Bhakti Shastri (105) – Bhagavad Gita Chapter 10 Text 08 to 11

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Thank you very much. Welcome back to the Bhagavad Gita Bhakti Shastri course. We are now going to start the four essential verses of the Gita, the Chatusloki Bhagavad Gita, 10.8 to 11.
Ramanujacharya has referred to this as the four nutshell verses of the Gita. And that nomenclature has been adopted by subsequent teachers also of the Bhagavad Gita. And we will see why these verses are so significant in terms of their content and in terms of their context.
So, in terms of their context, in a sense, these are the last verses that Krishna speaks in his instructions. And then after this, Arjuna gives an understanding that is almost conclusive. So, till now, whenever Arjuna has spoken, first chapter Arjuna spoke, at that time he was speaking, the reasons why he doesn’t want to fight.
After that, whenever Arjuna has spoken, Arjuna has spoken to ask questions. And this is practically the only time in the Bhagavad Gita where Arjuna paraphrases and rephrases his understanding of Krishna’s message. This is the place where after the Chatusloki Bhagavad Gita comes the explanation by Arjuna of the position of Krishna.
And this sort of explanation does not come even at the end of the Bhagavad Gita. At the end of the Bhagavad Gita, the Gita has taken Krishna and Arjuna far away from the battlefield to a discussion of profound philosophical topics, the height of which has rarely been scaled either before or after. But by the 18th chapter, from those phenomenal heights, Krishna and Arjuna are coming down.
And there Arjuna says, I will fight. I will fight because now the action is being called for on the battlefield. But here, after the Chatusloki Bhagavad Gita, Krishna’s message is rephrased by Arjuna.
And there we will see he unambiguously declares Krishna to be the supreme person, the ultimate reality, the absolute truth, the akamai, the pinnacle of existence. So that is the message of the Bhagavad Gita. And that comes immediately after these verses.
So prior to this also, 9th chapter Krishna has called as the most confidential knowledge. This chapter also Krishna has said paramam vachaha. This chapter he says that I want to give the supreme instructions.
And till now he has been building up by saying in 10.3 that this knowledge will free you from sinful reactions. And 10.7 he has said that this knowledge will give you, will grant, will make you wholeheartedly devoted to me. Discussed in last yesterday’s verse.
Sobhikal, pena, yogena, yujyate natra samshaya, without any doubt, without any delusion, will become wholeheartedly fixed in me. So then Krishna will describe this in the 4th verse. So if you look at the context, what is happening after that? Arjuna gives the only place in the Bhagavad Gita where he explains his understanding.
Now, of course, when there is virata rupa in the 11th chapter, Arjuna does offer prayers and describe what he is see beholding. But that is not exactly a paraphrase of what Krishna has spoken. So here Krishna is, Arjuna is giving understanding.
So Arjuna is giving the understanding here in the only place of the Gita. And before that Krishna is building up by saying, this is paramam vachaha, the most confidential knowledge that I will be speaking. So therefore, from the context it is very significant.
Now let us look at the content. So when we look at the content, let us look at the summary and overview of what the 4 verses are saying. Then we will go into the 4 verses.
So in one sense, among these 4 verses, also 10.8 to 11, 8 gives a summary and 9, 10, 11 are elaborating that. So 8 says, those who know that I am the source of everything become enlightened. They become Buddha and they become devoted to me wholeheartedly.
That is bhava samanvita. So now this, that they become devoted and they become enlightened, that is talked about in 8. Now 9 describes how they become devoted to me. That is machitta madgatha prana.
That is described in 9th verse. And then 10th and 11th verses describes how they become Buddha. So they say that Krishna gives buddhi yoga.
That is described in the dhami buddhi yogam tam verse, famous verse in 10.10. And then how Krishna gives buddhi is described in the 11th verse, that I am present in the heart. And I remove with the torchlight of knowledge the darkness. So in a sense, this is what the verses are talking about.
How a devotee, how a soul on understanding Krishna’s positions becomes devoted and becomes enlightened. So this talks about the redirection of the heart and the redirection of the head. So the redirection of the heart, the enlightenment is described in the, the understanding of Krishna’s position described in the 8th verse and the resulting redirection of the heart is described in 9th verse.
And the 10th and 11th verse, the direction of the, the illumination, the understanding that comes up, that is also described. So now let us look at this from another way perspective. The 8, we know that there are these three categories in understanding God or for that matter, any subject.
Sambandha, Abhidheya and Prayojanam. So what is the Sambandha, Abhidheya and Prayojanam? Actually, Sambandha, the Chaitanya Charita says, Sambandha, Krishna, Abhidheya, Bhakti, Prema, Prayojanam. So these are three aspects.
Sambandha, what is it that we want to develop a relationship with? So by philosophical contemplation we understand, I want to develop a relationship with the ultimate reality. And the ultimate reality is personal, is Krishna. So therefore, that is the first step, Sambandha.
Then how do I develop the relationship? It is a process of Sadhana, that is Bhakti. So that is the process which I follow. And after that, what happens when I develop that? Then the result is Prayojanam, that is Prema.
So for example, to understand this Sambandha, Abhidheya, Prayojanam, we may consider a simple example. Sometimes there are advertisers, a car is shown and the person is shown driving the car and says, enjoy this, purchase the car and enjoy the envy in your neighbour’s eyes. Now actually when the advertisements indicate the level of people’s consciousness, you know, is envy something to be enjoyed? Enjoy the envy in your neighbour’s eyes.
So that is the standard of enjoyment that people have. There is no positive enjoyment. The enjoyment is in pushing people down.
But anyway, so when a person sees an ad like this, he says, oh, I want that car. So what happens? The Sambandha is with the car. I want to develop a relationship with the car.
What is the relationship? I want to be the owner of the car, possessor of the car. So then Abhidheya, what is Abhidheya? Oh, I have to earn that much money. If I don’t have the money, I have to take a car loan.
So procuring the money is the Abhidheya. And then what is the Prayojanam? The Prayojanam is I come in the car and I’m proudly riding the car and I’m waiting to see the envy in my neighbour’s eyes. And then I look at him and I find that he has got a new better car than me.
And instead of the envy coming in his eyes, envy comes in my eyes. So what happens is in material life, just when we expect the Prayojanam to come, when we expect the fruit, the happiness to come, at that time, it just doesn’t come. It just doesn’t come.
Or it comes, it is so little and it goes away after that. But the overall point is that this is how in any activity we develop. We want to develop a relationship.
We decide this is the object or this is the person with whom I don’t develop the relationship. Then there is a process and after the process comes the result. So here, Sambandha Abhidheya Prayojanam.
So Sambandha is Krishna. Now Sambandha is Krishna means we understand that I have developed a relationship with Krishna. So the first verse talks about Sambandha, Abhidheya and Prayojanam, all three.
And in the second verse, 10.9 talks about Abhidheya as well as Prayojanam. And 10.11 talks all the more about Abhidheya. That means it talks about the process by which the connection is developed.
So let’s see how that happens in this verse. Verse is one by one. But at this stage, we understand the significance of the verse.
The whole philosophy is compressed together in a concise way in these four verses. So let’s look at 10.8 now. So, aham sarvasya prabhavo, I am the source of everything.
Everything emanates from me. So actually, we may say this may seem to be just repetition. Everything comes, I am the source of everything and everything comes from me.
So what is the point of repeating the same thing again? I am the source of everything, aham sarvasya prabhavo. Doesn’t that mean the same thing as attah sarvam pravartate? Actually, the word pravartate is also used in a present tense, in the sense of maintenance. That means Krishna is saying I am not only the source of everything, but actually I am also the maintainer of everything.
Everything is being sustained by me. So everything is being arranged and its whole maintenance is going on by my arrangement. So everything is, in that sense, acting within me.
So earlier we have discussed the conception of God as deistic, which some people have. Now there is theism, there is deism and there is atheism. Atheism is God doesn’t exist only.
God is neither the creator nor the controller. So theism is the idea that God is the creator and the controller. But deism is the idea that God is the creator but not the controller.
God is the creator but not the controller. Say just like a clock is there, a clock is made by some maker, but the maker is not controlling the clock right now. So that is the idea of God that some people have.
So that is not the idea of God that the Bhagavad Gita very directly substantiates. It says that actually God is not just a distant, deistic sort of designer. God is also a proximate, personal overseer of everything.
So He is present as the Paramatma in the heart and He cares for everyone. Of course, He is also a judge. For those who do not want Him to intervene directly, but for those who turn towards Him, He is personally there.
So pravartate, that means Krishna is the sustainer also. He is not just the source. He is a sustainer also.
And then iti matva, one who understands this. What happens to such a person? bhajante mam, that one who understands Krishna’s position, bhajante. Now Sri Prabhupada has already explained the word bhajante quite in detail in the parport of 6.47. yoginampisarvesha matgatena antaratmana shraddhavan bhajate yo mam samayuktatamo mataha So bhajate, bhajante, they are all from the same root.
The word bhajante is also, that there was bhajate, the word similar to bhajante has also come in earlier in 9.13. mahatmanas tu mam partha daivim prakrti ma shuddha bhajante nanya manaso jnatva bhuta dhimauvayam So bhajante means that actually Krishna is wholehearted, that the devotee wholeheartedly offers oneself to Krishna. So it’s not just some ritualistic worship. It is a complete offering of one’s heart, oneself and one’s very being to Krishna.
So here iti matva bhajante mam, person starts worshipping. But in what way is the worship going on? Budha, budha means the person becomes intelligent. Budha is actually, the word budha is related with buddha, buddha is the enlightened one.
So budha is also similarly enlightened. And the word budha is often constantly contrasted with the word mudha. Mudha is a foolish person.
Bhavasamanvitaha, bhavasamanvitaha means that with the emotion of the heart. So it’s not the person doesn’t do ritualistic worship, but bhavasamanvitaha, with the emotion one offers. So samanvitaha, imbued with, with great attention.
So bhavasamanvitaha. Now that means what is telling here, the knowledge of Krishna’s position, what does that lead to? That makes the person enlightened and that person, that makes the person also attracted to offer the whole heart. So in that sense, the head and the heart both get transformed and directed towards Krishna.
The head becomes illumined, that’s budha, and the heart becomes transformed, that is bhavasamanvitaha bhajante. So now let us look at Prabhupada’s purport. Prabhupada, the purport primarily focusses on substantiating the point that Prabhupada, that Krishna is making, that he’s the source of everything, that he is the absolute truth.
And Prabhupada marshals a remarkably impressive galaxy of verses as supports for this point that Krishna is making. So we see Prabhupada quotes from various verses. Let’s look at how many verses he’s quoting from.
So there’s a section in Atharveda, the Gopal Tapani Upanishad. We discussed earlier quotations also in this book. So what is it? This says, So it was Krishna who instructed Brahma and and it is he who gave Vedic knowledge in the past.
So again, the point that has been indicating through is that Krishna is the source of all. So now what are the alternative sources that people may conceive of? People who think Brahma is the source, Shiva is the source. But here this verse is indicating that actually if Krishna gave knowledge to Brahma, that means Brahma is not the ultimate source.
Krishna must have been there before. Krishna is more enlightened than Brahma and Krishna gave knowledge to Brahma. So then again, this is from the Gopal Tapani Upanishad.
Then Prabhupada quotes again from the Narayana Upanishad. What does Narayana Upanishad say? So in the beginning, it was Narayana who desired to create all living beings. And then it is described when he said, decided to create all living beings.
What happened? Then actually who all are created? Here we see practically the whole who’s who in the Vedic cosmology is described over here. As all coming from Narayana. So here Brahma, as I said, it is a who’s who of the Vedic cosmology.
Brahma is the creator. Prajapati are the subsequent progenitors, very important people in the Vedic universe. Indra is the chief among all the gods.
The Vasavas, Vasus are important among the Devatas again. Then Shiva of course, 11 Rudras, they are also coming from Narayana. And the Adityas are also coming from Narayana.
And then Prabhupada makes a point, this Narayana is the expansion of Krishna. So now when this Narayana Upanishad is there, the point which is being made is that from Narayana, everyone has come. Now if we study the description of the universe’s origin, which is given of not exactly universe’s origin, but the origin of the various living beings in the universe, including the prominent living beings, in the Bhagavatam itself, sometimes different processes are described.
So it is not that every time all the details in the process of creation happen exactly identically. There can be variations in different universes. That means actually Krishna doesn’t have to necessarily all the time, by unfolding the universe, follow a rigid pattern.
Just as Krishna’s pastimes can have some variations, similarly some things can be varying. So when it is said that from Narayana, Shiva came. Now if you look at the Bhagavatam, we may say that actually Shiva Rudra comes from Brahmaji, he is considered son of Brahma.
So how can it be said that from Narayana, Shiva has come? The point is here that it is by Narayana’s arrangement and it is Narayana who is the original source. So we may say that if one person emigrated from India to Siberia, and then that person gave birth to some people and from then the dynasties moved on and there are hundreds of people after that, hundreds and thousands of people. So then what would we say? That now there may be different generations that have gone on, but we will say, oh from him, you know, this king has come, from him this warrior has come, from him this business person has come, from him this artist has come.
So it may not be that all of them are directly his children, but they have all come from him. So it is in this sense that it is said that all these people come from Narayana. Narayana is the source ultimately, but it is not necessary that these are directly born from Narayana.
Although that can also happen if that is what the Lord wills in some other universes. So the Bhagavatam describes a particular genealogy and the important point is this genealogy, it all comes from Krishna. It all ultimately comes from Krishna because Narayana also comes from Krishna.
So the important point that is being made over here is that, and he is the source of everyone. Now, asrujyate akamyam. So it is said that the Lord, akamyata sujyati, that the Lord desired to create living entities.
What does it refer to? Now we know that the souls are eternal, then the Lord doesn’t create any souls because the souls exist eternally. So what is being referred to here? This is not referring to anything at the spiritual level. The souls are eternal, existing at the spiritual level, but this is referring to the beginning of the universe.
We know that the Lord is sleeping and then when Brahmaji, Brahmaji’s life also ends. At that time, the whole universe is destroyed and when the universe is destroyed, at that time, what happens is, when the universe is destroyed, the universal substratum enters into Vishnu and then after that, when the Lord desires again, then the universes start emanating from his body and then after that he glances and the whole creation triggers off. So that moment when the creation is going to start, that is what is being referred to as Srujyati.
So not souls are being created, but the souls are becoming embodied, those souls who have already come to the material world or are willing to come or wanting to come to the material world. For them, the Lord gives bodies. So Srujyati refers to not his desire to create new souls, but to start re-manifesting the creation for allowing the souls to play out their desires and ultimately come back to him.
So that is what is referring to as the Lord’s desire over here. Now, beyond that, let us look at several other verses. So actually, this is from the Narayana Upanishad, the absolute truth, Brahman is actually coming as the Devaki Putra and then further what is being said over here, what was there at the origin? This is from the Maha Upanishad, Ekovai Narayana, Ekovai Narayana Asin na Brahma na Ishaano na Punaagni Samo Neme Dyaav a Prithvi na Nakshatraani na Suryaha Ekovai Narayana Asin.
In the beginning, there was only Narayana, Brahma was not there, Ishaana refers to Shiva, he was not there. Na Apo, so there was no water, there was no fire, then there was no stars in the sky, na Nakshatraani, na Suryaha, na Dyaav a Prithvi, so there was no moon also, so Samo, na Ime, Samo refers to the moon, so like that, the point that is being made is, there was no one there at that time. So, again a Prabhupada quotes from the Moksha Dharma, Moksha Dharma is like an appendix to the Mahabharata, Prajapatim cha Rudram cha api aham evam sujam evai, tahu maam na vijani to, mam maya vimohi tahu, so Krishna is saying that Rudra and Prajapatis, they are all created by me, but those who do not know this, but those who do not know me, maam na vijani to, so what is the indicator, what is the status of such a person, mam maya vimohi tahu, people do not know this because they are deluded by my maya.
Now Prabhupada quotes from the Varaha Purana here, what does the Varaha Purana say, Narayana paro devas, tasma jatas chaturmukha, tasma dhrudro bhavadeva, sarva jnatam gatha, so from Narayana, Narayana is the paro devas, the supreme among all the gods, and from him was born Chaturmukha, Chaturmukha refers to Brahmaji, and from him comes Rudra, and Rudra eventually became sarva jnatam gatha, he became omniscient. Now what does it mean when you say Shiva became omniscient, actually there are levels of omniscience also, the word omni normally means all, so how can there be levels of omniscience, is the word omni means all, but the Vedic universe is so subtle, so complex that often the English vocabulary is not enough to describe the Vedic understanding of existence, so the word omni means all, but what does it all refer to, does all refer to all of existence or all the universe or all the earthly planetary system or all the earth or what, so all can refer to many things, omni basically refers all, so Shiva is omniscient within a particular universe, Yamaraj is also omniscient similarly in a limited sense, so it is all within a jurisdiction, but it is only the Lord Vishnu, the super soul who is pervading everywhere who is completely omniscient, so partial omniscience is granted to other living beings based on the particular portfolios that they have in the universal management, so to be able to execute the responsibility that I entrusted to them, they are given that power and accordingly they manifest certain levels of abilities which most people do not have, so now going back, so now Prabhupada explains further that actually the whole Bhagavad Gita has been pointing towards this particular point which Krishna has made, for example it said that there is no truth higher than me, that was one of the most categorical declaration of Krishna’s positions and now this is all, now there have been many declarations like that before also, very direct, so similarly there is this declaration now means everything actually comes from me, everything means there is no exception to that everything, so everything literally means everything, now when Krishna is speaking this, let us look at the overall understanding of how the universe manifests, so when the universe manifests in this world, actually we know that originally there is Krishna, from Krishna comes Balramji, from Balram comes Vasudev Sankarshan, from him comes Narayana, from Narayana comes second Chakra, Vasudev Sankarshan and from him comes Mahavishnu, from Mahavishnu comes Garbhodakshaya, from him comes Shirodakshaya Vishnu and like that the whole universe goes on, so ultimately from the point of view of cosmology, it is the lord, it is he who is the source of everyone, so now actually Prabhupada is quoting from the previous Acharyas and explaining to us how all these things come from, all these are coming from him and then Prabhupada concludes this purport by describing that a Krishna conscious person should not be bewildered by fools, what is the fool’s idea? That only a fool would consider Krishna to be an ordinary person, so we should avoid all unauthorised commentaries and interpretations in Bhagavad Gita and proceed in Krishna consciousness, determination and firmness, so what does this refer to? This is Prabhupada explaining how we can become Buddha and Bhava Samanvitaha at our level, so Bhava Samanvitaha is determination and firmness and Buddha is reject all unauthorised commentaries and interpretations, so the Bhagavad Gita itself is quite clear, Prabhupada would say that his purports make the self-evident meaning, the meaning is Prabhupada would sometimes say that scripture is self-evident, there is no need for any interpretation of scripture, so Krishna is very clear, I am the source of everything, now we know that what Prakashanand Saraswati and Sarvam Bhattacharya, both of them, basically Chaitanya Mahaprabhu told more or less the same thing, but when these impersonalists, when Prakashanand, when Sarvam Bhattacharya especially say was giving his impersonalist explanation of Vedanta Sutra, so at that time what happened, at that time he first heard from Sarvam Bhattacharya for seven days and Sarvam Bhattacharya asked him, you are not asking any questions, are you understanding or not what I am saying, and then Chaitanya Mahaprabhu, he gave what you can say is a iron fist in a velvet glove, externally what he spoke was soft, but the import was very heavy, what he said is, actually I understand the Vedanta Sutra quite well, but I can’t understand what you are saying, so see what does this actually imply, it’s like a teacher is explaining something to a student, and the student says, you know I understand the textbook, but I don’t understand what you are saying, so firstly what it means is the teacher is unnecessary, because the teacher is trying to explain a book, but the student is saying that I already know the textbook, I don’t need you, without you I have understood it, but worse than that what is the student saying further, that actually I can understand the textbook, I can’t understand you means, what you are saying doesn’t make sense, that means your understanding is improper or it is even incorrect, and that means the student is not only saying that I don’t need you, the student is also saying that you are wrong, it is quite a slap on the face for the teacher, so then Chaitanya Mahaprabhu further says actually the Vedanta Sutra is like the sun, and your explanations are like the cloud covering the sun, so that means first I understand without you, you don’t understand, and third is that what you are understanding is a misunderstanding, so it’s quite a strong statement, so now it is said that the Vedanta Sutra is self-evident, so the Bhagavad Gita is also self-evident that way, the meaning is clear, we don’t need any interpretation, so if we don’t need any interpretation, then why is Shri Prabhupada giving a commentary, isn’t his commentary also an interpretation, if the scripture is self-evident, then why do we need a commentary, so actually what is self-evident may not be evident to us, you wonder how is that possible, what does it mean, just like the sun gives light, sun is self-luminous, and the sun’s light is going far and wide, but for us over our head may be clouds, and for us the clouds may be blocking our vision of the sun, similarly for the Bhagavad Gita in and of itself, its meaning is self-evident, but for us the meaning is covered because of our preconceptions and prejudices, because of our misconceptions and our misdirections, so preconceptions means our own past notions, prejudices means we have our own biases, we like certain things, we don’t like certain things, so same misconception means wrong understanding, misdirection means our desires also, not only they are understanding wrong, but even our desires are wrong, so because these preconceptions and prejudices, misconceptions and misdirections, they form a cloud, and what Srila Prabhupada does is, his purports are removing the cloud that is covering our vision, so what is self-evident is not evident, and therefore what we need is the Acharyas to explain, and those who are not actually living the Gita, they cannot explain the Gita, to actually understand the Gita, we must live the Gita, and to live the Gita, we must love Krishna, because that is what the message of the Bhagavad Gita is, so those who are not loving Krishna, they are not living the Gita, and they are not understanding the Gita, because the Bhagavad Gita is not just a theoretical subject, it is a transformational subject, and without becoming transformed, we cannot get its proper understanding, so therefore the devotee should not doubt, and with firmness and determination, we should move forward, and there are so many interpretations of the Gita, and they may contain certain things which are valuable, some points may be good in them, but overall if they are neglecting Krishna, if they are bypassing Krishna, if they are saying that there is some reality beyond Krishna, then that is a serious, grievous misunderstanding, and therefore a devotee has to be cautious, so Buddha means to understand Krishna as the supreme absolute truth, and what happens after that, that is described in the next verses, so the next verse says, you remember this verse says, how is this, when you understand Krishna’s position, that enables us to understand Sambandha, and then Abhidheya is what, Bhajante Maam is the Abhidheya, true bhajan, and Bhava Samanvitaha, with divine emotion, with pure spiritual emotion, that is the last part, that is the aspect of love for Krishna, that is devotion that is manifesting, so in this way we can understand that everything is talked about in this verse, so machitta madgata prana, machitta madgata prana, so machitta, one offers one’s consciousness to me, machitta, machitta, machitta is the consciousness, the mind, now Prabhupada translates this very poet, very aptly and poetically, he doesn’t just say that the devotees think of me, he says the thoughts of my pure devotees dwell in me, precise yet poetic translation, when we love Krishna, Krishna becomes our inner home, and it’s like when we have a home that we love, then we may go out, we may go here, we may go there, but we love to come back to the shelter and the security of home, so similarly, a devotee may think about other things, but Krishna is the home of the devotee internally, and that’s why the devotees thoughts may go here, may go there, depending on whatever service is required, whatever practical needs are there, but as soon as there’s nothing else to do, devotees thought, come back to Krishna, now all of us have some home, our own inner home, now for us our home may be money, it may be sense gratification, it may be cricket, it may be a baseball, there are so many different homes we can have, mental homes, whatever we are fond of, so if there’s nothing to do, nothing demanding our attention, immediately our mind gravitates toward that thing, the whole process of bhakti means to change our inner home, we make spiritual advancement to the extent to which our inner home changes, from worldly things to Krishna, so machitta or home, Krishna becomes our home, the Bhagavatam talks about this also, this conception of Krishna being our home, the same example, pantha is traveller, swasharanam, one’s own shelter, one’s own home, so just as a traveller weary after a long troubled journey comes back home and feels comfort and joy and love and security and happiness, like that, what happens is, and the traveller doesn’t want to leave again, similarly, dhautatma, one who is purified, purified soul, purusha, such a person, krishnapadamulam namunjati, that person never gives up the lotus feet of Krishna, why, there one is freed from all pariklesha, one is freed from all misery, so that is the way this works out in a devotee’s life, that everything else may agitate the mind, but once we bring the mind to Krishna, the mind becomes peaceful, the mind becomes joyful, it’s like if the room may be, externally it may be hot, but then when we come into a room where they see, suddenly we feel relief, like that, when we bring our consciousness to Krishna, within the remembrance of Krishna, we feel relief from all the agitations and the irritations of the world and then we can move forward steadily. So, now let us look at this verse a little bit more, machitta, so the three primary faculties of our existence are described over here, so machitta, chitta refers to the mind, then madgata prana, prana refers to life itself, that can be said to refer to the body and bodhayantah, bodhayantah means to speak and to hear, machitta madgata prana, bodhayantah parasparam, kathayantah shyamam nityam, kathayantah, that is also speak, so we speak kathayantah, when others speak and we understand, that is bodhayantah, they delight in enlightening each other, machitta madgata prana, so machitta that you offer the consciousness to me, then madgata prana, the whole existence is offered to Krishna, the devotee wants to live the whole life simply for the service of Krishna and for no other purpose, bodhayantah parasparam and the devotees come together with the other devotees and they discuss, delight in discussing, parasparam, kathayantah shyamam and nityam, that is what devotees want to do forever and ever and we see Chaitanya Mahaprabhu in the Chaitanya Charita demonstrating this, wherever He would travel around, but when there would be some association of devotees, immediately He would sit and discuss Krishna katha and what He demonstrated in Gambhira in His final pastimes, Nantya Leela, when He stayed in Puri was just this, kathayantah shyamam nityam, tushyanti and ramanti, tushyanti satisfied, the devotee is satisfied with the bliss that Krishna is providing, that whatever I am getting, I don’t even deserve that, so that I have got this, this itself is a matter of great satisfaction, I have an opportunity to practise Krishna consciousness, I am satisfied with that, but at the same time, ramanti, now the word raman is often used, like we have Radharaman, Dikaraman, so raman is often used in the context of Madhuri Rasa, so the devotee is looking forward, ramanti cha, oh there is so much more ecstasy waiting for me in the future, so much more ecstasy, waiting, waiting, waiting, so ramanti cha, in this way, the devotee goes deeper and deeper into ecstasy and by that way, what happens is, that devotee’s joy knows no bounds, so this verse is describing how a devotee’s life is completely transformed, the body, the mind and the speech, all of them are used in Krishna’s service and actually parasparanu kathanam, parasparanu kathanam means the sitting and the discussion about Krishna katha, this is talked about in the Bhagavatam also, that the joy of Krishna katha is greater than the greatest joy in material existence, the greatest joy between two people can be the pleasure of sex, but greater than that is the pleasure of Krishna katha, when two devotees who are like-minded and like-hearted, they like the same things about Krishna and they have the same natures by which they can serve Krishna, then when they come together, then the ecstasy that comes in their discussion about Krishna, there is none, no parallel to that, so in this way, the devotee offers everything to Krishna and experiences great joy in serving Krishna.
Now, after describing this, let us look at actually Prabhupada’s purport. So, Prabhupada even gives the example, Prabhupada talks about the Bhakti Lata beach over here and how Shravana kirtana karaye sinchana, so Chaitanya Charita Amrit Madhya Lila chapter 19, that is Chaitanya Mahaprabhu giving instructions to Sanatana Goswami, actually he gives instructions to Rupa and Sanatana Goswami over there in that section of Chaitanya Charita Amrit, so there he describes this Bhakti Lata beach, so initially when the spiritual master gives us this beach, just as when the seed is there, it has to be protected and watered, so the water is Shravana kirtana, the more we water it and protect it, the seed grows and grows and grows and when it grows, it eventually blossoms, it blooms into a beautiful tree and then it gives out flowers and then it gives out fruits and that fruit, actually the tree, Chaitanya Charita Amrit describes, it goes all the way beyond the material world, beyond the coverings around the universe, through the Brahma Jyoti, up to the spiritual sky and in the spiritual sky, it goes beyond Vaikuntha to Goloka, to Goloka Vrindavan, within that planet and it goes to Krishna’s lotus feet and when it touches Krishna’s lotus feet, actually that tree gives a fruit, it blossoms and fructifies and actually when that fruit falls, right from the spiritual world to the material world and then the devotee here itself, when the fruit falls, the juice comes out, the devotee the juice here itself, here itself, that means that as we make special advancement, we start relishing the richness of pure love for Krishna even in this world. Once the Bhakti Rita which is grown, then the relish that we get in our Bhakti is enormous and that is what is talked about over here.
So actually Krishna is there to give all of us the supreme ecstasy and this is the one of the most important verses in the Bhagavad Gita which talks about association and the joy of devotion is experienced especially intensely in association, association of like-minded devotees. Now after that, let’s look at the next verse. So this is a well-known verse which Prabhupada would often quote.
Teysham means those people who talked about in the previous verse. So now just before I go to this 10.9, what did it talk about? It talks primarily about Abhidheya, how to practise devotion. It talks about Machitta, Madgata, Prana, but then Tramanti Chavan delights, supreme delight.
That is also talking about Prayojana. It is describing the process by which we are getting perfection and it’s also describing the stage of the perfected beings. So in that sense, it talks Prayojana also.
Now these two verses will talk about Abhidheya. Now how will the devotee, normally the question comes up, if somebody, you just do Bhakti, Bhakti, you just chant, dance, you have to have Gyana, you have to have knowledge. So this was the criticism of Chaitanya Mahaprabhu by Prakashantha Saraswati.
He says, you are a sannyasi, you should be sitting and discussing Vedanta with us. Why are you dancing like a sentimentalist on the streets? So at that time, what did Chaitanya Mahaprabhu say? Out of his humility, he said that actually my spiritual master said that I was not very intelligent, so he told me just to chant. But then Chaitanya Mahaprabhu showed him how intelligent he was.
Now there was a discussion, a debate and Chaitanya Mahaprabhu demolished all the false explanations of Vedanta that Prakashantha Saraswati had given and enlightened and converted Prakashantha Saraswati at that time. So it is not that devotees don’t have intelligence, but people think like that. So Krishna is assuring her, how will the devotee become enlightened? He says, I will give that intelligence.
So he is not saying that they have to be very buddhimaan, they have to do vimarshan, they have to be very intelligent or they have to do lot of deliberation. No. Let them be engaged in devotional service.
And how? Bhajatam priti purvakam. Bhajatam priti purvakam. Let them be engaged with devotion, with affectionate attitude.
Priti purvakam. Not affectionately, not resentfully, not grudgingly. So actually bhakti can give us illumination if we do it with an affectionate attitude.
If we do it with a resentful attitude, then we prevent Krishna from giving us the gifts that he wants to give us. What happens? Krishna says, I will give what? Buddhi yoga. I will give you the knowledge by which you can come to me, the intelligence by which you can come to me.
By which you will come to me. This Buddhi yoga is a compound word. Buddhi and yoga.
And this has been used earlier by Krishna in the second chapter. In verse 2.39, So Krishna used the word Buddhi yoga. Although the words are the same, there Buddhi yoga primarily refers to acting intelligently for the purpose of yoga.
But there when Krishna had used the word, Krishna had not talked about himself so much. So there if you look at the context, it just refers, okay, you have got the knowledge that you are not the body or the soul. Now hack how to act with that knowledge so that one can do yoga, one can connect with the higher spiritual reality.
So what that higher spiritual reality was not known at that point. But here Krishna is telling that higher spirituality is clearly established that it is I who am that higher spiritual reality. And the highest spirituality, not higher, but the highest spirituality, 7.7, 10.10, Krishna has talked about all this.
Now what is he talking about here? Here he is talking about that one who understands. So he is saying that I am the supreme truth. I give the knowledge by which what will happen again will come back to me.
So it is not that by that knowledge something else will happen. See, this verse is so clearly and consistently devotional, this set of verses. And this causes a lot of headaches for Mayavadis.
You know the Mayavadis, they somehow want to bring about their impersonal interpretation. So what they try to say is that actually see, here Krishna is telling from bhakti, buddhi will come. Therefore buddhi is higher than bhakti.
I say when you have bhakti, how to yuktanam, then what will happen, buddhi will come. And the buddhi means jnana and jnana is used for impersonal merging. But this is completely unwarranted explanation because Krishna is telling what is the result of that buddhi.
By which you will come to me. Krishna is not saying that I will give you the buddhi by which you will go to Brahman or some other reality beyond me. He says no, you will come to me.
By which you will come to me. So I give the buddhi yoga. So Krishna is telling that even if you are deficient in knowledge, it doesn’t matter.
I will provide that knowledge. So buddhi yoga, this compound word can be understood to be the buddhi that helps us to do yoga or the yoga that grants buddhi. Let’s look at these two.
The buddhi that helps us to do yoga. That means, yoga means connection with Krishna. Connection with the absolute truth who is Krishna.
So buddhi yoga will mean the buddhi that enables us to do yoga. Krishna gives the intelligence. How should I serve? I am in the situation now.
Let me accept what is favourable. Let me reject that which is unfavourable. So how do I do all this? That buddhi Krishna says I will give.
That buddhi for doing yoga. So buddhi for doing yoga is buddhi yoga. Or we could also have yoga that gives buddhi.
So when we do yoga, that means when we try to practise bhakti, when we engage in service, by that itself, buddhi comes along. So in the Bhagavatam also it said that if one just keeps Shunvatam, Sukatha, Krishna, if one hears about Krishna and Shuddha, Dhanasya in the first canto, second chapter, verses 6 to 21, there is a series of verses that describes how we become purified with the process of bhakti and described that by that process itself what happens? We understand the science of Krishna. So it is described that by the practise of bhakti one becomes purified and then one becomes joyful by that.
One becomes joyful because the hankerings that make us miserable go away. And then the Prasanna Manaso is similar here to one has cheerful disposition, affectionate disposition. When one engages in bhakti yoga, then what happens to the Supreme Lord? That the science of the Bhagavatam, the science of Krishna becomes manifest to us and then one becomes free from all attachments, all bondage.
And then it’s like when we become detached from worldly bondage, we have already come to know about Krishna, we have understood Krishna and naturally we become attracted to Krishna. So that same point is said over here, by this the devotee will come back to me. So here Krishna is telling that the devotee primarily has to engage in devotional service and the devotee engages in devotional service, Krishna says I will provide whatever is required.
It’s not that you have to do anything separately. So Prabhupada explains, one should know that the goal is Krishna and when the goal is assigned and the path slowly but progressively traversed and the ultimate goal is achieved. So what is the most important thing? At the very foundational level, we need to know what is the goal and then the scriptures give overall path and when we start going along that path, we start going along that path.
That path itself is running devotional service and Krishna gives the intelligence from within and the path becomes more and more clear and one keeps moving forward that way. Then Prabhupada explains further that sometimes the devotee may not be intelligent enough. A devotee may have a spiritual master and may be attached to a spiritual organisation, but if he is still not intelligent enough to make progress, then Krishna from within gives him instructions so that he will ultimately come to him without difficulty.
So the point here is that the focus should be on service. Now for us when we study scripture also, we are not interested in intellectual study of scripture alone for its own sake. We want to study scripture so that we can develop our love for Krishna and when devotees study the philosophy of Krishna consciousness, it is not to just intellectually scrutinise Krishna.
It is to intellectually submit to Krishna. That means it is to use our intelligence in the service of Krishna. We don’t place our intelligence on an altar above Krishna.
With my intelligence, I’ll look down and I’ll examine Krishna. This doesn’t make sense. This makes sense.
This is right. It’s not right. No, that’s not a devotee’s attitude.
Devotee’s attitude is that actually Krishna is above and Krishna has given me various faculties. One of the faculties is intelligence. So those devotees who have intellectual tendency, they should use it in Krishna’s service.
Aishwarya Prabhupada said that chanting and remembering Krishna will purify us and will take us back to order. But still he wrote so many books and he wanted devotees to study because studying removes our misconceptions and it increases our conviction by which we can go back to Krishna. Now Krishna has described it, I’ll give the buddhi.
Now somebody may ask the question, how will Krishna give the buddhi? That is explained in the next verse. So what will happen for them? Anukampa, on them I show special mercy. Anukampa means special mercy.
Aham agyana jantam aham. So the ball of ignorance, whatever darkness is there. I am situated in their heart and I will destroy it.
How? By the torchlight of knowledge. So here Krishna is using a metaphor. When there is darkness, a torchlight is there.
Torchlight will remove darkness. So when power goes off, we immediately feel there is darkness all around. So we start to look, where is the candle? Where is the torch? Maybe my mobile has a flashlight.
We try to get some source of light and then we start moving around. Now when darkness comes up, it confuses us. It even paralyses us.
We can’t do anything. So we try to keep our outer world carefully. But we don’t think about our inner world.
Our inner world is enveloped in a blinding and binding darkness. Blinding means we can’t really see anything. Binding means from that darkness suddenly some nasty desire comes up.
Suddenly some negative feeling comes up. Suddenly some nagging doubt comes up. And what does this do? This troubles us.
It torments us. It drains us and ultimately can even defeat us. So our inner world is shrouded with darkness.
That means we don’t know what is good for us, what is bad for us, what is there inside us. Actually, ultimately we are the soul. We don’t know that Krishna is there in the heart.
We don’t know that. Inside whatever emotions come, we don’t even know what is there in our heart and how. The emotions when they come, we can’t easily identify that they are our enemies.
Whatever comes from within us, we think, oh it’s my emotion and therefore I must act on it. But no, inside us also there is a soul. We are the souls.
But along with that there is a mind also. The mind is filled with so much contamination. Therefore, it’s not that whatever comes out of us is out of me, is me.
It could be not me, but something which is masking itself and pretending to be me. So our inner world is shrouded with darkness. So it is not that a devotee has to do some exhaustive intellectual analysis to remove the darkness.
The devotee simply practises devotional service and Krishna removes that darkness. Krishna ignites the light that makes the inner world bright and right. Bright and right.
So when Krishna illumines, then we understand, oh these desires which promise pleasure, they are actually traitors. These material desires, they are promising pleasure, but they will actually make me miserable. I will not indulge in those desires.
And then, yes, these devotional desires, this is what I should cultivate. They are my friends. I should nourish them and as I nourish them, my bhakti, my priti for Krishna will increase more and more and ultimately I will return back to Him.
So Krishna makes our inner world bright and right. Right means He helps us understand, this is good, this is bad, this is what I should do, this is what I should not do. And in that way, we can move forward in devotional service.
So Prabhupada also quotes over here that how some people think that devotees are not very intelligent. But Jiva Goswami, Ramanujacharya, Madhvacharya, these are all extraordinary scholars and they were all devotees. So it is not that a devotee is unintelligent.
A devotee is supremely intelligent. And then Prabhupada explains how Krishna removes the darkness as the sun removes the darkness. And then as the Lord takes charge of a devotee’s heart, the one becomes completely free from all kinds of materialistic endeavours, Prabhupada says, and one marches back to Krishna steadily.
So in these four verses, Krishna not only demonstrates the supreme position, but along with that, He also demonstrates His benevolent disposition that I care. If you just want to love me, I will care for you so much that I will personally intervene and I will give you all the intelligence by which you will come back to me. So by just demonstrating through these verses, His love for Krishna, His love for His devotees, Krishna is making a call to us.
Don’t worry, just follow me. I will provide you everything. Just offer your love to me.