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In Chapter IV, the Lord tells Arjuna , "What I am telling you about Karmayoga is not anything new". Every Sloka has 3 meanings, the Adhyatmic, the Adhibautic, or as perceived by the senses and the Adhidhaivic or relating to God as in stories etc.

There is no past tense while mentioning about God. Swamiji was joking about people having names such as Sangeetha and Kavitha. Why should it be in the past tense? It should be Sangee "hai" or kavi "hai". So, while mentioning about God, there is no specification of time frames. There is a permanence and it suits all times, all people and all situations.

Bhagavan or God has six qualities: Aishwarya, Dharma, Gyana, Vairagya, Shree or Shreyas and Yashah. This Bhagavan told Arjuna, "This yoga that I talked to you about is immortal". Fire will always burn. This is its nature and it has always been so. Similarly, the Karmayoga philosophy is also immortal and cannot be improved upon. It is a tattva. A tattva or fact is something to which nothing can be added.

This yoga was first taught by the Lord to Surya or Vivaswan. Then he taught this to his son Manu. Descendants of Manu are the Manushyas. Manu gave this to Ikshvaku. This was passed on through paramparas. Para means above and Apara means below. So, this was passed on from one generation to the next.

It is not possible to understand or learn without a Guru. Fear and keep away from that person who says he understands without a Guru. Knowledge, in the beginning, was handed over only to the Kshatriya kings. With time, this was given to the Brahmins. All things lose value with time and familiarity. Once Swamiji was traveling through the difficult trail to Kedarnath. The path is arduous and involves a lot of walking through a dense forest. A lady was also going along with him. In the beginning, she told Swamiji to admire the nature. He said, "Now your lips are talking. Soon your tongue, throat, then calves and legs will talk and after some time you will start scolding me". As he predicted, soon the journey became very tiring and the lady was puffing and panting. So after a while, Swamiji asked her, "How is the nature?". The exasperated lady said "I have a nature call but nowhere to go!!". The nature was calling from the beginning. It was nice initially, but with time her enthusiasm faded away. One should never take anything for granted. Familiarity breeds contempt. The same thing applies for the mind.

Once, Narada was doing a penance. Indra tried to disturb his penance by sending Kama, but Narada was not disturbed. He thought to himself, how even Lord Shiva had been angered by Kama and how he had burnt Kama. When these thoughts occurred , he felt he was superior to even Lord Shiva. In his arrogance he went to Lord Narayana and told him, I have seen you many times, now show me your Maya!! This was because, with time, people start taking things for granted. So, due to this attitude, Karmayoga had been lost by people and had disappeared from life. This is the reason why, Lord had to explain it again to Arjuna.

Ramana Maharishi defines Karmayoga thus, "Ishwaraarpitam Neichayaakritham" which means "Whatever is done without desire or doer ship is dedicated to God". The desire refers to desire for the fruit of action. When Swamiji traveled to the US, lot of people used to try to bribe him to join them. He used to say, "Give it to me, I can use it for my mission" and they would go away. Only when we lead a thought free life, we can conquer our likes and dislikes. When we keep saying I want this and that, then our minds are disturbed.

A man came to Swamiji and said " I want peace". Swamiji said " Remove the "I" and "want" and you will have peace". Our mind should always be fresh. When we serve food to God, we always serve fresh food. Similarly, we should keep our minds fresh and clean. The Lord tells Arjuna that there was nothing new, and it was the same ancient yoga which was given to him. Teachers try to teach Vedanta to their students.

Once a man was running and another man was chasing him. A third person who was passing by asked the first man why he was running. He was told by him to catch the second person to find out. He then went up to the second man and asked him. He said, "First he told me Vedanta and I listened, now I am telling him and he is running away. I shall stop only after catching him and telling him Vedanta!!" Sometimes, students feel that their teachers don't have concern for them. One of Swami's students was suffering from a severe headache. He had tried all doctors, but of no avail. He informed Swamiji, and Swamiji told him to avoid the meditation class for 10 days. After 10 days he came back and said, " Swamiji, I had tried allopathy, homeopathy, naturopathy and Tirupathi, but was not cured. But I listened to you and my headache disappeared. How come?" Swamiji said, "You had been thinking that you were not being looked after and considered individually by me and this had bothered you. This was the problem. When you stopped coming to the class, this worry also stopped and you were cured. The Lord tells Arjuna that he is a devotee and friend. This is the specialty of Lord Krishna. He tells us, come to me as you want and you will find me as a son, father, brother or friend. If you can't come, then I will come to you.

The word "Uth" means Good. It symbolizes the lower level or mere existence. The word "Uttara" means better. This stage is serving God through upasana. But the best stage or "Uttamam" is understanding the paramatma. Arjuna is told this Uttama or supreme secret. This view is the Adhyatmic dhrishti.

In the Adhyatmic level, paramatma is in two forms. One is in our form,as a devotee, and the other is in a different form. When we consider that paramatma is different from us, it is Bhakthi yoga. If we feel as one with the Lord, we see lord in ourselves. We see no relationships and it is absolutely divine.

The absolute reality is expressed as consciousness. Here it is called Vivaswan. When water evaporates we call it steam. When the steam condenses, it becomes water. The base or substratum is the same. Manu refers to our mind. Ikshvaku refers to the senses. The Sun or Vivaswan is our Chaitanya. This paramatma is transferred from our Chaitanya to the mind and then to the sense organs. It has been handed from one to many. But with the many also, the truth is one God. This is the other perspective.

We should examine the relationship between a Guru and Shishya or between God and his devotee. Once Ramakrishna Paramahamsa called Narendra (Vivekananda). When he did not come, he kept sending messages to him. Narendra was young and intelligent and liked by his Guru. When he came, he jokingly told his Guru, "Be Careful, you are becoming dependent on me and beginning to love me". To this his Guru replied, "I accept you with the authority of knowledge and wisdom, but your acceptance of me is only with the authority of ignorance."

It is possible to learn only if we empty our minds.Once there was a Zen master.He was approached by a man who asked him to teach reality. The Zen master told him, First, take some tea. He then put a cup and started pouring tea. However, even after the cup was full, he did not stop and kept pouring the tea. The Man said, "Stop, it is pouring out". The master said, Just as you cannot pour tea into a full cup, I cannot teach a full mind. Empty your mind and then come to learn reality.

The Chetana first manifests through the mind. When the mind is ruffled, it manifests through the senses. Meditation is not a journey in time or in space or in achieving. It is journey without time where space is not crossed. How long does it take waves to recognize water? Similarly, paramatma or the Lord is all around us and yet we do not recognize him. Arjuna then asks the Lord, you were born much after Vivaswan, yet how is it possible for you say this secret to Vivaswan? When the battle went on Arjuna was 86 and Krishna was 89. Sankaracharya, in his commentary says, "Arjuna does not ask this question because of ignorance. He is not stupid. Here, he is representing us when he asks this to the Lord." Arjuna says, "This is like saying that you taught your Grandfather when he was a child!! How is it possible?" Swamiji jokingly says, Lord tells Arjuna "Bahuni May", So," I was born in May" and he refers to Arjuna as "Chaarjuna" meaning "he was born on 4th June". "So I am older."

Swamiji said that Bahrain and Brahman are the same. So people staying here are in Brahmaloka.Talking of heaven, Swami said "People say that married life is like heaven. So a man got married and sure enough he became a resident of heaven!!"

Indians staying here, leave India and come here. After some time, they feel that they don't have peace and so they leave here and go back to India. The person remains the same wherever they go. This can be extended to the body. We are the same Atma but we go from one body to the other. If we understand this there is no sorrow in this world. We were never absent and were ever present. Whoever understands this will stay happy forever. A sad person can never reach God.