-7th chapter: verses 14, 15, 16. 16th chapter: verses 1, 2, 3, 4-The lecture was given by Swami Tattwamayananda on February 19, 2020.-14th verse: “Those who take the help of Vidya-maya, they eventually transcend Maya.”-Brahman is the only Absolute Reality. Vedanta defines something as real if (1) it remains without change in the past, present and future (2) It is beyond time, space and causation and (3) it remains without change in waking, dream and deep sleep states.-The world we live in is a relative reality. It is not absolutely real, but it is not absolutely unreal either.-The relativity of the relative world is understood only when we understand the absoluteness of the absolute reality, when we realize the supreme truth. Then we understand that our experiences in this world are relative.-In a semi-dark room, we may mistake a rope to be a snake. When we bring light, what we formerly misunderstood to be a snake is now recognized as a rope. As a snake, it is unreal. As rope, it is real.-Similarly, a jeevan-mukta, who has transcended the relative, he continues to live in the world. To him, the world as a distinct entity does not exist. He experiences the world as non-distinct from Brahman.-In Vedanta, there are two levels. As philosophy, it is at the level of duality. As experience, it is non-dual. Brahma Satyam Jagat Mithya is only an approach to the highest reality from a philosophical level. At the highest experience level, it is Brahma Satyam Jagat Satyam. To reach this highest experience level, we have to meditate on the absoluteness of Brahman, and the relativity of the world.-Advaita, as an experience, is silent. Advaitic truth can only be experienced – it cannot be explained. Scriptures only help to remove wrong notions from our mind.-In the 15th and 16th verses, Lord Krishna unfolds a unique kind of spiritual psychology illustrating that not everyone in the world is of the same type. He discusses the characteristics of people with negative traits and also of those who are spiritually inclined.-15th verse: “Those who do not devote themselves to Me, they are deluded, they commit sinful deeds and belong to the lowest human category, they have no discerning wisdom, they are caught by Maya, and they follow the path of evil-doers.”-Verse 4 of 16th chapter provides the characteristics of people with negative temperament. Their six characteristics are: ostentation, arrogance, self-conceit, anger, rudeness and ignorance. Later verses of the chapter provide 18 additional characteristics of such people.-16th verse: “People endowed with sattva-guna are of four types. (1) Those who take to spiritual life due to distress (2) those who are aspirants of knowledge (3) Those who want wealth (4) Those who are wise. Among these, the highest type are the wise ones, who understand that God is present in everything, everywhere.-Shankaracharya, in his commentary on the 16th verse, explains that the first three categories of people pursue mechanical spiritual practices. Their bhakti is apara-bhakti. The bhakti of the fourth category is the highest - their bhakti is para-bhakti.-Verses 1, 2 and 3 of the 16th chapter provide 26 characteristics of people endowed with divine wealth. Examples of such characteristics are fearlessness, purity, interest in scriptures and practice of non-violence.-A spiritual seeker should practice friendliness (Maitri) towards fellow spiritual seekers, practice compassion (Karuna) towards those who are less evolved, practice happiness (Mudita) towards those who are more evolved, and practice a filtering attitude (Upeksha) towards those who may shake his faith.-We progress in spiritual life by acquiring more and more sattvic qualities. Once we are saturated with sattva-guna, we cannot but turn to the higher reality for all our needs. Any spiritual practice that we do to develop more sattva-guna is never lost.
