Srimad Bhagavat Gita commentary chapter 4 verse 34

Chapter 4 verse 34

“Know that by long prostration, by question, and service; the wise who have realized the truth will instruct you in that knowledge”

Lord shows a path to get the knowledge of Self which is the ultimate destination of all desire less actions done in the spirit of sacrifice. He instructs to surrender wholeheartedly to a Self realized master in body, mind and intellect. When the surrender happens, the Self in oneself merges within itself. The importance of an appropriate Guru is stressed in a number places in sanatana dharma. Even a very centered person such as Adi Shankara and for that matter even Krishna needed to get a Guru to advance and complete their Self realization. It is through the good deeds of all previous lives and one’s current life, does a person encounter the presence of a realized master in their lives. Then it is important to leverage this Guru and get to the destination.

Srimad Bhagavat Gita commentary chapter 4 verse 33

Chapter 4 verse 33

“Superior is knowledge-sacrifice to sacrifice with objects. All actions in their entirety, culminate in knowledge”

Lord states that withdrawing from the sense objects, sacrificing material or meritorious wealth is just a means to the end- knowledge of Self. Hence he says that action done in Self knowledge is superior to all other actions even though all other sacrificial actions would ultimately lead to the same place- action in the knowledge of Self!  

Srimad Bhagavat Gita commentary chapter 4 verse 32

Chapter 4 verse 32

“Thus the innumerable sacrifices lie spread out before Brahman (immutable Self). Know them all as born of action, and thus knowing, you shall be liberated”

Lord talked about 12 forms of action considered as sacrifice:

1.     Devayagna: Sacrifice to sense perceptions

2.     Brahmayagna: Sacrifice to the immutable Self

3.     Strotumyagna: Sacrifice of what is heard

4.     Jnanaindriyayagna: Sacrifice of all activities of the sense organs

5.     Pranaindriyayagna: Sacrifice of all activities of organs of action

6.     Dravyayagna: Sacrifice of all wealth-all possessions including vasanas, merits and demerits

7.     Tapoyagna: Sacrifice of the meditative spirit

8.     Yogayagna: Sacrifice of the state of the union of the body, mind and intellect

9.     Swadhyayayagna: Sacrifice of the sincere study of scripture and their knowledge

10.  Jnanayagna: Sacrifice of the eternal knowledge of the Self

11.  Pranayamayagna: Sacrifice of the regulation of breath energy

12.  Pranayagna: Sacrifice of the vital air energy of life

Although all these actions appear different and by law of karma, different actions usually produce different results, Lord stresses here that all these actions lead to the divine!

Srimad Bhagavat Gita commentary chapter 4 verse 31

Chapter 4 verse 31

“The eaters of the nectar-remnant of the sacrifice-go to the eternal Brahman. Even this world is not for the non-performer of sacrifice; how then the other world”

Beyond the literal meaning of this verse, it is important to understand the concept of ‘Prasada buddhi- Attitude of acceptance of the fruit given of the action or sacrifice’. Lord talks about the importance of performing action in a state of total acceptance of any fruit of the action as being gifted by the divine for that action. However if deluded about renunciation of the action itself, the person doesn’t qualify to be in this world and is not worthy of any other world. This verse signifies the need to action and act without attachment to the fruit of the action.

Srimad Bhagavat Gita commentary chapter 4 verse 30

Chapter 4 verse 30

“Others with well regulated diet, offer vital-airs in the Vital-air. All these are knower of sacrifice, whose sins are destroyed by sacrifice”

In the earlier verse, regulation of life energies through breath was referred. In this verse, Lord is expanding that field of energy to intake, processing and output. Adi Shankara in his sadhana panchakam instructs us to treat hunger as a disease and treat it such. In other words, he is instructing us to eat right and regulate our diet. Lord in this verse is also doing the same. Management of bodily energy when done right could line up all the resplendent energies of the universe to aid oneself to the Self. When a person offers every breath they take or morsel of food consumed as an offering of sacrifice to the supreme, they are only performing desire less action and thus destroying the previous vasanas or sins to march toward Self.

Srimad Bhagavat Gita commentary chapter 4 verse 29

Chapter 4 verse 29

“Others offer as sacrifice the outgoing breadth in the incoming, and the incoming in the outgoing, restraining the courses of the outgoing and incoming breaths, solely absorbed in the restraint of breath”

If there were any doubts in anyone about the relationship between breath, energy and mind control, this verse dispels all of it. “Pranayama” or the regulation of the vital energy is an important yoga which helps regulate the energy flow and thoughts in the mind. Lord says some people take the route of controlling energy and breath and do that in his name to reach his divine state. It is said that the sum total of breaths in each person’s life is pre-determined. Hence utilizing each breath in the best way possible is upon us as a huge responsibility.

Srimad Bhagavat Gita commentary chapter 4 verse 28

Chapter 4 verse 28

“Others again offer wealth, austerity and yoga as sacrifice, while the ascetics of self-restraint and rigid vows offer study of scriptures and knowledge as sacrifice”

Krishna in earlier few verses had focused on detachment from senses and into the Self as offering for fire of ultimate knowledge. In this verse, he is talking about the ability of different persons to offer whatever their primary action or life mission entails as an offering to the divine. The wealthy offer their wealth, the meditators their austerity and practices, the ascetics and sages their detachment itself and the teachers and practitioner of Vedas, the knowledge of the scriptures to divine. The message is quite clear. All actions when done in an act of sacrifice leaves no trace of any tendencies and hence helps understand the Self.

Srimad Bhagavat Gita commentary chapter 4 verse 27

Chapter 4 verse 27

“Others again sacrifice all the functions of the senses and the functions of the vital energy of breadth in the fire of yoga of self restraint, kindled by knowledge”

I just made a connection to a daily ritual stipulated for some of us called ‘sandhya vandanam-prayer to the illuminating light in you’. In this, there is a beautiful breadth control exercise called ‘pranaayam’ which requires probably no introduction to anyone as controlled breathing. There are many benefits talked about in yoga about this but the Lord in this verse talks about the attitude in which each breadth is taken as an offering to the supreme and thereby obtain the vital energy which illumes the entire universe. The energy of a thousand suns would be delivered when we sacrifice all functions of the sense perceptions to the divine. There is a sloka which is repeated when this breathing exercise is done which enumerates this feeling. What a blessing to understand the import of our daily rituals? Lord says ‘kindled by knowledge’. That’s the key. Doing something every day or even every moment even though good will not have the same impact as doing it with understanding and knowledge of the why and what we are doing. Being intentional without any expectation is great!

Srimad Bhagavat Gita commentary chapter 4 verse 26

Chapter 4 verse 26

“Some again offer hearing and other senses as sacrifice in the fire of restraint; others offer sound and other objects of senses as sacrifice in the fire of the senses”

The attitude and self control levels are the drivers to determine how much detachment is attained from the senses. In the previous verse, Lord pointed to 2 ends of the spectrum- those who aspire to control one or all of their senses and the other end operate with the attitude that everything is immutable Self itself. In this verse, Lord is talking more of sense end of the spectrum. He is referring to people who want to hear only good things and God’s name and chant only divine’s word. This practice would lead people to go inward into the Self and contemplate on it.

Srimad Bhagavat Gita commentary chapter 4 verse 25

Chapter 4 verse 25

“Some yogis perform sacrifice to devas alone (deva yagna); while others offer sacrifice of the Self (Atman itself) as ‘sacrifice by the Self’, in the ‘fire of Brahman’ (Brahma-yagna)”

The Lord is distinguishing about the various types of yagna which he has already stated is done by the Self, for the Self and to the Self as well. He says some people are dedicated to the worship of the devas (dev-illumination) and here devas means the illuminated senses and hence control of sense perceptions. Others go inward and  directly worship the Self. We will see other forms of worship or sacrifice in the coming verses. This is one of the verses which could be misinterpreted literally as fire sacrifice only. Fire burns everything including false tendencies. Fire sacrifice could also be used as an important metaphor and symbolism to remind everyone that every action done in the spirit of sacrifice to the Divine rids one of the cycle of birth and death.

Srimad Bhagavat Gita commentary chapter 4 verse 24

Chapter 4 verse 24

“Brahman is the oblation; Brahman is the clarified butter, and so on, constituting the offerings; by Brahman is the oblation poured into the fire of Brahman; Brahman verily shall be reached by him who always sees Brahman in all actions”

‘Brahmarpanam Brahmahavir…’ I have heard this sloka uttered in fire sacrifices but didn’t know the meaning of what it meant. Along with ‘Sarvam Brahamarpanam (Everything is offered to the immutable Self)’ which is uttered at the end of rituals, this is an important utterance and attitudinal prayer. Lord says everything pervading the universe is the Brahman (immutable Self), hence all actions or offerings is done to the immutable Self by the immutable Self, The person who has this attitude sees Self in everything, everybody and in all actions and hence reaches that state of selflessness and higher Self

Srimad Bhagavat Gita commentary chapter 21-23

Chapter 4 verse 21-23

“Without desire or hope, with the mind self controlled, having abandoned all sense of possessions, doing mere bodily action, he incurs no sin. Content with what comes to him without effort; free from pair of opposites and envy, even-minded in success and failure, though acting he is not bound. Of one who is devoid of attachment, who is liberated, whose mind is established in knowledge, which acts for the sake of sacrifice, all his actions are dissolved”

When Krishna asks to be contented with what comes without effort, he is not asking people not to act. He is asking people to not spend effort on mental attachments to the action. This is an important distinction to be understood by everyone. If there is no mental attachment to the action or fruits of the action, then the action doesn’t have any side effect on one’s psyche. We have covered all other attributes of ‘Unaction’ in earlier verses.

Srimad Bhagavat Gita commentary chapter 4 verse 20

Chapter 4 verse 20

“Having abandoned attachment to the fruits of action, ever content, depending on nothing, he does not do anything, though engaged in actions”

Highest form of contentment is ability to live consistently in the present moment and being unattached to the fruits of action. This state leads to the person being in “non-doership” state. The person does not feel like they are actually doing anything. This explanation when misconstrued can be taken to mean ‘don’t do anything’. That is not even possible. Is it? It is the attitude that ‘YOU’ are not doing anything which is to be imbibed.

Srimad Bhagavat Gita commentary chapter 4 verse 19

Chapter 4 verse 19

“Whose undertakings are all devoid of desires and purposes, and whose actions have been burnt by the ‘fire of knowledge’, him the wise call a sage”

Further to previous verse, Lord qualifies ‘Unaction’ as action which is desire less, there is no particular purpose or result expected out of it and also it is performed with a sense of sacrifice to the divine. This sacrificial attitude only arises in beings that have in them the fire burning of Self knowledge. This fire anneals the heart from which desires arise which gets converted to thoughts in the mind and results in desire laden action through body and mind. Thus lets kindle that fire of knowledge and be qualified to be called ‘real intellectual or sage like’.

Srimad Bhagavat Gita commentary chapter 4 verse18

Chapter 4 verse 18

“He, who recognizes ‘Unaction in action’ and ‘action in Unaction’ is wise among men; he is a yogi and a true performer of all actions”

Any desire bereft action is Unaction and so all actions when done in that approach would lead one to be unified in body, mind, intellect and consciousness (yoga) and that person is said to be best performer of actions. I woke up this morning and realized that attachment to desires of the result of action have not gone away for me and even greater contemplation and meditation to go inward is absolutely required. That’s my wake up call for myself!

Srimad Bhagavat Gita commentary chapter 4 verse 17

Chapter 4 verse 17

“For, the true nature of right action should be known; also that of forbidden or unlawful action and of inaction; imponderable is the nature or path of action”

Life does not stand still. Still water decays and cannot be of any use. Likewise beings are always doing some action or other. There are 3 classifications of action:

Karma, Vi-Karma and Akarma.

Karma has 3 further sub-classifications: Nitya Karma- regular ordained action/duty; Naimittika Karma- action done in special occasion and finally Kamya Karma- All other desire laden actions which we undertake.

Vi-Karma is all the actions we are forbidden or to be avoided. Anything which doesn’t support essential dharma of the being is to be avoided. A couple of universal dharma for human beings is Truth and Non-violence. Akarma can be 2 kinds- Inaction which we do when we are asleep or don’t do anything at all- There are very few circumstances in life when inaction is appropriate. Unaction, however is when one does the action without any desires attached to it and hence one doesn’t feel the effect of that action and realizes a state where they feel that they are not acting at all. When realized beings ask us not to act, this is what they mean from their state of being. Most of us misconstrue it that the realized masters are encouraging not to act at all! This classification is courtesy of Swami Chinmayananda’s commentary. My humble submission to Guru and Divine grace for this knowledge imparted to us.

Srimad Bhagavat Gita commentary chapter 4 verse 16

Chapter 4 verse 16

“What is action? What is inaction? As to this, even the wise are deluded. Therefore, I shall teach you ‘action’ (nature of action and inaction), knowing which, you shall be liberated from the cycle of birth and death”

Arjuna has been told in different parts of the Gita thus far to behave as if he is not acting and everything is ordained by the divine. In another time, he was told to act per his dharma. Krishna can read Arjuna’s confused mind and in an attempt to put it to rest says that not only him but wise men are also confused and deluded about the nature of action and inaction. He will go on to explain what constitutes right action and what is not. These concepts are simple yet difficult to comprehend. They need to be repeated until the student gets the concept. What a great way to teach any subject? Structured learning was recognized in ancient times in our bharata varsha and we will do well to imbibe those qualities on learning by repeated contemplation of the subject and peeling layers of intricacies and get to the root of the knowledge given to us.

Srimad Bhagavat Gita commentary chapter 4 verse 15

Chapter 4 verse 15

“Having known this, the ancient seekers after freedom, also performed action; therefore, you too, perform action, as did the ancients in the olden times”

Krishna points out that the concept of renunciation in action not of action is a technique followed by realized seekers even in the past. Even if you are completely detached from all the worldly objects and happenings, it is important to do one’s duty ordained to each of us. There are multiple examples of this including Sri Ramana Maharishi in recent times. Through this verse, Krishna clarifies to Arjuna and all of us that he is not talking about something he just made up but the eternal wisdom of all times which was getting lost even in his times. We are now 5000 years past Krishna’s times. Don’t we think we badly need this knowledge now?

10 principles to live by- from dad

10 Principles to Live By- By Late Shri.K.S.Sankaran (my dad)

1. You live one day at a time. You reach 16 or 61 living one day at a time! Live in the Present!
2. Dharma is not absolute but universal. It has to be interpreted at every situation in life.
3. Expecting results from action is natural. What is important is the right attitude. Prasada Buddhi towards result of action, accept results both pleasant and opposite as Prasada from Eswara
4. No one has authored anything in the creation. Everything is given. Man's mind, senses, and body are all given by God. What is man-made? CHILL!
5. To the extent you give freedom to others to be what they are, to that extent you are FREE!
6. You can never change any person in this creation unless person wants a change. You can only provide situations where the other person has an opportunity to change.
7. There are NOT many Gods. There is NOT even one GOD. All that is there, entire creation including you and me is NOT separate from GOD!
8. Compassion is our nature, as is sympathy. Empathy is the key that unlocks these emotions.
9. A value is value only when the value of the value is valuable to YOU!
10. Give more than you get! Dhaanena Adhanam Thara!

PS: I found these thoughts scribbled in one of his multiple notebooks

Srimad Bhagavat Gita commentary chapter 4 verse 14

Chapter 4 verse 14

“Actions do not taint Me, nor have I any desire for the fruits of action. He who knows Me thus, is not bound by his actions”

What more proof you need for non-dualism that the description of a realized being and divine. Lord describes his attributes as not touched by action or desire for the fruits of action. His teaching thus far in the Gita is also to get beyond the desire for the fruits of action. He wants all of us to reach him as soon as possible. His compassion and love for us is complete. He is just waiting for us to realize that and merge into him.

Srimad Bhagavat Gita commentary chapter 4 verse 13

Chapter 4 verse 13

“The fourfold caste, has been created by Me, according to the differentiation of guna and karma; though I am the author thereof, know Me as non-doer and immutable”

There are 2 things to consider in this verse. First is that Lord Krishna is attempting to drill into Arjuna’s head that he is God principle and not just his friend in this life. He is the immutable, indestructible one! He is not affected by any of his actions since he is resident in his Self 100% of the time and practices non-doership. Every one of us has the potential to be that which the Lord is in this avatar. Second important point to consider is that the Universal rules have been created by him. In this case, the 4 divisions in society for people to action so the world can sustain in an orderly fashion has been created by the Lord. The 4 divisions are Brahmana- the teachers and intellectuals guiding the society, they are not supposed to acquire wealth or power but knowledge to be passed on to society, Kshatriyas- the rulers/ protectors of the society who need to ensure safety of their subjects and take care of everyone including the welfare of Brahmanas; Vaishyas- The class of people who would create wealth and resources- farmers, traders and drive the economy of the society and last but not the least- Shudras- service oriented people who provides all the services needed for a robust society to function. Depending on the makeup of a particular person and the tendencies they inherit from previous lives, they are born into one of these situations or classes and when they do the action (karma) expected of them for that class, they are able to take full advantage of their lives and exhaust their vasanas. We will discuss this system in more detail in future verses and chapters.

Srimad Bhagavat Gita commentary chapter 4 verse 12

Chapter 4 verse 12

“They, who long for satisfaction from actions in this world, make sacrifices to the gods, because satisfaction is quickly obtained from actions in the world of objects”

Swami Chinmayananda talks about 3 types of men- animal men- who don’t raise above animal tendencies in life, man-men- who are above animal tendencies but just are happy and satisfied with actions to get immediate results and enjoy the sensual pleasures that the body and senses afford being in contact with the external world. The third type is the God-men who realize the essence of the purpose of the human being in reaching divine. Lord is talking in this verse about the man-men who even pray to God and make offerings and sacrifice only on a transactional basis to obtain material things for return. There are 2 paths to take- easy path and the right path. The easy path usually doesn’t lead to long term gains in the journey to Self and keeps us in this cycle of birth and death. The right path is longer, tougher and enables us to be God-men. Lord here acknowledges that it is very easy for men to slip into the easy path. What a quagmire to wriggle out of?

Srimad Bhagavat Gita commentary chapter 4 verse 11

Chapter 4 verse 11

“In whatever way men approach Me, even so do I reward them; My path do men tread in all ways”

Whether the path is desire less action, devotion to divine with total surrender, attaining the knowledge of the Self through complete renunciation of body, mind and intellect complex, all these paths lead to divine. The key word is ‘surrender’. Surrender of actions and themselves to the divine is key. There is nothing more to say-Just do it!

Srimad Bhagavat Gita commentary chapter 4 verse 10

Chapter 4 verse 10

“Freed from attachment, fear and anger, absorbed in Me, taking refuge in Me, purified by the ‘fire of knowledge’, many have attained My Being”

Fear stems from uncertainty of the happiness in future based on past or present moment experience. Anger originates from desires/expectations not getting fulfilled and desires arises out of attachment to a particular result so the root of fear or anger is desire/expectation of a particular result which brings us happiness. Lord is stating that beings who have burnt their attachment to desires through the fire of knowledge-‘jnana tapas’ attain the divine. Jnana Tapas is penance on the core knowledge of the Self; Residing firmly in the Self. He has also stated that many have attained this in past ages. This should act as a guidepost and encouragement to Arjuna then and all of us now.

Srimad Bhagavat Gita commentary chapter 4 verse 9

Chapter 4 verse 9

“He who thus knows, in true light, my divine birth and action, having abandoned the body, he is not born again; he comes to Me”

The devotion towards an avatara (divine incarnation) from another person who is living in that same yuga or age has to be total. Otherwise the experience of the Self does not happen. This is what Lord means when he says “in true light knowing my divinity”. There were people in Krishna’s time who thought of him as a great person but only a few knew him for who he was such as Bheesma. In recent times Shirdi Sai Baba and Satya Sai Baba come to mind as avatars who a few recognized them as divine when they were in their avatar and even now not a big part of the world population worship them. One needs divine grace to be invited to the fold of the divine. When one exhibits that kind of devotion, they become eligible for not having another birth on earth. I have seen people interpret this saying as that if you think of the divine at some auspicious moments, you can be rid of the cycle of birth and death. The laws of karma do not work like that. One has to exhaust all your inherent vasana by living in the present and doing all actions as an offering to the divine. This will help you recognize divinity in not just Krishna but in all beings. When we reach that stage, there is nothing else to be done or achieved in this world!

Srimad Bhagavat Gita commentary chapter 4 verse 7-8

Chapter 4 verse 7-8

“Whenever there is decay of righteousness and a rise of unrighteousness, then I manifest Myself. For the protection of the good, for the destruction of the wicked and for the establishment of righteousness, I am born in every age”

These are 2 famous declarations in Bhagavat Gita which are often quoted. Lord Krishna provides reassurance that He is there to protect all beings on earth and will descend on earth to uphold Dharma (doing the right thing). What was missing in Krishna’s times? Kingdoms were being ruled by unjust and greedy rulers. People were not doing their duty prescribed for each of them. Several at the time of Mahabharata desired for what others had and not happy with who there were and meant to do- Drona, Dhritharastra, Duryodhana and even Karna come to mind. In today’s yuga, what is missing? Love, respect for each other, excessive and unsustainable use of natural resources and the list goes on. What would an avatar in this kali yuga look like? What is the need of the hour or age? A just king or leader or statesman? A business magnate? An accomplished rishi or holy person? A great scientist? Maybe a combination of all of these in one person? Or one may need an avatar in each country in this age? Point to ponder!

Srimad Bhagavat Gita commentary chapter 4 verse 6

Chapter 4 verse 6

“Though I am unborn and am of imperishable nature, and though I am the Lord of all beings, yet ruling over My own nature, I take birth by My own maya”

What did Arjuna do to deserve such divine grace that almighty himself is declaring his omnipresent and omniscient nature? Despite Lord’s imperishable nature, he is taking birth in this world and subjecting himself to the illusory nature of the universe (maya) for a purpose. Several avatars in sanatana dharma have done the same thing. There are some avatars which appear on earth for a very short duration for a particular mission but others such as Rama avatar and Krishna avatar are called poorna avatars (complete avatars) which taught several lessons and touched so many people. When avatara purushas are around in our times, it takes a lot of divine grace to be exposed and to be in direct touch with one of them. Guru coming into one’s life is a huge blessing as Adi Shankara bhagavatpada calls out in his vivekachoodami. If we are reading the bhagavat gita in this lifetime and come across this verse and reflecting on the grace through which we are getting this realization should already feel blessed.

Srimad Bhgavat Gita commentary chapter 4 verse 5

Chapter 4 verse 5

“The Blessed Lord said: Many births of Mine have passed as well as yours, O Arjuna; I know them all but you know them not”

In answer to Arjuna’s earlier question of why Krishna was saying that he taught this eternal knowledge to Sun God, Krishna tells him that both Arjuna and him has been reincarnating several times but Arjuna doesn’t remember his previous incarnations but Krishna does. This is not an experiential reality yet for me, but I have read a number of instances of yogins and vedantins who have realized own’s Self can transcend time and remember their past, live in their present and know their future. Time in sanatana dharma is not linear but circular and repeats itself in terms of Yugas and manvantaras. Mahabharata and Ramayana also make a number of references to previous births of many of its characters. I believe that if you are supposed to benefit from the knowledge of a previous birth, you will be made aware of it. Otherwise most mortals don’t need to know about their previous births. It is for our own good that we don’t remember our previous births. Living in the present and not worrying about past or future is one of the important teaching of Lord Krishna in Bhagavat Gita.

Srimad Bhagavat Gita commentary chapter 4 verse 4

Chapter 4 verse 4

“Arjuna said: Later was your birth, and prior was the birth of Vivasvaan (Sun); -how am I to understand that you taught this yoga in the beginning”

Doubting mind didn’t do anyone good! Krishna’s reference to his eternal nature and divinity is still not understood by Arjuna. Arjuna like a majority of us is still responding to his current conditioning and is unable to receive or accept divine knowledge when it is presented on a platter. No wonder Krishna had said in the earlier verse that the knowledge of the Self had been lost over time. If one of the best warriors and leaders of that time was in this state, what about ordinary beings. Look how patient Krishna is to take all these enquiring questions in his stride. The reason is that he is focused on the task at hand which is to encourage Arjuna to fight and keep the wheel of life (maya) going!

Srimad Bhagavat Gita commentary Chapter 4 verse 1-3

Chapter 4 verse 1-3

"The blessed Lord said: I taught this imperishable yoga to Visvasvaan; Visvasvaan taught to Manu; Manu taught it to Iksvaaku. This knowledge, handed down thus, in regular succession, the royal sages knew. This yoga, by long lapse of time has been lost here, O Parantapa (burner of foes). That same ancient yoga has been today taught to you by Me, for you are My devotee and my friend. This is a supreme secret."

It is auspicious day of sri rama navami to start a new bhagavat gita chapter. It is also a special blessing to talk about Ishvaaku here. Krishna declares in unequivocal terms to Arjuna here that he is not only his friend but someone who has existed earlier and has a grand role in human history. Visvasvaan is said to be father of manu who was the originator of the human race in this time cycle-manvantara. Vishnu (God principal) instructed the knowledge of Self to Visvasvaan who in turn taught Manu who taught it to the first king of this time cycle- Iksvaaku- the emperor of the surya dynasty in Satya yuga. Iksvaaku happens to be forefather of Lord Rama in tretha yuga whose birthday we celebrate today!

Lord Krishna says even though this knowledge was passed on through generations and yugas, it had lost its lustre off late and Krishna has recited the knowledge of the Self again to Arjuna. He calls it a secret only because this is only attainable if one dives inward to understand their own Self. It is a open secret in a vault with Body, Mind, Intellect as doors to pass through to enter the Self. Lord Rama exhibited to the world how to live in a state of karma yoga throughout his life. Let's learn from his life and times and contemplate on higher ideals of the supreme. Sri Rama Jaya Rama Jaya Jaya Rama!

Significance of Sri Rama Navami in my life

Exactly 10 years ago on Sri Rama navami day in 2010, my life changed as I knew it then. How? Here is the story!
I grew up in a righteous household which was neither highly religious nor non-believers. One can call us a God fearing and maybe sometimes a God loving family. I definitely had drifted away from ritualism and religious activities in my 20s and 30s and had questioned the utility of all these rituals. I was not asking questions about them either. I was probably just lazy to perform any of those rituals anyways. On that Sri Rama navami day in 2010, something changed. The temple president had asked me to help with administration activities for the evening Rama navami pooja at the temple. I used to go there to help out as the treasurer of the temple but would restrict myself to just collecting money for the archana or pooja activities. After the rush was over, I went inside the "temple" to see what was going on. The temple acharyaji- Sri Venugopala Gattu had just finished the pooja for rama and his parivar and started saying something about Rama. His words are etched in my memory forever since then. He said it would do a lot more good for people to consider Rama as a human being who had divine qualities versus God in human form. We tend to treat our Gods as distant supreme beings who we cannot emulate. Approaching our Gods/Incarnations or Avatars as someone who took human form and lived out a life worth emulating has a better shot at self improvement and development. For someone who had not heard anything till that point which attracted me to my own religion, this statement hit me like lightning. That Rama navami changed something inside me forever. With Divine grace, I was back in the journey to know my Self. The journey continues...but I am ever grateful to Swami Sri Venugopala Gattuji for his intervention that day. As we celebrate Sri Rama Navami today on April 2nd 2020, I thought it appropriate to share this episode in my life. Jai Sriman Narayana!

Srimad Bhagavat Gita commentary chapter 3 verse 43

Chapter 3 verse 43

“Thus knowing Him, who is superior to intellect, and restraining the self by the Self, slay you, O mighty armed, the enemy in the form of desire, no doubt, hard indeed to conquer”

“self by the Self” is a term Lord has used at least once already so far in this Gita. The 1^st self in this is the lower self associated with the body, mind, intellect complex and the 2^nd Self is the Atman or consciousness which is ever blissful. The lower self cannot be restrained by their own components such as the mind and intellect. That is the ultimate paradox or catch 22 situation. The mind cannot eliminate thoughts since it controls thought themselves. It is asking the thief to start policing the town! The Lord acknowledges that desires are very hard to conquer and that’s where surrender to the divine and acting without attachment to particular results is the suggested methodology.