Bhagavad-Gita 9th Chapter Glimpse

In this episode, I speak with Syama about the ninth chapter of the Bhagavad Gita. The chapter is called The Yoga of Hidden Treasure, and Krishna starts off by telling Arjuna that he is qualified to hear this secret because he is free of envy. Does this mean that we have to be free of envy to read this chapter?

Transcript

Hello Yogi,

Welcome to my podcast.

I'm Aiko and on this show we explore ways to put spiritual theory into sustainable practice.

Welcome again,

Shann.

Happy to have you here.

Thank you,

Aiko.

I'm happy to be here.

So we just entered to these middle six chapters of the Bhagavad Gita which are very unique in their own and they have their own meanings and we're kind of going,

We're touching some very deep topics.

So would you like just to give a recap of the last two chapters since we enter into this middle part of the Bhagavad Gita and explain the meaning of and yes,

Just a small recap.

Yeah,

So to be brief,

I can say that the seventh chapter was speaking a lot about the components of the universe and how Krishna is explaining that those are his energies and then the seventh chapter ended with Krishna saying that if someone can kind of start to sense this,

That the universe is Krishna's energy,

Then they will also be able to feel that at the time of death,

Which is a very critical time and a very difficult time.

We spoke about how temples are built,

So that's like temples,

Churches,

Mosques and so on.

They are there even though the whole universe is in a sense a temple.

We may not be able to remember that so we go into a temple to kind of get that focus,

But then the point is to try to bring that with you when you go out of the temple also.

And then the eighth chapter goes more into the time of death and kind of how the kind of collected,

The kind of sum of your emotional development throughout life.

It comes to its,

It's sort of tested at the time of death,

Like at the time of death you will see kind of where you're at really.

So if you have learned to carry the temple with you and in that sense also like being a temple of your own,

Then you will feel Krishna's presence at the time of death,

Meaning God's presence.

We don't have to call it Krishna specifically,

But like a spiritual presence.

So what we're entering by speaking in the six middle chapters,

What's about,

What's the difference between the first six and now the second six?

So the first six are focusing more on the self,

Like yourself,

You,

Who you are really,

Like the what's in Sanskrit is called the Atma.

The Atma is defined in the ancient text as the referent to the pronoun I.

So that means like you can't really put a word on it,

But that which you're pointing to when you say the word I,

That is the self.

And the first six chapters is focusing on that kind of talking about what you are and how that's amazing.

And then when it goes over in the middle six chapters,

It's talking about your source and how you can connect with your source.

Wonderful.

So let's dive in into chapter nine.

Yes.

Yeah.

So this chapter is called the yoga of hidden treasure.

Krishna begins by telling Arjuna that because he is free of envy,

He will tell him a secret.

So it means that this is for people who are free of envy.

So that's a tall order.

It's,

It's,

It's very deeply rooted in us,

Like in the actually not rooted in us,

Not rooted in the self,

But it's deeply rooted in the covering of the self.

You can say that we are,

We are covered by,

By envy.

And how we uncover from envy then.

Yeah,

That,

That is to,

You know,

To like in a sense,

Like it's understandable that we are covered by envy,

But it's the very root is ignorance.

So it's not that we are kind of evil by nature or anything,

But we are,

We are ignorant of our true self,

Which if we were aware of our true self,

We wouldn't have any issues because in ourselves we are,

We are complete.

We are,

We are eternally existing and like there's nothing to fear since we are not aware of that.

Then we,

We believe that we need to kind of watch out and get ahead of others and compete and,

And all these things.

Yeah.

It can be also something emotional,

Like maybe in your childhood,

Your parents were not giving enough attention.

Then you're seeking for this attention from outsider people,

Maybe your coworkers or friends.

Yes.

Yes.

Like this is how it kind of plays out practically in our lives.

Like we,

Like we are a pure soul and we are covered by ignorance.

And then in that realm,

We have issues like that,

Like childhood issues and traumas and everything.

It's like you have so many layers of illusion.

You can say like,

Also we can even add on top of that,

We can go into a virtual reality,

Like people who are kind of live their whole life in video games.

That's like another layer.

So it's like someone could say,

Hey,

Like you should like get out of that virtual reality and kind of wake up to the real reality.

And then you come to the,

What we call the real reality.

But then even from that,

You have to wake up like a further level because you are not that either.

Like you are not that like those activities,

Issues and things from this life.

That's just like another like layer on top of you.

So what's Krishna is saying here in this chapter?

Yes.

So,

So this chapter is,

It is actually a little bit of a catch 22 because it is saying,

You know,

Like I'm telling you this because you are free from envy and there he's kind of giving the cure for envy,

Which is to,

You know,

To acknowledge reality and acknowledge God,

Acknowledge others for who they truly are.

And so on.

Like he's describing Bhakti here as like in a very practical way,

Like to bow down,

To say prayers.

Can you explain what is Bhakti for those who don't know?

So very simply it's devotion,

But specifically it's devotion to your source,

To devote yourself to your source,

To Bhakti yoga.

Yeah.

Yes.

Yeah.

So it's to like the practical way,

Like I said,

He's,

He's putting it,

Krishna here is to,

He's saying to offer pranam.

It's called,

It's like when yogis say namaste,

That's like a form of pranam.

It's like you,

It's like I,

I see you and,

And respect you and acknowledge you for what you are and not just for what you mean to me,

But like what you truly are in your own self.

And it's both to other people and to God.

In this chapter,

Like we spoke about in the seventh chapter,

How Krishna says that everything or all the things are his energies.

He goes more into that and he just kind of makes sure that you're not,

That you can't catch him by,

By any,

Like I say,

You can't like conquer him in the way that you materially conquer things,

You know,

Like by,

By like defeating or exploiting,

Excavating,

Exploring,

Like you need to fold your hands sort of,

And let himself reveal himself to you.

Like,

It's like,

Like a cat,

You know,

Like if you want to try to cuddle with a cat,

He'll just go away.

But,

But if you,

If you just stay there,

You know,

He may come to you,

You know,

Eventually,

You know,

The cat will come to you.

It's like,

Kind of like that principle.

So the way he's kind of making sure that you can't catch him by ordinary means is,

Is to like,

He kind of talks about how he is in everything,

But he is not in everything.

He says things like that so that you don't like fall into the idea that,

That you can catch him,

So to speak.

He can allow himself to be caught if he wants to,

But like,

You have to understand that it's on his terms.

But for someone who,

For someone who really,

You can say becomes enlightened in how God is,

Is in everything and,

And permeates everything and becomes fully surrendered to him,

He will take care of all of their necessities.

And that's a very deep level of trust.

It's,

That's not.

.

.

God will provide.

And there's a story about that verse that says that.

Because he,

Krishna says in the verse,

That for those who are completely devoted to him,

Like who understand it,

It's really just to understand that there is really nothing else to be devoted to,

Because he is in everything.

So for those who acknowledge that and devote themselves to him,

He takes care of all of their needs.

And in the Sanskrit it says,

Vahami aham,

And it means I personally carry it to them,

Kind of like a servant,

Sort of.

So there is a funny story about that verse,

That there was an old scholar in India.

So he was sitting with the Bhagavad Gita manuscript,

And he came to that verse.

And since it said vahami aham,

He was thinking that,

Well,

That can't really be true,

That,

That God is personally,

Like bringing me to things like a servant.

But I think he,

The word is supposed to be here is karo miyaham,

Which means like Krishna makes sure that it's done like a God somehow provides,

Like he,

You know,

He sends someone or he sends something,

But not that he comes by himself like that.

So he crosses out that word and he puts,

He writes karo miyaham over it.

And then he goes out to beg,

Like the culture is that,

I said scholar,

Like I meant Brahmin,

Like they are kind of like priests and scholars and they live on begging alms from others.

They perform rituals for others and they may get some donation for that,

But they don't have like a job in the normal sense.

So he went out to do his kind of round of begging.

Like you may have seen like pictures of monks,

They go with their bowls,

You know,

And they see what they get for the day.

And that day he didn't get anything.

So he was,

He accepted that,

Okay,

God,

It's up to God.

But when he came back home,

There was full of things,

Baskets full of vegetables and grains and milk products.

And so he asked his wife,

Like,

Who brought all this?

And the wife said,

There was a boy here.

He said that you had scratched him on the forehead because he had like a scratch over his forehead.

So the Brahmin was very confused.

Like,

What is this?

Like,

I never,

I didn't see any boy.

And I for sure haven't scratched him.

So then he went to check his Bhagavad Gita manuscript again.

And then he saw that someone had scratched over the new word that he put and again put back the old word,

Vahamyaham instead of Karo-myaham.

Like I personally carry the things to those who are surrendered to me.

So the boy was God himself came to provide and to prove him wrong.

And this is typical when you hear stories about God.

He does,

He appears in a way that you don't realize that it's him until afterwards.

Beautiful story.

So I have a question like,

How this connects with the envy part we talk about at the beginning of the chapter.

So how this connects to envy is like Krishna said,

He will tell you tell the secrets to people who don't have envy.

But,

But the thing is that these are the kind of things you need to acknowledge to get free from envy.

So it's,

I think Krishna is aware that also people with envy are reading the book.

Maybe like in the beginning,

Like those who are free of envy are qualified to hear this thing.

You think,

Okay,

I have envy,

But I still,

I still want to hear this.

And maybe that's what like motivates you to get,

To get free of,

Of envy.

And you,

You will be able to hear those things on a deeper level.

Yeah.

But I don't think it's that easy to get free from envy.

Sometimes it's just so rooted that you can't,

You can't really just think,

I don't want to be.

Just to give an example,

Maybe,

Uh,

Two brothers,

Like one was the favorite of the mother and the mother was always super extra nice to this brother.

And the other one probably just developed some envy inside of him.

And when he or she grow,

Grew up,

Like it's just rooted in him.

He can help himself.

So what are your suggestions to,

To overcome?

And the,

Yeah,

Like this,

This will happen.

This will have to happen gradually because like I said,

It is deeply rooted in it and it is going to be there for almost until you're like,

Have come to the,

Like the end of your spiritual practice,

Basically like when you're at perfection,

Because I guess in a sense it is,

It is envy that keeps you in mundane conditioning.

Of course,

The first step is to acknowledge it and that you don't want to have it.

And then it's,

It's going to have to be very gradual from there.

Like you will,

You will have to,

I say,

You will have to kind of see what's the opposite of envy and,

And engage in that.

Even if it's maybe like a bit difficult in the beginning,

You know,

To kind of try to see good qualities in others.

Like what's the opposite of envy?

I would say maybe compassion.

The way I think of envy is to kind of want,

Want something that someone else has.

Not more to want bad for others,

To not want others to have something good.

Like,

Like jealousy is usually like,

Like to want simply want something that others have.

That doesn't mean anything bad towards them necessarily.

But envy is more like when you have this toxic,

Like that you like,

I can't have it.

So I don't want them to have it either.

And,

And now I see that's very,

Very sad actually.

Yeah.

And when you can see that,

Then like naturally like when you can see how sad that is,

That will kind of motivate you also to go in the other direction.

It's,

It's like,

You know,

So it's,

It's by introspection.

It's about simply like practicing compassion.

So what's the hidden treasure that Krishna is giving you this yoga of hidden treasure in this chapter?

It is actually bhakti.

Bhakti yoga.

Yeah.

In this,

In this way,

Like specifically in those those ways that I mentioned earlier,

Like to bow down to God,

To devotion and faith to God.

Yeah.

So the secret is,

Or the hidden treasure is is this verse here.

The last verse of the ninth chapter.

Man mana,

Baba mad bhakto,

Madhiya ji mam namaskuru mam evaishyasi yuktayivam atmanam matparayana.

It's to think of God.

It's an invitation.

It's an empowerment.

It's God saying,

Think of me.

And if God says,

Think of me,

And that means he is empowering you to think of him.

So that's also why it's,

You can see like Krishna first says,

If you're free of envy,

Since you're free of envy,

I will tell you this,

He says to Arjuna.

So you can see that like,

There is a warning there like,

Like this might sting,

You know,

Not everyone wants to think of God,

Or like acknowledge God,

But,

But it's a very empowering thing to do.

And you go there through bhakti yoga.

Yeah,

Like that is that is part of bhakti yoga itself.

That is one kind of way into the world of bhakti is to simply think of God,

Just remember him.

Beautiful.

And so what,

What will come next?

So next is the 10th chapter.

In there,

We have the four core verses of the Bhagavad Gita.

They're called the chatu shloki,

A group of four verses that are giving the essence of the Bhagavad Gita.

Wonderful.

Looking forward for that talk.

Thank you so much.

Thank you.

I hope this episode fulfills its purpose of inspiring you.

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