Bhakti Shastri (092) – Bhagavad Gita Chapter 07 Text 25 to 30

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the discussion in our next class.
Thank you very much. Hare Krishna. Hare Krishna.
Welcome back to the Bhagavad Gita Bhakti Shastri course. We are coming to the conclusion of the seventh chapter. So this chapter has three sections.
The first section, verses 1 to 12 talks about how Krishna pervades everything, Krishna underlies everything. Knowledge of Krishna is actually knowledge of everything. Then we discussed from verses 13 to 24 about how, depending on whether people know Krishna properly or not, they either defy Krishna, they surrender to Krishna or they surrender to something connected with Krishna but not directly Krishna.
That is, so 15 talks about those who don’t surrender to Krishna. 16 to 19 talks about those who approach Krishna and eventually surrender to him. Vajante is in 16 and Prapadyante is in 19.
Then 20 to 23 talks about those who surrender to Krishna in the form of the Devatas. And then 24 talks about those who approach the Brahman. Now param bhava majananto.
So this bhava which we discussed, Sridhar Swami explains that bhava actually refers to form of the Lord and Vishwanath Chakravarti quotes this in his commentary. Bhava, so bhava. What is this higher, param bhava, transcendental nature? The transcendental nature is that the Lord has a form, a personality and he performs pastimes and this higher nature they don’t know.
Param bhava majananto. His higher nature. Higher nature as, now somebody may say no, the impersonal nature, actually the higher nature is the impersonal nature.
But then Krishna has very clearly said in the same chapter, 7.7, mattah parataram na anyat kinchid asti dhananjaya. There is no truth higher than mine. So when he so clearly stated that, it’s unwarranted to say that there is some truth higher than Krishna.
If you look at the Bhagavad Gita, there are some verses which may, which can be interpreted in different ways. But if you look at the overall tenor and we look at the context of those verses also, we will see that the interpretation that the impersonal reality is the higher reality, doesn’t stand intellectual scrutiny. So now immediately after this, param bhava majananto, Krishna will give an indication of what is this param bhava.
And there also he doesn’t talk about some impersonal Brahman, he talks about himself. So let’s look at this verse. So this last section is explanation of how knowledge of Krishna leads to liberation.
7.14 has stated that ma may vaye prapadyante maya me tam tarantite, and those who surrender to me will attain, will cross over maya, will attain liberation. But how such a thing will happen has not been explained till now. So that is what Krishna, that will be explained in this section.
So let us look at this. 7.25. So naaham prakashah sarvasya. Actually, prakashah means manifested.
So I am not manifested to everyone. Yoga maya samavritah. I am covered by yoga maya.
Mudho yam na abhijanati. Mudho, mudho means the fools do not know me. Na abhijanati.
They do not know me by loko mam ajamauvayam. They do not know that I am unborn and I am inexhaustible. Loko mam ajamauvayam.
So now if you see, in this verse, Krishna is talking about aham twice. He is talking about aham twice. So he is not talking about some reality higher than him.
Very clearly, I. So he says I am not manifest to everyone. So who is that I that is being referred to? Krishna as a person standing in front of Arjuna and he is saying I am not manifest to everyone. Naaham prakashah sarvasya.
So why is he not manifest to everyone? Because actually Krishna reserves the right to reveal himself or conceal himself depending on his own sweet free will. So in today’s society, everybody wants to know about their rights. So for example, women have their rights.
The lower caste, they have their rights. The coloured people, the African Americans, they have their rights. So like that different people have their rights.
So among those different people who have their rights, what about the rights of Krishna? What about the rights of the Supreme Lord? What is the right of the Supreme Lord? The right of the Supreme Lord is to decide whether he will reveal himself or not reveal himself. Even in this world, the more powerful a person, the more influential a person, that person can choose. Sometimes people say if God exists, let him come in front of me.
No, we are not the order givers to God. We are the order carriers of God. We can’t demand the Prime Minister.
If the Prime Minister exists, let him come here. No, you can’t demand like that. If a child who is born in a tribe in a forest has never heard of the Prime Minister and somebody tells him you are living in this part, this your village, which is one small part of a huge country and his entire country is actually controlled by the Prime Minister.
So you say who is the Prime Minister? I’ve never seen him. I don’t believe. The Prime Minister says let him come here.
If he doesn’t come within a count of 10, then he doesn’t exist. You tell him that what is needed is a count of the brain tissues in his head. It is not that God has to, the Prime Minister has to come within a particular count.
Actually, he has to understand the position of the Prime Minister and the Prime Minister has right. Even if somebody goes and meets the Prime Minister, the Prime Minister has the right whether to choose to meet or not meet that person. So if ordinary people have their rights, if powerful people have their rights, then what about Krishna who is supremely extraordinary, supremely powerful? He has his rights and Krishna says that I do not become manifest to everyone.
Now, why does Krishna not become manifest to everyone? Why does he let himself be concealed by Yogamaya? Because he reciprocates according to our desires. We say no, I want to see God. So he should reciprocate according to my desire and come in front of me.
Now, when we say actually when Krishna reciprocates, it’s not just according to our spoken desires. It’s according to our overall mentality. Now, even when I want to, I’m demanding, I want to see Krishna, let him come in front of me.
If the attitude is one of defiance and not of dependence, then we cannot access Krishna. Why? Because ultimately we are Anu and Krishna is Vibhu. We are tiny and Krishna is mighty.
So actually we can access Krishna only when we turn to him with devotion. Just as the person on the earth cannot demand sun rise, the sun will rise of its own accord and it rises, it will become manifest to the people. So similarly, Krishna is described that he has his own will and he chooses when to manifest, chooses when to not manifest.
So if in our heart there is the desire to defy Krishna, then that means we think that I am God, I am supreme or even if I am not supreme, and certainly Krishna is not supreme. Maybe there is no supreme only. Maybe nature is supreme, maybe you know impersonal light is supreme, my own conception is supreme, whatever.
But certainly Krishna is not supreme. So this kind of attitude will not take us very far. This kind of attitude will keep us trapped in material existence.
And in order to come out of material existence, we need to give up this attitude. So when Krishna sees that we want to be surrogate gods, we want to substitute God, we want to play God, Krishna allows us to play God. And it does not reveal his omnipotence in the world, except ultimately as death.
So antasi, antaka, that is called antaka, that is who does anta. So Krishna will manifest as death at that time and everything will be finished at that time. But that is not Krishna’s cruelty, that is Krishna’s arrangement by which we can continue to play our game if we want to, or we can make up and realign ourselves with reality, if we want to.
So death acts as a reminder, as an educator, if we are going to take that education. If we don’t want, then we can continue our misadventure like time after lifetime. But the point is that Krishna has his right.
We cannot ask Krishna to come up for us with an attitude of defiance. Our attitude towards the sun cannot be of defiance, it has to be of dependence. Sun comes of its own accord.
And when the sun comes, then we get benedicted by the warmth and the light that comes from the sun. Similarly, Krishna manifests by his own will. Krishna is ready to manifest even at this moment.
But it is not just our express desire, it is our underlying attitude that is important. So Krishna sees our attitude and if our attitude is not the attitude of dependence, of service, of compliance, then Krishna will not manifest. So how do we show Krishna that we want to see him? Not by defiance, but by dependence and by compliance.
Compliance means that we, recognising our subordinate position, start serving Krishna. So when we start serving Krishna sincerely, when we become unmukha towards Krishna, when we turn towards Krishna with an attitude of devotion, then beginning with the tongue we start chanting and taking prasadam and serving Krishna. swayam eva sphuraty adhah.
Himself he becomes manifest by his own free will. So we understand that we are tiny and Krishna is infinite. And Krishna wants us to choose whether to turn towards him and love him or to run away from him and defy him and try to be independent of him.
So for those who want to be independent of him, they, for them Krishna allows them to maintain their notion of independence by not revealing his glories. So even if they claim to be turning towards Krishna, even if they claim to be turning towards spiritual enquiry, I want to know about God. Where is God? Is God a person? No, he is impersonal light.
So people may seem to want to know about God, but often what they were doing is simply trying to impose their opinion on God. When they are doing that, then they are basically, in the name of trying to know God, they are trying to play God. My opinion is the best.
So therefore, mudho yam na bhi janati. Such people Krishna doesn’t reveal his glories to them. Krishna says they are mudho.
na am mudho yam na bhi janati. These people cannot know. What they cannot know? loko mam ajamuvayam.
They cannot know that I am ajam. I am imperishable. I am unborn and I am imperishable and exhaustible.
This means that Krishna is saying that I am infinite. I am beyond time. It is not that I came and existed in a particular time and it is not that my existence related to a particular time.
Ajam is no beginning and avyaya means no ending. So this is actually a logical continuation of 7.24 where Krishna is telling that avyaktam yaktimapannam. I was unmanifest before and I have become manifest now.
Those who think like this, they are abuddhaya. So Krishna is similarly continuing the same point over here and he is saying that actually I am ajam and avyaya. And those who think that this particular form which I am manifesting in as Krishna, this is a particular beginning and a particular ending, they are mistaken.
In this form itself, I am manifest at all times. So those who cannot understand him are mudha. So Krishna is revealing over here to us that what we need is not an attitude of defiance but an attitude of compliance.
When you follow his instructions and gradually, progressively and increasingly, Krishna will reveal himself to us. Now there is this interesting word over here, yogamaya samavrata. So now Krishna is talking about here the covering.
Now Krishna is talking about foolish people over here, mudha. So now mudhas will be covered by mahamaya, not by yogamaya. We know that there are these two categories of energies, mahamaya and yogamaya.
So mahamaya is the energy which allows people to enjoy separate from God by giving them false conceptions that I am the body, I am a male or a female, I am separate, independent of God and I can enjoy by gratifying my senses. So all such conceptions come because of mahamaya and in contrast with that, there is yogamaya. Yogamaya is, we discussed earlier how there is an oxymoron, two contrasting words brought together to convey a deeper meaning.
Yoga means connection with Krishna, maya means disconnection with Krishna. So how can we have connection-disconnection? So the idea is that there is a disconnection with the idea that Krishna is God and there is a reconnection, yoga, there is a reconnection with the understanding that actually this God is my friend. So all such notions are under yogamaya.
So yogamaya is the illusion that increases devotion. Mahamaya is the illusion that depletes devotion. Yogamaya brings about the illusion that increases devotion.
So then here the question comes up, why is Krishna using the word yogamaya? So there are several understandings of this. First is that actually Krishna is referring to himself over here. He is not talking about, the covering is not so much to describe the conditioned soul.
Krishna is describing himself. So Prabhupada translates precisely as, for them I am covered by my internal potency. So I am covered by my internal potency, that is true.
But for whom? For them, just like we discussed earlier, the cloud, for the people on the ground, the cloud, the sun is covered by the cloud. Although sun is far greater, it cannot be covered by the cloud. So from Krishna’s point of view, yogamaya and mahamaya are the same.
How are they the same? Because both of them are ultimately the same energy. They are just performing different functions. Prabhupada would give the example of how a heater can be used, electric energy can be used to heat or it can be used to cool.
Either way, the energy is the same. So therefore, actually the energy is one, but it is having different functions. So because Krishna is talking in terms of his position, so he is saying that actually when it comes to covering him, the point is that it is actually the maya which does that.
The word yogamaya is not necessarily used here in the same technical or categorical sense as the two categories, yogamaya and mahamaya. Krishna is simply used in the sense that actually there is a covering agency which covers. So certainly the souls who are mudha that is not referring to the devotees like Yashodamayi or Shudama or Sakhas like that, but it is referring to what is the two categories of people, especially the second category of people, the demigod worshippers and the impersonalists.
It is referring to the impersonalists. I don’t become I in my personal form doesn’t become, don’t become manifest to such people because they do not understand my unborn and imperishable nature. So now Prabhupada raises a simple point over here that okay, Krishna is saying I am not revealed to everyone, but when Krishna was present on the earth at that time, was he not revealed to everyone? So when Krishna appears, there is something mysterious that happens.
Actually, Krishna may be available, accessible to the vision, but Krishna is not just seen with the eyes, he is seen with the heart and the heart doesn’t have devotion. Seeing Krishna with the vision doesn’t help much. Devotion is the real vision that enables us to see Krishna.
Without that, we cannot really see Krishna. We may see something, but we don’t understand Krishna’s position. So there are many warriors at the time of the Mahabharata war and those warriors were thinking of Krishna not as the Supreme Lord, they were thinking of him as just another warrior.
They are very powerful warriors, killed many demons, but he is just another warrior. So Balramji, who was with Krishna, did not like this conception of the other kings and he spoke strongly, determined to show his power and even when Krishna showed his power and still after that also there are people who did not accept Krishna’s supreme position. We know that with the inscription of a demoniac king, Paundraka, who claimed to be Krishna and even when this person who claimed to be Krishna came in front of the real Krishna, still that person continued his bragging and in fact the messenger said that actually you have taken my paraphernalia, return it to me.
So the bogus Krishna is telling the real Krishna that you have taken my paraphernalia, my chakra you have taken, return it to me, otherwise I will come and punish you. So Krishna and all Yadu Vashis laugh over there and then they challenge him for battle and when Paundraka comes in the battle, Krishna releases his chakra and says, you wanted my chakra, here take it and he releases his chakra and what happens? He just cuts off the neck of Paundraka and comes back. So Krishna does not like those who defy his position and he kills them not out of any hatred for them, but to save them from the offence that will come by pretending to be Krishna, asserting Krishna s position.
So the whole point is the mudhas who are being referred to in this verse, they are the people who misunderstand Krishna s higher reality, personal reality, they think of Krishna as impersonal. And that is what Srila Prabhupada raises in the point. So he was manifested to everyone, but his supremacy, his position was not revealed to everyone.
Then Prabhupada quotes this famous verse from the Isopanishad which we have discussed earlier, mantra 15. Your face is covered by effulgence, please remove the effulgence so that I can see your true nature. Now, here after Krishna explains very categorically how he is the supreme being, now he starts saying that these people, they are an illusion who are trying to catch me.
So going back backwards, we know that Krishna has already talked about his supreme position. Let us look at it further. Samatitani means completely, samatita.
Samatitani means complete past, I know. Vartamanani means present. I know the future also.
All living beings, I know. So all living beings I know, but me, no one knows. What does it mean when Krishna says, me no one knows? Krishna is telling that, okay, people may know me as a historical person.
Krishna may know me as a person whom some other people consider to be supreme God, but they don’t understand who I actually am. And that can be understood only through devotion. That will be discussed in the 18th chapter.
Of course, it will be discussed in several places repeatedly also. In this context here, Krishna is assuring Arjuna, Arjuna, don’t worry. You are concerned about what is going to happen to your relatives whom you have to kill.
Just don’t worry about that. Actually, I am going to ensure that they will be well taken care of. If they are not, they will get liberated and returned back to me.
If not, they will take birth in another life. But I have shown you what even the partial performance of devotional service can give, what result it can give. Therefore, how much greater is the result that one can get by wholeheartedly engaging in devotional service.
And that’s what one should try to do. When one tries to do that, then one will get elevated, ultimately liberated. So how can Krishna know the future? And this is a complex question and there are no easy answers, but I’ll try to explain this.
First of all, by analysing a little bit, what do we mean by future? Now there are futurologists, Alvin Duffler is one of them. So like that there are many futurologists. They try to look at the world and think about its future.
What is the future going to be like? And they try to act accordingly. So they try to prepare society also to act. So astrologers are there who help people to understand what is going to happen in the future.
Some people, other people who have all sorts of mystical rituals, when their particular area is going to be attacked and destroyed by the inevitable power of time, then these living entities, they try to take shelter, but they can’t take shelter of anything. So ultimately they will all be destroyed. So we all want to protect ourselves and for that purpose, we want to know what is going to come in the future, but we can’t.
So when Krishna says, I know the future also, does it mean that Krishna knows the future and our future is programmed? Now we have to understand that Krishna’s knowledge of the future is like our knowledge of the past. What does it mean? Krishna’s knowledge of the future is like our knowledge of the past. Our knowledge of the past is knowledge without control.
Now if I know yesterday I wanted to sleep for seven hours, but I slept for 15 hours. 15 hours is a bit too much. Maybe I slept for 10 hours.
Then I know that, but I can’t change it now. It’s knowledge without control. We can think about the past, we can observe the past, but we can’t change it.
So when I say Krishna’s knowledge of the past is like our knowledge of the future, what it essentially means is that the conceptions are similar, although there are some differences also. The major difference is that Krishna’s position is different from ours. So even time is his servant and because time is his servant, therefore, actually speaking, time destroys all living beings.
So all living beings are ultimately his servants. So when Krishna goes home, in his pastimes he goes home, at that time does he act as if he knows what is going to happen in the future? Although he is in his pastimes and he knows everything that is going to happen, but he doesn’t act that way. Why? Because his goal is not to prove his divinity.
His goal is to reciprocate with the love of his devotees and therefore when Yashwant says, oh are you hungry? He says, yes, lunch got over very quickly. I was very hungry. Yashwant says, come, come Krishna, just wash your face, take a quick bath and food is ready for you.
Please come and take it. So then she offers Krishna and Balaram a big, big feast. So now in one sense, now we are trying to understand the future from this, first to understand the point of future from the spiritual perspective and then from the material perspective, from the spiritual world and with respect to the material world.
So actually speaking, when Krishna is in the spiritual world, there also he knows everything, but at the same time, when he is involved in the pastime, he forgets that he knows anything. That’s how Krishna may do certain things to enhance the rasa, to increase the leela of his pastimes. How does he increase the rasa? How does he enhance the leela of his pastimes? By creating the sense of unpredictability, which is resolved by his intervention alone.
So how does he do this? For example, somebody might be having some sort of issues. So just like a student is studying, student has free will whether to study or to not study. Now when the teacher is observing the student, this is a rough example, but he illustrates the principle to us.
Now Krishna, he is all-knowing. The teacher may not be all-knowing, but still the teacher can also see. These are the trajectories.
The student studies, the student will do like this and the student will develop educated mind, will develop the culture of hard work and will eventually attain success. On the other hand, if Krishna doesn’t do that, then what will happen? Not Krishna, sorry, the student doesn’t do that. What will happen? Student will fail.
So the pathways are there and depending on the choice of the pathway, there will be an inevitable result after that. So what Krishna reveals is something similar. Now Krishna is God.
He can know the future. He can change the future. Now Krishna doesn’t even have to give us free will.
He can make us act as robots completely obeying his command. But that’s not what Krishna does. Krishna gives freedom.
Krishna gives freedom by which he allows us to be tasted, but he also allows us to become purified by that, by seeing how trivial it is, how trivial it is to bother about these things, better bother about developing a relationship with me, better focus on developing ourselves spiritually because that alone will lead to a lasting benefit. So Krishna is throwing a challenge to Arjuna’s spirit, trying to direct him away from the fear which has paralysed Arjuna. He is saying that, actually, why should I fight? That is Arjuna’s question originally.
So Krishna is replying, why should you not fight? Why should you not fight? Now Krishna knows the result in the future, what is going to happen. So Krishna knows Arjuna is going to die, Krishna knows Jayarath is going to die, but still Krishna lets the fight go on because his goal is to perform a leela. A leela doesn’t mean that people don’t misuse their free will.
We have free will, but there are trajectories and depending on the trajectory that we choose, we’ll get a consequent result. So as devotees, we should not worry unnecessarily about these sort of things. Where did this, what happened to this person? What will happen to me? What will happen to that person? No, we just keep doing our devotions steadily and eventually, by Krishna’s mercy, by Shri Prabhupada’s mercy, the inner presence of Krishna, the inner revelation of Krishna will happen within our hearts.
We have to understand that it will happen. We just have to be patient and persevere it. Just keep going on and on and then that will happen.
Krishna is saying, Maam, the way there is a question, me no one knows. Prabhupada gives the same cloud example over here in the part quote. Now, Krishna goes to a new topic now.
Because of desire and because of dvesha, aversion, attachment and aversion, samuthena, together timed, samuthena. There is a delusion, two kinds of delusions. And there is no dwandwa, then what happens? That dwandwa is actually the cause of suffering for all living beings in the voice.
All living beings become deluded. Sargeyanti. Sargeyanti means at the time of giving birth.
So when the universe is born, how is everything? Sarvabhutani Sammoham. Sargeyanti. That means Sarvabhutani Sammoham.
Actually, all living beings are born in delusion. How is that? You know, we may say happy birthday to a friend or to ourselves. But the sad truth is that we are not happy on our birthday.
We are crying. Of course, there is a joy that a new life is born. That joy is not to be taken away.
But at the same time, the fact is that birth in and of itself is not a joyful experience. There is pain. And for the mother is also screaming in pain.
The end result is definitely joyful. The new life comes into the world. And that new life is not just a life that comes to the world.
That life can go successfully out of the world. If the parents practise devotional service and share devotional service with the child, then the child can become their liberator. The child later on becomes spiritually centred in one’s life.
So that is what Krishna allows us. But Sarvabhutani Sammoham Sargeyanti. Actually, all living beings are born into delusion.
So we have to become liberated from that illusion. And for becoming liberated from that illusion, we need to move forward steadily, steadily, steadily, steadily. One, two, three, four, we take small, small baby steps in our spiritual life.
And as we keep taking these baby steps, ultimately, we will discover that we have done so much in Krishna’s service, how amazing it is. But we are all born in illusion. So now where does the illusion come from? So Krishna has used two words over here, Sammoha and Dvandvamoha.
So what is the difference between the two? Sammoha and Dvandvamoha. So let’s look at the literal translation to understand this. That by the combination of Iccha and Dvesha.
So Iccha and Dvesha can refer to many things. Here Iccha can refer to the desire to enjoy separate from Krishna and Dvesha can refer to the resentment, the hatred about Krishna’s position as the enjoyer. So generally we have Iccha for that which we like and Dvesha for that which we do not like.
So this word Iccha-Dvesha has been used many times. But if you look at this context, it’s the seventh chapter where Krishna has given knowledge of the absolute and further Krishna had asked for, actually, Krishna has given knowledge about himself and here Krishna is talking about his own position. So here Iccha-Dvesha refers not generically just attraction and aversion, Krishna is referring to actually with his context, that means when a person has an Iccha to enjoy separate from Krishna and has a Dvesha for Krishna being the enjoyer and for those who are serving Krishna, accepting Krishna to be the enjoyer.
So Samothena, so Iccha-Dvesha is Samothena. From this Iccha and Dvesha, what happens is, because we like something, we don’t like something, therefore, we think when we get what we like, we call it as good. When we get that which we don’t like, we call it bad.
So Prahlad Maharaj says that that which is Priya, when there is Vaiyog, separation from that, we call it misery. When there is Apriya and there is Sanyoga to that, then we call it pleasure. But when there is Priya and Priya, then there is a problem.
So actually, so when there is, we get that which is Priya, then there is happiness. When we get that which is Apriya, there is, when there is Viyoga from the Priya, that means the Priya is taken away, then there is misery. When there is Priya, Sanyoga with the, Sanyoga means union.
When we are united with the undesirable, we suffer. When we are separated from the desirable, we suffer also. Those are the two ways in which we can suffer.
So I want a sweet to eat and there is no sweet, then I suffer. On the other hand, I want, I don’t want a particular, maybe a sabji, bitter gold I don’t want a sabji, that sabji is there. Then also there is suffering.
So when we don’t get what we want and when we get what we don’t want, then we suffer. So basically, then we start labelling things. What does suffering mean? This is bad, this is good.
So we label generally things based on our own likes and dislikes. So Iccha and Dvesha lead to Dandamoha. And so Dandamoha is the illusion of duality.
But, so Prabhupada is saying, it is bewildered by dualities. But the overall setup of our worldview, where there is Iccha and Dvesha, that is called a Sammoha. Sammoha means Samyaka Rupena Moha.
The complete illusion that is there, that is Sammoha. So what is the difference? Once again, actually, you know, there is a foundational illusion, just like when a person goes to watch a movie, at that time, the person first sits down and then forgets that I am a spectator and thinks that I am actually a vicarious participant. Vicarious means I identify with someone and then I try to enjoy based on their identification.
So now within the movie, certain things happen which you may like and certain things which you may not like. So when the hero is with the hero will like it. When the hero is being beaten by the villain, you may not like it.
So there is this point of Dwandwa, good and bad, within the movie also. And the Dwandwa is based on Iccha and Dvesha, what we like and what we don’t like. But this whole getting up, getting into the setup of Iccha and Dvesha and then Priya and Priya because of that, Dandamoha, that all that has happened because of the Sammoha.
Sammoha is the, first of all, the desire that I want to watch the movie. So when I start watching the movie, there are certain things which I like, certain things which I don’t like and then I label them as good or bad. That is an illusion.
But foundationally, wanting to watch the movie itself is an illusion. So he is saying that all living beings are born into this delusion. All living beings are born into the illusion of metal existence where they think of themselves as separate from you.
So what is the connection between this verse and the previous verse? The previous verse was saying that Krishna says, I am free from illusion. So let’s look at these three verses. 25th was saying that I am not visible to everyone.
I am not manifest to everyone. 26th says that I know everything. And 27th says that actually all living beings are deluded.
So here Krishna is clearly differentiating between his position and the position of the living entity. Just like we earlier gave the example of sun, clouds and the person on the earth. So the observer on the earth is covered by the clouds, but the sun is not covered by the clouds.
So Krishna is like the sun, the illusory potency is like the cloud and the living entity is like the person on the earth. So the living entity may for some time temporarily feel that as if I am liberated. So the cloud just moves a little bit.
I am starting to see. But the clouds are much bigger. So one cannot remove the clouds by one’s own effort.
It’s not like cobwebs in the roof that I just move around and remove the cobwebs like that. There’s no strict data which I can reach the clouds and shake away the clouds. I want to see the sun.
I can’t do anything like that. I have to depend on divine grace. So this verse can often be used to refer to the origins.
Ultimately, the question of origins, how we fell away from the spiritual world is a vexed question. How we originally came here, that is a vexed question. Why vexed? Because that which is beyond the conception of time and space is very difficult to understand within the conception of time and space.
That’s why when Prabhupada was pressed on this question, Prabhupada will often give the example that when a person is drowning in the ocean, one should think firmly about getting out, not bother too much about how one fell into the ocean. So still the point is Iccha and Vaishya. So in the biblical tradition, there is the story of Adam and Eve and Adam was tempted by Eve and Eve was tempted by Satan.
Satan came as a snake. Adam and Eve were in the original Garden of Eden and in the Garden of Eden, everything was wonderful and they had lots of fruits and food to eat and they could play around over there, enjoy. And God just told them, don’t eat this one fruit from this tree.
So Satan came along as a snake. Satan told Eve, he said that, this is the story in the biblical tradition, so she says, no, no, no, God has told her, don’t eat it. No, it’s a delicious fruit.
Do you know why God has told her, don’t eat it? She says, no, why? Because if you eat it, you will become God. It’s a delicious fruit, it’s so powerful, you will become God and he doesn’t want competition. So Eve went and told Adam and when they told Adam, then Adam said, no, no, no, God has told, don’t eat, we should not eat it, we should be obedient.
He said, no, I don’t want to eat it. And then they both went and ate it and after that, it is said that they suddenly became conscious. They were unclothed at that time, but before that, they did not even realise that they were unclothed, but they became conscious.
And when they became conscious that way, then God came back and when God came to know about it, he was displeased by the disobedience, by the defiance. And that’s how the fall from Eden. Eden is the primaeval pristine garden from which he fell.
So now this story is not exactly literal. In one sense, all of us, we are Adam. There is a palindrome, Adam, I am Adam.
So actually, every one of us is Adam and every one of us defied the Supreme Lord. So the story is symbolic. It illustrates how by going against the will of God, the soul falls.
So there are various explanations that the soul has a desire to enjoy. The soul is happy in the spiritual world with Krishna, but still the soul has not explored life separate from Krishna. That’s why the soul desires to enjoy separate from Krishna.
And that’s how the soul comes here to the material world. The soul sometimes desires to serve in a way that is not possible in the spiritual world, that is by say creation. And so the soul becomes Brahma in this world.
And when the soul becomes Brahma, soul tries to enjoy, soul doesn’t have the desire to enjoy separate from God. But because this is the arena of maya, after coming here, the soul starts getting lower desires. And then from Brahma’s position, the soul starts going downwards.
So there are explanations like this. So the soul has free will. Prabhupada explains, free will means it has to be free.
And the very meaning of free will is that there has to be an arena for exercise that free will. There is no arena for the exercise of free will and there is no meaning to free will. So the arena for exercise of free will is the spiritual world where we can freely choose to serve Krishna.
But if you choose not to serve Krishna, if you choose to do something else, then there has to be an arena for that also. And that arena is the material world. So, you know, even in this world, we see that logic doesn’t necessarily lead to any absolute conclusion, especially with respect to behaviours.
You know, even in this world, when we see a boy falls in love with a girl, then it’s not that there are logical reasons why the boy and girl fall in love with each other. And even when people fall out, you know, people fall in love and they fall out of love also. So when they fall out, sometimes that leads to they break out.
If they are dating, then they may break up. If they are having their marriage and their serious problems, they may have divorce. So now it’s not that there may be some specific events, specific behaviours, which lead to the disruption of the relationship.
But it is not an exact science. Because of this, this, this, this, this, relationships and emotions in general are not precise. And that is why a person has to actually for sustaining relationships, one has to become actually emotionally sharp.
One has to be emotionally alert so as to reciprocate properly with others and maintain relationships in that way. The point is that actually why the soul choose to go apart from Krishna, we understand the soul has free will. And free will means the soul can use the free will whichever way the soul wants.
The soul can choose to go away from Krishna and Krishna allows the soul to do that. So that’s how the soul becomes born in this world. All living beings are born into illusion in this way.
Now, one may wonder, is this illusion permanent? Is this illusion irreversible? Is that we had always been material existence? No, we can become purified and we can become liberated. And again and again Krishna talk about it in the 8th chapter again, we’ll see that now, it’ll come up. But then the question may come up, okay, if I was there, if we go back to the spiritual world, what is the guarantee that we will not fall back? So this is very beautifully analysed by Baldevidya Bhushan in his commentary to the Govinda Bhashya, which is a commentary on the Vedanta Sutra.
The last aphorism, last sutra of the Vedanta Sutra is Anavrtti Shabdad. So Anavrtti, this is of course explained differently by different Acharyas. Actually Prabhupada explains Anavrtti Shabdad as by sound vibration Anavrtti, there will be uncovering of consciousness that will happen.
So avaran is covering, Anavrtti is uncovering of consciousness will happen by sound. So Anavrtti can also mean something different. Krishna talks for example, Punaravartino Arjuna.
So Punaravartino is to come back here again. So though there are most living entities come back to this material world, but Anavrtti, Anavrtti means will not come back. So Shabdad means so say the scriptures.
So Anavrtti Shabdad, Baldevidya Bhushan explains that this means that the scriptures declare that there will be no return over here. The one will not return to material existence. So he says that when the living entity attains liberation, the living entity will not return back to material existence.
Why? Because of multiple reasons. He says one reason is among the many reasons. First of all, it’s a scriptural promise, Shabdad.
Scripture is saying and scripture gives us the absolute truth in the word of God and then he further says that actually the Lord loves his devotees and the Lord is Bhakta Vatsal. So the Lord will ensure that those devotees who have truly loved him and have rejected the pleasures of this world for his sake, he will never reject them. He will always hold them in a tight embrace and keep them forever with him and he will never let them fall back into material existence and further he says that actually the devotees love the Lord and the devotees have sacrificed everything for the sake of the Lord and once they have attained the object of love and the object of love is so completely satisfying and fulfilling, why will the soul come, why will such devotees ever want to come back to the Lord? So based on of course, you know, originally we came because we did not know what was the reason, we did not know about life separate from Krishna, how horrible it can be.
But when we return back to Krishna, it is not that constantly we will be remembering material existence, but once we are back with Krishna, we will know that if at all sometimes a desire comes up, then immediately we will have, Krishna will give us the remembrance of the consequences and it will all be like a nightmare. I don’t want to go into that again. So because of having the experience, because of the reassurance of the Lord, because of the nature of the love of the Lord for the devotee and because of the nature of the love of the devotee for the Lord, it can be said guaranteed that we will not come back.
So that is the ultimate liberation. Sarva-bhutanisam moham. So although all of us are deluded, all of us can ultimately be liberated.
And once we are liberated, we will not come back again to this world. Now Krishna says that okay, all living beings are born to illusion, how can they become free from illusion? He says, he described that in the next verse, 7.28. ये शान्तु अन्तगतं पापं। जनानां पुण्य कर्मणां। ते दुन्द्व मोह निर्मुक्तां। वजन्ते मां दृद्वरतः। ये शान्तु अन्तगतं पापं। That when the Paapa, for those people, Paapa has ended and जनानां पुण्य कर्मणां। They have performed पुण्य, for a जनानां, those people they have performed पुण्य, and whenever they have performed पुण्य, Prabhupada explains this as well as previous lives, considerable पुण्य they have performed. ते दुन्द्व मोह निर्मुक्तां। They will become free from मोह, the मोह of दुन्द्व, and then वजन्ते मां दृद्वरतः। They will start worshipping me, determinedly.
So what is the point of this verse? We have to understand it in the flow. So first Krishna said that, in 14th year he said, if you know me, you can become liberated. Then in 25th year he says, not everyone knows me.
But Krishna says, I am not under illusion, the living entities are under illusion. So how can they come out of illusion? So Krishna is telling over here, if they give up पाप and they do पुण्य, then they will come to the position where they can do my भक्ति steadily, दृदवरता, determinedly. So here Krishna is talking about how one can become a serious, steady devotee.
So for that we have to give up sinful activities and we have to do pious activities. Now, in principle, devotional service should not be started from any mode. Even a person who is a drunkard, there is a devotional we were doing in Kirtan, and the person is drunk and in a drunken stupor the person starts dancing, and that time also starts singing.
So that person is also performing devotional service in some way, chanting the holy names, hearing the holy names. But that person who is in a drunken state, who is in a mode of ignorance, that person cannot everyday wake up and chant Hare Krishna and Mangal Aarti. Now, if one has to do that, भजन्ते मां दृदवरता, so a little bit भजन्, now Krishna has used the word भजन् earlier, चतुर्विधा भजन्ते मां, in 7.16, four kinds of people come to Me.
He has said that, but the point is that not all these four kinds of people, they will be steady. That’s why Krishna says among them, तेशां ज्याणिवित्युक्ता एक भक्तिर्विशिष्यते, in 7.17, He says among these, the ज्याणि is the best. Because this ज्याणि will steadily keep practising, because it’s not motivated by anything material, but it’s motivated by one’s platform of knowledge.
So, Krishna is telling that, if one wants to become steady, one has to become free from sin and one has to do piety. So, as devotees, we know there are the irregularity principles and when we break those irregularity principles, we commit sinful activities. We commit sinful activities that leads to consequences, which we have to avoid.
These consequences, when we avoid them, then we move forward and we render devotions, we practise devotional service by that. ते द्वन्वमोह निर्मुक्ता, so actually the द्वन्वमोह is always there, but the द्वन्वमोह is far, far crippling when it is in ignorance or passion. In ignorance, the द्वन्वमोह or duality is that one doesn’t like anything which is connected to goodness or transcendence, one just likes that which is connected to ignorance.
So, one likes to smoke, one likes to drink, one may like to take drugs, do violence. In goodness also there is द्वन्व, this is good and this is bad. But a द्वन्व of goodness is much, much closer to reality than is the द्वन्व of ignorance.
So, duality is always there within three modes. And ultimately when we come to transcendence, द्वन्व goes completely and that is when we attain liberation. So, Krishna is saying over here, when one keeps doing piety, keeps avoiding sin, then gradually the effect of the lower modes decreases and the effect of the lower modes decreases and one becomes more and more in goodness and then eventually from goodness one can come to transcendence and from one’s message of goodness to transcendence one can practise bhakti steadily.
So, Krishna is not talking about initiating bhakti yoga, that he has talked about in 7.16 already. He is talking about installing oneself in bhakti steadily. So, for that one needs to give sinful activities.
And we will also see in our spiritual life that to the extent we succumb to sin, to that extent our bhakti will be unsteady. Actually, the succumbing to sin itself is a break in bhakti Along with that also, when we succumb to sin, before that there is temptation and after that there is lamentation. And they also say, it’s like we are going on this level of consciousness and whenever there is sin, it’s like a fall.
But before the fall, there is temptation. Oh, should I do it? Should I do it? Shouldn’t I do it? I want to do it. No, I will not do it.
I will do it. But that whole agitation is there. And then after doing it also, you know, Why did I do that? Why did I do that? I should not have done that.
So, there is lamentation. And then what happens? We go a little bit and again, then same temptation, then lamentation. So, this keeps us going.
It doesn’t allow us consciousness to stay steady. What to speak of go upwards steadily. It just keeps falling down.
So, when we start avoiding sinful activities determinately, we let the process of bhakti work. Bhakti, if we consider heart, to be like a wood, then the wood has to be lit. For that, some flame comes from elsewhere and lits like that.
Our heart is illumined with bhakti when we come in contact with the bhakta. So, whenever we associate with devotees who are serious practitioners of bhakti, then in that association, we also get bhakti. Our heart becomes illumined.
But, if the wood is wet, then the contact with the bhakti doesn’t really cause the wood to catch fire. Maybe a little bit part of the wood that is dry may catch fire. But, if the wood is to steadily catch fire, then that wood has to be first dried and then further fall of water on that wood has to be avoided.
Similarly, when our heart is in tamo guna, that is like the wood is wet, we can’t really make much steady spiritual practise. That’s why these two things, giving up sin and doing piety, that helps our heart to come to goodness and then bhakti can go forward steadily. So, bhakti can be started with anymore but for bhakti to be sustained, goodness is important.
Then we can do dhrudha-vrataha bhakti, steady devotional service. So, that’s why Prabhupada quotes in this verse that for steady devotional service, for giving up sin and for starting to do good activities, what is needed? Mahat-dvaram, Mahat-sevam, dvara-hari-mukti. We have to serve the great souls and tamo-dvaram, yoshitam, sangi-sangam.
We have to give up the association of non-devotees, materialistic people, those who are attached to material enjoyment and we have to associate with those who are great devotees. Then by that we can make steady spiritual advancement. Now, Krishna will introduce two more verses in which he will introduce some terms.
So, jara-marana-moksha-ya ma-ma-shritya-tanti-he te-brahma-tad-vidhu-krsnam adhyatman-karma-cha-khilam So, jara-marana-moksha-ya So, those who understand the miseries of material existence, jara and marana, old age and death, they moksha-ya, to get liberation from that, what do they do? ma-ma-shritya they take shelter of me and they start doing, they start endeavouring. So, what will happen to them? te-brahma-tad-vidhu-krsnam They actually, they are actually te-brahma Krishna is saying they are brahma and they know everything. adhyatman-karma-cha-khilam They know everything about transcendental activities.
So, Krishna has introduced two words over here. Brahma and adhyatma and this Arjuna will ask in the, what does it mean? Arjuna will ask in the next verse about this. So, here this is actually another category of a devotee.
So, Krishna has talked about different kinds of devotees who surrender, who come to him. So, let’s look at this. So, Krishna has talked about four kinds of people who approach him.
So, actually, before he has talked about in 7.16 but as per analytical says, we’ll say that there are three, so 7.16 to have is arto-jijnansur-artharti, they are Sakam devotees. They come for some material purpose. Then, tesham-jnanit-yuktaro 7.17, 18, 19 that is the jnanamishra devotee.
Of course, 19, other three can also become jnanavan. So, this is jnanamishra, the person who has jnana and then that person who has practising bhakti. Now, in 7.20 this particular verse 7.29 actually, this is mokshakami bhakta.
Now, the mokshakami means one who is aspiring for liberation and we’ll discuss in 8.12. Krishna will talk about yoga-mishra bhakta. So, what is this mishra bhakti? We’ll discuss a little later. But the important point here is that Krishna is talking about different categories of devotees.
So, there are six different categories of devotees sorry, five different categories of devotees which have been talked about. So, two sakam and two mokshakami. The mokshakami can be jnanamishra that means the person wants liberation but is coming primarily with the intellectual conception or the person will be yoga-mishra.
That person will be coming from a from the background of yogic practise. But they all come to maha-mahashritya. They come and surrender to Krishna and by that they make spiritual advancement.
So, now Krishna will introduce one more term over here. So, one more set of terms in this verse. sādhibhūtādhidaivam mām sādhīyajñaṁ ca evidhau prāyānakāle pīchavāu trividhuryukta cetu sahāu So, Krishna introduces three terms over here again.
sādhibhūtādhidaivam and sādhīyajñaṁ So, what these words are will be a question of Arjuna in the next chapter and Krishna will answer also briefly. And then Krishna mentions the further importance prāyānakāle pīchavāu Those who understand me to be sādhibhūtādhidaivam sādhīyajñaṁ such people they will be well situated even at the time of prāyānakāla. So, prāyānakāla was referred earlier in 2.72 eśāte brahmī siddhī pārtha nainam prāpti nūrīti siddhvāsyām antakāle pī brahma nirvāṇa mṛcchati If the person can be situated like this at antakāla, the person will attain brahma nirvāṇa.
So, here also antakāla and prāyānakāla are same thing. So, Krishna can say those who know me to be the ultimate truth they will be yukta cetasahā they will be well situated even at the time of prāyānakāla and the implication is by that they will attain me. So, essentially in this section from 25 to 30 what has Krishna told? Krishna has said that his position is supreme he is not revealed to everyone but if somebody wants to come to know him then they have to practise to study devotional service study devotional service when they practise by giving up sinful activities do study pious activities become determined in devotional service by that they will understand all these things they will understand brahma they will understand ādhyātma and most importantly they will understand Krishna as the ultimate reality as ādhibhÅ«ta, ādhidaiva and ādhiyaj and such people they will be well situated at the time of death and ultimately they will attain liberation So, in this way in the seventh chapter knowledge of the absolute it has three sections first how the absolute pervades and underlies everything then how everybody is ultimately whatever they are doing it’s in some relation with the absolute defying, obeying or serving something connected with the absolute but when we surrender to the absolute when we understand the absolute truth as the absolute truth when we understand Krishna as the absolute truth then we attain supreme auspiciousness we attain absolute auspiciousness yukta cetasah that’s the overview of the chapter.