Gita 18.36 – Practice provides pleasure

Transcript

This is an AI-generated transcript and may contain some errors.
Thank you.
In this 18th chapter Krishna is analysing various things in terms of the three modes. So after analysing Jnana, Karma, Karta, Dhruti and Buddhi from verses 20 onwards. Now Krishna analyses the goal of everything that we do.
All our actions are ultimately meant for happiness, Sukha. So he analyses how Sukha is also in the three modes. And before giving that analysis in three verses from 37 to 39, in this verse he gives a summary.
Sukham to Idaanim Trividham. Trividham. Sukha is also divided into three modes.
Shunmai Bharat Arishabham. Oh Arjuna, hear about it. Abhyasadramate Yatra.
Abhyasad. The word Abhyas in many vernacular language refers to study. In Sanskrit Abhyas refers to practice, repeated engagement in a particular activity in order to improve it, in order to excel in it ultimately.
So he says Abhyasadramate Yatra. By Abhyas, Ramate. One delights in that activity.
One gets taste. So, I say practice makes man perfect. That is a common saying.
So here Krishna says practice provides pleasure. What exactly happens? Abhyasadramate Yatra. How does practice provide pleasure? Actually, when we try to engage in spiritual activities, to some extent this principle applies to all activities that especially any enlightened pleasure that we want, any higher pleasure we want, it requires some practice.
For example, if a person is playing a game, say chess or carrom or cricket, initially one needs to practice whether one is batting or bowling, say in cricket. One practices, practices and then as one excels then one can play various shots and by playing those shots, in playing that game one gets pleasure. So practice provides pleasure applies in material things also, say driving or whatever and that applies even in spiritual life because in spiritual life also there is the effort to connect with Krishna and that connection does not happen automatically.
It has to be practiced conscientiously So when we say try to study scripture or chant the holy names or pray to the deities, at that time our mind runs here and there. That is because of the habitual restlessness of the mind which is further aggravated by the unfamiliarity of spiritual activities. As it is the mind does not want to concentrate on anything, even when we do something which is materially enjoyable.
If you find a novel and we think oh this is so nice, let me read it. But usually we read it for 5 minutes, 10 minutes, 15 minutes, half an hour, one hour. Even it is a very engrossing novel, after sometime the mind gets bored and says I want a break.
So if something is enjoyable even in that the mind wants a break after sometime and if something is not so enjoyable then the mind naturally wants a break and if something is so unfamiliar that one cannot connect with it. Suppose we are told to read a book about the demographics of beers in Siberia. What has this got to do with me? If the subject is unfamiliar and it is not interestingly unfamiliar, it is irrelevantly unfamiliar, then we feel that why should I study this? So like that initially spiritual activities seem irrelevantly unfamiliar.
That means we may, what is this chanting again and again got to do with me actually? We are not usually in material life habituated to repeating the same thing again and again. Now of course in sports say if a particular star batsman is batting then people may chant his name Sachin, Sachin, Sachin or whatever like that. But then that is occasional.
People are not sitting down on a daily basis and doing meditation on the names. So the activity of mantra meditation itself is unfamiliar and further it is irrelevantly unfamiliar in the sense that we can’t see how is this connected with me? How is this going to help me? And so the familiarity and the relevance are required for us to have absorption. Now of course sometimes something that is familiar may also seem uninteresting.
I have done this so many times, why do I need to do it again? But if you develop a relationship, if a mother loves a child, the child is familiar, eminently familiar. The mother is familiar with almost every part of the child’s body. She bathes the child, dresses the child.
But still the familiarity does not lead to apathy. It leads actually to greater intensity of attention because there is affection. So when we chant the holy names, when we try to remember Krishna, at that time we need to have both familiarity and relevance work favorably to boost our remembrance and that is what practice does.
So here practice provides pleasure, doesn’t mean that we just keep repeating, muttering the holy names. Yes, we chant the holy names but along with that we practice recollecting who is this person that I am chanting, whose names I am chanting. This is the Lord of my heart.
He is present in my heart closer to me than the closest person can ever be. And he is there with me life after life after life. His love for me is greater than the love of anyone else.
And that person’s names when I chant, that is supremely relevant. In fact, all the activities that seem more relevant and urgent right now, I have to get this job, I have to do this work, I have to earn a living, I have to take care of this or that. All those that seem so relevant and urgent, they will become completely relevant when we leave this body and go to some other body.
But our connection with Krishna will always stay relevant. And by meditating on the familiarity of Krishna and seeing that affectionately and remembering the relevance of Krishna, the urgent, the only thing that will always be relevant for us is our relationship with Krishna. By meditating on this and by practicing this kind of meditation, practicing not just the utterance of the holy name, but practicing the contemplation on the relevance and familiarity of chanting, on the glory of the object of the person whose name we are chanting, we will become more deeply connected with him.
And the more we become connected, the more we can relish pleasure. So, Abhyasadramadeyatra. And when we do Ramana in Krishna like this, then, Dukkhaantam chenigachyati, then we will attain the end of all misery.
We will attain Krishna’s abode, Vaikuntha, which is free from all misery.