Ravi Ranganathan Podcast

Episode 81 - Chapter 18 Part 4 - Three Types of Knowledge, Action And Doer

Episode 80 - Chapter 18 Part 3 - Five Factors For An Action And The Three Impulses To Act

Episode 79 - Chapter 18 Part 2 - Three Types of ThyAgam And Who Is a ThyAgi.

Episode 78 - Chapter 18 Part 1 - Introduction and Sannyasam vs Thyagam

Episode 78 of podcast "BG - yah pashyati sa pashyati" With Episode 78 this podcast has reached the final chapter of BG. The final eighteenth chapter is the longest chapter in BG and it covers all the major topics that has been taught in earlier chapters. In fact, In this chapter, BhagavAn actually uses some of the phrases he has used earlier. For anyone who has not been following the previous episodes, this chapter alone will give a good understanding of BG. Because of that I will not be taking a short cut to finish this chapter. A total of eleven episodes will cover chapter 18. I will give lots and lots of cross references to earlier chapter where the idea has been brought up. If you refused 😂 to listen to earlier episodes, keep that idea aside and listen to chapter 18 episodes to know what is in BG. This episode starts the final chapter eighteen. A quick summary of the past 17 chapters is followed by an introduction to the chapter. The intro is followed by a brief summary of this chapter and its division into eight segments. Arjuna starts the chapter and asks his final question. Bhagavan explains what is thyAgam (giving up) and sannyAsam (renunciation) as explained by others in the society.

Episode 77 - Chapter 17 Part 4 - What is Om Tat Sat and Chapter Appreciation

Episode 77 covers the final part of chapter 17. In the first three parts we have seen the influence of the three guNAs, sattva, rajas and tamas on faith we have, food we consume, sacrifices we perform, austerities at the body, speech and mind levels and also charities we give. The final part explains the meaning of the three words OM tat and sat separately and together, and when they are used. This is followed by chapter appreciation which will address two important aspects of this chapter.

Episode 76 - Chapter 17 Part 3 - Three Types of Austerities and Charities

Episode 75 - Chapter 17 Part 2 - Three Types of Faith, Food and Sacrifices

Episode 74 - Chapter 17 Part 1 - The Glories Of The Threefold Faith

Episode 74 starts chapter 17. This chapter is titled as shraddhAtrayabhAga yogo, The glories of three fold faith. You can see this chapter as an extension of chapter fourteen. If Chapter fourteen is theory about the three gunAs, chapter 17 is application of the three guNAs in our daily life. This chapter explains three types of faith (shraddhA), food (annam), sacrifices (yagnAs), austerities (tapas), and charity (dhAnam). In addition to these the meaning of the expression 'om tat sat' is also explained.

Episode 73 - Chapter 16 Part 3 - Chapter Conclusion and Chapter Appreciation.

Chapter 16 is a unique chapter in the sense that the entire chapter 16 has a battlefield context. As part of the chapter appreciation, episode 73 will cover the battlefield context of the divine and demonic values taught in chapter 16.

Episode 72 - Chapter 16 Part 2 - Philosophy and Life of Demoniac People.

Episode 71 covered twenty six divine and six demoniac values. Episode 72 cover the philosophy and life style of demoniac people.

Episode 71 - Chapter 16 Part 1 - Divine and Demonic Values

Episode 71 covers twenty six divine values and six demonic values.

Episode 70 - Chapter 15 Part 5 - Chapter Conclusion and Chapter Appreciation - Consciousness

Episode 70 covers the final verses of chapter 15 where Bhagavan stresses the importance of sAstrAs. The episode also includes chapter appreciation, where Consciousness in some of the Indian darsans including vedanta and science are examined.

Episode 69 - Chapter 15 Part 4 - Who Digests our Food and Who is Purushottama.

The previous episode 68 covered who is the nourisher of the body and how nourishment is created for beings to have a life. Episode 69 covers who digests the food we eat and who is purushottama, the best person in the universe. When we say the best, there has to be at least three entities. The ordinary, the middle and the best. These three beings are covered in this episode.

Episode 68 - Chapter 15 Part 3 - Nourisher and Nourishment.

What is the difference between a jeevAtma and paramAtmA? What does jeevAtmA move from one body to another mean? After death, what does jeevAtmA take along with it and how does it do it? Where is nourishment for our body coming from? Who is giving that nourishment? These are some of the questions for which BhagavAn is giving answers in this episode.

Episode 67 - Chapter 15 Part 2 - The Goal of Human Life

Episode 67 continues the metaphor of an Upside Down Tree from the previous episode. This upside down tree represents samsArA. Even though the samsArA itself is eternal, individual samsArA can be cut down. Bhagavan explains what tool should be used to cut this tree-of-samsArA. This episode also explains the goal set for human beings. He also explains a streaming service that he had started long long ago and how his place looks like. Also the verse that gives the foundation for vishishtadvaita is covered in this episode.

Episode 66 - Chapter 15 Part 1 - Introduction to an Upside Down Tree

Episode 65 - Chapter 14 Part 3 - Crossing the Three Gunas & Chapter Conclusion

This episode covers, how to identify a person who has crossed the three guNAs. BhagavAn gives 12 qualities of the person who has crossed the three guNAs. This is like a short summary of the teachings in earlier chapters. The chapter end with the answer to the question I asked in the first episode BhagavAn himself answers who He is.

Episode 64 - Chapter 14 Part 2 - Crossing the Three Gunas

Episode 64 focusses on how to identify a person who has crossed the three guNAs, a guṇātītaḥ, Bhagavan lists twelve qualities of the person who has crossed over the three guNAs. In this epsiode we will also see what happens when a person crosses the three guNAs. The chapter ends looping back to the beginning of the chapter. At the end of the chapter Bhagavan brings in a idea which is the seed for the following chapter 15.

Episode 63 - Chapter 14 Part 1 - Intro To The Chapter On Three Gunas

Episode 63 of podcast "BG - Yah pashyati sa pashyati" - One who sees that person sees. With BhagavAn's blessings, having finished thirteen chapters, Episode 63 starts chapter fourteen. Bhagavan has been talking about three guNAs from the very beginning of his teachings. In chapter two, he pointed out to arjuna that vedAs have stuff other than karma kANDA rituals and it teaches something called three guNAs. Subsequently every now and then this guNA propped up in His teaching. But for the sattva guNA, he did not even introduce the other two guNAs early on. He introduced the names one by one in different chapters. The one thing that was made clear was that the three guNAs are part and parcel of the prakriti and cannot be separated from the prakriti. Finally in this chapter Bhagavan gets into the details of the three guNAs. The names of the three guNAs, how they bind us, which is the strongest one among the three, what kind of result each one produces, the qualities of a person who has crossed the three guNAs, what happens when a person crosses the three guNAs are all described in this chapter. This is not a difficult chapter to understand in one or two listens. p.s: Entire chapters 17 and part of 18 also cover the three guNAs

Episode 62 - Chapter 13 Part 6 - Chapter Appreciation Part 2 - kashmiri shaivism

Episode 62 continues the chapter 13 appreciations. This episode covers the interesting story of creation as per kashmir shaivism, aadi sankara's imaginary dialogue to make his point that samsarA is a superimposition, the idea of consciousness in other Indian schools of thought and finally the right perception of the world.