Gita 18.58 Devotion brings the inner morale to combat outer problems

Transcript

This is an AI-generated transcript and may contain some errors.
Hare Krishna Bhagavad Gita 18.58 This is one of the most directly Krishna conscious verses of the Bhagavad Gita What does that mean? Krishna consciousness is the message of the Gita but somebody may ask this, this Krishna consciousness is like a modern phrase, where does it come from? So this verse, mat chittah, mat is Krishna Krishna is speaking in the Gita, chittah, chittah is consciousness mat chittah is conscious of him and Krishna says mat chittah sarva durgaani by this all obstacles, mat prasada tarshisi will cross over. So Prabhupada would sometimes say that Krishna consciousness is the solution to all problems This is not just a grandiose kind of statement this is rooted in scripture when Krishna is saying mat chittah sarva durgaani mat prasada tarshisi we could translate that very well as Krishna consciousness is the solution to all problems Now Krishna makes a statement over here that sarva durgaani durgaani means obstacles, so Krishna is not saying that by becoming conscious of me the obstacles will go away He is saying the obstacles will be there but those obstacles won’t stop us tarishisi tarishisi means to float over to rise and go over so tarantite taranti means, Krishna also talks about this same mood of floating over in 7.14 when he says they will float over, they will cross over so the obstacles will be there and when we feel that the obstacle is bigger than us then we are blocked by that obstacle but when we are conscious of Krishna then we are conscious of someone who is bigger than the biggest obstacles of life and by taking shelter of that person we can cross over the obstacle so Krishna consciousness is not like a magic formula by which all problems disappear rather it is a change of consciousness by which we become aware of our connection with something that is bigger than the biggest problem and thus we get the inner strength, the inner morale by our connection with Krishna to tolerate those problems and to transcend those problems and it is this vision that convinces Arjuna Arjuna had faced an enormous obstacle, the obstacle of his own affection to his loved ones especially his venerable elders those who had trained him, martially those who had trained him practically, Drona and Bhishma and that obstacle which had come from his affection based on bodily relationships that Bhagavad Gita told him to overcome by focusing on the affection coming from the spiritual understanding so Krishna’s message is that actually Krishna’s love for Arjuna is greater than Bhishma’s love or Drona’s love, so if he does not see Krishna’s love then he would seem like an ingrate Bhishma and Drona have done so much for him, how can he fight against them but when he sees that Krishna’s love is the supreme love and whatever love Bhishma and Drona are giving, they are also giving it it is Krishna’s love coming through them so when he sees this Krishna conception when he becomes Krishna conscious then the obstacle that came from the affection that he had for his elders, that was overcome by the much greater affection, greater attraction that he developed for the one who was the source of their affection and thus it is one thing to give up bad things for the service of Krishna but when good things become an obstacle in the service of Krishna then giving them up is a greater challenge and that challenge was what Arjuna overcame and that is the significance of the verse Krishna is not telling Arjuna He is saying even the good, even the dharma you have to give up to surrender to me and how does one do that by understanding that there is a higher dharma the highest dharma is devotion to the Lord Thank you very much, Hare Krishna