17.11-19 Applying the principles of austerity in our life Gita Study Pune 2013

Disclaimer: This transcript was generated using AI and may contain occasional errors or inaccuracies.

So we continue with the 17th chapter of the Bhagavad Gita. Yesterday we discussed about Krishna, Krishna, Hare, Hare, Hare, Ram, Hare, Ram, Ram, Ram, Hare, Hare. So we discussed yesterday about the three kinds of food.

So now we will discuss the various other aspects. So first he talks about the yajnas, then he will talk about tapa and then finally he will talk about dana. So Apala, Kangshi, Bhira, Yajna.

Vidhidhishtho ya ijyate, yashtavya meveti manaha, samadhaya sa sattvikaha. So Apala, Kangshi, Bhira. So without expecting the fruits of result, Yajna.

When one performs a sankrathi, one performs a yajna, one performs a sankrathi, one performs and what is the motive of performing the sacrifice? Vidhidhishtho. Vidhidhishtho means it is given in the scriptures, it is my duty. Ya ijyate, one who performs.

Yashtavya meveti manaha. So Yashtavya meveti manaha means it's my duty to do it. So first part is Vidhidhishtha, Yashtavya means basically I am obliged to do it.

So then, samādhāya sa sātvikahā. So, the scriptures often give us duties that if we analyze a little bit, they make sense, even from a disworldly point of view. But, often the scriptures also give us duties that do not make sense from a disworldly point of view.

For example, say, animal husbandry, as it is done in today's world, where people take care of animals so that they can get their products. The products may be, say from the cow they can get milk, or later on people may want flesh of the cow. So this is, it makes sense from the commercial, materialistic, disworldly point of view.

We take care of animals because we will get something from it. But the scriptures describe that the relationship of humans, especially vaishyas, with the animals should not just be of cattle rearing, but it is called as goraksha, cow protection. So, that means the scriptures urge us that we should continue through relationships and the duties or obligations that come to those relationships.

We may get some returns, but we do those obligations even when we don't get those returns. If those returns are the primary objective for doing those obligations or for continuing those relationships, then we will never know steadiness. So, this concept of doing one's duty is not very much appreciated in today's society.

Now, for example, if we look, say, at the husband-wife relationship. If the relationship is primarily based on what I can get from the other person, then as long as the husband is providing money, the wife will find the husband attractive. And as long as the wife is providing sense enjoyment, wife is good looking, the husband will find the wife attractive.

So, this sort of relationship, it is totally utilitarian. So, where a man approaches a woman for sex and a woman approaches a man for money, and the most gross expression of this utilitarian male-female relationship is prostitution, where there is no relationship except for the exchange of money and sex. But when the stable relationships in society or the relationships that are meant to be stable, they are also on this platform, where there is no higher purpose apart from the exchange of pleasure and money, then the relationships can never be stable.

So, that's why we will see there are many factors which have caused the increase of divorce and instability of the family in today's society. But one primary factor is this, that there is no sense that when a man and woman come together, it is for life, it is based on a duty, it is a promise before God. Or for that matter, if you look at parent and children, the children are to be seen as the gift of God.

So, children, when they are there, they are a gift of God and they have to be treasured as such. But when parents think of children primarily in terms of financial cost or convenience or the lifestyle adjustments that they will require, then often what we have in today's society is something like abortion, where the parents want to just do away with the children. Or for example, if suppose a child is born who is, say, mentally retarded, autistic, then what happens? If the relationship of the parents and children is based only on the idea that the child will do something for me in the future, then there is no impetus left for taking care of such a child.

Or the other way also, when the children grow up, they take care of the parents. But if the parents become old and then they are not able to do anything to contribute, then the parents are just a burden. Why should I take care of them? So, the idea is that relationships, if we talk about this often in terms of our relationships with God, our relationship with God shouldn't be only utilitarian.

It's fear, desire, duty, love. But actually, if any relationship is stable, then the utilitarian platform will not allow for stability. So, the Bhagavad Gita, when it talks about, that actually whatever duties we have to do, sacrifices we have to do, the focus is not what I will get by doing these things.

No doubt the results will come, but that is not the focus for doing these things. And why do we do it? Because it's my duty. Now, we wonder what is the logic for this? Why should I consider something to be my duty, if it is not giving me something in return? Actually, whatever we do according to scriptures, it does give us something in return.

But what it gives may not always be measurable in material terms. Just like, a student, when he studies, if the student is purely calculative and utilitarian, then the student may get marks in the exam, but whether the student will get proper understanding of the subject, will get proper knowledge, will actually develop his or her own thinking capacity and develop an educated mind, that is questionable. So, if a student just starts measuring, OK, I have read 50 pages now, now I should get this many marks in my exam.

I have read 500 pages, I will get this many marks. If the student is just measuring everything in terms of marks, then the person may get marks, but he doesn't get knowledge. So, now, when a person is studying, actually when he studies to gain an understanding of the subject, and once he gains an understanding of the subject, the marks come as a result.

But they are not the primary product, especially when a person wants a proper education. So, the idea is that, when we do our duties as are given in scriptures, they lead to purification. They lead to the acquirement of pious credits, if they are the worldly duties, and they lead to the acquirement of devotional credits, if they are transcendental duties.

And if we just evaluate all duties in material terms, then the many duties just don't make sense. And then that leads to an ethos of irresponsibility and unstable relationships, by which nothing can go ahead in life. So, that's why here the Bhagavad Gita talks of sattva-guna means that one is not just evaluating everything in utilitarian terms.

So, this principle, I am talking about it here, yajna, this will be repeated by Krishna in the next chapter also, in the 18th chapter, where it will talk about repeatedly about say, karma and karta, who is in goodness. And as contrasted is, Krishna will talk about passion. So, abhisandhaya tu phalam.

So, abhisandhaya is to be attached to phalam. Abhisandhaya tu phalam refers to the attachment to the gross fruits. And it refers to the subtle, in the sense that, subtle fruits in terms of increasing of one's dambha, one's ego.

So, they have used Bharata Sreshtha. Bharata Sreshtha indicates that, Arjuna, you are the Sreshtha among the Bharatas, you should not work for such a trivial motivation. Such yajnas are performed, that is for those who are in rajoguna.

So, many times, when people do any religious rituals, they don't even understand the purpose of those rituals and they just do them so that they can have a good face in society. That's what we are expected to do. That means, okay, society expects that, this is the ritual that is to be done at this particular ceremony, so just do it and get it over with.

And why do I do it? Because that's what will give me some prestige in society. People will think I am a religious person, people will think I am a pious person. So, either way, it's a utilitarian calculation.

And that is Rajasam. In eleventh, so he does not have any desire for any fruits, but also he is not following the Vedic literatures. That's why he is being discussed here.

Because one who is divine, he is following the Vedic literatures. So, now Arjuna's primary objective to understand in this chapter is that, what about those who do not follow the Vedic literature but follow something, some religious practices. So, what exactly is this person doing then? I mean, what is the yajna and what he is offering to… Correct, correct.

So, the question is that, Arjuna's question started with, what about those who are not following scriptures, yaha shastra vidhim utsrujya, that was 17.1. So, what is the nature of faith of those people who do not follow scripture? And now in reply to that, Krishna analyses in terms of three modes. So, now if he is going to talk about the mode of goodness and the person is going to do duty without expectation, what exactly is the duty that the person is going to do? So, when Krishna is talking about the people in the mode of goodness here, he almost equates goodness with basic scriptural adherence. So, now there is scriptural morality or there are scriptural principles and moral principles.

So, now many moral principles are based on scripture or they are in adherence with scriptures. They are not necessarily in contradiction to scriptures. So, here in the various kinds of faith that will be talked about, the faith that is nearly in goodness, that will be more or less in agreement with scriptures.

Bhaktivinoda Thakur says in his Chaitanya Shikshamrita that the absolute truth is like a tall, tall mountain peak, like say the Mount Everest. And that absolute truth has been envisioned by Vyasadeva from the East and Plato and Socrates from the West. So, that absolute truth has been envisioned by different people and it has been presented accordingly.

So, the point he makes is, he is not necessarily putting Socrates on the same elevated pedestal as Vyasadeva, but he is pointing out that actually the great thinkers throughout history are ultimately trying to make sense of the same world that we all live in. And they get glimpses of the truth underlying this world, they get insights into what makes the world tick and they express it accordingly. So, those who are in goodness, they, because the nirmalatvat, relatively speaking, their lives are pure, so they are in touch with, at least to some extent, with the voice of conscience.

Even the innate compass, the inner compass that comes through goodness, sarodare shudhe hesmin prakasham upajayate, that inner compass that comes through the mode of goodness, by which people know that this is to be done, this is not to be done, the senses are illuminated by knowledge, by that they get an awareness of what is to be done and what is not to be done. And that awareness is quite similar to scripture morality, not entirely, but in principle it is similar. Clear? So now, let's look at passion, sorry, ignorance.

Vidhinam asrishtanam, Mantrahinam adakshinam, Shraddhavirahitam yajnam, Tamasamparichakshate. So, he is describing characteristics of the mode of ignorance in terms of everything that is lacking. You know, it's like Hinam, Vidhi Hinam, there is no following of scripture.

Asrishtanam, there is no distribution of charity, of food. Mantrahinam, mantras are not chanted. Adakshinam, there is no donation given.

So, first is food given in charity, Dakshina is not given. And Shraddhavirahitam, if faith is also not there, that means, scripture is not there, food is not there, donation is not there, mantras are not there, faith is not there. Neither the externals nor the internals are there.

Yajna, Tamasamparichakshate. So then what is there actually? If the externals are not there, we may say internals are not there, somebody may do the externals. Somebody may chant Hare Krishna without faith.

But if we say externals are also not there, then what does it mean? Then actually the externals are not there as they are told in scriptures. There may be externals in some way, in the way the rituals are performed. Like for example, we have many festivals today, which may have some origin in the Vedic texts, but whose expressions are very distorted today.

For example, we have the big festival of Ganesha Puja in Maharashtra. Now, Ganesha Puja, in principle, it's fine to worship demigods, if people want to be in the level of Karmakanda, but much of the way the demigod worship is done today, Ganesha Puja is done, is purely materialistic. For example, they may make these big, big Deities of Ganesha, but then after they make those Deities, when the Deities have to be submerged, there are various forms of Deity worship.

So generally, Srila Prabhupada has instituted what is called as Stahi Vigraha Puja. And there is another called as Astahi Vigraha Puja. Astahi Vigraha Puja means that those people who cannot worship Deities on a regular basis, then at least for some period of time, they can invite Deities and worship Deities.

So, there are periods when people are recommended that you can intensify your devotional service at that time. So, for example, Karthik people may intensify devotional service like that. So, similarly, there is the idea that a person can invite the Deities for a particular period of time and when the Deities are invited, it is called as Aarohan.

And then when the Deities are seen off after their worship for a particular period, that is called as Thirobhav. So, that is normally, it is scriptural in the sense that it is mentioned in the Pancharatra scriptures, but Vaishnavas don't do it so much. At least not in our Sampradaya directly.

But it is a bona fide way of doing it. So, in fact, there is also an example of what is called as Kshanikalinga. Kshanikalinga means a person may take sand or whatever or clay and fashion a Deity out of that and invite the Lord to appear over there and offer prayers in that Deity and then ask the Lord to leave.

Now, this is something which is recommended for exalted devotees. If they can't carry around Deities and they are travelling around, then that is allowed and recommended for them. But for others, so the idea is, you may remember, in the journey home, there was this Kancham Baba who would write Radha, make it out of sand and then worship it and then gently wipe it away.

So that is, of course, not exactly Vigraha, that is Akshara, that is letters, but the principle is similar. So that is accepted as a form of worship in the Pancharatra. So in that sense, the idea of Ganesha Puja where for a particular period of time, 10 days, 12 days, 15 days, 9 days, whatever, inviting a Ganesha Deity at one's home is fine.

But often the way it is done is contrary to scriptures. For example, one thing that they do is, when they have Ganesha Puja, they also have movie songs over there, which is egregious. The movie songs have got nothing to do with Ganesha Puja, isn't it? They just become a source of entertainment.

And as a source of entertainment, Ganesha Puja, Ganesha is one kind of entertainment, movie songs are another kind of entertainment. So then that is actually offensive to Ganesha. If we invite a guest to our house, then either we should attend to that guest or do something that is pleasing to that guest.

That means if we are inviting a Devata, then either we worship that Devata or there are sacrifices which are performed to Lord Vishnu, then in that also the Devatas come along, but then they are offered honour and then the Supreme Lord is glorified and they are also happy to see that. But here they are invited and something entirely different is done, which is not at all pleasing to them. So, not only that, often these Deities, when their Thirubhava is to be done, they are taken and put into the ocean or the river and often they don't dissolve quickly.

So right at the same Deity which they were worshipping and they were garlanding and decorating and bowing down to, after that same Deity comes off the altar and they put it into the water and then they have these big crane like or bulldozer like devices which crush the Deity into powder. Because they said if you just throw the Deity into the ocean, it may cause some hazard because it just keeps flowing around. So right in front of the same people who have been worshipping the Deity, they see how the Deity is broken down into powder.

So then this terribly smacks of idolatry for most people. Where is God? The same thing that you are worshipping as God, now you are crushing it into powder. So it seems so, it is so jarring to both those with devotional sensibilities as well as to those with some sceptical rationality.

So for those who are having devotional sensibilities, how can you break the Deity like that? On the other hand, those who are sceptical, they say if you can break the thing like that, then where is God over there? What is there to be worshipped in that? So both ways, this sort of thing is not at all recommended. I recommend it. So this is actually shraddha virahitam.

There is no proper faith in this kind of worship. So tamasam parichakshate. This is in the mode of ignorance.

Gandhiji says that Indians are pious and therefore they can pick up Krishna conscious very easily. However, it seems that the kind of worship which is going on today, most of it largely is basically mode of ignorance. So then how is it that we say they are pious? They may say somewhat we want to do something, but actually what you described just now, Gita is saying is in mode of ignorance.

Yes, so we say Indians are pious and that's how they can take to Krishna consciousness quickly. But then we see most of the worship that they do in the name of piety is in the mode of ignorance. So how exactly are they pious? There is a general culture of piety wherein the concept of God and the concept of worshipping God and not just God and worshipping God, but also worshipping God through many of the aspects of Vedic culture that are bona fide.

All these are accepted in today's society also. For example, people who have some faith in Vedic culture, although their current way they are expressing their faith may be far from correct, but still they will respect cows, they will respect deities, they will respect the Vedas, they will respect the saintly people. So these are all contributive to their devotional advancement if they can come to the right path.

See for those who are not within the house of the Vedas, so for them there are many cultural and conceptual barriers that they have to cross through before they can learn to actually start worshipping properly. I will explain what I mean by cultural and conceptual barriers. So cultural, let's look at first, it's an important one which I am going to discuss a little later.

How exactly are Indians, or you can call them as Hindus, in the house of the Vedas? I think we just… Yes, so less conceptual barriers and less cultural barriers. So what does these two refer to? There is in the Abrahamic religions the concept of a transcendent God and God's immanence is very little talked about. That God is wholly transcendent to the world.

So what is transcendent and immanent? Does anyone remember? Yeah? Yes. Yes, good. So transcendent and immanence refer to God's relationship with matter.

Is he present beyond matter or is he present in matter? So in the Abrahamic religions the idea is God is beyond matter. This world is separated from the God because of our sinfulness and God is wholly transcendental. So because of that, the idea that anything in this world can be sacred, that is considered to be not just wrong, but it is considered to be sinfully wrong.

So you will see in the history of the Abrahamic religions, repeatedly the victory of religion is equated with the victory of the one true God over the false gods. And that is done by whenever, say, the people of God, the Jews, they conquer any kingdom, this is in the Old Testament, as well as later on in the history of Christianity, which is based on the New Testament, whenever they conquer any kingdom, the first thing that they do is that they destroy the idols that are there. Because they have the idea that these are the false gods that are being worshipped and the worship of the false gods have to be stopped.

So conceptually itself, the sanctity of nature, or rather nature being sacred because it is connected with God, is not there. And that's why in cultural terms, the worship of the deity is something which is just not comprehensible. It is just not comprehensible to people.

And because of this, they find it, the shift, now many of the Srila Prabhupada's disciples were from Christian backgrounds, but most of them were nominal Christians. So they also had their apprehensions about idolatry, but they were never into Christian theology much. And once a person gets rooted in that, it is difficult to come out of those conceptual barriers.

So now no statement in and of itself is absolute. Srila Prabhupada says that those who are within the Vedic culture, Vedic fold, even if they are improper practitioners, this question came up when Prabhupada was in Calcutta, this quote of Prabhupada, that even the demigod worshippers are better because they are in the house of the Vedas. That actually Srila Prabhupada made, he along with his disciples were in Calcutta, and there, there was a lot of Durga puja going on.

And in fact, Srila Prabhupada, when he was a small child, he would worship the Govinda deities. And he, when he was in Calcutta, he desired to go and see, have darshan of those deities once again. And when he went to the house of the Mulliks, he found that those deities were no longer in the prominent place.

The temple of Govindji, Radha Govindji was transformed into the temple of Durga. And Radha Govindji, instead of being in the temple now, they were in a room in upper floor in the house of the Mulliks. So Prabhupada was very pained to see this.

Because those were his childhood deities and he loved them. And that's why eventually when the temple was established in Calcutta, Prabhupada said the deities will be Radha Govind. So, the point which is that, Prabhupada was very pained at this time.

When he was talking about this with devotees, how Indians are going more and more towards demigod worship. So at that time, the devotees asked him this question. They saw that the Durga puja was performed with huge festivities.

So then they asked him, Prabhupada said, still they are better situated. Because, whatever be the individual conception of worship, of a demigod worshipper, or even for that matter, a person who is connected with impersonalistic conceptions. So, even if it is impersonalistic conceptions, the basic principle is, that the Vedic culture generally promotes an ethos of tolerance.

That means, it is not that if a person is worshipping, even when the Vaishnavas were ruling, say for example, the Asatirtha. Asatirtha was a prominent Vaishnavacharya. And he was like the Raj, he was the Raj Mantri, he was the royal sage or advisor in the kingdom that was established by Krishnadevaraya.

There was the Vijayanagara empire that was there, several generations that was there, a stronghold of Hinduism or Vedic culture was there in South India during his times. So now, Asatirtha was the official head. But there was no record of Asatirtha going around and destroying forcibly impersonalism or Buddhism.

Those people who were practicing that, they were refuted and they were not supported by the state to give about their teachings. But it is not that they were persecuted and harassed and killed. That did not happen.

So, the Vedic culture is a culture of, in a sense, broad-mindedness. Broad-mindedness does not mean that we accept all paths are true as it is thought of today. There is a history of very vigorous intellectual debate where the Vaishnavas were very strongly trying to prove how the personal conception of God is the highest.

But that does not mean that intolerantly, that does not mean intolerantly one has to destroy other forms of worship. But that is what is there in the other forms of religion. So, in Abrahamic religions, intolerance and violence against other religions is considered a virtue, even a duty.

You know, it is something good and it is something essential. Virtue means it is something good. And duty means it is something which you have to do it.

So, that is how it is considered to be. So, it is not like that within the Vedic fold. Vedic fold is that, yes, it is not that we accept everything to be true.

But if something is not true, prove it is wrong through debate and discussion. Not that we reject everything as false. We just destroy everything that opposes one's views.

So, the cultural barriers are, as I said, below that. It is very difficult for people to accept the whole conception of deity or any manifestation of the absolute, of God in matter. So, because of these two things, the conceptual barriers and the cultural barriers, those who are outside the Vedic fold, they find it much more difficult to come to the Vedic fold.

And those who are within the Vedic fold, they are generally receptive to the other insights within the Vedic culture also. If you see when Srila Prabhupada came to India, most of the programs that were organized for him, it is not that those programs were organized by Vaishnavas. Actually, before Srila Prabhupada and Bhakti Sahansa Thakur, at least in modern times, Vaishnavism was never very prominent.

The only form of Vedic spirituality that was prominent, that was being spread, was impersonalism. So, when Srila Prabhupada came to India and various programs were organized for him, the people who organized those programs were not necessarily always Vaishnavas. Some place, they had a lot of respect for devotional culture, but they themselves may not have been Vaishnavas.

But they organized programs and when Prabhupada spoke, they were elevated by that. They understood and many of them became elevated. So, that's why there is overall receptivity towards the message within the Vedic culture, whereas there is hostility towards the Vedic message.

So, receptivity, not hostility, higher aspects of the Vedic message. So, they are all generally ready to hear. Now, nothing in the material world is an undiluted virtue.

So, nothing is an undiluted virtue means that even this receptivity can lead to gullibility, where people may just be ready to hear anything from anyone and get misled. That is a danger, no doubt. But still, that receptivity enables people to hear and if they are fortunate enough to hear the right message, then they can become elevated.

Is it clear? Yes, Krishna. Whenever we hear in Bhagavatam, there are sacrifices performed by kings such as Nabhi. So, when we think of sacrifices as process of Yugadharma, those sacrifices were like some different sacrifices meant for perfection, for spiritual perfection.

And then there are material motives for which the sacrifices are performed or it's the same. Just the attitude or the motivation with which it was performed. Because in that section of King Nabhi, performing the sacrifice, I believe Prabhupada says there that that was performed with a desire to please the Supreme Lord and not just the material motive like that.

So, for other processes, it's quite clear that they are without this motivation. But how about sacrifices? Yes. So, when we talk about sacrifices, are there different sacrifices which are performed for different purposes like say worshipping Supreme Lord and worshipping the demigods or is there one method of sacrifice is more of standard and it is just the motive that is different.

Sometimes some sacrifice performed for the Supreme Lord and others are performed for material motives or for appeasing the demigods. Well, the Rig Veda does talk about different sacrifices. You know, there is, as I said, one famous sacrifice is Putrakameshti Yajna and then there is Jyotishtoma and then there is the various kinds of sacrifices that are Agnishtoma sacrifices.

So, these are specific kinds of sacrifices with specific kind of objective. So, that means, when Mithretayam Yajitomakhai, Mithretayuga, when Yajna was the Yugadharma by which people can get elevated, that means it's talking about not just the principle that by sacrifice, one can worship the Supreme Lord and return back to the Supreme Lord. But it's also talking about a specific kind of sacrifice that is intended to please the Supreme Lord.

For example, we can say that Yajnanam japa Yajnam, as Sri Krishna says. So that among your sacrifices, I am japa Yajna. Now, in principle, japa Yajna is fine.

But there can be japa of so many names. You know, there can be japa of Krishna's name, there can be japa of Devata's name, there can be japa of Gangan Ganata Bote. You know, so many different names people can chant.

So, Gangan Ganata Bote is a mantra which is used to worship a particular person who is considered to be God. So, there can be so many mantras that people can chant like that. So, japa Yajna is a principle.

But that principle is associated with particular practices that will lead to the purification and liberation. Similarly, sacrifices also, there can be wide variety of sacrifices. And in fact, Shilpa Sutra is a book of geometry which talks about how to design the sacrificial altars.

Sacrificial altars would be used. And they have to be of particular shapes. And those shapes of the altars are associated with the particular Gods that are to be worshipped.

That means for this particular kind of God, that a particular shape of the altar should be there. For this God, the altar should be of a particular shape. So, it's not just the mantras that are chanted or the names of the Yajnas, but other details also vary depending on which Devata is being worshipped.

Yes. Other faiths, but if we take the comparison between a Karmakandi and a Nishkama Karmi, who is not having, he is not there in either of these two categories. He is just a selfless kind of humanitarian work he is doing.

So, for whom it is easier to come to the path of Bhakti, because the Karmakandi is still bound in the sense gratification zone. But the other one, Nishkama Karmi, he is doing selfless service. He is not so much attached to sense gratification.

Yes, so for whom is it easier to come to devotional service? Is it Nishkama Karma Yogi or Karmakandi? Nishkama Karmi. Nishkama Karmi, yes. In general, basically one has to get three things right.

The right path, the right person and the right motive. Generally, I talk about Sadhya and Sadhana. We talk about Sadhya and Sadhana.

So, Sadhya and Sadhana, that also includes the Hetu, the motive. So, you come to the right person for the right motive and with the right process. Then our progress will be very swift.

So, right person is Vishnu or Krishna. The right method is Bhakti Yoga and the right motive is Prema. So, when all these three come together, then the progress is most swift.

Now, the more the factors that are right, the quicker is it to get elevated. So, if I, for example, somebody from childhood has been in a culture where Krishna has been worshipped. Although that worship may not always be in pure devotion.

It might be Sakaam worship of Krishna. But if that culture of worshipping Krishna is there, then at least one has come to the right person. And because that worship is generally a part of Bhakti, so also one is more or less at the right path.

Now, one has come to the right motive. So, in that sense, the cultural conceptual barriers are less. But if somebody has an entirely different conception of God, as they start in the Abrahamic religions, of a God who cannot be seen or touched or heard, who is completely beyond this world, then that understanding makes it very difficult for people to actually come closer to God.

So, and then for them to understand the Vedic conception of God is also not easy. So, that's why among these two, one who is at a higher level of understanding, the Karmi means the person is Nishkama Karmi means the person is coming closer to the right motive. So, in that sense, that person is closer to coming to Krishna.

But at the same time, if somebody has been a Karmakandi worshipping Krishna and somebody has been Nishkama Karmi, who has been worshipping Shiva and is now coming through that, towards detachment and now is thinking of eventually merging in impersonal Brahman, then the person may have some more journey to cover, some more conceptual overall to happen, before that person can come to devotional service in a proper way. So, that means that from the point of view of linear progression, Nishkama Karmi is definitely higher than Karmakandi. But then, if a person knows Krishna, now if a person knows Krishna somehow and develops some attraction for Krishna, then even what to speak of a Karmakandi, even if the person has been a Vikarmi, as probably all of us were, at least I was.

So, then we can still come to Krishna because we at least know the right person. So, that means, the highest Vedic understanding. So, we come to the right person, for the right person.

Right person, then what right? Right process or path and right motive. So, once all these three come together, then the progress is fast, really fast. So, right person is Krishna, right path is Bhakti and right motive is Prema.

So, Bhakti, in a sense, can also be performed for Akama, Sarvakama, etc. So, Sarvakama, Bhakti can also be performed for Sarvakama. So, is that clear? Yes.

Question regarding the unbonafied sacrifices, like just now you mentioned one mantra, that Kanigan Ganapati, like that some people chant another kind of self-made God's mantra. So, people are doing this kind of unauthorized sacrifices or chanting this unbonafied mantra. So, this ignorance kind of worship, so what is their destination? And whether by chanting some people's mantra, like this kind of mantra, they are getting some benefit? So, do people get benefit by chanting non-scriptural mantras? Just the uttering of those mantras will not lead to any spiritual advancement.

But, there is a certain amount of mental stabilization that can happen by repetition of some sounds. This has been found by researchers and psychologists that, there is Herbert Vinson, who was a famous researcher in religion and health. And he did a series of studies and he wrote several books.

So, he was actually a follower of Maharishi Mahesh Yogi. Initially, but then he broke off from him. So, Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, he taught Transcendental Meditation.

His idea was that, you just take some sound vibration and let that sound vibration and its repetition become like a ladder for stabilizing and elevating your thoughts. So, he says that the mind has a tendency to wander anywhere and everywhere. So, just take some sound and the Guru will give you that mantra.

So, actually the mantras that they are given is just like a small fraction. And it need not be, at least when he gave it, some spiritual sound would be there. But, what Herbert Vinson did was, he sort of diversed, he separated away all the religious elements that were there in Transcendental Meditation.

That means he removed the whole concept of a Guru. He removed the concept of mantras as associated with religious traditions, Vedic tradition or whatever. And he removed all philosophical education that was there.

And he told people who were sick, that if you are in a hospital, you just chant some sound, whatever sound you like. And just repeat it and you will find that, you will become more peaceful, you will become more calm. And when he found that, actually he was quite successful.

And he found two, three very interesting things. He found that people who uttered some mantra, now mantra we don't necessarily mean anything spiritual, but some sound vibration repeated as a mantra, he found that it had benefits. But he found another point, so in general anybody who repeated some sound, at least what happened was, that gave some sort of focus for the mind.

And the mind was just not going here and there. But second thing he found is, most people chose some sound that was of religious significance for them. So, Christians may choose the name of Jesus, Buddhists may choose the name of Buddha.

So, most people, they chose some religious names. And in general he found that those who chanted some religious names or some religious sounds, they had greater benefits than those who chanted some non-religious sounds. And then, after that he also found that in general, so he himself, in the secular world, in the academic mainstream world, actually if you are to be respected, it is said that you should be ideologically uncommitted.

Because if you are committed to one school of thought, then everything you will interpret in a way to promote that school of thought. So, if you are ideologically uncommitted, then you will be open-minded. So, he said that the question of whether God exists or not is beyond, is a matter of personal belief.

And I don't, I won't comment on that at all. But what my research points out is that belief in God accompanied by utterance of the names of God. So, I talk about this three levels.

First is, anybody who uttered some sound, he got some benefit. Second is, most people chose the names of some religious sounds or religious names to chant. And third he found that people who actually believed in what they were chanting, they had greater benefit than people who did not believe and just chanted for the namesake.

So, his idea was basically that we can't know whether God exists or not. That is a matter of personal belief and experience. But we can, through science, see that belief and practice has beneficial effects as far as the health is concerned.

So, what this means is that people, you know, if you start say, when we say also that, you know, you should chant only scripturally ordained mantras and all other mantras are bogus. When we say like this, it will often contradict the experience of people. Because from an experience point of view, people feel that by uttering this mantra, I have got some benefit.

So, yes, because if the human mind gets some sort of tool for structuring and stabilizing, that will help. But the speciality of the Hare Krishna Mahamantra is not just that it gives a structure and stability for our thoughts, but it actually brings sublimity and transcendence to our thoughts. Because all the other sound vibrations, they are not transcendental.

They are not transcendental. See, the idea of repeating a sound, how it can bring some stability and structure is, a person is living homeless and a person builds a home. A person has a roof overhead.

So, a roof overhead provides shelter. So, any roof overhead is better than just staying under the sky. But any roof overhead is not the same as home.

Isn't it? So, letting the mind wander here and there without any structure or stability, that is like having no roof overhead. Having some kind of mantra being chanted, some kind of sound being repeated, is having some kind of shelter for the mind. But beyond that is actually getting the original shelter, returning back to the person with whom we have an eternal relationship.

So, that's why, that is actually, we don't deny that people may experience some benefits by chanting these kind of mantras also. But the benefits are far lesser than what they can get if they chant the mantras that are given in the scriptures. Mantras that are connected with the names of God.

Clear? Another thing that some people made their own mantras, but in that mantra, they add some Lord's name, like Jai Janardhanai Nama, like Lord's name, or Sai Ram, Om Sai Ram, like that. So, Lord's name is also added along with their own name. So, what is the future for their followers? Because one side they are adding their own name and also Lord's name also.

So, yes. So, let me just complete this one. So, do non-scriptural mantras give benefit? So, I said, no roof overhead, no structure and stability for mind.

So, it's like no mantra. Then, some mantra chanted is like, some roof overhead. And God's name chanted is like home overhead, returning to home.

So, there is a categorical difference, categorical level of difference in what one benefits from. Now, coming to this question of, if somebody chants a mantra that has both the names of some person who claims to be God, along with God, and both are combined together. So, will it lead to purification? The purification depends on remembrance.

Krishna says, antakaale chamameva smaran muktva kalevaran. So, when there is proper remembrance, then it leads to purification. So, if one is chanting, say, Om Sai Ram, and if one is remembering Sai Baba, not Lord Ram Chandra, then the purification, although because the name of Ram is there, some purification will definitely be there.

But the amount of purification will be minimal. Because the remembrance is not of Lord Ram. So, but there is the name of Ram, so some benefit will be there.

But because there is no remembrance, like Ajamil, his chanting of the name was unconscious, but he was thinking of his own child. But actually when he saw the Yamadutas, when he was chanting Narayan, he was remembering his own child. But actually when he saw the Yamadutas, when he called out Narayan, he was calling out his child.

But when he called out his child, or rather when he uttered the sound Narayan, then he realized, what is this child Narayan going to do for me? How can he help me? It is only Lord Narayan who can help me. So, normally whenever you utter the word Narayan, he would be referring to his child. But at that particular time, when he saw the Yamadutas and uttered Narayan, that time also, initially when he uttered, his intention was to call out to his child only.

But once he spoke that sound, after that his remembrance shifted. He realized, what can this child do for me? Let me remember Lord Narayan. And so that was a significant factor for his eventual deliverance.

So, the utterance of the name, along with the remembrance is important. I was asked this question on my website. If we say that somebody can worship, somebody can worship even Jesus, God from various traditions, and that person can get elevated.

So, if somebody chants the name of Allah or Christ, that person can also become elevated. Then why do we say that a person can chant the names of, if somebody says I can chant the name of Shiva or Ganesh, why can't I get liberated? If you say that you can chant Allah and Christ and become elevated, then why not Shiva and Ganesh? So, actually, when we chant a particular name, that brings along with it certain conceptions. So, if somebody chants the name of Christ or Allah, a certain conception may come in the mind of people.

Now, because there is no clear description of God, very clear specific description of God, so the conception of God that people have when they chant these names is very non-specific. It is generic. The generic attributes of how God is all-powerful, He is the greatest, He is so loving and this and that, the generic characteristics of God come up in the mind.

So, no specific conception comes up, just generic characteristics come up. So, there is, in English, something called a proper noun and a common noun. So, common noun is, say, all these boys are there in this room or all these men are there in this room.

So, men is a common noun. Whereas, if I say a particular name, if I say Vijaya Krishna Prabhu, this is a proper noun. Proper noun refers to one particular person, a common noun refers to a category.

So, God, in a sense, is a common noun. God also refers to one person, but there can be so many conceptions of God. Krishna is a proper noun, it refers to a specific person.

So, now, when people chant the names of Shiva or Ganesh, at that time, they develop a particular conception of whom they are calling out. So, when they are calling out Shiva, then they are calling out to a person who is holding a trishul, who has a naag on his head and who drinks bhang and who has ashes on his body. Now, that conception is not the conception of the absolute truth.

So, now, some people may say that the name Shiva also means the Supreme Lord because Shiva is auspicious. That is true. And Shiva can also be a name of Lord Vishnu.

It is there in Vishnu Sahasranam. But is that what people are thinking about when they are uttering the name? So, if they are uttering the name of Shiva, then a particular conception comes in the mind. And what conception comes in the mind will determine the destination.

Is it clear? You can speak loudly. I'll repeat. It will give benefit.

And I also wanted to ask, why is it that in chanting, in all our devotional processes, we say put the heart, be devotional, be prayerful, etc. In everything else, it is useless. But when it comes to chanting, just hear.

So, in all our devotional activities, we say we have to put our heart. But in chanting, we say just hear. And Prabhupada said, the benefit of chanting can come even if you don't understand the language.

See, when we say we can get the benefit even without the language, that is preliminary or introductory. Eventually, we have to get some education. That means that even a person who doesn't know anything about Krishna Conscious, somebody in Iceland or Siberia, if that person hears the sound of the holy names, he'll find it soothing.

That person can also join kirtans and feel some ecstasy over there. But over a period of time, the person also has to get some education so that the person can develop a proper understanding of who is it that he is worshipping. So, Srila Prabhupada did tell us that the language doesn't matter.

But then he also wrote so many books. And he insisted that the books be distributed. So, the knowledge is also important.

So, at one level, the holy name itself can not only give us initial ecstasy to anyone without any prior understanding, it can also lead to eventual advancement. If you just want to emphasize on the holy name, then we can say that the holy name itself can give liberation. In fact, Shatracharya Tamrudevan says that in Kali Yuga, the holy name is so powerful that one doesn't even need a guru.

Just the holy name can lead to liberation. But right from Chakravarthi Path down to all the acharyas, they have explained that the holy name can give liberation, no doubt. But the holy name has to be served in the proper way.

And that service to the holy name in the proper way is learned from the guidance of a guru. So, that means that there is a proper method for chanting also. As far as hearing is concerned, again, just hearing is the beginning.

The idea that our mind is going here and there, all over the place, then we are not receptive to Krishna. But it is said that once we start hearing, then that hearing will stimulate the arousal of spiritual emotions and spiritual thoughts. Just like when we hear the name of a person whom we love, then we think of, we think of like Nama leads to Rupa Guna Leela.

When I think of the name of a person, then I think of how does the person look like, what are the qualities of that person, what are the activities that the person does. So, similarly, when we, the injunction to hear is primarily so that we receive the Nama. But eventually when we receive the Nama, it will lead to Rupa Guna Leela, our thoughts of that.

So, it's not that we shouldn't put our heart and soul in chanting, we have to put our heart and soul, but that is primarily in terms of hearing attentive. So, hearing will lead to the stimulation of other attributes of the person about whom we are hearing. There is a question there? Yes, in the inside room.

For which purpose they used to perform that? At the same time, we have heard about the success of particular Yajna was known by sacrificing a particular animal. And we have heard about this Gomedh Yajna also, like I don't know clearly about that, like they used to sacrifice a cow, then at the same time we say Gau Hathya is a sin. Then how we justify that? So, were there different kinds of sacrifices? Yes.

So, Ashwamedha and Rajasuri, all these are sacrifices which are ultimately meant to glorify the Supreme Lord and strengthen the practice of Vedic culture in society. How does that happen? One is that there are various Devatas who are offered sacrifices. In that Vishnu is offered sacrifices also.

So, Supreme Lord is glorified that way. And there are so many festivals. Yajna is like a big festival.

So, at that time all the people come and then they get darshan of the sages. They get to go around the sacred fire. And then they hear the recitation of the mantras.

They get exposure to spiritual culture. So, the spiritual culture is also strengthened by the performance of such Yajnas. And of course Supreme Lord is glorified.

Now, as I said earlier, there are different Yajnas for different purposes. So, Ashwamedha and Rajasuri Yajnas are primarily for consolidating the position of a king in terms of how the king is administering God's rule in this world and is establishing Dharma all over the world. That is established through that.

So, now regarding animal sacrifices within the within the these Yajnas there are different aspects to it. The animals were indeed sacrificed. As Prabhupada explains based on what Chaitanya Mahaprabhu says that the animal that was sacrificed would get a new life.

And Madhvacharya he especially quoted quotes some verses from the Vedas where he also explains that there is no need to kill animals necessarily. That means instead of killing an animal one can make an animal of flour wheat flour or rice flour one can make an animal of that kind of flour and one can just cut that animal. So, that is also an acceptable way.

For example, nowadays in the worship of the Goddess it is said that the Goddess likes blood. That's why in Kali in the temples of Kali animals are killed. But then there are also more sattvic ways of doing this worship.

Relatively, the whole worship is Tamasic, but within that there are more sattvic ways. There are rituals which say that if you want to offer basically what the Goddess likes is not blood but it is the red color. So, you offer red flowers.

So, hibiscus flowers you offer and that is considered to be like a substitute for the slaughter of animals. So, the idea here is that those who want to kill animals they will kill anyway. But those who want to avoid killing animals there is facility provided for them also.

So, these sacrifices serve two purposes. Those who want to kill animals, they are given some facility to do it in a restricted way within the limits of Vedic culture. And those who don't want to do it, they are given a facility out also from that.

So, as far as Gomaitha Yajna is concerned, cows are not to be slaughtered, especially cows should not be slaughtered for the sake of big slaughterhouses where animals are killed and eaten. So, in general, the Ashwamedha and Gomaitha Yajnas are extremely rare. They are on the occasion of some very very special functions.

Ashwamedha, when a person has attained, a king has attained a substantial amount of sovereignty over large parts of the world, then Ashwamedha is performed. Similarly, Gomaitha is also performed on very rare occasions. In normal animal sacrifices, normal sacrifices of animals are killed.

The standard animal that was killed was goat. And goat flesh can be eaten by those who are very much addicted to meat eating. So, cow flesh was not eaten.

And cow sacrifices was very very rare. They are for special occasions and even in those occasions, generally speaking, the cow that is killed, that becomes elevated to a higher body. So, what we are, what is condemned generally in the Vedic culture is the indiscriminate slaughter of cows just for the sake of eating their blood.

Eating their flesh and drinking their blood. Clear? Yeah. So, let's move on.

Okay. Quickly. Hare Krishna.

If we chant the names of Allah or Christ, Prince Prabhupada was telling that language does not matter. You chant the names of your God, you will be also attaining perfection. So, as you explained that the factor of remembrance is important for the level of purification.

So, the level of purification is depending on the remembrance factor also. So, since there is no form of God in Christianity or Muslim, so, they will not get the same purification as when we chant Hare Krishna mantra. Yes.

Is it that other religions, traditions, if they chant the names of God according to that tradition, they will not get the same level of purification? Because they don't have a clear conception of God? Yes, they don't have a conception of the form of God. But the description of the qualities of God that are given about His omnipotence, about His benevolence, about His grace, they are very similar to what is in the Vedic tradition. So, based on their understanding of God and their attitude of devotion towards God, they will get elevation.

Certainly, without knowing about Krishna, one cannot go to Goloka Vrindavan. But in general, one can surely be elevated towards God by uttering the names of God because there is, there are generic attributes of God which are referred to in all religions. It is not necessary that when one chants the names of Krishna, one has to necessarily think of Krishna.

You know, there are, it naturally happens or rather I am saying, when one chants the names of God, it is not necessary that one has to think of the form of Krishna to become elevated. Because even the name of God is purifying and if one has a conception of God that is not specifically wrong. Specifically wrong means it is specific and it is conceiving, say, a particular God-man as God.

That is not there in these traditions. So, in these traditions, there is no erroneous conception of God. Although, there may not be a clear correct conception.

But there is a broad understanding of general attributes of God which is correct. And that is why it will lead to elevation. Whether it will lead to what level of elevation it will lead to, it will depend on their conception and the devotion with which they are chanting.

So, in Maharashtra, people are doing Satyanarayan puja. Whether this is mentioned in scripture, what benefits people will get by doing this kind of puja? Satyanarayan puja, it is generally speaking, meant to worship Narayana. So, in that sense, it is scripture.

The specific ways in which that puja may be done, may not always be what is given in scripture. So, there is certainly benefit because Narayana is being worshipped and it is, largely speaking, a sattvic form of worship. There is nothing tamasic directly in it.

So, in that sense, there are benefits in that. What is the benefit? Again, that will depend on what is the motive with which it is done and what is the understanding with which it is done. But generally, the way it is done in today's society, it is mostly done like a Karmakandi worship.

So, to gain some benefit at a material level, to solve some problem or to remove some inauspiciousness. So, that is also accepted in Bhagavatam as a Kama Sarva Kama Va Moksha Kama Udharati. If one just performs to worship Lord Vishnu, that will lead to success.

So, now let's move to the worship to the austerities. Devadviju Guru Pragya Pujanam Saucha Marjamam Brahmacharyama Himsacha Shariram Tapa Uchchate Shariram Tapa Uchchate So, Shariram Tapa Austerity for the body. So, now Krishna is now going to describe about Austerities.

So, before describing Austerities in goodness, passion, ignorance, He described the types of Austerities. In terms of how they are performed, with which bodily attributes being involved. So, first He talks about the Austerity of the body, then about the speech, then about the mind and then He will move on to the classifying the Austerities according to the moods.

So, here He says that Shariram Tapa involves Pujanam, bowing down, offering obeisances, respecting Devadviju Guru Pragya. So, people who are learned, people who are advanced, those who are Brahmanas and the Devatas, they also include the Supreme Lord. But primarily here it is referring to those who are greater than us in a particular way, they should be respected.

So, cleanliness is often not very, it's not always very pleasing. In terms of, maybe after taking bath you may feel clean, but the whole process of bathing or cleansing oneself can be troublesome. So, that's why in the modern society, people have, they say that there are quicker substitutes to bathing.

What are the quicker substitutes? Just put perfumes all over their body. Now, the purpose of bathing is not just to remove the bad odours that come from the body. Actually to clean ourselves completely.

So, Shaucham. So, here Krishna is of course talking about physical cleanliness, mental cleanliness also there, but that will be in later words. Arjavam.

Arjavam is straightforward. Brahmacharyam ahimsa cha. So, now the Bhagavad Gita is going to talk about himsa.

It is going to ask Arjuna to do highlands. Then how can it say that ahimsa is a good quality and it is austerity of the body. So, the idea here is that, ahimsa is a austerity that often there are situations in our life, when we will be provoked and tempted to react in violent ways.

So, at that time on most occasions we will have to restrain, we should restrain ourselves. It is not that every time I feel angry with someone, I should slap that person. Isn't it? Most of the times I should not.

But in some situations, especially for those who are authorised like Kshatriyas, violence is required. But even for Kshatriyas, they also, they have the Kshatriya instinct, but they should also be able to control it when it is necessary to control it. When it is adharmic to indulge in it.

So, ahimsa is a virtue for everyone. Though, although himsa may be necessity in certain situations. So, although the Bhagavad Gita talks about himsa later on, in terms of what Arjuna should do, but it also recommends ahimsa as a virtue, because ahimsa requires requires self-control, it's austerity.

So, when somebody is really mad at someone, to not beat the person, it requires self-control, it's austerity. So, now brahmacharya is also a physical austerity. Bhagavad Gita talks about brahmacharya several times in the Bhagavad Gita.

I will just quickly look at this. So, there are basically four references to brahmacharya in the Bhagavad Gita. So, 4.26 talks about So, how brahmacharya offers the senses to the mind.

That means they don't let the senses go in various wrong directions. Then In 6.14 he talks about how the yogi should practice brahmacharya. So, actually, those who are lifelong brahmacharis, they actually take this brahmachari vrata.

And then in the 8th chapter also, when Krishna talks about the yogis who are So, those who chant Om and they desire to attain transcendence, attain liberation, they practice brahmacharya. And now in 17.14 Krishna is talking about brahmacharya is an austerity of the body. So, in general, the repeated references that if one wants to connect with the absolute truth, one has to disconnect with material things, especially those which are entangling material things.

That's why brahmacharya, often we talk in a conversational tone about brahmacharya, it is more in its negative aspects. A brahmachari is one who does not have contact with women, is one who does not have sex. But the way the Bhagavad Gita talks about it in each of those categories, it talks about how brahmachari doing something so that he can connect with transcendence.

So, all these four are, you connect with transcendence. So, the essence of brahmacharya is not just the negative aspect of no contact with women, no intimate contacts with women. The essence of brahmacharya is the positive aspect of brahmacharati iti brahmachari.

Brahmacharati, that one who is situated in Brahman or one who is striving to be in Brahman, that is a brahmachari. So, even for us as sadhakas, to the extent we practice the positive aspect of brahmacharya, practicing the negative aspect will become easier. That means to the extent we stay in spiritual consciousness, to that extent, giving up sensual desires will be easier.

But if you don't stay in spiritual consciousness, if you don't practice the positive aspect, then the negative aspect will become very difficult to follow. It will become very difficult to follow. So, it is said in Krishna consciousness, the rules make life difficult but the remembrance makes life easier.

If you just think of the rules, I have to do this, I have to do that, I have to do that, so many rules, the rules make the life difficult. But the remembrance, the remembrance of the purpose of the rules, the remembrance of the person for whom we are doing these rules, remembrance of Krishna, that makes life easier. This is about brahmacharya.

So, what is the reason for practicing brahmacharya? Some people say even in rahastha ashram also you can practice bhakti. Yes, we can practice bhakti. But, you know, love, there are many ways to express love.

One primary way we express love is through availability. If a mother loves the child, the child starts crying, he says, now I have to work but I don't cry now, you can cry afterwards. It doesn't work like that.

If a mother loves the child, whenever the child needs the mother, the mother is always available for the child. So, when we practice brahmacharya, what is the idea? We want to be always available to Krishna for service. So, it is not just that if a person is a grahastha, person has so many other responsibilities which make us unavailable for Krishna.

That is of course there, but along with that, it is also the desire for sex makes us emotionally unavailable for Krishna. We cannot think of Krishna because we are caught up in so many other things. And the pursuit of sex, if a person gets into going for sex, enjoy, it makes us physically unavailable.

Because what all happens, we discussed this earlier, basically there are many distractions in grahastha ashram, but they can be categorized into three broad categories. The constant financial anxieties, the unending social obligations, and the ever present opportunity for sense gratification. So, because of this, the constant financial anxiety, it just takes so much of one's time and one's energy in grahastha ashram, how to make ends meet.

And you know, one cannot just dismiss it as a distraction because that becomes one's responsibility. So, there are constant financial anxieties and there are so many social obligations. Somebody's marriage is there, somebody's birthday is there, somebody's death anniversary is there, somebody's this is there, that is there, and it just becomes the social obligations.

They can also be a part of devotional life, no doubt, but often in the social obligations, if they are connected with relatives or acquaintances who are not devotees, then the social obligations are often quite materialistic. If a person is working in a company, then there are so many parties that are there. If most of one's relatives are not devotees, and if one has to maintain relationship with them, then so many of the obligations are there which become distracting.

And of course, there is the ever-present opportunity for sense gratification. So, all these make us unavailable for Krishna. Yes? So, Krishna is talking about brahmacharya to Arjuna, and Arjuna is a grahastha.

Yeah. Okay, so a Kshatriya can marry any number of queens also. So then, what is the point in talking about brahmacharya to him? See, the word brahmacharya, Prabhupada also explained this, that in one sense, it means those who are lifelong brahmacharis.

But Prabhupada also talks about grahastha brahmacharis. Those who practice brahmacharya within the grahastha ashram. That means, they follow the rules of dharma within grahastha ashram also.

So, we see that at one level, we can say that Kshatriyas are allowed to marry many queens. That is true, but they also expect to take up responsibility for all the queens. And that Kshatriya allowance for marrying many queens was not a license for sense gratification.

And we also see this in Arjuna's self-control with respect to Urvashi. Urvashi herself came and proposed to him, but Arjuna said no. So, Kshatriya's allowance for many wives is not a license for just surrendering to the senses.

They also have to follow dharma. So, brahmacharya is, when he is talking about it to Arjuna, how brahmacharya is to be applied will vary according to time, place, circumstances. You know, Vishwanath Chakrathakur in the Uddhava Gita, when Krishna is talking about various duties, there is this, I forget the verse, it's sve sve karmanya.

Basically, that is the verse he says that everybody has to do their duties according to their position. And in that purport, Chakravartipada gives the example that for a brahmachari or a sanyasi to approach a woman is wrong, but for a grhastha to not approach his wife is also wrong, especially if they are to have children, if they are in grhastha ashram and they should have children, and then to not have children in grhastha ashram, that is also wrong. So, the point that Chakravartipada makes and the point that Uddhava Gita is talking about is that what will be one's specific dharma will vary according to one's ashram.

So, for a kshatriya, kshatriya is supposed to protect his citizens and he offers a broad protection to everyone by the rule that he is having. But if a woman approaches for protection, kshatriya can accept the woman as a wife also and he offers a protection that way. So, he will surely get some enjoyment over there, but that is not the only purpose and it is not that in the name of enjoyment he can do anything and everything.

Clear? So, we will have to move a little fast now because we are just, we are very slow right now. So, let's, we will not take any questions till we complete this chapter. So, maybe half way we go through.

Ok? So, only if the question is directly related with the theme, you can raise your hand. We will surely have time later on for question answers, but let's make sure that we are able to do something at least. So, if it is anything directly related with the verse, you can ask the question.

Otherwise, you can keep the questions for later time. Now, let's look at the austerities of speech. anudvegakarambakyam satyam priyahitam chaiva svadhyayabhisanam chaiva vaanmayam tapa uchyate So, anudvegakarambakyam Krishna says the first characteristic of speech is should be non-agitating.

So, Bhishma in the Bhagavata, in the Bhishma Uddesh in the Shanti Parva in the Mahabharata talks about various kinds of speech and he talks about the levels of speech. So, he says the highest is speech about the absolute truth, about Brahman. That is the most auspicious speech.

Then he says speech that is pleasing and encouraging. Then he says speech that is truthful. Then he says speech Now, these are not the exact terms that he uses over there.

I am explaining those terms in our context. So, he talks about various levels of speech. It is best to speak about Krishna.

If you are not speaking about Krishna, speak in ways that encourage and help others, please others. Then, if not, then speak the truth. It is not necessarily if not, but these are levels of speech.

And then he says, speech is prajalba, you know, okay, what is the what is the cricket score, what is this, what is that, mundane subjects. That is lower. And he says, speech that is critical, criticism of others.

That is the lowest. So, that should be avoided. So, it is interesting in this hierarchy that speech that is pleasing and encouraging, he places that above speech that is truthful.

So, Anudvega Karam Vakyam Satyam Priyahitam Chet. The same thing we see here in Krishna's teaching. The first characteristic is Anudvega Karam Vakyam.

That speech that is non-agitating. And then Satyam, truthful and it is pleasing. And that is beneficial to others.

So, the speech has to be done in such a way see, the words that we speak, they can either build bridges or they can build walls. What they bridge, what they actually build will depend on the words that we speak, on what words we speak and how we speak them. Sometimes, some people, the way they speak is such that we feel, I don't want to be with this person only.

I don't want to, basically, and what is happening? That person is basically building a wall around himself. And there are other people, we feel always like, I want to be with this person. And we feel like spending time and sharing our heart with people.

So, essentially, how does Krishna enter into the heart of people? Primarily, it is through devotees. So, as devotees, we have to build bridges between us and them. Now, of course, they may have certain misconceptions and we may have to break those walls of misconceptions also.

So, we may have to speak strongly also at times. But what is important is that we fulfill the purpose. And the purpose is, let's say Krishna is there, Krishna from our heart, through our speech, enters into their heart.

So, we have to build a bridge by which Krishna can enter into their heart from our heart. And if we build, if we are building walls by our words, then we are not really serving Krishna's purpose. That doesn't mean that we always have to speak soft and sweet all the time.

We have to speak the truth, but then there is, it has to be done according to proper thoughtfulness of what will be the effect on a person. Yes. Yes.

So, I am not saying in any way that here Krishna is talking about these are the qualities in their order of priority. That the first is the most important, the last is the most important. Krishna is not necessarily saying that.

I am just making observation that here this comes first. That doesn't necessarily mean that that is the most important. Like previous verse if you see, devadvija guru pragyam pujanam saucanarjanam, brahmacharayam ahimsa achyam.

So, is it that offering obeisances is the most important physical austerity or ahimsa is the most, is the least important physical austerity? Nothing like that. It's just a list of qualities. It's just an observation that this comes first.

It's not necessarily indicative of a sequence in which of ascending or descending priorities. So, now, we do have to speak strongly so that we can help people to get rid of the misconceptions. But also, we have to speak sensitively so that people, we build bridges and people can accept Krishna when he enters into their heart.

Anudvega karam vakyam satyam priyahitam jayat. Satyam priyahitam jayat is very clear. Swadhyaya abhyasanam jayiva.

Recitation of scriptures. So, we chant the mantras, we chant the Hare Krishna maha mantra, we have our morning program, recitation of verses. This is extremely helpful.

Now, sometimes, we may think that memorizing verses takes a lot of effort. I don't have the intelligence, I don't have the memory to memorize verses. However, you know, actually once we memorize verses, memorized verses are like memorized verses are like ready-made templates for spiritual thought.

Now, what does it mean? I'll explain this. Memorized verses are like you know, we say that we say that actually we should always think of Krishna. Now, how do we think of Krishna? Okay, we can try to visualize Krishna's form and some of us may be able to do it well.

But, if we memorize some verses and we recite those verses, they have very elevating effect. You know, we can recite the morning program prayers or we can recite some other Vaishnava songs, we can recite some other Brahma Samhita or some other prayers. But they can, if we can just get into them, then they can absorb us quite nicely.

Actually, chanting Hare Krishna can also absorb us but because we often don't chant attentively, so we are not able to absorb ourselves. When we recite verses, along with the spiritual aspect, we can engage ourselves at various levels. You know, we can recite the verse in a particular tune so that musical aspect gets involved in it.

We can also recite the verses and think about their meanings so that the intellectual aspect also gets involved. So, in this way, so that engages us intellectually and emotionally, sorry, intellectually and musically as well as devotionally. So, because they are connected with Krishna, there is devotional engagement.

But there is intellectually and musically or emotionally, you can put it, whatever it is. In Vaishnava songs, we are reciting a particular tune. So, they are very, so scriptural memorization, I don't have so much effort, how many verses can I memorize? But actually, it doesn't burden the head.

It unburdens the heart. What does unburdens the heart mean? Actually, when we are troubled, when we are disturbed by something, if we just recite verses, and especially verses which we like, verses whose meanings speak to us in a deep and personal sense, we'll find that much of the burden of the heart will get lifted. So, these are, in a sense, like our weapons.

So, when we have the weapons ready with us, then we can use them whenever we need them. So, saying that, memorizing verses is very difficult, it's like a warrior saying, lifting the weapon is very difficult. How are you going to fight the war then? Isn't it? If we are already in the war, and we have to fight the war, it's not the weapon, it's not verses are our only weapons, there are various weapons.

But verses are also an important weapon. So, we, even if there is a little effort involved, the most important thing is that if you want to memorize verses, don't think of reciting verses in classes. If that is the only motive, then we will not be very, we will not find verses, memorizing verses very inspiring.

And, you know, sometimes it happens, some devotees just recite verses just for showing their learning. And when that happens, it's very, it's not particular, it's a little distasteful. So, it's like, you know, one is using one's Ishwarabhao and Krishna's words.

But that is, if we memorize verses for our own inspiration, for our own purification, for our own meditation, and naturally the verses will come out in classes when they are required. So, that way, we don't have to memorize many verses, but the principle of Swadhyaya Abhyasanam Chaiva, of reciting verses in austerity of speech. It is, just like all other austerities, austerity leads to purification.

Austerity leads to elevation. So, even verse recitation, it also leads to purification and elevation. Prabhupada started, I think, this verse recitation in, either in San Francisco or Los Angeles, not in New York.

So, initially when the Bhagavatam class would be there, it is morning and most of the devotees, I think it was San Francisco only, yeah, so, the devotees, many of the devotees would, either they were new and they were still taking drugs or at night in San Francisco, many other people would come and they had taken drugs and they would come to get shelter at night. And the whole mood was very, it was not really devotional mood. It was like, sometimes we have this idea of whether traditional preaching or modern preaching.

So, we see in Prabhupada's life, the New York center was much more conservative. And San Francisco center was much more liberal. The devotees were interested in getting more and more people, doing big, big programs, like they did the Avalon Ballroom program, where Prabhupada went and chanted with all these hippy musicians.

So, anyway, so here what was happening, the mood was very, sort of, a little frivolous. So, at that time, Srila Prabhupada started in the Bhagavatam class, recitation of the verses. And, you know, when people had to recite verses, they really had to become serious.

Because Sanskrit was itself unfamiliar language, the words were unfamiliar, the pronunciations were unfamiliar. If somebody is giving lecture, people can just be attentive, not attentive. But when he started the recitation of verses, so the devotees who were there, they said that, it sort of, it started a wave of devotional current within all of ISKCON.

Because it made everybody serious. You have to sit and, what is this verse? What is the sound? How do you pronounce it? It created a lot of spiritual inspiration or spiritual currents within the movement at that time. So, Prabhupada instituted that as an important part of our culture.

So, that's why memorizing was as much as possible. If we do that, it will be very helpful for us. It's austerity, but like all the austerities, it gives fruits.

Now, let's look at, yes, Anudvega Karam Vakyam, how does it apply to preaching? Yes, when we have to preach also, we have to make sure that we help people develop faith in Krishna and then we challenge their faith in other things. It's like, imagine that the mountain, I gave this example last time. They are on a mountain.

That mountain may be their faith in a particular demigod or a particular semi-god or whatever. Semi-god is what? Semi-god, I am god. So, that's like a particular mountain.

And now we are on the Krishna mountain. So now, when we are preaching, we should build a bridge by which they can come from whatever they are worshipping towards Krishna. And then by that bridge, as they come towards Krishna, at a particular time, you want to break the bridge so that they can't go back.

But if we break the bridge before they have started off only, what happens? They stay there only. Or worse still, they are on the bridge and that time we break the bridge. What does that mean? They are doing some particular kind of worship.

And then we tell them that is all bogus, nonsense, rascaldom. And they get confused and they start thinking, this whole religious business is very complex. Some people say Krishna is God.

Some people say this one is God. Better don't get into that business. Let me just live my life and not bother about religion at all.

Then that person will become atheistic. So, have we really done any service to that person? Not that we can claim that we have done. So, that's why Anudviga Karam Vakyam means we try our best to make sure that we help people come close to Krishna.

So, that does require strong speech at some time or the other. But, if that comes too early, that can be quite damaging to people. So, Vidura, you know, we talk about Sadhu cutting the knots of material attachment.

But, Vidura had a strong relationship with Dhritarashtra. Years after years, decade after decade, Vidura was by the side of Dhritarashtra, helping him. And Dhritarashtra trusted Vidura.

That's why when Vidura's strong words came, Dhritarashtra could accept those words. Otherwise, none of the others, Krishna, Vyasadev, none of the others could persuade Dhritarashtra the way Vidura could. So, the strong words are effective when there is some platform of trust.

If there is no platform of trust, then the strong words are not effective. Chitraketu also, when Parvatrushi and Angirrushi came, you know, he had respect for Sadhus. And earlier also when Angirrushi had come, Parvatrushi is Naraduni, I think.

Naraduni and Angirramuni, no? Not Parvatrushi. So, Angirramuni. Angirrushi had earlier come and fulfilled his desire.

So, he knew about the potency. So, what way, now some devotees may be, like Srila Prabhupada was so pure that just by his presence he could create trust. Just by his purity and his presence, he could create trust.

So, in general, people can take strong words when there is some level of trust. So, creating that level of trust is important. That's the meaning of Anudaya Karam Vakyam.

It's not just that we flatter people, but that we speak in a way that elevates their faith. So now, manah prasadah saumyatvam maunamatma vinigraha bhavasam shuddhirityetat tapo manasam uchyate tapo manasam uchyate So, manah prasadah saumyatvam. So, manah prasadah.

Prasadah, earlier we discussed as mercy. But, prasadah also means satisfaction. Manah prasadah is satisfaction of the mind.

So, it's interesting that Krishna is telling satisfaction of the mind is austerity. So, now, what does it mean? We often think of satisfaction, okay, I am satisfied or I am not satisfied. We think it is just a state that I am in.

But Krishna is saying, be satisfied of the austerity. Now, how is it possible? Prabhupada gives a simple analysis. He says that, if we think of sense objects and sense gratification, we will become dissatisfied.

So, where is it? Yeah. The more we think of sense, in the middle of the purport, the satisfaction of the mind can be obtained only by taking the mind away from thoughts of sense enjoyment. So, the more we think of sense enjoyment, the more the mind becomes dissatisfied.

And then, there are so many thoughts of sense gratification that are provided in today's culture. So then, we stay perpetually dissatisfied. So, in a sense, satisfaction comes by, satisfaction comes by seeing what we have and appreciating it.

Whereas, modern culture specializes in showing us all that we don't have and making us crave for it. That's why people are not satisfied. So, although satisfaction is a state, in the sense that I can say I am satisfied, I am not satisfied, but it is also a state that can be cultivated by certain pattern of thoughts.

So, in general, it's good if we can count our blessings, remember our blessings and be grateful for the blessings that we have. Whatever situation we are in, we may be in a particular temple, in a particular service, under a particular authority and there will always be something that is wrong. Some problems will always be there.

But often, the small problems blind us to the big blessings that we have got. The small problems blind us to the big blessings that we have got. So, what does that mean? If somebody is in a hospital and you know, in that hospital, the person is now getting a proper treatment and is getting cured.

But in that process, while he is getting cured, maybe the hospital is a little uncomfortable. Maybe the nurse over there is not so polite or whatever. These are all minor issues.

The important thing is that I am getting cured. Compare that with another person who has not been diagnosed only. The person is suffering and doesn't know how to get cured.

What is to be done to get cured? So, for us, the big blessing is we know the medicine that will cure us. We know what is the disease and we know how to cure it. Now, while taking the medicine, we may find that there are some inconveniences.

The big blessing is, for us, the biggest blessing is what? We know what is wrong and we know what is to be done to correct it. We know what is wrong is that we have forgotten Krishna. And what is to be done is that we have to actually remember Krishna, purify ourselves.

So, this itself is the fundamental level most people don't know. So, in general, by focusing on our blessings, we can cultivate manaprasada, we can be satisfied. Saumyatvam.

So, Prabhupada translates saumyatvam as simplicity. So, now it's interesting that Prabhupada translated this arjavam also as simplicity. So, arjavam was an austerity of the body.

And saumyatvam, saumya, where did the word saumya come in the Bhagavad Gita earlier? Yes, saumya rupa. The sweet, the gentle, the mild form of Krishna. So, saumyatvam basically means a gentleness, kindness and Prabhupada translates here as in the word to word translation, being without duplicity towards others and in the sentence translation, he talks about simplicity.

But, Prabhupada elaborates this in the second sentence, he says, what is saumyatvam means? He said that the mind should be trained that it can always be thinking of doing good for others. That means, that saumyatvam means that actually we have a pleasant, benevolent disposition towards others. We are, saumya, gentle means what? Actually, we desire the good of others.

And we try to do what we can for the good of others. So, in the Vedas, it is said that let the first, let positive thoughts come to us from all sides. And then, it is also said that a corollary of this, it is said is that let the first thought that we have of others be positive.

You know, as soon as we see the other person, our mind passes a comment. It's a lazy person. Very proud person.

This is a glutton. This is a person who sleeps in class. This is a person who doesn't pronounce japa properly.

So, our mind often passes comments about others. So, we have to actually discipline the mind a little bit. Let the first thought about others be positive.

So, saumyatvam. Saumyatvam. And it's not easy, but actually it's a very positive way to engage the mind.

Especially, you know, our, in many ways, our, often what happens is we have a negative perception of others because they have, they may have not behaved properly in some ways with us. They may have hurt us. They may have been disrespectful to us, insensitive to us, whatever.

But, actually speaking, when we think of others, not in terms of what they are for us, but what they are for Krishna, that takes a huge leap in our Krishna consciousness. If we are always relating with others based on what they are doing for me or what they are not doing for me, then what happens is, it is still one phase of janasya moho yam aham mameti, aham and mama consciousness. But when we start thinking of, okay, whatever way this person has behaved with me, ultimately this person is a part of Krishna.

And he is a servant of Krishna and Krishna loves this person also. So, therefore, if I think of this person in terms of what Krishna wants for him and how that can be established, then we can make a big leap in our Krishna consciousness. Saumyatvam is a pleasant, benevolent disposition towards others.

So, think of others not just in terms of what they are doing or not doing for us, but what they mean for Krishna. They are his part and parcel. Krishna wants them to come back.

So, I may not be able to help everyone to come towards Krishna, but at the very least, I can offer some prayers for that person. I can desire some good thoughts, I can pray that Krishna showers blessings on this person, whatever way. So, one general difference between, it is very general, it is not directly devotional, one general difference between spiritual consciousness and material consciousness is that in material consciousness, when we see others, the question is what can this person do for me? And in spiritual consciousness, it is what can I do for this person? So, of course, in devotional service, the two may be related.

In the sense that when we engage a person in some service, we are also doing that person some favor. But often, when we engage some person in service, we are simply thinking of decreasing our burden. We are not really thinking of that person's well-being.

I have so many things to do, I got somebody to do it. So, often that's our attitude. And that's not necessarily wrong, but that's not the best attitude.

Especially if we want to have a sustainable relationship with somebody. If we are responsible for that person's spiritual well-being, then we have to also think of what is the service that is best for them and engage them that way. So, nao saumyatvam manah prasadah saumyatvam maunam atma vinigraha So, it's again significant.

These qualities are so deep. Normally, we will say mauna is a quality of speech. You don't speak.

But austerity of speech. But Krishna puts mauna in the austerity of the mind. Why is that? Because real mauna is not just verbal mauna.

So, Prabhupada translates mauna as gravity. That means it is not letting the mind just scream about all sorts of nonsense. Keeping the mind calm.

Keeping the mind peaceful. Keeping the mind silent. So, when the mind starts speaking as Bhaktisant said, beat the mind.

Beat the mind with your shoes or with your what is it? Brooms, sorry. So, with the brooms or with a broom or a shoe so that silence the mind. So, mauna refers to calming the mind down.

Silencing the mind. So, often for many people, people often speak because they feel that speech is more tolerable than silence. Because when they are silent, their mind is screaming.

You do this. Go that. That's wrong.

That person is so bad. This is bad. And then better speak something.

Or you can't speak thing? Then have some machine that speaks. You know, turn on a radio. Turn on a TV.

Turn on something. Many times, you know, people do a lot of activity just to get away from the turbulence that is there inside them. So, maunam.

Maunam is the constant of the mind. And then atma vinigraha. Sorry.

Atma vinigraha is again self-control. It happens at various levels. Self-control at the physical level is by the practice of brahmacharya.

But self-control at the mental level where we don't crave for the sense objects. And bhava samshuddhi is purification of existence. That refers to not just not craving for material things, but also contemplating on spiritual things that will lead to purification.

So, Krishna is here not talking directly about bhakti in the 17th chapter. That's why he talks about broad principles. So, bhava samshuddhi will happen in the most effective way by always remembering Krishna.

So, bhava samshuddhi means to purify our existence. The best way to purify ourselves is by remembering Krishna. But here Krishna is talking about broad principles that can apply to even those people who are not practicing devotional service and who are not even in the Vedic path.

Even they can be analysed by this framework. So, we'll just discuss these three verses then we'll have a break. Till now Krishna has set up the background for the austerity in terms of the faculties with which it is performed.

Now we'll talk about austerities in the three modes. Shraddhaya paraya taptam tapastat trividham nare apalakamshi bheryuktai sattvikam parichakshate So, shraddhaya paraya taptam, with a strong faith, with a transcendental faith. Paraya is transcendental or a very elevated faith.

tapastat trividham nare. So, now Krishna is telling that not only should we perform these austerities of the body, mind and speech, but these kind of austerities should be performed with a particular consciousness. And what is their consciousness? Apalakamshi bheryuktai.

Generally, the character of Satyagaya is that one is not looking for immediate phala. So, apalakamshi bheryuktai. So, such sacrifices, all these austerities, when they are performed without a fruity mentality, then they are in the mode of goodness.

Then he will talk about in the mode of passion. satkaramana pujaartham tapodambhena chaivaya tapodambhena chaivaya kriyate tadihaproktam kriyate tadihaproktam rajasamcalam adhruvam rajasamcalam adhruvam. So, when these sort of austerities are done, just for the sake of satkaramana pujaartham, they are all done for external motives.

tapodambhena chaivayat. They are all done for the sake of gaining more prestige in society or gaining some fruits at a material level. Then they are in rajoguna.

So, often people, when they do austerities, in the Bible also it is said that when you are fasting, act in such a way as if nobody can know that you are fasting. Don't make a big exhibition that you are fasting, you are doing austerities. It says also that later on, when you give charity, give charity with a hand in such a way that the other hand doesn't come to know that you are giving charity.

The idea is that don't make a publicity about the charity that you are giving. So, rajasik is exactly opposite. Everything that one does, that can give one prestige, one just wants to get that prestige from others for that.

mudhagrahenatmanoyam animatmanoyat pidayakriyate tapah parasya otsadanartham va tattamasamudharitam So, mudha, mudha means foolish, without knowledge. grahenatmanoyam So, when there is endeavour which is without knowledge, pidayakriyate tapah, when the one is pidaya, when hurts, one hurts oneself for parasya otsadanartham parasya otsadan means harming others. When one does austerity with that kind of motive, the tattamasamudharitam So, this is similar to what Krishna talked about in verses 5 and 6 about rakshasi, satan, vidhyasura, nishchayan So, these are austerities which are done for the sake of hurting others.

So, although one is doing austerity but one's motive is to, not good, it's to hurt others. Did I discuss about, in our issue, Shambhukh Shambhukh was a shudra in the Ramayana Uttarkhanda It is described that there was this that Lord Ram was there in his palace and at that time Brahmana came along and started shouting He says, this king in this kingdom is very impious So, Lakshman came and asked, what is the matter? He said, my son has died and he said that, actually I look at my life, I have not committed any sinful activities. So, if the son has died, it must be because of not my sinful activities but the sinful activities of the place that I am living in.

Therefore, there is something which you have done wrong because of which my son has died prematurely. So, when Lakshman conveyed this message to Lord Ram, Lord Ram immediately told Lakshman that he should arrange for the son's body to be kept in a preservative cask where oil is there so that it doesn't rot and then he went to the sages who had come within his assembly Narada Muni had asked, this is what has happened, why has it happened? So, Narada Muni closed his eyes and he went into deep thought then he said that there is some kind of improper activity that is happening in your kingdom There is adharma that is happening in the garb of dharma and this is the consequence for that. So, immediately Lord Ram went around searching all over his kingdom and finally when he came in the banks of a river, he saw a person wearing the garbs of a of a person doing yoga, yogi and a person was hanging upside down and Lord Ram asked him who are you and what are you doing here? So, he said that actually I am doing austerity so that I can attain swarga and my name is Shambuka and I am a shudra and the Ramayana describes that as soon as Lord Ram heard this, he took out his sword and chopped off his head and as soon as he chopped off his head the brahmana's son came back to life So, now this story is often used by the people who are dalits and people like that they say that this is the example of the high caste exploitation of the lower caste but we have to look at several aspects over here first point is that if one is going to take the story literally that really Lord Ram killed somebody like that, then one should take all of the story really and then if we take the whole story really, then the whole social and cultural context seems to be very different you know today, imagine if a citizen's son dies and he says the prime minister has done some bad karma because of my son has died you know, the prime minister will say your head has gone bad, shut up nobody will take him seriously so, not only was his accusation taken seriously first point is that this itself indicates that there are many other factors at work here which we don't understand and then, so first point is the whole causal link between the son dying and the king to be held responsible and the more important point is that when this Shambuka is killed the son comes back to life so, how does this happen? that always indicates that there are some higher factors involved over here so, now this sort of incident is not meant to become like a license for oppression against the lower castes, but it is explained that in the Vedic times when the kings were living according to dharma, the devatas would come here regularly and the principles of dharma in many ways would operate in different ways, just like we know that in Kali Yuga the sins that we are coming at a mental level they don't lead to so much sinful reactions for us, so there are the laws of karma are in general similar but the practical applications vary so that means here there is a causal context where there is some forces that are operating, which are quite different from what we know so the principle is that there are two ways for people to get elevated one is the standard karma kanda way, which is the slow yoga ladder and the other is the rapid way which is the bhakti way so in the bhakti way, anybody can chant the names of the lord, anybody can hear the pastimes of the lord and the person can become purified but within the vedic way, there is a progressive method for purification that means a shudra he should do the shudra duties and gradually he will become a vaisya in the future life then he will become a kshatriya, then he will become a ramana then he will become liberated so if one doesn't want to follow that progression then there is bhakti which offers a shortcut but in the case of this particular brahmana, the acharya described that actually his intention was he was a shudra and he wanted to not only go to swarga and attain swarga but he wanted to actually usurp Indra's position after usurping Indra's position he wanted to enjoy sachi basically he wanted to enjoy the luxuries of swarga in a way that was that is opposed to scriptural principles so the desire for elevation is not wrong, everybody should desire to be elevated and there is a process given for elevation but here the idea is just by austerity if somebody wants to get crash into heaven if somebody wants to force his way into heaven, that is considered to be a disrupting of the order in society it is considered to be disruptive of the order in society and just like if a person is unqualified, that person acquires power that person can create a lot of problems for others so this is not during the lord's pastimes often things are illustrated through extreme examples so those extreme examples are not necessarily standards for everyone to follow but they are indicative of principles so the lord can make ahilya from a stone into a human being but everybody can't do that lord can do many things, so even the things which the lord does for punishing people or correcting people, it is not that that has to be taken as a standard for by which everything is to be done but the lord's actions are, we cannot use them as, we can those cannot be misinterpreted to think that that is having something to do with simple way, this worldly caste is discriminations, but this is an example of this parasyo utsadhanarthamba, a person who is doing tapasya but the motive is such that it makes the tapasya harmful for others and harmful for oneself also, so a person if that person gets power, that person is likely to use the power in ways that will harm him and harm others and that's why it is not recommended speak loudly, mic will come to you he is going to heavenly planets to enjoy the position of Indra and like that, so like we can see in the case of Hiranyakashipu, it was known he is a demon and he is doing austerity for that reason that he wants to become powerful person, so it was known then, why it was not he was not killed for that reason so if motive makes it right to kill someone, then if Hiranyakashipu motive was also to usurp Brahma's position, then why was he not killed actually if you look at the end of that past time Lord Narasimhadev sort of chastises Brahmaji says don't give benediction like this to people and then Brahmaji also says that the benediction that you are asking from me are very difficult to give but worship done for me will not go in vain so basically over there, the way the Bhagavatam narrates it, Brahmaji becomes a little you know the way Hiranyakashipu does austerity and performs and praises him and then Brahmaji gets a little carried away over there and he gives benedictions which are far beyond what should be given and that's why Narasimhadev chastises him over there so the idea is that not everybody will have the power to kill somebody who is doing austerities but they can at least be corrected and they can be given benedictions in a way that doesn't harm that doesn't cause too much harm so that's why Narasimhadev told him don't give benedictions like this but the point is Lord Ram is the transcendental Lord himself and he can act in ways which are exemplary for all time but that doesn't mean in all situations actions will always take place in the same way and also we know that Hiranyakashipu is basically Hiranyakashipu nyanak so jai vijay so they had to take three births and that they had to the Lord had to come there so that they could be killed and they could return back to the spiritual world so there are various factors involved when it comes to specific pastimes principles are different principles are illustrated through different pastimes so we can learn those principles but it is not necessary that the same principle has to be applied at all times it's not necessary that the same principle has to be applied at all times because in different situations the circumstances may demand different applications you know when Kaikeyi did a whole plot by which Lord Ram lost the kingdom so what did Lord Ram do Lord Ram did not fight at that time he said ok let Bharat take the kingdom I will go to the forest so I think I mentioned this last time you know when when the Babri Masjid Ram Janmabhoomi issue was going on so the evidence seems to be quite clear that there was a temple over there earlier so there was one Muslim judge also amongst the three high court judges who said that so he also agreed that actually the evidence says that there was a temple over here but then he said you Hindus you are talking so much about the worship of Ram but you know the basic teaching of Ramayan is sacrifice you know Ram was ready to sacrifice the whole kingdom of Ayodhya so you can't sacrifice one temple in Ayodhya so you know it's a very underhanded way of attaching so then one day one person asked me this question I said that we are not involved in politics but this is a misapplication of the principle this is not a question of sacrifice it's a question of Dharma you know when Ravana abducted Sita Lord Ram did not say let me sacrifice Sita isn't it you know you cannot say that just giving up something is sacrifice Lord Ram gave up the Ayodhya kingdom because that was the instruction of Dashrath Maharaj, it was the word of honor of Dashrath Maharaj so in certain situations protection is important so you cannot say that a principle of sacrifice that is demonstrated here is universal, the principle is universal but its application will vary depending on time, place, circumstance so last question then we will have a break for some time do demigods are the demigods forced to give whatever they are asked for or do they have an option in general the demigods are acting like shopkeepers shopkeeper in the sense that if you give money whatever they ask for product child asks for chocolates demigods, shopkeeper has to give even that chocolates will spoil the teeth of the child so in general the demigods its like its a reciprocal relationship if you do this for me its a reciprocal but still there is some amount of restraint that the demigods are expected to exercise and they can use certain means by which they can avoid some benedictions just like we know in the Ramayana that when Kumbhakarna wanted some benediction so what happened that the demigods they all went to Brahma and said please don't give him benediction like this otherwise he will ruin he is already so powerful if you give him further benediction then they use some plan so when he was going to ask the benediction Saraswati came on his tongue and he wanted to ask so instead of so he said let me always sleep and before he could understand Brahmaji said Thasthu so the point here is that the demigods when they are worshipped they have to give benedictions but they don't necessarily have to give benedictions of the exact kind that are asked for they can give benedictions in such a way that the harm that they are going to do the demons may do can be lessened so we will have a break and then we can come at 6.50 15 minute break and then we will continue and we will complete this chapter and we will do some part of the 18th chapter thank you very much Srimad Bhagavad Gita Ki Jai.