God proposes, Man Disposes – Understanding Krishna’s failed peace mission

Talk at ISKCON, Seattle

Transcript

This is an AI-generated transcript and may contain some errors.
Today I will speak on this topic of the converse of a common saying, common saying is man proposes God disposes. Whereas in Mahabharata we see that Krishna goes on a peace mission to Duryodhana and Duryodhana rejects Krishna’s peace proposal, so here what happens is God proposes, man disposes. So how is such a thing actually possible? How can a human being reject what God wants and then if a human being can reject then does that mean that God is not supreme? So we will try to understand philosophically both these things, God proposes, man disposes and its converse as is demonstrated in Krishna Leela in the Mahabharata and we will see how this applies to us as devotee seekers in our lives.
So how God interacts with this world is a subject of enduring philosophical perplexity for thinkers throughout the world. On one side it is understood that God by his very definition is omnipotent, is all powerful and yet we also see that there are things in this world which happen which if we look at God’s words as revealed in the scripture they are against his will, what he would rather not have them happen. So for example there are certain directives, certain guidelines that God gives through scripture and often there are many people who violate those guidelines and to our vision some of these people even prosper.
So how do we reconcile this observation in this world with the idea, with the understanding that God is omnipotent? So in general how God interacts with the world is itself a matter of perplexity but further when God descends to this world at that time the matter of perplexity becomes all the more because when he descends to the world at that time there is an intriguing combination of ordinariness and extraordinariness that is manifested in Krishna’s descent and his activities thereof. Now the concept of Nila is the unique contribution of Vedic thought to world theology. In the different religious traditions of the world, in the different theistic traditions God has been described in various ways but no other tradition has anything similar to the concept of Nila.
There are many Sanskrit words which are difficult to translate into English. Sri Prabhupada would often translate them into English just to make the idea not too formative. Words are external handles to concepts which are inside the head.
It’s like if I have to carry a bag. Now to carry this bag if there is a handle I can carry the bag easily. Without the handle it is difficult to carry.
But just because I have caught the handle does not necessarily mean I have caught the bag. Sometimes the handle may get cut off from the bag. So I am carrying the handle around and I think I have the bag but I have only the handle with me.
So like that the words that we use, they are handles. They are external verbal tools for concepts which are internal. So by words we try to grasp concepts.
Now words have different meanings in different contexts. So for example the word avatar is often translated as incarnation. Now it is actually speaking the word incarnation literally taken has a meaning which is the opposite of avatar.
Avatar means that being who is transcendent, who exists in a higher realm. When he descends to this world his descent is called as avatar. Whereas the word incarnation has at its centre the word karna.
Karna is related with the word flesh. It means flesh. We have carnivorous animals or we have carnal desires.
It means desires of the flesh. So incarnation literally means to come in flesh. Now when Krishna descends to this world in 4.6 in the Bhagavad Gita he states… So he says that he is unborn and he is imperishable and he comes by his own inner nature and therefore he remains transcendental.
He does not become materially contaminated and certainly he is not coming in a material form. So in that sense if we take the literal meaning of the word incarnation that is the opposite of the concept of avatar. But when suppose somebody gives us a new bag and that new bag also has a handle that we can’t hook it only.
Then we wonder how will I use this bag? So like that Srila Prabhupada when he translated scripture he did not load his reader with double unfamiliarity. Double unfamiliarity means that an unfamiliar concept and an unfamiliar term. So he would use familiar terms and then he would clarify the meanings of those terms.
So Prabhupada would use the word incarnation but then he would clarify that this means that actually when Krishna comes to this world he does not come in a material form. Similarly the word Leela is very difficult to translate into English. Now Prabhupada translated the word as time pass.
Did he translate it as time pass? No. Why did he translate it as time pass? Now I use the word time pass deliberately because this word past time has that connotation. That it’s past time.
You just want to pass your time. And you do something to pass your time. Now is that the idea that because Krishna has nothing to do he finds something to do and he is passing his time.
Is that Leela? No. When Prabhupada uses the word past time he is using it in a very different sense from what might be the normal sense of the word. So Leela.
So in the Upanishads that absolute truth has nothing to do. That absolute truth has absolutely nothing to do. That means and Krishna also reiterates this in the Bhagavad Gita when he talks about this in 3.22 and 3.23 he says that नमे पार्थास्ति कर्तव्यम् तृष्यो केशु किम्चणा नानावाक्तमवाक्तव्यम् वत्तेमचे कर्मणी नमे पार्थास्ति कर्तव्यम् Oh Arjuna, I have no duty.
तृष्यो केशु किम्चणा नानावाक्तमवाक्तमवाक्तमवाक्तमवाक्तमवाक्तमवाक्तमवाक्तमवाक्तमवाक्तमवाक्तमवाक्तमवाक्तमवाक्तमवाक्तमवाक्तमवाक्तमवाक्तमवाक्तमवाक्तमवाक्तमवाक्तमवाक्तमवाक्तमवाक्तमवाक्तम� He does it out of his own free will. सच्चन्दरूपे नानावाक्तमवाक्तमवाक्तमवाक्तमवाक्तमवाक्तमवाक्तमवाक्तमवाक्तमवाक्तमवाक्तमवाक्तमवाक्तमवाक्तमवाक्तमवाक्तमवाक्तमवाक्तमवाक्तमवाक्तमवाक्तमवाक्तमवाक्तमवाक्तमवाक्तमवाक्तमवाक्तम� One of them is रमति रमयति इति राम, रमति, one who enjoys, रमयति, one who gives enjoyment. So one who himself enjoys and one who gives enjoyment, that person is known as राम.
So when Krishna performs pastimes, what is the purpose for which he performs pastimes? That is simply to reciprocate love. That’s why sometimes the word लिला is translated as the play of love. So there is loving, there is a play which is performed in which there is a reciprocation of love.
So when Krishna descends to this world and he wants to reciprocate love with his devotees, at that time the activities that he performs for the reciprocation of love are called as लिला. So as I started, नतर्स्यकार्यं करणं जवित्ति, that absolute truth has nothing to do. In fact, if we look at the different traditions, wisdom traditions in the world and how they have conceived God, in the Western intellectual tradition, the Bible itself does not have much of a clear conception of God.
If you read the Bible, primarily it is the New Testament. The Old Testament is primarily the activities of the people of God. How the chosen people, they were guided by Moses from Egypt and how over the generations they went through different tribulations and God’s role is in terms of the very miraculous ways in which he intervenes to protect his people.
So there is no positive knowledge about God and certainly not much philosophical exposition about God. And if you look at the New Testament, the Old Testament is primarily the sacred book of the Jews. The New Testament is the sacred book of the Christians.
And the New Testament has four Gospels, which describe the activities of Jesus. And then apart from that, now in the activities of Jesus, it’s mostly he taught through parables. He taught stories and he gave moral lessons from those stories.
Again, there’s not much philosophy in it. And it’s more about how we should live rather than who God is and what the nature of God is. And then after that, the major part of the Bible is the epistles of Paul.
So Paul was one of the later prophets of Christianity, Apostles. And he wrote letters to different people, to Christians in different parts of the nearby areas as Christianity was spreading. And those letters are a part of the Bible.
So now in none of these we will see much philosophical exposition about the nature of God. And yet Christianity today we see is quite philosophically developed. So how did this philosophical conception of God within Christianity come from? That was Christians borrowed from the pre-existing conceptions about God that were existing in the Greco-Roman tradition.
So there was a prominent Christian theologian St. Augustine. He borrowed from Plato and Socrates. And he integrated Christian biblical ideas with the ideas of Plato and Socrates.
And then later on, there’s another thing called Thomas Aquinas. He integrated Aristotelian ideas with Christianity. There are these two prominent theological schools of thought in Christianity.
It is the Socrates and Augustine and there is the Aristotle Aquinas. Now within these schools of thought, Aristotle had the idea that God is the prime mover of things. The God is the unmoved mover.
Unmoved mover means that God pops everything into motion but he himself does not move. He himself does not change. And the idea for such a reason that if God changed in any way, God is supposed to be perfect.
And if God changes, now why would he change in any way? That means in the past he was not perfect and he had to do something to become perfect. Or he in the past did not have something and desired to have something. So any change in God would imply that there was some imperfection which was later corrected.
So to understand what this conception means, suppose an artist is painting. So now if you know, when the artwork is done, there is, as the artist is painting, slowly the painting starts drawing and painting, slowly the image starts emerging. And at one particular point, the image becomes, the artwork becomes as good as it can be.
After that, any additional dabs, any paint, any line, that will mar the painting. Too many lines, too many colours, they can mar the painting. So the painting is like a frozen perfection.
Now one paint, one paint dab below, it’s not perfect. One paint dab above, it’s not perfect. At that point it is perfect.
After that you change it, it’s no longer perfect. So God was conceptualising something like this. God is a permanent frozen perfection.
And therefore God does not have to do anything. So now the Vedic tradition explains, especially the Bhakti tradition, explains that yes, God is perfect. But his perfection is in the perfect reciprocation of love.
It is not just in the perfect inaction where everything is perfect. So God reciprocates love. And for the reciprocation of love, what he does is, it is not that all the time he is putting on an appearance of perfection.
Although he is perfect, he does not put on that appearance of perfection. God conceals his Godhood so that there can be reciprocation of love. Love, as a word, can evoke different images in different people’s minds.
But love, whenever there is love, we want to do something for the person who we love. To please that person, to help that person. So love means we should do something for that person.
Now if God always acted as fully complete, fully perfect, then what would anyone do for God? So for the sake of reciprocating love, God conceals his Godhood. God conceals his Godhood and he acts just like another human being. So when Krishna performs Leela, he does not act like God all the time.
He, for many practical situations, he acts just like another human being. So when he acts like another human being, at that time, people, now the devotees, so for example, Krishna’s mother is there. Now if Krishna is God, Krishna is Annadata, he is the giver of food for the whole universe, then what is the point of my feeding him anything? He is feeding me.
He is feeding everyone in fact. So what Krishna does is, to have that reciprocation of love, he conceals his God. And for concealing his Godhood, he has his special Shakti, that is called as Yogamaya.
So in the Bhagavatam, 10th Canto, 29th Chapter, that’s when the Raas Leela is about to begin. At that time, there’s a verse, Yogamaya Upashtaha. In this way, Krishna took shelter of Yogamaya.
This is a phenomenal, this is an amazing statement. Why? Because the whole Bhagavatam is describing how Krishna is the ashraya of everything. There are 9 subjects in the Bhagavatam which are considered ashrit, which are sheltered, and Krishna is the ashraya, the supreme shelter of everything.
And yet, that same Bhagavatam, which has still now described Krishna as the supreme ashraya, is now saying that Krishna took ashraya of Yogamaya. So, again, what is going on here? So here, to understand the concept of Leela, let’s consider the concept of a play. When a play is being performed, at that time, there are certain actors.
And then there’s a director. So the director asks them, you should speak like this, you should move your hand like this, you should walk like this, you should make your expression like this. And then, the actors act accordingly.
So now, it may well be that the actor may be much more famous, much more wealthy, much more powerful, influential than the director. But within the play, the actor will act according to the director’s direction. So, Krishna is like an actor in a play.
नटो नाट्टे धरोयता Kunti Maharani says in the 1st Canto, 8th Chapter, 19th verse, O Lord, you are like a play, or a first character, dressed as an actor in a play. नटो नाट्टे धरोयता And Krishna acts, so when he is playing the role of a child, at that time, he just acts like a child. And Yogamaya is the director.
So when we say, योगमायानुपाशुतः, that means, Krishna has submitted himself, as an actor, to a director. Now, good actors, if an actor is to be really effective, then that actor has to enter into the role of the character that the actor is depicting. And to the extent that actor can enter into that character’s mood, character’s frame of mind, to that extent, the enactment will become effective.
Now, Krishna is, in that sense, the consummate actor. So, when he plays the role of a child, he actually enters into the mood of a child. When he enters into the mood of a child, at that time, he acts as if a child.
Now, when Mother Vishwa gets angry and she says, Krishna, you are stealing butter, I will punish you. So, Krishna becomes frightened. बक्त्रम् निमेय भयभावनयास्तितस्या सामां विबोह्यति भीरपियत् विभेति So, Kunti, in her prayers, in the first canto, 8th chapter, 31st verse, she states that, बक्त्रम् निमेय भयभावनयास्तितस्या You are looking fearful.
And when I see how you, O Lord, you who are the supreme being, how can you be fearful? सामां विबोह्यति भीरपियत् विभेति That you, everyone is afraid of you, O Lord. Even fear personified is afraid of you and yet you are afraid of someone. How is that? I am amazed to see this.
So, Krishna is here entering deep into the leela, so deep into the play, that he acts according to the feelings that the person in the play has, that is, the child has. So, now, still someone may argue, if God is supreme, and now God is acting as a fearful child. So, if God has forgotten that He is God, Krishna, when he enters into the role of a child, he actually feels fearful.
If he remembers he is God, how will he feel fearful? And if he is forgetting that he is God, then how is he God? Is he overcome by forgetfulness? So, here we have to bring in a third factor. There is an actor who is acting, who is prominently seen on the scene, there is a director who is directing, who is not seen on the scene. But the director is directing according to a script.
And the script writer is the person who is determining the way how the director will direct. So, Krishna is the actor, Yogamaya is the director, but Krishna is also the script writer. So, that means, Yogamaya is directing Krishna according to Krishna’s will.
And in this way, Krishna is in control even when he is not in control. When Yogamaya is, as per Yogamaya’s direction, now he is playing like a boy and he is running away in fear from Mother Vishwa. He is not in control.
In fact, he is trying to slip away from his mother. But even when he is not in control, because the whole script is by his plan, he is still in control. So, this is the understanding of Leela.
So, now why does God do all this? It is for the sake of reciprocating love. So, the setting, the Leela is, when I said that Leela is the unique contribution of the Bhakti traditions to world theology, what I meant is that this understanding of what God does in his own world, what God does with his loved ones, that is not revealed in other traditions. That is revealed only in the Bhakti traditions.
So, this is what Krishna performs in the spiritual world. And when Krishna descends to this world also, he performs similar pastimes. So, Krishna Leela, when it is manifested in this world, it is a trail and a trailer.
The trailer, all of you know a trailer, when a movie is released, they try to send three minutes, five minutes trailer in advance to make people want to watch it. So, like when Krishna Leela is a trailer, there is pastime that is unlimitedly going on in the spiritual world. But some of those pastimes are demonstrated over here to attract our heart to him.
They are a trailer in that sense. They are advance gifts, what we can relish if we attain Krishna’s abode. But along with that, they are also the trail.
Trail means the path. The trail means that it is by meditating on Krishna’s pastimes that we can attain him. In 4.9 in the Bhagavad Gita, Krishna states, So, he says that those who understand my appearance, my activities, they are divine, they are not ordinary.
One who understands these in true as it is, what happens to them? Such a person will not take birth again. Such a person will come to me. The purpose of spiritual life, some people come to spiritual life, people come to temple, they hear Krishna Katha, for various purposes.
Some people want a small change from their lives. I want some nice, some pious refreshment, some pious recreation. That is fine.
Anyway, every day we come to God, that is good. But the highest purpose of practising spiritual life is to make spiritual life our purpose. The purpose of practising spiritual life is to make spiritual life our purpose.
That means, we practise spiritual life so that we can become elevated to a spiritual level of existence. We attain Krishna’s abode. And the more we meditate on Krishna’s pastimes, how wonderful it is that that supreme being who is all-attractive, who is all-powerful, who is supreme, that supreme being subordinates himself to his devotees.
That supreme being conceals his Godhood for the reciprocation of love. That is, how much is this Lord given to love? For the sake of love, he subordinates his Godhood to the purpose of loving reciprocation. We understand this.
And we understand, this is the Lord who wants to love me also. In fact, he already loves me. And he wants me to love him in return.
And thus enter into a life of eternal love with him. If we understand this, our heart gets attracted towards him. And thus, when our heart is attracted towards Krishna, we eventually attain him.
So, mām eti so arjuna Krishna says, in this way you will attain. So, Krishna Leela is thus both a trailer and a trail. Trailer, because it gives a glimpse of what happens in the spiritual world.
And trail, in the sense that the more we meditate on Krishna’s pastimes, the more our heart becomes attracted towards Krishna. The more we move onwards and onwards towards him and attain him. So now, all this is when Krishna is performing his pastimes with his devotees.
But what about when non-devotional elements are present at the same time when Krishna is performing his pastimes? So, Krishna is performing pastimes with the Pandavas. But then at that time, there are Kauravas. And the most prominent, the most envious among the Kauravas was Duryodhana.
So, now when Krishna interacts with non-devotees, with demons, people of demoniac mentality, then how does Leela play out over there? If you see the Ramayana in the Mahabharata, they are both great epics. They are both Itihasas. There is significant difference.
In the Ramayana, the villain is a Rakshasa. It’s a different race, different kinds of people. Whereas, in the Mahabharata, the villain is not a Rakshasa.
The villain is also a human. Duryodhana is from the same family. They are cousins.
In fact, in the Mahabharata, there are Rakshasas on both sides. Now Bhima’s son Ghatotkach is a Rakshasa. And he is on the side of virtue.
And there is an ally of Bakasura, not the Bakasura whom Krishna killed in Krishna Leela, rather Bakasura whom Bhima killed. So, one of his allies was Alambush. And Alambush sides with the side opposite to Bhima, because he wants to take revenge against Bhima.
So, Alambush is on the side of the Kauravas. So, here, in this battle, on both sides, the battle is between the Manavas. And on both sides, there are Rakshasas.
So, the division between good and bad is not so directly clear. As it is in Ramayana. So, now, when Krishna is in this situation, when two brothers are about to fight this war, two cousin brothers of course, but still brothers, they are fighting this war.
Krishna goes on a peace mission. He decides that he will try to petition for peace. And the way this setting works out is very remarkable.
See, the Pandavas complete their 14 years of Agyadvaas. And then, they emerge, the Virat battle takes place just at the time after the 14 years have got over. And Duryodhana tries to manipulate the calculations.
There are people who try to do all kinds of manipulations. So, just as sometimes people may have fudged their accounts in order to avoid taxes. So, like that, Duryodhana wants to fudge the accounts, not the financial accounts, but the calendar accounts.
And he says, actually, the exile was not over only. The Agyadvaas, one year was not over. So, because the Pandavas were detected before, so they have to go back to exile.
So, then when he makes this calculation, Bhishma points out, you are calculating like this. I won’t go into the calendars, the way they calculated at that time. But suffice it to say that Bhishma completely proves him to be wrong.
Still, Duryodhana adamantly insists that I will not keep the kingdom. So, then at that time, there are multiple rounds of negotiations that happen. First, Drupada, the Pandavas, they are staying with Drupada.
Drupada is their father-in-law and he is a very powerful king. So, and he has come, when the Pandavas, so there are different kingdoms. The Pandavas, they were originally living in Drupada.
Then, when they were exiled, they lived in different parts of the forest. Then they appeared in Virat, in their Agyadvaas. Then, when the battle got over, when the battle Arjuna won, so at that time, the king of Virat, he offered his daughter in marriage to Abhimanyu.
So, for that marriage, many of the well-wishers of the Pandavas came. Drupada also came over there. And Drupada was like one of the family elders.
So, Drupada said, we should first strive for peace and only if that fails, then we should strive by alternative means. So, now the Agyadvaas is over, but Drupada and Dhritarashtra are showing no sign of returning the kingdom. So, Drupada sends his Brahmana, his chief Brahmana, as a messenger.
This person is very wise, at the same time, very shrewd. And he gives a strongly worded message to Dhritarashtra about how you should live according to virtue. Now, Dhritarashtra hears this and he says, I’ll contemplate and I’ll send my messenger.
I’ll send Sanjaya back as a messenger. And, then after some time, he sends Sanjaya. And the essence of Sanjaya’s message is, he says, O Yudhishthir, you are virtuous, you are detached, you are kind.
He says, you know that the ultimate purpose of life is to renounce this life. Isn’t it? Grasthashtra is temporary. Ultimately, you have to take Vanaprastha.
So, you have already taken Vanaprastha. Why do you want to come back to Grastha now? Stay peaceful, Vanaprastha. So, why do you want to call Manushyad? Why will you be the cause of the killing of your relatives? So, this is called rationalisation.
Rationalise, the spelling of rationalise is R-A-T-I-O-N-A-L L-I-E-S Rationalise. So, when we rationalise, we give rational lies. So, we tell lies and we try to somehow screw out some justification for those lies.
So, Dhritharashtra doesn’t want to give the freedom. And, as he says, Yudhishthir replies very firmly, gently, but firmly, he says, O King, you mistake me. I never ever desired war.
It is I have not even mentioned war till now. Why are you talking about war? He suggests that. He says that as far as Vanaprastha is concerned, there is a time for everything.
And, till now, I have not done my duty to my ancestors. There are various duties in various ashrams of life. So, one of the duties in Dhritharashtra life is to picket children and to continue the dynasty.
Because I was in a forest, I have not done my duty towards my ancestors. So, as a member of the Kuru dynasty, I have to maintain the kingdom. I have to continue the dynasty.
And, in due course of time, I will take the renounced order. And, he says, as far as us taking someone else’s kingdom is concerned, he says, I am not asking for anyone else’s kingdom. I am asking for the kingdom that was taken from me.
He is not asking, although he could say that the whole kingdom is mine. But, he is asking only for his half of the kingdom. And, he gives a very firm reply.
And then, Sanjay, he takes his reply and goes back to Dhritharashtra. And, Sanjay tries to pursue Dhritharashtra strongly. Sanjay doesn’t.
Dhritharashtra doesn’t hear. He says that, it doesn’t say that there will be war. But, it just stays silent.
In the Pandavas, there is a, before the Bhagavad Gita is spoken, the Bhagavad Gita is spoken in the Vishnu Parva. Before that, the Parva is called the Udyoga Parva. In Udyoga Parva, there are two things that are happening.
Simultaneously, peace negotiations are being pursued. At the same time, preparations for war are being made. Now, when soldiers are on the battlefield, or soldiers are on the war field, close to the war field also, it is said, they have a slogan.
Hope for the best and prepare for the worst. Hope for the best means, hope that a war never takes place. Because, whatever happens, there is bloodshed, there is death.
War is a ghastly affair. So, hope for the best. At the same time, we cannot just be utopian.
We cannot be, what is called the Pollyannish. Pollyannish means completely, unrealistically optimistic. Not considering reality at all.
An enemy is coming with an appraised knife and we go and embrace that person. That is Pollyannish. So, we have to, when a person is on the war field, we have to prepare for the worst.
So, the Pandavas are doing both. They are hoping for the best. They are trying peace negotiations.
At the same time, they are forming allies. And, on behalf of the Pandavas, not because the Pandavas tell, but because the Pandavas are so virtuous, various great sages want to assist them. So, Vyasadev goes and tries to persuade Duryodhana and Dhritharashtra.
Maitreya Rishi goes. Parashurama goes. Many great sages go and try to give good advice.
But, Duryodhana does not listen to anyone. And, Dhritharashtra remains passive. And, finally, Krishna as a last ditch attempt for peace, Krishna says, I will myself go.
Now, when Krishna decides to go, at that time, they are in assembly, assembled together. And, Krishna says, I will go to petition peace. Now, this is an extremely radical proposition.
It’s like, say, now, between India and Pakistan, there are constant border conflicts. And, sometimes there are peace talks, so there is a foreign secretary goes, or sometimes the chief of military over there meets. But, imagine the head of state, the Prime Minister of India going to Pakistan just for petitioning peace.
And this, the head of state never goes as a messenger. The head of state will always send some assistance, some subordinates. Now, if the head of state is himself going to petition peace, that basically means usually two things.
One is that that state cannot afford violence. That if there is a war, our state will be defeated, we will be wiped out. So, it’s a matter of life and death.
So, the head of state himself goes for petitioning peace. That’s the usual possibility. So, now, with respect to the Pandavas, it was not at all like that.
The Pandavas were more than powerful to match the Kauravas. So, when Krishna is going as a peace messenger, what is his purpose? The other situation can be that head of state is actually hoping that we can avoid war. And bloodshed is undesirable.
And if somehow, whatever we have to do, we can somehow avoid war, that is good. So, in that case, the head of state may go not because the head of state is afraid of fighting the war, but is rather, is afraid of, doesn’t want unnecessary violence. So, now, in this, the head of state will do when there is at least some hope of getting some peace.
Then the head of state will say, let us put aside considerations of pride or status. Let us get peace, whatever it takes. So, now, if it is known that the person who is at the other side is not amenable to negotiations at all, is not going to listen, then, at such a time, why would the head of state go for pursuing peace? See, now Krishna, the Pandavas and Krishna are discussing, and the Pandavas, there are various points of discussion, but all the point that comes up is, is Dhrudana going to listen? Dhrudana has never shown any signs of wanting any reconciliation at all.
So, why then is Krishna going? Because Krishna did not want violence, but there was no chance of his winning, of his, not winning, of his succeeding in the peace negotiations. In fact, when Krishna comes to Hastinapur, he chooses to stay in the house of Vidura. Dhrudana offers him a magnificent palace.
In fact, Dhrudana, in his own way, he is a very shrewd manipulator of people. He knows how to make people attach to him. So, what he does is, he will, when Karna is in need, when Karna is distressed, at that time, he says, oh, people do not consider you to be the king, I will consider you, I will enthrone you as the king of Anga.
Now, actually, at that time, Dhrudana is not even the Yuvraaj. See, giving a kingdom is something which is to be done by the king. At least, it can be done by a Yuvraaj.
The person who will enthrone as the king. Dhrudana is neither. And still he gives the kingdom.
He has no authority to give, but he gives. And because of Andavas, it becomes, they are all one family ultimately. So, it becomes a matter of the family’s dignity.
If somebody from our family says, oh, I will give you this, if you don’t give it, it becomes a blot on the reputation, the charitable reputation of the family. The Pandavas go along. And then, Karna is so indebted.
And then, he says, oh, I am so grateful to you, what can I do for you? He says, I do not want anything from you, except your lifelong friendship. And Karna says, yes, that I will of course do. Now, that lifelong friendship means, Karna’s life will not last for long.
Because Karna chooses the evil side. Unfortunately. Now, at that time, Karna doesn’t know.
There are many incidents where Karna is manipulated by Dhrudana. Karna is an excellent example of how a good person becomes bad by association with the bad. Not just association with the bad, but by attachment to the bad.
So, similarly, Dhrudana also manipulates Dushyasana. Dushyasana is his younger brother. But Dushyasana also has his conscience.
And somebody says, this is too nefarious. You should not be doing this. So, what, when they build palaces for 100 brothers? So, Dhrudana builds a palace which is more magnificent than his own palace for Dushyasana.
At the end, he says, this palace is for you. And Dushyasana says, oh, my brother loves me so much. He is going to be the king.
He is the heir apparent. But he has made a bigger palace for me. Oh, how can I give up a brother like this? Then, because of not wanting to give up a brother like this, he has to give up his life.
So, matarthe tyakt jeevita. So, Dhrudana has this track record of emotionally manipulating people. And he tries to manipulate Krishna also.
So, he says that when Krishna comes, we will offer him top class hospitality. We will give him gifts, jewels, feasts. We will offer him.
Dushyasana says, let Krishna live in your palace. That is the best palace in our kingdom. So, when Krishna comes, he offers respect to Bhishma, Vidura, Dhritharashtra.
And Dhritharashtra says, please come to Dushyasana’s palace. We have arranged a feast for you. So, Krishna says, I will not come.
Normally, if somebody invites and to say no, it can be seen as impolite. So, Krishna says that one person eats at the house of another in two situations. One is if that person is hungry or otherwise, when there is affection between the two people.
Krishna says, I am not hungry. And because you are antipathetic towards the Pandavas, there is no love lost between us. So, I will not come to your house.
And Krishna instead goes to the house of Vidura. Now, when he goes to the house of Vidura, Vidura tells over there, Krishna. He is very happy that Krishna has come to his house.
But he is concerned. He says, Krishna, you know very well that Dhritharashtra Krishna is not going to listen. He is not going to listen to the peace.
He is not going to accept your misrepresentation. So, what is the point in petitioning for peace? Now, Dhritharashtra’s nightmare, Vidura is still scarred by that horrendous day when Draupadi was disrobed. Draupadi was dishonoured.
Vidura protested vehemently. The strongest protest at that time against that barbarous action comes from Vidura. And still, Vidura is not able to stop it.
Of course, Krishna intervenes miraculously. But Vidura’s greatest nightmare is in that same assembly in which Draupadi was dishonoured. Now, Krishna will be dishonoured.
There is no… What Duryodhana had done was inconceivable. Inconceivable. Not in a wonderful sense.
In Krishna’s past time, they are inconceivably wonderful. But what Duryodhana had done was inconceivably horrible. It is incurable to have an honourable lady royally dragged into assembly and to disrobe her publicly.
This is unthinkably barbaric. And when Gandhari comes to know about this, she is horrified. And from that day, she starts performing severe fasts and austerities to atone for the sins of her son.
So, it is horrible. Now, Vidura’s nightmare is that Krishna may be similarly dishonoured. So, he says, Krishna, why are you going? What is the need to go? And then Krishna reveals his heart.
Krishna says, I know that Duryodhana is not going to listen. Then, why are you going? Krishna says, I want to make sure that nobody should blame my devotees that they caused this bloodshed. So, the Pandavas, the world should know that the Pandavas left no stone unturned, did not leave any avenue untried in seeking a solution by peaceful means.
The Pandavas wanted a kingdom, not just so that they could have something to rule. Not just in this way to say, I have to do my duty to my ancestors. But along with that, Duryodhana was a very opportunistic and dictatorial kind of person.
He had power. He initially acted very generous, very virtuous just because he wanted to build the populace over. But once his hold on the kingdom had become strong and unchallenged and his despotic side would have come out and the subjects would have suffered.
So, the Pandavas also had a duty to their subjects. So, Krishna wanted to say that, I want to make sure that no one blames my devotees. So, although I know in advance that Duryodhana is not going to listen, but still I will ask for peace.
And now, why is Vidura afraid that Krishna will be disowned? So, what does it mean? Actually, Duryodhana had already proposed this. Duryodhana had a two-pronged strategy. His first strategy was, I will try to win Krishna over by bribery.
I will offer him lavish gifts and try to win him over. And when he proposes this, Vishwa tells, Krishna can never be won over by things like this. So, then Duryodhana makes a sour face and says, I have another plan.
The plan is, if Krishna doesn’t listen to me, then he is going to come here alone. He is going to come here defenceless. We will arrest him.
And if he is arrested, then the odds will shift drastically. It’s like say, India is going to play Pakistan in Pakistan. And say, India’s best batsman, Sachin Tendulkar has retired.
Sachin Tendulkar was there. And somehow, that’s something why Sachin Tendulkar is not playing the match. Then the odds will change.
So, Duryodhana is thinking like that. Krishna is off the screen in the battle. Then my chances of winning will be more.
Now, such a horrendous idea. Vishwa says, I cannot even conceive such a thing. And just walks out of the assembly.
Actually, arresting an emissary is unheard of. Even when there is a ruler as barbaric as Ravana, and even when Hanuman has actually disrupted Ashoka Vatika. Ravana, that was his favourite garden.
That’s why he put Sita over there. Now, that was Ashoka Vatika. But when there was a fighting and the whole Ashoka Vatika was destroyed.
For Ravana, it became Ashoka Vatika. He was filled with grief. And even after Ravana, Hanuman had done this, still, when Vibhishana pointed out, Ravana almost wanted to die, he disrupted all this, you kill him.
Vibhishana pointed out, he is a doodh, he is an emissary, you cannot kill him. So, at that time, even Ravana listened to that. An emissary cannot be killed.
So, what Duryodhana was thinking was barbarous, unheard of. But now Vidura was also there. And Vidura said, you will never succeed.
But even the attempt is disgraceful. Imagine, the Prime Minister of India goes to Pakistan, and then the Prime Minister is handcuffed over there. Just to have a handcuff put on an honourable person, even if it is done by people who are completely dishonourable, still it is dishonourable.
So, Vidura was saying, Krishna, why should you risk such a disgrace also? Even the possibility of Duryodhana dishonouring you. Krishna said, I want to make sure that nobody considers my devotees responsible for having caused this war. So, Krishna goes next morning in the assembly, and then, his speeches, if we read the Mahabharata, there are pages and pages, and it’s a masterpiece in diplomatic negotiation.
Krishna uses all of them he uses. I won’t go into all of that right now. Krishna tells that he says, actually, all of your relatives, and sometimes there are conflicts between the relatives, but ultimately you are in the same dynasty.
Your dynasty will be destroyed. And, why should such a thing happen? He talks to him. Then he says, then he talks about Danda.
Danda, he says that, actually, remember how powerful the Pandavas are? And he gives a list of all that the Pandavas have done. And he reminds him of Virat, just a few months ago, when one Pandava has single-handedly defeated all the Kauravas together. So, he says, what chance do you have today? And then he says, Veda.
He turns to Hidrash and he says, actually, okay, you have got an evil son. For the sake of this one son, why are you letting your whole dynasty be destroyed? That is, if there is anyone who is intelligent among the Kauravas, that person should cast aside Duryodhana and pursue peace with the Pandavas. I am just giving a very sketchy outline.
Krishna’s speech is so persuasive that Dushyasana gets won over. And Dushyasana says, yes, what he is saying is right. And he says, that yes, if Duryodhana does not agree to peace, then I personally arrest Duryodhana and arrest Duryodhana as a prisoner to Krishna.
Duryodhana is angry. What is this? And now, Duryodhana is so angry and just walks out. Now all the other 98 brothers are caught.
Duryodhana and Dushyasana. Duryodhana walks out. One by one they all walk out.
And Dushyasana is left all alone. Then he also quietly walks out. And now Duryodhana is thinking.
He is angry with Dushyasana but at the same time, he does not want to alienate Dushyasana further. So, he is very clever. Duryodhana is cunning.
If he chastises someone, it may happen that the person becomes defensive. Then that person has to defend the previous course of action as it was right. So, as soon as Dushyasana comes in, Duryodhana is seething in anger.
But he puts on a very gentle face and he says, Dushyasana, we had discussed earlier how cunning Krishna is. And just see how cunning he is that he even affected your good intelligence. Oh, Duryodhana is so nice that he thinks that I am a good person even now.
Yes, yes, yes. We should not hear Krishna anymore. And in this way, Dushyasana wins Dushyasana over on his side and he puts an end to that attempt to create a barrier.
And then, finally, Krishna offers Dama, he says, just kill the Pandavas five villages. And Duryodhana replies arrogantly. Actually, there are many courses of negotiation that happen before Duryodhana walks out and he is called back again by Dhritharashtra.
Again he walks up, again he is called back. Then Dhritharashtra calls Gandhari and Gandhari tries to persuade Duryodhana. Many sages tried to persuade him, but never listened.
Finally, Krishna offers Dama, he says, just give five villages. And at that time, he replies, I will not give enough land even to put the tip of a needle through. Now, this is the height of arrogance.
The height of arrogance. Now, there is there is there is a way of saying no. Where you say no, but we don’t want to hurt the other person.
There is a way of saying no. Any form of no is going to hurt. Somebody asks us to do something, we say no, that is going to hurt the other person.
Sensitive behaviour means we speak no in a way that is as less hurting as possible. But this form of no is not just saying no, it’s a no with a kick in the face. It’s a no with a kick in the face.
Actually, the Pandavas have right to half the kingdom. At least. Then they are ready to settle for five villages.
And what is he saying? I will not even give enough land to stick the tip of a needle. So then, Krishna says, then war is inevitable. And he immediately decides to depart.
So here, as Krishna is about to depart, Duryodhana also realises, Duryodhana, he is, he is a shrewd politician, but at the same time he has arrogance. Sometimes his arrogance overcomes his shrewdness. And then he speaks things which are tactically not good.
So he realises, he realises that, you know, the way I have to say, I have insulted Krishna. And insulted Krishna can be a very dangerous person. So although the peace negotiation has failed, he decides, now is the plan to get into action.
I have Krishna arrested. And then he calls all his, he has got hundreds of soldiers all around the palace. Arrest Krishna.
And then they all start streaming in. And at that time, Krishna, he has been warned, Duryodhana has told that he may try to arrest Krishna. He may try to arrest Krishna.
Krishna says, let him try it. And then, all the soldiers start coming in. And then, suddenly, Krishna just becomes, rises to giant proportions.
Just becomes Vishwaroopa manifest. And everybody falls back in horror. And none of the soldiers, they have their weapons appraised, but they become like statues.
Just paralysed watching Krishna. Not able to do anything. And the effulgence that comes from Krishna’s body, there are sparks and flames of fire coming out from his eyes, from the pores of his body.
Everybody becomes paralysed. And then, Krishna again manifests in normal form. Again, I am just going over his sketchy narrative.
Brief narrative. And Krishna puts his hand on, along with Krishna, one of the one of the Satyaki has come with him. So Krishna puts his hand on Satyaki’s shoulder and walks off as if they are going on a wild walk.
And all the soldiers, they are just paralysed. What is this? And Krishna goes out. So, here we see Krishna proposes peace and Duryodhana rejects.
Now Krishna, in one level, manifests his omnipotence when he shows the Vishwaroopa. Now we could say Krishna could have manifested the omnipotence before, in order to persuade Duryodhana. So God is omnipotent.
But the Bhakti tradition says that God is all-powerful. But at the same time, God respects human independence. God does not trample on human independence.
The Bhagavad Gita is a book which is spoken by God. But nowhere in the Bhagavad Gita does Krishna tell Arjuna, because I am God you have to do this. When Arjuna asks question, Krishna gives rational, logical answers.
Krishna does not draw on his Godhood to impose his authority on Krishna. Rather, Krishna uses philosophical argumentation. So, the Bhagavad Gita is an appeal to human intelligence.
And at the end also, the Bhagavad Gita concludes with, in 18.63, Krishna says, … … … … … … … … … … So, Arjuna does not say, I will fight, he says, I will do your will. That will happen to be fighting in that circumstance. So the Bhagavad Gita’s message is not that we all should fight.
The Bhagavad Gita is not a book of violence, some people say, oh, God is telling people to fight. No, that is very peripheral to the Bhagavad Gita’s message. The Bhagavad Gita is not a book of violence, the Bhagavad Gita is not a book of silence.
The Bhagavad Gita is a book of transcendence. Transcendence, harmonising our will with God’s will. Voluntarily, lovingly.
Normally, if you see, when there is surrender, I will conclude with this point. When normally we talk about surrender, it is when two armies are fighting and one army realises, now we have no chance of winning, we will be slaughtered. So at that time, they raise the right flag, surrender.
So surrender is usually at the end of a war, it means acceptance of defeat. Now Krishna tells Arjuna to surrender in the Bhagavad Gita. And Arjuna says, yes, I will surrender to you.
But then, after that war happens, Arjuna picks up his bow. The bow is picked up and he is ready to fight. So what does this mean? That surrender, in this case, is not the end of the fight.
It is the beginning of the fight. It is the restoration of the morale of Arjuna. So Arjuna’s Gandiva bow represents the human determination.
Human resolve. In this world, we can face problems, we can face adversities, and we can face perplexities which make us lose heart. This is Arjuna putting his bow at the end of the first chapter of the Bhagavad Gita.
He puts his bow, being depressed, so that he can lose heart. But when we understand the Bhagavad Gita’s message, when we understand how loving, how glorious God Krishna is, and that through the course of our life, we have the opportunity to reciprocate love with him, then our determination becomes restored. Whatever problems, I will continue to determine them.
I will serve him in whatever way I can. So in this way, what the Bhagavad Gita demonstrates, and what Krishna’s peace mission demonstrates is that God is a person who is omnipotent. But he is omnipotent not because he cannot defeat or crush Duryodhana.
But because he wants to glorify the Pandavas. So even in God’s apparent failure to gain peace, there is the triumph of his love. He, normally, when we show love for others, by what we are ready to do for them.
So Krishna says that I am ready to even endure the disgrace of failure for the sake of my love for my devotees. So Krishna goes to seek peace to Duryodhana not because he doesn’t know that Duryodhana is not going to change. He knows Duryodhana is not going to change.
But still he endeavours tirelessly. Why? Expertly. Why? So as to serve his devotees.
Such is the Lord who does not delight in his Godhood but who subordinates his Godhood and is ready to sacrifice even the positions of power for the sake of love. And it is that Lord who invites us to his world of love. So we have Krishna playing his flute.
Krishna plays the flute to invite the Gopis to perform Leela. Similarly, Krishna plays flute to invite all of us to his eternal pastimes. By meditating on his pastimes and understanding how he is such a loving Lord, we can all become attracted to him and attain his world of eternal love.
So to summarise, I started by talking about how God, the topic was how can, if God is supreme, philosophically how does God’s supremacy and our independence work together? And then we discussed about that connection. How can a human being reject God’s proposal? Then I talked elaborately about the concept of Leela that God does not delight in his Godhood but for the intimacy of love he subordinates his Godhood and takes on a position of a character in a play. So God’s perfection is not a frozen perfection as is conceived in the Aristotelian tradition that if God does anything, he is an unmoving work that if he moves, then he loses perfection.
No, God’s perfection is that he creates the perfect setting for the reciprocation of spiritual love, of pure love. And that setting means he becomes an actor in a play in which Yogamaya is the director and he himself is the scriptwriter. So he is not in control and he is also in control.
That is in the Gita Veda. And then we discussed how this plays out with his devotees. If she remembers that Krishna is God then she will not want to feel it.
But she thinks Krishna is my child and that maternal affection can go on. But in Krishna, there are demons. Now the demons cannot interrupt or disrupt or stop the reciprocation of love in Krishna and his devotees.
So even when Krishna is interacting with demoniac people like Duryodhana his purpose is primarily to reciprocate love with his devotees. So Krishna comes to Dastanapur to seek peace not because he is afraid of war he thinks the Pandavas will be defeated in the war or not because there is no Duryodhana’s obstinate nature rather he comes because he wants to make sure that his devotees will never be blamed for having caused the war. And Krishna tries.
All of them he tries. And when Duryodhana refuses still despite it all Krishna demonstrates that his devotees and on their behalf he tried everything. Such is the God who is ready to not only just conceal his Godhood but even take the very position of a peace messenger.
Not only take the position of a peace messenger but take the position of a peace messenger who goes on a mission that is doomed to fail. So he is ready to even take a middle position where he is going to fail for the sake of his devotees. Such is his sublime love.
When we meditate on Krishna’s pastimes these can act as a trailer and trail by which we can march towards his eternal world of spiritual love. Thank you very much. Are there any questions?