Daily Readings from the Works of Swami Venkatesananda


Talks On Bhagavad Gita

December 9, 2022

     I have been with very great yogis, and I have observed them. My guru, Swami Sivananda. He wore fame, name, popularity - all that fanfare and trumpet as you wrap yourself with a shawl, with a blanket; not even a shirt (shirt, you know, you have to do something more to get rid of the shirt). A shawl or a blanket can slip off your shoulders without your being aware of it. That is what happened to him. He saw that these things attract attention-right, good. So you are attracted to him, and you go closer to him, and then suddenly, all that he shows you is his pure and simple humanness. Hmmm, I thought you are some kind of a genie that floated above the clouds; but no. A yogi is not a person who is anxious to distinguish himself. He is one with you. If that is not there, then he is not a yogi. He is a play actor. He is a hypocrite. Why is it so? Because, yoga is not an exclusive achievement! It's not the monopoly of any class, creed, nationality-but it is for all.

What must I do in order to become a yogi?-What must I do in order to become a yogi? Very simple, huh ... do anything you like! And therefore The Bhagavad Gītā contains suggestions for all sorts of activity. If you want to sit and sing hare rāmā-go on, go ahead; if you want to go into the church and sing in the choir-please do; if you want to engage yourself in some sort of social service-wonderful, very nice; if you want to shave your heads, put on orange robes, jump up and down along the roads-lovely, correct. No activity is of any special value, all activities are same. If you want to be a soldier and fight the war-please do; a butcher and sell meat-yes, correct, lovely, go ahead.

     Then what is this yoga about precisely? That is what is yoga about: do what has to be done and forget it. Can you do that? Anāśritaḥ karmaphalaṁ - can you do something at all, without considering what is going to happen? What am I going to get out of it? Where is this leading me to?-so that I can manipulate again. Is it possible?

     Is it possible for us to do something ... ha ha ... period-then you are a yogi. Then you are a yogi instantly, there is nothing more. Does it mean that yoga is impulsive action or mechanical action, automatic action? No! Incidentally, let us dispose of this. It's not part of our subject. Mechanical action is not yoga, habitual action is not yoga-for a very simple reason. When you are doing something mechanically, by force of habit, if you are able to observe yourself, you will find that that is not the only thing you are doing. If, as you are driving your car (and which is done automatically, not only because the transmission is automatic but because the driver is automatic too-automatic pilot), there is absolutely no harm allowing the habit to drive. It's not necessary for you to waste your energy trying to figure out, "What must I do now?" But observe the mind, having handed the business of driving to the habit pattern, the mind is busy cooking some other stuff. Hmmm, that is the danger. So that, automatic action is not the total answer. In automatic action there is no motivation-quite right, but while this automatic action goes on, there are other thoughts, other notions, other feelings, other ambitions-which are motivated.

     Yoga is not automatic action. In order to train himself in this yogic approach to life, the yogi sometimes recommends that you bring in the habitual actions, too, into the fold of conscious activity. So that, when you find that you are drifting off into a wonderland when you are driving a car, you say, "No, I am going to be very attentive now to the road. I am going to watch the road, watch every bump in the road, watch the traffic." Then suddenly, you find a new world! Why do you find a new world? Because, the dream world that you had been living in during that period-is gone!

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