Four empowerments from hearing

Jai Jai Jai Jai Bhagavad Gita 13.26 so in this verse in the Bhagavad Gita this comes in the 13th chapter called nature the enjoyer and consciousness this chapter deals with the Purusha and Prakriti the concepts of the enjoyer and material nature so in this chapter Krishna has talked about I'll give a quick overview of this chapter this is one of the most technical chapters in the Bhagavad Gita so this chapter starts with Arjuna asking six questions Prakriti Purusham Jaiva Kshetra Kshetra Jaiva Jai Eta Dvedi Tum Ikshami Jnanam Jai Yam Punam Kak BET reccap a shava so he asks Arjuna Krishna err six things what is Purusha and Prakriti what is Kshitra and Kshetra Gigha what is Jnanam and jaya So Arjuna's question is answered systematically by Krishna so verses 2 to 7 talk about Kshetra and Kshetra Gaya then verses 8 to 12 talk about Gyaan and verses 13 to 18 talk about Gyaan. So, Kshetra and Kshetragya, I'm not going to go into the technicalities of all these words, but basically Kshetra is matter or field and Kshetragya is consciousness, the Atma and the Paramatma.

Gyaan is knowledge which is talked from verses 8 to 12 and then verses 13 to 18 talk about Gyaan which is the object of knowledge. So, then after that from verses 19 to verses 23, Krishna talks about Purusha and Prakriti. And then after talking about this, so by this point Krishna has answered the questions of Arjuna.

Now, after that Krishna tells, okay, all this knowledge is theoretical. What is the way to realise this knowledge? And then verses 25 and 26 give the various processes for realising it. So, verse 25 talks about, in one verse it talks about Gyaan Yoga, Karma Yoga and Dhyan Yoga.

Dhyanenaatmanipashyanti kechidhaatmanamaatmana Anyesankhena yogena karma yogena chaapare So, Krishna talks about these three processes and he says some people do this, some people do this and some people do this. And then he devotes one full verse to recommend the process of hearing. So, that is this verse 13.26 which we are discussing now.

Anyeto evamajanantah shuddhvannebhyopasate Thepichatitarandevam rtyum shuddhiparayanah So, Anyeto evamajanantah, there are those people who do not know about all these things. Ajanantah is one who doesn't know. Anyeto evamajanantah, they don't know but shuddhvannebhyopasate They hear from others.

So, here the word Anya comes two times but it refers to two different people. First Anya is the other seekers. Seekers apart from those who are Karma Yogis, Gyaana Yogis and Dhyana Yogis.

Some other seekers and they hear from others. So, the second Anya is referring to the others who are the enlightened people. These are the advanced devotees.

These are the realised spiritual masters, the bhaktas who are mahabhagvatas. So, from them when they hear Anyeto evamajanantah shuddhvannebhyopasate and after hearing what do they do? Upasate. They start worshipping.

Whom do they worship? In the section prior to this section from verses 19 to 23, Krishna has talked about Prakriti and Purusha and while talking about that he has talked about the Paramatma in 13.23. Upadrashtanumantachabhartabhoktamaheshwara paramatmetichapyoktodehesminpurushapara. So, he's talking about the Paramatma there and the Paramatma is the overseer and the permitter, the transcendental enjoyer situated within the body. So, Krishna is Upasate.

They worship. Whom do they worship? In the 13.26 section they worship the Supersoul and tepichatitarantyeva and what is the result of such worship? Atitarantyeva. So, Taranti means to cross over, to go over.

Krishna has used the word Taranti several times in the Bhagavad Gita. He uses it most famously in the 7.14 verse when he says, the famous verse on surrender. So, if those who surrender to me, they will go beyond Maya.

They will just float over and go beyond Maya, Krishna says. So, how to surrender? That is indicated in this verse by the use of the common word Taranti. Atitarantyeva.

What will they go beyond? Mrityun. They will go beyond the cycle of birth and death. And how will this happen? Is it just by hearing? Krishna uses a very beautiful adjective over here.

Shruti Parayanaha. Parayan means those who is dedicated to, devoted to, completely lost in. Shruti is hearing.

So, those who are devoted to hearing. Shruti Parayanaha. So, those who are devoted to hearing will go beyond the cycle of birth and death.

So, the word Parayanaha is often used. Narayana Parayanaha is used in the Bhagavatam to describe Chitraketu Maharaj, Lord Shiva uses. Narayana Parasarve.

So, Parayanaha, those who are devoted to Narayana. In contrast with that, the Bhagavad Gita talks about the demoniac people in the 16th chapter. And in the verses 16.11 to 15, when he describes the demoniac people, he says, Kamakrodh Parayanaha.

So, there are people who are devoted to lust and greed. We often see materialistic people. They are ready to go to extraordinary and extreme efforts to fulfil their desires which derive from lust and greed.

So, that means we can visualise two extremes. You can say two walls are there. One wall is the wall of materialism and the other wall is the wall of pure devotion.

And so, those who are materialistic, they are Kamakrodh Parayanaha. Those who are pure devotees, they are Narayana Parayanaha. Now, we are somewhere in between.

So, how do we go from Kamakrodh Parayanaha to Narayana Parayanaha? That is by becoming Shruti Parayanaha, by becoming devoted to hearing. In the Bhakti Rasa Amrit Sindhu, while describing the various processes of various stages in Bhakti, there are nine stages. So, it is described there that the sixth and seventh stages.

So, it begins with, I won't go into all the stages. Most of you probably know about it. Shraddha, Sadhu, Sangha, Bhajana, Kriya, Anartha, Nivritti, Nishtha.

These are the fifth stages. And sixth and seventh is Ruchi, Asakti, Bhava and Prema. So, Ruchi refers to taste and Asakti refers to attachment.

So, it is described that at the stage of Ruchi, one is attracted to the process of Bhakti. And at the stage of Asakti, one becomes attracted to the object of Bhakti. Now, what is the difference between the process of Bhakti and the object of Bhakti? The process of Bhakti means that, say, you know, when there is Harinam Sankirtan, we like to dance and sing.

Now, we just like to, we see people like to dance and sing. And even materialistic people, if they see a devotee is cheerfully dancing and singing, they may also join in for a dance. So, this dancing and singing, there are many times people are not even aware whom they are talking about, what they are singing or dancing.

But they just enjoy it. So, of course, these materialistic people are definitely not at the level of Ruchi. But this is an example to illustrate that in the first we develop attachment to the process of Bhakti.

Now, we just feel like doing it. Oh, this is nice. I want to do it.

And then after that, there is Asakti, attachment to the object of Bhakti, that is Krishna. So, we cannot suddenly wake up one morning and find, oh, I have become a pure devotee. I have developed love for Krishna.

That's not going to happen. There is a redirection of our heart which has to be done and that has to be done gradually. It will take sustained steady effort for a prolonged period of time.

In Kapila's teachings, Lord Kapiladeva in the third canto of Srimad Bhagavatam tells Mother Devotee that it takes a good amount of time. But in the intermediate period, we can develop attachment to the process of Bhakti. So, that means if we can develop attraction for hearing.

By hearing, I learn so much. I get so much understanding of the philosophy. I learn new things and I can make sense of what is happening in my life.

I learn better how to study and understand the scriptures. And I become, I learn how to improve myself. So, even if we are not really thinking about Krishna directly, still, if we keep practising devotional service, then by the practise of devotional service, we will develop attachment to the process of Bhakti.

And after that, there will be attachment to Krishna himself. Of course, that doesn't mean that now we don't have any attraction to Krishna. We certainly may be having some attraction to Krishna.

That's why we are practising devotional service. But relatively speaking, as a matter of disciplined cultivation, how do we quantify our attraction to Krishna? We can't quantify. How will I quantify? Now I have this much attraction for Krishna or I don't have this much attraction for Krishna.

But we can, to some extent, not exactly quantify, but we can, to some extent, see how much we are attached to the processes of Bhakti. How much do I like to chant? How much do I like to hear? How much do I like to read? And this will enable us also to slowly but surely increase our attraction to Krishna. So Shruti Parayanaha.

So the way to move from Kama Krodha Parayanaha to Narayana Parayanaha is by becoming Shruti Parayanaha. So that's why Shri Prabhupada also… I give regular talks on sacred occasions. So, for example, Dussehra is there.

So a few minutes to talk about Dussehra. So recently Prabhupada Sanyasa was there and Prabhupada's arrival in America was there. So I give 5-5 minute talks which are there on my website as well as Inscorn Desire Tree as videos.

So there I was explaining that, you know, when a warrior goes out on a big war and if especially the warrior is under-equipped at that time, then and if the warrior pulls off a surprising victory, then everybody wants to know what was the strategy by which you won the war. So Shri Prabhupada, when he went to preach to America, it was the unlikeliest of victories. He was an old man.

He had no knowledge of going outside India before. He had not met any Americans, especially the kind of people who would be receptive to his message. And he had no contacts, no followers, no money, no institutional support.

It's like a one warrior going out against entire army. So in the biblical literature, there is a story of David and Goliath. So Goliath was a giant and David was a small boy.

And by the power of God, David was able to kill Goliath. Although Goliath had been invincible previously and had killed formidable warriors before that. So Shri Prabhupada was like that David, single person.

Of course, Shri Prabhupada was a Mahabhagavata and this is just a simple example to illustrate. The point is that there is such unlikely thing. It's unlikely that Shri Prabhupada would have been successful.

So what was his battle strategy? So now we can look at his battle strategy by looking at his writings during those times. Shri Prabhupada wrote a poem called Markine Bhagavad Dharma. And in that poem Markine Bhagavad Dharma, what did he do? He expresses his heart and he is telling Lord Krishna.

Now he is a one alone person. Most people think, you know, where will I get a place to stay? Will I get food, clothing, shelter, food, clothing or not? But Shri Prabhupada was praying to become an instrument of Krishna. Shri Prabhupada was praying that make me dance.

But what was the dance that Shri Prabhupada wanted Krishna to make him do? That dance was the dance of sharing the process of hearing. There also Prabhupada says that all these people are covered by the modes of passion and ignorance. They are all covered by modes of passion and ignorance.

And what is the way that they will become purified? That is by Bhagvatera Katha Sayi Tava Avataar Dheerahaya Shunay Jati Kaane Bar Bar So Bhagvatera Katha Sayi Tava Avataar That actually the pastimes of the Lord are your incarnation. And if somebody hears them regularly, Dheerahaya Shunay Jati Kaane Bar Bar If somebody hears it regularly, that person will become sober. And that's what Shri Prabhupada did.

Shri Prabhupada chanted Hare Krishna. Shri Prabhupada spoke Krishna Katha and he wrote his books through which we can all hear Krishna Katha. And he gave us the several generations of followers who can keep speaking Krishna Katha and we can keep discussing and hearing Krishna Katha.

And so that was his strategy which he spoke right at the beginning. Now in Vedic scriptures there are many instructions because Vedic scriptures are multi-level. So how do we know what is the essential message of a book? So there is Tathparya Linga.

This is a hermeneutical device for understanding what is the meaning of a book. So in that it is said if you want to know what is the essential meaning of a book look at its beginning and its end. Upakrama Upasamhara.

Upakrama is beginning. Upasamhara is at the end. So then whatever is told in the beginning, whatever is told in the end, these two things are most important.

Just like when a speaker is speaking, a speaker will give an introduction of what the topic is going to speak. And maybe at the end there will be a summary. So if we look at the beginning and the end, we get a general idea of what the speaker's message, the book's message is.

So like that, we see Srila Prabhupada when he was going to America, at that time he said, hear and chant. And by hearing and chanting, people will become purified. And what were the last instructions? And among the last purports that he wrote, the last purport that Srila Prabhupada wrote was for the 13th chapter of the 10th canto of Srimad Bhagavatam.

He did not write. He dictated. And he had practically no energy.

But among the last words that Srila Prabhupada spoke is that stay in association, hear in association. By hearing in association, you will stay protected from the modes of passion and ignorance and you will make spiritual advancement and go back to Krishna. So the same message that there are modes of passion and ignorance, they are covering us.

And by hearing, we will become purified and elevated and eventually liberated. That is the same message that Srila Prabhupada gave at the beginning as revealed in Markandeya Bhagavat Dharma. And that's what he gave towards the end.

So by regular hearing, we realign our priorities. So I would like to talk about hearing and its benefits in four specific terms. Information, realisation, conviction and satisfaction.

So information, what happens when we hear? We learn a lot of new things. We learn facts and figures. We learn data.

We learn verses. We learn about new people. We learn so many new things.

It's like a whole new universe opening. Maybe for those who are born in India, it might be familiar. But still the extent of the detail and the extent of the artistry and the sweetness, that is often a revelation.

So information. But this is only the first and a very preliminary of the benefits of hearing. And if we restrict our understanding of the benefits of hearing to only information, then after some time, we'll get bored and we'll start thinking.

Oh, the books say the same thing. The classes say the same thing. I know it all.

So then that's why information, we should not just stay caught up at that level. The scriptures, they contain abundant new information, but that is not their only purpose. No, we want after that is realisation.

So what exactly is realisation? I've given a full class on this. Basically, I'll tell in brief over here. Realisation means when we accept that which is a reality to be a reality.

Realisation means when we accept that which is a reality to be a reality. So, for example, sense gratification leads to misery. So this is a reality.

But when we accept it as a reality, then it becomes a realisation. So how does realisation take place? Again, this is technical. I'll make it very simple and brief right now.

So most of you probably know about the three ways in which we acquire knowledge. Pratyaksha, Anuman and Shabda. So Pratyaksha is sensory perception.

Anuman is mental speculation. And Shabda is a scriptural revelation. So that is perception, speculation and revelation.

Pratyaksha, Anuman and Shabda. Now Krishna tells in 9.2 in the Bhagavad Gita that the knowledge which he is giving is Pratyaksha Vagamam. Rajya Vidya Rajya Guhiyam Pavitra Mitham Uttamam.

Pratyaksha Vagamam Dharmiam Susukham Kartum Avayam. So Pratyaksha Vagamam Dharmiam. So he says this is directly realisable.

So it's not Pratyaksha, but Pratyaksha Vagamam. He says we can all realise it. We can experience it to be reality.

We can perceive it. So realisation means that that which is a reality, we accept it to be a reality. How does that happen? How do we accept it to be a reality? By harmonising, by using our Anuman to harmonise our Pratyaksha with Shabda.

This may seem a little technical, but the concept is simple. Realisation comes when we use our Anuman to harmonise our Pratyaksha with Shabda. Anuman basically refers to our thinking process.

So harmonise our Pratyaksha with Shabda. Pratyaksha means what we experience in this world. Shabda is what we have heard from scripture.

So let's look at the example of Narada Muni in his earlier life. When he was a Narada boy, it's talked about in the first canto of Srimad Bhagavatam, chapters 4, 5, 6. So in chapter 5, Narada Muni tells his disciple Vyasadeva how I came to Krishna consciousness. Of course, he doesn't use the word Krishna consciousness over there.

But how I came to, how he became a devotee. And there, what does he say? He tells about how he was a maidservant's child in a previous life. And then he and his mother, they served some Bhakta Vedanta, some great devotees who had come there, heard from them, took their remnants.

And then eventually, after Jaturma's period ended, they departed. And then his mother got a snake bite and she died. Now try to visualise the situation.

A five-year-old boy doesn't have a father. And mother is the only relative and no one else is there. And the mother dies.

Most people would be overwhelmed and devastated by this. A child like this would be taken to the orphanage or foster care or something like that. And most often such children will either be overwhelmed by fright or they will become angry.

Angry at fate, angry at God. And neither of these happened to him. How is it? What did Narada Muni do? Narada boy basically.

Bhagavatam describes that he immediately decided to go towards the north. And he realised that this had been an arrangement by the Lord to free him so that he could focus on pure devotion, on cultivating devotional service. So for him, he saw that if his mother had been there, he and his mother, both of them would have lived together.

And they would have done some level of bhakti. But when he was all alone, now he did not have to worry about his mother. So what happened for him, what could have been seen as rejection and loneliness was seen as an opportunity, as a freedom, as a God-send arrangement so that he could focus on doing sadhana bhakti.

So here what do we see? That the prataksha was that, the prataksha experiences that his mother has died and he is all alone in the world. But the shabda, he had heard from shabda. What had he heard from shabda? That Krishna loves all of us and Krishna is our eternal relative.

He is always with us even when everybody else leaves. Krishna is closer and the closest to us. Krishna always loves us and nothing can ever stop him from loving us.

So he had heard all this. But the critical thing that he did was that he harmonised his prataksha with his shabda. The prataksha was, my mother loved me and my mother has died.

Who will love me now? Who will take care of me? This could have been his reaction to that. And that would have been his anuman. But instead of doing that kind of response, what was the response? Oh yes, the love that my mother gave me, that is true.

But as Dhruva Maharaj's mother Sunithi tells Dhruva in the 4th canto, in the 7th, 8th, 9th chapters, he says that whatever love I can offer you, Lord Vishnu can offer you more love than what millions of mothers like me can offer. So here what does she do? She says that, yes, the love you got, he doesn't say that the love I offered you is false. And she says, no, but the love that I can offer you is temporary.

And the perfection of the love that I can offer you is that I connect you with the supreme love of Lord Narayan, of Lord Vishnu. And so, of course, Narada did not have his mother to tell him all this. But he had heard from the Bhaktivedanta.

So that was the shabda which he had got. And the prataksha was that now he had lost the worldly love. So what did he do? He turned his heart toward the supreme Lord.

So that is realisation. So realisation means when we use our anuman. Anuman doesn't necessarily mean speculation.

Anuman basically means using our mental faculty, using our thinking faculty. So generally the word anuman is used in a negative sense. Anuman is undesirable.

It is speculative. But when anuman is done according to shastra, then it is called as vichar. It is called as contemplation.

And that is very desirable. So in fact, when we do shravan, hearing, at that time the knowledge just goes into our ears. But then after that, when we contemplate on it, that is called as manan.

And then that goes deep inside our head. And then when we apply it, then that enters into our heart. That is called as nidhidhyasana.

So nidhidhyasana is the knowledge enters into our heart. At that time it becomes a realisation. So what happened to Narada boy? He did serious sadhana and then the Lord personally appeared in front of him.

And then all his senses became enlivened and he felt more ecstatic than he had ever felt before in his life. And he realised that this is the perfection of my life. And that's how he got realisation directly, prateksha vagamam of Krishna's love for him.

So for us, we are talking right now about the process of hearing. How will we get realisation? The prateksha is going to constantly come. We are going to see the world.

The world has its promises. Oh eat this, you will enjoy. Do this, you will enjoy.

Drive this, fly in this, wear this. So prateksha is making us so many promises of worldly enjoyment. Apart from shabda, we hear that real happiness comes at the spiritual level.

So when we do harmonisation of our prateksha with shabda, what is that harmonisation? Yes, the pleasures that the world are promising, there may be a little pleasure, but it's all temporary. It's just like a drop. Whereas if I purify myself and come to the spiritual level, that happiness will be eternal, everlasting.

In fact, not just everlasting, but ever increasing. Anandambudhi, an ocean of happiness that keeps increasing forever. So here, the point that is being made is that how do we get realisation? We have to keep hearing regularly.

So when we keep hearing regularly, because we need spiritual exposure for ourselves, material exposure as it is going to come. Prateksha is always coming anyway. So we can't close our eyes and live in this world.

So we are going to get exposed to the world. And if we only expose ourselves to prateksha, then we won't get any deeper understanding just by prateksha. Why? Because there is no reference point for going deeper.

We often say that the body is the source of misery. Asanapi kleshada asadeha. Rishabhdev Maharaj, in his instructions to Bharat and his other sons, 99 sons, in the 5th canto, 5th chapter of the Shrimad Bhagavatam, says that this body is a kleshada.

It gives misery. Now, if we talk with doctors, doctors tell all the different kinds of diseases that can be there. And they see diseases, they see suffering.

And they see death every day. But does that necessarily make them detached? Does that make them search for spiritual truth? Not often. They think, yes, these people are suffering, but through this I will learn.

And through that, some of them may have desire to mitigate the suffering of others. But that doesn't necessarily, just seeing the daily suffering, doesn't necessarily make them realised about the miserable nature of material existence. And that doesn't become an impetus for searching for spiritual happiness.

Why? Because there is no hearing of shabda for them. So, just by praptaksha, it's not easy to always get realisation. You know, Buddha, when he was Gautama, when he was the prince, at that time he saw an old person, he saw a deceased person, he saw a corpse.

And he realised, what is this? These are the sufferings of life. What is the point of living in such a world when this kind of terrible, devastating misery may come upon me any moment? So, he got that realisation. But how many of us can get that kind of realisation just by seeing? It's very difficult.

That's why we have to hear, to keep hearing, keep hearing regularly. And then, when we hear regularly, then the experiences that we get in praptaksha, we will be able to move forward and get onwards in our spiritual life. We will be able to make spiritual advancement.

And when we do this, at that time, gradually, we get realisations more and more. That means, what we hear in scripture, we see demonstrated in real life. And when we see demonstrated in real life, by that, we get a deeper faith.

We accept it not just with our ears, but with our head and our heart. So, that's the second empowerment that comes from hearing. That is realisation.

So, third is purification. So, purification means that just by hearing about Krishna, that sound vibration has tremendous potency. So, by hearing about Krishna, it's supremely auspicious.

It destroys our anarthas. It destroys our inauspiciousness. Whatever inauspiciousness there is, it purifies.

So, even if there is no other, even if we don't learn anything new, but just by hearing about Krishna, we will be getting purified. Every single day that we hear about Krishna, we are getting purified. So, that is purification.

So, by regularly associating with Krishna through sound vibration, what happens? What is purification? Purification is not something intangible. It is just lust, anger, greed, envy, pride, illusion decreasing and attraction to Krishna increasing. That is purification.

And then after that is satisfaction. So, purification essentially means that we learn to love Krishna more and more because our attraction to worldly things decreases and our attraction to Krishna increases. And in this way, we develop our love for Krishna.

Now, when we move forward and look at last, that is satisfaction. Satisfaction means that just hearing about Krishna brings happiness. Just hearing about Krishna is joyful.

That just by hearing about Krishna, there is that Krishna. The basic point is we have to we develop great satisfaction. Bodhayantah means that we enlighten each other about Krishna and Tushyanti is satisfaction.

Ramanti is Satisfaction. Ramanti is also greater satisfaction. Especially the word Ramanti is used in terms of the male-female attraction.

So, the male-female attraction and the pleasure thereof is considered to be the highest pleasure in this world. But the pleasure from hearing about Krishna and relishing Krishna Katha is in that intensity, but it's far, far greater. This pleasure lasts for a few moments, but that pleasure lasts forever.

So, in this way, by hearing about Krishna regularly, we get all these benefits. So, there is information, then there is realisation, there is purification and there is satisfaction. And the more we get satisfaction by hearing, then the less we crave for worldly pleasures.

So, actually, purification and satisfaction work parallel. That means purification means we don't crave for worldly pleasures. We just lose taste in worldly pleasures and we develop a taste for hearing about Krishna and speaking about Krishna.

That's purification. And satisfaction means we actually relish the higher pleasure. So, purification and satisfaction, they are related.

Purification means our tastes change. Satisfaction means that we experience the higher taste. So, now, this is a gradual process that doesn't develop overnight.

Therefore, while the process is developing gradually, we need to move forward and keep ourselves steadily practising. And for that, we need to hear regularly. When we hear regularly, we get realisation.

See, realisation gives us conviction. Yes, this is the right thing. Even if I'm not experiencing real happiness or experiencing higher happiness right now, still, I'll persevere because I know there is eternal happiness over here.

So, let me persevere. Now, how do we get this conviction? By regular hearing. That's why hearing is extremely important.

And there are many ways to do hearing. One is, of course, we have, Prabhupada had Bhagavatam classes. So, we can try to hear the Bhagavatam classes online wherever it's possible.

Another is that we can have weekly programmes wherever they are close by and then all of you are having a group get-together like this. This is all very good. This is actually what Srila Prabhupada wanted.

This is what the scriptures tell us to do and this is how we will all make spiritual advancement. One of the things that Srila Prabhupada wanted was that we should study scriptures systematically. So, and that is why he had this Bhakti Shastri course also.

So, the whole purpose of Bhakti Shastri courses was to have systematic study of scriptures. Our Prabhupada started Bhagavatam classes and the Bhagavatam classes that happen in the temple, they are very good as as classes on the philosophy of Krishna Consciousness. But as reference but as guides for systematic study of Bhagavatam, they are not necessarily the best forum.

Because even if one attends the class every day, every day different speaker is giving and then they focus on the verse and they go in different directions based on their individual inspiration and their inclination. That is of course very good because we see how Krishna Consciousness can attract different kinds of people and how it can be understood from different perspectives. So, in that sense it's a very good for regular study for regular sort of for regular reconnection with the Krishna Conscious philosophy.

At the same time if you want systematic study then we need to take one book and go over it systematically keeping the flow and the structure of the book in mind and focussing on that. And it was for such education that Prabhupada wanted devotees to have regular courses. So, courses like the Bhakti Shastri course and the Bhakti Vibhav course, Bhakti Vedanta course, all these courses are meant to provide devotees facilities for steadily studying scripture and thereby learning the scriptures in their own integrity and in their own flow.

Integrity means how the scriptures are flowing. You know, it is easy to quote some stand-alone verses from the Bhagavad Gita. So, like that people quote verses and that's good.

Even as devotees we should know verses. But along with knowing verses if we know systematically the flow. Okay, what is happening in the first chapter? What is happening in the tenth chapter? What is happening in the fifteenth chapter? Why is Krishna speaking like this? Then we develop a deeper relationship with Krishna by developing a greater understanding of his words, his message.

So, that's why we have all these courses and wherever possible devotees can try to join these courses also. But whatever way, now some devotees may find courses a little bit burdensome because we have to study, we have to do assignments and we may have to do some things like that. But if that is too tedious then it's not absolutely essential.

But many people who have an educational sort of framework that means they have been to college, to university that is generally the way to do serious studies. If there is no exam, there is no sort of structure and syllabus then whatever we study that goes into the whatever we read that goes into the category of casual reading. Just as we may read a newspaper or we may read a novel or we may read so the if we compare our college days generally the academic book would be the books that we would study and everything else that we do is more like casual reading newspapers, novels and other that kind of books.

So, often our reading of scripture becomes like casual reading although we may not intend to do it like that but the reading often becomes casual reading because of not having a framework where we could have structure and systematic approach to studies. So, that's why it's an advantage for devotees. Anshula Prabhupada actually wanted this kind of devotees to be very well-versed in Shastra.

Of course, that's not that just by Bhakti Shastra one becomes well-versed in Shastra but it is by it is by systematically studying scripture that one becomes well-versed in Shastra and the courses are simply a facility by which one can study can study scripture systematically. There are many devotees who may have not done any Bhakti Shastra courses and still they may be very learned also. They may be very deeply realised also.

So, that is definitely possible but those who have some intellectual nature, some education some educational sort of orientation towards study then this is a very valuable tool and there are there has been need within ISKCON I am also a member of ISKCON Shastric Advisory Council. Shastric Advisory Council is a body of ISKCON scholars, there are around 12 of us who give advice who are asked by the GBC to give advice in scriptural matters. So, on various issues about how Shastra is to be applied in today's society the SAC, it is called Shastric Advisory Council that gives advice.

So, there are several senior Prabhupada disciples and some of us Prabhupada grand disciples are also there. So, one of the issues which is important for ISKCON's ISKCON's study growth is its Shastric foundation and the courses which we have often the courses are held in places like Mayapur or Vrindavan and for most devotees to take several months off to go for a course is difficult. It is almost impossible and even when their courses are held in local temples often there is travelling and then there is managing their schedules and managing their timings often that is not so easily possible.

So, that's why several devotees are trying to work out some model of online courses. So, after talking with several of our leaders I was asked to take up the service of doing online courses. So, there is a website we have made a website called bhakti-courses.com and we are doing Bhakti Shastri courses over there.

So, the classes will already spoken on the full Ishopanishad Nectar of Instruction, Bhagavad Gita is almost getting over. So, all the classes will be recorded and there will be a facility for question answers after that and the questions will be answered and the classes can be heard at any time as per one's convenience and thereafter one can learn study and give the exams and do Bhakti Shastri. Of course, this is just one forum.

There are several other also institutes Bhaktivedant College, MIHE, VIHE, they are also doing Bhakti Shastri and there may be much more learned and advanced teachers who are there also. So, basically the thrust of this class is primarily to inspire us to hear. So, some devotees may find courses as a good inspiration for regular hearing.

Others may not find it so suitable. That is Srila Prabhupada did not want to homogenise everything in his school. There is, all of us are irreducibly individuals and because all of us are irreducibly individuals, there will be diversity in what we do and because there will be diversity, so that's why there will be different devotees with different approaches of how to study scripture, how to practise devotional service and this is just one facility that is available.

So, I will conclude with one anecdote of Srila Prabhupada about the importance of scriptural study. Srila Prabhupada was in… So, several Srila Prabhupada's disciples have talked about his pastimes in their books. So, Bhurijan Prabhu, Shrutakirti Prabhu, they have all written their memoirs.

So, in them, they often talk about how Srila Prabhupada would be very pleased to see his disciples studying and he would often be very disturbed when Srila Prabhupada was in Hong Kong and at that time, somehow the devotees did not even have a copy of the Bhagavad Gita and he was very disturbed. He said, you are meant to live the Gita. If you don't even have a copy of the Gita, how are you going to study it? How are you going to teach it? How are you going to live it? So, at that time, Srila Prabhupada told them that actually, you should study it very systematically and so Bhurijan Prabhu writes about this in his My Glorious Master and he says about how Srila Prabhupada encouraged him to study systematically and that's how he wrote the books Surrender Unto Me.

So, there are many anecdotes of devotees whom Prabhupada told to study the scriptures very systematically and by studying scripturatically, what all will happen? We discussed that. We will get information, we will get realisation, we will get purification and we will get satisfaction. Thank you very much.

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