Thoughts on the Bhagavad Gita (Chapter 12: Verse 6 - Verse 11)

Rahul N Singh: 0:02

Hello and welcome to another episode of the Bearded Mystic Podcast and I'm your host Rahul N Singh. Thank you for taking out the time today to either watch or listen to this podcast episode. If you are really interested in supporting The Bearded Mystic Podcast, and you've found great benefit in listening or watching these episodes, then please do support this podcast on Patreon where you can get ad free and bonus episodes along with other benefits depending on the tier that you select. Your support means everything, and it really does help the podcast keep running efficiently and smoothly, and also widens the audience that this message can reach to. If you would like to know more about it, the details are in the show notes and video description below. On Saturdays at 11:00 AM Eastern Standard Time there is a free virtual meditation session along with discussion and Q&A. If you're interested in meditating with us as a community, then you can find out the details in the show notes and video description below. Please do like, comment, and subscribe if you're watching this on YouTube and if you're listening to this on your favorite podcast streaming app, then please do give this podcast a five star rating. It helps the podcast get up in the charts and allows the algorithm to bring this podcast to new listeners and also do review the podcast if you can and make sure you do follow or subscribe to keep getting future episodes. Today we will be continuing on with my thoughts on the Bhagavad Gita. And today we will be looking at chapter 12, verses 6 to verse 11. There's quite a number of verses to go through.,Let's look at verse 6 and 7 together. But those who surrender all their actions to Me, who adore Me, and are intent upon My association, dedicating everything to Me in undisturbed bhakti yoga, those who approach Me in this way, O Arjuna, I quickly deliver them from the ocean of samsara, repeated birth and death, or this world. Let's start with verse 6, and the first part is, but those who surrender all their actions to Me. This is a very important first line that we need to understand. What is bhakti yoga? What is it? The first thing is to surrender all actions to this Nirguna, to Brahman, to Sri Krishna. To the Ishta devta. So every action that we do, small or big, is surrendered to Brahman. Very simple. We don't seek to have any rewards from our actions, nor do we seek to have praise, nor do we care about criticism. We simply just do those actions as we intend to. And this is true renunciation. When you are able to renounce your actions, that is very important. You conduct the act through the body and mind and you let go. So we utilise the tools that we have and we use it for bhakti. We use it for devotion. So it's a very smart tool utilised by Sri Krishna. And this is true surrender. Not just giving up your personal intellect but offering all the actions to Brahman. You know, one of the things that people say is Well, how can I practice this at work? Well, this is what you can do. You can literally go throughout your day at work and you can surrender everything you do at the end of the day to Brahman and say, you know what, all my actions are in remembrance of you, are dedicated to you. Yeah. Then the second part of verse six, he says. Who adore me and are intent upon my association, dedicating everything to me in undisturbed bhakti yoga. So one thing is we adore our ishtdevta, who can be our guru, it can be Brahman itself, and this can be something we feel. So therefore we adore them, we love them, we have such strong affection towards them. But someone like me, I tend to really adore the formless, in a way, I've made a very subtle conception of the Formless and I'm comfortable with that. I know, what I'm doing, but not only do we just want association with the Formless, ultimately what we want union with the Formless. Our ishtdevta is the Formless, now we look to associate it, now we are determined to do so, remember his words are intent upon my association. We demand that we should be associated with this Brahman, with this Formless Awareness, and we dedicate everything, he says dedicating everything to Me. So what is this everything? Our thoughts, our senses, the projections of our senses, our dreams, our breath, our day to day activities in life, our actions towards others, our thoughts towards others, our action at work, our thoughts at work, our actions at school or college, our thoughts at school and college. Everything is dedicated to our ishtdevta, to the Formless. And all this is done in an undisturbed manner. Our bhakti cannot be disturbed, our devotion is not disturbed. We know the focus, we know where we are going. We know the end goal. For example, here for Arjuna, it would be Sri Krishna. For you, it may be Sri Krishna, it may be Sri Ram, it may be Shivji, it may be your guru. Or the Sikh Gurus, it can be anyone. But you do it in an undisturbed manner, that is the path of devotion, that is Bhakti Yoga. And remember, Bhakti Yoga means union in surrendering, union in devotion. So one thing I'd like to add here, is that Bhakti is not about losing your own identity. It's about performing everything, living life, but thinking of this Formless Awareness, thinking of this Brahman in the background. That's all it is. You think a thought, you dedicate it to Brahman. So what it is, is you have an idea, you have a thought, you have a feeling, you have an emotion, you do something at work. You're working on spreadsheets at work, you're working doing some analysis at work, you're selling things, whatever you may be doing. You're doing all that and in the background you have this Formless Awareness. With practice this happens. It's not simply that I'm saying this today and everyone will be able to practice this. No, it takes time but it can be done and we should not shy away from making it happen and in a way, this is also very similar, somewhat similar, somewhat even the same as the path of sannyas, of gyana. One runs off and just focuses on Brahman, while the other uses the material world with the material tools to only be in Brahman. This is the difference. One escapes, one integrates. That's the only difference. Then in verse 7. Sri Krishna says: Those who approach me in this way, O Arjuna, I quickly deliver them from the ocean of samsara, repeated birth and death. This is the approach that most of us are doing because we are householders. I'm a householder. That's the way I approach everything. So when I'm serving my wife, I'm not serving my wife, I'm serving Brahman. If I am serving my parents, I'm serving Brahman. If I'm serving my son, I'm serving Brahman. Whatever I do, I'm serving Brahman. This is the way to see it. When I say me, I'm on about all of us together. This is how we do it. And for us, this is the easiest method to do, if I'm honest with you. It's very easy. You dedicate every thought to Brahman, every action. You're at work, and you're doing some analysis. And you send an email, or you respond to a message on slack, or that you can surrender to Brahman. You can literally say, well everything I've just done, I'm giving up any association that it's been done by my body and mind. Now does that mean that you're not accountable? No, you still will be accountable. But remember people may perceive your body and mind to be accountable, but you will choose how to respond to this with your intellect on what the best, what you would be able to discern, what is the best action to do. Yeah, that's what someone can do. All you do is devote and dedicate all in the awareness of the Formless. Very simple. If we do this, then the promise is... That we will attain jivan-mukti. What does Sri Krishna says? I quickly deliver them from the ocean of samsara. He doesn't say I slowly will do this. People think that this path is slow. Slower than Gyana Yoga. In Gyana Yoga but I think this is much faster. Because, guess what you're doing 24x7? Thinking of Brahman. You're also doing the same thing. But you're doing it... Through ways where you start seeing the unity in everything, you start seeing the oneness, the shared Being as Existence. And that's why he says, I quickly deliver them from the ocean of samsara, samsara meaning repeated birth and death, when we reincarnate continuously, that's samsara. One he's saying, he'll quickly do it. The other is, that you'll be completely free. There's jivan-mukti. And that you will get out of this ocean of samsara, this repeated birth and death cycle, you'll be out of it. Otherwise, who knows how many more births it could take. Can you guarantee? It could take so many births. So Sri Krishna will make sure that if we are devoted to this Brahman, to Sri Krishna, in the true sense, in the true reality of who He is, He'll make sure that the results of such a practice is seen quickly. This is His promise. And you can quote him on it, yeah? You can say, look, you said this in chapter 12, verse 7. Remember, we will not re enter samsara either. It won't be that, like some people believe that they will go to heaven. No. This is a complete freedom from samsara. You know, when they say... That you transcend the Bhavsagar, the ocean of materialism, the ocean of the world. That's Bhavsagar. That's what happens. Then verse 8, and this is an important one because again, it's about utilizing every faculty. In verse 8 he says, Therefore, just focus your manas and buddhi upon Me in every way and under all circumstances, and you will dwell in me always and forever. There is no doubt about this bhakti yoga practice. Okay, now, let's break this verse up. He says therefore just focus your manas and buddhi upon Me in every way and under all circumstances and you will dwell in me always and forever. So focus the mind and so the mind meaning of thought and emotion and the intellect buddhi on Formless Awareness wherever possible and whenever possible. In every way and under all circumstances, no matter what it is, through pain, through suffering, through happiness, through joy, you focus your attention on Brahman. That's all. You discern everything to the point where there is only Brahman. Remember, intellect is when we are able to use our discernment properly, when we are able to utilise our viveka. Our intellect is what is able to decipher between the real and the Unreal and viveka, which is, the discernment to understand the two. So we can focus on it whenever. When we are at school, or at work, any moment spare, we focus on Brahman. When we are having a shower, taking a walk, contemplate upon Brahman. Under all circumstances, like I said, even the most difficult times, we focus on Brahman. At the moment you know someone is going to die, be with them and offer your presence as Brahman, as Formless Awareness. Devote all your attention to Formless Awareness, especially when somebody is dying. Or especially when someone has died too, when you're consoling the family, be with them. And there's no need to say, you know, embrace Brahman, no, you, all you need to do is offer your presence, be there, support them. When you're having a troubling day at work, be in Formless Awareness, when you're in complete stressful situations. Remember Brahman. If you're in complete anxiety, try to focus your mind on Brahman. Use your intellect, is what is being said here. Use your intellect to understand this Brahman. Understand how everything links back to that One. When you're making love to your beloved, be in the awareness of the Formless. It's very simple. Remember, this Formless Awareness, Sri Krishna is not judging your actions. No. He's saying, forget judging, just dedicate everything to Me. Instead of doing things individually, you're now doing something with a universal approach. There's a, there's a vaster vision in play. There's nobody judging you, it's your very own self, nobody else. So one's actions automatically get more refined as a result. This is what we ultimately want, right? More refined actions, more evolved actions, this is what Sri Krishna is promising. And one will respond to situations more effectively. You know, the way you deal with situations, people will come to you with their problems. They will say, I'm going through this, can you help me? I'm going through this issue, can you help me? Or, can I just speak to you? I just need to speak to somebody. And you'll be able to give them such a response, because you will think. You will focus your manas and buddhi on the Formless, on Sri Krishna. And if you think of Sri Krishna, your answer will be based on the Bhagavad Gita, on the Srimad Bhagavatam. If you focus on Shiv Ji, you will be focusing on, your answer will arise from the Ribhu Gita. So whatever you give, if you think of the, if you think of Brahman, your message will be from the Upanishads. I'm not saying one is better than the other. If you think of Sri Ram, your answer will come from the Yoga Vashisht. What I'm saying is, your thinking will be different, your approach will be different. And the biggest gift here, that Sri Krishna talks about, He says, you will dwell in me always and forever. That's the biggest gift you can ask for, is to be dwelling, to be living, to be abiding in Formless Awareness always, in Brahman always, at all times, forever, eternally. You will never be away from this Formless Awareness, you will never be away from Brahman, and you will be constantly dwelling in, for others will be just a normal place, but for you, every place is sacred. For everything is Brahman. These are again, I mentioned this in the last episode today as well, very nuanced. They're simple words but they have such deep meanings, focus your manas and buddhi upon Me, meaning upon Brahman, upon Sri Krishna, upon your ishtdevta, Manas is your emotions, your thoughts, focus them upon Brahman. Intellect, With your understanding of the Real, you focus everything upon Brahman. And then Sri Krishna says, and this is the line that he says, that there is no doubt about this bhakti yoga practice. This is why my feelings have changed towards bhakti yoga. Because now I feel it's very necessary. I've noticed people who are pure gyana, and they're still stuck. Something within them is not going forward. There is no doubt about bhakti. I have found that once I've imbibed more bhakti, it's a lot easier for me. This is my own thoughts. You know, like I mentioned, I made bhakti out of the Nirguna. You know, even though I know it's a thought, but I'm literally doing bhakti yoga towards this Nirguna. My guru helped me to get to that point, right? So, there is no questions, absolutely no questions, about the effectiveness of this practice. And it's simply something that we do, rather than just talk about. But, in fact, even if you have to talk, with your emotions, have a conversation with this Formless. With your ishtdevta. Do it! Bhakti yoga is this, not that I am devoted, but when your guru, when your ishtdevta, when Brahman says to you that you are my devotee, that, saying that you are the devotee of Sri Krishna, I don't believe anyone for a second, it doesn't matter, it means nothing, even if I say I'm a devotee of such and such guru, it means nothing, but, the moment my guru can say, you are my devotee, that's everything. That's bhakti. So bhakti is a lot more action than we think and a lot more thinking than we assume. Very contemplative. Focusing your intellect on Brahman, is it easy? Very easy for me to say, think about Brahman, but to actually do. People say, I'm too busy, I'm too stressed with life. How can I think of Brahman? Yet, when it comes to scrolling on social media, there's no problem. You have ample amount of time there. This is a subtle point. And like I said, every action is dedicated to Brahman. Every thought is centered and presented upon the screen of Formless Awareness. This is bhakti yoga practice.,But, Sri Krishna poses possibilities now, so in verse 9 he says, But if you cannot hold the steady focus of your chit faculty upon me, so if you cannot do verse 8, O Arjuna, then practice abhyasa yoga, one pointed concentration in order to attain Me. Now, let's break this verse up a little. If you can't do what Sri Krishna mentioned in verse 8, which was just focus your manas and buddhi upon Me in every way and under all circumstances, If you cannot do that, yeah, if you cannot hold steady in that, maybe you find circumstances too turbulent, yeah. Maybe you just cannot have... Steady focus. Sometimes you may meditate and then you get distracted. Maybe you're lazy and you don't want to practice. Maybe you can sit for five minutes then your brain thinks of something else. Or your senses start taking you in different directions. If you cannot hold steady focus of your awareness on your ishtdevta, on Sri Krishna, on Brahman, then what does Sri Krishna say? O Arjuna then practice Abhyasa Yoga, one pointed concentration, in order to attain Me. So one should focus their awareness faculty on this Formless Awareness, that would be very important to do. One needs to practice this diligently, whenever there is a free moment, one focuses on this Brahman only, on Sri Krishna or the ishtdevta. One has to practice diligently, I am emphasizing that again, one has to continuously practice this. One pointed concentration means a continual practice. We have to spend at least 15 minutes a day just on being in awareness of Formless Awareness, and it has to be one pointed concentration, meaning the attention isn't going to anything else. Now, someone may turn around to me and say, Rahul, that's all good. But you know what, I can't even do one minute. So then what my response would be is, then you need to practice abhyasa yoga. You need to practice one pointed concentration. What do you need to do? Okay, spend 30 seconds focusing on the ishtdevta, focusing on Brahman. Then increase it to 1 minute. Then 2 minutes. Then 4 minutes. Then 5 minutes. Then 7 minutes. Until you can get to at least 15. And if you do this, Sri Krishna says... You will also attain Brahman, you will also attain this ultimate truth. Very simple. If you can't do one, this is what you can alternatively do. But say if you can't even do this. It's possible, right? Not all of us are perfect, but Sri Krishna gives us another answer in verse 10. He says, or if you're unable to remain steady and in abhyas, then perform every action as karma yoga, as if you're working only for Me. In this way, you will also achieve perfection. He's giving us methods. Yeah, he's giving us methods. These are practices we can do. So, first of all he says, if you are unable to remain steady in abhyas, okay. Sri Krishna has the answer for everything. That's obviously established. He knows that we're still too lazy to practice. Yeah, the story has not changed. Now we have too many things distracting us, so we can say abhyas is too difficult, Sri Krishna. Come on, be real. Do you not know how much, uh, I have to look at my phone? Do you not know how much I need to do and look after my own home, and run the household, and go to work, and go to school, go to college, you know, I have homework, and you're asking me to do Abhyasa Yoga? Are you for real, Sri Krishna? Are you being for real here? You know, you're telling me to have single pointed focus, when my senses and my mind remains overly active. I'm, I'm completely captured by... rajas guna. So if I don't have time for abhyasa, what do I do? Sri Krishna says, okay, this is what you do. And he says, then perform every action as karma Yoga, as if you are working only for Me. In this way, you will also achieve perfection. So how do we do this? He says, perform every action that's karma Yoga. What's karma Yoga? You work, and then you surrender all the fruits of those actions. You do the work, and then you remember Formless Awareness, you remember Brahman, you remember Sri Krishna, you're ishtdevta. Very simple. So you perform every action in the remembrance of your ishtdevta. But, that's normal. He's just saying, commit to your actions, do your actions. Do every work, everything you do as a meditation, as an act of service, but he adds something which is unique. And that is, do this as if you're working only for Me. So what do you do here? You work as if you're doing it for your Ishta devta or for Brahman. What happens is you do the action and then you say, every action I do is for Brahman. The spreadsheet I'm completing is for Brahman. This podcast I'm recording is for Brahman. When I'm vacuuming the floor, that's for Brahman. Literally, you're working only for Brahman. That's your true employer, yeah, so you earn money, it's for Brahman, you get a degree, it's for Brahman, you eat a chocolate bar, it's for Brahman. This is another way to achieve that focus upon Brahman, to get to that perfection. The essence of the matter is that... one way or another, you're gonna get to single pointed focus on Brahman or your ishtdevta. Then, verse 11. If you now find that to be difficult, what does Sri Krishna say to you now? If it is beyond your ability to take refuge in Me as your yoga, then give up all attachment to karma phala, results of your actions, while keeping your senses under control and seeing yourself as the Atma. This is like the idiot's guide to enlightenment. You know, enlightenment for dummies, chapter 12, verse 11 of Bhagavad Gita should, it should start with this. So if you say, it's beyond your ability to take refuge in your ishtdevta as your yoga. So if someone finds that this is too challenging and they say, I cannot surrender all my actions to Brahman. I can't do this. Whatever you're telling me to do, I just simply cannot do. It's beyond my ability to do so. It's too difficult, too abstract still. What do I do? Then he says, then give up all attachment to karma phala, which is results of your actions, while keeping your senses under control and seeing yourself as the Atma. This literally is enlightenment for dummies, according to the Bhagavad Gita. One, you perform every action, say you, you work in a hospital, you work at a school, say you go to school, whatever you may be doing, whatever profession you have, say while you're doing the work you cannot think of Brahman, right? You cannot devote it all to Brahman, you cannot think of It in the background, fine. What you can do is you can perform the action as normal, don't need to remember Brahman, but all you need to do is let go of any intention of hankering for a particular result. Good or bad happens, you're not attached to the results of your actions. You're criticized or praised, it doesn't matter to you. Whatever the results are, you are not to be attached to it. You do not allow any of these actions to attach itself to the body and mind. You cannot say, I am the doer, I am the one that did this action. No, you have to let go of that idea. That's what Sri Krishna is saying, when give up all attachment to karma phala, you do not care about the results of your actions. For example, you go to work, you earn money, yeah? But you shouldn't be attached to the money that you earn, that's all. Then it says, while keeping your senses under control. So you do all this while keeping your senses under control. The one thing you can do is, if you see something that you desire, you can control it. You can calm yourself down. So you go back to that peacefulness. You just allow the senses to focus on necessary tasks, on necessary functions. If the ears hear something, it doesn't mean they have to go straight there and go towards where the mind is processing what the ears have said and go there. You don't have to go there. If you see something that you really want to eat, it doesn't mean you have to eat it. You gotta have control. So this is what he means, that you have your senses under control. Meaning you're very, very attentive to what's happening with your senses. Whatever it sees, whatever it hears, whatever it touches, whatever it tastes, whatever it smells. You're very attentive. And the moment you see that it creates a desire, It means that you've lost control of the senses. Now why? Why have I said all this? Because all of these things belong to the body and mind. And what does Sri Krishna say, which is the most important point in this part of the verse, seeing yourself as the Atma. You see yourself as the Atma. You see yourself as a Formless Awareness. Does the Atma have a body and mind? Does the Atma have senses? Does the Atma have a manas? Does it have a buddhi? does it act? No. The Atma is that witness consciousness that does not change. So what is Sri Krishna saying? You view yourself as the witness consciousness alone. You let go of name and form. You recognize within you that which does not change. Now let's go through this. If I say I am the Atma, is there ego? No. Is there I-ness? As in I am Rahul. I am. 35 years old, I am living in the United States? No. I'm a HR professional? No. I am working for such and such company? No. I have my own business? No. Does the Atma have any senses? Like the eyes, ears, nose, tongue, skin? No. Once you see yourself as the Atma, it's very easy to have your senses under control. Because you know it's not you. It's much easier. The moment you think you are the body and mind, that's when senses become haywire. They know it's party time. Literally. And if you see yourself as the Atma, as the witness consciousness, then the actions you do are simply images on the screen. Therefore, what results are you hankering? Does the Atma hanker for certain results? No. The Atma is already perfect and complete. So, in the end, every form of practice begins and ends with Brahman, with everything focused upon that One. Whether you call it the Atma or whether you say it's dedicated upon Me, the ishtdevta It's all about dedicating everything to Brahman. So pick which verse applies to you the most and practice. Live it out, see how it is The more you can, in the day, just be in awareness of Formless Awareness, life becomes incredibly beautiful. You'll see how, without intending, how positive the results are. And that is the aim. So that is the end of today's episode. 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Let's end with the Shanti mantra and the Soham mantra. Soham Soham. I am That. I am That. Aum Shanti Shanti Shanti Aum Peace Peace Peace Namaste.