Gita Acharan

‘ N amaste ’ or ‘ Namaskaar ’ is used to greet each other in the Indian context. Its meaning is ‘obeisance to divinity in you’. Greetings used in various cultures convey a similar message and have origins in “Seeing the self in all beings, all beings in the self and see the same everywhere” (6.29). When such greetings are exchanged with awareness, they have the potential to realise divinity in oneself as well as others. Seeing the ‘same everywhere’ is the path of ‘formless’ or niraakaar , which is considered a difficult path (12.5). Krishna immediately makes it easy and says to see Him ( Paramatma ) everywhere and see all in Him (6.30), which is the path of ‘form’ or saakaar . These verses give the paths of realizing Paramatma through ‘form’ as well as ‘formless’ and all spiritual paths have their foundation in one or the other. The unmanifested is limitless whereas the manifested is divisive and bound by limits. The realisation of ‘all in the self and the self in all’...

E xistence is the coherence of the manifested like our body and the unmanifested or atma (self). We perceive existence either through the manifested or through the unmanifested. We are familiar with the first one, where we distinguish between people and things, as our senses can perceive only the manifested. We hardly recognise the unmanifested behind the manifested as it requires going beyond the senses. For example, when we see a person, we immediately identify whether it’s a man or a woman. Then we see how well one dresses and behaves; and how influential, popular or wealthy one is. Subsequently, we recall the good and bad memories associated with them. Our behaviour depends on the judgements we make based on these divisions. In this regard, Krishna says that united with the self, he sees the self in all beings and all the beings in the self; he sees the same everywhere (6.29). This is the path of going beyond the divisions created by five senses. Metaphorically, it...

S amatva or equanimity is the crux of the preachings of every enlightened soul that has ever roamed this planet. Words, languages and methods could vary but the message is to attain samatva . Any preaching or practice contrary to this is dogmatic and needs to be discarded. In the context of the mind, it is the balance between the senses on one side and intellect ( buddhi ) on the other side. If one leans towards senses, one gets drenched in desires. When intellect dominates, one would be an aware person but might look down on others as they may lack compassion. That’s why Krishna says that the best yogi is he who feels for others, whether in grief or pleasure, as he feels for himself (6.32). It’s the coherence of awareness and compassion. Krishna told us to treat things like gold and rock as the same; a cow, an elephant and a dog as the same. Later he told us to treat all people including friends and enemies as equals. Another way to look at this aspect is that there a...

C hange is constant in the physical or manifested world whereas the unmanifested or atma remains changeless. A mechanism is needed to bring coherence between these two worlds. Metaphorically, it’s like the ball bearing mechanism between a stationary hub and a rotating wheel or like a gearbox handling two different speeds from the engine and wheels. Similarly, it’s a mechanism of senses, mind ( mann ) and intellect ( buddhi ) between the changeless atma and the ever-changing world of objects. Krishna described a hierarchy that the senses are superior to sense-objects, the mind is superior to the senses, and superior to the mind is the intellect, and superior even to the intellect is the self or atma (3.42). The physical part of the senses automatically responds to changes in the physical world. The mind is a combination of the controller part of the senses and memory. The mind is expected to handle every outside change brought to it by the physical part of the senses to ...

T he Brain is an amazing organ for many reasons. One of its attributes is that it doesn’t feel pain as its tissue doesn’t have pain transmitting nociceptors. Neurosurgeons use this attribute to perform surgeries while the patient is awake. Physical pain and pleasure are the results of the comparison with the brain’s neutral state. Similarly, our feelings of mental agony or ecstasy arise from comparison with this neutral state of the brain. This background will help us to understand when Krishna says, “When the mind, restrained ( niruddha ) by the practice of yoga , comes to rest and in which he sees the self by the self and is thus self-satisfied” (6.20). Coming to rest is the key. It is bringing the ever-wavering mind to rest. To achieve it, Krishna suggests restraint which doesn’t mean the suppression of feelings nor their expression. Restraint means that we should not identify ourselves with the process of expression or suppression of anger or any other feeling. It’s...