Nature of love and sexuality

In the Bhagavad Gita in Chapter 3 regarding Karma Yoga, we find this verse:

Bg 3.37 — The Supreme Personality of Godhead said: It is lust only, Arjuna, which is born of contact with the material mode of passion and later transformed into wrath, and which is the all-devouring sinful enemy of this world.

In this world we commonly associate love with sexuality as well as lust with sexuality.  However, the Bhagavad Gita refers to lust in a much more broad context.  Lust can be manifested in a variety of ways including lusting after possessions or material wealth.  

However, in the most common context of lust regarding sexuality, we can curb this desire through transformation of this into divine love.  In the 1960s, there was a concept or notion of "free love".  Though that was commonly meant to mean uninhibited sex, it could also mean the concept of unconditional and selfless love.  In married or committed relationships, love and sexuality are generally considered synonymous.  Only outside of committed or loving relationships is the concept of sexuality without love considered.

There is a common saying that "everyone wants to be loved".  Everyone is looking to find love in some form or another.  Some humans find it through sexuality, other through relationships and yet others find it through God or religion.  

But as the Bhagavad Gita states, if we attach ourselves in loving devotion to God, all other love will come to us.  God always loves unconditionally since all human beings are created in his image and are part and parcel of the Supreme Lord.  If we love our fellow human beings in a manner similar to God (unconditionally), we will always be supremely happy.  Common literature including books such as A Tale of Two Cities speak of unrequited love, but unrequited love can really be considered synonymous with unconditional love or the love of God.  Love is always believed to require reciprocation, but that is not the case.  Those who do not know God or do not even have the capacity to know and realize God (including animals, plants etc.)  are all still loved by God.  

Therefore, if we love and are attached to God and consequently love human beings regardless of whether or not that love is reciprocated, we will always be supremely happy.  We will always be able to find love.  And if we share that love with all other human beings, we will eventually find that one love which is reciprocated and makes all the love shared with other human beings worthwhile.  

This is clearly evidenced by the tremendous number of songs and writings all centered on the concept of love.  In the words of the Beatles, "All you need is love, love is all you need, love is all you need."

Star Wars and the Bhagavad Gita

I was just recently watching the Star Wars series on the Sci-Fi Channel and began to notice the religious allegory in the storyline that I had never noticed before.

After doing some searching on the Internet, I found this article that seemed very interesting:

http://www.chron.com/entertainment/movies/article/Many-faiths-see-religious-allegory-in-Star-Wars-1919344.php

One thing I found very interesting in the article was that there was no mention of the Bhagavad Gita in the passage at all.  Therefore, I thought it might be worthwhile to add some clarification to some of the mentions made in the article:

Much of the debate centers on the nature of the Force, which Lucas told Time magazine in 1983 was God. Sixteen years later, Lucas told Bill Moyers that he put the Force into Star Wars "to try to awaken a certain kind of spirituality in young people — more a belief in God than a belief in any particular religious system."
If we look through the passages of the Bhagavad Gita, we can find many references that explain directly what George Lucas describes:
http://vedabase.com/en/bg/18
Bg 18.66 — Abandon all varieties of religion and just surrender unto Me. I shall deliver you from all sinful reactions. Do not fear.
The article refers to no particular religion in reference to God, just an overall spirituality.  The Bhagavad Gita, while traditionally associated with Hinduism, indicates that all varieties of religion are acceptable to follow the principles of the Bhagavad Gita.

In fact, if you read the entire passages of the Bhagavad Gita available here: http://vedabase.com/en/bg, you will be able to find suitable comparisons for nearly all of the characters in the movie including Luke Skywalker, Darth Vader, Princess Leia, Obi-Wan Kenobi, Han Solo, The Force etc.

While someone can easily write entire volumes on the allegory of Star Wars (as some authors already have done), I will provide just a few brief examples from the Bhagavad Gita and leave the rest to those interested in further research and investigation:

1. Luke Skywalker--Devotee of God such as Arjuna in the Bhagavad Gita
2. Obi-Wan Kenobi/Yoda-Gurus of the Devotee/Lord Krsna
3. Darth Vader-Duryodhana as well as Lord Krsna/God (Lord Vader saves Luke in Return of the Jedi)
4. The Empire-The Kaurava Forces
5. The Rebel Forces-The Pandava Forces
6. The Emperor-Dhritishtrashta
7. Princess Leia-Draupadi
8. Chewbacca-Bheem

Perhaps in a future blog post I may be able to elaborate further on these various references as well as relate to the specific passages in the Bhagavad Gita, but that's all for now! :-)

Surrendering all activities to God

In the Bhagavad Gita, there is a verse that states

"O scion of Bharata, surrender unto Him utterly.  By His grace you will attain transcendental peace and the supreme and eternal abode."

Many religious believers from all varieties of religions have understood and embraced this concept wholeheartedly.  They believe that all activities that they perform occur as a direct result of the grace of God.  This includes all sorts of activities ranging from their work duties as well as their household duties.

We see this activity frequently reflected in all types of mediums from work activities to household computer activities.  By offering all these types of activities to God, one becomes purified of sins in a manner similar to offering food to God by saying "Grace" before consuming food.

If we take upon ourselves the daily practice of offering all of our activities to God, by gradual degrees we can continue to be purified and cleansed of our sins and therefore come to see and realize God.