Gita 09.34 – Direct your cognition, emotion and action towards Krishna

Thank you this is one of the most well known verses in the bhagavad gita although of course the more well known verse is the verse that comes a little later which is the verse 18.65 that verse is nearly identical to this verse with the major difference being that 18.65 focuses primarily on what Krishna can do whereas 9.34 focuses on what we need to do so Krishna states over here he says that fix your mind on me worship me go down to me me means you will come to me means in this way being as engaged with your whole and soul being devoted to me so this verse is like a summary call at the end of this chapter often in public speaking it is said that one can conclude the speech with something memorable at the same time something also practical so if it is a speech meant to draw people to some kind of action then it is best that the speaker tell people clearly unambiguously and emphatically what is it that is to be done and do it right at the end so that people don't forget so Krishna is concluding this 9th chapter with such a clear unambiguous and emphatic call for devotional action the whole 9th chapter has been stressing this kind of action and Arjuna completes and Krishna completes the chapter in this last verse 34th verse by stating to Arjuna and through Arjuna to all of us how bhakti is most efficaciously performed now so definitely Krishna has talked about how bhakti is to be performed but here Krishna is asking or rather Arjuna is being told by Krishna very clearly very unambiguously very emphatically how exactly bhakti can be performed and he states here that the best way to do so is through the recognition that we all are at our core souls and we have we are essentially beings who are driven by our emotions and by our actions we are defined by our emotions we are defined by our cognition we are defined by our action cognition is the way we perceive and think emotions are the way we feel and actions are the way we do so of course thinking, feeling, willing these are the three facets or stages of our inner life which transform a suggestion into an action a suggestion may come into our mind that may come either from external stimulus that we may perceive or that may come from a recollection of something that is stored in our subconscious memory, either way when it comes it's just a suggestion what about this? so for example say we are just doing some of our work and suddenly we remember today the cricket match is there and we may not even we may not remember it till that time but suddenly we remember and as soon as we remember then what we do? that may be there because the thought may come either because that thoughts of cricket are impressed in our consciousness or it may be because we see some people talking about the cricket match then we may think from that thought, thinking, feeling willing and that should happen, we may just log in to some website to find out what is the update how is the match fairing who is fairing how or whatever so basically now to direct ourselves in a particular avenue we can direct our cognition, our emotion, our action now Krishna is telling us to do this manmana think about me so all actions begin first as thoughts thought is the ancestor to the deed so manmana and that means we need to think about Krishna and that thinking can happen either by our placing ourselves in devotional stimuli in devotional environments where thoughts about him become natural from the external stimuli coming into us or we consciously try to recollect some things about Krishna by which also we move closer to him so manmana then bhava mad bhakto bhava mad bhakto refers to our offering our heart to him when we recognize that Krishna is our eternal master and we are his eternal servants then if we don't just stay at the level of thought we move to forwards towards the level of intentionality we sorry we move to the level of emotions so I don't just think at the level of dry detached contemplation let the thinking advance to the level of involved affectionate emotional redirection so bhava mad bhakto then don't let it stay just at the level of emotions now bhava mad bhakto this is interesting Krishna is saying become my devotee that means he is saying that the redirection of emotions is a matter of choice for us we can't just say that I don't feel devoted now if we kindle and activate our devotional memories the devotional emotions will also come by that and thus we can become devotees and of course one of the easiest ways to become devotees is to place ourselves in the association of those who are devotees in madhyaji madhyaji maam namaskuru so then Krishna is talking about go into the realm of the actions, worship me, offer your obeisances to me, these are practical ways in which we can devote our heart to Krishna madhyaji maam namaskuru and then he assures in this way if your whole being is directed to me then maa me vaishishi you will come to me, you will attain me because your whole life, your whole being will be offered to me if your cognition if your emotion and your action are directed towards me then your whole being is directed towards me and by this you will surely come to me thus the verse concludes with both a emphatic call for action and a clear reassuring promise of redemption, promise of deliverance if we do the action thank you.