Bhagavad Gita Chapter 18

❖ You can ask students questions such as:

❖ How can we bring a fundamental change in our thinking as an individual?
❖ How can we bring a fundamental change in our thinking as a society?
❖ Give examples of negative qualities that have become a hallmark of respectability.
❖ How did we get to this point where negative qualities are the hallmark of respectability?

#2: How can we call a society advanced or progressive when its main criterion for respect is money?

You can ask students questions such as:

Describe what you see as an advanced or progressive society.

What happens when a society is centered around money?

Why are people so interested in money? What happens when we focus on what is perishable?

CONCLUSION

Violence and aggression never win. Acceptance and compassion do.

sasaktabuddhiḥ sarvatra jitātmā vigataspṛhaḥ naiṣkarmyasiddhiṁ paramāṁ sannyāsenādhigacchati

One whose intelligence is always free from selfish attachment, who has controlled the mind and who is free from desires, by practicing renunciation [sannyāsa], attains the ultimate state of perfection of selfless work or actionlessness [naiṣkarma siddhi].

Spirituality is an inner science, not an outer science, and that is fortunate!

siddhiṁ prāpto yathā brahma tathāpnoti nibodha me samāsenaiva kaunteya niṣṭhā jñānasya yā parā

Understand from Me, how one who has achieved this perfection, can attain the Supreme state of Truth, Brahman, by acting in the way I shall now summarize, Kaunteya.

Kṛṣṇa's compassion drives Him to repeat the same words to ensure that Arjuna listens and understands

buddhyā viśuddhayā yukto dhṛtyātmānaṁ niyamya ca śabādīnviṣayāṁstyaktvā rāgadveṣau vyudasya ca

Endowed with purified intellect; subduing the mind with firm resolve; turning away from the objects of senses; giving up likes and dislikes

Drop your ego or root patterns, your attachments, your ideas of 'I' and 'mine' as well as the emotions that bind you to survival and possession. Then you will be liberated, you will be in the space of completion and ready to reach the Supreme Being.

viviktasevī laghvāśī yat-avāk-kāyamānasaḥ dhyāna-yoga-paro nityaṁ vairāgyaṁ samupāśritaḥ

Living in solitude; eating lightly; controlling the mind, speech, and organs of action; ever absorbed in meditation; taking refuge in detachment;

Kṛṣṇa describes how to reach the ultimate Truth. He tells us to just follow His instructions.

ahaṁkāraṁ balaṁ darpaṁ kāmaṁ krodhaṁ parigraham vimucya nirmamaḥ śānto brahmabhūyāya kalpate and Relinquishing egotism, violence, pride, lust, anger, and proprietorship, one becomes peaceful, free from the notion of "I" and "mine", and fit for attaining oneness with the Supreme Being.

Complete and drop your personality.

are the ultimate sūtra, the technique to liberate oneself and realize Brahman, ultimate Truth. Kṛṣṇa describes how to reach the ultimate Truth. He tells us to just follow His instructions.

The beauty of Kṛṣṇa's advice in Bhagavad Gītā is that He makes no assumptions. He goes to the depths of Arjuna's stated and unstated doubts and tells him in such clear words that there can be no ambiguity. Bhagavad Gītā is primarily a śāstra, a scripture that gives knowledge. Even though the author who is the Divine Himself, He must bring Himself down to the level of Arjuna, a mortal. Kṛṣṇa's compassion drives Him to repeat the same words to ensure that Arjuna listens and understands.

As long as we question why, we never get a clear answer. Especially with Existence, the question 'Why?' has no relevance. As I said earlier, we operate at a different frequency from the Divine, so even if it is explained, we will not understand. Spirituality is an inner science, not an outer science, and that is fortunate! In the outer sciences, we keep asking 'Why?' and when we cannot get answers, we get stuck. 'Why?' is about logic. 'How?' is about realism. Śāstras answer the 'Why?' Sūtras answer the 'How?' Once in a while, the Master delivers the Sūtra amidst the śāstra that He must deliver to keep Arjuna quiet.

He says, 'Settle the mind and control the senses.' Can you do that while sitting in the middle of a traffic junction? No. That is why He says go into solitude and cut yourself off from disturbances. Go into meditation and shut your senses to external objects. These are the clearest instructions on how to meditate. Prepare yourself to be away from potential sensory disturbances.

There is no point in meditating when you are sure the phone will ring or a guest will be arriving. Fix a time and place when you will be alone, undisturbed. Closing the eyes is insufficient. Your eyeballs will still move and inner television will still play. Mentally freeze your eyeballs, think they are made of stone and still them. At the same time place your tongue on your upper palate and lock it.

If there is movement of the tongue, that creates verbalization, then visualization is difficult. These two tools of mentally freezing your eyeball movement and locking your tongue, substantially reduce the wandering of the mind due to sensory disturbances.

Meditate on an empty stomach or eat little. A full stomach makes us sleepy. Ideally one should meditate in the same location regularly to preserve the energy raised in meditation. These are the physical requirements. Next Kṛṣṇa repeats what He has been emphasizing all along.

Complete and drop your personality, He says, drop your ego or root patterns, your attachments, your ideas of 'I' and 'mine' as well as the emotions that bind you to survival and possession. Then you will be liberated, you will be in the space of completion and ready to reach the Supreme Being.

Helping the students remember Kṛṣṇa's instructions for meditation. Helping the students understand the importance of dropping one's personality for liberation.

❖ How does Kṛṣṇa display compassion here?
❖ What kind of science is spirituality?
❖ What are the physical requirements given by Kṛṣṇa for meditation?
❖ What are the other requirements?
❖ When will you be ready to reach the Supreme Being?

These verses are the ultimate sūtra, the technique to liberate oneself and realize Brahman, ultimate Truth. Kṛṣṇa describes how to reach the ultimate Truth. He tells us to just follow His instructions.

❖ Mats to sit on comfortably during the meditation

Feel relaxed and close your eyes. Even after we close our eyes, we see forms and images from behind the eyelids. To handle this, imagine that your eyeballs have become stone- like. Just harden them with mental pressure; then the images will die.

Place your tongue on the upper palate, locked. This will stop verbalization. The hardened eyeballs and locked tongue will help still the mind.

❖ Hum on the exhale.
❖ The humming should be as lengthy as possible.
❖ At the end of humming, let your body inhale naturally as is necessary.
❖ Humming should start from the navel and be as deep as possible.
❖ It should be as loud as possible, and as long as you can keep it while exhaling.
❖ Don't make an effort to take in deep breaths; the body itself will take breaths when needed.
❖ Don't become tense, just do it in a playful mood.
❖ After stopping the humming, keep your eyes closed and remain silent and inactive for 10 minutes with a smiling face and blissful mood.

❖ If any thought comes to you, let it come.
❖ Simply watch your mind as if you are watching the television, without resisting your thoughts or passing any judgment on them.
❖ Remain silent and blissful.
❖ At the end of 11 min, tell the children that they can slowly open their eyes and ask them to share their experience.

Mentally freeze your eyeballs, think they are made of stone and still them. At the same time place your tongue on your upper palate and lock it. If there is movement of the tongue, that creates verbalization, then visualization is difficult. These two tools of mentally freezing your eyeball movement and locking your tongue, substantially reduce the wandering of the mind due to sensory disturbances.