III.a Actions happen by nature! (3.1-5)

Arjun uvaacha jyaayasi chet karmaNaste mataa buddhirjanaardana
tat kim karmaNi ghore maam niyojayasi keshava (3.1)
vyaamishreNeva vaakyena buddhim mohayasiva me
tadekam vada nishchitya y ena shreyohamaapnuyaan (3.2)
Shree Bhagavan uvaacha
lokesmin dvividhaa nishTha puraa proktaa mayaanagha
Gnaanayogena saankhyaanaam karmayogena yoginaam (3.3)
na karmaNaamanaarambhaan naishkarmyam purushoshnute
na cha sanyasanaadeva sidhhim samadhigachhati (3.4)
na hi kashchitkshaNamapi jaatu tishThatyakarmakrut
kaaryate hyavashaha karma sarva prakruti jairguNe(3.5)

perplexed, and yet amazed,
Arjun said
When intelligent thought you deem as superior
then why set me up on this war-act of horror?
such a variety of words from you
make my intellect bewilder and confused!
just tell me one definite way
that would lead me to glory
and long term joy which would transfuse!

Smiling at his innocent pal
the ONE spoke in a tone royale!

The way back to ONE ness
has apparently "two" lanes...
as has been earlier said
Unity through wisdom, knowledge
the mathematician-philosophers say
and the yogis have a smart-action-way

Neither is freedom attained
by refusing
to engage, participate
or to take up a venture-responsibility-act
nor does perfect wisdom dawn
to them who
from resistance to action
renounce, retire or retract!

Not a moment can life sustain
without action, dynamic or vain!
like programmed machines -
transducers of pleasure and pain
organic entities function
and enact the natural body-qualities
dull-active-bright
helplessly automatic,
driving both the craving and disdain!

Dr. Ramanand Prasad's version

Arjuna said: If You consider that transcendental knowledge is better than work then why do You want me to engage in this horrible war, O Krishna? (3.01)

You seem to confuse my mind by apparently conflicting words. Tell me, decisively, one thing by which I may attain the Supreme. (3.02)

The Supreme Lord said: In this world, O Arjuna, a twofold path of Sadhana (or the spiritual practice) has been stated by Me in the past. The path of Self-knowledge (or Jnana-yoga) for the contemplative, and the path of unselfish work (or Karma-yoga) for the active. (3.03) (Jnana-yoga is also called Saamkhya-yoga, Samnyasa-yoga, and yoga of knowledge. A Jnana-yogi does not consider oneself the doer of any action, but only an instrument in the hands of divine for His use. The word Jnana means metaphysical or transcendental knowledge.)

One does not attain freedom from the bondage of Karma by merely abstaining from work. No one attains perfection by merely giving up work. (3.04)

Because no one can remain actionless even for a moment. Everyone is driven to action, helplessly indeed, by the Gunas of nature. (3.05)

II z. dissolving in divinity (2.71-72)

vihaaya kaamaan yah sarvaan pumanscharati nispruhah
nirmamo nirahankarah sa shaantimadhigachhati (2.71)

eshaa braahmi sthitih partha nainam praapya vimuhyati
sthitvaasyaamantakaaleapi brahmanirvaaNamruchhati (2.72)

shedding and re-shedding
all desires, every one of them
the mature one walks,
untouched, unheeding,
devoid of mayhem
free from the feeling
of " poor me, great me,
me, me,
what about me,
what about me"
rejoicing instead
in love and surrender,
natural and barrier-free,
all-embracing without vanity
such a one alone can attain peace,
ah and the silent celebration of equanimity !

what a state of freedom
and blissful divinity...
once attained, there is
no more entanglement,
no more delusion,
all left in life is clarity
one who stays steadfast
in this subtle blissful serenity
while counting the last breaths
of the body
earns total freedom
and
oneness
with
divinity

Dr. Ramanand Prasad's version

One who abandons all desires and becomes free from longing ( craving) and the feeling of 'I' and 'my' attains peace. (2.71)

O Arjuna, this is the Braahmee or superconscious state. Attaining this (state), one is no longer deluded. Gaining this state, even at the end of one's life, a person attains oneness with the Supreme. (2.72)

from Sri Sri

A drop of the ocean is part of the ocean. In the same way, the moment a devotee meets (surrenders to) the Divine, the devotee becomes GOD. When the river meets the ocean, it recognizes that it is the ocean from the beginning to the end. Similarly, the individual "I... I...." dissolves in ONE Divinity.

Weekly Knowledge #71	Bangalore Ashram
16 Oct 1996	India

CELEBRATING THE SILENCE

One who has given everything has also given freedom: Honor the freedom first and make good use of all things given to you.

Your sankalpas (intentions) and desires separate you from God.

Offer all the desires and your sankalpas to the Divine... then you are divine... you are God... you are free... lacking nothing.

Effort is the key in the relative,

Effortlessness is the key to the Absolute.

Your mind does not belong to you. Don't blame it.

Let the BIG SELF embrace it.

II y. Content like the ocean (2.69-70)

Yaanishaa sarvabhootaanaam tasyaam jagrati sanyami
jaagrud sarvaaNi bhootaNi saa nishaa pashyato muneh (2.69)

in that which is dark night
to the unsophisticated
all toward which they are inert
sleepy and unaware
the disciplined one is wide awake
that which excites and wakes up
ordinary mortals
that is seen as sleepy night
to the ascetic...

Dr. Ramanand Prasad

A yogi is aware of the thing (or Atma) about which others are unaware. A sage who sees is unaware of the experience (of sense objects) about which others are aware. (2.69)


AapuryamaaNamachalapratishThah
samudramaapah pravishanti yadvat
tadvat kaamaa yum pravishanti sarve
sa shaantimaapnoti na kaamakaami (2.70)

savoring every moment
rejoicing in the inner fullness,
the beauty of the vast potent
unmoved by even scathing change
just as rivers gush into the Ocean
and yet self-contained it can remain
fulfilled, disciplined and sane!

in such manner
the one who
remains unshaken
from knowledge
by even bountiful currents
of cravings and desires,
untrustable emotions
and moving doubts
steadfast in the ocean
of love and life within
content and deep-rooted...
such a one alone attains the peace...
not the flaky pleasure-chaser!

Mahatma Gandhi's version
70. He in whom all cravings subside, even as the waters subside in the ocean which, though ever being filled by them, never overflows—that man finds peace; not he who cherishes craving.

Dr. Ramanand Prasad's version
One attains peace in whose mind all desires enter without creating any disturbance, as river waters enter the full ocean without creating a disturbance. One who desires material objects is never peaceful. (2.70)

Weekly Knowledge #272 Bangalore Ashram 28 Sep 2000 India ~ Sri Sri Ravi Shankar

DEVOTEE BECOMES GOD

When a river meets the ocean, the river no longer remains a river. It becomes the ocean.

Question: What about backwaters?

Sri Sri: Sometimes the ocean goes into the river to greet it. Sometimes it seems that the ocean is pushing back the river. Similarly, the Divine puts many questions and doubts in the mind or gives an amazing experience to bring one back home.

II x. Discipline leads to intelligence (2.67-68)

IndreeyaaNaam hi charataam yanmanonuvidheeyate
tadasya haratipragnaam vaayurnaavamivaambhasi (2.67)
tasmaadyasya maahaabaaho nigruheetaani sarvashah
indreeyaaNeendreeyaarthebhyostasya pragnaaprateeShThitah (2.68)

like an unanchored boat
quickly taken adrift by the wind
so is the mind chasing the flimsy senses
stolen away from the center and intelligence,

hence oh mighty one,
take charge of the organs/senses
driving them coolly,
toward the essential, the needful,
rather than being driven away by them,
in chasing the "want" or the "wishful"

such a disciplined mind alone
can settle
in that inner intelligence-
the way to being centered
and supremely blissful

previous

Dr. Ramanand Prasad's translation

The mind, when controlled by the roving senses, steals away the Prajna as a storm takes away a boat on the sea from its destination, the spiritual shore. (2.67)

Therefore, O Arjuna, one's Prajna becomes steady whose senses are completely withdrawn from the sense objects. (2.68)

Weekly Knowledge #361 Washington DC 03 Jul 2002 USA

NIGRA, AGRA, SATYAGRA AND DURAGRA

Nigra means control.

Agra means insistence.

Satyagra means steadfast determination.

Duragra means blind adamancy, reckless stubbornness.

These four will give you progress when practiced for a limited period of time. They give limited results, positive or negative. But if they stay on for a longer period, they eat away the potential of life. One has to transcend all these four to attain peace.

Freedom is when you transcend all four. They are inevitable to streamline life but you need to transcend them to be free.

Give your own examples and discuss nigra, agra, satyagra, and duragra

II w. The Unintelligent mind stays closed (2.66)

naastibuddhirayuktasya nachaayuktasya bhaavanaa
na chaa bhaavayatah shaantirashaantasya kutah sukham(2.66)

Alas, on the other hand
the unskilful racing mind,
too fragmented to let go,
to allow blossoming of wisdom bright

for the mind thus tormented
by languid, limited intellect
certain only in arrogant "I know it all"
numb to feelings
unmindful of the beauty of true silence
no wonder closed are the doors of that heart
estranged from itself-that inner quiet respite,
peace being out of question,
where to be found is joy? or that childlike smile?

previous

Dr. Ramanand Prasad's translation
There is neither Self-knowledge nor Self-perception to those whose senses are not under control. Without Self-perception there is no peace; and without peace there can be no happiness. (2.66)

from Sri Sri ::

Weekly Knowledge #255 Banglore Ashram 01 Jun 2000 India

LIFE WITHOUT WISDOM IS INCOMPLETE

Wisdom that doesn't give rise to feeling is incomplete.

Feeling that doesn’t translate into action is incomplete.

Action that doesn't give rise to fulfillment is incomplete.

For Fulfillment, is returning to the Self.

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Feeling the Presence

Only those who have eyes can see and only those who have ears can hear. That which has to be seen cannot be heard; it has to be seen. Life has five dimensions or five senses — seeing, hearing, smelling, tasting, touching. But there is one more dimension that has gone out of sight; that is feeling. Feeling the Presence. Light cannot be heard through the eyes; it has to be seen through the eyes. Sound cannot be seen through the eyes but heard through the ears. Likewise, the presence has to be felt by the heart.

God is not an object of senses but feeling the feelings, the presence of presence, the sound of silence, light of life, the essence of the world and the taste of bliss. And our human life is enriched only when we can live this sixth sense of existence, of feeling.

Take some time off every year to look a little deep into oneself and calm the mind down. Thus erasing all the impressions that we are carrying in our minds and experience the presence, the divine that is the very core of our existence. This is feeling THE PRESENCE!!!