Bhagavad Gita Chapter 18

SPIRITUAL PRACTICE BECOMES LIVE GIVING NECTAR

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Kṛṣṇa says that spiritual practice,
that is the state of satva, is
difficult in the beginning, and it
is like poison; however, it
becomes life-giving nectar in the
end.

Sensual pleasures born out of
rajas, on the other hand, seem
like nectar in the beginning but
become poisonous. In the
tamasic state, Kṛṣṇa says, one is
deluded as if in sleep, laziness
and illusion. Every human is in
one state or another.

Not merely humans, even
the celestials who are
supposedly more evolved
are in the same mode. No
one can escape the effect of
the guṇas, the attributes of
Nature. Please understand,
the biggest asset a man can
acquire is the space of
completion. I am so happy I
am getting that wealth for
my Gurukul kids. The
biggest asset for any man,
the best thing a human
being can have in his life is
completion, the space of
completion.

We are behind our sensory
pleasures now. When we
are in the rājasic mode,
only sensory pleasures of
the body matter. In the
tamasic mode, we don't
even know we are in deep
ignorance. The sensory
organs are powerful. They
are our windows to the
external world. They are
trained to run away from
pain and chase pleasure.

Bodily pleasure gives mental pleasure and therefore emotional satisfaction. Once we experience the mental pleasure, we constantly rewind and replay that pleasure. Our past drives our future. Attachments and expectations drive our actions.

We try to keep on experiencing pain and pleasure alternately. Either way it is only an illusion. If you lead your life with completion, you won’t get caught in the illusions of attachment and expectations driving your actions. Kaṭhopaniṣad says, ‘The good and the pleasant approach man. The wise examines both and discriminates between them. The wise prefers the good to the pleasant. But the foolish man chooses the pleasant through love of bodily pleasure.

If you are given the option of
‘right or pleasant’, ‘right thing,
good thing or very pleasant,
convenient and happy thing’,
always choose the ‘right thing’,
not the ‘pleasant’ one, not the
convenient one.’

When you choose the pleasant,
your destruction is inevitable.
Your Space of Completion is
Kṛṣṇa Look for the right, not
for light. Your whole life is
nothing but Mahābhārat.

The Kauravas' birth, what is it? One child, Duryodhana is born who is unconscious, dead, aborted. So, that was broken into hundred pieces. This means what? When you are born, you are unconscious and you are broken into hundreds of root-patterns, and all hundred grow as demons. It means that all your root-patterns are growing as demons! When you are tired of being a demon, you also encourage some good qualities in you just for a change. Please understand, there is nobody who is hundred percent demon, because being hundred percent demon makes you feel bored.

Otherwise, why should Rāvaṇa do
Śiva Puja? You cannot be hundred
percent demon or hundred percent
saint till you become enlightened.
Till you become an enlightened soul,
both sides will be there because you
need choice. Life is all about just
jumping from one side to another.
Choice! Choice! Choice!

A few good patterns which you
develop in you just as a choice, as an
alternative, those few good patterns
are the Pāṇḍavas. The space of
completion which you have inside
you, which cannot be destroyed by
any root pattern is Kṛṣṇa.

Your whole life is a Mahābhārat.
Then, when your weight
becomes too much for your own
body, when Bhū Devī, the Earth
Goddess, is unable to hold the
weight, Kṛṣṇa comes and reduces
the bhūbhāra, the weight of the
Earth. It means that when your
incompletions become too much
even for yourself, Kṛṣṇa comes
and destroys all your
incompletions.

Kṛṣṇa describes the tāmasic person
with great insight. He does not use
the word poison in describing the
state of such a person. A tāmasic
person is like a drug addict, He says.
At least a rājasic person enjoys the
experience now and suffers later. A
tāmasic person has no enjoyment. He
suffers without knowing that he is
suffering. His delusion is so deep.
That is why he passes his suffering on
to others. That is how ignorant
people who rise to become leaders
act.