Video Information: NIT-Trichy, 06.04.2024, Greater Noida
Context:
~ What things we should keep in mind before reading Bhagavad Gita?
~ Should we follow any rituals before reading the Gita?
~ How can we know whether we are meant for spirituality or normal life?
~ What is the difference between normal life and spiritual life?
~ Should I find my own path in life?
Music Credits: Milind Date
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Context:
~ What things we should keep in mind before reading Bhagavad Gita?
~ Should we follow any rituals before reading the Gita?
~ How can we know whether we are meant for spirituality or normal life?
~ What is the difference between normal life and spiritual life?
~ Should I find my own path in life?
Music Credits: Milind Date
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Category
📚
LearningTranscript
00:00Namaste Acharya ji. I am Krishna Goyal and I am currently studying in NIT 3G in EC branch
00:10second year. I have two questions. My first question is what things we should keep in
00:16mind before reading Bhagavad Gita? Like many people said we should wash hands, take bath
00:21and all this. So what rituals we should follow? And my second question is how can we know
00:27whether we are meant for spirituality or leading the normal life? You are Krishna Goyal. You
00:46get access to the foundations Gita course. Somebody please note and provide him the access.
00:57That is probably the only legitimate answer to your question. You are asking what should
01:04one keep in mind while going to the Gita. That's like asking what kind of rubbish should
01:10I carry before entering the bath. Gita is so that whatever you carry in your mind can
01:20be washed away. Why do you want to keep something in mind before coming to the Gita? Whatever
01:26you have in mind, is that bigger than the Gita? So why should that be preserved while
01:31coming to the Gita? Whatever you have in mind, tell it. You are subordinate to the Gita.
01:39So be prepared to be washed away. I am going to the Gita now. You will be attacked and
01:47annihilated. Should I clean my hands before going to the Gita? Cleaning is something that
02:00Gita will tell you. The very definition of cleaning will come from the Gita. How do you
02:06know what cleaning means? If you are thinking of cleaning your hands, it means you are the
02:10body. The Gita will tell you what the act of cleaning really means. Or are you superior
02:17to the Gita that you will do the cleaning first and then go to the Gita and if you are
02:21already clean, why are you going to the Gita? The Gita exists to clean you, but you say
02:27you are already clean. Today I am able to teach Gita to so many of you because when
02:39I was young, when I was not even a teenager, in so many days it happened, I would be sleeping
02:45with the Gita on my chest. Sometimes the pages would get distorted. I would get scolded and
02:57even I would not like that the page has become twisted or dog-eared. But that happened. I
03:11would be in love. I am eating, having my meals and the Gita is here. I am not advising that.
03:19I am just truthfully telling you what happened. In the copy of the Gita that I had, some of
03:28the pages would be marked with turmeric or some other spices. You see I was a kid. So
03:38some dal is there on the fingers and it was left behind on the pages of the book. Not
03:43that this is something advisable. Not that this is what you are supposed to do. But it
03:47used to happen. I was in love and I didn't know any rituals or rules and that was not
03:56just with the Gita. To me Gita is not a book. It is a genre. Any book that teaches me is
04:03the Gita. You are talking of the Bhagwat Gita here. Even in the Hindu way, there are dozens
04:17of Gitas and worldwide from the antiquity till today, there are even greater number
04:32of Gitas. There has to be love. I don't mean to say that great books, you know I have taken
04:47them with me even to the commode. I am not recommending that please. But that's what
04:55has happened. So why should I hide? Even today, the 10-15 minutes I spend there, I cannot
05:03bear to just waste away that time. The body is doing something. What am I doing? Just
05:08waiting. So I keep reading from my mobile phone. I cannot enter the washroom without
05:15my mobile phone. And I don't read trash. I read something that uplifts me. What ritual
05:27am I following? I loved wisdom too much to let any rituals come in the way. Love is not
05:49about following certain regulations. And I just didn't bow my head down. I actually
05:58quarrelled with Krishna. Because I was young and I couldn't reconcile one shloka with the
06:04other. And I was not prepared to just bow down to someone on the basis of his proclaimed
06:13authority. If the book is indeed great, then I should be able to see a harmony. Things
06:25must agree with each other and come to a composite whole. One verse in one chapter cannot contradict
06:33another one elsewhere. And it took me time to come to that reconciliation. What rituals?
06:51Even today, it does happen that when I am with a particular verse of some religious
06:56scripture and if I cannot see that it agrees with the whole of the scripture, I honestly
07:02tell that to my people. I say I do not know how this verse made its way to this book because
07:10the rest of the book does not seem to agree with this particular verse. Go to the Gita.
07:34It is the Gita that will tell you how to approach the Gita. You cannot be bigger than
07:41the Gita. So what does cleanliness mean? What does obedience mean? What does purity mean?
07:50What does loyalty mean? All these things will be taught to you by the Gita itself. You say
08:00I must be pure before I touch the Gita. But without touching the Gita, how do you know
08:05what purity means? How do you know? So go to the Gita as you are. Like a little naked
08:18kid goes to the mother. The mother will decide whether to dress up the kid. The kid cannot
08:25say unless and until I dress up and that too formally, necktie and cufflinks and everything,
08:36I will not go to the mother. He does not know even how to put on a chaddi. How will he wear
08:45formal clothes? Go to the Gita as you are in your animalistic nakedness. Just go. Go
08:58as you are. Let the Gita be your mother. She will teach you how to eat, how to wash your
09:08hands, how to dress up, how to go through the business of life. But we want to be special.
09:23We say I will decide these things on my own and then I will go to the Gita. What are you
09:29going to the Gita for then, if you have already decided the important things on your own?
09:44No it is not yet my time to go to the Gita. How do you know whether or not it is your
09:52time? Even that is something that the Gita will tell you. First go to her. She is the
10:03father and the mother. Give yourself fully to learn from what Shri Krishna is saying
10:15and then if you find that that is not of much value to it, then you go your own way. That's
10:20fine. Nobody is supposed to follow anything. If those words do not really appeal to you,
10:29go your own way. At what time should I read the Gita? Are there certain inauspicious times?
10:50When one should not touch the Gita? The only inauspicious time is when you are not touching
10:56the Gita. But there are Gurus who will tell you the right time to read the Gita. When you read
11:03the Gita that is the right time. You must be pure when you go to the Gita. When you go to the Gita,
11:21then you are pure. Thank you, sir.
11:51you