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Q&A from the Class

Question: Verse 23 speaks about, "the man who is able to bear patiently the agitation born of desire and anger even here." What is the prescription for a seeker when he faces a desire, when a desire arises in the mind? How should a seeker respond in light of this verse?

Swamiji: Well, I would go back to the Chandi because the Chandi has a prescription for the method and the Gita has a beautiful statement of the objective. And remember in Chapter 8 when the Seed of Desire came. And the Seed of Desire had won a boon that whenever a drop of blood touched the ground a new desire with the same strength and character and capacity to captivate the mind would be born immediately in that same spot.

So the Seed of Desire marched out into the battlefield. He was struck by a weapon of Indrani, who hit him with a thunderbolt. And all the other Goddesses beat him with their weapons and blood started to pour profusely. So that every drop of blood that touched the ground created a new desire and those desires began to fight with the Goddesses. And they were wounded. And then Their blood fell and pretty soon the entire earth was covered with desire.

Everywhere we look there was a seed of desire. Now, seeing this, the Gods experienced extreme dejection. And then they called upon Kali. They said, "Kali, expand your mouth, only your mouth is large enough, has sufficient capacity to contain the desires of humanity. Please stick out your tongue. And let She who is Beyond Time, She Who takes away the Darkness, She Who grants illumination, let Her drink all the seeds of desire with Her tongue." And this is the method.

Because see what happens. Choose a desire. Give me a desire. You want some food. In order to get some food, you need to go to the market. And in order to go to the market you probably need a car. In order to drive the car you need some gasoline. In order to get the gasoline you need some money. In order to get the money you need a job. In order to get the job you need an education. In order to get the education you need a book. In order to get the book you need some money. And see. You took one desire and suddenly the seed of desire fell. And gave birth to a new desire. And pretty soon the whole world was filled with seeds of desire.

So now that man who is able to bear patiently the agitation born of desire, he is in union, he is happy, he is fulfilled.

We call upon Kali, we call upon Divine Mother, "Please You take away all the desires, they are too strong for me, I can't fight with them, I can't defeat them, I can't possibly fulfill them all."

Now Chandi has a method for the fulfillment of the theory of Gita. My prayer becomes more strong, more intense, more focused that You have to help in this matter. These desires have won the boon that they are stronger than me, little old me. And only You with Your Infinite compassion can open your mouth and consume all of my desires so that all I desire is You. If you take away my darkness, You illuminate my light, You cut down my impurities, You take away my negativities, I can perceive You as consuming all my desires.

And that's why at the end of verse 29, He says, "By knowing me as the Enjoyer of Sacrifices and purifying austerities, and as the Great Supreme Lord of all the worlds, as the friend of all existence, he attains peace. And that's the method.

Question: Can you please translate "tat tvam asi"?

Swamiji: Traditionally, it's been said as Tat, That; Tvam Thou; Asi, Art. That thou art. That is what you are. That is the true you. That, meaning all of it. Supreme Divinity. That's the literal meaning. That as is in the Supreme is what you are. Your true nature, your true essence, your true being is That. God is you.

Question: Swamiji, can you please explain what is meant in verse 13 by the city of nine gates?

Yes, this body has nine doors - two eyes, two ears, two nostrils, the mouth, the genital, and the anus. Those are the avenues of ingress and egress through which we communicate with the outside world. And sitting in this city as the Wearer of the Body, the Wearer of the Body is the Supreme Lord, Mayor of the city of nine gates. So that's the city of nine gates - this body.

Question: Verse 22 says that, "For those pleasures born of external contacts are certainly the womb of sorrows." Regarding pleasures born of external contacts, what about pleasures that come from nature, music, etc.?

Swamiji: Are they stimulated by the outside? Then they will be a transient pleasure. Whereas the wise take delight in communion with the soul. So what happens when the music is over, or when your adventure to the beautiful natural scene is complete? Certainly there is a beginning and an end, but now we are saying in verses 22 and 23 is that let us be free from those desires and free from those perceptions and take delight in the soul.

That's not to say don't go see nature, and it doesn't say don't listen to good music. But know that anything that has a beginning has an end and when it ends we feel sorrow. And then we try to repeat the experience again. So the spiritual knowledge is metaphysical, it doesn't have a beginning and it doesn't have an end. It is all the time anytime we tune into it and that is the knowledge we are seeking through meditation.

Question: On verse 8, if I am not acting, who is acting?

Swamiji: Brahma. Brahmarpanam, brahmahavir, brahmagnau, brahmana hutam. The Supreme Divinity is the actor and I am merely the witness. Nature is acting according to her nature because that's her nature. The Divine Mother is acting and this is the tool through which She performs that action. I get to watch.

Every time I try to act I get in the way and I mess it up. The only time that I ever do anything efficiently is when I am not there, when I step aside and let Her act it's effortless; and so that is our objective. So I am not the doer, I am not doing anything; even while the body is acting I am free from activity. I am merely the witness of the actions of nature.

Comment: Having no desire is the answer to having desires.

Swamiji: Well, there is a big jump from having desires to having no desires.

Question: How do we reach that in this world?

Swamiji: Again I move towards the Chandi as an answer for the questions of sadhana, the how. And the Chandi will tell us that there is a specific sadhana that we do, through prayer, through activity, through yoga, through practice. There are certain practices that we cultivate so that we move beyond practices and we give up the spiritual practices into leading a spiritual life.

We do spiritual practices again and again and again until they become second nature to us, they become the habit of our life. They cease to be an externally imposed discipline that we are performing because 'my Guru told me to' and 'it is written in the Scripture' and pretty soon it becomes the natural way of life.

Its just as natural as brushing your teeth in the morning, as taking a bath then you sit down in an asana and focus in the 3rd eye in meditation and then you come to the sacred fire and recite the Chandi. Just as natural. You perform the pujas, you perform the path, you perform the Yoga Exercises.

The spiritual discipline yields into a spiritual life, we forget that it is an externally imposed discipline. It's me; and this scripture that I am studying is no longer the study of somebody that did these disciplines and did these practices in ancient history. It is something that I am doing right now. It is the story of me. This is my scripture; this is my story, and the description of how I became who I became. That's the method.

Question: The mechanics of desire and renunciation are very complex in us. Would one avoid being exposed to certain things until one is strong enough to withstand? What is the values of experience verses avoiding experience? How do we balance?

Swamiji: First let me suggest to you that when we plant a new sapling, a new tree, we put a little barricade around it, a little fence around it so that the goats won't eat it or the cows won't step on it but when the tree sinks its root and grows into a strong trunk you can tie an elephant to it and never have a second thought.

Now we are little saplings. So now we want to nurture our little saplings with the type of influences that would be most positive in our lives and that means satsang. We want to be as close to the Guru, as close to the knowledge as close to the example as much as we can come, closer. So that it becomes a greater influence in our lives rather than all the other influences that are saying "˜look at me."

And they are. Every time we go outside every influence comes up to us and says, "don't I have the greatest?" And the answer is discrimination. Which will I like to become like? I will become like the people I associate with. I will take on the values, the attitudes, the language, the dress, the comportment of those with whom I associate. It behooves me to choose the wisest and the best. That would be the most fun.

Now all these influences are out there saying you could be like this, you could be like this. follow this example. follow that example. Your challenge, and all of our challenges, is to choose the best example and become like that, associate with that example and assume the values of that example and assume the comportment, the language, the diction, the values of that example. And that's called Guru. The example that you choose to follow in your lives.

Question: Why is Clarity of Pure Devotion a worthy recipient of Lord Krishna's wisdom versus Yudhishsthira who is committed to Dharma, the Ideal of Perfection?

Yudhishsthira is already committed. He is Sthir in the Yudh. The Clarity of Pure Devotion says, "To which deity, to which Divinity, to which form of divinity should I offer my oblations, my obeisances? The Clarity of Pure Devotion says I can become devoted to the world, I can become devoted to my family, I can become devoted to Dharma, which should I choose?

So Arjuna has said, "I don't want to destroy my family in order to enjoy the spoils of war." And that was his dilemma from Chapter 1. That's why Arjuna is in confusion now he has this conundrum of, "to whom shall I offer my devotion?" Shall I offer to the world, or shall I offer it to Dharma? Shall I save my family or shall I stand for truth? Yudhishsthira is sthir, he has no such dilemma.