How to work with detachment & divine attachment – Bhagavad-Gita chapter 18 overview

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Transcript

This is an AI-generated transcript and may contain some errors.
Thank you, Prabhu, for your time.
Hare Krishna. I’m grateful to be here or there, we can say digitally with all of you. And so today we’ll discuss the 18th chapter of the Bhagavad Gita.
Broadly, there are two kinds of people. Some people like to think and some people like to think that they are right. So I often think that I know the Bhagavad Gita, but every time I read it, contemplate it, I realise that there’s so much I don’t know about it.
So while preparing for this 18th chapter also, I went through the Gita and I realised there are so many layers to the Gita, which I hadn’t contemplated earlier. So I made a PowerPoint to illustrate this. So because we’re just going through 78 verses in one hour, I decided not to make this a technical study.
I’ll make it more approach the Bhagavad Gita from the perspective of principles of living. And as we will discuss some universal issues that we all face and how the Bhagavad Gita sections in this chapter address it. So the theme again for this is from detachment to divine attachment.
So the perfection of renunciation is the chapter titled Prabhupada is given. So it’s the same thing. What is the perfection of renunciation is that actually we become fully attached to the Lord, that is the perfect renunciation is actually the perfect devotion and that is the journey.
So the Gita begins with the theme of detachment and it moves towards attachment to Krishna. So with respect to this theme of life principles, I have recategorised the 18 chapters. So 18 chapters were sections so that we can understand it in this term.
So the first section is verses 1 to 12. The theme is don’t give up action, give up attachment. So we know that the Bhagavad Gita begins with the question of Arjuna, should he fight or should he not fight? And there’s a broader human question.
Now, how should we act in a way that uplifts us and doesn’t degrade us, that doesn’t entangle us? So the answer of the Gita is you don’t have to give up action to avoid entanglement. What causes entanglement is not action, but attachment. Then if one has to give up attachment, then why would one act at all and how can one act? Say, right now, I’m giving a talk.
So I have some intention in my mind. I want that, say, all of you get a better understanding of the Gita at a fundamental level that I get a better understanding of the Gita. I get a better understanding how to communicate the vision of the concepts of the Gita.
So we all have certain ideas. We all have certain reasons why we do things. So what does actually acting with attachment mean? So for this, the Gita introduces the concept of the five doers.
Understand the five doers. That’s text 13 to 17. Then the major section of the Gita is from 18 to 40 is how to act with detachment by understanding the many components of action and these components of action are analysed in terms of what all is involved when we start action, when we continue the action, what is that we wish to achieve by doing the action.
So all those are there and all these are analysed in terms of the three modes of material nature and then after that, that’s 18 to 40. Then 41 to 48 is the journey is moving upward now from attachment, sorry, from detachment, we move towards attachment to Krishna. So infuse your action with attachment to Krishna.
This is where Krishna introduces Varanashram and he talks about the idea of working as a form of worship, which is sometimes over, which is simply trans, which is ultra simplified translation of that is work is worship. We will discuss that also. Then after that 49 to 55 is from action through intellection to devotion.
So intellection basically means primarily just analysing and thinking deeply. So intellection is what Krishna recommends, recommends Jnana Yoga for certain people and that is a progression to get to devotion. But interestingly, so this is a hierarchical journey.
So from Karma Yoga through Jnana Yoga to Bhakti Yoga and in generic terms, now we act with an inner understanding of detachment. Then we focus on an action and just go deeper into analysis and then we re-emerge and we start acting with devotion. But one doesn’t have to go through this gradual hierarchy from the text 56 Krishna says that anybody can practise Bhakti from wherever they are.
So there is a gradual way Karma Yoga, Jnana Yoga, Bhakti Yoga, action, intellection, devotion, but devotion can be started from anywhere we are. That is the 56th verse. So 56 to 73 is where the Gita’s very emphatic recommendation of Bhakti Yoga as the way to liberation is asserted and then after that Sanjay gives his realisations.
In fact, these five verses are very insightful, very devotionally rich and they are one of the, I would say, often overlooked parts of the Gita. So this is the overview of the 18th chapter. So let’s begin.
Now the first section as I mentioned is that don’t give up action, give up attachment. So the Gita has began with a defining question. The defining question was what should one do? That Arjuna had two options.
Either he acts and for him action means that that will lead to entanglement. He fights the war and he gets the Karma for fighting the war and generically if we act we will get entangled. That’s the understanding and the alternative to that is renunciation of action.
So renunciation of action means that I just stop doing action. So what the Gita’s recommendation is somewhere in between these two extremes of the pendulum is the Gita recommends out of action with inner renunciation. That there are auspicious duties which should not be given up.
This is the broad balance which Krishna has talked about consistently in the Gita. Now there are some themes in the Gita which we may find repeated. However, the repetition often takes us to deeper levels of understanding of the same subject.
See just like now all over the world there is this pandemic. We have COVID. Now what the word COVID is just one word but what it means for different levels of people is different.
Say for most of us who are lay people it means that we will get an infection and possibly it could become complicated but for us it’s an infection. For somebody who is in the medical profession for them it is much more. Their understanding of that same subject is deeper.
These are the set of symptoms and these symptoms indicate this possible complication and so many things and then if you go to somebody’s a researcher that for them okay this is this virus and this goes like this and this is how it grows. This is how it can neutralise. Can we do these things? So, basically the same thing it’s like we can see it with our unaided experience as the word naked eye is used with our unaided experience.
Then there’s a medically experienced eye and there is a microscope guided eye. So, the same concept can be seen at different levels. Similarly, whether to act or not to act this question has been discussed in the Gita right from the second chapter but the discussion keeps going at a deeper and deeper level and what is the deeper and deeper level? That okay Krishna talks about what is it that entangles us and what is it that can disentangle us that is our motivation.
Our intention is more important than action. Then what determines our intention? It’s the level of purity or impurity in our heart. What determines the level of purity or impurity in our heart? That is the modes and how they interact and function.
What determines the kind of modes that are going to influence us? That is our circumstances. That is our past karma. So, many factors keep coming up.
So, basically although the question is repeated it is not that the point of discussion is repeated at each time it’s being discussed at a deeper and deeper level. So, here as I said this is a defining question which Krishna takes but now here although the same question was discussed in the second chapter and is going to be discussed in the 18th chapter. The first chapter that Krishna speaks and the last chapter that Krishna speaks.
But here Krishna is going to take it at a much deeper level and one of the frames he uses, one of the tools he uses for taking the discussion to a deeper level is the concept of the three modes. So, he brings in enunciation in the three modes. There is ignorance, passion and goodness.
So, Krishna talks about this in 18.7, 8 and 9. Now we won’t go into reciting all the verses because I would like to discuss the concepts here. But just briefly we can discuss what each verse refers to. So, now it’s interesting normally we think of renunciation as a good thing and if somebody is renounced you will think that they are actually quite elevated.
But again even in sacred seeming acts like renunciation, intention is more important than action. In the 17th chapter Krishna has talked about how austerity can also be in the three modes. So, he says for example, people who do austerities subjecting their bodies to great pain and so that they can get powers by which they can cause great pain to others.
Such people are in the mode of ignorance, their austerities are actually demoniac. And we have examples of say demons also performing austerities and becoming far deadlier demons. So, even the renunciation can be in three modes.
So, for example, if somebody gives up because of illusion or irresponsibility, then that is not renunciation per se as it is generally used in a spiritual or philosophical sense that Krishna says is simply irresponsibility. So, somebody has a family but they just neglect it and this is just I don’t want to get involved with this. But what are you taking up? What are you doing instead? If somebody is not doing anything constructive, so their idea is more they want to run away from something, they have a misunderstanding of things as the word ignorance means lack of knowledge and illusion means not only lack of knowledge, it is ignorance means we have a false perception.
So, when I am in ignorance, I don’t know, when I am in illusion, I don’t know but I think I know. So, this is Mohat Tasya Parityagas. Krishna says Tamasaha Parikirtitaha.
So, this is unhealthy and we see that this has happened to some extent in India and across the world in various ways. Bhaktivinoda Thakur writes in his autobiography that at his time Vaishnavism had become a lazy man’s excuse for begging in a way that was respectable. So, that’s unhealthy.
So, that is in the mode of ignorance. Then there can be renunciation in the mode of passion where one gives up because it is troublesome, because it causes discomfort to the body. Oh, you know this job, it’s too much, too much trouble.
Well, okay, the job may be too much trouble but what are the alternatives before you? So, in today’s world when say people, not today’s world, maybe a few decades ago in America, there was a counter culture and the hippies were there. So, their renunciation was often in the mode of ignorance or maybe in the mode of passion. Some people get frustrated and say some parts of the world are welfare states.
So, now the purpose of welfare is that people who are financially challenged should be supported by the government. But sometimes the sarcastic word used for this is some people become welfare princess or welfare princesses. That means they don’t work at all and they just take the dole or other unemployment benefits from the government and why don’t they work? Not because they can’t but because they just want to live lazily.
So, now that could be in the mode of ignorance but they don’t want to work because keeping up a job requires effort and they don’t want that. So, it could be in passion where this is going to be too troublesome for my body. Then there is goodness.
So, in goodness one basically gives up worldly association and attachment. The idea is that one focusses here not so much on giving up the action but one understands, okay, what is the essence of renunciation? It is to not get entangled in the world, to become disentangled. And what entangles is, it is our own inner desires and is outer people who may trigger those desires within us.
So, if we can minimise that then we will not be entangled. So, Krishna analyses renunciation in the three modes to tell Arjuna that yes, you can renounce in principle by cultivating the mode of goodness and this is the recommended way of renunciation, Krishna says. Then there are the five factors of action which Krishna introduces.
So, any action that is to be done. Now, why is Krishna again analysing this? That how can one act with detachment? That’s the purpose, explaining that and he’s saying that actually acting with detachment is not some extraordinary feat in renunciation. It is simply a proper understanding of reality.
What is that proper understanding of reality? That actually our actions are not done by us alone and the results of our action are not produced by us alone. So, what does it mean? See, let’s look at this from various examples perspectives. So, right now I am speaking.
So, we could say I am the performer of action but is it I alone who is doing this? So, I refers to the conscious being the Atma but without the senses, say if I had some severe cough, then I wouldn’t be able to speak. So, the senses of speaking have to be functional. Without that I won’t be able to act.
So, and are they in my control? Well, I don’t even know how the voice box functions, how in the larynx the voice muscles move so that voice comes out, coherent sound comes out. So, I don’t even know about it. So, the senses are not so much in terms of their basic functioning.
They’re not even in our comprehension, leave alone our control. Now, we could say, okay, I do my endeavour and that is good. So, we need to endeavour but apart from the endeavour, the place of action.
Now, the place of action is an interesting concept. Place of action broadly refers to not just the physical location of action but the external situation that is required for the action to lead to its fulfilment. So, it could refer to the body, it could refer to the immediate environment.
Say for example, if I’m giving a class right now and here the power goes off or the net goes off, then because of that my action cannot succeed. Say, if a cricket match is supposed to happen and rains happen at that time, then the place of action is such that the place of action is unsuitable and things cannot work at that time. So, now do we control the place of action? Well, we can choose different places of action appropriately but then we can’t control everything that happens over there and then ultimately there’s a super soul.
So, without the super soul sanction, nothing will happen. Even if we take care of everything, there can be factors that we don’t even conceive of which can lead to things becoming disrupted. Usually, say I plan my years travel almost a year in advance.
I had the whole year chocked out and probably when I was planning, I couldn’t even imagine, most of us couldn’t have imagined that a global pandemic would bring the world to a standstill for so many months. So, the factors beyond our control come up entirely. So, now if you see what is the difference between the place of action and super soul? Now, we could abstract the place of action to various levels.
So, Prabhupada abstracts it to the level of the body. We can say that the house where I am sitting, it can be the city where I am at, it can be the country, it can be the planet. So, we can have it at various levels but generally the place of action refers to the immediate arena and there are so many factors even beyond that immediate arena that are involved in getting the results.
So, in one sense, the super soul is one among these five factors. In another sense, the super soul underlies all these other factors also. So, without the super soul sanction, my senses also will not work.
However, even if I presume that my senses are working, but still even after I do my work, the results don’t come automatically. Just there is no guarantee of the results. There are factors beyond our control which determine, you say a cricket player is, a batsman is batting and two balls, successive balls the batsman gets and both balls the batsman hits exactly the same way.
But one ball crosses over the fence and becomes a sixer. The next ball just goes in the fence and is caught and the batsman gets out. Both shots could have been identical.
Maybe the ball came at a slightly different angle or maybe at that time a gust of wind came because of which all the both balls were hitting the same force. But because of the wind, the ball just didn’t go that much distance. So, there are so many factors which determine the result of the action.
So, beyond our own endeavour or the factors in our control. So, super soul in that sense is responsible for all those factors. These are the five factors of action.
Now, why is Krishna discussing this? To help us become detached by understanding that actually we are just one factor in action. Therefore, to claim entitlement to the results, to become attached to the results and to thereby become entangled by the results, that is simply ignorance. And now this brings us to the well-known question, are we the doers? Now, at the philosophical level, all of us may give the pat answer, no, we are not the doers.
To think like that is an illusion. And the 327th verse in the Gita is well known. So, it’s interesting the way we interpret that verses, we are not the doers.
However, the precise meaning of the verse is to think that we are the doers is an illusion. Now, what is that? What is the difference between the two? Because although philosophically we may say we are not the doers, but practically we are the doers. Practically, I am speaking right now and I plan to speak and the way I plan to speak, the way I prepare for the talk will determine how well the talk will go.
So, what does it mean actually when that verse says this? So, we can go to extremes. One extreme is to think I am the doer. The other extreme is to think I am not the doer.
But the Gita gives a balanced explanation, which is I am not the sole doer. Not the sole doer means that, tatraivam sati kartaram ātmānam kevalam tuyaḥ paśyaty akṛta-buddhitvān na sa paśyati durmati hi. That person’s attention is misdirected, consciousness is misdirected, who thinks I am the sole doer.
So, we are one doer and as far as that, as far as our role in action is concerned, we have to do it responsibly. But how can we detach from the results? By understanding that I am not the sole doer. So, here sole is not s-o-u-l sole, it is s-o-l-e sole.
It is only doer. So, we could say the soul is not the sole doer. Now, this is the understanding which can lead to detachment and the third section of the Gita is where it discusses about various components of action and this is an elaborate section where Krishna starts with knowledge.
So, we could conceive of this whenever we do anything. How do we do it? Say, for example, you get a beep on your phone and you say, okay, your boss has summoned you to work. Oh, okay, you get this knowledge, you perceive it.
So, that perception can happen in goodness, passion or ignorance. In goodness, you may say, okay, I have taken this job, I have this responsibility, I have to do this. In passion, I may think that this boss is so exploitative.
In ignorance, I may think that this is what happens to me. Every time bad things happen to me. So, the same event we could perceive in different ways.
Now, I do not have time here to go into perception in the three modes. So, here knowledge is more in terms of how we take in the relevant information from the world so that we can act properly. So, here knowledge refers to the perception of the information that initiates action and after that there is an act which will act.
Okay, then I have to drive to my office. So, when I drive to my office, I might drive super fast and I might break the signals or I might just be skirting with danger or I can drive at a safe speed. So, the action we can do, it can be in the mode of goodness, passion or ignorance.
Then after that, there is the actor itself. So, it is not just that we are driving rashly, but here when it talks about actor, it is not the soul, it is more the embodied soul. So, in the Sanskrit, the Atma, the word is used usually for the soul or sometimes Jiva is also used for the soul and Bhuta, Bhutani is the plural.
Bhuta is often used for the Jiva Bhuta Mahabaho. So, Bhuta is referred to the embodied soul. So, here we could say the actor refers to the overall way that particular person conducts themselves.
So, there could be a particular action in the mode of passion and there could be person itself overall in the mode of passion. Then after that, so we envision how this is moving forward. So, we perceived, then we acted and while acted, our own mode is there.
Then now while acting, there is intelligence. Prabhupada also uses the word in understanding over here, English translation. The Sanskrit is Buddhi.
So, here Jnana and Buddhi are differentiated. Jnana is used more in terms of how we perceive and intelligence is seen in more terms of how we act. So, how much are we able to manage our sensory functions in a regulated way, whether our senses go wild, say, when we go to office, somebody might get to the office and they might just panic and start gesticulating wildly and speaking too rapidly and acting incoherently or they might have, there is a matter of concern, but they act in a more regulated way.
So, that could be intelligence. Intelligence refers to how we, it is how we translate whatever is inside into actions outside. And then for intelligence, along with intelligence, there is determination.
Determination can also be in the three modes. So, broadly we could say, if you want to understand this whole set of factors, we could go into the chariot body metaphor. So, intelligence refers to the charioteer, how strong is the charioteer or not how strong, you could say how alert, how skilled the charioteer is.
And then after that determination refers to how strong the charioteer is to be able to control the horses. So, with intelligence, we may decide, I want to do this, I want to do this, do this. And in principle, we have charted the course of action properly.
I have to deal with this person. I have to explain how they should act in this, what all they should do. Then I have to meet this person and I have to act in this way.
And I have to explain this to this person. That is how we can deal with this crisis. So, in terms of intelligence, we made a good plan.
But maybe all those three persons have messed up with certain things. And that is why maybe we had to leave home and go to office. So, we are a bit annoyed with them.
And if they do not seem to understand, we might get angry with them and we might yell at them. So, that could be counterproductive. Because then they might become more uncooperative and they may not do their part in fixing the problem and things can escalate.
So, determination refers here to after we made a decision of how to deal with the situation, how do we go about in implementing that situation. So, both intelligence and determination are in terms of execution. But one is more in terms of the analysis of how to execute and determination is more in terms of actually how we go about executing.
So, that can also be in the three modes. And then lastly, there is happiness in the three modes. So, what kind of pleasure am I looking for? So, if for example, when we work, the pleasure that we want is, we want to prove to everyone, I am right and everyone else is wrong.
Then okay, that is one kind of pleasure I might get. I just go to the office, I chastise everyone and then get them to do my bidding. But what happened by that? Maybe they just feel uncomfortable working with me.
They start thinking of me as a tyrant and they do not really learn much. So, that is in the mode of passion. What I want is, I just want the sense of control and some domination and it relatively speaking, if we have particular position, we can get it quite easily.
But it could be that, okay, I want them to grow. I want them to become more responsible. So, I take time to understand their perspective.
Why did they do the way they did? Okay, and then maybe I found out that I actually didn’t communicate properly to them what the nature of the responsibility was. Oh, there is this kind of sitting and hearing and sometimes we start with the intention of clarifying their mistakes and we end up realising that actually, we start with the intention of correcting their mistakes. But then we learn about how we need to correct our mistakes also and that is not so easy.
So, that can taste like poison in the beginning. But they will grow, our relationship will grow, the project will function better, the project will grow. So, that is nectar in the end.
So, all these come together in action and so the idea of Krishna in analysing all this is to explain to Arjuna that we can, that Arjuna, you can act in the mode of goodness and you will not be entangled. So, the whole purpose is don’t think that action equates with attachment or that detachment requires renunciation of action. Now, after this, there is the next section where Krishna talks about work and worship together.
So, this is from 1840 to 47 or 49, we could put it. It depends on how we draw, where we exactly draw the boundary. So, now there are two extremes you could have over here is work and worship are identical and work and worship are entirely different and we see this kind of compartmentalisation in people’s lives where some people may say that I don’t have to go to a temple because my work itself is worship for me.
So, they say that okay, no, I go to my factory and my factory itself is like my temple for me. I go there. Nowadays, of course, people not go to factories.
We may go to our software jobs or whatever. So, that’s like my temple for me and at one level, this understanding may infuse them with a sense of responsibility of seriousness, dignity of work and in that sense, it’s good. On the other hand, some people say work and worship are entirely different, compartmentalise it.
Some people might be like very prayerful and gentle and sweet and so kind when they’re praying and when they’re talking with people in the temple or in the prayer room and when they come out, they just reincarnate practically as a different person and then they’re bossy, they’re domineering, they use swear words. Hey, what happened to you? What kind of person are you? So, there is complete compartmentalisation. So, what the Gita says is something in between.
It is not so much work is worship but work as worship. What that means is worship can be done in many ways. Work can also be one of the ways.
So, in this case, work does not replace worship but worship doesn’t have to be given up for working. So, we do our worship daily. We may do our puja, we may do our japa, we may do our sadhana, that’s worship.
But then after that, when we go for our job, that’s also worship. Why? Because we are doing it in a mood of service to Krishna. So, work as worship means that work is infused with the consciousness of service and worship and that consciousness will not come automatically.
For getting that consciousness, we may have to consciously go and put in effort elsewhere. We may have to actually do worship, associate with those who are devotionally minded and get that worshipful mood thereby. So, now what is Krishna talking about in the broader context of this chapter? That actually by work itself, one can become liberated.
So, Krishna says by working according to your own profession, you can attain liberation. So, that is the context. So, not only can one avoid entanglement, but by working one can even become disentangled, one can gain liberation.
So, then the question comes up. So, this is work as worship. Then after that the question comes, now how does work as worship actually work? To understand this, let’s look at the components of action in a slightly, in a similar way like we discussed earlier, but let’s look at in an ordinary referential way.
So, actually we understand that everything comes from Krishna. So, we ourselves are parts of Krishna. Our abilities by which we are doing our work is part of Krishna.
Our work is also impossible with Krishna, without Krishna. The result of the work will also come by Krishna’s grace and the world where we function is sustained by Krishna. So, we see the whole world is filled with Krishna.
Then we see, okay, whether I am doing some seva in the temple or I am doing my job in my office, it is God’s jurisdiction is not limited to the temple. His jurisdiction extends everywhere and therefore he can be worshipped also everywhere. And that’s why this verse which talks about this work is worship idea, actually it is, if you look at the Sanskrit itself also, it’s not work is worship.
It is svakarmanatam abhyarcha, through your work worship him. So, it’s oversimplified translation to say work is worship. But through your work worship him, that same verse, the previous two lines of this are talking about God’s immanence.
How his presence pervades is everywhere. yathah pravrttir bhootanam yena sarvam idam tatam svakarmanatam abhyarcha siddhim vindati manava that because everything comes from the Lord and everything is pervaded by the Lord. So, here when we have these arrows, they indicated not that all these things come from Krishna, but also that all these things are sustained by Krishna.
So, Krishna is present in our heart of the Supersoul. Krishna is present in andantarastha paramanu chayantarastham. He is present everywhere.
Then Arjuna may ask, no, but in a temple or in a sacred place, I do such pure activities. But if you say that I can worship even in a war field, but in the worship I am going to kill and even I may have to kill my venerable elders. So, how can that be worship? So, there Krishna says that actually every work is covered by fault.
Sahajam karma kaunteya sadosham api nathya jayet. That do not become, do not give up work just because it is filled with faults because every work is filled with faults. And then he says, sarvarambhahi doshena dhumen agnirvavrta, dhumen agnirvavrta.
Just as fire is always accompanied by smoke and smoke is considered impure, but we go through that impurity and we reach the pure fire. So, similarly Krishna says don’t give up your work just because it is, you think it is impure. There is impurity everywhere in this world.
And then after this, now from here onwards what happens is we start re-envisioning the Gita not so much as a, so I am skipping one section now. After that there is a section of 49 to 55 where Krishna talks about renouncing world, becoming inactive, and then after that, yeah. So, becoming inactive, meditative, and then after that coming to the level of realising Krishna Bhakti.
So, the theme over there is there is action, then there is renunciation of action, and then there is devotion. So, from Karma Yoga through Jnana Yoga to Bhakti Yoga. So, in Jnana Yoga Krishna talks about how one should sit in meditation, eat very less, not contemplate the sense objects, and increasingly realise one’s own inner self.
But the significant thing is Krishna says after one comes to that level, the perfection is to come to devotion. And so that’s why, This 1854 verse for all practical purposes, if you consider for the Jnanis, it’s they’ve already attained perfection. It’s not craving or lamenting worldly things, it’s able to see all people equally, and then think that is perfection.
And then there’s a twist in the tale. Krishna says that this is where you will attain pure devotion. That pure devotion is, we could say, the postgraduate stage of perfection that we get after graduating through Jnana.
But then after that Krishna says, actually you can get to that postgraduate stage from wherever you are. You don’t have to go through this process of Karma Yoga, Jnana Yoga. Wherever you are, start practising Bhakti Yoga from there.
That whichever work you are doing, do it with the intention of serving me, with the intention of pleasing me, and you will become elevated, you will become liberated by that. And then he explains the process of Bhakti Yoga from 1856 onwards till 1873. But let’s pause at 1863.
So, what does he do over here? Here, now it’s important that we re-envision the Gita. The Gita is not just a book of profound philosophy. It is a deep discussion between two caring people.
It is Krishna in the Gita, is not just a philosopher, he’s a philosopher of love. So, Krishna is giving his, as we know, his Rasa Raj. So, Rasa can be found in the reciprocation of love in various ways.
But Krishna can find and share Rasa even through philosophy. So, in this last section of the Gita, Krishna’s heart comes out and Krishna expresses his love for Arjuna. So, Krishna is a philosopher of love and Arjuna is the connoisseur of love.
So, the Gita is a discussion between the philosopher of love and Arjuna is being asked to choose the highest love. Yes, Arjuna, you have love for Bhishma, he’s your grand sire. And yes, that kind of love is worthy at one level, it’s laudable.
But there are various levels of love and sometimes we have to make choices. Okay, which love is most important for me? So, Krishna is being asked to choose the Lord as the foremost love. So, now here, in general, love has two aspects to it.
Sometimes some people say love should be unconditional. Well, yes, yes and no. If parents say, you know, I love my child as is, I love my child unconditionally.
Well, yes, but a part of parenting and a part of expressing a parent’s love is also to help the child grow. So, unconditional love means whatever my child does, however my child is, I love my child. But at the same time, a part of love is, okay, don’t do this, do this, you have so much potential, you need to grow and develop that potential.
So, in a sense, when we love someone, are we loving the present person or are we loving the potential person? Actually, we are loving both. In fact, there has to be like a healthy tension between that love. Do I love who you are or do I love who you can be? So, it has both.
So, in general, that’s why children flourish best when there is a combination of conditional and conditional love and that’s why single parent families are difficult for children because for the same parent to perform both roles is quite difficult. So, when there are two parents, they share the responsibility of parenting. So, anyway, here Krishna exhibits that combination of conditional and unconditional love.
So, what does this mean? That first, at one level, love means to give freedom, not just like do whatever you want, but we explain, okay, this is how this is, this is how this is, this is how this is, now what? Now, you decide. So, love means giving freedom. So, Krishna provides guidance and then respects independence.
So, this part we could say unconditional love. Krishna is saying, whatever, now you decide, whatever you want to do, you can do it. I have given you the resources for deciding, now you decide, it’s your decision.
So, there is no meaning to love without freedom, but giving freedom is not the only expression of love. Sometimes, if we just, a child wants to go out and play and the parent just open the door, go out and play. Well, no, we have to provide some safe zone.
Okay, go here. This is a safe place for you to play. There have to be some boundaries also.
So, there is unconditional love and then after that Krishna pours out his heart. So, 63 is Krishna is telling that, okay, now do what you desire. Now, 65-66, actually it begins from 64, but 65-66, Chikravarti Path says that if you consider the Gita to be like a treasure trove, then there is a treasure chest.
Then inside that chest, there is a lot of jewels, but there are two jewels, two precious stones that are put on top of the treasure in the lid itself, that is to attract. Oh, there are such precious stones on the lid, then how many more precious stones will be inside? So, those two precious stones he says are 1865 and 66. What are they? So, here what is Krishna doing? Krishna is issuing an invitation and the invitation is emotion.
The parents may say, okay, you can do this or do this. This is what will happen if you do this, this is what will happen if you do this, but then this is what I feel you should do. So, Krishna expresses heart and that expression of heart is also love.
So, here we see in these several verses, 1864 onwards, that Krishna is not a dispassionate instructor. It’s like suppose you go to a maybe a big yoga institute where you join the institute and then some teacher comes over. There the teacher teaches and goes.
For the teacher, as long as they do the session, they’ll get the salary. So, that’s different from if that teacher is a small group of students, it’s their own new yoga institute and they know each person, they want the person to grow. So, Krishna is not a dispassionate, just a dispassionate instructor.
He’s an impassioned inspirer. Somebody really loves yoga and wants everybody to practise yoga and you can see that they’re on fire with that passion. So, Krishna is like that.
For Krishna, this is not just a lecture on philosophy, which is giving in the philosophy department of a university to get a salary. No, he is concerned out of love and thus he’s speaking, pouring out his heart. It’s an impassioned inspirer.
So, to reconcile, is Krishna’s love unconditional or conditional? It’s both. Krishna loves us as we are, but he loves us too much to let us stay as we are. He loves us as we are, but he loves us too much to let us stay as we are.
So, 1863 demonstrates how he loves us as we are and 1864, 65, 66, he loves us too much to let us stay as we are. So, a small change, there is 1865 and there are two verses, 934 and 1865. Both are similar, but there is a difference and which brings out the heart of Krishna.
Krishna has said in 934 is and the last part is If you do this, this, this, you will come to me. Whereas, 1865 is, if you do this, this, this, I guarantee that I will get you to me. So, it’s Krishna’s concern is more.
It’s like, suppose, we want to seal a deal with someone. We tell, you know, if you pay this much money by this time, if you get these documents cleared and if you do this, this, this property will be yours. So, at this point, we are placing the onus for the deal on them.
You have to do this, this, this. But we might, if we are really anxious to seal the deal, then we may say, okay, if you do this, this, this, I guarantee that within 24 hours, this property will be yours. So, what is happening in the second part in 1865? It’s Krishna’s heart is coming out.
The change is small, but the impact is huge between these two verses and this is one way we could actually go much, much deeper into this section and look at how Krishna’s heart comes out over here. Then another way Krishna’s heart comes out is in the Phalashruti. It is, after Krishna completes speaking the Gita, then he says, preach this Gita all over the world.
Share my message worldwide. Now, that’s glory. And he says, if you do this, you will get pure devotion and you will attain me.
So, we could consider this in terms of a well metaphor. It is that, say, somebody has fallen in a well and somebody else comes and rescues them. So, they throw a rope down.
Okay, you hold this rope and come out. You have to put in the effort to come out. But suppose that person says that, you know, it’s too much effort.
My shoulders are paining. I can’t pull myself out. Then that person may say, okay, just hold on to the rope.
I will pull you out. So, Krishna says, if somebody says, I can’t share your message worldwide. I can’t do like that.
Then Krishna says, if you can’t do that, just study my message. That’s 1870. And by that also, you’ll be worshipping me and you will ultimately attain me.
And then somebody says, you know, actually, I can’t even hold on to the rope. That also is causing my shoulder pain. Then if the person outside is very eager to rescue, they might send like tie a tub or a bag or something to the rope and fix it to the bottom of the rope and send the rope down.
And all that you have to just sit over there and I will pull you out. So, that is Krishna’s mood. Somebody says, I can’t even study.
This is very difficult to understand. And Krishna says, just hear my message. And if you hear it, you’ll also become elevated and liberated by that.
So, Krishna is offering his mercy at more and more compassionate levels. If somebody is saying, you just sit in the tub, I’ll pull you out. That means they are really eager, even desperate to rescue you.
That is how Krishna is in the Gita. And that’s what is the sweetness of Krishna as is manifested here. Then Krishna’s last word that he speaks in the Gita is very significant.
That is, Dhananjaya literally means winner of wealth. But here the meaning is that, Arjuna, are you enriched with the wealth of wisdom to choose wisely? So, this is the wisdom that we all need. And this is the wisdom that the Bhagavad Gita is providing.
So, the Bhagavad Gita itself is like a battle, battle between various conceptions in Arjuna’s mind and heart, which Krishna has battled so that he gets the right understanding. And in this way, the Gita has enriched Arjuna. That is the significance of the word Dhananjaya.
So, Arjuna is going to fight a war and that war is to win the kingdom. But the purpose of the Bhagavad Gita is not to help Arjuna to win a kingdom. That is not the external wealth that the Gita is primarily concerned about.
It is more of the inner wealth. That is the wealth of wisdom. And thus, we see the love of Krishna coming out in the Gita in the conclusion.
And then we have the concluding section of the Gita, last five verses, that is 74 to 78, which is Sanjaya’s trend. Sanjaya expresses gratitude to his spiritual master for giving, to Vyasa for giving him the mystic vision by which he could hear and see this conversation. He relishes the conversation.
He appreciates how great these two illustrious personalities are who had this conversation. And then the fruit of the conversation is twofold. He is thrilled by Krishna’s message and he is thrilled by Krishna’s form.
He is remembering these two and he becomes thrilled by that. And then after that, so this is actually very significant that at one level Krishna’s mission, the Bhagavad Gita is spoken by Krishna to Arjuna and that mission is successful. Arjuna’s heart is transformed and Arjuna becomes devoted.
The same message is spoken by, we could say, Sanjaya to Dhritarashtra, but Dhritarashtra’s heart is not transformed. So when we also share Krishna’s message, sometimes it has an impact on people, sometimes it doesn’t have an impact. But even if it doesn’t have an impact, just speaking the Gita will increase our attraction to Krishna, will increase our remembrance of Krishna.
And this is the internal success we all can have. So whenever we are trying to serve Krishna, the internal successes, our attraction to Krishna will increase. The external successes, that particular service goes very well and the external results also come.
The external results may or may not come, but the internal will also always come. So in one sense, Sanjaya is himself demonstrating the teaching of the Gita. He did his work of giving the message and he replicated it faithfully, but it didn’t transform Dhritarashtra’s heart.
That’s up to Dhritarashtra. And lastly, there are two more points, but I’ll quickly complete this, that now we know the famous verse, the last verse is, wherever there is Krishna, wherever there is Arjuna, there is victory, there is glory, there is power, there is prosperity. Now we could say, isn’t it wherever there is Krishna, there is prosperity? Why is Arjuna needed over there? If Krishna is the lord of the goddess of fortune, then wherever is the Krishna, there will be prosperity, there will be power, there will be wealth, all the things will be there.
But actually, the purpose of the Gita is not to proclaim God’s position, that wherever there is Narayana, there will be Lakshmi. That is not the point of the Gita. That is true.
But the point of the Gita is to transform man’s disposition, that Lakshmi is there with Narayana is the eternal truth. But what Krishna is telling is, if we change our disposition, if we try to serve him, then auspiciousness will come to us also. And in the context of the Gita, this is a prophecy to Dhritarashtra, that because Krishna and Arjuna are on the opposite side, victory will be theirs, not yours.
And then the Gita concludes with Yatra Partha Dhanur Dharaha. That indicates Arjuna has picked up his bow. At the start of the Gita, at the end of the first chapter, Arjuna has put aside his bow.
So Arjuna’s bow, Arjuna’s Gandiva represents our enthusiasm, our confidence, our determination, our clarity, basically our will to act. So what has happened is, Arjuna had become demoralised at the start of the Gita. He had become confused.
The Gita is Arjuna’s journey from confusion to conviction. I can’t fight. I don’t know what to do.
I will do your will, Krishna. So the Gita is Arjuna’s journey from confusion to conviction and it can be our journey too. So the Gita is not just a historical book or a philosophical book.
It’s a personal book that Krishna is speaking to each one of us. And we may be facing different difficulties in our lives. We may be demoralised because of various things.
But if you understand through the Gita, how Krishna loves us and how much Krishna loves us, then we will realise there may be many problems, but Krishna is with me. Am I with Krishna? Let me be with Krishna. Let me try to serve Krishna and Krishna will guide me through whatever difficulties may be there.
If I have the intention to serve Krishna, situations will change. Krishna will show me a way ahead and that conviction will come to all of us if we understand and internalise the message of the Gita. So I’ll summarise what I spoke today.
So I spoke today on the topic of the Gita’s 18th chapter of the Bhagavad Gita explained as the journey from detachment to divine attachment. The starting question and the defining question of the Gita throughout is should we act or should we not act? And that question is discussed at various levels and at a deep level it is discussed in the 18th chapter. So Krishna says act with detachment and he analyses most of the analysis in the first half of the Gita is done with the three modes and that’s where we spend a good amount of time.
So acting with detachment means acting in goodness and then how can one act with detachment? It is simple. It is not some phenomenal feat in abstraction but it is simply understanding of reality that actually I am just one factor in action and I don’t determine the results. So we are the doers but it is an illusion to think we are the doers because we are not the sole doers.
We are just one factor among five factors in action that was 12 to 17 and then from 18 to 40 is the components of action and I took the example of say getting a message from the boss and then what do we do? We get the message that we take in this perception. There is knowledge, then there is action, then there is actor. Action is how do I drive the car? Do I go passionately? Then am I myself disturbed? Then there is intelligence, then there is determination.
Intelligence is how clearly do I make a plan of how to deal with the problem and the determination is do I keep my temper under control when I am dealing with the people because of whom the problem has happened and then there is happiness. What is my goal in doing this? Do I just want to control or do I want to educate? So our actions can be in various modes and accordingly how much we get entangled will be determined. Then after Krishna talks about how to work as worship.
So it is not that work is equal to worship and it is not that work is completely not equal to worship. Work is one form of worship along with other forms, other more direct forms of worship also. Then Krishna talks about how to rise from Karma Yoga through Gyan Yoga to Bhakti Yoga and in Bhakti Yoga we discussed how the Gita is actually a conversation of love between we could say the professor of love or philosopher of love and the connoisseur of love and therein so love is both conditional and unconditional.
So Krishna respects Arjuna’s free will but also expresses his heart. Krishna loves us as we are at the same time he loves us too much to let us stay as we are and then we see his compassion overflowing in the sense in that okay it’s three levels he offers. Share my message worldwide or study my message or at least hear my message.
Some way or the other I will elevate you from the well that well metaphor and then we talk about the internal success in the Gita although Sanjay couldn’t transform Dhritarashtra’s heart but his own heart became transformed and he became enraptured with remembrance of Krishna’s message and form and that is the internal success we can always have when we serve Krishna and then conclusion is that wherever there is Krishna and there is victory that means Arjuna has been transformed. Arjuna’s disposition, Arjuna has been transformed from confusion to conviction and that transformation can happen for all of us too. So thank you very much.
Hare Krishna. Hare Krishna. Thank you so much Chaitanya Chavanprabhu for taking us on a journey to chapter 18 of Bhagavad Gita.
Summary of Bhagavad Gita is more or less made it easier for us to understand Bhagavad Gita in totality. We have a few questions. Pravijit, do you have time to answer? Yes, Prabhu.
Maybe about 10-15 minutes can take. It also depends on how much time you have. We’ll plan it accordingly.
Yeah, we have 15-20 minutes also. Okay, so can you read the question on the chat or you want to read it? I can read it, yes. Okay, so how to determine the work best for someone’s nature? How do we decide the prescribed duties for an individual? Who should make that judgement for a person? Well, we have to, in every tradition there is the past and there is the present.
So following a tradition doesn’t mean living in the past. It means living with the past. Living in the past means you try to turn the clock back and try to live how people lived 500 years ago or 5000 years ago.
That is impossible. But live with the past means that we take the wisdom from the past and use it as our compass in living. Yes, today the world is socio-economically structured in such a way that there is practically no one to prescribe us what is our duty according to our nature.
And even if they prescribe, we may not be in a situation to act that way. That’s why there has to be intelligent self-absorption, self, not absorption, self-observation. Basically, we understand our nature in terms of our guna and karma.
So guna and karma we could translate in many different ways. But one simple way is as a comfort and competence. That means if we have the qualities for doing a particular work, we feel comfortable doing it.
And we are also, we are good at doing it. So we feel good doing it and we are good at doing it. So if these two things are there, then it’s best to go in that direction.
And sometimes you might be in a career which might not be in that direction. That’s okay. See, most people don’t have careers.
They just have jobs. Jobs mean something which we do to earn a living. Career refers more to that.
Okay, this is the way I want to grow in my life. This is my trajectory and I have a passion for doing that. So everybody may aspire for it, but very few people are able to actually discover what their nature is, find a job according to their nature and move forward.
So whatever it is, we just move along with in our situation and sometimes as we practise bhakti, come to the mode of goodness, we also get greater inner clarity. So rather than worrying too much about what our prescribed duty is, we can focus more on within whatever we are doing, how can we maybe harmonise it with our nature a little bit more. So somebody is as a faculty, somebody is working in software and some people might be more comfortable with technical work.
Some people might be more comfortable with meeting people and sealing deals. Some people may be introverts, some people may be extroverts. So we just observe our nature and try to gravitate towards some role according to that nature.
So it’s more based on intelligence, self-observation and if we have some spiritual guides whom we can consult, then that can also help in confirming or clarifying or deepening our self-observation. Okay, so can work as worship lead to devotion to the Lord? Well, it is a part of devotion. Can it lead to devotion? Yes, it depends on how our rest of life is.
If we are taking time out during the rest of our life to actually do directly devotional activities, then our consciousness is connected with Krishna. If our consciousness is connected with Krishna, then that consciousness will be Krishna-ized, be spiritualised even while we are working. And with that consciousness, we will further develop the connection with Krishna.
So it’s like we have to have some connection with Krishna through direct worship and then through our work also our connection will deepen. Now how will it deepen? When we are working, we may be able to see the truths that Krishna has taught in action. We may see that how actually, for example, Krishna talks about karma and destiny and how we all work but it’s not necessarily our work alone that determines results.
There are so many other factors that come in the picture. Krishna talks about, the Gita talks about how wealth alone doesn’t lead to happiness. One may have a lot of wealth but still one might be unhappy and we might see that in our profession.
One may see that actually Krishna says that those who are exceptionally talented, they are actually manifesting my vibhuti. So we may initially just be envious of people who are super talented but then we see that as Krishna’s manifestation, then that envy goes down. But then we may also see that they may have that manifestation of Krishna.
They may be manifesting their vibhuti but maybe they don’t know how to use it in the sense that they’re using it for professional glory but in their personal lives, they don’t have the right temperament, they are miserable. So their talent is not really doing them much good. In some ways, it is giving them fame but we’re not really giving them happiness.
So basically, we will see the truths that Krishna has taught in action in our workplace also. That’s why our connection with Krishna will increase. Another way is that just by having that intention to serve Krishna and of course acting on that intention, Krishna says be detached from the fruits of the work.
That has multiple meanings. One is while working, don’t be obsessed with the fruits of work. Just focus on performance.
Focus not on the result but focus on what we are doing and how well we are doing it, not on what we will be getting out of it. That can be one aspect but don’t obsess over that. Focus on, so that is one aspect of detachment that don’t be obsessed with the results.
But another and actually that non-obsession with the results can improve performance. It can help us become very steady and focused. If a student is giving one exam and student is thinking what will happen in the next exam, that paper is very difficult or that paper is very difficult, then we will not be able to function.
Just focus on this. So, some people say just do one thing at a time, live in the present. So, we need a certain level of detachment to live in the present.
So, that is itself, we will be able to perform better at work. But more importantly, work with detachment also means that we offer the fruits of our, part of the fruits of our work to Krishna. So, when we offer the fruits to Krishna, that is we are offering a part of our heart to Krishna.
And when we offer, because money is dear to us. So, when we offer a part of our heart to Krishna, then we give a place to Krishna in our heart. That is also how we come closer to Krishna.
And further, like I showed in the diagram, various things, our abilities come from Krishna. So, we may, whatever abilities we have, whenever we are able to use them, if we have a prayerful consciousness, then we will feel more grateful for those abilities. We will feel indebted to Krishna.
We will feel connected with Krishna. In this way, so, I talked about four broad ways. There could be many more ways.
One is, we see the truth that Krishna has taught in action in our workplace. And second is that, just the teachings of Krishna help us to do our work better in our workplace. Then through working, the fruits that we give to Krishna, that gives Krishna a place in our heart.
And by appreciating that the tools we use for working, the abilities, they are gifts from Krishna to us. We also, you know, most of us, when we work, we need a certain level of IQ. And we are born with that.
We may improve our IQ by certain practises. But that IQ, we just got it. Where did we get it? Ultimately, Krishna gave it to us.
So, that appreciation for the gifts that we have also increases. So, there are various ways in which work can increase our devotion. And simultaneously, we also need to do devotional activities directly.
Then that work leading to devotion, increase in devotion is more probable. Thank you. So, there is one unrelated question.
If there are any, okay, happy to be of service. Hmm. So, if there are any direct questions, I would prefer to take that.
Okay. Shri Bihari Prabhu. Is bhakti to Krishna and surrendering to Krishna are the same? Are they different based on Shri Prabhupada? Because in Shri Sampradaya, they hear that surrendering to Krishna is different and better.
Okay. So, there are terms and there are concepts. And it is important to not get hung up in that difference.
That means, that generally speaking, whatever we do in life, say, for example, a term is like a handle to a suitcase. So, if I have a handle, then I can carry the suitcase quickly, easily. But what is important is not the handle.
If one handle breaks, I can always get another handle. So, it is important for each one of us to actually understand what is what. Let me see.
Okay. I was thinking I had a picture of this somewhere, but I am not able to locate it. So, there is a suitcase which is carried by a particular handle.
So, the suitcase is like the concept and the handle is like the term. So, now, we could have exactly similar suitcase with two people, but both of them might have different handles. And some people may start quarrelling.
Okay, is this, I am carrying a suitcase with a red handle and I am carrying a suitcase with a black handle. Well, but you may be carrying the same content. So, the content is more important than the handle with which you carry the content.
So, similarly, terms are like verbal handles to concepts which are more mental constructs, mental conceptions of what the thing actually is. So, for us, the essence is that we have to develop a relationship with Krishna. And for developing that relationship with Krishna, there are various stages.
So, in some ways, we could say Bhakti is the process. Now, I will explain from the Gaudiya perspective and I will explain from the Ram Shri Sampradaya perspective briefly and then I will reconcile. So, in our tradition, the way the terms are used is Bhakti is the process and the fruit of Bhakti is Prem.
Prem is love for Krishna. There are nine stages of Bhakti and then Adav Shuddha Sadhu Sangha. By that, we ultimately come to Prema.
And now within Bhakti itself has been analysed in different ways. So, for example, there are nine limbs of Bhakti and one of them is Atmanivedanam. So, Atmanivedanam can be surrender of one’s own self, offering one’s own self.
So, if we take that as surrender, then that’s like one limb of Bhakti which will ultimately lead to Prema. But then surrender has also been analysed in different ways as having six components. That there is Anukulyasa Sankalpa, Pratikulyasya Varjanam, Rakshishthiti Divishwaso, Goptatve Vanam, Tatha Atmanikshepi Karpani, Shalvidasa Aranagati.
Accept the favourable, avoid the unfavourable, be dependent, consider Krishna as your protector, Krishna as the sole maintainer. Like that, there are various things. So, now, if we consider from that perspective, surrender is something which is dynamic.
So, surrender is a broader concept and Anukulyasa Sankalpa, Pratikulyasya Varjanam. So, if I have the opportunity to read Bhagavatam or I have the opportunity to say watch a movie, then what is Anukulya reading Bhagavatam? Then I choose that. I don’t choose Pratikulyasya Varjanam.
I avoid watching the movie. So, what am I doing over there? This is also one way I am expressing Sharanagati. So, in that sense, in our tradition, the word Sharanagati is used more in terms of a process by which we can get love for Krishna.
So, that’s the way we use it. However, this usage is not exclusive in the sense that in the Shri Sampradaya, the way the usage is that yes, Bhakti is good, but ultimately what is our mood to realise that we are dependent on Krishna, that we are nothing without the Lord. And in that sense, Sharanagati is considered to be the highest.
So, it’s rather than getting into the terms, it is more important that we develop a relationship and as our relationship with Krishna will become stronger and deeper and sweeter, both that love for Krishna will increase the action. So, love for Krishna is Prema. The actions by which we express love for Krishna, hearing about Him, speaking about Him, chanting about Him, those will also increase and our sense of our dependence on Krishna, our sense of our offering ourselves to Krishna, both of those will also increase and that surrender.
So, the idea is that overall we want to develop a personal relationship with Krishna and within that relationship with Krishna, there could be various means and various components. So, without getting into technicalities, if you want to get into technicalities, I think that will be a separate session, but you focus on the principle that you want to develop a relationship with Krishna and all that is required in that relationship, all that can be addressed in various terms like Bhakti, Prema or Sharanagati. Does that answer the question? Yes, Prabhu.
Thank you for your time. Thank you. So, one last question and we’ll have to end after that.
So, how much should we take responsibility when the soul is not the soul-doer? Well, definitely the soul is not the soul-doer, but the soul is one of the doers and what we do, we need to do well. So, it’s in terms of when results don’t come, who is responsible? We have to carefully analyse. Did the results not come because I did not do my part well? Or is it because some factors beyond me were not in control? So, if we are self-observant, if we are honest, then we will realise that.
See, sometimes if you consider a sports match, if a player is batting and the player is batting very well, but rains come and they lose, they can’t win the match, the player could have led them to victory. So, that’s just beyond the player’s control. But suppose a player was batting very well, but that player played a reckless shot and he got out because of that.
Well, that’s his responsibility and then that’s why they lost the match. But suppose the player was batting and then maybe something happened and the other player does a misunderstanding and somebody got run out and they lost the match. So, now who is responsible? Sometimes it’s we, sometimes it’s the other, things beyond our control, sometimes things in our control, sometimes it’s a complex combination of both.
So, we have to be a bit objective in analysing because our goal is that we want to improve, we want to offer our best to Krishna. In whatever service we are doing, whatever role we are playing, we want to offer our best to Krishna. So, now the best is not exactly mathematically quantifiable.
Okay, if I did this, it was my best. If I had not done this, this is not my best. But we understand to whatever extent we can that I need to do my best.
And in that situation, could I have done something more? And if we could have done something more, we learn that and do that. So, from a practical perspective, if we are self-observant, if we are honest and if we are objective, then it’s to some extent possible to understand how much we need to take responsibility. Yeah, and sometimes the things that we possess by Krishna’s mercy, they can also become impediments and jobs can take away our time and cause unnecessary desires.
Can you not simplify lives? Of course, we can. And if we can, if you can, we should. At the same time, there is an aspect of bhakti where there is aspiring and there is another aspect of bhakti where there is accepting.
Aspiring means, if I had the time, I want to do so many things. I would like to read Bhagavatam. I would like to go to Vrindavan.
I would like to do this. There are so many things I would like to do to develop my devotion. That’s aspiring.
But that aspiring aspect of bhakti should not lead to resenting. Aspiring for the future should not lead to resenting the present. If it leads to resenting the present, then that’s unhealthy.
Then what we are doing in the present will not be devotion. Krishna says, bhajatam priti purvakam, whatever we did to do with affection. So, okay, I might say because I made that wrong career choice, that’s why I got, I’m such a messy job right now or because I made that foolish relationship choice or whatever.
That’s why I’m in this relationship. It’s so messy for me. We could think about it all that way and blame ourselves or blame someone else.
But nothing happens ultimately beyond Krishna’s and even if it was someone’s mistake, Krishna can use their mistakes ultimately for good. Draupadi or whoever was assisting her, they didn’t clean that Akshaya Path properly and that’s why a little morsel of grain was remaining over there. Krishna used that morsel of grain.
It was a mistake, but Krishna used it for his good, for good. So, Krishna can even use our mistakes within his plan for good. So, when we are in a particular ashram, we have to be very careful not to become resentful about that ashram.
That yes, can jobs be entangling? Of course, can family life be entangling? Of course, but everything can be entangling. Even if we are doing full-time service in the temple, there are also so many challenges are there. There are so many responsibilities there.
So many complications can come up. So, yes, desires can come everywhere. Our time can go away and we have to be cautious about it.
So, certainly whenever it is possible, we would like to do more and more direct service to Krishna. But that doesn’t mean that we resent the situations where we are doing indirect service to Krishna. If we are resenting, then actually that is going to be a serious impediment both in our devotion and in our practical execution of our responsibilities also.
So, whatever we do in life, we need to have a positive, a spiritually positive attitude toward it. Yes, this is the situation that I am in right now and Krishna is accessible to me even in this situation. Krishna is so kind.
Let me connect with Krishna at whatever level of access I have and I would love to have more access to Krishna and I will plan and pray so that I can arrange my life in such a way that I can connect with Krishna more in the future. So, like I earlier said about with respect to love, there is a healthy tension between loving the person, loving who they are right now and who they should be or who they can be. So, similarly with respect to us also, there is a healthy tension between accepting our situation that is also an expression of our submission and our devotion.
Krishna by whatever arrangement is ultimately under your supervision, I am in this situation now and I will accept it and I will serve you as well as I can in this situation. That acceptance is also devotion. Accepting is devotion and aspiring.
Aspiring that, oh, I can be in a better situation. I could have served so much more. So, that aspiring is also devotion.
So, there has to be that healthy balance or healthy tension between accepting and aspiring. So, does it answer your question? So, thank you very much for your participation and thank you Devakindan Prabhu for this opportunity to serve.