Bhakti Shastri (047) – Bhagavad Gita Chapter 01 Text 37 to 46

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Srimad Bhagavad Gita Ki Jai Welcome So we will be discussing the last part of the Bhagavad Gita First chapter Starting from 1.37 And we will go to 1.46 today So let’s look at the sections Of the Bhagavad Gita Here we will see The Bhagavad Gita has two parts Observing the armies And Arjuna’s lamentation And in this We have The first reason was Compassion which we discussed Then after that the next reason is Enjoyment So compassion was Arjuna’s feeling How can I let my swajana die They are all going to die and they are all my relatives Then the next is enjoyment What will be the enjoyment for me If those with whom I would want to enjoy, they are all dead And then 36 is That’s what we discussed Sinful reactions These are Atatais, they are aggressors But they are also relatives And it is my duty to protect my relatives That’s the reason we will discuss And then 39-43 is destruction of family traditions And after that 44-45-46 last three are more or less He is saying that I cannot fight It is the conclusion of the chapter So let’s look at 36 onwards now So we will see that yadhyapetena pashyanti lobho pahata chetasa yadhyapetena pashyanti yadhyapetena pashyanti Arjuna is speaking over here 37th verse yadhyapetena pashyanti lobho pahata chetasa kulakshaya krtam dosha mitra drohe chapatakam katham nageyam asmabhi papad asmani vartitam kulakshaya krtam dosha mitra drohe prapasyat bhirjanarthana So this is the only verse in the Bhagavad Gita set of verses where the same line is repeated in successive verses So there are four parts So 37c and 37d are the same 37c is kulakshaya krtam dosha and 37d is also kulakshaya krtam dosha and there are other sections also in the Bhagavad Gita where parts of the verses are repeated.
For example the most famous example 9.34 and 18.65 9.34 is manmanabhav mad-bhakto mad-yaji mam namaskuru mam evaiśyasi bhaktvaivam ātmānāṁ mad-parāyanaḥ So actually 2.5 parts of the verses are the same in 18.65 manmanabhav mad-bhakto mad-yaji mam namaskuru mam evaiśyasi till here 2.5 parts of the verses are the same and then after that 2.5 out of 4 it is more than 62% of the verses are the same mam evaiśyasatyam te pratijāṇe priyauśi me So pratijāṇe priyauśi me actually what is being described here is that the verses are the same but import is more on in 9.44 emphasis is more on the devotee staying committed to practise of devotional service and 18.65 the emphasis is more on Krishna expressing His affection for the devotee and reassuring that the devotee will surely be protected So now in this case Arjuna is contrasting two people, the same line is used because he is contrasting two kinds of thought and their perception of the same event. So the event is kulakshaya krutam dosham. So kulakshaya, the destruction of kula destruction of dynasty, krutam those who do it, dosham they are faulty.
In fact destroying one’s dynasty itself is a fault. Now there are two different people, the Kauravas and the Pandavas who are perceiving this differently So Arjuna might be sensing that there is possible anticipation to his objection to his argument we will get sin if we kill these aggressors. Then if you don’t kill them they will kill you and that’s what they have been trying to do for so long Arjuna is also acknowledging that when in the previous verse he said they are aggressors So if they are getting they are going to kill then what to do? So he is saying that they are actually blinded.
Because they are blinded these people even if they are not able to see why are they not able to see? So lobha is greed apahata means abducted away their consciousness is abducted away by greed Duryodhana is blinded by greed and is not thinking of transgressing the kula dharma. He is meant to protect his relatives but he is out here to destroy the relatives. So that the dosha the fault of killing one’s relatives mithra drohe cha patakam mithra drohe cha patakam and what is the cause of this? Actually this is all resulted from quarrel, friendly quarrels actually.
Duryodhana the quarrels in Pandavas grew up as cousins. Of course they did not born as babies together. They were together for some time only after they had grown up a little bit so so Duryodhana actually there is a background to Duryodhana’s infatuation with the kingdom and his being a spoiled child.
Because Dhritarashtra was blind so Dhritarashtra did not become the king, Pandu became the king. Pandu went around and conquered the world got a lot of treasure but then his mind shifted he felt no longer any charm and world in the role of a king so he said that I want to go to the forest, to the foothills of the Himalayas and stay there in ascetic way of life so his wives felt that they could not live without him so both Kunti and Madari said that we will also come with you so then both of them went with him and at that time Pandu made Dhritarashtra the king. Not exactly the king but the in-charge like a regent.
So now when he was the king over there, acting king so at that time he got attached to the kingdom. He had more or less reconciled to the fate that he would never officially be the king but he was getting the honour of the king and then as Pandu was living in the forest at that time Pandu had no attachment to the kingdom but then he felt that I have a responsibility I have to make sure that the dynasty goes on and I have to beget children and then, it’s a long story but eventually the Pandavas were born and then later on after the birth of the Pandavas, this is when the Pandavas were staying in the forest only and Duryodhana along with his 99 brothers were born and they were staying in the palace here so now because Pandu had left more or less and there was no indication that he had given that he was coming back, so everybody in the palace thought that Duryodhana was going to become the next king and because he was the prince who was going to become the king he was pampered and spoiled and he got every single desire of his fulfilled and he became very proud, arrogant and very demanding because of becoming a spoiled child and although Bhishma saw the faults in him but he felt that he will outgrow those faults, so the child is going to become the king, so they indulged him quite a bit however, when the Pandavas came back so because of an unexpected misfortune Pandu passed away and Madri went with him in the funeral fire in Sati and then Kunti came back now when Kunti and the Pandavas came back, then they were welcomed back of course everybody was grief struck but after the mourning period was over, then they all welcomed the Pandavas and they found that the behaviour of Yudhishthir in particular and the Pandavas in general was a very pleasant contrast to the behaviour of Duryodhana in particular and the Kauravas in general the Kauravas were hofty, the Pandavas were gentle, the Kauravas were insensitive, the Pandavas were very sensitive the Kauravas were demanding the Pandavas were accommodating the Kauravas were would care only for themselves the Pandavas would care for others and the Kauravas were ungodly the Pandavas were godly so because of this contrast soon the Pandavas became became endear to the citizens, the courtiers and Bhishma Pitamah also everyone fell in love with the Pandavas and as this progressed Duryodhana started resenting it he said I was the centre of attention, so Duryodhana realised that not only was he no longer the centre of attention but even his future claim as a king was threatened so he felt as if the Pandavas had usurped his claim to the kingdom he had expected to become the king but now the Pandavas had come back and because Yudhishthira had been born earlier than Duryodhana so Yudhishthira’s claim was there and anyway Pandu was being the king so his son would normally have become the king but even if there had been some conflict because Yudhishthira was the older brother but among the next generation Yudhishthira was older so from that time onwards Duryodhana nursed envy and greed in his heart and because of that he felt practically no affection for the Pandavas, he felt only anger, only envy and he wanted the kingdom at all costs so actually although the Pandavas were brothers of the Kauravas as cousins but Duryodhana never saw them as brothers, he saw them as enemies enemies whose downfall humiliation and destruction became the goal of his life and as he was living in this way he did conspiracy after conspiracy and finally now there is a final confrontation so Arjuna is thinking that Duryodhana has been blinded and his brothers also similarly are blinded but although they are not able to see actually they were cousins they were friends, they were cousins childhood they could have grown as friends but Mitradroha, the quarrel and that quarrel had grown, grown, grown and had become intolerable they are blinded they are blinded but we know we are so when we know that so when we know the we know the fault of destroying our dynasty we are able to see so there is a contrast between and and is in 37b and there he is saying that they are not able to see so there is and here there is so the same word is there they are not able to see but we can see so when we can see how can we engage in the sinful activity we can see and because we can see we must not engage in this sinful activity so Arjuna is taking the high moral ground over here and he is saying that even if it is true that the Kauravas are blinded by greed, we are not blinded and even if they do wrong we should not do wrong so we should seek and not act accordingly and when Arjuna is thinking that yes because we will get we can see this is Paap and because we can see it is Paap we will get the reactions more and they are doing Paap but they are blinded so they can’t see it is Paap they will also get the reactions but when we can see that the reactions are coming why should we do it now as he is thinking about the fault of destroying the dynasty another thought comes in his mind he starts thinking not just in terms of the next life what is going to happen to them when they get the sinful reactions he starts thinking what will happen to the dynasty itself after this generation what will happen to the successive generations he starts thinking that there will be chaos over there also so his thought is now is fourfold first he thinks, first question is compassion why should my relatives die then second question is that if my relatives die how will I enjoy and he starts thinking now this is in this lifetime or this is in the present or in the near future they will all die, why should they die I love them, how can I let them die how can I be the cause of them dying then if they die how will I enjoy that is also in the near future now after that he is thinking about a slightly more distant future of their next life he says we will get the Paap and get the reactions how will we deal with this and now he starts thinking apart from us what is the legacy that we will leave what will happen to our dynasty he talks about it in the next verse he talks about what will happen in this life after the dynasty is destroyed when the dynasty is destroyed so along with that what will happen the Kula Dharma will be destroyed so Kulaksha is destruction of family and then Kula Dharma means every dynasty has its own duties they are Dharma and that will also be destroyed now here there is a sort of antithesis or contrast over here he is using the word Pranashyanti which refers to destruction and Sanatana that which is eternal so how can that which is eternal be destroyed so actually that which is eternal can’t be destroyed and that which is destroyed is not eternal so here Arjuna is overcome by illusion and he is thinking that the Kula Dharma is a Sanatana Dharma the Kula Dharma is not Sanatana for the Atma it is only the Bhakti the Seva Dharma, the Bhakti Dharma that is Sanatana so in that sense that actually Kula Dharma is not Sanatana but at the same time Kula Dharma is important because in the Vedic culture there are two levels of Dharma there is Apara Dharma and there is Para Dharma Apara Dharma is subordinate religion lower religion Para Dharma is superior religion, supreme religion so Apara Dharma is also important for the spouses to be faithful to each other for the parents to take care of the children for the children to care for their elderly parents for relatives to care for each other this is also Dharma this Kula Dharma one has to do this because that is also a part of our not just familial duties but it is also a part of our Apara Dharma level of duty so Kula Dharma Sanatana it is not Sanatana in the sense that it is not the eternal nature of the soul but some kind of obligation has to be there in life some kind of dutifulness has to be there in society for the society to go on so when people’s lives are destroyed what will happen? so when the Kula Dharma is destroyed so Kula Dharma is important and there has to be some kind of Kula Dharma in society so in that sense it is also eternal eternal in the sense as long as creation is there some kind of Kula Dharma is there that may be according to scripture that may not be according to scripture that is different but when Dharma when that Dharma which is according to scripture which was there at the time of Pandavas Adharma then Adharma will rise so actually in the world Dharma and Adharma are always in a conflict Dharma and Adharma are always in a conflict and Dharma is always under attack from Adharma and if Dharma becomes weak if Dharma is destroyed then immediately Adharma will take over this happens in our heart this happens in society this happens all over the world not just all over the world it happens all over the universe not just all over the universe it happens all over all the universes there is always a battle between Dharma and Adharma so now Adharma will become predominant now for us Dharma and Adharma may just be concepts and okay what are social consequences what will happen if Adharma becomes predominant then he describes the next one Adharma bhivavat Krishna pradushyanti kulastriya shri shudhishtha shivarshneya jayate varna sankarha so Adharma bhivavat Krishna when there is no Dharma then pradushyanti kulastriya that the striya the women who are in the Kula they will be pradushyanti they will become contaminated they will become polluted and when they are polluted shri shudhishtha shivarshneya Krishna is a descendant of the Vrishni dynasty so he is called as Varshneya shri shudhishtha shivarshneya jayate varna sankarha then varna sankarha will be born this is a very deep thought which we may not think about with our current conceptual and cultural framework actually in the Vedic culture bringing forth good dynasty good progeny and continuing the dynasty is considered a very important responsibility and for that purpose having good marriages and having healthy families is important now if when the Dharma is not protected what does that mean it can happen in various ways here the Kshatriyas are going to fight and Kshatriyas will kill each other when the Kshatriyas are killed unscrupulous men will assume power and when they assume power they will exploit the women and when they exploit the women from that what will happen is varna sankarha will be born so what is varna sankarha it is unwanted progeny now what do we mean by unwanted progeny nowadays people think unwanted progeny means oh you know we did some birth control but then the baby we didn’t expect came up and then we decided that we couldn’t do abortion so the child was born so people think unwanted child means that you do some birth control and when birth control doesn’t work and the child comes out that is unwanted but that is not the context of Krishna and Arjuna at the time 5000 years ago unwanted progeny means actually progeny with poor consciousness progeny with degraded mindsets so actually it is a profound science about how children are born that science is not just material even from material point of view how the sperm through the semen enters and then impregnates the woman and then how the embryo grows and how from that a child is born it is a fascinating science how from one small cell a whole human being like you and me is born it is actually miraculous it is a miracle that only God can do and he does it repeatedly and all of us are miraculous all of us means our bodies at least so it is quite a miraculous process but here the talk that is over here is about the contact how the consciousness of the soul is determined by the consciousness of the couple during their contact during their union so it is described in the Vedic scriptures that the kind of souls that impregnate the mother through the sperm they are determined by certain important factors and those are the consciousness of the mother and the father so if they are completely in the throes of passion then because they are in the throes of passion then a passionate soul is attracted over there if they are in ignorance there is a European music star who said that most people are born over a bottle of whisky on Saturday night so that is how it is Varna Sankar most people people just get along for fulfilling their carnal desires and then they so begetting of children is just a side product of that so when that is the case then it actually leads to leads to souls of degraded consciousness appearing when souls of degraded consciousness appear at that time it is very difficult for them to be regulated now we wonder actually the souls are going to be born somewhere or the other if souls need body they are going to get the body so what is the difference this is like saying that actually there are going to be criminals so why not criminals be there in my house who will want criminals in my house or my city sometimes when a person is very when a citizen is very troublesome the citizen may be executed or if not executed he may be exiled so exile is one level below execution you are a troublemaker we don’t want you in our kingdom so now it is not our problem that where all the souls who are there where they should get the bodies our problem is how we can liberate ourselves and how we can liberate others those who are our dependents those who are our progeny and while we are liberating them then how we can further also do good in the world while we are here follow dharma and do good here as much as is possible but when there are children with low consciousness then it becomes very difficult to maintain any kind of order in society so actually when the man and the woman unite in a prayerful consciousness after having a new prayer it is called Garbhagan Sanskar then actually a wonderful child is born from there now the purport of Shri Prabhupada can be here quite provocative and inflammatory from the point of view of today’s cultural milieu he quotes Chanakya Pandit that women are less intelligent and according to Chanakya Pandit women are generally not very intelligent and therefore not trustworthy so now what is this blanket statement they are not very intelligent how do we understand this statement so there are various ways of looking at it now if we look at is this referring to spiritual intelligence actually as souls, the souls neither male nor female at least not the gender doesn’t apply to the soul so the same soul can today be in a male body or tomorrow in a female body and vice versa so therefore it is not that the soul is less intelligent then is the body less intelligent is this referring to material intelligence are women less intelligent at material level we may say that actually when women are given career opportunities they excel in so many fields they are often the toppers in schools and colleges and they excel in so many fields so how are they less intelligent so if materially we don’t find women to be less intelligent spiritually we don’t find the souls to be different levels of intelligence then where is this referring to actually it is referring to the interaction of soul and body see the word intelligence is used in a different sense in different contexts in different cultures we often use intelligence in terms of our capacity to manipulate to control organise matter IQ scores are basically to organise concepts so that is one understanding of intelligence however in the Vedic context intelligence refers to understanding the fundamental truths of life and those truths of life are I am not the body I am the soul that is the beginning ABC of spiritual life so generally speaking in the female body the bodily misidentification is far greater than in the male body because for a woman practically speaking her whole sense of self worth and self identity comes from the body how good do I look how many heads do I turn how many people do I attract so that is a very important in fact defining in many ways criteria for a woman’s self conception and of course once a person becomes a devotee things may change but the important point is that the body bodily misidentification is much stronger in a female body and not only that along with that there is certain level of in the female body the sentimentality is more than the rationality that is not necessarily bad Prabhupada says that women can become devotees more easily they have a tendency to accept God and bow down to God and they can practise devotional life more easily but we have that sentimentality can also lead to them being misguided so people can speak some sweet words to them and tell them how beautiful you are and flatter them and then exploit them so the sentimentality is there and the counter balance in the sentimentality there has to be rationality and the rational faculty is more relatively speaking in men and the rational faculty is foundational for philosophical enquiry metaphysical study and that is actually the in one sense the beginning of serious spiritual search so here the context is from the point of view of these two things greater bodily misidentification that’s why less intelligent and because there is the female body itself psychology has a greater level of sentimentality than rationality that’s why it is said that women are not to be trusted. Now if you see these are statements which are which are given but along with that we also understand there are exceptions so the exceptions also have to be understood carefully and especially this is not applied to women.
Sometimes Prabhupada used an argument that actually the female brain is smaller than the male brain and that proves that women are less intelligent than men so now subsequent research has shown that that is not always true. First of all there are several problems with this argument that firstly whether the brain size itself is indicative of intelligence. It is not necessary that just because a person has a big brain that means that person has big intelligence secondly the brain size also is dependent on the overall body size so in general males have a bigger body than females so naturally the whole body is bigger then the brain will also be bigger so both ways whether the bigger brain size correlates with the bigger intelligence and whether males have a bigger brain than females that is not very clear and if you take the proportions then it turns out that actually women can have bigger brains than males so then what is Prabhupada using this argument for? See in general we have to understand that there is Pratyaksha, Anuman and Shabda Janaki Pandit’s words are actually not Shabda Prabhupada quotes him as a moral and social authority.
Prabhupada practically never quotes him as a spiritual authority he never quotes him as a authority for Atma Gyan, for Bhagavad Gyan. He talks about him for social purposes. So now he is not infallible even his words are not infallible like scripture because Janaki Pandit is not considered an incarnation or anything like that so anyway the point is Prabhupada quotes him.
So there is some authority over here but the important point to recognise is that actually when the scriptures are quoting such statements at that time when Prabhupada is quoting such statements and he is giving some examples. So the examples are contextual and examples are based on Pratyaksha and Anuman so actually if Prabhupada was in his college, he was studying in Scottish Church College and in Scottish Church College his Christian professor he made a statement that actually women are less intelligent because a female brain is smaller than a male brain. Now that was the belief, scientific belief at that time.
Now Prabhupada is quoting that scientific belief in his purports. So now that means this knowledge which Prabhupada is quoting is not coming from Shastra. It is coming from his Pratyaksha and Anuman.
So in an Acharya you can learn something from Shastra and then the Acharya may use Pratyaksha and Anuman to substantiate that point. Now Pratyaksha and Anuman are necessarily unreliable. Not necessarily unreliable since they always be false but they are necessarily not always reliable.
They can go wrong and that’s why now Prabhupada quotes the scientific authority of his time. That scientific authority is no longer an authority. Somebody else is saying something else.
So we have to understand that the principles are eternal, the examples are contextual and examples may change. So when Prabhupada uses this kind of arguments we have to understand that actually it is not the principle, it is the centrality. We have to differentiate between the principles that come from scripture and the examples that come from the context.
So Vishal Prabhupada was in Philadelphia and at that time he was talking to some journalists and then this whole topic of women being less intelligent came up. So one of the Matajis, Vishakha Mataji, she came there and Rameshwar was the president of the temple. So he was there with Prabhupada, he tells this anecdote and he says that the Matajis asked, Prabhupada, the men are telling that we women are less intelligent because our brains are less.
Is that true? So Prabhupada smiled widely and he said when you chant Hare Krishna your brain becomes bigger. So don’t worry. So what does it mean? The point was Prabhupada was, now if somebody asks does it increase the size of the brain? Prabhupada was not using this as a serious argument.
Prabhupada, there is certain thing which you quote in Shastra, certain thing which you quote in conversations. So Prabhupada’s point here was that actually if one becomes a devotee one’s intelligence expands because one starts understanding that I am not the body and the soul. One starts understanding metaphysical concepts and using those metaphysical concepts.
So in the scriptures the general point is that there is a social arrangement in which both male and female contribute, both male and female cooperate and both male and female make spiritual advancement. So here the central point is that Pradushyanti Kulastriya, if women are unprotected, the protection is not just in terms of males having physical, providing the physical protection, but it is also in terms of religious arrangements. Now if, and this principle applies not just for women, it applies for everyone actually.
Now we will see that if we have unstructured time, if we have a lot of time in our hands and nothing to do, then our mind starts going towards lower activities. So same happens with women also. So when there is proper social arrangement filled with the facility to practise dharma, then, then actually it becomes easy to practise dharma.
Otherwise it becomes difficult and then when there are temptations always there, temptations can drag people down. So Krishna, Arjuna is foreseeing future consequences saying that in this way when the women become polluted there will be Varna Sankara, there will be degraded population that will come up. Let us see what is said next.
So Sankaro Narakayaiva So Varna Sankara, when they grow up, they actually are uncultured and they create a life that is hellish. Narakayaiva. So for whom do they do this? They do this for the people who have destroyed the family and for that particular dynasty also.
Because what happens is, they are going to populate the world. And when they populate the world, they will disrupt everyone. Not just their family, not just their opponent’s family.
Because they are uncultured, they are uncontrolled, they will disrupt everyone. And then what happens? Arjuna is seeing much further also. So we see Arjuna is a very thoughtful person.
And he is thinking in terms of long term consequences here. What will happen because of this is, the ancestors will fall. Patanti pitaro The pitaras are the ancestors.
The ancestors will fall. So, lupta means stopped for them. Pinda udakriya.
Pinda is offering of food. Udaka is offering of water. Kriya, those rituals.
So actually, in the Vedic culture, it is described that people who do extraordinary punya, they go to Swarga. People who do average punya, they go to Pitraloka. It is expected, it is not that all of one’s ancestors always have to go to Pitraloka, but it is generally expected that one’s ancestors, if they are living a reasonable life of Dharma, they will go to Pitraloka.
And generally, it is expected there is an intergenerational pious connection that is established through the rituals of Pinda udakriya. This intergenerational connection is that the ancestors have given birth to us. The ancestors have given us everything that we have.
Now we have to do something for them. What is that? When we do punya over here, then that punya contributes to their continued existence over there. Generally, only the earth is the arena where we can do punya and paap.
Other areas are the places where we are simply exhausting the punya if we are in Swarga, and we are exhausting the paap if we are in lower regions like Naraka. So, if the descendants on earth keep doing the punya of Pinda udakriya, then the Pitras can stay in their higher abodes. But if they don’t do, then look, patanti pitra hoyesha, then the ancestors fall down.
So Arjuna is thinking not just of here, he is talking about ancestors also. What will happen to them? They will all fall away. And this way he is envisioning devastation everywhere.
So, Prabhupada writes that this kind of rituals have to be performed for those who are non-devotees. But for those who are devotees, such help rendered to forefathers is a family tradition, and those who are not in devotional service are required to perform such rituals. So, that means, we have multiple debts.
Ultimately, whatever, whoever is doing for us, it is Krishna doing for us through that person. Whoever is doing anything for us, when a mother feeds a child breast milk, at that time, who is feeding the breast milk? Actually, mother is feeding, no doubt, but the mother doesn’t produce the breast milk. How does the breast milk come at that time in the breast? Actually, it is the Supreme Lord who has sent a soul in the mother’s womb and is waiting for the soul to come out of the mother’s womb, is now sending breast milk in the mother’s breast also.
So, similarly, whoever is doing whatever for us, it is ultimately Krishna doing for us. This doesn’t mean that we neglect those people, we appreciate them, we value them because they are the instruments through which Krishna’s grace, Krishna’s kindness, Krishna’s love is coming to us. So, normally, if a person has to reciprocate, whatever we get from someone, we have to give to that person.
So, we have all these rinas. So, it is described over here. Prabhupada quotes the Bhagavatam verse, 11.5.41 So, we have debts to all these people.
We have debts to the devatas. Devatas, they give us the necessities of life. We will discuss in the third chapter of the Bhagavad Gita.
They give us anna. Then rishis, they give us spiritual knowledge. They give us the Vedic scriptures by which we understand how to live and why to live.
Then bhuta-apta, nrnam, pitrnam. So, bhuta are general living entities, apta is the relatives, nrnam are the human beings, other human beings, and pitrnam, the ancestors. So, we take things from all of them and we are expected to give some things in return.
So, there are these three yajnas. So, devatas, how do we, there are these three primary debts and others fall in that. What are the dev-yajna, pitra-yajna and rishi-yajna.
So, we have to do these three duties. For the devatas, there is the karma-karna like agnihotra, another sacrifice has to be performed for devatas. Then for the rishis, there is svadhya-yajna that is performed.
So, the svadhya is self-study. They have given the scriptures, so we study and submissively under them and learn. That is the way we repay the debt to them.
And then for the pitras, there is the pindodaka-kriya, there is the shraddha that is performed. And in this way, we do duties to all of them. Of course, shraddha is not enough.
We also have to continue the dynasty by maintaining its prestige and maintaining it through progeny also. So, all these are duties. And apart from that, there is also bhuta-apta-nana.
Prabhupada’s father, when he had a cloth shop, he would make sure that in the cloth shop, he would keep some food right in the middle of the shop, so that if some rats come, instead of biting the cloth, they will take the food. It was not just to avoid them from biting the cloth, but he felt, yes, they are living, they should get some food. So, we have duties towards other human beings also.
So, we give charity sometimes to them. And especially relatives, there is a relationship. So, we are expected to help relatives.
So, all these are duties. nakinkaro nayam runi charajan. But, if somebody starts serving the supreme lord, nayam runi, one is not a runi, one is not a debtor to all these people, if sarvatmanaya sharanam charanyam, that lord who is the ultimate shelter of everyone, if one takes shelter of that lord, who is that? gato mukunda pariratya kartam.
So, if one surrenders to that lord wholeheartedly, then one is not obligated to anyone else. One simply serves Krishna and all other debts are taken care of. So, how does this work? We have a vertical relationship with Krishna.
We are here, Krishna is here. We have vertical relationship with Krishna. And then we have horizontal relationship with various other living beings.
Within that, the devatas may be higher. Devatas are higher. So, it’s a vertical within the horizontal.
And then we have our young ones. These are downwards, vertical, within the horizontal. But, overall, all of them are in the same level.
They are all living entities. So, now, all of them have done something for us. So, we expect to do something for them.
But, we understand that actually all of them are giving Krishna’s love to me. They are showing Krishna’s care to me, even if they are not aware of it. It is Krishna who is caring for me through them.
Then, when I understand that and decide to devote myself to Krishna alone, directly, then I am no longer obligated to all of them. So, those who become devoted to Krishna and serve Krishna vertically, directly, wholeheartedly, undistractedly, then they are not obligated to do their other duties. That’s the idea over here.
So, now, Prabhupada is saying, Arjuna is not thinking from a devotee point of view. Arjuna is thinking from the Kshatriya point of view, Kshatriya and a Kula point of view. He is saying, I have my duty to my Kula.
How can I let all of them be destroyed? So, then he says, doshair etai kulabhinanam varnasankarakarakai utsadhyante jatidharma kuladharma shashashvataha doshair etai kulabhinanam So, because of the fault of these whole destroyers of kulabhinanam, so what happens is they give birth to varnasankara. When they give birth to varnasankara, utsadhyante jatidharma that the jati, you know, there is varna and there is jati. Varna is caste and jati is like a sub-caste.
So, those are every, within the caste also there are different kinds of, different levels of people and they also have their specific duties. Utsadhyante, disrupted, devastated, Prabhupada says. kuladharma shashashvataha So, again he is saying, oh, this shashashvataha, kuladharma is also shashashvataha.
Actually, kuladharma is not shashashvataha, but is long-lasting and it is maintained, it is meant to be maintained so that generation after generation, people’s material well-being can also be taken care of. So, Arjuna is seeing in the long-term and saying, all this will be destroyed and when all this is destroyed, then there will be people who will be upset. People, so many generations will get disrupted by that.
So, do I want to be the consequence of this? So, he is thinking that it is not only just the killing of aggressors that I will be responsible for. If our actions lead to a chain of chain reaction, then we are responsible for that also. For example, if somebody sets fire to a house and the intention was only one room in the house should get burnt and that person should die, but that fire spreads and a hundred people in that particular building are killed, then that person will be held guilty for arson and that arson will not just be for that one person.
He wanted to kill one, but he has ended up killing so many. So, he is thinking that if I fight this war and I kill all these people, then I will kill not only this person, not only kill my opponents over here, but I will kill everyone. Everyone in the sense that generation after generation I will be having, I will be the cause of, a part of the cause of destruction and devastation.
I will be responsible. That’s what he speaks in the next words. utsanna kula-dharmanam manushyanam janardhana narake nitham vaso bhavati ityanu shushruma So, now Krishna is being referred to by the name Janardhana repeatedly in this section.
Why? Because he is saying that you are the protector of people. You are Janardhana. Why are you letting such destruction happen, O Krishna? So, utsanna kula-dharmanam and kula-dharma is destroyed, manushyanam janardhana.
You know, for people. Then what happens to a person? narake nitham vaso. Forever such a person will have to stay in hell.
And what? bhavati ityanu shushruma I have heard this from authorities anushushruma. So, Arjuna is not quoting his own reasoning over here. He is actually saying that I am quoting authority.
I have heard from authority that those who cause devastation, they will have to suffer hellish consequences. So, Arjuna is also using his reasoning, but his reasoning is based on scripture. Later on, of course, we will see that scripture has multiple levels of teaching.
Arjuna’s reasoning is not at the highest level of scripture. It is at intermediate level. So, but he is also relying on authority.
bhavati ityanu shushruma. And then one important point is Arjuna is talking about narake nitham vaso. He says, the person will have to go to hell.
Now, actually the reference to hell and going to hell raises the question that actually, that means Arjuna knows that I am not the body and the soul. Because who is going to go to hell? The body is going to be destroyed. So, who will go to hell? There has to be some part of us which will go to hell and that part is the soul.
So, that means Arjuna is not entirely unaware of spiritual knowledge. He is not entirely unaware of afterlife. But the problem is that that afterlife is still based on a material conception.
Somebody can have the idea that I can go to I will have a next life. But just knowing that there is a next life doesn’t necessarily purify us. Doesn’t necessarily make us detached.
Doesn’t make us attached to Krishna. Doesn’t make us spiritually attached. Because one has to have a material conception of life.
So, for example, there are jihadis within Islam. There is a particular misinterpretation of Quran that is circulating. And there the jihadis, the children who grow up, the young boy, they are told that if you lay down your life and become a jihadi, fight for Allah and if you die fighting for Allah he says you will go to Jannat and in Jannat you will enjoy 73 virgins for all of eternity.
So, now this is actually a distortion of what the Quran is teaching. But the point is that what is the attraction in Jannat? The attraction is not that you will go to Allah and you will live with Allah and you will serve Allah. Actually, even if they are doing something like this, their goal is what? They are doing this not for love of Allah.
They are doing it for love of virgins. So, this is a complete distortion of the teaching of Quran. But the point is that this is a material conception of religion.
So, the idea is there can be this worldly materialism and there can be otherworldly materialism. So, just being otherworldly doesn’t necessarily make one spiritual. One may think, oh, next world.
It’s spiritual. No, not necessarily. It cannot be spiritual.
It can be material also. There is a famous Christian author who wrote a series of novels about a serious level, very famous theologian and very brilliant in many ways. But still, he was limited by his reasoning and his abilities were limited by the narrow and shallow conceptions that were prevalent as per the Biblical understanding at his times.
So, he wrote a series of novels called the books Narnia Travels and then he described that everybody went back to heaven. And when they reached heaven, they all saw that heaven was just like London. Heaven was just like London.
So, what is the idea there? The idea is that heaven is just like a continuation of this worldly life, but without the problems of this worldly life. It’s a very superficial understanding of what next life, next worldly life is. So, just believing in a next life doesn’t necessarily make one spiritual.
What makes one spiritual is understanding the difference between the body and the soul. And rising to a spiritual level of consciousness. So, Arjuna has awareness of a next life.
And in that sense, he has understood that there is some component of me which will continue on, which will go to hell. But the focus is still on the material conception of life. And Narake, Niyata, Ambaso.
Now, actually Niyata here is not eternal in the sense of literally eternal. It is saying that forever. Actually, nobody stays in hell forever.
Actually, the concept of eternal damnation, that is not there in the Vedic scriptures. It is there in some religions like Christianity, Islam. Those who don’t follow Jesus or Mohammed, in this life they’ll go to hell.
And they’ll go to hell and burn in the fires of hell forever. So, this is their idea. Now, here Niyata is used in a non-literal sense.
That is for a very long time. Very, very long time the person will have to suffer in hell. And he is thinking, I have to suffer like this.
Why? Because I am going to cause such suffering to people. Therefore, I must not do this. And Arjuna is saying that, now, after concluding his arguments, he’ll move forward.
And he is saying that, he is lamenting at what are you doing. What a great sin we are doing. He is lamenting at us.
How strange, how sad it is. We have resolved to do. We have decided.
And why are we doing this? Out of the greed for of being the owners of the kingdom. So, he is saying that, just as Duryodhana was blinded, similarly, we have also become blinded. We have decided to kill our own relatives.
So, see, how many times Arjuna is using the word swajana. Earlier, it was dhatarashtra, durbuddhir, but now it has become swajana. So, the whole conception, the frame of thinking has changed.
And what has caused the change? It is the attachment. It is the bodily conception. It is the material illusion.
Oh, alas! How have we decided to kill everyone? He is lamenting. And now, he will express his resolution. Now, Prabhupada explains that Arjuna is conscious of his moral principle.
He does not want to avoid sinful. He does not want to do any sinful activities knowingly. And now, he starts thinking, what is the alternative for me? If I am not going to fight, then what will happen? Actually, they are not going to stop fighting.
He says, okay, I will die. I will die without fighting, but I will not fight. That is what he says in this verse.
apratikaram That, if I don’t do any pratikar. Pratikar means reaction. If they attack and I don’t respond to their attacks.
Not only will I not respond to their attacks, I will put down my weapon also. Normally, two warriors should not fight with each other unless they are both equipped. That is the normal Kshatriya code.
That is religious warfare. So, actually, when the Quran talks about jihad, essentially, there is holy war and unholy war. So, war that is meant for protecting one’s religious principle, that is considered holy.
And war that is for personal aggrandisement, war that is non-essential, is considered unholy. So, that is, the difference is there. But anyway, even with the conception of religious war, the idea is that the battle has to be fought among equals.
So, terrorism, which is what the jihadis do, that is completely antithetical to the idea of holy war. Normally, when Kshatriyas fight, the Kshatriyas have to be equal, they have to be equipped, and they have to be alert. So, if one Kshatriya has got a weapon, the other doesn’t have.
You cannot just go and kill him. Actually, as I discussed, it is like a sport. Both are exhibiting their skills, exhibiting their prowess, and who will let the stronger person prevail? It is like that.
That is the mood. So, they fight. Both have to be equal.
So, equal means that a chariot warrior should not fight with a foot soldier. Both of them should be equal, both of them should be equipped, and both of them should be alert. It is not that that person is looking somewhere else and you shoot from behind.
Now, if we see, terrorism is the exact opposite of that. The victims of the terrorists, they are not equal, they are not equipped, and they are not alert. So, it is completely unholy, it is ghastly.
It is horrible, it is a terrible ugra karma, this kind of terrorism. But, he is saying, even if they act like terrorists, I am Ashastram. I give up my weapons, but they Ashastrapan.
Okay, I will be slaughtered. But he says, that will at least be for just one lifetime. I will suffer a little bit when I die, but at least I will avoid sin.
And if I have avoided sin, then I won’t have to suffer for a long, long time because of sinful reactions. So, tanmik shemata rambhaved I think this is better for me. I think this is better.
And he puts it aside. And he says, I will not fight. That is what the resolution is.
And with this resolution, the conclusion of the last verse comes, of this chapter comes. Now, here the scene has shifted back. And Arjuna has stopped speaking.
So then, Sanjaya starts speaking, reporting what is happening. Because when there is speech, Sanjaya is speaking. But when there is action, Arjuna is not speaking the action.
Arjuna is doing something. So, the speech has stopped. So then, Krishna, Sanjaya speaks over there.
evamuktva arjuna sankhe rathopastha upavishad nisrijya sasaram chaapam shokasam vigna manasaha evamuktva, having spoken like this, arjuna sankhe. So, sankhe means in the battlefield. After speaking thus, rathopastha upavishad Arjuna sat down.
When he sat down, rathopastha upavishad. And, that means, a warrior sitting down itself is indicating that he is not fighting. That is not clear.
nisrijya sasaram chaapam He put aside his bow. shokasam vigna manasaha His mind became filled with gloom. How can I fight? What can I do? So, actually, the Bhagavad Gita is definitely a historical event.
The war did take place. At the same time, there is also a deeper significance which applies universally. So, Prabhupada also says that that in the first initiation ceremony that took place, Prabhupada said that one of the first initiation ceremonies says that now you should not lament because you have given the reins of your chariot to Krishna.
So, Prabhupada is saying the body is like a chariot and Krishna is looking like the chariot here. So, the symbolic meaning is not wrong if it is not supplanting, replacing the literal meaning. But it can supplement the literal meaning.
That means if it gives a further illumination, then that is perfectly okay. So, Arjuna’s Gandiva bow, appraised Gandiva bow represents the living entity’s determination to serve Krishna. So, Arjuna had come with the Gandiva bow appraised, determined to serve Krishna.
But by prateksha and Hanuman, by observing and then inferring based on that observation, he lost his determination and he put aside the bow. The same happens with us. When we look at the world and we try to do our own reasoning, we start getting doubt.
Does God exist? Does God care? Why should I serve God? I don’t do practical things in this world. And prateksha and Hanuman eat away our determination. So, Arjuna put aside his bow.
Whereas, Shabda revives our determination. Shabda nourishes our determination. So, that’s what will happen to Arjuna.
He will turn to Krishna. Krishna will speak. And the last verse of the Bhagavad Gita is 18.78 is So, by the end of the Bhagavad Gita, that bow which Arjuna has put down, Arjuna has picked it up.
So, like that, by hearing the verse of the Bhagavad Gita, by meditating on it, by understanding internalising it, then we will get strength and our determination to serve Krishna will become restored. We’ll understand that Krishna is my greatest well-wisher. And by serving Krishna, my best interest will be served, even if I don’t understand it right now.
That is how the Bhagavad Gita will restore our faith in Shabda, restore our determination, restore our enthusiasm and bring us back to life. To live in such a way that we can live forever with Krishna in the future. Thank you very much.
Shri Mat Bhagavad Gita Ki Jai