Hari OM
From 8/4/19 to 12/4/19, Pujya Swami
Swaroopananda-ji presented evening discourses to the public at the Merrylands
Civic Centre, NSW Australia. The focus of his talks this year was Chapter 2 of
the Bhagavad Gita, and more specifically, shlokas 1-32. Some of the learning
and insights will be shared over several posts.

Now; there are those who argue that when young people die, how can
the body be said to be 'worn out'. The thing is though, our time in any
incarnation is not determined by our age. The physical body responds only as
long as the Essential "I" resides within it and if we 'die young' it
is likely that the "I" (Aatmaa), in the individualised form of 'jiiva',
has decided it requires only that much experience. There are physical things
which take place, of course - be that an accident or disease - which ensure an
'early waring' of the biological vehicle. All this falls under the purvue of
discussions on karma and praarabdha, which can be found in other texts in this
blog. There are so many factors in why we live the length of time that we do.
The key point of this chapter - indeed the entire Bhagavad Gita -
however, is to adjust our thinking to the eternal nature which is ours to
experience, to put the world of plurality in its proper context and to help us
work better within the framework of human life for as long as we must live it.
Over all of this the watcher Self, that Essential "I", remains.
Before we knew about beginnings or endings we just 'were'; existing in a
singular entity. All our dreams are within us and, in the same way, all of us
are within That Self, the Aatmaa.
That Aatmaa is almost impossible for us to comprehend. Shri Krishna
attempts a further description of its nature in shlokas 23 and 24:
Weapons do not cut this Aatmaa,
Fire does not burn it,
Water does not make it wet,
And the wind does not make it dry.
This Aatmaa cannot be cut, burned, wetted, or dried up.
It is eternal, all-pervading,
Unchanging, immovable, and primaeval.