Bhakti Shastri (088) – Bhagavad Gita Chapter 07 Text 02 to 07

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Thank you very much Welcome back to our Bhagavad Gita Bhakti Shastri course Now we are in the Bhakti section of the Bhagavad Gita chapters 7 to 12 Bhagavad Gita can be divided into 3 sections Karma, Bhakti and Jnana so actually the full Bhagavad Gita talks about Bhakti but the first 6 chapters talk about how from Karma one can gradually rise to the level of Bhakti and the last 6 chapters talk about how from Jnana one can arise to the level of Bhakti the middle 6 chapters focus on Bhakti entirely so now the 7th chapter is knowledge of the absolute, we discussed 7.1 which talks about how one can by hearing eventually come to the level of mayi asakta manah so the first section verses 1 to 12 talks about knowing Krishna fully as the source of the material and spiritual energies a source of everything ultimately so knowing Krishna’s glory and in that the first section verses 1 to 3 talk about the glory of knowing about Krishna the glory of knowledge of Krishna so let’s look at this once again so this is the sub sections we are going through so known Krishna in full that is the first section verses 1 to 12 in that the sub section that we are going through is glory of knowledge about Krishna that is 1 to 3 and then we will have 4 to 7 talking about how Krishna is the source of everything material and spiritual so let’s look at the verses so gyanam teham savigyanam so knowledge and realisation both together savigyanam so gyan and vigyan are referred to in various places in the Bhagavad Gita this combination together in the 6th chapter we saw gyan and vigyan coming together once gyan vigyan truptatman that was 6.8 and before that gyan and vigyan this combination has been together once again in the section where Krishna talks about how lust is the destroyer of knowledge and realisation so that is in 3.41 so gyan and vigyan this combination comes repeatedly and this will come once again in the 9th chapter also in 9.1 so Krishna will talk about this in multiple places and not everywhere the meanings are the same although there is similarity in the sense of the usage so generally gyan refers to theoretical and vigyan refers to realizational or transformational knowledge here Prabhupada uses in a slightly different sense here Prabhupada says gyan refers to phenomenal knowledge and vigyan refers to numinous knowledge now what is phenomena and nomina these are actually very philosophical terms to understand these terms we have to recognise that philosophy in itself is the search for a deeper reality that is beyond the normal what is normal perceptual we perceive it so phenomena refers to things as they appear to us and nomina refers to things as they actually are independent of our sense perception now what is the difference between the two see one of the fundamental insights while studying spiritual knowledge is that actually not just spiritual knowledge studying the world through any methodology in a serious way one of the points which comes up is that things are deeper than what they appear to be reality is not as it appears to our eyes so even in western history, western intellectual history as well of course in vedic history the idea has always been that the way things appear and the way I think they actually are there is a difference so now the question comes up we access the world through our senses so if we put aside our sense perception how can we know things as they actually are so actually this is a debate even between western philosophy western philosophy there is empiricism and rationalism so empiricism refers to empiricism refers to direct perception empirical knowledge we say acquired through direct sense perception and rationalism refers to that which is acquired through reasoning so empiricism and rationalism these are the two branches of western intellectual thought which have come out and among the two both have also had conflicts now in one sense empiricism is pratyaksha and rationalism is anumana so now science originally started from empirical to rational then in empirical Newton observed a fruit now most people who observed the fruit what would they do they just pick that was the fruit and forget about the whole thing good the fruit fell down when I was there but a thinker like Newton why did this fruit fall down and then after that one moves to rational and one tries to rationality means we try to come up with a logical framework of conceptual understanding which helps us make sense of the world around us so gyanam te hamsa vijnanam so actually gyanam means things as they are and vijnana the way Prabhupada talks about numena as things they actually are now that would roughly correlate roughly not accurately roughly correlate with the western idea rationalistic idea that actually beyond how things appear there is a framework which we need to understand so the different acharyas give different meanings of gyan and vijnana some for example they say that gyan refers to the aishwarya and vijnana refers to the madhurya the greatness of god and the sweetness of god so the different different acharyas can give different explanations of this like this but anyway the important point is not that what the specific terms refer to the important point is that Krishna is telling that there are these two aspects to this knowledge and both I will give idam vakshaami asheeshata asheeshata that means I will hold nothing back from you yad gyan tvaneha bhuyo anyaj having acquired this knowledge yad gyan asheeshata nothing will remain to be known this is quite a bold claim and having acquired this knowledge there is nothing more for you to know how could anyone make such a claim there is nothing more for anyone to know actually that claim is based on the understanding that ultimately everything is spiritual reality and when it comes from Krishna it is spiritual when we know the essential principles we know everything in the sense of knowing the principles the details are endless and the details can never be known we can contrast this statement in the Bhagavad Gita that there is nothing more to be known with Krishna himself telling in the 10th chapter that actually pradhanyata kurusreshta nantya astyanto vistarasyame in the 10th chapter when describing his vibhutis Krishna will say that I will only tell you a sample of my glories, my opulences because my glories are endless and Krishna Arjuna will also say that I cannot know actually I cannot know your full glories actually what to speak of me even the devatas or the asuras nobody can know you nobody can know you so when both Krishna and Arjuna said that Krishna’s glories are entirely not completely knowable by anyone then what does Krishna mean when he says that you will know everything you will know everything there is nothing left this is talking about principles not about details generally the Upanishads talk about tattvatraya the three absolute truths what are the three absolute truths not three absolute truths three fundamental truths of reality that is jiva, jagat and jagdish tattvatraya it is called so jiva is consciousness material nature and the ultimate causative principle so jiva, jagat and jagdish jiva is consciousness jagat is material nature or matter as might be used as might be the word used in modern philosophical parlance and then there is jagdish that is the absolute truth so that may be called as ultimate causative principle or some other similar word which will be non specific about what the nature of that absolute truth is so Krishna is standing over here as far as principles are concerned you will understand those principles completely and then there will be nothing more for you to know in terms of principles although of course in terms of details the amount of knowledge that one can get is ultimately endless there is nothing more to be known so now let’s move forward when Krishna talks one more point about this there is nothing more then then we also say that the Bhagavad Gita is like the graduate level of knowledge and the Bhagavatam is the post graduate and the Chaitanya Charita Amrit is the doctoral level of knowledge so again the question comes up what does it mean if Krishna is telling over here that there is nothing more to be known then how can we say that Bhagavatam is a higher knowledge and Chaitanya Charita Amrit is a higher knowledge actually there is a progression to understand the progression let’s look at the let’s look at a few things here so Gita talks about the progression in the Bhagavatam the Gita talks about God’s identity the Bhagavatam talks about God’s activity and Chaitanya Charita Amrit talks about God’s mentality that means the Bhagavad Gita helps us understand who is God so who is God is the absolute truth a person or impersonal is the absolute truth a person who is that person so Gita helps us understand who is God then now in the Bhagavad Gita Krishna’s pastimes are talked about briefly Janma Karma Chamey Divin the glory of those pastimes are talked about but his specific pastimes are not explained in detail so his activities are described in the Bhagavatam God’s activity comes in the Bhagavatam and beyond that is God’s heart God’s mind what does God think? what does God desire? what is God like? what is God not like? that is described in Chaitanya Charita Amrit so Krishna feels that he is bereaved that the devotees have missed out that his gopis are relishing the nectar than what he is getting and therefore he feels that I have to taste the love of the gopis especially of Radharani and therefore Krishna taking on the mood of Radharani comes as Chaitanya Mahaprabhu so this sort of esoteric secrets, esoteric insights about the heart of the Lord are described in Chaitanya Charita Amrit so when we say that there is nothing more to be known that essentially it again talks in terms of principles, but the details about Krishna are infinite in terms of principles the truth that the absolute truth is a person the truth that absolute truth can be attained by bhakti the truth that actually the absolute truth is bhaktavatsa so there are fundamental principle truths that are outlined in the Bhagavad Gita but as far as the details are concerned the details are endless and it’s not that the details are unimportant the details also illumine Krishna’s glories and they make remembrance of Krishna more relishable but the details come later what comes initially is the what comes initially is the incremental principles that means the fundamental principles that increment our understanding about Krishna gradually so there is nothing more to be known the Acharyas describe if we consider Gyan and Vigyan to be Aishwarya and Madhurya then chapters 7 and 8 give us Aishwarya Gyan and chapter 9 gives us Madhurya Gyan Madhurya Gyan and both together chapters 10 to 12 give us that so Gyan Vigyan Sahitam both of them together are present in chapters 10 and 12 so we’ll see how this happens how Krishna’s sweetness now Madhurya Gyan doesn’t necessarily here the words again can mean differently Madhurya Gyan is not necessarily the same as Madhurya Rasa Gyan Madhurya Rasa is a specific conjugal Rasa and among them Madhurya is one of the Rasa so Madhurya Gyan is not the same as Madhurya Rasa Gyan Madhurya Rasa Gyan specifically refers to the knowledge of Krishna’s conjugal pastimes Madhurya Gyan in general refers to Krishna’s sweetness as contrasted with his greatness so Madhurya Gyan even Krishna being tied up by Mother Rishudha that is also Madhurya Gyan so Krishna giving up his greatness so that he fights with Gopal and is defeated by them that is also Madhurya Gyan it is not Madhurya Rasa but it is Madhurya Gyan so Bhagavad Gita may not talk directly much about Madhurya Rasa but in the 9th chapter his Bhakta Vatsalya his hunger for love and how devotion is his appetiser all these things are talked about and how he always protects his devotees so in that sense Madhurya Gyan is given and in 10th, 11th, 12th both come up Aishwarya as well as Madhurya aspect come up now so how is the Gita complete complete principles are given complete details can never be given even about any specific subject what to speak of the absolute truth so Tattvatara is Jagat, Jeev and Jagadish matter, spirit and controller these three MSC these three are Tattvatara and the basic outline about what they are and how they interact that is talked about in this chapter so in that sense this chapter gives complete knowledge to us now Prabhupada explains this right at the start of his purport complete knowledge includes knowledge of the phenomenal world the spirit behind it and the source of both of them this is transcendental knowledge this is transcendental knowledge what this means is now it’s interesting how can we would think that transcendental knowledge would mean knowledge about the transcendental world but if the knowledge is about the material world of the phenomenal world then how can that be called transcendental knowledge so transcendental knowledge doesn’t necessarily mean only knowledge about the transcendental world. It also means knowledge that directs our consciousness towards transcendence. So the knowledge that is there, if we can see this world in its connection with the transcendental absolute truth, then even that knowledge will be called as transcendental knowledge.
Because that knowledge is directing us towards transcendence. So, any knowledge which helps us remember Krishna and helps us direct our consciousness towards Krishna, reveals to us the connection of everything with Krishna, helps us to see things in a transcendental light. And in that sense it is transcendental knowledge.
And Prabhupada also explains in what sense we know everything. It is not that we have to know all the details. Prabhupada quotes the Buddha Mundaka Upanishad, where it is said in 1.3, कस्मिन्भगवो विज्ञाते सर्वमिदं विज्ञातं भवति That means once one knows that absolute truth, then everything else becomes known.
So this is 7.2. We know the absolute truth completely. So now, 7.3, मनुष्यानाम सहस्रीषु, कष्युद्यतति सिध्धये यदतामपिसिध्धानाम, कष्यिन्मामवैति तत्वतहाम। So, मनुष्यानाम सहस्रीषु. Sahasra is hundred.
Chatha is hundred. Sahasra is thousand. So sometimes we say, सहसरशतपरमान, hundredth pranam, we say hundredth and thousands of obeisances to your lotus feet.
Now actually, we may say, सहसरशत कोटि धन्दवत प्रनाम, but we often, when we meet a person, we may be lazy to offer even one pranam. So, there is no need to have exaggeration like that to try to express our respects. Even, please accept my humble obeisances, धन्दवत प्रणाम, that is good enough.
There is no need for सहसरशत कोटि धन्दवत प्रणाम at your holy lotus feet. Sometimes, we use words in such a way that if we have that kind of reverence, that’s different. But sometimes, the import of words gets lost when we use it without the appropriate feeling behind those few words.
So, here Krishna is saying that, सहस्रेषु, among thousands of people, कश्चिद् यतति सिद्धये, very few endeavour for perfection. सिद्धये, यतति सिद्धये, siddhi is perfection, यतति is endeavour, very few endeavour for perfection. And in यतताम अपि सिद्धाना, among those who endeavour for perfection, कश्चिन आम्वति तत्वता, very few actually know Me in truth.
So, in that sense, what Krishna is telling over here is that He is highlighting the rarity of knowledge about Him. Why is this knowledge rare? Because, first of all, most people are caught up in the animal propensities of eating, sleeping, mating and defending. So, there are materialistic people who are caught up in that.
And fortunately, there are religious people also who get caught up in these things. How is that? Most religious people, they practise religion as a means for dharma, as a dharma-arthakama, karma-kanda level. Specific category of dharma-arthakama may not be there in the, in the say, the Abrahamic religions.
These means may not be there but the conception is the same. That actually God’s blessings upon us are there when we get the good things of life. And what are the good things of life? Often people think largely in materialistic terms.
I get this, I get that, I get all these materialistic things and I am happy. So, मनुष्यानाम् सहर्सरेशु, सहर्सरेशु, that among thousands of people, most people are caught up in eating, sleeping, mating, defending. So even people who are religious, they use their religion for pursuing eating, sleeping, mating, defending.
And there is a popular chant to Hanumanji, तुम तो हो बाल ब्रह्मचारी, मुझे देदो एक नारी. So, the chant is that, you are a celibate but please give me a woman. So, this is completely at a Karmakanda level.
So, of course, choosing an appropriate spouse, a compatible spouse is essential for a good life, even for a spiritual seeker also. If it is incompatible, then that can be a problem. And in that sense, for a devotee to pray for an appropriate spouse, for a compatible spouse, materially and spiritually compatible spouse, is not at all wrong.
But the point is that most people’s desires get stuck at that level itself. So, in Sanskrit, there is the word धर्मपत्नी. So, now it is for people, the purpose is, the पत्नी is for dharma.
You know, one has a spouse so that one can follow dharma. But people think dharma is for the पत्नी. That means that they practise dharma so that they can get a spouse.
So, the purpose of dharma is, dharma is for अर्था and कामा. No. Actually, ultimately, dharma, artha, kaama are all to be practised so that one can get मोक्ष, अपवर्ग, one goes beyond material things.
So, there are people who have this conception of soulmate. There is the concept of reincarnation has also been included in movies and novels. And there they romanticise it.
There is a couple who cannot unite in one life and they reincarnate both and then they unite in the next life and this is how the romance is successful. That’s how they depict that. And sometimes there are these people who claim to have mystic seers and then you show them their, they see their hands or see their parrots and they say, oh, is this person your soulmate or not your soulmate? So, actually this kind of romanticisation of reincarnation is very trivial.
Now, our focus should not be on the, when we are studying reincarnation, the focus should not be on the mate part, the focus should be on the soul part. That means, it’s not who is my mate, but what is my soul? That should be the question. So, if I’m just continuing on life after life, who am I actually? And what is my eternal relationship? So, the essential point is that the ultimate soulmate of the soul is Krishna.
It is Krishna who have an eternal relationship, whether we may be in a male body or female body, that doesn’t matter. The eternal relationship of every soul is with Krishna. So, of course, the word mate involves certain connotations, which we cannot apply to Krishna.
But the point is, in terms of a relationship, the eternal relationship of the soul is with Krishna. And for that, we should focus on the soul part, not the mate part. Now, most people, they use dharma also for artha.
So, siddhaye, here siddhaye refers to perfection in terms of liberation, in terms of attainment of transcendence. So, very few people endeavour for transcendence. And even among those who endeavour for transcendence, few actually know Me.
This is interesting that even among those striving for liberation, they are themselves very few, but among them also, they can have different conceptions. They can think Brahman is the Absolute Truth. They can think that the Paramatma is the Absolute Truth.
But to understand Bhagavan as the Absolute Truth, in His beauty and glory, in His complete majesty and His complete sweetness, that is extremely rare. So, that is kashchenmam vittatvatah, very few people know Me in truth. So, by underscoring that how rare knowledge about Him is, Krishna attracts Arjuna s attention.
Just like, many people are attracted to breaking news. Why? Because they think I should get to hear the news before anybody else gets to hear. Then I will tell everyone the news.
People want the latest news. People don t want taza khabar, latest news. People don t want old news.
Because the idea is I want to know something which others don t know. So, Krishna is telling, this is something which I am telling you. Very, very few people know this.
So, by that, He is attracting Arjuna. Please understand this. And then, now Prabhupada makes a very interesting argument that now the Mayavadi scholars say, the impersonalists say that actually bhakti is for less intelligent people.
They try to make a simplistic division among the various paths that actually karma is for the hardworking people. There are these different yogas, karma yoga, jnana yoga, ashtanga yoga, bhakti yoga. So, they say karma is for the hardworking people, karma yoga.
Ashtanga yoga is for the people who like to do austerities. Bhakti yoga is for the sentimental people. And jnana yoga is for the intellectual people.
Now, actually speaking, even people who are not intellectual, they like to think of themselves as intellectual. They like to think about themselves, oh, I am very great. I am a very great scholar.
So, because they like to think like that, so what happens is, karma yoga, people are okay. Even if somebody does karma yoga, yeah, it s for hardworking people. I am a hardworking person.
People like that. Most people think that I should do jnana yoga because I am intellectual. And people start looking down at bhakti.
No one wants to be sentimental. Although sentiments are the ornaments of our heart and our life, sentiments are what make life worth living. But bhakti is not just sentimentality.
Bhakti is actually guided, enriched, purified sentiments. So, Prabhupada says that, okay, they say bhakti is for sentimental people. It s easy.
Jnana, karma, sentiments, anybody can have sentiments. But intellectual, that s difficult. Austerity, that s difficult.
Hardwork, that s difficult. So, they say that bhakti is for, essentially, easy path. But Prabhupada argues that if bhakti is easy path, then why would anyone choose a difficult path? See, easy path, follow it.
Everybody should follow it. Why do you, if, imagine there is, one has to climb up a mountain, and the goal is to reach the top of the mountain, and the one path is very difficult, and the other path is easy. So, why would anyone want to choose a difficult path? Everybody would want to choose the easy path.
But people choose the difficult path because actually Prabhupada says bhakti is not easy. When one thinks I can do whatever I want in the name of bhakti, that kind of bhakti might be easy. But when one actually follows bhakti according to scriptures, then that kind of bhakti is not easy.
So, here he is quoting from Samhita Sindhu. So, without that vidhi, one practises bhakti. If one does ikanti ki bhakti, then what happens? Utpataayaiva.
Utpata means simply disruption in society is created. So, then Prabhupada also quotes that real knowledge about Krishna, why is it rare? Because it comes by revelation. It doesn t come merely by recollection or reconstruction.
So, what does it mean? Real knowledge about Krishna doesn t come merely by reconstruction or recollection or even by reflection. See, what does it mean? I just think and think and think, and I understand Krishna. It doesn t work like that.
Recollection means I think I will remember, oh, maybe I was in this spiritual world. Who was I at that time? Same thing, I get to know my Swarupa. Reconstruction means that people, our dreams are mostly reconstructed.
That means we see something, we see a mountain and we see a gold somewhere and we reconstruct the two together and make it into a golden mountain. So, actually our memories are remarkably unreliable. Although we may think that I saw something in my childhood, but actually what we remember is very little.
Often we forget many things. So, remembrance of Krishna is actually revelation. And in that sense, it is very rare.
So, now after describing how rare knowledge about Krishna is, now Krishna will start describing what that knowledge of His glory is, knowledge about the absolute. So, from 4 to 7 is how Krishna is the source of material and spiritual worlds. Let s look at the fourth verse.
अहंकार इतियम् भिन्ना प्रकृतिन अष्टधा भुमि आपो नलोवायू So, here Krishna is describing the seven elements. भुमि is earth. आपो is water.
अनला is fire. बायू is air. खम् मनो बुद्धिरेवच्यो Ether, mind, intelligence and ego.
These are अश्टधा. अश्टधा is eight. भिन्ना प्रकृतिर अश्टधा is separated energies.
So, what does it mean separated energies? Now, Prabhupada would give a simple example of separated energies. He would say that milk comes from a cow. So, the milk is the energy of the cow.
But it is not that wherever the milk is present the cow has to be present. So, the milk is separate from the cow. Now, Prabhupada would say that I speak and then my speech is put in a recording.
And then the recording is available for people. To hear. So, then the recording, is it same as Krishna or different from Krishna? It is actually, sorry, same of Prabhupada, different from Prabhupada.
It is Prabhupada’s voice. So, in that sense it is the energy of Prabhupada. But Prabhupada may not be present in a particular place and the recording may be present.
So, in that sense it is separated energy. And then, he would also give an example for how separated energy can have a different nature. Now, this is one of the perplexities in the Vedanta.
And it is generally there in all religions. Anybody who has thought about God, they feel this question that God is good whereas this world is filled with evil. So, why has this world filled with evil come from God? How and why has it come from? So, once Prabhupada would ask this question.
If God is good, why is there so much evil in this world? So, Prabhupada sometimes gave answers which just jolted people out of their complacency. So, this person who was asking this question was a young lady. So, Prabhupada told her, you are beautiful, but why is your stool ugly? She just had no answer to that.
So, Prabhupada said, because it is your separated energy. It is your separated energy. So, the idea is that which is separated may come from a source, but it may not have the qualities of the source.
So, here, bhinnah me prakritir ashtadha. So, bhinnah. Now, Prabhupada gives a special insight.
None of the previous Acharyas talk about bhinnah in that sense. There are the eight separated divisions. The adjective bhinnah can be applied to prakriti or it can be applied to ashtadha.
This can be the separated energy or the eight separate categories of the prakriti, ashtadha, whichever is. So, Prabhupada applies it as eight, the separated energies. These eight are the separated energies of Krishna.
And now, Prabhupada goes into quite a philosophical section over here. He says, how are these the separated energies? He quotes from a scripture called Pancharatta Tantra. That is one of the tantra, Pancharatta scripture, tantra.
That is why the word tantra comes over here. And then he describes how vishnustu trinirupani purushakhyanyato viduh ekam tu mahatasrastur vitiyam tu andhasamsthitam tritiyam sarvabhutastham taniyatva vimuchyate So, vishnustu trinirupani. There are three forms of Lord Vishnu, it is said.
purushakhyanyato viduh Know that there are these three. What are these three? Ekam tu mahatasrastur One is the mahatatva. Tritiyam The second is that which is situated in the Anda, that is the Brahmanda.
So, first refers to Maha Vishnu. So, it is from his bodily pores that actually the substratum of all material existence, the mahatatva comes out. Vitiyam tu andhasamsthitam Second refers to the Garbhodakshaya Vishnu who enters into the Brahmanda.
And from his navel, the lotus is born on the Brahmajiya place. Tritiyam sarvabhutastham So, that refers to sarvabhutastham, the Lord Vishnu who is present in all living beings of the Supersoul. Taniyatva vimuchyate One who knows all these, that person attains liberation.
Taniyatva vimuchyate So, now Prabhupada explains how actually the material world is a temporary manifestation of one of the energies of the Lord. So, the Lord’s glory is so great that he has many energies and then one of his energies is material energy and that material energy has a temporary manifestation, that is the material world. Then he also explains that how limited the jurisdiction of material science is.
So, material science comprises these ten items and nothing more. What are these ten items? Prabhupada says that earth, water, fire, air, ether and within which these are called the five gigantic creations or the gross creations within which the five sense objects are included which is the physical sound, touch, form, taste and smell. So, these are the jurisdiction of material science.
How is that? So, Prabhupada uses the word gigantic creation that will be used in 13.6. Mahabhutani Mahabhutani Mahabhut refers to earth, water, fire, air, ether. Prabhupada translates that as gigantic creations or gross creations. Now, earth does not talk much about the mind, intelligence or ego and does not talk about the soul also.
It is not it is not analysed deeply enough to conceive of these things. So, its scope focusses largely on gross matter and that is why its picture of reality is incomplete. Its picture of reality is incomplete.
So, to get a complete understanding we should know gross matter, but gross matter plus subtle matter plus soul. Then, one’s understanding becomes complete. So, then Prabhupada quotes about Sankhya.
This kind of analysis is the analysis of Sankhya. But he says all Sankhyas, those who study Sankhya, they try to analyse material nature. He says all that they are analysing actually remains within the scope of the external energy of Lord Vishnu, of Lord Krishna.
So, Sankhya philosophers, they generally don’t analyse this world in 24 elements, but beyond those 24 elements is the higher reality which they don’t reach out to ultimately. So, in that sense their analysis is incomplete. Then, let’s go to the next verse.
Now Krishna will talk about the spiritual energy. So, apart from this there is another. Apareya means this was inferior energy.
This is Apara. So, Apara and Parar categories. Apara refers to lower or inferior.
Parar refers to superior or higher. So, apart from this inferior, there is Anyam. Anyam is another.
What is that? That is my Paraprakriti. That is my superior energy. And then, there are living entities and Mahabaho refers to Arjuna, your mighty arm.
So, what are these living entities doing? They are maintaining the world. How do they maintain the world? So, this is used actually in a slightly sarcastic sense that the living entities are maintaining the world in the sense that the prisoners are maintaining the prison. If there is no prison, then there would not be any need to maintain the prison.
So, in a sense, here they say means it is maintained for them. Because they are there, so it is maintained. Just like because the prisoners are there, so the prison has to be there.
Of course, we all know from our entity experiential point of view, it is not we who are maintaining the world. We are not causing the rains to fall, the sun to rise. So, obviously, we are not maintainers.
So, when Krishna is referring over here, it is not referring to me being as a maintainer. We are maintaining. So, now, somebody says, no, no, actually this refers to that the living entities are maintaining the world.
So, are the living entities themselves the absolute truth? So, if that were the case, then why would these living entities have to surrender to the absolute truth, have to beg for the mercy of the absolute truth? Now, if we are the maintainers of the jail, then we do not have to be trapped in the jail. We do not have to ask anyone, no, please release me from the jail. We are the maintainers of the jail.
We can go out of it anytime. But we cannot do that. And that is why we cannot say this in the literal sense that we are the maintainers.
We are that supreme being who is maintaining the world. And Prabhupada quotes a verse from the Bhagavatam, 1087.30. This is one of the concluding sections of the Bhagavatam. So, this is the verse.
aparimita dhruvas tanuprto yadi sarva-gatas tarhinashashyate teneyamau dhruvanetratha ajimichayanayam tadabhimuchyanyantrabhavet samam anujanatam yadamatam matadushyataya matadushyataya matadushyataya means that is a faulty and polluted opinion. matadushyataya What is that? That aparimiti dhruvas tanuprto yadi sarva-gatas Sarvagata is all-pervading. Aparimata is unlimited or eternal.
So, actually, so Sarvatasa, Tanuvratam, those who are embodied, if they were all-pervading, if they were eternal as you are, my dear Lord, then they would not be under your control, they would not have to beg for mercy from you so that they will become liberated. The very fact that they have to beg for such mercy means that they are not the infinite living beings, they are finite living beings and that is how they are subordinate. And then Prabhupada talks about the soul, that means basically there are two energies, there is matter and there is spirit.
So, matter has these eight categories, earth, water, fire, air, and the spirit is, actually Krishna will say now, here he is talking about a soul, within soul there is soul, in spirit there is soul and Supreme Lord. So, he will talk about himself in the next verse. Now, Krishna is here talking about how he is the source of everything.
So, he will continue this discussion, these two are my energies. etad yoni nibhutani sarvani tyopadharya aham krtnasya jagatah prabhava pralayas tatha So, etad yoni nibhutani, all these living beings, sarvani tyopadharya, all of them, aham krtnasya jagatah. I am the source of it all, everything, prabhava pralayas tatha.
I am the, prabhava means the origin and pralaya is the annihilation, the shelter of the annihilation. So, everything that exists in this world is a combination of matter and spirit and ultimately all of it comes from me. Both these living beings, etad yoni nibhutani, these are the yoni of everything that we see.
So, for example, we may see a computer screen. So, that computer screen is made of matter, not just ordinary matter, but matter that has been acted upon by a soul. So, if you look at everything in this world, whatever we see is a combination of this, this matter, spirit, or the combination of both in various ways.
So, Krishna says, he is giving a reasoning here to Saurashtra, how ultimately everything comes from him. So, these two energies come from him and everything that we see, it comes from these two energies and their combination. Therefore, everything ultimately comes from him.
And he says in this way, I am the beginning of everything and I am the end of everything also. Prabhava and pralaya. Prabhava is the origin and pralaya is the end.
I am the beginning and the end of everything. Why does Krishna talk about the beginning and the end over here? The subject is the glory of Krishna. And the glory of Krishna is that he is all pervading.
He is all pervading not just in terms of space, not just that he exists everywhere, not just in terms of time, that he exists at all times, that is definitely there. But he is all pervading also in the sense that nothing exists but him. That he is supreme, his glory is that ultimately he is the only existence.
That does not mean that we do not exist, but we exist as his energies. So, we come from him and we are meant for his service and his pleasure. So, in that sense, it is all pervades.
It exists but it is all connected with the absolute truth. And in that sense, it is all the manifestation of the absolute truth. So, Prabhupada says that spirit is the basic field of creation and matter is created by spirit.
Spirit is the basic field of creation means, actually spirit is what activates creation and that is what makes it clarified that matter is created by spirit. And then the cause of the universe is the big soul, Krishna. And the cause of both the big and the small souls.
So, Prabhupada gives an example over here. A small child may create a toy, a big child, a person may create a skyscraper. But ultimately, everything that we have is a combination of matter and spirit.
So, the body that we have is actually activated because of the soul. So, that supreme soul, he is the activator, he is the maintainer and he is the end-design, end-destination of the whole universe. So, when we talk about the super-soul, super-soul can be understood in three ways.
The super-soul is the Dakshinodakshavishnu is the super-soul of the body, of the living entity. The Garbhodakshavishnu is the super-soul of the universe. And the Mahavishnu is the super-soul of the Mahat-tattva, Mahat-tattva.
And Prabhupada quotes the famous Katha Upanishad, Nityo Nityanam, Chetanas Chetananam. So, Eko Bahunamyo Vidhahati Kaman. There is one special living entity who is different from all the other living entities who are also conscious and who are also eternal.
And what is the speciality of this entity? That this entity is actually Eko Bahunamyo Vidhahati Kaman, is the maintainer of everyone. So, in this world, everything comes from Krishna, everything returns to Krishna. There are phases of expansion.
Sometimes a person may have a collapsable stick. So, a person is walking along, that person has a collapsable stick. Sometimes some sannyasis also have collapsable Nanda.
So, because nowadays when travelling in planes, they don’t allow the normal Nanda to be taken. So, collapsable Nanda. That means it’s big, then when you want to shut it down, it becomes so small, you can just put it in a pocket and take it also.
So, like that, the creation unfolds from Krishna. That unfolding of the creation is talked about in the third canto of Bhagavatam. Several places actually it’s talked about.
From one element, other element emerges. Like that, the emergence moves on. But ultimately, everything comes from Krishna.
That is the eternal truth. And then Krishna talks about something else over here. matah parataram na anyad kinchi dasti dhananjaya mayi sarvamidam pravutam sutremani ganahiva So, matah parataram na anyad.
So, Krishna is telling, superior to me, parataram. So, there is better than me, greater than me, higher than me, parataram. So, tara is an intermediate superlative.
Tara is an intermediate superlative. That means good, better and best. Yukta, yukta-tara and yukta-tama.
So, tara is intermediate, better, at that level. There is no truth parataram, than me. Na anyad, apart from me, there is no truth higher than me.
kinchi dasti dhananjaya, there is no possibility. Krishna says, I am the highest truth. And now, Krishna is the supreme truth.
That doesn’t make us think that he is okay. He is the king who exists above everything else and he looks down from above to all of us. na bahi sarvamidam protham sutremani ganahiva So, actually, there are two aspects to God’s glory.
There is his transcendence and there is his emanance. Transcendence refers to how he exists in the spiritual world, separated from everyone and everything. And he exists there eternally.
And his emanance refers to how he pervades all of it. So, transcendence means God is beyond matter. Emanance means God is within matter.
So, the Bhagavad Gita explains that there are both aspects to God. There is his transcendence also and there is his emanance also. So, his transcendence aspect is talking about, there is no truth higher than me.
And we will talk about his transcendence aspect several times in the Bhagavad Gita. For example, Krishna says, bhutana ishvaropisana, ajopisana vyatma. When he talks about 4.6, that I come in an eternal imperishable body, I am the lord of all living beings.
Even when I come in the material world, I am not contaminated by that. When Krishna talks about parastasmat bhavani, that beyond this material world is the spiritual world. That is talking about transcendental aspect.
And then this chapter we will talk about his emanance aspect. How he pervades all of reality also. So, is God transcendent or emanent? Is God separate from matter or is God within matter? Actually, there is both.
God is transcendent and emanent. He is present within matter but he is not contained by matter. He is not limited to matter.
He extends beyond matter to the ultimate reality. Actually, there is no truth higher than him. Krishna is the highest truth.
But that doesn’t mean, just because he is highest doesn’t mean he is far away. He is also right within us. He is accessible to us.
He pervades all of creation. In fact, how he pervades, how he is emanent, that will be described in the next series of verses from 8 to 11. And we will discuss that in our next class.
But here, Sutre Mani Ganaiva. There is an important metaphor that just as when there is a necklace, say when there is Kanchi Mala, what we see primarily is the beads. When there is a nice jewel necklace, what we see will be the beads.
But within the beads, going through the beads is the thread. And what is that thread? That thread, Krishna is saying, I am that thread. So whatever we see in this world, that is the various phenomena, you see, various attractive things in this world, but underlying them, unifying them, the thread of truth is Krishna.
So this metaphor is to convey how Krishna is underlying, unifying, within even the material world, how he is emanent within the world. Now, the Acharyas, especially Baldevidya Goswami in Vedanta Sutra comment, raises this issue, and also it comes up in various other places. And Krishna is telling, there is no truth higher than me.
And what is Krishna referring to? The Maya. The Maya has the idea that the form is not the highest truth. Beyond the form, there is the impersonal reality.
That is the highest truth. That is their idea. But then, Krishna is saying over here that actually, Krishna is saying, mataha, he says, me.
Apart from me, there is no higher truth. What does it mean? When Krishna is saying me, he refers to me. We can’t go about convoluted, twisted interpretation.
When the prime minister says, obey me, oh, that means that there is some other officer who is higher than the prime minister, who is acting to the prime minister, and it is that person we should obey, not the prime minister. Nothing like that. mataha parataram na anyat Krishna is telling that there is no truth higher than me.
If you want to follow the Bhagavad Gita, we can’t just impose our philosophy on the Gita. We have to see what the Gita actually is saying. And the Gita is very clearly saying that we have to surrender to Krishna.
Krishna lo mataha parataram na anyat There is no truth higher than Krishna. Let’s look at the purport. So, Prabhupada says that the common controversy over the supreme truth is personal or impersonal.
And he says, it is confirmed in the Bhagavad Gita in every step, and that he is a person. How is it confirmed? Krishna is using mataha over here. And then Prabhupada talks about also the Ishwara Parama, Krishna, Satchitananda Vigraha.
So, Ishwara Parama, the supreme controller, the supreme truth. So that also confirms the point that the absolute truth is a person, Satchitananda Vigraha. And then, Prabhupada quotes from the Sita-sutra Upanishad 3.10 over here.
tato yat uttarataram yat tad arupam anamaya yat tad vidur amritas te bhavanti athetare dukkham evai vayanti So, actually, the significant point of this verse is that the quotation, the point is arupam, that actually there is no form. Prabhupada emphasises the point that actually we have to look at the context. So, the verse itself means that in the material of Brahma, the primordial entity within the universe is understood to be supreme among the demigods, human beings and lower animals.
But beyond Brahma, there is a transcendence who has no material form and is free from all material contaminations. Anyone who can know him also becomes transcendental, but those who do not know him suffer the miseries of the material world. So, Prabhupada says that actually we cannot just So, I personally stress the word arupam, but Prabhupada says we have to look at the full context.
And this is 3.10 and before that is 3.8 and 9 in the same Shatashatra Upanishad. And what is it saying about that absolute truth? Vedāham etam puruá¹£aṁ mahantam āditya-varṇaṁ tamasā parastād tam eva viditvāti-mukhyam eti nānya-panthā vidyate nāya yasmātparam nāparam astikincit yasmātnānyo nāyajyāyo astikincit gá¹›ká¹£eva sthapdo divitiṣṭhati kas te nedaṁ pÅ«rṇam puruá¹£eṇa sarvam te nedaṁ pÅ«rṇam puruá¹£eṇa sarvam This is a long, important long verse. The point is that it’s puruá¹£aṁ.
So, actually it’s very categorical. The first line starts with the word puruá¹£aṁ here. And then after that, the first line starts with the word puruá¹£aṁ.
I know that absolute truth. And then again, So, just in the prior verse, two prior quotations, 8 and 9, what is said, the word puruá¹£a is used. So, when the word puruá¹£a is used, how can we say that what is being referred to is something non-personal, something formless? Puruá¹£a refers clearly to a person.
So, what is this quotation actually saying? I know that great absolute truth. What is the characteristic? His complexion is such that he can take us beyond the darkness of material existence. So, Prabhupāda translates that beyond the conceptions of darkness.
By knowing him, one can attain liberation. One can go beyond the cycle of birth and death. And there is no other path apart from this to attain liberation.
And then further describing the position of that absolute truth. That apart from him there is no greater truth. Actually, this absolute truth is so paradoxical that on one side there is nothing greater than him and on the other side there is nothing smaller than him also.
How can there be nothing smaller than him? Because Mahāviṣṇu is greater than the greatest. And as Śrīla Dakṣayāviṣṇu is present in the Supersoul, present even within the atoms, and present within the heart of even microscopic living beings. So, therefore, actually he is smaller than the smallest also.
So, the point is the Lord has inconceivable attributes. Greater than the greatest, smaller than the smallest. vṛkṣya eva sthabdho ivitiṣṭhatekas So, the example is interestingly given over here.
So, the tree is situated in one place, but from that one place the tree radiates its energy everywhere. Similarly, tenedam pūrṇam puruṣe nisarvam This absolute truth pervades its energies everywhere. So, Prabhupāda is quoting this point to talk about how the Upaniṣads also confirm that the absolute truth is a person.
The absolute truth is not impersonal. The absolute truth is a person. So, vedā metaṁ puruṣaṁ mahāntaṁ And that puruṣa is Krishna.
So, in this way, the seventh chapter, the first part establishes how Krishna is the source of all energies, material and spiritual. And how ultimately everything is sustained by Krishna. There is no truth higher than Him.
And He pervades everything just as a necklace is pervaded by a thread. So, His pervasion is not just passive. His pervasion is unifying.
It’s active. So, the immanence, how Krishna pervades the material matter will be discussed from 8 to 11, which we will discuss in our next class. Thank you very much.
Śrīmad-Bhāgavad-Gītā-ki-jaye. Hare Kṛṣṇa.