The Kathopanishad-4. Swami Krishnananda.

Chinmaya Mission

Swami Shantananda conducted the Sampoorna Gita Jnana Yagna from 10th July to 16th July at Chinmaya Amarnath in Pittsburgh. It was the first in-person Jnana Yagna at this newest center. The event was attended by approximately 100 devotees.

During the Sampoorna Gita Jnana Yagna, Swamiji covered the essential teachings and practical lessons from this divine text that can be applied in our daily lives. The opportunity to absorb the knowledge expounded by Shri Krishna to Prince Arjuna was truly valuable.

Over the course of a few days, Swamiji highlighted the importance of a role model in society, among other beautiful topics. He also eloquently spoke about Chapters 16, 17 & 18, which were filled with devotion and made devotees introspect and reflect on their own lives. The discourse inspired attendees to live up to their full potential.

Overall, the Sampoorna Gita Jnana Yagna conducted by Swami Shantananda was a profound and enriching experience for all the devotees present.

========================================================================

Saturday, 22 Jul  2023. 06:15.

Article

Scriptures

Post-4.

=========================================================================

Our desires have no end. We cannot count our desires. Though today, at this moment, we may feel that our desires are half a dozen, when these half a dozen desires are fulfilled we will find that another half a dozen will present themselves forth, and there will never be an end to this. Infinite are the desires of man because of the infinitude that is hidden in the recesses of the being of man. Inasmuch as the longings, desires and needs of the mind are infinite, a finite body cannot be a suitable instrument for the fulfilment of all these desires. An infinite series of incarnations may be necessary in order that infinite desires may be fulfilled through these instruments. What are the instruments? This body. What kind of body will we assume in the next birth? It will be exactly commensurate with the thoughts and desires that we entertain at this moment. 

 Whatever thought enters our mind at departure, at the time of death, that will concretise itself and will be extracted out of our personality like butter being sucked out of milk. Will we be entertaining a hope that at the last moment we entertain have a suitable thought, and now we can think whatever we like? No. The last thought is the fruit of the tree of life that we have lived in this world. We cannot have one kind of tree and another kind of fruit. So, whatever kind of life that we have lived through this body in this sojourn of our existence in this world, that will become the solid substance of the thought that will occur to our mind at the time of departure of this body. So do not be foolish enough to imagine that now we can live a merry life, and there is no need to bother as to what will happen to us because the time for the passing has not come – there are many years remaining, so we shall think a good thought at the time of going.

Two mistakes are committed by this kind of imagination. Firstly, it is not true that many years are ahead of us – no one can say that. So no one should entertain the idea that only after fifty years we shall have the need to think a good thought, because it is said that the last thought determines our future. But who tells us that we will be living for another fifty years? It may be another fifty minutes, or even less. The second mistake about this thought is that the last thought is nothing but the essence of all the thoughts entertained in this life, so a person cannot be a good person at the time of dying and a bad person previously. Whatever goodness that we entertained in our thoughts and feelings will congeal – as whatever was in the milk, that alone will come out as butter. We cannot get butter from a substance other than milk.

So Yama, in one sentence, says that everybody will take birth if Self-realisation does not take place before passing. If we realise the Self before the end of this life, no birth will take place. Why? Because the need for birth will not arise. Why do we take birth? Because we have a necessity to fulfil the desires that we could not fulfil through this tabernacle. The desires were many, the body was feeble and finite, and an infinite number of desires cannot be fulfilled through a finite, feeble instrument such as the body. So another body, another series of bodies has to be undergone. But in the realisation of the Self, which is universal in its nature, desires get extinguished. There is the nirvana that people speak of. Nirvana is the extinguishing of the flame of life. This flame, which is the transitory movement of the succession of human desire, vanishes; it is extinguished completely. This is nirvana that is taking place.

If there is even a single desire, rebirth is unavoidable for the fulfilment of that desire. If we have fulfilled all our desires in this birth itself and nothing more is left, that would be good for us. All our desires melt here itself in the light of the Self. No desire can stand before the blaze of the knowledge of the Self. As the cloud of mist cannot stand before the blaze of the sun, this muddle of the cloud of desires cannot stand before the light of the Self, which is the Atman.

Therefore what happens to the soul after death is the question raised by Nachiketas. The answer is that ordinarily rebirth takes place, and most people in the world are ordinary people because everyone has a desire of some kind or the other. Everyone is filled with egoism, a self-assertive nature, and therefore everyone will be reborn. Even if we are reborn, it is good to be reborn in a more advanced circumstance. If we live like a tree, we may become a tree. If we live like an animal, we may become an animal. If we are humanitarian, we will be reborn as a very good human being. But why should we not live like an angel? We can live like a veritable god in this world, and we will be reborn as an angel, a divinity in the heavens. We will enter the heavens – we may go to Brahmaloka. But no entry of any kind will be there if the Self is realised. 

*****

To be continued

========================================================================