Bhakti Shastri (082) – Bhagavad Gita Chapter 06 Text 14 to 18

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Hare Krishna. Hare Krishna.
Welcome back to our Bhagavad Gita Bhakti Shastri course. We are in the sixth chapter of the Bhagavad Gita. We discussed in the last class, up to verses 14, into the middle of Ashtang Yoga.
So I’ll look at some of the concepts of Ashtang Yoga, which are indirectly pointed to, for example, Brahmacharya is there, Aparigraha is there. So we look at these concepts. So in Ashtang Yoga, there are eight stages.
Yama, Niyama, Asana, Pranayama. So in Yama and Niyama, there are further elements. There are five elements in each of them.
So we’ll look at those five elements and we’ll also look at what they involve and what fruits they provide. So let’s look at this. So… So… So Ahimsa, Satyam, Satyam Asteya, Brahmacharyam, Aparigraha.
These are the five elements of Yama. Now these elements were referred to by Krishna in this section. He talked about Aparigraha in 6.10. Then he talked about Brahmacharya in 6.14. And like that, he’s been talking about these.
So when he’s talking about these, so in general, he’s talking about specific elements. So the Bhagavad Gita is not a systematic analysis of the path of yoga. Krishna is assuming that the transcendental already knows about yoga.
There are specific books for Ashtang Yoga, like Patanjali Yoga Sutra. And there are other books also which talk about yoga. Patanjali’s Yoga Sutra is the most famous.
So these books give general knowledge about yoga. And the Bhagavad Gita doesn’t go into the technicalities. Bhagavad Gita is a general outline of yoga, not a technical, detailed analysis of yoga.
So in general, the goal of the Bhagavad Gita is not to exhaustively delineate any one path. Its goal is to help Arjuna understand which is the best path. So with respect to bhakti also, the Bhagavad Gita doesn’t go into an exhaustive delineation of bhakti.
The way we see 64 elements of bhakti being talked about in nectar of devotion, we don’t see anything like that in the Bhagavad Gita. Why? Because the Bhagavad Gita is in many places an emergency book. It’s spoken on the battlefield.
It’s not spoken in a gurukul where a guru can at leisure instruct the disciple in the technicalities of everything. And it is also spoken according to the level of the audience. So Arjuna, he knows about the various paths.
He knows about bhakti. He knows about jnana. He knows about ashtanga yoga.
So Arjuna’s question is not what he should do. Arjuna’s question is not what is a particular path. His question is what should I do? That means which path should I follow? So it’s like, in one sense, we may have career counselling.
A student has just finished 10th standard and deciding should I take arts, should I take commerce, should I take science? So at that time, when the career counselling is offered, what all is taught in arts or in commerce or in science is not exhaustively described. There is a separate course for that. The student can choose that if the student is interested.
What will be told at career counselling is the pluses and minuses of the various career options. So that the student can make an intelligent and well-informed choice. Like that, there are various yoga paths and the Bhagavad Gita basically tells Arjuna it’s like not a career counselling, it’s like we could say a yoga counselling centre.
Which yoga to follow? Life counselling. Which yoga should one follow in one’s life? And for that purpose, Krishna analyses various yoga paths in principle. What are their pluses? What are their minuses? And then he tells what is the best path for Arjuna.
So we will see as the flow of the Bhagavad Gita moves forward, then Krishna will focus on the paths involving action more than the paths involving renunciation. Among all the paths involving action, Karma Yoga and Bhakti Yoga. Krishna will recommend Bhakti Yoga.
That is as we move forward in the flow of the Bhagavad Gita. But suffice it to say right now, Krishna focusses on not the detailed analysis of any path, he focusses on the general principles or the pluses and minuses of those paths. So that’s why we don’t see these five elements talked about.
It is the references there. So Ahimsa. Now Ahimsa means non-violence.
The Ahimsa will be mentioned later on in the Bhagavad Gita also in several places. Actually Prabhupada will also explain about Ahimsa in his purports on several occasions. A yogi especially when we are in the material world to some extent Ahimsa is inevitable.
Even when we eat food, some grains or some germs and some microscopic organisms and some small organisms, they die. But beyond that Kshatriya has to kill. But if a person is practising yoga, renunciation and the path of yoga, at that time the person should follow Ahimsa.
In general, the Vedic culture encourages a person to cause minimum violence to others. But even then some violence may sometimes be required. So Ahimsa means no violence to others.
That is one of the Yamas of the path of yoga. Now Patanjali describes each of these Yamas and also describes what is the result of following those Yamas. So what does he say? When we practise Ahimsa, then what is the result of that? By the practise of Ahimsa, others give up their enmity to you.
So when we, when people feel us as threats, when people feel that we will commit violence to them, then they tend to become violent towards us. If they see that we are not going to be violent, then in many ways their violence to us decreases. It can go away also.
So the practise of Ahimsa will lead to others giving up their enmity. In Satyam, Ahimsa Satyam means speaking truthfully. So Satya is actually recognised as a virtue in all religions and it is an important moral principle also.
People who habitually speak lies to get their way, eventually find that their way is obstructed by the lack of trust which others have. People who speak lies, eventually others find out that this person is not trustworthy. We can fool some people some of the time, fool some people all the time or fool all people some of the time.
We cannot fool all the people all the time. So people eventually find out. Even if they don’t exactly catch us, they will realise that this person just plays around with the truth, playing games with the truth and they cannot trust us.
So Satya is an important virtue even in as per mundane morality. So in yogic morality also it is important, Satyam. And interestingly, Patanjali says that when we speak truth, what is the result of that? When we speak the truth, what we speak will become, will be endowed with the power and will come true.
So what we say will be endowed with power and will come true. That is Satyavrata. So Satyavrata means Satyavak, Satyasankalpa, Satyavrata, like that.
There are many words which are used to glorify those who are connected with the truth. Satyavak means those who Satyasankalpa refers to one whose desires come true. So that is one of the attributes of the lord, whatever he desires happens.
Satyasankalpa. Satyavak means that person who speaks the truth. Satyavrata, one who takes a vrata and keeps the vrata true.
So like that there are many words. So the person who speaks the truth or the person whatever that person speaks that becomes true. So that is the power that comes in the power, the speech of a person.
The person speaks cautiously, seriously and that person helps others to also that sort of careful speech helps others also to respect that person. And it is not that we want respect for ourselves, but we are representing Krishna who is the ultimate truth. So we need to speak truthfully.
Asteya. Asteya means steya is to steal. So you can remember it from steya.
English word is steal, also s-t-e, the same sound is there. So asteya means non-stealing. So one doesn’t try to steal the wealth from others, then what happens? That person acquires true wealth.
That is the fruit that the Yugasutras say. True wealth is ultimately spiritual wealth, but wealth comes to us. Brahmacharya.
So brahmacharya means we discussed at one level non-indulgence in sex, at another level it is living spiritually. So when one practises brahmacharya, one acquires power. So basically the human being has power.
As spiritual beings also we have power. Now when a person engages in sex, that energy gets dissipated. Apart from all the social complications, emotional entanglements, physical debilitation, medical sicknesses that can happen because of indiscriminate sexuality.
But beyond that actually there is a subtle power. So that power which we have, if it is dissipated in sex, then we lose it. But if it is conserved, then it becomes manifest in other ways.
It manifests as creativity, as concentration, as clarity, as basically the person becomes intellectually radiant and spiritually potent by the power of brahmacharya. All these things. Prabhupada even said that one of the reasons why Gandhi was so successful in leading India towards independence although he had no weapons, was that although being a householder, he practised brahmacharya and that gave him power.
So aparigraha. Aparigraha is the fifth thing. Aparigraha means one doesn’t possess things unnecessarily.
One doesn’t have a possessive mentality. So when one doesn’t have a possessive mentality, then one is able to see things truly. Otherwise one is just caught.
Can I get this? Can I get this? So then whatever we are getting, we start seeing things deeply. This thing came to me by my karma and this thing has lost because of my karma. So we see the actions of karma.
We don’t see things just as events. When Haridas Thakur departed, he said, Lord Krishna being merciful to me gave me the association of Haridas Thakur. And Lord Krishna being independent now broke that association.
So we just don’t see things as events, we see things in their broader connection. So like that we get insight into the causes of events, in the karmic causes of events. We start understanding things from a deeper perspective.
So when we are not caught up in just trying to possess things, then we can see things from a deeper perspective. This is the fruit of Yama. Now let us look at the fruits of Niyama.
So Yama and Niyama are the first two aspects of bhakti, of Ashtang Yoga. So Niyama has five aspects. Shautya Santoshya Tapasvadhyaya Ishwar Pranidhan Shautya is cleanliness.
So cleanliness, Prabhupada explains means that we take a bath, we keep ourselves clean and Prabhupada will often correlate or link physical cleanliness and internal cleanliness. If you say Chandni Hare Krishna, we cultivate internal cleanliness. Here of course the focus is, in Niyama the focus if you see is on Shautya, cleanliness.
Shuchi is a very important quality. So, what is the reason for talking about so much cleanliness? As devotees we want cleanliness because when we take the trouble to clean the body, we become aware, that forces us to become aware of how unclean the body inherently is. When we are just people and the body sweats, they just put some perfume or something like that, they just try to deny and conceal the unclean nature of the body by using artificial ways.
Then they stay on the illusion that the body is very pleasant and the body is very enjoyable. But when we follow strict rules and regulations, like devotees bathe several times a day at times. So that way, what happens is that we are forced to become aware that this body is so unclean.
And then by that, by the conscientious effort at cleanliness, when one understands this body is actually unclean, then one becomes detached from the body. So, the discipline of cleanliness brings detachment. Then similar Santoshya, Santoshya means satisfaction.
So now, what does satisfaction mean? See, in general, whenever and wherever we live, there will always be people who have more things than us and people who have less things than us. So, we have a choice. We can look at people who have more things than us.
I have a two-wheeler, that person has got a four-wheeler. I have a 2BHK house, that person has got a 3BHK house. I have got a simple cell phone, that person has got a smartphone.
So we can compare. And then this comparison is like the cancer of the mind. This comparison keeps us perpetually miserable.
Now, in certain situations, for functional requirements, we may need more things, and if we need more things, we can acquire them. But beyond that, by making things itself the focus of our thoughts, we erode our mental energy by that. And we find ourselves unnecessarily irritated, unnecessarily envious, unnecessarily dissatisfied.
So how do we get satisfaction? Satisfaction comes by not thinking about the things that will cause dissatisfaction. You think of other things. Generally, I am feeling satisfied.
I am not feeling satisfied. So we often think of satisfaction as a condition. However, satisfaction is not just a condition.
Satisfaction is also a choice. Satisfaction is also a decision. It is not just a condition or an emotion.
I feel satisfied. That means what? The emotion of satisfaction is there within me. But it is not just an emotion or a condition.
It is a choice and a decision. Choice and decision means, this is what I will be satisfied with. I am not going to think about more things.
Because the quest for material improvement is actually endless. We can just keep improving our things materially. I got this.
I got this kind of computer. Now let me get that kind of computer. I got this kind of iPod.
Now let me get a more expensive iPod. So many things like that can keep that the quest for material improvement is endless. So unless we ourselves put a stop on it, we will not ever be able to redirect our energy from material things towards Krishna.
Certainly, we have to live in the material world and we may want to have a particular standard of living. That is fine. As per our socio-economic, socio-cultural circles, we can choose a particular standard that we want to live on.
But once we decide that, that has to be realistically decided. If I earn a particular amount and I think I will have a house, which puts me in a loan for 35 years, getting that house. Then I am just taking a loan which is beyond my capacity and then subjecting myself to unnecessary anxiety.
Satisfaction does not necessarily mean that one cannot have ambition. Satisfaction simply means that one has to be clear about one’s priorities. Many times people think that satisfaction means, there will be nothing exciting left in my life.
But actually, a devotee can have spiritual ambition. A devotee can have ambition to make spiritual advancement, to learn the scriptures, to share the scriptural message, to get more and more people to come closer and closer to Krishna. So that ambition can be very purifying, very vitalising.
There is nothing as satisfying for our soul as being able to be of tangible service to Krishna. There is nothing as satisfying for our heart as seeing that our life is making a difference in others’ lives. Not just difference in terms of our immediate circle, but in terms of others’.
When we share Krishna consciousness with others, we see that they are actually becoming happier. Their life has become transformed positively. And the sublime satisfaction that comes by that is among the most enriching experiences of life.
So we all need something to look forward to, something to be excited about. Materialistic society makes us excited about materialistic things. But actually, the pursuit of materialistic things is agitating.
And the achievement of those materialistic things is anti-climax. It never lives up to the hype. So rather than pursuing that, which will end in a disappointment, we turn and focus on Krishna and focus on serving Krishna more and more.
Santosha is a choice. This is what I am satisfied with. I am not going to go further in this direction.
Then Tapa. Tapa means austerity. Tapa can be of various types.
Prabhupada would talk about austerity in terms of fasting. So Tapa, whatever austerities we do, the austerity removes the impurities. And it helps us to become strong at the level of the body and the senses.
Strong not in terms of enjoying sense gratification, but strong in terms of stamina and stability for that use. Swadhyaya. Swadhyaya is study of scripture.
Now it’s interesting. What is the result of study of scripture? That leads to connection with God. When we study scripture, by the study of scripture, we become connected with God.
So how does that happen? By the study of scripture, we understand that there is a higher reality and that higher reality is ultimately centred on Krishna. And the scriptures, Swadhyaya is not just any ordinary study. If somebody says that every morning I do Swadhyaya of the newspaper for one hour.
That is not Swadhyaya. That is simply entertainment. So we don’t learn much by studying the newspaper.
We may have to read the newspaper to stay in touch with current events, but we don’t have to spend hours on that. Just take a quick look at the headlines. That’s often enough, more than enough what we need to know.
But Swadhyaya refers to study of scripture, study of books that help us to move towards life’s higher realities. So Swadhyaya that leads to connection with God. When we study scripture properly, then we develop Shastra Jaksha.
By that we can see the hand of Krishna. We can see the world as Krishna’s energy. And that is a very spiritually enriching vision.
And the last is Ishwara Pranidhan. Ishwara Pranidhan. Pranidhan means surrender.
So by surrender to Ishwara, what is the result? One gains Samadhi. Samadhi. Samadhi is the ultimate goal of Yoga.
That is the 8th stage. And he says that by Ishwara Pranidhan one will eventually come to the stage of Samadhi. So that way the primary purpose of the practise of spiritual life is to attain Ishwara Pranidhan.
To attain the love for the Lord. That is the stage of Samadhi and beyond. And Ishwara Pranidhan takes us to that.
So now we will see clearly that Yoga involves devotion. The Ashtanga Yoga process here, the Yogi may not be having a deity and worshipping the deity. Yogi may not be having direct devotional activity that we see.
But the idea of Supreme Being to whom we have to meditate is a central part of Yoga. It is an important limb in Niyama, Ishwara Pranidhan. So now some people say that the whole process of Yoga is non-devotional.
So we have to understand that Yoga, it is not just one monolithic body. It is not that when people think of Yoga, everybody thinks about the same one set of things. Just as there have been many Bhakti thinkers, many Mayavadi thinkers, there are many thinkers on Yoga also.
And different people have come up with different conceptions of Yoga. So, in the Vedanta Sutra, Vyasadeva and in the Asampradaya Baldevidya Bhushan, when they write the commentary on the Vedanta Sutra, actually they refute Yoga. When Yoga is used as an independent body of knowledge and then Yoga tends to take a person towards a non-personalistic conclusion, towards a monistic conclusion, where one thinks that one will merge in the absolute reality.
So that kind of Yoga is refuted. But that is not the only kind of Yoga that there is. There are many books that talk about Yoga.
There are many scholars who have, not just contemporary scholars, but throughout history, who have written about Yoga. Patanjali was one of them. Patanjali, there are many indications from his statements in Yoga Sutra, as well as in other places.
Actually, he was a Vaishnava. He was a devotee. And he has not spoken specifically and directly about Lord Vishnu or Lord Krishna because the process of, the book of Patanjali Yoga Sutra is primarily manual for Yoga.
And in this book, he just gives a knowledge about, he says, okay, one should surrender to Ishwara. So he assumes that his readers know who is Ishwara. He is not focussing there on giving exhaustive knowledge of Ishwara.
When he writes a book, he has a particular purpose. So the purpose is that he wants to outline the process of Yoga. And in that, it takes it that the audience knows what is Ishwara and how one should do Ishwara Pranidhan.
So he doesn’t go into the technical details of all that. So Ishwara Pranidhan is an important element and it indicates the Bhakti element. So now some Yogis may think that the Bhakti element is transitional.
That means we meditate on this Absolute Truth now and after meditating on the Absolute Truth, eventually we will learn that I am the Absolute Truth. But there are other Yogis who understand that the Absolute Truth is the not just the object of meditation transitionally, transitionally means for the time of sadhana, but the Supreme Lord is the object of meditation eternally. And those Yogis are in any way personal.
So they can even attain liberation in Shantara and the spiritual world. Like the trees meditate on the Supreme Lord as He performs various pastimes. So they can attain Shantara’s perfection.
Or if they get associated with devotees and they get inspired to practise active devotional service, then they can get further elevated also. So now in the Bhagavad Gita, we looked in 6.14, the last part was C and D. So that refers to this limb of Ishwara Pranidhan and that refers to how by surrendering to Ishwara, meditating on Ishwara, one moves forward towards perfection. Now when we look at these 8 limbs, Yama, Niyama, Asana, Pranayama.
So actually speaking, these are things which are required in every path. For example, if we have a very contemporary example, maybe not entirely precise, but illustrates the point of how in some ways these 8 principles are universal. Suppose there is a football match or there is a cricket match, and there is a batsman.
So there is Yama and Niyama. Yama and Niyama, there are do’s and don’ts. There are certain things the batsman can do.
The batsman should wear a helmet, the batsman should carry a bat. And when the baller comes and balls, and the batsman hits, and the fielder is close by, and the wicket-keeper is about to take a catch, the batsman cannot go and swing the bat at the wicket-keeper’s head. The bat is meant to hit the ball, not the wicket-keeper’s head.
So there are certain things which are supposed to be done. There are rules, do’s and don’ts. There are rules for individual conduct and there are rules for group conduct.
So if you see here, Niyama, generally the two ways of looking at Yama and Niyama are Niyama is don’ts and Niyama is do’s. So Niyama is, these are all positive. What all we should do.
Niyama. Another way of looking at Niyama is that Niyama is, there are rules for individual discipline. Cleanliness is something which I do individually.
Contentment is something which I do individually. Whereas, Niyama is generally seen in terms of what all I should not do. So that’s why in three of these we have don’t do Himsa, don’t steal, don’t have possessive mentality.
And then Satya and Aparigraha also have the negative idea that don’t speak lies, and don’t indulge in discriminating sexuality. So, now another way of looking at this is, Yama is, Yama are rules of group discipline. That means how one should interact with others.
So I should not be violent towards others. I should not lie to others. I should not steal other’s possessions.
So the Niyama are rules for individual discipline. Yama are rules for group discipline. Either way, there is Yama and Niyama in any activities.
There are rules in cricket. And then there is Yama, Niyama, Asana. So when a batsman is about to bat, the batsman has a particular stance.
So, particular, that is not exactly Asana like a yoga asana, but it’s a particular stance. And different batsmen have different stances. How they will stand.
They will stand near the crease, away from the crease. Their legs will be stretched away. The batsman will be touching the ground or raised up.
So they all have their different postures, their stance. It is Asana. And then Pranayam.
Pranayam, basically, it is breath control. But the purpose of breath control is focus of energy. When our breath is restless, then we, our concentration gets dissipated.
Mind runs here and there. So, Pranayam refers to the channelising of energy. And then there is Pathyahara.
So when the batsman is bowling, maybe it is the last ball of the cricket match and you need six runs to win the match. So all the players around are tense and fans are cheering. Some are cheering.
Everybody is in great anxiety. So what does the batsman have to do? Prathyahara. Shut out everything else.
Don’t see anything else. Let’s shut out all the sense objects. And then as the bowler starts bowling, then what happens is the batsman goes into Dhyana, Dharana.
See nothing else except the ball coming. And as the ball comes, the batsman swings the bat. And as the batsman swings the bat, the ball and the bat meet and the ball just shoots over the boundary for a sixer.
And then the batsman attains Samadhi. He becomes relaxed. So, Samadhi.
So actually, of course, this Samadhi is temporary. There is some pleasure that is there. But the point is that these eight activities which are there, they can be applied to any process in general.
Yama, Niyama, Asana, Pranayam, Dhyana, Dharana, Prathyahara, Dhyana, Dharana, Samadhi. And Bhaktivinoda Thakura has described in an essay how these can be applied even in the process of deity worship. So we have rules and regulations for deity worship and we have all these even for deity worship also.
So the point is that these are generic principles which can specifically be applied to the path of yoga and they can apply to other paths also. So we look at how we can apply these in our sadhana bhakti. So now, it is described in the Yoga Sutras also, in yoga literature that the mind moves forward.
So the mind moves upward upwards towards higher and higher states of contemplation. And it’s talking about five states. So what are these five states? Let’s look at these five states in mind control.
These are called as Mudha, Kshiptha, Vikshiptha, Ekagratha and Nirodha. So Ekagratha was what Krishna has already used in the Bhagavad Gita in this chapter itself. He used Ekagratha in the I think the 11th verse.
Actually he will use Nirodha in the 19th in the 19th-20th verse also because these are Ekagratha. Ekagratha. So mana, what do we have to do with the mind? Ekagra.
We make it Ekagra. And then after that Krishna will talk about Yatra chaivatmana. Yatra uparamate chittam niruddham yoga sevaya So this is the 20th verse.
Yatra uparamate chittam niruddham yoga sevaya. So Nirodha. This word Nirodha that is there, that is actually one of the stages in the control of the mind.
Nirodha is actually among the highest stages. So let’s look at these stages now. So what are the five stages in mind control? We have Mudha, then Kshiptha, then Vikshiptha, then Ekagratha and then Nirodha.
So Mudha is the word, like we have the word Mudha. Mudha means one who is foolish. So Mudha is the consciousness, state of mind when one is foolish.
So one is deluded, as in sleep, laziness or dullness. And Kshiptha is when one is agitated, as in stress or mania. Person is hyper agitated.
When people are working and have too much work pressure. The mind is running on overdrive but they are not able to function properly because their mind is so much filled with anxiety. Like we see the fan and the fan moves round and round and round and round but it gets nowhere.
It’s stuck at one place itself. So like that sometimes our mind moves round and round and round and round I have to do that also. So that is the Kshiptha stage.
So just in a hyperactive stage where it is not really productive. And Vikshiptha is the stage where the mind is distracted. So in Mudha the mind is not thinking of anything.
It is lost somewhere. In Kshiptha it is hyperactive running everywhere here and there but not doing anything. In Vikshiptha the mind is trying to concentrate but the mind is getting distracted.
So that is distracted. As in a lecture in a noisy environment. So if somebody is in a environment which is distracting at that time the person is trying to concentrate.
That is Vikshiptha. So that means there is a desire to concentrate but one is not able to concentrate. Then there is gradually after that one comes to Ekagratha.
Ekagratha means concentrated. At that when one is concentrated one is focused. Students are studying for exam and normally the students are running exam if the exam is one month away, three months away, six months away then they will say okay let me watch a cricket match, let me watch a movie, let me have a break.
So at that time they will be in the previously Mudha, Vikshiptha but when the exam comes close then Ekagratha they say that the exam is just two hours away now. Then they are completely absorbed. Let me study what is this, what is this, what is this.
So there they have controlled the mind. That is Ekagratha. And then beyond that is Nirodha.
Nirodha means controlled. So at that stage in concentrated also I am studying and then somebody comes and talks to me and says I don’t have time, go away. So one is consciously trying to concentrate.
Hey your favourite movie is being released this week. Forget it. I am not going to watch it.
I have to study. So there is a resolution by which other thoughts come but one doesn’t care about other thoughts. One focusses on that.
That is Ekagratha. But in Nirodha actually there is no interaction to other things. Naturally one is attracted to the spiritual truth, to the spiritual reality.
And at that time the mind’s inclination towards other things itself is lost. At Vikshayana Talks on 520 Uparamate chittam Nirodham yoga sevaya. Uparamate.
Uparamate means the mind just becomes, it just seizes. The material mental activity sees. See first we have to seize our physical mental activities.
Physically we don’t act at the mental level for sense gratification. But even after we stop acting physically for sense gratification that means we don’t indulge in sense gratification still the mind is always fantasising about sense gratification. But at the level of Nirodha the mind even stops fantasising about sense gratification.
It is a cessation of mental activities. And of course this is moving up the negative axis so that one comes to zero. And beyond that for a devotee there are so many positive spiritual emotions which the devotee pursues on the spiritual path.
So that is a whole different level of reality. Here Krishna is talking about moving up from the negative axis towards zero. So this is Nirodha stage.
So we are now discussing the broad terms in the process of Samadhi. In the process of Ashtanga Yoga. Now let’s look at the Gita verses.
So now Krishna is telling that if one keeps practising yoga in this way what happens? yunjan evam sadatmanam yogi niyatamanasah shantim nirvana paramam matsamstham adhigachyate So yunjan evam when one is engaged thus sadatmanam constantly one engages one’s body, mind and soul. Prabhupada uses the word Atma to refer to both these things. All three things.
And how does one do it? The yogis have to do it yunjan evam sadatmanam yogi niyatamanasah They control the mind. And what do they get? shantim. They get peace.
nirvana paramam supreme cessation of mortal existence and matsamstham matsamstham is they become situated with me next to me. Matsamstham in the spiritual sky. Adhigachyate So Krishna is hinting over here the ultimate reality is involving him also.
He is not necessarily impersonalist. shantim nirvana paramam So many scholars use this to refer to the Brahmajyoti. Now the word matsamstham doesn’t allow such a simplistic interpretation or reduction of everything to impersonalism.
But the point is Krishna is talking about an ultimate reality in which the yogi attains by the practise of yoga sadhana. And then Prabhupada talks about how the ultimate truth is Krishna. And it is that Krishna whom we have to attain.
So what is this matsamstham? Prabhupada refutes the point that nirvana paramam means void. So first point he makes is that what is the goal? Nirvana paramam. Nirvana means cessation of material existence.
That means one who seeks an improvement in health or aspires after material perfection is no yogi according to Bhagavad Gita. A person may be called yogi by today’s definition today’s conception. But according to Bhagavad Gita the purpose of yoga is nirvana paramam to end material existence.
And then what happens when you end material existence? Do we enter into a void? No. Nor does cessation of material existence entail one’s entering into the void, which is only a myth. There is no void anywhere within the creation of the Lord.
Rather the cessation of material existence enables one to enter into the spiritual sky, the abode of the Lord. So Prabhupada would say sometimes about the void is that actually there is no void anywhere in the creation except in the head of the voidists. Except in the head of the voidists means that they just don’t think seriously enough.
So actually the ultimate reality is so beautiful ultimately. Even material reality is so beautiful. So where does it come from? Has it come from a void? No.
It has come from a spiritual reality that is even more beautiful. Material reality of course has a beautiful side and it has a dreadful side also. So there is a beauty of nature which we see when we go to mountains or we go to lakes or we go to forests.
But then along with that beauty of nature there is also a dreadful nature. In the mountains there can be landslides, there can be earthquakes. In the oceans and the rivers there can be floods and there can be tsunamis.
And in the forest there can be dangerous animals, there can be accidents. So nature has both sides. There is beautiful and there is dreadful side.
But we can’t say that nature doesn’t have beautiful side at all. So the idea that ultimately everything comes from a void, it can’t explain the beauty, the variety, the glory that is there in the material nature. The idea of void is okay for those who feel all this material world is a place of misery and we want to go beyond misery.
But it is only involved in negation of the negative. It does not involve comprehension of the positive. So both are required.
When a patient is sick the negation of negative, removal of the negative has to be there. But after that there has to be understanding of the positive also. Without that one doesn’t get a complete understanding.
That’s Prabhupada’s Pranam Mantra. So Bhakti Sahaja Thakur would tell a story that once a child he had got cataract in the eyes. So then the father was wondering what to do.
So an uncle came along. He said, no child has got cataract in the eyes. The child was in pain, the child was not able to see also.
Simple solution. Pluck out the eyes, throw them away. He said, what? The uncle said, remove that, the pain will stop.
Another uncle came along. He said, child has got cataract. The child is always in pain.
Kill the child. The third uncle came along and said, cataract is there. We need to do a surgery.
Remove the cataract. The child will be alright. So he says that this refers to the impersonalists, the voidists and the devotees.
The impersonalists say, actually we are in this world and we are suffering. The more we get attracted to things in this world, the more our suffering increases. The more our attachments, the more our miseries.
So then they say, why are we having miseries? Because there are forms in this world, there are so many attractive sense objects. So reject, all the sense objects are false. And what makes the sense object attractive is their form.
So therefore, all forms are false. And all personalities are false. So then, the eyes are the cause of pain, just pluck out the eyes.
So like their form, personality, relationships, activities, they are the cause of pain, just reject all of them. That is impersonalism. Then the voidism is, just like the child is having pain, kill the child itself.
So like that, voidism is, you are having suffering, existence is suffering, therefore end existence itself. End existence itself. But the devotee understanding is, Vaishnava understanding is, the last time, the pain is because there is cataract in the eye, remove the cataract and heal the eye.
So like that, the problem is our self-centred, godless living. When we want to, we are attracted to forms, we want to enjoy separate from Krishna, then our attraction to the forms, our relationships, our activities, all these cause bondage and suffering. But when we connect them with Krishna, they don’t have to cause all these things.
They can in fact become, our activities can become the source of liberation. The more a devotee chants, the more a devotee glorifies Krishna, the more that devotee moves forward in spiritual life. So that way, the correct understanding is, nirvana paramama is there, yes, there is nirvana, but after nirvana, what is there? There is real liberation into the life in relationship with Krishna.
There is the real life of the soul. Now, perfection, Prabhupada writes in the perfect, perfection of the yoga system is attainment of freedom from material existence and not some magical jugglery or gymnastic feats to befool innocent people. The goal is not to befool some people, the goal is actually to befool people by doing some feats which I cannot do.
So Prabhupada called the yoga activities as childish. Why childish? Sometimes one child is able to do something which other children are not able to do. Suppose one child is able to, that child is playing and that child is strong enough to hit a sixer, other children are playing and none of them are able to hit a sixer.
That child becomes like, oh, I am not able to do that. Like that, other people, none of them are able to do, there are people doing yoga and one particular asana, which involves twisting the body normally. Nobody is able to do that.
One person is able to, oh, you are so great. What is so great about twisting the body? As if it promotes health and as an exercise it is done, then it can be understood as a physical activity, not a spiritual activity. So real spiritual purpose of yoga is to get liberation from material existence.
Now Krishna is, in this chapter, Krishna is actually going up and down. That means Krishna starts from the yoga sadhana and he goes to yoga perfection. So, yogi nitya-satna-atmanam rahasi-sthita.
That’s where he started from 16.10. I talked about mat-samstham adhigacchati, that’s perfection. Then again Krishna goes down and he starts from yoga practise. He will go to perfection again.
So from 16, a set of verses, where till 23 he will go towards yoga perfection. And then again he will start talking from 24 about yoga sadhana and then again he will go in 32 to yoga perfection. So in this way Krishna uses the process in doses and while giving the process in doses he points to higher and higher levels of perfection also.
So now Krishna will start again from the basics over here. And what does he say over here? How should a yogi practise sadhana? One should not eat too much. And one should not fast too much.
One should not go without food too much. And one should not sleep too much. Nor should one stay awake for too long.
So here Krishna is recommending balance. Prabhupada would say that if you sleep too much you become lazy, if you sleep too less you become crazy. Because we just can’t think clearly.
So same way with respect to eating, if you eat too less then you won’t have energy to serve Krishna and our mind will constantly be thinking of food, food, food. On the other hand if we eat so much, if we eat too much then the purpose of eating is to get energy. But often if we eat too much then our energy goes in just digesting that food and sleeping.
We don’t feel energised by that. So don’t eat too much, don’t eat too little. Have balance.
And these purports are very beautiful. Very instructive here. So Prabhupada first says don’t eat too much means don’t eat meat.
And then he talks about here he says one should not sleep more than 6 hours a day. One who sleeps more than 6 hours out of 24 hours 24 is certainly influenced by the mode of ignorance. So now this is a broad general statement.
And as devotees we always try to sleep less so that we can get more and more things done. At the same time the goal is not less sleeping. The goal is more service.
So if we find that we are sleeping 5 hours or if we find half hours and 6 hours and then we find that all the time we just sleep half a week and not able to concentrate then if we need 6.5 hours sleep 7 hours sleep or 5.5 hours sleep instead of 5 hours whatever say 6 hours is the average. Some people are doing a lot of physical activity or whatever other reasons are there. If they need more sleep the point is that we should do more and more service.
And we should be having quality attention so that we can do the service well. Otherwise we will not be able to do things properly, offer our best while we are awake. So the idea is that devotees naturally want to decrease the time spent on the body.
So in general the serious spiritualists are miserly. Miserly about what? Miserly about giving time to the body. A miser is one who doesn’t spend money.
Say somebody goes and asks for money What do you want it for? I will give you as less money as possible. That’s a miserly attitude. So devotees can be miserly about giving time to the body.
That doesn’t mean that we have to not give time. We should not give time to lavishly on the body. How much time should be required for this? So that way when we are careful we are frugal about spending time on the body.
Because we understand the body is a vehicle. This is not necessarily a process of denial. If I am going by car, I have to take care of the car.
I have to fuel it. I may have to put air in the tyre. Sometimes it may require some servicing and maintenance also.
But then the purpose of the car is to go. It is not the purpose of the car that you sit next to the car and watch the car for hours. How beautiful the car is.
That’s not the purpose of the car. The purpose of the car is to take the car to a destination. So like that the purpose of the body is not to take care of the body.
We want to take care of the body so that we can use it for its purpose. And the purpose is to move towards Krishna. To make spiritual advancement.
And of course we have to live in this world. So we also have worldly professions. And our worldly profession can also be spiritualised.
If we connect our whole life towards Krishna and make Krishna the purpose of our life. So Krishna here talks from the negative point of view. Don’t do this.
Next verse Krishna will talk from the positive point of view. युक्ताहारविहारस्य युक्तचेष्टस्यकर्मसु युक्तस्वप्नावभोधस्य योगोभवतिदुखहा So Krishna is saying युक्त. Now the word युक्त can have many meanings.
The word युक्त Earlier it is when you used to say It is coming from the word योगा. In the Bhagavad Gita these three words are used quite frequently. योगा, योगी and युक्त.
So all three are coming from the same root. And essentially it means connected. युक्तित्युच्छदे योगी That’s what had come earlier in this chapter in 6.8. So here Prabhupada translates युक्त as regulated.
So one who is not extravagant but is regulated. युक्त आहार विहार One who is regulated in the eating. And then विहार.
विहार is entertainment. So now you may wonder if a yogi is in the jungle, what entertainment is there? Actually even the yogi can take breaks. Yogi is sitting and doing meditation.
Now when the yogi is trying to do meditation, at that time it is not easy to concentrate all the time. And actually sitting in the asana and doing meditation is hard work. So one may need a break.
So the yogi can go for a walk, look at the beauty of nature. So that is fine. So that is युक्त.
So when Bharat Maharaj he saw the deer running around and then he saw the deer was drowning. For him to see the deer and to want to care for it, that’s not wrong. As a regulated yogi should also be aware of what is happening around and to take in the beauty of nature and to get oneself refreshed by that is also a part.
That’s okay. So युक्तविहारस्य. So then beyond that युक्तचेष्टस्यकर्मसु.
युक्तचेष्टस्यकर्मसु means that whatever work one does, karma and whatever one endeavour one does in that, that should be regulated. युक्तचेष्टस्य. Sometimes people they may take up jobs which require them to work for 15-16 hours a day.
Now in some cases, when there are projected lines and unavoidable circumstances, one may have to work that much. That’s just unavoidable. But in general, if we choose a career which involves that kind of work, then we are causing our material life and spiritual life to come in a head-on conflict.
Now we want our material life and our spiritual life to go in parallel lanes. Now we have time for our material life, we have time for our spiritual life. So if our material life starts taking the time from the time meant for our, from our spiritual kota, that is undesirable.
So then we may have to reshuffle our career plans and choose a vocation that helps us have an intelligent balance. युक्तचेष्टस्यकर्मसु Working excessively hard is not only detrimental spiritually, it can be detrimental materially also. People get under too much stress and sometimes the people’s biological clock gets upset.
People have night shifts and they have to work at all times. So now where it’s absolutely essential, devotees don’t have to, devotees can’t run away from responsibility in the name of transcendence. But when we have to choose, we can think in the long term and decide what kind of career should I choose so that I can balance.
युक्तचेष्टस्यकर्मसु And one is regulated in one’s sleeping also, what Krishna has talked about earlier. Then Krishna says when one is regulated in this way, then what happens? With such regulation one practises yoga. Then योगो भवति दुखः.
दुखः means the highest destruction, हान्ति destruction. दुखः refers to the ending the destruction of misery. So actually for yoga practise, to bring about the destruction of misery, this is required.
What? Regulation of normal activities. If there is no regulation of normal activities, then the practise of yoga is not very focused. And the practise of yoga is not very focused, then it doesn’t lead to fruitful results.
And that’s why liberation doesn’t come about. Dissociation from misery doesn’t come about. So as devotees, if we’re sleeping too less or sleeping too little and we’re not having adequate time for chanting and somewhere while travelling around we’re squeezing some time and managing some rounds here and there, distracted, and we’re not really putting our heart into things in our spiritual life, then because of our unregulated lifestyle, sometimes we may have to do that in emergencies, but if that’s the way everything is, daily, then that’s not a sustainable way for us to practise.
And then we’ll not really make some spiritual advancement. And anyway we stay connected with Krishna, that is good. But serious spiritual life means that we have a regulation so that there is balance.
Yogo bhavati dukkha. So for yoga practise to lead to the fruits, also there has to be regulation in our interaction with matter. See, the soul is here.
Soul is right now caught in the mental consciousness. And we want to connect the soul’s consciousness to Krishna, who is at the spiritual level of reality. And when we want to connect with Krishna, there has to be regulation with our material connection.
If there is no regulation, if there is disproportionate, imbalanced indulgence in matter, then our consciousness gets caught up in matter. When consciousness gets caught up in matter, then we cannot focus on spirit so much. So when regulation is there, then one doesn’t have to think too much about material things.
This is the time I’ll sleep, this is the time I’ll wake. Or this many hours I’m going to sleep. That’s my regulated thing.
So occasionally when we’re too tired, when there has been too much demanding work, we rest more. But in general, if we are regulated, then our energy is free for doing other things. If you’re not regulated, if people are not regulated about sleeping, then many times when they wake up, just waking up is a conflict which can go on for one hour, two hours.
Put the alarm, wake up, go to sleep again. Put the alarm, wake up, go to sleep again. So there are people who use all different kinds of alarms also, somehow to try to wake up.
There is an alarm which at the moment, normal alarm just rings at the time. There is an alarm which is like at the moment when it rings, it just breaks apart. Like a jigsaw puzzle piece is falling apart.
And what do people have to do? The only way the alarm will stop making sound is all the jigsaw pieces have to be found out and pieced together. Only when they are pieced together, then the alarm will stop. People think that is the way.
I’ll force myself to wake up. Why? Because people struggle so much to wake up. So that whole struggle, if a devotee decides, I’ll wake up.
That conflict is not there. If we are regulated at a time for eating, then we are always thinking, should I eat this? Should I just take a snack now? Should I take a break and just munch something? So if there is regulation, then our mental energy becomes freed for more purposeful engagement. Otherwise, the mental energy is always thinking about eating, sleeping, mating and defending and gets dissipated in that.
Actually, Prabhupada explains the purport. Extravagance. Extravagance in the matter of eating, sleeping, mating and defending, which are the demands of the body, can block advancement in the practise of yoga.
Now in a rough way, aahar is related with eating. So vihaarasya can be related with mating. Vihaar is entertainment.
So people engage in sex. That is the primary recreation that people do. Then cheshtasya karma.
So we do our prescribed duty. That is primarily a way of defending. We want to defend our arrangements for eating, sleeping, mating.
And saptanavabodhasya is sleeping. So in a rough way, they can be correlated with this. These four activities can be correlated with the standard bodily demands.
Eating, sleeping, mating and defending. So Prabhupada is saying extravagance in the matter of eating, sleeping, mating and defending. These are demands of the body.
So we have to fulfil them. But if there is extravagance, then it can block advancement in the practise of yoga. And then Prabhupada talks about how any unnecessary time spent sleeping is considered a great loss.
It’s a great loss. You know, actually we often say the word time is money. It’s a common saying and people take it as time is money.
But we have to apply it practically. So we would not spend our money thoughtlessly. Somebody came along and said, Prabhu, can you give one thousand rupees? What? Why do you want it? We won’t casually go and ask somebody for money like that and we won’t give casually money also.
But then we go and casually spend our time with somebody, take somebody else’s time. If we are truly understanding that time is more precious than money, then we will be so cautious about how we use our time and how we take others’ time. So Chanakya Pandit says that आयूश्यक्षिणे को पे नलब्बेते स्वार्ण कोटी पे How precious is time? Time is so precious that even if you spend the स्वार्ण कोटी, even if you are a crore gold coins, still we cannot get even one moment back.
So time is more precious than money and it has to be valued like that. Any moment lost is a great loss. Wasted is a great loss.
So, actually, one more reason why time needs to be even more carefully utilised than money is not just because it is irrecoverable but it is also unstorable. With money, I can decide okay, I don’t want to spend money right now, I will store it in the bank, in the future we will decide how to spend it. But we don’t have that option with time.
Every moment that is passing, time is getting spent. So we just don’t have the option whether to spend time or not. Time has to be spent.
The only option we have is how do I spend my time? Do I spend it in productive activities or in unproductive activities? So that is why it is a great loss. Unnecessary time is spent anyway and it is for sleeping. Whatever the bodily requirements do, beyond that, it is a great loss.
And Prabhupada quotes, Chaitanya Charitamrta also talked about in Bhaktira Samvart Sindhu means not wasting any time. A Krishna conscious person cannot bear to pass a minute of life without being engaged in service of the Lord. So it is a very beautiful usage.
And Prabhupada is not saying that the devotee doesn’t waste even a minute of time. He just cannot bear to pass a minute of his life. A devotee cannot tolerate okay, how can I waste time? There is so much to be done in Krishna’s mission.
A serious devotee is defined by a sense of purpose and a sense of urgency. A serious devotee is defined by a sense of purpose. There is so much to be done in Krishna’s mission.
Let me take up one service. This is my service. This is what I am going to do.
It is of purpose. And this is what I am going to do and I am going to do it soon. I am going to do it now.
Urgency. So a serious devotee is defined by a sense of purpose and a sense of urgency. And that is why a devotee cannot bear to spend time to pass even a minute without being engaged in service of the Lord.
And naturally sleeping is kept to the minimum. And then Prabhupada said the idea of the Goswamis would sleep so less. Now of course, Prabhupada cautioned that if we try to physically imitate the Goswamis, we will die.
It is not possible for us to do that. And we don’t have to physically imitate. But the point is we can keep that as an ideal and try to keep our eating, sleeping, mating, defending minimum.
So in general, when we talk about regulation, we should assume that we will tend by default to go on the extra side. For example, if it is said that when we are doing mental activities, if I am eating and if I think, okay, should I eat some more? So generally the answer is no. Because actually speaking, the body sends a signal when it is enough.
So it’s safer to eat a little less than to eat a little more. Because the body sends a signal, that means it’s enough. So if you feel, should I chant one round more? Any spiritual activity? Yes, do it.
So like that, these are not absolute principles, but these are general principles which are helpful for us. So actually speaking, when we are genuinely hungry, we don’t even think, should I eat? Just eat, because you are hungry. So even when we eat, it’s always safer to take less quantity and then ask for more.
If you already take too much quantity, then that gives us, I don’t want to waste prasad, so let me eat more. But what happens when we eat more, that sucks our energy. And then it goes into the stomach, it becomes like a stone over there and then we become lethargic because of that.
So a devotee should eat in a regulated way. And then now Prabhupada continues and explains that how these things are to be practised in the life of a yogi. So we’ll discuss that in our next class.
Thank you very much.