The Essence of the Bhagavad Gita (2)
Excerpts from God Talks with Arjuna: The Bhagavad Gita
by Paramahansa Yogananda
The Best Bhagavad Gita Quotes
13.
He is full with contentment who absorbs all desires within, as the brimful ocean remains unmoved (unchanged) by waters entering into it—not he who lusts after desires.
—The Bhagavad Gita II:70
14.
The soul is uncleavable [indivisible]; it cannot be burnt or wetted or dried. The soul is immutable, all-permeating, ever calm, and immovable— eternally the same.
—The Bhagavad Gita II:24
15.
Just as an individual forsaking dilapidated raiment dons new clothes, so the body-encased soul, relinquishing decayed bodily habitations, enters others that are new.
—The Bhagavad Gita II:22 [—Commentary]
16.
The yogi is deemed greater than body-disciplining ascetics, greater even than the followers of the path of wisdom or of the path of action; be thou, O Arjuna, a yogi!
—The Bhagavad Gita VI:46 [—Commentary]
17.
Other devotees offer as sacrifice the incoming breath of prana in the outgoing breath of apana, and the outgoing breath of apana in the incoming breath of prana, thus arresting the cause of inhalation and exhalation (rendering breath unnecessary) by intent practice of pranayama (the life-control technique of Kriya Yoga).
—The Bhagavad Gita IV:29 [—Commentary]
18.
Firmly holding the spine, neck, and head erect and motionless, let the yogi focus his eyes at the starting place of the nose (the spot between the two eyebrows); let him not gaze around in various directions.
—The Bhagavad Gita VI:13 [—Commentary]
19.
O Arjuna, as the ignorant perform actions with attachment and hope of reward, so the wise should act with dispassionate nonattachment, to serve gladly as a guide for the multitudes.
—The Bhagavad Gita III:25 [—Commentary]
20.
He is a supreme yogi who regards with equal-mindedness all men—patrons, friends, enemies, strangers, mediators, hateful beings, relatives, the virtuous and the ungodly.
—The Bhagavad Gita VI:9 [—Commentary]
21.
Of the unreal, there is no existence. Of the real, there is no nonexistence. The final truth of both of these is known by men of wisdom.
—The Bhagavad Gita II:16 [—Commentary]
22.
As a boat on the waters is carried off course by a gale, so an individual's discrimination is driven from its intended path when the mind succumbs to the wandering senses.
—The Bhagavad Gita II:67
23.
The illustration of an unflickering flame of light in a mindless spot may be used in reference to a yogi who has conquered his feeling (chitta) by the practice of meditation on the Self.
The state of complete tranquility of the feeling (chitta), attained by yoga meditation, in which the self (ego) perceives itself as the Self (soul) and is content (fixed) in the Self;
The state in which the sense-transcendent immeasurable bliss becomes known to the awakened intuitive intelligence, and in which the yogi remains enthroned, never again to be removed;
The state that, once found, the yogi considers as the treasure beyond all other treasures—anchored therein, he is immune to even the mightiest grief;
That state is known as yoga - the pain-free state. The practice of yoga is therefore to be observed resolutely and with a stout heart.
—The Bhagavad Gita VI:19-23 [—Commentary]
24.
Arjuna said:
My delusion is gone! I have regained memory (of my soul) through Thy grace, O Achyuta (matchless Krishna). I am firmly established; my dubiousness has vanished. I will act according to Thy word.
—The Bhagavad Gita XVIII:73 [—Commentary]
