Personhood is critical to understanding the Gita. This class we discuss the personhood of the self and the Supreme and biases against personal divinity.
Topics include:
- Summary of last week’s class
- The three levels of realization
- The Bhagavad Gita and questions of religion
- The challenges of a personal divinity
Stream
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Homework
Read up to Chapter 7 in Gita Wisdom: An Introduction to India’s Essential Yoga Text.
Mentioned in this podcast
Abbreviations used in these notes: BG for Bhagavad Gita
Handouts
- Tukaram poem
- Violence and the Bhagavad Gita by Steven J. Rosen (Satyaraja dasa)
Books
Verses
vāsāṁsi jīrṇāni yathā vihāya
navāni gṛhṇāti naro ’parāṇi
tathā śarīrāṇi vihāya jīrṇāny
anyāni saṁyāti navāni dehīAs a person puts on new garments, giving up old ones, the soul similarly accepts new material bodies, giving up the old and useless ones.
raso ’ham apsu kaunteya
prabhāsmi śaśi-sūryayoḥ
praṇavaḥ sarva-vedeṣu
śabdaḥ khe pauruṣaṁ nṛṣuO son of Kuntī, I am the taste of water, the light of the sun and the moon, the syllable oṁ in the Vedic mantras; I am the sound in ether and ability in man.
avajānanti māṁ mūḍhā
mānuṣīṁ tanum āśritam
paraṁ bhāvam ajānanto
mama bhūta-maheśvaramFools deride Me when I descend in the human form. They do not know My transcendental nature as the Supreme Lord of all that be.
Vocabulary
- Sat-chit-ananda The inviolable qualities of all souls: eternity, self-awareness, bliss
- Vigraha Form
- Brahman 1) the individual soul; 2) the impersonal, all-pervading energy of God
- Paramatma “Super-soul,” God in the heart of each being as witness and well-wisher accompanying each soul through its many births
- Bhagavan God who is the “Possessor of opulence,” i.e. beauty, strength, fame, wealth, knowledge, renunciation
- Nirguna Without attributes or qualities, i.e. beyond material form
- Saguna Possessing qualities and form; with reference to God or the soul, possessing eternal individuality and shape
Recommended Reading
Gita Wisdom: An Introduction to India’s Essential Yoga Text
Bhagavad Gita As It Is