Important Lessons From Bhagavad Gita

Important lessons from Bhagavad Gita

The mind is turbulent, strong and obstinate. It is hard to control as the wind. But it can be curbed by constant practice and by dispassion.

He who does the work which is his duty to do, but seeks no gain from work, no reward, that man is a sanyasi and a yogi.

For the sage who wishes to attain to yoga, action is said to be the means, for the same sage, when he has attained to yoga, serenity is said to be the means.

When a man is not attached to sense objects or to actions and has renounced all egoistic purposes, then he is said to be enthroned in Yoga.

Self is the only friend of the self, the self alone is the enemy of the self.

Heat and cold, and pleasure and pain arise from the contact of sense organs. They come and go, being impermanent. Bear with them patiently. (Bhagavad Gita, 2.14)

He who is able to withstand even while alive the agitation caused by lust and anger — he is the self-controlled one and he is the happy man. (Bhagavad Gita, 5.23)

One should uplift one’s lower self by the higher self. One should not demean or downgrade oneself. For the self is verily one’s friend and one’s enemy. (Bhagavad Gita, 6.5)

To him who has conquered his lower self by his higher self, the self acts like a friend. But to him who has not conquered his lower self, the self is always hostile and functions like an enemy. (Gita, 6.6)

He by whom the world is not agitated and who cannot be agitated by the world, who is free from joy and envy, fear and anxiety — he is dear to Me. (Gita XII. 15)

For the sage wishing to attain the state of yoga, work is said to be the way. Once he has attained the state of yoga, quietude is said to be the way. (Gita VI. 3)

He is fit to attain immortality who is serene and not afflicted by the sensations, but is the same in pleasure and pain. (Gita II. 15)

There is no existence for the unreal and the real can never be non-existent. (Gita II. 16)

The bodies are perishable. But the dweller in these bodies is eternal, indestructible and impenetrable. (Gita II. 17)

Even if thou art the most sinful of all sinners, thou shalt cross over all sin by the raft of wisdom alone.

As the burning fire turns its fuel to ashes, so doth the fire of wisdom turn to ashes all action.

There is no purifier in this world like wisdom.

He who has faith and is absorbed in wisdom and has mastery over his sense, he gains wisdom. And having gained wisdom, he goes swiftly to the Supreme Peace.

They for whom I am the supreme goal, who do all work renouncing self for me and meditate on me with single-hearted devotion, these I will swiftly rescue from the fragment’s of cycle of birth and death, for their consciousness has entered into me.

When the senses contact sense objects, a person experiences cold or heat, pleasure or pain. These experiences are fleeting; they come and go. Bear them patiently, Arjuna. Those who are not affected by these changes, who are the same in pleasure and pain, are truly wise and fit for immortality.

In the still mind, in the depths of meditation, the Self reveals itself. Beholding the Self by means of the Self, an aspirant knows the joy and peace of complete fulfillment.

Perform work in this world, Arjuna, as a man established within himself – without selfish attachments, and alike in success and defeat. For yoga is perfect evenness of mind.

All sensory enjoyments also bring suffering in their wake; therefore, the wise ones do not indulge in the impermanent. In other words, the fleeting nature of sensory experience always brings a sense of loss in its wake, and therefore suffering follows. (5.22)

As fire is enveloped by smoke, as a mirror by dirt and as a fetus remains enclosed in the womb, so is our true nature shrouded by desire. (3.38)

O son of Pritha, to that yogi of constant concentration and single-minded attention, who remembers Me uninterruptedly and for long, I am easy of attainment. (8.14)

By constantly thinking of sense objects, an attachment to them is developed, which in turn creates desire. From desire anger comes, which creates delusion, and consequently a person forgets oneself. Then one loses discriminative power and destroys oneself. (2.62-3)

Lessons from Chapter VII of Gita

One who is always connected to Me (Krishna) is truly wise, and the devotion of such a wise person is always constant and one-pointed. He is not interested in anything other than ME. For him, I am everything. And when I am so dear to someone, he too becomes most dear to ME.

This does not mean that others are not good. No, all of them are good, and they are the best among mortals. Whether people come to ME out of misery, or for the fulfillment of material desires, or even out of inquisitiveness, they are all the best.

A wise person is like a mirror. You can clearly see the reflection in your own mind in a wise person. So, remember to see ME in a wise person and know him to be ME.

After passing through many lifetimes, one becomes a wise one. Such wise souls who believe in ME, they come to ME after passing through numerous cycles of birth and death. Such great souls, who know and believe that everything is a manifestation of ME alone and nothing else, are indeed very rare.

Wherever you see strength, know that strength to be ME. I am the strength of the strong. Wherever you see radiance, know that radiance to be ME. If you find someone beautiful, know that the beauty is also ME. If you see and intelligent person, know that intelligence to be ME.

Valuable Lessons From Bhagavad Gita Chapter II

Notions of heat and cold, of pain and pleasure are born, O son of Kunti, only through the contact of the senses with these objects. They have a beginning and an end. They are impermanent in their nature. Bear them patiently.

That calm man who is the same in pain and pleasure and whom these cannot disturb alone is able to attain to immortality.

The unreal never is. The Real never is not. Men who possess knowledge of the truth fully know both these.

This is unborn, eternal, changeless, ever-itself. It is not killed when the body is killed.

For he who is born, death is certain; for he who dies, birth is certain. For that which is unavoidable, therefore, thou ought not to grieve.