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2012: Matrix Singularity NEW VIDEO

DavidBruceHughes — Mon, 25 Jun 2007 16:38:42 GMT

Check out our new video series on YouTube. http://youtube.com/watch?v=2IamhWgt-hE It's about the coming Singularity of change in 2012, and how we can get through it without losing our minds by developing our spiritual consciousness. Here's the playlist for the entire 2012 Seminar series: http://youtube.com/my_playlists?p=B742159EDB16848B love, Baba

The End and the Beginning

DavidBruceHughes — Sat, 10 Feb 2007 15:34:16 GMT

The afternoon breeze freshens off the Pacific Coast, gusting over the eucalyptus trees and cutting through my coat and sweater with chilling effect. Leaden clouds cut off the sun this gloomy gray day. Ah, another beautiful summer in San Francisco. I can’t believe I’ve been here over a year already. I’ve rarely stayed anywhere more than six months at a time. A peripatetic musician and esoteric student, I’ve spent my adult years scouring the whole world for spiritual truth. The streetcar stand is overrun with undergraduates escaping from the SFU campus to their barrios. Finally the car arrives. Miraculously, a Chinese girl offers me a window seat. Seniority does have its privileges. As the crowded car trundles off, I settle into the world within. I mentally focus on an ancient Sanskrit mantra; the outside world dissolves and I am inside, waiting. For what or whom, I don’t exactly know. The purpose of the mantra is to reveal a special form of God: my personal Deity. It is the ultimate fruit of a quest that has taken me around the world four times and to so many countries I’ve lost count. Now I’m getting old and tired, but the end is at last within reach. Then comes my old Friend, the Lion. We Vaisnava devotees all know and love Lord Nrsimhadeva, the fierce protector pastime form of Visnu. “Hello My friend,” He says in His lovable growly voice, “You called Me?” “Hello, dear Lion. I am chanting the kama-gayatri mantra to find my istha-devata. Can You help me find Him?” Two years before, I had camped out alone in the jungles of Kaua’i, just chanting the Hare Krsna maha-mantra. Finally one morning after six months of day-and-night chanting, Lord Krsna Himself appeared against the lovely background of Vrndavana forest. He said simply, “You will attain Me very soon,” and disappeared. I was left confused. I thought I just had attained Him. Apparently there was more sadhana to go before I reached my goal of complete self-realization. The problem was, I had no idea what to do next. After an interval of confusion, a senior monk from Vrndavana gave me some confidential advice. He told me that the sadhus of Vrndavana chant the kama-gayatri mantra to find the specific form of the Lord that is their eternal Master. So I began chanting this confidential prayer at every opportunity. But my conception was that my personal Lord would be a form of Krsna. Or maybe if I was really fortunate, I would become a personal servant of Srimati Radharani, Krsna’s female counterpart. Lord Nrsimhadeva was not who I expected this particular mantra to call. Narasimha Lion just looks at me compassionately and smiles. He was a familiar part of my inner life. For decades He had appeared in my mind, seemingly at random. Most of the time He would just crack a joke, smile and disappear. This time, He remains silent, regarding me with an expression I cannot decipher. Behind Him the gorgeous scenery of Vrndavana gradually appears. Vrndavana is the home of Lord Krsna and the highest planet in the spiritual world. The Lion looks completely at home in the opulence of that natural beauty. Behind Him great trees and snow-covered peaks rise in the background. “This is My home,” He said, smiling. “I am born here. My whole family is here too.” This is astonishing news. The scriptures tell us little about Lord Nrsimha’s origin and background, and nothing about His home planet. Could it be He is also a denizen of Vrndavana? “Do not be surprised. I am your old Friend. Do you want to come and play with Me?” He smiles at me, revealing His entire golden transcendental Lion form. He is gorgeous. Words fail to describe His astonishingly beautiful body. His long, curly golden mane alone is enough to make me lose my mind. Let’s not even attempt to describe the effect of His charming smile, broad shoulders, muscular chest and... everything else. I feel something soft in my heart go snap. I am falling helplessly in love. Suddenly I want desperately to spend all of eternity with Him. My lifelong search for God is over. I fall at His soft, padded lotus feet and bathe them with my tears. I roll on that sacred ground in ecstasy. He picks me up and embraces me, and I almost lose consciousness from an overload of pure happiness. He tenderly places me on a downy bed of ferns, in the shade of a desire tree in the transcendental forest of Vrndavana. Purring with pleasure, He lays down beside me and wipes the copious tears of love from my eyes with His furry paw. “Sir, wake up. We’re at the terminal.” I struggle back into external consciousness to find I have missed my stop. The streetcar is at the end of the line. What a fitting metaphor for the end of my search for God. Blinking in the cool purifying wind, I walk out into the beginning of my real life.

Secret Teachings of Jesus

DavidBruceHughes — Fri, 02 Feb 2007 19:34:21 GMT

Check out our new video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jXklfRdwikk Haribol, Dasanudas

Transcendental Logic 5

DavidBruceHughes — Mon, 09 Oct 2006 13:41:44 GMT

We continue our exposition of the Esoteric Teaching with a detailed presentation of transcendental logic. If this seems hard to understand, please review our earlier podcast material for background. To read and hear more than 100 previous installments of this series, order our DVD, the Complete Your Perfect Body Podcast. As already explained in previous installments of this series, the mood of conjugal love exhibited by the gopis is the highest form of spiritual consciousness. Srimati Radharani, Krsna’s eternal consort, is the embodiment of this rasa. Krsna and Radha are one in two. They are individual, yet identical. Just as Krsna expands Himself in multi-incarnations and plenary portions like the purusa incarnations, Srimati Radharani expands Herself in multiforms as the goddesses of fortune of Vaikuntha, the queens of Dvaraka and the damsels of Vraja. Such expansions from Srimati Radharani are all Her plenary portions. All these womanly forms of Krsna are sakti expansions corresponding to His plenary expansions of Visnu forms. These expansions have been compared to reflected forms of the original form. There is no difference between the original form and the reflected forms. The female reflections of Krsna’s pleasure potency are as good as Krsna Himself. Radha’s expansions are described in the Esoteric Teaching. The goddesses of fortune in Vaikuntha are Her vaibhava-vilasa forms, and the queens in Dvaraka-dhama are Her vaibhava-prakasa forms. The personal associates of Radharani, the damsels of Vraja, are direct expansions of Her transcendental body. As expansions of Her personal form and transcendental disposition, they are agents of different reciprocations of love in the pastimes of Lord Krsna, under the supreme direction of Srimati Radharani. In the transcendental realm, spiritual enjoyment is relished in full variety. The exuberance of transcendental mellows is increased by the association of a large number of personalities similar to Radharani, who are also known as gopis or sakhis. The variety of innumerable mistresses is a source of relish for Sri Krsna, and therefore these expansions from Srimati Radharani are necessary for enhancing the pleasure potency of Sri Krsna. Their transcendental exchanges of love are the superexcellent affairs of the pastimes in Vrndavana. By these expansions of Srimati Radharani’s personal body, She helps Lord Krsna taste the rasa dance and other, similar activities. Srimati Radharani, being the central petal of the rasa-lila flower, is also known by the names found in the following verses. govindanandini radha, govinda-mohini govinda-sarvasva, sarva-kanta-siromani “Radha is the one who gives pleasure to Govinda, and She is also the enchantress of Govinda. She is the be-all and end-all of Govinda, and the crest jewel of all His consorts.” devi krsna-mayi prokta radhika para-devata sarva-laksmi-mayi sarva- kantih sammohini para “The transcendental goddess Srimati Radharani is the direct counterpart of Lord Sri Krsna. She is the central figure for all the goddesses of fortune. She possesses all the attractiveness to attract the all-attractive Personality of Godhead. She is the primeval internal potency of the Lord.” [Caitanya-caritamrta Adi-lila 4.82-83] [This text is also found in the Brhad-gautamiya-tantra] Devi means “resplendent, most beautiful, and the lovely abode of the worship and love sports of Lord Krsna.” Krsna-mayi means “one who is saturated with Krsna consciousness within and without.” She sees Lord Krsna wherever She casts Her glance. Krsna-mayi has two different imports. First, a person who always thinks of Krsna both within and without and who always remembers only Krsna, wherever he goes or whatever he sees, is called krsna-mayi. Also, since Krsna’s personality is full of love, His loving potency, Radharani, being nondifferent from Him, is called krsna-mayi. Krsna-mayi also means that She is identical with Lord Krsna, for She embodies the mellows of love. Lord Krsna’s energy is qualitatively identical with Him. Srimati radharani’s worship [aradhana] consists of fulfilling the desires of Lord Krsna. Therefore the Puranas call Her Radhika. The name “Radha” is derived from the root word aradhana, which means “worship.” The personality who excels all in worshiping Krsna may therefore be called Radhika, the greatest servitor. Anyone who wants to attain the highest pinnacle of ecstatic love of Krsna must take shelter at Her lotus feet.

Transcendental Logic 3

DavidBruceHughes — Sat, 07 Oct 2006 13:12:13 GMT

We continue our exposition of the Esoteric Teaching with a detailed presentation of transcendental logic. If this seems hard to understand, please review our earlier podcast material for background. To read and hear more than 100 previous installments of this series, order our DVD, the Complete Your Perfect Body Podcast. Last time we discussed how the spirit soul can focus his consciousness on either the internal spiritual or external material energy of the Lord. From that free choice, his course is determined by either karma in material existence or rasa in spiritual existence. Actually, karma is just a perverted reflection of one’s rasa, or eternal spiritual serving mood. For example, one in the rasa of neutrality (santa-rasa) is fully cognizant of the Lord’s opulence, and remains eternally dependent upon Him for all benedictions. The perverted material reflection of this mood is the perception that material objects and bodies have a separate real existence; this unnatural condition of consciousness is the root of material existence. Actually, according to the Esoteric Teaching of Bhagavad-gita, only spiritual objects have independent real existence: nasato vidyate bhavo nabhavo vidyate satah ubhayor api drsto 'ntas tv anayos tattva-darsibhih “Those who are seers of the truth have concluded that of the nonexistent there is no endurance, and of the existent there is no cessation. This seers have concluded by studying the nature of both.” [Bhagavad-gita 2.16] Consider the ontological implications of this simple statement of Supreme Absolute Truth. Material objects, such as the material body and mind, have limited, dependent existence because they did not exist prior to their creation, exist only for a specific period of time, and then disappear. So most of the time they do not exist, and ultimately they will not exist; this conditional, limited existence is material. Spiritual existence, on the other hand, is automatically eternal, full of knowledge and bliss. This discrimination between spiritual and material energy is the subject matter of sankhya-yoga, summarized by Krsna in Chapter Six of Bhagavad-gita and more elaborately presented by Lord Kapila in the Third Canto of Srimad-Bhagavatam. It is essential that students of the Esoteric Teaching become instinctively familiar with, and can also emotionally feel this most important ontological distinction of spiritual life. Becoming attached to or identified with temporary material objects is the source of all material suffering. Actually, all suffering is intrinsically material, because the spiritual energy is intrinsically blissful. Karma is the temporary, reactionary transformational movement of the material energy, and rasa is our constitutional eternal spiritual nature in relationship with Krsna. We can choose to be pushed by the force of time through the seven stages of all material manifestations—conception, gestation, birth, growth, production of byproducts (work and reproduction), dwindling and disappearance; or we can transfer control to the spiritual energy, where time is conspicuous by its absence. Which would we rather be controlled by? The material or the spiritual energy of Krsna? Those who choose the material energy are doomed to repeated birth and death in the material world, but those who choose devotional service extend their existence unlimitedly in a perfect spiritual body and environment. This eternal state of pure consciousness and bliss is truly the perfection of yoga.

Transcendental Logic 2

DavidBruceHughes — Fri, 06 Oct 2006 17:21:15 GMT

We continue our exposition of the Esoteric Teaching with a detailed presentation of transcendental logic. If this seems hard to understand, please review our earlier podcast material for background. To read and hear more than 100 previous installments of this series, order our DVD, the Complete Your Perfect Body Podcast. Transcendental logic is based on the qualities of the spirit soul, beginning with consciousness. Any place and any time a living entity is present, all these qualities are manifest; when the soul leaves the present body at death, they disappear. Some of the many qualities of the spirit soul are: consciousness, self-consciousness, God consciousness, ideation, self-directed inquiry, curiosity, initiative, love, desire, emotion, evaluation, recognition, discrimination, cognizance and many more. Right now we are principally concerned with consciousness, because consciousness is the primary symptom of the soul or living entity. At any moment the living entity’s consciousness may be directed either toward the material energy or the spiritual energy. This is the full extent of the free will of the living entity. Once he freely makes this determination, he comes under the control of either the material or the spiritual energy. Our only real choice is between maha-maya, the material illusion or yoga-maya, the spiritual illusion of an intimate, exclusive and confidential relationship with the Supreme Personality of Godhead and His devotees. Once this choice has been made by the living entity’s free will, he becomes overwhelmed and controlled by the Lord’s internal or external energy. Whether in a male or female body, or even in an animal body, the living entity serves the sakti, energy or potency of the Lord. So we are actually more similar and more closely related to His sakti than to the Lord Himself. Nevertheless, the Lord accompanies the spirit soul at all times and in all embodiments, whether spiritual or material. He dwells within the material body as the Supersoul, and in the spiritual world He manifests an separate individual form to accept each and every devotee’s intimate service. Whether visible or invisible, the Lord accompanies His dear devotees in every condition of life. He is so devoted to us, and when we turn towards the internal energy and come face-to-face with Him, we become satisfied at heart by His kind and gracious loving pastimes. Since as infinitesimal living entities we must be controlled, it is most sane to voluntarily accept the control of the internal spiritual energy, which is constitutionally similar in nature to ourselves. That is, just as the Lord has His sat-cit-ananda (eternal, blissful and unlimitedly cognizant) form in the spiritual world, similarly we also a possess an eternally existing, conscious and pleasurable spiritual form in relation to Him. We can realize this spiritual identity in this lifetime by practice of yoga. All yoga practices aim to free us from the control of the material energy by taking shelter of the spiritual energy. Reviving our eternal identity is the actual aim and substance of all paths of yoga practice, or sadhana. Thus the highest level of the Esoteric Teaching is also the perfection of yoga.

Transcendental Logic

DavidBruceHughes — Thu, 05 Oct 2006 13:35:10 GMT

Secrets of the Soul 32

DavidBruceHughes — Tue, 03 Oct 2006 15:02:29 GMT

Secrets of the Soul 29

DavidBruceHughes — Sat, 30 Sep 2006 13:40:33 GMT

We continue our exposition of the Esoteric Teaching with a detailed analysis of Krsna’s presentation of the spiritual nature of living entity in the Bhagavad-gita. To read and hear more than 100 previous installments of this series, order our new DVD, the Complete Your Perfect Body Podcast. dehino ’smin yatha dehe kaumaram yauvanam jara tatha dehantara-praptir dhiras tatra na muhyati “As the embodied soul continuously passes, in this body, from boyhood to youth to old age, the soul similarly passes into another body at death. A sober person is not bewildered by such a change.” [Bhagavad-gita 2.13] This Esoteric Teaching is very important. We are trying to educate people to feel, or at least to understand clearly that they are not this body; they are spirit souls. But at the present moment, all our activities are going on in the bodily concept of life. That is called ignorance. Why? na mam duskrtino mudhah prapadyante naradhamah mayayapahrta-jnana asuram bhavam asritah “Those miscreants who are grossly foolish, who are lowest among mankind, whose knowledge is stolen by illusion, and who partake of the atheistic nature of demons do not surrender unto Me.” [Bhagavad-gita 7.15]. Identifying with this body is ignorance because when one is under the bodily concept of life, his interest becomes dictated by the imperfect senses of this body. And then, na te viduh svartha-gatim hi visnum durasaya ye bahir-artha-maninah andha yathandhair upaniyamanas te ’pisa-tantryam uru-damni baddhah “Persons who are strongly entrapped by the consciousness of enjoying material life, and who have therefore accepted as their leader or guru a similar blind man attached to external sense objects, cannot understand that the goal of life is to return home, back to Godhead, and engage in the service of Lord Visnu. As blind men guided by another blind man miss the right path and fall into a ditch, materially attached men led by another materially attached man are bound by the ropes of fruitive labor, which are made of very strong cords, and they continue again and again in materialistic life, suffering the threefold miseries.” [Srimad-Bhagavatam 7.5.31]. Because they are in the bodily conception of life, and subscribe to the materialistic ontology, they do not know what is their real self-interest. One who is in material consciousness cannot know actually what is good for him. Our real self-interest is to go back to home, back to Godhead. That is our eternal self-interest, eternal perfect happiness. But people do not know, because of a lack of spiritual knowledge. They are trying to adjust things on the external bodily concept of life, and the so-called leaders are leading in that way. Yet despite so much effort expended in material plans and work, they remain in the same pitiable condition. The actual fact is that we are trying to be happy by political adjustment, but that cannot ever be successful, because our mistaken point is that “I am this body.” Everything based on that incorrect ontological assumption is intrinsically doomed to failure. Therefore, simply changing the leaders every few years will not yield any improvement. Instead we must change our consciousness. Otherwise, the same fighting, the same antagonism, the same propaganda, barking and fighting like dogs and cats, will continue all over the world. Why? Because everything the political leaders are doing is based on the same mistaken, false bodily concept of life. The educated first-class men of all countries, assemble in the United Nations in New York. They have been discussing politics for generations, but is there any real improvement in the quality of human life? We see, generally, the only result of all this talking is simply increasing the number of national and political groups. Where is the unity of the so-called United Nations? So much political talking and fighting, but we cannot see that we are one family, all God’s children. That is possible only by advancement of consciousness through this Esoteric Teaching. The peace and prosperity we seek is not possible on the platform of bodily consciousness, because that always leads to unnecessary competition and fighting. In the Esoteric Teaching there are students from all over the world: America, England, Canada, Africa, Australia and India. But they’re not thinking that “He’s Indian, American, or Australian,” or anything based on the bodily misconception.” They are thinking in terms of the spiritual wisdom of the Esoteric Teaching. Every sincere student of the Esoteric Teaching thinks, “We are all servants of Krsna.” This is the Esoteric Teaching of Bhagavad-gita, and this is also the perfection of yoga.

Secrets of the Soul 27

DavidBruceHughes — Thu, 28 Sep 2006 14:12:05 GMT

We continue our exposition of the Esoteric Teaching with a detailed analysis of Krsna’s presentation of the spiritual nature of living entity in the Bhagavad-gita. To read and hear more than 100 previous installments of this series, order our new DVD, the Complete Your Perfect Body Podcast. dehino ’smin yatha dehe kaumaram yauvanam jara tatha dehantara-praptir dhiras tatra na muhyati “As the embodied soul continuously passes, in this body, from boyhood to youth to old age, the soul similarly passes into another body at death. A sober person is not bewildered by such a change.” [Bhagavad-gita 2.13] Krsna says in this sloka that the soul, dehi, is passing or transmigrating through different types of bodies, even within this life. First of all, he gets a small body, a fetus within the womb of the mother. It starts out as a simple blastocyte, then develops through many other forms resembling more primitive reptiles and animals. When the human form is complete, the body comes out of the womb as an infant. Then again the body changes from babyhood to childhood, from childhood to boyhood, boyhood to youth. These changes continue throughout life, culminating in death. In this way, the living entity is changing his body constantly. The living entity is not changing; he is simply changing the body in different ways. That is explained in this sloka, Bhagavad-gita 2.13. The point was to convince Arjuna, “Do not lament because your grandfather will change the body.” So He was presenting the argument logically: “Now, even if your grandfather is killed, why should you lament? He’ll get a fresh, new body, another youthful body. Rather you should become joyful that your old grandfather is going to have a new body.” That was Krsna’s argument to Arjuna. But the actual point we should take away from this, is that we should not identify our self with this body. That bodily identification is ignorance, because it is not a fact. We should understand that “I am Brahman. I am an eternal spirit soul, different from this temporary material body.” Otherwise there is no advancement of spiritual education, self-realization or enlightenment. Therefore, in Bhagavad-gita you’ll find that as soon as one realizes that he is not this body—that he’s Brahman, spirit soul—then he attains the exalted state of brahma-bhuta: brahma-bhutah prasannatma na socati na kanksati samah sarvesu bhutesu mad-bhaktim labhate param “One who is thus transcendentally situated at once realizes the Supreme Brahman and becomes fully joyful. He never laments or desires to have anything. He is equally disposed toward every living entity. In that state he attains pure devotional service unto Me.” [Bhagavad-gita 18.54] When one becomes brahma-bhuta or self-realized, understanding that “I am not this body,” immediately one becomes jubilant, prasannatma. Actually, because of being identified with this body, we are suffering. The brahma-bhuta stage is complete spiritual happiness, without the disturbance of desiring what one does not have, and lamenting for what one has lost. The joy of brahma-bhuta is described in the Esoteric Teaching: navyavad dhrdaye yaj jno brahmaitad brahma-vadibhih na muhyanti na socanti na hrsyanti yato gatah “Always engaging in the activities of devotional service, devotees feel ever-increasingly fresh and new in all their activities. The all-knower, the Supersoul within the heart of the devotee, makes everything increasingly fresh. This is known as Brahman realization by the advocates of the Absolute Truth. In such a liberated stage [brahma-bhuta], one is never bewildered. Nor does one lament or become unnecessarily jubilant. This is due to the brahma-bhuta situation.” [Srimad-Bhagavatam 4.20.30] This spiritual realization is the perfection of yoga attainable by the Esoteric Teaching.

Secrets of the Soul 26

DavidBruceHughes — Wed, 27 Sep 2006 14:17:00 GMT

We continue our exposition of the Esoteric Teaching with a detailed analysis of Krsna’s presentation of the spiritual nature of living entity in the Bhagavad-gita. To read and hear more than 100 previous installments of this series, order our new DVD, the Complete Your Perfect Body Podcast. dehino ’smin yatha dehe kaumaram yauvanam jara tatha dehantara-praptir dhiras tatra na muhyati “As the embodied soul continuously passes, in this body, from boyhood to youth to old age, the soul similarly passes into another body at death. A sober person is not bewildered by such a change.” [Bhagavad-gita 2.13] Here in Bhagavad-gita 2.13, Krsna says dehino ’smin yatha dehe. Deha means this body, and dehi means the owner or occupant of the body. Who lives in this body? The embodied spirit soul is considered the owner of the body. Now, modern scientists and philosophers may be very highly materially educated, but they do not know that this body is not the person; the person is the spirit soul within the body. Asmin dehe: within this body, there is the proprietor of the body, or the soul. Then, kaumaram yauvanam jara: the changes that take place in the body do not affect the owner of the body, but transform only the outward, external bodily shell. Just like if you live in a house, when the house needs some repair, it does not mean that you are becoming ill or need an operation. Even if the house is demolished, the owner of the house is not affected. Similarly, the changes of the body do not affect the soul, but they are due to the fact that the soul is transmigrating through different types of bodies, from infancy to youth to adulthood to old age. Similarly, the soul transmigrates to a different body at death. Jalaja nava-laksani sthavara laksa-vimsati: there are 8,400,000 different forms or species of material bodies, and the eternal spiritual living entity transmigrates from one body to another, to another, to another. As it is stated in the Padma Purana: asatims caturams caiva laksams tan jiva-jatisu. Jiva-jati: there are 8,400,000 different forms of material bodies in material existence, and one has to pass through all of them from the beginning. Jalaja nava-laksani: 900,000 species of aquatics, and 2,000,000 kinds of plant life. Krmayo rudra-sankhyakah paksinam dasa-laksanam: there are 1,100,000 species of insects and reptiles, and 1,000,000 species of birds. Finally, trimsal-laksani pasavah catur-laksani manusah: there are 3,000,000 varieties of beasts, and 400,000 human species, from vastly intelligent and powerful demigods like Lord Brahma down to the most primitive aborigines and apes. So we must pass through 8,000,000 different forms of material bodies before we can come to the human form of life. Because of this, the human form of body is very rarely obtained. kaumara acaret prajno dharman bhagavatan iha durlabham manusam janma tad apy adhruvam arthadam [Prahlada Maharaja said:] “One who is sufficiently intelligent should use the human form of body from the very beginning of life—in other words, from the tender age of childhood—to practice the activities of devotional service, giving up all other engagements. The human body is most rarely achieved, and although temporary like other bodies, it is meaningful because in human life one can perform devotional service. Even a slight amount of sincere devotional service can give one complete perfection.” [Srimad-Bhagavatam 7.6.1] Manusam durlabham janma: this human form is very rarely obtained. Therefore, it should be properly utilized for devotional service pursuant to the instructions of the Esoteric Teaching. In the human form of life one should try to understand that “I am Brahman. I am spirit soul, part and parcel of God.” This is the beginning of the Esoteric Teaching of Bhagavad-gita.

Secrets of the Soul 25

DavidBruceHughes — Tue, 26 Sep 2006 16:00:34 GMT

We continue our exposition of the Esoteric Teaching with a detailed analysis of Krsna’s presentation of the spiritual nature of living entity in the Bhagavad-gita. To read and hear more than 100 previous installments of this series, order our new DVD, the Complete Your Perfect Body Podcast. dehino ’smin yatha dehe kaumaram yauvanam jara tatha dehantara-praptir dhiras tatra na muhyati “As the embodied soul continuously passes, in this body, from boyhood to youth to old age, the soul similarly passes into another body at death. A sober person is not bewildered by such a change.” [Bhagavad-gita 2.13] Study Bhagavad-gita as it is, without your or anyone else’s bogus misinterpretation; then you will be benefited. Kuru-ksetre dharma-ksetre [Bhagavad-gita 1.1]. It is a fact: Kuruksetra is a dharma-ksetra. Samaveta yuyutsavah: and the persons assembled there, namely, the Pandavas and the Kauravas, wanted to fight. Yuyutsavah: the same word as Japanese jujitsu, fighting. That’s all right, because the Vedic ksatriyas’ duty is to fight to establish religious principles in human society. Where is the need for any interpretation? It is history. They selected a nice place, Kuruksetra, a dharma-ksetra or place of religious pilgrimage and sacrifice, and there they fought to settle the family feud over the succession. So the meaning is perfectly clear. Why there should be any interpretation, like “The Pandavas are the five senses and Kuruksetra means this body”? There is no necessity of allegorical interpretation of Bhagavad-gita. Interpretation is required when the meaning is not clear. Even then, there are rules of interpretation according to subject and context. But when the meaning is clear, there is no need for interpretation. That is the Vedic system. Amongst Vedic scholars, if things are clear, there should be no interpretation. In each and every verse of Bhagavad-gita, the meaning is very, very clear—as clear as sunshine. So there is no question of interpretation. Therefore the only edition of Bhagavad-gita that we can recommend is Bhagavad-gita As It Is, the original 1972 Macmillan edition by His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada. We stress this because there are at least 640 different editions of Bhagavad-gita, and almost every one of them puts forth a different interpretation. That is the system going on now. Most authors present Bhagavad-gita in their own way, but not a single person became a self-realized devotee of Krsna by reading all those books. Now since the Esoteric Teaching of Bhagavad-gita is being presented as it is, thousands of people are becoming devotee of Krsna. Our lineage presents Krsna’s words in Bhagavad-gita as the message of the Supreme Personality of Godhead, and intelligent people accepted it because there is no adulteration. Our value proposition is to understand Bhagavad-gita without adulteration. Try to understand Bhagavad-gita as it is originally presented by Krsna, without any bogus human interpretation. Then you will get real knowledge of spiritual life. Otherwise, you will remain in the same ignorance, before reading Bhagavad-gita and after reading Bhagavad-gita. This is the value proposition of the mystery school of the Esoteric Teaching, for it leads naturally to the perfection of yoga.

The Perfection of Yoga

DavidBruceHughes — Tue, 26 Sep 2006 01:02:21 GMT

Welcome to my new blog! Actually, it has been going for some time over at http://theperfectionofyoga.org I will repost here as time permits. Love, Baba