Gita Jayanti talk – The Gita provides Partha with paramartha

[Talk at Udupi, India]

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Transcript

This is an AI-generated transcript and may contain some errors.
It is wonderful to be speaking about the Bhagavad Gita on this most auspicious occasion of the Gita Jayanti So I will speak on the significance of the term the two names that Krishna uses last in the last verse of the Bhagavad Gita to refer to Arjuna so the theme I will speak on is the Gita provides Partha with Parmartha the Gita provides Partha with Parmartha so we see that the last verse which Krishna speaks in the Bhagavad Gita is he says so he says this is 18.72 where he is speaking Oh Arjuna have you heard attentively and after having heard attentively what has happened to you has your ignorance been dispelled Dhananjaya is Oh Arjuna who are the conqueror of wealth so here we see that Krishna uses two names to refer to Arjuna one is Partha and other is Dhananjaya now Partha refers to Arjuna who is the, what does it mean son of Prutha now its interesting the first two names that Krishna uses to refer to Arjuna are also Partha in 1.25 when Krishna first tells Arjuna go into the middle of the two armies at that time he says just a minute so Arjuna he speaks at that time 1.25 Krishna tells Arjuna that just see so so he says Partha Oh Arjuna just see and after that again he says that that’s the first reference second chapter again he first time refers to Arjuna so he says Oh Arjuna have you where has this weakness come upon you there also he is using the word Partha so now Prabhupada explains that Partha refers to Arjuna who is having a great dynasty, great lineage he is coming from a great mother and the defining characteristic of Prutha of Kunti she is a very great lady but she is also a great devotee so what Prutha a mother would naturally want to give to her children is that which is the greatest wealth she has her greatest wealth is her devotion so when Krishna refers to Arjuna as Partha he is also referring to her that you are the son of a great devotee so that it behooves you to act in a devotional way that Partha is not just a relational name it’s also a devotional name because that relationship is with a devotee now at this particular point in the Bhagavad Gita Krishna and Arjuna are about to fight a war and Arjuna says that this wealth is not worth fighting for in the second chapter in the sixth verse he says that should I fight and win should I just give up and lose and go away I don’t know what is good to do and then in 2.8 he says even if I win it’s not going to help me even if I get what to speak of this earth but even if I get the heavens still that is not going to remove my grief so at one level Arjuna is saying that it’s a futility of wealth in removing his grief so there are different levels of needs that we have wealth is obviously needed but for living in the world money we needed but if somebody is grief struck if somebody has lost a loved one then money can’t console them at that time so our emotional need is a deeper need wealth cannot substitute for that so Arjuna is saying if I lose Bhishma, if I lose Drona if I lose these loved ones what will wealth do for me and yet when Arjuna is talking about the futility of earning wealth Krishna at the end of the Bhagavad Gita the last word that Krishna speaks is Dhananjaya oh Arjuna you are the winner of wealth so the implication there is that the Bhagavad Gita is itself the knowledge that provides us the ultimate wealth and in the previous line when Arjuna Krishna is asking Arjuna have you heard attentively have you heard attentively that means if you have heard you understood and then your illusion will be removed and when the illusion is removed then you can see things clearly so in America and one month ago I was in America when it becomes cold often there is snow and there is mist and when the mist is there you can’t see anything at all and at that time if the mist stays for a long time actually sophisticated and expensive technology is used to try to heat and drive away the mist or people their car lights have to be very high level so that even then they can see a little bit distance only so at that time if something can remove the mist that itself is very valuable so knowledge removes the Bhagavad Gita’s knowledge removes the mist of misunderstanding within us and that empowers Arjuna to see the right road ahead of him so Arjuna is thinking that this kingdom is one wealth at a physical level the kingdom is a wealth but at emotional level my relationship with Bhishma and Dronacharya is a greater wealth so for gaining this physical wealth I don’t want to lose this relational wealth but Krishna tells Arjuna that above this emotional wealth is a spiritual wealth and spiritual wealth is Arjuna’s internal relationship with Krishna and Arjuna’s service in the world to establish Dharma so Krishna is telling the whole purpose of the Bhagavad Gita is to raise Arjuna’s consciousness from the physical and emotional levels to the spiritual level and he tells from the body to the soul and from the soul to the super soul that is the journey of the progression of the theme of the Gita so when Krishna is telling Arjuna have you understood the Gita that means and then he says have you understood the Gita and oh winner of wealth is your misunderstanding removed that means removing of misunderstanding is the greatest wealth sometimes if a very wealthy person becomes an alcoholic and then they want to give up alcohol but they are just not able to give up sometimes people spend millions of dollars to try to go to some de-addiction program to give up alcohol so if somehow within them that misconception those impressions which make them think that alcohol is enjoyable when it actually is causing them great suffering if somehow that misconceptions could be removed then people who are addicts are ready to pay a lot to just become free from that addiction so similarly all of us have various misconceptions fundamentally misconceptions about what will make us happy we think various material things will make us happy so Arjuna is caught in the dilemma relations or possessions but Krishna is telling beyond possessions and relations is devotion so Arjuna is thinking I don’t want to value possessions I want to value my relations that’s good but among our relationships also among our relations a supreme relation is the relationship with Krishna and Krishna is telling Arjuna that by getting this knowledge of the Bhagavad Gita you can become, have you become free from illusion have you enriched yourself with the wisdom of the Bhagavad Gita and that is the greatest enrichment and when that inner enrichment is there, outer enrichment will also follow because that’s what is told at the end of the Bhagavad Gita Yatra Yogeshwara Krishna Yatra Partha Dhanur Dharah Yatra Shreer Vijayoh Bhutir Dhruva Neetir Matir Mama Bhuti is opulence or wealth so the outer enrichment will also come but the Bhagavad Gita’s central message is to offer us the inner enrichment the enrichment of devotion, the enrichment more of the knowledge by which we can make devotion our goal the enrichment by which we can get the process by which we can develop devotion so knowledge and the process to develop devotion that is the enrichment that the Bhagavad Gita offers us so if there is a mist, we don’t even know whether we are on the road or we are on the food path or we are on a ditch, so first of all we need to have a road we need to see the road, ok this road is the destination that is the knowledge and then if we are to walk alone it might be difficult, if we have a vehicle we can go much faster so bhakti in Bhagavad Gita sadhya and sadhana are told what is the wealth that Bhagavad Gita is providing sadhya is Krishna and sadhana is bhakti so these two truths if somebody understands then they have understood the essence of the Bhagavad Gita and Krishna enriched Arjuna even before the start of the Bhagavad Gita with this truth with this wealth and with that wealth Arjuna was able to fight and be victorious similarly for all of us on this auspicious day of Bhagavad Gita by the mercy of Srila Prabhupada, we also have that knowledge of sadhya and sadhana there are many different people who have written different commentaries in the Bhagavad Gita and they have all illuminated some aspects of the Bhagavad Gita in their own ways but often this central point of the Bhagavad Gita sadhana and sadhya they do not give it so clearly but Srila Prabhupada makes it categorically clear we can say some people say how do you know Prabhupada’s Bhagavad Gita is as it is there are so many Bhagavad Gitas yes, there can be so many Bhagavad Gitas but let us see what is the understanding that Arjuna got after the Bhagavad Gita is Prabhupada giving us that? Arjuna’s understanding was as far as the sadhya is concerned he says he says after Jyotishloka Bhagavad Gita 10.8-11 he says Krishna you are the absolute truth that means he is accepting Krishna as the sadhya and then as far as the sadhana is concerned Arjuna doesn’t say I will fight a war next words Arjuna’s response is karishe vachinam tava I will do your will that means he is actually surrendering he is surrendering to Krishna and surrender surrender is what Krishna told sarvadharman parityajya mam ekam sharanam vraja sharanagati is a limb of bhakti the Bhagavad Gita itself from Arjuna’s actions demonstrating that the sadhana is bhakti the sadhya is Krishna and there are many technicalities in the Bhagavad Gita Prabhupada focus on this essentiality the essentiality is Krishna is our goal and bhakti is the sadhana so that is the wealth that we all at one level have already got but it’s the wealth we have to realize so as we become as we keep practicing bhakti we start realizing more and more the empowerment the enrichment that the Bhagavad Gita’s knowledge offers us Krishna is there in our hearts as we practice bhakti more and more we realize his presence so on the Gita Jayanti day we can pray that Krishna’s message of love in the Bhagavad Gita enter deeper and deeper into our hearts and thereby enrich us in this life as well as in future eternally let’s conclude with the prayer once again prapannaparijataya prapannaparijataya and the first