1. Bhagavad Gita Chapter 17 - Lesson 2 of 10

Śrīmad Bhagavad Gītā is the ultimate sacred scripture of yoga, Yogaśastra and the pristine glory of the Vedic culture, the eternal living tradition called sanātana-dharma. It belongs to the whole Universe for it is delivered to the Universe by the source and embodiment of

Universe. We salute and bow down to Bhagavān Śrī Kṛṣṇa, who spoke the Bhagavad Gītā out of His infinite love and compassion for all beings.

Whenever unrighteousness, adharma becomes predominant and dharma, righteous living declines and the Yoga of Enlightenment is lost,

Parabrahma Kṛṣṇa, the Supreme Consciousness appears again and again to revive this sacred yoga, to protect and to enrich the devoted beings; and destroys adharma to re-establish the pure and everlasting dharma. Song

Gītā is also called Brahmavidyā the Knowledge of Brahman, the supreme absolute truth; it is Jīvan Mukti Vijñāna the Science of Living Enlightenment.

As with all scriptures, it is the knowledge and experience that is transmitted verbally as Śri Krṣṇārjuna Saṁvād, an intimate dialogue between Master of the world, Jagadguru Lord Śrī Kṛṣṇa and His dear devotee and disciple, Arjuna. It is called śruti in Saṃskṛit, meaning something that is heard.

Gītā, as Bhagavad Gītā is generally called, translates literally from Saṃskṛit as 'Sacred Song of God'. Unlike

the Vedas and Upaniṣads, which are stand alone expressions of Truth, the Gītā is written into the greatest Hindu epic, the Mahābhārat, called a purāṇa, an ancient historical happening. It is part of the recorded history of the greatest tradition, the paramount civilization in all its Divine grandeur and its human complexity, so to speak.

No other epic or part of an epic has the special status and space of the Gītā. No other book but the Gītā gives a scientific, systematic, applied science of living joyfully in completion, while empowering the human actionfield with authenticity to evolve into a responsible Divine play-field.

Called the royal supreme knowledge rājavidyā rājaguhyaṁ (9.2), this one sacred book conveys the essence of knowledge contained in all written and oral vedic truths to enrich the simplest to complex humans at all planes. It holds within itself the direct key to every possible human enquiry, the solution to every dilemma of emotions, and the sublime righteous path and goal of every quest of rising or falling civilizations for every age, time or geography. As a consequence of the presence of the Gītā, the Mahābhārat epic itself is considered a sacred Hindu scripture.

Gītā arose from the super consciousness of Śri Kṛṣṇa, the Supreme God, the complete Incarnation Purṇāvatār, and is therefore considered Gītāśastra—the essential scripture, knowing which, one is liberated from all incompletions, yaj jñātvā mokṣyase asubhāt (9.1) and Gītopaniṣad—the essence of all Upaniṣads, the purest and highest knowledge to be ever known and cognized because it gives the direct experience of the Self pavitram idam uttamam pratyakṣāvagaṁ dharmyaṁ (9.2).

Gītā is the ultimate practical teaching on the inner science of spirituality that expresses as outer victory and success in life now and after. It is not, as some scholars incorrectly claim, a promotion of violence. It is about the impermanence of the mind and body, and the need to go beyond the mind, ego and logic.

The answers of the Divine, Śrī Kṛṣṇa, transcend time and space. Śrī Kṛṣṇa's message is everlasting and joyfully performed, and is as valid today as it was on that fateful battlefield over five thousand years ago. The science of Gītā is the eternal technique of living in completion; the song of Gītā is the eternal life-enriching nectar, having no expiry date, time or age!

Mahābhārat, literally meaning the great Bhārata, is a grand narration about the nation and civilization, which is now known as Bharat. It was then a nation ruled by king Bhārata and his descendants.

Your whole life is nothing but the Mahābhārat War. The Mahābharāt should be read again and again to understand the intricacies of life, the complications of life, and the ability to handle life. The true story of this perfectly recorded epic is about two warring clans, Kauravas and Pānḍavas, closely related to one another. Dhṛtarāṣṭra, the blind king of Hastināpur and father of the 100 Kaurava brothers was the brother of Pānḍu, whose children were the five Pānḍava princes.

It is a tale of strife between cousins and ultimately between dhārmic and adhārmic,

Since Dhṛtarāṣṭra was blind, Pānḍu was made the king of Hastināpura. Pānḍu was cursed by a sage that he would die if he ever entered into a physical relationship with his wives.

He therefore had no children. Vyāsa says that all the five Pānḍava children were born to their mothers Kuntī and Mādri through the blessing of divine beings. Pānḍu handed over the kingdom and his children to his blind brother.

Kuntī, who is the embodiment of tapas, spiritual penance, had received a boon when she was still a young unmarried adolescent, that she could summon any divine power at will to father a child. Before she married, she tested her boon. The Sun god, Sūrya appeared before her.

Karṇa was born to her as a result. In fear of social reprisals, she cast the newborn away in a river. Yudhiṣṭra, Bhīma and Arjuna were born to Kuntī after her marriage by invocation of her powers, and the twins Nakula and Sahadeva were born to Mādri, the second wife of Pānḍu. What happened during the MahabharatA?

Yudhiṣṭra was born to Kuntī as a result of her being blessed by Yama, the god of death, dharma and justice, Bhīma by Vāyu, the god of wind, and Arjuna by Indra, god of all the divine beings. Nakula and Sahadeva, the youngest Pānḍava twins, were born to Mādri, through the Divine Aśvini twins.

Dhṛtarāṣṭra had a hundred sons through his wife Gāndhārī. The eldest of these Kaurava princes was Duryodhana. Duryodhana felt no love for his five Pānḍava cousins. He made many unsuccessful attempts, along with his brother Duśśāsana, to kill the Pānḍava brothers. Kuntī's eldest son Karṇa, whom she had cast away at birth, was found and brought up by a chariot driver in the palace, and by a strange twist of fate, joined hands with Duryodhana.

Dhṛtarāṣṭra gave Yudhiṣṭra one half of the Kuru kingdom on his coming of age, since the Pānḍava prince was the rightful heir to the throne that his father Pānḍu had vacated.

Yudhiṣṭra ruled from his new capital Indraprastha, along with his brothers Bhīma, Arjuna, Nakula and Sahadeva.

Arjuna won the hand of princess Draupadī, daughter of the king of Pāñcāla, in a svayaṁvara, a marital contest in which princes fought for the hand of a fair damsel.

In fulfillment of their mother Kuntī's desire that the brothers share everything equally, Draupadī became the wife of all five Pānḍava brothers. Duryodhana persuaded Yudhiṣṭra to join a gambling session, where his cunning uncle Śakunī defeated the Pānḍava king.

Yudhiṣṭra lost all that he owned—his kingdom, his brothers, his wife and himself, to Duryodhana. Duśśāsana shamed Draupadī in public by trying to disrobe her. The Pānḍava brothers and Draupadī were forced to go into exile for fourteen years, with the condition that in the last year they should live incognito or ajyāta vāsa.

At the end of the fourteen years, the Pānḍava brothers tried to reclaim their kingdom. In this effort they were helped by Śrī Kṛṣṇa, the king of the Yādava clan, who is the eighth divine incarnation of Bhagavān Viṣṇu.

However, Duryodhana refused to yield even a needlepoint of land, and as a result, the Great War, the War of Mahābhārat ensued. In this war, various rulers of the entire nation that is modern Bharat aligned with one or the other of these two clans, the Kauravas or the Pānḍavas.

Kṛṣṇa offered to join with either of the two clans. He says, 'One of you may have Me unarmed. I will not take any part in the battle. The other may have my entire Yādava army.'

When the offer was first made to Duryodhana, he predictably chose the large and well-armed Yādava army, Nārāyaṇī Senā, in preference to the unarmed Kṛṣṇa.

Arjuna joyfully and gratefully chose his dearest friend, his life mentor and his Guru, Kṛṣṇa, Nārāyaṇa, to be his unarmed charioteer!

This whole history is such a beautiful happening. Mahābhārat is actually your life! Every character in the Mahābhārat teaches so much! We don't need to go anywhere for our life success or fulfillment or for anything else that we may desire. We don't need to study any other book to learn the human psychology or the science of living and leaving. Whether we seek righteous living—dharma; or we want to learn business or administration, economy or abundance—artha; or we want to create the best rich lifestyle—kāma; or we want to be a leader and want the enriching life of being enlightened mokṣa, for all these purposes, we don't need anything other than the Mahābharāt!

Study each character. We will not find any more characters in our life than the characters described in the Mahābharāt!

Any character we see in our life is mapped to Mahābharāt's one character. They are either half or full representation of some character.

To know how to handle them and even handle yourself, just see how Śrī Kṛṣṇa handles them and handle them the same way. The Mahābharāt war is a representation of life as it was lived in that age.

Vyāsa, its author is an unbiased historian who recorded the whole history as it happened without trying to apply any makeup. People ask whether the Mahābharāt war happened at all!

If the Mahābharāt was a story and not history, Vyāsa should receive multiple Pulitzer prizes for his highly creative work! The Mahābharāt is the longest literary work in the whole world with hundred thousand Saṃskṛit verses—the longest poem ever written with such delicate harmony of unmatched poetic perfection. It is larger than the Greek epics. Vyāsa had no computer, no tape recorder with speech-to-text capabilities. He dictated and Bhagavān Ganeṣa wrote it down!

• Yudhiṣṭra is embodiment of Integrity the power of words, vāk śakti.
• Bhīma is embodiment of Authenticity the power of thoughts, mano śakti.

Arjuna is embodiment of Responsibility—the power of feeling, prema śakti.

• Sahadeva is embodiment of Enriching the power of living, ātma śakti.
  • Nakula is embodiment of causing reality for others.

• Śakuni, the maternal uncle of Duryodhana embodies the pattern of self-hatred, which is cunningness personified.

• Droṇa represents all the best knowledge one imbibes and the teachers one encounters, who guide us but are unable to take us through to the ultimate flowering of enlightenment. It is difficult to give them up since one feels grateful to them. This is where the Enlightened Master, the incarnation steps in and guides us.

• Duryodhana, represents one's ego or root-pattern, the most difficult to conquer as it leads one to self destruction. One needs the full help of the Master here. It is subtle work and even the Master's help may not be obvious, since at this point, sometimes the ego makes us deny and disconnect from the Master as well.

• Karṇa is the repository of all good deeds and it is his good deeds that stand in the way of his own Enlightenment. Śrī Kṛṣṇa has to take the load of Karṇa's puṇya, his meritorious deeds, before he could be liberated. The Enlightened Master guides one to drop one's attachment to good deeds arising out of what are perceived to be charitable and compassionate intentions. He also shows us that the quest for and the experience of enlightenment is the ultimate act of compassion that one can offer to the world. Bhagavan Ṣri Kṛṣṇa, the 8th most powerful purnāvatar of Ṃaha Viśnu, is the embodiment of pure celebration, boundless love, compassion, and completion.

Bhagavan Ṣri Kṛṣṇa is the only incarnation demonstrating and expressing Ṣarva Ṃangalatva all the auspicious qualities and all dimensions of an avatar during His physical happening. The līla Bhagavan Ṣri Krsna is one of sheer innocence and simplicity, in a peace-loving, diplomatic, conflict-free way.

Karṇa is the repository of all good deeds and it is his good deeds that stand in the way of his own Enlightenment. Śrī Kṛṣṇa has to take the load of Karṇa's puṇya, his meritorious deeds, before he could be liberated. The Enlightened Master guides one to drop one's attachment to good deeds arising out of what are perceived to be charitable and compassionate intentions. He also shows us that the quest for and the experience of enlightenment is the ultimate Till now everyone blames Bhagavan Sri Krishna for this Kurukshetra war but that's the greatest sacrifice Bhagavan Sri Krishna did to save the planet Earth. If Kurukshetra was not conducted at that time under the controlled conditions and direct supervision of Bhagavan Sri Krishna, planet Earth would not have survived more than three years.

act of compassion that one can offer to the world. Bhagavan Ṣri Kṛṣṇa, the 8th most powerful purnāvatar of Ṃaha Viśnu, is the embodiment of pure celebration, boundless love, compassion, and completion. Bhagavan Ṣri Kṛṣṇa is the only incarnation demonstrating and expressing Ṣarva Ṃangalatva all the auspicious qualities a nd all dimensions of an avatar during His physical happening. The līla Bhagavan Ṣri Krsna is one of sheer innocence and The wide spread availability of the Astra shastras without Shastra, without the knowledge and vision, was posing a huge threat to the whole of humanity and planet Earth, and for life itself. The greatest achievement of Bhagavan Sri Krishna is destroying all the weapons in one controlled condition and saving planet earth, eliminating the nuclear weapons and the knowledge of these nuclear weapons to save humanity from total annihilation.

conflict-free way.

simplicity, in a peace-loving, diplomatic,

Bhagavad Gītā appears in the heart of Mahābhārat in Bhīṣma Parva, the sixth chapter of its eighteen chapters. Veda Vyāsa, the narrator, in glorifying the Gītā sings, 'the one who drinks the water of Ganges (the sacred river for Hindus) attains liberation, what to speak of the one who drinks the nectar of Gītā?

Gītā is the essential nectar of the Mahābhārat, bhāratamṛta sarvasvam as it is directly spoken by Nārāyaṇa, Bhagavān kṛṣṇa Himself.'

The armies assembled in the vast field of Kurukṣetra, now in the state of Haryana in modern day Bharat. All the kings and princes were related to one another, and were often on opposite sides. Facing the Kaurava army and his friends, relatives and teachers, Arjuna was overcome by remorse and guilt, and wanted to walk away from the battle out of total powerlessness unbecoming an invincible warrior among warriors.

Śrī Kṛṣṇa's dialogue with Arjuna on the battlefield of Kurukṣetra out of His utmost concern and love for him and humanity is the content of Bhagavad Gītā. Of its seven hundred and forty-five (745) verses, Bhagavān Śrī Kṛṣṇa sings the Gītā in six hundred and twenty (620) verses responding to Arjuna's fifty-seven (57) enquiries.

Śrī Kṛṣṇa persuades Arjuna to give-up his powerlessness unfitting an Ārya—the spiritually evolved one who understands human life and urges him to raise himself again as Parantapa—the conqueror of enemy, and take up arms and vanquish his enemies. They are already dead,' says Śrī Kṛṣṇa, 'All those who are facing you have been already killed by Me. Go ahead and do what you have to do. That is your responsibility. Do not worry about the outcome. Leave that to Me.'

śrībhagavānuvāca trividhā bhavati śraddhā dehināṁ sā svabhāvajā sāttvikī rājasī caiva tāmasī ceti tāṁ śṛṇu

The Supreme Lord says: The natural authenticity (faith) of embodied beings is of three kinds: goodness, aggression, and ignorance. Now hear about these from Me

If we worship the right ideal, we are established in satva.

sattvānurūpā sarvasya śraddhā bhavati bhārata śraddhāmayo' yacchraddhaḥ sa eva saḥ

O Arjuna, the authenticity of each is in accordance with one's own natural disposition. One is known by one's authenticity. One can become whatever one wants to be

The key is to be in the space of completion every moment

yajante sāttvikā devān yakṣarakṣāṁsi rājasāḥ pretān-bhūta-gaṇāṁś cānye yajante tāmasā janāḥ

Men in the nature of goodness worship the deities; those in the nature of aggression worship the demons and those in the nature of ignorance worship ghosts and spirits

Only a person whose nature is pure goodness can connect with the Divine, with Existence

aśāstravihitaṁ ghoraṁ tapyante ye tapo janāḥ dambhāhaṅkārasamyuktāḥ kāmarāgabalānvitāḥ

Ignorant persons of demonic nature are those who practice severe austerities without following the prescription of the scriptures, who are full of hypocrisy and egotism, who are impelled

The body is the temple of God.

karśayantaḥ śarīrasthaṁ bhūtagrāmamacetasaḥ mām caivāntah śarīrasthaṁ tān viddhy āsura-niścayān

by the force of desire and attachment and who senselessly torture the elements in their body and also Me who dwells within the body

There is no need for all this penance.

Kṛṣṇa explains that the way we worship depends upon our natural disposition, the guṇa, attributes that we are born with. When we are born, we carry within us the vāsanā, the essence of the mental cognition or bio-memory from our past lives. This comes with the prārabdha karma (unfulfilled actions from past lives) and the saṁskāras (root thought patterns), that drive our mental makeup and actions throughout our present lives. In turn, guṇas or the attributes we are born with are determined.

Our being, our undying spirit, keeps an account of every thought we have and every move that we make. There is no escape from this account keeper. When we reach the end of the road, when our body dies, the spirit plays back all that happened during the journey of life and goes through the pains and pleasures. According to Kṛṣṇa, the attitude, the space or the last thought with which we left our body carries over to our next birth and the next body that our spirit moves into.

Hence we are born with a natural inclination based upon our last life and attitude. Depending on the attitude, we may have the attribute of satva, goodness, rajas, aggression, or tamas, ignorance as our driving nature.

Listen! If you don't bring authenticity, inauthenticity is waiting to take you over. Because you trained yourself for so many years with inauthenticity, inauthenticity is waiting to take you over. Bring authenticity continuously; go on expanding, go on expanding. Authenticity is the possibility of Life in you.

One of the biggest mistakes you make in your life is thinking that you are still a possibility, but your life is a reality! That is why you feel weak. Your life is not a stone wall that is already built. It is a wax model that is getting ready! Understand, the reality you experience is not a stone wall that is already built. It is only a wax model that is getting ready. Authenticity is the intelligence to alter your possibility consciously, in the right way. Authenticity is a great possibility for you to alter your life in the right way. Please be very clear, only a person whose nature is pure goodness can connect with the Divine, with Existence— yajante sāttvikā devān (17.4).

An Enlightened Master goes beyond the three guṇas of satva, rajas and tamas. He transcends these attributes because he burns out all his vāsanās, saṁskāras and karmas, of which these triguṇas are a product. An Enlightened Master has no bondages. He is not bound by desires, greed, fear or attachment. He is beyond the illusion of material existence. He dissolves into the cosmic energy when he chooses to leave the body and it perishes.

When the energy of an enlightened Master is reborn on this planet, when it takes human form, it is imbued with some satva guṇa, since all beings in physical form must by nature have an attribute. Such a being is an Incarnation, an Avatār. Upon realization of the being's enlightened state, that Incarnation reverts to its transcendental state of being without attributes or guṇa. In some cases, the Incarnation continues upon this planet to fulfill the mission that Existence has sent it to accomplish. In other cases, upon realization of its true nature, the Incarnation reverts to its original cosmic state.

Please understand, whatever is your ideal, whatever you hold in high esteem, whoever you feel connected to, whatever you worship, that is your nature and that decides your quality. If we worship the right ideal, we are established in satva. If we have Swami Vivekananda's poster or Śiva's photo in our room, we are in satva. If we have an actor's photo or poster in our room, we are in rajas and tamas. Tamas is like watching a violent fighting show. If you continuously sit in front of the television and watch fighting, you are established in tamas.

Kṛṣṇa says that based upon our ideal, our guṇas (attributes) can be described

Beautifully Bhagavān Kṛṣṇa says, 'Please do not torture the Soul inside your body. Don't abuse your body. The body is the temple of God. By torturing the temple of God, you torture the Supreme Consciousness residing inside.

Spiritual relationships can never exist out of fear or greed. Never be obedient to somebody out of fear. Simply throw things out if it is forced on you out of fear. Never be afraid of anything.

Here Kṛṣṇa says that there is no need for all this penance. You cheat yourself with all this penance out of pride and ego but you never really achieve anything. The person who does these things out of ego and pride is a demon, a rākṣasa. A demon is in deep tamas, in ignorance. All that drives such a person is the boost to his ego, his inauthenticities without consideration for himself and others. Such a person is a spiritual cipher.

Helping the students understand authenticity. Helping the students realize that they must treat their bodies as the temple of God.

• What do we carry when we are born? Describe it.
• What is prārabdha karma?
• What will happen if you don't bring authenticity in your life?
• What is one of the biggest mistakes we make in our lives?
• What happens when the energy of an enlightened Master is reborn on this planet?
• How can we establish ourselves in satva?
• Why does Bhagavān Kṛṣṇa say not to abuse the body?
• How can our guṇas be described? 9.Define who is a rākṣasa.

• v Paper
• v Pens
• v Pencil
• v Eraser
• v Markers
• v Pastels
• v Paint
• v Brushes
• v Decorations of any kind (ribbons, colourful fabrics, sparkles)
• v Scissors
• v Glue
• v Kitchen paper, etc.

• v Trace your own body on a paper and decorate it as a temple.
• v You can draw your favorite deity living inside of it.
• v Ask the children to share what they can do on a daily basis to show their gratitude to their bodies.

• v Beautifully Bhagavān Kṛṣṇa says, 'Please do not torture the Soul inside your body. Don't abuse your body. The body is the temple of God.

Part 2: Bhagavad Gita Chapter 17 - Lesson 2 of 10_English_part_2.md

• 1. Wax paper
• 2. Wax crayons (Crayola) in bright colours.
• 3. A pencil or crayon sharpener
• 4. An iron (to be used by adults only)
• 5. Glue (white glue if the kid is using it or hot glue if an adult is there)
• 6. Wooden craft sticks
• 7. Scissors
• 8. An old towel
• 1. Glue craft sticks into square or triangular frames. If an adult is there, you can use hot glue. If not, have simple white glue. We used hot glue to save time.
• 2. Sharpen some crayons onto a plate or sheet of paper, so you have a nice pile of colours.
• 3. Lay an old towel on a flat surface and cover it with a sheet of wax paper.
• 4. Arrange the popsicle stick frames on the wax paper and drop bits of crayon inside the frames. You can skip this step, but by taking the time to do it, you will make sure you have enough crayon shavings to go around.
• 5. Remove the frames, but keep track of the order you had them arranged.

• 6. Cover with another sheet of wax paper.
• 7. Carefully have an adult run an iron (set to low), across the paper, and watch the crayon shavings melt.
• 8. When everything has cooled, glue the craft stick frames onto the wax paper. Again, if an adult is there, you can use hot glue to speed things up.
• 9. Trim around the edges of the frames to reveal your sun catchers.
• 10. Glue string or fishing line onto the backs of the sun catchers and hang from windows or sliding glass doors using suction cup hooks, or tap

One of the biggest mistakes you make in your life is thinking that you are still a possibility, but your life is a reality! That is why you feel weak. Your life is not a stone wall that is already built. It is a wax model that is getting ready! Understand, the reality you experience is not a stone wall that is already built. It is only a wax model that is getting ready

"If you don't bring authenticity, inauthenticity is waiting to take you over. Because you trained yourself for so many years with inauthenticity, inauthenticity is waiting to take you over. Bring authenticity continuously; go on expanding, go on expanding. Authenticity is the possibility of Life in you.

• Define "authenticity " and "inauthenticity " as per your understanding.
• Why is so much inauthenticity inside of us?
• How can we align more and more to authenticity?
• Why should we care about becoming more and more authentic?
• What is "expansion" to you?
• In what ways can you expand in your own life?

Authenticity is the intelligence to alter your possibility consciously, in the right way.

Authenticity is a great possibility for you to alter your life in the right way. Please be very clear, only a person whose nature is pure goodness can c onne c t wit h t h e D i v i n e , wit h Existence