Gita Study Pune 2013 – 13.20-35 The Bija Vakya of the Gitas last six chapters

Transcript

This is an AI-generated transcript and may contain some errors.
lokatrayopakārāya tasmaih kṛṣṇātmanena mahā Hare Kṛṣṇa. So, we continue with the section of 13th chapter, which we’ll talk now about puruṣa and prakṛti. So, we discussed till 13.19. So, till now, what all has been discussed? Kṣetra, kṣetrajña, jñāna and jñaya.
Four things have been discussed. So, now Krishna will talk about puruṣa and prakṛti. So, let’s start with that section.
prakṛtiṁ puruṣaṁ jaya vidyānādi-bhāvapi vikārāṁśa-guṇāṁśaiva vidya-prakṛti-sambhavān So, prakṛti, puruṣaṁ jaya. So, Krishna is telling both of them are anādi. Ubhāva means both.
So, both of them are beginningless. vikārāṁśa-guṇāṁśaiva So, we don’t see prakṛti to be eternal. We see prakṛti to be constantly changing.
So, Krishna tells that these vikārā and guṇāṁśa, these transformations and the modes that we observe, they emerge from the prakṛti. That means puruṣa and prakṛti both are eternal, but prakṛti is characterised by transformations and the modes, guṇāṁśa. So, this is the introduction.
First point Krishna is telling is that both are eternal, but one of them is changing. It is changing, and all the changes that we see in this world emerge from prakṛti. Now, the next verse is a little complex verse to understand.
kārikāraṇa-karatṛtve heto prakṛti-rucchate puruṣaḥ sukha-duḥkhānā bhoktṛtve heto rucchate kārikāraṇa-karatṛtve So, that means, here there are two things being talked about. One is changes in material nature, and the second is changes in the consciousness, changes in feelings. So, the changes in material nature, they happen because of prakṛti.
kārikāraṇa-karatṛtve heto prakṛti-rucchate So, and on the other hand, the changes in the consciousness, you remember now, if you go to 12.7, sorry 13.7, 13.6 and 7 talk about sāṅkhya, where 6 talks about the elements, and 7 talks about the changes. So, there it was talked about, icchā-dveṣa-sukhaṁ duḥkhaṁ saṅghāta-ścetanādhruti etad kṣetram samāsena savikāraṁ udāratam So, sukha-duḥkha is said to be the change of prakṛti. So, how does that mean? That is talking about the change in the subtle body.
You remember I talked about citta and citta. The original consciousness of the soul and the consciousness projected in the material world. Say, there are two people and a cricket match is going on.
But one of them knows nothing about cricket. Maybe he is a person from Africa who has never heard about cricket. So, both of them are there.
Now, in one of them, when the favourite batsman hits a sixer, then that person is sukhi. And when the batsman gets clean bowled, he is dukhi. On the other hand, for the other person, there is no difference.
So, here the sukha-duḥkha is happening because there is bhoktrutve. There is bhoktrutve. Now, whatever is happening within the TV set, that is basically a product of the technology of the TV.
That has got nothing to do with the people who are observing the TV. The changes happen because of whatever electronic circuitry is there. Of course, there is something happening on the ground.
But if we imagine a programme which is not displaying any reality, just like a video game is there, a cartoon show is there, where ultimately what is being depicted is not a reality. So, then whatever is happening on the video screen, it is just a product of the electronic circuitry. So, what is happening on the screen is a product of the electronic circuitry.
But the effect on the person is because of the desire to enjoy. So, now in this setup, now in modern science this is called as a virtual reality setup. That means normally when people watch a movie, only two of their senses are involved, the eyes and the ears.
But in virtual reality, they try to involve all the senses. That means if a person in a virtual reality setup is playing a car race game, then the person will be given some seating arrangement by which there is maybe a steering wheel in front and there are brakes and accelerator at the legs. And then he will be given to wear some ear gadgetry so that he feels as if the wind is whistling in the air when he is driving the car.
And even the chair will move the way the car would have moved. So, this is called a computer simulation. And often, especially aeroplane pilots, fighter pilots, are trained largely through simulation.
Because when they want to practise shooting a target, they cannot create a real target and shoot it. So, that is often done through simulation. So, simulations can be as real as reality in a sense.
So, the more the sensory interactions that are brought about, the more the virtual reality becomes real. So, why I am talking about the virtual reality setup is that in a sense, if I take the example of a fighter pilot, the fighter pilot is sitting comfortably in the classroom or the training room. But the fighter pilot is getting fully the experience of flying a plane which is going into the enemy territory and is going to zero in on the target and bomb the target.
So, what is happening here? Two things are happening. First is that there is certain circuitry within the computer or the virtual reality setup that is flashing some changes. That is purely the hardware.
That is just the electronic circuitry. But along with that, to the extent the person is involved in the act of playing the video game or say simulating the fighter pilot’s attack, to that extent the person will get emotionally involved. And to the extent, if he hits the target, they will be sukha.
Or if they miss the target or if there is an anti-aircraft missile near the target which shoots down the aeroplane, they will be dukha. So, that means that in a virtual reality setup, there is something which happens in the hardware part which is purely electronic. And along with that, there is something which happens in the emotions of the person depending on how much that person is involved.
So, Krishna is describing over here that similarly, the sukha-dukha that the soul experiences in the material world is because of bhoktrutve. To the extent we have desire to enjoy, to that extent we experience sukha and dukha. So, it could be with respect to real life, it could be because of cricket or it could be because of people identify with so many causes.
Somebody might identify with the causes of independence, somebody might identify with the cause of feminism, somebody might identify with the cause of the autonomy of a particular state or a particular race or whatever. So, to the extent there is bhoktrutve, to that extent there is sukha-dukha. But, the events that are happening, actually, generally, this first line, I have not yet come to that.
The first line can be a little confusing, so I wanted to make the second line clear. See, there are three words which is alliteration, ka, ka, ka, karya, karana, kartrutve. So, in poetry these are called as literary devices which are used to enhance the effect through aesthetic means.
So, karya, karana, kartrutve. So, ka, ka, ka is there. And then hetu, prakrta-ruchyate.
What does the first line mean? So, karya is the effect. Karana is the cause. Kartrutve, kartrutve is to do, do in the matter of, Prabhupada translates, in the matter of creation.
That means, whatever happens in the material world, the cause and the effect. So, now, if you use hetu again as cause, so what happens is, the cause and effect of, so material nature is the cause of the cause and effect of creation. It becomes a little complex to understand.
So, nature is said to be the cause of all material causes and effects. So, now here hetu, another way of understanding this more clearly is, the word hetu is like the, here prakrti is like the substratum, where everything happens. It is like the background, the setting.
So, all the causes and effects that happen, that are there in, that we see in the world, they are happening on the stage of prakrti, on the background of prakrti, on the substratum. The substratum is what lies below, upon which everything else happens. So, that is the background where everything happens.
This is the stage where everything happens. But everything that happens is all material cause and effects. But the atma in 13.13 was said to be nasatannasaduchyate, anadhimatparabrahma nasatannasaduchyate.
So, the atma or parmatma, whichever you want to say, basically the spirit is transcendental to matter. So, if the spirit is transcendental to matter, why does the spirit experience material emotions? Whatever happens in matter is just an interaction of matter. That should not affect the spirit.
So, he is saying there are two things happening. There is the interaction of matter which all has material cause and effects. But along with that, because the soul has the desire to enjoy, bhoktrutve, so the soul experiences sukha or dukha.
So, now Krishna is talking about purusha and prakrti. What is purusha and prakrti in sankhya? Often these two are talked about as primary. So, purusha is the active agent.
And prakrti is the inactive recipient. So, purusha acts on prakrti. That is the basic concept in sankhya.
And now, Ishwar Krishna is one of the prominent sankhya scholars and he gives the example of how the atma becomes detached, how the purusha becomes disentangled from prakrti. Now, this sankhya, there are three types of sankhya, the Mahabharata mentions. They can be called as 24 sankhya, 25 sankhya and 26 sankhya.
24 sankhya means, that is the atheistic or materialistic sankhya, which concludes that there are only 24 elements in creation. The 25 sankhya is, there are 24 material elements and there is purusha. So, now in 24 sankhya they acknowledge purusha, but they say ultimately purusha is an illusion.
So, purusha is, like modern scientists say that, the consciousness is the emergent property of matter. So, it just emerges from matter and it disappears at the time of death. Something like that.
The other is that consciousness is an independent reality. That’s 25 sankhya. And 26 sankhya is that there is consciousness, there is soul and there is super soul also.
So, these two are distinct. Now, generally, the non-atheistic sankhya, it doesn’t talk about God so much, but he gives an example which will help us understand what this bhakti-tattva point is. So, he says, how the purusha can become detached from prakrti.
So, he says, imagine that on a stage, a dancer, a she-dancer is dancing. And there are audience who have come to see her dance performance. Now, the audience is eager to see the dance performance, but the dancer’s repertoire is extremely limited.
The dancer can dance only a few steps. And that’s all that she can do. But the dancer wants people to attend the performance and pay for it.
And that’s why she wants to keep the people there. So, whatever she does, every few times she says that the people’s attention is getting distracted, then she starts doing some new steps. She starts moving her hands and legs and body in different ways, which she has not done earlier.
But she does not know any new steps. So, what happens is she initially seems to do some new steps. But after that, she lapses back into the same old dance steps.
But the illusion that she’s going to do some new steps keeps the audience on their seats. Now something new will come. Now something new will come.
But at the time when the audience understands, when the spectator understands, this dancer doesn’t know anything new. At that time, the dancers will leave the show and the show will end. So, similarly, Prakriti is like the dancer.
And Prakriti is alluring Purusha by doing dances, by promising pleasure. But Prakriti cannot offer any new pleasures. The pleasure that Prakriti offers is only aahar and iddhra bhaya maithun.
Eating, sleeping, mating, defending. But these pleasures, they are limited. And after a little experience, the soul will get detached.
But what does material nature do? Material nature keeps presenting these pleasures in newer and newer garbs. So, because they are in ever newer garbs, the Purusha gets attracted to them. And he thinks, now let me try this out.
But as soon as he actually goes into the pleasure, he finds it’s the same old thing. Punah punash, charvita charvanana. But as soon as his attention gets lapsed, immediately, what happens is, the Prakriti takes on a new garb.
And another new way, eating, sleeping, mating, defending is presented. And in this way, the Purusha becomes endlessly entangled. So, what is the way out? The Purusha’s viveka buddhi has to awaken.
The Purusha has to understand that there is nothing new here. Once the Purusha understands that there is nothing new here, Purusha will become detached. And then, the Purusha’s entanglement in material nature will end.
So, that is, the whole, now, if you bring bhakti into the whole picture, and Bhagavan into the whole picture, that means, that the Purusha doesn’t just have to stop watching the show, the Purusha starts watching a new show. You know, there is Krishna performing his eternal leela. And so, the Purusha, the soul, when he switches his attention to his other performance, then the Purusha can get detached from this.
You know, the example we can give is of tuning. Radhanath Maharaj gives his example in his book, The Journey Within, that is the second part of his, the first was Journey Home, the second book is called The Journey Within. So, in that he gives his example, he is quoted in a couple of lectures also.
Say, when we tune into a particular channel, there are so many frequencies there, but all the other channels get lost, and we just see one picture, and then we get caught in that picture. And then if we tune to another channel, then we see another picture, we see another programme. So, the whole process of purification and Krishna consciousness is to tune out of the maya channel and to tune into the Krishna channel.
So, basically, we tune out by detachment from material enjoyment, detachment from material things, and we tune in by cultivation of attraction towards Krishna. So, till now, Krishna in Bhagavad Gita has not yet talked about bhakti. So, he is talking, at least not till now, in this chapter, he has not emphasised bhakti.
So, he is talking about purusha and prakriti. So, he is describing how purusha gets entangled. So, kare karana kartrutve hetu prakrit ruchati.
That means, whatever happens in material nature, it is on the platform, the foundation of material nature, everything happens. And that has got nothing to do with the soul. But the soul experiences sukha and dukha because bhaktrutve, because the soul has the desire to enjoy.
And, you know, to some extent, if we were attached to something earlier, and now we are detached, then sometimes we get the experience of this, how this bhaktrutve is so illusory. Sometimes if we are travelling in a train, or at that time, we see some people get excited about a cricket match, or a movie, or something like that. And now, if we are indifferent to that, then we see people get so worked up by it.
And then we say, what is such a big deal to get worked up about? But because the bhaktrutve is there, people have tuned into that channel, we are not tuned in. So, what happens is, there is no bhaktrutve, then there is no sukha-dukha. So, this is the first verse.
Now, Krishna will elaborate on this bhaktrutve in the next verse. This is, our Acharyas have called 13.22 as the Bija Vakya. The sentence, which is the seed of the remaining six chapters.
From this verse, all the remaining six chapters are developed. So, why is this like that? You know, the 15th chapter will talk about the tree of material existence. Isn’t it? So, the tree, every tree starts from a root, or a seed rather.
So, the whole tree of material existence grows from the seed of the enjoying mentality, the desire to enjoy, that is bhaktrutve. And, this will be talked about in 13.22. Now, actually the relationship between the last six chapters is that, say, from the bija, the tree grows. But the tree is nourished, when the tree has to grow, it needs some water, it needs some nourishment.
That nourishment is, that is the three modes. So, the bija will be given in this chapter, what waters the tree, the three modes, that will be described in the 14th chapter. The tree itself will be described in the 15th chapter.
You can switch it off if you want, don’t distract. I am not showing any slides now. So, most of you have verses also.
So, we will read the verses from there only. So, I will repeat. 13th chapter gives the bija.
For the bija to grow, we need water. That water is the modes, that is described in the 14th chapter. The tree of material existence is described in the 15th chapter.
Then, 16th chapter describes the top and the bottom parts of the tree. The daiva and asurasampatti. So, this tree is upside down.
Upside down means, it is described that brahma loka is on top and the atar, vitar, patar are at the bottom. So, the godly people and the demoniac people. The two extremes of the tree are described in the 16th chapter.
And the intermediate part of the tree is described in the 17th chapter. Intermediate part of the tree means, 17th chapter starts with the question that those who have faith, but not in scripture. So, Krishna, Arjuna asks Krishna in 17.1 Those who reject shastra, but they have faith.
They have faith, but in something apart from shastra. Krishna, what is the nature of their faith? Is it in goodness, passion or ignorance? So, 17th chapter will describe the middle part of the tree. And then, the whole 18th chapter largely describes, Prabhupada calls it as the perfection of renunciation.
Moksha karma sanyasa yoga. Sorry, what is that? Moksha karma sanyasa yoga? Moksha sanyasa yoga, I think. Moksha sanyasa yoga.
So, Moksha sanyasa yoga is, that means, how one can become completely disentangled from the tree of material existence and attain liberation. That is talked about in the 18th chapter. So, in this way, this 13.22 which we will discuss now, that is the beeja, from which the whole remaining 6 chapters develop.
Subsequent 5 and this chapter also develops. Purusha prakriti sthohi Bhung te prakriti jaan gunaan Karanam guna sangosya Sada sadyoni janmasu So, purusha prakriti sthohi. So, purusha is situated in prakriti.
Why situated? Bhung te prakriti jaan gunaan So now, in a sense, what is being described here is repetition of what was described in previous verses. Bhoktrutve sukha dukhaanam hetu prakriti ruchate So, now, this verse is a slight elaboration, how that sukha dukha comes about. So, the soul becomes situated in material nature because of bhung te, because of the desire to enjoy.
And what does the soul want to enjoy? That is prakriti jaan gunaan. So, earlier it was said that vikaramsya gunamsyaiva viddhi prakriti sambhavan that was said in 13.20 that from the material nature, two things happen. The vikarams, the changes, and the gunams.
So, here, that means, say, if we are talking about the fighter pilots simulation, then there will be a target, and then there will be a plane which is going towards the target, there are missiles to be shot, there may be enemy soldiers who are trying to counter that missile, counter that plane, protect that target, whatever. So, now, all these are the products of the electronic circuitry and electronic technology. So, like that, everything that is there in this world is the product of material nature.
Specifically, it is the product of the modes. Prakriti jaan gunaan. So, we will discuss more elaborately about the modes in the 14th chapter, that will come in the 14th chapter.
But here, what do the modes do? So, the modes basically bring about the various manifestations in this world by imbuing them with attractive properties. So, what exactly are the modes? The modes are the subtle forces that shape the interaction between consciousness and matter. Consciousness is spiritual, matter is material.
So, how is their interaction shaped? The modes are the subtle forces that shape the interaction between consciousness and matter. So, depending on the mode that a person is in, the same material object can be seen differently and it can evoke different emotions and different responses. The soul tries to enjoy these products of material nature and what is the result of that? Sad asad yoni janmasu.
So, sad asad is good and bad. Krishna expands the scope of Sukha Dukha Naam and he explains that actually Sukha Dukha Naam is not just temporary pleasure and distress like somebody might experience while winning a cricket match or losing a cricket match or watching a favourite team win or lose a cricket match. But it goes over multiple lifetimes.
Sometimes the soul is born in a good species, sometimes the soul is born in a bad species and the soul continues to suffer in material existence. All this is because of bhoktrutve bhute, because of the desire to enjoy. Now, after describing this, this describes that the Purusha, this entangle.
Purusha is prakriti stho hi. Now, Krishna will describe that there is another Purusha who is indifferent, who is actually not entangled, who is observant. So, uttam upadrishthanu mantha.
Just a minute. Why 13.21 is not called the seed? Because 13.22 elaborates that sad asad yoni janmasu. And in 16th chapter we will talk about how certain people are born with godly qualities, certain people are born with non-godly qualities.
So, actually the consequence of bhoktrutve is elaborated in 22, slightly. And that is basically the remaining six chapters. 18th chapter talks about disentanglement from material nature.
That means freedom from the tree of material existence. No, the relation is that this is like the bijya vakya, the seed. The enjoying mentality is what causes the whole tree of material existence to grow.
So, what is that enjoying mentality? That is described in this verse. And from that the tree of material existence grows. Clear? Any other questions? So, Upadrishthanu mantha cha Bharta bhokta maheshwarah Paramatmeti cha pyokto Dehesmin purusha para So, there is in the dehesmin purusha, there is some purusha, he is paraha.
Now, the Mayavadis sometimes talk this two birds analogy is well known in the Upanishads. It comes in Katha Upanishad, Svitashatara Upanishad, several places. Now, they try to claim that ultimately the two birds will become one.
But Krishna, he makes it very clear that two birds are different. Previously he says purusha prakriti stho hi. That purusha is situated in prakriti.
This purusha is paraha. He is another, he is transcendental. And it is clearly described, he is not getting sadasadyon janmasu.
He is not, he is doing upadrishta anumantha cha. He is overseer, he is permitter. And interestingly, bharta bhokta maheshwarah.
He is actually the maintainer and he is the enjoyer. In what sense is Krishna the enjoyer? I told earlier, that he is, that the whole material world ultimately acts for his pleasure. His pleasure is not in the suffering of the conditioned souls.
But in the reformation of the conditioned souls so that they can become liberated. So it is ultimately, like Prabhupada has asked, you know, what is the purpose of this world? Enjoyment. It is not yours, but Krishna’s enjoyment.
Now you may wonder, does Krishna get enjoyment in our suffering? Or how does Krishna enjoy this material world? Actually Krishna doesn’t enjoy the suffering that are there in the material world. But Krishna enjoys when we become purified and souls return back to him. So because this world is a place of reformation, to the extent reformation happens, Krishna is pleased by that.
So, paramatmetichapya upto. So this is the first time, no, I think this is the first time, in the whole Bhagavad Gita, the word paramatma comes together once. Paramatma.
Is it there in? What is 6.7 Gita? Paramatma samahita. Yeah, so that is also paramatma is there. So, I think this is the second time then.
So, second time. Now, Upadrishta anumantacha bharta bhokta maheshvarah paramatmetichapya upto. So, this is known as paramatma.
Jitatmana prashantasya paramatma samahita. No. So, there the paramatma is mentioned, but here the paramatma is named.
That soul, that person, that purusha who is Upadrishta anumanta, he is known as paramatma. So, it’s very clear the way Krishna is referring to paramatma. This is not the same as the previous verse.
This is something different. Paramatmetichapya upto dehesmin purushapara. So, there is purushapara, there is a transcendental purusha who is there in the body.
So, this Upadrishta anumanta is overseer and permitter. So, Krishna plays the super soul in the material existence. He basically is the, in a sense, the facilitator of the soul.
Whatever the soul wants to enjoy, the soul has the karma, according to the soul, the super soul facilitates the enjoyment of the super soul. So, he is the overseer of everything. Now, when we know that he is the overseer, that means, in a sense, he is the witness.
He sees everything that we do. So, understanding that Krishna is the overseer can have two effects. One is, it can create fear.
The other is, it can create fearlessness. How can it have two contrary effects? It depends on what we are doing. Imagine if we are going on a dark road and suddenly see a policeman.
Now, if we are going on the dark road to rob somebody or to do something illegal, the sight of the policeman will create fear within us. But if we are going on a dark road and we are not doing anything wrong, we are doing honourable work, the sight of the policeman will bring fearlessness. Yes, if somebody comes to attack me, I will need somebody to protect me.
So, that way, actually, to the extent we have ulterior motives, we have immoral fantasies and we do something wrong and hide them, to that extent, the awareness that Krishna is observing us, Krishna is, you know, one definition of Krishna consciousness, we say Krishna consciousness means to be conscious of Krishna. That is true, definitely. But another definition of Krishna consciousness is to be conscious that Krishna is conscious of us.
That way, to be conscious that Krishna is conscious of us. Krishna is actually observing us and Krishna is reciprocating with us depending on what we do, how we do. So now if we are doing something which is displeasing to Krishna, which is against Guru Sadhu Shastra, then the awareness that Krishna is Upadrishta will make us uncomfortable, will make us fearful, will make us embarrassed.
But if we are aware, if we are trying to do something good for Krishna, for devotees and trying to serve Him, then the awareness that Krishna is observing will bring fearlessness. I am not alone. Krishna is always there with me and Krishna will take care of me.
In 16.1 Parpot, Abhayam Sattva Samshuddhi, Prabhupada writes, a sannyasi travels to various places and he is fearless because he knows that I am not alone. Even if I am in a jungle, the Supersoul is there with me. So to the extent that we are trying to serve Krishna and then we become aware that Krishna is observing us, then we will be to that extent fearless.
So Upadrishta Anumantacha, He allows. So sometimes when we try to do some services and the services don’t work, maybe people around us don’t cooperate or whatever because the services don’t work, then we also have to understand that ultimately it is Krishna who is the sanctioner. And Krishna is the sanctioner means what? That it is not that Krishna doesn’t want the service to succeed.
But it is that Krishna wants something more than the service to succeed. Krishna wants our purification, our education, our reformation. So in spiritual life, success is not necessarily very straightforward.
Sometimes we may succeed in the service, but we become proud by that success and in a sense we fail in that service because we have become proud through that service, we have gone away from Krishna. Although we have done some service for Krishna, we have gone away from Krishna through that service because we have become proud and we have created a wall between us and Krishna. On the other hand, some other times, in a service we may fail in the sense that we don’t get the desired result.
But if that makes us more humble and dependent on Krishna, then we have come closer to Krishna and we have succeeded in that. So that’s why when we say Krishna is the Anumanta, we have to have that faith that Krishna is always our well-wisher. So in general, when we have faith in Krishna, it is easy to have half-faith in Krishna.
You know what is the meaning of half-faith? You know, there is Krishna’s power and there is Krishna’s wisdom. So what happens is, when we want to do something and it doesn’t work out, then we say Krishna, Krishna, please let this be done, please let this happen. That means what is my idea? My idea is that my intelligence and Krishna’s power, that will make things happen.
We have faith that Krishna is more powerful than others and if Krishna wants, he will make the thing happen. But faith in Krishna is not just Krishna’s intelligence, power, but also his intelligence. So that means Krishna knows better than us what is best for us.
So when we understand that Krishna knows better than us what is best for us, we want to do something for Krishna, we pray to Krishna, Krishna, I feel this is the best for me and for my service and this is how I want to contribute to your mission. And if you feel it is good for me, please let this happen. If not, then please help me to accept whatever you want and help me to understand it and grow from it.
So we often have faith in Krishna’s strength, but not in Krishna’s intelligence. So when we have complete faith in Krishna, then we have faith in both his strength and intelligence. So we pray to Krishna for what we feel is good for the service, but we also are willing to accept whatever Krishna gives to us.
Otherwise, it is, so this anumanta part is very important. By this we understand that Krishna is ultimately my well-wisher. Otherwise, you know, often many people like to serve God, but as advisors, as advisors.
God you should do like this. God you should do like that. And actually this is the favourite service that atheists like to render to God.
Now their God is, their non-existent God simply pops into existence to accept their advice and gratefully disappear into non-existence again. So that is the atheist version of God. You know, atheists will argue that if this world had been designed by God, then the design should not have been like this.
The design should have been like this. And because the design is like this, therefore we can prove that there is no designer over here. Well, who told you how God should design things, isn’t it? So the idea is that when we understand Krishna as the anumanta, then we understand his intelligence is far greater than ours.
And when we understand that his intelligence is far greater than ours, then we accept whatever he allows, whatever he lets happen in the world. Yes, Pramod. Hello, Vishnu.
Prabhuji, you told that a super soul observing the activity of Jivatma, this living entity. So as we observe that the man of intelligence also knows that super soul is observing my all activity, but still he falls into the trap of maya. Whether it happens because of his weakness of heart or the nature is acting on him, like how we can understand? So when a person is conscious, the super soul is watching and still the person falls to maya.
So why is that? So actually, you know, we should not just be aware that the super soul is watching, but we should also seek his help. So he’s there to help us. And you know, the helping Krishna helping us doesn’t mean that we have to show Krishna our desire to be helped.
That means we do what we can. So as I said earlier, it’s a war and it’s a war in a war, whichever weapons work, we have to use that. So yesterday I was telling about how we have to find out what are the things that help us to become absorbed in devotional service.
And then we do those things. So if we have, let me say, if whenever we feel all of us after a few years of practise of devotional service, know that these are my weaknesses. This is the area if I go into, then I fall prey, I fall to temptation, I fall to whatever situations.
So then when we know that, then we have to prepare, okay, when I go into the situation, what will I do? How will I deal with it? So when we go prepared, it is not the preparation will protect us, but the preparation will show Krishna our intention of wanting to be protected. And then Krishna will protect us. And anyway, even if we fall, that doesn’t necessarily mean that we have failed.
So actually we fail only when we fail to try. So no matter how many times we fail, we can always rise and keep trying and we can try to learn from the previous situations. So generally, when we are falling to some temptations repeatedly, some situations, so then there are basically three broad alternatives.
One is that the situation is so tempting that we can’t deal with it. We should withdraw out of that situation. And it’s not necessarily a wrong thing to do.
It’s a war that is going on. And if in some area of the war, imagine the war is going on, in some area the warrior finds that the enemy is too strong. And all that I happen over, if I fight over there, I get wounded, is withdraw from that and fight somewhere else.
So if we find that that situation is so tempting that we can’t deal with it, it is better to withdraw. It’s not that we have to fight in a particular area only throughout our life. We can always change the area of our fight, that means we can change the area of our service, change some situations.
This should not be something we should keep doing every time. And this should certainly not be the first resort. As soon as I face some temptation, some problem, I try to change my service.
But if we find that repeatedly certain situations are troubling us, then better get yourself out of that situation. So that is the last course of action in one sense. Another is, apart from that is, we try to find out what all can we do to protect ourselves in that situation and make a serious plan to implement that.
And then by that plan, we actually learn. OK, this didn’t work out, but if I had done this, it would have worked out like this. If I had done this, actually how it works is, psychologists, they analyse addiction and I studied a little bit about addictions.
So it’s quite good, their thought process, their analysis is quite good to understand how temptation comes to us and we fall also. They say that when an addict is there, the addicts have a default reaction sequence. Reaction sequence means, for example, when an addict, a person is an alcoholic addict and a person gets the desire to drink alcohol.
So normally the thought pattern goes in a particular way. So somebody may say that, oh, these thoughts come again and again and I can never give them up. So better let me just, how long can I keep fighting? Let me just, the struggle is too much, better I’ll just drink once and things will become calmed down.
So this is one way of thinking. Sometimes the thing may come other way. So there are basically when an alcoholic has a relapse, there are generally four or five thoughts that come up.
One is, this is important, we can discuss this, one is everyone is doing it. So everyone is doing it. So what is the big deal if I do it? Why do I have to abstain myself from it? So actually what has to be understood is, everyone is doing it means only alcoholics are doing it.
So I have to decide whether I want to be an alcoholic. So if I want to stay in, if I stay in the association of devotees, sorry, if I stay in the association of alcoholics, then I will feel that everyone is actually doing it. So confronting the mind is lies.
So first lie is, everyone is doing it, why shouldn’t I? So how do we reply to this? You can have many replies. One is, okay, everyone is doing it. Everyone is continuing on in material existence, in samsara chakra.
Is that what I want? And actually it is not true that everyone is doing it. There are many sincere souls who are trying to get over it also. So we have to find out which are the mind’s justifications, mind’s lies, which trap us.
So everyone is doing it, why shouldn’t I? Another lie of the mind is, one time doesn’t matter. One time doesn’t matter. Okay.
So what happens is, the idea is, okay, I have done it so many times in the past, nothing, no big deal happened. So one time doesn’t matter. But actually it is, the one time is what traps us.
Because one time when we say, every time the mind will say one time. And that one time will eventually become every time. So that’s how it works.
So one time doesn’t matter means, actually, every time it is always going to be one time only. So sometime I’ll have to say no. And only when I say no, then only I’ll get out of it, so I’ll write the response also.
And this is just one response, we can come up with our, everyone is suffering in material existence, then one time doesn’t matter. So one time is all that it takes to get trapped and to stay trapped. So one time is one time too many.
So one time is one time too many. So, then this is another law of the mind is, this is just the way I am, I am impure, I am conditioned, I am fallen, this is just the way I am. So, the response to this is, actually, I’m a product, but not a prisoner of my past.
This is just the way I am, this is the way I am because of my past. But although my past has produced me, my past doesn’t have to imprison me, I can change. And actually, if we understand is this, this is not the way I am because I am a, I am a pure soul.
So, when I understand this, you remember that whatever conditionings I have, no matter how big they are, still, actually, at my centre, I am pure. And this is all peripheral, it is all peripheral, it can all be overcome. So, then, actually, there are many lies like this, so after this, and after that, the mind has many lies.
Another lie of the mind is, I am too fallen. So, sometimes I say, I am so fallen, but no matter how fallen I am, actually, Krishna’s power to lift me up, to pull me up, is greater than my own power to push me down. So, actually, this idea that I am too fallen is a perverse false ego.
Why? Because the idea is that my, I am, in a sense, my power to stay fallen is greater than Krishna’s power to lift me up, which is actually a form of false ego only. So, am I too fallen? No, I am not too fallen. And I may be fallen, no doubt, but Krishna can lift me up.
So, Krishna’s power to pull me up is greater than, far greater than, than my, sorry, my power to push myself down. Then, like this, then my mind has many lies. Another common lie is, so I deserve to enjoy, I have suffered so much in my life.
I deserve enjoyment. So, why should I not enjoy? So, actually, ultimately, we feel there is pleasure, there is pleasure, I want to enjoy. So, the response is, yes, but enjoy in the right way.
Not in a way that causes suffering. So, it’s important to remember that bhakti will also give us enjoyment in the long run. So, one of the trickiest ways is this last one, that is, you know, my life is filled with so much stress, so much tension, so much worry, and I need a break.
And enjoyment will offer me a release, a break. So, often, this is the reason which traps us. So, it’s one thing to get into sense gratification, because we have the desire to enjoy.
And if we find a way to find happiness in Krishna consciousness, we can give that up. But often, what we do is, we have a habit of medicating trouble with indulgence, with enjoyment. That means what? That’s what people say, there is no problem so big that sex can’t solve it.
Their idea is, if you have any problem, just go and have a fling. I’ll forget all your problems. No problem so big that alcohol can’t solve it.
No matter how big the problem, drink and forget it. But actually, later on the problem comes back and it’s worse. So, it’s actually, what happens is, if you have a habit of medicating trouble with enjoyment.
Medicating means, when I have suffering, I want a medicine. So, if I think that pleasure is a medicine for pain. If that is my habit, that is a very dangerous habit.
Because what is there? Trouble is something which is going to come again and again in our life. So, yes, when there is trouble, we need medicine. But the medicine is the shelter of Krishna.
So, this is where we need to re-educate ourselves. See, what happens is, often when we fall prey to temptations, we just say, why did I do that? I’ll never do it again. We just make a determination and we try to practise again.
That is, the determination is good. But often it is like, if I have an infected wound, I just tie a bandage and hope it gets healed. No, if I have an infected wound, I have to actually look at the infection and apply some medicine to cure that infection.
And then we put a bandage. So, I find relief in Krishna Consciousness. I’ll come to this part about bandage a little bit more clearly now.
So, let me complete this. Is this clear? So, we have to, especially, we have to find out when we become down in the spiritual life. Or not in the spiritual life, anyway.
Because somebody has spoken harshly to us, because something has gone wrong. So, at that time, how do we take shelter? And that if we re-educate ourselves, then we can actually overcome our conditionings. So, let’s come to this now.
See, there are, is it okay? Are you want to? Have you finished it? Okay. So, inner beliefs lead to outer behaviour. Beliefs are internal, behaviours are outer.
So, if we just try to change our behaviours without changing our beliefs. Then, that is like, is like bandaging a wound without disinfecting it. The wound will go worse and it will come back again.
So, when we fall to temptation, we just don’t have to see, okay, why did I fall? I’ll never fall again. That sort of resolution is not enough. We have to go back and look at the thought process.
Why did I fall? What were the thoughts that went in my mind? Sometimes I feel like this was just stupidity from my part. Okay, it was stupidity, but even that stupidity has some logic. It was a stupid logic, but there was some logic in it.
How did I let myself become persuaded to do such a thing? So, we have to go back and look at our thought process. And then we observe, okay, this thought came up. And then this thought came up.
And then this thought came up. And then this is how the thought process trapped me. So, what happens is, our normal self doesn’t want to sin, doesn’t want to fall.
But the mind speaks certain things. The mind uses some logic. The mind spins its own yarn, spins its own yarn, tells its own story, by which it sells its lies to us.
So, we have to find out how the mind sells its lies to us. And what is the false belief in us that makes us believe the mind, when the mind speaks. So, when I find that, then I counter that.
So, for example, one time doesn’t make any trouble. Then I can plan. I can myself maybe study scripture from that perspective and see how one time creates trouble.
For example, Krishna says, That even one sense, of the sense which contemplates, can drive. And we can think of, from the scriptures of past times, some devotee, some person, seeker fell away. It’s gone history, we can see also, there are so many people who have fallen.
So, one time is one too much. One time too much. So, when we find out our own wrong belief, which is sabotaging our efforts for purification, reformation, then we prepare our counter for that belief.
So, we break that belief. And this is something each of us has to do individually. Because the belief that is weakening me is not the same as the belief that is weakening you.
So, each of us has to find out what is the wrong belief that is sabotaging, sabotaging. Sabotaging means damaging or destroying. Sabotaging my efforts for purification, reformation.
And then I challenge, I confront and counter that belief. And then, if that’s whatever it is, I write it down and keep it ready with me. Then after that, whenever this false belief starts coming in, then immediately I have some handy notes, some pocket book, I quickly read that and then I calm myself down.
So, you know, in a war, sincerity alone is not enough. Strategy is also required. You know, in a war, say, Pakistan is attacking India and they have got 5000 soldiers with machine guns.
And there are 5000 sincere Indian soldiers. But they have only got reloadable guns. Now, what are they going to do? The sincerity alone is not enough.
Now, we say in a spiritual sense, sincerity is all that is required. Yes, that is true. But that sincerity is also expressed by using our intelligence.
So, using our intelligence is also part of sincerity. Sincerity is something which is expressed through… So, one of my friends in the army was telling that in the army, often, those soldiers, the soldiers are patriotic. They are desired.
But, you know, they also have to keep their patriotism under control. In the sense that, in the name of patriotism, they cannot become foolhardy, or arbitrary, or unethical. The army has to fight in a planned way.
So, again, the point is that sentiment alone is not good enough in a war. Along with sentiment, there has to be strategy. So, this way, if we are falling again and again, then we find out what are the misconceptions the mind is trapping us by and confront and counter those misconceptions.
Is it clear? Any questions about this? Yeah. So, let’s move forward. Now, Krishna will describe, okay, the soul is entangled in the material world.
Now, how can the soul get out of the material world? That he will describe in the next 2-3 verses. But first, he will say that one who understands this knowledge, such a person, by understanding this knowledge, can become gradually liberated. ये एवं वेक्ति पुरुष्यम् प्रकृतिम् च गुणई सः सर्वथा वर्तमानोपि न सभूयो भिजायते So, ये एवं वेक्ति, one who knows this, पुरुष्यम् and प्रकृति, पुरुष्यम् and प्रकृतिम् च गुणई सः So, one who knows the पुरुष्यम् प्रकृतिम् च गुणई सः सर्वथा वर्तमानोपि In all times, such a person is, he will not take birth in material nature.
सर्वथा means in all ways, situated, he is well situated. सर्वथा वर्तमानोपि, that means, one who has this knowledge, whatever situation he is in material existence, he will stay liberated. He will stay in a safe situation.
And because he stays in a safe situation, by this vision, he doesn’t let himself get entangled. So, when he gets out of his body, at the time of death, नसभूयो भिजायते He is well situated in this world, in this life, in this body. And at the end of this life, he goes back.
He doesn’t come back to this material existence. नसभूयो भिजायते So, how does this happen? How does one stay in this knowledge? That Krishna will describe in various ways. ध्यानेनात्मनिपश्यन्ति केचिदात्मानमात्मना अन्नेसांखेन योगेन कर्मयोगेन चापरे So, ध्यानेनात्मनिपश्यन्ति Some people, they see the आत्मा वै ध्यान So, ध्यान योगा केचिदात्मानमात्मना So, आत्मानमात्मना means by the mind turned inwards, by the perception directed inwards, through ध्यान, they see the soul.
अन्नेसांखेन योगेन Others do it by the practise of सांखेयोगा, by analysis of what is matter and what is spirit. And others by कर्मयोगा. By the process of detached work.
And next word is, he will describe भक्तियोगा in terms of hearing. This is the only word in the Bhagavad Gita which explicitly talks about hearing. There is one more word in the fourth chapter, 4.26, I think, श्रोत्रादि इन्रियाणि सब्दाधिन्विष्यानन्य इन्रियागनिष्युवति That also talks, but that is talking more of how the Brahmacharis offer the ears in the process of mind control.
But here, hearing is described as a साधना that will lead to liberation. So, it’s a broader description. अन्येत्वेवमजानन्तः शृत्वान्नेभ्योपासते देपिचातितरंदेवः वृत्युम्शृतिपरायणः So, अन्य, some other people, एवंजानन्तः, so they don’t know about all this, आत्मा, पर्मात्मा, पुरुष्य, प्रकृति, शृत्वान्नेभ्यो, but they hear from others.
So, the अन्य comes twice. So, first अन्य refers to those who are others apart from who are talked about in the first three categories. Second अन्य refers to others who don’t, others from, different from these others.
That means there are some people who don’t know and they hear from others who know. शृत्वान्नेभ्योपासते, so they worship. And when they worship, what happens? देपिचातितरंदेवः वृत्युम्शृतिपरायणः They will also attain that.
देपिचातितरंदेवः वृत्युम्शृतिपरायणः तरंति, तरंति means to swim over or flow over or go over. They will go over मुत्युम्. How? Very beautiful word, compound word, शृतिपरायणः.
So, we have the word नारायणः परायणः, वासुदेवः परायणः. So, where does the word वासुदेवः? भुक्तानाविशिद्धानाम् नारायणः परायणः. So, नारायणः परायणः is a devotee of नारायणः.
So, in the Bhagavad Gita later on we will have कामक्रोधः परायणः in the 16th chapter. So, here is शृतिपरायणः is devoted to hearing, dedicated to hearing. So, you know, there is this saying that one picture is equal to a thousand words.
Now, sometimes this saying is used to tell as if pictures are far more important than words. Actually, what we are seeing through words, if you see one picture, that effect is much more powerful. In a sense, it is true.
But psychologists have also found out that one picture needs a thousand words. Because what happens is, if you leave a picture to a person, what that person will understand from the picture, you just can’t know anything. So, the amount of mental associations that we can do with a picture are far greater than the amount of mental association that we can do through words.
So, of course, if pictures and words both are there, then a powerful learning experience can be there. But when there is guided learning that is required, guided learning means we want people’s thoughts to go in a particular way. Then often words are more helpful than pictures.
Because pictures often lead to free mental associations. I see this picture, I think of that and that and that and that and how the mind goes where you don’t know. But then words are there.
Words are basically, they are templates of thought. They are units of thought. And then words guide our thoughts quite powerfully.
And that’s why the serious education generally happens through words, not so much through pictures. Certainly education can happen through pictures also. Shruti Parayana, we are discussing this point now.
For guided learning, if you want people to guide people, this is what you should learn from this. Then we need, so words are concentrated templates of thought. When there are some phrases, for example, there are Sanskrit verses or there are English phrases.
When we hear those phrases, they condense thought in a very powerful way. And that’s why even in the secular world, people like to have quotable quotes. And some people like to memorise them and they recollect them.
So words have a very strong healing power in and of themselves also. Words can inspire, words can discourage, words can devastate. So if the words are connected with Krishna, all this potency of the words gets multiplied much, much more.
So therefore, words are concentrated templates of thought. And to the extent that, especially if you find some verses from scriptures that we can memorise, which we can relate with, which we can inspire. And we shouldn’t think of memorising scriptures in terms of memorising a whole verse also.
Sometimes Bhagavatam verses are long and we feel a little discouraged to memorise the whole verse. You know, we can just memorise one line from a verse, if we find that is inspiring for us. And that is what, there is no rule.
We will see so many times, Prabhupada quotes only one part of one line also. So there is no rule that you have to memorise the full verse. It may be helpful if you memorise the full verse.
But the idea is whatever helps us, whatever inspires us, whatever empowers us. So words are very helpful in this direction. They are concentrated templates of thought.
So Krishna is telling that just by hearing, one will go beyond mrityu. Now, after describing this, he will now start with the section on Jnana Chakshu. He will explain how in this world one can see with the eyes of knowledge.
In terms of negative things are even positive also. Pictures are more in our mind storehouse than the words. Then how we can say words, we are learning more.
So yes, pictures and images stay in our mind more than words. That’s true. But that’s again my point is that pictures lead to free association of thought.
Pictures don’t lead to guided direction of thought. That means when I recollect a particular image, I may think of this, I may think of that, I may think of that. But if I recollect some words, for example, I recollect a verse, then just recollecting the verse and speaking that verse, that gives a structure to my thoughts, that gives me a direction for my thought.
So I’m not talking here in terms of which recollection is more spontaneous. I’m talking about which recollection is more useful. So there is spontaneity of recollection and there is utility of recollection.
So with respect to spontaneity, images are much more easy. But how much are they useful? Yes, I may have some images. I have gone to Mayapur and I saw beautiful Radha Madhav and that may be there.
But you know, when you come to images, there are so many images which come, which are not really devotionally helpful for us. They may come spontaneously. But if you want to have devotional remembrance, words are much more helpful.
So, of course, again, this will vary from person to person. Some people’s visual intelligence is more, some people’s verbal intelligence is more, some people’s musical intelligence is more. So researchers say that there are different kinds of intelligences.
And then depending on whichever is our kind of intelligence, we can use accordingly to remember Krishna. So I think you will discuss this when you do your TTC courses. Have you heard of the Slim Bill? Seven types of intelligences.
How many of you heard it? Probably in some voice seminar. Yeah. So what happens? I’ll just quickly mention this.
So we can. This is earlier I talked about discovering how we can. Slim Bill is a. It is called as a. It’s technically called as a backronym.
There are acronyms and there are backronyms. So acronym is there is an existing word and you bring a short form of that. That is acronym.
So, for example, International Society for Krishna Consciousness, you make it a acronym. But on the other hand, if I have a concept first and then I devise a word around that concept, you know, that means I devise a word first and then I try to expand it to a concept that is called the backronym. The same process going reverse.
So anyway, that is not. So basically there are different kinds of intelligences. More spatio-visual.
So I’ll just explain this one by one. And I’ll say how we can utilise this in devotional service. And there’s linguistic.
Then there is. Interpersonal. Then there is musical.
Then there is bodily kinaesthetic. Then there is intrapersonal. And there is logical.
So logical mathematical, they call it. So now, each of these intelligences, so spatial visual means, that means, you know, if you see things, you can remember them very easily. So such people, you know, the deity decorations.
So deity pictures, such people can remember very nicely. And then they can recollect them. And that’s how they can absorb their mind in Krishna.
Some other devotees, you know, you ask them, Aaj darshan kaisa tha? Acha tha? Dressing kaisa laga? Acha tha? Kaunsa colour tha? Yaad nahi. So now it’s not that they are, sometimes some people use this to say, you know, that we are so inattentive while taking darshan. Well, it could be, but it’s not necessarily that it is inattentive.
It could well be that this person doesn’t have that, that sort of. So actually, there are different deity pictures and deity darshans. These are one linguistic, those who have, they can remember verses and especially analytical meaning of verses.
Analytical meanings of verses. So this way, we can absorb ourselves in, sorry, the interpersonal is, these are the devotees who can gain a lot of strength by discussions. You sit and talk with devotees and then you, if you have heart to heart discussion, then such devotees get strength from friends.
For these devotees, friends are vitally important. And if they don’t have some very close friend, then they feel as if their whole shunyaitam jagat sarvam. They will not be happy.
In musical, such people, they love kirtans and music and tunes. And often they, when they memorise verses also, for them the tune is often very important for collecting the verse also. If somebody doesn’t sing the tune properly, then they just, they don’t get the tune, they don’t get the verse.
Of course, it’s not necessarily bad. I’m just saying that if this is the tendency, then the tune can be used, then the musical aspect can be utilised to absorb ourselves. Such people, they can have kirtans and musical bhajans and verses.
So, these are how we can memorise them. So, bodily kinaesthetic is dancing. So, yes, some devotees, they feel that all the agitation, all the tension is there.
You go to puja, you say dance and forget everything. All the stress just goes away. So, what happens is, those people who don’t have that bodily kinaesthetic intelligence, they see other devotees dancing and they feel these people are too passionate.
They are not dancing in a devotional way. But you know, that is the way they are working out their energy. And they need their release that way and they get it that way.
So, they are getting it in devotional way and for intrapersonal, journal writing is very very helpful. Such people, they don’t talk their way out of their problems, they write their way out of problems. That means what happens is, you have some tension, some anxiety, you just write it.
OK, this is the problem. Then while writing, you think, OK, some scripture verse is there, something we have learnt from the class, some advice from senior devotees coming together. So, then we use that.
And in journal writing, how people do it is, there are various ways. But one practical way to do it is, whenever we are feeling disturbed, just write out the disturbance. Write out the full disturbance and after it is written down, then we just vent it out, the mind calms down a little bit.
And after that, go through the whole thing and then use the intelligence to counter the points. How dare did that devotee speak like this to me? Who does he think he is? I did so much for that person and I can destroy that person if I want. You know, all those thoughts come in our mind.
Just express them out. And then write them down and then afterwards, why did that devotee do like that? Did he really know that he was hurting me in this way? Maybe that was not his intention at all. Maybe he doesn’t know that I am so sensitive about this.
Or maybe there was some reason. So, let me just find out. So, basically, actually, often when we just get the mind’s passion out, then we often find ways to deal with the situation that are otherwise not available at all.
And a logical mathematical that is there, for these people, philosophical analysis, logical analysis, basically, you know, some logic, this logic, yeh sawal ka yeh jawab itna badiya hai. People like this, this is wonderful. So, what happens, these are the things which give real strength and inspiration to people.
And of course, another aspect of it is, if you have mathematical intelligence, you can use it in Krishna’s service, memorising verse numbers, memorising chapter names and chapter numbers and various things like that. So, the point is, all of us have one of these intelligences. Some intelligence we have.
Some people who are Mahatmas, they may have all seven. For most of us, the problem is what to do. For them, the problem is what to not do.
Because they can do everything, everything well. But whichever it is, then if we can do many, then we can choose not only the one which we like, but also which is the most effective in our service. So then that way we can do it.
Interpersonal is also helpful in counselling. Those who are interpersonal, they can read people very well, understand people’s emotions and respond accordingly. So, basically, the way we absorb ourselves will vary.
So for some people, words are very helpful. For others, words may not be so helpful. But in general, for everyone, words help.
But depending on whether we have an attraction for words or not, the extent of help that we get will be more natural and easy or it will require more effort and concentration, exercise. So when we are speaking with people, do we try to do all this together? No, just be what you are. All of us have an irreducible level of individuality.
We cannot become like anyone else to please anyone else. We are what we are. That doesn’t mean we always have to be conditioned and following.
But basically that means that we can’t just blow according to every wind. So we are what we are in the sense that we have certain likes, certain dislikes, certain tendencies. Within that we serve Krishna.
And over a period of time when we develop a stable relationship with some devotees, we can make out, OK, this devotee likes this, this devotee is of this inclination, this devotee of this inclination. And that analysis can help us later on. But in general classes, actually, just being our authentic self is the best.
And you just can’t worry too much about people liking us. It is just as a preacher, if you worry too much about whether people will like us, there is almost certain they will not like us. Why? Because they will not know us only.
Because we will be so worried about whether people are liking me or not, that we will never be able to express who we are. And people will never get a chance to like us. And when they see some sort of shadow self coming out, nobody likes a shadow self.
So therefore, what we have to do is, we are who we are, people are who they are. If they will like us well and good, if they don’t, they can find somebody else to get inspiration from Krishna’s service. That doesn’t mean we become insensitive.
It simply means that we don’t become hypersensitive. Hypersensitive means just getting blown with every wind. Whatever inspires us in devotional service, we share that with others.
And others get inspired accordingly by that. kṣetra-kṣetra-gya-saṅyoga tad viddhi bharata-arśabha So, yāvat sañjāyate kiñcet. Whatever is there in existence, sañjāyate, comes into being.
It’s from sthāvara-jaṅgama. Sthāvara is that which is non-moving. Sthāvara-jaṅgama is the immovable.
Jaṅgama is the movable. So, sthāvara and jaṅgama, whatever they are, kṣetra-kṣetra-gya-saṅyoga So, it is all a combination of kṣetra and kṣetra-gya. And tad viddhi.
Oh Arjuna, know that it is like this. So, now Krishna is starting the jñāna-cakṣu by telling that we may see this bewildering and overwhelming variety of things in the material world. Now, if you start looking, there are so many, as I said, there are so many cell phones, so many laptops, so many smart phones, so many gadgets.
But ultimately, whatever is there in the material world, it is kṣetra-kṣetra-gya-saṅyoga. It is a combination of matter and spirit. So, this is the first point Krishna says in jñāna-cakṣu.
Ok, I have some slide where I had the overview of this. No, it is not there anyway. So, the first verse is talking about, I will explain this, maybe I will write it down also.
So, the first verse talks about everything is a combination of matter and spirit. Now, in the second verse, Krishna will describe how among this matter and spirit, one is temporary and other is eternal. So, look at the eternal and become equipoised.
samāṁ sarveṣu bhūteṣu tiṣṭhantaṁ parameśvaram vinasyat sva-vinasyantam yah paśyati sa paśyati So, yah paśyati sa paśyati, one who sees, does, actually sees. samāṁ sarveṣu bhūteṣu One who sees all living beings equally. So, first part of the vision is, you see all living beings equally.
And within that equality, what does one see? tiṣṭhantaṁ How does one see equally, all different people are different. So, one sees tiṣṭhantaṁ parameśvaram One sees the parameśvara vinasyat sva-vinasyantam So, all the body is vinasyantam, is destructible. But the soul within is indestructible.
So, parameśvaram can refer to the soul, the īśvara, who is parama, who is transcendental, to the body, or it can refer to the super soul. So, different ācāryas give this differently. So, Prabhupāda combines both and he says, you should be able to see the soul and super soul.
Both are indestructible in the indestructible body. So, first, everything is a combination of matter and spirit. Next verse is that, see everyone equally, because within the perishable body, there is the imperishable soul along with the super soul.
Then, after that, Kṛṣṇa will describe in the next verse, what is the result of such an equal vision. The result is, one will not become degraded by the mind. samampasyanti sarvatra samavastitam īśvaram nahinastyātmanātmānam tato yāti parāṁ gatim So, samampasyanti sarvatra, one who sees everyone equally, samavastitam īśvaram, he sees everywhere the īśvara is equally situated.
The Lord is equally there everywhere. nahinastyātmanātmānam Such a person will not become degraded by the mind. On the other hand, instead of far from being degraded, tato yāti parāṁ gatim Such a person will attain the supreme destination.
How will that happen? Because, this harkens back to, refers back to 13.23. upadrishtānvantā ca samam samavastitam īśvaram So, when one sees the super soul situated in the heart of everyone, Lord is equally situated everywhere, then what happens is, one will understand that, okay, whatever way people are acting, ultimately the super soul is allowing that person to act in that way. So, there must be something good that will emerge through this. If Krishna is allowing this, then, although it may appear bad, ultimately something good will emerge.
So, rather than seeing what that person is doing, we see, how I can serve Krishna in this situation. Now, generally speaking, if we see others as disconnected from Krishna, then it is very difficult to be forgiving or tolerant or humble. Because, if the other person is arrogant, you know, tum sher tomay sawa sher.
The idea is, if you can be proud, I can be more proud. I will show you how much I can be. That attitude can come.
In the Mahabharata, in the Ramayana, there is a nice incident, that when Lakshmana, sorry, when Bharata and Kshatrughna come back, and they find that Dashrath is dead and Kaikeyi has done the whole conspiracy. Bharata is heartbroken. And they perform the last rites of Bharata, of Dashrath Maharaj.
And Bharata and Kshatrughna are coming back to the palace. So, at that time, Bharata is held by some courtiers for some talk. And then, Kshatrughna comes back to the palace.
And there, he sees Mantra. Now, Mantra is dressed in costly garments and expensive jewels and everything. And as soon as she sees Kshatrughna, she looks at his alarm and she tries to run away from there.
And Kshatrughna sees her and runs towards her to catch her. She tries to run away into Kaikeyi’s palace. But Kaikeyi’s palace guard only catches her.
And he catches her and drags her to Kshatrughna. And he says, here is the cause who has drowned all our kingdom in misery. Now, take her and punish her.
And then, Kshatrughna catches her and is shaking her violently. And Mantra tries to stop. Kshatrughna says, stop, stop.
Kshatrughna is so furious that he doesn’t listen. And finally, Mantra calls Kaikeyi. And Kaikeyi comes running out of her palace.
And Kaikeyi shouts to Kshatrughna, stop. Kshatrughna is extremely angry. At that time, Bharata walks by.
And when Bharata walks by Kaikeyi, she says, Bharata, tell Kshatrughna to stop. And then, Bharata doesn’t even look at Kaikeyi. And Bharata just looks at Kshatrughna in a very cold voice.
He says, Kshatrughna, stop. He says, you know, what you are doing now, I wanted to do and I would have done not just with Mantra but also with Kaikeyi. Right in front of Kaikeyi.
Kaikeyi is shocked to hear this. And then he says, but, you know, if we do anything to them, Ram will never forgive us. And we want Ram to come back.
Therefore, leave them. So, you know, if he is just thinking of him and Mantra, he has full justification to be angry. But he is also able to see the connection with Ram.
So that is what gives him the strength to tolerate, to resist succumbing. So that’s how actually sometimes some other person may behave very badly with us. But if we are just on our own, we might just go and pound that person into pulp.
We may feel like that. But now we know we are representing Krishna, we are representing Prabhupada, we are representing our spiritual master. And the way we act will reflect on them.
So, you know, we should not let our connection with anyone overshadow our connection with Guru and Krishna. That means our primary identification should come from our connection with Krishna. So, how seeing a super soul prevents degradation? Our connection with Krishna, our connection with Guru, our connection with Vaishnavas.
That means, if I am preaching and if the people are very troublesome, people not hearing, not listening. When Prabhupada was preaching in India, later on when he was preaching in America, initially people were not at all receptive. You know, Prabhupada was there certainly for the people’s sake, but more importantly, he was there for Bhakti Santidha Guru’s sake, for Krishna’s sake.
You know, he is there to see, because Krishna wanted him to be there. And even when he got no response from anyone, he continued his service, because his connection was with Krishna and he was there for Krishna’s sake. So, even when there was no reciprocation from people, still he continued on.
Of course, when there is no reciprocation, doesn’t mean that we still have to keep going to the same people. We can go to other people also, where our service will be effective. But the idea is, we can curb our impulses when we are able to see the higher connection.
So, we are speaking and serving for Krishna’s sake. And we will surely find some people who are interested, but our primary purpose is Sir Krishna. Otherwise, if we don’t have this Krishna connection, then we will become too dependent on our circumstances.
Too dependent. Oh, people are not interested, what is the use of speaking? No, we are not there for speaking primarily for people, speaking for Krishna, for our own purification. And after, when we are doing that, surely there will be people who will be interested, who will come gradually.
So, when we have this equal vision, when we see Krishna is in control everywhere, and wherever we are serving Krishna, Krishna is accepting our service. Even if the people over there are not accepting our service. So, by that way, we will not become degraded.
Now, after describing this, Krishna goes further with this vision. So, first he said, okay, I’ll write this down, I don’t know where it is. This is a very philosophical section, but it’s nice to understand the flow.
So, the 27th verse talks about everything is matter and spirit. Seeing the indestructible spirit beyond destructible matter. For seeing equally the spiritual vision will avoid degradation by the mind.
So now, Krishna is talking about the spiritual side of the reality. First verse was that there is matter and spirit. Then he focusses on the spirit.
Now, he will come to the matter. And he will say that everything, material, is acting through material nature only. The spirit is not acting only.
I’ll explain. Let’s recite the verse. So, 13.30 is the is the same as 3.27, but expressed in the opposite way.
3.27 is that So, prakriti is doing everything and the builder thinks that he is a doer, he is a fool. So, here also the same thing. Prakriti is doing everything, but the wise person sees that actually the atma is not doing anything.
So, one who sees that Prakriti is doing everything, but the wise person sees that the atma is not doing anything. So, the atma is not doing anything. So, the wise person sees that.
So, here Anyway. So, now, what is the connection with this? Krishna is going to say that later, his whole purpose is to help Arjuna see the difference between matter and spirit. So, he says, whatever action we see in this world, actually, it is simply material nature acting.
The soul has got very little to do with it. Now, when a beautiful woman laughs, you know, what happens by that is that the male heart gets shaken by that. Person gets attracted.
The soft voice, the laugh, all this. But actually, this is simply the play of material nature. There is a soul within that body, and the soul is as much in need of Krishna as we are in need of Krishna.
And that soul has, somehow that soul is in that body and is accordingly acting in that body. So, when one sees that, then, whatever seductive, attractive things are there in this world, one is able to see that, actually, this has got nothing to do with the spiritual reality. यह पश्यति था आत्मानम् अकरतारम् So, one sees अकरतारम् That’s the पश्यति.
Then, after that, he will describe that, so, you know, actually, the many of the charms of the opposite sex, males for females, females for males, they are, to large extent, they are just biologically there. It is not that, sometimes we feel that, you know, this beauty is, I am meant to enjoy this beauty. But it’s not like that.
They are just biologically there. If a woman has a soft voice, a woman may speak in a soft voice, प्रभू जी, प्रभू जी, and then, afterwards, you know, माता जी, that person, that woman, may be playing with a dog, Tommy, come here. So, you know, the same soft voice is there.
So, that soft… So, So, that soft voice is not a sign of some special affection for us. That soft voice is just प्रकृत्येविच कर्मानी क्रियमानानी सर्वशा It is just, along with the female body, that soft voice comes along. So, when one sees this, when one sees that actually this is just a part of the biological setup of material nature, then one doesn’t get too enamoured by these things.
Then Krishna will describe, okay, when we see this, okay, but I see so much variety in this world, so everything that is happening is the diversity created by material nature. But then how does this diversity arise? Then Krishna describes the next verse. यदाभूत प्रतक्भावं यदाभूत प्रतक्भावं एकस्थमनुपश्यति तथएवचविस्तारम् ब्रह्मसंपद्यते तदा So, यदा, भूत प्रतक्भावं, so भूत, the various living beings, प्रतक्भावं, they all have their different natures.
So, एकस्थमनुपश्यति Actually, there is one spiritual nature from which it is all diversified. तथएवचविस्तारम् that actually from there the vistar has taken place, brahma sampadhyate tadah, so when one understands that no matter how different the material things look, but ultimately spiritually it’s all the same, it’s all the same, so then we don’t get enamoured by material things nor do we get disgusted with material things because we see beyond the material vision to the spiritual vision. So, whatever happens in the material is simply the action of material nature.
Yeah. How one can see, one can, one can go above name and fame or deformation by knowing what’s not? Sorry, how can one go beyond name and fame? How can one become free from the hankering for name and fame? Actually to the extent we become fixed on spiritual reality, to the extent we will understand that even the name and fame of this world is temporary and superficial, it’s peripheral, it will not really satisfy my heart. To some extent, once you start preaching, initially when we are preaching, we are quite excited, okay, I am going to speak to so many people, whether people understand, whether I will be able to speak properly or not, and then, that is important, we should be excited about our service, we want to do it well, for Krishna’s sake, but over a period of time we will observe that, okay, giving class is a one-time event and sometimes that will work out well, sometimes it will not work well, sometimes people will appreciate our classes, sometimes people will not appreciate our classes, but what is going to be straddling with us is not the appreciation of people, what is going to be straddling with us is our remembrance of Krishna.
So after a period of time, more important than delivering the classes, will become the remembrance of Krishna that comes. So before giving the class, while giving the class, after giving the class, what we will be carrying with us is our Krishna conscious substance. So that way, over a period of time, the more we connect with spiritual reality through our various services, we will start seeing that spiritual reality is far more substantial than the material ups and downs.
The name and fame will come, but it is not nothing, it is never going to last. And it is, in a sense, fame is also like lust. The more I get it, the more I want it.
It is never going to be satisfied. But if I want satisfaction, it will come only when I have Krishna consciousness. So the more we understand spiritual reality and get in touch with spiritual reality, we will see that this is much more lasting and fulfilling than whatever I get at the material level.
So after this, so beyond all material varieties, the same spiritual substance. Then after that he will describe that, what is that spiritual substance, he will describe further now. अनादित्क्वान् निर्गुणत्वान् परमात्मायमवेया चरीरस्थोपिकौंतेय नकरोतीनल्लिप्यते So, now he will describe that, how that spiritual substance stays transcendental.
अनादित्क्वान् निर्गुणत्वान् So अनादि is beginning, no beginning, it is beyond time, it is beyond the modes. अनादित्क्वान् निर्गुणत्वान् परमात्मायमवेया चरीरस्थोपिकौंतेय नकरोतीनल्लिप्यते शरीरस्थोपिकौंतेय नकरोतीनल्लिप्यते परमात्मायमवेया चरीरस्थोपिकौंतेय नकरोतीनल्लिप्यते परमात्मायमवेया चरीरस्थोपिकौंतेय नकरोतीनल्लिप्यते परमात्मायमवेया चरीरस्थोपिकौंतेय नकरोतीनल्लिप्यते परमात्मायमवेया चरीर next verse 33rd gives an example for how that substance is not entangled and 34th is an example for how it is not acting and 35th is how understanding this brings liberation so let’s look at these one by one how that spiritual substance is not entangled so यदा सर्वगतम् सौक्ष्मयात् सौक्ष्म यदा सर्वगतम् सौक्ष्मयात् यदा सर्वगतम् सौक्ष्मयात् सौक्ष्म यदा सर्वगतम् सौक्ष्मयात् सौक्ष्म यदा सर्वगतम् सौक्ष्मयात् सौक्ष्म यदा सर्वगतम् सौक्ष्मयात् सौक्ष्म यदा सर यदा सर्वगतम् सौक्ष्म यदा सर्वगतम् सौक्ष्म यदा सर्वगतम् सौक्ष्म यदा सर्वगतम् सौक्ष्म यदा सर्वगतम् सौक्ष्म यदा सर्वगतम् सौक्ष्म यदा सर्वगतम् सौक्ष्म यदा सर्वगतम् सौक्ष्म यदा सर्वगतम् सौक्ष्म यदा सर्वगतम् सौक्ष्म यदा सर्वगतम् सौक्ष्म यदा सर्वगतम् सौक्ष्म यदा सर्वगतम् सौक्ष्म यदा सर्वगतम् सौक्ष्म यदा सर्वगतम् सौक्ष्म यदा सर्वगतम् सौक्ष्म यदा सर्वगतम् सौक्ष्म यदा सर्वगतम् सौक्ष्म यदा सर्व कृच्णम् लोकम् इमं रवि ही क्षेत्रम् क्षेत्री तथा कृच्णम् प्रकाशयति भारत यत्था प्रकाशयत् एक ह। So one sun is there. कृच्णम् लोकम् इमं रवि.
One sun. Just as one sun illuminates the whole universe, Similarly, क्षेत्रम् क्षेत्री, So the kshetri, who is situated in that, He illuminates the kshetra. प्रकाशयति भारत.
Now the प्रकाशयति means illumination. But the sun, through its illumination, also brings about the activation of the universe. When the sun rises, the birds start singing, the flowers start blossoming, and all the activity happens.
Sun is far away from the earth, sun is distant from the earth, and different from the earth, but still, through the sun rays, activity is initiated in the world. Similarly, although the आत्मा is different from the world, or the आत्मा is different from the body, शरीरस्थो पित् कौंतेय, न करोती न लिप्यतेय. So what happens is, the आत्मा is different from the body, but the आत्मा’s, just like the sun’s rays come to the earth, similarly the आत्मा’s consciousness comes to the body.
And that consciousness activates the body. But basically, the body and the soul are different. And, just as the sun doesn’t have to have anything to do with the earth, similarly the आत्मा doesn’t have anything to do with the body.
So the आत्मा can become entirely distinct from the body. So these two verses explain, by घ्याणचक्षु, how the आत्मा is different from the body. And in the concluding verse, Krishna will describe, how all this knowledge can lead to liberation.
घ्याणचक्षुषः भूत्तप्रकृति मोक्षंच ये विदूर्यांति तेपरं So, two things, शेत्रक्षेत्रः घ्याणं अन्तरम् So, the अन्तरम् between शेत्र and शेत्र, understand this, how घ्याणचक्षुषः, and along with that, भूत्तप्रकृति मोक्षंच, understand how one can become liberated from this material nature. When we understand these two things, then तेविदूर्यांति तेपरं So, understand the soul is different from matter, and understand how the soul can be disentangled from matter. By this one will become liberated.
So, now although this chapter is a part of the घ्याणचक्षुषः section of the Gita, and the whole last section was a very analytical, घ्याणी type of vision, but Krishna has mentioned in the intermediate verses, in 25 and 26, that this vision can be acquired by various paths. And this vision can be acquired even by the process of भक्ति, by hearing. So, to the extent that we find it अनुकूल, we cultivate this vision, during our practise of भक्ति, and move forward in our devotional service.
So, for us, the ख्षेत्र ख्षेत्र घ्यांतर is very important. I am not the body, I am the soul. Others are not their body, they are the soul.
And by the process, भूत्तप्रकृति मोक्षंच is the process of remembrance of Krishna, devotional service. By that, we can become liberated. ये विदुर् यान्तिते परम् We can attain the supreme destination.