Bhagavad Gita Chapter 18 - Lesson 9 of 19: What Is Freedom?

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.

A portrait of a person with traditional Indian attire and accessories.

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 Śarva Maṅgalatva all the auspicious qualities and all dimensions of an avatar during His physical happening. The līla Bhagavan Śrī Kṛṣna 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.

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 portrait of a young person with traditional decorations sitting on an ornate silver throne

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.’

मुक्तसङ्गोऽनहंवादी धृत्युत्साहसमन्वितः ।
सिद्ध्यसिद्ध्योर्निर्विकारः कर्ता सात्त्विक उच्यते
॥ १८=२६ ॥

muktasaṅgo’nahaṁvādī
dhṛtyutsāhasamanvitaḥ
siddhyasiddhyor nirvikāraḥ
kartā sāttvika ucyate

The performer who is free
from attachment, non-
egotistic, endowed with
resolve and enthusiasm, and
unperturbed in success or
failure is called sātvika

POWERFUL COGNiTiON
Never your effort towards
freedom is going to give you
freedom. It is only the
knowledge about the freedom
that will give you freedom.

Portrait of Sri Nithyananda Paramashivam in divine attire seated on a throne, with Krishna behind

रागी कर्मफलप्रेप्सुर्लुब्धो हिंसात्मकोऽशुचिः ।
हर्षशोकान्वितः कर्ता राजसः परिकीर्तितः
॥ १८-२७॥

rāgī karmaphalaprepsur lubdho
himsātmako ‘śuciḥ
harṣaśokānvitaḥ kartā rājasaḥ
parikīrtitaḥ

The performer who is
impassioned, who desires the
fruits of work, who is greedy,
violent, impure, and affected
by joy and sorrow, is called
aggressive.

POWERFUL COGNITION

To own, you don't need to eliminate others.

Portrait of deity / Swamiji in royal attire

अयुक्तः प्राकृतः स्तब्धः शठो नैष्कृतिकोऽलसः ।
विषादी दीर्घसूत्री च कर्ता तामस उच्यते
॥ १८-२८ ॥

ayuktaḥ prākṛtaḥ stabdhaḥ
śaṭho naiṣkṛtiko ‘lasaḥ viṣādī
dīrghasūtrī ca kartā tāmasa
ucyate

The performer who is
undisciplined, vulgar,
stubborn, wicked, malicious,
lazy, depressed, and
procrastinating is called
ignorant or tamasic.

POWERFUL COGNITION

Respond to the now.

IF YOU WANT
TO OWN, YOU
CAN OWN THE
WHOLE WORLD.

Only if you eliminate others, you
feel that you are victorious, which is
not right. This is a basic wrong
understanding. Please get it! I want
you to know a very important fact.
Never, ever will you be free by your
efforts to be free. Freedom will
happen to you only by the right
knowledge about freedom, never by
your efforts towards freedom. Never
your effort towards freedom is going
to give you freedom. It is only the
knowledge about the freedom that
will give you freedom.

So, the basic mistake that
eliminating others is the
only way you can possess or
own is wrong! To own, you
don't need to eliminate
others. But because of this
pattern, just because you
want to eliminate others,
you are ready to settle down
with a few acres of beach.
You are ready to forego the
whole ocean! It is exactly
with the same patterns, it is
only with these patterns you
define your identity.
Without patterns, it is like
you in the ocean.

In tamas one is fully in delusion, in the delusory cognition of incompletion. One sticks to root thought patterns, incomplete knowledge or inadequate cognition and conditions without making an effort to verify the answer of the 'why', whether they are right or wrong, appropriate or not, harmful or not. Listen! If one does not find the answer for 'why' and eats somebody else's answer, one can even be made as a religious terrorist. Religious zealots are in tamas. There is no difference between them; only their objectives are different. Both are dogmatic, violent and totally selfish. They adopt any means, even criminal, to achieve their objectives.

© 2020 Sri Nithyananda Paramashivam. All Rights Reserved Tamas does not just mean inactivity, laziness and procrastination. Yes, it is all that; however, it also includes mindless action performed without realizing that one is part of a whole. The ego is so enlarged that it believes it is the whole. It believes nothing else of significance exists; others are of no consequence.

Portrait of a young man with traditional markings on forehead

GOALS:

Helping students
understand the space of
responsibility of a karma
yogi. Helping students
understand what is
"status" and what is
"state".

ASSESSMENTS

❖ What pattern is Krishna
explaining here?
❖ What does this pattern
make us do?
❖ How can one be made
to become a religious
terrorist?

❖ What are the similarities
between religious terrorists
and religious zealots?

❖ How is the ego of one who is in the state of tamas?

ART OF THE DAY

ART OF THE DAY:

THE EXPERIENCE OF FREEDOM

MATERIALS NEEDED:

2 sheets of paper per student markers, crayons, erasers glue, seashells, sand, etc.

PROCEDURE:

Ask the students to draw two pictures. One being a few acres on the beach that they possess (ask them to draw a fence around them) and the second being the whole ocean. Make sure that they draw themselves in both drawings (inside the fence on the first one and inside the ocean on the second one). In the end, ask the students which drawing makes them feel more free and ask them to discuss what about the drawing is making them experience freedom.

ART OF THE DAY:

THE EXPERIENCE OF FREEDOM

INFERENCE:

So, the basic mistake that eliminating others is the only way you can possess or own is wrong! To own, you don't need to eliminate others. But because of this pattern, just because you want to eliminate others, you are ready to settle down with a few acres of beach. You are ready to forego the whole ocean! It is exactly with the same patterns, it is only with these patterns you define your identity. Without patterns, it is like you in the ocean.

ACTIVITY OF THE DAY

ACTIVITY OF THE DAY:

IT IS MINE!

Materials required:

Tape

PROCEDURE:

• Create a big square on the ground with some tape and ask a student to stand inside of it. Tell the student that the square is their land and that he/she possesses it. Then ask the other students to try to invade the property/to take possession of it by putting one foot inside the square. To make sure the invaders go away, the student who is inside the square must touch the invaders’ shoulder who then needs to move back 10 steps before trying again to invade.

ACTIVITY OF THE DAY:

IT IS MINE!

PROCEDURE: • Let it happen for 10 minutes while ensuring that the whole activity is done calmly and let the students take turns inside the land. • In the end, ask the students to share their experience. • How did the student who was told that he possesses the land felt every time he saw someone else's foot inside the square? • Did they feel like they needed to eliminate others in order to be victorious? • Make the students understand that this cognition of “I need to eliminate others to be victorious” is wrong understanding.

INFERENCE If you want to own, you can own the whole world. See, unfortunately, only if you eliminate others, you feel that you are victorious, which is not right. This is a basic wrong understanding.

Portrait of Nithyananda Paramashivam surrounded by stylized feathers

WORKSHOP OF THE DAY

WORKSHOP OF THE DAY:

VAAKYARTHA SADHAS TIME FOR A SPEECH!

PROCEDURE

Guide the students into a discussion about freedom. Is it possible to achieve freedom through our own efforts? Then tell the students to visualise themselves as the leader of the country and that they have to give an important speech to motivate the population about the topic of freedom. Give students 21 minutes to write down a speech and have them present it in front of others

WORKSHOP OF THE DAY: VAAKYARTHA SADHAS - TIME FOR A SPEECH!

CONCLUSION Never, ever will you be free by your efforts to be free. Freedom will happen to you only by the right knowledge about freedom, never by your efforts towards freedom.