Gita: A Mantra for Success
Gita: A Mantra for Success
Episode 7 - Advance Karma Yoga - Chapter 3
In this episode, we cover the entire Chapter 3, which is one of the most useful chapters for Karma Yogis (Entrepreneurs, students, business leaders, professionals). In this episode, we cover
- The power of gratitude. Let's learn how ancient people from the Vedic era used yajna as a means to show gratitude to gods.
- How the habit of showing gratitude can help us in both personal and professional lives.
- Get great quotes of Krishna from chapter 3 (We have shared them below)
- Listen to the story of the "most beautiful donkey" in town and how delusional we can get about ourselves
- Listen to the story of the King and his plants, and learn why we should be the best version of ourselves.
Krishna's quotes that we explained in this episode.
“Perform all the actions, completely absorbed in your true goals, and without any expectations, keep fighting! But stay free from the fever of the ego (3.30).”
“Those, firmly established in their faith, keep going without complaining irrespective of the outcome will succeed. But those who indulge in criticizing and complaining about any outcome are utterly deluded. You should know they are dull-witted and are the cause of their sufferings (3.31-3.32)."
“We are conditioned by attraction to the pleasant and aversion to the unpleasant. Do not fall for these tendencies. They are obstacles in your path (3.34).”
"It is far better to struggle following your own path than to succeed in someone else’s path. Nothing is ever lost when following your path, but competition in another’s path breeds fear and insecurity (3.35).”
Vee 00:04
Hello, everybody, welcome to our podcast, Gita a mantra for success.
Vee 00:13
Okay, so we spoke about Karma Yoga in our last episode. Today we'll start with chapter three of the Bhagavad Gita. So let's jump straight into chapter three.
Dee 00:22
Sure. CHAPTER THREE continues with the Karma Yoga, but with a very different tone. Okay, so the third chapter starts with Krishna criticizing Godmen or those people who follow traditions without questioning which he did in chapter two also, kind of.. but here he uses some strong words, you know, words like deluded soul or hypocrite,
Vee 00:46
Hypocrite huh? That makes sense. I mean, I actually agree with it. I like it, but go on.
Dee 00:50
So now here is a twist, as Krishna is telling when you know all about this knowledge or Gyana Kanda is more powerful than Karma Kanda suddenly, Arjuna asks, when knowledge is greater than action, why are you asking me to fight in this war? Your advice seems inconsistent.
Vee 01:09
It's like he’s lost. Does not he. Go on
Dee 01:12
Arjuna was still not ready for spiritual awakening, Krishna realizes that at that moment, he needs to convince Arjuna to fight the war and not confuse him further by talking about acquiring spiritual wisdom. So, he takes a sharp turn away from the subject of mystical enlightenment.
Vee 01:33
Makes sense. Makes sense. Yeah, he's like, let's not confuse Arjuna I mean, he still has a word to fight Yeah. So what does he say?
Dee 01:39
He starts praising the Vedic rituals that he had criticized earlier. Krishna actually changes the context Mm.. hmm. This is when he introduces the concept of gratitude. Ah, go on.
So now let me tell you the story of people from the Vedic era. Right okay. They had this very special bond with nature and their gods were mere abstractions. They did not have any form or personality and their gods embodied the powers of nature. So they prayed to the God of rain or which is Indra and god of fire, which is Agni and the God of wind, Vayu. And there are other gods. So they thought these gods like to eat food or they like good wine. Just like people. Yeah, these ancient people poured ghee in the fire, okay. And they invoke these Vedic hymns to request Agni, the god of fire to accept the food and carry the food to the other gods,
Vee 02:38
Okay kind of makes sense because they could actually burn and
Dee 02:41
I don't know, I don't know the logic behind that. But the thing is, like only after they offered food to God, they ate their meals, okay. So this ritual of offering food or ghee, to the gods and nature was known as Yagya and in many ways, such ceremonies were Vedic people's way of showing gratitude to the environment.
Vee 03:03
Makes sense I guess. Go on.
Dee 03:04
So, you know as per the Vedic text, this one guy called Prajapati, he is supposed to be the creator of life. When he created humans, as per the story, he told them like hey, look, you have to maintain this relationship with Gods and this relationship is only feasible if you perform these Yagyas. So, you have to feed these gods and only if they are healthy and well-nourished, they can give you whatever you need, like rain or wind or whatever they need. So it was very clear - you can or humans could flourish only if they sustain their relationship with nature.
Vee 03:42
Okay, that part makes sense because you know, even today, that's how it is.
Dee 03:46
Yeah. Can you imagine we spoke about saving the environment some 10,000 years ago? Makes perfect sense.
Anyway, you know, Here in the Bhagavad Gita, Krishna is trying to remind Arjuna that such a great Vedic ritual, which had such a humble beginning turned into this elaborate ritual. He is reminding Arjuna, he is reminding us as well, those Vedic people - they were actually very happy when they performed those Yagyas or those rituals, because, you know, whenever they performed - apparently they used to dance in joy and celebration because they were very satisfied that God consumed their prepared food.
Vee 04:24
Hmm, Interesting story. Actually, there have been scientific studies about the power of gratitude. There was an experiment done by the Harvard Medical School many years ago, so basically this habit of gratitude made people actually acknowledge the goodness that they have in their life because usually, they forget, of course, but the power of gratitude and there have been books written about it and some articles. They've also found that in businesses, you know, leaders or managers when they appreciate their employees, the performance of the employees improve because first they feel happy and others thing is they want to live up to the expectations. Now they got praise now like, okay, the manager or this leader likes me, let me perform better. So I can, you know, yeah, live up to the expectation and they want to keep performing better.
Dee 05:09
This habit of gratitude is vital in a relationship also. I want to share another story of my Yoga teacher, Julie – she is my Guru, and I've never met any other person as happy and at peace as she is.
When I was learning, Yoga from her in, in every class, she spoke so well about her husband and appreciated him. Like she would say, Oh, I'm so grateful that my husband dropped me to the Yoga studio today. He did not have to do so. But he did. I'm so grateful. And I was just thinking, Wow, my husband, you did the same thing. But I didn't. I didn't remember I didn't think of being grateful. I thought that is how it should be. You know, it's kind of entitled mindset. And if you remember that evening, I came back and I say thank you to you.
Vee 06:00
Yeah, I mean Yeah, and I was like wow that feels nice. It feels nice to be appreciated and yeah, I should keep doing it to get more thank yous and live up to that so ..
Dee 06:09
Exactly... exactly - you know, we forget to say thank you to our loved ones. In my Gita class, I asked my students when was the last time they say thank you to their spouse? And everyone was blank. And so you know if there's one thing that we can learn from Krishna is like learn to show gratitude. You know, he actually says anyone who enjoys the things given by nature, or providers or somebody else family or others, without showing appreciation is a thief.
Vee 06:39
WOW! those are powerful words.
Dee 06:40
Those are powerful words. And he even says such people have entirely wasted their life. Okay, so his, you know, he's saying, showing gratitude is the most selfless act to attain that inner peace and happiness.
Vee 06:53
I love how you know, people who don't know how to say thank you, you know, they're driven by ego and they want to take - you know - credit for Pretty much everything. They think they're the doers of action.
Dee 07:03
Can you explain this using a story?
Vee 07:04
Okay, I mean, basically, he's talking a little about the Sankhya teachings and we won't go too much into detail here. He's talking about the gunas here – Sattva, Rajas, and Tamas. I know we will go into detail much later in the Gita, but basically Krishna is saying many times is we are deluded by our false ego. And people feel like they did everything, they should get credit. They are important and I am this I am that. Their minds are totally deceived by the sense of I and such people, you know, there's such a false ego in them that they want to take credit for doing everything independently.
Let me explain this using a story like you said. There's a story of a donkey. Right? And this will kind of explain how people are gonna react.
So there was this donkey, who's a little different from the other donkeys. He was actually a pretty donkey Okay, he had beautiful white hair, and actually pretty lashes and had a great smile. Think of the donkey from Shrek. He was a little taller. He just looked nicer anyway, so, in that town, he was the special donkey.
Dee 08:14
Okay, he was a celebrity?
Vee 08:15
Yeah, he was a celebrated donkey. And they, they used them only on special occasions. Okay. Okay. So one year, the town was celebrating a grand festival that happens every 12 years. Okay, so this donkey was chosen, obviously, they had like a sacred idol. They were planning to take that from the town, all the way up to the temple on top of a hill. Okay, and there was a big procession. So the donkey, they put the idol on top of the donkey. And everybody kind of followed it, priests and the other people in the town are all following the donkey. And as the donkey was walking through the streets, there were people lined up all across town, and they were all happy. They were clapping and you know, people bowed their heads. Some people fell to their knees. Yeah, they were all happy. Uh-huh. So as the donkey was looking at this, the donkey was like, wow. People really love me and they respect me. They're all celebrating for me. It started jumping around, braying loudly and it was really having a great time. And what happened was as it was jumping around, the idol actually fell to the ground. And people were really pissed. The angry people actually beat the donkey.
Dee 09:16
I think that is how people become when they are so full of themselves. They ..they don't even realize their own fall, right? And so Krishna calls such people ignorant.
Vee 09:27
Makes perfect sense. I like this quote from chapter three basically says, “perform all the actions, completely absorbed in your true goals. And without any expectations. Keep fighting, but stay free from the fear of ego.”
Dee 09:40
And also do not forget what Krishna said about those people who complain all the time.
Vee 09:44
Oh yes. Of course of course. Thank you for reminding me. That is also a great quote which I love. He explains how people with two different mindsets achieve two totally different results. So at this quote and I read, “Those firmly established in their faith, keep going on with complaining, irrespective of the outcome will succeed. And those who indulge in criticizing and complaining about any outcome are utterly deluded. They are dull-witted, and are the cause of their sufferings or misery.”
Dee 10:13
Brilliant. He uses some very strong words in chapter three.
Vee 10:17
And he also goes on to say how we should not emulate others, as each one is unique. We are all snowflakes, and they're unique. We all think, talk, live different lives than others what will be achieved by repressing our unique nature? That is his question,
Dee 10:31
And we spoke about it in our last episode, we all have a natural desire to find our uniqueness. But it's tough to find, right?
Vee 10:39
Yes, there's an answer for that to you. Krishna has an answer. And there's actually another quote I have
Dee 10:46
You have a lot of quotes today
Vee 10:47
yeah, so again, I quote, “We are conditioned by attraction to the pleasant and aversion to the unpleasant. Do not fall for these tendencies. They are obstacles in your path.
Dee 11:00
And you have to explain this part
Vee 11:01
Yeah yeah, pretty much what breaks down to it. We pick the easy way, by using our job title or social status to define ourselves. We think it is very crucial to fit in with the crowd or fit in or conform to society's rules. We live in a society where success is measured by you know how high you go in the corporate ladder, and how much - you know - money you have and how much you can buy. You know, that is how we kind of value one another Hmm, so many of us feel worthless without this consuming part. And this is pretty much what he's saying. And there's actually just one more quote here. It says, it is far better to struggle following your own path than to succeed in someone else's path. Nothing is ever lost when following your path, but competition in another’s path breeds fear and insecurity.
So it basically says you will fail if you try to emulate others. And there's actually another story is something similar to this.
Dee 11:59
Okay, okay tell me the story. Yeah.
Vee 12:00
So there used to be a king who communicated with flowers. He had his people plant a lot of trees, you know flowers, roses. And once they grew, a few select ones, were given the privilege of being moved to the King’s private and exotic royal garden.
Every plant because he could communicate with the plant the plants kind of knew this, they wanted to please the king, they all wanted to be special, right?
So that year, the king visited the garden to just inspect the plants to figure out which ones he can take. And instead of seeing beautiful blossoming plants, he basically saw withering and dying plants. So he went and asked what happened. So the oak tree basically said it failed because it could not become as high as the pine tree. Okay.
And then he asked the pine tree and he's like, I'm not happy because I can’t give you a grape select the grape wine. Okay.
Then he went to the gray. The gray point was pretty much dying in sadness because it couldn't blossom like rose. Okay, again, pretty much each one out of being because it was trying to compete and become something else it can't become. Yeah, but as the King was walking through, he sees a corpse flower, which is supposedly not a pretty flower. Actually, it is the ugliest flower. But that corpse flower was actually blooming. So the king basically asks the flower and the corpse flower says, you know, you planted me. It was your wish to grow me, you already knew who I was Oh, and you know, no matter how ugly I would grow up to be who I am
Dee 13:18
So it's more like since I cannot be anything else, so I try to develop my best quality.
Vee 13:25
Exactly. Well, that's pretty much what he's saying. So don't try here is pretending to look good by emulating others will eventually fail us and we fail to see the best within us.
Dee 13:33
Yeah, that's a good one. Okay, I want to stop you there.
Vee 13:37
Too many quotes. Yeah, okay. I hear you.
Dee 13:39
I'm going to ask the same question that Arjuna asked Krishna at this point. Okay. What stops us from being such a genuine person? What makes us so wicked. Krishna calmly replies with a smile - our desire and anger.
Vee 13:56
Oh, make sense. Make sense? I think we know that but knowing that and actually acting on are two different things. Anyway, again, as we mentioned before, desire itself is not bad. But here Krishna is talking about, you know, limitless desire that makes us blind or miserable. And it can give rise to selfish actions like you know, lying, cheating, deceiving, stealing or harming others.
So I think we should kind of summarize what we did today. Right?
The first one is gratitude, gratitude and gratitude. We spoke about the rituals of offering ghee in the fire during the Vedic era. And that was their custom of showing gratitude. Yeah
We spoke about the power of gratitude in both the professional and personal relationship. And there's also a quote that is I love – “feeling gratitude and not expressing it is like wrapping a present and not giving”
Dee 14:52
[laugh]Yeah, I like it
Vee 14:53
So okay, then we actually told the story of the donkey, who actually thought he was he was self-obsessed, arrogant, and pretty much delusional and led to its own downfall, so don't be the donkey. Yeah. Okay.
Then we had another story about the king who can speak to the plants. And the lesson there was, you know, be the best version of yourself. That could actually be a great mantra for this episode. Yes.
Then we shared a few of Krishna’s quotes, which were pretty much a lot of leadership lessons and pretty much how to live your life.
And we are going to share those quotes in the description of this podcast and in the transcript, so you know, you can definitely save them.
So this is pretty much where the chapter three ends. In the next episode, I think we will combine a few chapters together. Yeah, there is some misconception that not having any desire means being inactive. Krishna basically talks about the consequences of being lazy or inactive due to the lack of desire.
We'll cover it in the next podcast. So until next time, thank you very much.