Gita Essence 2 – The transformational power of love – God-knowledge as the fuel for love

[Talk at ISKCON, Port of Spain, Trinidad]

Time- 108 minutes

In the previous section, we discussed about self-knowledge is the basis for love. In the battle field of Kurukshetra, Arjuna is confused as to what role he should be playing- whether he should be a kshatriya or a kurunadana? Krishna tells him that he should understand that fundamentally he is a soul and as a soul he should act according to his fundamental identity. This means that Arjuna should harmonize his functional identities (e.g. as a kshatriya, as a kuru) with his fundamental identity. Krishna further explains that we all have selfish desires which prevent us from acting according to our fundamental identity and only way to combat these selfish desires is through knowledge which comes from the spiritual master. For gaining this knowledge one requires faith. Also, we need to recognize the need to regulate sensual indulgence by recognizing that the illusion is in the quantity, which promises so much pleasure, but in reality, pleasure is so little.

In this section, the discussion starts from the sixth chapter of Bhagvad-gita and covers till the eleventh or twelfth chapter. In this section the focus is on God’s knowledge as the fuel for love. All of us has to start our spiritual journey from some point and have to reach some other point. The most important thing that we need to reach our destination is the knowledge about God.

The Bhagvad-gita, in its first six chapters, doesn’t talk much about Krishna directly. The focus in these chapters is mostly on the self. In the second chapter, there is only one verse, 2.61, where Krishna talks about Himself, mām. He says, tāni sarvāṇi saṁyamya, yukta āsīta mat-paraḥ. Fix the mind upon Me. This is the only verse in chapter two that is indicative of bhakti, otherwise in this chapter Krishna is teaching about sense control. In this verse, Krishna indicates that He is not just the teacher of sense control, but He is also the object of the controlled senses. Both are different things. For example, many people will teach sense control but all of them will have their own object. Some would like to have a fit body, some would like to lose weight, some others want to become a champion athlete etc. Krishna gives a small hint in this verse about Him being the object of the controlled senses.
In the third chapter also, there is only one verse, 3.30, where Krishna says He is the object of a karma yoga:
mayi sarvāṇi karmāṇi
sannyasyādhyātma-cetasā
nirāśīr nirmamo bhūtvā
yudhyasva vigata-jvaraḥ
Here Krishna says, “offer all your work to Me.” He is not talking about detachment in a distant sense but He is talking about detachment and the fruits offered to Him.

Similarly, in the fourth chapter there are few verses where He refers to Himself. From verses 4.5 to 4.14, he talks about how He descends to this world. In verse 4.35, He talks about how knowledgeable people see all living beings as His parts:
yaj jñātvā na punar moham
evaṁ yāsyasi pāṇḍava
yena bhūtāny aśeṣāṇi
drakṣyasy ātmany atho mayi.
In the fifth chapter, the last verse 5.29, Krishna talks about Himself:
bhoktāraṁ yajña-tapasāṁ
sarva-loka-maheśvaram
suhṛdaṁ sarva-bhūtānāṁ
jñātvā māṁ śāntim ṛcchati
Krishna says, know me as your best friend, as the purposes of all sacrifices, as the enjoyer of everything, as the lord of everything, that person attains peace.

These are only the handful of verses in the first five chapters Krishna talks about himself and this will change from the seventh chapter onwards.
The sixth chapter is a transition because Gita started with the idea whether it is action or renunciation which will lead to God realisation, Krishna answers that it is action in renunciation. Arjuna asks Krishna does that mean that one never needs renounce the world, meaning always one has to act with renunciation or is there a time when one has to renounce the world. When to renounce the world that is talked in the eight chapter. Krishna says that when your mind is controlled then you can renounce the world, if the mind is not controlled the mind will act as the enemy. We will be alone but we will be alone with our worst enemy which is the mind and our mind will make us miserable. So when one has learnt to have a significant level of control over the mind then they can renounce the world and go to the jungle and focus on the absolutely truth. Mind control is an analogue process not a digital process. It is not that we can say we have controlled our mind now meaning it is not a digital process where we can say the mind is either in control or out of control. There are various grades of control of the mind. So for renouncing the world one has to have some level of control of the mind. It is not that the mind will be completely controlled but it cannot be too wild fantasising on sense objects, one may be renouncing the world but one will be dwelling on sense objects. What one has giving up physically one may be holding on mentally and then that doesn’t lead to much benefit. At least when one has become that much detached that much level of control one has. Then one can move onwards and renounce the world.

From that point in the sixth chapter Krishna starts talking about going to jungle, focusing on meditation. The sixth chapter flows up and down from the sadhana stage to the siddha stage and again coming back to the sadkaha stage. For example 6.10 verse starts the sadhana stage and then from verse 6.19 to 6.23 goes to the Samadhi stage, how one attains perfection
Yatra caivātmanātmānaṁ
paśyann ātmani tuṣyati
Krishna says at that stage where eyes doesn’t say a word and one rejoices in the self and then again from verse 6.24 Krishna comes down to the Sadhaka stage and then he starts again the journey up to the siddha stage, from verse 6.24 to 6.32. The idea here is Krishna is encouraging the wonderful thing one can achieve, yes it may seem difficult but one should start with these steps and slowly one can achieve it.

The second time Krishna talks about it he introduces the concept of levels of spiritual realisations. Verse 6.28 talks about Brahman realisation,
yuñjann evaṁ sadātmānaṁ
yogī vigata-kalmaṣaḥ
sukhena brahma-saṁsparśam
atyantaṁ sukham aśnute
Krishna says one gets ultimate peace when one realises the Brahman platform, realising ones soul is spiritual.

Verse 6.29 talks about the Paramatma level of realisation, not realising that one is just a spirit but seeing the supreme spiritual reality everywhere
sarva-bhūta-stham ātmānaṁ
sarva-bhūtāni cātmani
īkṣate yoga-yuktātmā
sarvatra sama-darśanaḥ
The speciality about paramatma is that the super soul is the manifestation of God who is present in everything and in whom everything is present. He is present in everything as Kshirodakshayi Vishnu, as the small who is present inside the atom. He is present inside everything and at the same time everything is present inside him as Maha Vishnu. That is the paramatma vision of the God.

Verse 6.30 he talks about the Bhagavan vision
yo māṁ paśyati sarvatra
sarvaṁ ca mayi paśyati
tasyāhaṁ na praṇaśyāmi
sa ca me na praṇaśyati
Krishna says one who sees me everywhere and sees everything in me that person is never lost. Krishna is talking about himself for the first time in the sixth chapter.

Then Arjuna tells Krishna, it is so difficult to control the mind, it is like controlling the raging wind. Krishna acknowledging his question says in verse 6.35
asaṁśayaṁ mahā-bāho
mano durnigrahaṁ calam
abhyāsena tu kaunteya
vairāgyeṇa ca gṛhyate
Krishna agreeing with him that it is very difficult to control the mind, tells him that by practice and by detachment one can control the mind.

Arjuna now starts thinking maybe he would be able to control his mind but what if he is not able to finish it in this life time, will he be lost and would neither here nor there. Krishna answers Arjuna in verse 6.40 in negative says if you have done good you will never be lost.
pārtha naiveha nāmutra
vināśas tasya vidyate
na hi kalyāṇa-kṛt kaścid
durgatiṁ tāta gacchati
Krishna says one who does good is never lost neither in this life nor in the next and tells about how yogis who were not able to complete their spiritual perfection in this life will continue in future lives either in a cultured family or a devotee family.

In verse 6.47 Krishna again brings himself back, says the topmost yogi is the one who fixes his mind constantly on Krishna
yoginām api sarveṣāṁ
mad-gatenāntar-ātmanā
śraddhāvān bhajate yo māṁ
sa me yukta-tamo mataḥ
Thus from the second chapter to the sixth chapter, Krishna starts from karma yoga, describes ashtanga yoga and concludes in Bhakti yoga. It is a step by step journey – Karma yoga to Ashtanga yoga to Bhakti yoga. This focuses on first there is detachment while one is doing activity and then one gives up activity itself and then one becomes attached to the lord.
From the seventh chapter the mood changes and instead of talking about detachment Krishna starts talking about attachment.

The first verse of seventh chapter is
mayy āsakta-manāḥ pārtha
yogaṁ yuñjan mad-āśrayaḥ
asaṁśayaṁ samagraṁ māṁ
yathā jñāsyasi tac chṛṇu
Krishna tells Arjuna, to hear how by practicing yoga one can make one’s mind attached to him and also it is another way to attain the same perfection which is attained slowly through Karma yoga, Ashtanga yoga, Bhakti yoga of attachment to Krishna. This is like a staircase way and now Krishna tells him the elevator way. From seventh chapter onwards Krishna will talk about the process of bhakti but the focus is more not on the process of bhakti but the object of bhakti. Whom are we devoting ourselves to? For example if somebody tells you from here you want to go to New York, you can either take the flight or the boat or bus, he may describe the process but the person will first ask why should he go to New York. The desire to go to New York has to be there then he would focus on the process, similarly questions will arise in peoples mind like why should they practice bhakti. Telling why to practice bhakti is telling why to go to Krishna, because Krishna is so wonderful. Hence from the seventh chapter onwards, it is described as how Krishna pervades everything in this world. Everything that we see is Krishna’s energy. Only by surrendering to Krishna one can overcome maya. It is whoever worshipping anything the devatas or the personal manifestation they are worshipping Krishna in a fragmented way. And Krishna’s supreme position is talked about. People who are on the path of piety after many lifetimes they surrender to Krishna. Why do they surrender to Krishna? They understand that Vasudev or Krishna is everything and such souls are very rare. This is mentioned in verse 7.19
bahūnāṁ janmanām ante
jñānavān māṁ prapadyate
vāsudevaḥ sarvam iti
sa mahātmā su-durlabhaḥ
The meaning of Krishna is everything is mentioned in verse 10.41, whatever is attractive in this world, it reflects a part of Krishna’s splendour.
yad yad vibhūtimat sattvaṁ
śrīmad ūrjitam eva vā
tat tad evāvagaccha tvaṁ
mama tejo-’ṁśa-sambhavam
For example some people are attracted to sportsmen or actors or some scenes in nature, everyone is attracted to one thing or another, Krishna says that whatever that attracts us is actually are sparks of Krishna’s splendour. Thus when one understands that Krishna is the whole, vāsudevaḥ sarvam iti, that is when, one surrenders to Krishna. As long as we see their beauty and attractiveness separate from Krishna till that point the attraction to them will be a competitor to our attraction to Krishna and that will distract us from Krishna, but when we see that this attraction is coming from Krishna, a spark of his splendour then we will be attracted to Krishna.

Thus the Bhagwad Gita’s conception of God is not exclusive, it is inclusive. Inclusive means Krishna doesn’t talk about a God who lives far away somewhere in remote place but about a God who pervades all existence, he is right here in this world and whatever attractive in this world manifests a spark of God. If we understand the concept this way we become whole hearted in our devotion to Krishna.

Krishna is such a loving God, in verse 7.16 he says that there are four kinds of people who come to him, people who are distressed, inquisitive, seekers of knowledge and seekers of wealth.
catur-vidhā bhajante māṁ
janāḥ su-kṛtino ’rjuna
ārto jijñāsur arthārthī
jñānī ca bharatarṣabha
He also says in verse 17.18, that his devotees are very udārāḥ, which means charitable.

udārāḥ sarva evaite
jñānī tv ātmaiva me matam
āsthitaḥ sa hi yuktātmā
mām evānuttamāṁ gatim
It is curious that Krishna says that those who worship him are charitable and that too he is talking about those people who are materially attached. Each one of the above mentioned kinds of devotees have come to him to solve some problems of thiers and still he calls them charitable. Sripad Ramanujacharya says in his commentary that suppose one is very thirsty and that time if someone gives the thirsty person a glass of water they become very grateful. Similarly Krishna is thirsty for devotion, Krishna is eager for the love of all the souls and wants them back and so even if someone offers devotion that is not pure and is materially motivated, Krishna is happy at least he is coming to him, at least he has offered his devotion that’s why Krishna says that these are charitable persons. Udara Sarva evaite… All of you are so charitable. So, the same theme is also illustrated again in the 9th chapter when Krishna says that even if you commit sinful activities – Still – Even if a devotee commits sinful activities, still such a devotee should be considered saintly.

api cet su-durācāro
bhajate mām ananya-bhāk
sādhur eva sa mantavyaḥ
samyag vyavasito hi saḥ (B.G 9.30)
Krishna says that, “Even if my devotee commits sinful activities, still that person should be considered to be saintly.” What does this mean? Actually there are multiple explanations given of this verse, but for our context what this verse means is that, actually Krishna’s love for us is not based on how good we are. Krishna’s love for us based on how good He is. He is an all-loving, all benevolent Lord. Because He is so good, He loves us. So, even if we are bad still he loves us, and Krishna tells over here, “Even if you do the most sinful activity, I will not stop loving you.” There is nothing that we can ever do which can make Krishna stop loving us. We don’t have the power to anything by which Krishna will become so frustrated with us that He will tell that, “I am leaving your heart and going away now.” Krishna will never do that. Krishna is always there in our heart as a paramatma. So, that is the nature of His unflinching, unfailing love for us that is always there, closer than the closest.

Suppose even if a person loves us and hugs us in a tight embrace, they cannot come as –Even within that tight embrace – As close as Krishna always is. He is right there in our hearts.
Now Krishna’s love for us is based on who He is, not who we are, but our experience of His love is based on who we are. What that means is – Sun always gives light, but whether I will see the light or not, that depends on whether my eyes are open or not. So, the sun is giving light, but if my eyes are closed then I cannot see the light. So, like that Krishna always loves us, but if we are too materially attached, then we can’t perceive Krishna’s love, because when we are materially attached, then we look for Krishna’s love through the filter of our attachment. Just like I am looking with the spectacles – So, like that our attachment becomes like the spectacle – The filter through which we look for Krishna’s love. That means that whatever it is that we are attached to – If Krishna gives me that – “Oh, Krishna is such a nice God, He is so kind, Krishna loves me.”, and if Krishna doesn’t give that – “Does Krishna even exist?” We start thinking like that. It is like sometimes we may have a child, and the child says, “Mummy! I want this toy.” The mother says, “No not now.” The child says, “No, I want this toy.” The mother says, “No not now.” The child says, “No, I want this toy.” The mother says, “No not now.” The child says, “Ah – You don’t love me.” So, the parents may have done so much for the child, but the child sees the parents love just simply through the filter of that toy.

Sometimes we may be facing problems and we may be having needs, which would be far more serious than simply a toy. So, I am not trivializing our situations, our needs, our particular concerns, but the point is that from the point of perspective of eternity, from our immediate perspective whatever problems we are facing is a serious problem, but from the perspective of eternity whatever it is, it is not all that big. Now if we look back at our life – We look back maybe one year ago, five year ago, ten years ago – We always had some problems. When we were giving our 10th standard exam, or when we were giving our first job interview – Whatever – At that time we were so worked up about it – “What will happen? What will happen?” But, now if we look at how worked up we were about it – “It is ok, it was good, things worked out.”

So, the problem that seems very big right now, will in retrospect seem not so big. Just as the problem that seems very big in the past, they are now seen as not all that big. So, like that if we put aside the filter of our attachments, and start looking for Krishna’s love not through the filter of our attachments, then we will see Krishna’s love is so much there with us in our heart. He has given us the Bhagavat Gita. He has manifested as the deity. Among the billions of souls who don’t have a human body, and the millions of souls who do have human body, we are among the few who have the opportunity to connect to Him through the knowledge of Bhakti Yoga, through the facility of practicing Bhakti Yoga, and this itself is such a great love that He has bestowed upon us. Something special He has given to us – That is the sign of His love.

So, in the start of 7th chapter He says,
manuṣyāṇāṁ sahasreṣu
kaścid yatati siddhaye
yatatām api siddhānāṁ
kaścin māṁ vetti tattvataḥ (B.G 7.3)
Among thousands of people few endeavour for perfection, and even among those who endeavour for perfection, a few know Me in truth.
So, we are on the process of knowing Him in truth, and that is His greatness. It is only by His great mercy that we have come to this level where we are on the journey towards Him. So, the seventh chapter talks about how Krishna is understanding… vasudevam sarvam iti –Krishna is everything. That is the thrust of the seventh chapter. By understanding this, what will happen?
mayy āsakta-manāḥ
So, Gita (7.20) talks about, Vasudevam sarava iti. By that – The goal that is talked in 7.20 A – Sometimes when you are referring to the verse – first line is A, second line is B, third line is C, and the fourth line is D. 7.1 A is – mayy āsakta-manāḥ
The mind will become attached to Him through the practice of bhakti, and that realization vasudevam sarvam iti, that is like very high level of realization. Now after this, he concluded the seventh chapter by describing some technical terms.
sādhibhūtādhidaivaṁ māṁ
sādhiyajñaṁ ca ye viduḥ
prayāṇa-kāle ’pi ca māṁ
te vidur yukta-cetasaḥ
So, He talks about adhibhuta, adidaiva, adiyajna… various terms He talks about, but Arjuna asks, “What are this terms. Please tell me.” The most important is the last question that Krishna has said, ‘If you understand me to be the ultimate truth essentially, then you will remember me at the time of death.’ And then Arjuna asks that question, ‘How can one remember You at the time of death.’ And that is the question on which the eight chapter zeroes in.

Actually just like a student may pretend to be studying – Nowadays most of the students – Most of their study are on their i-pads or their computer, and on the same ipad they may have their facebook, they may also have their Youtube, they may have so many things. So, people may think that you are studying, but you may be actually doing something else. We can fool others thinking that I am studying, but whether we have been studying or fooling around that will be known when the exam comes. I may be pretending to be studying ever day for many hours, but when the exam comes I don’t know anything. So, like that the time of death is the time when we will be tested. Are we really practicing Bhakti genuinely or just making a show of practicing bhakti. Now what does it mean? Krishna says that, “If you remember me at the time of death, you will come to Me.” Now we may wonder – “What is so significant about the time of death. Is it some kind of contest which is based on some chance, like a lottery ticket. Somehow if you get a lucky number, then you get there, otherwise you don’t get the lottery.”

What does it mean to remember Krishna at the time of death? Some people say, “Ok you know, if the only thing that I have to do is to actually chant Hare Krishna at the time of death, then I will enjoy my life as much as I want.’ Actually we don’t enjoy. We just think that we are enjoying, while the mind is just becoming more and more agitated.
We may think that the whole life we will enjoy all kinds of sensual pleasures, and – “When I would have had enough sensual pleasure, I will take out a gun and – Hare Krishna – Shoot myself and I will go to Krishna”, because Krishna says that, “If have to remember me at the time of death, you will attain Me.” – Now we cannot cheat Krishna. If we chant Hare Krishna at the time of death after a life of sensuality, we may succeed in chanting Hare Krishna, but what Krishna says is,
anta-kāle ca mām eva
smaran muktvā kalevaram
(B.G 8.5)
We have to remember Him – And the time of death is the time of the greatest danger, and when there is the greatest danger, instinctively we go to that thing, that place, that thought where we experience the greatest security.

Say, that there is a deadly storm over here in your house, then maybe we will go somewhere underground – Or some storm shelter is there. So, whichever is the safest part of the house that is where we will go at the time of this danger. So, similarly whenever there is great danger, our mind naturally goes to that thought, that memory, that thing where we have experienced the greatest safety. So, when Krishna says, You should remember me at the time of death – That means that our mind will naturally go to Krishna at the time of death, if before death we have experienced the greatest safety in Krishna.

So, if we have enjoyed sensuality throughout our life, then our deepest memories will be of sensual pleasures. Like the alcoholic thinks that there is no problem so big that it can’t be solved by drinking alcohol. If they are thinking that alcohol is the gateway to solving all their problems. When they are thinking like that, then even if they chant Hare Krishna – While chanting Hare Krishna, they are thinking about alcohol. The lips may be saying Hare Krishna, but the mind is saying alcohol. So, what is happening? It is not simply utterance of some words. It is basically that we have to find the deepest shelter in Krishna during the course of our life, and so sometimes we may face problems in our life and those problems seem just not solvable. Everything that is happening just seems to be going wrong and making things worse. Then it may well be that Krishna is giving us the realization that He alone is the supreme shelter.
Krishna is Krishna’s greatest blessing. Krishna’s greatest blessing is not just that whatever service we do that service becomes successful. Krishna’s greatest blessing is not that there is some difficult person that we have to deal with, and win them over. It is wonderful if you can do that, but Krishna’s greatest blessing is that we take shelter of Him wholeheartedly, and thus we experience the fullest shelter in him. To the extent we do that, to that extent we are prepared for the final exam of death. Otherwise we may be doing our services, and if we do our service very well and be successful, we take shelter of our intelligence, our skills, our resourcefulness. We think that whatever problem is there we can solve it. So, when despite our best efforts the problems are not solved, we think, ‘Where is Krishna, why is He not helping me?’ Krishna is helping us by helping us to realize our helplessness, and that realization is vital for us to take shelter of Him, and that shelter is vital for us to remember Him at the time of death. So, remembrance of Krishna is not just one of activity which we are meant to do at the time of death. That remembrance of Krishna at the time of death is the natural result when we have already experienced that – Krishna is the greatest shelter, that there is not shelter other than Krishna. We have taken shelter of Krishna, we have experienced shelter of Krishna, then when the danger of death comes instinctively our mind will go towards Krishna.

So, sometimes the very things that help us take shelter of Krishna, those very things can sometimes hinder us in taking shelter of Krishna. The very things that can help us in taking shelter of Krishna can also hinder us. So, for example, if I can study the scriptures very nicely and I can speak those scriptures very nicely. Now by that I can remember Krishna, because I am studying scriptures, I am speaking scriptures, but that very thing – When – If I think, “I know scriptures so much”, and I become proud. “I know scriptures so well.” So, then what happens? Then I taking shelter not of Krishna through the knowledge of scripture, I am taking shelter of the knowledge of the scripture, I am taking the shelter of my own intelligence. I am thinking that I am so clever. So, what has happened the same intelligence can help us to take shelter of Krishna, or the same intelligence can become a competitor to Krishna as a shelter. So, when that happens, then sometimes the very thing that always worked for us that stops working for us. The very thing that helped us to deal with problems – That very thing that – Whatever problems were there I solved with this – But if even that doesn’t work, then that means what is happening – Krishna is telling us, “Don’ think that this thing works alone by itself. It is I who am making this thing work. It is I who is working through these things. Your intelligence, your managerial skills, your speaking ability, your singing ability, your deity worship ability – Whatever it is that makes you do things – it is not those things alone, it is I who am doing it through you. Sometimes Krishna may do that to us so that we don’t let the need of taking shelter become a shelter itself.

So, sometimes devotees ask me – When I quote verses from Gita – “Have you memorized all the verses of the Bhagavad Gita?” Now I have put in an effort to memorize all the verses, but whenever I say, ‘Yes, I memorized the full Gita, the next time when I speak on the Gita I forget a verse.” So, what happens is sometimes we have certain abilities, we can use them in Krishna’s service, but when we start claiming that this is my ability, I have done this, Krishna just takes that ability away. We sometimes may feel very shelter-less, because that was the skill which was like our USP, our Unique Selling Point, this is what I am, and then when that very thing we can’t do, then what to do at that time? So, just like Draupadi – For a woman her husband is considered to be like a representative of God, and her husband is meant to protect her, and for Draupadi her husbands were devotees. So, they were all together serving Krishna, but then when the terrible assembly happened- the asat sabhaya, in that Draupadi was lost and then what happened was that her husband’s although they were present they could not protect her. So, now at one level you can ask, ‘How could Yudhisthir gamble Draupadi?’ So, yes it was arrangement by the Lord. The arrangement was that there will come in our lifetimes, when even those who have given us shelter of Krishna may no longer be able to give us shelter of Krishna.

Sometimes in our life it may happen that some devotees initially they give us a lot of love, lot of attention, lot of care, and after that something happens, and then somehow those devotees are not there, are not available or somehow they get busy in some other things or somehow they don’t seem to be that loving. So whatever it is. So, sometime devotees say that, when someone comes new we serve them fried pakodas, and after they become devotees we fry the like pakodas. (laughter) We give a lot of attention to new people, but the devotees – we often take them cheaply. For whatever reason, if something like that happens for us – those who are authority they should try to make it sure that such a thing doesn’t happen, but if happens to us somehow that rather than thinking that, “Oh the devotees don’t care, the devotees are so unloving, devotees are like this, devotees are like that.” we should see that this ultimately – The devotees who are loving – What was it? Like that we can have materialistic people also who are loving, and sometimes from the explicit point of view, from the physical expression of affection point of view, materialistic people may sometime offer more expression of love than the devotees may offer, but the key thing is that we should see the connection. When the devotees are offering me some love, it is Krishna who is offering me that love through the devotees. And yes, Krishna was earlier offering me love through those devotees. Now that love is not coming. Let me take shelter of Krishna.

So, Draupadi was protected, cherished by her husbands, but a time came in her life when they could protect her – For whatever reasons. In fact not only could they not protect her, but Yudhisthir became the cause by which she got into danger. So, the very devotees who were meant to protect, sometimes they may become the cause of suffering for us. Maybe unintentionally sometimes, sometimes intentionally, whatever it is.

So, draupadi did not get into the blaming game. “ Yudhisthir, How could you gamble me, how could have done this.” At that time she just took shelter of Krishna, and Krishna reciprocated and protected her.

Similarly when we are practicing bhakti in this world, it may be that we initially get the shelter of Krishna through His devotees, and that is how it should be. Krishna’s love manifests in this world through the loving nature of His devotees, the loving dealings of His devotees. We see Srila Prabhupada, he was so loving, so caring. Now it is amazing that in just a ten, eleven years he was able to inspire so many people to such a great activity, but at the same time after Srila Prabhupada departed, many of his followers they just could not continue. There can be various reasons for it, but one thing was – If they saw Prabhupada as an independent source of love, then they felt that, “Prabhupada is not there. Now who will love us?” But they saw Srila Prabhupada as a channel of Krishna’s love – And – Ok Prabhupada is not there, Prabhupada has given us a process by which we can still connect to him. Still we can practice bhakti, still we can love Krishna and we can experience his love for us through the practice of bhakti. So, then we are able to continue.
And they became stalwart leaders of our movement.

So, actually this capacity to see Krishna’s love for us through different sources, that is vital for us to continue our practice of bhakti.
Yesterday and today I got a lot of association of His Holiness Guruprasada Maharaj. So, he was telling me that how when he came here – Krishna has given him very challenging G.B.C works. So, he said that not only are the places materially difficult, but spiritually also when he came there had been difficulties, with leaders they were problems, and then he said that, “Actually, Ultimately, if we just learn to have loving dealings with devotees, then everything else follows. If we don’t have loving dealings among devotees, then whatever else we may do will not last.”
I was asking him, ‘When devotees go through difficulties how can we protect their faith?’ So, he said that, ‘The Key to protecting faith is just be there. If there are loving dealings between devotees, if we are there for associating with devotees when they need us, then that itself restores their faith. It is not a magical formula. It is a gradual accumulation of availability, time, kindness -’So, faith is at one level very tender. Now when we practice bhakti we need a tender heart. That is what we aspire for. At the same time, while having a tender heart we also need a thick skin. You know we need a tender heart but we need to cover it with a thick skin. But – Because the nature of this world is that – No matter what we do, there will someone or other who will criticize us. Someone or other will find faults with us, and if we only have a tender heart and not a thick skin, then what will happen, whoever criticizes us, we just become too discouraged. “Why are they criticizing me like this?”

Actually Srila Prabhupada was so resourceful – Prabhupada transformed the normal human fear of criticism into a sign of success, into a trophy of success. He said that if you are facing opposition that means that you are doing something good. When our preaching is good, then material energy will oppose us, maya will oppose us. So, of course opposition is not the only sign that our preaching is good – That doesn’t meant that we do things which hurt others and they oppose – “That proves that I am pure.” It’s not like that. Anything we can just distort – It is not like that.

But the thing is that – If we are trying to serve diligently, then that means that obstacles will come. Sometimes obstacles come from materialistic people, then it is easier to take because they are so different from us, that we expect criticism from them, but say we love someone and that person loves us, and then we go near them and expect a pat on the back, and instead of a pat – Thak! We get a blow on the back. That shocks and hurts more. If you are going to meet someone who we know is our enemy, then we guard ourselves. We know that they are going to be beat, and we are prepared for that. So, like that emotionally when we are dealing with non-devotees, we know that we may have some tough times. So, we are ready for that. Their values are different and our values are different. So, they may criticize us, but when criticism comes from devotees, then because we are expecting a pat and then we get a punch – It becomes much more difficult to take, but we have to understand that actually it is – For the practice of bhakti we need a tender heart, and we need a thick skin. Why the thick skin? Because thick skin will ensure that whatever it is that we are taking shelter of that never becomes a competitor to Krishna’s shelter. So, even the devotee association that we have, even the love that we get from devotees – That love from devotees is meant to remind us of Krishna’s love, is meant to point us towards Krishna’s love, and is meant to help to take shelter of Krishna’s, and so what we need to do is, that sometimes when even in devotee’s association there is turbulence, we may have two options – ‘Oh the devotees are like this, what is this Krishna bhakti process? It doesn’t work.’ And we may just give up the process of bhakti. We can – Now if – but the other understanding is, when in devotee association we experience turbulence then we can understand that actually Krishna is drawing closer, Krishna is forcing me to take exclusive shelter of Him. When in that way when we take it with that attitude, then we will experience Krishna’s shelter and no matter how difficult things are, actually Krishna is there with us, and then we realize that – Then the same trouble in devotee association which could have pushed us away from Krishna, can pull us close to Krishna.

It is said that, when we down to nothing Krishna is up to something. (laughter)
“So, whatever that we are taking shelter of it is all going away, we are down to nothing, what is happening in my life?” So, Krishna is up to something. Something special is happening in our life.

The famous verse that Srila Prabhupada liked very much…
yasyāham anugṛhṇāmi
hariṣye tad-dhanaṁ śanaiḥ 
tato ’dhanaṁ tyajanty asya
svajanā duḥkha-duḥkhitam
When I give special mercy one someone I take away their everything, and that devotee has nothing but Krishna left. So, now of course this is Krishna’s special mercy, and now sometimes we say, “Krishna be merciful, but don’t be specially merciful. Give mercy but give mercy in manageable doses. Don’t give too much mercy.” But the thing is that, it is not that such situations will come everyday in life, but sometimes when such situations come, at that time rather than thinking that
“Oh, Krishna doesn’t care for me, Krishna doesn’t love me, Krishna’s devotees are so unloving”, we can see the actually this Krishna conscious process is working, and Krishna is drawing us closer and closer him. So, the eight chapter talks of always remembering Krishna, and remembering Krishna at the time of death. The whole idea is that remembrance of Krishna is – remembering Krishna always doesn’t mean that we have to become like schizophrenic’s. Schizophrenics are people who live in two realities, thinking of one thing and the other thing. What does it mean?
Krishna says, ‘You remember Me and fight – Mām anusmara yudhya ca. So, how do I do that? ‘Remember Krishna and fight’ – Actually what it means is that… Arjuna was shooting arrows in the Kurukshetra war. So, while shooting arrows what was he doing? Maybe he was thinking of Krishna, h was imagining some Krishna on top. Of course Krishna was right in front of him.

See, when we talk about – Viswanath Chakraborty Thakur explains, ‘What does remembering Krishna mean?’ Viswanath Chakraborty Thakur is a prominent Vaisnava acharya and has written a commentary on the Gita. Very beautiful commentary. So, he says that this remembrance is a recollection – Constant recollection is the fruit of deep affection. Just like say, if a person is working in a job and the job makes the stay away from the family – So, now they may be at the job and they will be dealing with the customers – Getting this contract, making this sale. Externally they are doing a lot of things, but internally they are thinking, “I am doing this for my family.” So, that recollection is there at the back of their mind, “I am doing this for my family. I am doing this for my children so that they can grow up and have facilities. I am doing all these for my family.” So, recollection of the family – It’s not that they are constantly talking about their family with their customers. Their customer may be talking whatever is required for making their deal, but that affection is there – Because of that there is recollection.

Similarly, just as family people constantly think about their family even when they are away from their family, similarly devotee thinks of Krishna even when the devotee is not externally close to Krishna. The devotee maybe externally dealing with this world but he is thinking of Krishna – mām anusmara yudhya ca. So, at this stage we may not have that much affection for Krishna. So, what we should do is that we make sure that we do sadhana bhakti diligently.

I will talk about this sadhana bhakti concept more a little later in our tomorrows class, but what it means to express our love for Krihsna – At this point our focus is on understanding Krishna’s love for us. So, now in the 9th Chapter – In the 8th chapter Krishna talks about how we remember him at the time of death, and there are many different ways in which we can develop higher remembrance, but the best is – Just don’t worry. Practice bhakti and try to remember – As you are practicing bhakti, then what will happen? Remembrance will happen naturally.

There was a famous pastime when Ramanujacharya… he reads this verse, and then he says, “What if I die suddenly. What if at the time of death I cannot remember Krishna.” So, then he asks his guru Kanchipurna, and Kanchipurna asks his worship able Lord Varadaraj, and Varadaraj comes in a dream and tells that, ‘If my devotee is not able to remember me at the time of death I will remember my devotee, I will remember my devotee and I will manifest in the heart of the devotee, and give the devote my remembrance.’ So, we don’t have to worry about the moment of death. We can just focus on right now practicing bhakti, and in the ninth chapter Krishna talks further about the glory of the process of bhakti – And so seventh chapter and ninth chapter are similar, but the same concepts Krishna goes deeper. Knowledge of His relationship with the material world – Krishna gives a deeper level in the ninth chapter, and in the ninth chapter He talks about how attractive he is, how merciful he is in many different ways. He says that he gives eternal results. Worshipping him is very simple. Even those who are sinful also can worship him, and even those who are lowborn they can also worship him. So, everybody can worship him and everybody can come to Him
patraṁ puṣpaṁ phalaṁ toyaṁ
yo me bhaktyā prayacchati 
tad ahaṁ bhakty-upahṛtam
aśnāmi prayatātmanaḥ
Krishna says, ‘You can offer me a fruit, a flower or a leaf, a little water and I will accept it.’ So, Krishna is telling over here that our material position, our material resources, or the absence of the material resources, is no disqualification for bhakti. Even if we have nothing, just offer Him a little flower, a little fruit, or even a little water, you can always offer Him.
The Acharya’s explain that Krishna is so merciful that Krishna is not even using plural, He is using singular, He is not saying patrani, puspani, phalani. He is saying patram, puspam phalam. Just one flower, just one fruit, one leaf, even if one offers that much Krishna says, ‘I will accept it.’ So, Krishna makes access to him extremely easy, and in every scripture Krishna emphasises the universality of bhakti. He says, “Some people are considered lowborn. There are sudras, there are vaisyas… they are considered lowborns”, but Krishna says that even they – If they practice bhakti they can attain me. So, Krishna tells that access to him is universal, it is democratic, nobody is disqualified.

Some people may be materially considered disqualified in some ways. The low birth may not allow them to practice some brahminical rituals, but as far as bhakti is concerned anybody can practice it, and everybody can come to him. So, Krishna opens the doors of devotion to everyone. Now interestingly Krishna says,
samo ’haṁ sarva-bhūteṣu
na me dveṣyo ’sti na priyaḥ
ye bhajanti tu māṁ bhaktyā
mayi te teṣu cāpy aham (B.G. 9.29)

So, He says in 9.29 that, ‘I am equal to everyone. I don’t envy anyone and I am not partial to anyone, but if somebody devotees themselves to me, then we become intimately united. I am in them, and they are in me.’

Now there can be a question, ‘Is Krishna partial or Krishna impartial?’ Krishna is saying, ‘I am impartial but for the devotees who are in me, I am in them.’ So, is Krishna partial or Krishna impartial? Actually Krishna is impartially partial. (laughter) What that means is that, Krishna is partial to His devotees. If somebody loves Him, He specially offers love to them, but then Krishna keeps the doors of devotion open to everyone. He is partial, but He doesn’t arbitrarily decide to whom He will be partial. “So, these are devotees, I am partial to them, but you can also be a devotee.” So, in that sense He is impartially partial. He is partial, but in offering His love to some people – He allows everyone to become a devotee. So, he is impartial.
There is a difference between – When he says partial – Actually the word partial often have a negativity associated with it. It is like biased. But Krishna uses the world partial, it is not so much partial in terms of biased. It’s more partial in terms of reciprocal. Now love can be one way, but a loving relationship always has to be two way. We can love someone, but if they don’t love us back then how much of a relationship can we have with them. Loving relationship has to be two way. So, if a person is totally neutral – If somebody goes and criticizes them, and they have stone like neutrality. If somebody goes and praises them there is stone-like neutrality. If somebody goes and hugs them, there is stone like neutrality. If somebody goes and slaps them, there is stone like neutrality – Well, you may say, “You are a very stoic person.” Burt but how would we feel love for the person, or how could we know – Even if we love them, whether they love us or not?

Neutrality can be ideal in situations where there is possibility for bias. An umpire should be neutral. There is a cricket match going on – An umpire should be neutral. An umpire should not be biased towards a particular team, but when we want to love someone we want to see some reciprocation from them. So, Krishna in that sense is not partial. He is reciprocal. Krishna doesn’t discriminate, He reciprocates. If we offer our love to Him, He offers His love more to us. He loves everyone, but we start experiencing his love more, when we start directing our love to Him, and in this way we all can relish his love. Krishna says, “I offer my love to everyone.”

In 10th chapter, he begins by telling,
paraṁ bhūyaḥ pravakṣyāmi
jñānānāṁ jñānam uttamam (B.G 14.1)

bhūya eva mahā-bāho
śṛṇu me paramaṁ vacaḥ
yat te ’haṁ prīyamāṇāya
vakṣyāmi hita-kāmyayā (B.G 10.1)
So he says, ‘I am speaking this verse to you again because I love you. Hita kamaya- for your benefit I speak this verse.’ In the 10th chapter is Bibhuti Yoga. Bibhuti yoga means, “Ok, somebody cannot think of Krishna always, then what can they do?” Krishna says, “In this material world what is attractive you think of it, and by thinking of it you think of Me.” The whole 10th chapter tells how Krishna pervades everything.

The eleventh chapter is actually the most dramatic chapter. It is action packed. It is filled with action. Arjuna tells Krishna, ‘Can you please show your universal form?’ and actually that dramatic frame of the Viswarupa is very interesting. From verses four to eight Krishna tells Arjuna that I will reveal you the universal form and He describes what He is going to see, and from verses 9 to 30 Sanjay describes the universal form, and he says what he sees, and from verses 14 to 31 Arjuna describes what he is seeing. The same universal form is described from three perspectives. So, the first is like an orientation. Suppose if there is a drama happening, then maybe some NC or whoever will say, “What this drama all about?” So, like that sometimes if we are able to see something very special, something which we can’t immediately make sense of, and then tell, what is all about? It is easier to make sense. Like that three times, what the universal form is about that is described.

Now initially when Arjuna sees the universal form he is impressed.
paśyāmi viśveśvara viśva-rūpa
He says, “Oh I am seeing the Viswarupa.” He says, “Ananta Baho datra netram” He says, “There are so many faces, so many mouths, so many heads, it is amazing” – Acharya – That is the emotion – Amazement. Then what happens after that. Within this astonishing universal form he starts seeing something very fearful. Bhayecha na pravatitam mano me. He says ‘My mind is becoming filled with fear.’ What does he see in that universal form? He sees,
vaktrāṇi te tvaramāṇā viśanti

That into your mouth whoever is going in – Actually – Dhrastrasya putraha – That all the sons of dhrtarastras are going in, and not only their warriors, our warriors are also going in, and when he sees this he becomes bewildered, what is happening over here? How is everyone going inside? And then suddenly it becomes very scary for him, and then he asks the question, Ahahi ke meko bhawanu ugrarupo ‘Who are you Oh Lord?’ Now it is actually Krishna who has shown the viswarupa – Arjuna only asked, show me the Viswarupa, and Arjuna alsow identified, “You are Visnu.” But still he is asking, “Who are you?” What this means – “Who are you?” It actually means that – Suppose we know someone, and then suddenly that person starts exhibiting a feature, that we have no idea about.

So, say we know someone, we think we know them, we are closely related with them and suddenly one day we find that they start speaking French. “Who are you really? How do you know French?” When we see something unknown within the known, that takes us aback. So, like that now Arjuna knows the Viswarupa –Viswarupa means the whole universe with hands and legs – form is there, but suddenly within that he sees such a destructive thing, and he says, ‘Who are you?’ and then Krishna answers,
kālo ’smi loka-kṣaya-kṛt pravṛddho
lokān samāhartum iha pravṛttaḥ
ṛte ’pi tvāṁ na bhaviṣyanti sarve
ye ’vasthitāḥ praty-anīkeṣu yodhāḥ
He says, ‘Time I am, the destroyer of all the worlds.’ So, actually Krishna has shown the Viswarupa many times before. He has shown to Duryodhana ealier, but within the Viswarupa first time Krishna shows the kala. Kalarupa is the destructive potency. And so Krishna – When Arjuna had asked – Arjuna had expected to see the Viswarupa – The Viswarupa is fearsome, is huge, but Viswarupa is not that destructive. So, when he sees the destructive Kalarupa, he says, ‘What is this?’, and Krishna understands his question, and therefore he doesn’t say, “I am the Viswarupa”, He says, “I am the Kala”, and then Krishna tells Arjuna – Arjuna’s whole mood changes. Initially his description – He becomes fearful, “O Please forgive me.You are such a big person, I didn’t realize it. Sometimes I teased you, sometimes I made fun of you,
sakheti matvā prasabhaṁ yad uktaṁ
he kṛṣṇa he yādava he sakheti
ajānatā mahimānaṁ tavedaṁ
mayā pramādāt praṇayena vāpi
yac cāvahāsārtham asat-kṛto ’si
vihāra-śayyāsana-bhojaneṣu
eko ’tha vāpy acyuta tat-samakṣaṁ
tat kṣāmaye tvām aham aprameyam
So, he says, ‘Krishna I thought of you as an ordinary person. Please forgive me. I understand that you are extraordinary. I spoke out of affection or I spoke out of madness. Please forgive me.’ Now when he says this he tells Krishna, “I no longer want to see this universal form. Please come back to your normal form.”, and Krishna teases Arjuna over there. He says, “Arjuna, this form is so special. Nobody has seen this form, this is so rare. Even by study of Vedas you can’t see it.” But Arjuna says that “It is enough. I don’t want to see it anymore now.”
What happen is – the universal form, initially he says it is very destructive… the fire of destruction is coming out of his mouth, but then he starts seeing that the fire of destruction is destroying the warriors on that very battlefield. That becomes very scary. So, it’s like suppose we are watching T.V and we are surfing channels, and then on one channel say there is a horror movie going on, some interesting action is going on, and suddenly a horror movie comes up, and then we are watching that horror movie and just as it starts getting very horrifying – And then we find that the character of the horror movie, maybe there is a monster who is destroying big, big buildings, and suddenly you find that he is destroying your own house. The very house we are sitting in is getting destroyed, and you just get scared, “What is happening?”, and then you try to change the channel, and the remote freezes. You can’t change it. “Oh… What is happening?” So, for Arjuna it is like that. He just asked for a viswarupa but he is seeing kalarupa, and kalarupa is destroying everything. Then Arjuna says, “No, I don’t want to see it. This is enough.” Then Krishna says,
mā te vyathā mā ca vimūḍha-bhāvo
He says, “Oh Arjuna, no need to be deluded. I will show you my Swamya Rupa.” I was initially showing my ugra rupa. Ugra is a fearsome form. Saumya rupa is the gentle form, and the gentle form Arjuna sees and becomes calmed down, and then Krishna tells Arjuna that, “This universal form – by this universal form’s arrangement actually your enemies are destroyed. So, just fight, and be an instrument for attaining victory.”
tasmāt tvam uttiṣṭha yaśo labhasva
jitvā śatrūn bhuṅkṣva rājyaṁ samṛddham
mayaivaite nihatāḥ pūrvam eva
nimitta-mātraṁ bhava savya-sācin
He says, “Because of my arrangement your enemies are destroyed. So, just surrender to me, just become my instrument.” So, now we are not fighting physical battles against opponents. In our bhakti also there are opponents inside us – There is lust, there is anger, there is greed, there is selfishness, there is ego. Sometimes these enemies may seem too overwhelming.
In B.G (11.33) Krishna says, “By my arrangement all your enemies are destroyed. You just become an instrument in the fight.” So, if we just keep chanting Hare Krishna, keep practicing bhakti… each mantra that we are chanting, we are invoking Krishna’s presence. Each mantra that we are chanting it is like hitting the anarthas in the heart, and those anarthas are becoming weaker and weaker and weaker and we are going closer and closer to Krishna. So, the manifestation of the universal form is to reinforce Arjuna’s conviction that that omnipotent God is with you, just fight, don’t hesitate, don’t be fearful, and that same vision can also give us confidence that Krishna is with us. Krishna is within us and Krishna is with us, and if we just diligently practice bhakti, then Krishna will help us overcome whatever obstacles will be in our way, and thus the Bhagavat Gita’s last verse concludes with Krishna telling Arjuna in Gita (11.55) “Just work for Me, just become devoted to Me, don’t think about your enemies, think about Me, don’t have animosity towards your enemies, have attraction for me, and in this way if you work O Arjuna you will attain Me.”

So, same way without bothering too much about this world, just focus on serving Krishna. Sometimes people will be favourable, and sometimes they will be unfavourable, sometimes people will praise us and sometimes people will criticize us. Just keep serving Krishna, and by that we will attain Him.

So, I will summarize what I spoke today:
I spoke from chapter 6 to chapter 12 and focus theme was – We talked yesterday how self-knowledge is the basis of love, and God knowledge is the fuel for love. What is that will inspire us to love Krishna? If I have to go to New York before telling me how to New York, I should know why to go to New York? So, why should I love Krishna? Because He is so attractive. So, the first six chapters of the Bhagavat Gita just gives us some glimpses of Krishna, in 2.61, 3.30, 4.35, 5.29… these talk about some glimpses of Krishna as the supreme. The focus on Krishna comes in the seventh chapter. The sixth chapter is like a transition from Karma Yoga through Astanga Yoga to Bhakti Yoga. Krishna also talks about – From starting to perfection and he says, “To renounce the world we should have some level of control on the mind, and the perfection ultimately is to become attached to him.”

So, from Karma Yoga through Astanga Yoga to Bhakti Yoga, then Krishna says, “Actually by bhakti yoga itself we can directly rise to the level of attachment, and for that we need to understand Vasudevam Sarvam Iti, Krishna is everything.” That whatever is attractive in this world – Its attractiveness reflects as a spark of Krishna’s splendour.

With that understanding rather than seeing the objects of the world as attractive and competitors to Krishna we see them as pointers to Krishna, and Krishna says, “Remember Me at the time of death.” That is not just a utterance, it is a deep taking shelter of Krishna because we have experienced His shelter in our life before death, and that’s why when everything seems to be taken away from us, when we are brought down to nothing, then God is up to something.

There maybe many things which may give us shelter of Krishna – Like devotees may give shelter of Krishna, but sometimes we may not get the support from the devotees. Just like Draupadi was normally cherished by her husbands, but at that particular time they could not protect her. That time she had to take direct shelter of Krishna, focus shelter of Krishna. So, like that sometimes Krishna may give us shelter through certain things – through our abilities, through our association, through our resources, and when Krishna takes away those very abilities or associations, it is not that Krishna is rejecting us. Krishna is just ensuring that those things don’t become independent shelters. That we take shelter of Him directly, and thus we discussed how Krishna is so thirsty for devotion – That even if some people have materially motivated devotion, they are considered Udara-charitable, and His love for us is not based on how good we are, it is based on how good He is. He will always love us, but if we are too materially attached then we look for His love through the filter of our attachments, and then we can’t see His love, just as a child attached to a toy can’t see the parents love.

So, when we see from the perspective of eternity, the problems which seem very big for us they will seem small, and we won’t get so worked up about them, we won’t let them interfere with our practice of bhakti, and then in the 9th an 10th chapters Krishna talks about how universally simple worshipping him is, and how he is present everywhere in this world. We can remember Him through the attractive objects of the world. 11th chapter is a visual demonstration of what has been a verbal exposition till then, and Krishna showed the universal form. So, the unfamiliar and the familiar ask Arjuna question, Who are you? So, he has seen the Viswarupa but here first time the Kalarupa is revealed, and then the 11th chapter concludes by telling Arjuna, “That this omnipotent, fearsome manifestation of God is with you. Just do your work and you will overcome your enemies.”

Question and answer session:
Q.1- Bhisma although he took shelter of the Kauravas and he fought from his side, he didn’t protect Draupadi, still Krishna gave him his shelter at the moment of death. How is that?

CCP: Actually the Mahabharat is a very deep scripture, and it can be understood at various levels. So, Bhisma – It can be understood at the level of Karma Kanda, mundane religiosity, and it can be understood at the level of bhakti. So, Bhisma sometimes speaks at the level of mundane religiosity. He says that, “Actually I am bound by the Kauravas wealth, so I have to fight from their sides”, but that is only an external reason. The internal reason was that actually Krishna wanted to demonstrate two things – In the Draupadi pastime Krishna wanted to demonstrate that ultimately in this world we have no shelter except Krishna. That assembly that her five husbands were present, where venerable elders like Bhisma were present. That assembly where she should have felt most protected – But that’s where she was about to be violated. So, Krishna had everyone in that pastime orchestrated by His plan, so that they all acted in a way by which it was demonstrated that we have no shelter except Krishna. That is one of the transcendental perspective. From the material or the Karma Kanda perspective we can say that, actually Bhisma got caught in niyamgraha at that time. Niyamgraha is sticking to the letter of the law, while forgetting the purpose of the law. So, what happened is, he could not answer the question that – If wife belongs to the husband. Husband has gambled himself and he is not his own master, then he is his wife’s master. Can he gamble her, if he is not his own master?” So, that question Draupadi raises and Bhisma says, “I don’t know.” Wife belongs to the husband, wife is meant to be protected by the husband, but the husband is not his own master, then is the wife still under his shelter or not. He said, “I am confused, I don’t know.” Now yes, technically it may be a difficult t question to answer, but ultimately when it is said that wife belongs to the husband, the point of whatever role it was for – It was for protection. So, a woman was being violated in public, and there is no reason to get caught in the technicalities over there. It was an atrocious act –

So, now Krishna did not forget Bhisma’s devotion because he made a mistake. At the same time Krishna did not forget his mistake because he was a devotee. Both were there. So, because he had committed a mistake, because he had chosen to fight on the side of Kauravas, Krishna determined Arjuna, arranged to kill him. That – we could say is not a karmic reaction, but as a reaction for what he did for his failure to protect Draupadi, for his siding with the Kaurvas, he got the reaction and he was killed in the war, but throughout his life – That time, we could say from the transcendental perspective it was an orchestration by Krishna. From the material perspective – From the Karma Kanda perspective we could say it was a weak moment. The moment he got caught in the letter of the law – Niyamgraha. But either way Krishna did not let that mistake blind him to the life of dharma, life of bhakti that Bhisma had done.

Bhisma was a devotee, and similarly his fighting from the Kauravas side in the Kurukshetra war – That from the external perspective was – He fought because he had taken their salt as it is, lived on their money. Actually the deeper reason is, Krishna wanted to demonstrate that anybody who goes against dharma, that person no matter how powerful they may be, they will be defeated. So, having Bhisma fight in the side of the Kauravas and then having Bhisma defeated Krishna demonstrated that dharma will be successful no matter how powerfully the people who oppose them, and Bhisma accepted that service. He knew that he would be misunderstood, but Krishna inspired him to do the service and he accepted that service. If Krishna had been angry with Bhisma for having fought with the Pandavas, the as you rightly said… why cold Krishna want to be there at the time of death. Not only Krishna was there at the time of death, but Krishna also heard from him. Krishna had Yudhisthir hear from him. Why? Because Krishna had wanted to demonstrate that the lifetime of service that Bhisma had done, that should not be overlooked just because he has made a mistake. So, he had a vast amount of learning, and sometimes we all face weak moments in our life.

If some temptations catches us in a weak moment. Normally we may be very gentle and kind to others, but sometimes we may be under some stress – And f somebody comes and asks us something and we blast out at that person, and if that person holds it lifelong… you look at how they lived the rest of their life. So, Krishna wanted to demonstrate, throughout His life he had lived such a wonderful life as a dharmic peson who Krishna rewarded at the time of death. So, both levels we can understand. The karma kanda level and the bhakti level. The bhakti level is the orchestration of Krishna’s. – Whatever Bhisma did was simply by Krishna’s will to demonstrate some lessons that Krishna wanted to teach, and even if we see at the karma kanda level also we see that, for the wrong I did the reaction came, but for the right he did that also was rewarded.

Q:2 – Whenever there is criticism we always talk about how we should see criticism positively or be humble, but what about those who give criticism?

CCP: What happens is somehow after we become devotees we think that we know what is right, and therefore we think we have a right and responsibility to criticize. I know what is right, and that is wrong, and therefore I have to point it out. And we think it is my right to criticize, it is my responsibility to criticize.

Now there is a major misunderstanding in this. Yes, if we know the right, we have a responsibility to tell what is right. Now here all along – First of all we are assuming that we are right. Sometimes it may well be that we are criticizing someone because we are misunderstanding what they are doing. So, it is always good to give the other person the benefit of doubt. So, if I feel that this person is doing like this, ‘Why is he doing like this? At that time it is – What happens is, based on our perception of a person, our opinion of a person we ascribe certain intensions to their actions. That means if I don’t like someone, I see them eating a lot. Such a sense gratifier, such a glutton! If I like someone, I see them eating a lot – Must have been hungry – So, the action is the same, eating a lot, but based on our opinion there is an entirely different attribution. So, what happens, we may see some devotee doing something and we may criticize them, ‘Why are they doing like this?’ But when they are doing something, do we really know why they are doing like that?. Sometimes they may have a completely different take on things which we are not aware of. So, it is always good to give people the benefit of doubt. Instead of criticizing them, first seek clarification.

Once I was in Radha-Gopinath temple, and I had come, there was a festival, and in the festival there was a feast. So, I came to the Prasadam hall to have Prasad. After that I was talking with some people, and by the time I came down I saw that the sweet was over. So, I was feeling a little bad that I will not get the sweet. I was sitting down for Prasad, and then I saw a senior devotee sitting on the opposite side, and in his plate I could see the sweet was there and the sweet had been finished, and then he was asking everyone, “Do you have sweet?” And I was thinking, “He already had one. Normally we have sweet in limited quality.” And the devotees were telling that there were no sweet available. And one server told that there was no sweet, he asked the second server, “Do you have some sweet?” He was asking everyone. It was such an embarrassing thing, and then finally one of their servers they had made their own plate, and they brought sweet from their plate to give to him. “This was so shameless. You already had one …1.29.19… and now you are taking somebody else’ ….” And as that server was about to serve the sweet in his plate, he told, “Not for me. For him” and then he pointed to me. So, he was asking for sweet for me, but I was thinking that he was asking second …. for himself.
So, when we see a action, if somebody is asking for sweet, we see the action and we think –They want it for themselves, but they may be wanting it for someone else entirely. So, first thing is, even when we see somebody doing an action which seems odd, which seems objectionable, rather than immediately ascribing some wrong intension to it, it is best to give the benefit of doubt, and the difference between a judgemental devotee and a non-judgemental devotee is that a judgemental devotee talks about others, whereas a non-judgmental devotee talks to others. Talks about others means… ‘He did like that, she did like that” we tell the whole world what they did. We talk about others, but a non-judgemental devotee is talks to others ‘Prabhu/Mataji, I saw this, I could not understand what was happening over here, can you please explain.’ Just go and clarify. So, quite often we may find an explanation which will be very different, and the whole need of criticism will go away.

So, whenever we feel the urge to criticize, the first thing is, give the person a benefit of doubt and seek clarification, and that itself may avoid most of the criticism. Second is that, now you come to the level where that person is wrong, and we know that they are wrong, and again if they are wrong, we have to check whether it is our responsibility to correct. So, I will talk about when it is not our responsibility, but suppose, assuming it is our responsibility – Now, we are in the position of authority and then we have to correct. So, even then we have to know that there are two things – There is knowing what is the right thing to do, and second is – Feeling inspired to do the right thing. Then we are correcting others, often we simply give the knowledge of what is the right thing to do, but when that knowledge comes off as a criticism, sounds as a judgemental thing, then they may further become discouraged, and they may not just not feel like doing it. So, if we are to help others, we are meant to not only give the knowledge of what is the right thing, pointing out the wrong thing, but also to give them the encouragement and inspiration to do the right thing.

There was a survey done in ..1.32.15… university in America. There is a group of writing students – A group of boys who thought that, “We all want to become good writers. So, whatever we write we will review and we will point the faults in what we have written, and by that we all will improve. Then there was a group of girls. They said, “We will do the opposite of what the boys have done.” They said, “Whatever we write, we will all point the good in what we have written, and then the researchers followed them after 10 years, and they found that this group of boys – Not one of them had become a published author, and several of them – Even writing a serious letter – That would make the break sweat. They would always be fearful. On the other hand among the girls, three of them had become published authors, and all the other girls – There were known among their friend circles as good writers. So, what happened? One was that they got feedbacks, but the feedback was discouraging, and they just lost the desire to write. They just got so much fear of writing – Oh if I write something it will be wrong, better not write only. On the other hand the girls got encouragement and they became good writers.

So, the point is both did the same thing in a sense. Both wanted to improve their writing, but one focussed on the right, and the other focussed on the wrong.

So, Krishna says in the Bhagavat Gita, 16th Chapter, that the Godly people, the divine natured – Their characteristic is apaisunam. Apaisunam means aversion to fault finding. That they don’t like to find faults. They like to see the good in others. On the other hand, he says of the demoniac, what is their characteristics? parasyama eva ca. They like to speak harshly, they like to find fault with others.

Verse not found (1:34:20-26)
There are some people who think that their cleverness is seen in their expertise in insulting others. “I offered such a clever insult to that person.” So, they think, “I am so clever.” What is the result of that? If people become discouraged – And especially say our boss in our office criticizes us, we will tolerate it because we need the job, but bhakti is a voluntary activity. If we criticize others, they may just give up the practice of bhakti.

So, when it is voluntary we have to be all the more careful. So, when criticism is to be given we have to not only – Ok, point out the fault, but point out the fault in a way that encourages people to do the right thing.

So, often it is said that we can use the sandwich formula. Sandwich formula means, first appreciate the person, then point out the room for correction, the again appreciate the person. So basically, what should happen is, when there is criticism the person should not feel rejected. If the person feels valued and accepted, and then you can say, “Ok, this what you did was wrong, you can improve this.” So, if our normal mode of interaction with others is criticism – Whenever we see someone – “Oh you are doing this wrong.” Then people become very discouraged.
If you not in a position to criticize others, then better don’t speak anything. There are many things wrong in this world. Similarly there are many things wrong in Krishna’s movement also. Krishna’s movement is like a hospital. In the hospital different people have different sicknesses. When we go to a hospital, we are not going to see who has got what sickness? We are going there to cure our sickness. Similarly we don’t have to go in the devotee community to see who is doing what wrong things. Yes, there are wrong things going on because they are all sick people. We need to focus on whether we are doing the right thing.

Now sometimes some people may be doing something wrong which just agitates our mind so much. So, somebody maybe doing something which may disturb us so much. Then maybe we can politely tell that devotee or we can tell that senior, ‘No, this is troubling me.’, and then we can get a proper understanding of that, but in general we shouldn’t think that – If I have no relationship with that person, then – If I am not in the position of authority, then to give correction it may …1.37.20… the person.

Krishna says, ‘An austerity of speech.. the first is anudwegna karam vakyam…speak in a way that does not agitate people.’ So, I want to say that the only time when we can say that we are advanced enough to criticize others is when we get no pleasure in doing so.

Sometimes you know – “Oh, I caught you doing wrong now. You think you are such a great person. I will show you how foolish you are.” It may not be so graphic, but basically we get some pleasure in pointing out other’s faults, and then if we are getting pleasure in pointing out others faults, then that means it’s our ego in action. Then what happens, when the words come from our ego, they activate other persons ego. When the words comes from our heart, they reach their heart. So, if we are motivated by genuine concern for their well-being, then we will choose the appropriate words, the appropriate tone, the appropriate forum. We should never criticize in public. In private one to one. It is said, raise in public, criticize in private. So, like that we will do the appropriate things by which we will touch their hearts and inspire them to go ahead.

So, yes it is a very important responsibility that we speak sensitively. Otherwise we can terribly hurt people, and then they become discouraged, they go away from Krishna. Then what have done. We made a point, I proved that they were wrong and I was right – But what does it serve? Ultimately our service to Krishna, our relationship with Krishna is not just dependent on how we are relating with Him on the altar. It is also depended on how we are relating with others, based on their relationship with Krishna.

So, if our interactions with devotees are discouraging devotees, then that is going to hurt our relationship with Krishna also, and if we take the time, the thought, the sensitivity and speak properly to devotees, then that is going to positively set our relationship with Krishna also. Krishna will be pleased.

So, it is a strong temptation in Kali Yuga in both ways. First is that in Kali Yuga there are so many faults. Everybody has faults. So, in that sense to find faults and speak faults is so easy to do it. So, externally there a many faults, and internally also we have a fault finding tendency. Because of that the force can become very strong, and that time we can check that force by remembering that whether my speaking this is serving the purpose.

Now often we have some standards, and those standards need to be maintained but the standards also can be maintained in a way that we don’t hurt people. Ok, we have to do the deity worship in a particular way, and somebody may be doing it in a wrong way. We need to correct them first. It doesn’t meant that we don’t correct, but we correct in a way that people feel encouraged, not feel rejected or discouraged.

So offering criticism is a very subtle skill, and those who are offering that criticism they have to do in a very mature, sensitive, well thought out way, otherwise we can just break people’s hearts, and then we actually commit violence to people because we damage their spiritual prospects.
So, we think not just in terms of this is right and this is wrong and I have to point it out. We should think that whether pointing this out is going to help this person coming close to Krishna or not. Whether I have the adhikar, whether I have the relationship, whether I have the position by which I can help this person come closer to Krishna.
If Prabhupada had been fault-finding when he came to America, the hippies – Their only regulative principle was to break all regulative principles. So, if Prabhupada had been finding faults he would not have been able to attract anyone. Although faults were there but Prabhupada saw the good in them. He saw that they have a small spark of devotion, but he focussed on that and fanned that, and that is how he was able to attract people. So, we should also try to follow his footsteps.

Question: Is Krishna thirsty for our love when He has so many goddesses of fortune who love Him so much and our love is also contaminated because of so many things which displease Him.

CCP: Yes, because for Krishna every soul is special. Krishna has unlimited devotees, but He also has unlimited capacity, and that is the difference between Krishna and any other object. Sometimes say in this world or in movies we may have a love triangle. Two boys love the same girl, and then that girl has to choose. If she chooses one boy, then she no longer will be lovable by the other boy. So, the lovers in this world are finite, but Krishna is infinite. So, Krishna can be in your heart fully available to you, and Krishna can still be in my heart and be fully available to me. That’s what the Rasa Lila demonstrates. Krishna was with gopi, and each gopi felt as if Krishna is only with me. So, like that –
In the Venakatesh Supravhatam it is said that there are hundreds and thousands of gopis who came when Krishna played his flute, on hearing his flute song, and Krishna expanded Himself in such a way that he was there with every single gopi and he made every single gopi feel love, cherish treasure, and they say, ‘Such a Lord, who else can I want. I don’t know any Lord other than such a wonderful Lord.’

So, like that Krishna has unlimited, exalted devotees, but Krishna has a personal relationship with each one of us, and He wants that relationship each one of us. So He wants the love from each one of us.

So, when we say Krishna is thirsty for love, it is not thirst in the sense of incompleteness. It is thirst… somebody may form a relationship because they are incomplete. The feel that without someone else I am incomplete, and I want to become complete. But when Krishna wants a relationship it is not because He is incomplete, it is not because He wants to remove His incompleteness. Rather it is because he wants to share His completeness. Share his completeness means, he is full of happiness and he just wants to share that happiness with others.
We hear Prabhupada write in the Bhagavatam first canto that, Krishna is more eager for us to come to him than we are to go to him. We can’t even imagine.

So, His thirst for our love is because He loves each one of us individually, and it is not that many other devotees can substitute in our place for them, because each one of us have a individual unique relationship with Him.

(End of Transcription)

Transcription of summary 

 

I spoke today from chapter 6 to chapter 12, and the focus of the theme was… we talked yesterday about self-knowledge being the basis of love, and God knowledge being the fuel for love. What is that which will inspire us to love Krishna?

If I have to go to New York, before telling you how to go to New York, I should know why to go to New York. So, why should I love Krishna? Because He is so attractive. The first six chapters of the Bhagavat Gita just give us some glimpses of Krishna; B.G 2.61, B.G 2.30, B.G 4.35 & B.G 5.29, they talk about some glimpses of Krishna as supreme. The focus on Krishna comes in the seventh chapter. The sixth chapter is like a transition from Karma Yoga to asthanga yoga to bhakti yoga.

Krishna talks about… from starting to perfection… and He says, ‘To renounce the world we should have some level of control of our mind, and perfection ultimate is to become attached.’ So, from karma yoga to ashanga or to bhakti yoga… then Krishna says, ‘Actually by bhakti yoga itself you can directly rise to the level of attachment, and for that we need to understand Vasudeva sarvam iti, that Krishna is everything.

Whatever is attractive in this world… its attractiveness reflects a spark of Krishna’s splendour. With that understanding, rather than seeing the objects of this world as attractive and competitors to Krishna, we see them as pointers to Krishna; and if Krishna says, ‘Remember Me at that time of death’, that is not just utterance, it is a deep taking shelter of Krishna, because we have experienced a shelter in our life before death, and that is when everything seems to be taken away from us, when we are brought down to nothing… then God is something.

There are many things which may give us shelter of Krishna. Like devotees can give us shelter of Krishna, but sometimes we may not get the support from devotees. Just like Draupadi was  cherished by her husband, but at that particular time they couldn’t protect her. Sometimes she had to take direct shelter of Krishna or focus shelter on Krishna.

So, like that sometimes Krishna may give us shelter through certain things: through our abilities, through our association, through our resources etc., and when Krishna takes away those very abilities, resources or association, it’s not that Krishna is rejecting us; Krishna is just ensuring us that those things don’t become independent shelters. That is… we take shelter of Him directly; and thus we discussed how Krishna is so thirsty for devotion, that even if some people are of a materially motivated devotion, he considers them Udara or charitable, and his love for us is not based on how we are but it is based on how good He is.  He would always love us, but if we are too materially attached, then we look for His love through the filter of our attachments, and then we can’t see His love. Just as a child attached to his toy can’t see the parents love.

So, when we see from the perspective of our eternity, the problems which seem very big for us… they will seem small, and we won’t get so worked up about them. We won’t let them interfere with our practice of bhakti; and then in the ninth and the 10^th chapters Krishna talks about how universal and simple worshipping Him is, and how He is present everywhere in this world.

We can remember Him through the attractive objects of this world. The eleventh chapter gives a visual demonstration of what has been a verbal exposition till then, and in that Krishna shows the universal form. So, the unfamiliar and the familiar asked Arjuna the question, ‘Who are you?’… So, he has seen the Viswarupa but here the first time the Kala rupa is revealed, and then the eleventh chapter concludes that… ‘Anyway Arjuna, that this omnipotent fearsome manifestation of God is with you, just do your work and you will overcome you enemies.’

Thank you very much.

(Transcription by Sadananda Krishnaprema Prabhu)

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Transcript

This is an AI-generated transcript and may contain some errors.
that there is some control.
Hare Kṛṣṇa So thank all of you for coming today evening. We will continue our discussion on the transformational power of love as demonstrated through the Bhagavad Gita’s narrative. Yesterday I spoke about self-knowledge as the basis for love.
So when Arjuna, he is confused. What role to play? Should I be a Kshatriya or should I be a Kurmandala? Kṛṣṇa tells him understand that you are the soul and as the soul act according to your fundamental identity. Harmonise your functional identities accordingly.
And then there are, we all have selfish desires which prevent us from acting according to our fundamental identity. And how to combat those selfish desires? Through knowledge. Through knowledge.
That knowledge comes from the spiritual master and any kind of knowledge requires faith. And we need to recognise the need to regulate sensual indulgence by recognising the illusion is in the quantity. Promise is of so much pleasure but the actual pleasure is so little.
Then we move on and discuss from the 6th chapter onwards today till the possibly till the 11th or 12th chapters. In this section I will focus on God-knowledge as the fuel for love. We want to start off our journey from some point and then we want to move to some other point and to get there we need something.
And that gets, that something that we need is the knowledge about God. Now the Bhagavad Gita in its first 6 chapters doesn’t talk so much about Krishna directly. The focus of the Bhagavad Gita in the first chapter is on the self.
In the second chapter the only one verse where Krishna talks about Ma in 2.61 he says Fix the minor. That is the only verse which is indicative of Bhakti. Otherwise in that chapter Krishna is the teacher of sense control.
But however in that verse he indicates that he is not just the teacher of sense control he is also the object of the control senses. The different things. Now many people may teach us sense control.
But then all of us have our own object. By sense control I will get a fit body and then I will become a champion athlete or whatever it is. So Krishna hints that they are worth it.
In the third chapter also there is only one verse 3.30 Krishna says he is the object of karma. Then he says that offer all your work to me. He is not just talking about detachment in a distant sense.
He is talking about detachment, the fruits offered to him. Similarly in the fourth chapter there are few verses where he refers to himself. From 4.5 to 4.14 he talks about how he descends to this world.
4.35 he talks about how the people of knowledge see all living beings as his parts. All living beings are parts of him. And then in 5, 5th chapter the last verse is the only place where he talks about himself again.
Know me as your best friend, as the purpose of all sacrifices, as the enjoyer of everything, as the lord of everything. That person attains peace. These are only a handful of verses in the first 5 chapters where Krishna talks about himself.
And this will change from the 7th chapter onwards. The 6th chapter is a transition. So how it is? The Gita starts with the idea that action or renunciation.
And Krishna answers by action in renunciation. Act with renouncement. But then Arjuna has a question, does that mean one never needs to renounce the world? Should always one act with renunciation? Is there some time when we have to renounce the world? So when to renounce the world? That is talked about in the 8th chapter.
And Krishna says that when your mind is controlled, then you can renounce the world. If the mind is not controlled, then the mind will act as anything. And we will be alone, but we will be alone with our words, the mind.
And that mind will make us miserable. So he says when we have learnt to have a significant level of control over the mind, then we can renounce the world. And go to the jungle and focus on, completely focussing on the absolute truth.
sujao deśe patiṣṭhāpte sthiramātmanam ātmanam So when we talk about mind control, it’s not a, mind control is not an analogue process. It’s an analogue process, it’s not a digital process. It’s not that you can say that, I have control over my mind now.
It’s not, either the mind is in control or out of control. It’s not like digital logic. It’s analogue.
There are grades of control of the mind. So, for renouncing the world, one has to have some level of control of the mind. It’s not that the mind will be completely pure.
But if the mind is too wild, fantasising on sense of objects, then one may be renouncing the world but one will be dwelling on sense of objects. You know, what one has given up physically one is holding on mentally. And then that doesn’t lead to much benefit.
So, it’s at least when one has become that much detached, that much level of control one has, then one can move onwards and renounce the world. So, from that point in the sixth chapter Krishna starts talking about going to jungle, focussing on meditation and six chapters flow like up and down. Krishna, up and down means? Krishna starts from the sadhana stage, comes to the siddha stage.
So, for example, 6.10 he starts the sadhana stage and then 6.19 to 22, 19 to 23, this is the samadhi stage. How one attains perfection. Krishna says that at that stage, yatra caiva atmanatmanam vasyanatmanitushyati When the eyes turn inward and one rejoices in the self.
And then again from the 24th verse Krishna comes down to the sadhaka stage. And then he starts again and goes again to the siddha stage. So, 24th verse till 32nd verse he is again talking about the siddha stage.
The journey up. And the idea here is that Krishna is encouraging. This is so wonderful you can achieve.
Yes, I want to get it. But it seems so difficult. No, you start with these steps.
Take these steps forward, you can do this. You can achieve this. Oh, it’s so wonderful, I want to achieve it.
And second time when Krishna talks about it, he introduces the concept of levels of spiritual realisation also. 6.28 talks about Brahman realisation. sukhena brahma samsparsham atyantam sukham ashnute yunjan evam sadatmanam yogi vigatakalmasah sukhena brahma samsparsham atyantam sukham ashnute There is ultimate peace one gets when one realises the Brahman platform.
When one realises oneself to be spiritual. Next verse 29th verse talks about the paramatma level of realisation. Not just realising oneself as spirit but seeing the supreme spiritual reality everywhere.
That he talks about as he says that sarvabhutasthama atmanam sarvabhutanichatmani ekshate yoga yuktatma sarvatra samdarshanah So, paramatma, what is the speciality? This is paramatma, the super soul is the manifestation of God who is present in everything and in whom everything is present. So, he is present in everything as the shirodaksha Vishnu, as the small who is present inside the atom. He is present inside everything.
At the same time, everything is present inside him. That is Maha Vishnu. Everything is inside him.
So, one sees God in that way. That is the paramatma vision of the Lord. And in the 30th verse he talks about the Bhagavan vision.
yogam pashyati sarvatra sarvam chamai pashyati asyamam na pranasyami sacchamena pranasyati One who sees me everywhere and sees everything in me. That person is never lost. So, Krishna is again talking about himself for the first time in the 6th chapter directly.
And then Arjuna asks this question. You are telling that you control the mind but it’s very difficult. It’s like controlling the raging wind.
Now Krishna, what does he do? Krishna appreciates Arjuna’s power. Yes, it’s difficult. asamshaya mahabhava mano durmigraham ca Now, when we answer questions of people, people need to feel understood before they can understand.
Suppose, we go to a doctor. And before we tell a complaint, the doctor says, Okay, you know, you get admitted, we’ll do the surgery. We’ll do the surgery.
You didn’t even hear my problem. How can you tell me to do the surgery? So, what happens is, first we need to explain to the doctor. Even if the doctor is expert enough, just by seeing the symptoms, they know what is wrong.
But still the patient will feel as if you are prescribing before you are diagnosed. So, Arjuna, whenever we answer people’s questions, people need to feel that we have understood them. And after they feel that we have understood them, then when we speak something, they will understand us.
So, Krishna demonstrates that. He says, Arjuna, yes, it is difficult to control the mind. asamshaya mahabhava mano durmigraham ca It’s very difficult to control the mind, but abhyasena tu kaunteya vairagyena chigrayate When attachment, by practise, you’ll be able to control it.
Arjuna starts thinking, okay, I might be able to control it, but what if I am not able to finish it in this lifetime? Will I be lost? Either here or there? Krishna says, no. If you have done good, you’ll never be lost. partha naiveha naamutra vinashas tasya vidyate nahi kalyana krutkashyur durgatim tatakachyate He says, one who does good is never lost, either in this life or in the next life.
That’s 6.40. And then he tells about how yogis who had, were not able to complete their spiritual perfection in this life, they will continue on in future lives. Either in a cultured family or a devotee family. Now, again in 6.47 Krishna brings himself.
The topmost yogi is one who fixes the mind constantly on yogi naamukhi sarvesha madgate naantaratmanah shraddhavan bhajate yo mam samayukta tamo matah This is one who controls the mind constantly and fixes it on me, constantly thinking of me. That is the topmost yogi. So here what is that? Essentially what has happened in the second chapter, sixth chapter? Krishna starts with Karma Yoga, describes Ashtanga Yoga and then says that Ashtanga Yoga, which is going to jungle and meditating in yogic postures, that concludes in Bhakti Yoga.
So it’s a step by step journey. Karma Yoga through Ashtanga Yoga to Bhakti Yoga. And this focusses on, first there is detachment while one is doing activity.
And then one gives up activity itself. And then one becomes attached to the Lord. But then from the seventh chapter, the mood changes.
Instead of talking about detachment, Krishna starts talking about attachment. And he says, first verse of the seventh chapter is, mayi asattamanah partha yogam yajnanmadasrayah asamshayam samagrahmah yathagyasisi tachvanu So Arjuna here, how by practising yoga, you can make your mind attached to him. So that same perfection, which is attained slowly through Karma Yoga, Ashtanga Yoga, Bhakti Yoga of attachment to Krishna, Krishna says, now I will tell you another way to do that.
So this is like a staircase way. Now I’ll tell you the elevator way. Rapid way to move up and come to the same level.
So in the seventh chapter, from the seventh chapter onwards, Krishna will talk about the process of Bhakti. But the focus is more on not the process of Bhakti, it is on the object of Bhakti. Whom are we devoting ourselves to? So, if somebody tells you, from here if you want to go to New York, you can go like this.
Go here, take this flight or take this boat and take this bus and take this flight and then after you do this. Now you may describe the process. The person may first ask, why should I go to New York? Isn’t it? The person should first have the desire to go to New York and then you can tell them how to go.
So, similarly, what happens is, if you just start telling people how to practise Bhakti, why should I practise Bhakti? So, for telling why to practise Bhakti, it’s like, why to go to Krishna? Because Krishna is so wonderful. And so the seventh chapter onwards, the seventh chapter is called Knowledge of the Absolute. It describes how Krishna pervades everything in this world.
It is everything that we see is actually Krishna’s energy. By surrendering to Krishna that we can overcome maya. It is whoever is worshipping anything.
People are worshipping devatas, people are worshipping impersonal manifestation. They are all actually worshipping Krishna in a fragmented way. And Krishna’s supreme position is talked about.
And then he says, what happens? People who are on the path of piety, bhagunam janmanamante jnanavanmam prapadyate after many lifetimes, they come and surrender to Krishna. So, and what does that mean? Why do you surrender to Krishna? Vasudeva sarva mithi. They understand that Vasudeva, Krishna is everything.
Samahatma sudurlabha. Such souls are very rare. Now what does it mean when we say Krishna is everything? What it means is, Krishna, we talk about this in the tenth chapter.
There are many attractive things in this world. yad yad vibhuti mat sattvam shri madhur jitame vava tattva deva vachatvam mamate jo akshi sambhava. I’ll jump to the tenth chapter.
I’ll come back a little bit. But this point I am illustrating right now is 10.41. Krishna says, whatever is attractive in this world, it reflects a spark of Krishna’s splendour. That means, some people are attracted to some cricket players, cricket sports stars.
Some people are attracted to some Hollywood stars. Some people may be attracted to certain scenes in nature, certain natural sights. Some people may be attracted to beaches.
Some people may be attracted to some people who look very good. Some people may be attracted. We are attracted to so many things in this world.
Krishna says, whatever that attracts us, that is actually a spark of Krishna’s splendour. And so, that person who we are attracted to, they have that attractiveness. But what is that attractiveness? It is a spark.
And Krishna is the whole. So, when we understand that actually it is Krishna who is the whole, Vasudeva Sarovaraj. Then we will surrender to him.
As long as we don’t understand that, we think, okay, you know, this person I am attracted to and I am also meant to be devoted to Krishna. So, this person, as long as we see their beauty, their attractiveness as separate from Krishna, till that point, the attraction to them will be a competitor to our attraction to Krishna. And that will distract us from Krishna.
But when we see that this attraction, where is it coming from? It’s because it’s a spark of Krishna’s splendour. Then we will be attracted to Krishna through them. So, there is, the Bhagavad Gita’s conception of God is not exclusive.
It is inclusive. Inclusive means that Krishna doesn’t talk about a God who lives far away somewhere remote. Krishna talks about a God who pervades all of existence.
He is right here in this world. And whatever is attractive in this world, it manifests a spark of God. Sometimes people say, oh, Krishna is so far away.
How can I know him? How can I love him? But Krishna is not just far away. He is actually all around us. Whatever is attractive around us, that manifests a spark of Krishna’s splendour.
So, Vasudeva Sarovarti means the conception of Krishna as God is inclusive. It includes whatever we find attractive in this world. It’s not exclusive.
God is far away. And that way when we understand, then we become wholehearted in our devotion to Krishna. And Krishna is such a loving God.
And he says that there are four kinds of people who come to me. There are people who are in distress. There are people who are inquisitive.
There are people who are seeking knowledge. And there are people who are seeking wealth. And then he says, after that two verses later, udāraḥ sarva evaite jānito ātmaiva me matam āstitāsai uptātmā mām evānatta māṅgati In 7.18 he says, udāraḥ sarva evaite.
All of them are very udāra. Sanskrit word udāra means charitable. It’s curious, Krishna is telling that those who worship him are charitable.
What does it mean? And Krishna is talking about whom? Even people who are materially attached. They come to Krishna, Krishna please solve this problem. Krishna please give me this.
Krishna says, even they are charitable. So, Śrīpad Rāmānujārya, currently we are celebrating his 1000th anniversary. So, it is said, what about Rāmānujārya? Rāmānujārya explains in his commentary.
What does udāra mean over here? He says that suppose somebody is very thirsty. And at that time somebody gives that thirsty person even a glass of water. Then they feel so grateful.
Now the glass of water itself may not be very precious. Water is available everywhere. But at that particular time when a person is thirsty, when water is given, that water becomes very valuable.
Similarly, he says, Krishna is thirsty for devotion. Krishna is eager for the love of all the souls for him. He is thirsty for devotion.
And therefore, even if some soul offers him devotion that is not pure. Even if it is devotion, it is materially motivated. Krishna, I am doing this for you so that you do this for me.
Even if it is like that, at least you are coming to me. At least you are offering devotion to me. Oh, you are such a good soul.
You are such a charitable person. udāra sarve vai te. All of you are so charitable.
So, this same theme, Krishna also is illustrated again in the 9th chapter when Krishna says that even if you commit sinful activities, still such a devotee should be considered saintly. api chet sundara cāro bhajate māmanyamhāk sādhur eva samantavya samyagyavasito hi sahā Krishna says there in 9.30 that even if a devotee commits sinful activities, still that person should be considered saintly. Now this, what does it mean? Actually, there are multiple explanations given of this verse.
But for our context, what this verse means is that actually Krishna’s love for us is not based on how good we are. Krishna’s love for us is based on how good he is. How good he is.
You know, he is an all-loving, all-benevolent lord. Because he is so good, he loves us. So, even if we are bad, still he loves us.
And Krishna does over here, even if we do some more sinful activity, no, I will not stop loving. There is nothing we can ever do which can make Krishna stop loving us. There is nothing, we don’t have that power to do anything by which Krishna will become so frustrated with us, Krishna will say I am leaving your heart and going away.
Krishna will never do that. Krishna is always there in our heart as the Paramatma. So, that is the nature of his unflinching, unfailing love for us.
That always there, closer and the closest. Suppose even a person loves us and when they love us, they hug us in a tight embrace. No, they can’t come as close to us.
Even in that tight embrace as much as Krishna always is. He is right there in our hearts. Now, Krishna’s love for us is based on who he is, not who we are.
But our experience of his love is based on who we are. What that means is the sun always gives light. But whether I will see the light or not, whether I will see with the light or not, that depends on whether my eyes are open or not.
So, the sun is giving light, but if my eyes are closed, I cannot see the light. So, like that Krishna always loves us. But if we are too materially attached, then we can’t pursue Krishna’s love.
Because when we are materially attached, then we look for Krishna’s love through the filter of our attachment. It’s like I am looking at the spectacles. So, like that our attachment becomes like the spectacle, the filter through which we look for Krishna’s love.
That means whatever it is that we are attached to, if Krishna gives me that, Oh, Krishna is such a nice God, so kind, Krishna loves me. And if Krishna doesn’t give that, does Krishna even exist? Start thinking like that. What happens is like sometimes we may have a child and the child says, Mummy, I want this toy.
No, not now. Sometimes, no, I want this toy. No, not now.
I want this toy. No, not now. You don’t love me.
So, the parents may have done so much for the child, but the child sees the parents’ love just simply through the filter of that toy. So, now, sometimes we may be facing problems and we may be having needs which will be far more serious than simply a toy. So, I am not trivialising our situations, our needs, our particular concerns.
But the point is, from the perspective of eternity, from our immediate perspective, whatever problem we are facing is a serious problem. But from the perspective of eternity, whatever it is, it’s not all that big. If you look back at our life, we look back, maybe think about 1 year ago, 5 years ago, 10 years ago, always we have had some problem, isn’t it? Now, maybe we gave our 10th standard exam or maybe we gave our first job interview or whatever it is.
At that time, we were so worked up about it. What will happen? What will happen? What will happen? Now, if we look at how worked up we were about it, it’s okay. Things work out.
So, the problem that seems very big right now will, in retrospect, be seen as not that big. Just as the problem that seemed very big in the past, they are now seen as not all that big. So, like that, if we put aside the filter of our attachments and start looking for Krishna’s love, not through the filter of our attachments, we will see Krishna’s love is always there with us, in our heart.
He has given us the Bhagavad Gita. He has manifested as the Deity. Among the millions of souls, millions of souls who don’t even have human bodies, and among the millions of souls who do have human bodies, we are among the few who have the opportunity to connect with him through the knowledge of Bhakti Yoga, through the facility for practising Bhakti Yoga.
And this itself is such a great love that he has bestowed upon us. Something special he has given to us. That is a sign of his love.
So, Manushyana, in 7th chapter, start only, he says, Manushyanam sahasreshu kashchid yatati siddhayayat namapi siddhanam kashchimam vetti tattvataha So, in 7.3, he says, among thousands of people, few endeavour for perfection. And even among those who endeavour for perfection, few know me in truth. So, we are on the process to know him in truth.
And that is his great mercy. It is only by his great mercy that we have come to this level where we are on the journey to him. So, the 7th chapter talks about how Krishna is this understanding.
Vasudeva sarvam iti. Krishna is everything. That is the thrust of the 7th chapter.
So, by understanding this, what will happen? Mayi asakta manaha. So, 7.20 talks about Vasudeva sarvam iti. By that, the goal, that is spoken 7.1a, you know, when there is a verse, sometimes when referring to the verse, the first line is A, second line is B, third line is C and fourth line is D. 7.1a is mayi asakta manaha.
The mind will become attached to him through the practise of bhakti. And that realisation, Vasudeva sarvam iti, that is like a very high level of realisation. Now, after this, he concludes the 7th chapter by describing some technical terms.
sādhi bhūtādhyaivam vāṁ sādhi yajñaṁ ca eviduḥ prāṇakāle pīcchamāṁ devidur yukta cetasā So, he talks about sādhi bhūtādhyaivam vāṁ sādhi yajñaṁ. Various terms he talks about. Arjuna asks, what are these terms? Please tell me.
And the most important, the last question Krishna has said, if you understand me to be the ultimate truth essentially, then you will remember me at the time of death. And then Arjuna also asks that question, how can one remember you at the time of death? And that is the question on which the 8th chapter zeroes in. Actually, just like a student may pretend to be studying.
So, nowadays, students, most of their studies are also on their iPads or on their computers. And on the same iPad, they may also have their Facebook. They may also have their YouTube.
They may also have many things. So, you know, people may think that you are studying, but you may be actually doing something else. We can fool others thinking that I am studying.
But whether we have been studying or fooling around, that will be known when the exam comes. I may pretend to be studying every day, 4 hours, 6 hours. But when the exam comes, I don’t know anything.
So, like that, the time of death is the time when we will be tested. Are we really practising bhakti genuinely or just making a show of practising bhakti? Now, what does it mean that Krishna says that if you remember me at the time of death, you will come to me. Now, we may wonder, what is so significant about the time of death? Is it some kind of contest which is based on some chance, like a lottery ticket? Somehow, if you get the lucky number, then you get there.
Otherwise, you don’t get the lottery. What does it mean to remember Krishna at the time of death? Some people say that, okay, you know, if the only thing I have to do is actually chant Hare Krishna at the time of death, then I will enjoy my life as much as I want. Actually, we don’t enjoy.
When we think we are enjoying, well, the mind is simply more and more agitated. But anyway, I will enjoy all kinds of sensual pleasures. And then when I have had enough sensual pleasures, I will take out a gun, put it on my head.
Hare Krishna! I will shoot myself. And I will go to Krishna. Because Krishna says, if you remember me at the time of death, you will attain me.
Now, you know, we cannot cheat Krishna. We cannot cheat Krishna. If we chant Hare Krishna at the time of death after a life of sensuality, we may succeed in chanting Hare Krishna.
But Krishna, what he says is, antakaale che maameva smarad muktvaakaleva, to remember him. And the time of death is the time of the greatest danger. And when there is the greatest danger, instinctively we go to that thing, that place, that thought where we experience the greatest security.
Say, suppose there is a deadly storm. Do you have storms here in this part of the world? Sometimes. So, hurricanes.
So, if you have a deadly storm over here in a house, then we may go maybe somewhere underground or some storm shelter is there. So, whichever is the safest part of the house, that is where we will go at the time of this danger. So, similarly, whenever there is a great danger, our mind naturally goes to that thought, that memory, that thing where we have experienced the greatest safety.
So, when Krishna says we should remember him at the time of death, that means that our mind will naturally go to Krishna at the time of death if before death we have experienced the greatest safety in Krishna. So, if we have enjoyed sensuality throughout our life, then our deepest memories will be of sensual pleasures. You think any problem, like the alcoholics, there is no problem so big that it can’t be solved by drinking alcohol.
There, alcohol is their gateway to solving all problems. If they are thinking like that, even if they chant Hare Krishna, they are chanting Hare Krishna and they are thinking alcohol. Lips may be saying Hare Krishna, the mind is saying alcohol.
So, what is happening? It’s not simply utterance of some words. It’s basically that we have to find the deepest shelter in Krishna during the course of our life. And so, sometimes we may face problems in our life and those problems seem just not solvable.
Everything that is happening just seems to be going wrong and making things worse. Then it may well be that Krishna is giving us the realisation that he alone is the supreme shelter. He alone is the supreme shelter.
Krishna is Krishna’s greatest blessing. Krishna’s greatest blessing is not just that whatever service we do, that service becomes successful. Krishna’s greatest blessing is not that there is some difficult person we have to deal with and we win them over.
There are wonderful things if we can do that. But Krishna’s greatest blessing is that we take shelter of him wholeheartedly. And thus we experience the fullest shelter in him.
To the extent we do that, to that extent we are prepared for the final exam of death. Otherwise, when we are doing our services and we do our services very well, we are successful, we take shelter of our intelligence, our skills, our resourcefulness. See, whatever problem it is, I can solve it.
So, when despite our best efforts, when despite our best efforts the problems are not solved, think where is Krishna? Why is he not helping me? Krishna is helping us by helping us to realise our helplessness. Krishna is helping us by helping us to realise our helplessness. And that realisation is vital for us to take shelter of him.
And that shelter is vital for us to remember him at the time of death. So, remembrance of Krishna is not just a one-off activity which we are meant to do at the time of death. That remembrance of Krishna at the time of death is the natural result when we have already experienced that Krishna is the greatest shelter.
That there is no shelter other than Krishna. And we have taken shelter of Krishna, we experience shelter in Krishna. Then when the danger of death comes, instinctively our mind will go towards Krishna.
So, sometimes, you know, the very things that help us take shelter of Krishna, those very things can sometimes hinder us in taking shelter of Krishna. The very things that can help us take shelter of Krishna can also hinder us. So, for example, if, say, if I can study scripture very nicely, I can speak on scripture very nicely, now by that I can remember Krishna.
Because I am studying scripture, I am speaking on scripture. But that very thing, when I, if I think, oh, I know scripture so much. And I become proud, I know scripture so well.
So, then what happens? Then I am taking shelter not of Krishna through my knowledge of scripture, I am taking shelter of knowledge of scripture. I am taking shelter of my own intelligence. I am thinking that I am so clever.
So, what has happened? The same intelligence can help us to take shelter of Krishna or the same intelligence can help us, same intelligence can become a competitor to Krishna as a shelter. So, when that happens, then sometimes the very thing that always worked for us, that stops working for us. The very thing that helped us to deal with problems, that the very thing that helped us, oh, what are the problems I have solved with this, I solved with this, I solved with this.
But when that doesn’t work, then that means what is happening? Krishna is telling us, don’t think that this thing works alone by itself. It is I who am making this thing work. It is I who am working through this thing.
Your intelligence, your managerial skills, your speaking ability, your singing ability, your deity worship ability, whatever it is that makes you do things, it is not those things alone. It is I who am doing it for you. Sometimes Krishna may do that to us so that we don’t let the means of taking shelter become a shelter in itself.
So, when I speak of the Bhagavad Gita, I often quote a lot of verses. And somebody would ask me, so have you memorised the full Bhagavad Gita? Now, Interesting. Sorry? Okay.
That’s interesting. Okay. Hmm.
So, sometimes you would ask me and I quote verses from the Gita, have you memorised all the verses of the Gita? Now, I have put an effort to memorise all the verses. But whenever I say yes, I have memorised the full Gita. The next time when I speak of the Gita, I forget a verse.
So, what happens is sometimes we have certain abilities, we can use them in Krishna’s service. But when we start claiming that this is my ability, I have done this, Krishna just takes that ability away. And sometimes we feel very shelterless.
Because that was the skill which was like our USP, our unique selling point. This is what I am. And then when that very thing we can’t do, then what to do at that time? So, just like Draupadi, you know, for a woman, her husband is considered like a representative of God.
And her husband is meant to protect her. And for Draupadi, her husbands were devotees. So, they were all together serving Krishna.
But then, when the terrible assembly happened, Asat Sabhaya, in that, Draupadi was lost. And then what happened was, her husbands, although they were present, they could not protect her. So, now at one level, you may ask, how could Yudhishthira gamble Draupadi? So, yes, it was actually an arrangement by the Lord.
The arrangement was that there will come in our lifetimes when even those who have given a shelter of Krishna may no longer be able to give a shelter of Krishna. So, sometimes in our life it may happen that some devotees initially, they give us a lot of love, a lot of attention, a lot of care. And after that something happens and somehow those devotees are not there, not available, or somehow they get busy in some other things, or somehow they don’t seem to be that loving.
So, whatever it is. So, sometimes devotees say that when a person comes new, we feed them fried pakodas. And after they become devotees, then we fry them like pakodas.
We give a lot of attention to new people, but the devotees, often we take them cheaply. But for whatever reason, when something like that happens for us, those who are authorities, they should try to make sure that such a thing doesn’t happen. But if it happens to us somehow, and rather than thinking that oh devotees don’t care, devotees are so unloving, devotees are like this, devotees are like that, we should see that this ultimately when devotees were loving, what was it? Like that we can have materialistic people also who are loving.
And sometimes from the explicit point of view, from the physical expression of affection point of view, materialistic people may offer sometimes more expression of love than what devotees also offer. But the key thing is that we should see the connection. That when devotees are offering me some love, it is Krishna who is offering me that love through the devotees.
And yes, Krishna was earlier offering me love through those devotees. Now that love is not coming. Let me take shelter of Krishna directly.
So, Draupadi was protected, cherished by her husbands. But a time came in her life when they couldn’t be protected. For whatever reason.
In fact, not only they couldn’t protect her, but Yudhishthira became the cause by which she got into danger. So, the very devotees who were meant to protect, sometimes they may become the cause of suffering for us. Maybe unintentionally sometimes, sometimes intentionally, whatever it is.
So, Draupadi did not get into the blame game. Yudhishthira, how could you gamble me? How could you have done this? At that point, she just took shelter of Krishna. Took shelter of Krishna.
And Krishna reciprocated. Krishna protected her. Similarly, when we are practising bhakti in this world, it may be that we initially get the shelter of Krishna through His devotees.
And that’s how it should be. Krishna’s love manifests in this world through the loving nature of His devotees, through the loving deeds of His devotees. We see Shri Prabhupada was so loving, so caring.
It’s amazing that in just 10-11 years, he was able to inspire so much, so many people to such a great magnitude. But at the same time, after Shri Prabhupada departed, many of his followers just couldn’t continue. There can be various reasons for it.
But one thing was, if they saw Prabhupada as an independent source of love and they felt that, no, Prabhupada is not there, now who will love us? But if they saw Prabhupada as a channel of Krishna’s love and okay, Prabhupada is not there, but Prabhupada has given us the process by which we can still connect with him, still we can practise bhakti, still we can love Krishna and experience his love for us through the practise of bhakti. So then they were able to continue and they became stalwart leaders of our movement. So actually, this capacity to see Krishna’s love for us through different sources, that is vital for us to continue our practise of bhakti.
Yesterday and today I have got a lot of association of His Holiness Guru Prasad Maharaj. So he was telling me that how when he came here, you know, he is always, Krishna has given him very challenging GBC zones. So he said that not only are the places materially difficult, but spiritually also.
When he came there had been difficulties with the previous leaders, having problems. And then he said that actually, ultimately, if we just learn to have loving dealings between devotees, then everything else falls. If you don’t have loving dealings among devotees, then whatever else we may do, it will not last.
And so I was asking him, now when devotees go through difficulties, how can we help protect their faith? So he said that the key to protecting faith is just be there. If there are loving dealings between devotees, they are there for associating with devotees, there when they need us, then that itself restores their faith. It’s not a magical formula.
It’s a gradual accumulation of availability, time, kindness. So faith is actually, faith is at one level very tender. Now when we practise bhakti, we need a tender heart.
That’s what we aspire for. At the same time, while having a tender heart, we also need a thick skin. You know, you need a tender heart, but you have to cover it with a thick skin.
Why? Because the nature of this world is that no matter what we do, there is someone or the other who will criticise us. Someone or the other will find faults with us. And if we only have a tender heart and not a thick skin, then what will happen? Whoever criticises us, we just become too discouraged.
Why are they criticising me like this? Actually, Prabhupada was so resourceful, Prabhupada transformed the normal human fear of criticism into a sign of success, into a trophy of success. He said that if you are facing opposition, that means you are doing something good. He says when our preaching is good, then material energy will oppose us.
Maya will oppose us. So, of course, opposition is not the only sign that our preaching is good. That means we just do things which hurt others and they oppose us.
That proves that I am pure. It’s not like that. You know, anything we can just distort.
It’s not like that. But the thing is that if we are trying to serve diligently, then there will be obstacles which will come. Sometimes obstacles may come from… See, when obstacles come from materialistic people, that’s easier to take.
Because their values are so different from ours and we expect criticism from them. Say, we love someone and that person loves us and then we go near them and we expect a pat on the back. And instead of a pat, we get a blow on the back.
That shocks and hurts more. You know, if you are going to meet someone whom we know is our enemy, then we gird ourselves. We know that we are going to meet.
And we are prepared for it. So, like that, emotionally, when we are dealing with non-devotees, we know we may have some tough times. So, we are ready for that.
Their values are different. Our values are different. So, they may criticise us.
But when criticism comes from devotees, then because we are expecting a pat and then we get a punch, it becomes much more difficult to take. But we have to understand that actually it is for the practise of bhakti we need a tender heart and we need a thick skin. Why the thick skin? Because that thick skin will ensure that whatever it is that we are taking shelter of, that never becomes a competitor to Krishna’s shelter.
So, even the devotee association that we have, even the love that we get from devotees, that love from devotees is meant to remind us of Krishna’s love, is meant to point us towards Krishna’s love and is meant to help us take shelter of Krishna’s love. And so, what we need to do is that sometimes even in devotee association there is turbulence. We may have two options.
One is that, you know, devotees are like this. What is this Krishna bhakti process? It doesn’t work. And we may just give up the process of bhakti.
You know, so, we may give up. But the other understanding is when in devotee association we experience turbulence. You understand that? Actually, Krishna is drawing me closer.
Krishna is forcing me to take exclusive shelter of him. And that way, when we take it with that attitude, then we will experience Krishna’s shelter. And no matter how difficult things are, actually Krishna is there with us.
And when we realise that, you know, then the same trouble in devotee association which could have pushed us away from Krishna can pull us closer to Krishna. It is said that, you know, when we are down to nothing, Krishna is up to something. So, whatever it is that we take a shelter of, it’s all going away.
We are down to nothing. What is happening in my life? So, Krishna is up to something. Something special is happening in our life.
You know, there is a famous verse from Prabhupada, I like it very much. He said that, when I show special mercy on someone, I take away everything from them. And then that devotee has nothing except me left.
So, now of course this is Krishna’s special mercy. And now sometimes we say, Krishna, be merciful, but don’t be specially merciful. Give mercy, but give mercy in manageable doses, you know.
Don’t give too much mercy. But the thing is that, it’s not that such situations will come everyday in our life. But sometimes such situations come, at that time, rather than thinking that, Oh, Krishna doesn’t care for me.
Krishna doesn’t love me. Krishna’s devotees are so unloving. We can see that actually this Krishna consciousness process is working.
And Krishna is drawing us closer and closer to Him. So, the 8th chapter talks about always remembering Krishna, remembering Krishna at the time of death. The whole idea is that remembrance of Krishna is, remembering Krishna always doesn’t mean that we have to become like schizophrenics, isn’t it? Schizophrenics are people who think of two realities.
Thinking of one thing and another thing. What does it mean? Krishna says, you remember me and fight. So, how do I do that? Remember Krishna and fight.
So, actually what it means is that, is it that say, Arjuna was shooting arrows in the Kurukshetra war. So, was he shooting arrows? What was he doing? Was he thinking of Krishna? Maybe he was imagining some picture of Krishna on top. Of course, Krishna was right in front of him.
See, when we talk about, Vishwanath Chakratakur explains, what does remembering Krishna mean? Vishwanath Chakratakur is a prominent Vaishnavacharya, written a commentary on the Gita. Very beautiful commentary. So, he says that this remembrance, this recollection, constant, I am putting in my words, constant recollection is the fruit of deep affection.
Just like say, somebody is, say a person is working in a job and the job makes them stay away from their family. So, now they may be at their job and they may be dealing with this customer, you know, getting this contract, making this sale. Externally they are doing a lot of things.
But internally, they are thinking, I am doing this for my family. So, that recollection is there at the back of the mind. I am doing this for my family.
I do this so that my children get good education, they grow up, they have facilities, I have a good home. I am doing all this for my family. So, that recollection of the family, it’s not that they are constantly talking about the family with their customers.
Their customers will be talking whatever is required for making their deal. But affection is there and because of that, there is a recollection. Similarly, just as there is a family people, constantly think about their family even when they are away from their family.
Similarly, a devotee thinks of Krishna even when the devotee is not externally close to Krishna. A devotee may be externally engaging in this world, but a devotee is thinking of Krishna. Ma manu smara vintyaja.
So, at this stage, we may not have that much affection for Krishna. So, what we need to do is just keep, we need to make sure that we practise sadhana bhakti diligently. I’ll talk about this sadhana bhakti concept more a little later in our tomorrow’s class.
What it means to express our love for Krishna. At this point I have focused on understanding Krishna’s love for us. So, now in the ninth chapter, the eighth chapter, Krishna talks about how to remember him at the time of death.
And there are many different ways in which one can cultivate higher remembrance. But the best is just don’t worry, just practise bhakti. Just practise bhakti and try to remember.
And if you practise bhakti, then what will happen? Remembrance will come naturally. There is a famous pastime and Ramanujacharya, he reads this verse. And then he says, what if I die suddenly? What if at the moment of death I am not able to remember Krishna? So, then he asks his guru Kanchipurna.
And Kanchipurna asks his worshipper Lord Varadaraj. And Varadaraj comes in a dream and tells him that if my devotee is not able to remember me at the time of death. Krishna says, I will remember my devotee.
I will remember my devotee and I will manifest before that devotee. I will manifest in the heart of that devotee and give the devotee my remembrance. So, we don’t have to worry about the moment of death.
We can just focus on right now practising bhakti. In the 9th chapter, Krishna talks further about the glory of the process of bhakti. So, 7th chapter and 9th chapter are similar but the same concept Krishna goes deeper.
The knowledge of his relationship with the material world, Krishna gives in a deeper level in the 9th chapter. And in 9th chapter, he talks about the glory or talks about how attractive he is, how merciful he is in many different ways. He says, he gives eternal results.
Worshipping him is very simple. Even those who are sinful, they can also worship him. And even those who are no more, they can also worship him.
So, everybody can worship him and everybody can come to him. Krishna says, you can just offer me a fruit, a flower, a leaf, a little water and I will accept it. So, Krishna is telling over here that our material position, our material resources or the absence of material resources is no disqualification for bhakti.
Even if we have nothing, we just offer him a little flower, a little fruit, a little water. We can always offer him. The Acharya has explained that Krishna is so merciful that Krishna is not even using plural.
He is using singular. He is not saying patrani, pushpani, phalani. He is saying patram, pushpam, phalam.
Just one flower, just one fruit, one leaf. Even if that much one offers, Krishna says, I will accept it. I will accept it.
So, Krishna makes access to him extremely easy. And in every scripture, Krishna emphasises, you know, he emphasises the universality of bhakti. He says some people are considered low born.
There are Shudras, there are Vaishyas, they are considered low born. But Krishna says that even they, if they practise bhakti, they can attain it. So, Krishna tells that he is and access to him is universal.
It’s democratic. Nobody is disqualified. Some people may be materially considered disqualified in some ways.
Their low birth may not let them practise some brahminical rituals. But as far as bhakti is concerned, anybody can practise it. And everybody can come to him.
So, Krishna opens the doors of devotion to everyone. Now, interestingly, Krishna says, samoham sarvabhuteshu na me dvesho sthinapriya ye bhajanti tu mam bhaktya maite teshu chaapyam So, he says in 7.29 that I am equal to everyone. I don’t envy anyone.
I am not partial to anyone. But if somebody devotes themselves to me, then Krishna says we become intimately united. He says, in fact, I am in them and they are in me.
Now, this raises the question, is Krishna partial or is Krishna impartial? Krishna is saying I am impartial. But then he says for the devotees who are in me, I am in them. So, is Krishna partial or Krishna impartial? Actually, Krishna is impartially partial.
What that means is, Krishna is partial to his devotees. He has somebody loves him. He specially offers love to them.
But then Krishna keeps the doors of devotion open to everyone. He is partial but he doesn’t arbitrarily decide whom he will be partial to. So, these are devotees, I am partial to them.
But you can also become a devotee. So, in that sense, he is impartially partial. He is partial but in offering his love to some people, he allows everyone to become like that.
So, he is impartial. You know, there is a difference between… Krishna is, when he says partial, actually the word partial often has a negativity associated with it. You know, it’s like biassed.
But when Krishna uses the word partial, it is not so much partial in terms of biassed. It’s more partial in terms of reciprocal. Now, love, love can be one way.
But a loving relationship always has to be two way. We can love someone. But if they don’t love us back, then how much of a relationship can we have with them? A loving relationship has to be two way.
So, you know, if a person were totally neutral, a complete, you know, somebody goes and criticises them and they just stone like neutrality. Somebody goes and praises them, stone like neutrality. Somebody goes and hugs them, stone like neutrality.
Somebody goes and slaps them, stone like neutrality. Well, you know, you are a very stoic person. But how much would we feel love for the person? Or how could we ever know if, you know, even if we love them, whether they love us or not? You know, neutrality can be ideal in situations where there is possibility for bias.
You know, an umpire should be neutral. There is a cricket match going on. An umpire should be neutral.
Umpire should not be biassed towards a particular team. But when we want to love someone, we want to see some reciprocation of that. So Krishna in that sense is not partial.
He is reciprocal. Krishna does not discriminate. He reciprocates.
If we offer our love to him, he offers his love more to us. He loves everyone. But we start experiencing his love more when we start directing our love towards him.
And this way we all can relish his love. Krishna says, I offer my love to everyone. And 10th chapter, he begins by telling, param bhūyaḥ pravakṣāmi jñānānāṁ jñānam attamam bhūya eva mahābhāho śrūme paramam vachah yatteham priyamāṇāya vakṣāmi hitakāmyayā So he says, I am speaking these words to you again.
Why? Because I love you. Hitakāmyayā, for your benefit I speak these words. In the 10th chapter, it’s vibhūti yoga.
Vibhūti yoga means, okay, somebody can’t think of Krishna always and what can they do? Krishna says, in this material world, what is attractive? You think of it and by thinking of it, you think of me. I’ll talk about the principle of bhakti and our practising of bhakti a little later in tomorrow’s class. But the whole 10th chapter tells how Krishna pervades everything.
The 11th chapter is actually the most dramatic chapter. Action packed. It’s filled with action.
Arjuna tells Krishna, can you please show your universal form? And actually the dramatic frame of the Vishwaroopa is very interesting. From verses 4 to 8, Krishna tells Arjuna that I will reveal you the universal form and he describes what he is going to see. Then from verses 9 to 13, Sanjay describes the universal form and he says what he sees.
And from verses 14 to 31, Arjuna describes what he sees. The same universal form is described from three perspectives. So, the first is like an orientation.
Suppose if there is a drama happening, then maybe some MC or whoever, what this drama is about. So like that, sometimes if you are going to see something very special, something which we can’t immediately make sense of, then they tell what is this about. It becomes easier to make sense of.
So like that in three times, what the universal form is about, that is described. Now, initially when Arjuna sees the universal form, he is depressed. Pashyami Vishveshwara Vishwaroopa.
He says, oh, I am seeing the Vishwaroopa. He says, Ananda Bahudhara Vaktra Netram. He says, so many faces, there are so many mouths, so many heads.
It’s amazing. Aashcharya. That is the emotion.
Aashcharya. Amazement. But then, what happens after that? Within this astonishing universal form, he starts seeing something very fearful.
Bhayena cha pravetitam mano me. He says, my mind is becoming filled with fear. What does he see in that universal form? He says, Vaktranite Dwaramana Vishanti.
That into your mouth is going in. Who are all going in? Actually, Dharatrashtra’s son and all the sons of Dhritarashtra are going in. And not only their warriors, our warriors are also going in.
And he sees this, he becomes bewildered. What is happening over here? How is everyone going inside? And then, it suddenly becomes very scary for him. And then he asks the question, aakhya hi meko bhavanugra roopo.
He says, who are you, O Lord? Who are you? Now, you know, actually, it is Krishna who has shown the Vishwaroopa. Arjuna only asked, show me the Vishwaroopa. And Arjuna has also identified your Vishnu.
You know, Vishnu, you identify the Vishnu. And still, why is he asking, who are you? So, you know, what this means, who are you? It actually means, say, suppose we know someone. And then suddenly, that person starts exhibiting a feature that we have no idea about.
So, say, we know someone, we think we know them, we are closely related with them. And suddenly, one day, we find they start speaking French. Who are you really? How do you know French? You know, when we see something unknown within the known, that takes us aback.
So, like that, now Arjuna knows the Vishwaroopa. The Vishwaroopa, you know, the whole universe, the hands and legs, the form is there. But suddenly, within that, he sees such a destructive thing.
He says, who are you? And then Krishna answers, who are you? He says, Kaalospilokakshakravrddho lokansamahartumihapravrddha He says, time I am the destroyer of all the worlds. So, actually, Krishna has shown the Vishwaroopa many times before. He has shown to Duryodhana also earlier.
But what, within the Vishwaroopa, first time, Krishna shows the Kaalaroopa. Kaalaroopa is the destructive form, you see. And so, Krishna, when Arjuna had asked, Arjuna had expected to see the Vishwaroopa.
The Vishwaroopa is fearsome, is huge. But the Vishwaroopa is not that destructive. So, when he sees the destructive Kaalaroopa, he is asking, what is this? And Krishna understands this question.
And therefore, he doesn’t say, I am the Vishwaroopa. He says, I am Kaal. And then, Krishna tells Arjuna.
Arjuna starts, Arjuna’s whole mood changes. Actually, his description, he becomes fearful. He says, oh, please forgive me.
You are such a big person. I didn’t realise it. He says, sometimes I teased you.
Sometimes I made fun of you. So, he says, Krishna, I thought of you as an ordinary person. Please forgive me.
I understand you are extraordinary. I spoke out of affection or I spoke out of madness. Please forgive me.
Please forgive me. Now, when he says this, he tells Krishna, Krishna, I don’t want to see this universal form. Please come back to your normal form.
And Krishna teases Arjuna, Arjuna, this form is so special. Nobody has seen this form. This is so rare.
Even by study of Vedas, you can’t see it. No, no, enough, enough. I don’t want to see it anymore.
What happens is, the universal form, initially he says it’s very destructive. There is a fire of destruction coming out of the mouth. But then he starts saying, the fire of destruction is destroying the warriors on that very battlefield.
That becomes very scary. So, it’s like, suppose, you know, we are surfing, we are watching TV and there are surfing channels. And then, on one channel, say, there is a horror movie going on.
There is something, some action, interesting action is going on. And suddenly a horror movie comes up. And then we are watching that horror movie.
And just as it starts becoming very horrifying, and then we find that, okay, that character in the horror movie, maybe there is a monster who is destroying big, big buildings. And then suddenly you find that he is destroying your own house. The very house we are sitting in is getting destroyed.
We just get scared. What is happening? And then you try to change the channel and the remote freezes. You can’t change it.
Hey, what is happening? So, for Arjuna it is like that. He just asks for room. He says, call a room and the room is destroyed, everything.
Arjuna says, oh, I don’t want to see this. Enough, enough. And Krishna says, oh Arjuna, He says, oh Arjuna, no need to be deluded.
I will show you my Saumya Rupa. I initially show you the Ugra Rupa. Ugra is a fearsome form.
Saumya Rupa is my gentle form. And then, in this gentle form, Krishna sees that, Arjuna sees that, Arjuna becomes calm down, calm down. And Krishna tells Arjuna that, now this universal form, by this universal form, the arrangement, actually your enemies are destroyed.
Just fight and be an instrument for attaining your goal. tasmātma-uktiṣṭeṣho labhasva kittvā śatruṁ bhuṁśvarāgyaṁ samyakti yai vai te nityāpuraṁ eva nitya-mātraṁ vāsaṁ sārjuna He says, because my arrangement, your enemies are destroyed, just surrender. Just become my instrument.
So, now we are not fighting physical battles against opponents. Now, in our bhakti, there are opponents inside us. There is lust, there is anger, there is greed, there is selfishness, there is ego.
Sometimes these enemies may seem too overwhelming. You can remember this verse, 11.33. Krishna says, by my arrangement, all your enemies are destroyed. You just become an instrument in the fight.
So, if we just keep chanting Hare Krishna, keep practising bhakti, now each mantra that we are chanting, we are invoking Krishna’s presence. Each mantra that we are chanting, it is like hitting at the anarthas in our heart. And those anarthas are becoming weaker and weaker and weaker.
And we are going closer and closer to Krishna. So, the manifestation of the universal form is to reinforce Arjuna’s conviction that, you know, that omnipotent God is with you. Just fight.
Don’t hesitate. Don’t be fearful. And that same vision can also give us confidence that Krishna is with us.
Krishna is within us and Krishna is with us. And if we just diligently practise bhakti, then Krishna will help us overcome whatever obstacles may be in our way. And as Bhagavad Gita last verse concludes, Krishna telling Arjuna, 11.55, the second section, last verse concludes, just work for me.
Just become devoted to me. Don’t think about your enemies, think about me. Don’t have animosity towards your enemies.
Have attraction for me. And in this way if you work for Arjuna, you will attain. Same way, without bothering too much about this world, just focus on serving Krishna.
Sometimes people will be favourable, sometimes people will be unfavourable. Sometimes people will praise us, sometimes people will criticise us. Just keep serving Krishna.
And by that, we will attain him. So, I’ll summarise what I spoke today. I spoke from chapter 6 to chapter 12.
And I just focused on themes. We talked yesterday about how self-knowledge is the basis of love. And God-knowledge is the fuel for love.
What is it that inspires us to love Krishna? If I had to go to New York, before telling you how to go to New York, I should know why to go to New York. So, why should I love Krishna? Because he is so attractive. The first six chapters of the Bhagavad Gita just give us some glimpses of Krishna.
2.61, 3.30, 4.35, 5.29, these talk about some glimpses of Krishna as supreme. The focus on Krishna comes from the 7th chapter. The 6th chapter is like a transition from Karma Yoga through Ashtanga Yoga to Bhakti Yoga.
Krishna talks about from starting to perfection, from starting to perfection. And he says, to renounce the world, we should have some level of control in the mind. And perfection ultimately is to become attached to it.
So, from Karma Yoga through Ashtanga Yoga to Bhakti Yoga. Then Krishna says, actually, by Bhakti Yoga itself, we can directly rise to the level of attachment to it. And for that, we need to understand Vasudeva Sarnathi.
Krishna is everything. And whatever is attractive in this world, its attractiveness reflects a spark of Krishna’s splendour. Radha, Gopinath, Bhagwan, Akita.
With that understanding, rather than seeing the objects of this world as attractive and competitors to Krishna, we see them as pointers to Krishna. And Krishna says, remember me at the time of death. That is not just utterance.
It is a deep taking shelter of Krishna because we have experienced a shelter in our life before death. And that’s why when everything seems to be taken away from us, when we are brought down to nothing, then God is up to something. Krishna, there are many things which may give a shelter of Krishna.
Like devotees may give a shelter of Krishna. But sometimes we may not get the support from devotees. Just like Draupadi was normally cherished by her husbands.
At a particular time, they couldn’t protect her. That time she had to take direct shelter of Krishna. Focus shelter of Krishna.
So like that, sometimes Krishna may give us shelter through certain things, through our abilities, through our association, through our resources. And when Krishna takes away those very abilities, resources or association, it’s not that Krishna is rejecting us. Krishna is just ensuring that those things don’t become independent shelters.
That we seek shelter of him directly. And as we discussed how Krishna is so thirsty for devotion that even if some people offer meticulously motivated devotion, he considers them Udaara, charitable. And his love for us is not based on how good we are.
It’s based on how good he is. He will always love us. But if we are too meticulously attached, then we look for his love through the filter of our attachments and then we can’t see his love.
Just like a child attached to a toy, can’t see the parent’s love. So when we see from the perspective of our eternity, the problems which seem very big for us, they will seem small. And we won’t get so worked up about them.
We won’t let them interfere with our practise of bhakti. And then the 9th and 10th chapters, Krishna talks about how universal, simple worshipping him is. And how he is present everywhere in this world.
We can remember him through the attractive objects in this world. 11th chapter is a visual demonstration of what has been a verbal exposition till then. That what has been and that Krishna’s own universal form.
So the unfamiliar and the familiar ask Arjuna’s question, who are you? So we have seen the Vishwa Rupa, but here first time the Kala Rupa is revealed. And then the 11th chapter concludes by telling Arjuna that this omnipotent, fearsome manifestation of God is with you. Just do your work and you will overcome your enemies.
Thank you very much. Hare Krishna. Are there any questions or comments? Yes, come to me.
So Bhishma, although he took shelter of the Kauravas, he fought on their side, he didn’t protect Draupadi. Still, Krishna gave him his shelter at the moment of death. How is that? Actually, the Mahabharata is a very deep scripture and it can be understood at various levels.
So Bhishma, it can be understood at the level of karmakanda, mundane religiosity. And it can be understood at the level of bhakti. So Bhishma sometimes speaks at the level of mundane religiosity.
And he says that actually I am bound by the Kauravas’ wealth. So I have to fight on their side. But that is only an external reason.
The internal reason was that actually Krishna wanted to demonstrate that two things. In the Draupadi pastime, Krishna wanted to demonstrate that ultimately in this world we have no shelter except Krishna. So Draupadi had that assembly where her five husbands were present, where venerable elders like Bhishma were present.
So that should have been assembly where she should have felt most protected. But that’s where she was about to be violated. So Krishna had everyone in that pastime orchestrated by his plan.
So that they all acted in a way by which it was demonstrated that we have no shelter except Krishna. That is from the transcendental perspective. From the practical, from the material of the karmakanda perspective, we can say that actually Bhishma got caught in Niyamagraha at that time.
Niyamagraha is sticking to the letter of the law while forgetting the purpose of the law. So what happened is he couldn’t answer the question that Draupadi, a wife belongs to the husband. If the husband has gambled himself and he is not his own master then he is his wife’s master.
Can he gamble her if he is not his own master? So that question Draupadi raises and Bhishma says I don’t know. She says a wife belongs to the husband, wife will be protected by the husband. But if the husband is not his own master then does the wife still under his shelter or not? He says I am confused, I don’t know.
Now yes, technically it might be a difficult question to answer. But ultimately when it is said that a wife belongs to the husband, the point of whatever rule it was, it was for protection. So a woman was being violated in public and there is no reason to get caught in technicalities over it.
It was atrocious act to be done. So now Krishna did not forget Bhishma’s devotion because he made a mistake. At the same time Krishna did not forget his mistake because he was a devotee.
Both are there. So because he had committed a mistake, because he had chosen to fight on the side of the Kauravas, Krishna was determined Arjuna, he arranged to kill him. So that as a, you could say not literally a karmic reaction but as a reaction for what he did for his failure to protect Draupadi, for his siding with the Kauravas, he got the reaction and he was killed in the war.
But throughout his life, you know, that time it was, we could say, from the transcendental perspective, it was an orchestration by Krishna. From the material perspective, from the karmakanda perspective, we could say it was a weak moment. The moment when he got caught in the letter of the law, vimagraha.
But either way, Krishna did not let that mistake blind him to the life of dharma, life of bhakti that Bhishma had. Bhishma was a devotee. And similarly, his fighting from the Kauravas’ side at the time of death, I am sorry, in the Kurukshetra war, that from an external perspective was, he fought because he had taken their salt as it is said, lived on their money.
Actually, the deeper reason is Krishna wanted to demonstrate that anybody who goes against dharma, that person, no matter how powerful they may be, they will be defeated. So by having Bhishma’s fight on the side of the Kauravas and then having Bhishma defeated, Krishna demonstrated dharma will be successful no matter how powerful people, how powerful the people who oppose dharma. And Bhishma accepted that service.
He knew he would be misunderstood. But Krishna inspired him to do that service and he accepted that service. If Krishna had been angry with Bhishma for having fought with the Pandavas, then as you rightly said, why would Krishna have gone to him at the time of death? And not only Krishna was there at the time of death, but Krishna also heard from him.
Krishna had heard from him. Why? Because Krishna wanted to demonstrate that the lifetime of service that Bhishma had done, that should not be overlooked just because he had made a mistake. So he had a vast amount of learning and sometimes we all, you know, face weak moments in our life.
If some temptation catches us in the weak moment, if some, normally we may be very gentle and kind to others. But sometimes we may be under some stress and then somebody comes and asks us something. We just blast out at that person.
You know, if that person holds it lifelong against us, you know, you are so harsh. Look at how they have lived for the rest of their life. So Krishna wanted to demonstrate throughout his life, Bhishma had lived a wonderful life as a dharmic person.
So Krishna rewarded him at the time of death. So both levels we can understand. At the karmakanda level, at the bhakti level.
At the bhakti level, it’s orchestration of Krishna’s. Whatever Bhishma did, that was simply by Krishna’s will to demonstrate some lesson that Krishna wanted to teach. And even if we see at the karmakanda level, and also we see that Krishna, for the wrong that he did, the reaction came.
But for the right he did, that also was rewarded. Does that answer your question? Thank you. Yes ma’am.
Within the society of Bhishma, you know, if we are criticised by someone, and the way we should deal with that. But many times in dealing with that topic or that question, we always talk about how the person being criticised should handle it. But I wanted to ask, you know, let us look at it the reverse of that.
The person who is criticised within the society. Can we talk a little bit about how that person should deal with that? How they should not criticise? Or what? How they should give criticism in a proper way? The person who is criticised. Yeah.
So, whenever there is criticism, we always talk about how we should see criticism positively or be humble. But what about those who give criticism? Yes. I have a three-part seminar on cultivating a non-judgemental attitude.
Now what happens is that somehow after we become devotees, we think that we know what is right and therefore we think we have a right and responsibility to criticise. I know what is right and that is wrong. And therefore, I have to point it out.
And we think it’s my right to criticise, it’s my responsibility to criticise. Now, you know, there is a major misunderstanding in this. Yes, if we know the right, we have a responsibility to tell what is right.
Now, here all along, first of all, we are assuming that we are right. Isn’t it? Sometimes it may well be that we are criticising someone because we are misunderstanding what they are doing. So, it is always good to give other person the benefit of the doubt.
So, if I am criticising, if I feel this person is doing like this, why are they doing like this? Now, at that time, it is, what happens is, based on our perception of a person, our opinion of a person, we ascribe certain intentions to their actions. That means if I don’t like someone, I see them eating a lot. Such a sense gratifier, such a glutton.
If I like someone, I see them eating a lot. Must have been hungry. So, the action is the same, eating a lot.
But, based on our opinion, there is an entirely different attribution. So, what happens? We may see some devotee doing something and we may criticise them. Why are they doing like this? But, when you are doing something, do we really know why they are doing like that? Sometimes, they may have a completely different take on things which we are not aware of.
So, it is always good to give people the benefit of doubt. Instead of criticising them, first seek clarification. Once I was in Radha Gopinath temple.
I had come after the festival. There was a feast. So, I came down to the mall for prasad.
After that I was talking with some people. And by the time I came down, I saw that the sweet was over. So, I was feeling a little bad.
I will not get any sweet. I was sitting down for prasad and then I saw one senior devotee sitting on the opposite side. And in his plate, I could see his sweet was there.
His sweet had been finished. And then he was asking everyone, do you have sweet? Do you have sweet? I was thinking, what is it? You already had one, isn’t it? Normally, we have sweet in limited quantities. And the devotees were telling, no, there is no sweet available.
And one server said, there is no sweet. The second server said, do you have some sweet? Do you have some sweet? He was asking everyone. I was feeling such an embarrassing thing.
And then finally, one of the servers, they had made their own plate. And they brought sweet from their plate to give to me. I thought, this is so shameless.
You already had one helping and you are taking somebody else’s helping. And as that server was about to serve sweet in his plate, he told, no, not for me, for him. And he pointed to me.
So, he was asking for sweet for me. But I was thinking he was asking for second helping for himself. So, you know, when we see an action, when we see somebody asking for sweet, we see the action and we think, they want it for themselves.
But they may be wanting it for someone else entirely. So, first thing is, even when we see somebody doing an action which seems odd, which seems objectionable, rather than immediately ascribing some wrong intention to it, it is best to give the benefit of doubt. And, you know, the difference between a judgemental devotee and a non-judgemental devotee is that a judgemental devotee talks about others.
A non-judgemental devotee talks to others. You know, talks about others, you know, she did like that, you know, she did like that. We tell the whole world what they did.
They talk about others. But a non-judgemental devotee talks to others. You know, I saw this, I couldn’t understand what was happening.
Can you please explain? Just go and clarify. So, then quite often we may find an explanation which is very different. And the whole need for criticism will go away.
So, whenever we feel the urge to criticise, first thing is, give the person the benefit of doubt and seek clarification. And that itself will avoid most of the criticism. Second is, now we come to the level that that person is wrong and we know they are wrong and we, again if we are wrong, we have to check whether it is our responsibility to correct.
So, I will talk about when it is not our responsibility. But suppose, assume it is our responsibility. Now we are in a position of authority and then we have to correct.
So, even then we have to know that there are two things. There is knowing what is the right thing to do. And second is feeling inspired to do the right thing.
When we are correcting others, often we simply give the knowledge of what is the right thing to do. But when that knowledge comes off as a criticism, sounds as a judgemental thing, then they may further become discouraged. And they may just not feel like doing it.
So, when we are meant to, if we are to help others, we are meant to not only give the knowledge of what is the right thing, pointing out the wrong thing, but also to give them the encouragement and inspiration to do the right thing. There is a survey done at Wisconsin University in America. There is a group of writing students.
There is a group of boys who thought that we all want to become good writers. So, whatever we write, we will review and we will all point the faults in what we have written. And by that we will all improve.
Then there was a group of girls. They said, you know, we will do opposite of what the boys have done. They said, whatever we write, we will all point the good in what we have written.
And then the researchers followed them after 10 years. And they found that this group of boys, not one of them had become a published author. And several of them, even writing a serious letter, that would make them break sweat.
They will always be fearful. On the other hand, among the girls, three of them had become published authors. And all the other girls, they were known among their friend circle as good writers.
So, what happened? One was, they got feedback. But the feedback was discouraging. And they just lost the desire to write.
They just got so much fear of writing. Oh, I write something, it may be wrong. Better not write it.
On the other hand, the girls got encouragement and they became good writers. So, the point is, both did the same thing, in a sense. Both wanted to improve their writing.
But one focused on the right, the other focused on the wrong. So, Krishna says in the Bhagavad Gita 16th chapter, that the godly people, the divine nature, their characteristic is apaishunam. Apaishunam means aversion to fault-finding.
That they don’t like to find faults. They like to see the good in others. On the other hand, he says about the demoniac, what is their characteristic? Parushyam.
They like to speak harshly. They like to find faults in others. In fact, shatol naiskriton naiskriti govalasah.
There are some people who think that their cleverness is seen in their expertise in insulting others. Now, I offer such a clever insult to that person. I offer such a clever insult to that person.
So, they think I am so clever. But what is the result of that? People become discouraged. And especially if our boss in office criticises us, we will tolerate it.
Because we need the job. But bhakti is a voluntary activity. If we criticise others, then we just give up the practise of bhakti.
So, when it is voluntary, we have to be all the more careful. So, when criticism is to be given, we have to not only point out the fault, but point out the fault in a way that encourages people to do the right thing. So, often, as I said, we can use the sandwich formula.
Sandwich formula means, you know that, first appreciate the person, then point out a room for correction, then again appreciate the person. So, basically, what should happen is, when there is criticism, the person should not feel rejected. If the person feels valued and accepted, and then say, okay, this what you did was wrong, you can improve this.
So, if our normal mode of interaction is others of criticism, whenever we see someone, you are doing this wrong, you are doing this wrong, you are doing this wrong, then people become very discouraged. So, and if it is not our, if we are not in the position of authority to criticise others, then better don’t speak anything. There are many things wrong in this world.
Similarly, there are many things wrong in Krishna’s movement also. This is, Krishna’s movement is like a hospital. In a hospital, different people have different sicknesses.
Now, when we go to a hospital, we are not going to see who has got what sickness. We are going there to cure our sickness. Similarly, we don’t have to go in the devotee communities to see who is doing what wrong things.
Yes, there are wrong things going on. Because we are all sick people. We have to focus on doing whether we are doing the right thing.
Now, sometimes some people may be doing something wrong, which just agitates our mind too much. Somebody may be doing something which is disturbing us too much. Then maybe we can politely tell that devotee or we can tell that senior, no, this is troubling me.
And then we can get a proper understanding of that. But in general, we shouldn’t think that if I have no relationship with that person, then, if I am not in a position of authority, then to give correction, it may just alienate the person. Krishna says, in austerity of speech, the first is anudvega karanvaka.
Speak in a way that does not agitate people’s minds. So, I would say that the only time when we can say that we are advanced enough to criticise others is when we get no pleasure in doing so. Sometimes, you know, I caught you.
I caught you doing wrong now. You think this is a great person? I will show you how foolish you are. We may not be so graphic, but basically we get some pleasure in pointing out others’ faults.
And then if we are getting pleasure in pointing out others’ faults, then that means it’s our ego in action. And what happens? When the words come from our ego, they activate the other person’s ego. When the words come from our heart, they reach their heart.
So, if we are motivated by genuine concern for their well-being, then we will choose the appropriate words, the appropriate tone, the appropriate forum. Usually, we never criticise in public. In private, one-to-one.
It is a praise in public, criticise in private. So, like that, we will do the appropriate things by which we will touch their heart and inspire them to correct. So, yes, it is a very important responsibility that we speak sensitively.
We speak sensitively. Otherwise, we can terribly hurt people. And then they become discouraged, they go away from Krishna.
Then what have we done? We may have made a point. Oh, I proved that they were wrong and I was right. But what does it serve? Ultimately, our service to Krishna, our relationship with Krishna is not just dependent on how we are relating with him on the altar.
It is also dependent on how we are relating with others based on their relationship with Krishna. So, if our interactions with devotees are discouraging devotees, then that is going to hurt our relationship with Krishna also. And if we take the time, the thought, the sensitivity and speak properly to devotees, then that is going to positively affect our relationship with Krishna.
Krishna will be pleased. So, it is a strong temptation in Kali Yuga, both ways. First is that in Kali Yuga there are so many faults.
Everybody has faults. So, in that sense, to find faults and speak faults is so easy to do it. So, externally there are many faults and internally also we have a qualifying tendency.
Because of that the force can become very strong. At that time we can check that force by remembering that whether my speaking this is serving the purpose. Now, often we have some standards and those standards need to be maintained.
But standards can also be maintained in a way that we don’t hurt people. There are, okay, we have to do deity worship in a particular way. Somebody is doing it in the wrong way.
We need to correct that person. It doesn’t mean that we don’t correct. But we correct in a way that people feel encouraged, not feel rejected or discouraged.
So, offering criticism is a very subtle skill. And those who are offering that criticism, they have to do it in a very mature, sensitive, well thought out way. Otherwise, we can just break people’s hearts.
And then we actually commit violence to people. Because we hurt their, we damage their spiritual prospects. So, we think not just in terms of, you know, this is right, this is wrong.
And I have to point it out. I have to think that whether pointing this out is going to help this person come closer to Krishna. Whether I have the adhikar, whether I have the relationship, whether I have the position by which I can help this person come closer to Krishna.
Prabhupada had been fault finding when he came to America. The hippies, their only regulative principle was to break all regulative principles. So, you know, if Prabhupada had been finding faults, he would not have been able to attract anyone.
All the faults were there, but Prabhupada saw the good in them. He saw that they have a small spark of devotion. Prabhupada focused on that, fanned that.
And that’s how he was able to attract so many people. So, we also should try to follow in his footsteps and answer Krishna. Any other questions? So, why is Krishna thirsty for our love? He has so many goddesses of fortune who love him so much.
And our love is also contaminated because we do so many things which displease him. Yes, that is because for Krishna every soul is special. Krishna, he has unlimited devotees, but he has also unlimited capacity for love.
And that is the difference between Krishna and any other object. Sometimes say in this world or at movies they have a love triangle. They say two boys love the same girl.
And then that girl has to choose. If she chooses one boy, then she is no longer loving for the other boy. So, the lovers in this world are finite.
Krishna is infinite. So, Krishna can be in your heart fully available to you. And Krishna can still be in my heart and be fully available to me.
That’s what the Rasila demonstrates. Krishna was with each Gopi. And each Gopi felt as if Krishna is only with me.
So, like that, In the Venkateshwar Prabhatam it is said that there are hundreds and thousands of Gopis who came when Krishna played his flute on hearing his flute song. And Krishna expanded himself in such a way that he was there with every single Gopi. And he made every single Gopi feel loved, cherished, treasured.
And he says, such a lord. Who else can I want? I don’t know any lord other than such a wonderful lord. So, like that, Krishna has unlimited exalted devotees.
But Krishna has a personal relationship with each one of us. And he wants that relationship to develop. So, he wants the love of each one of us.
There is, when he says Krishna is thirsty for love, it is not thirst in the sense of incompleteness. It is thirst, see, it’s like somebody may want to form a relationship because they are incomplete. They feel, without someone else I am incomplete.
And I want to become complete. But somebody else, when Krishna, when he wants a relationship, it is not because he is incomplete. It is not because he wants to remove his incompleteness.
Rather it is because he wants to share his completeness. Share his completeness. He is anandapurna, he is full of happiness.
And he shares that happiness with others. So, Krishna is eager, Prabhupada writes in the Bhagavad Gita, Krishna is more eager for us to come to him than we are to go to him. We can even imagine.
So, that is actually Krishna. So, his thirst for our love is because he loves each of us individually. And it is not that many other devotees can substitute in our place for him because each of us has an individual unique relationship with him.
Is that the question? Yes. Questioner asks a question inaudible You are my teacher. You are my teacher and I am learning from you.
Questioner asks a question inaudible Questioner asks a question inaudible Just for my understanding, is this a comment or is this a question? Just for me to understand, is this a comment or is this a question? Questioner asks a question inaudible Any other questions? So, tomorrow we will conclude with talking about how this word is an instrument from where we can offer our love towards Krishna. Thank you very much. Questioner asks a question inaudible