Gita 18.62 The deepest peace comes by not an external serene situation but by an internal spiritual connection

Transcript

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Bhagavad Gita 18.62 tam eva sharanam gaccha sarvabhavena bharata tat prasadat param shantem sthanam prapsasi shashvatam tam eva sharanam gaccha surrendering unto him sarvabhavena bharata wholeheartedly tat prasadat param shantem if you surrender like that then by his mercy you will attain the supreme peace sthanam prapsasi shashvatam and you will attain an eternal destination so here Krishna is taking the discussion towards its conclusion now the previous verses were talking about how we all have to act according to our nature because we can’t wish away our nature but above our nature is our lord and if we can work in his consciousness if we can surrender to him then he will raise our consciousness beyond the duality of middle existence to the stability, serenity and ecstasy of spiritual existence so we can’t work against our body’s nature but we don’t have to work for our body’s nature either we can work with our body according to its nature but we can’t for the purpose of serving Krishna so as a warrior Arjuna can fight for Krishna a merchant can do business for Krishna and in this way when one works for Krishna tam eva sharanam gaccha tam eva sharanam when we surrender to him like that without any reservation then understanding that he is our eternal lord and that we are his greatest well wisher doing what he wants us to do is supremely auspicious for us so generally we withhold surrender when we don’t have faith if especially when the surrender is a loving surrender we have some faith in the person but not full faith then we won’t surrender sarva bhavena bharata wholeheartedly Krishna says then tas prasadat this lord is merciful he will surely be merciful param shantim param shantim the supreme peace he will attain sthanam prap sishasvatam and we will attain supreme destination the supreme place the supreme abode Arjuna had a conflict either he could have peace or he could have property or place we could say place was he was a kshatriya and he needed a kingdom to rule the world so either he could get that kingdom or he could get a place where he could live or he could get peace if he abandoned relinquished his pursuit of getting a place and that was his conflict that to get the place he would have to fight against his relatives against his loved ones against his venerable elders but if he wanted peace then he would lose the place and that place was meant not only for himself but for his family for his wife, for his brother, for his children so Krishna raises Arjuna’s consciousness above the dualities that inevitably characterize material existence and he declares that actually we could make it into a that we can get both at the spiritual level when we surrender to Krishna Krishna that inner harmony gives us the supreme peace in the Bible it is said the peace that passeth all understanding this is not the peace which is which comes simply by going to a serene external situation so it comes by going to a serene internal disposition going to a serene internal connection wherein we understand to the deepest of our heart’s concerns our heart’s convictions that Krishna is there with us, within us and he will always be there with us, within us so knowing his unfailing love for us provides us great peace nothing can provide us peace as much as can Krishna and by surrendering to him everyone of us can move from the situation we are presently in towards the situation of inner security through inner connection and because Krishna exists eternally in his abode so we can get the supreme destination thereof so that is the eternal destination even if Arjuna gets a kingdom that kingdom is not going to be permanent, it is not going to be eternal, he may have it for his lifetime but if Arjuna surrenders to Krishna and becomes devotionally connected with Krishna then that devotional connection will elevate him to Krishna’s eternal abode where life eternal awaits him so in this way by giving Arjuna a broader perspective of things by saying how there is the ultimate win-win situation at the spiritual level even when there might be conflicting situations at the material level or to speak of conflicting there might be also something that seems to be like a lose-lose situation at the material level but there is a supreme win-win situation at the spiritual level so understanding this enables Arjuna to take a decision with clarity and conviction now in the context of we being bound by material nature how does this particular dynamic play out that yes according to our material nature when we work because material things are limited so we cannot get everything we may get one thing and we may lose another thing but at a spiritual level everything is unlimited at a spiritual level we are eternal Krishna is eternal and our connection with him is eternal so Kshatriyas have to fight physical wars the other Varanas don’t usually have to fight physical wars but they too have to fight there are times when they may have to fight intellectual wars as Brahmanas have to do business wars as Vaishyas have to do competition is a fact of life and to some extent it is like a war so when such wars have to be fought at that time it needs to be understood clearly that there is a higher consciousness with which if it is fought then irrespective of what gain or loss one has at the material level one will have the supreme gain at the spiritual level we could say that peace is again at the mental level place is again at the physical level but at the spiritual level we get we get both these in the best possible way so Kshatriyas have kingdoms the other Varanas don’t have kingdoms but everybody needs a place to live in a place to belong to a place to call as home and when we surrender to Krishna we get that eternal place when we do that whatever our Varana we get that place at Krishna’s lotus feet in Krishna’s abode and whatever no matter however confrontational our particular or non confrontational our particular vocation may be we all have things that cause agitation to us and if we are in harmony with Krishna then we get the supreme peace so whatever we may get by working hard to our Varana at the physical and the mental level we can get it all and more by working with our Varana for Krishna at the spiritual level