47 - Several Spiritual Paths – One Goal | Swami Tattwamayananda

-5th chapter: verses 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10<br />-The lecture was given by Swami Tattwamayananda on July 31, 2020.<br />-5th verse: “The spiritual destination reached by men of Jnanam (knowledge) can also be reached by practitioners of karma-yoga. Both paths take us to the same goal.”<br />-A person who is lazy should first learn to be active. At the next stage, he can do his duties with a sense of surrender, offering his actions and results to God. This is called Karma-Yoga. Karma-yoga will take him to the next stage of Chitta-shuddhi (inner purity), which leads to Jnana-prapti (knowledge of Brahman), which leads to Moksha (liberation).<br />-A person who follows Jnanam is a karma-yogi of the highest order, practicing renunciation of his actions and results, and offering them to God. It stems from his awareness that there is a Divine Reality present everywhere, and everything is a manifestation of that Reality.<br />-The royal path of spiritual evolution is always in front of us. We can continue to do our normal duties, but we can start doing them with freedom from selfishness and greed. Then our normal responsibilities become a path for us to progress spiritually.<br />-6th verse: “Renunciation of action is very difficult for those who have not already gone through the path of karma-yoga. One has to practice karma-yoga to be able to renounce later.”<br />-Karma-yoga purifies the mind and helps the person reach a stage where he can practice renunciation. A person who wants to be a monk cannot continue in the life of renunciation, unless his mind is previously trained and purified with karma-yoga. Real renunciation is nothing but giving up ahamkara (false ego) and kama (desires).<br />-7th verse: “A person whose mind is purified by selfless devotion to his duties, whose ego is sublimated, whose senses are under control – such a person realizes the highest spiritual truth. He realizes that his own Self is present in everything.”<br />-A person whose mind becomes pure and whose ego gets refined, he becomes broad minded