Knowing and Loving the

Godhead Within

Deeply Ponder the Following:

(a) After reading all 12 teachings below go back over them and mark

the 3 that to you are the key ones.

(b) Forced-choice: draw a circle around the most important one.

(c) Be ready to share your answers.

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In the Bhagavad Gita Krishna says:

“You must grow to understand the following:

___1 ) Both nature and Spirit (both the ‘field’ and Pure Consciousness) are without beginning.

___ 2) All of physical nature evolves from this Pure Consciousness.

___ 3) All of nature itself and all the myriad attributes found in the natural world are nothing but the permutations and combinations of the three guna-qualities of nature: calm goodness (sattva), passionate action (rajas), dark lethargy (tamas).

___ 4) Nature alone is the source of everything in the physical universe.

___ 5) The cause of your body is nature, but the cause of your aliveness – your experience of being an individual in a particular body and feeling joy and sorrow – is Spirit.

___ 6) The Spirit (Atma) takes residence in a material body, it forgets its true nature and mistakenly identifies itself with that body. In this state called jivatma, it becomes attached to the worldly, and takes on the behaviors, sensations, and the delusions of the particular guna-quality that dominates – becoming either a generally calm person (sattvic), an active person (rajasic), or a lethargic person (tamasic).

___ 7) As the individual is now a part of the material world, he or she is bound to participate in the cycle of repeated births and deaths—the painful destiny of all matter.

___ 8) When, however, you directly experience Brahman (the Godhead) you will not be born again. You will genuinely know then that the Divine One is utterly beyond anything of the natural world.

___ 9) The fire of this great knowledge will burn out all your karmas, and there will be no more motivating force within you to create another birth.

___10) Thus unburdened, (in this state called a jivanmukti) you will perform all your worldly duties, but merely watch life in total peace.

___11) There are several paths to this great knowledge:

Building mind power through meditation (dhyana yoga)
Sharpening the intellect through acquisition of knowledge (jnana yoga)
Performing selfless service (karma yoga)
And for those unable to grasp any of these paths, listening diligently and faithfully to spiritual teachers and worshipping as instructed.

___12) Whichever the path, if successfully trod, it eventually widens into bhakti yoga, pure, single-minded love for God.

When one reaches the level of absolute Divine Love one reaches the End.” – Krishna

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