Gita 13.11 The way of devotion is different from the way of the masses

Transcript

This is an AI-generated transcript and may contain some errors.
as will be revealed for the connection in the next verse thank you Krishna is listing the items of knowledge list of 15 items now he’s not lifting listing in this verse 16 17 18 items the last was the 12th you list two more now let’s look at the items here and to me with undeviated attention and then you’re going to practice his devotion that is undiverted and so it’s interesting here that Krishna is listing gyana with bhakti as one of the items of gyana so normally we might say that that bhakti is the culmination of gyana isn’t it for example gyana culminates in seeing everyone equally Krishna has said in 5.18 that and Krishna has also said that Krishna has said that in earlier in 5.18 and now later in 18.54 he will say that those who are having equal vision those are situated equally they will attain me or they will attain bhakti to me para bhakti to me so that means those with equal vision and their perfection those with knowledge have equal vision and that equal vision or that state of knowledge culminates in bhakti so gyana culminates in bhakti and yet bhakti is an element of gyana as stated over here how is that it depends on the context and the process so yes in terms of the progressive spiritual evolution of the soul the practice of karma yoga through gyana yoga will ultimately culminate in bhakti yoga that’s what Krishna talks about from 18.41 to 4.55 along with that in the process of gyana also bhakti is an element now bhakti can be a independent process of sadhana in itself wherein one moves towards the supreme by one’s steady practice and thus one attains life’s supreme perfection so Krishna talks about this in 18.56 is whatever work one is engaging in through that one can attain life’s supreme perfection now taking this line of thought ahead Krishna states that so in that sense one way is that one practices bhakti right from the beginning and goes to perfection from wherever one is the other is that one cultivates one does karma yoga gets gyana and Krishna said in 4.37 that by the practice of gyana one will by the practice of karma yoga and then by the cultivation of gyana one will move forward and the cultivation of gyana also involves one element of bhakti so Vishwanath Chakraborty is especially emphatic in his commentary that all the processes that one may practice whichever process one may practice that process requires one to move towards perfection and moving towards perfection requires one to practice bhakti it is the bhakti element within other processes that gives one perfection and even many gyanis do adopt bhakti as a part of their sadhana and Krishna is talking about that over here at the same time he is also talking about focusing on the practice of bhakti undistracted practice of bhakti and Krishna emphasizes the second time also when he says so bhakti not directed towards anywhere else bhakti not distracted by anything so Krishna uses the same adjective avyabhicari later on also in the 14th chapter when he talks about three modes and then talks about how the three modes can be transcended and there in he states that so there he states that it is by the steady practice of bhakti one can transcend the modes so normally so there is bhakti as the process as the state of perfection which is talked about in 18.55 but bhakti is also the process to perfection that is talked about over here and bhakti as the process to perfection in contrast to the state of perfection is an element of gyan also now herein by the gyanis also by cultivating bhakti in a diligent way they can progress towards higher spiritual realization and of course in this very chapter Krishna will tell about how all this knowledge can be understood primarily through all this that he is talking about that whatever he is talking about there is knowledge this can be understood by his devotees so whereas at one level devotion bhakti is an element of knowledge bhakti is also the engine of knowledge so 13.11 talks about bhakti as an element of knowledge but 13.19 talks about bhakti as the engine of knowledge also and thus one moves onwards and then further vivikta-desha-sevitvam aratir jana-samsadhi that means that Krishna says that one prefers to stay in an isolated place and further aratir jana-samsadhi that without being attached to the ways of the common people generally speaking people are attached to materialistic things most people are materialists and most people are attracted to materialistic things to the extent we also are attracted to materialistic things to the extent we will stay bound in material existence the extent we rise above our material conditionings to the extent we will become detached from materialistic things and to the extent we we want to rise to a higher level of consciousness, we need to also practice detachment from materialistic things and that means detachment from materialistic as a way of association. So staying in a secluded place, लिद्ध देश सेवितम् living alone and अरतिर जनसंसदी that this, sometimes when we practice spiritual life, we may feel that we are all alone. And how can I go on practicing like this? You know, there are so few people who are practicing and most people are doing something else.
But as it is said, just because a path is weltered, just because a path is beaten, it’s a weltered path, doesn’t mean necessarily that it’s the right path. It’s the path that is going to take us to our right destination. So Krishna has also talked about this theme earlier in यानिशासेर भूतानां तस्यां जागरति भूतानि सानिशापश्यतोमन्हे He said in 2.69 that that which is night for all living beings is day for the self-realized, that which is day for, night for the self, that which is day for the, all living beings is night for the self-realized.
That means basically their areas of interests and actions are substantially different. So that same thing is reiterated over here, that those who have cultivated knowledge, this doesn’t necessarily mean that they have to stay alone. Introspective people like solitude and solitude is also important.
At the same time, there are also people who are even somebody of extrovert nature and they don’t want solitude, they want to be, they are gregarious, they want to be with people. Even when they want to be with people, they have to be with people who are like-minded. They have to be with people who are who are who are also spiritually minded.
Their need for socialization can be fulfilled in this way and thus they can prevent socialization from coming in the way of the spiritualization of their consciousness. And even if we are associating with people, we also need time to take stock of our inner life and to move forward in our journey towards Krishna by taking such inner stock. Here Krishna talks about how these three elements, bhakti is an element of bhakti, enables one to progress on bhakti, it is an element of bhakti as well as an engine of bhakti as discussed.
And then those who are seekers of knowledge, those who have cultivated knowledge, they are detached from general people and they like to stay in secluded place where they can focus on internalizing spiritual knowledge. Thank you.