Bhakti Shastri (128) – Bhagavad Gita Chapter 15 Text 07 to 10

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Thank you very much. Hare Krishna. Welcome back to the Bhagavad Gita Bhakti Shastri course.
We are now in the 15th chapter, starting with verse 7. Let us look at the chapter overview before we move forward. So, the first section we completed, attain liberation by detachment. So, that was based on the understanding of the upside down Banyan tree metaphor.
And then, if one does not attain liberation in this way, then one will have to stay in bondage and undergo transmigration. So, that is the section from 7 to 11. So, 15.6 ended by saying that, yes, this is the spiritual world and the spiritual world is Krishna’s abode.
It is self-luminous and it is beyond, it is once attained, one does not come back from there. So, three characteristics were described about the spiritual world. So, these three characteristics are glorifying the spiritual world.
After that glorification is done, now it is told that, okay, if that is the abode, that is where we belong, then why is the soul here? So, that will be discussed in this verse. And the soul’s journey in the material world will also be discussed in subsequent verses. So, Krishna is telling that all living beings, jiva loke, they are in the world of conditional life, they are my amshas.
They are eternally my parts and parcels. That they are undergoing karshati, karshati is struggling and suffering. They are struggling and suffering in this material existence.
Because of what? That the six senses which include the mind. That is the cause of their suffering. So, now this verse has two parts and both of them are important and then the combination of those two parts is also important.
So, A and B are telling a very important philosophical truth. So, this is telling that the living entity is eternally a part of Krishna. So, we are amshas and we are sanatana amshas.
So, this is important because the impersonalists have the idea that we will eventually become one with God and we will merge in his existence. But here the verse very clearly says that we are amshas, we are parts. And how the part whenever becomes the whole and the part is such a part that will it merge? No.
Sanatana. Earlier also it has been said that the soul cannot be cut by anything. So, whatever material transformations happen because of the various elements of nature, wind, water, all those, they do not affect the soul.
So, if the soul is not cuttable, then that means if the soul is a part, it has always been a part and it will always be a part. Soul is not cuttable, the soul is not changeable. Then if it is amshas, then it will always be an amshas.
So, that can be inferred even from the earlier verses. But it is made even more emphatic and unambiguous by the word sanatana. So, we are amshas and we are sanatana, eternally the amshas.
And whose amshas? Mammaiva amshas. That is also important. Mamma amshas.
It is not just Brahma amshas. We are not just sparks of spirit, we are parts of the spiritual person, supreme spiritual person. So, sparks of spirit, the example sometimes is definitely given of how the Supreme Lord is like a flame and we are like sparks.
So, that is an example that illustrates the qualitative oneness of all living beings. But it does not necessarily illustrate anything more than that. It simply makes the point that this is how the living entity, this is how we all exist in relationship with Krishna in terms of qualitative oneness.
But the fire itself does not have any personality directly, at least the way we perceive it. And similarly, the flame also, the spark also does not have personality. But when we talk about the supreme absolute reality, the absolute reality is a person.
Krishna has also said, aham sarvasya prabho mattah parataram nanyat. 10.8, 7.7 years. There is no reality higher than him.
So, mama is important over here. Krishna is saying that they are all my amshas, not just Brahma amshas or some temporary emanations from Brahman or something like that. No, they are my parts and they are eternally my parts.
And then they are jivaloke. So, that word jivaloke is the connection with the next part. So, the first part expresses the philosophical truth that this is the, this world is a place that we are parts of Krishna eternally.
It’s a very strong refutation of Mayavada. The second part also contains a very important truth. What is that? Manah shashtani nriyani prakriti sthani karshati.
So, karshati, karshati is struggling and suffering. So, that is itself an important truth. But that has been mentioned by Krishna earlier in the Bhagavad Gita.
Dukhalam shashvatam he has talked about in 8.15. And then again in 9.33 he has said, anityamasukham lokam imam prapebhajasvamam. So, and then janan-vrttu jaravyati dukkha-dosha-andharshi, we also talked about in 13.11. So, that has been mentioned, the karshati, prakriti sthani karshati, that this material world is a place of misery. So, and the living entity is suffering over here.
So, of course, there is slightly more emphasis. The earlier verses are talking about how material world is miserable. And this verse is talking about we are miserable over here, how the living entity is miserable.
So, but the important point over here, the addition is manah shashtani nriyani prakriti sthani karshati. So, the karshati, the struggle and suffering is happening because of the mind and the senses. Manah shashtani nriyani.
So, normally the indriyas are considered to be five. But in the Bhagavad Gita, the indriyas are often grouped with the mind. Even when Krishna was talking about sankhya in 13.6. So, there also he says, indriyani dashaikam cha.
So, dashaikam, dashaikam is 11. So, there Krishna included in that 11, the karma-indriyas, five karma-indriyas, five jnana-indriyas and the mind. So, in general, in the Bhagavad Gita’s analysis, the mind is grouped as one of the senses.
Even in the Vibhuti Yoga, 10th chapter, Krishna has said, indriyana manas chasmi, that I am the mind among the senses. So, the mind is considered, is grouped along with the other senses generally in the, in the methodology of the Bhagavad Gita, in the nomenclature and the taxonomy, the way the Bhagavad Gita classifies things. So, now, manas ashtani indriyani, what is the significance of stating that the living entity is suffering because of the senses, or is suffering and it has senses, the six senses which include the mind.
The significance is that actually most people think that the senses are the sources of happiness. People have the idea that, oh, by the eyes, I will see beautiful things, by the tongue, I will eat delicious things and like that through all the senses, I will enjoy. And people think of the senses as the sources of happiness.
But Krishna is telling by associating in this phrase, karshati manas ashtani indriyani. So, the mind and the senses, the soul is a part of Krishna and it is well known that the soul being a part of Krishna has the nature of Krishna. So, Krishna is Satchitananda.
Similarly, we are also Satchitananda. So, then why are we suffering? Because of manas ashtani indriyani. So, material world itself is a place of suffering and that suffering is aggravated, multiplied, worsened by the entanglement with the mind and the senses.
So, there will be old age, disease and death, which is largely inevitable. But when the mind and senses are uncontrolled, then that leads to great attachment to worldly things. And due to the attachment to worldly things, one ends up suffering far more than what one needs to.
For example, if a person becomes alcoholic, then all the suffering that comes upon oneself, one’s health, one’s career, one’s family, society at large, all that suffering is because of, is self-induced. It is a self-sentence. Generally, a court sentences somebody to suffering when the person has done wrong.
But when we make wrong choices, there is a self-sentence. We sentence ourselves to suffering. So, why would anyone sentence oneself to suffering like that? That is the effect of, insidious effect of the mind and the senses.
Manas ashtani indriyani. So, the mind and the senses, they alienate us from Krishna. They alienate us from Krishna.
Alienate means take us away, to make aliens. So, an alien, the word of alien is generally used to talk about, say, life on some other planets. Maybe they come here.
They are aliens on this earth. So, are there aliens on our earth? The word alien is used in that sense. So, people have fascination.
Hello, maybe there are aliens. Do they come on the earth? Do they explore the earth? Do they do research over here? So, Bhagavad Gita turns that whole telescope around, telescope that is searching for aliens and it points to us, points to the real me, that is the soul. And it tells us that actually it is we who are the aliens.
Instead of searching whether there are some aliens on earth, we have to recognise that we ourselves are aliens and not just on earth. We are aliens within all of material existence. We are actually souls who belong to the spiritual world.
So, we do not belong to the material world. Prakriti sthani, to be situated in material nature which is perishable and miserable is not the nature of the soul. It is unnatural situation.
So, prakriti sthani is 15.7, is similar to purusha prakriti sthohi. So, in 13.22 Krishna says prakriti sthohi, the soul is situated in material nature. So, we are ourselves aliens in this material world.
And being aliens, being in a foreign territory which is perishable and miserable, we suffer also because of that. So, the way to break free from the suffering is by returning to our original nature, that is the spiritual nature. So, the second part that this verse conveys is the senses are the cause of our karshati.
They are the cause of our suffering. So, Srila Prabhupada highlights both these points in this purport. So, Prabhupada explains that the personal expansions of the supreme personality of Godhead, the individual identities of Godhead are always present.
Similarly, the separated expansions of living entities have their identities. So, when Prabhupada talks about amsa, he makes the point that even the supreme absolute truth is not a homogenous oneness, that there is diversity even in the supreme absolute truth, that there are many forms of the supreme lord as Prabhupada mentions Ram, Narasimhadeva, Vishnumurti. So, all these are different incarnations which are there and they are also the amsas.
Now, of course, they are svamsas. There is vibhinna amsa and there is svamsa. So, svamsa is the one’s own expansion, that is the vishnutattva and vibhinna amsa is the separated expansions.
Those are the jivas. So, the jivas don’t have the same potency as the vibhinna amsas, but they are also parts of the lord. So, Prabhupada emphasises the point that both are eternal.
Just as the various incarnations have their eternal abodes in the spiritual world where they reside eternally, similarly in this world also, the souls are also eternal. So, both amsas are sanatana. Then Prabhupada explains that all living entities are parts in Krishna.
The word karshati, struggling or grappling hard is very significant. What is significant? Prabhupada says that conditioned soul is bound up as though shackled by iron chains. You may say I don’t see any iron chains.
Yes, but these are chains which are subtler than iron. They are made of asha-apash. They are our own desires which are shackling us.
So, he is bound up by the false ego. So, actually what binds the soul to matter is the false ego. And the mind is the chief agent which is driving him in this material existence.
And then Prabhupada correlates this with the modes. When the mind is in the mode of goodness, his activities are good. When the mind is in the mode of passion, his activities are troublesome.
And when the mind is in the mode of ignorance, he travels in the lower species of life. To understand this point about how the false ego binds and the mind is the agent that drives, let’s return back to the example of watching a movie or a virtual reality show. So, suppose I am the spectator and I am the person who is participating in the virtual reality show and then in front of me is the monitor on which the virtual reality show is going on.
So, now I can look here, I can look there and I can come out of the spell that the movie may be causing on me. But it is nearly impossible for me to come out of that spell because my eyes are reverted to that. How are they reverted? Now suppose I am watching a computer screen or a TV monitor or a TV screen.
So, now if you visualise that suppose there is a tunnel like structure which starts a pipe like structure which starts from my head and moves right up to the movie screen so that I cannot look anywhere else. My vision is locked onto that screen. So, that pipe like structure, the tunnel like structure which locks my vision to the TV screen that is the false ego.
I am the soul. The false ego is what reverts my consciousness to bodily reality. And then the screen is the computer.
So, sorry, the computer screen is the mind. So, this is what I am speaking. This is based on the analogy of Puranjana, the allegory of Puranjana rather.
Analogy is an example in which correlations are made. Allegory is a more elaborate story in which the same, some philosophical points are illustrated but not just in an abstract concept. But it is the, that concept is illustrated through some characters and the dynamics between those characters.
So, there is analogy of Puranjana in the fourth canto of Srimad Bhagavatam. And I won’t go into the full analogy over there. But Dutta Karmaprabhu, one of Srila Prabhupada’s scientist disciples has written, has published a paper on this, the City of Nine Gates which is published also in Back to Godhead.
So, there to explain this Puranjana analogy, he uses this virtual reality concept. And he explains that this mind is like a multimedia computer that integrates inputs from all the various senses and puts them for display for the soul to behold and respond to. So, that will be talked about in the next verse about how the mind integrates.
But at this point, the point is that Manah Shashtani Indriyani Prakati Sthani Karshati. So, if we were watching a movie screen, but there was no movie being played over there, then we will soon get bored by it. And then even if our head is shackled to that, we will try to find out what is the way to become free.
But if a very captivating movie is playing over there, then we become more and more riveted, more and more focused on that. And then we can’t see even if we try to look here, look there, you know, we’re just caught over there. We can’t see anywhere else.
And that’s how we become captivated. So, the false ego binds and the mind drives. How does the mind drive? Because on that video screen, my various images come up.
And when different images come up, then we get captivated. Oh, this looks good. This tastes good.
This is very soft to touch. Let me do this. Let me enjoy, enjoy, enjoy.
So, mind drives. So, drives how? By providing images, by presenting on its screen objects for enjoyment, the objects that captivate. Now, even when we have a TV, it can have many channels.
So, some channels can be educational. Some channels may be filled with sexuality and passion. And some channels will be perverse, brutal violence and bloody murder and gruesome forms of violent sexuality and abuse and things like that.
So, it’s like goodness, passion, ignorance. So, Prabhupada is saying that when the soul is in goodness, the activities are, as Prabhupada mentions over here, when the mind is in goodness, the activities are good. They are reasonably good.
They are still in mental existence, but they are good. When the mind is in the mode of passion, that means what is being displayed on the screen of the mind is filled with sexuality and passion, then activities are troublesome. Then we increase our complications, our bondage.
And when the mind is in the mode of ignorance, he travels in the lower species of life, lower species of life. So, one goes downwards. One does terrible.
As was said in 14.18, Jaganya is abominable. So, that’s how a person goes down. Now, when this is happening like this, the mind is going up or down.
So, the mind is in different modes. Basically, it means that what is being displayed in the mind is different at different times. Now, all these three ultimately cause struggles because even when you say the mind’s activities are good in goodness, still in goodness also one has to undergo old age, disease and death.
One can’t avoid that. So, that is inevitably there. But basically, there is this difference that there may be degrees of suffering depending on the mode in which one is situated.
And Prabhupada quotes from the Madhyandinayanastruti. So, when one becomes situated in the spiritual platform idam shariram martyam ati srijya. So, one gives up the material body, shariram at the time of death, then brahma bhisampadya brahmana pashyati.
So, one sees the Brahman, brahmana shrunoti. One hears the Brahman and brahmanaivedam sarvam anubhavati. One actually experiences Brahman.
So, the point here is that it’s mentioning over here that there are senses and one perceives with the senses. So, shrunoti, pashyati, one sees with the eyes, one hears with the senses. So, this is actually talking about two things, two significant things.
First is that even when the soul becomes liberated, the soul has perceptions and not just perceptions but it’s talking about sensory perceptions, shrunoti and pashyati. So, with eyes and with ears. And along with that the second point is that there is something to perceive.
If the Brahman were just non-differentiated oneness as the impersonalists conceive, then there will be nothing to perceive actually. Everything will simply be one. What is there to perceive at such a time? But indeed there is definitely a lot to perceive.
And what is there to perceive? That depends on the recognition that there is a personal reality, that the highest reality is person. Brahman is the supreme absolute truth as a person and the living entities even after liberation, they are also persons. So, they are persons endowed with senses and the Lord is a person endowed with form and the living entity endowed with senses, brahmana pashyati, with eyes, senses.
This brahmana pashyati is referring to the living entities taking darshan of the Supreme Lord. Brahmana shrunoti refers to the living entities relishing the sweet speech of Krishna. The gopis describe the brahmana shrunoti.
What is that? In the Gopi Gita they are saying when we hear you, your voice is so sweet. And then with that voice, the words that you speak are also so charming. And this combination of a sweet voice and charming words, what does it do? Even the eyes become bewildered by it.
Even the eyes become attracted. Even their minds become captivated by it. So, that is the real life in the spiritual world where there is reciprocation between the living entity and the Supreme Lord.
Now, Sri Prabhupada further explains in his purport that vasanti yatra purusha sarve vaikuntha murutaya. So, vasanti, vasanti means reside, yatra. What is this yatra referring to? This is referring to the spiritual world.
Purusha sarve, all the form of the Supreme Lord, vaikuntha murutaya. So, not all the form of the Supreme Lord, all the persons over there, vaikuntha murutaya. So, everybody in the spiritual world has a vaikuntha murutaya, means has a form which is the form of the, which akin to the form of the Supreme Lord.
So, vaikuntha murutaya, so that means 400 forms. So, all of them have the 400 forms. Of course, Vishnu has some distinctive characteristics that Vishnu alone has the Kaustubha jewel, but there are other forms also.
Now, beyond that, Prabhupada also mentioned the point is, Prabhupada explained that they are sanatana and that they cannot be cut, what I explained earlier. And then Prabhupada used the example that how are we parts, just as parts and parcel of God are also God. So, like that we are also God in the sense that we are parts of God.
So, we cannot be God in the entirety. So, now, after looking at these two parts, so first part is saying that we are eternally parts of Krishna and second part is saying that when we disconnect, become disconnected from Krishna, then we come under the spell of the mind and senses and then we suffer, we struggle and suffer. So, the second two parts basically can be integrated by the phrase, be a part, be not a part.
Be a part, let us live as a part of Krishna. We are parts of Krishna, let us cooperate with Krishna and by living in harmony with the whole, we will get happiness. The wonderful thing about Krishna consciousness is that although as souls we are limited, but our happiness doesn’t have to be limited.
We are limited. So, if we are seeing happiness independently of Krishna, then our happiness will be limited. But if we connect with Krishna, then the happiness that we can get can be unlimited also.
Because Krishna is all attractive and Krishna is infinite. So, connection with him can give us happiness forever and ever and ever. And that’s how soul, we don’t have to necessarily be limited by our finiteness, in terms of our capacity to experience happiness.
So, that’s the wonderful part of Krishna. So, be a part. So, it’s not something that we have to become a slave of Krishna.
No. Actually, what it essentially means is that we have to serve Krishna and we serve Krishna according to our individuality, even in the spiritual world and that pleases Krishna and he reciprocates and then there is supreme joy over there. So, being a part of Krishna is a natural aspect of our spiritual lives.
No, that’s our nature actually. It’s not something we have to do. But our current situation is unnatural.
So, be a part, be not a part. But instead of being a part, a part is two words, a part. But now instead of that, we are a part.
One word, a part. We become a part from Krishna. And when we become a part from Krishna, then Karishati, we suffer.
Because nothing can satisfy us. Ultimately, supreme is one. By definition, supreme means one.
And there cannot be any substitute for supreme. So, in this world, the mind and senses are offering us various objects for enjoyment, objects that promises substitutes. So, okay, I don’t enjoy this.
Why don’t you enjoy that? I don’t enjoy that. But actually, we can’t enjoy any of those things. So, therefore, the sufferings in this world are inevitable.
They are created by the, they are created by the our own karma. But then we also when we are entangled with the mind and senses, we also do further bad karma, which causes even greater suffering. So, in this way, there is suffering.
So, the first part and the second part is, first part is saying this is the nature of the soul, liberated as a part of Krishna. But then when the soul doesn’t act on the liberated platform, then the soul undergoes Karishati, undergoes the struggle of material existence. So, what is that Karishati? That will be explained in the next verse.
So, let’s look at the next verse. So, shariram yad avapnoti. One gets the sharira.
What kind of sharira? That will depend on one’s karma. Yacchapi utkramati ishvara. Utkramati means one gives up, departs from the body.
So, it’s ishvara. So, the soul is the ishvara. Why is the soul considered to be ishvara? So, ishvara we’ll discuss a little later.
Let’s look at the Sanskrit first. So, grihitva is to take off. Sanyati is to give up.
Vayur gandhan iva ashayat. So, what is vayur gandha? Vayu is fragrance or aroma or smell. Sorry, vayu is wind and gandha is fragrance or aroma, smell.
Iva ashayat. So, ashayat is the source. So, the example that is given is that when wind is blowing.
So, if the wind blows to a fragrant flower garden, then the wind will carry that fragrance. But if the wind goes to the area of outhouse, where there is the repellent order of excreta, then when the wind goes to that, the wind will acquire that order. So, similarly, the soul acquires different conceptions different conceptions of what is life, what is, how is life meant to be enjoyed.
Some people are sadists. Sadist means that by causing others pain, they get pleasure. The more somebody causes pain, some people, they want to see, they may take ants, and they pour scalding hot water on the ants.
And when they see the ant is suffering, and they get some pleasure in that. So, Murugari was a sadist. Murugari, you know, he used to half kill the animals.
And actually, when shooting is done, it depends on where we shoot the arrows. The arrow can be fatal immediately or they can be fatal gradually. So, he would shoot in such a way that the animal would not be able to escape, the wound would be fatal, but it would be gradually fatal.
And this sort of thing, this sort of wounding is often done in, when there are wars and then terrorist kidnap and when there are brutal people involved, often they, they do not want a person to die immediately. So, they torture others. So, torture others for a slow death.
You know, when there was a conspiracy against Hitler, and then he, some Germans wanted to oppose, they did not want the fight to go on, so war to go on. So, they tried to kill him. So, one of the, there are several attempts to kill him actually.
So, in one of the attempts, those people who were installed, who were involved in the conspiracy, what he did was he hung them, you, he had them hung using piano strings. So, what is the idea is that, that normally when hanging is done, in one moment itself, neck gets choked. But there the piano strings, what they would do is slowly cut through the flesh of the neck.
And sometimes, that is a very torturous way of killing. The killing is inevitable. But sometimes the person may just feel the torturous pain for days and days and days together, till finally that string cuts off the neck, so much that the person dies.
So, it is a very brutal way of killing. So, the point is, some people get pleasure in causing pain to others. How can such a thing happen? How can somebody get pleasure in causing pain to others? So, that is the perversity of the mode of ignorance.
So, when one is in, so actually, in goodness, we want to be happy, and we want others also to be happy. In transcendence, we may even give up our happiness for the sake of others’ happiness. That is actually love.
In passion, you know, I want to be happy. What happens to others doesn’t matter. If others enjoy, that’s also they can enjoy also.
But I want to be happy. And in ignorance, I want to be happy. And often, I want to, my happiness should be exclusive.
I should be happy and others should be miserable. So, it’s very horrible. So, different people can have different conceptions of what makes them happy.
So, how do they get that? They acquire that the soul is pure originally. So, even Hitler’s soul is pure soul. But there, the person can get terrible misconceptions about what is life, and how one is meant to live, and what one is meant to do, based on one’s circumstances.
Now, this may seem to indicate that, is the soul not responsible at all? When the wind goes through the area of outhouse, then it acquires a bad order. So, is it that the wind is not responsible? Okay, just went through that area, so it acquired that order. So, like that, is it that, okay, we were exposed to certain experiences, that’s why we became conditioned, and that’s why we’re acting in this way.
Is it like that? No, not necessarily. The soul has free will. You know, we may not be able to choose our experiences, but we can choose our experiences.
You know, what does it mean? The word experience can mean two things. The word experience can refer to the external situation, which we go through. So, that means, we can, for example, if you have to travel in a crowded local, that is the only way of travelling available, then we have to travel through that.
So, we may not be able to choose our experience. Okay, that is what I have to go through. But while physically, I may have to go through certain experience, but I don’t have to emotionally go through that experience.
We may not have, we may not be able to choose our experience, but we still we can choose our experiences. That means, what do I experience? If I just am resenting, oh, there’s so much crowd, people are pushing me, and what a miserable thing. And if I keep myself emotionally in that, focused resentfully on that circumstance, which I’m physically experiencing, then that becomes my emotional experience also.
And that becomes torturous. But I can choose to think of something else. You know, especially Krishna consciousness can enable us to think of higher reality, by which we transcend the worldly situation.
So, that’s how we can go beyond our experiences. And we can, the physical experiences that we have, the material experiences that we have, at a physical level, they don’t have to define us, they don’t have to determine us, they will affect us, they will shape us. But we can choose to respond differently.
Some person who is abused in childhood, may become, those people may become abusers themselves later on. Or otherwise, some people are abused in the childhood, they may choose instead to become not abusers, but they may choose to become those who work for rehabilitation of those who have been abused. So, the experience is the same, but two people may choose to respond differently.
So, why is that? That means we have free will. So, we have free will and we can choose how we respond. The emphasis of this verse, however, is that generally the soul is affected by the circumstances the soul goes through.
So, if we expose ourselves to certain circumstances repeatedly, then we become habituated to those circumstances. And when you become habituated, then that habituation makes us makes us act according to, except the situation is normal, except that kind of action is normal, and then we act accordingly. So, for example, if some Indian goes to America, now Indians don’t know anything about baseball.
Now, it’s not a game that is played at all in India. But an Indian may go to America and then there, say, in the college, today studying in the college, everybody is mad about baseball. And the person gets exposed and then maybe the person starts getting infatuated, mad about baseball.
So, what happens? So, vayur gandhanivarsayat, that just as the wind in a particular place, goes to a particular place, acquires that fragrance. So, we acquire particular conceptions. Prabhupada writes conceptions of life over here.
We acquire conceptions of how we are going to enjoy. So, we are all shaped by our experiences. But we don’t have to be determined by our experiences.
We are, we can actually respond in different ways. So, that’s why this is not fatalistic. Yes, it’s not deterministic entirely.
Deterministic means, we are just, the determinism is a philosophical school of thought, which says that we are determined by external factors, or whatever factors, by certain factors determine us. But actually, the Bhagavad Gita’s understanding is not deterministic. And that we will see as it moves forward, in this chapter itself.
So, we are shaped by circumstances. And we should, that’s why, try to choose our circumstances as much as possible. Choose our circumstances.
That means, rather than hanging out with people who have undesirable traits, rather than going to circumstances, which drag out our lower self, we have to choose that association, and that social circle, that social environment, which brings out our higher side, not our lower side. So, but the soul is shaped. So, what is this verse emphasis is? So, it’s talking about expanding on the theme of Karshati.
The soul is Karshati. So, what is the Karshati, basically? The Karshati cycle of birth and death, which the soul goes through in the hope of material enjoyment. So, the body is avidya, it is filled with avidya, ignorance, but not just filled with ignorance, it is a trap of ignorance.
It not only covers us, but it traps us in its covering of ignorance. And then within that, the senses are pathways to destruction. They are pathways to destruction.
We accelerate when we go along the path of the senses, we go faster and faster to misery and the repetition of birth and death, and even to hellish situations. That’s how life is. So, here that same point is expanded.
So, the soul acquires, so why do I have a particular kind of body and you have a particular kind of body? Because in our past lives, we have chosen to develop a particular kind of conception and based on the kind of conception we have acquired, we have got a particular mindset and we have got a particular physical set also, a body also accordingly. That’s how the soul goes through. In other words, Ishwara is used to indicate the point that the soul can choose.
So, although Vaayur Gandhani Vashayat is there, it is true that the soul is exposed to certain circumstances. But Ishwara, we can direct the journey of our transmigration. Transmigration we will have to go through.
But where we will go, that choice we have. Ishwara. So, the soul gives up one body, takes up another body.
But what kind of body soul will take, that will depend on the kind of conceptions that the soul acquires and that is something which we can choose. So, we can decide how we are going to respond to our experiences. So, that is Ishwara.
Now, Prabhupada writes in the body that, we have, Prabhupada emphasises the point, the minute independence is there. The change his body undergoes depends upon him. So, what is the independence? Okay, we are going to change our body, but what kind of change will undergo, that will depend on us.
If you want a dog’s body, you will get a dog’s body. So, Prabhupada says, what is Karashati, that was mentioned in the previous verse, the process of transmigrating from one body to another and struggling while in the body, is called Karashati. So, Karashati is both.
Going from one body to another, at that time, death and the post-mortem journey and birth, both come in. And then while we are in the body also, there are the various kleshas that come along. So, this is describing the five senses, the ears, the eyes, the skin, the tongue, then the nose, the smelling power.
So, Adishtha means centred around, supervised by, situated around or situated in. Manaschayam. So, these are centred around the mind.
Chayam vishayan upasevate. So, what does the person do? The soul, acquiring the five senses, which are centred around the mind, the soul, vishayan, sense objects, upasevate. The soul, actually upasevate means to enjoy.
So, the upasevate actually contains the word seva. So, actually the soul serves the sense objects. The soul serves the sense objects.
So, actually, depending on the ivashe, depending on the conception of life that we have acquired, then accordingly we are given an ex-body. So, with that body, which is like, if there is a carpenter, and the carpenter is a toolkit. So, the toolkit is required, it contains all the tools to do the job, whatever the job of carpenter that is required.
The soul is just like a carpenter, and the soul is out to do the job of sense gratification. And the senses is a toolkit. So, the whole body is like a toolkit we have got.
But actually, this toolkit is such that it itself causes misery and the job that we do also causes further misery. The job of sense gratification gives a little pressure, but dukkha yo nayevate, there is suffering after that. And the toolkit itself, this body, it also grows old, it gets diseased, and it dies.
So, upasevate. So, actually, we are thinking that we are enjoying, but we are serving, we are enslaved by the spell of the senses. And that causes us suffering.
So, Prahlad Maharaj also talks about this in his prayers, in the 9th chapter of the 7th canto of Srimad Bhagavatam, he says that, bhavya sapatnya ivageha patim lunanti, that just as a person who has many wives is dragged by the different wives, come on, come with me, come with me, come with me, do this for me, do this for me, do this, get this for me, get this for me. So, like that, the soul is dragged by the various senses. And sometimes these senses are all attracted towards one sense object, but quite often, they are all attracted to different sense objects.
And then it becomes very difficult for the soul to survive in such a situation. Adhishthaya manashthayam vishayan upasevate. In this way, the soul tries to enjoy, but the soul gets bound.
So, just like there are five fingers just centred around the palm. So, like that, there are the five senses, they are centred around the mind. The inputs from all the senses comes to the mind.
Earlier, I had given the example of the virtual reality, the computer setup, the computer screen. So, the computer screen can have inputs, and the inputs can come from various senses. So, like that, the mind is like the computer screen, it is the mind is basically a computer, multimedia computer, which has a screen, which gives the output.
But the inputs are coming from various sources. So, from the, so right now, if I am sitting, right now, so I am speaking something. So, I am hearing the sound which I am speaking.
So, that is one input coming in. Along with that, there is another input that is coming in is the input of the, I am sitting on a particular chair say, so then how does the chair feel? That is, there is an input coming from there also. Then along with that, there is also an input coming from different sources like that.
Now, what are the different sources from which we get inputs like that? Many, many sources. So, those sources which give that input, they are all the sources that are integrated by the mind. Now, some of them come into the conscious mind and we perceive them just like when various senses are coming into the computer.
Now, all of them are going into the hard disc of the computer. Not all of them are necessarily displayed on the monitor. So, what is displayed on the monitor is like the conscious mind.
And what is going inside, that is all the subconscious mind. So, we are not conscious of those things. So, Sigmund Freud had the idea of subconscious mind.
Now, of course, that idea was there before also. But he pioneered its study in a systematic way. Of course, he was more of a creative thinker in the garb of a scientist.
And many of his theories were very speculative. And his ideas of the unconscious, Carl Jung also one of his proteges who eventually became a rival. So, he also had a lot of, he did a lot of study of subconscious, especially in terms of the patterns of behaviour that seem to be common among all people at the subconscious level.
So, anyway, the point is that what was talked about earlier that is being expanded over here. So, the mind along with the six senses calls Karshati. So, how? The mind brings in all the inputs, integrates them and presents it for display and displays it for action.
So, that is how it works. Now, when we talk about the various senses, what exactly is happening with respect to the various senses, all the senses are bringing in the input from the various sources and they are bringing it to the mind. So, now the mind chooses which input should I take, which input should I focus on and how should I respond, that is decided by the soul.
But the mind integrates and uses a composite picture. So, for now, right now I am sitting on a chair. You say right now you are sitting on a chair, maybe there is some music going on in the background, maybe somebody is talking in the background and maybe something is cooking in the kitchen.
So, you are having some fragrance coming of that also. So, we may be having some input coming from the nose, some coming from the ear, some coming from the skin, sitting on a chair, maybe the chair is not comfortable. So, like that all of the inputs are coming and then we integrate them and the mind integrates them.
So, then we choose to focus on a particular input and then we respond to it accordingly. So, now in the study of neurology, neurology is the study of the brain, brain cells are called neurones, therefore study of brain is called neurology. So, there is something which is called as a very intractable, intractable and unsolvable problem, that is called integration problem.
See integration problem means researchers have found that different areas of the brain correlate with different functions. So, for example, if I am raising my hand and bringing it down, there is the motor nervous system and then there is an area of the brain which controls that, say the parietal lobe or whatever, which controls that part of the brain, which controls that particular function. So, for example, now if a parrot flies in front of me, it goes right in front of my eyes, if the parrot goes in front of my eyes, then there are four inputs that are going into me.
First is, okay there is colour, oh it is green colour, it has a red beak, so colour input goes in. Second is that there is shape, okay it is shaped like a bird. Then third is say motion, it is moving.
And say fourth is maybe it is chirping also. So, the bird is chirping, so there is sound. So, then there is colour, there is shape, there is motion and there is sound.
Now, these four inputs go to four different parts of the brain. Why? Because the parts of the brain which correlate with hearing, which correlate with motion, which perceive motion, which perceive shape and what you call, they are different. And there is no one part of the brain that is connected with all other parts, where say integration can happen.
Because it is a very complex cell and complex structure, there are millions of neurones in the brain and it is not possible that one neurone is one neurone or one group of neurones is connected with everything else. So, that means all these inputs are going to different parts of the brain. But when I perceive it, it is not that I perceive it as discrete inputs, I get a composite picture.
It is not that, okay at one moment, okay a colour signal comes in, okay something green. Then after some time, oh something is shaped like a bird comes in, another signal comes in. No, we do not perceive colour and shape and motion and sound separately, it is synchronous.
If you want to understand what we mean by asynchronous, sometimes if we have done some homemade videos, some recording, say if the recording gadget is not very good, then the video and the audio are not synchronised properly. So, somebody is fighting and when the person is fighting, if the sound effects are not done properly, you know even before the fist goes and hits, boom, the sound comes and then it becomes a joke. So, what happens is if things are asynchronous, then that indicates the integration is not proper and that indicates that these are basically different inputs coming from different sources.
So, that integration is vital in our perception of things properly. So, who does the integration? From the point of neuroscience, it is an intractable problem, not just in practise, but in principle, because if different areas of the brain are concerned with different functions, then is there any one area of the brain which combines all functions. Now, in neurosurgery, different parts of the brains are also removed.
But it is not that removing one part of the brain completely makes everything else dysfunctional. Yes, certain parts are important and their removal can cause serious damage, even irreversible damage, even damage that can be completely incapacitating also. But the point is, it is not that one area of the brain is the centre where everything else is coming.
No, there are different centres for different purposes. So, that integration of the sensory inputs does not happen in the physical brain, it happens in the mind. The mind is the integrator.
So, all the signals that come in the brain, from the brain, they are routed through the subtle body and the subtle body integrates and presents it to the soul. So, just like say a cricket match is going on somewhere. So, the cricket match is going on, and then whatever inputs are there, there is motion, there is action, there is motion, there is sound, whatever, those inputs come into the TV screen from various sources, and they are integrated and they are displayed.
So, that integration is not happening on the cricket field. In the cricket field, inputs are taken, say when a cricketer hits a sixer. So, at that time, there is motion.
But along with that, there is motion, there is sound. So, in a video camera, we are perceiving the sound, perceiving the video, but then they may have some other cameras, which are up close. Sometimes, you know, there are some sort of cameras or sound sensors that are placed in the stumps itself, so that if the batsman has hit the ball and there is a nick, so then the keeper catches it.
So, whether there was actually a nick or not, to detect that, they may check the sound. Because from the visual point of view, the bat and the ball are so close to each other that you cannot make out whether the ball has got deflected or not. There might just be a slight touch and the ball may not get deflected.
So, at that time, how will they perceive? They have to have the sound. So, the point which I am making is sound and sight, they are different inputs, and their integration can happen at a different place. The action is happening at one place, the perception is also happening over, the reception of those sensory inputs happening, but afterwards, the integration happens elsewhere.
So, like that, the physical body along with the physical senses is in this physical world. The inputs come in from there, they go to the physical brain and from the brain, they are transferred to the mind. And in the mind, everything is integrated.
And then, after the integration, it is presented to the soul for display and response. So, that is adhishtaya manashyayam. It is all centred around the mind and then vishayan upasevate, the soul tries to enjoy accordingly.
Now, after this, Krishna describes that, Prabhupada writes, consciousness is originally pure like water. But if we mix water in a certain colour, it changes. Similarly, the soul is pure, but the soul changes according to the circumstances that it is exposed to.
So, Krishna will now introduce a very important concept in this next verse, we will just look at it briefly. We will talk about it in the next class also. So, utkramantam, Krishna is talking about the same theme, utkramantam is giving up, giving up the body, sitamvap is situated in the body.
Bhunjanam means enjoying, gunanvitam, under the spell of the moods. A foolish soul cannot see, but who can see? One who has the eyes of knowledge can see. So, Krishna is using the word jnana chakshu second time in the Bhagavad Gita.
First time he used it in 13 point, the last verse of 13 chapter, 13.35. So, one should use jnana chakshu, the eyes of knowledge, to see the difference between kshetra and kshetrajna. So, Krishna is simply using the word point over here, jnana chakshu, the eyes of knowledge. So, with the eyes of knowledge, what does one see? Actually, one sees that the soul is entangled in material existence and the soul is suffering.
Without the eyes of knowledge, one thinks, I am enjoying. A drunkard is thinking, I am drinking, but a sober person sees that this drunkard is shackled by an addiction and that addiction is making the drunkard run here and there, love to post, to somehow try to fulfil the addiction, addiction surges. So, like that, gunaanvitam, the soul is subordinate to the modes, gunaanvitam, controlled by the modes, impelled by the modes.
So, the soul is under the spell of the modes moving here and moving there, but vimudha na anupashyanti. The foolish person does not perceive this. The foolish person thinks, I am enjoying, I am enjoying, I am doing this, I am doing that, but actually, that is karpahamiti manyate is mudha.
So, what Krishna has told in 3.27, prakriti kriyamanani gunaih karmani sarvasah, ahamkar vimudhatma kartahamiti manyate. So, same word vimudha. There also the word vimudha was used in connection with the modes.
So, here also the word vimudha is used in connection with the modes, gunaanvitam, that one is actually coming in a particular body and trying to enjoy in that body, but all this is happening under the influence of the modes, gunaanvitam, but vimudha na anupashyanti. The foolish person cannot see. Who can see? Jnana chakshushaha.
The person who has the eyes of knowledge, that person can see. So, Prabhupada writes in the parpot. Now, it is an interesting statement.
He is suffering different kinds of happiness and distress under the illusion of sense enjoyment. So, it is interesting. Normally, we will say suffering different kinds of distress, but Prabhupada says suffering different kinds of happiness also.
So, how can one suffer happiness? So, actually that happiness is a part of the package. So, overall the package is the package of suffering and that package, within that package sometimes a little bit happiness also comes along and that happiness traps us, but overall what we get is suffering. So, we suffer happiness in the sense, for example, a person drinks alcohol.
So, there is a little happiness over there, but the overall product of it all is misery. So, one suffers happiness and one suffers miseries, one suffers distresses and it is all under the illusion of sense enjoyment, under the illusion and that illusion is something which we all can become free of and we become free by taking shelter of Krishna. So, how one acquires that jnana chakshu and what is the difference between those who can’t see and those who can see, that will be discussed in the next section, which we will