Bhakti Shastri (053) – Bhagavad Gita Chapter 02 Text 29 to 37

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Hare Krishna welcome back to the Bhagavad Gita we are continuing with the discussion of the second chapter we will continue with 2.29 so we will discuss 2.28 where we discussed about how death is inevitable therefore one should do one’s duty Krishna concludes the description of the soul here in this verse in this and the next verse so here basically we see the word being repeated three times in the first three lines and it talks about progressive levels of understanding so some people see the soul as amazing some people hear the soul as amazing pashyati that is see vadati some people see the soul as amazing some people talk about the soul as amazing some people hear about the soul as amazing and some people hear and still don’t understand and there is no vastura implied over there but hear this they also reject it as amazing that can come by continuation of the thought. So what exactly is Krishna talking about over here? Some people see the soul as amazing that means with enlightened vision if we see Prabhupada writes in the purport that this soul is it is just one ten thousandth tip of a so tiny and that tiny soul is animating the body of a giant whale or a massive elephant or a huge sequoia tree and one soul is animating the whole giant body and that same soul is also animating not exactly the same soul but a soul of a similar nature is animating entirely different something which is very tiny very microscopic.
What is that? That is the germs which are there and there may be millions of germs just a small cross-section of space especially if that cross-section is useful is suitable conducive for the generation and the propagation of life. So in this case what this indicates essentially is that the soul can animate something so small and soul can animate something so giant. How is this? So those who see this they perceive the soul to be amazing.
So now if you see if I am if you sometimes you can see people are so different you know some person may be a very aggressive masculine person some other person may be very timid and feminine and both of them the souls are more or less similar. The soul essentially is actually of the same nature although there are of course individuals but there is so much variety. So it’s amazing all the souls are similar but still their potencies their inclinations are so different.
This is amazing. Actually speaking we all long for eternal life and we try to eternalise our present life but that is impossible. None of us can do that because life in this world is always temporary.
We struggle and struggle but when we understand that actually I’m already eternal. I just have to realise my eternal nature then you understand this is remarkable. It’s amazing when I the soul has nature of Sat Chit Ananda.
So we try to get this thing to be happy, that thing to be happy, that thing to become happy but then we understand that actually soul by nature is only happy. All that I have to do is realise my nature and then joyfulness will automatically manifest. That also is amazing.
How does this happen? So in this way if we think about it soul is truly amazing. Soul is truly amazing and so those who are in knowledge and they perceive. So what does seeing mean? Actually when our spiritual vision is awakened at that time each of us will be able to perceive the soul directly.
So just as we are seeing each other we will be able to see the soul. So those who are at that level of realisation they see the soul. It’s amazing how this eternal soul is a part and parcel of Krishna, can come under illusion and then such a soul can become a ruthless terrorist who has no conscience while blowing up thousands of people.
How can such perversion happen? That is amazing. So some people when they understand, they speak about it. Soul is so amazing.
So at one level is perception which can be spiritual perception or it can also be intellectual understanding. Then they start speaking and when they speak about it they understand more and more how the soul is wonderful, how the soul is amazing. Some other people hear about the soul and they think oh I never knew this.
I never knew that actually I was eternal. I thought that I was temporary and I was going to die. But now that I understand I’m eternal this is amazing.
So this world itself is also amazing. How is it that I am eternal? So in this way and there are some other people, how is it possible? When the body feels pain, when the body is hurt I feel pain. When the body is hungry I feel hungry.
When the body dies I die. Just can’t digest, how can there be a soul? So they just can’t understand that there is something beyond the soul. One of our devotees was giving a class in a country where there was no, people had no knowledge about the soul.
So he told, you are not your body. And one person said, sir I have a question, then whose body am I? So that means the person is so much locked in bodily conception that I am my body. So if I am not my body, then whose body am I? So people just can’t come out of their bodily conception.
And even when Shri Prabhupada was preaching in America in the early days, when Shri Prabhupada said I am not my body. So many of the devotees coming there, many of the people coming there, some of them became devotees then. They thought that Swamiji is speaking that he is not his body, but we are our body.
So he is a special person, so he is not his body, but we are our body. So actually people who can’t understand this and go through the whole life blundering through their journey, thinking that I am the body, that is also disastrous. Those people are also amazing.
Now how can, they just can’t comprehend the soul. So now our Acharyas have explained that this verse can be understood differently. And Ashtyareva can apply.
Till now we have discussed Ashtyareva that the soul is amazing. So in English there is a figure of speech called as transferred epithet. Transferred epithet means that when an adjective is at one place, the adjective can be put at another place for poetic purposes.
And the traveller goes on the weary road. So now weary means tired. Now the road is not tired.
It is the traveller that is tired. But in the case of poetic ornamentation, the person, the epithet may be transferred. That is called transferred epithet.
And it adds beauty. So like that Ashtyareva can apply, it can apply either to the soul, till now that is how we have been analysing it. But Ashtyareva can also apply to people.
Those who are the seers or those who are the speakers, those who are the hearers and those who are the deluded, who can’t comprehend it at all. So if we apply it that way, then what happens? So such means some amazing people see the soul. So actually speaking, you have to get direct spiritual perception.
That is extraordinary. So people who are able to see the soul, they are amazing. Some amazing people see the soul.
And those are the exalted, advanced spiritualists. Their spiritual vision is awakened and they are at the stage of Turiya, at the stage of spiritual consciousness. Now consciousness is four stages.
There is Jagruti, which all of us are in now. Then there is Swapna, when we sleep. Then there is Sushupti, when there is deep sleep.
And then there is Samadhi or Turiya. So those who attain the state of Samadhi, their consciousness, they can perceive. So those people who can perceive such spiritual reality, they are extraordinary.
So they are amazing. Then in the second line, some amazing people speak about the soul. So actually speaking, there is Atma Gyan, which is so rare, the knowledge of the soul is so rare.
And the people who talk about the spiritual conception of life, who tell, you are not the body, you are the soul, you have to do this, you have to do that, you have to do this, you have to do that, those people are amazing. How? How can they do such a thing? How can they speak about such things? That’s because they are very special. So they may not be pure devotees, they may not be entirely realised spiritualists, but if you consider the number of people who are actually sharing the wisdom of Krishna, which centres on the soul and the soul’s relationship with Krishna, they are so rare.
So such people are also amazing. In this material world, the number of people who are sharing Krishna consciousness are so tiny. And then some amazing people hear about it.
So now actually speaking, every person who comes to know, enquire about Krishna, that person is so rare, so precious. It’s so extraordinary, there are so few people who actually know about the soul, who actually come to hear about the soul. So later on in 7.3 we will discuss in the Bhagavad Gita how manushyanaam sahasreshu kashchidhyati siddhaye, out of thousands of people, few enquire about the spiritual reality, so it’s rare.
So some amazing people enquire about the soul. So actually when we are doing our outreach programmes, and we see souls, people coming to the temples, to the programmes, to take the books, every one of them is a special person. And they are rare, one among thousands.
And then those who can’t understand, even after hearing, they are also amazing. This amazing is more in a sad, regretful, sarcastic sort of sense. Not sarcastic in a looking down, but sad sense.
The word ashtarya is used in also the famous Mahabharata verse, where it says, So in the Yudhishthira Yaksha Samvat, actually Yudhishthira tells Yaksha, please ask your questions, if you answer the questions then you can revive my brothers. It’s a long story in the Mahabharata. The brothers have drunk the water, and that water has poisoned them.
So on the bank of the lake of death, actually this person asks, that’s actually Dharma, it’s Yamraj, but he appears to be like Yaksha at that time, the father of Yudhishthira Dharma. So there is this conversation that is going on, so at that time, he is asked, what is the most amazing thing in the world? So Yudhishthira says, the most amazing thing is, that everyday thousands of people die, yet the remaining people think that we will be happy here, we will be secure here. This is amazing.
So now, this amazing is used in the sense of amazingly stupid. So tragically stupid, how can people be so foolish? Amazingly stupid. Just like in the movie, sometimes the hero is running towards the villain, and the villain has got several people around with him, and they are all shooting bullets.
The bullets hit everywhere except the hero. And the hero just runs on, runs on, runs on and comes and bashes the villain. So now, we know this is all make-believe, things don’t happen like this.
But we see the bullets of death all around us. People are knocked down by the bullets of death. But we think, oh, I will not be knocked down.
Somehow I will be the lucky one who will accept, who will be an exception, who will escape. So we have to take exception to our hope for an exception. Our hope for an exception, that we will be the lucky person, lucky person who will be an exception.
We have to take exception, that is a useless hope. Take exception to the hope for an exception. So people who do not do this, they are amazing.
How can somebody be so terribly obtuse, so dumb, so unthinking? Just don’t think about death. Now most people, if they are asked, you know that you are going to die? Yes, yes, I know I am going to die. But actually when they admit it, there is a hollowness to that admission.
One doesn’t accept it in one’s heart. Yes, okay, it may happen. But it’s as if when they say I am going to die, they are talking about somebody else.
Somebody else is going to die. Or I am going to die in the future after so long that I don’t have to bother about it right now. Those people are also amazing.
And so now this ascerivate as an adjective can be transposed and also applied to the doing, to the action. So you know in a sentence there are three parts. There is the subject, there is the predicate, and in the predicate there is the connecting verb and there is the object.
So for example say I see you. So I am the doer, I am the subject, see is the action and you is the object who is being seen. So in I see you, so if I say I see you, amazed I see you.
So now amazed can apply either to I, it can apply to see or it can apply to you. So of course this is a rough parallel. Sanskrit language and its grammar is quite different.
I am just giving a simple example over here to illustrate the point that actually this adjective, it can either apply, this ascerivate, this ascriber can apply either to the atma, ascerivate, enam. It can apply to enam, that this soul that we discussed or it can apply to kashchit, to the person who is perceiving or it can apply to the act of perception. So if it applies to the act of perception then what happens? Pashyati, ascerivate pashyati.
So that means you know, some people amazingly see the soul. So actually that act of seeing. So once we get the spiritual vision and we see the soul.
If we stand over really, amazingly we see the soul. Some people amazingly hear about the soul. Some people amazingly speak about the soul.
So when we speak about the soul, actually all of us know that, theoretically all of us know I am not the body, I am the soul. But most of the time we act at the level of the body. But when we speak about it seriously, say we give some talk about reasoning and talk about, we should know about their past life memories and tell their case studies and think seriously about it.
Then what we know, it goes deeper when we speak about it. Really? I am not the body, I am the soul. Some people amazingly speak about the soul.
Some people amazingly hear about the soul. Those people who come and hear, I am not the body, I am the soul. My God, I didn’t know about this.
Nobody told me about this. What is this? And that is also amazing that for a time when you come to know, I am not the body, I am the soul. It’s amazing.
And some people amazingly don’t understand about the soul. That’s also amazing. So why do some people not understand about the soul at all? So Prabhupada says that there can be multiple reasons.
One is that they just don’t know. And after hearing also if they don’t understand, then that’s because they are too attached to material things. They are too attached to material things and then that attachment blinds them.
So attachments are binding and blinding. So attachments are what? Binding. We know that’s binding.
Alcoholics are attached to alcohol. That means the mind is constantly thinking about alcohol. When will I get that? When will I get that? When will I get that? So attachments are binding and then they are also blinding.
So just as an alcoholic, once a person is attached to alcohol, he doesn’t think of anything else. He’s caught in the whole thing and he’s entangled. Or there’s a story we know of Pilvamangal Thakur in his pre-devotional days when he was infatuated by the prostitute Chintamani.
So at that time, that attachment was binding. Although there was a storm, although there was so much misery and trouble, but still that attachment was like an invisible rope which dragged him to that society woman’s place. And then it was binding and it was blinding.
Why blinding? Because he just couldn’t think about anything else. He saw a corpse and he thought it was a log of wood. He saw a snake and he thought it was a rope.
It’s blinding. Of course in this case he did not meet with any casualty, but otherwise people can meet with casualties. For example, if a person becomes drunk and a drunken person drives a vehicle, then what happens? When there’s a drunken driver, then the attachment is binding.
So the person, because the person is drunk, so he can’t resist the drink. And after the person drinks and then drives, the attachment is blinding. The person just can’t see.
They’re drunk and maybe he rams into somebody and kills that person. So attachment is binding and blinding. So that’s why people can’t see.
People don’t understand at all. So to the extent now as devotees we have to hear about from scripture, but along with hearing from scripture, we also have to work on our mental attachments. To the extent we give up our mental attachments, to that extent we’ll be understanding the spiritual reality.
Let’s move forward. So now, after talking about, in summary about the Atma Gyan, Krishna talks about, summary, the conclusion from the Atma Gyan. So he says, देही नित्यं अवध्योयं देहे सर्वस्वभारता तस्मात् सर्वाणि भूताणि मत्यों शोचितु मर्हसी।।।।।।।।।।।।।।।।।।।।।।।।।।।।।।।।।।।।।।।।।।।।।।।।।।।।।।।।।।।।।।।।।� देहे सर्वस्यभारता देहे सर्वस्यभारता means all souls are indestructible.
It is not that only some special souls are indestructible. Nowadays people often whenever they want to learn something people google on the internet. Now of course if we know and the sources of knowledge, devotees also have many websites and if the sources of knowledge are reliable we can use them.
But sometimes people google and then anybody can put anything. So there are so many websites which can tell, which promise people how to determine your next reincarnation. Do this, this, this and then you come up with what to do.
Then okay, the special book is there, pay $500, pay $5000 for it. How to know your future life, how to determine your future life, how to determine, so things like this. Or these people make it seem as if reincarnation is something special which happens to only selected few.
So only if you read this book and you apply what is taught then you will reincarnate. Otherwise you will be annihilated. It is a silly idea.
सर्वस्यभारता, actually all souls are indestructible. Not only specific souls. For example in some religions where the knowledge of the soul is not so clear.
So what they have the idea is that there are different kinds of souls. And human souls are eternal but animal souls and plant souls are not eternal. So animals can be eternal.
So they have some ideas like that. But there is सर्वस्यभारता, all souls are eternal. तस्मात सर्वानि भूतानि नत्तुम्षोचितुमर्हसि So the whole point of this is Arjuna do not lament, do not lament.
So do not let compassion be restricted to the bodily platform. And at ignorant level don’t let yourself become deluded. नत्तुम्षोचितुमर्हसि Therefore Arjuna it is not worthy of you to lament.
तस्मात सर्वानि भूतानि नत्तुम्षोचितुमर्हसि Do not lament for anyone. Neither for your enemies nor for your own people on your own side. Don’t lament for anyone.
So this is the first section of the Bhagavad Gita. In terms of Krishna’s instructions to Arjuna. So Krishna from 2.11 to 2.30 has described Arjuna Do not lament.
Because the soul is in this destructible fight. So after describing this now Krishna takes the discussion to a next level. To a higher level.
What is that level? In this level Krishna describes If I know that I am not the body I am the soul Okay I understand. But how do I act in life? Sometimes people say that Sometimes our life is considered This material existence is considered to be an illusion. It’s temporary.
It’s transitory. Okay fine it’s temporary transitory. But then how am I supposed to live? How do I come out of this illusion? It’s not that okay today I am here I am not the body I am the soul tomorrow.
I stop acting at the body’s platform entirely. I can try to avoid acting at the body’s platform. But still I have to live in the material world as long as I have this body.
Only at the end I will become liberated. So how do I go about doing this? So for that one needs to work carefully. One needs to work systematically.
So how do we work systematically? That means we need to move forward and think that what is the way by which I can rise out of the body conception. So the first in that is Karmakanda. Karmakanda means Arjuna you are indestructible.
Therefore you should fight, do your duty and attain victory and attain glory. So here by acting at the Karmakanda level. Karmakanda provides material enjoyment but it is not a dharmic framework.
It leads to gradual elevation. So the section from 31 to 38 is answering Arjuna’s second argument. His second argument was enjoyment.
I will not be able to enjoy. If I fight and kill my relatives I won’t be able to enjoy. So Krishna says no, if you don’t fight you will not be able to enjoy.
That’s what Krishna describes in 2.31 to 38. So let’s start. Now Aaveksha means thinking about, perceiving.
If you consider your specific dharma then what will you find? Swadharmam, your specific swadharmai. Brahman is swadharmai, Kshatriya is swadharmai. If you think about it.
Kampa means trembling. So there is no need for you to hesitate Arjuna. There is no need for you to do Kampa.
So this Kampa is not just physical. It is also, it is not just external Kampa. Arjuna was saying that I am trembling.
Yes, my limbs are quivering. My body is trembling. He has said that.
But that external trembling was because of an internal weakness. So Krishna is telling Arjuna there is no need for you to tremble like this. Because of internal indecision.
So you have no reason if you consider your swadharma to do Kampa. Why? Dharmyad yudha shreyonyad. So, Dharmyad yudha, from the point of view of dharma yudha, Kshatriyasya na vidyate, there is no greater Shreya, there is no greater glory for a Kshatriya than to fight a righteous war.
So in 2.7, Arjuna had surrendered and had asked what is Shreya? What is my long term good? And Krishna is answering here. Now Krishna will also talk about multiple levels of Shreya. But here he says for a Kshatriya, the Kshreya, there can be no higher good than the righteous war.
Dharmyad yudha. Kshatriyasya na vidyate. So now all of us in our current life, we have 2 sets of duties.
There is material duty and there is spiritual duty. So the Swadharma can refer to the material duty. The material duty is the process of Varanashram.
So that means Brahman, Kshatriya, Vashudra. Or we have our material duties, we have our duty to our parents, we have our duty towards our family members. So important duties, material duties there.
And the spiritual duty is our sadhana bhakti. So our process of spirituality, our process of yoga, our process of sadhana, by which we realise our spiritual nature. So we have both these duties and both these duties need to be done harmoniously.
Here Krishna is talking to Arjuna in terms of his Swadharma, in terms of his material duty. Kshatriya has 2 particular duties. And what is that Kshatriya’s duty? It is actually to fight in righteous war.
So actually Prabhupada explains this. Prabhupada quotes a verse from the scriptures and he says that actually for a Kshatriya to die in a battlefield and for a Brahmana to perform yajna, for a sannyasi to give the body, to lay down the body at the end of the sannyasa, all these are very auspicious. So of course here Prabhupada quotes 2 specific things, a Kshatriya and a Brahmana.
So when a Brahmana leaves the body, Brahmana does some yajna, in which even if a Brahmana does some faulty things like animal sacrifice, still the Brahmana will be elevated. Because the Brahmana is following the path of Dharma. And Kshatriya also, even if Kshatriya has to kill in the course of a dharmic battle, Kshatriya will be elevated.
So now in the scriptures, there are references to animal sacrifice. Now the important point in the animal sacrifice, actually Prabhupada always explains based on the way Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu explained to Chandakasi during their talks, as I described in Charita Amrit chapter 16 of the Adi Leela, basically the point was, there was a conflict, there was a tug of war, that the principle of Ahimsa is there in the Vedic scriptures. At the same time, in the yajnas, the yajnas involve certain activities, certain rituals, they involve, one of the rituals is animal sacrifice.
So the animals may be killed in various ways. So sometimes by mantras the animals are killed, just chanting mantras and the live animal falls dead. Sometimes the animals are killed by tug, by killing them, by using physical weapons.
But whichever way they are killed, the important point is, that if they are killed properly, then those animals get elevated, they get a higher body, because they have died in the righteous dharmic context. Now, beyond that, there was always an inclination from Manusmriti onwards to avoid animal sacrifices entirely. So for example, Malacharya, Ramanacharya, when they talk about the sacrifices, they say that actually sacrifices are given for those who are related to mediating.
And those who do not want to do sacrifices, they can use other things. For example, instead of sacrificing an animal, a living animal, one can make a clay replica of an animal. So one can take atta and make a clay replica.
Not clay, it means mud, but one can have some other replica made of flour or grains. And one can cut that and offer that during the sacrifice also. Or for example, now for the Kali, it is said that she likes blood and that’s why goats are slaughtered over there in some of the temples of Kali.
Now she doesn’t like blood. She is a Vaishnavi. Vaishnavi janamohini Bhagavatam says.
Durga, she is Vaishnavi and Kali is basically her expansion. She is Durga manifesting in a slightly more Ugratamasic form. So, now, it is widely accepted in the tradition today that the goddess likes goddess offers sacrifice because she likes blood.
But actually not she likes blood. It is the people who like to eat flesh and things like that. So then she accepts that.
But those who want to avoid it, it is told for them that you can actually give something red to her. So you can give red flowers to her. So that’s why in the worship of the goddess, red flowers are given.
And red colour is there of blood and red colour is there of flowers. So, in general, the Acharyas do not directly reject certain things that they are given in the Vedas. But they contextualise them.
So, Krishna for example here says, later on he will say in the second chapter that, Arjuna, go beyond the three modes. He will say in 2.45 because the Vedas talk about the three modes. But still Krishna never rejects Vedic authority.
He accepts Vedic authority and then tells Arjuna to rise beyond that to transcendental level. Similarly, the point is that the Acharyas, even if there are certain statements in the Vedas which seem a little difficult to comprehend, which seem controversial, then the Acharyas explain to us how within the context they are to be understood. So for people who are attached to meat-eating and for them to rise upwards gradually, animal sacrifices are recommended.
But for those who have risen to a higher level of consciousness, there is no need for animal sacrifice. And that’s why that is not talked about. So, the point here is, whoever is a person who does the prescribed duty, that person gets elevated.
Kshatriyas also, yes, Kshatriyas if they fight in righteous war and they die, they will get elevated. But that doesn’t mean Kshatriyas have to provoke war for the sake of getting elevated. You see the Pandavas, they tried everything possible to avoid the war.
The Pandavas sent messengers, and finally Krishna himself came. Krishna brought the… the whole kingdom was the Pandavas actually. Because it was Pandus and after that it was the Pandavas.
They never asked for the whole kingdom. They said, only our rightful half. And the half which they had got was also actually very desolate.
But they had got Khandavprastha, which is like a forest. But they had arranged to make it Indraprastha by the mercy of Krishna. But then even when they did not demand for the part of the kingdom that was theirs and which they had only developed.
Just give five villages, we need not accept that also. So this sort of glorification of death or glorification of dying in a war field, it is not a licence for indiscriminate violence. If you look at the full cultural context, we will see that violence is never the first option for resolving difficulties or conflicts.
Violence is the last option. And these kind of statements which are there in the scriptures, glorifying a Kshatriya who lays down the body in a war field, attains Swarga. These statements are primarily meant to encourage people or to inspire people so that they don’t flinch while fighting on the behalf of Dharma.
That means when they understood, yes, even if I have to die, it doesn’t matter. I will attain heaven by fighting. So that is to inspire people to stick to Dharma.
The purpose of this is not to condone or recommend violence. So Krishna is telling that for a Kshatriya actually it is very fortunate to get a human, to get a Dharmic war. So Prabhupada writes the principle over here.
Discharging Discharging Discharging one’s specific duties within Varanashram is always auspicious. So now let’s move forward to the next verse. So Upapannam means has arrived at.
Yadruchaya. Yadruchaya means by its own arrangement. By the course of nature.
So if by the arrangement of nature if the war has appeared then that war actually opens the doors for heaven. It opens the doors to heaven. So O Partha, O Arjuna, the Kshatriyas are very happy.
Because So all of them want to attain heaven. So when they want to attain heaven at that time how will they attain heaven? Actually they will attain it only when they lead a life of Dharma and Punya. And after that there is a process of gradual attachment and eventually they will attain heaven.
But if they live in such a way that eventually that they will get an opportunity to fight a Dharmic war and they die over there. Then they will get heaven. So in a sense a Dharmic war is an opportunity for heaven.
Dharmic war is an opportunity where the doors to heaven are opened. So Krishna says the Kshatriyas should be happy. So you are getting a glorious destination.
You should be happy. So Krishna says, Arjuna, do not lament. Why are you hesitating to fight? Now we may wonder why is Krishna glorifying Svarga over here? Actually we say that we should not go to Svarga.
In fact the devotees feel that even Mukti, Kaivalya is also insignificant. So Akashapushpa Prabodhan Saraswati’s famous verse says that actually as compared to the joy of devotional remembrance of Krishna everything else is insignificant. The heavenly pleasures are like Akashapushpa.
And then even the happiness of liberation is like hell. Kaivalyam Narakayate, Dhrudashpur Akashapushpayate. It’s a long verse.
I won’t go into that right now. But so the important point is we know from our philosophy that spiritual happiness is the topmost. Then Vaikunthar Goloka basically spiritual world is what is the aspiration.
Then why is Krishna glorifying Svarga over here? Because Krishna is taking knowledge of the world step by step. So right now he is not talking about the concept of liberation. He is talking even if one is on Svarga, even if you want material enjoyment, Krishna is here responding to Arjuna’s question that how will I enjoy without my relatives? If enjoyment is what you want and he is not changing the definition of enjoyment for Arjuna, he is not saying, oh, material enjoyment is false actually.
You should enjoy spiritually. No, he is not coming to that level. Even if you want material enjoyment, still what is it? Actually you get material enjoyment by practising Dharma.
So the Mahabharata of which Bhagavad Gita is a part, largely focusses on Karmakand. We do Dharma by which we enjoy Artha and Kama. And of course Bhakti, Moksha, Prema that is talked about and that is definitely there but that can be seen when we see it through the vision of the Acharyas.
Now, moving forward, so Prabhupada quotes this verse, a Kshatriya is a person who protects the Dharma. So Parashara Sruti says this, so what is the duty of Kshatriya? Praja Rakshan. Protect the Praja.
Prabhupada always says Praja doesn’t mean only human beings. It means all living beings who are there in the kingdom. We know the story then Lord Ram and a dog came, a cow came.
We have stories of Lord Ram or Maharashi B or Maharaj Rantidev. Anybody who comes, they consider their Praja. And for the Praja Rakshan, what they do? Shastrapani, they have to lift up weapons.
And Pradandayan, they have to give punishment. Nirjitya Parasainyadi, they have to conquer over the enemy soldiers. Kshitim dharmena palayet.
In this way, Kshiti, the earth, the land which they have got, dharmena palayet, they have to protect according to Dharma. So Krishna is telling Arjuna, by this you will attain auspiciousness, you will attain heaven. Now Krishna will tell, ok, if you don’t do this, what will happen? Athachvetam imam dharmyam, sangramam na karishyasi, tahasva dharmam kirtimcha, hitvapapam vapsyasi.
Athachvetam imam dharmyam. If however, imam dharmya, this dharma you do not follow, sangramam na karishyasi, you do not follow your dharma and you do not do sangram. Sangram is fighting.
Then what will happen? tahasva dharmam kirtimcha hitva. You will lose your dharma and you lose your kirti. Because not doing your dharma, that is inauspicious.
So you lose your dharma, you will be doing dereliction of duty. You lose your fame. And then hitvapapam vapsyasi.
How papam? Actually doing our dharma is our duty. If we fail in our dharma, that brings papa. You know, if a doctor doesn’t treat a patient, then that is a crime by negligence.
The doctor knows how to cure a patient and the patient is there. The doctor doesn’t do anything. That is the crime of negligence.
So even the kshatriya doesn’t protect the citizens. That is a crime. The kshatriya is considered a criminal because of being negligent.
So similarly here, Krishna is telling that actually if you don’t do your dharma, then papam vapsyasi. You will lose your dharma, so you will not get the opportunity to do punya, but you will do papa. And then in the next verses, Krishna will talk a lot about kirti.
So remember, Krishna has not yet taken things directly to the spiritual level. So now he will talk a lot about kirti. Krishna is not talking here at the level of Chaitanya Mahaprabhu He is talking about kshatriyas in their language.
You will lose your fame also. So how will you lose your fame? He talks about in the next verses. Akirtim cha apibhutani Akirtim The word had come in the previous verses.
So kirti is fame, akirti is infamy. Akirtim cha apibhutani Kathai shinte avyayam. So people will speak about avyayam for a long long time to come.
Actually in this world, infamy stays on for a long time because many people like to gossip. You know what that person did? You know what that person did? You know what that person did? People speak about it and it just goes on and on. So now Krishna is by no means condoning or recommending this.
Krishna is just reporting a universal pattern of human behaviour. This is how it is. So if somebody acts in a particular way, an ignoble way, people talk about it.
Now actually there is all the paparazzi in the media also there is paparazzi. Paparazzi is like the people who among those newspaper journalists or reporters those who are instead in cheap popularity. Cheap popularity means one film star slaps another film star and there are big photos of that.
Is this person having an affair with that person? That person was seen with that person and that person was doing this. And this is all just gossip and scandal. So what happens is people like to hear about this because people’s consciousness is low and there is a whole media that is catering to it.
So of course now it has gone international proportions because of internet and because of technology. But this is a general tendency. So Krishna is telling that Arjuna if you act in an ignoble way people will speak about your infamy.
So as devotees we are not concerned about reputation for our own sake. But we are concerned about reputation for the sake of sharing Krishna’s message. Now for example if a preacher gets a bad reputation if a preacher’s character is flawed or even if the preacher’s character is not flawed but somehow that preacher gets a bad reputation then the preacher’s capacity to share that message gets impeded.
Because generally when can any teacher share a message especially a message that involves spiritual wisdom and personal transformation then people trust the person. But whenever there is gossip then as soon as we see that person we think I heard that about another person and something like this. So it will cancel it stays in the mind.
And it just erodes our faith away. So now from our point of view we should always try to avoid hearing gossip. But it’s a universal human nature that people will gossip.
It’s of course not a recommended nature. It’s a lower nature. Just like it’s a nature to become lusty or greedy.
Similarly it’s a conditioned nature to become gossipy. That has to be avoided. That has to be curtailed.
But it is there. People are going to do these things. So what do you do about it? So Krishna says that this is how people will talk about you.
And then So from the preacher’s point of view also it’s important that we should not act in a way that will bring infamy. So Krishna has said that for a person who has been honoured dishonour is worse than death. Actually sticks can break bones but words can break hearts.
Harsh words that are spoken they can inflict wounds that go deeper, much much much deeper than the physical wounds. Most of the time when people commit say suicide it’s not so common that people commit suicide because of physical pain. But when there is emotional pain and somebody whom we love and trust, that person has spoken harsh words it can be enormously painful.
It can be worse than death. So dishonour is Krishna says dishonour is worse than death. So of course when we are talking about dishonour we are not just talking about a person speaking harsh words about us.
But a person speaking harsh words and those harsh words going around to the world for everyone the person speaking, whether it is true or false the person speaks to everyone. This person did this. Dishonour becomes so difficult to deal with.
So it’s impossible. So Krishna is telling Arjuna, this is not going to happen to you. Arjuna may say but no, why should people become, why should I get infamy because I am not doing anything for my selfish purposes.
I am doing for the sake of virtue. I don’t want to kill my elders and for the sake of righteousness I am not doing anything wrong. People do not think like this.
What will people think? That’s what he describes in the next verse. So that you ran away. Why? Because of fear.
You are there in the battlefield and then you chickened out. All the great people, all these great warriors what will they say? They will say, oh you ran out of cowardice. And those who are thought you are a very great person.
They will say, you are nothing great. You are an ordinary person. They will consider you insignificant.
So actually our actions are seen by people. Our motivations are not seen by people. And people’s perceptions are shaped not by our motivations but by our actions.
If people come to know us closely then maybe they can see beyond our actions to our motivations also. But people primarily see our actions. And based on their level of consciousness they will ascribe, okay, when would I have done like this? If somebody is right there on the battlefield and then at that time the person says, I will not fight.
I will use the battlefield. When would I do that? Or when would other people I know do that? When they are afraid. So that way, that’s what happens to most people.
And we have to remember that. So there are three things over there. There are perceptions, there are actions and there are motivations.
So our motivations are not known to the world. Our actions are seen by the world and based on that people have perceptions. So therefore our actions have to be such that they don’t lead to wrong perceptions.
That’s why the actions have to be exemplary. And sometimes we have to act in some unusual ways. Then we have to clear the air and explain why we are acting in particular ways.
Then it doesn’t lead to false perceptions. So Krishna is telling Arjuna that people are not going to look at your heart. People are going to look at you externally, your actions.
What is that from the battlefield? That means that this person must have been chickened out, must have become a coward. So in this way they will consider that you are insignificant. They will consider you to be insignificant.
So actually this is a common human tendency. This is called the attributional error. Attributional error means attribution means to attribute or say to ascribe a cause to determine.
So whenever there are actions we attribute motivations for those actions. So for example if we see somebody is eating a lot. Why is this person eating a lot? This person is a glutton.
This person is greedy. So now generally speaking if somebody is sleeping for a long time this person is lazy. This person is.
So like that what we do is we see actions and we ascribe motivations to that. And in that we do usually an attributional error. What is that? We give ourselves the benefit of doubt.
You see if I overeat, I was hungry. If that person overeat, that person is greedy. So how the same action when I do it, it is hunger.
And if somebody else does it, it is greed. If I oversleep, I was tired. If that person overfeeds, that person is lazy.
So how does it happen? That is a human tendency. So actually we have to avoid this. We have to learn to avoid this attributional error.
And we shouldn’t attribute motivations to actions without understanding circumstances. Otherwise we can lead to a lot of misunderstandings. Once I had gone.
I was in the temple and then I had just come for prasadam. And then I had come a little late. That date was a feast.
But most of the feast was over. So some last things were remaining. So I was feeling a little bad.
The sweet had already got over. So I thought that okay I’ll take whatever is over there. And there was one senior devotee who was sitting opposite.
And I saw that in his plate the sweet had been there. And the sweet had got over. And he started asking Is sweet there? Is there some sweet? Is there some sweet? And then he asked one person.
And he said, No Prabhu, sweet is over. Then he started asking another Sarovar. Is sweet there? And third Sarovar.
And practically asking everyone is sweet there? Now he was a senior devotee. So people started getting a little concerned. And then finally I was thinking, What is this person? Why they already had one helping of sweet? Why they are asking for a second helping? And finally one devotee came along.
That devotee had just like when people are serving prasadam then they make plates for themselves so that they’ll take later. So this devotee was serving. He had made plate for himself.
So he brought his own plate and he said in that there was sweet. And he started serving. And he was about to serve that.
He said, No, no, I don’t want it. And that devotee pointed to me. And he said, He has not got sweet.
Give to him. So I was so shocked. So that devotee brought sweet for himself.
He wanted it for me. He was so sensitive. He saw that I have come.
I didn’t get sweet. So he said, Please give him sweet. So now afterwards I was thinking that say when I ask for sweet, my action is because I have a tongue which wants delicious things.
So when I see an action then automatically the motivation is Okay, I want to taste the sweet. That’s why I think it’s for me. But so based on my level of consciousness, I perceive everyone else.
And based on actions, I attribute motivation as thinking, you know, why this person is so greedy? But there was no greed involved at all. There was actually a concern for other, you know, somebody else involved. That’s why we have to be careful that when there are, when we see actions, we don’t attribute motivations by default.
We have to actually investigate and try to understand the circumstance. Then we can understand properly. So as devotees we should be careful.
But people in the world are not generally going to be careful like this. So as much as possible, we should also try to behave in such a way that we don’t, that things don’t come to a situation of misunderstanding. Chaitanya Mahaprabhu said in Chaitanya Charanam Akcharatam they said that Sanyasi Ralpachitra Sarvalokagai they said that just as on a white cloth if there is one dark spot, it shines.
It doesn’t shine, it looks ugly, but it is basically noticeable for everyone. Similarly, if there is some small flaw in a Sanyasi or in a person who is in a position of leadership, everybody sees that. So we have to work both ways.
If we are as devotees representing Krishna then we should not behave in ways that will lead to attribution error among people. That means we should not act in ways which will raise questions and which will make people lead to wrong perception. On the other hand, when we are observing others acting in questionable ways, we shouldn’t by default assume that there are ulterior motives involved over here.
We should be open to actually find out what it is. Now Krishna will describe further Now Krishna is telling in this way If you die, if you are killed over here, you will attain Swarga. If you win, you will enjoy the whole world.
Therefore Arjuna writes with determination, fight. So here we see Krishna’s brilliant reasoning that the situation that Arjuna had thought of loose-loose, Krishna has shown how it is win-win. If you die, still you will attain heaven.
That’s victory for you. And if you win, you get earth over here. That’s also victory for you.
So where is the loss for you? So if Arjuna has any hesitation about why to fight or why not to fight, Krishna removes that hesitation and tells fight. With determination, Arjuna fight. So this is the second level argumentation.
Karmakand. If your enjoyment is your concern, you will best enjoy by fighting, by doing your duty. Therefore Arjuna, fight.
Next verse onwards, Krishna will talk about the next lesson which we will discuss in the next class. Thank you.