There Is No Destruction🔗

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THE SUPREME PONTIFF OF HINDUISM BHAGAWAN SRI NITHYANANDA PARAMASHIVAM

asaṃyatātmanā yogo duṣprāpa iti me matiḥ vaśyātmanā tu yatatā śakyo vāptum upāyataḥ

For one whose mind is uncontrolled, it is difficult to attain yoga in My opinion. But, it is practical to achieve control over the mind by appropriate means

Kṛṣṇa explains that it is possible to achieve control over the mind

arjuna uvāca ayatiḥ śraddhayopeto yogāc calita mānasaḥ aprāpya yoga-saṃsiddhiṃ kāṃ gatiṃ kṛṣṇa gacchati

Arjuna says: O Kṛṣṇa, if a person is engaged in yoga with faith but does not attain yoga because of the wavering mind, what destination does he achieve?

When we start off, we will face failure in our attempts to control and complete with the mind – even then it is possible to attain the Divine Consciousness

kaccinnobhayavibhraṣṭaś chinnābhramiva naśyati apratiṣṭho mahābāho vimūḍho brahmaṇaḥ pathi O mighty-armed

Kṛṣṇa, does the person who deviated from the path perish, torn like a cloud without any position?

If we move our body with the thought of bliss, the bliss emotion gets ingrained in our system

etanme saṃśayaṃ kṛṣṇa chettumarhasyaśeṣataḥ tvadanyaḥ saṃśayasyāsya chettā na hyupapadyate

This is my doubt, O Kṛṣṇa and I request You to dispel it completely. Certainly, there is no one to be found other than You who can remove this doubt

it is possible to achieve Self-realization by stilling the mind if one intensely practices the appropriate techniques

śrībhagavānuvāca pārtha naiveha nāmutra vināśastasya vidyate na hi kalyāṇakṛtkaścid durgatiṃ tāta gacchati

Bhagavān says: O Pārtha, the person engaged in activities for good does not meet with destruction either in this world or the next life; he never faces degradation

Kṛṣṇa assures Arjuna by saying that there is no destruction either in this life or the next life for one who is on the right path

Kṛṣṇa continues to declare that it is possible to achieve Self-realization by stilling the mind if one intensely practices the appropriate techniques.

Actually, having an experience of Sātori or the first glimpse of bliss is not a big thing. It is easy to get a taste of enlightenment. But to stay in that same state, the same consciousness, needs preparation of the body and mind. To express that high energy through the body and to radiate that experience of bliss requires that our body and mind be prepared. Preparing the body and mind for enlightenment is what yoga is all about.

This is what sage Patañjali created yoga for. The problem is that only the verbal language of Patañjali remains, but the body language is absent. That is why so much confusion and mutated forms of yoga are around today. Only a person in the same space, in the same consciousness as Patañjali can convey what He wanted to convey. This is what Nithya Yoga is all about. The whole purpose of Nithya Yoga is to prepare the body to experience, to stay in and radiate eternal bliss. Its purpose is to 'Unclutch' and enlighten. It is a direct means to Enlightenment.

Here, Arjuna again asks the questions we all will have in our minds. What happens if we start with faith but somewhere, we fail in controlling the mind? Be very clear, this situation will happen. When we start off, we will face failure in our attempts to control and complete with the mind. If we don't experience this, we should check ourselves because we may be fooling ourselves with whatever we are doing!

Arjuna wants Kṛṣṇa to give an assurance that Enlightenment is possible for all kinds of people; that even if a person starts practicing intensely but fails due to the wavering mind, it is still possible to attain the Divine Consciousness, Brahman. Actually, at the very root of Arjuna's question is the mind that is generating the fear and making him believe that it is hard to find the no-mind state.

The mind does not want to lose its existence. The mind always looks for a reason to convince us that we cannot carry on our lives without it. In our day-to-day life we face the situation that Arjuna faces here. Even with activities that we have carried out successfully many times in the past, we feel nervous when we start again.

Will we succeed? What will happen if we fail? Even before we begin, we start imagining the worst.

Actually, it is okay to imagine the worst. To overcome fear and face fear, it is good to imagine the worst-case scenario. Visualize it fully, relive such an experience consciously, taking it to its logical conclusion, and the fear will disappear. Kṛṣṇa assures Arjuna by saying that there is no destruction either in this life or the next life for one who is on the right path, the path of yoga. He provides the assurance that Arjuna is looking for. Kṛṣṇa is giving a wonderful assurance for all of us that even a small amount of practice of this yoga will save us from the cycle of birth and death. Any yoga practiced will give us tremendous benefit

Listen, any movement of the body with a strong intention will cause that intention to get deeply inscribed into our bodies and muscles. If we move our body with the thought of bliss, the bliss emotion gets ingrained in our system. This is such an important and beautiful truth. Don't miss it!

Goals:

For the child to understand that there is no destruction either in this life or the next life for one who is on the right path, the path of yoga. To understand that any yoga practiced gives us tremendous benefit.

• What needs preparation of the body and mind?
• What did the sage Patañjali create yoga for?
• Why is there so much confusion and mutated forms of yoga around today?
• What happens if we fail in controlling the mind?
• What is at the very root of Arjuna's question about failure?
• ✓ What does the mind not want to lose?
• ✓ How can we overcome fear?
• ✓ What does the practice of yoga assure us?
• ✓ What happens to the intention we hold when we practise yoga?

MATERIALS NEEDED:

• ❖ Paper with a diagram showing only half of an asana
• ❖ Sketch pens