Forty Verses of the Bhagavad Gita (Sri Gita Calisa)

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Forty Verses of the Bhagavad Gita



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Short foreword

The Bhagavad Gita is the most beloved and read scripture not only of India, butalso today more than previously the World over. The pantheistic doctrine of the

Bhagavad Gita is that the Supreme (the God-head Divinity) assembling and

indwelling everything. This is greatly celebrated in the Gita.

The main theme throughout the Bhagavad Gita is that one should be an adherent

of “sannayasa”, a renouncer of this egoity ingrained through “avidya”

(individual delusion), ignorance, within de physical self of man.

The “God Within” realisation cannot be attained by merely reading a book, andthen another book, so on and forth, but by dwelling every day of your life on the

truth that life is a variety entertainment of dream movies full of the hazards of

duality, evil and heroic adventures.

Reading and pondering on the 700 verses of the Gita exhorts one to right action,

and a return to personal spirituality through meditation, its techniques mainly

explained in chapter six.

The Bhagavad Gita is a spiritual guide, more than any other sacred writing in thereligious world. The Bhagavad Gita is declared to be at the very source of the

ponderous four Vedas, 108 Upanishads and the six systems of Hindu

philosophy.

The entire knowledge of the cosmos is packed in the Bhagavad Gita, and sheds

its light to everyone in search of Truth along the earthly pilgrimage.

The key figure of the Bhagavad Gita is the Supreme Lord Krishna. The path

advocated by Him in the Gita is the perfect answer in this modern and scientificage, more than any other world religion would as in the three Abrahamic faiths.

The Gita’s teaching is moderate, the middle way, but the golden path for both

the busy person in our present world, and for the highest spiritual aspirant. The

Gita’s wisdom is not for dry intellectualism to perform mental gymnastic with

its verses and sayings for the entertainment of dogmatists, but is rather a way-

shower.



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The forty Gita verses intended for brief daily meditation, to create an

harmonious in your daily life, before meditation as well as before any other

action and daily routine. Reading a few verses will help you to quiet your mind

before you enter in the silence of meditation, the Gita being a perfect guide to all

those who aspire to build a perfect personality.

There are sufficient grounds to grant universalism to the Bhagavad Gita. In

unmistakable terms it upholds perfection as the goal of life. Books that point the

way to perfection stand on a pedestal of their own. Self-perfection is the acme of

human aspiration. Sooner or later all have to pay homage to it and attain it. The

Bhagavad Gita is a Clarion Call to this your goal.

Philippe L. De Coster, B.Th., D.D.



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A prayer before any reading in the Bhagavad Gita. Every student of the

Bhagavad Gita is a potential Arjuna. May he receive Light in his own way from

this Universal Scripture.



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The conflict between the contending cousin groups was too sharp to be squared

up. One stood for righteousness and possessed legitimate claim to the kingdom.

The other was out to usurp it, the rights of the rival, by foul means. In this

circumstance, war became inevitable.



6

Though the word "krpa" is translated as compassion, Arjuna is not really

endowed with this divine quality. He alone who is the master of his mind can

extend compassion to the distressed and seek to allay their sorrows.



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The Supreme Lord puts it to Arjuna that while his arguments appear as words of

wisdom, actually they are not. The way of the worldly is to classify a man as

Pandita; but the Lord does not do so. Keeping the mind constant in all

eventualities is the way of the wise.



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The born one passes through babyhood, youth and old age. It is the same entity

that experiences all these changes. It should not be held that the individual that

is the baby is quite different from the individual that is the youth. Likewise, the

individual that transmigrates from one body into another retains his

individuality. The enlightened one sees into this truth and remains unperturbed



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over death. Changes pertain to body and changelessness to Atman. The knower

of this fact is truly enlightened.

It is only after the procurement of new clothing that man rejects the old worn-

out ones. The snake develops new skin from within and then casts off the



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slough. The mental makeup does not die along with the gross body. It is

variously called the astral or subtle body and it persists with its innate tendencies

and dispositions.



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The wise should plainly welcome pleasure and pain, joy as well as sorrow,

without becoming discouraged. Two types of people are happy in this world of

ours. Those who are completely ignorant and those who are intelligent. All

others are unhappy.



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The fear of failure, coming from being emotionally attached to the fruits of

work, is the major impediment to success, because it robs the efficiency by

constantly disturbing the equanimity of mind. Therefore, duty should be done

with detached attachment.



13

Karma is classified as good or bad based on the result it produces. Good karma

is as much the cause as the bad one, for the continuity of the wheel of birth and

death. But the karma-yogi is not affected by karma of any kind.



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A ship without a rudder is at the mercy of a strong wind. Nothing can be

predicted as to where it will be shoved. Senses are involuntarily drawn to the

sense-objects. Mind that follows in the wake of the senses is naturally led astray

by them. Sense-pleasures are like itching eczema. There is pleasure in violently

scratching it; but the disease gets aggravated thereby. By yielding to sense-

pleasures mind gets more entangled in them.



15

The ignorant man is incapable of distinguishing between the action ridden

Nature and the actionless Self. When an onion is peeled continually all skin goes

away and no substance is left. Similarly on analysing the ego it is found to be no

entity.



16

When desire is centred on body, the senses, mind and intellect the "Jiva"

consciousness or individualised little self is fostered. This little self is ever

wrought with misery. Foolishly do humans think it is imbued with happiness.

Every happiness associated with the body, the senses, the mind and intellect is

bound, sooner or later, to reappear as misery.



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Dharma is verily the karma that is conductive to man's growth and progress;

what impedes them is adharma. At every time adharma prevails and prevents

man's evolution, the Cosmic Intelligence (the Supreme) embodies Itself, as a

matter of course. Every time humanity has sunk into confusion leading to



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misery, a World Saviour comes along. He comes to put in order all lapses and

deviations in the practice of dharma.

Creation is effected by variation in the distribution of Gunas. The worth of man

is in the mind and not in the body. Mind has its colour according to Guna. As



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man evolves, Guna and mind which are interrelated get refined. The colour or

the class of man goes up accordingly. The enlightened alone see into the colour

of the mind and know who is who among men. The worldly man’s classification

of himself into the four castes based on birth and parentage is merely a

convention hardly ever tallying with his attainments. The real classification isbased on the degree of ethical and spiritual perfection. The actions of the four

castes are explained in chapter 18, the verses 41 to 44. Remember that the planof Nature is that beings low in “Varna” evolve into those high.



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All acts are the acts of the Supreme (Brahma), the inactively active actor. One

should spiritualise all work by perceiving that one does nothing at all, and

everything is done by the energy of Brahma using only our minds as an

instrument.



21

He who holds himself the agent to the performance of a sacrifice cherishes the

feeling of distinction between himself, the Deity to be propitiated, the things

offered, the medium of the fire and so on and forth. However, he who takes to

"jnana-yajna", the process of enlightenment, views all these as Brahman, the

Thing-in-Itself.



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The proper practice of karma yoga transforms the life of the yogi into "jnana-

yajna". His mind thereby gets purified and he becomes competent in course of

time for Self-knowledge. The baby takes nine months for its development in the

womb. Similarly is there any time limit for the attainment of Jnana.



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Life blossoms better in him who lives for others than in him who lives exclusively for

himself. Just as sound sleep is possible only for him who works hard, deep meditation comes

to him who has negated his individuality in the service of others. The one pure in mind

becomes one with Brahman who is all purity.



24

The life, growth and sustenance of the lotus are al dependent on water. It dries

away when severed from it. While constantly in touch with it, the lotus leaf does



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not permit being wetted with water. Man nis born with karma and sustained by

it. While fully availing himself of it, the yogi does not get affected by it.

A Self-realised person (the yogi) sees the Supreme in the entire universe and in

oneself.



26

Among the humans who believe in the Supreme, these are the four types who

seek to contact Him, each according to his understanding and attainments. All

the four groups are virtuous because of their correct understanding and doings.



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"Beholding diversity is born of delusion; beholding unity is born of

enlightenment." (Sri Ramakrishna) The more one is deified, the more the evil in

one is eradicated.



28

An incarnation of the Supreme, like Sri Krishna, assumes a human body, just as

the bound souls do. However, he is more bound in the manifested body than the

sky seen through a window is bound within the frame of that window. The

manifested body of Sri Krishna is mutable; but in reality He is the immutable

and unsurpassed by the ordinary human beings. His supreme state remains



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unknown to the people of poor understanding. They do not therefore seek to

worship Him.

But dream is the indicator of the trend of the mind of an individual; it cannot be

recast or pre-arranged according to one's will and pleasure. Just as the dreamer



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is, while in dream, the creature of his own mental makeup, so does the dying

man assume at the time of death, a mental makeup based on his bent in the

course of that career. Man is the architect of his destiny.



31

The sacred and the secular are incompatible, is the view of many people. But,

the Lord's message is to sanctify the entire life. The so-called secular duty may

be converted into the service of the Lord. Whatever man does or thinks ought to

be for the glory of the Cosmic Consciousness. So, man's life gets perfectly

enriched.



32

Just as carnal wealth gets added only to those who already own it, so the grace

of the Supreme is ever on the increase to those yogis who have made themselves

worthy of it. The Supreme is always available to those who seek Him.



33

This is the sublime statement revealing the law of life at the spiritual level. In

the economy of nature the distribution of labour is benignly meted out. It is all

right for the body-bound soul or astral being to toil for food and clothing. But he

or she who is completely attuned to the Divine loses in calibre when bringing

the mind down to the mundane level.



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Metaphysical understanding and material abundance are of no avail to gain

access to the Supreme Lord. It is pure devotion to which the Lord submits

Himself. He who has Bhakti gains Bhagavan easily. A leaf and such like things

are mere tokens of love.



35

As the river gives itself to the ocean and becomes one with it, the devotee gives

himself to the Supreme and becomes one with Him.



36

The wise as such give their mind to the Supreme knowing that He is the source

of everything and that the thought of Him alone enriches en ennobles the mind.



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This is in the nature of beings to work. The make of an individual is known from

the work he engages himself in. To work for oneself is the way of the world.

The devoted yogi however works not for himself but for the Supreme. Worldly

people strive for prosperity, power and enjoyment. The devoted yogi strives to

attain the Supreme Lord.



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To feel is the way of the mind and to decide is the way of the intellect. And

these are the inner subtle organs of man. Man is truly where his mind is. There

are those who live in hell (so to speak) on earth; and there are those others who

make a paradise of this earth. It is the mind of man that makes the paradise and

the hell. But, when this mind is made over to the Supreme, the human is truly in

the Divine Presence of Peace and Rest.



39

The sun is spreading its light equally everywhere and it is visible in all parts of

the entire world. Still a small patch of cloud hides it from our sight. Similarly,

“Maya” hides the all pervading Brahman from our cognition. When the veil of

Maya is removed the Sat-chit-ananda Brahman is cognized everywhere and in

all beings and things.



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Extreme devotion surges in the heart and mind of the yogi who has made himself or herself

over to the Supreme. They have nothing but Narayana to recognize both within and without.

This intense fervour ends with becoming Brahman. As darkness disappears when light

arrives, the three Gunas disappear when the dawn of the Brahma jnana takes place.



41

The Supreme Lord resides as consciousness in the hearts and minds of all.

Memory of what has been done before is possible because of this consciousness.

Knowledge or the faculty of understanding as to how to react to the changing

circumstances, this power also comes from consciousness.



42

The origin of the demoniacal disposition is explained here. It is fostered by these three evils.

The nature of greed is to appropriate all objects of sense-enjoyment exclusively to oneself.

Any one of these three vices mentioned here is sufficient to bind man to abomination. Woe

unto man when all the three make an alliance and rule his mind. They do not allow him to

emerge from wickedness.



43

Truth is in some cases unpleasant to hear and untruth or liars pleasant to hear.

The best course is to present truth in as pleasant a way as possible. However,

there should be no deviation from truth for the sake of pleasantness; truth alone

should ever be upheld. “Supreme, Thou art one Truth, one Life, one Face”.



44

Love makes way to the inaccessible. It opens the door to the impossible. The unknown and

the unknowable become known to the true lover. What is known through love is the true

knowledge and what is done through love is the true service. The yogi understands the

Supreme well because he sees with the eye of love.



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He, the Supreme who resides as witness in the hearts, the inner psyche, of all humans, does no

work; but His Presence propels the beings to perform their duties. Sri Ramakrishna said:

“Poison within the teeth of a snake causes no harm to it. But that poison injected into others



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causes death to them. Similarly “Maya” that is in “Iswara” causes Him no harm. Rather, it is

an adorable attribute of His. And this Maya keeps all beings in bondage.”

When the love for a person overshadows the love of wealth, aal the wealth is

willingly sacrificed for that person, even as parents do for their children. To a



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yogi nothing in the world is dearer than the Supreme. His offering therefore as

sacrifice all his possessions and ultimately himself too, is but a matter of course.

A man immersed in water struggles hard for air to breathe. A yogi ought to

evince a similar restlessness for his self-realisation. In the nearness of the

Supreme de yogi or devotee is well protected.



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The good and the beneficial in someone increase as and when they are shared

with others. He who eats in company or he who shares his food with others

keeps better health and strength than he who eats all by himself. Fostering other

lives is the sure means to enrich one’s own life. Finally, he who teaches others

learns better than he who studies for himself. The more one teaches the more

one learns.



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All human endeavours ought to be in tune with the Will of the Supreme as found

in the Bhagavad Gita, and other Sacred Scriptures of the world, or in accordance

to Cosmic Plan as brought forward in sound philosophy and psychology. In that

case the attempts would all be ethical and conducive to the progress of man.

Sound social life even without religion provides for enormous human



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endeavours based on dharma and faith in the Cosmic Integrity. Yoga is the

union between the Supreme and the human, between Consciousness in all its

facets and the human, where in fact there is perfect unity. Humans just ignore

their divinity, but the Supreme is first of all within them. This is the message of

the Bhagavad Gita.



One makes spiritual progress in proportion to one’s application to the study and

practice through meditation of the principles contained in the Bhagavad Gita.

Links:

© July 2012 Philippe L. De Coster, Gita Satsang, Ghent, Belgium.

Forty Verses of the Bhagavad Gita (Sri Gita Calisa)

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