The Bhagavad Gita

Metaphorical Interpretation
By Paramahamsa Hariharananda
Continuing from the previous issues of Soul Culture Online, from The Bhagavad Gita in
the Light of Kriya Yoga:
Book 3 by Paramahamsa Hariharananda, available through the Kriya Yoga Institute.
Chapter 17 Verses 12-13

Verse 12
abhisamdhaya tu phalam
dambhartham api cai va yat
ijyate bharatasrestha
tam yajnam viddhi rajasam

Translation
But the sacrifice that is offered in the expectation of the fruit, for the sake of a show, with
ego, O best of Bharatas (Arjuna), is passionate (rajasic)

Metaphorical Interpretation
In this verse, the Lord discusses the nature of the yajna (sacrifice, worship, fire ceremony,
religious activities) of rajasic people. Rajasic people are busy with extreme activity,
always aiming at name and fame.
People are religious. They go to temple, church, or synagogue. They appear to be
God-loving, but many put on their best clothes and go to the house of worship, not for
God, but for their reputation. In the Bible (Luke, 11:43), it says, Woe unto you,
Pharisees! For ye love the uppermost seats in the synagogues, and greetings in the
markets. People worship deities and offer ghee in the fire with much pomp and
grandeur. They do many things for the fulfillment of their material desires.
Many also worship publicly, collecting huge sums of money from others. The
whole locality is busy with all of this formal worship, done in competitive spirit. There
are many types of ostentation. Some even sing and cry in the temple only to draw public
attraction, not God. This is done for the fulfillment of their ego. This is not real oblation
real oblation is sacrificing the ego and offering love to God in every breath. Worship and
sacrifice for the fulfillment of ambition and ego, which is far from love, purity and selfdevelopment, is rajasic.

Verse 13
vidhihinam asrstannam
mantrahinam adaksinam
sraddhavirahitam yajnam
tamasam paricaksate

Translation
A sacrifice that has no respect for the scriptural injunction, in which no food is offered (to
the hungry and the poor), without mantras (sacred hymns) and without gifts (to the
priests), which is empty of faith, is said to be tamasic.

Metaphorical Interpretation
In this verse, the Lord describes the sacrifices or worship of a tamasic nature. He points
out the five characteristics of such yajnas:
1. These spiritual practices are not based on scriptural prescriptions. Real
spiritual practice is the essence of all religious scriptures. It is not created out
of whim; it is not product of the human mind.
2. Sacrifice is always associated with charity. The real meaning of sacrifice is to
give up ones own negative qualities and be free. Everyone should be very
wary of their own mistakes and should correct themselves. But in tamasic
worship, people neither give up their evils or immoral outlook, nor do they
give charity to the poor and the needy.
3. Mantra is not just chanting unclear hymns and prayers like parrots. It means
freedom from propensities of the restless mind. In the tamasic yajna, people
have no control over their minds because they are salves to the mind and are
extremely idle.
4. In tamasic worship, people do not give fees to the priest.
5. Tamasic practices are faithless truly speaking, tamasic people have neither
faith in God, nor in themselves.
Tamasic people are dull, lethargic, and lazy. They perform some form of worship
solely for the sake of appearance. They also worship deities in order to obtain
favors and boons without any self-effort. Tamasic worship is truly fruitless effort.

Yoga: Pathway to The Divine

An Excerpt From the Book By Paramahamsa Prajanananda
Chapter 5 Essential Qualities for Quick Spiritual Progress - continued
Om
atmatvam girija matih sahacarah pranah sariram hrham
puja te visayopabhogaracana nidra samadhi sthitih
sancarah padayoh pradaksina vidhih stotrani sarva girah
yadyat karma karomi tattadakhilam sambhos tavaradhanam
(Sankaras Sivamanasapuja)
ayurnasyati pasyatam pratidinam yati ksayam yauvanam
pratyayanti gatah punarna divisah kalo jagadbhaksakah
laksmistoyatarangabhanga capala vidyuccalam jivitam
tasman mam saranagatam saranada tvam raksa raksadhuna
Om santih santih santih
(Sankaras Sivaparadha Ksamapana stotram)
O Siva, you are my soul. This body is your temple. All the sense enjoyments are your
worship. Sleep is samadhi. My movement is an offering to you. Whatever action I
perform, is an offering to you. Life is ebbing every day. Youth does not last. Once past
the day is swallowed by the time. Wealth is not permanent; it is temporary like a bubble
that breaks. Life is a spark of light. I take refuge in you. O Siva, please save me.
All pervading God is the power in the body and soul. You are the soul, not the body. In
every breath let us remember God. Om. Amen

Study Without Practice is Useless

We want success. No one wants to be a failure. Whatever work we do, we do with an
expectation of success. We are here to learn and practice Kriya Yoga and to progress
steadily on the spiritual path. For the progress to be quick and steady, many practical
hints are given in the yogic scriptures.
kriya yuktasya siddhih syat, akriyasya katham bhavet
na sastra pathamatrena yogasiddhih prajayate
(Hath Yoga Pradipika)
If you practice Kriya, you will achieve success in life. Without practice, there is no
success. Only by studying the scriptures, you will not be a perfect one.
Many people think by reading and understanding you can achieve success. Reading can
give you some information. If a person wants to travel from India to America, he may get
some idea by looking at a map or by listening to another persons experience. Scriptures
are only paroksanubhuti (indirect experience). We need aparoksanubhuti (absolute
experience).

Another scripture says:

satsranyadhityapi bhavanti murkha
yastu kriyavan purusah sa vidvan
sucintitam causadham aturanam
na nama matrena karotyarogam.
(Niti-sara-sangraha)
One who only reads scriptures is ignorant. One who practices kriya is the one who
knows. Reading the name of a medicine again and again will not cure the disease. One
has to take the medicine with proper directions from the doctor. Then only will he be
cured.
By reading books, people develop ideas and think they know and understand everything.
Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu when touring south India, saw a person in a temple, who was
holding the Bhagvad Gita in his hands upside down. He seemed to be in ecstasy with
tears rolling down his face. Sri Caitanya asked him if he was reading the Gita. The man
said, I wanted to read the Gita but I had the vision of Krishna teaching Arjuna and was
experiencing the compassion of the Lord and thinking how foolish we are.
We read a lot of books and listen to many lectures but what we really need is practice.
Only through practicing to live in the presence of God do we become perfect. In the
scriptures it is said that this body is an earthen pot that has not been baked in fire. The
earthen pot becomes strong only when it is baked in fire. An unbaked earthen pot will not
be able to hold water, as it dissolves with the touch of water.
amakumbha ivambhasi, jirnamana sada ghatah
yoganalena samdahya ghata suddhim samacaret.
(Gheranda Samhita 1-8)
This body is unbaked clay pot, dissolving when in touch with the water of sense organs
and worldly affairs. When burnt and purified by the fire of Kriya Yoga, the body becomes
strong and can withstand the world of objects. We should transform our life with the
practice of Kriya Yoga.

Qualities Needed for Quick Spiritual Progress

phalisyatiti visvasah siddheh prathamalaksanam
dvitiyam sraddhaya yuktam tritiyam guru pujanam
caturtham samatabhavam pancame indrinigraham
sasthanca pramitaharam saptamam naiva vidyate
(Siva Samhita II: 19-20)
In this verse of the classical yogic scripture, the six qualities needed for quick spiritual
evolution are described.
1. Belief in Ones Own Path and Practice
How do you develop this faith? By the example of those, who have followed the
technique and were successful; by faith in the masters and scriptures. By believing that if
the masters have achieved enlightenment, then you will also surely achieve it.
In the material world also, we live by believing in things. We do not always verify them.
You go to a doctor believing he is a doctor. You do not always look at his certificate.

I will tell a story on belief. In medieval India, there was an emperor named Akbar who
had a minister named Birbal. One day they were talking about belief and Birbal said that
people believed in many things and they can be made to believe anything. In course of
time, the king forgot about this conversation.
One day, Birbal tied up a mule in an unused mosque and spread the rumor that God
would appear on a particular day in the mosque. Those who were children of genuine
parents would see God and those who were not the children of genuine parents would see
a mule. On that particular day, there was a large crowd of people who came to see God.
When the first man went in, he saw a mule, but afraid of people ridiculing him, started
describing God he saw as an old man with a white beard and a lustrous body. The second
person went in and also saw the mule, but came out and repeated the same description as
the first person.
Akbar and Birbal came by, and seeing the crowd, Akbar enquired as to what was
happening there. When he was told that people were in line to get a vision of God, he said
to Birbal, Let us also go and see God. Birbal refused to go saying that there was a
condition that only people of true parents would be able to see God. Akbar was surprised
and said, You are from true parents. Do you not believe it? Birbal said, I believe, but
you go first as you are the emperor and of good family. So Akbar went in first and
seeing the mule came out claiming to have seen God and gave the same description as the
other people. Then Birbal went in and came out crying, Till now I believed that I was
the son of true parents. But now I lost my belief as I saw a mule. Then Akbar confided to
him that he also saw a mule. Birbal had made his point.
In spirituality, belief and faith are important but do not believe blindly. Have belief, but
meditate and experience. There nay be difference in experiences but experience will
surely come.
2. Sraddha
The second prerequisite for spiritual evolution is love and faith. Faith in what?
guru Vedanta vakyeu sraddha
guru sastra vakyena sraddha
Faith in the words of the teacher and the scriptures. The teaching of the teacher should be
in accordance with the scriptures, ancient scriptures like the Gita and the Bible, which are
storehouses of age-old wisdom. Teaching should be based on the scriptures and not in
contradiction to them. The tradition of teaching is important. Just as people ask about
your family lineage, in spirituality they ask for the lineage of your guru.
Now-a-days many a kind of yoga are being taught. It is not a criticism but a warning for
you to be careful. When I was in Germany, a person asked me if I knew tantra kriya
yoga. I said, I only know Kriya Yoga. He game me a book. Unfortunately I opened the
book but immediately closed it. The book was full of perverted and naked pictures of
male and female bodies. You will find books like these with the names of yoga and
people marketing them. Anything you come across, check and see if it is in accordance
with the scriptures. True spiritual teaching is the essence of all scriptures. Practice Kriya
Yoga, you will be able to understand your own holy book better, let it be Gita, the
Upnishad or Bible.
3. Guru Pujanam (love and respect for Guru)

In the West, people do not understand why one bows down to another human being. A
guru is essential in spiritual life. Krishna had a guru, in fact three guru-s, Gargacharya,
Ghora Angirasa and Sandipani. Jesus had a guru. John baptized him the Baptist. Rama
had two guru-s, Vasistha and Visvamitra. Even these divine incarnations had guru-s,
since to learn anything, you need a guru. The mother is the first guru. Traditionally, it is
the mother from whom the child learns to speak. The second guru is the father. The third
guru is the siksa guru. All are teachers who have taught us many things. In spirituality,
the guru is the diksa guru who gives us spiritual wisdom.
4.Samata bhava
The fourth condition is balance or equanimity. How do you get this balance? There are
people who complain about every season. They do not enjoy seasons. This is not what we
need. Seasons are natural. Love them all. Bear pain and pleasure, heat and cold equally in
a balanced way. How to achieve this balance? When you practice Kriya Yoga with your
bow and turn to the right and left, you are gaining balance in a very subtle way. There is a
balance between the two lobes of the brain. Another way to gain balance is to have equal
breath in right and left nostrils. When breath is flowing more through the left nostril,
there is a tendency to be idle and calm, and when it is through the right nostril it caused
activity and restlessness. By doing mahamudra regularly, balanced breath comes very
naturally.
5. Indriya nigrah
Controlling the senses is fifth prerequisite. Use the senses with skill. God has given us the
senses to be used. Do not abuse them.
6. Pramitahara
Moderation in food. What is food? The Sanskrit word ahara comes from hryati iti ahara.
What you are taking into yourself is food. It can be through your eyes, ears and mouth or
through any sense organ. Food can be physical food (for the body), mental food (for the
mind) and spiritual food (for the soul) like meditation or reading the scriptures, which
gives us the spiritual wisdom.
Another Sanskrit name for food is anna,
adyate atti ca bhutanam tasmat annam taducyate
(Taittiiriya Upanisad 2-2)
We eat food and food also eats us. When taken in proper quantity, we eat the food, if
taken in improper quantity, the food eats us meaning it can cause disease and death.
Moderation in mental and spiritual food is needed.
These are the six necessary conditions which we should try and practice every day.
There is another yogic scripture, which talks about how to get samadhi stage, quick
realization.
samkocam bhaja durjanat sangamam gaccha sadhunam
nirgame pravese vayoh guru laksyam vilokayet
(Siva Samhita 5-14)

Avoid bad company, live in good company and in every inhalation and exhalation, think
of God.

Samkocam bhaja durjanat avoid bad company

Let us look at avoiding bad company; what is evil and who is evil? We say a person is
good or bad. This is based on our own value judgment. Another person may like a person
whom we think is bad. There is fire. If you put your finger in the fire it will burn. If you
complain that the fire is evil, it will say, Did I ask you to keep your finger in me? My
nature is to burn and I burned it. This is what happens to us. We seek company that may
be good for us or we allow them to come to us. It is because of our own weakness or
misunderstanding. Be careful. Watch your thoughts. If you feel that the company of a
person is pulling you down, avoid it no matter how tempting. Be strong.
If you watch TV, see some informative and good programs. Do not waste anything.
Wasting resources is a dishonor to nature. Do not waste food or water or electricity. This
is also a part of yoga and discipline. Bad company does not mean only a person. It can be
music, movies and books. Anything that makes you weak and brings down your moral
and ethical values is bad company. Avoid it. If we do evil, we are devil. If we do good,
we are God.

sangamam gaccha sadhunam- Keep good company

Your TV can be good company, your books can be good company and music can be good
company. The company of a person can be good company, if that person inspires,
elevates and makes us stronger in spiritual practice.

nirgame pravese vayoh guru laksyam vilokayet

In every inhalation and exhalation, perceive the presence of God and Guru. Let this
weekend be one of breath consciousness.
Lahiri Mahasaya also said,
svase rakho laksa (keep your alertness on breath)
ami devo saksa (I give complete assurance)
sei pathe moksa (through this you will get liberation)
Breath is our life. Love your breath as the blessing of God. With each inhalation feel that
you are taking in all positive things and with each exhalation feel you are getting rid of
all your negative qualities.
I will conclude my talk with an instruction of Maharshi Patanjali.
sa tu dirghakala nairantarya
satkarasevito drdhabhumih
(Patanjali Yoga Sutra, Samadhi Pada 14)
For a considerable period of time practice yoga continuously giving love and devotion
to your teacher to be established steadily in the state of yoga.
Practice for some time. You can not get the results overnight. If you keep changing from
one path to another without giving enough time, you will not have any progress.

The only thing that can be practiced continuously is watching the breath. It is very easy
and at the same time very difficult. Keep trying, otherwise life will be useless. Meditate
and use your life to the optimum.
In Hindi, there is a proverb bahata pani, ramata yogi floating water and roaming yogi
can not be polluted. The mind is like water. It can become stagnant and impure, or stay
floating and clean. If you keep up your consciousness flowing up and down the royal
road of the spine, you can stay pure like flowing water.
Om tat sat Om

Questions and Answers

1. How do you memorize so many scriptures and how do you have so much
energy?
Reading a book is good but one will know much more by meditating. Meditation and
a balanced life style. Reading a little everyday helps. How I memorized or remember
so many scriptures, I do not know. God gave me a very weak and sick body as a
child: may have compensated by giving me a good memory. How do I get all this
energy? I do not know. The one who is giving is giving. One thing I do know is that
this is my life and I love you all, and love is the source of energy.
2.

Do the yogi-s sleep in a different way?

You are all yogi-s, since you are practicing yoga. If you meditate regularly your sleep
will be a different kind of sleep. You may sleep only for a short period, but it will be
completely refreshing and your sleep will also be like a meditation.
3. What is your comment about visions? Is there any significance? If so, how to
understand them?
Visions come in two ways. 1. People may hallucinate and think it is a vision. 2. It
may really be a vision. How to know the difference? Look at the state of your mind. If
the mind is very calm and quiet, the vision may have a message. If you close your
eyes and see Krishna, it is good, but does not stop there. It may not mean anything.
If a real vision comes, the God who gave you the vision will also give you the
wisdom. It will be revealed to you. If you are not able to understand, do not worry.
Do not keep asking many people about it. Different people may give different
explanations, which would only confuse you more.
4. What type of tests do we get on the spiritual path?
Who will test? Actually God does not test us. God loves us. Love does not test. Tests
arise when we doubt something, and wonder whether it is genuine or not. Where there
is a question of tests, there is an element of doubt. Where there is love there is no
doubt. If I doubt someone, then there is no love. Gods love for us is unconditional.
But our love for God is conditional. We go to temples and churches and we pray. We
pray for many things.

God does not test us. We test ourselves. Our mind tries to test us. Suppose you are
sitting down to meditate, trying to keep your mind under control and the mind wants
to see if you really want to meditate or not. The mind will suggest some other work.
If you get up immediately the mind knows that your desire for meditation is not very
strong. So the tests come from our own mind, which tries to pull us down.
5. Explain Love is the source of energy
If you go back home after a long period of time, and you have a mother, think of how
much energy she gets to do things for you. She will forget all her physical limitations
and do many things to please you. This is a simple example.
Similarly, any work you do, if you love your work and think it is given by God you
will not get tired. But if you do not like the work, you will do it with a lot of
reluctance. Do your duty with love.
Om tat sat Om