Gita 02.35 – The variance between our intention and people’s perception causes mortifying misconception

Misguided plan of action of avoiding the war. Thank you.

Bhagavad Gita 2.35 Krishna is explaining to Arjuna why he should not fight, why he should not give up the fight rather and he's talking about how he will be dishonoured and Arjuna, we may argue that actually, you know, I have not been dishonoured because I am giving up the fight out of concerns of compassion. My action is noble. I am considering that my elders like my Guru and my Grandsire, they are my venerable superiors and it is out of my respect for them and it is out of my noble willingness to give up my kingdom, even though when I have a right to it and even when I have the competence to win it, even then I am giving it up.

So, my action will be considered noble. But Krishna is pointing out to Arjuna the sobering reality of how public perception often is at variance from the private intention. So, his personal intention within the heart may be noble but the public perception will not be.

So, the public perception will be Bhayat, Ranat, Uparatam. Bhayat, because of fear, Ranat, Uparatam. Uparatam means to stop fighting.

Ketro Uparamate Chittam. When Krishna is talking about Samadhi in the sixth chapter, verses 20 to 23, at that time, he will say that the mind, Uparamate, completely stops activity. So, similarly, in this war, you stop fighting.

Why? Mamsyante, they will think like this. Tuam Maharataha. You are a Maharataha but people will think that you fled, you stopped fighting because of Bhayat, because of fear.

And Yesham Chittam Bahumato. And who will think like this? Those who had a very high respect for you. Yesham Chittam Bahumato.

Bahumato, those who thought very greatly about you. Bhutva, it will become, what will become? Yasyasi Lagham. You will be considered among them insignificant.

Lagham. This Laghima Siddhi where to become lighter than the lightest. So, to consider light, frivolous, childish, infantile, cowardly.

So, somebody gets a case of nerves and fleas, that's bad enough, but somebody actually becomes cowardly and goes away. Trying to rationalize cowardliness, that's even worse. So, here it is important for us also to recognize the variance between our intention and other's perception.

And we cannot say that we just don't care for other's perceptions. Because we do live in a interdependent world. Even if we are practicing spiritual life and we have spiritual goals, still we live in the material world.

And by living in the material world, we have to interact with the rest of the society. And we cannot have constantly adversarial relationship with the rest of the society. Adversarial means that we consider them our enemies and they consider us as their enemies.

So, actually the whole concept of we, they is based on misconception. It's not we, they. It's all of us are we.

Even they are we. That they are also parts of Krishna. They are also beloved children of Krishna.

And unless we have that vision that they are also we, then we cannot actually be compassionate. We will be so judgmental that we won't have any room in our heart to be compassionate. So, the point is that's a different subject about how we should not be judgmental but we should be compassionate.

But turning that around, people acquire certain perceptions based on actions. They usually can't see our intentions. And therefore, it's important that there is explanation of our intention and there is, whenever possible, if we have to do certain actions which are likely to be misunderstood, then we need to explain what we are doing.

And further, if certain actions are likely to be misunderstood, then we may well have to avoid those actions even when our intentions may not be wrong. So, that means there are three things here. There is the intention in our heart, there is the action that we do physically in the world and there's a perception that people acquire in their minds.

So, it is our intentions that are behind our actions. But it is our actions that determine people's perceptions, their conception, their opinions. So, if now why we do a particular action, people don't know in our heart.

People can't see our heart. They can only see our actions. And based on the actions, they will try to use their experience, their frame of reference to find out why we are doing what we are doing.

And therefore, we will end up and sometimes they may ascribe wrong motives to our actions. So, for example, if a devotee, say, decides to, if a young boy decides to become a brahmachari, then often people think, oh, this person has a bright career and this person just left everything. Why was that? Oh, probably he got some frustration, maybe he had some, he got some frustration in some romantic relationship or maybe his parents didn't love him or maybe he was anyway a failure.

He couldn't do well in his career. So, he decided to become a baba. So, basically what happens is people see an action and within their frame of reference, they have, for them spiritual life is just an escape way, a negative refuge.

It is not a positive achievement or it is not a positive step forward for them. They think the only positive step forward is in the material trajectory, in the career, in the material realm. So, they see the action.

Now, the devotee may actually be inspired by the mood of selflessly, vigorously, intensively, exclusively sharing Krishna's message. And that's why the devotee may want to dedicate the life to Krishna. But that's not how people see it.

So, sooner or later there has to be some communication. Now, when in the Skaun's history, the devotees started joining the Skaun and they started living in temples, shaving their heads and dancing on streets and in general doing things which seemed so far out for the people in America that they were wondering what is making people do these things. And at that time there were other certain pseudo-spiritual teachers who were brainwashing people.

There was one Jones who actually got people to live in a cloistered community with him and he actually got over a thousand people to commit suicide. He said that if you have faith in me, then commit mass suicide and then you will be delivered. And they actually did that.

It was such a terrible thing. And then that created a great cult scare. And many times the public started ascribing to devotees that oh you also imagine that you also been brainwashed.

That's why you have been doing like this and maybe you will also end up doing something like that. So, better that we will make you deprogrammed and in that way we will save you. So, often the parents and other relatives of the devotees thought they were doing something very valuable by doing the deprogramming, something good.

So, then actually now at one level the devotees had to fight in court and one way could be just simply demonize the deprogrammers and demonize the others who were trying to stop the devotees from practicing bhakti we may say. But then you have to understand that their perception also is grounded in their experience, in their frame of reference and in their frame of reference, what the devotees were doing was not only incomprehensible, but it seemed dangerous. So, then the devotees actually networked with many respected scholars and then the scholars wrote books and the devotees distributed the books talking about how Krishna consciousness is an ancient tradition and it is a respectable tradition and it has roots going on thousands of years in India, centuries if not millennia it has been going on and then they actually got over the cult scare.

Similarly, as devotees that is of course at a big level which happened several decades ago, but we also when we are working with our relatives, with our colleagues, with others, when we choose to act in particular ways in order to follow devotional principles, if people are likely to get wrong impressions then we need to clarify. Either we avoid doing those actions which may lead to unnecessary wrong impressions among people or we clarify so that people understand what we are doing and even if they do not agree with what we are doing at least if it is intelligible to them. So, there is acceptability and intelligibility means acceptable means they are okay, I accept what you are doing, intelligible means I don't accept but at least I understand what you are doing, I know where you are coming from, although I don't agree with you.

So, we need to consider public opinion for many reasons. First of all, otherwise we will face unnecessary hostility in our own practice of bhakti and we will also face unnecessary difficulty in our outreach in bhakti and so that way we can understand that the need for having proper channels of communication to recognize that for people their perceptions are the reality of our, their perceptions are their reality and we need to, that reality, their perceptions are wrong, it is our responsibility to correct it. So, here Krishna is warning Arjuna that you know that people will get this perception and they will start thinking that you are insignificant, even those who have honored you, they will dishonor you and you will not get an opportunity to clarify to everyone because such a big army with millions of warriors assembled and your fame is spread among so many people to whom will you clarify your intentions.

So, Arjuna do not act in a way.