Bhagavad Gita

1. Bhagavad gita “song of God”

2. 700 verses
3. Guru- sishya, Krishna – arjuna
4. 18 chapters
5. Upanishads deals with brahma vidya only (jnana yoga), bhagavad gita deals with both brahma
vidya and yoga shashtra (Karma yoga)
6. Samvada is regarded the noblest type of dialogue that takes place, in all earnestness, between
the ardent seeker of truth and an enlightened teacher. Bhagavad gita is based on this
7. BG spoken in holy land of Kurukshetra
8. Found in vedavyas mahabharatham
9. 18 chapters
 First 6 deals with TVAM—about oneself (about arjuna)
 Second six deal with TAT – about ishwara
 Third six deals with ASI – about identification of oneself

Chapter 1: Sorrow of Arjuna

Chapter 2: Sankhya Yoga The second chapter in your life is when someone wakes you up and says,
“Hey come on! There’s nothing to regret in life. There is something in you that doesn’t change, and
you have the power to sail over all this”. Then you wake up and you felt good.

Chapter 3: Karma Yoga tells you to act. Don’t sit and worry, ‘What about me? What about me?’ Go
and act, this is Karma Yoga.

Chapter 4: Jnana Yoga tells you, now that you are acting you must also listen to knowledge. Don’t
become like a machine and only act, listen to knowledge as well. There is something beyond all this.

Chapter 5: Karma Vairagya Yoga tells you about material and spiritual knowledge.

Chapter 6: Abhyasa Yoga learn to meditate.

Chapter 7: Paramahamsa Vijnana Yoga tells you, now that you’re meditating, you should know the
author of meditation and the one who is meditating in you.

Chapter 10: Vibhuti-Vistara-Yoga When you meditate miracles happen in your life. Wake up and see
the miracles! Vibhuti means giving a chance for miracles in your life, exploring it.

Chapter 11: Visvarupa-Darsana Yoga knowing the universal self and knowing that everything is in me
and I am in everything.

Chapter 12: Bhakti Yoga love and devotion with the Divine
Chapter 13: Ksetra-Ksetrajna Vibhaga Yoga Then you understand what are the divine qualities and
what are the demonic qualities and you realize that you have all the divine qualities in you.

Chapter 14: Gunatraya-Vibhaga Yoga Then there are the three qualities or Gunas (Sattvic, Rajasic and
Tamasic) to everything: mind, ego and food.

Chapter 15: Purusottama yoga transcendental characteristics of God such as omnipotence,

omniscience and omnipresence, the subtle body and reincarnation

Chapter 16: Daivasura–Sampad–Vibhaga yoga identifies the human traits of the divine and the
demonic natures.

Chapter 17: Sraddhatraya-Vibhaga yoga qualifies the three divisions of faith, thoughts, deeds, and
even eating habits corresponding to the three gunas

Chapter 18: Moksha–Sanyasa yoga Krishna asks Arjuna to abandon all forms of dharma and simply
surrender unto him and describes this as the ultimate perfection of life.

Three factors determine the result of an action—kala (time), prayatana (effort), Daivam (God)

Sorrow of Arjuna—conflict between reason and emotion, between duty and personal bonds

Arjuna seeks sreyas. Sreyas is the ultimate good that everyone seeks. The freedom one gains by
knowing the fundamental I

The first words of lord’s teaching starts from chapter 2, verse 11 (Adi shankara wrote commentary
from this)

Limitations of Human being—sorrow, mortality, ignorance

The three things we all pursuit are freedom from sorrow, freedom from death and freedom from
ignorance.

The one who recognizes that the self is sat-chit-ananda, is wise. Such a person is called sthitaprajna,
well rooted in wisdom.

All the objects of the world are coloured by likes and dislikes. All one’s pursuits are governed by
these (Raga and dveshas)

Even when you perform an action prompted by your likes and dislikes, if you do not react to the
result when it comes, your likes and dislikes are neutralised. Take the results objectively.

A mind ruled by likes and dislikes are obstacles in the path of knowledge.
Two ways of living—through renunciation while seeking knowledge, and life of action seeking
knowledge

Karma yoga—method of neutralising the likes and dislikes by cultivating a particular attitude
towards action and its result.

Action binds a person and perpetuates bondage only if one’s attitude is not right.

“karmanyeva adhikaraste maa phalesu kadacana

Maa karmaphalaheturbhurma te sango stvakarmani”

You have choice over your action but not over the results. You are not the author of the results of
the action. Neither be attached to inaction. Expect the results, but when it is contradictory accept
the law of nature.

Accept the result of your action as prasada. Cultivationg prasada buddhi towards the result of
actions is karma yoga

Two important defining sentences of karma yoga

 Samatvam yoga ucchyate—sameness of mind is yoga (possible with prasadha buddhi)
 Yoga karmasu kausalam—the right choice with respect to action is yoga.(ishwara arpana
buddhi)
 Ishwara arpanam—attitude of offering all actions as an offering to Lord.

Action is motion, inaction is inactivity. When desire is the basis of action how can desires disappear
merely by giving up action. One does not achieve actionlessness by non performance of action.
Actionlessness is not a mere absence of activity.
You are that awareness in whose presence actions and thoughts and perceptions takes place.

“Karmanyakarma yah pasyedakarmani ca karma yah

Sa buddhimaan manusyesu sa yuktah krtsnakarmakrt”

One who sees inaction in every action and action in every inaction is the wise person, yogi.
In my presence all activities take place, but I do not perform any action. Only one who knows oneself
in this, one who sees consciousness in every action is called a liberated one.

From vyavaharika point of view one sees action in every inaction. From paramathmika point of view
one sees inaction in every action. One who knows this reality is a wise person.

A wise person renounces the notion that he or she is the actor, having discovered the actionless
nature of the self. This is true renunciation.

Karma yoga is the necessary preparation for sannyasa.

Dependence on things and beings for one’s happiness is called samsara

Nyasa—renunciation—giving up something out of grief or pride

Sannyasa--- total renunciation—giving up without any sense of loss or relief
Recognition of oneself as a full and free being who is not dependent upon anything for happiness is
sannyasa.

Karma yoga—means
Jnanayoga—end knowledge

To break the habit of seeing oneself as limited being, meditation is recommended.

Forms of limitation
 Kala parriccheda (time)
 Desa parriccheda (space)
 Vastu parriccheda (attributes)

As both the ocean and the wave are the same water, the lord and you are one limitless Awareness.

Creation has 2 causes

 Nimitta Karana—efficient cause (knowledge and skill)
 Upadana Karana—material cause

Yoga --- apraptasya prapanam achieving what you donot have

Ksema—praptasya rakshanam the protection of what you already have

Lord—karma phala dhata

Anthakarana suddhi—purification of mind by removal of reaction caused by raga and dvesha

Ishwara, the efficient and material cause of creation is not in essence distinct from Jiva

The recognition that the lord is the giver of all fruits of action is bhakti. Thus in a way karma yoga is
bhakti

Samsara is linked to a tree (banyan), for even though it is avyayam, long lived, it will come to an end
when knowledge dawns.
Roots—Awareness I which cannot be objectified
Branches—Ksetra, the field of experience, the body
Leaves—the knowledge of the law of karma
The branches of that tree spread both below and above strengthened by the gunas.
The detachment of the tree is through the knowledge

ahaṁ vaiśhvānaro bhūtvā prāṇināṁ deham āśhritaḥ

prāṇāpāna-samāyuktaḥ pachāmy annaṁ chatur-vidham

It is I who take the form of the fire of digestion in the stomachs of all living beings, and combine with
the incoming and outgoing breaths, to digest and assimilate the four kinds of foods
Four types of food
1. Bhaksyam--- that which is chewed
2. Bhojyam--- that which is swallowed
3. Cosyam---that which is sucked (mango)
4. Tehyam—that which is liked (honey)

Sraddha (faith) is of three types

 1. Sattvic sraddha—one who wants to purify his or her mind and worship for this purpose
2. Rajasic sraddha—one who wants to become powerful and worships to become greater than
another fellow
3. Tamasic sraddha—one who worships spirits and perform penances to destroy others.

Tapas, the performances of austerity is of three types

1. Manasa tapas—mental austerity
2. Vak tapas—speech austerity
3. Kaayika tapas—physical austerity

Danam (charity) is of three types

1. Sattvic—gift freely given by one who is able to give
2. Rajasic—publicising charity to furthering their own ends
3. Tamsic- charity done to destroy others

Tyaga—renunciation of the fruit of action

Sannyasa—renunciation of action.

Even a kamya karma, a desire prompted action can be yoga if you have Tyaga attitude towards its
result.

sarva-dharman parityajya
mam ekam saranam vraja
aham tvam sarva-papebhyo
moksayisyami ma sucah

Abandon all actions and just surrender unto Me. I shall deliver you from all sinful reaction. Do not
grieve.
This is considered to be the last verse of teaching in the Gita. The teaching begins with the
statement, ‘You are grieving over what does not deserve to be grieved for—asocyan anvasocastvam,
and it ends here with, ‘Do not grieve—ma sucah’ Therefore, it is clear that the whole purpose of the
Gita is to remove sorrow.
All actions take place in the presence of the I, the self. The sense organs, and the body performs
actions but the self is actionless. When one surrenders to this self knowledge, which is also the
knowledge about the Ishwara, liberation is attained.

brahmārpaṇaṁ brahma havir brahmāgnau brahmaṇā hutam

brahmaiva tena gantavyaṁ brahma-karma-samādhinā

For those who are completely absorbed in God-consciousness, the oblation is Brahman, the ladle
with which it is offered is Brahman, the act of offering is Brahman, and the sacrificial fire is
also Brahman. Such persons, who view everything as God, easily attain him.