Beyond Illusion: The Bhagavad Gita, Ch2, Verses 52-53

Where do we go within ourselves when we begin to transcend the mire of worldly thought and ideas? This week, we will be diving into Chapter 2, verses 52-53. 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

So today we are looking at. Bhagavad Gita. And we are specifically looking at chapter two. Versus 52 and 53. At this point in the discussion, This is a discussion between Krishna and Arjuna. And Krishna is sharing a different way of living with Arjuna. For me, Back in 1999, I was sick. Lots of you guys know the story or read the book and all that. One of the most significant things about meeting Jim, My teacher. Was. It's like he was living in a different world. Well, He was living in a different world. He was here. And he was married and he was he has three children and now he has I don't know, Seven grandchildren and, You know, He lives in the world physically. But his perception of the world was something I'd never experienced before. I'd never experienced anyone who saw the world like he did. And that really blew my mind. It was like, Interacting with someone who was absolutely seeing the world through different eyes. You know what I mean? Like just absolutely. Different. And that's really something and that's really what Krishna is doing for Arjuna up until this point in his life. He's had teachers talking to him. He's studied the scriptures. He's been trained. He's got family ideas. He's got his own ideas he's picked up along the way. He's got all these ideas. He ends up on the battlefield in this moment where he absolutely has no idea what to do. Everything he's ever known. Is all conflicting now. And I think a lot of us have had those experiences. That to me is the best definition of a dark night of the soul. That everything you've learned up until this point isn't providing the answers. It isn't providing what we want to know. And so this is where we are. And so Krishna is giving him all kinds of interesting teachings. Which we've talked about in all of our previous talks. And they're all recorded and there's a playlist if you want to listen to previous ones. The one we've just been talking about is releasing our attachment to the outcome of our actions. And actually acting out of our own truth. Like sitting within ourselves. Being clear about who we are and acting. And allowing the cards to fall where they may. But not doing things just because I want this outcome, Which almost gets rid of who we are. And makes us attach to what we want. These last two, These last verses are kind of a summary of all of those teachings. So I'm going to read a little bit from before. And then we'll talk about the ones that we're actually gonna look at. You have a right to your actions, But never to your actions' fruits. Act for the action's sake and do not be attached to inaction. Self-possessed. Resolute. Act without any thought of results. Open to success or failure. This equanimity is yoga. The wise man lets go of all results. Whether good or bad. And is focused on the action alone. Yoga. Is skill in actions. The wise man whose insight is firm. Relinquishing the fruits of action. Is freed from the bondage of rebirth. And attains the place beyond sorrow. All right, So the next two are the ones we're going to look at today. When you're understanding. Has passed beyond the thicket of delusions. There is nothing you need to learn. From even the most sacred scripture. Indifferent to scriptures. Your mind stands by itself. Unmoving. Absorbed in deep meditation. This. Is the essence of yoga. So we're going to look at each one individually. I'm going to read to you. Number 52 from the Maharishi Mahesh Yogi's version. And after I read it, I would love to know. What thoughts come through your mind? When your intellect crosses the mire of delusion. Then will you gain indifference. To what has been heard. And what is yet to be heard. When your intellect crosses the mire of delusion. Then. . . You will gain indifference. To what has been heard. And what is yet to be heard. What comes to you when you hear that? Self-knowledge. Can this come and go or will it stay? Oh, This is an excellent question. We will talk about that. Indifference, The emotional freedom. The equanimity provides to the self. You can listen to the outside, But listen more to the inside. The inner voice knows the way, Does not need to ask for directions. It's good. At some point, It's time to put down the books and experience the moment without outside interpretation. Rising above words and opinions, Being unmoved by outer circumstances. Yes. Openness supported by clarity. Crazy is light. Outcomes don't matter, Good or bad. Whoa. When I can see delusion in everything. Only will I hear the inner voice. My version when your perception pierces the dark mists of delusion you will become indifferent to everything you have heard of this works and the next. Trust the inner voice beyond all other. Grrrr! So let's first talk about the mire of delusion. And for anyone for whom English isn't your first language, MIRE, M-I-R-E. Is like. Mud. It's something you get stuck in. Swampy, Exactly. So what is the mire of delusion? So a lot of what the Gita talks about is our attachment to sensory experiences. Constant desire for pleasure anything at all. I don't care what it is. I don't care if it's Sparkly new things that make me buy too much or look at that delicious chocolate I'm gonna eat so much of it it gets sick or I'm gonna have that relationship because I'm just like so desperate for that thing and or The aversion to pain right like you know what it's not worth it. Like what if it doesn't work out? I'm not gonna do it. I'm not gonna take this risk. I don't want to do that. I'm not gonna I don't want to put the effort in because what if I fail like all of this delusion of the fear of the senses. But then there's all the cultural conditioning. Everything we learned in our family. Everything we learned from society, Everything we learned in school, Everything we learned from churches. And even everything we've learned in books and trainings and everything like It's a lot. It's a lot to balance it all. And then imagine all these shoulds that we live with. You know, You have to do this and you, Well, You know, They're your parents, They're your kids, This is your partner, You have to do this. You know, If you don't have an education, What is, You know, If you don't make this much money, You can feel the mire, The swampiness of this delusion. But this is the goal of yoga. Of actually. Realizing that inside of me. I am connected. To pure light. Pure consciousness. That I am here on this earth having an experience. And so however, Whatever yoga practice, And I'm just going to stick with kind of classical yoga practices. We slowly start to realize that There's an entire experience inside of me. That has nothing to do with whether it's raining. Or whether it's sunny. Or whether I'm in a relationship. Whether I'm not in a relationship. Or whether I'm hungry, Or whether I'm full. Or what's going on in the world today. I actually am something else. And I'm not those things. I can still experience them. I can still have all kinds of experiences in the world and I can have love and I can have connection and I can have success and I can have failure. But I. . . I. . . Capital I? And something actually quite indifferent to all of that. My physical personality? Oh, I can enjoy all the emotions. You know, My grandson was visiting yesterday. And when I say he was visiting. He's only three months old, So my son and his wife were here. And I was all full of joy. And then later, Something happened. And I was all full of sorrow. That's the human experience, Is having all these feelings. But there's something really interesting about having all the feelings when deep down you know that you're something else. Weirdly, You get to actually dive into all the emotions even more. You dive into the sadness, You dive into the pain, You dive into the happiness, You dive into all of it because It's like you're aware that. You're more than this. You know, They say that when we're born, Especially in the Gita, In the culture of the Gita. Reincarnation is a huge aspect. And the idea is that when you come back, Again. A veil of forgetfulness. Comes over you and you don't remember your past lives, You don't remember anything except there's like an imprint within us. Which causes us to start creating similar patterns so that we can learn and we can grow and we can transcend them. But there is this veil of forgetting. And that's what life can be like. And it's almost like the journey of yoga. Helps us remember. Not necessarily remember past lives. But remember. That we chose to come back. To remember the I. That is constant in all the lifetime. And then all of a sudden, This world and all of our experiences ends up having context. It isn't just this one time. It isn't just that, Why did I end up in this crappy situation and this crappy body and this crappy. . . Why am I like this? It's not like that. Because you remember you. And there's sort of this interesting observance of who you are. And a love for who you are. That says, Wow. This is a tough one. But you know, We're here for it. You know there's a different thing. So that's where they're saying. Once you pass through the mire of delusion, Once you remember who you are. Whole different world opens up. Your experience of the world is so radically different. When we are born, An angel presses a finger above our upper lip and presses. The imprint keeps us from remembering. Oh, Wow. That's cool. Mired in delusion everything anyone can have a seed of either deluding the self or being deceived by what others want. Either for you or of you. The pleasure-pain cycle is part of living in a body. To have a perception apart from the trappings of the body or society is what spiritual practices are about. I tell myself often that I choose my lineage to heal it through all directions of time. So the second part of this verse He says, You will live beyond what you have heard. And beyond what you have yet to hear. And this is really interesting. Like when you think of all the things we've ever heard. Even spiritual teachings can be great can be really contradictory. Even within one tradition. They will say one thing and then contradict it later, Then contradict it again and contradict it again. Or you're taught something that honestly seems impossible. Or it's like, Well, That's great, But I mean, That doesn't apply to me in my situation. And what's interesting about spiritual teachings is that one of the big challenges to spiritual teachings they weren't necessarily all written for the same person. They were written for people. At various stages on the journey. They were written for very specific populations a lot of times, Especially in Christianity. You know, When they talk about the letters. From the different disciples to the different peoples letters to corinthians letters to you know They were letters specifically to a population that was struggling with something very particular. Might not even apply to you, Might not even apply to any of us. And yet we're taking these words like they're gospel truth for every single soul. But that's not necessarily true. The greatest teachers I've ever had. Give different advice to different people. I teach Kundalini Yoga. Kundalini Yoga was brought to the West by Yogi Bhajan. And one of my teachers within that culture. She knew Yogi Bhajan right from the beginning and she would sit with him at the end of one of his lectures, At the end of one of the classes. He would sit at the front of the room and a lineup would form, Hundreds of people deep, Each person coming up for a moment with the guru, You know, Just, We want your advice, You know, That kind of thing. So she often would sit beside him. And listen to the advice that he gave every person. And she said, It was shocking how contradictory the advice was from one person to the next. Not wrong. He wasn't lying to one person or telling the truth to another person. He was telling that person the guidance that they needed specifically for their moment in time. For example, Around sex. This is my favorite story. Because one person would come up and they'd say, Here's the issue I'm having. And he would look at them and say, And this is true, He said, Alright, You need to have sex with your wife once a month. You need to spend four days building up to it. You need to give her a massage, You need to be kind to her, You need to do things to her. You need to cultivate this beautiful experience. And then make love for hours, And then don't do it again for another month. 10 people later. This person comes up and Yogi Bhajan says, You need to have sex twice a day for the next month. Because they both have different issues. But the voice of the guru speaks to the soul of the person in front of them. And so our spiritual scriptures are often filled with crazy contradictions. Because this was the lesson or this was the teaching for that person or that group. But then what happens, Say, In Kundalini Yoga, Because I can speak to this because it's within my lifetime. After Yogi Bhajan died. People cherry-picked the teachings and then said, This is the truth. This is the gospel. Interestingly, There are enough people still alive who were actually present in his time. That can all say, Well. He said that once. But that isn't always what he said. And this is sometimes a real shocking thing to think about when you have read a scripture or you're deeply engrossed in Christianity, Hinduism, Buddhism, Whatever religion you're particularly loving or really deeply believe in. In all religions. You are the most important part. Your consciousness, Your connection to the divine, Your sense of self. Because you're the one that has to sort through all of this using In Christianity, It would be the Holy Spirit, Or your sense of self, Your eternal self in yoga or Hinduism, Or even in Buddhism, To access the eternal void. So that you can hear the truth. This is the most important part. Because the scriptures can help, But the idea is that you read it from your perspective. And if it rings true and it blows your hair back, Brilliant! And if it seems funny, Or it doesn't kind of feel right. Let it go. There is a lot of controversy about Yogi Bhajan. Oh, 100%. I'll speak to that very shortly. I've made videos about it. Yogi Bhajan, Like many yoga gurus in the West, Fell from grace through sexual issues and sexual abuse and things like that. And so when that happened, When it all came out, I don't know, 10 years ago or so. Huge, Huge issue in the community. People really fell away. For me, It didn't matter. Because I actually never really liked Yogi Bhajan. But I have deep respect for his teachings. I have deep respect for what he channeled. And in the exact same place. Thread of this particular verse. I felt. The healing experiences of Kundalini Yoga. Before all that happened, I already had my own experience. I'd already done the yoga, I'd already done the meditations, And I'd felt how they had altered my life, And how they had altered the lives of people around me. So I don't really care about him. Because. . . I've already had the experience. And I'm so glad you brought that up, Monica, Because. That's exactly the point. All the previous verses that we talked about here in the Bhagavad Gita. Is that It's the yoga of action that matters, No matter what we've learned, No matter what people have said. Take it, Go out in the world and do it. Find out for yourself if it's true or not. That was a huge teaching of the Buddha. Believe nothing that anyone tells you until you've gone out in the world and experienced it for yourself. And then you don't believe in anything. Because you know something. You know, And even for me, The controversy around Yogi Bhajan and everything, When I first did my teacher training decades ago, I. . . Really disliked. The community. Like I really disliked. What had become of the people and how they were so guru-based, So Mmm. And I found a lot of it really. . . It really bothered me. So years later when I was teaching people would say to me, You know, Will you? Can we go deeper? Like will you do a teacher training program? And I so believed in the teachings, And I so believed in the technology of the yoga. I developed my own teacher training program. Not affiliated. With KRI, Which is the Kundalini Research Institute with Yogi Bhajan. But all the teachings, I always reference him because he's the one who brought it. So I have great respect for that. But I really wanted to create a model that was different. And so all the teacher trainings I teach now are still based in the technology. Because I have experienced the power of them. Not because Yogi Bhajan said. And so it's a really interesting thing for us, No matter what practice you have. What are the practices that have really worked for you? Did transcendental meditation really work for you? Does hatha yoga really work for you? Does reading ancient scriptures work for you? Does going out in the community and being a karma yogi work for you? What is it that has changed your life? It becomes so integral to your life. You don't even care who taught it to you anymore. You don't even care where you first learned it. You may honor the teacher who first taught it to you. You just know it, Blood and bone now. It's really, Really interesting. The second part of that verse says, I'm just going to read. When your intellect crosses the mire of delusion. Then you will gain indifference to what has been heard and what is yet to be heard. This is verse 52, Chapter 2. What has yet to be heard. Now, I'm interested to know what you guys take from that. What do you think what has yet to be heard means? For me, What it means. Is do you ever have that feeling like You're studying, You're learning, You're on this spiritual path. But you're quite sure you haven't learned enough yet. There's I mean, But there's still like 400 books I haven't read, You know, And I'm quite sure I can't really. You know, Make my own opinion yet, Because I haven't read the whole Gita, And I haven't read these verses over here, And I haven't read the Light on Yoga, And I haven't read the whole Bible, And I haven't read that over there, And the Radiant Sutras, And I haven't, So how can I, You know, We get like, There's so much I still need to learn. Is there? Or Have you got a whole lifetime of experience already? Every single one of us. Has had decades. Of really important experiences. And we have applied. A lot of the teachings that have resonated for us. Are all those situations resolved? Maybe not. But we have applied them. And we've, We've. . . Tested them in the world. And we've danced with them and tried them out. All of this counts for something. And it counts for a lot. And if you sit right now and you close your eye, And you connect. With that still place inside. There's so much wisdom there. There's so much experience there. The truth has a thousand names and you become indifferent to all the names pointing to the one truth. Exactly. So just bury it. It's very interesting. You know, This again, This is this yoga of action. Living in a meditative state in life. All day long. That's the goal. Have consciousness. Be aware. Don't take any action without thinking about it first, Without really sitting, Closing your eyes, Connecting with your heart, Connecting with your mind, Connecting with every aspect of you. And take action. That matters more than any book. If you've never, I remember, You know, Every so often I come across new Tantra masters. Whatever a master is. But I remember finding this one guy. They called him Rudy or something. And the first book I read about him. He'd never read a single book on Tantra. I don't know anything about him. I'm not recommending him or anything. But that really struck me. That he was considered by thousands a great tantric master. Have you read a book? No. Maybe he had a guru, Maybe he had a, I don't know. That really hit me. Maybe. All the learning in the world. Doesn't add up to your personal experience. When I go to the library, I normally am picking up 20 books at a time. I love learning. But I also know that I'm complete. Right now. And now I'm just getting to expand. How fun is that? I want to speak to what was mentioned earlier. That when we have this realization, Does it come and go? Because One of the interesting things that happened on a spiritual path, Or in life in general, Is you have moments of realization. We have moments that we kind of go, Whoa. I get it. Or maybe you're sitting in meditation and you actually feel. You feel the stillness. You feel the stillness. Thing which is hilarious because then all of a sudden your mind goes oh wow I feel it and now you're out of it. And so what happens is we have these moments of realization. But then what happens? We slip back into the confusion. We slip back into the mire. Because it's kind of weird to stay in that place of realization. I remember, So back in 1999. When I was sick and I had the breast lumps. I had a miraculous healing at the end, Right? I was in the tub. And all of a sudden the lumps, Which were now like outside of my breast, It was all very kind of gory. Opened. And completely emptied. And I had probably what I would consider my first experience of true nirvana, Like true oneness. And I stood there for three hours in this space while my body just cleared all this junk out of me. Afterwards, I was absolutely in a state of bliss. And so I, My husband, We were on the farm then and I yelled out to him, I said, We've got to celebrate. We went out to our favorite restaurant. And we sat there. And I had nothing to say. I was in such a state. Pure bliss. I have no words. I had no topics. I had known nothing and I sat there staring with this goofy grin on my face. At my husband. But it was like I didn't even belong to the world anymore. And I could feel myself kind of like, Okay, This is weird. This really isn't a way to live. So eventually it was kind of like I started grasping for anything to talk about. Anything. It's so slowly. I just came back to the world. And we started talking about the kids and talking about what we're going to do tomorrow. Whatever, Because. . . What do you do here? It's funny. But what I will say is. You know, You dive back into the mire and we call it that kind of like it's a negative thing, But it's just life. It's just, It's just our incarnation here. But you're never the same. Like you always have this little new thread of insight, This little knowledge that there's something else. And then all of a sudden you have another moment. Of realization maybe you read a book and you're literally reading it and you're like and you put the book down because you're like And now you're a little bit changed again. And you dive back into the pool. This is what life's about. But it's almost like we're weaving this interesting divine thread through our whole life. And what you can once do maybe just in lovemaking, Like in tantra or something, All of a sudden that starts to bleed into the whole day. And then all of a sudden it's bleeding into how you treat people on the street. And all of a sudden now it's going to work. And suddenly it's this. And it just keeps flowing. Do you think we dive back into the pool to change the pool? That. Is such a great question. Oh, We could do a whole talk on that question. Oh, What's my short answer? Okay, So everything I'm going to say. Isn't true. Because I don't think any of us know the answer. My teacher would say, That Our entire journey is about our own journey. It's never about saving other people. That that's just an ego trip. Bye. Tend to believe that. You know, Actually William and I, My partner and I were just talking about this. Because last night, My son and daughter-in-law were over. And we got telling stories. About the beginning of a relationship. And sometimes I can get telling stories about, You know, The journey of William. But the truth is. . . He was absolutely perfect for my journey. It's almost like. . . Him being in my life. Allowed me to change. And it's almost like the universe presented him exactly as he needed to be so that I would shift and learn. In the ways that I needed to learn. So. . . I could tell this story. Of how meeting me changed his life. But is it even true? Maybe. And maybe this is a whole and answer. I don't know. But I have a sneaking suspicion that actually it's all about me. That actually the whole thing was for my benefit. Then there are teachers. There's a lot of Buddhist teachings. That say that enlightened beings come back to earth as Bodhisattvas. To help heal the earth. So perhaps there are Bodhisattvas among us. And at the same time, I think it's a dangerous ego trip to believe that we're one of them. You know what I mean? Like. It's dangerous. Territory. To believe that about ourselves. And I'm going to say this, And it sounds awful, But if you've ever met anyone who believes themselves to be a bodhisattva, You know exactly what I mean. Sorry. And being a little bit mean. We like the Savior archetype. You know, They have something called the victim triangle. The victim triangle is when every story has a victim? A perpetrator. And a savior. And in that victim triangle. We like being the Savior. Or maybe we like being the victim. Or maybe we like being the perpetrator. That's seldom, But. . . You know, We like telling victim stories. We like telling other people victim stories. But maybe we also like telling Savior stories. But what if there is no victim triangle? What if there's nobody here to help? Or save. What if every single person here is here with connected to the same God, To the same consciousness, To the same eternal light. And everybody is on their own journey. That feels true to me. It is so respectful to every other human being. And it allows me to keep climbing my mountain. And to keep growing and to keep learning. Looking into the corners. Without getting sidetracked. We're going to look at the last. Sutra So this is number 53. Question. How do you really know when you're growing or not? For me? I'm not growing if I'm repeating patterns. I'm not growing if I'm living according to what everyone else thinks. But when there's this niggling truth inside. That doesn't go away. And I have the courage to follow that. And it's a little hard. And I'm a little unsure as to what the outcome's gonna be. Then I know I'm growing. Thank you for asking that in. Here is number 53. Indifferent to scriptures. Your mind stands by itself. Unmoving. Absorbed in deep meditation. This is the essence of yoga. Let's hear the Maharishi's version. When your intellect, Bewildered by Vedic texts. Shall stand unshaken, Steadfast in the self. Then you will attain to yoga. Now let's just hear Paramahansa's version. When thine intelligence, Bewildered by the variety of revealed truths. Become securely anchored. In the ecstasy of soul bliss. Thou will attain the final union. Of yoga. When thine intelligence. Bewildered by the variety of revealed truths. Become securely anchored. In the ecstasy of soul bliss. Then, You will attain the final union. Of yoga. It is a fascinating thing when we realize that they're all just books. Collections of teachings of other people. Like you. We can learn from them. But we are. Atman. We are like divine incarnations. But once we. Connect with who we are. We can hear all the teachings in the world and go. A lot of teachers when they read that final sutra It really points to the importance of meditation. Of spending time with our eternal self. And I think what I really love about this one. Is that Sometimes we don't really understand why we practice yoga. Or why we practice meditation. When we first learn about meditation, We get into it maybe because we have a lot of anxiety. And if we breathe deeply, Will heal our anxiety. Or we use meditation to find answers to things. Or we use meditation to heal from PTSD. Or we use meditation to be able to sleep at night. In the West, We often get into yoga. Because our bodies have become immobile. And stretching feels really good. Maybe we love the whole ambience of yoga classes, The music, The outfits. Maybe we do it for. . . Instagram-worthy posts. Maybe, And there's, None of these are wrong. To be honest, Like there's nothing wrong with that. Putting yourself in a yoga posture and a cool outfit and taking a picture of it in the sunshine. That's cool. Everybody's got a hobby. It's not a big judgment or anything. It's just, You know, Some people knit sweaters. Some people take cool photos. It's nothing wrong with that. What I love about what they're saying in this particular verse is that There's an even bigger goal here. You know, We can come into yoga, We can enter yoga. For the wonderful classes and the way it feels in our body and the stretching and the strengthening. And we can meditate for all the benefits it has for the nervous system and our well-being and everything. Even personal insight. But when we spend time in meditation, We connect with our most eternal, Infinite self. And when we do that, We have such great wisdom. And everything in our life changes. You know, And we can read sacred texts. And you don't have to be a guru to do it. And you don't have to have a doctoral degree in the arts. Sanskrit. You don't have to do that. Because you have spent time with your eternal self. And you can read it from that perspective. And so even if right now you feel like, Well, I'm not really there yet. Then this becomes like the new. Goal. And if you're starting out and you're saying, You know what, I'm just doing guided meditations right now because they really help calm my mind. And there's nothing wrong with guided meditations. They're so beautiful. Or maybe you're like, I'm really doing these pranayamas to help heal my nervous system. Or I'm doing this kind of yoga because I really need to heal my body. And get it clear before I can even dive into meditation because my mind just won't stop. Or maybe I need to do some hatha yoga first so that I can relax my body so I can sit still. That every single step is so worth it. But the real goal of it. Epic. It's so far beyond being flexible and strong and being thin. Are all those things that tend to be sort of proposed. There's a different, Better word for that. So I'm just going to read. The two verses once more from the Stephen Mitchell version. And then I would love whatever, I'd love to know your. Take away from today's class, Because we talked about a lot of things. When your understanding has passed beyond the thicket of delusions. There is nothing you need to learn. From even the most sacred scripture. Indifferent to scriptures, Your mind stands by itself. Unmoving. Absorbed in deep meditation. This is the essence of yoga. What's your takeaway from all of that? What would you love to write? On a sticky note on your fringe. Having an interest or hobby is cool. Yet hobbies and interests are different than a true practice that alters one's reference point for self and anchors one into the eternal space. It won't. Trust your inner voice and cultivate it through meditation. It is all working for my good. Mm-hmm. I am complete. My fridge magnets. This is not really real. I am beyond here. All moments of insight are meetings with the divine. Fine. Divine one. Enjoy this breath. Continue to listen. Especially when there is no sense to why and do. Amazing beyond amazing, Things can be seen and felt. You are all right just the way you are. Find the practices and meditations that bring you joy. My inner knowing trumps all else. Be securely anchored to my oneness. Well, Thank you guys so much for being here. This has just been wonderful. I hope you have a wonderful week. And we'll see you next time. I'll see you later.

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