gita

The Gita starts with Dhrutarashtra

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After reading my earlier post on the Bhagwat Gita, someone smugly pointed out that the first word of the Bhagwat Gita is ‘Dhrutarashtra’.

So the first verse starts with ‘Dharmakshetrae-Kurukshetrae’ and the Gita itself starts with ‘Dhrutarashtra’. So unless one understands what this Dhrutarashtra is, one cannot really understand the Gita.

The entire Gita is technically an answer to a question posed by Dhrutarashtra to Sanjay in the first verse. The Gita is narrated by Sanjay to Dhrutarashtra. As the Gita is itself highly esoteric, the question, the questioner and the answer-er all are equally cryptic too.

In brief, the story-allegory of the Mahabharat goes like this. This Dhrutarashtra is the blind king of a kingdom named Hastinapur. He has 100 sons called the Kaurav-s. He has a brother named Pandu, whose sons are called Pandav-s. Pandu was king but had abdicated and gone to the forest for spiritual practice. Now, a war is being fought between the grown-up Kaurav and Pandav princes. The Bhagwat Gita is recited by Krishna to Arjun-Pandav on the battleground before the war starts. After listening to this Gita, Arjun is enthused and with all his doubts resolved, gets ready for the war.

Why Divisional Charts?

Dhrutarashtra is blind, Sanjay is his guide. Dhrutarashtra asks a question, the first verse of the Gita. Sanjay replies with Krishna’s Gita as a narration within a narration layout. This layout is intentional and has a very deep meaning. There are two levels of understanding here.

The Bhagwat Gita starts with these words. Dhrutarshtra’s question.

Dhrutarashtra Uvacha,

‘Dharmakshetre Kurukshetre Samaveta Yuyutsavah, Mamakah Pandavashchaiva Kimakurvata Sanjay.’

So here is the real meaning of the first word of the Bhagwat Gita, ‘Dhrutarashtra’.

Dhruta rashtram yaena sah Dhrutarashtrah, this is the sandhi-vicched, the splitting of the compound word, Dhrutarashtra. The Sanskrit word Dhrutarashtra literally is the one afflicted by large scale calamity. The enjoyer of a kingdom. The one who is linked to subjects. Also the owner of a dominion.

  • Dhruta means – holder, enjoyer, linked to, owner of etc
  • Rashtra means – affliction on a mass scale, calamity on a large scale, kingdom, subjects, dominion, etc.

Basically Dhrutarashtra is another name for your mind/manas. He is the father of the 100 Kaurav princes. The mind generates 100 basic types of tendencies. (Refer to this post on tattva-s. I have drawn a table in this post, reproduced below.) The 10 products of the Ahamkar+Satva and the 10 products of Ahamkar+Tama multiplied together give the 100 tendencies of the mind. The mind has no power to get things or do things, it must work on the gross level through the 5 organs of senses and the 5 organs of action (10 tattva-s). On the subtle level it works through the 5-bhoot and the 5-tanmatra (10 tattva-s).

Screenshot 2019-07-07 at 11.26.22 AM

Thus the mind is considered to be handicapped, specifically it is blind, it acts without ‘seeing’ the real thing. The mind desires the kingdom ie the body, its actions and desires. Dhrutarashtra is the king of the Kuru-s. Kuru is the ‘action to be performed’. The mind rules over the actions and is always swayed by objects external to itself. It is dependant on the sense and action organs in every way. It desires subjects and is insatiable. It wants to hold on to its dominion in a tight grip. It is very strong. It desires to possess the body and to enjoy vishay-objects of desires. The mind is deep down aware that there is more but it cannot bring itself to accept it. It is swept away in desires, its 100 sons.

In the story, the Gita is set as a dialogue between Dhrutarashtra and Sanjay. The waking state of the Sadhak/ aspirant is called Dhrutarashtra while the spiritual insight achieved during Sadhana/ spiritual practice is called Sanjay. This ‘Sanjay’ is a Sanskrit word again. It literally means Samyak Jay, all-conquering, triumphant, complete victory. The all-pervading complete Sun, accurate truth, white brilliant lightning and the mind who knows its exact self-reality. The perfection of eternal union is Sanjay.

Sanjay is the one who knows himself, the realised soul, the Guru. The enlightened Guru tells the blind mind to practice the Yog-shastra Gita.

During your spiritual practice, there will be so many things, questions, blockages, setbacks, progress and ultimately victory. The mind has several doubts which are systematically addressed by the Guru. All this experience of the ‘Gita’ is the influence of the Guru on the Manas-mind. The internal Guru guides the mind during the spiritual process. This is the real reason why the Gita is placed as a story within a story. Sanjay is the guide to the blind king, Sanjay ’sees’, ie he is a seer, he is the one who knows the absolute reality.

Now Krishna means the deepest consciousness which is present at your Ajnya chakra and a prelude to whatever is beyond it. Krishna is the final apex point of the Dharmakshetra-Kurukshetra section of your energy body. He is the charioteer, the sarathi. He leads the way up the Sushumna and Pandav-Arjun follows him.

Now I will need to describe ‘Arjun’ too. Arjun is the son of Pandu. Pandu means the Nirmal-Buddhi. There are several sub-divisions of intelligence-Buddhi, Pandu means the Nirmal-clear conscience, from whom all attachments have departed. Kunti is Arjun’s mother, the word ‘Kunti’ means Nivrutti, emancipation, involution, rejection of illusion/Maya. He was born by the blessings of the deity Indra, ‘Indra’ means the individual soul. Arjun in Sanskrit means the brilliance of lightning. He is the Tej mahabhoot. The one not free from bondage, still bound by the karmas and under the influence of Raja-Gun. The stage of the aspirant from the Muladhar to the Manipur chakra is ‘Arjun’.

“The Gita is narrated by Krishna to Arjun on the battleground of the energy body named the Dharmakshetra-Kurukshetra.” I hope you have opened your mind to the new meaning and the import of this statement has deepened for you. (There are layers and layers of meanings. It is the magic of Sanskrit, Devbhasha Samskrutam.)

All the gods of Sanatan Dharma and you yourself are rays of light from the Source. The only difference is in the level of awareness. You follow the ray of light back to the source. Every deity, Ganapati, Shiv, Vishnu, Devi etc are conscious intelligence, you can request their help on your way. These are defined, with attributes (Sa-gun). And each one of these deities are shown to be meditating. Ever wonder what they are meditating on? What could be their true nature? This is the deepest experience.

The Gita starts with Dhrutarashtra

When I was a small child I understood Krishna to be something that my baby brothers were dressed up as once a year. I thought that Krishna was a cute kid always getting into mischief. Then I read the Mahabharat and I realised that Krishna systematically organised the biggest war in history, 18 akshohini अक्षौहिणी army units destroyed, entire nations wiped out. (A अक्षौहिणी is an army unit of 21,870 elephants, 21,870 chariots, 65,610 horse and 1.09,350 foot soldiers. 18 times these numbers were destroyed)

When I started doing my Sadhana in earnest, I realised that Krishna is the ‘undefinable darkness’ seen at the Ajnya chakra, he is the route I walk on, the guide I follow. As I progress, the subtler aspects of Krishna will again change and change till I reach Myself. At this point, me, the route, the guide will all merge back into the source, Myself. At this point there will be no more options as I will have finally realised the Nirvikalp Advaita. The non-dual goal of the aspirant.

So always think, experience, change, there is so much more, expand your mind, your ideas. Do not hold to one idea or concept rigidly. Allow yourself to evolve, allow your mind to expand. The defining quality of the spiritual aspirant is said to be ‘vivek’. This means that you have to be able to discriminate between the real and the material, but to be able to distinguish these, you will need to know their actual natures first. There is a concept from the Rudra Chamaka य॒ज्ञो य॒ज्ञेन॑ कल्पताम् yadno yadnena kalpantam. It means, ‘let evolution itself evolve’. This is a very deep concept which means that there is no stagnation, things are always evolving always. Even the very act of evolution is ever-evolving. (These concepts are all discarded when you reach the Ajnya chakra in your personal evolution. Till then you should assiduously use them as crutches and support on your way.)

Your body is composed of the tattva-s derived from Prakruti. You are the individual soul, who believes itself to be separate from the singular Parabrahma. This belief is incorrect and the entire goal of spiritual practice is to remove this erroneous belief and recognise oneself as the Para-brahma, the beyond Para. This state is called Moksh. Freedom from false notions, freedom from karma, freedom from ignorance.

The Bhagwat Gita is a detailed manual. Most of us have a copy of this manual in our houses. If you are given a step-by-step manual for building a nuclear war-head what would you do? You are required to build this war-head, there is no option on this, do it now or a few lives later, that is the only choice available. You cannot keep your manual shut in your puja-ghar. Open it, read it, re-read it, discuss, try to absorb its intent, understand it. And most importantly practice it, let your mind evolve. Your Dhrutarashtra has asked the question, now listen to your Sanjay. Take your kundalini to the very top, your Arjun has to follow your Krishna. Use your manual and experience your Sadyo-Mukti.

Vastu your home, the simplest and prettiest remedies

(I now realise that I will need to write about Nara and Narayan too now, will do so in my next post. Edit: wrote it! here)

(The sequence of studying the Bhagwat Gita is this – first read just the Sanskrit shloks, then read the Pranav Gita. Then start your study of the Vedant/Upanishads and then come to the Shankarbhashya. This is written by Adi Shankaracharya, he expounds on the true essence of the Gita as the pure distillation of the Vedant is explained)

How the energy of food influences you

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Food is technically ‘dead’ as the plant was first killed, brought to the market, thus to the kitchen. When the body dies the pran/vital energy from it slowly leaks out over a few hours. The fresher it is the more pran it will have thus will be more beneficial to your body. This is the real reason fresh fruits, vegetables and salads are more nutritious.

How the energy of food influences you

We use our hands for cooking, obviously, and the energy (atma-tej) of the conscious human person is focussed at the finger-tips. So the dominant thoughts and tendencies of the cook are absorbed in the food. The more he ‘handles’ the food, more the physical contact, more energy is transferred. See the vegetables are losing their original vital energy with time and are more than able to pick up this energy of thoughts from the cook. These energy imprints then are consumed by us. Thus we are affected by the mental state of the cook! If someone who loves you has cooked for you, it tastes better as you feel the love from the food. If it is prepared by an irritated professional chef, it might look awesome but when you eat it, would fail to satisfy.

Not just hands, vision is also a very important way where energy is transferred. Your thoughts are also a reflection of your personal energy. Everyone likes to eat. Food articles, sweets etc are often kept on display and everyone can see them. These articles can attract negative energies. e.g. small children or someone who cannot afford buying them crave them and such suppressed desires can spoil the energy levels of such food. If you eat such food repeatedly, you can actually fall ill!

If you are interested in real deep spiritual practice, you need to take these precautions with the food you eat.

Avoid table ware and cutlery used by others, especially if they are made of metal. These articles pick up the energy impressions from other people very easily and retain them for longer periods. If you have to eat out, preferably use biodegradeable plates and cups.

  • We Indians prefer eating food served on banana leaves or in leaf cups/plates. No traditional puja will be complete unless we serve the food/prasadam in these leaf plates.
  • And we still prefer drinking tea from public tea stalls which is served in an earthen cup. It tastes really good.

How the energy of food influences you

Then fire and heat can neutralise the energy impressions from others to some extent. Thus it is advisable to have the dining area within the kitchen itself where the cooking fires burn.

  • In traditional Indian households the household deities are placed in the kitchen area. If not the entire puja ghar, then a small image of Annapurna Devi (the Devi who gives food/energy), is always installed in the kitchen. After cooking everything, the cooked food is offered to the Devi first so that positive spiritual thoughts enter the final cooked food.
  • Then during the 5 days of the monthly cycle, women are supposed to rest and not cook or enter the kitchen. The internal chakras are moving anti-clockwise in their bodies, as internal destruction is taking place. Exposure to this energy can actually spoil food. (Try setting curd when you are in this phase if you don’t believe this.

Entering the kitchen only after washing up and changing the clothes worn outside the house is advisable. Foreign energy impressions adhere to the clothes and hands as our clothes brush against random people and we touch so many things with our hands/fingers.

People serving the food should not touch it with their hands. If possible the people involved in cooking and serving food, should have their food before they serve others, so that they don’t long for the food they are serving. Food served by an unhappy, hungry waiter is not good on the energy levels.

The best food that you can eat, is the food which you cook yourself for yourself. Next would be the food prepared by someone who genuinely loves you or thinks on the same wavelength as you do.

The more liquid a food has, the more easily it will pick up energy impressions. Milk and dairy products pick up energy very easily. This is the reason we use milk and its products to prepare prasadam for the pujas that we perform. The positive energies generated from the puja/ mantra/ homa etc are absorbed in the milk which is kept in a silver cup and it is distributed to people using a silver spoon.

Then non vegetarian food can never be energy rich in the real sense. At the moment of death, certain stress chemicals are produced in the body of the animal which are retained in its flesh. When the jivatma/soul leaves the body of an animal there are certian energy changes which occur. If anyone eats this flesh, this will upset their energy balance. (will write a separate post on the moment of death).

Now to the question which I received in the contact form.

Cow’s milk, is also a non-vegetarian product, and we Indians use it in all its forms. It is an essential ingredient in our lives in every way. But you might be surprised to know that the milk we buy from our local dairy is not what our ancestors used. The real milk from cows kept in individual houses is very very different from the milk produced from commercial dairies. I have seen both types of milk and can sense the difference.

We think of our cows as mothers, it’s not a joke, we actually do. But this cow has to be a desi Indian cow, means it has to have a well-formed hump. If a family keeps cows, these are family members, not ‘pets’ or as ‘cattle’. In fact the cow does not allow any random person near her. She generally has one favourite person who is allowed to milk her, anyone else and she will attack and kick. If her favourite person approaches her with affection, the milk let-down is natural not forced. She gives willingly and with love and after her calf is satisfied first. That is the difference. And that person has to take care of her. Taking care of a cow like this, is a very intensive job, the diet, the cleanliness, and the health care requires hard work. The cow has to be healthy and content. The energy quality of such a cow’s milk is beyond description. Unfortunately in today’s world, very very few people must have actually tasted this.

How the energy of food influences you

Drinking milk and milk products from commercial dairies where the cows are forced to give milk is of little use from the energy point of view. More so if the cow is ‘hybrid’, without a hump. Such milk and milk products actually harm at the energy levels.

There was a reason for all those traditions which developed over generations, and it is almost lost now. You will never get the perfect food with perfect energy on your plate now. But then all cultures have this system of praying over the food before it is eaten. You should pray over your food as per your culture/religion with gratitude and love in your heart. Or if you wish you can make a chi ball of golden/silvery light over your food to increase its vital energy. It works.

We recite this shlok number 15.14 from the Bhagwat Gita before having our food. This is in Sanskrit, so cannot be translated fully, this is less than 1% of its meaning.

OM aham vaishvanaro bhutva praninaam deham-ashritah
praanh-apaanah-samayuktah pachami annam chaturvidam OM

“Om, I am the complete, omnipresent Eternal Sun (seen at the third eye during Dhyan). I Exist (there is no other definition, just that It Is!). I temporarily occupy this manifested form of a breathing sentient being. The subtle energy of this food is composed of Pran and Apan (two types of opposing vital energies, which need to be balanced before the  kundalini can enter the Sushumna during Dhyan). I Illuminate the subtle energy of this food in all the four ways. (refers to the 4 states of existence – awake, dream, deep sleep and Bindu/Reality which is represented by OM). Om”

 

How the energy of food influences you

(I had written on food and its energies earlier in my posts, but there was a request for more on this topic and specifically on the milk. I hope this post was of some use.)

 

Who is a Guru?

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Guru is the energy which brings you to the Ultimate. It pushes you, attracts you, guides you and then illuminates You. There are several “modern-age Guru’s”, who claim that they have attained Moksh and mislead aspirants. Speaking soothing words and manipulating using language is very easy. Getting caught in the tangle of modern-age marketeers is common. It is very rare to meet a real enlightened Guru in these times.

Who is a Guru?

This is what I would advise genuine aspirants who do not have access to a real physical Guru. Real Guru-s are Jivan Mukt. They have Experienced and Transcended this manifested Creation. They may look like human but they are not human. My own Guru, he physically looked like an old bald man wearing a white dhoti and a kurta, but the energy! Now he is physically gone, but the energy is still very much there! Except I cannot remember his face now, if I close my eyes and think of him, I get that blast of energy from everywhere in the Universes and from also within me. You have to understand that a ‘Guru’ is not the human but the energy, a tremendous blast of energy. You will have to find a way to bring in this energy and channelise it into your life.

Every step of your life the Universe is guiding you to Yourself, these are also Guru. Some tiny incidents which leave an impact on you, or some inspirational story which motivates you or some spiritual text or mantra which energises you, are all aspects of the ‘Guru’. You are much more, allow your subconscious and astral self to help you find Yourself. You will see cues everywhere.

A real Guru will never ask you to worship him or keep his photograph or build temples in his name. A real Guru will always make you practice what he has taught you, to do your Sadhana. If you are being urged by your friends to join up a spiritual group and get initiated by their ‘Guru’, here are 3 tests that you can evaluate this group/Guru against.

  1. Granth prachiti (guidance from texts) – Are the philosophy, discourses, activities of this group/Guru in harmony with the philosophies of the Ved, Vedanta, Upanishad, Bhagwad Gita, Vignyan Bhairav tantra etc.
  2. Guru prachiti (guidance from the Guru lineage) – The lineage that they claim to be, is it from a real Guru? In India they will claim to be initiated by renown Gurus of the past, but always take this with a pinch of salt.
  3. Finally and most important and over-riding Atma-prachiti (guidance from your own self) – How do you feel about this Guru/group? Your conscience is the most unfailing guide you have. Your inner sub-conscious self knows more, so trust your gut-feel. Choosing to follow a spiritual guide is the most important choice you will make, so think and evaluate very carefully. Trust yourself completely.

Now this is what you can do, as the safest, best and the most effective option. Do this only if you feel this to be ok in your heart. You are the ultimate judge of what you do. Do this only if you feel this simple practice resonating with you.

  • Get a Shriyantra and set it up on your puja ghar/altar. This will be your focus point. You can buy one engraved on a silver/gold plate or if it is not available for sale where you live you can even take a print-out of this geometry from the internet and laminate it. (Just remember while choosing the image to print, the central triangle is an equilateral triangle and the central dot is at the very center of this triangle). Or if you prefer it in 3-D you can buy a Mahameru in sphatik/clear quartz stone.
    • This is the geometry of your own internal energy. All the chakras in your spine when placed on one top of the other create this geometry.
    • You need a focus point to concentrate your intention on. The central Bindu/point of this geometry represents the Ultimate, You. So you focus on this point.
    • When you focus on this Bindu, you are consciously arranging all your chakra energies to their perfect orientation. You are showing your internal energies how they should look like and they will resonate with this geometry.
    • Here is a detailed post on this geometry.
  • Now that you have your focus, you will need to set up the place where you will sit, your asan (detailed post here). The asan acts as a foundation for your practice as well as sort of a recharge battery. It ‘holds’ your practice. It protects you in every way.
  • Now you have your focus and your asan, so you have to charge your energies. There are two ways you can do it.
    • If you are drawn to the jaap method, the Gayatri mantra is the best possible option (full post here). You can recite the Gayatri mantra in sets of 108 repeats (ideally at sunrise/midday/sunset or else whenever you find the time, will take 15 mins for 108 repeats). Count on your fingers. After you finish don’t get up suddenly, enjoy the peace and internal silence for at least 5 mins more. Or you can then continue with Dhyan if you feel so inclined and have time.
    • If you are more drawn to just Dhyan (detailed post here) do it sitting on your Asan in front of your focus geometry. Will take 30 mins of your time initially, (20 mins for breathing 108 times and 10 mins for enjoying the peace/silence.) As it deepens it can go for hours. Initially sit once or twice a day, at sunrise or sunset or if not possible, then any time at night or when your surroundings are silent. This is nothing complicated, just breathing normally with focus between your eyebrows and mentally reciting the mantra (it is Om or Hamsa or Soham)
    • This sitting silently afterwards is the real essence of mediation, your mind has been stilled by your 108 mantra repeat and you are very deeply silent. Enjoy!

This practice may seem very simple but it goes in very very deep. It is like full-fledged energy work-out. This ‘simple’ practice will take you all the way to Moksh. There is no need of doing any complicated stuff which is ‘marketed’ in today’s world.

(If you are a woman take a 5-day break when you have your monthly cycle, do not sit on your Asan. Here your body is undergoing physical destruction within and you need rest.)

Pranayam, the basic 3 methods

Always know your real name is Om, your energy looks like the Shriyantra geometry, you are the Ultimate yourself, now you just have to experience it again. But are weighed down by desires and conditionings which block you from this experience. You have to resolve these. And they will get resolved, you have to put your faith/shraddha in your practice.

There were several people in the past, enlightened Guru-s perhaps, but they are not physically available now. You can read their teachings for inspiration, you can feel gratitude for them in your heart, acknowledging that you learnt something is always good.  Now, if they were really Enlightened they were never ‘human’, they were/are the Parabrahma. My Guru had a name and was very well known in society but his real nature was/is Om. When he gained his Moksh, his ‘society identity’ dissolved. His real nature became Parabrahma. The real name/nature of every enlightened Guru was/is Om, just the same as yours, it is Om.

But your practice is what you do sitting on your Asan. Here you will think only of your real Self. You will become who you focus on, so always focus on your own perfection. That is in sound ‘Om’ and in geometry the ‘Shriyantra’ in all its dimensions. When you close your eyes for doing the jaap or dhyan you will only think of your mantra Gayatri-jaap or Om/Soham/Hamsa – dhyan, nothing else at all. You will focus at the center of your eyebrows. It will seem pitch black at first but persevere. Be patient and do your action, breathe+mantra+focus. This will balance out everything. Trust your actions.

For doing spiritual practice you do not need to take sanyas and live in a monastery, you can do all this quite easily living with your family, doing your job and being with society. Just one thing if you can, control what you eat/drink. Tamasic food/drink make your astral self ‘heavy’. So if possible, avoid non-veg (fish is ok not other meats), avoid alcohol (once in a while for social/medical reasons is ok), avoid heavily spiced food (overloads the digestive system) and eat at least one thing which you have cooked/made with your own hands (even a cup of tea will do!)

In Sanatan Dharm the Observer is given prime importance, your experience is yours. Your friend’s experience is his, not yours.

Trust your own self always. This is your personal journey within yourself, to yourself.

Who is a Guru?

 

(This post is in response to this comment I received in the Contact form, I hope it has been of some use to you.
“I have been reading some of your interesting posts lately.. Particularly because i am interested in spiritual development..
I have trust my true self before and practiced awareness or even meditation with the help of my inner self (i call it my own Guru although He has not a name).
But the thing is that a friend recently told me i should not meditate without the help of a true Master or even doing breath exercises because it was dangerous… so i stopped it. He particularly recommended me to read about his own Master. I read about it and i agree that His words are wise and helpful but i feel that i don’t want in my heart to choose Him as my Master aswel.
I don’t even know from where i get all this inner good thoughts and guidance and before felt enlightened, in the good path, and that my own Guru has no name..so it is hard for me to choose some specific of the ones who lived before.
My friend keep saying that i cannot ever reach true enlightenment by my self meditating and without cleaning my self from my past karma. (which i feel i have been doing naturally with help of the Universe or God.. He says that the only way is initiating according to His Master, but i don’t feel i want to initiate in anything. I don’t want to become a non or a living saint. I just want to live a honest life without attachment, give love to my family and people around me, live true to my self..

When i meditate or do dhyan should i have in my awareness gratitude for all Masters or Gurus ever existed or should i choose a particular one (besides trusting my inner self)? This is the question i have been struggling lately.
If you don’t have a particular answer it is enough with a advice. I trust because you seem to have good experience about spiritualities path.)

The Bhagwat Gita

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The Bhagwat Gita needs no introduction. The message that Yogeshwar Shri Krishna gave to his cousin, the Pandav Arjun has been translated, interpreted and studied for thousands of years and by millions of peoples and still its mysteries do not end.

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You can find everything in the Gita, every aspect of Dharma, Artha, Kama and Moksh is described in this message. And it will also give you the answers to mundane questions, to what you seek, from management, to life, to business and death, doing spiritual practice, everything. At its apex it is the distillation of the Vedant.

This is a living Song, and it adapts its message to suit the questioner and his question. It is not a coincidence that, from quantum scientists to yogis, all have studied the Gita, because it gives you the answers. In fact they became scientists and yogis just because they listened to that “Divine Song”.

The Gita is written in Sanskrit, and Sanskrit is not just a language it is Devbhasha Samskrutam. It is a palimpsest which reveals its meanings depending on the intention of the reader. Intention is everything when you listen to the Gita.

My advise to you is, if you want to really hear the Gita, do not read someone else’s random translation. It is not a book to be understood in languages, it is to be Experienced. Read the shlokas yourself in the Sanskrit. Read just one shlok a day, just the Sanskrit verse even if you do not understand it. Try to learn it by rote if you can. In about 2yrs you will have the entire text by heart. And if you are sincere about it, there will then come a Guru in your life who will explain to you what it really means.

However for those who are really interested and destined to know this, there is the interpretation of the Gita as a Yog Shastra. The “Pranav Gita” which is written by Shri Gyanendra Mukhopadhyay, disciple to Shri Pranabanand, disciple to Shri Shyamcharan Lahiri Mahasaya. It is originally written in Bengali, but its translated Hindi version is also available as a book. This ‘Pranav-Gita’ is not a mere compilation of the teachings of his Guru, but it is his own experience during the Dhyan that he was taught by his Guru. It explains the meaning of each shloka in terms of the energies, prana and kundalini. It is the experience of the author, a Guru himself and is one of the very few really valuable books I have ever read. He explains the Gita as a Yog Shastra, a beacon of light for those aspirants who want to attain moksha.  (Read the original Pranav Gita in Bengali or its Hindi translation. Not the English one, it is not translated in the true spirit of what the Guru wrote). 

(The Shankarbhashya is the definitive exposition of the Bhagwat Gita. It expresses the true meaning of the Gita as the extract of the Vedant. But the condition for reading this Bhashya is that that you must first read and understand the Vedant, and this is not possible for beginners. So read the Sanskrit shlokas first followed by the Pranav Gita, then read the Vedant and finally come to the Shankarbhashya.)

Gita is not a novel, it will reveal its meanings only as per your intention and your intention will get stronger only with shraddha and vishwas which take time to develop. The first time the shlokas may not be easy to read, but as the days go by you will see flashes of its real meaning in your dreams/ subconscious states. Then one day it will become so strong that you will sit down and start your spiritual practice which will progress to Dhyan. As the Dhyan deepens you will start practicing what Yogeshwar Krishn actually wants you to practice. And then at some point of time you will receive the Phal/fruit of the “Yog Shastra Gita”.

It is a long journey (you have already gone through so many lives) and you are being tested at every point, sometimes you may feel like putting down your personal Gandiva, but persevere. Live the Gita. Trust yourself and the black spot (Krishn) that you see between your eyebrows in your ajnya chakra, and in time you will see the Vishwaroop here.