Gita 09.20 – Karma-kanda leads to elevation, but not liberation
Thank you. Bhagavad Gita 9.20 Krishna is here analyzing how the various rituals and modes of worship within the Vedic tradition are connected with him, and here he is talking about Karmakand, and he will compare.
Karmakand usually involves worship of some of the Devatas so that one can attain their abodes. So, here Krishna will compare the worship of the Devatas with his own devotional service. In this series of verses from 20 onwards till 27th, so here he is talking about the process of worshipping the Devatas.
It can either refer to Rig Samajurevacha that was mentioned earlier in this section itself, 2-3 verses earlier, and it can also refer to a Tridharma which will be mentioned in the next verse. So, Tridharma, Artha, Kama, the Vedas talk primarily about doing religiosity so that one can get material prosperity, Dharma for Artha, and then one can get Kama, so that can be in this life where one gets wealth and enjoyment, or it can be in the next life when one goes to heaven and gets huge prosperity and gets to enjoy with the celestial damsels, the Apsaras, either way. So, Krishna has talked about this earlier in the second chapter and we will see here the difference in emphasis between the second chapter analysis and here.
So, before that, let's go over. There was Traivedya, Maam, Somapaha, Poota, Paapa. So, Somapaha, when they perform a Yajna, one of the rituals in the Yajna is to drink Somaras.
Now, many times some Indologists who have a reductionistic view of history proclaim that the Somaras was the fruit of this tree or that tree, but actually Somaras is a celestial beverage that manifests when one performs Yajna properly, and that, what does it do? Poota, Paapa, one becomes purified by drinking the Somaras. It grants purification and it extends one's lifetime in one sense. Poota, Paapa, Yajneer, Ishtva, Yajneer.
They do Yajna and they are worshipping me, Krishna says, Maam, he has said in the previous slide. Ishtva, Swargathim, Prarthayante, Swargathim, Swara refers here to Swarga. So, they want to attain Swarga by worshipping through the process of Yajna.
Te Punya Maa Saadhya, Surendra Lokam. Te Punya Maa Saadhya. They do a lot of Punya and Aasadhya.
After acquiring a lot of Punya, Surendra Lokam. Surendra is the word here used to refer to Indra. Indra does not receive, the name Indra itself is not referred in the Bhagavad Gita anywhere.
He is referred to by some other names. One of the names here is Surendra. Surendra Lokam.
So, one requires a huge amount of Punya to go to Swarga. But by getting, doing such Punya, one can go to Swarga, Krishna is saying. Ashnanti Divyan, Divideva Bhogan.
Ashnanti, one will attain, one will enjoy. Divideva Bhogan. Divideva is an alliterative usage.
This expresses the celestial nature of the enjoyment. Which normally is meant for the celestials, Devas. But Manamas can also enjoy if they get karmically qualified.
Divideva Bhogan, huge amounts of enjoyments. And Krishna is using the word Divyan. Earlier the word Divya was used to refer to Janma Karmachamay, Divyam.
In 4.9 he said that my appearance and activities are divine, are transcendental. So the word Divya can have multiple meanings based on context. Some places it can mean transcendental, some it can mean celestial.
So as compared to whatever is available on earth, Divyan. So Divyan here refers not to transcendental but to celestial. And Krishna describes that these people, they enjoy celestial pleasures by doing the Yajnas.
So the significant verse is The transitional verse that led to this section is 9.15 where Krishna said that Gyan Yajna Chapya Nye, Jan Toma Mopasate Ekatvena Pruthakvena Bahudha Vishvatomukham So Gyan Yajna Chapya Nye, by Gyan Yajna other people worship me. And one such mode of worship is Pruthakvena Bahudha That the one absolute truth manifested in many forms. So Krishna is referring to that notion here where the people worship the devtas and of course not all worshippers of the devtas will have the same conceptions about who the devtas are and what their roles are but in general if they worship devtas according to scripture they will be gradually elevated.
So now Trayeevidya and Krishna says that those who are worshipping the devtas they are also worshipping him. How is that? Because ultimately he is the source of everything and everyone. When he is the source of everything and everyone it is he who should be the object of worship and those who worship something other than him or those who worship the devtas they may be worshipping him indirectly but then the problem of such worship is that our destination is determined not just by the object of our worship but our conception of that object also.
So here if they don't understand that Krishna is the absolute truth, if they consider that all the other devtas are more or less equivalent to Krishna, we can worship any one of them then they won't get the same result. So the result will be mentioned in the next verse where Krishna will say that they fall back. They fall back again.
At this verse it is stating that, although one may attain punya, surendra lokam, one goes to Indra's abode, but still it is not a lasting destination. Krishna is not being fanatical over here. He acknowledges that there are processes of karma kanda and he acknowledges that those processes do work because he does say they go to heavens.
So fanaticism means we think that our way is the only way. Krishna doesn't say that. He says they go to heaven but then they fall back.
So if there is a crossroad to say that okay, this road goes only half way to Mumbai, this road goes only one sixth way to Mumbai and this road goes to Mumbai. If you are at Pune and you want to go to Mumbai, now to say that only this road goes to Mumbai and these roads don't, that is not fanaticism. That is education.
Now if someone wants to go to some other place, that is fine. But to assume that all roads will lead to the same destination and further to say that no, to say that some road will not lead to a particular destination, to call that as fanaticism is actually foolishness. So Krishna is offering us education so that we can choose our destination.
Krishna is not, there is no imposition over here. There is simply education for the purpose of intelligent choice and to consider such education to be fanaticism is to deprive oneselves of the empowerment of wise choices.