Meditation
The Tenth Teaching
The Tenth Teaching Splendor of Divine Power 1-11 Krishna: Great Warrior, again hear my word in its supreme form; Desiring your utmost good, I tell you the greatest teaching. Neither the multitude of gods nor great sages know my origin, I am the source from which all the gods and sages emerge. Whoever knows me as the unborn, the Beginningless, the great Lord of all worlds-he alone sees truly and is free from all harm. Understanding, wisdom, non-delusion, patience, truth, control, tranquility, joy, suffering, being, nonbeing, fear and fearlessness, nonviolence, equanimity, contentment, penance, charity, glory, disgrace-all these arise from me alone. The seven ancient great sages and the four ancestors from whom all beings descend arose from my own depths, mind born. The man who can understand my power and my discipline is forever united with me by his unwavering...
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The Ninth Teaching The Magnificent Mystery 1-4 Krishna I will teach you the secret of life, Arjuna because you trust me; Know it and you will be free from suffering. This is the supreme wisdom, knowing beyond all knowledge, experienced directly, in a flash, joyous to perform and unchanging. Men without faith cannot reach me, Arjuna; they return to the cycles of death and rebirth. My unmanifest form pervades the whole universe; All creatures exist in me, but I do not exist in them. 5-15 Behold the power of my discipline; these creatures are really not in me; myself I quicken creatures, sustaining them without being in them. Just as the wide-moving wind is constantly present in space, so all creatures exist in me; understand it to be so. As an eon ends, all creatures fold into my nature, Arjuna; and I create them...
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The Immortal Spirit 1-2 Arjuna What is the infinite freedom, Krishna? What is the Self? What is the nature of action, the nature of beings and of divinities? How does one worship? What is it here in the body? And at the time of death how can a man be with you in spirit? 3-10 Krishna Infinite freedom is union with deathless; The Self is the essence of all beings; its creative force known as action is the source of all existence. True worship is myself here in the body. Know that beings die. Know that among gods I am the Supreme and know that true worship is I myself, here, in this body. At the time of death if a man thinks of me, without doubt, he enters my state of being. Whatever the state of being at the...
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The Yoga of Wisdom & Realization 1-2 Krishna: Arjuna, you can know me without doubt by practicing nonattachment and surrendering to me. I will teach you the essence of this wisdom and its realization; when you master this there is nothing else in the world that needs to be known. 3-7 One man out of ten thousand strives for perfection, and of the ten thousand who strive, perhaps one man knows me in truth. My physical nature has eight aspects: Earth, water, fire, wind, space, mind, understanding and I-sense. This is my lower nature. But I have a higher nature too that sustains this universe. Know that this is the womb from which all beings arise; I am the source of the entire universe, and within me is also its dissolution. Nothing is more fundamental...
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The Practice of Meditation 1-10 Krishna: The man who does what must be done without concern for the fruit is a true man of yoga, not the man who shuns action. Know that right action itself, Arjuna, is renunciation; a true man of yoga renounces his selfish intent. For the man who desires to mature karma yoga (the way of action) is the path; for the man already mature raja yoga (the way of meditation) is the path. The man who is detached from sense objects and actions, who renounces his own selfish will, he is mature in yoga. Such a man should lift up his ordinary self with his Self and not be selfish; the self is the only friend of the Self, and its only enemy. The self is a friend of him who...
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The Fifth Teaching Renounce and Celebrate 1 Arjuna: Krishna you praise renunciation of action and action; tell me with certainty which is the better of these two. 2-13 Krishna: Renunciation and action both affect the good beyond measure; but of the two, action surpasses renunciation of action. The man of eternal renunciation is one who neither hates nor desires; beyond dualities, he is easily freed from bondage. Simpletons separate philosophy and action, but the learned do not; applying one correctly, a man finds the fruit of both. Men of action reach the same place that philosophers attain; he really sees who sees philosophy and action to be one. Renunciation is difficult to attain without action; a sage armed with action soon reaches the infinite spirit. Armed with discipline of action, he purifies and subdues the self, masters his senses,...
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Knowledge in Action 1-3 Krishna I taught this undying discipline to the shining sun, first of mortals, who told it to Manu, the progenitor to man; Manu told it to the solar kings. Royal sages knew this discipline, which the tradition handed down; but over the course of time it has decayed, Arjuna. This is the ancient discipline that I have taught to you today; you are my devotee and my friend, and this is the deepest mystery. 4 Arjuna But you were born countless years later than the birth of the sun god; how is it possible that you taught this doctrine to him? 5-42 Krishna I have passed through many births and so have you; I recall all those lives, but you recall only this one, Arjuna. I am unborn, deathless, the infinite lord of all beings,...
Read MoreSanskrit Terms in the Gita
Sanskrit Terms in the Bhagavad Gita Atman lies at the core of every human personality. The purpose of life is to experience this inner reality. Hindus believe that each human being feels this reality. It is same from person to person. In the climax of meditation, when consciousness is focused and withdrawn from the body and mind, the sense of a separate ego disappears. During these moments one may discover a core of consciousness that is atman. Brahman is the utterly transcendent God. It is changeless, infinite, indivisible reality. In humans it resides as Atman. The Self within each human being is not different from Brahman. It is a changeless reality beneath the world of "name and form." Dharma is that law or duty that maintains the cosmic unity and...
Read MoreThe Third Teaching
Selfless Action 1-2 Arjuna: If you think understanding is superior to action, Why, Krishna, do you urge me to engage in this horrific action? You confuse me with inconsistent words. Tell me, what I must do to achieve the highest good? 3-35 Krishna: In this world there are two main paths to do good: for philosophers, the yoga of understanding (jnana); for active people, the yoga of action (karma). A man cannot avoid action by abstaining from action; Neither does he attain success by renunciation. No one exists for even an instant without acting; However unwilling, every being is compelled to act by the three qualities of nature, gunas. He who controls his actions but cannot control sense-objects is deluded. His search for the deepest truth is bound to be unsuccessful. But the superior man is he whose mind can control the senses....
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