Bhagavad Gita - 1.2

Many of us have a phobia when it comes to spirituality and scriptures while we also simultaneously have regard and respect. This makes us not study and understand the subject but to almost have a sense of fear related to this or find it as a way to wash off our wrong-doings. We become hypocrites!

So, my attempt through these postings of Bhagavad Gita series is to remove the phobia and the fear and share some of my basic understandings on Bhagavad Gita so that I can help more of you to take up to reading this and getting benefitted from the amazing knowledge it provides.

It will be good for all of us to know that the whole book is in the form of question and answer and therefore is very easy to understand. It is almost like being witness to someone else asking everything we wanted to ask and getting to hear the answers for all of them from none other than God Himself!

In this post, I wish to share a bit of  my understanding on the first chapter of Bhagavad Gita. It is called Sainya Darshana, which means Observing the Armies on the Battlefield.

At the outset, we need to understand the meaning of the title of this chapter itself in its right perspective for today's age and time before proceeding any further. The title of this chapter is "Observing the Armies of the Battlefield'. So, let's first understand which is the Battlefield where this whole episode is happening. Because of lack of proper understanding of these kind of aspects, people are confused whether Bhagavad Gita and Mahabharata are part of our history or is it Mythology? Let's set this confusion to rest right in the beginning.

There are four different and specific planetary positions that create four specific types of effects on the life that exists in this Universe and these are cyclic in nature and are time bound, each lasting a few thousand years. These four periods are called "Yuga's" and these Yuga's are also referred to as "Kaala Chakra" - the Time Cycle. These four Yuga's are named Sat Yuga, Treta Yuga, Dwapar Yuga and Kali Yuga. These four planetary arrangements and their impact on the entire existence is even accepted historically and scientifically.

As we all know, we are presently in Kali Yuga. If you see the image below, we can see that there is a period when we are moving from Kali Yuga to Sat Yuga, which is a progressive state of being and there is a period when we are moving form Sat Yuga towards Kali Yuga through Treta Yuga and Dwapar Yuga which is a deteriorating phase.

I use the word 'progressive' and 'deteriorative' because of the nature of existence in these Yuga's. Sat Yuga, simply put, is a time when Sat or Truth is existing at its peak and all beings are in their truest nature which is all positive, all good and all beautiful. There is no bad side of anything in this period. Only good exists which is the purest, original, true form of all existence.

However, as we can see, nothing stays the same forever. Things are always changing and due to the very nature of this material world, all things are born, they grow, they deteriorate and then die before they are born again. Everything is consistently changing. Imagine a flower and you know what I mean here. A seed turns into a plant, a plant bears bud, bud blooms into a flower, flower performs its duty and fulfils its purpose of existence and then with time it dries up, withers away and dies. Of course, before it dies, it has transformed itself back into a seed to get into the whole process again.

So, because of contamination that exists in the material nature, which for human beings is in the form of greed, pride, anger, jealousy, etc, we start seeing the bad side of us take birth. So, by the time we are into Treta Yuga, we are able to see that along with good, there are some bad. These bad people are referred to as Devils or Enemies of the Good. When they appear, they appear on different planets in Treta Yuga. That is why when we read about those times, there is a Deva Loka, there is a Daitya or Asura Loka or the Planet of Good and Planet of Bad. When this dual nature exists, then conflict starts and we hear of the wars between Deva's and Daitya's in Treta Yuga and the Asura's are always coming from a different Loka to trouble the Devata's in the Deva Loka.

With time progressing towards Dwapar Yuga, Asura's started appearing on the same planet as Deva's or the good and bad started co-existing on the same planet. So, we hear of war between Sri Rama and Ravana or between Sri Krishna and Kamsa, wherein both appeared on the same planet.

Then comes Kali Yuga and here the good and bad have merged into one and we can find both within each one of us! Therefore, in today's time, our conflicts are internal. Our battle is within us between our own good and bad side. Battlefield is our body and mind. Since, these two cannot co-exist peacefully, we are in a constant state of conflict or battle till we declare a war and one of the side within us wins. and of course, if we want happiness, we need to get our good side winning :-)

In order to understand our Battlefield better, I would like to share a few thoughts on that before concluding this post. In Bhagavad Gita, Battlefield was Kuru Kshetra. Kuru was a King and the Kshetra or place was named after him. Because the King represented righteousness the same place was also referred to as Dharma Kshetra. This is very interesting. As is later explained in Bhagavad Gita, Dharma means Duty. So, Dharma Kshetra means the place for performing your duty!

So, in today's context, our body and mind become our Dharma Kshetra, where we are constantly fighting our battle. The only way to stop this conflict and restlessness, is to learn what is good, what is our duty and strengthen that good side and perform our designated duty using the Dharma Kshetra we have been provided with. We have to become aware and conscious of our duty and do it with complete faith in our creator, like Arjuna did, and finally there will be a day in each of our lives when we will achieve bliss or ananda because there will be no more conflict and only good will exist.

So, before we get any further, which we will do tomorrow, let us now once again understand what does observing armies on the battlefield mean to us in today's context and try to reflect on it a bit.

If you have questions, or want to know more, please write to consciouslivingcenterblr@gmail.com. You can also buy Bhagavad Gita from www.gosai.com/chaitanya and read along while you read these posts! Be Conscious, Be Happy!

Bhagavad Gita - 1.1

What is Bhagavad Gita All About?

Bhagavad Gita, I would say, has two parts to it. One, it tells us everything we need to know to live the life we have received  - consciously. It helps us understand what life is all about, who are we, what is our purpose and accordingly make the right decisions and choices in life.

Secondly, it is an amazing handbook which provides us all the answers we may ever need. Sounds strange and almost impossible but it is true. That is why it is not an ordinary book. Whenever, we are at crossroads, which we often are in this life, and we are looking for help in choosing the right path, we can refer to this handbook.

Bhagavad Gita is therefore considered worthy of being worshipped. Bhagavad Gita is also referred to as a scripture that has the stature of a GURU. Once we read it and understand it, we know how true this statement is. However, it is important to know that we need to study this scripture under proper and authentic guidance. That is the only way to be sure to understand it properly.

Similar to all forms of knowledge, we need to find a master who is considered an expert on the subject concerned to be able to understand the subject properly. The scripture by itself is a passive Guru but an active Guru is needed to understand this subject in its depth. We should be able to discuss, ask questions, listen to their explanations and most importantly we should have their guidance to discipline ourselves to start adapting the learnings from Bhagavad Gita in our lives and get benefitted. Once again, an ashram or residence of Guru is like the University campus for studying the subject of spirituality. We have to do exactly what we do to find a school, college, university or a teacher when we wish to learn anything in this world - at least. After all, this is the greatest of the knowledge available to us. This knowledge enables us with life skills in its truest sense and helps us achieve the best there is to achieve, which is permanent state of bliss - ananda.

If you wish to find a Bhagavad Gita to read along with commentary/explanation, please visit www.gosai.com/chaitanya and you can order this book online.

You can also attend workshops on Bhagavad Gita conducted through Conscious Living Center (CLC) by Experts and Masters. This format enables you to connect to the experts and ask all the questions you may have directly. To know more about the online and offline programs being offered on Bhagavad Gita by CLC, please write to consciouslivingcenterblr@gmail.com. You will receive a revert within 2 working days! Wish you conscious moments :-)

Bhagavad Gita - 1.0

Why Should One Read Bhagavad Gita?

Best answer I ever heard to this question was this - "Because it is the manual that comes with the human species" :-) Basically, this meant that this is a book which tells us how we are meant to live, like any manual that comes with a gadget, tells us how we are supposed to use the gadget.

Bhagavad Gita is actually one portion of the great epic Mahabharata - which means the GREAT BHARAT. Bhagavad Gita means the SONG BY GOD. God is our creator. This song is an instruction by our creator for all human beings on how to live life. I say human and not all living beings, because the ability to hear, assimilate and accordingly perform is available only in the human form. Once a Jiva or soul gets into the Kaala Chakra, where we are stuck in the nature's law of action and reaction, it is only in human life that we are able to break away from the same and transcend back to our home land. This is a place we are all visiting and we need to become conscious beings and return to our permanent homeland where our real happiness lies.

We can find some happiness here, but it is only temporary. Nothing stays forever. Everything is changing. It is a roller-coaster ride. We are screaming sometimes with joy, sometimes because we are scared and sometimes because we want it to stop. All we can do is scream and wish to stay happy on the ride forever - doesn't even seem like a realistic goal to aspire for - does it?

So, if anyone is looking for permanent happiness, Bhagavad Gita is the source to reach there.  It is part of the Veda's and Veda's are the oldest scriptures and source of all the other scriptures and man-made religion or belief system. So, this is the best way to directly go to the original source of knowledge to transcend from material life to spiritual life, from misery to bliss.

Please visit www.gosai.com/chaitanya to buy a copy of Bhagavad Gita with commentaries by Swami B G Narasingha, making it easy for all of us to connect and understand in these modern times!

Conscious Living

This topic of conscious living is something that has completely sucked me into it since I first heard of it about 15 years ago! Since then I have been spending considerable time in understanding what is consciousness all about. I have read a lot, spoken to a lot of people who claim to be living a conscious life and finally found someone about 12 years ago after meeting whom I was convinced to have reached a source from whom I can learn for life and am fortunate that he accepted me as a disciple. Jai Gurudev!

I wish to share with all of you some of those very fundamental reasons why one should learn about and live a conscious life.  Conscious means being aware. So, living consciously, simply means living in awareness. Now, the point is awareness of what? Awareness about self for example. We have been given all the complex abilities to understand our selves. However, how many of us can claim to be aware of ourselves? Do we know where did we come from? Do we know why we are here? Do we know where do we go after we die? Do we even know how to describe ourselves without using the names and designations that others have assigned us with in this world? If the answers to these questions are unclear, we need to first and foremost learn how to become self aware.

Now within this self, we have three separate level of consciousness to explore. We need to become body conscious, which is the first level. Then we need to become mind conscious, which is the second level. Finally, we need to become soul conscious, which is the third level.

When we say body conscious - let us see, what it means, it means becoming aware of every small detail of how our body functions. How we breathe, walk, talk, sit, talk...all of this and more. What are the things that it is comfortable with and what makes it uncomfortable. To know the purpose of this body. Remember, we come into this body and leave the body when we die. We are not the body. So, if I am being called Archana in this body then my name is Archana but I am not Archana. Please read the previous sentence a few times and try to understand the meaning of it. To explain it a bit further, when I was 5 year old, I looked and acted quite differently than how I am at 45. But it is my body and mind which has changed and not me. I am the same which was residing in that body of a 5 year old and is now residing in a  body of 45 year old.

Similarly, there is lot to understand when it comes to mind consciousness. For example, what is mind? Is it same as the brain or different? How does the mind function? What does the mind do? What is the purpose of the mind? Can we control the mind? And so on and so forth.

Same is true for soul consciousness. We need to understand what is a soul? Is individual soul and super soul same or different? If there is a soul in everyone, it is the same soul or different? What is the purpose of soul's existence? How can we identify ourselves with the soul? How can we understand the soul better? Are there different types of soul? And so on...

Human life is the only opportunity to become conscious. If we do not utilise this human birth, we may not have the opportunity for many many more life times when we may be born again but not necessarily in the human body. Then again, besides self consciousness, there is God consciousness too. Once we start understanding who we are, we do get introduced to our creator and the purpose He has created us for. In order to live seamlessly, we need to understand about our Creator and His Plans for us since at one point we have to accept that not everything is under our control. We get pulled and pushed in different directions by circumstances we do not understand. If we become conscious, then we start understanding it and then we can flow with the tide and not against it.

So, it makes sense to live a conscious life. If you are not conscious, you definitely are existing but not living. So, don't lose any more time and start living a conscious life. Always learn under able guidance. Don't try to be self taught expert especially in these matters. Best wishes for conscious moments!