Class Summary for Jun 3, 2025 - Chapter-6 Slokas 1- 6 continued, and Slokas 7 - 9

Summarized by: Yamini.K

After opening prayers , we recapped the previous week’s topics.

• How do we reduce obligations?

Reduce wrong obligations. In life we tend to take on the wrong obligations, for example when someone insults, we tend to keep account and insult them back at some point.

Monetary obligations are something we have to keep. But we have to remember that we cannot reciprocate every good deed in the same condition we received and to the same person we received from. We can only pass on the good deed to others in the same or a different form instead. We have to remember that we are in the position to receive or give a certain deed based on our prarabdha. 

We should also minimize the number of obligations. Instead of trying to attend every satsang, we should make some time for reflection as well.

• Moderating relationships : As a grihasta, there are some relationships that we need to maintain. But we need not go out of our way to try to maintain and accumulate more and more connections in the fear of missing out. And we also have to reflect on how much effort we are putting to maintain those relations. The effort should not be like feeding the well-fed or gifting the wealthy.

Gurudev’s videos:
Verse 3 : When trying to mount a horse, however great a rider we might be, it takes a lot of effort to mount it. Until we mount, we are at the mercy of the horse. But once we get on to the horse and take control of the reins, the horse automatically comes under control. Similarly, when we sit down for contemplation, our mind wanders everywhere and it gets very hard to concentrate. But once we start performing continuous selfless and egoless actions, we exhaust all the vasanas and the mind calms down enough for us to contemplate. 
Verse 4 :  After Krishna explains that we need to slowly give up our external obligations to quieten the mind, Arjuna asks “ When can I say that my mind is under control?”
When we do not indulge in indriyas, or get involved in satisfying our sensory pleasures, our mind is not whipped up by the endless desires- “yadā hi nendriyārtheṣhu na karmasv-anuṣhajjate” . Our mind creates endless desires, wanted one thing after another.
One who has given up all such sankalpa( desires) “sarva sankalpa sanyasi” , we can say we have gained control of our mind.
When one is neither attached to sense objects nor to actions, such a person is said to be a Yogi. 
Verse 5 : Once they gain control of their mind, some students ask their gurus to take them to moksha.  Some dishonest teachers also promise to take them. A true guru makes it clear that he cannot help them. Each one has to help oneself to attain the higher self “uddhared ātmanātmānaṁ”.In a mountaineering school, there will be ropes hanging from each window and the students and teacher have to get to classes by climbing them. 
If a student needs to get to the class, he has to lift himself. The teacher cannot climb for him.
He can only encourage him. And once the student starts climbing he cannot give up in the middle no matter how exhausted the student might be.
Similarly once you lift yourself, do not drop down, maintain the elevation and not go back to immoral ways of living.
Verse 6 : In our spiritual path we are our only relative. It is a pilgrimage of alone to the alone , all alone. We are our own well wisher, and we alone are our greatest enemy. We are the only one to uplift and protect ourselves. A person who has integrated his intellect and mind, The mind filled with desires stops our spiritual advancement. 
Recap: A Bhogi is someone who enjoys and indulges in sensual pleasures.
In our spiritual path we have to target to progress from being a Bhogi to becoming a Yogi. 
A bhogi cultivates desires, yogi reduces desires and a gyani eliminates them.
Gnani is one who has achieved whatever is there to be achieved.
Whatever action we perform in the present is going to affect our vasanas in the future. So we need to do the right actions today.
Verse 7, 8 & 9 : 
The yogis rise above the dualities of cold and heat, joy and sorrow, and honor and dishonor. They remain peaceful and steadfast in their devotion to God during any changes.
Their devotion is like a sruthi box which runs constant during any other instruments playing around it.
The yogi, having conquered his senses, remains undisturbed in all circumstances. They see all objects dirt, stones, and gold as the same. 
A Gnani can take all the external experiences and convert them internally into wisdom.
When we do sravanam and mananam, we attain knowledge, but only when we do nidhidhyasanam and internalize, we will be able to absorb it.
Kids are very fond and fixed on what animal in the animal crackers they get. But as adults we realize that all of them taste the same.
The yogis see friends, foes, the pious, and the sinners as the same.
If we do not let the ups and downs of life affect our thinking, we will be able to live in equanimity.
Story : A king child gets lost as a baby and end up being raised by a beggar. After he grows up, he is found by the king's men from a unique birthmark. After a few days of living like a Prince, he wants to go back to begging to see how it feels. But now that he is begging knowing that he does not need to, the feeling is not the same, because he knows he is only acting at that point.
Similarly we should live life unattached knowing whatever is happening will not last long.