2.30: Everything is Alright

So now with the 30th verse, Krishna kind of brings to a kind of close this section when he's been describing the essence, the immortal undying soul, or this which is beyond description. He's been describing it. And this kind of culminates that section, and he says, so he ends the verse, so you have no cause to mourn, again he emphasizes this, you have no cause to feel this grief, lamentation, no cause to mourn. And in the first line he addresses him, Bharata, you are a child of this land. And he says, Dehi Nityamavatyoyam Dehi Saravasya.

So he says, this inviolable, eternal essence or soul is in the body of all. So all who are embodied, they are also existing in this eternal, undying, inviolable consciousness. Tasmat, Saravani Bhutani, nattvamsvore jitamadasi, therefore, you have no cause to mourn for any being. And it's not quite a radical idea, you have no cause to be feeling sad about any being at all. When we first read this or hear this, it can sound quite shocking.

But the underlying idea in yoga is actually a very beautiful one. And there's that everything is conscious, is consciousness. And so everything is actually on its journey, home to the fullness that it really is. So there's a very beautiful teaching, which I was introduced to when I started to become more connected or familiar with some of the teachings of Kashmir Shaivism, a particular school of yoga. And this teaching just says, everything is all right.

Everything is all right. The idea being that everything is unfolding as it needs to. And this can seem, again, like a very radical idea, a very difficult idea to kind of digest initially. But there's the idea that everything is moving along. And there's this beautiful idea in yoga that everybody is actually practicing yoga, whether they realize it or not.

Now you might think, what do you mean everybody's practicing yoga? I don't do headstand or I don't sit and chant or whatever you think is a yoga practice. But the idea is, what is yoga really? It's about coming into harmony, it's about coming into oneness, coming home to the fullness you are. And it's the idea that everything is actually exploring that.

Everything is learning to fulfill its own nature. And there's the idea that all of us are practicing, because really as we grow through a human life, all our experiences help us learn more about what it actually means to be ourself. And so he's saying, you have no cause to mourn any creature. And by extension, if you actually want to help anybody else or anything else, if such a thing is possible, mourning or getting overwhelmed and upset, that's not going to put you in a great position to actually engage in the most constructive way. If you're steady and calm, then you can actually engage more skillfully.

And so from here, Krishna's going to kind of move a little bit, he's going to change tack ever so slightly. I'm going to have a couple of very, very beautiful verses, and then this rather on the surface puzzling section, where Krishna seems to contradict himself. So we'll continue with that in a few moments.