Bhakti Shastri (095) – Bhagavad Gita Chapter 08 Text 14 to 22

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Hare Krishna Arjuna’s Yadav Kurvan Geetam Vitandadam Lokakayo Pakarayan Trisme Krishna Atmanelanam Hare Krishna Welcome back to Abhavidha Bhakti Shastri course we are now in the 8th chapter so let’s have a quick overview of the 8th chapter before we move into the next section so here we have finished first three sections, the whole focus of the chapter is on remembrance of Krishna and especially remembrance at the time of death so from 9 to 13 which we discussed in the previous class remembrance by Yoga Mishra Bhakti was discussed now Krishna will talk about remembrance by Shuddha Bhakti and then he will talk about becoming fixed in the remembrance by comparing natures of the material and spiritual worlds so let’s look at 8.14 without any deviation means the consciousness goes to other things without letting the consciousness go anywhere constantly that one who remembers Krishna constantly so what happens to a person I am easily obtained for a person one who is ever engaged thus so here Krishna is telling that for one who remembers him undeviatingly and constantly he is easy to obtain in the whole Bhagavad Gita this is the only verse which uses the word Sulabha which indicates that the process is easy so this is significant because this verse by no stretch of interpretation can be used to refer to anything other than Bhakti Yoga and Krishna is telling that Bhakti is the easiest way to attain him so if we look at what the previous verses talked about earlier Yoga Mishra Bhakti and Krishna talked about that in this chapter itself in the Yoga Mishra Bhakti section so there in 8.10 he explains that one has to practise Brahmacharya, one has to become free from attachment one has to know the import of the Vedas one has to chant Aum and one has to in this way practise serious spiritual life away from the world in the non-sort of then one can attain Vishanti, one can enter into that absolute truth but here Krishna is telling Sulabha and what is he saying? All that one has to do is remember him so if we look at the overall flow of this chapter Krishna has talked about how by the process of Ashtanga Yoga one can remember him at the time of death but here he is saying that same thing can be attained what is the goal? it was told that one has to attain the Parampurusha so when one has to attain the Parampurusha what is the means what is that Parampurusha? Ultimately it is Krishna that is clear in this chapter we discussed earlier so Krishna is saying I can be attained and I can be attained easily that means whatever is the result that could have been attained by the process of Ashtanga Yoga that can be attained also through the practise of the Bhakti Yoga undeviating, undistracted Bhakti Yoga now when Krishna talks about this what is the implication? the implication is that Bhakti Yoga is far preferable to Ashtanga Yoga that as compared to the demanding and gruelling path of Ashtanga Yoga by the path of Bhakti Yoga we can move faster, much more easily in our spiritual life so now when Krishna is talking about Bhakti Yoga over here, what is he implying? He is implying that Bhakti Yoga is easier than Ashtanga Yoga. Now we can go back and consider Arjuna’s admission in the 6th chapter in verses 33 and 34 where he says that this process is not practical for me now Prabhupada uses Arjuna’s statements to emphasise that Ashtanga Yoga is not practical and therefore one should chant Hare Krishna and practise Bhakti Yoga so now some commentators of the Gita who especially would be who critique Prabhupada’s commentary they say that Krishna never rejects the process of Ashtanga Yoga although Bhaktivedanta Swami gives the impression that they refer to Prabhupada as Bhaktivedanta Swami so Bhaktivedanta Swami gives the impression that Krishna rejects the process of Ashtanga Yoga and the Gita rejects the process of Ashtanga Yoga so Krishna never does that, Krishna just tells Arjuna that it’s difficult but if you practise it you will succeed and you have to control the mind, if you don’t control the mind you will not be able to succeed you will not get anything so it seems as if Krishna never doesn’t agree to Arjuna’s reluctance about the process of Ashtanga Yoga so is Prabhupada not representing the Gita properly when he is saying that the Gita rejects the path of Ashtanga Yoga actually we have discussed this earlier, Prabhupada’s strategy of presentation is that he gives the conclusion of the Gita throughout the Gita so we see very clearly that at the end of the Bhagavad Gita Krishna rejects all other paths Krishna says that give up all varieties of religion and just surrender to me, if you surrender to me then whatever sinful reactions you may get because of having given up other duties because of having abandoned your other responsibilities because of having not followed other paths if you get any sinful reactions, I will take care of them, don’t worry so Krishna here is very categorically rejecting other paths Parityajya, there can be very few words that are stronger than Parityajya, just give it up Sarva Dharma and it’s categorical Sarva Dharma so that means if you look at the Gita in its conclusion it very clearly rejects all other paths and enthrones the path of Bhakti so what Krishna does throughout at the end of the Gita, Prabhupada does throughout the Gita in his purpose that is Prabhupada’s compassion that he wants to ensure that we don’t miss the conclusion of the Gita that we understand the conclusion properly and we go along we go properly along that conclusion so now when we talk about this point that Prabhupada is giving the conclusion throughout his purpose, what about the flow of the Gita now within the flow of the Gita also Krishna does not deny the point that when Arjuna says it is difficult Krishna says it is difficult so the sixth chapter has been talking about Ashtanga so Krishna says practise by Abhyasa and Vairagya one will move forward and Krishna overall doesn’t recommend specifically the process of Ashtanga Yuga over there also Krishna says do Abhyasa and do Vairagya so he says that one has to follow the process for transcendence and one has to control the mind, then one will attain success it’s essential to control the mind, it’s difficult but it’s essential so Krishna doesn’t specifically endorse the path of Ashtanga Yuga if we look for the endorsement by Krishna we find it over here in the eighth chapter the word Sulabha is a very strong endorsement this is easy and it will give the same destination that can be got by Ashtanga Yuga so that means what Krishna is doing is in the sixth chapter he is outlining Ashtanga Yuga and there Arjuna expresses reservation apprehension and Krishna says but one has to keep practising the path of transcendence and thereafter if we see Arjuna’s the context of the sixth chapter, the question after that is about a deviated Yogi so Krishna’s answer also to that is nothing specifically to do with Ashtanga Yuga, it is generic so both Arjuna’s question and Krishna’s answer are talking are referring to generic topics Arjuna’s stimulation for the question is that the path of Ashtanga Yuga which Krishna has just delineated in the sixth chapter till 6.32, that is a difficult path that’s why he feels I don’t think I can have the equanimity of the mind I don’t think I will be able to succeed in one life that’s why he asks those two questions and the second question is from 6.37 to 6.39 so either way the point which I am making over here is if all this seems too technical the simple point here is that Arjuna feels that the path of Ashtanga Yuga is difficult and Krishna in his response neither rejects Ashtanga Yuga nor endorses Ashtanga Yuga.
Krishna simply says that one has to pursue the transcendental path and if one pursues this one will get the supreme destination then after that in the seventh chapter Krishna introduces us to the process of Bhakti Yoga and then in the eighth chapter he contrasts Ashtanga Yoga and Bhakti Yoga and he says that Bhakti Yoga is easy therefore the answer to Arjuna’s point that tasyaham nigraham manye vayor vasu dushkaram that controlling the mind is dushkara, it is almost impossible, it is like what is it like he says, it is like fixing the mind on it is like controlling the wind, it is impossible he says so Krishna’s response is here yes, actually fixing the mind you can attain easily, fix the mind on me and you can attain easily so he is recommending the process of Bhakti Yoga as the easy way for attaining success in the transcendental path now we may say actually fixing the mind on Krishna and fixing the mind constantly on Krishna is also not easy yes, ultimately no spiritual path is entirely easy you know, if achieving something material also requires effort and everything that we achieve is temporary then that which is going to give us eternal result we can’t expect that that will come very easily that will also require endeavour, no doubt so when we understand this point that it will also require endeavour so what, what next after that when we understand that anyway there is endeavour but relatively speaking which is the easiest, it is Bhakti Yoga because the mind gets a positive engagement right from the beginning there are various reasons why Bhakti Yoga is highest and is the best, but here in the context of the mind you know just trying to withdraw the mind from the negative and then afterwards trying to probe to discover what is the positive reality on which to focus the mind that is an onerous process, that is a burdensome process but if one knows how to draw the mind back and then one doesn’t have to just focus on drawing the mind back, one has to inevitably take the mind away from the negative, from the agitating titillating material temptations of this world but one has to, one knows that I can fix the mind in Krishna and Krishna is such a captivating, enchanting fulfilling higher reality to fix the mind on, so therefore the whole process becomes much easier. Now if somebody tells us please don’t think of a blue monkey with a red tail now we may never thought of a blue monkey with a red tail but when we are told don’t think of it, immediately the mind will come up mind will come with a picture, so the nature of the mind is that whenever it is told don’t do anything it often goes to that, so if the mind is don’t think of this, don’t think of this saying no is never pleasant, if we have something positive to say yes to, then the absorption in that positive enables us to say no to the negative much more easily, so this is the point, this is the easy way then of describing this Vishnu Prabhupada’s whole purport centres on the point that actually we have to fix the mind in Krishna and here Prabhupada quotes from the now Prabhupada does a very interesting development of thought over here the Lord helps such devotees in various ways so in the Katha Upanishad it says Prabhupada quote 1,2,23 yam eva isha vrunate tena labhyas tasya isha atma vrunate tanum svam so yam eva isha vrunate tena labhyas so the person whom the absolute truth selects that is the person who understands the spiritual reality that is the meaning, yam eva isha vrunate by whom vrunate is selected that person attains tena labhyas tasya isha atma vrunate tanum svam that person understands the spiritual reality so whom does Krishna select that he explains in the Bhagavad Gita he is not arbitrarily partial he is reciprocal and he is universally reciprocal so if we approach him with devotion we want to understand him to be the supreme person then he will reciprocate as the supreme person so Krishna says yatha maam prapadyate 4.11 and then he says in Bhagavad Gita 10.8 so Krishna helps us so now this is the second point see the first point is that it is much more easier to fix the mind on Krishna than it is to just withdraw the mind from material reality that is what makes bhakti easy another reason why bhakti is easy is that it is Krishna who helps us to make spiritual advancement Krishna gives us his mercy, Krishna gives us his intelligence from within by which we can fix the mind on him easily so therefore his mercy also makes it much more easy for us to gain the concentration of the mind on Krishna now somebody may say that first we have to practise dhami buddhi yogam tam sorry, first we have to practise in 10.10 Krishna says first we have to serve him affectionately then he will give us buddhi so what about when we don’t have affection actually we all have some affection so it is not that only for the pure devotees Krishna gives dhami buddhi Krishna gives for everyone now depending on how much is our affection and how much is our intention to serve Krishna will in proportion give us intelligence Krishna Prabhupada in his letters frequently talks about when devotees come up with intelligent ways of spreading Krishna consciousness Prabhupada appreciates and he says that because you are sincerely trying to serve Krishna Krishna is giving you intelligence of how to spread the Krishna consciousness movement how to share Krishna consciousness and Prabhupada quotes for dhami buddhi yogam tam so Krishna can give us also guidance anybody who has the intention to remember Krishna and has whatever little affection with that intention and affection we try to serve and Krishna will reciprocate so a devotee thinks of Krishna everywhere so in fact a devotee creates the holy place wherever he goes especially Prabhupada quotes over here from Chaitanya Charita Amrit it was Sri Advaita who told Lord Chaitanya wherever you are O Lord there is Vrindavan what does this mean actually he is saying that the essence of Vrindavan is the remembrance of Krishna and if the Lord himself is present then one can remember him very easily and so a devotee can invoke Krishna’s presence by remembrance everywhere and can remember Krishna everywhere therefore it is not necessary for a devotee to be present in the holy place nor does a devotee have to go to a secluded place as a yogi a devotee can be anywhere and everywhere and can remember Krishna and then Prabhupada talks about the five rasas and he concludes again with the full Mahamantra that is the best way to remember Krishna so now here Krishna establishes how his remembrance through the process of Bhakti Yoga is far easier and therefore it is preferable so now he continues that theme and he seamlessly gels that theme into the next theme how does one get the impetus to fix the mind on Krishna Krishna says if we fix the mind on him then we can be easily attained but how does one get the impetus to fix the mind Krishna says actually one can think of the result of fixing the mind on him and one can think of the result of not fixing the mind on him or fixing the mind of letting the mind dwell on things other than him so let’s look at the next verse this is the next section starting this is a famous verse we often quote the Dukkhal Vashashvatam section in it yes actually this word is Dukkhal it is Vashashvatam it is temporary and it is miserable this is exactly opposite to the statement that this world is that the movies and the novels they have the idea and they lived happily ever after so happily ever after this is exactly the opposite of that Krishna says Dukkhal Vashashvatam so it’s not happy and it’s a Vashashvatam there is no ever after in this world so it’s exactly the opposite the conception but this is the focus of our quoting the verse normally but let’s look at what the context of the verse is and what the whole verse is saying he is not making it as a declaration I declare that this world is Dukkhal Vashashvatam he is just making it a passing fact yes it’s taken for granted that this world is Dukkhal but if you worship me then you won’t have to come back to me those who worship me they will not have to take birth again but they will attain the supreme destination Paramaam Gata so from the Bhagavad Gita’s perspective it’s like it’s taken for granted that this world is Dukkhal Vashashvatam there is no need to argue and debate and declare it’s something which both the conversations have accepted it’s like say a person tells a a doctor tells a person who is sick if you take this treatment then you can be discharged from the hospital and you can go back home you don’t have to come back to this miserable place so now there is no need to discuss or debate that the hospital is a miserable place or a jail warden may say if you behave yourself properly you will be discharged from the jail and then you won’t have to come back to this stinking filthy place so now neither the jail warden nor the prisoner they are thinking oh this is a desirable place and I don’t want to go out of here both of them know that the prisoner wants to go out the question is how to go out so like that in the context of the Gita this world is Dukkhal Vashashvatam no doubt and if you worship me then you won’t have to come back to this world Sam Siddhim Paramaam Gata so those who are Mahatmas they will attain the supreme destination so now this is the second time the Bhagavad Gita uses the word Mahatma so 8.15 is where whereas Krishna used it earlier in 7.19 where he said that those who understand him to be Vasudeva Sarvamiti Vasudeva Sarvamiti Mahatma Sudurlabha the great souls Mahatma and they are very rare so that is clearly referring to devotees isn’t it because the point is Surrender is essentially an act of Bhakti so it is referring to those Mahatmas as devotees and here also the previous verse is talking about and here also Mama Peetha is there so here also the word Mahatma is used to refer to devotees and the Bhagavad Gita refers again to the word Mahatma in the next chapter where 9.13 we will declare so actually this is that those who worship me wholeheartedly knowing that I am imperishable I am everything so they are also actually focussing on that reference to Mahatma is also focussing on Krishna it is not focussing on anything else so actually this is the ultimate reality and there is no reality beyond this so the Mahatmas are those who understand Krishna to be the ultimate reality nothing else now when we talk about Paramam Gata Krishna will more elaborately talk about the supreme abode in this chapter only a little later in 8.20-21-22 he will talk about it in 15.6 also so we know Paramam Gata is the supreme abode of Krishna which is described in the Brahma Samhita so here the point is that those who worship Krishna they don’t have to come back to this world they will come back to Him they will attain the supreme destination now Krishna, what is that supreme destination? He has not mentioned it here but we can correlate it with what Krishna has talked about earlier Krishna has said in 4.9 those who understand the transcendental nature of this activity what happens? so those who understand Him in truth they come back to Him so here Krishna is saying those who worship Me they attain the supreme destination so what is the supreme destination? Supreme destination is going back to Krishna that can be inferred from that way so now here onwards Krishna will contrast between the temporary material world and the eternal spiritual world the destination which one can get by worshipping Him and the destination that one can get by not worshipping Him that means this analysis is meant to serve as an impetus for fixing the mind on Krishna if we fix the mind on Krishna we get a wonderful result if we don’t fix the mind on Krishna then what happens? we have to stay on in the miserable material world so the temporariness of this material world is talked about in the next section in this section onwards so Krishna continues the theme here of the eternality of the gain when we fix the mind on Him so from the topmost planetary system down to the lower most so right up to the planet of Brahma Jeevan Megha or Loka what will happen? Punaravartino Arjuna Punaravartino and will come back again mam upetetu kaunteya mam upeteya if one worships Krishna then what happens? so Krishna is given two paths and two destinations so the path of any other path in the material world the highest destination is the destination of Brahma Ji Krishna is saying even if one does whatever best activities are possible apart from bhakti apart from fixing the mind on Him the best result we can get is going to Brahma Ji even that is temporary therefore that will not give us an eternal result but only worshipping Krishna will give us an eternal result so now the question may come up that some people consider Brahma’s about to be eternal so is it eternal? no it is not it is actually temporary because the abode of Brahma is also within the material world it is in fact one of the universes the lifespan of the universe is same as the lifespan of Brahma Ji so when Brahma Ji dies at that time his abode dies and the universe is also destroyed so Prabhupada quotes in the purport that by panchagni yajna one can attain brahma loka but because brahma loka is temporary one cannot stay there for a long time now Prabhupada quotes interestingly Sridhar Swami in his commentary on the Bhagavad Gita so so so Brahma Ji along with his associates those who are engaged those who are engaged those who are engaged in the service they attain the supreme abode the ultimate destination so here he is making the point that that in some cases if the Brahma is a pure devotee and his associates have by associating with Brahma become pure, pure enough to go back to the spiritual world then at the time of the destruction of the universe then they need not have to come back they can continue on whatever devotional service they have been practising in brahma loka at the end of the destruction of the universe they continue that by being transferred to the spiritual world they continue practising devotional service this can happen but this doesn’t necessarily have to happen all the time the point here is that even in Brahma’s abode if one is practising Krishna Consciousness constantly then this will happen now doesn’t Brahma Ji and his associates practise Krishna Consciousness yes they do but Brahma Ji and in general the heavenly planets are not primarily places of bhakti they are places of punya so punya and bhakti are not the same in swarga those who do punya attain swarga and there also the swarga vasis do yajna and they live righteous lives so by that righteous living they are overall in accord with what is expected of the heavenly residents but that righteous living is not bhakti Indra is watching the apsaras dancing and he is enjoying that, that is not bhakti yoga that is bhoga, but that bhoga is not considered sinful because he has done punya and after doing punya in the earth he has now attained those things as enjoyment, as rightful enjoyment therefore actually what he is getting there is the result of his past punya generally the residents of heavens don’t perform punya they don’t perform bhakti certainly not unalloyed bhakti there is too much enjoyment available over there to do unalloyed bhakti suppose we are doing japa in the morning and we are told a magnificent feast is brought right in front of us there is pulava, pakoda, puris paratha, paneer sabji a big feast is there and we are told now chant the sixteen rounds and your one rule is there you can’t take your eyes off the plate you have to keep looking at the plate and you have to chant attentively how attentively can we go in chanting we will be attentive but not in chanting we will be attentive about what is there in the prasadam and when we can take it therefore this will not help us actually too much it is difficult when there is too much pleasure available to fix the mind on Krishna and that’s why in the heavenly planet they may not do paap but for them to do shuddha bhakti is difficult so in the Kailapashida Swami’s command point is here that if they do too much shuddha bhakti then they will get elevated from there so if one has to anyway practise a serious pure devotional service why not practise it on earth itself and then go back to the spiritual world by getting mixed up and go to Brahma Yoga and there practise serious pure devotion service and then go back. You just directly go back from here itself.
That is the thrust of the message of the Gita. So now we wonder how is Brahma’s abode destroyed? So then Krishna will describe that. How even Brahma’s abode is temporary.
तेहो रात्रविदोजनः So सहस्र युगपर्यन्तम् That actually there are sahasra yugas. So Brahmaji lives for a thousand years. Now the word yuga can be used for various terms.
Yuga is basically a large unit of time. Now we have Vasa, we have multiple uses of the word. Kalyuga we have.
It’s one yuga. It’s a unit of time. Kalyuga has a different time duration and then Dwaparyuga has a different time duration.
So yuga basically refers to a unit of time. How much unit of time? That will vary. So here the word yuga is used not for Kalyuga, Dwaparyuga, Tithayuga.
It is used for denoting the overall lifetime of Brahmaji. So it says that सहस्र युगपर्यन्तम् अहर्यत् ब्रह्मणो विद्धु So for a thousand divya yugas that is cycles of the four yugas that is the day of Brahma. And after that there is the night of Brahma.
So the day and the night of Brahma are sahasra yugaparyantam. And then रात्रिम् युगसहस्रान्ता And after that रात्रि is also yugasahasranatam for a thousand years. तेहो रात्र विदोजनः This is also, this is the रात्र, विदोजनः So the wise people understand this.
So that means the point is there is a cycle in Brahmaji’s life also. That there is a day which is for very very long a night which is for very very long. But ultimately it’s temporary.
And that’s what the point that Prabhupada makes over here. Now These hundred years, that’s referring to Brahmaji’s life So Prabhupada puts in double quotes because the years are different from our years. These hundred years by earth calculation total to 311 trillion to 40 billion earth years.
So by these calculations the life of Brahma seems fantastic and interminable. But from the viewpoint of eternity it is as brief as a flash of lightning. In the causal ocean there are innumerable Brahmas rising and disappearing like bubbles in the Atlantic.
Brahma and his creation are all part of the material universe and therefore they are in constant flux. So somebody who lives for trillions of years it’s very difficult to conceive that as a bubble in the ocean. Prabhupada compares it to a bubble in the Atlantic.
A bubble is lost for a few moments. One year somewhere, some wave comes along some turbulence comes along, bubble bursts. So actually once we conceive eternity once we understand what is eternity it’s going to last forever and ever and ever.
Then in comparison with eternity everything else appears insignificant. So that’s why for us, from the relative perspective Brahma’s life is a phenomenon. From the perspective of eternity it is just as brief as Prabhupada used two metaphors.
One is a lightning flash and as the lifespan of a bubble. Both temporary. Then in the next verse he says that continues this theme what happens when the day of Brahma ends avyaktar vyaktaya sarvaha prabhavanti aharagame ratyagame praliyante tatrayvavyakta sanyake so avyaktar vyaktaya sarvaha that actually from non-manifest sarvaha, all living entities vyaktaya and prabhavanti aharagame aharagame is at the start of the day and in rataryagame praliyante that when the night comes praliyante destroy patraiva vittu sanyate this is referring to the cycle of cosmic manifestation and unmanifestation so we have in physics the law of the conservation of energy so matter is considered to be indestructible it may be convertible from one form to another may be even convertible into energy but convertibility is not the same as destructibility so this principle is accepted even in the Vedic scriptures so the whole substance of matter that is eternal that is indestructible but actually what we are attracted to in the material world is not the substance we are attracted to the forms suppose you know that in some traditions when a person dies that person’s body is actually put on a tower on top and then birds come and eat it and that’s the way they actually consider that the body can be utilised as food by others and the body can be that’s the tradition which they have now in that case what happens is say a bird has eaten bird eats the body and then the bird comes along and the bird discharges its refuse and the refuse falls down and you tell somebody this is actually this is actually your girlfriend what? suppose a girlfriend or boyfriend had died and then the body is instead the body gets converted into stool he will be appalled and repelled at that refuse of the bird but we are attracted and captivated by the form of the opposite sex why is that? because our attraction is to the form it’s not just to the substance substance will be the same but we are attracted in the material world to the form and that’s why in this material world when we become attached to the form we suffer so Krishna is telling over here the form is eternal the form becomes manifest sorry the substance is eternal but from the substance form is sometimes manifest sometimes unmanifest so at the beginning of Brahma’s day the form becomes manifested at the end of Brahma’s day the form becomes unmanifested in this way there is a cycle which goes on and on and on and this goes on for the entire lifetime of Brahma now Krishna will continue his discussion the emphasis of this discussion is that actually everything is temporary bhutagramah saivayam bhutva bhutva praliyate pratyagame vasah partha prabhavatyah ragame so bhutagramah saivayam but actually bhutagramah the whole aggregate of all living beings bhutva bhutva praliyate again and again bhutva bhutva means they come into being they take birth and praliyate they are destroyed pratyagame vasah partha so pratyagame when night comes vasah so the vasah means helplessly the praliyate the destruction happens helplessly and then prabhavatyah again at the time of manifestation the manifestation happens at aragame at the time of day so the point here is to highlight how we are not in control if we study the history of the world even from the perspective of whatever modern science knows in the last thousand, two thousand years we will see that when nature is charging its wrath at that time such devastation can happen an entire civilisation can be wiped out completely because of say one river which is turning its course Saraswati river it is supposed to have gone from the from the Rajasthan area Saraswati river just turned course then Saraswati river dried out and eventually the whole green land became a wasteland became a desert so the one calamity can just when nature unleashes force that which is a a flourishing city like Pompeii one earthquake and the whole thing can just be destroyed permanently one moment everything is gone so actually we often feel that we have a lot of control in the world I can do this I can go here I can do this I can achieve that and we have this illusion of control but then as compared to the working of nature we are awashaha we are awashaha we are helpless our body is so fragile we may be walking along the road and one one vehicle comes and hits us from behind one blow that can prove to be fatal or inside the body from somewhere one bug can come inside one jheru and that can destroy us so one bug one blow can fell us individually and similarly one slap of matter in nature can destroy an entire city or entire civilisation also so these are what is within our experience and our experience is so limited we see that sometimes some tsunamis or some hurricanes some cyclones something like that comes up and that causes so much devastation within our limited experience also we can see the frightening fury and power of nature but here Krishna is talking about at universe at universal cosmic time scales and he is telling that actually just the creation is brought into creation when the day of Brahma comes and we are annihilated we means not our body but our material existence the living entities are created the living entities are living entities the aggregate of the living entities bhutva, bhutva, pranayatay so the arena for action it’s we are helpless sometimes we are just cast into the arena and sometimes we are just drawn out of the arena so we are when we understand this helpless situation of ours then we want to seek something eternal something lasting something that won’t let us down therefore the important point here is to recognise that in this world there is everything else which is temporary and it is only Krishna who is the eternal reality apart from him everything else is temporary so prabhavatyaharagame so here let’s discuss the Brahmaji’s lifetime a little bit more so Brahmaji’s lifetime Prabhupada explains in the parpot that so Prabhupada explains that during the lifetime of Brahma they can exhibit their activities on higher and lower planets within this material world but at the coming of Brahma’s life they are all annihilated so here the point is there are higher and lower planets but ultimately everything here is temporary so within our temporary lifespan the disparity of higher and lower may seem very significant somebody is wealthy, somebody is travelling in a car and I am travelling in a local cell that person is travelling in a plane I am travelling in a train the disparity may seem huge that person lives in a villa, I have to live in a condo, so this may seem a huge difference but when we understand it’s temporary then we don’t get so worked up by it because we understand that ultimately what is the eternal destination that we get, that is what is going to really matter so again we see in this paragraph Prabhupada is quoting the Hare Krishna Mahavantra full, so the emphasis is remember Krishna, only by remembering Krishna can we attain him so now let’s look at the now Krishna after describing this material world, it’s temporary nature now he starts describing the spiritual world Paras, there is a transcendental nature Bhavo, new Bhavo is nature Anya, Sanatana nature that is there there is unmanifest and manifest Sanatana so Sarveshu Bhuteshu in this world much that exists Sarveshu Bhuteshu when everything in this world is destroyed Navinashati, that stays as it is so Krishna is reassuring us that although even Brahma’s abode is destructible but that does not mean that all of existence is destructible there is Parastasmat Bhavo, there is another nature which is not destroyed and Krishna is actually referring to it to Anya, very categorically, it’s different so in this world there is Vyakta of Vyakta, there is manifest and unmanifest nature but both are temporary and there is other nature which is eternal actually it is only the spiritual that is eternal in this world many people mistake the mental to be the spiritual and they think all inside is spiritual but no, Krishna is saying the mental will be unmanifest to us but although it is unmanifest, that is not spiritual mental is also material so like that in the material world, some things are manifest some things are unmanifest, but neither of them is eternal what is ultimately eternal is that which is spiritual that is still nature and that is the eternal nature and all in this world is destroyed so Krishna’s superior nature, call it energy is completely opposite in quality to material nature completely opposite in quality what does completely opposite mean? actually in science they have the conception of antimatter and Prabhupada used this notion of antimatter to present spirit and he wrote a book called Easy Journey to Other Planets in which he said actually the actual antimatter is described in the Bhagavad Gita and that is spirit and scientists have the concept of antimatter as something which when matter and antimatter come together, both will be destroyed but Prabhupada said that this antimatter is not not really anti it is not adequately anti for antimatter to be truly anti, it has to be as Prabhupada said, completely opposed to matter so it is not that when matter and antimatter come together both will be destroyed if antimatter is truly anti of matter then its property should be that matter is destructible antimatter should be indestructible so matter generally drags us down, spirit itself lifts up and spirit lifts other things up matter is unconscious, spirit is conscious so there is a radical difference between the two and that understanding is highlighted by the point now that matter may be manifest or unmanifest but parastasmat bhavanya that there is another bhava which is beyond the two now Krishna will describe for the first time in the Bhagavad Gita a little bit more about this this abode, what is that avyakto akshya vekti uptas tamah paramaam gatim yam prapinani vartante tad dhama paramam mama so here Krishna clearly now completes the link, he says that paramam mama tad dhama paramam, this is my supreme abode so repeatedly Krishna has talked about that you will attain the ultimate supreme destination but what is that supreme destination, he makes it clear so in 8.15 he has said that those who worship him and samsiddhim paramam gata you will attain the paramam gata, supreme destination tad dhama paramam mama so Krishna is using almost a similar word paramam paramam and he is saying that is my abode and what are the characters of this abode so what he mentions is yam prapinani vartante, you attain this you will not come back, so that is also similar to what Krishna has talked, yad gatvanani vartante Krishna has talked about once you go there you will not come back so he has talked about it in several places but here in this chapter itself in 15 and 16 he has talked about it so tad dhama paramam mama but once one goes there one does not come back, beyond that here also he is talking about further characteristics avyakta akshara iti uptas, now somebody may say that what is happening over here, avyakta and akshara so we have to understand here that words can have different meanings in different contexts so in the previous verse the word avyakta referred to material but unmanifest so actually subtle matter is unmanifest to us and spirit is also unmanifest to us so in the previous verse Krishna has said what I am talking about is vyakto vyakta sanatana what I am talking about is actually beyond the manifest and unmanifest matter but now he is using the same word avyakta avyakta is used to refer to the spirit itself so we have to understand that avyakta does not always mean the same thing so subtle matter is avyakta and spirit is also avyakta so in the previous verse 8.20 Krishna is not necessarily referring to subtle matter, he is referring to when all of matter is all material existence is withdrawn then it exists as the mahat tattva the inactive mahat tattva so not in balance it is in equilibrium it is completely frozen, silent pradhan it is called so the nomenclature may vary in some places but in general so that is also avyakta and here also the spiritual world is avyakta but they are two different things both have the characteristics of being avyakta not being manifest to our sense perception but one is material the other is transcendental and akshara avyakta akshara iti uptas akshara means that it is infallible akshara so akshara brahma paramam svabhavo dhyatma mucchati Krishna has used the word akshara right at the start of this chapter itself to describe the brahma in 8.3 the first line answer to Arjuna’s seven questions in 8.1 and 2 akshara brahma paramam so brahma is akshara it is not destructible it is not fallible so here he says it is unmanifest and it is infallible so fallibility here refers to the fallacy of the fallibility in terms of destructibility it is indestructible akshara so here Krishna is referring that avyakta akshara iti uptas it is known to be avyakta and akshara and tamaham paramamgatim now in case somebody has any doubt that ok the paramamgati and Krishna’s paramdhaam are different, this verse clearly resolves that there is no destination higher than Krishna’s abode the same verse is using the word the same verse is using the word paramamgatim here he is using the word paramamgatim supreme destination and in the same verse he is using the word dhaam paramam so in this way what he is saying is very very clear here dhaam paramam so the same line this is supreme destination and this is my supreme abode, my transcendental abode so the point is that Krishna’s abode is the supreme destination, there is no destination higher than the lord of the abode and Prabhupada quotes from the brahma samhita the famous verses describing Krishna’s beauty so that abode is described briefly here and it is described much more in the brahma samhita now Krishna will describe how one can attain that abode so here he makes it clear that that purusha is paraha is supreme, there is no one greater than him and how is that purusha attained attained by ananya bhakti and what are the characters of that purusha all of material existence situated within him and that he is inside everything this is a very beautiful statement that everything is inside him and he is inside everything so how is that possible he is inside everything and everything is inside him that is possible when we understand his inconceivable nature he can manifest himself in multiple forms, one simple way to understand it is that as maha vishnu everything is inside him and as shiva daksha vishnu as a paramatma he is inside everything that is of course one way of looking at it but there are other ways also of looking at him that his brahman effulgence is all pervading so everything is situated in brahman and actually the lord exists everywhere so in that sense this verse is referring not to brahman it is referring to purusha saparapartha it is referring to the supreme person, purusha saparapartha so this is lord is inside everything lord is inside everything and everything is inside him but when we have devotion inside us for him then we attain his eternal destination attain his supreme abode we attain that supreme person, so attaining krishna and attaining his abode are the same thing when we love krishna naturally we return back to him to his abode how does one attain? Krishna makes it very clear the word is bhakti bhakti alone that we can attain it not by any other process so Prabhupada quotes here from the Gopalavini Upanishad eko vashi sarvagaha krishna eko vashi that actually the lord will stay at one place but sarvagaha he is all pervading he goes everywhere, he goes to different places for performing pastimes but he also pervades his influence everywhere through his energies and through his all pervading manifestations so the point is that actually this is the wonderful abode of the supreme lord and it is the wonderful supreme lord who resides in that abode so in this section from verses 15 to 22 what has happened there has been contrast between the process of there has been emphasis on fixing the mind on Krishna that happened in 14 and how does one get the impetus to fix the mind on Krishna by contemplating how everything else is temporary and fixing the mind on anything else will ultimately only end in misery therefore let us fix the mind on Krishna and their connection with the description of the temporary nature of even Brahma’s abode is described, temporary nature of all of material existence is described and then the eternal spiritual abode of Krishna which is like supreme destination, paramaam gata and paramaam dhaam that is described so we will discuss in our next class, the subsequent section where Krishna says that a devotee should focus on remembering him and not worry about various other methods by which one can attain that supreme destination that we will discuss in our next class, thank you very much.