Thoughts on the Bhagavad Gita (Chapter 14: Verses 22 - 27)

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Hello and welcome to The Bearded Mystic Podcast where we are waking and growing in oneness.

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And I'm your host Rahul N Singh.

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I've been a spiritual seeker for over 20 years with a deep interest in non duality.

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Today we're continuing on with my thoughts on the Bhagavad Gita after like a year's break.

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Thank you for joining today and for taking out the time to listen or watch this podcast.

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A few things to talk about before we begin the episode.

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com.

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Now let's start with the prayer.

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Hari Om Tat Sat.

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The manifested reality that is Hari and the Formless Absolute Reality that is Om are both the Absolute Truth that is.

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So let's do a recap of verse 21, just the verse itself.

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Arjuna said, O Lord, What are the characteristics of a person which makes them transcend the three gunas?

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How do they behave?

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By what pursuit do they rise above the three gunas?

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So in verse 22, Sri Krishna says to Arjuna, Those who do not resent the rise of either Sattva's brilliance, or Rajas's activity, or Tamas's delusion, and also does not yearn for the subsidence of others.

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So, you know, Arjuna does ask a very important question.

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If the three gunas are the way we naturally interact with life, then what does this look like?

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Sri Krishna does not wait, but he goes straight into the response.

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What we find in our daily interactions is that Whether something is good or bad, we kind of resent it in some way.

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This resentment does not allow us to let life flower into something beautiful.

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Instead, we either feel that we do not deserve it, or we feel that it's not worth the value that we have superimposed upon ourselves.

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When we feel we do not deserve it, even with some faux humility, we are avoiding nature from presenting itself.

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We try to avoid doing what is natural for ourselves.

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Sri Krishna starts with those who do not resent the rise of sattva's brilliance.

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Sattva is pure and clear.

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Everything shines brilliantly here, it is radiant.

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Everyone wants to look pure, but some may dress in white because they think this is what purity represents, but frankly, what we wear is not enough to bring about sattva.

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Our mind must be cleansed and this only occurs with the knowledge and realization of Formless Awareness.

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The more we remain in Formless Awareness, when we are able to stay in that nature and flow with that nature, then we see the brilliance of sattva.

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We will experience the clarity of body mind intellect, physical and psychological clarity.

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But is this possible for the body mind intellect to remain in sattva?

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No.

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This is when resentment can come across.

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If we go into the hyperactivity of rajas or the delusion and heaviness of tamas, we want to go back to sattva.

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And this is what Sri Krishna means by saying we do not yearn for the subsidence of any of them.

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So how are we meant to be?

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We accept it all.

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Sometimes we are in tamas, let that pass.

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Sometimes we are in sattva, let that pass.

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If we dislike any of the gunas, we are getting back into the likes and dislikes and this shows our mind is not in sthita prajna, a mind steadied in wisdom.

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That wisdom remember is the Gyana, this Formless Awareness.

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A situation may come up that you may love being in the state of hyperactivity.

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You want to keep doing something or thinking about something.

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The mind does not stop.

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It's always thinking of the world.

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What am I doing this weekend?

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How do I deal with this?

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What will I eat?

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What will happen if this happens or that happens?

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Now the state of sattva, despite being beautiful, and brilliant is not appreciated.

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For someone in rajas, they will resent this state because everything that needs to be done gets done by the flow of existence of prakriti.

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So you see where rajas does not like this.

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So life is about acceptance and this is how we need to approach it.

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Now verse 23, They who remain seated with lofty indifference not shaken by the interplay of the gunas and who remain stable and unwavering understanding that gunas alone are operating.

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Sri Krishna is describing what we need to be doing here.

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First of all, we must within us have some acceptance that we are Brahman, we are Formless Awareness.

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Our identity is not with the body and mind intellect.

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Our intellect always supports this wisdom, but remember, the intellect can become dull by tamas too.

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So to keep it shining, we must stay in Formless Awareness.

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Now, Sri Krishna describes lofty indifference and we can use a real life example here.

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Now, when you are on a plane and you look down at what looks like a vibrant city, maybe it's New York or London, now you're looking at it from above.

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The millions of lives in that city, you do not care, nor do you care about what is happening in the dwellers of the city.

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You are indifferent to it.

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Someone got the wrong coffee, the bagel was something they really looked forward to and are enjoying every bite.

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You are indifferent to that because that's not your experience, you're not dealing with being in the city, you're seeing it from right above.

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Likewise, we must see life, experience life, in the same way.

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You are in sattva, be indifferent.

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You're in tamas, be indifferent.

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Don't be arrogant in sattva and don't be depressed with tamas.

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Both are just aspects of nature, modifying and therefore they're not who you really are.

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Which is this Atman , this Formless Awareness.

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Let the gunas play their games.

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Let them intercede and supersede each other.

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Do not be worried by it.

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If you are in sattva, do not worry if the mind starts chattering.

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Let it happen.

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Do not be perturbed or disturbed by it.

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Do not feel hesitation or agitation.

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Let the gunas play their timeline out.

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Remember, it is not you.

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Our task is to remain stable, to be aware of it and just be in the peace that is Brahman, in the supreme, in Krishna, in our Guru, in Formless Awareness.

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This is all we need to stabilise in if we feel a ripple of instability.

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So once we are stable we can observe and then our understanding cannot break at all that this is just the gunas operating.

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If you feel hyperactive, if you feel lethargic, or if you feel at peace, all these are the states of the guna.

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We must remember our own true nature, which is Brahman, Which Awareness Verse 24.

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They who remain equipoised in sorrow and happiness, rest firmly in oneself, considers a clod of earth stone and a piece of gold with equal importance is evenly disposed towards a desirable and detestable poise, accepting praise and blame alike.

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When we face sorrow or we face very happy times, we live in two states of both of them.

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One state is that we can't wait for sorrow to end and the other is we can't wait for happiness to arrive.

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The other aspect is we do not want happiness to end and the other is that sorrow is waiting around the corner.

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The sage sees both of them and is always centred and stabilised in their true self, in this Formless Awareness.

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They understand that these are nothing but modifications of the mind, determined by the consequences of actions that we take.

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But the true self that we are is never affected by happiness or sorrow.

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It is not impacted by any of these two states.

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But remember, human nature, driven by the ego, will be led by both.

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I've seen it.

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We get excessive in both sorrow and happiness, especially when society expects us to.

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We get happy that we got the Mercedes, the BMW or the Porsche, but we see that happiness die down.

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But why do we get happy when we purchase it?

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Because we think it helps our personal brand.

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But say something happens to the car and you have to take it to the mechanics at the dealership.

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The thing you were showing off is showing you its price too when it comes to fixing the problem.

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I'm not saying do not buy such cars, but if we are buying it because we just want to drive such a car, that is fine, but if we buy it to prove our wealth to others, its value is already decreased, hence Sri Krishna says, be equipoised, be balanced, just stay in your own true nature.

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Then he gives us a very beautiful example.

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Something to show us that it's a tangible practice.

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See a clod of earth, stone, and piece of gold with equal importance.

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Without the earth, the stone and gold cannot exist.

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Say it is a nice diamond ring that you have both diamond and the gold needs the earth to be formed.

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So understand that it is from the earth that this diamond and gold is there in the form of a ring for you.

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Appreciate all of it and see all as the same.

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But we are the opposite.

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If we know that a diamond has more value than gold then we see it differently.

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But this is for the market to see the difference.

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We are not the market, we are the Atma remember.

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One thing I want to add here, because we live in a world where there is so much consumerism that it is crazy.

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We buy things but we have no value for it.

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We just buy whatever some influencer on social media tells us, whatever we think we need, all with the impulse of one button.

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We need to stop this behaviour if we want to learn sacrifice, surrender.

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It is these little things.

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So see, the clod of earth with equal value as gold and precious stones.

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These are from the earth, from the universe.

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It's all a manifestation of Brahman.

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Ultimately, Brahman is all of it.

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So this is how to see all with equal importance.

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Therefore, you automatically establish by not being inclined towards desirable and detestable.

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So it is all about raag and dvesh here.

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We do not chase the desirable and avoid the detestable.

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Life will bring both, no matter if you're in poverty or if you're a billionaire, so the sage surrenders both.

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They will not chase the desirable, nor would they avoid the detestable.

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They will be centered.

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We will not detest the unfavorable things, nor will we desire only favorable things.

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A sage is balanced because this Atma, this Formless Awareness, does not require anything, nor does it avoid anything.

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Just one reminder of Formless Awareness, we should automatically reach a level of poise, of balance, of centeredness.

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Now the next bit is a challenging one, accepting praise and blame alike.

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How can we do this?

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In today's times, especially as a content creator, I have received both praise and blame.

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Some praise me for the very same thing that I am criticised for.

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But we have to understand, all of us, when it comes to life, anyone praising us, anyone blaming or criticising us, is doing so to the body and mind, never to the True Self or Formless Awareness.

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We must remember this, these words that are thrown to us, whether lovingly or with harshness.

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We are to go beyond the instant reactions.

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We should look at the words and discern, with our strong intellect, established in Formless Awareness, in steadied wisdom, whether they have any merit at all.

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If they do keep doing what is good, if they do not, then keep trying to improve.

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But see both the same, both praise and blame, they are two sides of the same coin.

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When we were kids, our parents played the game of praise and blame.

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Our siblings play the game, our teachers play the game, then we grow up, then our workplace plays that game, our friends play the game, so does our love interest, and then our kids grow to play that very same game and we play that game with them.

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See, Sri Krishna wants to break this cycle.

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This game of praise and blame has to come to an end.

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He's not saying for you not to compliment others.

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We must compliment and provide feedback.

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But do so with love, with compassion, with a feeling of equality, having acceptance of the same.

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When it is given to us bringing compassion and understanding rather than harshly reacting.

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Verse 25 They who are even towards honour and dishonour, impartial towards friends and enemies, and has renounced all sense of undertaking, is said to have transcended the gunas.

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Sri Krishna is continuing and relatively the same thing is said here, remaining the same, being even towards honour and dishonour.

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We mentioned this briefly in the previous verse, when we are honoured we want it to remain, when we are dishonoured then we want it to end.

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These also bring in their own reactions.

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For example, if we feel we are being dishonoured, it will keep playing on in our mind.

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We do not get invited somewhere, we feel we're not being honoured here, not respected, we then get angry and we then ask other people if they were invited, all these feelings come up and they are unnecessary.

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A wise person is beyond all these things, these social games, they're beyond them.

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They do not see as honour or dishonour.

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So how can we be impartial with friends and enemies?

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It sounds so difficult.

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One thing to note, put family in the group of friends here, as we are friendly towards family.

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But yes, family can be enemies too.

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We feel so comfortable with our friends, but with our enemies, we tend to avoid them.

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We cannot stand them and we are happy to stand with our friends, but you see, even friends do not last, even enemies do not last, everything modifies.

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You must have experienced this yourself.

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When you can be best friends with someone and suddenly you fall out with them and you cannot be around that very same person.

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We have seen when people who we disliked end up becoming our friends..

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Sri Krishna is telling us to see both alike and to be impartial.

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And trust me, this is good advice.

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Now let's look at this in the perspective for Arjuna.

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He has to fight this war, so he needs to see all alike, if he is to be mentally ready for the carnage that is to ensue.

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But what about for us?

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If we were impartial to friends and enemies, then what does this bring?

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We are able to remove bias first and foremost.

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We then see that if something is suggested, we hold the word or advice to its merit.

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rather than to who said it.

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So satsang, which is the company of the holy, it helps with this.

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When we hear others speak, we just look at the words rather than the personality.

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This is challenging to do but we must try.

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Being impartial is important because if relationships are subject to modification, then remember a friend can become an enemy and an enemy can become a friend.

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So therefore, keep your secrets to yourself.

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There is no need to share it.

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We have seen it when there is a breakdown in relationships, the very vulnerabilities you entrusted your loved ones to know, they turn those vulnerabilities against you.

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Also, the highest value in our lives should be the truth.

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So if we stay with the truth, regardless of the messenger, the truth matters.

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Sometimes we blur facts because of whom we listen to and our relationship with them.

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Listen to all.

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Use your intellect.

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And surrender it all.

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Go to Formless Awareness.

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Renounce all sense of doing action or performance.

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Just let go of it.

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We must renounce not only the fruits of our actions, but even that we are doing the action.

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Remember, the Atma does not do any action.

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Only the body and mind does.

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And we are Formless Awareness and we use compassion towards the actions of the body and mind.

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A very subtle point but important to understand.

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Now sometimes people may say that can a criminal renounce all sense of undertaking, of performance?

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How is that a good thing?

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But when there is malice, there cannot be renunciation.

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It can be disassociation but not renouncing psychologically.

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A criminal will be doing things from an ego, hence they cannot truly renounce.

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So renounce all your actions to the supreme.

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This is pure being.

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This is the way to be.

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So whoever can practice what we've just spoken of in the past few verses has gone beyond the gunas of sattva, rajas and tamas, they have transcended.

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Formless Awareness is beyond the gunas.

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The one studied in wisdom, stabilized in wisdom, has transcended the gunas.

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Therefore conquer and sever the identification of body, mind, intellect and understand you have always been your true nature of Formless Awareness.

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Verse 26 Whoever worships Me, the Supreme, with unswerving devotion, transcends these gunas very well and is fit to become Brahman.

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So, who is fit to be Brahman?

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Or better asked, who is willing to realise they are Brahman?

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Who is ready to take the full plunge into this realisation that they are nothing but Formless Awareness?

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To take our full efforts to this requires our full attention.

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How can we exercise this attention?

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How can we bring it to its fullness?

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How can we expand it?

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The answer is given here by Sri Krishna.

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The fitness of such a person is seen through one way when we worship the Supreme with unswerving devotion.

00:20:11.305 --> 00:20:17.474
Right now, can we say that our devotion is steady, composed and fully directed towards the Supreme?

00:20:17.994 --> 00:20:23.025
Or is our devotion just some entertainment for a few hours in the week?

00:20:23.355 --> 00:20:24.434
Or just a ritual?

00:20:25.065 --> 00:20:26.765
Is it based on conditions?

00:20:27.505 --> 00:20:30.515
Sri Krishna wants us to be unswerving in our devotion.

00:20:31.625 --> 00:20:36.940
We do not take quick drifts into materialism again, into Maya.

00:20:37.460 --> 00:20:43.349
Our mind must be consumed with worshipping Brahman, this Formless Awareness, being in Formless Awareness.

00:20:43.799 --> 00:20:45.170
So let's contemplate.

00:20:45.170 --> 00:20:47.099
There is Saguna Bhakti and Nirguna Bhakti.

00:20:47.630 --> 00:20:49.750
And some of us can do both, three ways.

00:20:50.410 --> 00:20:54.259
Most can do Saguna Bhakti and only a rare few can do Nirguna Bhakti.

00:20:55.000 --> 00:20:58.150
So let's explore the three of these together.

00:20:58.400 --> 00:21:12.289
Think of which way suits you and be unswerving towards it, like how you drive very safely that you are not swerve in one direction to the other, you have full control over the car because you are giving your full attention and focus on the driving.

00:21:12.670 --> 00:21:15.250
So let's go into these three forms of bhakti.

00:21:15.500 --> 00:21:16.970
First is Saguna Bhakti.

00:21:17.299 --> 00:21:26.640
This is devotion to a form, to an Isht Devta, seeing the Guru as the eternal, worshipping even Sri Krishna, or this is devotion of the form.

00:21:27.059 --> 00:21:27.769
An image.

00:21:28.089 --> 00:21:31.910
Even though this is a first step, but it is a very important first step.

00:21:32.319 --> 00:21:39.670
When we can be devotional to a form, it opens the door to seeing the whole manifestation as a form of the divine.

00:21:40.089 --> 00:21:41.740
There has to be an expansion.

00:21:41.970 --> 00:21:45.960
You visualize the Guru and then you expand the Guru to be the face of everything.

00:21:46.420 --> 00:21:57.420
Then automatically, 24x7 is the darshan of the Guru, or we may praise the many attributes of the Guru or of Ishwara, the personal aspect of the divine.

00:21:57.799 --> 00:22:02.750
We may read the Vishnu Sahasranama and enjoy the many attributes of Vishnu.

00:22:03.049 --> 00:22:09.730
We may read this very Bhagavad Gita and immerse ourselves in the Virat Roop of Sri Krishna.

00:22:10.289 --> 00:22:16.009
This is a great first step, and it allows the intellect to transcend beyond itself.

00:22:16.599 --> 00:22:23.670
If devotion doesn't transcend the intellect, it remains like a ritual, a practice.

00:22:23.920 --> 00:22:29.319
The point is to go from practice to a living reality, and this first step does this.

00:22:29.720 --> 00:22:35.575
There is something about seeing the object, the form of your devotion being manifest in this universe.

00:22:36.664 --> 00:22:46.305
Some people find that saguna bhakti is difficult for them, but I have noticed that even if they jumped to Nirguna Bhakti, it is challenging for them to stabilize.

00:22:46.765 --> 00:22:54.775
Somewhere, the vasanas, within the latent impressions, they arise again, and this could have been dealt with during the Saguna Bhakti step.

00:22:54.948 --> 00:23:00.468
When you offer it all, even your ego to the divine, then naturally, where will the mind go next?

00:23:01.157 --> 00:23:06.317
There is something about seeing the object, the form of your devotion, being manifest in the universe.

00:23:06.538 --> 00:23:09.553
Even seeing the vasana as the divine.

00:23:09.942 --> 00:23:10.573
Weird, right?

00:23:10.573 --> 00:23:11.593
But it works.

00:23:11.780 --> 00:23:17.111
The second one is the immersing of the Saguna Bhakti into Nirguna Bhakti.

00:23:17.570 --> 00:23:21.230
And when this is experienced, bliss starts to dawn upon us.

00:23:21.530 --> 00:23:25.131
We will get sprinkles of bliss and transcendence at the same time.

00:23:25.510 --> 00:23:33.641
My personal opinion is that Nirguna Bhakti arisen from Saguna bhakti gives limitless bliss, but this will be a point for the next step.

00:23:34.030 --> 00:23:36.921
The second step, let's understand it.

00:23:36.921 --> 00:23:49.635
Now we all love our form of devotion, whether that's our Guru, Sri Krishna, Shiv Ji, the Divine Mother, anyone, and we have started to experience that this divinity is manifested in all objects.

00:23:50.066 --> 00:23:54.675
No object can escape this divinity, and you perceive it with all the senses.

00:23:55.326 --> 00:24:04.885
Now when you've immersed in this for some good time, a single thought will appear in the mind, and that is, is there a difference between myself and the divine?

00:24:05.760 --> 00:24:08.221
Is there a subject object relationship?

00:24:08.861 --> 00:24:12.080
In Saguna Bhakti, there is still a relationship of two.

00:24:12.641 --> 00:24:15.971
There is a union like a marriage, but it is dualistic.

00:24:16.780 --> 00:24:19.371
There is me and my object of devotion.

00:24:20.320 --> 00:24:23.290
Even that object of devotion is powered by me alone.

00:24:24.090 --> 00:24:28.851
So this intense moment between Saguna and Nirguna, those questions appear.

00:24:28.891 --> 00:24:31.538
You can sense the oneness and you feel the lightness of it.

00:24:31.949 --> 00:24:37.538
You start to see the forms disappearing into formlessness, but the forms do reappear.

00:24:38.719 --> 00:24:43.848
Even the ego can come up here and ask if there's any room for it.

00:24:44.159 --> 00:24:47.949
This little period of Saguna and Nirguna, stay with it.

00:24:48.358 --> 00:24:49.848
Don't force nirguna bhakti.

00:24:50.318 --> 00:24:51.318
There is no need to.

00:24:51.788 --> 00:24:56.628
Be in the natural flow of it because this complete oneness only happens in saheja bhaav.

00:24:56.719 --> 00:24:58.528
It is done very naturally.

00:24:58.913 --> 00:25:03.463
Very uniquely, and once you enter into Nirguna, you will remain there.

00:25:04.003 --> 00:25:06.653
So, what is Nirguna Bhakti, the third step?

00:25:06.834 --> 00:25:12.844
The highest form of bhakti, the most beautiful, and yet only a rare few can do this.

00:25:13.304 --> 00:25:25.848
This is when Saguna dissolves completely, and the idea of an 'I' practicing devotion disappears, the ego identity is silenced, the object of devotion dissolves into Nirguna.

00:25:26.499 --> 00:25:47.778
It appears that that there is no thing here, nothing at all, no space, no time, no image, no color, no boundary, all sensory perception rescinds into itself and is seen as empty, it is absolute formlessness, even your body is dissolved away, the mind is dissolved too, so just formlessness.

00:25:48.548 --> 00:25:56.288
Before when you saw the form of the divine in all forms, Here you experienced the formless in all forms.

00:25:56.439 --> 00:26:04.199
In essence, you know that the true state of the forms are formlessness, and the only thing that remains is this pure Formless Awareness.

00:26:04.259 --> 00:26:07.759
There's no identity here, it's a complete merging.

00:26:08.179 --> 00:26:10.098
It is completely non-dual.

00:26:10.308 --> 00:26:12.833
Here we transcend the gunas completely.

00:26:13.363 --> 00:26:17.012
Here, only God is, Nirankar is, Nirguna Brahman is.

00:26:17.133 --> 00:26:18.752
This is highest devotion.

00:26:20.478 --> 00:26:23.298
This devotee is in the world but not of it.

00:26:23.548 --> 00:26:32.428
It appears they do Saguna Bhakti but remember, all forms are now formless, nothing but the formless, the attribute less is perceived.

00:26:32.567 --> 00:26:36.327
Here, bliss is immeasurable, limitless, independent.

00:26:36.758 --> 00:26:41.018
This is the absolute state of oneness, of Jeevan Mukti.

00:26:41.298 --> 00:26:47.607
My experience is that the Bhagavad Gita leads us to this Nirguna Bhakti where forms exist.

00:26:48.028 --> 00:26:53.337
But the understanding is so clear that it is the Formless that nothing can shake you.

00:26:54.208 --> 00:27:01.778
What people think is nothing is truly everything, or to be more precise, the only thing that is.

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So all these three steps or three aspects of bhakti are great, but remember the stages.

00:27:10.577 --> 00:27:13.634
We are to transcend from form into formlessness.

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This way we may be unswerving in our devotion towards the Divine.

00:27:20.144 --> 00:27:21.364
Verse 27.

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I am the abode of immortal and immutable Brahman, also of eternal dharma as well as ultimate happiness.

00:27:31.894 --> 00:27:37.003
And this is what Nirguna Bhakti is about, knowing that the form is the formless.

00:27:37.193 --> 00:27:50.019
Again a lot of people would think that Sri Krishna is saying this about his own form that should be worshipped, So many people fail to understand what Sri Krishna is trying to portray.

00:27:50.219 --> 00:27:52.778
He understands that his true nature is Brahman.

00:27:53.179 --> 00:27:58.449
There's no doubt about Brahman being the ultimate reality and Krishna is that.

00:27:58.848 --> 00:28:05.435
But for some reason, people still fall under that trap that it's Krishna the form that is supreme.

00:28:06.381 --> 00:28:18.411
There's nothing wrong with this, but to capture the full essence instead of part of the essence, we have to understand that Sri Krishna is the Guru here, and the Guru is a direct representation of the Absolute, of Brahman.

00:28:19.060 --> 00:28:21.881
Look at the attributes that he speaks of in this verse.

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He's obviously talking about himself as this Formless Awareness, as Nirguna Brahman, and nothing less than that.

00:28:30.681 --> 00:28:38.986
He says that he is the abode, This is directly the moment where Saguna and Nirguna bhakti merge with each other.

00:28:40.076 --> 00:28:46.276
Before we go further, the highest understanding with this verse is that the abode is Brahman itself.

00:28:46.576 --> 00:28:50.296
But anyway, Sri Krishna says that he's the abode of immortal.

00:28:50.665 --> 00:29:00.236
Here, there is everlasting existence because here there is no limited self, there is only immortality, there is no cycle of birth and death.

00:29:00.976 --> 00:29:05.516
Now this next word is important, the immutable, the changeless.

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See anything that moves, changes, Sri Krishna is speaking, there is movement.

00:29:11.000 --> 00:29:11.871
It is changing.

00:29:11.990 --> 00:29:13.280
This is the nature of form.

00:29:13.840 --> 00:29:15.971
You can be a humble seeker or an avatar.

00:29:16.151 --> 00:29:17.080
You are changing.

00:29:17.461 --> 00:29:21.090
But this Brahman, this Formless Awareness is changeless.

00:29:21.090 --> 00:29:22.641
This Atman is changes.

00:29:22.901 --> 00:29:24.010
It does not modify.

00:29:24.010 --> 00:29:24.881
It does not age.

00:29:24.911 --> 00:29:27.580
It does not change in any way, shape, or form.

00:29:28.211 --> 00:29:32.230
For something to be changeless, it has to be formless, as we know.

00:29:32.816 --> 00:29:39.155
Even seemingly changeless things like rocks do change, they erode in the great expanse of time.

00:29:39.251 --> 00:29:59.049
So when we do understand that Sri Krishna's abode, dwelling place, is of the immortal, the timeless, the immutable, the changeless Brahman, then we need to transform our Saguna Bhakti to Nirguna Bhakti It is Eternal Dharma, the Sanatan, the everlasting, because righteousness always prevails.

00:29:59.569 --> 00:30:06.039
The Dharma here is a dharma of understanding that truth is beyond time and it does not change at all.

00:30:06.309 --> 00:30:07.549
The truth is Brahman.

00:30:07.599 --> 00:30:08.829
The truth is formless.

00:30:08.829 --> 00:30:12.460
The truth is Sat-Chit-Ananda existence consciousness, bliss.

00:30:13.325 --> 00:30:21.492
So when we read any scripture, like the Bhagavad Gita, we see the truth because we know with the passage of time it will not dwindle away.

00:30:21.887 --> 00:30:38.018
If you look at when people doubt spirituality, they only doubt the cultural aspects, but one cannot doubt the highest reality that is spoken of because to get to it, one needs to understand it, and when you understand it, you become it, so to refute it would be impossible.

00:30:38.397 --> 00:30:48.637
For thousands of years, the message of the Gita still inspires because it is talking about how to attain either self realisation or God realisation.

00:30:49.288 --> 00:30:51.577
Something interesting can be said here.

00:30:51.897 --> 00:31:01.617
We can read the Gita to be better humans but I implore you that we use the Gita as a spiritual map that leads to our own inner divinity.

00:31:01.938 --> 00:31:07.738
Where we start as Arjuna but we end up being Brahman through Sri Krishna's eternal words.

00:31:08.137 --> 00:31:18.403
The eternal dharma is also the same dharma of every living being, to understand what it truly is which is this Formless Awareness.

00:31:19.441 --> 00:31:25.653
The eternal dharma is living with the natural order of life and in Sikhism they call this the hukam.

00:31:26.992 --> 00:31:33.492
Those that live in dharma or hukam are true self realized or god realized beings.

00:31:34.047 --> 00:31:37.987
Then this is the abode of ultimate happiness, of anand, of bliss.

00:31:38.616 --> 00:31:43.987
Before knowing bliss, we know the temporary nature of happiness related to the body and mind.

00:31:44.396 --> 00:31:48.336
But when it transcends beyond, we experience bliss.

00:31:48.807 --> 00:31:52.196
One can never experience bliss as in relation to the body and mind.

00:31:52.747 --> 00:31:54.997
It is transcendent of both of those things.

00:31:55.856 --> 00:32:03.257
So when we understand that true reality is Brahman, Formless Awareness, then we are in the abode of ultimate happiness.

00:32:03.497 --> 00:32:07.057
And we can never leave that, we can never depart from that.

00:32:07.376 --> 00:32:13.221
Bliss is so tangible that it appears intangible, but once experienced you can never doubt it.

00:32:13.872 --> 00:32:24.971
Hence, once on the spiritual path, we may get a slight shower of bliss appear in the mind for some moment, but enlightenment, jivanmukti, is when we are fully immersed in the ocean of bliss.

00:32:25.271 --> 00:32:29.872
Then there is only bliss that surrounds because only Formless Awareness remains.

00:32:30.241 --> 00:32:40.162
So let's, let us understand this a bit more, when we understand that the jiva and brahman are one and the same, this is the ultimate realisation.

00:32:40.541 --> 00:32:47.176
If the jiva believes it is separate, then then it will believe that it will perish, or it changes, or it modifies.

00:32:47.836 --> 00:32:50.186
The jiva is one and the same as Brahman.

00:32:50.636 --> 00:32:58.967
And when we realize that the inner consciousness that we have, this jiva that we have is one and the same as Brahman, then we can enter the abode.

00:32:59.247 --> 00:33:03.207
Otherwise, our dwelling place is the body and mind.

00:33:03.747 --> 00:33:10.936
But with enlightenment, with the darshan of the Supreme, the jiva's dwelling place is Brahman itself.

00:33:11.707 --> 00:33:12.086
So remember.

00:33:13.251 --> 00:33:25.632
that Sri Krishna is talking about himself as the Supreme Reality of Nirguna Brahman and when we understand this, Jeevan Mukti is literally in this moment itself.

00:33:26.571 --> 00:33:29.777
And this leads us to the end of chapter 14.

00:33:31.047 --> 00:33:39.047
Let me know if you have any feedback or you would like to share any questions that we can answer in future episodes.

00:33:39.497 --> 00:33:40.936
Do not forget to subscribe.

00:33:40.936 --> 00:33:42.826
Do comment about your views on this.

00:33:43.136 --> 00:33:47.707
Leave a review and share this podcast with your friends and family.

00:33:47.737 --> 00:33:51.747
Do take care and let's end with the mantra that we began with.

00:33:52.166 --> 00:34:02.997
Hari Om Tat Sat the manifested reality that is Hari and the Formless Absolute Reality that is or Om are both the Absolute Truth that is.

00:34:03.117 --> 00:34:04.077
Namaste everyone.

00:34:04.137 --> 00:34:05.067
See you next time.