Gita study Mumbai 2012- 03.25-30 Four differences between karma kandi and karma yogi

Transcript

This is an AI-generated transcript and may contain some errors.
in relationship with Krishna.
Thank you very much. Sri Sri Shri Shri Shri Shri Shri Shri Shri Shri Shri Shri Shri Shri Shri Shri Shri Shri Shri Shri Shri Shri Shri Shri Shri Shri Shri Shri Shri Shri Shri Shri Shri Shri Shri Shri Shri Shri Shri Shri Shri Shri Shri Shri Shri Shri Shri Shri Shri Shri Shri Shri Shri Shri Shri Shri Shri Shri Shri Shri Shri Shri Shri Shri Shri Shri Shri Shri Shri Shri Shri Shri Shri Shri Shri Shri Shri Shri Shri Shri Shri Shri Shri Shri Shri Shri Shri Shri Shri Shri Shri Shri Shri Shri Shri Shri Shri Shri Shri Shri Shri Shri Shri Shri Shri Shri Shri Shri Shri Shri Shri Shri Shri Shri Shri Shri Shri Shri Sh How But Karma Yoga is not binding That is the big difference So Krishna is comparing two categories of people. Saktaha, the first category is saktaha and avidhvam.
So he is attached and ignorant. The other is asaktaha and vidhvams. So Dalit is non-enlightened, knowledgeable and detached.
So generally in the Vedic tradition, jnana and vairagya go together. A person gets jnana. Then there is jnana which you can understand.
Everything is temporary. And then he becomes vairagya. That’s why we see that when Viswaroop does sannyas, then after that, accordingly, the mind’s father says, let’s stop memory from studying.
Because if you study the scriptures, then you will realise this world is temporary and you will become detached. So jnana and vairagya normally go together. On the other hand, if we see modern science, the jnana is for increasing raj.
The jnana is for finding out new ways to enjoy life. Television, the movies, consumer industry. It’s basically to facilitate newer and newer, possibly better and better way of eating, sleeping, waiting, defending.
So now Krishna is telling that there is this person who has jnana and vairagya. He is vidhvam and saktaha. And the other is avidhvam and saktaha.
And he is comparing these two people. Basically the whole section in looking forward will be a comparison of these two kinds of people. So now when Krishna is speaking this, then he has to type out word for it.
Paramahandir. Then he has to type Paramayodhi in the last part. Then he has to know that Krishna is basically talking about these two different kinds of people.
So one who has knowledge and one who doesn’t have knowledge. So one who has knowledge, such a person, acts in such a way that he will not become wrong. One who does not have knowledge, he acts, he becomes wrong.
Now when you are talking about bondage, it is not that your karma towards me is simple. The bondage is that you continue the cycle of work and life. You may go to heavens and get some relative elevation.
But you continue the cycle of work and life. So now Krishna is telling, the key thing is, both of them are working. Both of them are working, but there is a difference in their consciousness.
And because there is a difference in consciousness, there is a difference in the consequence that they get from their work. So let us look at that. This table is going to be central for us.
We will expand this table as we look at the next verses. So Krishna is saying, just as the ignorant people work with attachment, the wise work without attachment for the purpose of lokasandra. So lokasandra was the verse which came in 3.20 also.
Lokasandranameva. Just as Janaka was working for Lokasundara, Arjuna, he also worked for Lokasundara. Now, what is the connection here of Lokasandranameva? Or rather, the previous verse Krishna has said that, if I didn’t do my duty, there will be Varana Sankara.
I will be the cause of Varana Sankara. So here Krishna has proposed the argument of Arjuna. What does he say? He says, actually, if I don’t do my duty, he says, by any means, you don’t do your duty.
Then, the unrighteous people will start ruling the world. And when the unrighteous people start ruling the world, they will not follow the standards of Dharma. And there will be unrestricted mixing of men and women.
And that will lead to Varana Sankara. So Krishna has reversed his argument. And therefore, he says, Arjuna agrees with this concept.
He says, okay, I understand this point. That if the righteous don’t act, then the unrighteous will naturally take over. And they will be in control.
So Arjuna. But at the same time, how is it that I will not take over? So Arjuna agrees with the point of setting an example. And indeed for Lokasandranameva, he asks, how is it that I will not take over? So Krishna will explain that in a second.
So Arjuna says, Duryodhana is fighting with attachment and his ignorance. But you should fight with attachment and ignorance. You have the knowledge, so you fight with attachment.
So I’ll describe now what is the inner consciousness. The word samachara also came up here. Samachara.
Samachara acts improperly in the same way. So he says, na buddhi vedam janaye. Don’t jana is the people, buddhi ved.
Ved means to create a home. He says don’t disturb the intelligence of people. Don’t disturb.
Buddhi vedam janaye. Ajnanam karmasaminam. He’s referring to the two qualities he mentioned, sakthaha and avidvam.
So he’s using another word for the same thing. Ajnaninam for avidvams. And for sakthaha he’s using karmasam.
Meaning the same thing. Don’t disturb their minds. Jyoshe, Prabhupada explains, don’t take.
Connect, engage. Sarvakarmani, vidvam and samachara. What do you want to do? You encourage people to continue their activities.
You should engage them all in all sorts of activities. Follow the gradual development of the proper activity. In the translation.
Normally when in a text these square braces come. There are three kinds of braces. There is round braces, curly braces and square braces.
So normally the square braces in the text indicate something that the author is normally, if I am quoting from some person. Then if something is added in square braces, that means the speaker or the person who is quoting it is adding something to clarify what it means. So for example, if I am quoting from somebody and that quote says that in such situations technology can be extremely dangerous.
So this is the quote that I have taken. What does such record is not clear. Either I can go back and quote all the sentences which will explain what is such or in front of such I can just put in a square brace.
That where people don’t have self-control. Such situations, people don’t have self-control. Technology can be extremely dangerous.
So square braces indicate what has been inserted by somebody else. Curly braces indicate, round braces indicate that is what the same author has put for further clarification. So normally what, now that’s why you will not find these square braces in drop-by-spur quotes.
You find anything, you find round braces. So square braces indicate what? That this particular phrase is not there in the translation. In the Sanskrit original.
But to help us understand what the translation means, Prabhupada is adding it to it. So he is giving us a broader idea. And Prabhupada does that in 3.43 also.
I will show you how it happens that way. So here Krishna is saying that gradually people will get elevated. They can do their karma.
So by this they will at least know I should do this. I should try that. I will take up a small surgery.
Then I will become gradually detached. See, generally a person is very sensitive. A small child is there.
The child is nothing but sensitive. In a beautiful baby, as soon as the baby feels hungry, the baby will not be consciously self-centred. It doesn’t have the development of consciousness to think of anybody else’s existence apart from itself.
So as soon as the baby feels hungry, he will start crying. It means that everybody else will just drop everything else and come and run to help and take care. As the baby grows up, then the child starts understanding that other people exist.
And other people also have their needs. Not that they don’t understand that other people exist. But the idea that other people have their needs.
That it is not that I am the centre of the universe. So whatever people talk about, Adar e ra chela, Swajan e ra gole, Samsara lagina paad. This is where we have been able to become the apple of the eye of everyone.
And a small child is loved by everyone. This is very nice. So there is an article recently about parenting in several newspapers.
How, you know, there was a sociologist who was doing research in America as well as in among some tribes in Africa. This is the primitive and backward. And what there was comparison? Comparison was about how the children are growing up.
So, the sociologist they found that they interviewed around 5000 parents in America. And they said you have to do live shooting of how are the situations in your home. And they did that So, a small boy or girl comes along and he says some child wants to wear the shoes.
So, the child picks up that lace and is not able to remove the lace. So, he shouts at his father untie the lace. I said untie the lace.
Father doesn’t speak. Mother is angry but doesn’t speak anything. Then the father unties the lace and the child says tie the lace.
Tie it yourself. He says I am just asking. So, like that there were so many snippets which showed that the parents had to make the child do the small work.
So, in one of the snippet they showed the child that father said to the child son go and take a bath. The son is just sitting in front of a video game playing the video games. He just sits and says once, twice, thrice, four, five times to take a bath.
And finally, the father just picks up the son and takes him to the bathroom. And the son is screaming. And after 2-3 minutes, again the son has gone to some other room and clearly not taken a bath.
So, they said that we are raising children to become rotten and spoiled in a way. And they can’t do anything. So, this psychologist had gone to survey a tribe in Andheri.
And this tribe basically cuts, they basically are woodcutters and they live on the bullock and basically animal products that they want. Not killing but basically they go on for collecting things from the forest. So, there he found that there was a 6 year old girl.
So, when they were going to the forest for collecting things, a group of people were going. And this girl said, I also want to come. And she came along and she had no specific role within that.
But this sociologist observed that this girl herself took up some work. Whenever they would bring all the collection of the day, she would carry it and put it in proper stacks. And when they would come, she would herself start serving everyone.
So, nobody told her anything. And so, she was doing her response without complaining or to speak of without instructing or boasting, without even asking. Voluntarily, she was taking up the work.
Then they said that these tribals according to our standard are considered uncivilised, primitive because their children are going up to be responsible. And our children are going up to be responsible. So, what is the reason for that? And they said that actually the problem is that we are spoiling our children by giving them whatever they want.
This is in these traditions. This is both in Asian and African traditions. Letting the children learn that not all their desires will be fulfilled is an important part of rule.
Children understand. You know, I want this toy. They showed one girl who had $325 in her bedroom.
$325. Just entering her bedroom was difficult. First of all, in India, children don’t even have their own rules.
But to have their rules, they are completely spoiling. What is happening is they are pampering our children. They are pampering our children and they are turning up to be spoiled.
We are thinking that the child will get spoiled if their desires are not fulfilled. Children will become psychologically suppressed to something where they will not fulfil their desires. But actually, we are having a massive social experiment that has no parallels in one district.
Never before has a civilisation pampered children like we have. And it is turning out to be a disastrous experiment. So basically, the problem is the problem is that they are trying to not let the child grow up from selfishness to selflessness.
So the child is small and then he says, I want this toy. I want this toy. I want this toy.
Whatever I want, he gets it. Then the child becomes a boy and he goes to college. He says, I want this girl.
And the girl says, get lost. He takes a gun and shoots her. Or he takes a gun and shoots himself.
So, a part of growing up in life is to learn to take no for an answer. It’s a very important part of growing up. I want something, but you don’t want it.
So, learning to accept and know in life is very important. But when we don’t let people do that unfortunately, then they grow up. They may biologically grow up.
They may emotionally grow up. So basically, how does the Vedic culture work? How is this all thing about raising up of children got to do with our topic right now? The topic here is how the Vedic culture slowly brings about selflessness. So essentially, spiritual advancement is a journey from selfishness to selflessness.
The first level of selfishness is called narcissism. What is narcissism? Narcissism means complete self-centredness instead of obsession. One doesn’t think of anything or anyone.
Then there is something called as Prabhupada calls it extended selfishness. And then beyond that, this extended selfishness will go to family, it may go to community, country. And finally when it extends, finally it attains, Krishna centredness is divine selflessness.
So this is the journey which moves on. So a person who is very responsible and very self-centred, for such a person, he starts taking care of other family members. That is also good.
Because at least the person is organising. I can’t just do what I want to do. I have to take care of others.
So taking care of others means taking care of the parents, taking care of the spouse, taking care of the children. This helps the person to become more and more selfless. At least, now it’s selfishness only because they are all my family members.
Now Bhagavatam condemns All this comes up and one becomes attached. One should give up the attachment. But in Kali Yuga, people don’t get attached husband and wife also.
You see, for the hippies who just renounced everything and become full-time devotees and so on, it was not as difficult as for Indians to become full-time devotees in India. Because they had no attachment to family. They had no considerable responsibility for family.
One senior leader from America, he was saying that he was asking me that I heard that in your temples, if boys want to join when they are in college, we don’t allow them to join. He said, that was not the standard of the government. But during our times, as soon as you wanted to join, come join me.
Sir was wrong and correct. In fact, there was one boy in IIT who was arguing with him. He wanted to join immediately.
He was in 3rd year or something like that. He wanted to join immediately. He said, I want to surrender to Krishna and you are obstructing me.
What was the idea? He said, I want to become a devotee. I want to become a devotee. Actually, what happens is, the culture in America and India, America, they have no concept of sons taking care of their parents.
There is no culture like that. The parents know that I have to take care of myself. And, okay, I will grow my children.
But after growing my children, they are not going to take care of me. They will have their separate lives. That’s why many American parents, instead of having children, prefer to have pets.
Because at least pets never become ungrateful. Pets are not difficult to deal with. And that’s why what is happening is, America and Europe have the world’s least birth rate.
That means, for a civilisation to continue on, there are two male and female, then the birth rate should be at least around 2.5 to 2.6. So, some children will die young. And that’s why the population should at least maintain 2.5 to 2.6. In America, the birth rate is between, in Western countries, America and Europe, between 1.9 to 2.1 to 2.2. And that indicates that the civilisation is perpetually declining. And of course, many Muslims have gone to Europe.
And they are reproducing. So, without any war, within 50 years, Europe will be a majority Muslim country. Without any war.
And within 70-80 years, even America will be. So, that’s a different issue. The point which you are making is, that there is no sense of selflessness.
In terms of, I have to take care of my parents, there is no obligation like that. And apparently, I don’t have to take care of children also. Anyway, they are going to become big mess after they grow up.
So, that’s why they just prefer to practise. There is one situation where in Los Angeles, in there, I had seen a photo of parks. In that city, the number of dogs is more than the number of children.
The number of pet dogs is more than the number of children. Because they feel this kind of, they at least are never ungrateful. We can actually love them and they can reciprocate with us.
And all the love that the parents would offer to their children, now they are offering to their pet dogs. So, it’s unfortunate. But the point again is that in India, it’s a different country.
So, at one hand, leaving their family and children brings about a certain level of selflessness. A certain level of selflessness is important that a person will become self-obsessed and irresponsible. So, that’s why, when the scriptures say, that is also genuine.
At what level? That is one thing that, if I have my own life, I don’t care for anyone else. I don’t care for anyone else. So, but then, one has to grow from that selfish level to the selfless level, extremely selfish level of caring for the family.
The view that, care for the family, care for the community, ultimately, a professional cycle of love expands to its fullest extent and reaches Krishna. So, the point here is many times, people, they want to get up to renounced order also. They have not really expanded from, say, the two level to the four level.
They’re actually, they want to give up the two levels so that they can come to the one level. Then, if I enjoy the work, I’m just always studying, that’s so messy. And working with a company is so messy.
I just dance and sing and be happy, but this attitude doesn’t work. So, in India, it’s important that the traditional culture needs to be respected. And certainly, those who become immature, they are accepted guests.
But, it’s not that we are against our families. We would like our families to also be good people. We would also like to have good relationships with them.
But, at this particular phase, we have to cut off that way. So that, we will re-establish the word literature spiritually. But, the point is, that this cutting of the word is not because of criticism.
It is because of the ignorance. It’s because we want to take care of every responsibility of serving the nation. So, now, in modern times, if somebody just drops the education and then becomes a Vimachari, that can lead to such negative publicity.
Not just negative publicity in terms of women getting defamed. It happened with, I was, when I was introduced, I introduced my room partner, and my room partner became Vimachari. Now, that means the DMC.
So, when he became Vimachari, actually, he joined before me, somehow. I was working for him. And, his father got so angry.
His father said, he went directly to your college. He said, I said, I sent you to your college to become an engineer, and your college has become Vimachari. What does that mean? And, after that, the college didn’t even notice.
There were no students to be allowed to practise any religious activities. They didn’t know where the college was. In the hostel.
And, he was so angry. He told Murai, he said, who was that person who told you to become a Vimachari? He said, I was in the army. I still carry my gun with me.
Tell me, who said that? He was so angry with him. But, now, as the years have passed, both his mother and father, and brother, all of them have persisted from the devotees. And, when Murai went to his village, his father himself arranged a programme for him.
And, it was a big programme. Almost 2,000 people came for that programme. His father was going around distributing pamphlets for his programme.
So, this transformation happens. So, then, after that, we decided that nobody, no boys, will join directly to the college. After they go out of the college, they join a company, work in a company for some time.
After that, they can join. So, what happens is, the college doesn’t feel that, something like this happened to my college. So, and also, working in a company helps people understand that life is not easy.
In college, what happens is, whenever we feel we can bunk the lecture also. We can do what we like. But, we can’t bunk the job.
So, to some extent, working in a company forces us, at least for the material sake, to put aside the moves of our life. We are forced to put aside the moves of our mind and learn some level of responsibility. And that is very valuable in the future.
So, Krishna is telling Arjuna that the Karmakandis, they will work for material means. So, that means, for example, so, a Karmakandi’s thinking is, I have to get my sons and daughters married. I have to have a big house.
I have to have this. I have to have that. But, at least for that sake, the Karmakandi becomes responsible.
So, Krishna tells, you act like a Karmakandi. You act exactly like a Karmakandi. You also have a Karmakandi.
You also take up responsibilities in the society. But, do it with attachment. What will happen when you do it with attachment? This person is living in the world like us.
But, at the same time, he is also so his values and goals are so different. He is not so attached to whatever he would like to have. He is focussing on Krishna.
He is focussing on the ultimate goal of life. He is implementing himself accordingly. So, Krishna is saying, let me use it as an example.
So, in this journey, what is happening is, from 1, 2, 3, 4, Krishna centredness and ultimate selflessness. And, the self-centredness is actually, I alone exist. And, if something gives me pleasure, I do it.
If something doesn’t give me pleasure, I don’t do it. This is basically, rights and dis-rights of the mind. So, to some extent, even our family commitments force us to go this way.
So, similarly, when we come to devotional life, actually, especially when we become Dhanusharis, at that time, we become part of a spiritual family. And, here also, the commitment which we have within the spiritual family also force us to go this way. They also force us to resist the wishes and feelings of the mind, tolerate it, and move forward.
So, very advanced devotees may not need association. But, still, they stay in association to set an example for others. Set an example for others.
This is how one should practise Krishna consciousness in a villager way. Even somebody, a Raghangala bhakta, a bhakta is a bhakta, some people describe that, even a Raghangala bhakta, he is so advanced that he doesn’t have to follow the rules and regulations. But, that doesn’t mean he doesn’t follow.
He follows, but not because of fear or because of instruction, but because of liking. He likes to do devotional service. That’s why he does it.
So, we do it because it’s an instruction, it’s a commitment. So, that means, for example, in the bhakti terms, even if somebody is gone beyond the rules of devotional service, he doesn’t need to follow the rules and regulations because he is following the instruction. Still, the person will follow the rules and regulations because they have set a good example for others.
So, now, let’s move forward. So, what is Krishna telling in this verse? You should encourage them to gradually develop Krishna consciousness by setting examples. And then, Krishna will now talk about how or why such a person doesn’t become bound.
In 27 and 28, he will contrast the consciousness of a karmakandi with the consciousness of a karmahini. So, this is a very well-known verse and we quote it for how a person thinks himself to be a karmahini. It’s a valid place to quote it.
In the flow of the Bhagavad Gita, it is talking about a karmahini. Karmahini thinks that I am making you a karmahini, I am doing this, I am achieving that. And this is Krishna’s karmahini.
And this is because of this consciousness that I am the doer, then I become the, if I think that I am the doer, then I become the reaper also. As you know. So, when I think that I am the doer, I get the consequences.
So here, the consciousness is that I am the doer. So basically, a person understands that the gods are acting, but I am doubting them within the range of them. You know Maharaj, what does he tell Naraguni? Naraguni tells him to become detached.
He says, you know, when I am detached, I cannot become detached. I cannot become detached. Please, instruct me according to my level.
So Naraguni says, yeah, I need honour. Please guide me how I can get it. So there are certain cushions of the body which cannot be given up immediately.
So then we go down. So when somebody is a very good manager, and he can be very efficient, and delicate, and important, and get things done, the person understands, actually, it’s the moods. I have got a combination of passion and goodness.
Because of that passion, I am going to get a lot of things done. So, if I think that I am the doer, then I will have to become the reaper. I will get the consequences of karmic bondage.
And the mood that I take, well, I am doing this within the angle of them. This is the kind of body I have. So let the body function in a particular way in nature.
But, I will do it for the sake of Krishna. The Karma Yogi will not think that he is doing it for Krishna’s sake. He will think that I am doing it for the sake of Atma Gyan.
He will think that I am doing it for the sake of Krishna. So either way, that’s how one becomes liberated. So Krishna in this verse describes how a person is a doer, doesn’t think himself to be a doer, and he is a removed Atma.
We realise that we are not the doers, when we need to, when we are unable to do what we think we can do very easily. When we think I can do something very easily, suddenly we find that I am not able to do it. So as I mentioned, when we are supposed to go out of form, or sometimes we find that suddenly if we are very good speakers, sometimes the words don’t come, the ideas don’t come, and sometimes we try to say this, and we forget the tunes.
So it always happens that we realise that I am not the doer actually. So now Krishna explains in the next verse, how does the person who is in knowledge, this verse was talking about a Vidwan and a Santah. This next verse talks about Vidwan and a Santah.
So what is this consciousness? Tattvavittu Mahabhavo Tattvavittu Mahabhavo Guna Karanam Vibhagayo Guna Karanam Vibhagayo Guna Ganeshu Vartanka Guna Ganeshu Vartanka So Krishna says he is knowledgeable, so he is using the word Tattvavittu for that person. He knows the truth. Now here Tattva refers to Tattva of how good natured are the people.
And what does he know? He knows the Vibhaga of Guna Karama, or he knows the division of work under the three modes. And he understands Guna, Guna Ganeshu Vartanka. And actually the modes are coming in contact with their particular objects.
Nithimattvana Sajjate. He doesn’t become attached. So how does understanding this knowledge prevent us from becoming attached? We understand that actually this body is a vehicle.
Suppose two people are going from here to Calcutta. You say, I love you, and say you are going to Calcutta. So one person goes in a train, another person goes in a plane.
And then the person who goes in a plane, naturally he will be there within 2-3 hours. And the person who goes in a train may take 2.5-2 days or 1.5-2 days. Now, can the person who has gone in the plane say, see I am so much better than you.
I came so much faster. He says no. He understands that actually it’s not my glory, it’s the plane’s glory.
I came faster, not because I am special, but because the vehicle that was given to me was special. Now I have come here faster, let me do more work over here, let me do more service over here. So just as when we are using vehicles and one vehicle is better than another, we understand that that is the virtue of the vehicle.
That is not my virtue. Similarly, some of us may be very good in certain things. Some of us may have very good memory.
Some people, they can just memorise what’s it is, recite 2-3 times. Some other people, they recite 35 times and still they can’t remember anything. So now, a person can memorise just by 3-4 times.
He says, I memorised so fast, see I am so clever. No, that is just the psychophysical machine that we have been given that has that capacity. Now if I have that capacity, there is no need for me to deny it.
But I shouldn’t just become proud of it. I will use it in Krishna’s service. The other person doesn’t have to bother, oh I don’t have this capacity.
Still I can serve Krishna. So, guna gune ishu vartam iti vartum aana se uchi. This person doesn’t go down because I understand it is just guna gune ishu.
Some person can sing very nicely, others cannot sing so nicely. Fine. One who can sing nicely, he can use it in Krishna’s service.
But you understand that this is actually not the, it is not my property. It is the virtue, it is the capacity of the machine that I have been given. And because that machine has the capacity, surely I should use it.
But I use it not to become proud, but to glorify Krishna. Like the next verse, Krishna again goes back and contrasts with a person who does not know. But now here Krishna, this is all a confusion.
So, 25-26, Krishna has told about, first he said, don’t disturb the mind of people. Engage them 27-28, he said how the attached, how the ignorant are bound and how the enlightened are not bound. So, 29 again he describes how the enlightened should engage the ignorant.
So, basically, he is repeating this but I am not clarifying the concepts. तान कुष्णमिदो मन्दा तान कुष्णमिदो मन्दा कुष्णविन विचालये कुष्णविन विचालये So, विचालये means to disturb. So, those who are सम्मूद्धा, पयद गुणा पकृति, that means Krishna is talking about the verse 27.
सर्जिन्दे इवन करमसु, they are attached to the work according to their modes. So, don’t disturb their peace. Don’t give them an instruction that is too much for them to practise.
Okay, they are at a particular level, just encourage them to practise at that level, by which they can gradually rise up in peace. So, here Krishna is telling don’t disturb the mind of people. Sometimes when we preach, we disturb the mind of people.
So, Prabhupada explains in this purport that the devotees of the Lord are more kind than the Lord because they understand the purpose of the Lord. That means that sometimes when a person is moving along various traditions and at that time a person needs some Shakti. And occasionally devotees may give that.
But the purpose is that the devotees want to elevate people. Krishna also wants to elevate people. So, the devotees know the purpose of the Lord.
So, sometimes the devotees are more merciful than the Lord in the sense that the devotee pushes the traditions. Krishna doesn’t push the traditions. Krishna may inspire a little bit from within the heart.
But the devotees are a lot of push. Devotees push, devotees pull. They do all sort of things to help the traditions to move forward.
So, the devotees push and pull and Maya kicks and beats. And Maya says, what happens is we are trying to move towards Krishna. Krishna’s heart says, come towards me, come towards me.
So, some devotees are ahead of Krishna. They say, come, come, please come. They are pulling us along.
And some devotees are behind us, they are pushing us along. But then Maya is saying, come, come, enjoy Maya. Come, enjoy, enjoy.
Then we go towards Maya. Maya gives a kick. Go to Krishna.
So, now, when we get frustration when we go towards Maya, then what happens? Then they look. I thought I would get enjoyment, I got so much suffering. So, there is a verse in the first stanza.
Rasagraha ojana. So, it describes that one who has tasted rasa, one who has tasted at the lotus feet of Krishna, he says rasagraha. So, graha means haunted.
So, he says such a person is haunted by rasa. So, he says because a person is haunted by rasa, even if he goes and tries to enjoy other things, it’s like once a ghost haunts, the ghost doesn’t go away easily. So, it’s like that the rasa of Krishna bhakti has haunted the sadhaka.
So, even if the sadhaka goes and tries to enjoy, goes and tries to do it, he still doesn’t get his enjoyment. There is one devotee in our congregation. He was born and brought up in a devotee family.
Naturally, he grew up hearing and practising devotional music and participating in devotional music. Then when he came to his teenage years, all his friends would go to rock concerts and that sort of music and he was tempted. Should I go? Should I not go? And finally, he said, let me go.
All his friends are Krishna devotees. They are missing out so much in life. And he says, I don’t want to go.
And he says, one hour that I was there, it was just one hour of noise. One hour of noise. Now, all his friends didn’t feel the noise.
There is also enjoyment. There is no enjoyment in this. It was just noise.
Another year, 2011, India won the cricket match. He said, I just couldn’t resist the fight. So, I decided I will watch the fight.
And then he watched the full final and he won the cricket match. And after the cricket match was won, then the senior year after leaving the 6th. And he said, everybody else was just dancing and so happy.
He said, I didn’t feel anything. So, when I was not watching the match, I said, I should watch it. I’ll miss it.
I’ll miss it. But then when I watched it, suddenly it’s gone. So what happens is, the person is haunted by Rasa.
Haunted by Rasa means even if a person goes back to something lower, he will manage. There is nothing in this life. Nothing in this life.
So, so, you know, you know that story that Giriraj Maharaj, he was, when he went home, his parents had got a psychologist to try to get him deprogrammed. And Giriraj Maharaj was thinking, he was encountering all the objections. And his psychologist was in the room, he was waiting in the room.
And Giriraj Maharaj’s parents were waiting outside. And from the point when he came, as he came out, I said, what happened? He said, your son is permanently infected. Because if I stay with him, I will also get infected.
So then, I told Giriraj Maharaj, I told this to Prabhupada. Yes, extra consciousness is an incurable infection. It’s an incurable infection.
So, what happens is, once we get this, our mind doesn’t understand it’s incurable. So, the mind will keep going back to the work, but will not get infected. So, better not listen to the mind, then come back to the work.
Come back to the work. If you will stick here, you will gradually get infected. So, here Prabhupada says that sometimes the devotee has more compassion in him, and he will push others to come towards him.
So, maya kicks us. The purpose of the kick is that maya forces us to go towards Krishna. So, sometimes the devotee may push at a strong, but in general, Krishna is telling, you have no buddhi, but at the end he says, and that is actually a lot of buddhi.
Just look, everything is surrendered to me. Still, the progression that he is achieving, but in general, the sarva-dharma and pratyekcha is not goals for rejection of responsibility, but goals for accepting the higher responsibilities. The higher responsibilities are marked by Krishna.
To take up the responsibilities, which are normally speaking, Krishna disturbs the mind. Maya actually helps him move forward, move forward, move forward. Like sometimes, in one translation, it is talking about the glory of Chaitanya Mahaprabhu.
And I am going to ask this question. Actually, everybody knows Krishna is God, but not Chaitanya? How do you consider him to be God? Nobody else in India considers him to be God. What does it mean? The Purana says, anybody who sees any difference between Krishna Chandra and Gaur Chandra will suffer in the fire of Kumbh for 10,000 years.
Next question. Now, the person is asking in a inquisitive way. The question is indicating a certain level of insecurity and at that time, the person has to gradually and give this sort of answer.
Most of the time, the person will just go and never come back. Generally speaking, even if you can’t do what Thakur says in Jaya Veda Dharma, not in Jaya Veda Dharma, not Chaitanya, even if you can’t accept Chaitanya Mahaprabhu as God, still practise his verses. Practise his verses because ultimately, what is important is not divinity.
What is important is the experience of love that the person has given us. And as we experience the love, we gradually understand his divinity also. So, we should show people his divinity.
Sometimes, people, what happens is we say, we are all worshipping this God, this person is God, this person is God. But then, they will say, you also consider one person to be God. Maybe not your form, your spiritual master, but your own.
We should consider somebody to be God. So, basically, if we go for criticising people too much, people will just come back to us and take it as evidence. Of course, for Chaitanya Mahaprabhu’s divinity, there are claims, there are statements in scriptures.
On my website, I have got 24 scriptural quotes from various scriptures, from Mahabharata and Bhagavad Gita. But ultimately, it’s not a battle of quotes. It’s not just because, it’s not that when Chaitanya Mahaprabhu was going all over India, people were waiting, the scripture says, you are God, you are God, you are God.
It’s not like that. People were experiencing Chaitanya Mahaprabhu’s divinity. So, it is not transparent.
Scripture is important so that we understand that the experience that we are having is bona fide and it is not just a fleeting illusion of the mind. Still, we don’t need the experience. We shouldn’t disturb people’s minds too much.
So, as I was saying, there are so many ways in which we can just alienate people’s minds. But, it should be gradual. So, now Krishna will talk about the culmination.
This is the only verse in this third chapter that Krishna will talk about directly. He’ll talk about Maam. Like he talked about Maam in the second chapter, now he’ll talk about Mai.
… … … … … … … … So, Mai, unto me. So, the ultimate goal of Karna Yoga is to surrender to Krishna. And Krishna is talking to people.
… … … … … … … … … … … … is I. So just say momo and aham mameti. So momo and aham. Matwa is this is mine, this is mine.
So aksha, desire and possession is you that are in this world, in the culture of dwara. Dwara is devotions. It means blessings.
So actually this describes in very nice words. My Sarvankarmani is transcendence. Sannidhisya ardhati cetasa is goodness.
Nirarasi dhirmu dhutva is go beyond passion. This is one capsule which talks about how I Sarvam Krishna can transcend the three modes. Very important words.
So vigata jwaraha. So vigata means to give up. Jwaraha can mean feverishness or laziness.
This is when a person is having fever, a person becomes inactive. So like that, this is talking about mode of ignorance. Go beyond mode of ignorance.
Then nirarasi dhirmu dhutva. This is talking about go beyond mode of passion. This is mine, this is mine.
This is typical of the mode of passion. Sannidhisya ardhati cetasa is talking about the mode of goodness. And my Sarvankarmani is talking about the mode of transcendence or devotion.
So in this way, this verse is actually encapsulating the whole process of Krishna consciousness and how we can help him to transcend the three modes. So we can have Prabhupada Sahaja Yantra for life. Practising Krishna consciousness means practising directly discipline.
As I told you this, you have to do this. No disobedience, no defiance. So this is a joy.
He said don’t do that now. Wake up in the morning. Don’t be lazy.
And if I do something, I will do this. I will work so hard. I should get this, he should get that, I should get this, he should get that.
And in my daily activities, I am doing a lot of activities in Krishna Yantra. Actually I am not doing anything. Then why am I doing this? My Sarvankarmani has all the qualities of Krishna.
So in this way, Krishna has given a hint of Krishna consciousness. And the next two verses, Krishna will talk about faith in his institutions. In the first time in the Bhagavad Gita, Krishna will talk about faith.
And in the first time, you will see Krishna sort of talking by contrast. He talked about it briefly in the previous verses. That we will discuss in tomorrow’s class.
In tomorrow’s class. Tomorrow we are having, we are going to have tomorrow’s class. Okay.