Bhagavad Gita

INTRODUCTION

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Yoga is cessation of the mind. The word yoga means uniting with the Divine. To reach the Ultimate, the goal and the path is the practice of Yoga. We have two lives in us. One is the life we want to live – the dream. The other is the life in reality – the life we are living. The meeting of these two lives is what is called Yoga.

The goal is uniting with the
Ultimate or experiencing the
ultimate spiritual energy, or the
Divine and realizing our inherent
nature. The path is dropping the
mind, which means going beyond
thoughts. We are spiritual beings
having a human experience; we are
not human beings having a spiritual
experience. This is the truth. Bliss
is our very nature.

A portrait of a spiritual teacher sitting in meditation

The mind pulls us
towards the temporary
happiness that we
experienced by pursuing
sense pleasures. For
example, we may like a
particular sweet. We are
attracted to its taste.
When we sit down to eat
it, for a few minutes our
mind seems to stop
thinking about it. There
is a sense of peace when
we are eating the sweet.
Actually, we are at peace
because the number of
thoughts has come down
for those few minutes.
But we think the peace
we experience is due to
the sweet its

Understand that there is
nothing wrong with liking
the taste of the sweet. But
if we think that the sweet
is the cause of our
fulfillment, then the
problem starts, because
the next time the same
sweet may not give us the
same experience of
fulfillment.

We do not trust our
inherent body
intelligence. We run our
body according to the
mind or according to our
desires and senses.
Otherwise, why would we
stay up in the night
watching television when
our body is begging for
some sleep? Why would
we overeat? Has anyone
seen any animal ever
overeat?

They eat according to their body intelligence. When the body signals that it needs food, they eat. When the body signals that it needs sleep, they sleep. We have forgotten how to relate with our own body intelligence.

We do not need to sleep for as long as most of us do. There are periods in our sleep — the dream and deep sleep states. It is the deep sleep state that gives us energy and rejuvenates us. This state can be achieved through meditation as well. In the course of an eight-hour sleep cycle, we are in the deep sleep state only for a couple of hours. That is why even a few minutes of meditation can actually refresh us as much as a few hours of sleep

BE IN THE PRESENT TO BE COMPLETE

Our mind is like a lake. When we throw a stone in a lake, many ripples will be created. If we want to stop these ripples, we cannot put our hand in the lake to try to smoothen out the ripples. Instead if we just watch the lake, and ensure no more stones are thrown in, the ripples will disappear and the lake will become still. If we just relax and watch our mind with complete awareness, then no new thoughts will be created.

There is a beautiful story described in Śrīmad Bhāgavatam. Devatā, the demigods were oppressed by the demons and appealed to Bhagavān Viṣṇu for help. According to His directions, the demigods were to churn the ocean of milk. During the churning, many products emerged out of the ocean of milk including a deadly poison. Bhagavān Śiva came to their rescue. He drank the poison but did not completely take it in. He just held it in His throat.

Listen. When the churning of the milky ocean started, everyone was waiting only for the nectar. That is why, when the poison emerged, it was a suffering for them. But Bhagavān Śiva was waiting for the poison also, that is why it could not bring suffering to Him.

Life is like the churning of the
ocean of milk where we are
churned, pulled towards the
desires and pushed away from
the fears. There are various
products that emerge out of the
churning, out of the decisions
and choices we make in life.
Some of these products appear
pleasing while others appear
dangerous like poison.

When we exist with
responsibility without taking in
the poison or throwing it out,
meaning without running
towards the desires or running
away from the fears, we become
Śiva and live life blissfully
irrespective of what comes our
way.