Bhagavad Gita Summary - Getting Started In Meditation, God & Karma

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Hello and welcome to episode 1 of The Ask Sri Vishwanath Show. Today I want to talk about mediation, god and karma.

Today’s first question comes from Vicky. Vicky asks “How to I start meditating? What’s the easiest way to start?”

Meditation is a tricky thing. Some people need to practice for years and years and other people can sit down to meditate and they achieve the height of enlightenment. Those people are few and far between though. Not everyone can achieve this.

What’s important is how much you know about meditation. It’s not about how much you do or how you do it. That’s really important.

Think of a watch: what would the point be in having a really expensive watch if you can’t set the time properly? It might look good but it won’t be of any real use to you.

The one mistake that a lot of people make is not knowing enough about meditation. They enter into it hoping to find some sort of enlightenment or ecstasy but this is a big mistake. You might stumble upon the right method but most people won’t. There is a learning curve that you should follow.

You need to spend more time learning more and more about meditation. Your brain is like a machine. You need to learn to tell it to slow down. To focus inwards. Meditation is all about drawing the mind inward. When you do this excess thoughts will dissolve and you will experience peace and joy.

When starting you need to find more about meditation. We have plenty of books and articles for you to read. The more you know the better prepared you will be.
People think that meditating is easy but it’s not. Our minds are full of thoughts. They buzz for 12 hours a day. Switching off is not as easy as you think. You could sit down to meditate and find yourself losing interest after a few minutes. Knowing more about meditation will help you to slow the machine so you can focus better and draw your mind inward.

When we meditate we turn our minds inwards so we can get in touch with our consciousness. People sometimes make meditation out to be more than what it is. It’s not rocket science and you don’t need to be a genius to do it. You just need to have some knowledge but when it comes down to it we meditate to get in touch with our supreme consciousness. Nothing more.

However there are certain qualities one can work on in order to meditate successfully. People who are good at meditating tend to be graceful. They have faith, perseverance. So work on these qualities if you want to succeed at meditating.

The next question is from Banaji. He asks “Does God exist? So many people say that he doesn’t”

Great question. The answer to this question is very complex and I don’t think I could fully answer it in this time frame but I’ll try to give you some advice.

In one word: yes. God exists. He exists because I am speaking and you are listening. The faculty of speech and listening come from the body and the mind. The power of the body and mind come from the intellect and the intellect comes from the supreme self.

There is a quote in the Bhagavad Gita that says “The senses are noble, nobler than the senses is the mind, the mind is nobler than the intellect. Nobler than the intellect is the supreme self thus worshiping him who is nobler than the intellect restraining the self with will destroy the enemy within.”

So everyone has this wonderful consciousness inside themselves. It’s inside you, me…everyone.

What stops us getting there are the transformations that happen every second. This creates a mist that will shroud your thoughts and prevent you from really drawing your mind in.

Let me give you an example. When a photographer wants to take a great picture he doesn’t change what’s in front of him. He can’t. But what he can do is change the lens to make what’s in front of him more beautiful than it was before. The better the lens the better the picture.

The same can be applied to the rest of the world. We can’t change the world but we can change the way we see it. We can change our lenses. The world is what it is. You can change the subject but you can never change the object.

So how do we become closer to god? We do it by cleaning that lens so we can see him better. When we are closer to god we become one with our consciousness. Remember when you are man you need god but when you are a god you need none. For now, you are man so you need god. Best of luck.

The next question is from Yena and she asks about karma. She says “Why do so many bad things happen to me when I do so much good in the world?”

This is a really good question. It’s also a question a lot of people ask. It’s unfortunate. No one wants bad things to happen to them. It feels like you have been cheated. The great beings have some advice for us.

When we say “bad” what we really mean is that we are suffering. What’s important to know is that we cannot stop bad things from happening but you can bring an end to mental suffering. You do this by knowledge of the consciousness. This is what Krishna talks about in the first 3 chapters of the karma yoga.

The second thing we can do is practice. When we have the knowledge we still need to practice it to perfect it. We need to practice detachment. We need to stop misery in its tracks before it even hits us.
You must realise this, it’s so important. So many people live with suffering because they don’t know this. They don’t know that they can stop suffering before it hits them. The power is there inside you.

You cannot change the circumstances. Krishna says this is just not possible. You just don’t have this power. Like when you watch a movie on TV. Can you change what’s happening on screen? No you can’t but you can get up and change the channel.

You can stop the suffering by drawing it inwards and dissolving it. Krishna says “he who is the same in pleasure and pain wins the fruit of immortality”

Start today. Don’t wait. It can take time you’ll need to practice but you’ll get there eventually. There might be a lot of ground to cover but you have taken the first step and that’s what’s important.

Thank you for the questions. You keep asking them and I’ll keep answering them.

p