Gita 13.29 See beyond people’s particular actions to Krishna’s universal positive intention

Transcript

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thank you Bhagavad Gita 13.29 Krishna is continuing the description of how those who are in knowledge see things and he is saying that they see everything and everyone equally samampashyan isarvatra samavasthitam eshvaram and they see it equally because they see that the supreme lord eshvara is equally situated in the hearts of all living beings samavasthitam eshvaram nahinasthya atmanaatmanam nahinasthi that one does not degrade oneself with the mind atmanaatmanam not degrade ourselves with the mind patoyatiparamgatin and thus one can attain the supreme destination so Krishna here talks about the relationship between vision direction destination and how all that is related with perception then with knowledge we can perceive that Krishna is in control of everything whenever people behave unreasonably it is through whenever people behave unreasonably we need to learn from them we need to learn through it all how best we can serve Krishna how best can we move closer to Krishna through the practice of bhakti and how no matter whatever may be happening we don’t have to let ourselves get negatively burdened but instead we can stay positively focused there is no doubt that actually we are all troubled troubled in various ways by life’s inevitable ups and downs by people’s unpredictable behaviors so how people function is something which we can’t control they are who they are and to a large extent they are going to do what they are going to do some people are irritable, some people are going to be critical some people are going to be helpful to us, some people are going to be hurtful to us this is just the way the world is it’s just we have environmental weather which is sometimes pleasant and sometimes unpleasant like that there is the social weather around us and that is comprised of people and their behaviors so some environmental weather is pleasing to us some is irritating to us some can outright be hurting for our health and well being so like that some people will be helpful and reliable some people will be outright antagonistic so we need to see that ultimately whatever whoever is doing it is Krishna acting through them it is Krishna who is enabling us to face our various situations in different ways he wants us to go through those situations by which there is something to learn, some way to grow whatever Krishna does is for our ultimate spiritual evolution and how specifically we evolve that may vary and that will vary according to time, place, circumstance how a particular stimulus will trigger us to evolve and how specifically what response will further our evolution these are flexible things but if we do not see that everything is under Krishna’s control then we start attributing independent actions to Krishna when that happens when we start attributing actions to Krishna that are not so attributed to people this person is like this, that person is like that Prahlad Maharaj says that actually we are all beings who are on the spiritual path and we all need to grow spiritually and the way we grow is through purification Prahlad Maharaj says that as long as we see that this person is my enemy and that person is my enemy what is happening is we are succumbing to our mind which is actually our enemy so rather than saying people’s behavior is inimical we need to focus on Krishna’s benevolence and see what is it that Krishna wants me to do in this situation how can I serve him in this situation of course if people are being malevolent we may have to respond appropriately sometimes just walk away from there sometimes tolerate sometimes counter but whatever it is that we do we keep a deeper vision with us that actually we learn to focus on the spiritual as fast as possible that beyond the surface material beyond this person and that person and their particular behaviors we see Krishna equally in control of all situations then we will actually attain the supreme destination in the Bhagavatam a similar mood is there in the famous verse from Brahma’s prayers that द्वागवपुर्भिर्विददम् नमस्ते जीवेतयो मुक्तिपदे सथायवाख that those who see पत्ते नुकंपाम् सुसमीक्षमानु they see the Anukampa of the Lord even in distressful situations they see his mercy and they feel that he by his mercy has decreased the sinful reactions that were due to me and thus they offer their obeisances to him with their body, mind and heart they are मुक्तिपदे सथायवाख they have proven their committedness their commitment to their relationship with Krishna by that commitment they are entitled to enter into the spiritual world to be with him eternally so thus at परामगतिम् which is Krishna’s abode we can progress towards that when we see that the Ishwara the Indwelling Supreme Lord is the controller and he is controlling all people, he is controlling all situations and thus we see all situations equally the previous verse talked about how that is we see all living beings including ourselves equally in the sense of seeing them as spiritual and as indestructible despite being indestructible bodies but this verse talks about how we can see the destructibility of the material realm also that yes the spiritual is indestructible but that does not mean that does not make the material irrelevant for us what happens at the material level also affects us because presently we are living in the material world so the ups and downs that happen at the material level with Krishna’s by seeing them as happening under Krishna’s controllership we can actually progress towards Krishna because the first level of security comes that no matter whatever happens in the material this world is not going to destroy me because I am eternal. A second level of security comes when we understand that whatever happens ultimately even at the material level it is orchestrated by Krishna he is still in control and he is orchestrating it for my good so by seeing this we don’t give our mind a license to catastrophize things we see things in the light of their ultimate purpose of facilitating our spiritual evolution and thus by that vision the direction of our consciousness of our mind doesn’t go towards impulsive reactions which are usually counterproductive but rather it goes towards thoughtful responses which further our progress towards the supreme destination, Krishna’s eternal abode