Gita 01.32 – Whom we live for determines the quality of our life

Thank you Bhagavad Gita 1.32 So Arjuna is here continuing with his reasoning about why he cannot stay on in the battlefield why he cannot continue with the war he has said it is not possible for me to stay here in 1.30 and he is giving the reasons now so what is the use of a Rajya Oh Govinda in fact what is the use of enjoyment and of life itself for whom for whose sake we desire we desire the kingdom and the pleasure thereof so here he is making the point that positions are always are not necessarily valuable in themselves positions are subordinate to persons when a student, when a child achieves say the top grade in exams then the top grade maybe it's a mark sheet it's a report card it's a medal that has its value but then the joy is taking it back to one's parents taking it back to one's friends taking it back to one's relatives and sharing it with them seeing their eyes and face light up with joy and pride and feeling joy in that reciprocation of affection so in the past when Arjuna had fought warriors the world over he had actually gone in the northern direction in order to establish Yudhishthir Maharaj sovereignty, paramountcy and he came back with tributes from all the kings in the northern direction and Yudhishthir Maharaj was pleased and before that when he would practice archery after practicing archery when he would excel a particular skill he would show it to Drona and Drona would be pleased similarly when he along with his brothers performed the Rajasuya Bhishma was so pleased so normally although we are often caught with things the fact is we do things for people and we try to reciprocate by getting things and doing things for people we expect and hope for the intensification of loving reciprocation among us similarly he is saying here that my military skill was for the pleasure of my teacher and my grandsire whatever accomplishments I would make I would share it with them now if they are dead they don't just die but I become a part of the cause that kills them then what will be the use of achieving anything so Govinda he is using the name Govinda to refer to Krishna Krishna is the source of pleasure and when Krishna is there Govinda means one who is the giver of the pleasure to the senses Go can mean cows Go can mean senses and Vinda delight so one who gives pleasure to the senses to the cows basically one who gives pleasure so how can one who gives gear of pleasure recommend or want a course of action that will cause great misery that contrast between the name and the action is highlighted by the usage of this particular name for Krishna now this fact of we all wanting things for enhancing our relationship with people this is just a fact of nature of human nature and it is also a part of our spiritual nature Yashodamayi in the spiritual world makes butter and offers it to Krishna Krishna plays with the Gopas and they offer things to each other Radharani she cooks she is cooking she is excellence in cooking and she does that for Krishna so Krishna searches in the forest for flowers and offers those beautiful flowers to Radharani he personally sometimes decorates her with flowers so the point is that reciprocation is a part of our spiritual nature and this principle that we do things for others is natural, is unavoidable but we need to choose the right others by which we will be able to grow forward in our life if say a college student wanting to choose to do things for the pleasure of other college students and if those college students happen to be into alcohol or drugs or porn and things like that then that college student Yeshamarthekamshitamno by doing those things for their pleasure will end up getting degraded Karna was relatively speaking a virtuous person but he did many things many abominable things just for pleasing Duryodhana and he regretted them later, for example he he called Draupadi practically a prostitute and he suggested her disrobing and that was done of course to spite Draupadi for her refusal to allow him to participate in the swayamvar but also to please Duryodhana and Karna later regrets he expresses his regret to Krishna and to Bhishma for what he had done for the words that he had spoken but if we choose the right people to live for then when people who are upstanding people who are inspiring, people who are virtuous then Yeshamarthekamshitamno will inspire us towards virtue in the Ramayana when Kshatrughna laid his eyes on Mantara outside Kaikeyi's palace he caught her and shook her in violent anger when Bharat later came there he asked Kshatrughna to calm down he commiserated with Kshatrughna saying that I also feel like doing the same thing but if we do this then if we hit a woman then Ram will be displeased and we want Ram to be pleased and Ram to come back to the kingdom therefore even though she deserves punishment for Ram's sake don't do this because it's against the codes to attack a woman a woman has to be protected not attack like this so again the point is Yeshamarthekamshitamno Bharat lived for Ram and therefore he did not want to do anything that would displease Ram and the anger which could have been justified he was able to regulate it so now when we choose when we are actually attached devotees to the spiritual master to Krishna then whatever we want to do we want to do for their pleasure Yeshamarthekamshitamno and with that desire when we work then we bring the best out of ourselves we are able to serve Krishna and for the sake of service we are able to we feel inspired to control our lower self to bring out our higher self and to do our best for Krishna for the pleasure of the Vaishnavas and for the benefit of the world so here of course Arjuna is thinking here Yeshamarthekamshitamno in terms of Nishma and Drona but Krishna through the message of the Gita will direct him to a higher object for his work that Yeshamarthekamshitamno should be directed towards the Supreme Lord Swakarmana Tamabhyarja that Lord who is the source of everything Krishna will talk about 18.46, 47, 48 about working for Supreme Lord which is of course for himself so when we work for him when we strive to achieve things of this world for his pleasure then the wonderful thing is that not only do we do the best thing because Krishna is the greatest well-wisher of everyone but also that we actually succeed even when we are materially unsuccessful because in the attempt to offer things to Krishna we please him and we grow in our devotion so redirecting our emotion from the world to Krishna is the ultimate solution to the inevitable frustration when we when our emotion is directed to the world.