Category Archives: Bhagavad Gita

Rebirth in This Lifetime

Easter and spring have me thinking about rebirth, and it brought to mind one of my favorite verses from the Bhagavad Gita:

Just as a person discards worn out garments and dons new ones, likewise the soul discards a worn out body and enters a new one. (BG 2.22)

Literally, this teaching is about the Hindu belief in reincarnation, and how our essence, our soul, is not lost when one dies, but is reborn, depending on the nature of our karma.

The reason I love this verse so much is because it seems relevant to our journey in a given lifetime. Our lives have many phases, twists and turns, and often we find ourselves outgrowing worn out garments, and other stuff in our life. This includes not only material stuff, but worn out habits, old grudges, roles, or ways of being in the world that no longer serve us. We don new garments, new ways of being which better fit a different identity and who we now want to be.

This happens quite naturally as we move along the path of yoga, although we might not notice. The process of meditation in particular, cleans out all that blocks our access to our hearts, and we find ourselves releasing old ways of being that led to suffering or are otherwise harmful to ourselves and/or others, in favor of the yogic qualities so often mentioned in the texts. And, especially as we grow older, we feel more compelled to do our duty, our dharma, what we need to do to create a righteous world.

Sometimes we must intentionally access qualities such as will, creativity, and freedom to mindfully and consciously put on a new outfit. For example, recently I replied to someone seeking teachers and healers to be on a podcast and I volunteered a perspective from yoga and meditation. When they reached out for a meeting, I immediately freaked out. I donned the old familiar clothing of fear, insecurity, and worry.

I had to step back and remind myself that this is exactly what I want to be doing now. I am an elder in the community who has a lot to share. I remembered a teaching from one of my teachers: be your future self, be the person you want to become. And I said to myself: Wrap yourself in a robe of knowing that within you, from years of study and practice, is knowledge important to share, and allow that to stream out. Be a conduit for the Highest.

REFLECT AND EXPLORE:

How have you found yourself changing your “clothing” as you’ve moved along your path? What have you released? What is the nature of that new clothing?

Have there been times, like in my example, when you’ve had to consciously release old tight clothing in favor of something that better fits the person you want to become?

What qualities of being must you consciously invoke to be the person you want to become?

DHARMA and SVADHARMA

(this is an excerpt from my upcoming book)

You may know that the first word of any text is said to be of special significance and reflects the highest first. In the case of the Bhagavad Gītā, the first phrase is “dharmakṣetre,” the “field of dharma,” referring to the field on which the battle is taking place. It represents our lives in its many levels and domains, where all the challenges we face in the course of a lifetime play out. So in a sense, the entire conversation between Kṛṣṇa and Arjuna is about how to live our dharma in all the many facets of our lives.

“Dharma” is often translated as “sacred duty, law, or righteousness.” It comes from the verbal root “dhṛ:” “to hold, make firm, nurture and sustain.” Dharma can be thought of as that which sustains or holds things together. It also carries connotations of ethics, justice, goodness, and virtue. There is really no one great English word that captures the nuance of the concept of dharma.

“Kṣetra” literally means “field.” At the level of your individuality, this can be thought of as your field of awareness. So dharma-kṣetra is your individual consciousness, it is where we grapple with our dharma, which is exactly what Arjuna is doing in the Bhagavad Gītā, with the help of Kṛṣṇa. On the battlefield are two opposing sides, one of which is considered more righteous, or dharmic, than the other. The war has come about in order to restore dharma/righteousness. And metaphorically we have parts of ourselves struggling with what is dharmic in our many life situations.

We can also think of the field in a larger way, as any domain in which we operate, where we live our lives. This could be our family, our spiritual community, our professional field, or society at large. This concept, in particular, applies not only to our individual lives but also to upholding and nurturing society as a whole. Dharma is what sustains society. It is that which is uplifting and leads to the greatest collective good. The Bhagavad Gītā challenges us, from its very beginning, to consider deeply how our actions align with righteousness, and how we uphold righteousness in a misaligned world.

Arjuna and Kṛṣṇa are standing on the field of dharma, and metaphorically, these characters are two parts of ourselves, and the field is the inner topography of our consciousness. Arjuna is experiencing a battle within himself, trying to understand what his duty is, what will hold things together, create alignment and serve the highest. And for each of us, as embodied beings, the whole world is our dharma-kṣetra, the field on which we discover and enact our dharma, minute-by-minute, day-by-day, year-by-year.

During their conversation in the Bhagavad Gītā, Kṛṣṇa refers to Arjuna’s “svadharma.” “Sva” means “self,” so svadharma is your own particular dharma. Your own duty. In more modern times, svadharma has been described as your purpose. What are you here to do to create greater alignment within yourself and in the world? How are you helping to hold things together?

Kṛṣṇa reminds Arjuna that his svadharma is that of a warrior (e.g., 2.31, 2.33). In the context of this story, Arjuna’s dharma is to uphold righteousness in society through his actions as a warrior. The whole premise of the Bhagavad Gītā is Arjuna questioning this, as he is not happy about facing an opposing army comprised of people he is connected with. But the concept of dharma dictates that upholding society requires him to do his duty as a warrior.

He has received a great deal of privilege, being part of a lineage of nobility, but with it comes certain responsibilities. Yet he must make it truly his own, so he is not doing what someone else thinks is his dharma. In the course of the conversation, Arjuna is coming to understand his sva-dharma, his own dharma.

In many societies, even today, there are fairly strict roles, so this teaching could be challenged when it is taken to oppress or “keep people in their place.” For example, women in societies where their role is traditionally restricted, are extremely challenged to live their own dharma. They may have to confront societal prescriptions to enact what is truly their svadharma, in terms of what is more nurturing and sustainable.

Our modern society seems to have so much freedom, so many options, that it can be overwhelming to understand what is most dharmic. That’s why the yogic practices are so important for us in our modern lives, to connect to our essence as a guide, our Kṛṣṇa self, so we can each discover our gifts and become clear on what is dharmic in each situation and our lifetime as a whole.

Dharma operates on all levels of our life simultaneously. Throughout the text of the Bhagavad Gītā, we learn that yoga is not about becoming a renunciate, withdrawing from our familial and societal duties and responsibilities. Instead, dharma is about being actively present to the opportunities life presents for sustaining the world, for upholding dharma in society and nature, as well as in our inner growth, what nurtures us individually, and what connects us to our highest purpose.

In his commentary on the first verse of the Bhagavad Gītā, the great Tantric sage Abhinavagupta cites a text that says the highest dharma consists of the realization of the Self by means of yoga. Abhinavagupta is saying that to be dharmic we start with one’s self, refining ourselves through our practice of yoga, which aligns us with the highest. Then we spontaneously are pulled to create alignment on societal and global levels. Because when we do our practices and begin to realize our Heartself, our essence, we begin to see the connection of all things, and quite naturally our actions begin to unfold in a way that reflects dharma in all of our activities.

As Kṛṣṇa reminds us throughout the text, each of our actions is an opportunity to assert dharma. Sometimes it is fulfilling the duty of one of our roles in life, be it, for example, warrior, teacher, spouse, parent, etc. Sometimes it is about making the best choice in a challenging situation, which perhaps we would prefer to avoid altogether. Sometimes it is about remembering what we uniquely have to offer in a given situation, our own dharma/svadharma. And as Abhinavagupta reminds us, sometimes dharma is about doing what aligns us with our highest Self.

As Kṛṣṇa makes clear, ultimately to create dharma in the world, we must act. We must consider how every decision, every action contributes toward sustaining the righteous integrity of our connection with our innermost selves. And as well our actions should help sustain and hold together our society and the planet in the highest possible way.

CONTEMPLATE, PRACTICE, and JOURNAL:

Contemplate the idea of dharma on its many levels. Consider your duty in society, to your individual self, and to your highest self. Think of experiences/examples when you faced a conflict like Arjuna wherein your individual desires conflict with what is best for society. What does dharma mean in these different contexts?

Consider dharma as what holds things together. How does this relate to your yoga practices, especially meditation?

What do you make of the term “svadharma”? What does it mean for you?

Keeping in mind your definition of dharma, how is it reflected (or not) in your actions? For some period of time, mindfully consider whether each of your actions is dharmic.

Freedom

Let’s take a moment to remember a fundamental teaching from the tradition: Consciousness in her freedom brings about everything in the universe (Pratyabijna Hridayam 1), and let’s focus on the second word of this aphorism: svatantrya. Usually translated as “freedom,” but remember the prefix “sva” means self, and “tantra” can mean loom, so another interpretation of this word is “self-looming.”

The tradition provides teachings on the various ways the highest Consciousness becomes concealed as we manifest as individuals, including the samskaras, all those latent impressions stored inside each of us that serve as activators of our thoughts and behavior. These samskaras can be negative habit patterns that lead us into suffering. And our practice of yoga, particularly meditation, attenuates those negative samskaras while at the same time laying down more positive samskaras. Our practice allows us greater access to the highest within us, which serves as a guide, if we listen.

As we loosen ourselves from the bonds of our samskaric patterning through our practice of yoga, we are better able to enact svatantrya, freedom. We are better able to consciously loom the fabric of our lives. Our journey of yoga yields the freedom to pause and make conscious what was previously unconscious. We gain what my teacher Paul Muller-Ortega calls “the ledge of freedom,” a resting place on our journey where we can pause and consciously choose our next step.

This is the pause that Arjuna takes at the beginning of the Bhagavad Gita, when he asks his charioteer Krishna to bring their chariot into the middle of the battlefield to consider the most prudent course of action. Instead of galloping automatically into battle, Arjuna pauses to ask questions of his highest Self, and he listens carefully to the answers. In this way he then mindfully chooses the highest course of action.

Continuing to enact our samskaric patterns without pause, without reference to the highest, demonstrates a lack of freedom. Often we think we are behaving freely when in fact we are slaves to our habit patterns. We are simply doing what we’ve always done without even considering our options. We have so many opportunities to exercise our freedom that we aren’t even aware of. Our meditation practice supports us in breaking these habitual patterns, allowing us instead to pause and understand we have another choice that may be more optimal.

We are seeing this play out in the COVID-19 pandemic in ways both small and large. Our habitual patterns of behavior have been brought to a halt. Our choices are limited. We are forced into being more mindful.

For example, on a small scale, we’ve had to pay attention to our hands: how we wash them and what we touch. This is an exercise in seeing how mindlessly we have done these things in the past.

We are seeing how our habitual ways of thinking, our general mindsets are being activated with regard to how think about the whole situation. Do we tend toward fear, blame, paranoia, kindness, compassion, depression? As our lives are stripped down, we have the opportunity to look at these patterns and out of our freedom choose how to be. Or we can unconsciously allow the old patterns to dominate and reiterate.

We yearn to go back to “normal,” which essentially means we want to enact our old behavioral patterns. That may not necessarily be bad, but we now have the opportunity, in this moment, to pause in the middle of our battlefield and evaluate whether “normal” is actually the highest way of being for everyone involved. Is there a better choice when we pause, listen to our higher self, and think about it? We have the freedom to choose to do something different.

For me, this ability to take this pause, listen, and envision different options has broadened as I’ve become a regular practitioner of meditation. Honestly it has surprised me to observe my ability to more readily watch an impulse arise, pause to consider whether I want to enact it, and make a conscious choice.

Perhaps freedom isn’t about our ability to do or enact anything without recourse. Ultimately this can lead to bondage on so many levels. Instead, I think of freedom as being free of the bonds of unconscious patterns, and acting out of a conscious consideration of what is the highest action in any given situation.

CONTEMPLATE AND PRACTICE

To what degree do you feel free? Consider your thoughts, feelings, and actions.

What inhibits you from feeling free?

What encourages a feeling of freedom?

Are there circumstances in which you limit your freedom of choice and/or expression?

Observe yourself as you negotiate the COVID-19 circumstances. What is it teaching you about freedom?

YOGA IS SKILL IN ACTION

My favorite line from the Bhagavad Gita is “yoga is skill in action.” I love it foremost because it acknowledges that there is no avoiding action. Elsewhere in the Gita, the teacher Krishna points out that you can’t NOT act. The warrior Arjuna perhaps would prefer to withdraw to a cave and avoid the battle he faces, but if you think about it, even that is an act. It is making a choice. This non-avoidance, and the necessity of action is elaborated in the text as the path of Karma Yoga.

And, as advised, we want to act skillfully. This is the tricky part, as we know. It is quite often very hard to know not only what to do, but how to do it skillfully. In the Bhagavad Gita, Krishna offers us a way to knowing: Jnana Yoga, the Path of Knowledge.

This path has two components. First is an intellectual knowledge, like what you might receive from reading this essay or any other kind of textual knowledge. In many domains of our activity it is extremely important to create an intellectual knowledge through study.

But the second component of knowledge is also very important: Knowing your Self. This is knowledge of who you are inside, beyond all the surface definitions of your life. It is a knowledge of that source place deep within you.

Krishna gives several means to creating that connection to source, one very clearly laid out is meditation. Through the Yoga of Meditation, one begins to traverse from the every day surface awareness through the depths of your being to connect with the place described in various ways: the Divine, your source, essence, or heart.

And as is also described in the Gita, uncovering your source-essence-heart connects you with a place of unlimited love and devotion. Love and devotion, and a knowledge of the interconnectedness of all things. And a devotion to that fundamental ground being of heart-love.

And that knowledge, love, and devotion creates and supports the desire to serve. A desire to act in service to the Divine, to love through action.

Which brings us back around to Karma Yoga as we more commonly think of it: selfless service. Another way to think of it is service from the Self. Serving from the heart of Knowing. And this is how we come to fully manifest skill in action.

Through our practice of yoga, particularly meditation, we come to Know and connect with the heart and the deepest wisdom within ourselves. As we establish that connection on a daily basis with our practice, we create a pathway, an access, so that in any given situation we can summon our wisest self to guide us to our most skillful actions.

In this way we act from our hearts, in service of the Heart of Being. This is the yoga of skill in action.

The Conversation on the Battleground

The Bhagavad Gita, one of the most revered spiritual texts, begins with a rather dramatic scene. Due to long and complicated circumstances, two armies have lined up to do battle. As the two sides are trumpeting their conches and preparing to fight, the warrior Arjuna asks his charioteer, Krishna, to pull the chariot into the middle of the battlefield, where he basically has a nervous breakdown. He drops his weapon and refuses to fight.

What ensues is a conversation between Arjuna and Krishna that lasts for 17 more chapters, with the armies seemingly in freeze-frame, in which most of the great teachings of yoga extant at the time are summarized. The teachings are exquisite and varied, and this opening scene is a beautiful teaching in and of itself.

As my teacher Douglas Brooks explains (please see his beautiful companion to the Gita, “Poised for Grace”), we are every character in the story. We are Arjuna the warrior, struggling to do the right thing, confused and loathe to enter into a battle that will surely end in annihilation of both armies, each of which contain his family, teachers, and friends. And we are Krishna, an incarnation of God, patiently pausing to answer Arjuna’s many questions, providing perspective and the guidance of a trusted counselor.

These two characters can be thought of as different parts of ourselves: the confused and searching human, and the wise higher Self.

The battlefield itself can be an instance of as any situation in our lives. We each face challenges, we have battles we must fight. Often our lives are extremely intense and chaotic, which is exactly the time we most want to engage in yoga. One of the most important teachings from this scene is that of a sacred pause.

When we face challenges, do we rush in? Do we follow the very human instincts to gain power and act out our anger? Or do we pause and seek counsel from a deeper part of our Self?

Instead of rushing into battle when he still feels hesitant and unsure, Arjuna pauses to consider what he is doing. And in that pause, Arjuna and Krishna converse. Arjuna consults his higher self, Krishna. He asks questions, and he LISTENS.

In our own lives we could also benefit from taking this pause. Stop, take a few breaths and listen to a deeper part of ourselves. Sometimes we have the time to contemplate our options before responding to a challenge. Sometimes we must act in the heat of the moment, and it is the connection that we have previously cultivated through our practice of yoga that guides us.

Our yoga practice allows us to connect with a deeper part of ourself, our Krishna self. Each time we step onto our mats and begin to watch the breath, each time we close our eyes for meditation, is an opportunity to access a greater wisdom that will provide us answers if we pause and listen. With repeated practice and stabilizing that connection the guidance comes more instantaneously. Yet like any conversation, we still have to truly listen.

CONTEMPLATE

· What are the biggest battles in your life right now?

· How do you converse with your Self? How do you work through your challenging situations? Take it to your mat? Your meditation cushion? Your journal? A trusted friend/advisor? To whom do you listen?

PRACTICE

· In your everyday life notice if you are truly listening in your conversations. If not, practice just listening.

· When you encounter a challenging situation, take a sacred pause to listen to some deeper guidance.