Gita 18.65 Promises in a close relationship reflect and affect the closeness of the relationship

Transcript

This is an AI-generated transcript and may contain some errors.
we’ll discuss in the future verses.
Thank you. 18.65, manmana bhav mad-bhakto madhyaji maam namaskuru, maame vaisya satyam te pratijane priyo sime. Krishna is speaking here, and he’s saying that, Arjuna, please think of me, if you think of me, if you become my devotee, manmana bhav mad-bhakto madhyaji, worship me, maam namaskuru, offer your obeisances to me, maame vaisya sime, you’ll surely come to me.
Satyam te, I guarantee you this is the truth. Pratijane priyo sime, I proclaim that you are very dear to me, priyo sime. So here, what we are seeing is, this verse is a repetition, more or less, of the verse in 9.34. 9.34 was manmana bhav mad-bhakto, madhyaji maam namaskuru, maame vaisya si yuktvayivam, aatmanam mad-parayanaha.
So maame vaisya si, you’ll come to me, yuktvayivam, if you engage thus, with your whole life devoted to me, aatmanam mad-parayanaha, you devote your being to me, you will come to me. But this verse is saying something different. It says that, actually speaking, we have to work towards purifying ourselves of negativity.
Whereas, that verse says that we have to devote ourselves and then we’ll get the result. This verse says that if we devote ourselves, the result is guaranteed. Whereas, in 9.34, the focus is more on what we need to do for Krishna to give us the results.
Here, the focus is more on what Krishna will do if we do our part. So therefore, the key thing is that every one of us needs to grow spiritually. And Krishna is inspiring us towards spiritual growth by telling that He will do this.
From 18.63 onwards, the tone is rising from detached analysis to impassioned advocacy. And here, the tone continues when Krishna says that satyamdeva, this is the truth. You’ll surely come to me.
And second time he’s saying, pratyajane, proclaim, priyosime, ishtosime, in the previous verse. So here, durda ishto, you are very, very dear to me. I’m determined to love you.
And here Krishna is saying, I proclaim that you are very dear to me. So often, the words that are used in a book, if they have been used in an earlier context, earlier in a different context, same word, then if it is repeated, then if the author is a very thoughtful author, and that repetition has a significance, it could either be a symmetry, or it could be a stress, or it could be some kind of connectedness that we may otherwise not be able to perceive. So, the word pratyajane has come earlier in the Gita when Krishna has said that, kaunteya pratyajane he name bhaktah pranashyati.
Oh, Arjuna, proclaim that my devotee will never perish. But here, Krishna is not waiting for Arjuna to proclaim. Krishna is himself proclaiming.
Because there, Krishna was telling Arjuna to proclaim to the world. And here, Krishna is proclaiming to Arjuna. Normally, proclamation indicates some major authority behind the statement being made.
So, a king proclaims, that means there is a truth, and that truth is being announced. The word proclaim is related with the word claim, but quite a different sense. When we say claim, that means that it is just that it is something that is being said.
And somebody says, they claim to be innocent. So, a criminal might claim, accused may claim to be innocent, the judge will proclaim the innocence of the accused. So, claim indicates subjectivity, and usually, it indicates something which is being said without much proof.
But proclaim means that there is proof. And there’s somebody who has authority to give the verdict, to make an announcement, to pronounce the reality of some situation, that person is making an authoritative declaration. So, now, Krishna, as the Bhagavad Gita has revealed us, is God himself.
And he’s the supreme, all-powerful, all-glorious being. And he’s proclaiming here to Tijani that you will surely come to me, this is the truth. I proclaim this because you are dear to me.
Normally, we might make some fibs, we might say some fibs, make some false promises to someone whom we do not know so well. Because usually, whenever we make a promise and don’t keep it, that means, we are creating a withdrawal in the relationship. So, when we create a withdrawal in the relationship, the result of that withdrawal is that the relationship is going to become weaker.
So, normally, we won’t tell lies or make false promises in a relationship that is extremely important for us. Because it’s not just a matter of what we speak, it’s not just a matter of what the other person thinks about us, but it’s also a matter of how it changes the dynamics of the relationship between us. So, Krishna is saying that you are very dear to me and I proclaim to you.
So, we won’t make a proclamation unless we have the authority to make a proclamation. Otherwise, it’s just a claim. We can’t proclaim if we are just making a claim.
And if we are making a proclamation, especially to a close friend or to somebody who is very dear to us, then what is at stake is not just the credibility of our word, but also the future of the relationship. Therefore, Krishna says that Arjuna, I proclaim this and you are dear to me. So, I’m not just speaking this for the sake of speaking it.
This is the truth. And I will make sure that it comes true. That I will make sure that the words that I speak, they will work out to be for real.
That they will work out to be the best. But what I promise, if you do your part in becoming devoted to me, I will do my part in ensuring that you become elevated and liberated. Krishna is here bringing for Arjuna a glorious dynamic whereby that which is ultimately the impeller for personal transformation, that we all become better than what we are, when we believe that somebody believes that we can be better than what we are.
If others believe in us, then that inspires us to believe in ourselves. If others believe in our potential, then that inspires us to believe in our potential. Many great athletes who began from humble backgrounds, they will have some person, some relative, some coach, some guide, to believe in them.
Similarly, Krishna is a person who is a supreme person and he has supreme faith in our potential. So, thus if we can keep our focus on him, on loving him, on serving him and remembering that he is taking his credibility and his relationship on this proclamation, then he will surely make it