Guest guest Posted December 27, 2009 Report Share Posted December 27, 2009 Dandavat pranams to all! Tasmaat shaastram pramaanam te kaaryaakaaryavyavasthitau; Jnaatwaa shaastravidhaanoktam karma kartumihaarhasi. Therefore, let the scripture be the authority in determining what ought to be done and what ought not to be done. Having known what is said in the ordinance of the scriptures, thou shouldst act here in this world. (BG 16.24)Gita Satsangh Chapter 16 Verses 15 & 16To listen to Swami Brahmanananda of the Chinmaya Mission chanting this Chapter... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B50lu0Oilak & feature=related Aadhyo’bhijanavaanasmi ko’nyosti sadrisho mayaa; Yakshye daasyaami modishye ityajnaanavimohitaah. 15. “I am rich and born in a noble family. Who else is equal to me? I will sacrifice. I will give (charity). I will rejoice,”—thus, deluded by ignorance, Sankara Bhashya (Swami Gambiranda's Translation and Commentary) 15. 'I am rich and high-born; who else is there similar to me? I shall perform sacrifices; I shall give, I shall rejoice,'-thus they are diversely deluded by non-discrimination. Adhyah, I am rich in wealth; abhi-janavan, high-born in respect of my lineage; my seven generations are endowed with Vedic learnig etc. From that point of view also there is none equal to me. Kah anyah, who else; asti, is there; sadrsah, similar; maya, to me? Besides, yaksye, I shall perform sacrifices; in respect of sacrifices also I shall defeat others. Dasyami, I shall give-to actors and others; modisye, I shall rejoice, and I shall derive intense joy. Iti, thus; are they ajnana-vimohitah, diversely deluded by non-discrimination, subject to various indiscrimination. Swami Chinmayananda's Translation and Commentary WHAT IS THE INTELLECTUAL ESTIMATE OF A MATERIALIST ABOUT HIMSELF? LISTEN: 15. "I am rich and well-born --- Who else is equal to me? --- I will give (alms, money) --- I will rejoice. " Thus are they, deluded by 'ignorance. ' Deluded by misconceptions of himself, such a man of sickly, bloated conceit looks at the world through a mind distorted by vanity, and wrongly judges the world and his own relationship with it. He feels happy and congratulates himself on his high birth and breed, on his belongings and wealth, and fails to find anyone equal to him. Self-exiled from society, he lives in a false castle of vanity, suffering innumerable psychological privations. He gloats that he will, by his ritualism, even order the gods to serve him --- that he shall, with his gifts, purchase the whole world. And thus glorified by the world, served by the gods, "I shall rejoice in the world..." Such are some of the maddest ravings of his restless heart, in the dark depths of his utter 'ignorance.' SUMMARISING THE THREE PREVIOUS STANZAS, IT IS SAID: Anekachittavibhraantaah mohajaalasamaavritaah; Prasaktaah kaamabhogeshu patanti narake’shuchau. 16. Bewildered by many a fancy, entangled in the snare of delusion, addicted to the gratification of lust, they fall into a foul hell. Sankara Bhashya (Swami Gambiranda's Translation and Commentary) 16. Bewildered by numerous thoughts, caught in the net of delusion, (and) engrossed in the enjoyment of desirable objects, they fall into a foul hell. Aneka-citta-vibhrantah, bewildered by numerous thoughts, confounded variously by thoughts of the kind stated above; moha-jala-samavrtah, caught in the net of delusion-moha is non-discrimination, lack of understanding; that itself is like a net because of its nature of covering; enshrouded by that; prasaktah, engrossed; kama-bhogesu, in the enjoyment of desirable objects, being immersed in that itself; they patanti, fall, owing to the sins accumulated thereby; asucau, into a foul; narake, hell, such as Vaitarani. [Vaitarani: It is the most terrible place of punishment; a river filled with all kinds of filth-blood, hair, bones etc., and running with great impetuosity, hot and fetid. The other hells are Tamisra, Andhatamisra, Raurava, Kumbhipaka, and so on.]Swami Chinmayananda's Translation and Commentary 16. Bewildered by many a fancy, entangled in the snare of delusion, addicted to the gratification of lust, they fall into a foul hell. BEWILDERED BY MANY A FANCY --- When an ego-centric individual, who has thus sold himself to sense-indulgence, spends his time seeking gratification from the world-of-objects, his mind becomes ever unsteady. The mind of an indulgent sensualist soon learns to empty its powers of concentration and exhausts itself in its own hallucinations, fancies and imaginations. ENTANGLED IN THE SNARE OF DELUSION --- If the individual's mind, as a result of its false philosophy, gets dissipated in sapless dreams, his intellect also is in a sad condition. His power of judgement and discrimination is caught up in a web of delusions and false values. His intellect, cut off from its permanent moorings, has thereafter no platform of its own to spring from and come to a correct judgement and evaluation of life. It fails to recognise the permanent harmony of life, but recognises only its own ego-centric vanities. Life looked at through such a disturbing equipment naturally gives a distorted view. ADDICTED TO GRATIFICATION OF LUST --- When an individual's intellect is clouded, his mind gets agitated, and his sense-organs, which are the vehicles through which the mind-intellect has to express itself, certainly behave erratically. When a driver is drunk, the car cannot move properly. Naturally, therefore, such an individual becomes a victim of lust and sense-gratifications. THEY FALL INTO A FOUL HELL --- We need not be great philosophers to understand that such an individual, tired physically, confused mentally, and upset intellectually, will live here in a self-created hell, distributing his own personality-contents of woes to others around him. A man can make a heaven of hell, and a hell of heaven, by the harmony or discord in himself. A subjectively shattered personality cannot find peace or fulfilment in any situation. Even if the environments are conducive, he discovers, in himself, methods of unsettling them by his own inner sufferings. If a single individual who has these false values, discovers for himself but a sad world of sorrow even in the midst of happy surroundings, we can very well understand what would be the condition of the world when a good majority of us are having, in varying degrees, the above qualities. Hell and heaven are determined by the amount of discord or harmony that we successfully bring about in our inner makeup. to be continued... Hare Krishna!!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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