86: Bhagavad Gita Class by Swami Tadatmananda - Ch.12 Verses 12-13

[@vasukinagabhushan]

Karma Yoga is doing one's duty without expecting any results.

[@paramasadguru1618]

There is one totally effective, easy and direct spiritual practice that does not contain any adhikāri bhéda, which can be practiced by anyone at any time. This is, by perceiving and understanding the subtlest sense of "I Am- ahaṃ asmi" that pulsates in every human being in and throughout one's life. No one can experience one's absence even for a moment because "I Am that we ARE" is eternally present in all of us beyond space and time. By awakening our Power of Witnessing, if we learn to observe this most personal and intimate Sense of "I Am", it becomes easy to outdo the ignorance of 'I Am the body- the three bodies' and to steadily establish ourselves in the Subtlest Knowledge of "I Am", which helps us to connect ourselves effortlessly and effectively with the Underlying Supreme Principle of "I AM- Paramātma".

[@rsr9200]

Perhaps, Popeye the Sailor Man, the legendary spinach-loving cartoon character, would heartily endorse the “I AM” based approach for self-realization you seem to advocate. His famous refrain “I yam what I yam and that's all what I yam” succinctly articulated his existential philosophy. Although Popeye never spoke of the “Underlying Supreme Principle”, I suspect he was on to it! 😜

[@paramasadguru1618]

@@rsr9200Advaitha Makaranda: 1 aham asmi sadaa bhaami, I ever exist; always do I shine; 2 kadaachit na aham apriyah; I am never disagreeable to Myself; 3 brahma iva aham atah siddham, thus it is established, “Brahman alone am I” - 4 sachidaananda lakshanam. of the nature of Existence-Consciousness-Bliss.

[@rsr9200]

@@paramasadguru1618 First, it is instructive to note that the author of Advaita Makaranda starts that text with a moving prayer invoking the grace of Ishvara in the form of Sri Krishna. Therefore, I have no reason to believe that he would advise us to dispense with the teachings of Sri Krishna in the Bhagavad Gita which accommodate adhikari bheda in favor of the Popeye technique for self-realization advocated in the original posting on this thread. Second, the Advaita Makaranda is fully grounded in the wisdom revealed through the Upanishads and the Upanishadic teachings of the Bhagavad Gita and is intended for our nidhidhyasana on what it means for our svarupa as satchitananda to be identical to Ishvara’s svarupa as satyam jnanam anantam. In contrast, the Popeye technique being advocated seems to dispense with the Upanishads as the pramana for satchitananda atma/Ishvara/Brahman and seems to suggest that we would just stumble into realizing our true nature as Ishvara/Brahman by somehow “perceiving and understanding the subtlest sense of "I Am- ahaṃ asmi" that pulsates in every human being”. Third, the claim that the Popeye technique will enable us to “steadily establish ourselves in the Subtlest Knowledge of "I Am", which helps us to connect ourselves effortlessly and effectively with the Underlying Supreme Principle of "I AM- Paramātma" defies reason. Assuming the term Paramatma is being used interchangeably with Satchitananda atma, I cannot fathom how a “connection” can be made with satchitananda atma. In the English language, a connection implies joining of two objects. However, Satchitananda atma is not an object and hence connecting to Satchitananda atma seems illogical to me. Furthermore, since Satchitananda atma is all there is, what is there other than Satchitananda atma for any connection to be made at all?

[@ravish05]

Thank you much swamiji for the excellent reply to the question I had posted last week. Really appreciate it. Hari om 🙏🙏

[@saritabhatia9078]

Naman Gurudev! Dhanyavad 🙏 Gurudev! It’s such an awesome journey with you on the mysterious Spiritual Path of enlightenment! Your teachings have removed so many obstacles on the path of Spiritual Growth! Gratitude 🙏 Gurudev for your blessings! 🙏🕉🔔🪔🇮🇳🦢🪷🦢🪷🦢🪷🦢🪷🦢🇮🇳🪔🔔🕉🙏🌹📚🌺📚💐

[@jasminka-k9t]

Namaste! Thank you Guruji. 🙏

[@saritabhatia9078]

Thank You 🙏 Gurubhai Ravi Sankararaman for asking such a good question and Thank You 🙏 to our Pujya Gurudev, for answering this important question in such a way that many of our doubts were removed about the practical implementation of principles of Karma Yoga! Gratitude 🙏 ! Gratitude 🙏! 🙏🕉🪔🔔🇮🇳🦢🪷🦢🪷🦢🪷🦢🪷🦢🇮🇳🔔🪔🕉🙏

[@tzadik36]

Pratibodha viditam matam

[@gridcoregilry666]

Thank you so much!!!

[@knowledgeispower604]

The thing i love about advait most it never stops you from reading one book or other its confident in its teaching advaiti never miss translate they try to be as accurate as possible

[@markk221]

thank you so much for today's teachings.and have a nice day

[@tzadik36]

Pronaams! 🙏 Namaskaars to all!🙏

[@monikavarma4]

Thank you swamiji.. is there any way we can join your satsangs and Vedanta classes also online ? Or view recordings here on you tube?

[@ritswik]

12:30 meditation is fixing your mind on a object of meditation.

[@RahulPriyadarshi22]

🙏

[@daisybelleamberbush]

🙏🙏

[@chironsthea607]

Namaste, om shanti

[@cooluva7892]

We eagerly wait for Sunday mornings to listen to your wonderful explanations of Gita teachings! Are the Tuesday evening Satsangs going to be live-streamed? It will be wonderful if we can also watch them!

[@srinivasaboggaram]

Namasthe SwamyJi, thanks for another wonderful session, I keep looking forward to your next sessions always. Could you please record the Tuesday Vedanta class as well for online students like me 🙏🏽. Also it would be nice to hear the sathsang though it’s not a session it help clarify many questions many others may have like me. 🙏🏽

[@luismiguel69able]

yes!!!! Tuesdays are back!

[@srinivaskrovvidi1711]

Thanks very much Samiji, please let us know when do you plan to be in India next time, I really would love to be physically present in any of your classes.

[@rajukunjukrishnan472]

Pranam Guruji

[@guilhermecoutinho7521]

I realy like that concept of the iluminat is realy powerfull! However I think the idea can lead to neglect or passivity to your self or others. Imagine I have a problem with sickness I belive that altough I'm part of god I still should try to heal a make good decisons for my body. Maybe because of dharma idk hope to see a clear explanation in the next verses. Namaste untill next sunday 😎

[@gorabacha]

Would it reasonable to call ishwar Arpana buddhi, bhog buddhi?

[@SonOfChrist777]

What happened to Arjun in the last whom gita was given?

[@radhikaprasad8012]

Please enable us to access the vedanta classes online as well.

[@ssapthar]

Thank you Swamiji 🙏 Looking forward to your Tuesday lessons. I just recently listened to your Advaita Makaranda and I have a question relating to that text and today's teachings. How do you intellectually make a jump from, 'I am not a karta and not a bhokta but a witness (sakshi)' to 'I am not even a Sakshi'? Also, not sure if I should say - 'I am a witness' or 'I am the Witnesses'? Thank you.

[@rsr9200]

Your question, “How do you intellectually make a jump from, 'I am not a karta and not a bhokta but a witness (sakshi)' to 'I am not even a Sakshi'?” piqued my interest and I will present my opinion which may or may not adequately address that question. It seems to me that the question is based on the premise that our doership as individuals (i.e., as doer of an intellectual jump) is involved in realizing our true nature as Satchitananda atma aka Brahman aka Ishvara aka the reality of the sakshi and sakshya. However, as I understand it, the teachings of the Bhagavad Gita covered in this video suggest to us that since there is only Ishvara, there is no doer or enjoyer other than Ishvara. Hence, our belief that we are individual doers/enjoyers is an erroneous belief. Further, the correction or removal of this error cannot be accomplished by us through our doing as individuals but rather it just takes place through the grace or doing of Ishvara. Therefore, for moksha aspirants like us, Sri Krishna teaches Ishvara arpana buddhi (mentioned by Swamiji in previous lessons) and prasada buddhi (mentioned in this lesson) as means for invoking and receiving Ishvara’s grace of freedom from doership and enjoyership, i.e., jivanmukhti/moksha.

[@ssapthar]

@@rsr9200 Thank you for your reply.

[@alukuhito]

🙏🕉

[@markk221]

thank you so much for today's teachings.and have a nice day

[@kanishkajoshi563]

🙏

[@heinzehrsam118]

Thank you Swamiji! I am always appreciative of being able to learn from your teachings. I would also love to participate in your Tuesday classes, should you load them in KZbin or on your website.