Bhakti Shastri (099) – Bhagavad Gita Chapter 09 Text 11 to 14

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Thank you very much, Hare Krishna Hare Krishna welcome back to our Bhagavad Gita Bhakti Shastri course we are in the heart of the bhakti section ninth chapter the most confidential knowledge Krishna has talked about his supreme position with respect to the material world in 9.10 and now we will be talking about how different people understand Krishna in different ways let’s have a quick overview of the chapter before we move ahead so first was developing kevala bhakti by knowledge of Krishna then Krishna’s relationship with the material world what we discussed about now those who understand Krishna in various ways because Krishna’s relationship is inconceivable it is not easy to understand and that’s why different people understand it differently so 11-12 we will talk about the impersonalists who mistake Krishna’s body to be material 13-14 we will talk about the kevala bhaktas and then 15 we will talk about three types of people ahamgurupasakas, padikopasanas and vishurupapasakas 16-19 we will elaborate on the vishurupapasakas let’s discuss about them one by one so we will move to verse 11 avajananti mam mudha manushyantanam ashritam parambhavam jananto amabhuta maheshvaram so here Krishna describes avajananti mam mudha the foolish people cannot understand avajananti as derived so they deride me what do they deride? manushyantanam ashritam that actually is descended in a human form so here the implication of manushyantanam is that they have descended in a form that is just like ours so that means they say that actually Krishna’s form is just like our form it’s a human form, it’s a material form and they do not understand parambhavam ajananto they do not understand the parambhava, the transcendental nature what is the transcendental nature? mamabhuta maheshvaram that I am the lord of all living, all of existence bhuta is everything that is bhuta is generated for existence, maheshvaram so the word mahesh is sometimes used to refer to lord Shiva but actually it’s a generic name isha is control, mahesh is the great control, so maheshvaram is the great control so Krishna is saying mamabhuta maheshvaram, he is the great controller of all of existence so this is a very important verse which if you look at the context, the previous verse was saying maya adhyakshena prakriti it’s under my adhyakshata prakriti is working and Krishna is saying the same thing over here, mamabhuta maheshvaram I am the Ishwara of all of existence now the words here have specific and significant meanings, let’s look at them one by one avajananti ma mudha so let’s look at avajananti so there are three ways of approaching jananti, ajananti and avajananti so when there is jananti, when we know Krishna properly, then that knowledge of Krishna leads to liberation, this was talked about in the famous verse come back to me, that is supreme liberation so that is jananti so knowledge leads to liberation then the opposite of jananti would be ajananti, those who do not know about Krishna, that is ignorance now in one sense, ignorance about Krishna is bad, but actually in many ways, worse than ignorance can be wrong understanding, misunderstanding so to know jananti is to know, ajananti is to not know, avajananti is to know the opposite of what is right so we see that when Srila Prabhupada was sharing Krishna consciousness in India, most people thought we already know Krishna and either they had a conception of Krishna as just some cultural, historical figure, maybe he gives a message but that is not very relevant in our modern progressive times, or the impersonalist says, yes Krishna is a Krishna is a symbol of the absolute truth, Krishna is a we have to go beyond Krishna to the unborn within Krishna so this was avajananti so ajananti and avajananti so now Srila Prabhupada went to the west, there people avajananti, they didn’t even think about Krishna and we saw that they took up Krishna consciousness much more easily, so both are obstacles, ignorance and misunderstanding, but often misunderstanding can be a greater obstacle especially in terms of conceptual barriers that it creates because in the misunderstanding, I think I already know, and first I have to erase the mental slate and then write fresh on it, which requires more effort, so of course India, the advantages conceptually there was misunderstanding but culturally there was agreement people know about Krishna people know about deity worship, people know about Krishna’s pastimes, and if they want to devote themselves to Krishna, it is relatively easier for them, so in the west conceptually also it is difficult, but because they did not have any preconceptions misconceptions so they accepted what Prabhupada taught culturally it was difficult because their culture was so radically pharmaceutical at that time so avajananti now what happens in this avajananti misunderstanding that there leads to continued existence and then there is increased bondage so because of the misunderstanding we can commit offences, and those offences can lead to suffering, so what is this verse saying, Prabhupada’s purport is quite elaborate to this verse manushim tanum ashritam manushim tanum one who takes shelter of the human body that idea that actually the absolute truth has come in our mortal material human body people don’t understand, param bhavam ajananto so actually Krishna has used two words here Krishna has used the word ajananto and avajananti, both he has used so what is the significance of that he says that actually they misunderstand me avajananti mam and ajananto param bhavam and they do not know the transcendental nature, what is the transcendental nature, that actually God can be a person that the absolute truth can have a form and still be unlimited, how is that possible that’s the inconceivable power of God, he can have a he can have a form that fits in the lap of mother Yashoda but when he opens the mouth the whole universe is seen param bhavam ajananto they do not know my transcendental nature so the problem of the impersonalists is that they extrapolate from their limited material experience and they think matter means matter means limitation matter means imperfection matter means entanglement and they extrapolate that must apply to everything this is true for everything material but they equate material with form they think the form causes entanglement the form causes bondage, the form is limited therefore everything with form must be limited, so everything with matter is limited, that is true but everything with form doesn’t have to necessarily be limited because spirit has the potential to be unlimited so now Prabhupada correlates immediately from the Brahma Samhita in the Purport which is that Ishwara Paramakrishna, so here the word used is Maheshwara, so Prabhupada twice he quotes this, Ishwara Paramakrishna is here and again next line, Ishwara Paramakrishna and then again actually third time Prabhupada is quoting the same verse here, Satchitananda Vigraha Satchitananda was quoted here also so the emphasis is on establishing that Krishna has a form and Prabhupada even quotes from the Gopala Tapani Upanishad, Satchitananda Rupaya, Krishnaya so Krishna has a form which is Satchitananda, Rupaya, it’s a very explicit word, very little doubt about it and again, this is 1.1, right in the beginning, the invocation of the Gopala Tapani Upanishad says this and then Tam Ekam Govindam Satchitananda Vigraham this is 1.35 in the Gopala Tapani Upanishad you are Tam Ekam Govindam, you are the one there is no one like you and you are having Satchitananda Vigraham you are having transcendental form now, the Gopala Tapani Upanishad as we have discussed earlier briefly is one of the Upanishads in the hundred Upanishads and it glorifies Lord Gopala and establishes His divinity and supremacy now, beyond that let’s look at what other things Prabhupada says now, Prabhupada uses the word symbol over here which may seem a little disturbing for some people they do not know that Krishna’s body is a symbol of complete knowledge and bliss that is the proprietor of everything that we are letting in our liberation to anyone so, what do you mean by how is Krishna’s body a symbol now, we say Krishna’s body is the ultimate reality so, what do you mean that it is a symbol of complete knowledge and bliss so, basically what it means is Satchitananda Vigraha Krishna’s body is non-different from Him and Satchitananda Vigraha so, the word symbol is used in the sense that the impersonalists have a conception that knowledge and bliss has to be impersonal but actually knowledge and bliss are manifested in a concentrated personal form just like we may have on a cake some cream coating the cream normally is diffused now when the cream is diffused, it is spread all over the top of the cake now we can take it out and we can actually make a figure we can make a mouse we can make a rabbit, we can make a dog we can make an elephant, some child’s birthday we can make a form which is just like that form only of child’s form similarly we can make a child with the cream now actually normally cream is diffused but here when we talk about the toy that is made with a cream, all of it is cream only so like that, the absolute truth is diffused everywhere as the Brahman, all pervading Brahman but that absolute truth is concentrated in the form which is entirely Satchitananda so in that sense the absolute truth is manifested in a personal form and so what the impersonal think of as bliss and knowledge has to be all pervading it has to be diffused well it can be diffused, it can be concentrated also so Krishna’s body is like a toy made of cream, it’s fully cream only, so like that Krishna’s body is fully transcendental, it’s fully Satchitananda so that is the transcendental Prabhupada, this is Prabhupada’s expression of Parambhav Majananto and then Prabhupada quotes from the Bhagavatam now he quotes this verse from the enquiries of Shanak Rishi so so performed many amazing activities so Rama refers here to Balramji and Keshava is Lord Krishna so along with Balramji, Keshava performed many pastimes so Bhagavan, this is the Supreme Lord, is all attracted to the Supreme Person he is beyond he is actually situated beyond the situation of the of those who are destined for death all ordinary beings but how did he perform these activities? so it is confidential it is secret it appeared as if he was actually concealing, he was deluding he was bewildering this is 1.120 and then Prabhupada quotes also from the Bhagavatam so Babua means became so that absolute truth who had manifested as the four-handed Vishnu in the prison chamber of Devaki and Vasudev there what did he do? that absolute truth Babua Prakritashishu became Prakritashishu became a child it seemed to be just like an ordinary tender child and then in the 11th chapter also we will see that what does this same Krishna who is the character of Arjuna do? he will become he manifested in the Ruhuja form we will discuss when we come to the 11th chapter and here also then he first manifested in the Chitra Ruhuja Rupa manifested in the Virat Rupa manifested in the Chitra Ruhuja Rupa and then after that what happened? Manushyam Rupam he manifested in the human-like form so now what exactly is the objection? if we say Krishna himself used the word actually again assumed his original human-like form so Manushyam Rupam if the word is used Manushyam Rupam so what is the problem? so the problem here is not the word Manushyam it is Manushyam so the idea is that when we take shelter of something that something is different from us so if it’s raining I may find a tree and take shelter of the tree when poverty is stricken I may take shelter of a wealthy person so generally that which gives shelter that which takes shelter, the two are different so the idea here is that the absolute truth is impersonal the absolute truth has taken shelter of a material form of a human-like material form that’s the notion of the impersonalists but here Krishna is telling or rather the Bhagavad Gita is telling that actually this is the form which he eternally has he doesn’t have to take shelter of this form so all the verses that have been quoted are quoted to point out that this form is not something which is taken ashray of this form is eternally the form that he has this is what we looked at from the Brahma Samhita and the Gopal Dapni Upanishad and now Prabhupada goes into a Bhagavatam reference which seems to support impersonalism and he counters the Mayavadi interpretation of that this is 329-21 from the Kapila section I am situated in all living entities I am situated in all living beings when he says this so Prabhupada says that we look at the explanation of this given by Chakravarthi Pada and Jiva Goswami and he gives the explanation that actually the lord is present as the living entity the lord is present with the living entity as the super soul and the transom super soul is internally present, manifests externally as the archa vigra and the point is what is the context of this verse when it is said that actually the lord is situated in the heart of all living beings now one should respect all people also one shouldn’t think that I just worship the deity in the temple that is a Kanishka platform and I will not care for devotees I definitely need to worship the deity in the temple but along with that I also need to respect the devotees and because not just the devotees all living beings because the lord is present in the heart of all living beings the context of this verse is not to say that the absolute truth is impersonally diffused in the heart of all living beings there is a person and that person’s presence becomes accessible to us as the deity but that doesn’t mean that we stay unconscious to that person’s presence everywhere else supreme person is present in the heart of all living beings and that absolute truth should also be worshipped over there hmm so Prabhupada avijananti mam mudha he takes it in two ways here, one is that they deride the personal form of the lord and second is that they deride the the form of the deity which is also an object of worship now Krishna likes to describe those who do this kind of avijananti those who deride him, what happens to them let us cross in there it goes moghasha mogh karmano mogh jnana vicheto sah rakshasimha suryo jaiva prakritim mohin inshrita ha so moghasha so here Krishna the word mogha, mogha means waste Krishna has used the word mogha earlier in 3.16 in the Bhagavad Gita where he has said agha yur indriya ramo mogham partha sujivate he says those who do not participate in the cycle of yajna, they live sinfully agha yur indriya ramo, they live for sense gratification they live sinfully and mogham partha sujivate they live in vain, mogham so in this way actually it is very unfortunate the way they live so Krishna is using the word mogha mogha is a waste, useless, failure so Prabhupada uses the word to word translation here baffled and they are frustrated, deluded, defeated so mogha asha Krishna is using three things over here asha, karmana and jnana, all three of them become mogha so how does this happen mogha asha so asha here refers to actually their hopes, what kind of hopes they may have, they may be doing the path of karma and they may be desiring to make advancement on that path they may be frustrated in that and they may be working they may be striving the path of jnana and hoping for advancement of that but in both cases they will be deluded and bewildered, why? because of vichetasaha vichetasaha means their consciousness is misdirected misdirected means it is directed away from Krishna towards some imaginary conception of some higher truth beyond Krishna so Krishna is right in front of them but instead of looking at Krishna, they turn away and try to see something beyond Krishna this is vichetasaha and Krishna is quite strong in the condemnation of this mentality what happens to such people? rakshasim asurim jaiva prakritim mohinim shritaha so prakritim mohinim shritaha the mohini prakriti the deluded nature which is rakshasi and asuri which is demoniac they take shelter of that that means they already have misconceptions and because of entertaining their misconceptions whatever they practise they don’t get success in that on the contrary they also go deeper into illusion they fall deeper, they fall into worse suffering, worse entanglement and what is entanglement? it’s not just karmic bondage it is actually they fall into deeper illusion see the bondage can come to us in two ways one is that we just have to take birth again and we have to exhaust the bad karma that we have done but other is that we get sinful desires we become deluded by a deluge of desires deluge is a flood deluded by a deluge of desires one after another after another and this kind of desires come and soul becomes helpless caught away and carried away by the misconceptions and the misdirected desires result from those misconceptions so here Krishna is saying what kind of bondage they suffer that they actually take shelter of that prakriti which is rakshasi and asuri which is basically demoniac so Prabhupada translates rakshasi as demoniac asuri as atheistic so basically both ways it is anti-theistic, anti-demotional, anti-spiritual so because of this misunderstanding of Krishna they all suffer so now this verse is clearly referring to the mayavadis later on in the twelfth chapter we’ll see Arjuna asks a question and in response to that Krishna says that yes those who worship the impersonal they will attain me but the path is that he’ll talk about in 12.5 and 6 primarily 12.5 he talks about and Krishna contrasts that in 12.6 and 7 with path of bhakti wherein he says that not for a long time, soon they’ll come back to me so essentially the point is that Krishna contrasts these two paths there, the personal path and the impersonal path but that impersonal path is not offensive to the absolute truth, that impersonal path is brahmavad, it is just attraction to the absolute truth in the impersonal manifestation, but here it is not just attraction to the absolute truth in the impersonal manifestation along with that there is a derision, there is a minimisation and offence towards the personal aspect of the absolute truth and that leads to a very detrimental results people go deeper and deeper into illusion and they suffer thereof so Prabhupada now quotes some very strong verses here yoiti bhautikam deham krishnasya paramatmanaham sa sarva sarva asmat bahishkaryam shrauta smartha vidhanatah mukham tasya vanokyapi sachelam snanamacharet so what is the thing? yoiti bhautikam deham it is very simple actually bhautikam deham, the material body, bhautik is material krishnasya paramatmanaham so that Krishna who is the paramatma, the supreme soul one more thing, yoiti, those people who think that, bhautikam deham their body is material then sarva sarva asmat bahishkarya bahishkarya means boycott, boycott means to not allow, to drive away so sarva asmat bahishkarya which a person should be boycotted, should be exiled, should be driven away from shrauta smartha vidhanatah that from all activities of the shruti and the smriti and then mukham tasyavalokyapi so that person should not be allowed to participate in religious rituals, but even by chance we see such a person, then what should one do? sachelam snanamacharet so one has to bathe in the Ganges to purify oneself so now, what is this may seem a little extreme, that person has some conception of the absolute, that person may be that person’s conception happens to be different from the conception that the devotees have, isn’t that this person is so dangerous, that the person should be boycotted and one has to take bath see, we have to understand the principle over here material world is like a deceased place it’s a hospital and we all come here to be cured and different people have different infections some person might externally look very healthy but internally might have a deadly infection and if other person comes in contact with that person, that person might get a deadly infection and that infection might be crippling and killing so it’s fatal, so then the ordinary person cannot understand that there is an infection but a doctor understands this person got an infection, so many times what is done is when a person is having an infection that person is quarantined quarantined means he is told to live in a separate room and whenever the person is given food or anything also, very carefully it is given so that no chance of any infection getting passed from here to there so quarantine is required not because that person is to be hated or derided, but the point is that the person’s disease should not spread to others just as there can be physical diseases that are materially invisible that are not visible to our eyes but those with eyes of knowledge can see and they will want us to protect ourselves, and then they may even impose certain things which are extreme sometimes some patients have TB so what happens is, actually if they cough also the germs can come out so actually when they talk they are told to put a mask around their face and they put a mask around their face and then they talk so at one time I got severe TB so one devotee came to me and said have you become a Jain sadhu now? he said have you covered your mouth? he said you don’t know that I have got TB so anyway, the point is that for one who does not know it may seem odd, it may seem extreme also but for one who knows and understands, it is an infection and one has to be protected from the infection so the impersonalists especially not the Brahmavadis but the Mayavadis, they are very seriously infected by a misconception that Bhakti kills Bhakti how does it kill Bhakti? because if Bhakta and Bhagwan are one, then there is no meaning to Bhakti ultimately so Bhakti is choked and killed by the Mayavadi misconception and for that to happen for the soul is the greatest disaster to some extent, when a person practises material life and gets into too much sense gratification, that also adversely affects the Bhakti but that adverse effect doesn’t mask itself as spiritual, one understands that this is spiritual, this is material and I have given up spiritual and I have turned towards material, that means if a person has a philosophical understanding a materialistic person is a diseased person a spiritual person is a healthy person materialism is largely like an infection that is visible readily to the perceptive eye at least one can understand, okay this person is too caught up with wealth, too caught up with sex, too caught up with power this person is infected by material infection and we will not mistake that person to be a spiritually advanced person or a spiritually healthy person also, but when a person is Mayavadi, externally that person may be quoting verses may even be wearing saffron may appear very saintly in some ways but internally there is an infection so we have to be careful we have to be careful so the principle here is that there is an infection there and an infection can come to us and that’s why we have to be cautious now, if we are going to interact with impersonalists, now today as we have discussed earlier, most people they have some kind of impersonal conception, but they are not necessarily Mayavadis, they may be under Mayavadi influence so we don’t have to necessarily if somebody comes, if an old friend who is now, who has some impersonal conception comes to meet us and he says Bhaiskritya, drive him away no, we don’t have to do like that the principle is that there is an infection and we have to protect ourselves from that infection, so how we may do it will vary according to time, place, circumstances so, you know, at a cultural level we can be polite Prabhupada also, when he would meet Mayavadis at a cultural level he would be polite with them at one time when Prabhupada was sick, a Mayavadi sannyasi, who was also in America Prabhupada had fallen sick in 1968 in America, so Mayavadi sannyasi came to meet him to enquire about it, Prabhupada was very polite he told his disciples to get up so that he could have a chair and when they were leaving, Prabhupada himself got up and tried to walk to the door he said, no, no, Swamiji, you rest rest Mayavadi sannyasi said, yes, polite, and Prabhupada was also polite so now we have to we have philosophical differences that doesn’t mean that we have to abandon our culture, and the scriptures contain certain statements, those statements, we should see them as indicating of how grave the misconception is and how serious the disease can be, so we have to learn to be alert and protect ourselves but at a cultural level, how we deal with will vary according to time, place, circumstances in general, we should not appear to be uncultured or uncouth and ultimately we have to see that even the impersonal Mayavadis are souls who are ultimately needing the shelter of Krishna we may not of course have the adhikar to try to give Krishna to them they will give the Mayavad to us so we may not want to have any philosophical discussion with them, we can be culturally polite but we don’t get intimate with them too much, so this way one can protect oneself so now, I’m describing in these two verses, the Mayavad is quite a strong condemnation of Mayavad, now Krishna turns towards the pure devotees pure devotees let’s look at that so Krishna is giving here the two extremes now what understanding about Krishna can be there so Krishna has given first 9.11 and 12 the best understanding the most dangerous understanding it’s a most dangerous misunderstanding and then now Krishna will give the most evolved understanding, the highest understanding this is what Krishna had done in 7th chapter also 7.14 he had said I am in control of maya then in 7.15 he had said, four kinds of people will surrender to him and then 7.16 he had said, four kinds of people will surrender to him, so he gave the complete spectrum over there, similarly Krishna has given the spectrum over here now here Krishna will go deeper into each of the categories in a different way where the focus will be more on him and the people’s understanding about him earlier the focus was, in 7th chapter when the categorisation was there the focus was on the people’s own conceptions and their desire it was not their conceptions about Krishna these are not directly misconceptions about Krishna they are just misconceptions that they have they think that to work hard for sense gratification is the standard of success in life they just caught up in sensual and worldly cravings and worldly tidings and they don’t think of anything higher they have some knowledge, but they are so proud they have forgotten the ultimate purpose of knowledge the purpose of knowledge is spiritual, it’s ultimately devotion to surrender to Krishna, but they have forgotten all that it has been stolen away by Krishna there also it’s overall a demoniac mentality, which is anti-religious, anti-spiritual, anti-God but it is not specifically anti-Krishna so there in the four categories both ways, those who surrender those who don’t surrender and those who surrender, the focus was on the people and what are the misunderstandings because of which they don’t surrender what are the understandings with which they surrender, or with which they approach Krishna and eventually surrender that was talked about 7.16-19 but here when Krishna is talking about a spectrum, the focus is coming more and more on him so that the glory of bhakti to him can be eventually revealed so here his focus is on what is people’s conception of him so in Rahu-Mayavadis they have a misunderstanding about him as Mahanushyam Tarum Ashram, so now he is talking about those who take shelter of him and what is their understanding so Mahatma Nishtuma Ampartha, Daivin Prakriti Mahashrita Vajantyanand Manaso Yathva Bhoota Dhimavaya so Mahatma Nishtuma Ampartha so the great soul, the Mahatmas Daivin Prakriti Mahashrita will take shelter of the Daivin Prakriti and Vajanti they worship me, they are under service to me Prabhupada translates all the Vajanti as under service, we discussed in the purport of 6.47 how the word Vajanti is more appropriately translated as service and Vajanti, how do they do Vajanti? Ananya Manaso Ananya Manaso would mean their mind goes to other things Ananya Manaso means their mind doesn’t go to anyone else, anything else it’s in Krishna, in worshipping Krishna why? Yathva Bhoota Dhimavayam they understand that Krishna is Bhoota Adi is the beginning of all existence is the origin of all existence Avayam is imperishable, is eternal that is so, this conception Yathva Bhoota Dhimavayam is exactly opposite of Manashyam Taramashritam Parambhava Jantam that was 9.11 so there they think that actually the absolute truth is impersonal but temporarily the absolute truth has taken a human form but they do not know the transcendental nature of the absolute truth but here the Mahatmas know Gyaatva, what do they know? they know about him Maam Bhoota Dhimavayam Krishna is using the same word Bhoota as Bhoota Maheshwara so here Bhoota Dhim so Adi and Avayam in the beginning of existence and imperishable, this indicates that Krishna is talking about himself in eternal terms not just in contextual terms Krishna is talking about himself as being the origin of all existence and also being inexhaustible, that means Krishna is eternal as Krishna existing forever and the Mahatmas take shelter of himself, Ananya Manaso in this context also means that they don’t think of Brahman they don’t think of other Devatas but they also don’t think of some reality beyond Krishna Ananya Manaso, they fix themselves only on Krishna and Krishna uses the word Mahatma to describe them so we discussed earlier how the Mahatmas the word was used a few times earlier in 7.19 Krishna used it to describe those who after many lifetimes surrendered to him and in 8.15 also it was used for those who devote themselves to Krishna they come back to the spiritual world and they don’t return to this material world mam pitya punar janma dukha levish ashram naaptivanti mahatmana samsiddhim paramam gatha so there was the word Mahatma so this is the third use of the word Mahatma now the word Mahatma today is a social cultural political designation some national fighters they were given the title Mahatma and Prabhupada objected to that because he said that actually these words have certain meanings and if those meanings are not present then using them that way is inappropriate so now in a conversational sense if somebody is using the word Mahatma to refer to a particular say political leader now it’s not that we have to do a campaign against that if we are going for some independence day festival and there we are going to give a talk and somebody says ok so and so leader is the father of the nation he said no you should not use the word Mahatma now that may not be the forum for that there we will be asked to talk something about say the spiritual glory of India or whatever so it’s not that we have to make a campaign against this but we also want to clarify so when the forum is appropriate we should clarify ok this word has this particular meaning and using it in this way is appropriate and using it this way is not appropriate so you know this sort of we also have to understand when we are giving a message what is the central message that we want to give to people you know if we go for a programme do you want people to remember people want to remember as this person said that you should not call this leader as Mahatma is that the message is that the carry home message that we want to give to people no our carry home message is that we should chant Hare Krishna we should that we are not the body the soul the soul can be truly happy when the soul serves Krishna and as people understand this message they appreciate the coherence the depth of this message then they start becoming more and more open and then when we bring in these kind of points also then they become more appropriate they become acceptable to people because they have already developed some level of faith right way so Mahatmanastu Mahaparthu now how the soul how the soul we know the soul is extremely tiny it is very very tiny tiny soul why is such a tiny soul called as Mahatma why is it called Mahatma because actually the soul in terms of size the soul may be tiny but the soul has link with the greatest so Krishna is the greatest soul and the soul has link with the greatest soul and the soul has link with the greatest soul and the soul may not have become greater in size but the soul has become great in power great in influence not by becoming independently powerful or influential but by connecting with this person who is supremely powerful and supremely influential so the Anuatma becomes the Mahatma by taking shelter of the Vibhuvatma the Anuatma is the Jivatma the Vibhuvatma is the supreme lord Anu and Vibhuvatma are words which are used to contrast the position of the Jiva and Bhagwan Chetan Chetan is also using similar distinctive terminology the lord is Maya Adheesh and the Jiva is Maya Adheen so like that the terminology will be Anu so the Jiva is Anu, the lord is Vibhuvatma so the Anuatma becomes the Mahatma when the Anuatma takes shelter of the Vibhuvatma so that is what the word Mahatma refers to, Anu has taken shelter and so what does that refer to that means divine nature Ashwitaha, now the word Ashwitaha is significant this one was before that the word Ashwitaha was used for the people who are demoniac they are, they take shelter sorry, the people who are having misconceptions about Krishna they take shelter of the Rakshasimha so you have Prakritim Mohinim Shritaha so same word Shritaha and here Ashwitaha so as contrasted with those people so the contrast between the two is clear the contrast between the two is clear here it is Daivim Prakritim so Shritaha is there but what they are taking shelter of is quite radically different here they are taking shelter of Daivim Prakritim so what is this Daivim Prakritim, divine nature this actually refers to is an indirect reference to Radharani Radharani, the divine nature there is material nature and there is the spiritual nature, so here the spiritual nature is being referred to by Daivim Prakritim Daivim Prakritim means that that nature which is intimately connected with Krishna the word Daivi can be used in various contexts and depending on the context it can have different meanings so earlier the word Daivi has been referred to Maya also so in 7.14 Krishna has said that so what is the meaning over there actually the emphasis over there divine Daivi so the emphasis over there is when Krishna is using that word divine indeed is this potency which is made of the three modes and it is my potency which is very difficult to scale very difficult to overcome but if you surrender to me you will overcome it so when Krishna is using the word Daivi over there the point of using that word is to underscore that even this energy is not independent of me, it is my energy it is divine in the sense that it is acting under my will so it is actually as Krishna says in the next line Daivi is used in 7.14a and 7.14b Krishna is using it is my Maya it is my illusion, it is my so there when the word Daivi is used it is not used in the sense of internal then it is used in the sense of that it is connected with me normally we may not see this we see so many temptations in this world and so many agitations that happen in the mind because of those temptations so we may not think of those in terms of divine we may not think of this is there any connection with Krishna, actually it is taking me away from Krishna yes it is taking me away from Krishna no doubt but the way I will be able to come back to Krishna is by by resisting this potency but this potency is also Krishna’s potency so to resist this potency I should take shelter of Krishna so there the use of the word Daivi is primarily to emphasise the point that if we want to overcome this potency we cannot do it by our own effort we will have to take shelter of Krishna whereas here the word when Daivi is used Daivi Imprakriti Mahashwithaha if you look at the whole context it is talking about exalted people, Mahatmas there is no concept of the illusory energy over here so Daivi Imprakriti refers to divine nature this is the internal potency of the Lord so when we render devotional service we come out of the influence of Mahamaya and we come out of the influence of Yogamaya so Yogamaya is that which connects us with Krishna and Mahamaya is that which disconnects us with Krishna so what do the Mahatmas do they take shelter of this Daivi Imprakriti, this divine nature so Jiva Goswami Chakravarti Pada Bhaktan and Thakur they have analysed the concept of Smriti Radharani, Ladini Shakti Antaranga Shakti quite elaborately so actually I will just give a summary understanding here we are all parts of Krishna so Krishna has this pleasure giving potency that is called as Ladini Shakti now because we are all parts of Krishna we also have our pleasure giving potency but because we are Anu, our pleasure giving potency is also Anu it’s very time that’s why when we try to enjoy separate from Krishna we can enjoy but that enjoyment is time it is so so limited that’s how it is in contrast because Krishna is Vibhu his Ladini Shakti is also Vibhu and that’s why the happiness that comes by surrender to that Ladini Shakti or rather the happiness that comes for Krishna through his Ladini Shakti is unlimited so what is the Jiva going to do the Jiva tries to enjoy separate from Krishna you will get at least a little enjoyment but in the process the Jiva is likely to do bad karma and going to get into karma entanglement also so what the Jiva is going to do is connect with Krishna so the Jiva enjoys by connecting with Krishna then Krishna’s Ladini Shakti can give infinite happiness and that infinite happiness the Jiva also gets access to that and that’s how the Jiva becomes elevated that’s how the Jiva becomes purified and ultimately liberated it takes shelter of the divine nature now Prabhupada explains how the Mahatma doesn’t direct attention to anywhere else Krishna is talking about those who take shelter of him so in this verse he is talking about their internal characteristics, what are their conceptions how do we know about a person we know about a person by the actions and we can’t know we can’t see the conceptions but when the person talks and how the person lives if you want to know about ourselves we have our inner world that means our thoughts and we have our outer world that is our actions so when Krishna is describing the Mahatma in this verse he is describing their inner world their conceptions what are their conceptions yes they are fixed in worshipping Krishna and they don’t get deviated from that now these inner characteristics are also reflected in their outer actions so what are those outer actions that will be described in the next verse so in general Prabhupada used the word devotional service to translate bhakti into English so devotion is internal and service is external and both are together then that is actually authentic bhakti so in this in the previous verse 9.13 the devotional aspect is talked about and the 9.14 talks about the service aspect, the external aspect so the external naturally grows from the internal so what is described they are constantly glorifying me gathering with determination namah shanth is the offer of obeisances to how do they get bhakti bhakti and nitya yukta, they are constantly so actually the nitya part comes twice here it comes in the first line where it starts itself with satatam and then it comes in the last line in the word yukta and in this way upasate, they worship me so this is one of the important verses in the bhagavad gita which endorses kirtan so kirtan is glorification of the lord so kirtan can be done in various ways you can speak krishna katha, you can chant and dance in kirtans, you can even do japa all that comes in the broad category of kirtan it is glorification of the lord so as we discussed earlier the bhagavad gita doesn’t go into the details of various spiritual paths because for arjuna the point is not how to follow a path the point is which path to follow so he is in a culture where the different paths are known but he is undecided about which path to follow that’s why krishna doesn’t go too much into details of various paths so here these verses, verses like these are explicit references to the path of bhakti you will see in the 10th chapter also, in the chatushloka gita also it will come here satatam kirtayantam a very explicit verse which if somebody asks in the bhagavad gita where in the bhagavad gita is chanting of the holy names talked about so of course we will discuss in the 10th chapter also jagyanam japet gyon smi among the various kinds of sacrifices i am the sacrifice of gurunjapa so that is one voice you can quote but this is also a very powerful verse satatam kirtayantam it is talking about the word kirtan clearly and that also is used with the very strong describer strong prefix adjective that is satatam always glorifying me this is very similar to kirtaniya sadahariya kirtan is there and same sadah is there so these devotees are constantly glorifying krishna now this doesn’t necessarily have to mean that whatever it is ram ram ram some devotees they are having a conversation and in the middle of the conversation only they are chanting especially if you do that with new people it can be very irritable you have to understand that kirtan can be in various ways if you are discussing something serious with the devotees and something connected with service of krishna something connected with the management of various services or something like that that is also kirtan so in the final days of shloka prabhupada manifesting liya in this world shloka prabhupada would spend a lot of time with bhaktisarva damodar maharaj encouraging him to do scientific research and prabhupada would very strongly critique scientific misconceptions so when he would do that at that time what would happen when he would do like that actually different people would come different devotees would come and at different time they would do kirtans for him and bhaktisarva damodar maharaj would come occasionally and they would meet prabhupada and spend a lot of time together talking with him so at that time after prabhupada had been talking quite animatedly with bhaktisarva damodar maharaj for some time then prabhupada said tamang krishna maharaj said sorry tamang krishna maharaj was prabhupada’s personal servant in those days very intimate service he did at that time so he said prabhupada would you like to have some kirtan now he thought that prabhupada is using a lot of energy prabhupada will feel very weak and exhausted would you like to have kirtan what are we doing now you think we are doing reset sex now this is also kirtan so prabhupada of course wanted to drive home the point emphatically that discussions related to service of krishna are also kirtan so of course if you are always discussing practical things only ok we have to do this festival we have to do this programme we have to distribute these books if you are only doing management then although that is also related with krishna and that is also kirtan of krishna now we may not stay conscious that is called kirtan of krishna that’s why we also need on a regular basis to hear krishna katha that is directly krishna katha that means it can be the philosophy it can be the pastimes not connected with management so we need some time for that also but even when we are discussing practical things which are related to service of krishna that is also kirtan and prabhupada would say that actually the devotees in the krishna conscious movement they are constantly trying to serve krishna in various ways so the term kirtayantoma so we will discuss about multiple levels at which devotional service can be practised in the twelfth chapter but the point is that any form of glorification for krishna is kirtan and also the arrangement that need to be done so that krishna can be glorified that can also be a part of kirtan yatantash chudra devrataha so the devotees endeavours with great determination now if krishna is talking about a person who is ananya manaso that person the mind is not distracted to anything else then what is the need for dhruvdhavata now for us we need dhruvdhavata because our mind goes here, our mind goes there and we don’t feel like serving krishna so we have to use our determination i am going to serve krishna, come what may so our mind goes here and there and we bring it back and fix it with krishna so that is for us we need dhruvdhavata for that but why do the exalted devotees why do they need to do yatantash dhruvdhavata why do they have to endeavour with determination because that is the way love is expressed love means that we want to do wonderful things for the beloved and we want to do challenging things things which will please the beloved and which will involve challenges even if they involve challenges its not that the lover goes around searching for challenges lover focusses on the beloved wants to do whatever will please the beloved and for that if challenges are involved then lover will also accept that so we see prabhupada endeavours so much he is working so hard sometimes when we say that prabhupada is empowered that may blind us to the fact that prabhupada has to struggle a lot and one of the secrets of prabhupada’s success was that he was a tirelessly hard worker he slept for just a few hours at night and all day vigorously sharing krishna consciousness with others so if we want to do anything in the material world anything wonderful even if it is for krishna’s sake that doesn’t mean that this world will offer us a bed of roses we will do it easily krishna is ultimately mayadhyakshina prabhupada is in charge of this world but this world is also filled with people who are inimical to krishna and therefore even in service to krishna there will be obstacles so even the pure devotees they need determination because there are so many obstacles there are so many occasions when prabhupada could have just given up everything and said in the early days in his preaching he would go to the pier and see ok from here i can take a ship and go back to india if prabhupada had gone back like that at that time we would have stayed on in sensual life, sinful life ignorant of krishna so we are all eternally grateful to prabhupada that he was duravrata similarly we also have our obstacles in our spiritual life we also have to be duravrata actually it is significant to the extent we do kirtan enthusiastically to that extent we will have duravrata because the kirtan will give us a higher taste it will give us the experience of the reality and the beauty of krishna consciousness and that will inspire whatever obstacles are there, they are temporary and the soul and i want to attain the spiritual level of consciousness, let me endeavour so the kirtan will endeavour us to do duravrata and then namah shantashyamam bhaktya these people they offer obeisances so krishna described basically different forms of devotional service so kirtan is there namah shanta, namah shanta can be vandanam so namah shantashyamam bhaktya so among the nine limbs of devotional service krishna is describing, the word chya also comes which indicates that there are other forms of devotional service in this way nityukta upasate the previous verse is ananya manaso so externally the mind is not deviated and internally sorry, internally the mind is not deviated and externally one is constantly engaged tatam nitya and prabhupada talks about how a person is constantly engaged doing his activities right from morning to night and in this way the devotee keeps advancing steadily so krishna has described here from verses 9.11 to 14 11.12 he described those who defy, misunderstand him and take shelter of the demoniac nature and then those who take shelter of the divine nature and with internal focus only on krishna, they are externally engaged constantly in the service of krishna talking about these two spectrum there are a number of people who lie in between these two extremes krishna will talk about them in the next verse we will continue that in the next class, thank you very much