, how can you do something about it? It would be like bandaging the remembered reflection in the mirror, which does not exist now except in your mind.
What about the pain in the present moment? The pain in the present moment is to be accepted and dealt with as appropriate … don’t carry it forward in your memory and destroy your happiness.
How to do this? By understanding the meaning of NOW… the meaning of now is YOURSELF who is the light of awareness/ consciousness as free and vast as space … as totally free of pain as sunlight is of what it illumines. That is the meaning of Now … now IS SIMPLY YOURSELF the light of consciousness, free, whole and secure and free of the past, free of the future in whose presence all that is objectified is illumined.
Any joy or pain that is felt in the NOW … simply feel it, accept it and let it go. Don’t make an image of yourself as damaged or happy out of it – don’t make a story out of it and live inside that story.
At this moment you are experiencing something… whatever you are experiencing simply accept it, feel it whatever it is joy or pain or whatever…. Then glide into the next moment without a carry forward and experience the next moment as a free person… instead of as a reflected image of the previous moment.
How is it possible to be so free, experiencing moment by moment as it comes without a carry forward?Whatever is happening in the now…. How much of it are you the author of? Are you the individual, the script-writer for what is happening in the NOW?
Say right now …. You are in this hall, listening to me … this particular moment did you author? Did you author the asan on which you are sitting, the clothes that you are wearing, the space in the room, the walls of the room, the other people in the room, outside the room the cemented road, the railings , the space, the air, the water in the Ganga, the rocks outside, the cold in the air?
Ask yourself at any given moment what have you authored in that moment? You will findthat you have authored nothing. The moment is given moment … you might have done certain actions that contributed to the moment … but the moment itself is a result of countless factors that you niether know about, nor you have done anything with. Then who is the author of any given moment? Is that author of the moment one or are there many?
Who is the author of this given moment?
It is not you the individual … it is Ishvara or whom we call as God.
We have been studying Vedanta now … so if I ask any one of you who is Ishvara. You will be able to tell me Ishvara is the light of consciousness that is ever-existent and indestructible, that is boundary-less – who is all knowing, all powerful and all pervasive. In Bhagavad-Gita Chapter 13, the Lord describes himself,
That (jneya brahma), the one who has hands and feet on all sides, the one who has eyes, heads and mouths (faces) on all sides, the one who has ears on all sides in the (bodies) of the people remains pervading everything.
(That Brahman) appears as the attributes of all the organs, is free from all the organs, is unattached and is the sustainer of all, is free from the (three) qualities and is the experiencer of the (three) qualities.[1]
And that (jneya brahma) is outside and inside of the beings, it is that which does not move and indeed what moves. Because it is subtle, it is not known and it is far as well as near.

And that is to be known as the one who remains undivided in the beings and who is seemingly divided, who is the sustainer of the beings and elements, and who is the devourer and the creator.
In these verses the nature of God is clearly brought out. Lord is in His own nature or svarupa is Nirgunam – free of all attributes, free of form, pure, stainless. The Lord is the Light of Consciousness, that is ever-present and indestructible, that is boundary-less, actionless and unattached. He is the Absolute Truth
And He alone manifests as all the beings, as the organs, as those that move and those that do not move. Though undivided, whole and unchanging in reality, he appears as divided and changing – as the countless names and forms. He is the nimitta-upadana karanam.
As the nimitta karana He pervades your body-mind-sense complex and the world as the knowledge, as the intelligence that makes them what they are. In Chapter 15 of the Bhagavad Gita Lord declares in Chapter 15
May you know that the brilliance that obtains in the sun and illumines the entire world, that which is in the moon, and which is in the fire, belongs to Me.
And having entered the earth, I sustain the beings with strength, and I nourish all the vegetation, having become soma in the form of (their) essence.
Having become the digestive fire obtaining in the bodies of living beings, endowed with pr¡¸a and ap¡na, I cook the four‑fold food.
And I have entered the hearts of all. From Me (have come) memory, knowledge, and forgetfulness. I alone am the one to be known by all the Vedas and I alone am the author of the Ved¡nta (ved¡nta-samprad¡ya) and the knower of the Vedas.

Again as Nimitta- Upadana karanam the Lord declares in Chapter 10

Among the Adityas I am Vayu; among the luminaries, the Sun, the one who has rays. Among the Maruts, I am Marici; among the luminaries seen at night, I am the Moon.
Among the Vedas I am the Samaveda; among the gods I am Indra; among the sense organs I am the mind, and of the embodied beings I am the faculty of cognition.
Among the Rudras I am aakara; I am Kubera among the yaksas and raksas. Among the Vasus I am Fire. I am Meru among the snow-peaked mountains
I am indeed the beginning, the middle, and the end of the creations, Arjuna. Among the disciplines of knowledge, I am the knowledge of the self. Of those who discuss, I am the discussion leading to truth.
And I am Death that takes away everything; and I am the cause of prosperity of those yet to be. Among the feminine words I am fame, wealth, speech, memory, intelligence, fortitude, and equanimity.
I am the game of dice among the things that deceive; of the brilliant I am the brilliance. I am the victory of the victorious. I am the clarity in thinking (of those who have that clarity). Of those whose nature is predominantly sattva, I am that sattva (contemplative disposition).
I am the discipline of those who enforce discipline. I am justice of those who want success and I am silence among the secrets. Of those who have knowledge, I am that knowledge.
And Arjuna, I am also that which is the cause of all things. There is no mobile or immobile/sentient or insentient thing, which can exist without Me.
Whatever existent thing there is, which has glory, which is endowed with any form of wealth, or that which is distinguished or mighty, every one of that, may you know is born of a fraction of My glory.

Thus Bhagavad-Gita reveals that Isvara, the Conscious Being who is Omniscient, Omnipotent and Omnipresent is the maker and material of this universe, in whom your body-mind-sense complex is included. Isvara is the manifestor and the universe is a manifestion of Isvara’s all-knowledge. Your body-mind-sense complex is a manifestation of Isvara’s all-knowledge. Isvara pervades you, pervades the Universe as the intelligent Order that makes everything what it is.
So your first and basic relationship is with Isvara, your very source – it is the basic invariable relationship, which can never be negated whether you know it or not. Related to Isvara, one is related to everything else in this universe.
What kind of a relationship can you have with this universe – one of trust or distrust? When your relationship to the universe is only through Bhagavan in your understanding– it is a relationship of TRUST. Why? Because you know that Bhagawan who is Omniscient, and who has all-power is the one who is the maker of the Universe – not only that He is the one who sustains the universe as well.
For example, there is a a revered man in your home-town, who is very knowledgeable. Not only is he knowledgable, he is wise and free of all vices. Not only is he knowledgable , wise and free of all vices, he has ample resources at his command. Not only is he knowledgable, wise and free of all vices, with ample resources at his command, he is also just and fair. Not only is he knowledgable, wise and free of all vices, , just and fair with amples resources at his command, he is also compassionate. Would you or would you not TRUST such a person to make the right decisions for you, your community etc.? You would definitely trust him to make the rght decisions for you – you know that he has no agenda of his own – he is impartial and just and yet he is compassionate. He will definitely make the right decisions – you have this TRUST. If he arranges your marriage partner for you – you will trust his decision – and you will enter into the marriage, with basic trust in your partner. Is it not so?
Our relationship with the world is not based on our knowledge of Bhagavan – it is based on the knowledge we gain through our experiences as we grow. If these expereinces have been painful, we are not able to trust the world – because experiences of pain have been gained in the world itself. We never bother to ask – that why did I undergo this painful experience? Each of us assumes automatically that I do not deserve to have this painful experience.
This is where we have to grow in our knowledge. This is why it is important to understand the law of karma thoroughly – and know that we only get what is to come to us rightfully. For this we must understand the law of karma. The law of karma simply states as you sow so shall you reap. Meaning for every action of yours there will definitely be a result. The result is not the product of some inert laws – no it comes from the all-knowing Ishvara.
1. So the first fact is that the law of karma, or the law of cause and effect, or the law of dharma – comes from Ishvara, the all knowledgable, all powerful, Conscious Being. Ishvara is in the very form of the laws. Ishvara is just and fair – because he has no agenda of his own. He has no agenda of his own because He is purna – he does not need anything whatsoever to be full and complete. Not only that Ishvara is compassionate – he is benevolent. In Bhagavad Gita it is said suhrdam sarva bhutaanam, Lord says there “I am the well-wisher of all”. Not only that Lord declares He is the Father – pitamahasya jagatah maata dhaata pitamaha - I am the Father, I am the Mother, I am the Grandfather – and so suhram sarva bhutaanam – Lord is the well-wisher. This is the tough part. But He is the well-wisher – He means good – whatever happens is for my good if He is my well-wisher.
2. The second fact is that the result or effect – will be as good as the cause. For example, when you play cricket – you hit the ball with a particular force. Because of the force with which you hit, the ball goes a particular distance. Here the force is the cause and the distance is the effect – the effect is directly dependent on the cause. The harder you hit the furter the ball will go.
3. Whoever initiates the cause – that person alone will be the recipient of the result. It cannot be that I have done something and you are stuck with the outcome of what I have done. Or you have done something and I get stuck with the outcome of that - it cannot happen.
This is a matter of acceptance, because there is an Order. So we accept that whatever it is that I am confronting, is the result of something I must have initiated in the past, whether in this birth or in the past birth.
The past birth or the next birth is a matter of belief. In the Vedas, we accept the continuity of life. Otherwise there will be no order, no vyavastha at all if I had no past at all and I was just born, this is my first birth and death means the end of my existence. Then it would be very difficult to explain why I am what I am and you are what you are, meaning that we cannot explain the diversities that are existing now and what is the reason I am stuck with what I am stuck with and not have the benefits that you have.
Disparity and diversity is there everywhere – someone is happy, someone is not, someone is rich, another is not. We can explain disparity and diversity only when we accept that each one born has an individual history - each one is a product of what they have done in the past – meaning that I am a product of my own past. Not that the law of cause of effect is applicable only with reference to matter, but the law of cause and effect is applicable in the case of living beings also – because nothing has a beginning and nothing has an end.
Matter, we know does not begin and does not end. It just changes the form. In fact we cannot trace the beginning of anything. For something to begin, there must be total non-existence of that before it began – and we cannot visualize that. We cannot logically arrive at the beginning of anything because nothing can be created without the cause.
Something cannot be born from nothing. Something can be born from something and effect always presupposes a cause and everything that is born, or everything that has a beginning is an effect and so there must be a cause. Without a cause the effect cannot be. We are able to say simply looking at the world.
When I boil water at atmospheric temperature, it boils at a certain temperature. When I drop a heavy object from my hand, it drops at a certain acceleration. So all these laws of nature are there. The laws of science are there. The laws are possible only when there is consistency and consistency can be there only when there is a certain order – cause and effect.
All we say is that life also follows this law of cause and effect. And just as for matter there is no beginning, for life also there is no beginning. Life also changes form and so it continues from one embodiment to the other embodiment and that is how there is continuity of life and therefore everybody has a history.
This is going on since time beginning-less and so I have a history. Since the past many births I have performed actions, deliberate actions and thus I have initiated certain effects and what I am in the present is the product of the cumulative effect of the past. It is only on the basis of that, that we can accept the present – with TRUST that it must be alright. We have TRUST that whatever happens must be right. In order for us to do something right, we must know everything that is involved in it. And only God is Omniscient and therefore whatever happens must be alright.
Otherwise it is very difficult to accept the present. For those people for whom there is no past life, they cannot explain the present –they always ask “why should this happen to me?” “ why me?” why should it happen in my life?” And there is no explanation because we do not see any evidence that could be the cause in this life-time – we can always say that there must be a cause in the past life.
And also the Vedas also say about the past and the future. And our Puranas are full of stories of how the present was formed or governed by the past. Thus we accept the law of karma – the law of cause and effect – applies not only to the material world, but also to living beings. There is a moral aspect. That is why when I perform an action, the outcome is determind, not only by my efforts, but also my intention and the past accumalated history spanning over lifetimes.
Law of karma or the law of dharma in fact takes into account all these variables.
So in the Law of karma there is one thing – that you are responsible and still you are not to blame. I take the responsibility but need not take the blame. I know that whatever is happening is because of something I did in the past but I don’t know when I did it, in what condition I did it and therefore I need not blame myself at this time. This is also very important. Because this blaming is a real problem. Every human being blames themselves when something painful happens – in some way or the other. Many people we talk to, to whom death has happened to somebody very close in the family – then the people who are very close to the person always suffers from the sense of guilt. If I had taken them to a doctor at that time. If I had made a call at that time – if we had done something that time then perhaps we could have avoided this! So we say that karma is responsible and there must be a reason why this happened and we need not take the blame for what happened to somebody and that way we are able to deal with things. So law of karma helps us to deal with the painful events in life also.
Because Lord is my well-wisher and I know that there is FAIRNESS in the ORDER– I TRUST that this pain must have some purpose in my life. Life is for learning – I can learn from this painful situation and grow.
Thus when there is basic TRUST then whatever happens must be alright – I might not understand it presently because my understanding is not adequate – yet I can TRUST that even though the result is painful it must be okay. Then I accept the pain as a part of life – and I don’t use the pain to run myself down or to feel victimized. I accept Lord’s vedict – this is sharanagati or surrender. There is no damaged reflection in the mirror of my mind in the form of a memory of damage.
When this basic TRUST in Bhagavan is there, there is TRUST in our relationship with the world also … then even in painful moments, we will not waste our time and energy in cluttering up our mind with damaged images of ourself . We will simply let go in TRUST that ‘God knows better’ and retain a healthy mind. There is no accumulated clutter in the mind and we are free to glide from one moment to another staying in the moment, experiencing the moment as it is, without self-judgement. The mind is clear and clean. There is santosha – there is prasannata – tranquility. And in the tranquil mind you are able to recognize that you are indeed none other than the light of consciousness in whose presence every factor of each moment is illumined – you are untouched by what is illumined. You are free. The invariable self-revealing consciousness is what you are – boundaryless and vast as space – untouched by what is illumined. In the mirror of your mind, there is no damaged reflection, and consequently there is freedom from the pain of the damaged refelction – whatever reflection is there is healthy – that is the enligtened ego – so there is freedom – total freedom.
[1] sattva, rajas and tamas

A Meditation

Om Namo Shivaya….
Assume any comfortable posture. Relax the body part by part consciously. When I relax my body, I give up my body identification as I do in sleep. In sleep also, I don’t feel my body. In total relaxation also I don’t feel my body. I feel I am bodyless. I am out of the body. This is the sign of total relaxation.

Now observe your breathing. It is called pranavikshanam. In pranayama we regulate our breathing. In pranavikshanam, we are just aware of our breathing process. Pranavikshanam makes the breathing smooth relaxed and even. When the breathing is relaxed, mind also is relaxed. Because both are interconnected. I give a strong suggestion to the mind that I am not going to bother about anything. I don’t play any worldly roles in meditation.

We will practice a small manasa puja, offering flowers at the feet of the istha devata, God in any form we like.

Visualise the atmosphere for doing the puja. A puja room, a temple or ashram. You are also appropriately prepared to do the puja. And you are seated in front of the Lord, with a plate full of flowers in front of you. And you are ready to offer the flowers. While offering, you can repeat any particular nama connected to the Lord. And the nama is uttered while offering the flowers. And you clearly visualise flowers falling on the feet of the Lord – varieties of flowers. Just try this exercise for a few minutes – you can start now.

Now do the same puja in the puja room of your heart. First light three lamps – one of bhakti, the other of shraddha and the third of thanks. In the glow of these lamps, you become aware of the form of your ishtha devata – self-effulgent, self-revealing – suffused with golden light illuminating your heart – the light of the lamps merge in the light of the self-revealing Lord. You are ready to offer the flowers. While offering, you can repeat any particular nama connected to the Lord. And the nama is uttered while offering the flowers. And you clearly visualise flowers falling on the feet of the Lord – varieties of flowers.

Spend a few minutes in peaceful silence communing with your Ishtha devata – the Light of Consciousness, self-evident, self-revealing, Omniscient, Omnipotent, All pervading Lord who blesses you with his darshan in your heart.

Now listen quietly to what is being said :- (Swami Paramarthananda)

Imagine a brightly illumined room. Every object in the room is pervaded and illumined by the light. And therefore, I am able to experience the object. When I experience the object, I am experiencing the light also which pervades the objects. Whichever object I experience, it includes the experience of the light. Every object experienced includes the light experienced. I don’t require any special effort to experience the light. We take the light for granted. Even empty room experienced includes the light experienced because the emptiness itself is experienced because of the light. I don’t require any special effort to experience the light. I don’t require any special experience to recognize the light. I don’t require any guru to give the experience of light. All experiences include light experienced. My only problem is I take the light for granted. I don’t register the ever experienced light in my mind. A guru is required only to register this fact in my mind. The fact that light is ever experienced. effortlessly. He is required to turn our attention towards the ever experienced light. I come to know that the light pervading every object is free from the shapes of the objects. The illumined objects have different forms. But the illuminator light is formless. And being formless, it is limitless. Formless limitless light illumines the formed limited objects.

Our mind is exactly like this brightly illumined room. It is illumined by the light of conscious-ness. Every thought in the mind is pervaded by and illumined by the light of consciousness. The experience of any thought includes the experience of consciousness. In fact every thought is experienced because of consciousness.
Even the experience of an empty mind, thoughts-less mind, includes the experience of consciousness. Emptiness is experienced because of consciousness. I don’t require any special effort to experience consciousness. I don’t require any special experience to recognize consciousness. I don’t require any guru to experience consciousness. My only problem is I have taken the consciousness for granted. A guru is required only to register in the mind the ever evident fact. A guru is required to turn our attention towards the ever experienced, self-revealing consciousness.
Once our attention is turned towards the consciousness, we can know more about the nature of this consciousness. It pervades the thoughts of various forms. Itself is formless. The formless consciousness illumines all thought forms. And being formless, it is limitless. This ever evident consciousness is sakshi caitanyam. This is my essential nature. I am a sakshi caitanyam.

Thoughts arrive in the mind. I am.
Thoughts are resolved. I am. Active mind is, I am. Thoughtless mind is, I am.
Sakshi caitanyam ahamasmi. I am witness consciousness. I am witness consciousness. All features come and go. Physical features, emotional features and intellectual features - all are incidental. I use them, but they do not belong to me. My only permanent feature is formless consciousness. Nirakara caitanyam aham asmi. Formless consciouness I am. Just repeat these words and see the meaning. Formless consciousness I am.

This body-mind-sense complex I am not – I am the silent witness, awareness, cit-ananda I am the awareness, wholeness – cid ananda rupah shivoham shivoham cidananadah rupah shivoham sivoham
Mano buddhyahankara cittani naham
Na ca strotra jivhe na ca ghrana netra
Na ca vyoma bhuumi
Na tejo na vaayu
Cidaananda rupah shivoham shivoham
Cidaananda rupah shivoham shivoham

YOU ARE HAPPY IN SPITE OF...
Swami Dayananda Saraswati

Many a time you laugh, not because you have a desire fulfilled. In fact, most of our moments of happiness are picked up when no desire is fulfilled.
I will tell you a story. It is a village episode. Some times a village episode is nice to hear. From this village a boy was getting married to a girl in another village twenty miles away. This happened in Tanjore district, Tamil Nadu. The custom here is that when the bridegroom goes to the bride's place in another village where the marriage is to take place, he is received with a lot of pomp. He is given a new set of clothes. Till then, he has to wear some clothes that look nice. The boy was wearing his shirt and dhoti all right, but he had no angavastram, upper cloth. An angavastram can look very beautiful on one's shirt. But this boy did not have one. Generally, you get these things only after the marriage, at the cost of the father-in-law! But he had a friend of his own age who was rich. He had many gold-laced angavastram. They are nicely folded and when they are opened they look like a hand-fan. It is very beautiful. He asked his friend, “Give me the best one that you have. I will give it back to you after I get my new ones.” He thus borrowed a very good angavastram from him and wore it. His friend also wore one. The bridegroom and his friend went to the other village along with all others in the village.
A marriage is a very important event in any village. The whole village is out. In fact, they stop cooking for four days. When these two well dressed young men were seen in the marriage group, naturally, the ladies in the village were all curious to know who the bridegroom of their girl was. They figured out that one of these two must be the bridegroom. Everybody else was older. These were the two fellows who looked bright with nice clothes and so on. One woman came forward and asked who the bridegroom was. They won't ask the bridegroom directly. In front of him they would ask who the bridegroom was. This bridegroom is old-fashioned and therefore he is shy. He does not answer saying, “I am the bridegroom”. Else they would come to a conclusion. These people are very judgmental.
So his best friend has to answer. The bridegroom, in fact, requires a best man even to button his shirt. I don't know whether they are nervous on that day. So, his friend does the buttoning of the shirt and even the dhoti he has to tie. The best man has to answer because the bridegroom won't answer.
His friend therefore said, “This is the bridegroom but the jarry angavastram is mine”. Then another woman came and asked “Who is the bridegroom?” The friend answered, “This is the bridegroom but the jarry angavastram is mine!” The bridegroom got upset. He pulled him by his ears and told him, “Idiot, why did you say the angavastram is yours? Let it be mine for some time. I'll give it to you later. Don't say it is your angavastram” The friend said, “Okay”.
Another woman came and asked, “Who is the bridegroom?” The best man said, “This is the bridegroom. The angavastram really belongs to him”. One more person asked the same question. He said the same thing. The bridegroom got so upset that he called him aside, and said, “You shut up. Don't talk about the angavastram” The best man said, “Okay.” Then, another person came and asked “Who is the bridegroom?” He said, “He is the bridegroom but don't ask me anything about the angavastram!!!
You all laughed. How many desires did you fulfil now? It is very clear you don't require to have a desire fulfilled to laugh.

Pictures of my teachers

My Guru and Mentors

Bhagavad Gita in Daily Life - 1

Om Namo Narayanaya

BG in Daily Life is the topic of our discussion here for a few weeks. First, let us look at what is meant by ‘daily life’ and then see how Bg is relevant in our daily life.

What is Daily life The daily life of human beings is characterised by actions. Actions are performed by all beings. But there is a difference between actions performed by human being and other than human beings. We find that other creatures act according to their instincts. They are programmed to respond to situations in a certain way. Like humans, they have certain basic instincts of hunger, thirst, self-preservation and sense-gratification.

However other beings act instinctively in response to situations. They do not have a choice in responding to a situation other than the the way they are programmed. A cow has no choice but eating grass. It does not have this kind of question , should I eat grass or should I eat meat. A dog will bark if it feels like. A donkey will kick if it feels like and kick its owner too

A human being on the other hand has a choice. When we go for a buffet – should I eat this or that, or this and that. In ashram we have choice of food with spices, food without spices. So many people who say we will tke food without chilly and then they find they haveto mix! Choices are always there.

Action determined by choice, deliberate action, premeditated action - is what is special about human beings. So we have choice, a freedom of not performing action. I have a choice of not doing something even if I feel like it. That is our privilege – kartum shakyam, akartum shakyam, anyatha va kartum shakyam meaning to do or not to do or to do it differently ( do it as I please)! CLAP YOUR HANDS!....

Summarising So this is what our daily life is – the performance of various actions as determined by our choice..

What determines choice
Behind our choice of action there is ALWAYS a PURPOSE. Our actions are not just random and purposeless – we perform purposeful action. Purpose above beyond, just satisfying hunger and thirst, which are the natural instincts. As I said earlier, these natural instincts are also shared by humans and other creatures also. We also have hunger and thirst, self-preservation and sense-gratification. But over and above above fulfilling these instincts, we have some other kind of a need also and it is that need which motivates many of our actions. What is that need?

The need to be happy, the need to be free.

When is that we have a need? Analyse and you will find that we have a need for something when either
1. We really do not have that which we need
2. Or we conclude that we do not have it.

So if you analyse the need to be happy, the need to be secure, the need to be free – you find that behind the need is the conclusion that I am not happy or that I am not as happy as I like to be, I am not as free as I like to be, I am not as secure as I would like to be.

There is therefore a desire on my part to be happier than what I am, or to be more free than what I am, or to be more secure than what I am.

Thus I find my actions are prompted by desire. To perform desire prompted actions is the privilege of a human being. And this what we may call the daily life of a human being.

The various activities that we do from morning to night are prompted by our various desires.. Everybody has desires. A poor person also has desire. A rich person also has desires. A young person has desires and a old person also has desires. And in the past thousands of years ago people had desires and in future also people will have desires.

Thus I find myself a desiring person. I desire security, I desire pleasure, I desire adequacy, I desire long life, I desire condusive situations for myself, I desire freedom. These various desires prompt my actions and that is what my daily living is all about.

‘Desire’ - an expression of discomfort

So why do we need Bhagavad-Gita in this.

Well if I was happy and comfortable with this daily living, there would be no need for Bhagavad-Gita.

The question is AM I REALLY HAPPY AND COMFORTABLE WITH THIS DAILY LIVING?

All our daily activities are for the sake of gaining happiness. We already saw that. We have a DESIRE TO BE HAPPY, DESIRE TO BE SECURE and it is to FULFILL THESE DESIRES that we do our daily activities. When we analyse what is behind the DESIRE, we find that it is the CONCLUSION that “I do not have happiness now. I do not have secirty now. I am not happy. I am not secure.”

When do I have a desire for security? When I have concluded that I am not secure. When do I have a desire for adequacy? When I have concluded that I am not adequate. I CAN HAVE A DESIRE FOR SOMETHING ONLY WHEN I HAVE CONCLUDED THAT I DO NOT HAVE THAT.

So behind my desires is the niggling ever-present sense that “all is not well with me”. It is like a woman with high-heeled shoes who has a pebble in her shoe. Can she rest until she gets rid of it? She may try to ignore it – but finally she has to bend and remove that pebble.

So too there is the ever-present sense of “I am wanting”. It makes one restless, uncomfortable with oneself. I cannot be happy with myself and it expresses itself as the constant sruti “I want… I want…. I want…”. I think I need something outside of myself to become comfortable and so there is this constant seeking to make myself comfortable through various sitautions and objects in the external world.

I think that my discomfort is caused by the things and beings around me. But really if I look at it I find that I am basically uncomfortable with my own self. It is that discomfort with myself, not recognised by me, makes me conclude that my discomfort is because of other people, other things and other people.

Therefore I am not comfortable because
1. my income is not adequate enough.
2. my house not big enough.
3. my car is not expensive enough.
4. because .. whatever .. house children, family, friends are not quite what I want them to be.
I have concluded that my discomfort is on account of these things around me and therefore I keep on trying to re-arrange them all the time. I make re-arrangements in in my place of work. I make re-arrangemnets in my home. I make rearrangements in the family. I make re-arrangements in my place of work, in my friends and even my furniture!. So when you go to someone’s house, the furniture is also newly arranged. TV is in a diff place, carpet is changed, some deck has been added. You find that now he is having moustache, after 6 months he does not have it. And now his hair is long, and then it is short – all these changes happen!! And every season there are new kinds of clothes.

Self-Consciousness the cause of discomfort with oneself
Why do I have this sense of discomfort? Becauuse I am a self-conscious being – I am aware of myself. I am a self-conscious being. Conscious of myself and conscious of the world around me. We say ‘he is a very self-conscious person’. Some people are always aware – they sit very carefully, as though posing for a photo. Some people are very careful that their shadow also should not look ugly.

{Illustrations of animals not having self-consciousness} Buffaloes and cow are not aware of themselves – they are aware of themselves in some way –but not like we are aware of ourselves. Buffaloes don’t feel a sense of injustice. Cows are worshipped and gives very little milk and very little used. – buffaloes gives a lot of milk. So buffalo should feel that I am doing so much and nobody respects me –and this cow is wandering all day in the field and does not give anything and is considered to be worshipped! Buffalo does not seem to feel a sense of rejection. A buffalo does have awareness in the sense it relates to another buffalo in a certain way, and to a dog in a certain way. But the feeling that a bigger buffalo, a smaller buffalo, a more important buffalo, less important, more respected one, less respected one – they don’t seem to have.

As for me, I am always conscious of myself. I am always aware of who I am and that is where the discomfort comes, because I find that I am not quite what I like to be.

The discomfort is centered on “I”
Being essentially dissatisfied with myself, I have various desires, fulfilling which which I think will make me comfortable. My desires keep on being satisfied one after the other but still the desirer does not seem to go. And one desire seems to be replaced by another desire.

So I have desire for a house – it gets satisfied when I get a house. Then I have desire for a car – it gets satisfied when I have a car. I have another desire for something and I spend all my energy getting it satisfied. And one thing remains constant – it never goes – that is the desiror. The desirer seems to remain. Who is the desiror? The one who has concluded that “I AM WANTING .. I AM LACKING”.

A wise person also has desires. The wise person abides in his own fullness and so a wise person’s desires are not from the wanting self and therefore not binding.
But generally speaking, a desire is from a sense of lack or discomfort.

Pravritti and Nivritti
Desire prompted activities can be looked at as having a two-fold nature –called in Sanskrit as pravritti ( acquiring something) and nivritti- (getting rid of something). Pravrriti means seeking out something. Nivritti means getting rid of something. So this is what I do. Acquiring something that I think will make me more comfortable than what I am, or getting rid of something which I think makes me uncomfortable. Acquiring and getting rid of. Every body does both. As Swamiji says, what one fellow gets rid of, another fellow acquires.

Mostly people think that this is what life is all about. Afterall this is what everyone seems to be doing. So they also continue to do without giving it a thought. As long as I don’t give a thought so long I don’t come to Vedanta.

It is only when a person finds that somehow this is not leading me anywhere. What’s going on? What for all this is meant?. What for is this life? They ask ‘is there a purpose in life’. They have not found a purpose to what they are the doing, the way they are doing. Is there a purpose? Only when this question arises, and we happen to be in the right place, the whole direction can change.

Enquiry because understands that pravritti and nivritti does not solve the problem
And so Mundoko Upansihad says – parikshya lokan karmacitaan braahmana nirvedam aayaat nasti akr tkrtena

A brahmana, a contemplative person, a thinking person (parikshyalokan) enquiring into, analysing into all the achivements that he has made in his life. Analysing achievement, taking stock of my life. And there are of course many things to be proud of in my achivemnets. But still he thinks “now I have more education than what I had before, I am wealthier than before, more respected than what I was, better known than what I was – no doubt better than what I was before.

But in terms of the sense of comfort or with myself or the sense of lack I carry around with myself am I any better than what I was before? Am I better in terms of the wanting self, the inadeqaucy, the discomfort with myself, am I any better than what I was before?”

This is pariiksha, the enquiry. Although the Upanishad says he deliberates on his achievements, really speaking he deliberates on himself.

Usually we equate ourselves with our achievements and so there seems to be an equation in my head – that the more I have the more I am. My idea of success up to now has been this, to be successful, I should have more.
I equate myself in terms of what I have, what I do. Yet that equation maybe shaken when I ask myself questions that in terms of the person that I am, am I a more content person, am I a better person, a more compassionate, a more giving, more sharing, more forgiving person than I was before - am I better off than before as a person or have I remained the same person inspite of various achievements.

Vedanta is not against achievement
The section in the Vedas on Self-knowledge is called as Vedanta. Vedanta has nothing against achievement. Vedanta only asks is for us to understand for ourselves the nature of achievements, what is behind our pursuits of our various activities. Vedanta only asks us to understand ourselves.

However usually this does not happen easily, because generally we are extremely preoccupied with the things, situations and people around us and so there is almost no desire to understand myself. That I need to understand myself, that kind of a thought also does not occur to me. I just take it for granted that this is what life is for. After all everybody is leading the same life and so this is what life is all about – making money, having more and more things for myself, getting married, having children, having grandchildren, having a few hobbies so I spread my basket of interests as it were.

When I start questioning the purpose of my life, only then I may come to Vedanta, or for a class on Bhagavad-Gita in Daily Life.

Vedanta questions our conclusions.

What our scriptures point out is that our conclusions about ourselves have been formed without proper enquiry. I am not what my wealth is, I am not what my house is, I am not what my car is. I am not what my job is. I am not what my name and fame is.

Pariikshya lokkan karma citaan brahmana nirvedam aayaat Naasti akrta krtena. When this person in fact inquires into the conclusion about himself he asks himself
‘Has my conclusion about myself changed inspite of all the achievements in my life? I have no doubt all these achievements to my credit. But do the conclusions about myself go inspite of all my achievements? My conclusions that I am an inadequate person, a wanting person – has it gone from me, inspite of all my achievements? Will my conclusions about myself change if I go to heaven or I become the President of America?”

Swamini, why should these conclusions go? If they went there would be no progress at all. Because we feel dissatisfied with ourselves, we are able to progress. Forget about progress. Let us worry about ourself.

Am I happy being inadequate? Is anybody ever happy being sad? Do we ever congrajulate a person who is sad – Go up to him and say “Congrajulations! It is wonderful to see you so sad”. Never. We know what it is to be sad and so we sympathise with another person who is sad. Again we never console a person who is happy saying “I am so sad that you are happy”.

Unhappiness is nothing but a discomfort with myself. When I am uncomfortable with myself, I just want to get rid of it, I cannot bear to have it. I have to get rid of it. I cannot be comfortable with my own sense of want, or need, of discomfort. It is like a live, healthy, active bug with wings that enters my ears. Can I be comfortable with it there? Like a speck of dust in my eyes. I cannot be comfortable with it – so too I can never be comfortable, I can never be happy, with the sense of lack

This desire to be free of the sense of dissatisfaction with myself is really behind all our desires for wealth, for fame, prestige, power, money. It is behind my needs from relationships too. I want the approval of people because I don’t approve myself. I need relationships where I can get love from people because I have not loved my self. Through the fulfillment of various desires I want to see myself as different – as the satisfied me, the pleased me.

Nasti akrta kritena - and really speaking no achievement has made me comfortable with myself. It has given me some ego nourishment but has not made my discomfort go away and made me the a satisfied person that I want to be.

Whatever I wanted and I achieved, thinking it will make the sense of lack around myself go away – I still find myself lacking, I still find an emptiness in myself. Now this man understands, no action, no achievement seems to make me happy, make me secure with myself and so nirvedam ayaat – he becomes indifferent to that mode of achievement.

If this is recognised, direction of one’s life changes. This how Bhagavad-Gita begins.

CONTEXT of BHAGAVAD_GITA
The problem of conflict, of insecurity and inadequacy is as old as humankind. It is the problem faced by Arjuna, in the Gita. Arjuna was a warrior-hero of fantastic achievements and a disciplined intellect, who was nevertheless overwhelmed by personal conflict and a feeling of helplessness. Lord Krishna taught him to recognise the adequate self and when he did all his conflict and sorrow were resolved.)

The Gita is not meant for any one person, or creed or nation; it is meant for humanity. It speaks to a mind that is dissatisfied with constant want, that is alert and thinking, that has fought in life.

Om Tat Sat