My Favorite Bhagavad-gita Quotes

Ok, I have many more favorite Bhagavad-gita quotes but here are a few. Pics are from the past week's Warped Tour shows, kids who were interested in reading Bhagavad-gita and other books we have. (More pics here)

PS. Today while hooping I did something I've never done before - I smacked my face so hard my nose started bleeding. It's bled on and off all day. I feel like a coke addict :P

"As a lamp in a windless place does not waver, so the transcendentalist, whose mind is controlled, remains always steady in his meditation on the transcendent Self." (6.19)

"A man must elevate himself by his own mind, not degrade himself. The mind is the friend of the conditioned soul, and his enemy as well. For him who has conquered the mind, the mind is the best of friends; but for one who has failed to do so, his very mind will be the greatest enemy." (6.5-6)

"A true yogi observes Me in all beings, and also sees every being in Me. Indeed, the self-realized man sees Me everywhere." (6.29)

"O son of Kunti [Arjuna], I am the taste of water, the light of the sun and the moon, the syllable om in the Vedic mantras; I am the sound in ether and ability in man." (7.8)

"Whatever state of being one remembers when he quits his body, that state he will attain without fail." (8.6)

"But those who worship Me with devotion, meditating on My transcendental form - to them I carry what they lack and preserve what they have." (9.22)

Raving Alone in a Warehouse

For over a month now we've been in North Carolina, waiting to get back on the road. The engine of our van kind of blew up which is a big job to fix. (That trailer in the video is my friend's project, not ours...)

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Anyhow I've been hooping in this warehouse and listening to Ben Rama's album The Invisible Kingdom. The song here is Gypsies & Jezebels. Well, I added the mantra towards the end on it. Yeah, I wish you were here dancing with me :) Big old warehouse and just one hooper. What a shame.
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Oh today is our 3-year wedding anniversary! Here I try to pose all dreamy and ethereal as Philip gives me the finger for blocking his unethereal cheerful face. Have a nice weekend everybody!
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The Path You Follow

Please bare with me as I'm all emo-spiritual today :)

 

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In the Bhagavad-gita, Krishna says to His friend Arjuna, 

mama vartmanuvartante

manusyah partha sarvasah: 

"Everyone follows My path in all respects, O son of Pritha."

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And it says in the Srimad-Bhagavatam, "Everyone is seeking Krishna, for He is the Supersoul of all individual souls. Everyone loves his body and wants to protect it because he is within the body as the soul, and everyone loves the soul because the soul is part and parcel of the Supersoul. Therefore, everyone is actually seeking to achieve happiness by reviving his relationship with the Supersoul."

The way I understand this is that we can't avoid following someone's leadership. At least we'll follow the lead of our own mind. Our own mind is simply a product of the experiences we've had in this world. So our mind alone can never release us from material consciousness.

Material consciousness means we think we are the body, made of matter. When the body dies, we die. Material consciousness leaves us unsatisfied as every single material pleasure is temporary. Anything material can't satisfy our essence because, as spiritual beings, our essence is non-material. Without feeding our soul we live in a starving, lacking, craving condition.

But this universe is like a big system for self-realization. Sooner or later every being will come to the point on their path where they understand who they are and what their home is. Krishna wants to speed up that process for us so He spoke the Bhagavad-gita. There are similar teachings in every culture, religion and tradition, given by God or people empowered by Him, just so we would keep going towards the truth on our path. It is His path nonetheless. Whether we choose to go towards, or away from the Supreme. He'll give us the intelligence to do either one. It's up to us.

We're always loved. That's why we have free will. There's no love without free will. Krishna wants our love because you are unique and no one else can have a relationship with Him as you can.

He misses you.

Free Download of the Bhagavad-gita As It Is!

Continuing the 30 Days posts on set topics. Day 6 - A Picture of Something That Makes You Happy

Making people happy makes me happy :) Here are some happies I met and gave books to:

For the holidays, make your friends happy with a free download of the original Bhagavad-gita As It Is! Enjoy!

If I Wanted Not to Fear America

...I wouldn’t read the following little pieces of legislation. Funny how it’s completely against the Constitution and the Bill of Rights, and basic human principles.

Should an economic instability cause some unrest among the people, or to prevent such from happening, the President of the USA can sign a paper and make the following happen:

Executive order 10995: Allows the government to seize and control the communication media. (No more blogging?)

Executive order 10997: Allows the government to take over all electrical power, gas, petroleum, fuels and minerals. (Let’s make a fire!)

Executive order 10998: Allows the government to seize all means of transportation, including personal cars, trucks or vehicles of any kind and total control over all highways, seaports, and waterways.

Executive order 10999: Allows the government to take over all food resources and farms. (Goodbye anything organic. Goodbye a bunch of things.)

Executive order 11000: Allows the government to mobilize civilians into work brigades under government supervision. (I’m at a loss of words here)

Executive order 11001: Allows the government to take over all health, education and welfare functions. (The loss of words continues)

Executive order 11003: Allows the government to take over all airports and aircraft, including commercial aircraft. (How about seeing my family overseas?)

Executive order 11004: Allows the Housing and Finance Authority to relocate communities, build new housing with public funds, designate areas to be abandoned, and establish new locations for populations.

Well, the good news, I guess, is that as non-material conscious beings we can choose not to let our mind be tossed around by the (material) affairs of this world. Nothing can come between our relationship with the Supreme, because that relationship is the ultimate reality. If we’re aware of that connection, the spiritual power of that consciousness will override any material circumstances we find ourselves in, and we’ll  remain peaceful and fearless.

What do you think of these “executive orders”? Which one is the worst? Do you think there’s a way to prevent stuff like this from happening?

Ways to Understand Ahimsa, or Non-Violence, part 1

Currently on the Vans Warped Tour, I’m sitting in the shade and reading Bhagavad-gita As It Is, which offers quite a contrast to the intense, apocalyptic punk and metal blasting from at least four different stages. My reading is occasionally distracted by female screams and sighs from a shaking van parked nearby in which, I suspect, a musician is, ahem, rendezvousing with another. Or a fan. Or, whatever, but the contrast is great. 

I’m reading the second chapter which talks about the consciousness or soul as the ultimate identity of all beings. The material body is only a covering and it changes all the time, most drastically at death, when the atma/soul receives another body, corresponding to whichever type of consciousness it has developed during its lifetime.

Arjuna is the warrior of the Bhagavad-gita who decides not to fight, seeing friends and relatives on both sides of the armies. Krishna, as Arjuna’s friend and chariot-driver, tells him that as a warrior, he cannot run away from his duty. Arjuna suggests that maybe he should just disappear to the forest and become a wandering ascetic. Krishna says that it’s not possible. Arjuna’s nature is to be a warrior, or ksatriya, and even if he went to the forest, he would fight there. 

So. Ahimsa or non-violence is one of the very, very basic principles of yoga. I’m now talking about the yoga lifestyle, lifestyle of connecting with the Divine, which yoga literally means - I’m not talking about the popular Indian gymnastics going by the name yoga. ;) Ahimsa, as Buddha taught it, means practically to refrain from killing people and animals. Obviously, this includes eating animals. Animals have a much more developed consciousness than plants and so killing them for food, when there really is no necessity at all, is serious business karmically. 

This is one layer of understanding ahimsa - refraining from hurting and killing other beings, or from supporting people and companies that do.

A bit deeper understanding of ahimsa is what struck me right now as I was reading the purport to the mantra 2.3 in which Srila Prabhupada calls Arjuna’s seemingly compassionate refusal to fight “so-called non-violence”. More about that later, I will leave you in suspense for now, see you in a day or too!