Summary:

Bhagavad Gita, Chapter 4, Verse 10:  Many ordinary people have made quantum jumps in perspective through perseverance, coming to appreciate Intelligence behind all forms, which ultimately collapses into self-evident, non-negatable Awareness. The mind is designed by omniscient Lord to ascertain truth when given right pramana – just as tongue cannot fail to taste, mind cannot fail to taste and permanently ascertain truth. Three obstructing variables postpone this: (1) binding-desires (vītarāga) create tunnel-vision, making other priorities small, using rigid language of “this MUST happen,” leading to fear and anger upon unfulfillment; (2) psychological fear (bhaya) imagines catastrophic events, stifling free will and clouding judgment; (3) anger (krodha) from unaddressed pain or sense of justice. Freedom comes through disciplines of knowledge (jñāna-tapasā): Apara-vidya uses pratipaksha-bhavana (revisiting situations from different perspectives) and recognizing your power to change your story; Para-vidya reveals Self never performed any action, is not doer or object of action, thus eternally absolutely-pure and subject to no hurt. True injury is impossible because Consciousness has no attributes to be hurt. Condemnation reinforces that Self can be hurt, reinforcing division. Solution includes forgiveness (recognizing no perfection in forms), and understanding cause-effect relationships.

Bhagavad Gita, Chapter 4, Verse 10:

वीत-राग-भय-क्रोधाः मन्मयाः माम् उपाश्रिताः ।
बहवः ज्ञान-तपसा पूताः मद्भावम् आगताः ॥ ४-१०॥
vīta-rāga-bhaya-krodhāḥ manmayāḥ mām upāśritāḥ ।
bahavaḥ jñāna-tapasā pūtāḥ madbhāvam āgatāḥ ॥ 4-10॥

Free from craving, fear, and anger, totally resolved in me, taking refuge in Me, purified by the discipline of knowledge, many have come back to my nature.

“Purified by discipline of knowledge, many have come back to my nature”

Krishna says there were many ordinary curious people like you in past, who through perseverance, made quantum jumps in perspectives, eventually coming to appreciate Intelligence behind all forms, and ultimately that Intelligence collapses into self-evident, non-negatable Awareness. And you (who still genuinely takes Self as the body-mind suit) can be a jivanmukta because your mind is designed by omniscient Lord.

Metaphor demonstrating why you CAN discover your own truth: Just like tongue cannot fail to taste, because its function is to taste; the mind cannot fail but initially taste and eventually permanently ascertain the truth – by being given the right pramana. You need not do anything to tongue muscles to improve its tasting ability. You simply trust it to do the job it’s intended. Same with mind.  For tongue to taste accurately, need to wash it of previous foods. For mind, need to remove obstructing variables.

Example of teaching that has ability to change perception of reality:

Condemning keeps you trapped in duality. True injury is impossible – because what’s real has no attributes, and is partless, since it's all-pervading – thus it has no parts to be hurt or taken away. What’s real, cannot be attacked nor hurt.

Since condemnation means “I’m hurt, and they are guilty”, that very statement is reinforcing that Self can be hurt. Instead of focusing on solution mode and understanding where the person is coming from, focus is on “Me being hurt”.

To blame another as guilty – is to turn them into an enemy, meaning I’ve turned Ishvara (in form of that person) into an enemy. I’ve also carved them out of the unity I share with them. Meaning I’ve excluded them from the whole. Whole MINUS person condemned ≠ whole, but limitation. And that limitation manifests as discomfort/smallness, because you (the WHOLE) have excluded them from the WHOLE.

To put attention on “I am hurt, and he/she is guilty” – shows mind is still habitually on mithya, failing to understand Brahman (Consciousness) has no attributes and is the only true reality. Meaning no one can truly be hurt, nor blamed.

Another way to look at condemnation, I enjoyed, is from ACIM 365 Day Workbook which says, “Condemnation (diminishing another in your mind) is ego’s way of ensuring the division continues between Me and “that”, reinforcing duality/smallness, the very thing that I want to free myself from.”

Solution To Reduce Habitual Condemnation / Diminishment of Others and Yourself:

Some things we can apply are:

• • • Forgiveness / accommodation: Which means (a) recognize there’s no perfection in this illusionary dream-like world, everyone will get it wrong unknowingly, and (b) deliberately and immediately recognizing the Intelligence behind the form.
    • There's no unfairness in the world: Situations (world, political situations) seem unfair because you have limited data. In reality, it’s a cause-effect timeline. 

What are the mind’s obstructing variables that postpone it from ascertaining its own truth? Three things…

“Free from craving (binding-desires), fear  and anger”

1) Binding desires, or craving (vītarāga) —

• 1. When BG uses the word “desires” – how to distinguish whether it's speaking of healthy or unhealthy desires?
     • “Desire” in general – only become problematic when it makes you lose perspective of other options, since it creates tunnel-vision. For instance, desire to be successful is so big (ie: binding) – that it makes other things like dharma – small. Those desires that make you lose perspective are called “binding-desires” (craving).
  2. What is a binding-desire?
     • It's in form of those activities that messes with your priorities. In their presence, other important things, seem unimportant. Their language is rigid, “This MUST happen to me. This MUST not happen to me”. These two black-white options makes one with binding-desires hard to work with, and difficult to please. Because binding-desires makes it seems like they're absolutely crucial for one's wellbeing – which further adds fear/anxiety of things not going according to expectations (or rigid/shallow rules). They make the brain consumed with future “what if” scenarios – making it impossible to appreciate the present.
  3. How to know it was a Binding-Desire?
     • Upon it's unfulfillment — anger towards the object, God or yourself follows.
     • You're not meeting the person where he/she's at. Portion of energy during a conversation is invested in  protecting your role/ego (ie: self-image of yourself you've come to depend on for safety in the world).
  4. Binding-Desire is of two types:
     1. Desire to get (at any cost): For example, a person was praying for a couple to divorce because she wanted the husband. Instead, she could've invested energy thanking the relationship for showing her what she wants in a partner. In otherwords, a binding-desire for something, overrides basic decency.
     2. Desire to rid of something or stay away from something: Makes you miss out on what’s healthy, on other approaches to life.
  5. Binding-Desire & Ignorance Relationship:
     • Desire is body-guard of ignorance. Ignorance hides behind wall of binding-desire, which actively keeps person interested in particulars, thus preventing them from considering alternatives – which again sustains ignorance (ie: not knowing about other options). That’s why even the most rational and intelligent people, can spend years in cults such as “flat-earth”. This makes binding-desire the second biggest enemy right after ignorance – because even after you know what is the right thing to do (ie: knowledge removes ignorance) – binding-desire still makes you act contrary. Many know they shouldn't watch excess porn, smoke, etc – but still do it. This is because binding-desire is immediately gratifying, making one instantly forget their life problems.

2) Fear (bhaya) —

• • Two types of fear:
    1. Biological: Needed to keep you safe. Self-preservation mechanism.
    2. Psychological: Becomes problematic when imagine catastrophic events, which stifle you from collapsing possibilities given you. Meaning it stops you from using free will fully. Makes you act disproportionally to empirical reality, clouds judgement. For instance, fear of abandonment can lead to over-controlling personality, or perfectionist – thereby making one hard to work with or unpleasant to be around.
  • Solutions to help conquer fear:
    1. Trust that you'll be ready when needed. For example, we're never quiet ready to be a father or mother, but once it happens, the readiness within awakens. 
    2. Trust that you’ll be fine no matter what, and trust the other party to do the right thing. Because if you worry them doing something wrong, it burdens you. If the other betrays you, one way you can look at that is – it’s their loss and your gain – as it gives you a clear permission slip to move onto something healthier.
    3. To conquer fear, do it anyway. EG: If fear speaking out, keep your answer short. Extend it over time.
    4. Create a safe, non-judgemental space for others.
    5. Focus on serving. Nervousness/fear of participation is mostly a “me, me, me” issue.
    6. Create space between stimulus and response. EG: Andre got scam looking email that his Bank has been compromised. One slow breath is all it took to summon in viveka.

3) Anger (krodha) —

• • Comes from (a) unaddressed pain or (b) sense of justice. It’s an indicator. The advice of “Don’t be angry. Anger is unhealthy”  – is itself unhealthy.
  • How to dealt with anger you have towards a relative doing adharmic things?  
    1. Pray for them – that their confusion, pain or binding-desires are reduces. Even if the prayer does nothing, at least it gives you illusion of control – making you feel better. Without prayer, anger has no outlet and becomes your chip on shoulder to bear.
    2. Ask them non-threatening questions to help them think about their choices.
    3. Say your part to them, even if it's from raw shouting anger. What may follow this approach is guilt; you may judge yourself; feel vulnerable. To offset this, be prepared to apologize to them soon. This way you've said your piece, but also said sorry.
  • Example showing how anger is managed: In Man’s Search for Meaning, Viktor Frankl discusses how he chose not to be consumed by anger after surviving Nazi concentration camps. When asked why he did not hate all Germans or Austrians, he explained that he would only be angry if he projected the evil actions of a few individuals onto an entire nation.

How do I free myself from influence of these three?

Krishna says – bahavaḥ jñāna-tapasā – you become purified by disciplines of knowledge, or through inquiry.

The word “knowledge” is of two types….

Type 1 Knowledge: Apara-vidya (helps reduce binding-desires, anger, fear – occupying the Jiva)

Step 1: Acknowledge you are under spell of one of the three. Get in touch with the cost (pain, disturbance, limited perspective).

Step 2: Remind yourself you have the power to solve it, ability to change the story influencing your perspective.

Step 3: Change the story by revisiting the story from different perspective. Necessary because you never completely capture the situation. Each time you mentally revisit it, looking at it from a different angle, attaching a different meaning – you change the memory/story.  This in Sanskrit is called pratipaksha-bhavana – deliberately seeing a situation from a different standpoint.

Step 4: Recognize you too are a participant in the dynamic. Thus ask, “What is in my immediate capacity to change?”. It is my perspective, my behavior, my approach. Also don’t fall into self-defeating pattern of, “It won’t work because the other person won’t change or make an effort”. Don’t give power of decision making to someone else.

Type 2 Knowledge: Para-vidya (knowledge that shows the truth of the Jiva, like truth of the pot)

When Krishna says, “By the discipline of knowledge, these people become pure” — he means, discovering the self has never performed any action – thus is not guilty of any action – has no punya-papa to experience in the future. Nor is it subject to any hurt because it is not and never was an object of anyone else’s action.

Since the self is neither doer of action nor object of action, it is always eternally absolutely-pure (meaning process of purification doesn’t apply to Self, but to the mind).

In short: Jivanmukta's liberation is being established in knowledge keeping with reality as it actually is, and not as ignorance would have it seen. Meaning, for moksha, you require knowledge of what-is — because you didn’t set it all up, so you have no choice but to recognize what-is. EG: The inquiring mind (pot) needs to see its own truth (clay).

“…totally resolved in Me” (manmayā mām upāśritaḥ)

In otherwords, the jivanmukta recognizes Ishvara’s order in action.

A mind firmly established in scriptural knowledge recognize no one is intrinsically bad. Everyone comes with natural program of non-injury, which gets corrupted by external influences. Meaning, you come to see the person who hurt your body-mind, or others — product of many influences that formed unhealthy behaviors. Additionally, because they’re busy surviving and dealing with worldly events, they don’t have time to address their distortions. See their helplessness. 

NEXT VERSE: Whatever stage you’re in, whatever you choose to help yourself with, Lord blesses you (called luck or grace) with that…

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Course was based on Swami Dayananda (Arsha Vidya) home study course.

Recorded 21 Dec, 2025