Bhakti Shastri (120) – Bhagavad Gita Chapter 13 Text 12 to 19

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thank you very much, Hare Krishna welcome back to our Bhagavad Gita Bhakti Shastri course we are in the middle of the 13th chapter discussing the 20 items of knowledge and we were discussing last time the difference between affection and attachment so affection refers to a natural emotional human connection which is there and which has to be there it’s vital for relationships to exist when we are relating with people we have to relate with them as complete persons we can’t say I love your soul, I don’t care for your body when we care, we care for the complete person there is a famous incident once in Mayapur on Vyasa Puja day thousands of devotees were coming and glorifying him and offering flowers and obeisances and one devotee was limping while all this aarti was going on Prabhupada called him forward and asked him what had happened and he explained that he had got some wound and Prabhupada there during Vyasa Puja day Prabhupada gave him a prescription of how to prepare some home made medicine by which he could cure the pain in the leg so Prabhupada was concerned when he came to know that in Mayapur the devotees were not getting proper prasad Prabhupada said no prasad should be proper so now the important point here to understand is that the relationships of course you could say this is the relationship between Guru and disciple and the Guru is caring for even the body of the disciple but in general all relationships we can’t separate the body, the mind and the soul when we are taking care, we take care of all three protection is not just spiritual protection telling people this is right, this is wrong this is good for you, this is bad for you that is important but along with that people should also feel valued, people should feel cared people should feel in fact cherished the success of our movement is very much dependent on how long how we can steadily inspire devotees to keep practising devotional service throughout their life so once a person comes to the shelter of Krishna taking care of the person who has come to the shelter of Krishna is also important so that person can go on lifelong and feel cared and inspired so often the emphasis on detachment from family members can have a negative effect in terms of irresponsibility, detachment is not irresponsibility we discussed this briefly earlier but detachment means lack of excessive emotional entanglement in material things whereas irresponsibility means evasiveness means unwillingness to shoulder a burden which is actually one’s own so if a person is in family life then the person has to take care of the family at one time the temple was emphasising book distribution and earlier ISKCON was more of temple centred, not just congregation movement it was entirely a temple based movement so even the householder devotees would stay in the temple so at one time to increase the book distribution the temple authorities told the devotees told the Matajis that distributing the books of Sri Prabhupada is more important than taking care of your babies and the mothers were very disturbed by that it is a fundamental maternal instinct and the need of every woman to take care of her child and then one Mataji wrote a letter to Prabhupada and Prabhupada wrote back a strong letter he said what is this strange thing you know your mother, these are Vaikuntha children you have to take care of those children and the children are gift of God so Prabhupada wanted to avoid both extremes on one side he did not want the Matajis to neglect their home responsibilities for the sake of missionary activities at the same time he also did not want them to be restricted to home activities and be not allowed to participate in missionary activities there has to be balance so the same applies to the husband also the husband has to take care of the family detachment does not mean that one neglects one’s family members needs either emotionally or spiritually so that means one has to actually be affectionate but not attached attached would mean that the dividing line is not so easy to discern and that is correct it is not that we have to walk on the line all the time sometimes we may be on the left, sometimes we may be on the right and overall we will move in the right direction the important point to recognise is that we need to have a clear understanding at least conceptually or at least philosophically to be affectionate is not only not undesirable actually it is essential and these relationships in the Bhagavatam there is a verse about how in the third canto, especially the section of Daivahuti and Kardamoni, how the wife is the protection for a husband like a fortress and there are several verses like this which Prabhupada is explaining over here that they are natural objects of affection so only in extreme situations where the horizontal relationship is an obstacle to a vertical relationship and it is an insurmountable obstacle then some extreme action may be required but we shouldn’t assume that an obstacle is insurmountable right from the beginning in general we should try to practise our devotional service in a way that doesn’t unnecessarily disturb others and others include our family members now we may say that even my basic chanting of Hare Krishna is disturbing others we have to over a period of time understand that more or less most parts of the world we live in a democratic society and every individual has certain right to make certain choices so we should communicate to our family members that I feel inspired to live according to certain principles and this is what I am going to practise and we don’t have to impose them on others at the same time that doesn’t mean that we have to give up our devotional practises for the sake of others so attachment a good example of attachment is Dhritarashtra and Duryodhana so that means even when a person is going on the wrong track one allows that person to go on the wrong track and in fact one oneself supports that wrong track because one cannot say no to that person that would be attachment so one has to be sensitive and careful in these things so now Prabhupada talks about this and then he further says that he basically talks about how one can spiritualise one’s family like chanting Hare Krishna, worshipping the deity, discussing Bhagavad Gita basically the five-ported limbs of devotional service taking prasad, all this can spiritualise the home life hmm Prabhupada further says that a devotee has no taste as Prabhupada writes for unnecessary sporting or cinema going or enjoying social and social function so the idea here is that a devotee understands that there have to be priorities in life we have only so much time and we need to engage in serious devotional service so how do we engage in serious devotional service? by using all our time in purposeful ways so there are certain forms of socialisation which are considered normal in modern society but are they actually normal? do they actually lead to bonding at a deeper level? there is a word people use, hang out I hang out with my friends hang out means people go and gossip about others or people go and have a drink together or people go and do all sorts of pointless things together so is hanging out really a form of bonding? does it really lead to deep meaningful satisfying relationships? not necessarily and most often not so it’s not that devotees don’t want to have relationships we can have relationships with other family members also depending on our profession or our locality but the important point is that a devotee wants to not socialise in a way that is detrimental to one’s devotional service so how one will balance this between how a devotee would like to socialise and how materialistic people would like to socialise and where we can find a balance, that is something which every individual has to decide on its own but the point is, it’s not that devotional service is against socialisation in fact Prabhupada made a society international society for Krishna conscious in society there is socialisation now of course within the devotee community we would like to have socialisation that is Krishna centred and when we have to socialise with others we do it in such a way that it gradually helps us in our Krishna consciousness or at least protects our Krishna consciousness or doesn’t harm our Krishna consciousness so now so not mixing where materialistic people mix so a devotee focusses on not getting contaminated by material desires that doesn’t mean a devotee cannot mix with materialistic people at all but you have to understand there are infections that are always possible and we have to protect ourselves so once one understands that that it is spiritual knowledge alone that will last and that inspires a person to search for spiritual knowledge with seriousness and gravity and one tries to understand what is the philosophical truth of life and in this way one moves forward in one’s spiritual life so now Prabhupada explains that Prabhupada explains what is the antithesis of humility antithesis means exactly opposite to think oneself God is most puffed up although the living entity is always being kicked by the stringent laws of material nature he still thinks I am God because of ignorance for the beginning of knowledge therefore is a Mahanitva so Prabhupada goes in a full circle he starts initially by talking about he talks about the initial part of the purport and he concludes again with the same point so actually speaking there are some Mayavadis some self styled God men who claim to be God but apart from that there are many others who do not necessarily claim to be God but they also claim to be but they may also want to be Numero Uno and that is one way of claiming to be God also so actually this whole idea is antithetical to Mahanitvam so devotee wants to be humble that does not necessarily mean that devotee does not have talents or use talents in Krishna’s service but a devotee does not draw more attention to oneself and devotee does not want glorification on oneself devotee has to come in the public attention so that people can understand people can understand Krishna and come closer to Krishna devotee does that as a service but devotee does not think that I am great or I am greatest so now now everything apart from this is ignorance now what does it mean with the word ignorance and knowledge they can have multiple meanings in different contexts now what we study in physics, in chemistry, in economics all this is knowledge definitely it has its validity and its utility in its own sphere here Krishna is talking about Jnana primarily in terms of the Jnana that enables one to become spiritually advanced to gain liberation from material existence Krishna is not here talking about Varanashram yes there may not have been subjects like physics and chemistry specifically directly like that as they are taught today in today’s universities but there were Varanashram and in Varanashram every Varna had its own specialised skills and techniques which people had to learn so there were artisans and there were other skilled people who teach the skills generation after generation the kshatriyas would teach their kshatriyas the next generation of kshatriyas the brahmanas would train the next generation of brahmanas and that’s how the legacy would continue succession is an important concern and succession was taken care of that way so it’s not that acquiring material skills was entirely neglected the material skills are essential for functioning in the material world and if we look at the kind of architecture that were made in the Vedic culture Vedic times, all for the matter of the kind of music the kind of dance, even the kind of literature that were written, they are all high class as you discussed earlier, the Mahabharata is by far the world’s longest poem it is 7 times longer than the Iliad and the Odyssey combined together which were the Germanic sagas that were considered to be long poems so obviously writing like this doesn’t come for lazy people it requires hard work so definitely there is hard work but the important point is that we may say that it is about God yes, most of the skills that were there, they were about God and they were somehow connected with God, somehow connected with Dharma and that is good, but the important point is apart from this, everything else is ignorance apart from this, everything else is ignorance what does it mean? None of that is going to help us make advancement to come out of material existence so it may make things relatively better within material existence, temporarily but it can’t help us to come out of material existence and Jnana, as Krishna has defined earlier in this chapter itself to understand the Kshetra and Kshetra Jnana, that is Jnana so the point is that it may be we can again look at it from the point of view of multiple levels of Jnana so modern science can be can be called as a kind of material knowledge which modern science or modern education it has its validity and utility in its own place but it does not help a person to seek for liberation or to attain liberation in and of itself so that’s why, that is not considered to be Jnana from the point of view of what Jnana a spiritualist a spiritual seeker wants now after describing what is Jnana Krishna will now describe what is Jnana so let’s start with 13.13, this is the third section from this chapter let’s quickly look at the overview of the chapter yeah so we discussed Arjuna’s six questions that was the start then we discussed the Kshetra and Kshetra Jnana then we discussed Jnana now we are going to discuss Jnana so now Jnana so so so Krishna is making the transition points quite clear over here he says, this what was told in the previous verse was Jnana this is Jnana, now he says now I’ll speak about Jnana means I’ll speak by knowing this one will attain Amrita Anadi Matparam so Anadi means beginningless Matparam means subordinate to me, Brahma it is Nasat Anasat it is beyond the cause and effect of this world so Satanasat can mean temporary or eternal it can also mean multiple things so here Prabhupada translates Satanasat to mean cause and effect now now what is it that is to be known Jnana there are many things which can be known but the important principle is to recognise that Jnana is ultimately the Atma and the Paramatma and the Supreme Lord Paramatma is one manifestation of the Supreme Lord ultimately the final object of Jnana is the absolute truth that’s what we want to know all of us want to know so we initially enquire outwards we look outwards and by looking outwards we try to understand what is it that is the reality that is one approach of looking at knowledge that is looking let’s understand this a little bit better from another perspective yeah so what are the different modes of understanding ourselves and the world around us you know to understand things we can look outwards we can look inwards or we can look upwards the three primary ways we look outwards then we see the world of matter and based on matter the whole school of thought called materialism comes up and materialism largely relies on Prateksha Pramana it focusses on the understanding of scriptural of all of reality in terms of matter because matter is what we can perceive when we look outwards we look with our eyes and we don’t see spiritual reality at that time that’s why it is normally that those who just rely on their own external observation they come to some kind of naturalistic conclusions that nature itself is supreme or matter is supreme now there are others who look inwards and they think oh by looking inwards we can understand the absolute truth that is one valid way of looking at things but the problem with looking inwards is that generally we can’t see much beyond the mind when people talk about external and internal often they have the reference point of the body so what is outside the body is external and what is inside the body is internal but this is a body based distinction of external and internal actually from the body’s perspective what is inside is not just the real I, there is also the mind which is the pseudo I, the mind makes us think that its emotions are our emotions so if we just turn inwards without any guidance then we mistake the mind to be me and the psychological approach is based on anuman generally when we turn inwards we can’t see things as clearly as we can see externally of course externally also we can’t see everything very clearly but when we turn inwards its like the inner territory is mostly filled with our guess works and inferences so its anuman so both these are useful ways of acquiring knowledge but more important than both of them is to look upwards and to wait for descending revelation so revelation enables us not only to get direct knowledge descending from Krishna but it also helps us to make sense of what we are observing externally and internally so what we observe externally through through prateksha and what we observe internally through anuman this is a very rough division just to communicate the idea of what are the broad categories of acquiring knowledge but overall these categories will vary depending on nobody learns everything just by looking externally nobody looks entirely internally to try to learn people try to mix and mash things up and they don’t necessarily always get a good result from their mixing up of other things but essentially outward, inward and upwards there are three ways in which we can go in the search of knowledge so the object of knowledge or the goal for which we are searching through knowledge is called as gheeyam and gheeyam can be known in various ways so Krishna is now telling in this verse gheeyam yatatravakshami yaj jnatva amrutam ashnute yaj jnatva amrutam ashnute amrutam ashnute means by knowing this gheeyam one will attain amruta now what does it mean amruta, how will one attain amruta this amruta does not refer to the celestial nectar the nectar that is available in heaven the somaras or anything like that yaj jnatva amrutam ashnute here amruta refers to immortality actually when we understand the object of knowledge we understand the soul and the lord and we understand the relationship between the two and that relationship enables us to taste the nectar of pure devotion initially the nectar of devotion and eventually the nectar of pure devotion and finally we go back to the spiritual world where we can keep tasting the nectar of pure devotion eternally without any obstacles so this is jnatva amrutam ashnute amrutam, amrutam means that which is nectarian, that which is eternal and then further it is said that anadhimat param brahma this is one of the verses in which different acharyas take different positions about what the terms mean so from the verses 13 to 17 in this section they can all mean either the atma or they can mean the brahman or they can mean the paramatma so in general we will have to look at the acharyas commentaries to understand what is being referred to over here so what is the difference between atma and brahman the atma is one unit of consciousness whereas the brahman is like an ocean of consciousness it is all sajitananda so mat param brahma mat param brahma, that which is dependent on me brahma, anadhimat param brahma nasat tanna sadujyate that is beyond the cause and effect of this world what does it mean to be beyond the cause and effect actually the cause and effect just goes on generation after generation people ask this question that who created who came first did the chickens come first or did the eggs come first now if you go in the purely logical perspective the result of this sort of reasoning is that if a chicken came first then we get the question where did the chickens come from and if the eggs come first then we get the question where did the eggs come from so either way it seems to be chicken come from the eggs and the eggs come from the chicken but what is the origin of either both of them have an origin and that is explained to be the origin in terms of sarvakarana karanam the absolute truth so that absolute truth, that spiritual reality is beyond the nasat tanna sadujyate is beyond the cause and effect cycle of this material existence so in fact nasat tanna sadujyate in physics or in science in general scientists have often talked about the concept of causal completeness causal completeness means one of the reasons they give why god doesn’t exist or why god doesn’t matter not necessarily god doesn’t exist even if god exists, actually all of material phenomena operate according to material laws and because material phenomena operate according to material laws so therefore there is no room for god to play any role if I throw a stone down, the stone is going to fall based on the laws of gravity so it’s not that god can suddenly intervene and stop the stone from flying we don’t see that kind of interventions happening they are not scientifically observable, verifiable so therefore they say that material phenomena are causally complete there is no need to postulate any cause beyond what are found within the arena of matter so in one sense they are correct because krishna has made the world in such a way that he doesn’t have to intervene constantly for the management of this world that’s why whenever he descends as happened in janmashtami, that is an extremely rare event in terms of the vastness of the cosmic cycles and it’s only once in a day of brahma and brahma is extraordinary so when we understand this that means that absolute truth exists beyond the realm of matter material causes and material effects material causes and material effects have their own cycle but beyond their cyclic existence do exist the spiritual things so now what does this refer to some of them say that this refers to brahma some of them say that this refers to brahma prabhupada explains this to refer to brahma and brahma is that absolute truth so prabhupada quotes several verses over here from the sri dasashtra Upanishad pradhana kshetragya patir ganesha so pradhana kshetragya patir ganesha not ganesha so ganesha is the lord of the modes ganesha would be the lord of the people so here it is there are many kshetragya but this is the pradhana kshetragya and he is the patir he is the master and he is the lord of the modes so here the first verse is saying that actually what is the importance of knowing about brahma by knowing about brahma one will be able to become liberated from the cycle of birth and death so why do people who are often about to die in the vedic tradition if somebody is about to die at that time other people go and seek blessings and seek forgiveness from offences and the whole purpose of this is to enable people to understand that we shouldn’t let these things block us from our connection with the absolute truth so we don’t want to have negative feelings we don’t want to have harsh emotions towards anyone and we don’t want them to have it so that is called the emotional closure so we close this relationship now forgiveness has been given, forgiveness has been received and now we calm down and then with a peaceful mind one can turn towards what is coming next the devotee can turn the mind towards Krishna also more peacefully and more purposefully so of course at one level we can say that material distractions never end and that is definitely true but at the same time there are some minor distractions and some major distractions and taking care of the major distractions is extremely important for us to be able to focus on the major things so we shouldn’t dub all distractions as minor and neglect them nor should we make all distractions as major and obsess over them so much that we can’t do any purposeful activity our primary purpose is to serve Krishna and whatever distracts us from service to Krishna and to the extent it distracts us from service to Krishna to that extent accordingly we give it whatever attention is required so actually there is no other position for the living entity actually there is no other position for the living entity so Prabhupada takes this to refer to the matparam brahma to refer to the jiva now the subsequent verses they start talking about the all pervading aspect of the absolute truth which is the gaya sarvam avrutti tishthati me so that this absolute truth pervades everything exists pervading everything sarvam avrutti and this itself will indicate what is it that pervades everything that is the brahman that is the impersonal absolute sarvata paani padam tal everywhere are the hands and legs sarvato akshi shiro mukham everywhere are the akshi shiro mukham everywhere are the eyes, the head and the face and everywhere are the ears so the eyes, the head, the mouth, the ears, the hands, the legs, the hair everywhere and what does it indicate it indicates that this is talking about now generally you don’t talk about the brahman as having any personal attributes you don’t talk about the brahman as having face and hands and legs sarvam avrutti tishthati can refer to the brahman but in the other features that are talked about, having hands, having legs which are everywhere, that doesn’t, what does it refer to so now if you see, if we look from our philosophical perspective, we may say oh this is so easy, this is paramatma paramatma represents andantarastha paramanuchayantarastham andantarastha that the paramatma is situated in the brahman and the brahman is also situated in the atma we understand that paramatma is all pervasive so what is the implication of the statement that paramatma is all pervasive the simple implication is that actually the paramatma is the ajneya, so that is everywhere, the point which is being talked about is that we want to know about him and knowing about him should not be difficult because he is everywhere, he observes everything he can do everything, he knows everything so that is the jnana, now this is not necessarily a direct description of what the jnana is but it is a transmission of an intuitive inspirational understanding of what the jnana is so that means that Krishna is giving us the insider’s perspective people often want insider’s story insider’s story means say, if there were some terrorist attacks, say there was a terrorist attack in Mumbai and on this 26-11 if somebody was in a particular hotel, Taj hotel where the terrorist attack was there and then that person from inside, somehow that person survived and that person says, what was it how was it like, they were coming like this and they went like that and they went like that and they did this and they did that so all that is insider’s story and that insider’s story, inside story or insider’s story is what people want to know how was it from inside so we can’t have the vision that a pure devotee has because we don’t have the devotion that a pure devotee has that’s why we can’t see directly from that perspective the material world but for advanced devotees they see like that and Krishna is here reporting to us the vision that an advanced spiritualist has I say sarvada pani padam everywhere are the hands and legs, everywhere are the eyes the mouth and the head everywhere are the ears and in this way the super soul exists pervading everything, what does it actually refer to it refers to the paramatma aspect as we know but this verse is quoted in the past time of Advaita Acharya which Chetan Mahaprabhu describes in the Mahaprakash Leela when he is glorifying the various devotees and benedicting them so Chetan Mahaprabhu describes how Advaita Acharya was such a great Vaishnava that whatever Vedic literature was brought in front of him he would explain to it in terms of pure devotional service instead of beating around the bush and giving other different kinds of explanations he would explain in terms of pure devotional service but when he came to this he just couldn’t understand this verse in terms of pure devotional service and then when he was fast asleep one night the Lord itself appeared in his dream and gave him the understanding, what does this verse mean this is referring to the paramatma aspect so for us Prabhupada has given things so simple so that we know it is very easy to understand this refers to paramatma but for Advaita Acharya there is a brilliant insight at that time and that came to him by the grace of the Supreme Lord so Prabhupada then talks about the potency of the Lord to accept prasad potency of the Lord to accept prasad we will discuss that in 9.26 Patram Pushpam Palam Toyam so Prabhupada gives one more understanding of how the Lord is all pervading he quotes from the Brahma Samhita 5.37 over here golokeva nivasatya akhilatma bhuto so golokeva nivasatya nivasatya means one who resides in goloka but akhilatma bhuto that Lord is the akhilatma bhuto that means he is the akhilatma he is for the indwelling super soul of all living beings that is not the position of the jiva that is not the position of the jiva so now let us look at the next verse sarvendriya guna abhasam sarvendriya vivaljitam asattam sarva bhruchaiva nirgunam guna ghoktrucha source of all the gunas and sarvendriya vivaljitam actually sarvendriya guna abhasam source of all the senses and source of all the qualities but sarvendriya vivaljitam that absolute truth has no senses sarvendriya vivaljitam free from all senses asattam sarva bhruchaiva that absolute truth is detached from everything but at the same time sarva bhruchaiva is the maintainer of everyone sarva bhruchaiva nirgunam guna ghoktrucha so that absolute truth is not affected by any modes is transcendental to all the modes but still is the controller of all the modes so in this way the absolute truth is is the reservoir of all contradictory attributes all integrated into one sarvendriya guna abhasam so what is being referred to over here here the point that is being made is that the absolute truth has inconceivable attributes we saw this point was talked about in the Ishopishad also taddure tadvantike dejati tannaijati taddure tadvantike antarasya sarvasya saddhu sarvasya sivahayatah so at that point in the Ishopishad we discussed how that absolute truth walks and does not walk far away and is closed inside of everything and still outside of everything so how is that possible that is the inconceivability so inconceivability doesn’t mean that we can’t understand it just means that we can’t understand at our present level of consciousness over a period of time we will be able to understand more and more we will never understand completely but we will be able to properly understand at a deeper level as we keep practising so here the point is three sets of contradictions are established the source of all senses but is without senses is the maintainer of all but is not the maintainer of anyone and is the lord of the modes and still is beyond the modes these are all possible because of the inconceivable potency of the supreme lord then Prabhupada explains further due to materially contaminated senses we cannot see his form therefore the impersonalists who are still materially affected cannot understand the personality of godhead so why we cannot understand the inconceivable attribute it is because of our materially contaminated senses so bahir-antasya-bhutanam acharam-charamevaca-sukhya-matvata-davigyayam durastham-chanti-kecchatat bahir-antasya-bhutanam is inside and outside of everything acharam-charam sorry is inside and outside of all living beings so moving and non-moving sukhya-matvata-davigyayam sukhya-matvata means because he is very very subtle therefore avigyayam we cannot know him properly it is interesting that this verse has declared the geya to be avigyaya it started by saying that now i will talk about geya but now it is saying that geya is avigyaya avigyaya-sukhya-matvata-davigyayam durastham-chanti-kecchatat now this far away is also close by chanti-kecchatat so here the inconceivable attributes we discussed how that to be understood for the non-devotee Krishna is far away for the devotee Krishna is close so in this way these things can be understood sukhya-matvata-davigyayam so Prabhupada explains Prabhupada quotes from the Upanishads this is one chapter where Prabhupada quotes a lot from the Upanishads because there are parallel passages in the Upanishads which illuminate the themes which have been explored in this verse so asino dhuram vrajati shayano yati sarvatah shayano dhuram vrajati although he resides far away sarvatah he is actually also residing everywhere else he is all pervading how can these inconceivable attributes be understood well at one level we can say that the Bhagawan is far away and the Paramatma is close to us we can say that the Supersoul is inside us as Shivdaksha Vishnu and the Mahavishnu is outside us as Mahavishnu or even as Garbhodaksha Vishnu so like that we can understand these verses another way of understanding it is that this is all recognising the glory of the Supreme Being who has extraordinary attributes both perspectives are true so now let us go avibhaktam means undivided although he is undivided he is also acting as if he is divided how is he divided? although he is undivided he is divided he is the maintainer of all living beings that is the knower that person is the devourer and is also the developer of all things so here first of all all these verses are essentially talking about the contradictory attributes of the Supreme Absolute Truth so avibhaktam cha bhuteshu is undivided but he appears as if divided how is that? the Supersoul is one but the Supersoul in your heart is there Supersoul in my heart is there Supersoul in each one of our hearts is there are the Supersouls different? no, they are all one Supersoul but in many manifestations that’s why avibhaktam iva cha sthitam as if it is situated separately iva cha sthitam so in Sanskrit there is a word iva and there is a word eva IVA and EVA and their meanings can be radically different eva means like and eva means certainly it’s a phrase that one may use even in the presence of children and it’s also a phrase it’s a word actually it’s a word that indicates something which is generally used for emphasising eva whereas iva is for comparing so avibhaktam iva cha sthitam it’s as if it’s separated it’s like if we have a moon overhead and then that moon is say reflected in a dozen puddles on the ground after rains there have been some puddles formed in the ground and at night when the moon comes out in the sky the moon is reflected in the puddles so now when it is reflected in the puddles at that time the moon is the same but it’s also not the same when it is reflected why is it the same? it is the same because it’s that same one moon which has been reflected but it’s not the same because the reflection doesn’t contain all the potency of that moon so of that moon it cannot illuminate in the same degree it cannot offer the same warmth it cannot do most of the things that we assume people are able to do so of course the example is material and it doesn’t necessarily apply entirely because the super soul is not like that the super soul can expand and still remain the same being vibhaktam iva cha sthitam it’s separated but still he is one also bhuta bhartr chitaj jneyam that absolute truth is the maintainer of everyone and ghasishthu prabhavishthu cha but is also the destroyer of everyone and the creator of everyone so here basically time has these three aspects through the time creation happens, maintenance happens, destruction happens and here the point of that absolute truth being the transcendental to the material changes is brought out by saying that actually all those three material changes are the agencies of time so it is through time that creation happens it is through time that maintenance occurs it is through time that destruction happens so we are all ultimately instruments sometimes in the in the bhagavatam there is a verse which says that that when a person loses money the wallet falls on the road and person loses the money sometimes it may well happen that that person comes back after 2-3 days and finds the wallet still there or maybe a boy working in a local neighbourhood finds that money and keeps it and when the real owner comes along gives the money to that person so in that way one understands that things are not in my control I lost the money and it could very well have been lost but if the lord had willed that the money be there, it is there otherwise I may have the money in my pocket but somebody can steal it from my pocket also so what essentially it means is that our actions are not final, they are not decisive sometimes a man and a woman unite and although both the woman is fertile and the man is potent still there is no progeny that happens no child is born, why is that? that indicates that just the husband and the wife, the man and the woman are not the only doers so it is god who is creating through them it is god who is protecting the money through the negligence of the people who are around too busy to look at the money so like that, the ultimate doer is whether it is creation, whether it is destruction whether it is maintenance, is the supreme lord and remembering that is important so all three are included, it is not that something is developing, we consider it as good something is already big, we consider it to be good but something has downside, that is not necessarily what we consider to be good things will have to go through circles in this material existence but that doesn’t mean that we have to maximise the pains of the circles we can deal with them in a philosophical vision, recognising that it is Krishna who is manifesting you know when Parikshit Maharaj was cursed Parikshit Maharaj saw that it is lord Krishna who has come to me as this curse and he has given me the opportunity to take shelter of him in the form of Hari Katha so that is the meaning of that, he saw that death has also come in the form of the absolute truth that death has come in that form so let’s go to the next verse now so that means among all luminous objects I am the light I am beyond all darkness I am situated in the heart of all living beings what does it mean it is clearly referring to the super soul the Brahman is not situated in the heart of all living beings Brahman is all pervading let’s look at these three things that there is knowledge there is the object of knowledge and then there is the goal of knowledge so now object of knowledge and goal of knowledge what is the difference it is a subtle but significant difference when a medical student a medical doctor is investigating a patient at that time the object of knowledge that means the thing that is about which knowledge is being wanted that is the patient so different kinds of scans will be done and getting knowledge about that is the object but what is the goal of that knowledge the goal is not just to get knowledge about the body the goal is to get cured to help improve the health of the patient if not to help him get cured so in that way there is a difference between the object of knowledge and the goal of knowledge and with respect to spiritual circles there is gyana and there is the arena of knowledge so there is gyanagamyam so gyanam gyanam gyanagamyam so actually gyanam we can know about anything I can sit on this wire and make a PhD thesis about wire what colour they should have what composition they should have what thickness they should have what is the capacity of electricity that should be allowed to pass through them all these things we can make a PhD about it somebody might be able to use that knowledge also to some extent it might be useful but the important point is that is not transcendental knowledge that is not the kind of knowledge that will liberate us from material existence so gyana for us is the atma the paramatma and the relationship of love between the two because when you understand the soul and the lord and the mutually loving relationship that knowledge brings liberation that is the gyana so once Prabhupada was asked what is the use of knowledge that does not serve any ultimate purpose Prabhupada asked this to a scientist Professor Benford who came for a morning walk with him and he was saying that they were walking along in a garden so Prabhupada asked him what is the current scientific knowledge about the soul and the scientist said currently there is no scientific knowledge about the soul then your knowledge is useless Prabhupada said why? he said scientific knowledge is a different category of knowledge Prabhupada said that is fine it may be a different category but it is the most important character without knowing who you are how can you know anything more about how life is to be perceived now they had a very stimulating discussion for a long time and then Prabhupada decided to get back for giving the class as he was going they were going back and that scientist said Swamiji you see they pointed to the grass and he said Swamiji now we have got two big volumes of books explaining how those grass grows so Prabhupada replied that grass was growing even without your books what is the big deal so now what he said but Swamiji God did not want us to study that grass why did he put the grass there Prabhupada said my point is that you study the grass and you don’t study at all the designer who put the grass there that is fractured, diversed segregated knowledge this fragmented knowledge doesn’t lead to integrated understanding so for us the gain is not just matter that is the gain for science but for us the ultimate gain is the Supreme Lord and the Atma and the relationship between the two what is the ultimate goal of the knowledge to know more and more about Krishna to fall more and more in love with Krishna to be eternally liberated to love and serve Krishna that is Jnanagamya Jnanam Jnayam Jnanagamyam so then after this Prabhupada quotes several verses now Krishna gives the conclusion of this section itikshetram tatha jnanam jnayam choktam samasata madbhakta e tadbhijnaya madbhavayo papadyate itikshetram tatha jnanam in this way Krishna said I told you about what I told you about kshetra then I told you about jnana and I told you about jnana and of course Krishna has talked about kshetragya also but the talk about kshetragya was very brief so Krishna mentions about kshetram and kshetragya is included in kshetram over here so kshetram tatha jnanam jnayam choktam samasata in summary I have described this to you but who can actually understand this madbhakta e tadbhijnaya so even in the heart of the jnana section what is Krishna telling over here that one can know this knowledge by bhakti not just by mental speculation not just even by intellectual speculation by bhakti e tadbhijnaya and when one understands this madbhavayo papadyate one will attain madbhav one will attain one’s eternal spiritual nature Krishna’s spiritual nature actually that means we will attain the spiritual level of existence we will become liberated so this is such a significant verse right in the heart of the jnana section so bhakti has come twice in this chapter first it came in the in the jnana section itself in the 8 to 12 verses and now secondly it has come who can understand this means my bhakta can understand this so others cannot understand this that means even if one is practising jnana one has to include bhakti sadhana in it and of course if one focusses on cultivating bhakti itself then the jnana will automatically come automatically means not spontaneously necessarily but by steady consistent practise it will come about madbhakta e tadbhijnaya it is my devotees who will understand this no one else can understand this and madbhavayo papadyate by which they will attain to my nature thank you very much we will continue in our next class we will discuss about purusha and prakriti