Chapter 2 Bhagavad Geeta 

·          (2:47): Lord Krishna tells Arjuna to simply work and complete the action instead of worrying about the fruit of the action or using the fruit of action as motivation to do the action.

·         At the same time, Lord Krishna tells Arjuna that one’s lack of focus on the result should not cause him or her to go into a state of inaction and not complete the job.

·         From this slokam, one should learn to live in the PRESENT when completing an action. They should not be worrying about happenings of the PAST or worrying about the FUTURE

·         Also, one should be steadfast when performing an action. In other words, they should concentrate fully with an even mind.

·         Also, the concept of Ishwararpanbuddhi and prasadbuddhi are tied into this slokam and idea. It involves leaving the result in the hands of the Lord and taking the result as the Lord’s Prasad, whether it is a success or failure and moving on.

·         By performing actions in this way, a person will most likely gain success.

·         In the subsequent slokams, Lord Krishna echoes similar sentiments.

·         However, he shifts the focus from action to attachment in (2:55), when he describes the man of Steady wisdom of “Stitha-Prajna”

·         According to Lord Krishna, the man of “steady wisdom” or “Stitha-Prajna” is one is unaffected by both adversity and prosperity, and one who is free of anger, attachment, hate, and desire.

·         This man is steadfast on the Lord.

·         Lord Krishna goes on to explain the negative consequences of attachment in 2:62 and 2:63.

·         Objects lead to attachments lead to desire leads to anger leads to delusion leads to loss of memory leads to destruction of discrimination which finally results in perishing

·         Thus, one should control his or her attachment towards external objects because such attachments can destroy his or her life.

By Sreedhar Ayyala

In the previous class, we discussed chapt. 2 verse 62-63.

This verses were about attachment and how it leads to mans downfall. Krishna explains to Arjuna how this attachment is the source of all evil in the case of the unsuccessful.

62. Krishna first explains that when a man has lingering thoughts of an object, he gets "attached" to the object. This object, when not received, will create a "desire" for this  object. Finally this verse states that as we still do not receive the "object", we start to "anger".

(example) We as humans are very attached to material things, such as food. Certain people love food and develop an "attachment" for it. They constantly crave the food, and "desire" starts to affect them. If they do not receive the food, they get "angry" since they cannot think of anything else but the food that they do not posses.

63. From here, Krishna then shows how "anger" for not having the object meddles and disturbs our mind, leading us to "delusion". When this happens, we "lose our memory" of other things that impact our life. This causes the "destruction of discrimination" making our conscience to leave us. from here, we are a non-intelligent being and as such, we "perish"

(example) Because of our anger, we think of only the food, we forget about our duties, such as studying. We had a test and because our thoughts were only on food, we did not study and failed. With our thoughts on this one desire, we become a more base being, making us unable to fulfill our duties, ultimately "perishing" us.

Krishna tells this to Arjuna to make him understand that he has to control his senses. Once Arjuna does this, he will become a man of perfection. This tells us to control our mind as even though it can positively influence us, it can also hurt us.

By Ashay Morwale

Summary of 11/17/13 Class

Hari Om!

In class, we reviewed verses from the beginning of chapter 2 and then discussed Karma Yoga.

Chapter II vs. 2

            Lord Krishna is obviously upset with Arjuna saying his thoughts and actions are un-Aryan like and disgraceful. He is in essence, verbally slapping Arjuna across the face in an effort to awaken him and encourage him to see reason. Lord Krishna uses this statement to set the stage and begin to answer the many doubts that Arjuna brought up earlier.

Chapter II vs. 7

            In this verse, it is important to note that Arjuna completely surrenders himself to Lord Krishna.

Chapter II vs. 13

            In this verse, the concept of reincarnation is established. Lord Krishna establishes that we are not the body.

How do we know that we are not the body?

           

            We can do the deep sleep test - after having a deep sleep where neither are mind or intellect are active, we know that we are well rested. The part of us that experiences this, is what we truly are.

So if “we” aren't the body, and “we” don’t ever die, what are we?

            We are the conditioned consciousness.

So then if we are all part of this consciousness, why do we act/behave/think differently from each other?

            We all think and act differently because we are all conditioned differently. We are conditioned based on

                                    1. Nature

                                    2. Nurture

            Jointly, this conditioning, the combination of nature and nurture form what we call “vasanas.”

So if we are really part of the eternal consciousness, nobody is dying, and nobody is actually killing. For this reason, Arjuna’s doubt that he should not kill his family members is proved irrelevant.

Chapter II vs. 23

            Lord Krishna describes properties of conditioned consciousness - it cannot be hurt, broken, dried out, or worn out. Once again, only the body can deteriorate or die - not the conditioned consciousness.

Chapter II vs. 25

            Lord Krishna adds that this conditioned consciousness cannot be bound to a physical structure or changed and therefore not killed. Therefore, one should not grieve for the death of a body.

Chapter II vs. 31

            Lord Krishna, in this verse addresses one of the other questions that Arjuna brought up earlier. Arjuna asked, earlier, if it would not be a sin to fight this war and kill his teachers and members of his family. To this point Krishna says, it is Arjuna’s duty, as a Kshatriya to fight this righteous war for the sake of preserving justice.

Note: Kshatriya’s duty - to protect the people and preserve justice by fighting righteous wars when necessary

Duty can be translated to both Dharma and Karma → the terms are interconnected.

Chapter II vs. 33

            Lord Krishna further reinforces his point saying Arjuna will not incur sin by fighting the war. Rather, he will incur sin if he decides not to follow his duty.

Chapter II vs. 37

            Lord Krishna says, should Arjuna decide to fight the war, there are two possible outcomes over which Arjuna has no control.

            1) Arjuna loses (most probably is killed) and obtains heaven for performing his duty.

            2) Arjuna wins and enjoys the pleasures on Earth.

Chapter II vs. 47

            Here the idea of Karma-Yoga is introduced. Lord Krishna tells Arjuna that he only has the right to choose his action and every action will have an outcome. However, he has no control over what the outcome will be. Therefore, we as individuals should not have an attachment to the result/fruits of an action.

*The lack of attachment to the outcome of an action should not be mistaken for inaction or lack of effort.

There are 2 components to Karma Yoga:

1. How to Perform the Action - Ishwara Arpana Buddhi

When we do work, we want to be most efficient. Usually when we work, we are less concentrated on work but rather on worries about the future or regrets of the past. For example, when we are studying for a test, we either worry about the grade we might get on the upcoming test or we are regretting the grades that we got on tests in the past. Instead of spending time and energy on that, if we focused on every word we were studying, our work would be that much more efficient. We therefore need to learn how to live in moment. Knowing that this is the best way to work, how can we discipline ourselves to always work with the mentality of being in the instant?

When we do work for other people, for example when we do community service at a hospital or for people with special needs, we feel good about the actions we do. We also put in our best efforts when we are working to serve those we feel are less fortunate. When we are working for ourselves, or our selfish motives however, we do not always have this sense of work ethic. Therefore, to bring about the best possible type of work, we should establish in ourselves, a mentality that we are doing everything for God - as if all of our work is an offering for God. If we do this, we will automatically bring about the best effort.

When we are in the temple offering fruit to Bhagwan, we will never put out a rotten one. Rather, we will offer the ripest looking fruit we have. Similarly, when we do work with the mentality that it is simply an offering for Bhagwan, we will not take shortcuts or put in a half-hearted effort.

For this reason, this process is called Karma Yoga. Remember Yoga is the act of joining with something greater. In this case we are joining our actions (Karma) with something Bhagwan.

*Ishwara - God, Arpana - offering, Buddhi - way of thinking

2. How to React to the Outcomes of an Action - Prasada Buddhi

Imagine that after putting in the best possible effort you could have, you get a C- on your last test. Now you have no way of fixing your grade and you have another test tomorrow. Most likely, you will be so distraught over the grade that the exam tomorrow will go poorly as well. This obviously hurts efficiency and therefore a better method/thought-process behind accepting the outcome of actions would help.

If we go back to the first part of Karma-Yoga, we have established that the actions we do should all be dedicated to God. If we dedicate all the actions we do to Bhagwan, then the outcomes we are faced with should also be considered Prasad from Bhagwan.

In the line to get Prasad at the temple, whether we get our favorite fruit or our least favorite one, we will accept it with gratitude and humility. If we get our favorite fruit, we will not boast about it and if we get our least favorite fruit, we will not complain or feel dejected by it. If we extend this thinking, we should accept the outcomes of every action in the same way. If we get a good grade on a test, we should not overreact and if we get a poor grade, we should not be upset and dejected. Whatever be the fruit our action, we should accept it like it is Prasad from Bhagwan.

Chapter II vs. 53

            The section on Karma-Yoga ends with Shri Krishna acknowledging that the mind may be confused by this way of working. Still, he says, if there is faith and trust, one should practice this process to eventually attain Self-realization.

See you all next week!

Hari Om!

Chapter 2 so far.........

Hari OM Yuva Kendra,

All of chapter 1 lord Krishna does not say a word other that "Behold the Kaurava Army".  Arjuna rants all through the chapter justifying and giving the most intelligent and erudite arguments as to why it would not be good to fight the war and why it would be better to retire to the Himalayas than fight.  By the end of the chapter he is completely delusional and shows all the signs of a complete mental breakdown.  All through Krishna does not say any thing just keeps listening with empathy. 

Chapter 2 starts with lord Krishna berating Arjuna and telling him that what he is doing does not befit a warrior of his caliber. Arjuna goes into a  complete surrender, he says that he is confused and wants Krishna to show him the path.

Lord Krishna immediately goes after the idea of "Killing".  Lord Krishna expounds the theory of reincarnation and says that just as we go from one set of clothes to another we go from one body to another.  Just as we go from childhood to youth to middle age we also go from one birth to another.  Everything that is born must die only to reborn.  So what is destroyed is only the body and that neither does one kill not get killed.   So Krishna dispels one major objection that Arjuna has and that is about Killing and tells Arjuna that he should not grieve because neither he is doing any killing nor is any one getting killed.

When one ponders on this, the question that comes to ones mind is  if no one is killing or no one is being killed then "Who am I because I am definitely not the body ?".  To understand this let us consider the BMI chart.  It is quite clear that we have a Body that Feels Objects around us, We also have a Mind that Feels Emotions and we have Intellect that Thinks Thoughts.  Mind and Intellect are both composed of thoughts, Mind is composed of thoughts that are not under our control they come and go, fears, inhibitions, emotions.  They are like waves that rise and subside but really do not get anywhere.  Where as the Intellect is composed of rational problem solving, decision making type thoughts.

So Am I the body ? obviously not if the theory of reincarnation is right..  so does that mean that I am the mind and / or the intellect ?.  TO Answer this question let us consider deep sleep.  When we are in deep sleep (no dreams what so ever) the Body Mind and Intellect are all completely inert. They are not present to experience any thing.  However when we get up after deep sleep we have the experience of feeling refreshed.  The question that must come to our mind as to Who or What is doing this experiencing? The Body Mind Intellect were all absent and it is logical that only some thing that is present can experience. Only I can remember my experience nobody else can. Also absence of an experience cannot create an experience.  It is like if I am in silent room I experience silence and not "lack of sound".  Which means that there has to be  some thing or some one present which is other than my Body, Mind or Intellect that  enlivens my capability to feel refreshed. This is "Consciousness".   

To understand Consciousness let us take the example of Electricity. Electricity that flows through a fan, a heater and a lamp is exactly the same however the Fan, heater and lamp have very different functions and these functions are determined by the nature of the way these are designed.  So too the Consciousness that enlivens all of us is the same but we still think and behave differently.  This difference is  based in our biases or  tendencies to think and behave in a particular manner.  These tendencies are a product of what is popularly called Nurture and Nature.  Nurture means the way we are brought up, our education, all our experiences growing up and later and Nature are those tendencies that we are born with.  The Nature aspect reinforces the theory of reincarnation.  These nature +nurture tendencies are called Vasanas and Conciousness is OM.

Which means that we as individuals are "conditioned Consciousness" that is Consciousness conditioned by our Vasanas.

The next question that should come is "where does Consciousness come from" for this we should consider the 3 laws of causality.

1.  Every effect must have a cause

2.  Effects are nothing but cause itself in different forms

3.  Remove the cause and all effects disappear.

These laws apply to everything, ornaments and gold or clothes and cotton.  If we apply these laws to Consciousness we realize that Consciousness is the ultimate cause.  Everything in creation is an effect of consciousness.   These effects are all conditioned consciousness  that is consciousness itself in different forms.  If consciousness is removed that there is no creation.  Even when there is no creation Consciousness is still present. 

Next class we will go into the attributes of Consciousness and also understand as to how this connects back to Arjuna's problem.

Maneesha Aunty and Vikram Uncle.

 Hari Om!

Today we began by focusing as well as referring to the following topics, which relate to Arjuna's grief:

1) Barriers of success may lead to:

 -mental breakdown

 -our attachment to end result

ex: Taking an exam worrying about everything else but the question itself may cause this.

2) Happiness ends in sadness

ex: -self esteem

      -wants/desires

      -food, which keeps us happy only until it is finished

      -love, which is not always everlasting

~All of the above are temporary because they end at some point

3) Arjuna's grief

-This is caused by attachment to love and affection of family, learning, goodness, mental capability

-He does not want to sin, but he is a learned person 

-Caused by identification of himself and sense of righteousness

Now what is personality?

~It is the outcome of habits- the ways you think to the ways you act

ex: -If there is a tiger in the room- what do you do?

Key points in summary:

      a) success is not guaranteed

      b) cycle: chain reaction to events such as failing a test-->lowering gpa-->not getting into a college, etc.

      c) Bhagvat Geeta does not educate! It builds a conviction- you decide what to do 

      d) fear of outcome

            -ex: plank of wood on floor vs between 2 skyscrapers

                   ~'what if I fall'

Chapter 2- Yoga of Knowledge

(A summary of Bhagvat Geeta)

-So far Krishna has been empathically listening to Arjuna’s rants, but in Chapter 2 he verbally slaps him across the face.

-Krishna wants to get to the root of the problem and this can only be achieved by waking the person up instead of telling them ‘’oh it’s going to be okay’’

-Arjuna opens up and says he is confused and asks for instruction from Krishna which is an element of surrender

1) Symbolism:

~his surrender signifies our mind and sense of ‘’I’’- ness

~the chariot signifies the body

~the reigns signify our senses and signal that push the horses

~Krishna signifies intellect

2) B M I

-Body: physical

-Mind: subjective, ego, senses

-Intellect: objective, knowledge, evaluates thoughts

ex: taking an AP/Honors course

            -mind will say ‘’My friends are taking it so I should take it’’ or ‘’colleges will like to see me taking the course

            -intellect will say ‘’not enough challenge in regular so I’ll take it’’ or ‘’not interested’’

3) What do YOU think about?

-repentance of the past

-future results

~process is where we get lost

4) What about the present?

-roller coaster

-video game

~both are examples of exhilaration

~ ‘’The wise do not grieve for the living nor the dead’’

5) theory of incarnation:

ex: Mr.Gupta’s body dying vs him dying

~you’re the soul not the body

6) what doubts it?

-no remembrance

-no proof

-no window

ex: prodigies, twins with same DNA but different lives…KARMA of past life

~Arjuna was attached to his body

         

 by Saloni Sawant

Summary of 9/30/13 Class

Hari Om!

We spent class time yesterday, discussing in detail, the relevance of the text that we are studying.

Arjuna can be used to parallel ourselves and our minds. Leading up to the war, Arjuna is extremely focused but when he goes up to the middle of the battlefield, Arjuna has a "point of inflection" at which time he has a complete mental breakdown. What are those things that cause this mental breakdown?

How can we connect this to situations that we face regularly?

We can start by looking at battles we have:

• Sports Competitions
• School/Exams/Grades
• Dealing with parents

One of the most difficult things for Arjuna was that he was opposing people he loved and cared about. In our battles, we also often have to face and compete with family and friends that we care for.

          One of the examples we discussed was that of Eli and Peyton Manning -- is it not a reasonable assumption that the two brothers care for each other and therefore may have conflicting feelings about "fighting it out on the field?"

So now that we have acknowledged that we have similar situations to Arjuna, what made Arjuna have a complete breakdown and what factors cause us to have a breakdown? Are they similar?

Points of Inflection - Causes of breakdown:

• Fear of Failure
• Overwhelming Odds
• Attachments
• Misplaced Confidence
• Being psyched out

Arjuna was psyched out by Dhritrashtra who tried to convince him not to fight Duryodhana and to be the "bigger man." Arjuna is most affected attachment to family members and those that he respects and cares about.

In our own battles, we face the same "points of inflection" and if they cannot be controlled, they can lead to breakdowns on the sports' field, examination center, etc.

As we see that Arjuna's situation is not so different from situations that we face regularly, the solutions to his problems, can also help us to solve our own.

Having understood this, we go on to understand the excuses and arguments that Arjuna makes to not have to fight the war. We ended by asking the question:

"Was Arjuna's desire to switch to the path of ahimsa (non violence) and renounce his duties as a warrior plausible?"

Announcement:

There will be a Chyk Leadership Workshop by Swami Sarveshananda from 7:30-9:30 PM this Tuesday October 1st at the Asian American Cultural Center at Rutgers' Livingston Campus. Refer to Maneesha Aunty's email for more info or email Aparna Shankar at: aparnash@eden.rutgers.edu.

Address: Rutgers University - Livingston Campus
Asian American Cultural Center
49 Joyce Kilmer Ave.
Piscataway, NJ 08854

Hari OM Yuva Kendra,

We started the class by asking a simple question "What makes us Hindu ?".  We got answers like birth. values, traditions, culture, heritage, parents teachings etc..  Being born a Hindu is not enough.  It is a start but just being born a Hindu does not make one a practicing Hindu.  Which means that other things like values, traditions, heritage, culture, teachings are all relevant.  However the obvious question is who or what establishes these traditions, values or culture.  We learn from people around us but what is the source.  If one goes deeper into this question one realizes that the source of these are our scriptures.  The scriptures are the final authority that determine the heritage, values, traditions.... 

The Vedas give us the scriptural foundations.  The Upanishads which are a part of the Vedas deals with the spiritual knowledge or the philosophy.  The study of the Vedas and Upanishads is long and difficult also by its very nature need an environment that is serene and idyllic, far away from the hustle bustle of our day to day life. So the what are we supposed to do ?. Here is where the Bhagawad Geeta comes in.  The Bhagawad Geeta brings to us the Upanishidic knowledge in a manner that people like us can appreciate, understand and emulate.  Bhagawad Geeta was related to a warrior by the Lord himself on a battlefield.

There is one more key issue that makes the Bhagawad Geeta so unique.  Any philosophy can be complete only when a clear well defined path is made available to practice the philosophy.  It is just like to design a car one not only need the understanding of the basic sciences of physics, chemistry and related mathematics  (thermodynamics, motion, fuel calorimetry  etc) one also needs a thorough understanding of the engineering and the technology that goes in to design a great automobile.  Similarly the Bhagawad Geeta not only gives is a very lucid understanding of the philosophy enshrined in the Upanishads, it also gives us the a path of how to live based on that philosophy.  It gives us both the basic science and the applied engineering.  This is what makes the Bhagawad Geeta so unique and has been a source of tremendous inspiration to so many great leaders in all walks of life.

Verse 1 of chapter 1 starts with the blind king Dritharashtra asking Sanyaya to tell him as to what are the Pandavas and Kauravas doing on the Kurukshetra battlefield.  The opening words are "Dhramashetra Kurukshetra" are full of meaning.  Dharma means righteousness.  Some where in Dhritarashtra's mind lurks the understanding that the war that is about to happen is not just any war but it is war between good and evil and the fact that the Kauravas are on the wrong side.  It is the desire to hide this understanding that he labels the battle field as a Battle field of righteousness. 

Verses 2 to 11 Duryodhana the Kaurava prince is seen to be berating the Kaurava commanders especially Dronacharya.  Full of arrogance Duryodhana is suspicious of Dronacharya's loyalty.  Dronacharya love for Arjuna as a student was no secret.  Bhishma sees what is going on and feels that this would be a bad beginning for the war.  And in verse 12 in an effort to bolster the morale of the Kaurava commanders he blows his conch thus signalling the beginning of the war, thus the Kaurava's start the war and are the aggressors.  

As both sides are now making last minute preparations for the start of the war that is now imminent, Arjuna asks Krishna to take his chariot to the middle of the battle field so that he may survey the opposing army.  Krishna takes the chariot to the middle of the battle field and in verse 25 says the only words that He utters in the first Chapter "Behold the Kurus gathered together"  The word "behold " is full of meaning...  Arjuna is an accomplished archer,  he is fully armed and is a prince...  However Krishna is not sure if Arjuna is mentally ready for the war.  The word Behold is like a wake up call to Arjuna to wake up and take notice of what is about to happen.

Krishna words hit home... Arjuna sees his cousins, uncles, family members, teachers like Dronacharya who he loves and respects, Bhishma whom he reveres. Arjuna resolve to fight is broken. He starts giving Krishna a series of seemingly very intelligent arguments on why he should not fight.  That it would be a sin to kill, what good is land that is won like this, that it would be better to retire to the Himalayas than fight.  He complains that his body is on fire that he trembles and finally his bow slips from his fingers and he sits down in the chariot refusing to fight. He just not prepared to fight his family and friends and in spite of all his training and expertise as a warrior he goes through a complete and total mental break down. 

All through Krishna looks on without a word smiling away letting Arjuna rant.

Think of this setting not just as a story but as how it relates to us on a day to day basis.  Our Krukshetra is in our own minds  we are constantly in  state of conflict between numerous negative thoughts and tendencies and positive thoughts and good choices.  How do we make the right choice...  when confronted with very difficult choices between what is convenient and what is right how do we choose.  We are just too scared to act we are scared of failure and freeze into inaction.  A blank out in a test situation ...The Bhagawad Geeta is the manual of life that gives us the answers.

Next class we will go deeper in to the common between

Barriers to Success..

Why happiness ends in sadness and

Arjuna's grief.

Have a great week...

Hari OM 

Hari OM Yuva Kendra,

We had our first class on September 15th and it was a pleasure to see all of you.  Hope you all had a good summer and are all geared up to have a great school year.

It was great to see all the returning juniors and seniors and a very warm welcome to all the 10th graders.

We have just 2 simple guidelines that we discussed and to recap they are..... 

1.  You are more than welcome to ask questions and challenge any thing that is said in class.  Don't accept any thing as given. However the only rule we have is that we do not do any side ways conversations.  

2.  Please bring to class a) my prayers book b) The Holy Geeta with commentary by Swami Chinmayananda c) and some thing to write with and write on.

As a start we went around the class to try and understand as to what brought each one of us to Sunday class.  The 2 common themes we got that underlined all the responses were "Happiness" and "Success".  Each one of us felt that we had fun, had a sense of community, did things that we loved which all related to happiness and also that we got to learn our culture and values which in turn would make us successful.

We will use these themes of happiness and success as we start our next class.

This year we will studying the first 6 chapters of Bhagawad Geeta and we hope that all of you be a part of this journey and get the best out of this eternal text.

Look forward to seeing all of you on Sunday September 22nd.

Hari OM

Maneesha Aunty and Vikram Uncle