Akṣhar Brahma Yog: The Yog of the Eternal God/ Immutable Consciousness or Attaining the Supreme

Chapter 8: With 28 verses or shlokas, the eighth chapter is of intermediate length (i.e.,<5%) and is mostly a monologue by Lord Bhagavan Sri Krishna, except for the first two Shlokas.

Arjuna (Shloka 2): 2 shloka

Krishna, the Supreme Personality of Godhead (Shloka 3-28): 26 shlokas

Brief Summary: In this chapter, Arjuna asks several questions, which are subsequently answered by Lord Bhagavan Sri Krishna, the supreme personality of Godhead.

Arjuna's questions are:

1. What is brahman?
2. What is the self (adhyatma)?
3. What are fruitive activities (karma)?
4. What is this material manifestation (adhibhuta)? 
5. What are the demigods (Adhidaiva)? 
6. How does the Lord of sacrifice (adhiyajna) live in the body? and in which part does he live?
7. How can those engaged in devotional service know you at the time of death?

The lord's answers are as follows:

1. Brahman: The Supreme Indestructible Entity
2. Adhyatma: one’s own self
3. Karma: fruitive activities. i.e., actions that pertain to the material personality of living beings and their development
4. Adhibhūta: the constantly changing material manifestation 
5. Adhidaiva: the universal form of the lord, which includes all the demigods
6. Adhiyajna: I, the supreme lord represented as the super soul, in the heart of every embodied being
7. Those beings who quit their body remembering Lord Sri Krishna attains Moksha. However, those engaged in other contemplations at the time of their death attain that same consciousness. Hence, with practice, one should acquire the skill of remembering the Lord at all times.

Spiritual planets can also be attained by Yogic practices. The Vedic scholars practice celibacy, chant Omkara, and remain detached from all sensual engagements. Those yogis who constantly think of me with exclusive devotion can attain me easily. These great souls who have attained me never return to this world filled with misery as they are immune to rebirth. 

All the material planets, including the Bramha planet, are subject to misery and rebirth. Only upon attaining the Lord's abode is one freed from re-birth. The time calculations are different for different planets. For instance, one day on the Bramha planet equals four yugas rotating thousand times for a human. Hence, in one Bramha day, many living entities come into being and culminate at night, and the same cycle continues. 

If one leaves the body at the auspicious time given in the Vedic literature, even accidentally will escape from the cycle of birth and death. However, for the devotees, there are no such limitations. 

Devotional service is equivalent to:

1. Studying the Vedas
2. Performing sacrifices
3. Undergoing austerities
4. Giving charity
5. Pursuing philosophical or fruitive activities

Favorite Shlokas:

Shloka 1-2:

kiṁ tad brahma kim adhyātmaṁ kiṁ karma puruṣhottama

adhibhūtaṁ cha kiṁ proktam adhidaivaṁ kim uchyate

adhiyajñaḥ kathaṁ ko ’tra dehe ’smin madhusūdana

prayāṇa-kāle cha kathaṁ jñeyo ’si niyatātmabhiḥ

Shloka 5:

anta-kāle cha mām eva smaran muktvā kalevaram

yaḥ prayāti sa mad-bhāvaṁ yāti nāstyatra sanśhayaḥ

Jñāna Vijñāna Yog: Yog through the Realization of Divine Knowledge

Chapter 7: With 30 verses or shlokas, the seventh chapter is of intermediate length (i.e.,<5%) and includes a monologue by Lord Bhagavan Sri Krishna.

Krishna, the Supreme Personality of Godhead (Shloka 1-30): 30 shlokas

Brief Summary: In this chapter, the Supreme Personality of Godhead Shree Krishna fully reveals the knowledge and wisdom after knowing that nothing else remains to be known in this world.

Among a thousand --> hardly one/few strive(s) for perfection--> Among those who have perfection, hardly one person truly knows the lord. 

Two types of energy in the lord through which all living beings are manifested:

1. Material/inferior energy= sum of (Earth, water, fire, air, space, mind, intellect, and ego).
2. Superior/soul energy= consists of embodied souls that form the basis of life in this world.

Lord Sree Krishna, the Supreme Personality of the Godhead, is analogous to the thread which holds all the beads together. Hence, the lord is the source of the entire creation into whom everything dissolves. The lord is also

1. the taste of water
2. radiance of the sun and the moon
3. sacred syllable Om in Vedic mantras
4. sound in ether
5. ability in humans
6. pure fragrance of the earth
7. brilliance in fire
8. life-force in all beings
9. penance of the ascetics
10. eternal seed of all beings
11. the intellect of the intelligent
12. the splendor of the glorious
13. the strength (devoid of desire and passion) of the strong
14. sexual activity not conflicting with virtue or scriptural injunctions

Three material states of existence/modes of Maya: goodness (sattva), passion (rajas) & ignorance (tamas).

Only by surrendering to the lord can one overcome Maya. 

Four kinds of people that don't surrender to me:

1. Those ignorant of the knowledge.
2. Those who are lazy follow their lower nature though capable of knowing me.
3. Those with deluded intellect.
4. Those with a demonic nature.

Four kinds of pious people engage in my devotion:

1. The distressed.
2. The seekers after knowledge (inquisitive).
3. The seekers of worldly possessions.
4. Those who are situated in knowledge/ seek absolute truth. (Dearest to the Lord)

We tend to pray to different deities (demigods) to fulfill our material desires as per our nature. Even these desires are taken care of due to Lord Krishna's benediction. The different deities can be considered different parts of the Lord's body.  However, the results obtained by praying to demigods are transient. The ultimate goal can be achieved by surrendering to Krishna. 

Lord Krishna has absolute knowledge of the past, present, and future.  Those who strive for liberation from the cycles of birth and death by surrendering to me realize the divine and achieve Krishna consciousness.  

Favorite Shlokas:

Shloka 7:

mattaḥ parataraṁ nānyat kiñchid asti dhanañjaya

mayi sarvam idaṁ protaṁ sūtre maṇi-gaṇā iva

Shloka 17:

teṣhāṁ jñānī nitya-yukta eka-bhaktir viśhiṣhyate

priyo hi jñānino ’tyartham ahaṁ sa cha mama priyaḥ

The ecology of influenza - role of gene loss in natural disease reservoirs

The CDC defines a reservoir of an infectious agent "as the habitat in which the agent normally lives, grows, and multiplies." When the infectious agent spills over from such a reservoir species into other susceptible species, the pathogen experiences strong selective constraints in the new host. This new environment may then select for a more potent pathogen that can spread in the new host or even across other vertebrate species. The brilliant Robert G Webster describes a lifetime of knowledge he has accumulated on this spill-over process in his talk "Influenza: Lessons learned from Pandemic H1N1" at Columbia University. This talk, now more than a decade old, has some interesting discussion at the end that, in hindsight, now after the covid pandemic looks intriguing. 

The most interesting part of the talk for me is when he talks about birds. First, he mentions that shorebirds (Charadriiformes) such as the Ruddy Turnstone (Arenaria interpres), Semipalmated Sandpiper (Calidris pusilla), Sanderling (Calidris alba), European herring gull (Larus argentatus), laughing gull (Leucophaeus atricilla), and Red knot (Calidris canutus) and waterfowl (Anseriformes) species such as mallard or wild duck (Anas platyrhynchos) and pintail or northern pintail (Anas acuta) are some of the migratory birds that are monitored for influenza in North America. The second time he mentions birds is when he explains the difference between Ducks and Chicken and how the RIG-I gene is lost in chickens. RIG-I is an immune sensor that activates the production of interferon-Beta. A more detailed talk that focuses on the loss of this gene and how the discovery was made is explained by Katherine Magor of the University of Alberta in her talk titled "How ducks survive the flu; the secrets of the reservoir host." 

It has been more than a decade since the paper describing the lack of RIG-I in chicken and "Association of RIG-I with innate immunity of ducks to influenza" has been published. In this decade, it has been established that the "Loss of RIG-I leads to a functional replacement with MDA5 in the Chinese tree shrew". Although a paper (from fish immunologist Chris Secombes) looking at the "Origin and evolution of the RIG-I like RNA helicase gene family" claimed that "Unlike RIG-I, whose presence in chicken and some fish species is uncertain..", it did not conclusively establish the lack of RIG-I in chicken. Limitations in genome assembly quality and availability of large genomic datasets can be blamed for these uncertainties. Notably, the paper by Secombes also investigates the origin of RIG-I and related genes through gene fusion, domain duplication, and deletion and follows in the line of a previous paper titled "Evolution of MDA-5/RIG-I-dependent innate immunity: Independent evolution by domain grafting".

The birth and death of the genes from the terminal complement pathway are surprisingly similar to the history of the RIG-I-like RNA helicase gene family. Domain fusion events are involved in the birth of both gene families at the boundary of invertebrates and vertebrates, both RIG-I and C9 are lost in Galliform birds but are present in Anseriform birds and both are involved in the immune response. Finally, our manuscript dealing with the Birth and Death in the Terminal Complement Pathway is published.

 

Dhyān Yog: The Yog of Meditation also known as the Atma-Samyama Yoga

Chapter 6: With 47 verses or shlokas, the sixth chapter is of the same length as the first chapter. 

Arjuna (Shloka 33-34, 37-39): 5 shlokas

Krishna, the Supreme Personality of Godhead (Shloka 1-32, 35-36, 40-47): 42 shlokas

Brief Summary: In this chapter, the lord explains the Dhyan Yog aspect as a continuation of his answer to prince Arjuna in the previous chapter.

Sanyāsīs=yogis=who perform prescribed duties without desiring the results of their actions, is free from feelings of possessiveness, lives in seclusion, and engage the body, mind, and self in a relationship with the supreme.

Shloka 5-6: The mind can be your friend if you have conquered it, but it can also be your worst enemy if you have failed to conquer your mind. 

Free from Dualities: Cold and heat, Joy and sorrow, honor and dishonor, happiness and distress

For the satisfied yogi who is in KC, 

• Shloka 8: Dirt=stones=gold
• Shloka 9: Well-wishers=friends=foe=pious=sinners=affectionate=benefactors=envious=neutral =mediators. Notably, this shloka lacks a purport. 

Shloka 11-12 are very specific in detail regarding the pre-requisites for meditation. The specifics are:

1. Should be performed in a sacred/secluded place. A list of sacred places is mentioned in the purport and includes Prayag, Mathura, Brindavan, Rishikesh, and Haridwar.
2. Kusha/Kusa grass (Desmostachya bipinnata) should be covered with deerskin and a soft cloth to prepare a seat.
3. The seat should be at optimum height, i.e., neither too high nor too low.

Shloka 13-14: The sitting position requires the alignment of the body, neck, and head in a straight line. One should focus on the tip of the nose and meditate upon the divine within the heart.

Yoga is not a mere physical exercise, rather it is a means to attain the abode of the lord (AOL). The importance of proper sleep and a healthy diet are explained concerning becoming a perfect yogi. Discipline in the lifestyle can mitigate all material pains, one has to follow the correct schedule for habits of eating, sleeping, recreation, and work in day-to-day life.

The flickering nature of the mind can be controlled by the practice of yoga which can lead to the attainment of trance or "samadhi.". In the stage of samadhi, the person is engrossed in self and attains the highest form of happiness, and is unaffected by the miseries of the material world. 

Arjuna questions the knowledge imparted by Lord Krishna regarding yoga as impractical and unendurable. Characters of the mind described by the prince Arjuna:

• Restless
• Turbulent
• Strong
• Obstinate
• More difficult to control than the wind

Lord: practice & detachment. Possible for those who have learned to control the mind.

Arjuna further enquires what happens to the unsuccessful yogi who cannot reach his goal due to an unsteady mind. Would such a person miss out on both material enjoyment and spiritual success? 

The lord reassures Arjuna as follows:

• Those who strive for KC are never overcome by evil.
• Unsuccessful yogi attains the abode of the virtuous (AOV) upon death. After dwelling in AOV for many ages, such a yogi is reborn in the family of pious and prosperous people.
• Else, if a yogi has developed dispassion through long practice of yoga, such a yogi is reborn in the family endowed with divine wisdom.
• Following rebirth, the yogi strives for liberation with even greater earnestness by reawakening the wisdom of past lives. 

Shloka 46: yogi > tapasvī (ascetic) ; yogi > jñānī (a person of learning); yogi > karmī (ritualistic performer)

The results of spiritual practices are accumulated and passed to the next birth. Hence, even the unsuccessful yogi is making progress and eventually attains liberation. In the last shloka, lord Krishna highlighted the importance of surrendering oneself to the divine with utmost faith and love becoming the highest yogi.

Favorite Shlokas:

Shloka 5:

uddhared ātmanātmānaṁ nātmānam avasādayet

ātmaiva hyātmano bandhur ātmaiva ripur ātmanaḥ

Shloka 16:

nātyaśhnatastu yogo ’sti na chaikāntam anaśhnataḥ

na chāti-svapna-śhīlasya jāgrato naiva chārjuna

Karm Sanyās Yoga: The Yog of Renunciation

Chapter 5: With 29 verses or shlokas, the fifth chapter is one of the shorter chapters. 

Arjuna (Shloka 1): 1 shloka

Krishna, the Supreme Personality of Godhead (Shloka 2-29): 28 shlokas

Brief Summary: In this chapter, Lord Krishna responds to prince Arjun's question about whether the path of renunciation of action or working with devotion is better.

The Lord reassures the prince that both paths lead to the supreme goal. Yet, he notes that working with devotion is easier/better than the renunciation of action. Then the lord proceeds to explain that both renunciation of action and devotional action are the same. The Krishna conscious person is a pure soul who controls his mind and senses, being dear to everyone. 

Shloka 10 mentions the analogy of "Padma-patram iva āmbhasā" (which means like water on a lotus leaf) to reiterate that those who perform actions by abandoning all attachments are unaffected by sin just like a lotus leaf which remains untouched by water. The 13th shloka refers to the human body as a city of 9 gates in which the soul resides happily through self-control and detachment.

Shloka 5.18: For the truly learned, Brahmin=cow=elephant=dog=dog eater as the same consciousness resides in all.  

Krishna conscious person (KCP),

1. Has equanimity (i.e., neither rejoices upon success nor laments upon failure or unpleasantness) of mind. The famous poet Hari Vansh Rai Bachan is credited with saying "Man ka ho to acha, na ho to aur bi acha.".This means that if things happen according to your wishes it is good, it is even better if they don't. The sense of equanimity and the importance of surrendering to the divine is exemplified by this statement.
2. Knows the divinity within all beings.
3. Enjoys unlimited happiness.
4. Is free from fear, anger and material desires.
5. Is self-realised and self-disciplined
6. Conquer the cycle of birth and death in this very life.

Shlokas 27-28 emphasise the role of meditation for the liberation of the soul, with the help of breath control. Meditation can also be attained by concentrating between the eyebrows thereby liberating us from desires, fear and anger. 

Favourite Shlokas:

Shloka 10:

brahmaṇyādhāya karmāṇi saṅgaṁ tyaktvā karoti yaḥ

lipyate na sa pāpena padma-patram ivāmbhasā

Sholkas 27-28: 

sparśhān kṛitvā bahir bāhyānśh chakṣhuśh chaivāntare bhruvoḥ

prāṇāpānau samau kṛitvā nāsābhyantara-chāriṇau

yatendriya-mano-buddhir munir mokṣha-parāyaṇaḥ

vigatechchhā-bhaya-krodho yaḥ sadā mukta eva saḥ

Escape from MAC's TCP

Understanding the mysteries of birth and death is a complicated affair that has preoccupied mankind from time immemorial. Escaping from the miseries inherent in the cycle of birth and death has been propounded as the ultimate goal of life in eastern religions. Nirvana or liberation from the "beginningless cycle of repeated birth, mundane existence, and dying again" is something that countless spiritual seekers aspire to attain. Attaining liberation requires the utmost faith and effort and is never available to those who doubt everything. In fact, the Bhagavat Gita goes so far as to say, "sanśhayātmā vinaśhyati." in chapter-4.40. Hence, the doubting soul has happiness neither in this world nor in the next.

Yet, one can have a doubting soul that fails to understand this sublime transcendental knowledge. Escaping from something simpler may be possible for such doomed souls. A recent pre-print by Sharma et al. focuses on the escape from the MAC (Membrane Attack Complex) encoded by the TCP (Terminal Complement Pathway). In their manuscript titled "Birth and Death in Terminal Complement Pathway," Sharma et al. investigate the emergence of the terminal component pathway in early vertebrates using sequence similarity analysis, comparison of exon length, phase, and domain order. Starting with "Four possible scenarios for the birth of the terminal complement pathway (TCP)," the authors evaluate each scenario against available data to find the most supported aspects. As part of their investigation, the "Status of terminal complement pathway (TCP) components" is identified in representative species from various vertebrate clades. Their research discovered that the complement C9 gene has been duplicated in several species of the order Squamata and potentially degraded in Galliform birds.

The complement C9 of chicken and other Galliform birds has escaped MAC's TCP. Death does not mean liberation. So how do we know that C9 is liberated and not simply dead? Sharma et al. find that the chicken repeat 1 (CR1) element is inserted at the C9 locus in the intronic regions and in the middle of exons. The presence of CR1 elements within the exons disrupts the coding frame and will continue to do so until it is removed. Hence, the re-birth of the C9 gene would require a careful excision of the CR1 elements to reestablish the reading frame. Based on the relatively special type of gene death seen in C9, one could argue a scenario of liberation. But how permanent is liberation? Can a liberated soul be again condemned to a cycle of birth and death? 

Does the soul merge with god after liberation, or does it just become part of a cosmic soul distinct from god? Liberation is even more challenging to understand than birth and death as it remains a primarily theoretical concept for us mere mortals. Nonetheless, C9 is dead; long live the TCP!

Transcendental Knowledge: Jnana Karm Sanyas Yog

Chapter 4: With 42 verses or shlokas, the fourth chapter is similar in length to the first and third chapters. 

Arjuna (Shloka 4): 1 shloka

Krishna, the Supreme Personality of Godhead (Shloka 1-3;5-42): 41 shlokas

Brief Summary: In this chapter, Lord Krishna highlights that knowledge of the Bhagavad Gita has been transferred in disciplic succession since time immemorial :

Lord Krishna--> Sun God --> Manu--> Ikhshvaku

However, this succession was broken over time due to reasons not mentioned in the original text. Hence, the Lord restored this transcendental knowledge through his devotee and dear friend Arjuna. In this chapter's only shloka attributed to Arjuna, he has raised a doubt that the Sun god is from a much older period, then how Lord Krishna could have preached the Gita to him? 

The rest of the Shlokas involve a detailed answer from lord Krishna to this question. Lord Krishna emphasized that all souls are transcendental and have existed for many lifetimes. The only difference is that the memory of souls is limited to the present life due to limited sense perception. However, lord Krishna remembers everything. 

Two Shlokas (7 & 8) made famous by the television series Mahabaratha are part of this chapter. The interpretation of these two shlokas is that whenever irreligion becomes predominant, the lord himself appears on this planet to re-establish principles of religion. The concept of moksha is again explained in the subsequent shlokas. Moksha, or liberation from the endless cycles of birth and death, is the ultimate aim of life and can be attained by total surrender to the divine. Freedom from attachment, fear, anger, and fruitive activities will pave the path towards liberation. We cannot please Krishna with our fruitive efforts. 

• Distinguishing between Action, Inaction, and Forbidden action is complex and requires subtlety.
• Abandoning proprietorship over our own possessions. 

One of the most commonly recited Shlokas before consumption of food in India is Shloka 24, which states, "For those who are completely absorbed in God-consciousness, the oblation is Brahman, the ladle with which it is offered is Brahman, the act of offering is Brahman, and the sacrificial fire is also Brahman. Such persons, who view everything as God, easily attain Him." 

i.e., oblation==ladle==act of offering==sacrificial fire==Brahman

Those who are interested in self-realization offer various types of oblations, such as:

1. functions of all the senses, the vital force [breath]
2. material possessions, practice the yoga of eightfold mysticism
3. study the Vedas for the advancement of transcendental knowledge
4. practice breath control (pranayama)

Hence, sacrifice of one form or the other is required for spiritual attainment. Another essential aspect of spiritual life is the guidance of a spiritual master (guru/self-realized soul). The realization of transcendental knowledge can lead to the liberation of even sinners. 

Favorite Shlokas:

Shloka 7:

yada yada hi dharmasya

glanir bhavati bharata

abhyutthanam adharmasya

tadatmanam srjamy aham

Shloka 8:

paritranaya sadhunam

vinasaya ca duskrtam

dharma-samsthapanarthaya

sambhavami yuge yuge

Shloka 24:

brahmarpanam brahma havir

brahmagnau brahmana hutam

brahmaiva tena gantavyam

brahma-karma-samadhina