Ravi Ranganathan Podcast

Episode 74 starts chapter 17. This chapter is titled as shraddhAtrayabhAga yogo, The glories of three fold faith.  You can see this chapter as an extension of chapter fourteen. If Chapter fourteen is theory about the three gunAs, chapter 17 is application of the three guNAs in our daily life. This chapter explains three types of faith (shraddhA), food (annam), sacrifices (yagnAs), austerities (tap...

Chapter 16 is a unique chapter in the sense that the entire chapter 16 has a battlefield context.  As part of the chapter appreciation, episode 73 will cover the battlefield context of the divine and demonic values taught in chapter 16.

Episode 71 covered twenty six divine and six demoniac values. Episode 72 cover the philosophy and life style of demoniac people.

Episode 71 covers twenty six divine values and six demonic values.

Episode 70 covers the final verses of chapter 15 where Bhagavan stresses the importance of sAstrAs. The episode also includes chapter appreciation, where Consciousness in some of the Indian darsans including vedanta and science are examined. 

The previous episode 68 covered who is the nourisher of the body and how nourishment is created for beings to have a life. Episode 69 covers who digests the food we eat and who is purushottama, the best person in the universe. When we say the best, there has to be at least three entities. The ordinary, the middle and the best. These three beings are covered in this episode.

What is the difference between a jeevAtma and paramAtmA? What does jeevAtmA move from one body to another mean? After death, what does jeevAtmA take along with it and how does it do it? Where is nourishment for our body coming from? Who is giving that nourishment? These are some of the questions for which BhagavAn is giving answers in this episode.

Episode 67 continues the metaphor of an Upside Down Tree from the previous episode. This upside down tree represents samsArA. Even though the samsArA itself is eternal, individual samsArA can be cut down. Bhagavan explains what tool should be used to cut this tree-of-samsArA.  This episode also explains the goal set for human beings. He also explains a streaming service that he had started long lo...

This episode covers, how to identify a person who has crossed the three guNAs. BhagavAn gives 12 qualities of the person who has crossed the three guNAs.  This is like a short summary of the teachings in earlier chapters.  The chapter end with the answer to the question I asked in the first episode   BhagavAn himself answers who He is.

Episode 64 focusses on how to identify a person who has crossed the three guNAs, a guṇātītaḥ,   Bhagavan lists twelve qualities of the person who has crossed over the three guNAs .  In this epsiode we will also see what happens when a person crosses the three guNAs .  The chapter ends looping back to the beginning of the chapter. At the end of the chapter Bhagavan brings in a idea which is the see...

Episode 63 of podcast "BG - Yah pashyati sa pashyati" - One who sees that person sees. With BhagavAn's blessings, having finished thirteen chapters, Episode 63 starts chapter fourteen. Bhagavan has been talking about three guNAs from the very beginning of his teachings. In chapter two, he pointed out to arjuna that vedAs have stuff other than karma kANDA rituals and it teaches somet...

Episode 62 continues the chapter 13 appreciations. This episode covers the interesting story of creation as per kashmir shaivism,  aadi sankara's imaginary dialogue to make his point that samsarA is a superimposition,  the idea of consciousness in  other Indian schools of thought and finally the right perception of the world.

This episode covers the final few verses of chapter 13 which talks about brahman, the ultimate reality. This is followed by chapter appreciation.  The creation aspect discussed in chapter thirteen is seen in different angles by different Indian darsans. Therefore chapter 13 gets two appreciation episodes. In this episode, as part of chapter appreciation, sAnkhya kArika and ishvara tattvam are cove...

Episode 59 has the first part of what is purusha and prakriti.

Episode 58 discusses about jnAnam and jNeyam - The knolwedge and what is to be known.  What is to be known is kshetrajna covered in the previous episode. It is knowing who we really are. As part of knowledge, twenty means of accomplishment are covered. These twenty means of accomplishment covers the ultimate human goal and how to achieve that goal. As part of what is to be known Bhagavan covers wh...

Episode 57 starts chapter 13. In this episode we have introduction to the chapter and what is kshetra and kshetrajna. 

This episode gives a recap of chapters ten through twelve.

Episode 52 gave an intro to the chapter on bhakti (devotion) and explained two out of five levels of devotion. In episode 53 Bhagavan keeps coming down to our levels step by step and gives three more levels of devotion. Nothing in this seems to match what most people think devotion means. After that Bhagavan explains what qualifications one must have to become dear to Him. You be your own judge.

Through out the year, the hindu calendar is full of religious activities. Especially during Navarathri community engages in a lot of activities - golu and pujas in homes and temples, festivals and concerts, garba dances, visiting each other's home and interacting with friends and more. This is a very colorful period of the year. This period is celebrated as a period of devotion next only to m...