Krishna’s moods in the Bhagavad-gita 2 – Chp 10-12

[Seminar at ISKCON, Melbourne, Australia]

Transcript

This is an AI-generated transcript and may contain some errors.
So, today I will continue with our discussion on Krishna’s moves, can I decrease the volume a little bit, Krishna’s moves in the Bhagavad Gita and yesterday we discussed about, we discussed, Hare Krishna, Hare Krishna, Krishna Krishna, Hare Hare, Hare Rama, Hare Rama, Rama Rama, Hare Hare, so yesterday we discussed about how the Bhagavad Gita is not just a book of philosophy, it is a conversation between two people who have a very affectionate loving relationship between them and when Krishna’s central message seems to be philosophy but it is philosophy in the service of love, it is, he is expressing his love and as an expression of his love he is giving philosophical wisdom to Arjuna and I discussed from the first chapter onwards how the emotions come out, how Krishna’s entry is there and how when Arjuna is bewildered how Krishna responds to that, now Krishna takes him forward step by step by step, so especially we discussed how Krishna is so eager that we devote ourselves to him for any reason it may be, that he says Udara, so he is large hearted, if somebody worships him for any reason and then I concluded yesterday by talking about how in the ninth chapter Krishna is not a demanding God, he is a descending God, he descends to lift us up from where we are and no matter how many bad things we might do, Krishna doesn’t stop loving us, we don’t have the power to do anything so bad that Krishna, that it will make Krishna stop loving us and if we just maintain a devotional intention, he will redeem us, he will elevate us, so the ninth chapter ends with one of the famous verses, Krishna is saying manmana bhava madbhakta, just fix your mind on me and that’s how the Rajya Vidya, the most confidential knowledge ends, so then we have the 10th chapter which is known as Vibhuti yoga, the yoga of the greatness of the Lord, so here again Krishna speaks spontaneously, I discussed yesterday about how there are different questions which Arjuna asks and Krishna answers but sometimes in Krishna’s ecstasy, delighted to speak a particular point, this goes on, so the 10th chapter is like that and in the 10th chapter, he begins by telling, param bhuya pravakshami jnananam jnanam uttamam, bhuya eva maha baho shrunume paramam vachaha, yatte ham priya manaya, vakshami hita kamyaya, so I’m speaking this most confidential knowledge to you because you’re very dear to me, bhuya eva maha baho shrunume paramam vachaha, these are my supreme instructions, yatte ham priya manaya, because I consider you very dear to me, vakshami hita kamyaya, for your benefit I’m speaking this, so sometimes if there is an examiner, if there is a teacher who is also the examiner, who is also the exam paper setter, and the teacher wants the students to do well in the exam, so the teacher may tell you, this is extremely important point, the idea is the students will understand, okay, this is very important, let me note this down carefully, so similarly Krishna is telling this, this is most important, I’m speaking for your benefit, and what does Krishna speak thereafter? Krishna speaks about how everything comes from him, and then he speaks over there that if you understand my opulence in this way, then what will happen, so avikalpena yogena, yujyate natra samshayaha, if you understand this, you’ll be able to fix your mind on me, so avikalpena yogena, your mind will not get distracted here and there, so the idea is in the 10th chapter Krishna speaks his glories a lot, in fact later on when Arjuna asked me speak your glories, at that time Krishna will say that, I’ll just speak as an example, as a sample, actually my glories have no end, so somebody might say, this is really arrogance, like if you ask somebody, can you please introduce yourself, actually my introduction is endless, but I’ll just speak briefly, you may say, whether the introduction is endless or not, your ego is surely endless, but when Krishna speaks this way, what is going on? And Krishna is saying that, actually nothing can exist without me, nothing can exist without me, that I am the seed of everything that exists, so Krishna is basically saying that everything that is attractive in the world, it all comes from me, in 10.41 he says that, everything that is attractive everywhere, it is a spark of my splendour, so this at one level can seem very egotistic, to think that I am so great, but we see Krishna in this 10.7 is telling, if you understand my glories what will happen, you will be able to fix your mind on me, so Krishna has a purpose for speaking it, so if Krishna were simply like a very egotistic person, he would first of all not be as a charioteer of Arjuna, he is serving Arjuna, so Krishna’s mood is not of dominating and demanding respect, but what does Krishna want? Krishna wants that we connect with him lovingly, Krishna has earlier told how by the path of gradual detachment from matter, we can become liberated, we can become elevated, but that’s the first 6 chapters, 7.1 he has said, actually there is another way, and that is instead of trying to become detached from matter, try to become attached to me, so now to become attached to someone, to fix the mind on someone, we need to know something about the glories of that person, and Krishna is speaking his glories so that we can fix our mind on him, and when he is doing this, his mood is essentially to persuade us to take the medicine, the medicine is devotional services, bhakti yoga, his remembrance of the object of devotion, and it’s like suppose a person has gone to many doctors, and finally they come to one doctor, and then the doctor gives a prescription, and then this doctor says, this patient says, but actually I went to that doctor, and the doctor was saying like this, and that doctor was saying like that, and that doctor was saying like that, now if this doctor is the person who has trained all the other doctors in the city, and then the doctor says, actually they are all my students, so whatever knowledge they have, that all comes from me, now it might seem like bragging, but it is not bragging, the purpose is compassion, the purpose is to persuade the patient to take the medicine, and when that compassionate purpose is there, then even if one is glorifying oneself, what is the intent is important, so Krishna’s intent, in a sense, Acharya has described that the whole of Bhagavad Gita, it seems to be like a glorification of Krishna, but actually it is a glorification of bhakti, bhakti devi, bhakti is so great that even Krishna is conquered by bhakti, and Krishna is speaking about his glories, so that he can convince us about the glory of bhakti, how great Krishna is if we understand, then we will understand, such a great person can be attained by bhakti, and bhakti must also be great, and bhakti is ultimately Srimati Radharani, so from the Gaudiya Vaishnava perspective, actually the whole Bhagavad Gita is a glorification of Srimati Radharani, although there is no direct reference to Radharani, there are only two places in the Bhagavad Gita where indirectly, one is 9.14, 9.13, this is divine nature, and some other commentators explain that in 2.72, there is the word Brahma, so normally Brahman is masculine, there are genders for words, so Brahman is masculine, but this is the place where Krishna uses the word Brahmi, now Brahmi is feminine, so this refers some commentators say to Radharani, this is the hidden references, but the important thing is the whole of Bhagavad Gita is a glorification of Krishna for the purpose of glorification of bhakti, which is Radharani, so in that sense Krishna is not glorifying himself, Krishna is glorifying the process of bhakti, so the idea is that bhakti might seem like a very simple thing, oh you come to the temple, go down, pick up some beads and do some chanting, and people may think this is just ordinary, many times when devotees have kirtans say in their neighbourhood, some neighbours come in their home, they call people from the neighbourhood, not many come, some people come, some don’t come, so I was in one place in America and the devotees, they were telling me that we said that there is going to be a, we decided to have a sakirtan, but we called it a yajna programme, and in the yajna programme everybody can come and do ahuti, and he said all my neighbours, it was like a broad Indian locality, neighbours would never come, they all came, they all came just to do some, put some ahuti, some sacrifice into the fire, but actually they didn’t know, by coming they were hearing the holy name and they were sacrificing their consciousness, so the neighbours were also very intelligent, they said while you are doing this ahuti, chant Hare Krishna, so they were offering their consciousness, the point I am making here is that often bhakti is not considered that special, oh yajna that’s something special, somebody doing tapasya, oh that’s special, so bhakti might seem very simple, so what Krishna is doing is when he is glorifying himself, he is saying that everything opulent, everything powerful comes from me, among mountains I am the Himalayas, among rivers I am the Ganga, among water bodies I am the ocean, so through it all he is actually speaking about the great things in the world, which are great in the estimate of people of the world, and if oh this is so great, they are all coming from Krishna, and Krishna is attained by bhakti, how great bhakti must be, therefore Krishna is glorifying himself to glorify bhakti, it is like say somebody is a very well known person in society, they are a celebrity, and then they have a spiritual master, now if most people may not know their spiritual master, but people may know this person is a celebrity, and then if the celebrity speaks about where all they have spoken, what all they have done, and they speak they don’t worry, but then after that they interfere, and I take guidance, inspiration and wisdom from this person who is my guru, what happens because people will not consider the guru to be a great person, so we have to convey greatness in people’s terms of greatness, the point is not just to get it right, the point is to get it across, to get it across, speak it in a way that can be understood, so Krishna is speaking his own glory is to glorify bhakti, and now this 10th chapter is very interesting, that at one place Krishna says, among the Pandavas I am Arjuna, now when Krishna is speaking this, Arjuna thinks that actually he will say, Pandavana maham Yudhishthira, because Yudhishthira is the most virtuous, but he says Arjuna, now there are external reasons and internal reasons for this, the external reason is that actually Pandu initially thought I will not be able to have any sons, but then he was able to get sons because Kunti had a blessing that she could get sons from the gods, so then he said actually for a ruler dharma is most important, so please get a child from dharma who will be very dharmic, and he gets a child from dharma, then he feels that actually dharma is good, but dharma alone is not enough, you need shakti, you need strength, so we need a child who is very strong, and then whom do they get? Bhima, and then he starts thinking that actually dharma and shakti, both are good, but more than that, what you need is bhakti, bhakti and kala, samarthya, skill, so he says I want a child who will be greatly devoted and who is greatly skilled, and that was Arjuna, so Arjuna was a great devotee and also Arjuna is greatly skilled, he is a champion archer, so Bhima is also a great mace fighter, but his strength was his strength, his strong point was his physical strength, in terms of skill even Duryodhana was somewhat better than him, so when he gets this Arjuna, so he feels very contented, and this is a son who can truly protect the kingdom, and there is another reason, when Krishna left Vrindavan, this is explained in Gopal Champu by Jiva Goswami, when Krishna left Vrindavan where he had stayed in his childhood, from there he was always remembering Vrindavan, and he was always delighted whenever anybody would remind him of Vrindavan, so now among the Gopas, there is one Gopa whose name is Arjuna, so therefore Arjuna’s name would remind Krishna of Vrindavan, and that’s why Krishna naturally connected wonderfully with Arjuna, so now when he says Pandavana Mahamdhananjaya, now what is Arjuna’s response about this? Oh Krishna, if we two are one, then let’s close the Bhagavad Gita, why do you need to instruct me? It’s not like that, why not? Because in what sense he is talking about oneness, it’s not in absence of absolute oneness, the whole point is Vibhuti, Vibhuti means, the idea is that the one above the many comes as the one among the many, the one above the many, that means God exists above all of existence, the one above the many, he comes as the one among the many, so in one sense Arjuna is just another warrior, another Pandava, another warrior, or the Himalayas is one of the mountains, the Ganga is one of the rivers, but this is extraordinarily special, so the one above the many manifests as one among the many, that means this one among the many is special, so in every skill or in every area there are some manifestations that are excellent, and we are attracted to them, Krishna has earlier said that actually all things come from me, although all things come from Krishna, it’s not that we are attracted to all things, so now we could say the whole temple is meant for glorification of Krishna, so every part of the temple is special, and when we come to the temple, we may notice the deities, we may notice the pictures, we may notice the chandeliers, we may notice certain specific things in the temple, so there are certain things which attract our attention, so when Krishna specially says, first he says everything comes from me, but then he says that everything that is attractive comes from me, so the point is Krishna is not making just a philosophical statement, he is making a personal statement to assist us, okay, we want to become attracted to him, then see the attractiveness of everything attractive as coming from Krishna, that’s why he gives all these special manifestations, now of course it’s an important thing, there can be different kinds of vibhutis, so everything attractive comes from Krishna, but everything attractive doesn’t take us to Krishna, isn’t it? So, now there are so many attractive things in the world, but some attractive things, we may look at them and forget Krishna, so there is a western author who has written, who made a quote and then a book was written on that topic, he says, the taste of wine is the proof that God loves us, so he says, wine is so delicious, how could something delicious come by chance, that God must exist and God must love us, now Prabhupada says actually that if somebody is addicted to drinking and they cannot give up drinking, then he says if a drunkard while drinking thinks that the taste of wine is Krishna, then by that they will become a devotee one day, Prabhupada is not saying by drinking wine they will become a devotee, whatever we are attracted to, if we remember the attractiveness of this is coming from Krishna, then we can become attracted to Krishna through that, so that list is actually expandable, whatever list Krishna has given of his opulences, we could expand that list in various ways, so if people are attracted to a particular sports, if people are attracted to cricket, so in today’s world you say among sports I am cricket, so the idea is if you are so captivated by cricket, what is it that is captivating us, it is ultimately an opulence of Krishna that is being manifested over there, so this is not an exhaustive list, it is an indicative list, so whatever it is we are attracted to, if you think about it, what about this attraction, so it is whatever is our deepest experience, it is our experience of Krishna, so if somebody is a musician and they get lost in composing music, then they will spend hours and hours composing music, what is the taste they are getting over there, there is a British author William Wordsworth, he wrote a letter to his friend, he said I spent my morning very productively today, working on one of my new poems, after breakfast I added a comma in the poem, before lunch I deleted the comma, what productive, body was absorbed, singing it repeatedly, singing it this way, that way, in that metre, how does it fit, so we say one comma, how can you spend so many hours, but actually whatever is anyone’s deepest experience, that is their experience of Krishna, it is just that they don’t know their experience of Krishna, so if they can understand that whatever is attracting me, that is actually manifestation of God coming to that, so we can be attracted to that, but we need to connect that attraction to Krishna, so the whole Bhagavad Gita describes a very inclusive way, especially in this 10th chapter, fixing the mind on Krishna is not just a matter of coming to the temple and chanting the holy names or taking darshan, that is very much required, but Arjuna’s question was, how can I fix my mind on you in this material world, while interacting with material things, so if we can have this vision that whatever captivates us, we can become conscious of Krishna in even the things that make us unconscious of Krishna, something captivates us so much, that we no longer remember Krishna, but if we just understand, actually this is Krishna captivating me, this is Krishna manifesting like this, so of course the point is that Krishna is as I said the one above the many, and the one among the many can be in sattva guna, rajo guna, tamo guna, so now if you are attracted to tamasic manifestations, then that may degrade us, but if you are attracted to rajo guna, sattva guna, that will be more elevated, so somebody likes music, now somebody can have very sensual kind of music and that will take their consciousness down, but if they like music and then they connect with Krishna through, they hear Krishna music, then what is happening, they are attracted to music, but they connect, so one way is to become directly attracted to Krishna by practising bhakti, the other is to connect what we are attracted to, to Krishna, so when we do this way, we can see bhakti can permeate our entire life, it doesn’t mean that we have to reject our worldly attractions and connect with Krishna, but we connect our worldly attractions to Krishna, so this is the 10th chapter, now of course before this Vibhuti yoga comes up, there Krishna says, there is the chatur shloki bhagavad gita, 10.8 to 11, and Krishna says if you understand this, you will fix your mind on me, so in chatur shloki bhagavad gita there are simply 4 themes over there, first is God’s position, second is the devotee’s disposition, third is God’s grace, and the fourth is the liberation by the Lord’s grace, so first Krishna says, actually everything comes from me, and if you understand this, if you understand that Krishna is the source of everything, what will happen, you will become devoted to him, you will naturally become devoted to him, if you understand God truly, you will naturally become attracted to him, that’s the first point, understand God’s position, then those who are devoted, what do they do, Krishna says, that those who are devoted to Krishna, just delight in talking about Krishna, Raman is often used with sensual pleasures, but that is the greatest pleasure in the world, Krishna is saying that, in discussing about him, there is a greater pleasure than that, Raman teacher, so if you want to know who is devoted to Krishna, we can look at what does that person delight in, that person delights in speaking about Krishna, and discussing about Krishna, hearing about Krishna, that means, yes, this person is devoted to Krishna, and then, if we devote our life to Krishna, then what happens, Krishna says that, Krishna says that, I will do magic in your heart, that whatever guidance you need, I will give that guidance, in one sense, Krishna is everyone’s guide, but Krishna is not a guide who forces himself on others, so if we become receptive to him, then Krishna gives us guidance, and then Krishna, the last verse says, even if somebody is not very intellectual, doesn’t matter, I will give them the intelligence, even if somebody has a very contaminated heart, very dark heart, but Krishna says, I will illumine their heart, I will light the torch of knowledge in their hearts, so Krishna says, if you become devoted to me, I will personally enlighten you, it is not that you have to strive separately for enlightenment, just try to devote yourself to me, and I will enlighten you, so if you see these four verses, two verses fully are about what Krishna will do for us, if we just devote ourselves to him, and this is the tenth chapter, and when it concludes, it’s actually, Krishna is overflowing with ecstasy about bhakti, because he is talking about himself, so that he can talk about bhakti, so that he can glorify bhakti, and here, the first verse of Krishna says that, if you understand my position, then you will become devoted to me, so the point over there is, that actually Krishna is saying, we may have this competitive vision, that okay, say if there is a tennis tournament, then somebody is rank 100, somebody is rank 50, somebody is rank 25, somebody is rank 1, so you say, this person is rank 1, so like that we may say, there are many number of beings, and God is number one being, so we may have this idea, God is the best of all beings, that is true, but that is not the complete truth, God is not just the best of all beings, he is the basis of all being, it’s not as a hierarchy in which you can climb up and you can come to God, now whoever is wherever in that hierarchy, everybody is getting that power from Krishna, God is the basis of all being, even whatever power we have, it is coming from him, so that’s why when we understand this, then there is no competition with him, whatever power I have to compete, it is also coming from him, and that’s why when Prahlad says to Narsimha, when Narsimha, when Prahlad says to Hiranyakashipu, Hiranyakashipu says, where is your power coming from, now Prahlad is not just being cheeky over there, when he says, the source of your power, the source of my power, is the same as the source of your power, is the same as the source of the source of your power, your power has come from Brahma, Brahma’s power is coming from Vishnu, so he is not just being cheeky over there, trying to provoke his father, he is not provoking, he is educating, don’t see Vishnu as a competitor, there is no competition at all, there is a scale of excellence, Krishna you may have from 1 to 10, Krishna exists outside the scale of excellence, all scales, now he exists outside of all scales and wherever anyone falls on the scale of excellence, they all get their power from Krishna, so when we understand that this Krishna is the source of everything attractive, then we feel inspired to devote ourselves to him, and then, now it’s interesting that after Krishna speaks the 4th shloki, more or less, the Bhagavad Gita is over, because Arjuna accepts Krishna’s supreme position, he says, param brahma param dhama, pavitram paramam bhavan, he says, you are the supreme truth, and I accept it fully, but afterwards, from the 10th chapter, almost all the questions that Arjuna is asking, is for loka heta, is to help others understand, now Arjuna has a personal relationship with Krishna, so for him to remember Krishna is easy, but when he is asking, how can we understand him, see him and remember him in worldly manifestations, that is, for people who are in worldly consciousness, and similarly in the 11th chapter, first only he says that, actually, by your message, moho yam vigato mama, by what you have spoken, my moha is gone, my illusion is gone, it’s interesting, Arjuna will say the same thing in the 18th chapter, nashto moha nashto moha, moho yam vigato mama, so what he is going to say at the end of the 18th chapter, he has already said over here, but then, after that, every question that he is asking is for, to educate people, to help others understand Krishna’s glory, and then he says, Arjuna, oh Krishna, is it possible for you to show what you have spoken in words, can you demonstrate, you said that you are the source of everything, everything is present within you, so, manya sedhi tatsakhyam maya drishti mithi prabhav, yogeshwara toh me ma, darshayatmanam, can you please display your form, magnificent form which contains everything, and then Krishna says, yes, why not, I will do this, and Krishna says, I will display something which nobody has seen before, so, Krishna says, I will not only fulfil your expectation, I will exceed your expectation, E+, as they say, in management terminology, so, then, in this 11th chapter, so, the 9th, the 10th chapters are actually very emotionally dramatic, but the 11th chapter is very dramatic in terms of action, so, what happens, there is a special narrative structure that is used here, so, first, if we see something very special, something which we have never seen, we need to be orientated, what are you going to see first, if we are going to see some exhibition of some art, or something very special, which we have never, which nobody has seen, very few people have seen, then we need to be explained first what you are going to see, we don’t just see with our eyes, we see with our intelligence, because when we say, I see, in the conversation, I see, that means, I understand, I get your point, so, we don’t see just with our eyes, we see with our intelligence, and sometimes, what we see may not make sense unless it is explained with the intelligence, so, because this Vishwaroop is so astonishing a sight, so, there is a triple explanation there, first, before revealing, Krishna gives a explanation, what you are going to see, so, from verses 5 to 10 roughly, Krishna tells Arjun, he gives a sneak preview, what are you going to see, he explains first, and then, when he reveals, at that time, Dhritarashtra tells Sanjay, what Krishna has shown, and then, after that, from the 15th verse, there is Arjuna’s self-description, this is what I am seeing, so, same thing is described in different perspectives, it’s like, you have a camera, so, first, before you are showing, something is shown, then you have a big picture, and Arjuna has a close-up picture, so, when Arjuna sees this, first, he says, पश्यामि विष्वेष्वरविष्वरूप, so, I understand, I am seeing this Vishwaroop, this magnetic universal form I am seeing, and he is delighted on seeing this, he is thrilled, and as he keeps observing, he says, नान्तों नमद्यं नपुनस्तवादिं, you are pervading all of space, there is no beginning, no middle, no end, it is magnificent, दुर्णिरीक्षं समन्तार्, I can’t see very clearly, there is such effulgence coming from you, but then, as he is seeing, initially, there is amazement and thrill, but slowly, प्रवितितम् मनों में, his heart starts becoming a little fearful, what happens, he doesn’t just see this magnificent form, see, the universe broadly has two aspects to it, there is space and there is time, so, earlier, whenever Krishna has shown the Vishwaroop, he has shown the form which is pervading across space, but here, he shows not just the form pervading across space, he also shows, अद्रिष्टपूर्वं रिषितों स्मिधुष्ट्व, अद्रिष्टपूर्वं, something which he has never seen before, and that is, the कालरूप, and this कालरूप, काल is time, and time can create, time can maintain, time can destroy, this is a battlefield, where time is going to destroy, so, Arjun starts saying, there is fierce form, it’s in a mood of devouring everything, there is a blazing fire coming from the mouth, and everything is getting destroyed, all living beings seem to be entering into it, he says, what is going on, suppose, we go to watch a romantic movie, some nice rom-com, and then, we go there, and suddenly, it turns into a horror movie, what’s going on, so, he is seeing this destructive form, and then you are watching that movie, and then you see in the movie, that horrible destruction is happening, that destruction is not just some building somewhere, it’s a theatre in which you are sitting, that is getting destroyed, hey, what is this, so, first Arjun sees this विश्वरूप, devouring, and then he says, who are they devouring, it’s all the warriors here itself, what’s going on, and, as he keeps seeing it, everybody is just charging into the mouth, it’s going in and in and in into the mouth, he is horrified, and then, there are two beautiful metaphors over there, one is पतंग, just as the moths enter into fire, so, as I have explained, that is like, people like Duryodhana, they, by their attraction to wrong doing, they are entering into fire, so, like that, some living beings are entering into the fire, यथानदीनं बहुवं भुवेगा, another example is, just as river enters into the ocean, and this is the example for people like Bhishma, now, river naturally enters into the ocean, now, one of the commentators in the Sri Sampradaya Vedanta Deshika, gives a beautiful explanation of this, and he says, that, actually, you may say, whether you are a materialist or a spiritualist, everybody is going to die, so, what is the use of being a spiritualist, he says, that is like, the difference is between a moth, when it enters into a fire, its very existence is going to terminate, so, similarly, materialists, when they die, of course, the soul is not going to die, but everything that they value in their life is going to be destroyed, so, their whole concept of existence is going to be shattered, but, whereas, when a river enters into an ocean, the water still saves the sea, so, a devotee is serving Krishna in this world, and a devotee serves Krishna in the next world, so, although the death happens, but for a devotee, there is no drastic or traumatic transition, the devotee continues doing what he is doing in this world and the next world, and another thing he says is, when a moth moves towards fire, the moth doesn’t do anything any good to anyone, isn’t it, the moth simply dies, but if the river moves towards the ocean, the river irrigates all the land along the way, so, similarly, a devotee is also going to die, but a devotee along their life journey, the devotees, they benefit all living beings who interact with them, so, in that sense, a life devoted to Krishna is also going to end, but a life devoted to Krishna is going to benefit others, and ultimately benefit and liberate that person also, so, as this whole thing is entering, everything is entering into Arjuna, into the mouth of Vishwaroop, and Arjuna becomes fearful, what’s going on, and then he asks the question, आख्या ही मैं को भवानू ग्रवोपो, my dear lord, who are you? Now, this is quite, again, dramatic, in English, any second person is referred to as he, or you, sorry, but in Hindi or Sanskrit, there is more respectful, तू और आप, if somebody calls us, कौन है तू? नमस्ते, नमस्ते आप, आप कैसे हैं आप? So, it might change. So, Arjuna, even when he surrenders to Krishna, he says that, पृच्चामि त्वाम् धर्मसं मूडः, चेता सत्वाम् is like तु, but here, when he sees this काल रूप, आख्या ही मैं को भवानू ग्रवोपो, भवान, आप, he becomes reverential, what is this? He doesn’t understand. And he says, who are you? When he says who are you, what does it mean? Now, sometimes when we see the picture of विश्वरूप, here is a different विश्वरूप picture, but विश्वरूप picture you see, normally we see Krishna is here, then Krishna is showing his fingers like this, and then we see the विश्वरूप.
So, normally when we are shown, it’s like we see Krishna, Arjuna on the chariot, and the विश्वरूप. But when Arjuna saw, Arjuna no longer saw Krishna. Krishna actually disappeared from his vision, and all he saw was विश्वरूप.
And then, now he has earlier identified, that this is the कालरूप, sorry, this is विश्वरूप. He says, पशामि विश्वेश्वर विश्वरूप, then why is he asking, who are you? It’s like, because what has happened, here he is seeing a feature, he has never seen before. It’s like, say we are walking along, with a friend, maybe after a programme, and suddenly, a group of thugs attack.
And then we are scared, and suddenly that friend, starts, makes a dozen karate kicks, and everybody is knocked down. Who are you? So, like that, Arjun is asking, who are you? I know you as my friend, I know you as my, as the विश्वरूप, but when we see something, unknown about someone known, then we ask, who are you? What have you done to my friend? Where has he gone? So, similarly Arjun is asking, who are you? He says, what is this destructive manifestation? And that’s why, when Arjun asks this question, and Krishna answers, Arjun answers in 11.31, Krishna answers in 11.32, so Krishna doesn’t say, I am Krishna, and Krishna doesn’t even say, I am विश्वरूप. What does he say? I am कालरूप, कालोस्मि लोकक्षेकुत् प्रवृत्धो, लोकान्समाहरतं किहः प्रवृत्धा, प्रतेपित्वाम्नभविश्वन्ति सर्वे, यविस्तिता, that all those who are in this particular war field, I am time.
Now, time does all various things, but at that particular battlefield, time is going to destroy. And therefore, it says, time I am, the destroyer of all the worlds. And then, everybody except you, प्रतेपित्वाम्नभविश्वन्ति सर्वे, that except for you, everyone is going to be destroyed.
And the whole idea is रुतेपित्वाम्, now रुते can mean except for you, or even without you. So, even without you means, that Arjun, even if you don’t fight, still they are going to be destroyed. They have done misdeeds, and they have to get the reactions for that.
And if you take the secondary meaning, that रुतेपि, that without you, also they will be destroyed. That means, Arjun, if you think, if you don’t fight, this destruction will not happen, it’s not like that, this destruction is going to happen. And then, we can see the next verse.
The next verse is what? तस्मात्तमुतिष्ठ यशोलभस्व, जित्वाशत्रन्भम्ष्वराज्यम् समृत्धम्, मयय्वैतेन्निहतापूर्वमेव, निमिद्धमात्रं भवसव्यसाची, Therefore, arise and fight, attain victory. By my arrangement, your enemies are already killed. Just become an instrument in my fight.
Just become an instrument in the fight. So, here, this is a verse which is every, of course, every word of the Bhagavad Gita is packed with meaning, but this is a very powerful verse. Therefore, arise and fight.
There is this idea that, many people say that, oh, the world is such a terrible place, that, we say, the Bhagavad Gita says, God descends to this world to restore order in the world. So, why is God not descending now? So, why is God not descending and fixing things? The Bhagavad Gita tells us, that God doesn’t descend to fix things in the world. God descends to fix us, so that we can fix things in the world.
So, Krishna is not telling Arjuna, I will kill all of them. Krishna is saying, you kill all of them. So, Arjuna is bewildered.
Arjuna doesn’t know what to do. He is confused. So, Krishna speaks the Bhagavad Gita, Krishna fixes Arjuna.
After Krishna fixes Arjuna, then Arjuna will fix things. So, the whole idea is, devotion is not about giving up responsibility. Oh, God will do everything.
No. Yes, it is I who should do things in the service of God. It is we who have to take responsibility for the service of God.
And therefore, Krishna is saying, therefore, you arise and fight. But there are so many obstacles. Actually speaking, no matter how bad things are, we can make them worse.
You know, you can take anything in your life, no matter how bad is it, can you make it worse? Obviously, you can, isn’t it? Say, I might fracture my hand. And it’s terrible. But you know, my fractured cast, I can smash it on the ground again.
I can make it worse. So, the point why I am making this is that, if we can make things worse, that means we always have freedom. And that means we can make things better also.
It’s a very important point. Sometimes you feel, I am helpless. My situation is so terrible.
I can’t do anything. Well, can you make things worse? Yeah, I can do that. Then you can make things better also.
So, Krishna is telling Arjun, take responsibility. And when we may feel, there are so many problems, how can I deal with them? Then he says, By my arrangement, the obstacles will be removed. So, the obstacles, the enemies, are killed by my arrangement, Krishna says.
But you have to fight. So, sometimes you may feel, that the problems in my life are such that, I just can’t do anything. It’s like Mission Impossible.
Now, in a movie Mission Impossible, something sounds very attractive. Because we know, they are going to make it possible. But in our life, when we see something is Mission Impossible, I feel like I just can’t do it.
But what Krishna is telling, that this is going to happen. It’s not Mission Impossible, it’s Mission Unstoppable. It’s… It’s… They are all destroyed.
So, that’s why, when Prabhupada went to America, it’s all alone, with just 70 rupees, with just few 40 rupees, at the age of 70, it was Mission Impossible. But, Prabhupada was not thinking, I am the doer. Prabhupada was saying, Krishna is the doer.
And therefore, even when Prabhupada had no facility, no support, yes, there are temples. It’s just time is separating us from them. So, Prabhupada saw it not as Mission Impossible, he saw it as Mission Unstoppable.
This is going to happen. The same applies to our inner struggles also. We may have many, many conditionings.
And how can I overcome them? I can’t. No, it’s going to happen. It’s going to happen.
And we can only decide how fast or how slowly it will happen. It can happen in one lifetime or it can take 100,000 lifetimes. But we will become purified.
Prabhupada would say that Krishna consciousness is like a fatal disease. If you become Krishna conscious, your material existence is going to end. You will get liberated.
But, this is, the disease, the more we get infected, the happier we become. It’s not a disease that hurts us, it actually makes us happy. So, we should never lose heart.
And Arjuna says, Krishna says, Just become an instrument in the fight. So, we just do what we can. And Krishna will do what we can’t.
If we just do what we can, Krishna will do what we can’t. But unfortunately, what we do, we keep looking at all that we can’t do. And then we stop doing what we can also.
So, instead of doing like that, just do what we can. And Krishna will do what we can’t. This is a very reassuring, very inspiring, action, action-invoking verse in the Bhagavad Gita.
Now, after that, when Krishna completes this, gives a call of action, then Arjuna starts offering prayers again. And when he offers prayers, he says, Oh, you are the Vishwaroopa, I want to offer obeisances to you. But, suppose we come to a temple.
And then temple, if you see, all four directions, there are deities. How do I offer obeisances then? Isn’t it? So, he says, Krishna, you are the Vishwaroopa. All Vishwa is your Roopa.
So, where do I offer obeisances? So, therefore he says, I offer obeisances from the front. I offer obeisances from the back. I offer obeisances from the right.
I offer obeisances from the left. Okay, I offer obeisances hundreds of times. So, he says, I offer you again and again obeisances.
And then, he starts thinking, actually, I took Krishna for granted. So, I thought of you as a friend. And I taunted you.
Oh, you are very clever. And I thought that actually, you know, you are only a member of the royal family. You know, I said, your grandfather is the king and you are just ordinary people.
He says, I am a member of the same generation. My brother is the king. I am a part of the royal family.
I thought I was superior to you. But I was so foolish. And he says, whatever stupidity I have committed, please forgive me.
Please forgive me. And then, then Arjun says, Okay, Krishna, you know, this darshan is enough now. Now, he is speaking all this, but he says, please show me your Saumya Roopa.
Please show me your gentle form now. Hmm? Now, Krishna, Krishna accepts Arjuna’s prayers and Krishna just teases Arjuna. Arjun, actually, this darshan is extremely rare.
You know, even by the study of the Vedas, by the performance of great austerity, you cannot get this. Even the devtas desire to see this. But Arjun says, I have seen enough now.
So, Arjun says, I don’t want to see it. Then Krishna says, Okay, okay. Please do not be agitated.
Become peaceful. Now, I will show you my Saumya Roopa. And the Acharya has explained that Krishna has showed first his Vishwa Roopa, then he shows his Chaturbhuja Roopa, and then he shows his Vibhuja Roopa.
And he comes back. And then Arjun says, Now I have become peaceful. Peaceful.
His mind had become fearful. But then it became peaceful. And then, it’s very striking, this same Bhagavad Gita, 11.33 is, Oh, there are enemies, and they are going to be killed by my arrangement.
But the Bhagavad Gita, 11.55, this 11th chapter concludes with a declaration that, यह समामेति पाण्डवा Krishna says that, Okay, you work for me, and work without any animosity towards anyone. What’s going on here? Just now Krishna has said that, Oh, all those Kauravas are going into the Virat Vishwa Roopa, and they are going to devour. And Krishna said, I have removed the enemies from your path.
Fight. And he also mentions them, that Bhishma, Drona, they are all going to die. In fact, he also says over there, that Jayadratha is also entering into the mouth.
Now, Jayadratha is not a very prominent warrior, and Jayadratha is not mentioned by Duryodhana also in the first chapter. But Krishna knows that Jayadratha is going to create a special problem, and Krishna is assuring him, Jayadratha will be eliminated. So, he mentions all these enemies, and he says, निर्वाई रह सर भुंतेशु Don’t have animosity towards anyone.
So, what is going on? Just now he said enemies, and now he says no animosity. So, the point is, a devotee may sometimes have to fight against someone. But a devotee is never against anyone.
They are two different things. We may have to fight against someone, because they are fighting against Krishna. They are fighting against Dharma.
So, we may have to fight against them. But we are never against anyone. A devotee is the well-wisher of everyone.
Just as Krishna is the well-wisher, devotee is also the well-wisher. When Prabhupada wanted to build a temple in Juhu, the person who sold the land was like a very scheming manipulative person. And he took the money, and he did not do the land papers also.
And he started to get gundas and hooligans and attacked the devotees, threatened the devotees. And then, eventually, when he died, his wife took it up. And she tried to get some hooligans to just destroy the temple structure itself.
But everything turned against. And when the temple was destroyed, devotees became, people in India came out in support. And then she realised that this is not going to work.
So, then she came to Prabhupada for reconciliation. And when she came and offered her respects to Prabhupada, Prabhupada just said, don’t worry, you are just like my daughter. And Prabhupada was very affectionate to her.
Before that, if you see the kind of letters Prabhupada had to send was, no, nobody is going to steal this temple from Krishna, even over my dead body. I will make sure that it will not happen. So, a devotee may fight, a devotee may fight against someone.
But a devotee is never against anyone. Sometimes for our service, we may have to do something just confrontational. So, Krishna is telling, so at one level, the immediate battlefield context is it’s going to be a fierce war.
But the bigger picture is, Krishna is not telling Arjuna to fight a war. Krishna is telling Arjuna to practise bhakti. In his emergency situation, he has to practise bhakti by fighting a war.
Similarly for us, when we have to do anything in this world, we have to struggle. The struggle for practising bhakti, we have to fight against our inner enemies, outside there are so many obstacles, so we have to fight. So, when we have to fight, that means, I gave a class in America, the way to Vrindavan is through Kurukshetra.
We have to fight in this world. And sometimes it may appear that we have to fight with devotees also. Because we want to do some service and nobody seems to be cooperating.
You know, one devotee, disciple wrote a letter to Prabhupada saying that, actually all my god brothers, all my god sisters, they are discouraging me so much. And I am feeling so discouraged. And Prabhupada said, there is nothing new.
I also got nothing except depression, compression and repression from my god brothers. But Prabhupada said, we do not function on this platform of getting discouraged. Because we function for the service of Krishna.
So, it’s not that the buddhists are bad, it’s just that we are living in a material world and all of us have some quota of Adhibhauti Klesh to suffer. We have some quota of suffering which has to come from other living beings. Now, if most of the other living beings around us are devotees, then that quota has to come through devotees.
So, sometimes, for our service, we may seem to have to fight against devotees also. But, even if we have to fight for that, Prabhupada sometimes spoke very strong words against his god brothers. One particular god brother who had tried to steal away some of Prabhupada’s disciples and said that, actually, I can give you more knowledge.
Prabhupada said that he is like an envious snake. Don’t go near him. And then, when he passed away, devotees liked to hear, where did he go? Which hell did he go to? They would like to ask.
When somebody dies, where did he go? And Prabhupada said, he went back to his spiritual world. He served my spiritual master. My spiritual master is very powerful.
So, when it was for the protection of his disciples, Prabhupada was fighting against even his god brothers. But, Prabhupada was not against his god brothers. He respected them.
He respected their service to Krishna. And, he saw their service to his spiritual master and to Krishna. The point is, we may have to fight against someone, but we don’t have to be against anyone.
And, that is the mode of the Bhaktivedanta also. That is, nirvairah sarva-bhutaim shivam. So, then after that, it comes to the twelfth chapter.
So, I don’t think we are going to complete eighteen chapters. Actually, we are going to have a session on Tuesday which is going to be a question-answer session. So, maybe we could continue that on Tuesday.
Or, I can maybe in five minutes try to rush through all chapters. What should I do? Tuesday? Okay. Monday or Tuesday? Tuesday.
Sorry? No, I thought that tomorrow is this kirtan is there. it might be difficult to come on Monday. Monday is a public holiday.
Monday is a public holiday. Okay, fine. So, okay.
Okay. So, Monday, Monday we will continue this. So, I will just, how many of you have questions right now? Okay.
So, you don’t have time to think about questions also. Okay. So, I will speak 12 chapters and then if there are any questions we can take a few questions.
So, now, after this whole action gets over, the whole conversation, this whole dramatic thing has happened. And, after that, it is like the whole conversation goes on as if nothing has happened. This very dramatic thing has happened and after that it is a very serious philosophical discussion.
So, sometimes if you try to look for the thread of connection between Arjuna’s questions, it might seem very difficult. It is like, say, suppose, suddenly, if you are sitting all here in this class and suddenly we hear there is a bomb scare and then suddenly some very fierce looking terrorists come over here and everybody gets alarmed and then the terrorists go away and everybody sits down and continues the class. Hey, what happened? Nobody is disturbed? But what has happened is that Arjuna, for him, his conviction is reinforced and then the next question that he asks is, Krishna, there are different manifestations.
Some people worship you in the personal manifestation, some in the impersonal. So, which is better? Now, what is the correlation between 11th and 12th chapters? There are multiple correlations. One is actually based on 9.15. 9.11, 12, Krishna talks about his to pure devotees.
At 15, he gives people at the two levels, those who worship the devatas, those who worship the Vishvarupa and those who worship the impersonal manifestation. Ekatvena pruthakvena bahudha vishvatomukham. So, pruthakvena bahudha, he has talked about from 9.20 to 9.34. Yesterday I talked about how Krishna compares the worship of the devatas with the worship of Krishna.
And then the vishvatomukham, the Vishvarupa and how that comes from Krishna is talked about in the 11th chapter. And then ekatvena, those who think everything is one, what about them? Krishna asks. Krishna is asked by Arjuna.
So, 9.15 is three people who are in between. Not demonic, not divine. What is their status? And Krishna answers very clearly that those who fix their mind on me, manya vaisyamano yema, itthayukta upasate, shardhaya paryo petaste, me yukta tamo mata, they are the most intimately united people.
Those who are devoted to my personal form. But then after that he says that those who worship the impersonal, they will also come to me. They will also come to me.
But it is a very difficult path. It is filled with klesha. It is quite difficult.
The point here is, this is, Krishna when he is talking about it, people who are attracted to the impersonal aspect, they are not offensive, they are brahmavadis. Like Krishna talks in 9.11, 12, avajananti ma mudha, he is talking about mayavadis. Now what is a mayavadi? A brahmavadi is someone who is attracted to the impersonal manifestation.
A mayavadi is somebody who thinks that the personal manifestation is an illusion. And you have to go beyond the personal manifestation to the impersonal manifestation. So they think that actually Krishna’s all attractive form is maya.
So that is offensive. And that is why mayavadis are spoken about in strongly negative terms. But at the same time, most people who say that oh everything is one, I want to enter into that oneness and now most of them are actually not mayavadis.
In general on the spiritual path, the default philosophical position of people will be impersonal. That is the default philosophical position. Why? Because we are attracted to all the forms of this world and the attraction to the forms of this world captivates us and deludes us.
So if you don’t want to be attracted, then you have to go beyond the forms. So by default, people will go from the form to the formless. And then they can come from the formless to the spiritual form.
So when somebody says everything is one, and if you say, oh, you are a mayavadi, actually to call people who say everything is one as a mayavadi is to give them too much credit. Mayavadi is a philosophy. It’s in its own way.
It’s a complex philosophy and people have a lot of complicated ideas about mayavadi. Most people who say everything is one, they have heard it somewhere and they maybe read something about it and everything is one. So Krishna is not very critical about it.
That’s also a path, but it’s gradual. It’s very difficult to grow by that path. And then very slow difficult process.
But the other path, he says that if you become devoted to me, says that you just devote yourself to me and you will come to me. You will come to me, Krishna says. How will you come to me? I will lift you out.
I will become like your deliverer and quickly, very quickly I will deliver you. So Krishna is giving us assurance of his personal intervention if you choose the path of devotion. And then somebody says actually you know fixing the mind of Krishna is quite difficult.
My mind wanders all over the world. So Krishna then he says it’s like a ladder. You come up here, I will lift you out.
It’s like say somebody is saying that okay, I am up there and you are in the ocean. You just raise your hand up and I will pick you up. This person says actually I can’t raise my hand.
Okay, you can’t raise my hand, just keep swimming. I will pick you up. So Krishna says actually just try to fix your mind.
So just do sadhana bhakti. By that you will be attracted to him. Actually I can’t even, so you can’t be absorbed in Krishna while chanting.
Just try to chant and try to absorb yourself. If you can’t do spontaneous devotion, you can do conscientious devotion. It is said that when the lord darshan happens, at that time, Hare Krishna, battery? Okay, so am I audible? So when the lord darshan opens, the pure devotees are so ecstatic on beholding the lord that they faint and fall down.
For us it is said you don’t faint but at least fall down. So, if you can’t do spontaneous devotion, at least do conscientious devotion. So Hare Krishna says, okay, if you can’t do this, do this.
Somebody says, I can’t do this also. And Hare Krishna says, okay, if you can’t do this, at least work for me. Some people say, okay, I come to the temple but don’t tell me to do japa.
Okay, okay, then at least come to the temple and do some seva. There is one devotee in LA, he was doing a programme in UCLA for the students over there and every week he would do the programme, many students would come and invite them, come to the temple, we have a nice talk over there and we have kirtan and nobody would come. And then he told them one day, actually we have a Sunday programme in which we serve free food to 300 people.
Would you like to come and serve free food to 300 people? He says, yeah, I would like to come. And almost 95% people came. So, they are not ready to hear about Krishna, but do some seva, they can do the seva.
So, we can connect people at whatever level they are ready to connect. And if somebody says, oh, I cannot do seva also, then Krishna says, at least become selfless. Don’t just keep all your things for yourself, give it to somebody else.
Just expand yourself in selflessness. So, what is Krishna doing? It’s like Krishna is offering a descending ladder of love. If you can’t do this, it’s not that I am rejecting you.
If you can’t do this, do this. If you can’t do this, do this. If you can’t do this, do this.
So, in that sense, Krishna is a very accommodating God. In the Biblical tradition, there is the idea that God is a God. God worship any other Gods apart from me.
Don’t go down to any other Gods. Krishna, he says, if you don’t worship me, the idea in the Bible is that if you don’t worship the one true God, then you will go to hell. And there are some extremist people, they say, you are not only going to go to hell, we will send you there faster.
So, Krishna is not like that. What Krishna says is, if you can’t do this, do this. If you can’t do this, do this.
So, Krishna is not a jealous God. He is a zealous God. He is zealously working to provide us facilities to rise up, to connect with him, to come to him.
And then, so this is different levels from 12.8 to 12. And then, from 12.13 to 12.20, he talks about different qualities. Now, at one level, somebody is devoted, they attract Krishna.
But Krishna says that we don’t see devotion as separate from other virtues. A devotee should also have other virtues. And Krishna talks about how a devotee is kind to everyone, adveshta sarva bhoota naam, maitra karuna evacha, is not possessive, is humble, is gentle, is sense controlled.
So, in this way, what Krishna is telling, that if somebody is devoted, they are dear to me. But if somebody is devoted and has virtues, then they are dear to me. So, as devotees, we also need to develop virtues.
Because what happens, we often may think that, okay, what is my bhakti? My bhakti is that I do my sadhana, I have my philosophy. We have three things, we have siddhanta, we have sadhana and we have seva. Now, these three are very important.
That our, how much philosophy we know properly, how much sadhana we are doing, how we are chanting our rounds, how we are worshipping the deities and what all seva we do. From the bhakti perspective, these are what is important. But from the world’s perspective, who cares how many verses from the Bhagavad Gita you know? Who cares how much philosophy you know? Who cares how much sadhana, what time you wake up? Who cares how many rounds you chant? The only thing that the world is going to see is sadhachara, is behaviour.
So, all these qualities which Krishna is talking about, talking is about sadhachara. The world will see our sadhachara. And that’s why initially Prabhupada was asked that, that how do we know your disciples? Prabhupada said they are perfect gentlemen, perfect ladies and perfect gentlemen.
Because people will not appreciate, oh we chant sixteen rounds every day. Okay, fine, so what? They are not going to care about that. So, like earlier I said, Krishna is attract, we have to present Krishna’s greatness in people’s terms of greatness.
So, similarly, like in India, you may have known that, this is a giant Bhagavad Gita, the world’s biggest religious text, was inaugurated by the Prime Minister Modi. And, you know, the Bhagavad Gita has always been there in the temple. But the newspaper reporters didn’t come to see the Bhagavad Gita.
But when this giant Bhagavad Gita was there, they came and all the TV channels they started displaying that. So, what is attractive to people is not Bhagavad Gita, it is the size of the Bhagavad Gita. Now, actually what is really attractive is the Bhagavad Gita, isn’t it? But we have to present the attractiveness in people’s terms of attractiveness.
So, similarly, now a devotee is devoted to Krishna, that’s wonderful. But people won’t appreciate that. So, we have to present it in a way that people can understand.
So, Prabhupada would go for morning walks in the west, morning walks, he would not greet people as Hare Krishna, he would greet people good morning. Because as gentlemen in Hare Krishna, what will they understand? Now, of course, Hare Krishna is well known in the world also. But the point is that Krishna is talking about Sadachar over here because he talks about qualities which even ordinary people can appreciate.
Devotion, ordinary people may not appreciate. But virtues, people can appreciate. And if somebody is a virtuous devotee, then people will be attracted to that virtuous devotee.
They may not be attracted to the devotion, they will be attracted to the virtues. And from those virtues, oh, you are so virtuous and you are a devotee also? Oh, I should also practise bhakti. So Krishna says, therefore, those who are devoted to me, they are very dear to me.
Those who are devoted with virtues, they are bhaktimane priyohanara. Such devotees are very dear to me. Now you may say, oh, but I don’t have virtues, what to do? Don’t worry.
You just have devotion that itself makes you dear to me. ye tu dharmam rtamidam thoktam paripasate shraddhadhana matparama bhaktas te teevame bhaktimane priyohanara That if somebody is devoted to me, then that itself makes them extremely dear to me. Because from that devotion, purification will happen.
By purification, other virtues will come. In this way here, Krishna completes his bhakti section by emphatically glorifying devotion. First, he glorifies his own, first, broadly five ways in which he glorifies devotion.
First is by comparing with Ashtang Yoga in the eighth chapter, where he says that actually first is by talking about the power of illusion and how bhakti can free us from illusion. The second is the eighth chapter, he says, okay, Ashtang Yoga is good, that can also liberate you. It is much, much easier by the practise of bhakti.
In the ninth chapter, he contrasts bhakti with the other process of worship of devatas. He says, bhakti is so wonderful, the best process. Tenth chapter, he actually says that bhakti is something which you can do even in this world, connecting the things of this world.
So you don’t have to renounce the world, just connect the world with Krishna. And then, what is the greatest in this world? All that comes from Krishna, is contained by Krishna. That’s all shown in the Vishvarupa chapter.
And the twelfth chapter, is the comparison of the impersonal and the impersonal. The impersonal and the personal, Krishna says that the devotee is far superior. So in this way, in a completely unambiguous, emphatic way, Krishna proclaims the glory of devotion and inspires us all to take shelter of Bhakti Devi, of Srimati Radharani.
And that’s how the bhakti section completes by declaring anyone who is a devotee is extremely dear to me. So I’ll summarise what I spoke today. So I covered three chapters today broadly.
So 10th, 11th, 12th. And in the 10th chapter, I talked elaborately about Vibhuti Yoga, that Krishna says he speaks his glories so that he can glorify devotion and thereby inspire us to practise devotion. Krishna is not on an ego trip.
Krishna is actually speaking his glories. He’s to persuade us to fix our mind on him, like a doctor telling all other doctors are trained by me only. And so Krishna tells Arjuna that everything attractive comes from him.
So we don’t have to reject what we are attracted to. We connect what we are attracted to to him. And the Vibhuti is not like absolute oneness.
Krishna and Arjuna are not one. Krishna chooses Arjuna to say I am among Pandavas, I am Arjuna. But that doesn’t mean they are one.
What it means is the one above the many manifests as the one among the many. We can’t see the one above the many. But we see the one among the many.
Most attractive. And from there we can direct our thoughts towards Krishna. And God is not just the best of all beings, he is the basis of all beings.
So God’s glory should not trigger any competitive mentality within us. Rather, everything good within me also comes from him. And the whole Chatur Shloki Bhagavad Gita is for the purpose of stressing in two verses Krishna’s merciful intervention in the life of his devotee.
You devote yourself to me even if you have deficiency in knowledge, anything, doesn’t matter. I will give you the intelligence by which you can come to me. And then he says that, Arjuna’s illusion is removed over there.
He accepted Krishna as supreme. But all the subsequent questions are for the purpose of actually Loka Gita, for enluminating people. So first question is how can we see you in this world? And the question is can you demonstrate your Vishwa Rupa? And when we talk Vishwa Rupa about how Krishna also shows the Kaala Rupa, Arjuna gets scared.
Like you are watching a romantic movie turns out to be horror movie. And the horror is happening in your own house. What’s going on? So Tuam becomes Duran.
And Krishna tells Arjuna that I am time except for you or even in spite of you. Everybody is going to be destroyed. So then Krishna doesn’t descend to the world to fix the world.
Krishna descends to the world to fix us so that we can fix the world. So for us what may seem as mission impossible can actually become mission unstoppable by Krishna’s grace. And then after that in the 11th chapter he tells Arjuna that you just become an instrument.
So for us also even if no matter how terrible things are we can make them worse so we can make them better also. We have freedom. And if we do what we can Krishna will do what we can’t.
And then the whole 11th chapter concludes by nirvairah sarvabhuteshu A devotee may fight against someone but a devotee is not against anyone. We fight because we want to serve Krishna and protect Krishna’s service but we don’t have any animosity towards anyone. The way to Vrindavan is through Kurukshetra.
Inside outside we have to fight for serving Krishna in this world. And then we came to the 12th chapter. So the questions are based on 9.15 the 10th 11th 12th chapter questions are there.
So the 12th chapter question is actually how do we know which is better in personal or personal and there I talked about how personal is best Krishna says but impersonal people also come to me. So today most people who have impersonal conceptions they are not mayavadi they are just brahmavadi is a default philosophical conception of people in the spiritual path. So Krishna says I will deliver those who become devoted to me and then he offers a descending ladder of virtue that if you can’t fix your mind spontaneously fix it conscientiously conscientiously if you can’t do that just serve me work for me serve me if you can’t do that just work for some good cause and become selfless.
So Krishna is not a jealous God he is a jealous God and then lastly Krishna says that it is not just devotion but devotion with virtue that endures us to him. In the world’s eyes if the path of bhakti is to be attractive people will not directly see bhakti alone they will directly see the virtues of the bhaktas and so we Prabhupada said followers are like perfect gentlemen and ladies and if somebody says oh virtues are not possible still practise bhakti just practising bhakti will also endear us to Krishna so in different ways Krishna emphatically glorifies devotion and inspires us all to wholeheartedly embrace the path of devotion thank you very much Hare Krishna so any questions quickly yes yeah ok are there any Brahmavadis in the world today where do they live what is their sadhana how do they walk how do they walk generally it is very difficult to know people’s conception externally even if somebody is externally belonging to organisation that is we could say Mayavadi but is it necessary that all the people in that organisation will also be having Mayavadi as I said Brahmavad means people are attracted to the impersonal manifestation they have their idea of oneness and they want to go into the oneness and they have not been explained the personal aspect in philosophical terms so they have no attraction to it either they are not met devotees or they are not met learned devotees who can explain in philosophical terms so that is why that bhakti towards the personal aspect does not come so in my understanding most people whom we deal with it is safe to most people who are spiritualists and talk about oneness it is safe to start with the idea that they are Brahmavadis no need to presume that they are Mayavadis so there are of course some people who are offensive to the Lord also but most of their followers they are not philosophical so we could say there are Mayavadis and people under Mayavad influence and people under Mayavad influence are usually not Mayavadis they are just Brahmavadis they have the idea of oneness that is all so see for most people when they come to a spiritual path philosophy is not what brings them to the spiritual path it is a culture it is a sense of community it is a sense of continuity with tradition it is a sense of belonging it is a sense of peace of mind there are so many things other things actually which bring people to a spiritual organisation a spiritual movement to make a spiritual path so even if people are following a particular spiritual path which says Mayavadi their philosophy is not the major reason why they are following it so for them to come to Krishna even if they have some philosophical conception I am talking from practical experiential perspective philosophy is very rarely an obstacle for people to come to Krishna there are some but it is very rare so even if their philosophy is wrong wrong philosophy is not as much as an obstacle as our telling them that their philosophy is wrong so what happens is you tell them this is wrong but you know such a such a famous teacher says this and you say that it is wrong how can you say they are wrong so best is for most people we can present philosophy in a non confrontational way just present the personal philosophy and people see most Indians if you are talking mostly about Indians most Indians are more interested in worship than the object of worship that means many people will come to the temple and pray with such folded hands closed eyes moving their head with such sincerity I don’t pray like this to Krishna and when going back they ask who is there on the altar so the point is that its like somebody who is out in the cold and they have got torn tattered piece of cloth and we want to give them a very thick soft comforter which will protect them from the cold much better but if we tell them just put aside that cloth and we try to pull that cloth away from them they will hold on to that cloth as if its their life because that is the only thing protecting them from cold right now so instead of trying to pull away that cloth just put the comforter on them and once they start experiencing the comfort hey this is so good and they themselves think actually that torn tattered sheet I don’t need it just put it aside so what is this compared to is that people there is world in rajas and tamas and the modes of passion and ignorance cause a lot of agitation to people’s minds and even if people experience some sattva they might just come to a place and they just close their eyes and do some deep breathing they just recite some om or whatever they do something and they experience some peace and that’s what they consider spiritual so although that I mean hardly any philosophy philosophy doesn’t make sense whatever but they have come there because they want to experience so it’s like from the cold of rajas and tamas whatever little spirituality they have done that is like the tattered thin sheet that is giving them protection so it may be wrong it’s like that it’s tattered but it’s giving them some experience of sattva when we try to pull it away their wrong philosophy doesn’t obstruct them as much as ours calling their philosophy wrong give up this sheet no so just give our philosophy to them give them an opportunity to experience krishna not just our philosophy but the whole krishna culture the krishna relationships the krishna worship and many people actually make a seamless transition so they are not most people don’t go to any spiritual path because of the philosophy philosophy is one aspect no doubt but it is not a very prominent aspect so even if somebody’s philosophy even if we say people are brahmavadis or mayavadis whatever just don’t worry about what they are focus on connecting them with krishna when prabhupada went to america actually there was a big interest in indian spirituality and that interest in indian spirituality at that time was because of many other spiritual teachers were gone in the past now most of them were impersonalists but people just interested in indian spirituality they had some impersonal conceptions but they were open to indian spirituality so similarly even if somebody is mayavadi or whatever often that makes them at least at a practical level favourable to krishna at ideological or philosophical level if they are at that level they may be unfavourable but most people are not at that level so we can assume that most people are like at the brahmavad level and treat them accordingly and many of them will come towards bhakta yes yes okay so aryan 18.65 this is like commandments sarva dharman pratyajam aam ekam sharanam vraja see when i say that that bhagavad gita is not a book of commandments that doesn’t it’s more of choices and consequences that doesn’t mean there are no directive or instructive statements the mood of the bhagavad gita is not that krishna is a god up there demanding obedience down here naturally there are some statements which are instructive but even if you say sarva dharman pratyajam aam ekam sharanam vraja it’s not so much instructive as inspiring there is a call for action but there is a reciprocation there is assurance there is a guarantee if you do this i will do this for you so commandments in the sense that krishna giving some command commanding like statements you may find some statements like that the technical word they are sentences in the imperative imperative means do this please get water for me or carry that bag such imperative statements so surrender to me it’s imperative statement but the overall mood of the bhagavad gita is of discussion and deliberation it is not of domination i this is my way you have to follow it it’s not like that ok thank you yes yes ok good question if somebody is doing good work in the world but they are not against god nor for god they are apathetic towards god then would they be called karma yogis i don’t in a very broad sense of the world we could say that they are working for some good cause so there is some kind of yoga there is some kind of connection with something higher in a more specific or technical bhagavad gita sense yoga is actually a connection with the higher reality you guys connection with the spiritual reality so karma that connects us with spirituality with transcendence with ultimately god that is karma yoga now in karma yoga the person may not know what is that higher reality but a person understands there is some higher reality and I am working for that higher purpose so instead of trying to technically classify whether it is karma yoga or not we can say that if somebody is working for a good cause they are broadly in sattva in the mode of goodness and many times if somebody is apathetic towards god that is often because they may have had some positive experiences with say with religion or with religious people sorry yeah that is true that is a good example so basically what we would say is that it depends on the person’s consciousness if somebody is broadly in sattva guna working sattva guna that will elevate them if they are rajas or tamas accordingly that will affect them also so it is a whole subject actually I talk about it in terms of there are functional values and there are foundational values or fundamental values so functional values refer to how we function in this world and sometimes even an atheist what to speak of an agnostic or a the word there is a whole ism called apathism apathism is I don’t care about god whether he exists or not so even somebody is atheist sometimes atheist may also in functional terms be in sattva guna because they might be living like regulated lives they might be kind they might be sensitive polite like that it is possible so functional values are largely determined by our past karma and our present upbringing along with our present choices fundamental values are our understanding of life’s fundamental realities who am I what is life’s purpose so now these two values are two separate things so I give the example that I give a whole series of bhagavatam classes in chicago on bhakti in the three modes so normally you say bhakti is transcendental but the bhagavatam says bhakti can be in the three modes also so it is like somebody is driving a car and some people are terrible drivers when they drive it is like everybody runs away from them some people they start driving and everybody else stops driving okay you go there I will go after so it is like say the kind of car we have and the way we drive the car that is like our functional values so some people drive very smoothly some people drive a little passionately some people drive terribly so like that we can say sattva rajas tamas refers to how well we drive the car that is functional values now fundamental values is where we are driving the car so somebody may be driving the car expertly but they are going away from their destination then the expert driving is not of that much use so the how people live in this world is determined by the modes but why people live in this world or what purpose they are living that depends on their overall world view so it’s possible that people may have very good functional values but may not have good fundamental values so we don’t deny that functionally the people can be good and if they are good that goodness is to be appreciated then depending on what is the conception ultimate fundamental conception that will determine where their destination will be so functional values count and fundamental values also count so sometimes if devotees may have the fundamental value I am going towards Krishna but the functional values are not very good a devotee is quarrelsome a devotee is rude a devotee a religious people like that then it becomes a problem in fact if you look at the history of religion the biggest cause of atheism is the exploitative behaviour of religious people itself of some religious heads or whatever they were abusive or exploitative or power hungry or whatever so wherever there is virtue we appreciate that so we appreciate that and bhakti is like the fundamental value so ideally both come together and if somebody can meet if a person who is in sattva guna like that or living a regulated life they can meet a bhakta who can explain things properly for them if both functional and fundamental values come together such a person can be a very powerful agent of positive change in the world thank you very much so monday evening will be the next class on this series of krishna’s