# 09: Bhagavad Gita Class by Swami Tadatmananda - Ch.2 Verses 12-14

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MqfCfD0AfLY

[00:42] Om sahanavavatu
[00:45] sahanau bhunaktu saha viryam karavavahai
[00:51] tejasvinavadhitamastu
[00:54] ma vidvisavahai
[00:58] Om shanti shanti shanti
[01:05] Om
[01:06] Welcome back to our Saturday morning
[01:10] Bhagavad Gita class.
[01:12] Let me check this is looking fine.
[01:15] We will pick up the thread in chapter two,
[01:18] but we'll begin as we do each class with some recitation.
[01:22] We'll begin today in verse seven where we have the longer meter.
[01:24] And again, please glance at the meaning while I chant and then repeat after me.
[01:31] Verse seven.
[03:11] I'm sorry.
[03:44] Sorry.
[05:03] Sorry, I'm distracting myself.
[05:06] Very nicely.
[06:00] Sorry.
[07:15] Very good.
[07:17] Let us pick up the thread.
[07:24] So, we saw in chapter one Arjuna's emotional melt down as we say.
[07:32] It due to his inner conflict.
[07:35] Intellectually he know he knew that it was a Dharma Yudha.
[07:38] Not to fight would have worse consequences than fighting it, but emotionally he couldn't bear the thought of fighting against and killing his own family members.
[07:53] So, this inner conflict led him to be virtually incapacitated by this I I called it emotional meltdown.
[08:02] Panic attack he had right there on the battlefield.
[08:04] And then we saw at the beginning of chapter two uh Shri Krishna's initial response.
[08:10] So, if Arjuna's problem was an emotional
[08:17] Problem.
[08:19] Shri Krishna should give him an emotional solution, which he did with that so-called tough love.
[08:27] He used these very strong words of encouragement.
[08:31] Loosely speaking, he told Arjuna, "Don't be a wimp. Get up and and fight."
[08:37] And as we saw that brief emotional pep talk as it were from Shri Krishna it didn't work.
[08:46] And that leads us to to the present moment.
[08:51] Sometimes you know, I said before that for an emotional solution I'm sorry.
[08:58] For an emotional problem you require an emotional solution but sometimes it doesn't work.
[09:07] Sometimes an emotional solution isn't enough.
[09:10] To make that very clear, look at this.
[09:13] If you lose a loved one and you're very sad or even crying.
[09:20] and someone dear to you gives you a hug
[09:23] nice to to be hugged, a nice show of concern and care.
[09:29] Does that hug make your sadness go away?
[09:34] Not at all. Suppose two people hug you.
[09:37] Three people hug you.
[09:39] 10 or 20 people hug you.
[09:42] You get the point. No number of hugs will make your deep sadness and grief and feeling of loss go away.
[09:53] The point is is that for such emotional problems, there's no ultimate I'm sorry, there's no emotional solution.
[10:05] The solution that's required, and we talked about this at the very end of the prior class, the solution is a radical change of perspective in which you can be okay in spite of the loss, in spite of the
[10:22] sadness.
[10:23] And that's what we're going to be discussing here in the coming verses.
[10:27] Um
[10:28] my guru, Pujya Swami Dayananda, was famous for a particular statement in this context.
[10:38] Recalling the fact that for Arjuna's emotional solution,
[10:44] there's no I'm I'm sorry, for Arjuna's emotional problem, there's no solution.
[10:49] Pujya Swamiji famously said, "In psychology, there's no solution.
[10:58] In Vedanta, there's no problem."
[11:02] And what he meant by that is that in psychology, you can undergo uh therapy.
[11:09] In fact, some people, especially in the uh in the United States, some people will have weekly appointments with the therapist that go on for months and months and years and
[11:22] years.
[11:25] Will those persons ever completely resolve their emotional problems?
[11:30] Emotional problems are endless.
[11:32] One is followed by another, is followed by another.
[11:35] Besides, there's no perfection possible for the mind.
[11:38] Just as your body will never become perfect, no matter how many hours you spend in the gym, in the same way your mind will never become perfect.
[11:50] As human beings, we're innately flawed bodies and minds.
[11:53] And so, there's no such thing as a state of emotional perfection that's reached through lots of therapy.
[12:04] So, for that reason, Pujya Swamiji said,
[12:07] "In psychology, there's no solution.
[12:12] But in Vedanta, there's no problem."
[12:15] And the reason there's no problem is it's Vedanta that brings about that shift of perspective in which you can be
[12:23] perfectly content and okay in the presence of your emotional problems.
[12:32] That's Vedanta's solution.
[12:34] So, with uh that introduction, we saw at the end of the last class, we saw Shri Krishna's first spiritual teaching to Arjuna, where he said, "Ashocyan anushocastvam.
[12:50] Tvam, you and we saw this already.
[12:52] Tvam, you Arjuna, asho anushocaha, you are grieving for ashocyan, those who don't deserve grief.
[13:04] They don't deserve grief because well, actually I didn't speak on that.
[13:10] They don't deserve grief because whatever is going to unfold on the battlefield is a matter of everyone's karma.
[13:20] So, because of Bhishma's karma, he's on
[13:24] that battlefield on the opposing side,
[13:27] and he will be killed by Arjuna.
[13:30] Drona,
[13:30] Kripacharya, all of the sons of Dhritarashtra are all on the opposing side due to their individual karmas, and because of their karmic burden or karmic load, so to speak, they will suffer death on the battlefield.
[13:50] So, and Shri Krishna's going to say a little bit later in chapter two that the birth and death are inevitable, and death on this battlefield is inevitable.
[14:00] For that reason, he says, "Tvam, you Arjuna, are grieving for those who don't deserve grief.
[14:05] On the other hand, bhasha say, you're speaking pragnyavadam, you're speaking very wisely."
[14:13] When Arjuna expressed his his concern for the uh uh for the loss of the family traditions, gatasun agatasun shocanti na
[14:26] anushocanti panditaha.
[14:30] But panditaha, here we're not talking about learned scholars.
[14:35] Here panditaha mean those who are truly wise, those who are enlightened.
[14:39] Panditaha, the enlightened ones, na anushocanti, do not grieve gatasun for those who have dead, who are dead, and agatasun for those who are yet to die.
[14:53] And that brings us to our next verse.
[14:56] Natveva
[14:59] Sorry.
[15:01] Natvevahum
[15:03] jatu nasum
[15:06] natvevahum
[15:08] na chasam
[15:12] natvam name janadipaha
[15:20] nachaiva na bhavishyaha
[15:28] sarve vayam ataha param sarve vayam.
[15:33] ataha param.
[15:36] Sorry.
[15:42] Now, Shri Krishna continues his spiritual instruction to Arjuna.
[15:46] He says, All the words are run together here nicely.
[15:51] Na tu eva aham jatu na asum.
[16:02] And very nicely, using a double negative.
[16:05] Did you ever have a grammar teacher tell you not to use double negatives?
[16:09] Well, in Sanskrit uh texts, they're used frequently.
[16:13] We have to be ready for that.
[16:18] Nat tu nat tu jatu, but never.
[16:19] Never was it the case.
[16:23] Eva, indeed, that aham, I, Shri
[16:28] Krishna speaking.
[16:28] I na asum, never did I not exist.
[16:37] There's a double negative.
[16:37] Never was it that I did not exist.
[16:42] Taking out the double negative, I always existed.
[16:44] I was never non-existent.
[16:48] Natvam, the same is true for you, Arjuna.
[16:52] Uh so, na never.
[16:56] Never was there a time when you did not exist, Arjuna.
[16:59] Na ime janadipaha, breaking the words apart, na ime, ime, these janadipaha, these kings among men.
[17:12] So, never na, never was it the case that ime janadipaha, these great kings and soldiers on the battlefield, never was it the case that they did not exist.
[17:26] So, they've always I've always Shri Krishna, just to
[17:28] paraphrase, Shri Krishna says, "I have always existed.
[17:31] You too, Arjuna, have always existed.
[17:34] And all these uh gathered on the battlefield have always existed.
[17:40] Nachcha cha a cha eva, break the words apart, cha, and na eva na bhavishyaha, another double negative, never never will they not exist in the future.
[17:51] Never will we cease to exist in the future.
[17:56] We being Shri Krishna, Arjuna, and everyone gathered on on the battlefield.
[18:03] Sarve, all of us.
[18:06] Vayam, vayam sarve, all of us na nachcha na bhavishyaha, all of us will never cease to exist in the future.
[18:22] Ataha param, in the last line, from this point forward in the uh ataha param, yeah, from this time
[18:30] Onward.
[18:31] So, we will always exist.
[18:35] So, here Shri Krishna is immediately turning Arjuna's attention to that which is eternal in us all.
[18:47] And before I explain what I mean by that which is eternal, please note that what Krishna is not doing.
[18:53] So often, when people are in a really bad situation, our response is not very good.
[19:05] Or to use a common American expression, our response is totally lame, useless.
[19:12] When you tell someone, "Oh, don't worry.
[19:15] Every everything will everything will be okay.
[19:18] Hindi me, you say all the time, koi baat nahi sab sab theek ho jayega.
[19:28] Well, on the battlefield, everything will not be
[19:30] Okay.
[19:30] Everyone is going to die.
[19:34] The point I'm making here is all too often, our response in a time of crisis are these empty words of reassurance.
[19:46] Everything will be okay.
[19:48] Those empty words of assurance are not helpful.
[19:51] You know this very well.
[19:54] Just to point that out that Sri Krishna does not offer empty words of assurance.
[20:00] He immediately goes to these profound spiritual teachings about that which is eternal.
[20:08] Now, so often we use the expression eternal soul.
[20:18] And let me let me let me share with you.
[20:21] This is one thing I learned one important thing I learned from Pujya Swamiji was to use words very carefully.
[20:31] And meaningfully.
[20:34] And for that reason, Pujya Swamiji himself never ever used the word eternal soul.
[20:41] He never used the word soul.
[20:43] And the reason he didn't is the word soul is subject to so much misinterpretation.
[20:50] The word soul can have a different meaning for you and me for and for someone else.
[20:56] Um and the word soul, pardon a bad bad pun, soul can be the the bottom of your foot.
[21:04] In in uh in America, there's such a thing as soul food, etc.
[21:11] So, the point I'm making is the word soul is a very fuzzy and imprecise word.
[21:17] When I was a child, uh just to make this more clear, when I was a child growing up in a Christian uh uh school taught by Roman Catholic nuns were teaching us religion.
[21:27] And those nuns taught me that when I die,
[21:34] my eternal soul will go either to heaven.
[21:38] or hell.
[21:40] Now, that was the what the language they used.
[21:41] When I die, my eternal soul will go to heaven or hell.
[21:48] And even as a child, I had this question.
[21:51] Well, my eternal hell will go to have heaven or hell, but what will happen to me?
[21:55] When I die, what is that I who dies?
[21:59] So, the point is is that this term eternal soul was used very loosely to me as a child.
[22:09] And here and as as grown adults, we need to use more precise language.
[22:16] And one reason for that is in Sanskrit, the word soul could could have one of two different Sanskrit meanings.
[22:25] Let me show you.
[22:27] There's some important uh uh terminology we need to have.
[22:33] I'll show you on the board.
[22:38] So, it's helpful to distinguish three aspects of a human existence.
[22:47] There are other ways to analyze it.
[22:49] And what I'm sharing with you right now is quite simplified because we're right at the beginning of the text.
[22:53] We don't want to get into lots of uh detail right now.
[22:59] So, let's just identify three primary aspects of a human's existence.
[23:02] One very obviously is your physical body.
[23:13] And let me give the Sanskrit terms since we'll be using that term frequently, called sthula sharira.
[23:26] Sharira means body.
[23:26] Sthula means physical, gross, tangible.
[23:34] So, physical body, sthula sharira is one of several one of three aspects of the
[23:41] human existence that we're going to talk about.
[23:43] Of course, your physical body is filled with life force, life energy.
[23:51] And there are many ways that the that your your body is alive.
[23:53] Your heart is is beating, your lungs are are breathing, your senses are working, you can walk and talk.
[24:03] So, all of these faculties are present in your body along with the physical body, there's something else.
[24:09] In addition to a physical body that makes your body alive, and we call that in Vedanta sukshma Oh, wrong.
[24:27] I English first. We call that subtle body or sukshma sharira.
[24:37] The subtle body or the sukshma
[24:45] sharira, subtle body,
[24:47] is that which enlivens the body. The
[24:50] simplest definition of sukshma sharira
[24:53] is
[24:54] when a person dies,
[24:57] what is the difference?
[24:59] Something was present in the body before
[25:03] death, something is absent from the
[25:06] physical body after death.
[25:09] And that's what we call sukshma sharira.
[25:12] So, that which enlivens the physical
[25:15] body, physical body is made of physical
[25:18] stuff.
[25:20] The subtle body is not made of physical
[25:22] stuff. Subtle body includes your mind.
[25:27] And an example I've given so many times
[25:30] to distinguish between physical and
[25:32] subtle, to distinguish between sthula,
[25:34] gross, and sukshma, non-tangible sthula,
[25:37] tangible
[25:39] uh sukshma, non-tangible, consider the
[25:41] fact that your brain in your skull
[25:44] weighs about 2 and 1/2 lb.
[25:47] How much do all your thoughts and
[25:49] emotions weigh? And all your memories?
[25:52] And when you have more memories, does
[25:54] your brain weigh more? You get the
[25:57] point. And that is that all of these
[25:59] mental activities, in fact, they're not
[26:02] physical things. They're They are
[26:05] sukshma, non-physical. In fact, that's
[26:08] the definition, non-tangible,
[26:11] non-physical. So, that which enlivens
[26:13] your physical body is the subtle body,
[26:16] the sukshma sharira.
[26:19] And then the third aspect,
[26:22] there is such a thing as a karana
[26:24] sharira. I want to leave that apart for
[26:27] right now. It won't be helpful. At a
[26:29] later date, we'll come back and talk
[26:31] about that. But right now, what we want
[26:33] to talk about is the third important
[26:35] central aspect of your existence.
[26:38] Fundamentally,
[26:40] excuse me, you are a conscious being.
[26:44] So, we can have consciousness
[26:52] as the third element. And we can call
[26:56] consciousness chit or chaitanya are
[26:59] probably the most widely used terms.
[27:02] Chai
[27:04] If I spell it right,
[27:06] chaitanya.
[27:09] Chit or chai chit as in sat chit ananda.
[27:14] And chaitanya, these are common Sanskrit
[27:17] words for consciousness.
[27:20] These three terms, physical body, sthula
[27:23] sharira, subtle body, sukshma sharira,
[27:27] and consciousness, chit or chaitanya,
[27:30] really describe
[27:32] the three most
[27:34] basic aspects of who you are.
[27:38] Now, just to bring us back here, if we
[27:41] use the term soul,
[27:44] which are we talking about? Certainly,
[27:46] the term soul could not refer to your
[27:48] physical body.
[27:50] But the term soul could refer
[27:54] to the sukshma sharira, subtle body. The
[27:57] term soul, loosely used, could also
[28:00] refer to
[28:01] consciousness.
[28:03] After all, soul is at least broadly
[28:06] understood, the English word soul is
[28:08] something immaterial.
[28:11] Physical body is definitely has
[28:14] material, but both subtle body and
[28:17] consciousness are both immaterial. So,
[28:20] if we use the term eternal soul,
[28:24] it can mean either of these,
[28:27] which causes lots of confusion, which is
[28:29] exactly why Pujya Swamiji never ever
[28:33] used the term eternal soul. And as his
[28:36] students, we've also learned to avoid
[28:39] that confusion.
[28:42] Okay.
[28:49] Now,
[28:53] before we we move on, I it's a little
[28:56] important that these three aspects of
[29:01] your existence be understood a little
[29:04] bit more clearly. We're going to get
[29:06] into some very deep discussion later.
[29:09] But even at this early stage, let's um
[29:11] let me share with you a favorite modern
[29:14] metaphor to describe these three.
[29:17] And all of you
[29:20] at home or at work use a computer. So,
[29:23] we're familiar with some of this
[29:25] computer nomenclature.
[29:27] Your computer has hardware, and your
[29:30] computer has software. You know this
[29:33] very well. Computer hardware means the
[29:36] physical box unit, whether it's a laptop
[29:40] or a desktop computer. Your computer has
[29:43] hardware.
[29:44] And inside, if you open up the computer
[29:47] hardware, you'll find all kinds of
[29:49] parts. You'll find a part called a power
[29:51] supply.
[29:53] By the way, the metaphor here is that
[29:54] computer hardware is like your physical
[29:57] body.
[29:59] The computer hardware in our metaphor
[30:02] represents your sthula sharira, your
[30:05] physical body. Inside the computer are
[30:08] so many different parts. And if you look
[30:10] at a book on anatomy, you'll find that
[30:13] inside your physical body are so many
[30:16] parts. All of these parts are physical
[30:18] and or tangible. So, that's why we call
[30:21] it sthula sharira, physical body, like
[30:24] your computer hardware.
[30:26] But, as you know, your computer also has
[30:29] software.
[30:31] Inside your computer, one of the many
[30:33] parts is the hard disk drive. It
[30:38] contains all the memory, all the
[30:40] programs, all the data. Which means that
[30:43] hard disk drive is a little bit like
[30:45] your physical brain.
[30:48] Inside your computer is that hard disk
[30:50] drive, that's like your physical brain.
[30:53] But, the software
[30:55] resides on that physical hard drive,
[30:59] just like memories and thoughts abide in
[31:02] your mind.
[31:04] You have software abiding on that hard
[31:07] disk. And if your hard disk is empty, or
[31:11] if your hard disk is filled with
[31:13] gigabytes and gigabytes of data and
[31:16] programs, does a hard disk become
[31:19] heavier?
[31:21] You got it.
[31:22] Software is not a physical thing. Adding
[31:27] software and data to the hard disk
[31:30] doesn't make it heavier, just as adding
[31:33] thoughts and memories to your mind
[31:36] doesn't make the brain heavier. So,
[31:39] we're seeing now the distinction between
[31:42] between subtle
[31:44] between sthula, physical, and sukshma,
[31:49] non-physical.
[31:51] So, your physical body in this metaphor
[31:54] is represented by computer hardware.
[31:57] Your subtle body
[32:00] is represented by the computer software.
[32:05] And
[32:07] there's another very important point to
[32:10] make here.
[32:12] Let's spend a few minutes and talk about
[32:14] this, because this is one of the most
[32:17] misunderstood
[32:20] topics in Hinduism in general, not
[32:23] specifically Vedanta. But, the question
[32:26] is, at the time of death,
[32:29] what is it that travels?
[32:33] This is a question. And we can't use
[32:36] that word eternal soul, cuz it causes
[32:38] all the confusion.
[32:40] And the way we can explore this
[32:43] is to consider a time you probably
[32:46] you've done this, where you've gotten a
[32:48] new computer.
[32:50] And when you get a new computer, you
[32:52] have to transfer all the data and
[32:55] software from your old computer onto the
[32:59] new computer.
[33:02] Doesn't that sound a little bit like
[33:03] reincarnation?
[33:05] That's what the metaphor represents.
[33:09] Just as you transfer data and program,
[33:13] software, just as you transfer the
[33:15] software from an old computer to a new
[33:18] computer, in the same way. And now,
[33:22] we're doing this briefly, but you get
[33:23] the point. In the same way, what travels
[33:27] from one body to the next is your subtle
[33:32] body, sukshma sharira. When the physical
[33:35] body dies, it's the sukshma sharira,
[33:39] subtle body, that travels from one body
[33:42] to the next.
[33:45] Leading us Sorry, go back just for a
[33:47] moment. Leading us to the third element.
[33:50] So, in our metaphor, how do we How do we
[33:53] account for this consciousness, chit or
[33:56] chaitanya?
[33:57] Well, suppose you've your computer
[34:00] uh you have got your computer hardware
[34:03] is working fine. Your computer is loaded
[34:07] with software. But, when you
[34:10] type on the keys or flip the power
[34:12] switch, nothing happens.
[34:15] You've got hardware. You've got
[34:17] software. But, the computer will not
[34:19] work
[34:21] without electricity.
[34:23] Electricity is a third factor.
[34:27] And electricity, the third factor,
[34:30] is the equivalent in our metaphor of
[34:34] consciousness.
[34:36] And very importantly,
[34:38] and we're going to talk about this a
[34:40] lot. So, let me just give it to you
[34:43] simply.
[34:46] And simply we can say that you can have
[34:49] many computers,
[34:51] many hardware, many many hardwares, many
[34:55] softwares, all connected to the same
[34:59] electrical circuit.
[35:02] Imagine an office place or a computer
[35:04] lab, where there are many computers, all
[35:07] plugged in to the same electric circuit.
[35:10] Some of you know that about electricity,
[35:13] and know it's actually the same
[35:15] electrons
[35:17] that are passing through all of the
[35:19] computers. If there are 10 computers
[35:22] plugged into the same line,
[35:24] the same electrons are passing through
[35:28] all 10 of those computers.
[35:32] 10 computers,
[35:34] one electricity.
[35:39] Many human beings,
[35:42] one consciousness.
[35:44] One chit, one chaitanya. That one and
[35:49] we'll talk about this in so much
[35:53] We'll talk about this in so much depth
[35:55] later. So, this is just very
[35:58] very
[35:59] cursory introduction to the topic, just
[36:02] so that we can understand these opening
[36:04] verses.
[36:06] And that is
[36:07] that atma
[36:09] is one
[36:11] all-pervasive
[36:13] consciousness.
[36:15] That one all-pervasive consciousness is
[36:18] manifest in you, in me, in every living
[36:22] being, just like one electricity is
[36:25] manifest in each computer. One
[36:27] consciousness is manifest in us all. All
[36:30] of this is just so that we can define
[36:33] our terms, and in particular, to
[36:36] understand this series of verses, we
[36:39] need to distinguish sukshma sharira
[36:43] from chit, consciousness.
[36:47] Both of them could loosely be called
[36:49] eternal soul. But, we're not going to
[36:52] use that term to cause confusion. So,
[36:55] now that we've defined our terms, now we
[36:59] can look at this verse one more time and
[37:03] and say,
[37:05] let me just just try out a a tricky
[37:07] question on you.
[37:09] This verse, where Shri Krishna says,
[37:11] "Never was there a time when I when I
[37:14] did not exist, nor for you, Arjuna, nor
[37:18] for all these men on the battlefield,
[37:21] nor will we ever cease to be in the
[37:23] future."
[37:25] Is This is a trick question.
[37:28] And when I warn you it's a trick
[37:30] question, that means
[37:32] you know what trick question means. So,
[37:34] the trick question is,
[37:36] is Shri Krishna referring here to
[37:39] sukshma sharira,
[37:41] the transmigrating entity,
[37:45] or is he referring to consciousness,
[37:48] chit, chaitanya? And it's a trick
[37:50] question.
[37:52] Because
[37:54] he's not specific in this verse. This
[37:58] would be true for both. Both
[38:00] consciousness and the subtle body
[38:04] are eternal.
[38:06] Eternal means no birth. By the way, for
[38:09] sukshma sharira,
[38:11] by the the doctrine of karma is a little
[38:14] complicated.
[38:16] But, the moment you accept a
[38:18] transmigrating
[38:20] entity, sukshma sharira, and the moment
[38:23] you you accept transmigration,
[38:27] reincarnation,
[38:29] you'll very quickly be led to understand
[38:32] that there was no first birth
[38:37] for human for a living being.
[38:40] You've had an infinite number of prior
[38:45] births. Why? Because this universe was
[38:49] preceded by an infinite number of prior
[38:52] universes.
[38:54] We talk about the universe being cyclic.
[38:57] And in a cycle, there are an infinite
[39:01] number of loops possible. Our universe
[39:04] has gone through an infinite number of
[39:06] prior cycles in that in an infinite
[39:10] number of prior universes,
[39:14] you have undertaken an infinite number
[39:17] of prior births.
[39:20] Therefore,
[39:22] if it's infinite number of prior births,
[39:24] there's no first birth. We'll talk more
[39:28] about reincarnation. In fact, there are
[39:29] several verses that will go deeply into
[39:32] the doctrine of reincarnation later.
[39:35] Let's keep this very introductory for
[39:38] these introductory verses. My point is
[39:41] is that Shri Krishna's referring to that
[39:44] which is eternal.
[39:46] Sukshma sharira is eternal. There was no
[39:49] first birth. Similarly, consciousness is
[39:53] eternal. Consciousness is what we
[39:55] loosely call the inner divinity.
[39:59] Also eternal.
[40:01] Inner divinity mean Divinity means what?
[40:03] That which shares qualities with God.
[40:08] That which has divine godly qualities.
[40:11] One of those qualities is certainly
[40:12] being eternal. So, that consciousness,
[40:16] your true nature, suchit ananda, the
[40:19] technical terms we use, that atma, that
[40:22] true self is
[40:25] eternal. So, in this first In this verse
[40:27] 12, Sri Krishna could be referring to
[40:30] either consciousness or subtle body.
[40:33] From both perspectives,
[40:35] there is eternal existence. Then he
[40:39] continues.
[41:16] Asmin dehe.
[41:20] Asmin, in this dehe, in this body.
[41:26] In this physical body.
[41:29] What is in this physical body?
[41:32] Dehinaha.
[41:33] We have nice terms. Deha and dehin. Deha
[41:38] is physical body. Dehin is that which is
[41:42] inside the physical body, that which
[41:45] possesses a body. Deha, the literal the
[41:49] etymological meaning, the root meaning
[41:51] of deha is that which is good to be
[41:54] burnt, dahana, dahana yogya. That which
[41:58] is fit to be burnt is deha.
[42:01] As all of our bodies will eventually be
[42:03] burnt. But within the physical body is a
[42:07] dehin or dehi is a grammatically correct
[42:11] form.
[42:12] And that dehi, the indweller of the
[42:15] body.
[42:17] And the indweller of the body
[42:21] is and you'll see why. He's referring
[42:24] here to sukshma sharira.
[42:28] So, he's not referring to consciousness
[42:30] here and I'll show you why in a moment.
[42:32] But this dehi, the indweller of the
[42:35] physical body, he refers to the sukshma
[42:39] sharira.
[42:40] So, dehinaha,
[42:42] for the indweller, asmin dehe, the one
[42:46] who dwells in this body,
[42:48] there is kaumaram,
[42:51] childhood,
[42:53] being a kumara, being a child. There's
[42:55] also yavanam, being a yuva, youth. There
[43:00] is childhood, youth, and as we are all
[43:03] learning, there is also jara, old age.
[43:08] So, there is childhood, youth, and old
[43:11] age for whom?
[43:15] Dehinaha,
[43:17] for the sukshma sharira.
[43:20] Not for consciousness. Consciousness
[43:22] doesn't get younger old, you know that
[43:25] very Well, you don't know that. We will
[43:27] discuss this in great detail. These are
[43:29] the very few first few verses, so
[43:32] forgive me for not not spending lots of
[43:35] time on certain points. We'll come to
[43:38] those points in great detail.
[43:40] So,
[43:41] dehinaha, for the sukshma sharira,
[43:44] there is kaumaram, the state of
[43:47] childhood. Yavanam, the state of youth.
[43:51] Jara, the state of old age. Yatha, in
[43:54] the first line, just as
[43:57] in this body,
[43:58] for the indwelling sukshma sharira,
[44:02] there is a state of childhood, youth,
[44:04] and old age. Tatha, in the third line,
[44:08] tatha, in the same way,
[44:10] deha antara praptihi.
[44:15] So, similarly, there is the praptihi,
[44:18] the acquisition
[44:21] of deha antara. Antara means another, a
[44:24] different one, a different body. So,
[44:27] just as for the sukshma sharira that
[44:31] dwells in this body, there is childhood,
[44:34] youth, and old age, in the same way,
[44:37] after the death of this physical body,
[44:41] for that sukshma sharira, the
[44:43] transmigrating
[44:45] entity, there will be deha antara, there
[44:49] will be
[44:50] abiding in another body. Sukshma sharira
[44:54] will leave this body and will acquire
[44:56] another body.
[44:59] Well, this doctrine of karma and
[45:01] transmigration is fairly complicated.
[45:04] We'll see it later in chapter two. I'm
[45:07] not sure where
[45:09] where where I generally do that, but I
[45:14] If you're in a hurry
[45:17] to understand all the details, you can I
[45:21] have a some YouTube videos on the
[45:26] doctrine of karma.
[45:28] If you
[45:29] There's a playlist called Doctrine of
[45:31] Karma. If you watch the videos in that
[45:34] playlist, you'll understand it very
[45:36] clearly. And I'll also be coming back to
[45:38] this topic in more detail.
[45:41] So, the first three lines, Sri Krishna
[45:43] says that for the indwelling
[45:48] sukshma sharira, subtle body, like the
[45:51] software inside a computer,
[45:53] just like software in a computer can go
[45:55] from one computer
[45:57] Actually, software in a computer also
[45:59] undergoes change over time. You have
[46:02] some programs now, then you have other
[46:04] programs later, you have other programs
[46:06] later. So, the software in your computer
[46:10] undergoes change over time. In the same
[46:13] way for the your software, your subtle
[46:15] body, undergoes change. You're different
[46:18] today as a as a personality.
[46:22] As a personality, you're different today
[46:24] than you were 10 years ago or 20 years
[46:27] ago. Childhood, youth, and old age. It's
[46:30] the subtle body that undergoes change.
[46:33] Physical body, we know undergoes change.
[46:36] Subtle body also undergoes change.
[46:39] Physical body eventually dies.
[46:42] Subtle body travels on. Just as you
[46:46] transfer your software from an old
[46:48] computer to a new one, in the same way
[46:50] the subtle body travels on to deha
[46:53] antara, another body.
[46:56] In the last line, tatra, in this regard,
[46:58] in this topic,
[47:00] dhiraha, the wise ones, the enlightened
[47:03] ones, na muhyati, they are not confused
[47:08] about this about this doctrine of of
[47:11] reincarnation.
[47:12] So, the subtle body of all those
[47:16] warriors on the battlefield, when they
[47:18] die on the battlefield, their physical
[47:21] bodies fall dead on the battlefield.
[47:25] Their subtle bodies, sukshma shariras,
[47:28] detach themselves from the physical body
[47:31] and
[47:32] travel on to the next body. Um
[47:36] As long as I'm talking so much about
[47:38] reincarnation, I can I can mention that
[47:41] uh there are certain traditions in
[47:44] religion that show the view of this
[47:47] transmigration. For example,
[47:49] um
[47:51] Christians and Muslims, as you know,
[47:54] bury their dead and Jews. Their dead bo-
[47:58] when bodies die, they're buried in the
[48:01] ground
[48:02] because there's a biblical teaching
[48:06] that says at the end of time,
[48:10] you will be reunited
[48:13] with your physical body. It's taught in
[48:15] the Bible.
[48:16] At the end of time, you will be reunited
[48:20] with your physical body. Now, we know
[48:21] very well that the body in the
[48:23] in the ground will undergo decay. The
[48:26] belief, based on that biblical teaching,
[48:30] is that you'll you will be reunited not
[48:33] with a decayed body, but with your body
[48:36] back in its normal living form at the
[48:40] end of time. So, that's a common
[48:42] biblically based belief. On the other
[48:45] hand, it's very clear why Hindus burn
[48:50] the bodies of their dead because
[48:53] Actually, we can find some symbolism in
[48:56] it.
[48:57] Um the symbolism is to burn the body to
[49:03] set
[49:04] free the sukshma sharira. The sukshma
[49:08] sharira should not somehow remain
[49:10] inside. Not that
[49:12] Please don't think if we fail to cremate
[49:15] a a Hindu body, the sukshma sharira will
[49:18] be trapped inside. That's ridiculous.
[49:21] It's so
[49:22] It's symbolic.
[49:24] To symbolically set the sukshma sharira
[49:28] free from the physical body,
[49:30] the body is burnt at the time of death.
[49:34] Except in two cases.
[49:36] for sannyasis and for infants. There's a
[49:40] tradition of not cremating the bodies
[49:43] but rather burying them. And the reason
[49:46] for this for sannyasis,
[49:48] um the tradition gives sannyasis the
[49:51] benefit of the doubt. They're presumed
[49:54] to be enlightened.
[49:56] And if that sannyasi, that Hindu monk,
[49:59] is presumed to be enlightened, if
[50:01] they're truly enlightened, they're not
[50:03] going to reincarnate anyway. So
[50:06] therefore they don't they don't bury
[50:09] they don't burn the body. If you'll
[50:11] allow me to be a little sarcastic, uh
[50:14] the wood required for cremation is
[50:16] costly. So you get to save some money.
[50:18] You don't have to cremate the bodies of
[50:21] those sannyasis. Similarly for infants,
[50:24] it's believed that the sukshma sharira
[50:28] for an infant is very loosely attached
[50:32] to the physical body. After all the
[50:34] sukshma sharira has only been inside an
[50:38] infant's body for a few days or weeks.
[50:41] So in the case of a very early death,
[50:44] that infant's body need not be you
[50:48] can be burned but need not be burned for
[50:52] this symbolic reason that the subtle
[50:55] body is so loosely connected to that
[50:57] physical body. It will effortlessly
[51:00] travel on.
[51:02] So tatra
[51:04] dhiras na muhyati, the wise are not
[51:07] confused. The really important point
[51:09] here and that leads to the next verse
[51:11] which we'll see.
[51:13] And
[51:15] the point is is that your physical body
[51:19] is subject to change as we know very
[51:21] well. Your subtle body is also subject
[51:24] to change. Your personality is not the
[51:26] same today as it was when you were a
[51:28] youth. All of these changes take place
[51:32] in your physical bodies, sthula sharira,
[51:35] and sukshma sharira, the subtle body.
[51:38] But atma,
[51:40] that third factor, physical body
[51:43] undergoes change, aging. Subtle body
[51:46] undergoes change, aging.
[51:49] Consciousness
[51:51] is unchanging.
[51:54] Consciousness doesn't change.
[51:56] Consciousness is the unchanging
[52:00] awareness that allows you to know the
[52:03] changing conditions of your mind.
[52:08] Based on this perspective,
[52:11] we get the next verse. Where now Shri
[52:13] Krishna gets very vedantic with this
[52:16] next verse and this is teaching Arjuna
[52:19] how to shift perspective
[52:22] so that he can remain
[52:26] okay, undisturbed,
[52:29] even in this horrible situation. Look at
[52:32] the very important verse. Let's see it.
[52:34] Uh
[52:36] next.
[52:38] Matra
[52:40] matra sparshas tu kaunteya
[52:45] matra sparshas tu kaunteya
[52:49] shitoshna sukha dukha daha shitoshna
[52:54] sukha dukha daha agamapayinau
[52:59] nityas
[53:00] agamapayinau
[53:03] nityas tams titikshasva bharata
[53:08] tams titikshasva bharata
[53:13] Shri Krishna addresses Arjuna, kaunteya,
[53:16] O son of Kunti, Arjuna.
[53:20] Matra sparshaha.
[53:24] It's a little technical term. The touch,
[53:27] sparsha, the touch of the matra, what is
[53:31] measurable. It's technical. The touch of
[53:34] what is measurable means what you
[53:36] perceive with your senses. That's all it
[53:39] means. The touch of of the measurable
[53:42] means that which you perceive through
[53:46] sight, hearing, taste, touch, and smell.
[53:49] So everything you perceive
[53:52] and your perceptions which are in the
[53:54] second line, shita, ushna, sukha, dukha,
[54:00] daha.
[54:01] Everything you perceive daha give give
[54:06] what? What what your perceptions give
[54:09] rise to, shita, the feeling of coldness,
[54:13] ushna, the feeling of being too hot,
[54:16] sukha, the feeling of pleasure, dukha,
[54:20] the feeling of pain. So everything you
[54:23] perceive, all of your perceptions that
[54:25] give rise to feeling cold and heat, give
[54:28] rise to feeling pleasure and pain, all
[54:30] of these feelings in the third line end
[54:34] are anityaha,
[54:36] impermanent.
[54:39] All of these feelings are anityaha,
[54:42] impermanent. All of these feelings are
[54:45] agam apayinaha.
[54:48] Agama, they come. Apaya, they go. All of
[54:53] these feelings come and go. And here
[54:57] comes this shift of prospection of
[55:00] perspective.
[55:03] Your body comes and goes.
[55:06] All of the bodies on that battlefield
[55:09] that Arjuna is so concerned about, they
[55:12] all come and go. Similarly the sukshma
[55:16] sharira,
[55:17] the that enlivens all of those bodies,
[55:20] all come and go, getting born again and
[55:23] again and again and undergoing change
[55:26] even in this life. Everything is
[55:30] transient. Everything is impermanent.
[55:35] And that's a reality.
[55:38] Everything but one.
[55:40] So returning to our overview, physical
[55:44] bodies are constantly changing,
[55:46] impermanent. Subtle bodies are
[55:49] constantly changing, impermanent.
[55:52] But consciousness,
[55:54] the essence of who you are, your true
[55:58] nature, atma,
[56:00] is unchanging
[56:03] and eternal.
[56:05] And here Shri Krishna is
[56:09] encouraging Arjuna to shift his
[56:13] perspective
[56:15] from being so focused on the transient
[56:19] physical bodies and subtle bodies,
[56:22] everything on the battlefield. He Shri
[56:25] Krishna is encouraging Arjuna to shift
[56:28] his perspective
[56:29] and consider
[56:32] the fact that atma, the true self,
[56:36] is
[56:37] unchanged
[56:39] and unaffected
[56:42] by whatever Remember, Arjuna's worried
[56:44] about what's about to take place on the
[56:46] battlefield. This dialogue is taking
[56:49] place on the on the morning of the first
[56:52] of 18 days of bloody battle. You can you
[56:56] get it that Arjuna is tremendously
[56:59] concerned about what's going to take
[57:01] place.
[57:02] Well, what's going to take place to the
[57:04] physical bodies on the battlefield,
[57:06] they're going to perish.
[57:08] What's going to happen to the subtle
[57:11] bodies
[57:13] that dwell inside those physical bodies?
[57:16] We know those subtle bodies are going to
[57:18] travel.
[57:19] But
[57:20] what's going to happen to atma?
[57:26] When your computer
[57:28] crashes,
[57:30] what happens to electricity?
[57:33] If your computer gets damaged, drop, if
[57:36] you drop a laptop computer on the floor,
[57:40] what happens to electricity? Nothing.
[57:44] In the same way,
[57:46] what happens
[57:48] to your true self, consciousness,
[57:53] at the time of death?
[57:56] Nothing.
[57:58] The true self, the inner divinity,
[58:01] unchanging
[58:03] and utterly unaffected
[58:06] by whatever happens outside in the world
[58:09] and inside the mind.
[58:12] And so based on this, so Shri Krishna
[58:16] encourages Arjuna to shift his
[58:18] perspective,
[58:19] reflect on the unchanging
[58:23] conscious essence
[58:27] of each person. And based on that, Shri
[58:30] Krishna tells Arjuna, Bharata, O
[58:33] descendant of Bharat, O O great one, O
[58:36] Arjuna,
[58:38] tams titikshasva.
[58:41] Titikshasva,
[58:43] you should endure
[58:47] tams, those. Those what? Those
[58:50] perceptions of cold and heat. Those
[58:54] perceptions of pain and pleasure. He
[58:56] says, you should endure them. And let me
[59:00] let me retranslate this. Literally, you
[59:03] should endure them.
[59:05] But you get the sense you should change
[59:08] He's telling Arjuna, shift your
[59:09] perspective so that you know that you're
[59:13] okay in spite of them.
[59:16] In spite of cold or heat, knowing that
[59:20] you are that in essence, that
[59:23] consciousness, atma, that atma is
[59:26] unaffected
[59:28] by cold and heat, by pleasure and pain.
[59:32] And the same goes for all of Arjuna's
[59:34] beloved family members and teachers,
[59:37] etc. on the battlefield.
[59:41] In each case,
[59:43] consciousness
[59:45] will not be affected in any way
[59:48] whatsoever.
[59:50] So, with this verse,
[59:52] Shri Krishna encourages Arjuna to shift
[59:56] his perspective in such a way that he
[59:59] can
[01:00:00] effortlessly endure
[01:00:03] the challenges that lie ahead, so that
[01:00:07] Arjuna can know that he
[01:00:10] is fundamentally okay,
[01:00:14] no matter what happens on the
[01:00:16] battlefield. And the same holds true for
[01:00:20] all of his beloved family members and
[01:00:22] teachers on the battlefield.
[01:00:25] We'll continue in our next class.
[01:01:06] Om. Tat Sat.