Author Archives: Vrndavana Vinodini

to question
→ everyday gita

Verse 4.4: Arjuna said: The sun-god Vivasvān is senior by birth to You. How am I to understand that in the beginning You instructed this science to him?

In order to clarify doubt and truly understand something, two things are required:

One needs to inquire from the right person.

It’s a two way street, although a strong case can be made that most of the responsibility falls on the one who is posing the question. That’s because they are the ones who:

1) Have to formulate the appropriate question or else they might not get the answer they need.

2) Have the free will to choose (and accept) the person to get answers from.

Let’s use a real life example to understand that a bit better. If you’ve ever been to a foreign country, you might have first hand experience of trying to get to a destination and having no clue where to go. In stopping someone on the street, the first question you might ask is not how to get to x, y, z destination but… “Are you from here?”

That question is an important one as it helps you (the tourist) to find out if you’re asking a reputable source (i.e. one who is qualified to answer). Well…at least in my experience, it may help but doesn’t necessarily guarantee that you will get the directions you require!

But that qualifying question is an important one. It’s easy to get answers to questions…

The difficulty lies in finding the right individual who is actually authorized to answer your question.

Krsna has already established himself as the appropriate person to teach the science of bhakti as described in Verse 4.1. Here, Arjuna is teaching all of us the art of questioning. He has heard Krsna out but still has a doubt and so he asks Krsna to clarify it.

This is where the subtleties of bhakti are revealed. After finding the right guide/teacher and formulating the appropriate question/s the most important thing is the attitude behind the questioning. Is it one of genuine curiosity and inquiry or one of arrogance? It’s this attitude that actually determines how much knowledge is imparted from the bhakti yogi to the student.

These are three elements to perfecting the art of questioning – finding the right teacher, asking the right question and checking to see what your attitude is when asking it. Try them out and see how it works for you!

to question
→ everyday gita

Verse 4.4: Arjuna said: The sun-god Vivasvān is senior by birth to You. How am I to understand that in the beginning You instructed this science to him?

In order to clarify doubt and truly understand something, two things are required:

One needs to inquire from the right person.

It’s a two way street, although a strong case can be made that most of the responsibility falls on the one who is posing the question. That’s because they are the ones who:

1) Have to formulate the appropriate question or else they might not get the answer they need.

2) Have the free will to choose (and accept) the person to get answers from.

Let’s use a real life example to understand that a bit better. If you’ve ever been to a foreign country, you might have first hand experience of trying to get to a destination and having no clue where to go. In stopping someone on the street, the first question you might ask is not how to get to x, y, z destination but… “Are you from here?”

That question is an important one as it helps you (the tourist) to find out if you’re asking a reputable source (i.e. one who is qualified to answer). Well…at least in my experience, it may help but doesn’t necessarily guarantee that you will get the directions you require!

But that qualifying question is an important one. It’s easy to get answers to questions…

The difficulty lies in finding the right individual who is actually authorized to answer your question.

Krsna has already established himself as the appropriate person to teach the science of bhakti as described in Verse 4.1. Here, Arjuna is teaching all of us the art of questioning. He has heard Krsna out but still has a doubt and so he asks Krsna to clarify it.

This is where the subtleties of bhakti are revealed. After finding the right guide/teacher and formulating the appropriate question/s the most important thing is the attitude behind the questioning. Is it one of genuine curiosity and inquiry or one of arrogance? It’s this attitude that actually determines how much knowledge is imparted from the bhakti yogi to the student.

These are three elements to perfecting the art of questioning – finding the right teacher, asking the right question and checking to see what your attitude is when asking it. Try them out and see how it works for you!

great expectations
→ everyday gita

Verse 4.1: The Personality of Godhead, Lord Śrī Kṛṣṇa, said: I instructed this imperishable science of yoga to the sun-god, Vivasvān, and Vivasvān instructed it to Manu, the father of mankind, and Manu in turn instructed it to Ikṣvāku.

History and experience can teach us so much. In fact, the great bhakti yoga master, Srila Prabhupada would say (and I paraphrase):

First class intelligence is hearing about the mistakes of others and not committing them. Second class intelligence is making mistakes, learning from them and trying to avoid making them again and third class intelligence is making mistakes and not learning from them.

The Bhagavad-gita is giving us the opportunity to exercise first class intelligence. As we hear in today’s verse, this science of yoga has not just appeared randomly. It has been passed along for lifetimes upon lifetimes to the most intelligent and empowered personalities. We are so lucky to now have the opportunity to hear that same knowledge – unadulterated and just as powerful. By following this process we have an opportunity to save ourselves time, effort and disappointment.

One of the great lessons that the Gita teaches us is that of learning to manage expectations. At the beginning of the Gita, we see Arjuna expressing his doubts and misgivings to Krsna. But if you look a little deeper, you find something more – Arjuna is stating that he has certain expectations and is worried that by doing the right thing, those expectations will not be met.

Is that not what we go through everyday? We all have expectations of ourselves, of situations and perhaps the trickiest of them all – of others.

At the heart of expectation is the belief that somehow we will be happier if x, y, z manifests.

Is that not really it, if we strip away all the other coverings? It’s a belief. There is no actual guarantee that we will be happier, but we have built the expectation to work out a certain way in our heads that just the thought of it not playing out leaves us more miserable than we originally were!

So how do we practically manage expectations? For advanced bhakti yogis, the answer is simple. They understand that they are not this body but the eternal spirit soul. Since many of our expectations are related to the material, temporary world and relationships that are based on the body, not the soul, such yogis realize that disappointment is inevitable. Essentially, they don’t put much stock in it and choose to rest their expectations on the grace of the Divine who never disappoints.

For those of us who may not be on that level, what are we to do?

Recognize that expectations rest on a belief of happiness, not a guarantee.

This can help ease the sting of disappointment, keep things in perspective and help us not to flip out when we are caught in the tight claws of expectation. For many, when we don’t get what we expected it tends to weigh heavily on the mind, causes us to speculate and drives us mad.

The next time this happens, give yourself and others a break. Failed expectations can actually be the greatest gift we can receive if we can just approach it in the right perspective. It reminds us that true happiness lies within and doesn’t rest in the hands of others.

great expectations
→ everyday gita

Verse 4.1: The Personality of Godhead, Lord Śrī Kṛṣṇa, said: I instructed this imperishable science of yoga to the sun-god, Vivasvān, and Vivasvān instructed it to Manu, the father of mankind, and Manu in turn instructed it to Ikṣvāku.

History and experience can teach us so much. In fact, the great bhakti yoga master, Srila Prabhupada would say (and I paraphrase):

First class intelligence is hearing about the mistakes of others and not committing them. Second class intelligence is making mistakes, learning from them and trying to avoid making them again and third class intelligence is making mistakes and not learning from them.

The Bhagavad-gita is giving us the opportunity to exercise first class intelligence. As we hear in today’s verse, this science of yoga has not just appeared randomly. It has been passed along for lifetimes upon lifetimes to the most intelligent and empowered personalities. We are so lucky to now have the opportunity to hear that same knowledge – unadulterated and just as powerful. By following this process we have an opportunity to save ourselves time, effort and disappointment.

One of the great lessons that the Gita teaches us is that of learning to manage expectations. At the beginning of the Gita, we see Arjuna expressing his doubts and misgivings to Krsna. But if you look a little deeper, you find something more – Arjuna is stating that he has certain expectations and is worried that by doing the right thing, those expectations will not be met.

Is that not what we go through everyday? We all have expectations of ourselves, of situations and perhaps the trickiest of them all – of others.

At the heart of expectation is the belief that somehow we will be happier if x, y, z manifests.

Is that not really it, if we strip away all the other coverings? It’s a belief. There is no actual guarantee that we will be happier, but we have built the expectation to work out a certain way in our heads that just the thought of it not playing out leaves us more miserable than we originally were!

So how do we practically manage expectations? For advanced bhakti yogis, the answer is simple. They understand that they are not this body but the eternal spirit soul. Since many of our expectations are related to the material, temporary world and relationships that are based on the body, not the soul, such yogis realize that disappointment is inevitable. Essentially, they don’t put much stock in it and choose to rest their expectations on the grace of the Divine who never disappoints.

For those of us who may not be on that level, what are we to do?

Recognize that expectations rest on a belief of happiness, not a guarantee.

This can help ease the sting of disappointment, keep things in perspective and help us not to flip out when we are caught in the tight claws of expectation. For many, when we don’t get what we expected it tends to weigh heavily on the mind, causes us to speculate and drives us mad.

The next time this happens, give yourself and others a break. Failed expectations can actually be the greatest gift we can receive if we can just approach it in the right perspective. It reminds us that true happiness lies within and doesn’t rest in the hands of others.

are you aware of what’s going on?
→ everyday gita

Verse 3.43: Thus knowing oneself to be transcendental to the material senses, mind and intelligence, O mighty-armed Arjuna, one should steady the mind by deliberate spiritual intelligence [Kṛṣṇa consciousness] and thus — by spiritual strength — conquer this insatiable enemy known as lust.

Once in awhile I am startled by how unaware I am of everything going on around me. At such times, I realize that I’m functioning on automatic pilot and have to remind myself that I’m not a robot but a sentient being that has the power to observe and discriminate!

One such moment happened to a friend of mine recently. She was mentioning how she became jealous upon hearing good news of someone who is close to her. It’s not that she didn’t wish well for the individual, as she later remarked to me, but it was the fact that she wasn’t the recipient of that good fortune. She’s gotten over it now and having introspected a bit, said to me, “I wasn’t aware that I could become jealous like that!”

I was struck by that phrase:

“I wasn’t aware that…”

This entire 3rd Chapter of the Gita has been encouraging us to become more “aware’. It’s been pointing out that we, as embodied souls, are prone to being influenced by lust and the mentality of having things go our way (i.e. being attached to the fruits of our work). Krsna has taken the time to stress the importance of awareness because…

It’s only when we are aware of a lack, need or challenge that we are inspired to do something about it.

This awareness is so crucial and necessary to the practice of bhakti yoga. In fact, often when I’m asked what bhakti yoga is all about, I give a standard answer – “It’s the process by which we can connect to ourselves, the Divine and one another through love and service.”

However, as my own understanding of bhakti is deepening, I’m starting to include an additional line in my explanation:

Bhakti yoga is also about becoming conscious of who we are and our eternal relationship with all living entities.

After all, if we don’t know who we are and what our relationship is with one another, then it becomes irrelevant as to why we should want to connect to anyone through love and service. As the great bhakti yogi, Srila Prabhupada, said, “First be conscious; then become God conscious.”

Isn’t that just so practical and beautiful? Ultimately, this means realizing that we are eternal souls who have nothing to do with this temporary material world. This is just one stop in our journey and like an actor in a drama, the body we are in, the situations we face and the emotions we feel are just part of one scene in that drama.

When we become aware that we are not the body, but the eternal soul, it is only then we’ll stop sweating the small stuff. Things will start to fall in the proper perspective and we’ll be well on our path to lasting happiness.

are you aware of what’s going on?
→ everyday gita

Verse 3.43: Thus knowing oneself to be transcendental to the material senses, mind and intelligence, O mighty-armed Arjuna, one should steady the mind by deliberate spiritual intelligence [Kṛṣṇa consciousness] and thus — by spiritual strength — conquer this insatiable enemy known as lust.

Once in awhile I am startled by how unaware I am of everything going on around me. At such times, I realize that I’m functioning on automatic pilot and have to remind myself that I’m not a robot but a sentient being that has the power to observe and discriminate!

One such moment happened to a friend of mine recently. She was mentioning how she became jealous upon hearing good news of someone who is close to her. It’s not that she didn’t wish well for the individual, as she later remarked to me, but it was the fact that she wasn’t the recipient of that good fortune. She’s gotten over it now and having introspected a bit, said to me, “I wasn’t aware that I could become jealous like that!”

I was struck by that phrase:

“I wasn’t aware that…”

This entire 3rd Chapter of the Gita has been encouraging us to become more “aware’. It’s been pointing out that we, as embodied souls, are prone to being influenced by lust and the mentality of having things go our way (i.e. being attached to the fruits of our work). Krsna has taken the time to stress the importance of awareness because…

It’s only when we are aware of a lack, need or challenge that we are inspired to do something about it.

This awareness is so crucial and necessary to the practice of bhakti yoga. In fact, often when I’m asked what bhakti yoga is all about, I give a standard answer – “It’s the process by which we can connect to ourselves, the Divine and one another through love and service.”

However, as my own understanding of bhakti is deepening, I’m starting to include an additional line in my explanation:

Bhakti yoga is also about becoming conscious of who we are and our eternal relationship with all living entities.

After all, if we don’t know who we are and what our relationship is with one another, then it becomes irrelevant as to why we should want to connect to anyone through love and service. As the great bhakti yogi, Srila Prabhupada, said, “First be conscious; then become God conscious.”

Isn’t that just so practical and beautiful? Ultimately, this means realizing that we are eternal souls who have nothing to do with this temporary material world. This is just one stop in our journey and like an actor in a drama, the body we are in, the situations we face and the emotions we feel are just part of one scene in that drama.

When we become aware that we are not the body, but the eternal soul, it is only then we’ll stop sweating the small stuff. Things will start to fall in the proper perspective and we’ll be well on our path to lasting happiness.

tired of the same old?
→ everyday gita

Verse 3.41: Therefore, O Arjuna, best of the Bhāratas, in the very beginning curb this great symbol of sin [lust] by regulating the senses, and slay this destroyer of knowledge and self-realization.

Find yourself doing the same old things again and again and not really feeling any happier? I was reflecting on this yesterday night as I caught myself falling into the trap of doing the same old things that honestly don’t help increase my happiness levels. After all, let’s be perfectly honest – most of us want to be happy and there’s nothing wrong with that!

It may seem contradictory, but the advice we hear today of regulating the senses can lead to new experiences, fun AND has the benefit of progressing in our path of self-discovery. It’s not as limiting as one might think.

For some of us, it means taking a good hard look at our lives and asking, “What makes me happy?” In fact, it’s an exercise I’d encourage everyone to do. Take a piece of paper and write down what you do in your free time. Now, write down on a scale of 1-10 how happy those activities make you. It could be anything from eating, hanging out with friends, sleeping etc… Got that down…well now comes the tough question:

How long does that happiness last?

That’s the question we should really be asking. It’s become enough to just feel happy, no matter how temporary it may be. But yoga isn’t about getting second rate things, it’s about getting the best. The best is finding those things that will sustain our happiness.

Regulating the senses means to stop settling for second best.

Practically speaking, it means recognizing that happiness comes from service as opposed to selfishness. It ties back into the concept of non-attachment and gratitude. After all –

A life of happiness is directly proportional to the gratitude that we feel and express.

When we are covered over by lust, we feel the need to possess and control things because we are feeling empty. Gratitude, on the other hand, paves the way to invoking the love that is lying within us and fills us with it. It reminds us that we are recipients of great gifts, talents, and facility.

Regulating the senses means to utilize our senses in expressing gratitude to the Divine for giving us so much. Instead of trying to satisfy our own senses, which are limited and are always hankering for more, we can utilize our senses to convey how grateful we are. It’s a matter of changing our attitude.

In the beginning, it can simple as expressing positive words to one another since we recognize that we are all part of a spiritual family, incorporating a compassionate vegetarian lifestyle or praying on behalf of loved ones. As our thoughts become filled with positivity and appreciation, a positive feedback loop starts to form. We experience a profound internal happiness that can’t compete with the temporary pleasures we experienced before. That gratitude becomes a permanent fixture in our lives and we’ll see more than our mind-sets and attitudes change – we’ll actually become (and remain) happy.

tired of the same old?
→ everyday gita

Verse 3.41: Therefore, O Arjuna, best of the Bhāratas, in the very beginning curb this great symbol of sin [lust] by regulating the senses, and slay this destroyer of knowledge and self-realization.

Find yourself doing the same old things again and again and not really feeling any happier? I was reflecting on this yesterday night as I caught myself falling into the trap of doing the same old things that honestly don’t help increase my happiness levels. After all, let’s be perfectly honest – most of us want to be happy and there’s nothing wrong with that!

It may seem contradictory, but the advice we hear today of regulating the senses can lead to new experiences, fun AND has the benefit of progressing in our path of self-discovery. It’s not as limiting as one might think.

For some of us, it means taking a good hard look at our lives and asking, “What makes me happy?” In fact, it’s an exercise I’d encourage everyone to do. Take a piece of paper and write down what you do in your free time. Now, write down on a scale of 1-10 how happy those activities make you. It could be anything from eating, hanging out with friends, sleeping etc… Got that down…well now comes the tough question:

How long does that happiness last?

That’s the question we should really be asking. It’s become enough to just feel happy, no matter how temporary it may be. But yoga isn’t about getting second rate things, it’s about getting the best. The best is finding those things that will sustain our happiness.

Regulating the senses means to stop settling for second best.

Practically speaking, it means recognizing that happiness comes from service as opposed to selfishness. It ties back into the concept of non-attachment and gratitude. After all –

A life of happiness is directly proportional to the gratitude that we feel and express.

When we are covered over by lust, we feel the need to possess and control things because we are feeling empty. Gratitude, on the other hand, paves the way to invoking the love that is lying within us and fills us with it. It reminds us that we are recipients of great gifts, talents, and facility.

Regulating the senses means to utilize our senses in expressing gratitude to the Divine for giving us so much. Instead of trying to satisfy our own senses, which are limited and are always hankering for more, we can utilize our senses to convey how grateful we are. It’s a matter of changing our attitude.

In the beginning, it can simple as expressing positive words to one another since we recognize that we are all part of a spiritual family, incorporating a compassionate vegetarian lifestyle or praying on behalf of loved ones. As our thoughts become filled with positivity and appreciation, a positive feedback loop starts to form. We experience a profound internal happiness that can’t compete with the temporary pleasures we experienced before. That gratitude becomes a permanent fixture in our lives and we’ll see more than our mind-sets and attitudes change – we’ll actually become (and remain) happy.

what is sin?
→ everyday gita

Verse 3.36: Arjuna said: O descendant of Vṛṣṇi, by what is one impelled to sinful acts, even unwillingly, as if engaged by force?

**I’d like to dedicate this post to two bhakti yogis – my father and Dr. Carl Herzig (Kalachandji Dasa). Thank you so much for sharing your valuable insights and realizations.**

Today’s post was written in spurts…in fact, I started it yesterday! I knew I wanted to focus on the word sin when all of a sudden I realized, “I don’t know what the bhakti yoga definition of sin actually is!!!” It served as a reminder as to why I started writing on the Gita.

This blog is a humble effort to make the Gita practical, relevant and understandable to those are reading it and/or are interested in – yoga, self-discovery and life. Well…that’s one of the reasons why I write. 😉 The other is so that I can continue to learn, grow and understand the Gita better so that I can become a better bhakti yogi.

That’s why I’d like to preface this post by saying – this is just an introduction to the topic of sin. By no means is it a comprehensive and complete explanation.

Awhile back, I wrote a post on how each of us view words, situations and ideas based on our own experiences. Certainly, this holds true when one hears the word “sin”. I’m sure that all of you have different definitions based on cultural context, religious/spiritual traditions, and personal opinion.

Personally, I’ve always found sin to be a somewhat vague concept and so I was curious to find out what the bhakti texts had to say. After hearing from two of my bhakti mentors and doing further research, I was able to distill it down to this:

Sins are impediments, in the form of attitudes and activities, that prevent one from experiencing their natural state of “eternal joy”.

Now that might sound a bit simplistic to some and I would have to agree. However, it does help to shed a bit more light on the subject matter. An impediment is a hinderance or obstruction and that’s exactly what sins do. Specifically, they impede us in two ways:

1) Prevent us from understanding that we are eternal souls.
2) Prevent us from connecting (i.e. yoga) with the Supreme.

So what are those attitudes and activities that prevent us from experiencing eternal joy? Let’s start with activities first as they’re a bit easier to tackle. Essentially, any activity that results in karma (whether good or bad) acts an impediment. Why’s that? Because we don’t always get the result of our karma in one lifetime. In order to receive that karma one needs to take on another temporary material body.

The solution is that we perform activities that result in no karma (akarma). This naturally leads us to the question of attitude. When one performs any action with the attitude of enjoying the result, one automatically receives karma. As we previously discussed when exploring the topic of non-attachment, when we perform our activities, all the while giving thanks to the Supreme, we incur no karma. It’s not that one can’t enjoy…don’t get me wrong. It’s about offering it to the Supreme in gratitude first; then we enjoy.

This is just the beginning of our exploration into the topic of sin, so stay tuned! Tomorrow we’ll find out the answer to Arjuna’s very interesting question – By what are we sometimes impelled to perform sinful actions acts, even unwillingly, as if engaged by force?

what is sin?
→ everyday gita

Verse 3.36: Arjuna said: O descendant of Vṛṣṇi, by what is one impelled to sinful acts, even unwillingly, as if engaged by force?

**I’d like to dedicate this post to two bhakti yogis – my father and Dr. Carl Herzig (Kalachandji Dasa). Thank you so much for sharing your valuable insights and realizations.**

Today’s post was written in spurts…in fact, I started it yesterday! I knew I wanted to focus on the word sin when all of a sudden I realized, “I don’t know what the bhakti yoga definition of sin actually is!!!” It served as a reminder as to why I started writing on the Gita.

This blog is a humble effort to make the Gita practical, relevant and understandable to those are reading it and/or are interested in – yoga, self-discovery and life. Well…that’s one of the reasons why I write. 😉 The other is so that I can continue to learn, grow and understand the Gita better so that I can become a better bhakti yogi.

That’s why I’d like to preface this post by saying – this is just an introduction to the topic of sin. By no means is it a comprehensive and complete explanation.

Awhile back, I wrote a post on how each of us view words, situations and ideas based on our own experiences. Certainly, this holds true when one hears the word “sin”. I’m sure that all of you have different definitions based on cultural context, religious/spiritual traditions, and personal opinion.

Personally, I’ve always found sin to be a somewhat vague concept and so I was curious to find out what the bhakti texts had to say. After hearing from two of my bhakti mentors and doing further research, I was able to distill it down to this:

Sins are impediments, in the form of attitudes and activities, that prevent one from experiencing their natural state of “eternal joy”.

Now that might sound a bit simplistic to some and I would have to agree. However, it does help to shed a bit more light on the subject matter. An impediment is a hinderance or obstruction and that’s exactly what sins do. Specifically, they impede us in two ways:

1) Prevent us from understanding that we are eternal souls.
2) Prevent us from connecting (i.e. yoga) with the Supreme.

So what are those attitudes and activities that prevent us from experiencing eternal joy? Let’s start with activities first as they’re a bit easier to tackle. Essentially, any activity that results in karma (whether good or bad) acts an impediment. Why’s that? Because we don’t always get the result of our karma in one lifetime. In order to receive that karma one needs to take on another temporary material body.

The solution is that we perform activities that result in no karma (akarma). This naturally leads us to the question of attitude. When one performs any action with the attitude of enjoying the result, one automatically receives karma. As we previously discussed when exploring the topic of non-attachment, when we perform our activities, all the while giving thanks to the Supreme, we incur no karma. It’s not that one can’t enjoy…don’t get me wrong. It’s about offering it to the Supreme in gratitude first; then we enjoy.

This is just the beginning of our exploration into the topic of sin, so stay tuned! Tomorrow we’ll find out the answer to Arjuna’s very interesting question – By what are we sometimes impelled to perform sinful actions acts, even unwillingly, as if engaged by force?