Gita Acharan

Krishna says, "Know yoga to be that which scriptures call sanyasa (renunciation); nobody becomes a yogi without renouncing sankalp (motive/will)" (6.2). Earlier it was said that the pursuits of a sage are free from kaam (lust) and sankalp ( kaam sankalp vargitaye ) (4.19). Krishna further says, "To the soul who is aspiring for perfection in Yoga, karma is said to be the means; to the sage who is a...

Life presents many ups and downs and it's all about how we handle them. It is natural that when one is going through a rough phase, one gets frustrated and gets attracted towards renunciation of karmas as we are all under the illusionary belief that our karmas as well as those of others bring us happiness or misery. Arjun is also going through this dilemma and wants to renounce the karma of fighti...

This audio helps us to understand Chapter 5 of the Bhagavad Gita known as Karma Sanyasa Yoga

This audio will give explanation for fourth Chapter of the Bhagavad Gita titled Jnana Karma Sanyasa Yoga.

This is the explanation to Chapter 3 of the Bhagavad Gita

This audio gives complete understanding about second Chapter of Bhagavad Gita

This one hour audio gives birds view of the Bhagavad Gita

Krishna says, "For those who are free of desire and anger, mind controlled, and self realised, are completely liberated both in this world and in the beyond" (5.26). The question is how to be free from the malady of desire and madness of anger. Every cyclone has a calm eye or centre. Similarly, our cyclone of desire and anger too has a desireless and wrathless centre within us and it's about reach...

The pineal gland is a pea sized, pine cone shaped organ situated at the center of the brain, directly behind the middle of two eyebrows. Physiologically it produces neurotransmitters melatonin and serotonin that are responsible for the sleep cycles as well as moods, respectively. It is also known as the third eye as it contains photoreceptors like a normal eye. All cultures have described it in va...

Once, an invader on horseback from Central Asia had occupied Delhi and wanted to have a victory procession. An elephant was decorated and upon mounting it, he asked for the reins of the elephant. When told that it is controlled by a mahout, he jumped down and summoned his horse, saying that he never rides on something whose reins are not in his hands. Similarly, we need to introspect as to whether...

Krishna says that those established in brahman (absolute), having a firm understanding of divine knowledge and not hampered by delusion, neither rejoice in getting something pleasant nor grieve on experiencing the unpleasant (5.20). We label situations and people as pleasant and unpleasant and essentially, it's dropping labelling (2.50). Krishna repeatedly tells Arjun to come out of the moha (delu...

Krishna says that whose mind and intellect are established in 'that' (spirit) and whose sins have been dispelled by awareness reach a state of no return (5.17). Unaware living is like living in darkness, where we keep falling and hurting ourselves. The next level is like experiencing some flashes of light where one attains awareness for a moment but falls back into ignorance. The final stage is li...

Krishna says that the Prabhu (Lord) creates neither doer-ship nor actions nor union with fruits of action for the world. The delusive cosmic nature is the originator of all these (5.14). The Lord is not a kartha (doer) but a Sristha (creator or creativity). There are two types of creations. One is like a potter who creates pottery and the creation (pot) gets separated from the creator for independ...

Krishna says that the yogis, having abandoned sangam (unity/attachment), perform action merely by the senses, body, mind and intellect for self-purification (5.11). It is interpreted that even though one abandons attachment in the present moment, his past karma-bandhan (bondage of action) needs to be attended to. Hence, he keeps performing actions. Another way to look at it is that once attachment...

Every physical system, including life, takes different inputs and produces certain outputs. We constantly measure or judge our outputs like words and deeds. We also judge the deeds of others as well as different situations around us. In fact, in the evolutionary process, judging threats was very important for survival itself. However, the issue is in the absence of standards for judging deeds and...

Life is a two way process. We receive various stimuli and we keep responding to them. In this context, Krishna says that the knower of truth, united with self, thinks that, "I do nothing at all even while I see, hear, touch, smell, eat, walk, sleep, breath (5.8) - talk, evaluate, accept and even my blink of eyes and the senses move among sense objects" (5.9). In this existential verse, Krishna is...

Out of ignorance, one tends to grab material possessions thereby leading to the bondage of action to accumulate. When the first ray of awareness sets in, one starts thinking of renunciation like Arjun is trying here. The confusion lies in what to renounce. The usual tendency is to renounce all karmas or actions, as we label them as good or bad by our ever judging mind and in this scheme of things,...

Arjun asks, "O Krishna, you praise renunciation of actions ( karma-sanyas ) and yet you also advise their performance at the same time. Tell me with certainty, which is the better path." (5.1) On an earlier occasion too, Arjun was looking for certainty (3.2) between the paths of Sankhya (wisdom or awareness) and Karma (3.1). Krishna, however, does not advise renunciation of karma (action) and inst...

Krishna says, "He who has relinquished work by yoga and has torn apart his doubts by wisdom, becomes poised in the self; actions don't bind him (4.41). Therefore, take shelter in yoga by cutting this ignorance-borne doubt dwelling in your heart with the sword of wisdom." (4.42) Krishna advises us to use the sword of wisdom to free ourselves from the bondage of action ( karma-bandhan ).  'Regr...

Once the creator was thinking about where to conceal 'that' wisdom after attaining which nothing is left to be attained. His wife suggests a high mountain or a deep sea but both were discarded as man can climb or swim. It was then decided to keep this wisdom inside man, while man searches for it outside for lifetimes. This metaphor makes it easy for us to understand when Krishna says, "Certainly,...

Arjun's despondency during the Kurukshetra war is due to his feeling that he is committing a sin. He feels that killing one’s teachers, relatives and friends (1.36) is nothing but sin and that we should turn away from such sinful action (1.38). He is even more perturbed by the fact that he and his brothers were preparing to kill their own brethren out of greed for the kingdom (1.45). Krishna repea...

The ability to learn throughout life is a human endowment. The fundamental question is how to learn and what to learn. Krishna says, "Know 'that' by prostration, questioning and service, the wise who have realised the Truth will teach you the knowledge." (3.34) Prostration is humility, humbleness, willingness to understand others' points of view and open-mindedness which is an indication of overco...

Krishna talked about yagna (selfless actions) at two places (3.9 to 3.15 and 4.23 to 4.32). He cautions (3.9) that motivated actions bind us ( karma-bandhan ) and advises action to be performed without attachment. He further indicates that the selfless action of yagna holds the supreme power (3.15) and in the beginning, using this power the creator created (3.10). He gave many instances of yagna (...

Some activities in the human body like the beating of the heart are automatic though they may follow a set rhythm while some activities like the limbic system can be controlled. But breathing is unique as it is both automatic and can be controlled. In the context of yagna (selfless action) and breathing, Krishna says, "Some offer prana (incoming breath) into apana (outgoing breath) and apana into...

Having ‘Fire in the belly' means being full of energy and enthusiasm for pursuing one's desires, interests and duties in the physical world. When such energy is used for self actualisation it is called ' yoga-agni ' or the yogic flame. In this context, Krishna says that some offer all their sense activities and the functions of life force as oblations in the wisdom-kindled yogic flame of inner con...