Podcast

Understanding the guru-disciple relationship is critical to appreciating the conversation between Krishna and Arjuna.

Topics include:

• The role of guru
• Approaching a guru
• Responsibilities of the disciple

Additional topics include:

• Radha: the embodiment of devotion
• Krishna: the Source of all creation

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Homework

Read BG 4.34 verse and purport
Finish reading Gita Wisdom: An Introduction to India’s Essential Yoga Text.

Mentioned in this podcast

Abbreviations used in these notes: BG for Bhagavad Gita

Handouts

• Guru Tattva by Steven J. Rosen (Satyaraja dasa)
• Vocabulary (updated)

Books

• Bhagavad Gita As It Is
• Krishna’s Song: A New Look at the Bhagavad Gita by Steven J. Rosen (Satyaraja dasa)

Verses

BG 4.34

tad viddhi praṇipātena
paripraśnena sevayā
upadekṣyanti te jñānaṁ
jñāninas tattva-darśinaḥ

Just try to learn the truth by approaching a spiritual master. Inquire from him submissively and render service unto him. The self-realized souls can impart knowledge unto you because they have seen the truth.

Mundaka Upanisad 1.2.12

tad vijnanartham sa gurum evabhigacchet
samit panih srotriyam brahma-nistham

If one is actually serious about understanding supernatural, transcendental subject matters, one must approach a bona fide spiritual master who is erudite and free from material desires.

“To understand these things properly, one must humbly approach, with firewood in hand, a spiritual master who is learned in the Vedas and firmly devoted to the Absolute Truth.”

BG 2.7

kārpaṇya-doṣopahata-svabhāvaḥ
pṛcchāmi tvāṁ dharma-sammūḍha-cetāḥ
yac chreyaḥ syān niścitaṁ brūhi tan me
śiṣyas te ’haṁ śādhi māṁ tvāṁ prapannam

Now I am confused about my duty and have lost all composure because of miserly weakness. In this condition I am asking You to tell me for certain what is best for me. Now I am Your disciple, and a soul surrendered unto You. Please instruct me.

BG 4.7

yadā yadā hi dharmasya
glānir bhavati bhārata
abhyutthānam adharmasya
tadātmānaṁ sṛjāmy aham

Whenever and wherever there is a decline in religious practice, O descendant of Bharata, and a predominant rise of irreligion – at that time I descend Myself.

Other

Herbie Hancock and Trey Anastasio

Approaching a Guru

After we stopped the recording, there was another question about the guru-disciple relationship. Yogesvara told the story of Srila Bhaktisiddhanta and his guru, Srila Gaura-kisora das Babaji. This story illustrates the seriousness and sincerity with which to approach a guru. Some background info: Joshua/Yogesvara’s guru is Srila Prabhupada. Srila Prabhupada’s guru is Srila Bhaktisiddhanta.

Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Saraswati wanted to take initiation and instruction from Gaura-kisora das Babaji. On several occasions, Srila Bhaktisiddhanta approached Gaura-kisora for initiation; he was always refused. One day, Srila Bhaktisiddhanta waited on a bridge for Gaura-kisora to come by. When Gaura-kisora arrived, Srila Bhaktisiddhanta threatened to throw himself off the bridge and end his life if Gaura-kisora would not accept him as a disciple. Finally, Gaura-kisora das Babaji agreed, making Srila Bhaktisiddhanta his only initiated disciple.

Vocabulary

• Guru    Gu-darkness, ru-dispeller. Guru is one is one who dispels the darkness of ignorance. Guru also means heavy (with knowledge).
• Sisya    Disciple. One who voluntarily submits to discipline in spiritual life.
• Darshan    Vision: both physical as well as metaphysical: “vision of truth”.
• Aroha pantha    “Ascending” knowledge, knowledge arrived at through speculation and conjecture.
• Avaroha pantha     descending knowledge, knowledge received through an approved lineage.
• Sruti    “that which is heard”, directly enunciated by the Supreme Being.
• Smriti    “that which is remembered”, commentaries.
• Sat-cit-ananda    The inviolable qualities of all souls: eternity, self-awareness, bliss.
• Acarya    Teacher-by-example, authorized by an established disciplic line (sampradaya).

Recommended Reading

Gita Wisdom: An Introduction to India’s Essential Yoga Text
Bhagavad Gita As It Is

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This week we summarized topics from the previous three classes. Topics include:

• The purpose of yoga
• The symptoms of life
• The impersonal brahman
• The distortion of Krishna’s pastimes

Additional topics include:

• Brahma’s creation story and the Govinda Prayers
• How to show compassion to those we disagree with

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Homework

Read up to Chapter 12 in Gita Wisdom: An Introduction to India’s Essential Yoga Text. Read Chapter 9 in Bhagavad Gita As It Is.

Mentioned in this podcast

Texts

• Bhagavad Gita As It Is
• Gita Wisdom: An Introduction to India’s Essential Yoga Text
• Brahma Samhita

Vocabulary

• Parashakti – superior energy (the living force)
• Aparashakti – inferior energy (matter)
• Tatasta shakti – marginal energy (individual souls)
• Nitya siddha – eternally liberated being
• Nitya buddha – eternally conditioned being (until liberation)

Other

Govinda Prayer
govindam ādi-puruṣaḿ tam ahaḿ bhajāmi

veṇuḿ kvaṇantam aravinda-dalāyatākṣam-
barhāvataḿsam asitāmbuda-sundarāńgam
kandarpa-koṭi-kamanīya-viśeṣa-śobhaḿ
govindam ādi-puruṣaḿ tam ahaḿ bhajāmi

I worship Govinda, the primeval Lord, who is adept in playing on His flute, with blooming eyes like lotus petals with head decked with peacock’s feather, with the figure of beauty tinged with the hue of blue clouds, and His unique loveliness charming millions of Cupids.

ańgāni yasya sakalendriya-vṛtti-manti
paśyanti pānti kalayanti ciraḿ jaganti
ānanda-cinmaya-sad-ujjvala-vigrahasya
govindam ādi-puruṣaḿ tam ahaḿ bhajāmi

I worship Govinda, the primeval Lord, whose transcendental form is full of bliss, truth, substantiality and is thus full of the most dazzling splendor. Each of the limbs of that transcendental figure possesses in Himself, the full-fledged functions of all the organs, and eternally sees, maintains and manifests the infinite universes, both spiritual and mundane.

Recommended Reading

Gita Wisdom: An Introduction to India’s Essential Yoga Text
Bhagavad Gita As It Is

See What We’re Up To

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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

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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

• Bhagavad Gita As It Is
• Gita Wisdom: An Introduction to India’s Essential Yoga Text

Verses

BG 2.22

vāsāṁsi jīrṇāni yathā vihāya
navāni gṛhṇāti naro ’parāṇi
tathā śarīrāṇi vihāya jīrṇāny
anyāni saṁyāti navāni dehī

As a person puts on new garments, giving up old ones, the soul similarly accepts new material bodies, giving up the old and useless ones.

BG 7.8

raso ’ham apsu kaunteya
prabhāsmi śaśi-sūryayoḥ
praṇavaḥ sarva-vedeṣu
śabdaḥ khe pauruṣaṁ nṛṣu

O 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.

BG 9.11

avajānanti māṁ mūḍhā
mānuṣīṁ tanum āśritam
paraṁ bhāvam ajānanto
mama bhūta-maheśvaram

Fools 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

See What We’re Up To

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To give the Bhagavad Gita context, in week 2 we talk about the Mahabharata and the backstory of events leading up to the Bhagavad Gita. Additional topics include:

• Summary of last week’s class
• The first teaching of Bhagavad Gita – you are not the body
• Perspectives on the nature of the self

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Homework

Read all verses for Chapter 1 and all purports for verses 21-46 of Bhagavad Gita As It Is by A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada.

Mentioned in this podcast

Abbreviations used in these notes: BG for Bhagavad Gita

Handouts

• Vocabulary
• Vaishnava Pranam

Books

• Bhagavad Gita As It Is
• Mahabharata by William Buck
• Mahabharata by Kamala Subramaniam
• Yoga Sutras

Verses

BG 2.7

Now I am confused about my duty and have lost all composure because of miserly weakness. In this condition I am asking You to tell me for certain what is best for me. Now I am Your disciple, and a soul surrendered unto You. Please instruct me.

BG 2.13

As the embodied soul continuously passes, in this body, from boyhood to youth to old age, the soul similarly passes into another body at death. A sober person is not bewildered by such a change.

BG 4.2

This supreme science was thus received through the chain of disciplic succession, and the saintly kings understood it in that way. But in course of time the succession was broken, and therefore the science as it is appears to be lost.

BG 6.47

And of all yogīs, the one with great faith who always abides in Me, thinks of Me within himself and renders transcendental loving service to Me – he is the most intimately united with Me in yoga and is the highest of all. That is My opinion.

Vocabulary

• Atma The non-material self, the source of consciousness in the body
• Brahman 1) the individual soul; 2) the impersonal, all-pervading energy of God
• Dharma 1) religious principles, 2) righteous behavior
• Kshatriya The ruling and military elite, protectors and governors of their society
• Sat-chit-ananda The inviolable qualities of all souls: eternity, self-awareness, bliss

Other

Vaishnava Pranam

vāñchā-kalpatarubhyaś ca
kṛpā-sindhubhya eva ca
patitānāṁ pāvanebhyo
vaiṣṇavebhyo namo namaḥ

I offer my respectful obeisances unto all the Vaiṣṇava devotees of the Lord. They can fulfill the desires of everyone, just like desire trees, and they are full of compassion for the fallen souls.

Recommended Reading

Gita Wisdom: An Introduction to India’s Essential Yoga Text
Bhagavad Gita As It Is

See What We’re Up To

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This is the first podcast in a new series, Gita Wisdom: Long Island Series, recorded at EverVeda. In this class, we cover the following:

• Why read the Bhagavad Gita?
• How to chant verses from the Gita
• What is bhakti?
• And we touch briefly on the topics of enlightenment and spiritual progress

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Homework

Read the Preface and Introduction to Bhagavad Gita As It Is by A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada.

Mentioned in this podcast

Abbreviations used in these notes: BG for Bhagavad Gita

Handouts

• Welcome to Gita Wisdom

Books

• Bhagavad Gita As It Is
• Bhagavad Gita: The Beloved Lord’s Secret Love Song
• Yoga Sutras

Verses

BG 1.1

dhṛtarāṣṭra uvāca
dharma-kṣetre kuru-kṣetre
samavetā yuyutsavaḥ
māmakāḥ pāṇḍavāś caiva
kim akurvata sañjaya

Dhṛtarāṣṭra said: O Sañjaya, after my sons and the sons of Pāṇḍu assembled in the place of pilgrimage at Kurukṣetra, desiring to fight, what did they do?

BG 2.40

In this endeavor there is no loss or diminution, and a little advancement on this path can protect one from the most dangerous type of fear.

BG 4.5

The Personality of Godhead said: Many, many births both you and I have passed. I can remember all of them, but you cannot, O subduer of the enemy!

Vocabulary

• Bhakti (also Bhakti-yoga) Devotional service to God
• Darshan Vision: both physical as well as metaphysical: “vision of truth”
• Gunas The three dominant behavioral types: sattva (goodness, creation, light and harmony), rajas (passion, preservation, ambition), and tamas (ignorance, inertia, destruction)
• Parampara “Super-soul,” God in the heart of each being as witness and well-wisher accompanying each soul through its many births
• Siddhis The eight mystic powers achieved through intense yoga practice

Other

Vaishnava Pranam

vāñchā-kalpatarubhyaś ca
kṛpā-sindhubhya eva ca
patitānāṁ pāvanebhyo
vaiṣṇavebhyo namo namaḥ

I offer my respectful obeisances unto all the Vaiṣṇava devotees of the Lord. They can fulfill the desires of everyone, just like desire trees, and they are full of compassion for the fallen souls.

Recommended Reading

Gita Wisdom: An Introduction to India’s Essential Yoga Text
Bhagavad Gita As It Is

See What We’re Up To

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