Gita 16.14 – Chanting infuses even the ishvara-bhava with dasya-bhava, thus dovetailing the controlling mentality

Transcript

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thank you I am the controller, I am the enjoyer so Krishna elsewhere uses the word both these words in positive sense also Ishwara and Bhogi and not just when referring to the supreme lord he uses it in reference to the living entities also dhanam ishwarabhavasya shastram karmasubhavajam shastram karmasubhavajam so he says that ishwarabhava that is the quality and Krishna is referring to it in a positive laudable sense positive sense of appreciating, this is a good quality if you look at the list of other qualities dhanama and tejakshama, grati, all the other qualities are positive so in a kshatriya, ishwarabhava is good and here Krishna is referring to ishwaroham the demoniac mentality so what is the difference between the two the difference is the attitude towards God in this world we are all having the responsibility to take up some role in the material world we have our swaroopa in the spiritual world where we serve Krishna accordingly but in the material world according to our psychophysical nature we are given a particular role in society and each of these roles involves taking some level of control the mother controls the children the farmer controls the animals the king especially is controlling many many citizens in fact, how can a leader political leader lead other people towards dharma if that leader doesn’t have some control over them so control in and of itself is not undesirable so it is when this controlling mentality is in defiance of Krishna then it becomes a problem the asuras tad viparyaya the demons always work against the interest of Krishna against the purpose of Krishna as a few verses later in the same chapter Krishna will describe how in 16.18 he says that these demoniac people they are envious of me who resides in their own and others’ hearts the point of Krishna saying that I reside in their and others’ hearts is that Krishna is the well-wisher of everyone so there is no need for people to be envious of him but the demons are envious of that person who is actually not envious and who is totally penitent so that is the issue and because of this enviousness because of this defiance and belligerence they sentence themselves to suffering and ultimately self-destruction so when we are trying to chant the holy names often we feel that we need to do certain other things urgently or at least to worry about doing those things and those things may well be in the service of Krishna also so at such times we remember in this point that ultimately it is not wrong to desire some control if that control can help us to serve Krishna the Kshatriya has Ishwarabhau but then the Kshatriya also has subordination to Brahmanas, subordination to Shastra and subordination to Krishna and therefore that Ishwarabhau doesn’t become the defining character of the Kshatriya because there is the countering Dasyabhau which is also there so when we make plans and we want to serve Krishna to the best of our capacity and for that purpose definitely it is good to make plans and to also be anxious to make sure that we are able to offer the best possible service to Krishna but in the process of doing all this we also need to remember that we are not the supreme controllers Krishna is our master and we are his servants so to serve Krishna to remember that we are servants of Krishna to cultivate the Dasyabhau the chanting offers us a very good opportunity over a period of time when we become senior among devotees and often others are carrying out our orders and sometimes doing our service does not bring Dasyabhau it brings Ishwarabhau so at such times it is very good to remind ourselves of our Dasyabhau by struggling to chant because chanting is our spiritual connection with Krishna and to the extent we chant attentively we come in contact with Krishna we come in the presence of Krishna and we go closer to him so by remembering that Krishna is our friend indwelling very closely residing friend and he is always there to help us we can by this meditation put aside our anxieties and our fears whatever they may be and absorb ourselves in relishing the beauty and the glory of Krishna and his holy name