Bhagavad Gita Chapter 12

Conclusion:

True love for others, is to love unconditionally, with detachment and without expectations. Love for the master must be unconditional, based on completion and total surrender that transcends emotions (love and hate), opinions (good and evil) and social conditioning (sin and merit).

-B B H OO A K G XI A I, V VO A L D UME G X I I T V A

Whom God Loves

THE SUPREME PONTIFF OF HINDUISM BHAGAWAN SRI NITHYANANDA PARAMASHIVAM samaḥ śatrau ca mitre ca tathā mānāpamānayoḥ I śītoṣṇasukhaduḥkheṣu samaḥ saṅgavivarjitaḥ

One who treats friends and enemies the same, who faces in the same manner honor and dishonor, heat and cold, happiness and sorrow, fame and infamy,

One who is neutral towards friends and enemies, who is the same in honor and dishonor, heat and cold, joy and pain, who remains the same in criticism and praise is very dear to Krishna.

tulyanindāstutir maunī santuṣṭo yena kenacit I aniketaḥ sthira-matir bhaktimānme priyo naraḥ one who is always free from attachment, always silent and satisfied with anything, without a fixed home, who is fixed in mind and who is devoted to Me, such a person is very dear to Me.

One who is free from attachment to the fruits of action, who is thoughtful, who is content with whatever he gets, who does not care for any house and is resolute in mind, such a man, is full of devotion and is very dear to Krishna.

ye tu dharmyāmṛtam idaṁ yathoktaṁ paryupāsate I śraddadhānā matparamā bhaktās te 'tīva me priyāḥ

Those who truly follow this imperishable path of righteousness with great faith, making Me the supreme goal, are very dear to Me.

A person who lives in dharma, righteousness and is devoted to reaching Krishna consciousness is devoted to Krishna and dear to him.

One who treats friends and enemies the same, who faces in the same manner honor and dishonor, heat and cold, happiness and sorrow, fame and infamy; One who is always free from attachment, always silent and satisfied with anything, without a fixed home, who is fixed in mind and who is devoted to Me, such a person is very dear to Me. Those who truly follow this imperishable path of righteousness with great faith, making Me the supreme goal, are very dear to Me. Again Kṛṣṇa says, 'Such a person, full of devotion is dear to Me— bhaktimān me priyo naraḥ .'

He is not ready to put down any more rules, which means He is almost ending His instructions. He is almost saying, 'This is the way, if somebody is like this then I love him, that's all. I am not interested in anything else.'

He says, 'One who is neutral towards friends and enemies, who is the same in honor and dishonor, heat and cold, joy and pain, free from attachment to the fruits of action, who remains the same in criticism and praise; who is thoughtful, who is content with whatever he gets, who does not care for any house and is resolute in mind, such a man, full of devotion is very dear to Me.'

Here is a beautiful phrase, 'One who does not care for any house and who doesn't bother to build a house for himself, aniketah sthira matir.'

Let me tell you a story:

Rāvaṇa lived for one kalpa (many thousands of years). Śrī Vyāsa lived for four kalpas. Rāvaṇa was building Lankāpuri, his capital in Śrī Lanka. He got Lankāpuri as a gift from Śiva and he was developing it. When Vyāsa came to the city, Rāvaṇa asked him, 'Oh Vyāsa, did you see my palace, and my country? How grand they look.' Vyāsa replied, 'Yes, I have seen them.' Rāvaṇa showed him everything with pride and asked, 'Why don't you build a house for yourself?' Vyāsa smiled and said, 'My life is just four kalpas. I have no time to waste building houses. After all, I am going to live here for only four kalpas, why should I waste time building houses?'

Rāvaṇa lived for only one kalpa, for which he built such a big house. Śrī Vyāsa whose life was four times as long, thought it was unnecessary to waste part of his life building houses! 'One who is not concerned about owning a house is full of devotion and he is near to Me, dear to Me.'

Kṛṣṇa concludes this chapter on Bhakti Yoga, Union through Devotion, saying that one who lives in dharma, righteousness is devoted to Him.

Dharma is spiritual righteousness. It is not, and has nothing to do with rules and regulations laid down by society and religion. Human tendency is always to break rules. Societal rules seem to restrict one's freedom of expression and movement.

Understand that you are no sinner! Divinity resides within us. Our only sin, the original sin, is in not recognizing that we are divine. Therefore we don't need to strive to attain enlightenment. We just need to become aware of our inner divinity.

In this modern age, the path of dharma, righteousness that Kṛṣṇa talks about leading to Him, is the path of meditation. When we follow meditation, one automatically gets into the virtuous circle of conscious awareness and completion that takes us to Kṛṣṇa consciousness.

The barrier to the realization, that our true nature is divine, disappears. We become who we are. We realize we are complete. We realize we are one with the Divine.

Let us pray to the ultimate energy, Parabrahma Kṛṣṇa, to make us all experience the truths of Bhakti Yoga, that love is our very life. Let us pray to Him to give us the conscious experience of bhakti, devotional love, and make us experience and radiate eternal bliss, Nityānanda.

Impress upon the students that the only real sin is to not recognize the divinity within us. We don't need to strive to attain enlightenment. We just need to become aware of our inner divinity.

❖ What is Dharma or spiritual righteousness?
❖ What is the thought current that prompts us to build houses and gather material possessions?
❖ What is meditation?
❖ Does meditation lead us to Krishna Consciousness?

MATERIALS NEEDED

1. colour paper