Full session recording is available here

AuroYouth has been conducting a series of talks titled "From Twilight to light - The Sunlit path" to help the youth connect with their inner consciousness and discover its application in their everyday life & its challenges.  

In the seventeenth Talk of the series, on October 11th, 2020, Ojasi Parameswaran spoke about "The Bhagavad Gita for Youth – In the Light of Sri Aurobindo".

There are three interconnected parts of this discussion:

• Bhagavad Gita
• Life
• Youth

Bhagavad Gita

There are two Pathways given in the Bhagavad Gita: One is coming down and another is going up. A diagram was shared by Ojasi to explain the Bhagavad Gita in a nutshell. According to the diagram, the Supreme Divine (Purushottama) enters into the Universe (kshara brahman), the entire manifestation, the combination of time and space. The other existence of the Supreme Divine is in terms of timelessness (akshara brahman). The second term to describe the Divine is Energy (Prakriti). There are two forms of energy: potential energy (Supreme Divine withdrawing from time and space) and kinetic energy (The divine force taking the shape of action, Prakriti). The third term is Transcendent (ateetya). This is the infinite and the eternal force. The Universal Cosmic is the body of the Transcendent. There is a portion of the supreme divine called the Individual soul (amsa). According to Sri Aurobindo it is the multiple eternal soul. The individual soul takes birth with a body (sariram), senses (indriya), mind and emotion (manah) and intellect (buddhi). This is the definition of the human being (Jeeva). The combination of the body, mind and intellect is the dynamic force and there is a static aspect called Witness. Apart from this, It is also connected to the lower Prakriti (sattwa,rajas,tamas). This divine power is called Shakti. it is the derivation of the higher nature (paraa prakriti).

The purpose of the individual soul is to consciously transcend our lower nature and attain to the Higher nature. This is the yoga sadhana. The higher nature is identified with the Supreme Divine (Purusottama). The goal of life is to understand this upward curve, through Gyana, Karma and Bhakti paths. It is the process of the being to become the Divine.

Life

Those who have read the Gita or haven't read the Gita, have the same question: What is the purpose of life?

It is to follow your Swadharma, the swadharma of your individual soul, till you complete the union with the Divine. The soul travels across many lives. This is called the line of development. The knowledge of the Swadharma gets reflected into the intellect (buddhi); the external intellect has to go inward and touch the individual soul, then you get to know the main purpose of your life. The purpose of life is to work (seva) through your Swadharma, first experiencing your swadharma and then experimenting with your swadharma. We rise from lower swadharma to higher swadharma (higher nature - Purusottama). The action of swadharma has three difficulties and three supports. The three difficulties are: Misunderstanding swadharma (self-deception and insincerity), Fear (due to partial knowledge/lack of knowledge) and Doubt. The three supports are: The Supreme Divine himself, Faith (in the Divine) and Shastra (collective distilled knowledge). The aim is to strike a balance between individual knowledge and collective knowledge.

Youth

Life in terms of general understanding is divided into four categories:

• Childhood
• Youth
• Adulthood
• Old age

Childhood is to do unconscious sadhana (grow unconsciously). Youth is the stage of aspiration where guidance is needed. Adulthood is doing conscious sadhana and old age is when one is unable to change himself/herself much.

In a higher interpretation, Youth is eternal youth, It is about contant joy and growth, about connecting to Ishwara, to be reborn to become the instrument of the Divine. The Supreme Divine is working out new ways of manifestation in which our individual soul has to become the instrument of the Divine. There should be an alignment between the external body and mind and the individual soul, and between the individual soul and the Supreme Divine.

When we transcend our body, mind and intellect we turn towards the Light (the supramental light). It is about making the journey from being human to the Divine by following the Swadharma (the sunlit path). The purpose of life to unite with the Divine to get Eternal Youth.

Click for details of The Sunlit Path Talk 11, Talk 10, Talk 9, Talk 8, Talk 7, Talk 6, Talk 5, Talk 4, Talk 3, Talk 2 and Talk 1.