Bhakti Shastri (145) – Bhagavad Gita Chapter 18 Text 49 to 57

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Hare Krishna.
Hare Krishna. Welcome back to the Bhagavad Gita Bhakti Shastri course. We are now in the part of the Bhagavad Gita which will take us from Karma Yoga through Jnana Yoga to Bhakti.
So, in the previous class, we discussed about Varanashram and now we will move from how Varanashram, after practising Bhagavata Arpita Karma Yoga, that means doing Karma Yoga and Svakarmanatma Bhairaja, doing it for the pleasure of the Supreme Lord. One moves onwards to Bhakti. So, this is Krishna will talk about how one will move towards Bhakti through the process of Jnana.
So, let us look at this. So, 49 to 53 describe Jnana in brief and then 54 describes how Jnana leads to Bhakti and then 55 explains how pure Bhakti, Parabhakti takes us to Krishna. So, 18.49. So, that means asakta is attached or sakta is detached.
So, with detached intelligence. Sarvatra means all living beings. Chitatma is the soul who has conquered material existence.
Chitatma, it is having, sorry, not conquered material existence. Chitatma. So, here atma refers to the mind.
So, one who has conquered the mind. Vigataspruha. Vigataspruha is one who is detached, free from material desires.
Naishkarmya Siddhim Paramaham. By the practise of Naishkarmya, Siddhim Paramaham, the supreme destination, the perfection. Sanyasen Adigachyati.
How can, through Sanyas Adigachyati, one can attain. So, essentially Krishna is talking here about, he is talking about the detachment in three different ways. First is Asakta Buddhi, Chitatma and then Vigataspruha.
So, through all this, he is talking about a detachment. Then that is same for Sanyasena and Naishkarmya. So, till now, previously Krishna was talking about svakarma.
He was talking about svakarmana tamabhyarcha. By practise of one’s karma, worship the transcendental Lord. But here he takes us to another level where he talks about Naishkarmena.
Naishkarmena means, he says that one should not, one does not need to practise karma over here. One gives up karma. One acts without, one acts, one gives up action and lives with not just the spirit of renunciation while doing action, but actually one renounces action entirely.
So, this is also a valid path and that is talked about in the Bhagavad Gita at this level in 18.49. Asakta Buddhi Sarvatra. So, the idea is that Varanashram creates a platform for transcendence. Varanashram in and of itself is not always transcendental.
Varanashram, if it is done for the practise of, it is done for the purpose of satisfying Lord Vishnu as is mentioned in the Srimad Bhagavatam and in the Vishnu Purana and other places, especially the scriptures that focus on devotion. Therein it talks about how Atah Pumbir Dijisreshta Varanashram Vibhagashah Sunishthasya Dharmasya Samsiddhir Haritoshanam. The purpose of Varanashram is Haritoshanam, satisfaction of Lord Hari and similarly the purpose of Varanashram is Varanashram Acharvata Purushena Purahpaman Vishnur Aradhyate Pantha Na Anya Tattosh Karanam.
There is no other Karanam. Apart from that, apart from what? Purushena Parahpaman Vishnur Aradhyate. The Purusha, the Param Purusha who is Vishnu, apart from his worship, there is no other purpose of Varanashram.
So, that is, so that means if we consider it at three levels, there is Karma Yoga and practise is Karma Yoga. That is, if one does it for the satisfaction of Lord Vishnu, then that can lead one directly to devotional service. The alternative way is that one practises Karma Yoga, then one renounces the world, practises Gyan Yoga and after Gyan Yoga, the practise of Gyan Yoga, one will eventually come to the practise of Bhakti.
That is what we will be discussing now, hereafter. So, the practise of Varanashram is supportive to the practise of Bhakti. Varanashram itself is not Bhakti and Varanashram should never be used to beat down or suppress the principles of Bhakti.
Chaitanya Mahaprabhu makes it very clear when he subordinates the Varanashram identity to the Vaishnava identity. There is the famous verse which he would recite, especially when he was in front of Lord Jagannath in the Jagannath Rath Yatra. He says, So, he is dis-identifying himself, not mis-identifying, dis-identifying.
He says, no, no, I don’t identify myself with this. With what? With any Varana or any ashram, with anything associated with Varanashram. And he says, then who am I? That that Lord who is the master of the Gopis and servant of the servant of the servant.
So, here Lord Chaitanya rejects Varanashram for the sake, the Varanashram identity, for the sake of the Vaishnava identity. The Vaishnava identity, the servant of the servant, the servant of Krishna. So, Varanashram, we accept the social organisation of Varanashram, but not the philosophy of Varanashram.
What do we mean by the philosophy of Varanashram? The philosophy is that one progresses from a lower Varana towards a higher Varana, like I discussed earlier, from Shudra to Vaishya to Kshetriya to Brahmana and eventually to Moksha. That is the philosophy. So, that is when one is following the gradual path.
But if one practises Bhakti, then what leads to spiritual advancement is not the gradual elevation that happens to Varanashram. What leads to spiritual advancement is the potency of Bhakti itself. So, for that potency of Bhakti to work, what we primarily need is purification.
And that purification happens through, actually we do not need purification. The practise of Bhakti itself leads to purification. And what we need is the desire to serve Krishna, the association of devotees, wherein that desire to serve Krishna is stimulated within us.
And then anybody can become elevated. So, Krishna will talk about this elevating potency of Bhakti, wherein it can elevate anyone from any level in 18.57. So, right now, he is talking about the gradual process. The gradual process means one moves from the lower mode, lower yoga, from Karma Yoga to Gyan Yoga.
So, let us look at this. Now, the next verse will give Gyan Sadhana. Siddhim prapto yatha brahma.
Siddhim prapto. How one can attain perfection. Brahma.
Brahma is a generic name referring to the absolute truth. Pratha apnoti nibodhame. So, nibodhame.
Try to understand. Bodha means to understand. So, nibodha.
Apnoti. How that Brahma can be attained. Please understand from me.
In summary, I will tell it to you. Samasana in summary. So, Gyanasyaapara.
By the process of Gyana, one can gradually rise to the transcendental level. So, this is the three verses which talk about Gyan Sadhana. Krishna is giving a prelude in the previous two verses and in these verses, he starts talking about the actual process.
So, here Krishna is saying, So, one has intelligence but one purifies the intelligence. You know, we can have contaminated intelligence and we can have pure intelligence. Krishna has earlier talked about in 3.40 how even the buddhi is a residing place of lust.
So, in 3.40 he has said that lust is situated in three places. So, those three places are the senses, the mind and the intelligence. And yet Krishna is telling in the same section four verses later, in 3.43, three verses later, he says that, He says, therefore, with intelligence, know yourself to be transcendental and situate yourself on the transcendental platform and thereby conquer lust.
So, knowing oneself to be transcendental, what does this mean actually? It essentially means that the buddhi can be a residing place of lust and the buddhi can also be the tool for us to conquer lust. How does it work in two different ways? It depends on whether the buddhi is pure or the buddhi is impure. So, for example, when people want to have say some illicit affairs, say some extramarital affairs, then people often use a lot of intelligence to try to do everything secretly so that nobody detects that one can do things discreetly, privately, whatever.
So, now that also requires intelligence. Or if a person wants to say hmm enjoy in a way without some way, enjoy lust without being detected, that planning for that and executing that, that also requires intelligence. So, intelligence can be used, this is for fulfilling one’s lusty desires or intelligence can be used to recognise the futility of one’s lusty desires and to choose desires beyond those lusty desires.
So, that difference is that diversity, that choice is there for everyone, which way a person will go, down or up. And what determines which way a person will go will be one’s spirituality, will be one’s basic focus on spirituality or lack of that focus. So, if one understands through scripture that I am essentially spiritual and at a spiritual level where I can get real happiness, then one will not indulge in lust.
Otherwise, one will indulge in lust and then one will use one’s intelligence to indulge in lust or one will use one’s intelligence to go beyond lust. So, here if one wants to practise the practises of one wants spiritual elevation, it is required the intelligence has to become purified. So, what does it mean purifying the intelligence? Atmanam Niyamya.
One has to be controlled, self-controlled. How? Dhritya Atmanam. Dhritya is a determination.
Actually, if you want to achieve sense control, determination is important because without determination, it is not possible. It will just end up following the stray desires that keep coming in our mind and these three stray desires will end up making us miserable. So, therefore, Dhritya Atmanam is determination.
If I fall once, twice, thrice, four times, it doesn’t matter. I can always rise and I can eventually win. So, actually, Dhritya Atmanam Niyamya.
We have discussed briefly earlier how in our confrontation with our lower desires, we will go through four stages. There will be helpless failure, there will be struggle and failure, there will be struggle and success and there will be effortless success. That means, the struggle and helpless failure means, say, if a person comes initially to spiritual life, that person may feel that, you know, giving up this, no immunity, no intoxication.
So, all these things, better know Krishna conscious only, forget the whole thing. So, one thing is not possible only. So, that is helpless failure.
One feels I can’t do it only. But after that, there is a struggle and failure. One decides, no, I’m not going to get involved in this.
But still a person succumbs to it. Says no, but still succumbs. Says no, but succumbs.
Struggle and failure. And after that, there is struggle and success. One decides, makes resolutions and then again feels the pull of temptations and prays to Krishna, takes inspiration from scripture, takes guidance from devotees and fights and survives.
That is struggle and success. And eventually, there is effortless success. And effortless success comes when we actually become strong in our spiritual life.
And we become situated in the spiritual taste. Then there is no temptation only. Actually, one goes beyond the temptation.
It’s like a devotee having to practise in Krishna consciousness. Even if somebody offers meat to that devotee, the devotee is not attracted. You know, meat? No.
So, there’s no temptation only at all. So, that’s how we’ll go through these four stages. And sometimes we feel that I’m making no progress at all.
I’m just I’m feeling the same temptations again and again. No matter what I’m doing. Actually, am I making progress? Although I’m chanting, I’m doing so many things.
Still, I seem to be in the same situation month after month, year after year. What should I be doing? Actually, the fact is we are definitely making progress. Definitely.
Step one, step two, step three, we are making progress. But the essence of making progress is not just doing the things that we like to do. But the essence of making progress is to remember that every mantra that we are chanting, every act of devotional service that we are doing is internally nourishing us.
So, sometimes an elephant is small at that time. The baby elephant is shackled with a a terrible, it’s a strong shackle. And then the shackle is tied to a pole.
And then the elephant pulls and pulls and pulls. And what happens is the shackle just causes torment and pain for the elephant. And the elephant struggles like that.
And its leg starts bleeding because of pulling, pulling. And eventually it gives up. It knows every time I’m going to pull, all that I’m going to get is pain in my leg.
And therefore the elephant decides I will no longer pull. But as every day that it is eating, it is growing. And eventually when the elephant is taken out to the forest, it may be able to even shake and uproot trees and carry huge logs.
And it has grown up so much that actually it can just pull out the log, pull out the log to which it is tied to the chain. But when that same elephant which is so formidable in the forest is brought back and the shackle is put around it, so now I’m lost. Now I’m tired, I can’t do anything.
So the elephant stops trying only. Why? Because of the past failures and the past pain that was involved in the previous efforts, the elephant thinks now I can’t fight. If I fight, I will suffer.
So better I don’t fight only. And in that way the elephant decides, elephant decides, forget it. So that is unfortunate.
That is very unfortunate. To avoid this misfortune, what one needs to do is know that one is growing and becoming stronger. So in the past we may have tried to overcome our bad habits, our weaknesses against anarthas and we may have found that we just get into so much torment, so much trouble, so much suffering that we feel better I don’t get involved in this business only, just forget the whole thing.
There’s no fighting and whenever there is a temptation, I just indulge in it and then go on with my life. But that’s how we stay trapped. But every day we are chanting, we are nourishing ourselves spiritually, we are becoming bigger and bigger.
So initially say the anartha was this big and we were this small. Like a baby, we can be beaten by the anartha. But every day that we are chanting, what is happening is we are growing, growing, growing, growing, growing.
So eventually we become bigger than the anartha. We means our spiritual conviction, our spiritual strength, our state, our being situated in the spiritual state. So we eventually become bigger and stronger than the anartha.
But then when we confront the anartha, we still remember in the past when we had succumbed. And because we remember in the past when we had succumbed, so we again fall back to the same thing. But if we have been strong, then attack.
No matter how badly we are attacked, no matter how badly we are attacked, we can still stay strong and still protect ourselves from maya. So what we can do is, this confrontation is going to be there. But gradually we can win against the confrontation.
So the only way we will come to the level of effortless success is by going through the stages of struggle and failure and struggle and success. So maybe at one stage in our samatha, when I battled with anarthas, we were at the stage of effortless failure or hopeless failure. But we will come to this level also if we are ready to go through these two earlier levels.
So that’s why here what is required is dhrityatmanam, dhruti. Dhruti means determination is required. And then how is that expressed? Shabdadheen vishayam sthyaktvah.
So this is talking about a stage of pratyahara, where one shuts out all the sense objects. Shabda refers to sound. So sound is one of the sense objects.
This beautiful music, melodious sounds, pleasing voices, all this attracts us. So we shut it out. Shabdadheen vishayam sthyaktvah.
And then ragadhvesho vidhasya. Vidhasya means one stays free from raga and dvesha, putting it aside. And then vivikta sevila gvashi yathvakaya manasa.
So vivikta sevi. Vivikta sevi means one stays in a secluded place. So again there are three levels.
Either one can have materialistic association, one can stay away from materialistic association, or one can have devotee association. So Krishna has talked about devotee association in 10.9, when he said machitta madgata pranam bodhayanta parasparam kathayanta shyama mithyam dushyanticharam anticha. So he’s talked about how the devotees delight in the sangha of devotees.
But here he’s talking about something else now. Vivikta sevi lagvashi. So he is talking about the process of jnana.
In the process of jnana one does not necessarily delight in materialistic association. But one has not yet developed the taste for devotee association. So then one stays away.
Krishna has talked about this earlier also in the 13th chapter when he talked about the characteristics of one who is in jnana. Aratir jana samsadhi. Vivikta deshi.
Aratir jana samsadhi. One stays away from general people. So lagvashi.
Lagvashi means one eats minimum. Laghu means minimum or less. Ashi is to eat.
Lagvashi means to eat less. So actually when one eats more then one’s senses become strong and one gets tempted with all the other desires for enjoyment. So lagvashi doesn’t necessarily mean that one has to starve.
But one should eat. Basically in the process of jnana one tries to cut off one’s material engagements as much as possible. So by eating less one can keep the senses from becoming too strong because the body doesn’t have any extra energy for senses for sense gratification.
And thereby one can focus on higher spiritual purposes. Yatvakaya manasa. Yatvakaya manasa.
So again the three things. The three standard faculties. The body, the mind and the speech.
One brings them under control. Dhyana yoga paro nityam. Dhyana yoga.
One practises dhyana. One does dhyana. Yoga paro nityam.
So dhyana yoga together. This can refer to dhyana yoga also. Or it can refer to dhyana meditation.
So even in the path of dhyana one does meditation. It may not necessarily be exactly the same meditation that one does when practising dhyana. The path of dhyana yoga.
So dhyana yoga together can be one word or they can be two different words. So one does dhyana, practises yoga, paro nityam. Paro nityam.
So one wants to come to the transcendental platform and vairagyam samupashvatah. So Krishna is emphasising again. Like he talked about sannyasa in the previous verse.
Similarly vairagya is talking in this verse. This is, this whole process is centred on negation, on rejection. Krishna is not here talking about the positive connection which he will talk about in 18.54 onwards.
Here he is talking about disconnection from the material world. So ahamkaram balam darpam kamam krodham parigraham vimuchya nirmam ahashyanto brahmabhuyaya kalpate. So the whole end of all this is to come to brahmabhuyaya kalpate.
To come to the brahman level. And he is giving a list of the mentalities that can keep us away from the brahma platform. Ahamkaram balam darpam.
So all these are the mentalities that can keep us away from, from the spiritual platform. Arrogance, arrogance, balam darpam. Now bala, strength is not necessarily bad.
But one has overconfidence in one’s strength and one relies only on one’s strength and doesn’t take shelter of the highest strength of God, then that creates problem. Darpa, darpa is arrogance. Kamam krodham parigraham.
Kama krodha. We have discussed about despair of wanting to enjoy and when I can’t enjoy then I destroy everything. So that nobody else can also enjoy.
Parigraha. So Krishna has used the word aparigraha earlier, especially in the sixth chapter. So parigraha means possessiveness.
Aparigraha means giving up possessiveness. So here Krishna is talking about things which you should give up. Vimuchya.
So one gives up the possessive mentality. Nirmahmahashyanto. And so if you give out a sense of procreatorship, one becomes peaceful.
And then brahmabhuyaya kalpate. So we’ll see it’s quite a, quite might seem a formidable list of attributes to be acquired by which one can come to the spiritual platform. Brahmabhuyaya kalpate.
By this one will come to brahman platform. Once one comes to the brahman platform, one becomes peaceful over there. Brahmabhuyaya kalpate.
So the word that Krishna is using over here is significant, that where has the word brahmabhuyaya kalpate come earlier? It’s come earlier in 14.26, where Krishna has talked about, the thirteenth chapter was about the three modes. And then when he says, Arjuna asks towards the end of the fourteenth chapter, what is the means by which one can transcend the modes? And there, he describes in 14.21, the question comes up, how does one transcend? And there he tells bhakti yoga is the means to transcend. So one comes to brahmabhuyaya kalpate, one comes to the brahman platform by practising bhakti.
So by practising avyabhicari bhakti, one can come to the brahman platform. But that Krishna is not talking about over here. Krishna is not talking about how by steady practise of jnana, by disconnection with the material world, by staying equipoised towards everything material, one can come to the brahman platform.
So here that’s what Krishna is talking about. And Prabhupada quotes in the parpot, about how can one come to the brahman platform, he quotes the famous verse 2.73 from the Bhagavad Gita, apuryamanam chalapratishtham samudra-mapa-pravishanti-advaita-advaita-kamaya-pravishanti-sarve sushantim-apnoti-nakamakami, this is sushantim-apnoti-nakamakami, that by this one can attain, one can attain perfection. Nakamakami, that by letting just as desires flow into the water, ocean, but they don’t disturb a person.
Similarly, one can go beyond the disturbance of material things by practising, by becoming self-satisfied internally. So if one is internally like an ocean, then the flow of desires, which are like rivers coming inside, doesn’t disturb one. So by cultivating awareness of one’s spiritual identity, which can come through jnana or by cultivating the taste for spiritual devotional happiness that comes through bhakti, one can become internally like an ocean and then one will not be disturbed.
So Prabhupada is talking about, this is the way to become, to give up, give up kama. That’s what Krishna has talked about over here. So ahamkaram balam darpam, kamam krodham parigraham, so we give up kama-krodha and then one comes to the spiritual platform.
So brahma-bhuyaya kalpate, by tolerating material desires, one comes to the spiritual platform. Now, Krishna will talk about how after coming to the brahmanal platform, then one attains bhakti. This is a very important verse.
So brahma-bhuyaya was talked about in the previous verse. So there’s a continuation from there, brahma-bhuta. One is on the brahman platform, that is the spiritual platform.
So now the atma is sacchitananda. So when one comes to the brahman platform, one experiences inner peacefulness. One becomes free from hankering and lamentation.
When one is situated, equipoised in other things, mad-bhaktim labhate param, mad-bhaktim labhate, one attains my bhakti. For the impersonalists, this is a devastatingly irrefutable attack, this verse. For the mayavadis especially, who have the idea that bhakti is a tool to mukti.
So they have the idea that you visualise some, brahman is formless, but you can visualise some form for the brahman and worship that form. And by worshipping that form, you will attain transcendence. That is their idea.
And those who have this idea, practise some level, some kind of bhakti. Some kind of bhakti means that they also may externally do the rituals of bhakti, but their goal is once we come to the brahman platform, then there will be no need for the forms. We will go beyond the form to the formless.
But what Krishna is telling over here is, beyond the brahman platform is the platform of bhakti. So again, we can visualise this as a zero, positive axis and negative axis. So Krishna is telling over here, to come from, to use the process of jnana, to come from the negative axis to the zero point.
That means, that’s what Krishna has talked about in the previous verse, brahma bhuyaya kalpate. So give up everything, all material attachments and come to the zero platform. But once one has come to the zero platform, then Krishna is saying, what happens? The zero platform is the brahman platform over here.
After that, Krishna is saying, brahma bhuyaya kalpate, mad-bhaktam labhate param. He says, then one gets bhakti. So here, actually speaking, bhakti comes when one moves to the transcendental level, not necessarily when one is not yet at the transcendental level.
So bhakti is not just limited to the material platform. Bhakti is not just a tool for going from the material to the spiritual. Bhakti is characteristic of life at the spiritual level.
So actually speaking, there is very little scope for misinterpreting this verse in any way. Krishna has said, brahma bhuta. That’s very clear.
What is the platform of the person? Brahma bhuta. And prasannatma. Naturally, that person is relishing the joy of the atma, because once one is free from material illusions, then the satchitanandana nature of the atma can be experienced to some extent.
Prasannatma. So one is joyful and then, na shochati na kankshati. There’s no hankering, there’s no lamentation, which is also indicative of a platform that is beyond a platform within the modes.
Because even in goodness, there is some hankering and lamentation. There may be hankering for material things. But still there is hankering.
And then, samah sarveshu bhuteshu. Samah sarveshu bhuteshu. One sees all living beings equally.
This is also a platform of a person who has gone beyond the influence of the modes. So clearly, this verse is talking about a person who has transcended the material reality, transcended the material level of consciousness. And still it is saying, after that one attains bhakti.
What kind of bhakti? Param. Supreme bhakti, transcendental bhakti, pure bhakti. So mad-bhaktim labhate param.
So bhakti is not the, bhakti is not preliminary to jnan. Bhakti is the post-graduation after jnan. You know, preliminary to jnan means something which you do before the real thing.
Just like there are preliminary exams. The real exam comes afterward, before that you have some preliminary exams. So bhakti is not preliminary to jnan.
That’s what the Mayavadi idea is. But bhakti is the post-graduation after jnan, after one cultivates jnan. And the perfection is that one attains bhakti.
So now we will see, does it mean that actually to practise bhakti, one has to first go through jnan? Okay, bhakti will come, param bhakti will come after jnan. Then does it mean that one has to, before that practise bhakti, before that practise jnan or some other process? No, we will see that actually, Krishna will mention it just a few verses later, 18.56-57. So he will mention about whatever level one attains, one can take his shelter and move towards transcendence. So by this he will indicate that we can actually move from any level towards Krishna and that will help us to make spiritual advancement.
So na shochati na kankshati. So this is actually a characteristic of a person who is at the level of impersonal perfection. Energy person attains bhakti.
But Prabhupada often uses this verse to describe the joy of the spiritual level. So this can also, because even a bhakta is at the brahma-bhuta platform. Of course, a devotee’s understanding of what is brahma-bhuta is more developed, more mature than the understanding of a jnani.
A jnani’s idea is just to recognise that I am brahma-asmi. That is brahma-bhuta also. But a deeper understanding is also that I am a servant of Krishna.
Jeeva-rasu-rupa-hai Krishna-nitya-das. That is also brahma-bhuta platform. So even devotees will have these characteristics.
Devotee will also be sama sarveshu bhuteshu. Devotee will also be na shochati na kankshati. But overall, mad-bhaktim labhate param.
So that means this verse can be in the flow of the Gita, this verse refers to the transcendentalist who has transcended to the material level and then attains parabhakti. But in a generic sense, this verse can be used to characterise any transcendentalist, any mature transcendentalist and can be used to characterise bhaktas also. And even bhaktas will also be free from hankering and lamentation.
And Prabhupada writes in the Parbod, as there is no fear of a serpent with broken teeth, there is no fear on the senses when they are automatically controlled. So actually, Sri Prabhupada is paraphrasing a verse by Prabhudana Saraswati over, durdan tendriya kaal sarpa patali prothkhaat damshtrayate, that when the fangs of a snake are destroyed, then the snake doesn’t cause any danger. So like that, when the enjoying mentality is removed from the senses, then the senses pose no danger for the transcendentalist.
So at the Brahman level, when one is actually situated at the spiritual level, then one doesn’t experience the, there is no enjoying mentality left and therefore the senses are no longer a cause of trouble. Now Krishna will talk about what happens after one attains bhakti. bhagya mam abhijanati yavan yascha smi tattvataha tato mam tattvato jnatva vishyate tadanantaram So here he is telling, by bhakti one can know me as I am.
And when one knows me in that way, in truth, then one will attain the spiritual world. So let’s look at this verse a little bit more deeply. Each of the components bhagya mam abhijanati yavan yascha smi tattvataha In truth, I can be known through bhakti.
bhagya mam abhijanati There is no way to know me in truth except through bhakti. And when one somebody knows me in truth like this through bhakti, then that person attains the transcendental destination. So now Krishna has earlier talked about tattvataha in another very important place that is 4.9 So Krishna has said that one who knows me tattvataha, one who knows my birth and activities to be my appearance and activities to be divya, to be transcendental, what happens to such a person? janma karma cha me divyam evam yo vetti tattvataha tyaktva deham punar janma naiti mam eti so arjuna So tyaktva deham, when they give up the body, punar janma naiti, such a person will not take birth again, but in contrast will attain me.
mam eti so arjuna, such a person will come back to me. And when the person comes back to me, then there is no further, no further illusion, no further bondage, no further suffering. mam eti so arjuna So there Krishna has not told about the process by which one can know him in truth.
Although this next verse gives us a slight indication when he says, vitaragabhaya krodha manmaya mam upashyataha bhavo jnana-tapasah putamad bhavamagata So there he says, many people have come back to me thus. I have attained bhavo for me. I have attained love for me by manmaya mam upashyataha, by taking shelter of me, fixing their mind on me.
But here Krishna is elaborating that further, when can one fix the mind on him, when can he take shelter of him, when there is bhakti. So the way to know him, tattvataha, and the way to return back to him is bhaktya mam abhijanati. So abhijanati, to know him properly, and if that is not clear, yavan yas jasmi tattvataha, as I am actually.
So what was mentioned, so the tattvataha understanding as a result is mentioned in 4.9. In 18.54, the means to the tattvataha understanding, the central heart of the process by which we can know him, tattvataha, bhakti, that is emphasised. Now if you look at that further verse, what it says after that is, that person will come to me. Now he doesn’t say that that person will go into some impersonal merging.
He says, no, that person will come to me. And what does Krishna say over here? He says that, So when one understands me in truth like that, So this might seem a bit impersonalistic to some people. Vishyate means to enter into, and tadanantaram, thereafter.
So after knowing me in truth, the person vishyate, the person will enter. Now what does it refer to? Now most people may say, oh, that means that after knowing Krishna, one will enter into the brahman, brahmajyoti. So is that what Krishna is talking about over here, vishyate tadanantaram? Actually the word vishyate doesn’t necessarily have to have an impersonalistic meaning.
The vishyate can also have a personalistic meaning. You know the word vishyate can very well refer to how a bird enters into a tree. A green bird, when it enters into a green tree, it seems to have become one.
But although both are still there, they’re different. Although they do not seem to be different to the naked eye. So vishyate can also refer to a geographical territory into which one enters.
One enters into a city. So when one enters into a city, it’s not that one has become merged into the city. One has one’s entity, but then one has entered into a city.
A train enters into a city, a car enters into a city, a plane enters into a city’s area, like that. So the point here Krishna is making is the soul enters into the spiritual world. And what is the specific destination? If we correlate this with verse 4.9, it’s called mameti.
Person comes back to me. It’s not just some impersonal merging. Actually, the impersonal level of realisation has already come and gone in 18.54. That level of brahmabhoota and prasannasocitinakankshati samasarashivoham, that’s already mentioned.
And actually beyond that is the perfection of bhakti. And from bhakti, that parabhakti, when one comes to know Bhagawan, when one comes to know Bhagawan, then one goes beyond. That means one attains the spiritual world.
So tad anantaram. So vishyate tad anantaram. This doesn’t have to be necessarily taken impersonalistically.
So Prabhupada emphasises this point that one can know Krishna only through a proper knowledge. Surface acquaintance with the ocean is not sufficient. One must have complete knowledge of the aquatics living in the ocean’s depths.
So here Prabhupada is talking about the famous river-ocean metaphor. The Mayavadis use this metaphor to say that rivers enter into the ocean and become one with the ocean. Like that, the liberated soul enters into Brahman and becomes one with the Brahman.
But Rupa Goswami talks about this analogy in a different way. And he explains that actually, the river may merge into the ocean, but actually, if in the river, there are certain aquatics which are living. So if the river goes to the ocean, the aquatics may also go to the ocean.
But that does not mean that the aquatics become one with the ocean. The aquatics still have that distinct identity and they live with that distinct identity inside the ocean. So like that, the souls who are serving Krishna in this world, so here the river is like the river of love for Krishna.
So the river of love for Krishna takes them towards Krishna and then in the ocean of devotion to Krishna, those devotees, the devotees which are like aquatics in the ocean, they delight eternally. So there doesn’t have to be only one interpretation of this verse, of this metaphor of river-ocean. And it has to necessarily refer to merging.
No, it can also be referring to meeting, to living in a different reality where others still have everyone has their individual identity. And now after this, Krishna will talk about how one can practise bhakti from whatever level one is at. So one doesn’t have to practise bhakti from a materialistic level itself.
One doesn’t have to practise bhakti from the transcendental level alone. One can start from the material level and also can practise bhakti and rise to the transcendental level. So here let’s look at jnana yoga.
And also let’s look at what is happening in this chapter now. So till now, karma yoga offered to Krishna was 41 to 48. Then how jnana yoga leads to bhakti, jnana yoga leads to bhakti and leads to Krishna.
That was talked just now in 49 to 55. Now from 56 onwards, Krishna will talk about an entirely different subject. He’ll talk about bhakti-yuga itself.
So let’s look at this verse. Now that means Krishna is talking about a different subject now. Not a continuation of the earlier subject, a different subject.
So while doing different kinds of karma, while doing that, after taking shelter of me, by my mercy such a person obtains, what does such a person obtain? One attains the eternal destination. So Krishna, the important point in this verse is that with respect to the understanding the flow of the Gita, the vital point is that whatever karma a person might be doing, that doesn’t matter. Means earlier Krishna has talked about how one has to practise, one has to act according to one’s varnashrama duties and then come to the transcendental platform and then one will attain bhakti.
So bhakti is at once the summit of spirituality, but at the same time it is not only limited at the summit. Bhakti is a process to which one comes after going through different processes, after going through karma, jnana, then one comes to bhakti. But then bhakti doesn’t have to depend on karma and jnana.
Bhakti can independently also extend downwards and elevate a person from a very low level. Whatever be the karma that one is practising still, if a person takes shelter of me, and then what happens when a person takes shelter of me? By my prasad, by my mercy such a person, shashvatam padamauvayam, which a person will attain the eternal destination. So we will see over here, Krishna has started introducing math.
If you see before this in this chapter, before the 54th verse, Krishna has not talked about math, maam and math in this chapter, because he is focussing more on a summary of the Gita. He is talking about things from the perspective or from the level of the transcendentalist. Or the karma yogi doesn’t know about Krishna.
The jnana yogi doesn’t know about Krishna. Who knows about Krishna? It is the bhakti yogi who knows about Krishna. So when Krishna is talking about bhakti yogi, then he talks about maam clearly.
Yes, so Krishna is telling what such person to kurvano madhyapashrayah, person takes shelter of me and by taking shelter of me, mat prasadat avapnuti, by my mercy, such a person will attain. So the word prasad is very important. Prasad can mean purity, prasad can mean mercy.
Generally, we use the word prasad to refer to what we take with the tongue. Yes, that is true. That is prasad.
But actually prasad, the word prasad is not limited only to that. What it represents essentially is mercy. So if we get the mercy of Krishna, then by the mercy of Krishna, we become elevated, we become purified, we become liberated.
So here Krishna is talking about the potency of bhakti, which is actually involves the mercy potency of Krishna, by which one can get elevated from wherever one is. So from the lowest level, one can rise up to the highest level. And the eternal destination one attains and in this way one becomes purified and liberated.
So now in the next verses, Krishna will talk more about bhakti and the focus will become on the glory of bhakti more and more steady. So Prabhupada writes in the purport, a very encouraging purport, that in spite of all difficulties, he eventually flees in the transcendental abode. So in spite of all difficulties, difficulties will be there.
But there are no limitation. Ultimately devotee will transcend all difficulties and attain the spiritual level. Let us look at this further.
chitasa sarva-karmani Whatever karma one might be doing, if one does that karma properly, so if we are sarva-karmani, that is the same point, whatever doing karma might be doing, but with our consciousness, we offer ourselves to Krishna, make him the supreme goal of life. buddhi-yoga-mupashitya Krishna has used the word buddhi-yoga several times. We discussed this earlier also, that Krishna used the word buddhi-yoga in the 10th chapter.
He has used earlier in 2.39 also, and now he is using it again. And each of these uses, there is a progressively deeper understanding of the word buddhi-yoga. In 2.39, he is talking about how use buddhi to do yoga.
That means, use buddhi, the understanding of the difference between matter and spirit, to do yoga, to become situated in the platform, in a process that will connect one with transcendence. That was at 2.39. Then in 10.10, when Krishna talks about buddhi-yoga, then it is more about the buddhi, about how to do yoga, that is given by Krishna. So, the yoga that is given by Krishna is bhakti-yoga.
The buddhi that Krishna gives us is the intelligence to practise bhakti. And by both of these, one can move forward towards transcendence. So, here Krishna makes it very clear on the context, buddhi-yoga is actually bhakti-yoga.
So, buddhi-yoga is not a separate sadhana. The primary yogas are karma-yoga, dhyan-yoga, dhyan-yoga and bhakti-yoga. So, dhyan and ashtang yoga are the same.
And sometimes this is also referred to as hatha-yoga. Generally, hatha-yoga refers to the preliminary, the first stages of the process of ashtang yoga. So, yam, niyam, asan, pranayam, where the physical element is more emphasised, that is called as hatha-yoga.
So, that is also called as kundalini-yoga sometimes. So, basically there are four main yogas. Karma-yoga, dhyan-yoga, dhyan-yoga and bhakti-yoga.
Buddhi-yoga is not the fifth type of yoga. Buddhi-yoga is simply referring to the yoga that involves the use of buddhi. And what that will refer to, we will have to look at the context to understand that.
From this context, it’s clear, madhya-pashrayah, that Krishna is telling, actually, take shelter of Me. So, when we look at the context of taking shelter of Krishna, it’s very clear that this is referring to bhakti. And in machittah, it’s very common, always be conscious of Me in this way.
So, here Krishna is slowly but surely taking us towards bhakti-yoga. And focus on bhakti-yoga will become even more clear in the future verses.