Lecture 5, 6, 7: Karma, The Bhagavad Gita, Desireless Action

Question 1

The bare bones conception of karma is that

Answer 1

actions lead to personal consequences

Question 2

word for habits

Answer 2

samskaras

Question 3

Samskaras are believed to produce

Answer 3

the personal consequences while actions product habits, which repeat the action

Question 4

What are the 6 steps of Karma in contemporary interpretation?

Answer 4

1. Good Actions
2. Good Habits
3. Good Consequences
4. Bad Actions
5. Bad Habits
6. Bad Consequences

Question 5

Good habit is also considered

Answer 5

merit

Question 6

2 problems with contemporary interpretations of karma

Answer 6

1. Need a role for desire

2. No way to avoid merit and demerit

Question 7

When an action is motivated by desire, it produces

Answer 7

a habit

Question 8

3 steps to creating samskaras

Answer 8

1. Pleasure = desire
2. Pain = aversion
3. Desires and Aversions produce habits

Question 9

What is the reason we have habits?

Answer 9

we desire the result of the habit

Question 10

The Bhagavad Gita is a

Answer 10

small text embedded in the Mahabharata

Question 11

In the Bhagavad Gita, Krsna is….

Answer 11

An avatar of Visnu and a king that is close friends with Arjuna

Question 12

What does Krsna do in the Bhagavad Gita battle?

Answer 12

Drives a chariot

Question 13

Why is Arjuna in despair when surveying the land before battle?

Answer 13

he sees how he has to kill his teachers and cousins

Question 14

What is Arjuna’s and Krsna’s dialogue about in the Bhagavad Gita

Answer 14

About one’s responsibilities to community as Arjuna doesnt want to fight and Krsna says he should

Question 15

What is Krsna’s view on the Vedas in Bhagavad Gita

Answer 15

Vedas are flowery words to those with worldly values, which only result in rebirth

Question 16

“As much use as there is in a well that is flooded on either side, so much use there is for the vedas for the brahman who knows reality” …was said by who in what text?

Answer 16

Krsna, the Bhagavad Gita

Question 17

Is the view in Bhagavad Gita vedic or post?

Answer 17

post vedic, but not renunciate

Question 18

What is the solution that Krsna offers to Arjuna?

Answer 18

Perform social responsibilities and do his dharma with desireless action to become a karma yogin

Question 19

karma yogin

Answer 19

something like a renunciate . in action. Engage but not with desire.

Question 20

3 problems with desire

Answer 20

1. It causes suffering
2. Compromises moral agency
3. Desire plays an essential role in the production of merit and demerit

Question 21

5 ways suffering is caused by desire

Answer 21

1. Lack
2. Disappointment in having
3. Fear of losing
4. Actually losing something
5. Don’t want something anymore

Question 22

How does desire effect moral agency?

Answer 22

The more desire, the harder it is to enter a state of mind where people can make the right decisions where all aspects are taken into consideration

Question 23

2 problems with desireless action

Answer 23

1. Desire for liberation

2. Desire to be desireless