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00:00One thing I really liked about the Gita, the last time I read it, was for the first time, I noticed how the first chapter begins with a conflict.
00:15And the stage, the setting of the story is so beautiful that Arjun is in the middle.
00:24And on the one side is all the people who rely on him, the other side is the enemy but they are also his family.
00:35And he is now conflicted that should he fight, should he not. And the rest of the book is about resolving that conflict.
00:43Now in this case the conflict seems to be a very big one, war. But conflict is something that we go through everyday.
00:53Every minute, should I call up my friend or not, should I order Swiggy or not, whatever, everything is a conflict.
01:00And I had never noticed it before but it suddenly felt that, oh this is a very practical book.
01:06Very practical book. That it begins with a conflict.
01:09Right. You know, chapter one that you mentioned, Sri Krishna doesn't utter a single word.
01:17Really, I didn't notice that. Not a single verse. And that's what makes the whole thing so relatable.
01:29Ah, chapter two starts with...
01:31Chapter two is...
01:32Sri Krishna Uvaja.
01:33Even in chapter two, even in chapter two, it's after a few verses that Sri Krishna comes in.
01:40So, chapter one is us, you and me.
01:44Right.
01:45Chapter one is there to bring us into the picture.
01:49Everybody is talking.
01:51Dhritarashtra is talking.
01:53Yes.
01:54Sanjay is talking.
01:55Yes.
01:56Duryodhana is talking.
01:57Arjuna is talking.
01:59Sri Krishna is not talking.
02:02Chapter one is about us.
02:04That battlefield is our own lives.
02:07Right.
02:08People from all different places.
02:11And he's going to Bhishma and saying, you know, we need to protect him.
02:15Yeah.
02:16And he's saying, look at that side, they appear mightier than us.
02:20Apprehensions, greed, attachments, everything is there.
02:25Right.
02:26And Arjun especially.
02:28Very remarkable is this chapter one.
02:32Hmm.
02:33He comes up with two things.
02:35One, they are my friends, kin, kith.
02:43How do I fight them?
02:45They are related to me by blood.
02:48So, that's physical conditioning.
02:50You know, even animals have that.
02:53They usually don't want to attack their own pack, their own tribe.
02:58Second thing that Arjun talks of is social conditioning.
03:06If this war happens, then all the kshatriyas might be killed.
03:13And then what happens to our women?
03:15Probably the women will go to those who do not belong to our varna or caste.
03:23And then what will happen?
03:25Hmm.
03:26Arjun goes on explaining.
03:30He says, you know, the kids that will be born out of such illicit relationships, they will not be qualified to offer the right rituals to our dead ancestors.
03:45And then their souls will suffer in various kinds of health.
03:50So, no, this is, all this is religious dogma.
03:56Hmm.
03:57All this is religious dogma.
03:58Social conditioning.
03:59Arjun has heard of all these things from somewhere.
04:01They are not coming from the body.
04:02And it's all coming back.
04:04Yeah.
04:05First of all, it has come to Arjun from the society.
04:08Hmm.
04:09It is not even arising from the body.
04:10Right.
04:11You know, that there are higher castes and lower castes.
04:15And that there are souls somewhere in the sky.
04:18And that if you offer the right kind of rituals, then those souls are appeased.
04:22Hmm.
04:23So, that's social conditioning.
04:24That's religious dogma.
04:26So, two kinds of things Arjun is suffering from right in the first chapter.
04:32One, physical conditioning.
04:33How do I kill my own brothers out there?
04:37That is physical conditioning.
04:40The second is social conditioning.
04:42Higher caste, lower caste.
04:43And the status of women.
04:44You know, there are women.
04:46How do we let our women go to the other side?
04:49Hmm.
04:50And what about the kids that will be born?
04:52All kinds of...
04:54That sets the stage for what's going to come now.
04:58What's going to come now is a demolition of physical and social conditioning.
05:05I call it freedom from vritti and sanskriti.
05:12Vritti as in the physical tendencies, sanskriti as in the social culture.
05:18And that's what Krishna goes on to very successfully deconstruct.
05:24That's beautiful.
05:25So, that's what the entire Bhagavad Gita is devoted to.
05:30Freedom from the conditioning of the body and the conditioning of the mind.
05:36And it's not at too many places that Shri Krishna directly exhorts Arjun to fight.
05:44That happens only rarely.
05:47Gita is about letting Arjun know who he is.
05:53In a very liberal way, Krishna says, if you realize who you are, then you will know what to do.
06:00I do not need to instruct you.
06:03I do not need to command you or school you.
06:09That's for kids.
06:12So, Arjun is not even being motivated, let alone being instructed.
06:21He is being illuminated.
06:23And that illumination enables him to do what he must.
06:28I had this thought that because of that conflict, Arjun is going through an anxiety attack.
06:38And there is a phrase that the hair on his skin is standing, his mouth has gone dry.
06:47Typical symptoms of an anxiety attack, specifically shivering, weakness, limbs are weak.
06:55So, full sympathetic crisis.
06:58His adrenal gland is really active, cortisol levels have gone up.
07:02Yes, yes, yes.
07:03He is now in that state of mind.
07:05He is panicking.
07:06And because of that, he is catastrophizing.
07:10He is only imagining worst case scenarios.
07:14He is imagining, he is spiraling.
07:17And you can see that.
07:18So, it's almost like you are listing the symptoms of an anxiety attack in chapter one.
07:22Right.
07:23And later on, what comes in the next chapters, like you said, is an exercise in how to deal
07:31with somebody who is going through an anxiety attack.
07:35Because Krishna does not immediately say, hey, get over it.
07:39Or just get up and fight.
07:41Just get up and fight.
07:42Just do your job.
07:43It's not that straightforward.
07:46So, I thought also, what a great framework to deal with somebody who is going through
07:51a mental health problem.
07:52In fact, the way the mind is classically defined is that it is an aggregation of objects and
08:04structures around your sense of self.
08:07So, it's me, the I, at the center, you could say the linchpin.
08:14Yeah.
08:15And me being who I am, I accumulate a lot of stuff around myself, like one does in his home.
08:24And that, all that accumulation, that aggregation and those relationships, that entire network
08:31is the mind.
08:32So, any crisis of mind is actually a crisis of the one who accumulated the mind.
08:44Because mind is just objects and objects in themselves are not conscious or sentient.
08:49Objects do not know anything.
08:52So, it's never the mind that is agitated.
08:55The agitation of the mind is a symptom, not the central cause.
09:02It's the self that is not restful.
09:08And the only thing that makes the self not restful is absence of self-knowledge.
09:13So, when the self, the ego, is not at rest, the mind will be agitated.
09:20The ego cannot be seen.
09:22But the mind can be experienced as the brain.
09:25And there can be very tangible and physical symptoms.
09:28Nobody has ever seen the ego.
09:30But the mind is more tangible.
09:34And the brain, as we know, the brain is the body, it is very tangible.
09:38So, we say the mind is agitated just because we cannot see the ego at the centre of the agitation.
09:47So, if the mind is not the root cause of agitation, if the ego is at the centre of agitation,
09:55and if this diagnosis can be done, then the treatment of mind must begin with the treatment of the ego.
10:03For the ego to be treated, first of all, the disease has to be known, or the condition has to be known at least.
10:09The condition of ego is one of lack of self-knowledge.
10:14That is the very definition of ego, not even the condition.
10:18The ego is the self that does not know itself.
10:22So, because the ego does not know itself, it is sick.
10:26It's a cultivated sickness.
10:33It's a fake sickness actually.
10:34The ego is not really sick.
10:36It's a sickness that it has just superimposed upon itself.
10:41The ego is struggling with lack of unity with…
10:49See, it's like this.
10:50I think of myself as a bird, and now I am anxious that I cannot fly.
10:57The thing is, you are not a bird at all.
10:59The moment you realise that, the anxiety is gone.
11:02So, lack of self-knowledge can lead to all kinds of anxieties.
11:06If I take myself to be what I am not, I will expect myself to do things that I can't.
11:13And in today's world of social media, our identity has never been more fluid.
11:18Not fluid.
11:19You see somebody with a fancy car, you suddenly assume the identity of someone with a fancy car.
11:25And now not having a fancy car gives us sadness.
11:28And the problem with this fluidity is that it is an imposed fluidity born out of helplessness of the one it is being imposed on.
11:40What does this fluidity mean?
11:42It basically means that you can come and affect my identity in one way.
11:47Now you leave and somebody else comes.
11:49And my identity becomes dependent on that one.
11:51This is the fluidity we are talking of.
11:53It's a state of helplessness.
11:55I am not in charge of who I am.
11:57Anybody comes and starts determining my sense of self.
12:01My state of mind.
12:02My state of mind.
12:03Why?
12:04Because I do not know who I am.
12:05If I do not know, let's say, my own name.
12:08And you come and address me as AB.
12:11Then I am AB.
12:12For the while.
12:13Then that one comes and calls me CD.
12:16I become CD.
12:17Again.
12:18For a while.
12:19So that's fluid identity.
12:21Fluid identity.
12:22And it's a state of great slavery.
12:25Helplessness and powerlessness.
12:27Just because I do not know who I am.
12:30But if I know that my name is something.
12:33Why?
12:34Why?
12:35You can come and address me the way you want.
12:38I won't even mind.
12:39It will be a nice joke.
12:41He too can address me the way he pleases too.
12:45And I won't even mind.
12:47And there will be no crisis within.
12:49Arjun does not know himself.
12:53He is a victim to both these conditionings.
12:57The social one and the physical one.
13:00As we all are.
13:02So, I advise my students.
13:07First of all, see that you are Arjun.
13:10Because the Gita was instructed to Arjun.
13:13Only an Arjun can be rightful recipient of Gita.
13:19If you are not Arjun, the Gita will not help you.
13:22First of all, you should see.
13:25That you are the victim of multiple identities.
13:28And all kinds of conditionings.
13:30Just as Arjun is.
13:31And then step by step.
13:34Verse by verse.
13:35There will be some resolution.
13:37As you said.
13:38So, that's the reason the Gita.
13:41Gita is so useful.
13:44And also became so commonplace.
13:47Because the very setting.
13:49Is of familiarity.
13:52Unlike the Upanishads.
13:54Where the entire setting is idyllic.
13:58And far removed from the usual householder's life.
14:03The setting of the Bhagavad Gita.
14:06Is extremely relatable.
14:08Everybody can relate to the Bhagavad Gita.
14:10The Upanishads and the Gita.
14:12They carry exactly the same message.
14:14They form part of the core of Vedanta.
14:18But still.
14:20The Upanishads.
14:21Are not as famous.
14:23Not as relatable.
14:25But they carry the same message.
14:27They carry the same message.
14:28In fact.
14:29The Bhagavad Gita is called.
14:32The very essence of Upanishads.
14:33Understood.
14:34And.
14:35Vedanta.
14:36Is supposed to be.
14:41Having three.
14:42Three.
14:43Legs.
14:44Just to.
14:45Just to explain it.
14:46Not legs exactly.
14:47Not stump exactly.
14:48But.
14:49The audience would understand it this way.
14:51That's called.
14:52Prasthan.
14:53Tray.
14:54Prasthan.
14:55Tray.
14:56The three pillars you could say.
15:00One of the pillars is Upanishads.
15:02And one of the pillars is the Bhagavad Gita.
15:04And then the third one is the Brahma Sutra.
15:07So the Upanishads and Bhagavad Gita.
15:09They belong.
15:10To the same.
15:12Bracket.
15:13Of scriptures.
15:15Much the same.
15:16Yet Gita is far more famous than the Upanishads.
15:20Because of the.
15:21Packaging.
15:22Because of the packaging.
15:23And the relatability quotient.
15:24There is feeling.
15:25There is emotion.
15:26There is drama.
15:27There is bloodshed.
15:28And there is history.
15:29It is a part of the Mahabharata.
15:30And the Mahabharata has so much that fascinates us.
15:35So the Gita became far more famous.
15:37Which is better scripting overall.
15:39Much better scripting as well.
15:40Yes.
15:41One analogy that I observed.
15:44And I don't know if this is.
15:46True or not.
15:47Is that.
15:48The entire story.
15:50Is written.
15:51From the perspective of a blind king.
15:54Being told.
15:56What is happening.
15:57With somebody with.
15:59Second vision.
16:00Yes.
16:01Yes.
16:02I wondered if there is a metaphorical.
16:04Explanation to this.
16:06Which is.
16:07That.
16:08It is not easy to look inside.
16:10Our own conflict.
16:11Yes.
16:12Yes.
16:13Yes.
16:14Was I reading too much into that?
16:15No.
16:16No.
16:17You are not.
16:18Okay.
16:19Everything.
16:20There has layered meanings.
16:21Yeah.
16:22And the more.
16:23We get unlayered.
16:25Hmm.
16:26The more.
16:28The layers.
16:29Upon the core meaning.
16:31Also.
16:33Just remove.
16:35And the core is uncovered.
16:37You could.
16:38You could.
16:39You could.
16:40Very well.
16:41Say.
16:42That.
16:43The blindness.
16:44Of.
16:45Dhritarashtra.
16:46Is.
16:47Is.
16:48Metaphorical.
16:49Hmm.
16:50And indicative.
16:51Of.
16:52Deeper.
16:53Inability.
16:54To.
16:55To see.
16:56Hmm.
16:57When the.
16:58Second chapter starts.
16:59That's where we get into the.
17:00Or we start getting into the meat of the matter.
17:02Of the conversation.
17:03Yeah.
17:04Now the.
17:05Way the.
17:06Advice goes.
17:07Through.
17:08The different.
17:10Yogas.
17:11Karma Yoga.
17:12And the Sanya.
17:13Why is it arranged in that specific order?
17:17Why is it Karma Yoga first?
17:18Sanyasa Yoga?
17:19The arrangement is not really original.
17:21Okay.
17:22The arrangement came later.
17:24Oh.
17:25No.
17:26The division of chapters in this particular way.
17:30And the.
17:31Particularly the naming of the chapters.
17:34That came later.
17:35So there.
17:36We should.
17:37We need not read too much into why one particular chapter is.
17:40Named in one particular way.
17:42Okay.
17:43But.
17:44But what I find interesting there is that the war lasted 18 days.
17:48Yeah.
17:49And there are 18 chapters.
17:50That is true.
17:53So was it one per day?
17:56I think I think.
17:59Just you know cute little things to keep us engaged.
18:04And pointers and reminders that there is still something more to it.
18:09More to it.
18:10But one must not read too much into these things.
18:12Otherwise one will miss the central message.
18:14Yeah.
18:15I want to talk about the three main yogas in the Bhagavad Gita.
18:21You know.
18:22So let's talk about the karma yoga first.
18:24Which is.
18:25Put it in a nutshell.
18:27What I have understood is.
18:28Action takes precedence over.
18:31Everything else.
18:33But is that the right interpretation?
18:36See.
18:38As we were saying Gita.
18:42It comes from the legacy of the Upanishads.
18:47In fact.
18:49You know.
18:50Very strictly speaking.
18:53The Upanishads are placed higher than the Gita.
18:57The Upanishads form part of what is called the Shruti literature.
19:02Revealed literature.
19:05Literature without an author.
19:08Literature without a human author.
19:11A parushaya literature.
19:13So Upanishads come from there.
19:16Gita forms part of Smriti literature.
19:19Where the scripture is the product of an author.
19:25A human author.
19:26It's a human creation.
19:27So the Gita forms part of Mahabharata.
19:29And Mahabharata is attributed to Vedvayas.
19:32So very very strictly speaking.
19:35Because Upanishads are Shruti and Gita is Smriti.
19:38The Upanishads are in some sense.
19:41Above the Bhagavad Gita.
19:42So that is not practically.
19:44How it is accepted.
19:46And it is also not useful to put it this way.
19:55But it's important to see.
19:58That it's the message of the Upanishads.
20:01That will reverberate through all the chapters of the Gita.
20:04It has to.
20:07The Upanishads are Gyan.
20:11What is Gyan?
20:13Gyan not in the sense of knowing about the world and this and that.
20:18Atma Gyan.
20:20Self-knowledge.
20:22So the core message of Gita 2 is self-knowledge.
20:27Arjun please understand who you are.
20:30So what is Karma Yog then?
20:34Focus not on the karma but on the karta.
20:39The doer.
20:41Know who you are.
20:43If you focus too much on the action.
20:46You will be deluded.
20:49Look at the actor.
20:50If the actor is right, you need not think about the action.
20:54The action will fall in place on its own.
20:57That's Karma Yog.
20:59I like to put it this way.
21:01Chapter 2 comes before Chapter 3.
21:08Chapter 3 is Karma Yog.
21:09Chapter 2 is Gyan Yog.
21:10Got it.
21:11Fair.
21:12So the best thing was served to Arjun first of all.
21:19Gyan Yog.
21:20That's the Gyan Yog.
21:22But Arjun was still reticent.
21:24You know Krishna, I have my doubts.
21:26In fact at points, he is kind of accusing Krishna of misleading him.
21:32That's the extent.
21:33You know attachment and delusion can delude you.
21:39So after Gyan Yog which is Sankh Yog, then there is Karma, Karma Sannyas and all the things that follow.
21:48So Karma.
21:49Whenever Shri Krishna says Karma, it's Nishkaam Karma.
21:54Whenever Shri Krishna says Gyan, it's Atma Gyan.
21:58So Karma Yog is actually Nishkaam Karma Yog.
22:02Nishkaam Karma means action that is not coming from a desirous self.
22:09Action that is not coming from a desirous actor.
22:16And if you do not know the actor, the actor will remain desirous because we are born incomplete.
22:22Where there is incompletion, there is desire.
22:25Desire to be complete.
22:27If I do not know myself, I will remain incomplete and therefore all my actions will be full of desire.
22:33Therefore the only way Karma can be Nishkaam is through Atma Gyan.
22:38You cannot have Nishkaam Karma without Atma Gyan.
22:42Otherwise your Nishkaam Karma will be very superficial.
22:45On the surface you might feel you are acting without desire.
22:48But there will be some lingering desire within that you might even not know of.
22:52Because you don't know yourself.
22:56And that desire is not something that can be fulfilled by just achieving the next target.
23:03No, no, it never gets fulfilled.
23:06It can get fulfillment only through getting negated.
23:11…
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