Here're some of the stuff from last session that I remember, as
a summary, and to give you all an idea of how Sunil Ji conducts the
session.
This week the class started early, and when I went in they were
chanting the 12th chapter in Sanskrit. My book didn't have the
Sanskrit so I just stayed silent.
After the chanting we started on where the rest of the group left
off (there were four others), Chapter 3 Verse 17. Sunil Ji's style
is to explain the words in Sanskrit, discuss the verse in terms of
the philosophy, then chant the verse in Sanskrit (the group follows
once, then repeats alone).
---
3.17 talks about a person content within himself. "Himself" here is
atman, not atman as ego-self, but the transcendent being, one with
his environment, one with Brahman. For him, "there is nothing more
to be done." He is beyond desires, there is nothing left to do, and
what is done is right. Sunil Ji takes the example of yogis who
transmit enlightenment by simply being there. Some yogis conduct
classes where they merely sit with the students in silence, and
when they are asked why they don't say something, they just smile.
But they still impart the enlightenment simply by being there.
Sunil Ji says that the highest peace is silence, quietness of the
mind.
I think the quietness can be connected to something Sunil Ji
mentioned in the earlier class, that we are stuck in the realm of
body-mind. We have no referent for the transcendent oneness, which
can't be reached by logic. I'm not sure though.
3.18 says that this sort of person is not just beyond desire, but
is also beyond necessities. He mentions yogis who go for days
without food, clothing and bath, but are healthy, comfortable and
smell of jasmine. He explains this from the nondual philosophy,
where there is "no gain and no loss," where there is no preference
for heat or cold, etc.
(There's a part of the verse that says that the self-content
man has "no one to depend on but himself." I don't understand it
=P)
At this point Sunil Ji remarks that although the third chapter is
on Action, the past few verses have been on inaction, and how to
understand one in terms of the other.
3.19 explains that "inaction" doesn't mean no action, but
detachment from the results of action. Action without desire,
without care for the results. With this detachment, one can attain
supreme good. Sunil Ji points out that the "one" or "he" in the
verse is Purusah (Purusha) in Sanskrit, which can be interpreted to
mean that the only ones who can reach this level is a Man, as
opposed to someone with a weak personality.
3.20 uses the example of Janaka, a king who attained the
transcendent knowledge, but still pursued action, not for its
fruits, but so that his subjects would have a model to follow.
Action performed for the betterment (or in my copy's translation,
"preservation") of the world, even from a higher plane. But again
there is nothing to gain, and nothing to lose from these actions
themselves.
---
For your reference, here are online copies of the book Sunil Ji
uses (Bhagavad-Gita As It Is). A new copy is $26.65 in Kinokuniya,
but Bangulzai is hunting around in temples, I think =P
http://www.asitis.com/1/1.html
http://www.bhagavad-gita.org/Gita/verse-01-01.html