by Anonymous, Eknath Easwaran
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Last annotated on May 1, 2017
Foreword The Classics of Indian Spirituality
The Bhagavad Gita
********* Their findings can be summarized in three statements which Aldous Huxley, following Leibnitz, has called the Perennial Philosophy because they appear in every age and civilization: (1) there is an infinite, changeless reality beneath the world of change; (2) this same reality lies at the core of every human personality; (3) the purpose of life is to discover this reality experientially: that is, to realize God while here on earth. Read more at location 122
Thus read, the Gita is not an external dialogue but an internal one: between the ordinary human personality, full of questions about the meaning of life, and our deepest Self, which is divine. Read more at location 166
******* If I could offer only one key to understanding this divine dialogue, it would be to remember that it takes place in the depths of consciousness and that Krishna is not some external being, human or superhuman, but the spark of divinity that lies at the core of the human personality. This is not literary or philosophical conjecture; Krishna says as much to Arjuna over and over: “I am the Self in the heart of every creature, Arjuna, and the beginning, middle, and end of their existence” (10:20). Read more at location 168
“Truth is one,” says a famous verse of the Rig Veda; “people call it by various names.” Read more at location 179
In profound meditation, they found, when consciousness is so acutely focused that it is utterly withdrawn from the body and mind, it enters a kind of singularity in which the sense of a separate ego disappears. In this state, the supreme climax of meditation, the seers discovered a core of consciousness beyond time and change. They called it simply Atman, the Self. Read more at location 216
Here is Ruysbroeck, a great mystic of medieval Europe; every word is most carefully chosen: The image of God is found essentially and personally in all mankind. Each possesses it whole, entire and undivided, and all together not more than one alone. In this way we are all one, intimately united in our eternal image, which is the image of God and the source in us of all our life. Read more at location 224
Maya
The disciplines for achieving this are called yoga, as is the state of union: the word comes from the root yuj, to yoke or bind together. The “experience” itself (properly speaking, it is beyond experience) is called samadhi. And the state attained is moksha or nirvana, both of which signify going beyond the conditioning of maya – time, space, and causality. Read more at location 256
Dharma, Karma, Rebirth, and Liberation
The word dharma means many things, but its underlying sense is “that which supports,” from the root dhri, to support, hold up, or bear. Read more at location 270
On a larger scale, dharma means the essential order of things, an integrity and harmony in the universe and the affairs of life that cannot be disturbed without courting chaos. Thus it means rightness, justice, goodness, purpose rather than chance. Underlying this idea is the oneness of life: the Upanishadic discovery that all things are interconnected because at its deepest level creation is indivisible. Read more at location 276
**** life is the most intricate web of interconnections. This is the law of karma, Read more at location 288
Literally, the Sanskrit karma means something that is done. Often it can be translated as deed or action. The law of karma states simply that every event is both a cause and an effect. Every act has consequences of a similar kind, which in turn have further consequences and so on; and every act, every karma, is also the consequence of some previous karma. Read more at location 290
the Upanishads found that there is not merely an accidental but an essential relationship between mental and physical activity. Read more at location 294
it is in the mind rather than the world that karma’s seeds are planted. Aptly, Indian philosophy compares a thought to a seed: very tiny, but it can grow into a huge, deep-rooted, wide-spreading tree. Read more at location 302
The sages of the Upanishads saw personality as a field of forces. Packets of karma to them are forces that have to work themselves out; if the process is interrupted by death, those forces remain until conditions allow them to work again in a new context. Read more at location 312
YOGA PSYCHOLOGY
Sankhya philosophy posits two separate categories: Purusha, spirit, and prakriti, everything else. Read more at location 337
Prakriti is the field of what can be known objectively, the field of phenomena, the world of whatever has “name and form”: that is, not only of matter and energy but also of the mind. Read more at location 339
Purusha is consciousness itself. What we call “mind” is only an internal instrument that Purusha uses, just as the body is its external instrument. For practical purposes – at least as far as the Gita is concerned – Purusha may be regarded as a synonym for Atman. Read more at location 342
Matter and Mind
**** we never really encounter the world; all we experience is our own nervous system. Read more at location 375
When the Gita says that the material world is made up of five “material elements,” then, it is talking about the world as we perceive it through our five senses. The objects of this world are in the mind, not outside. Read more at location 376
Sankhya’s explanation of mind and body has profound implications for psychosomatic medicine. In a system where mental phenomena and biochemical events take place in the same field, it is much easier to account for how ways of thinking affect the body. If one idea is central to yoga psychology, it is that thoughts are real and have real, tangible consequences, as we saw in the discussion of karma. Sankhya describes thoughts as packets of potential energy, which grow more and more solid when favorable conditions are present and obstacles are removed. They become desires, then habits, then ways of living with physical consequences. Those consequences may look no more like thoughts than an oak tree looks like an acorn, but the Gita says they are just as intimately related. Just as a seed can grow into only one kind of tree, thoughts can produce effects only of the same nature. Kindness to others, to take just one example, favors a nervous system that is kind to itself. Read more at location 397
The Forces of Evolution
Sankhya describes prakriti as a field of forces called gunas Read more at location 404
Every state of matter and mind is a combination of these three: tamas, inertia, rajas, activity, and sattva, harmony or equilibrium. Read more at location 408
Tamas is frozen energy, the resistance of inertia. Read more at location 411
rajas, activity, is like a swollen river, full of uncontrolled power. Read more at location 413
And sattva, harmony, can be compared with steam when its power is harnessed. Read more at location 413
Guna means strand, and in the Gita the gunas are described as the very fabric of existence, Read more at location 415
We can also think of the gunas as different levels of consciousness. Tamas, the lowest level, is the vast unconscious, a chaotic dumping ground for the residue of past mental states. Read more at location 419
This record is shared, of course, by all human beings, and at its deepest levels the unconscious is universal. There is no choice in tamas, no awareness; this is complete ignorance of the unity of life, ignorance of any other need than one’s own basic urges. Read more at location 421
Rajas is what we ordinarily mean by mind, the incessant stream of thought that races along, Read more at location 423
Sattva, finally, is the so-called higher mind – detached, unruffled, self-controlled. Read more at location 425
This becomes particularly interesting in describing personality as a field of forces. The rajasic person is full of energy; the tamasic person is sluggish, indifferent, insensitive; the sattvic person, calm, resourceful, compassionate, and selfless. Yet all three are always present at some level of awareness, and their proportions change: Read more at location 428
The goal of evolution is to return to unity: that is, to still the mind. Read more at location 448
THE ESSENCE OF THE GITA
What kind of yoga does the Gita teach? The common answer is that it presents three yogas or even four – the four main paths of Hindu mysticism. Read more at location 458
In jnana yoga, the yoga of knowledge, aspirants use their will and discrimination to disidentify themselves from the body, mind, and senses until they know they are nothing but the Self. Read more at location 459
The followers of bhakti yoga, the yoga of devotion, achieve the same goal by identifying themselves completely with the Lord in love; Read more at location 460
In karma yoga, the yoga of selfless action, the aspirants dissolve their identification with body and mind by identifying with the whole of life, forgetting the finite self in the service of others. Read more at location 462
the followers of raja yoga, the yoga of meditation, discipline the mind and senses until the mind-process is suspended in a healing stillness and they merge in the Self. Read more at location 463
the essence of the Gita, can be given in one word: renunciation. This is the common factor in the four yogas. Read more at location 484
**** Kama is not desire; it is selfish desire. The Buddha calls it tanha,“ thirst”: Read more at location 499
When it is extinguished – the literal meaning of nirvana – the mask of the transient, petty empirical ego falls, revealing our real Self. Read more at location 503
Everything depends on the state of mind. Action without selfish motive purifies the mind: Read more at location 509
“But renunciation of fruit,” Gandhi warns, in no way means indifference to the result. In regard to every action one must know the result that is expected to follow, the means thereto, and the capacity for it. He who, being thus equipped, is without desire for the result and is yet wholly engrossed in the due fulfillment of the task before him, is said to have renounced the fruits of his action. This attitude frees us completely. Whatever comes – success or failure, praise or blame, victory or defeat – we can give our best with a clear, unruffled mind. Read more at location 522
Only the person who is utterly detached and utterly dedicated, Gandhi says, is free to enjoy life. Asked to sum up his life “in twenty-five words or less,” he replied, “I can do it in three!” and quoted the Isha Upanishad: “Renounce and enjoy.” Read more at location 528
Selfless work purifies consciousness because when there is no trace of ego involvement, new karma is not produced; the mind is simply working out the karma it has already accumulated. Read more at location 572
A HIGHER IMAGE
Augustine says daringly, “Love, then do as you like”: nothing will come out of you but goodness. Read more at location 588
FAITH AND SPIRITUAL EVOLUTION
That concept is shraddha, and its nearest English equivalent is faith. I have translated it as such, but shraddha means much more. It is literally “that which is placed in the heart”: all the beliefs we hold so deeply that we never think to question them. Read more at location 614
It is our very substance. The Gita says, “A person is what his shraddha is” (17:3). The Bible uses almost the same words: “As a man thinketh in his heart, so is he.” Shraddha reflects everything that we have made ourselves and points to what we have become. Read more at location 618
Our lives are an eloquent expression of our belief: what we deem worth having, doing, attaining, being. What we strive for shows what we value; we back our shraddha with our time, our energy, our very lives. Thus shraddha determines destiny. Read more at location 627
Chapter previews written by Diana Morrison
Chapter One
The War Within
the first chapter has caused a great deal of debate, largely because of what it has to say about the morality of war. Read more at location 696
According to this orthodox view, the lesson of the Mahabharata (and therefore of the Gita) is that although war is evil, it is an evil that cannot be avoided – an evil both tragic and honorable for the warrior himself. War in a just cause, justly waged, is also in accord with the divine will. Read more at location 699
**** The mystics’ point of view is more subtle. For them the battle is an allegory, a cosmic struggle between good and evil. Krishna has revealed himself on earth to reestablish righteousness, and he is asking Arjuna to engage in a spiritual struggle, not a worldly one. According to this interpretation, Arjuna is asked to fight not his kith and kin but his own lower self. Read more at location 703
1: The War Within
ARJUNA
21 O Krishna, drive my chariot between the two armies. 22 I want to see those who desire to fight with me. With whom will this battle be fought? Read more at location 740
(Note: DNA, heritage, "old" self, habit) 28 Arjuna was overcome by sorrow. Despairing, he spoke these words: ARJUNA O Krishna, I see my own relations here anxious to fight, Read more at location 750
40 When a family declines, ancient traditions are destroyed. With them are lost the spiritual foundations for life, and the family loses its sense of unity. Read more at location 766
Chapter Two
Self-Realization
Sri Krishna begins by reminding Arjuna of his immortal nature: his real Self, the Atman, never dies, for it is never born; it is eternal. Thus the Gita does not lead us from stage to stage of spiritual awareness, but begins with the ultimate premise: the immortal soul is more important than the passing world. Read more at location 786
(Note: Jung) Krishna is a symbol of the Atman, Arjuna’s deepest Self. Read more at location 791
The Self wears the body as a garment; when the garment is old, it is cast aside and a new one is put on. Thus the soul, or jiva, travels from life to life. Read more at location 792
“Yoga is evenness of mind”: detachment from the dualities of pain and pleasure, success and failure. Therefore “yoga is skill in action,” because this kind of detachment is required if one is to act in freedom, rather than merely react to events compelled by conditioning. Read more at location 801
2: Self-Realization
KRISHNA
The wise grieve neither for the living nor for the dead. 12 There has never been a time when you and I and the kings gathered here have not existed, nor will there be a time when we will cease to exist. Read more at location 848
16 The impermanent has no reality; reality lies in the eternal. Those who have seen the boundary between these two have attained the end of all knowledge. Read more at location 856
******* (Note: battle as allegory) 18 The body is mortal, but that which dwells in the body is immortal and immeasurable. Therefore, Arjuna, fight in this battle. Read more at location 858
********** 19 One believes he is the slayer, another believes he is the slain. Both are ignorant; there is neither slayer nor slain. 20 You were never born; you will never die. Read more at location 860
25 The Self is unmanifested, beyond all thought, beyond all change. Knowing this, you should not grieve. Read more at location 869
(Note: Impermanence) 26 O mighty Arjuna, even if you believe the Self to be subject to birth and death, you should not grieve. 27 Death is inevitable for the living; birth is inevitable for the dead. Since these are unavoidable, you should not sorrow. Read more at location 870
(Note: Akin to logos of Heraclitus, Jesus (in Luke 11)) 29 The glory of the Self is beheld by a few, and a few describe it; a few listen, but many without understanding. Read more at location 875
46 Just as a reservoir is of little use when the whole countryside is flooded, scriptures are of little use to the illumined man or woman, who sees the Lord everywhere. Read more at location 901
49 Seek refuge in the attitude of detachment and you will amass the wealth of spiritual awareness. Those who are motivated only by desire for the fruits of action are miserable, for they are constantly anxious about the results of what they Read more at location 907
52 When your mind has overcome the confusion of duality, you will attain the state of holy indifference Read more at location 913
********** 55 They live in wisdom who see themselves in all and all in them, who have renounced every selfish desire and sense craving tormenting the heart. 56 Neither agitated by grief nor hankering after pleasure, they live free from lust and fear and anger. Established in meditation, they are truly wise. 57 Fettered no more by selfish attachments, they are neither elated by good fortune nor depressed by bad. Such are the seers. Read more at location 920
61 They live in wisdom who subdue their senses and keep their minds ever absorbed in me. Read more at location 928
When you know no peace, how can you know joy? 67 When you let your mind follow the call of the senses, they carry away your better judgment as storms drive a boat off its charted course on the sea. Read more at location 935
********* 71 They are forever free who renounce all selfish desires and break away from the ego-cage of “I,” “me,” and “mine” to be united with the Lord. 72 This is the supreme state. Attain to this, and pass from death to immortality. Read more at location 943
Chapter Three
Selfless Service
Krishna replies that there is no way Arjuna can avoid the obligation of selfless action, or karma yoga. Arjuna must act selflessly, out of a sense of duty. He must work not for his own sake, but for the welfare of all. Krishna points out that this is a basic law underlying all creation. Each being must do its part in the grand scheme of things, and there is no way to avoid this obligation – except perhaps by the complete enlightenment which loosens all the old bonds of karma. Read more at location 951
Krishna replies that anger and selfish desire are our greatest enemies. They are the destructive powers that can compel us to wander away from our purpose, to end up in self-delusion and despair. Read more at location 979
Sankhya, one of the six traditional schools of Indian philosophy. In Sankhya, the phenomenal world of mind and matter is described as having three basic qualities or gunas: sattva– goodness, light, purity; rajas– passion, activity, energy; and tamas– darkness, ignorance, inertia. According to Sankhya, spiritual evolution progresses from tamas to rajas to sattva, and final liberation takes the soul beyond the three gunas altogether. Read more at location 981
3: Selfless Service
3 At the beginning of time I declared two paths for the pure heart: jnana yoga, the contemplative path of spiritual wisdom, and karma yoga, the active path of selfless service. Read more at location 998
8 Fulfill all your duties; action is better than inaction. Even to maintain your body, Arjuna, you are obliged to act. 9 Selfish action imprisons the world. Act selflessly, without any thought of personal profit. Read more at location 1005
25 The ignorant work for their own profit, Arjuna; the wise work for the welfare of the world, without thought for themselves. Read more at location 1032
Chapter Four
Wisdom in Action
Vishnu, the preserving or sustaining person of the Hindu Trinity, is not mentioned here, but Krishna is usually looked upon as an incarnation of this aspect of God. As the Lord, Krishna explains, he dwells in every being, but he is manifested with special power in his incarnations or avatars. Avatara literally means descent: Vishnu is believed to descend and incarnate himself on earth from age to age to reestablish divine law (dharma). Read more at location 1074
Vishnu – Krishna – has compassion for all the suffering of the world, and comes himself to protect the good and destroy evil. Thus Vishnu has a special relationship with all beings: he personifies the aspect of God who so loves the world that he comes into it to reestablish the purity and happiness of the Golden Age. Read more at location 1078
Krishna also takes on the role of creator. Read more at location 1082
Krishna’s divine nature as an aspect of Vishnu. In this sense Krishna is the inner Self in all beings. Read more at location 1085
Many of Krishna’s words make most sense when we realize that when he speaks of himself, he is often not describing a transcendental reality so much as trying to tell Arjuna about the Self in every human being. When he says, for example, “Actions do not cling to me because I am not attached to their results,” he means, “Arjuna, actions do not cling to your real Self.” Read more at location 1089
wisdom is the goal of selfless action: knowing is the fruit of doing. The goal of all karma yoga or yajna is liberation and spiritual wisdom. Read more at location 1102
4: Wisdom in Action
******* (Note: universalism, perennialism) Those who know me as their own divine Self break through the belief that they are the body and are not reborn as separate creatures. Such a one, Arjuna, is united with me. 10 Delivered from selfish attachment, fear, and anger, filled with me, surrendering themselves to me, purified in the fire of my being, many have reached the state of unity in me. 11 As they approach me, so I receive them. All paths, Arjuna, lead to me. Read more at location 1123
Actions do not cling to me because I am not attached to their results. Those who understand this and practice it live in freedom. Read more at location 1130
The wise see that there is action in the midst of inaction and inaction in the midst of action. Their consciousness is unified, and every act is done with complete awareness. Read more at location 1137
******** They live in freedom who have gone beyond the dualities of life. Competing with no one, they are alike in success and failure and content with whatever comes to them. Read more at location 1144
Brahman is attained by those who see Brahman in every action. Read more at location 1148
39 Those who take wisdom as their highest goal, whose faith is deep and whose senses are trained, attain wisdom quickly and enter into perfect peace. 40 But the ignorant, indecisive and lacking in faith, waste their lives. They can never be happy in this world or any other. Read more at location 1171
Chapter Five
Renounce & Rejoice
The general term for retiring from the world is sannyasa, “renunciation.” Read more at location 1180
Though Krishna acknowledges here that this way of sannyasa can lead to the goal, he recommends the path of selfless action or selfless service as the better way. He contrasts the way of Sankhya – which in this context means knowledge of the Self in a general way – to the way of yoga, which here means the way of action. Read more at location 1188
Sankhya and yoga might also be translated as “theory and practice.” Read more at location 1192
It is essential in karma yoga that the selfish ego not expect gratification from the work. Read more at location 1197
5: Renounce & Rejoice
2 Both renunciation of action and the selfless performance of action lead to the supreme goal. But the path of action is better than renunciation. Read more at location 1221
7 Those who follow the path of service, who have completely purified themselves and conquered their senses and self-will, see the Self in all creatures and are untouched by any action they perform. Read more at location 1230
12 Those whose consciousness is unified abandon all attachment to the results of action and attain supreme peace. Read more at location 1239
15 The Lord does not partake in the good and evil deeds of any person; judgment is clouded when wisdom is obscured by ignorance. Read more at location 1245
Freed from selfish desire, fear, and anger, they live in freedom always. 29 Knowing me as the friend of all creatures, the Lord of the universe, the end of all offerings and all spiritual disciplines, they attain eternal peace. Read more at location 1265
Chapter Six
The Practice of Meditation
yogi literally means “one who is accomplished in yoga,” and yoga means “integration of the spirit.” In this sense, yoga means wholeness or the process of becoming whole at the deepest spiritual level. Read more at location 1279
One’s self is thus one’s friend or one’s own enemy. The “lower self,” as Western mystics sometimes call it, is self-will – will in the negative, selfish sense. Read more at location 1291
But those who “have conquered themselves by themselves” have their truest friend in the Self. Only those who have genuine self-discipline, who are “self-conquered,” live in peace. These, Krishna says, are true yogis. They cannot harbor any malice, cannot even bring themselves to look upon anyone as an enemy. They are samabuddhi, “of equable mind.” Read more at location 1293
Sitting absolutely straight, with the spinal column erect, prevents drowsiness. Also, in advanced stages of meditation, it allows for the free flow of vital energy or kundalini Read more at location 1304
6: Practice of Meditation
6 To those who have conquered themselves, the will is a friend. But it is the enemy of those who have not found the Self within them. Read more at location 1342
10 Those who aspire to the state of yoga should seek the Self in inner solitude through meditation. With body and mind controlled they should constantly practice one-pointedness, free from expectations and attachment to material possessions. Read more at location 1350
12 Then, once seated, strive to still your thoughts. Make your mind one-pointed in meditation, and your heart will be purified. 13 Hold your body, head, and neck firmly in a straight line, and keep your eyes from wandering. Read more at location 1354
17 But those who are temperate in eating and sleeping, work and recreation, will come to the end of sorrow through meditation. Read more at location 1361
19 When meditation is mastered, the mind is unwavering like the flame of a lamp in a windless place. 20 In the still mind, in the depths of meditation, the Self reveals itself. Read more at location 1364
24 Renouncing wholeheartedly all selfish desires and expectations, use your will to control the senses. 25 Little by little, through patience and repeated effort, the mind will become stilled in the Self. Read more at location 1371
27 Abiding joy comes to those who still the mind. Freeing themselves from the taint of self-will, with their consciousness unified, they become one with Brahman. Read more at location 1374
29 They see the Self in every creature and all creation in the Self. With consciousness unified through meditation, they see everything with an equal eye. Read more at location 1378
32 When a person responds to the joys and sorrows of others as if they were his own, he has attained the highest state of spiritual union. Read more at location 1383
Chapter Seven
Wisdom from Realization
The term used for wisdom is jnana; for realization, vijnana. There is room for confusion in this terminology, as jnana and vijnana are open to differing interpretations. Both words are from the root jna, “to know,” which is related to the Greek word gnosis. Read more at location 1412
Ramakrishna takes vijnana to mean an intimate, practical familiarity with God, the ability to carry through in daily affairs with the more abstract understanding that is jnana. Read more at location 1418
Krishna’s “two natures” are discussed. On the one hand, he has created out of himself the elements and all things that make up the phenomenal world. Beyond this is Krishna’s spiritual nature as the transcendent Lord of the universe. Read more at location 1424
In Sankhya, the goal of Self-realization is seen as the final freeing of the spirit (Purusha) from its flirtation with mind and matter (prakriti). Read more at location 1428
Here in the Gita Krishna directly assumes all the roles and honors usually shared with the other aspects of God worshipped in the Hindu faith. Read more at location 1434
the idea of the world as Krishna’s lila, his play, became a cherished theme of later Hinduism. Krishna, it is said, created the world in play: just as a child might desire to have companions to play with, Krishna desired companions, and made the world. Krishna participates in the game of life; Read more at location 1439
The Gita is a halfway point between the spontaneous insights of the Upanishads and the later, highly formalized philosophical systems. Read more at location 1459
7: Wisdom from Realization
2 I will give you both jnana and vijnana. When both these are realized, there is nothing more you need to know. Read more at location 1466
3 One person in many thousands may seek perfection, yet of these only a few reach the goal and come to realize me. 4 Earth, water, fire, air, akasha, mind, intellect, and ego – these are the eight divisions of my prakriti. 5 But beyond this I have another, higher nature, Arjuna; it supports the whole universe and is the source of life in all beings. Read more at location 1468
24 Through lack of understanding, people believe that I, the Unmanifest, have entered into some form. They fail to realize my true nature, which transcends birth and death. 25 Few see through the veil of maya. Read more at location 1500
Chapter Eight
Eternal Godhead
Krishna replies that whoever remembers him at the time of death will enter madbhavam, “my being.” Read more at location 1521
In fact, whatever it may be, the content of the mind at the hour of death directs the soul in its journey to rebirth. Read more at location 1522
First consciousness is withdrawn from the senses. The dying no longer hear or see what is going on around them. They are still conscious, but the “light” of consciousness has been withdrawn from the senses, here called the “gates” of the body. There are said to be nine such gates: two eyes, two nostrils, two ears, the mouth, and the organs of generation and excretion. Sometimes two more are added: the navel and the sagittal suture, located at the top of the skull and called in Sanskrit brahmarandhra, “the aperture of Brahman.” When consciousness has been withdrawn from these gates, Krishna says, “the mind is placed [“locked up”] in the heart.” (8:12) Here, as in Christian mysticism, it is the heart and not the head that is taken to be the home of the soul. Read more at location 1541
“Northern and southern paths” refers to the path of the sun, which seems to move northward after the winter solstice and southward after the summer solstice. Read more at location 1569
In the Gita and the Upanishads, this “northern path” has come to signify that the soul has been released from karma and need not be reborn. The southern path, by contrast, leads the soul to a new birth in this world, a birth suitable to its karma. Read more at location 1572
8: Eternal Godhead
3 My highest nature, the imperishable Brahman, gives every creature its existence and lives in every creature as the adhyatma. My action is creation and the bringing forth of creatures. 4 The adhibhuta is the perishable body; the adhidaiva is Purusha, eternal spirit. The adhiyajna, the supreme sacrifice, is made to me as the Lord within you. 5 Those who remember me at the time of death will come to me. Do not doubt this. Read more at location 1597
12 Remembering me at the time of death, close down the doors of the senses and place the mind in the heart. Then, while absorbed in meditation, focus all energy upwards to the head. 13 Repeating in this state the divine name, the syllable Om that represents the changeless Brahman, you will go forth from the body and attain the supreme goal. Read more at location 1612
18 When the day of Brahma dawns, forms are brought forth from the Unmanifest; when the night of Brahma comes, these forms merge in the Formless again. Read more at location 1621
20 But beyond this formless state there is another, unmanifested reality, which is eternal and is not dissolved when the cosmos is destroyed. 21 Those who realize life’s supreme goal know that I am unmanifested and unchanging. Having come home to me, they never return to separate existence. 22 This supreme Lord who pervades all existence, the true Self of all creatures, may be realized through undivided love. Read more at location 1624
Chapter Nine
The Royal Path
whatever a person deeply desires – whatever he or she worships – will eventually be attained, in some life or other. In particular, to have real, selfless love, regardless of the object, is to love Krishna, the ultimate good. This kind of love, called bhakti, is far more potent than observances and rituals – a point the Gita is slowly revealing. But to have this devotion without understanding Krishna’s nature is not enough. In the end, to attain his goal, Arjuna must have devotion and understand it is Krishna’s universal aspect that he loves. Read more at location 1655
Those who are truly devoted to Krishna live in him, and he abides in them. Read more at location 1667
9: The Royal Path
(Note: Akin to Jesus, faith) Because of your faith, I shall tell you the most profound of secrets: obtaining both jnana and vijnana, you will be free from all evil. 2 This royal knowledge, this royal secret, is the greatest purifier. Righteous and imperishable, it is a joy to practice and can be directly experienced. 3 But those who have no faith in the supreme law of life do not find me, Arjuna. Read more at location 1678
4 I pervade the entire universe in my unmanifested form. All creatures find their existence in me, but I am not limited by them. 5 Behold my divine mystery! Read more at location 1683
11 The immature do not look beyond physical appearances to see my true nature as the Lord of all creation. Read more at location 1693
15 Others follow the path of jnana, spiritual wisdom. They see that where there is One, that One is me; where there are many, all are me; they see my face everywhere. Read more at location 1699
23 Those who worship other gods with faith and devotion also worship me, Arjuna, even if they do not observe the usual forms. Read more at location 1715
(Note: All you do, as to God) 27 Whatever you do, make it an offering to me – the food you eat, the sacrifices you make, the help you give, even your suffering. 28 In this way you will be freed from the bondage of karma, and from its results both pleasant and painful. Then, firm in renunciation and yoga, with your heart free, you will come to me. Read more at location 1721
29 I look upon all creatures equally; none are less dear to me and none more dear. But those who worship me with love live in me, and I come to life in them. Read more at location 1724
34 Fill your mind with me; love me; serve me; worship me always. Seeking me in your heart, you will at last be united with me. Read more at location 1732
Chapter Ten
Divine Splendor
Arjuna calls Krishna Purushottama, “the supreme Purusha, the supreme Person.” Read more at location 1738
Wherever Arjuna finds strength, beauty, or power, Krishna concludes, he should recognize it as coming from a spark of Krishna’s glory. Then, after overwhelming Arjuna with this stupendous list of divine powers and revelations, Krishna asks casually, “But what use is it to know all of these details? The important fact is to know that I am, and that a tiny portion of my being supports all things.” Read more at location 1768
10: Divine Splendor
2 Neither gods nor sages know my origin, for I am the source from which the gods and sages come. 3 Whoever knows me as the Lord of all creation, without birth or beginning, knows the truth and frees himself from all evil. 4 Discrimination, wisdom, understanding, forgiveness, truth, self-control, and peace of mind; pleasure and pain, birth and death, fear and courage, honor and dishonor; 5 nonviolence, charity, equanimity, contentment, and perseverance in spiritual disciplines – all the different qualities found in living creatures have their source in me. Read more at location 1775
39 I am the seed that can be found in every creature, Arjuna; for without me nothing can exist, neither animate nor inanimate. 40 But there is no end to my divine attributes, Arjuna; these I have mentioned are only a few. 41 Wherever you find strength, or beauty, or spiritual power, you may be sure that these have sprung from a spark of my essence. 42 But of what use is it to you to know all this, Arjuna? Just remember that I am, and that I support the entire cosmos with only a fragment of my being. Read more at location 1840
Chapter Eleven The
Cosmic Vision
This is the most exalted chapter of the entire Gita, for here Arjuna sees the divine vision of Krishna in his full nature as God himself, Lord of the Universe. Read more at location 1847
Arjuna asks to see Krishna as He really is. His desire is granted, and in essence the rest of the chapter describes Arjuna’s samadhi. Samadhi is the word used by Patanjali in his classic work, the Yoga Sutras, to describe the final stage in meditation, in which the mind is completely concentrated and a superconscious mode of knowing comes into play. Read more at location 1853
This supreme vision dazzles Arjuna with the blinding splendor of a thousand suns. Mystics have often described their experiences in terms of light. Read more at location 1859
And in the West we have countless testimonies like that of St. Teresa of Avila: When the soul looks upon this Divine Sun, the brightness dazzles it. . . . And very often it remains completely blind, absorbed, amazed, and dazzled by all the wonders it sees. Read more at location 1860
God’s radiance is both a great light and a burning fire. Read more at location 1867
******** In answer to the question, “Who are you?” Krishna’s reply is the verse (11:32) that burst into Robert Oppenheimer’s mind when he saw the atomic bomb explode over Trinity in the summer of 1945: “I am become Death, the shatterer of worlds. . . .” But the word kala means not just death but time, which eventually devours all. Read more at location 1868
Finally, the vision is too much for Arjuna. Though he experiences the deep peace and joy of samadhi, he is terrified at the same time. He wishes to see the more human face of God. Krishna grants his desire and returns to his gentle, normal aspect. Read more at location 1872
11: The Cosmic Vision
7 Behold the entire cosmos turning within my body, and the other things you desire to see. 8 But these things cannot be seen with your physical eyes; therefore I give you spiritual vision to perceive my majestic power. Read more at location 1887
**** (Note: Impermanence) 32 I am time, the destroyer of all; I have come to consume the world. Even without your participation, all the warriors gathered here will die. 33 Therefore arise, Arjuna; conquer your enemies and enjoy the glory of sovereignty. I have already slain all these warriors; you will only be my instrument. Read more at location 1932
37 How could they not worship you, O Lord? You are the eternal spirit, who existed before Brahma the Creator and who will never cease to be. Lord of the gods, you are the abode of the universe. Changeless, you are what is and what is not, and beyond the duality of existence and nonexistence. Read more at location 1943
Chapter Twelve
The Way of Love
This short chapter focuses upon the supreme importance of devotion and faith in spiritual development. Here love, or personal devotion, is the most powerful motivation in spiritual life. The world’s great religions agree on this point. All religions allow for a way of devotion, and millions of men and women have found spiritual fulfillment in devotion to Christ, the Buddha, or Muhammad. Read more at location 1982
The teachers of the Upanishads told their students to seek knowledge of the Atman, their true Self. The consummation of this knowledge was to know that the Self within was one with Brahman, the ultimate reality pervading all things. This was encapsulated in the statement Tat tvam asi, “You are that” – that imperishable being, that immortal Reality. Brahman, the nameless, formless Godhead, could be known only in the superconscious state. Read more at location 1987
The Gita moves away from such an approach to religion. For as Krishna says, seeking an eternal, indefinable, hidden Godhead is rather a tall order for the average (or even above average) person. Read more at location 1990
**** Dionysius the Areopagite, a Christian monk of the fifth century, sounding remarkably like verses 3–4 of this very chapter: “Then, beyond all distinction between knower and known, the aspirant becomes merged in the nameless, formless Reality, wholly absorbed in That which is beyond all things and in nothing else. . . . Having stilled his intellect and mind, he is united by his highest faculty with That which is beyond all knowing.” Read more at location 1994
We might turn to the Christian mystics for help here, for most of them have walked the way of love. The medieval Christian work called The Cloud of Unknowing states that love is the sure, safe path to God: “By love He can be gotten and holden, by thought never.” In a well-known passage in the New Testament, St. Paul puts love above knowledge and even above miraculous powers: “But I shall give you a more excellent way. . . . Love never faileth. Read more at location 2000
So Krishna says that if Arjuna is not able to focus his devotion, he should learn to do so through the regular practice of meditation. Even love and devotion can be cultivated through regular practice; Read more at location 2008
Verses 13–20 describe the characteristics of the genuine lover of God. Read more at location 2014
12: The Way of Love
**** 13 That one I love who is incapable of ill will, who is friendly and compassionate. Living beyond the reach of “I” and “mine” and of pleasure and pain, 14 patient, contented, self-controlled, firm in faith, with all their heart and all their mind given to me – with such as these I am in love. 15 Not agitating the world or by it agitated, they stand above the sway of elation, competition, and fear: that one is my beloved. Read more at location 2036
17 That one is dear to me who runs not after the pleasant or away from the painful, grieves not, lusts not, but lets things come and go as they happen. 18 That devotee who looks upon friend and foe with equal regard, who is not buoyed up by praise nor cast down by blame, alike in heat and cold, pleasure and pain, free from selfish attachments, 19 the same in honor and dishonor, quiet, ever full, in harmony everywhere, firm in faith – such a one is dear to me. 20 Those who meditate upon this immortal dharma as I have declared it, full of faith and seeking me as life’s supreme goal, are truly my devotees, and my love for them is very great. Read more at location 2043
Chapter Thirteen
The Field & the Knower
To simplify, we may think of the field as the body and the knower of the field as the Self that resides in the body. This chapter, then, is about the duality between “soul and body.” Read more at location 2052
The field also includes the mind: in fact, it comprises all the components of prakriti including ahamkara – the awareness each of us has that we are an individual ego, from aham “I” and kara “maker.” Ahamkara is the basic awareness of separateness: that which makes me “I,” a being separate from the rest of creation. Read more at location 2055
The field is the object; the knower is the subject. Krishna is the hidden knower of the field: that is, the Self. Read more at location 2058
Just as physics no longer regards matter and energy as essentially separate, the Gita would not regard matter and mind as separate; they are different aspects of prakriti, the underlying “stuff” of existence. Read more at location 2061
Both prakriti and Purusha are essential to the creation of the world: nothing could exist without the spiritual basis of Purusha, and nothing could develop in a manifest form without the mind and matter of prakriti. Read more at location 2077
**** Hinduism embodies these two eternal principles in the figures of Shiva and Shakti, the divine Father and Mother. The Gita does not mention these two because it comes essentially from the Vishnu tradition, but in the other great stream of the Hindu faith, Shiva is the eternal Spirit, the Absolute, represented as dwelling aloof on the mountain peak of spiritual peace. Shakti, the Divine Mother, is his creative partner, and without her, Shiva could never have created the world. Read more at location 2079
13: The Field & the Knower
1 The body is called a field, Arjuna; the one who knows it is called the Knower of the field. This is the knowledge of those who know. 2 I am the Knower of the field in everyone, Arjuna. Knowledge of the field and its Knower is true knowledge. Read more at location 2095
11 This is true knowledge, to seek the Self as the true end of wisdom always. To seek anything else is ignorance. 12 I will tell you of the wisdom that leads to immortality: the beginningless Brahman, which can be called neither being nor non-being. Read more at location 2111
14 Without senses itself, it shines through the functioning of the senses. Completely independent, it supports all things. Beyond the gunas, it enjoys their play. 15 It is both near and far, both within and without every creature; it moves and is unmoving. 16 In its subtlety it is beyond comprehension. It is indivisible, yet appears divided in separate creatures. Know it to be the creator, the preserver, and the destroyer. 17 Dwelling in every heart, it is beyond darkness. It is called the light of light, the object and goal of knowledge, and knowledge itself. Read more at location 2115
20 Prakriti is the agent, cause, and effect of every action, but it is Purusha that seems to experience pleasure and pain. 21 Purusha, resting in prakriti, witnesses the play of the gunas born of prakriti. But attachment to the gunas leads a person to be born for good or evil. 22 Within the body the supreme Purusha is called the witness, approver, supporter, enjoyer, the supreme Lord, the highest Self. Read more at location 2125
24 Some realize the Self within them through the practice of meditation, some by the path of wisdom, and others by selfless service. 25 Others may not know these paths; but hearing and following the instructions of an illumined teacher, they too go beyond death. 26 Whatever exists, Arjuna, animate or inanimate, is born through the union of the field and its Knower. Read more at location 2132
32 As akasha pervades the cosmos but remains unstained, the Self can never be tainted though it dwells in every creature. 33 As the sun lights up the world, the Self dwelling in the field is the source of all light in the field. Read more at location 2144
Chapter Fourteen
The Forces of Evolution
Here the Gita explains human experience in terms of the three qualities of prakriti, known as gunas: sattva, rajas, and tamas. Read more at location 2151
The quality of sattva combines goodness, purity, light, harmony, balance. In terms of evolution, sattva is on the highest level. Rajas is energy – or, on the human level, passion – which can be both good and bad. ...the third guna, tamas, which combines inertia, sloth, darkness, ignorance, insensitivity. This is the lowest state in terms of evolution; Read more at location 2157
In any given personality or phenomenon all the three gunas are likely to be present. It is the mix of the three that colors our experience. Read more at location 2160
no mix of the three gunas is stable, for it is the very nature of prakriti to be in constant flux. The gunas are constantly shifting, always changing in intensity. It is essential that the gunas, even the purity and goodness of sattva, be transcended if the soul is to attain its final release. Read more at location 2163
Liberation lies beyond the conditioning of prakriti, in the realm of Purusha. Read more at location 2166
Thoughts and emotions, and ahamkara itself, stop at the gate of the inner Self. The Self abides in the inner chamber of the heart, always at peace, whatever forces of prakriti may storm outside. The illumined man or woman maintains a joyful evenness of mind in happiness and sorrow. Read more at location 2169
14: Forces of Evolution
3 My womb is prakriti; in that I place the seed. Thus all created things are born. 4 Everything born, Arjuna, comes from the womb of prakriti, and I am the seed-giving father. 5 It is the three gunas born of prakriti – sattva, rajas, and tamas – that bind the immortal Self to the body. 6 Sattva – pure, luminous, and free from sorrow – binds us with attachment to happiness and wisdom. 7 Rajas is passion, arising from selfish desire and attachment. These bind the Self with compulsive action. 8 Tamas, born of ignorance, deludes all creatures through heedlessness, indolence, and sleep. 9 Sattva binds us to happiness; rajas binds us to action. Tamas, distorting our understanding, binds us to delusion. Read more at location 2179
11 When sattva predominates, the light of wisdom shines through every gate of the body. 12 When rajas predominates, a person runs about pursuing selfish and greedy ends, driven by restlessness and desire. 13 When tamas is dominant a person lives in darkness – slothful, confused, and easily infatuated. Read more at location 2190
16 The fruit of good deeds is pure and sattvic. The fruit of rajas is suffering. The fruit of tamas is ignorance and insensitivity. Read more at location 2196
19 The wise see clearly that all action is the work of the gunas. Knowing that which is above the gunas, they enter into union with me. Read more at location 2201
Chapter Fifteen
The Supreme Self
Krishna reveals that he transcends not only the world of matter but also the immortal Atman that dwells as the conscious “knower” within all beings. Krishna has said that he is the Atman; but the paradox is that he also transcends the Atman. In this highest aspect Krishna is Ishvara, the cosmic Lord, who abides in his own mystery. The liberated Self enjoys union with Krishna and lives in Krishna’s highest home. But the Self does not become Krishna: the immortal soul, even when liberated from its mortal journeying, does not become God. Read more at location 2220
15: The Supreme Self
9 Using the mind, ears, eyes, nose, and the senses of taste and touch, the Self enjoys sense objects. 10 The deluded do not see the Self when it leaves the body or when it dwells within it. They do not see the Self enjoying sense objects or acting through the gunas. But they who have the eye of wisdom see. Read more at location 2257
15 Entering into every heart, I give the power to remember and understand; it is I again who take that power away. All the scriptures lead to me; I am their author and their wisdom. 16 In this world there are two orders of being: the perishable, separate creature and the changeless spirit. 17 But beyond these there is another, the supreme Self, the eternal Lord, who enters into the entire cosmos and supports it from within. Read more at location 2267
Chapter Sixteen
Two Paths
In this most unusual chapter, the Gita departs from a lofty view of human nature and describes two opposing forces. The higher tendency, the divine, leads to increasing happiness in the course of the soul’s evolution, and eventually to its liberation; but there is also a downward current leading to suffering and enslavement of the spirit. This chapter is unusual in giving equal, if not in fact more, attention to this dark side of human nature. Read more at location 2277
The “demonic” personality is basically atheistic. For such people life does not originate in God or a divine reality but is grounded in biology, in sexual desire. Read more at location 2283
Lust, anger, and greed are the three doors to hell that Arjuna must at all costs not enter. The person who enters will not only fail to reach life’s final goal, but will not achieve any measure of lasting happiness and prosperity. In Sanskrit this chapter is called the “Way of Divine and Demonic Destinies.” The words deva, god, and asura, demon, are not to be taken too literally here. Read more at location 2294
when Krishna discusses the “divine” and “demonic” qualities, he speaks not of gods and demons but of human good and evil. –D.M. Read more at location 2302
16: Two Paths
6 Some people have divine tendencies, others demonic. Read more at location 2315
7 The demonic do things they should avoid and avoid the things they should do. They have no sense of uprightness, purity, or truth. 8 “There is no God,” they say, “no truth, no spiritual law, no moral order. The basis of life is sex; what else can it be?” Read more at location 2317
10 Hypocritical, proud, and arrogant, living in delusion and clinging to deluded ideas, insatiable in their desires, they pursue their unclean ends. 11 Although burdened with fears that end only with death, they still maintain with complete assurance, “Gratification of lust is the highest that life can offer.” Read more at location 2321
Chapter Seventeen
The Power of Faith
shraddha or faith. This is a difficult word. “Faith” is not an adequate translation, and the etymology of the word is obscure; it probably has an underlying meaning of “what is held in the heart.” Read more at location 2349
Every human being, Krishna says, is shraddhamaya,“made up of faith” – as the Bible puts it, as we think in our heart, so we are. Read more at location 2351
Krishna discusses the mantram Om Tat Sat. Om is the most ancient of Hindu mantrams; it is the sacred syllable that is Brahman, the cosmic sound heard in the depths of meditation. Tat is “That,” the supreme reality beyond what language can describe or thought can think. And sat means both “that which is” and “that which is good.” The mantram Om Tat Sat affirms that only the good really exists; the opposite word, asat, implies that evil is transient and therefore is not ultimately real. Read more at location 2367
17: The Power of Faith
2 Every creature is born with faith of some kind, either sattvic, rajasic, or tamasic. Read more at location 2378
4 Those who are sattvic worship the forms of God; those who are rajasic worship power and wealth. Those who are tamasic worship spirits and ghosts. Read more at location 2381
14 To offer service to the gods, to the good, to the wise, and to your spiritual teacher; purity, honesty, continence, and nonviolence: these are the disciplines of the body. 15 To offer soothing words, to speak truly, kindly, and helpfully, and to study the scriptures: these are the disciplines of speech. 16 Calmness, gentleness, silence, self-restraint, and purity: these are the disciplines of the mind. 17 When these three levels of self-discipline are practiced without attachment to the results, but in a spirit of great faith, the sages call this practice sattvic. Read more at location 2396
23 Om Tat Sat: these three words represent Brahman, from which come priests and scriptures and sacrifice. 24 Those who follow the Vedas, therefore, always repeat the word Om when offering sacrifices, performing spiritual disciplines, or giving gifts. 25 Those seeking liberation and not any personal benefit add the word Tat when performing these acts of worship, discipline, and charity. 26 Sat means “that which is”; it also indicates goodness. Therefore it is used to describe a worthy deed. Read more at location 2409
28 But to engage in sacrifice, self-discipline, and giving without good faith is asat, without worth or goodness, either in this life or in the next. Read more at location 2417
Chapter Eighteen
Freedom & Renunciation
A sannyasi is a monk: one who does not participate in family life and has withdrawn from society. Read more at location 2424
Krishna does not advise dropping out of life, and the Gita is primarily aimed at people who live “in the world” yet desire genuine spiritual fulfillment. The kind of renunciation Krishna recommends is tyaga, where it is not activity but selfish desire for the rewards of action – of work, of life – that is to be renounced. Arjuna is advised to fulfill all his responsibilities, but without a selfish motive. Read more at location 2426
Krishna does not want these profound truths told to anyone who is not ready. Anyone lacking devotion or self-control, who does not want to hear spiritual instruction or who scoffs at it, should not be accepted as a student. Read more at location 2456
18: Freedom & Renunciation
9 But to fulfill your responsibilities knowing that they are obligatory, while at the same time desiring nothing for yourself – this is sattvic renunciation. Read more at location 2478
11 As long as one has a body, one cannot renounce action altogether. True renunciation is giving up all desire for personal reward. Read more at location 2482
36 Now listen, Arjuna: there are also three kinds of happiness. By sustained effort, one comes to the end of sorrow. 37 That which seems like poison at first, but tastes like nectar in the end – this is the joy of sattva, born of a mind at peace with itself. 38 Pleasure from the senses seems like nectar at first, but it is bitter as poison in the end. This is the kind of happiness that comes to the rajasic. 39 Those who are tamasic draw their pleasures from sleep, indolence, and intoxication. Both in the beginning and in the end, this happiness is a delusion. Read more at location 2518
53 Free from self-will, aggressiveness, arrogance, anger, and the lust to possess people or things, they are at peace with themselves and others and enter into the unitive state. 54 United with Brahman, ever joyful, beyond the reach of desire and sorrow, they have equal regard for every living creature and attain supreme devotion to me. 55 By loving me they come to know me truly; then they know my glory and enter into my boundless being. 56 All their acts are performed in my service, and through my grace they win eternal life. Read more at location 2545
59 If you egotistically say, “I will not fight this battle,” your resolve will be useless; your own nature will drive you into it. 60 Your own karma, born of your own nature, will drive you to do even that which you do not wish to do, because of your delusion. 61 The Lord dwells in the hearts of all creatures and whirls them round upon the wheel of maya. Read more at location 2553
65 Be aware of me always, adore me, make every act an offering to me, and you shall come to me; this I promise; for you are dear to me. 66 Abandon all supports and look to me for protection. I shall purify you from the sins of the past; do not grieve. 67 Do not share this wisdom with anyone who lacks in devotion or self-control, lacks the desire to learn, or scoffs at me. Read more at location 2562
Notes
CHAPTER ONE
the complex word dharma: law, justice, or simply something’s inner nature. Read more at location 2588