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A warm welcome to everyone here in our beautiful Strylky Ashram, and to all those joining through the webcast. Today's topic is the Bhagavad Gītā, the 15th chapter titled Puruṣottama. I have a special connection to this chapter, which I would like to share. As many of you know, I lived for many years in our Jardin Ashram in India. Right at the beginning, in 1994, Swāmījī gave us the duty to learn this chapter by heart—the Sanskrit text. These are 20 ślokas, taking about ten minutes to recite. I was not used to such a practice, but I must say I truly loved it. For some time, we even used it as an eating mantra, chanting it together before every meal. That was 16 years ago, and it is still deep in my heart. Swāmījī always placed special emphasis on two chapters of the Bhagavad Gītā: the 12th and the 15th. The twelfth is on bhakti yoga, and the fifteenth is on puruṣottamam. I will chant it and then try to offer an interpretation and translation. It begins with an introduction: "AUM ŚRĪMAD BHAGAVAD GĪTĀ PAÑCADAŚO 'DHYĀYAḤ." This salutes the Paramatmā, the highest Self. "Atha Śrīmad Bhagavad Gītā" means "Now comes the Bhagavad Gītā." Bhagavān is God; here, specifically God Kṛṣṇa. The Bhagavad Gītā is a dialogue between God and his disciple, between guru and disciple—Kṛṣṇa and Arjuna. "Gītā" means song; it is poetry, which is why it is so beautiful to chant. Even if you do not understand it, simply chanting it has a profound effect. "Pañcadaśa" means the fifteenth, and "adhyāya" means chapter or study, as in the word "svādhyāya"—self-study or self-inquiry meditation. So, this is the fifteenth teaching. Before the chapter starts, it is clarified who is speaking: "Śrī Bhagavān uvāca"—the Lord, God Kṛṣṇa, spoke. The First Śloka This chapter is divided into four parts. The first six ślokas belong together. They give us an idea about the character of the world in which we live, the character of the world for which we are striving, and the way we can reach there. To describe this world, a symbol is used: the symbol of a tree. Swāmījī often refers to it—it is an upside-down tree. "Ūrdhvamūlam adhaḥśākham aśvattham prāhur avyayam." The central word here is "aśvattha." This is a tree. There are discussions about which type of tree it is—some say a banyan tree, some say another. The Sanskrit word itself is very scientific. "Aśvattha" indicates which tree it is. "Śva" means tomorrow, "ta" means remaining, and "a" means not. So, it means "that which does not remain the same even until the next day." In other words, that which is changing all the time. That is this tree, and that is this world. This is our life. This is the character of this world, this creation, this saṃsāra. We are living in this world, or in this tree. This tree is described as "avyayam," meaning eternal, indestructible. That means, though it is changing all the time, as a principle it remains. And why? Because the roots are above and the branches are down. "Above" and "down" we usually identify with the higher world and the lower world, the divine and the human world. This means the tree has a divine origin; the roots are above. It is created by God; it is God's creation. And the branches are down in our range here, in our world. The first half of the śloka states this. Now it says the leaves on this tree are the "chandāṃsi"—the Vedic hymns, the mantras, the divine vibration, the divine teaching. If this tree is eternal, then the divine teaching is also eternal. The Vedas do not mean a book; they mean the divine revelation, the divine knowledge. This tree, this world, is like our prison. But the Vedas, these divine guidances, are also eternal. As long as this tree—this creation—exists, that long also exists the guidance on how to get out of it. This means all discussions about "How old are the Vedas? 4,000, 10,000, 100,000 years?" are pointless. They are eternal. It ends: "yaṣ taṃ veda sa veda-vit." One who knows this, who understands the true nature of this tree, of this world, is a "veda-vit"—a true knower of divine knowledge. In the end, this means enlightenment. If we understand deeply the character of this world, that is already the way out. The Second Śloka It continues describing this world, this tree, with a slight modification. It was said before that the roots are above and the branches are down. But the statement about the branches is now modified. "Śākhā," the branches, are said to go upwards and downwards. So we can say the branches are here down, but they go in different directions. Imagine you are living on the tree like an ant. An ant can climb along any branch or the trunk. If a branch goes upwards, the ant will go upwards. If a branch goes downward, you automatically follow that direction. I understand this as a symbolic saying: in this world, we can go in different directions. Remember Swāmījī’s teaching? One path up, one path down—Uttāna and Patana. So it is our choice how we move along, how we use this tree, how we live in this world. It is up to us whether we notice those leaves—the divine teachings—or we ignore them. "Guṇapravṛddhā viṣayapravālāḥ." The central word is "viṣaya." "Viṣaya" is that which we can perceive through our sense organs—the sense objects. They are described as the shoots, the small branches of this tree. As the tree develops, these shoots come forth—meaning as a step in the development of creation. And from where do they come? "Guṇapravṛddhāḥ." "Guṇa," you already know: the three guṇas—tamas, rajas, sattva. Together they build Prakṛti or Māyā, nature. So the guṇas bring forth these objects, these sense objects, which can be perceived with one of our five senses. We can see, touch, hear, and so on. In fact, Prakṛti creates objects which we can perceive with our five senses. Previously, it was only said the roots are above, meaning the origin is divine. But now it says there are also roots going down. Some plants really have this—like aerial roots hanging down. When they touch the earth, they make a connection and give additional stability to the tree or plant, connecting it to the earth. "Karmānubandhīnī manuṣyaloke." "Manuṣyaloke" means the human world, our world. So these roots come into existence through our karmas, through our actions in the human world. The word "anubandhinī"—"bandhan" you know, what is a "bandā"? To bind, to connect. So it makes sense to translate it in two ways: these karmas are connected with the human world, but also these karmas are binding us to the human world, like a root which goes down and makes an additional connection to the world. It means, practically for us, to worldliness. The Third Śloka Here we have the word "rūpam"—the form of this tree. "Tad asya rūpam upalabhyate." It cannot be perceived like that. We can perceive this through the sense objects, but this is just the surface. The character of this world, how these sense objects actually came into existence, the real character of this world, we cannot perceive with our sense organs. So this says very clearly: this tree is not a physical tree. It is something really special. "Nāntaṃ na cādiṃ na ca sampratiṣṭhām." Here we have "anta," the end; "ādi," the beginning, the origin; and "sampratiṣṭhā," the base, the foundation. So it says we cannot really perceive this world as such—not its beginning, nor its end, nor its base. How old is this world? When did it start? What is the beginning? Do we know? How long will it exist? Do we know? From where does it come? Do we know? That is the statement. It is divine. It is a mystery. The Fourth Śloka Now comes again the word "aśvattham." This tree, this world, which is permanently changing. We have the duty to cut this tree. It says, however firmly it might be rooted—even with its double roots—it is possible to cut it. And if we were to fell it, that would mean there would be an end. But if it is eternal, there is no end. Ādi Śaṅkarācārya, in his Viveka Cūḍāmaṇi, very clearly explains this contradiction. He says this world is eternal and will always exist. But individually, for me as a practicing yogī, I can make an end to it. It will still continue to exist for others, but for me, it does not exist anymore. So here it is about describing the path for liberation. That actually begins to describe the way, how to become free—how we, as practicing yogīs, can get free of this cage, this prison, however firmly rooted this tree might be. "Tataḥ padaṃ tat parimārgitavyaṃ yasmin gatā na nivartanti bhūyaḥ." Through the strong axe—"śastram." "Śastra" is a weapon, an axe here. Please do not confuse the word "śastra" and "śāstra." "Śastra" is a weapon, and "śāstras" are the holy scriptures (that is also a weapon, but another one). So here we have the "śastra," the weapon, the axe of "asaṅga." We know the word "saṅga" from "kusaṅga" and "satsaṅga." It means we come together, we attach to each other, we become a group—either as good company or bad company. But here the word is "asaṅga"—non-connection. That is not about our connection to people, but in the sense of attachment to something in this world. So "asaṅga" here actually means the same as "vairāgya"—renunciation, non-attachment. That means if we are not attached to this world, then this world cannot harm us at all. It is our choice to get entangled in this world. It is our choice to desire something in this world and to end up in disappointment. It is not the mistake of the world that it exists; it is our mistake how we behave towards it. This is a very important statement: we can come out of this attachment to the world through the strong weapon of asaṅga or vairāgya—inner freedom. What is next? It says: "Tataḥ padaṃ tat parimārgitavyaṃ." "Parimārgitavyam" means we should seek, we should search for that "padam." "Padam" means something like a state, a state of consciousness. You could say that world, that divine world, is actually a certain state of consciousness. When in your mind are divine thoughts, you are in a divine world automatically. So you should strive to attain that divine world. But how is our mind changing all the time? Even when you achieve samādhi and get a glimpse of the divine, after some time it is over. Only in the highest samādhi—nirvikalpa samādhi or nirvīta samādhi—is there a permanent state of divine consciousness. So first, cut your connection to this world, which is strong, with the axe of asaṅga. And then strive to achieve this higher state of consciousness. "Tam eva cādyaṃ puruṣaṃ prapadye." Here we have now for the first time the word "puruṣa." That is our topic: Puruṣottama. "Puruṣa" comes from "Purī Īśvara." "Īśvara" means the Lord. "Purī" is the place or the city, so the lord of the city, the master of the city. The city is our body, so we could say the soul, the ātmā, the lord. But here it is not just someone; it is the highest Puruṣa, Ādi Puruṣa, the first Puruṣa, the original Puruṣa, the original soul—God. So we should search for this divine world and, "prapadye"—take refuge, surrender, meditate on this highest Puruṣa, on the Lord, on God. Then one should strive for that state from where there is no return and surrender to the divine Puruṣa. And it says He is the origin, since all development and evolution since eternal times. Remember, this aśvattha tree was characterized as changing all the time. So all these changes are coming from the divine. The Fifth Śloka Now, who is actually fit to attain this highest world? What are the conditions on which we have to work? Now it becomes very practical. You will remember Swāmījī’s words again: who are "nirmāna" and "nirmoha"? "Nir" means without. "Māna" means something like pride, connected with the word "manas"—the mind, our individuality, our individual view of things, our individual ego, individual desires. So in the end, our individuality—you can say that is how we separate ourselves from the divine. And "nirmoha"—free from "moha." "Moha" means confusion, delusion. Swāmījī often translates it as "attachment," but this comes next anyway. Confusion or illusion. "Jitasaṅgadoṣāḥ." Remember we had the word "asaṅga," and I said this is basically like vairāgya, non-attachment. This is now exactly repeated here. "Jita Saṅga Doṣaḥ": those who have overcome the evil or the problem of attachment. This is actually a repetition because it was already said. Now we are on the next step after we have already achieved this asaṅga. "Adhyātmanityāḥ." "Adhyātma" means the highest ātmā, the divine Ātmā, the divine Self, God. And "nitya" means permanently—meaning keeping your mind centered on the divine all the time, thinking on God, meditating on God, striving for this divine world. What we also call "mumukṣutva"—the desire for liberation. "And vinivṛttakāmāḥ." "Kāma" means desire. So we should be free from desires. And when we are free from desires, we are much more neutrally experiencing different life situations—"sukha" and "duḥkha," situations which create happiness in us and unhappiness in us—and we just take it. This is the duality of life. So those who also overcome, who are free from the duality which is known as happiness and unhappiness... Just remember, last week we spoke about "rāga" and "dveṣa." "Rāga" is the desire for that which gives us happiness. "Dveṣa" is the refusal of that which gives us pain. So it is quite something. Only those who are free from pride and delusion, who have overcome the evil of attachment, who are always centered in the divine Self, and are free from desires, are beyond the duality of pleasure and pain. Only such undiluted seekers reach the eternal goal. That is quite practical—maybe a little bit too practical—something to work on. The Sixth Śloka Now, this world is a little bit described. Basically, this world is indescribable, but still, the saints always try to give us some ideas, some inspiration. It describes this world, which is the divine world, the world of enlightenment. Yet this light is not a physical light. We have the word "sūrya"—the sun; "śaśāṅka"—the moon; and "pāvaka"—the fire. This world is enlightened, but not by the sun. "Tad dhāma paramaṃ mama." Not the word "dharma," but "dhāma." "Dhāma" is a place, a holy place. "Paramaṃ mama": this "paramaṃ dhāma," the highest place, highest holy place, or highest divine world. "Mama" means my. Mine. Who speaks? God speaks. Bhagavān uvāca. God Kṛṣṇa speaks. He says, "This highest world is my abode. I am living there." Once you reach this world, you reach God. And once you enter this world, you have attained God. That is God-realization. That is our spiritual path in a nutshell. This is the first part, the first six ślokas of this chapter. The Second Part Now comes the second part. It goes a little bit into the question: how did we come into this world? I said before there is a tree and we are like an ant, but how did we become this ant? From where does this ant come? It is simply the question of the creation of the Jīvātmā. How often do we ask ourselves, "How did I come into this trouble here?" It is an eternal question, and here Kṛṣṇa tries to give us a glimpse of that. The Seventh Śloka "Mamaivāṃśo jīvaloke jīvabhūtaḥ sanātanaḥ." You can say: truly a part of myself. And God speaks. What is a part of God is definitely also divine. "Sanātanaḥ" means eternal here. "Jīvabhūtaḥ" becomes a jīva. "Jīva" means a living being, and we know it always. Swāmījī speaks about the Jīvātmā. That is exactly the meaning here: the individual existence, individual being, individual soul. But it is "sanātana"—eternal. It is eternal because God is eternal, and it is a spark of the divine. "Jīvaloke"—in the world of the jīvas. So one can translate: a spark of myself becomes a jīva in the world of jīvas. It becomes an embodied individual soul in the world of these embodied individual souls. That is the first step. Something somehow separates, like a spark jumps out from the fire. It is fire, but it is separate. But it does not remain as such. It is divine. It is like a magnet attracting now. Attracting what? What is there existing around? It attracts the "ṣaḍindriyāṇi"—the indriyas. Indriyas, you know—Swāmījī always speaks about the jñānendriyas (the sense organs) and the karmendriyas (the organs of action). Here, now, the jñānendriyas, the sense organs, are the main meaning. And these are five: seeing, hearing, and so on. But Swāmījī sometimes also says the mind is often included as a sixth one. The mind is actually necessary to deal with all this information from our eyes, ears, and so on. And this is exactly how here Kṛṣṇa also sees it, because "ṣaḍindriyāṇi" means six, not five. And He mentions the six ones. You might be confused. He says, "No, the sixth one is 'manaḥ,' the mind." So now, this individual soul, which has just come into existence, like a magnet attracts these six indriyas. And from where? "Prakṛtisthāni." There is only one origin: these are the three guṇas, Prakṛti, nature. These, which are existing in the Prakṛti. And Prakṛti is just another name for the three guṇas together. Whatever exists, exists through these three guṇas. So we could call it nature. So now we are following the path of the beginning of our existence and how we get slowly entangled in this world. Here we have step one and two. Step one was the ray of the divine separates. The Eighth Śloka It is spoken now about the body. That was not yet there. It is like a coat. When it is cold, we take a coat and go out. When we come back, we put it off. And because we realize it is torn, we throw it away. And the next day, we wear another coat. That is how the soul is doing with the bodies. So, in a nice way, it is spoken here about reincarnation. And it is very clear: the soul is not the body. "Śarīraṃ yad avāpnoti yac cāpy utkrāmatīśvaraḥ. Gṛhītvaitāni saṃyāti vāyur gandhān ivāśayāt." It means when this soul, now this jīvātmā, obtains a body ("śarīram āvatnoti"), it gets it. And also when it "utkrāmati"—leaves it behind—that means like going in and going out, then it takes along these six. Which six? The five sense organs and the mind as the sixth. We must be clear: He has not spoken about the physical nose and the physical eye when we speak about the sense organs. It is spoken about the principle of sight, the principle of hearing. So when the soul is now somehow going on its path, sometimes taking on a body like a coat, sometimes leaving it, sometimes accepting that body, sometimes letting it go... these fine bodies, you could call them, they go along with the soul. You have now actually three levels of existence. The core is this jīvātmā, this divine spark, which is eternal. The second step was the fine body—the principle of these indriyas and the mind. You could say the subtle body. And now the third was the physical body, which the soul takes on and off and on and off. Reincarnation means that in the process of reincarnation, we change the physical body, but we take along some fine bodies. The Ninth Śloka Now the next śloka is a core one, because now it says how we get into the mess. How we get entangled in this world. How the jīva becomes entangled. "Śrotraṃ cakṣuḥ sparśanaṃ ca rasanāṃ ghrāṇam eva ca. Adhiṣṭhāya manaś cāyaṃ viṣayān upasevate." These sense organs are even more clearly described than before. It is said that the Jīvā, the Jīvātmā, the individual soul, is actually the governor. And it says that Jīvā, that individual soul, is actually the one that leads them. These indriyas are described here: "Śrotra"—the sense of hearing; "cakṣu"—the sense of sight, seeing; "sparśa"—the sense of touching; "rasa"—the sense of taste; "ghrāṇa"—the sense of smell. I translate like this, very theoretically, because it is not the nose and the tongue as physical things. "Manaś ca ayam"—so the "manas," the mind, is also mentioned, the sixth one. And now it comes. We say we had it before as the small shoots on this aśvattha tree: the objects of the senses—that which we can see, touch, and so on. And that is a problem because now starts "upasevate." Now this soul... this jīvātmā tries to behave in a way that it should not. "Upasevatī" means it enjoys. To perceive is one thing—to perceive, to see, that is neutral. But if desire comes and then enjoyment comes, then you are entangled. Governing the senses of hearing, seeing, touch, and so on, as well as the mind, it enjoys the objects of the senses. The soul enjoys the objects of the senses. The objects of the senses are made from the three guṇas, the Prakṛti. But here is exactly the point where Prakṛti turns into Māyā. It is no more neutral that we know it, that we observe it. But now we become entangled and want to enjoy. The Tenth Śloka Who can now see the soul and get liberation? We have here the word "paśyanti"—that means to see. This śloka speaks about who can see and who cannot see. Who can see this soul—meaning, realize this soul, realize the divine. "Utkrāmantaṃ sthitāṃ vāpi bhuñjānaṃ vā guṇānvitam. Vimūḍhā nānupaśyanti paśyanti jñānacakṣuṣaḥ." The soul is described as "utkrāmantam"—going out; and "sthitam"—remaining inside. In what? In the body. That means in the different phases, the soul just takes on the body, just puts off the body, but the soul is a soul and goes on. And that, which we had in the last śloka, here it becomes even more clear with this enjoyment. It says "guṇānvitam"—that means being under the influence of the guṇas. You could also say controlled by the guṇas. We are speaking about the controller: the soul is supposed to be the controller of the senses. But now suddenly it turns around, and the guṇas, the sense objects, start to control the soul. And under the influence of the guṇas, now the soul starts to enjoy. So those who have not worked on themselves cannot see the soul in these different phases. The word here is "vimūḍhā," which means something like deluded. So those who are deluded cannot see the soul in these different stages. They see only the physical one, the body, born and dying, but they do not see what is underneath. But the word "paśyanti" is repeated: but others can see. Those who have "jñānacakṣuṣaḥ." "Jñāna," you know, is wisdom. And "cakṣu" means the eye—so the eye of wisdom. Yoga in daily life. Ājñā cakra. The third eye. The eye of wisdom. The deluded ones cannot see the soul as it departs from the body, or dwells in the body, or even enjoys under the influence of the guṇas. Only those can perceive it who possess the eye of wisdom. The Eleventh Śloka It explains a little bit deeper what was just said in the last śloka. Who can perceive the soul? It speaks now, here, clearly about yogīs. The whole Bhagavad Gītā is a yoga scripture. Each of those eighteen chapters has the title "Yoga"—this and that. And here, this is a verse or chapter, "Yoga Puruṣottamī." "Yatanto yoginaś cainaṃ paśyanty ātmany avasthitam. Yatanto 'py akṛtātmāno nainaṃ paśyanty acetasaḥ." Yogīs who strive, persevering—that means doing really serious, permanent effort on the yoga path—they can perceive this ātmā in themselves. God is inside; you could also say perceive God in their own heart. But others, they are described as "akṛtātmānaḥ." "Akṛt" means to do. So you could say undone, unpurified, selfish. You remember before it was said which are the qualities, the points on which we have to work when we want to come to this higher world. So those who do not care and do not work on that, and now they try to see the ātmā—they cannot see, even if they try. Even if they are striving, that means the difference is the purification. And they are characterized as "acetasaḥ"—that means something like unrefined or insensitive. That means they try to meditate, but they cannot reach anywhere. The mind is not controlled; the mind is not purified. I think we are very close to Swāmījī’s teaching—how often he repeats that we have to work on ourselves and purify, purify, purify. So it says we have first to work on our attachment. This is the strong weapon of Asaṅga, of Vairāgya. Then we have to work on our purification, and then do serious sādhanā. And then we can reach the aim. So much for today. This is the first half of this chapter. Tomorrow I would like to continue, because the main topic of the chapter, the Puruṣottama, actually did not yet come. That comes tomorrow. Okay, Hari Om.