Gita key verse course 42 – How to see God’s hand in our life Gita – 15.15

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This is an AI-generated transcript and may contain some errors.
Hare Krishna. Thank you very much for joining today, and today we’ll be discussing one of the most commonly quoted verses from the Gita. This is 1515.
We’ll discuss on the topic of how to see God’s hand in our life, and we’ll start with philosophically seeing God’s hand in material existence, and then we will move toward practically seeing it in our life. This is the verse. sarvasya caham hrdi sanni vishtho mattahasmatir jnanam apohanam ca vedaisya sarvairahameva vedyo vedantakritvedavideva caham So, now, there are two distinct points in this verse, and we need to understand those two points and understand the correlation between them.
The first point is talking about God’s inner presence and action in our lives. sarvasya caham hrdi sanni vishtho, hrdi sanni vishtho, close to the heart, nivas, nivishtho is to reside. So, in the heart, close to every living being, I reside.
And from there, what do I do? mattahasmatir jnanam apohanam ca, I give knowledge, remembrance and forgetfulness. So, that is the inner presence and inner action of the Lord. The second half of the verse is vedaisya sarvairahameva vedyo, that by all the Vedas, it is I who am to ultimately be known and vedantakritvedavideva caham.
And how can Krishna know what is the goal of the Vedas? Because the Vedas are a very vast body of literature. What is the basis on which Krishna is saying that I know it? Because vedantakrit. It is I who am the author of the Vedas.
It is I who am the composer of the Vedas and vedavideva caham. And I know what the Vedas are meant for. I wrote them.
Now, of course, when he says he wrote them, it was through the agents. It is Vyasadeva, the literary incarnation of the Lord, through him he wrote them. Now, what is the link between these two sections? One is that Krishna is present inside the heart and does something over there.
Second is he is the goal of the Vedas and he wrote the Vedas. So, the connection is these are broadly two sources of guidance for the soul in the world. And Krishna is saying that it is I who am guiding in both ways.
So, this section is the part of the chapter 15 which is often called as Jnana Chakshu, the eyes of knowledge. Chapter 15 is having 20 verses and among those 20 verses, although it is very small, it is among the smallest chapters in the Gita. Chapter 15 and chapter 12 each have 20 verses.
So, both share the distinction of being the smallest chapters and both are very significant. The 15th chapter known as Purushottama Yoga, in a sense, covers the philosophy of living succinctly. So, the chapter broadly has four parts.
Verses one to five describe how the world is a place of illusion. That was the upside down tree metaphor that we discussed in the last class. Then that is roughly one to six because where do we go after we get out of the world also is described thereafter.
Then we could go from seven to around 11 is the soul’s transmigration in this world. We are entangled and what happens over here? We go from one life to another to another. So, we are caught in this upside down tree looking for various fruits and wandering here and there.
Then while we are chasing the fruits of worldly pleasures, how can we even come to spiritual consciousness? So, the verses 10 and 11 conclude by talking about how we can learn to see the divine. We can raise our consciousness to the spiritual level. We can see the divine by seeing how even our material needs and desires are being fulfilled by some arrangement beyond us.
So, the idea is we may not be able to see the spiritual immediately, but because if we are in material consciousness, most of the things we will see are material. But we need not see the spiritual entirely different from beyond the material. We can see something non-material acting in the material and sustaining the material.
And that is section 15, 12 to 15, wherein how we can see non-material or divine action in the world is described. And that section concludes in this verse. And then after that 15, 16 to 20 talks about how in the spiritual world, there are many in the spiritual level of reality, there are various features of spiritual reality, but among them, the highest is the Supreme Lord.
So, entanglement in material existence, transmigration material existence, perception of the spiritual and material existence, and perception of the ultimate spiritual reality. So, these four things are talked about in the 15th chapter. And in that sense, the whole 15th chapter gives in an essence, the philosophy of our living in material existence.
So, today, our topic is how to see God’s action in our lives. This is based on 15, 12 to 15, 15. Among those 15, 15 is the most important verse.
That is why we have taken this verse. So, we look at three aspects, appreciating how God sustains us materially, then appreciating how God reciprocates with our desires, and then appreciating how he goes beyond reciprocating to bestowing his grace. So, Jnana Chakshu is the word used, as I mentioned, in 1510, and it is implied in 1511, that it is used, Utkramantam Sthitam Vapi, Gunjanam Vagunam Anvitam, Vimudha Nanu Pashyanti, Pashyanti Jnana Chakshushaha.
The one with the eyes of knowledge can see how the soul is trapped in the material world and his soul is being dragged here and there by worldly desires. And then that same Jnana Chakshu can help us to see God’s action in the world. So, let us look at what this section is about.
So, now, it is a basic fact of existence that our existence depends on many factors beyond us, even if we are not aware of those factors. So, how many of us are constantly aware that we are breathing? Usually, when the air becomes, it is no longer fresh, or we start feeling suffocated because of some reason, that is when we become aware, okay, I am not getting air. But air is a basic need for existence.
Now, it is not just air, there are so many other things we need. We often think of, say, food, clothing, shelter or food, air, water. These are basic needs.
But beyond that, the temperature has to be regulated enough for life to exist on the earth. There are so many subtle factors which are required for our existence. Now, we could go look at this at various levels for our existence.
In general, when analysing material existence, the Vedic texts often talk about the three levels. We talk about Adhi Atmik, Adhi Bhautik and Adhi Daivik. So, Adhi Atmik, for us to exist, our body has to be functional.
Right now, at this moment, so many things are happening inside the body that we are not even aware of. And if they go wrong, we are not even aware of that. So, we cannot control them much.
If the digestion goes wrong, if the blood circulation goes wrong, if the respiration goes wrong, so many things can go wrong. So, at the physical level itself, so much has to go right for us to function. Then at the social level, if you consider, war can break out, crime can break out, people can become violent, malevolent.
We do not know. If you look at human history, much of history is filled with wars and brutalities. So, society has to function in a particular way.
And beyond that, nature has to function harmoniously. It could, there could be tornadoes, there could be heavy rains, there could be floods or famines, there could be various kinds of natural disasters that could come. So, our existence depends on many factors beyond us, even if we are not aware of those factors.
In one sense, now we have the environmental movement and we are becoming conscious increasingly more about the effect of human actions on the environment. Now, it is important that we be cognisant and we do not pollute the environment excessively. But actually, in a sense, we have awakened to our environmental impact about 50 years ago.
And we, in a sense, we started impacting the environment significantly about 200 years ago, since industrialisation started. So, we are, in a sense, waking up gradually. We are becoming more and more aware.
Of course, we could say that many more people need to become aware. That is fine. But there is some amount of awakening happening at various levels.
So, now it is like a newborn cannot exist without enormous parental care and protection. So, the newborn is not at all aware of anything else. Newborn cries and then somebody, generally babies cry when either they are hungry or they need a diaper change or they are somehow physically uncomfortable for some other reason.
Maybe they are in pain, they are sick or whatever. Of course, sometimes they may cry just for attention. But broadly, for them, they cry and at least, especially extremely newborn babies, they do not even know there is anything existing outside.
They cry and then maybe they get milk or they get something and they feel comfortable. Gradually, as the baby starts growing, the baby starts becoming aware, oh, this is my mother. Or at least this is a person who cares for me, this is a person who loves me, they start recognising.
So, there is a growth in awareness where we start becoming aware of what all are the factors on which our existence depends. And then we can take care of those factors. So, in a sense, it is awareness and growth.
As actually growth as we could say, biological growth, it happens automatically. But as we grow, we appreciate how much others are doing for us. And we strive to reciprocate or at least we should.
Generally, when, say, kids come to teenage, often their appreciation of what their parents has done decreases. And they’re complaining, oh, you didn’t do this, you are like this, you’re wrong in this way. And that comes up.
But maybe wait for 10-15 years and they become parents themselves, then they understand how difficult parenting is and their appreciation increases. So, generally, as we grow, our awareness is expected to grow. But growing up biologically is not the same as growing up psychologically, and is definitely not the same as growing up spiritually.
So, growing up biologically means at a basic level, our bodily hormones change, our physical size changes. Growing up psychologically means we learn to better manage our emotions. Children, as soon as they’re angry, they will cry, and as soon as they’re somehow displeased, infants will start crying.
If they lose a game, they’ll start crying. They may throw a temper tantrum. As adults, we’re not expected to do that.
So, growing up psychologically, so now if you compare the growth at a physical level, and at a spiritual level, at a psychological level, one big difference is growth biologically is automatic. Growth psychologically has to be conscientious. It’s not automatically that somebody will grow up emotionally.
Some people may be 20, 25, 30, 40, but still they may be a child. Now, when we’re saying it’s a child, it’s not a praiseworthy thing to have childlike innocence is good, but to have childish immaturity is not good. So, that has to happen conscientiously.
And just so there are, we could say there are various levels of growth. There is physical growth, there is psychological, emotional growth, and then there is spiritual growth. So, psychological growth basically means we learn to better manage our emotions, and we don’t get so swayed away by everything that happens around us or happens to us.
That’s one aspect of psychological growth. There could be other aspects. But the point is, we are trying to, our discussion is, we start appreciating that there are so many things apart from me that affect my existence.
So, when a small baby is uncomfortable, maybe they start crying. When an adult is uncomfortable, the adult may not cry, may not want to disturb everybody else in the house, may need some help, they may call a particular person. So, they’re more aware about things around them.
So, now at a spiritual level, when we talk about growth, our awareness increases, we become aware of our spiritual side, of life’s spiritual side in general, that life couldn’t be sustained unless there is some sustaining principle. We start becoming aware of the supreme spiritual reality God, and we become aware of his role in our life. So, this is spiritual growth.
So, when we talk about spiritual advancement, it is not just about, say, maybe in doing chanting more rounds or memorising more verses or spending more time in worshipping the deities. Yes, all those are meant to both stimulate spiritual growth and manifest spiritual growth. That means that when we do these activities, we connect our consciousness with Krishna at those times, then our consciousness becomes more receptive to the presence of Krishna, not only in those manifestations, but in other manifestations also, overall in our life.
So, when we say always remember Krishna, that is not so much a factual recollection as if Krishna is a blueish black cowherd boy and he plays a flute and he wears a peacock feather. Well, it’s not. That’s fine.
That way, if we are not doing anything particular, we can always default back and think of Krishna that way. But essentially, what it means is that while we are functioning in the world, we become conscious of Krishna’s role in our life, the way he is acting to help us grow, the way he is acting to help us function at all. So, right now when I’m speaking, it’s that my whole body is functioning, my throat is functioning.
I don’t know how this happens. If I’m conscious, I would be grateful. So, when we talk about remembering Krishna, while functioning in the world, it means becoming conscious of Krishna’s presence and role in our actions and in the actions of people around us, in the events around us.
So, that is spiritual growth. So, Krishna is talking about Jnana Chakshu in that sense, that we start seeing that our very basic existence wouldn’t be possible without God. This is significantly important because quite often we see God’s action in our life when something special happens and that’s good.
Maybe we are praying for a particular thing to happen, maybe to get a particular disease cured or for a relationship to move forward, for us to get a job or to get ahead in the job and that happens. We see that as Krishna’s action. That’s fine.
Yes, we can see Krishna’s actions there also. However, we need to also see Krishna’s actions not just in the special things of life but even the ordinary things of life. The very fact that we get food to eat.
So, that food is actually God’s gift to us. The very fact that we are alive, so many things could go wrong which would mean we wouldn’t be alive. So, as we become more and more aware, then naturally gratitude comes.
In general, in our life we can see all the things that are right and all the things that are wrong. So, if we can see all the things that are right, we can feel grateful. If we see all the things that are wrong, we will feel far from grateful.
We will feel resentful. So, generally the many things that are right in our life, our vision doesn’t go to them at all. We just take them for granted.
But the material world is such a place that everything can fall apart. By the power of time, not only spiritual knowledge gets destroyed but everything declines by the power of knowledge, sorry, by the power of time unless there is conscientious effort to maintain it or to even improve it. So, that awareness creates gratitude and gratitude is a very healthy emotion to have.
So, now let’s look at how God sustains us materially as explained through the Bhagavad Gita. Now, the Bhagavad Gita gives some specific examples. The examples are interesting but more important than specific examples is the underlying principle.
So, the Gita talks about how at a cosmological level, at a terrestrial level and at a physiological level, we are all sustained by Krishna. So, each of these verses talks about that level. So, at the 15-12 is यदादित्तिगतं तेजो जगत्भासयतेखिलं यच्छंद्रमसियच्छाग्नव् तत्तेजो विद्धिमामकं So, Krishna says in the Gita that यदादित्तिगतं तेजो that the light of the sun which illuminates the whole universe जगत्भासयतेखिलं and then from the sun’s light come other sources of light यच्छंद्रमसियच्छाग्नव् that the moon reflects the sun’s light.
The fire or we could say in today’s world electricity, it’s all ultimately coming from solar energy. So, whether it’s stored in plants and that comes out whether we use various other forms of generating electricity but without solar energy nothing. So, तत्तेजो विद्धिमामकं So, Krishna says the energy of the sun, the fire of the sun, the flame of the sun, it comes from me.
So, the sun is the source of all energy. Without it, nothing could exist and this has been vindicated by science for us. Even if we look at science and study, we do know that if there are solar flares, when solar flares means sun’s energy comes out as a surcharge from there.
There are many different kinds of solar flares. If some solar flare enters into the earth’s atmosphere, then depending on how much it penetrates into the earth’s atmosphere, all electrical and electronic devices could just stop working completely. So, those things like that don’t happen because the universe is sustaining us.
So, at a cosmological level, if we look at it simply from a non-theistic perspective, we might say it’s just a lucky accident. That is the word sometimes atheists use, lucky accident. However, it’s a misleading word because lucky accidents, they just prevent bad things.
It means that a bad thing that happened, the lucky accident means, oh, my car was about to be hit by a truck, but somehow it didn’t happen. So, it doesn’t mean a lucky accident is not that my car was about to be hit by a truck, but suddenly my car changed from a sedan to a Rolls Royce. That doesn’t happen.
So, lucky accidents don’t create things, they simply avoid the destruction of things. So, this is to some extent the design argument and we are not going into the design argument for the existence of God because Krishna consciousness is not about the existence of God. It goes far above that to see the action of God in our lives and we see how we can act to reciprocate with him.
But that level of awareness is also sometimes helpful that actually it is the solar energy that is sustaining our life in many ways. So, Krishna says it is arranged, it is my energy. The sun does not get independent.
Sun is given its energy by Krishna. That’s how the material existence is sustained by Krishna. Then at the terrestrial level, if we consider the earth, Krishna talks about various things over there.
So, he says the earth is floating in space. Now, we may say it’s because of gravity and that’s fine. Now, in the philosophy of science, there is a big question.
Does science explain phenomena or does science name phenomena? What do you mean by that? We may say that why do objects fall down, why do planets move in their orbits? Because of gravity. What is gravity? Gravity is the force that causes objects to fall down. Gravity is the force that causes planets to move in their orbits.
Really? So, we are saying A is caused by B and B is what? B is the cause of A. So, then basically B is just a name for what is happening in A. So, does science name phenomena or does science explain phenomena? Now, naming is also important and science does also quantify it and quantifying it is very powerful as a tool for us to understand it, predict it, replicate it, utilise it. But at the same time, what is gravity? Now, Newton himself said, I am not giving any ontological explanation for where gravity comes from. I am simply stating that it is a mathematical formulation for observed phenomena.
Now, Einstein came and later proposed several centuries later that actually gravity is a feature of space-time. That when there is a heavy object, space-time gets distorted and that effect we see as gravity. But then what is space-time then? That is just another construct.
So, science keeps constructing things and now we are not contesting the constructs. They could be within models of reality, be very useful. But the point is, there is no ultimate explanation over here.
So, we understand that, okay, whether we call it gravity or whether we say gravity as a property of objects, we call it gravity as a force that exists because of the shifting of the space-time or whatever we call it, we understand the sustaining principle is Krishna. So, Krishna and gravity are not two competing examples. They are complementary.
They are not competing explanations. They are complementary explanations. So, Krishna says, now if we look at it further, it is not just that the earth floats without falling down.
The earth exists at the right distance. Now, if the earth were a little closer to the sun or a little further away from the sun, then we would not have the right temperature for us to exist. If the earth would rotate too fast, there would be too many, the rotation itself would make it too difficult for us.
There it rotates too slowly, then the time of the day, the heat during the day would become too high and the cold during the night would become too long, too much. So, every single detail is just right for our existence. And now, Krishna talks about one more thing in that verse.
He moves on the terrestrial level. Now, we could call it the physiological, but it is also terrestrial also. He says that, So, Krishna says, I nourish the vegetables by giving them, as the moon, I nourish the vegetables by making them juicy.
Now, there has been some study within agriculture that when the moon is out, it seems the vegetables become more juicy, more nutritious. Beyond the specifics, because the universe is extremely complicated, and the specifics of particular mechanism, we may not be able to even isolate or identify them empirically so much. But more important is the growth of vegetation itself, of edible vegetation, is itself a miracle.
Just as our body is a miracle, just as the existence of the earth is a miracle. So, how, just from soil and water, now, mostly the soil does not have any smell or taste, you do not want to really want to eat the soil. And water, okay, we drink it, water does not have any usually fragrance.
But from that water and soil, we have a fragrant variety of fruits coming, we have mangoes, which have fragrance, which have taste, which look attractive. So, Einstein said that, if we can look at things in a way that nothing is a miracle, or we can look at things in a way that everything is a miracle. So, the very existence of plants, which give edible food, edible fruits and flowers and leaves and other things for us, that is remarkable.
And it requires many complex factors that are beyond our control. Now, we have tried to make agriculture less and less dependent on nature by having irrigation systems and other things, and that is helpful. We do have to use our human initiative creatively.
At the same time, the basics are still dependent on nature. When we create systems for irrigation, we may take water from here to there. But water has to be there first.
And we did not create the water there, we cannot ensure the water there also. So, if you look at the world in a broad way, our existence itself depends on God. And then, now we may say it depends on nature, where is God over there? Okay, but who is sustaining nature? Does nature work automatically? There is no evidence that if you consider nature just to be a mechanical force, that a mechanical force will buy without any guidance, without any guiding principle, overarching principle, would organise itself in such a precise way.
Within science itself, there is a law of entropy. And entropy says that actually things degenerate. Just leave a system, the disorder in the system will increase more and more.
So, in that sense, if it is nature, but how is nature acting? It is under God. And if you look at it from the physiological perspective, it is that Krishna says in the next verse 15-14, aham vaishvanaro bhutva praninam deham asritah pranapanasamayuktah pachamyannam vichatarvidam. So, he says that he is the fire of digestion.
He is referring to it in a personalised way as Vaishvanara. But the point is that digestion or metabolism is a miraculous activity. When we eat food, we may be very proud, I worked so hard and I got my food.
But actually, the amount of work we get to, we do to procure our food is far lesser than the amount of work that goes inside us to digest the food. If we consider work as force into displacement, so then what that would mean is that actually we would have to, oh, if you know the alimentary canal, the peristaltic movement happens. So, there is a complicated amount of movement that happens and overall it requires a huge amount of work to digest the food.
So, we do not do that, we just eat food and we feel contented. But what is, who or what is doing the digestion, there are systems beyond our control. Now, as science is advancing, if a particular bodily limb does not function, we try to get some artificial substitutes for them.
We may get prosthetics if somebody’s arm or leg is damaged, we might have glasses if the eyes are weak, we may get hearing aids, we might get a pacemaker, we might get a dialysis unit. Now, many people have digestive problems and it is enquired, can we make artificial digestive machines? But the problem is digestion is such a hugely complicated mechanism that actually a digestive machine would be equal to a veritable factory, three miles long. It is not at all easy to make it.
So, all these complicated things that are happening, often below the radar of our awareness, they are sustaining our existence. And Krishna says if we can see these actions spiritually, then we can see them as the divine arrangement for our sustenance. Then even without looking for some special events in our life, even in the ordinary events of our life, we can perceive God’s existence, not just existence, His action in our life.
So, Krishna has talked about looking, seeing Him at various places, in the 10th chapter also he has talked about it, but 10th chapter was more of Vibhuti Yoga. Vibhuti Yoga means whatever is special and extraordinary in the world, we see that as a manifestation of the divine. Here, he is talking about whatever sustains us in this world, that is a manifestation of the divine.
In the 7th chapter also he talks about Rasoham Akshukante, like the taste of water and the ability in people. There he is talking about more of what is the essence of things as we experience them. That is a manifestation of Him.
So, in different chapters Krishna is talking about His interaction with matter or His manifestation in matter, but each chapter it is with a different emphasis. So, now we move on to not just at a physical level or a material level we could say God acts in our life, but He also acts at a psychological level in terms of inside our hearts. So, let us look at that part now.
So, here there are two aspects we can look at. As I said, normally our attention does not go to the ordinary. Our attention goes to the extraordinary.
Something special happens. If the same ordinary food is there every day, we eat it, we know that sustains us, but some special delicacy is there, maybe a dessert is there. Oh, that is nice.
Our attention goes there. So, at the same time actually the major nourishment, major nutrition may come from our ordinary food. So, first let us look at some extraordinary areas in which you can see God’s actions and then we can look at some more ordinary areas.
So, the inspiration is a phenomena that every one of us has experienced at some time or the other and there can be different degrees of inspiration. In some cases inspiration is a situation where we are battling with a complex problem for a long time and the answer comes suddenly and it comes in a complete form and it appears as if it is placed within us, as if by a source beyond us. And researchers, scientists have tried to deconstruct the phenomena of inspiration and Sadaput Prabhu, one of Srila Prabhupada’s disciples and devotee scientists, he wrote a paper on monograph on inspiration and he took some celebrated incidents of inspiration and he took at say the level of knowledge that that person had or humanity in general had of a particular issue was here and through inspiration it came here.
Now, the sheer amount of steps required from going from here to here, the cognitive leap was so huge it said even if the complete brain was involved in doing full-time processing, still it couldn’t have come from here to there in that, in those few moments. In fact, if you look at it from a historical perspective, what happens is that now we all have certain inspiration, maybe I should do this, maybe this is the way it should be done. We could be writing something, we’ll be composing something, we could be drawing something, usually in creative field inspiration comes out quite a bit.
So, we know this is the answer. Yes, this is it. We know intuitively the answer long before we have logically established it or practically experienced this truth or even experimented to verify it.
There is the, Gauss was a famous mathematician. So, we could look at some examples of inspiration. Now, Mozart was a famous music, as you know, phenomenal music.
Shakuntala Radevi is a prominent Indian mathematician, Indian mathematician, math expert. So, she can multiply 13-digit numbers and she can give the answer before a calculator completes it. Now, if she’s asked, how does she do it? She says, I just know, get the answer from, I know the answer.
Now, she is not going through a linear process of multiply this by this, put this figure here, carry it over, go there, but just comes. And we all, if we have particular areas we are good in, we just get it. Somebody might be good in language and just get the right word at a particular time.
Somebody is good at music and they read a particular maybe a verse that is to be sung. Just look at the verse and just get the right metre to sing it in. So, it comes to us from within.
Now, we could say this is talent. Yes, it is talent. But here we are not just talking about something which is done on a regular basis.
They might do it on a regular basis, but still within that doing something regularly also, there is something which comes so extraordinarily brilliant and so beyond the pale of what they normally do that it is difficult to explain. That is best illustrated, say, in the example of Gauss. So, he came up with some laws explaining electricity’s transmission.
And when he got those laws, he would have been battling for that to get an understanding of that for a long time. He got that understanding. And after that, he started using it.
He died. And several decades later, the logical proof for it came up. So, this is now he himself attributed his findings to God.
It was God’s action by which I was able to do it. It was God’s grace by which I got it. So, inspiration, when we get sudden flashes of insight, we can see that inspiration as the action of the super soul in our lives.
Now, just as it is there in our lives, we can see it in animals also. Animals have what is called as instincts. And instincts can be called as, can also be referred to as programmed intelligence.
So, instincts are often contrasted with impulses. Impulses means we suddenly act without thinking and usually impulses are anti-intelligent. They are unintelligent or they can be anti-intelligent also.
We do something foolishly. But instincts are with this programmed intelligence. We just know the right thing to do.
So, one of the most widely researched examples of this is bird migration. So, when birds migrate, it seems that they have intelligence so great that how could a tiny bird have this much intelligence to figure out where to go, where to come from, it is very difficult to know. Now, sometimes birds migrate not just across countries, they may migrate across continents and say they live in one particular continent, they go to another continent and not all birds have very long lifespans.
So, they may be living on a particular tree in this continent and they migrate to another place because the weather is more suitable there and they die over there. And then they have their children and children migrate back and when they come back, they stay on the same tree. They come back right to the same tree.
Now, how in the wild world would they know that it is the same tree? How they had never been there, they were not even born there. So, now we may say it is genetic. But that bird did not live, that bird’s ancestors might not have lived on the same tree, they might have lived somewhere else.
So, whether genes get modified by the environment, there is certainly some things which are passed down from the environment which we learn. There is conscious learning, there is unconscious learning. But even if we say, actually, this is just one example, there is much more there in that, actually, the sheer amount of information processing required.
How do the birds know how to fly? Say, oh, maybe, you know, there is some kind of, they have a compass in their brain, but their brain substance is more similar as ours. So, we do not have a compass. If we are just put in a no man’s land, we would not know where to go.
Some of us maybe have a better sense of direction than others, but none of us have that sense of direction which birds have. Say, oh, maybe they are able to, the sun’s reflection creates some things and, but okay, but they are able to do it even when it is completely clouded, they are able to do it even when it is dark. Okay, maybe they are relating with the earth’s magnetic field.
Now, we are not saying that science will not be able to find a material mechanism for doing it. Yes, some mechanism might be found, but the mechanism, the mechanical explanation does not contradict the personal explanation, that how did that mechanism come about? That is, we can see the hand of the divine guiding the lives of these birds, in general, of animals through the instincts that they manifest. And then, now we will look at the super soul’s role in our lives.
We will talk about 3 or 4 different cases. So, now we are focussing on Mattaha Smritir Gyanam Apohanam Chah. So, when I talk about Smritir Gyanam Apohanam Chah is, I give knowledge, I give remembrance and I give forgetfulness, Krishna is saying.
So, we talk about examples of knowledge as inspiration, knowledge as instinct. Now, let us look at this combination of knowledge, remembrance and forgetfulness. How does this work? So, at the bodily level, if we consider, when the soul leaves one body and goes to the new body, it is a completely different environment.
And yet we know at a basic level how to function in the particular body. Then, at least for humans, there is some training given by the parents, but for animals, the training is much lesser. In humans, both the mother and the father are quite actively involved in parenting.
The mother much more in most families, but in most other mammals, the parents are not involved at all. In some species, even the mothers are not involved. They just learn it.
So, how do we function in the particular body we have? That knowledge is given to us by the Supreme, from within the heart. And then whatever unfulfilled desires we had from a previous life, it is because of that we have got the particular body and we get that remembrance. Now, this body which we have got is a tool for us to fulfil those desires.
Now, when we use the word desire, it’s not necessarily a bad thing. It could be just a way to function in this world. So, some people may have a strong inclination towards music right from birth.
They were musicians. They were probably musically inclined in their previous lives. They practised some music.
They had more desire to do it. And that’s what they get in this life. So, we get remembrance.
Innately, we feel called to do certain things. Some of them may be good. Some of them may not be so good.
But whichever way, it is, we get that remembrance. And then forgetfulness refers to whatever is unrelated with that body and that desire. So, that helps us, prevents cognitive overload and cognitive dysfunction.
So, the idea is that we all need to function. If we can’t function, say at each moment, if we started remembering everything about a particular phenomena, say if we are talking with someone, and if while talking with them, each time we meet them, each time we look at their face, if we start recollecting all the interactions we had with them, we would get overloaded. We would not be able to function.
So, now think about it, that person you might know for a few years, maybe a few decades. But imagine everything that we saw, and we remember everything that we had from our previous lives also. It would be impossible to function.
So, forgetfulness is also a blessing. And when forgetfulness is there, that helps us to move on. In some cases, when people have traumatic experiences, then forgetting becomes difficult.
And then those traumas, they keep reliving them again and again. And eventually, when they are able to forget, they say, oh, forgetting is such a big blessing. So, this act of remembering and forgetting, we might say it happens by a conscious effort.
Now, by conscious effort, we can try to remember certain things, we can put in an effort to memorise certain things. So, this is a feature. So, just like somebody has a musical ability, there is something which is innate, and then they build on it.
And some people might be musically talented, and they become by building on it, they become very good. But the basic foundation is there already. Yes, we might be able to remember something more by practise.
Now, we can’t literally forget things by our conscious intention. But what we can do is we can redirect our consciousness. And if we don’t recollect things, gradually they will be forgotten.
So, this knowledge, remembrance, forgetfulness, it happens during transmigration. It happens during our daily functioning also. If we have certain habits, we have certain tendencies, we have certain talents.
Now, the knowledge of how to do many complex things that we do nonchalantly. As I said, child prodigies, sometimes they will be able to play a harmonium, they may be able to play a musical instrument, which even adults sometimes struggle to play, and just able to play it. Where is that knowledge coming from? So, even language, it’s actually an incredibly complex phenomena.
Why? Because when we speak, we modulate the tone, we choose the right word, we choose the right emphasis, we choose the right pause, so many things go on. And before that itself, we have a thought, and then we try to articulate the thought. And we do it nonchalantly.
Now, while I’m speaking, there are so many rules of grammar, there are so many subtleties of language that are incorporated into my speech, and not just my speech, into ordinary speech also, anybody does that. So, that knowledge is given to us by Krishna. We may have, of course, worked to cultivate that knowledge, but ultimately, we wouldn’t have been able to learn language if we didn’t have a basic capacity to learn.
And within all the knowledge that we have, how do we get access to the knowledge that we need at that time? So, what do I have to do at this particular time, that knowledge? Now, sometimes we consciously think and do things, but there are many things that happen unconsciously, and that’s how we are able to function. And similarly, there is forgetfulness, whatever distracts us. So, if I’m speaking right now in English, and while I’m speaking English, at the same time, in my mind, thoughts start coming, okay, what is the word for this in Hindi, what is the word for this in English, in Marathi, what is the word for this in Sanskrit, then unless I want to speak those, I could get distracted by them.
So, there is knowledge, we could say, is more of the reservoir of relevant information, wisdom, whatever we want to talk about. Remembrance is what we draw from it, and forgetfulness is what is withdrawn from it, withdrawn from our consciousness. So, this is constantly happening and enabling us to function, and it is the super soul doing that.
Now, what is the role of the super soul in our spiritual growth? Basically, now, the same things, remembrance, knowledge, and forgetfulness, if we consider, depending on what is our desire, if you want to enjoy sensual desires, we will get the remembrance of how, we will get the remembrance of the pleasure of enjoying. Oh, you enjoyed this, you enjoyed this food at this time, you enjoyed that particular TV show at that time. Oh, you enjoyed that particular act at that time.
And those desires will keep coming to us. And quite often, the consequences of enjoying will be forgotten. Oh, you wasted so much time, you felt so miserable after that.
And then the basic knowledge about how to go about enjoying, say somebody is an alcoholic, and they get an urge again. And now when they get the urge, oh, I want to drink, they might have gone, they might have embarrassed themselves by drinking too much and abusing alcohol and made a mess of things, lost money, but whatever, they forget all that. And then they might not even consciously plan it, you know, maybe if I go there, there are probably no friends over there, nobody will detect me.
Sometimes they may think consciously, sometimes they may not even think consciously, it will just happen. So, this knowledge, remembrance, forgetfulness is in reciprocation with our desires. So, now, if you have a desire to grow spiritually, then what we’ll remember is the joy of spiritual experiences.
And what we’ll forget is the pleasures of sensuality. We’ll forget the troubles, the austerities in spirituality. Oh, this joy is so fulfilling, I want it.
And our knowledge is, okay, if I want that, how do I go about serving Krishna? So, basically, remembrance, knowledge and forgetfulness, they happen very dynamically and reciprocally for us. And that’s how we are able to move on. And now, if you’re practising bhakti and we are still getting remembrances of past sensual indulgences, what that means is, right now, we just have to strengthen our devotional desire.
And as the desire becomes stronger and stronger, then at a particular time when we’ll come, when the remembrance itself will go away. And it has happened to us for many things. Some of us might have been eating meat before we started practising bhakti.
And now even if we see meat, we’re not tempted by it. So, that remembrance of the pleasure, remembrance of the enjoyment may not come. And that is not done by our effort.
That is done by divine grace. Just like every day, when we are tired and when we sleep. Now, sleeping is a very routine activity.
But how extraordinary it is, we realise when we are not able to sleep. Many times, if you’re not able to sleep, what happens? We might lie down in bed, there may be no noise around us, might close our eyes. But it’s the switch that turns off our consciousness so that we can go from wakeful state to sleeping state.
That switch is not in our control. So, even sleep is a gift of God. Similarly, forgetting is a gift of God, remembering is a gift of God.
Now, just because these things happen normally or effortlessly for us, that doesn’t mean that they are not having some higher arrangement behind them. So, thus, in our daily lives also, we can start seeing Krishna’s action dynamically. And of course, Krishna doesn’t reciprocate with our desires.
Krishna goes beyond reciprocating our desires also. Krishna’s presence inside is that He is not just our destination who exists in the spiritual world far away from us. He is also our companion.
He is present in our hearts. Suppose we take a flight, say we are in New York and we go to LA to meet someone. Now, we have not met that person and maybe we have not seen their photo, but we are eager to meet them.
And then somebody sits next to us in our flight and chat with them. But we are not, we are too eager to meet this person. And we get there, we go to the address, we knock on the door.
And when they open the door, we find that person, the same person was sitting next to us in our flight. But we didn’t know about them. And so we thought, we didn’t really regard them very much.
So, like that, we are on a journey, we are trying to go to Krishna, who is in the spiritual world. But actually, Krishna is right now next to us in our heart itself. So, Krishna, if we even have a little desire for serving Him, Krishna will magnify that desire.
If we have a little desire to offer our thoughts to Him, He will attract us. So, now when Krishna guides, in this verse, I said that there are two aspects. One is He is present in the Supersoul and the other is present in the Vedas.
So, actually, both of them are ways in which Krishna is guiding us. So, through scriptures, so Guru Sadhu Shastra basically externally is guiding us and internally as the voice of conscience is guiding us. Now, of course, not every voice that comes from within is God’s voice.
There can be the voice of our ego, of our mind also. That’s why we need education, purification and devotion. We need to study scripture to understand what God’s plan and purpose overall for life is.
Then we need purification so that the voices of, say, greed or anger or ego, they decrease, they are not so blatant or loud. And then when there is devotion, then that becomes our direct connection with Krishna. And then, Dadami Buddhi Yogantam Yena Maa Mupayanti Te.
Krishna says, I’ll give the intelligence by which you can come to me. Chittate Koriya Aikya. It is Chittate Koriya Aikya.
Inside us, they become one with our consciousness. So, the voice of the Lord, as it manifests externally through our guides and as it manifests internally through our inner guide, it all becomes one. And then our life journey becomes very clear and confident.
So, Krishna is actually very close to us. How close or how far is he from us? He’s just one thought away from us. He’s there in our hearts.
If you just turn to think about him, he is there. And we may think of practising bhakti is very difficult. I have to chant so many rounds.
I have to write so many books. I have to do so many activities. Ultimately, bhakti is just about offering Krishna one thought.
Just offering one thought and then after that offer one more thought. Actually, if we offer him one thought, he will give us many more thoughts about how to offer him many more thoughts. And then, in this way, gradually we become absorbed.
So, Krishna is always reciprocal. However, with a devotee, Krishna is reciprocal but not always proportional. We may take one step toward Krishna and he may take a hundred steps towards us.
We may offer one thought to him and he may give us a hundred thoughts about how we can remember him more, how we can become attracted to him more. And in that way, he is not just reciprocating at the basis of law. Okay, I am meant to be here.
I am functioning. He is personally there caring for us and he will help each one of us to become elevated, to become attracted to him and to ultimately attain him. So, Krishna’s presence is superfluous in our heart is for our sake.
He is, we could say, the personal avatar of Krishna for each one of us. And by looking at the dynamics of how the world functions externally, by looking at the dynamics of how our thoughts function internally, we all can see Krishna’s action around us, inside and outside, and thus become guided, inspired and guided to move toward him. So, I will summarise.
I spoke today on the topic of how to see Krishna’s action in our life. I talked about three broad sections that how to see Krishna’s action materially, how to see Krishna reciprocating with our desires. And lastly, how to see Krishna going beyond our desires.
So, first is, I talked about how Krishna sees our desires, how we can see his action materially. Our existence depends on many factors beyond our, beyond what is in our control. And as we grow from a newborn baby to adult, we realise how much those around us are doing for us.
So, the physical, the social, the environmental factors shape our existence. And as we grow, psychologically means we become aware of what others are doing, and we feel like reciprocating. And we go spiritually means our awareness goes beyond just the people around us to the ultimate Lord, the spiritual level of reality.
Let me talk about 15, 12, 13, 14, how it talks about Krishna sustaining us cosmologically, terrestrially, and physiologically, through the sun, through the floating of the earth, through gravity, through digestion, and through photosynthesis, for getting edible food, edible vegetation. And then we discussed what a super soul’s heart, super soul’s action in our life. We discussed that how instinct and inspiration are examples in animal and human species.
And then he reciprocates by giving us knowledge, remembrance and forgetfulness during transmigration from one life to another, during our functioning in life, in terms of habits, our tendencies, our desires. And then beyond that, he helps us, goes out of his way to reciprocate with us if we try to turn towards him. And if we have that strong desire, then he will give us the forgetfulness of whatever is undesirable.
So, forgetfulness, like forgetting, like sleeping, the switch is not in our control, it is in Krishna’s control. And then Krishna is just one thought away. He is present in our heart as a guide.
And he internally and scripture externally, they both guide us together, through education, through purification, through devotion. Both these voices will become one for us. And if you offer him one thought, he will offer us many more thoughts in return.
And that’s how we’ll be able to ultimately attain him. So, thank you very much. I can see there are some questions here.
I’ll keep a record of these questions. I’ll try to answer them tomorrow. Not tomorrow, next session, because today I have to rush for another class.
In about 10 minutes, I have a class and I have to go to the temple hall from here. So, thank you very much for your attention and participation. Hare Krishna.
Hare Krishna.