Excerpts of “Essence of Bhagavad Gita” 3.0

Namaste Pure Souls,

Bringing here, for you, the next part of the excerpts from “The Essence of the Bhagavad Gita” Explained by Paramhansa Yogananda, as remembered by his disciple Swami Kriyananda.

I consider it my moral responsibility to specify this with due respect and honesty, that I have not done any tempering with the original material and putting the excerpts as I have taken from the holy book.

– Our pain is also our protection, and not a sign that God wants us to suffer.

– A divine person is not essentially different from anyone else. It is his inner consciousness that creates whatever dissimilarities there are.

– One who has put away all desires, being wholly contented in the Self, may be considered settled in wisdom.

– Fear is born of the thought of failure if one is attached to success. Anger is born of frustrated desire.

– He who, under all circumstances, is without attachment, and neither elated by goodness nor depressed by evil, is a man of established wisdom.

– There are two requirements, for the attainment of wisdom.

One, to withdraw the mind not only from sense objects, but from the senses themselves; and,

Two, to remain merged in the consciousness of God as the most desirable of all goals.

– Dwelling mentally on sense objects breeds attachment to them. From attachment arises craving. From craving springs anger. Anger produces delusion. Delusion causes forgetfulness. Loss of memory causes decay of the power of discrimination. From the loss of discrimination ensues the annihilation of all right understanding.

– To rise again toward wisdom, the deluded ego must reach the point where it realizes that what it has understood of life so far has brought it nothing but pain. And suffering diminishes when there is a decrease of Self- interest.

The fog of delusion begins to lift from the mind, and one no longer strikes out at the world in anger for not giving him what he wants.

– From lessened attachment comes a lessening interest in the objects of the senses, and an increase of longing for true wisdom- a longing which awakens devotion in the heart, love of truth, and intense inspiration to know true and everlasting bliss.

– The man of perfect self-control can act in this world unaffected by it. Inwardly free from attraction and repulsion, he has attained unshakable inner calmness.

– With the attainment of soul bliss, every vestige of Sorrow disappears. Bliss gives perfect discrimination and soon establishes one’s consciousness in the self.

– Mistakes on the path are always possible. One should acknowledge them (at least to himself) sincerely and openly, and then simply forsake them without making the further mistake of becoming upset with himself.

– Withdraw your sense- faculties from the senses themselves, and sense- objects. Thus, will your wisdom become firmly established?

– Contentment is his who, like the ocean, calmly absorbs into himself all the rivers of desire. One, whose desires trickle outward is soon drained.

– That person knows peace who, relinquishing all energy-draining desires, and fully satisfied with his state of desirelessness, no longer sees himself as a separate, individual ego.