"When the work (Essence of the Bhagavad Gita) was finished, he (Paramhansa Yogananda) exclaimed to me (Swami Kriyananda) again and again, with ecstatic exhilaration and joy, "A new scripture has been born! Millions," he added,"will find God through this work. Not just thousands: millions! I have seen it. I know !"
The Bhagavad Gita means "The Song of God." It is also known as the Hindu bible. However, it predates Hinduism and originates in the age of the Vedas as Sanaatan Dharma - the eternal truth. The Gita is a subset of the Mahabharata, an historical epic about the great kingdom of Bharatavarsa, a region of India. It contains 110,000 couplets making it the longest poem and greatest epic in world literature. The overall story describes the descent of spirit into the ego and the delusion of separateness from God, other egos and all creation. It describes the spirit's struggle to ascend again into the Infinite Spirit. The Mahabharat was the subject of a famous 2008 television series in India.
The story of the Bhagavad Gita is an allegory of the battle between good and evil tendencies within all human beings. The two main characters in the Gita are Lord Krishna and the Pandava Prince Arjuna. The scene begins with the two opposing armies, on one side the Pandava brothers (Yudhisthira, Bhima, Arjuna, Nakula, and Sahadeva) and on the other, their cousins the Kaurava brothers preparing for war. The location is Kurukshetra, where an actual famous ancient battle took place on the plains of northern India. The Gita states: "This body is the battlefield." Lord Krishna explains to Arjuna his duties as a warrior and prince.
The Mahabharata is roughly ten times the length of the Greek Iliad and Odyssey combined. It has been compared in importance in world civilization to that of the Christian Bible, the works of Shakespeare, the works of Homer, and other Greek drama.
This battle of Kurukshetra is fought daily as the delusion of your ego-consciousness, the immortal soul's mistaken belief that it is this body, asserts its separateness from the Infinite Cosmic Consciousness, all other immortal souls, and all of God's creation. At the end of each day, before going to sleep, we should examine how we performed in the battle that day. Were we kind to others, or uncaring? Did we share our successes or did we selfishly hoard them. Were we loving or angry? Were we honest or deceitful? Were we pure or lustful?...
Yogananda reminded us that each day is like a new year. Reaffirm your determination to win the battle of Kurukshetra daily. Do not become discouraged if you did not completely succeed yesterday. Resolve to win today. Swami Kriyananda, who lived with Paramhansa Yogananda in California for three years before the master left his body, quotes his guru: "A saint is just a sinner who never gave up..."
In several of Sri Yogananda's discussions with his disciples, he referred to Babaji (from his line of gurus), as the reincarnation of Krishna, and Yogananda himself as the reincarnation of Arjuna. "The Essence of the Bhagavad Gita explained by Paramhansa Yogananda" is a must read for all truth seeking souls.
The Bhagavad Gita means "The Song of God." It is also known as the Hindu bible. However, it predates Hinduism and originates in the age of the Vedas as Sanaatan Dharma - the eternal truth. The Gita is a subset of the Mahabharata, an historical epic about the great kingdom of Bharatavarsa, a region of India. It contains 110,000 couplets making it the longest poem and greatest epic in world literature. The overall story describes the descent of spirit into the ego and the delusion of separateness from God, other egos and all creation. It describes the spirit's struggle to ascend again into the Infinite Spirit. The Mahabharat was the subject of a famous 2008 television series in India.
The story of the Bhagavad Gita is an allegory of the battle between good and evil tendencies within all human beings. The two main characters in the Gita are Lord Krishna and the Pandava Prince Arjuna. The scene begins with the two opposing armies, on one side the Pandava brothers (Yudhisthira, Bhima, Arjuna, Nakula, and Sahadeva) and on the other, their cousins the Kaurava brothers preparing for war. The location is Kurukshetra, where an actual famous ancient battle took place on the plains of northern India. The Gita states: "This body is the battlefield." Lord Krishna explains to Arjuna his duties as a warrior and prince.
The Mahabharata is roughly ten times the length of the Greek Iliad and Odyssey combined. It has been compared in importance in world civilization to that of the Christian Bible, the works of Shakespeare, the works of Homer, and other Greek drama.
This battle of Kurukshetra is fought daily as the delusion of your ego-consciousness, the immortal soul's mistaken belief that it is this body, asserts its separateness from the Infinite Cosmic Consciousness, all other immortal souls, and all of God's creation. At the end of each day, before going to sleep, we should examine how we performed in the battle that day. Were we kind to others, or uncaring? Did we share our successes or did we selfishly hoard them. Were we loving or angry? Were we honest or deceitful? Were we pure or lustful?...
Yogananda reminded us that each day is like a new year. Reaffirm your determination to win the battle of Kurukshetra daily. Do not become discouraged if you did not completely succeed yesterday. Resolve to win today. Swami Kriyananda, who lived with Paramhansa Yogananda in California for three years before the master left his body, quotes his guru: "A saint is just a sinner who never gave up..."
In several of Sri Yogananda's discussions with his disciples, he referred to Babaji (from his line of gurus), as the reincarnation of Krishna, and Yogananda himself as the reincarnation of Arjuna. "The Essence of the Bhagavad Gita explained by Paramhansa Yogananda" is a must read for all truth seeking souls.
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The Pandava brothers and the five chakras they represent...
The five Pandava brothers represent the lower five,
of the seven chakras:
Yudhisthira (calmness/divine expension),
Bhima (control of the breath),
Arjuna (self-control),
Nakula (virtue),
and Sahadeva (resist temptation)
The string on Arjuna's bow
represents the human and astral spine.
Arjuna's arrow represents concentration in meditation.
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The above illustration points aout the opposing good and evil human tendencies that are discussed in the Bhagavad Gita
Arjuna (Paramhansa Yogananda), expert wielder of the bow of self-mastery.
The Essence of the Bhagavad Gita ends with the following advice:
You must learn to empty the vessel of your heart from all pride, all selfishness, and all indifference.
You must learn to empty the vessel of your heart from all pride, all selfishness, and all indifference.
- You must learn how to hold that vessel high in pure and unconditional love, to be filled with the nectar of Divine Love.
- Only then, at the conclusion of your eons long adventure, will you learn that God has always loved you
- You may then hear the words:"You are dearly loved by Me."
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