Bhakti Shastri (116) – Bhagavad Gita Chapter 12 Text 10 to 12

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Hare Krishna welcome back to the bhagavad gita bhakti shastri course we are now in the 12th chapter of the bhagavad gita discussing bhakti yoga in that we have discussed in the first section how a worship of the personal aspect of the absolute truth is preferable to worship of the impersonal aspect let’s look at the overview here quickly so verses 1 to 7 talked about how worship of personal form is higher than the worship of the impersonal brahman and then verses 8 to 12 talk about the progressive stages of bhakti that’s what we were discussing we discussed 8 and 9 now we’ll discuss the 10th one and after this next section will be qualities that endure one to krishna so in this way this chapter basically talks about first first okay how bhakti is the best process for transcendence then how bhakti can be practised at multiple levels and how one can cultivate the qualities that will make one into a devotee so ultimately who is a devotee a devotee is one who loves krishna and one whom krishna loves so these qualities help us to endure ourselves to krishna that means we become better devotees by that so in this way the chapter talks about bhakti yoga in different three different ways let’s look at 8 12.10 so abhyasepi asamarthosi asamartha means incapable abhyasa was what i was talking in the previous verse so by the practise of abhyasa yoga obtain the desire to attain me that if you are incapable of doing abhyas then paramobhava that make my karma the supreme goal become dedicated to working for me paramo can become supreme paramo can also mean matparaha fix the mind on me make me your ultimate aspiration so there is a difference between matparama and matkarma parama so matpara means our heart our soul our mind our intelligence our whole inner being is offered to krishna that is so matpara is in is a higher level than matkarma paramo so matkarma paramo means we are doing various works but you understand the work that i do for krishna is the most important and work for him so what i try to do is i do work for krishna and i try to make all my work into an offering to krishna and then what will happen by this if you in this way work for me you will attain perfection by this also so krishna is taking the levels lower lower lower and he’s telling that okay just like if a person is trapped at the bottom of a well and somebody sends down the rope and this person says okay you stretch your hands up and then you stand on your toes and pull up and then i can catch the rope person says i can’t do that then the person brings the rope further down okay now you just raise your hands a little bit up you can catch the rope then when person can’t do that also the rope comes further down and the person says okay now the rope is right around your waist all that you have to just tie it around the waist i’ll pull you out so it’s like that krishna is extending down the mercy lower and lower and he’s saying over here if you work for me in this way what is siddhi that siddhi is the word siddhi literally means perfection so krishna has used the word siddhi several times in the bhagavad gita the most prominent use which is relevant over here is so very few people at a at endeavour for perfection in 7.3 krishna says and out of those out of thousands few endeavour for perfection and also out of those who endeavour for perfection even fewer actually achieve perfection so in this way what krishna is telling over that is he uses the word perfection to refer to the quest for transcendence so sometimes the word siddhi is also used for yogic perfections or mystic perfections you know there is anima siddhi that is with respect these are material perfections but this whole chapter is a bhakti yoga chapter and that’s why the yogic or mystic siddhis are not being talked about over here here krishna is talking about the devotional perfections and those devotional perfections ultimately culminate in pure love for krishna krishna is saying that even by working for me you will ultimately come to the level of attaining me so now when we look at this work for me let’s try to understand this now so in working for krishna there can be two sub levels now work for krishna one can be the direct do his work that is render service to him and in indirect can be offer him the fruits of our work now what is the difference between the two do his work means for example say during the institution marathon we may go out and distribute books or we may ourselves try to share krishna’s message we may do some services in the temple so that is do his work so it’s krishna’s work it’s krishna’s mission and we help in krishna’s mission let’s do his work and then there is also indirect offer him the fruit of the work so how do we offer him the fruits of the work by offering him the part of the work that we are doing that means say we have our job we have a profession and we whatever we earn we give charity from that and we try to spiritualise of the work that way so matkarma paramo technically would mean do my work but for a devotee even the family life the family is also devotee tries to integrate with the spiritual life who tries to work for krishna and integrate the whole family into the devotional service of krishna everybody sees that family members if they are devotees that’s wonderful but even if they are not devotees still they are also parts of krishna and it is ultimately by krishna’s arrangement that i am placed in the situation amidst these family members and let me try to serve krishna by taking care of them materially and spiritually so in this way this is what so prabhupada writes in the purport that he talks about this principle of material management that every endeavour requires land capital organisation and labour so there is human resources there is financial resources there is infrastructural resources and then there is organisational resources so these are the four resources human resources labour infrastructural resources will be land and then financial resources will be capital and then there is infrastructure and then there is organisational you know everything that we have we have to organise it properly so say a person wants to construct a building so then there is capital required for that not only there is first of all land is required for anything so we need the land on which we construct the building along with that capital is there to purchase all the materials for constructing the building capital needed for higher labour also who will be actually doing the building and then there’s organisation required there has to be some specially trained people who will manage and oversee the project and they will make sure that everything is going according to plan so these are required finances land capital organisation and labour so prabhupada saying all these are included in mat karma paramo bhava so whatever is this possible one can work for krishna so prabhupada writes the only difference is that in materialism one works for the same for self gratification same work however can be perfect for the satisfaction of krishna and that is spiritual activity so when you perform for the satisfaction of krishna that becomes spiritual activity the prabhupada talks about how publication can also be done this what now how does this raise one to krishna this voluntary service to the cause of krishna consciousness will help one rise to a higher state of love for god whereupon one becomes perfect so voluntary service to the cause of krishna consciousness and what whatever we are doing we could do it for other purposes but we are doing it for krishna it’s a voluntary service and we do this voluntary service for the sake of krishna for the cause of krishna consciousness by that we make spiritual advancement now after this krishna goes one level downwards and then he says if you can’t somebody can’t do that also somebody can’t work for krishna also then we may think that oh such a person who can’t work for krishna get out you are going to be a materialist you are going to be a sinful person you’re going to go to hell no krishna doesn’t exhibit such an attitude krishna accommodates even those who you could say don’t accommodate him you know this is krishna’s great love that he accommodates even those who don’t accommodate him see krishna is himself already so accommodating he says first you offer your heart to me or at least then try to think about if you can’t do that work for me now somebody say what more can krishna do if you don’t want to do even this much for me then i reject you krishna says no krishna is such a loving god that he accommodates even those who refuse to accommodate him so how does he do that he by encouraging them towards the general spirit of sacrifice let’s look at this verse 12.11 means what was described in the previous verse if one is not able to do even that means working for me even that means that level of connection with krishna by working for him if one can’t do even that then what should one do that give up all the work sarva-karma phala tyagam so give up the fruits of all the work give up the basically the fruits of work so atma van be self-situated and this is a beautiful word atma van krishna has used this word atma van earlier also in the bhagavad-gita especially in 2.45 so there krishna is saying that go beyond the three modes and become situated in transcendence and when you’re situated in transcendence be free from realities be in pure goodness that is transcendence and be free from be free from the considerations of gain and loss by holding on to the atma now the word van means possessor just like we have dhanavan that means one who is the possessor of wealth or bhagyavan one who is the possessor of fortune so like that dhanavan so like that atma van means one who is the possessor of the soul now we may normally our idea is that the possessor and the possessed and the possession are different now for example now i may have this computer so i am the possessor and this is the possession so the normal understanding is the possession and the possessor have to be different so then if the possession and the possessor have to be different and if i am the atma then i am the possessor but if i have to become atma van then i have to become the position so how can the same be the possessor as well as the possession Now, how can the same be the owner and the owned? So, this is indicative of the link at the level of consciousness.
That means, if a person may be an owner, like sometimes when people get old and nowadays very tragically, very heartbreaking, sometimes people get disease like Alzheimer’s and just lose their memory completely. When they lose their memory, or not just memory actually, they just lose their capacity for rational thinking, capacity for recognising, capacity for appropriate and adequate emotional responses. So, at that time, the person may be the owner of the house, but if the person has got Alzheimer’s, the person is not aware that I am the owner of the house, the person doesn’t know anything at that time.
So like that, we may be in possession of something, but we may not know that we are in possession of that thing. Of course, there is also a possibility that we don’t possess anything and we think we are the possessors. Actually, we don’t own anything, you know, whatever we think is my house and my home, my car and all these things, janasya moho yah maham mameti, they are all temporary things.
As we have discussed earlier, things may be long, but for how long? They are just temporarily there with us. So that is one way of looking at it. Another way of looking at it is, okay, for as long, for whatever period they are there with me, they are there, fine, and I will use them as much as I can.
But still, the point remains that when I’m using them, even at that time, I run in, when I have certain things for a temporary period, at that time, I’m the possessor of them. But even when I am the possessor, I need to remember that I am the possessor. If I have a bank account secretly kept and I myself forget that I have the bank account, then it’s as good as I don’t possess that.
So when atmavan, the word is used over here, what it means is, we are the soul and the soul itself being a part of Krishna, the soul, at the level of the soul, all of us are like princes. We are all the beloved children of Krishna, and he’s our all-attractive Supreme Lord. So in that sense, at the spiritual level, we are all fabulously wealthy, because we are connected to the supremely wealthy person.
Now when we are like this, why do we feel ourselves often bereaved, often deprived, often a state of neediness, that is because we have forgotten our connection with Krishna. So to become atmavan means to become aware of ourselves as the atma, and to become aware of the precious and irreplaceable wealth that is available to us at the level of the atma. So now, what makes us not atmavan, we could say anatmavan, we are no longer conscious of the atma, that is material infatuations.
The more a person is obsessed with material things, to that extent that person cannot understand the spiritual reality, to that extent that person becomes oblivious of the spiritual reality. So here Krishna is telling that even if one starts the sacrifice, one stops working and one starts sacrificing, then from that point onwards, one slowly develops the spirit of selfless sacrifice, and that gradually makes one self-aware, which gradually as it is, you know, the only way we can find ourselves is by losing ourselves in something greater than ourselves. The best way, in fact not the best way, the only way it is ultimately, the way we can find ourselves is by losing ourselves in something greater than ourselves.
When we try to, when we are obsessed with, oh I am like this, I am like that, I am like that, then when I, I, I is the centre of our consciousness, then that I consciousness becomes like a black hole which sucks us, sucks us inside into ourselves, and then we feel either inferiority complex or superiority complex. Now when I, I, I, and I think of myself and I look around and see, oh, others are better than me, then I feel miserable. And if I think that I am better than others, then I get superiority complex, I get pride and arrogance and ego by that.
So either way, we can’t find ourselves this way. We just get lost, you know, but when we pour ourselves out, when doing something greater than ourselves, then the obsession of our thoughts with ourselves goes away. And then as we absorb ourselves in something greater than ourselves, the best such causes, the cause of loving and serving Krishna, when we do that, then that inspiration which comes by absorbing ourselves in something greater than ourselves, that helps to bring out the latent divinity, the latent spiritual potential, the latent material qualities, the skills and the grit and all that comes out when we find inspiring enough cause in which we can pour ourselves.
So the whole principle of bhakti is, it’s not that a devotee is constantly thinking, I’m not the body and the soul, I’m not the body and the soul, I’m not the body and the soul. A devotee is not obsessed in that. Yes, we can analyse and whenever material temptations trouble us, we can surely think that, yes, I’m not the body and soul, these things are not going to satisfy me.
Why should I do these things? That is good. A devotee should think like that. But over and above that, a devotee should also think about how, I am the, actually I am a servant of Krishna.
A devotee’s primary focus is on how can I serve Krishna? Krishna’s mission, Krishna’s message, it’s so wonderful, I want to share it with the world. I want to do whatever I can, my small part in sharing it with the world. And as a devotee becomes absorbed more and more in this cause, then the self-consciousness in terms of self-obsession decreases.
And from that point onwards, a devotee becomes more and more spiritually aware, spiritually. See there is self-consciousness and there is self-realisation. When people say that I’m self-conscious, so the two are not the same things.
For example, when somebody is told to give a speech on a podium for the first time, then that person in an informal setting may be able to talk continuously for three hours. But when the person is placed on a podium, on the stage, he is told to speak, three minutes speaking becomes difficult. Because when we are in the public eye, we often become self-conscious.
But when we are self-conscious, that doesn’t mean we are self-realised. The word self, conscious and realised might have similar connotations, but the self that we are talking about is quite different. So when we talk about self-consciousness, that means I’m just thinking about myself, but the self that I’m thinking about is not truly me.
I’m thinking, when I think of self-consciousness, I’m thinking about is my dress proper or not. You know, are my looks proper or not, is my facial expression good or not, am I having a good smile on my face. So when we talk about self-consciousness in that sense, it’s a don’t be too self-conscious.
That self-conscious often refers to how others perceive us and how we look in the eyes of the others. That will never lead to self-realisation. So actually a devotee should stop worrying too much about how other world perceives and a devotee should focus on thinking about how I can engage in those activities which will purify me, which will please Krishna and therefore by Krishna’s grace, my inner spiritual awareness, my spiritual consciousness will awaken and then I will understand that I am the Atma.
So we don’t have to be self-conscious. We want to become self-realised and to become self-realised, we have to be Krishna conscious. So, and now here when I’m using the word self-conscious and it’s in a particular sense that being conscious of how the world thinks about us and how the world looks at us.
A devotee doesn’t have to be too self-conscious. And then now here the word Atmavan, what is Krishna saying that gradually that if one cannot even work for him and slowly step by step by working for Krishna, sorry, by working in a general spirit of sacrifice, karma phala tyaga, then what will happen? The ethos of sacrifice will be developed. And once the ethos of sacrifice is developed, as it matures, one will become self-aware.
So Prabhupada writes in the purport something very interesting, which indicates how broad is Krishna’s concern and how accommodating Krishna is. So, it may be that one is unable even to sympathise with the activities of Krishna consciousness because of social, familial or religious considerations or because of some other impediments. So then for one who has such a problem, it is advised that he sacrifice the accumulated result of his activities to some good cause, to some good cause.
So what is the point here that is being made to some good cause? The important point is that cultivate the ethos of selflessness, cultivate the value of sacrifice. So we have discussed elaborately in our Ishopanishad class about humanitarian work, about social service. From the Bhagavad Gita’s perspective here, the Bhagavad Gita does accommodate the principle of sacrifice, which is often evident in the activities of people who are doing some social welfare.
They are concerned for others. And that concern for others is the beginning, is a significant step forward in the evolution of their consciousness, which will ultimately gradually bring them to Krishna consciousness. So Krishna is bringing the ladder of mercy down, down to accommodate even those who can’t accommodate him.
That means because one’s family is very anti-devotional and because of that one can’t practise spiritual life. So at that time, it is not that one has to entirely give up everything. No, one can at that time also keep practising spiritual life in a discreet way, whatever is possible.
And then one can in other ways develop the essential spirit of sacrifice and selflessness that is at the heart of Krishna consciousness. Now Prabhupada goes on and quotes another in Prabhupada’s purport is so accommodating here in Bhagavad Gita when he is saying yathaha pravrttir bhutanaam. So yathaha pravrttir bhutanaam, this is 18.46. Actually the full verse is yathaha pravrttir bhutanaam ye na sarvam idam tatam svakarmanatam abhyarcha siddham vindati maanavah.
That by worshipping that Supreme Lord with one’s work, siddham vindati, one will attain the supreme perfection. So who is that Lord whom one should worship in that connection it is said yathaha pravrttir bhutanaam, that that Lord from whom all of existence has emanated, from whom all the pravrttis of the living entities have emanated, ye na sarvam idam tatam, by whom the whole creation is pervaded, it is that Lord. So what the point that is being made over here is that whatever propensities we have, now we are not talking about sinful propensities here, the word propensities is used in terms of Varanashram situation, somebody’s yathala propensity, vaisya propensity, shudra propensity.
So that has been, that one has to respond to, act according to it, but don’t just act according to them in a materialistic way, act according to them with a spiritualistic understanding. Spiritualistic understanding means that one has to recognise that these propensities are ultimately material, but the person who is activating these propensities, because of whom those propensities are getting the energy, getting the consciousness to act. So the propensities are situated in the subtle body, the soul is spiritual.
So whatever propensities I have, I cannot wish them away, but I can accommodate and elevate them. I can engage them in Krishna’s service. So that’s how one should work.
So if one can’t engage in Krishna’s service, at least in the ethos of selflessness. So here we see the ladder of mercy going downward, downward, downwards, and in this way one can come to spiritual consciousness. So you know, we shouldn’t label people based on just their ecclesiastical affiliations.
Jiyogoswami in his writings makes this point, very important point, that one should not accept a spiritual master based on ecclesiastical considerations. Ecclesiastical considerations means, the word ecclesiastical comes primarily from the church, that within the church there is a hierarchy of power, there is an organisational structure. So the structure of the church is called as ecclesiastics, that’s the adjective used to describe that.
So Jiyogoswami explains that one should not accept a spiritual master simply based on ecclesiastical considerations, that is, I am from this caste and this is a Goswami in my caste, therefore I’ll accept this person. That’s ecclesiastical consideration. It’s not that just because somebody is in a particular position in the hierarchy, that doesn’t automatically make that person spiritually advanced.
So we shouldn’t give undue weightage to ecclesiastical things. So that means if somebody might not externally be connected with any spiritual organisation, but if that person has an ethos of selflessness, if that person has concern for others, we should be able to see the good in that person. Yes, that person may not have Atma Gyan right now, that person may not have Bhagavad Bhakti right now, and if we want to look at a negative, what is that person, that person is breaking the regulative principles, that person doesn’t have this, that person doesn’t have that, and we can blame that person for so many things, but we don’t necessarily, that’s not the only way of looking at things.
The other way of looking at things could be that, yes, what that person doesn’t have is a maybe a fact, but what the person has also we can see, that person truly has an ethos of selflessness to some extent, then we can appreciate that. Janaki Pandit says that we should see, take gold even from a filthy place, and that was Shila Prabhupada’s vision. How else could Shila Prabhupada have engaged the hippies, who from the material, who fought to speak on the spiritual vision, even from the material vision they did not have any really good qualities, they were unclean, they were in many ways, very unregulated, they were unemployed, they were rebellious, undisciplined, but Shila Prabhupada saw they have a spark of spirituality in them, and he fanned that spark and enabled it to grow.
So therefore, that’s how one moves forward, forward, upwards, towards Krishna. So now, after describing this, Krishna goes to the next level. Let’s look at the next level.
This is the single most complicated verse of the Bhagavad Gita, and the different Acharyas have given different commentaries, and we’ll try to look at some of those commentaries in this verse. Shreyo hi jnanam abhyasaj, jnana dhyanam vishishyate, dhyanat karma phalat tyagas, tyagat shantiranantaram. So, Shreyo means better.
Shreyo hi jnanam abhyasaj, that better than jnana is practise. Jnana dhyanam vishishyate, better than jnana is dhyana. So, if you can, sorry, Shreyo hi jnanam abhyasaj, that, that better than jnana is abhyas, better than, let’s look at Prabhupada’s translation, you cannot take this as practise, then engage yourself in the cultivation of knowledge.
That means, abhyas is higher than jnana, and better than knowledge, however, is meditation. Jnana dhyanam vishishyate, and then dhyanat karma phalat tyagas, better than dhyana is karma phalat tyagas, and then tyagat shantiranantaram. By tyag, one will get peace.
So, what is so complicated about this verse? We need to understand the normal hierarchy that is there in the Bhagavad Gita to look at, to understand what is the problem with this verse. So, we will look at, so this is how it is. This is Vishwanath Chakrathakur’s analysis of this verse.
Then there is Baldev Vidyabhushan’s analysis of this verse. And then Prabhupada’s analysis. But before we go into this analysis, first we need to understand what is the problem.
So, there is some hierarchy that is described. Actually, the problem with this hierarchy seems to be that it just makes the whole previous hierarchy of the Bhagavad Gita topsy-turvy, upside down. So, what is the earlier hierarchy of the Bhagavad Gita? If you see, the Karma Yoga, and Karma Yoga is one level of practise.
And after Karma Yoga, one comes to Jnana. And then after Jnana, higher than that is Dhyana. And higher than Dhyana is Bhakti.
In Bhakti, there is first Sadhana Bhakti. Then there is Kevala Bhakti, that is pure devotion. So, or spontaneous devotion, Raganuga Bhakti, whichever way you want to look at it.
So, the normal hierarchy is Karma Phala Tyaga, that is a part of Karma Yoga. And after that, when one goes beyond that, then one starts practising Jnana Yoga. So, Jnana Yoga means that one practises the principle of pure devotion, sorry, not principle of pure devotion, principle of contemplation, contemplative analysis.
It’s primarily philosophical, speculative analysis that is there, that is Jnana. And then beyond that, there is Dhyana, where there is meditation. And at that meditation generally, it is aimed for meditation on the Supersoul.
So, because one is moving closer to the spiritual reality, so that meditation, Dhyana is considered to be higher than Jnana. And above Dhyana is the level of Bhakti, because one is fixing the mind on Krishna. In Dhyana, one is trying to move towards the Paramatma.
So, in Karma Phala Tyaga, one is basically getting detached from matter, but one doesn’t have much clear conception of spirituality. In Jnana, one starts getting the Brahman conception, one tries to search for that Brahman. In Dhyana, one starts focussing on the Paramatma.
And in Bhakti, one starts focussing on Bhagavan. So, that’s how this is the normal hierarchy, that Karma Yoga is Karma Phala Tyaga, then Jnana, then Dhyana, and then Bhakti. But what does this verse say? Å›reyo hi jnanaṁ apbhyāsāt jnānaṁ dhyānaṁ viÅ›iá¹£yate jnānaṁ karma phala tyāgam So now, it’s very interesting that actually, Karma Phala Tyaga would be the fourth level normally.
So, Karma Phala Tyaga, then Jnana, then Dhyana, and then Abhyāsa. But here it is telling, dhyānaṁ karma phala tyāgam tyāga chaanti ranantaram So, it is saying that, actually, it’s become almost like this. So, there is Jnana, better than Jnana is Dhyana, but better than Dhyana is Karma Phala Tyaga.
And if one does Karma Phala Tyaga, then what exactly is Abhyāsa? śreyo hi jnanaṁ apbhyāsāt So, actually, Abhyāsa is put lower. So, if Abhyāsa refers to Bhakti, then what is actually happening over here? So, first of all, Abhyāsa, if it is referring to Bhakti Yoga, it should be the highest. And Karma Phala Tyaga should be lowest among this hierarchy.
But the hierarchy is, this is the hierarchy, now please try to understand what I am saying, understand the problem, then we will see how the different ācāryas have so brilliantly tried to come up with a solution. So, the normal hierarchy is first Karma Yoga, Karma Phala Tyaga, then Jnana, then Dhyana, and then after that is Abhyāsa Yoga, that is Bhakti. But the Bhagavad Gita 12.12 is inverting this hierarchy by saying that Abhyāsa Yoga is the lowest, then śreyo hi jnanaṁ abhyāsāt So, as compared to Abhyāsa, Jnana is higher, then jnana-dhyānaṁ viśeṣita-dhyāna is higher than that.
And after that is Karma Phala Tyaga. So, Karma Phala Tyaga is not such an elevated level. So, why is it saying like this? So, Śrīla Prabhupāda explains this in a simple way by changing the referent.
By changing the referent means sometimes this happens in language. When we are talking, we may be referring to you or he, but he in my mind may be somebody else. The other person may think that he refers to this person, so and so person.
But I may be having some other person in mind. So, we have to understand what is the… when there is an ambiguous reference like that, it’s a pronoun is there. In English, it’s often called a misunderstanding that comes because of the ambiguous antecedent.
Antecedent means that which has come before, that which is being referred to. So, if I start with this or he at the start of a paragraph. For example, if I start this Bhakti Shastra course and I start by saying that he said that he is very angry with everyone.
Who is this he? Because I have not mentioned who is that he. So, if I start something with just he, then the antecedent, what is this he referring to? He is a pronoun which refers to something. What does that refer to that can sometimes be confusing.
So, now, when it’s right at the start of a conversation, we’ll understand it’s obviously confusing. But sometimes in the middle of a conversation also it may become a little confusing because I may refer to a particular person but I may be discussing a person, particular person but my thoughts go to somebody else and others don’t follow my thought. When I use the word he I might be referring to somebody else and others may not be clear about that.
So, what will Prabhupada explain this? Let’s look at Prabhupada’s explanation of this. Then we’ll look at the Acharya’s explanation. So, Prabhupada says 12.12 refers back not to 12.11 but to 12.10. What does this mean? That actually when Krishna is giving a hierarchy over here karma phala tyaga so that karma phala tyaga is not referring to 12.11 but is referring to 12.10 mat karma paramo bhava so here now the word abhyasa it doesn’t always have to refer to bhakti only.
We’ll see that the word abhyasa the word abhyasa essentially means practise. So, Krishna has used the word abhyasa many times probably among the most well-known verses is Krishna’s reply to Arjuna’s question on chanchalam himanakrishna in 3.33 and 34 so in 35 and 36 when Krishna replies at that time he says asamshayam mahabaho manodurnikram chalam abhyasena tu kaunteya vairagyam chigrohyate by practise and by detachment you’ll be able to conquer them. It’s difficult to control but you’ll be able to.
So the word abhyasa is in one sense non-specific word it’s practise what that practise may be we don’t know so it can be the practise of karma yoga it can be the practise of gyan yoga it can be the practise of dhyan yoga it can be the practise of bhakti yoga now we might presume that from the context the word abhyasa has been used in 12.9 abhyasa yogena toh maamiccha tum dhananjaya so the word has been used abhyasa over there so therefore this abhyasa will refer to that what is being talked about in 12.9 but then we discussed earlier how that doesn’t make any sense we have to look at the meanings of the words are not just situated in the dictionary we have to see the words in their broader context and words in Sanskrit are multivalent one word can have many meanings that’s true of all languages actually so because of that because words in Sanskrit are multivalent therefore we should focus on understanding the meanings of words based on the overall agreement of those meanings with the message of the book so here Prabhupada explains abhyasa to refer to nishkama karma yoga and then he says that mat the karma karma phala tyaga so no sorry karma phala tyaga karma phala tyaga tyaga chanti ranantaram so that karma phala tyaga is referring to not just the tyaga of karma yoga that is referring to mat karma paramo bhava in 12.10 so in this way then the hierarchy makes sense let’s look at the hierarchy once again now so what is Krishna telling let’s look at shreyo hi jnanam abhyasaj so jnana is better than abhyasa so if abhyasa refers to nishkama karma yoga then certainly jnana is higher then jnana is higher than jnana that is also true then dhyanat karma phala tyagas so how is this that actually if the karma phala refers to the karma that is offered to krishna then definitely that bhakti is higher than dhyana and then if that is the case then we also have this tyaga chanti ranantaram krishna has said this in 5.29 also jnatvamam shanti and we will get supreme shanti so this is the explanation that Shila Prabhupada gives now of course Shila Prabhupada also doesn’t very specifically say this so we have to look at Shila Prabhupada’s purports and study it repeatedly and bhurjan prabhu in his surrender unto me has also elaborated on this and that this is the understanding we can get about how Shila Prabhupada is resolving it now let’s try to understand how baldevidya bhushan resolves this so baldevidya bhushan so the way he takes it is he does two two special things in his insight so first is he says shreyo and vishishyate these do not necessarily mean that they are higher in the hierarchy but he says they are easier to perform for the unqualified that means they are more accessible so shreyo and vishishyate are not from the perspective of the absolute truth because here krishna is accommodating various levels of people and because they are accommodating various levels of people so what is higher what is special what is better so if we look at it from the point of view of the overall hierarchy this very naturally gels with the hierarchy of the bhagavad gita so easier to perform for the unqualified so yes karma yoga it is easier to perform because one who doesn’t know anything about transcendence who doesn’t know about brahman, brahman paramatma or bhagwan very clearly just understand that this material world is a place of entanglement I want to get out of it for that person karma yoga is easiest to perform so in that sense this is the most accessible then after that dhyana is there shreyo hi dhyana Aabyasa dhyana dhyana So then, actually speaking, for this person who is trying to seek spiritual advancement, then relatively speaking, among these two, dhyana and jnana, which is easier? It varies, but the way the Bhagavad Gita hierarchy has progressed, the Bhagavad Gita has preferred, if we see, in the second to five chapters, two to five, Krishna talks about karma yoga, and then Krishna doesn’t talk about jnana yoga directly, Krishna talks about dhyana yoga. So the way Krishna has presented it, actually, he recommends dhyana yoga more than bhakti yoga, sorry, more than jnana yoga. So dhyana yoga is there, then after that jnana yoga is there.
So actually the idea is, one starts a detachment, then one starts contemplating the absolute truth, and then one realises, one gets acquired, realised self-knowledge. And then after that, when one starts practising bhakti, the practise of remembering Krishna, then one will be at a very steady level, at a very steady level. So we see this in 7.17 and 18 also, in 7.17 and 18, in 7.16 Krishna talks about the four kinds of people who approach him, and then he says, among them, the jnani is the best – teshaam, jnani, nitya-yukta, eka-bhaktir vishishyate, jnani is the best among them.
So in that sense, after jnana, the sadhana bhakti that is performed is very strong, if one goes that way. This is how this Baldev Dev Ji analyses this hierarchy. So the critical insight which he uses is, shreya and vishishyate does not talk from the perspective of ultimately what is the best.
It talks from the perspective of what is most accessible for the seeker who does not have any other spiritual qualification, any spiritual qualification in person. Now we generally say bhakti is the most accessible. So sukham kartam avyayam, so if bhakti is the most accessible, then why is it being said over here that this is the most accessible, that Karma Yoga is the most accessible.
See bhakti becomes accessible when there is kripa. But it is not that kripa is available for everyone all the time. So when the kripa is not available, then Karma Yoga is the best way for a person to move forward.
Now we’ll have to become a little more technical. So let’s try to understand what Vishwanath Chakrakar does. We have seen how Vishwanath Chakrakar specialises in giving technical different levels.
So first let’s see how Chakravarti Path does this. In terms of all the verses. So he says that this hierarchy, this is Vishwanath Chakrakar’s explanation of a hierarchy from 12.8 to 11.
So first he says there are aspects of bhakti which are internal and external. So he says within the internal there are two levels, that is smaranatmika and mananatmika. So smaranatmika, so these are actually the two in the 12.8 itself.
So in 12.8 it was mayy ebamana dhatsvar, mayy buddham ne vaisaya. So mayy ebamana dhatsvar. Now the way Srila Prabhupada explains this, Prabhupada put this whole verse in one level.
What is that? Our inner, our whole inner life and our inner world is offered to Krishna. That’s how Srila Prabhupada explains it. That’s a perfectly valid explanation.
But another way of looking at it is that the mind and intelligence refer to two different levels. See, generally in the spiritual path it is easier to become intellectually convinced than to become mentally purified or mentally transformed. If I just contemplate the philosophy and analyse seriously, I can understand that sense gratification leads to misery.
But then that itself does not mean that I will lose the desire for sense gratification. I may still very well have the desire and I will have to battle with that desire. So once the mind accepts something, that means we have more or less become realised.
If the mind accepts that this thing leads to misery, I will not do this. And that’s a very steady platform for self-realisation. That’s what is being recommended over here, that the mind should become purified.
So that’s why smaranatmika, where the mind is meditating on Krishna, mayy ebamana dhatsvar, so 12.8a is considered to be higher level. This is mananatmika bhakti. And then below that is, sorry, this is smaranatmika bhakti, with the mind we remember, spontaneously we remember things.
Smaranatmika bhakti, that is meditating on Krishna with the mind. Then he says mananatmika, then after that is manan. Now generally we might mistake the word manan with mind.
But the word manan is conscious contemplation. So generally when we say smaran, smaran is more like spontaneous recollection. So what is the difference between the two? Spontaneous recollection and conscious contemplation.
Spontaneous recollection means if we love somebody, even a mother loves a child, and then she sees maybe some baby paraphernalia at a friend’s house, immediately the thoughts go towards, what will my baby be doing? That’s spontaneous recollection. So when there is smaranatmika, there is spontaneous recollection. But for us to come to that level, Chaitanya Mahaprabhu is at that level, as soon as he would see a river, he would think of the Jamuna immediately, a spontaneous recollection.
But for us, we don’t have that, so we have to first begin with conscious contemplation. So conscious contemplation and then spontaneous recollection. So conscious contemplation is smaranatmika, mananatmika.
That means one contemplates seriously, soberly, and by such serious sober contemplation, one slowly rises to higher levels. So here one may not have an attraction, it is like if somebody has to solve a problem of mathematics. Now it is not that the person is in love with mathematics, but the person understands, for this exam I have to solve this problem, so let me think seriously about it.
That is conscious contemplation. This is one level lower, but both of them are internal bhakti. The mind is fixed, the intelligence is fixed.
Then Chakravarti Path says that the next level is abhyasa rupa. Abhyasa rupa is 12.9. So by the practise of abhyasa, strive to gain the desire for me. Strive to attain me.
So endeavour to fix the mind on Krishna, that is abhyasa rupa. So why abhyasa rupa? Because the form here is practise, practise. These are internal bhakti.
And then Chakravarti Path goes and says the next two levels are external bhakti. External bhakti is what? First is mad-arthakarma, that is work for me. So when he says work for me, that is serve Krishna with external senses even if mind is not on him.
So work for, for example, when we say decide to do some service for Krishna, maybe we are doing some, making some flowers for Krishna, cooking for Krishna or maybe carrying some, helping clean the temple, carrying some things here and there. So when we are doing that, it may not be that our mind is fixed on Krishna at that time. It may well be that our mind is running here and there, but still externally we engage ourselves in, in the practise of, in the devotional service externally, so that is external bhakti.
And then, then he says this is 12.10 and then 12.11 is what? Nishkama Karma Yoga offered to Krishna. So when Krishna has talked about 12.11, Chakravarti Path, he explains that even when Krishna is saying sarva-karma phala tyagam, tatha kuruita atma maan, that do karma phala tyagam, that give up the fruits of work, then he is saying that actually his point is, Chakravarti Path’s point is this whole section is talking about bhakti only. The chapter is bhakti yoga, the section before this has talked about bhakti yoga and the section after this has talked about bhakti yoga.
So because the section before and the section after are all about bhakti yoga, so even this section is about bhakti yoga only. And that’s why his point is that even when, even if Krishna doesn’t use the word explicitly maan, so still the maan is understood that it is to be offered to Krishna. So he analyses these two different levels as madartha karma means directly working for Krishna and sarva-karma phala tyagam means that doing whatever work, whatever work is our circumstantial requirement, but then offering it to Krishna.
So first is doing the work of Krishna, that means whatever Krishna wants us to do it. Second is what we want, we do it, but we offer the fruits of it to Krishna. So in this way, these are two distinct levels, but both of them help one to move upwards towards Krishna.
Now with this context in mind, this is hierarchy, I’ll repeat this hierarchy because this is important to understand how he resolves the problem of 12.12. So basically he categorises these verses 8 to 11 into five categories. So two categories come in, three categories come in internal bhakti, two in external bhakti. So in the internal bhakti, first is the mind is spontaneously attracted to Krishna and is lost in remembrance of Krishna, that is mananatmika.
The second is that one consciously fixes the mind on Krishna with and as intellectual contemplation, that is mananatmika, and the lower below that is in 12.9, that is, one is trying to fix the mind on Krishna, whether it is intellectually or whatever, one is not successful, the mind goes here and there, but then one fixes it on him, and that is abhyasarupa. So now outside the external level, one works for Krishna or one does whatever work one has to do and then offers it to Krishna, these are two levels of external bhakti. So now with this understanding of the previous hierarchy, now let us see how Chakravartipada resolves the problem.
So now 12.12 says, shreyo hi jnanam abhyasad. So now he says, according to him, the word jnana refers to mananatmika bhakti. The word jnana refers to, because jnana generally is the intellectual faculty and dhyana involves the mental faculty.
So manan is contemplation, it is fixing the intelligence. So as compared to abhyasa, jnana is higher, which is natural, means one is striving to fix the mind on Krishna, and one is fixing the mind on Krishna. Then better than jnana is dhyana.
Why? Because here not only is one intellectually trying to absorb oneself on Krishna, but one is at the level of the mind spontaneously attracted to Krishna and is recollecting Krishna. So smaranatmika is higher than mananatmika. So in this way, till now, by explaining what jnana and dhyana mean from the context of the hierarchy as he has explained earlier, Chakravartipada resolves this.
Now interestingly, if we see, if we look at this verse, now there are these words shreya and vishushyate. Shreya and vishushyate means superior or better. Now there are no such words in the third and the fourth line.
Now there is no explicit word dhyanat karma phala tyagas, dhyanat karma phala tyagas vishushyate. So there’s no such word like that. So what Chakravartipada takes this to mean is that the relationship between two is not a relationship of comparative hierarchy, but it is a relationship of a causal chain.
What do I mean that it’s not a comparative hierarchy means? It’s not that dhyanat karma phala tyagas, that karma phala tyagas is higher than dhyana. He says no, dhyanat karma phala tyagas means from dhyana, karma phala tyaga will come. So what does it mean? So he says karma phala tyaga refers to bhava bhakti.
Why bhava bhakti? Because at the level of bhava bhakti, there is no desire for bhukti and mukti. And there is no desire for bhukti and mukti, naturally there is no karma phala tyaga. So dhyana refers to bhava bhakti and when one is at the level of bhava bhakti, then what happens? With the tyaga that results from it, tyaga leads to shanti.
So this can be correlated, bhukti mukti suddhi kami sakaleya shanta, krishna bhakta nishkama atayeva shanta. So atayeva shanta, when does a person become peaceful? When the person has no independent desires, apart from the desire to serve Krishna. Now let us look, understand this from another perspective.
So what is he saying? So as compared to abhyasa, dhyana is better. So what does that mean? That means as compared to, dhyana refers to mananatmika bhakti, instead of struggling to fix the mind on Krishna, if one’s intelligence is convinced, then one will fix the mind on Krishna. And better than that is, if one’s mind is spontaneously attracted to Krishna, then there is the spontaneous meditation on Krishna.
And when there is such meditation on Krishna, then that makes one detach from everything else. One has no other desire, then naturally tyaga renunciation comes about. And when there is tyaga, there is shanti.
So in this way, this is a very insightful explanation that multiple acharyas have given. So some devotees, and some of you may be pulling your hair, trying to understand what is going on. It all seems so complex.
So we have to understand that actually the Bhagavad Gita is the word of God. In terms of conclusions, it’s very clear, but in terms of technicalities, there are complexities. And these complexities have been, they have been done gloriously, they have been researched by aracharyas, and painstakingly they have given explanations.
But sometimes some devotees have this romantic idea about studying previous acharyas’ purports. They think that studying previous acharyas’ works means, you know, there are some esoteric pastimes of Radha and Krishna, how Radha and Krishna, when they were groves of Vrindavan, how they embraced each other. And then when I read that, my hair will stand on end, and then I’ll feel ecstasy.
So some devotees have this romantic conceptions of the previous acharyas’ commentaries. Now we shouldn’t have only that kind of conception. The acharyas, when they are writing their commentaries, certainly their hearts are devoted to Krishna, but they are also offering their heads to Krishna.
That means they are using all their intelligence to comprehend Krishna’s words and glorify Krishna’s message. So studying the acharyas’ commentaries is also hard work. It’s not just devotional ecstasy in terms of, you know, knowing some pastimes which nobody else knows.
Most devotees, when they want to study the acharyas’ commentaries, what they want to do, they want to read some books like, some books on pastimes, where they can tell, find some new stories which nobody knows. And then embrace each other. Oh, I know the story about Krishna.
Yes, that is also a part of our legacy that the acharyas have given us. But the acharyas have also done serious philosophical study, and that is also there as a part of our legacy. So both of them are important.
And tattva gyan, which the Gaudiya Sampradaya Acharya has given us, is remarkable. The deeper we go into it, the more we appreciate it. So of course, now I have not gone into, because in our Sampradaya, Baldev Devashayan and Chakra Radhipa are the primary commentators, that is why I have not gone into the commentaries of the other acharyas over here, while explaining this.
But suffice it to say that there is, even if we want some intellectual nectar, there is so much intellectual nectar within the jurisdiction of devotional service itself. And for those of us who find this very complex, then we don’t have to get overwhelmed. For us, Srila Prabhupada has been very merciful, and Srila Prabhupada consistently sticks to the fundamentals.
Because ultimately, the important point is to apply the fundamentals. See, we can look at it from two different perspectives. There is a doctor.
And the doctor, when the doctor has to give a medicine, the doctor will give the medicine. Okay, take this medicine, this medicine, this medicine. So Prabhupada, chant Hare Krishna, practise devotional service, and you will become purified.
Eventually, you will become liberated. That is the prescription. But for the doctor to give that prescription, the doctor has to study.
And when we look at the medical science behind that, that can be quite complex. So similarly, Prabhupada gives us the philosophy, but Prabhupada also focusses on an emergency mode sort of presentation and treatment. He doesn’t go into technicalities too much.
But for those who want to go into the technicalities, there is abundant room for intellectual investigation and intellectual relish within devotional service also. And those who find this overwhelming, we can focus on Srila Prabhupada’s books and we can relish the simplicity of the process that he has given and the potency of that process and bringing transformation in our hearts. In the next chapter, next class, we will discuss about the qualities that endear oneself to Krishna.