0:03

The

0:29

Bhagavad Gita is a book of mankind's

0:31

collected experience of, and answers to,

0:34

life's most basic questions. Who

0:36

I am? From where do I come? What

0:38

is my purpose and destiny? And most practically,

0:41

how do I find happiness? These

0:44

podcasts originate in the lectures of Neel

0:46

Bhatt, a disciple of Swami Chinmayananda.

0:49

They are presented here in 20 to 30 minute

0:51

segments, each covering three of the Gita's

0:53

701 verses. Welcome

0:56

to Gita Wisdom for Daily Living. So

0:58

we have completed

0:59

chapter 8, and

1:02

we'll be discussing chapter 9, Raj

1:04

Vidya, Rajaguhiya Yoga,

1:07

the yoga of royal knowledge

1:10

and royal secret.

1:12

So as we had discussed

1:14

many times before, that

1:16

Gita is divided into three

1:19

sections, elaborating on the

1:22

great Mahavakya Tattvamasi.

1:26

This Mahavakya Tattvamasi

1:29

comes from Chandogya Upanishad

1:33

in Samaveda. And it comes from

1:35

the story of Svetaketu.

1:38

Svetaketu was Rishi

1:41

Uddalika's son,

1:42

and when he became 12 years

1:45

old, his father told

1:47

him that in our family, there is

1:49

no one who has not

1:52

received the spiritual knowledge. So

1:55

you also should

1:57

go to a teacher and learn. spiritual

2:00

knowledge. So

2:03

Swethaketu went to a gurukul,

2:06

stayed there for 12 years, learnt

2:09

all the Vedas and Vedangas and

2:12

came back home.

2:14

He is a 24 year old young

2:16

man, well educated

2:18

and very confident. Then

2:21

he started finding faults in

2:23

his father's chanting. So

2:26

his father realized that Swethaketu

2:29

is very proud of his knowledge and

2:31

he is becoming arrogant. So asking,

2:35

have you asked your teachers

2:38

about the knowledge which

2:40

enables you to hear which

2:43

cannot be heard, to think

2:45

which cannot be thought and to

2:47

know which is unknown. And

2:50

Swethaketu said, no, nothing

2:53

like that I learned from my teachers.

2:56

Maybe they did not know and

2:58

therefore they did not teach

3:00

me. So father, would you

3:03

teach me that knowledge? My

3:05

father's a sure. And then father

3:07

told him that in the beginning there

3:09

was only one supreme

3:12

being. He created this

3:15

universe out of himself and

3:18

therefore he is

3:22

everywhere in the universe. There is nothing which

3:24

is without him. That

3:26

is the truth and to demonstrate

3:29

that he asked Swethaketu to go out and

3:32

get a fruit from

3:35

the banyan tree. He said,

3:37

now bring the fruit, break

3:39

it and tell me what you're seeing.

3:42

Swethaketu said, I see these small

3:45

little seeds and

3:47

he said, now break one of the seed and

3:50

tell me what you see. Swethaketu

3:53

said, I don't see anything. And

3:56

his father said, that nothing

4:00

which you cannot see is the

4:03

essence of the Banyan tree. The

4:06

whole Banyan tree grew

4:08

out of that essence

4:10

of the Banyan tree which you cannot see.

4:13

It's the same way the

4:15

Supreme Self which

4:17

you cannot see is the

4:19

Self of all beings

4:22

and everything in this universe. Your

4:25

Self is the same as Supreme

4:27

Self that you are.

4:30

So that's where the Mahavakaya

4:33

comes, Tatvamasi. This Udalika

4:36

gives him various examples. Tatvamasi,

4:39

you are that. That

4:41

is the royal secret. The

4:44

something which you cannot see is the

4:47

essence of everything.

4:49

So this chapter is in

4:51

continuation of explaining

4:54

that Tat.

4:56

We discussed Twam, that

4:58

which can be experienced and heard

5:02

and thought about in first six

5:04

chapters. The Bhagavan said,

5:07

Hatova prapsas is vargam, jyutva

5:09

bokshasayam aham. In

5:12

this world if you put effort, you

5:14

can never be a loser. You'll

5:17

always gain something out of it, either

5:20

here

5:21

or hereafter, now or

5:23

in future. But that is something

5:26

you can experience it.

5:28

But that Supreme state

5:31

of who I am

5:33

is a

5:34

great mystery because everything

5:36

I know about myself is

5:39

right now about something which I

5:41

have acquired, something which

5:43

I can see, touch and feel and

5:45

something I can

5:47

identify with. So the segment

5:50

started with chapter seven,

5:54

which was Gnan

5:55

of Vignana Yoga, Yoga

5:58

of knowledge, no wisdom. The

6:01

knowledge given by Bhagawan in the chapter

6:04

was summarized in one word. It

6:06

was seven. Matthah paratam

6:09

naniyat kincidasti zananjaya

6:12

There is nothing higher than Me

6:15

the Self. There is nothing

6:17

subtler. There is nothing real

6:20

other than Me the Supreme

6:22

Self. Mais

6:24

sarvam idam pratam sutre

6:27

moneg raiva Everything

6:30

in this universe is strung into

6:32

Me like those

6:34

gems on a thread

6:37

in a necklace. So there was the knowledge

6:41

given to Arjuna in chapter 7.

6:44

That's the profound knowledge that

6:46

there is nothing which is

6:49

separate. There is nothing which

6:51

has independent existence

6:54

other than the Supreme Self. The

6:56

Supreme Self is binding all

6:59

the names and forms in this world into

7:02

one thread to create

7:04

this world of plurality for us.

7:08

Then chapter 8 we

7:10

learn the Aksara Brahma Yoga.

7:13

Yoga of imperishable Brahman. And

7:16

the one verse which really summarizes

7:19

Avyakta Aksara Iti That

7:23

which is unmanifest is imperishable.

7:27

Everything that is manifest in this

7:29

world is perishable. But

7:32

that on which the existence

7:35

of all that is manifest in

7:37

this world is imperishable.

7:41

Avyakta Aksara Iti tam

7:44

ahu parmam gatim That

7:47

is said to be the ultimate

7:49

goal of all human

7:52

beings. If I want to

7:54

say that everything is strung into Me, there

7:57

is no separate existence for anything

7:59

other than Me. in my own existence, that

8:02

which is unmanifest to you right

8:04

now is imperishable

8:07

and that is the supreme goal of

8:10

your life to attain. Yam

8:13

Prapya Na Nivarthandaya. Having

8:16

understood that, having

8:19

gained the knowledge about that

8:23

imperishable, having

8:25

experienced that imperishable,

8:27

Na Nivarthandaya. He

8:30

never comes back to this mortal

8:32

world, Tat Dhamma Parama Mama.

8:35

That is my supreme goal. That's

8:37

where the self is found,

8:40

that dawah. That self is

8:43

none other than yourself and therefore

8:46

it should not be a secret, but

8:48

it is, but it's a great

8:51

secret to us right now because

8:53

it is concealed. It

8:56

is hidden from me in the

8:58

efforts of mystery. So

9:00

this chapter starts with

9:03

that promise from Bhagawan, Bhagawan

9:06

Vahaja, Idam Tute

9:08

Gohiyat Amam, Prabhakshami

9:11

Anasurya Vay. I'll give

9:13

you this knowledge and reveal

9:15

this secret. I'll unfold

9:18

this profound mystery to you, who

9:21

you are, who I am in my

9:23

own self. Idam Tute

9:25

Gohiyat Amam, Prabhakshami

9:28

Anasurya Vay. And I'm

9:30

telling you because you're faith

9:32

in me. You do not question

9:34

unnecessarily or criticize unnecessarily.

9:38

Just for the sake of criticizing. Gnanam

9:41

Vignana Sahidam. I'll give

9:43

you this knowledge about how

9:46

to experience

9:49

your own self. Vignana

9:51

Sahidam with its application

9:54

to experience it. I'll

9:56

give you the knowledge. But

9:59

just the knowledge. will not be sufficient

10:02

unless you experience yourself. Therefore,

10:04

we acknowledge its application.

10:08

How to apply the knowledge to

10:10

experience your own self? Jagnathva

10:14

mokshasih asubha. Having

10:16

known that, you will be free from all

10:20

that is in auspicious. Everything

10:24

that you have considered, is un-conducive

10:26

to you in your life. Something

10:29

which you have devoted your life to avoid.

10:32

You have pursued happiness and

10:35

avoided unhappiness. Anything

10:38

which has a slight capability

10:40

of giving unhappiness, you want to stay away

10:42

from it. Not realizing

10:45

that everything that gives me happiness

10:48

has equal capacity to give me unhappiness.

10:52

That unhappiness part of everything,

10:55

you will be free from.

10:58

In other words, after that there will be nothing

11:00

but suva

11:02

for you.

11:04

There will be nothing in auspicious. If

11:08

the Supreme Being is all-pervading,

11:12

in this world there is nothing but the

11:14

projection of the same Supreme

11:16

Being. There cannot be really anything

11:19

in auspicious, other

11:21

than my own superimposition

11:23

of in-auspiciousness on that

11:26

thing or being. Bhagavan said,

11:29

once you know this knowledge and apply

11:32

it to realize it, you

11:34

will be free from all in-auspiciousness,

11:38

all sorrows and unhappiness. raja

11:41

vidya raja gohyam pavitram

11:44

middam uttam amu This knowledge which

11:46

I am going to declare

11:48

is

11:49

profound knowledge. Therefore

11:52

it's called raja vidya, king of all

11:55

knowledge. Having

11:58

known that as Padaalika,

12:00

Asweta Kedakiri, did you ask your teacher,

12:04

which is that knowledge having known

12:06

that you will be able to hear

12:09

that is unheard? You

12:11

will be able to know which is unknown. You

12:13

will be able to think which cannot

12:16

be thought. So that knowledge

12:19

is the king of all

12:21

knowledge. That knowledge

12:23

is the profound knowledge. Knowing

12:27

that there is nothing left we know, the

12:31

Raja Guhiam, because

12:34

it is revealing the profound mystery, profound

12:38

mystery about my own self. So

12:41

right now my self is concealed.

12:45

As we learn in self-unformment

12:48

in Vedanta, the

12:50

self is hidden by these five

12:52

seats, Anandamaya Kosa, Pranamaya

12:55

Kosa, Vrindana Kosa, Anandamaya

12:57

Kosa. So these five seats

13:00

are concealing the

13:02

identity of the self. Therefore,

13:05

it is the Raja Guhiam. It

13:07

is the royal secret. It

13:10

is my own self. I experience

13:13

it every day, but I do not recognize it. This

13:16

knowledge will enable you

13:19

to recognize that self, or

13:22

reveal yourself to you. Avitam

13:25

vidam uttamam. It is the greatest purifier.

13:29

The self right now is hidden from

13:31

me because of all

13:34

the impurities on my

13:36

mind and intellect. Those

13:39

impurities are creating avidya,

13:41

ignorance. Ignorance

13:44

is the cause for all my sorrows

13:46

and unhappiness. This profound

13:49

knowledge Bhagawan says, which

13:51

I am going to give you Arjuna, will

13:54

reveal that mystery

13:57

of who you are, and

13:59

that knowledge will purify,

14:02

will cleanse your mind and intellect

14:05

so that you can see the reality as

14:07

is. Right now the reality

14:10

about who I am is colored by my

14:12

own conditioning

14:15

or from my own perception of

14:17

who I am and who I identify with. And

14:21

I have to rely on the books

14:24

and teachers to tell me what

14:26

the nature of myself is. But this one

14:28

he said, Pratyakshavagamam.

14:31

You will realize yourself,

14:33

you will have direct knowledge, Pratyakshav.

14:36

That which is in front of my eyes, I do

14:39

not need anybody to validate it. Right

14:43

now it is sunny day, I don't

14:45

have to rely on anybody's validation. I

14:47

can look out of the window and see sunshine.

14:50

I can vouch for it the daylight

14:52

outside. It's not night,

14:54

it's day.

14:55

That is Pratyakshavagamam. I

14:58

have Pratyakshavagamam. That

15:00

is day time right now. But one

15:02

said, after getting this knowledge,

15:06

you will not have to rely on any book, any

15:08

scripture, any advice from any

15:10

guru to know who you

15:12

are. That will be your own experience.

15:15

Pratyakshavagamam. Dharmam.

15:18

About your own self, about

15:21

your own dharma. Dharma

15:24

of my being is what makes me who I am.

15:27

Who I am is a living conscious

15:30

being. What makes

15:32

me a living conscious being is

15:35

my consciousness, myself. That

15:37

which I refer to as

15:40

I all the time. Bhagavan said,

15:42

you will be able to experience

15:45

yourself. Pratyakshavagamam.

15:47

Dharmam. Your own nature,

15:50

you will realize yourself.

15:53

There will be no need

15:56

for any other outside knowledge

15:59

to realize. I can be confused

16:01

about who you are,

16:04

whether

16:06

everything else around me exists or not.

16:09

I can never be confused about my own

16:11

existence. I know I exist.

16:15

I never have any doubt about that.

16:19

Once Bhagawan says, you will know

16:21

this knowledge, this great

16:23

mystery about yourself will be revealed,

16:26

and you will yourself expect, pratyakṣ

16:29

avagamam dharmiyamu. You will experience

16:32

your own dharma, which makes

16:34

you who you are, as a conscious

16:36

living being, and you

16:38

will realize that. Su Sukham,

16:41

this is not very difficult Bhagawan.

16:43

Su Sukham Kṛtam. This

16:47

knowledge is very easy to practice.

16:50

If you turn your attention from

16:52

the world outside to your

16:54

own self, you will be able to practice

16:57

it very easily. Su Sukham Kṛtam.

17:00

So here is encouragement

17:02

from Bhagawan that, don't think this is very

17:04

difficult. So he starts out

17:06

by saying, Twam part

17:09

I understand very easily of this Mahavakya. Thak

17:12

part is beyond my comprehension.

17:15

That is something we take it for granted

17:18

that I will never be able to understand this

17:20

Thak part of that Thak Thomas. It

17:23

may take me several lives,

17:27

many births, many Janmas

17:30

to understand that Thak. Bhagawan

17:32

has said, it's actually going to be very easy

17:34

for you. You understood Tham

17:37

very easily because you are focused

17:39

on Tham. You are meditating

17:42

on this Tham all the time. You

17:44

are in the state of Samadhi about your

17:47

limited self. You are constantly

17:49

meditating upon the world of objects,

17:53

which is the next BMW I

17:55

need to buy, which is the

17:57

next iPhone I need to buy. So

18:00

Bhagwanthi whatever you meditate on

18:02

it becomes easy for you to do. Now

18:05

if you meditate on this knowledge, which

18:08

I'm going to reveal to you, it will

18:10

be very easy to practice. Sushruha Kramkatham.

18:13

Abhvyayam. And also it is

18:15

guaranteed that once you know this

18:17

knowledge, it will be permanent

18:20

knowledge. With awareness that

18:22

you will experience

18:24

will be permanent.

18:26

Imperishable. Abhvyayam. It

18:29

will not be modified. It

18:31

will not be something that you will come to

18:33

believe in something one day, the

18:36

next is the belief will change. At

18:39

one time I thought on this, but

18:41

then I changed my opinion about myself.

18:43

But once again it will not be like that. This

18:46

will be unchanging awareness

18:50

about your own self.

18:57

However, if

18:58

you don't have faith, then

19:00

you will be able to do it. If

19:03

you doubt your own ability,

19:06

if you doubt the

19:09

advice from the teacher, advice

19:12

from the scriptures, the knowledge

19:14

which you are trying to understand, if you don't

19:16

have faith in it, if I

19:18

do the physics class, if I

19:21

know faith that the what teacher is going to teach

19:23

me, this physics is correct or not. In

19:25

fact, it happened to me. I had

19:28

a physics teacher in inter-science and

19:30

I started doubting his ability whether he can

19:32

teach physics. Did he get

19:34

confused halfway in equation? And

19:37

obviously I couldn't learn anything from him just because

19:40

I started doubting him. He probably

19:42

was a good professor. He

19:44

knew his stuff, but doubt

19:47

was in my mind and does he know

19:49

his physics or not? If

19:52

you don't have that faith, then

19:54

you will not be able to learn that. shasya

20:00

parantaba, aaprapy

20:02

mam nivartante krutya

20:05

sansar vatmani, aasr

20:08

dhadhana purusha, people

20:10

without any faith in

20:13

this dharma, that there is

20:15

something beyond this

20:17

material existence that

20:19

I experience. His body

20:21

is Me, is very real for Me.

20:24

His mind is Me,

20:27

is very real for Me. His intellect

20:29

is Me, is very real for Me. Is

20:32

there anything beyond this which

20:34

makes Me who I am? If I

20:37

start doubting that, there is nothing

20:39

other than this body, the mind and intellect.

20:42

And it is just the material

20:45

entities interacting

20:47

with each other, which creates this consciousness.

20:51

So here comes that fundamental

20:53

question, whether the consciousness

20:56

is fundamental or

20:58

the material world is fundamental. The

21:01

consciousness emerged from the material

21:04

world or the material world

21:06

came into existence because of the consciousness.

21:10

We know that My world exists only

21:12

when I am conscious of it. My

21:15

world of My sight only exists

21:17

when I am seeing it. When I close

21:20

my eyes, the world of sight

21:22

does not exist. So

21:26

as long as I am conscious, the

21:29

world exists. In other words, I

21:31

am fundamental. I

21:33

need to be conscious to experience

21:36

the world outside. If I

21:38

don't have that faith or sadhdha

21:40

dana puru shaha, dharmasya

21:44

asya parantapa, those

21:46

who know faith in this dharma

21:48

of being, that this

21:51

consciousness in Me is fundamental.

21:54

All My experiences are based on

21:57

My consciousness.

21:59

paramparā or prapimāṁ

22:02

nevārthante. They do not attain

22:05

the Supreme Self. If

22:08

I don't have a faith in my own self, then

22:11

my Self is something other than this

22:14

body, mind and intellect.

22:15

Then I'll never be able to make connection between

22:18

this individual Self

22:21

to

22:21

the Supreme Self. From thuāṁ

22:23

to tat, that journey

22:25

I will never be able to

22:27

fulfill,

22:28

complete. I will

22:30

never be able to relate thuāṁ

22:33

that is me to tat

22:36

that is Supreme Being. If I

22:38

don't understand the room space,

22:41

I'll never be able to understand the relationship

22:43

of the room space with the space outside.

22:46

Aprapimāṁ nevārthante.

22:49

Mṛtyasānṣāra vārthmanī. They

22:52

return back to this world of change.

22:56

Mṛtyasānṣāra, this world

22:58

where the change is constant. Change

23:02

is nothing but the death of the previous

23:04

state of existence. Because

23:07

everything changes all the time

23:09

in this world, the death is

23:12

constant in this world. There

23:14

is always the death of yesterday

23:17

or today to come into existence.

23:20

The death of today will rise to tomorrow.

23:23

Death of Mayu, your highest and old

23:25

age. So death is constant.

23:29

Nothing else is constant in this world.

23:31

Therefore it is called mṛtyasānṣāra, the

23:35

world of death. If

23:38

you are no faith in this constancy

23:40

of the Supreme Self, then

23:42

you will be no other choice but

23:45

to return back to this world of change. Bhagavan

23:48

said, Aprapimāṁ nevārthante.

23:51

They return without attaining

23:54

Me, Me, the Supreme Self, without

23:57

removing this parallax

24:00

between Tat and Tvam. We

24:02

see these two always two separate entities.

24:05

I am different than

24:07

the world. I am different than the Supreme

24:10

Self. Muthya Sansara Vartman.

24:13

We'll stop

24:13

right here. If

24:14

you find this podcast helpful,

24:17

please support it by donating

24:20

any amount by going to

24:22

the episode's website at

24:26

neilbhatt.podbean.com

24:29

or

24:32

at ChinmayaRichmond.org Thank

24:36

you.

24:37

Om

24:53

Shanti Shanti Shanti

24:56

Hari Om

25:00

Shri Gurubhyo Namaha Hari

25:04

Om