Gita Overview Mumbai 18.54-62 Bhakti is the summit of spirituality but also reaches down to wherever we are

Transcript

This is an AI-generated transcript and may contain some errors.
We will start with the bhakti section of the 18th chapter.
So, we discussed about how a person starts with Karma Yoga, understanding that the modes control everyone. Therefore, according to one’s own ashram, one starts worshipping the Supreme Lord. And by that, gradually one becomes qualified enough to become detached from the world, to practise Jnana Yoga and then to attain the Brahman platform.
That’s what we discussed starting from 40 to 53. So, now Krishna will describe how above the Brahman platform or starting from the Brahman platform is the platform of Parabhakti. So, here onwards, actually in this chapter till now, bhakti has not even been directly talked about.
It’s more analysis of material nature in terms of the three modes and of people’s actions, not just material nature. Because actions are in material nature in the three modes. So, the only hint of bhakti till now was in Swakarmanatama Vyarja, which you are worshipping.
But now here onwards, bhakti will become singular focus. And not singular focus, bhakti will be revealed to be superior to everything else and everything else will not be subordinated and harmonised with bhakti. So, brahma-bhuta, when a person comes to the bhuta, so bhuta actually means existence.
So, brahma-bhuta means to be situated on the Brahman platform. Sushila Prabhupada talks in a lecture about how mamai vamsa jiva loke jiva-bhutah sanatana. So, he says the living entity can be in the actual material existence or the spiritual existence.
So, jiva-bhutah, that word is a reference to the material existence and in contrast, that is brahma-bhutah, that is spiritual existence. So, brahma-bhutah, prasannatma. So, one becomes cheerful.
Why does one become cheerful? That we will discuss in the next verses. Because one is free from hankering and lamentation. Na shochati na kaamshati.
Actually, as long as we are hankering for something, we feel dissatisfied and if we don’t get it, we lament. So, once you become free from hankering and lamentation, then the natural joyfulness of the atma starts becoming manifest because the atma is satchitananda. And it is described in Shri Mahabhagavatam that when Devabhuti served Karda Muni properly, the result, the blessing that she got from that sincere service was that Karda Muni blessed her, you will become free from hankering and lamentation.
Actually, if one becomes free from that, one can become very steady in whatever we are doing. In fact, Shri Prabhupada writes and speaks also that our mental existence, our entire mental existence goes in these two things only, hankering and lament. Hanker for what I don’t have, lament for what I have lost.
So, have I discussed about this? Acheron in fit, cutility, insubstantiality, temporality. Three possibilities in mental enjoyment. So, when I hanker for something, I don’t get it only, then it is cutility.
I hanker for something, I get it, but it doesn’t satisfy me. So, then there is insubstantiality. I hanker for something, I get it, but it gets over soon, then there is temporality.
So, either way, in all three options, mental enjoyment, the hankering will lead to lamentation, all three. Whatever I do, ultimately hankering will lead to lamentation. Therefore, person when he is free from that, person becomes joyful.
And then not only in this respect to events and things, it is also with respect to people. In the six chapters of Bhagavad Gita, when Krishna talks about this equal vision, he describes this in two levels. First, he talks about equal poise towards things.
He talks about it 6.8 and 9. The next, how is the person is equal poise towards people. So, to be equal poise towards things is easier than to be equal poise towards people. This person, in this, Prabhupada and Krishna integrates both in the verse and it is equal poise towards everything material.
And then at that stage, which from the point of view of impersonalist, would be the perfect stage. There is nothing more to achieve at that time. Because once when I achieved equanimity, one is realised, one is Brahman, everything is Brahman, one is merged in Brahman, everything is over.
Krishna is saying, at that time, labhate, labhate means to attain. At that time, what kind of attainment? Parah. So, the word parah essentially means superior, higher, transcendental.
So, we have parah and aparah also. So, labhate parah, this person will attain the supreme bhakti. This verse is devastating for impersonalism.
It’s devastating because the whole strategy of impersonalism is to subordinate bhakti to jnana. But this verse completely demolishes the subordination by actually saying that jnana is subordinate to bhakti. Jnana is the platform from which bhakti actually begins, parah bhakti begins.
So, now what does Krishna mean over here? That as long as we are literally contaminated, our bhakti is not parah. That’s what even in India’s sadhaka, we are practising bhakti right now. But if we are not yet samaj-narosha, vishwachitna-kankshati, samasarveshu, we are not yet like this platform, then our bhakti will not right now be parah bhakti.
It is vishuddha bhakti. It is not shuddha bhakti, it is a vishuddha bhakti. But that is okay because we are in the same process.
By following this process, we will move from vishuddha bhakti to vishuddha bhakti over a period of time. So, after describing this, then somebody will wonder, okay, actually brahman is the ultimate attainment. Then you attain bhakti, after that what happens to the ultimate one? That Krishna describes in the next verse.
So, there is a series in the report, practise karma yoga, come to jnana, by jnana come to brahman, by brahman, from the brahman level attain bhakti. And then after bhakti, what happens? Then one comes to know Krishna. I will describe in the next verse.
bhaktyā mām abhijānāti bhaktyā mām abhijānāti yā mānyāś cāsmi tattvataḥ yā mānyāś cāsmi tattvataḥ tato mām tattvato jñātvā tato mām tattvato jñātvā vishuddhe tad-anantaram vishuddhe tad-anantaram So, bhaktyā mām abhijānāti. Why bhakti? One can know me. And then after that, how is one going to know me? As I am, tattvataḥ.
So, now where Prabhupāda correlates this with 4.9. 4.9 is janma-karma-cchamitī-yajñāna evaṁ yo vetti tattvataḥ tattvā dehaṁ punar janma naiti mām eti so arjuna So, the correlation is in two ways, jānāti and tattvataḥ. So, here it is abhijānāti, janma-karma-cchamitī evaṁ yo vetti tattvataḥ. There the word vetti and jānāti is similar.
And emphasis is tattvataḥ, in truth. So, there what Krishna has said is, He has just given the result of the knowledge. Here, the process of getting that knowledge is there.
There it is so, if you know me in truth, then you come back to me, you come liberated from it. Here it is said, how can one know I am in truth? By bhakti, bhakti-yāma-abhijānāti. And, ca asmi tattvataḥ, as I am, so you will know me.
So, this part is very categorical, because the previous has said Brahman platform is attained. After the Brahman platform is attained, bhakti is attained. And after bhakti is attained, one knows Krishna, as He is.
So, again, this section not only shows that bhakti is about the Brahman platform, but even Bhagavan is about the Brahman platform. Because Mayavas also have the idea that, the Brahman is the all-pervading ultimate reality. And Bhagavan is a temporary manifestation of that.
But this one says, no, with bhakti one can know Him as it is. So, actually the whole analysis of jñāna, or deconstruction of Bhagavan as is done by jñāna, it subordinates bhakti. And they say that by bhakti you cannot know the absolute truth.
You have to actually go beyond bhakti to jñāna, then you will be able to know. You remember, I discussed about how, I used to write articles for Speaking Creek. So, one time, the editor of the Speaking Creek, she wrote to me, write an article about why Krishna is black.
And don’t tell the usual story stuff. So, then I did a little bit of research, why such a curious question? Why Krishna is black? And then I found there is an Advaitin Swami, who has given an explanation why Krishna is black. So, he says, just think, why would anybody ascribe a dark black colour to God? No, God is pure.
God is effulgent. So, why would anyone ascribe a dark colour to God? Because the idea is, form is a sign of ignorance. Form is a sign of darkness.
So, by ascribing a dark colour to the form, the message is that we have to go beyond the dark form to the white formlessness. So, when presented in such a way, no, really, I didn’t know that, so clever. It appears like that.
But this sort of interpretation may appear very attractive to the speculative mind, but it has no basis in scripture. And this sort of vitality is typical of Māyāvāyas, offensive to Krishna. So, it’s one thing to say that somebody is attracted to Brahman, but it’s another to say that the darkness of Krishna’s form is a sign of, is a representative of it being a Rīvāyaṇa or a Vṛndāvana.
Actually, Krishna’s form is dark and that indicates how everything about Krishna is inconceivable. So, normally the dark complexion may not be very attractive, but in Krishna’s case, he is not just Shyāma, he is Shyāmasundara. So, how the dark complexion can be attractive, that is not possible in the material realm, that is only in the transcendental realm.
So, that’s how I wrote the article about the analysis about how the darkness is indicative of the transcendence of the form, not that it is indicative of something you have to go beyond towards transcendence. But Yāvānyā’s Shyāmasundara form, I am saying that, what is the reference for that the darkness represents Vachintya? Generally, I think I have read in some lecture of Prabhupāda, Shyāmasundara. Prabhupāda doesn’t say exactly that the darkness represents Vachintya.
So, Prabhupāda says that Krishna is Shyāmasundara and he says normally Shyāmasundara is beautiful. But how Shyāma can be beautiful? That is Krishna’s transcendental view. So, the exact combination Vachintya is what I did.
It would be my philosophical speculation. But the point is that it is true, Prabhupāda just mentioned that Shyāmasundara is there in it. Now, in general, Krishna never means that Māyāvāda is hopelessly frustrated.
If somebody wants to hold on to Māyāvāda, Krishna will allow them to do so. Because ultimately, eko bahūnāṁ yogadidhāti kāmān. The Lord has to maintain everyone and that maintenance is not just physical, it is also intellectual.
If somebody wants to believe in atheism, Krishna will allow people to believe in atheism. Then Krishna will say that, okay people, there is so much amazing arrangement by which rains come and if somebody observes the objectivity, it cannot happen by chance. There has to be an intelligent designer for it.
But the atheists will say, if rains are provided by God for us, then what is the need for rains in the oceans? There is already so much water, there is no need for water over there. So, therefore, the idea that there are rains in the oceans proves that actual rains are not designed and everything has happened just by arbitrary chance. So, why are there rains in the ocean? Just to give atheists a scope for asking this question.
So, see, the simple argument over here is that it is a big house and in that house there are 50 rooms. 25 rooms are very clean and tidy and 25 rooms are very untidy and messy. So, naturally we may ask the question, okay, why is it like this? And we may say, okay, maybe this house is owned by two people, one person is clean and one person is unclean or whatever.
Now, you could say that, okay, those other 25 rooms, there is no owner for that house, there is no caretaker for the house, that’s why it is unclean. So, from this order, we can infer that there is no orderliness. That is fine.
But if, what is the view of 25 rooms? If even one room in a house is orderly, that will raise the question, how do orders come? So, it’s not, even if I see disorderliness in the world, that doesn’t necessarily prove that there is no disorder. If I see orderliness even in one part of the world, I will have to be confronted with the question, where does the order come? In fact, that question will become even more important if there are 49 rooms which are completely unclean and there is one room which is spick and span in a mansion. And I wonder, who is this spick and span? And that even one orderly room will require a order maker.
Similarly, even if one part of the universe were well designed, that won’t recall for a design. Not to speak of huge, almost entire aspects of the universe being designed and some aspects apparently being designed in such a way that we can’t understand the design, it seems designless for us. The point here is that even partial design, even if an object is, a part of it is designed, that requires an explanation.
Because no kind of design can come by chance. Especially the complex and intricate design that characterises the nature, that can’t come by chance. So, the parallel over here is that just as Krishna allows the atheists to have some hope over atheism, that’s what they want to do.
Similarly, he allows that for the universe to ensorce. And what he does over here is, tato mam tatato gyanatma vishate dhanantaram. So, vishate, enter in.
Yes, enter into the Brahman. So, vishate means both. But actually speaking, if you look at the overall context, Krishna has very clear, I, mam janaati, not some other truth beyond me.
And again, the asmitatva, ha. And tato mam, when tatato gyanatma, when your non-me improves, tatota comes twice, then what will happen? Vishate dhanantaram, enter into that infinity. Dhanantaram is anantaram, can refer in time sense, thereafter you will enter into, or it can, into that infinity one will enter, whichever way one wants to take the transformation.
So, now here the question remains, what is that dhanantaram? So, Krishna is here in the material world and he is saying that there is no way you will go there in the spiritual world. So, it is not necessarily, vishate doesn’t necessarily have to refer to merging. Vishate simply means entering.
So, entering can be merging. Entering can be, entering and still maintaining one’s existence separately. The tat simply refers to when you know me, you will go back to that spiritual world.
Krishna is here, he is in that spiritual world, one will go back. So, that tat doesn’t, so here the word vishate and tat can be misinterpreted to say that it is referring to some brahman in which one will enter. But Krishna has already said that you attain the brahman platform, then you attain bhakti, then you know me.
Then what is the point of saying again one will attain to the brahman? If that tat is referring to brahman, then there is no logical flow in these verses. Is this point clear? That tat cannot refer to the brahman. If I say that, okay, now you have attained graduation.
After attaining graduation, you can enter into a doctorate course. After you attend a doctorate course, you will meet the best, the best scientist of the country. And after you know the scientist, then you will get your doctorate degree, then you will get your master’s degree, then you will graduate.
So, there has to be something higher. Graduation I have already got. Isn’t it so? So, after graduation, there are two things, I am entering into a postgraduate doctorate course, then I am meeting a very famous scientist.
And after that, again I get the graduate degree. Doesn’t make sense. There has to be something higher over it.
And the lower was clearly taught what is brahman. So, for the Mayavadis, there is nothing higher than brahman. Because only brahman is there.
What is that? Brahma Tatya, Jagan Nitya, Sarvam Kalmam Idam Brahma, Ekam Brahma Nityanam. So, their idea that only brahman exists. So, if there is something higher than brahman, then after that there has to be something higher that is created.
So, that this Pagananda refers to the spiritual worlds, not to the spiritual sky. The spiritual sky refers to brahmanjyoti. Within the spiritual sky, there are specific spiritual worlds, spiritual planets, I am going specifically, where the Lord performs eternal pastimes.
So, this star in the hierarchy that cannot refer to the brahman, it refers to the spiritual planets where a person goes when a person knows Krishna. And that also becomes clear if you look at 4.9, because Krishna says over there, Tattva deham punar janman aithi maam iti. So, they come to me.
He doesn’t say that they go and merge with some brahman. He says, they come to me. So, this refers to the spiritual world in which Krishna is present.
So, they attain that spiritual world. Any questions about this? So, now, after describing this, Krishna will move forward and he will now begin a new section. So, what is that new section that he begins? So, here you will see sarvakarmayi is there in this verse and in the previous verse also, there is sarvakarmayi.
So, Krishna is emphasising here now. So, how it has happened? From the 40th verse, he is talking about how everybody can be bound and then people can have to come out of bondage at varmashram. By varmashram, you offer the worship Krishna, come to jnana, brahman platform, then attain bhakti, then move to spiritual world.
So, this is one slow hierarchy that Krishna has described. Now, Krishna will describe an alternative hierarchy. The alternative hierarchy is, okay, whatever varmashram you might be, sarvakarmayi is there.
You remember the word karma came again and again while describing all the four varanas. Shastra karma sabhavachi and brahma karma sabhavachi. That was described in 2.3. Krishna described all the four varanas.
So, now Krishna is saying, okay, whatever your varana, whatever your karma, just perform bhakti. So, that is what. Now, this singular focus on bhakti and its capacity to elevate a person from whatever level that person may rise presently, that is talked about.
So, from the physics onwards, there is a sort of change of sections. So, from 40 to 55 talks about what? Starting with karma yoga through jnana and attaining bhakti. But 56 talks about practising bhakti from wherever one is and attaining perfection.
So, let us go on with the, almost the 66 discussions. Whatever karma one might be performing, kurvano, you can do that, but madhyapashrayah tikshetro. Now, where is the word similar to that? Vyapashrayatami? Remember one of the famous words? Shriyo vaisyatashutra.
What is it? Ma viparthah vyapashrayah. So, ashraya, ashram tikshetra. Vyapashrayah, vyapa means vya, complete shakya.
So, that is totally shakya. So, kurvano, whatever work one is doing, madhyapashrayah, take shelter of me. And then Krishna says, if you take shelter of me, you don’t have to go through the elaborate process of practising various sadhanas of jnana.
Madhprasadah, by my mercy, avapnoti shashvatam padamau. You will attain that supreme destination. So, till now, the concept of prasad was not talked about in the 18 chakras.
In fact, the concept of mercy has not really been referred to in the Bhagavad Gita so much. But here Krishna is referred to as madhprasadah, by my mercy. And he will use madhprasadah again in two verses later also.
So, the emphasis in bhakti is not on our endeavour, it is on Krishna’s grace. Our endeavours are just to show Krishna that we want his grace. That is, our endeavours don’t actually take us much advance.
It is Krishna’s grace that takes us much advance. So, you remember that example of a person who is drowning in a, who has fallen in a well. And then somebody might just try to climb up by one’s own effort.
Maybe just hold on to the wall and something, try to climb it up. Or if a rope is thrown down, then somebody might say, okay, you have thrown down a rope, okay, now climb up on the rope. I will climb up on the rope and come out myself.
But the other is that actually, you just hold on to the rope. And actually, I just hold on to the rope and the person outside pulls me up. So, the just trying without any rope, just trying to, by holding on to the wall and trying to come out is, is like trying to become liberated from what really exists without any support from scripture, without any scripturally given process.
Many people may try that. Oh, this world is not desirable to get out of it. But that often leads to frustration.
So, when Krishna throws down the rope, that is basically scripture. But it is not that all the scriptural offline methods talk about mercy. For example, karma and jnana, and even yoga to some extent, they are more sort of endeavour centric, because there one is not even clear of the absolute truth of the person and the person allows him and the person can give the mercy to him.
So, that is like one is following scripture to some extent. But one is centering one’s spiritual advancement in one’s own efforts. But when it is Nakti, when Krishna sends down the rope, he gives the scriptural process to us.
But we do not try to hold on to it. We hold on and then Krishna pulls us out. So, for holding on also, we need to put in an endeavour.
And actually, Chaitanya Mahaprabhu, he doesn’t just send down a rope. He sends a rope with a bucket in it. You just have to sit in it.
So, he makes it extremely easy. But after we are sitting inside the bucket and we are so eager to see what is it that we have left and we turn the bucket around and fall back in it. So, Guruvayana Madhyapashraya, because you just take shelter of me and by my mercy, you will Shashudam Padamogiri, come out of the well and become free.
So, now after describing this, Krishna will elaborate this. So, the emphasis on Bhakti is becoming more and more clear. With your consciousness, offer all the fruits of your work to me.
That means, generally some people will say that only when I become purified can I serve Krishna. Whatever work you are doing, offer the fruits of your work to me. That means, even if a person is in a lower varna, that person can also offer the fruits of the work.
Madhparaha, make me your goal. And Buddhiyogam Upashyakya. So, the word Buddhiyoga came first time in the second chapter.
And then that Buddhiyoga was explained in 10.10 as, introduce that Krishna to you so that you can take shelter of me, practise the Buddhiyoga. Now, after describing this Buddhiyoga, Krishna refers back again to this again. And he says, how should you take shelter of me? How should you offer your work to me? Buddhiyogam Upashyakya.
So, actually taking shelter of devotional activities. What will happen? Machittaha Saptam Bhava. In this way, you will always be conscious of me.
Be conscious of me. So, actually Machittaha is very directly reminiscent of Prabhupada’s rendition of the initial Krishna consciousness. The word Krishna consciousness, what is the Sanskrit equivalent of that? From the Bhagavad Gita’s perspective, it is Machittaha, Machittaha.
Of course, there is also the phrase of Prabhupada Goswami, Krishna dasa bhava dama dihi. So, that is also like a reference point for the English phrase of Krishna consciousness. So, Sridhar Maharaj Nirmala, the phrase Krishna consciousness is not used by Bhagavan Sri Ghatotkara.
This particular compound word. So, when Prabhupada came back to India, and in Prabhupada’s Navami, he used the word Krishna consciousness and he enshrined that within the name of the movie itself. So, it was the pre-Bhagavan Sri Ghatotkara’s Krishna consciousness.
So, some of Prabhupada’s godbrothers were a little sceptical. What is this new finder, new Krishna consciousness? Where does this come from? So, then Sridhar Maharaj says, this is a very good rendition of Krishna rasa bhava dama di. Krishna rasa bhava dama di is, what is that verse? It says that you cannot get bhakti just by punya.
Krishna rasa bhava dama di, kriya dama di kuto na labdhe de, tatra laulyam dhaulyam ekalam, janma koti shikuta hi na labdhe de. What is the Guru Prabhupada Swami saying? Krishna rasa bhava dama di, the attraction mati, consciousness, for the consciousness to become new Krishna mai, if you can get that attraction for consciousness to Krishna, kriya dama di kuto na labdhe de, wherever one gets it, for whatever price one gets it, one should purchase it. So, why he says that, what is the way to get it? What is the price that you have to pay for purchasing it? It is, that is, tatra laulyam dhaulyam ekalam, the only price is greed.
One has to be greedy to be Krishna conscious, laulyam dhaulyam ekalam, right? Then he says, janma koti shikuta hi na labdhe de. This laulya cannot come just by punya. Even if one performs punya, for many, many lifetimes, one will not get this laulya.
That laulya actually comes by the mercy of Krishna, by the association of devotees, where that mercy manifests. When the devotees are attracted to Krishna, through their attraction to Krishna, we become attracted to Krishna. Bhakti sanjayate bhakti, just like a wood has the potential to be lit, but for the wood to be lit, it has to come in contact with some other law of wood, which is also lit.
Similarly, our heart has the potential for bhakti, but that potential for bhakti is awakened when it comes in contact with some other heart, in which the potential for bhakti has been awakened. And so bhakti sanjayate bhakti, so machit taha, Krishna consciousness, very striking phrase it is. So Krishna is telling here, by buddhi yoga, by offering the fruits of your bhakti to me, you become conscious of me.
And now Krishna again starts using the strategy of instructing by contrasting. So he is told, Krishna has said, whatever be your level, you just practise bhakti, just surrender to me. So now, if somebody says, no, what you want me to do is fight, I can’t fight.
In case Arjuna has that attitude, Krishna will first do jangam purusha purusha, and the next verse, and then he uses a specific application for Arjuna in the next two verses. So all this is to exhort Arjuna to practise bhakti. machit taha sarva durgaani mat prasadat tari shasi matacet kama hankara mishra shasi vinam shasi So machit taha, you become conscious of me, Krishna says, whatever obstacles that might come, sarva durgaani, all obstacles.
So durga is basically like a fort. So fort is obstruct a person when a person is trying to escape. So the word fort, actually, it essentially refers to prison.
Sometimes prisoners can be kept inside the fort. So sarva durgaani, all obstacles will be removed. Again Krishna uses the word mat prasadat, by my words he does it.
And Krishna actually, the word he uses, tari shasi. Tari shasi actually means not even crossing, it’s just floating over. Tari shasi, there now.
This is obstacles, you will just be lifted over the obstacles. This word tari shasi reminds us of 12.6 and 7, desha maha samudrata. So I will take you out of my life.
Krishna extends his hand, so you know the conditions of my bhakti. He offers the hand and is pulled out. So mat prasadat tari shasi, by my mercy you cross over.
And on the other hand, atache, if however, if you think that you know better, you don’t want to surrender to it. From ahamkaraan, if you have the ahamkara, na shokshasi, you think you know better, you don’t have to hear anything. Vinam shasi, you will be lost.
So vinam shasi is not actually vinashyati. Vinashyati is to be destroyed. Vinam shasi is to be lost.
You will be lost, in the sense that you continue on the cycle of birth and death. You will be lost, as far as finding the way out of the system. Just like, if a person is trapped in a maze, the maze can be something like a, there are many paths, there are underground cellars, many paths, different paths go in different directions.
And all of them, one doesn’t know how to come out. So if one knows somebody, who knows the way out, you just take that person’s guidance, and you come out of that maze. But, all of you know the maze? Concept of maze? Maze is basically like a, she mentioned in some traditional palaces and other places, there would be an underground channel of, network of passages.
And they are, there are so many passages which go in so many different directions. They are all underground canals and cellars and tunnels. And one, underneath it, one doesn’t know how to come out.
If I go this way, I might be going deeper inside the tunnel. I go another way, it might be taking me in some other direction. So, it’s all dark, and there are so many passages, one doesn’t know how to come out.
And all these passages interact with each other, and they just, which is leading in, which is leading out, which is leading where, it’s very difficult to know. So if one is trapped in a maze like that, it’s very difficult to come out. So the way to come out is, if somebody knows, this is the way out.
Just follow that. So Krishna is saying, similarly, actually you are trapped in material existence. The modes are pulling us in different directions.
And how can one come out? So Krishna says, I know the way out. You just follow me. You become conscious of me.
You abide by my instructions, you will come out. But, Krishna says, you don’t want to follow me. Then, you will be lost.
So this venantiasi will be elaborated in the next few verses. How will you be lost, Krishna? Are you lost? I am not lost. I am intelligent.
I am Dada. I am a Kshatriya. I know what to do.
So to explain how, we will be lost means, we will be forced to act by the modes. And the modes will act in a way, force us to act in a way that will continue our bondage. So that venantiasi will be elaborated.
Krishna uses the same word, ahamkara, to make sure that we get the continuity. So, ahamkara mahashritya, if one takes a shelter of ahamkara, so it’s very, it’s very grand. It’s a Catholic use of the word, because generally speaking, we think of shelter in terms of something higher, something divine.
But Krishna says, you don’t take shelter of me, you will have to take shelter of ahamkara. So, it’s ahamkara mahashritya. Take shelter of ahamkara.
And why? Because of your own independent-mindedness. Because then, na yo chaitimanyase. If you think, I will not fight.
So what will happen? Nityaisha nivasayase. So, somebody can just look at this. I will complete this for that.
Come and see. Nityaisha nivasaya is, say, nivasaya, where was the word nivasaya coming? Nivasaya atmikabandhi. Very good.
2.41. So, nivasaya means determination. So, your determination will be nityaisha, which means directed. It will direct you towards nitya.
And prakriti swa myo chati. You say you will not be engaged by me, then you will be engaged by my religion. It is said that one who does not accept God as almighty, for that person, his tongue and genitals become almighty.
And they drag that person around. Ultimately, we have to accept something as almighty. So, the mind becomes almighty.
The senses become almighty. And they drag the person around. So, this is prakriti swa myo chati.
How prakriti will make that person act? That will be described in the next verse. So, sabhavajetam deya. So, sabhavajetam deya.
Nibaddhal sve nakarmana, nibaddhal sve nakarmana, kartum dekshati anmoha, kartum dekshati anmoha, karishyasya vashopital, karishyasya vashopital. So, sabhavajena. By the sabhav, which we have got, all of us are nibaddhaha.
And we are bound towards what? Sve nakarmana. Towards our own activities. So, the Bhagavad Gita very clearly recognises that all of us have particular natures.
And those natures impel us towards certain activities. It says, sabhava by sve nakarmana. So, Arjuna, you are a kshatriya.
Because of your kshatriya sabhava, you will be impelled towards kshatriya activities of fighting. So, now, Chakravarthipala explains that, Krishna is telling Arjuna that, you are saying that you will not fight. You will become a mendicant.
But, when you are a mendicant, and you are begging alms in the role of a mendicant, if somebody refuses your alms, what will you do? You will take out your sword. I want to punish that person for being insolent enough to refuse. So, he says, this is not the way a kshatriya should behave.
Chakravarthipala has little spices, Krishna has. When you raise your arms at that time against innocent people, then I will laugh at your stupidity. So, now, you are saying you will not fight.
But, nibaddha sve nakarmana. You will be forced to fight. You cannot avoid that fight.
So, to emphasise this, Krishna is using so many words here. The first is nibaddha, bond. And then he uses vimechasi, and our show.
Three times he is conveying the idea of bondage. A bond, nibaddha, nechasi. You don’t desire it, but you do it.
And then, avasya, helplessness. It’s not something that we can. Our nature is extremely strong, whatever the nature may be.
And to artificially deny or reject that is not possible for a very long time. So, nibaddha, this is your bond. Acknowledge that.
And I have given a programme by which whatever is your nature, you can use it to rise to a higher consciousness. So, follow my programme. So, let’s look at what is happening in the last section of this chapter.
So, Krishna will talk about bhujia, bhujia tara, and bhujia tama a few words later. I’m just preparing for that now. So, first Krishna talked about nishkama karma yogata, jnana yogata, brahmana, and then from brahmana to bhagavan.
Then, after that, he’s talking about direct practise of bhakti yoga by which we can come to bhagavan. So, we’ll come back to this a little later. Let’s complete this section.
So, here Krishna is, Baldev Ji has already said, Krishna is talking about something called sobhavavad. Sobhavavad means, the vad is theory or philosophy. This philosophy says that all of us are bound by our sobhava.
So, if you are bound by our sobhava, in modern times, the idea is of genetics. So, that we are just controlled by our genes or we are controlled by our hormones. We are controlled by the biochemistry of our body.
So, this idea is quite deep-rooted and it can lead to a lot of harmful consequences. That means, if somebody is a criminal, a murderer, and then that person is proven by the court to be a murderer, then what happens is, the lawyer just gets a certificate from the psychiatrist that this person is mentally unstable. And because this person is, there are certain chemicals in the brain, there are certain genes or something like that.
Because of it, that person is impelled to act like that. And because that person is impelled to act like that, that person is not responsible. Now, it’s possible that some people can be actually mentally unstable.
But the whole concept of law and justice impinges, it depends conditionally on the concept of responsibility and free will. Unless I had the free will to choose to do right or wrong, and then I did wrong, there’s no point in saying that I should be punished. You know, if, say, Pakistan sends a missile to India, and the missile falls in Mumbai, and it is about to explode and destroy the city.
But some people come before and catch it and detonate it. And after that, we are not going to put the missile, and do a court case against the missile, and then put a chain sentence on the missile. What we are going to do is destroy it.
Why? Because that missile is instantiated. That missile, it is just going to do what I have functioned in this programme to do. And either it will do it, or it will not do it.
That’s all. So, why is it that in human beings, when human beings do something wrong, it is not done immediately. The first thing is, oh, you did something wrong, just finish you off, kill you off.
That is not done. Why? Because it is understood that human beings can change. The whole principle of reformation that is there, that is based on the premise that human behaviour is changeable.
Otherwise, there will be no meaning for having genes. The only thing we need to do is, if there are criminals, kill them. Because the logic would be, why are there criminals? Because their brain programme is bad.
And what can you do about the brain programme if the world is unchanging? Therefore, kill them. And it is understood. But that has never been done, and that should never be done.
So, this idea that all of us are programmed, either from the modern perspective, by our genes or by our hormones, or the traditional understanding that we are programmed, the idea that we are programmed by our subhava, both miss out the fact that all of us have to change. So, there is a difference between, if you remember, impelling and compelling. I have seen mine impels, but she can’t compel.
So, impel means to push, whereas compel means to force. So, the mind can push us, our subhava will push us to act upon it. But when it pushes, we can counter-push.
We don’t have to necessarily subordinate ourselves to the push entirely. And the whole process of varanashram is not so much even as to counter-push, but to channelise the push. That means, by my kshatriya nature, I will be pushed towards being a controller, being a warrior, being a fighter, being a protector.
So, what should I do? This is my nature. I cannot entirely counter-push it. So, for example, say there is a simple example.
There is a rock over here, and a huge flow of water is going to come. So, when that flow of water is going to come, that rock is going to get pushed out of its push. It is going to carry on the push.
So, what one can do is, one cannot stop the flow of the water from coming. One cannot stop the rock from moving. But if one creates a proper channel, by which that rock, instead of going in one direction, can go in another direction.
So, then what happens is, the movement will be there, but the movement will be in a particular direction. Similarly, the kshatriyas, those who are of kshatriya mentality, will act in particular ways. That cannot be avoided.
But that can be channelised. And the whole purpose of scriptures is to channelise our actions according to our nature. And, after describing this, so the flow was, 58 was saying, it will give an ultimatum.
When you become conscious, don’t become conscious. What will happen then? Then he says, how will your vinayasa be derived? Because your moods will force you to act in particular ways. Then Krishna will describe, if somebody says, if Krishna uses so emphatically our nibadha, nipshisi, avasho, am I just completely controlled by my moods? Is there nothing that I can do about it? No.
Krishna describes that, okay, yes, you are controlled by the moods. You cannot fight their control. But there is someone who is above the moods.
Above material nature. And, if you surrender to his control, then you can become free from this. That will be described in the next two verses.
So, this verse has many significant points. The first is that it is also a very clear reference about how Krishna is situated in the heart. The Ishwara, the supreme lord is situated in the heart.
Which is the other verse that says that he is in the heart? Yes, there was a chaaham in the sanctuary. So, many, many Hindu organisations have the idea that they say the soul and God are situated in the forehead. And that’s why we all put pill up on the forehead.
So, actually, there is a scriptural reason for that. We put pill up on the forehead because it is a prominent, visible part of the body. So, we want to remind ourselves.
Actually, I am serving the Krishna. And then there is, of course, the chakra point of the Agya chakra. The highest chakra is over here.
So, that is also Mahakala Vellai. It is not that the super soul is present in the head. It is very clearly mentioned that he is in the heart.
That’s the first point. Hritheshya Hritheshya Hritheshya Hritheshya Hritheshya Hritheshya Hritheshya Hritheshya Let’s say that It indicates that Krishna’s love is not discriminating. Krishna’s love is all-encompassing.
It is all-embracing. Even the people who forget him, even the people who reject him, Krishna is present even in their hearts. And nothing can cause Krishna to leave somebody’s heart and go away.
He is forever living in their heart. And he will wait for that person to turn to him. So, Hritheshya Arjunakrishna It is the origin of the heart.
And what is he doing from over there? Ramayan Sarvabhutani So, there are two words. There is Sarvabhutana and Sarvabhutani. So, first Sarvabhutana is referring to those all-living beings as Krishna is present in their heart.
Krishna is present in the heart of all of them. Second Sarvabhutani refers to that all-living beings are also wandering. So, when they are wandering, how are they wandering? Sarvabhutani yantravudani mayaya They are situated in a machine made of maya.
So, yantra is machine and maya is, here the word maya doesn’t refer to the usual energy. It refers to matter. And it refers to the material energy which controls that matter.
So, we are made on a machine, situated on a machine of maya. And on that we are wandering. So, in a sense, to some extent, our bodies are like machines on autopilot.
Even when an aeroplane is on autopilot, even if the pilot tries to hit a wrench in the pilot’s plane, it’s moving. So, like that, people who don’t use their free will, who just act according to their own qualities, they are on autopilot. And especially animal life is largely like existing on autopilot.
Animal feeds us something to eat, which it will come and eat it. Animal feeds us meat. If it’s the mating season, animals will get involved.
If it’s not the mating season, it’s not that the animals are so self-controlled. So, it’s just that, at that time, the autopilot for mating is not on. So, they just programme like this.
Krishna says, sarva-bhūtāni yantrā rūṇāni māyā. They are wandering on this machine made of maya. And what is the, actually speaking, there are some verses which we quote very often.
But often, if we look at the content of those verses, they seem to be saying two very disjointed things. Remember, I discussed this about 15 months ago. First part says, sarvasyaṃ, which means I am still in the heart of everyone.
Second part says that, actually, I give knowledge to everyone but forgetfulness. So, what is the connection between the two? That is, from within the heart, observing your desire, I reciprocate by giving knowledge to everyone but forgetfulness. So, similarly, here, what is the correlation? Which is, I am still in the heart of everyone.
And all the people are wandering in the machine made of maya. The correlation is that, actually, I am the companion. I am the companion of all beings.
So, I am not just a companion. It is, this is the word, īśvaraha. So, that īśvaraha contrasts with the previous verses, avasyaha, hecchasi, nivartaha.
So, the soul is bound in the body but this īśvaraha is not bound. This īśvaraha is free. And Krishna says, though he tells that, next verse he tells the point there.
So, the machine is, something is controlling us. The soul is here, material nature is right now controlling the soul. But above this is the super-soul.
So, if we surrender to the super-soul, then we can become free from the control of material nature. That is the next verse. So, śāśvatah, so if you surrender to that supreme lord by his mercy, you will become free from this material existence and you will attain that eternal destination.
So, why Krishna refers to himself as the second person over here? We will discuss that in the next class.