Gita study Mumbai 2012- 03.31-36 The middle way between total supression and unrestricated expression

Transcript

This is an AI-generated transcript and may contain some errors.
The second last section of this third chapter on Karma Yoga. So Lord Krishna has given general principles now. So in the previous section, he has talked about how on one side, the karma can’t abide, but Karma Yoga doesn’t mind.
Because of the consciousness of non-worship. Now Krishna will talk about the broad principles of having faith in his message. And harmonising with his message.
So, the word matha, in our normal conversation means opinion. And generally opinion doesn’t have so much importance. It’s your opinion, my opinion.
But Krishna is saying, this is my matha, eternally. These are my eternal instructions. And our opinion doesn’t have much value because our perspective is limited.
We can’t see the past. We don’t remember the past too clearly. We can’t see the future at all.
Even the present, what we can see is limited. We can’t see inside the hearts of people. We can’t even see properly in our own hearts.
So because of all these limitations, our opinion is subjective and that subjectivity is a serious limitation in this conversation. But for Krishna, because he is omniscient, his opinion is not just objective, but it encompasses all of reality. And that’s why there is a finality to his opinion.
So, this was the last conclusion book, Krishna Siddhityam. And if somebody follows me, dishtanti means to live by, anutishtanti, systematically live by. Manavata, close your ears.
Shraddhavanto anasuryanto. So, two polynomials. Shraddhavanto is with me, anasuryanto is without me.
Uchyante, that person will become liberated. Karmabhi, from the bond of karma. So, now Krishna is talking here in broad terms.
Although earlier we talked about paranasankara, earlier we talked about freedom from sinful reactions. So, Krishna is not using the word uchyante tepi apam, uchyante tepi karmabhi. That means from bad reactions and good reactions, one will become liberated.
People follow the instructions of Krishna. This verse is clearly referring to karmayoga. Although Krishna has talked about karmakand also.
Karmakand doesn’t free us from all karmas. It may only free us from bad karmas. Krishna has said, you can have freedom from all karmas.
Now, Shri Adityanath explains in the Purport that those who are not Shraddhavanto anasuryanto, they cannot become uchyante. These two are required. And then Prabhupada gives a very insightful and opening statement.
He says, an orderly man with firm faith in the eternal yakshas of the Lord, even though unable to execute such orders, becomes liberated from the bondage of the Lord. In the beginning of Krishna consciousness, one may not fully discharge the yaksha of the Lord, but because one is not resentful of this principle and works sincerely without consideration of defeat and hopelessness, he will surely be promoted to the state of pure Krishna consciousness. So, Prabhupada is talking about the sadhaka level and he says, at the sadhaka level, one may not be able to follow the principle strictly.
One may not be able to fully discharge the yakshas. But two things, Prabhupada says that one is not resentful of this principle. Resentful means, why is Krishna guilty? Why am I not guilty? I cannot give up the desire to enjoy.
I cannot give up the activities of enjoyment sometimes. Why am I not resentful of this principle? And without consideration of defeat and hopelessness. So, a devotee may be defeated by maya.
Why? A devotee never becomes hopeless because he understands that Krishna is always there with him. Krishna is the supreme Lord. He is always having desires.
As is happening in the book, that Krishna is one day delivered. And Prabhupada is paraphrasing that over here. So, the previous verses, especially when Krishna says, that was quite a lofty level of instruction.
Arjuna might think, oh, this is not possible for me to practise. But Krishna says, you can try to practise at whatever level you can. And by that, one will eventually come to the highest level.
So, when we face the high standards of Krishna consciousness, there are two possible reactions to this. One is, we just become helpless and think, I am so fallen that, oh, they can never be practised. I can never practise.
And the other reaction is, these are impossible. They are not practical. It is not possible to practise.
Now, both these actions, both these attitudes, cheetahs of spiritual advancement. What are the two attitudes? One is, it is like, if a person is supposed to do a high jump, so there is a hurdle at a particular level. And if I have to jump across that hurdle.
Now, if I see the hurdle is very high, one thing I may think is, actually I can never do it. So, that is what Prabhupada is talking about, hopelessness. I can never do it.
And the other is, man, why you put this hurdle so high? It is not fair. Bring the hurdle down. How do you expect me to jump off this hurdle? So, the other is, we are the same people of the standards.
So, these two are both attitudes that cheetahs of spiritual advancement. Certainly, it may not be easy for us to practise these standards right now. And that is understood.
So, we are here. We have discussed the differences between Karma Yoga and Karma Purana. And now the essential element, by which one is elevated through Karma Yoga.
So, now, wrong attitude. The standard is too high and impractical. That is the first obstacle.
The other is, hopelessness. I am too far. So, both these attitudes obstruct us in Krishna consciousness.
And Prabhupada is protecting us from both of these attitudes. So, he is telling us that, yes, I cannot practise this. That is fine.
I cannot practise this. That is fine. That doesn’t mean that I reject the standards or I resent the standards.
See, reject means, I say I will not follow the rules. Resent means, that internally, I am. So, it is not fair.
So, both ways, actually, we cheat ourselves. Resent means, the standard is too high and impractical. So, now, what would be the right attitude? Right attitude is, we say, if a hurdle is too high, then what does the astrologer do? He cheats us.
And he goes back. Takes a few steps back. And then he gathers the momentum by running.
And once he has gathered sufficient momentum, then the same hurdle, which is impossible to scale, because the momentum jumps at us. Similarly, sometimes, when some standard signal is too high to practise for us, then we have to step back to gather some more momentum. And once we gather momentum, then we do not And sometimes, for sake of gathering momentum, actually, we withdraw backwards.
So, that withdrawal, if it is necessary, then it will not be equated with defeat. Sometimes. So, we would feel that in our mind, I need to withdraw.
I can’t do too much services. I need to focus on my sadhana, on his progeny, his early days, his early years. These sort of retreats are for that purpose of stabilisation.
We get a reclusive devotional momentum in our inner lives. And then we can scale the tall hurdle. So, now the contrasting attitude Krishna talks about in the next verse.
In this verse, he says, In the next verse, he talks about another category of people who are the opposite of this. Naan Tishthanti Mehmatam Sarva Gyanatim Unhamsakam Vidhi Nashtana Chetasaham So, Krishna has this Abhyasuyanto. So, it is exactly opposite of the previous line.
Shraddha Anasuyanto and Abhyasuyanto. It is opposite. And previous was Tishthanti.
It is Naan Tishthanti Mehmatam. So, such people who are envious and not harmonious with Krishna. Krishna says that they may have knowledge.
Sarva Gyanatim Unhamsakam. Although they have knowledge, all their knowledge is frustrated. They become removed in spite of having the knowledge.
Why? Vidhi Nashtana Chetasaham. Chetasaham means the consciousness is misdirected. When the consciousness is misdirected, at that time, no matter how much knowledge one has, one cannot get realisation.
So, here Krishna is talking about they have Gyan but they don’t have knowledge. So, Prabhupada talks in the purport about, in this previous purport as in this purport they are like continuous flow of thought. So, Prabhupada is saying that many scholars who are, in the previous verse he has said that there are scholars who write comments in the Goita but they have no faith in Krishna.
There are many philosophers who write comments but they have no faith in Krishna. So, Prabhupada is finding that flow of thought over here that just as there is a king and if one doesn’t obey the king, one will get punished. Similarly, actually the soul in this world is being maintained by Krishna as the reigning king.
It is the Devan Bhavnani. Krishna is maintaining everyone through the reign of the Deva. Now, obeying the Supreme Lord, the Supreme King is bound to be punished and such a person, Prabhupada writes, due to latent heart, empty heart, such a person doesn’t get any tangible spiritual advancement.
So, what is the instruction that Krishna is talking about over here? The instruction specifically for Arjuna is to fight the war. Generically a broad level instruction is to harmonise it for an ashram to do one’s own duty and within an ashram, one should practise for an ashram for the sake of spiritual purification at the level of Kali Yuga. So, that is the instruction.
Krishna is doing it for one more purpose. Actually, Arjuna should not think that Krishna is just using all this reasoning for the sake of making Arjuna fight somehow. Not as a circumstantial instruction I am giving you.
It is an eternal instruction. The eternal instruction is an eternal principle and it has led to realisation for many, many people just like Janaka in the past. It will liberate you also.
So, after doing this, Krishna will now reiterate his instructions in a slightly different way. The emphasis of the instruction is practise Karmic. Arjuna has to think, Arjuna has been told earlier that even if you are Jnanavan, even if you are in knowledge and you are capable of practising Jnana Yoga, still practise Karmic for the sake of setting an example for others.
Now, Krishna will give an additional reason, even if you are at the level of Jnana, still even the Jnanavan people act according to their nature. So, this verse in its intro is similar to 3.5. 3.5 was what? nahi kashyap chanau yad nishyatya karma that nobody will stay without action. Same principle Krishna is telling over here now in this verse satrushyam cheshtate svasyah prakrte jnana vanapi prakrten jnanti bhutani nigraha kim karishyate satrushyam cheshtate svasyah svasyah means one’s own, satrushyam is like cheshtate, one acts according to one’s prakrti jnanavanapi, even if one has knowledge still one will act according to one’s prakrti and prakrte jnanti bhutani, if not one’s jnanavanapi, everybody acts according to prakrti therefore, nigraha kim karishyate Arjuna, what will you attain by repetition? you say that you will not fight now but if you start doing renunciation when you are going out to seek alms and at that time somebody says no go out what will you do? you take out your sword and attack that person how dare you say no? actually the difference between a kshatriya and a brahmana is that a brahmana receives alms, a kshatriya takes alms there is a difference, a kshatriya takes whereas a brahmana receives so Arjuna is a kshatriya and he says you will act according to your nature, you cannot avoid that nature therefore, nigraha kim karishyate, what kind of question and conclusion? so now, in this context there is a difference between prakrti and vasana what is the difference? prakrti and vasana are both material prakrti is material nature vasana is material desire so what is the difference between material nature and material desire? actually material nature is much deeper for example, for a brahmana who wants to study speech, that is natural we can say that is also his desire but when we talk about vasana vasana is a more superficial desire that is often induced by extra provocations and that actually cannot be harmonised with dharma so material nature is harmonisable with dharma which is prakrti is innate to our psychophysical nature and is harmonisable with dharma whereas vasana is superficial to our psychophysical nature and it is not harmonisable with dharma psychophysical means according to our body and our mind so body and mind things in a particular way so not things function in a particular way when arjuna, bhima and krishna went to jarasandh in the guise of brahmanas he must have observed them their bodies are too well built their bodies are too well built and then when he heard their voices speaking his speech is not gentle it is commanding and cutting he said because their speech is commanding and cutting not gentle so this brahmana may also speak in cutting ways but the normal speech is not commanding the brahmana is more like a council but they have to come out he said this cannot be brahmana they have come in the garb of brahmana so the point is that even when the pandavas and krishna bhima arjuna and krishna were trying to hide their identity and act like brahmana but their behaviour their body as well as their behaviour shows that they are not brahmana they are kshatriyas so it is natural that there are particular ways in which we act so the philosophy of the bhagavad gita is not to suppress our prakriti whatever is our prakriti we should use in krishna’s service and by using our prakriti in krishna’s service we become purified of it on the other hand vasana is lust, anger greed and greed so they largely have to be purified they have to be rejuvenated very strictly and they have to be purified so when krishna is talking about he is referring to he is not referring to vasana he is referring to the fact that our material nature our material desires do decrease and now continuing the same theme the next verse krishna will tell of how it is important for all of us to act according to our nature which the durga explains in the parthor god is parthor he says two words over here there are many so called spiritualists who outwardly go in advance to the science but inwardly or privately are completely under particular modes of nature which they are unable to surpass what is the difference between them inwardly means internally all material desires are driving them mad inwardly and privately means they express it inwardly they are not expressing it although they are internally there and privately means they have one profile in public but privately they don’t give vent to their desires so that’s how their public profile is significantly and completely at variance with their private behaviour and especially their internal consciousness so this is called jnana prasadaya jnana vanapi so durga explains that krishna constitutes the way to become free from this internal environment now all of us also act according to our nature but we try to keep our nature within the sanctity, within the boundary of dharma dhauvyasya parimanti nao dhauvyasya parimanti nao so indriya and indriyasya are things senses and objects, yavastha dhau yavastha dhau is properly situated it is situated properly between senses and objects what is situated? raga and indriyasya there is a natural attraction and aversion between the senses and objects so in the human body there is a natural attraction towards and a natural aversion towards but in a hog’s body there is a natural attraction towards so this indriyasya indriyasya yavastha dhau raga dhesha is properly situated that is just according to body nature and according to body nature, krishna in the previous verse said you cannot repress it, but in this verse he is saying do not come under his control so the previous verse said, don’t completely repress it this verse said don’t completely come under the control of him what is the essential message? regulate it within the indriyasya parimanti, so a kshatriya naturally wants to control and dominate and command but he has to control and dominate the command in accordance to the rules of dharma, so this verse talks about the middle way, 33rd verse is talking about no extreme suppression, 34th verse is talking about no, so what is the middle way 23rd is talking about no suppression no, 24th is talking about unrestricted expression that is also no so in this way, what is the right thing to do that is regulated expression that is the, regulated expression is the badha karma yoga regulated expression of our nature and this is actually something which all of us will gradually learn as we practise as much as we like you know, as we sometimes we think ok, I am going to advance so I will sleep 24 hours a night and then I sleep 24 hours a night and then maybe 4-5 hours and half sleep is safe throughout the day and then sometimes in day time I try to largely suppress my body needs on the other hand, what happens is in the day time, I feel a little sleepy I think I need to sleep so normally what happens everyday, first time we feel sleepy in the day time is often that day time sleep is because of lack of interest rather than lack of rest it’s quite possible because our conditioned mind doesn’t take interest in Krishna consciousness and there are so many times I have experienced I feel so sleepy I think I need to take rest but then when prasadam comes, all the sleep goes away I never till now experienced that I am so tired when somebody gives me prasadam I take rest first then I take prasadam it very rarely happens like that so why? because maybe you break Adashi and you don’t like the prasadam and you cancel it so in many occasions day time sleep is often because of lack of interest or boredom and it is not so much because of lack of rest so it is not that at the first interval now we can try to resist it a little bit and over a period of time we come to understand maybe I need 6 hours sleep or half an hour sleep all of us we come to a balance so if we go too much of either side that will not work for us similarly there is the thing related to eating also over a period of time we learn how much I should eat and how much I should not eat so eating, sleeping all these things gradually we come to that similarly acting according to our teaching so we have certain talents and we like to do those things if somebody likes to sing that person can sing for 24 hours a day he can sing that then he also has to do other services, other sadhana so if he just says I do only that then what will happen? two things will happen if a person just does what he likes to do first thing is the sense of karta will come if we only do what we like to do two problems will come up so we will never learn to discipline our mind these two problems will come up if we only do things that we like to do first thing is I am doing it because generally what are the things that we like to do the things which we are good at doing and when we are good at doing something then generally it is not very easy to be prayerful while doing those things actually when we are good at doing something and when we are doing it we are more conscious of how many people are noticing how well I am doing it so we get a very strong sense of devotion and then because our conditioned nature likes to do it so we are never really going against our mind so we are practising devotional service but we are practising devotional service at the mercy of the mind our devotional service is not dependent on the mercy of Krishna and Guru it depends on the mercy of the mind that means within the limit of devotional service whatever the mind allows me to do I will do it the mind says no within devotional service I will not do it so what happens is we are never fighting against the mind so what happens especially when we have to do our Saatva we have to do our classes, we have to chant 16 rounds the mind doesn’t like to do that when we are not practising the wisdom against the mind then these activities become very difficult and tasteless and we start thinking get over with this so that I can get on with the real business of my life and actually chanting really is the real business of our life that is what is going to deeply develop our relationship with Krishna therefore so therefore Krishna is telling if you want to practise, practise in a balanced middle way so now I am telling this the next verse Krishna will again reiterate the principle that we have to act according to our nature so we go ahead so two consequences of not acting in a regulated way is that we will get a strong sense of worship and we will never learn to discipline our mind so won’t be able to develop taste for poor devotional activity so now this 35th verse says that regular discipline is a must that’s what he will tell in this verse so once mo dharma even if we do dharma there are many good dharma par dharma as compared to par dharma shreya is better Arjuna had asked Krishna what is shreya for me 2.7 so shreya so he asked for shreya Krishna said Arjuna what is shreya for you Arjuna said I call it midhana midhana can at one level to lose dharma it can mean to become poverty stricken midhana also means destruction shreya means destruction the prayers of people pray and actually you are yourself indestructible but you cause destruction in the shreya twice in the same verse in one’s own duty to be destroyed is better than to do par dharma other food is fearful so why is it fearful because at that time we have surrendered to the mind once we have surrendered to the mind we don’t know where the mind will take us but we are within the same track of dharma so Prabhupada explains varnasana dharma so dharma can refer to our material nature it can refer to our spiritual nature so in this context he is going to say primary nature is our material nature primary is our material nature and at the level of our material nature we have to act according to our and he gives example once one has transcended one can act according to what is not our varnas just like two examples which Prabhupada gives brahmana acting like kshatriya and kshatriya acting like a brahmana examples kshatriya acting like a brahmana and kshatriya acting like a brahmana now this purport is also a continuation of the previous purport and in the previous purport Prabhupada talks about that this particular point paripanti now can mean obstacles pantha is path, pari means thieves so raga and dvesha thieves of the path and Prabhupada explains that even on a royal road there can be accidents similarly even when you are following the rules and regulations still there is danger it is like if i know car driving then there is still the chance of danger if i don’t know car driving there is not a chance of danger there is a certainty of danger but even when i know car driving still there is a chance of danger there is a possibility of danger so there always has to be caution as Prabhupada says that even within enjoyment so first Vishnashree that unrestricted enjoyment should be given up we talked about regulated expression we should not rely upon the control of such allowances and enjoyment under regulation may also lead to suffering and a very important point any attachment for regulated sense enjoyment must be avoided by all means so what does it mean? there is regulated enjoyment that is allowed so for example Prabhupada talks about so he has the allowance to have sexual relations with his wife but Prabhupada says even the regulated sense enjoyment one should not even attach to it why? because when one is attached to that then the nature of the mind will keep entering for more and more on the other hand if one is detached from it then one will never go beyond the regulations so Prabhupada is actually talking about a very logical standard first we have to regulate our enjoyment and then we can give up attachment to the regulations at least we have to begin by regulating our enjoyment so for regulated principles when we follow what are we doing? we are regulating the enjoyment and to some extent following these regulations is relatively easy but when we go out then often getting prasad is difficult and avoiding unindarle and things like that becomes quite difficult but Prabhupada would say that at one level even regulated enjoyment we need to regulate it in a particular way so in the early days Prabhupada would say that when you serve prasad keep as much as you want Prabhupada would personally serve prasad to everyone and in the early days they would have just near the exit of the temple they would have a big box filled with namjams and Prabhupada whenever he wanted and then sometimes the devotees would say these rules are very difficult I want to do this, I want to do that, I can’t do that and they would go away and then when they would go away they would bring these two namjams for the sake of the namjams they would come back and they would come back and the other devotees would try their best so they had a slogan Gulabade keeps maya away so but then after a period of time Prabhupada started telling them you need to regulate your eating you only told us to eat as much as we wanted so if you follow that instruction because it came from me so of course in general Prabhupada was not very strict about regulating prasadam he said as long as it is prasadam that is fine but on a habitual basis if you offer that food it can trigger the enjoyment so in general there are occasional things but on a regulated basis it is good to have a standard diet when Rana Prabhupada asked about this question in Manjaras he said that take only prasadam and take it on a regulated basis so what happens is the mind is free from that thought this is the time when I will get something to eat in the retaining time the mind can be free to think about other things so that way we don’t have to let our mind get boggled up in thoughts of eating or for sleeping, we can regulate those things so if we have a regulated time for sleeping 5.5-6 hours I am going to sleep everyday then I am not going to sleep in the retaining time but if we have made a night schedule sometimes 5 hours, sometimes 4 hours, sometimes 6 hours sometimes I sleep in the retaining time even when I have 6 hours sleep the mind is free to sleep I can do more work so it is not wrong to sleep in the day time what is regulation? some devotees function most effectively after 5.5 hours and half hours sleep some devotees function most effectively after 6 hours night sleep or 6.5 hours night sleep whatever so different devotees will function differently the point here is not about whether we sleep in the day time or not the point is regulation if we are regulated then we can do more work nicely now again with regulation there are two extremes you may have heard this saying if you want to make Krishna laugh tell your plans to Krishna if you want to make Krishna laugh tell your plans to Krishna we make all our plans and man proposes God disposes so sometimes this sort of thing is used in a slightly wrong way so again another way of looking at this middle way is that as devotees should we plan or not so now if we don’t plan planning yes because it expresses our seriousness and brings us to goodness so how does planning express our seriousness if anything we consider important we plan about it this this this if I have a day exam and I have 500 pages to study so every day I have so planning expresses our seriousness and planning also helps us to come to the mode of goodness because we have a set pattern this this this when we have a set pattern then we can’t get pushed too much by the mind we don’t give ourselves too much at the mercy of the mind so that way planning brings us to goodness at the same time so what is in favour of planning is yes because it expresses our seriousness what is not in favour of planning is that because we want to surrender to Krishna so that planning is an expression of our will I want to do these things so we can have both sides of the argument one side the other side of the argument is we are the controllers and I will let things happen according to my will so planning can be an expression of our will for control at the same time if we see when we plan most of the time our plans don’t work most of the time our plans don’t work but even when our plans don’t work if we have made plans we will know what to make work my plan may not work but how will I keep moving forward if we have made no plan I have 25 things to do first thing doesn’t work second thing doesn’t work third thing doesn’t work fourth thing doesn’t work fifth thing doesn’t work and the only thing that works is I just eat and sleep sometimes if you don’t make any plans then things don’t work out and you just give up but if you have a plan things can move forward so that means we make plans but we are not attached to our plans we make plans but we don’t become attached to our plans so how is this possible that we don’t become attached to our plans that means that if some circumstances are unavoidable or if some instructions come from senior devotees or higher authorities that we change we are ready to change but when we build our plans we are showing our seriousness to them and by being flexible about our plans we are showing our surrender to them that’s how we show both seriousness and surrender by making plans but by not being attached to our plans so now in this particular verse Prabhupada is talking about how we need to act according to our nature and among these verses that we discussed these 35 and 33 are often misused 33 is used by the people of Sambhog Samadhi this is a rigorous human condition just enjoy what a rigorous human condition and this Paradharma Vyavah is used by people who talk about anti-conversion to avoid it from happening but if you look at the context of the Vedas this is not what is being talked about now this verse can also be understood at transcendental level at transcendental level all of us have a Rasa in relationship to each other and we see that devotees naturally serve the Lord the devotee is not attracted to himself it is not according to him when he was brought charged on a leaf that was in his hand what did he say why because he is serving Radharani in a particular way he is serving Krishna through Radharani and Chandravali’s meaning is different so this verse also has from the Gaudiya Vaishnava point of view application at the transcendental level so naturally as we evolve spiritually we will become attracted to a particular form of Krishna a particular member of the relationship that will evolve gradually I like Lord Rama’s pastimes very much or I like Krishna’s Bhanumila very much but at our level probably our attraction is more cultural than spiritual because of our past culture maybe childhood we heard Krishna’s pastimes so we think I like that it’s good anyway we are attracted to Krishna that is fine but that is not necessarily indicative of our eternal self it is not indicative of our eternal self and anyway so at our level whatever way we are attracted to Krishna that is fine even if we have some relationship with Krishna in this form as Rama after we become purified of our material attachments then how this purification works naturally we will move towards that particular so there is one devotee he was sort of he had a natural attraction to something we had practised Krishna Rama for about 30-40 years and then he went to his spiritual master he thought I have to be attracted to this Aankhya Vasanthi then everyday he would sing Tulsi Aarti so when Tulsi Aarti is sung what is it Poro Dasi so he would sing Poro Dasi he would sing like that so that is 114 is very elevated so that will be relieved to us naturally a natural attraction will come and our spiritual master will confirm that but at our level whatever mental nature I have I will go towards that devotional songs