Bhakti Shastri (049) Bhagavad Gita Chapter 02 Text 06 to 12

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Hare Krishna Shri Mat Bhagavad Gita Ki Jai Hare Krishna Shri Mat Bhagavad Gita Ki Jai Hare Krishna Shri Mat Bhagavad Gita Ki Jai Welcome back to our Bhagavad Gita course. Today we are discussing the second chapter of the Bhagavad Gita. And we completed the first five verses where we discussed about the spiritual and the current sociocultural meanings of the word Arya.
And then we discussed about the reasons why Bhishma Pitamah did not fight, did not protest against Draupadi’s being dishonoured. And then we are right now discussing the fifth reason of Arjuna for not fighting. The first four were compassion, enjoyment, sinful reactions, destruction of family traditions.
Now he, Krishna tried to give Arjuna a pep talk saying that come on, don’t be weak like this, be a man, fight. But Arjuna counters back by saying what kind of man can raise weapons against his own teacher and his own grandfather? I can’t do that. Better that I live as a beggar.
So although Arjuna says that it is better to live as a beggar, actually he has said that twice. In 2.5 he said this and before that in 1.445 also he said the same thing. Actually it is better for us to live by begging.
But now he says that actually I am not sure what I should do. That’s the verse if we start from today. We certainly do not know vidmah, I do not know.
We do not know which is better, which is better. Either we should attain jaya, or we should not attain victory. That they attain victory.
Either we win or we lose. Normally speaking if there is a battle, if there is a sports match, which captain will say before the match, I do not know which is better, whether my team wins or that team wins. He will say obviously your team wins.
What is the figuring out to be done for that? He says no, the issue is not so simple over here because I have no desire to live. Those whom I have no desire to kill, they are here right in front of me to fight with and therefore the issue has become so very complex. So, now Arjuna has actually essentially three options.
So one is if he wins. If he fights, actually he has two options with the consequences. Two options, one is fight or he doesn’t fight.
Now if he fights, there are two options within that. If he fights and wins, then he has killed his relatives and he will not be able to enjoy because whatever he has got is tainted with the blood of his own loved ones, his venerable elders. And then second, if he fights and if he loses, then he will lose his life.
But he is not really concerned about losing his own life. He is concerned primarily if he fights, he is really not thought about whether he wins or loses, the possibility of losing. But other option is that if he decides not to fight, then the only alternative is that he has to live a begging.
And that is actually very disgraceful option for a Kshatriya to do. Now Arjuna is not really just concerned only about the disgrace. He is thinking about the duty also.
So Krishna has told him that Anarya, Anaryam, Asvarga Karam, Akirti Karam. So it will be dishonourable for your family and race. It will not lead you to heaven.
It will lead you to infamy. So he is confused now. So what should I do? So in today’s language, Arjuna sees before him a lose-lose situation.
If I do this also I lose, I do that also I lose. So what should I do? If there is nothing that I can do to mitigate the situation, lose-lose, that’s what he feels. So therefore he is saying, I don’t know what to do.
How should I move forward? And then when he thinks like this that I just don’t know what to do. This is actually the beginning of intelligence. Intelligence means to know what to do when we don’t know what to do.
Intelligence means to know what to do when we don’t know what to do. So if I don’t know what to do, how do I know what to do? Actually it means that when we don’t know what to do, when we look up, look around, look back, that’s not an option. What do I do? Look up.
Look up is pray. Pray. Seek guidance.
Seek help from the Supreme Lord. And when we do that, then it’s not that we may have the opportunity to directly help Krishna, but Krishna is present in our heart. And Krishna is present in the words of Guru Sadhu Shastra.
So Krishna will guide us. That’s what we have to do. Now Arjuna has come to a moment where he is frozen by indecision.
And as he is frozen by indecision in this way, he starts thinking what should I do? And he realises I don’t know. So what should one do when one doesn’t know? Turn upward. Turn towards God.
Normally we will turn upwards, but Arjuna is so fortunate that that Supreme Lord who stays high up in sky, in the spiritual world, he is right next to him. So Arjuna turns towards his charioteer. Not his charioteer, the Supreme Lord.
And he says Krishna, I surrender to you. Please guide me. That is the next verse.
So karpanya dosho apahata swabhava uchyami tvam dharmasam moha cetaha nishreyasyan nishchitam brohitanme shishyas teham shadhimam tvam prapannam So, karpanya dosho apahata swabhava. So, karpanya. Karpanya is Kripana, Karpanya is miserly weakness, so Arjuna had earlier been referred to kalyabhyam mahasam karmapartha naitattaiva padyate shudram hrudaya daurbalyam tyaktvotishtha parantapa So you are very weak, so the same point Krishna Arjuna in the mycology.
Yes, I have become weak, karpanya dosha Because of weakness I am overcome, apahatsabhava So my sabhava has become overpowered I have got over the characteristics of a weak person now and such a situation Ucchami tvam, I ask you Tam dharma, I ask you about what is my duty dharma samudh chetaha Samudh chetaha means my intelligence is bewildered My consciousness is Deluded and what am I asking? Shreyasya nishchitam Ruhi tanme I want to know what is Shreya Now actually Arjuna has himself said what is Shreya He has said earlier Shreyo bhoktum bhaikshyam api haloke Just two verses earlier in 2.5 I think it is Shreya better for me to beg But he says no, is it really right? The Kauravas have done so much wrong And it is my responsibility as a king also What should I do? Just completely undecided I don’t know what is Shreya So please tell me what is actually The long term good for me Shreya nishchitam ruhi What is for certain? My mind is going on this track at one moment That track at the next moment And as it is going on all these multiple tracks It is leaving me undecided Shishya steham I become your disciple Shadi mam tvam Prapannam Shadi means instruct me And I surrender to you Prapannam Shadi mam tvam prapannam This is a very important verse in the Bhagavad Gita Actually Prabhupada’s purport for this is also A classic purport So Prabhupada’s purport focusses mostly On the theme of perplexities Material world Puts us in perplexities Should I do this? Should I do that? What should I do? When we are put into perplexities like that We just don’t know how should I act How? So When we just don’t know how to act At that time It can be a very demanding and draining Situation Emotionally as well as physically We feel all our energy being sucked down So at such times When We have to work our way up How do we do that? We do that by turning towards God Please instruct me So Prabhupada Says that the perplexities just come by their own We don’t want those perplexities Just as a forest fire comes By the friction inadvertently Similarly perplexities come in this world And a wise person Is one who knows how to deal with them And how does one know? By surrendering to God How does one surrender to God? By surrendering to a spiritual master I surrender to you So many times people say that We know the Bhagavad Gita Yes we may intellectually know But truly we know when we Turn towards the Gita With the desire to do the will of the Lord As long as we are not Having that desire to do the will of the Lord Till that point Our knowledge will remain theoretical And we may say that I do not know the will of the Lord Yes that is fine And that is why the Shastra is there for us The Shastra gives us overall guidance about What are the situations in which Different devotees have acted in different ways And based on that We learn what the will of God Will be for us And when we do the In the broad situations the will of God Then gradually in specific situations also We will be able to do the will of God Generally the will of God is that We be Krishna conscious We avoid immoral activities We do those things gradually In specific situations also we come to know the will of God It takes time But that is revealed to us over a period of time Now I have become your disciple Prabhupada writes in the Parpot about how There are Brahmana and Krupana Brahmana is a person Who Lives in such a way as to seek the absolute truth And Krupana is a person Who lives in such a way As to be very short sighted Wanting quick gains Not thinking of anything long term And we should live as Brahmana not Krupana So that is related to the point of Shreya All of us need Shreya And what is the miserly weakness? That is attachment Attachment to One’s family And relatives Based on Based on bodily conception Now the bodily conception When we are attached Then it leads to bondage It leads to suffering It leads to complications in life Which one needs to Pull oneself away from So that one can focus on God So Arjuna is now overcome By bodily attachment And is unable to think of what is right And what is wrong So now is bodily attachment wrong? If we are seeing our relatives As parts of Krishna And we are seeing ourselves as devotees of Krishna And then we are serving them And loving them Then that makes the attachment spiritual And that can help us go closer towards Krishna But attachment at the bodily level Can cause a lot of suffering And it causes bondage Because we get sucked in it And then we forget Our higher spiritual opportunities The Inevitable destruction of Relationships that are going to be there At this level of reality And the Opportunity that we miss For turning towards Krishna and loving Krishna So when acting at the material level Completely seems to Be futile Whatever I do, it’s a lose-lose-lose situation That’s the time When We start thinking What should I do now? And that is the time when Our enlightenment begins And that is the time When Arjuna Becomes a disciple So for us as devotees Prabhupada would often say That we all need a spiritual master in our life And now of course we all have a spiritual master And we may feel that How many times can I turn to My spiritual master for guidance It’s not just the spiritual master The spiritual master is not just a person It’s definitely a person, but it’s also a principle And that principle is Guru Tattva is a representative of Krishna And when we start following the process of devotional service Krishna manifests to us Through the spiritual master And Krishna manifests us through Shadhu Shastra Through the other devotees Through the Supersoul in the heart But this act of surrender Is very important for us Because it is the beginning of our Serious search for God So Arjuna Is of course a pure devotee But by the arrangement of the Lord He is being put into Yoga Maya So when earlier we said that Arjuna saw with the eyes And because of Prataksha he came into Yoga Maya That means that actually He came under Maya The point here is that Even that, his observing with the eyes And then coming into illusion That is for us to learn That how a person comes under illusion But essentially what is happening to Arjuna Is the will of the Lord Now moving forward Krishna may say Arjuna we are friends There is no need for us to Change that relationship If you want some guidance You go to some other people You go to Vyasadev, he is a great sage Or you go to other people Why are you coming to me? Or you know actually speaking You just win the war And then you will forget all this misery So we may try some solution At a material level But that doesn’t work So then he says no Nothing else will work for me So I am not able to see I am not able to see How in anything else Anything material Can solve my problems How it can be driven away Choka has changed to Choka Because of the Sandhi rules of Sanskrit So that is very related to the word Very similar sounding to the word choke in English So Choka Chokes Chokam So that Choka What is it? It is drying me up from within What is it drying up? It is drying up my Indriyas Indriyanam So when a person is in great tension What happens is he feels his stomach is roiling His stomach is being Balled into some pit The muscles are grinding As Arjuna has said My limbs are quivering My throat is dried up Everything is dried up actually Chokam Uchoshanam Indriyanam So at a physiochemical level also When our emotions become very intense The fluid content of the body decreases So we feel that Indriyanam Uchoshanam I am completely being sucked up by the grief Avapibhumav asaptanam ruddham Even if I get a Bhuma I get a kingdom How long? Without any asaptanam Without any enemies For a king actually There are multiple enemies Multiple problems There may be enemies who may attack He is talking about dream material situation Asaptanam There are no enemies And not only ruddham Sometimes there are no enemies But nature may act as an enemy And there may be drought or famine And then the kingdom is in trouble But he says ruddham So there are no enemies also And there are no natural disasters also So it is a prosperous kingdom So he is actually Envisioning a situation That would be a dream situation for a king Even if I get that Rajyam suranam Apichadi padyam So even if I get a rajyam like that And not only like that Even if I get a rajyam like that of the devatas Suranam apichadi padyam That means even if I get A kingdom equivalent to heaven Even that will not help That will not dry up the grief See We exist Our existence currently is three dimensional We generally say two dimensional Material and spiritual Which is true But within the material there are two dimensions In the material there is the emotional And there is the physical So in this way Spiritual, emotional and physical These three levels of existence are there So often most of the time We are thinking of physical Protection, physical gratification Physical titillation You know people say Roti, kapda, makan Food, clothing, shelter These are important no doubt These are important no doubt We need them at a physical level for survival However At an emotional level Things are also very Intense If somebody Maybe Maybe very comfortably situated With respect to food, clothing, shelter But that person is having some emotional trouble You know somebody An abusive relative is there Or an exploitative boss is there Or some tormenting misunderstanding with one’s spouse Is there Or some intergenerational conflicts between parents and children Is there Then that emotional conflict can be so Tormenting That the physical comforts Don’t bring any comfort So Arjuna is saying that Actually I am tormented At an emotional level right now And when I am tormented At an emotional level Physical gratification Cannot solve a problem at an emotional level What does it mean? Actually A problem needs a particular solution If I am hungry Then sleeping on a comfortable bed Can’t solve the problem In the Chitra Ketu Maharaj past time Although he had such a huge Flourishing kingdom But because he did not have a child It all felt like Garlands of honour Being offered to a starving man When a person is starving Everything else is Made irrelevant As compared to the Fire that is burning in the stomach So that way When a particular problem is there We need a particular solution So he is saying right now I am tormented Torn apart practically speaking At the emotional level And fighting at a physical level And winning the kingdom That is not going to be a solution For my emotional issues So actually If we have to solve emotional issues We can’t make a physical arrangement To solve emotional issues People think that wealth will solve my problems But wealth cannot bring love And love we understand from the Vedic scriptures Is not just emotional Ultimately it is spiritual Love is an emotion But generally our emotional level is Between the material and the spiritual So we can get emotions about material things We can get emotions about spiritual things When we get emotions about spiritual things That means about Krishna and Krishna’s devotees Those emotions lift us up They bring us closer to Krishna When we get emotions about material things Those emotions drag us down They keep us entangled in material life So now when these emotions are there in between Between the material and the spiritual What is the way out? We have to make sure that Our emotions are connected with Krishna Then they will lift us out of existence So if we see in the first chapter Arjuna has not talked about anything In the devotional perspective He has talked about material perspective In this life or next life But it is material perspective It is not a spiritual or emotional perspective That is the perspective that will be brought by Arjuna So emotional problems We do need some emotional relief But ultimately as long as our emotions Are connected with the material There is going to be only Trouble sooner or later Only when our emotions become connected with Krishna Then there will be purification Then there will be elevation And there will be liberation And liberation not just from misery But liberation will be release Into ecstasy So that is the important point Of the Bhagavad Gita So physical solutions Can’t deal with emotional problems We need spiritual solutions For ultimately emotional problems Of course even as devotees sometimes grief is troubling us We need some emotional support We need some friends Some counselling Some solace Some support Yes we need that emotional support But ultimately if we are in the devotee circle It is all helping us to come closer to Krishna It is that those emotions Ultimately when we come closer to Krishna Then we get emotional relief So he is telling the solution will not work O Krishna And then he moves forward And then when he says Oh I don’t know what to do So in the next verse Actually it is Sanjay speaking And he paraphrases what Krishna speaks And he says that actually You can only solve my problems I will not fight till then So now Prabhupada In some purports What Prabhupada does is That he continues the thought that is going on In the previous purport So in the previous purport He is saying that how A person has to Surrender to a Guru And how Krishna is the Guru And Prabhupada continues the same thing And he talks about the qualification of the Guru He talks about through verses from Chaitanya Charitam and Padma Purana About the qualification of a Guru And then he says That the problems of material existence are there Even in well developed parts of the world So even in heaven they are there And therefore none of these can be dealt with None of these are solutions To the problems Then he goes to the next sanjay vacham evam uptva rishikesham gudakesham parantapa na yo cheti govindam uptva tu shrinva bhuvaha evam uptva After having spoken thus rishikesham So when the am suffix comes It is to that person it is being spoken And when aha comes It is that person is speaking So gudakesham rishikesham rishikesham gudakesham So to rishikesh Gudakesh is speaking Rishikesh is a lot of senses Gudakesh is a lot of sleep So actually both of them are isha But one isha is higher than the other So although Arjuna is also the conqueror of sleep But that one conqueror Is still a jiva and he is getting conquered By other forms of ignorance Other forms of illusion So rishikesham So gudakesha Spoke like this Parantapa So That gudakesha It is interesting that he uses One word for glorifying Krishna Rishikesham But here Sanjay is using two words To glorify Arjuna Gudakesha and parantapa Why? That is to indicate That he was a great person Material life can be so complex So riveting That So So Entangling That even a person who is so great Who is a gudakesha Such a person can be dragged down And can be brought to the knees Can be made To feel helpless That is what is happening So that gudakesha So that parantapa Who has become frozen by indecision now He says I will not fight I will not fight And then He spoke thus And After speaking thus He became silent So the word uktva Comes twice So first uktva refers to What has been spoken earlier The previous verses So That is 4, 5, 6, 7, 8 That is what Arjuna has spoken now Five verses And then evamuktva that is for that And then nayotsya iti govindam So he has spoken to Govinda Nayotsya Oh Govinda I will not fight And after uktva thus Then tushvim silent He became huh So here Sanjay is drawing back to say What has happened on the battlefield So Arjuna said I will not fight Nayotsya iti govindam So after he speaks in this way Then what happens Let us see So of course Prabhupada also mentioned that Dhritarashtra is delighted But Dhritarashtra delighted is going to be short life Because actually Krishna is Rishikesha, Krishna is Govinda He is the controller of the senses He will bring Arjuna’s senses under control properly They have gone out of control now Govinda He will give Arjuna real satisfaction to his senses By engaging them in devotional service That is the indication So what happened next Tamuvacha rishikesha Prahasannivabharata Senayorubhayor madhi Vishidantamidam vachaha So tamuvacha Unto that person spoke Rishikesha So when Rishikesha Rishikesha spoke like this Prahasannivabharata Prahasann means smiling Now Iva is as if Eva in Sanskrit is certainly Iva is as if Bharata Bharata refers to Dhritarashtra He is speaking to descendant of Arjuna Tam refers to Arjuna So to Arjuna Rishikesha spoke Bharata I am telling this to you Senayorubhayor madhi So this is what is used to Point out the dramatic Nature of the setting of the Bhagavad Gita It is a scripture that is spoken Right in the middle of a battlefield Senayorubhayor madhi Vishidantamidam vachaha Vishidantam So the word Vishidantam Had come earlier also in the same chapter The first verse Tam tatha krupaya Vishtimashvapurna kulekshanam Vishidantamidam vaakya So there also Arjuna was lamenting Vishidantam 2.1 Arjuna lamented and 2.2 Krishna spoke Now 2.10 also Arjuna is lamenting And 2.11 onwards Krishna will speak But there is a difference There Krishna In 2.1 When Arjuna was lamenting Krishna basically gave a pep talk Because Arjuna just actually in a sense Communicated his decision He said that I just put aside this book But Arjuna had not made an enquiry Had not asked for instruction Generally speaking Many times All of us are very eager to give instruction to others There is nothing Which people want to give as freely And as eagerly as advice Everybody feels I want to give advice I want to give advice So actually even Krishna He tells us that We can give Some pep talk But he does not start giving instruction Till he is asked So What does this indicate? This does not mean that we shouldn’t Actually when we are giving classes When we are giving books When we are preaching In various ways Are we not giving instructions? Those are generic That is our responsibility To Share the broad principles Of Krishna’s wisdom With the people in the world That is our responsibility But beyond that When we have to guide somebody specifically The most important thing is That if we Interfere in someone’s life If people don’t want our help Then giving the help Can often backfire Because unwanted help Is often seen As an interference Not an assistance And when help is seen as an interference Not an assistance Then generally speaking the consequence Is that that help Is not appreciated or accepted But is rebuffed And that can even lead to straining of further relationships Because Why are you interfering in my life? Now I know what I am supposed to do Now of course this doesn’t mean that If somebody is falling off Somebody is walking off a 10 storey building Cliff And we just let that person walk off I will give you that example of how When we see that people are going on the wrong track We feel morally obliged to help It’s like a child is falling off The other person says stop stop stop Don’t do this So that is definitely true We have an obligation to help others But here what we are talking about is So that obligation we have to fulfil By generically giving instructions Not our instructions But Krishna’s instructions to people That is our duty too Krishna says that one who does this is very dear to me But when it comes to one to one Unless we have good relationship If we offer some instruction to others It can often backfire on us So we have to be careful It is only when a person asks For some help Then we can give help Otherwise in a general way We can offer some suggestions And we see how the response is And then we decide Should I accept this Should I give any further suggestions or not In general The point is very true that We give advice too freely to others So when people ask At that time depending on the trust level In the relationship We can give guidance But here Krishna is showing He saw that Arjuna was suffering But when Arjuna did not ask specifically for guidance He just communicated a decision earlier Actually Arjuna communicated the decision In the first chapter end by putting aside the bow So Krishna just gave a pep talk How can you do this? I gave a pep talk But then Here what happens? It is not like that Here Arjuna has surrendered And actually 2.7 tells us surrender We surrender to our disciples And somebody may say that surrender also Somebody is just doing it for namesake But 2.8 makes it very clear That it is not for namesake Arjuna is saying that Nothing else will work I don’t see any other solution I need to rise To a higher level of consciousness I need I need absolutely To develop To develop A higher vision of life What is my dharma? I need to know that Only then things will be clear for me Only then this fog That is there inside me will dissipate So because Arjuna has surrendered Now Krishna When he starts speaking he will not give a pep talk He will start serious instruction So Now here Prahasanaiva bhavarata Vishnu Acharya has explained in general Prahasanaiva Prahasana means smiling So now this seems to be A very contrasting situation We saw that in 2.1 Arjuna What was the situation? So imagine if you Are just walking by And you see two people meeting Two people are talking And one person Tears are flowing And you see the other person smiling What is this? If a person is crying Then we should atleast Commiserate Sympathise if not empathise We should offer some support So is Krishna so heartless That here Arjuna is crying and Krishna is smiling Actually Prahasanaiva Smiling as if What does it indicate? That smiling as if Means Prabhupada explains in the purport also That actually suddenly The dynamics of the relationship has changed They are friends and as friends Krishna and Arjuna are equals But suddenly what has happened is The friend has become a disciple The friend has become a disciple And when the friend has become a disciple And has surrendered to the spiritual master So The spiritual master The dynamic of the relationship is suddenly changing Krishna is pleasantly surprised Of course we can say ultimately Krishna is not surprised about anything Because Krishna is omniscient, he knows everything But when Krishna is performing his pastimes He doesn’t necessarily act like that So Krishna is pleasantly responding Responding by Smiling even Generally speaking How it works is That if one person has a problem If there are two friends and one person has a problem The other friend will just laugh off the problem And he says So for example If sometimes some old friend just laughs off Then we also feel that there is nothing very serious So Just as when Bhima suggested to Krishna That Krishna when you are going as a Shanti Doodh Please try your best for Getting peace So Krishna said Oh Bhima, you also You were wanting war throughout And now suddenly you are wanting peace Truly it is said that when war actually comes People become fearful I am not fearful So Krishna was joking and Bhima said I am not fearful Sometimes some weakness when it comes up Just by speaking a few words Which are basically goading words The weakness goes away But When person becomes a disciple And surrenders to spiritual master So the spiritual master cannot Laugh at the disciple The disciple tells some problem I have this problem And the disciple laughs The disciple’s heart Will sink to the bottom Of the Patal Lok He says I have a serious problem And I need some solution So Krishna when he sees a sudden change In the relationship he feels like smiling But he restrains the smile That is why it is as if smiling And of course Krishna knows that now Through Arjuna’s arrangement He is going to speak a wisdom That is going to benefit not only Arjuna But that is going to benefit all of humanity For all time to come And now Krishna begins That is the next verse Sri Bhagavan Vacha Ashochaan Anvashochastom Pragyavadacha Bhashase Vataasunagataasumshcha Narvashochanti Panditaha So Ashochaan Anvashochastom That which is not worth lamenting Ashochaan You are lamenting Not worthy of lamentation You are greatly lamenting for that And by lamenting Pragyavadamscha Bhashase Your speech is Pragyavadams You are speaking words Which seem to be wise But What is the sign of true wisdom? That is Gataasunagataasumshcha So Asu is actually life Or life air to be more specific So Gataasu Means when the life air has gone away That means Agataasu Means life air has not gone away That means the person is not dead Gataasunagataasumshcha Narvashochanti So the word shocha Is coming thrice in this particular verse It comes first in Ashochaan then Anvashochastom And then Narvashochanti So he is saying that the Pandita The true learned person Does not lament But you are lamenting Narvashochanti Pandita So here what is he saying? You are mourning for that It is not worthy of mourning So here Arjun Krishna sort of Calls the bluff of Arjuna So what does he do? He actually says You are speaking big big words What are the big big words? He says I have heard full scripture like this So We will go to hell We will get sin He is speaking all these big big words But what is the practical reality? The practical reality is that You are overwhelmed by emotions So actually The test Education Is not just meant for Verbalisation Education Is meant for transformation Verbalisation means It is not just I know means I speak big big things There should be a transformation And the real education is not the education of words It is the education of emotions The education of Emotions So the education of emotions means That Actually The education By which we know What emotions are appropriate And what emotions are inappropriate What emotions are real And what emotions are illusory What do we mean by real and illusory? It does not mean that emotions When somebody passes away Then the emotions that we feel It is not that the emotions are false Because when relatives are crying It is not that those relationships are false But The emotions are not false In the sense that a person actually feels grief struck A person Actually feels Devastated at times So it is not We are not saying that the emotions are false The point is that those emotions Are false in the sense That they are based on a False platform The platform Of our bodily identification The platform where the material reality Is the actual reality The platform that Actually This is the way things are That is the way things will continue to be So When our emotions are Uninformed Emotions are uneducated Then Those emotions Indicate that the knowledge Has not been internalised So we may be verbalising knowledge Without internalising it And if we are doing that If we are only verbalising knowledge without internalising it Then that indicates that We have not actually Made much spiritual advancement So Krishna answering Arjuna Yes you are verbalising Big big words You are verbalising knowledge But you have not internalised the knowledge And because of that Your emotions remain uneducated So it is described that when the soul Departs from the body Along with the soul the subtle body it goes Along with subtle body also It is said that the life air also goes Now what exactly is the life air Asu Asu is in Hindi It may mean tears but here it doesn’t refer to tears Asun it refers to life air Gata asun means life air goes away So what is this life air which goes away Actually In modern science we have the idea of oxygen That we need oxygen for survival Yes That is true from the perspective of Modern medical science We do need Oxygen for survival But it is not just oxygen alone There is a whole framework of airs Which are Networking and coordinating The functioning of the body All of them together are called the prana vayu The life air Whose circulation Enables us to live And enables us to Function in the body So I was talking just now about The spiritual level Then the mental level The emotional level And then the physical level So the subtle body is the link between The spirit and the matter Soul and the body Subtle body is the link Now to some extent The link between the subtle body And the gross body Is the Life air Prana There are multiple links but life air is one of the important links So what happens with the life air Is we can get some understanding of this Through our own Experience when we get angry Our breath becomes faster And sometimes when we are stressed If at that time We just slow down our breath Take slow deep breaths Then the stress decreases So what does this indicate? That our emotions are connected with our breathing And that connection is Both bi-directional When the emotions become agitated the breath becomes agitated When the breath is calmed the emotions become calmed So When the soul dies Or when the death occurs Soul never dies When what we call as death happens At that time The soul goes out of the body Subtle body goes with the soul And the life air also goes We can recollect say When Krishna is sucking the Breasts of Putana What does he do? He sucks not only her breasts He sucks along with the breasts The life air When he is sucking not only the milk from her He takes out the life air And when the life air comes out At that time she dies So life air is what enables the soul and subtle body To stay in the body So the life air is So when we say life air has gone out That means the person has died So of course One symptom of death is breathing has stopped So when the breath has gone out The breathing has stopped And the person has died So either way The person doesn’t Continue in life So now after describing this He says your emotions are uneducated And then What does it mean? We will start describing next verse नत्व एवाहम जातु नासं नत्व एवाहम जातु नासं So he says Certainly not But There was not a time when I did not exist न तम न इमेज नाधिपा Nor you Nor all these kings न च एवा Nor even certainly So there was never a time In the past when I, you And these kings did not exist Nor in the future All of us Hereafter Will cease to exist So here This is a very Significant verse In the overall Message of the Gita So now Arjuna’s fear was I’ll kill them then what will happen? They will all die So he says no There was never a time when they did not exist Nor on the other point They will not exist That means we are all eternal So we are all eternal Now the very significant point is That Actually Even before Krishna teaches about the soul Very directly He emphasises The eternality Of personality The eternality of personality What does that mean? The eternality of personality He emphasises that All of us are eternal Persons Eternally We are persons I existed in the past I’ll exist in the future You existed in the past You’ll exist in the future So the impersonalist idea is That I, you, all of us Are basically just an illusion Because In the future My sense of I-ness is the biggest problem So when the I dissolves And merges into the cosmic Consciousness Then all miseries end at that time That is the idea But the problem with this idea Is that It is illusory It is not illusory It is illusory in the sense of The way material illusions are there In the sense of this making us happy It may be a subtler Kind of illusion But still it is an illusion Because we are denying and rejecting Our individuality and personality So Krishna says Our personality, my personality, your personality Everyone’s personality We are all eternal beings We are eternal individuals So Here Prabhupada actually quotes Ramacharya And Ramacharya in his Gita Bhashya His Gita Bhashya He keeps points very simple In general His Sri Bhashya is very intricate He gets in Such solid arguments Smashing apart the Sharir Kabhashya So Sharir Kabhashya was the commentary Vedanta Sutra By Shankaracharya And Sri Bhashya Just Ramacharya is like a warrior on the run In the battlefield Pounding back all the arguments That are made And Madhvacharya is also in the same mode In his commentary also Brahma Sutra Bhashya So in the Bhagavad Gita commentary Ramacharya Because he has explained most of the Concepts in the Sri Bhashya He doesn’t go so much into conceptual analysis He gives brief comments Which help us understand the Bhagavad Gita better But only in a few verses For example here to point 12 He gives a strong commentary Long and strong commentary And Prabhupada is paraphrasing his commentary over here His point is very simple And very potent Very punchy What is that point? He says okay The Mayavadi idea is That we are all actually Brahman And somehow the Brahman has come under illusion And while the Brahman is under illusion I think I am a person You think you are a person And like that we all think we are persons And Brahman will come out of illusion Then we will all merge into that Cosmic consciousness So if that is the Philosophy of Mayavada Then the question comes Why is Krishna telling over here That You existed in the past So now somebody says It is only referring to past lives Okay But then what about the future? He says you will exist in the future also So somebody says Some of the kings may just live on in material existence So that future refers only to material existence But then we know that Elsewhere in scripture That Arjuna was enlightened Even the impersonals accept That Bhagavad Gita is a book of wisdom Which leads to enlightenment So if Arjuna was by enlightenment He became liberated So when he became liberated He is saying that He will continue to exist And it is very categorical Never was there a time when I did not exist Nor you nor any of this So the Mayavadi idea is that Somehow at some time the Brahman came under illusion And from that time onwards only we are there And till we come out of illusion We will be there But what Krishna has written Is never in the past, never in the future And we cease to exist We are always existing So it indicates that our individuality Is eternal So The Mayavadis may argue that But actually the individuality Is eternal Then That actually is simply Conversational It is a conventional talk It is not a philosophical talk What does it mean? Conventional and not philosophical Sometimes Even a devotee May say that I am hungry We are talking in a conventional way On a day to day level We don’t differentiate My stomach is hungry We don’t say like that We know at a philosophical level That I am different from my body But we don’t differentiate like that At a day to day functional level In a day to day discussion We don’t constantly differentiate Between a devotee’s body and a devotee’s soul This is spiritual, this is material We are trying to serve Our focus is not so much to analyse What is material and spiritual To the extent that it is uncool for bhakti that is fine But sometimes in a conversational sense We may say I am hungry Or sometimes we may say You know If some devotee is Some devotee is Maybe has become a little overweight He says hey, you have built up So now you may say Your body has grown fat You do not say such things So the argument may be that this is just a conversational Conventional way of discussion So I, you, we But Ramacharya hits back And he says how can it be conventional So that is the argument Which we can logically expand From the context Because in the previous verse Arjuna has been condemned For talking at the level of illusion That is 2.11 And 2.30, 2.11 indicates That this is not a casual conversational talk That sort of casual conversational And conventional Material emotions Are condemned And the next statement Is also a philosophical statement That is you are not the body, you are the soul And for future statements also It goes on in a philosophical way Tolerate, because everything is temporary Understand that is 2.14 And 2.15 is Actually the eternal never ceases to exist So the overall tenor of this discussion Is highly philosophical So before this is a philosophical point being made After this is a philosophical point being made So why will this verse make a Normal conventional point Why will this be In a casual conversational sense And another point Even if we grant for argument sake That it is in a casual conversational sense Still the point remains What would the casual conversational Sense mean In Krishna’s sense Krishna is saying That I existed in the past And I will exist in the future Now Krishna is never under illusion So So Krishna Will not talk In the sense of That he is under illusion Krishna will always be enlightened So if our sense of I-ness Is illusion We may be under illusion But even Mayavadis accept that Krishna is Liberated Their idea is that Brahman has taken a form And Brahman has taken a form to speak But whatever it is They consider that Krishna is liberated So if Krishna is liberated and Krishna is saying I And I will continue to exist He is not saying that Brahman will continue to exist I will continue to exist So Krishna’s Self reference Talking about himself in the first person That is not under illusion He is saying my individuality is also eternal That means God is a Transcendental individual Eternally And so are we So this verse very emphatically Refutes Mayavad And establishes Eternality of personality Eternality of individuality And Prabhupada quotes about This famous verse from Katha Upanishad Nityo Nityanam Chetanas Chetananam So there are many Nityas among them one Nitya is special There are many Chetans Conscious beings among them one conscious being Is special So what is that speciality That one conscious being That one being is maintaining All other beings And then what is the speciality of that being If we come to know him Then we become free from all misery Generally we quote the first two lines of the verse Prabhupada quotes that much often But in Katha Upanishad the next two lines are also important So those Sober people Who see this person in their heart They will attain They will attain eternal peace So in this way Prabhupada very Emphatically Argues In the tradition to establish To refute Mayavad And Prabhupada very strongly condemns Mayavad Mayavadi approach is like Licking honey From the outside And Prabhupada concludes The plurality of the individual soul And the Lord Is an eternal fact Is an eternal fact So now if somebody says No no actually Krishna is also speaking under illusion So then the question comes up If Krishna is speaking under illusion Then what is the need for us to hear from the Bhagavad Gita The very premise for hearing from the Bhagavad Gita Is that Krishna is enlightened And Krishna is enlightened And Krishna is referring to his individuality in the first person And he is talking about the eternality of the individuality That indicates that we are all eternally individuals So after discussing about the eternality Of the individuality Now in the next verse Krishna will talk about the spirituality Of the individuality That we will talk in our next class Thank you very much Shreemad Bhagavad Gita Ki Jai