Place Yourself In Your Real Self

Divine Life Society Publication: Online meditation & Satsang via Skype by Sri Swami Padmanabhanandaji

(Spoken on November 15,2015 via Skype to Bhagavadgita Study group – Australia, New Zealand, USA)

AUDIO LINK FOR THIS SPEECH

I am happy to be here to meet you all and to participate in this Satsang via Skype especially the study group those who are studying Gita and the transit from the third chapter to the fourth chapter.

I will give an outline of what you have studied so far.

The first chapter of Bhagavadgita is the chapter of delusion.  The Sastras declare that we are basically divine. You are not this mortal being. We are immortal, changeless immortal. Everlasting peace and happiness is our nature but unfortunately we are not aware of it.

This non-awareness of our real self and in that place awareness of a wrong person and another self which is full of problems, facing miseries in life, so that condition is created by an agent we call it as moha.  Arjuna was under the grip of moha because of that moha he had shoka. Moha is delusion and because of the delusion he has sorrow in life. Because of this moha we are under the grip of shoka. Shoka means sorrow. To overcome that Bhagavan says in the second chapter which according to Sankaracharya  is the beginning of the Bhagavadgita. The first chapter, he says is only an introduction, a presentation of what the situation is like.

So in the second chapter Bhagawan says: Ashochyaan anvashochastwam prajnaavaadaamshcha bhaashase; Gataasoon agataasoomshcha naanushochanti panditaah.(2.11)

Bhagavan says, ‘what is this worrying about a thing about which you should not be worried at all’.

 The real Gita begins from that slokha (verse). To overcome that shoka, to overcome that grief, and to overcome that pain we are undergoing in life, the delusion we are having, what is needed is discrimination. Knowledge is needed. So, in the second chapter Bhagavan goes on to speak about our imperishable nature. Your nature is full of Ananda. Your nature is Sat-chid-ananda svarupa. You are not this body, nor this mind, and all this thoughts you are entertaining are not your real thoughts. They are the creations of the mind. The mind makes you feel like that. So you go beyond the mind.

Keep your position, yourself, in your real Self. You shall be your real Self. That is achieved through discrimination, through understanding. So, the second chapter deals with the discrimination – Jnana. Bhagavan speaks about this and gives the nature of the person - one who is established in the real Self.  He is called stitha prajna. He is established in the real Self. And what are his qualities, how he will look like, how he will behave, are told in the end of the second chapter. So the second chapter concludes here.

Bhagavan says to Arjuna, ‘understand that you need knowledge; Supreme knowledge so you can place yourself in your Real Self and thereafter there is no shoka. There is no delusion. There is no sorrow’.

‘Then in that case I will go to Himalayas, go to Sivananda Ashram, have a room there and enjoy food and remain there. I will not do any work’, like that people begin to think. Then Bhagavan says, ‘No, No, it is not correct. You have to do your activities also’. With this knowledge you should place yourself in that condition and carry on all activities. Place yourself in your Real Self and carry on all your duties – worldly duties. Because you are here in this world, you cannot neglect this. You have to do all your activities here. While you are doing all your activities here, you should place yourself in the original nature that is what he says.

Suppose a person is acting in the drama as a villain and his own brother or son or somebody close to him is the hero. While he is fighting with the hero, he knows very well that it is only a drama, it is only acting. That is the requirement of the stage. In reality our relationship is different. Likewise you should be aware of your real nature and carry on with the activities of this world. He explains that as Yajna.

Yajna means you have to do your duties in this world and while you are performing your duties you must also place yourself in your real position (Self).

Do not identify with the mind. Do not identify with the desire. Do not identify with your intellectual concepts. Identify with your real self and discharge your duties as it comes before you. Then that is what is called the Yajna. It is called Karma Yoga. That has been explained in the third chapter.

Now in the fourth chapter,  Bhagavan says that this knowledge although I have told you and you keep on contemplating on that, you forget and you get deluded due to the flux (continuous change) and every time I shall re-establish this. People understand but in the course of time again they are deluded and then I have to come back here again to reestablish he says.

So Bhagavan says that he has to come back again and again whenever it is needed. A bulb which is glowing collects dust. Every week you wipe it and make it clean, as you wash your clothes, as you wash your room and the walls again and again to make it clean. Because of the constant contact with the outer world, it gets dirty. Clean it up again and make it look clean and neat. Likewise this also has to be done. For that, I, again and again take this avatara and re-establish this truth. That is the fourth chapter.

Hari om.

Audio link and download: Place Yourself In Your Real Self by Sri Swami Padmanabhanandaji