Gita 14.11 – Let knowledge illumine the door of the senses to welcome the holy name

Transcript

This is an AI-generated transcript and may contain some errors.
in the next verse, thank you Krishna here is giving the characteristics when the mode of goodness is winning the inner war so the previous verse described how the three modes are in constant competition and prior to that verses 6 to 8 described the introductory characteristics of each of the modes so when the modes are constantly battling with each other then how can we know which mode is winning so that Krishna describes in these three verses 11,12 and 13 so 11th Krishna describes the characteristics of the consciousness when the mode of goodness is winning the war all the doors of the body now the body is often compared to a city and the doors to that city are the senses Navadvare Pure Dehi 5.13 Bhagavad Gita is used Navadvare Pure there are 9 doors in the city of the body so all the doors of the body are illumined now what does it mean does it mean that some light comes out of the mouth and the ears and the nose no Krishna describes Prakasham Upajayate when there is Prakasham, what kind of Prakash Gyanam Yada when the Prakash of the illumination of knowledge is there in all the senses now what do we mean by the light of knowledge illumining the doors of the senses if a doorway is dark we don’t know whether we should go out of it and where we should go out where we will be ending up if we go through that door similarly if the door is dark we won’t know who is coming in or what is coming in through that similarly when there is no illumination in the doorway of the senses then what impressions come in through the senses we don’t filter and often unhealthy undesirable impressions keep coming in and similarly when our consciousness goes out at that time also where that consciousness goes out we don’t monitor we can’t monitor so the consciousness often goes towards undesirable objects so that means the both way communication is unwholesome so for example if there is some obscene poster obscene hoarding is there then the eyes go in that direction and we don’t check it or for that matter we are just walking along a road or we are just surfing something on the internet and suddenly some vulgar image opens up at the pop-up window so that is suddenly come now instead of averting the eyes and avoiding seeing that we let that impression come in through the eyes so in this way the when the doors of the senses are darkened then what goes where what goes out where our consciousness goes out is not controlled and what comes into our consciousness is also not controlled another way to understand this is that suppose we can see the doorway of the mouth now if a person is ignorant or intoxicated or uncultured you know sometimes people may have the urge to spit because something has come up in the mouth or people throw up because of some bodily problem now a cultured person will not throw up in a kitchen where there is food will go to a washroom or some place where the mess can be cleaned up very easily or if one has to spit then one goes into the washroom and spits if somebody spits on the face of somebody else that is a great insult so what comes out one should be able to use knowledge to decide where it should go and it comes out and similarly what is to be eaten sometimes small babies when they are when they are born actually they are they experience practically everything through their mouth so they put their fingers in their mouth they lift up their legs and put their toes in their mouth and sometimes when they pass pass out stool at that time they may pick up the stool and put it in their mouth also so what so they have no because they have no knowledge they don’t filter what is going into their senses so now like that when there is no knowledge at that time the entry and the input and the output of the senses is unmonitored and is unwholesome unhealthy but when there is mood of goodness then there is knowledge illumining the doorways of the senses and thereby one acts carefully so Arjuna know this to be characteristic of the know this to be the characteristic when mood of goodness is prominent so now when we are practicing chanting of the holy names at that time although chanting is a transcendental process it is a transcendental process that is executed through the senses so the holy sound of the holy names comes out of our mouth and then it is meant to go in through the ears and in this way both the input and the output in our through our sensory gate gets spiritualized senses get purified and if our consciousness is engaged in the process of producing the sound and receiving the sound the consciousness also becomes purified but if we are not actually when we are chanting chanting will take us to the transcendental level our consciousness will be elevated to the transcendental level but to but when we start off our consciousness is not transcendental it is often passion or ignorance so we need to contemplate using scripture the importance of the process of chanting and by that we can ensure that clear well pronounced sound of the holy name goes out of our mouth and then that sound is returned and received and heard attentively through our ears when we are in the mode of goodness when we chant then we will see that actually we slowly start relishing the chanting and then our consciousness rises towards transcendence where we relish it even more if our consciousness is not in the mode of goodness then we don’t we often mispronounce the holy name just mutter some something that sounds like a mantra and then we only half hear it or it just is muttered without even being heard and because our consciousness not engaged so we don’t get any taste and then we start feeling bored while chanting so although chanting is transcendental what it means is that sound vibration itself is transcendental and when we let that sound vibration permeate our consciousness then our consciousness will also become transcendental and to ensure that consciousness flood that sound vibration floods our consciousness we need to situate ourselves in the mode of goodness that’s why we usually chant in the morning when the environment is also in the mode of goodness but the environment may be but we may not be if we are not not taking care we may be in ignorance thinking I did not get enough sleep or we may be in passion thinking oh I have so many other things to do and I just want to get this chanting over so that I can start doing all the other things but if we contemplate this is what is going to purify me and purification is the is the essential prize to attain pure love for Krishna which is life success, supreme success which alone will fulfill my heart’s longing for lasting happiness this is the opportunity when I can love and serve Krishna when he manifests as the holy name so like that by different philosophical contemplations we can illumine the doorway of our senses with knowledge and then we will find that doorway illumined with transcendental sound vibration which fills and fulfills our heart with devotion thank you