Years: April 2014 - July 2006 - June 2007 - July 2007 - June 2009
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Satyanarayana Dasa
Bhagavad Gītā has eighteen chapters, and each is designated as a type of yoga. The word yoga has many different meanings. In the Gītā it is used principally in the sense of the means undertaken to accomplish or to be united with one’s goal. Therefore, the word yoga can also be translated as “path,” as has been done here especially in the chapter titles. There are primarily three different types of yoga, namely, karma-yoga, jñāna-yoga, and bhakti-yoga. When we employ karma, or selfless action, for uniting with or reaching our goal, it is called karma-yoga. Similarly, when we cultivate jñāna, or the intuitive insight of our conscious identity with the Absolute, it is called jñāna-yoga. When bhakti, or devotion, is adopted as the means of attaining unity in love, it is called bhakti-yoga. In the case of the latter, bhakti is not only the means but also the goal.
If the nature of soul is bliss, then why would we be looking for bliss? If bliss is inside you, then no one can take it out. You can cover it from the outside, but it is still inside of you. It can be covered, but you cannot make it unavailable to itself. Soul does not know what happiness is. If it did, it would not do what it is doing now…Jiva does not have ananda in it. You get ananda – you get the seed that comes from the outside. The soul never knew God, otherwise, why would it come here?
