Bhagavad-Gita Glimpse Chapter 1

In this episode, I sit down for a quick chat with my husband Syama (Syamananda) about the first chapter of the Bhagavad-gita, which I would say is a must-read for yogis and yoginis who feel that their time has come to go deeper into the treasure of yoga. This chapter deals with stepping back and becoming objective about what nature is, what spirit is, and how to realize the purpose of the connection of matter and spirit.

Transcript

How do we relate the Bhagavad Gita into our daily life?

Today I'm talking with Shyamananda,

My husband,

About the first chapter of the Bhagavad Gita.

Hello Yogi,

Welcome to my podcast.

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

Welcome Shyam,

My dear husband,

To my podcast.

I'm so happy to have you here.

Thank you,

My wife,

For inviting me to your podcast.

It's an honor to be here.

Today Shyam will talk with us about the first chapter of the Bhagavad Gita.

As you all know Bhagavad Gita is a must reading if we are yogi or practitioners.

Can you explain to us a little bit about the first chapter and how can we relate this into our day to day life and into yoga?

How can we relate a work in a kingdom between two families actually?

It's one into yoga.

Very good question,

Many good questions.

It's a very complex topic actually but to start somewhere and put it in very simple terms,

It's a battle between dharma and non-dharma.

And Arjuna,

The main character who is on the good side with the good guys,

To make it simple.

Of course it's nothing is ever simple and there are good guys on the other side too.

And Arjuna's plight here is that he has to give up his attachments and that is what we all have to do.

Like we either have to do it before we die or we're gonna die.

So can you explain what you mean with the dharma and adharma?

So also this is very complex but again to make it simple,

Dharma is to do the right thing.

Non-dharma is if you fail to do the right thing.

And Arjuna here has to give up objectification which is in a very interesting setting,

In the setting of a war.

And where it looks like,

It looks like when he has doubts about the war that he's actually very noble.

But really what he's doing is justifying his objectification.

And he is now in a situation where where he will fight it will actually benefit both sides.

Like also those who are aggressors here that he will,

That he may kill will actually be liberated.

As it is,

As this war has been played out on a sacred battlefield and there are many just auspicious things in the surroundings.

Like the only really issue he has here is his attachments.

And this is a very difficult,

Like we are supposed,

Like often we hear that we are kind of supposed to identify with Arjuna here.

And that may be very difficult.

It's really hard to kind of have your attachments pointed out and having to give them up.

Can you explain which kind of attachments Arjuna has now?

Because maybe someone didn't read the Bhagavad-gita yet.

Yes,

It is actually like the the root,

Like material attachments in general.

Like attachment to,

Like the spirit attaching itself to the material world.

And it is,

It takes the form of objectification.

We usually hear of objectification.

Like we objectify animals for example and don't like let them be what they are.

But we put them in in cages and do like what we want with them for our purposes.

And,

But the thing is that this is what we're doing with the world in general.

And so it's like the very root of attachment here that Arjuna has to cut.

And while it's very difficult to put oneself in Arjuna's situation,

It may be easier to put oneself in Dhritharashtra's situation.

He's kind of the cause of the war in a sense and he is hearing the whole story being narrated by Arjuna.

The whole story being narrated by Sanjaya here in the in the Mahabharata.

And Sanjaya is very wise and so he gets to hear this the whole narration from a wise person who has insights into all these things.

And whereas Arjuna understands kind of immediately,

Like I mean not really immediately,

It takes an hour or so.

But that's very fast still.

Dhritharashtra takes way longer to understand but still he does understand in the end.

So we can maybe identify more with that.

We can put ourselves in Dhritharashtra's situation.

He hears this whole conversation between Krishna and Arjuna.

And at the end of his life he starts like a more spiritual practice and it is described in other sacred literature that Dhritharashtra after many lifetimes of practice attains perfection.

Yeah because the Bhagavad Gita is a conversation between Arjuna and Krishna during this battlefield and maybe you want to give some background or how what is happening there?

Yes it's a very long and complicated and story full of intrigues but basically you have two brothers.

Who like one of them is supposed to inherit the kingdom and it's usually the first born but the first born was blind.

It's this Dhritharashtra that I mentioned.

The second born Pandu then becomes the king and then they both have children.

And then Pandu dies and early then you know his sons are supposed to inherit the kingdom.

But then Dhritharashtra's sons are saying like well our father was supposed to be the king like he was first born okay he was blind but he was the first born so like we are not blind so we should have the kingdom.

And then there is a lot of intrigue and finally it ends up being this battle of Kurukshetra.

But this is all kind of like a setup because it is actually about these these deeper and deeper teachings.

But it is being played out in this way this kind of drama of the Mahabharata.

So what is because now we are talking about the first chapter of this Bhagavad Gita.

So what would you say just focusing on the first chapter like the teachings behind and how can we apply them into our lives?

Yes so the this first chapter is called like the yoga of despair.

You could say also the yoga of doubting.

So like every chapter in the Bhagavad Gita is called something with yoga.

It's some sort of yoga and you could say the Bhagavad Gita is how to turn everything into yoga even despair and doubting.

So what Arjuna is doing is that he's expressing all his doubts to Krishna who is a form of God.

Who is one of the characters in Mahabharata.

He's a humble character.

He is the charioteer of Arjuna here.

So he's said to be God himself but he's taking on a very humble role in the play.

He's not forcing himself unnecessarily on anyone.

And so Arjuna is expressing his doubts to him to Krishna and this is what we need to learn.

And like maybe like I said maybe we can't put ourselves directly in Krishna's position.

But we can like listen to the story with the like Dhritharashtra from someone who has wisdom.

So that it kind of the wisdom will sink in gradually.

It may take lifetimes is the point.

So would you say like for example that the first chapter is teaching you how to actually express all your attachment and see your blockages in life.

To make a kind of statement and express this either to God or to the universe or whatever you believe in.

Yes yes we should definitely express all our doubts.

We yes if we if we don't have anyone near to us who we who we trust to be wise enough to point out our rationalizations.

What is it called in psychology the defense mechanisms and so on.

You can ask the universe like am I on the right track here.

You express your doubts and in some way you will receive an answer.

Arjuna has a very he sounds like all his doubts actually like all the things he brings up.

Like all the reasons not to fight of course they have like they are good arguments.

The only issue is that he is they're not actually his like the honest reason why he doesn't want to fight.

Like the actual reason he does not want to fight is that he's attached to objectification.

Yeah and that's very important to to see I think because often we think like oh I don't want to do that.

This or that but we don't see the reason behind why we don't want to do that.

So it's not just that we want that we can express we don't want to for example wash the dishes.

But or do this specific job is like why so it's more a kind of um inner yeah it's more like a an introspection we have to do in order to be honest in expressing our our doubts right.

Yes like we have to do both introspection ourselves and also be be open to hearing from others.

But the interesting thing here like Krishna is there with him and he's simply like pointing out to him.

He's he's not like Krishna is not actually forcing Arjuna to fight it just happens to be that the right thing to do for Arjuna is to fight.

And Krishna is pointing out like the reason why Arjuna is actually resisting.

Very beautiful thank you for sharing these things.

I think next time we can talk about the second chapter.

Yes yeah that sounds good.

Thank you so much it was beautiful to have you here.

Beautiful to be here.

Thank you.

I hope this episode fulfilled its purpose of inspiring you.

If you like it feel free to share it give a review or a rating subscribe.

And if you have any questions please get in touch at aikoyoga-eikki.

Com.

Namaste.

Reviews

I am studying to teach yoga and this first podcast has helped me greatly to understand the first chapter of the BV. Thank you. By the way, you are both good with your interaction and the way you explain in simple language. Thank you 🙏🏻

Very nice teachings I’ll need to revisit to get the understanding you’re sharing, thank you

I love being able to listen to your conversations. This is very helpful as I begin to read the Gita. Thank you

So nice to have an explanation of such an important resource

I loved the interaction between you and your husband! Great summarization of a wonderful book.

🙏🌼🙏

Thank you for simplifying a somewhat difficult read. I have been trying to read and understand the B.Gita for some time now. I now understand and see the true beauty of it.