For Seekers by Seekers

­­­Namaste! Bhagavad Gita has inspirations to change our life. Do we know in human psychological personality, who is the boss? Why are human being’s superior to animals? And importantly, what is our self-identity? Sloka 42 from Chapter 2 summarizes this very wisdom. इन्द्रियाणि पराण्याहुरिन्द्रियेभ्य: परं मन: | मनसस्तु परा बुद्धिर्यो बुद्धे: परतस्तु स: || 2.42|| BG 3.42 : The senses are superior t...

Shri. Vivek talks of his relationship with food and in a funny way explains his motivation to do Chaturmasa, the four month seasonal fasting to get in tune with nature. He explains how this helped him change his relationship with food, and find new meaning to his professional work on sustainability and environment. While he does say it is work in progress, the benefits he has achieved in terms of...

Pleased to present the 'A-ha moments' of about 15 seekers. Thanks to lockdown, the Gita Study Group undertook the reading of Swami Dayananda's book 'The teaching of the Bhagavad Gita' ISBN 81-7094-395-7 published by Vision Books. This episode is long - almost two hours but it is worth it if you listen to it. You will learn how the Gita has transformed several of us from being mere onlookers to act...

In this episode, I interview my beloved brother, Shri. Mahesh Sengamedu who did his Chaturmasa 2020 fast for the first time along with some of us. Learn about his dependence on food, enjoyment, addiction and how he worked on getting rid of dependence on food. Learn also about his spiritual progress as well as his tips for first time Chaturmasis.

In this episode, I interview Shri. Ajay Gupta, a classmate of mine who did his Chaturmasa fasting for the first time in 2020. Listen to his journey, his concerns when he started, and expected benefits. Also listen to the results he has been able to achieve as well as if he would do it again or not. Hear from him the recommendations for anyone who wants to try it!

In this episode, we are reviewing and sharing our thoughts on the conclusion of Gita, as per Swami Dayananda's book, The Teaching of the Bhagavad Gita. Right from the beginning we are discussing few key concepts - Karma yoga, bhakti yoga and sannyasa. Following the doubts that Arjuna had in Ch 2 of Gita and also in the final conclusion of Gita, we also discuss 'what does it mean to take sannyasa'...

In this episode, I interview Shri. V P Rajesh, an old friend and classmate who did the seasonal fasting, Chaturmasa, for the first time this year. He will share his experiences, fears & how he overcome, learning and recommendations.

Just as having a bath daily removes uncleanliness from us, taking a dip in the waters of ‘Gita Ganga’ will give us moksha. Don’t interpret moksha as something esoteric; it’s simple concept - unlimited, unrestricted freedom and happiness, irrespective of our circumstances. Listen to the chanting of Greatness of Gita in Sanskrit and it’s English translation.

Very insightful discussion today, especially on the guna classification and the personality types: Trying to understand our natural proclivities Why we do what we do. How to move the needle, without suppression What does it mean to worship, work, do charity, do austerities in the context of the three gunas - sattva, rajas, tamas. Is Rajas bad? Understanding of mind, importance of a calm mind Impor...

This is a mindblowing group discussion 'from seekers to seekers' where we discuss: - What does it mean to have goal orientation and still not be attached to results? - How can we practice it? - What is goal orientation & happiness? How are they related? - Is it wrong to have desires?  - If we don't have desires, then are we just passive, with no motivation to make any change? - What are t...

In this free flowing conversations few of the people who participated in Chaturmasa 2020 Fasting talk about their experiences and learnings. Enjoy listening and be inspired.

For this week's GD, since we are continuing to mull on 'Tree of Samsara' topic, and bring out a few points to think about: 1. How is the tree sustained? What does it mean to do be active in this world with (selfish) desires? What is the relationship with birth & death by being thus active? 2. What is the impact of a person's pre-disposition [combination of gunas one has] on the type of work th...

In this I chant Gita Dhyana Sloka written by Sri Madhusudhana Saraswati and also state the meaning. It is customary to sing this before reciting Gita. The vivid description of various people and comparing them to river, waves, crocodiles etc is very interesting - some of the behavioral characteristics do indeed match the description!

In this episode I chant the intro to Vishnusahasranamam where Yudhistira asks Bheeshma six questions and Bheeshma answers the six questions and then recites Vishnusahasranamam.

In this short episode, I chant few slokas from Ch 2 and Ch 15 along with their meanings. When one is worried about death, it’s important to remember that death is for the body alone - the subtle body does not die- just goes on to find a new body.

In Gita, Krishna paints that the tree of samsara - of bondage & attachments - leading to pain & happiness is likened to a peepul tree (aswatha tree) and we discuss what this means for us in our context. Why does such a tree exist? Why does God have to create the tree at all? Why does he have to put us in trouble? We also go back and forth into karma yoga, bhakti yoga, jnana yoga, values, v...

I gave a talk at City Book Leaders talking to about 40+ people on my book. Here is the video of my Sun talk: https://youtu.be/SgKbLAtIbZU In case any of you are interested in the slides I put together, here it is: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1aQq5Qx2kQVQnUgxzdrI3nt6PlxZcNUpK/view?usp=sharing This podcast is the audio version of my talk. Quick timelines in case you want to jump to different sec...

In today's group discussions, we continue to mull on the 'qualities' that constitute 'jnanam' or essential qualities for truly understanding 'jnanam'. Moving from a theoretical construct of last week's discussions, we discuss the importance of these qualities, and practical methods to make them part of our life. This is inner transformation and requires work.  We change our way of thinking, a...

In this episode, I chant 'Phala Sruti'  or 'Mangala Sloka' - a customary sloka that is chanted after Vishnusahasranamam is chanted. I also explain in English the meaning of 'phala sruti': phala means benefit; sruti is singing that benefit. So, this is a chant + explanation of the benefits of chanting Vishnusahasranamam.

This episode is all about discussions and personal observations of what each of the seekers see as their path towards 'moksha' - eternal freedom. We even debate on what is that state of 'moksha'. We discuss what is 'samsara' and why is it difficult to get out of it. What is the path the scriptures explain we have? What is the yogic path? Is there a danger to start 'assuming' that we are Brahman al...

In this episode we are discussing Ch 17 of Swami Dayananda's book, 'The teaching of the Bhagavad Gita'. The chapter covers the following topics: Kshetra, Kshetrajna, Jnanam, Jneyam, Purusha, Prakriti. Kshetra - the playfield for the Kshetrajna: Body, Mind, Universe Kshetrajna - the person who is the 'player' of the playfield Jnanam - The qualities of mind that we must cultivate to reach the goal -...

In this episode,  we discuss several questions from Kishore's presentation on happiness: path to be happy, yoga shastras, sadhana chatushtaya and pratipakshabhavana. This is a free-flowing discussion. We also talk about Action in Actionlessness and Actionlessness in Action - two important concepts.

Ancient Indian wisdom from 3000+ years ago, captured in the Upanishads, The Bhagavad Gita, and the Yoga Sutras offer a detailed look into the inner workings of our minds. They provide a trail map to us, seekers, on not just the theory but also the roadmap and practices.  How do we apply this ancient wisdom in our lives? What practices do we follow? Are there some guiding principles that we ca...

In this ten minute episode, Kishore talks of what it means to accept the results. He talks of knowledge, pratipaksha bhavana and depending on scriptures as three steps suited for different types of people. Karma Yoga teaches us to pick the right actions, perform these actions with the right attitude without the attachment to a specific result. In other words, it urges us to develop an attitude of...

In this week's GD, we refresh the key concepts of Karma Yoga (and much more): 1. What is the acceptance of results mean? Does it mean not having expectations? 2. Is resigning to a situation the same as accepting it? 3. Who is the doer? Why do we have to let go of doership? 4. What should be our attitude when we do any work, get any results? 5. Is Karma yoga a way of reducing our sense of ego? What...