How hearing the Bhagavad-gita raised Sanjay’s standard of longing

[Combined Bhakti Vriksha class at Atlanta, USA]

Video:

Transcript

This is an AI-generated transcript and may contain some errors.
Thank you very much for coming today in the evening for this programme.
And I speak on the topic of… You want to keep it here? How long will you hold it? Somebody should make sure that it’s coming properly now. Is it? It’s okay? Let me see if somebody is… Now you can see that it’s coming properly. So I’ll speak today on the topic of increasing our standard of longing.
The whole world is concerned about increasing the standard of living. So there is war against poverty. We want to raise people to a higher level of living.
And that’s important. If somebody is in poverty and their basic needs are not being met. If society can be more compassionate and offer charity and help, that’s good.
At the same time, what we live for and what we live with are two different things. What we live with are the resources. What we live for are the purposes.
Just like if you’re driving a car, then the car needs fuel. That’s what we drive with. But what we drive for is our destination.
Where are we going to go? So for example, money, food, health, all these are what we live with. But what do you do with this? What do we live for? What is truly valuable in life that will contribute to a meaningful and satisfying life? We do need certain external resources in our lives and they are important to the extent we have them. At the same time, what is equally important is to recognise that our happiness is determined not so much by the things that we have as by the thoughts that we have.
We might be having some comfort, delicious food to eat, but if we are angry with someone, then we won’t taste that food at all. So our happiness is determined not just by the things that we have, but by the thoughts that we have. Much more by the thoughts that we have than the things that we have.
So increasing the standard of our longing means that what are we desiring? To be conscious is also to be desirous. Whenever we have consciousness, we perceive the outer world and based on how we perceive the outer world, we desire certain things. See, this is good.
I like it. I want it. That keeps us attractive.
So to be conscious is to be desirous and what we desire drives our life. If somebody desires, okay, I want to get a big house, then that drives the way they function, the way they live and they move on. So our desires drive us and what desires we have will determine the happiness that we get.
So increasing the standard of living means desiring that we are longing for more and more better and better things. That’s also required in life. If you look at the many studies across the world of correlation between money and happiness.
So what they find in general is that if we have happiness on the x-axis or on the y-axis, money on the x-axis, then the graph is linear. The more money you have, the happier people become. However, that is up to the point their basic needs are met.
If somebody doesn’t have food to eat at all and then they get money where they can buy a meal, that money does make them happy. But beyond the meeting of the basic needs, then the correlation between money and happiness becomes very unpredictable. It’s making money is important, but what we are making with money is even more important.
What are we using the money for? So then it is the values that a person is living for, the purposes that a person is living for, that becomes even more important. So when we talk about increasing the standard of living, what it means is we elevate our thought world, we elevate our desires, we desire something bigger than just better and better things in the world. Now I’ve got this car, I want a better car.
I’ve got this house, I want a better house. Yes, this can go on into infinitely improving things, but this itself will never lead to satisfaction because no matter how good the things we have, there will always be someone who has something better than what we have. And we will look at that and especially today the advertisements, they specialise in showing us the things we don’t have and they’ll keep us dissatisfied.
So if we want to ever become satisfied, we need to increase the standard of our longing. Means we need to desire something higher. What does it mean something higher? That achieving which we will become satisfied.
So there are basic bodily needs, there are basic social needs, but beyond that there is a spiritual need. The soul has an eternal relationship with Krishna and the soul needs a connection with Krishna. So we will talk today about the last five verses of the Bhagavad Gita to illustrate this theme of raising our longing.
So the Bhagavad Gita at one level has two endings. The first ending is where the Krishna-Arjuna dialogue ends. It’s just like if you have a programme.
If you have a programme. Now there is one ending of the programme when the class ends. But then for many people the programme begins after that.
Prasad is there, socialisation is there, they’ll talk with friends and just have a good time. And then when you leave the programme, that’s the second ending. So similarly in the Bhagavad Gita, we have the Krishna-Arjuna dialogue.
That is, you could say the centre of the Bhagavad Gita. So broadly speaking, that begins from the second chapter. In the second chapter, Krishna starts speaking to Arjuna for the first time.
And that, more or less, ends in 1873, which is the previous verse to what we’re discussing, where Arjuna says, my doubts are dispelled. Can we recite these verses? So would you like to do it together or responsibly? Call responsibly. Call responsibly.
So here, Arjuna is saying that my doubts are dispelled. My illusion is gone. My memory has come back.
Understanding of right and wrong. All that is gone. And then, I will do your will.
Now in this sense, if you consider this conclusion of the Bhagavad Gita, we could say, operation successful. Arjuna was confused. Arjuna was deluded.
Arjuna didn’t know what to do. And Krishna spoke the message of the Bhagavad Gita, and Krishna was successful. That he was able to persuade Arjuna to do the right thing, to explain to him what is dharma, and Arjuna agreed to do that dharma.
Now the Bhagavad Gita is like a nested conversation. There’s one conversation between Krishna and Arjuna. There’s another conversation going on between two people.
Who is that? Dhritarashtra and Sanjay. Yeah, Dhritarashtra and Sanjay. So Dhritarashtra asks the question and then the whole Bhagavad Gita is narrated as a part of the report of the Mahabharata.
The commentary of the Mahabharata that Sanjay is giving to Dhritarashtra. So now Dhritarashtra is also attached. In one sense, Arjuna was blinded, confused about the right thing.
And Dhritarashtra was also not doing the right thing. Dhritarashtra was also confused, was also attached, was also deluded. And then Sanjay speaks the Bhagavad Gita, the same Bhagavad Gita that Krishna has spoken to Arjuna, Sanjay speaks to Dhritarashtra.
But Dhritarashtra’s heart doesn’t change. Dhritarashtra still remains blinded by attachment. If Dhritarashtra had really understood that Krishna is God, Krishna is Vishwaroopa, then he would have understood that fighting against Krishna is useless.
My sons will go to a certain death. And he could have intervened and called off that war at that time. If he had wanted to throw his weight around, he could have done that.
He did not, that means that he did not really understand the truth. So we could say Sanjay is speaking the Bhagavad Gita to Dhritarashtra was not successful. So in one context, the narration of the Gita is successful.
In another context, the narration of the Gita we could say is not successful. This could have made Sanjay depressed. I spoke so much philosophy, I repeated it so nicely.
Sometimes we hear a class and we are so inspired by it. And then the audience is also inspired on hearing the class. Or rather we hear a class from some speaker and everybody is inspired.
We are also inspired. And then we go and repeat that class to someone else and they are not at all inspired. I spoke the same thing.
Why are you not inspired? What happened? So there are so many other dynamics. It’s the receptivity of the audience. It’s the purity of the speaker.
It’s the context in which something is being spoken. There are many factors. It’s not just repeating the same content is going to have the repetition of the same effect.
But we see that Sanjay doesn’t become depressed. Sanjay doesn’t become disappointed. Rather you will see that Sanjay is delighted, is thrilled, is enriched.
So what has happened? The Bhagavad Gita in its outer context of the Sanjay Dhritarashtra conversation demonstrates its own teaching. One of the central teachings of the Bhagavad Gita is the well-known verse So you have a right to do your duty. Don’t be attached to the result.
Why don’t we attach to the result? Because don’t think you are the cause of the result. And then lastly it says that don’t think that if the result is not going to come, if I’m not meant to be attached to the result, then why do any work at all? You don’t give up your work. So this verse, it’s quite common.
Anybody who knows a little bit of the Bhagavad Gita knows this verse. At least they know the first one-fourth of the verse. But it doesn’t make… We have to carefully understand to make sense of it.
I was speaking in Yale Medical School and after that there was an Islamic professor of religious studies. He said that I have studied the Bhagavad Gita. That’s the way he pronounced it.
And he said that all this doesn’t make sense. We work for the results. We set goals.
We work to get a salary. Students work to get marks. How can you work detached from now without caring for the results? So I explained there that actually there’s a difference between setting goals and getting results.
We set goals before we do the work. And we get results after the work is done. So Krishna is not saying don’t set goals.
In fact, after the Bhagavad Gita, when the Kurukshetra war happened, every day the Pandavas would set goals. Today you take down this warrior. Today you take care of this regiment in the Kaurava army.
So they were setting goals. So when the Pandavas were strategising and setting goals, Krishna did not tell them, hey, all of you have forgotten Karvandi Vadhikaras. No.
So the whole point over here is much more subtle. The point is that we often think that this is my action and this is the result. So we think that our action produces the result.
But our action is only one component in producing the result. Broadly speaking, you could say that there are four components. This is a whole different subject and I won’t go into it in detail, but just to in our context.
So there are, you could say, four Ds. There’s duty, destiny, duration and desired result. So duty plus destiny plus duration leads to the desired result.
Consider farming. The farmer ploughs the land and sows the seeds. That’s the duty.
The rains come in time in the right quantity. That is the destiny. And then the season changes to the harvesting season.
That’s the duration. And then they get the yield, the harvest. So duty plus destiny plus duration leads to the desired result.
Say a couple get married and desire to have a child. Now they may unite. That’s the duty.
But not just by union, conception happens. There’s destiny involved over there. And then after that it’s not at all.
Next day they will have a baby. The gestation, that’s duration. So duty, destiny, duration leads to the desired result.
So now when we are doing our duty, when we are doing our part, naturally we want the desired result. So that is setting goals. We all need to set goals.
That inspires us to do our best in whatever we are doing. But after we have set our goal and after we have done our duty, we understand that this duty alone doesn’t produce this result. There are factors beyond which will take over now.
So then let go. Do your part and then let go. That’s why if you now if you see from this perspective, look at the same verse again.
Can you go to just on the top you can type 247. Just type over there. So if you go over here just now, we’ll have now look at the four components of the verse.
So Krishna is saying over here, do your duty and the four components of that do your duties. Don’t be attached to the result. Because the duty alone doesn’t produce the result.
That is the destiny and duration are involved. That’s the third line. That your karma is not the cause of the falla.
Don’t think you are producing the result. Yes, we are of course producing the result. But we are not alone producing the result.
We are not the sole cause of the result. Sometimes as a doctor, a doctor might give the same treatment to two patients. And one patient gets cured immediately and the other patient may take some weeks to get cured.
So then the exact same thing. Now you could say that now this case is different and they had some weakness. So I try to find some reasons.
But sometimes two patients, the same case history, one gets cured and another doesn’t get cured. So the doctor has to do the part of giving the medication. But the doctor’s medication alone doesn’t cure the patient.
So when I was at a spiritual hospital in India, I was asked to give a talk over there on spirituality and health. So I explained how the doctor treats and God cures. Yes, the doctor has to treat definitely.
But the doctor alone doesn’t cure. So don’t think you are the cause of the result. At the same time, don’t think that you should not do your work.
There’s no need to do your work. Because destiny and duration for them to, even if they are favourable for the desired result to come, you have to do your duty. If we don’t sow the seeds, we don’t plough the land, if rains come, then growth will happen.
But it will not be crops, it will be weeds. So we have to do our part. So this verse, do your duty, but don’t be attached to the result.
That is demonstrated through Sanjay’s attitude. So Sanjay does his part in faithfully speaking the Bhagavad Gita as he’s hearing it from Krishna. But that does not change his heart, change the heart of Dhritarashtra.
So we could say that its operation is unsuccessful, he failed. He couldn’t change the heart of Dhritarashtra. But something else has happened.
When the Bhagavad Gita says, do not be attached to the results. Now then we may say, okay, if I’m not to be attached to the results, then what should I work for? So actually, detachment from results comes best by attachment to something bigger than the results. I’ll repeat this, detachment to results comes best by attachment to something bigger than the results.
And what is that something bigger? The Bhagavad Gita reveals gradually its flow. Initially it says that if you just do your duty in a mood of detachment, you just work with dutiful detachment, then by that you will grow in knowledge. It will lead to spiritual knowledge, it will lead to self-understanding.
If we are too obsessed with getting the results, we work only for that and our consciousness gets caught in that. But if we do it in the mood of dutifulness and detachment, then we grow in self-awareness. We start understanding that actually I’m a soul.
It’s just like a student who studies only for getting the grades. The student may get the grades, but the student may not really develop understanding of the subject. And more than understanding of a particular subject also, if a student studies diligently, what the student develops is an educated mind.
If somebody has studied diligently, then they may have high grades, they may not have high grades. Of course, we would like to have high grades, no doubt. But if students study diligently, then that educated mind is a big resource with which they can study anything.
Some people, they may have great grades, they may not have great grades, but you see they are sharp. And some people you meet them and they say that I’m from IIT or I’m from this. You may think how did you get into IIT? So, it’s that if somebody has educated, trained, sharp mind, sharp intelligence, we can see that clearly.
So, you could say studying has multiple levels of results. One is the grades that we want. The second is the knowledge of the subject.
The third is the educated mind which is capable of learning in a disciplined way. And each of these is a result, but each of these is a progressively bigger result. Grades will get us through, will give us some glory.
Knowledge of the subject will give us something of much greater value. And a mind trained to learn, that will be of far greater value. So, like that, if a student is, what Krishna is saying, don’t be attached to the results.
It doesn’t say that don’t see the results. You set goals, see the results, but if they don’t come, you don’t become too disheartened by it. So, Krishna is saying become attached to something bigger.
What is that bigger thing? Initially, he says it is knowledge. You will grow in self-awareness. You will grow in understanding the nature of reality, how things work.
And as the Bhagavad Gita progresses, it says, in the sixth chapter, Krishna is repeatedly talking about detachment. Asakti, mirasakti, asakti or virakti. These kind of words come repeatedly in the Bhagavad Gita, initially.
But from the seventh chapter, there is sudden change. The first verse of the seventh chapter is, the first words itself are, Krishna says become attached to me. And by practising bhakti, you can become attached to me.
So, the whole mood of the Gita is, now develop attachment to Krishna. So, we work according to our roles to get attached to Krishna. And attachment to Krishna, what does it mean? That if our thoughts are with Krishna, if Krishna is in our thoughts, then Krishna is the source of all peace, the source of all joy, the source of all love.
If our mind is attached to Krishna, our thoughts are with Krishna, wherever we may be, we can experience peace, joy and love. This is what Krishna tells in the Bhagavad Gita as life’s supreme achievement, a mind absorbed in Him. If we have that mind absorbed in the supreme spiritual reality, then, by having achieved this, there will be nothing more to achieve.
You won’t crave for anything more. And having achieved this, even if some distress comes, the distress won’t disturb you. So, Krishna is not saying that there is nothing to achieve.
He says, you won’t crave for it. And he’s not saying problems won’t come, but problems won’t disturb you. Because you will have achieved a great stability of thought.
Our mind will be absorbed in Krishna. So, when we talk about increase the standard of longing, that means that whatever we do, we want some immediate results. Say, if you are cooking food, then you want the food to be cooked nicely, so that everybody is, the prasadas taste nice.
But then, we also want to please Krishna through this. We want to think about Krishna through that seva, we want to become attached to Krishna. So, yes, we want the immediate result, but we are not fixated with the immediate result.
We see the bigger picture. So, in terms of immediate result, Sanjay doesn’t get that result. But he gets a bigger result.
And how he gets that bigger result, we’ll talk in the next, can we go back to 1874? So, we’ll recite the verses which he has spoken. So, he speaks five verses and this is the conclusion of the Bhagavad Gita. So, basically, he doesn’t, the external result has not come, he doesn’t worry so much about it.
He focusses on what he has got. He has himself got to hear the Bhagavad Gita. He’s got to speak the Bhagavad Gita.
He has got to learn about Krishna’s glories. So, let’s look at these verses. So, in this way, I have heard Vasudev, which he has spoken by Vasudev.
Between these two great souls. Now, of course, Krishna is a great soul because he is the supreme being. But Arjuna has surrendered to Krishna.
So, Arjuna has also become Mahatma as described in the Bhagavad Gita. So, what Krishna has told about Mahatma? Just take shelter of Krishna, of Krishna’s bhakti. That’s what Arjuna has done in the previous verse.
So, he is referring to him. These two great souls have had these conversations. And what I have been able to do? I have heard this and what is the nature of this conversation? The conversation itself is It is thrilling.
It is astounding and thrilling. And I am, as he will say later, it is astounding and thrilling. And he will say, I am thrilled by it.
So, first, he is appreciating the conversation. So, this verse is an appreciation of the conversation. Just the fact that I was able to hear that conversation.
So, you see, in every situation, there might be some result that we are craving for. We are longing for it and it doesn’t come. But then, what has come? We need to look for that also.
Maybe sometimes what we wanted, we didn’t get it. But we got something else. And what we got might, in the long run, be much bigger.
Might turn out to be much more valuable. So, whenever we do anything in the world, if you are doing it with seva bhava, whether it is taking care of our family, whether it is doing some service in the temple, whether it is organising some festivals, sometimes the results will come externally. Sometimes they may not come.
That’s just the nature of the world. But if we are doing it diligently, through it, we will be growing towards Krishna. Our attachment.
At least we got the opportunity to serve Krishna. And that itself is a blessing. So, first is the appreciation of the fact that he got to hear the conversation.
And then he starts thinking, how did I get to hear this conversation? Then he appreciates his guru. By whose blessings he was able to hear the conversation. May we go to the next verse? So, when we get something good, we can just be happy I got something good.
Or we can think, how did I get it? Not just by my effort. So, he appreciates his guru. So, here he is saying, was the word in the previous.
I heard. How was I able to hear? By his mercy, I was able to hear this. This is a very confidential conversation.
It’s like two close friends are talking with each other. They’re talking very special. And somebody, you know, they share what was the conversation.
It’s very special. It’s two people who we care about. They are having an intimate conversation.
Say two of our spiritual teachers, our spiritual masters, they are having a confidential conversation. And we get to hear about it. Oh, what did they talk about? Want to know about it, isn’t it? So, he says that it is very confidential, very special conversation.
And what is special? That this Krishna is not an ordinary person. He is Yogeshwar. He is the lord of all mystic powers.
By him, personally it is spoken. He himself has spoken this. Sometimes when we take darshan of the deities of Krishna, if we have memorised some verses, we can envision it is through those lips that Krishna has spoken those words.
Sarva-dharman, Parityajya, Krishna has spoken it through those lips. And that same Krishna is in front of us. So, Sakshat, actually that same Krishna has spoken.
So, there is appreciation for the message. Then there is appreciation for the one who enabled him to hear that message. Then in the next two verses, he will express appreciation for the result of the message on him.
Although there is no result on Dhritarashtra, but still he says, what is the result on me? Sometimes by hearing, oh, this has affected you like this, then why has it not affected me like that? The other person might be prompted towards some transformation. So, he describes what are the results. That’s 1876.
So, he says, as I have Rajan, okay, I have heard this conversation. Now, here the word Rajan is significant. In one sense, it could just be conversational.
How you are the king and I refer to you as the king. But it’s significant. He is saying, you are the king, but you are not as enriched as I am.
You are the king, but your heart is impoverished. Because you are attached to your own sense. And you are attached to something which is against the plan of God.
So, he’s not telling you all that, but that’s important. So, Rajan, okay, you are the king, but this is how my heart is enriched. So, Samskritya, Samskritya.
And I am remembering again and again. Samvadanam Adbhutam. Again and again, he is stressing to Dhritarashtra, this conversation is not ordinary.
It’s a special conversation. It’s a one-to-one conversation. And, Keshava, Arjuna, yo, Punyam.
It’s a virtuous, pure, purifying conversation. Now, Punyam, it can be related with the first verse, Dharmakshetre, Kurukshetre. So, on Dharmakshetra, something very Dharmic has happened.
Something very Punyaman has happened. On a place of virtue, a conversation of great virtue has happened. And, Rishyamichamoharmoham.
So, I am remembering that conversation again and again. So, here, what is happening? He is not longing for the result of Dhritarashtra’s heart getting transformed. He wants that, but that doesn’t happen.
He is appreciating that this conversation was so wonderful. I got to hear it. And, it is replaying again and again in my heart.
So, one of the consistent messages of the Bhagavad Gita is, think of Krishna always. Manmanabhau. So, many times, Krishna says, remember me.
So, again, Sanjay is, through this word, demonstrating that teaching of the Bhagavad Gita also. He is demonstrating how he has become attached to Krishna’s words. And, you see, they are replaying in my heart.
I am remembering that Punah, Punah, Rishyamichamoham. So, I am remembering. Samsrutta, Samsrutta.
Out of ecstasy, see. I am again and again remembering it. And then, Rishyamichamoharmoham.
This is the only verse in the Bhagavad Gita, till now, where two words are repeated twice in the same words. So, moharmoham and samsrutta, samsrutta. So, it is out of ecstasy.
Sometimes, when we feel, we say, we go for some festival and do kirtan. The kirtan was wonderful, wonderful, wonderful. Now, we run out of words.
So, we repeat the same word again and again. So, like that, here, what has happened? Rishyami, Rishyami, moharmoham, samsrutta, samsrutta, moharmoham. It is repeating out of ecstasy.
So, he has become attached to Krishna’s words. And he is remembering that. So, that enrichment has come to him.
And then, secondly, there is another enrichment. The Bhagavad Gita’s message itself is wonderful, but the message is also about someone. So, I talked about two results of hearing the Bhagavad Gita.
That is, he is remembering the words again and again, and the words are spoken by someone, but they are also about that same person. Krishna is speaking about his glories. So, in the next verse, in this verse, he says, I am remembering those words.
In the next verse, he says, I am remembering the person, Krishna. I am remembering his form. We go to the next verse.
So, here, what is he saying? That, I am remembering Rupa, the form of Krishna. It’s extraordinary. Now, he is using the word adhutam, but now he wants to use a little more superlative.
So, athi adhutam. It is great. It’s very great.
Like that. It’s wonderful. It’s very wonderful.
Athi adhutam hare. So, Rupa. Now, what is so special about the Rupa? It is that, now, in the Mahabharata times, people, many people saw Krishna.
Sanjay also saw Krishna many times. But in this case, what have you seen? That one form of Krishna was there, and from that form, the whole universal form manifested. So, how can… At one level, Krishna was on the earth, because on a chariot, which was on the earth, which was in the universe.
So, Krishna was within the universe. And at the same time, that form of Krishna, which was within the universe, revealed a form in which the universe was inside him. So, even when Krishna was inside the universe, the universe was inside Krishna.
Such is the extraordinary form of Krishna. Some people, they say, if you say that God has form, then you are limiting God. See, God is not limited by his form, because he is not limited to his form.
God is not limited by his form. He has a form, but he can expand to whatever magnitude at any moment he wants. He is not limited to his form.
We all have a form, and we are limited to this form. If I am sitting here, I cannot be somewhere else doing something else. So, we are limited by our form, because we are limited to our form.
God is not limited by his form. He has a form, but he is unlimited. In fact, if you say that, oh, if God has a form, it limits him.
You could turn that argument around and say, God does not have a form. That also limits him. Isn’t it? Because that means God does not have something that we have.
Now, a form is one of the most attractive things in the world. And God does not have that. That means the creator becomes lesser than the creation.
And that is actually a limitation on God. So, God’s unlimitedness is not that he does not have a form. To make God unlimited, it is not that he doesn’t have a form.
Rather, God is unlimited because he has a form, but he is not limited by the form. So, that is the wonderful nature of his form. For that form of the Lord, that attractive Shama Sundar, that attractive Virat Rupa, that impressive Virat Rupa, and again that attractive Shama Sundar, he is remembering that.
What an extraordinary form. When Krishna displays that form, the 11th chapter is one of the most dramatic chapters of the Bhagavad Gita. So, there Krishna at one moment is talking with Arjuna, and the next moment he is displaying that magnificent form.
And it is such a magnificent form that even Arjuna is first impressed and then alarmed. So, normally when the pictures display the Virat Rupa, at that time we say Arjuna is here, Krishna is here, Krishna is pointing like this, and he is displaying the universal form. So, that is just for the purpose of depiction.
But actually when the Virat Rupa appeared, Krishna could not be seen anymore. And that is why at one particular point, Arjuna asks, आप क्या ही मेरे को भवानुग्र रुपो? He says, who are you? Obviously, you are Krishna. But this does not look like Krishna, does not sound like Krishna, does not act like Krishna.
Who is you? It is like, suppose we know someone, and we know them as a very gentle, kind, and sweet person. And suddenly one day they become so angry, and they start yelling, and they start screaming, and they start saying, all sorts of completely strange things. Then we say, who are you? Where has that friend gone? Who is this strange person? Come over here.
So, like that, Arjuna asks, who are you? And not only, it is like, in Sanskrit there are different, there are different second person references. Like we have, I is first person, you is second person, and he or she is third person. So now, in English, there is only one second person, that is you.
But in Hindi or Sanskrit, in Hindi you have tu or aap. So, tu we might use in ordinary conversation. A more respectful way of addressing is aap.
So, Krishna, even when he surrenders to Arjuna, he uses in Sanskrit, the word equivalent to tu is tuam. And equivalent to aap is bhavan. So, even when Krishna surrenders to Arjuna, at that time, he says tuam.
Arjuna surrenders to Krishna, he says, pruchham itvam dharmasamudh chetam. I ask you, what is dharma? But, when he says this, virat rupa, it is like, akhyahime ko bhavanukra rupa. Who are you? That bhavan, not tuam.
It is like, we say, we get a phone call. And then he says, yes, kaun hai to? And then he meets our boss, he is like, yes sir, yes sir, kaun hai to? So, the mood changes. So, like that, even for Arjuna, he is, although he knows it is Krishna, but he sees the virat rupa, it is so expressive.
And even his mood also changes, bhavan. So, now, that magnificent form which Krishna has manifested, to Arjuna, Sanjay is remembering that. So, this form is so extraordinary, it found, that from it, that form manifested.
And then again, this form manifested. So, I am remembering that. And I am remembering that, what is happening? Again, puna puna.
So, muhur muhur and puna puna is more or less the same thing. So, Krishna, I mean, I am thrilled again and again and again, that, what has happened, that his mind has become attached to Krishna. And he has become enriched internally by his attachment to Krishna.
And that is the source of immense joy for him. That is also a success of the Bhagavad Gita. That means sometimes, even when we are serving Krishna, the external result may not manifest.
But if we are serving Krishna, the internal result, that we will become more attached to Krishna, that will always manifest. Provided, we don’t get obsessed with the outer result. If we are obsessed with the outer result, then Krishna may be blessing us with increased bhakti for it.
But we are not accepting that bhakti. Now, why is this not happening? Why is this not happening? Why is this not happening? Then we will not get that result. So, when we practise bhakti, it is not just to, the primary purpose of bhakti is not to increase our standard of living.
Like I pray to Krishna so that I’ll get more wealth, I’ll get more power. That is also good. At least we are coming to God.
But that is a very preliminary level. It is karma kanda. It is not even bhakti.
It is more that we are using God for our purposes. But another thing, while we, a more subtle way, we practise bhakti so that we can get results in bhakti in the world. And sometimes, that might also increase our ego.
When I go out to distribute books, so many books are distributed. When I give class, so many people come. When that devotee gives class, so many people come.
It might lead to pride and subtle. It’s an early activity, but it’s pride. Sometimes the external results can also make us proud.
We want those results, but we don’t want those results more than Krishna. Sometimes we want something so that we can serve Krishna better. If I just get this job, then this job will not be so demanding.
Then I can serve Krishna better. Or if I can get this service, I can be so satisfied. I like the service, then I can serve Krishna better.
So we may want something for Krishna. And it’s good to want something for Krishna. But what is desired for Krishna should not be desired more than Krishna.
What is desired for Krishna should not be desired more than Krishna. Let me say, we have a community and it’s in uniside. We want to build a big temple for Krishna.
It’s good to offer Krishna a wonderful temple. But then sometimes people get so obsessed with building a temple that then they have no time for coming for satsang. They have no time for doing their own japa.
They don’t do their own puja. And everything becomes very money-minded. Anybody who has money, just thinks I want some donations.
That’s not good. Of course, we want Lakshmi for Krishna. But even then, what is desired for Krishna should not be desired more than Krishna.
We do our part in trying to raise funds so that we can build a temple for Krishna. But we shouldn’t start craving for it so much that we forget Krishna in the process. So something could be just unrelated with Krishna and we are desiring it.
That is at a lower level. Something could be related with Krishna and we are desiring it. But even that can distract us from Krishna.
Sometimes we even want initiation from a particular spiritual master. And if we don’t get it, we start getting discouraged. The initiation is important, but our connection with Krishna is even more important.
We need to maintain that. Even if we are getting initiation, we may not know many years later, a couple of years later, it doesn’t matter. What is desired for Krishna shouldn’t be desired more than Krishna.
So increasing our standard of longing means, instead of longing for anything in this world, even if it is for Krishna, instead of longing for anything in this world, we long for Krishna. So as our bhakti grows, our longing should become bigger and bigger. Eventually, sometimes people feel that when you practise bhakti, you become unambitious.
It’s not exactly true. It’s just the devotees develop a different ambition. Yes, the ambition to achieve the biggest reality.
This belt has its value, positions, power has its value. But all of these, they dwarf in comparison with Krishna. So we are seeking Krishna.
And when we make our longing for Krishna, the beauty of Krishna is that in the longing for Krishna itself is the presence of Krishna, is the experience of Krishna. Because Krishna manifests when we remember Him. So if we are longing for Krishna, and in that longing, we are remembering Him.
And in that remembering, we will experience His presence. So I’ll conclude with this point now, that the gopis of Vrindavan, at one level, they were separated from Krishna and they were in agony in separation from Krishna. But what was happening was, their longing was only for Krishna.
So the gopis, it’s Radharani praying over here, Krishna, you are the Lord of all. But you left us, and now you have become Mathura Nath. You have gone to Mathura, abandoned us.
When will we see you? When the heart, when I can’t see you, my heart is torn in agony. I’m desperately thinking, what should I do? This, that, this, that. I just don’t know what to do, Krishna.
How will I live without you? So at one level, it looks like a state of agony. But it’s not agony. It’s ecstasy, because it’s complete absorption, Krishna.
They’re absorbed in Krishna, and in that absorption, they’re enriched. They’re ecstatic. So the gopis are considered the highest devotees, because they have the highest standard of longing.
They’re always longing for Krishna. And Krishna feels so indebted to them, because they’re longing for Him, that Krishna says, that I cannot repay the debt that I owe to you. The kind of service you have done to me, I cannot repay that.
So Krishna becomes indebted to the devotee. So for all of us, as we practise bhakti, the gopis are the highest devotees. They are the paradigms.
They are the models, paragons of devotion for us. And we aspire. So it’s not so much like externals doing what the gopis did, but the internal longing.
The bhagavatam has that mood of separation at its climax for the pure devotees. The gopis are pure devotees, and they are longing for Krishna. And their longing is the perfection.
But the bhagavatam begins also with longing for Krishna. That is Narada Muni. As he’s a Narada boy in a previous life, he has a darshan of Krishna, and then Krishna disappears.
And then he frantically gets up and looks around, and then sits down and meditates. But just can’t see Krishna. And then he hears Akash, who has a disembodied voice, saying that because you’re still impure at heart and incomplete in service, you cannot see me till now.
But I have given you this glimpse. So then this longing for me, which will be created by this glimpse, that longing will free you from all other longings. And by that longing, you’ll become beautiful.
And once you’re pure, you’ll be able to see me. So at our stage, we want to cultivate, we may not have that great love for Krishna, but we want to cultivate that longing for Krishna. So if you associate with devotees, if you practise the limbs of bhakti, by practising sadhana bhakti, Krishna says, your desire for me will increase.
Your longing for me will increase. And as the longing for Krishna increases, you will become more and more absorbed in Krishna. We’ll become enriched by the remembrance of Krishna.
And life will have its ups and downs. But we will stay enriched because we have the presence of Krishna within us. Just as Sanjay demonstrates that he has in the end of the Bhagavad Gita.
So I’ll summarise. I spoke today on this theme of how to increase our longing for Krishna. So I spoke about increasing the standard of longing.
The world is obsessed with increasing the standard of living. Getting better and better things, a better house, a better phone, a better car. This is at one level, it’s important what we live with and what we live for are two different things.
If I have a car, I need fuel. If I don’t have, I can’t go anywhere. But the purpose of a car is to get fuel.
The purpose of a car is to drive to the stage. So we talk about there are things in the world and the graph of happiness versus wealth. It linearly increases till our basic needs are met.
After that, how much money we are making doesn’t matter. What we are making with money matters much more. So that’s all the values and purposes for which we are living that determines our happiness.
So the things we have don’t determine our happiness as much as the thoughts we have. And bhakti is about elevating our thoughts, enriching our thoughts. If we are longing for better and better things, it’s an endless longing.
Because there will always be people who have something better than us and we will stay dissatisfied. So the Bhagavad Gita’s concluding verses, as spoken by Sanjay, demonstrate how the Bhagavad Gita raised the standard of longing of Sanjay. So the Bhagavad Gita was successful in the sense that Krishna’s message recomposed Arjuna and he became ready to fight.
But that same message spoken by Sanjay to Dhritarashtra did not change Dhritarashtra’s heart. So was it unsuccessful? Not exactly. Through Sanjay’s example, the Bhagavad Gita is demonstrating the teachings of the Bhagavad Gita in operation.
So the karma-inne-vadhikaar is three words I discussed elaborately. And how? There are four D’s. What are they? Duty, Destiny, Devotion, and Desire.
So when Krishna says, do your duty, but don’t think that duty alone is producing the results. So therefore, you can set goals, but don’t be attached to the results. So the detachment from results comes best by attachment to something bigger than the results.
I think a student studies, there’s different levels of results. Grades is one result, knowledge of the subject is another result. Mind, expert at learning, trained to learn is a bigger result.
So similarly, when we work, Krishna says the results of that work, that’s just one result. The bigger result is we get a better knowledge of the nature of reality, how things work in the world. And the biggest result is that we develop attachment to Krishna.
If we do that work in a mode of service to him. So Sanjay speaks the Gita in a mode of service to Krishna, and thus his attachment to Krishna develops by just speaking, hearing and speaking the Bhagavad Gita. So we discuss the four verses which Sanjay has spoken before the last verse.
So 74th verse demonstrates his appreciation for the message. The fact that I could hear this conversation, like a confidential conversation with two great souls, like two great devotees that we hear them talking. We feel treasured by that.
Then appreciation for the Guru by whose grace we are able to hear that conversation. And then appreciation for the results of that hearing. First result is attachment to the message itself.
Repeated recollection of the message and then repeated recollection of the one about whom the message is. That is the special form of Krishna. Again when Krishna is within the universe, the universe is within him.
God is not limited by his form because he is not limited to his form. And then I talked about how this increasing the standard of longing. If we long for Krishna, that itself reminds us of Krishna.
And remembrance of Krishna is like supreme achievement. It is the achievement which will free us from craving for any other things. It is the achievement which will give us strength to tolerate even the world’s greatest distresses.
So the Gopis demonstrate the highest standard of longing. And that is why they are considered the highest devotees. Even when externally they are separated from Krishna and appear to be in agony.
And what the Gopis demonstrate as pure devotees, as Siddhas, Narada in his previous life demonstrates as Sadhaka. So we are at the Sadhaka level and by associating with devotees and practising Bhakti, we try to increase our standard of longing. Instead of longing for the things of the world, we long for the Lord of the world.
And through that we become purified and enriched. So Dhritarashtra was the Raja, but he was impoverished and Sanjay who had relished the Gita was enriched. So whether we are externally enriched or not, by connecting with Krishna we can always be internally enriched.
Thank you very much. Hare Krishna. Any questions or comments? We have time.
Why is Sanjay referring to Krishna as Yogeshwara and not as Bhagwan or anything else? Different people are impressed by different things. Some people, they may come to a temple and they are impressed how big the temple is. Some people come to a temple and then they are impressed how beautifully it is decorated.
Some people come to a temple and they are impressed by the artistry on the walls. Some people are impressed by the traditional look of the architecture of the temple. So based on what a person will be attracted by, that is what is highlighted to the person.
Now Dhritarashtra is not at a level, because he is so materially attached, so materially conscious, that he will not appreciate that Krishna is the all attractive Supreme Personality. But when somebody is in material consciousness, then they are impressed by materially manifested greatness. So the fact that Dhritarashtra is craving for one kingdom, but one kingdom is just one part of one planet which is a part of one universe.
And Krishna has shown the whole universe within him. So reminding him of that, he is Yogeshwara. He has such mystic powers that he can display the whole universe.
He is not talking about small yogic powers about moving some objects from here to there or something like that. The word Yogeshwara is used earlier also in the 11th chapter when Arjuna is shown by Krishna’s universal form. So here the Yogeshwara refers to the one who has such a lot of yogic powers that he can do what no other yogi can do.
He is the one who can show the whole universal form. So it is that person. So reminding of that person has a chance, reminding of that power of Krishna has a chance of evoking some submission at least through some fear.
In Dhritarashtra. That’s why that name is used. Any other questions? In order to understand the universal form, in order to stop it, we are, you know, for difficult times.
Where do we draw the line for Krishna now? Okay. So what is desired for Krishna shouldn’t be desired more than Krishna. So where do we draw the line for that? See broadly it is purpose that determines perspective.
Now some things are, if I get it, it’s good. But some things I need this. It’s a different degrees.
So even for our service to Krishna, say, there’s something which we very vitally need. Let me strive for it more than other things. Something is just good if I get it.
So if we consider our purpose and in the light of the purpose, we see what is how important. And based on that, we decide. So to give an example, if we consider the life of Shri Prabhupada.
Shri Prabhupada, let’s compare two attempts when he was trying to build a temple or develop a centre. And one time was in Jhansi. And in the early days of the movement, early days of the movement, he was starting the League of Devotees and some people had told him that they will give him this building.
And he had said that this will be our international headquarters. And then the same people, they turned against him and there was a click and he was told to leave. And Prabhupada could have fought, but he did not.
However, several years later, after the movement had been established in America and then he came back and he had got a property in Juhu. And the person who was selling the property was quite a double dealing person. He wanted to take the money and not give the land also.
And then Prabhupada said, I will die but I will not let this person cheat Krishna of the land which is meant for him. So Prabhupada fought for that land. It is an exciting story how it all happened.
But Prabhupada was like a military general strategising and planning and fighting. And Prabhupada fought over there. So why did he not fight for the Jhansi place? Why did he fight for the Mumbai, Juhu place? Both are from J.H. J.H. is better, isn’t it? But you see that Jhansi, Prabhupada at that time felt that Jhansi is a small city and the people there are also not very serious.
And he felt that even if there is not much potential over here. But in Juhu, he saw that it is a prime land. Prabhupada had been in business before.
He took up spiritual life full time. He was always spiritual. But he had the observation sense that this land has big potential.
It is going to develop. And now the Juhu temple is a place which is like a prime locality in Mumbai. It is a place where all Bollywood stars and other celebrities of Mumbai stay.
So Prabhupada felt that this land has a lot of potential. And now he has a movement which needs a place in the financial headquarters of India. Prabhupada felt it is worth fighting for.
So in terms of his big purpose, Jhansi was not very important. It is not worth fighting. But in terms of the big purpose, Juhu was very important.
It is worth fighting for. So we have to look at the big purpose. And then we have to choose.
In terms of the big purpose, is this a small thing or is this a big thing? And then if it is a small thing, we can let it go. If it is a big thing, then it is worth fighting for. So sometimes we need some resources, they are a help.
But some resources are a necessity. If it is just a help, okay, I can do without that help. But if it is a necessity, then I have to take what it takes to get a necessity.
Was I answering your question? Thank you. Any comments Juhu? No. So thank you very much.
Shreemad Prabhupada Ki Jai. Gaur Bhakta Vrinda Ki Jai. Shreemad Bhagavad Gita Ki Jai.
Uday Gaur Premayana Jai. His Grace Chaitanya Charan Prabhu Ki Jai.