33 - Conquering Senses and Desires with Yoga | Swami Tattwamayananda - a podcast by Vedanta Society, San Francisco

2nd chapter: verses 62, 63. 3rd chapter: verses 41, 42, 43. 4th chapter: verses 1, 2
-The lecture was given by Swami Tattwamayananda on April 17, 2020.
-You should discipline your senses – do this in the beginning itself rather than waiting for a strong blow. That way, you can get rid of the problem of desire, and not be enslaved by senses.
-Desire means obsessive attachment to stimuli from senses, that we know will bring our downfall. We want to get out of it, but we are not able to take to a spiritual ideal, until it is too late. Gita helps us develop spiritual common sense to control our desires.
-Intellectual desires, such as in arts and philosophy, can help in the beginning by diverting the mind from sensual pleasures. However, just intellectual pursuit is not enough as it can lead to cynicism. Intellectual desires can also be given a sublime direction.
-There are two types of intellectual assertiveness: (1) Creative and constructive, which is grounded in intellectual honesty, as demonstrated by Swami Vivekananda, and (2) Cynicism, where people are stuck in a wheel asking the same questions, without making an effort to listen and get out of it.
-An enlightened person is one who transcends happiness and misery, and who looks upon both of them with the same attitude. He is fully immersed in his true identity as the Atman. This gives him immense joy.
-62nd and 63rd verse of second chapter explain how one falls in spiritual life. Those who keep thinking of sense objects develop a strong desire to enjoy them. They direct efforts in that direction. When these efforts do not succeed, they become angry, which leads to delusion, which then leads to total confusion of memory and degeneration of the mind.
-Unless one can divert the senses towards creative channels, it brings destruction. To divert the mind, one needs to feed the mind with good food.
-The Atman is superior to the intellect, which is superior to the mind, which is superior to the senses. Therefore, restrain your senses. By restraining the senses, and identifying with the Atman, one can destroy the obsession of desires.
-Kathopanishad compares human life to a journey on a chariot. Atman is the traveler on the chariot, body is the chariot, intellect is the driver, mind is the reins, senses are the horses and the sense objects represent the path. Just as horses should not dictate terms to the rider, so also, sense organs should not dictate the terms to the mind.
-Doctrine of karma should not be interpreted as fatalism. Rather, karma-yoga is an approach that enables us to do all our duties with full freedom, as the master of our senses, and with steady spiritual common sense.
-Story of “Appointment in Samarra” is discussed to illustrate how the doctrine of karma can be wrongly interpreted.
-Shankaracharya gives the example of an arrow which has left its bow, but that can change its direction because of a strong wind. Similarly, with our spiritual practices and by the grace of God, we can escape the consequences of unpleasant karma.
-4th chapter of Gita continues the discussion of karma and yajna. The theme of this chapter can be described as: “Dissolving action in knowledge”.
-Lord Krishna’s teachings come to us from two streams: (1) Narada Bhakti Sutras, which says that through spiritual surrender (Sharanagati), we can convert all actions into acts of worship. (2) Through Gita, which says that through Swadharma, we can convert every activity into spiritual practice.
-Lord Krishna says that he first taught Yoga to Surya, who taught it to Manu, who then taught it to Ikshavaku. It has been handed down through the “Guru-shishya parampara”, an unbroken succession of teachers-disciples.
-In course of time, this Yoga as lost - because those who were expected to practice it (for example, reigning monarchs) and lead by example, they were unable to control their senses and failed to practice it properly. Whatever they practiced came to be mistakenly known as Yoga.
-Rajarshi is a person who has the dual qualities of a king (Rajatvam) and a saint (Rishitvam). As a king, he has great prosperity, dynamism and efficiency. As a saint, he has a calm attitude, can see far into things, and understands the limitations and impermanence of his wealth and powers. Janaka and Ashoka were examples of Rajarshis.

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