Meditation on The Bhagavad Gita
“I am the goal, the upholder, the Lord, the witness, the abode, the refuge and the friend, (I am) the origin and the dissolution, the ground, the resting place and the imperishable seed”.
Bhagavad Gita 19:18
Meditation sets foundation to know deeper about self and the Self. When I meditated over the passage from Bhagavad Gita there is an immense change in my being as a whole. I enjoyed the different emotions and at times ideas that take control of me as I meditated. It makes me feel that how God loves me and continue to care for me throughout my journey on this heart. The search for happiness is basic to human life. Meditation or religious activities helps us to have an experience of transcendental joy through union with Ultimate Reality or the realization of one's true mind. Meditation helps us to experience the bliss which is the final goal of the spiritual life. The passage from Bhagavad Gita (10:20), “I am the Self established in the heart of all contingent beings: I am the beginning, the middle, and the end of all contingent beings too”, was the dominant mood as I contemplate over the passages of the Gita.
Bhagavad Gita 18:66; For one still in the body it is not possible to surrender up all works without exception; rather it is he who surrenders up the fruits of the works who deserves the name, ‘A self- surrendered’.
God has his own ways to liberate his creation. I feel that change in us occur when we cooperate with God. The phrase from Bible, John 8:36 which says, ‘If the son makes you free, you will be free indeed’, is a consoling phrase for me because by surrendering my life to God through service to people God will reward me in the next life. Priesthood, Religious life, Sanyasi, or dedicating our lives for God through our service to humanity is meaningful only because someday we believe that God will reward us and we will live with him in his abode. Therefore, when I do any work or services I should not look as how much I have done and what reward I will receive but I should evaluate as to how much more others can get benefit form my work and services. What I do do not depends only on my skills but it depends on God who is the giver of my skills and talents. If the birds of the air and the lilies do not worry, why should I be worried? I am special because God has created me in his own image and likeness. What I have are God’s blessings to me, therefore I feel that I ought to surrender all to God.
Bhagavad Gita 10:20; I am the Self established in the heart of all contingent beings: I am the beginning, the middle, and the end of all contingent beings too.
God is the heart, Soul, Origin and Midst of every being. Thales, a philosopher, said that creation begins from water. However I am fully against this because I felt that creation begins from God and will return to God. Nothing exists without the knowledge of God and nothing moves without the immovable mover (God). The saying from the Bible, ‘I am the Alpha, and the Omega’ (Rev 1:8) flashed in my mind as I ponder over this passage. God is the beginning and the end. He is the Creator, Caretaker and the Protector. He is the being in me. I exist because He lives in me and I live in Him. He is everlasting.
Bhagavad Gita 19: 31; All who come to me for refuge including those whose birth is low, artisans and women, even Serfs, be assured that you will perish not.
In God whether white or black, rich or poor, high or low castes or from any background, it does not matter. He sees not divides no one. We appear in god’s eyes as His beautiful creation. We are equal in the eyes of God. Therefore by believing in this loving, caring and benevolence God I am sure that I will not perish. I will be raise by God and live with Him in the heavenly abode. The Bible passage (John 3:16b) ‘Everyone who believes in him may not perish but have eternal life’ strikes me. My faith in God is strengthened and I feel that I am close to God because the God I believe in is the God who care and a god who keep me close with Him always.
Bhagavad Gita 5:18; The wise ones see the self same thing in a Brahmin wise and courteous as in a cow or an elephant, nay, as in a dog or outcast.
When I recited this Gita verse the exercise, ‘Contemplation to Attain Love’, from the ‘Spiritual of St. Ignatius of Loyola’, takes control of me. I ask God the grace of love that I may love Him in all the things that He has created. God has created beautiful things that he has created. God has created beautiful things on this earth so that I may enjoy life. God dwells in creatures; in the elements-giving them existence, in the plants-giving them life, in the animals-giving them sensation and in human beings-giving them intelligence. All things that God created have their own purpose on this earth
I felt human beings are special beings created by God. However at times we destroy the harmony that God created. Human beings are the ones who created a gap between humans. The gap of castes, tribes, richness, poor, white, black and so on.
Bhagavad Gita 2:47; (But) work alone is your proper business never the fruits (it may produce, Let not your motive be the fruit of works nor your attachments to (mere) worklessness.
To live we need to work. Work requires dedication, hard work and faithfulness. Mother Theresa said that success does not matter but faithfulness. Work is worship. St. Ignatius of Loyola through the concept of ‘Contemplation in Action’ very much emphasis that work itself is a prayer. So work should be done faithfully and responsibly. Our task is therefore to work hard and not to depend on the fruit of our action because it is not in our control. The fruit of our labor depends on our labor and on the blessings of God. It is not fully in our hand. Therefore we should keep working without expecting the fruit. The reward will be given to us when it is time. My concern for other should be with action. My concern should not be the fruit or the result, it should not be with an ulterior motives and my concern should not have any attachments to inactions.
Bhagavad Gita 5:28; with senses, mind and soul restrained, the silent sage, on deliverance intent who has forever banished fear, anger and desire is truly liberated.
Emotions can be constructive as well as destructive force for human beings to be liberated. When I am scared, and angry I am not my true self. I live only in one side of my being and the whole does not control me. When I am free from such emotions like anger, fear and others, I am truly liberated; to be perfectly liberated is not possible in this life. In this life we can be free and liberated only up to certain extent that also when we are able to control our emotions. Senses, mind and soul are the important aspects of and existing human being, without them no one can exist. They are also pivotal aspects of our relationship with the self, with others and with the Ultimate One and that is God. When I try to take control of my senses and my mind I will slowly enter into that heavenly freedom of peace and tranquility.
Bhagavad Gita 18:66; Give up all things of law, turn to me, your only refuge,( for) I will deliver you from all evils; have no care.
God is my refuge and strength. St. Paul once said that If God is with us, who can be against us. God will deliver me from all evils. I need not worry or afraid of anything because as the psalmist says, ‘The Lord is my Shepherd’, he will guide me to green pastures, take care of me, protect me from evil and he will never let me hungry. My disposition and my readiness to cooperate with God will make me happy in life and I will not be led astray by the things that divide me from God. I need to give everything to Him, trust Him and according to His will everything will follow. The song ‘Seek ye first the Kingdom of God and His righteousness and all this things shall be added unto you…’ makes me feel that yes God is the source of life and He is the only refuge and strength so why should I worry, I need to only trust in Him. He knows what to give for his loving children.
Bhagavad Gita 11:55; Do works for me make me your highest goal, be loyal-in-love to me, cut off all (other) attachments, have no hatred for any being at all; for all who do thus shall come to me.
The works that I am asked to do are the service to people and my availability to spread the message of God. Knowing and encountering God is the highest goal. I need to detach myself from all earthly things that give joy for a while but will perish. The possessive attitude of ‘I’ should be avoided to identify myself with God. I need to love fellow being as I love God and also love all the creation that god has created. When I walk God’s path I will be with Him and I will walk in His path. In fact by doing so I become part of the identity, I become the identity and thus I am liberated. Our duty should be done not only because of our like and dislike but to praise God our maker.
Bhagavad Gita 9:29: In all contingent beings the same am I; none do I hate and none do I fondly love; but those who commune with me in love’s devotion (abide) in Me, and I in them.
God doesn’t go by like and dislike. All beings are pervaded by God and we dwell In His unmanifest form like the mighty wind. When we constantly think and love god alone, without any desires of self, god gives full security and love God alone, without any desires of self, God gives full security and will take care of us. When we fix our mind on Him, devoted to Him, make sacrifices to him, bow down to Him, in order to be united with Him, We will become his dwell place. God does not hate anyone, does not distinguish people by race, color or tribes, He blesses everyone. When we realize the love of god and make our hearts his dwelling place, God will direct us to a right direction. St. Paul said that we are the temple of the Holy Spirit. God resides in us and thus we unite in God.
Bhagavad Gita 15:15 And I am in the heart of all. With me come memory and wisdom, and without me they depart. I am the knower and the knowledge of the Vedas, and the creator of their end, the Vedanta.
'And I am in the heart of all'. The Lord is seated in my heart. Heart is the center for life to exist. I felt that God is the key that open and closes every movement in my heart. He controls me so that I may exist. If He is absence from my heart, there will not be any heartbeats and I would die. As I meditated over this passage the Christian doctrine of the Sacred Heart of Jesus take hold of my mind. The heart is the centre of my personality, the place of the indwelling presence of God. When I am in Christ, the heart of Christ that this indwelling presence of God is most clearly manifested. Through love I have to discover this Christ dwelling in my heart and my dwelling in the heart of Christ. I live in Christ and Christ lives in me. As St. Paul would say that no one can separate us from the love of God. I cannot be separated from God because He is my very being, my heart, and my everything
Bhagavad Gita 18: 58: Fixing thy thought on Me, thou shalt, by My grace, cross over all difficulties; but if, from self-conceit, thou wilt not listen (to Me), thou shalt perish.
Man is free to choose salvation of perdition, heaven or hell. I am given a free will to do this or that. As a follower of Jesus I felt that I should do the right thing and apologies my mistake and reconcile so that I will be in the path of God. Nothing is impossible when I fix my eyes on God. When one door is close He opens another for me so that overcome all the difficulties. The moment I am proud, I say that I don’t need God and I acclaimed that I can do everything that will be the beginning of my destructive destiny. I felt that by going against God’s will I am going to perish because God is the Alpha and the Omega of my life.
Meditation on the Bhagavad Gita helps me to think broadly and experience the richness of the Gita. It makes me feel that we live on this earth temporarily and this earth is not our final goal. Our final goal is to be in united with the Divine. Meditation on the Gita is has also help me to realize the self within me at least a little better. For example, many at times I do the work just for the sake of doing but now I realize that work is worship. It is a prayer, a meditation that could help to experience the blissfulness within me. I realize that by meditating on the Gita will help a person to know self better, to love the neighbors better, to do the responsibility better and to be united with God better.
Holy Bible. The New Revised Standard Version, Catholic Edition, Published by Catholic Bible Press, Thomas Nelson, Inc., Nashville, Tennessee.
Zaehner R.C. The Bhagavad-Gita.Oxford. Clarendon Press, 1969.
Parrinder Geoffrey. Bhagavad Gita a verse translation. London; Sheldon Press, 1974.
Note: The above are my personal reflections....
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