The Caste System and The Gita

SEED MANTRA: Bija mantra

On the field of Dharma

on the field of kuru

assembled together

desiring to fight

were my armies

and indeed those

of the pandu-

how did they act o Sanjaya? (1.1)

"The Lord's Great Love Song" ---The Baghavad Gita

POWER POINT LINK

Key Points

• SYNTHETIC & REVOLUTIONARY TEXT
• Philosophical Foundations of Hindu Philosophy
• Hard to put a firm date but about 400-100 BC
• Elitism of Yoga at the time from Brahminical Traditions & for men at the time of its writing
• Ascetics rather than lay people were capable of enlightenment. 
• No place for “householders” BEFORE the Baghavad Gita
• Opens up enlightenment to all
• Harmonizes all of the yogic paths
• Harmonizes many philosophies, jnana, advaita, Upanishads, etc.
• KRISHNA is imparting the GITA…not just about personal consciousness.
• REVOLUTIONARY TEXTS as it opens up many approaches to yoga---no intermediary needed now…PERSONAL & DIRECT & SIMPLE (no clergy needed, no complexity in this path) DEPARTURE FROM EARLIER TRADITIONS
• Clear and unambiguous descriptions of YOGA
• 2^nd chapter: evenness (equanimity) sanmatyam yoga ucyate “yoga is evenness” 
• skill in action (practical & quotidian) yogah karmasu kausalam 
• dhuhka sam yoga viyogam: “the separation from contact with pain”--trascendence
• 3 approaches
• JNANA YOGA “Yoga of knowledge” through teachings and direct experince
• KARMA YOGA “the approach of action toward development”
• BHAKTI YOGA “human emotion as a means of transcendence”
• Context
• Part of the Mahabharata—great epic with the Pandavas & Karunas probably actual events historically 800-600 BC. 
• Gita given in the context of this great battle between good & evil & life & death---meant to be applicable in day to day situations as well as a SYMBOLIC way as a deeper dialogue
• Krishna (divinity/Self) and Arjuna (common man)---dialogue any of us ca have with our higher consciousness (INTERNAL) as well as between guru and disciple (EXTERNAL) .
• Narrated by a minister (Samjaya) to a BLIND KING: symbolic of spiritual blindness—shows the QUALITIES that a person needs to HEAR (vision one needs to perceive).
• BATTLEFIELD (field of Dharma)…where right and wrong are decided. 
• Arjuna is asked to move his chariot where he can see (between the two armies) who he has to kill and they are people that he loves.
• About to act
• His moment of choice—symbolism…internal battle between higher understanding and lower tendencies that Arjuna has to face as well. INTERNAL AND EXTERNAL dilemmas.
• What is he going to do…THIS IS ARJUNA”S DILIEMA…crisis…it is in a time of crisis that we are tested, that learning really happens.
• Argument: battle between two things that are right: dharma & ahimsa (nonviolence). Not all decisions are Black & White. Two things can be right. 
• ARJUNA REFUSES TO FIGHT: not what a warrior does…what is Krishna’s teaching technique? How does Arjuna find his way to enlightenment?
• Chapter2: You must fight! It is your duty (sva-dharma) but Arjuna repeats his dilemma.
• Arjuna now says…YOU TEACH ME…now the teachings can begin…UPANISHADIC LEARNING,,,need to be ready. (How and when are we ready to relate to our higher wisdom)?
• Chapter 2 has ALL THE TEACHINGS that will be developed in the rest of the chapters
• CHAPTER 1: Arjuna chooses not to fight after seeing that he will have to kill his friends, family and teachers and disrupt the "system of classes" (caste)
• p.28, p.33-34
• CHAPTER 2: 
• The Self…is the first teaching by Krishna. The solution is only found by taking a higher perspective. (IMPORTANT IN YOGA…SEEK the SELF first). Lesser commentators start with the lowest and build up slowly…in other texts.
• Shankara: in a prison, how would you improve things? The only solution is to find the key…not improve the prison. The answer to the human condition is to find the higher self.
• All the wisdom we seek is already within us
• Krishna laughs…because from his perspective, there is humor. 2:11 now you are grieving for nothing…but you are not wise…2:12 the SELF is eternal, you are dealing with the relative, there will never be time when we do not exist. 2:13, there is death, but there is reincarnation. A wise person remembers the truth always. 2:14…realm of the senses provides experiences which ate pleasurable & and painful. 2:15 a wise person can rise above the realm of the senses. CORE OF GITA.
• Your conflict is about KILLING 2:17, but the consciousness is indestructible, so you cannot kill 2:18…he who imagines that he is killing or being killed, neither understands the truth of the matter. DOES THIS MEAN THE GITA EXTOLS KILLING?
• Can we do anything that we want? (debate)
• Is VIOLENCE okay? (debate)
• Krishna is trying to CHANGE ARJUNA’S PERSPECTIVE first and foremost so that Arjuna can make a correct decision. But, in the context of the epic, Arjuna must fight to eliminate evil. You can only face the most difficult questions from the HIGHEST possible place (SELF) then act.
• Ghandi: when you attain the state of consciousness…try to be violent! Ghandi thought that it was impossible.
• Krishna says that violence may be possible to attain a higher cause, but only if moved from the QUIET OF INNER WISDOM (not passion)
• 2:39: criticizes rituals of the UPANISHADS (rituals) without any knowledge of the self. The FRUIT OF THESE IS ALWAYS RELATIVE. Vedic rituals are without knowledge of the SELF (among others). Through intuition you can free yourself from the “bonds of Karma (action-rituals).”
• Even a little bit of this “yoga” protects you from great danger
• Directions one can go in are endless 2:42…without knowledge of the self, all these PATHS 2:44 they never achieve that deep insight of meditation. ALL PATHS pursued without wisdom are less than truth.
• 2:45—all the earlier traditions are about the 3 gunas…you have to be without (beyond) these 3 gunas (physical universe)
• raja (light), tamas (dark), satva (balanced)
• as long as we move in the realm of action we can not escape the three gunas (consequences) 
• “be without the 3 gunas”---HOW?
• Learning right action, discriminative wisdom and love in our hearts…that is what the rest of the Gita elaborates.
• KARMA (How do you handle action)? What we do defines us and action is UNAVOIDABLE “inaction is action”.
• Mind & body are bursting with action…tremendous energy of mind, body, emotions…what do we do with all of that? In that place beyond the three gunas we are free of this.
• Chapter 2:47: Your concern is with actions, not with their fruits.” “Never act just driven by the fruits of actions & never be driven by inaction” DETACHED ACTIONS- un-impassioned. CAN WE DO THIS???? (in another part of the Gita we are supposed to be concerned with the welfare of the world). TOTAL uncaring is inhuman…so, what is he saying? Your competence (authority) is the actions themselves, BUT NOT THE RESULTS. 
• 2:48: “being established in YOGA, perform your actions” Look to act from the highest perspective. “after giving up attachment to results.” STAY CENTERED (yogastam)
• jnana then ties in with karma & bhakti
• CHAPTER 3: importance of ACTION
• 3:13
• Ones dharma and action, 3:33-35

One acts according to one's own nature,

even a person of knowledge.

for beings

follow their nature--

what shall repression accomplish? 3.33

better is one's own dharma

even if imperfect

than another's dharma

followed perfectly

better is death in following

ones own dharma

for another's dharma brings danger 3.3

• CHAPTER 4: KNOWLEDGE
• non attached action 4:20-4:23
• different kinds of necessary sacrifice describe the different swabhava and svadharm and stages of enlightenment 4:24-4:33
• CHAPTER 5: Yoga of Action versus the RENUNCIATION of action (in action) 
• yoga is better, Sankhya and yoga achieve the same ends 5:2
• in reality all things are the same 5:18
• CHAPTER 6: the Way of MEDITATION
• if you are not your self, you are your own enemy 6:5
• how to meditate 6:11-16
• CHAPTER 7:  Knowledge of the Absolute.
• Lord Krishna is the Supreme Truth, the supreme cause and sustaining force of everything, both material and spiritual. Advanced souls surrender unto Him in devotion, whereas impious souls divert their minds to other objects of worship.
• Introduction: This is a transition chapter. 
• A person who is stuck in samsara, there mind is always wondering around jagat (the multiverse), but then they begin to think. About what? 
• The jiva.
•  Ch. 1–6 focused on jiva (individuality). The evolution of that is to wander around jagadeeshwara (totality).
• Shifting focus from jnana to vignana (knowledge to wisdom).
• Shifting focus from murti to madhya (instead of seeing God outside of oneself, we start to see God inside of oneself).
• Bhaktas: We are all bhaktas. There are 2 types:
• Type 1: has a relationship with God because stuck in adversity (beggars)
• Type 2 (more evolved): has a relationship with God out of prosperity. They are in prosperity and grateful to God for these blessings.

— ->Shishu (disciple): evolution of a bhakta is to be a shishu.
— ->Jignasu (one who wants to know God): They know the purpose of living is jagadeeshwara.
— ->Jnani (best among Type 2 bhaktas): the one who does know God, which means they know they are God) — from dwaita to adwaita.

• How do we evolve from a bhakta to a shishu, to Jignasu to jnani? We need grace from our own efforts (kripa).
• You should feel you are the hardest working person you know (invoking kripa).
• CHAPTER 8:  Attaining the Supreme.
• Prince Arjuna is no longer focused on adversity/prosperity. He is a jignasu. Compare him from Ch. 1 to Ch. 8 — nothing he thinks about in Ch. 1 matters anymore. He asks the 7 QUESTIONS. The most relevant is What is karma?
  Karma
  • Karma is kshara that leads us to akshara.
  • Kshara is that which is changing. Changing is leading us to changeless. If articles, beings things not leading us to changeless, then useless.
  • Bhagwan Krishna teaches Arjuna how to do this — need to evolve around veda, tapa, dhana?, yagna.
    — ->Veda: insight — revolve around veda because gives you insight
    — ->Tapa: to invest in oneself — make the best use of body/mind intellect
    — ->Tana of Dhana??? — what to do with you investment? Share selflessly
    — ->Yagna: training should lead to yagna — to be dedicated. To God, to enlightenment.
  Kriya yoga — if one is truly going to engage in kriya yoga — the Vedas are the beginning of it. So much of what we know about yoga now doesn’t involve study.
  What happens after death?
  At the end of Chapter 8, Arjuna asks: if I die, what will happen to me? Prayana kali — Path of moon and sun.
  • Who takes path of the Moon — someone who lives for valuables, that which is inert and dark.
  • Who takes path of the Sun — someone who follows what we study. Values/consciousness/light. How I live today will decide my tomorrow. All my tomorrows will determine my next life. Follow this path and there is no reason to fear.
  • Fear of death — if you are afraid, you are not dead, if not dead, then can’t be afraid. Nobody knows the experience of death, other than enlightened masters beyond death. If dead, then have no experience, so what are we afraid of? A person living a life of values has no fear.
  Arjuna wants more — not satisfied with life and death for the body.
• CHAPTER 9:  The most confidential knowledge.
• Krisha explains Raja Vidya (king of knowledge) — What is our only deed? Happiness. To be independently joyous.
  • What knowledge is leading us to this? Economics, cooking, being parent — none of this directly leads to independent joy. It is this knowledge that leads to independent joy.
  • Nothing in the Gita is exaggerated. The greatest secret. The science is beyond the equipment we have (body/mind/intellect).
  • Some people believe they are engaging in contemplation but haven’t studied. What are they contemplating on?
  Krishna shares the knowledge. Referring to creation, he says
  “I am not in them, they are in me”
  • Think of it as thoughts. Awareness doesn’t depend on thoughts. Thoughts depend on awareness.
  • After that Krishna says:
  “They are not in me either”
  • Sat/Chit/Ananda. (Existence (truth)/Consciousness (knowledge)/bliss (enlightenment))
  • Arjuna loves this and enamored by this. He wants to “be” But HOW?  Krishan says bhakti.
  • Krishna says to depend on that which is independent. Then you will slowly become independent too. HOW? By knowing that which is independent.
  • The more you know Krishna, the more you love Krishna.
  Fall with the fall, flow with the flow. If we learn to do this, he won’t get hurt.
  Arjuna wants to know-Krishna — where are you?
• Put your heart into it. Love is not just an EMOTION but a condition where we experience ONENESS with someone or something else. Why should this love not be expanded to everything (what I have created)?
• 9:20-21: There are people who are only interested in a religious life without an understanding of the SELF.
• 9:22: With devotion (total) all is attained, not with religiosity.
• Yoga is the skill to use all of our facilities to attain the higher self.
• CHAPTER 10:  The Opulence of the Absolute.
• Bhagwan expresses God with form and name (vibhudhi).
• Through vibhuddhi, you have to get to yoga.
• With Vibhuddhi, focus on creation. With yoga, focus on the creator.
• Yoga is still the means. Yoga should be leading us to focus on the taatva (beyond creation is concsiousness).
• Vibhuddhi to yoga to taatwa.
• This chapter focuses on creation.
• Bhagwan Krishna feels enthusiastic to share and share and share because Arjuna is a sincere student. There are so many examples.
• CHAPTER 11:  The Universal Form.
• Lord Krishna grants Arjuna divine vision and reveals His spectacular unlimited form as the cosmic universe. Thus He conclusively establishes His divinity. Krishna explains that His own all-beautiful human-like form is the original form of Godhead. One can perceive this form only by pure devotional service.
• Krishna deletes time, space, matter. Deletes dwaita. Gives us a taste of adwaita (oneness).
• Bhagwan tells Arjuna to be an instrument. Your whole life, you have been the doer. The evolution of the doer is instrumentship. The evolution of instrumentship is be-ership.
• Nimitamatra- training to be-ership is instrumentship.
• Arjuna loves Bhagwan Krishna more and more. When you love someone, you want to be with them.
• CHAPTER 12:  Devotional Service (Bhakti-yoga).
• Bhakti-yoga, pure devotional service to Lord Krishna, is the highest and most expedient means for attaining pure love for Krishna, which is the highest end of spiritual existence. Those who follow this supreme path develop divine qualities.
• 12:1: Arjuna asks about all this: So some worship you with devotion and some their internal self (mediation), which is best?
• 12:2: those who have devotion are most with me, 
• 12:3-4: those that meditate also, 12:5, but those that seek the impersonal take much more effort. (THAT MEDITATION SHIT IS HARD!) Devotion is the quick way (kundalini) How can one with a FORM (embodied) relate to the formless?
• Krisha says that the way to be closer to me is to be natural.
• — ->What is most natural?
• — ->To have a relationship with God. All of us need to understand deeply, sadhana should be natural.
• — ->If you are listening well, you will naturally become reflective. You will naturally engage in contemplation (niddhidyasana).
• — ->Can be deep in contemplation when running. Don’t need to turn lights off, away from people. Contemplation should be natural. Contemplate by listening.
• — ->How to listen? By following dharma. Right association/action/attitude. Don’t have to contemplate in commercialized way.
• Bhakti: defined as depending on God.
• — ->If you can’t depend on God, then practice depending on God.
• — ->If can’t practice depending on God, then dedicate your efforts toward God.
• — ->If you can’t dedicate your efforts towards God, then accept the results of your actions.
• To help us engage in all of this, Chapter 12 is focused on virtue developments.
• CHAPTER 13:  Nature, the Enjoyer and Consciousness.
• One who understands the difference between the body, the soul and the Supersoul beyond them both attains liberation from this material world.
• Bhagvan shares that jnana is values. If you have values, you have jnana. The meaning of jnana is that which makes you quieter (not knowledge!) The quieter mind leads to a still intellect, which enables one to dissect the known and the knower.
• CHAPTER 14:  The Three Modes of Material Nature.
• All embodied souls are under the control of the three modes, or qualities, of material nature: goodness, passion and ignorance. Lord Krishna explains what these modes are, how they act upon us, how one transcends them, and the symptoms of one who has attained the transcendental state.
• Bhagvan explains that gunas can be virtures or vices. Our gunas are our blueprints.
• We have 3 gunas. Tamas or laziness is low thinking and low living. Rajas or aggression is low thinking and high living. They believe pleasure, possession will bring hapieness. Sattva is high thinking and the living doesn’t matter!
• If one is aware of their gunas, they can change!
• Bhagvan says that once one has changed, they can transcend their gunas. This involves ultimately transcending sattva.
• CHAPTER 15:  The Yoga of the Supreme Person.
• The ultimate purpose of Vedic knowledge is to detach oneself from the entanglement of the material world and to understand Lord Krishna as the Supreme Personality of Godhead. One who understands Krishna’s supreme identity surrenders unto Him and engages in His devotional service.
• This chapter is a shasthra. A shasthra is that which is good for us as well as that which is comprehensive. In this chapter, goodness is encouraged in a comprehensive.
• This chapter is a summary of all of Srimad Bhagvad Gita. We study the absolute and the relative, creation and creator.
• CHAPTER 16:  The Divine and Demoniac Natures.
• Those who possess demoniac qualities and who live whimsically, without following the regulations of scripture, attain lower births and further material bondage. But those who possess divine qualities and live regulated lives, abiding by scriptural authority, gradually attain spiritual perfection.
• Sanyasa is knowing what you are and knowing what you’re not. When knowing what is real and unreal, one’s action will lead to what is real!
• CHAPTER 17:  The Divisions of Faith.
• There are three types of faith, corresponding to and evolving from the three modes of material nature.  Acts performed by those whose faith is in passion and ignorance yield only impermanent, material results, whereas acts performed in goodness, in accord with scriptural injunctions, purify the heart and lead to pure faith in Lord Krishna and devotion to Him.
• How I am is expressed through shradha. Our shradha should be dedicated to:
• Yantra — equipment
• Tantra — technique
• Mantra — purpose
• CHAPTER 18:  Conclusion – The Perfection of Renunciation.
• Arjuna gets it!
• Krishna explains the meaning of renunciation and the effects of the modes of nature on human consciousness and activity. He explains Brahman realization, the glories of the Bhagavad-gita, and the ultimate conclusion of the Gita: the highest path of religion is absolute, unconditional loving surrender unto Lord Krishna, which frees one from all sins, brings one to complete enlightenment, and enables one to return to Krishna’s eternal spiritual abode.
• Now my confusion is gone! Now my doubts are gone and I will do what you say. The Gita is Arjunas learning process. We can view the repetition in this light!
• This chapter is a review.
• Prince Arjuna asks how he can let go. He is honest enough to know he is holding on to the unreal.
• Bhagvan instructs to let go by engaging in thyaga of raga. Raga means dependency. One should not depend on anyone or anything—and this becomes possible if one has clarity.
• Bhagvan shares to Prince Arjuna: “You are Free! Don’t be sad.”
• The Srimad Bhagvad Gita is completed by sharing that wherever there is Bhavan, there is freedom.
• Bhagvan is vision. Prince Arjuna is lifestyle. Where vision and lifestyle come together there is freedom.