Building Extension: Our Earnest Appeal

Online Lectures - Audio

Bhagavad Gita - November 19, 2010
Chapter 7, Verses: 19-21
Swami Yogatmananda

Vedanta Society of Providence

 

 

Please click the 'Play' button to start. It may take a minute.

 

Launch in external player

 

To download the lecture, please right-click here and then click "Save Target As..."

 

 

VII.19: At the end of many births the man of Knowledge attains Me, realizing that Vasudeva is all. Such a high-souled one is very rare.

VII.20: People, deprived of their wisdom by desires for various objects and guided by their oen nature, resort to other deities following the relevant methods.

VII.21: Whichever form (of a deity) any devotee wants to worship with faith, that very firm faith if his/her I strengthen.

 

The above image is from Gita Darshan by courtesy of Sri Ramakrishna Math, Hyderabad.

 

To Order Audio/ Video CDs : bookstore@vedantaprov.org

 

List of Audio/Video CDs, DVDs

 

 

Summary of this lecture:


Devotion to God is very rare. Very few go to God. Everybody’s life is driven by the ultimate objective one has to achieve. The individual understanding of this objective depends upon the awareness and the perspective one has about ‘I’ and the world. Generally one tries to go after pleasures avoiding pain. The first change one must make on the path of spiritual progress is to seek for what is real and permanent than pleasurable. This mental shift involves lot of training with intense discipline. A complete transformation of personality is required. Acquisition of these virtues may take a very long time. One has to follow this path with strong resolve and well directed scientific efforts. Human mind is full of desires which obscure the true knowledge. To fulfill those desires we worship mythical gods who can fulfill them. This world is governed by the cause-effect relationship, ordained by God. Hence our strongly cherished desires are fulfilled within this cause- effect framework. But one can not realize God, who is the creator of this framework, inside this. One must transcend this to realize Him. In simple words of Holy Mother, one can realize God the moment he becomes desireless.There were good, reflective Q/A afterwards, regarding the conflict between having an ambition in the world and spiritual life.