Bhakti Shastri (104) – Bhagavad Gita Chapter 10 Text 01 to 07

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Hare Krishna. So for the second half of our Bhagavad Gita Bhakti Shastra course, last nine chapters, we will start with a different prayer to Lord Krishna, the speaker of the Bhagavad Gita. I’ll tell this prayer, and I will explain the meaning, and then we’ll decide at the start of each class.
So, Parijat is a tree whose flowers always blossom. Their blossom never fades away. It’s a tree which gives eternal fragrance and shelter.
So like that, for the for the surrendered soul, Krishna is the tree that gives shelter forever. One of his hands, he takes the stick for controlling the animals. That means that Lord, who acts as a cowherd.
But now, that same Lord, who is the shelter of the condition of the surrendered soul, who is the cowherd, he has now He has now taken Gyanamudra. When he’s speaking, He is sharing the nectar of Gita with the world. So we’ll start with this prayer.
Henceforth in our classes. So we have completed half of the Bhagavad Gita, or the eighteen chapters. Nine chapters are over.
We are in the heart of the Bhakti section still. The tenth chapter begins again without any question from Krishna, from Arjuna. Actually Krishna is in a sense in ecstasy.
When he’s speaking the glories of Bhakti, he does not need any spur from anyone. We see even at the end of the eighth chapter, there is no spur. Krishna keeps speaking spontaneously.
And the same happens at the start of the tenth chapter itself. He is speaking about the glories of Bhakti and he presents this in a different and more detailed perspective in this chapter. Especially with respect to contemplating on him through his manifestations in this world so that one can increase one’s devotion to him.
Let’s look at the overview of the tenth chapter before we look at the verses. So this is also one of the longer chapters. It has 42 verses.
So, 42 verses. Which was the longest chapter that we have studied till now? The second chapter which had 72 verses. The longest chapter in the Bhagavad Gita is the last chapter.
78 verses. Second longest is 72 verses. And after that we have studied the third chapter which had 43 verses.
Of course, longer than that was the sixth chapter which had 47 verses. Third chapter, 43 verses. And the fifth chapter also had a significant number of verses.
That was 42. So, tenth chapter and fifth chapter both have 42 verses. The longest chapter in the Bhagavad Gita is 78 verses, 18 chapters, 72 verses, the second chapter, 55 verses, the eleventh chapter which will be the chapter after this.
And then 47 verses, sixth chapter. 43 verses, third chapter. And 42 verses, this fifth and the not fifth, sorry, fourth and the tenth chapters.
So, let’s look at the tenth chapter now. So, verses 1 to 7 emphasise the point that no one knows Krishna. Why? Because he is the source of all.
Then, 8 to 11 is what is famously known as the Chatushloki Gita. And the theme of that is Krishna can be known only through bhakti by his grace. And then 12 to 18, Arjuna accepts Krishna’s glories and desires to hear more.
Especially he asks about the Vibhuti of Krishna. And 1942, Krishna describes his Vibhuti, how we can know Krishna through his Vibhuti. That is the theme.
So, this chapter is called Vibhuti Yoga or actually Prabhupada translates in English as the opulence of the absolute. Now, the seventh chapter was the knowledge of the absolute. The ninth chapter was the most confidential knowledge.
So, the most confidential knowledge is bhakti and is Bhagawan and the bhakti by which Bhagawan is conquered. So, now the tenth chapter focusses on that same theme of the glory of Bhagawan so that one can actually enhance one’s bhakti. So, if we have a close friend and we love that friend very much and then suddenly one day we come to know that friend is actually the son of the Prime Minister of the country.
We are amazed. Oh! This friend whom I love so much. He is such a glorious person also.
So, that when there is a combination of Aishwarya and Madhurya, the affection goes to a very high level. Aishwarya Gyan means to know how great the Lord is. Madhurya Gyan means to know how sweet the Lord is.
So, when both of them are there, the love goes to a much much greater level. There is a sweetness and the greatness combined together. So, the sweetness of the Lord has been talked about in the last chapter when he talks about Annyas Chinna.
How He Yogakshema Mahamyaham Name Bhakta Pranashyuti Apiyech Sudracharo Mami Bharti Vyapashyutya He is talking about His love for His devotees. In this chapter, He will talk about His greatness and that enhances further our attraction to the Lord. So, let’s look at the verses now.
Sri Bhagavan Vacha Bhuya Eva Mahabaho Shunume Paramam Vachaha Yatte Ham Priyamanaya Vyakshami Hit Kamyaya So, Bhuya Eva Bhuya Eva means again certainly Mahabaho Oh, very powerful one. Shunume Here Paramam Vachaha Supreme words. Paramam Vachaha Yatte Ham Priyamanaya Because you are very dear.
Am Priyamanaya You are dear to me. Therefore Vakshami, I speak Hit Kamyaya Desiring your benefit So, this is Krishna starting the chapter on a very intimate, personal note and the previous chapter has ended with Krishna calling Arjuna You devote yourself to me and I guarantee you will come back to me. I have no doubt.
Now Krishna is saying, I’ll speak this more to you. So, Krishna when he is speaking the Bhagavad Gita he is not speaking like a college professor who is hired to teach a subject The professor that subject is just a tool for learning and the subject and the professor doesn’t really care much for the students Krishna is speaking a knowledge which is very dear to him and the people to whom he is speaking, they are also very dear to him. So, he is saying Hit Kamyaya I am speaking this for your benefit.
He is saying this knowledge will benefit you and I love you Krishna is telling. Priya Manaya You are very dear to me and Krishna is telling about these words. What are the words? Paramam Vachaha.
They are the supreme words So, what is the supreme knowledge? It is the knowledge of Bhakti Knowledge of the glory of Bhagwan which leads to Bhakti. Supreme words. We look again in the Bhagavad Gita where this precise words Paramam Vachaha will come But here when Krishna is saying Bhuya, again.
What does again refer to? Actually in the previous chapter also he started by saying Rajya Vidya Rajya Guhyam Pavitram Idam Uttamam Uttamam. Topmost So, the king of all knowledge So, similarly Rajya Vidya Paramam Vachaha The king of knowledge, the supreme words. Similar tone Actually king is powerful but then above the king can also be an emperor.
But Krishna is assuring over here Paramam Vachaha The supreme word that I am speaking. So, in a sense Krishna is telling I am not going to tell you anything new but I am going to speak it again because I love you and I want your benefit So, Bhuya Eva So, again Arjuna The seventh chapter Had also started with the word Shru Shru Shru Shru Shru Shru Shru So, Shru Shru Krishna is drawing attention of Arjuna so that he will give ears to this message So, Prabhupada explains the word Bhagwan And then Prabhupada makes an important point in the purport that The more one hears about the supreme God, the more one becomes fixed in devotional service And then he says We should hear in the significant statement Discourses in the society of devotees can take place only among those who are really anxious to be in Krishna consciousness Significant word Normally Desirous Eager Desirous to be Krishna conscious Eager to be Krishna conscious Anxious to be Krishna conscious Normally, we consider anxiety as something either undesirable or something related to material things We are anxious about we will get a good job or not We will get a good spouse or not We are anxious whether our health will stay good or not But how often are we anxious to be in Krishna consciousness When we are chanting Are we anxious I have to hear the holy name Actually, we reserve our anxiety for material things And we are not really anxious about Krishna consciousness But a devotee is anxious Why? At one level, even our Krishna consciousness can be at various levels, fear, desire, duty and love So, at the level of fear we may fear, but actually what will happen to me if I am not Krishna conscious Then I will be maya conscious And if I am maya conscious, then I will continue on the cycle of birth and death Therefore, let me be Krishna conscious I must be Krishna conscious There can be fear, there can be the level of desire Oh, I have heard that in Krishna consciousness there is so much happiness So, I want that happiness and therefore I desire to be Krishna conscious Duty, I have taken initiation I have given my life, I am going to take initiation or I have taken initiation depending on our situation But I decided to practise Krishna consciousness I am changing 16 rounds I have to be Krishna conscious now And then there is love In love, one doesn’t want to forget the beloved And one is constantly anxious to remember the beloved not just as an abstract, theoretical object but as an object of service When we love someone we are constantly thinking How can I please my beloved? How can I do something for my beloved? So, even if a person is away from the beloved, the person will be thinking How can I? Maybe I will get some gift for that person Like that, a devotee is anxious to be in Krishna consciousness So, for our level, Prabhupada Swami has said Somehow or the other we remember Krishna So, whichever level we can apply for ourselves, we can apply and be Krishna conscious So, Prabhupada says that Discourses among devotees can take place only among those who are really anxious to be in Krishna consciousness Not just anxious, really anxious Prabhupada says We pretend to be eager, yes I am supposed to be eager, so I will act as if I am eager But those who are really anxious to be in Krishna consciousness Now, others can also come and participate But the Krishna consciousness that is invoked in that will not be very deep And also, actually We will discuss in this chapter later The mutual enlightenment and the mutual upliftment and the mutual joy that comes about when devotees are anxious to be Krishna conscious That is of a different scale entirely from ritualistic discussion of Krishna as past times So, here Krishna is anxious Priyamanaya Hitakamyaya Krishna is anxious that my devotee and all souls are potentially devotees They should not get lost They should not make wrong choices And that’s why in anxious anxiety, Krishna is speaking Please understand This is the highest word that I am speaking Understand it. It’s for your benefit I love you So, let us look at what these words are Krishna is speaking with such intense affection I do not I am not known by whom The various Devatas Prabhavam Prabhavam is my origin I and my origin are not known by the Devatas Even the Maharshayas do not know me So, normally the Devatas are in Swarga and they are themselves worshipable and exalted for us But even the Devatas worship the Rishis Now, Indra bows down to Brihaspati So, the Devatas are high in terms of power, but the Rishis are high in terms of knowledge renunciation and devotion So, generally renunciation here.
Not all the Rishis will be devotees. Some are All of them are religious but not all of them are devotees. But Krishna is saying that Devatas and even the Maharshis do not know me.
Why? I come before them Even all the Maharshis they all come after me I come before them So, Krishna is revealing here that what he is going to speak, others do not know about it In fact, no one knows about him because he is sarva-karana-karana He is the cause of all causes So, Krishna has already talked about Adhyam That is one verse which described how the Yogi meditates on the Absolute Truth with various qualities So, there are various other places where Krishna’s qualities are not talked about. But there itself there is one of the very clear verses which till now has described Krishna’s glories talking about multiple qualities in one verse and there the word was used as PURANAM He is old but PURANAM Krishna is reiterating this point and expanding it I am older even than Devatas and I am older than the Rishis also. Krishna has referred to this earlier also in the 4th chapter when he said that I gave this knowledge to the Sun God in 4.1 So, Krishna is harking back to the same theme and emphasising that actually no one knows him.
So, this is a significant point because of two reasons. One is it it demonstrates how Krishna is the original person but even those who are considered powerful and worshipped people in this world are also not comparable with Krishna and Prabhupada quotes about how from various other sources similar themes are there in the Bhagavatam also the same point is that actually by that absolute truth even the suras get bewildered and we see in the 10th canto of the Srimad Bhagavatam Brahma, Indra all of them get bewildered about Krishna. They can’t understand Krishna because the thing is he is a simple cowherd boy So, Prabhupada writes the Lord cannot be known by internal they can limit, they can speculate to the limits of their imperfect senses and can reach the opposite conclusion of impersonalism or they can imagine something by mental speculation but they cannot, it is not possible to understand Krishna by such foolish speculations but now Prabhupada makes an interesting point the conception of God as some ruling power or as the impersonal Brahman can be reached by persons who are the inferior energy of the Lord but the personality of Godhead cannot be concealed unless one is in the transcendental position so what is Prabhupada saying over here actually we can correlate this with the Paramatma and the Brahman conceptions, roughly conception of God as some ruling power or as the impersonal Brahman so the Paramatma is the overseer, is the controller of this world and the impersonal Brahman is all pervading effulgence, so actually these are the two primary conceptions of God that are present in the various theistic traditions in the world God is some being, something that controls the world there is some organising power or there is an all pervading spirit in which we have to merge the broad two conceptions of God of course there can be many speculations but if you look at overall there are two broad conceptions, now in most religions even if God is talked about as a person but still his personal attributes are not talked about much and overall he is manifested more as a power than as a person in the old testament when God rescues the Jews, how does he do it? by extraordinary displays of power but not even once does God manifest himself in person Moses sees a bush that is burning and the bush keeps burning and burning and burning and burning and the fire never gets extinguished and then he understands oh this is God manifesting or when the Jews are being taken from Egypt and they are trapped between the Egyptian soldiers on behind and the sea the sea parts and that is considered an act of God so God manifests primarily as power practically never has God manifested as a person and it is not described how God looks like, so what Srila Prabhupada is explaining is that generally if we speculate then or if we think by ourselves, we may think of God as some ruling power or as an impersonal Brahman but by our own reasoning and our own thinking and our own speculation we cannot come to the conclusion of personality of God of bluish black complexioned peacock feather wearing, flute playing charming cowherd boy, that we can’t come to, to come to that conclusion we need the mercy of Krishna manifesting through his devotees, through the process of bhakti yoga so one has to not just get that but by getting that one has to rise to the transcendental position as Prabhupada mentions then one can know him so after describing that I am the origin of all, I cannot be known by all, then Krishna says but still, if you come to know me there are great benefits available so first he describes here in 10.3, one half of the benefits and 10.7 will describe the second half so what is described so first thing is, understand that I am beyond the dimension of time there is no beginning and there is no end to me no beginning, no end actually the Atma is also Ajayan Anali and even Brahmaji is also called as Ajah sometimes so what is special about you Lok Maheshwaram the Atma is never Lok Maheshwaram Brahmaji is also not Lok Maheshwaram, he may be the Lord of Brahma Loka but not of all the planets so Vetti Loka Maheshwaram one who is the master of all the Lokas Sarva Loka Maheshwaram, Krishna has used the same phrase Lok Maheshwaram, same compound word in 5.29 in the Bhagavad Gita so one who understands my position I am beyond time and I am the controller of everyone I am the supreme being Asamudha Samartheshu so Asamudha, such a person is undeluded so Mudha is one who is deluded Asamudha is one who is free from delusion Samartheshu Sarvapapai Pramuchyate Samartheshu so among the actually all the people in this world are Martya all of us are meant for death ultimately, we are born with a death sentence on our head, we can’t see the date of the death sentence, we don’t know when we are going to die, but we know we are going to die Samartheshu, but what happens? Sarvapapai Pramuchyate so when we come to know Krishna what will happen is we will become free from all sins Krishna has also talked about this in 4.10 Poota Bhavo Jnanatapasa Poota Madbhavam Agataha By knowing about me Poota, the people, many have become purified in the past Krishna is saying here Sarvapapai Pramuchyate How does knowledge about Krishna purify? Actually impurity essentially means misdirected desires that our desires are directed towards worldly objects and that is of course when they are sinful that’s even worse, but even if our desires are not sinful, still misdirected desires constitute an impurity so when we come to know Krishna knowing Krishna Krishna is not just theoretical, it is transformational our heart becomes attracted to Krishna and being attracted to Krishna is supremely pure desire and as this pure desire becomes stronger and stronger Sarvapapai Pramuchyate then we become free from sinful reactions that Krishna we will talk about later but just knowledge of Krishna itself is purifying, just hearing about Krishna that itself purifies even if immediately our bhakti towards Krishna is not awakened by hearing about him but just hearing about him also purifies us so now Prabhupada explains in the purport how, he takes one by one the terms, he says how can the lord be Ajah he was born from Devaki so he says actually Ajah so actually wherever the Bhagavatam uses the word Ajah, soon in that janma for the absolute truth the Bhagavatam also uses, contextualises for example in the passage on the birth of Krishna thus the unborn lord Vishnu took birth what does that mean, actually this is just a leela, the lord is eternally the supreme but just for the sake of past times he manifests in this world through a particular way yeah then Prabhupada explains in the purport that sarvapapai pramucchitta he is elaborating so the conception that there are things auspicious and inauspicious in the world is more or less a mental concoction because there is nothing auspicious in the material world, everything is inauspicious because the very material nature is inauspicious we simply imagine it to be auspicious real auspiciousness depends on activities in Krishna consciousness in full devotion and service what does this actually mean no bhadra bhadra jnana sarvamano dharma ei bhala ei manda ei sab brahma so actually Chetan Charitam also says the same point that ei bhala ei manda, this is good, this is bad ei sab brahma it’s ultimately a dream, why? because if I dream, I get a very pleasant dream, I get a very horrid dream, actually when I wake up, neither matter and from the perspective of waking up, the dream is just a dream it’s false, so like that whether we have good dreams or bad dreams ultimately it doesn’t matter because the real life is after we wake up and waking up is the ultimate goal of life the goal of life is not to get a good dream the goal of life is to wake up be rejuvenated and move forward with life, similarly in the material existence our primary goal should not be to try to just create better situations it is to wake up from this dream that’s why the idea that when we are separated from Krishna, something is good that itself is maya, in the Bhagavatam also the same point is said hridayartham yat pratiyetana pratiyet chatmanitam vidyadatmato maya itha bhaso itha tamaha that if something appears meaningful but if it is disconnected from Krishna, then that actually is maya, so maya means when we feel something is valuable but it is not connected with Krishna, the same way if we think this is good, this is auspicious a poor person thinks that oh wealth is very auspicious but one doesn’t see the connection with Krishna then it’s not necessarily auspicious that wealth can become, cause the person to go deeper into maya so essentially what is auspicious is our connection with Krishna and to the extent we can use things of this world in Krishna’s service to the extent they can also bring auspiciousness in our life so sarvapavapai pramuchyate one will become free from all sinful reactions now Prabhupada also mentions that anyone acting under the direction of the Supreme Lord is actually a sanyasi and a yogi and not the man who has simply taken the address of sanyasi or a pseudo yogi, so Prabhupada is explaining that actually we don’t have to necessarily give up our activities, we can dovetail them in Krishna’s service under the guidance of a spiritual master so rather than thinking that this is auspicious so I’ll do it or this is inauspicious I’ll give it up, that’s what the karma kandis and the jnana kandis think the karma kandis think that this is punya, I’ll do this, then I’ll go to swarga and enjoy and the jnana kandis think oh this is all bandhanakarak it is all going to cause bondage therefore I’ll not do it so rather than thinking in terms of auspicious and inauspicious, the devotee thinks of how can I best serve Krishna under the guidance of guru sadhu shastra the devotee serves Krishna then that brings auspiciousness so now what is happening in this chapter, first verse Krishna said that I’ll tell you this supreme knowledge, second verse he says is actually even the devtas and the rishis don’t know me, third verse says that actually those who come to know me they’ll become free from papa now Krishna will describe about himself in the next few verses so he’s going to emphasise elaborate on the point of how he is the origin, he is prior to even the rishis and the devtas he is their origin, he explains that in this verse by describing how he is the origin of everything in this world even the abstract qualities, see in this world there are things among things, by things we can refer to non-living things as well as living things we can refer to people also so there are things and there are conceptions so there is existence at the physical level and existence at the subtle level so the qualities that are there so Krishna describes that all the various qualities that are there they also come from him only, that he describes in this verse these two verses together buddhir jnanam sammoham kshamasatyam damasyamam kham dukham bhavo bhavo bhayam cha bhayam eva cha ahimsa samata tushtis tapodhanam yashoh yashah bhavanti bhava bhutana mattaiva prathagvida so buddhir jnanam asammoham now buddhi is intelligence, jnana is knowledge so now it’s interesting, Prabhupada explains the difference between intelligence and knowledge so he says intelligence refers to the power to analyse things in their proper perspective and knowledge refers to understanding what is spirit and what is matter so jnana is more in terms of understanding things in their constitution what this is matter this is spirit, this is the supreme Prabhupada will actually when Prabhupada says knowledge it refers to understanding what is matter and what is spirit this is based on 13.3 in the Bhagavad Gita where Krishna says that kshetra kshetra gaya gyanam yatha gyanam matam mama so kshetra kshetra gaya gyanam kshetra refers to field which is matter and kshetra gaya refers to the knower of the field that is spirit that is so in that spirit there can be the soul as well as super soul both so here Prabhupada says matter and spirit in other places he says matter spirit and the controller of both that is knowledge so MSc degree means to know matter spirit and control that is real knowledge actually so that is knowledge when we understand things in their composition but then intelligence means to understand things in their interaction is to analyse things in their proper perspective that means ok when I have to do certain things this is more important this is less important so to prioritise to rearrange to harmonise all that requires not just knowledge it requires intelligence and that intelligence is also coming from Krishna knowledge comes from Krishna intelligence also coming from Krishna udhir jnanam asamoham so asamoham refers to freedom from doubt moha is doubt or illusion so doubt Prabhupada combines here both doubt and illusion and he calls asamoham as freedom from doubt and illusion so that also comes from Krishna actually how things work is ultimately all of us have certain spectacles with which we look at the world even if we don’t have physical spectacles all of us have conceptual spectacles conceptual spectacles means we have brought up we came into this world with certain conditionings and we acquired some further conditionings while living in this world and we see everything accordingly if I have red glasses I see everything red similarly we have certain conditionings which taint our vision so if somebody if I am wearing glasses which are opaque I won’t see anything if I have glasses which are red tinted I will see everything red if I have glasses that are transparent I can see everything as it actually is so Krishna is studying over here that ultimately it is I some people are free from doubt some people are enlightened so that quality of enlightenment as the last line all these qualities come from me so it is by the grace of Krishna that we become free from doubt and Prabhupada explains how one should strive to become free from doubt by the cultivation of knowledge so here Prabhupada mentions that actually what is satya satya means that facts should be presented as they are for the benefit of others and Prabhupada says facts should not be misrepresented and then satyam Prabhupada elaborates that satyam doesn’t mean necessarily to speak that which is pleasing to others, if it is necessary to speak something that is pleasing to others we should be ready to do that also if it is necessary so Vidura we see that he spoke strongly so that he could get Dhritarashtra to be detached so when it is required we should be ready to speak strongly but we see also that Vidura also tried to use softer means of counsel earlier satya means not just the words that are truthful but satya also means that the words which take a person towards the absolute truth, so we try to speak words in such a way that they take people towards Krishna buddhir jnanam sammoham then kshama satyam dama kshama, so there are various qualities, Prabhupada elaborates on all of them in his purports and you can read them, I won’t go into all of them here kshama is Prabhupada translates here as forgiveness so dama and kshama is sense control and mind control control of senses, control of the mind so this dama and kshama will come again in the qualities of a brahmana in the 18th chapter also so what this refers to is dama means we don’t engage in bad activities sensual activities, so that is good we don’t fall for sense gratification but better still is that we don’t let the mind itself get agitated if the mind is not agitated then it’s even better then there is no question of falling for sense gratification so a devotee should be bestest to have the mind under control, if not then at least at the physical level we avoid giving into sense gratification now it’s interesting, so kam dukkham bhavo bhava so till now Krishna has talked about positive qualities in terms of say freedom from delusion forgiveness, truthfulness but now he says actually even happiness and distress and bhava and abhava, that means birth and death and bhayam cha bhayam so now he starts in 10.4 c and d he talks about the dualities that characterise this world he uses three dualities first is happiness and distress then life, birth and death and then fear and fearlessness he says they also come from me now normally it’s easy to understand when Krishna says the good comes from me so if Krishna is saying that even misery comes from me or if Krishna says that even the fear comes from me, what does it actually mean? it simply means that Krishna’s influence pervades all of existence that whatever we are experiencing in life, ultimately it comes from Krishna and it’s not that Krishna sends fear our way, actually based on our karma, whatever reactions we get we are meant to get, Krishna sends them to us and we also make choices but actually nothing exists that is outside the jurisdiction of Krishna the standard example is that sun does not create shadows but when a person turns away from the sun then person experiences shadows so do the shadows come from the sun? indirectly yes, directly no sun doesn’t send out shadows but if the sun were not there, there would be no shadow also so the dualities of this world are coming from Krishna in the sense that he has made the overall arrangement within which these dualities function now Krishna wants to give us supreme stability and ecstasy that is beyond the dualities but how will we reach that? we will reach that when we take shelter of Krishna but till then we understand that whatever we are experiencing in this world ultimately it is an arrangement of Krishna it is coming from Krishna specifically it may come to us because of our particular karmic reactions but it is coming from Krishna as we read in the 7th chapter Prabhupada says in the purport nothing is outside the jurisdiction of Krishna consciousness and then Prabhupada says what is misuse of thinking power? one should not spend one’s time pondering over earning money that is a misuse of the thinking power so the mind should be used to understand the prime necessity of human beings so don’t we have to earn money for a living? yes dharma, artha, kama, moksha artha is one of the purusha arthas, it is an important part of life but the point here is one should not be obsessed with that we will see in the 16th chapter how obsession with earning money that is the characteristic of the demoniac people so a devotee whatever is required, a devotee will put the amount of thought necessary and the amount of time necessary for earning a livelihood but that is not the default thought of a devotee the prime necessity of our life is to revive our spiritual connection with Krishna, to develop love for Krishna and the mind should be used primarily for that and Prabhupada explains sukham and dukkham here from a devotional perspective he says that that which is painful so a devotee should understand what is painful not just that which gives me physical pain but that which takes me away from Krishna that is painful and I should avoid that and that which is favourable, I should accept that and then Prabhupada explains each of these qualities from quite a transcendental perspective so ahimsa non-violence means that one should not do anything which will put others into misery or even confusion so misery is psychological or physical, confusion is intellectual, so when you mislead people that is also a form of ahimsa and Prabhupada explains that therefore the best form of non-violence is to share Krishna consciousness with them that which furthers the future spiritual happiness of people in general is called non-violence so that is non-violence means to help people practise Krishna consciousness and Prabhupada similarly explains each of these characteristics, you can read all of them now after this after describing all these qualities Prabhupada concludes that whatever we find good or bad, the origin is Krishna nothing can manifest in material world which is not in Krishna, that is knowledge although we know that things are differently situated we should realise that everything flows from Krishna so the important point is here to see the connectedness of creation with Krishna so a devotee doesn’t abstract, doesn’t unintelligently worship everything as Krishna but devotee sees the connectedness of everything with Krishna and accepts those things which enable that devotee to go closer to Krishna so after describing this Krishna will describe the qualities, how they come from how the inhabitants of the universe ultimately come from him and he describes in the next verse so maharishaya saptapurve chatvaro manavastatha adbhava manasa jata esham lokai ma praja so he describes all that maharishaya saptapurve so there are saptarushis or the seven great sages and then prior to them prior to them are the chatvaro manavastatha chatvaro is the four other great sages and the manus adbhava manasa jata they come from him esham lokai ma praja and from them all the universe has become populated so here Prabhupada explains that who are these referring to, the saptarushis so in the bhag when we study the bhakti vaibhava course, we study in detail how the various living beings originate, but the important point here is that Krishna is establishing how ultimately everyone comes from him ultimately everyone comes from him so actually speaking the whole everybody in the universe we know brahmaji is the first being and then from brahmaji comes the four kumaras, so that is chatvaro the four great sages and then after that there were various people that were born, so brahmaji he gave birth to rudra rudra was not suited to rudra, you know demons and other ghostly beings started coming from him so he realised that this cannot help him to populate, so he told brahmaji told rudra to go away and do tapasya and then he begot other people, so he begot the the seven sages then he begot manu and then manu’s daughters were married to some of the sages and that is how the universes eventually became populated, so basically more important than technical specifics is general principle over here, the general principle is everyone comes from Krishna, so prabhupada writes here that this is a genealogical synopsis of the universal population genealogy, genealogy refers to the study of races and origins of the ancestors the studying of how, who has been born from whom, that genealogy we will see that in the bhagavatam, especially in the 8th and 9th cantos, although throughout the bhagavatam also at other places the genealogy is often talked about how this person was born from this and this and this and ultimately how lord ram was born in the raghuvamsha how krishna was born in the raghuvamsha, like that the ancestors are also described so here krishna is giving that same genealogical synopsis and now his important is that he is explaining it from a transcendental origin perspective, that people may think, oh you know my ancestor 20 generations ago, my ancestor was the king of of south india, may be very proud of that say, yes that may be so, but ultimately if you want to be proud of our ancestors you know, we should go all the way back to the root many people have the fascination of going back to the roots lets go back to my roots but actually if you want to go back to the roots our original roots are not material they are not even ancestral, they are spiritual so if you want to go back to the roots, you have to go back all the way back through our ancestors to krishna who lives the spiritual level of reality, so krishna is taking our fascination, those of us who have that fascination, our fascination for the roots all the way back to the original root in fact the only root bijam avyayam is the imperishable seed, so what he has explained, what he has stated in abstract that i am the imperishable seed of all life existence i have stated that twice in this till now in bhagavad gita now he is explaining it in a little more detail this is how from me everyone comes so the bhagavatam elaborates this theme and here krishna is not going into specifics he is giving us the principle that he is the source of everything and now lets go forward now krishna tells what will happen etam vibhutim yogam cha mamayo veti tattvata sovikalpena yogena yujyate natra samshaya so etam vibhutim yogam cha one who understands this vibhuti of mine what is the vibhuti? that i am the source of all qualities and i am the source of all things all people vibhutim yogam cha so prabhupada again translates yoga over here as mystic power prabhupada used this translation for yoga in 9.5 when he said pashyame yogam aishwaram just behold my mystic populence so mystic power or mystic opulence so this vibhuti and yoga one who understands this mamayo veti tattvata tattvata where has this word come earlier in the bhagavad gita it has come most famously in 4.9 janma karma chame devyam evam yo veti tattvata to know in truth krishna is saying so then what happens to those people he says they will come back to me similarly he is saying he is giving a result before that which will lead to that what will happen sovikalpena yogena with avikalpa avikalpa means diversion division alternative like that avikalpa there is no other alternative no other distraction or division with no distraction concentration once you understand actually krishna is the source of everything good krishna is the one from for whom i have been seeing or searching all the time whatever attracts me to anyone in this world ultimately i am attracted to krishna when i understand this so avikalpena yogena so here we see that the word yoga is used in the sense of both meanings in the same verse now first you remember we discussed the two meanings of the word yoga yoga essentially means connection but connection can happen in two ways when we do some sadhana and strive for a connection with krishna and another way that krishna reveals his glory so that it facilitates us it helps us in developing the connection with him so here the first point is krishna is telling mama yoga etam vibhutim yogam cha one who understand this yoga so this when krishna is telling his power what is his power he is the source of everyone his glory is so great that even the devatas even the maharishis don’t know about him this krishna has told this is my opulence and this is my power vibhuti and yoga so krishna is revealing this so that we can increase our attraction to him so that is the meaning in terms of that is the word yoga used in terms of revelation revelation that facilitates connection and yoga can also refer to spiritual practise it can be meditation it can be contemplation it can be action it can be devotional service whichever yoga which facilitates connection so krishna is saying that without considering any alternative one will fix wholeheartedly wholeheartedly one will become engaged in this of this there is no doubt there is no doubt of this why there is no doubt because once one understands krishna then one understands that actually there is no reality beyond krishna i have just surrendered wholeheartedly to krishna so actually there are two emphasising words here avikalpena and na sanatrasamsaya so both are saying nothing else like we have the famous harer nama verse nastyeva nastyeva nastyeva no other way no other way like that avikalpena and then nastyeva same point this is what will happen so actually knowledge of krishna will increase our attraction for krishna and krishna is saying that by understanding more and more about him our mind will become fixed we will be engaged in such a way that nothing will distract us from krishna we will become fixed in krishna so here essentially krishna is saying the same theme in the first part as in 9.3 in 9.3 he says one who knows my position and here also krishna says my position but he has revealed more of his glory in 4 verses 4 to 6 so there in 9.3 he said by knowing about me sarvapapai pramuchyate one will become free from sins but here krishna is saying something more actually freedom from sins is not the perfection of life the perfection of life is spontaneous devotion to krishna and krishna is saying that is what will happen to it so vikalpena yogi wholeheartedly will engage in devotional service actually if we engage wholeheartedly undistractedly without any doubts unhesitantly in devotional service then that sort of devotional service itself will lead to perfection it will lead to the supreme perfection of pure devotion and that pure devotion will take us back to krishna for eternal life of ecstasy therefore this itself is a great blessing when we are able to fix our mind in krishna wholeheartedly so we may wonder is this an exaggeration krishna has not talked much saying that i am the source of all qualities i am the source of all people how just knowing this can lead to such an effect actually when we hear this for us these are just passing verses that we hear once but if we contemplate on them they are quite serious assertions with profound consequences on our world view and on our life mission if we understand that krishna is my source too krishna is the source of everyone and krishna is my source too krishna is the source of everything krishna is not just some historical person who existed 5000 years ago nor he is just a hindu god he is actually the same absolute truth who is talked about by the great sages and saints throughout history across all of the various religious traditions so he is that supreme lord and he reveals himself in the highest reality in such an endearing way then how can one not fall in love with such a person naturally one will fall in love with such a person so that’s what when we ponder on this when we understand in truth then we will fall in love with krishna and actually if we don’t fall in love with krishna then that means we have not yet understood the truth only properly so of course that doesn’t mean that we have not understood it at all we have some understanding of it but we have to deepen our understanding so now when krishna has talked earlier about various qualities so when he has talked about this the important point in talking about these qualities is that actually whatever good we see that also comes from krishna whatever bad we see that also comes from krishna when we understand this actually krishna is the source of everything so let me fix the mind on him only we become inspired towards that so prabhupada writes in the parapur the highest summit of spiritual perfection is knowledge of the supreme personality of godhead so generally the mayavadis think that knowledge of personality of godhead is not the summit they think it’s a ladder and knowledge of impersonal brahman is the summit but krishna is saying no actually one who knows me in this way as a transcendental person who is the source of everything and everyone that person fixes the mind on me so again krishna is not talking about anything unborn within him so prabhupada makes the point further that all the religions talk about the greatness of god but the specifics that elaborate on the greatness of god are present in the vedic tradition we will see this also in the 11th chapter when krishna will exhibit the virat rupa it’s extraordinary so when one factually knows the opulences of the supreme there is no alternative but to surrender to him why no alternative? it is not that our free will is taken away but that actually we understand this is the best thing for me intellectually, emotionally, spiritually in all ways we understand that actually this is the best thing for me so alternatives are there but the alternatives lose their appeal the alternatives lose their appeal when we understand god is such a wonderful all attractive person and that wonderful all attractive person loves me when we understand this then how can we not love him it’s just natural that we fall in love with him so at the very least we should give ourselves, we should make god at least one of the alternatives on people’s people’s menu cards for most people they don’t know anything about god at all for them god is just some image in a temple or some conception that some people believe in they just caught up in material things but actually beginning by just telling people a little bit about god so in their menu card at least one alternative is god let me try god out but when we come to krishna consciousness krishna consciousness is much more than trying god out actually we understand that everything else that i have tried out that has failed me and whatever i have not tried out also there is no need to try that out because this is tried and tested bhavo jnana tapasa many others have practised in the past and many others have become purified and liberated by the knowledge of krishna so prabhupada explains all this particular knowledge is required in order to increase one’s interest in the loving devotional service of the lord actually we need this knowledge so that we can increase our devotion so how does normally when we say jnana does not lead to bhakti that refers to impersonal jnana but when we talk about jnana which is about krishna that jnana of krishna increases our bhakti because when we understand how great he is, how wonderful he is then naturally that attracts us more to him and prabhupada one should not neglect this knowledge siddhanta baliya chitte na kare alas iha hai te krishna lage sudhrudha manas krishna daskaraj goswami described in chetan charita amrut that don’t think this is all philosophy, no need for me to know this now don’t be lazy about it saying like this, why? because by understanding thus the philosophy, the glories of krishna what will happen? krishna lage sudhrudha manas the mind will become wholeheartedly fixed on krishna determinately fixed on krishna so in the next class we will discuss how this knowledge can be acquired through in the pauman chatu shloki bhagavad gita