Bhagavad Gita Chapter 18 - Lesson 10 of 19_English

CHARACTER SKETCH

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❖ 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.

CHARACTER SKETCH

❖ 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.

CHARACTER SKETCH

❖ 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 punya, 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 Śrī Kṛṣṇa, the 8th most powerful purnāvatar of Maha Viśnu, is the embodiment of pure celebration, boundless love, compassion, and completion. Bhagavan Śrī Kṛṣṇa is the only incarnation demonstrating and expressing Ṣarva Mangalatva all the auspicious qualities and all dimensions of an avatar during His physical happening. The līla Bhagavan Śrī Krsna is one of sheer innocence and simplicity, in a peace-loving, diplomatic, conflict-free way.

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.

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.

A stylized illustration of an open book resting on a book stand with celebratory star and light bursts above it.

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.'

A warrior on horseback wielding a spear in front of a sun-like background

The armies assembled in the vast field of Kurukṣetra, now in the state of Haryana in modern day India. 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.’

बुद्धेर्भेदं धृतेश्चैव गुणतस्त्रिविधं शृणु ।
प्रोच्यमानमशेषेण पृथक्त्वेन धनञ्जय
॥ १८=२९॥

buddherbhedaṁ dhṛteś cai ‘va
guṇatastrividhaṁ śṛṇu
procyamānamaśeṣeṇa
pṛthaktvena dhanañjay

Now hear Me explain, fully
and separately, the threefold
division of intellect and
resolve, based on modes of
material Nature, O
Dhanañjaya.

POWERFUL COGNITION

Each journey must be enjoyed
being in the space of
completion.

Sri Nithyananda Paramashivam as Krishna and Arjuna

18.30

प्रवृत्तिं च निवृत्तिं च कार्याकार्ये भयाभये ।
बन्धं मोक्षं च या वेत्ति बुद्धिः सा पार्थ सात्त्विकी
॥ १८-३०॥

pravṛttiṁ ca nivṛttiṁ ca
kāryākārye bhayābhaye
bandhaṁ mokṣaṁ ca yā vetti
buddhiḥ sā pārtha sāttvikī

O Arjuna, that intellect is in
the mode of goodness which
understands the path of work
and the path of renunciation,
right and wrong action, fear
and fearlessness, bondage and
liberation.

POWERFUL COGNITION

Completion is power!

यया धर्ममधर्मं च कार्यं चाकार्यमेव च ।
अयथावत्प्रजानाति बुद्धिः सा पार्थ राजसी
॥ १८=३१ ॥

yayā dharmamadharmaṁ ca
kāryaṁ cākāryam eva ca
ayathāvat prajānāti buddhiḥ
sā pārtha rājasī

That intellect is in the mode
of passion that cannot
distinguish between
principles of right conduct
and wrong doing, and right
and wrong action, O Pārtha
(Arjuna).

POWERFUL COGNITION

Completion is the basic need of life.

18.32

अधर्मं धर्ममिति या मन्यते तमसावृता ।
सर्वार्थान्विपरीतांश्च बुद्धिः सा पार्थ तामसी
॥ १८=३२ ॥

adharmaṁ dharmamiti yā
manyate tamasā 'vṛtā
sarvārthānviparītāṁśca
buddhiḥ sā pārtha tāmasī

That intellect is in the mode
of ignorance that accepts
unrighteousness as
righteousness and thinks
everything to be that which
it is not, O Pārtha.

POWERFUL COGNITION

A human being has everything
in him to become the ultimate
reality, the divine reality

HERE Kṛṣṇa REFERS TO
THE APPROACH KNOWN
AS DEFINING THE
PURUṢĀRTHA OR
MEANINGS OF LIFE.

Dharma, artha, kāma and mokṣa
are the four puruṣārtha. These
can be translated as
righteousness, wealth, desire or
lust and liberation. These are the
four-fold meanings of life. I
prefer not to call them the
purposes of life. There is no
purpose to life. Once we fix a
purpose to life, it becomes a
goalpost and attachments and
expectations result.

Life is a path without a
destination. Once we assume
there is a destination, we hurry.
The future becomes a stress-
inducing factor. Let us say we
travel from New York to
Washington. Once we fix
Washington as our destination,
the next issue is, 'When will we
reach there?' From then on, we
are constantly tormented by,
'When will we reach there?' It is
a different matter that we may
have nothing to do in
Washington once we arrive, and
therefore there is no need to
hurry! In the process we do not
enjoy the journey. The journey
becomes an irritation that we
must cross in order to reach our
destination.

In life, do not fix a destination. Each
journey must be enjoyed being in the
space of completion. The path and the
journey are what life is. Life is
completion. I tell you, have the space
of completion for yourself. That will
attract all the right experiences.
Completion is power! Completion is
Life! Enjoy the people you meet, the
experiences you have and what you
pick up on the way, without being
greedy to acquire more. The journey,
the path, becomes so enjoyable that
whatever destination you reach is the
right destination.

COMPLETION GETS YOU ALL
THE BEST THINGS OF LIFE!
COMPLETION IS THE BASIC NEED
OF LIFE.

People who attach a purpose to life are disturbed. Philosophers who have no other work create false purposes to life. Philosophers exist to confuse people whereas mystics solve problems and provide guidance to awaken intelligence. When we let life lead us, when we let life enrich us, when we take life as it comes, we enjoy every moment. We truly live with completion in the present, like a God. We realize and manifest our potential, possibility and reality! As of now, man is only a possibility. A human being has everything in him to become the ultimate reality, the divine reality.

GOALS:

Helping students
understand the
importance of being in a
space of completion.
Helping students realize
how they can move from
being a possibility to
becoming the divine
reality.