Gita Notes on Spirituality

Being Illumined and Correct identification

Those who are established in wisdom live in continuous awareness that they are not the personality, but the Self, (soul).

Such a person does not identify with selfish desires and sense pleasure, for they are traits of surface personality whereas the Self is at its core.

Sense pleasure entangles one in the world of senses with its ups and downs und in this manner draws one away from the essence of one’s being, the Self.

This idea is strange to modern thinking, but basic to mystics of all traditions.

People who are Self realized control their senses, (a principle of Kriya Yoga) instead of letting their senses control them. They know that the mind and emotions will follow pleasure the senses, which is often at odds with long term benefits.

When one is a slave to the senses, there is the danger of weakening the will and as a consequent loosing the focus of a purposeful soul directed life.

Selfless action.

Yoga teaches that one must not avoid fulfilling one’s obligations, but one should not perform action not just for one’s own sake, but for the wellbeing of all. Each person needs to do its part.

Activity results in karma, which is one of the most basic teachings of yoga and Buddhism. Karma literally means deed or action; what is referred to as the law of karma, refers to the underlying law of cause and effect which permeates all existence.

Action leads to reaction and consequences. Everything that happens can be traces to something done in the past. Action determines destiny. If anything truly good happens, we must have done something done something in the past to deserve it. If something ill befalls us, it is also because of what we have done in the past.

This is the basic law of all great spiritual traditions; it is a belief that one reaps what one sows.

It is often taught, that all action is an open door to bondage, but yoga teaches, that if one performs all actions without selfish attachment to their fruits or outcome and surrenders the activities as a service to the Infinite, one can escape the burden of karma.