Bhagavad Gita Questions And Answers

Three questions and there answers from the Bhagavad Gita

Bhagavad Gita On Most Esteemed Devotee

Although all pious men are noble,

The wise man of discrimination I cherish as My very Self,
Because he is devoted to Me only.
In union with Me, he is convinced that I am his Supreme Goal.
The wise man after having struggled through many lives,
Acquires through discrimination the knowledge,
That everything is Vasudeva (Brahman),
And thus take refuge in Me.
Such a great soul is very rare.

(Bhagavad Gita, 18-19)

Bhagavad Gita on why no improvement is seen even after attending spiritual programs?

All those who mechanically put in plenty of self effort do not necessarily succeed. Hundreds are those who complain that though they were regular in their spiritual program for years, no appreciable amount of self development has come to them. Only those who are successful in their attempts at stilling their mind and cleansing their intellect of its disturbing attachments and desires come to recognize the glory of the Self and experience Its Infinite Beatitude.

Those whose minds have not been properly regenerated through practice of self control of the senses, and who have not renounced and abandoned their evil ways of looking at things from the limited egocentric standpoint, whose pride has not yet been subdued – such seekers, however sincerely and ardently they may meditate, have little or no chance of unfolding themselves into their more divine possibilities. 

Though the Self is the nearest and, therefore, the most easily perceivable, yet all do not see Him, because of their complete slavery to the enchantments of the sense objects.

Bhagavad Gita (Chapter 15 verse 11)

(Source: Holy Gita – Ready reference – Published by Chinmaya International Foundation)

Why Bhagavad Gita advises not to revel in sense pleasures?

Even an average intelligent man, if he cares to investigate his own experiences with the outer world, will discover, all by himself, that joy-hunting among finite objects is no profitable preoccupation. The law of diminishing returns works in all our experiences and the very thing that gave a certain unit of joy in the beginning, itself soon becomes a stinking putrefying pit of sorrow.

Finite things can only torture us with hope of getting a more satisfactory joy and whip us along the path of sensuousness, making us pant is sheer exhaustion. 

Man, if he is wise, is satisfied only with the infinite and refuses to revel in sense pleasures. 

The more chaste, full, divine joy is gained only when come to experience the Self.

The enjoyments that are born of contacts are only generators of pain, for they have a beginning and an end. O son of Kunti, the wise do not rejoice in them. (Gita 5.22)

(Source: Holy Gita – Ready reference – Published by Chinmaya International Foundation)

Is a jnani different from a yogi? What is the difference?

Ramana Maharshi: Bhagavad Gita says that a jnani is the true yogi and also a true bhakta. Yoga is only a sadhana and jnana is the siddhi.

Is yoga necessary?

Ramana Maharshi: It is a sadhana. It will not be necessary after jnana is attained. All the sadhanas are called yogas, e.g., karma yoga, bhakti yoga, jnana yoga, ashtanga yoga. What is yoga! Yoga means 'union'. Yoga is possible only when there is 'viyoga' (separation). The person is now under the delusion of viyoga. This delusion-must be removed. The method of removing it is called yoga.

What is action? What is inaction?

Even the wise are deluded as to this. I shall teach thee such action, by knowing which thou shall be liberated from evil. (Gita Chapter IV 16)

He who can see inaction in action, who can also see action in inaction, he is wise among men, he is devout, he is the performer of all action. (Gita Chapter IV 17)

Having abandoned attachment for the fruits of actions, ever content, dependent on none, though engaged in actions, nothing at all does he do. (Gita Chapter IV 18)