INTRODUCTION — Bhagavad Gita Chapter 15

Kṛṣṇa speaks further about the causal body where saṃskāras are stored. He is an extraordinary scientist. A scientist can honestly search for the truth; he can give up his own faith and belief for the cause of this search and is courageous enough to express the secrets, which he discovers step-by-step. We see these qualities in Kṛṣṇa. He is authentic in His expression or search. He is ready to give up yesterday's truth for today's updated intelligence. Kṛṣṇa continuously updates Himself. Lastly, He is courageous to open up the secrets in public. He is not worried about copyright and intellectual property rights.

The ancient vedic society in India believed that knowledge was free. The idea of copyright did not exist.

Kṛṣṇa is courageous enough to open up all the secrets. Bhagavān beautifully says, ‘narūpamasyeha tathopalabhyate (15.3).’ No one can perceive the real form of this tree. No one can understand where it begins, where it ends or where its foundation is. However, with determination one should cut down this tree with the weapon of strong will and detachment, asaṅga śastreṇa dṛḍhena chittvā (15.3).

No one can see what one has stored in one’s causal body. It is like Pandora’s Box. All the saṁskāras stored in the causal layer reveal themselves one by one. When we erase four of them, ten will surface. What is inside nobody knows. Only one thing is possible. All the saṁskāras can be cut by a strong will of detachment. With a strong will, with intelligence, the entire causal layer can be completed. People ask the Master to show them how to get rid of root patterns, saṁskāras. Only strong will and intelligence can do that. Do we ask the Master’s help to take our hands out of the fire? No! We know fire burns. So, we withdraw our hands immediately. We ask the Master only because the understanding is not there.

If the understanding is present, right action follows. If right action does not happen, be very clear that the understanding has not happened. Similarly, root patterns are dangerous. All that is needed is intelligence and a strong will of detachment. Kṛṣṇa explains that after cutting the tree of root patterns, surrender to the space of eternal silence, from where there is no coming back, tam eva cādyam puruṣam prapadye (15.4). This is the space in which the whole of Existence is established. One’s identity is the collection of one’s root patterns, saṃskāras, past bio memories and incomplete desires that are stored in the unconscious mind. This is in the causal layer of our energy. Through deep and focused meditation, we can access this unconscious causal layer and dissolve the saṃskāras stored here. Once done, we no longer return as the same person. We are free of saṃskāras and liberated.

A young person dressed in traditional attire sitting on a throne, with a deity figure in the background

The spirit that leaves the body goes
through a comatose state when it
passes through this causal body
layer. As long as the spirit has not
crossed this layer, it can return to
the body. This is the power of
saṃskāras. These bio-memories or
desires can pull the spirit back.
That is why sometimes after many
years in a coma, people return to
consciousness. They are pulled
back by unfulfilled desires.
However, once the spirit crosses
the causal layer, it cannot return to
the body. It must move on to the
next layer, the cosmic layer.

A depiction of Lord Krishna playing the flute against a cosmic galaxy background

Once we access this point of dissolution of saṃskāras and move on to the cosmic layer, we no longer operate unconsciously at the behest of our stored bio-memories. We move into an intuitive state of completion, as opposed to our earlier instinctive state of incompletion. We are no longer in an ignorant wakeful state, but in the truly awakened state of consciousness. Bringing awareness into the unconscious through the superconscious meditative route of completion is the only correct way to dissolve accumulated saṃskāras.

GOALS:

Impress upon the students that bringing awareness into our unconscious through the superconscious, meditative route of completion is the only way to dissolve accumulated saṁskāras.

ASSESSMENTS

1. Is it possible to complete all our root patterns one by one?

2. What method does Krishna prescribe for destroying the entire causal layer?

3. Which layer of the human psyche is characterised by eternal silence?

4. What is the difference between operating from the causal layer and actions that originate from the cosmic layer?

ART OF THE DAY

ART OF THE DAY:

THE TREE OF SAMSKARA

MATERIALS NEEDED:

Marbles

Thick white paper

Acrylic paint (6 colours)

A shoebox

Six small paper cups

PROCEDURE:

❖ Put a blob of paint in each paper cup. ❖ Each of the six cups should have a different colour. ❖ Now drop one marble into each of the cups. ❖ Swirl the cups around so that the marble gets coated in the colour. Place the white paper inside the cardboard shoe box. Gently drop a coated marble onto the paper. ❖ Shake the shoe box so that the marble runs over the paper in all directions. Once the colour on the marble is exhausted put it back in its cup of paint. And repeat this activity with all the other marbles.

INFERENCE:

When we are operating from the causal layer we operate unconsciously at the behest of our stored, coloured bio-memories. We move through life based on our instinctive state of incompletion and create more and more messy, conflicting thought patterns within us.

ACTIVITY OF THE DAY

ACTIVITY OF THE DAY:

DA, DA DANCE

Materials needed

Clay (7 different colours - if you don't have 7, you can alternate the colours you have),

Dental floss (to cut the creation in half) .

Procedure: Show the image of the seven energy bodies to the kids and ask them to reproduce it with the clay

Roll the small ball dough into a ball (Nirvanic body)

For the next layer (cosmic layer), flatten the medium sized dough (of a different colour) and place it around the first ball.

Pinch the sides closed, removing any extra dough in the process.

Create the 5 remaining layers (causal, spiritual, etheric, pranic, physical).

Cut the layered ball in two using floss.

Ask the kids to use their new creation to show where the saṃskāras are stored and to explain how we can complete the causal layer.

INFERENCE:

No one can see what one has stored in one’s causal body. It is like Pandora’s Box. All the saṁskāras stored in the causal layer reveal themselves one by one. When we erase four of them, ten will surface. What is inside nobody knows. Only one thing is possible. All the saṁskāras can be cut by a strong will of detachment. With a strong will, with intelligence, the entire causal layer can be completed.

WORKSHOP
OF
THE DAY

WORKSHOP OF THE DAY: VAAKYARTHA SADHAS

CAN MEDITATION LEAD TO ETERNAL SILENCE?

CONCLUSION:

Through deep and focused meditation, we can access the unconscious causal layer and dissolve the saṃskāras stored here. Once we dissolve our saṃskāras and move on to the cosmic layer, we no longer operate unconsciously at the behest of our stored bio-memories and enter a space of eternal silence and restful awareness