Gita 18.60 How we act is determined by our material nature but for what purpose we act isnt

Transcript

This is an AI-generated transcript and may contain some errors.
thank you Hare Krishna Hare Krishna so Krishna is now continuing his instruction to Arjuna about how we need to follow a prescribed process for transcending our material nature or for attaining transcendence and that process has to take into account the particular material nature that we have so we need to use our material nature to attain our spiritual nature we can’t simply dismiss that material nature just like if we want to go to a particular destination we have to use the vehicle that we have and if we have a bicycle or if we have a bike or if we have a car or if we have a helicopter or if we have a plane for each of these specific modalities in which we will move will be different in a bicycle we will have to consider how much physical energy we have for example with a car we may have to make sure that we have the adequate fuel with a plane we may have to again consider the adequate fuel and the atmospheric turbulence and even we may need a specialized training that needed to operate a plane so each vehicle will have its own particularities which has to be recognized and navigated and accordingly it has to be operated so Smriti Krishna says that svabhāva jīna kaunteya svabhāva one’s own nature so here he refers to the nature of the body mind machine that we have svabhāva jīna kaunteya nibaddha sve na karmana nibaddha so every one of us is bound nibaddha sve na karmana so again the sva prefix comes over here we are bound to karma that is born from our svabhāva so Kshatriyas have to act in a particular way for example they will by their very nature want to lead to delegate to coordinate to manage to instruct to inspire and Kshatriyas cannot live like reclusive monks reclusive or reclusive brahmanas who may be satisfied simply in the culture of knowledge by study Krishna has talked earlier about the svakarma that arises from the svabhāva in 18.42 onwards where he has talked about how karmāṇi prabhavatāni svabhāvanir tel gunai karmāṇi prabhavatāni brāhmaṇa kṣatriya viṣāṁ śūdrāṇaṁ kṛcchya parantapa Krishna has talked about their division of work according to the modes in 42, 43, 44 so Krishna is now telling that everyone has to function according to the particular mode that they have that we can’t wish away the reality of our karmic situation we have to accept that and then choose to act accordingly accepting that simply means that we have to see in my particular situation how best can I serve nibbaddha Krishna used a strong word over here nibbaddha means bound sve na karmaṇā we are bound to the work which is born from our nature and kartum nīcchasi anmohāt if somehow somebody says kartum nīcchasi I do not have a desire to do this work I will not do this work kariśyaśya kariśyaśya one will be forced to do that work avasya nibbaddha and avasya indicates the existence of something over which we don’t have control we are bound and we are helpless the modes are often envisioned as ropes ropes which bind us and we are like puppets which are made to dance by string so wherever the string is pulled the puppets accordingly move at one level these two words might convey a kind of determinism which is counterfactual we all have free will and it might seem counterintuitive to say that we are bound, that we are helpless but we will see in the next two verses Krishna will tell that the helplessness is contextual, it’s not absolute the helplessness is with respect to the choice of the work not the purpose of the work or not the consciousness of the work Akshatriya will gravitate towards Akshatriya work and Akshatriya will be extremely dissatisfied by not doing Akshatriya work but Akshatriya can do that work in a divine consciousness or a demonic consciousness so Akshatriya can be like Yudhishthira or Arjuna Akshatriya can be like Duryodhana or Dushyasana that is a choice which is never lost to us and for that choice every one of us if we get higher guidance if we get empowerment by taking that higher guidance then it becomes easier for us in fact Krishna will talk about a hierarchy here there is the Jiva there is Prakriti and then there is the Jagdish so that hierarchy will be hinted at in the next verse when he says Ishwara Sarvabhutana Nrndeshe Abhidhishthi then there is Ishwara who guides the wandering of all living beings and in 62 Krishna will tell Arjuna that surrender to that Ishwara and by such surrender you will attain peace and prosperity and then in 18.63 he will state that actually if you surrender then now it is up to you to decide, will give Arjuna free will deliberate not he will give, but he will acknowledge Arjuna’s free will and give him a choice It’s interesting there he says but even if you don’t desire to do it you will do it and then he says now do as you desire so there is almost similar word Ikshasi and Ekshasi so Ikshasi the same word comes with a prefix with striking contrast which highlights the point that we do have some free will the free will is in the ultimate analysis about the purpose for which we act the consciousness with which we act whether we want to whether we act in a way that takes us closer to Krishna or we act in a way that takes us away from Krishna that is a choice we always have and that is a choice that we are meant to be mature enough to exercise properly to the extent we exercise it responsibly under divine guidance to that extent our material nature will be channeled and it will become an aid to our spiritual growth and not an obstacle if we don’t work for the body don’t work against the body work with the body for Krishna that is what Krishna is going to recommend over here and here he states although you have a Kshatriya nature you cannot give up working like a Kshatriya but you can work as the verse states later you can work in divine consciousness Thank you Hare Krishna