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Kindle Notes & Highlights
The Gita says, “A person is what his shraddha is” (17:3). The Bible uses almost the same words: “As a man thinketh in his heart, so is he.”
The Self wears the body as a garment; when the garment is old, it is cast aside and a new one is put on.
It teaches a basic detachment from pleasure and pain,
“Yoga is evenness of mind”: detachment from the dualities of pain and pleasure, success and failure. Therefore “yoga is skill in action,” because this kind of detachment is required if one is to act in freedom, rather than merely react to events compelled by conditioning.
He tells Arjuna that if he can establish himself in yoga – in unshakable equanimity, profound peace of mind – he will be more effective in the realm of action.
Arjuna is not interested in what people believe, but in how they conduct themselves in life.
You have the right to work, but never to the fruit of work. You should never engage in action for the sake of reward, nor should you long for inaction. 48 Perform work in this world, Arjuna, as a man established within himself – without selfish attachments, and alike in success and defeat. For yoga is perfect evenness of mind.
The idea is that every action leads to a reasonable result – and, consequently, that everything that happens can be traced to something done in the past.
He tells Arjuna that mystical union with him is possible through devotion, by which one can enter the state of divine love in which one sees God in every creature.
Krishna says that only immature, inexperienced people look upon the paths of knowledge and action as different.
In a nod to tradition, one verse recommends the meditation seat be covered with kusha grass and a deer skin – the traditional seat of the yogi. The important thing, however, is not how the meditation cushion is constructed, but what is going on in the mind. Meditation is an internal discipline to make the mind one-pointed, absolutely concentrated.
30 I am ever present to those who have realized me in every creature. Seeing all life as my manifestation, they are never separated from me. 31 They worship me in the hearts of all, and all their actions proceed from me. Wherever they may live, they abide in me.
“One who has merely heard of fire has ajnana, ignorance. One who has seen fire has jnana. But one who has actually built a fire and cooked on it has vijnana.”
Krishna is the Atman, the inner Self in all beings.
Krishna, the Atman is mentioned first. Krishna is Vishnu, the great compassionate, sustaining God of the Hindu faith. It is Vishnu who cares so much about the sufferings of Mother Earth and her children that he comes to earth again and again, in age after age, to relieve oppression and renew righteousness.
Krishna is the sun, worshipped in India since ancient times. He is Indra, the chief of the Vedic gods, the lord of storm and battle, who hurls the thunderbolt against the enemies of the gods.
Krishna is also Shankara, the more beneficent aspect of the awesome deity Rudra, better known as Shiva. Among mountains Krishna is Meru, the high mountain home of Shiva and the other gods, the highest peak and center of the world. Krishna is consciousness, the syllable Om, and the mantram or holy name.
Krishna is Ananta, the cosmic serpent on which Lord Vishnu sleeps. He is Varuna, Vedic god of the oceans, and Yama, the god of death; among demons (asuras) he is Prahlada, who, though born in the race of demons, was devoted to God and never swayed in his love, even when his own father tried to kill him. And of course Krishna is Rama, the great warrior-prince – also an incarnation of Vishnu – whose exploits are told in the immortal epic, the Ramayana.
That one I love who is incapable of ill will, who is friendly and compassionate. Living beyond the reach of “I” and “mine” and of pleasure and pain, 14
The Buddha explains, “All that we are is the result of what we have thought: it is founded on our thoughts; it is made of our thoughts.”
There is no possibility of any soul being eternally lost, for all beings partake of the immortal, pure nature of Purusha.
Those who know truly are free from pride and deceit. They are gentle, forgiving, upright, and pure, devoted to their spiritual teacher, filled with inner strength, and self-controlled.
