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The Bhagavad Gita teaches us to control our asura traits and enhance our sura traits.
Absence of fear, pureness of heart, steadiness in pursuit of jnana and yoga, donations, self-control, yajnas, self-study, austerities, uprightness, non-violence, truthfulness, lack of anger, renunciation, serenity, not indulging in slander, compassion towards beings, lack of avarice, gentleness, sense of shame, steadiness, energy, forgiveness, fortitude, cleanliness, lack of hatred and lack of excessive pride—these constitute the wealth for those who are born deva-like.
Boastfulness, insolence, pride, rage, harshness and ignorance—these constitute the wealth for those who are born asura-like.’
‘Lack of pride, lack of arrogance, non-injury, forbearance, uprightness, serving the acharya, purity, steadfastness, control over one’s own self, non-attachment towards the objects of the senses, lack of ahamkara, indifference towards the [apparent] evils of birth, death, old age, disease and miseries, non-attachment and lack of affection towards a son, a wife, a home and other things, unwavering devotion towards me alone, frequenting solitary places, aversion towards assemblies of people, constant devotion towards adhyatma jnana and pursuit of true jnana and insight—these are said to be
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brahmacharya is not celibacy but sexual intercourse within the prescribed norms, such as only with one’s own wife. Similarly, sannyasa doesn’t mean renunciation, but establishing oneself in the path of the truth.
(1) Vivaha or marriage; (2) Garbhadana
(3) Pumsavana —this is after there is a pregnancy and is designed to ensure the birth of a male child; (4) Simantonnayana —I guess one has to translate this as parting of the hair.
(5) Jatakarman —the rituals for a newborn child; (6) Namakarana —naming of the child; (7) Annaprashana the first time the child is offered solid food; (8) Chudakarana —tonsure; (9) Upanayana —note that this is not the same as the child having started to study. You can call this a sacred thread ceremony, but it has the nuance of a teacher having accepted that the student is fit to be taught; (10) Samavartana —returning home after studies have been successfully completed.
(11) Anteyshti —last rites after death.
The texts speak of six vices—kama or desire, krodha or anger, lobha or avarice, moha or delusion, mada or insolence and matsarya or envy.
The present manuscripts available to us of Vatsayana’s Kama Sutra have thirty-six chapters and seven books.
Someone said something and you were angry, temporarily. The moment of anger passed. A week later, you laugh at that trigger for anger. It was so momentary.
In the Markandeya Purana, there is a section which goes by the name of ‘Devi Mahatmya, Chandi or Durga Saptashati’. In one of the hymns addressed to her, there is a refrain
‘This calculation of what is mine and what is someone else’s is for a narrow-minded person. For a person who is generous of heart, the world is indeed a family.’
Where is the original text from? It occurs in Hitopadesha, Panchatantra, Vikaramacharita and Mahopanishad.
The text is from the Taittiriya Upanishad, the second shloka in the eleventh anuvaka. This part is also known as shikshavalli. A disciple is actually being addressed and told ‘Be one to whom the mother is like a god, the father is like a god, the preceptor is like a god and a guest is like a god.’
Traditionally, whenever a guest turns up, he/she is offered padya (water to wash the feet), arghya (a gift), achamaniya (water to rinse the mouth) and asana (a seat).
as householders, there are five maha yajnas (great sacrifices) we have to perform: oblations to gods (deva yajna), studying (rishi yajna), oblations to ancestors (pitri yajna), offering food to birds and animals (bhuta yajna) and hospitality towards guests (atithi yajna).
The texts speak of three objectives of human existence: dharma, artha and kama. These are known as purusharthas
Sometimes, a fourth, moksha, is added.
The meaning of dharma depends on the context and the word is therefore impossible to translate. In that sense, it is a bit like yoga or karma. Independent of con...
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all the texts talk about a balance between the three objectives and warn about any of these objectives being pursued in excess.
(The five hoods are prana, apana, vyana, samana and udana, the five flows of the breath of life.)
Minimalism
nirvana-shatakam.
Bhagavad Gita uses the word atman to mean both the jivatman and the paramatman.
Janakas were virtuous kings and there is another such famous King Janaka, associated with the Ashtavakra Gita.
(sashtanga pranama), though we don’t always think about it. This means lying completely prostrate on the ground, with eight of one’s limbs actually touching the ground.
it means two feet, two knees, two hands, the chest and the forehead. These must touch the ground.
The original is in the British Museum.
Subsequently, Ashtavakra bathed in the river Samanga and his deformity was cured. This river Samanga is now known as the Song, in the district of Dehradun. It is also known as Ashtavakra nadi. Ashtavakra’s hermitage is believed to have been in the village of Raiwala, in the same district.
Ashtavakra Gita is one of the most important among these. It is a dialogue between Janaka and Ashtavakra, with Janaka as the student and Ashtavakra as the teacher. With twenty chapters, it is an exposition of Advaita Vedanta.
Progressively getting rid of the six vices of kama or desire, krodha or anger, lobha or avarice, moha or delusion, mada or insolence and matsarya or envy.
Rick Hanson, a Senior Fellow at the University of Berkeley. Several of his books are on happiness, from the neuroscience point of view.
There is a Buddhist monk named Matthieu Ricard who lives in Nepal. He has been called the ‘happiest’ person in the world.
In his case, neuroscientists from the University of Wisconsin plugged 256 sensors into his brain. This is what they found.38 ‘The scans showed that when meditating on compassion, Ricard’s brain produces a level of gamma waves—those linked to consciousness, attention, learning and memory “never reported before in the neuroscience literature”, Davidson said. The scans also showed excessive activity in his brain’s left prefrontal cortex compared to its right counterpart, allowing him an abnormally large capacity for happiness and a reduced propensity towards negativity.’ The monk attributes his
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‘He who cannot concentrate, has no intellect. He who cannot concentrate, has no meditation. He who does not meditate has no peace. If a person does not have peace, how can he possess happiness?’
Here is Swami Nikhilananda’s translation. ‘All this—whatever exists in this changing universe—should be covered by the Lord. Protect the Self by renunciation. Lust not after any man’s wealth.’
I think Sri Aurobindo is absolutely right. Enjoy—with non-attachment.
One needs to eliminate (ahamkara)—ego, pride, self-conceit, arrogance.
in Sanskrit and other Indian languages, the equivalent word for ‘I’ is not spelt with a capital letter.
‘Use one’s own self to uplift one’s own self. One should not let one’s own self sink. One’s own self is one’s friend. One’s own self is one’s enemy.
When the mind is quietened and restrained through the practice of yoga, one uses one’s own self to see the atman is one’s own self and is content. One feels the extreme bliss that is realized by the intellect, but is beyond the grasp of the senses. Established in that reality, one no longer deviates from that state.’
There are several physicists who have been attracted to the Bhagavad Gita—Erwin Schrödinger, Werner Heisenberg, Robert Oppenheimer, Niels Bohr, Carl Sagan and Nikola Tesla.
I have mentioned three steps so far: (1) Getting rid of the vices and establishing non-attachment. (2) Getting rid of ahamkara. (3) Realizing the jivatman. There is a fourth: (4) Realizing the union between the jivatman and the brahman
‘Everyone acts according to his/her own intelligence, nature and inclinations. Even if they see me, and us, they won’t necessarily be able to recognize us.’
There is no such thing as ‘nature versus nurture’. It is never genes or environment; it is always both things, together.
