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Arjuna make everything – every act, every meal, every sacrifice, every gift, even his sufferings – an offering to God. He demands this so that Arjuna can be released from the bondage of karma. This is a new emphasis, a new way. If Arjuna can live in complete union with Krishna’s will, doing everything for Krishna alone, then by that very purity of will he will be free from selfish motives and thus released from karma. His spirit will be free, and he will attain his goal of mystic union with Krishna.
anyone who has real love, love for the Lord of Love who is in all creatures, will in the end attain the goal.
I am the father and mother of this universe, and its grandfather too; I am its entire support. I am the sum of all knowledge,
am heat; I give and withhold the rain. I am immortality and I am death; I am what is and what is not.
Whatever I am offered in devotion with a pure heart – a leaf, a flower, fruit, or water – I accept with joy. 27 Whatever you do, make it an offering to me – the food you eat, the sacrifices you make, the help you give, even your suffering. 28 In this way you will be freed from the bondage of karma, and from its results both pleasant and painful. Then, firm in renunciation and yoga, with your heart free, you will come to me.
Patanjali speaks of many different kinds of samadhi, but for practical purposes we may speak of two: savikalpa and nirvikalpa. Arjuna’s vision begins with savikalpa samadhi, in which he sees God in a personal manifestation. Then, as he passes into nirvikalpa samadhi, Arjuna sees all forms disappearing into God, until only a supernatural fire consuming the entire phenomenal world is left.
Neither knowledge of the Vedas, nor austerity, nor charity, nor sacrifice can bring the vision you have seen.
Better indeed is knowledge than mechanical practice. Better than knowledge is meditation. But better still is surrender of attachment to results, because there follows immediate peace.
Living beyond the reach of “I” and “mine” and of pleasure and pain, 14 patient, contented, self-controlled, firm in faith, with all their heart and all their mind given to me – with such as these I am in love.
15 Not agitating the world or by it agitated, they stand above the sway of elation, competition, and fear: that one is my beloved.
They are detached, pure, efficient, impartial, never anxious, selfless in all their undertakings; they are my devotees, very dear to me.
That one is dear to me who runs not after the pleasant or away from the painful, grieves not, lusts not, but lets things come and go as they happen.
who is not buoyed up by praise nor cast down by blame, alike in heat and cold, pleasure and pain, free from selfish attachments,
honor and dishonor, quiet, ever full, in harmony everywhere, firm in faith – such a one is dear to me.
Ahamkara is the basic awareness of separateness: that which makes me “I,” a being separate from the rest of creation.
field encompasses everything, except for the elusive consciousness that “knows” the field.
The field is the object; the knower is the subject. Krishna is the hidden knower of the...
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“I’m a farmer.” When the questioner looks surprised he adds, “This body of mine is my field. I sow good thoughts and actions, and in my body I reap the results.”
“All that we are is the result of what we have thought: it is founded on our thoughts; it is made of our thoughts.” What we think, we become, for as Emerson says, the ancestor of every action is a thought. Thus our thoughts, taken together, bear fruit in the actions, decisions, and desires that shape our lives. In part, the body bears the fruit of what we think insofar as our way of thinking affects our health and safety.
Fucking facts
Thoughts and emotions, and ahamkara itself, stop at the gate of the inner Self. The Self abides in the inner chamber of the heart, always at peace, whatever forces of prakriti may storm outside. The illumined man or woman maintains a joyful evenness of mind in happiness and sorrow.
Established within themselves, they are equal in pleasure and pain, praise and blame, kindness and unkindness. Clay, a rock, and gold are the same to them. 25 Alike in honor and dishonor, alike to friend and foe, they have given up every selfish pursuit. Such are those who have gone beyond the gunas.
Even here, though, we are reminded that Krishna lives not just in this highest realm but also in the world below, where both darkness and light coexist. In his divine mystery he sends fragments of himself to become the inner Self in each creature. In this sense the Self enters the body at conception, dwells in the body, and then departs at death.
They like to give gifts ostentatiously and offer ritual sacrifices; this legitimizes their wealth and makes them feel respectable and esteemed. They like being generous if it will make them look good.
Lust, anger, and greed are the three doors to hell that Arjuna must at all costs not enter. The person who enters will not only fail to reach life’s final goal, but will not achieve any measure of lasting happiness and prosperity.
They have no sense of uprightness, purity, or truth.
The three kinds of faith express themselves in the habits of those who hold them: in the food they like, the work they do, the disciplines they practice, the gifts they give.
Sattvic people enjoy food that is mild, tasty, substantial, agreeable, and nourishing, food that promotes health, strength, cheerfulness, and longevity. 9 Rajasic people like food that is salty or bitter, hot, sour, or spicy – food that promotes pain, discomfort, and disease. 10 Tamasic people like overcooked, stale, leftover, and impure food, food that has lost its taste and nutritional value.
Arjuna is advised to fulfill all his responsibilities, but without a selfish motive. In particular, he should not give up the three great virtuous works – sacrifice, giving, and spiritual disciplines.
To renounce one’s responsibilities is not fitting. The wise call such deluded renunciation tamasic. 8 To avoid action from fear of difficulty or physical discomfort is rajasic. There is no reward in such renunciation. 9 But to fulfill your responsibilities knowing that they are obligatory, while at the same time desiring nothing for yourself – this is sattvic renunciation. 10 Those endowed with sattva clearly understand the meaning of renunciation and do not waver. They are not intimidated by unpleasant work, nor do they seek a job because it is pleasant.
The person who is free from ego, who has attained purity of heart, though he slays these people, he does not slay and is not bound by his action.
Sattvic knowledge sees the one indestructible Being in all beings, the unity underlying the multiplicity of creation. 21 Rajasic knowledge sees all things and creatures as separate and distinct. 22 Tamasic knowledge, lacking any sense of perspective, sees one small part and mistakes it for the whole.
Work performed to fulfill one’s obligations, without thought of personal reward or of whether the job is pleasant or unpleasant, is sattvic. 24 Work prompted by selfish desire or self-will, full of stress, is rajasic. 25 Work that is undertaken blindly, without any consideration of consequences, waste, injury to others, or one’s own capacities, is tamasic.
Sattvic workers are free from egotism and selfish attachments, full of enthusiasm and fortitude in success and failure alike. 27 Rajasic workers have strong personal desires and crave rewards for their actions. Covetous, impure, and destructive, they are easily swept away by fortune, good or bad. 28 Tamasic workers are undisciplined, vulgar, stubborn, deceitful, dishonest, and lazy. They are easily depressed and prone to procrastination.
what brings freedom and what bondage: these are the signs of a sattvic intellect.
That which seems like poison at first, but tastes like nectar in the end – this is the joy of sattva, born of a mind at peace with itself. 38 Pleasure from the senses seems like nectar at first, but it is bitter as poison in the end. This is the kind of happiness that comes to the rajasic. 39 Those who are tamasic draw their pleasures from sleep, indolence, and intoxication. Both in the beginning and in the end, this happiness is a delusion.
It is better to perform one’s own duties imperfectly than to master the duties of another.
The image illustrates the phenomenal world, rooted in Brahman, complete unity, and branching out into the apparent diversity of life.
