Bhakti Shastri (102) – Bhagavad Gita Chapter 09 Text 29 to 31

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Thank you very much. Hare Krishna. Hare Krishna.
Welcome back to our Bhagavad Gita Bhakti Shastri course. Now we are going to go to the last part of the ninth chapter. In this chapter, basically, Krishna first talks about his glory in terms of how he is the controller of the material world.
And then he moves on to focussing on pure devotional service, that is kevala bhakti. And he talks about different people, how they understand him differently, and what are the consequences of those different kinds of understandings. And then Krishna talks about primarily pure devotional service.
That’s what we will discuss in this section, 29 to 34. But before that, let’s have a quick overview of the thoughts that are going on in this verse, in the previous section, and how they are leading up to the glorification of kevala bhakti. So, from 20 to 24, what was happening? Verse 20 said, demigod worshippers also worship me.
That was the point. So, yagyairishtva, maama, they are worshipping me only. But, demigod worshippers, DGW, demigod worshippers, fall down and lose whatever they have gained.
That is the next verse. So, they are worshipping Krishna only, but because they are worshipping indirectly. So, that point will come explicitly more later.
In 22nd verse, those who worship me undistractedly never lose anything. Then a question may come up that if the demigod worshippers are also worshipping Krishna, then why the difference between what demigod worshippers get and what Krishna, what the pure devotees get, why this difference between demigod worshippers? When demigod worshippers are also worshipping you, that question is answered here. 23rd verse, demigod worship me, but in an authorised way, unauthorised way.
So, what exactly is that which is unauthorised? They don’t know me as the Supreme Yajna Bhokta and Prabhu. and then, then, that means depending on what people’s conceptions are, they will get the results. So, different worshippers get different destinations.
So, here, Krishna is slowly but surely taking points ahead and establishing the primacy of pure devotional service. Now, we will see that with respect to demigod worship, we will see that Srila Prabhupada, in general, within his con, did not encourage demigod worship. Even when Rupa Goswami says that a bhakta can do Ganesha puja, when Prabhupada, Prabhupada translated that in his nectar of devotion also, but when the devotee asked whether we should do Ganesha puja, Prabhupada said that, yes, Prabhupada gave him, if every month you give me a huge amount, something Prabhupada said.
The point was that Prabhupada did not want that sort of contamination to come in. So, if you look over the centuries, we will see different conceptions or different attitudes towards demigod worship. So, let us look at it and let us try to understand the context.
in the Mahabharata, we will see that Drupada worships Shiva, Arjuna worships Devi. You know when Drupada worships Shiva? Actually, there are many occasions when, actually to get Draupadi and Dhrishtadyumna as his son and daughter, daughter and son, Drupada worships Shiva. And, actually Arjuna does not exactly worship in terms of me accepting them as the supreme lord, but he also worships the devatas to get weapons from them.
He does tapasya to please Shiva. Then, just before the Kurukshetra war starts, then Krishna tells Arjuna that, you know, you should take the blessings of Devi. Because, she is the goddess in charge of maternal nature.
And with her blessings, you will attain success. Arjuna gets off his chariot and prays to Devi. And then when he prays to Devi, what happens? Devi appears and says, your victory is guaranteed because Keshava is with you.
Wherever he is, there will be victory, because he is the lord of the goddess of fortune. So, now, why is this kind of demigod worship talked about in the scriptures? It’s not that demigod worship is sinful or it is wrong. The point is, the book, every book has a particular focus.
So, the focus of the Mahabharata is primarily karma kanda. Although, it also talks about pure devotional service, but that is not its focus. Largely, it focusses on talking about not bhakti, but karma kanda.
And of course, the lord and his devotees, their pure reciprocation is also there within it. But that’s not the overall tone of the book. So, therefore, in karma kanda, worship of the demigods is talked about and that’s why it’s included in the Mahabharata.
Now, if we move on from 5000 years ago to around 1000 years ago, what do we see? We see Ramanujacharya. In Ramanujacharya’s times, he considered that it’s unchastity to worship the devatas. So, for example, in Chaitanya Charitamrta, the story based on one of the biographies of Ramanujacharya, that one night Ramanujacharya slept and, you know, it’s a long story, but basically what happened was that he was in Puri and he did not like the fact that the dresses of Jagannath, the starch had not been removed from them.
So, then he pointed it out to the pujaris, but lord Jagannath did not like this. His worshippers being, his pandas being just criticised like this. So, in his sleep only, lord Jagannath gave him a sort of blow.
And when Ramanujacharya woke up, he found himself not in Puri, but in some other place. And he found himself in a temple and he thought that the temple is a Shiva temple and it’s a Shiva linga. Thinking that how did I get there, he felt, he started fasting.
He said, no, no, how did I end up in a Shiva linga? But later on, he found it a skurma temple and a skurma kshetra. But the point is, the idea which the many Ramanujacharyas have today is also that just as a wife will serve her husband and not other people, not other men. Similarly, a worshipper should serve only the supreme lord and not other devatas.
So, Ramanujacharya discouraged it. What about Chaitanya Mahaprabhu? When he saw Chaitanya Mahaprabhu, he said, it’s okay. Chaitanya Mahaprabhu, when he would travel around, he would actually take, he would even go to Shiva temples.
For example, when he went to Puri, he went to the Bhuvaneshwar temple and there he danced in front of Lord Shiva. And in Murugai Gupta’s book, Chaitanya Charita, there is the description of Shiva Ashtakam, which Chaitanya Mahaprabhu had composed. And in this Shiva Ashtakam, Lord Chaitanya glorifies Lord Shiva as a great Vaishnava, as among the greatest Vaishnavas.
Chaitanya Mahaprabhu’s attitude was, yes, there is nothing wrong in worshipping the devatas if one understands that they are devotees. Now, there are other pastors who worshipped Chaitanya Mahaprabhu also, where he, when people were having incorrect understandings and they were doing improper worship, then Chaitanya Mahaprabhu strongly disapproved it. So, for example, when there was a Brahmin Gopal Chappal who tried to frame Srivasa Thakur as if Srivasa Thakur had been worshipping the goddess and he had the paraphernalia assembled, often the paraphernalia was centred around black magic and things like that.
Paramasic paraphernalia for her worship. So, when that was placed in front of the door of Srivasa Thakur and Gopal Chappal tried to frame Srivasa Thakur like that, then Chaitanya Mahaprabhu was very displeased and Gopal Chappal actually got leprosy as a consequence for his offences and Chaitanya Mahaprabhu of course forgave him when he begged forgiveness but after he had to suffer the consequences of that misdeed. So, the point is that Chaitanya Mahaprabhu he focused on pure devotional service but he did not reject the Vedic culture that was there.
He integrated that Vedic culture into a devotional context into the proper devotional understanding. So, it’s not that we consider Devatas to be competitors to Supreme Lord. In the Judeo-Christian tradition they have the conception that we are monotheistic whereas Hindus are polytheistic.
So, we Hindus worship only one God, we Christians worship only one God and even Islam is also aggressively monotheistic. So, they consider the Hindus to be polytheistic. Actually, the Vedic culture is not polytheistic.
The Vedic culture is monotheistic but there is multi-level monotheism. Multi-level monotheism means there is one absolute truth who manifests at different levels and in different ways and allows people to worship accordingly. Monotheism means there is one God.
Polytheism means there are many Gods. So, the word God especially in plural Gods when it is used in the Vedic context and when it is used in the context of the other religions have different meanings. For example, if we look at the history described in the Old Testament or even what is described in the Quran or in the associated literature around these religions Judaism, Christianity, Islam.
Whenever the ruling religion the ruling religious head would conquer a kingdom you know what the first thing that they would do is that they would go for example when Muhammad conquered Mecca after he came from Medina and conquered Mecca the first thing that he did was he bashed up he destroyed all the idols that were being worshipped over there. So, the idea was all false Gods have to be rejected and destroyed so that the glory of the true God can be established. So, their idea is that there is only one true God and all other Gods are false Gods.
What is the idea of false God? False God means they are imaginary and they are actually temptations they are actually manifestations of the devil. The devil wants to distract people away from God and these false Gods are manifestations of the devil they are created by the arrangement of the devil to distract people away from the true God. So, by destroying those false Gods we help in establishing the glory of the true God.
So, the Vedic culture doesn’t talk about false Gods and true Gods. It talks about God and demigods. Prabhupada used the word demigods for the word Devata.
So, God means the supreme being. Demi the word the prefix demi is like the prefix semi. It means partial like we have circle and semicircle.
So, God and demigod. So, demigod means those beings who have but the partial powers of God not the full power. So, there is one supreme being and the demigods have, they are more powerful than us but they don’t have as much power as the supreme being.
So, in today’s context the philosophical understanding is very unclear of people and people think that ok, all Gods are same, all Gods are manifesting the same Brahman and people do not understand this complex and accommodating system of multi-level monotheism. So, in order to avoid confusion, Srila Prabhupada said that at least within the Krishna consciousness movement those who are serious devotees should not worship any of the other devatas, they should focus on worship of Krishna and that is what the Bhagavad Gita is ultimately teaching and that is what the Bhagavatam and Chaitanya Charitam would ultimately teach. So, we will see that the devatas, the understanding is that they are the devotees of the Lord and if somebody is very attached to worshipping them then one can worship them with the understanding that they are the devotees.
But in general for those who are serious sadhakas, if one worships Lord Krishna then there is by worshipping him and everyone else is worshipped. There is no need to worship anyone else. That is the understanding.
So, let us move forward. Now, we will look at one more point over here that when I am going little deeper into demigod worship, there are these concepts of proper nouns and common nouns. So, Shiva for example is both a proper noun referring to the person Shiva and a common noun referring to the quality of auspiciousness.
So, what does it refer to over here? The point which I am raising over here is that sometimes in Vishnu Sahasranama, Shiva is also the name that is used to refer to Vishnu. Sarva, Sarva, Shiva, Sthanur, Bhuta, Dhir, Nidhira, Veya. So, Shiva is also used to refer to Vishnu.
So, why is it like that? What does it imply actually? So, actually Shiva can refer to a particular person or Shiva can refer to a particular quality and whoever has that quality can also be called as Shiva. So, when it is referring to a particular person, it will be called as a proper noun. When it is referring to the quality, then whoever has that quality can also be referred to as Shiva.
So, let us look at this point clearly. As a common noun, Shiva can refer to the quality of Vishnu who is Sarva Nama Vaan. Sarva Nama Vaan means all names ultimately refer to Vishnu.
That is how in Sanskrit, a proper noun. So, depending on whom we remember, that is what we will attain. So, if we worship Shiva, because when we are chanting the name of Shiva and if we are thinking of Lord Shiva, the specific person who holds a trishul in his hand as a snake around his head.
So, if we are referring to that particular person, then naturally when we are referring to that person, we will go to that person’s abode. So, if Shiva is chanted as a proper noun, Om Namah Shiva for example, then with a particular conception of a particular deity in mind, then one will go to the abode of that particular deity. But if one is primarily chanting the names of Lord Vishnu or Lord Krishna and within that one chants the name of Lord Shiva, so if Shiva is chanted as a common noun referring to Vishnu’s qualities, then it is a part of Bhakti Yoga that will take us back to Godhead.
If Shiva is chanted as a common noun, so this is a little technical concept, the concept of proper noun and common noun. But the point of this is that we have to understand that names have have implications. We have to understand those implications properly.
So let’s look at this. There are names and there are conceptions. So now when there is right name and right conception, that means one chants the name of Krishna and one has the so right name and right conception.
Once you understand Krishna as the supreme God, then one will go back to Godhead. So then on the other hand, if one chants the right name but has the wrong conception, there was this person Ramdas Vishwas who seemed to be a great devotee of Lord Ram. And he was constantly chanting the names of Lord Ram.
But while chanting the names of Lord Ram, he was having the conception that one day I will become Ram. So he was Gopal Bhatta Goswami and Chaitanya Mahaprabhu and when Chaitanya Mahaprabhu met both of them, Gopal Bhatta Goswami and Ramdas Vishwas Chaitanya Mahaprabhu and Ramdas Vishwas met both of them So when Chaitanya Mahaprabhu met both of them, Ramdas Vishwas met both and Ramdas Vishwas met both of them and Chaitanya Mahaprabhu met both and Ramdas Vishwas met both and Ramdas and Ramdas Vishwas met both Ramdas and Ramdas Vishwas met both of them Ramdas met both and Ramdas Vishwas met both and met both of them and Ramdas of them Ramdas met both of them and Ramdas met both of them and Ramdas met both of them and Ramdas met both of them met both of them and Ramdas met both of them and Ramdas met both of them of them and Ramdas met both of them and Ramdas met both and Ramdas people chant those names, actually that particular person is not God. So that person is not God and that person’s name is not God’s name.
So that means there’s a wrong name that is being referred to if that person’s name has been chanted and it’s chanted with the wrong conception. So wrong name and wrong conception cannot lead to the right results. So maugha ultimately will lead to futility.
So we are trying to understand here what are the different ways in which avidipurvakam can happen. So there are many ways in which it can happen. So let us look at the various ways in which people can understand demigod worship.
So what are the possible conceptions of demigod worship? So one is that the demigod is the absolute truth, that there is no difference between the demigod and a supreme lord. So so there’s a verse in the Purana which says that so if one considers the devatas to be equal to lord Vishnu, such a person is a pashundi. And such a person, the conception is completely rejected as wrong.
Now then currently then the populist popular Hindu idea today, Hindu karmakandya idea is what? Demigod is one among many gods with no one as supreme. That is the Hindu karmakandya idea. Which is also false because there has to be one supreme ultimately.
It’s not that all these gods are constantly, eternally fighting. Then there is demigod is a symbol of Brahman. That is what is talked about in prathaktven bahudha.
That means there is an impersonal absolute truth and from that absolute truth people can ascribe names and forms for the sake of concept, for the sake of what the Mayavadis call as convenient fiction, as a conceptual meditational tool. So you can ascribe whichever form you like and you can worship that form as your Ishtadevata and ultimately you will go beyond that form. So that is of course a complex misconception but the essential point is here if they are not offensive to the supreme lord then that’s not Mayavad.
If they are offensive to supreme lord then it becomes Mayavad. And then if the demigod is a representative and devotee of Krishna then that is included within the realm of devotional service itself. The gopis worship Katyayani so that they can get her blessings by which they hope to get the lord as their husband or Krishna as their husband.
So actually when the gopis worship Katyayani, we may wonder the gopis are considered to be topmost devotees and they know no one but Krishna then why would they worship Katyayani? The idea is that when a devotee is so intensely desirous of the lord, lord’s mercy, lord’s association then the devotee adopts any and every measure possible to gain the lord’s association. So the gopis, they are living in a particular culture where they are women in a society and they cannot just directly approach Krishna. At the same time they want to attain Krishna.
So within their cultural context how they demonstrate their intense desire? By doing the Katyayani vrata. So now Anandavan Champu by Kavi describes that actually the gopis who did this Katyayani vrata, Radharani was not among them. Radharani was a worshipper of lord Shiva.
She worshipped lord Shiva. So these were Padma and other sakhis who were unmarried and they worshipped Katyayani and eventually Krishna went and fulfilled their desires towards the end of the vrata when he took away their garments and then returned them. So actually that is not a dushana, that is a bhushana.
It’s not a contamination, it’s an ornament. Why? Because actually it demonstrates the intensity, the desperation, the absolute single-mindedness of their desire to attain the lord and their willingness to adopt any and every measure to gain the lord. So that is indicated by their worship of the devatas like the gopi worship of Katyayani.
So now this is not considered at all a contamination. So now Vishwanath Chatterjee makes a very interesting point about demigod worship. So he raises this question that actually everybody is worshipping Krishna.
So does all the worship go to Krishna? He says, yes, all worship goes to Krishna but all worshippers don’t go to Krishna. What is the difference between worship and worshippers? So he says that just as when water is offered into a river, the water itself will go to the ocean but that does not mean that the worshipper goes to the ocean. The person who offers the water goes to the ocean.
So there is that subhashita which says that ākāśātpatitaṁ doyaṁ tathā sāgaraṁ gacchati sarva-deva-namaskāraṁ acyutaṁ parijakṣati. Actually it reaches acyuta. So what they say that just as a drop of water falls from the ocean, from the sky, it ultimately reaches the ocean.
Similarly, whichever devatavan worships, ultimately that reaches Lord Keshava. It goes to Keshava. So actually this verse, it’s at a level of karmakānda and it’s essentially not inaccurate but it’s not completely accurate and it’s interpreted in a way that is definitely not accurate.
It’s not meant to say that actually all worship is the same level. Yes, all worship may ultimately reach Keshava but will the worshippers reach Keshava? No, because the worshippers will go where their conceptions are based and where their aspirations are driving them. So if somebody is worshipping Shiva, that person cannot go to that.
If somebody is worshipping Durga or somebody is worshipping Indra, that person cannot go to Vishnu and that is clearly brought about in 9.25. So 9.25a, yānti deva vratā devān. Those who worship the devatas, they go to the devatas. That is talking about worshipping in the mode of goodness.
Then pitṛn yānti pitṛ vṛtahā, those who worship the pitras go to the pitras. That is talking more or less about those in passion. Bhūtāni yānti bhūteja.
So those who worship the ghost and praise, that is tamasic worship, they will go according to that destination. And the D part of that verse is yānti madhyājinopimām, those who worship me will return to me. Now, let’s look at, this is a little technical point now.
We’ll go back to 9.27 to understand what is happening here. So 9.27 was that whatever a person, whatever you do, yad karoá¹£i yad aṣṇāsi, yad juhau siddhāsi yad tapasya sikaunteya, tat kuruá¹£vam dharpaṇam. So now at this point we have completed our discussion on having God worship and now we are looking at various levels of worship of Krishna, various levels of devotional service.
So here Krishna is telling that whatever you do, you offer it to me. So Vishnacharya Tagore explains in his commentary that what is the level of this bhakti? He says it is karma jñāna miÅ›ra pradhāni bhÅ«ta bhakti. So it’s a technical name, but we can try to understand, not very complicated.
So remember we discussed pradhāni bhūta. Pradhāni bhūta means the material component is more in that bhakti. So karma jñāna miśra pradhāni bhūta bhakti.
So let’s look at it. So why does he put it in this particular category? He explains several reasons for that. So it is not sakāma bhakti because there are no material desires.
Yad karoá¹£i yad aṣṇāsi, yad juhau siddhāsi, that verse does not talk about any material desires that are to be fulfilled by that worship. So it’s not sakāma. And it is not karma yoga.
He explains why? Because all activities are offered, not just the scripturally prescribed ones. What does this mean? It means that all activities are offered. So actually, in karma yoga, the focus is on offering the prescribed activities, not all activities.
Whereas in bhakti yoga, one offers all activities. Whatever one does, one tries to offer to the Supreme Lord. And it is not jñāna yoga, he explains further, because abundant appreciation of the Lord’s personal features is present.
It is not jñāna yoga. In jñāna yoga, one focusses more on the impersonal conception of the absolute truth and not the personal conception. So when appreciation of the Lord’s personal feature is present, then that is jñāna yoga.
That is not jñāna yoga. And then it is not kevala bhakti, because the actions are offered after performance, not before performance. So what does it mean? Actually, if you look at the progression of this verse, yad karoṣi raśnāsi yad juhau siddhāsi yad, that whatever one is doing, that means one is doing various things, tat kuruṣa.
So after doing the activity, tat kuruá¹£a, offer it to the Lord. So a higher level is that first one offers to the Lord and then does the activities. What does it mean first and after? Is it a matter just of timing? No, it is not a matter just of timing.
It is a matter also of attachment, of understanding. So if one is attached to the Supreme Lord, then one thinks first, okay, what will please the Lord and one will want to do that. On the other hand, if one is not all that attached to the Lord, then one is attached to what one wants to do.
So one will do what one wants to do and then offer that to the Lord. So in kevala bhakti, one is attached to the Lord and wants to do whatever will please the Lord. So therefore, this is not kevala bhakti.
And it is at one level lower. So Prabhupāda quotes from the Bhāgavatam here, 7.5.24, that Prabhupāda, sorry, Viṣṇācigadhākara quotes over here. This is the second part of the verse, famous verse, śravaṇaṁ kīrtanaṁ viṣṇo.
So that first part of the verse is what we normally quote and that describes the nine limbs of bhakti. So after describing those nine limbs, śravaṇaṁ kīrtanaṁ viṣṇo kīrtanaṁ viṣṇo. After describing them then, iti puṁsārpita-viṣṇu.
Iti, these activities, puṁsārpita-viṣṇu, when they are offered to Viṣṇu, bhaktiścena-valakṣaṇa, they are characterised as bhakti. So all these activities are directly connected with the Lord and they are done for the pleasure of the Lord. So Viṣṇujitākara gives often quite a bit of a technical classification in his verses and he emphasises through all these that actually ultimately it is the Supreme Lord who is to be worshipped, no one else.
So we have discussed this of earlier, there is pradhāni-bhūta-bhakti. So pradhāni-bhūta means mixture of bhakti and other processes with bhakti greater than 20%. So if it is karma-miśra-pradhāni-bhūta-bhakti means mixture of bhakti and other processes, bhakti greater than 20%, other part is karma.
So pradhāni-bhūta means bhakti more than 20%, whatever else might be there. So karma-miśra-pradhāni-bhūta means karma will be the remaining component. Karma-jñāna-miśra would mean that karma and jñāna both are there as components.
So now let us look at the overall flow of this chapter and try to understand how this chapter is describing the most confidential knowledge, how it is talking about the glories of bhakti in five distinct ways. We have discussed three of them till now and we will discuss the remaining two now after this. So in terms of destination, yogaká¹£ema-vahamyaham, that is 9.22, it alone gives the highest eternal destination.
Other forms of worship do not give eternal destination. In terms of possession, possession means what one owns. It does not need fancy material assets.
It does not need anything very fanciful. Patraṁ puṣpaṁ phalaṁ toyaṁ. And then devotional qualification, actually, yatkaroṣa-raśnāśi and śubhāśubha-phalaye revam, that indicate that it can be performed even by those who are not pure-hearted.
And then with respect to deviation, can redeem even if the performer sins. This is referring to occasional or incidental faults. This is apichet-sudrācāra and kṣipraṁ bhavata-dharmātmā, which we will discuss now.
And then in terms of material qualification, it can elevate, it can uplift, higher than what karma can’t elevate, those who are not qualified even for karma-mārga. So that means it removes the inherent faults of the people also. So we will discuss these two points once again, what this means.
The next verse will say that even those who are low-born can become elevated. So before we move on to that now, about the various ways in which bhakti can elevate, let’s look at what Krishna is telling now in the verses which build up to that. So first he says in 9.29, samoham sarva-bhuteshu na me dvesho sthi-napriyaha ye bhajan ki tumāṁ bhaktyā maite teá¹£hu jāpyaham samoham sarva-bhuteshu That actually, samoham, I am equal to all living beings.
na me dvesho sthi-napriyaha, that I am not envious of anyone, nor am I, nor is anyone specifically dear to me. But after describing this, Krishna says in the next part, ye bhajan ki tumāṁ bhaktyā, those who worship me, what happens to them? maite teṣhu jāpyaham, they are in me and I am in them. They are in me and I am in them.
It’s very… endearing declaration of a very intimate connection by the Lord. maite, they are in me, teá¹£hu jāpyaham, and I am in them. So the Lord, generally speaking, He in the Bhagavad Gita doesn’t talk about endearments like this too frequently.
So when He talks about it, it’s significant. So He’s telling that He is actually impartial. That’s what He tells in the first two parts, first lines, a and b, samoham sarva-bhuteshu, na me dvesho sthi-napriyaha, impartial.
And after that, He says, no, I am partial. ye bhajan ki tumāṁ bhaktyā, those who worship me, maite teṣhu jāpyaham, they are in me and I am in them. That means we are very intimately connected.
So this sort of description may seem contradictory, but it’s not contradictory. It depends on which level of the manifestation the Lord is being talked about. So samoham sarva-bhuteshu, this is referring to the Lord as a judge.
So as a judge, a person is not partial. Naturally, whatever a person is destined to get, whatever is entitled to get based on one’s actions, that person gets and the judge gives accordingly. So the judge is not partial.
samoham sarva-bhuteshu. But then ye bhajan ki tumāṁ bhaktyā, but those who worship me, what happens to them? Krishna says, I am partial. So that is the second, the c and d parts of this verse are referring to the Bhagavan aspect.
And the Bhagavan aspect is a very intimate aspect. It’s a very elevated and exalted manifestation of the Absolute Truth. And the Bhagavan aspect, what does he focus on? He focusses on the principle of pure devotional service.
And wherever he sees that, the Bhagavan aspect embraces that person. So Krishna is impartially partial. Now, how is it possible? Isn’t that oxymoron? Oxymoron means contradictory words brought together.
So how can somebody be impartially partial? So what it means essentially is that actually Krishna is partial, definitely he’s partial to his devotees. Prabhupada says that a charitable person may be charitable to all people, but then is naturally more affectionate to his own children. That is not considered a fault.
Similarly, it is not considered a fault that the Lord loves his devotees who are like his own children as compared to all other living beings who are also existing in existence. Now, actually all living beings are his children, but some are his obedient and loving children and others are his defiant and even hateful children. So the Lord offers his care to everyone, but the intimacy of the relationship is not possible for everyone.
So the Lord, that is possible for those who try to reconnect with God. So Krishna is impartially partial means that he is impartial in terms of opening the doors for everyone to receive the benefits of his partiality. I’ll repeat what I mean is Krishna is, how is Krishna impartially partial? He’s impartial in opening the doors to everyone for receiving and benefiting from his partiality.
So the point is that the Lord cares for everyone and he especially cares for those who love him. So that’s why this verse is a glimpse into the heart of the Lord. After describing in this verse, Subrahmanyan explains in the purport that the Lord in the living entity is eternally illiterate and when a living entity becomes inclined to the service of the Lord, he looks like gold.
The Lord is a diamond and so this combination is very nice. So just as a diamond in a jewel necklace or rather gold along with a diamond will look very nice, similarly, the devotee and the Lord look very nice. And Prabhupada says that without the principle of reciprocation, there is no personal philosophy possible.
So yes, there is a Lord and there is a devotee. So is Krishna partial or impartial? One way to understand it is that he is impartially partial. He is partial to his devotees but he allows everyone to become his devotees.
And in that sense, he is impartially partial because he is allowing everyone and everyone to become his devotees. And beyond that, he is also reciprocal. Krishna is specifically neither partial nor impartial.
He is reciprocal. Reciprocal means he allows those who wish to worship him to worship him accordingly and in whichever manifestation they want to worship him. So sometimes, now Prabhupada here quotes Sridhar Swami, here quotes Chakravarti Paths purport.
So the example is often given that the Lord is like a desire tree and whatever one wants from this desire tree, the Lord supplies. So Sridhar Swami gives the example of the Lord being like a desire tree. The desire tree gives us whatever we want.
But then Vishwanath Chakrathakurna’s commentary says that yes, this example is good to talk about the reciprocal nature of the Lord in terms of fulfilling our desires. But he says, the Lord is not just a desire fulfiller, the Lord is also a relationship builder. The Lord is actually a person who cares for those who come to Him.
So he says that if a person is going to a desire tree and asking for something, that person may get it. But that desire tree doesn’t become attached to that person. That desire tree doesn’t strive to protect that person on one’s own accord.
That desire tree doesn’t become the enemy of that person’s enemy. But the Lord does all this. The Pandavas, they were His devotees, they were attached to Him and the Lord also became attached to Him.
And then when the Pandavas are in danger, the Lord becomes their ally. Not just ally, He becomes their subordinate. He becomes their charioteer.
So in that sense, the Lord is much more than a desire tree. God doesn’t just give what we desire. The Lord gives much, much more.
And what is that much, much more? The Lord gives us the ultimate blessings by creating circumstances which enable us to develop love for Him. So now after describing this, Prabhupada points out that in the conclusion that devotional service to the Lord is not an activity of this material world. It is a part of the spiritual world where eternity, bliss and knowledge predominate.
That means this is a transcendental activity. This is a part of the spiritual world. And to the extent we situate ourselves in this activity, to the extent we also become situated in the spiritual world.
Now after describing this, then Krishna will talk about this extraordinary verse. So apichet su-durācāro, that even if somebody does durācār, ācār is action, durācār is bad action, su-durācāro is extremely bad action. So what happens? bhajate māṁ ananya-bhāk If while doing some sinful activity, that person continues to worship me determinately, bhajate māṁ ananya-bhāk What happens? sādhur eva samanta-vyah Such a person is considered to be a sādhu.
And samyag vyavasito hi sahā samyag vyavasito Such a person’s determination is well situated. So this seems to be quite a mysterious verse. Why mysterious? Because first of all, normally we would consider somebody as a sādhu to never do durācār.
Somebody is a sādhu. The word sādhu means good. So the idea of sādhu is a person whose behaviour is very good.
Sādhu will never be a durācārī. And we will normally say that if somebody is durācārī, that person is not a sādhu. But Krishna is saying even if that person is a terrible sādhu, in terms of terrible durācārī, su-durācāro still that person is considered to be a sādhu.
So normally we would consider such a person not to be sādhu, but a sādhu. Now sādhu means not at all saintly, not good. asādhu tÄ«vram So it’s described that asādhu tÄ«vram.
The mind is unsaintly, anti-saintly and tīvram, it is very strong. So normally we would consider that a person who is doing su-durācārī is not at all a devotee, is not at all sādhu. But Krishna is saying even if such a person is su-durācārī, that person should be considered to be sādhur eva samantave, should be considered to be a sādhu.
And bhajate mām anya bhāk, such a person, if a person is worshipping me undeviatingly, now we wonder actually if that person is himself going through a difficult situation in terms of battling with the conditionings and succumbing to the conditionings because of which one is doing dur-durācārī, and the question comes along, how would such a person be able to do ananya bhāg bhakti? Say somebody is falling away, somebody is doing su-durācārī, that means that person is falling away from the path of bhakti, somebody is falling away from the path of bhakti, and that person is durācārī, that person is durācārī, then that person, how can that person be ananya bhāg? So, actually different ācāryas resolve this in different ways. The standard resolution following Śrīdhar Swami is that the ananya bhāg primarily refers to no other object of worship. That means that person may not necessarily be acting as pure devotional service in terms of unbreakable devotional service.
It’s not that the person is 24 hours practising devotional service, but ananya bhāg here refers to that person doesn’t deviate from the path of bhakti and doesn’t seem to doubt that actually this is the absolute truth, that Lord Krishna is the absolute truth, that person accepts that, but one thing is one is just not able to maintain steady worship of that absolute truth. So, such a person should be considered a sādhu, Krishna says. So, that means that person stays fixed in the worship of Krishna or in any other manifestations like Vishnu, Ram and others, and while staying fixed in that worship, that person may not be able to follow the requisite standards for practise.
So, either way, the emphasis of this verse is what? That considers a person to be sādhu. Now, let’s look at the implications. The implications of this verse are quite interesting and there are a whole range of explanations.
There is a conservative explanation and then there is a liberal explanation, the accommodating explanation. Let’s look of all of them, look at all of them. So, Jiva Goswami essentially says that this is a rhetorical statement.
So, rhetorical statement means, so as I mentioned, Sridhar Swami mentioned that ananya bhāg means doesn’t go to any other deity. Similarly, the devotees don’t go to any other process. That means devotees don’t think, oh, by last time back to bhakti yoga, I fell away from my principles, so therefore bhakti yoga doesn’t work.
I have to practise some other yoga. The devotee doesn’t think like that. The devotee is fixed.
And then, Jiva Goswami says that this is a hypothetical glorification to highlight a particular glory. What is the particular glory? That is that, so even if a person falls away, that means that even if that happens, I am ready. So, the point of this statement is not that it should happen.
I don’t want it to happen and I want her to be ready. Sorry, I want the Lord. Actually, the point here is that the devotee, when he is trying to worship the Lord, at that time, the devotee is continuously and clearly fixed on the worship of the Lord and the devotee never falls away.
But in terms of leaving the worship of the Lord, so Jiva Goswami is saying it’s a hypothetical glorification. The essential point of the verse is that, actually, it’s to make a point that the process of devotion is so great that even if a person commits a grievous wrongdoing, still that person remains saintly. So, it’s a hypothetical glorification.
Just like there is the verse, So, yeah, the Lord is saying, I don’t reside in Vaikuntha, I don’t reside in the heart of the devotees. I reside where my Lord, where my glories are being praised by my devotees. What does this mean? Simply means that, actually, the Lord is indeed present in Vaikuntha, the Lord is indeed present in the heart of the yogis, but that Lord who is not accessible in those places, that Lord becomes accessible in the places where the Lord is being glorified, where talks are being given, where kirtans are being sung, where meditation, mantra meditation is being done.
At that type of places, the Lord becomes accessible. So, the point of this verse is that it’s hypothetical. Now, there is a whole school of philosophy called as antinomianism.
Antinomianism is that certain Christian branches which were antinomianist. That means their idea is that because Jesus has died for our sins, because of that, now we are free from all sins. So, we don’t have any obligation to follow any moral principles because whatever sins we might commit, actually Jesus has, through his own blood, paid for all those sins also.
So, there is no way in which this kind of philosophy can be accepted within the devotional path. No. Actually, the devotion can ultimately free one, aham tvam sarva-papebhyo moksheshyami.
But that will happen when vandas maham ekam saranam vraja, vandas sarva-dharmam antarityajyam. So, when we surrender everything else, all the conceptions of living, and focus on the conception of living of parabhakti, centred around love for Krishna and love for all his children, then Krishna frees us from our sinful reactions. So, this doesn’t mean that Krishna allows us to continue our sinful actions for all time to come.
No. A serious devotee has to practise the regulative principles and by practising the regulative principles, has to give up sinful activities. So, if the devotee is not able to give sinful activities, then that devotee is not considered a very advanced devotee, Prabhupada explains in the Parbhupada.
So, the Krishna conscious philosophy is definitely not antinomian. It does not justify any kind of wrongdoing, just because it is being done by a Krishna devotee. Even devotees also have to follow traffic rules.
Devotees also have to follow the laws of the state. Devotees also have to follow other things, other principles which may be given in the scriptures. So, Prabhupada, when he was asked, how are my devotee disciples known? He did not say they are always chanting Hare Krishna, they are wearing tilak, they are wearing dhoti kurta.
He said they are perfect gentlemen. Perfect gentlemen means that they are actually having exemplary character. So, certainly, if somebody is just casually and nonchalantly breaking rules, because one is a devotee, breaking moral codes, breaking legal rules, such a person will not be considered at all a serious devotee.
And that kind of misusage is very unfortunate. So, that should not happen. When Bhaktivinoda Thakur was there in Bengal, at that time, many people, many Gaudiya Vaishnavas had this antinomian type of idea that because only we are so powerful, if we chant Hare Krishna, then whatever wrongdoing we do, it does not matter.
That is why, at that time, many Bengalis, if you came from the market, you would see that, the Bengalis would come, in one hand, on the forehead will be tilak, in one hand will be weed bag, other hand will be machi, fishes. Fish, so they would want to eat the fish. So, now, actually speaking, that is not at all compatible with the principles of those who aspire for pure devotional service.
So, their idea was that because we are meat eaters, because we are coast dwellers, we have to eat meat and eat. And therefore, we will eat meat and you can avoid meat if you want. So, Prabhupada was ready for that attitude.
And he responded to that by saying that actually, focus on the principle of compassion. That actually, the principle of compassion means that how can we kill other children of God and claim to love God? So, devotion does not free one from moral responsibility. One has to be morally responsible also.
Now, let us now look at another commentary of this verse. This is somewhat rasic commentary. So, Bhaktivinoda Thakura, as I mentioned, has written two commentaries.
Gita Bhushan is commentary on the book Gita Bhushan, which is the commentary of Gawande Vidya Bhushan in Bhagavad Gita. On Gita Bhushan, Bhaktivinoda Thakura has written a sub-commentary that is called as Vidvatranjan. And Vishwanathji Thakura’s commentary is called Sararth Varshini.
And on that, Bhaktivinoda Thakura has written a commentary called Rasic Ranjan. So, what is Bhaktivinoda Thakura’s explanation of this verse? So, he explains that he is talking about three levels. That somebody is doing Sudhurachara.
And if somebody is doing Sudhurachara, that is actually a very low level. And somebody is doing Bhashitema Mananya Bhaga. So, if we could talk about, you know, we could talk about a karma, karma, and vikarma.
So, Apichet Sudhurachara, one who is doing Sudhurachara, that is a person who is doing vikarma. And Bhashitema Mananya Bhaga, one who is doing actually one point of devotion, that is a person who is doing karma. So, then third line is saying, Sadhureva Samanya… Second line itself says, Apichet Sudhuracharo, Bhashitema Mananya Bhaga, Sadhureva Samanya… Such persons would be considered sadhus.
Now, Bhaktivinoda Thakura takes this in the next verse. So, let us look at the next verse before we can understand his commentary properly. Kshipram bhavati dharmatma, Shashvachyantim nigachyati kaunteya pratijani, Name bhaktah pranashyati… And this verse says, Kshipram bhavati dharmatma, Kshipram, Kshipram means quickly, becomes dharmatma, becomes a religious person, righteous.
Shashvachyantim nigachyati, such a person will quickly attain peace. And then, Kaunteya pratijani, O Arjuna, declare, Name bhaktah pranashyati, My devotee will never perish. So, let us focus on the first part of this.
Kaunteya pratijani, O Arjuna, sorry, the first part is, Kshipram bhavati dharmatma, Shashvachyantim nigachyati, so soon, Kshipram is quickly, such a person will quickly become dharmatma, and then will attain lasting peace, Shashvachyantim. So now, Bhaktivinoda Thakura is saying that, apichet sudracharo is at the level of a karma. Then, apichet sudracharo is at the level of vikarma.
Bhajate ma mananye bhag is at the level of akarma, that is transcendental. Vikarma is sinful activity. And then, bhavati dharmatma, bhavati dharmatma means such a person becomes dharmic, that is actually at the level of karma.
It’s positive activity. It’s not necessarily pure devotional service. So, it’s saying that, what does this verse actually mean? That, even if one does vikarma, but that person is practising upkarma unbreakingly, then that person will become a dharmatma, which just doesn’t make any sense.
So, Bhaktivinoda Thakura gives a very sweet, esoteric explanation of this. He says that, actually, this verse is referring to the Gopis of Vrindavan. How is that? He says, in the eyes of the world, apichet sudracharo, when they left home, they left their families in the middle of the night to respond to the call of Krishna.
At that time, what are the Gopis doing? The Gopis, from the worldly point of view, sudracharo, for a woman to leave her husband or her family in the middle of the night to go and see some other man. That is sudracharo. That is a terrible activity.
So, when one does this kind of sudracharo, apichet sudracharo, so, from the world’s point of view, it is sudracharo, but from the point of view of pure devotional service, actually, it is ananyabhag bhajate. Krishna is declaring that, they were actually doing pure devotional service. bhajate mam ananyabhag.
How? Actually, the Gopis, through their going to Krishna and hearing this call of His flute, it represents the supremacy of their surrender. When we surrender to God, one is that we give up the bad for the sake of God. We give up sinful activities.
But for the sake of God, we need to give up the good also. Even the good of this world should be given up. Now, for a woman, her chastity is considered to be extremely precious.
In many ways, as precious as her life, not more. So, a woman is meant to guard her chastity. And the scriptures do talk about that.
They talk about the consequences when the Kauravas tried to violate the modesty of Draupadi. What are the consequences? The whole Kurukshetra war resulted and the whole Kuruvamsha was destroyed. So, the chastity is considered a very prized position for a woman.
But for the sake of Krishna, they were ready to give even that up. So, that is actually such an exalted level of devotion. Of course, the Gappis never became unchaste because Krishna is the Param Pati.
Patim Patinam Param Parastad. He is the Supreme Pati. So, they were actually supremely chaste.
But in the world’s eyes, they were Sudracharo. So, although they are Sudracharo, actually they were Ananyabhag. And Bhaktivedanta says that those who understand this truth and those who consider those who consider that actually the Gopis are sadhus.
What they have done is not bad. What they have done is very good. When you understand the Gopis are sadhus, what happens? Such people become Dharmatma.
Such people soon become Dharmic and they become elevated by the practise of Dharma. This is a sweet explanation of this particular verse. And we will discuss the next part of this verse, in our next class, where we will conclude the ninth chapter.