Bhagavatam-daily 217 – 11.11.22 – Krishna is not a judging God but an accomodating God

Although in the body is not in a body yadya anishodharitam mano brahmani nishchalam mayi sarvani karmani nirpeksha samacharam yadya anishodharitam if one is unable to fix the mind on dharitam fix mano brahmani nishchalam formally on krishna mayi sarvani karmani then one should work for him nirpeksha samacharam without trying to enjoy the fruits one should execute one’s work this is another level of injunction now krishna is giving this is in the 12th chapter of the bhagavad gita there is the challenge of how to best practice bhakti arjuna asked this question in the 12th chapter or how to connect with transcendence more specifically and krishna says best to connect with the personal aspect and then while connecting with the personal aspect krishna gives multiple levels for that connection and he states that if one cannot connect at the spiritual level then one can connect at the material level sorry that means if one can connect at the pure level one can connect at the mixed level also that means what he says over there he is repeating over here that it’s good if one can fix the mind on krishna entirely but if you can’t do that then yadya anishodharitam if one cannot fix the mind on krishna entirely then mano brahma nishchala it’s not possible then mayi sarvani karma nirpeksha samachala just work for me this is the level at which actually most people can practice and interestingly krishna is enjoining this while giving an analysis of how to transcend the modes so the point of this analysis is to elevate people progressively towards transcendence and such elevation is not possible without adequate purification and that purification involves working around one’s individual nature working using one’s own subhava in krishna’s service so here the essential point krishna is making is that there are no there is not a rigidity by which everyone has to do this and this only and nothing else that everyone has that means it’s not that everyone is expected to overnight become a pure devotee so actually yes pure devotion needs to be the aspiration of everyone but it’s not possible always to expect that as a realistic standard for everyone to follow so krishna recognizes that and therefore he says that if someone is not able to work if someone is not able to fix the mind on krishna then no problem it’s not that that’s the end of the world focus on working for krishna and herein we see the accommodating nature of krishna he is not really out to judge and condemn people krishna is not like say the he could say not just now he is certainly not at least in this section you see he is not in the mood of judging and sentencing people or even if some job interviewer is there and there are million people and say now million is too much but then there are some some prestigious jobs say there are thousand jobs and there are million people who apply for those jobs or there are thousand thousand people who apply and there are twenty five people who are going to be selected then most people are going to end up rejected but krishna’s interest is not in rejecting people now rather than considering like bhakti like a limited job opportunity forum you can see that krishna is presenting that as a hugely accommodating place so if you can’t do this do this if you can’t do this do this like that that’s what he shows in the bhagavad gita and that’s what he will show over here so krishna is not a judging god he is accommodating god and his purpose is not just to select the best and reject the rest his purpose is to accommodate everyone at a level of devotion that they are comfortable and to enable them to keep moving onwards towards krishna towards transcendental perfection at a pace that they find comfortable so that is vital for us to recognize the broadness the depth the sagacity and the magnanimity that is there in krishna’s message over here krishna’s heart is so magnanimous that he offers multiple levels of practice and similar so sometimes when very high standards of bhakti are emphasized and we find that we are almost finding it impossible to live up to those high standards then we don’t have to become discouraged and think that because i can’t live up to these standards so there is no hope for me rather we need to understand that yes there are multiple levels if i can’t practice at this level let me practice at this level and if i can’t practice at that let me practice at that level and essentially let me keep moving towards krishna at whatever pace i can that accommodating feature of krishna is very important to understand if we are to understand the multiple levels of religious and spiritual practice that are multiple modes and multiple levels of religious practice and spiritual practice that are found in the broad vedic plan of course krishna in this particular section so in that multiple levels of plan we could also accommodate demigod worship we could also accommodate impersonal worship and that is true but krishna is not talking about that here krishna is focusing here on bhakti but he is saying within bhakti also there are levels and we can practice bhakti at a level at which we are comfortable and by such practice we can keep moving onwards towards krishna till we ultimately attain him and in that way we move towards perfection so the accommodating nature of krishna is the greatest hope