Bhakti Shastri (090) – Bhagavad Gita Chapter 07 Text 13 to 18

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Hare Krishna. Welcome back to our Bhagavad Gita Bhakti Shastra course. We are in the middle of the seventh chapter right now.
So let’s look at the verse which we start off with 7.13. So we completed the first section. The seventh chapter has three sections. First is knowledge about Krishna and then the second section from 13 to 25 is about how knowledge of Krishna leads to surrender and it talks about people who surrender, people who don’t surrender and people who surrender to something other than Krishna.
So let’s start with the first section. So there are three modes, filled with the three modes, made of the three modes, comprising of these three existences that is bhavair, tribhir, guna, mayair, bhavair, ebhi sarvam idam jagat. This whole world is mohitam.
Everything in this world, everyone in this world is bewildered by mohitam, by the three modes. na abhijanati. They do not know, what do they not know? mamedhya paramavayam.
That I am param. I am transcendental and I am imperishable. paramavayam.
So here Krishna is talking about the three modes, his relationship with the three modes and Krishna is emphasising the point that he is beyond the three modes. His position is transcendental always. So tribhir, guna, mayair, bhavair.
We have these three modes but Krishna’s position is transcendental to the three modes and in fact it is the three modes which cause the bewilderment and which make people forget, misunderstand Krishna, forget Krishna. Mohitam na abhijanati, na abhijanati. So how do the modes cause forgetfulness of Krishna? See the modes colour our perception of everything.
Like if I have red tinted glasses, everything will say red to me. So the modes themselves comprise different tinting of different colour tinted glasses. So goodness is one kind of tinted glass, passion is like one kind of tinted glass, ignorance is one kind of tinted glass and all these three are different glasses and they all cause a different kind of tinting.
But more tinting is colouring, contamination of our vision. Now beyond that, in general all the three modes are material. So overall there is a material covering, there’s a material contamination, a material distortion of our perception and because of that we don’t understand Krishna’s transcendental position.
Mahamabhya param avyayam. Krishna is saying param, I am transcendentally situated and avyayam. So avyayam means imperishable.
So transcendental and imperishable. So Krishna is beyond the limits of time and space. So param can be correlated with the limits of space, avyayam can be correlated with the time, limit of time.
Everything in this world is limited by time and space. But Krishna is transcendental to the limitations of time and space. Mahamabhya param avyayam.
Annaprabha talks about in the purport that how there are even people in goodness are bewildered about Krishna. How do we see that? We see that in the tenth canto of the Srimad Bhagavatam where practically everyone, the demigods like Indra, even Brahma and even Shiva, there is no description directly of Shiva being bewildered in Vrindavan, but later on Shiva takes the side of Vanasura and then later on Shiva-Jivara is defeated by Narayana and Jivara in the fight of Vanasura’s forces with Krishna’s forces. At that time Shiva surrenders and offers prayers.
So in this way actually everybody is bewildered by the three modes. So the contamination of three modes prevents us from understanding what actually reality is and that causes us to stay in illusion. And now, you know, people talk about illusion in relative terms also.
That means drunkard thinks that alcohol is a source of happiness, although alcohol is a source of bondage and misery. So like that there are illusions within the material world also. Within the material world there are different things which seem pleasurable but turn out to be miserable afterwards.
So that is true, but what Krishna is talking about over here is something much greater. Actually Krishna is talking about how in this world everyone is overcome by illusion, with respect to understanding him. The illusions with respect to things of this world get us into material bondage.
They may cause us, if a person is in passion and then the person gets addicted to alcohol, that person may go into ignorance. And sometimes a person may be in ignorance, may be addicted to something and by some laborious efforts, by willpower, some therapy, may become sober and give up addiction. That person will remove, will be freed from the ignorance of ignorance, the ignorance or the illusion of ignorance.
Illusion caused by the mode of ignorance. But still that person may still have an illusion of passion. Yes, now I am free from addiction.
Now I can work hard and I can make it big in life. I’ll have a big house, a family and I’ll be happy in life. So that is an illusion in passion.
So there may be movement through various kinds of illusions, from passion down to ignorance, from ignorance down to passion, or even to goodness. But overall the person stays in illusion. As long as we do not understand about Krishna properly, we stay in illusion.
So the three modes, they may cause their own individual illusions, but beyond that the three modes also cause illusion about Krishna. And that illusion is what Krishna is focussing on over here. Because that is the illusion that keeps us in bondage, in material existence.
Now naturally the question will come up, okay, if the modes bind a person and keep the person under illusion, then how can a person come out of illusion? That Srila Prabhupada describes in his purport in the next verse and Krishna answers first in the next verse of that also. So, Daiviyya, divine indeed, that actually this energy of Krishna is divine indeed. Mamma maya duratyaya, this is my maya and it is duratyaya, very difficult to overcome.
But those who surrender unto me, they will cross beyond maya and come out, cross beyond maya, they will come out of illusion. So here what is Krishna saying exactly? In the previous verse Krishna has stated that maya, that tribirguna mayai bhava ebhi sarvam idam jagat. So he said the three, the covering of the three modes deludes everyone.
Now he is taking that understanding further and he is saying, so that means the 13th verse is saying how the covering of three modes prevents the living entities from understanding him. So if you consider a three level hierarchy, what does 13th say? 13th say that the living entities are here at a lower level, the three modes are covering the living entities and that is why they cannot, the living entities cannot understand Krishna. So say we have the sun, we have the clouds and we have observers on the earth, people on the earth.
So when the clouds are there, the clouds block the perception of the sun for the observers on the earth. So now it may appear as if the clouds are covering the sun, but the sun is infinite and the sun, sun is not infinite, but sun is far greater than the clouds. Sun cannot be covered.
What is covered is the observer’s vision. So Krishna is telling that he is, he is like the sun, he is, he is told in the previous verse paramo vayam, he is transcendental, he is inexhaustible, imperishable. So it is not he that is covered, it is actually we who are covered.
Now beyond that Krishna is saying something more in this verse that actually this covering is also under his control. So the 13th verse said that there is a covering of the three modes which prevents us from perceiving. Now Krishna in the 14th verse takes the point further and says this covering is actually not something that is independent of Krishna.
This covering is under Krishna and this covering is due to Krishna’s energy. So Krishna is saying this is my maya, it is my maya which is putting the living entities under illusion. So he is, he is talking about three modes in the previous verse that by the three modes everybody is deluded and now he is saying that actually his maya is made up of these three modes.
He says now and he says this is daivi. Daivi means divine indeed. So why divine? Because we may say that actually it is maya which makes us, makes people do demoniac things.
Maya is what makes people, drives people away from Krishna towards bad things. So if maya takes people away towards wrong things then why should maya be considered to be divine? Now maya makes people lusty, maya makes people greedy, maya makes people angry and all the absurdities and perversities that people engage in are ultimately caused by maya. So then how can maya be considered to be divine? See the absurdities and perversities in people’s actions are not caused by maya.
They are facilitated by maya. They are caused by people’s own free will. So we have discussed earlier the example of a multiple choice paper.
In a multiple choice paper, there may be four options and one of them is right, remaining three are wrong. Remaining four may be wrong. So when they are wrong like this, who is making them wrong? Is it the teacher or the student? The teacher is providing the options, but the teacher also provided the education for choosing the right options.
And the student is responsible for the wrong choice. The student cannot tell the teacher that you gave the wrong options and I simply take all of the options that you gave. So if I get poor marks, you are responsible, not me.
So maya gives us options, but it is we who take the choices. And if we take guidance from Guru Sadhu Shastra, we won’t take the wrong choices, we’ll take the right choices. So the purpose of the teacher is not to fail the student, but to promote the student.
And if the student fails, that is primarily because the student doesn’t understand. Student doesn’t understand what? Student has not understood the subject properly, student has not studied the subject properly, student has not applied their intelligence while passing the exam. So in this way, we can understand what is the cause of the problem.
The problem is not caused by maya. The setup by which the illusions are present, the temptations are present, they are created by, that setup is created by maya. But it is we who choose to go into maya, it is we who choose to stay out of maya.
And each of us has the power to stay out of maya, if we want. So now, when we move forward, mama maya duratya, Krishna says this is my energy. So it is called divine, because the purpose ultimately it is serving is positive.
It’s a good purpose. Just like the purpose of the exam ultimately is good. Although for some students, the exam may result in a bad result.
Students fail in the exam. And they feel, oh, this exam I have failed and they become dejected by that. And the failure may reflect on their career as negative.
But overall, the purpose of the exam is to help them make positive development in their career. So daivi, it is divine. Because it is connected with Krishna, this energy is considered divine.
And duratyaya, duratyaya means that this energy is actually very difficult to overcome. Duratyaya, mama maya, Krishna says my energy and is difficult to overcome. Prabhupada gives the example for this mama maya.
He says that when a parent wants to discipline a child, the parent may engage a tutor. And the parent loves the child, but the tutor may be a disciplinarian, may be strict to ensure that the child gets educated properly. So the parent is like Krishna and the strict tutor is like maya.
So mama maya, duratyaya. Duratyaya means that is very difficult to overcome, almost impossible. Why? Because actually Krishna is determined to ensure that only those who use their free will properly can get through.
And that is ensured, implemented, actualised by mayadevi. So once a devotee asked Prabhupada that Prabhupada, if our purpose is to serve Krishna, then why is maya so strong? And Prabhupada almost immediately replied because your purpose is not strong. What does it mean? If our purpose is to serve Krishna, then why is maya so strong? Your purpose is not strong.
Actually, all the temptations trouble us as long as we are not determined to serve Krishna. Once we become determined to serve Krishna, then we do not get overcome by temptations. So the temptations come, but we can put them aside because we understand that I am going to be fixed in my purpose of serving Krishna.
Actually, this principle of a strong purpose, helping a person to overcome temptations is seen everywhere. When a student is serious about studies and wants to crack a particular exam, say the purpose is very strong, I am going to study and I am going to succeed in this exam. Then even if there are some favourite sports match, some popular TV show, some super hit movie, then all these temptations are there.
They could be potential distractions, but these distractions will distract the students whose purpose is not strong. But those students whose purpose is fixed, one point, they will not be deluded. They will not become distracted.
So, mam eva ye prapadyante. What does it mean to make our purpose strong? It means to take shelter of Krishna, to surrender to Krishna. So, those people will cross over maya.
They will go beyond maya. How will they go beyond maya? By wholehearted surrender to Krishna. So, now if a person goes to visit somebody’s house and that person has got a ferocious dog as a guard, and maybe some German shepherd or a giant dog and that dog starts growling as soon as he sees his dog, he thinks it is a trespasser.
And the dog starts charging towards this person. He starts charging. Now he may think, what can I do? Now, if I decide I will try to fight with the dog, it is impossible.
That dog is trained to bite and beat practically, to bite trespassers and drive them away. So, what can a person do now? If this visitor, if I am the visitor, and I say I know the owner, and I call the owner, and the owner comes out and says, oh, this is my friend. He says, let us say the dog’s name is Tommy.
Tommy, stop. Stop. And then Tommy stops again.
So, now my telling the dog to stop is not going to work, but the owner’s just one word. That same dog was bristling and growling and about to pounce on me. That dog suddenly stops and becomes calm.
How? That magical transformation happens when the dog gets the order of its master. Same way, when we turn towards Krishna, when we surrender to Krishna, at that time we become free from maya. How do we become free from maya? Because surrender to Krishna is the choice that maya also wants us to make.
Ultimately, just like when you make a right choice in the multiple choice paper, then that question goes off. We get to the next question after that. So, like that, the whole purpose of the temptations and tribulations that are present in maya.
Temptations means the idea that let me do this, let me do this, and then I’ll enjoy. Temptations means promises of pleasure. And tribulations means threats of pain.
So, all these promises of pleasure and threats of pain that are there, they are all removed for a person who surrenders to Krishna. Because Krishna tells the material energy to withdraw, hold back, stop. There’s no more need to test this devotee.
By Krishna’s arrangement, a person can go beyond maya. So, that means this verse has two parts. First part is telling how maya deludes that.
So, the two describers for maya are daivi and turataya. So, daivi is divine and turataya is formidable, insurmountable, very difficult. So, these describers indicate the power of maya.
And then the second part, that is C and D of this verse, they introduce us to a power greater than maya, that is the power of Krishna. And how do we access that power of Krishna? By surrender. So, when we surrender to Krishna, we go beyond maya.
That is the process. And when we follow this process, we all make spiritual advancement rapidly. So, now we may wonder what exactly is surrender? How do we surrender? We’ll discuss about surrender more in the 18th chapter when we talk about sarva-dharmaan parityajya maam ekam sharanam vraja.
But here suffice it to say that surrender is not passive. Surrender is active. Now, the Bhakti Bhakti Nauthakar talks based on the scriptures about six elements of surrender.
Anukulyasya sankalpa, pratikulyasya varjanam, rakshishyati devishvaso, goptritve varanam tatha, atmanikshepa karpani, shadavidha sharanagatihi. So, he says that, actually, anukulyasya sankalpa and pratikulyasya varjanam, accepting that which is favourable and rejecting that which is unfavourable, that is surrender. Accepting that which is favourable and rejecting that which is unfavourable.
So, what does this involve? It involves choice, constant conscientious choice. So, that means how do I surrender to Krishna? Surrender doesn’t mean, we have the quintessential example of surrender, Draupadi surrendering to Krishna. Krishna help, she raising her hands in surrender.
Yes, that is one way of surrendering. But that is not just the only way of surrendering. Even when Arjuna is fighting on the battlefield with his full intelligence, full determination, shooting the arrows, that is also surrender.
It is not that just Draupadi is raising her hands in surrender. Arjuna shooting arrows intelligently and fiercely, ferociously, that is also surrender. How is that? Because surrender essentially means choosing the actions that take us towards Krishna and rejecting the actions that take us away from Krishna.
So, for Draupadi, in that particular situation, when she was being dishonoured, she tried her best. She tried to hold on to her saree, she tried to defend her honour. But when that didn’t work, then what did she do? She surrendered to Krishna.
So, that is important. Now, we see that Arjuna also surrenders to Krishna at the start of the Bhagavad Gita when he says, I asked you what I should do. So, he is not necessarily raising up his hands to surrender, but he is folding his hands and asking Krishna for knowledge.
But then when Arjuna starts shooting arrows, he is acting on Krishna’s instructions and that acting on Krishna’s instructions is also surrender. So, to understand about surrender, let’s look at from the God perspective, what is the basic principle of spiritual life? The basic principle of spiritual life is harmonising our will with the divine will, with Krishna’s will. So, that harmonisation can sometimes be through activity and sometimes through outer inactivity, but inner deference to Krishna’s will, inner surrender to Krishna’s will.
So, that will vary how it will be externally expressed. So, essentially, surrender means giving up our will for accepting Krishna’s will. Now, how we will accept Krishna’s will will vary from time, place and circumstance.
So, that we cannot know in advance. Therefore, what is important is, we always be thinking, what is Anukul, what is Pratikul? So, that means when we do our sadhana diligently, through our sadhana also we are surrendering to Krishna. That means when we do our seva diligently, through that also we are surrendering to Krishna.
So, when we know that certain situations are going to tempt us, moving away from those situations, that is also surrender to Krishna. When we feel our senses getting agitated, and we reject that agitation, we crush that agitation with determination, that is also surrender to Krishna. Surrender can come in many forms.
Essentially for us, what we should focus on is Anukulyasasankal, Pratikulyasavarjanam. Whatever is favourable, accept, what is unfavourable, reject. So, much of what comprises surrender will be within the mind.
Now, within the mind, if we entertain thoughts that take us away from Krishna, if we fuel desires that take us away from Krishna, then we are not surrendering, we are actually rebelling against Krishna. We may not have any direct intention to rebel against Krishna, but essentially the result will be that we will be rebelling against Krishna. On the other hand, when we turn towards Krishna and surrender, that means we choose the thoughts and the desire that will take us closer to Krishna.
So, then Prabhupada’s course, several verses. Prabhupada’s course is one of his favourite course from Siddhashatru Upanishad. He quotes it repeatedly.
So, one will go beyond birth and death from the Siddhashatru Upanishad. Freedom is possible only by knowing that absolute truth. So, now the question may come up that yes, why don’t, if I surrender to Krishna, one can become liberated, then why doesn’t everyone surrender to Krishna? So, actually those who are mudhas, those who are foolish, they do not surrender to Krishna.
So, Krishna is talking here about four kinds of people who do not surrender to Him. So, in the previous verse, Krishna has said that by surrendering to Him, people can get free from illusion. The question comes up, if it is possible to become free from illusion by surrendering to Krishna, then why don’t people accept that path of surrender and thereby become free from illusion, become free from difficulty? Now, that is because Krishna says that they are dushkrtina.
So, krtina, krti means activity. In fact, it means meritorious activity, krti. And dushkrtina means not meritorious activity, but notorious activity.
So, activity that involves some level of talent, some level of intelligence, but that activity is in the wrong direction. So, that which is not meritorious, but which is notorious, dushkrtina. So, Krishna says, these are the people do not surrender to me.
And who are these people? Mudha, four categories. Mudha is the foolish, the naradhama, the lowest among the mankind, the mayaya apahrita jnana, those whose knowledge is stolen by illusion, and asuram bhavam asura, those who are the outright demoniac people. Now, these four categories, who do they represent? Prabhupada gives an elaborate purport, where he describes who are these four categories of people.
Now, interestingly, if you look at the previous acharyas, we look at Chakravarty, Pahad, Baldev, Vidyabhoshan, Ramavacharya, Madhvacharya, all of them describe slightly different people. They explain these categories as referring to different kinds of people. So, what does it mean? Actually, you have to understand that scriptural knowledge is not just in the text, it is also in the context.
That means, scriptural knowledge is, yes, there is the text, there are the words in the Bhagavad Gita important, but there also, it is meant to be in the context. Context means that it has to be relevant. You know, that when the, many times people say that, we have to preserve the purity of the knowledge.
Yes, there should not be any speculation, there should not be any deviation. That is true. But one important attribute that we have to preserve is also, which is a part of the tradition, is the relevance.
And every acharya explains the commentary, explains the scripture in a way that is relevant to the current context. So, if we do not, if our presentation of scripture is not relevant, then actually we are not being faithful to the tradition, because the relevance is an integral part of the tradition that is to be preserved. So, tradition is not just something immobile and static that is preserved, tradition is itself living.
So, that is why we will see that different acharyas explain different things in different ways. That means that there are four categories of people who do not surrender to Krishna. But what these four categories refer to, if an acharya is writing a commentary, say, Ramacharya is writing a commentary in the 10th century, 10th, 11th century, then when he is going to present a commentary, he is going to observe the people around him at that time, he is going to say that, okay, which are the categories of, who are the people who fit this category? Now those, that explanation may be relevant later also in some ways.
But the nature of Maya is that avidya constantly keeps getting updated. What does it mean? Avidya keeps coming in newer and newer brands. Ultimately, it is the same old thing.
And it is just an excuse, a rationalisation, a justification for forgetting Krishna. That is what the essence of Maya is. But Maya comes in newer and newer brands.
And countering the latest brand of Maya is the tradition of the acharyas. So Maya keeps updating herself. And the acharyas, their commentaries, they keep updating their refutations.
So that is how the tradition is. So that is why there are some core principles that remain true. But the acharyas give their commentaries in terms of countering the current versions of Maya that are prevalent at their times.
And because in broad ways, the conceptions of people which block them from moving towards Krishna, those conceptions may vary from person to person. Those conceptions may cause people to go into delusion. And that is why those conceptions are not always the same for everyone.
Because Maya herself comes in different ways. So for example, when Baldevidya Bhushan is writing the commentary on the Vedanta Sutra in Govinda Bhashya commentary. So then he will explain, he will refute the five systems of philosophy apart from Vedanta.
And now the systems of philosophy are also not static. There are different scholars in those traditions who write commentaries. So whatever are the thoughts at that particular time, they will be refuted by Baldevidya Bhushan while drawing insights from the universal, time independent principles that are taught in the scriptures.
So Prabhupada, when he is presenting his commentary, he will talk also, he will draw from the same time independent universal principles, but he will address the issues of his time. So for example, during Prabhupada’s times, there will be say, the conflict between communists and capitalists and the fear of a third world war because of this conflict. Prabhupada may address this repeatedly in his paper, but that may not be relevant.
That may be not relevant now because communism is not so much directly active now. So let us look at the way Sri Prabhupada explains these four categories. These four categories will be explained by different Acharyas in different ways because they are responding to the specific brands of Maya, the specific sets of misconceptions that are misleading people at their times.
So namudha, the word mudha means donkey. It means a person who is foolish like a donkey. The opposite of the word mudha is budha.
Budha is a wise person. And actually that is budha is related with buddhi and then we have buddha. Budha is in the Buddhist tradition context, enlightened person.
So who is a mudha? Mudha is a person who is like a donkey. Now Prabhupada’s purport for this section is quite eloquent. Let us look at some sections of Prabhupada’s purport over here.
So the mudhas, so he says that the swine who eat the night soil do not care to accept sweetmeats made of sugar and ghee. Similarly, the foolish workers will untiringly continue to hear the sense enjoyable writing of the flickering mundane world, but will have very little time to hear about the eternal living force that moves the material world. So in his explanation of mudha, Prabhupada also includes another animal here, that is swavidvarahostrakharai.
So varaha is a hog. Now a hog eats night soil. Night soil is a euphemism for stool.
So the hog eats night soil and the hog is given some sweetmeat. Hogs, I would not prefer that. So what happens is, now somebody may say that actually why do we blame a hog? Hog is simply acting according to nature.
Now for hog, halwa may be delicious for us. Halwa is not delicious for a hog. So why should we judge a hog according to our standards? What is food for a hog is different from what is food for us.
So actually the point here is not that the hog does not have its own diet. The point here is that that which is a refuse of the human beings and that which smells nasty and that which is abominable, that is what the hog eats. Now whenever we are giving any scriptural example, we have to understand that it is given from a particular perspective.
So from the point of a perspective, we have to understand what is being talked about. Here, whenever the scriptures teach something, the point that they are teaching is that we have to learn some lesson. So here the lesson is the lack of discriminating ability.
So when we, if an intelligent human being were given a choice between a foul smelling substance and a delicious substance, naturally the person would choose the delicious substance. So a person who chooses the foul smelling substance lacks intelligence. So same way, we say that the hog lacks intelligence over here.
So here we are not talking about the way nature has made different living beings with different tastes. That is a fact of nature. We do not deny that fact and animals are largely programmed to act according to the nature.
So animals lack the discriminatory capacity. So when we are looking from the point of view of how nature has made different living beings, we can say that hogs are simply acting according to our nature. But the point is from the enlightened perspective, that is the scriptural perspective, from the perspective of the intelligent human being who has aligned oneself according to scripture, from that perspective the hog is lacking discrimination.
So the point here is not the specifics, but the generic principle that there is an inability to discriminate between what is palatable and what is unpalatable. So now a donkey or a hog, what does the hog do? Sorry, what does the donkey do? Donkey works, works, works, works, works. And donkey may carry a huge bundle of clothes for getting a little grass.
And that grass can be got anywhere, but the donkey carries a huge bundle. Why is that? Because the donkey thinks I have to do this so that I will get the grass. So actually eating, sleeping, mating, defending, these are the bodily pleasures and all living beings are getting that.
Human beings who work terribly hard just to get that, they are missing out, they are losing out, they are depriving themselves of what can be available for them truly, what will be far more beneficial for them. What is that? They are depriving themselves of the higher taste, the higher fulfilment that is available through spiritual advancement and devotional connection with Krishna. So the point of the mudha example is, Prabhupada’s analysis is that actually people work hard simply for animalistic pleasures and they don’t have to work so hard, but they keep working hard.
So nowadays people have so much stress because of overwork and most of this overwork is because of self-created duties. Self-created duties means one sets up one’s own goals and then one pursues those goals and one gets oneself into trouble because of that. So that is mudha.
So mudha is a person who is just caught up in the way, working hard for sense pleasure, for the same things that the animals get, one just works hard, hard, hard and doesn’t think. Naradhama, Prabhupada explains. Nara-adhama.
Adhama means lowest, nara is human being. So that person is the lowest among the human beings. What does this refer to? This refers to those human beings who have no spiritual inclination.
See what makes human beings human is their spiritual potential. So human being, there may be a particular physical form that also makes human beings, that characterises human beings. That is true.
But then more than that, from the scriptural perspective, the human form means a particular level of consciousness and that consciousness involves the capacity for spiritual realisation. So if we consider the continuum, continuum is a wide spectrum of consciousness, of levels of consciousness which human beings can have. So the highest are those who have the most evolved spiritual consciousness.
They are love for Krishna. Then those who have lesser and lesser connection for Krishna, they’ll be in this continuum at different locations. So at the lowest end of the spectrum are those who have no interest in spiritual life at all.
They are just interested, they are just not interested in spiritual life. So they have sabotaged their own, they have destroyed their own spiritual prospects by their lack of spiritual sensibility. They are, Sri Prabhupada says that those who are socially and politically developed, but who have no religious principles must be considered Naradhamas.
So they are socially and politically developed, but they have no religious principles. That means that they are, they are not developing what makes them distinctively human. So that’s what makes them Naradhamas.
So Naradhama, and then Prabhupada also makes this point, nor is religion without God religion. That’s the next sentence. What is non-religion without God? There are, nowadays, there are religions which claim themselves to be religions, but they do not acknowledge the existence of God.
Now in today’s cultural nomenclature, they may be called religions. But the point is that they do not, they have defied the essential principle of religion. That essential principle of religion is to obey God, dharmam tu sakshat bhagvat pranitam.
What is dharma? Dharma essentially means to follow the will of God, follow the instruction of God. Then Prabhupada talks about how the Naradhama, now what is the tragedy of the Naradhama? Actually, all of us need God and when we are in the womb, when the pain becomes excruciating, we suffer and we call out to Krishna at that time. So when we call out to Krishna, we beg for his mercy and when we beg for his mercy and we seek his mercy, at that time, what happens? You know, that fervent call for Krishna helps us to recognise Krishna, realise Krishna’s presence and Krishna manifests his presence to us.
But after that, because the surrender to Krishna at that time is immature, it means that we have surrendered not because of free will, we have surrendered because of coercion, because of force. So when we surrender this way to Krishna, at that time, that surrender is not mature. Mature surrender means we have the option to not surrender and still we surrender.
So, later on when we come out of the womb, the pleasures of this world present themselves again to us and then we become tempted. So, Prabhupada reminds that there is a grievous suffering in the womb and we have ourselves prayed to Krishna, please help me Krishna. So, those people who are under, you see, stay in illusion.
Now Prabhupada is talking from two perspectives. One is the human body has the capacity for spiritual enquiry and the soul when is in a human embryo, in a human womb, at that time the soul begins the spiritual call also, begins the spiritual journey by calling out to the Lord, but then puts it aside, regrets it for the sake of the worldly pleasures. The difference between mudha and naradhama is that the mudhas, they are so busy in sensual pleasure that even if they have some spiritual inclination, they just don’t give any time for spiritual inclination.
But naradhama is so much relegated to the corner that it is almost as if not present only. And Prabhupada says by the mercy of Krishna, as is manifested through Chaitanya Mahaprabhu’s mercy, even the naradhamas can be elevated. And then a third category is mayaya apartha jnana.
So, we have discussed about mayaya apartha jnana in our study of the Ishopanishad when we discussed mantra 10. We discussed actually andhantamahaprabhushanti ye vidyamupasate atokhyaivate tamo yau vidyayamrtaha Vidyayamrtaha, those who are in so-called knowledge, there we discussed different categories of people. So, we discussed the 2.40, 2.43 in the Bhagavad Gita, which describes vedavadrataha, those who follow Vedas, but they think that the goal of the Vedas is simply sense gratification.
And then there are those who do not follow the Vedas, but who use their intelligence just for material improvement. And then the purpose of knowledge is lost for them. They have knowledge, but the purpose of knowledge has been stolen away from them by maya.
Mayaya apartha jnana. So, the jnana is there, but the jnana is stolen away by maya. Mayaya apartha jnana.
So, this refers to all kinds of intellectuals. So, they can be scientists, they can be philosophers, they can be authors, they can be speakers. So, these people may have intelligence, but unfortunately, the ultimate purpose of intelligence they have lost.
And because of that, whatever they do, they stay caught up in illusion. It is like a person who is in the jail, but the person uses the intelligence to understand everything about the jail. And the person in jail, suppose the person does a PhD about the wall structure and the ceiling structure of the jail.
Well, we could say that knowledge is useful, but the most important thing is, if I am in the jail, how can I get out of the jail? It is not necessary that I have to break out of the jail, but is there a process by which I can reform myself and be released from the jail? The important point is, I need to come out of the jail. So, same way, when we talk about material existence, the most important knowledge is the knowledge that can free us from misery, that can bring us liberation. So, what is that knowledge? That knowledge is what Krishna gives in the Bhagavad Gita.
And those people who are intelligent, yet they neglect that knowledge. They are unfortunate. They are included in the category of maya apartha jnana.
And Prabhupada includes those who, these people may study scripture also, but they interpret scripture wrong. So, they may study Bhagavad Gita, and they write a commentary on Bhagavad Gita, but the purpose of study of Gita is surrender to Krishna. And when they reject that purpose, and they give some other concocted purpose, then they are also falling in the category of maya apartha jnana.
And then asuram bhavam ashritah. So now, the maya apartha jnana, their conclusions may be misled, their conclusions may be misleading, their conclusions may be anti-devotional, but they don’t have necessarily an agenda against God. It’s just that they end up by their interpretations going against God.
They don’t know the ultimate goal. But asuram bhavam ashritah are those people who have a right to deep within them, they have a demoniac envy towards God, and they make it their mission to defy and deride and demolish other people’s faith in God. So, such people are outright atheists.
And they are not atheists, they are fanatical atheists. So, asuram bhavam ashritah. What do we mean by fanatical atheists? They say atheism is the only truth and religion is the opium of the masses.
Religion is a delusion. Religion is a curse on the earth. Religion is the source of all evil.
So, a lot of people, they go against, they rail against God. So, they are very unfortunate. And they also do not surrender to Krishna.
Their whole purpose of life is to defy Krishna. How can they surrender to Krishna? So, Krishna has different categories of people in this way, who cannot surrender to Krishna. Now, these people stay on in material existence.
Now, we should not think that these are just four different categories of people. You know, we may ourselves have these tendencies in some small way. We may have some of the mudha tendency, some of the maya aparatya jnana tendency, because of which that we will be checked and choked in our surrender to Krishna.
We will not be, the force of our surrender will be blocked or it will be constricted. Checked means it is not allowed to move only. Choked means allowed to move, but it is allowed to move in a small size, not completely.
So, Prabhupada quotes Yamunacharya’s verse over here to explain how people cannot surrender to Krishna, these kind of people. So, he is quoting here. Oh, my Lord, you are unknowable to persons involved with atheistic principles, despite your uncommon qualities, features and activities, despite your personality being confirmed by all the religious scriptures in the quality of goodness, and despite your being acknowledged by the famous authorities and known for the depth of knowledge in the transcendental science and situated in godly qualities.
So, he is saying that these asuram, bhavam, ashritam, they do not have much hope. Now, after this, Krishna talks about those who surrender. Chaturvidha bhajante ma, janasukrtino arjuna, arto jijnasura dharti, jnani chibhar tarshabha.
So, Chaturvidha, four kinds of people, bhajante ma. So, Krishna is not using the word surrender over here. He is using bhajante.
He says they begin the process by worship, by rendering devotional service. Eventually, they will come to surrender. But right now, they are doing bhajante.
What are the reasons? Janasukrtino arjuna, sukrtino. These are having some sukruti. Sukruti is contrasted with the word dushkruti, which was there earlier.
Dushkrutino, sukrutino. Arto jijnasura dharti, those who are distressed, those who are inquisitive, those who are seekers of wealth, and those who are the seekers of knowledge, jnani. Now, among these four categories, the scriptures give example.
Arto is the Jendra, was in great distress and he surrendered to Krishna. Jijnasu are the Sonakadi Rishis. Not all of them were already enlightened sages.
They were inquisitive. They wanted to know. Artharthi is Dhruv Maharaj.
He wanted a kingdom and for that he surrendered, approached and started worshipping. Jnani, it can refer to various people. It can especially refer to the Kumaras, who actually had knowledge.
It refers to the impersonal aspect of knowledge. But from there, they moved forward and came closer to Krishnaji. Bharata, Arsha, Bhagavan Krishnaji.
These are the four kinds of people who start worshipping me. So, actually, sukrutino, these people have talent and it is not impiously directed. It is piously directed.
Whenever there is trouble in this world, people take shelter of different things when they get in trouble. A person in ignorance takes shelter of drinking, smoking, violence when there is trouble. A person in passion takes shelter of money and sex and thinks that can solve my problem.
Whatever the problem, throw money at it, the problem will get solved. And then the person in goodness takes shelter of knowledge, tries to rationalise, reason and try to understand what is it. How should I deal with this? And a person in transcendence takes shelter of Krishna.
And Krishna, please resolve my misery. So, now here these people are not transcendental. These people are in goodness.
So, in goodness, they do not surrender to Krishna, but they start worship of Krishna. Okay, God is there, God is supreme, maybe He will resolve my misery. And in this way, they start coming to Krishna.
Now, Prabhupada explains that these are not pure devotees. They are not pure devotees. What they are doing is, Prabhupada, that is why I use the definition of pure devotion over here.
And he says that they are not pure devotees, but eventually, they will come to Krishna. And how will they come to the level of pure devotion? When these four kinds come for devotional service and are completely purified by the association of the pure devotee, they also become pure devotees. So, that means, they may come to, they may start the process of worship because of culture, because of curiosity, because of various other factors.
But what will raise them to the level of pure devotion is their association with pure devotees. So, in one sense, when they are beginning, they are at the level of Kanishta Adhikari. But from Kanishta Adhikari, how do they move to the level of Madhyam Adhikari? When they develop appreciation for devotees.
At that time, the Lord becomes, Ishwara becomes the object of their prema. He is not just a desire supplier for them. He is the object, becomes the object of love for them.
So, now the next verse describes how this happens. Let’s look at this. So, now Krishna is describing, among these, among those people, the jnani who is nitya-yukta, who is constantly engaged, ek bhakti vishishyate.
That person has one-pointed devotion, vishishyate. It’s the best. It’s the best.
So, among these four categories of people, all the others are coming for the fulfilment of material desires. And because they are coming for the fulfilment of material desires, their devotion is not connected, considered to be very elevated. But those who are, now the person was jnani, that means the person has knowledge.
Okay, there is some highest, ultimate truth, which is beyond this material world. I want to know what is that truth, and I want to develop knowledge of that truth, and then ultimately, I want to connect with that truth. So, that person is the best.
So, now is Krishna referring to an impersonal jnani over here? No. Because, ek bhaktir. Krishna is saying that person has bhakti, and not just bhakti, ek bhaktir.
As was said in 2.41, we have sayatmika bhakti, ek eha kuru nandana. So, what makes our intelligence played in this direction, that direction, that direction? What makes our intelligence played is the material desires. So, when the jnani has already understood that this material world doesn’t have much to offer, I want to seek something that is beyond the material world.
So, that jnani, when focusses on the absolute truth, then ek bhaktir. The purpose is not anything material. Purpose is to develop devotion.
So, nitya yukta. That’s why that person’s devotion is not occasional. It is perennial.
Nitya yukta. For one who goes through a lot of material desires, when there is trouble, oh God, help me. When trouble is over, thank you.
Bye-bye. It becomes like that for God. We may not literally say bye-bye to God, but we say farewell at least to serious devotional services that we might have been doing when we were in trouble.
But when a person is not motivated by anything material, then nitya yukta, ek bhaktir. So, Krishna, when he’s talking about here, he’s not talking about impersonal jnani. He’s talking about a person who has basically transcended the arena of material temptations and material tribulations.
Understand, there’s nothing so dreadful in the material world that I should get too agitated about. There’s nothing so wonderful of the world which I should get too agitated about. Let me stay focused.
And he says, among this priyo hi jnani no atyartham. So, it’s very dear to me. Because that person is aspiring for devotion, not just devotion, pure devotion.
Ek bhaktir. Priyo hi jnani atyartham. Exceedingly dear to me.
Aham sachin mamak priya. So, Krishna is talking about a bond of love between a jnani and him. So, this jnani, because it is in a material desire, when it starts approaching Krishna, then the bond of love develops very quickly.
Just like when the wood is there, which is not wet, when fire is put on it, immediately it blazes forward. So, similarly, these jnanis, when the wood is not, when they don’t have any material desires, material desires are the water which makes the wood wet. So, when there are no material desires, then the heart of this jnani is not having any distracting factor.
So, once that person gets attracted to Krishna, then the attraction to Krishna blazes forward. This would happen with the Kumaras. When they got the fragrance of the tulsi leaves from the lotus feet of Krishna, that attracted them, and they moved forward and surrendered to Krishna.
So, now Krishna described that actually all of these people are dear to him. Udarah sarva evaite jnanitvaatmayvame matam astitah sahi uktatmah mam eva nuktamam gatim. So, now Krishna says udarah sarva evaite.
Actually, Krishna is saying even the others are good. Now, Krishna has a very interesting word udarah, udarah. Now, the word udarah often means charitable.
So, why is the word charitable being used over here? Because, actually Ramavachar explains this commentary over here, that the Lord is so hungry for devotion that if we are desperate for something and if somebody gives us that thing, oh you are so kind, you are so charitable, we will say that. So, the Lord is so hungry for devotion that if somebody comes and offers devotion to him, even if the devotion be mixed, even if the devotion be motivated, does not matter. I am so happy that you are offering your devotion to me.
He says, oh you are so charitable, udarah. So, that is the, actually it is the large heartedness of the Lord that he calls these devotees as large hearted. They are mixed devotees, but he calls sarva evaite, all of them, all four, artha, jignasura, artharti and jnani, all of them are udarah.
Because, instead of going somewhere else when they are in trouble, they are coming to Krishna. But he says jnanitvaatmayvame matam, aatmayevaat, but the jnani is just like me. It is aatmayevaat, it is a very deep glorification, just like me.
Aasthita sahiyuktaatma, aasthita, the person is situated in me and understand that I am the supreme goal. Mamey marath mam gatim, will attain me, understand me to be the supreme goal and this will attain me. The other category of people have not yet understood Krishna to be supreme goal.
They have their own goals of removing distress, gaining wealth, like that. But either way, all of them will come to Krishna eventually. That will be described in the next verse.
But important point over here is, aasthita sahiyuktaatma. So Vishwanath Chaturthi Thakur in his commentary explains that the jnanis are, Krishna says they are equal to me. But Krishna talks about a pure devotee when he is describing about tooddhava in the Vishwanath Bhagavatam that actually the pure devotee is more dear to me than me.
So the jnani is as dear to me as me, but Krishna says the pure devotee is more dear to me than me. So we see over here, Krishna is slowly but surely revealing his heart about how he loves those who choose to love him. We will continue.