Gita 5.24 – The Holy Name is Krishna manifest outwards to take us inwards

Thank you. 5.24 Bhagavad Gita It's a call to urge us to search in words.

Many verses in the Gita can be used as impetuses for meditating on the Supreme Lord. So, this verse is urging us that we should look for happiness within, look for relaxation, look for joy within. Normally, when a person is in dark, and wherever the light is, that's where one's attention goes, and then that's where one's footsteps will go also.

So, like that, make the light within. That means, seek inner goals, not outer goals. So, yogi brahma nirvana.

Such a yogi will attain the liberation in Brahman. Brahma bhuto digacchati becomes situated on the Brahman platform. So, nirvana is often thought of as a Buddhist concept, where there is the extinguishing of existence.

But brahma nirvana means not the extinguishing of existence, but the transference of existence to the spiritual level of Brahman. And while this can refer to impersonal liberation, ultimately, Krishna says that from the brahma bhuta platform, which is referred to in this verse, So, brahma bhuta prasannatma na shochati na kankshati samah sarveshu bhuteshu mad bhaktim labhate param It is said that from the Brahman platform, ultimately, one attains Krishna. One attains devotion to Krishna.

This is 18.54 in the Gita. And after that, one attains Krishna. bhaktya mam abhijanati One knows Krishna truly.

The point is, turning in words takes us to the spiritual level, and ultimately, it can take us even to Krishna. So now, what does turning in words actually mean? It's not just that we can't turn our eyes in words. The eyes will always look outwards.

We can't turn our head too much in words. Turning in words essentially means turning our thoughts in words. Turning our consciousness in words.

And what is there in words, we may wonder. Is it that we want to think about the blood and the muscles and the cartridges and the bones that are there in words in our body? No. The in words is much, much deeper.

Beyond the body, we go in words. Beyond the mind, to the soul. And actually, the perfection of going in words is to go beyond the soul to Krishna.

And it's actually quite difficult to go in words because how do we direct our consciousness in words? In the Kulshekar Maharaj's book on Maharashtra, it is said the holy name is antarjyotir pramayam, the immeasurable inner light. So just as when we want to go on a journey, if it's a dark pathway, we need light to go along the journey. So the holy name is the inner light which will take us on the inner journey to the ultimate inner destination, Krishna.

So turning in words doesn't necessarily mean stopping all activities. But it can actually be to take shelter of the holy name. Because the holy name is the manifestation of Krishna.

So when we chant the Hare Krishna Mahamantra, that lord who is in words manifests himself outwards at the sound which we speak. And by manifesting outwards at that sound, he enables us to come in words again. So rather than for us having to toil all alone on the inward journey, Krishna enables us to go in words through his manifestation as the holy name.

So that's what every time when we chant the Mahamantra, we can see that Krishna is manifesting externally and is giving me an opportunity to turn in words. Let me grab this opportunity. Let me turn in words.

Let me relish the joy of connecting with Krishna as he manifests at the sensory level in the holy name and through that manifestation rise to the spiritual level. So the easiest and the highest, easiest and the best method of turning in words is by taking shelter of the inward lord who has manifested outward as the sound of the holy name to take us inward again. Thank you.