The Moksha Gita: Swami Sivananda // Commentary: Chapter 8.1. - Swami Krishnananda.

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Chinmaya Mission

Swami Shantananda conducted the Sampoorna Gita Jnana Yagna from 10th July to 16th July at Chinmaya Amarnath in Pittsburgh. It was the first in-person Jnana Yagna at this newest center. The event was attended by approximately 100 devotees.

During the Sampoorna Gita Jnana Yagna, Swamiji covered the essential teachings and practical lessons from this divine text that can be applied in our daily lives. The opportunity to absorb the knowledge expounded by Shri Krishna to Prince Arjuna was truly valuable.

Over the course of a few days, Swamiji highlighted the importance of a role model in society, among other beautiful topics. He also eloquently spoke about Chapters 16, 17 & 18, which were filled with devotion and made devotees introspect and reflect on their own lives. The discourse inspired attendees to live up to their full potential.

Overall, the Sampoorna Gita Jnana Yagna conducted by Swami Shantananda was a profound and enriching experience for all the devotees present.

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Saturday, 22 Jul 2023  07:00.

The Moksha Gita: Swami Sivananda

Chapter 8: Ignorance and Wisdom-1.

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Chapter 8: Ignorance and Wisdom

Slogam - 1. Translation

"The Guru said: He who thinks "I am the body, This body is mine, She is my wife, He is my son, I am a Brahmin, I am fat, I am black, I am a Pundit" is an ignorant man. He is bound."

The person who asserts the existence of separate beings is an ignorant man. His life is one of bondage merely. The length of time taken by an individual to possess a desired object is proportional to the intensity of the individual's feeling of identification of itself with the Infinite and the Absolute. The individual which feels that three-fourth of the entire existence is its own self and that one-fourth is not its own being realises a desired end quicker than the one which feels that only half of the entire existence is its self. People who feel that their own individual bodies are their self and that everything else of the universe is different from them can never live a happy life. The happiest person, thus, is the one who has lost his personality in the realization of the truth that the entire existence is his own being and that there is nothing second to him. He becomes the Immortal Being.

All beings are deluded by Prakriti. The feeling that body is the self and that persons connected with that body are all dear is so hard to overcome that even advanced men, learned and clever, are unable to transcend this feeling, in spite of philosophical reflections. The problem of life is not an intellectual trouble but a sense ingrained in the Jiva's being itself. Hence shallow thinking and arm-chair-philosophy cannot solve the riddle of the universe. It is a question of sacrificing one's self, the price for Immortality is one's own existence.

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Slogas - 2, 3. Translation

"He who thinks "I am not the body; I am all-pervading, changeless, immortal, indivisible, self-contained, self-existent, Sat-Chit-Ananda Brahman" is a wise sage. He is free".

Wisdom is an integrating force. It is all-unifying and all-embracing. It discards nothing from its purview, it enters the core of every being. The man of wisdom feels the all-pervading and massive character of the Reality which constitutes the stuff of the beings that appear in the universe. He identifies himself with that stuff itself and hence the formations thereof become his own being.

The assertion of the changeless, immortal, indivisible, self-contained, self-existent, Satchidananda Brahman is wisdom. According to Lord Krishna, wisdom consists in humility, unpretentiousness, non-injuriousness, uprightness, service of the teacher, purity, steadiness, self-control, renunciation of sense-objects, absence of egoism, reflection on the evils of birth, death, old age, sickness and pain, non-attachment, non-identification of the self with son, wife, house, etc., constant even-mindedness in the occurrence of the desirable and the undesirable, unswerving devotion to the Real, feeling of identity of the self with the Truth, resort to sequestered places, distaste for the society of men, constant resort to spiritual knowledge, and understanding the goal of the Reality. Everything else is ignorance.

The wise man hates no creature, is friendly and compassionate towards all, is free from the feelings of "I" and "mine", is even-minded in pain and pleasure, is forbearing, is ever content and steady in meditation, is self-controlled, is possessed of firm conviction, has his mind and intellect fixed on the Reality or Brahman. Such a person is illumined by the Highest Wisdom.

These are the signs of wisdom and not the being of wisdom itself. The Being of Wisdom is Absolute Oneness of Consciousness. Every virtue is the outcome of this supreme Attainment.

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To be continued

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