Introduction: The first in a series of 23 discourses on the Bhagavad Gita. These talks were given at a time when I was truly inspired by the charioteer of Partha. I was in a state of ecstasy and hardly knew what I was saying. Now when I look back on these talks I am amazed at my audacity in having dared to write on something about which I knew little more than nothing. But looking back over my life I see that I seem to have continued to dare to write on things about which I knew very little. I know now that my courage which I did not even question at any time, rose from the depths of my ignorance, which again I did not question. It was only because I did not question anything that I was made into a channel through which the divine charioteer chose to reveal Himself. I knew nothing and therefore I was an empty vessel like Arjuna and by His grace, I was chosen as one of the many bards who have sung the glory of the “Song of the Lord.” I feel sure that out of all the five Pandavas, He chose Arjuna who was certainly not a scholar or a saint, for these very reasons – that he was an empty vessel, waiting for the Lord to come and fill him. May HE fill all of you who listen to these discourses with HIS grace. Aum tat Sat

Gita Intro Part A

Introduction: The first in a series of discourses on the Bhagavad GitaThese talks were given at a time when I was truly inspired by the charioteer of Partha. I was in a state of ecstasy and hardly knew what I was saying. Now when I look back on these talks I am amazed at my audacity in having dared to write on something about which I knew little more than nothing. But looking back over my life I see that I seem to have continued to dare to write on things about which I knew very little. I know now that my courage which I did not even question at any time, rose from the depths of my ignorance, which again I did not question. It was only because I did not question anything that I was made into a channel through which the divine charioteer chose to reveal Himself. I knew nothing and therefore I was an empty vessel like Arjuna and by His grace, I was chosen as one of the many bards who have sung the glory of the “Song of the Lord.” I feel sure that out of all the five Pandavas, He chose Arjuna who was certainly not a scholar or a saint, for these very reasons – that he was an empty vessel, waiting for the Lord to come and fill him. May HE fill all of you who listen to these discourses with HIS grace. Aum tat Sat

Gita Intro Part B

The first chapter is called Arjuna Vishada  Yoga: Union By Means Of The Despondency Of Arjuna. The word Yoga means union. Thus any activity which enables us to obtain union with the Divine can be called a yoga. ...The message of the Gita is thus addressed to the fighter- the man of action... life is the battlefield of Kurukshetra which each one of us has to learn to face and fight our way through, before we can reach the other side which is Dharmakshetra. Each chapter begins with the sanskrit chanting of the chapter the english discourse follows.Visit: www.vanamaliashram.org

Gita Chapter 1

The second chapter is called Sankhya yoga but actuallyit deals entirely with Vedanta. The eternal nature ofthe atman and the ephemeral mature of the body isrevealed to Arjuna. "The atman is eternal, immortal,never born and therefor can never die. It is pureconsciousness and pure existence. That which isexistent can never cease to exist. This is one of thelaws of physics - energy can never be destroyed. itcan only change its form. One body falls and thejivatman flits to another body through which it canbest fulfill its destiny. Visit: www.vanamaliashram.org

Gita Ch 2 Part A

Gita Ch 2 Part B

Karma yoga the yoga of action is the theme of the third chapter. This is one of the most difficult sections in the whole text and provides a key to understanding the whole message. Chapter 3, 4 and 5 of the Gita deal exhaustively with Karma yoga. However we find that even in the 6th chapter the Lord starts by reiterating what has already been said. “Anashrita karmaphalam … He who performs his swadharma without any dependence “anashrita” on the fruits of his action, he is both the karma yogi and the karma sannyasin. Meaning to say one who dedicates himself to perform the bounden duties of his life with no dependence of any type on their results is both a yogi and a sannyasi.Visit:  Vanamali Ashram’s Home Page

Gita Chapter 3

The Yoga of Knowledge and Action is the title of the fourth chapter. All existence is a working out or evolving of the One Eternal Spirit. Every Atom...imbued with the will and intelligence of the Spirit... This being the case can we call every man an Avatar? Sri Krishna reveals the secret of action and the ideal of yajna or sacrifice.  Mataji is the author of eleven wonderful books that share the ancient legends and timeless teachings of the Puranas and Vedas in English. Of these Sri Krishna Lila, which describes the exploits of the Blue god of Vrindavan from his birth to His disappearance is a classic. Her other books are Sri Rama Lila, Sri Shiva Lila, The Lilas of the Sons of Shiva, a translation of the Srimad Bhagavad Gita, Nitya Yoga: Essays on the Bhagavad Gita, Gurudeva and The Taste Divine which is a book on Indian vegetarian cooking (published in the US by Suny Press).Sri Krishna Lila has been published in the US under the name of The Play of God and Rama Lila as The Song of Rama.  Her most recent books are Shakti: Realm of the Divine Mother and the forthcoming,  Sri Hanuman Lila, (both from Inner Traditions publishers). Visit:  Vanamali Ashram’s Bhakti Yoga Home Page

Gita Chapter 4

The Yoga of Renunciation And Action.Is asceticism and non-action superior to action? This is one of the questions Shri Krishna addresses in this liberating teaching. ...once more the central idea of the Gita is postulated... an Infinite Being who is not merely the witness, but the enjoyer of all action done as yajna.  Visit:  Vanamali Ashram’s  Home Page

Gita Chapter 5

The Yoga of Self Discipline. The divine Self is present in everything and is constantly beckoning to us... Detachment and practice are the keys to Self knowledge. Sri Krishna offers instructions for meditation. The chapter concludes extolling Bhakti Yoga.Visit:  Vanamali Ashram’s Bhakti Yoga Home Page

Gita Chapter 6

The seventh chapter, The Yoga of Wisdom and Decernment, opens the door to the exhalted mansion of Bhakti Yoga.

Gita Chapter 7

Yoga of The Impeirshable Brahman Sri Krishna explains the metaphysical concepts: Brahman, adhyatma, karma, adhibhuta...Visit:  Vanamali Ashram’s Bhakti Yoga Home Page

Gita Chapter 8

The Yoga of Sovereign Knowledge and Sovereign Secret. A powerful religious impulse permeates the ninth, tenth and eleventh chapters...Visit:  Vanamali Ashram’s Bhakti Yoga Home Page

Gita Chapter 9

The Yoga of The Divine ManifestationsThe yoga of the Gita...is the gospel of the Divinity in man which forces him out of the encasing of his lower nature  to an increasing awareness of the Divine within him and outside him, through the methods of yoga...visit www.vanamaliashram.org

Gita Chapter 10

The Yoga of the Vision of Cosmic Form...the illusion that all things exist separate from God has been dispelled from his mind.  He realized that all nature is but a revelation of that Godhead...Mataji’s love songs are translated at at the www.vanamaliashram.org Vanamali Love Songs page. Her Vanamali love Songs album is available at the Ashram’s on-line store.Visit:  Vanamali Ashram’s Bhakti Yoga Home Page

Gita Chapter 11

The Yoga of DevotionLord Krishna unites the triple strands of divine love, divine  knowledge and divine works, Bhakti, Jnana and Karma and unites them into one. Creature, creator and creation blend into one... This is the supreme teaching of the Gita.Visit:  Vanamali Ashram’s Bhakti Yoga Home Page

Gita Chapter 12

The Yoga of the Distinction Between the Field and the Knower of the Field.In the thirteenth chapter, Lord Krishna says that the entire universe is a field for the play of god. This field has two parts. On the universal level it includes the whole of cosmic manifestation and on the individual level it consists of the body, mind, intellect and ego. The first cannot be separated from the other. It is only now that western science is coming to understand this truth.The Gita describes this all Knower or Supreme Consciousness as the kshetrajna or the knower of the field. The field may be composed of many items but the Knower is one. He is the Lord of all and is seated within the heart of every creature. “sarvatha panipadam tatsarvata shishiromukham,sarvathasrutimanloke,sarvamavritya thishtati.”This Being in whose embrace we live has feet of swiftness and hands of strength on all sides; It has faces, eyes and noses everywhere. It listens to both the throb of the universe as well as the silence of eternity. Though bodiless it has a million bodies. It is the perceiver of all things even though it has no sense organs. It is without attributes yet is the enjoyer and sustainer of all attributes. Attached to nothing, it supports all the action and movement of its Prakriti. It is at once the inner and the outer, the far and the near, the moving and the unmoving. It is the subtlest of the subtle, beyond the grasp of our minds as well as the density of matter which we can see and touch and smell and hear.It is the light of all lights beyond the darkness of ignorance. It is knowledge, the object of knowledge and the goal of knowledge. Despite its greatness it is seated in the hearts of all as the charioteer of our lives!At last the great teacher says to his disciple Arjuna, “O Arjuna, whatever exists whether movable or immovable know it to have come from the union of the kshetra and the kshetrajna, the field and the knower of the field”. This is the knowledge which will carry us beyond death to immortality. It is only when our inner eye opens and we see this truth that we can be called “seers”. This is that supreme consciousness about which western science is still to know. Without knowing that consciousness humankind can never know the meaning of true fulfillment or peace.

Gita Chapter 13

The Yoga of The Distinction Between The Three Gunas. What is Liberation? Who is it that is liberated and from what, when all is Spirit and Spirit alone.The special feature of the Gita is that it insists that "karma" or action has to be done since we live in an active universe and we cannot say that we will not act. Nature will force us to act. But this action has to be done without expectation of any personal rewards. In this way we will get out of the thrall of the law of karma. This is what is known as "nishkama karma" - when action is done as an offering to the Supreme and the results are left to Him. for indeed He is the sole doer and enjoyer. All we are asked to do is to perform the karma. This is what makes the Gita different from other schools of philosophy. Whereas all other schools say that karma is a bondage and willhave to be given up eventually, the Gita says that karma is both the means and the end if done in the way that nature meant us to do.

Gita Chapter 14

The Yoga of The Supreme Person The 15th chapter delineates three Purushas - The Kshara, the Akshara and the Uttama. The Kshara is the Kshetra of the 13th chapter - all of visible nature.The Akshara, He says "is an eternal portion of myself that becomes the jiva in this world". "Mamaivamso jivaloke, jivabhuta sanatana". This means that each person in his spiritual reality is the very divine, however partial its actual manifestation may seem to appear to our eyes. We call it the jiva because it appears as a separate being in a world of creatures and we think of it in terms of its humanity alone. But in truth is is much greater than its appearance and is not bound by its humanity. It is in no way separate from the Purushottama, It is the Lord Himself and exists forever in the mortal world as the immortal atman within us. He takes up a body and casts it awayas and when the need arises. But He is not only the Kshara and the Akshara but is above both. He is both transcendent and immanent.

Gita Chapter 15

The Yoga of The Distinction Between Divine and Demonic Qualities.  ...the advice of the Gita is given by an avatar or God incarnate. The recipient of the message is Arjuna, the prototype of the struggling human soul who is ready to receive the great knowledge by his close companionship and increasing nearness to the divine Self within himself. This symbolic companionship of Krishna and Arjuna, the divine and the human soul is further dramatized by the fact that their dialogue takes place amidst the din and clamor of a battlefield. The teacher in the Gita is therefore not only the God who is transcendent but also the God in man who unveils Himself through through an increasing knowledge...                                                                                              Vanamali, Nitya YogaMataji sings her original Love songs to Lord Krishna at the end of each talk. This music is available as Vanamali Love Songs. Mataji's books & music are available at the ashram's on-line Book & Music Store.

Gita Chapter 16

The Yoga of The Three Fold FaithOm Tat Sat  is the mantra that embodies the sraddha or faith which can divinize our every action through a consciousness of the transcendence and eminence of Reality.

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