Bhakti Shastri (100) – Bhagavad Gita Chapter 09 Text 15 to 21

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Hare krishna welcome back to our bhagavad gita bhakti shastri course we are in 9th chapter we discussed the two extremes in the previous verse those who misunderstand krishna, the mayavadis 9.11 and 12 and those who understand krishna properly and surrender to him with love that is now in between these two there is a spectrum of other people and krishna will talk about them in 9.15 and elaborate about them in the subsequent verses so lets look at 9.15 so krishna is still here others worship him through knowledge gyanayagyena chaapi anye others worship him through gyanayagya yajanto mam upasate krishna is acknowledging that they worship him and how do they do it? ekatvena ekatvena means through oneness pruthaktvena bahudha that the supreme lord manifests in many forms and then bahudha and then vishvatomukham as the universal form so now actually this verse will be a seed for a lot of discussion so what are these three referring to? the ekatvena refers to the those who have the conception of oneness and they are here krishna is referring to them as brahmavadis the mayavadis have already been talked about in 9.11 and 12 so this will be addressed briefly by krishna and this ekatvena will be elaborated again in the 12th chapter when arjuna asks the questions among the personalists and impersonalists who are better? and then pruthaktvena bahudha that refers to those who worship the devatas and of course there can be any god worshipped with different conceptions and we will discuss that but that concept of pruthaktvena bahudha means that there are many pruthak is different and bahudha is many that there are many manifestations of the divine and we can worship different manifestations that conception when people have that krishna will elaborate in this chapter itself starting from verse 20 onwards till verse 28 where he will contrast demigod worship with pure devotional service and then vishvatomukham vishvatomukham refers to the idea of the vishwa being the mukha and the rupa of the lord that is the universal form so that will be mentioned briefly from verses 16 to 19 in this chapter and then later on it will be elaborated again in the 11th chapter and just prior to this in 13-14 verses what krishna had talked about pure devotional service krishna will talk about this towards the end of this chapter 9.29 to 34 and then he will talk about in the 10th chapter also till 10.11 after which arjuna will ask a question about vibhuti yoga and krishna will answer that question so this is the overview of this verse is central to understanding the subsequent flow of the gita so here pruthakta and bahudha is elaborated immediately after that in the next section of this chapter vishvatomukham is elaborated in the next section pruthakta and bahudha is elaborated in the next section so 16 to 19 will elaborate vishvatomukham 20 to 28 will elaborate on pruthakta and bahudha first universal form is talked about then demigod worship is talked about and then this same vishvatomukham will be talked about again in the 11th chapter and ekatvena will be talked about in the 12th chapter so what are these three conceptions see when people want to be god conscious its not suddenly they start thinking about god their conceptions evolve gradually so here what are the three conceptions so one may think of around me i see this universe its so great when i think about this universe is so great then i start thinking that oh oh oh that this universe itself is sacred this universe itself is divine and this can be a form of pantheism pantheism means the idea that everything is god so one may start worshipping the universe itself as god and one may visualise different aspects of the universe as parts of the absolute truth so here the concept is that bigness is associated with greatness and greatness is associated with god so god is the greatest therefore he must be the biggest the biggest thing that we see in the world is the universe so therefore the sun and the moon are the eyes are the eyes of absolute truth the mountains are the bones of the absolute truth these sort of conceptions are talked about and that’s what the meditation is and of course there are certain sacrifices also which are performed in vishwaroopasana that we’ll discuss in the next part next few verses but the point here is that in the vastness and the pervasiveness of the universe one conceives of the absolute truth then pruthaktena bahudha is the idea that yes okay this universe is vast and sacred in one sense but ultimately the universe is temporary so one’s consciousness evolves further and one thinks that actually beyond this there is some reality and or rather beyond this there are some beings that are manifested so who are controlling the various aspects of the universe so pruthaktena bahudha refers to yes there is some ultimate reality and that ultimate reality is manifesting as the various controllers now how it is manifesting as the various controllers that may not be clear but one sees the rains and one thinks there must be a controller for the rains one thinks about the sun and one thinks there must be a controller for the sun so in this way one starts thinking that there are so many awe-inspiring features in nature and they must require some controllers and one is not very clear but one thinks they must also be having some connection with the absolute truth this is how one comes to the concept of polytheism so from pantheism to polytheism pantheism is the idea that everything is god polytheism is that there are many gods so pruthaktena bahudha and then after that one starts thinking that actually you know everything in the material world is temporary there must be some reality which is ultimately eternal and one starts thinking I also have longing for eternity and beyond the changes of this world there must be some unchanging substratum and I and that unchanging substratum are the same that’s how one comes to the conception of spiritual oneness and that’s ekatvena so bahudha vishwato vishwato mukham is the idea that the universal form is to be worshipped and the idea is at the various manifestations of the absolute truth that the controllers universal controllers are to be worshipped and after that beyond this is the spiritual reality and I am one with that spiritual reality so ekatvena one worships them now Vishwanath Chakrathakur explains that this hierarchy progresses from downwards to upwards that vishwato mukham is the lowest then pruthaktvena bahudha is intermediate and ekatvena is highest. Why? because the conception is moving from material towards spiritual first one is basically thinking of material bigness in terms of size and after that one is thinking of the controllers, one is thinking about consciousness and then after that one is thinking about the spiritual consciousness in the form of the oneness that lies beyond and below matter, not below below in terms of underlying matter unifying matter, controlling matter so in that sense this is the evolution of thought.
Narsila Prabhupada explains it oppositely look at this so when let’s understand this once again vishwaroopapasana when it happens this is vishwato mukham so in vishwaroopapasana what happens the vishwaroop the aspects of the universal form are used as material meditational tools to reach the absolute truth so one conceives the absolute truth in terms of the bigness of the universe. We will discuss about vishwaroop a little later now this pruthaktvena bahudha, the various manifestations now different people can do it in different way but one particular way might be as pratikapasana pratikapasana that means that one considers the demigods as symbols of brahman as pratik as representative as symbols of brahman and worship the demigod accordingly ekatvena what is mentioned over here is ahangropasana one worships oneself thinking of oneself as the absolute truth those who are like this are not mayavadis because they don’t offend krishna’s form that is something very important to understand that these ahangropasakas they may conceive of themselves as one of the absolute truth but conceiving of oneself as one of the absolute truth is in and of itself not mayavad and it is not necessarily always offensive what makes mayavad offensive is the notion that krishna’s form is material krishna’s form is illusory krishna’s form is false and that one has to go beyond krishna’s form that notion is what is offensive and that is the notion that one needs to go beyond one needs to give up the idea that one has to go beyond krishna’s form to some higher reality is offensive conception so this is the ahangropasakas and then beyond that after that there is another way of looking at this which shila prabhupada uses so i will explain the hierarchy now of these three so from the philosophical perspective so to explain the different perspectives lets look at it from the perspective philosophical perspective the mayavadis can be said to be better than the karmis why is that? because the karmis are engaged in sense gratification but the mayavadis are detached from sense gratification so if we consider from the perspective of the level of philosophical insight the mayavadis have understood to some extent that this material world cannot provide happiness so they have we could say in one way a greater philosophical insight so many of the mayavadis may be renunciates, they may be learned in scripture and they are pursuing the absolute truth so from the philosophical perspective they may be philosophically more sophisticated, philosophically more insightful than the karmis, so in that sense mayavadis may also live life in goodness so when they lead life in goodness when they lead life in goodness then karmis will be living life in passion also so in that sense from that perspective we could say the mayavadis are more evolved but then this is the one perspective but the other perspective is the devotional perspective in the devotional perspective one’s position is not determined so much by where one is but by what one’s attitude towards Krishna is so that means if one is blasphemous of Krishna one is offensive towards Krishna then in that sense the mayavadis actually the karmis may become better than the mayavadis why? because the karmis have a greater chance of coming closer to Krishna because they are not offensive towards Krishna the mayavadis have a greater chance of coming closer towards Krishna because they don’t have good chance because they are offensive to Krishna in fact what they think is they can’t come closer to Krishna because their goal is to go beyond Krishna so because of their offensiveness for them to make devotional advancement is generally difficult that’s why we have to consider these two different perspectives so same way when we consider these two different perspectives what Srila Prabhupada explains is that the ahamgropasana, so these three hierarchy level which which Chakravarti Pada has explained that the vishwaroopasakas are the lower then there is a puthaktvena bhavda and there is ahamgropasana so this is with respect to say philosophical understanding do one understand that there is a spiritual reality and that spiritual reality should be worshipped so from the conception of one’s capacity to conceive of the absolute truth in terms of eternal existence and spiritual existence the ekatvena is higher but then if you turn it around look at it from the devotional perspective and the conception of worship is most prominent in vishwaroopapasana and least prominent in ahamgropasana why? because if I am worshipping myself then actually it’s it’s a paradox of terms it’s a sort of self contradiction, what do you mean by that? I worship myself, if I say I am my own god and I worship myself, it’s not, it’s quite antithesis of devotion so it’s not very theistic evolved or devotionally conducive conception, so higher than that is the conception of puthaktvena bhavda oh there are various devatas and they should be worshipped so but higher than that is the conception of there is one absolute truth and that absolute truth is manifesting in vishwaroopa and I should worship that so the concept of worship which is conducive to devotion is most prominent in vishwaroopapasana and least prominent in ahamgropasana and that’s why from that perspective when Srila Prabhupada explains this hierarchy, he focusses on the devotional perspective throughout his purports because devotional service is the ultimate conclusion of the bhagavad-gita as we will see in its progression it’s especially clear in 18.66 sarva-dharman parityajyamami kamsaranam vraja so here by focussing on the devotional perspective where worship is critically important and for that the conception of the difference between worship and worshipper are important, so ahamgropasana is the lowest and then there is vishwaroopapasana and then there is prathaktve there is vishwaroopapasana so let’s look at Srila Prabhupada’s purport which explains things from this perspective so Prabhupada explains here that out of the three, the lowest, those who worship themselves as supreme lord, thinking themselves to be monist are most predominant this is a widespread conception today also such people think themselves to be the supreme lord and in this mentality they worship themselves this is also a type of god worship for they can understand that they are not the material body but are actually spiritual soul at least such a sense is prominent so here what Srila Prabhupada is saying is that this is also a type of god worship it’s important that that means ahamgropasana because it also involves some kind of upasana, it involves a conception of eternal existence it involves the conception of worship, so it is also a type of god worship, so you know this is clearly not referring to mayavada, this is referring to something different and it’s one type of brahmavada so now let’s look at vishwaroopapasana which is described from the next set of verses, 16th verse onwards let’s look at it, so Krishna explains in the next verses, what he has talked about in 4.24, he will give more world understanding of this in 9.16 let’s look at it aham kratur aham yajna swadhaham aham aushadham mantraoham ahame vaajyam aham agnir aham hutam so aham kratur aham yajna aham kratur so here actually Krishna is talking about the various elements of the sacrifice, he says I am the vedic ritual I am the yajna, so kratu refers to the vedic ritual yajna refers to the purani ritual, smriti sacrifice that means there are sacrifices which are mentioned in different scriptures and accordingly the scriptures, whatever the sacrifices are mentioned, they sometimes have different technical names, so in a general non-technical sense we can say kratu refers to sacrifice, specifically kratu refers to sacrifice mentioned in the vedas the four vedas and yajna refers to sacrifice mentioned in smriti scriptures Krishna is saying I am both the sacrifices svadhaham I am what is offered in it oblation, then I am the healing herb svadhaham aham aushadham mantraoham whatever the mantra that is chanted, I am that mantra aham evajyam so when the melted part of the ghee is offered, that is also I am aham agnir aham hutam I am the fire, so basically Krishna is helping us to see that when we perform a fire sacrifice it is not just some material elements interacting, it is actually ultimately a manifestation of the absolute truth now we will see the evolution of thought in the bhagavad gita in 4.24 what had happened was all the elements of the sacrifice were identified with brahma, what was 4.24 brahmaarpanam brahmavir brahmaagno brahmanahutam brahmaiva dena gantavyam brahma karma samadhinah so there it was described that all the elements of the sacrifice are brahma, but here what is described it is accepted, but here the thought is taken further and is said that actually it is aham all of it, I am that aham kraturham yajnah I am all this, so what is the point over there, that when the nishkama karma yogi is performing sacrifices at that time nishkama karma yogi doesn’t know what is that absolute truth but as one moves forwards, one starts understanding what that absolute truth is so here, when a person is a devotee, from the devotional perspective, it is clear that ultimately all the elements of the yajna are manifestation of Bhagwan Shri Krishna of Krishna himself, so Krishna makes it very clear, aham kraturham yajna so what was mentioned there in terms of the seekers level at that time as brahma, is now clearly specified as aham this is how the thought of the Bhagavad Gita is progressive and it is revealing the same concepts in a more Krishna centred way, now Krishna explains how he pervades all aspects of existence so pitaham asya jagato mata dhata pitamaha vedhyam pavitram aankara, riksam yajur devacham so pitaham asya jagato that I am the father of this whole universe, of all living beings in this universe and not only I am the father mata dhata pitamaha I am the mother I am the sustainer and I am the grandfather also vedhyam pavitram aankara so vedhyam, ultimately all the objective knowledge that we have it is ultimately he, vedhyam pavitram aankara so I am the aankara, the sacred sound, syllable and the proposal is that I am pavitram so whatever purifies us, that is also Krishna only and then riksam yajur devacham and I am also the Vedas so what is the point over here, what is the connection with what has been going on, actually the point is, in Vishwaroopapasana one starts conceiving of everything in the universe as ultimately connected with and manifesting the absolute truth so here also same point is made, pitaham asya jagato that actually I am the father of all living beings, so in this world we have different supports, different inspirations, different shelters and Krishna is saying, I am all of them so I am the father, I am the mother I am the grandfather so now, is this to be taken literally? sometimes people have this conception that when some devotees start practising spiritual life sometimes their parents oppose so when the parents oppose, then the parents say, you should obey us, matru deva bhava pitru deva bhava so is Krishna supporting something similar over here that mother is God, father is God yes, the mother and father are God but in what sense is that statement matru deva bhava pitru deva a literal statement if it were, the mother and father are God, then you would have two Gods not one God and then if the mother wanted the son to become a doctor and the father wanted the son to become an engineer so which God is the son to follow the mother God or the father God and if the mother and father have a conflict in whose side is the son supposed to take do Gods have conflicts among themselves so the point is not to disrespect the parents obviously, the point is to recognise statements in their context the context is that actually, the mother and the father are manifestations of the absolute truth they in this world, there are many things which sustain us which help us which assist us in our onwards journey materially as well as spiritually so whoever has helped us in any way, we are grateful for that but at the same time we also recognise that there is something which is to be the ultimate reality so we are grateful to our parents but here the point that Krishna is making is that ultimately, whoever are the shelters in this world whatever is benefiting us it is ultimately a manifestation of Him it is He who is benefiting us through those things so it is He who is giving us shelter so it is Krishna who is giving us His love through these things it is Krishna who is giving us shelter, strength through the mother, through the father, through the grandfather it is He who is giving us knowledge, it is He who is purifying us, it is He who has given us the Vedas so in the sense that ultimately everything is coming from Him everything gets a potency from Him this verse is to be understood and we will see this concept repeated again in the 10th chapter in terms of Vibhuti at that time also we will discuss it further so here when Krishna is talking about this particular spiritual vision of the Vedic sacrifices the focus is on seeing everything as connected with Him so here Navashila Prabhupada’s purport might seem a little confusing Prabhupada says these living entities who appear to be our father, mother, etc. are nothing but Krishna so then Prabhupada says not only are our father and mother parts and parcel of Krishna but the creator grandfather, grandmother, etc.
are also Krishna actually any living entity being part and parcel of Krishna is Krishna so the point is Prabhupada is emphasising the philosophical principle of Achintya Veda the part is non-different from the whole because the part also is a manifestation of the whole part is qualitatively similar to the whole so in that sense every living entity is also Krishna so after describing this then Krishna will move forward and describe how again he emphasises the same principle in the next verse that whatever gives us shelter is ultimately He only Nidhanam Bheejam so here he explains Gatir Bharta Gati is the ultimate destination He is Bharta He is the maintainer then Prabhu He is the lord, He is the master Sakshi He is the indwelling witness He knows everything that we are doing Nivasaha He is the shelter where ultimately we are all residing Sharanam, He is the ultimate object of refuge and surrender for us Suhrut, He is our greatest friend Prabhava Pralaya Sthanam that actually when creation takes place it unfolds from Him when dissolution takes place Pralaya Sthanam, where it rests that sthan is ultimately Him only Nidhanam Bheejam Amvayam He is the resting place of everything and Bheejam Amvayam Bheejam Amvayam refers to He is the imperishable seed Krishna has talked about the concept of Bheejam Amvayam earlier also in the 7th chapter when he talked about how He is the essence of everything Bheejam Mam Sarvabhoothanam Viddhipartha Sanatanam so Bheeja Sanatana, we discussed the concept of imperishable seed, normally when a seed gives rise to a tree the seed no longer exists but Krishna is such that from Him so many living entities come from Mahavishnu so many universes come but Krishna remains as He is, Krishna never gets depleted so Bheeja Amvayam now from father also many sons can come but that doesn’t mean the father doesn’t get depleted the father is going to grow old, get deceased and eventually succumb to time but Krishna is Avvayam, so this is actually a verse which very wonderfully explains what is God how does it explain what is God these are we can have a definition of God in terms of He is the generator organiser, destroyer He is the source of everything He is the absolute truth but in terms of relationship with us and the things around us this is a very beautiful verse to meditate on the absolute truth in this world so many different people give us love, they may show kindness to us, they may grant us shelter, as devotees we feel grateful to whoever helps us and at the same time we also recognise that it is Krishna who is helping us through them when Shrila Prabhupada was on the Jaladhoota going to America, at that time he made a diary and the extracts of the diary are there in Lila Amrit and the diary has also been published in a separate book so there Prabhupada mentions that he is writing in his diary in the early days of his tour, before he got the heart attack so he says that in this food in this ship there is an abundant supply of vegetables and grains so that I can have vegetarian food although most of the sailors here are non-vegetarians but they have arranged for adequate stock of vegetables so Prabhupada had got some simple cereals for himself and he was planning to eat just that if there was no vegetarian food available Prabhupada was prepared for that so he is grateful and he is writing thanks to Lord Krishna for enlightening Sumati Murari from within her heart to make all these arrangements you see Prabhupada’s consciousness, now he knows this ship belongs to Sumati Murari and she has arranged it but Prabhupada is not just appreciating Sumati Murari, he is also appreciating Krishna now Krishna is in the heart of Sumati Murari and Krishna has given her the intelligence that this is a swami who is a vegetarian and he is going on our ship so we should arrange for some things properly so a devotee doesn’t just see Krishna and doesn’t just see material things at the material level but a devotee also sees things beyond the material level to the devotional level so Prabhupada is of course respectful and grateful to Sumati Murari for the help that he provided, she had provided but along with that he also saw the hand of Krishna over there that’s how as devotees when others help us we should be able to see both we should be able to see the hand of Krishna as well as the be grateful to whoever is helping us how we will be able to express that gratitude will vary from time to circumstance but the important point is we understand that whatever whoever is doing for us, it is ultimately Krishna who is doing for us through that person some people may say that when a devotee gets sick, then devotees go to doctor and do operation and doctor saves life, actually yes, we are grateful to doctor when doctor strives and helps to save a devotee’s life, at the same time we understand the ultimate decision maker is not the doctor, it is Krishna so we are grateful to the doctor but we are also grateful to Krishna for his help, in this way there is this multi-level understanding of how things are acting so then Krishna now continues to explain how the various universal manifestations are connected with him tapam yaha maham varsham nigrunami utsru jami cha amrutam chaiva mrityus cha sad asad chaaham arjuna tapam yaha so he says it is I who give hate aham varsham it is I who cause rains, what about rains? nigrunami utsru jami cha it is I who hold back rains and it is I who send forth rains amrutam chaiva mrityus cha he says I am immortality and I am death sad asad chaaham arjuna I am death and I am birth sad asad chaaham so what is the point being talked about over here? basically sad asad can mean matter and spirit it can mean cause and effect various places, the point here is again we see everything in the universe as connected with the absolute truth so even from the point of material science the sun is critical for existence and sun gives heat and light so without heat we would not be able to survive so Krishna says it is actually I who give the heat energy it is I who is manifesting as the heat energy and similarly we need water so it is Krishna who is providing water and Krishna is the only water now here Krishna is taking the conception into something broader so till now in the previous verse it was more in terms of positives I am the shelter, I am the well wisher I am the maintainer, I am the destination so we see God in the positives of the world but what about the negatives in this world there are positives as well as negatives so what about the negatives so we may say when rains come it is good but when rains don’t come we may say that is bad so if the rains coming is due to God’s will then is the rains not coming also by God’s will so here the point which you have to understand is that God is neutral that is Krishna has talked about already in 9.9 that whatever creation maintains destruction happens, he is like a judge overseeing but not having an emotional agenda against anyone he is detached, unbiased, neutral but the point is we see the positive and the negative both as manifestations of the power of the absolute truth so when rains come heavily and there are huge floods when we want to use some water, we may use a hose and we can discharge some amount of water, if there is a big fire then we may get a big hose and a fire brigade company might have big big hoses like this to discharge large quantities of water but who can discharge as much water as the rains can when there are torrential rains, the sheer amount of water that comes down and it floods the area is amazing so in the context it may have a destructive result but the point is when you see it as a display of power then it is awesome so a devotee learns to see God in both the positives and the negatives of the world we know that Prabhupada when he was in Calcutta and at that time the bombs were falling, the Japanese were bombing Calcutta because they wanted to attack from the east and conquer India so at that time there were bomb shelters made and all the people started going and staying in the bomb shelters and Prabhupada Prabhupada decided to refuse to go and Prabhupada wanted to do worship of his deities so he was making kachoris and offering the kachoris to deities and he was thinking when the bombs were falling, he would hear the bombs falling and he says, this is also Krishna coming this is also Krishna coming but then Prabhupada says this is not a very pleasant form of Krishna so devotees see Krishna in everything but at the same time a devotee also recognises the material level certain manifestations of Krishna are positive certain manifestations are negative now when we say Krishna is coming, what does it mean? is it that Krishna is on the side of the Japanese and Krishna is against the Indians and the Britishers and Krishna is destroying them through the bombs? No Krishna doesn’t have any specific agenda in such situations the point is the destructive force the sheer destructive force and the arrival of death. Death ultimately is the greatest conqueror in the world a person may become very powerful very strong but when death comes attack! In one sweeping blow that person and everything that person has cherished is knocked down so in that sense death is very powerful so the sheer power of death overpowers the power of the most powerful conqueror in the world and that power of death is the manifestation of Krishna so one is able to see that also so when we talk about Amritam chaiva mrityuscha that it is Krishna who gives us immortality it is Krishna who comes as mortality. It’s contrasting, isn’t it? How can the same God be immortality and mortality also? So actually Krishna comes and descends and gives his message and displays his pastimes so that we can attain immortality so he exists in mortality he exists immortally and he invites us to exist at the level of immortality in spiritual existence and devotion to him but for those who choose otherwise then he appears as death and he continues he oversees the continuation of their journey in the cycle of birth and death so in that sense Krishna is both Amritam chaiva mrityuscha sad asachaham arjuna sad asachaham that I am the temporary and I am the material and I am the spiritual this has been elaborately and technically analysed by the various acharyas I will not go too much into that technical analysis here but suffice it to say Prabhupada simply translated this as I am matter and spirit so why matter and spirit specifically because we have talked about in 7.4 and 7.5 how matter and spirit are both energies of Krishna and then in 7.6 Krishna has said that whatever exists in mortal existence is essentially a combination of both and both come from him so whatever exists it is a combination of matter and spirit and ultimately for matter and spirit I am the that I am the beginning and I am the end I am the sustenance also so in that sense Krishna is helping us to see everything that we find in the material manifestation positive and negative with a spiritual vision so here Krishna describes vishwaroopapasana whatever we see manifested in the universe how to see it connected with him so now Krishna is revealing something very important over here which is often not known to those who are doing vishwaroopapasana what is that? when the normal people do vishwaroopapasana they do not necessarily know that it is Krishna whom they are worshipping through the vishwaroop that’s why in the bhagavad tamil vishwaroopapasana is talked about it is talked about as the first step in God realisation and from that first step later steps will come so it is the first step because one starts thinking of God in terms of his greatness as manifested in the gigantic universal manifestation so but here Krishna is helping the vishwaroopasana upasak understand that actually all this is connected with me and all this is ultimately going to lead to me so I am the ultimate goal of all this so now Krishna will talk about the pratikopasakas those who worship the devatas so Krishna says they are also worshipping me but indirectly so so trai vidya trai vidya refers to three vedas Krishna just earlier referred to the riksham yajurevacham I am those three vedas so now trai vidyamam so now what do these vedas teach they actually teach the doing of karmakand rituals by which one can attain svarga trai vidyamam somapahaputapapa somapaha somapaha means those who drink soma, somarasa is one kind of amrita not exactly the same amrita as what was got from the churning of the milk ocean but this is a drink which is which is conducive to the attainment of svarga that means when the sacrifices are performed at that time then soma is also there as a part of sacrifice and by drinking that one gets punya so now in this world there is intoxication and when people drink, people take intoxication then what happens first of all a person who thinks that something intoxicating will make me happy is foolish and then when a person drinks that makes the person even more foolish so it’s like foolishness squared and what happens is it leads people into terrible tamoguna when people get drunk it’s like a temporary state of madness which people choose to undergo when a person becomes drunk at that time the person may speak incoherently may walk into a wall may sort of fall down by the side of the street may even drive over may drive a car crazily and run over somebody may do all sorts of terrible things if you observed carefully neutrally dispassionately you would see that a person who is drunk is non-different from a person who is mad so alcoholism is like temporary self-induced madness it’s a self-induced form of intensity not just self-induced self-chosen so one chooses it and then it comes upon oneself so often many alcoholics when they are not taking alcohol they are sober normal people but when the urge for alcohol comes they just become like a terribly different person so that is the effect of mental intoxication but here Krishna is talking about something entirely different so some people compare Soma and they say Soma is also similar to intoxicant even in Vedic rituals intoxicants were taken actually Soma is entirely different see normal alcohol and other intoxicants they take our consciousness down towards Tamoguna whereas Soma takes our consciousness upwards towards Sattva and actually it it is also very enjoyable it is also delicious and also stimulates the senses for enjoyment but it’s all within the framework of Dharma so Somapaputapapa that’s why what happens it is said these people they drink Somaputapapa they become purified of Papa Yajnerishtva they are actually worshipping me through Yajna Maam word is important they are worshipping me through Yajnerishtva Maam was in the first line Yajnerishtva and what is their goal so to go to go to Swarga one has to acquire adequate Punya so Swargatim Prarthayante so by doing this Yajna by drinking the Soma as a part of the sacrifice one is Prarthayante is praying, aspiring for going to heaven Swargatim and then Te Punyama Sadya when they acquire adequate Punya then what happens Surayindralokam so then they attain Surayindra so Indra is referred to here as Surayindra the Indra of the King of the Gods that is Indraloka and there Ashnanthi Divyan they enjoy celestial delights so the word Divya can have different meanings based on the context see the word Divya when it is used in 4.9 there Divya refers to transcendental whereas here Divya refers to celestial now what is the difference between celestial and transcendental there are three levels of existence there is terrestrial, there is celestial and there is transcendental or we could say spiritual so terrestrial is earthly this is terraforma the ground terrestrial is that which is referred to that which is connected with the earth celestial is that which is connected with the higher level the skies, the higher levels of existence the heavens and then the spiritual or the transcendental refers not just to the higher material but that which is higher than matter itself it is not the higher material levels of existence but the higher than material levels of existence that we are talking about so therefore here Bhagavad Gita will lead us in the next verses we will see, Bhagavad Gita tells us don’t seek for higher material happiness seek higher than material happiness what is the difference seek higher material happiness means ok ok senses in this earthly matter system are not so attractive the people’s bodies are not so attractive in this world attraction is also very short lived but in the heavens people are far far more beautiful far far more handsome and they stay good looking also for a long time so I will go and enjoy over there however there also everything is temporary so we will see the verses will tell us that don’t seek higher material happiness seek higher than material happiness that means seek for that happiness which is higher than material which is ultimately spiritual happiness so here the word divyan refers to the higher material happiness it refers to celestial it doesn’t refer to spiritual dvideva bhogan dvideva bhogan dvideva bhogan refers to heavens so the word divi and bhumi are often contrasted in the vedic context divi is the heavenly and bhumi is the earthly dvideva bhogan dvideva bhogan is that which is enjoyed by devatas so here people are aspiring to go and enjoy in the heavens now krishna has talked about this karma kanda and going to heavens for enjoying earlier also in 2.42 and 43 and there he has said that people who want this are avipaschitaha so in 2.42 he has said that they are not very discriminating people but here krishna is now trying to give them the discriminating capacity by telling them that actually they are also worshipping me only but the problem is they are not worshipping me directly they are worshipping me indirectly through the manifestation of devatas and their desire is not to come to me their desire is to go to heavens so krishna is telling over here that even the karma kanda rituals are also worship of him but the problem is because it is not done in consciousness of him so it does not lead to the attainment of him so what happens for such people those who go to the heavenly planets they will go to the heavenly planets but afterwards what will happen as described in the next verse te tam bhoktva svarga lokam vishalam shine punne marty lokam vishanti evam trai dharma manu pravanna gatha gatham kama kama labhante so te tam bhoktva there enjoy they will enjoy svarga lokam vishalam and what they will enjoy is vishalam huge giant large amounts of happiness they will enjoy as compared to the earth what they enjoy is enormous but then shine punne the punne is getting exhausted and once the punne gets exhausted marty lokam vishanti they will come back to this earthly planetary system and in this way what happens so this is the specific destination of those people but overall what is the nature of this journey evam trai dharmam so in this way those who follow trai dharma trai dharmam refers to in the previous verse the word was used trai vidya somapaputapapa so trai vidya is that which is talked about in the three vedas so trai dharma can refer to the followers of the three vedas trai dharma can also refer to those who are doing dharma arthakama so they just get caught in dharma arthakama and they don’t aspire for moksha at all so these are three levels in the three purusharthas evam trai dharma manu prapanna so those who follow this gata gatam kama kama labhante so gata agatam that means birth and death so they just go on in this kama kama labhante so kama kama so kama kama is an interesting word which has come earlier also in the bhagavad gita so kama kama is desirer of desire desirer of enjoyment desirer of lust so those who desire sense enjoyment labhante so they will get, what do they get? gata gatam they continue on the cycle of birth and death so Krishna has told earlier in 2.72 na kama kami there he is samudra mapa pravishanti adbad kamayam pravishanti sarve shanti mapnoti na kama kami so who will get peace? one for whom desires come in like rivers come into the ocean but one doesn’t get disturbed by them that person will attain peace and not a person who is kama kami one who is a desirer of desires so gata gatam kama kama labhante so here Krishna is telling very carefully and very clearly that ultimately the whole system of demigod worship centred in karma kanda is futile it may lead to some temporary benefit in terms of enjoyment but actually for an intelligent person anything that gives a result that is less than eternal is less intelligent because we all want everlasting happiness and as long as we aspire for anything other than eternal happiness we are selling ourselves short we are cheating ourselves we are depriving ourselves we are underutilising our potential we are going for less than the best when the best is possible for us why should we go for less than the best sometimes the best may be if you want to take a new house and you want to take the best house now of course the best house may not be affordable for us the best house may in some way not be convenient for us but if we had a choice other factors if they could take care of themselves they would naturally go for the best so similarly Krishna is telling over here that you know we as souls have the capacity to go for the best and the future verses will reveal how that actually worshipping him and attaining eternity is not all that difficult it is not beyond our means Krishna will tell that it is not very easy as compared to this as compared to doing this big complex rituals worshipping him is much easier it is much much easier but here here Krishna will tell that but here the point is that those who get some punya and go to heaven they may get some results but ultimately those results are temporary and that’s why one shouldn’t get too elated now today most people may not believe so much strongly in heavens and may not aspire for heavens people when they people who are in Hindu culture when somebody dies they write below the photo Swarga Vasi, Kailash Vasi not so many people write Vaikunta Vasi but people write generally Swarga Vasi or Kailash Vasi but they write Swarga Vasi but just by writing Swarga Vasi it’s not that the person is going to go to Swarga so people may have that sentiment oh yes the person has gone to Swarga but the point is going to Swarga requires doing certain punya and when people don’t do punya they will not go to Swarga and even if they go to Swarga it is not that they are going to stay there forever so even Swarga Swarga is temporary and here Krishna is talking about a trajectory that is relatively rare in this world and it is few people who follow it but even that is futile that means the path of matrikan dharma of punya is ultimately futile because it keeps one in the cycle of birth and death so you see that actually whatever we get is a result of our past good karma and our past good karma is our past good karmic credits are like a bank account and if somebody is doing somebody has got some savings and then that person decides to go to a hill station and enjoy so then person when he is going to the hill station may be enjoying but what is happening the bank balance is decreasing with every day of enjoyment as the bank balance is decreasing decreasing decreasing decreasing what is going to happen at one particular point the bank balance will end and then the person will have to fall back to normal life where again the stress and the strain and the struggle for existence and the cut throat competition all that will come back so that is just a temporary escape whereas and that is not lasting so in contrast if somebody aspires for something that is lasting that is far more intelligent so like that a person may do some punya and go to swarga in swarga people don’t add to their punya credits swarga is a place where whatever punya one has acquired that is exhausted so it’s like somebody is in an ocean and we are in a part of ocean where things are very stormy and luka said that part of the ocean looks very peaceful you know i just swim to that area make a lot of efforts and i swim to that area now actually even if it is calm right now is any part of the ocean going to be permanently calm waves are going to come there and the waves are going to toss me over there also so trying to get a better material situation is not going to work because ultimately everything in this material world is temporary, it is going to shake sooner or later so even swarga is not eternal, somebody might seem to be in a very comfortable material situation very wealthy, very powerful very good looking there are business tycoons or sports stars or movie stars who are often the dream and the envy of most people but what a spiritually astute person sees is that all these people all of us are in the material ocean but somebody is seated on a huge iceberg now the iceberg may be cold but assume that the cold is not causing any discomfort but a person is safe from the waves and the turbulence but as the sun is rising the temperature is increasing the iceberg is melting melting melting melting and when the iceberg melts, this person who was sitting so comfortably suddenly finds I was sitting so comfortably falls into the ocean so like that all of us have some good karma because of which we are sitting in a comfortable situation but then at good karma any moment it may get exhausted, we may fall back into the material, miserable material existence and that’s what is going to happen to everyone sooner or later those who seem to be comfortable also those who go to heaven, it’s like that for them also they may temporarily in a comfortable situation but after that they are going to fall back so that’s why rather than trying for a comfortable material situation one should seek the comfort of the spiritual destination and that is what Krishna will talk about in the next verse and we will discuss that in our next class.
Thank you very much Hare Krishna