Arjuna, who grew up with Krishna, questions how Krishna taught the science of the self to the sun god at the dawn of time.
Topics include:
- The role of karma in shaping our lives and bodies
- Why we don’t remember our past lives
- What happens when we are liberated
- The story of Jada Bharata
Additional topics include:
- Three obstacles to chanting
- The story of Kalman Shapira, the Rebbe of the Warsaw Ghetto
Stream
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[iTunes] [Stitcher] [Hipcast]Homework
Read verses and purports from Bhagavad Gita As It Is Chapter 4 Verses 7 and 8 [BG 4.7 – 4.8]
Mentioned in this podcast
Abbreviations used in these notes: BG for Bhagavad Gita
Books
- Bhagavad Gita As It Is
- Conscious Community: A Guide to Inner Work by Kalman Shapira
Verses
Arjuna said: The sun-god Vivasvān is senior by birth to You. How am I to understand that in the beginning You instructed this science to him?
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!
Although I am unborn and My transcendental body never deteriorates, and although I am the Lord of all living entities, I still appear in every millennium in My original transcendental form.
Vocabulary
Janma – birth
Veda – knowledge
Moksha – liberation
Samsara – the cycle of birth and death
Sadhu – a holy person who has renounced material life
Prasadam – literally “mercy”; food that has become sanctified by first offering it to God
Pranayama – yogic breathing techniques
Sat-chit-ananda – the inviolable qualities of all souls: eternity, self-awareness, bliss
Maya – illusion, “that which is not,” e.g. thinking the visible world to be the only reality
Test Your Knowledge
#1 The cycle of birth and death is known as
#2 Jada Bharata, in his previous life as King Bharata, was thinking about what at the time of his death?
#3 Realization of Brahman or Paramatma is incomplete. Which quality can be experienced only through realization of the Supreme Being?
#4 What does the word janma mean?
#5 The path of devotional yoga is known as
Results
Haribol! Thank you for taking the quiz.
Would you like to take the quiz again? All questions and answers are discussed in this podcast (Long Island Series, Week 13 BG 4.4-4.6).