(This audio is part of the complete Audio Bhagavad Gita Chapter 1 - Visada Yoga in Allet les Bains, France)
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Satyanarayana Dasa
Deliberation and introspection are crucial for your spiritual progress. In this way, you can become conscious of your personal obstacles on the path of bhakti. These obstacles will inevitably appear when you turn to the spiritual path and become aware of your material attachments. The first chapter of Bhagavad Gītā illustrates this phenomenon. In this section, Kṛṣṇa showed Arjuna his opponents on the battlefield of Kurukṣetra. Since Arjuna identified with them, seeing them as his relatives, this attachment made him weak-hearted and dejected. In addition, he rationalized his inability to fight for the right cause as righteousness.
The spiritual ahankara is giving energy to the material ahankara. The spiritual I gives consciousness to the material I, so you think that, ‘I am this body.’ This identification is very deep and it is not easy to get out of it. It is very difficult to transcend the maya because the atma itself doesn’t have any potency to get out of it. It needs the intrinsic potency. That is why Bhakti is necessary.
