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Title: Chapter 14 Bhagavad-Gita Post by: Jitendra Hydonus on May 16, 2023 07:14 am I was reading Chapter 14 of Nectar of Devotion today & came across a lovely point I’d like to share. Basically jnana (knowledge) & viragya (renunciation) are not very desirable things. Too much knowledge or renunciation can lead to a hardening of the heart which is counterproductive to developing love for Krishna. Bhakti requires our heart to be very soft, as we are attempting to develop love for the Supreme Person, Krishna. So it is said, simply by focusing on our sadhana & rendering loving service to Krishna all the desirable characteristics of jnana & vairagya are automatically bestowed upon us. Krishna has aptly stated this in Bhagavad Gita 10.10:
“To those who are constantly devoted to serving Me with love, I give the understanding by which they can come to Me.“ In the material world we are very reluctant to have a soft heart. We give our love to someone in hopes of reciprocation but, more times than not, we end up disappointed or heartbroken. So this is a big anartha to get over, to take down the wall & let Krishna in. Thankfully Lord Caitanya, has given us the sledgehammer to bust down the hard wall that surrounds our stone like heart. Hare Krishna Hare Krishna Krishna Krishna Hare Hare Hare Rama Hare Rama Rama Rama Hare Hare If we simply chant these 32 syllables as much as possible, our heart will be fertile ground for our devotional creeper to grow. Then we can truly experience love in it’s pure form. From what I’ve heard it’s simply wonderful… no more anxieties, ever increasing happiness, makes liberation look pale, brings all auspiciousness & even has the potency to attract Krishna. So when it comes down to it all we need is love. Hare Krishna. https://strugglingsadhaka.wordpress.com/2013/03/02/all-you-need-is-love/ Title: Re: Chapter 14 Bhagavad-Gita Post by: guest587 on May 16, 2023 02:24 pm Hi Steve, there is so much happening with your recent post that are aligned with my own thoughts lately. And how fitting that you are quoting chapter 14, where 14 has been a personal number I share with others who experience synchronicity and contemplate their spirituality. I believe I have shared that insight with you before, so I wonder if sharing chapter 14 was intentional or an accident? You see, even your original post has a time stamp ending in x:14 5/14/23 - I finally got to watching the videos you sent me and have been practicing the mantra before bed offered by Sadhguru. Saying to ourselves I am not the body, I am not the thoughts. This synchronicity is in line with you posting about a mantra before bed. I also mentioned HIK's wisdom on renunciation... Well on 5/15/23 the randomized bowl of saki wisdom actually quoted me the exact excerpt I was mentally recalling the day before. I would not know that Wahiddudins website would choose on 5/15/23 to provide the excerpt on renunciation- where I was thinking about it the day before. And here 5/16/23 you again bring up renunciation. This is the kind of communication I am learning about, where data from the subconscious is shared with others and through external means. It is the language of the 1111 synchronicity and I am going to explore this language more with a friend later today in a conversation. Well I feel it relevant to share the quote with you, as you are sharing so much with me that confirms and aligns with my recent spiritual experiences. Before I do I will also add this personal insight. I finally got to meditating again- thank you for the encouragement. Realizing, I am not the body or the thoughts- I suddenly felt like all that is transitory at the thought level will always be there, but it is important not to identify with the constant flux or it will age us much faster. I actually thought about you and think you are youthful in appearance not just because you practice vegetarianism but because you practice meditation and dissociating with every thought, worry, anxiety, over joyed, obsessive emotion that is constantly swirling around us. It is a practice to tell ourselves we are not these things... But I did so in meditation last night and simply used my breath as an anchor, drawing deep- long and slow breath. It had a rejuvenating effect and it made me think of the times I would meditate in my 20's in a more disciplined manner... I actually had a woman come up to me and tell me I looked, "golden." I think because... I was free from clinging on to the thoughts that we accidentally, easily and often identify with. Here's the excerpt: Quote Renunciation is not a thing that can be learned or taught. It comes by itself as the soul develops; when the soul begins to see the true value of things. All that is valuable to others, a seer soul begins to see otherwise. This shows that all things that we see as precious or not precious, their value is according to the way we look at them. For one person, the renunciation of a penny is too much; for another that of all he has is nothing. It depends on how we look at things. All things one renounces in life, one rises above. Man is a slave of the thing which he has not renounced; of things that he has renounced he becomes king. This whole world can become a kingdom in his hand if a person has renounced it. But renunciation depends upon the evolution of the soul. One who has not evolved spiritually cannot well renounce. For the grownup persons, little toys so valuable to children are nothing. It is easy for them to renounce this. So it is for those who develop spiritually -- all things are easy to renounce. ~~~ "Social Gatheka I, #29 - Renunciation", by Hazrat Inayat Khan (unpublished) ~~~ "Complete Works of Pir-o-Murshid Inayat Khan, Lectures on Sufism, 1922 I", p87 |