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What does Krishna say about himself in the Bhagavad Gita?

He says that He is God. He claims that there is nothing superior to Him. He claims that He is the source of all spiritual and material worlds, He claims that everything emanates from Him. He claims that He is the seed-giving father of all who take birth in the material world and that material nature is working under His direction. He claims that He is time. He claims that no being - moving or non moving - can exist without Him. He claims that He pervades the entire universe in His unmanifest form. He claims that He is the basis of the brahman, He claims that He has always existed and always will. He claims His body is transcendental and never deteriorates. He claims that fools cannot understand His transcendental nature as the Supreme Lord of all that be. Krishna claims to know everything that has happened in the past, all that is happening in the present, and all things that are yet to come. He also knows all living entities; but Him no one knows. Everything is within Him and He is wi...

Whom does ‘I’ refer to in Bhagavad Gita?

First let us be clear that ‘I’ refers to a person. This is not complicated and is how people refer to themselves. It is straightforward grammar. I refers to me. My and mine refers to things that belong to me. When I, me, my and mine, are used in speech, a person is involved, and the person is referring to themselves and their possessions. Brahman is not a person. I repeat, Brahman is not a person. Krishna is a person. As we read through Mahabharata we become acquainted with the person Krishna. He is a major character in the great history Mahabharata and, just before the battle commences, He speaks with Arjuna. That’s what people do. They talk to one another. That conversation is called Bhagavad Gita. It is a conversation between two people, Krishna and Arjuna, and Krishna repeatedly says I, me, my and mine. What Krishna says in that conversation is, frankly speaking, stunning. He reveals that He is the Supreme Personality of Godhead. He is the highest Truth and there is nothing an...

How should we meditate upon Krishna as per the Bhagavad Gita?

We have five knowledge acquiring senses plus the mind, and five senses of action, they should all be engaged in connection with Krishna and then naturally our mind will be fixed on Him. See the world as belonging to Krishna, taste Krishna prasadam, hear bhajan, kirtan and Krishna katha, smell incense that is offered to Krishna, touch the deity form of the Lord while bathing and dressing it. The concept that Krishna gives is total absorption while continuing with daily duties and activities. He does discuss solitary meditation, but Arjuna is nonplussed with the idea saying: Bg. 6.33 - Arjuna said: O Madhusudana, the system of yoga which You have summarized appears impractical and unendurable to me, for the mind is restless and unsteady. Krishna agrees that it is hard to do and later He will give alternatives, but the principles of yoga must be kept. Controlling the mind and focusing it on Krishna are non-negotiable, and the highest yogi is the one who serves Krishna with love. Bg. 6.47 ...

How to apply Bhagavad Gita in our life and live as per it?

It’s very hard to do this alone. Applying Bhagavad Gita means acting on the knowledge, but Lord Krishna Himself says that, “The intricacies of action are very hard to understand. Therefore one should know properly what action is, what forbidden action is, and what inaction is.” Bg 4.17 On our own we may try to figure it out, but if we inadvertently make mistakes how will we know? How quickly should we expect results? We might press ahead hoping for progress, but all the while be making mistakes that inhibit our progress. We might be elated thinking we are on the right track, but later find out our treasured ‘realizations’ are misconceptions. Living as per Bhagavad Gita is a lifetime commitment. Krishna outlines different yoga processes which exist to give results, results in the here and now, not just in the hereafter. Although Krishna outlines karma yoga, jnana yoga, astanga yoga and bhakti yoga, He comes down heavily in favour of bhakti yoga. He declares it to be easier, quicker, les...

How to control the mind according to the Bhagavad Gita?

Lord Sri Krsna said: O mighty-armed son of Kunti, it is undoubtedly very difficult to curb the restless mind, but it is possible by suitable practice and by detachment. PURPORT The difficulty of controlling the obstinate mind, as expressed by Arjuna, is accepted by the Personality of Godhead. But at the same time He suggests that by practice and detachment it is possible. What is that practice? In the present age no one can observe the strict rules and regulations of placing oneself in a sacred place, focusing the mind on the Supersoul, restraining the senses and mind, observing celibacy, remaining alone, etc. By the practice of Krsna consciousness, however, one engages in nine types of devotional service to the Lord. The first and foremost of such devotional engagements is hearing about Krsna. This is a very powerful transcendental method for purging the mind of all misgivings. The more one hears about Krsna, the more one becomes enlightened and detached from everything that draws the...

What is the soul as per the Bhagavad Gita?

In chapter 2 as soon as Arjuna surrenders to Krishna and asks Him to for instructions, Krishna begins describing the soul because everything that follows is dependent on understanding what the soul is. In a succession of verses Krishna describes the soul as eternal, individual, and unchanging through the different developments of the body. It moves from one body to another in what we see as birth and death. The soul can’t be cut, dried, dissolved, withered, burned or in any way affected by any material ingredient. It can certainly not be killed. Later Lord Krishna gives more information. The soul is superior to dull matter because it is alive and conscious. It is the higher self which must control the lower self, the lower self being the impulses of the senses and mind. It pervades the body with consciousness as the sun pervades our universe with light, and it is eternally a fragmentary part of Krishna. One of the truly great insights that Krishna gives is that the soul is suffering du...

Does Bhagavad Gita say that there is a God?

Krishna spoke Bhagavad Gita, and claimed that He is God. Whenever an educated person gives knowledge it is customary to state your qualifications for giving the knowledge. Krishna says that He is the Supreme Truth, nothing is above Him. He says that everything that exists, emanates from Him. He says that He is the father of every living entity. He says the laws or modes of material nature are working under His control. He exhibited His universal form in which Arjuna could see all that had happened and all that was yet to come at one time. If someone follows the guide lines that means they have faith in the instructions, otherwise why bother. If the guidelines are valid, then why not the speaker also? Since the conclusion of Bhagavad Gita is to surrender everything to Krishna how can one do that and still be an atheist. If Krishna was a mythological character from the past then why are His instructions valid? To get the full benefit of Krishna's instructions then faith is very much ...

How has reading Bhagavad Gita changed your life?

I read a small paperback edition of Bhagavad Gita with no commentary in a friend’s house and nothing much changed. He had brought it back from India and it was in his bookshelf collecting dust. The pages were yellowed and soft and the print was a bit erratic. I flicked through it and wondered who Krishna/Bhagavan was and what he was saying to Arjuna. To be honest, I didn’t really understand any of it, and I was done looking at it after about an hour. There wasn’t a great storyline I could follow, just a couple of people talking before a battle. It had a sort of profound and ‘holy’ feel to it because of the words, like some of the King James Bible does, but no message jumped out at me. Arjuna also seemed to have trouble deciding what to do. I was interested in Indian ‘spirituality’ having read Autobiography of a Yogi many years earlier, but I wasn’t that interested, so I put it back and went down the road for a beer. Many months later I had another copy of Bhagavad Gita, this was a very...

How does Bhagavad Gita helps to come out miseries and improve life better?

Bhagavad Gita helps us first by giving us information. Based on that information we get a different way of looking at things. Then it helps us by giving us a process to realise the information presented. Happiness and distress are relative experiences. If someone throws a bucket of water over me for no reason I will be annoyed. If someone throws a bucket of water over me when my clothes are on fire I will be pleased. How should I answer “Are you happy having a bucket of water thrown over you?” The answer is, “It depends.” What is miserable and what is an improvement in life nearly always depends on “it depends….” What they depend on is how we view things at that particular moment. Bhagavad Gita gives us the view that miseries are not that significant in the long run. They have come upon us due to our past activities, they are temporary and at the most will last for only one life-time, and we are factually eternal. The greatest misery is perhaps the prospect that we or our loved ones wi...

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