Chapter 13: Bhagavad Gita Course with Swami Vishwananda

On August 11th, 2014 Swamiji covered Chapter 13 of the Bhagavad Gita, titled: Kshetrakshetrajna Yoga

In the final 6 chapters, the topics examined in greater detail are: the essential nature of Prakrti (Material Nature) and of the Jivātman, and the basic features of the paths of Karma (Action), Jñana (Knowledge) and Bhakti (Devotion) and the ways of practicing these paths.

In Chapter 13, Arjuna asks to know more about the Lord. Arjuna tells Krishna that now he has seen Krishna's cosmic form, he wants to go deeper into the mystery of God. Krishna then explains to Arjuna what is matter and what is the spirit, what is the body and what is the Soul. 

General topics covered in the Chapter:

• The theory of creation
• God can be described by parables and not in any other way
• Faith alone can lead to liberation
• Attributes of the spirit

Excerpt commentary from Swamiji:

18

jyotiṣām api tajjyotis
tamasaḥ param-ucyate
jñānaṃ jñeyaṃ jñāna-gamyaṃ
hṛdi sarvasya viṣṭhitam

He is the light of all lights and luminous beyond all the darkness of our ignorance. He is knowledge and the object of knowledge. He is seated in the hearts of all.

"He is showing that the duty of man is to realise the Divine within themselves and to attain Him. Which means that whatever you do in life it is only to serve Him, to attain Him. So that´s why I said, ‘Do your dharma.’ When you do your dharma properly you embrace, you attune with that knowledge. When you learn to accept life, whatever God gives you in life whole-heartedly, this is the object of knowledge which God has given you to attain the perfection. When you embrace what He gives you in every moment you will see how easy it is.

He is seated in the hearts of men. Even if the Lord is present everywhere, everything is His manifestation, but the heart of man is a different reality, it is more superior than any other manifestation of Him. In the heart in human beings His light is shining much more. The heart of man is the manifestation of God, it is there where one can feel Him, meet Him, speak with Him. So this means that the heart which is inside the body is unique and that’s what makes a human being unique."

Testimony:

"It has been great so far. Swami's message is to have a calm mind, tell yourself that you are the soul and not the body, and that God is doing everything. The repetition of this message is absolutely necessary because we need to be reminded over and over again. Our goal is to just remember and practice in our daily lives what he teaches us." - Shez, U.K.

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Sri Swami Vishwananda has decided to give commentary on the Shreemad Bhagavad Gita, the eternal Word of Lord Sri Krishna. It will take place over 18 consecutive days, and each day will cover one chapter. Guruji will give his commentary with a particular Bhakti perspective.

For now, we will provide a small portion of the commentary on this blog for those who could not attend the course. At a later stage, we will offer the full length of the Gita commentary as a book and also as CD and DVD sets.