# 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
[00:57] 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
[01:18] two, but we'll begin as we do each class
[01:20] with some recitation.
[01:22] We'll begin today in verse seven where
[01:24] we have the longer meter. And again,
[01:27] please glance at the meaning while
[01:31] I chant and then repeat after me.
[01:36] 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
[07:19] pick up the thread.
[07:24] So, we saw in chapter one Arjuna's
[07:28] emotional melt down as we say.
[07:32] It due to his inner conflict.
[07:35] Intellectually he know he knew that it
[07:38] was a Dharma Yudha. Not to fight would
[07:41] have worse consequences than fighting
[07:43] it, but emotionally he couldn't bear the
[07:47] thought
[07:48] of fighting against and killing his own
[07:51] family members.
[07:53] So, this inner conflict led him to be
[07:57] virtually incapacitated
[07:59] by this I I called it emotional
[08:02] meltdown. Panic attack he had right
[08:04] there on the battlefield. And then we
[08:07] saw at the beginning of chapter two
[08:09] uh Shri Krishna's initial response. So,
[08:14] if Arjuna's problem was an emotional
[08:17] problem
[08:19] Shri Krishna should give him an
[08:21] emotional solution, which he did with
[08:24] that so-called tough love. He used these
[08:27] very strong words of encouragement.
[08:31] Loosely speaking, he told Arjuna, "Don't
[08:33] be a wimp. Get up and and fight."
[08:37] And as we saw that brief emotional pep
[08:41] talk as it were from Shri Krishna
[08:44] it didn't work.
[08:46] And that leads us to to the present
[08:48] moment.
[08:51] Sometimes
[08:53] you know,
[08:54] I said before that for an emotional
[08:57] solution
[08:58] I'm sorry. For an emotional problem you
[09:01] require an emotional solution but
[09:04] sometimes it doesn't work. Sometimes an
[09:07] emotional solution isn't enough.
[09:10] To make that very clear, look at this.
[09:13] If you lose a loved one
[09:16] 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
[09:27] concern and care.
[09:29] Does that hug
[09:31] 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. You get the
[09:42] point. No number of hugs
[09:47] will make your deep sadness and grief
[09:50] and feeling of loss go away.
[09:53] The point is is that for such emotional
[09:57] problems,
[09:59] there's no ultimate I'm sorry, there's
[10:02] no emotional solution. The solution
[10:05] that's required, and we talked about
[10:07] this at the very end of the prior class,
[10:10] the solution is a radical change of
[10:12] perspective
[10:14] in which you can be okay
[10:18] in spite of the loss, in spite of the
[10:22] sadness. And that's what we're going to
[10:23] be discussing here in the coming verses.
[10:27] Um
[10:28] my guru, Pujya Swami Dayananda, was
[10:30] famous for a particular statement in
[10:34] this context.
[10:38] Recalling the fact that for Arjuna's
[10:41] emotional solution,
[10:44] there's no I'm I'm sorry, for Arjuna's
[10:46] emotional problem, there's no solution.
[10:49] Pujya Swamiji famously said, "In
[10:53] psychology,
[10:58] In Vedanta,
[11:00] there's no problem."
[11:02] And what he meant by that
[11:05] is that in psychology, you can undergo
[11:09] uh therapy. In fact, some people,
[11:11] especially in the uh in the United
[11:13] States,
[11:14] some people will have weekly
[11:17] appointments with the therapist that go
[11:20] on for months and months and years and
[11:22] years. Will those persons ever
[11:25] completely resolve their emotional
[11:28] problems? Emotional problems are
[11:30] endless. One is followed by another, is
[11:32] followed by another. Besides, there's no
[11:35] perfection possible for the mind.
[11:38] Just as your body will never become
[11:41] perfect, no matter how many hours you
[11:43] spend in the gym, in the same way your
[11:46] mind will never become perfect. As human
[11:50] beings, we're innately flawed bodies and
[11:53] minds. And so, there's no such thing as
[11:57] a state of emotional perfection that's
[12:01] reached through lots of therapy.
[12:04] So, for that reason, Pujya Swamiji said,
[12:07] "In psychology, there's no
[12:10] solution.
[12:12] But in Vedanta, there's no problem." And
[12:15] the reason there's no problem is it's
[12:17] Vedanta that brings about that shift of
[12:20] perspective in which you can be
[12:23] perfectly content and okay
[12:27] in the presence
[12:29] of your emotional problems. That's
[12:31] Vedanta's solution.
[12:34] So, with uh that introduction, we saw at
[12:38] the end of the last class, we saw Shri
[12:40] Krishna's first spiritual teaching
[12:44] to Arjuna, where he said, "Ashocyan
[12:47] anushocastvam.
[12:50] Tvam, you and we saw this already. Tvam,
[12:52] you Arjuna, asho anushocaha,
[12:55] you are grieving for ashocyan, those who
[12:59] don't deserve grief. They don't deserve
[13:04] They don't deserve grief because
[13:07] well, actually I didn't speak on that.
[13:12] whatever is going to unfold on the
[13:15] battlefield
[13:17] 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. Drona,
[13:30] Kripacharya, all of the sons of
[13:33] Dhritarashtra are all on the opposing
[13:36] side due to their individual karmas, and
[13:39] because of their karmic
[13:42] burden or karmic load, so to speak,
[13:45] they will suffer death on the
[13:47] battlefield. So,
[13:50] and Shri Krishna's going to say a little
[13:52] bit later in chapter two that the birth
[13:55] and death are inevitable, and death on
[13:58] this battlefield is inevitable.
[14:00] For that reason, he says, "Tvam, you
[14:02] Arjuna, are grieving for those who don't
[14:05] deserve grief. On the other hand, bhasha
[14:08] say, you're speaking pragnyavadam,
[14:11] you're speaking very wisely." When
[14:13] Arjuna expressed his his concern
[14:17] for the uh
[14:18] uh for the loss of the family
[14:21] traditions, gatasun agatasun shocanti na
[14:26] anushocanti panditaha. But panditaha,
[14:30] here we're not talking about learned
[14:32] scholars. Here panditaha mean those who
[14:35] are truly wise, those who are
[14:38] enlightened.
[14:39] Panditaha, the enlightened ones, na
[14:42] anushocanti, do not grieve gatasun for
[14:46] those who have dead, who are dead, and
[14:49] 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
[15:45] spiritual instruction
[15:46] to Arjuna. He says,
[15:49] All the words are run together here
[15:51] nicely. Na tu eva
[15:55] aham
[15:57] jatu na asum.
[16:02] And very nicely, using a double
[16:05] negative. Did you ever have a grammar
[16:08] teacher tell you not to use double
[16:09] negatives? Well, in Sanskrit
[16:12] uh texts, they're used frequently. We
[16:15] have to be ready for that.
[16:17] Nat tu
[16:19] nat tu jatu, but never. Never was it the
[16:23] case. Eva, indeed, that aham, I, Shri
[16:28] Krishna speaking. I na asum, never did I
[16:34] not exist. There's a double negative.
[16:37] Never was it that I did not exist.
[16:41] Taking out the double negative, I always
[16:44] existed. I was never non-existent.
[16:47] Natvam, the same is true for you,
[16:50] Arjuna.
[16:52] Uh so, na
[16:54] never
[16:55] Never was there a time when you did not
[16:59] exist, Arjuna. Na ime janadipaha,
[17:03] breaking the words apart, na ime, ime,
[17:06] these janadipaha,
[17:09] these kings among men.
[17:12] So, never na, never was it the case that
[17:15] ime janadipaha,
[17:17] these great kings and soldiers on the
[17:20] battlefield, never was it the case that
[17:23] they did not exist. So, they've always
[17:26] I've always Shri Krishna, just to
[17:28] paraphrase, Shri Krishna says, "I have
[17:31] always existed. You too, Arjuna, have
[17:34] always existed. And all these uh
[17:38] gathered on the battlefield have always
[17:40] existed. Nachcha cha a cha eva, break
[17:44] the words apart, cha, and na eva na
[17:48] bhavishyaha, another double negative,
[17:51] never never will they not exist in the
[17:56] future. Never will we cease to exist in
[18:00] the future. We being Shri Krishna,
[18:03] Arjuna, and everyone gathered on on the
[18:06] battlefield. Sarve, all of us. Vayam,
[18:09] vayam sarve, all of us
[18:13] na
[18:14] nachcha na bhavishyaha, all of us will
[18:18] never cease to exist in the future.
[18:22] Ataha param, in the last line, from this
[18:25] point forward in the
[18:28] uh ataha param, yeah, from this time
[18:29] onward.
[18:31] So, we will always exist. So, here Shri
[18:35] Krishna is immediately
[18:38] turning Arjuna's attention
[18:41] to that which is eternal in us all. And
[18:47] before I explain what I mean by that
[18:49] which is eternal, please note that what
[18:53] Krishna is not doing.
[18:56] So often, when people are in a really
[18:58] bad situation,
[19:00] our response is not very good.
[19:05] Or to use a common American expression,
[19:08] our response is totally lame, useless.
[19:12] When you tell someone, "Oh, don't worry.
[19:15] Everything will be okay." Hindi me, you
[19:18] say all the time, koi baat nahi sab sab
[19:22] theek ho jayega. Every everything will
[19:25] everything will be okay. Well, on the
[19:28] battlefield, everything will not be
[19:30] okay. Everyone is going to die.
[19:34] The point I'm making here is all too
[19:37] often, our response in a time of crisis
[19:41] are these empty words of reassurance.
[19:45] Everything will be okay.
[19:48] Those empty words of assurance are not
[19:51] helpful. You know this very well.
[19:54] Just to point that out that Sri Krishna
[19:56] does not offer empty words of assurance.
[20:00] He immediately goes to these profound
[20:03] spiritual teachings about that which is
[20:06] eternal.
[20:08] Now,
[20:09] so often we use the expression eternal
[20:13] soul.
[20:15] Eternal soul.
[20:17] And
[20:18] let me
[20:20] Let me
[20:21] Let me share with you. This is one thing
[20:23] I learned one important thing I learned
[20:25] from Pujya Swamiji
[20:27] was to use words very carefully
[20:31] and meaningfully. And for that reason,
[20:34] Pujya Swamiji himself never ever used
[20:38] the word eternal soul.
[20:41] He never used the word soul.
[20:43] And the reason he didn't is the word
[20:46] soul is subject to so much
[20:48] misinterpretation.
[20:50] The word soul can have a different
[20:52] meaning for you and me for and for
[20:54] someone else.
[20:56] Um and the word soul, pardon a bad bad
[21:00] pun, soul can be the the bottom of your
[21:02] foot.
[21:04] In in
[21:05] uh in America, there's such a thing as
[21:07] soul food, etc. So, the point I'm making
[21:11] is the word soul is a very fuzzy and
[21:13] imprecise word. When I was a child, uh
[21:16] just
[21:17] to make this more clear,
[21:20] when I was a child growing up in a
[21:22] Christian
[21:23] uh
[21:23] uh school taught by Roman Catholic nuns
[21:27] were teaching us religion. And those
[21:30] 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
[21:41] what the language they used. When I die,
[21:45] my eternal soul will go to heaven or
[21:48] hell. And even as a child, I had this
[21:51] question. Well, my eternal hell will go
[21:53] to have heaven or hell, but what will
[21:55] happen to me? When I die, what is that I
[21:59] who dies? So, the point is is that
[22:02] this term eternal soul
[22:06] was used very loosely
[22:09] to me as a child. And here and as as
[22:13] grown adults, we need to use more
[22:16] precise language. And one reason for
[22:19] that is in Sanskrit, the word soul could
[22:23] could have one of two different Sanskrit
[22:25] meanings. Let me show you.
[22:27] There's some important uh
[22:29] uh
[22:30] terminology we need to have.
[22:33] I'll show you on the board.
[22:38] So, it's helpful
[22:40] to distinguish
[22:42] three aspects of a human existence.
[22:47] There are other ways to analyze it. And
[22:49] what I'm sharing with you right now is
[22:51] quite simplified because we're right at
[22:53] the beginning of the text. We don't want
[22:55] to get into lots of uh detail right now.
[22:59] So, let's just identify three primary
[23:02] aspects of a human's existence. One very
[23:07] obviously is your physical body.
[23:13] And let me give the Sanskrit terms since
[23:15] we'll be using that term frequently,
[23:18] called
[23:20] sthula
[23:22] sharira.
[23:26] Sharira means body. Sthula means
[23:30] physical, gross, tangible.
[23:34] So, physical body, sthula sharira is one
[23:37] of several one of three aspects of the
[23:40] human existence that we're going to talk
[23:43] about. Of course, your physical body is
[23:46] filled with life force, life energy. And
[23:51] there are many ways that the that your
[23:53] your body is alive. Your heart is is
[23:57] beating, your lungs are are breathing,
[24:00] your senses are working, you can walk
[24:02] and talk. So, all of these
[24:05] faculties are present in your body along
[24:09] with the physical body, there's
[24:11] something else. In addition to a
[24:14] physical body that makes your body
[24:17] alive, and we call that in Vedanta
[24:24] sukshma Oh, wrong.
[24:27] I English first. We call that subtle
[24:33] body
[24:35] or
[24:37] sukshma
[24:40] sharira. 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.