The Spiritual Import of the Mahabharata and the Bhagavadgita :13-20.

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Chapter 13: Centring the Mind in the Heart-20.

 But again, the mind will not accept it.

To make it accept and to make it understand is to educate it in the proper manner.

The Bhagavadgita is a great instruction, a great education provided to the soul in the matter of enlivening and illuminating it in the direction of what is truly good for us.

"Mam upetya punar janma duhkhalayam assvatam, napnuvanti mahatmanah samsiddhim paramam gatah."

Great souls, blessed ones who have realised the truths of life, resort wholeheartedly to this fulfilment and performance of the great duty of all duties—the love of God, devotion to Ishvara and a continuous practice of meditation—whereby the whole of us is consecrated as a sacrament at the altar of God.


This world is full of sorrow, dukhalayam.

Everyone knows what this world is made of. Whatever we touch becomes pitch and coal.

We are frustrated at every step; we are defeated in our endeavours to grab the satisfactions of this world.

All the fruits of life which we put into our mouth appear to turn to dust and ashes, which we realise only too late in life.

In hot-blooded youth and the energy of jubilant enthusiasm when we are young, we do not realise what is going to be our fate when we grow old.

All our desires become emaciated.

The things of the world look insipid and tasteless.

All that we run after looks ugly and meaningless when life wanes like an evening flower—its beauty goes in a minute Therefore we are admonished again that it is a world of sorrow, dukhyalaya, and it is impermanent—it is not a permanent existence.

To this sorrow-ridden world we will not return having attained God through this practice of the unitedness of the entire spirit with the Supreme Being of God.

Chapter 13: Centring the Mind in the Heart - ENDS.

NEXT : Chapter 14: The Absolute Pervading the Universe

Swami Krishnananda
To be continued  ....

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