Bhakti Shastri (142) – Bhagavad Gita Chapter 18 Text 29 to 35

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Thank you Hare Krishna Welcome back to the Bhagavad Gita Bhakti Shastri course we are now in the 18th chapter of the Bhagavad Gita, let’s look at what is happening in this chapter after that over we will go into the verses so here we are discussing the section on the Jnana of the Karma Yogi, how the Karma Yogi can situate oneself in detachment without detachment while doing action by understanding the three modes of material nature with respect to their correlation with the various elements of action so in the Jnana Karma Chakarta that was what was mentioned in verse 19 and that is what is discussed in the subsequent 9 verses 20 to 28 talk about first Jnana then Karma and then Karta now 29th verse will be another transition verse where the further elements of action will be mentioned and those elements will be analysed in the subsequent verses that is 30 onwards till 39 so there will be analysis of Buddhi, Dhriti and Sukha so let’s look at these verses so 18.29 so Buddhir, Bhedam, Dhriti so Bheda means to differentiation analysis, categorization so Bhedam Gunatastra Vidham in terms of three modes the Bheda of what? Buddhi and Dhriti Shrunu, Arjuna please hear Rochamanam, Asheshenam so I am going to speak it to you in detail so the Asheshenam can mean in one sense it means that with nothing left exhaustively Asheshenam can also mean in detail so Pruthattvena Dhananjaya in terms of the difference so basically Krishna is saying now I will describe Buddhi and Dhriti so there will be another transition verse where he will talk about Sukha we will come to that Sukha when we he will mark it in the 36th verse so now why specifically Buddhi and Dhriti are being singled out for discussion earlier Krishna has been talking about action in different terms so first he talked about in terms of Jnana, Karma and Karta these are the elements of action with respect to what all we perceive in the world when we are to act first of all we perceive what is happening in the world after we perceive what is happening in the world then we try we decide how we want to act that is Karma and then while we are doing a particular action then there is the person who is doing the action, that person is affected by the modes in different ways now apart from that when we are acting then there is Buddhi and Dhriti which is also involved Buddhi is more in terms of translated as intelligence the difference between knowledge and intelligence as Prabhupada explains in the 10th chapter Pappad as well as in his other references in his other talks that intelligence, knowledge is often theoretical whereas intelligence means to see things in their proper perspective intelligence means to see things in their proper perspective that means when I am supposed to act, how should I act what should I do, what should I not do and we will see that differentiation will compare Gyana and Buddhi and we will understand that Gyana is more in terms of perception Buddhi is more in terms of action and then there is Dhriti Dhriti means determination, so once I understand this is how I should be acting then I not only should have the intelligence to be able to perceive how I should be acting but afterwards I have to have the consistency the persistence so without that we will not be able to go on, so for successful action in this world we need both determination and we need intelligence and determination, so let us look at both of these intelligence and determination so first is intelligence intelligence Krishna will talk about the intelligence in the three modes from the next verse onwards Pravrttimcha Nivrttimcha Karyakarye Bhaya Bhaye Bandham Moksham Jaya Veti Buddhi Sapaartha Sattviki so Pravrttimcha Nivrttimcha, that there is Pravrtti and there is Nivrtti that means there are actions to be done and there are actions not to be done, actions to be avoided, this Pravrtti and Nivrtti has been talked about several times in the 16th chapter also Krishna talks about Pravrttimcha Nivrttimcha Janana Vidura Asura so there in 16.7 he mentions that those who are demoniac they don’t know what is to be done and what is not to be done so Pravrttimcha Nivrttimcha Karyakarye Bhaya Bhaye Karyakarya so Pravrtti and Nivrtti is more in terms of inclinations Karyakarya is more in terms of actions that means these are things specifically I should do, I should not do and Pravrtti, Nivrtti are more in terms of generic inclinations Karyakarya is more specific and Bhaya Bhaye now Bhaya Abhaya that means what should be feared and what should not be feared Bandham Moksham Jaya Vetti Buddhi Sapaartha Sattviki one understands what is the cause of bondage and what is the cause of liberation so here interestingly Krishnaji used the word Bhaya Abhaya that which is to be feared and that which is not to be feared that which causes now in one sense what does it mean that is to be feared and that is not to be feared actually there is healthy fear and there is unnecessary fear so healthy fear means a child has to have some fear of say fire or knife or live electric wire if the child doesn’t have that fear then the child may wound himself or herself so if that is to be avoided a healthy fear has to be cultivated on the other hand we may have fear of certain things and that fear may be undesirable a child when it is growing may have fear about going to school no but that is a part of growing up that a person has to learn to go ahead and a person when he starts going to college has to go and stay away from the parents that also there is fear but as a part of normal growing up that fear is to be overcome similarly some people may have fear about practicing spiritual life I don’t know what is out there in spiritual reality there are so many people, so many paths so one has to use one’s intelligence understand what is the right thing but eventually one has to take a leap of faith so being unduly fearful or being unduly reckless both are undesirable why? because one needs to be fearful about certain things so if one is fearless where one should be fearful and one is fearful where one should be fearless then one will lose out on opportunities for growth in life for example as it is said fools rush in where angels fear to tread what does that mean? that means there are certain things where angels also angels means people who are very saintly, who are wise who are close to God those people also fear to go because they know it is a dangerous place so fools rush in where angels fear to tread so for example sinful activities people who are of a godly disposition they understand getting involved in these activities can be so complex, entangling that it can destroy a person completely so one should not get into these activities so fools rush in where angels fear to tread but people think that it is a very enjoyable activity and they rush into those activities and that that sort of rushing into sinful activities that may seem to be like in the movies where there are scenes where the protagonist the hero, heroine is scantily dressed then they call it as bold scenes that is not boldness that is blindness why is it blindness? because one is blind to the purpose of life one is blind to the value of life and therefore one doesn’t understand what are the consequences of whatever one is doing bandham moksham chayaveti as this last verse says discrimination means to understand this particular action may feel good but what is its long term consequence going to be if that long term consequence is going to be counterproductive then my getting involved in this activity is undesirable I shouldn’t get involved in this activity so bandham moksham chayaveti so in this way Krishna talks of pravrtti nivritti then karya karya bhaya bhaya and bandham moksham so when one understands the difference properly that is buddhi in the mode of goodness buddhi sa par sattviki now to a large extent the sattviki buddhi comes by study of scripture not just study of scripture in terms of theoretical study but study in terms of transformational study that means we study the scripture in the association of devotees.