Gita 11.36 What brings joy to the godly causes misery to the ungodly

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Bhagavad Gita, 11.36, Arjuna vāca sthāne hṛṣīkeśa tava prakīrtya jagad-prahariṣyaty anurajyate ca rakṣyāṁsi bhītānidhi-śodravanti sarve namaśyanti ca siddha-saṅgaha Here, from this verse 36 onwards, Arjuna starts offering prayers on recognizing the glory of the universal form in specifically the manifestation of the Kāla rūpa. So these prayers will go on for 11 texts from 36 to 46. And just prior to that, in response to Arjuna's question about ākhyā hi meko bhavānugra rūpa it's, Who are you, O Lord? It was asked in 31 and the response came in 32, 33, 34.

35 described Arjuna's reaction in terms of physical transformations. He was trembling. etācchrutvā vacanam keśavasya kṛtāñjalar vepamāṇā kīrīti namaskrutvā bhūyaivā kṛṣṇaṁ sagad-gadaṁ bhīta-bhīta-praṇamya So Arjuna has folded his hands, he is trembling and he offered obeisances.

namaskrutvā bhūyaivā kṛṣṇaṁ Again and again he offered obeisances and then sagad-gadaṁ bhīta-bhīta-praṇamya Fearfully with a choked voice he spoke. So what he spoke is described in this verse now. So Arjuna is fearful on seeing the awesome, you could say even gruesome aspect of the universal form where the various warriors are entering into the mouth, their heads are being smashed and blood is spreading all over the mouth and the vishwarupa is licking the blood.

So after describing all that now this verse, Arjuna starts offering his prayers. sthāne So sthāna means place. sthāne means in the right place.

Something is in the right place. That means it is right. So sometimes we say things are in place.

We don't use it in a literal sense that everything is in its place. But rather we may say things are going according to plan, people are doing what they are expected to do, what they have been told to do. So we use things are in place in a non-literal sense to refer not just to the physical location of things but to the overall manifestation of plans.

So here Arjuna is saying it is right that this is happening. sthāne hṛṣīkeśa tava prakīrtya You are hṛṣīkeśa, you are the control of the senses, O Lord. And what is rightly happening? tava prakīrtya On hearing your glories jagat prahariṣyate anurajyate ca jagat prahariṣyate The whole world becomes jubilant on hearing your glories.

anurajyate ca And they actually delight in these glories. They become attached to you. Normally, whatever it is that gives us happiness, we tend to become attached to that.

And thus we move forward towards growing in our life by doing that which gives us pleasure. Now, of course, depending on what that activity is, sometimes some people may become attached to drinking and that attachment may drag them down. But here Krishna is saying how the godly delight in God and this is right.

So when your glories are heard, then jagat prahariṣyate anurajyate ca The universe delights in those glories, becomes jubilant and becomes attached to you. But then when your glories are heard, rakṣāṁsi bhītāni diśodravanti rakṣāṁsi rakṣāṁsi is the rākṣasas bhītāni, out of fear, diśodravanti They run, they flee in different directions. So when a very powerful law keeper, say a police person or a military commander or a king, when such a powerful person comes to a particular place, at that time the people become jubilant.

Because now if there was somebody who was tormenting us, if some tyrant was there who was troubling us, now that tyrant cannot stay. Because somebody much more powerful than that tyrant has come. So here it is said that.

Similarly, now when that happens, when a very powerful king comes, then those thugs who have been tormenting people, they flee. So similarly, rakṣāṁsi bhītāni diśodravanti The rakṣasas who are always disrupting dharma, who are always disrupting cosmic law and order, they flee in fear. And then sarve namasyanti ca siddha-saṅgaha Siddha, siddha is the perfected beings, spiritually advanced, realized beings.

Sarve namasyanti They fold their hands in gratitude to this manifestation of the Supreme Lord who has come for the sake of protecting and delivering. So Arjuna here is talking of both an eternal principle and a contextual demonstration of that principle. The eternal principle is when God appears, the godly become delighted and the ungodly, the impious, the vicious, they become unfavorable.

And they so the Arjuna is seeing this happening in the Rūpa also. It is earlier described how how especially in the 20th, 21st verses The tradition is that whenever the lord is worshipping, the lord is being worshipped, the lord is appearing, at that time, he is praised. So for example, when the abhishek of the deities is done, especially a major abhishek, a festival and some prayers like Purush Sukta Arsang, and of course the Hare Krishna Mahavantra goes on, which is actually a praise for the lord.

This praise can be out of devotion. Everyone is delighted to see, Oh, my beloved lord has appeared over there. He is manifesting here.

I am so grateful. Please, oh lord, bless us. And then they express their appreciation, their gratitude, their devotion by stating that he is, by thanking him for having appeared.

In contrast, the demons, they feel threatened. They feel endangered when the lord appears because their purposes are opposite to the purposes of the lord. And thus, they actually cannot appreciate the lord's presence.

In fact, they feel fearful and they flee just as thieves will flee when a powerful king or a powerful law maintainer appears. And Sarve Masyant Siddha Sangha, so all the Siddhas, spiritually perfected beings, they have now ulterior motives. They have devoted themselves to transcendence.

They have got various levels of spiritual realization. And they are focused on pursuing higher spiritual reality. So when they see the highest spiritual reality manifesting before them, they are naturally joyful.

And they gratefully, reverentially offer obeisances. So Arjuna here is thus both telling a timeless principle that whenever the lord appears, the ungodly, knowing that their death has come, they flee. Whereas the godly, knowing that their lord has come, they come to him for relief and shelter.

And as Krishna says, Arjuna says, all this is appropriately done. So we need to recognize this point that things that happen in our life are right. If we are not doing anything wrong, if we are not intentionally planning to do anything wrong, then there is no need to get too worked up about things.

We focus on practicing our bhakti, doing the best service that we can, and eventually things will work out auspiciously.