19 results
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Article
The Gita says that feeling like the doer is an ego's illusion. Does that mean we can say "I didn't do it" and walk away from our mistakes? No. An everyday case, two verses and three sentences to say after a mistake.
Level: Simple English 3 min Who Is the Doer?
Article
If you have done a lot of wrong, is it too late to turn to God? Gita 9.30-31 answers plainly: what the Lord says, what it does not mean, a short example and one small practice for today.
Level: Simple English 4 min Even the Worst Offender
Article
After honest effort, the result may still be out of our hands, and the mind says that fate decides everything. What does the Gita say? A farmer's case, two verses and a practice of two columns before you start a task.
Level: Simple English 3 min Who Is the Doer?
Article
When a task goes well the mind swells, and when it fails the mind sinks. The Gita says every action has five causes and you are one of them. Three verses, an example and one small practice for today.
Level: Simple English 6 min Who Is the Doer?
Article
You promise to stop and then do it again, knowing better. Arjuna asked the same question, and the Gita names the push behind it, how it covers what you know, and the order in which to meet it.
Level: Simple English 6 min The Enemy Called Desire
Article
The Lord says a person of very bad conduct who worships with undivided devotion is to be regarded as righteous. Gita 9.30-34 taken in order: what each verse means, where the promise stops, common mistakes, an example and a practice.
Level: In Depth English 10 min Even the Worst Offender
Article
The Gita lists destiny among the five causes of action and denies a right to the fruit. Does that make effort pointless? The count of the five causes, the third clause of 2.47, why effort is never lost, and two opposite mistakes, read from the verses.
Level: In Depth English 5 min Who Is the Doer?
Article
Eight verses on why a person acts against his own will: Arjuna's question, the enemy named, how it covers knowledge, where it sits, and the order in which it is met. Each verse in plain words.
Level: In Depth English 11 min The Enemy Called Desire
Article
The Gita says 'I do nothing' in one place and counts the doer among five causes in another. Read the verses from 3.27 to 18.17 in order, and see how pride and guilt both grow lighter without effort being lost.
Level: In Depth English 13 min Who Is the Doer?
Article
The Gita says the modes of nature do all action and that the knower thinks he does nothing. Does that free us from blame for our mistakes? A reading of the verses, the difference between an honest use of the idea and an alibi, and a short worked example.
Level: In Depth English 5 min Who Is the Doer?
Article
The Gita says nature performs all action, then counts the doer among five causes. Why these claims do not clash, where 18.16–17 is hard, and where the commentators divide: a verse-by-verse reading.
Level: Deeper English 16 min Who Is the Doer?
Article
Does Gita 9.30-31 excuse bad conduct? A close reading of 'even if', 'wholly' and 'quickly', six hard questions with direct replies, two streams of commentators, and answers from the Gita and the tradition to the questions the verses raise.
Level: Deeper English 16 min Even the Worst Offender
Article
Does the Gita name an outside force or a state of the person as what drives us against our will? Three streams of commentary, seven objections and the questions Gita 3.36–43 raises, answered from the Gita and the tradition.
Level: Deeper English 14 min The Enemy Called Desire
Quick summary
A short revision of Gita 9.30-34: why a person of very bad conduct who turns to the Lord with his whole mind is called righteous, what that promise does not say, and the three lessons the verses hold.
English 10 min Even the Worst Offender
Quick summary
Why does a person do wrong even when he knows what is right, as if someone were dragging him? In Gita 3.36 to 3.43 the Lord answers this and shows in what order this enemy is to be met.
English 8 min The Enemy Called Desire
Quick summary
The Gita says that the qualities of nature do all action and the self is not the doer, yet it counts the doer among the five causes of every action. Gita 3.27-29, 5.8-14 and 18.13-17 on the mistake of 'I do everything' and its remedy.
English 9 min Who Is the Doer?
Hub
At the end of chapter 9 the Lord says a person of very bad conduct who worships wholly is to be regarded as righteous. Gita 9.30-34: what it means, where it stops, and three readings.
Hub
Why do we do what we do not want to do? Arjuna's question and the Lord's answer in Gita 3.36–43: desire and anger as the enemy that covers knowledge, and the order in which it is met.
Hub
The Gita says nature's modes perform all action and the self is a non-doer, yet it counts the doer among five causes. Gita 3.27-29, 5.8-14 and 18.13-17 on the mistake of 'I do it all' and how it is mended.