Bhakti Shastri (103) – Bhagavad Gita Chapter 09 Text 31 to 34

Podcast

Thank you very much, Hare Krishna Welcome back to Abhigvaita Bhakti Shastri course so, we are discussing last few verses of the 9th chapter and then, we will commence with the 10th chapter so, the 9th chapter, the last section is talking about how bhakti yoga can elevate anyone, no matter how fallen that person may be so, we discussed the verse apichit sudra acharo and then we discussed about how this verse can have different kinds of explanations, there’s a liberal commentary and there’s a conservative commentary so, what do I mean by liberal and conservative the conservative commentary emphasises the point that the devotees actually don’t justify any sinful activity in the name of devotion, that should not be mentioned Prabhupada also emphasises that in the purport and in contrast, the liberal commentary mentions highlights the love of Krishna and that Krishna keeps loving those who are trying to come to him irrespective of whatever misdemeanour happens from them so, Krishna’s love is evident in this verse and the last part of this verse is so, we concluded in the previous class by discussing Bhaktivinoda Thakura’s explanation of how this refers to the gopis now, Krishna is telling Arjuna, you declare why should you declare? pratijanihi means actually to declare not just to tell, but to proclaim to announce, Vishwanath Thakur explains that the word pratijanihi indicates Krishna’s mood that Arjuna should go out in the public square with drums and bugles and just as when an announcer sent by the king has to make announcements goes with loud instruments which attract people’s attention when people come, publicly an announcement is made which is authoritative and authorised so, like that Krishna is telling Arjuna, go and announce pratijanihi publicly, what? my devotee shall never perish my devotee shall never perish now, this is an enduring revelation of Krishna’s heart so, Vishwanath Thakur gives a set of inner conversations that happen between Krishna and Arjuna the way their thoughts are going so, Arjuna when hearing the previous verse so, Krishna is telling that my devotee should be always considered saintly then Krishna speaks this and Arjuna says but how can a devotee be considered saintly the devotee is doing sudurachara, terribly bad activities then Krishna says that actually the devotee will soon become religious and then all the agitations of the mind which are making a person restless they will go away and what will happen is the real peace is not just external, the real peace is internal we do need some peaceful situation externally also at some level there is war going on, there is anxiety but actually the lasting peace is not external, it is internal when there are when our heart is in harmony with God when we are not resenting and rejecting God’s guidance and love then we can come to harmony with God and that brings lasting peace so, now Vishwanath Thakur says that at this point Arjuna asks ok, if the devotee becomes religious, that is good then that person can be accepted as saintly but what if that devotee doesn’t become religious Krishna says, still what this means is that the devotee will always be eager and ready to serve Krishna and Krishna will always be eager and ready to protect that devotee that is a normal reciprocation of love when the devotee falls away and does some sinful activity Krishna says, even then the devotee will not perish so, here if you look at the whole context Krishna is talking about the spiritual advancement and the spiritual protection of the devotee so, when the devotee engages in Suddhura Achara naturally that is a fall so, when there is a fall what happens is it is very heart breaking not just for the devotees who are mentoring that particular or guiding or helping or caring for that devotee but in general for everyone especially if the devotee is a well known devotee when somebody falls it causes great sadness it causes not only sadness to the devotee community but actually it also causes great distress to the lord at one level we can say the lord is the lord is always happy and nothing can cause distress to him that is true it is not that because the devotee falls off from the path of bhakti, yoga in the material world Krishna will stop performing rasalila with the gopis in the spiritual world he says, I am in a bad mood now no, that won’t happen to Krishna because Krishna is available for the love that the gopis are offering him you have to understand, god means god can do multiple things at the same time and he can be available to reciprocate with different devotees in different ways so therefore he is reciprocating with the gopis by being fully available for them for performing pastimes in the spiritual world at the same time, he is also available as a super soul in the heart of every living being and even those sadhakas who are falling away from the path of devotion he is there for them, it is just turned to him so when Krishna says my devotee will never perish what does it mean? it doesn’t mean that the devotee will not fall down in fact Krishna said already the possibility is acknowledged there can be a grievous fall also which can happen but the emphasis of Krishna’s statement is that that fall is only temporary, it is not eternal so there may be a there may be a slip or a fall but there is no fatality see slip means when you are walking along, there is a small slip and fall means one actually hits the ground but fatality means one dies so there can be accidents in the spiritual path there can be slips and there can be falls but on the spiritual path there are no fatalities in the sense that the soul is eternal and whatever credits one has acquired on the spiritual path they are also going to be there forever with the person so now we do see that some devotees fall away and when they fall away, they fall to terribly sinful activities sometimes so then how do we understand that they fall into such sinful activities so actually the point to understand is that the soul always has free will and the soul can choose either to serve Krishna or can choose to go away from Krishna and this choice is there for the soul throughout the spiritual journey, in fact even when we go back to the spiritual world, that choice is still there but because by that time we have experienced thoroughly, repeatedly both the misery of defying Krishna and the joy of loving Krishna at that time we won’t make the wrong choice but in the material world we are always vulnerable we are prone to make the wrong choice and that’s why we need to be guarded and the mind and the world the mind internally and the world externally are there to tempt us away from Krishna therefore we have to be cautious, if somebody is not cautious person gets seduced and deluded by maya, that person goes away from Krishna how far may the person fall that may depend on how much the person is attached to sense gratification and how much the person has developed attachment to Krishna, so the attachment to Krishna will never go away but it can get covered up temporarily and that person will have to revive that afterwards, now that revival is not the same as what we as sadhakas are doing, as sadhakas we are practising spiritual life and we are trying to revive what has been obscured for many many lifetimes but when a person falls away, the Krishna conscious impressions are there in the recent memory and that’s why when the impetus comes, the devotee will come rapidly back to this previous level of Krishna consciousness so Krishna never forsakes a devotee and especially some devotee who has advanced in the spiritual path, Krishna will arrange circumstances in such a way that the devotee will be provided all possible impetuses for making the right choices, all possible impetuses for all possible circumstances, all possible situations, all possible arrangements Krishna will make so that the devotee can come back this is Krishna’s assurance that my devotee will never perish so therefore what is important for us to recognise is that as devotees we have to stay steady on the spiritual path, if we fall away Krishna will take care of us but that doesn’t mean that we have to fall away, that doesn’t mean that we have to think that even if I fall away Krishna will take care, no that is Krishna’s love that he is saying that even if my devotee falls away I will take care but what is our love for Krishna, our love is that we don’t fall away, we stay close to Krishna so now there is a difference between falling down and falling away falling down means we are moving forward towards Krishna and somehow there is a lapse and we fall down, we do something wrong but falling away means we go away from Krishna there is a whole material world, below that there is Garbhodaksha Vishnu below that there is Mahavishnu, so even if we fall down at the bottom there is Garbhodaksha Vishnu and Mahavishnu will take care of us so ultimately Krishna is everywhere so even when we fall where are we falling, actually when we fall we should fall to Krishna’s shelter, Krishna I am sorry this happened please forgive me, please rectify me so we may fall down that means from our standards wherever we are we fall down but wherever we go Krishna is there and Krishna is there to catch us if we let him catch us and Krishna will gradually lift us up also so we may fall down because of the temptations externally because of the conditions externally, of course we fall down because we misuse our free will ultimately but even if we fall down, that means there is a lapse in our devotional standards we don’t have to fall away, that means we don’t have to go away from Krishna actually ultimately we can never go away from Krishna because Krishna is in our heart but in terms of our practise we shouldn’t go away from Krishna, that means we shouldn’t give up the practise of Krishna consciousness even if whatever lapses are happening, we should continue the practise of Krishna consciousness of course if certain major lapses have happened then the devotees may not be able to do the same specific services that they have been doing earlier if a person has some serious moral lapse then that person may not be in the best situation to act as a teacher or as a guide or as a leader that sort of readjustment can and should be done when it is required but going away from a leadership position in Krishna’s service does not mean necessarily that one has to go away from Krishna in fact going away from the leadership position may enable us to take shelter of Krishna better because then there will be no material motive for us to take shelter of Krishna yes I will get all this respect in the devotee community that’s why I am doing bhakti no, I am doing bhakti because I want to love and serve Krishna I know that’s the best thing for me to do and that’s the best way I can ultimately benefit anyone so even if we fall down, we don’t have to fall away and this verse shouldn’t make us complacent that ultimately devotee never perishes so I will never perish no matter whatever I do what this verse should do is, it should make us feel that actually whatever happens Krishna is going to love me so if Krishna is ready to go so much out of the way Krishna is giving so much guarantee Krishna is expressing his love for me in so many ways then why should I ever go away from Krishna why should I ever leave Krishna’s sweet so in general whenever the scriptures give guarantee that even if some sinful activity happens still the devotee will be protected the devotee’s attitude is, this expresses Krishna’s love Krishna’s love is so great when Krishna’s love is so great, why should I leave that love and go away actually we see this in Ajamila’s pastime also Ajamila had committed grievous sinful activities but at the end of it, when Ajamila’s pastime showed how he was delivered by the Vishnu then what is Shukadeva Goswami’s conclusion and what is Prabhupada’s explanation over there also if Ajamila chanted once unconsciously and still he was delivered then it shouldn’t be that devotees start thinking, oh I will also chant one unconsciously and I will demand why don’t you Vishnudas come to rescue me but Prabhupada’s mood is that, if we practise Krishna consciousness if we chant the holy name attentively throughout our life and consciously knowing that we are addressing Krishna then why will Krishna not come, why will the Lord not come for us He will definitely come so when we see the magnitude of Krishna’s mercy and love as is expressed through certain scripture statements or demonstrated to certain scripture incidents that should reassure us of His love and that should inspire us to commit ourselves to the process of loving Him not that we demand the same kind of love for us also that is not the mood of love the mood of love is that actually the Lord is so loving the Lord does so much for reclaiming the devotees and the Lord is so loving, let me reciprocate love with the Lord see, we want to relish the Lord’s love we don’t want to demand the Lord’s love or ask that the Lord repeat what He has what extraordinary demonstration of mercy He has done for others for us that is not the mood of love the mood of love is that we want to please the beloved so that means, what the pastime like Ajamel or these verses demonstrate is that even when the Lord is displeased, certainly if somebody is Sudrachar the Lord is displeased but even when the Lord is displeased, the Lord doesn’t stop loving that person so great is the Lord’s love that even the grievous misdemeanours on the part of His devotees they don’t drive away the Lord’s love they don’t drive away the Lord’s love so this is the greatness of the Lord’s love but if we want to love Krishna, the nature of love is that we want to please Krishna so therefore, when we want to please Krishna, we will naturally avoid those activities which will displease Him so as sadhakas, we don’t demand those extraordinary demonstrations of mercy but rather, those extraordinary demonstrations of mercy inspire us more and more to do the activities that will please Krishna and to stay away from and give up the activities that will displease Him but if somehow, by some conditioning because of some situation or whatever if somehow we do some activities that will displease Him that also should not make us give up Krishna so we should never think that Krishna has become so angry with me that He will never give me mercy now we want to please Krishna and certainly there are certain things which can displease Krishna so we want to give them up but if we do them, still we should continue to love Krishna that means, Krishna, only You can purify me, please help me so when a child falls on the ground, how does the child get up? by taking shelter of the same ground similarly, when we fall, we don’t go away from Krishna we take shelter of the same Krishna whose instructions we have been unable to follow and beg Him for strength for following the instructions so, Kaunteya Pratijani Krishna has declared that My devotee will never perish and there are many extraordinary demonstrations of this that some devotees fell away from Krishna’s lotus feet Prabhupada disciples, they fell away but in the final days, they dramatically came back and gave up all attachments and went to Vrindavan or Mathura, Vrindavan or Mayapur stayed in the shrine of devotees and left their body in extraordinary ways so all this is indicative of how Krishna’s love is there and even if that doesn’t happen for everyone, Krishna is there in their heart so Krishna would like them to never leave Him even if they leave Him, Krishna would like them to come back in this life itself as early as possible if not as early as possible, then at least before they leave the body if that also doesn’t happen, Krishna is there with them wherever they go in the next body, Krishna will try to get them back to His lotus feet over there also so the devotee will never perish that means, Krishna will never give up His love for the devotees and Krishna will ensure that they come back as soon as possible back to His lotus feet so when Krishna says, My devotee will never perish, this is not the same as the soul being indestructible that Krishna has already taught in the second chapter but here Krishna is talking about the devotee not perishing means the devotee’s devotional advancement that will never perish, it may get covered temporarily but it will be recovered soon and manifested again by the merciful arrangement of the Lord so now here Krishna has described how there can be two kinds of problems or faults there can be incidental faults and there can be inherent faults incidental faults means those faults which arise because of some incidents so some person does some wrong activity that’s an incident and that incident contaminates the person so incidental fault so Apichet Sudracharod 30th verse mentions such incidental faults those faults which occur incidentally in the sense that through some incidents they occur but the devotee is not inherently having any deficiencies inherently the devotee is sincere and the devotee wants to serve Ananyabhag but from the Varanashram perspective there are those with, now Krishna will say that even if somebody has inherent faults still even they can be elevated if they practise devotional service diligently so what do we mean by inherent faults actually within the Varanashram culture the higher Varanas are considered more suitable for the practise of Bhakti and lower Varanas are considered less suitable more suitable for the practise of Dharma and lower Varanas are considered less suitable for the practise of Dharma So Krishna acknowledges this point, but then he says that bhakti does not recognise such discrimination. That is the next verse. So here Krishna is telling that even those who have inherent faults from the conventional varnashrama perspective, even they can be elevated by the power of devotion.
So mam hi partha, those who take shelter of me, vyapashritya, ashritya is ashram, ashram means shelter, so those who take shelter of me, ye pisyu papa yonaya, that even if they have been born, they have had sinful births, they are born with some sinful contaminations, papa yonaya, yonaya is womb, they are very sinful, triyo, vaishyas, tatha, shudras. So he gives three examples of papa yonaya, women, the vaishyas, the mercantile community and the generalist labourers, shudras. Te piyan te param gathem, even they can attain the supreme destination.
So actually this verse is demonstrating the Lord’s mercy. But for many people, this verse seems to demonstrate how the Bhagavad Gita is discriminatory. It considers women to be sinful, it considers lower class to be sinful, you may say what is this? Are women sinful? What does it actually mean? We have to understand things from a proper cultural context.
Ultimately, anybody, any soul who gets a human body is extremely fortunate. The human form, maanavarupa, is actually very rare and whether it is a male form or a female form, both forms have the capacity for spiritual realisation. So because both have the capacity for spiritual realisation, both are very fortunate.
sudurlabham, sudurlabham, sudurlabham, it is very difficult to get a human form, it is very rare in the sense that if you consider the large number of members within every species, the number of souls in human form are very rare. So first and foremost, we have to recognise that any soul who has got a human form is extremely fortunate. Now within the human form also, based on the suitability for the practise of spiritual realisation, there are gradations.
So within the varanashram system, there are higher varanas and lower varanas. So why are the classifications given like that? Actually it is not based on birth, it is based on qualities. So brahmanas are ready to live lives which are more focused on brahman, which are involving simplicity, austerity, spirituality, purity, maturity in terms of sense control and proper behaviour and balance.
So because they are ready to do all this, they are considered brahmanas. So brahmana is not by birth, it is by quality. And these attributes are more suitable for spiritual realisation.
On the other hand, those who are not ready to regulate themselves much, they are considered shudras because not by birth again, by their unwillingness and their inability in terms of their choices to harmonise with spiritual principles that will help them to make spiritual advancement rapidly. So of course, they are also given an arrangement by which they can be slowly elevated. But still the point remains that it may take time for them to get elevated.
So here the important principle is that this is the traditional varanashram system where varanashram involves gradual dharma, artha, kama and ultimately it moves towards a person towards moksha. When a person takes sannyas, that person is aspiring for moksha. So within this varanashram framework, the lower castes are generally considered less qualified for spiritual advancement.
The higher castes are considered more qualified. So that is the case for karma and jnana, but that is not the case for bhakti. So karma kanda and jnana kanda, karma kanda generally dharma, artha, kama and jnana kanda focus on moksha.
But in bhakti, actually bhakti is largely based on the relationship of love. And the soul, whether it is in a shudra body or a brahmana body, the soul is the same. And the heart can offer love from whichever body one might be in and one can make spiritual advancement.
So bhakti is all encompassing in terms of the capacity to elevate anyone and everyone. Now the point of women, the simple point here is that the male body is more suitable for self-realisation than the female body. Males are more analytical, they are likely to be more philosophical and in the female body, the bodily identification is much greater than in the male body.
Generally speaking, there can of course be exceptions, but in general, that is how it works out. We have discussed this earlier with respect to the first chapter, the statements about tri-shuddhu-stha-shuvar-shneya in 1.38 parpot. So here, as compared to a male body, a female body is considered to be having less spiritual crates in terms of, when the person has done more, when the soul does proper punya, the soul gets a male body.
So that, for example, when the soul is having less material attachment, when the soul has a lot of material attachment, especially attachment to female, and the soul who is in male body may get a female body afterwards. And the soul who is having more punya, for example, a soul who is more spiritually inclined, more interested in self-realisation, then the soul is provided a body that is more suitable for self-realisation. So the point here is that we all have different starting points in life.
And denying that is simply making ourselves blind. The male body and the female body are different. The starting points are different.
And that is simply a fact of life. That doesn’t necessarily imply discrimination. It’s simply acknowledgement of reality.
But the process of bhakti is so powerful that once we start off, the starting points don’t matter. That is the beauty and the glory of bhakti. Once we start off, the starting points don’t matter so much.
That’s what Krishna is emphasising over here. That yes, if a soul has got a female body, if a soul has got a Shudra body or a Vaishya body, that means that starting point is a little, is quite far away from philosophical understanding and self-realisation. But the process of bhakti is so powerful, so potent, so fast that the starting point doesn’t matter.
So here, Krishna’s emphasis is not on supporting any discrimination, it is on teaching a process that will end discrimination. That is the process of bhakti. So the starting points don’t matter once we start off.
That’s what Krishna is telling. Yes, and according to conventional Varanashrams, Shudra, Vaishya, they do not have the philosophical inclination and the general disposition for self-realisation in terms of analysis and introspection. But Prabhupada also talked about elsewhere how women are more devotionally minded, they are more faithful and they can take to worship and devotion more easily.
So that is also true and that is also accepted. Now the path of bhakti channelises our emotions and uses them in Krishna’s service and women are more emotional. So if they can just direct that emotion towards Krishna, then they can become, then it’s easier for them to make spiritual advance.
Prabhupada writes in one of the purports to Queen Kunti’s prayers that in general, women come for religious programmes more than men. This indicates that they are more devotionally inclined also. So the overall emphasis of this verse is that even if someone has some inherent faults, so that because of some kind of karma, one has got an unfavourable starting point in terms of certain kinds of births.
But even then, the process of bhakti is so powerful that it can elevate. And that is the glory of bhakti. Now after describing this, Krishna will describe in the next verse that there will be, then Krishna will encourage Arjuna by saying that, okay, if they can be elevated, then why can’t you? So even if those who are low born can be elevated, then kim punar, then how much more is it likely for you? For those who are born, those who are having favourable starting points, what are the favourable starting points? Brahmanas, those who are born Brahminical families, bhaktarajarasyas tatha.
So Prabhupada translates that the devotees and the saintly kings. So punya, so those who are there, bhaktarajarasyas tatha, then they can get elevated all the more. So what is the mood over here? The mood over here is that if, say, if there is some coaching class, somebody who has, say, 10th standard and 12th standard, that’s the way the system is in India.
So somebody who has got very poor marks in 10th standard, that person joins the coaching classes and then becomes among the top rankers in 12th class. Then that coaching class is going to say that, see, we can elevate students who are bottom rankers also to top rankers. And somebody is a top ranker in 10th class, and for that person, the prospects are even more, even brighter.
That person can take advantage and become elevated even more easily and more rapidly. So same way Krishna is saying, kim punar brahmana punya bhaktarajarasyas tatha. So if even those who are papayona can be elevated, then those who are not papayona, those who are, you could use the word pappunayona, how much more is it likely for them? Krishna is telling Arjuna, you fall in this category, you are a Rajarishi.
So Krishna is indirectly, but emphatically telling Arjuna that practise bhakti. And that will become even more clear in the next verse. But in this verse itself, the second part is, anityam asukham lokam imam prapya bhajasvamam.
So anityam asukham lokam. Krishna is again repeating the same point, which he has repeated in 8.15. And again, it’s just an incidental reference, incidental passing mention. 8.15, use the word dukkhalayam ashasvatam.
And here, the same point, dukkhalayam is asukham and ashasvatam is anityam. So Krishna is repeating the same point over here. But again, like in 8.15, 8.15, mam upetya punar janma dukkhalayam ashasvatam na apnavanti mahatmana samsiddham paramam gathaha.
So there also Krishna is saying that those who worship me will not come back to dukkhalayam but will attain the perfect, the supreme destination. So same way Krishna is telling here that now that all of us have come to the material world, better get out of this material world and return back to Krishna and worship me. And then if even they can get elevated, then you can surely get elevated.
So again, the anityam asukham lokam is not the stress. It is just assumed fact, which is just a given passing reference. So anityam asukham lokam.
Now when we say this world is a place of misery, we have to understand that point carefully. What does it mean? Some people feel because this world is a place of misery, so we have to let ourselves always be miserable. No, that is not the point of the verse.
Now we, it’s not that if a child is crying, the mother says, oh yes, this world is a place of misery. The child is getting realisation. Let it cry.
That would be monstrously insensitive. Actually speaking, when we say this world is a place of misery, the point is that we shouldn’t let all our energies be consumed in just trying to make this a comfortable place. But while we are here, we need some basic level of comforts and we have our duties which are given, which are made to arrange for that comfort.
You know, the mother cares for the children, the husband cares for the wife and the child. The king cares for the citizens and all these arrangements for making some basic order. And when the citizens come to Puttamaharaj in the fourth canto and they say, the digestive fire is burning our stomach.
Please arrange for some food. Puttamaharaj doesn’t say, oh, good, good, you are getting realisation, this world is a kalaya. No, the king has a duty.
He makes assertive arrangements to take care of them. So, similarly, the point that this world is a kalaya doesn’t mean that we have to passively accept all misery, but rather what it means is that we don’t let all our efforts be consumed by the efforts to remove misery at the material level in this world, because that can’t be removed. The example to understand this is the example of a hospital.
In a hospital, actually speaking, the misery is there and there is a process to become free from that misery. So what the patients need to do is follow that process and they follow that process gradually they’ll get cured. Similarly, when Krishna says this word, he also gives a process to become free from that misery and to the extent we follow that process, we will gradually become free from misery.
And not only this freedom from misery at the spiritual level, actually, if you follow Krishna’s instruction, even at the material level also, things will be better. The more we live in harmony with Krishna, even at the material level, the miseries will be less. Janma, Mrityu, Jara, Gadi is there for everyone.
But Adhyatmik, Adhibhautik, Ayudhaivik kleshas, they can increase or decrease depending on the way we choose to act. So if people in general are humble, tolerant, sensitive, then the Adhibhautik klesha can be decreased substantially. So like that, it applies to all the kleshas also.
So Krishna is saying, imam prapya bhaja svamaam. Now that you are here, what should you do? Bhaja svamaam. Practise devotional service.
So it’s like a patient who is admitted to a hospital and that patient is having doubts, will I be cured or not? Can you tell that actually see those people, their disease was far greater than yours, they also got cured. And actually your disease is much lesser, you’ll surely be cured. Therefore, now just take the medicine.
Now that you are in the hospital, take the medicine. So anityamasukham lokam imam prapya bhaja svamaam, therefore, worship me, serve me and you’ll become healed spiritually, you’ll return back to me ultimately. So now Prabhupada explains in his purport how that in this world, ultimately, nobody is happy.
So he says we should not unnecessarily overemphasise the classifications. In this world, there are classifications of people, but after all, this world is not a happy place for anyone. And Prabhupada says it is clearly stated here, anityamasukham lokam.
So in this world, if we focus our vision too much on the material level, then we will forget the generic fact that this world is a place of misery for everyone. See if our vision is too focused on the material level, we see, oh, I am so poor, that person is wealthy. I have a very poor memory, my intelligence, that person’s intelligence is more, that person’s memory is better.
Oh, I don’t look, I’m not so good looking, that person is so good looking. And these differences, they consume our mind so much that we forget the greater reality that actually, whether I am good looking or not so good looking, ultimately, the body is temporary. You know, the body is not going to look good when I’m going to grow old and die.
And it’s going to look terrible as we grow old and ultimately die, it’s going to decay and shrink also. So it’s temporary. So if you forget the temporariness of this world and you forget the misery, anityamasukham aspect, then we unduly overemphasise the differences that, oh, so my whole aspiration becomes, I am poor, that person is healthy, I want to become like that.
I know, it’s like some people, different people are travelling in a train. Somebody is in a first class, say, two-tyre AC, somebody is in a second class, somebody is in the third class, it’s all crowded. So now certainly there is a difference, that this is more uncomfortable, this is more comfortable.
But if somebody thinks that, oh, I want to get into the first class, okay, somebody wants to get into the first class, that’s not wrong. But to get in the first class, somebody gets out of the train and then the train goes away. Then what is the use? See, the most important point when a person is in the train is that, the train should move towards the destination.
And as long as the train is moving towards the destination, if one can be in a comfortable situation, well and good. But ultimately the train journey is not lifelong, the train journey is temporary. And therefore, because the train journey is temporary, so it doesn’t matter whether one is in a less comfortable or more comfortable situation, as long as the train is moving forward.
So similarly, there are classifications, there are less comfortable, there are, from a material point of view, there are certain situations that are less comfortable, there are more comfortable. But our primary purpose should be that we make sure that the train, our train is moving forward in the right direction. And while the train is moving forward in the right direction, if we can make a situation within the train comfortable, that’s fine.
But if for the sake of making the situation more comfortable, we leave the train, then we are ruining our prospects. So the emphasis of this verse is, whatever be the material situation, practise devotional service, you will become purified, will become liberated eventually. So this is how bhakti counters even our inherent disqualifications.
That means, even if somebody, now actually from the spiritual point of view, whatever the bodily attributes are, they are not inherent, but from the bodily point of view, they are inherent. So certain people have certain karmic tendencies, certain people have certain limitations because of the kind of psychophysical nature that they have acquired from birth. So though we say that a person should not be designated as a brahmana by birth, that is true, but the fact is that all of us have certain propensities according to, which belong to different varanas from birth.
What that means is that our varana is determined largely by our birth, but it is not necessary that we belong to the varana of our birth. What does it mean? Our varana is largely determined by our birth means that by our birth, we have a certain a psychophysical nature, that may be Brahminical, Kshatriya, Vaishya, Shudra, so that may be and that is there, we can’t deny that. But the point is, it’s not that just because somebody is born in the Shudra family, that person necessarily has a Shudra varana.
So the point which I’m making is, our birth is significant, we can say even it’s consequential. By birth, we get a certain nature and it is for us to acknowledge that nature and to make sure that we act in harmony with that nature while we are engaging asymmetrically and also practise spiritually so that we can transcend the nature ultimately. But it is not for society to label that because a person is born in a particular family, therefore that person must have that varana.
Somebody is born in a Shudra family, that person must have a Shudra varana. That kind of labelling is wrong, that leads to discrimination. But the point is, it’s true that all of us have certain sobhava, certain nature that we can get from, we get from birth and that is simply a fact of nature.
So the more we understand it, the more we can live our material life in a way that is harmonious with our nature and then we can be productive, we’ll be comfortable internally and we’ll be competent externally. If somebody has a vaishya nature and that person is told to act like a brahmana, if somebody has a business propensity and that person is given a job as a teacher in a college, in a school, that person will be miserable. So on the other hand, that person is allowed to do a business, that person will be comfortable internally, mentally will be comfortable, yes, and competent externally, will be good at it.
A person who is a vaishya, if told to teach, that person will not be very good at it externally and will not feel good about it also internally. So therefore, the fact that all of us have a sobhava, our varna, being largely determined by birth, that is true. By birth means, from birth itself we get a certain kind of body, which has certain kind of inclinations.
But that doesn’t mean that the varna, that the family in which we are born, that we have been born, that determines our varna. So Krishna is telling that whatever be our starting points, ultimately this world is a place of misery for everyone. So let us practise devotional service, become purified, and we can get out of this miserable material world.
Anityam asukham lokam. So we will become liberated. Now, bhajaswamam, this is elaborated in the next verse of the Gita, this is the last verse of this chapter.
Manmana bhava mad-bhakto, madhyo jeemam namaskuru. So manmana, that think of me, bhava mad-bhakto, become my devotee. How does one become my devotee? Madhyaji, worship me, mam namaskuru, offer obeisances to me.
And if you do this, mam eva isyasi, you will come back to me. How? Yukta vaivam, yukta yuktva evam. By being engaged, by being absorbed, thus, atmana mat-parayanaha, your heart and soul will be mat-parayanaha, devoted to me.
So let us take this verse one point by point. The first thing Krishna is telling, manmana, manmana means fix your mind on me. So now, different people can fix their mind on Krishna in different ways.
Some people may fix their mind on Krishna as an object of theoretical study. Somebody might do a PhD in the position of Krishna in the Mahabharata. And there are all verses where Krishna is there and whether Krishna is considered to be a king or what, what, what.
But the person may not have any devotion or transformation. So Krishna is saying, think of me in a way that bhava mad-bhakto, so think of me and then offer your heart to me. So let you fix the mind on me in such a way that your fixing the mind on me becomes the means by which I can enter into your heart.
Bhava mad-bhakto means that actually devote yourself to me. So we may fix our mind on things without actually developing an attraction for them. That sort of thinking is cold clinical thinking.
Krishna doesn’t want that kind of thinking. Krishna wants gentle transformational thinking. Cold clinical means like somebody is analysing a laboratory, somebody is analysing amoeba.
So completely concentrating, what is this amoeba, what are its characteristics, you put a specimen in a laboratory and study it. But the person doesn’t develop any affection for that. When we are thinking about it, not that kind of thinking.
Manmana, bhava mad-bhakto, become my devotee. So actually, if we think of Krishna in a way, in an open-hearted way, then Krishna will enter into our heart. Krishna has such an attractive conception of God that just by thinking of him open-heartedly, Krishna will enter into our heart.
And that’s the direction of thought Krishna is telling. And then we can help this process of bhava mad-bhakto by doing activities that promote devotional service, that promote the feeling of devotion. What is that? Madhyaji maam namaskuru, that worship me, Madhyaji.
So Prabhupada translates that, offer obeisances to me and maam namaskuru, worship. So Madhyaji is worship me and offer obeisances to me is maam namaskuru. So these are activities which help in the development of devotion.
So when we go and offer obeisances to the Lord, when we do aarti of the Lord, when we offer our worship, by this, by these are activities which foster the feeling of devotion. So overall, A and B, what are they telling? They are telling, become my devotee, become devoted to me. So bhajaswama, which is told in 33D, is elaborated on in 34A and B. So there are four components here.
What is that? Manmana. Manmana is think of me. So that is actually considering, that is Krishna is telling, offer the subtle body to me.
Many times, the subtle body is referred to in one, by one word, that is the mind. So manmana, offer the mind to me. And then, bhava madhya bhakto, that is offer your heart to me.
The heart is the seat of emotions and all emotions ultimately, they come from the soul. So there Krishna is telling on a spiritual level. So what you do? Offer this, bhava madhya bhakto, means offer the soul to me.
And then also, madhyaji maam namaskuru, this talks about the physical level. At a physical level, offer obeisances with the body, do aarti with the hands, like that, engage the body also in my service. And then if one does this, what will happen? Maame vaisyasi.
Krishna says, you will come to me, guarantees, maame vaisyasi. How will that happen? Yuktva evam. You will be yuktva, you will be engaged.
If you offer our body, our mind and our heart, our soul to Krishna, then yuktva, we will be absorbed in Krishna. These are the three faculty, three levels of our existence. Krishna is recommending that we offer all three levels to him.
And naturally, we will be yuktva, yuktva, Prabhupada translates here, not just as engaged, but completely absorbed in me. And then yuktva, how will it happen? Atmanam adparayana. Your atma will become fully devoted to me.
So the atma, the consciousness, the soul, the consciousness, that is primarily acting at the physical and mental levels. Of course, the emotions, how they are going, where our heart is going. So if you offer all these three to Krishna, then naturally our, the atma itself will become devoted to Krishna.
And by this devotion to Krishna, we will return back to Krishna. Atmanam adparayana. So, this concluding verse of the ninth chapter is called by the Acharyas as the essence of the essence of the essence of the essence.
What does that mean? The essence, among all the Vedic literature, the Bhagavad Gita is the essence. sarvopniṣadho gāo dogdhā gopāla-nandanaḥ pārtha-vatsasudhir-bhokta-dugdham-gītā-mṛtam-mahāt So it is said that among all the Upanishads, we have discussed that the Gita is like the milk of the cow, the cow is the Upanishad. So the Bhagavad Gita is the essence of all the Vedic literature.
Now, in the Bhagavad Gita, the middle six chapters are the essence because they focus on bhakti. Just like there is a sandwich, in the sandwich, there is an upper part and a lower part. So normally, we do not use the word bread sandwich, bread is understood in the sandwich.
It is a cheese sandwich, vegetable sandwich. So the essence of a sandwich is considered to be the central part. So like that, the first six chapters and the last six chapters are like the bread of Bhagavad Gita, of the Gita sandwich.
And the essential element, substance that gives taste to the Bhagavad Gita is the middle six chapters, seven to twelve. They are the bhakti. So Bhagavad Gita is like a bhakti sandwich.
And so the middle six chapters are the essence of the Bhagavad Gita. And then within those six chapters, Krishna himself calls this chapter as Rajagohi, the most confidential knowledge. So this is the essence.
And within this ninth chapter, this last verse, where it calls for devotion and guarantees liberation, guarantees the supreme liberation. It calls for pure devotion and guarantees supreme liberation. Then that is the essence further.
That is why it is the essence of the ninth chapter, which is the essence of the bhakti section and which is the essence of the Bhagavad Gita, which is the essence of the Vedic literature. So it is the essence of the essence of the essence of the essence of the Vedic literature, like that. So this is a very important verse.
Prabhupada would quote it quite frequently. Generally speaking, when people quote Bhagavad Gita, they quote other verses like Karma, Nivadi, Karaste or that kind of verses. But if we see the flow of the Gita, we will see that this verse is very emphatic over here.
Very emphatic. Actually, if you see the whole tenor of the Bhagavad Gita, the tenor means the direction of thought and the mood that is being developed. All along, the emphasis is on the person Krishna and devotion to that personal absolute.
And it is in such a place where if you look at all the previous verses, where is any impersonal conception talked about in a positive light? 9.11 and 12, Krishna has condemned Abhijanandi Mamudha and Mogha Asha, Mogha Karma. All the verses are very personal, very intimate, very sweet, very devotional, very heartwarming, heart trending, heart transforming. So in such a section, there is a famous Mayavadi commentator who says that actually, we are not to think of Krishna.
We have to think of the unborn within Krishna. So you can understand, now when we look at the flow of the Bhagavad Gita, why Prabhupada is so upset? Why Prabhupada is so angry about it? Actually, Mayavadis can have their philosophy if they want. They can have their philosophy.
If they want to believe that they will merge with God or they will become God, that is up to their business. But to impose their philosophy on the Gita, that is violence to the Gita. And to actually impose that philosophy right in the heart of the Bhakti section, where the whole direction of thought is so loving and devotional, to impose that is like raping the Gita, literally speaking.
It’s such brutal violence to the mood and the message of the Gita. So it’s natural that Prabhupada felt angry about it. So it’s not intolerance.
It’s not that nowadays people say that you should be tolerant, you should not criticise other people who have other beliefs. No, it’s not a matter of intolerance. It’s simply a matter of fidelity.
It’s a matter of common sense. It’s a matter of what the original message is. The whole Bhagavata’s flow, if we see, at least in this chapter, it’s going so straightly devotional.
Krishna is telling, I will elevate my devotee. My devotee will never perish. If you take shelter of me, even the most low-born will get elevated.
So where has Krishna talked about anything unborn beyond him? Actually, Krishna doesn’t talk about it anywhere in the Gita. But especially in this chapter, the mood is so intentionally devotional. Therefore, to impose a message like that on the Gita, and especially on this section of the Gita, and in such an intimately devotional verse, that is brutal violence.
It is a rape of the Gita. And naturally, those who are faithful students and teachers of the Gita, they will oppose it. It’s not that we have to become physical or anything like that, but we have to be vigorous in ensuring that people understand the true message of the Gita and others don’t misrepresent it.
So actually, before Srila Prabhupada went to America, there were many commentators, many spiritual teachers who went to America, and they all presented the Bhagavad Gita from an impersonalist perspective. And it’s very interesting that whenever Western scholars have studied the Bhagavad Gita, they have generally said that the Bhagavad Gita is a devotional book. And whenever Indian scholars have studied the Bhagavad Gita, they have all come to the conclusion that it’s an impersonalist book.
So why is it that? It’s not that Western scholars are more personally inclined than impersonalists. Actually, the Western scholars were not so heavily biassed by the prevailing atmosphere of impersonalism within the Vedic culture. Within India, not Vedic culture, within India as it is in modern times.
So in the modern times, because we have discussed earlier how impersonalism became very popular in India in the pre-independence and the post-independence times. So because of this move, because of the influence of that, and because of the past tradition of Shankaracharya being very respected, and Shankaracharya having given an impersonalist commentary, so most Indian thinkers think that the Vedic thought is impersonal. But Bhaktivinoda Thakur, Bhaktivinoda Shankaracharya Prabhupada in the modern times, and even many prominent Acharyas, Vaishnavacharya, Ramavacharya, Madhvacharya, they have countered this notion vigorously, rigorously.
Vigorously means that they have actually travelled, written a lot of work, and given talks, had debates. They have been vigorous. And while they have been vigorous, they have also been rigorous.
Rigorous means it’s not just sentiment. Systematic analysis of scripture has been given. This verse, you say that this means this, but look at this, this, this, look at the context, and you see that actually it cannot mean that.
So there’s a tradition of vigorous and rigorous defence of the personalist message of the Bhagavad Gita. And Srila Prabhupada is carrying it on. And all of us also, as the followers of Srila Prabhupada, as the devotees of Krishna, we internalise this message ourselves.
And then we share that message with others. So, in this chapter of the Bhagavad Gita, let’s look quickly at the overview of the chapter so that we’ll know what the thought flow has been, and how Krishna has, in multifarious ways, glorified the path of bhakti. So, the whole Bhagavad Gita was building up towards the message of bhakti.
So, the first three verses of this chapter talk about how this knowledge is so confidential, and this knowledge can remove one from all misery, and those who do not have faith can continue in material existence. So the focus is, this is the most confidential knowledge. And that confidential knowledge is ultimately meant to help, that knowledge is about Krishna and bhakti, and it is meant to inspire us to develop bhakti.
So that’s the emphasis of that section, one to three. Then four to ten is, to explain what is bhakti, it explains what is Bhagavan. So, Krishna’s inconceivable relationship with the material world is told, his extraordinary position as the creator, maintainer and destroyer, who at the same time stays detached, that is described.
Then eleven to nineteen describes how different people understand Krishna in different ways. So, eleven to twelve is the impersonalist, thirteen to fourteen is the keval bhaktas, and fifteen to thirteen is described three kinds of worshippers, ahamvara upasakas, patikopas, vishwaroopapasakas. Sixteen to nineteen describes the vishwaroopapasakas further.
Then twenty to twenty-eight contains very beautiful verses, which are, which are inviting and arresting in their, in their emphasis on devotion. Ananyas chinten tovam is nine point twenty-two, and patram pushpam phalam tovam is nine point twenty-six. So these verses, what do they indicate? That actually, bhakti will offer us eternal results, demigod worship will offer us temporary results.
Bhakti is very easy to perform, demigod worship is difficult to perform. And demigod worship is also worshipping Krishna, but indirectly they are doing it. So better worship Krishna directly.
After describing that, twenty-nine to thirty-four describe that, last section describes that kevala bhakti elevates even the most fallen. Even people who have fallen away from the spiritual path are disqualified because of incidental actions or inherent dispositions. Both ways they can be elevated.
So incidental actions, we discussed thirty, thirty-one, how Krishna says that, na me bhakta parashyati. Even if they are too sudrachara, they will not perish. So no matter what incidental problems happen, devotees stay determined in the service of Krishna.
That’s how we should stay. And then even if we have some inherent disqualification, still, that also, Krishna says, bhakti is so powerful, it will elevate us. And therefore, practise bhakti.
Pajaswama and manmana bhava mad-bhakto. So it’s a very direct call. In fact, if you look at the whole Bhagavad Gita till now, this verse is giving the most direct call for the practise of bhakti.
In the previous chapter, it ended, each chapter ended with, that, therefore, practise yoga. But what yoga to practise, that has been very conclusively established in this chapter as bhakti yoga. So now, Krishna will, in his own ecstasy, go forward and describe further about himself and bhakti in the next chapter.
That we’ll discuss in our next class. Thank you very much. Hare Krishna.