Look Within – Talks on the Bhagavad Gita by Swami Venkatesananda

[Guest guest]

The realisation of this gives you immediately and instantly, a twofold

freedom.

 

You do not wish against it – it frees you therefore from desire.

 

I don't desire that this body should be as young now as it was

thirty forty years ago. I don't wish against this nature, so desire

drops away, and equally this thing called resistance with all its

retinue of anxiety, fear, worry etc also drops away.

 

I realise that truth is truth.

 

Knowing what this vase is – it is made of glass, it is brittle, it

will break – when I place it down, I do so a little carefully.

 

If it was made of metal, I might have dropped it from a height.

 

So, knowing that this is perishable, knowing its real nature, you are

careful, cautious and wise – but not frightened, and you don't

wish against it.

 

This is the whole secret of wisdom.

 

One who knows the truth lives wisely and therefore is free from fear,

anxiety, grief and sorrow.

 

What is the nature of this self? Who am I? What am I? What is this

world? And if there is a God, what is that god? What is the relationship

between me and God?

 

When I ask myself " who am I, what am I? " I see that the first

thing that I really know to be myself is the body.

 

The first thing that hits my eye when I use the word `Lionel' is

the body; then may be out of curiosity or wisdom or a spirit of enquiry,

I ask " what is this? I saw him 10 years ago, he probably was like

that young boy. How did he get to this? "

 

Then I realise that what is called the flesh (this physical body), is

really made of the food we eat.

 

So, it is not true to say that this body is the son of my parents.

It's not, it is absurd.

To be continued..