this is amazing. I have ordered many of Edwin Bryant books. He is a great scholar/academic but more importantly a practitioner and devotee of Krsna. Therefore he is qualified to explain Krsna's words.
Thank you Dr. Bryant for disseminating the knowledge of various streams of yoga, that lead to the same destination or aim. You very aptly articulated that the ultimate aim of all these streams is to make you realize that in essence you are a part (spark of consciousness) of the Supreme Consciousness (Divine Force or God). Patanjali yoga accomplishes this goal by controlling and disciplining your consciousness by abstaining by following certain rules - Yama, Niyama etc. Gita's Karm yoga accomplishes it by indulging in action but without attachment to the fruits of this Karma. Bhkti yoga also accomplishes the same by submerging your consciousness in devotion. You beautifully explained ... The same can be achieved by following the path of Knowledge or of Science of ultimate existence. Thanks.
It's interesting ...Krsna says only a devotte of mine can explain this science of Yoga in its true perspective..and I feel Mr Edwin is a devotte of the Lord how sweet Haribol 🥰 🥰🥰 🥰🥰 🥰
Thanks to Edwin Bryant for his wonderful books. Unlike the likes of Wendy Doniger and Sheldon Pollock, thankfully there are still academics in the west who approach India's spiritual heritage in the right spirit.
Wendy Doniger is fake! I read her book "The erotic ascetic" about Shiva and i don't think she has done any serious research except trying to put down Sanatana Dharma in that book. It is a pathetic book!
Which book have you written to counter that book? Can you provide evidence that she has not done serious work? How she put down Sanatana Dharma and what did she achieve by doing so? You guys will never do anything in your life and just criticize others.
I have found only one of his books to be of any use the one about Aryan Invasion myth. Can't remember the exact title now. Found it "The Quest for the Origins of Vedic Culture The Indo-Aryan Migration Debate." His other stuff is questionable because he is afraid of losing his job.
There are many like Vishal Agarwal who have rebutted Wendy Doniger and her kind, who like to apply psychoanalysis of the subconscious (read sex and shit) to Hindu icons, customs and precepts. Even a lay Hindu knows that such scholarship is bullshit because we understand our culture better than these kind of academics. Our religion does not coerce and proselytize, so leave us alone if you do not like or appreciate our tradition, but spare us your hubris in preaching back to us.
The war supposed to establish the righteousness peace and justice hermony. Against the evil doers.not for any other reason as you said Dr Bryant 🙏 jai shri krishna 😇
If we try to follow Bhagavadgita in our day to day life to twhatever extent possible and practical for us, our life will be more sensible and the world will be more peaceful.
Yogasutra is a very difficult work. Its meant for people who are already familiar with discipline of yoga and sanatana dharma overall. Edwin’s translation is an honest attemp to explain the text. He does not try to give his opinion but rather quotes opinions of great critics like vyasa, shuka who are way more qualified to comment on yogasutras. Edwin’s book is a very good help for who want to understand this difficult text.
Dry arguments are inconclusive. A great personality whose opinion does not differ from others is not considered a great sage. Simply by studying the Vedas, which are variegated, one cannot come to the right path by which religious principles are understood. The solid truth of religious principles is hidden in the heart of an unadulterated self-realized person. Consequently, as the śāstras confirm, one should accept whatever progressive path the great/godly humans advocate.(Mahabharat- Yaksha' Questions, Vana Parva). Dharma is very subtle. It is categorised into two:- 1) Sadharana Dharma- Common ethics applicable for all humans equally. Like compassion, Non-violence, no cheating, no stealing, no killing, etc. 2) Svadharma- Personal Dharma. Based on the position in society and societal norms. It is subject to change based on Kal(Time), Sthana(Place) and Patra(Person you are interacting)..
So, instead of focusing on results(fruits of effort), focus on the knowledge of a wise thought out plan of action/effort. Knowing that potential results are likely to happen with the due course of the appropriate action(s) but, not forgetting typical results are not to be held in the mind as any guarantee. Continue this manner of awareness, knowing suprises are often likely , aswell. (some pleasant, some not so pleasant). Thus, this should relax the grip of samsara/cyclical suffering and soften (if not eliminate with continual practice) the possible gripping blows of disappointment/regret/frustration/ or any sort of unpleasantness (aka suffering). Rinse, repeat, continue and find peace. P.S. having a plan B, C, D, Etc. Is a good idea too! To Reduce a Hindrance: Hindrances reduce, with practice. With practice, new methods are learned. Much needed methods tend to simply come to light as needed. Perhaps as simply just, a much needed method, of making, new methods To reduce a hindrance. - 😁
Dharana, Dhyana and Samadhi is the technique to activate the "Power-Sutras" described by Maharishi Patanjaliji. This is called "Sanyama" , to do this three together is the hole secret and is not taught in the book of the "Yoga Sutras". I have also experiended "Pure Consciousness", after 33 years of Mantra Japa or Meditation, but it lasted for hole 3 days and nights. "I " wittnessed when the body was sleeping and dreaming, but "I" or "the Cosmic Consciousness" was always awake inside, totaly free, unbonded, whit white light, total "Bliss", total Stillness and total Silence. My "ego" was completly gone! This Peac-experience also showed me that the "Pure Consciousness" has threee aspects inside of itself that it showed. It was : "Sat - Chit -Ananda". Sat has actualy two aspects to it. It is depending if the human mind is going in from the dualistic world, as it often does in meditation or same similar forms of activity, like Bhajans, Prayer, mental techniques that goes invards and so on. Then it is experienced as a unbounded Consciusness and pure light, and wast infinity and all does aspects that I have mensioned earlier, but if you are in the Pure Consciusness and the activity goes out, then it is experienced as intellect! Sat and Buddhi has similar mening= Enlightened Intellect! A Buddha is a person with an enlightened intellect, which means that he/she have reached the "Self" or become "Selfrealised" or attained "Cosmic Consciusness". In indian terms or mythology you could also say that the person has attained "Samadhi" or reaced the Atma/Brahman deep inside. There are ofcause many other words for this state of consciousness, like" Nirvikalpa Samadhi", "Bliss-Consciousness" or even "Unity Consciousness". The other aspect is Chit. Chit is the wittnissing aspect of Pure Consciousness or you could also say the "Silent Wittness" inside every living being! It wittness all tings that happened both inside and also outside of consciousness or we could also say in Creation. This Wittnessing Consciousness is recording everything that happens both to an individual and also to all individuals and finaly also everyting that happend inside the hole Univere or the Creation that in indian mytology is called "Hiranyagarbha", the cosmic egg. This Chit is also responible to what is known as Akasha-memory! Is is a cosmic memory and it records all that is happening to all individuals in the Univere and also records what is happening all around in the Univers or in the Creation. The Ananda is experienced as small white clouds whit a lightness and ease as a small mist, but moving out from the "Self", through the "Self", out in the Univers or the Creation, back to the "Self" and finaly into the "Self"again. This is an eternal moving steram of "Bliss" and it is "White Light" of "Pure Love". And it is also that which creates everything. It is what creates the Creation or the hole Univere! So Pure Love is the building block of everything. If you slow down the vibrations on this pure lihght, you get sound and if you slow down the vibrations on sound you get matter. So "Ananda creates everyting", a indian wise Master oneced said. Bliss and Love Ingemar /Bhuvaneswar
Great talk. As someone who lacks belief in a higher power and yet is genuinely interested in Bhakti Yoga, I disagree that Bhakti is strictly theistic. One can whole heartedly practice devotion to Īśvara, (lordliness free of kleśas, karma, fruit and the karmaśaya) without having to believe in a creator god. Of course anyone is welcome to their interpretation, but would love to hear a solid argument to the contrary.
Isvara means creator god or Brahman with attributes throughout the centuries. And since god has infinite forms therefore Isvara can be anyone from Narayana, Shiva, Devi, Krishna etc etc. In Advaita Vedanta also Isvara is Brahman with attributes.
We must not forget that Maharishi Patanjali acctualy was an incarnation of Adi Shesha, the thousandheaded snake that Vishnu resids on in the "Milky Ocean" or you could say the "Transcendental Ocean" or "The Self" or "Samadhi" or Atma/Brahman or "Bliss Consciousness" or "Cosmic Consciousness" that is beyond and at the ground of Creation or the Universe. During the Kali Yuga, according to Sri Vaishnava tradition, he was born as Patanjali Maharishi, Ramanujacharya, and Manavala Mamunigal.[ He was not accompanied by God during the Kali Yuga. Instead, he incarnated alone to spread devotion among the people, being a peaceful incarnation. He was also one of the Masters in the Shancaracharya-tradition, the Great Gaudapada Swamiji.
Brahmacarya is constant mental association with the supreme. To treat the objects with which one comes in contact as diffrent expressions of Brahma and not as crude forms.
It is total nonsense to say that Krishna tells Arjuna that this Dhyana Yoga of CH.6 in the BG is not for him? When Arjuna protests the practicality of this yoga as follows in these verses... Bg 6.33 - Arjuna said: O Madhusūdana, the system of yoga which You have summarized appears impractical and unendurable to me, for the mind is restless and unsteady. Bg 6.34 - The mind is restless, turbulent, obstinate and very strong, O Kṛṣṇa, and to subdue it, I think, is more difficult than controlling the wind. Krishna replies as follows Bg 6.35 - Lord Śrī Kṛṣṇa said: O mighty-armed son of Kuntī, it is undoubtedly very difficult to curb the restless mind, but it is possible by suitable practice and by detachment. Bg 6.36 - For one whose mind is unbridled, self-realization is difficult work. But he whose mind is controlled and who strives by appropriate means is assured of success. That is My opinion. Further at the end of the chapter Krishna says Bg 6.46 - A yogī is greater than the ascetic, greater than the empiricist and greater than the fruitive worker. Therefore, O Arjuna, in all circumstances, be a yogī. Bg 6.47 - And of all yogīs, the one with great faith who always abides in Me, thinks of Me within himself and renders transcendental loving service to Me - he is the most intimately united with Me in yoga and is the highest of all. That is My opinion. It hardly seems that Krishna is telling Arjuna that this Yoga is not for him! And because he says that one who renders transcendental loving service to Me is the highest Yogi is not a rejection of this yoga but rather it is simply the recommendation for the addition of Ishwara Pranidhana, as is also recommended by Patanjali.
Then why doesn't Krishna send Arjuna to a cave to go practice ahimsa and meditation to still the vrittis? Sending him into battle does not appear to be the yoga of Patanjali. Bryant makes clear that K. affirms that both paths work, but it's also clear that the emphasis in the Gita is on Karmic and Bhakti yoga rather than on techniques to still the ocean of consciousness and to experience the undifferentiated field of Brahman. It's funny to read translations of the Gita by Vedantaists that try to translate words that clearly refer to a supreme personality of Godhead with those that refer only to the Brahmanic energy. Of course, such debates can go on forever because the original texts, I suspect, are far less sectarian than the schools that followed. But for me, who has practiced both modes, Krishna bhakti is more transformative, more conducive to blissful states, and more able to access states of religious devotion that genuinely humble the ego.
Without chitta vritti nirodhah its not possible to do practice karma yoga. Yoga requires ; 1. Gyan yoga to realize the reality of world and create detachment. 2. Bhakti yoga to keep you emotionally attached to the goal of achieving self. 3. Karma yoga to perform duties as if lord's wish and at the end 4. Raj yoga to realize spiritual union
The best standards of life come from a cocktail of different forms of Yoga described in Bhagavadgita.. It need not be a single form to the exclusion of all other forms. Overdoing of Bhakthiyoga has led to extreme temple culture. A real yogi does not waste his time with meaningless rituals. Mahatma Gandhi was a great example in following Karmayoga in our times. It is my sincere belief that Jesus Christ himself was influenced by Bhagavadgita when he was in India in his younger days, which period is known as years of silence in the Bible. As a devout Christian wrote in a newspaper long back, answering a controversy, Jesus himself was a Hindu . And I would like to add , he was the best Hindu possible, who followed the true essence of BG throughout his life, but unfortunately he made no specific mention of it , probably because it would totally confuse the people who followed Judaism and would not be tuned to understand the spirit of BG .
I never tire of watching this interview and each time I come back I learn something new. Timeless. Thank you🙏💜🌸
this is amazing. I have ordered many of Edwin Bryant books. He is a great scholar/academic but more importantly a practitioner and devotee of Krsna. Therefore he is qualified to explain Krsna's words.
Dr. Bryant, you are such a great teacher, and a wonderful devotee. Thank you for all you've taught me. I am eternally indebted.
Thank you Prof Bryant. I took you courses over 10 years ago and youre still teaching me!
Thank you Dr. Bryant for disseminating the knowledge of various streams of yoga, that lead to the same destination or aim. You very aptly articulated that the ultimate aim of all these streams is to make you realize that in essence you are a part (spark of consciousness) of the Supreme Consciousness (Divine Force or God). Patanjali yoga accomplishes this goal by controlling and disciplining your consciousness by abstaining by following certain rules - Yama, Niyama etc. Gita's Karm yoga accomplishes it by indulging in action but without attachment to the fruits of this Karma. Bhkti yoga also accomplishes the same by submerging your consciousness in devotion. You beautifully explained ... The same can be achieved by following the path of Knowledge or of Science of ultimate existence. Thanks.
Edwin Bryant is awesome. I learn more from him than many other teachers in India.
I loved his explanation about samsara with respect to the seed and fruit.
Beautifully explained. Really enjoyed this conversation 🙏
Watched this again after a while and really amazed once more by the profundity. Edwin should take up more Q & A. So inspiring and uplifting.
Amazing.Thank you sir 🙏🙏🙏 a great teacher
This answers several questions. Thank you.
It's interesting ...Krsna says only a devotte of mine can explain this science of Yoga in its true perspective..and I feel Mr Edwin is a devotte of the Lord how sweet
Haribol 🥰 🥰🥰 🥰🥰 🥰
Thank you Rosa for your teaching, and for helping Edwin spread his wisdom in the world.
EDWIN JI . YOU POLISHED MY CONCEPTS OF GEETA . DHANYAVAD
Thanks to Edwin Bryant for his wonderful books. Unlike the likes of Wendy Doniger and Sheldon Pollock, thankfully there are still academics in the west who approach India's spiritual heritage in the right spirit.
Wendy Doniger is fake! I read her book "The erotic ascetic" about Shiva and i don't think she has done any serious research except trying to put down Sanatana Dharma in that book. It is a pathetic book!
Which book have you written to counter that book? Can you provide evidence that she has not done serious work? How she put down Sanatana Dharma and what did she achieve by doing so?
You guys will never do anything in your life and just criticize others.
Do a search for "criticism of Wendy Doniger".
I have found only one of his books to be of any use the one about Aryan Invasion myth. Can't remember the exact title now. Found it "The Quest for the Origins of Vedic Culture The Indo-Aryan Migration Debate." His other stuff is questionable because he is afraid of losing his job.
There are many like Vishal Agarwal who have rebutted Wendy Doniger and her kind, who like to apply psychoanalysis of the subconscious (read sex and shit) to Hindu icons, customs and precepts. Even a lay Hindu knows that such scholarship is bullshit because we understand our culture better than these kind of academics. Our religion does not coerce and proselytize, so leave us alone if you do not like or appreciate our tradition, but spare us your hubris in preaching back to us.
Thank you, great interview 🙏🏼
this is so wonderful. I've shared this on the Mantralogy Facebook page. :)
Like this discussion - well done, quite interesting
so knowledgeable and one of my favorite voices
The war supposed to establish the righteousness peace and justice hermony. Against the evil doers.not for any other reason as you said Dr Bryant 🙏 jai shri krishna 😇
great explanation. Thanks Edwin
Amazing insight. very clear answer to many basic question that we have as beginners. thanks a lot Sir.
If we try to follow Bhagavadgita in our day to day life to twhatever extent possible and practical for us, our life will be more sensible and the world will be more peaceful.
Yogasutra is a very difficult work. Its meant for people who are already familiar with discipline of yoga and sanatana dharma overall. Edwin’s translation is an honest attemp to explain the text. He does not try to give his opinion but rather quotes opinions of great critics like vyasa, shuka who are way more qualified to comment on yogasutras. Edwin’s book is a very good help for who want to understand this difficult text.
A really great conversation i really learn a lot of thing from this conversation
Straightforward lucid explanation.
Dry arguments are inconclusive. A great personality whose opinion does not differ from others is not considered a great sage. Simply by studying the Vedas, which are variegated, one cannot come to the right path by which religious principles are understood. The solid truth of religious principles is hidden in the heart of an unadulterated self-realized person. Consequently, as the śāstras confirm, one should accept whatever progressive path the great/godly humans advocate.(Mahabharat- Yaksha' Questions, Vana Parva).
Dharma is very subtle. It is categorised into two:- 1) Sadharana Dharma- Common ethics applicable for all humans equally. Like compassion, Non-violence, no cheating, no stealing, no killing, etc.
2) Svadharma- Personal Dharma. Based on the position in society and societal norms. It is subject to change based on Kal(Time), Sthana(Place) and Patra(Person you are interacting)..
Guru, a dispeller of the darkness.
I m the First Enlightened Person of this century
🙏🙏🙏
So, instead of focusing on results(fruits of effort), focus on the knowledge of a wise thought out plan of action/effort. Knowing that potential results are likely to happen with the due course of the appropriate action(s)
but, not forgetting typical results are not to be held in the mind as any guarantee. Continue this manner of awareness, knowing suprises are often likely , aswell.
(some pleasant, some not so pleasant).
Thus, this should relax the grip of samsara/cyclical suffering and soften (if not eliminate with continual practice)
the possible gripping blows of disappointment/regret/frustration/ or any sort of unpleasantness (aka suffering). Rinse, repeat, continue and find peace.
P.S. having a plan B, C, D, Etc. Is a good idea too!
To Reduce a Hindrance:
Hindrances reduce,
with practice.
With practice,
new methods are learned.
Much needed methods
tend to simply come
to light as needed.
Perhaps as simply just,
a much needed method,
of making, new methods
To reduce a hindrance.
- 😁
Dharana, Dhyana and Samadhi is the technique to activate the "Power-Sutras" described by Maharishi Patanjaliji. This is called "Sanyama" , to do this three together is the hole secret and is not taught in the book of the "Yoga Sutras". I have also experiended "Pure Consciousness", after 33 years of Mantra Japa or Meditation, but it lasted for hole 3 days and nights. "I " wittnessed when the body was sleeping and dreaming, but "I" or "the Cosmic Consciousness" was always awake inside, totaly free, unbonded, whit white light, total "Bliss", total Stillness and total Silence. My "ego" was completly gone! This Peac-experience also showed me that the "Pure Consciousness" has threee aspects inside of itself that it showed. It was : "Sat - Chit -Ananda". Sat has actualy two aspects to it. It is depending if the human mind is going in from the dualistic world, as it often does in meditation or same similar forms of activity, like Bhajans, Prayer, mental techniques that goes invards and so on. Then it is experienced as a unbounded Consciusness and pure light, and wast infinity and all does aspects that I have mensioned earlier, but if you are in the Pure Consciusness and the activity goes out, then it is experienced as intellect! Sat and Buddhi has similar mening= Enlightened Intellect! A Buddha is a person with an enlightened intellect, which means that he/she have reached the "Self" or become "Selfrealised" or attained "Cosmic Consciusness". In indian terms or mythology you could also say that the person has attained "Samadhi" or reaced the Atma/Brahman deep inside. There are ofcause many other words for this state of consciousness, like" Nirvikalpa Samadhi", "Bliss-Consciousness" or even "Unity Consciousness".
The other aspect is Chit. Chit is the wittnissing aspect of Pure Consciousness or you could also say the "Silent Wittness" inside every living being! It wittness all tings that happened both inside and also outside of consciousness or we could also say in Creation. This Wittnessing Consciousness is recording everything that happens both to an individual and also to all individuals and finaly also everyting that happend inside the hole Univere or the Creation that in indian mytology is called "Hiranyagarbha", the cosmic egg. This Chit is also responible to what is known as Akasha-memory! Is is a cosmic memory and it records all that is happening to all individuals in the Univere and also records what is happening all around in the Univers or in the Creation.
The Ananda is experienced as small white clouds whit a lightness and ease as a small mist, but moving out from the "Self", through the "Self", out in the Univers or the Creation, back to the "Self" and finaly into the "Self"again. This is an eternal moving steram of "Bliss" and it is "White Light" of "Pure Love". And it is also that which creates everything. It is what creates the Creation or the hole Univere! So Pure Love is the building block of everything. If you slow down the vibrations on this pure lihght, you get sound and if you slow down the vibrations on sound you get matter. So "Ananda creates everyting", a indian wise Master oneced said. Bliss and Love Ingemar /Bhuvaneswar
👌👌👌
20:50 Brahmacharya - To walk or proceed in the path to Brahman.
What about the sankya??
Excellent explanation
Excellent
❤
Namaskar
Krishna is also known as Yogesh which means King of all Yogas.
Siva is yogesvara, no Krishna.
@@eddygarcia9953 Sanjaya refers to Krishna as Yogeshvara in the very last verse of gItA ("yatra yogeshvara kriShNo, yatra pArtho dhanurdharaH..")
Great talk. As someone who lacks belief in a higher power and yet is genuinely interested in Bhakti Yoga, I disagree that Bhakti is strictly theistic. One can whole heartedly practice devotion to Īśvara, (lordliness free of kleśas, karma, fruit and the karmaśaya) without having to believe in a creator god. Of course anyone is welcome to their interpretation, but would love to hear a solid argument to the contrary.
Isvara means creator god or Brahman with attributes throughout the centuries. And since god has infinite forms therefore Isvara can be anyone from Narayana, Shiva, Devi, Krishna etc etc.
In Advaita Vedanta also Isvara is Brahman with attributes.
👌👌👌👌
True sir
Whatever you do.Do it as a form of worship
Best great beautiful is video
We must not forget that Maharishi Patanjali acctualy was an incarnation of Adi Shesha, the thousandheaded snake that Vishnu resids on in the "Milky Ocean" or you could say the "Transcendental Ocean" or "The Self" or "Samadhi" or Atma/Brahman or "Bliss Consciousness" or "Cosmic Consciousness" that is beyond and at the ground of Creation or the Universe. During the Kali Yuga, according to Sri Vaishnava tradition, he was born as Patanjali Maharishi, Ramanujacharya, and Manavala Mamunigal.[ He was not accompanied by God during the Kali Yuga. Instead, he incarnated alone to spread devotion among the people, being a peaceful incarnation.
He was also one of the Masters in the Shancaracharya-tradition, the Great Gaudapada Swamiji.
Brahmacarya is constant mental association with the supreme. To treat the objects with which one comes in contact as diffrent expressions of Brahma and not as crude forms.
But all actions comes from desires whether. attached or detched.
For being an Iyengar teacher the interviewer seems a bit clueless.
It is total nonsense to say that Krishna tells Arjuna that this Dhyana Yoga of CH.6 in the BG is not for him? When Arjuna protests the practicality of this yoga as follows in these verses...
Bg 6.33 - Arjuna said: O Madhusūdana, the system of yoga which You have summarized appears impractical and unendurable to me, for the mind is restless and unsteady.
Bg 6.34 - The mind is restless, turbulent, obstinate and very strong, O Kṛṣṇa, and to subdue it, I think, is more difficult than controlling the wind.
Krishna replies as follows
Bg 6.35 - Lord Śrī Kṛṣṇa said: O mighty-armed son of Kuntī, it is undoubtedly very difficult to curb the restless mind, but it is possible by suitable practice and by detachment.
Bg 6.36 - For one whose mind is unbridled, self-realization is difficult work. But he whose mind is controlled and who strives by appropriate means is assured of success. That is My opinion. Further at the end of the chapter Krishna says Bg 6.46 - A yogī is greater than the ascetic, greater than the empiricist and greater than the fruitive worker. Therefore, O Arjuna, in all circumstances, be a yogī.
Bg 6.47 - And of all yogīs, the one with great faith who always abides in Me, thinks of Me within himself and renders transcendental loving service to Me - he is the most intimately united with Me in yoga and is the highest of all. That is My opinion.
It hardly seems that Krishna is telling Arjuna that this Yoga is not for him! And because he says that one who renders transcendental loving service to Me is the highest Yogi is not a rejection of this yoga but rather it is simply the recommendation for the addition of Ishwara Pranidhana, as is also recommended by Patanjali.
Then why doesn't Krishna send Arjuna to a cave to go practice ahimsa and meditation to still the vrittis? Sending him into battle does not appear to be the yoga of Patanjali. Bryant makes clear that K. affirms that both paths work, but it's also clear that the emphasis in the Gita is on Karmic and Bhakti yoga rather than on techniques to still the ocean of consciousness and to experience the undifferentiated field of Brahman. It's funny to read translations of the Gita by Vedantaists that try to translate words that clearly refer to a supreme personality of Godhead with those that refer only to the Brahmanic energy. Of course, such debates can go on forever because the original texts, I suspect, are far less sectarian than the schools that followed. But for me, who has practiced both modes, Krishna bhakti is more transformative, more conducive to blissful states, and more able to access states of religious devotion that genuinely humble the ego.
Without chitta vritti nirodhah its not possible to do practice karma yoga. Yoga requires ;
1. Gyan yoga to realize the reality of world and create detachment. 2. Bhakti yoga to keep you emotionally attached to the goal of achieving self.
3. Karma yoga to perform duties as if lord's wish and at the end
4. Raj yoga to realize spiritual union
you got the dharma part wrong
The best standards of life come from a cocktail of different forms of Yoga described in Bhagavadgita.. It need not be a single form to the exclusion of all other forms. Overdoing of Bhakthiyoga has led to extreme temple culture. A real yogi does not waste his time with meaningless rituals. Mahatma Gandhi was a great example in following Karmayoga in our times. It is my sincere belief that Jesus Christ himself was influenced by Bhagavadgita when he was in India in his younger days, which period is known as years of silence in the Bible. As a devout Christian wrote in a newspaper long back, answering a controversy, Jesus himself was a Hindu . And I would like to add , he was the best Hindu possible, who followed the true essence of BG throughout his life, but unfortunately he made no specific mention of it , probably because it would totally confuse the people who followed Judaism and would not be tuned to understand the spirit of BG .
Books are good, but real experience is better!
I always find it kinda cringey that when everyone learns about everything that people ask only about or hang on the celibacy part.
Krishna severely critize and mocks the austere practices of renunciation and going off to forest caves and fasting.
Sounds like this woman doesn't want to accept her female Dharma.