Question from Seeker “R”

Been wanting to take your guidance from the time I came back, Gurudev. I had applied for a six-week retreat in Jan and Feb 2019. My nephew with whom I came to your ashram last October was the one who introduced me to this teacher. Now he is sponsoring this retreat. Should I go or not is my confusion! Next is I started attending three different Gita study classes, and monthly one Mother book study class. Can I continue attending these classes? In one of the Gita study class is where I got connected to T. Please guide me Gurudev! I don’t why I was hesitant to ask you when I was in the ashram itself. It’s mainly because being initiated by you is yet to sink in deeply. 🙏🙏🙏 R.

Swamiji’s reply

My Blessings and Love to you, The Most Blessed Mother!

Now it is immaterial how many Gita classes you will attend or to whom you will listen. You are grounded on your path and you can make sustained progress wherever you go.

It is better to keep contact with any one Gita group because it will not create confusion in your mind and intellect. Gita is a scripture as Upanishad. It is also a scripture of Brahma Vidya. But I have reached my state by using Gita as a yoga shastra.

In my interpretation of Gita as yogashastra, the procedure of yoga is different from others. I don’t give much importance to silent retreats because this carries the risk of static Samadhi state where the yogi may become stuck at the state of the being when Sattwa will rise in the system.

That static Samadhi state is not the highest attainment in Gita yoga. Arjuna was pulled for that state also, but Lord Krishna advised him to discharge the duty that was standing in front of him. Unfortunately, the duty for Arjuna was not going to office or earning money or taking care of family but a horrible battle where he needs to kill his dearest people.

Why did Krishna advise Arjuna like that?

Because Arjuna’s path was not silent contemplation or unbroken meditation but dynamic action.   Arjuna neither wanted war nor initiated war. He was simply driven to war.  And think deeply, who drove him to the battlefield? It was someone who was truly God in a human form. Was God foolish?  ……

By requesting God to be his charioteer, Arjuna unwittingly did surrender his fate, destiny, future and Dharma at the feet of Krishna, to whom he subsequently surrendered as a disciple. The first advice Krishna gave to Arjuna as Gurudev is to get rid of the weakness of the heart, that is , attachment to kith and kin and to discard the outdated mental, ethical and idealistic interpretation of the scriptures as taught by the half-baked yogis and perverted Achryas. The first point He emphasized is the concept of non-doership. By telling to Arjuna that actions are done by Prakriti, and Purusha is always a non-doer, Lord wanted Arjuna to first get rid of the wrong notion that he is the doer. Because one cannot get rid of this feeling of doership, Lord Krishna taught Arjuna to first give up the desire for results.

Here comes the most important secret lesson of Gita. That is the issue of attachment. One cannot be free from attachment unless one is free from result motive. This result motive is not only confined only to material gain but also social, mental, vital and even psychic gain.

My Blessed Mother!

You have to deeply contemplate on many aspects of sadhana and take a decision on what you should do when faced with such dilemmas.

Krishna only explains but never imposes his decision because He has no need to take any decision on any issue. Did he not say it very clearly in verse 176 of Gita?

If you will read Krishna’s life story with the mind of an awakened Seer you will see that Krishna has never initiated any action nor was he trapped by any results that came out of his actions.

He was, is and shall always be a non-doer.

My advice to you is to be a non-doer but perform all actions if the action signal is actually coming to you. And also discriminate before you plunge in to action.

My path is Gita, my teaching is Gita, my goal is Gita, my Guru is Gita and my God is Gita.

Blessings and Love

Gurudev.