Bhagavad Gita Chapter 3 - Lesson 3 of 11

Character Sketch

Śakuni, the maternal uncle of Duryodhana embodies the pattern of self-hatred, which is cunningness personified.
Droṇa represents all the best knowledge one imbibes and the teachers one encounters, who guide us but are unable to take us through to the ultimate flowering of enlightenment. It is difficult to give them up since one feels grateful to them. This is where the Enlightened Master, the incarnation steps in and guides us.
Duryodhana, represents one's ego or root-pattern, the most difficult to conquer as it leads one to self destruction. One needs the full help of the Master here. It is subtle work and even the Master's help may not be obvious, since at this point, sometimes the ego makes us deny and disconnect from the Master as well.

Bhagavan Ṣri Kṛṣṇa, the 8th most powerful purnāvatar of Ṃaha Viśnu, is the embodiment of pure celebration, boundless love, compassion, and completion.

Bhagavan Ṣri Kṛṣṇa is the only incarnation demonstrating and expressing Ṣarva Ṃangalatva all the auspicious qualities and all dimensions of an avatar during His physical happening. The līla Bhagavan Ṣri Krsna is one of sheer innocence and simplicity, in a peace-loving, diplomatic, conflict-free way.

Karṇa is the repository of all good deeds and it is his good deeds that stand in the way of his own Enlightenment. Śrī Kṛṣṇa has to take the load of Karṇa's puṇya, his meritorious deeds, before he could be liberated. The Enlightened Master guides one to drop one's attachment to good deeds arising out of what are perceived to be charitable and compassionate intentions. He also shows us that the quest for and the experience of enlightenment is the ultimate act of compassion that one can offer to the world. Till now everyone blames Bhagavan Sri Krishna for this Kurukshetra war but that's the greatest sacrifice Bhagavan Sri Krishna did to save the planet Earth. If Kurukshetra was not conducted at that time under the controlled conditions and direct supervision of Bhagavan Sri Krishna, planet Earth would not have survived more than three years.

Character Sketch act of compassion that one can offer to the world. Bhagavan Ṣri Kṛṣṇa, the 8th most powerful purnāvatar of Ṃaha Viśnu, is the embodiment of pure celebration, boundless love, compassion, and completion. Bhagavan Ṣri Kṛṣṇa is the only incarnation demonstrating and expressing Ṣarva Ṃangalatva all the auspicious qualities a nd all dimensions of an avatar during His physical happening. The līla Bhagavan Ṣri Krsna is one of sheer innocence and The wide spread availability of the Astra shastras without Shastra, without the knowledge and vision, was posing a huge threat to the whole of humanity and planet Earth, and for life itself. The greatest achievement of Bhagavan Sri Krishna is destroying all the weapons in one controlled condition and saving planet earth, eliminating the nuclear weapons and the knowledge of these nuclear weapons to save humanity from total annihilation.

conflict-free way.

simplicity, in a peace-loving, diplomatic,

Bhagavad Gītā appears in the heart of Mahābhārat in Bhīṣma Parva, the sixth chapter of its eighteen chapters. Veda Vyāsa, the narrator, in glorifying the Gītā sings, 'the one who drinks the water of Ganges (the sacred river for Hindus) attains liberation, what to speak of the one who drinks the nectar of Gītā?

Gītā is the essential nectar of the Mahābhārat, bhāratamṛta sarvasvam as it is directly spoken by Nārāyaṇa, Bhagavān kṛṣṇa Himself.'

The armies assembled in the vast field of Kurukṣetra, now in the state of Haryana in modern day Bharat. All the kings and princes were related to one another, and were often on opposite sides. Facing the Kaurava army and his friends, relatives and teachers, Arjuna was overcome by remorse and guilt, and wanted to walk away from the battle out of total powerlessness unbecoming an invincible warrior among warriors.

Śrī Kṛṣṇa's dialogue with Arjuna on the battlefield of Kurukṣetra out of His utmost concern and love for him and humanity is the content of Bhagavad Gītā. Of its seven hundred and forty-five (745) verses, Bhagavān Śrī Kṛṣṇa sings the Gītā in six hundred and twenty (620) verses responding to Arjuna's fifty-seven (57) enquiries.

Śrī Kṛṣṇa persuades Arjuna to give-up his powerlessness unfitting an Ārya—the spiritually evolved one who understands human life and urges him to raise himself again as Parantapa—the conqueror of enemy, and take up arms and vanquish his enemies. They are already dead,' says Śrī Kṛṣṇa, 'All those who are facing you have been already killed by Me. Go ahead and do what you have to do. That is your responsibility. Do not worry about the outcome. Leave that to Me.'

yajñārthātkarmaṇo'nyatra loko'yam karmabandhanaḥ tadarthaṁ karma kaunteya mukta saṅgaḥ samācara

Work has to be performed selflessly; otherwise, work binds one to this world. O son of Kuntī, perform your work for Me and you will do it authentically, liberated and without attachment

Liberate yourself from attachment to work by surrendering the fruits of your work to the Divine sahayajñāḥ prajāḥ sṛṣṭvā puro'vāca prajāpatiḥ anena prasaviṣyadhvameṣa vo'stviṣṭakāmadhuk

Brahma, the lord of creation before creating humankind as selfless sacrifice said, 'By this selfless enriching, be more and more prosperous and let it bestow all the desired gifts.'

Now, I am giving the right and complete reason for enriching. Because everyone is part of you, enriching every being is nothing but enriching some part of you.

devān bhāvayatā'nena te devā bhāvayantu vaḥ parasparaṁ bhāvayantaḥ śreyaḥ paramavāpsyatha

The celestial beings, being pleased by this sacrifice, will also nourish you; with this mutual nourishing of one another, you will achieve supreme prosperity

Enriching should be practiced because everyone is part of us. Nobody is separate from us.

yajñaśiṣṭāśinaḥ santo mucyante sarvakilbiṣaiḥ bhuñjate te tvaghaṁ pāpā ye pacantyātmakāraṇāt

Those who eat food after selfless enriching service are free of all sins. Those who prepare food for sense enjoyment do grievous sin

When you see that Existence is purposeless and you are living in the loving, caring arms of Existence, you will relax and surrender to that very Existence.

Here are two techniques by which one can liberate oneself from attachment to work. One is by telling oneself, 'I am not the doer.' By continuously reminding yourself that it is the senses and not you who is doing something, you distance yourself from the action. The other way is by surrendering the fruits of one's work to the Divine, to the ultimate life force that is conducting this Universe. This is the technique that Kṛṣṇa talks about here. Bhagavān says, 'O Kaunteya, perform your work for Me and you will do it with authenticity, liberated and without attachment.' When you do work as a sincere, humble offering to the Divine, the very attitude of this surrender will make you do the job authentically to your peak capability and you will be liberated.

When you are excessively bothered about the results, you actually think you are the doer of the action! That is why you get attached to the work and its results. This is when you start getting stressed and tensed about results. Naturally, when you are tensed, you are not performing at your maximum efficiency because so much of your valuable energy is getting wasted in being tense.

How will you then be able to get your job properly done? I always tell people, 'When you are afraid to make small mistakes and are overcautious, you end up making big blunders.' You waste your entire life trying to avoid making mistakes and attempting to be perfect, and your life becomes a blunder. This doesn't mean you can be careless about your work. I am only saying that you should have the courage of authenticity to make mistakes and learn to not give up on yourself.

Only when you make mistakes can you learn from them and complete with your unconscious inauthenticity's.

Only then have you been exposed to your inauthenticity and seen both sides of the coin. Then, with experience, when you have learnt from the mistake and stood up powerfully with completion, you will have the cognition of both sides.

Otherwise, just at the crucial time, your inauthenticity's that have been hiding from you will make you commit mistakes and you will powerlessly give up on yourself.

You can have this courage of authenticity only when you are not attached to the ownership of tasks and results.

When you see that Existence is purposeless and you are living in the loving, caring arms of Existence, you will relax and surrender to that very Existence. When you are in this relaxed mood, you can function at your best and enjoy every moment of life without feeling like the doer and therefore not worrying about making small mistakes.

Real surrender happens when this understanding becomes your experience.

Utmost integrity and authenticity is enough for surrender.

Nothing else is needed. Surrender has a tremendous power, a tremendous energy.

Whether you surrender to an idol or to a person or to your Guru, or even a rock, is not important.

What is important is surrender itself.

See the example of Arjuna; Kṛṣṇa knew Arjuna better than Arjuna knew himself.

The very trust, the very connection enabled Arjuna to relate with Kṛṣṇa, who took him to the Ultimate Consciousness.

Have simple trust in Existence, in the intelligence of the life force. This is the very life force, the energy that is keeping you alive.

It is the energy behind the marvelous functioning of your brain, of your digestive system, of your nervous system.

It is the energy that runs our solar system, all the galaxies and the entire Universe so smoothly.

We very conveniently forget an important fact, and take life happening for us with others for granted. Anything you receive without enriching, is stolen!

When we enrich others what we can afford to give, it is no sacrifice. When we enrich others by denying ourselves, then it is a sacrifice. That is why most of the charitable work done by people, even with good intentions, does not fit into the essence of what Kṛṣṇa says here. Of course, it is better to enrich others rather than foolishly stuff yourself. Enrich others for the sake of enriching.

When you enrich others at your own expense, by denying yourself, you function at the level of the Universal energy; you function as part of the principle of Vasudaiva kuṭuṁbakaṁ meaning 'The whole world is my family' as said by Kṛṣṇa; you operate out of compassion.

There is no compulsion or no moral injunction to give. There is no expectation that you will go to heaven if you give and to hell if you don't. That's why, time and again, I tell people, 'Do not donate anything to the mission in the belief that I will help you pass through the gates of heaven.

First of all, there is no heaven, and second, I am not its gatekeeper! Many times even your enriching others has a selfish motive. You think, 'If I enrich, I may get this, this, and this back!' Do not enrich with purpose. Let enriching be a purposeless happening. Now, I am giving the right and complete reason for enriching. Because everyone is part of you, enriching every being is nothing but enriching some part of you. Only then are you practicing the tattva of enriching Vasudaiva kuṭuṁbakaṁ, the whole world as your family.

Constantly enriching the source and keeping it alive for the next generation is yajña. Do not touch anything which you can't replace, like sources which can be exhausted but not replenished. Do not use nonrenewable energy sources. Use only renewable energy sources. That is part of enriching yajña.

Let the child know work as a sincere, humble offering to the Divine, the very attitude of this surrender will make you do the job authentically to your peak capability and you will be liberated. Let children know they should have the courage of authenticity to make mistakes and learn to not give up on themselves. Let children know about enriching others. Anything you see, anything you experience is an extension of you. Let children understand to enrich others because they are part of you.

1. Which two techniques can liberate oneself from attachment to work?
2. Why do you get attached to the work ?
3. Why should we have the courage of authenticity to make mistakes and learn to not give up on ourselves?
4. What is sacrifice?

❖ Should enriching be done for a purpose?
❖ What is the right and complete reason for enriching?
❖ Why Kṛṣṇa says that enriching should be practiced?
❖ What is stolen?
❖ What is enriching ?
❖ Why do we need sangha ?

Materials needed:

❖ Paper Pencil

❖ Color pencil or crayons or Sketch pen

PROCEDURE:

Encourage the children to draw the enriching of a tree from a seed. Seed - Plant - Tree - Fruit - Sharing the fruit+ After they have finished their art drawing, let the child do a presentation with their picture. Make them more clear about the enriching lifestyle in their life.