In this thought-provoking segment, Swami Bhoomananda Tirthaji discusses Bhagavad Gita’s enlightened views on death, and life.

Sri Krishna removes Arjuna’s misconception of death in verse 2:12:

न त्वेवाहं जातु नासं न त्वं नेमे जनाधिपाः ।
न चैव न भविष्यामः सर्वे वयमतः परम् ॥ १२ ॥

na tvevāhaṁ jātu nāsaṁ na tvaṁ neme janādhipāḥ
na caiva na bhaviṣyāmaḥ sarve vayam-ataḥ param

The “I” in every one of us is always present. The existent can never become non-existent or different, and will continue to exist. That means, I can never cease to exist. In reality, we are “existence”.

Change only occurs in the body level. Our personality is not the object body, but the Subject “I” which is nothing other than the unchanging substratum of all that exists as the changeful world. 

Swamiji’s talk is all the more relevant in these trying times of Covid 19. We are limited in what we can do to counter it physically, but there is plenty we can do with our heart, mind, wish and will. Nature has given our body immunity to fight the virus, but even more so it has given us the mind and intelligence.  Swamiji exhorts us to surround this virus with the power of our inner personality. 

Krishna effectively imparts to Arjuna the understanding that death is but a transition, not an extinction. With this right perspective, Arjuna drops all considerations of death. He then starts enquiring about life itself, with all its undulations. Krishna’s answer to Arjuna’s enquiry is one that Swamiji has been exposing tirelessly for the past 65 years from innumerable platforms across the world. 

Before going into Krishna’s analysis, Swamiji challenges us with a question, “What is your life?” –  something most have never thought about. Considering the amount of time and energy we spend studying and analyzing the subjects we require for our professional life, it is unthinkable that we spend no time at all probing and analyzing our life itself!

Swamiji then launches into Sri Krishna’s summary of the whole life with verse 2.14 –

मात्रास्पर्शास्तु कौन्तेय शीतोष्णसुखदुःखदाः ।
आगमापायिनोऽनित्यास्तांस्तितिक्षस्व भारत ॥ १४ ॥

mātrā-sparśās-tu kaunteya śītoṣṇa-sukha-duḥkhadāḥ
āgamāpāyino’nityās-tāṁs-titikṣasva bhārata

Our life is constantly an interaction between our senses and the objects around us. Interactions are taking place because of the senses, not the objects. Senses initiate the interaction, objects are merely present. When the interactions take place, the outcome is either one of two – sukha (happiness) or duhkha (unhappiness).

In other words, as long as we are living, repeated interactions will take place, and repeated sukha-duhkhas too. Sukha-duhkhas are not our creation. Swamiji urges us to “borrow intelligence” and understand that we do not have to work or strive for sukha or duhkha, they are a natural outcome of all interactions. Therefore, we do not need to worry about their coming and going. We simply have to go on doing whatever we are doing, knowing that the inevitable impacts will come in the way of either a sukha or a duhkha.

We are generally not bothered about sukha, only displeased about duhkha. So, what does Sri Krishna ask us to do?

āgamāpāyino ’nityās – these sukhas and dukhas are all transitory, they have no power to last at all. What need have we for anything that does not last? Therefore all we have to do is, tāṁs-titikṣasva – simply forebear them. Forebear them by evaluating them with an enlightened intelligence. 

Duhkha is necessary to experience sukha and vice versa. The one naturally follows the other, and by that same token brings the other. Duhkha brings sukha, and therefore is a friend, not foe. Sukha on the other hand drives us to duhkha, and therefore is not to be sought. That is why Krishna exhorts Arjuna to develop an attitude of indifference towards both. 

The question then naturally arises – HOW do we forebear these sukha-duhkhas? The answer is in verse 2.15 –

यं हि न व्यथयन्त्येते पुरुषं पुरुषर्षभ ।
समदुःखसुखं धीरं सोऽमृतत्वाय कल्पते ॥ १५ ॥

yaṁ hi na vyathayanty-ete puruṣaṁ puruṣarṣabha
sama-duḥkha-sukhaṁ dhīraṁ  so’mṛtatvāya kalpate

sama-duḥkha-sukhaṁ dhīraṁ so’mṛtatvāya kalpate – without unduly exalting over sukha, and being aggrieved over duhkha, develop an attitude of indifference towards them.

In our mind, sukha and duhkha rise and fall like waves. In between the two is a space where there is no sukha or duhkha. The more we contemplate on this in-between space, the impact of the sukha-duhkhas progressively diminish. Therefore the sukha-duhkhas are necessary for us to understand the in-between presence, which is called the Self. He who is able to pass through sukha-duhkhas with a mind that is not afflicted or tormented, is fit for liberation.

Ultimately, Swamiji says, this is the key that Krishna provides for our life – the whole world with its infinite variety bestow only sukha-duhkhas in our mind. When we are equanimous to them in our mind, we have won over the entire world.

***

The post Dispelling Death, Living Life appeared first on Global Gita.

Swami Nirviseshananda Tirtha starts this session by telling us about how sukha (happiness) is the most important, if not the only, pursuit of life. Everything that one does is with a view to have happiness. But if the sukha depends on our sense organs (Indriya sukha), it would be a very temporary joy and will only last till the object and the senses are in contact with each other. It will never be permanent. 

Explaining it with an example Swamiji says, “Let us suppose you like eating ice-cream. You may eat a maximum of three servings. But if you are forced to eat 20 servings, what will happen? You will, most likely, not enjoy that experience. The Indriya sukha is needed to a certain extent but if you overdo it, it will cause duhkha or misery.

Because of our lower tendencies, we crave Indriya sukhas and eventually become slaves to them. The bondage is so much that we become agitated if they are not available.

Sukha becomes more permanent when we proceed inward. Swamiji tells us about the sukha one gets when one wins over the lower tendencies. It is much more pervasive or long lasting than Indriya sukha.

In this context, Swamiji narrates the story of a boy who loved ice-cream. He was used to having ice-cream every afternoon whilst taking a walk with his father. His father once suggested that he give his entire ice-cream cup to a poor boy who was seen licking the empty cups that were thrown away. So, he gave his ice cream cup to the poor boy. Seeing the poor boy relishing and enjoying the full cup of ice cream gave the boy a joy that he had never experienced before. He was further surprised to see the poor boy share the rare cup of ice cream with a monkey that was around. On seeing this compassionate behaviour, the boy experienced even greater joy. 

This can be termed as sāttvika happiness, a permanent happiness.  Sāttvika happiness has its origin in oneself and is totally independent of the external sensory objects of the world. This joy will not make us slaves to our senses but will make us the masters of the world!

So, whenever we win over our lower tendencies what we experience is an inward joy that is always fulfilling and long lasting.

सुखं त्विदानीं त्रिविधं श्रृणु मे भरतर्षभ ।

अभ्यासाद्रमते यत्र दुःखान्तं च निगच्छति ।।

यत्तदग्रे विषमिव परिणामेऽमृतोपमम् ।

तत्सुखं सात्त्विकं प्रोक्तमात्मबुद्धिप्रसादजम् ।।

sukham tvidānīm tri-vidham śṛṇu me bharatarṣabha |

abhyāsād-ramate yatra du:khāntam ca nigacchati ||

yat-tad-agre viṣamiva pariṇāme’mṛtopamam |

tat-sukham sāttvikam proktam-ātmabuddhi-prasādajam ||

(Bhagavad Gita 18.36,37)

O chief of Bharatas (Arjuna), listen from me now the three kinds of happiness (Sukha).

That happiness (Sukha) is considered Sāttvika, wherein one rejoices through spiritual practice and begets end of misery, which is like poison to start with, but like nectar in the end, which is born from the placidity of Self-knowledge. 

Swamiji further describes Sāttvika Sukha with help of the above śloka. To win over the lower tendencies you need some discipline and practice. When you have undergone the discipline, you will enjoy long lasting freedom and joy eventually.

A musician will revel in the creation of music only when he has undergone the requisite discipline or training. A sportsperson will not be able to play well without having undergone rigorous practice for years. A young boy would find it very hard to sit and study everyday but the same person would find great freedom and joy in the world of literature after he has mastered the language. Practice and discipline, although arduous at first, will lead you to long lasting Sukha.

Sāttvika Sukha may feel like poison initially but will be nectarine eventually, as we end up winning over our bondage and overcoming obstacles. 

Sāttvika Sukha is not generated by our senses but it is generated from our anchorage in our Soul dimension.

The post Everlasting Happiness appeared first on Global Gita.

In this clip, Swami Nirvisheshananda ji induces one to introspect on where the real focus of Bhagavad Gita is! “Bhagavad Gita does not speak about anything objective or external. Whether it is the concept of Samatva (even-mindedness), Phala-tyaaga (relinquishing results) or Sannyasa(renunciation), Bhagavad Gita speaks only about the internal results (responses produced in the mind)”.

Discussing Phala-tyaaga, Swamiji asks, “How can you relinquish the external results? Suppose a factory produces cars, the end result (the finished cars) cannot be abandoned. Bhagavadgita speaks only about abandoning the clinging of the mind to the result of happiness or sorrow”.

We are born with an insufficiency (abhaava-bodha) in our mind that makes us seek happiness in the outside world. We also have a delusion that we will find happiness by gaining something from the world. 

The truth is that, the moment we stop looking for happiness outside we become happy. Swamiji gives the example of the sleep state in which we are happy forgetting the whole world as well as our own body. In meditation too, we become blissful when we reach the state of thoughtlessness. So, we become happy when we stop looking for happiness.

Swamiji further explains about the redundance of desires. “By the fulfilment of a desire, we may become happy for a little while, but till other desires or anxieties occupy the mind. But when the mind is free of desires, mind is in a happy state. So, we reach the inevitable conclusion that elimination of desires is what gives us happiness”.

Delving further into the subject Swamiji says, “We look to enjoy something different from ourselves (our Self) both in our interactions and in meditation”. We always look for love from others. We have to understand that it is love that makes us happy and not the other person. If we understand that love is what makes us really happy, we would start loving everybody.

Swamiji discusses the popular and often misinterpreted verse from Bhagavadgita:

कर्मण्येवाधिकारस्ते मा फलेषु कदाचन।

मा कर्मफलहेतुर्भूर्मा ते सङ्गोऽस्त्वकर्मणि॥ (2.47)

Your fitness is only to pursue an active life (Karma-nishthaa) and not for pursuing exclusive wisdom and contemplation (Jnaana-nishthaa). But while doing activity, do not foster any delusional clinging to the objective gain it may result in. The thought of the ultimate result (happiness) should not be the motivation for work. At the same time, be not given to inactivity or idleness.

Sri Krishna tells Arjuna not to get engrossed in the thought that the result will make him happy. He is talking about the internal result (phala) and not the objective result of any action, which in any case will follow causality .

In a company that produces cars, the real focus should be to produce good cars that will meet the market demands. So, their focus has to be on the objective result. But to think – “The car will be very popular and I would make a huge profit. With the profit I would acquire many things and then I would be happy.” – is the delusional clinging to the result that Krishna cautions us against.

“Desire is the culprit here. Being free of desires, you should do whatever needs to be done naturally”.

Swamiji speaks about Yajna (offering), another revolutionary concept presented in Bhagavad Gita. In the Vedic times, Yajnas were done with a specific desire for progeny, kingship or other-worldly gains. Desire was the driving force behind the rituals. But Bhagavad Gita completely reversed the process by presenting Yajna as an internal attitude – “Anything you do without desires becomes a Yajna”.

Swamiji concludes with a universal panacea for all problems in life. “Take work as an opportunity to purify your mind, expand your mind, and get rid of mental constrictions and intellectual dross”.

The post True Renunciation is internal appeared first on Global Gita.