Video Information: Shastra Kaumudi, 20.12.2021, Rishikesh, India
Context:
~ How did Krishna teach Arjun?
~ What is the essence of Bhagwad Gita?
~ Bhagwad Gita hold a very special place in Spirituality.
~ What makes Bhagwad Gita so special?
~ The real meaning of Gita
~ How to understand Bhagwad Gita?
Music Credits: Milind Date
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
#acharyaprashant
Context:
~ How did Krishna teach Arjun?
~ What is the essence of Bhagwad Gita?
~ Bhagwad Gita hold a very special place in Spirituality.
~ What makes Bhagwad Gita so special?
~ The real meaning of Gita
~ How to understand Bhagwad Gita?
Music Credits: Milind Date
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
#acharyaprashant
Category
📚
LearningTranscript
00:00The next question comes from a student from Finland, who has been associated with Upanishad
00:10Samagam for quite a long time. The question is, is there any place for consciously practicing
00:17indifference towards the world, even when it still has meaning to you? Or would that
00:22just be dishonesty? No, this is something quite advisable. Practice
00:32is very, very important. And all practice involves discomfort. All practice involves
00:41pushing your boundaries. All practice involves testing your limits and negating them. So
00:52the world, yes, will continue to exercise its charm over you. And you'll have to consciously
01:02negate it, deny it. And that's not always a pretty thing to behold. It is obvious that
01:22you are in a struggle. But then there is no other way. Conscious practice of anything
01:35is good. Rather, the only possible way. From the worldly point, the life of the spiritual
02:02man is not a pretty sight to behold. Because there is a constant strife there. The world
02:14is pulling you, pushing you, attacking you, charming you, threatening you. And you are
02:22doing all you can to resist the charm, to negate the threat. A battlefield is not a
02:43place for tourists, is it? You don't go there and take selfies. You don't go there to look
02:54pretty. So the life of the real man, the authentic person, it's quite possible, does not look
03:07pretty. But if you can truly look, there would be great beauty in it. The beauty that is there
03:21in the Bhagavad Gita. The armies are arranged on the two sides and right in the middle are Krishna
03:35and Arjuna. And their weapons and their chariots and horses and elephants. The blowing of the
03:49conch shells and so much blood is to flow. So many relationships are to be snapped. So much
04:05pain is to be endured. And from all that rises the Bhagavad Gita. Was it a meticulously
04:24manicured orchard setting? The peaceful monk discoursing to a very receptive listener?
04:53Is that the scene of the Gita? Not pretty, no? There is tussle, there is anger, there
05:08is hurt, there is bloodshed. If not outwardly, at least inwardly, within you. And therein
05:29comes the role of conscious practice. In fact, that's what conscious practice entails. A
05:36lot of inner bloodshed. Do not look for prettiness, look for piousness. Unfortunately a lot of
05:59spirituality today is teddy bear spirituality. Cozy, comfortable, soft, something you can go to bed
06:18with. Something you can tuck up under your quilt. Something that sits nicely with all
06:45the other toys in your life. Bhagavad Gita cannot sit well with the nonsense that pervades the
07:03ordinary life. Bhagavad Gita disrupts, dynamite that annihilates. That's the role of consciousness.
07:25Shri Krishna is imparting consciousness. Arjun is being encouraged to practice it.
07:32And when consciousness is practiced, heads roll. The first being your own head. That's
07:50the very purpose of deliberate practice of consciousness. To cut off your own head. And
07:59with your own head gone, you are headless enough and heedless enough to not to care
08:08for others heads. Being headless, I do not heed your head. How did you get rid of your
08:22own head? Through conscious practice. It's incremental. Remember, practice means incremental
08:44improvement, daily improvement, moment to moment improvement. That's what we started this session
08:50with. Step by step you have to move even towards the absolute. No one step can take you to the
09:02absolute. Not even a million steps can take you to the absolute. But still there is no way except
09:09the million steps.