Gita 12.09 If absorption in Krishna is unattainable, seek attraction through connection

This is an AI-generated transcript and may contain some errors.

Bhagavad Gita 12.9 अथचित्तं समाधातुं नशप्नोसिमैस्थिरं अभ्यास्योगेनत्तो मामिच्छाप्तुं धनन्जया अथचित्तं समाधातुं If, however, Krishna has given one level of devotional practice in the previous verse, and he's saying that is not possible, then चित्तं समाधातुं If it is not possible to चित्त, your consciousness, your thought, if it's not possible to keep it fixed, keep it satisfied, नशप्नोसिमैस्थिरं If it is not possible for you to keep it fixed in me, steady me, then अभ्यास्योगेनत्तो Then by the practice of अभ्यास्योगा मामिच्छाप्तुं धनन्जया You can attain me. You can मामिच्छाप्तुं You can desire to attain me or it can also mean you can get the desire for me.

धनन्जया आर्जुना You are the conqueror of wealth. So the essential point here is that Krishna is speaking and Krishna is telling Arjuna that it is possible to overcome illusion, it is possible to attain reality, to progress towards spiritual reality at multiple levels. If the highest level is not possible, then one level lower is also possible.

And in that connection he states over here, in the previous verse he stated that He said that keep your mind fixed in me, that your intelligence reside in me, निवसिश्यसिमईव And in this way you will reside in me. Of this, there is no doubt. So the previous verse talked about keeping the mind and intelligence within Krishna.

That means being internally absorbed in Krishna. Because the mind and intelligence are the primary directors of our consciousness. And now Krishna is saying if the consciousness doesn't stay like that, then अभ्यास्योगेनिततों So yoga is, of course, the word yoga is the process for spiritual connection.

And अभ्यास्योगेनिततों is practice. So Krishna is saying that if you cannot stay absorbed in me, then practice the process of connecting with me. Now connection comes one step before absorption.

That means that we cannot absorb ourselves in something or someone unless we have a basic connection with them. Just like if somebody, some people may be cricket fans. And when the cricket matches start, they just lose themselves in the cricket matches.

Now how does that happen for them? That happens because they are completely absorbed. It happens because they are on their way towards the supreme perfection. They are on their way, they are, sorry not supreme perfection, but for them, they have become so attached to cricket that they think that just watching cricket is like supreme perfection.

And constantly they are thinking about it. But it all began sometime with the connection. Maybe they were connected with someone who was watching cricket and that's how they started watching cricket.

And as they understood the game, the connection became more and more. And as their connection became more and more, they became more and more devoted. And thus they eventually attained Krishna.

So maam icchaptum dhananjayam, get the desire for attaining me. That's what Krishna is telling over here. Maam icchaptum.

So he's saying first develop a connection and that connection will lead to attraction. So we can discern the three levels over here. There's connection, there is attraction and then there is absorption.

So the previous verse talks about the level of absorption. We can get absorbed in something only when we are attracted to that thing. And we can get attracted only when first we are connected with that thing.

So here Krishna is recommending connection as a practice, as a discipline which will lead to attraction. So abhyasa yogena tato. So this is a if-then formation.

If this, then this. So the first line started with if. If your consciousness cannot be fixed in me, it is not possible for you to fix your consciousness in me, then by yoga practice, get the desire for me.

This means that actually Krishna is saying here that the more we practice bhakti steadily, the more we can move closer to him and ultimately we can attain him. That means if we try to fix the consciousness in Krishna, if we strive to remember Krishna, if we aim to move closer to Krishna, then by this process we will eventually attain him. What we will get is the desire for him, the iccha for him.

And once we have that iccha, that attraction for him, then naturally what will follow is that we will become attached to him. So mam iccha tum. Now it's fascinating here that Krishna has earlier talked about how iccha is the cause of our problems.

Krishna has said that because of iccha, because of desire, because of attraction, because of attachment, we have become bound in this world. But now he's saying that actually what we are lacking is iccha. What we need is iccha.

So it's clear what the Gita is telling us is not to give up desire, but it is to give up undesirable desire, unhealthy desire, unwise desire. So as conscious beings, desiring is a natural state of our consciousness. To be conscious means to perceive and actually when we perceive, we find something attractive within our perception and we get attracted to it.

So desiring is not to be given up. What is to be given up is unhealthy desire. I said unhealthy, unwise, undesirable desire to the extent we recognize that actually Krishna is our Lord, that we are his eternal parts and we are meant to be united with him.

To that extent, we understand that our desires are meant to be directed towards him and it is by desiring him that we'll become truly happy. So we often say that we are parts of Krishna. We are parts, but it's not like a physical part which is automatically connected, like the hand is connected with the body.

We are actually spiritual parts and the connection is through consciousness and consciousness means the desire the consciousness has. So desire is what disconnects us from Krishna when the desire is directed towards worldly things and desire is what connects us with Krishna when it is directed towards him. Now what this verse is saying is that we can both, maam ichchaaptam dhananjaya can mean both things.

You know, maam ichchaaptam, you can seek to attain me, you can express your desire for me and it can also mean that you can experience your desire for me. So just the practice of yoga, so taking darshan, studying scripture, hearing Krishna Leela, all this gives us a desire for Krishna. All this also expresses our desire for Krishna.

Only those who have a desire for Krishna will do these things and by doing these things, their desire for Krishna will also become stronger. So thus, the contact with Krishna that happens when we practice bhakti yoga, that contact helps us realize how Krishna is attractive, how Krishna is supremely relishable, how in connecting with Krishna lies the ultimate fulfillment of our heart's aspirations for happiness and once this realization sinks into us, then that attraction to Krishna will naturally lead to absorption which was talked about in the previous verse, which is talked about as the state by which we can live in Krishna.