Bhagavad Gita Chapter 16

INTRODUCTION

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As long as we are bound by anger, lust and greed, we are in bondage; we are in suffering. We live in it day after day and suffer. Kāma, krodha and lobha: lust, anger and greed — when we shed these we are liberated. When these three combine, they create moha, or delusion. At one level these emotions are desires. Desires are energy. Lust is what drives us into reproduction and it is essential for the survival of species. Greed is the extreme expression of our survival needs. Anger is often the driving force to get things done. They achieve positive results, too. However, Kṛṣṇa refers to the expression of these emotions in the context of self-gratification. He refers to the gratification of base impulses. The baseness of the impulse is related to the intention, the context.

As long as these are expressed with the cognition of 'me,' they are base and demonic impulses. There are no liberating features. Lust can be transformed when it is expressed in an unselfish and unattached way. Lust will then totally disappear. Compassion and caring will be in its place. Lust is one aspect of the broad spectrum of desires. Unending desire is greed. When a desire is truly fulfilled, it leaves us. Karma is unfulfilled desires that goad us into action. We can never fulfill our desires because many of these desires are not truly ours. We borrow these desires from other people. There is never contentment. Each desire is the seed of suffering. You must complete with your lust, anger, greed, conflicting desires, and identify your true desires, the prārabdha karma, with which you are born into this world. When you imbibe the science of creating the space to have the energy to fulfill them. Your karma dissolves.

Above all, all the non-mechanical parts of your brain are awakened. Many powers which you have inside and you don't know, are awakened. The 'I' blossoms into 'you' effortlessly. At this stage, we shed anger as well. Anger and guilt are byproducts of desires. What we cannot acquire makes us angry. Anger produces guilt. Being angry towards a person is fruitless. Much of the negativity expressed towards others comes back to us. It depletes our energy. Anger or even guilt is also often an expression of one's inability to do something. It is a self-centered emotion born of one's weakness, powerlessness. Suppression of anger does not help. It can actually lead to chronic diseases like cancer. When we learn to complete with the emotion of anger instead of controlling it, it becomes energy instead of a disability.

Anger needs to be completed with and transformed into the positive energy of authentic action. What Kṛṣṇa asks us to do is to complete with the negative emotions like lust, greed and anger and create the space, with responsibility, to transform them into positive energies. He tells us that these are gateways to hell so long as we use them from the root cognition of ‘me.’ When we do completion and transform these emotions into energy, by creating the space of ‘you’, these same emotions become gateways to heaven, gateway to bliss.

BLISS COMES WITH TOTAL TRUST IN EXISTENCE.

Bliss is never an achievement on our part. Whatsoever we do to achieve bliss is doomed to fail. Bliss always comes from the beyond as a gift. We must be passively receptive to it. We are not to be aggressively active for it, just be receptive like a womb. We must be feminine to receive bliss. We must become pregnant with God. When ego or ‘I’ disappears, anger, greed and lust also disappear. What is left is bliss

God is not a person but the
impersonal presence. The very life
or Existence is God and the living
energy is God. And to trust in it
means to stop struggling against it.
Struggling against it creates misery;
it is trying to go upstream. Trust
means surrender, going with the
stream. And going with the stream
is bliss. All misery is because of the
ego and its struggle, its resistance.
Trust means that resistance has
been dropped. You don't think of
yourself as separate from the
Whole; you are just an intrinsic
part of the great harmony of
Existence. Then bliss is natural.
The way to bliss is through the
heart and through devotion. The
real transformation happens when
your energy moves from the head
to the heart. When you reach the
heart, you reach the core of your
consciousness.

© 2020 Sri Nithyananda Paramashivam. All Rights Reserved Listen, remember the most important thing! God loves us: He has not given up on us, He is not indifferent to us and He is continuously concerned about us, He cares. The deeper this idea enters your heart, the better, because when you feel more loved by God, you will be able to have love for God, and you will have love for others. That's how we are able to love: if we are loved, we can love. If we are not loved, we don't know how to love; we don't know what love is. God is our substance, our very being. He is not something outside us; He is our innermost core. We do not need to seek and search for Him. Only this has to be remembered: we have forgotten it. God is not lost; only we have forgotten who we are

Illustration of a divine figure and a peacock feather

Don't be identified with the body. Don't be identified with your mind, country, race or religion. Don't be identified with anything. Don't think, 'I am this' or 'I am that'. Remember, neither 'this' nor 'that'. That is one of the secret teachings of the mystics: neti-neti, neither 'this' nor 'that'. If you can avoid both polarities, day and night, life and death, body and mind, then slowly a third energy arises in you, a third force arises in you. That is consciousness. That's your reality. That is freedom—freedom from fear, anxiety, misery, freedom from the world, freedom from the wheel of life and death. Then you are a witness, watching, a mirror reflecting but not getting caught in any reflection. When you are a witness, the 'me' and 'mine' drop. What remains is identification with your energy, with your state, not your status. In that state, you are one with all. You are in the space of Living Advaita, oneness. You become Divine.

GOALS:

Teach the students to not
associate themselves with any
identities associated with their
status in the world, their body or
their mind. instead they must
become associated with their
energy, their state of
consciousness. encourage The
Students to learn to be in a
stance of receptiveness within
their being at all times, so that
they can forever enjoy their
divine presence that permeates
everything at all times.

ASSESSMENTS

What are the three gateways to hell - Kama, Krodha, Lobha?

What is Greed?

Name one positive and one negative result associated with Greed?

How can Greed be transformed into Contentment?

What is Anger?

Name one positive and one negative result associated with Anger?

1. How can Anger be transformed into Authentic Action?

ART OF

THE DAY

ART OF THE DAY:

MERGING AS ONE

MATERIALS NEEDED:

Paper Pencil Acrylic paints Fine Art Brush Colour Palette

PROCEDURE: All artistic depictions of Krishna show a peacock feather adorning his head. Let us draw a peacock feather on a paper with our pencils. Now try creating your own perfect colour pallet for painting the feather. Mix various acrylic paints in the basic colours with gold and/or silver paint to make colours. The colours could be called Pearl Blue, Turquoise Blue, Olive Green, Pearl Metallic Green, Chrome Yellow, Golden Yellow, Bronze, and Pearl Metallic Gold. Paint your feather with these unique colours to give your painting a realistic finish.

INFERENCE:

The very life or Existence is Krishna and the living energy is Krishna. Krishna loves us. He cares about us. Krishna is our substance, our very being. Krishna is not something outside us. He is our innermost core. Let us celebrate Krishna in our inner and outer world!

ACTIVITY OF THE DAY

ACTIVITY OF THE DAY:

Materials needed

Paper and pen

Procedure

Contemplate on who you really are. Don't be identified with your mind, country, race or religion. Don't think, 'I am this' or 'I am that'. Remember, you are neither 'this' nor 'that'. Pen down all your thoughts as you brainstorm your true identity.

INFERENCE:

If you can see through the illusion of the ego, body and the mind you will become aware of your existential reality - your consciousness. You will be freed from all human miseries and from the wheel of life and death. Then you will live life as a witness, watching, a mirror reflecting but not getting caught in any reflection. The ‘me’ and ‘mine’ will drop. What remains is identification with your energy, with your state, not your status. In that state, you are one with all. You are Divine!

WORKSHOP OF THE DAY

[Figure: Portrait of Nithyananda]

WORKSHOP OF THE DAY: VAKYARTHA SADHAS - THE MASTER

PROCEDURE:

1. Topic of debate is: Anger is a negative energy or Anger is a positive energy?

CONCLUSION: Anger is a by-product of desires. What we cannot acquire makes us angry. Being angry towards a person is fruitless. Much of the negativity expressed towards others comes back to us. It depletes our energy. Anger is also often an expression of one's inability to do something. It is a self-centered emotion born of one's weakness, powerlessness. Suppression of anger leads to chronic diseases like cancer. When we learn to complete with the emotion of anger instead of controlling it, it becomes energy instead of a disability. Anger needs to be completed with and transformed into the positive energy of authentic action.