Weight Of Inaction: The Bhagavad Gita, Chapter 2, Verse 33

Join us as we explore the Bhagavad Gita. This week, we will be diving into Chapter 2, verse 33. 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're talking about the Bhagavad Gita and we're looking at chapter 2 verse 33. You know what, I'm just going to read it. No background. So Krishna is talking about, So he's still trying to convince Arjuna to fight. I'm going to back up a little bit. Know what your duty is and do it without hesitation. For a warrior, There is nothing better than a battle that duty enjoins. Blessed are warriors who are given the chance of a battle like this, Which calls them to do what is right and opens the gates of heaven. So here is verse 33, What we're going to look at today. I'm going to read Paramahansa Yogananda's version of this. It's a slightly different take. I'm going to read it again though. But if thou declinest to undertake this righteous combat, Then having relinquished thine own dharma and glory, Thou wilt reap sin. That's Paramahansa Yogananda's kind of literal version of it, But this is how he paraphrases it after. If you refuse the opportunity to fight and conquer the enemies that are threatening your welfare and inner kingdom of true happiness, You will have shirked your righteous duty and sullied the honor of your true self, A sin against the divine image in which you were made. If you refuse the opportunity to fight and conquer the enemies that are threatening your welfare and inner kingdom of happiness, You will have shirked your righteous duty and sullied the honor of your true self, A sin against the divine image in which you were made. I would love to know your thoughts on that, Or feelings that rise, Or what do you think he's talking about. I would just love to know your first reactions, What your soul kind of heard, Or what your personality heard. Righteous is positive here, But given a bad name sometimes. Very true. Time to fight, Arjuna. It's interesting when you think of the word righteous, Because again, It's been really bastardized in our Christian history. But righteous literally means that it's in alignment with your highest truth. That's what righteous actually means. Wow, Great advice for a people pleaser. Totally. That there are times that we must step up and fight. Both excerpts sounded ominous, A warning, A battle for your true self. Got chills. I must stand in my truth. Righteous anger has a place and action follows 100%. So one of the things that he talks about is the difference between being sense-controlled versus self-controlled. Is your life controlled by your senses, Your attachments, Your physical desires, Your fears, All that? Or is it controlled by your highest self? That's the question. If we all unpeel our layers, Imagine what the world would be like. Yes, Exactly. A sin against the divine image in which you were made. How do you know? That's a great question. So how do you know whether you're being controlled by the self or controlled by the senses? What's interesting is there's a lot of different ways to know. And the truth is, It's a journey. Like to me, Whether we're sense-controlled or self-controlled, There's like a continuum. And on the one end, We are completely driven by our senses. Like we are unconscious, Basically. Let's say you have a pattern of always choosing abusive partners. There's almost like an unconscious karmic pattern there. Maybe there's something edgy about them. Maybe there's something in your karmic past that needs to overcome a bad guy. Who knows why we do it? Who knows why we're attracted? Maybe even we're attracted to toxic work environments. Maybe we're attracted to unhealthy food. Maybe we're attracted to unhealthy lifestyles. You know, That we just sort of sit on the couch and our body just atrophies. Or we just want to eat fast food. And we don't, Even though deep down, We know that, Yeah, I know that I should be eating whole food. And I know I should be eating food with nutrients in it. But I'm just so tired and I just can't bother. So you know what? I'm just going to order a pizza or whatever. That's in the far end of the spectrum that for some reason, Those cravings, Those attachments rule us. You desperately want to quit smoking because you can't breathe and all of these different things. But you just are like, Okay, Yeah, I'm going to quit smoking. And then all of a sudden, Bam, The craving just takes you over and you've got nothing to overcome it with. So that's sort of on the far end. And to me, Or maybe for me, It's like there's certain aspects of our lives that we often are a bit more conscious. But then other aspects that we seem to be sort of driven by these unconscious desires. Like, For example, You could be super dedicated in your work or your family. But when it comes to food or exercise, You're completely undisciplined. And I don't mean that in a negative, Weird judgment way, Just in a way that you're like, I don't know why I just don't have the control. I don't know why. It's just an awareness to go, It's weird, Right? On the far other end of the spectrum is this self-consciousness. It's almost like imagine every time you meditate, Every time you do a yoga kriya, Every time you do some kind of practice, That something deep inside of you solidifies. It's like you get to connect with your true self, The self that's that divine image of you. But you know what? You came in as a child, As a baby, In this divine image. And then life happened. Maybe you learned patterns from your family, Good, Bad and ugly. Maybe you had traumatic experiences happen to you. Maybe your country had particular things. Maybe you were raised in a particular religion. Who knows? But all these other things sort of globbed onto us. And then from all the things that globbed onto us, We very often have adaptations to the things that we globbed onto. So maybe for example, You were raised in a family where there was a lot of anger and yelling. You might have learned to withdraw, Fly under the radar, Don't ruffle any feathers, Just stay back. Well, This isn't actually your divine image. This is now a pattern that's being driven by unconscious fear. So now imagine you're 50 and you're still withdrawing into the corners when there's conflict. This, You are being completely controlled by your senses. You're being completely controlled by the fear of a three-year-old, A very justified fear of a three-year-old. This is not a character flaw. This is a healthy adaptation to a dangerous environment. But regardless, What's driving that is deeply buried in your unconscious, Which is why you are able to survive and go forward and do other things in life. But regardless, In this day, You are being sense-driven, Not self-driven. So slowly, This is where spiritual practices, True spiritual practices come in. And when I say a true spiritual practice, I mean a practice that actually helps you connect with your divine spiritual self. And it doesn't matter what you use. It doesn't matter whether it's ritual. It doesn't matter whether it's yoga, Meditation. It doesn't matter what it is. But whatever it is, It is a spiritual practice if it is solidifying this divine self inside of you or it's solidifying your connection to your divine self. And that's where, You know, Sometimes when you do a meditation or a yoga practice and afterwards you feel a little buzzy or you feel like so peaceful that you almost don't know how to interact in the world. That you kind of just sit there going, I'm not sure how this particular self now goes and makes supper. It's a funny thing. But when that happens, You know you've touched your divinity. And this is a really important part of this particular sutra because that feeling after you've done that is real. That's not just because you're buzzing out on pranayama or something. That is the blissful state of being connected to your divine self. That's what that is. That's you in your truth. That is your divine image. Is that wonderful, Calm, Relaxed self. So what's amazing is the more time we spend in that. I mean this is why people do drugs and drink and do all the things because we only do the drugs if the drugs take us to a place that is actually our divine self. And I'm not saying we should do drugs to get there because it's still not, It's sort of like a, It's like the cousin but it's not the real thing. But we do it because that's how we're actually supposed to feel. We just don't know how to get there sober. And that's the journey of yoga. That's the journey of spiritual practices. To heal all the stuff inside. To release the karma. To release all the stuff so that very gently we slowly take steps towards feeling more of that. And the more we feel that quiet inside, The less appealing those actions that are driven by the senses are. So for example, Sometimes we have a lot of emotional issues that are driven by the senses. We may default to anger. And I don't mean anger like I feel angry and therefore I'm going to, You know, I'm going to enforce my boundaries because I'm not talking about that. I'm talking about rage. I'm talking about anger that I then yell at other people. That other people pay for this. And I'm taking this anger like a fireball and whipping it at someone. That's what I'm talking about. If we do that, This is a reaction that is driven from the senses. This is not righteous anger. This is not divine anger. This is not protective anger. This is very intentional to push someone away and to feel bigger. So this is something we hundred percent learned earlier in our life, Past lives, Ancestral trauma. Who knows? But regardless, It is driven out of the subconscious. It's driven out of fear. It's driven out of self-protection. It's driven out of a lack of self-worth because I have to feel bigger than other people. So we start to believe, Or especially after a few decades, That this is normal. It's normal to yell at people. It's normal to lose our mind. I remember when my daughter was living in Ireland, There's a saying there called giving out. That if someone gives out to you, It means they just ripped your head off. And it's very, Very normalized. Can you imagine the difference? So in the moment that you're like yelling at someone, You feel very righteous and you feel really alive and you really feel like, Oh, This is so important. But you've pushed people you love away from you. And now they have walls up. Now they have to protect themselves around you. Now you may have even caused strife that you can never heal. But yet we kind of normalize that. We think this is sort of okay. Whereas when we heal that and we come way over here to the other side, That we're actually being driven by our soul, By what I really desire. And then suddenly maybe my partner or a child or someone does something, Or a parent, That's really hurtful. Instead of being driven by the senses, We actually take a breath. We take 10 breaths and we connect with that divine self inside and ask ourselves, What do I really want here? And this is the difference, Right? When we're not driven by those unconscious senses, We have the mind, The brain space, The neutral mind to say, What is my real goal here? And you know, Maybe your real goal is actually to hurt the other person and then you have to think about that. But maybe your long game is you actually want to be close to this person. You want to be loved. You want to love. So you take a breath and you say, Wow, That really hurt my feelings, But I really want to solve this with you. And now imagine the life that you're living over here, Where you're always doing that in all your relationships. You're always taking 10 breaths, Whatever you need, Slowing down and asking, What is my real goal here? What is my long-term goal here? Maybe my short-term goal is to feel powerful and strong and whatever, But what is my long-term goal? My long-term goal might be, I really do want to keep this job. So you sit there and you're like, Okay, What's a response that's going to serve my highest good of keeping this job or mending this relationship or whatever? The life that we build with that kind of consciousness is so joyful and so loving because now all of a sudden, The lovingness builds upon the lovingness and you start to have this wonderful experience together. A couple of years ago, We had a reunion here. Some of you guys were there and I basically just opened up my home for a weekend and said, If you want to come to Goddridge, Come on up, Find a place to stay and we'll all hang out. There was about 16, 17 people that came in from all over down the states, Out east in Canada. It was so cool. It was a magical thing because everybody there had either been a part of this community, Studied with me, Done my yoga teacher trainings or my year-long programs over Zoom. So there was a real gazelle loving, Trusting, Honoring default that everybody had. And I cannot describe the feeling of 17 people coming together with love in their hearts. It was absolutely surreal. People often ask like, Oh, Are you going to do it every year? And I'm like, I don't think this is repeatable. Well, It'll happen again one day for sure. But there was just something about experiencing that. Once you experience that, It's really, Really hard to want to go back to unconscious reaction mode. It's really hard. So this is where, This is what Krishna's trying to say to Arjuna. You don't want to give up the battle for that inner peace. Don't let the baddies come in and ruin your inner peace. I'm going to read another little quote here from our friend Paramahansa Yogananda. He is a deserter who does not want to battle the wicked cravings of the conscious and unconscious mind. He loses honor and virtue and the joy of self-control. Ultimately, He falls into the sinful or sorrow-making pit of an uncontrolled existence. Ultimately, He falls into the sinful or sorrow-making pit of an uncontrolled existence. Wow. So here, Sinful means, It simply means you're off your path. That's all it means. It doesn't mean anything weird and judgmental. It just simply means that for some reason, I've made a choice that's actually not in alignment with my highest self. Can I read it all again, Please? He is a deserter who does not want to battle the wicked cravings of the conscious and unconscious mind. He loses honor and virtue and the joy of self-control, The joy of self-control. Ultimately, He falls into the sinful or sorrow-making pit of an uncontrolled existence. There is something so confronting about that and deeply truthful. If you imagine in your life, Where are the places that are seemingly uncontrolled? Again, No judgment. It doesn't matter. We're all exactly where we are right now. We all have a different permutation and combination of all the aspects of life. It doesn't matter whether your uncontrolled part is emotions or food or booze or drugs or cigarettes or, I don't know, Self-righteousness or gossip or gambling or purchasing or whatever. It doesn't matter what it is. Whatever it is, We all know that these aspects of our life are sorrow-making. That's all they actually do. In the end, Maybe in the very first moment, There's a high of it, Whatever it is, But the compound struggle only creates sorrow. We actually lose connection with our own virtue. Again, All this language is very loaded in our society, But imagine virtue. These are all the best aspects of you. These are the best parts of you. Again, Not a judgment like there's worst and best, But these are the parts of you that you can rest in and that you can love and you love bringing them out into the world. Me, I'm a very loving person. I love being loving. I don't care who you are. I don't care whether you're some woman on the train or my children or my parents or my grandchild that's arriving in a few weeks or all of you friends. I don't care. I love that and I love that part of me. I always know that I'm off path when I start feeling resentful towards the people I love. That's when I know that I'm doing things that are not in my highest good or probably anyone else's highest good. And that's where when we allow for all of these other things to take over and allow them to be uncontrolled, It's like we just keep lighting fires in our life everywhere we go. This is what Krishna's saying. Do not choose to let them just take over. You have to actually embrace this. Another thing he says in the Sanskrit is he talks about being off your dharmic path. And if you imagine the words karma and dharma, Karma is like all the unconscious patterns that we've been living for lifetimes through family, Through ancestry, And we almost don't even know we're doing it. It's like we don't even know we're doing it until we have a good friend or someone that says, Hey, What's this? Oh, Well, No, It's nothing. It's like, No, It is something. Or you end up in a relationship and you keep doing something and your partner says, You know that thing you do? That pushes me away. Oh, No, No, You don't understand. This is always how we've done it. It's like, Well, That may be always how you've done it, But you're going to lose me. You're going to push me until I don't come back. And then all of a sudden you have to back up and say, Oh, Maybe I need to look at that because it's being driven karmically. But your dharma is actually what you desire in life, What your true self desires, Free of all the past imprints, All the past patterns. And this is why in this sutra, When he says, Let's see, But if you refuse the call to a righteous war and shrink from what duty and honor dictate, You will bring down ruin on your head. If you refuse the call. Now for a lot of us, What that looks like is simply inaction. We think, Well, I just, I don't want to have that conversation. So we just choose inaction. And then what happens? All the karmic patterns take over. And now you are simply, You are bringing ruin down on your head. Now you are simply now the victim of circumstances. Whatever conversation you're afraid to have, You're now allowing the old patterns to live unchallenged. This is not what we want. We need to challenge these old patterns. Maybe inaction is not holding a boundary. Someone's doing something and it's just, You know what, It's easier just to let them do it. It's just easier. And what are the repercussions of that? So this is one of the big things that we all have to look at when we choose inaction over doing the thing. And this brings us to another point about Dharma. That Dharma is not about walking a perfect path. Dharma is about walking our path in alignment with our true self. That's what Dharma is. And what that means, It is better to take action, Even if it's a mistake, But it's in alignment with your highest self than to do nothing. It's better to act in alignment with your true self than to do nothing. And that's a shocker because we live in a land of perfection. We live in a land of legalism where everyone's like, Well, I can't believe you did this and you made a mistake and you should never have done this. And then we beat ourselves up. Oh, I can't believe I did this and I can't believe. And we're so hard on ourselves. But imagine a life that you are always trying. We're just trying. We're all just trying to figure out this world. We're all trying to figure out how to live who we truly are. That's all we're trying to do. And we're all going to do it a little wrong sometimes. But it's so much better to say, I really tried and I really had my highest self in mind. And wow, It didn't necessarily work out, But at least I was being honest. At least I was acting in my own truth. But we can be really, Really, Really hard on ourselves. And this brings us to an interesting word. And the word is Svah Dharma. Like if you were to spell it, It'd be like S-V-A-D-H-A-R-M-A. Svah Dharma. And this is like personal integrity. Every time we act according to our truth. And again, When I say truth, I don't mean I told her that I hate her haircut and I think she's doing a bad job. And I think that guy, That's not truth. That's just judgment. Truth is, I need to share where I'm at. I need to say yes when I mean yes, No when I mean no. Every time we say yes when we mean yes, Our inner integrity grows, Strengthens. And it's not just for other people. Like it's true, Like if you're someone who truly tries to stay in alignment with your truth, Other people know that. It's easier for other people to trust you. Because it means that when you promise to do something, You've promised because it's in alignment with your truth, And you really will do everything. You'll move heaven and earth to make it happen. So other people can trust you. But even better, You trust you. You have this deep feeling of integrity. And that is the most peaceful thing. When we've lived any, You know those times in your life where you're not living in your integrity, For whatever reason, You're just living some other life. It is so painful. Like it's so painful to have to fake, You know, Even like in my first marriage, I really struggled with his family. You know, It was a really, Really hard situation. And as much as you might try to be yourself, You kind of weren't. You were always a little off kilter. That's a painful thing. And I remember I had friends, Much wiser friends, That would say, Well, Then don't go there for Sunday lunch. And I would say, Oh, But I have to. They expect it. Well, That's my karma. Now driving me into situations where I don't want to be. And therefore I just get more frustrated by the conversation because I don't want to be there at all. And it's just sorrow making. But to actually come to a place where, You know, It was so funny because the minute he and I separated, I never saw them again. I just saw them for the, I just saw his family for the first time in over 10 years at my son's baby shower. And I can't tell you the thrill of the integrity inside my soul. Like, It's almost like I was not only acting in my truth, I was defending myself in my truth. And I was unbudging in it. And it's an interesting thing, You know, When we think of all these unconscious things, Because very often, When we're being driven by the senses, We're being driven by these old programs. They are rooted in fear. Fear is one of the number one things that will create a pattern inside of us to protect us so that we survive. So it's an interesting thing at this point in our life to say, I don't want my life ruled by fear. I want my life ruled by my intention, My consciousness. It's exhausting. Exactly. That's what I want. And it's interesting to imagine that, Wow, I guess, I guess that is fear ruling my current state. And then suddenly, The person or people or institution that created that fear 40 years ago, That means they're still controlling my life today. Why? I don't really want to give them that satisfaction. And the last thing I want to mention about this is one of the beautiful things about acting in accordance with our deepest truth, With our highest self, With our, With my soul, Is the only thing we can control is our action. That's it. All I can do is share my truth, Enforce my boundaries, Live according to my own integrity. I have no control over what other people do with that. I don't know how that's going to, How my partner is going to be affected. I don't know what that means financially in my world. I don't know what that means health-wise. I don't know. But the thing is, We can't control any of that anyway. All we can do, Genuinely, Is sit inside, Meditate, Journal, Pray, Do yoga, Whatever it is you need to do. Connect with your truth, Find the answers to your questions. And then there's also this kind of, For me, There's almost a deeper faith that it'll be better when I'm being honest. It'll be more sincere. It'll be more genuine. And maybe if I'm honest, Everyone gets to be honest. And maybe we end up in a place that none of us expected us to be. And it's better than anything I could have imagined. So this is why Krishna implores Arjuna, Do not choose inaction. I'm going to read the two passages one more time. I'd love to know your thoughts. So here's Paramahansa. But if thou declinest to undertake this righteous combat, Then, Having relinquished thine own dharma and glory, Thou will reap sin. But if you refuse the call to a righteous war and shrink from what duty and honor dictate, You will bring down ruin on your head. I would love to know what you take away from this, Or what you would love to change in your own life, Or what you would love to strengthen or release. Let you guys wrap this up and summarize it. Making brave choices that increase internal integrity. I'm strengthening my sense of agency, Finding my calm and stillness, Because my nervous system is suffering. Having boundaries, Which is hard when it's your loved ones. It takes courage to speak our truth. Honesty is easier, Because when you are untrue, You have to keep track. Usually more untruths will follow, Wasted energy. To follow your truth, You have to find your truth first. Healing can't be rushed. Befriend the body, Mind, And soul to work together. Shedding preconceived notions about how my life should be. I was able to see the places where I am not in my truth, Those uncomfortable situations that need action. Grateful for this, Thanks Katrina. Wow, The true meaning is so much lighter and stronger than the one of the reaction from the old patterns to this first. I am called to continue the warrior mission of challenging my unconscious mind, To forge the path of moving based on what my soul wants, Not to give up the battle, Not to get beat myself up, To not give up on myself, To keep the path. Transformation is coming. It's beautiful. When I am untrue to myself, I usually get sick in my body. Healing can't be rushed. Wow. Truth comes in stillness. When still, The truth found in stillness is the answer you seek. Never, Never, Never give up. It's so beautiful. This for me was a wake-up call. It literally shook me back into dharmic alignment. I am not my circumstances. I have been complaining a lot in straight-up victim mode. I will righteously confront and conquer this. Wow, That's amazing. Thank you for sharing that. The fight is always me and me. While it may appear to be about someone else, That's the falsehood. Pleasing or overworking or efforting for others while ignoring what I really need or want is me causing my problem. There are things people do that we need to address, But it's not always them. Well, Thank you, Everybody, For coming and sharing your thoughts and listening and being here. I hope you have a wonderful day and a wonderful week, And I look forward to seeing you on Monday.

Reviews

Thank you for all the work that you do to extract the nuggets out of those wonderful ancient texts. I look forward to each new one that you publish as they really make a difference in my life. ❤️

Ahhh Katrina I love you and your most precious soul words. Navigating the Gita with you is pure joy. 🥹🙏🏻💫