Gita 18.56 The bhakti university takes seekers from any level to the summit of spiritual perfection

Transcript

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Bhagavad Gita 18.56 sarva-karman-yapisada kurvano madhya-pashrayaha madhya-prasada dava-apnoti shashvatam padam avyayam Krishna is speaking here about an alternative way to the supreme perfection sarva-karman-yapisada whatever work one might be engaged in kurvano madhya-pashrayaha if one takes shelter of him while doing that work seeks his shelter or one does that work in a mood of being sheltered in him then dava-apnoti by my mercy will attain shashvatam padam avyayam the eternal imperishable destination so what is going on in this verse is Krishna is shifting the thrust to bhakti and indeed from 18.56 onwards Krishna’s thrust will entirely be on bhakti till the end of the chapter practically and the end of the Gita so from 18.40 onwards Krishna has talked about how we can elevate ourselves gradually by performing karma yoga by engaging in the world then by renouncing the world and then by attaining bhakti to gain the ultimate perfection but here Krishna will talk about an alternative way of doing the same thing that is a you could say a long drawn process in 7.19 Krishna has said that after many lifetimes those who are spiritual seekers come to the level of becoming spiritual seers the evolution from seekers to seers can take many lifetimes and what do the seers see when they become gyanavan, knowledgeable they say they see that Vasudev, Lord Krishna is the supreme reality that there is no reality other than him that he is the be all and end all of life he is the embodiment and fulfillment of everything that we find attractive in this world and therefore he is the supremely worthy object of surrender that same prapadyate vyapashita as said in this verse so Krishna has also talked about coming to that level from 18.40 he talked about how everybody is under the modes and from wherever they are in their modes that by doing one’s work, prescribed work one can attain perfection how that can be done Krishna has described and then the culmination of that is that by the process of bhakti you will understand Krishna in truth understanding Krishna thus is not a easy or straight forward process it requires a deep devotion which attracts divine revelation and by that divine revelation there is the transcendental comprehension so Krishna is saying that this long drawn process by which one can attain him by knowing him that same destination can be attained by an alternative way if one starts bhakti practice wherever one is so at one level 18.55 says that bhakti is the ultimate bhakti is the ultimate perfection and bhakti is the means to the ultimate revelation but that bhakti which takes us to the highest destination it also is like an elevator which comes down to wherever we are to take us up the bhakti elevator in that sense encompasses the whole range of human consciousness Krishna has given hints of this earlier also in 9.32 when he says that those who take shelter of me even if they were low born they can attain the supreme perfection there also Krishna has hinted that even if somebody is low born they can take shelter of him that same mood is expressed here when he says that that whatever work one may be doing sometimes some path may take us to a very lofty destination but then to get to that path becomes very difficult say you want to go to some very special resort then there might be some mountain peak we want to go to and usually it’s very difficult to get to that mountain peak but if there is some special mode of transportation some customized vehicle or some customized helicopter which can safely land near or at that peak then getting there would become very easy but if that helicopter also started right from the bottom of the mountain then not only does it take us to the highest destination also start from the bottom or for that matter consider say a premium institute like say IIT in India or one of the Ivy League colleges in America if somebody gets into those colleges then they can get degrees that are respected all over the world so it can take them to pinnacles of academic achievement but then sometimes to get into those universities itself there is so much competition and they have such a high cut-off to get there that many people feel that I just can’t, I can’t do this so many people find it impossible to get into those universities but imagine if a university that took students to the highest level of scholarship that same university opened its doors that students who were mediocre or even students who were poor that whatever level of academic competence students were at they all are admitted into it such a university would be remarkable indeed and bhakti is a university of that kind whatever work we need to do in our particular situation we can do that so if Arjuna has to fight a war Arjuna will fight it Arjuna can’t fight it the martial duty is not something which has to be rejected the martial duty is something which has to be dovetailed, channeled so that one can serve Krishna and one can ultimately attain Krishna and this always happens by mat prasada by the mercy of Krishna so Krishna’s mercy is the magical force of bhakti it is not just that we try to offer the emotion of our heart to Krishna but that when we try to offer the emotion of our heart to him he lovingly reciprocates by engaging us by elevating us by helping us to realize at our deepest level the purest potential of our core he helps us to ultimately attain him so to the extent we understand this extraordinary potency of bhakti at the extraordinary benevolent mercy of Krishna which is the potency of bhakti to that extent we can become whole hearted in practicing bhakti and in practicing bhakti not as a ritual but as a practice that is meant to express our heart’s sincere emotion to Krishna and to thereby beseech his mercy thereby sincerely fervently call out for his mercy and thus become elevated and ultimately liberated sarva karma anyapi sadha kurvano madhya pashaya this is a very inclusive and reassuring verse that Krishna’s bhakti the scope of it is so broad Krishna had earlier said that sva-karma-tava bhyarcha siddhim vindati manava that by your work worship him but this is slightly different that is ok we are doing our work and our object is to worship our object is to worship him with our work but this is that we don’t just worship him but we take shelter of him we live sheltered in him from wherever we are so we may all have our own lives and go to the temple and occasionally worship the deities but here we live constantly sheltered in him we don’t see our occupation as separate we see our occupation as integrated with him and in that way we take shelter of him so this sheltered mode of living is the way to live supreme perfection