Study Gita and Bhagavatam/Narayaneeyam , with Bhakti !

[Guest guest]

Hare Krishna ! Pranams to Bhagavan Sri Krishna and Bhaktas, Along with focused Nama-japa, study of the Vedic scriptures ( Bhagavad Gita and Bhagavatam / Narayaneeyam ) is also necessary. It will give you more clarity and understanding. It will also help you to discriminate properly when an obstacle arises. What we call scriptures are meant to help us travel without getting lost. We can reach a place in one hour instead of wandering around for 10 hours.Didn't Sri Shankaracharya and other great souls study the scriptures? Knowledge of the scriptures is a must. Study is a Bhakti-yoga . It should not be to inflate your ego, but to get rid of it. The scriptural statements and dictums will act as weapons to fight against mental conflicts and weaknesses that might arise during the course of Bhakti-yoga. While studying the Gita and Bhagavatam / Narayaneeyam , one should feel, `Bhagavan Sri Krishna in His literary form, is teaching me .' How to Approach the Vedic ScripturesOnly the attitude `I am nothing, I know nothing' will help you reach the final state. That alone will help Bhagavan's grace flow towards you. Approach the scriptures with that attitude, and you will really learn the scriptures. And even after studying the scriptures, try to maintain the attitude `Everything I have studied is Bhagavan's mercy .' This will take you to the goal. Try to remain like a child throughout your life and you will really learn. Study the vedic scriptures with this attitude.Vedic learning is the literary form of Bhagavan. You should approach vedic learning with *shraddha* (focus and loving faith in Bhagavan ) and devotion. Whenever you pick up or put down the Vedic book, you should touch it with reverence and bow to it. Keep the books neat and clean. The book is Bhagavan Himself . To Know the Truth, You Must Drop the EgoA person who has studied Gita and Bhagavatam/Narayaneeyam will have the ability to control himself when dangerous thoughts come into his or her mind by reflecting on what he or she has learned from the scriptures. However, it is usually seen that the study of scriptures without Bhakti will inflate the ego. One must really know that one is egocentric. A person should realise the ego is a burden; he or she should be aware of his or her ignorance. He should know that book knowledge is not real knowledge and that such learning only adds to the strength of the ego, unless one is subtle enough to go beyond the words and see the real truth.Study of the scriptures does not necessarily create more ego in you. It is wrong understanding of the scriptures that creates a big ego in a person. Scriptural study is not the mere gathering of information. You cannot collect information about something beyond words and beyond the mind, about something incomprehensible. You can gather information about people, objects, places in the world and how to do things like computer programming, which are products of human intellect. But you cannot gather information about Bhagavan . You can understand about Bhagavan only if you drop your intellect and reasoning. Study of the scriptures is to help you drop the ego and go beyond all explanations and interpretations. It is to prove the insufficiency of words, to explain that state fully. Study of the scriptures is to give you only an idea about spirituality. It explains the benefits of spiritual life. They are just explanations and conclusions. But remember, all scriptural statements and declarations have been made by those who have gone beyond the ego. To know the truth of the scriptural declarations one must drop one's ego.Bhagavan Sri Krishna says in Srimad Bhagavad Gita ( 10.10-11) : " Those whose minds are devoted to Me worship Me with great joy. I Myself give to them the yoga of wisdom, by which they can come to Me . Only out of compassion for these Bhaktas , I dwelling in their hearts, destroy with the shining lamp of knowledge, the darkness born of ignorance". Om Namo Bhagavate Vasudevaya !!! SriKrishnaDasa Rajeev