This week let’s try something different. Let’s go through some passages from Chapters 2 & 3 stanza by stanza.

For this to work, you have to be willing to jump right in. Write a comment. Ask a question. Reply to what someone else has written.

If you’re thinking about it, but are on the fence, JUST DO IT. I hope you can see we’re a pretty friendly bunch here, and we’re very receptive to hearing everyone’s thoughts.

Here’s are the stanzas:

Self-possessed, resolute, act
without any thought of results,
open to success or failure.
This is equanimity is yoga. (BG 2.48)

The wise man lets go of all
results, whether good or bad,
and is focused on the action alone.
Yoga is skill in actions. (BG 2.50)

The superior man is he
whose mind can control his senses;
with no attachment to results,
he engages in the yoga of action. (BG 3.7)

Without concern for results,
perform the necessary action;
surrendering all attachments,
accomplish life’s highest good. (BG 3.19)

Though the unwise cling to their actions,
watching for results, the wise
are free of attachments, and act
for the well-being of the whole world. (BG 3.25)

Performing all actions for my sake,
desireless, absorbed in the Self,
indifferent to “I” and “mine”,
let go of your grief, and fight! (BG 3.30)

If we were sitting around a room together, I would ask you these questions to get the discussion going:

1) How would you summarize these stanzas in your own words?

2) Give us an example of how you might apply these words to your own life.

3) Which lines of the text are difficult to understand?

4) Tell us anything else that comes to mind when you read these words.

Let’s see what happens. If this works, and we like it, then we’ll do some more.

No new reading for next week.
Put all your energies into thinking about
and commenting on the six stanzas above.

(Or use the week to catch-up.  We’ve read through Chapter 7,  p. 105.)

~

All Blogs in the Series:

Welcome to Gita Talk:
Online Discussion of the Bhagavad Gita. (Round 2)

Ongoing Resources:

Gita in a Nutshell: Big Ideas & Best Quotations

Yoga Demystified

The Original Sixteen Session Gita Talk

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