Bhakti Shastri (073) – Bhagavad Gita Chapter 04 Text 34 to 38

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Thank you very much. Welcome back to our Bhakti Shastri Bhagavata course.
We are in the concluding section of the fourth chapter. Krishna has talked about various forms of यध्या by which one can acquire knowledge. And now he will talk about how ultimately the knowledge gives us various glorious fruits.
So let us look at these fruits of knowledge. So we look at this first, we look at the overview of the fourth chapter. So here we have, there are five sections in the fourth chapter.
We have discussed four of those sections. The first section is Krishna teaches and establishes dharma. So he teaches among us with the yoga and establishes धर्मसंस्थापनार्फयसंभवामियोगेयोगे Then dharma involves various parts.
So Krishna is the goal of all those parts. He is the creator of also of those parts. Then Krishna is recommending that the dharma that Arjuna follow is कर्मयोगा because कर्मयोगा will eventually lead to liberation as has been done by many people in the past.
So then Krishna says how while acting one will get liberation that is because one acts in यज्या. So when we act in sacrifice, that sacrifice leads to development of knowledge, to ज्यान. So the section 25 to 33 is achieving ज्यान through sacrifices.
So connection between the third and the fourth section is that कर्मयोगा itself is one way to develop ज्यान and in general there are various ways by which various यज्याs by which one can develop ज्यान. So यज्यायाचिरतः कर्म Krishna had told in 23rd verse that act for यज्या. So now after describing how ज्यान can be acquired in various ways now in the last section 34 to 42 now which of these ways should one follow? That one has to enquire from a spiritual master.
So by going to a spiritual master we acquire transcendental knowledge. So now this last section we’ll talk about how to acquire transcendental knowledge and what the results of that transcendental knowledge are. So let’s begin with the 34th verse.
It’s a well-known verse which Prabhupada would frequently quote उपदेख्षन्तिते ज्यानं ज्यानिनस्तत्वदर्शिनः So तद्विद्धी That knowledge. तद् refers to that. What is that? What was talked about in the previous verse, 4.33 verse? ज्याने परिसमाप्पिते That all forms of यज्या सर्वं कर्मा खिलंपार्थ ज्याने परिसमाप्पिते That all kind of work that is done and all the sacrifices that are involved in that work They all culminate in knowledge.
So how one can acquire knowledge? तद्विद्धी You can know it by three things परिपातेन परिपरश्णेन सेवय परिपातेन is submission परिपरश्णेन is inquisitiveness And सेवय is service attitude So then उपदेख्षन्ति So उपदेख्षन्ति is related with उपदेश to give instruction So परिपातेन says they will initiate you ते ज्यानम They will initiate you into that knowledge उपदेख्षन्ति ते ज्यानम ज्यानिनस् तत्वधर्शिनः तत्वधर्शिनः is those who are the seers of truth So because the focus here is on ज्यान So Krishna doesn’t talk about भक्त He doesn’t say भक्तिनाम He says ज्यानिनस Why? Because Krishna will later on say how all ज्यान culminates in भक्ति ज्यानमानमां प्रपद्धिते He will explain 7.19 At this stage Krishna has not introduced भक्ति directly So he is focussing on ज्यानिनस He is focussing on how कर्मयोगा will lead to ज्यान And that ज्यान when it is developed it will lead to liberation So how one gets that ज्यान By going to a spiritual master And if you want ज्यान Then the spiritual master should have ज्यान That is why ज्यानिनस Now interestingly if we remember from the third chapter When Krishna is talking about how lust covers the living entities intelligence So at that time he says in 3.39 So he describes all living entities to be ज्यानिन So all of us are सच्चितानन्द As souls All of us are ज्यानी We all have knowledge But currently our knowledge is covered The spiritual master is a person who has been able to uncover that conditioning Uncover remove that conditioning that is there And therefore has become ज्यानिनस So the soul is by nature ज्यानि But because of the covering of lust आवर्तम् ज्यानम् The soul becomes like अज्यानि But the spiritual master is one who has removed the covering ज्यानिनस तत्वधर्शिन So because the spiritual master has seen the truth तत्वधर्शि He has seen the truth So after seeing the truth He can explain the truth to us Now let us look at this verse a little bit more in detail Especially three things that we have to do प्रणिपातेन परिप्रश्नेन and सेवया So I write daily articles in the Bhagavad Gita So here is the article on this theme of 4.34 So the title is Tap His Grace by Humbleness, Inquisitiveness and Service-Mindedness So His Grace is Krishna’s Grace And Humbleness is प्रणिपातेन Inquisitiveness is परिप्रश्नेन And Service-Mindedness is सेवया So तद्विधि प्रणिपातेन परिप्रश्नेन सेवया So the spiritual master is like a coach for us The spiritual master is a coach Coach means that the spiritual master gives us guidance on how we can advance in spiritual life So what is humbleness? Humbleness means to admit that I don’t know the way प्रणिपातेन Why should we go down and bow? प्रणिपात means to actually offer obeisances To bow down, fall down So as we can’t discern the internal landscape We need indispensably an attitude of humbleness I don’t know the way You do Please be my guide So actually spiritual journey is essentially an inner journey We want to move inwards The soul is inside We are the soul but we are not aware that we are the soul So we direct our consciousness inwards and realise that we are the soul And after that we have to realise that the soul is eternally connected with Krishna And there is Krishna inside also So we have to make an inner journey But we can’t see things inside So therefore we need to know the way So the spiritual master knows the way The spiritual master provides us the way So humbleness Just as when we go to a doctor We are humble I’m sick I don’t know what is the cause of sickness You know Please I have come to tell you So actually if a patient imagines that I know better than a doctor The patient cannot be treated by the doctor So humbleness is required And humbleness alone is not enough You just fall in front of the spiritual master Yes But I have to enquire I enquire What is wrong? So as Sanatana Goswami enquired What is Why am I Why am I Why am I suffering Threefold miseries of material existence There’s something which is a vital enquiry for everyone And that is inquisitiveness So this injunction of the Gita indicates that it calls not for blind faith In the name of humbleness But for a development of our capacity for spiritual perception By this perception we start seeing for ourselves What the Guru is seeing This means We when we enquire for the spiritual master We gradually by enquiry We develop Jnana Chakshu We develop our capacity for spiritual perception We start perceiving the spiritual way Doesn’t mean suddenly we start seeing Satchitananda Atma everywhere That will happen eventually when we develop spiritual vision also But we develop the capacity for deep thinking And deep thinking also leads to deeper observations So we can see this world How the promises of this world are false And how we can see basically in the world The truths of the Gita being demonstrated And we start seeing for ourselves what the Guru is saying So after humbleness there’s inquisitiveness So the spiritual master tells us this world is a place of misery But then I see there’s so many advertisements In the advertisements all people are smiling All people are laughing In the movies people are laughing And all the novels have happy endings So yes this world is a place of happiness That’s what the world seems to tell us We will gradually start seeing beyond the surface I look in the roads We see the advertisements people are smiling But look down on the road everybody is sulking Frowning Scowling So where are actually people happy? In real life few people if any are happy And even if they are happy that’s for a short time This world is actually a place of misery So we start seeing for ourselves what the Guru is saying That happens by inquisitiveness So humbleness is definitely important so that we can learn But humbleness alone is not enough Humbleness is a launching pad for learning For developing our own spiritual vision And now it’s good to admit that we don’t know And then to get to know Doctor I don’t know what’s wrong with me Now please tell me what is my sickness After that the important thing is to take the medicine If we don’t take the medicine even if we know in exhaustive detail The diagnosis that we are of the disease that we are suffering from Still this knowledge doesn’t cure us There has to be a taking of the prescription application So that is that application essentially is Service-mindedness The destination of our spiritual journey Is the realisation that loving service to Krishna Is our only source of lasting fulfilment We progress toward that realisation By serving Krishna as per the Guru’s instructions So when we What is the ultimate realisation that we need? I am not the body I am the soul That Krishna is God Yes all these are important realisations The most transformational realisation of our life will be That Krishna and Krishna alone Is the source of the best enjoyment Everything else that promises enjoyment will ultimately lead to suffering Service to Krishna will grant me greater and better fulfilment Than anything else in this world Once we get this realisation Once we get this conviction Then the temptations of this world will no longer allure us And how do we get this? By actually living according to it So we may not feel so much satisfaction in loving Krishna right now But if we keep serving Krishna Keep serving Krishna With as much of an affectionate attitude Devotional attitude that we can have Then gradually by this We will develop our affection for Krishna And we will get realisation also That we get greater happiness in serving Krishna than anything else So now to summarise His grace this works in three progressive steps What is? Humbleness enables the Guru to show us the way Inquisitiveness enables us to start seeing the way ourselves And service-mindedness enables us to move along the way There are three steps By humbleness If I’m not humble then the Guru cannot show me only what is the way So I’m humble I don’t know please tell me Humbleness enables the Guru to show us the way Inquisitiveness enables us to start seeing the way ourselves To internalise what the Guru is telling us And service-mindedness We actually start moving So Guru tells us you’re not the body of the soul Soul is servant of Krishna Inquisitiveness helps us to understand this more And then acting on the spiritual devotional platform of serving Krishna Moves us towards becoming reinstated in our eternal spiritual position So in this way By these three we get the spiritual knowledge So let’s look at Actually Prabhupada’s purport also So Prabhupada starts by telling The path of spiritual realisation is undoubtedly difficult Undoubtedly difficult Why? Normally we say bhakti is easy to perform Yes but in general bhakti is the easiest among the various spiritual paths And the spiritual paths in general are difficult So why are they difficult? Because we have to fight our inner demons We have to fight against lust, anger, greed, envy, pride and illusion And they are formidable forces Which want to keep us enslaved So that we keep serving them life after life after life So therefore we need the guidance of a Guru And Prabhupada explains that mental speculation Mental speculation or dry arguments cannot help one lead to the right path Nor by independent study of books of knowledge can one progress in spiritual life So these can give us some preliminary knowledge But this can give us some preliminary knowledge We can read books, we can think for ourselves It can be a slight movement along the right path But if we want serious progress on the right path Then we need a spiritual master Now what exactly So Prabhupada now significantly makes the point that Actually the spiritual master tests the disciple To see if the disciple is sincere Disciple is serious And the disciple is serious Then the spiritual master accepts In Krishna Consciousness the testing is standardised In terms of chanting 16 rounds And following four regular principles for one year or whatever The period may be depending on one spiritual master But one year is generally the standard minimum And then like that the spiritual master is testing the disciple And the disciple also needs to test the spiritual master In today’s society there are so many people who claim to be spiritual masters And one has to be able to test Who is the bona fide spiritual master And by that one moves forward Then now what exactly is the spiritual master’s role The spiritual master actually is enabling us To turn towards Krishna how? Through his own example And through his connection with Krishna So the parampara The spiritual master has to come in parampara Then we are not going to go into all the qualifications But this chapter itself talked earlier in 4.2 Of evam parampara praptam The spiritual master’s very defining qualification is That this is parampara So now parampara is not just a link of head Link not just of head but a link of hearts What does it mean? What does it mean link of hearts? Actually it is not that If you look at Prabhupada’s books And you look at Bhakti Sahasrath Thakur’s books You will see that there is a world of difference Not in content but in presentation In style In manner of approach Prabhupada is a distinct individual And Krishna Thakur is a distinct individual So it is not that the disciple is going to repeat verbatim As it is like a robo or like a recorder Whatever one has heard just repeats it That can also be done in certain situations Where it is required But the important point is That that is not what defines a spiritual master The spiritual master lives the principles that are taught in scriptures And when the disciple sees how the spiritual master Is living according to the principles of selfless sacrifice Then the disciple gets inspired When the disciple gets inspired To live according to the same principles What happens is The principle of selfless devotion That is present in the heart of the spiritual master That gets transferred to the heart of the disciple And when it gets transferred to the heart of the disciple Then their hearts get linked So the parampara is a link of hearts Hearts linked together in the principle of selfless devotion So then when the disciple becomes thus inspired and exalted Then the disciple will become a spiritual master And that spiritual master example will inspire prospective disciples Who will also become inspired and transformed and elevated By the principle of selfless devotion Selfless devotion here is Bhakti Devi, Bhaktiya So bhakti is what links the disciplic succession The parampara is a link of hearts It’s a link of hearts based on the principle of bhakti Selfless devotion And then what does the parampara do? Actually the connection with parampara Piety transforms into spirituality When there is a connection to the guru And a commitment to the process So many people may have piety Piety means they may have some belief in being good, do good We should not be sinful, we should not be immoral We should not be doing illegal, illicit activities So that piety is there, piety is good But piety in and of itself is not spirituality Piety is in goodness Impiety can be in the lower modes, passion ignorance Piety is in goodness But spirituality is above, it’s transcendental So piety transforms into spirituality When there is a connection to the guru Connection to the guru and a commitment to the process There’s a connection to the guru and a commitment to the process One becomes connected with the spiritual master And after that connection one commits oneself I am going to serve my spiritual master And that commitment is Then by that one becomes purified And one becomes spiritually conscious, spiritually advanced So now some people say that Actually I have a direct relationship with God I want to have a direct relationship with God Why should a guru come in between me and God? I don’t want anyone between me and God So actually what is the guru’s role? The guru doesn’t come in between us and God But he removes what is between us and God That is the wall of our own false ego The wall of our own misconceptions and misconceived desires So what is this? Actually the soul is here, Krishna is here The two are neighbours There is a famous verse which talks about two birds in the tree So the soul and the super soul are right next to each other in the heart But there is a wall The wall is of misconceptions Soul thinks that I am an independent living being I am the body and I can enjoy at the body level And based on that misconceptions there are misconceived desires Misdirected desires And those misdirected desires take the soul’s consciousness away from Krishna So what does the spiritual master do? Spiritual master gives the disciple the knowledge and the process By which that wall can be broken down Gives knowledge by which the misconceptions are shattered Yes, I am a part of Krishna I am in love and serve Krishna And also the misdirected desires Which take the soul’s consciousness away from Krishna Guru gives the principle of chanting of the holy names The remembrance of Krishna Which purifies and redirects our desires Away from the world and back towards Krishna In this way the wall breaks The guru doesn’t come between us and Krishna He removes what is between us and Krishna And not only that What does the spiritual master do? The spiritual master ultimately connects us with Krishna So without the spiritual master we will not know what is authentic bhakti Therefore spiritual master is essential And some people say that I don’t need a guru I am my own guru So he who is his own guru has a fool as a disciple So he who is his own guru If I am my own guru then who is my disciple? That’s a fool So I am my own disciple also Then I am a fool basically Why? Because we can’t change ourselves We can’t cure ourselves by our own efforts So Krishna is there in our heart But Krishna loves his devotees Somebody may ask Can’t Krishna make himself accessible directly? If Krishna loves me Why does Krishna want me to go to a guru? Krishna can reveal himself to me directly Why can’t Krishna do that? Krishna can do anything This is not a question of what Krishna can do This is a matter of what Krishna wants us to do Krishna is telling us in the Bhagavad Gita here itself A very categorical one Padviddhi Know this by going to a spiritual master So now Krishna loves all living beings But at the same time Krishna is reciprocal So Krishna loves all the more Krishna loves especially those who love him So now Krishna wants to glorify those devotees Who have sacrificed everything in this world for his sake Those who have focused on pure devotion to him Those who sacrifice the things of this world for his sake So when Krishna wants to do this He wants to offer the things of this world So Krishna wants to reward these devotees Of course the ultimate reward that he’s going to give them is The inner reward The flood of love of Krishna that he’s going to give them And ultimately the spiritual reward Taking them back to the spiritual world But along with that Krishna wants then to reward them in this world also But the devotees don’t want anything of this world The devotees are actually free from attachment to things of this world When the devotees don’t want anything of this world And if then they are free from the attachment to things of this world How can Krishna glorify them in this world also? How can Krishna reward them in this world also? Krishna rewards them by granting them Granting them the authority over the way out of this world The world is a place of misery And the most precious thing in this world is The way out of this world Just like in a jail What is the most precious thing? A jail there is no secret treasure buried somewhere A jail actually doesn’t contain anything precious The most precious thing in the jail is The key for the door Out of the jail isn’t it? So this material world is like a jail It is called Durga Durga is a prison And Durga Devi is the presiding deity of this prison So she keeps the living entities trapped in material existence And her three prongs Three with the top They inflict the conditioned souls with the threefold miseries And the purpose of these threefold miseries is They are telling Krishna So the purpose of these threefold miseries is Not to make the person suffer But to make the person reform So the idea So in this world which is like a prison The most important thing is How to get out of the world And that knowledge is the most precious thing And Krishna gives those devotees Who have offered their everything to him He gives them authority over this He says you My devotees You will become the distributors of this knowledge to everyone So without becoming submissive to the devotees This knowledge doesn’t arise in our heart We may theoretically understand it But we will not transformationally understand it That theoretical knowledge will not lead to transformation It will not lead to redirection of our heart’s love For the things of this world to Krishna For that to happen We need to serve a spiritual master And get bhakti from that spiritual master So essentially When Krishna is saying that Go to spiritual master Krishna can do anything Krishna can reveal himself to us directly also But we have to understand that Krishna is in loving reciprocation with his devotees And he wants to glorify his devotees in this world also So those who want to come out of this world Krishna gives them Tells those devotees You glorify those prospective devotees You surrender to my exalted devotees You become submissive to them By being submissive to them You will be able to find your way out of this material existence So you will understand So you will get this knowledge By surrendering to the spiritual master And the spiritual master is very compassionate Is very kind Is very caring And the spiritual master helps the soul To come out of material existence So some people say that So and so that There is no need to go to any guru Those who say like this Basically they are saying I am a guru And I am telling you don’t go to any guru So even when we Everybody says don’t go to any guru Basically even if you follow them What are we doing? We are accepting that person as a guru So we have to follow someone We just cannot live by rejecting everyone Even if we say I reject everyone Somebody told us to reject everyone So we are following that person Who told us to reject everyone So we have to follow someone Vedic scriptures say Rather than resenting and rejecting the principle of following someone Rather redirect that principle based on knowledge So understand whom we should follow Choose the right authority And then by that We will be able to become purified Enlightened and liberated So that’s the next verse We’ll talk about What is the effect of knowing about guru? So when we come to know about the guru What happens? We become When we come to know about the spiritual master That knowledge liberates us So first Krishna will describe the next verse What are the results of this knowledge? So we’ll look at this After you know this Again no more illusion Pandava is Arjuna That means as you are in illusion right now You will not go into illusion again You will not go into illusion What will happen? By this knowledge So what is the characteristic of being free from illusion? All living beings Without exception Shesha is remaining Ashesha means nothing remaining All living beings without exception What will happen about them? Means to see How will we see them? So you’ll see them as spiritual In fact you’ll see them as mine So this is the first verse in the Bhagavad Gita Where Krishna talks about His relationship with the living entities In the first In the second chapter Krishna talks about the soul He doesn’t explicitly tell What is the relationship of the soul with the supreme soul? And he does mention that Fix the mind on me Offer your work to me He has told that in 2.61 Then he has told in 3.30 He has said have faith in me But till now he has not explicitly stated What is our relationship with him eternally? So Krishna says then What do those people who are free from illusion They see? They see all living beings Atmani As spiritual As being situated on the spiritual platform And what is spiritual? They are mine They belong to me So what is the meaning of this verse in the Bhagavad Gita’s context? Krishna is telling Arjuna Don’t think that you alone are concerned about Bhishma And Drona And all the warriors assembled on this battlefield I am concerned about them They are all mine They are all my parts and parcels They are all my children I am concerned about them Whatever I am telling you to do That is ultimately for their best So don’t see them With this illusory vision That these are my That these are my Relate This is my grandfather This is my uncle This is my cousin This is my brother Don’t see this way This is one way of seeing it But actually This is a temporary relationship They are all eternal souls And the souls have Eternal relationship with Krishna So they are mine So Krishna So what happens by this? Krishna is telling when we acquire knowledge There is Firstly freedom from illusion So the two results of Gyan are There is no more illusion again The punar moham Krishna says And we see all living beings As in Krishna and Krishna’s So freedom from illusion And acquisition of spiritual vision These two are the results of Acquiring Gyan So now many people may say I have gone to this I have my own guru But we have to see what is the result What is the life actually? Are they free from illusion? Are they still caught in the attachments of this world? Hoping that worldly things will make them happy? Are they still filled with the mentality of Simoho or Mahamma Mahiti? I and mine If that is the case Then they have actually not been They are not internalised Knowledge the spiritual master has given So of course this is progression And most disciples They are still seekers So they may not have internalised this very high degree But at least some change should be there Now a devotee who is initiated by a spiritual master And is seriously practising A devotee’s life will be significantly different From the life of general people Even general pious people Devotee’s life will be different Because the devotee’s life is centred on Krishna Now after describing this This ultimate result Freedom from illusion And acquisition of spiritual vision Now Krishna will describe how this happens He will give some examples to illustrate How this change takes place So now Prabhupada explains interestingly That here Ātmānyatho mayi He explains that Actually The sense of an existence separate from Krishna Is called maya So when we see mayi Then that means you are becoming free from maya When we see everything as connected with Krishna Then we become free from maya So actually Prabhupada says Even the millions of incarnations Are only as different expansions So not only should we not see The things of this world separate from Krishna But even the various incarnations They should not be seen separate from Krishna They are also parts of Krishna So this unified vision Of all of reality Has been connected to Krishna That is the result of spiritual knowledge And then Now Prabhupada explains further That Such bodily differences arise from forgetfulness Of the transcendental service of the Lord Bodily differences means I am this I am a man I am a woman I am this I am that They arise from forgetfulness And when one is engaged in Transcendental service Through Krishna Pāñca One becomes At once liberated from illusion And what is the ultimate liberation? This is a well-known verse That Prabhupada would often quote That he would say that This is Bhāgavatam 2.10.6 Muktir means Whatever form is there One gives it up And so Anyathārūpa Versus Svārūpa Anyathārūpa means other forms Svārūpa is our eternal form Original form Our own form Svā means my So Vyavasthiti means to be situated So currently Different living beings have forms of Males Females Indians Americans Human beings Demigods Non-human beings These are Hitvānyathārūpaṁ So one gives up all these other forms And when one attains mukti what happens? Svarūpair vyavasthiti One becomes situated In one’s svarūpa So that is actually liberation So now Krishna will describe The process by which this happens So he will give The He says that this is such an exalted process That anybody and everybody Can become purified and liberated No matter how sinful the person is So So Means So Among the sinners Among the sinners Among all the sinners So It is superlative degree It’s the highest superlative degree So it refers to the Most Sinful person So All such people Means boat If somebody becomes situated in the boat Which boat? The boat of transcendental knowledge Refers to the ocean of miseries Which is material existence One will cross completely One will go beyond this So what Krishna is telling essentially is That this knowledge can purify Anyone and everyone So How does it work? How does this knowledge work? Now Actually What is important is not Where we are What is important is where we are looking What is the difference between the two? Where we are and where we are looking So that means This is ignorance, passion, goodness And this is transcendence Now if we see Many Indians at the time of Shrila Prabhupada The traditional pious culture was still there So many Indians were living lives in goodness So they were in that sense They were close to Krishna From goodness to Krishna is relatively closer As compared to ignorance But they were looking up They were looking towards the West The West was largely in passion and ignorance So they were in goodness But they were looking away So where we are is not as important as where we are looking If we are looking towards materialism Towards sensuality Towards the hope and the hype Of enjoyment in this world Then that’s where we will go And we will be dragged away from Krishna So now on the other hand If we look at the Early disciples of Shrila Prabhupada Many of them were hippies So those hippies They were actually in the mode of ignorance They were breaking the regularity principles As we discussed Their only regularity principle Was to break all the regularity principles And then they were also Having no knowledge of spiritual life But still they were done with material enjoyment And they were looking for something higher in life So they had been They were born and brought up in a passionate culture And they got fed up with the passionate culture And in the hope of rising higher They had been misled into drugs And they were going downwards But although they were going downwards They were looking upwards They were hoping that through drugs they will go They’re not going up They’re hoping to go So they were in ignorance But where were they looking? They were looking towards spirituality And because of many spiritual teachers Who in the past had gone from India to America They were intrigued by Indian spirituality And when Shrila Prabhupada Presented Krishna consciousness They became fascinated by it And they took it up And they became very Rapidly, swiftly they progressed And they became exalted devotees So the point here is That actually If somebody decides to become situated In the mode of transcendental knowledge No matter how sinful that person is That person can get elevated So now this verse presents a logical paradox The principle we understand That anybody can get elevated If the person wants to get elevated But logical paradox is That if somebody is sinful How can that person be knowledgeable? I mean how can that person get Aboard the boat of transcendental knowledge? So normally speaking If we say a person is knowledgeable That person will not be sinful A person is sinful That person will not be knowledgeable Here Krishna is talking about A person is the most sinful Among all sinful people So how can such a person ever board The boat of transcendental knowledge? So the acharya has explained At one level we understand this is rhetorical It’s not that the sinful people Will be knowledgeable Or knowledgeable people will be sinful But it’s a rhetorical glorification That actually this knowledge is so powerful That even if a person is sinful That person will get elevated That person just chooses to Live according to Understand this knowledge And live according to it So from the practical point of view That rhetorical glorification Actually becomes real also How? By the mercy With the intervening mercy Of the spiritual master So the spiritual master’s mercy Goes to conditioned souls Even if they are sinful You know and they Somehow become attracted To the process of Krishna consciousness Then that can elevate them So from the point of view of Karma yoga And gyan being acquired by a karma yogi This is a rhetorical verse But from the point of view of Bhakti yoga Which is what Bhagavad Gita Is ultimately leading to So any person can get elevated That is the glory of The boat of transcendental knowledge So the boat Krishna is using the word boat For knowledge over here Normally we use the word boat For many cases We sometimes use it for the boat Of the lotus feet of Krishna Or we use the boat Of the human body also So these are all true The important point is That the boat enables us To go out of the ocean And just having the human body alone Is not enough to go out of the ocean You have to direct the human body Use the human body for the right purpose That is direct the boat In the right direction And the directing of the boat In the right direction Happens with the transcendental knowledge So for different In different contexts The boat may be referred to As different things It may be referred to human body Or it may be referred here To transcendental knowledge The point is That the boat is essential When we want to come out of the ocean So the first level is We need to have human form To understand spirituality But after human form we have Then we need transcendental knowledge In that human form So Krishna is talking about that over here So Prabhupada writes in the Purport That if somebody is Trapped in the ocean That person may keep swimming Swimming, how long can a person swim? But if a boat comes along And somebody comes and Places the person in the boat Then that person can Cross through that ocean So the International Society For Krishna Consciousness Is the boat that Srila Prabhupada Has brought in our lives And all of us can come aboard that boat And by coming aboard that boat We can march back towards We can go back towards Krishna So all that we have to do is Now we have come in the boat Not jump out of the boat Even if there are difficulties Even if there are conflicts Even if there are disasters Actually being in the boat Is always safer than being in the ocean So like that Being in the association of devotees And practising Krishna Consciousness Is the safest way for us To return back to Krishna So this is what Krishna has to do That this boat can liberate anyone Now Krishna gives one more example To illustrate how this Transcendental knowledge purifies And liberates yathaidhamsi samidho agnir bhasmasat kurute arjuna jnanavini sarva-karmani bhasmasat kurute tatha So yathaidhamsi samidho agnir So yathaidhamsi refers to firewood Samidho is burning Agni is fire So when firewood comes in contact With burning fire Then what happens? bhasmasat kurute arjuna Arjuna it all becomes burned to ashes Similarly jnanagni The fire of knowledge sarva-karmani All kinds of work that one is doing bhasmasat kurute tatha It all gets burned down So here Krishna is referring to How a person Doesn’t get karmically bound We discussed earlier Krishna has talked about it In this Krishna has used the word jnanagni earlier In the same chapter in 4.19 He has said yasya sarve samarambha kama sankalpa varjitaha jnanagni dhagdha karmanam tamahu panditambudhaha So he has said that jnanagni dhagdha karmanam The person whose Karma is burned down By the fire of knowledge Same point Krishna is stating over here But Here the point is that This person who acquires Jnan from the spiritual world That jnan becomes like A fire, inner fire And that fire burns everything away Burns everything away jnanagni sarva-karmani bhasmasat It burns all the sinful reactions So all the karma that we do is like seed When a seed is burnt Then it doesn’t give any results So now The two examples Convey two points progressively The first is that There is an ocean, but we get out of the ocean So like that The material world is a place of misery And Spiritual knowledge offers us a way to go out Out of the material existence The second one talks about What is inside us That is, our own anarthas are there Our own bad karma is there Reactions are stored also in a BJ and other forms They also get burned out So when one goes out of the ocean The water still remains In the ocean, but we come out But this example of the wood and fire It conveys that actually The firewood itself gets burnt completely So like that the karma gets destroyed And the karma gets destroyed That is Supremely auspicious So now there Prabhupada talks about the stages of karmic reactions That we will discuss in the ninth chapter But the point is That they are all burned away As Prabhupada quotes over here He quotes from the Brihadaranyaka Upanishad उभे उहै वैशा एते तरत्य अमृतः साध्व असाधुनी So तरत्य is crosses over, overcomes What? साध्व असाधुनी One overcomes the good and the bad reactions साध्व is good असाध्व is bad So all auspicious and auspicious activities Whatever we have done They all, we become free from them That means there is no good karmic bondage also That means one doesn’t have to come back in goodness Spiritual knowledge takes us Beyond to transcendence Now Krishna will Conclude this glorification of knowledge By talking about Its purity And Its potency नहीं ज्याने ने सत्रुषिन पवित्रमिर विध्यते तथ स्वयं योग संसिधः कालेन आत्मनि विध्यते So he is saying here नहीं ज्याने ने सत्रुषिन सत्रुषिन is like There is nothing like a knowledge पवित्रमिर विध्यते There is nothing as purifying As transcendental knowledge तथ स्वयं योग संसिधः So when one becomes situated in yoga When one becomes matured संसिधः means perfected or matured in yoga Then what happens? कालेन आत्मनि विध्यते One actually over a period of time कालेन आत्मनि विध्यते One delights in oneself One delights in oneself So Krishna is telling over here to give two examples First is of the boat and second is of fire Now he is giving a general generic principles over here He is telling There is nothing as pure as transcendental knowledge So What is this knowledge referring to? This knowledge is a knowledge of the Atma and ultimately the connection of the Atma with the Paramatma So what this knowledge is? That Krishna has not explicitly told He has told what the knowledge is in terms of its result He has told that one becomes free from illusion One sees all living beings connected with him Krishna will talk about this knowledge more in 7th chapter in 9th chapter 7th chapter is knowledge of the absolute 9th chapter is the most confidential knowledge So Krishna will talk about this more and more So this knowledge, Krishna is glorifying in general the knowledge that one acquires by the practise of spirituality by practising the process that one, the spiritual master gives us But he is telling over here the principle that पवित्रमिहविधिते Nothing as pure as this Krishna will talk about this again in the 9th chapter 9th chapter to glorify this knowledge राजविध्या राजगुहिन् This is the king among all knowledge So here also Krishna is saying superlative Nothing as pure as this And second part is significant तत्स्वयं योगसंसिद्धा That when one becomes accomplished in this then आत्मनिविन्दति One delights within oneself, काले Over a period of time one starts delighting within oneself So how does this delighting in self happen? It happens because the soul is by nature joyful and the soul’s joyfulness can naturally be experienced when one is connected with Krishna So काले, over a period of time as you keep practising devotional service we start becoming aware of our own spiritual identity and of our devotional activity in connection with Krishna and as we become more and more connected with Krishna naturally we feel joyful So Prabhupada explains in the world that When one is situated in transcendental knowledge he need not search for peace elsewhere for he enjoys peace in himself He enjoys peace within himself Normally if we look within our mind our mind is just an agitated mess I want this, I want that But when we discuss how internal doesn’t mean mental internal means spiritual So when we can calm the mind down then we can see deeper inside It’s like there is a river and below the river there is a river bed So when the river is not the river, say a pond when the pond is restless so at that time we can’t see what is at the bottom of the pond but when the pond becomes calm then we can see what is at the bottom Similarly when we are in an impure stage so at that time our mind is restless and because the mind is restless so we are like the person outside, that is the gross bodily consciousness and then the water in the pond is like the subtle material level, the mental level and below that is the spiritual level, that is the bottom of the pond so when the mind is agitated then it’s like the water in the pond is shaking, is restless, there are ripples in it then we can’t see what is below but by the process of yoga what happens is tatsvayam yoga samsiddha by the practise of yoga when we gradually become accomplished then the mind becomes calm, the mind becomes calm it’s like the water becomes steady when the water becomes steady then we can see within and then atmanivendati we start relishing happiness within kalena atmanivendati the word kalena is significant Prabhupada translates that in due course of time why does he use the word due course of time because things happen according to their own course of time we cannot artificially accelerate things when a flower is in the bud form the flower will grow from the bud form to the fully blossomed form in its own course it’s not that if I put more water in the flower it will grow faster so it will take its own time nature has its own time so we may have an intense desire I want to become a pure devotee today itself today I will chant 64 rounds and by the time I complete 64 rounds I will be a pure devotee it’s not going to work like that things take time but every single mahamantra that we are chanting it is purifying us every single service that we are rendering it is purifying us so we have to be patient because we are caught up in an age of instant things instant, yes I want this instant tea, instant coffee, instant food instant control so we think that I also want instant spirituality instant spirituality means what? it’s like I press a button and then if the environment is cool it becomes hot, if it’s hot it becomes cool so like that I think I press a button and immediately my consciousness should become devotional consciousness doesn’t work like that it requires purification it will happen gradually so kaalenaatmani vindati it will take time but Krishna is assuring that this will definitely happen that we will start relishing within oneself because sometimes devotees feel that I haven’t practised Krishna consciousness for so long I am not able to give up my sense gratificatory desires they are still there what should I do and it’s not only that they are there we don’t feel like giving them up also so the thing is certainly if those desires involve breaking the regular principles we have to be very rigid about doing whatever is required to give them up but if they are not directly involved in contravening the regular principles in a gross way then we should know that we will gradually become purified we should not become too much problem conscious so if I find that I am eating too much or I am doing this too much, I am doing that too much we don’t have to get too worked up about this as we advance in spiritual life we will find that naturally we will become satisfied we will find satisfaction in simple things we will not need complex things to be satisfied we will not need a big show to be satisfied that will naturally happen so do we have to bother too much about it no, we have to bother about remembering Krishna if we keep remembering Krishna and we keep getting connected with Krishna we will get a higher satisfaction and over a period of time we will find three years ago if this thing had happened if somebody had spoken like this to me I would have gone wild but now I am annoyed but I have not gone wild how this happened because our connection with Krishna has given us inner stability it has given us inner strength and we don’t get shaken by this same way with respect to pleasures also so as devotees our focus should be on Krishna our focus should not be on our shortcomings we need to be aware of our shortcomings so that we don’t unnecessarily provoke those situations in which the shortcomings will catch us and knock us down for that purpose we need to be aware but we shouldn’t be focused on them over a period of time purification will happen sometimes if we just Bhaktsadhana Chakra would say that you cannot gate crash into the kingdom of God gate crash means sometimes a place a door is closed and somebody says I want to come in the door is not closed so what the person comes in a big truck boom the truck bangs against the door breaks the door open and comes inside that’s called gate crashing so we cannot gate crash into the kingdom of God that means that we cannot just force our way to ahead in spiritual life so this doesn’t mean of course by no means does this mean that we should just seek complacency whenever Krishna wants He will purify me now I feel like sleeping and chanting let me sleep now I don’t feel like fasting today I don’t feel like going to temple I won’t go to temple when Krishna makes me feel that I should study scripture then I will study scripture now we are not talking about that over here we are talking here about our inner feelings despite our diligent practise of devotional service we keep practising devotional service diligently that is definitely required but after we practise devotional service diligently then after that what happens sometimes we may feel satisfied sometimes we may not feel satisfied sometimes our mind may be pure sometimes it may not be pure so we shouldn’t get too caught up in these things we are following the process of purification and the purification will definitely result over a period of time at this stage we just stay steadily committed in the practise of devotional service and when we do this gradually the higher taste will start coming in more and more and more and we will start relishing that higher taste and in other days they will become not so relevant for us they will become gradually irrelevant insignificant and then non-existent so irrelevant means not very important to me insignificant means not worth attention only and non-existent means they will completely go away so that will happen gradually so we focus on being Krishna conscious with faith that Krishna with the process of bhakti yoga will definitely purify us so after this glorification of spiritual knowledge in the next two verses Krishna will talk about faith, now how we should have faith and what happens for those who don’t have faith, that we will discuss in our next class, thank you very much