Gita 18.56 – Meditate on the accessibility of bhakti, not its difficulty

Transcript

This is an AI-generated transcript and may contain some errors.
Thank you. 18.56 Bhagavad Gita Here, Krishna is speaking about how bhakti can elevate anyone whatever be the karma of that person. Here, karma refers to the prescribed duties the person may be doing.
sarva-karmanya-pisada-kurvano That means, Krishna is saying that bhakti here supersedes, renders irrelevant the progressive hierarchy by which one rises from karma-kaan to karma-yoga to jnana-yoga to ashtanga-yoga and ultimately to bhakti-yoga. No, here, Krishna says, wherever you are, that hierarchy Krishna has talked about in the previous section, especially from 18.40 to 18.55. But, Krishna is saying, not everyone has to go through that hierarchy. If you can take shelter of me, then, from wherever you are, you can become elevated.
sarva-karmanya-pisada-kurvano madhya-pashrayaham Take shelter of me and by my mercy, madhya-prasadat, by my mercy, avapnoti, you will attain shashvatam padamuvayam, the supreme destination. So, here, Krishna is assuring us that there is no limitation, there is no ultimately obstacle for us in the practice of bhakti if we sincerely try to take shelter. Sometimes, we may be in jobs or in family situations which are very agitating and sometimes they may be such that we cannot very easily get out of them also.
Or in some situations, getting out of them will not be proper if we have family responsibility. We have to do that. But, Krishna is assuring that those things don’t have to become obstacles for our bhakti.
Sometimes, we equate bhakti with specific forms of activities alone. Certainly, those forms are important. For example, going to a temple, attending programs, associating with devotees, worshipping the deities, chanting the holy names.
These nine forms of bhakti are important. At the same time, all of them are ultimately meant for the purpose of helping us develop love for Krishna, helping us expand our relationship with Krishna. And, that relationship cannot be stopped or blocked if we have the desire to pursue that relationship.
Even when externally we are not in a position where we can do the nine-fold devotional services, nine-fold limbs of devotional services. For example, when we are working in a company, at that time, we may not be able to do Shravanam, Kirtanam. Of course, if we have devotee colleagues, we are fortunate, we can discuss some things with them during lunch breaks or other times.
But, we may not be able to always do external forms of devotional… the forms of devotional services externally at all times. Or, for a lot of times, sometimes we may not be able to do it at all. During phases of intense work or during phases of family emergency.
So, at that time, Krishna says, even in such work, sometimes when our worldly circumstances become too troublesome at that time, we become either too absorbed in those circumstances that we don’t even think about Krishna, or, when we try to think of Krishna, when we attempt to do some forms of devotional service, when the mind gets too agitated, because of all the other work that we are doing or we have to do, then we just think, oh, chanting is not practical in this situation, just forget it. But, what is not practical is not chanting. The impractical thing is, or what seems impractical is, absorbing ourselves in Krishna.
And that absorption is obstructed not so much by the circumstance, externally, but by the perception internally. So, in principle, when we understand that bhakti is not obstructable by any means, then we don’t leave the mind that option only to consider, oh, in this circumstance I can’t practice bhakti. No, whatever be the circumstance, some limb of bhakti I can always keep practicing.
Even if, say, I am on a, I have a marine engineering job where I am on a ship, and I can’t have any association, people around me, it made, but still even at that time, we can still pray to Krishna, we can chant whenever we have time, and nowadays, although sometimes, in some ways, our jobs have created greater isolation and distance from devotees due to our technocentric civilization, but then as a balance, we also have access through technology. So, maybe we can log in to some, and download here some lectures or like that. So, first of all, we don’t let the mind, we don’t entertain the mind’s procrastination strategy that, okay, in this situation, while doing this work, bhakti is not practical.
No, bhakti is possible at all times. Now, it may not be possible in specific forms at all times. So, attentive, absorbed chanting may not be possible at all times, but some form of chanting, some form of prayerful remembrance of Krishna, some form of calling out to Krishna is always possible.
And if we do that, then that itself helps us to grow spiritually, to rise above our circumstances, and that shows Krishna’s sincerity, and He reciprocates our blessings with intelligence internally, and conduces circumstances externally by which we can further serve Him. And in this way, we can move forward. So, when we are chanting, first get the idea out of the mind that this circumstance is not practical for bhakti.
No. Every circumstance is practical for bhakti at some level or the other. So, rather than grudging that I am not able to practice bhakti at a particular level, just me practice at whatever level I can, and from there I will advance gradually, and sometimes swiftly, depending on how the mind’s mood changes, and how Krishna reveals His mercy, how circumstances change.
So, just be enthusiastic irrespective of whatever circumstances are there.