E126 - As usual, "cleanliness" has a deeper meaning than usual in the Gita. The goal here is to clean your body, mind, and intellect, your equipment, to move closer to spirituality. Start with your body, but cleaning your thoughts, emotions, and desires is part of this process as well. Steadfastness refers to pursuing your spiritual goal with dedication and that will transfer to all of your pursuits. One key to growing both of these qualities is finding people to spent time with that are like-minded and making sure your life is aligned with your values.

In these qualities, we explore the roles of your mind and your conscience. Following your mind can cause emotional disturbances which moves you away from your spirituality. We also learn that "gratitude is the mother of all virtues" and that we need to honor those who put us on this spiritual path.

There will be injustice in the world, don't be the cause of it ... This is one of the highlight points of this next episode in the exploration of the 20 qualities of a wise person. In this case, we are talking about forgiveness and non-injury and while we think we know what these words mean, it is often clarifying to see them the way they are meant in the Gita. For example, an attitude of non-injury is not causing sorrow or pain, but sometimes you are forced to, in order to serve the good. Explore some of these discussions about what these qualities mean.

E123 - A look at our first two qualities of a wise person ... Humility, once attained and ingrained in you, allows you to shift your focus to Brahman. Pretentiousness, or pretending to have what you do not have is bondage to the desire to impress others so that they will have a good opinion of you. Like all desires, this is insatiable and ultimately unsatisfying. The goal is to release yourself from relying on what other people think of you and instead find peace within through your closeness with Brahman.

E122 - The Doctors outlines the general principles of "wisdom", in this case, meaning a person's connection, closeness, and understanding of the Ataman or Brahman, in other words, God. We possess all of these 20 qualities already, but they need to be brought out of the shadows. The basic message here is that to the extent that you are affected by the world and its temptations, you are not spiritual.

E121 - The doctor talks about the knowledge of the ancients, how they gained that knowledge, and the role that science plays in the Gita. And we begin to consider what we are made of and what the world is made of. The language of the time describes our body as the field and Brahman is the knower of the field. More important is our relationship with consciousness and our knowledge of what our consciousness is.

E120 - At the beginning of Chapter 13, Arjuna asks Krishna about the differences between matter, spirit, body, and life. Arjuna has heard these words many times but he is looking for a definition of terms as we begin to try to understand the undefinable and attempt to understand what Brahman is. 

E119 - You are That  ... Chapter 13 begins the final third of the Gita. This episode lays out some of the basic concepts that are needed to move forward. The Gita is divided into three topics explaining the concept of "You are That". This final third deals with "that", Brahman, an idea that is well outside of our frame of thinking. The reason we are here is to change that. It will not be easy, but we start here.

Another in a line of fascinating Gita Field Trips. The doctor fills out our understanding of time and civilizations before the birth of Christ with a focus on how the Vedic culture helped form the basis of later civilizations in Europe, Scandinavia, the Middle East, and even North America and South America. Discussed are the origins of Palestine, the Jewish people, Egypt, the Druids, the Saxons, Arabia, and the term "Hindu",  Learn how Vedic culture has flavored the world as we know it.

The Doctor finishes up his tour of the 35 qualities of a self realized master with the final four qualities. First, these masters are "homeless" but not in the way you imagine. They are steady-minded and not restless. Self realized masters are endowed with faith, finally, they regard Brahman as supreme.