Thoughts on The Bhagavad Gita (Chapter 4: Verse 1

Transcript

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Hello, and welcome to the episode of The Bearded Mystic Podcast and I'm your host Rahul N Singh.

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Thank you for taking out the time today to either watch or listen to this podcast episode.

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Today we will be continuing on with my thoughts on the Bhagavad Gita.

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But before we do start.

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Another reminder that if you would like to support The Bearded Mystic Podcast and you've loved what you've listened to please do sign up to my Patreon page.

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Details are in the show notes in the video description below.

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And if you're interested in meditation and would like to join a meditation class, that takes place every Saturday virtually on zoom, you can find those details in the show notes and video description below.

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So let's do a recap of the last episode that we did on my thoughts on the Bhagavad Gita.

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In the last episode, we looked at Chapter Three Verses 40 43, and that ended Chapter Three for us.

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Sri Krishna told us about what happens when those distorted desires hides within our senses, our mind and our intellect.

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And therefore it ruins our relationships and connection with others.

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We failed to see our true self, our Atman, and we do actions that only cause harm and destruction.

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By following the niyamas, we will be able to control our bodily senses, therefore removing any desires that may affect our path towards spiritual liberation.

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Sri Krishna guides us on what is the ultimate process of what is superior and this is something we must adhere to in order to be successful, which is to remember that we are this Atman, we are this Brahman.

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Sri Krishna guides us that we must let the mind be conquered by the real king of the self, which is Brahman, Pure Awareness, or as we often refer it to here as Formless Awareness.

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Today we will be beginning chapter four, which is titled Integrating knowledge, action and renunciation, which is a Gyana, Karma and Sannyasa Yoga.

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Before we do start, please do rate and review this podcast.

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Or if you are watching this on YouTube, please like, comment and subscribe, and also do share this with your friends and family who would like this content.

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Today we will be looking at Chapter Four, Verses One to Verses Eight.

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Sri Bhagavan said: I originally spoke this knowledge to Vivasvan, the current deva of the Surya, the Sun.

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Vivasvan then taught it to his son Vaivasvata, the current Manu who in turn, spoke it to the ancient human king, Ikshvaku.

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We just look at that whole complete verse by itself.

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We won't need to break that down, but what we can see here is that Sri Krishna begins the chapter expressing how ancient the teachings are, how they've been given since time began and that there is a succession in terms of when it's given to someone.

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This knowledge, as we can see here, it's imperishable because it is eternal in its nature.

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We've seen that it still continues today.

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There's not a time when this knowledge ever disappears.

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Some people believe that this knowledge can become hidden or it can be taken away.

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This knowledge never goes away, neither is it hidden.

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We just get distracted with life.

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So it's not that it's hiding somewhere and we have to go on this magnificent journey to go and find it as if we're Indiana Jones or something.

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No, we just have to remember that we get distracted by the world and that's what causes it to appear to be hidden.

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In this verse itself, Sri Krishna really just wants to establish that the teaching that he's given to Arjuna has always been there.

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It's nothing new.

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It's nothing out of the ordinary.

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All he may be doing is just evolving the teachings according to the time and place, which again, we must do.

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Now, whatever is said in the Bhagavad Gita applies, but we must also be inspired to evolve the teachings to meet today's requirements because otherwise, if we do not do this then the current generation, my generation and the one after me, they will not be interested in this message.

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It's really important that we understand that spirituality in terms of its teachings has to go through an evolution, in terms of adapting to the time and place.

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And not that the spiritual teachings, you have to specifically adapt them to the time and place, they easily mould themselves into the time and place, but sometimes our mind because of its desires for whatever, for power, for greed, we tend to not look at that.

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We tend to ignore that.

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And we'd like to go to the ancient teachings or something that has no value in today's time, but we go back to that because it strengthens our ego, our power, our influence.

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Sri Krishna in this verse really wants us to understand what the ancient aspect is of this wisdom that he's sharing.

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In verse two, he says.

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In this way, Arjuna the Supreme knowledge of yoga was passed down from one generation to the next, by human Kings, who are both leaders and Sages of the Vedic knowledge.

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But over a long period of time, these yogic teachings were lost.

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In this way Arjuna, this Supreme knowledge of yoga was passed down from one generation to the next, by human Kings, who are both leaders and Seers(Sages) of the Vedic knowledge.

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Sri Krishna is really telling Arjuna how this knowledge was passed down.

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What we can see is that these human Kings there were both leaders like political leaders and they were sages.

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They were part of sharing this teachings of the Vedas, the Upanishads.

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What we can take from that is that the Kings were noble people.

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Now over a long period of time, what can happen?

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Sri Krishna says that, but over a long period of time, these yogic teachings were lost.

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With time it may appear that the truth does get lost.

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But what I would say it gets diluted.

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It gets diluted in many ways.

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For example, a lot of the Vedanta concepts that we see today, they tend to be diluted by the new age movement.

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Things have been adopted like activating our chakras, the Kundalini, even non-duality in some aspects because with the law of attraction, you believe that everything is One.

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But there is a subtle duality because you still desire.

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This is not the ancient teachings that Sri Krishna gave.

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These are not the ancient teachings of the Vedas about if you look into the stars and you believe you are the universe, you're going to get what you want.

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That's not necessarily what they are saying.

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Their(Sages) sayings can be manipulated to mean that, but that's not what they hinting upon.

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The whole point of these teachings is to get us towards liberation, towards mukti.

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This truth gets diluted.

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And what happens is society transforms, society changes.

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As people go along with these new changes, they do not find ways on how to apply this truth, these Yogic teachings, people refuse to, or people try not to look at how they can adapt it to their life.

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They get more adapted to this new way of life without thinking how to integrate their spirituality.

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It's really important that we understand that in today's day and time, that it's very easy for these teachings to get lost again, or for them to lose their impact.

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We have to make sure that we bring these teachings back.

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The teaching is of One, which is you are free because you are this Formless Awareness.

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Now, everything else, other than that is a distraction.

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But it's an okay distraction.

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There's no need to be against it.

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There is a lot of distraction today.

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So we have to look at how we can weave with the aid of technology, weave spirituality, these yogic teachings back into our lives.

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That's what we need to do.

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If you think about it today, how many people have liberation or moksha as their Supreme goal in life?

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How many people actually want this?

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How many people want to be free?

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How many people want to transcend the ego?

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How many people want to get out of the problems they're in?

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Like forever?

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Without creating new problems out of solutions?

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This is what we need to look at.

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And I think today, when Sri Krishna says these Yogic teachings can get lost, it's because we no longer have liberation as the Supreme goal of life.

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Now we rather think about having a million dollars or a million pounds or a mansion for a house or the best car.

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We got to make sure that we got the best car in the neighborhood or in our friend circle.

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But we fail to understand that these things are going to stay here.

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We're going to die.

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What's next?

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What's more we can do?

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The context of this whole verse is that Sri Krishna is explaining how this teaching was passed down and then how it got lost in all the changes of society and how it loses its value.

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Therefore as society transforms and changes, we as spiritual aspirants need to look at how we can ensure that this truth never gets lost.

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Remember that even if one person speaks of this truth, it is not lost.

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Even if it's just one person, just one person.

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Things had to be real bad in this case, if the Yogic teachings were completely lost.

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This is what I mean.

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I think really the language that's being used is to create a response to make us understand that we can lose ourselves if we keep going towards our desires.

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Remember if we adapt our thinking towards the previous chapters, if we keep on chasing the unreal, the changing phenomena of life, we're going to lose our real goal in life, which is towards liberation.

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We need to understand what is real and go towards that.

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Verse three.

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Therefore, today I am again, transmitting the ancient body of Yogic Knowledge to you because you have chosen to hear from me in the mood of bhakti'devotion' and because you are my very dear friend, this rahasya secret teaching' is also uttama'from beyond the realms of matter.' Let's look at the first line.

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Therefore, today I am again, transmitting that ancient body of yogic knowledge to you because you have chosen to hear from me in the mood of bhakti'devotion'.

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So Sri Krishna here is giving this ancient body of knowledge, of wisdom that unites the Jiva with the right identification, that it is this Atman, to Arjuna.

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Sri Krishna is not telling Arjuna that he is the body or the mind or the changing phenomena.

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He's telling Arjuna that within you, there is something Real that does not move, that does not change, that is an eternal witness to everything that saksi is what you are.

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That is that Formless Awareness.

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So the beauty here is that he makes it clear to Arjuna that he wants Arjuna to listen to this.

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He wants Arjuna to absorb this and that Arjuna also wanted to listen to this.

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Also wanted to hear this message, also wanted to take in this message.

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That's because he expresses it as Arjuna's bhakti, his devotion and remember that has allowed Sri Krishna to share this.

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This devotion is there because Arjuna surrendered everything to Krishna.

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He asked Krishna that whatever you say I'm going to do, because my mind is confused.

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The next line is very beautiful.

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And because you are my very dear friend.

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Although guru and disciple relationship is great and it is important, but for such wonderful knowledge, like the Gyana, that Sri Krishna is imparting, that requires a deep friendship, a deep trust, and the spiritual friendship is the highest relationship between the guru and disciple, because once that is there a deep trust is formulated.

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When we can have the guru as our friend, that is the ultimate path, that is the ultimate relationship, because then the Guru is able to be there for us, we can take the guru's counsel in anything and that's because our friendship is based on spirituality.

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It's based on understanding that we are both this unreal.

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We are both this Formless Awareness with the appearance of this body, that's all.

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It's only in this friendship, that people are able to understand the message more clearly.

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We are influenced by our friends a bit more.

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That's why when Sri Krishna says that you are my dear friend to Arjuna, it's indicating that even with us, when we go to the Sage, when we go to the Guru, we are to seek that friendship.

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We have to get rid of that duality between the guru and disciple and we have to merge it into friendship.

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Remember there's no friend and friend, they're friends.

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They're one.

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This is what we need to understand here, with Guru and disciple, there's always going to be duality, but with friendship that duality is evolved into non dual relationship.

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The next line is this rahasya secret teaching' is also uttama'from beyond the realms of matter'.

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This knowledge appearing as a secret is beyond all the worldly knowledge.

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Yeah.

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We know this from the teachings that are given, because whatever it is attaching us to is to the real, the changeless saksi.

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Really, it's not so much a secret but more that people aren't willing to go through the hard work that is necessary I think.

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When we say secret, it's because to be honest a guru or a Sage has to think whether you're ready for this knowledge.

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I don't think everybody is ready for the truth.

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Personally, I feel that only a few are really ready for it, that they really want it.

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I think that tells you everything and to go through the hard work.

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How many of us are ready to do that tapasya to live that simple life, in order to keep distractions at a minimum, so we can keep liberation at the forefront?

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How many of us are willing to put Brahman as everything?

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How many of us want to put this Formless Awareness at the forefront of our minds during most of the day?

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How many of us want to do that?

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That's what I mean, it's a lot of hard work.

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A lot of life that you have to make simple, a lot of things that you have to do in terms of practice like meditation.

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Remember Shravana, Manana, Nididhyasana, listening to the message then contemplating on the message and then fully believing in that message, fully trusting that message and then implementing that message, that's what's required.

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Then practice creates realization.

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So how many of us are willing to put in that hard work?

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There is no easy way to fully establish oneself in this Formless Awareness, although it can be revealed within a split second, we know that from Ashtavakra and Raja Janaka, that this truth can be realized in an instant.

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And yes, it can be.

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But that requires a mind that has been really trained.

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You see, the thing is what people don't understand is the journey to get to that point is long and arduous.

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It takes time.

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To get the truth before that(the journey) has taken place, there won't be a full assimilation to the teaching, to the knowledge, to the wisdom.

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You will not be able to integrate that wisdom into your life.

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That's why it's very important that we work hard to get there.

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And then when we get that knowledge or we remind ourselves of that knowledge, then we find it integrates.

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Remember here that Sri Krishna wants someone that is able to integrate this wisdom.

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The context of the whole verse really is at this highest teaching that is shared and beautifully understood is through a deep friendship.

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This secret teaching that people have ignored, that people have denied, that people have tried to move themselves away from, that secret teaching is revealed.

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It's revealed in the scriptures, it's being revealed in the Gita.

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You can go to a genuine Guru.

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They will tell you.

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It's not that this teaching is a secret, but you need to put in the hard work and the hard work is necessary.

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Verse four.

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Arjuna inquired: Oh, Bhagavan, the deva of the Sun, Vivasvan came into being millions of years ago.

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How is it possible that you spoke this Vedic knowledge to him at that time?

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It's a logical and rational question and this shows that in friendship, nothing is off the table.

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You're willing to challenge.

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This is something to understand that when the Guru becomes your friend, you can ask anything and that shows friendship.

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Also this is the logical and rational question because how can Krishna say that he gave this knowledge, millions of years ago because Krishna in the form that Arjuna sees has a particular age and is in a particular time and place.

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So it's a really good question.

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That verse is really self-explanatory, but it's a good question and we all think this although we may not present the question sometimes.

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Verse five.

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Sri Bhagavan replied.

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Oh, Arjuna both you and I have had many, many births.

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The difference between us is that I, as a Supreme Being remember the details of all of them, whereas you cannot.

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Let's look at the first line.

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Sri Bhagavan replied: Oh Arjuna, both you and I have had many, many births.

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Sri Krishna is telling Arjuna that they have had many births.

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They've been through life many times, and this is a strong indication that Sri Krishna is talking about reincarnation.

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Now this is where we can say there's reincarnation based on the scripture, whether now science can prove it, that's up for debate.

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Let me know what your views are.

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Let me know in the comments.

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Let me know on social media, what you think about this.

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I'll be interested to know what are your views on reincarnation?

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Also from the point of view of atoms and energy, that is always being transferred.

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It's always being created into a new form of some sort.

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So as one form dissolves away, another one appears.

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Nothing is really ever destroyed and therefore Sri Krishna is right.

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He has gone through many, many births.

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If you think about it, if you look at your own atoms and your own energy, even today, you may be actually part of everybody.

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And that's what we mean when we say we all have a shared being, because if you think of it, you know, you are carrying all the atoms and energy of not only your ancestors, but also anyone else that has been alive, whether it is Buddha, whether it's Kabir ji, Guru Nanak Dev Ji, Krishna himself, anyone and everyone, from the best people to the worst people, we have that all within us.

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If we think about it, we've already taken many births previously, but we're also having many births simultaneously.

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The next line is the difference between us is that I, as a Supreme Being remember the details of all of them, whereas you can not.

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Sri Krishna has the advantage that he remembers the details of his previous births, whilst Arjuna does not.

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Hence the confusion.

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Hence Arjuna he has that confusion of, he will kill people and remember Sri Krishna told him there's no one that slays and there's no one that is slain.

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Arjuna does not understand that.

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When we say that Arjuna can't understand this or does not understand this is because he still does not see himelf as the Supreme Being, he's not able to remember this knowledge.

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Once you understand you are this Supreme Atman, then you see yourself not only in the past and the future, but also in the present, you see yourself everywhere and at every time, as that shared being.

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That universal Shared Being.

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This is where Krishna is able to understand it, where Arjuna is not.

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The context of the whole verse really is that Sri Krishna is explaining and answering Arjuna's question that both himself and Arjuna have had many incarnations on this planet.

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But as Sri Krishna identifies himself completely with the Supreme Being, he remembers it all, but Arjuna who's only attached to his body has forgotten.

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Let's go to verse six now.

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I am never born.

00:21:24.403 --> 00:21:41.854
Instead, I merely appear within matter as my Immortal Self, because I am the Supreme Master of all beings and the Supreme Atman, I appear at will because I have complete control over prakriti, the material realm, the changing phenomena or Maya.

00:21:42.124 --> 00:21:47.463
I am never born, instead I merely appear within matter as my Immortal Self.

00:21:47.733 --> 00:21:53.236
Sri Krishna seems to be telling you a contradictory point, but then clarifies his point.

00:21:53.506 --> 00:22:02.807
So he's saying that as Brahman, he's never born and we know that the Formless Awareness is never born, but he appears to take birth.

00:22:02.807 --> 00:22:10.387
He appears to take an incarnation, an appearance, but actually he remains as the Immortal Self, this Atman.

00:22:10.518 --> 00:22:17.667
What this means is that he is not deluded by identifying himself as the body and mind alone.

00:22:17.968 --> 00:22:20.067
He understands that he has a body and mind.

00:22:20.067 --> 00:22:27.508
He understands that he has appeared as a particular incarnation, but really he is this Immortal Self.

00:22:27.688 --> 00:22:30.347
He is that Jiva, he is that Atman.

00:22:30.617 --> 00:22:33.057
We need to understand this for ourselves.

00:22:33.327 --> 00:22:34.917
Yeah, this is the whole point.

00:22:35.188 --> 00:22:41.448
If Sri Krishna saying this truth that I am never born instead I merely appear within matter as my Immortal Self.

00:22:41.657 --> 00:22:43.698
This is also our own reality.

00:22:43.805 --> 00:22:45.275
This is our own reality.

00:22:45.275 --> 00:22:46.535
We cannot ignore it.

00:22:46.805 --> 00:22:50.375
If we ignore this, then we have not understood the message.

00:22:50.615 --> 00:22:56.865
If we still think now that me and Krishna are two different things, we're not going to evolve.

00:22:57.040 --> 00:22:58.990
We're not going to get to the Immortal Self.

00:22:59.260 --> 00:23:12.260
Sri Krishna is going to explain this further, but we need to understand that there's an appearance of a birth taking place, but really Sri Krishna remains as the Immortal Self.

00:23:12.530 --> 00:23:24.145
The next line is because I am the Supreme Master of all beings and the Supreme Atman I appear at will because I've complete control over prakriti'the material energy'.

00:23:24.476 --> 00:23:28.925
Sri Krishna here is referring to himself as the Supreme Atman as Brahman.

00:23:29.185 --> 00:23:31.435
And that is the Supreme Master.

00:23:31.630 --> 00:23:33.789
This needs to be really understood.

00:23:34.059 --> 00:23:47.012
As I often talk about, if we see Krishna as different, we're not understanding the Gita and anyone, anybody, there are particular organizations that create the difference between Krishna and us.

00:23:47.282 --> 00:23:49.083
They are taking you for a ride.

00:23:49.353 --> 00:23:51.333
They are not giving you the complete knowledge.

00:23:51.555 --> 00:23:59.414
Now, yes, when Krishna says that I am the Supreme Master of all beings and the Supreme Atman, he's talking about the'I am'.

00:23:59.684 --> 00:24:04.305
He's not talking about Krishna the body and form is the Supreme Master.

00:24:04.575 --> 00:24:07.484
Then he would clarify and say, this body is the Supreme Master.

00:24:07.755 --> 00:24:08.414
He doesn't.

00:24:08.684 --> 00:24:11.105
He says he's the Supreme Atman.

00:24:11.375 --> 00:24:14.615
Therefore the Supreme Atman is the Supreme Master.

00:24:14.914 --> 00:24:17.555
We need to understand this, it's very clear.

00:24:17.757 --> 00:24:20.636
There's no confusion actually.

00:24:20.906 --> 00:24:21.807
It's very clear.

00:24:22.076 --> 00:24:26.126
Remember also that Krishna is not the only one.

00:24:26.396 --> 00:24:28.946
It's not the only Supreme incarnation.

00:24:29.092 --> 00:24:30.261
Don't think like that.

00:24:30.531 --> 00:24:32.541
Don't get attached to the name and form.

00:24:32.699 --> 00:24:37.494
Whoever gives this knowledge that Sri Krishna talks about is the Supreme Master.

00:24:37.765 --> 00:24:42.625
They have embodied the message, therefore they are the Supreme Atman they are the Supreme Master.

00:24:42.809 --> 00:24:48.685
Whoever gives this Gyana, this knowledge of yoga to someone, they are the Supreme Master.

00:24:48.955 --> 00:24:55.951
Due to Krishna being the Supreme Atman he can appear at will because prakriti is contained within Brahman.

00:24:56.000 --> 00:24:56.691
We know this.

00:24:56.951 --> 00:24:59.090
Maya is an appearance within Brahman.

00:24:59.421 --> 00:25:01.510
Brahman is the one that powers Maya.

00:25:01.570 --> 00:25:03.730
Sri Krishna says, appear at will.

00:25:04.000 --> 00:25:12.171
Remember the word appear is very important that we understand that because appearances, they come and they can disappear.

00:25:12.441 --> 00:25:18.026
Appearance is unreal, it's maya and prakriti's nature is always changing.

00:25:18.282 --> 00:25:20.563
The Supreme Atman does not change.

00:25:20.833 --> 00:25:31.756
The context of this whole verse is that Sri Krishna has really explained that he is eternal, but he can appear within matter at will, he can appear in this world at will, as he is the Immortal Self.

00:25:31.905 --> 00:25:37.425
If we understand that we are this Immortal Self, we also can have the same experience.

00:25:37.605 --> 00:25:39.465
That's Sri Krishna is talking about.

00:25:39.736 --> 00:25:40.486
Verse seven.

00:25:40.640 --> 00:25:41.430
Oh Arjuna.

00:25:41.660 --> 00:25:47.839
Whenever there is a dramatic decline in dharma and a dangerous increase in adharma.

00:25:48.109 --> 00:25:52.549
I descend and manifest myself within matter as an avatar.

00:25:52.819 --> 00:25:53.240
Okay.

00:25:53.240 --> 00:26:02.377
So now he's talking about He's always taking incarnations, but there is a time when he may come down as an Avatar.

00:26:02.377 --> 00:26:12.143
and As we know an avatar is you could say an incarnation that is able to completely transform the teachings to meet the requirement of the time.

00:26:12.257 --> 00:26:16.606
And in a way you could say there are avatars even today.

00:26:16.712 --> 00:26:19.653
I consider Sri Ramana Maharishi to be an avatar.

00:26:19.923 --> 00:26:27.634
Some people see Sri Ramakrishna Paramhamsa as an Avatar, someone can say Swami Vivekananda is an Avatar.

00:26:27.904 --> 00:26:37.105
I'm comfortable with those titles being given to people who really transformed the teaching so that it's accessible to everybody.

00:26:37.375 --> 00:26:42.085
The more accessible it becomes, you could say the higher the incarnation.

00:26:42.355 --> 00:26:49.509
And if you look at Sri Ramana Maharishi, he's made it accessible to not only people in the east, but also the west.

00:26:49.799 --> 00:26:50.799
Which is beautiful.

00:26:51.069 --> 00:26:58.210
And the same with Swami Vivekananda and Sri Ramakrishna Paramhamsa and also Yogananda Paramhamsa too.

00:26:58.480 --> 00:27:10.491
Sri Krishna informs Arjuna that whenever there is a decline in dharma When we lose our way towards truthful living, then Sri Krishna says an incarnation has to take place.

00:27:10.761 --> 00:27:18.771
Now he has to then as the Supreme Atman, remember the Supreme Atman has to descend and manifest itself within the matter.

00:27:19.041 --> 00:27:20.291
That's the way to understand it.

00:27:20.481 --> 00:27:23.481
Don't think specifically Vishnu either.

00:27:23.751 --> 00:27:25.612
I will say, let's go beyond that.

00:27:25.662 --> 00:27:31.375
We discus non-duality here so we can understand and assimilate these teachings.

00:27:31.644 --> 00:27:49.873
Now Sri Krishna mentions this one point, when there is a dangerous increase in adharma, in unrighteous living where wars, famines, poverty, inequality is at its highest, then he descends and manifests himself as an avatar.

00:27:50.202 --> 00:27:59.696
So there has to be complete, absolute imbalance to get to this point where he has to descend and manifest himself as an avatar.

00:27:59.967 --> 00:28:14.212
Now, if you think about this very deeply and think about this logically, we are seeing a lot of signs that are showing that the world is going through some thing like this now.

00:28:14.242 --> 00:28:15.923
There is a dangerous increase.

00:28:16.192 --> 00:28:24.211
The fact that we have people that are spreading misinformation about spiritual teachings, that are going against science.

00:28:24.291 --> 00:28:27.082
In the Vedic times, they were not against science.

00:28:27.112 --> 00:28:29.932
They were for science, they understood science.

00:28:30.201 --> 00:28:34.162
They understood the necessity of science, of logic and rationality.

00:28:34.337 --> 00:28:42.948
So it's very weird to see that people are going against that and claiming to be spiritual or claiming to be free or claiming anything.

00:28:43.218 --> 00:28:57.817
This is where I would say we are at a point where you could say we are going towards a dangerous increase in adharma, in unrighteous living, because we have so many people that are Grifters in this world.

00:28:58.087 --> 00:29:09.542
They are people who look to capitalize on certain things and certain ideas, which will get them popular and that's not cool.

00:29:09.813 --> 00:29:17.365
Personally, I have a theory that an avatar doesn't really disappear and that they have continuous appearances in life.

00:29:17.555 --> 00:29:21.875
Like there's probably an avatar here today, who it is I don't know.

00:29:22.144 --> 00:29:30.204
I feel that they're always there somewhere in existence so that there's still some balance on the good side.

00:29:30.265 --> 00:29:39.055
And the way I see this as well, like the dramatic decline in dharma or a dangerous increase in adharma, I think of it like Star Wars.

00:29:39.105 --> 00:29:55.035
That's the way I'm seeing this, that you got the jedis and you got the Sith and basically that's how I viewed this line, that when there is a dramatic decline in in dharma, in righteous living then a Jedi has to rise to the occasion.

00:29:55.305 --> 00:30:00.929
The context of this whole verse is basically Sri Krishna gives us why he appears as an avatar.

00:30:01.138 --> 00:30:04.648
And this is due to the lack of righteousness on the planet.

00:30:04.919 --> 00:30:05.818
Verse eight.

00:30:06.088 --> 00:30:29.042
From yuga to yuga, I descend to earth in various forms in order to protect those who are seekers of truth, to destroy the malicious and the harmful beings and to reestablish the principles of dharma by so doing, I restore the balance of material nature for the benefit of all beings on earth.

00:30:29.220 --> 00:30:30.509
Let's look at the first line.

00:30:30.779 --> 00:30:38.440
From yuga to yuga, I descend to earth in various forms in order to protect those who are seekers of truth.

00:30:38.569 --> 00:30:47.269
It is important for Sri Krishna to establish that he appears in many forms, in many times, to protect the seekers of truth.

00:30:47.539 --> 00:30:50.089
And this is his number one aim is what he's saying.

00:30:50.384 --> 00:30:54.529
Now the seekers of truth is his number one responsibility to protect.

00:30:54.799 --> 00:30:58.045
Nobody else is first, they are first.

00:30:58.241 --> 00:31:06.551
And the reason why is because he needs to ensure that darkness should not overwhelm the good, the light.

00:31:06.821 --> 00:31:10.001
So the light of knowledge should always shine.

00:31:10.031 --> 00:31:18.432
Even if it's dim, even if it's a candle that's running out of wax and it's dimming slowly, or losing oil in the oil lamp.

00:31:18.701 --> 00:31:21.521
Still, he has to protect that dim light.

00:31:21.555 --> 00:31:26.684
If he does not protect the seekers of truth, then there will not be any posterity.

00:31:26.780 --> 00:31:29.661
There will not be future generations of seekers.

00:31:29.990 --> 00:31:32.431
So he needs to ensure that he can protect them.

00:31:32.701 --> 00:31:39.190
Then the next line to destroy the malicious and harmful beings and to re-establish the principles of dharma.

00:31:39.325 --> 00:31:44.028
The malicious and harmful beings are those that cause and create suffering with their actions.

00:31:44.028 --> 00:31:58.090
Those that have distorted desires, those people that have malicious intent, they're harmful and because of that, they have anger, their intellect is under utilized because their viveka is not strong.

00:31:58.154 --> 00:32:01.575
Their discernment is not strong of what is real and unreal.

00:32:01.720 --> 00:32:07.173
These malicious and harmful beings, they bring people to the dark side of adharma.

00:32:07.372 --> 00:32:10.942
They are the ones that bring people to unrighteous living.

00:32:11.211 --> 00:32:14.662
So you remember, I talked about those grifters, they do the same thing.

00:32:14.662 --> 00:32:23.001
They will be the very people that will say things like my body, my choice when it comes to vaccines or public health guidance.

00:32:23.271 --> 00:32:28.606
But when it comes to abortion, it's not your body and your choice anymore.

00:32:28.727 --> 00:32:30.586
It's not my body, my choice anymore.

00:32:30.767 --> 00:32:35.957
It's whatever is right according to some twisted doctrine.

00:32:36.280 --> 00:32:43.721
Then it is important for these forms of the Supreme Atman to reestablish the principles of dharma.

00:32:43.955 --> 00:32:46.726
Again, we looking at the jedi and the sith.

00:32:46.996 --> 00:32:48.286
The force is the force.

00:32:48.615 --> 00:32:52.818
There's a positive force and there's a negative force, the light and the dark side.

00:32:53.088 --> 00:32:56.929
These forms of the Supreme Atman are there to reestablish these principles.

00:32:57.169 --> 00:33:03.148
They want us to get back to understanding what is this Atman, they want us to understand what is this Real?

00:33:03.319 --> 00:33:05.259
So they will reestablish those things.

00:33:05.529 --> 00:33:09.369
One thing is that we follow things like righteous living.

00:33:09.460 --> 00:33:13.029
Our whole relationship to the world is based in humanity.

00:33:13.299 --> 00:33:15.220
Those are the things that we need to look at.

00:33:15.380 --> 00:33:24.829
The main principle of dharma is to unite people to the Formless Awareness, the Saksi, the Purusha, the Eternal Witness within, the Witness Consciousness.

00:33:25.099 --> 00:33:27.480
That is the main principle of dharma.

00:33:27.750 --> 00:33:35.309
Everything else follows, that if you understand your the Formless Awareness, there is no way that you're going to look to harm other people.

00:33:35.549 --> 00:33:37.049
Your views will be clear.

00:33:37.259 --> 00:33:38.700
Your thinking will be clear.

00:33:38.893 --> 00:33:42.309
You will understand things from a logical, rational point of view.

00:33:42.462 --> 00:33:46.732
Not everything would be a conspiracy to you, that the world is out there to get you.

00:33:46.893 --> 00:33:47.073
No.

00:33:47.093 --> 00:33:56.383
You don't think that way, the way you think is, the way a person established in dharma would think is they only know about Formless Awareness, that's it?

00:33:56.653 --> 00:34:01.393
They only know about the Supreme Atman, the Saksi within, the witness, that's all they know.

00:34:01.663 --> 00:34:03.972
That's all they can attach themselves to.

00:34:04.167 --> 00:34:07.550
That's the only thing they can experience and express.

00:34:07.820 --> 00:34:09.541
That is the main principle of Dharma.

00:34:09.800 --> 00:34:28.130
Let us remind ourselves about this and then being kind, compassionate, tolerant, accepting of others, embracing everyone, embracing the diversity of this planet is a by-product of understanding we are the saksi, the witness, the Formless Awareness.

00:34:28.400 --> 00:34:36.521
Sri Krishna in the next line says, by so doing, I restore the balance of material nature for the benefit of all beings on Earth.

00:34:36.791 --> 00:34:42.460
Krishna's aim is not to get rid of adharma completely, but just to restore balance.

00:34:42.603 --> 00:34:46.333
So it's not about getting rid of adharma completely.

00:34:46.603 --> 00:34:50.963
And there's a reason for that because without adharma, they cannot be dharma.

00:34:51.039 --> 00:34:53.875
So right now we're living in a world of duality.

00:34:54.144 --> 00:34:59.385
But when we understand dharma, we can then transform ourselves and go beyond that.

00:34:59.487 --> 00:35:02.818
And that's real balance actually, when you're neutral in nature.

00:35:03.275 --> 00:35:04.894
Restoring the balance.

00:35:05.164 --> 00:35:07.385
It kind of feels like the movie star wars.

00:35:07.385 --> 00:35:11.277
The Bhagavad Gita had inspired the plot of Star Wars.

00:35:11.547 --> 00:35:25.387
The context of this whole verse is Sri Krishna gives his reasons on why he descends to the earth and mainly it's to protect those who are seeking the truth because they are the ones that will provide balance eventually.

00:35:25.545 --> 00:35:28.125
And therefore they need to be protected.

00:35:28.394 --> 00:35:42.262
Also because they restore the balance in this universe, in this world, they understand the nature of dharma and adharma, remember Sri Krishna talks about a dramatic increase in adharma.

00:35:42.532 --> 00:35:45.532
He never says that he needs to get rid of it.

00:35:45.581 --> 00:35:47.802
You know when people say, why is there evil in the world?

00:35:47.851 --> 00:35:49.612
Why is there suffering in the world?

00:35:49.882 --> 00:35:54.652
We don't understand that it actually has a place in terms of balancing the world.

00:35:54.786 --> 00:36:04.342
It may look cruel, but when you understand the nuances of it all, it's not cruel, but you understand that there's order in this craziness, in this chaos.

00:36:04.612 --> 00:36:11.282
Only when we balance ourselves as that Formless Awareness, do we then understand the whole picture.

00:36:11.373 --> 00:36:16.052
The big picture and understand the immediate picture in front of us.

00:36:16.188 --> 00:36:18.097
This ends the episode.

00:36:18.157 --> 00:36:22.818
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00:36:23.088 --> 00:36:29.358
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00:36:46.398 --> 00:36:48.608
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00:37:06.994 --> 00:37:13.594
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00:37:13.778 --> 00:37:17.894
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00:37:17.894 --> 00:37:20.492
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00:37:20.762 --> 00:37:24.422
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00:37:24.505 --> 00:37:32.434
Aum Shanti, Shanti, Shanti, Aum Peace, Peace, Peace Namaste.

Thoughts on The Bhagavad Gita (Chapter 4: Verse 1 - Verse 8)

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