All Streams Lead To Self: The Bhagavad Gita, Ch2, Verse 46

What does our lived experience look and feel like beyond the intellect and philosophies? This week, we will be diving into Chapter 2, verse 46. In these weekly lectures, we focus on specific ancient teachings that we can all apply to our day-to-day lives and personal spiritual journey!

Transcript

Today we are reading from the Bhagavad Gita. And the one I'm specifically reading from is Stephen Mitchell's version. But all versions are lovely. If you love them. The Gita is a conversation between. Arjuna who is the hero. And Krishna. Who is? God. The Lord. It's common language. As an interpretation, Krishna being my lord, That kind of thing. But it's also our highest self. Yoga in its foundation. Is all about. The merging of our individual self with our cosmic universal self. And so in many ways, This book is the journey of our integration. Between our individual selves. And our cosmic self. So Arjuna is our individual self. And Krishna is our universal self, Our divine self. So it's actually a conversation within each of us. And I bring that up because it's so important. That we know that we have this divinity inside of us. Every single one of us, All the time, Whether we're feeling particularly enlightened and happy, Or we're feeling panic-stricken and depressed and struggling, That divine voice of Krishna is inside of us all the time. And I say Krishna just because this is the context, But that's whatever you mean it to be. It could be spirit, It could be God, It could be Brahman, It could be anything, But that divinity is inside of us all the time. And this book is a conversation between. For me, The personality of Katrina. Katrina. Is a very limited being. On purpose. By design. I was born in 1969 in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. To Isabelle and Vic Harding. I have two sisters, I was married, I have children, I have a grandchild. I love reading. I love swimming. This is just the personality, Katrina. And it's important. I'm here to be this personality. But we can feel very limited based on our personality. We can have fears that, Oh, I can't do this and I'll never be able to figure this out, Or what if I'm never, Quote, Successful, And all these things. So there's a lot of joys in being an individual. But it also can feel very contracting and difficult. And so the spiritual journey is sort of honoring. The individual. And slowly weaving in the memory of being divine. Not the memory from the past. But the memory that we already know that we're divine. And that's where reading the Gita or other sacred texts are interesting. Touch those little divine parts of us and slowly weave them back into our personality. Which means that I get to be Katrina. With a broader understanding. Or maybe with more wonder interwoven into my life, Or maybe on the dark days. I remember that. No, An answer will come. Like I have this. This desire to create an online community, An academy, And I've done it many times. I've created one on Circle and Mighty Networks and School and all these different places. And many of you have heard me talk about, Oh, I want to create this community. I was chatting with William about it yesterday. On the drive home and We were just sort of brainstorming about it. And I can easily get frustrated. Like, Darn it, Why can't I just figure this out? Why can't I figure out how this works? And then all of a sudden, It's sort of you close your eyes and you take a breath, And I realized. I don't think I have all the information yet. That's all. There's more information coming. And there's something about just allowing ourselves to know that. There's more out there. There's more within me. It allows us to relax. It allows us to enjoy our time on earth more. And so this spiritual journey is very interesting. And this is the point in the book where Krishna and Arjuna are. That Krishna is sharing. New ways of understanding the world. With Arjuna. So this is where we are going along this journey with Arjuna. Arjuna is us. Krishna is our highest self. It's very cool. Bhagavad Gita, It's like a manual on how to live our life. That's what my guru says. So today we are looking at chapter 2. Verse 46. Now, If you're new to our Bhagavad Gita journey. First of all, We have a group called Tantra Loving Connection with Katrina Boss. So I highly recommend joining the group. And we have a playlist called the Bhagavad Gita. And it has all the previous classes. So if you ever, You can either start at the beginning and kind of listen forward if you'd like. Or maybe you have a copy of the Gita and there's a particular verse that you're really intrigued by, You can just pop in there and click on the class and listen to it. Just so you know if If you feel like you've missed something, Then you can always go back and check it out later. But each of these classes stand alone. You don't have to have read the previous ones for sure. So I'm going to read the verse before this one just to kind of set the tone here. The scriptures dwell in duality. Be beyond all opposites, Arjuna. Anchored in the real and free from all thoughts of wealth and comfort. We talked about that one two weeks ago. Just all about how in scriptures it's often about this is right and this is wrong and this is what you should do and this is what you shouldn't do and all that kind of thing which is which is great. But the real truth. Is beyond all of that. It's beyond the right and wrong. It's within our heart. It's, You know, It's within our experience. So here is the verse we're going to look at today. As unnecessary as a well is to a village on the banks of a river. So unnecessary are all the scriptures to someone. Who has seen the truth. I'm going to read it again. As unnecessary as a well is to a village on the banks of a river. So unnecessary are all scriptures to someone who has seen the truth. What comes to you when you hear that? What thoughts come to you? What emotions rise when you hear that? The truth outweighs lore. Poo's Up River. Thank you. The journey is internal, Not external. Don't mistake the signposts for the path. It really is. When you've seen or know the truth, You don't need any other proof or word. Yes. And knowing confidence. Oh, No other proof or word from the outside. Yeah. We all have a truth inside which we believe in. That rings true at the heart level. Something I didn't always know or trust. The real truth is inside of us. The scriptures are there to help us find the truth within. Truth is experienced, Not learned. It's an inside job. Exactly. I will repeat it, Kat. But first, I'm going to read a couple of other versions. This is Paramahansa Yogananda's version. To the knower of Brahman. Or spirits. All the Vedas or scriptures. Are of no more utility. Than is a reservoir when there is a flood from all directions. To the knower of spirits. All the scriptures are of no more utility. Than is a reservoir. When there is a flood. From all directions. That must be a scary verse to all churches and institutions. And I'll read Stephen Hawking's, Stephen Hawking's. Stephen Mitchell's version. As unnecessary as a well is to a village on the banks of the river. So unnecessary are all scriptures to someone who has seen the truth. This verse, I remember reading this verse. 30 years ago. Being so happy. Kind of like Keith said, Like there's something. Inside of you that just goes. Wow. It's like we're taught to be very small. In many Christian churches or the Christian faith, You know, We are sinful by birth and we have all these, You know, And in many cultures, You know, We're very small compared to whoever compared to nobility compared to movie stars, Compared to wealthy people, Whatever, You're very small. And you need people to guide you and you need. Ministers and priests to tell you what to do and tell you how to interpret scriptures and all that kind of thing. But I always deeply knew it wasn't true. I always knew that. I know something. And I don't mean me because I'm special. I mean all of us know something. Big K know, We know something. And it's like our soul. Has are the memory of oneness. So sometimes, You know, You begin on a spiritual journey. And so for me, I've been on this spiritual path for a long time in that when I was a teenager, I was raised inside the church in that. I didn't actually go to church regularly, But my grandfather was a minister and my uncle was a minister, Which is why we didn't go to church regularly. Because when you're raised on the inside of the church, You see all the politics and the things that go on. And my dad is very opinionated about these things. And he was quite angry with the church. So we went semi-regularly to my grandfather's church. But I personally would study the Bible. Because of course that was sort of the only option when you were young here in Canada. And I would read it and I even have my old journal where I would analyze the different parts of the scriptures and once I discovered the Bhagavad Gita or the Buddhist Ratait teachings and all that, Oh I just poured myself into all these teachings. But sometimes you can feel like you can never know enough. You just always feel like a newbie. You always feel like. . . I'll never know as much as that person. I'll never know as much as that teacher or that guru or that whatever. I even at one point thought maybe I'll go to the seminary. And that I'll actually become a minister. Maybe that will be enough teaching for me. And so I think. . . Reading that particular passage. As a young person. I just thought. . . Oh, Good. That those feelings, Those experiences I know inside of me, Are even more valid. Than what's in the books. That I could actually live the rest of my life never reading a holy scripture of any kind. And fully experience God. And fully experience the oneness of the world. And we all have these moments that we've experienced that, You know, It could be. Crazy things like I remember in Canada. So I live in. Canada kind of has four sections for everybody who's not from Canada. There's the Eastern seaboard, Which is kind of maritime loveliness. And then there's sort of the Toronto, Ottawa, Quebec kind of area, Which is a bit more built up in the city, Except for most of it's actually forest. And then there's the prairies, Which are just this flat, Flat, Flat land that you can just see for days. And then all of a sudden, You come up against these mountains of out west, The Rocky Mountains. And the first time you ever see one of those mountains, It's like seeing God. You just can't even conceptualize these magnificent landforms, You know. And they're moments that just take your breath away. Are there times that you hold a baby or you walk through the woods or you sit in meditation and have a great insight or something through these moments and that those moments count. They are so so important. I just love that. I'm just going to read the chat, The chat for a second. What is sacred to an individual is felt. Scripture is defined as a sacred text. Yet whom decides which books are sacred? The hierarchical institutions? Or can we each simply allow everyone to find what books or life experiences are sacred to them? Without judgments of anyone. Exactly. Brilliant. I feel like the strictness in the Bible comes from the geography at that time. The harsh conditions in the desert encouraged outer exploration a lot more than inner. Compared to Eastern religions focusing heavily on inner exploration, As there was an abundance of fertile soil, Food, And water in the East at that time. Oh, That's interesting. Well, The other thing that happened in the West or in the Bible is Jesus actually did teach personal exploration. His original teaching was that the kingdom of God is within you. And that to follow Jesus was actually a journey of enlightenment. It was a journey of kindness and openness and development of the soul. And then when Emperor Constantine came in 300 years later and decided that Christianity was going to be the religion of the Roman Empire. He created all these external rituals. And all of a sudden there were priests and ministers and all these people that now had to teach and you had to do these external things. And in the end Christianity became something very opposite what Jesus taught. Which is much closer to the inner journey. Of many religions. There is no text or scripture that could compare to meeting, Seeing, Hearing spirit in nature. I know that feeling of seeing mountains and trees, The awe of that truth. My body and soul feels one with all nature. The New Testament has inner exploration touch. Well, And even honestly, Most of the Bible was put together by kings. So it's really only the red letter. If you buy like a red letter Bible, Those are the teachings of Jesus, Which are very different than the rest of the Old and New Testament. So it's a very interesting study. Books can point you there, But you have to explore and learn exactly. And this is what's really interesting is. The Gita isn't necessarily saying that there's anything wrong with the well. Sometimes. We need a book. Sometimes we need a teacher. Sometimes we need a teacher. Some help. To kind of reframe what's going on in our life. So it isn't that there's anything wrong with sacred study. I love to read. Sacred teachings. There's an entire path of yoga called jnani yogi yoga, Which is all about. The journey of wisdom and learning and how that sets you straight and lets you connect with the divine. Like it is an entire journey. Whereas Raja Yoga, That's all about connecting with the divine through meditation, Or Hatha Yoga, Connecting to the divine through the physical, And all this kind of thing. But Jnani Yoga is an absolute true path. But there's a limit. There's a limit to intellectual knowledge. There's a limit to ritual. There's a limit to all of that. And so to really look at this and say, This is an and statement. This is an and. We can Use the scripture. To study. We can use the scripture to have new insights, Just like we're doing right now, Reading the Gita. But it doesn't replace the experience. For example, We can read books about kindness. The power of love. Power of connection. But until we actually are kind. To people we don't like? We've never experienced the power of kindness. Until we understand the teachings, Like it's because we brought up Christianity and Jesus. When Jesus said to love your enemies. And that doesn't mean just saying, OK, I love that person. It's not verbal. It's the journey. To actually look at someone. Who drives you absolutely crazy, That you just want to throttle. It could be a family member. It could be a partner, A child, A neighbor. It could be, I don't mean that going around throttling children. I just mean that sometimes. Having children is really hard, You know, Because you're not the same person and it can be a challenge whether they're teenagers or they're 40. Some things just come out really funny. But to actually sit with this person. The person doesn't have to be there. To think about this person, Think about your interactions with this person. And to understand your frustration. Like, Really understand it. Understand what are you getting out of being so angry at them for. And I really mean that. So for example, I was just camping. And my sister, One of my sisters was there. And so we have 50 plus years of experience together. Lots of great times! And lots of not great times. And it's interesting that she might do something. And it makes me mad. Or I have preconceived ideas about her. And so when we talk, I already have all these judgments about her. And about the second day of camping. I was walking along the path with my daughter and I just said, I really want to let go of all those preconceived ideas. I don't want to carry those anymore. But it's not just saying, Okay, I have snapped my fingers and I no longer have these preconceived ideas about my sister. I have to look at them. Because along the way, Somehow my preconceived ideas are wound in to my own ideas, My own self-worth, My own frustrations, My own sense of self, My own sense of empowerment. If I always feel obligated to do this when she does that, Why do I feel obligated? Why as soon as she does this one thing, I now suddenly have no right to have my own truth? Is that really about her? Or is that about me? Right? There's a journey. Of my soul, That I get to heal the parts of me so that releasing my past ideas about her is effortless. I don't have to try to do it. I don't have to make a promise to do it. I don't have to have A. Affirmation that I have to say every day to say, I am not holding my sister's past against her present. I don't have to do that. Because I've done the inner journey. To unearth whatever it is that's holding those so tight. So this is the practice. It isn't necessarily a practice of a Kriya practice or a meditation practice, Whatever. It's actually taking these teachings out into the world. And so then all of a sudden, You start to realize that you know, She's actually a really nice person. I mean, She is a nice person. But when you have a lot of history with someone, You have a lot of history with someone, You know, So to actually real and then the next time, After I was really thinking about this and journaling about it and sitting with it and meditating with it, The next time we went to her campsite, I sat with her. And I had a much more beautiful conversation. Not because she changed. But because I'd let go of some things. But. . . I also was empowered to make choices that I wasn't empowered to make before, Which is what I held against her. Because I felt we had some old patterns, Like she's the youngest, I'm the oldest, And in our family, We are a classic birth order family. Not all families are like that. And especially because my mom died when she was young, When I was young, When my mom was young. I became the matriarch in the family. So I was now responsible for everyone. I was responsible for my father. I was responsible for my younger sisters. That sets up a lot of weird dynamics. So I had to actually step down as matriarch in my heart. That I wasn't responsible and I did have freedom and I did have the right to do anything I wanted. And therefore I don't have to resent her. You know, But this is my journey. This is the practice. We can read about love all we want. We can read about kindness all we want. But until we put into practice. It doesn't matter. It's nothing. And that's where the role of scripture comes in. That if we read it, And it gives us insight. So that we can release old patterns and then act differently in the world. Then the scriptures have power. But if we've never applied it. It's just an idea. It's a theory. It's an interesting idea. That's it. It's a beautiful quote. By Shiva Vivekananda and he says, Religion is not in doctrines or dogmas, Nor in intellectual argumentations. It is being. And becoming. I'm going to read it again, And I would actually love your insight and your comments on what this means to you. Religion is not in doctrines or dogmas, Nor in intellectual argumentation. It is in being and becoming. Does that shift it at all for you? Or what does it mean for you to? Truly. Be. Become. It's interesting, Right? It's harder. The path of being. And the path of becoming. Is much harder. Than just reading a book. It's way easier to read something and preach it. Than to actually to do that. I love that, Lessons learned, Insight rising. It means taking personal responsibility. It is in changing the definition of religion. It makes us have to look and listen within. Knowing and doing. It's hard. That makes it more about self and your personal journey and not about what others believe. Interesting, I've always considered religion as the dogma separate from spirituality itself. It's that idea that Books can only show us the map. That it's direct experience. That is what it's really all about. Direct experience is the actual journey. It's kind of like imagining. You're going to climb a mountain. Someone gives you a map of the trail. The map is literally just a map. It's saying. Head this way. And then turn right. But it has nothing to do with you. There's nothing in it to say what it looks like as you're climbing the mountain. The smells that go inside of you that change you. The vista at the top of the mountain where you see those experiences. Change us and bring us closer to our soul. But the books can help get us on a path. But we have to walk the path. Religion as a practice of beliefs. An actual process of practicing values, Beliefs, And all human interactions. We are being and also becoming. As we practice exactly. What's fascinating to me is a lot of my personal journey. Right now and I don't know whether it's because I'm 56 years old. Or whether it's just that it's 2026 like who knows but the idea of becoming is so Hard. And I don't know whether it's because I'm an idealist. So I'm a real idealist. I've always been an idealist. And I want to glean from all the books. I'm such a reader. I've been a reader since I was. . . So, So young. And I read, You know, Tolstoy, And I want to embody everything that I read. And I read metaphysics, And I want to be all those things. And I read Carl Jung, And I want to be all those things. And I read spiritual texts, And I want to be all those things. And then all of a sudden it's like you are so filled with all the things that you want to be. All these ideals that we're supposed to be. You have no idea who you actually are. Like, Who are you really? So I've been teaching yoga and tantra for decades now. And they are all based in a system that says you must do these things every single day and this is proper discipline and you must do this, You must, You must, You must, You must. And I have just beat myself up. For decades. For just not being worried like that. But what if I'm just not wired like that? And there is a time, Like right now I'm in the middle of a 40 day meditation journey. That's cool. But does it mean that I always have something I do every single day? What if it's just not who I am? And it's a fascinating journey. To truly figure out who we each are individually. With zero judgment, Zero comparison to others, No right, No wrong, Just you. Actually being who your soul came here to be. Yoga and meditation and teachings in my experience They help me release The junk. And the trauma. And the pain maybe that I've accumulated over my life. They help me release the beliefs of my parents, The beliefs of the church I was raised in, The beliefs of society. Like they help release all these weird things that have sort of globbed onto my truth. But the beautiful thing is, What's left? Is who I really am. And I would imagine that if you guys think about moments in your life, Where you've experienced real truth. Real peace, Real quiet. It's so pure. It's just your soul. And that's really what this teaching, This verse is saying. When you touch that place, That soul, That quiet inside. You don't need the scriptures. You don't need the teachings, You don't need the ritual. And for me, That is like a seed that we all can grow from. My sister lives in Louisiana and doesn't talk to me. I love her a lot, But I'm okay with it. She made a decision from her space. Yeah, It's her choice. And that's just it, Right? Just loving people. We just love them for who they are, And there's a peace that comes inside of us. And it's lovely. So here's a question. Where in your life? Do you maybe substitute intellectual learning instead of doing. It in real life. Where is it easier to kind of just learn about it? Than actually. Live it. I feel like a lot of religious texts were just guidelines for people living in a particular context, A particular timeline. Totally. Doing only guided meditations and rarely sitting with just myself in silence. It's a beautiful example of such a different experience. Mental energy versus being energy. It's just something to think about. Just something to think about. Where we get caught up in the scripture of life, You know. Finding who we really are is the reason we are here. As a child, I was what my mother expected, School, Religion, Partnerships. I compromised who I was to be, Who I was to be what the outside world expected me to be. Can you imagine? Living our lives. And all we do is just going out, And all we really want to do is go out. And just experience. Our own soul. And what's so funny is what I was going to say, Which I'm going to say now is, How do we do that? We go out and find joy. Like we go and we do the joyful things. And it's different for every one of us. Reading about dating. And relationships instead of having one. But then honestly, I haven't met someone where there's a shared mutual desire to embark on a relationship. It's one of the great challenges with relationships. Does take two to tango. So here's another question. How do you love to use scriptures, Teachings, Ritual practices? How do you love to use those? As a guide for real life. It could even be the study of the Gita, But how does something like this help you in your real life actually experience that happiness and peace? Mental maps. Forgiving. I go with the flow each and every day, Full of love for myself and others. It feels so joyful. I paint, Enjoy, Sing with my husband. I stand gratitude for all things, No judgment. Guides me to find the truth within. Like a match to light the fire. When it resonates at a soul level, I want to do it, Not just think about it. Writing Gratitude Journal. They help me with awareness of my thoughts and actions. Study helps reframe my perspectives, Reminds me how little I know about life. And why others are the way they are. Journaling. Many times it's a guide to how I move in daily relationships and interactions. Other times it's confirmation to what I discover during quiet times. And I know for me, Like when I read certain texts, Like even this journey of ours here together with the Gita. It can be very expanding. Of our worldview. Like we can sort of believe that. This is the way life is, And this is how I see it. And you can read something. You can go, Whoa. I never thought of that. That's so true. Even this particular verse, To know that every single moment you've ever had is so incredibly valuable. It's so valuable. To that whenever you're looking at yourself to put those on the table too. It isn't just the experiences of holy people or something that matter. That every single one of us has those wonderful experiences. Just taking small wisdom from the Bhagavad Gita and trying to work on it and then reflect. Yes. Since a recent medical diagnosis, I'm really done with the BS and just looking to be happy. Every day I'm grateful when I feel good and glad to wake up. I look for joy. I'm not dealing with others' games or opinions. And it's interesting, Right? Because oftentimes it does take, Or. . . It's a very common experience that we have a health crisis. And we suddenly go. Wow! All of this crazy stuff. That the world's been telling us is important. And putting up with all these weird discomforts and pain. I don't have to do that. That's not what I'm here for. But it often takes something to shake us out of it. We just don't have time for. . . Why do I get that? And when I listen to the YouTube narrations, It all seems obvious. Perhaps reminders are still necessary. For me. These kinds of texts like the Bhagavad Gita. Or any, Any, The light on yoga, The Bible, Doesn't matter what you're reading. The words themselves aren't important. All that matters is that you read it and it opens something inside of you. That's the point. That's why. This conversation, There's no right answer to what this passage means. All that matters. Is what it means to you. And that's where. When I first read the Bhagavad Gita. Some of the verses were like, Oh, That's nice. That's nice. That's nice. And then all of a sudden I came to this one and I went. Whoa, It's like it opened something inside of me that I knew. And then I had to close the book and go and think about it, Or journal about it, Or write about it. These books are not helpful. Except for how they ring inside of us. They don't hold. Ultimate truth. They hold words and language. That opens up our truth. That's all that matters. And sew. I'm going to reread our verse one more time. And then I would love if you guys could share. What you're taking away from our journey today. As unnecessary as a well is to a village on the banks of a river. So unnecessary. Are all scriptures. To someone. Who has seen the truth. What's your takeaway today? Believe what you hear from inside. Mm-hmm, To not doubt that truth. I guess the quote is talking about a person who is enlightened, Who does not need any more guidance from the scriptures. Yep, That's one definitely. Following my inner knowing. This is Stop Second Guessing. To develop your intuition and live from there. That experience beats theory every time. I'm finding that the Monday morning sessions are becoming a bit too. . . I'm waking up looking forward to this, Helping me finally, Finally understand. I am so glad, Leslie. We are drawing you into the lab. Being disciplined doesn't need to look a certain way. Exactly. Or to be the same every day. Continue to truth-seek. Stay open to other people's truths too. The way will reveal itself in that process. Yes. Exactly. Creating each day with intention can be the discipline. When I was younger, I devoured scripture. Now I don't rely on them to find peace and understanding. It's just within. Yes, Yes. Thanks, Everybody. Hope you have a great day. We'll see you later.

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