Revealing the Mysteries

The texts that I will be presenting are early writings from the part of the world we know today as India. The people of that culture were highly sophisticated. It is possible today to see beautiful temples and monastic dwellings carved into cliff sides in exquisite detail from the top down, an astonishing feat even for today's builders. All music, art, architecture, sculpture, literature, dance, science, medicine, etc., was characteristically spiritual. Spiritual philosophy was at once polytheistic and monotheistic — there is only One God; there are innumerable gods. It was understood that this seeming paradox was not a paradox at all, but the simple Truth.

The language of these texts was Sanskrit, acknowledged by today's scholars as "the language of the gods." Sanskrit texts are by virtue of the language itself, mystical writings. Sanskrit words have roots that often carry hidden meanings and point to esoteric teachings. Every letter is a syllable and has its own meaning. So you can see how it might be easy to spend hours on one verse of a Sanskrit text and still miss the point.

For those of you who have studied with me or know some of my work, you will already know that my translations often seem quite different than the translations found in most published work. The reason for this is simple: My translations and their interpretations are based not only on the study of texts in the original Sanskrit, but on the years of personal experience that has been my own "lab" — what I have read in these texts and how I have understood them, I have put to the test.

Another earmark of my work is that I may interpret something one way one time, and another way another time. The reason for this is also simple: There are many levels of understanding to these great works. They are written so that they may be a guide for anyone according to their own path. One comes to realize that any one person they teach may require a different interpretation than another person. It is inevitable that anyone who stays on their path will find deeper and deeper meanings.

Concerning the writings that follow:
• They have been translated from the original Sanskrit.
• They are translated within the context of the flow of the text.
• They match the sacred oral teachings of my teaching lineage.
• They agree with the experience of my years of spiritual practice.

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Installment No. 2
Bhagavad Gita
The Characters

One of the most well known Sanskrit mystical writings is the Bhagavad Gita (“The Song of God”). Having been around for such a long time it is small wonder that, as is the case with any scripture, many of the messages embedded within it remain hidden behind long accepted interpretations. While these interpretations may be true, they are not the only valid ones.

The Bhagavad Gita is Really About You

One of the many ways to understand a mystical writing of this kind is to imagine that it is about you. Imagine that you are every character in it. In what way do each of the characters represent some part of you? How do the circumstances in which these characters find themselves apply to your own life, your own path, your own spiritual practice?

The Characters

The Bhagavad Gita is primarily a dialogue between two characters, Arjuna and Krishna. The usual approach (though certainly not the only one) to interpreting this scripture is to consider that Krishna is God and Arjuna is the devotee, YOU.

The name “Arjuna” means “white, the clear light of day.” He is the son of Indra, conqueror of darkness. Arjuna is the incarnation of light. This would make you an incarnation of light!

The name “Krishna” means “dark blue-black, the color of night.” Whereas Arjuna represents day, Krishna represents the night, yet he is God, the Divine. However many names there may be for God, and there are literally thousands, God remains an enigma, in the dark, unknown.

God is the mystery. We will need the clear light of day, Arjuna (that’s you), to reveal that mystery.

In our world, objects are seen when light reflects off of them. Even the moon is seen against the darker background of the sky as the sunlight bounces off of it. So it will take both you and God together to reveal the unseen. And this is indeed what the Bhagavad Gita is — a revealing of the mysteries through the coming together of Arjuna and Krishna, lightness and darkness, the sun and the moon, the perceptible and the imperceptible, You and God.

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Installment No. 3
Bhagavad Gita
The Setting

The Bhagavad Gita is a conversation between two people — Arjuna and Krishna — that takes place on a battlefield just before the beginning of a war.

“A war!” you say. “Why in the world does a scripture (!!!!!) have a battle as its setting?” Well, two things come to mind when I am asked that question, but first we need some background.

The Original Gita

The Bhagavad Gita is found in an enormously long epic poem called the Mahabharata. Vyasa wrote the Mahabharata during a period in history when many citizens of his culture did not study scriptures. Indeed, many people of that time, such as women and the lower castes, were prohibited from doing so. So Vyasa, being a clever fellow, didn’t write a spiritual work that might be construed as “scripture,” he wrote an epic poem that anyone who knew how to read (and was allowed to), could read. And into this epic, he wove the Bhagavad Gita.

Many years ago when I was studying the Gita, I began to notice that there was a very nice continuity for a few verses and then, if you were to leap over the next few verses, this continuity picked up where it left off. The verses between were not out of context in any way, but there was a different “feel” about them. I started marking these verses and found that they were the essential messages and that the verses between were about these messages, or “expansions” on them.

A few years later I came across a book by a Sanskrit scholar who had been studying the Gita for over 25 years and had come to the conclusion that there was an earlier version that was quite short. The verses in his “original” Gita were almost a perfect match for my own. Since that time, I have discovered another book by another author speculating the same thing, with very little difference in verses.

My Own Opinions

First of all, (1) I think these fellows are right: the original Bhagavad Gita was short and to the point, and (2) at least two other people of different philosophical dispositions added their two bits at later times (I’m not alone in this conjecture either).

Secondly, (and I say this at the risk of being strung up by my thumbs) I think the original Bhagavad Gita was not presented in the context of any battle or war at all. I think Vyasa wove this already existing mystical work into his epic, and that he did a little expanding of his own. We have since come to accept this version of the Bhagavad Gita. Well, it works, so why not?

For Your Own Use

Having said all this, the crucial question remains, “What does it all mean and how can it be of use to me?”

As you read on, remember that what you are reading is just one point of view and that you can see this ancient mystical writing from various perspecitves. So take what you read here as inspiration or incentive and see what you come up with on your own as it applies to you and your own life and your own spiritual journey.

The Setting

The setting is Arjuna and Krishna in a four-horse chariot driven by Krishna. They have parked themselves in the middle of a battlefield between the two armies to look things over just before the the war begins. The conversation between them is the Bhagavad Gita.

By the use of such a strong and highly charged situation as a battle, great emphasis is placed on what is being said between Arjuna and Krishna. A battle is a big deal. Whatever this is all about, it’s important. Think of this situation in a way that relates to you. Ask yourself: What is a battle? Is there something like this in my life? In my spiritual practice?

Well, a battle is no small matter. It might be considered a conflict or a struggle. Or it might be seen as the clashing together of two opposing forces. A battle is a highly emotional situation for everyone involved, so it might be thought of as an enormous fusion of energy. Can you think of anything in your life that fits any of these ideas? Can you think of other ideas of what a battle might represent for you?

Let’s try an example: Let’s say that, perhaps as a result of your spiritual practices, two opposing energies in your body, one that moves upward and is warming, and one that moves downward and is cooling, come crashing together. This may look like a bad thing (as you will see it does to Arjuna). HOWEVER, when the upward flowing warming energy (prana) and the downward flowing cooling energy (apana) come crashing together in your body, this awakens kundalini. Or you could say that prana and apana united is kundalini.

Kundalini is the spiritual evolutionary force that brings you to your natural state of eternal happiness and fulfillment. So, in spite of appearances, this is a GOOD thing.

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