Swami Prakashanand Saraswati’s Speech on the Gita – Part 12

In Part 12 of Swami Prakashanand Saraswati’s explanation, he shows us how the teachings of all other religions are essentially within the Gita and how the Gita, being a pure philosophy of God realization, takes a soul beyond religion. He delves deeper into how the soul, by nature, is divine {as it is a fraction of a power of God (ansh)} and thus there is an eternal relationship between the soul and Krishn.Swamiji outlines different paths, like those leading to the celestial abodes, or impersonal and personal forms of God, and clarifies that while all paths require essentially the same level of surrender, the outcomes are drastically different – so why not choose the best?Even though we are under the bondage of maya, he explains that through selfless devotionto a Personal Form of God we can progress on the path toward the ultimate goal we are desiring.

According toSwami Prakashanand Saraswati..

Dear souls: Previously we learned about 4 religions of the world, Christianity, Islam, Jewish religion, and Parsee. I explained that all these religions, they are nothing new. They are the outcome of our own religion, our own Scriptures. And where we have in great detail about celestial abodes or heavens or hell, creation, formation of the world, all these aspects. But these religions as they are, as it is, they give us a concept of heaven as full of all luxuries, and the creator god of this world. That indicates clearly to our creator god, Brahm, who is supreme god of this celestial world, or all the heavens – they are under his control. And the description of God creating light first, and day and night in the Bible is also same (Sanskrit).Our creator god Brahm, he creates sun and moon first. And then he creates other civilizations, human civilizations.  First sun and moon, first light, day and night. So, they all coincide to the philosophy of superior god, Brahm who is the head of all celestial gods and goddesses. 

Read Part 1 Here:- Swami Prakashanand Saraswati’s Speech on the Gita – Part 1

So anyone following any of these religions, at least they teach you to become a very good person.They teach a person to be fearing God, fearing from sin, and developing god-consciousness.There’s a very thin line between a true devotee following their religions. Say for instance a devotee is following any of their religions, and rising himself to the purity point where he is a very good person, but he is desiring the luxuries of heaven with God. What God? God Brahm. Means those who reach up to Brahm’s abode, they live with Brahm and enjoy the same luxuries as Brahm has.

Read Part 2 Here:- Swami Prakashanand Saraswati’s Speech on the Gita – Part 2

But Gita says that that abode is not forever. It has a limit. It has a limit. Around 300 million million years is one lifetime of Brahm. It has a limit. So if you want really unlimited happiness of Divine kind, you have to cross that and reach Supreme God. So God is very kind. Suppose any devotee who is following any kind of religion reaches a point where he begins to understand that any kind of luxury, whatever it is, celestial or material, heavenly or earthly, whatever it is, luxury is luxury. He has to find God, God’s love. He wants complete liberation. Suppose he comes to that point? Gita says God is very kind. God is beyond all the religions. So is Gita, beyond all the religions. Gita is a pure philosophy of God realization. And God – anyone who surrenders to God in any form, any kind of form surrenders to God, God graces him (Sanskrit), Gita says. So  for that particular soul, God organizes that that soul finds a real true master who further guides him how to surrender to the supreme personality of God.  So if one reaches up to that point of exclusively desiring God, then with the grace of God, he finds the guidance, the path, and he follows that path of God realization. In this way, Gita is the origin of all the “-isms”, is a pure philosophy of rising yourself from a very low level to the highest supreme level of God realization.

Read Part 3 Here:- Swami Prakashanand Saraswati’s Speech on the Gita – Part 3

So we see that the ideal of superior man of Confucius, Confucianism, or the unexplainable divinity and its attainment of Taoism, or various forms of worship of gods and goddesses while being loyal to your family that is from Shinto religion, they are all in the Gita. All. But Gita says further ahead.It says that it is there, but it explains that for this, this is the consequence.  Choose whatever you want. For celestial worship of gods and goddesses and spirits, you will reach up to their abode. By worshipping supreme form of god in impersonal aspect, although it is very tough to follow, you receive God’s grace that gives you liberation. So Gita has all the philosophies plus something more to give to you.

Read Part 4 Here:- Swami Prakashanand Saraswati’s Speech on the Gita – Part 4

We take all Indian religions. Say Shanka religion, the advait philosophy of Shankaracharya, advait. Advait means non-dualistic monism. That philosophy and the goal of that is also in the Gita, but in a very refined form (Sanskrit). There are 2, purush, ksharand akshar (Sanskrit).  All the souls are also called purush.  All the souls, unlimited uncountable souls, individual, but they are under the bondage of maya. But they are part of the Divine. And other form of Divinity, aksharansh. Akshar ansh means omnipresent Divine existence. Gita says in the words of Krishn that kshar (anything that is destroyable), akshar(anything that cannot be destroyed), all the souls, divineness of all the souls and the absolute divinity of the Divine omnipresent existence. Krishn says, “I am above and beyond that, so I am called Purushottum(Sanskrit).” Krishn said, “I am famous as Purushottumin this universe and also in the Vedas, in the Scriptures.”  So there are 3: soul, akshar ansh (maya), Purushottum. All the souls, they are also Divine ansh, nirakar Brahm, formless Brahm – Divine but is formless – and Purushottum Brahm, personality of the Godhead.  He is also omnipresent.

Read Part 5 Here:- Swami Prakashanand Saraswati’s Speech on the Gita – Part 5

Shankaracharya says that when soul eliminates its bondage, it becomes Brahm. Gita says when you eliminate your bondage, you enter into Brahma’s abode, and you are always absorbed in that omnipresent existence. Fine. So is an advait marg, means impersonal worship to God. That’s it. It is in the Gita. Krishn says “Some people worship Me in impersonal aspect. Some worship Me as a personal God. So both are my bhaktas.” Gita says 2 kinds of bhakti, impersonal bhakti and personal bhakti. Bhakti means surrender, surrendering. You have to surrender to God as a must.  Then either seek for His grace to remain as impersonal, or look for His grace to enter into His Divine service and Divine abode. It’s your option. So the advait path of Shankaracharya is also in the Gita. Gita says further ahead, because that path is very tough, why doyou just waste your time in trying to release your attachments and you fail?Why don’t you come to Me and give Me your attachments and develop new attachment with Me, and that attachment will turn into bhakti or devotion? So it’s simple.

Read Part 6 Here:- Swami Prakashanand Saraswati’s Speech on the Gita – Part 6

We can also see the other religion of Punjab, that Sufi religion, that was started by Guru Nanak.  He always looked for, “Oh God, I am looking for Your grace.” Simple. Although he said for nirakar Brahm, formless Brahm, but he always looked for His grace. “Oh, without Your grace, how can I find You? Without Your grace, how can I reach You?.” So, looking for His Grace. Gita says same thing.“People worship me to receive my impersonal aspect.”Fine.For liberation.Soadvait worship of Gita is same as advait worship of Guru Nanak.

Read Part 7 here: Swami Prakashanand Saraswati’s Speech on the Gita – Part 7

So we see that all the religions of India and the world, their philosophy is in the Gita, or you can say Gita is the origin of all the religions, origin of all the philosophies. Gita is the origin. Nothing is beyond Gita. Gita tells the step by step attainment of various forms of worship. If you worship gods and goddesses, go to celestial abode. If you worship impersonal aspect of God, you enter into absolute liberation. If you worship another form of God, like Shiva, Durga, or Kali, all those forms, enter  into their abode. (Sanskrit) “And if you worship Me as Krishn, then you come to My abode.”

Read Part 8 Here: Swami Prakashanand Saraswati’s Speech on the Gita – Part 8

So any kind of worship you do, sincere surrendered worship, dedicated worship, whatever is the consequence, Gita tells very clearly, very precisely, straightforward, “For this kind of worship, this is the consequence. For that kind of devotion, this is the consequence.” So it’s all in the Gita.  So any form of God you worship, Gita says, you will  receive that abode with the grace of God.  But there’s one condition. It should be sincere bhakti to any form, any form. Sincere. Even if you want to receive the highest celestial abode, you have to be sincere, dedicated, whole-heartedly surrendered, and during your whole life or probably many lifetimes. This is bhakti. This you have to do. Total surrender. Total dedication. But to who you worship, that’s very important.

Read Part 9 Here: Swami Prakashanand Saraswati’s Speech on the Gita – Part 9

So, in the Divine world there’s no material value. See, in the world, you go to a shop. For expensive thing, pay more money. For cheaper thing, pay less money. Is a material value. But for receiving some status in the celestial world or Divine world, you have to surrender yourself completely. With the same amount of devotion, worship, surrender or meditation, practice and relinquishing your desires and entertainments, either you receive celestial abode or absolute Brahm, or various forms of God in the Divine world, or Krishn or Radha-Krishn. Amount of sacrifice and devotion is same. So Gita says when it is the same, why don’t you come to  Krishn?

Read part 10 here: Swami Prakashanand Saraswati’s Speech on the Gita – Part 10

Suppose you go to a shop, and it says $5.00 for every item – either choose a diamond necklace or a fake bead chain, what would you buy? A diamond necklace, for $5.00. Why would you buy a fake bead chain for $5.00? So here we have material value, but there you have to surrender your whole personality. Surrendering the personality, that is one single thing. Absolute thing. So, by surrendering completely, whatever you say, that you have the voice (choice).So Gita gives us the knowledge, the correct knowledge; what you should be striving for. The “doing” is same or similar, very similar, but what are you striving for? You must know what you are looking for. So after spending so much time in becoming good, releasing your desires and entertainment, you, if you are looking for celestial happiness, it’s a very unwise decision. So be wiseto choose God. And be wiser to choose Krishn.

So Gita, in one book of 700 verses, tells everything. So it’s a book of enlightenment, book of knowledge. The clear knowledge, the exact knowledge of this world and the Divine world, Gita gives you. So it leaves it up to you. You choose whatever you want. Because Gita is not a religion.  Gita tells the truth; truth of this world, truth of Divine world. Both truths it tells. The truth is there. You are there. So it’s  up to you. Whatever you like, whatever you choose, up to you. But you must know to choose wisely. Don’t lose this lifetime unnecessarily because any amount of worldly luxury is all always giving you prejudice, nothing else. So in this way Gita tells up to bhakti. 

I said in my speech a few days ago that Gita takes you up to the entrance of (Sanskrit)raganuga bhakti. The philosophy of Gita ends over there. Means it tells of bhakti to various forms of gods and goddesses, to impersonal aspect of God, but when it comes to worship Krishn and Radha, then Gita is quiet at that point. Why? Because Arjun was not desiring Radha-Krishn love. Arjun only wanted Krishn, nothing else. He was friend of Krishn. So, because Arjun did not desire Radha-Krishn bhakti, so Krishn concealed that part but explained what is real bhakti, what is real devotion. So Gita tells the real devotion. So same devotion a devotee has to do, either for Radha and Krishn or for Shiva or Shakti or what, anyone. So in this way it takes you up to that point.  The entrance of raganuga bhakti.

Then what is beyond that point? Krishn said some other time, when He was talking to Udhao before ascending from this world. Means the expansion of Gita, you can say. So there He tells about raganuga bhakti and pure devotion to Radha and Krishn – that I will do (explain) some other time. Anyway, so Gita’s subject is pure bhakti, selfless bhakti, surrendered bhakti, and in all of its chapters, somewhere bhakti is there – except 2nd chapter. That explains only soul and God. But from there on, in every chapter somewhere, bhakti is always mentioned. It starts with bhakti and ends with bhakti (Sanskrit). In all these verses, Krishn explains the pure devotion, but He stresses on devotion to personal form of God, either direct to Krishn or through Krishn.

That’s how I explain that all religions, their philosophies, whatever they are, they originated from the Gita. So Gita is the mother of all  the religions. Yet it is beyond all the religions and takes you direct to the personality of the Godhead. 

In Conclusion:

Swami Prakashanand Saraswati beautifully concludes by stating that the soul, being a divine power of Krishn, can never lose its divinity. We simply need to awaken from our illusion. The bondage of maya is not real—it is of our own creation. He explains that the Gita brings us up to the point of raganuga bhakti – telling the souls to turn toward Krishn with faith and surrender to strive for ablissful, ever-lasting relationship with God.