Achariya George Adams
Speaks on "The Gita, A Living Metaphor"
Sunday, November 1, 2015 at 11:00am
All sublime scriptures are metaphors that contain an inner spiritual Truth which remains hidden from the unenlightened mind. The discovery of that inner Truth makes the scripture a living fountain to quench our spiritual thirst for life’s meaning.
In his introduction to the 'Gita,' Swami Premananda shows us how to view these metaphors from the perspective of our soul. He tells us:
“When Moses becomes the enlightened mind which liberates the soul from its enslavement to the bondage of sensory attachment, and guides it on the promised land of the state of perfection, to oneness with Yod; when the flaming rosary from the hand of Zarathustra that burnt into ashes the attacking Tartar, gives assurance to the initiate regarding the ascending Pranic effulgence which consumes all accumulated subjective finiteness and brings the Revelation of Ahura Mazda; when Pontius Pilate assumes the authority of individual conscience struggling to choose between Barabbas, the self-degrading course of unrighteousness, and Jesus, the divine path of the soul shattering all the fetters of sensory desires in order to soul, in order to attain to the perfection of the Father in heaven, the transcendental God; and when Mohammed, in his reconquest of the holy Mecca, is recognized as the soul shattering all the fetters of sensory desires in order to regain freedom of divine transcending Araham and Arrahim; then the scriptureimmediately loses its personal elements, as well as its remoteness in time and space, and stands beforeus as a living reality with a message of vita force and revealing truth.”
This Sunday to achieve that goal, we will reflect on the dialogue between Arjuna and Krishna as a living guide for our own spiritual Journey. Through the metaphor of the 'Gita' we will seek to gain spiritual insight into ourselves and our relation to God and the universe.
—Achariya George
From the Gurus and Swamis: AUM
The Bhagavad-Gita is fundamentally a yoga shastra, a scripture of Yoga…Yoga is the Sanskrit term which signifies the way as well as the ideal of God-realization….Yoga is the realization of one’s own state of absolute Godhood. To realize God is to become one with God and in this divine identity is revealed the transcendental self-perfection. For us, Yoga has no other meaning.
—Swami Premananda, "Srimad-Bhagavad-Gita, Introduction"
"Life changes form, and the cosmic transformations go on about us at all times, but we are here to remember that our soul is of identical nature with the God of the universe. We meditate on the revelation of our own divine Self:"
'Never the self was born nor will it ever die. Nor having existence, will it ever cease to exist. Birthless, deathless, changeless, eternal, ever itself is the Soul. It is not destroyed with the destruction of the body.' (Bhagavad-Gita, Chapter II, Verse 20)
—Swami Kamalananda "The Mystic Cross"
Noble Thoughts:("Let Noble Thoughts come to us from all sides." —Rigveda)
"When doubts haunt me, when disappointments stare me in the face, and I see not one ray of hope on the horizon, I turn to the Bhagavad-Gita and find a verse to comfort me; and I immediately begin to smile in the midst of overwhelming sorrow. Those who meditate on the 'Gita' will derive fresh joy and new meanings from it every day."
—Mahatma Gandhi
"When I read the Bhagavad-Gita and reflect about how God created this universe, everything else seems so superfluous."
—Albert Einstein
"The Bhagavad-Gita has a profound influence on the spirit of mankind by its devotion to God which is manifested by actions."
—Dr. Albert Schweitzer
"The Bhagavad-Gita is a true scripture of the human race, a living creation rather than a book, with a new message for every age and a new meaning for every civilization."
—Sri Aurobindo