Reading The Bhagavad Gita Book 4

TITLE: Reading the Bhagavad Gita Book 4 CHANNEL: Wes Cecil DATE: 2026-05-22 ---TRANSCRIPT--- Thanks to our Patreon members for helping to make this episode possible and we’re now available on all the major podcasting platforms. You can find more information at the links below. Good evening, ladies and gentlemen, and welcome to book four of reading the Gita and I think this is uh one of the books that makes me glad or at least makes it feel useful to me to do something like this because it is a very confusing book on a number of levels, although it’s very direct um in what it says. This is also, I think, confusing if one doesn’t have all this silly background, not silly background, all the deep theological background uh necessary to help us understand what it is that Krishna is talking about here. And remember, in book three we’ve introduced this idea of that the of the path of the yoga of understanding of true wisdom. And so Krishna says, “Look, in in book four, he opens, “I revealed the everlasting yoga to Vivasvan, the sun, the father of light. He, in turn, revealed it to Manu, his son, the father of man, and Manu taught his son, King Ikshvaku, the saint. Then it was taught from father to son, the line of kings who were saints, but in the revolution of times immemorial, this doctrine was forgotten by men. Today, I am revealing revealing to thee this yoga eternal, this secret supreme, because of thy love for me and because I am thy friend.” And then Arjuna says, confused, “Thy birth was after the birth of the sun. The birth of the sun was before thine. What is the meaning of thy words? I revealed this yoga to Vivasvan.” Now here you realize that Krishna, which whom the reader knows is an incarnation of Vishnu, we know Krishna is an avatar of God. So we’re not confused, but Arjuna’s like, “Hey, this is my cousin.” Cousin, yes, I believe he’s his cousin. Uh Arjuna is looking at his cousin going, “Hey, Krishna, I know you’re wise. I know you’re uh brilliant. I trust you. You’re my faithful companion and advisor. But uh like what are you saying like here? And so first what Krishna as Vishnu is saying is saying, “Look, I taught the yoga of truth. This is the the supreme wisdom to the sun. And the sun is sort of the first one first mover of gods, if you will, in the Hindu cosmology. Although that’s not even the right way to think of it. Time doesn’t work quite the same way because it’s cyclical. Um in in any case and then the sun taught uh this truth to Manu. And Manu is generally conceived of as the god who gave birth to man. And so there’s this very you’ll have many references to Manu because Manu is sort of the life giver for man. And then, you know, it was handed down generation and into generation and then it was forgotten. And so Arjuna is confused like how can you say you were before the first god, as it were? And then Krishna responds, “I have been born many times, Arjuna, and many times has thou been born. But I remember my past lives and thou has forgotten thine.” And this is the key. This is where Krishna is revealing like, “Look, I remember the past. You don’t.” And of course this is the cycle of life that is going to become very important. Well, it’s already been important, but it becomes crucially important here. He says, “Although I am unborn, everlasting, I am the lord of all. I come to my realm of nature and through my wondrous power I am born.” So even the universe itself functionally, even god, as we mentioned before, is reborn. He says, “I don’t have to be reborn. I choose to be reborn. I keep I’m in the cycle even though I’m everlasting and everything is me, still here I am.” And and as we when the righteous is weak and and faints and unrighteous exudes its pride or exults in pride, then my uh spirit arises on earth. The self for the salvation of those who are good, for the destruction of evil men, for the fulfillment of the kingdom righteousness, I come to this world in the ages that pass. So, one again one of the problems here is translation. So, this is practically you know, King James biblical translation and so this just makes us think that we’re in a biblical framework and we’re not. And so all of these words, the righteousness, um you know, being reborn, this is not the kind of creation myth that you get in Christianity. And so I’ll keep mentioning this because the language, I mean what other language would you use because this is the language that resonates because of of the history of Christianity of in the English speaking world, but it did this is not a rebirth like Jesus coming down one time or such. Um, so he who knows my birth as God and who knows my sacrifice, when he leaves his mortal body, goes no more from death to death, for he in truth comes to me. How many have come to me trusting in me, filled with my spirit, in peace from passions and fears and angers, made pure by the fire of wisdom? In any way that man men love me, in that same way they find my love. For many are the paths of men, but they all in the end come to me. So, couple of key points here. He who knows my birth as God and who knows my sacrifice, when he leaves his mortal body, goes no more from death to death, for he in truth comes to me. Now, on first reading this might sound like you’re going to escape the cycle of samsara, but you’re not going to. And we’ll talk about why this is important, but this is going to come up at the end. But keep that in mind. I mean, if you were confused by that like saying, oh we’re going to heaven, we’re uniting with God, we’re not reborn anymore. This all sounds very familiar Uh, and doesn’t sound like Hinduism, this sounds you know, like Christianity. And part of that is the problem of the language. And part of it is the play that’s taking place. And this is where we get into deep Hindu theology. So, just hang with me for a second. I promise we’ll return. And then, how many have come to me trusting in me, filled with my spirit in peace from passion and fears and anger, made pure by the fire of wisdom. In any way that men love me in the same way they find my love. For many are the paths of men, but they all in the end come to me. Ah. Now, this is crucial for the argument he’s making to Arjuna. He’s like, “Look, there is not one path. There innumerable paths that lead to me. I’m a god, all-knowing, all-seeing, all everything. Of course, there’s multiple paths to me, multiple routes. There is not one law, one rule, one set of uh, one path. So, you know, in in Taoism, you know, the path that is a path is no path, right? There is no path. Um, in Christianity, you have people arguing about what is the right path. Pretty much in Islam, the same thing, right? Like, you know, you’re always trying to figure out what is the correct path. And here you get this very In some ways, to me, this is one of the key moments in Hinduist Hindu ideals is this notion of no, there’s an God is infinite. Ipso facto, there’s an infinite number of ways to love God. Ipso facto, there’s an infinite number of paths to God. And this this is what Vishnu or Krishna {slash} Vishnu is saying here. There is not one way to me. Any way that one loves me, that’s the way to me. And so, when you see Hindu temples that have, you know, dancing and music and pilgrimage and sacrifice and meditation, uh, and and music and you know, you have every you know, painting and sculpting and pilgrimages, you know, you families, you have images of basically, you have a reproduction of the world and the world is all paths to Vishnu because what else could it be because of course this is the world. And so that I mean it’s such an important distinction um for the how we understand in the West versus how Hinduism presents it and I think this creates all kinds of confusion. It’s infinitely confusing if when you when you have been raised where there’s one rule, one law, one path, one belief system and that is if you get that right then you get to God. And and and Vishnu here says no, this is a misunderstanding of the Godhead and of and of humanity. Um and so hence crucial crucial passion passage here. The four orders of men arose from me in justice their natures and their works. Know that this work was mine though I am beyond work in eternity. So this is the caste system, the four orders comes directly from me. So know that. In the bounds of work I am free because in them I am free from desires. The man who can see this truth in his work he finds his freedom. And this is like sort of the Kantian problem, right? Like oh perfect servitude is total freedom. Um right? This is where you this idea of like if you do your work in the right way with the right mindset then you’re totally free and then you’re totally in the mode of God. This was known by men of old times and thus in their work they found liberation. Do thou therefore thy work in life in the spirit that their work was done. What is work? What is beyond work? Even some seers see this not right. I will teach thee the truth of pure work and this truth shall make thee free. Know therefore what is work and also know what is wrong work and know also of a work that is silent. mysterious is the path of work. The man who in his work finds silence and who sees that silence is work, this man in truth sees the light and in all his work finds peace. He who understand He whose undertakings are free from anxious desire and fanciful thought, whose work is made pure in the fire of wisdom, he is called by those who see. In whatever work he does, such a man in truth has peace. He expects nothing, he relies on nothing and ever has fullness of joy. He has no vain hopes, he is the master of his soul, he surrenders all he has, only his body works, he is free from sin. He is glad with whatever God gives him and he has arisen beyond the two contraries here below. He was out jealousy and in success or in failure he is one. His work bind him not. He has attained liberation, he is free from all bonds. His mind has found peace and wisdom and his work is a holy sacrifice. This work of such a man is pure. Ah, so here we go. So we can pause there cuz we hit the new idea of sacrifice. So step one is this is work without expectation of reward or outcome. It’s the work itself, right? It is the the process is the the thing. Right? When one lets go of the outcome and and embraces the process and embraces the work itself, the work that is given to one, then you’re free cuz you’re free from all of the desires and the jealousies and the hopes and the fears. No, you just do the work. It’s It’s just this clear concept of let go of the rest and do the work and everything else will take care of itself. You will be filled with fullness and joy because you don’t have jealousy, you’re not filled with fear, you don’t worry about the outcome, you just engage the process. And this in this engaging in work as meditation, you can see the tension with Buddhism cuz the Buddhism retreat to a monastery, pull back from the world, retire, don’t interact, escape the caste system, escape all of that. And now here the counter argument is, “No, no, no, look, you misunderstand the nature of being in the world when you do this. The nature of being in the world is to pick up the work that’s given to you, embrace it, love it, and do it for its own value. Then you’re free. Then you’re in tune with nature. Then you’re pleasing to God, as it were.”

[snorts] And then he says this key word because again this is this is who in all his work in truth um is making a sacrifice, right? Like this is key. He has attained liberation. He is free from all bonds. His mind has found peace and wisdom, and his work is a holy sacrifice. The work of such man is pure. And so what your your work itself is the sacrifice. So this makes the notion of the Brahman as the people who used to carry out the Vedic ritual sacrifices, which we talked about, specifically killing actual animals and other kinds of sacrifices and other kinds of ritual prescribed practices or not prescribed but required practices by rules. That gets converted into the sacrifice is the process itself. Basically one makes one’s life and one’s work one sacrifice. But it’s not a sacrifice in the sense of suffering. Notice it’s a sacrifice in the sense of attaining full joy. You’re sacrificing all of the other stuff. And what’s left is the greatness of being. Right? So the And the work of such a man is pure. Who in all his work sees God, he in truth goes unto God. God is his worship, God his offerings offered by God in the fire of God. There are yogis who sacrifice his offering to the gods, but others of as a sacrifice their own soul in the fire of God. In the fire of inner harmony, some surrender their senses in the darkness and the fire of the senses, some surrender their outer light. Others sacrifice their breath of life and also the powers of life in the fire of an inner union lighted by a flash of vision. And others faithful to austere vows offer their wealth as a sacrifice or their penance or their practice of yoga or their sacred studies or their knowledge. Some offer their outflowing breath into the breath that flows in and the inflowing breath into the breath that flows out. They aim at pranayama, breath harmony, and the flow of their breath is in peace. So again, here is this there’s so many ways to do this. You can do it by sacrificing your money, you can do it through breathing, you can do it through your works. It’s not what one does, it’s the spirit and the intention and the uh wisdom, I guess, the insight with which one does things that really matters. Others through practice of abstinence offer their life into life. All those who know what is sacrifice and through sacrifice purify their sins. Neither this world nor the world to come is for him who does not sacrifice. And those who enjoys enjoy what remains of the fact sacrifice goes unto Brahman. Thus, in many ways men sacrifice, in many ways they go to Brahman. Know all Know that all sacrifice is holy work and knowing this, thou shalt be free. All men can be holy. Every sacrifice takes one towards the goal. And you you sacrifice through joy, through process, through letting go of the outcome. You’re doing it just purely for the sake of doing it. But greater than any earthly sacrifice is the sacrifice of sacred wisdom. For wisdom is in truth the end of all holy work. So this is, you know, it’s Now, you get the kind of a slight hierarchy of of There are so many paths, but the real path is holy wisdom. Those who themselves have seen the truth can be thy teachers of wisdom. Ask for them, bow unto them, be thou unto them a servant. When wisdom is thine, Arjuna, never more shall thou be in confusion. For thou shalt see all things in thy heart, and thou shalt see thy heart in me. And even if thou were the greatest of sinners, with the help of the bark of wisdom, thou shalt cross the sea of evil. Even as burning fire burns all fuel into ashes, the fire of eternal wisdom burns into ashes all works. Because there’s nothing like wisdom which can make us pure on this earth. The man who lives in self-harmony finds this truth in his soul. He who has faith has wisdom, who lives in self-harmony, whose faith is his life, and who finds wisdom soon finds the peace supreme. But he who has no faith and no wisdom, and whose soul is in doubt, is lost. For neither this world nor the world to come, nor joy is ever for the man who doubts. He who makes pure his work by yoga, who watches over his soul, and who by wisdom destroys his doubts, is free from the bondage of selfish work. Kill, therefore, with the sword of wisdom the doubts born of ignorant that lies in thy heart. Be one in self-harmony and yoga, and [clears throat] arise, great warrior. Arise. So, notice here is this double play on killing with the great sword. Wisdom is the goal. When you see true and have no doubts, you will no longer be troubled. So, slay your doubts with your sword of wisdom. This is what a warrior does, right? The warrior needs to slay his doubts because their doubts are keeping you from going forth and killing your family. Remember, that’s what this is all about. Go forth and kill your family. And he’s saying, “Look, the first step of the warrior wisdom is to kill your doubts. When you have the pure wisdom, then you will see the right path. And the right path is to do your work, and your work, the work that is given to a warrior, is to fight. It’s a just fight. You’re the rightful heirs. That is all a warrior can ask for. You just go and do the fighting you’re supposed to do, and you don’t worry about anything else. As we’ve just seen, you just let go of all that. It is the fighting the self itself that matters. This is what purifies you, and this is what makes it makes you closer to God. This what brings you into harmony with the with universe and with God, who is here in the chariot explaining this to you. So, that invocation, again, that the work itself is what matters, not outcome. You’re supposed to do it. The fact that doing it kills your family, that’s beside the point. Now you’re focused on outcome, right? Don’t do that. That’s not what you’re supposed to be worried about. The wisdom is to have the insight to understand what you’re supposed to do as a warrior, which is your work. You’re supposed to fight. Is there a war here? Yes. Is it your war? Yes. All right, then you go and fight it. Enough said. And if the first step in this is to kill your doubt, because the doubt is what’s weakened you. That’s why the bow fell from your hand. That’s why you’re sitting here talking to me in your chariot on this field of battle, rather [clears throat] than going forth and killing your family. So, you know, this is this is this is what the core of this argument in the section is. And it’s obviously a continuation of earlier ones. Notice the invocation again of sacrifice, right? Because this is the It’s not that we’re moving We’re rereading sacrifice from the Vedic tradition, from actual external literal ritual sacrifice, to making your entire life a ritual sacrifice of yourself. This is the This is the re-reading that you get in the Gita. Um and then back to this notion of but hey, it sounds like he says if you do this, you can achieve heaven, quote unquote heaven, and you can stop the cycle, samsara, the cycle of rebirth. And it sort of sounds like that. I can understand this confusion. I was certainly confused by that by my myself. Um but the important thing and I’m not in no way do I want to say I am a Hindu theo- theologian cuz that is an entire ocean of of study and there’s depth upon depth, but functionally what you’re running into here is a play between a samsara, which is the cycle of forced rebirth, because you’re still playing out your karmic debt, your karmic destiny. Because you’ve been living in sin, because you’ve been falsely aware, because you have no insight, because you’ve forgotten your past lives, you make mistakes, and so you’re continually cast into the forced cycle of rebirth. [sighs] Ah, notice Vishnu is not this person, and yet Vishnu is here. Vishnu is at play. Lila, I believe is the pronunciation. I apologize again for my Sanskrit pronunciation. Uh this is uh um this is one who chooses, who goes through the cycle cuz again, it’s the thing to do. It’s not a forced rebirth. It’s not a painful rebirth and a painful death. One is detached from the cycle, but participates in it. It is in fact an almost direct analogy from what has just been talked about. If you have to do it, if you’re doing life for the wrong reasons, then you’re trapped in this cycle, you’re making mistakes, you’re misunderstanding. Once you understand clearly, once you see God perfectly, once you’ve attained the perfect wisdom that Krishna is talking about here, then the cycle becomes um a play. It becomes something that you watch. I don’t I mean, you’re participating, but you’re not forced into or controlled by, if that makes sense. So, you’re you’ve escaped your karmic cycle. You don’t have the karmic debt anymore, so you’re outside of the cycle of life, but you’re still participating. And again, this is that a second layer. The work is to be done in the world, and thinking you can escape the world is incorrect. The cycle is permanent, but the question is whether it’s voluntary or free or playful or if it’s part of debt. So, the Buddhist idea that you withdraw, meditate, achieve enlightenment, and then escape the cycle of rebirth is replaced by the notion of no, you act in the world, you participate, and when you get that right, you escape the cycle of forced rebirth and karma, and become sort of god-like and participatory in the cycles of the universe, because of course this is the right thing to do, which if you were perfectly wise, you would recognize. And so, there’s complexity on complexity and layer on layer here. There’s some other things going on. I won’t won’t worry about that, but if if you can understand these series of core ideas that are being worked with and within the context that they’re being explored. Again, you have the work in the world, the sacrifice being switched to the sacrifice of yourself, um the reinforcement of the idea of the caste system as coming directly from Vishnu, um and being spoken unto us from God himself, and that the cycle of life, while it is inevitable, is not a trap. It’s a trap as long as you don’t have wisdom, but as soon as you attain wisdom, it becomes uh a play. It becomes a a joy. It becomes something you participate in like Vishnu, who who obviously doesn’t have to, but he does because this is the way the world and the universe is so constructed. So, um book four is it’s it’s simple and direct. Like it’s not complicated in the sense of oh he he just says a few things, but the context and the nuance here is really, I think at least for me, the first time I read this, uh [clears throat] I was completely baffled. Like wait a second, this is saying many contradictory things it seems. But uh deeper understanding, deeper reflection and reading, and I think you’ll see this. Uh what’s what’s happening here with the sa- samsara cycle versus the lila cycle and the karmic debt and the sacrifice and being in the world. And finally, I I I do want to warn again, as I mentioned before, like the language here I think is I mean how you choose a translation appropriately, but you can compare it to other translations that have turned down the this is the Penguin have turned down the Old Testament, you know, sort of uh biblical language, King James language. And on one hand it’s somewhat clear, but it does lose the powerful religious resonance. And so functionally, this is a powerful religious book. And so while you won’t feel quite so much of the Christian hierarchy, I think it’s still there. But when you do a more technical uh translation, it loses a lot of the poetry and a lot of the power of the resonance of religion of of the spirituality. And I think that sacrifice is too much of uh speaking of sacrifice. And so, while it is problematic in the language at times, I’m not sure how you avoid it without sort of stripping the text of all its spiritual power. So, book four, thank you very much.