aarto jijnaa-surarthaarthee jnaanee cha bharatar-shabha (SBG 7:16)
O Arjuna, among the pious there are four kinds who are devoted to Me. They are the distressed, those seeking knowledge, people desiring material gain, and people of wisdom. (SBG 7:16)
यथैधांसि समिद्धोऽग्निर्भस्मसात्कुरुतेऽर्जुन | ज्ञानाग्निः सर्वकर्माणि भस्मसात्कुरुते तथा || ४ ३७ ||
न हि ज्ञानेन सदृशं पवित्रमिह विद्यते | तत्स्वयं योगसंसिद्धः कालेनात्मनि विन्दति || ४ ३८ ||
SBG 4:37 There is certainly nothing more purifying than knowledge. He who is perfect in Yoga finds it in the Self in due course of time.
SBG 4:38 Just as a blazing fire burns wood used as fuel into ashes, O Arjuna, knowledge burns all actions and reactions due to material activities, into ashes.
Shlokas in SANSKRIT + Translation in seven languages ENGLISH HINDI TAMIL TELUGU KANNADA MARATHI MALAYALAM
Whether it is about a challenge you are facing in life, or you are counselling someone, it’s always nice to be able to recall a relevant Shloka from the SBG and say it with confidence. Doing so can greatly help in making a choice and also validate it.
Simply learning to chant SBG Shlokas is one thing, but studying the life-changing scripture, and learning to apply its teachings in life is another. It can help in totally altering one’s entire personality, mental makeup, general attitude and character.
This programme, ‘Learn by heart 100 SBG Shlokas in 100 days’, is aimed at enabling seekers to easily master the selected SBG Shlokas. They are in seven groups, each one of which has one of the different objectives given below:
Understanding Krishna as The Divine Father and Mother
Kill Fear and Anger
Fight Demotivation
Destroy Laziness
Calming Down and Strengthening a Weak Mind
Handling Temptation
The Quintessence – Internalising Krishna’s Gitopadesha
My post introducing the Vedanta Crash course starts straight away with the four Mahavakyas. ‘You are That.’ ‘Tat Tvam Asi!’ Indeed – YOU ARE THAT.
The Upanishads belong to the Gnyaana Kaanda of the Vedas, whereas rites and rituals are matters of the Karma Kaanda, which is an elementary stage of spiritual evolution. People, who call themselves ‘pious’ need to ask themselves whom they are looking for when the truth is that there is no one or nothing outside their minds. When Krishna clearly says in SBG 10:20 that He is the All-pervading Self in all living beings, why do people not look into themselves but waste their whole life looking for Krishna outside themselves?
The path of spiritual evolution explained in the Vedas is so well-graded that anyone who follows it and keeps going ahead, instead of stagnating at any level, is sure to reach the ultimate goal of Self-realisation. Our great sages of the Vedic period were far ahead of us and most of the present-day ‘godmen’ and ‘god women’. Stagnating at the lowest levels in the path of spiritual evolution seems to have become something that is fashionable, that people are simply addicted to. And sadly enough, this is what a lot of confused and poorly informed people call religion, ‘bhakti’, etc.
When you complete my one-hour video which I have made to introduce the Vedas and 10 Upanishads, you will realise how most of us have been wrongly led into believing things that do not even exist, by people who themselves did not have the slightest amount of knowledge of Vedanta.
Bhakti is not the final goal, but it is Vedanta which is the ultimate stage in one’s process of seeking knowledge, and Bhakti is merely a means to overpower the mind and begin to realise one’s Divine Self. But what do people do? They spend their whole lives in Bhakti, pujas, etc. without even realising that there is no one out there and that, in fact, they are doing all that to themselves!
The idea of ‘praying to god’ for what one wants is one of the ridiculous practices that have somehow entered our systems through Abrahamic cults. I have explained this in my Udemy course through Arjuna’s approach. Arjuna had Krishna right next to him and as his driver, but not even once did Arjuna ask Krishna for ‘Divine favours’. He only asked to be taught what he should do to be true to his position as a warrior king. (SBG 7:07).
Advaita Vedanta simply means NO TWO. When Ramana Maharshi was once asked by someone how he could serve others, the Maharshi simply said, “There are no others.”
It is indeed sad to see that a lot of people at the Ramana Ashram today are doing almost everything that the Maharshi asked people to avoid doing and wasting their time!
In my opinion, anyone who starts a sect or community is one who is dividing society. This is how we became weak and ready to be plundered, abused and murdered by mlecchas, who violated our women and children, destroyed our ancient heritage starting with the Nalanda University and so on.
A lot of self-styled ‘religious people’ of today are nothing but parrots. What is the grand idea of simply repeating Mantras without applying the mind to the chanting? Aren’t they emulating parrots? But that is what many people do, thinking they are ‘pleasing god’ by chanting a Mantra thousands of times or also hiring someone to chant the Mantras for them. How unintelligent and intellectual can that be! Is that what our great sages of the yore taught us? Try asking some so-called religious people out there if they have studied the Srimad Bhagavad Gita or some main Upanishads, and not just read or learned to chant them. Their answer will invariably be in the negative. Are they not like the blind leading the blind?
Being fanatical about deities and arguing over Rama, Krishna and Shiva are like small children fighting over characters from fairy tales. People need to rise above elementary levels of spiritual learning and proceed towards much higher levels of understanding.
In case you haven’t done it yet, please do take the Vedanta crash course. You would only be doing yourselves a favour by doing it, as you would be freeing your mind from all unwanted factors that prevent you from relishing the greatest gift called life.
The four ‘Mahavakayas’, which mean ‘great ‘sayings’ are from the Upanishads. They contain the core essence of the non-dualistic school of Advaita Vedanta..
They are:
Pragnyaanam Brahma’ : ‘The highest form of Knowledge is (the All-pervading) Brahman.’
‘Aham Brahmasmi’: ‘I (not the ego but the SELF) am (the All-pervading) Brahman.’
‘Tat Tvam Asi’: ‘That (the All-pervading Brahman) you are.’
‘Ayam Atma Brahma’: The Atman is (the All-pervading) Brahman.
The Mahavakyas should give you a fair idea of what you will be learning in this crash course made up of two parts.
In order to learn an organised religion, you would need to read one or more of its prime scriptures, learn the dos and don’ts by heart, make up your mind to blindly believe in one or more theistic beings, and pledge your allegiance to the religion and your obedience to the clergy.
On the other hand, all that a person who intends to study the Vedas needs is an open heart, mind, and soul. The journey through the Vedas is spiritual and intellectual, which takes a seeker through the different stages, right from the early learning stages to that of being a Self-realised person. The ultimate goal is Self-realisation.
You do not need to ‘become’ something, but through the Knowledge of Vedanta, you will learn to ‘be’ what you really are – DIVINE.
However, due to various reasons, in the name of religion, devotion, and spirituality, different kinds of practices have emerged over a large period of time. These have succeeded in leading seekers far away from the Vedas, of which the Upanishads are the summit and contain the core non-dualistic philosophy.
It is quite natural for people who decide to study the Vedas and Vedanta to consider taking lessons from great teachers. However, in the busy lives that people lead these days, finding the time or even the right teacher becomes a major stumbling block.
This programme is aimed at enabling seekers to acquire an overview of the non-dualistic philosophy, the Vedic and Upanishadic ‘god concept,’ the greatness and advanced thinking of ancient sages of the Vedic and later periods, and to take the first step towards comprehending their own innate Divinity.
I wish you a spiritually enriching and enjoyable journey through this short programme.
Jai Shri Krishna.
The Video course: Part 1/2 and 2/2
There is no place for superstition, blind faith, irrational ideas, or anything that could cause stress or fear in the minds of people. Vedanta is empowering and liberating.
The above are statements that are uttered usually by people who use a ‘drug’ called self-pity.
That’s right. Self-pity is indeed like a drug. It is so easy to take the help of this ‘drug’. It usually starts with the seemingly harmless but frequent use of the word ‘because’ in whatever people say.
Sentences like:
“I am able to complete my work because….”
“I can’t do that because….”
“I can’t come out of my sadness because…”
“I am afraid because….”
The very source of such an attitude is a major fault in a person’s basic perception and understanding of reality, which is usually planted in their minds by society, media, the education system, elders, peers, and the so-called ‘religious people.’ What worsens this fault is the wrong understanding of the ‘God concept’ by people of the Vedic Dharma. It is quite understandable that people following organised religions have no choice in the matter because if they wished to be part of their respective organised religions or cults, they would have to believe in one or more theistic central figures of that religion, book or certain religious people. However, that is not the case with the Vedic Sanatana Dharma. One does not have to believe in anything or anyone. All one needs to do is to be a modest and avid seeker.
At the end of the Srimad Bhagavad Gita, in Shloka 18:63, Krishna does not ask Arjuna to obey him but to take whatever he wished from Krishna’s teachings and to do what he would wish to do.
While Vedanta is the highest stage of philosophical studies through the Upanishads, most people, due to plain ignorance or laziness, prefer to stay back at much lower levels of spiritual evolution. They do so rather than observing the world around them, learning from it, asking questions, debating, studying, researching, and taking responsibility.
The idea of an external or separate ‘god’ or ‘gods’ is taught at much lower levels of one’s path towards attaining spiritual evolution. Its purpose is to overcome the veil of ignorance of one’s own Divinity that one’s mind creates using the abstract phenomenon called ‘false ego’, and to evolve to the stage in which one is capable of perceiving their own Divinity.
Instead of devoutly completing the various stages of the Vedas and arriving at Vedanta, which is the final goal, people prefer to take metaphors in a literal sense, hold on to them, attribute all troubles and challenges in their life to something or someone else outside their person, and further develop their habit of using the ‘drug’ of self-pity.
Whether you have read the Srimad Bhagavad Gita or not, you might want to read the following Shloka and use it as an important driving force in your life:
SBG 2:37 Either you will be killed in the battle, and you will attain the celestial abodes or, you will win this battle and enjoy the kingdom on earth. Therefore, arise and fight with resolution.
Do not forget that you have nothing to lose because you anyway own nothing. You are merely a voyager through time. It would be most useful to learn to live and, one day, exit happily.
It is you and no one else who is the creator of your destiny. Taking Responsibility is not only empowering, but it also removes all traces of a person’s self-destructive habit of throwing the blame on external factors.
In Shloka SBG 4:40 Krishna says: The ignorant, the faithless and those who doubt themselves proceed to destruction. For the one who doubts, there is happiness neither in this world nor in the other.
Remember, that there is no one, no gods, no planets, or nothing that are causing challenges in your life. If you want your life to change – YOU CHANGE.
Whatever challenges you might have faced or are still facing, are only making you stronger, wiser and more complete.
How would you feel to be able to understand a situation, either in your life or in that of someone else, immediately connect it with one or more Shlokas from the Srimad Bhagavad Gita, and possess the ability to deliver them in a powerful manner thus adding Divine energy to the situation and being of help to yourself and to others?
I can say from experience that it would be wonderful, thrilling, empowering, energising, and highly motivating.
Some time ago, I had posted a video titled “SEVEN BELLS – Selected Shlokas from the Srimad Bhagavad Gita.” The video contains Shlokas from the SBG that would suit seven different objectives given below:
1. Understanding Krishna as The Divine Father and Mother
2. Kill Fear and Anger
3. Fight Demotivation
4. Destroy Laziness
5. Calming Down and Strengthening a Weak Mind
6. Handling Temptation
7. Becoming Dear to Bhagavan Krishna
Please introduce yourself in the form given below. (You can be sure that I respect the privacy of everyone and whatever you post here will never be shared with others).
I am working on creating video lessons to help seekers learn to pronounce the Shlokas correctly, deliver them effectively, understand the Shlokas, and learn how to remember them.
Let us begin with a hundred Shlokas and then go for more.
It would also be useful to me if you could let me know from which point in time you have been a visitor to any of the Tavamithram sites or YouTube Channel. Depending upon the number of people interested in learning SBG Shlokas by heart and also learning to understand them and apply them in life, I might consider Zoom or Google Meet learning sessions in the future.
I would greatly appreciate it if you could fill out the form below. It would help me in assessing the interest that people have in getting to know the Srimad Bhagavad Gita well and learning to apply the Divine knowledge in life.
An elderly lady sent me a note of thanks after watching my two videos mentioned below and called me to let me know of her newfound blissful state of mind.
The person, who is 69 years old, said that as she crossed the introduction of the third Upanishad in the video, namely the Kat-hopanishad, she sensed that all her fears were leaving her and that she started feeling lighter at heart.
Then at the end of the video, after going through the brief description of the BrihadaryaNyaka Upanishad and my final words in the video presentation, she realised that while she was watching the video, she was subconsciously forgiving everyone she thought had wronged her, disrespected her, or were unfair to her.
She said, “I feel like a butterfly, light and free, and I have promised myself to follow your advice: never spend time on anything that will not help me become a better person.”
The Vedic Sanatana Dharma is not even a way of life like what many people think it is. There are no rules, regulations, or commandments, but it is a great path that seekers could follow and go through its different stages of spiritual evolution. The actual journey is like going beyond a doctorate degree. That being the case, why are people of the Vedic Sanatana Dharma, who are beyond the stage of our ‘PhD doctors’ in philosophy, belittling themselves by fighting and competing with cultists or religious people who are comparable to primary school children? I mean arguing and debating with people of organised religions. And why do they want to be ‘better’ than them? Organised religions are no comparison to the Vedic Dharma, so they should never be treated at par with the Vedic Sanatana Dharma. Never.
Most people of the Sanatana Dharma, who call themselves ‘Hindus’, somehow never get to read the Srimad Bhagavad Gita even until late in life. There could be various reasons for it that I do not wish to go into. However, my personal objective is to help, enable, and make it easier for people to not only taste the nectar of the Bhagavad Gita, which is called the nectar of all the Vedas, but to enable them to change their whole life for the better by applying the philosophy of Krishna taught in this most amazing scripture, which, in non-religious terms, can be called the perfect ‘Mind Management Manual’.
The first time I taught my son this great scripture was when he was eight. At the age of 12, he gave me his understanding of the entire scripture, the depth of which, simply baffled me. His development and progress, both as a person as also academically, have been proving that his rock-solid spiritual foundation is paying off extremely well.
These works of mine, such as the book ‘Capture the Essence – Srimad Bhagavad Gita’ and the two videos Part 01 and 02 introducing the Vedas and 10 principal Upanishads, have been created by me in a manner that would make imbibing Krishna’s teachings and the principles of Vedanta easy. In fact, they need to be part of the school syllabus for children.
The youth of today are vulnerable to a barrage of information that leads to confusion in their minds. The book ‘Capture the Essence – Srimad Bhagavad Gita’ and the two videos on the Vedas and 10 Upanishads will certainly help them think with utmost clarity, with which, they will be able to react in the most rational, fearless, and confident way possible.
SBG 4:37 Just as a blazing fire burns wood used as fuel into ashes, O Arjuna, knowledge burns all actions and reactions due to material activities into ashes.
SBG 4:38 There is certainly nothing more purifying than knowledge. He who is perfect in Yoga finds it in the Self in due course of time.
The vast treasures of Vedic literature can be overwhelming, unfathomable, and highly complex for many. However, the greatest gift that humankind has received is in the form of an amazing treatise, which forms the nectar of all the Vedic literature put together. It is the Srimad Bhagavad Gita, with 700 Shlokas in 18 chapters.
Although it usually takes about three to four hours to complete reading the 18 chapters, most people somehow tend to lack the enthusiasm to read the life-changing scripture thinking it is too deep and hard to understand, and they tend to push reading it for a later part of their life. This is exactly where the problem lies. Everyone has only one life as a particular individual, and time is rather running fast. Thanks to their ignorance as regards the Vedic nondualistic principle of the All-pervading Brahman personified as Krishna, and due to faulty concepts of a separate being called ‘God’ residing in the skies, people let go of the chance to benefit from the highest level of all Vedic studies, namely Vedanta, which has been explained in the Srimad Bhagavad Gita in the most lucid manner.
Blaming ‘God’, destiny, others, or other factors has almost become a regular feature in the thought processes of a lot of people. There cannot be freedom until one feels or believes that there are external forces that are controlling their life. Such a belief or even a presumption of that nature makes people vulnerable to mass mind control and mental enslavement systems such as organised religion or cults.
The first step of organised religions in their massive projects of converting people is injecting deep-rooted fear into their minds. A certain religious book says, “The fear of God is the beginning of wisdom”! Why should anyone fear God? What sort of life would that be to live in the perpetual fear of antagonising a jealous and brutal being who resides up above, and being sent to eternal damnation!
Vedanta is indeed a deep subject, but it surely can be defined in one sentence. Vedanta is the ultimate goal of the Vedas, which are a path towards seeking knowledge of the Self and Brahman. As in Shloka 2:46 of the Srimad Bhagavad Gita, ‘a man of realisation of the Self, attains the purpose that all the Vedas serve.’
Tavamithram’s ‘SBG for all’ project is aimed at enabling as many people as possible, particularly young people and also children, to experience the essence of the entire Srimad Bhagavad Gita. Anyone who has acquired the taste for spiritual knowledge would only wish to delve deeper into the amazing, intellectually stimulating, empowering, liberating, and Divine sphere of Vedanta which is the goal, peak, and end of all the four Vedas.
The time invested in it can easily be one that can alter the reader’s life perspective and their overall approach towards life, health, events in their life; their work, relationships, successes, failures, and their goals in life.
The Divine bliss that I, the author, experience every moment of my life, thanks to my modest knowledge of the Supreme philosophy of Vedanta, is what I have been so passionately sharing with others without holding absolutely anything back.
Take action today. – Get your copy ‘Capture the Essence – Srimad Bhagavad Gita‘.
Tavamithram Sarvada 