Part 2 – The soul beyond the body – Who am I really?
In the continuation of this series from a retreat, the question raised is what do you do when you genuinely don’t know what the right thing to do is?
Arjuna stood on the battlefield of Kurukshetra facing an impossible choice.
On one side was his duty. On the other were people he loved—relatives, friends and respected teachers. Although renowned as a fearless warrior, Arjuna was overwhelmed. Whatever he chose seemed certain to bring suffering.
It is at this point that Arjuna does something extraordinarily important. He turns to Krishna and admits:
“I am Your disciple… Please instruct me.”
And Krishna’s answer is remarkable.
He doesn’t begin with politics, military strategy or even Arjuna’s immediate dilemma. He begins by answering a much more fundamental question:
Who are you?
The body changes from childhood to youth, adulthood and old age—and eventually dies. The mind is also constantly changing. Yet throughout all these changes, there remains the person who experiences them.
The Bhagavad-gita calls this person the ātmā—the eternal spiritual self.
This understanding completely changes the way we look at life.
Much of our fear and anxiety arises because we identify ourselves with things that cannot last—our bodies, appearance, possessions, relationships, social identities and circumstances.
We struggle to obtain what we desire.
When we get it, we fear losing it.
And when it is gone, we lament.
The Bhagavad-gita offers another way of living: to understand who we actually are and to act from that spiritual understanding.
And spirituality doesn’t necessarily mean abandoning ordinary activities. The same activity can bind us or liberate us depending upon our consciousness, motivation and whom we are trying to please.
From Arjuna’s crisis on an ancient battlefield comes a question just as relevant today:
Am I the constantly changing body and mind—or am I the eternal person experiencing them?
Chapters
00:00:00 Background to the Bhagavad Gita and the Kurukshetra Conflict
00:09:22 Arjuna’s Moral Crisis and His Request for Guidance
00:15:53 The Method of Spiritual Inquiry
00:18:05 The Atma: The Eternal Self Beyond the Body
00:27:51 Fear, Death, Anxiety, and False Bodily Identity
00:36:04 Desire and the Continuing Cycle of Anxiety
00:40:56 Social Identity, Materialism, and Spiritual Transformation
00:52:15 Spiritual and Material Action: Motivation, Duty, and Offering
01:02:46 Impersonalism and the Three Features of Absolute Truth
01:06:13 Family, Relationships, and Spiritual Love
01:12:23 Rebirth, Memory, Trauma, and the Limits of Material Psychology
01:21:16 False Ego, Intelligence, Chanting, and the Nature of Krishna
#BhagavadGita #GuideForLife #SpiritualWisdom #SelfRealization #Krishna #Atma #YogaWisdom #SpiritualLife #BhaktiYoga
