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Bhagavad Gita Chapter 04

Home » Bhagavad Gita Chapter 04
Bhagavad Gita Chapter 04Chaitanya Charan2021-07-07T10:53:18+05:30
  • Chapter 04
    • Gita 04.41 – Explanation
  • Chapter 04, Text 01
    • Gita 04.01 – Explanation
    • Gita 04.01 explained
    • Those who see in history only their own reflection can’t see the trans-historical
    • Don’t just punish lust-dominated individuals; purify lust-tormented individuals
    • What is beyond being dated is beyond becoming outdated
    • Enrich yourself with the supreme legacy of immortal love
  • Chapter 04, Text 02
    • Gita 04.02 – Explanation
    • Gita 04.02 explained
    • Power needs to be kept out of the hands of those who worship power
    • We may not be interested in politics, but politics is interested in us
    • Time makes the imperishable inaccessible
    • The divorce of the raja from the rishi perverts the ruler into an exploiter
    • Cherish the power of love, not the love of power
    • The harmony of the sword and the word
    • Living the Gita is not about turning back the clock, but about turning on the compass
    • To comprehend the Gita, focus on its original originality
  • Chapter 04, Text 03
    • Gita 04.03 – Explanation
    • Gita 04.03 explained
    • The link between the psychological and the cosmological (Exploring the Gita chapter 4 series - 1)
    • The revelation of the revelation comes from the living tradition 
    • The best translation of the Gita is its translation into life
  • Chapter 04, Text 04
    • Gita 04.04 – Explanation
    • Gita 04.04 explained
    • 04.04 Arjuna’s fifth question (Exploring the Gita chapter 4 series - 2)
    • How could past people believe in things we find irrational?
    • When we give Krishna the benefit of doubt, he gives us the benefit of freedom from doubt
    • Be curious, not superstitious; be cautious, not suspicious
    • The call to faith is for focusing,not forsaking, of intelligence
  • Chapter 04, Text 05
    • Gita 04.05 – Explanation
    • Bless me to trust your infinite plan beyond my finite vision (4.05)
    • Gita 04.05 explained
    • The reincarnation of avatar in English is a revealing distortion
  • Chapter 04, Text 06
    • Gita 04.06 – Explanation
    • Bless me to marvel at your miraculous presence in this world (4.06)
    • Gita 04.06 explained
    • Krishna’s avatara is not actually an incarnation
    • Our incarnation is an incarceration — Krishna’s isn’t
    • Krishna is not a dictator, but a benefactor
  • Chapter 04, Text 07
    • Gita 04.07 – Explanation
    • Bless me to stand on your side in restoring dharma (4.07)
    • Gita 04.07 explained
    • Krishna descends to delineate, demonstrate and disseminate dharma
    • My message of love, Will you ban?
  • Chapter 04, Text 08
    • Gita 04.08 – Explanation
    • Please restore divine order inside me and outside me (4.08)
    • Kalki movie - Making sense with Bhagavad-gita
    • Gita 04.08 explained
    • The two main meanings of dharma in the Gita — and how they synergize
    • Is God partial?
    • Why fear of God is healthy — and when it becomes unhealthy
    • How we can learn from history to shape our history
    • Spirituality is meant not just for transcending the world but also for transforming the world
    • The purpose of establishing dharma in the world is to establish us in dharma
    • Krishna is a trans-cosmic enjoyer; don’t reduce him to a cosmic constable
  • Chapter 04, Text 09
    • Gita 04.09 – Explanation
    • You come not just to restore order, but also to recover souls (4.09)
    • Gita 04.09 explained
    • How Krishna’s pastimes reveal him to be the ultimate hero
    • Two purposes of Krishna’s descent (Exploring the Gita chapter 4 series - 4)
    • How Superman’s history helps us understand Krishna’s intimate divinity
    • How Krishna descends to civilize and spiritualize humanity
    • Devotion is not just about bringing God into our life; it is also about letting God bring us into his life
    • Krishna retains his divine position even while he reclines in a supine position
    • See Krishna not just as an object of entertainment but as the objective of enlightenment
    • The theatrical Krishna takes us to the transcendental Krishna
    • Krishna is not an optional source of entertainment – he is the indispensable source of shelter
    • To understand God, begin with definition, not depiction
    • The more we comprehend Krishna’s transcendence, the more we cherish his munificence
    • Evaluating action without understanding position causes delusion
    • The unborn takes birth to save us from rebirth
    • The divine descent is meant to inspire the human ascent
    • The spiritual lies beyond both the logical and the psychological
    • Krishna is the ultimate knight in shining armor
    • Love God, not the concept of God
    • Study pastimes not to swoop down on their meaning, but to be swept up by their emotion
    • Krishna descends to offer not just protection but also participation
    • Krishna’s pastimes are the trailer and the trail
    • The goal of spiritual life is to make spiritual life our goal
    • Devotion raises our knowledge of Krishna from superficial familiarity to substantial understanding
    • Unravel the mystery of the Infinite’s descent into the finite through love
    • Give yourself permission to love Krishna by suspending disbelief
    • Those who let reason usurp Krishna in their heart end up worshiping a false god
    • Krishna’s pastimes are not just amusing – they are amazing
  • Chapter 04, Text 10
    • How remembering Krishna is different from remembering anything else
    • Gita 04.10 – Explanation
    • Free me from the three obstacles to devotion (4.10)
    • How the worldview of devotion is holistic and wholesome
    • What's wrong with the worldview of dread?
    • What's wrong with the worldview of despair?
    • Rising from the worldviews of desire despair and dread to the worldview of devotion
    • From material emotion to spiritual emotion
    • Gita 04.10 explained
    • The bhakti cure works for sure, for it connects us with the all-pure
    • In scriptural dissemination, the problem is not in transmission but in reception
    • To let the nourishing water of truth irrigate the heart, break the dam of misconception
    • The Gita offers not just another worldview, but also another world to view
    • Krishna ends the misdirection and frustration of our love
  • Chapter 04, Text 11
    • Gita 04.11 – Explanation
    • Whatever I am seeking, I am actually seeking you (4.11)
    • Protecting our spirit to help
    • Gita 04.11 explained
    • How conceptions of the Divine affect religious tolerance (Religious tolerance series 5)
    • Will all paths lead to the same goal when the goal is all-pervading?
    • How is everyone on Krishna’s path?
    • Does Krishna teach Arjuna that all paths lead to the same goal? - part 2
    • Does Krishna teach Arjuna that all paths lead to the same goal? - part 1
    • How appreciating other spiritual paths can distract us — and inspire us
    • How God is rational and reciprocal — and is more
    • Why the Gita is misunderstood — and how it can be understood
    • Without going deeply into one tradition we can’t deeply appreciate any tradition
    • Everyone is equal in God's eyes but God is not equal in everyone’s eyes
    • Respecting religious pluralism doesn’t require disrespecting religion
    • Even for those who think God is the last thing they need, God remains the first thing they need
    • Why bother whether the glass is half-empty or half-full when you can drink from either?
    • Harmonize conceptions of the divine with revelation by the divine through surrender to the divine
    • For the cynic, the truth lies in the heart
    • No one owns the truth table except God – and he has many invitees
    • From our place, at our pace, Krishna offers his embrace
    • Might we be protecting our heart from Krishna instead of for Krishna?
    • When strengths make us weak and weaknesses make us strong
    • To get devotion in our life, let’s put life in our devotion
  • Chapter 04, Text 12
    • Gita 04.12 – Explanation
    • Let your selflessness inspire selflessness within me (4.12)
    • Gita 04.12 explained
    • Seek not success in karma – seek success beyond karma
  • Chapter 04, Text 13
    • Why thinking people are often uninfluential
    • Gita 04.13 – Explanation
    • You provide the social order that facilitates spiritual order (4.13)
    • Understanding ourselves: The utility of categorization the necessity of self-observation
    • Two ways to know that our actions are aligned with our God-given nature
    • Gita 04.13 explained
    • Why all equalities are not equal
    • Equality that is imposed doesn’t raise everyone up, it brings everyone down
    • What brings us to the world is not as defining as what we bring to the world
    • Genealogy shapes mentality, but doesn’t determine it
    • Learning according to leaning nurtures growing
    • Caste by birth is the perversion of class by worth
  • Chapter 04, Text 14
    • Gita 04.14 – Explanation
    • Greater than the world’s unfairness is your mercifulness (4.14)
    • Gita 04.14 explained
    • Seek to know Krishna not theoretically but transformationally
  • Chapter 04, Text 15
    • Gita 04.15 – Explanation
    • Gita 04.15 explained
    • Krishna’s first direct self-revelation (Exploring the Gita chapter 4 series - 3)
    • How following tradition literally may defeat the essential purpose of following tradition
    • Ask not why bad things happen to good people, ask what good people do when bad things happen to them
  • Chapter 04, Text 16
    • Gita 04.16 – Explanation
    • God is waiting for us
    • Karma: resignation or responsibility?
    • Gita 04.16 explained
    • Understand scripture through devotional dedication, not linguistic specialization
  • Chapter 04, Text 17
    • Gita 04.17 – Explanation
    • Let me focus on present dharma, not on past karma (4.17)
    • A pragmatic approach to facing life's reversals
    • Understanding destiny: Makers but not masters
    • The essence of karma philosophy is not punishment but encouragement
    • Gita 04.17 explained
    • What is karma meant for
    • The law of attraction and Gita wisdom
    • When philosophy answers our questions — and when it doesn’t
    • The importance of complexifying things
    • How to persevere amid uncertainty?
    • Focusing only on suffering's immediate cause makes us short-sighted focusing only on suffering's remote cause makes us hard-hearted
    • To get the consequences of our wrongdoings may feel like misfortune, but it can save us from misfortune
    • Karma is not like a mysterious contagious disease - it is logical not diabolical
    • We need Krishna’s experience more than Krishna’s explanation
    • Should we be happy when we are happy?
    • Ask not “Why this?” but “How now?”
  • Chapter 04, Text 18
    • Gita 04.18 – Explanation
    • Let me choose the transcendent, not the convenient (4.18)
    • Gita 04.18 explained
    • Three distinct meanings of karma in the Gita (Gita concepts series: Karma 2)
  • Chapter 04, Text 19
    • Gita 04.19 – Explanation
    • Gita 04.19 explained
    • Are we mistaking the causal to be casual?
  • Chapter 04, Text 20
    • Gita 04.20 – Explanation
    • Gita 04.20 explained
  • Chapter 04, Text 21
    • Gita 04.21 – Explanation
    • Gita 04.21 explained
  • Chapter 04, Text 22
    • Gita 04.22 – Explanation
    • Gita 04.22 explained
  • Chapter 04, Text 23
    • Gita 04.23 – Explanation
    • Gita 04.23 explained
    • Bhakti is pragmatic, not dogmatic
    • Devotion brings knowledge into action and action into knowledge
    • What raises motion to action is motivation
  • Chapter 04, Text 24
    • Gita 04.24 – Explanation
    • Help me remember that you are never far away (4.24)
    • Gita 04.24 explained
    • Krishna’s inclusive explanation of sacrifice (Exploring the Gita chapter 4 series - 5)
    • The spiritual in application leads to the spiritual in constitution
    • Devotion centers not on renouncing the material, but on reclaiming the spiritual
    • The material is not spiritual, but it is spiritualizable
  • Chapter 04, Text 25
    • Gita 04.25 explained
  • Chapter 04, Text 27
    • Gita 04.27 explained
  • Chapter 04, Text 28
    • Gita 04.28 explained
  • Chapter 04, Text 29
    • Gita 04.29 – Explanation
    • Gita 04.29 explained
  • Chapter 04, Text 30
    • Gita 04.30 – Explanation
    • Gita 04.30 explained
    • Fire-sacrifice is literal, metaphorical and transformational
  • Chapter 04, Text 31
    • Gita 04.31 – Explanation
    • Gita 04.31 explained
    • Failure is no disaster; failure to try is
  • Chapter 04, Text 32
    • Gita 04.32 – Explanation
    • Gita 04.32 explained
  • Chapter 04, Text 33
    • Gita 04.33 explained
  • Chapter 04, Text 34
    • Make me a truth-seeker, not a blind follower (4.34)
    • Receptive + Submissive = Pathway to wisdom
    • Gita 04.34 explained
    • How faith and doubt can both be used spiritually
    • Seek a guru to show the way, not to sanction your way
    • Don’t be like soldiers fighting a past war
    • Our connection with Krishna is reinforced, not restricted, by the guru
    • The point of scriptural study is not to prove our point, but to improve our viewpoint
    • Devotion blossoms in a personal culture, not a personality cult
    • Be not just inquisitive but also submissive
    • Tap HIS grace by Humbleness, Inquisitiveness and Service-mindedness
  • Chapter 04, Text 35
    • Let wisdom deepen, not weaken, my connection with others (4.35)
    • Gita 04.35 explained
    • Krishna’s first assertion of his relationship with us (Exploring the Gita chaper 4 series - 6)
    • A missed apostrophe can be a catastrophe – we are God’s not Gods
    • Our belonging is more important than our belongings
    • Enlightenment means to replace oneself with Krishna as the center
    • Go beyond sectarianism and non-sectarianism to trans-sectarianism
    • Are we outsourcing our thinking?
    • Loving the unlovable is the characteristic of God – and the character of the godly
    • Bhakti is not just about believing in God – it is about belonging to God
  • Chapter 04, Text 36
    • More than my wrongs is your capacity to free me from them (4.36)
    • We have snakes inside us, but we are not one of them
    • God keeps the door to him unlocked from his side till every soul, however degraded, comes to him
    • Tap the power of devotion that supersedes nature, nurture and culture
    • Don’t blame gravity for the sinking of the boat
  • Chapter 04, Text 37
    • Gita 04.37 – Explanation
    • Let wisdom burn away my impurities, not my intentions (4.37)
    • Spiritual knowledge elevates us above misery – and eliminates misery too
  • Chapter 04, Text 38
    • Gita 04.38 – Explanation
    • Grant me the wisdom, O Lord, that reveals your endless love
    • Momentum manifests by movement from moment to moment
    • Don’t depress yourself – depress your expectation from yourself
    • Seek pleasure in the pursuit of meaning, not meaning in the pursuit of pleasure
    • Patience is humility, not apathy
  • Chapter 04, Text 39
    • Gita 04.39 – Explanation
    • Let my faith in you manifest as curiosity about your plan
    • Why the peace from faith does not lead to passivity
    • From the eyes of doubt to the eyes of faith
    • Lack of faith
    • Feeling God or trusting God?
    • Is faith irrational?
    • Don’t be so afraid of the irrational as to deny the possibility of the transrational
    • Seeking requires believing: believing that something worth seeking exists and that we have the capacity to find it
    • Between naiveté and cynicism is the courage to trust
    • What the moonlight of reason shows dimly the sunlight of revelation shows clearly
    • Faith is the bridge between our finite reason and Krishna’s infinite reason
    • Faith is the reason for reason
    • Be faithful, but be watchful too
    • Knowing begins with believing
    • Doubt your doubts and believe your beliefs
    • Choose not faith in the eyes; choose the eyes of faith
    • Faith bridges the gap between personal realization and scriptural revelation
    • Delight in the devotional chain reaction of faith and knowledge
  • Chapter 04, Text 40
    • Gita 04.40– Explanation
    • Let me look for reasons to believe, not reasons to doubt
    • The difference between doubts and questions
    • Are we treating our beliefs and our doubts equally?
    • 04.40 The liberating power of doubting our doubts (Dealing with doubts 2)
    • How pride can corrupt both faith and doubt …
    • Doubt is a disease that makes the patient believe the doctor is sick
    • Learning by doubting is like driving by braking
    • To lose one’s reason is bad, but to lose everything except one’s reason is far worse
    • Get out of the drought of doubt
    • Rejection of all faith as blind faith is blind faith
    • Choosing doubt as the means for knowing is like choosing immobility as the means for traveling
    • If let cynicism rob our power to trust Krishna, we rob ourselves of our greatest power
    • Don’t think things to death; think of the thing called death
    • No prison imprisons as badly as the prison of doubt
    • See skepticism with skepticism
  • Chapter 04, Text 42
    • Gita 04.42 – Explanation
    • Let me focus on the inner war, not on the outer battles
    • Krishna blends the metaphorical and literal wars (Exploring the Gita chapter 4 series - 7)
    • A weapon in the tent is of no use to a warrior in the fight
    • The inner war may feature coronation or insurrection, but let it not feature execution
    • Fight for your faith within more than without
    • To remember to remember, refine your reminder
    • The inner war is the bigger war
    • Are we putting too much faith in doubt?
    • Don’t let the sword sleep in the hand
  • Text 41
    • Gita 04.41 – Explanation

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Is your ego hijacking your peace? The ego isn’t Is your ego hijacking your peace?

The ego isn’t just pride—it’s a false identity.
When it demands control, we lose clarity.
When it says go, tell it to go.
Let go of the ego, and let your real self grow.

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To be resourceful, we don't need to be full of res To be resourceful, we don't need to be full of resources; we just need to fully use the resources we have. (Inspired by Bhagavad-gita 18.43)

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To get the impetus to get rid of destructive indul To get the impetus to get rid of destructive indulgences, we need to remember those experiences that we would rather not remember, namely the experiences that teach us about the consequences of such indulgence. (Inspired by Bhagavad Gita 18.38)

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Karma: Is There a Cause-Effect Connection? Why do Karma: Is There a Cause-Effect Connection?

Why do good actions not always bring good results?
Because karma links not just actions and outcomes — but past, present, and future.
We may do 100 units of good, yet receive only 10 — the missing 90 may come from past karma.
Karma isn’t about blaming the past. It’s about empowering the present.
Our actions matter — even if the results don’t show right away.

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