HAPPINESS CONSCIOUSNESS
yoga guide
by Petro Ruh
PART 1
Arjun's Crisis
The secrets of yoga are very valuable treasures. A person who knows these secrets reveals them to others only when they find themselves in a serious crisis. So the crisis of modern humanity prompted me to write this book. And originally, these explanations of the theoretical and practical principles of yoga were made several thousand years ago to a great general named Arjun who found himself in a personal crisis. Because the fate of many people depended on his condition, his decisions and his actions, it became necessary to reveal to him the secrets of yoga for overcoming his crisis and doing what life demanded of him for his own good and for the good of society. What happened to Arjun?
Whole a story happened to him. The description of this story is one of the largest literary works in the world. This work is called the Mahabarata. It consists of more than a hundred thousand verses and contains almost two million words. So I won’t retell the whole story of Arjun, but I’ll only touch on the point that’s directly related to understanding the situation in which he found himself in crisis.
Arjun was a prince, the son of one of the great Aryan rulers. Where and when? There are different versions of the answer to this question through which historians cross swords. That’s, no one really knows. So we’ve enough freedom to choose the hypothesis we like. Suppose that this happened in the Northern Black Sea region 5,000 years ago, as one of the historical theories says.
Arjun's father died when Arjun and his brothers were still children. Arjun’s uncle was appointed regent to rule the state until the day Arjuna's older brother came of age. But he didn’t want to give the throne to his nephew. Because he also had sons, Arjuna's cousins, and the eldest of them dreamed of the crown. So the life of the princes turned into a series of attacks on them and intrigues against them. They constantly had to flee from murderers, live in exile for many years, and hide in the woods and abroad for a long time. But they didn’t claim the kingdom because they had not selfish ambitions. The princes considered the disasters that haunted them because of their cousins' tricks to be tests of fate. They didn’t complain, although as legitimate throne descendants they could gather an army sufficient for victory and eliminate the usurpers by force. The princes didn’t want to shed human blood for the crown and patiently endured all their adversities.
But one day something happened that completely changed their attitude to the situation and prompted them to gather an army and oppose their cousins. Do you wonder what it was? Arjun and his brothers didn’t consider all the crimes against them committed by their relatives a sufficient cause for armed conflict. Because they considered it personal. And personal things can be forgiven. So they forgave. Therefore, a reason for the princes' decision to remove their cousins from power could only be a violating rights and freedoms of other citizens by the usurpers. And one day it happened: they attempted sexual violence on a woman. The attempt was unsuccessful because God Himself personally protected the woman. But the attempt to commit such a crime by the state ruler clearly required his removal from power and further punishment.
A woman represents life. To despise life, to harm life, to exploit life is a violation of existence laws. Man's natural duty is to protect life, to take care of life. And the natural role of men, moreover, is to protect women and take care of women. The realization of this natural function leads a man to enlightenment and makes him strong, free, self-sufficient, wise and happy. Thus, without even touching on the verses of the Bhagavad Gita directly related to yoga principles, we already have to mention one of them: the fulfillment of a natural duty to life frees man from the clutches of selfishness and advances him in the direction of enlightenment. Violence against other living beings, harm to other living beings, exploitation of other living beings are actions that cause the loss of the person who does it the purity of his consciousness, deprive him of connection with reality, separate him from life, deprive him of life support and block access to sources of happiness. This is the general principle of yoga. And in light of this, the principle that a man who uses a woman for his sensual pleasure instead of caring for her and her happiness destroys his individuality and degrades is especially important. The same thing happens with a society in which men aren’t taught this principle: such a society loses kindness and love as the foundation that sustains and unites it, exploitation, violence, deception, and individualism thrive in it, and eventually such a society becomes an unhappy society that creates hellish conditions for the lives of its members.
Thus, if a ruler uses his position for any of his selfish purposes, and even more if he harms the citizens he has to take care of, he loses his qualifications and has to resign because his reign is a danger to the people. And then for the good of the people, for the protection of the interests and well-being of the people, men, who are naturally defenders of the people, are obliged, if necessary, to use force in accordance with the laws and legal regulations governing it. In accordance with the laws of the Aryan state in which the events described by us took place, at the initiative of the princes, troops were gathered to oppose the army on which the usurpers relied in order to remove them from power and transfer legitimate ruler powers to Arjun's older brother. And Arjun himself was appointed commander in chief of these troops. The two armies met on the battlefield. And at that moment the Bhagavad Gita begins.
The first chapter of the Bhagavad-gita presents us with a picture of the battlefield and names the great soldiers and commanders of both armies. Trumpets sound, announcing the beginning of the battle. Arjun standing on a chariot is already raising his bow and about to shoot. But looking at those who were lined up in the battle columns of the enemy army he suddenly turned to his driver, “Infallible one, lead my chariot forward and place it between two armies so that I can see those who have come here to fight us and with whom I will have to wage war in this great battle. Let me look at those who sided with the usurper-villain.”
The driver brings Arjun's chariot forward and places it between the two armies. He says before the eyes of the commanders of both armies, “Look, son of your great mother, at all your relatives gathered here.”
And Arjun gets into a crisis. And it is obvious that this crisis was provoked deliberately. A minute before there was no any crisis. Arjun was eager to fight, he felt quite confident in the state of his righteous anger. But no! For some reason God decided to create a crisis for him by saying, “Look, son of your great mother, at all your relatives gathered here.” And all the righteous wrath of Arjun disappears instantly. Because the words "son of your great mother" raised in his heart the image of a mother — the image of kindness, harmony and love. And the words "look at all your relatives gathered here" reminded him that he had to fight with close people, with relatives, with his family. This brings Arjun into a crisis he has never experienced before.
This means that all our crises are a special mercy of God to us. A crisis is forcing us to move to a new dimension of reality, to move to a new level of enlightenment, because the dimensions of reality that we’ve mastered before, and the level of enlightenment at which we were, are no longer enough for us. God is pushing us to a powerful breakthrough, to a revolution of consciousness. He deliberately creates our crises.
On the one hand, human life is nothing but a school of freedom, wisdom and love. And the purpose of all events in it is to give us certain lessons. So it can be said that the purpose of that battle was to push to enlightenment Arjun and all the soldiers present there, who watched what happened and witnessed his becoming aware of fundamental mysteries of existence, as well as to leave for all human generations the immortal wisdom of the Bhagavad Gita. On the other hand, in order to cope with the responsibility that life imposes on us, we always need to climb the steps of enlightenment. Otherwise we won’t succeed. That’s why God created this crisis for Arjuna before the battle which the prince had to win. Because he wouldn’t have won that battle being in only righteous wrath which still left him in the clutches of his selfishness. Because the level of selfishness isn’t an all-conquering level, this level is relative. That’s, at this level, the winner is the one who has a larger army, better weapons and a more advantageous position. In terms of all these components, Arjun's army was several times weaker. So in order to cope with the task set before him by life, Arjun had to free himself from selfishness and move to the level of love. This level is absolute and all-conquering. So God arranged everything so that Arjun would start fighting in a state of yoga.
Meanwhile, Arjun was moved and filled with sympathy for his relatives. And he’d a panic attack. His legs gave under him, his mouth went dry, his body trembled, his hair stood on end, his bow fell out of his hands, and his skin burned like in a flame. His memory refused to work, his mind became confused, and he began to say what came to his mind, “I don’t understand what good I’ll get by killing my relatives in this battle. I don't need the victory, the kingdom, or the happiness that will be gained at such a price, Krishna. How can I wish them dead, even if they’d otherwise kill me? This battle will destroy our family. So why should we take part in this wickedness? I'd better lay down my arms and not resist, and let our cousins just kill me here in this field.”
The level of Arjuna's consciousness at this moment is the level of a person who is aware that it is impossible to gain happiness at the expense of another's misfortune. This is a very good level. At this level, a person avoids violence, tries his best not to harm anyone, responds to evil with good and if anyone slaps him on his right cheek, he turns his other cheek also for another slap. We’ve all met such people in our lives. They are few, but they are. And, of course, these people are wonderful, good people. They themselves do no harm. But they are not useful when there is a need to stop evil to protect those for whom they are responsible. That’s, they aren’t able to cope with such responsibility, if necessary. Their philosophy: "God said, 'do not kill!' So you can't kill anyone." But the Bhagavad Gita teaches that one who didn't stop killers when he must stop them is a killer himself, because the murder of those whom he didn't defend with arms in his hands lies on his conscience and is an obstacle to his enlightenment and happiness. This is usually the level of certain religious people who are afraid of going to hell and aspire to heaven. But by allowing hell to be created in their own country the protection of which is our natural duty to life, to our conscience, and to God, they find themselves in hell. Because we’re the authors of hell and heaven. You can't get to hell and heaven. You can only create them.
It is obvious that Arjun at this stage belongs to such religious people, because he further justifies his refusal to fight precisely by the postulates that murder is a grave sin. He thinks about not going to hell, but going to heaven. He thinks that his relatives will be killed. But he doesn't understand that his responsibility as the brother of the heir to the throne is to protect the people from the usurper-villain. This is the task that life has set before him in accordance with his natural responsibilities in society. Our responsibilities to other people, to our loved ones, to our environment, to our nation, to humanity, to all living beings, to our planet, to God is what connects us to our own higher nature, the nature of love, if we fulfill them with dignity. But if we ignore them, shy away from them, or simply do not know about their existence, it separates us from love, from life, and from God.
We have to support our relatives and friends, forgive them, help them, respect them. But if our relative or friend has committed a crime, we’ve no right to cover it. And if society trusts us with high responsibility, then we may have to, for example, judge our relatives or friends if we are a judge. And also everyone knows the stories when someone defending his nation had to kill his son or brother in battle when this son or brother took part in the aggression against his homeland. This is always a difficult choice for a person. And if our consciousness is more enlightened, if there is less selfishness and more love in our heart, we're able to properly perform the tasks, that life puts before us, better, and we pass further lessons in the school of enlightenment, which life is for each of us, more successfully.
When Arjun announced the course of his thoughts and feelings, he threw his bow and arrow and sat in the chariot in despair. So, Arjun is in a very serious crisis now: he, the commander-in-chief of the army to liberate the people from the dangerous tyrant, refuses to take part in the battle, which is his natural duty. And then God begins to reveal to him the secrets of yoga.
Yoga Presentation
Seeing the tears of despair in Arjun's eyes, the driver expressed his readiness to teach him yoga, the art by which even unsolvable problems are solved and even unattainable goals are achieved. And then Arjun said, “Let me become Your disciple. Teach me. Because I don't know what to do. I won’t fight.”
Teaching doesn’t mean saying what to do. To teach means to help rise to a level of consciousness at which a person begins to understand what to do. This is what Arjun asks the Teacher, informing Him of his decision not to take part in the battle.
Standing between the two armies, Krishna smiled. And continuing to smile, he began to teach Arjun who was overwhelmed with grief:
“There has never been a time when I, you and all these warriors did not exist. And there will never be a time when any of us will cease to exist.”
The description of a reality that a disciple isn't aware of is not done so that the disciple takes his teacher at his word that reality is, but in order to inform something that the disciple will be able to see with his own eyes in the next step of enlightenment. This inspires the disciple, and when he really begins to see the realities that his teacher talked about, he makes sure that his practice is correct and really gives the expected results. Obtaining the practical results to which the disciple was directed, indicates the effectiveness of the method and provides an incentive to continue practicing yoga. An unenlightened person is under the illusion that his existence began at birth in his current body and will end with the cessation of its functioning. The perception of a person who is under the influence of selfishness doesn't allow him to see eternity and himself in eternity. In this state, a person is separated from the perception of himself as part of life, he practically doesn't interact with life. This is a state of delusion, a sick state of consciousness in which a person is very, very limited both in his capabilities and in his perception of the realities of life. So the Teacher begins to give Arjun information about the reality that he have to perceive through his practice.
“An individual living being is a soul. Incarnated in his current body, he gradually changes his child body to his young man body, and then to his old man body. And in the same way, after the cessation of the functioning of his current body, the living entity passes into another body. An enlightened person sees all this with his own eyes. He also sees how temporary situations, which are the only object of joy and sorrow for those who are not established in the integrity of eternal happiness, change. So the first thing you will learn is to be happy under any circumstances. Then you can easily get rid of the shackles of selfishness and achieve absolute freedom. Enlightened people see how the low nature (the selfishness nature) functions and how the high nature (the love nature) functions. And for them it is obvious that under the influence of selfishness a person is in a state of delusion that means: the reality of his passing joys and sorrows, limited by his selfishness, in which he lives, does not correspond to the true reality, which is the eternal reality of eternal happiness.”
A yogi should be sensitive to everything he encounters in life. Then he’ll learn to be sensitive to reality, and every event will connect him with his high spiritual nature, with life, with eternity, and with God.
“Yoga will give you a direct perception of yourself, your own essence, the soul, which is eternal, although lives sequentially in different temporal bodies. A body can be destroyed. But no one can destroy an immortal soul.”
If a person doesn’t have a direct perception of himself as an eternal soul, he isn’t aware of his true needs. and these needs remain unmet. Such a person usually identifies himself with his current body and devotes himself only to ensuring its survival and therefore remains unhappy. For example, we've a car. The car is a necessary thing, and of course it is necessary to take care of it. But if you invest all your money only in this car, instead of spending it on yourself and those with whom you are bound by the eternal bonds of love, you make a serious mistake and remain unhappy. And it happens that it's time for you to buy a brand new beautiful car and forget about your old broken-down rattletrap, but you continue to invest all your money in prolonging its existence as long as possible. Your body is your car, a cool thing, but not you. You are a soul.
“Yoga gives a person a direct perception of his eternity, his invulnerability and his immortality. Through the practice of yoga you will feel, see and realize yourself as a soul that is not born and does not die, is eternal, always exists and whose existence is primordial as My existence. As a person takes off old clothes and puts on new ones, so a soul puts on new bodies, leaving old and useless ones. A soul is invulnerable to any weapon. It can be seen only with spiritual eyes. Everyone who is born in a body will surely leave it, and then be born again in another one. Those who see the soul know it as a real miracle. Those who do not see the soul, but hear about it from others, consider it a miracle. And there are those who, having heard about the soul, do not understand what it is. To see his soul and understand it, a yogi engages only in selfless activity. Through selfless activity you will be free from selfishness.”
Selfish activity is an activity to which a person is motivated by selfishness. Selfless activity is an activity to which a person is motivated by love. Therefore, one of the main elements of yoga practice is to stop selfish activities and perform only selfless ones. When a disciple learns about this, he usually thinks that it's a difficult practice and that he won’t be able to live like that. It seems to him that it is impossible to support himself and his family, it is impossible to obtain the funds needed to implement his desires and plans by engaging in selfless activity. But this isn’t true. In fact, selfless activity not only provides a person with everything he needs, but is also the only activity that brings happiness both to the person who is engaged in it and to those to whom this activity is directed.
If a person choosing a professional activity thinks, “I want to do what I can do best for people, what I can give the biggest good to people by,” this is the only correct approach to professional activity that a yogi should follow. Such professional activity is selfless, because it is not aimed at his own lucre, but the well-being and happiness of the people for whom this activity is done. Apparently, this is not an activity that brings a lot of money. But, of course, it will be paid. And it’ll bring great pleasure to the actor. And talent, the divine element of his individuality, will develop more and more in the process of this activity. In addition, such activity will free the yogi from selfishness and awake love in his heart. And it’ll lead him to enlightenment. Because such activity integrates a person into the wholeness of life. And the practical result of such activities (produced product or provided service) will have the highest quality and be most useful for the consumer. Here are the benefits of this approach to professional activities which yoga offers.
If a person choosing a professional activity thinks, “I want to do what will bring me the biggest lucre,” this is his big mistake. In essence, this is a scam. Because to engage in activity that isn't your vocation, in which you won’t become a master, means to engage in bungle. The result of such work won’t be as high quality and useful for people as the result of selfless activity. And often the result of such work are harmful things. Due to the fact that modern society is not a society of yogis, we all and our environment bear the brunt of the consequences of such selfish activity. But the main problem of selfish activity is that it develops selfishness and deprives a person of love, separating him from the integrity of life. The next stage of selfish activity is criminal activity. In fact, any selfish activity tends to be criminal, but the criminal code keeps it within limits. Because that is the nature of selfishness. Selfishness is the father of all evil.
There are people who don’t understand what selfishness is. They think that selfishness is to love themselves. This understanding is erroneous. To love ourselves is a normal, healthy phenomenon. Not to love ourselves is a violation and deviation from a healthy norm. Selfishness is quite another. Selfishness is such a sick attachment to oneself that separates man from life, from love, from God so much that in his tiny inner world he himself is God, the highest value, the center of attention, and he perceives life, the world, others as a resource for obtaining his own lucre, his own selfish pleasure, the satisfaction of his own selfish goals and desires, not aimed at the good and happiness of others. Selfishness does not give a person the opportunity to be happy. Such a person sometimes manages to snatch some of his sick selfish happiness, but not to have the fullness of continuous true happiness, which comes from love and efforts to make others happy.
Selfless activity is also the key to a healthy, stable, happy society. Society is a natural environment for yoga practice. And yoga practice, in turn, is a natural process, one of the purposes of which is to bring society into a state of healthy, stable, happy balance. Yoga solves all the problems of society, because the source of all them is selfishness. Why doesn't society adopt yoga? Because people know nothing about yoga. People know nothing at all about the nature of selfishness and the nature of love, about the gradual systematic natural process of enlightenment, which, according to the Bhagavad Gita, can be easily and pleasantly embedded in the life of every person. The word enlightenment is either perceived by people as something mystical and vague, or it frightens them associating with many swindlers connected to this idea. Those people in the modern world who wave the Bhagavad Gita interpret it wrongly, and their practice is wrong, as a rule. That's, true yoga which is guaranteed to gradually lead a person step by step from one level of enlightenment to the next, is completely lost today. I know quite a few people who practice it correctly and have all the desired results. But the experience of these people, coinciding with my own experience, confirms that the correct yoga practice really works as described by the Bhagavad Gita, it works incredibly powerfully and effectively. And the right practice is much easier than the wrong one. This is most important.
Determining whether your practice is correct or not is very simple. This doesn't even require confirmation from your teacher. When you study another science, you need an assessment from your teacher, your success is determined by him. But the criterion for success in yoga is only your own assessment. So, the right practice is a practice through which you feel more and more freedom, more independence, more self-sufficiency, more confidence, more and more feeling that you belong to yourself every day (that's, you're less and less controlled by such undesirable factors as fear, greed, lust, envy, anger, etc., and at an advanced stage of practice you notice that they no longer affect you at all, and at a perfect stage you notice that they're simply no longer in your mind), you see more and more of what you haven't seen before (your spiritual eyes gradually open more and more), you are more and more free from selfish dependences, and instead love rises in your heart. And the most important thing is your happiness increases every day. Your success in yoga, your level of enlightenment is always obvious to you. This can be compared to how a person, who eats food, feels and evaluates unmistakably the level of his satiety himself. He doesn't need to ask anyone about this. But his environment also notices the steady progress of the yogi by such indirect indications: he becomes smarter, kinder, more sensitive, more determined, successful, capable of more and more harmonious relationships, more honest, nobler, simpler, more pleasant and more and more joyful.
“One who has embarked on this path loses nothing. None of his efforts are in vain. Even a small advancement in this way saves a person from many problems.”
When we don't practice yoga, some of our efforts may be in vain, because not everything can work out for us. For example, we can build a house when suddenly some natural disaster destroys what we have built. If we didn’t practice yoga, but simply built the house, all the efforts we put into this construction were in vain. But our yoga practice, which uses our every action as a means of advancing daily in the direction of enlightenment, completely changes this picture. That's, if for some reason we didn't succeed in something, nevertheless thanks to it we took a few steps in our enlightenment, we gained the main thing, for which human activity is actually intended. Because life (in particular, our student, professional, family, social life) is first and foremost a school of yoga. So a yogi never has a loss, even when everyone else has one.
“Those who follow this path are determined and purposeful. Nothing confuses them. Their minds are whole. Whereas the minds of those who do not practice yoga are usually branched, scattered and indecisive.”
A yogi's determination and consistency arises from the constant, steady success of his practice: every day more and more happiness enters his life. This assures him that he’s doing everything right, and encourages him to continue his practice steadily and consistently. Those who don't practice yoga can also be successful in their endeavors, but no success other than success in yoga provides an increase in the unshakable state of eternal happiness independent of temporary circumstances. However, every soul intuitively feels the need for such happiness. And every soul feels discomfort from its absence. So, having succeeded in his affairs, a person finds that it’s still not what his heart longs for. And he tries to do something else. And so it is for many of his lives, until he embarks on yoga practice which will begin to give him the results that will finally satisfy his main eternal need: the need for enlightenment.
“Remove this duality from your mind through yoga practice, realizing your true Self. Free yourself from the anxiety of constant desire to appropriate or retain in your property anything transient. All the water needs that a small well can meet can be met immediately by a large body of water. In the same way, one who attains enlightenment automatically receives all the benefits that other people achieve in other ways. Perform all the tasks that life puts in front of you, without looking for lucre. take credit, because merit always belongs to life with which you keep in touch through yoga. And never avoid any activity that are required of you by your natural responsibility to life.”
Human society was created with many goals the main one of which is to be an ideal environment for yoga practice. Yoga cannot be practiced outside of society, just as students cannot master the school curriculum outside of school. Society is a yoga school, because only man's natural position in society puts before him the tasks, the implementation of which leads him to enlightenment. A yogi shouldn't ignore any of these tasks. His natural responsibility as a member of the family, as a member of his work team, as a citizen of his country, as a member of a globalized world community, presents him with tasks that are a mandatory and integral part of his practice. Otherwise yoga doesn’t work. Otherwise, the mechanism of the enlightenment process doesn’t work. A yogi's movement to enlightenment always rests upon two legs: the first leg is an internal process in his consciousness that directly connects him to the source of life, and the second leg is the external process of his daily activity in society, which fixes, consolidates, strengthens and details this connection, giving this connection specific forms of specific qualities of his enlightened personality.
“Fulfill your responsibilities to life without dependence, without fear of failure and defeat. One of the meanings of the word "yoga" indicates this skill. Give up all selfish activities and dedicate yourself to serving life. Only stingy people spend their time, energy and intelligence trying to exploit life for their own lucre. One who serves life is immediately freed from karma. So dedicate yourself to yoga which is the perfection of all activities. Yoga practice breaks the shackles of selfishness that separate man from the integrity of life and force him to be born in undesirable for him bodies, conditions and circumstances in the selfishness world. Thus he completely revives his original high nature and in such an enlightened state returns to the love world.”
A soul's high nature, the love nature, is his original, healthy nature. And the love world is his original home. Selfishness is a disease. And the selfishness world is a hospital. Therefore, the main fundamental natural task that life puts in front of a person in this world is to be treated and recover, but not to get the best conditions in the best ward of the hospital. And yoga is this process of healing and recovering. Just as a patient is discharged from his hospital after recovery and returns home, so an enlightened person who has completely lost his selfishness and fully revived his high nature, love, returns to his original home, the love world. And this happens not after he leaves hes current body, but as soon as he reaches enlightenment. Although he still remains in hes current body, hes last body in the selfishness world, he is nevertheless no longer separated from the love world, and at the same time as he's in the selfishness world, he's already living a full life in the love world, this is already hes direct experience. And when such an enlightened person leaves his last body in the selfishness world, he simply remains in the love world in the body which is the embodiment of his love, happiness and desire to serve life forever in a role in which he perfectly realizes his eternal high nature. Some enlightened yoga teachers described the love world to their disciples to inspire them. They described its beauty and amazing, interesting relationships that are full of different tastes of love and happiness inherent in the love world, they said that every step there was a dance, and every word was a song. But the Bhagavad Gita doesn't provide such descriptions. And I find my experience of the love world too personal to share my own descriptions. In addition, no descriptions of the love world are able to convey it adequately. But anyone who practices yoga correctly as described in the Bhagavad Gita receives this result at some stage and is convinced of its reality by direct experience.
“When your mind comes out of the thicket of delusion, you will stop relying in your understanding of reality on what you have read and heard, and on what you will read and hear.”
Unenlightened people rely in their understanding of reality on certain philosophical or religious teachings that have persuaded them to accept a particular worldview system. The Bhagavad Gita calls this a thicket of delusion and says that an enlightened yogi relies only on his direct vision of reality, which reveals to him the integrity of existence in all its fullness.
“Krishna, how to recognize an enlightened person? What does he speak about and how does he express his thoughts? How does he sit and how does he go?” Arjun asked.
“An enlightened person is free from greed, lust, envy, vanity and anger. He have no selfish dependences and fear. He cannot be bribed or intimidated. There is a level of enlightenment at which a yogi does not succumb to such impulses, although the tendency to succumb to them he still retains. But, having gained the taste of love, he loses lower tastes and becomes completely free from selfishness. Selfishness is very powerful. It forces a person, who tries to resist it, to obey its dictates. But one who, ignoring the motives of selfishness, connects his consciousness with Me, quickly begins to show the symptoms of an enlightened person.”
It is impossible to overcome greed, lust, envy, vanity, anger, selfish dependences and fear by willpower. As long as a person is under the influence of low energy, selfishness, he’s forced to obey its dictates. But the connection with the source of high nature, with the source of love, with God, fills a yogi with love, high energy, which is stronger than low energy, selfishness. The taste of love is much tastier for a soul than the taste of selfishness. The process of this connection is one of the legs of yoga process, namely the inner part of it. In fact, there are many methods of inner connection in yoga.. There are yoga asanas, pranayama, meditation etc. are among them. I am an expert in these methods. I lived as a student at the Maharishi Vedic University, having been studied these methods for two and a half years, and qualified as a teacher of yoga asanas, pranayama and meditation. But in my own opinion, these methods are much less effective than the method of connection that I have been practicing since 1990 and that always gave and gives me a direct connection with God and always filled and fills me with His love. This method is the prayer of love. For decades, I have been praying for love for about two hours every day. I was initiated into this prayer in the International Society for Krishna Consciousness which is the heir to the ancient chain of the bhakti yoga discipleship. But despite the fact that I studied there, I practiced not as I was taught there, but as my heart told me. There are two channels in everyone's heart through which we can always receive God's guidance. These two channels are conscience and intuition. So in my practice, I was guided by conscience, intuition, and the Bhagavad Gita, which confirmed everything my conscience and intuition told me. And received and continue to receive all the desired results. But, according to my observations, the vast majority of adherents of this organization, which teaches religion instead of yoga, have problems with the practical results expected from yoga, because they practice not yoga at all, but religious ritual worship, and their worldview is based not on spiritual experience, not on spiritual revelations, not on direct spiritual vision, as yoga suggests, but on religious doctrines. They view the Bhagavad Gita as a religious scripture, and their interpretation of it leads their adherents not to enlightenment, but to where any religion leads. But the prayer of love, to which I was initiated there, is a real instrument of direct, immediate connection with God, and when properly practiced, leaves far behind all other inner methods of yoga. This prayer gives me a direct encounter with God every day. And I’m very grateful to fate for receiving it. This prayer is unique and incomparable to any other prayer, or to any other method of inner connection with the source of life, with the source of high energy, with love. When the Bhagavad Gita brings us directly to the study of this part of the practice, I'll teach the readers of my book this prayer of love. But this chapter is just a general presentation of yoga. That is why I give in it only a general presentation of the practice.
Unlike religion, yoga doesn’t require faith. It provides a practice tool that works whether you believe it or not. You may not believe in the existence of an artesian well from which water is supplied to your city, but when you turn on the tap, you will see: water is flowing to you. You may not believe in the existence of a power plant from which power is supplied in your city, but when you turn on the switch, you will see: your light is on. You may not believe in the existence of God, but when you turn on the prayer of love, you feel that love is flowing to you. And in the advanced stages of practice you'll have personal communion with God. So when I am asked if I believe in God, I answer, “I don't believe in Him, I know Him.”
“If a person looks at everything around him as a resource designed to achieve his selfish goals, he develops greed, lust and envy, which generate malice. Malice misleads a person. Misleading takes away his reason. And then, having lost his reason, a person plunges into a whirlpool of selfish activity. But one who practices yoga has freed himself from malice and gained happiness. One who follows this path is happy. And thanks to his happiness, he makes everyone around happy. But one who has not established his connection with life has no wisdom and peace. And how is it possible to be happy without peace? As a strong gust of wind takes away a boat, so either greed, or lust, or envy can take away man's reason and peace. But one who has freed himself from selfishness undoubtedly has unshakable reason and unshakable peace.
What is night to the unenlightened is day to the enlightened. And what is day for those who live in selfishness is night for those who live in love. One who is not tormented by greed, lust and envy is like an ocean that never rises from its shores, although many rivers flow into it. Only such a person is able to be pacified, not one who seeks to satisfy their selfish desires. Only one who is completely free from selfishness and selfishness has true peace. This is the path of yoga. By embarking on it a person is freed from the shackles of delusion. And even if the final enlightenment comes to him at the last moment of his life, he will forever leave the selfishness world and become an eternal inhabitant of the love world.”
This presentation of yoga represents the whole range of achievements that practicing it gives to a person: it helps him to develop all the best qualities that a person can only dream of, to achieve the highest success and happiness in his current body, and to receive an eternal body in the love world.
Selfless Activity
Arjun asked, “Isn't wisdom gained by studying the books of wisdom and meditating? Why, Krishna, do you say that in order to gain wisdom, one should engage in selfless activities?”
“There are two types of people who seek wisdom: jnanis and yogis. Jnanis renounce the world, renounce their natural roles and responsibilities in life, and devote themselves to studying books of wisdom, meditating, and praying. But this practice does not allow them to attain either true wisdom or enlightenment. Because it is unnatural. Each person is endowed with certain natural qualities, abilities, talents, a certain potential, which have to be realized in his life through positive social activities.”
The Bhagavad Gita warns that people who seek wisdom may engage in wrong practices. And here one of such wrong practices is considered. My observations of "yogis", the practice of which does not give them a daily ascent to the next step of enlightenment, show that their mistake is that they are really not yogis, but jnanis, even if they don't renounce the world. Because their practice usually has only one full value leg — some methods of inner connection. But the practice of inner connection methods should take no more than two hours a day. All other time of a yogi should be occupied with a full value practice of outer connection — enthusiastic natural selfless activity according to his natural roles in life. If this isn't the case, then such a "yogi" is not a yogi, but a jnani. And this practice doesn't allow to achieve either true wisdom or enlightenment. Because it’s unnatural.
The practice of jnanis makes sense only when a person is so hopelessly selfish that he's not only incapable of selfless activity, but is just dangerous to society. And then it makes sense to encourage him to renounce the world, to imprison him for books of wisdom, for meditation and prayer, because it's better for society and for him himself, because it stops his degradation. But if a person is capable of being a yogi, it isn't recommended for him to become a jnani.
“One who hides from life, but at the same time constantly thinks of the objects of his greed, lust and envy, deceives himself and is called a deceiver. And he should not count on enlightenment. But a sincere person who engages in selfless activities without selfish dependences is much better. This practice raises him to the next step of enlightenment every day. Do everything you have to do in life honestly and by the best way of your ability, because it is an integral part of yoga. Serve life as your natural responsibility to it requires. If you do not serve life, but exploit it, you will strengthen your selfishness and become even more separated from life. So take care of life — and you will be free from the bondage of selfishness forever.
In the world, everything is arranged so that, caring for the happiness of others, people can have everything they want and live in prosperity, moving towards enlightenment. This ensures the well-being of society. But one who consumes without contributing to the welfare of others is a thief. Goodness, happiness, everything that comes as a result of selfless activity aimed at creating the goodness and happiness of others, is prasad that liberates from selfishness and enlightens a person, filling his heart with love. But those who engage in selfish activities, indeed, only aggravate their disease. When people care about the planet, it provides them with a healthy, happy life.”
Yoga isn’t only a tool for individual self-development, but also a means of solving all global problems of mankind. Because enlightened humanity is a community that won’t naturally create any problems and will easily be able to solve all the problems created by previous generations. So I offer the world community this program, outlined in the Bhagavad Gita, as a global international educational program. We cannot force anyone to practice yoga, but we can include this practical yoga guide in the programs of all educational institutions, giving everyone the chance to receive enlightenment and become a member of a new enlightened humanity.
“Selfless service to life is My attribute. Therefore, selfless activity restores the lost connection of a soul with Me. One who engages only in selfish activities lives his life in vain. But a yogi who has attained ultimate enlightenment no longer has any task in the selfishness world. He no longer depends on anyone or anything in this world and he has nothing more to strive for here. Nevertheless, he continues to serve the good and happiness of all living beings that surround him here. No matter what a great man does, ordinary people follow his example. And no matter what norms he sets by hші behavior, the whole world adheres to them. There is nothing that can make me do something. I have no personal need for anything and I do not seek anything for Myself. And yet I unselfishly take care of all living beings and take care of their happiness. Thus, by My own example, I establish in all universes the principle of selfless service as an absolute, eternal principle of existence. Feeling the taste of selfless service you will be able to understand Me. So reject the desire for lucre.”
There are people who are interested in God. He interested me too from childhood. Yoga gives those who seek it the opportunity to understand God and have a direct relationship with Him. In today's world, everything about God is associated with religion. All the religions of the world are what yoga has become over time in some of its interpretations, adapted to a certain time and a certain category of disciples, taking into account their mentality, culture and level of consciousness. Both Jesus and Muhammad taught the same yoga described in the Bhagavad Gita.
How and why over time such yoga schools lose their practical ability to connect man directly with God, lose their function as a natural method that doesnэt require faith, dogma, rituals, worship, but is simply a tool that everyone can use and get the desired result? How and why do they degenerate into religions that can only promise an ephemeral outcome that is supposed to await a person after death and that none of their adherents can verify? The reason for this is that at some stage there’s a failure, a deviation from the correct practice. Because of this, the practice ceases to work, and the legacy of a yoga school takes the form of religion. This happened not only with the yoga schools founded by Jesus and Muhammad, but also with the yoga school which was directly based on the Bhagavad Gita.
But in Christianity, Islam, and Hinduism, from time to time it happened that one of their adherents spontaneously went to the right practice and received the result, that yoga, which was the original source of these religions, gives. And even sometimes, as a result of such a renewal of yoga, there were certain large-scale waves of the spread of right practice. I consider the spread of the correct yoga practice, which was initiated at the beginning of the second millennium by the Sufis of Asia Minor, to be the largest such wave. But this wave declined over time too. So I think that humanity should pay attention to my attempt to create such a new wave, humanity should take this opportunity to solve many problems that it faces today. Modern advanced research methods are able to confirm the effectiveness of proper yoga practice, and global means of communication can create the necessary promotion that will give everyone on Earth the opportunity to read this guide, try this practice and get the most out of it.
“It is much better to fulfill your mission, even imperfectly, than to accomplish another's mission perfectly.”
To explain this principle of yoga, I’ll give the following example. The mission of a mother who has a small child to take care of him. No matter how imperfectly she fulfills this mission, it’s better for her to deal with it than with other businesses, even if she can do them perfectly. Because a small child needs maternal care, without which he won’t grow up mentally healthy, harmonious, whole person. This maternal love is a powerful force of the divine energy which nourishes a child and which forms all his future individuality. And child custody is the activity that leads a woman to enlightenment.
By the way, my observations show that in today's rather artificial world, where it’s less and less possible to meet a person who is engaged in his natural mission, women are the category of individuals with the most developed consciousness. Because the subconscious practice of yoga is naturally built into the instinct of motherhood. Maternal custody of a child is a spontaneous manifestation of love, a manifestation of the human high nature, which a woman, as a rule, is not able to neglect. Therefore, all mothers, without knowing it, subconsciously practice yoga. And their natural selfless care for their children is a powerful tool for their personal progress toward enlightenment. And so in today's world, women show a much higher level of consciousness than men.
It’s the natural responsibility of men to care for women, not to use them. And the vast majority of modern men neglect this duty to life. Such a subconscious instinct isn’t built into their consciousness, because conscious practice and conscious behavior are expected of a man. That's, a woman is to some extent subconsciously perfect by nature, at least all her feminine qualities are fully given to her at birth, but becoming a real man is possible only through education and self-development. A man has to become a real man by working on himself. And the best thing, that can help him in this, is yoga practice.
Arjun asked, “What kind of power forces a person to do harmful things against his will?”
“This power is nothing but selfishness, which is the original source of evil. Selfishness is the voracious enemy of all living things in this world. As fire is covered with smoke, a mirror with dust, and an embryo with a womb, so living beings, each to a different degree, are covered with selfishness.”
To begin a full independent life, en embryo needs to leave a womb. In the same way, in order to begin a full-fledged enlightened life, a person needs to free himself from selfishness. An embryo does not imagine life outside a womb. The womb is all he knows. Similarly, it’s impossible for an unenlightened person to imagine life outside of selfishness. Because selfishness is all he knows. And although there may be the word love in the lexicon of such people, which actually means a phenomenon opposite to selfishness, they use it in the sense of selfish attachment, because they know nothing that exists outside of selfishness. And only yoga practice changes this situation.
“The pure consciousness of a living entity has a high nature, the nature of love. But when a person falls ill with selfishness, he finds himself under the power of this enemy, which burns like a hellish flame.”
The love world, which is gradually opened to a yogi through his practice, is a world inhabited by living beings who aren’t sick of selfishness. There are many times more such living beings than sick ones, and the love world is much bigger than the selfishness world. And we were all sent into this world from that one for treatment. And we all have the opportunity to return there, healed by yoga.
“So take selfishness, which is the main root of all evil and all misfortune, out of your heart. Find love in the depths of your heart. It is there, it is just pressed down by selfishness. This love is the soul, you, your true essence. It is stronger than selfishness. Realizing his superiority over selfishness, with the help of love a person should overcome his voracious enemy.”
So selfishness is overcome by love and only love. All elements of yoga practice are aimed at revealing, reviving the original love, dormant in the human heart. We should understand that we are not sources of love. The source of love is God, so of all the methods of enriching our heart with love, the most effective method is to connect with God and fill our heart with His love. We'll come to study this method later, but the selfless activity to which this chapter is devoted is a necessary part of any yoga process, and without it no yoga method works.
Exemption from Karma
Krishna continued,
“At one time I taught yoga the Sun, and the Sun taught it the ancestor of mankind, who in turn taught it the first ruler of the Earth. So this great science was passed on through the yoga teachers chain, and rulers studied it. But over time, there was a deviation from the correct practice and it stopped working. But over time, there was a deviation from the correct practice and it stopped working.”
At a certain stage of practice, a yogi will see that the Sun and the Earth are living beings, moreover conscious living beings, and will be able to understand them. At one time God taught yoga the Sun, and the Sun taught it the ancestor of mankind, who in turn taught it the first ruler of the Earth. First of all, yoga should be practiced by rulers, because only an enlightened ruler is able to cope with his responsibility. And the example of the ruler inspired practicing yoga all citizens, because nothing is so inspiring as a successful example of achieving enlightenment.
Arjun asked, “How to understand Your words about the fact that You taught yoga the Sun before it taught it the ancestor of mankind? After all, he had died a long time ago when you were born.”
“Both you and I were born many times. But you do not remember that.”
One of the reasons that the selfishness world is arranged in such a way that everyone here is forced to be born and die again and again is that only through birth and death is it possible to limit the enmity between its inhabitants, which is an inevitable consequence of their selfishness. Because if each of them will live forever in the same role, then their mutual offences will grow to infinity, but if they die and are born in different bodies, not remembering their previous incarnations and the incarnations of others, it’ll allow some balance to exist in this world, for hatred and enmity will die and be forgotten, not grow forever.
“Although I am the source of everything and My body is eternal, I come to the selfishness world from the love world by My own will for a specific purpose in different epochs. Whenever unsolvable problems arise in the selfishness world, I myself come here. In different epochs, when evil exceeds the strength threshold that this world can withstand, I come here to stop evil and help the victory of good. An enlightened yogi who sees the nature of My coming here and the nature of My deeds here and knows Me as I am enters into the love world.”
Religion promises its adherents they would get to paradise, to God after their death. None of them can verify this promise. In contrast, yoga practice gives a person the possbility to develop spiritual vision and see God, the ability to perceive the nature of God through his own direct experience, and the opportunity to become a resident of the love world not after death, in some mythical afterlife, but on a certain stage of practice that raises him to the appropriate level of enlightenment. Religion connects heaven and hell with the mythical afterlife, but a yogi sees that both heaven and hell are the reality of this world, created by the people themselves on the earth where they live. Moreover, the yogi sees that within the general picture each person also creates his own paradise or his own hell, which are the consequences of his actions according to the laws of karma.
“Freed from greed, lust, envy, malice and fear, establishing a connection with Me, becoming a receptacle of My personal energy and My personal qualities, many people throughout the history of this world reached Me. So they were cleansed of selfishness and gained love. I treat people the way they treat me. Consciously or unconsciously, everyone is looking for Me.”
Everyone seeks happiness, and God is the source of happiness, so consciously or unconsciously everyone seeks Him.
“Trying to succeed in their selfish activities, the people of this world resort to schemes that quickly allow them to gain wealth and power.”
The desire for wealth and power is an unhealthy desire imposed on a person by selfishness. The selfish desire for wealth and power is manic in nature. And selfless love is by nature harmonious and healthy. Research shows that it is maniacs who seek power and authority in life because they are mad on it. And healthy people simply don't need power and authority at all, because these things in themselves really can not be desirable for a normal person. A yogi enjoys all the riches of God. And he doesn't seek to take them into possession. The power of love, which gives him the authority and opportunity to serve life, to serve the happiness of people and all living beings on Earth, is available to him everywhere and always. Nothing can ever interfere with anyone's selfless service. But in those selfish people who seek to exploit life and its resources, people and other living beings, there is a thirst for power. Therefore, we observe that such people quickly gain power by resorting to criminal methods, which are impossible and unnatural for a selfless person. Power give them resources that provide them with domination. Honest service to people, of course, can provide a person financially, but very rarely brings him extra profits. But criminal activity allows to expropriate other people's property, to appropriate colossal money and other resources, and using them, to have already human, informational and power resources. The Ukrainian oligarchy is a clear example of this phenomenon.
“But I do not need it. One who sees this truth about Me, like me, will never engage in selfish activity.”
Religion represents God as a slave owner, a despot who demands obedience and submission to His will. But a yogi sees that God doesn't have such inclinations and that God doesn't rule the world at all, because He doesn't need it.
“At all times, enlightened yogis have seen My selfless nature, which has no other qualities than love, and acted in accordance with it. You also need to rise to this level.”
When a yogi understands God, he sees everything through God's eyes, understands God's desires and actions, and begins to notice that he himself wants the same thing that God wants, and his own actions spontaneously begin to respond to those desires.
“And now I will teach you to avoid karma. Even very smart people are puzzled by this task. By learning this, you will protect yourself from all disasters. The intricacies of karma are very difficult to understand. But you do not need to understand them. You only need to know one thing: karma is the result of selfish activity. Selfless activity in the service of life does not create karma, but leads to enlightenment. One who understands this is the most intelligent of men. He has a perfect vision of reality and acts according to it. The sages say of such a person that all his karma burned in the flame of enlightenment. Free from the desire to gain selfish lucre from their activities, happy from their own attempts to do something for the good and happiness of others, and therefore not feeling disappointed by failures, not depending on anything and anyone, he is constantly working with inspiration, motivated by the desire to realize his energy, mind, qualities, abilities and talents in the service of his family, his country and his entire planet, while remaining completely free from karma. Such a wise man does not consider any of what he has to be his property. He sees all of this as a resource given to him by life to do good deeds for the happiness of others. Such a yogi is completely free of karma.”
What’s karma, and what’s freedom from karma? Karma is the consequence of our selfish activities, which create certain conditions, circumstances and restrictions that we must fall into in life. Karma determines our destiny. In the absence of karma, our destiny is determined only by our desires. That's, our life in the absence of karma consists of the continuous fulfillment of all our desires.
“A yogi who helps Me to take care of the happiness of all living beings is free from karma. A soul, which is completely attuned to me, completely revives his high nature and is on the same absolute level as I am.”
An ultimately enlightened soul is on the same absolute level as God, with the only difference being that God is a source, but he’s the one who draws without limitation from that source.
“Only those who see reality can teach yoga. Find such a teacher, ask him questions and complete his tasks.”
The best way to learn yoga is to find an enlightened person and learn from him. Such a person is able not only to explain the principles of practice, but also to demonstrate them by his own example. In addition, he tracks his disciple's practice and corrects his mistakes. But due to the lack of enlightened teachers in our time, and more importantly — due to the large number of charlatans who pretend to be enlightened teachers, you can learn with this guide and not worry about the absence of a teacher. Always keep your conscience and your intuition in sight. Focus on your own feelings. If your practice makes you more and more free, independent, happy, inspired, brings systematic revelations and discoveries, you're doing everything right. If not, pray for the ability to see what you're doing wrong and correct your mistakes. Follow the feeling of love. Learn to distinguish the smell of your thoughts, desires and intentions, the source of which is selfishness, and immediately renounce them, looking in the corners of your heart for thoughts, desires and intentions, the source of which is love, and put them at the center of your agenda. If it doesn't work, pray for its working.
“Having learned yoga from an enlightened teacher, you will never get to delusion again, because you will be able to see that all living beings are My integral parts.”
This means that a yogi who has revived the fullness of love in his heart, sees every living being in eternal connection with God through the eyes of this love, sees it through the eyes of God. The existence of every being causes him happiness and waves of love. In this state, the yogi loves everyone as much as himself, and treats every living being as himself. Selfishness will never be able to return to such a heart.
“Even if you are the most selfish egoist of all egoists, by engaging in the practice of yoga, you will attain enlightenment. As the flames of a fire turn wood into ashes, so yoga practice burns all karma to the ground. There is nothing purer and more sublime in this world than the fruits of yoga. These fruits grow and mature in a yogi's heart and eventually reach their highest maturity. And then he reaches the highest pacification. But those who see no harm in their selfishness and do not set themselves the goal of gaining love, are in the clutches of their karma, which is rapidly deteriorating and creates a terrible fate for them. What can I do? It is their choice. As for you, Arjun, you have made your choice. Learn yoga, practice it, attain enlightenment — and so you will never get into the clutches of karma.”
The Bhagavad Gita says so. But anything can be said. So many things have been written and said! So many things continue to be written and spoken! I evaluate everything only by its fruits. This is the only criterion I rely on in life. Everything else is a useless shake of the air for me. And every word of the Bhagavad Gita coincides with the fruits that I've gotten by following its instructions. So learn yoga, practice yoga, get rid of karma — and let your destiny consist in the continuous fulfillment of all your desires!
Renunciation of Selfishness
Arjun asked, “Krishna, first you told me to give up selfish activities, and then you advised me to engage in selfless activities in the service of life. Please tell me directly what is better to focus on — on giving up selfish activity or on selfless service?”
“Both the renunciation of selfish activity and selfless activity in the service of life lead a person to liberation from selfishness. Still, focusing on selfless activity is better than on giving up selfishness.”
If we want to advise a person to leave a bad place, we can inform him about the harm and danger of being in that place and offer to leave. And the task of the person will be to sever his ties with this place and leave it. But the Bhagavad Gita says that it is better to tell the person about that beautiful blessed place where he should move and advise him to go there. The process of leaving a bad place and the process of coming to good one don't seem to be two different processes, but depending on what is emphasized, in the human mind it will be associated with either renunciation or acceptance, that's, either with the negative or with the positive.
Another analogy is the example of a person who eats harmful, dangerous food — and we try to persuade her to give up such food. Here again, there are two approaches: either to focus the person on giving up bad food, or to encourage him to eat something good and useful. And according to the Bhagavad Gita, the second approach is the best.
Fighting darkness, focusing on the disadvantages of darkness and methods to overcome them isn’t as effective as turning on the light. Therefore, in yoga, preference is given not to the fight against selfishness and all its symptoms (greed, lust, cruelty, envy, violence, dishonesty, exploitation, etc.), but to filling the heart with love. A heart filled with love is automatically free from selfishness and all its symptoms. It's better to fill life with something good than to spend energy trying to get rid of the bad, because the good will automatically displace the bad. If the bad continues to interfere with the good, it makes sense to pay attention to how to overcome it, but against the background of bringing the good as the main thing that should be at the center of the agenda.
Try to take a dangerous toy from a child — the child will not give up, will resist with all his might, will cling to that toy with a dead grip. But if you give him a much better toy, he will very quickly give up what you tried so unsuccessfully to take from him. Our consciousness is such a child. And a yogi must be a master of how to deal with his consciousness.
“It is believed that one who engages in selfless activities in the service of life has already renounced selfishness. Having overcome the influence of duality, such a person easily releases the shackles of selfishness and is completely free from it. Only ignorant people can say that selfless service to life is different from giving up selfishness. Truly wise people claim that one who goes any of this two ways achieves the goal of both. Anyone who knows that the goal of renunciation of selfishness can be achieved through activities that enrich the heart with love, and understands that these two processes are equivalent, sees the true state of affairs. But giving up selfish activity without doing selfless activity in the service of life, will not bring happiness to anyone. A thoughtful person who has dedicated himself to the service of life can attain enlightenment very quickly. One who serves life, who is pure in soul, who is not a slave of selfishness, loves everyone and is loved by everyone. Although such a person is always busy, he is completely free from karma. Just as water does not wet a lotus leaf, karma never affects one who serves life without selfish dependencies. Having renounced all selfish dependencies, yogis use their body, mind and senses only for yoga practice.”
Because yoga practice covers all the various aspects of life (personal, family, professional, public), it makes all these aspects of life harmonious, successful and perfect, and life itself completely happy.
“The soul bound to Me by love acquires true peace and harmony because he does not try to detach anything from life for hes own selfish consumption. But one who is not in connection with life, who is motivated by the desire to separate from life something that he seeks to appropriate and imprison in his little selfish dead end, in his little black hole, is a slave. When a person renounces selfishness, he becomes a harmonious part of the integrity of life. In this way, the yogi loses the element that separated him from life. His life becomes a part of God's life. God does not respond to selfish human activity, He does not judge, punish or reward anyone. Unenlightened people are in delusion because they do not have eyes of love.”
God doesn’t respond to selfish human activity: He doesn’t judge, punish or reward anyone. He just ignores it. Because selfish activity ignores God. But God responds instantly to man's love and selfless service by letting him into His life. Unenlightened people are in delusion about God. They either believe that He doesn't exist or think that He’s a judge who punishes for sins and rewards for keeping religious precepts. An enlightened person sees that this isn't the case. Karma, which can be interpreted as punishment and reward, has nothing to do with God. If a person has eaten poison, has been poisoned and stays in bed, why is God here? This is a common consequence of an action. One who has killed will be killed, one who has raped will be born in a girl's body and raped. God isn't involved.
God begins to interact with man in response to his love, to his selfless service, to his prayer for love, to his prayer for selfless service. God doesn't answer the prayer for the fulfillment of selfish desires. He simply ignores such prayers, they aren't a means of connection with Him. Thus, the Bhagavad Gita provides us with all the working schemes, indicating which of them are more effective, which are less practical, and also warns us which schemes don't work at all. When a person says, “I prayed for wealth, but God didn’t answer. So He isn’t there!” or, “How can He close His eyes to injustice?! So He isn’t there!” this is the delusion spoken of in this place of the Bhagavad Gita.
“But when a person attains enlightenment, he begins to see the true nature of things. The sun of enlightenment, rising above the horizon of his consciousness, illuminates his reality. Connection with God frees from karma and selfishness. An enlightened yogi sees that the sage, the cow, the elephant, the dog, and the dog-eater are souls who are originally equally pure and perfect, but due to the different thickness of selfishness layer that covers them, are embodied in different bodies according to their current consciousness level. Seeing the connection of everyone and everything with eternity, he is on the level of eternity. Such a person enjoys boundless happiness. He draws happiness, pleasure, inspiration and cheerfulness of spirit in the integrity of life and in God through love in his heart. He who lives by this love always takes care of the good of all living beings.”
The next few verses of the Bhagavad Gita are a repetition of phrases that have been heard before. And although repetition is the mother of learning, I don't want go round in circles, so I miss them. By the way, not only here, but everywhere where there are too many repetitions in Bhagavad Gita, I miss them. Therefore, those who want to accuse me of deviating from the letter of the original source, let them relax, I immediately admit that I don't follow any letters, but explain the essence. I also omit some practically insignificant fragments, especially those related to mythology. The Bhagavad Gita isn't based on mythology, but takes into account that the disciples of that time were brought up on mythology. Therefore, it operates with the language, categories and concepts on which their worldview was based, but I don't retell you this, because from a practical point of view it's of no use to us.
In addition, one of the tasks of the Bhagavad Gita is to convince students that the marginal practice of all kinds of hermits, with which yoga was associated in those days, isn't really right yoga practice. So many of the verses of the Bhagavad Gita are dedicated to this. And they are not just many, but too many, in my opinion, at least for today's reader, who becomes tired when he sees the same thing so many times. By the way, I'm like that myself. Therefore, according to the task facing this practical guide, I skip all these extra points. Posing some of the following chapters, I plan just to select only the most important points from them, because they also mostly deal in too much detail with insignificant aspects of certain practices, which neither the Bhagavad Gita itself nor I consider to be too working. They were common in those days, and so the Bhagavad Gita didn’t want to ignore them.
To be honest, the practice I want to teach you is explained in two or three small phrases. But it's also important to understand how and why this works to provide disciples with inspired determination. In order for man to be able to practice that which completely destroys his low nature and awakens his high nature, that's, destroys all false motivations, false habits, false desires, and harmful qualities on which the life of an unenlightened man rests, and turns him to the path of some love unknown to him, of some high nature unknown to him, great inspiring determination is needed. And the source of such determination can only be a clear and deep understanding of the problem that the practice solves, the task it performs, and the mechanisms that underlie it. Because I explain my own success by the fact that even before the meeting with the Bhagavad Gita I was naturally aware of both the problem and the task. And I just looked for a working method that would solve my problem and fulfill the task I had set for my life. So I had enough determination from the very beginning, and then it only increased due to the daily positive results. But for those who don't yet have such determination, the Bhagavad Gita seeks to provide a detailed understanding of the problem, tasks, and mechanisms of yoga practice.
Meditation on Love Feeling
“The mind can be both a friend of man and his enemy. For one who has purified his mind from selfishness, it becomes the best friend, and for one who has not, the mind remains the worst enemy. A person who has attained enlightenment through yoga practice becomes completely happy and so disinterested in accumulating his property that he sees no difference between cobblestones and gold.”
An enlightened person doesn't become an impractical eccentric who is not able to adequately and effectively conduct economic and financial affairs. But when he holds gold in his hands, he has no lustful desire to own it. He works not for his own enrichment, but for the welfare and happiness of the people.
“At an even higher level of enlightenment, man treats everyone equally: sincere benefactors, neutral observers, envious people, friends, enemies, and criminals.”
Again, this doesn't mean that an enlightened person won't fight the enemy, but he won't have hatred for him in his heart. Love for people who need to be protected from the enemy, not hatred for the enemy pushes him into battle. And only in the state of love, not in a state of hatred, a person becomes all-conquering. It's this state that Arjun should reach in order to defeat the army of usurping criminals.
At the age of 7-8, I first encountered the Gospel. I was raised in an atheistic family, and we’d a book, The Funny Gospel by Leo Taxil. And so I somehow became interested in what was written in this book. I took it from the bookcase and began to read. This Leo Taxil generously quoted the Gospel and then ridiculed it. Well, the words of Jesus really impressed me, and the author's ridicule only assured me of their correctness. So I learned that a person should learn to love others as himself, should learn to treat everyone as well as yourself. And I really wanted to learn that. And I looked for where and who would teach me. In no Christian denomination where I asked to teach me to love as Jesus said, no one knew how to teach it. The Gospel, in which I tried to find an algorithm on my own, following the instructions of which I could develop such love in myself, doesn't provide this algorithm. That’s, there is a task, but no method. So imagine my joy when, on my birthday on December 26, 1990, I saw the Bhagavad Gita in the hands of a beautiful girl, who was distributing krishnaite books on the street, bought it and read it! I got the algorithm I was looking for. And it worked. It took about 20-25 years to get exactly the result that Jesus guided me to, but every day I felt noticeable progress in this direction and that's why I kept my practicing so persistently and continue to kept it now.
“A person can never become a yogi if he eats too much or too little and sleeps too much or too little.”
Yoga practice requires a healthy balance of nutrition, sleep and all the natural needs of the body and mind.
“One who maintains a healthy balance in food, sleep, work, and rest can practice yoga and free himself from physical, mental, and mental suffering through it.”
The purpose of yoga practice is happiness. The first and simplest thing that is possible and necessary for a yogi to do for his happiness is to take care of the balanced satisfaction of all his natural needs. His whole yoga practice, if possible, should be carried out in simple but beautiful, comfortable, pleasant conditions that take into account his personal desires, preferences, tastes and hobbies. Keeping yourself in an inspired, happy mood is one of his fundamentally important tasks. This doesn’t mean any artificial self-suggestion. We just need to naturally care about our happiness no less than we care about the happiness of others. Because only a happy person can make someone else happy. I have already said and will repeat again that our selfishness is not our love to ourselves, but our sick attachment to ourselves, absolutization of ourselves, satisfaction of our own desires and goals by violating the desires, needs, benefits and happiness of others, using others as a resource for our own pleasure. And our love to ourselves is a necessary thing. To love our neighbor as ourselves, we need to love ourselves. It won't work otherwise. And our love to ourselves means taking care of our health, our happiness, the fulfillment of our desires. It just shouldn't be at the expense of harming to others and should only take up some of a yogi’s time and efforts, while the main direction of his activity is to take care of those for whose good and happiness he is naturally responsible: relatives, friends, compatriots, etc.
“When a yogi puts his mental activity in order and, freed from selfish desires, reaches love, it is believed that he now continues to practice at the level of enlightenment. Just as the flame of a lamp burns evenly in a quiet place, so the yogi at this stage of enlightenment always remains in a state of meditation on the feeling of love, seeing that it is the feeling of his true self.”
Meditation on the feeling of love is the practice of shifting attention to the feeling of love, which allows the mind to stay with this feeling. Of course, this practice is possible only if the yogi has a feeling of love. This feeling can’t be created artificially. It is implied that the yogi has already risen to the point where love, which is the original true essence of every soul, has been reborn in his heart. Because we are all covered with selfishness in varying degrees, it is impossible to know how long time from the first day of his yoga practicing does a person need to rise to the level when he is ready to practice meditation on the feeling of love. But this element of practice is so effective that I advise you to introduce it as soon as possible, at least a little bit. That's, as soon as you develop your filing of love as a result of other elements of practice, you can meditate on it. In fact, the feeling of selfless love in the heart isn't something completely alien for a large percentage of people. There are people for whom this feeling was very familiar even before their yoga practice. So they can meditate on it from the first days of their practice. It should be natural, effortless. You just leave your consciousness with this feeling for as long as you can, easily shifting your attention to it.
“When the yogi reaches this stage of perfection, his mind is no longer influenced by selfishness. Through purity of heart, he gains the ability to see his true self, and it becomes a source of joy and happiness for him. Feeling continuous pleasure, the yogi is in a state of infinite bliss. Having this experience of love as his true eternal essence, he never stops meditating on this experience, because there is nothing higher than this taste. Such a person does not lose a state of happiness, even when faced with huge problems. This is real freedom.”
Dependence and freedom are states of consciousness, not circumstances of life.
“When life situations take the yogi out of meditation, he should return to it as soon as he notices it.”
Meditation on the feelings of love is a completely natural practice that requires no effort. Our consciousness spontaneously gravitates to what attracts it. Meditation on the feeling of love has the most delicious taste of all possible tastes. And thanks to this, constantly staying in such meditation requires almost no effort. Therefore, at a certain stage, meditation on the feeling of love becomes the yogi's continuous practice which is supported during any of his activities whether physical or mental. But some critical life situations can lead him out of meditation. As soon as he notices this, he is advised to again easily shift his attention to the feeling of love.
“Meditation on the feeling of love raises the yogi to the pinnacle of bliss. He realizes that his qualitative identity is love, his absolute high nature. In this way a person is completely cleansed of selfishness and acquires the highest, perfect happiness of love in the service of life. The perfect yogi sees Me in the hearts of all living beings, and all living beings as integral parts of Me. Truly, an enlightened person sees Me everywhere. One who sees Me in everything and everything in Me will never lose Me and will never be lost to Me. Remaining in the state of love under any circumstances, such a yogi remains in Me. A perfect yogi is one who sees the true equality of all beings.”
Arjun said, “The practice you’ve just described seems beyond my strength because my mind is too shaky to focus on one feeling. My mind is restless and wild. To make it meditate seems to me more difficult than to tame the wind.”
“To force the mind is extremely difficult. But the practice of yoga controls the mind without coercion. As for meditation on the feeling of love, it involves not so much the mind as the heart.”
Arjun asked, “Krishna, what is the fate of a loser yogi who practiced yoga but then gave up, succumbing to the temptations of selfishness? Such a person didn’t achieve enlightenment, and lost so many opportunities to achieve their selfish goals. Isn't he in the worst condition? This doubt torments me.”
“One who does good loses nothing. He will still return to the path of yoga in his next incarnation and will continue to practice from the level at which he stopped in his previous life. He will attain perfect enlightenment just later. Being even a loser yogi is much better than being the most successful selfish egoist. So become a yogi under any circumstances, Arjun.”
Any even the smallest gain that a person receives through yoga practice is the only true human wealth that cannot be lost. Nothing but the state of consciousness can be taken with you to the next life. In addition, the yogi who stopped his practice without reaching the fullness of enlightenment and happiness in hes current life, still rose to some higher level of enlightenment and happiness. And this is a much more valuable asset than any success in selfish activity.
“And of all the yogis, one who has developed a personal relationship with Me and enjoys a mutual exchange of love with Me has attained the highest degree of enlightenment. This is My opinion.”
Relationship with God
“Through yoga practice you will be able to establish a direct connection with Me, understand Me and build a personal relationship with Me. Of the many thousands of people, only one seeks perfection, and of the many thousands of people who have attained perfection, only one truly understands Me.”
After reading this statement of the Bhagavad Gita, a disciple who strives for perfection may lower his hands, thinking that it's very difficult. But the meaning of these words is only that solely the correct yoga practice and nothing else easily, systematically and guaranteed brings yoga to a state of perfection and that learning the correct practice is very, very rare luck. And I'm happy to congratulate my readers on their rare luck.
“The connection with Me is the connection with the source and basis of all that exists. I am the taste of water. I am the light of the Sun and the Moon. I am the emitter of love. I am a talent in a person. I am the life of all living things. I am the wisdom of the wise. I am the inspiration of the inspired. I am the strength of the strong. I am the wish of happiness to everyone around. But this world, blinded by selfishness, does not see Me. Overcoming the influence of selfishness is utterly difficult. However, one who has established contact with Me easily gets out of its power.”
Yoga establishes a direct connection with God. To overcome the influence of selfishness is incredibly difficult without yoga, but using the tools of yoga, to get out of the power of selfishness is very easy.
“There are four types of people who get on the path of yoga: 1) those in crisis, 2) those who seek happiness, 3) curious people, 4) those who seek to understand the absolute truth. For one who, having embarked on this path, has loved Me and established a personal love relationship with me, I am very beloved and dear. And he is also very beloved and dear to Me. I consider him who understands Me to be like Me in everything. Through the practice of yoga, a person gets the vision of Me as the cause of all causes. No matter how a person obtains what he seeks to obtain, the only source of this is I. But to obtain Me Himself is possible only through love for Me. People do not see Me only because of their selfishness, which separates them from Me. I know everything that happened in the past, is happening now and will happen in the future. I also know all the thoughts and feelings of all living beings. But no one knows Me except those whom I let into My life because of their love for Me.”
The personal relationship with God that is established through yoga practice isn’t usually the goal that a person pursues when embarking on the path of yoga. More often than not, he doesn't even know about this possibility. But only by establishing a relationship with God a yogi begins to see his own primordial essence, which has its basis in this relationship. And then he realizes that he hasn't established a relationship with God, but has restored its same state, which originally existed before he fell ill with selfishness and separated from God. Outside of a relationship with God, the soul is unable to determine its true eternal identity.
I will explain this idea in a simple analogy close to you. For example, dear reader, in the current incarnation you are the son of your parents, the husband of your wife, the father of your children, the employee of your labor collective, the citizen of your country. You’re all these. But who are you outside of relationships with parents, wife, children, colleagues and compatriots? This is unclear. What will you do without all this relationship? This is unclear. Similarly, who the soul outside of the relationship with God is unclear. All his identifications outside of his relationship with God are temporary and transient. They relate only to the temporary relationship and circumstances of your current incarnation. But you don't know who you're in eternity. You don't know what you can do in eternity. You don't know what you can strive for, what you can dream about, what you can desire in eternity. You don't know yourself as an eternal soul. All this can only be realized in a relationship with God, because you are an eternal part of His eternal life. And yoga provides you with the tools to restore your eternal relationship with God.
If, dear reader, you are one of those people who denies that self-identification is based on relationships, and your self-identification can only be described by the term 'marginal individualist', this only indicates your degree of selfishness. A soul free from selfishness is an active participant in God's life. He is eternally full of love, which is realized in his eternal relationship with God and other souls in the love world. Yoga is integration. In the first steps, yoga harmoniously integrates us into our current temporary reality, and when this task is successfully completed, it integrates us into eternal reality. Integration involves socialization. Proper yoga practice leaves no one a marginal individualist.
Reflections on God
Arjun asked, “What is a soul? What is karma? What is the selfishness world? Who is God? And what is the proces of returning to Him? Please tell me about this.”
“A soul is an eternal living being. Karma is the consequences of a soul's selfish activity, which determine his future bodies, conditions, circumstances and destiny. The selfishness world is an isolation ward for patients with selfishness. God is I. Returning to Me occurs through the change of man's nature from the low (selfish) one to the high (love) nature, which is no different from My nature. All who did this returned to Me. This is a fact. What state of consciousness is developed by a person during his current life, from the same state of consciousness he will start in his next body, which will correspond to this consciousness. Therefore, maintain constant contact with Me and My nature of love and selflessness — and you will return to Me. One who maintains constant contact with Me and My nature of love and selflessness and leaves any contact with his low (selfish) nature, no doubt, returns to Me.”
The following describes a method of yoga that involves reflecting on God. It's suitable as an additional method and is recommended to those whom it naturally inspires.
“Reflect on Me as the omnipresent, primordial person who is the source of the universe. Reflect on Me as one who is less than the least and greater than the greatest. Reflect on Me as the one who sustains all Creation. Reflect on Me as one who has nothing to do with selfishness and all its manifestations. Reflect on Me as an inscrutable mystery and a universal principle that is a person who shines like the Sun.”
The rest of this chapter has no practical significance for the modern reader and is intended only to incorporate the principles of yoga into certain superstitious concepts of the people of that time, because otherwise they would not have accepted them.
Queen of All Sciences
“Yoga is the queen of all sciences, the most secret of secrets. Yoga is the purest science. It gives man a living, direct perception of his eternal essence. Yoga is eternal, and its practice is natural, easy, pleasant and joyful. One who does not practice yoga continues to tumble in an endless cycle of births and deaths in the pursuit of the crumbs of selfish happiness. The main instrument of yoga is a sound, which contains My nature of love, happiness and beauty.”
The main tool of yoga is a mantra. A mantra is a sound in which the object with which a yogi intends to come into contact is directly present. Our task is to get in touch with the source of love and bliss, because they are what we are going to acquire. The mantra I received at Bacti Yoga School a few decades ago proved to me from the first days of my practice its perfect ability to perform its function of direct connection with the source of love, happiness and beauty and to fill my heart, mind and even body with love, happiness and taste of inspiration by the highest beauty of life. Applying this mantra has been raising me to a new level of enlightenment every day for several decades. And at this stage of learning I’ll give you this tool. So the mantra I recommended is called mahamantra and it sounds, “Hare Krishna / Hare Krishna / Krishna Krishna / Hare Hare / Hare Rama / Hare Rama / Rama Rama / Hare Hare.” Hare isn’t a hare, but the Sanskrit word which is the appeal to love. Krishna is the appeal to the highest beauty of life, which is the source of boundless inspiration and all tastes of pleasure. Rama is the appeal to the source of joy and happiness. Translation of this mantra: “God's love, please fill my heart. God, please fill me with inspiration, bliss, joy and happiness and give me an understanding of how I can serve to life today.”
The mantra can be pronounced aloud or mentally, as well as sung to any melody aloud or mentally at a convenient time and place. There are no strict rules for using the mantra. It's just desirable to find some time for this practice every day. The mantra gives the most effective connection when we’re in a humble state. So every time before starting this practice, you should bring yourself into a meek state. The state of meekness is not a state of humiliation or inferiority. On the contrary, this state is the most self-sufficient and majestic state of the heart.
Personally, I spend about two hours a day practicing the mantra and have been doing so for several decades.
“I am love. I am the power of good. I am peace and harmony. I am the father and mother of the universe and its support. I am the subject of all scientific research. I am the goal and the guardian, the source and the witness, the refuge and the closest friend. I am immortality. When you do something, when you eat something, when you rest, when you have fun, always do it so that these processes connects you with Me. I love everyone equally, but I let into my life only those who have revived their high nature (the nature of love) and become like Me through the practice of yoga. Through the practice of yoga, a person gains from Me access to My qualities, which he derives from My existence. He gets from Me the ability to see existence through My eyes.”
Arjun said, “Krishna, enlightened yogis told me that You are God. But I didn’t believe them. And now You Yourself are talking about this. Please tell me about Yourself. I'm eager to hear about You.”
“I have countless properties. I will tell you a few of them, others will be revealed to you in time through yoga practice. I am in the heart of every living being. I am the Creator. I am the beginning, the middle and the end of everything. Among luminaries I am the radiant Sun. In living beings I am consciousness. Among water bodies I am the ocean. Among sounds I am the mantra. I am time. Among sciences I am yoga. I am the proof that leads to the truth. Among women I am Love, Kindness, Patience, Purposefulness, Glory, Luck, Memory and Beauty. Серед пір року Among seasons I am the blossoming spring. I am a victory. I am an adventure. Among the means of stopping lawlessness, I am punishment. I am the good that wins. I am the silence of mystery. No being can exist without Me. Everything charming, beautiful and majestic in this world is just a reflection of My person.”
Yogic Vision
Arjun said, “If all the best in the world is the spread of Your qualities, I want to see how You manifest in the wonders of the universe.”
Krishna answered,
“Look! I give you yogic vision, with which you can see everything you want. You can see not only any place, phenomenon, being or thing in the universe, but also the past and future of everything that interests you, as well as how it is connected with Me.”
Arjun began to look at everything that interested him, and said, “I can see the result of the battle of the two armies between which we are now: I will emerge victorious. Is this true? Isn't this a hallucination?”
“Yes. Except for you and your brothers, all the soldiers on both sides will die in this battle.”
Arjun said, “I can hear the sounds of the mantra ‘Hare Krishna / Hare Krishna / Krishna Krishna / Hare Hare / Hare Rama / Hare Rama / Rama Rama / Hare Hare’, and see the world exulting at them. These sounds attract all its inhabitants to You. Enlightened yogis experience incredible bliss from them. And only the demons in terror run in different directions. And so this should be. I see that You're the receptacle of the universe. You are the inexhaustible source which is the cause of all causes and is outside this world. You know everything. And everyone try to understand You. There is nothing that isn't connected with You. But few are aware of this. I see that You’re the teacher and guide of all enlightened yogis. Although You're like a man of amazing beauty, in reality You're God.”
bhakti Yoga
Arjun asked, “Who are the best yogis — those who serve life with love for You, seeing how everything in life is connected with You, or those who do the same but are not interested in Your personality?”
“I consider enlightenment of yogis, who serve life with love for Me, seeing how everything in life is connected with Me, the most perfect. However, those yogis who care about the well-being of everyone around and treat everyone the same as themselves, but are not interested in My personality, are no worse than them, just lack of relationship with Me makes their integration into life incomplete. This situation will not last long, because their desire for the fullness of happiness will motivate them to restore their eternal relationship with Me.”
This statement of the Bhagavad Gita shows that God doesn't consider atheists, who care for the good of everyone around and treat everyone as well as themselves, worse than theists, who do the same.
“Now I will tell you about bhakti yoga. bhakti yogis differ from ordinary yogis in that from the very beginning they aim to restore eternal personal relationships with Me. bhakti yoga focuses on such practice as reflections on God. bhakti yoga interprets selfless activity in the service of life as service to Me. The renunciation of selfish activity in bhakti yoga interpretation is understood as a sacrifice for Me. Meditation on the feeling of love is considered by bhakti yoga as meditation on My personality, being seen that there is no difference between Me and love. A bhakti yogi does not envy anyone and loves all living beings. He is free from possessive instinct and selfishness in general. He is happy and focused on his relationship with Me and his love for Me. Of course, I reciprocate to him.”
The practice of bhakti yoga doesn't differ in form from the practices described in the previous chapters of the Bhagavad Gita. Its only feature is that from the very beginning it motivates man to restore his eternal relationship with God. Therefore, to love God is a goal that a bhakti yogi sets for himself from the very beginning of the practice and keeps constantly in focus.
“A bhakti yogi knows that I value those who care about the happiness of others, and therefore does so to attract My attention in order to establish a personal relationship with Me. The bhakti yogi knows that I value independent, self-sufficient, skillful, happy and selfless people, and therefore through the practice of yoga develops these qualities. The bhakti yogi's highest goal is My happiness, and I reciprocate to him.”
Nature and Consciousness
Arjun said, “I want to understand what is prakriti (nature) and what is purusha (consciousness not polluted by selfishness), as well as what is knowledge and the object of knowledge.”
Having gained the experience of yogic vision, Arjun saw directly what he is now trying to understand. І прохає вчителя допомогти йому в цьому. Every yogi at a certain stage of practice gets the experience of yogic perception of prakriti and purusha, and it depends on the correct understanding of this experience how correctly he will practice. In addition, the yogi begins to see that knowledge and the object of knowledge are not at all what he thought about them before.
The whole system of self-awareness is to understand two aspects of existence — purusha and prakriti. Purusha is the conscious aspect of life, the highest consciousness, the spirit. And prakriti is what we call nature. Yoga practice is carried out under the auspices of these two aspects. On the one hand, the yogi revives his original, unpolluted consciousness, on the other hand, his activity occurs spontaneously in the realm of nature. So the mantra “Hare Krishna / Hare Krishna / Krishna Krishna / Hare Hare / Hare Rama / Hare Rama / Rama Rama / Hare Hare”, which we use in our practice, begins with the word Hare, with an appeal to love, the nature of God, and then contains an appeal to God Himself (Krishna, Rama). The yogi is always in contact with both nature, prakriti, and purusha, God. These are two equal realities with which he interacts.
Both God and His nature have no beginning. Therefore, the primordial, eternal position of a soul is always in the hands of Mother Nature, always in yoga, that's, in connection with the consciousness of God. This is the perfection of an enlightened soul. But in the unenlightened state the position of the soul is imperfect. Why? Because he’s covered with selfishness. What is selfishness? It's such a separation from the wholeness of life when we're in nature but don't see its connection to its source.
What's yoga? It's service. Service is a manifestation of self-sufficiency. Self-sufficiency is completeness. So God serves everyone, because He feels joy when He shares His happiness with others. That is why he is called Rama — the one who makes glad. Service is exchange, only those who are inspired by their work and who are happy can be in such a state. Service is a creative process. In this process, our lives cease to be dependent. From the deficit mode they go to the fullness mode. Our selfish dependences, fears, various stereotypes, all these begins to fall away from us like a dead shell. Where life is full swing, nothing dead or useless can stick. When a yogi attains enlightenment, he unites with God in a close, strong relationship, because the like naturally unites with the like in an inseparable union.
Consciousness is always different from nature, but always embodied in it. At a certain stage of the process of enlightenment, the yogi ceases to depend on nature and identifies himself with the highest consciousness, realizing that he is a spirit. And then he becomes able to fully serve nature, life, take care of them, support them. Because it is possible to serve only in an independent state, in a dependent state it is possible only to curry favor. So the yogi gains his objective vision and becomes impartial in his relations with others. He has no duality, no expectations and disappointments. And so the yogi is able to help God in His responsibility, in His service to the world, to everybody and everything that depend on Him.
Yoga is the ability to feel what life requires of us. We can tell if we are in the state of yoga or not, by only answering the question, “Do we have the energy of inspiration or not?” Inspiration is, in essence, synonymous with revelation. Happiness in our life appears when we become useful to others, useful to life. Yoga practice is based on revelation, a person has to discover the field of his activity from God. But if there is no revelation, there is no yoga. Therefore, before engaging in our activities today, we first use our mantra, that's, offer a prayer for love and revelation: “God's love, please fill my heart. God, please fill me with inspiration, bliss, joy and happiness and give me an understanding of how to serve life today.”
Further, the Bhagavad Gita defines the concept of ‘knowledge’: knowledge isn't the accumulation of information, but the qualities, skills and abilities of man, through which he is able to achieve the goals that he sets for himself. And this knowledge is achieved through yoga practice.
Then Krsna said,
“And now I am going to tell you about the object of knowledge, which will give you the taste of eternity when you understand it. It is the love that has no beginning and is My nature, which does not obey the law of cause and effect and through which this world maintains its existence. It is the highest truth and is in the hearts of all living beings in this world in dormant state. It is knowledge, the object of knowledge and the purpose of knowledge. Therefore, the only perfect method of cognition is yoga practice.”
Three Modes of Low Nature
“One who has attained enlightenment has revived his high nature, the same as Mine. Such a person will no longer be born in the selfishness world. But as long as he lives in it, he must understand how the lower nature of this world is arranged.”
When a yogi has revived his high nature and reached perfection, he now needs an understanding of the low nature, because this is what he's constantly confronted with in this selfishness world governed by the low nature. Living in this world, the yogi should understand how this world works. Only then he is able to properly interact with unenlightened people and be most useful to them. Yoga practice assumes that first the yogi turns on the light in himself and becomes unreachable, invulnerable to darkness. Therefore, upbringing and education should begin with this, should provide enlightenment to man. And only after that man should be taught how to live now in this unenlightened world, in order to be as successful and useful as possible in his selfish environment. This education and upbringing should be organized in such a way that when a young person completes his education at the age of about 25, he is already enlightened and trained in all professional, social and other skills. And it's necessary to begin with enlightenment. That is why the Bhagavad Gita turns to the study of lower nature only in the 14th chapter, that is, only then it has finished teaching everything about enlightenment.
“The low nature consists of three modes: goodness, passion and ignorance. When the eternal soul falls ill with selfishness, these three modes affect he. The mode of goodness, being purer than others, enlightens a person. Those who are under the influence of this mode are intelligent and cheerful.”
The modes of the low nature are the modes of the layer of selfishness that covers the soul. The mode of goodness is not as thick and rough as others. From under the selfishness layer of this type the original eternal qualities of the soul, the qualities of love radiate to some extent. So we can say that the state of goodness doesn't enlighten a person by itself, but simply doesn't so roughly cover and hide the light of the soul, opening of which is called enlightenment. Enlightenment is liberation from selfishness. The less selfish a person is, the more enlightened he is. Accordingly, the smaller, the thinner, the more transparent the layer of selfishness covers the soul, the more it exhibits qualities that are similar to the qualities of an enlightened person. Such a layer is the selfishness layer in the mode of goodness.
“The mode of passion is characterized by endless selfish desires and greed. Therefore, it involves a person in selfish activities. The mode of ignorance or darkness keeps a person captive to delusion. Under its influence, a person is stupid and lazy. The mode of goodness promotes cheerfulness, the mode of passion induces to selfish activity, and the mode of ignorance leads to madness. Sometimes the mode of goodness begins to prevail in a person, overcoming passion and ignorance. Sometimes the mode of passion overcomes ignorance and goodness, and sometimes the mode of ignorance prevails. Thus between the modes of low nature there is a continuous struggle for supremacy. When the mode of goodness begins to prevail in a person, the person becomes intelligent. When the influence of the mode of passion increases, a person shows signs of strong selfish attachment and plunges into gaining wealth, makes excessive efforts to achieve his selfish goals, feels an insatiable lust for pleasure. Being under the predominant influence of ignorance, a person becomes apathetic, pessimistic, depressed and stupid.”
In fact, yoga practice gives a person a vision of the modes of the low nature, their interaction and how they become the cause of certain processes in the life of this world. The information provided here by the Bhagavad Gita is not intended to inform a yogi of something he doesn’t see, but to draw his attention to this area of life and to encourage him to learn to deal with it.
“The state of goodness motivates a person to do good deeds that bring him closer to enlightenment. Activity in the mode of passion brings a person suffering. And activity in the mode of ignorance deprives him of reason. The mode of goodness generates knowledge, the mode of passion inflames greed, and in the mode of ignorance a person goes mad and loses his senses.
Living beings are My eternal particles. In this world, they are separated by their selfishness. Having fallen ill with selfishness, they have to wage a severe struggle against their delusion. In this world, a living being carries his ideas of life like air carries odors. Having received one body, he then leaves it to receive another.”
Although living beings don't remember their previous incarnations, they retain their ideas of life that have formed in them in the past.
“Unenlightened people do not see how the soul leaves his body and how he, enchanted by selfishness, tries to gain selfish happiness again in the next. But an enlightened yogi clearly sees all this. Everyone who has revived his high nature has this vision. But those who are under the influence of selfishness cannot understand what is happening, even if they try to do so. An enlightened yogi sees that the radiance of the Sun, which dispels the darkness of this world, comes from Me, and that from Me comes the light of the Moon and fire. I keep the planets in orbit by gravity. I am the fire of digestion in the bodies of all living beings. Memory, understanding and forgetfulness comes from Me. There are two types of living beings: the ill with selfishness and the healthy. The bodies of the ill with selfishness change, and the bodies of the healthy are eternal. In addition to these two types, I am. And I am the source of both. Connecting with Me is the only way to live the fullness of life.”
Divine and Demonic Natures
“Fearlessness, tendency to practice yoga, charity, simplicity, activities in which there is no place for violence and exploitation, honesty, kindness, peace, compassion for all living beings, generosity, kindness and gentleness, modesty, determination, purposefulness, propensity to forgive, steadfastness, purity, lack of envy and of desire for honours are the qualities of people having divine nature. Arrogance, swagger, vanity, anger, brutality and ignorance are the qualities of people having demonic nature. Divine qualities lead a person to freedom, and demonic ones doom him to slavery.
I have listed the divine qualities for you, and now listen about the qualities of demons. People with demonic nature do not know what to do and what not to do. They are not characterized by purity, decency or honesty. They believe that this world has no Creator and no foundation, that there is no God to take care of it. They believe that the world came into being by chance, exists by chance, and the creators of living beings are their parents, who create them through sexual intercourse. Convinced of this, deprived of reason and lost to themselves, the demons are engaged in destructive activity that leads the world to disaster.”
Although demonic people have no connection with God and therefore believe that He doesn't exist, they very often use religion to achieve their demonic goals.
“Indulging their insatiable lust, intoxicated with pride, vanity, and arrogance, the demons are captivated by delusion and, enchanted by the passing, do their dirty businesses. They believe that the main meaning of human life is to enjoy the exploitation of others. So they are endlessly haunted by fears and embarrassment, lust and anger. Entangled in the webs of many selfish desires, they try to reach them by hook or by crook. ‘Today’, the demon thinks, ‘I have made a good profit, and when my plans come true, I will get even more. This one was my enemy — and I killed him. The rest ones' fate will be the same. I am the master of everything. Everyone else is a resource to satisfy my desires. I have reached perfection, I have gained power. I am the richest. There is no one more powerful in the world than me.’ So these people become victims of their own ignorance and turn life into hell, doing ostentatious charity to gain popularity.”
Worldview Varieties
“Depending on the modes of low nature, under the influence of which the selffishness-sick soul is, its worldview can be of three types: in goodness, in passion and in ignorance. Being under the dominance of one of the modes of low nature, man has the appropriate type of worldview. The nature of man's worldview is determined by what modes of low nature affect him. People in the mode of goodness adhere to progressive ideas aimed at the common good. Those who are in the mode of passion have demonic views. And people in ignorance are full of superstitions.
Even food, which is preferred by different people, is divided into three types according to the modes of low nature. The same goes for behavior, language, thoughts, and charity. Food, which is preferred by people in the mode of goodness, increases life expectancy, clears consciousness, strengthens, it is healthy, useful, brings happiness and satisfaction. It is juicy, tender and pleasant to the heart. Too bitter, too sour, too salty, too spicy, too sharp, too dry and too hot food is loved by people in the mode of passion. Such food is a source of sorrow, suffering and disease. Inedible artificial food is delicious for those who are in the mode of ignorance.
People in the mode of goodness behave straight, sincerely and friendly. Their language is truthful, pleasant, aimed at good and does not cause concern to people. Their thoughts are sensible, logical and happy. Arrogant behavior or ostentatious behavior in order to gain honour, respect, authority, reverence from people is inherent in people in the mode of passion. Stupid and harmful behavior is the behavior of people in the mode of ignorance.
Charity, which is done out of a sincere desire for the good of people without expecting to receive any privileges for it, is charity in the mode of goodness. Charity done for selfish purposes is charity in the mode of passion. And charity that does harm is charity in the mode of ignorance.”
Wisdom and Love
Arjun asked, “What’s true renunciation?”
Everyone who has heard of yogis knows that they practice renunciation. All the yogis Arjun had seen before were hermits who renounced the world. But now, when he has received all the instructions in yoga, he understands that the principle of renunciation, which is really one of the principles of yoga, must mean something else. When Arjun asked to teach him yoga, he expected to be offered to renounce the world. This is exactly what he wanted from the very beginning, when he found himself in a crisis that seemed unsolvable to him. When a person finds himself in a crisis that seems unsolvable to him, he simply wants to escape from this crisis, either by committing suicide or by renouncing the world. Arjun mentioned several times at the beginning of his conversation with Krsna that he was ready to renounce the world, but it turned out that yoga teaches to solve life's problems, not to run away from them.
“Renunciation is the repudiation of selfish activity. Man should never give up charity. Існує три види зречення. Man should not give up selfless activities, which his responsibility in his family and society naturally requires of him. If, being misled, he stops this activity, it is called renunciation in ignorance. When a person refuses to act unselfishly in accordance with his natural responsibility to life because it is too difficult, or because of fear, it is called renunciation in passion. Such a renunciation will lead him to degradation. When a person unselfishly does all that he has to do according to his natural roles in life, thus freeing himself from selfishness, it is the renunciation in the mode of goodness. A wise man in the mode of goodness is in such renunciation and acts fearlessly and selflessly for the benefit of all around him. One who has not renounced selfishness will constantly face karma, the consequences of his selfish activities. Those who have renounced selfishness do not receive the consequences of selfish activity, because they do not engage in such activity.
The three modes of low nature define three kinds of vision, three kinds of activity, and three kinds of performers. A vision that allows man, in spite of the diversity of different living beings, to see their commonality, that's, to see that they are all eternal souls, is a vision in the mode of goodness. The vision that different living beings have different natures, without seeing their universal essence, is a vision in the mode of passion. And a vision that binds a person to one type of activity as the only important one, which does not allow to see reality outside a very narrow, limited area of its coverage, is a vision in the mode of ignorance.
Natural selfless activity, which is not based on selfish dependences, is activity in the mode of goodness. Activity that requires enormous effort, aimed at the realization of selfish desires and dictated by selfishness, is activity in the mode of passion. Unconscious activity in delusion, without knowledge and understanding, or activity with violence that causes suffering to living beings, ıs activity in the mode of ignorance. One who selflessly performs the tasks set before him by life, who acts with great determination and inspiration, who is not disappointed by failures, acts in the mode of goodness. If a person is badly attached to selfish activity and its results, when he is motivated by selfish desires, if he is greedy and vicious, he is in the mode of passion. A person immersed in useless activities, stubborn and lying, a person who insults others, lazy and depressed, is in the mode of ignorance.
Intellect able to determine what is good, what is bad, what is worth avoiding, and what is not worth avoiding, what enslaves, and what liberates is intellect in the mode of goodness. Intellect unable to distinguish good from evil is in the mode of passion. Intellect which considers the harmful useful, and the useful harmful, is intellect in the mode of ignorance.
Determination which is steadfast and makes a person purposeful in yoga practice is determination in the mode of goodness. Determination, which motivates a person to seek the fruits of religion and selfish activity, indicates the mode of passion. And determination which is not able to free a person from fear, depression and delusion, is determination devoid of common sense, which arises from the mode of ignorance.
What at first seems like poison and eventually becomes ragweed, a state in which a person awakens to self-awareness, is called happiness in goodness. Happiness, which at first seems like ragweed, but eventually turns out to be a poison, is happiness in the mode of passion. And happiness that blinds a person, illusory both in the beginning and in the end, generated by laziness and delusion, is happiness in the mode of ignorance.
All unenlightened living beings in this world are affected by the three modes of low nature. The modes and qualities of people indicate what activities they can do best. Those who have peace, self-control, asceticism, purity, patience, honesty and wisdom are able to be good teachers. Heroic, strong, determined, sharp, agile, brave, generous, those who know how to lead, are able to be good rulers. If a person is talented in agriculture, trade, economics and finance, he will be a good businessman. Those who like to work physically and help others are able to be good workers.
By engaging in activities that are appropriate to his nature, everyone can attain enlightenment. Now I will tell you how to do it. By engaging in activities that are appropriate to his nature, man can attain enlightenment if he makes it part of his yoga practice. It is better to be imperfectly engaged in an activity that suits your nature than to be perfectly engaged in a job that does not suit your nature.”
The question may be, what is wrong with doing work that isn't in line with our nature, if we still do it flawlessly. If we work very hard and try, we can learn to do perfectly something that doesn't correspond to our nature, but we won’t feel in our place, we’ll be exhausted, we’ll feel uncomfortable, unnatural and we won’t be able to act so for long. In addition, we won’t move in the direction of enlightenment. Activity that correspond to our nature is easy for us, it brings us the greatest pleasure, we'll do it even if we stop getting money for it, because it is not a job for us, but a way to realize our creative potential, enjoy the realization of our talent. We don't want to rest from such work, because it itself is the best rest. After all, rest isn't idleness, but doing what we love.
“Any business has some flaw, like smoke that accompanies fire. No one should give up businesses that fall within his natural responsibility, no matter how many flaws they may have. One, who has freed himself from selfish dependences and pursuit of lucre, lives in freedom from selfishness and karma. Learning to understand Me as I am is possible only through the love developed by yoga practice. One, who has done this, dwells in My kingdom, in the love world. Being in the selfishness world and engaged in various selfless activities in it, such a person actually no longer lives here, but he lives in his eternal home with Me. Do what your heart tells you to do. Wisdom and love are one and the same. Do only what love motivates you to do.”
Arjun said, “Now my heart tells me to fight. Love and wisdom push me into battle.”