17🔗

Śraddhatraya Vibhāga Yogaḥ

LIVING IS ABOUT HAVING SRADDHA,

COURAGE OF AUTHENTICITY TO LIVE THE

TRUTH. JUST READING OR LISTENING

AND THINKING ONE HAS UNDERSTOOD

IT, IS MEANINGLESS. NOT HAVING A GAP

BETWEEN YOUR CONVICTIONS AND

YOUR DAY-TO-DAY LIFE IS WHAT I CALL

LIVING!

In the seventeenth chapter, Kṛṣṇa straightaway gives the methodology or technique to imbibe whatever He speaks in Śraddhatraya Vibhāga Yogaḥ, the Yoga of Discerning the Three-Fold Faith. After all the words that Kṛṣṇa expressed in earlier chapters, no new teaching is given here. All that Kṛṣṇa has spoken and taught so far is a prelude to what He is speaking now. Here, Kṛṣṇa speaks about authenticity, śraddha.

Let me explain the meaning of the word śraddha. Please understand that śraddha is not faith; always the word śraddha is translated as faith. This is not correct.

Listen, human beings do not suffer because they don't get to listen to the truths. They suffer because they don't live the truth. Śraddha means faith plus the courage of authenticity to live the truth. Śraddha means the courage of authenticity to live your peak possibility. With authenticity, śraddha you awaken the power of thinking, mano siddhi to live the truth.

With authenticity, there is no more space for unconscious think-ing, because we will always be aware of the causes and effects that are playing in our life. With śraddha we will never fail. Understand that there is a possibility that we may fail with faith alone. When we have faith without the courage of authenticity to experiment, to live the truth, it is like going to a restaurant, reading the menu card and just leaving. We miss eating. We never taste the food. We never experience the great powers of thinking and living the truth. However, when we have śraddha, authenticity, there is no chance of missing the truth. A person never misses when he has śraddha.

Lord Kṛṣṇa explains and now puts all His emphasis on śraddha. After sixteen chapters of teachings, He has nothing new to add. He has said whatever can be said. He has explained all the seven layers of energy. In the fourteenth chapter, He started with Guṇatraya Vibhāga Yoga—the three guṇas (attributes) of satva, rajas and tamas, the three-folds of root thought patterns. Then in the Puruṣottama Yoga, He explained the causal layer, where the root thought patterns are stored in seed form. The deeper layers of the cosmic and nirvāṇic bodies are explained in the sixteenth chapter. Kṛṣṇa elaborates on the attributes of the Divine and the demon, the no-ego and ego, ‘you’ or ‘me’. The root cause of our identity that separates us from our core space of completion, which is Divine, is explained in the sixteenth chapter.

Now Kṛṣṇa comes to the seventeenth chapter, Śraddhatraya Vibhāga Yogaḥ. Nothing more needs to be added. Whatever can be said has been said. Now all we need is śraddha. If somebody has had a good feast, his stomach is full. All he needs is an antacid, ‘Digene’. Through-out the chapters Lord Kṛṣṇa has given Arjuna a beautiful spiritual feast. All Arjuna needs is ‘Digene’ to digest the whole thing and enjoy. This chapter is ‘Digene’. The whole emphasis is on śraddha: authenticity, integrity, truthfulness and straightforwardness.

We may question, ‘Why would He devote one full chapter for śraddha?’ Please understand that we invariably miss Enlightenment because of lack of understanding and intranalyzing of this subject, śraddha. Let me be very clear, it is not that we don’t know the truth that Lord Kṛṣṇa speaks. We know whatever Lord Kṛṣṇa speaks of and all that He has spoken so far. We know it all. It’s not that we don’t know. Yet why have we not become Kṛṣṇa?

We miss one thing—Śraddha. That’s the only thing we need. Our problem is not that we don’t know. Our problem is that we know too much and we are unable to digest and live it.

Swami Vivekananda says beautifully that instead of knowing the whole library, we should know just five concepts. We should experiment to live with these five concepts with śraddha, authenticity. Let the five concepts become your life. That is enough. Nothing else is necessary. Instead of having the whole library in your head, have the five concepts in your heart.

Please understand, you might have struggled, spent money, time and energy, and finally passed your driving test to get your driving license, but it will be useful to you, only if you are regularly driving. In the same way, Śrī Kṛṣṇa's song, His words will directly be useful to you, only if you are living them. Use all the principles. Use all the truths. Don't deny them in the name of practicality or convenience. No! Be very clear, once you are convinced, you will live the spiritual truths.

Listen. Living has nothing to do with some hard and strict rules. Wherever you can, pull the truths into your thinking. Not having gap between your spiritual understandings and your day-to-day life is what I call Living.

Here, Kṛṣṇa emphasizes the importance of śraddha: how śraddha and only śraddha can transform your whole life. Understand, whatever you believe, if you have śraddha, if you have authenticity in aligning that belief in all your identities—inner image, outer image, others' image and life's image, you will achieve the Ultimate.

Understand, Śraddha, Authenticity. I am giving you deeper definition.

Authenticity is nothing but being sincere to the four aspects of you: what you feel as you—inner image; what you project you to others— outer image; what you think about others and life—others' image, and what others hold you as—life image. Being sincere to all these four is authenticity.

Please listen, being sincere in all these four identities! What does this mean? Having the best inner image, having the best outer image, having the best idea about others and life; and being very sincere about what others hold as you. Just create the best image, the most sincere image that you wanted to feel, think and project about you.

Again and again, align your thinking to authenticity. See very clearly: Are you functioning towards the best inner image by constantly developing liberated thinking?

Liberated thinking means your thinking should not have or should not lead you towards powerlessness. Constantly your thinking should be leading you to being in a powerful space.

Listen. It is neither difficult nor easy, but you have to do it! It is nothing but tuning yourself to a certain frequency. How tuning or changing a channel is neither difficult nor easy, it is a simple technique; same way, go on tuning your thinking to śraddha, authenticity. Always think about your thinking and align your thinking to authenticity.

Kṛṣṇa declares earlier, ‘śraddhāvān labhate jñānaṁ (4.39)—the person who is established in authenticity, experiences the true wisdom, Enlightenment.’ Listen, śraddha, authenticity will become reality in you, only when you live it.

Live authenticity! Many people have achieved God, experienced Enlightenment and attained the Truth through the path of living authenticity. Buddha never spoke of God. Yet not only did He become enlightened, thousands attained Enlightenment because of Him. What you believe is not important, how intense you are is important; how integrated and authentic you are in living all the four identities is important.

Working with the truth and creating the most sincere inner image, outer image, others’ image and life’s image based on that truth is what I call Authenticity. Authenticity is not just listening, reading or believing in the truth. Authenticity is working with the truths with responsibility. It is straightaway executing them to your peak possibility, experimenting with them and having the courage to play with them.

Just listening to these truths is not enough; start living them by taking up higher responsibilities. Only then you pull the tattvas into your life, and the tattvas pull you into their life. That is the only way any growth is possible.

Both meditation and gambling require courage. We need courage for gambling. And we also need courage for meditation. Meditation is the ultimate gamble we take up with higher responsibility. With ordinary gambling, we gamble with money out of irresponsibility. In meditation we take the responsibility to gamble with our ego. We take the highest responsibility to gamble with our whole being to experience the space of possibility, authenticity, śraddha. But one thing is for sure in the gamble of meditation: if we lose, we win. Only losers win in this game!

Spiritual life needs the courage of authenticity. That is why Swami Vivekananda calls his spiritual disciples ‘dhīraḥ’. Dhīra means someone who is courageous, who is courage personified. We might ask, ‘Why do spiritual people need courage? For spiritual life, don’t we need to be silent?’ No! Spiritual life calls for courage to declare completion and live it with integrity, authenticity, responsibility and enriching. We need the courage of authenticity. We need to take the responsibility!

Listen! When you landed on planet Earth, so much energy and power is deposited in your bank balance, and the cheque book is available in your hand. You just need to sign it! The signature is authenticity, śraddha. Reclaim it!

In the past sixteen chapters we have heard many different teachings, different understandings and so many different techniques directly from the Master of masters, Śrī Kṛṣṇa. We have heard everything. All of this can help transform our life only if we have the courage to live them. Otherwise they add more weight to our head, that’s all.

Please understand that if we receive these teachings and store them in our head, we gain more head weight, nothing else. Now we think, ‘I know the Gītā.’ However, we need to create the space of possibility in our heart and live the Gītā. We need authenticity to live Gītā.

For example, if we eat too much food and we are unable to digest it, what happens? We have a stomach ache and we vomit. Similarly, if we hear all these things and we don’t experience it, we will get a headache. We will catch people and vomit all these things on them. Please be very clear that unless we have authenticity, unless we experiment to live these truths to our peak possibility, listening to these truths is dangerous.

Everything that we listened in the Gītā, all that we cognized in-side our minds, should be responded with the idea ‘Possible’! Possible! Possible! That should be the word, the mantra ringing in our heart, our inner space. Kṛṣṇa’s words are possible! Possible! Possible!

Now I am giving one more step. As I said, ‘If you don’t practice, listening to these truths is dangerous.’ We may ask, ‘Why?’ Because now, by and by, even after so many days of listening or reading these great truths, we will start hallucinating that we know, without knowing. That is the most dangerous game. Never ever get caught in that game!

When you bring yourself to the peak of you, there is no wastage of inner powers. I tell you, when you waste your love, it becomes lust. When you waste your responsibility, it becomes jealousy. The lower dimensions of you are nothing but rejected parts of your higher dimension. When your higher dimension is not materialized, when it is not realized, your lower dimension is empowered!

Bring yourself to the peak possibility. Listen, it happens! It can happen only when you practice living the truth of Gītā every moment. Spiritual life needs courage to harness the power of words by integrity, power of thinking by authenticity, power of feeling by responsibility, power of living by enriching; and the consciousness of dhīraḥ, courage.

A beautiful history:

The great saint, Dakśināmūrti Swamigal, lived in Tamil Nadu, South India, near a place called Tiruvaroor. Let me share a historical incident from his life.

A poet from the king’s court met Dakśināmūrti Swamigal and was inspired by his presence. Consequently, the poet wrote one thousand songs in the Bharaṇi style in the saint's honor. Bharaṇi is a special style of poetry involving one thousand verses. The rule is that only someone who shows courage and power and kills one thousand elephants in war is qualified to have such a song written about him. Here, this poet was so inspired by the saint's presence that he simply wrote the songs on him on the spot.

The king also considered himself to be Bharaṇi. I don't know if he killed one thousand elephants in war. Anyway, suddenly, one day in court, out of ego and pride, the king announced, ‘I am the only Bharaṇi in this whole country, in this whole region!’ One of his poets stood up and said, ‘No O king, you are wrong. Dakśināmūrti Swamigal is also a Bharaṇi. One of your court poets has sung a Bharaṇi about him.’

The king’s ego was hurt. He said, ‘What? Who is this per-son deserving Bharaṇi? Bring him here.’

The poet said, ‘No, no, he is a beggar. He will not come here.’

Beggars can never be forced. We can force anybody but a homeless person to do what we want, because he has no desire. As long as someone has some desire, he obeys the social system. But, the one beyond desire does not care for name, home, fame or security. In this case, this man was a beggar and a saint. They could not bring him to the king.

The king felt deeply offended. He said, ‘What? For a beggar, Bharaṇi! Which fool sang the songs? Call him to me right now.’

The poet was summoned to the court. The king said, ‘Fool, how dare you sing bharaṇi for a beggar.’ The poet replied, ‘O King, please forgive me. Before you say anything, before you abuse that Master, it would be nice if you would go to see him.’

The king said, ‘What kind of advice are you giving me? Tomorrow morning your head will be cut off.’

That was the king’s usual trend, direct violence. Only foolish people immediately express violence. When they can’t behave in an intelligent way, when they don’t know the truth and they don’t have enough energy to convince the other person of the truth, they take to the sword.

Take for example the history of Buddhism or Hinduism. They never converted anyone with the sword. They had intelligence. They transformed through logic, analysis and enriched the other person with the Truth.

For example, great Masters like Ādi Śaṅkarācārya and Maṇḍana Miśra had different views on a particular subject, still they did not fight with each other. Śaṅkara did not say, ‘If you don’t convert to Vedānta, I will kill you.’ They sat together and analyzed what they knew. It was a loving discussion. It was a beautiful scene. Śaṅkara and Maṇḍana Miśra sorted out their philosophical differences with a deep respect through khaṇḍana-maṇḍana, positive discussions and expositions without rancor.

The person who acted as judge in the discussion was Maṇḍana Miśra’s wife. What a beautiful, loving atmosphere it must have been! Can you believe that the wife of one of the competitors was the judge? Never! And here, Śaṅkara appointed Maṇḍana Miśra’s wife, Bhārati as the judge. And finally, she passed judgment of the debate in favor of Śaṅkara. The whole thing happened out of love. There was no violence, no cutting, no killing, nothing. It was just a simple discussion.

Throughout the history of Eastern religions, there was never any cutting or killing. They never converted through the sword because they did not believe in killing. They had enough intelligence to express the concept. And one more thing, the loser automatically joined the group which expressed the truth more clearly!

When Śaṅkara convinced Maṇḍana Miśra, Miśra dropped everything and surrendered his life to Śaṅkara! He became a disciple of Śaṅkara and took the spiritual name ‘Sureśvarācārya.’ He followed the path of Śaṅkara’s teachings. We can never achieve anything by the sword. Only destruction is possible through the sword, never construction.

This king, foolish as he was, straightaway said, ‘Kill him. Tomorrow morning the poet should be killed.’ The poet replied, ‘I have no problem. I have experienced Truth through this master. I am ready to die; however, if you are really intelligent, meet this master at least once. Don’t pun-ish me until you have seen him. Then I will be ready to die.’

The king agreed, ‘Alright, I will see him. If he is not a real Bharaṇi, we will kill him also.’

The king set off to meet the Master with all his paraphernalia: chariots, foot soldiers, elephants, armies and all his warriors. Kings always travel with their paraphernalia because they lose their identity without their paraphernalia. In contrast, Dakśināmūrti Swamigal was a Paramahamsa, an enlightened Master. Masters always live by themselves. They do not need any paraphernalia. This Master was an Avadhūta, which means he never wore clothes. The king found him sitting under a big banyan tree, without any paraphernalia.

This was the scene: This simple beggar sat in a corner without any clothes. He was in bliss and peace, completely soaked in Existence, in brahmajñāna (knowledge of the Supreme). He sat in intense silence and peace. This silence penetrated anyone in his presence. The king appeared with his warriors and entire army to confront this yogī.

The king jumped down from his chariot and advanced towards the Master. The Master did not move. There was no movement in him even after seeing the king and his army and hearing all the commotion. He opened his eyes and looked straight into the king’s eyes. It was the first time that someone looked straight into the king’s eyes. The king had always looked at others straight in their eyes and they had always put their heads down. For the first time somebody looked straight into the eyes of the king. After a few seconds, the king put his head down. The king clearly felt something happening inside his being. He felt like a mere beggar in the Master's presence. He did not know how to act or react. It was a strange situation. He was at a loss. He could not decide what to do. He felt overwhelmed.

Dakśināmūrti Swamigal signaled to the king to sit down. There were no words from him. He simply made a sign asking the king to sit. All the ministers and the army dropped their weapons and also sat in silence. In ten min-utes the whole army was sitting down. It is impossible to make an army sit. Even the leader of the army can't make the army sit. But here the whole army sat in silence.

One hour passed. Then three hours passed; then the evening also passed; one day got over. The Master, the king and the entire army sat in silence. Not a single word was exchanged. There were no instructions, nothing. They did not even greet each other. They were merely sitting.

Three days got over. Now the Master thought, 'This is too much. The poor man and his entire army have been simply sitting for three days without food and even without toilet visits! These people must return to their kingdom, to the palace. The king must take care of the country.

The Master opened his eyes and said, 'Now you can go.' The king fell flat at the Master's feet, did namaskār (obeisance) and came out of the forest.

Then the king summoned the poet and said, 'Leave alone thousand elephants... You may sing for the Master prais-es that you usually sing for the one who has killed ten thousand elephants!'

The poet made a beautiful statement, 'Killing ten thousand elephants is easy. It is not a big deal. You don't need any powers for it. You just need the weapons and you can simply kill; however, killing one's mind is the real achievement.'

This Master had killed the king's mind. Not only had Dakśināmūr-ti Swamigal killed his own mind, he could kill anybody else's mind if they sat in his presence. He made the impossible into 'i m possible' with his power of authenticity, the space of possibility. Killing ten thousand elephants doesn't take courage, but killing your mind requires the courage of authenticity.

All we need for real spiritual life is courage of authenticity to experiment with the truth. We typically lack that quality. We listen to everything. Wherever there are discourses and lectures, we go and listen to anyone who speaks. We read all the books. When it comes to facing the reality of putting this knowledge to test, there is no action. Then you tell me, 'For practical purposes, Swamiji, we must have our possessions. Otherwise how can we survive in this world?...' You just compromise cunningly.

Compromising is cowardice. Please understand that the person who compromises never experiences anything in his life; not only in the spiritual life, even in the outer world life. He can never experience life itself.

Authenticity to experience a single truth is enough. Nothing else is necessary. We don't need to do big things. Please be very clear, we can't call somebody 'a big person' if he does something big. What he does is unimportant; how he does it is important.

As an example, the great saint Nammalvar, who lived in Tamil Nadu, made garlands for Viṣṇu throughout his life. He did nothing else. He picked flowers from a garden, made garlands and gave it to God. He became enlightened. So many enlightened Masters did not do big things. They did small things in a big way. They had deep trust.

Another enlightened being did not even do that. He did not make garlands to offer God. Instead he threw a stone towards the Śiva linga ev-eryday. His name was Sakyanayanar (Sakya refers to the clan of the Bud-dha, and Nayanar is a name for devotees of Śiva). Somehow he became a Buddhist monk. Because he was a Buddhist monk, he could not worship the Śiva linga in public. Yet he had tremendous respect and devotion for Śiva.

In Buddhism, at least one son from every family is given to the monastery at a young age. They bring him up and make him a Buddhist monk.

Like that, Sakyanayanar was given away to a Buddhist monastery. Still, he had a deep devotion to Śiva.

Everyday he went near the Śiva temple. It was not even a regular temple, it was just a small Śiva linga under a tree. From a distance he took a stone, visualized it as a flower and threw the stone at the Śiva linga. If someone observed him and asked, 'What are you doing?' he would say, 'I am only throwing stones at the Śiva linga.' He would throw the stones and leave that place.

One day when he threw a stone, an old man suddenly appeared and asked, 'What are you doing?'

He replied, 'I am only throwing stones at the linga.'

The old man said, 'No, the way in which you throw shows your devotion. You may be throwing stones, but the way in which you are throwing shows devotion. Tell me who are you?'

Sakyanayanar replied, 'Somehow I was born in a Buddhist family, yet I am deeply devoted to Śiva. Everyday I come and offer my being to him by throwing a stone.

Immediately the old man turned around, gave darśan (vision) as Śiva and blessed him with Enlightenment.

Understand that what we do is unimportant; what we think is important. Even if we just clean our house, it is okay as long as we do it with complete and intense authenticity in our thinking in that moment.

Listen! Authenticity is the power of thinking. In one moment we can make anything look like God; within the next moment, we can make anything look like a demon in our lives. Please understand, if we bow down to even a small stone, it can become a God. If we are afraid of that, even God will look like demon.

Understand that spiritual practice does not mean you need to go into a deep forest, hold your nose ten times, and breathe this way and that way. You will only torture yourself. Do anything, but do it with intensity, with authenticity. Have courage to express whatever you believe.

Don't bother whether the truth you believe is the ultimate Truth. You will never know whether it is ultimate unless you have the courage to authenticity to live it. Without living it, you cannot conclude. If you conclude without living it, it is prejudice. You cannot conclude without living it to your peak possibility. All you need is authentic courage to ex-periment living the truth that you believe.

Tamil has three words for satya (truth). One word is vaaimai, which means speaking the truth through the mouth. Another word is un- mai, which is speaking the truth through your mind or heart. The third beautiful word is meimai, which means living the truth through your body.

In Tamil, ‘mai’ means body. Truth means living the truth through the body. All of us understand speaking the truth through the mouth and speaking the truth through the mind. However, what does ‘living the truth through the body’ mean? We have never heard this before.

This is where we miss the boat. We continuously think about the truth. We go on contemplating on the truth from morning till night. We speak what we think is the truth. Nonetheless, we forget one important thing: executing the truth in life, living the truth in life. That is where we miss. Living the truth in life is the essence.

Patañjali gives satya as the first instruction in his Aṣṭāṅga Yoga. This satya refers to truth in thought, word and action. It is vaaymai, unmai and maimai, all the three combined.

The authenticity with which we practice leads us to Enlightenment. That is why I have said time and again that it is not necessary to have an enlightened Master as our Guru to become enlightened. Any mas-ter whom we follow sincerely with integrity and authenticity can lead to Enlightenment. Even if we truly believe a stone idol will deliver us into liberation, it will do so. Our approach, our conviction, our courage and our trust elevate us.

Śraddha is total conviction in what we are feeling, thinking, speaking and doing. There should be no doubt in our mind about the path that we are following and why we are following it. All great Masters had undivided integrity and authenticity in their thinking and words in whatever they did. They never swerved from their chosen path no matter what challenges and problems they faced, including threats to their lives.

Śraddha, authenticity has to be practiced in every dimension of your life, at every level of your thinking, and at every level of your cognizance. I tell you, bring yourself to the peak, whether it is related to your body, profession or relationships.

When you bring yourself to your peak possibility relat-ing to your body, it becomes health. When you bring your-self to your peak possibility relating to your profession, it becomes success. When you bring yourself to your peak possibility relating to others, it becomes happy relationships. When you bring yourself to your peak possibility relating to your whole life, it becomes Enlightenment!

Understand that the ultimate step or the straight way to Enlightenment is—authenticity to live the truth.

Arjuna asks a beautiful question. Arjuna asks: 'Kṛṣṇa, those who discard the ordinances of the scriptures, śāstras and perform sacrifices, what is their position? Is it sātvic, rājasic or tāmasic? What is the state of people who don't follow the instructions of the scriptures, the ancient books, and instead worship with śraddha, authenticity according to their own beliefs? Is it rajas, tamas or satva? Are they in a peaceful (sātvic) state, restless (rāja- sic) state or an ignorant (tāmasic) state?'

Please listen. Worship can occur at many levels. Arjuna's question is based upon the three attributes or guṇas. Worship is also dependent on our energy levels. Many people are comfortable worshipping at the physical level, the gross level, through techniques such as pūjā, going to temples to worship the deities, bathing in holy rivers, etc. From an energy point of view, these are linked to the earth energy and the water energy.

At another level of energy, one may perform fire sacrifices such as yajña or homa. These are related to the fire energy. Typically the energy of the fire is transferred to water pots that are placed around the sacrificial fireplace. This water, which is energized by the ritual, is then poured over idols, or sprinkled over people or upon the earth to energize them.

The energy of air, vāyu can be accessed through breathing techniques such as prāṇāyāma or chanting of verses. In the first nine verses of Śiva Sutra, Lord Śiva explains these types of techniques to Devi, His disciple.

It is possible to access the etheric energy, ākāśa through meditation, though this requires understanding and awareness.

Each form of worship or sacrifice is based upon one’s aptitude and inclination. Each of these is guided by scriptural instructions on how to perform the worship, when and where, etc.

Arjuna asks, ‘How important is it to follow these instructions? What happens when one follows one’s own inclinations and worships?’

This is an interesting question.

A saint named Kannappan in Tamil Nadu worshipped Śiva with such intensity that he cut out his eyes and placed them on the Śiva liṅga. Other Masters placed all kinds of material at the altar including raw meat. Rāmakṛṣṇa placed a thread under the nose of Kālī’s deity to check whether She was breathing before he offered Her the ritual food!

Many Masters have followed their inclination when worshipping their favorite deity god, Iṣṭa Devatā. Scriptures never stood in their way of worship. However, these Masters were completely authentic in what they were doing. They had śraddha. That is important.

Arjuna’s query is in this connection.

Kṛṣṇa explains that the way we worship depends upon our natural disposition, the guṇa, attributes that we are born with.

When we are born, we carry within us the vāsanā, the essence of the mental cognition or bio-memory from our past lives. This comes with the prārabdha karma (unfulfilled actions from past lives) and the saṁskāras (root thought patterns), that drive our mental makeup and actions throughout our present lives. In turn, guṇas or the attributes we are born with are determined.

Our being, our undying spirit, keeps an account of every thought we have and every move that we make. There is no escape from this account keeper. When we reach the end of the road, when our body dies, the spirit plays back all that happened during the journey of life and goes through the pains and pleasures. According to Kṛṣṇa, the attitude, the space or the last thought with which we left our body carries over to our next birth and the next body that our spirit moves into.

Hence we are born with a natural inclination based upon our last life and attitude. Depending on the attitude, we may have the attribute of satva, goodness, rajas, aggression, or tamas, ignorance as our driving nature.

All societies, religions, faiths, castes or creeds are simply translations of these basic natures or root thought patterns or mental conditionings; nothing more. After taking birth on planet Earth, we adopt the nature into which we are born that is according to our past bio-memories. In our new birth, we settle into a religious belief dictated by that natural attribute.

However, we do not realize that we are a part of the Whole, a fragment of Existence or the supreme consciousness. We do not realize that our true nature transcends all material associations and condition-ings. When this relationship with Existence is forgotten, we give energy to our inauthentic associations in material life. We develop allegiance to the blind rules of some religion. Such an existence is purely materialistic and the association itself is artificial, inauthentic. To come out of this, we must do completion and break out of our material bonds and enter authenticity, the path of Self-realization.

Śraddha here refers to the faith that comes out of authenticity in action or good work. Yet pure goodness goes beyond all material acts. It is transcendental. Hence there is nothing like fully good, completely good in material life.

Listen! If you don’t bring authenticity, inauthenticity is waiting to take you over. Because you trained yourself for so many years with inauthenticity, inauthenticity is waiting to take you over. Bring authenticity continuously; go on expanding, go on expanding. Authenticity is the possibility of Life in you.

One of the biggest mistakes you make in your life is thinking that you are still a possibility, but your life is a reality! That is why you feel weak. Your life is not a stone wall that is already built. It is a wax mod-el that is getting ready! Understand, the reality you experience is not a stone wall that is already built. It is only a wax model that is getting ready. Authenticity is the intelligence to alter your possibility consciously, in the right way. Authenticity is a great possibility for you to alter your life in the right way.

Whatever you perceive about you is only a possibility. If you think you are a good person, a Swami (saint), even that is only a possibility for a greater saint to happen. If you think that you are filled with jealousy, dirt, disease, depression and what not, that is also not reality. It is a possibility for greater disease, depression, and disorder to happen!

Now, almost all of us experience our self as a mixture of both. You experience your self as a mixture of both—a little health and a little disease, a little goodness and a little badness, a little satva, rajas and a little tamas, a little joy and a little depression, a little fight and a little reconciliation, a little wealth and a little poverty.

So you are a possibility for any extreme. You are a possibility for any possibility. When you are in the state of possibility for any possibility, you are called a seeker.

Please be very clear, only a person whose nature is pure goodness can connect with the Divine, with Existence—yajante sāttvikā devān (17.4).

An Enlightened Master goes beyond the three guṇas of satva, rajas and tamas. He transcends these attributes because he burns out all his vāsanās, saṁskāras and karmas, of which these triguṇas are a product. An Enlightened Master has no bondages. He is not bound by desires, greed, fear or attachment. He is beyond the illusion of material existence. He dissolves into the cosmic energy when he chooses to leave the body and it perishes.

When the energy of an enlightened Master is reborn on this planet, when it takes human form, it is imbued with some satva guṇa, since all beings in physical form must by nature have an attribute. Such a being is an Incarnation, an Avatār. Upon realization of the being's enlightened state, that Incarnation reverts to its transcendental state of being without attributes or guṇa. In some cases, the Incarnation continues upon this planet to fulfill the mission that Existence has sent it to accomplish. In other cases, upon realization of its true nature, the Incarnation reverts to its original cosmic state.

The classic examples of these two different events are Rāmākṛṣṇa and Vivekananda. Both were Incarnations who reappeared upon this plan-et on the mission of Existence, Parāśakti. Rāmākṛṣṇa continued after realization of His state of enlightenment. However, Vivekananda, as predicted by his master Rāmākṛṣṇa, left his mortal body once He realized his enlightened state.

If a tāmasic person becomes enlightened, he goes through the stages of rajas and satva before the realization happens. The transition may happen quickly but it must happen. Vālmīki, the great sage, was once a robber who terrorized and killed people. His nature was deep tamas with a layer of rajas. When he caught hold of Nārada and demanded money, Nārada offered him the name Nārāyaṇa. The moment Vālmīki uttered the name of the Lord, he was transformed. He shifted to satva and became the enlightened Master who wrote the Ramāyaṇa epic.

Kṛṣṇa says that our style of worship depends upon our nature— sattvānurūpā sarvasya śraddhā bhavati bhārata (17.3). A person established in satva worships devatas (deities, gods) who are peaceful— yajante sāttvikā devān. A person established in rajas worships yakṣas (supernatural beings) and rākṣasas (demons)—yakṣa-rakṣāṁsi rājasāḥ. A person established in tamas (ignorance) worships pretas (spirits of the dead) and bhūtas (ghosts)—pretān bhūta-gaṇāṁś cānye yajante tāmasā janāḥ (17.4).

Please understand, whatever is your ideal, whatever you hold in high esteem, whoever you feel connected to, whatever you worship, that is your nature and that decides your quality. If we worship the right ideal, we are established in satva. If we have Swami Vivekananda's poster or Śiva's photo in our room, we are in satva. If we have an actor's photo or poster in our room, we are in rajas and tamas. Tamas is like watching a violent fighting show. If you continuously sit in front of the television and watch fighting, you are established in tamas.

Kṛṣṇa says that based upon our ideal, our guṇas (attributes) can be described.

In the last verse, He says, 'Please do not punish your body. You not only punish yourself, but you also punish Me because I reside in you— mām caiva antaḥ śarīra-stham.'

The scriptures do not recommend severe austerities and penances. Walking on fire and such other things are unnecessary. When I make you do these things once in a while, it is to make you break the pattern with which you have always lived your life. But you should not subject yourself to these as daily rituals, 'Every morning when I wake up, I should walk on ten feet of fire...' No!

Kṛṣṇa says there is no need for all these things. People perform them out of pride and ego, merely to show, 'I did all these things.' They are done out of pride and egoism. They are done out of lust and attachment. Some people, for example, sit for years on a bed of nails or sit with one hand raised. All these painful contortions are foolish. These people torture their bodies and the material elements as well as the Paramātman (supreme consciousness) dwelling inside them.

Beautifully Bhagavān Kṛṣṇa says, ‘Please do not torture the Soul inside your body. Don’t abuse your body. The body is the temple of God. By torturing the temple of God, you torture the Supreme Consciousness residing inside—māṁ caiva antaḥ śarīra-stham.’ He says that those who torture the supreme consciousness inside the body are certainly demons—tān viddhy āsura niścayān (17.6).

Rāvaṇa did penance. He cut off his heads and put them into the fire. This is a demon’s penance, torturing the body and torturing the supreme consciousness residing in the body. There is no need to do self-torture. Kṛṣṇa says, ‘Don’t torture yourself.’ God never asked you to torture yourself. These people wanted to destroy somebody all the time. That is why they did these violent things even to themselves. The entire purpose of this penance and self-torture was to boost the ego, to seek power.

No scripture expects or teaches us how to kill others, torture oth-ers or do black magic to others. The other day I spoke to somebody about yantras as a remedy. Yantra is a metal plate with a diagrammatic representation of powerful mantra (chant) that is sanctified through rituals. After that lecture someone told me, ‘I bought a yantra, but when I wanted to return it to the person I bought it from, he threatened to curse me.’

You need to understand that only an Enlightened being can curse. Only he has that power. But an Enlightened person will never curse. It is not that anybody can curse and it will become reality. No, only an enlightened person can curse, and an enlightened person will never curse. If he curses, he is not enlightened. Nobody can curse you. If he is not enlightened, don’t be concerned about it. It will never work because for a curse you need satya-saṅkalpa, the backing of Truth.

Only the words of a person who has achieved the ultimate ener-gy can become reality. Because the enlightened person is in Universal Consciousness, cursing another person is the same as cursing himself! One thing is sure, if someone curses, he hurts himself more than he hurts others. So never be afraid of curses.

Spiritual relationships can never exist out of fear or greed. Never be obedient to somebody out of fear. Simply throw things out if it is forced on you out of fear. Never be afraid of anything.

Here Kṛṣṇa says that there is no need for all this penance. You cheat yourself with all this penance out of pride and ego but you never really achieve anything. The person who does these things out of ego and pride is a demon, a rākṣasa. A demon is in deep tamas, in ignorance. All that drives such a person is the boost to his ego, his inauthenticities without consideration for himself and others. Such a person is a spiritual cipher.

Kṛṣṇa now speaks about food. Three different types of people enjoy three different types of food. Before we discuss these verses, let me explain the three different types of śraddha based on what we are.

Please understand that one group of people is completely negative. They lack integrity, the space of positivity. They only doubt, doubt and doubt. They doubt themselves and others. They have decided not to believe in anything. They have decided not to raise themselves in their lives. They remain dumb in self-doubt. We can't do anything with them. This is the first group.

The second group consists of people who positively believe, who are integrated, but do not practice authenticity, the space of possibility. They build the pattern of impossibility. They continuously resist expansion. Understand, while on the surface they believe that they are confronted by patterns and limitations imposed by their patterns, deep down inside them, they actually resist expansion. Just see, look around the society. Everything is nothing but the resistance to expansion.

The third group of people believes and practices authenticity, the space of possibility with responsibility. They know that nothing is impossible. For them, life is all about making the impossible into I-M-Possible.

There are three groups. One group is in self-doubt. Even the word doubt is too good to describe it. They are in self-denial. They are prejudiced. This group is in tamas. The next group is the believers. They are in rajas. The third group is authentic. This group is in satva. Kṛṣṇa beautifully explains the differences between the prejudiced group in self-denial, the believers with positivity and the authentic group with possibility. He then talks about their ways of life, character and how we can achieve the authenticity of satva and imbibe the truths explained in the Gītā.

He gives a beautiful step-by-step explanation and the teachings on how to raise ourselves from the prejudiced level to the believing level, and from the believing level to the authenticity level. All those here are already at the believing level.

If you are prejudiced, you will not sit here everyday. You would mere-ly stand there, listen to two or three words and go away. Many people come just to check out what is going on. They stand here for two or three minutes and look at their watch. And even in those few minutes, their feet will shuffle ten times this way and that, and they will say, ‘Alright, enough. I think he is just a young Swami. What can he say that I do not already know?’ They just walk out in self-denial.

If you are not at least at the level of belief, you will not sit here. Coming regularly and sitting through these satsangs shows that you are at least at the level of belief. You are integrated, living in the space of positivity. Now, all you need to do is jump into the level of authenticity, the space of possibility. The moment we jump into the level of authenticity, śraddha, we experience the truth. We become Kṛṣṇa. We experience Kṛṣṇa consciousness.

Now, we will enter into the technology of experiencing the authenticity, the technology of Kṛṣṇa consciousness.

You see, there is an important choice that you must make. Either you should be completely sincere and trust what I say as the truth, or be very clear that whatever I am saying is just lies.

If you can't practice what I am saying, whatever I am saying is a lie. If you are unable to practice, what is the use of this truth? Whether I am saying the truth or not, you will decide. Only you can decide that. No one else can decide for you. I cannot decide for you. If you can execute what I tell you with authenticity in your thinking and actions, if you are able to commit to live the great principle of authenticity, I am speaking the truth. If you are unable to do it, what is the use of the whole thing? Nothing, there's no use. For eighteen days, it's a waste of your time and my time, that's all. If you don't have the cognitive shift, if it does not transform your life to its highest possibility, then it is only wastage of time; and whatever has happened here is not the truth.

Please listen. The result of my words on your consciousness decides whether what I spoke is the truth or a lie. Understand, you don't need to do it completely or perfectly. Having the courage of authenticity to experiment with a clear decision that you will expand your possibility is enough. After my talking all these days, if you consciously say, 'Why not test for two or three days?', if you have that much courage, that is enough.

Practicing integrity creates the space of positivity in you, and practicing authenticity creates the space of possibility in you. The clear decision that you will continuously expand your possibility for you and you will not be satisfied with what you are now, is more than enough! You do not need any other separate practice. That is the good news I have for you! A conscious decision is enough!

The cognitive shift itself will make you live the principles. It is unfortunate that we do not understand the importance of cognitive shift. We think that some form of practice is required. I do promote spiritual practices like kriya, yoga and praṇāyāma, for the purpose of purifying your bio-memory, purifying your body and to cure some diseases. But I tell you, that is not the first priority in spiritual life. It may be like a pickle, but it is not the main meal! The main meal is cognitive shift! Shift in your cognition, shift in your perception, shift in your decision!

You need to know the power of your authenticity. Even if it looks like inauthenticity in the initial level, stand by it. It will rise and rise to the next-next levels of authenticity. When you are authentic towards your inauthenticity, it will lead to authenticity. Like, any number, any equation multiplied with zero, becomes zero. In the same way, however much your inauthenticity may be, if you are authentic towards your inauthenticity, you will become authentic.

Please understand, the gap between your desire and your responsibility is your inauthenticity. Bring more and more authenticity. Take more and more responsibility. So, when you take responsibility, sit by creating the space and be ready to sacrifice. The world will simply move based on your word! The world will move as you want!

Please understand, our meeting will become just one more meeting, if you don't have the courage to consciously decide to live the truth learned here. If you don't practice integrity and authenticity with responsibility, if you don't allow Kṛṣṇa's words to work on you, this meeting will be another polite meeting. Let these words penetrate you. May you consciously decide to experiment with the truths of Bhagavad Gītā. If you don't experiment, at least it will be mentally clear to you that this is not the truth.

You might think, 'Swamiji was simply saying what he has read somewhere.' But if you believe this is the truth, you will be here. If you think this is not the truth, you will not be here. You will not come everyday and sit for three hours, even if you do not have any other work to do. You could have sat in front of the television at home. There are many other places to go to, yet you chose to be here. You chose to listen. This shows that you think there is truth behind these words. So, when you think there is some truth, never allow inauthenticity in you, never wait to experiment living the truth.

Have the courage of authenticity and experiment with the space of possibility. Life starts with the space of possibility! I tell you, bliss or Ānanda means 'the space of possibility, where life oozes out of you'. Everything should create a space of possibility in you. Take one single idea. You don't need to experiment with the whole Gītā. Take one single principle and intranalyze that to the core. Let your whole being vibrate with that single thought.

Swami Vivekananda says, 'When you commit to a single idea, your blood should boil with that single idea. Even your hair should stand in that direction. Your bones, your thoughts, your body and your mind should all stand for it. Your whole being should be directed towards that concept. Only then success is certain.’

Please understand, take one life principle and work with it to the peak of your possibility. The peak of possibility should be realized in every human being so that you become empty. You are nothing but a NO. When the NO’s disappear, you disappear and the truths, satya start living through you. Your personality is made of NO’s and your identity is made of YES. Let your personality be dropped and identity be awakened. Your personality is given by society but identity is natural.

If you fail, there is nothing wrong. But have courage to work with it. If you succeed, you will know it is the truth and you will be liberated. You will be in the space of completion. You will have bliss. If it fails, you will know that it is not the truth and you will be clear. You can continue your search elsewhere. So be very clear about it. The basic truth Kṛṣṇa is telling you is about integrity and authenticity.

Please listen. There are three groups of people—tāmasic group, rājasic group, and satva group.

The tāmasic group is prejudiced, meaning negative and lacks integrity. Understand, it is due to the fear of your possibilities you get into the space of impossibility. Your patterns, fears, everything is directed only in one line—fear of your possibilities. Lack of integrity is nothing but fear of confrontation. See, the moment I present the truth of integrity, everyone thinks, ‘Oh! I can do this may be for two days or four days.’ But no one, no one thinks or understands, realizes, why you are afraid of integrity.

You strongly believe that the manipulativeness of your mind has saved you, helped you in many situations. I tell you, a lion not realizing it is the lion and thinking it is a sheep, is also not that big crime. But the lion thinking it may need the help of a fox in its life and keeping the fox as a friend and companion, is the biggest crime.

Please understand, deciding not to declare integrity in your whole life, itself is nothing but the lion believing strongly it may need the help of a fox and keeping it with himself continuously and pampering it, ‘No, no! Please don’t go away. There may be some time when I may need your help.’ Slap the wolf. If needed slap yourself once.

Realize you are the lion who does not need the help of the wolves and foxes. Realize you are the being who does not need the help of the manipulative mind. So, integrity is your strength. Lion’s roar is enough. No animal will even stand in that area. Your integrity is enough. No problems can even stand in your breathing space.

Next, the rājasic group believes intellectually but lacks authenticity in action, which is the space of possibility. They carry self-doubt and the space of impossible. Understand, why do you feel you can’t commit to live the great principle of authenticity? It is because you have an innate fear, innate pattern, self-doubt about your laziness; self-doubt that your laziness may overpower your consciousness. That’s the biggest enemy for authenticity, śraddha.

You have to complete with the pattern of laziness and with the greed for vacation. You have to complete with the desire for being in non-do-ing physically, but lot of doing mentally. Please understand, non-doing physically. See, if you love non-doing mentally, that is great. That is all I wanted. But you love non-doing physically, but lot of doing mentally. A lot of doing happens mentally. I tell you, authenticity brings life in you. Authenticity is Life! Life is the possibility of expansion.

Please understand. Even your ignorance is nothing but fear of expansion. Many times you continue to be in ignorance, because of your fear of failure.

Listen! Expansion is possible when we are ready to become responsible to have it. Why do we feel the fear of responsibility? Because it brings more and more of our possibilities to our light. This means that we can't continue to be asleep, we have to wake up. Wealth wakes us up to more responsibility. Health wakes us up to more responsibility. Happy relationships wake us up to more responsibility. Everything we love wakes us up to more responsibility which we don't like that.

Listen! You love many things in your life, but you don't like the path to achieve them. See the conflict. Complete with the laziness, the tired-ness, the boredom pattern continuously. I tell you, then starts life; then starts something in your life. I call that as Life.

The third group, the satva group has the power of authenticity. They not only believe, but they have the courage to create the space of possibility and play with the words and ideas as well. They don't settle with the patterns of 'impossible'. They go on expanding their possibilities.

There is nothing impossible! Listen! Actually what separates you from the Cosmos? The skin and the identity that you are only up to your skin! What separates your mind from the Cosmic mind? It is just the borders you made that separates your mind from the Cosmic mind. Just as the wall separates the ocean from the boat jetty, your 'Impossible' separates your individual mind from the Cosmic mind! Break that wall! After that, for anything that happens in your individual mind, the Cosmic mind will say 'tathāstu—so be it!'

Go on making impossibilities into possibilities. What is Life? Continuously making impossibilities into possibilities is Life. When you accept that impossibility as impossibility in your life, you are dead! After that, where is life? Life is life as long as you are making all ‘Impossible’ into ‘I-M Possible,’ all ‘Impossible’ into ‘I Am Possible’!

Please do not miss authenticity, the fragrance of courage. Let these words penetrate you. The work that a disciple enters into is with the unknown, the uncharted, and the unmapped territory; so fear of expansion will be there. That is the only barrier. In spite of it, we should go on expanding. Let fear be there. It will hang around for a while. When we do not listen to it, it will leave us. It is a great day when fear of the unknown leaves us. From then on growth becomes simple, easy and spontaneous.

This committed journey leads to bliss, eternal bliss, Nityānanda.

Kṛṣṇa talks about the nature of food consumed by people of satva, rajas and tamas temperaments.

He explains what kind of food these people like, what kind of lives these people lead and what kind of understanding these people experience in their lives. The most important thing is what kind of un-derstanding they acquire. See, the same words can be cognized in many different ways.

We need to understand the word in the context of its spirit. Words can easily be misunderstood! Please don't miss the essence of the words. It is easy to miss the spirit, the true meaning behind the words. Experiment with courage. And if you can't, if this is not the truth for you, forget about it. At least you will be free to search somewhere else.

If you think that it is the truth and you don't execute it or experiment with it in your life, then drop it! Otherwise it will become a habit to lis-ten to the truth and not practice it. It will become an inauthentic mental setup. It is the most dangerous mental setup.

People ask me, ‘Swamiji, should I renounce everything to become enlightened? Should I become a Sannyāsi, a monk?’

I tell them, ‘No. There is no need. Just do one thing. Don’t have the inauthentic mental setup of receiving the truth and not taking the responsibility of practicing it. Complete with all your self-doubting, ‘impossible’ patterns and create the space for authenticity, which is creating your best inner image, outer image, others’ image and life’s image, that’s all.’

Inauthenticity is the most dangerous thing that can happen to any being. Please be very clear, receiving the truth and understanding it intellectually without having the courage of authenticity to live it is the worst possible mental setup. That is the worst devil or demon that can catch hold of you. So at least have the courage to decide, ‘This is not for me because this is not the truth.’ If you believe this is the truth, then have the courage of authenticity to experiment with it.

That is all I am saying. Don’t come back to me like a beggar with a powerless mood, ‘How can I have my own mind under my control, how can I be complete, how can I be authentic, can you tell me?’ Once you are married, you don’t go around and ask, ‘How can I have kids?’ You are a man! You know it! Once you are initiated, you don’t go around and ask, ‘How can I practice integrity and authenticity?’ It is a simple decision!

Weakness is death which you give to yourself. Nobody can save you. Vivekananda is right when he says, ‘Nobody can save a person filled with weakness!’ You don’t need to swim and save yourself. If I come in the ship and throw the rope, you can at least hold the rope so that I can lift you! If you don’t have the power even for that, then nobody can save you!

You have heard many things. Kṛṣṇa does not say anything new in this chapter. He says only one thing, ‘Be authentic.’ Authenticity is the straight way. I tell people, ‘Authenticity is the basic spiritual virtue. Authenticity is the basic spiritual virtue.’ First be a gentleman, then you can be a spiritual man. Gentleman means to be authentic to what you feel as you, what you project as you, what others' expect from you, and what you expect from life—being aligned and truthful to the core to all these four identities.

Never do anything without being clear and complete about the truth, and never stop doing anything if you know it is the truth. The scientist is courageous enough to authentically go after the truth. Wherever the research takes him, he is ready to experiment. The brain which is established in integrity and authenticity can read any book and understand the truths from that book. It can.

Just like how the Paramahamsa swan can separate the water from the milk in a mixture of milk and water, the brain established in integrity can separate truth from untruth. The brain established in integrity and authenticity is Paramahamsa.

In the same way, you must become an inner scientist, a spiritual scientist. You must have the courage of authenticity to go behind the experience within the words. You must be able to play with them.

A small story:

An Enlightened Master and his disciple went to the river to bathe.

Suddenly, the disciple fell into the river and shouted, 'Master, save me, save me!'

The Master said, 'You are ātman (soul), save yourself. You are God, save yourself.'

The disciple shouted, 'Master, first save me, then you can teach me philosophy. Then you can teach me meditation. First, please save me.'

The Master replied, 'Stand up and save yourself.'

The disciple shouted, 'No, No, Master, save me first. Then you can teach me.'

The Master shouted back, 'Fool, I am telling you to stand up.'

The disciple became frightened. Just out of fear, he simply stood up, and realized that the water was only up to his knees!

When you stand up, you understand the whole saṁsāra sāgara, the ocean of Life. Whatever you consider to be the great worries of your life are not even up to your knee level. They are just up to the ankle level. Because you are lying down, because you never stand up, you think you are drowning; you think you are going to die.

I tell you from my personal experience, if you stand up with the power of authenticity, you will realize that the water is only knee-deep. Whatever you regard as the saṁsāra sāgar (ocean of life) is only knee deep. It is nothing. There is no way it can affect you. But you need courage of authenticity to stand up.

For example, if the disciple had decided, ‘No, no, I am drowning and instead of pulling me out and helping me, Master is teaching me impractical and impossible things. What kind of a Master is he?’ If he simply blamed the Master, doubting the Master and doubting himself, he would have gone with the river.

He had the courage of authenticity, he just decided to complete and drop his doubts and impossibilities, and in a minute, he got the power of possibility to experiment with the master’s words and was saved. You need the power. Stand up with the courage of authenticity as your bone marrow. You need the courage to stand up with authenticity and see the truth by yourself. Nothing will be lost. If something can be lost, it is better to lose it as soon as possible. May you be rid of that thing or situation. If something can be lost by practicing the truth, may it be lost as early as possible. The earlier it is lost, the better for you.

May you flood your being with the Truth. Whatever cannot stand, whatever is washed away, let it be washed away. May it be lost from your being as early as possible.

Kṛṣṇa explains here about the energy of various food substances. Generally, all food that is not from plants i.e., from animal origin, has negative energy. Food that is hot and spicy tends to aggravate desires. Vegetarian food that is fresh and not spicy is ideal for spiritual practices.

In our Nithya Spiritual Healing system, it is essential that the healers become vegetarians and give up substances such as alcohol, tobacco, drugs, etc. I have nothing against alcohol or meat. I have no theories about cruelty to animals and so on. Plants also have life, just perhaps not at the same frequency. So if one argues from the point of cruelty to animals, eating vegetables also is cruelty to plants. This system is based on deep meditative techniques. For the meditative energy to be effective, negative energy substances should not be used. I have seen that these meditations do not go together with meat as well as with tobacco and alcohol. If healers eat meat, smoke or drink, they are affected physiologically and psychologically.

Any serious meditation technique requires one to be in the energy field. The word āhāra used by Kṛṣṇa can be expanded to mean food for all senses, not merely for the tongue. All sensory inputs need to be of the same description that Kṛṣṇa uses here, promoting 'longevity, virtue, strength, health, happiness and joy' to aid one's progress in one's spiritual path by the sātvic route.

Ayurveda recommends different foods for each constitutional type based upon tastes such as sweet, sour, bitter, pungent, etc. These are specific recommendations as to what tastes would be healthy for which constitutions and based on this what kind of vegetables and fruits one should eat and so on. Even cooking methods are specified that can be used to provide wholesome ayurvedic food.

Kṛṣṇa outlines a more general classification based upon the purity and nature of food. Kṛṣṇa explains that tāmasic food, putrid and stale, is forbidden for consumption by vedic tradition. The injunction is to eat food within a few hours of cooking. Beyond that, the food should be discarded.

Eat fresh food in silence and with completion and gratitude. Pay attention to each morsel of food and eat with gratitude and love. Eating does not need to be a social occasion. It should not be. Enjoy your social interactions before and after meals, not while eating. Be in the present moment while you eat.

What Kṛṣṇa says makes pure sense for wellness. Natural foods contain their own flavor and goodness. You do not need to add spices and flavoring agents to corrupt their taste. He says eat food as it comes, fresh from the earth, and cooked with the energy of fire. Eat it while it is fresh. You will be in satva. You will be in bliss.

Kṛṣṇa talks about how to give, how to sacrifice and how to enrich others.

In the vedic tradition, enriching sacrifices such as fire rituals (yajña and homa) were not mere rituals to worship celestial beings. They had a far deeper meaning of enriching for the benefit of the living and the poor.

Every ritualistic offering had a major element of gifting the deserving poor. Whoever came to such a ritual never went away emp-ty-handed. When the great Ṛṣis, the Masters, performed rituals, they had nothing to seek. They performed these in line with the truth of their experiences, which were the scriptural understandings. They expected nothing. They performed rituals as a day-to-day living expression. These rituals were conducted so that the celestial beings and nature were pleased and humanity benefited. These were selfless offerings of satva guṇa (good nature).

Great kings also practiced these rituals. Kings performed fire rituals to display power and to show that they controlled other kings. These were a display of ego. Kings such as Yudhiṣṭra performed the horse sacrifice, Aṣvamedha Yāga, and the Rājasūya Yāga to announce their supremacy over other kings. However, these were required of kings and were also occasions to give their wealth away generously. These were performed in the mode of aggression, rajas.

Other extreme sacrifices were also performed by demonic creatures with no concern except to show their brute strength. These did not involve any enriching, any charity or generosity. These did not follow the scriptural guidelines. These were carried out purely for selfish reasons.

In Kaṭhopaniṣad, when young Naciketa’s father gave away useless old cows that no longer produced milk as fire offerings, the young lad protested his father’s inauthenticity.

‘What are you doing?’ he asked his father. ‘Why are you giving away useless things in a sacrifice that is meant for giving away valuable material offerings? If you want to give nothing else, give me away,’ Naciketa said.

In deep ignorance and anger, his father offered his son to Yama, god of death, as a result.

Please understand that an enriching sacrifice is not measured by how much we give. It is measured by how much we give that we cannot afford to give. It is measured by how much we give when it hurts us to give and that too without any expectation in return. Such an enriching sacrifice straightaway leads to liberation.

Many people give with wonderful intent. It is not charity if they give part of their wealth without it affecting their lifestyle. It is no sacrifice. Many people tell me, ‘Swamiji, I am writing a legal will leaving all my possessions to this ashram, temple or your mission.’ What is the big deal in giving away after death? You cannot carry it with you anyway.

An enriching sacrifice must hurt to be genuine. It must cause you discomfort and yet be given with total completion, pleasure and without expectations. That is the spirit of genuine surrender. That is the spirit of doing things without expectation of the fruits of action.

I am not denouncing the wonderful charity that many wealthy people do without posing for photographs. They do it with good intentions of helping the disadvantaged. That mental attitude of giving and sharing what they have with the needy, benefits them. That vāsanā of generosity stays with their spirit. There is no doubt in this.

However, that charity will be in the mode of rajas, not satva. When people move from this rajas state of giving to the satva state of giving, wealth seeks them out. Lakṣmī, the goddess of wealth comes to them without being asked! She knows these people will be the route for enriching mankind.

There is nothing degrading about wealth and power. They are great energies. Like all great energies, the problem is handling them with responsibility without letting them go to one's head. As an example, look at the difference between Rāvaṇa and Janaka. Janaka was a Rājarṣi, the king who was also a sage, a complete being. He ruled a kingdom, but treated the power and wealth as if they belonged to someone else. He was a mere keeper, a mere witness. He ruled from the space of enriching others. On the other hand, Rāvaṇa, although highly gifted and a great tapasvi, who undertook many severe penances, was ruled by his ego, incompletions and senses. That brought about his ruin.

The Universe operates on the principle of abundance. There is no shortage of anything in the Universe. What we need, we get. The trouble is that we are dissatisfied with what we need. Our wants are immeasurable. Great Masters have said that it is possible for the Universe to fulfill the needs of all the people on planet Earth, but not the wants of one single person. Our greed has no limits.

May your desire to enrich others and give away be limitless. May your desire to acquire become zero. You will be amazed at how wealth seeks you.

Kṛṣṇa defines austerity of deeds, words and thoughts.

Tapas or penance is the austere, simple way of living, the mode of aparigraha (simplicity). It is based upon what one needs and not what one craves for. One who successfully practices this is a tapasvi.

Kṛṣṇa explained earlier and repeats here that tapasya, austerity or penance, doesn't mean inflicting pain or torturing oneself and others. This includes not merely physical torture and pain, but also takes into account pain through words and thoughts. Penance undertaken in this manner is abusing oneself and the God who resides within, forgetting that the body is a temple of God.

Penance performed out of foolishness and self-torture destroys or injures others. Please understand, such acts are done out of ignorance. That's what I explained earlier with regard to black magic. No black magic can be done. No evil spirit can be sent to you. No one but an Enlightened Master can curse, and an Enlightened Master cannot curse. He can only bless.

Bhagavan Kṛṣṇa says that the people who are in rajas carry out sacrifices for the sake of respect, honor and worship. When they do penance or sacrifice in this manner, it is unstable. When people don't respect them, they stop doing it. They do it as long as people fall at their feet. If the respect is lost, they stop their tapasyā.

Penance performed with the view of obtaining any result, even a noble ideal like Enlightenment is a result...is in the mode of rajas, aggression or passion. Only when it is in the nature of total surrender, with no expectation of any results, it is in satva and of spiritual value.

When I talk about my tapas during my days of wandering all over India, I did difficult things. I realize now that many of these could have been dispensed with. I experimented with ten thousand keys before I found the key to unlock the door to Enlightenment. I tell my disciples that they do not need to go through that. There is an easier, faster and simpler way!

As long as I struggled towards Enlightenment in my spiritual practices, it eluded me. I was able to realize myself only when I threw away my rudrākśa (energy beads) and the photograph of Śrī Rāmakṛṣṇa Paramahaṃsa that I had with me all those years, and sat down in meditation, with the feeling, ‘let what may happen, happen.’

Here, Kṛṣṇa uses the word Saumyatvaṁ beautifully.

We have no exact English translation for this word Saumyatva; manaḥ prasādaḥ saumyatvaṁ (17.16). Saumyatvaṁ refers to satisfaction and a feeling that is so comfortable. It refers to one whose presence makes you feel totally relaxed, complete and induces thoughts that calm and center the mind. Please understand saumyatva and pleasing words are basic qualities to be practiced by a spiritual person.

Some people become enlightened, yet they can't enrich others. For example, I saw a great, enlightened Swami living in the Himalayas who spent the whole day smoking gañja. No doubt he was enlightened. He put a copper coin in the chillum pipe with which he smoked gañja. You will be surprised that when he emptied the chillum pipe, a gold coin fell out! I witnessed this happen many times. He sold that coin to buy more gañja. He lived in Uttarkashi (in Uttaranchal, North India). Of course, I had great respect for him because he was a tapasvi, and he never wore any clothes. He was a nāga-sādhu.

Nāga means a Sannyāsi who does not wear clothes. In that cold weather they lived without clothes. They are also called Paramahamsa. Paramahamsa Sannyāsis do not wear clothing except to go into the city to spread the Divine mission. Otherwise they are not supposed to wear clothes.

Paramahamsas live like children. When this Swami, a great Paramahamsa, emptied his chillum, there would be a gold coin in it. I asked him, ‘Bābā, you are a great tapasvi, an atmajñāni (one who has attained Self-knowledge) and a brahmajñāni (knower of Brahman), why are you smoking gañja?’

He said, ‘A big elephant cannot be tied to a small hut. We must make it a little dull and silent. Only then can the elephant stay in the small hut. After enlightenment, the soul cannot stay in this small body. I must bring it down and make it dull. Then it can stay in this body. To bring it down, I do these things.’ Of course, their smoking is different from an ordinary man's smoking.

Someone asked me, ‘Swamiji, Swami Vivekananda and Rāmakṛṣṇa Paramahamsa used to smoke. Why can’t I smoke?’

I explained to him, ‘Swami Vivekananda became enlightened before he started smoking. Become enlightened and then you can smoke and do whatever you want. Without achieving what they achieved, doing what they did is wrong.’ Please understand that whatever Enlightened Masters do is totally different from what you are supposed to do. Actually, they do things opposite of what you are supposed to do. You must do things to elevate yourself. They must do things to bring themselves down!

This nāga-sādhu in Uttarkashi is enlightened; however, he cannot enrich everybody. His type is such that he will not enrich people. He is a mystic. He will not teach anybody and he will not make anybody enlightened. He does not work with people. He is that type.

On the other hand, some people who experience the truth share the truth with the world. Swami Vivekananda and Paramahamsa Yogananda were great souls who shared their experiences for the benefit of enriching others. That was their mission. Their power was the space of completion they carried.

Bhāgavatam says that people who explain or enrich others by sharing the Truth, such as Śrī Kṛṣṇa, are Incarnations. Incarnations still landing on planet Earth to make all of you enlightened is nothing but the Universe practicing responsibility. Even after so much torture and abuse by human beings, enlightened beings and Incarnations are continuing to enrich planet Earth; this is nothing but the cosmos deciding to do whatever it takes to enrich all of you.

Listen, only my integrity and authenticitymakes me an Enlightened being. Only my commitment to taking responsibility and enriching all of you, makes me an Incarnation!

Sukha Brahma was the son of Vyāsa, the compiler of the Vedas and author of Bhāgavatam and Mahābhārat. Sukha Brahma Ṛṣi is an Enlightened Master who wore no clothes.

Sukha Brahma was questioned, 'What is the difference between Enlightened people and Avatārs or Incarnations?'

Sukha Brahma says beautifully: Soundaryatva, Tejavast- va, Sārasvatya, and the power, lakṣmitva. Soundaryatva means that if we see them, we will automatically feel like sitting and listening to them. We will automatically feel like turning around once more to capture their grace! That which simply attracts our mind is soundaryatva.

The next attribute is tejas, a sharp radiating energy and clarity. The third is sārasvatya. This means that no matter how difficult a concept or idea is, they can explain it in a simple way. It merely flows from their tongue where Sarasvatī (goddess of knowledge) resides.

Above all is Lakṣmītva. This means that just by their thought, wealth and work will happen. Everything happens according to how they want it to happen. When somebody radiates all four of these qualities, he is an Incarnation.

Here, Kṛṣṇa says the same thing. Saumyatva... Please understand, even for Incarnations, Soundaryatva and Saumyatva are necessary qualities. Now surely we should imbibe these qualities in our lives.

The penance that is supposed to be done by words, is speaking the truth and speaking pleasing words—satyaṁ priyahitaṁ ca yat (17.15). Please understand, creating a healing effect through words is import-ant. Creating a healing effect through our words is basic for a spiritual practitioner who is established in integrity. We should not utter words that hurt others—anuvega karaṁ vākyaṁ. Our presence should be heal-ing and enriching others. Based on the words we utter, people can find out what kind of a space we are carrying.

Always use pleasing words. Never use sharp or disturbing words. One more thing, sometimes we don't understand how our words disturb others. We do not know how our words disrespect or emotionally disturb other beings. We must bring integrity in the words we utter to ourselves and to others, and bring completion to our speech. Kṛṣṇa calls this aus-terity of words, vān-mayaṁ tapa ucyate (17.15).

Please be very clear, the words you utter are you. If you constantly utter the words, ‘I am this, I am this’, you will become that! Constantly utter right words about you, inside you and outside you. Please listen about the power of words. Unfortunately, we don't harness the pow-er of words. And as per the law, when we don't use any power properly and play with it without the knowledge about it, it destroys us! It is like electricity, we can use electricity for the best things in our lives. But, if we don't want to use it properly and misbehave with it, it destroys us. It kills us straightaway! That is why I am saying that learn to harness every power available to you.

Please understand, I am defining Integrity.

Understand, aligning yourself more and more, deeper and deep-er into your completion, aligning your words, internal and external, towards the space of completion is Integrity.

When you start practicing integrity, you will harness the power of words. The words you utter will have so much power that just through the words you will be able to change your life and others' life, for the better! Please understand, from the time I know myself I am doing this only. I am using the right words to transform people's lives.

When we sit with somebody, that person should feel, ‘Can I sit for longer time with him? Can I meet him tomorrow? Will I see him again?’ We should create that healing feeling in the other person. People should wait for us rather than run away from us. Usually we create a negative effect. We create an uncomfortable feeling. People just run away from us. A simple, single word if used improperly, can destroy a whole relationship.

Bhagavān Kṛṣṇa says a spiritual person should use pleasing words and not agitate others. When we do not agitate others, we will not be arrogant. See, this is not even a social morality. This is a spiritual practice.

As I explained the other day, the same words that we use to hurt others will hurt us as well. We will use these same words towards ourselves as well. This truth is embedded in the science of energy and vibration. So, we must be in integrity to harness the power of words. The ability to speak, the ability to utter words towards yourself, and the ability to utter words towards others—each one of us has this powerful ability. We can use it either to make our life or break our life. Right words that we utter in right time will make our life. Wrong words uttered in the wrong moment can break our life. Especially, the words we are uttering towards our self and towards others.

Kṛṣṇa says to study spiritual literature regularly. By regularly studying scriptural literature, these ideas go again and again into our brain. Consequently, we acquire the courage to experiment and live the truth.

I ask you to take up any truth and practice it at least a few times. For example, yesterday I told you not to continuously function based on the idea ‘me, me, me.’ Instead try the idea ‘you, you, you.’ Try that at least ten times and see the effect in your life. If it does not work out, you throw can it away, it’s up to you, but at least try it out ten times. You will get a glimpse of the truth expressed by Kṛṣṇa.

Intellectuals have two weapons: words and logic. They can be helpful teaching tools if properly used or they can be frightening weapons. It is up to us to choose how to use them: whether in the mode of ignorance, aggression or goodness.

Kṛṣṇa talks about austerity in action, śarīraṁ tapa as well. He speaks about the five conditions that are also in Patañjali’s Aṣṭāṅga Yoga as the five disciplines of yama: satya, ahiṁsā, asteya, aparigṛha and brahmacarya. These mean truth in thoughts, words and deeds embodying nonviolence, non-covetousness, simplicity and living in reality with the focus on the Supreme as the ultimate in any kind of penance.

Many feel that the truth must be told even if it hurts. Please understand that if it hurts someone, it cannot be the truth. It is only our perception of the truth. It is only a reflection of our ego presented by our minds as the truth. We are not in the truth if we perceive something with our senses and we draw conclusions with our limited knowledge based upon those perceptions, and then express these as our truth and hurt someone. If we do this, be very clear, we are in aggression and ignorance. We are not in the truth. We are not in goodness.

Truth is a reflection of compassion. Truth is an expression of compassion. Truth and compassion always go together. For that reason, truth can never hurt.

Kṛṣṇa speaks about the concept of dāna, enriching charity, which I explained earlier.

Dāna, charity is sharing out of the space of enriching. It is not done with the attitude of giving. It is done with the attitude of sharing and not expecting good results because of it or some easy route into heaven because of it. Charity is done out of love and gratitude.

‘O God, you have given me so much, now let me share a little bit with society and with the world.’ Charity is the attitude of sharing and enrich-ing. Charity that is done out of the responsibility to enrich others, without any expectation means feeling complete and committed to the Whole, to God, and with that feeling giving as a natural commitment. It is given with the enriching attitude that it is my quality and I have to do it. Only then it becomes real dāna. Sharing at the proper time and place and with a worthy person is charity in the mode of goodness, satva.

There are three kinds of dāna.

Understand, annadāna means giving to enrich with food, clothes and whatever is related to someone's physical needs.

Next is vidyādāna. This means giving to enrich with education and also whatever someone needs for mental growth. For example, when somebody is depressed, if you enrich him with some consoling ideas, this is vidyādāna. If somebody does not know how to clean a room and you teach him, this is vidyādāna. If somebody does not know how to cut grass and you teach him, this is vidyādāna.

And the third kind is jñānadāna, giving to enrich with spiritual knowledge.

If we give annadāna, we satisfy a person for three hours. After three hours, again he needs food. If we give vidyādāna, education or knowledge, he will have food for himself for one life. If we give education, he can earn food for himself. He will make money and buy food for himself. If we give jñānadāna, we will satisfy that person birth after birth!

Annadāna satisfies for three hours. Vidyādāna satisfies the receiver for one life. If we give jñānadāna, it fulfills that person for life after life. He will never fall into depression or the ocean of material world, birth after birth.

Jñānadāna is the ultimate sharing of enriching with knowledge.

The common expression says, ‘If a person needs fish and we feed or buy him a fish, he can be satisfied for one meal.’ This is annadāna. ‘If we teach him how to fish, he can manage his whole life without hunger.’ This is vidyādāna. This is where the expression stops. In our Healer’s Initiation Program, we tell them to stop eating fish! That solves their problem for many cycles of birth. This is jñānadāna!

Understand one thing, even if you have come and sat here accidentally after looking at my pictures saying, ‘I saw a cutout or poster. He is so young. The poster says that he is speaking on Bhagavad Gītā. Let me see what he is saying...’

Even if you have come just to check it out and you land up listen-ing to the whole Gītā, it will enrich you. At some point in time, you will remember these truths and live them. Naturally you cannot be the same person again. You will be enriched! At some point in time when you are about to make a mistake or you fall into powerlessness, you will remember these truths. These thoughts have gone inside you. They will make you complete with yourself choicelessly and lead you to completion. This is jñānadāna.

The knowledge that you have received now will transform your whole life even if you don’t practice it. These words are so powerful that automatically they will start working on you. You will not remain the same person. Your depth of depression will be reduced. Your depth of suffering will be reduced. You will feel that you are entering a new life. You will become courageous and a new confidence will enter your life. This is jñānadāna. This is the ultimate punya (virtuous deed) of giving knowledge. No other good deed is equivalent to giving spiritual knowledge.

Giving food bestows three hours of satisfaction. Giving education gives satisfaction for this one life. Giving spiritual knowledge satisfies souls life after life. Kṛṣṇa says when charity is done purely out of a feeling of sharing to enrich others, it is sātvika, the ultimate good, the ultimate purity—tad dānaṁ sāttvikaṁ smṛtam (17.20).

One more point is that the person who gives loses nothing with jñānadāna. With all other dāna, the person who gives has a little less. In annadāna, he who gives will lose and he who receives will gain. In vidyādāna, the giver does not lose. He retains the same level. In jñānadāna, I tell you a secret, the more you share, the more it grows in you! The more you enrich others with the science of completion, the more you grow in completion. It is a win-win situation. Here, you receive automatically. It grows in the person who shares and enriches.

I tell you another important secret: Don’t think you are the only one being enriched by listening to me now. By expressing these truths, even I am being enriched. Enriching others enriches you back! Listen! Enriching others enriches you back!

A simple analogy will help explain how this happens. When a woman gives birth to a child, not only is the child born, the woman too takes birth, as a mother. Until then she is only a woman. Once she gives birth, she is called 'mother'. When a child takes birth, not only does the child take birth, even the mother takes birth. Before that she is not a mother. She is only a woman. The moment she gives birth to a child, both the child and the mother are born.

In the same way, when you receive spiritual knowledge from me, I also grow! That is why in the Vedic system, we recite the following mantra before spiritual lessons:

This śānti or peace mantra means: may we both (master and disciple) achieve perfection or completion. May both of us grow. May both of us enrich each other. May we not have enmity towards each other.

Understand, the mantra doesn't say, 'May you learn.' It says, 'May both of us learn.' The vedic system is so humble. To tell you the truth, when I speak, I also learn. Somebody asked me, 'Swamiji, what are you going to speak about?' I said, 'Who knows? Just like you, I also sit and listen!'

Here all I have in front of me are saṁskṛit verses. I read the verse and speak whatever comes forth spontaneously; that's all. Just like you, I also sit and listen. Just as you are enriched, I am also enriched. Both of us grow. Only an egoistic person thinks that the disciple is benefited. No! The Master also benefits, he is also enriched. He can become a Master only when a disciple happens!

Only when a child is given birth, the woman is called a mother.

Only when a disciple becomes enlightened, the Guru becomes a Master. Otherwise, he is not a Master.

If the woman is unable to give birth to a child, she cannot be a mother. Similarly, until you become enlightened, I cannot be called a Master. Be very clear, by sharing this knowledge, I also grow. The per-son who shares with simplicity and humility, who is very clear, very integrated and authentic about the whole truth of sharing and is not caught in the false ego, his dāna, his sharing of thoughts is sātvika and is related to satva guṇa—attribute of goodness.

When you ask questions, if I don't know the answer, I say I don't know the answer. People ask, 'What is this? Swamiji, you are enlightened and you say you don't know.'

I tell them, 'Only an Enlightened Master says I don't know. Only he has the courage to speak the truth. If a normal person doesn't know, he minces words. He puts some words here and there and confuses the audience.'

Confusing the audience is not a complicated job. It is easy because they are already confused! There is nothing more to be done. Just use some words, that's all. And it's not a big thing. Only an Enlightened person is courageous enough to say, 'I don't know' when he doesn't know. To answer a question without knowledge doesn't require Enlightenment. It needs foolish hypocrisy. The straightforward, integrated and authentic approach to the truth is what Kṛṣṇa calls sātvika dāna.

Here, in whatever way I experience the truth, I simply express it and share it—authentically, without reservation. That is sātvika dāna accord-ing to Kṛṣṇa.

And He goes on to explain rajas dāna and tamas dāna. Many times, the dāna is not given voluntarily. Or they may give something away as a part of a ritual. For example, in a Hindu wedding the giving away of a bride is called kanyā dāna.

Earlier I spoke about people who give their property for charitable purposes in their will. What choice do they have? They cannot carry it with them. In many cases they may have fought with their children and decided not to leave them anything. So instead of giving away the wealth to their children, these people give it away as charity. Such acts are not acts of charity. They are done with ulterior motives.

There are others whose charity it is better not to accept. Kṛṣṇa refers to this as giving in ignorance, tamas. People will come with money not declared for tax as earned income and gift that to the ashram. They will use it as a tax saving strategy. What for?

Often, disciples ask why I am not accepting donations from very wealthy people who come to the ashram seeking help. Unless the person stays with me for a year or more and shows his integrity, authenticity and responsibility towards enriching the mission, it is difficult to accept any-thing from that person. Why become bonded to people whose motives are not merely selfish but self-defeating?

Parāśakti (Existence) guides the mission and She takes care. What She cannot give, no one else can give. What She decides not to give, who else can give?

In conclusion, Kṛṣṇa moves on to a different plane altogether.

So far He explained the distinctions between sacrifice, austerity and charity—yajñas tapas tathā dānaṁ teṣāṁ bhedaṁ imaṁ śṛṇu (17.7). He clarified what needs to be done and how. He spelled out the different modes based on the nature of people in relation to performing sacrifice, austerity and charity.

Please understand that all kinds of food, penance, sacrifice or charity fall into the basic three categories explained by Kṛṣṇa—sātvic, rājasic and tāmasic. These translate as the modes of goodness, passion and ignorance. But the important thing is that as long as they are done in the materialistic world, they are conditioned. When they are done from the space of completion with the attitude of gratitude to the Divine and Existence, only then you encounter spiritual progress or spiritual elevation. Our scriptures explain that anything done in the nature of rajas or tamas cannot give the ultimate result. Only the act done from the space of satva or goodness gives the final result. One who does such acts without this awareness has temporary results but not the final result.

In the days of Mahābhārat, sacrificial rituals were a part and parcel of daily life. This is not the case today. The brāhmaṇas (highly learned sect of people) were the keepers of the sacred knowledge that connected the physical ritual with the metaphysical truth expressed by the great sages in the Vedas. They were the keepers of the flame, in a real sense, since most vedic rituals invoked and addressed the fire energy.

Sacrifices or yajña were directed towards enriching the elemental energies and celestial beings. Austerity or tapas was directed towards enriching your own self. Charity or dāna was directed towards enriching those around you.

The brāhmaṇas were expected to lead an austere and charitable life in keeping with the spirit of their profession. In this chapter Kṛṣṇa elaborates on these concepts so that everyone can move forward on the path to completion or liberation. It is not only for the brāhmaṇas, it is also for kṣatriyas, vaiśyas and śūdras—the other castes. Any member of any caste is qualified for completion if he follows these principles. Completion has nothing to do with birth.

The prime requirement is authenticity, śraddha. Śraddha refers as well to the understanding that the enriching act of sacrifice, austerity or charity, yajña, tapas or dāna is not directed towards oneself or a material goal. They are directed to the enrichment of Supreme consciousness.

Commit to complete with yourself and others. When I say ‘others’, I don’t mean only the friends and family and relatives who are present in your life. Complete with your kula devatā (family deity), complete with your kula guru (family guru), complete with your house, complete with the plants with which you are living, complete with your pet, complete with the different energies of the Cosmos, complete with everything! Continuously complete and continuously enrich others!

The real scale and measure of your completion is whether you are able to move the others’ space and enrich others and life continuously. If you are not enriching constantly, be very clear, the completion has not yet happened in you.

I tell you, when completion happened in me, I just realized the authentic selflessness, śraddha. All our selflessness is also packed in our selfishness. All our selflessness is packed in our selfishness. When I completed, I discovered the authentic selflessness and enriching which never tires me. If you are getting tired, please be very clear, still you have incompletions in you. You have to complete! You have to complete!

Listen! This is the scale—having a tireless mind. The being happened in me is just because my enriching is out of pure selflessness. I tell you, once you complete, you will suddenly realize, ‘Why should I live now?’— ‘For enriching! Nothing else...Nothing else!’ Complete! Complete! Complete!

In the last three verses Kṛṣṇa provides the technique to achieve this space of completion that expresses as the space of enriching, the shift of space from self to Self. He provides the method by which anyone can surrender the results of his activities, the fruits of his action called karma phala to the Divine. He provides the tool in the form of the invocation, Oṃ Tat Sat.

The three words ‘Oṁ Tat Sat ‘are the words of the Divine.

This is why these words have such great importance or significance. Any person doing enriching or working with the space of addressing Oṁ Tat Sat will be with Existence, the Divine consciousness.

These three words simply imply: ‘I offer all to that Truth. I surrender everything to that Divine. Let that be the Truth.’ This is the Mahā-vākya, the great truth, handed down by the Master to Arjuna as the technique to ensure śraddha, authenticity in all activities of sacrifice, austerity and charity.

Please understand that any action, whether penance, charity or sacrifice, has no meaning when the purpose is not to achieve the Ultimate, the Divine.

The final aim in all the Vedas is to gain the experience of Kṛṣṇa or the supreme consciousness. No success, completion, fulfillment or happiness is possible without following this principle.

The Guru or spiritual Master is the only being who can enrich you and guide you into the space of completion to make your life successful and fulfilled.

Understand, people are conditioned to worship all kinds of deities or demi-gods or spirits right from birth. This is simply because their na-ture is from one of the three guṇas. Among the three guṇas, satva guṇa is considered the best and higher than the other guṇas, namely rajas and tamas. But the path of achieving the ultimate consciousness, the understanding of Kṛṣṇa, goes beyond and transcends all three guṇas.

This is where the role of a Guru or a spiritual Master is important. He directs and leads you on the path of complete cognition for an experience of the ultimate consciousness. Such an understanding, such a perception, leads to faith and ultimately to love for the Divine. This is the purpose and final goal of life.

Let us all pray to Parabrahma Kṛṣṇa with all authenticity to give us the experience of this chapter of the Gītā that leads to attainment of the ultimate consciousness, Nityānanda!

Let us all experience Śraddha, the authenticity and imbibe and experience the truths of Parabrahma Kṛṣṇa.

Let us pray to Him to give us all the authenticity and experience of the truth that He is teaching through the Gītā, to all of us, and let Him make us experience and establish ourselves in Eternal Bliss, Nityānanda!

Thus ends the seventeenth chapter named Śraddhatraya Vibhāga Yogaḥ, ‘The Yoga of Discerning the Three-Fold Faith,’ of the Bhagavad Gītā Upaniṣad, Brahmavidyā Yogaśāstra, the scripture of yoga dealing with the science of the Absolute in the form of Śrī Kṛṣṇārjuna saṃvād, dialogue between Śrī Kṛṣṇa and Arjuna.