Bhagavad Gita | Advaita Vedanta | English | Balaji Ramaswamy | vedantabalaji@gmail.com

** Important Sloka **Sloka 16 - Atma SatyahaWhat is the essence of entire Gita? Why should we not self-study Gita and Vedanta? Will there be existence for the unreal? Will there be non-existence for the real? Who understands the truth of these both statements? What are the two types of Asat? What is Atyanta Asat? What is Mitya? What is the definition of the term Mitya? What is the famous example i...

Sloka 14 (Contd..) - Endurance & Patience are to be cultivated What is the cause for sorrow? Is the situation giving us trouble or sorrow? Is pain and sorrow only for some people? Are there people who do not face failure? How did Bhagavan Rama react when he was coronated? How did Bhagavan Rama react when he was asked to go to forest? How do we need to react when we face success / failure / joy...

Sloka 13 - Atma Nirvikaraha - I am changeless What does Nirvikaraha mean? What are Jiva's components? Which is sentient principle and which is not a sentient principle? How does light reflect on rock, water and mirror? How is the physical body compared to the 3 examples above? How is the subtle body compared to the 3 examples above? Until when does the mind reflect atma? What are Jiva's co...

Atma-Anatma Viveka When does the Kaarana shareera get destroyed? What does the body (anatma) consist of? What is awareness principle? If Atma is experiencer then what is the body? What is Drig-Drishya viveka? Should the experiencer be an inert / jatam principle or a knowledge / consciousness principle? What does the shastras call the consciousness principle? If ātma lakshana is Consciousness princ...

Bhagavad Gita Structure Where does Bhagavan talk about atma after chapter 2? What is the difficult part - preparation of food or eating food? What is difficult - sadanas to prepare the mind or gain knowledge about self? What are the various topics that Bhagavad Gita deals with? Why do we need to revist chapter 2 after some time? Why would it be difficult to understand the concepts given in this ch...

Sloka 11 (Contd...) - Wise Men do not grieve What is the ignorance that we possess? How long have we had that ignorance? What is the consequence of ignorance? What do we mean by Adhyāsa? What is the most common example of false super-imposition? What happens during false super-imposition? In the rope-snake example, whose existence is borrowed by who? Whose nature is borrowed by who in the rope-sna...

Sloka 10 - Bhagavan's reaction to Arjuna How did Bhagavan start his Upadesha? Where did He start his Upadesha? How was Arjuna's mindset at that time? What are the 2 reasons for Bhagavan's smile? Sloka 11 - Wise Men do not grieve Who is Arjuna grieving for? Is it worthy enough to be grieved for? Is Arjuna's sorrow justified according to Bhagavan? How does Arjuna speak, according to...

Adhikāritvam (Contd..) - Qualifications 03. Mumukshutvam - Desire (for liberation) What does Mumukshutvam (Desire) mean? What is the issue when we depend on the world for emotions? Why should we not depend on the world? What are the psychological problems we face with regards to relations? Whose problem is it to rely on the unreliable? Where is our problem - with the world or with us? How is Samsa...

Sloka 08 : Worldly Solutions cannot solve Samsara Can name/fame/power/position/wealth/pleasures help in relieving grief / samsara? What is the famous mantra in Mundaka Upanishad? When does one discover Samsara? Does Arjuna see anything in this world that can remove his sorrow? How does he feel about his sense organs? Will an unrivalled prosperous kingdom relieve his grief? Adhikāritvam - Qualifica...

Sloka 07 (Contd) : Arjuna's Sharanagati What is the feeling that a Sannyasi needs to guard against, according to Shankaracharya in Sadhana Panchakam? What kind of sympathy should we not have in our mind? What is the dosha that had affected Arjuna's intellect? In which area is Arjuna's intellect confused with? What are the 2 definitions of Dharma according to Sampradaya Guru in this slo...

Sloka 07: Arjuna's Sharanagati At which stage (within the 4 stages of Vedanta) was Arjuna in? Why will people not seek help? How do we conclude that Arjuna has become an adhikaari (qualified)? What do we need to recognize Samsara? What makes us say that Arjun was helpless? What important change is Arjuna going through here? What is Sharanagati / Prapatti / Surrender? What kind of person will s...

Sloka 03: Bhagavan's reprimand of Arjuna How does Bhagavan rebuke Arjuna? Which word of Bhagavan would have hurt Arjuna's ego? What does Bhagavan want Arjuna to do? At which stage (within the 4 stages of Vedanta) was Arjuna in? Sloka 04: Arjuna Giving the real reason How does Bhagavan rebuke Arjuna? Which word of Bhagavan would have hurt Arjuna's ego? What does Bhagavan want Arjuna to...

Sloka 01 - Sanjaya's description of Arjuna How was Arjuna's mind according to Sanjaya? What are the 2 things that Sanjaya saw in Arjuna's eyes? What did Bhagavan do then? What is the meaning of Madhusūdanaḥ? What is the meaning of Bhaga? What are the 6 qualities that Bhagavan has in full? What do we generally expect from Bhagavan at this stage? Does every human being undergo sorrow / h...

When do we get Sokham / sorrow? How is sorrow different from attachment and delusion? How often we get sorrow? what are some of the reasons for our sokham? How do we generally address sorrow? How does Bhagavad Gita address sorrow? Why is Bhagavad Gita relevant for so many years? Is there a root cause for all the sorrows of the world? Is Bhagavad Gita limited to certain caste / gender / age / stage...

Sloka 43 - Caste Traditions and Family Traditions What happens to Caste traditions and Family traditions when there is inter-mixture of varnas? What is important when looking for a bride or groom? What is being seen as important in present days? Sloka 44 - Final outcome of war Where, according to Arjuna, will people end up because of the war? Why will people go to hell if they do not follow family...

Destruction of Families, Family traditions perish, Adharma takes over, Women become corrupt, Ancestors fall, Cause for hell Sloka 38 (Contd) - Arjuna's third line of defense What is Arjuna's argument? And is it correct? Should we behave the same way as others behave to us? Can a mistake be corrected by another mistake? Sloka 39 - Families are destroyed; Sinful action What is our tendency w...

Sloka 35 - Arjuna's Fourth reason How does Arjuna pre-empt Krishna's question? Will Arjuna kill these people even if they are willing to kill him? Will Arjuna kill even if he is given 3 worlds? What is the meaning of Madhusudana? Why does Arjuna address Bhagavan as Madhusudana? Sloka 36 - Arjuna's second line of defense Does Arjuna feel they (Krishna and Arjuna) will be happy in killin...

Sloka 31 (2nd line) - Arjuna's First Argument What does Moha make us do or think? When will we know we are in delusion? What happens if the mind and intellect do not cooperate? How is Arjuna's mind working now? How did Shoka affect Arjuna and how is that position changed with delusion? How will Arjuna interpret Dharma Shastras? How did the Pandavas go about dealing with the Kauravas? Was w...

Sloka 28 (2nd line) -29 - Arjuna's Shoka / Sorrow What happens to Arjuna when he sees the people on the other side? Why is Sorrow as an emotion required? Do people prefer sorrow? If not, why do people watch tragedy movies? Why is sorrow considered a spiritual sadana? How do we differentiate pain and suffering? Can studying shastras help us alleviate pain? What emotion does Bhagavan talk about...

Sloka 21-23 - Arjuna's Order What is utsargah? What is Apavaadha? Is Dharma superior to relations? Sloka 24-25 - Krishna's action What is the meaning of Gūḍākeśah? What did Bhagavan do on Arjuna's order? Where was the chariot placed? In front of Whom did Bhagavan place Arjuna's chariot? What did Bhagavan say to Arjuna after placing the chariot? Sloka 26-28 - Arjuna's change of...

Sloka 15 - Arjuna, Krishna & Bhima blow their conches What are the names of Arjuna's & Krishna's conches? What is the meaning of the word Hrishikeshah? What is the meaning of the word Dhananjayah? What is the meaning of the word Vrikodarah? What is the name of Bhima's conch? Sloka 16 - Other Pandavas blow their conches What is the name of Yudhisthira's conch? What are the n...

Sloka 08 - Warriors in Kaurava Army Whom does Duryodhana list as the main warriors in the Kaurava Army? Sloka 09 - Duryodhana's Ahankaara How does Duryodhana show his self-importance? What is the difference between Sastra & Praharana? What is the actual strength of Kaurava & Pandava armies? Which army is actually qualitatively superior? Sloka 10 - Duryodhana's estimation on relativ...

Sloka 02 - Sanjaya's response From which day does Sanjaya start the narration? What did Duryodhana do at the beginning of the war? How was Duryodhana's mindset then? Sloka 03 - Duryodhana's words What does Duryodhana want Drona to see? How does Duryodhana mock Drona? Who does Durodhana consider to be Drona's top student? What is Drishtadhumnya's birth reason? Is Drona aware of...

Sloka 00 - Introduction How is Samsara defined by Vyasacharya in Mahabharata? What is ragah? How is it different from love? What are the differences between attachment and love? What is Sokah or Sorrow? How does it come about? What is the problem with attachment on things, relations, objects, possessions, people, situations? What question does Vedanta ask us with regards to this problem? What is t...

What is common among all beings in this world? What is the difference that humans have over other beings? What do humans look for in their lives? How to handle life's situations? Why do we need to learn our Scriptures now? What are the caveats that one must have while going through this spiritual journey? How are human goals classified? What is the ultimate goal? How do we get Moksha / liberat...