Srīmad 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.'

yānti devavratā devān pitṛān yānti pitṛ vratāḥ bhūtāni yānti bhūtejyā yānti madyājino'pi mām

Those who worship the deities will take birth among the deities; those who worship ghosts and spirits will take birth among such beings; those who worship ancestors go to the ancestors; those who worship Me will live with Me.

Once we are enlightened, we merge into universal consciousness.

patraṁ puṣpaṁ phalaṁ toyaṁ yo me bhaktyā prayacchati tad ahaṁ bhaktyupahṛtam aśnāmi prayatātmanaḥ

Whoever offers Me with love and devotion a leaf, a flower, fruit or water, I will accept and consume what is offered by the purehearted

The Existence, the Divine is so alive that It responds to even simple things.'

yat karoṣi yad aśnāsi yaj juhoṣi dadāsi yat yat tapasyasi kaunteya tat kuruṣva madarpaṇam

O Kaunteya (son of Kuntī), all that you do, all that you eat, all that you offer and give away, as well as all austerities that you may perform, give them as an offering to Me.

Even though He is all-pervading, even though He is big, he accepts any small thing given with love and devotion.

śubhāśubha-phalair evaṁ mokṣyase karma-bandhanaiḥ sannyāsa-yogayuktātmā vimukto māmupaiṣyasi

You will be freed from all reactions to good and evil deeds by this renunciation, You will be liberated and come to Me.

The universe is intelligence. It responds to our thoughts, deeds, and consciousness

Krsna talks about the kind of life that we lead now. The last thought that we have at the time of death determines our next birth, next life. This is the truth. Actually we need not go to the extent of life and death. We see this in daily life itself. Our last thought affects our first thought. Every night we die and every morning we take birth. During the day, when we are in the waking state, we use our gross physical body or sthula sarira to carry on with our activities. When we sleep, if we have dreams, we use the subtle body or suksma sarira to travel to the places that we see in our dreams.

When we are in deep sleep, when we have no dreams, then we are in our causal body or karana sarira. When we sleep at night, we actually change bodies. We are not aware that this happens. In our dream, we have created a world in which we live. Our gross body is on the bed, while our subtle body is active in the dream. In the same way, the causal body is active during the deep sleep state.

We see that our last thought before sleeping affects our first thought upon waking. If we come back from the office with a frustrated mood about our boss, we wake up with the same mood in the morning. If we sleep with a blissful smile on our face, we will be happy the next morning.

One more thing you need to know is that whatever feeling we wake up with in the morning, that same feeling stays with us throughout the day. If you wake up dull in the morning, you will be dull throughout the day. If you wake up energized, you will be active and energetic throughout the day. When we are continuously aware of the

Existential energy, when we continuously meditate on It, we will have only the same thought when we leave the body, also. And It will ensure that our next birth takes us closer to this energy and liberates us from the cycle of birth and death.

Simplicity is the great quality of the Divine. He says, 'patram, puspam,phalam, toyam'. Just a leaf, a flower, a fruit, a little water... simple things are enough. I accept it. I am pleased. I respond to it.

'He says in the fourth verse of this chapter: maya tatam idam sarvam jagadvyaktamurtina' I am allpervading, great, ultimate, divine.'

Now He says, even though He is all-pervading, even though He is big, He accepts any small thing given with love and devotion. Even if we know somebody is big or great, we can't relate with him unless he relates with us, unless he comes down to our level. Real greatness is not only being great. He must be able to relate with everybody.

Here, Krsna creates a way, even for ordinary people to relate with Him. On the one side He declares with authority His greatness. On the other side He shows us how to relate with Him. He says, 'Even if you offer a leaf, flower, fruit or water with love, I accept it. I relate with it.' That is why, from time immemorial, enlightened masters are requested to live by begging, so that people can relate with them. In Bharat, sanyasis live by begging. Even Buddha lived by begging, so that we can relate with Him. When we give food, we talk to Him and relate with him, we feel that He is like us. When we give cookies to our child and he opens it, we say, 'Give one to Mommy!' It is not that we don't have a cookie or we want it, but if the child gives it to us, how happy we feel! We feel connected. And we know he wants to connect to us: he wants to relate with us.

Similarly, when we offer something to the Divine, don't think that He does not have it and so you are offering. He is the one who gives everything to us in the first place! But when we offer, we show to the Divine: I want to connect to you. We show a green signal for the Divine to enter into our space.

We do not understand that by letting go, by surrendering to the Existential energy, we will be free. All our burdens will be gone. We do not realize this. All enlightened masters have spoken about surrender. It is the easiest way, however, we make it the most difficult due to our ego.

There are three levels in which we can surrender to the Existential energy. The first level is surrender of our actions. Whatever we do, good or bad, surrender them to the universal energy.

The second level of surrender is that of intellect and mind. Our mind continuously analyzes!

The third and the most difficult level of surrender is that of the senses. If the master says something, the disciple takes it as it is. That is the level of surrender. When we reach this level of surrender, we are one with the Divine. The Divine takes care of us

To help the child become more aware of Existential Energy.

• 1. What do you understand as Existential energy?
• 2. What is sthula sarira, suksma sarira and karana sarira?
• 3. What can one do to create a positive shift in their daily lives?

• 1. Chart Paper
• 2. Scissors
• 3. Sketch pens and/or Color pencils
• 4. Crayons

Each person should get a chart paper cut into a heart shaped card. There should be enough colouring materials for everyone to share.

Discussion: Talk about the term "Causeless Love" – Love without a purpose. What it means and how to try it out with the people you meet.

You can give an example of a new student coming to join their class, and with no ulterior motives or purpose, what is something you could to make him/her feel comfortable and welcome? Ask each child for examples. The beautiful thing about causeless love is that although you are helping someone or giving someone love, for no personal gain: you are giving yourself love as well! Through loving others, you receive love too. And it heals you from feeling restless. How can you feel uncomfortable when you are busy helping someone else? Feeling uncomfortable or shy is just thinking about yourself, worrying about what other people are thinking about you! But if you love someone else, you open your heart to give love, and you receive love through being open! "Love is meant to be shared!" "Love was not meant to stay in your heart, love is not love until you give it away!"

Explain that as an activity for causeless love, we are going to make a card, and give it away to a complete stranger! Why? Because that is a form of causeless love; giving something from your heart. With no purpose other than you love them as another being in this universe and want to make the whole world happy!

Allow each one to colour and decorate their card, and give their gift away to a complete stranger and come back with their story of whom they gave it to, and how it made them feel.

Love is contagious, love is like a smile. Smile at someone, not just with your face, but with your heart, and they will feel the love and in turn smile at others. I believe we could make the whole world a happier place if we sent smiles all over the world creating positive energy!

Part 2: Bhagavad Gita Chapter 9 - Lesson 7 of 9_English_part_2.md

• 1. Cushions or mat for children to sit on
• 2. Instrumental music (optional)

This is a lovely activity to do in a group, a meditation that all can enjoy about love.

Gather the class and explain what we are about to do, ask them to close their eyes and picture themselves as love, pure liquid love overflowing to every part of their bodies.

When they have their eyes closed you can give them soft instructions while the music is playing quietly in the background. Speak slowly and calmly, and pause for some time between the instructions.

Review the activity and how it relates to our thoughts affecting our daily reality and consciousness on the whole.

➢

• ➢ "Focus on your heart region. Exclude everything else. Focus only on the heart".
• ➢ "Visualize your heart as an endless reservoir from where blessings can flow".
• ➢ "Feel every heartbeat deeply. Let every beat resound throughout you".
• ➢ "Feel every heartbeat deeply. Let every beat resound throughout you".
• ➢ "Between the heartbeats, feel the energy of love happening".
• ➢ "In the deepest parts of your body, mind and soul, the love energy is waiting to be acknowledged."
• ➢ "Invite the love energy of the heart to flow and fill these deepest parts of your body, mind and soul".

This meditation helps them to focus and even become love; they should carry this with them. The more effort they put into this meditation, the more they get from it.

Continue with the discussion about how we can express love. Expand on this: 'When we become love, our actions will speak love.' What kind of actions can we do to express our love? Practice expressing love by using words which will express love. For example: sweet, beautiful. Discuss what kind of words we will use, what kind of voice.

"When we offer all our actions to the universal energy, It takes care of us". When we understand that we can create a positive shift in our lives by surrendering our actions to Existence and building our relationship with the Divine even in the smallest, simplest gesture, our daily lives, our thinking and even the people in our lives will start aligning through the cosmic principles to create the best reality for us. Krsna says this clearly. Every enlightened master makes this promise. When we surrender ourselves to the master, to the Divine, to the universal energy, it takes care of us. When we offer all our actions to the universal energy, It takes care of us. The entire burden on our shoulders is offloaded. We are free from all the results of our actions. This is the promise of every enlightened master.