Bhagavad Gita

“ Now kindly relate the glories of the eighteenth chapter of the Ṥrīmad Bhagavad-gītā.
Lord Shiva said: Oh daughter of the Himalayas [Parvati] , please listen to the glories of the eighteenth chapter of the Ṥrīmad Bhagavad-gītā, which is higher than the Vedas and the giver of unlimited bliss. When it enters into one’s ears it destroys all material desires. For the pure devotee, it is divine nectar, it is Lord Vishnu’s very life, and it is a solace to the hearts of Lord Indra and the demigods, as well as the great yogis headed by Sanak and Sananda. ”

“ Lord Vishnu said, "I Myself have manifested in the Form of Ṥrīmad Bhagavad-gītā. Please understand that the first five chapters are My five heads, the next ten chapters are My ten Arms, and the Sixteenth Chapter is My stomach. The last two chapters are My lotus feet. In this way you should understand the transcendental Deity of Ṥrīmad Bhagavad-gītā. This Bhagavad-gītā is the destroyer of all sins. And that intelligent man who daily recites one chapter or even one shloka, one half shloka, or at least one quarter shloka, will attain the same position as Susharma had attained." ”

“ Escape from the life of desires to seek their extinction hastened deliverance. The Bhagavad Gita seeks to find compromise by advising the wise to desire without any attachment and to act without any expectation of reaping fruits. ”

“ Bhagavad Gita or the Song-Celestial is a dialogue between the hero Arjuna and Krishna who had incarnated upon earth to restore righteousness. It forms Chaps. 25—42 of the Bhishmaparva of the Mahabharata and therein are set forth the path of action, the path of devotion, and the path of knowledge, all leading towards one goal, in a manner which is pre-eminently useful to the man of the world engaged in the busiest affairs of life, as to the recluse in the forest. ”

“ If we inquire into the tendency of all types of ancient or modern pantheism in this particular phase, we shall find them, without exception, fatalistic. They not merely make God the author of sin—they make Him the sinner. Our misdeeds are not our acts, but God's. Thus the vaunted Bhagavad Gita, uniting the Sankhyan and the Vedanta philosophies, makes Krishna say to Arjuna: "All actions are incessantly performed by operation of the qualities of Prakriti (the self-existing Essence) . Deluded by the thought of individuality, the soul vainly believes itself to be the doer. ”

“ As regards the moral teaching of the Bhagavad Gita, it is often asserted by those who do not appreciate the benefits of occult study, that, if everybody pursued this course, the world would come to a standstill; and, therefore, that this teaching can only be useful to the few, and not to ordinary people. This is not so. It is of course true that the majority of men are not in the position to give up their duties as citizans and members of families. ”

“ If the original author and the various expositors of the Bhagavad Gita have not borrowed from the Christian revelation, they have rendered an undesigned tribute to the great Christian doctrine of a divine and human mediator: they have given striking evidence of a felt want in all humanity of a God with men. ”

“ In the Bhagavad-Gîtâ, a book revered by all in India, the highest place is given to what is called Karma-Yôga or the Religion of the Performance of Works and Duty, and there it is said: "He who, unattached to the fruits of his actions, performs such actions as must be done, is both renouncer and devotee; not he who kindles no sacrificial fires and performs no ceremonies. He who remains inert, restraining the organs of action, and pondering with his heart on objects of sense, is called a false pietist of bewildered soul. ”

“ One truth which Bhagavad Gitâ teaches is this: "O Jiva, giving up attachment to objects and pleasures of the world, struggle to realize God." The mind of a man (whether a saint or a householder) must be free from all attachment to the world. ”

“ My two arms became two lotuses and my two legs became two lotuses, and the rest of my body became the fifth lotus. From Durvasa Muni's eyes fire started to emanate: "O sinful one, you will stay in that form for one hundred years." After cursing me, he immediately disappeared. Fortunately, I was able to remember the Tenth Chapter of Ṥrīmad Bhagavad-gītā. And today, I have become free from the curse. Due to your crossing over me, you fell to the ground and your body became black. ”

“ The way of salvation is thus thrown open directly to men and women of all castes and conditions. The Bhagavad-gītā fully approves of the orthodox division of society into castes; but by its doctrine that the performance of caste-duties in a spirit of sacrifice leads to salvation it makes caste an avenue to salvation, not a barrier. (4) The Bhagavad-gītā has nothing to say for the animal-sacrifices of the Brahmans. It recognises only offerings of flowers, fruits, and the like. ”

“ In India and in China, the schools where the most subtile idealism is taught, are not far from pagodas of the most abject idolatry. One day the Bhagavad-Gita or Lao-tseu [91] is read, an indefinable God is taught, without essential and determinate attributes; the next day there is shown to the people such or such a form, such or such a manifestation of this God, who, not having a form that belongs to him, can receive all forms, and being only substance in itself, is necessarily the substance of every thing, of a stone and a drop of water, of a dog, a hero, and a sage. ”

“ “Do you know the Bhagavad Gita?”
“No, sir, not really; though my eyes and mind have run through its pages many times.”
“Thousands have replied to me differently!” The great sage smiled at Master in blessing. “If one busies himself with an outer display of scriptural wealth, what time is left for silent inward diving after the priceless pearls?” ”

“ REMARKS FROM VARIOUS LECTURES
(New Discoveries, Vol. 6, pp. 209-10.)
[Mr. Frank Rhodehamel’s random lecture notes, most of which seem to pertain to chapter two of the Bhagavad-Gitâ]
"Spirituality can never be attained until materiality is gone." The first discourse in the Gita can be taken allegorically. "The Vedas only teach of things in nature, only teach of nature." We are always letting sentiment usurp the place of duty, and flattering ourselves that we are acting in response to true love. We must get beyond emotionalism if we would be able to renounce. Emotion belongs to the animals. ”

“ A careful and reverent collation of the two sets of Scriptures will show forth the conscious and intelligent design of revelation." The fact that the Bhagavad Gita is thoroughly pantheistic, while the Bible emphasizes the personality of God in fellowship with the distinct personality of human souls, seems to interpose no serious difficulty in Mr. Chatterji's view, since he says "'The Lord's Lay' is for philosophic minds, and therefore deals more at length with the mysteries of the being of God." ”

“ There is, however, only one idea of duty which has been universally accepted by all mankind, of all ages and sects and countries, and that has been summed up in a Sanskrit aphorism thus: “Do not injure any being; not injuring any being is virtue, injuring any being is sin.”
The Bhagavad-Gita frequently alludes to duties dependent upon birth and position in life. Birth and position in life and in society largely determine the mental and moral attitude of individuals towards the various activities of life. ”

“ Concerning this, the Bhagavad Gita says that men, "reaching the holy world of the Lord of Gods, they enjoy in the celestial regions the celestial pleasures of the gods. And having enjoyed that great heavenly world, they enter the mortal world when their merit is exhausted." ”

“ He was seated on His bed, which was spread on the floor, and was surrounded by His Sannyasin and householder disciples. Conversation arose concerning Sannyas (Renunciation) and a householder's life, and Girish asked: Bhagavan, which is right — to renounce the world with a view to avoid worldly cares and suffering or to worship God living with one's family? Bhagavan referred to the teaching of the Bhagavad Gita and said: He who lives with his To live in the world or to renounce it. ”

“ Krishna. Gaze, then, thou Son of Pritha! I manifest for thee
Those hundred thousand thousand shapes that clothe my Mystery:
I show thee all my semblances, infinite, rich, divine,
My changeful hues, my countless forms. See! in this face of mine,
Adityas, Vasus, Rudras, Aswins, and Maruts; see
Wonders unnumbered, Indian Prince! revealed to none save thee.
Behold! this is the Universe! — Look! what is live and dead
I gather all in one — in Me! Gaze, as thy lips have said
On GOD, ETERNAL, VERY GOD! See ME! what thou prayest!
Thou canst not! — nor, with human eyes, Arjuna! ever mayest! ”

“ And the Bhagavad-gitâ, 'I am the origin and the dissolution of the whole Universe' (VII, 6) . 'I am the origin of all; everything proceeds from me' (X, 8) . Similarly, in the Mahâbhârata, to the question 'Whence was created this whole world with its movable and immovable beings?' the answer is given, 'Nârâyana assumes the form of the world, he the infinite, eternal one'; and 'from him there originates the Unevolved consisting of the three gunas'; and 'the Unevolved is merged in the non-acting Person.' And Parâsara says, 'From Vishnu there sprang the world and in him it abides ”

“ He once observed that a most profound treatise on the Sacred Science could be written based altogether on the Prasṭhāna Ṭraya, or the Three Bundles of nourishment provided for those who wish to tread the "razor path", namely the Upaniṣhaṭs, the Brahma Sūṭras, and the Bhagavaḍ-Gītā. ”

“ I shall point out what position each of these principles occupies in the evolution of nature, and in passing from the First Cause to the organised human being of the present day, I shall give you the basis of the fourfold classification that I have promised to adopt.
The first principle, or rather the first postulate, which I have to lay down is the existence of what is called Parabrahmam. Of course there is hardly a system of philosophy which has ever denied the existence of the First Cause. Even the so-called atheists have never denied it. ”

“ Thus in the glorious Upanishads of the Bhagavad-Gita, the science of the Eternal, the scripture of Yoga, the dialogue between Shri Krishna and Arjuna, the eleventh discourse, entitled:
THE YOGA OF THE VISION OF THE UNIVERSAL FORM.
↑ Ishvara, the Creator and Ruler of a Universe. ”

“ Here let me note what seems to me a radical superiority in Chinese methods of thought. You may take the Bhagavad-Gita, perhaps, as the highest expression of Aryan religio-philosophic thinking. There we have the Spirit, the One, shown as the self of the Universe, but speaking through, and as, Krishna, a human personality. Heaven forbid that I should suggest there is anthropomorphism in this. Still, I think our finest mystical and poetic perceptions of the Light beyond all lights do tend to crystallize themselves into the shape of a Being; we do tend to symbolize and figure that Wonder as ..... ”

“ His interpretations of the Bhagavad Gita and other scriptures testify to the depth of Sri Yukteswarji’s command of the philosophy, both Eastern and Western, and remain as an eye-opener for the unity between Orient and Occident. As he believed in the unity of all religious faiths, Sri Yukteswar Maharaj established Sadhu Sabha (Society of Saints) with the cooperation of leaders of various sects and faiths, for the inculcation of a scientific spirit in religion. ”

“ Lord of Lords and Gods!
Declared by all the Saints — by Narada,
Vyasa Asita, and Devalas;
And here Thyself declaring unto me!
What Thou hast said now know I to be truth,
O Kesava! that neither gods nor men
Nor demons comprehend Thy mystery
Made manifest, Divinest! Thou Thyself
Thyself alone dost know, Maker Supreme!
Master of all the living! Lord of Gods! ”

“ Steadfast a lamp burns sheltered from the wind;
Such is the likeness of the Yogi's mind
Shut from sense-storms and burning bright to Heaven.
When mind broods placid, soothed with holy wont;
When Self contemplates self, and in itself
Hath comfort; when it knows the nameless joy
Beyond all scope of sense, revealed to soul —
Only to soul! and, knowing, wavers not,
True to the farther Truth; when, holding this,
It deems no other treasure comparable,
But, harboured there, cannot be stirred or shook
By any gravest grief, call that state "peace,"
That happy severance Yoga ”

“ Here you will notice that he again speaks of Parabrahmam as his abode.
Turn now to chapter ix, verses 4, 5 and 6:
⁠The whole of this Universe is pervaded by me in my unmanifested form (Avyakṭamūrṭi) . I am thus the support of all the manifested existence, but I am not supported by them. Look at my condition when manifested as Īshvara (Logos) : these phenomenal manifestations are not within me. My Āṭmā (however) is the foundation and the origin of manifested beings, though it does not exist in combination with them. ”

“ Than take tasks not his own, though they seem good.
To die performing duty is no ill;
But who seeks other roads shall wander still.
Arjuna. Yet tell me, Teacher! by what force doth man
Go to his ill, unwilling; as if one
Pushed him that evil path?
Krishna. Kama it is!
Passion it is! born of the Darknesses,
Which pusheth him. Mighty of appetite,
Sinful, and strong is this! — man's enemy!
As smoke blots the white fire, as clinging rust
Mars the bright mirror, as the womb surrounds
The babe unborn, so is the world of things
Foiled, soiled, enclosed in this desire of flesh. ”

“ To reach this, balance must be gained, equilibrium, so that the self, joined to the Self, shall not be affected by pleasure or pain, desire or aversion, or any of the "pairs of opposites" between which untrained selves swing backwards and forwards. Moderation is therefore the keynote of the Gita, and the harmonising of all the constituents of man, till they vibrate in perfect attunement with the One, the Supreme Self. ”