​Gita 10.25 – Japa is an opportunity to offer our most treasured possession – consciousness

Thank you Bhagavad Gita 10.25 here Krishna is speaking about his opulences and like in many other verses in this series he gives four examples in the four lines of the verse Bhrgu is considered often to be the forefather or in one sense even the primogenitor of all the brahmanas so many brahmanas for example Shaunaka is addressed by Suta Goswami as Bhrgunandana so among the great rishis Krishna says I am this formidable rishi Bhrgu there are many different illustrious sages which are talked about in the Vedic tradition Bhrgu is considered one of the foremost and in the broad Vedic tradition there was a great respect for brahmanical culture and among them also especially powerful brahmanas received far greater esteem and then that kind of esteem and the person was worthy of that esteem that naturally attracts attention and when we understand that this greatness of this great person is coming from the supremely great being then the appreciation of the appreciable can take us towards can take our thoughts towards the supremely appreciable being Giram asme ekam aksharam Giram so Gira is the power of speaking Giram is that which comes out through our speech that is vibrations among the word that are spoken Ekam aksharam that is the single word that is the word of Om Giram asme ekam aksharam so pranava as it is often said this is considered the primeval sound from which all sounds manifest and Om has tremendous power for channeling our consciousness towards the transcendental reality and Krishna in the Bhagavad Gita several times talks about how he is the Om so you can talk about aksharam that is different of course they are talking in terms of alphabets but the point is that Krishna pervades all of existence and pranava is sarvavedeshu he has said in the 7th chapter also he is the pranava which is there on the Vedas so the point is that when we talk about sound vibrations Om is a prominent potent sound vibration that the followers of the Vedic tradition deeply revere and adore so when they understand that where is this extraordinary power of Om coming from it is coming from Krishna Om is a manifestation of Krishna in sound of course the impersonalists may not appreciate Krishna as Om because they do not understand him to be the they do not connect, they get the connection between Om and him but when we understand that the absolute truth is ultimately personal and when we relate with that absolute truth in a personal manifestation then we can move forward towards becoming devoted to that absolute truth and in its personal manifestation because we understand the absolute truth is not just a sound which sounds good or which feels good or which even raises our consciousness actually the absolute truth is the supreme being who can take us beyond all illusion towards the highest reality and that absolute truth manifests as the sound of Om over here so when this, now the connectedness of these various manifestations of Krishna they can vary, so for example later on we will talk about what Srinama Vasudeva that is referring to Balram now Balram is a Swamshe expansion so say the connection of him with Balram is of a qualitatively more closer level than say when he says I am Devanam Asmivasam when he says I am Indra so here we don't focus on the specifics of the connectedness of the manifester and the manifested that may vary in various degrees at different times but the focus is on on connecting our consciousness the ontological nature of the, ontological means that which is connected with the nature of reality the ontological nature of the connectedness between the manifester and the manifested, manifested is Krishna the manifested is the various manifestations that are given here that nature is something, the nature of that connectedness will vary depending on different manifestations but the point is not on the, the focus of this section is not on the ontological connectedness of the manifester and the manifested, the focus is on the, on facilitating, fostering a connection between the connection in the consciousness of the observer between the between the observed attractive object and the source of all attractiveness so in that sense the attractiveness of Aum when we understand it comes from supreme then we can become attracted towards the supreme and as appreciate the supreme more yajnanam japa yajnosmi yajnanam, now yajna is fire sacrifice now interestingly what Krishna says over here is normally when we think of fire sacrifice we think of it as a physical activity where we light a physical fire and put physical oblations in it and yes of course there is a very that is also a very literal physical activity but the yajna is not restricted to that physical activity alone, yajna manifests a timeless principle and the timeless principle is the principle of sacrificing that which is dear to us for the sake of the one who is dear to us so the mother may sacrifice her night sleep to take care of her baby that is a sacrifice so the sleep would have been very dear and pleasing for her but she gives up that sleep so that she can please her baby she can care for her baby, she can help the baby free, feel freedom from anxiety or pain or loneliness or whatever it may be that is affecting the baby so sacrifice means that which is giving up that which is dear to us for the sake of the one who is dear to us so now this sacrifice also manifests instead in japa so when we are chanting the mantras chanting the holy names at that time we see that actually it is the yajna which is it is a sacrifice of consciousness, our consciousness is very dear to us and we can take our consciousness in various directions we may think of sense objects, we may think of cricket we may think of earning money we may think of whatever hundred things which you may think will give us pleasure so our consciousness we can let it go in hundreds or even millions of things but when we instead let our consciousness focus on the absolute truth, on Krishna then we understand that actually he is he is the ultimate source of all peace and all bliss but we do not realize that immediately and in the intermediate phase japa is a sacrifice rather than letting our consciousness go towards the things that are pleasurable for us we consciously offer the consciousness to Krishna that means if we envision our consciousness as the oblation and the mantra which we are doing as japa as the fire and we offer our consciousness in the oblation of the japa mantra in that way we offer our consciousness to Krishna and Krishna says there are various kinds of sacrifices but the sacrifice in which sacrifice of japa the yajna of japa is his manifestation because here many physical fire sacrifices can be performed ritualistically but when japa is done if we try to consciously offer our consciousness to Krishna then we are very closely connected with Krishna that is a matter of great intimate connectedness so that's what happens through yajna and then for the last thing says sthavaranam himalayaham sthavaranam sthavara and jangama these are two typical categories two standard categories which are mentioned in the broad vedic literature sthavara is that which is not moving and jangama is that which is moving so among the moving and non-moving objects Krishna says that he is, he manifests as the himalayas the himalayas are huge especially if we go visit the himalayas here at the foothills of the himalayas and we are just awed so we feel ourselves reduced to insignificance in the presence of their magnificence so that realization of our insignificance and the magnificence of the himalayas when that combined feeling of astonishment of appreciation of awe that comes within us we can see that the himalayas greatness the Himalayas immovability that is coming from Krishna and we can direct our consciousness thus towards Krishna.