Krishna’s moods in the Gita – Gita Jayanti class
Disclaimer: This transcript was generated using AI and may contain occasional errors or inaccuracies.
Rama Rama Hare Hare Hare Krishna. So today is the secret occasion of Gita Jayanti. So we'll be discussing on the Gita and that's why we won't have the Bhagavatam verse today and that's why we recite Nashtaprayeshu or Badreshu that is primarily related to the Bhagavatam.
So I'll skip that. So I'll start with a verse from the Gita Mahatmya. I'll recite that verse, I'll explain that and if possible we'll try to recite it a few times.
Actually there are many different Gita Mahatmya. The most famous is the Gita Mahatmya from Padma Purana which gives a story related with the glory of each chapter. Another Gita Mahatmya which Prabhupada quotes is what is composed by Shankaracharya.
The verses Prabhupada quotes in the introduction of the Gita. Ekam Shastram Devaki Putra Gitam Sarvopanishad Ogao. Of course it is attributed sometimes to earlier sources also.
I'll quote from a third Gita Mahatmya. This is from the Sri Vaishnav Tantrasar and this is a Tantra Shastra in which Krishna himself speaks about the glory of the Gita and then the narrator, the sage who is speaking, he also speaks. So we'll discuss a few verses from that.
I'll just tell the verse. So it says that Yatha Yatra Gita Vicharastha. That wherever one contemplates on the Gita.
Pathanam Pathanam Tatha. One studies the Gita and one teaches the Gita. So we ourselves contemplate.
Then after we contemplate. For contemplating we need to learn. So we hear and then we teach.
So when you do these things, what happens? Modate. The Lord becomes pleased. In fact he becomes so pleased.
Tatra Shri Krishna, he actually manifests over there. And Bhagavan, he is not an ordinary person. He is the Supreme Lord who manifests.
And he doesn't manifest alone. Shri Radhaya Saha. He manifests with Srimati Radharani.
So let's try to recite this verse. Yatra Gita Vicharastha. Yatra Gita Vicharastha.
Yatra Gita Vicharastha. Yatra Gita Vicharastha. Yatra Gita Vicharastha.
Pathanam Pathanam Tatha. Modate Tatra Shri Krishna. Modate Tatra Shri Krishna.
Bhagavan Radhaya Saha. Yatra Gita Vicharastha. Yatra Gita Vicharastha.
Pathanam Pathanam Tatha. Modate Tatra Shri Krishna. Modate Tatra Shri Krishna.
Bhagavan Radhaya Saha. So today we will discuss on Krishna's different moods in the Gita. When a person speaks, sometimes when we look at the expressions, we look at the hand gestures, by that we can understand the mood of the person.
But along with that, even the words that a person uses, those words also convey the mood of a person. For example, if I say, he said, simply he reported, or he said, just an objective reporting. But that same activity can be given 100 different twists by using different words for said.
Instead of I can say, he suggested, he implied, he hinted, he announced, he argued, he shouted, he whispered. So now, this is just a small sample I have given. But the point is, when we want to convey a certain thing, the specific choice of words we use, also conveys our emotions.
So, the Bhagavad Gita is, of course, not just verbal communication, although it is available to us presently as verbal communication. You know, communication is verbal and non-verbal. So, for Arjuna, the non-verbal communication was not just the presence of Krishna in front of him, but also the revolution of the Vishwaroopa in the 11th chapter.
So, there is a significant non-verbal component to the Gita also. But what is available to us right now is the verbal component. Of course, as we become purified, and as we rise to a higher level of consciousness, then we actually perceive the presence of Krishna more and more.
So, even in the available verbal communication that is there, by looking at the words that Krishna uses, and by looking at the commentaries of the Acharyas, about such words, wherever they are available, we can understand what is the mood of Krishna when he is speaking certain things. So, actually, I have made per chapter of the Gita, one, one verse. There are many verses which indicate moods.
Per chapter, I have selected one verse or one section, which indicates a particular mood of Krishna. Of course, we will not be able to go through all the 18 chapters right now, because then I will have to rush through everything. So, I will take maybe 6 or 9 of these, which very significantly illustrate Krishna's mood, not just in terms of, for us to get a better understanding of Krishna and his message, but also for us to appreciate that Krishna is a person.
And, actually, the Bhagavad Gita is a person-to-person conversation. Sometimes, we feel that the Bhagavad Gita is philosophical, and better I can enjoy Bhagavatam and see, see the stories are there over there. The Bhagavad Gita is philosophy.
However, it is essentially philosophy used in the service of devotion. There is the Lord and there is the devotee, and their discussion will naturally be devotional discussion. And if they discuss philosophy, the purpose of that discussion is to conclude in the glory of devotion.
So, it is philosophy used in the service of devotion. Now, I will discuss more about this when we move forward on our discussion. So, I will start with the second chapter, where Krishna exhibits the mood of exhortation.
Exhortation means inspiring someone to do something which is difficult. So, this happens in many ways, but I will focus on one particular example. We know 2.13 is the verse where Krishna categorically says that we are not the body.
And yet, the very next verse after that, so, Dehino Smritade has 2.13, immediately the next verse 2.14, Krishna refers to Arjuna twice using bodily reference. matra sparshastu kaunteya kaunteya If you are not the body, then you are not even the son of your mother. That's what we have Chitraketu's son telling him.
Which mother? Which father? So, yet, Krishna refers to Arjuna as kaunteya. And not only kaunteya, shito shuna sukha dukha daah aagama paayino nityas taam sthiti kshasva bhaarata bhaarata Again, another bodily connection. The dynasty in which one of the most significant members was Bharata, Maharaj.
So, the descendants of that Bharata dynasty. Bhaarata So now, why is it that just after telling you are not the body, Krishna is immediately referring to Arjuna using bodily designations. And it's not just one or two.
Now we can say practically, Oh, actually, we are souls, but we don't know who we are as souls. We don't know our name as souls. That's why we have to use some name for referencing.
But it's not like that. Krishna refers to Arjuna by more than 25 names in the Gita. And out of that, more than 50% of the names are all related with the body.
Majority, more than majority of the names are related with the body. And some of them are very directly bodily. For example, purusha vyagra.
Purusha vyagra, tiger among men. It comes in the 18th chapter. When you hear purusha vyagra, you know, imagine a typical virile male with a moustache moving upwards.
You know, this is such a bodily based name. Purusha vyagra. And there are so many names like that.
Purusha rishabha, best among the humans. That will come in the next verses. Purusham purusha rishabha.
So, immediately after telling that you are not the body, in the next verse, Krishna uses two words, which refer to the body. And immediately next verse, he uses one more word which refers to the body. And this continues throughout.
Why is that? Because, we are not the body. That is a philosophical truth. But at a practical level, we have to live in the body.
And when we have to do something challenging, when we have to do something which is difficult, what inspires us is our sense of honor. Sense of honor means, that yes, for example, we know that I am initiated by my spiritual master. Yes, I am initiated by my spiritual master.
So, people see me as a representative of my spiritual master. Therefore, I must behave in a respectable way. So, now of course, the connection with the spiritual master is spiritual.
But like that, Prabhupada would use even bodily connections. When his American disciples came to India, he said, you know, he wanted them to make a magnificent festival here in Mumbai itself, in 1970 when I think so. He said, what is the use of you being Americans, if you don't do something wonderful.
Now, Prabhupada told them, you are not Americans. Philosophically. But still, from a functional point of view, when they are in this world, people are going to see them as Americans.
And Prabhupada wanted to use their sense of identification to make them do devotional service by which they would go beyond that bodily identification. So, in one sense, at one level we know that we are not the body but the soul. But we can't just reject bodily identity immediately.
What the Bhagavad Gita does is, it uses our bodily identity, our sense of honour that comes from the bodily identity to encourage us to rise to, to follow the path of Dharma by which we can rise to a higher level of, higher consciousness, higher level of reality. So, it says, we don't have to pinch the false ego. Pinch the false ego means, again and again, you are not the body, you are not the body, you are not the body, you are not an Indian, you are not a male, you are not this, you are not that.
Yes, that is true at a philosophical level. But again and again, if we just keep hammering that fact alone without any practical application. See, bhakti, philosophically tells us we are not the body.
But practically, we are engaged. And we are engaged often according to our bodily nature. So, we don't just, we don't pinch the false ego but we don't massage the false ego also.
Oh, you are an Indian, you are so great, you are this, this, this, that. Prabhupada would tell his Indian audience, you are Indians, therefore you should teach the Bhagavad Gita. He would say, Bhagavad Gita is a book that has come from India.
And to teach Bhagavad Gita in India, Prabhupada would say, I have to get people from America. So, he said, why are you not teaching the Bhagavad Gita? So, what is Prabhupada doing? So, Prabhupada is neither pinching the false ego nor massaging the false ego, but he is patting the false ego. Come on, serve Krishna.
You are an Indian, Bhagavad Gita is an Indian book, you should teach Bhagavad Gita. So, similarly, when Krishna, Prabhupada also writes in the 2.14 purport, that why does Krishna use Kaunteya and Bharata? Because, being born in an illustrious dynasty brings responsibility with it. So, like that, philosophically, we are not the body.
Practically, what we work on is with the understanding that we are more than the body. We can't say we are not the body, because eating, sleeping, these are bodily functions which we have to do. But, we are more than the body.
That means, just satisfying the body's needs is not the purpose of our existence. So, we have certain bodily connections, but we use them to inspire ourselves to practice bhakti. So, the Vedic culture is not so much about rejecting the material, but rather, redirecting the material for reclaiming the spiritual.
It's not rejecting the material, we don't reject the body, we don't reject the senses, but rather, it is about redirecting the material for reclaiming the spiritual. We redirect the material, whatever resources we have, and use them in devotional service, and by that we reclaim the spiritual. And that's why we will see this very extraordinary prayer, many times among the Vaishnavas, that generally the senses are considered to be pathways to entanglement.
And, the Jnanis, they are very cautious about the senses. Senses are like snakes, and we are very very cautious about them. But, we see the devotees praying that, we have Rupa Goswami praying, give me a thousand mouths and give me a million ears.
Now, actually the mouth, when materialistic people speak, they only get into bondage more and more. But, a devotee, because the mouth and the ear can be used in service of Krishna, so rather than rejecting the senses, the devotee desires more and more senses. Why? Because they can be used in the service of Krishna.
So, practically, we don't say that we are just not the body, because that can lead to artificial renunciation, which is not sustainable. And, rather we understand, I am more than the body. So, whatever I have to do, I do at the bodily level, basic necessities, but beyond that, also accommodate my, give a central position to my spiritual side.
So, Krishna repeatedly does this exhortation. Exhortation means encouraging in a way by dovetailing whatever the sense of identity that you have. Then, we will move to the third chapter, where Krishna exhibits sensitivity.
So, this is twice, in the third chapter, na buddhi-bhedam janayed ajnanam karma-sanginam joshayet sarva-karmani vidvanyuktah samacharan So, Krishna says, na buddhi-bhedam janayed Don't disturb the intelligence. Bheda, actually means, at one level it can mean, acintya-bheda-abheda, argument, counter-argument. So, bheda is, don't disturb the intelligence of the arguments for people.
ajnanam karma-sanginam Krishna is saying also, yes, they are ignorant, they are attached, but still, don't disturb their minds. What should you do? joshayet sarva-karmani Just dovetail them, engage them appropriately. vidvanyuktah samacharan, vidvanyuktah This is how a wise person will act.
And once more, he says, further, saktah karmanya vidvamso yatha kurvanti bharata kuryad vadvams sathas chikhirsur loka-sangraham So, he says, just as the ignorant act acting, similarly, the wise should act to set an example for others. So, here what Krishna is saying, don't agitate the mind. And actually, here Krishna is demonstrating what he will tell later in the 17th chapter, 16th verse.
anuddvega-karam-vakyam satyam priyahitam chayat svadhaya-bhisanam chaiva vanmayam tapa uchyate So, he says, austerity of speech means, firstly, anuddvega-karam-vakyam anuddvega Don't agitate people's minds. So, now sometimes you may speak the truth and people's mind may get agitated. That is true, but we have to minimize that.
Don't unnecessarily agitate it. So, the example for this is that we know, the standard analogy often we use is for words are like swords, which cut the attachments, which cut the illusions of people. So, they are like a sword or they are like a surgeon's scalpel, which cut.
But, we also have to remember that surgery is not the first treatment any time. Isn't it? Normally, we have some medication, we have some medicines, maybe injection and then after that, surgery. Surgery is never the first treatment.
So, generally, when people come to us, it is not that right from the beginning we have to start smashing their illusion misconceptions. Actually, first of all, there has to be some faith building exercise. That people start appreciating us.
These people know something. They are my well-wishers. So, once there is a faith building, trust building exercise, after that illusions can be countered.
So, now, even when a surgery is to be done, surgery, before doing that, anesthesia is given. After doing that, sedatives are given. So, the whole point of surgery is that yes, some pain may be there, but the pain should be minimized.
And everything should be done by the doctor by which the pain can be minimized. Similarly, when we are to speak about Krishna and often sometimes people's misconceptions have to be challenged and counted. But, we shouldn't take that mandate as a license for hurting others.
Rather, even while preaching, even while sharing Krishna's message, we try to be as sensitive as possible so that whatever hurt people have, that becomes minimized as less as possible. And another important point is, with respect to this metaphor of surgery is that actually, when a patient goes to surgeon, the patient knows that I am sick and patient actually asks the surgeon to do surgery. Most of the time when people come to us, they don't even know that there is anything wrong with them and they have not asked us to do any operation on them.
Therefore, actually speaking, we have to be very sensitive in our presentation. So, Krishna says, don't unnecessarily disturb the minds of others. So, whatever we have to present, present it, present the truth, but present it in a sensitive way.
So, now, if we look at the Bhagavad Gita's flow, there are places where Krishna speaks strongly also. We will see that. Right in the beginning only, first he starts with Ashocchan and Ashocchastu.
You are speaking like a learned person, but you are lamenting for that which is not worthy of lamentation. That is true. But we will see the preconditions before this.
Although it is Arjuna-Krishna's first speech, the first precondition is already Krishna and Arjuna have an affectionate relationship. A relationship based on mutual affection and trust. And not only that, even with that, Krishna doesn't start with chastisement.
In the first chapter and in the second chapter initially, Krishna just gives some mundane pep talk. Why are you giving into such contaminations? Oh, come on, be fine. He just gives a pep talk sort of.
But from 2.678, when Arjuna surrenders, that is like the patient submitting to the surgeon for surgery. And then Ashocchan and Ashocchastu. So, sensitivity is what Krishna exhibits when we look at the third chapter of the Gita.
And now, I will skip a few chapters. We will focus on some important themes. In the sixth chapter, Krishna offers encouragement.
So, the sixth chapter is actually, if you look at the process that is delineated, it is quite daunting. Go out in the forest, become equipoised towards everything. And Arjuna says, this is not possible.
Actually, twice Arjuna raises some concerns about it. So, Krishna starts from 6.1, the progress of Dhyana Yoga. And he continues till 6.32. And in 6.33-34, Arjuna asks one question.
We will see how Krishna answers that in two verses. Again, very encouraging. 35-36.
And then again, for three verses, Arjuna asks a doubt. 37-38-39. That is the longest sequence where Arjuna is expressing a doubt in the Bhagavad Gita.
Arjuna speaks more also. In the tenth chapter also he will speak. But his question will be just one verse.
But here, the length of the question also indicates the gravity of the doubt. Of course, for some people, the length of the question indicates in-clarity of thought. That is also possible.
But, for Arjuna, it is clear that, he is quite clear in what he is saying. So, how does Krishna respond? So, first of course, what Krishna, Arjuna says in 6.33 is, whatever process you are doing, yoyam yogas tvayaproktasamyena madhusudana etasyaham napasyami chanchalatvatsi tensthiram So, he says, samyena, the whole process you are talking about is based on samya, equanimity. And he says, napasyami, I cannot see how is it possible for me.
Because the mind is, chanchalatvatsi tensthiram, it is restless. And this last line, 33, 33d Krishna, Arjuna takes and expands in 34. chanchalam himanah krishna pramathi balla vadhram tasyaham nigraham manye vayorivasu duskaram So, he gives multiple points about how the mind is very difficult to control and he concludes with, that, it is as difficult as the wind, as it is to control the wind.
Now, this harkens back to the second chapter. In 2.68, Krishna uses the example of the vayu to show how the senses can go out of control completely. So, indriyanam hi charatam yanmano anuvidiyate tadasyaharati pragyam vayurnavam imambhasi So, when the wind comes along, the senses actually, if a boat is there in the ocean, and suddenly a great stormy wind comes, the boat becomes helpless.
And the boat just gets swept away by the wind. So, there when Krishna is speaking, Krishna is speaking about a storm that has an outer origin. That when we are living in the world, indriyanam hi charatam, the senses are going here and there, looking for something to munch on.
And then, suddenly, instead of getting something to devour, the senses get devoured. You know, such a big, dangerous simula comes up that we get swept away. So, that is the power of the wind.
Here, Krishna, Arjuna is saying that, okay, vayu, don't think that the vayu comes only from outside. You know, we see that we get agitated in two ways. One is that, sometimes we see certain simula externally that agitates us.
And sometimes, there is this internal memory that comes up out of nowhere. Suddenly, some nasty thoughts, nasty desires start coming up and they start agitating us. So, where are they coming from? They are coming from the subconscious mind.
So, Krishna is telling, Arjuna is saying over here, that just from within only, without the external provocation, the mind can drive me mad. And how it can drive mad? Vayu reva sudhushkaram. So, just as you yourself said that when the wind comes as a spate, as a storm, it's very difficult to control.
So, even if I go to the forest, where there are no external sense objects to agitate me, but still the mind will be stormy. What should I do? And how does Krishna respond? First thing he says is, So, he says, Undoubtedly, Arjuna. There is no doubt.
Oh Arjuna, you are very powerful. You have very strong arms. You are very strong, but still even for you.
Controlling the mind is very difficult. One of the first things that is required for effective counselling is empathy. Sometimes, some person may have a problem and may feel that that's a big problem.
Why are you so worked up about it? But you know, for people, their feelings are facts for them. It may just be a feeling, but for them it is a fact. And we don't have to acknowledge that it is a fact.
But we have to acknowledge it is gravity. And when the patient comes with some problem, which may be serious also, which may actually not be a very serious problem. There are some people who are hypochondriacs.
They imagine that they are sick so that they will get attention from others. Now, actually speaking, they are coming for attention. So the doctor has to give the treatment.
Sometimes in hypochondriacs, the best way to cure them is just give them some sugar pills and tell them it is medicine. So, this is called placebo effect. In medicine, it works quite often.
But the point is that if the doctor just tells the patient, you are a hypochondriac, the patient will say, get lost, go to some other doctor. Basically, the patient wants attention. Therefore, the point is, in the case of Arjuna, Arjuna is not just pretending.
Controlling the mind is very difficult. From Krishna's point of view, Krishna is omnipotent. For him, nothing is difficult.
But Krishna is not speaking from his perspective. Krishna is coming down to Arjuna's level and saying, yes, Asamshaya Mahabaho. It's very difficult for him.
So, for us, we have given meditating, we have given up many of the undesirable habits. Somebody may say, may start chanting and say, I just can't give up tea. And then somebody says, tea, what is so insignificant tea? We just start chastising and minimizing the problem and it doesn't go away quite often.
For that person at that level, the problem is serious. And Krishna doesn't just leave it at that. He says, oh yes, it's very difficult.
Therefore, do whatever you want. No. He says, this is a process.
Abhyasenat Kaunteya, Vairagyena Chakrayate. So, that means, Abhyas. Abhyas, in our normal Hindi-Marathi, it means study.
But in Sanskrit, Abhyas means practice. Repeatedly doing something. So, that means, keep trying to control the mind and Vairagya.
The Vairagya has two aspects over here. Vairagya at one level means that whatever the mind is attached to, whatever the mind goes towards, we are detached from that. But another level, Vairagya also means that if the mind goes away, then we don't become too disheartened by our inability to control the mind.
We, okay, even if it doesn't happen, I'll keep trying. You know, in the 11th Canto, in the Uddhava Gita, Krishna says that my devotee doesn't become discouraged even if the devotee fails to control the senses. So, the point is, we should always remain hopeful devotees of Krishna.
We shouldn't become frustrated devotees of renunciation. Frustrated devotees of renunciation means we make renunciation the supreme virtue and then we cannot become, we are not able to renounce something and we become completely discouraged. We think I am good for nothing.
Now, even if we are not able to control the mind constantly, we see that the mind is not that it's agitating us 24 hours a day. There may be some agitation, some disturbance, like a background noise. But the strong agitation of the mind comes in spikes.
Now, sometimes it just becomes very forcefully agitating. So, at that time, Vairagya means even if we are not able to control the mind, even if something wrong happens, you know, what defines us as devotees is not how we fall, but how we rise. We will all fall.
But, okay, there are spikes in which the mind makes me agitated. But what do I do between the spikes? If at that time I am taking, I am practicing Krishna consciousness seriously, then gradually that will be purifying and curing the mind. And then, so the spikes will come and Vairagya.
Okay, I can't do anything. It just forces me to do something. But after the spikes go, what do I do after that? If I stay discouraged even after that, then it will never go away.
But, after that, again I start practicing bhakti enthusiastically. Then gradually, those spikes will become smaller and smaller and smaller. They will become smaller in amplitude and they will become lesser in frequency.
And gradually, as Krishna says, what will happen is, Prashanta manasam yenam, yoginam sukham uttamam, prashanta manasam yenam. And the mind will become peaceful. Actually, when the mind becomes peaceful, bhakti becomes joyful.
For us, bhakti is always joyful. Sukham, kartum ho gaye. But for us, when the mind is constantly agitating us, we don't experience the joyfulness of bhakti because much of our energy goes in battling with the mind.
But to the extent the mind becomes peaceful, bhakti will become joyful. And the way the mind will become peaceful is, Krishna says, in the same section, 6.27-28, yunjan evam sadat manam, yogi vigat kalmashaha, yunjan evam, keep practicing, abhyasenat kaunteya, vairagyena chigrohyate. So here, Krishna reassures Arjuna, yes, the problem is difficult, the mind is difficult to control, but you can control it.
So encouragement means what? We acknowledge the seriousness of the problem, but then we also emphasize the way to solve the problem. Now after this, Krishna spoke one more verse, and then Arjuna asks another question. He says, okay, you may say, I will keep practicing throughout my life, but what if I am not able to attain perfection? What if I get deviated? ayatahishraddhahopeto yogachalitamanasahaprapayogasamsiddhim kamgatim krishnagacchati so 37 years, what will happen if somebody starts practicing yati, yati means one who renounces but then ayatahe, one is not able to renounce anymore.
yogachalitamanasah again, the connection is mind, manasaha, so earlier Arjuna has said chanchalamana and now he says chalitamanasaha, because the mind is restless, so the mind goes away, goes away from the path of transcendence. So first Krishna, Arjuna makes this general point, that what will happen, what will be the kamgatim krishnagacchati, so first he says that what will happen to somebody who deviates and then he says, he gives an example further to illustrate, kachinnobhaya vibhrastas chinnabhramim nasyati apratishtho mahabaho mudho brahmanapati again Arjuna is continuing the metaphor of the wind and he says, if there is a cloud, there are two groups of clouds which are flying, which are moving, now clouds move under the influence of the wind. He says if one cloud leaves one path or one small fragment of a cloud leaves one constellation of clouds and tries to go to another constellation and there suddenly the wind comes the same vayoriva sudushkaram but here Krishna has, Arjuna has developed the metaphor and he says the wind comes suddenly, this small part of a cloud, it has come out of here but before it reaches the other group of clouds it just gets swept away so Krishna, Arjuna is using this that one group of clouds is people who are materialistic and the other group of clouds is those who are spiritualists so if somebody leaves the path of materialism and comes to spirituality but then the person is not able to control the senses and just gets swept away so now you have given up material life but you are not able to come to spiritual life also so what will happen and then further Arjuna goes on and says etanme samshayam krishna chittumarhasya sheshataha so you know, along with the doubt expressing doubt Arjuna also expresses faith padanya samshayasyasya chitta nahi upapadyate he says, apart from you there is no one else who can resolve that doubt, that means you can resolve this doubt so Arjuna although he is expressing a very serious problem, he is not hopeless, he has hope that Krishna will solve that problem so material life can make us see, life in this material world will make everyone frustrated but for materialist the frustration is sometimes just completely hopeless now for example if somebody gets a terminal disease now you may say think positive but what is there to think of positive, I am going to die and everything is going to be finished over there isn't it so now if somebody suddenly gets a terminal disease frustration is there for anyone, even for a devotee devotee may also have so many plans to serve Krishna, so many things to do so frustration will be there but whereas for a materialist because there is no knowledge of any life beyond matter, beyond the body so it's a hopeless frustration whereas for a devotee also there is frustration but a devotee is never hopelessly frustrated, that means frustration because one particular plan doesn't work but a devotee, ok I wanted to travel, I wanted to distribute books I wanted to do this, I wanted to do that, I can't do that but still I can just absorb myself in hearing about Krishna and remembering Krishna, that is always possible, so material life can sometimes put us in a situation where we can become hopelessly frustrated but in devotional life, we can never become hopelessly frustrated we may be frustrated specific plans of serving Krishna may be frustrated but the broad plan of serving Krishna, that will never be frustrated, we can always find out some way or the other by which we can serve Krishna and that is the mood of Gange Bhaughamu Dhanvati Gange Kunti Maharani says that Gange Bhaughamu, that is Ganga moves towards the ocean, so like that let my consciousness move towards you so so there is a big rock in between, where river is flowing and the river will go left river will go right, river will go below river will go above or the river will just erode the rock and go through it so somehow the river will keep moving towards ocean, so similarly for a devotee whatever be the situation, the devotee can keep practicing bhakti specific forms of bhakti may not be possible, but the principle of devotion is always possible but of course to practice devotion we also have to cultivate attraction to Krishna so when we have a healthy body we have congenial circumstances we do whatever bhakti we can dynamically and develop attraction to Krishna and then whenever that is not there, then we can continue practicing bhakti internally also or with other forms so the point is what Krishna tells over here to Arjuna if you see his response is that partha naivehana mutra, vinashas tasya vidyate, nahi kalyana krita kashit, durgatem tatha gacchate so such a reassuring actually here the encouragement that Krishna is offering is through reassurance so he says partha naivehana mutra that neither in this world nor in the next world vinashas tasya vidyate there will be no vinashas so first Krishna clarifies Arjuna's point for the cloud which has gone from here and not reached there, the cloud is lost Krishna is saying no, vinashas tasya na vinashas and then nahi kalyana krita kashit one who is taking the path of auspiciousness kalyana krita so that person durgatem tatha gacchate there will never be durgati for such a person tatha, here the word tatha is a very affectionate form of address so he says I care for you Arjuna we will talk about this affection of Krishna for Arjuna a little later but his tatha, very affectionate form of reassurance he is giving and he is saying there will be no destruction, actually we will see the next verses, Krishna completely reverses Arjuna's argument, Arjuna is saying that I will lose in material life because I have left material things and I will lose in spiritual life because I will not attain the spiritual perfection but Krishna in the next series of verses 41, 42, 43 will tell you will get both you will gain materially and you will get spiritually also so how, he says for the yogi who is deviated because of some material desire, that yogi will get heaven and whatever desires one wanted to enjoy, one will enjoy abundantly, praapte punyakrtan lokan ushitva shashvatisama for a long time you will be able to enjoy and then after that purvabdhya senate naivaryate vashobis again you start practicing, so Krishna gives a very strong factual counter to Arjuna's apprehension that no, you will not be lost in this world also or in that world also, but before going into facts, Krishna gives emotional reassurance first don't worry, you will not be destroyed how you will not be destroyed, I will explain so on the spiritual path, encouragement is what we all need because ultimately there are difficulties in material life also and in spiritual life also but in material life, we need encouragement in material life also, we need encouragement in spiritual life also in material life also, if a student is finding it difficult in studying or job is very difficult or whatever there are so many situations where we may get discouraged but to some extent material life, when we are in the material world, is to some extent obligatory, a person may get discouraged but I have to have a job you know, I have to earn so I have to live, I have to have some food, so people will keep doing material activities for the body maintenance but if somebody becomes discouraged spiritually, then what happens is that at our level of consciousness, spiritual life doesn't feel mandatory, ok if I can do it, I will do it, if I don't do it, ok leave it so that's why for spiritual life actually we need much more encouragement, in fact encouragement is a primary spur for going on in spiritual life, for many people, yes ideally speaking we should be the pure devotees are attracted to Krishna that's why they practice spiritual life, sadhakas we should have philosophical intelligence and because of that we should practice spiritual life but along with that, we need encouragement from others, so giving encouragement as Krishna gives encouragement is actually one of the most valuable services that we can do in the devotee community all of us will get discouraged sometime or the other and we all if we encourage each other mutually then we can all keep marching ahead in our spiritual life so now this is encouragement, I will move on to the 9th chapter now in the 9th chapter Krishna exhibits many things, 9th chapter is one of the most beautiful chapters which describes the glories of bhakti so when he is describing the glories of bhakti he I will focus on 9.32, actually Krishna describes the glory of bhakti in 5 ways over there, first is he he talks about the eternality of the result, that is 9.22 ananya shinta yantoma contrasted with 9.2021 that is tetam bhuktva sargalokam vishalam so he says the glory of bhakti is it will give eternal results then second he says is the simplicity of bhakti, patram pushpam phalam toyam, anybody can practice bhakti, you don't need any big big paraphernalia you don't have to do any yajnas it is eternal in giving result, it is simple in practicing and then it is inclusive in scope, Krishna says it is not that bhakti means you have to do only devotional activities chanting Hare Krishna he says whatever you do yad karoshiyat asanasiyat jihoshiyat dasiyat tat kurushvamadharpanam means it is inclusive in scope even the activity that you are doing in material life you do them in a mood of devotion and that will become included in the scope of devotion and then he said the fourth glory he talks about is that bhakti can be practiced bhakti overpowers sin so that means even if somebody is sinful still that person will be reclaimed by bhakti even if somebody is sinful so bhakti accommodates even our fall downs, accommodates means not that we stay fallen but even if we are fallen we can still keep practicing bhakti and Krishna will consider us sin so then so I will focus on the fifth glory which Krishna talks about that is, so Vishwanath Chakrathakur explains that this apichet sudhrach or 9.30 and 31 refers to incidental falls and 9.32, 33 refers to inherent falls so incidental falls means while we are living we make some mistakes it is incidental, some provocation comes along and we do some sinful activity such as that incidental sins can also be overcome by the process of bhakti because bhakti will overpower it eventually but then 32 talks about inherent sins, inherent sins means that all of us have been given, all of us have different kinds of bodies so now the body that we have is actually determined by our own past karma so our past karma when it determines our body then certain people may be born in poor family, certain people may be born say in some materially deprived circumstances and we know that is because of past karma so now in traditional vedic culture actually the vedic rituals for example doing yajna, those are meant to be done by those who are themselves pure, so for example brahman diksha, gayatri mantra is not chanted by everyone, so like that certain vedic practices are reserved for those who are pure but Krishna talks about the universality of bhakti in 32 and 33, so he says mam hi partha vyapashritya ye pisyu paapa yona yaha sthriyo vaisya satha ashudras te piyanti param gatim so he says those who take shelter of me, actually Krishna is in one sense in this verse describing the bhakti elevator which goes down to the lowest level and which rises to the highest level also, goes down to the lowest level means he says ye pisyu paapa yona yaha even if people are sinful even if that means from their past life's karma they have got a sinful birth now still te piyanti param gatim, Krishna is not just saying they can practice bhakti he says they can attain the supreme destination also, they can attain the supreme destination also so now here like to emphasize one point of the difference between what scripture states and what scripture teaches no, what is present we shouldn't mistake what is in scripture with what is the teaching of scripture what is the difference I'll give a simple example first then I'll come to 9.32 say in the 7th canto when Hiranyakashipu appeases Brahmaji at that time when Brahma appears and Hiranyakashipu starts offering prayers, so there it is as if Hiranyakashipu is glorifying Brahma as the supreme one that he says you are the source of Brahma and you are the lord of the three modes, now everything that applies to Vishnu alone he is applying to Brahma so now what is this now we have to understand ok the statements are present in scripture but that is not the teaching of scripture Hiranyakashipu is not a Vaishnavacharya giving a siddhanta you know he is simply flattering Brahma to get some benediction so that statement is present in scripture but that is not the teaching of scripture so we have to see the context something may be present in scripture but it may not be the teaching of scripture so this is a very obvious statement if a demon is speaking demon is not going to speak necessarily dharmic siddhanta but this difference between what scripture states and what scripture teaches can happen even in subtle ways so for example here now there are some people who say especially some feminists, they say that Bhagavad Gita is an anti-women book because it says that women are papayonayah women are of sinful birth now factually speaking I actually did a study of around 18 previous acharyas, commentaries on this verse so around I have put a list also there on my site with the answer in detail but the simple point here is that there is like a split more than 50% of the acharyas consider papayonayah to be a fourth category see papayonayah, striyo, vaisya, shudra the way the translation is there in Bhagavad Gita as it is it is those who have sinful birth such as women, shudras and vaisyas so papayonayah is like a common describer for striyo, vaisya, shudra now that is what Prabhupada gives in his translation over there and that is what Ramanujacharya and Shankaracharya gave but Baldevidya Bhushan, Vishwanath Chakrithakur Keshav Kashmiri Vedanta Deshika most of the other commentators they refer to papayonayah as a separate category and in one sense that is logical why? even Prabhupada hints towards that actually there are several lectures of Prabhupada where Prabhupada says women are not papayonayah papayonayah generally refers to those who are outside varanashram that is a general reference and Prabhupada also quotes in the purport Vishwanath Chakrithakur also quotes the verse from the Bhagavatam so that all those people who are outcasts, they can also be delivered by the process of bhakti so these outcasts are referred to by papayonayah now of course Abhinav Gupta is a Kashmiri is a Kashmiri commentator he says that papayonayah refers to non-human species also that the process of bhakti is so potent that even non-human beings, they hear the holy name they will be delivered so papayonayah now it can, Prabhupada actually although he gives one translation here he also gives the other point he says women are not papayonayah those who are papayonayah, those are outside varanashram sometimes shudras are considered to be papayonayah but vaisyas are definitely not considered to be papayonayah vaisyas are actually, they are also dvijas they also get the second initiation so in that sense to use papayonayah as a generic describer for vaisyas, shudras and striyas, that is inappropriate because vaisyas are definitely not papayonayah, generally speaking and Prabhupada has taken as I said both positions so when that happens, then we have to understand that both points are valid depending on context but either way the point which I am making over here is papayonayah, if we can take it as a separate category or we can take it as a generic describer but either way, the Bhagavad Gita's emphasis is not that somebody is a papayonayah this verse emphasis is that even if you are considered a papayonayah still you can be delivered still you can be delivered so to say that the Bhagavad Gita is an anti-women book it's a complete misunderstanding of the mood of the verse the mood of the verse is inclusiveness that in many traditional Vedic practices women were not allowed to practice but the Bhagavad Gita is saying bhakti is such an inclusive process that everybody can practice it so what scripture states and what scripture teaches so the statement is there are papayonayah sriya, vaisya, shudra, they are traditionally considered under qualified but Krishna says the teaching of the Bhagavad Gita is what? even they can attain the supreme destination so the emphasis of the Gita is not on labeling somebody as low born the emphasis of the Bhagavad Gita is on liberating people from all labels offering a path that will liberate people from all labels now one time I was giving a class to some college students I was speaking on the process of karma sorry I was speaking on the point of karma so one boy asked an anonymous question he said that you know you say that whatever happens to us is because of our past papa whatever sin you have done that's what comes to us you are lame that means you must have done some past sins because of which you have got this so then what right do you have to teach us if you yourself are sinful so then I told him yes there is no doubt that I am sinful but the path of bhakti is so, Krishna is so merciful bhakti is so inclusive that even a sinful person like me can share Krishna's message, since you are not sinful like me if you take up Krishna's message you will be able to share it much better so the point is there is a scriptural statement it might be there but we have to understand the context so Krishna is not saying papa yo naya to label anywhere over here, he is emphasizing the inclusiveness of bhakti, the inclusiveness everybody can practice and then again Krishna emphasizes that in next verse oh Arjuna you are not papa yo naya you are actually a Rajarishi therefore he says if bhakti is so inclusive that even those who are sinful can be elevated to supreme destination then you have a virtuous birth Arjuna, why should you not be elevated, you will definitely be elevated so it is like saying sometimes there is some terrible disease somebody gets a dengue or some disease, now it is in a very advanced stage and then if some very potent medicine is there, even if somebody is on the verge of death, if that medicine can cure that disease, then if somebody just got a preliminary infection then definitely that person can be cured, so like that Krishna is encouraging Arjuna even those who are papa yo naya they can be elevated, then you are punya, you are not papa yo naya, you are virtuously born you can definitely be elevated, so don't be discouraged practice bhakti enthusiastically now we will go to the 10th chapter where we will see appreciation so Krishna delightfully appreciates Arjuna so in the 10th chapter the chatushloki bhagavad gita comes up 10.8 to 11 then after that Arjuna speaks and Arjuna accepts Krishna's supremacy so Arjuna's speech is 10.12, 13, 14, 15 it goes on and there Arjuna makes one request now this is, there are many significant points in this, first Krishna says that Krishna has said in 10.2 that that even the devatas can't know me now at one level this statement might seem very egoistic nobody knows who I am and now Krishna may seem to be just like an ordinary mortal over here and he says the gods don't know me now if you see when Krishna had made a statement like this earlier in the 4th chapter, Arjuna objected in the 4th chapter Krishna says I gave this knowledge to Vivasvan and immediately Krishna Arjuna objected, he says so in 4.4 he stated how, how could you have given the knowledge to sun god because sun god is much older to you so there when Krishna talks about his position with respect to the gods, Arjuna objects now here Krishna makes a similar statement devatas don't know me but here Arjuna doesn't object and what does Arjuna say 12, 13 if you go to 14th verse 10.14 he says so he says whatever you have said, I accept it it is not exaggeration, you are not just boasting saying that the gods don't know me you are the supreme person, you are not known that even the gods don't know you now at this point there are often impersonalists and other transcendentalists who often say that the absolute truth is unknowable we cannot use words to describe the absolute truth in the abrahamic religions there is not much positive knowledge about god and they talk about two kinds of theology, it's a little technical catopathic and anapathic, I won't go into the terminology over here, but they say we can describe god by negation and we can describe god by affirmation negation means what god is not and affirmation is what god is, so now generally christian theologians say that the affirmative description of god is not possible for us, because god is transcendental and we are material and that's why they are often against depictions of the god as deities and they say it's not possible only to do that to describe god now god is infinite, there is no doubt about that, but now when we see infinity infinity means everything isn't it so now we have the word conceivable and inconceivable conceivable means that which can be conceived by the mind, thought of by the mind inconceivable means that which cannot be comprehended by the mind so similarly there is a word effable and ineffable effable means that which can be expressed in words and ineffable means that which cannot be expressed in words so certain religious people say that god is so great that his glories are ineffable, that they cannot be described in words now here we see Krishna Arjuna acknowledges the greatness of Krishna and then he also says he says even the gods can't know you that means obviously I can't also know you then who can know you, in 15th verse he says only you can know you my dear lord, no one else can know you so now yet after saying that even the gods can't know you, obviously I can't know you and only you know yourself, what happens, Arjuna doesn't stop, ok we can't know you so what is the use of talking about you no he says speak in detail speak your glories in detail because they are so relishable that I want to keep relishing them more and more and more so it's interesting the conclusion yes you cannot be known but I want to know you, why because there is a fundamental difference between material knowledge and spiritual knowledge many differences but in our context you know material knowledge as Francis Bacon said knowledge is power, so often in material life knowledge in and of itself is not of much use just like somebody like nowadays there is many fields for example many airlines have closed down so people who are trained as pilots they are not getting jobs, 3, 4, 5, 6 years they are not getting jobs, so now you have the knowledge of how to run a plane but you don't have a job only all that knowledge is useless so in material life knowledge is a end to something knowledge is a tool for doing something else, that's the general understanding not all but quite often so knowledge means say as Francis Bacon, knowledge is power, so through knowledge we control so if I have knowledge and if I am not able to control anything then what is the use of knowledge people think so when we apply this notion on knowledge about Krishna there is a mistake we will never be able to know Krishna in such a way that we can control him we cannot exhaust the knowledge of Krishna, we cannot say that I know everything about Krishna but the purpose of knowing Krishna is knowing Krishna in itself just knowing Krishna is relishable knowing Krishna doesn't have to be a means to some other end because knowing Krishna and loving Krishna are actually one and the same thing, we know Krishna will actually love him so the point is that when Krishna is Arjuna is saying that Krishna we cannot know you but still I want to know about you why? because in hearing about you I will keep relishing I will keep relishing so and now Krishna also appreciates Arjuna, Krishna doesn't say just now you said you cannot know me then why do you want to know me I am inconceivable no he says Krishna is expressing happiness yes I am very happy you asked this question I will speak divine opulences sorry not there are many verses where he describes this but he says this divine opulences I will speak primary among them so there is no end to my glories so what does it mean I was speaking about how if we truly want to say that God is glorious then if God is infinite so infinity if we restrict infinity to ineffability then we are making infinite finite if it is confusing I will explain this now God's glories are so infinite that we can't understand them we can't speak them in words that is the argument then we are saying that God's glories are beyond words to say something is beyond words is also to limit that thing isn't it imagine a circle so there is a small sector of it which is effable which can be expressed in words and there is a big part of it which is ineffable which cannot be expressed in words if we say God's glories are ineffable cannot be expressed in words then we are saying God's glories are here but they are not here so to say we may say that God is so great that he is beyond words but this is not a glorification of God this is a minimization of God because we are saying that God is beyond words that means God is not in words so the real understanding of God's glories is that he is both effable and ineffable we speak him in words but words don't exhaust his glories words can never fully describe him and this is the precise argument that Baldev Vidyabhushan uses in Govinda Bhashya to counter the standard Mayavadi argument about this so he says he said that actually even if we say Brahman is Satchitananda Anandmaya Brahma or even that is a word used to describe it so actually even to say that Brahman is not describable by words we have to use words isn't it so and the Vedas do use words to describe God so Krishna when he hears Arjuna's desire please speak more Krishna appreciates that so yes this is a good desire, the desire to know more and more about Krishna is very good because that will make us more attracted to Krishna, that will purify us that will liberate us and then that will take us back to him eternally so now I will go to the 11th chapter 11th chapter is the most dramatic chapter in the Gita and there are many moods Krishna exhibits, I will focus on one mood, teasing teasing Krishna teases Arjuna where is that? that happens towards the end the 11th chapter now 11th chapter begins with Arjuna's request please show me the universal form now actually the universal form is described thrice in the Gita how is it thrice? the first four verses of the 11th chapter are Arjuna's request and then from the 5th verse onwards actually the vision that Krishna is going to give it is so extraordinary that Arjuna may not be able to make sense of it only, therefore before giving that vision Krishna describes it so verses 5 to 8 Krishna describes to Arjuna what you are going to see so this often happens if people are blind, there are two kinds of blindnesses, there is congenital blindness and there is adventitious blindness congenital means somebody is born blind adventitious means somebody becomes blind after having had eyes for some time, so if somebody is born blind, that person just can't make sense of anything even if by surgery somebody gets eyes because there is nothing to connect what one is seeing with, so there are recorded videos and records, say for example somebody is a blacksmith, uses tools all the time, blind blacksmith now by feeling the blacksmith may use a knife, may use a hammer, may use prongs so this blacksmith, there is a video I saw that this blacksmith, his eyes are given and then that same hammer which he uses regularly is placed in front of him he just can't make sense of it so he reports, I can just see some patterns of dark and white without making any sense of them, so he is just looking at the looking at the knife, looking at that can't make any sense, but then as soon as he touches it immediately he starts using it so what happens is the point which I am making here is if we see something if there is no reference point to connect it with it makes no sense so that's why congenital blindness, just by giving eyes one doesn't start seeing along with giving eyes one has to provide education and then gradually one makes the connection between what one is seeing and what one actually is meant to understand by seeing so similarly the vishwaroopa that Arjuna is going to see is so extraordinary that Arjuna may not be able to make sense of it only so first four verses from 5 to 8 Krishna describes that vishwaroopa and then he says I will give you the eyes and then after that there is a second description of vishwaroopa from verses 9 to 13 that is now the Goita is a conversation between Krishna and Arjuna so Krishna and Arjuna are on the same chariot and then Krishna reveals so before revealing he describes now after that the narrative moves a step backwards and then there is a description Sanjay Vach so there are many times Sanjay speaks over here but the point is Mahayogeshwarohari Krishna is Mahayogeshwar and then Sanjay describes to Sitarashtra what is the vishwaroopa that is from verses 9 to 13 and there is a Divisurya Sahasrasya it's as if a thousand suns have risen simultaneously and then after that from the 14-15th verses onwards Arjuna starts speaking then this is Arjuna's description of the vishwaroopa so this is the third level of description first Krishna's self description then Sanjay's description of the vision and then Arjuna's description of what I am seeing and then Arjuna's description actually progresses through many stages, first he says I am seeing the whole universe I see the devatas in the heavenly planets I see Brahma, he is at the top most and the serpents are there in the lower part so I see the whole scope of the universe and this description generic description of the universe goes on till the 20th verse and till this point it's more or less an objective description you know like somebody might be we might go to some art gallery and we may see some picture and what are you seeing you tell me or say if you are watching a TV program and somebody else says cooking in the kitchen, what are you watching you tell me so this is an objective description but then this description actually starts becoming scary so then from the 20th verse onwards it begins but then he describes how everybody in the universe is scared by this and he says he says Bheeta, the devatas are all scared and they are actually entering into your mouth and the sages they are not scared but they are also apprehensive swasti swasti shanti shanti shanti shanti so first he describes the vishwaroopa, then he describes the reaction to the perception of the vishwaroopa by various people and actually it's turning out to be quite a horrifying sight first he is not able to see anything durniriksham samantaat, I can't see anything but then afterwards when he starts seeing he starts, actually it's a very scary sight, so he says he says I am seeing this this is such a huge form and it's a ugra form I am scared by this now it takes a lot for a warrior to get scared but he starts getting scared and now just the form itself he says I am seeing very ghastly teeth protruding out there is a fire of destruction coming out of it and what is happening therefore I am becoming very agitated now here to explain this simply you know suppose somebody is surfing some TV, see what is the program going on and suddenly some program catches interest so you start watching it and then you start watching the program and you find it's a horror movie initially it seems interesting but when it is a horror movie then you start getting scared but then what happens is suppose in the horror movie there is some creature like terminator or whatever, some shape changer it is destroying everything that itself is scary but suddenly then in the TV you start seeing that the terminator is destroying your own house only that will become even more scary so first Krishna sees that Arjuna sees the Vishwaroopa that is 15-20 is describing 21-25 is describing how actually everyone in the universe is scared by it but then he starts seeing that universal form is destroying everyone in this battlefield only so he says therefore Vishwam Chidronam Chaiyad Vishwam Vishwam Chidron Karanam, all of them are going into your mouth and then Damstra Karalani Bhayana Kani Ke Chid Bilagna Dashanantareshu Sandrushante Churnite Ruttamangai so he says they are all going into your mouth and all these warriors Sahasrma Deeyai Rabiyo Dhamukhe and they are all getting destroyed so now this is too close to home for comfort you know ok a bomb explodes somewhere in Kashmir, ok nothing but a bomb explodes in Bombay, it is too much so for Arjuna it is like that ok the Vishwaroopa, the Devatas are scared but here everybody on the battlefield is only getting destroyed so Arjuna becomes even more agitated by that and actually it is a very scary description so he says that when all the various warriors are entering into the mouth they are Churnite Ruttamangai they are smashing against the teeth of the Vishwaroopa and the head is getting smashed and then blood is going all around and on top of that the Vishwaroopa drinking the blood licking the blood that is sprinkling around so we wonder what is this, what is actually being depicted by this see there is the understanding that God is good but all religions face this problem how do we reconcile the goodness of God with the evil and misery of this world so the different religions have different strategies by which they try to reconcile some religions have the idea of some competitor to God called Satan and they say that this world actually God is not in control of this world Satan is in control of this world and that is why there are so many sufferings in this world so there are different religions who have different strategies to try to counter this but basically these religions try to separate the badness of this world from the goodness of God in order to preserve his goodness if the world is bad then how can God be good if he is also the cause of the badness of this world so they try to separate that now what the Bhagavad Gita or the Bhagavatam describe is that what we call as the evil and misery of this world that is also included within God when we say God transcends dualities so that means that there is good and there is bad, they are both real at one level but in God both bad and good are good so we see the similar description of something very ghastly in the form of Narasimhadev that is described in the 7th canto, there also here actually Vishwaroop is simply licking but there actually is described Narasimhadev is a snake and sorry not a snake but a lion and his tongue is coming out like a sword whirling around so that is even more but then what happens what does Prahlad say, he says I am not fearful of this, I am not fearful, why? because when something is present in God it is always good so we, the Vedic philosophy preserve the goodness of God not by denying the badness of the world but by pointing out that God can convert the bad also into the good so what does the destructiveness of the Vishwaroop demonstrate it demonstrates that actually God is also the destroyer but he destroys the temporary to make way for the eternal the point is not just destruction God is the destroyer, he destroys the temporary to make way for the eternal so now Arjuna asks at this point who are you? and then Krishna says that time I am, Kala because here there is no two handed form of Krishna seen over here that's why he is asking who are you so he says I am Kala and then he gives Arjuna instruction, fight and then now Arjuna comes to his senses, oh this is God he starts offering prayers from 36 to 46 he is offering prayers but now at this point as I said going back to the metaphor you know you are watching a horror movie and then you watch the horror movie and the horror movie is destroying your own house, you get very scared of it just try to change the channel change the channel and find the remote controller got stuck so what happens is that Arjuna he say, he concludes his prayers by saying that I have seen this form, now please I don't want to see this form, please show me your four handed form, now I want to see, I wanted to see your greatness this is actually a very scary form of greatness, I would like to see your four handed form and then come back to your normal form so he says that in the 46th verse, 45th-46th verse he requests that please show your two handed form, before that he asks for forgiveness you know I offended you, I thought of you just like my equal, please forgive me now at this point when Krishna, Arjuna makes this request so earlier when Arjuna had made this request in the 4th verse can I see your Vishwaroopa Krishna doesn't say yes or no, immediately starts describing what Vishwaroopa is going to be there and he starts revealing Vishwaroopa but here, here what Krishna does is, he rather than responding to Arjuna's request, he actually teases Arjuna, he says this Vishwaroopa is so rare, why don't you want to see it he says you only desire to see it maya prasannena tava arjunedam roopam param darshitam atma yogat, he says you asked it and I revealed it and it is extraordinarily firm just see it, and then further he says na veda yajna dhaya nahi na dha nahi, he says that actually by study of Vedas, by script, by austerity, by none of these you can see this form, so he gives him four reasons to continue seeing the form he says you only requested it it is a very special form it cannot be seen, na veda yajna dhaya nahi you cannot see by any of these means, and further adrishta purvam he says, apart from you nobody has seen it, so it is so rare therefore see it, and then Arjuna says no, no, no, I don't want to see it and then when Krishna sees that, Krishna stops his teasing he says, ma tevyatha ma chavi mudha bhavo, he says ma tevyatha, Arjuna, do not be fearful do not be anxious you have seen this form, roopam ghoram, you have seen this we are agitated, but become peaceful I will show you my saunya roopa so sometimes our desires can be very dangerous for us so Arjuna asks something and then he realizes, I don't want this so Krishna just teases Arjuna a little bit but then he accommodates now because there are now 6 more chapters I won't go into all of them, let's go directly to the 18th chapter now now the 18th chapter actually, although the initial part is philosophical, where Krishna talks about how sankhya can be used to come to bhakti, but the last part is very sweetly devotional so I will focus from 63 to 78, no not 74 I won't go to 74 to 78 where it is Sanjay speaking, we will go from 63 to 73 as quickly as possible to see, so this last part where Krishna is moved, so the talk word is affection and compassion so affection and compassion now in 62, 18.62 Krishna says that he surrendered to the super soul 18.61 is the famous verse ishvara sarva bhutana, 18.62 is in 63 he says that now I have completed my message now deliberate deeply and decide what you want to do now Arjuna gets lost in thought thinking what should I do now spoken this in 3rd chapter, that in the 5th chapter, that in the 7th chapter, what should I do and seeing Arjuna so pensive the compassion of Krishna's heart overflows and he says oh Arjuna, you don't have to worry about all this I will tell you what to do and so he has previously said, I have given you knowledge more confidential than what I had given earlier but now he says most confidential knowledge, superlative good, better, best so he says this guhya knowledge is secret knowledge, confidential knowledge guhyatara is more confidential, guhyatama is most confidential, I will give you the most confidential knowledge and significantly he says sarva guhyatama bhuya bhuya is again again I will give it to you, we will talk about why it is saying again, but so emphasizing the same point he says that this is most confidential knowledge and it is the highest knowledge paramam vachaha and so for example a doctor may give a prescription and while giving the prescription the doctor may say many things, but then he says this is most important even if you miss any medicines you should not miss this medicine this you have to take, when doctor gives prescription we can say everything is important, but while the doctor is giving prescription or while the doctor is talking with the patient, the doctor may describe the disease, may describe possible future complications may describe many things, now if the patient forgets all that it doesn't matter, what the patient needs to remember is, what I have to do so similarly Krishna is emphasizing, this is most confidential this is most, this is most important paramam vachaha and then further he says ishto sime drudhamiti ishto sime, you are dearly loved by me, I love you very much, drudhamiti not just love but very strong love, earlier in the word drudha Krishna has used in 9.14 where he says you should practice drudha bhakti so he says you should love me firmly but what Krishna is saying is I already love you firmly ishto sime, drudhamiti so you know Krishna's love for us is unconditional, no matter what we do, Krishna will always keep loving us, there is nothing that anyone of us can do which can stop Krishna from loving us so ishto sime drudhamiti and therefore, tato vakshami tehitam therefore I am speaking this, so Krishna is not a philosopher trying to gain a name and fame for starting a new school of philosophy when Krishna is speaking, he is simply speaking out of concern for others, concern for all of us and tato vakshami tehitam therefore for your benefit I am speaking this, for your benefit now when I said bhuyaha I am speaking this again now Krishna has not used such strong words of endearment repeatedly, so what are the words of endearment, guhyatamam bhuyaha paramam vachaha, so those are not exactly words of endearment but they are talking about something which is a rare knowledge most rare knowledge, highest knowledge it is not something which is given to everyone so love can be expressed through words and love can be expressed through actions now a father always loves all his children but if the father gives his whole estate or gives his most precious asset to his son, that indicates the father loves his son very much love is very generic but when love also leads to revelation of something which is very dear which is very special, then that love is expressed in the trust of giving that thing so when Krishna is saying I am giving this knowledge to you, that itself is indicating a very deep level of love, but further he uses two words that ishtodrudham and then again tehitam I love you very much and I desire your benefit, so there are that means four terms of endearment which are there in this verse, now something similar comes at the start of the 10th chapter where he says bhuyaiva mahabaho shunume paramam vachaha yatteham priyamanaya vakshamit kamyaya, so bhuyaiva mahabaho, again I am speaking to you, 10.1 he says shunume paramam vachaha, supreme words yatteham priyamanaya I, you are very dear to me vakshamit kamyaya desiring your benefit so now it's significant that the message that the terms of endearment have come, now the same words that Krishna will speak after 18.64 18.65 that same Krishna has spoken before 10.1 so before 10.1 is 9.34 and 9.34 and 18.65 are both very similar but still there is a difference in mood I will talk about the difference in mood in these two verses, so 18.65 is manmana bhav mad-bhakto madhyaji maam namaskuru maame vaisya satyam te pratijane priyasi me, just think of me, devote yourself to me, offer your homage to me and you will come back to me the same verse comes in 9.34 but the difference is what manmana bhav mad-bhakto madhyaji maam namaskuru maame vaisyasi yuktvayivam atmanam mad-parayanaha so in the 9th chapter Krishna is emphasizing what the seeker needs to do maame, you will come to me, what do you have to do yuktvayivam, you should be engaged like this you should do manmana bhav mad-bhakto madhyaji, if you do like this you will come to me atmanam mad-parayanaha this way your soul is offered to me you will come to me, so there Krishna is so every relationship has two sides you know both people have to do something in the relationship, so in 9.35 4 Krishna is emphasizing what we have to do but in 18.65 Krishna emphasizes what I will do, he says maame vaisyasi satyam te you will surely come to me, I am speaking the truth pratijane priyasi me I am speaking the truth because you are very dear to me, pratijane, declare it oh Arjuna, this is not a truth which I want to hide, the truth I want to give to everyone so here again Krishna's intense affection is coming out now after this is the famous sarva dharman parityaj now again both this verse has a demand and has a promise, the demand is maame ekam saranam, give up everything else and surrender to me and the reassurance, the love he expresses is, even if anything sinful is there I will take care of that so he is saying anybody can practice bhakti, don't worry about that so this verse we have discussed repeatedly, so I won't go into that verse, I will just focus on the future verses, then suddenly after 1866 this is, Ramacharya calls it the charam shloka of the Gita, Vishwanath Chakradhakur calls that if the Bhagavad Gita is like a jewel case, then to attract people to open the jewel case and take the jewels, so he says the jewel case has a lid, it has a floor and there are jewels inside so now some people may just look at the jewel case and who bothers to open the jewel case and see, so he says like that the bhakti is the jewels that is chapter 7 to 12 in the Gita and the bottom is chapters 1 to 6 which talk about how karma lead to bhakti and the lid is chapters 13 to 18 which talk about how jnana leads to bhakti but in order to allure people to open the open the jewel case two of the jewels from inside are also carved on the lid so those two jewels are 18.65 and 66 which talk about bhakti very intensely and directly now after this, Krishna almost seems to do an out turn and he says it seems to be at one level so accommodating you know, even if you are sinful you can practice, you are very dear to me I am giving you this knowledge and suddenly he says don't tell this to everyone don't tell this to everyone he gives so many conditions you should not give this knowledge now if you look at all don't give it to those who are not austere those who are not devoted those who are not doing service, those who are not pure you wonder who is left then you know so what is the point over here so when Krishna is saying don't give this knowledge he means multiple things first of all what he means is this knowledge is confidential and it's not that Krishna wants to hide that knowledge but Krishna wants the soul to evolve so that the soul can take that knowledge so just like a father all the estate is for the son but if the son is a drunkard, the father gives the estate the son may just tear up the estate papers or the son may just waste all the money so when Krishna is saying don't give this knowledge to all these people that doesn't mean he wants to deprive them of all that knowledge but he wants them to recognize the value of that knowledge then they will become ready to take that knowledge so what he is saying is the knowledge of my intimacy about my love this may not be understood by everyone but you can give knowledge about don't give the guhyatama gyan to everyone but the guhya gyan that you are not the body or the soul that you can give to everyone and we will see Prabhupada, that's what he talks about primarily the intimacy of Krishna he doesn't talk about very directly initially so the point is it's not a deprivation but Krishna is facilitating so that the soul can receive and value the gift that is being given and then immediately after talking about the seemingly restrictive verse Krishna again expands the scope and we will see three levels of how he is extending his mercy so what is to be done with this knowledge he says please share this knowledge with everyone there it is two verses where he says that those who share this knowledge are most dear to me and actually Krishna gives two assurances for those who so he says that those who share this knowledge they will attain pure devotion now significantly there is this para bhakti talked about in 18.54 Krishna talks about it and he says that those who attain brahman liberation after that they will come to the level of para bhakti so that which is attained by the jnanis by laborious process of liberation those who serve Krishna by sharing his message they will get that and then they will come to me also Krishna says further and then further he says sometimes somebody may just make sentiment may make some statement which is not to be taken seriously but he says its not like that in one of the chanakya says when you are very happy don't make any promises because we just go out of the way and speak things which are not really sustainable but Krishna is saying I am not speaking like that he says no one will be more dear to me even in the future there will be many who will be as dear to me but there will be no one who will be more dear to me now somebody may say that actually come on preaching Krishna's message is very complicated who will preach it ok if you can't preach it at least study it, so Krishna offers one level lower mercy that those who study this message what are they doing, you shouldn't think of study as only an intellectual activity he is saying that they are worshipping me with the intelligence it's also study of Krishna's message is bhakti so it's like somebody's fallen in a well and somebody comes out and gives a rope, now hold this rope and climb up and come out I can't climb up, I don't have so much strength so the person say so that Krishna is telling climb out is but 68, 69 is saying preach this message so that's like you hold this rope and climb out and somebody say I can't preach, so then Krishna is saying just use your intelligence to hold on to the message even if you can't preach it so just hold on to the rope I will pull you out so he is saying you can't preach just study the message, now somebody may say I am so weak I can't hold on to the rope also, so then if the person is very compassionate what the person will do is, the person will send a rope with a nice firm bucket to sit in you know you just sit in the bucket I will pull you out that's what Krishna says in the next verse he says if you can't study it also then you just hear the message you can't study, here even if you don't understand just hear the message and those who hear this message what will happen they will also become liberated and here it doesn't refer to swarga this refers to the lokas like dhruva loka where Krishna himself is present, it's almost like the spiritual world so Krishna is extending his mercy so much, to preach the message if you can't, study the message just hear the message just hear the message and that also you will get the supreme perfection ultimately and then again Krishna so Krishna's affection is coming out by saying how dear you are to me Arjuna his compassion comes out by saying how everybody is accommodated within, you can't do this do this, you can't do this, do this, just come to me and then Krishna concludes by saying Arjuna, have you understood it the Acharyas explain that the implication of this is very significant we see that what is the verse achita jnana sammoha pranastha sthedhan anjaya by hearing this have you become ekagrata, now ekagrata at one level it can mean have you heard with concentration but in the path of yoga Patanjali's path of yoga there are five states of mind control there is the chetana can be shipta can be mudha shipta, vikshipta ekagrata and jagrata or liberated so basically I won't go into all the technical stages but here the mudha is in ignorance shipta is in passion vikshipta is somebody is in trying to come to goodness but is being dragged down lower ekagrata is so firmly situated in goodness that one is about to enter into transcendence and the last is sometimes called as jagrata sometimes it is called as yatra paramate chittam nirudham yogasevaya yatra paramate chittam nirudham yogasevaya yatra paramate chittam nirudham yogasevaya Niruddha.
Conquered stage of consciousness is called as Niruddha. So Krishna is telling that have you come to the level of ekagrata consciousness by which Nirodha, conquest of the mind will be immediate now. So just hearing the Bhagavad Gita, hearing about Krishna's love will give us the inspiration, the motivation to control the mind and by we control the mind, we practice bhakti and then the mind will become conquered.
There are two different things, controlling the mind and conquering the mind. We control the mind and fix it on Krishna and that contact with Krishna will transform our mind. It will make our mind also attracted to Krishna.
Then the mind will become conquered. It will become not only conquered, it will become converted. So Krishna is telling Arjuna ekagrata.
By hearing this, have you come to the level of ekagrata, have you become determined to practice bhakti? And Acharya has described that if Arjuna would have said that no, I have not understood some things, Krishna was ready to repeat whatever part was required, I was ready to repeat the whole Bhagavad Gita also, that is Krishna's love for Arjuna and therefore he is saying have you understood, have you understood and Arjuna replies by what, he says yes, my illusion is gone. I will do your will and this is actually the zenith of devotional surrender. In the Bible, when Jesus is going to be crucified, the last supper happens the previous night and at that time Jesus says that, he says that, let the cup pass oh my lord, but let thy will be done.
Let the cup pass means, in those times if somebody was to be killed, somebody was to be executed, there were levels of execution. So normally if a person was a criminal who had to be killed, then the normal way would be by giving them a cup of hemlock, hemlock was poison, so give them a cup of poison, make them drink it and then they will die. So Socrates was given a cup of hemlock, that's how he died.
So Jesus is saying, let the cup pass. So actually eventually when the trial happened, giving a cup of hemlock is a bad form of execution, but crucifixion is even worse because it's public mutilation and wounding before killing. So anyway, the point is that Jesus is saying, let the cup pass oh lord, that means if this whole distressing turn of events which is going to happen, if it can be avoided, let it be avoided, but then he expresses surrender, let thy will be done, not mine, let thy will be done my lord.
So that is certainly a great level of surrender. The Bhagavad Gita actually talks about a higher level of surrender, it's not just, let thy will be done means God does and we accept, Arjuna is saying not just that you do your will, he says I will do your will, accepting God's will is itself requires surrender, but accepting God's will not as something which happens to us, but as something which we should do, that is actually an even higher level. So the Bhagavad Gita talks about this level, not just passively accepting God's will, but actively accepting God's will as our responsibility.
When Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu said that his holy name will spread in every town and village, now Prabhupada accepted that will in this mode, kareeshe vachanam tawa, now we could have said, Chaitanya Mahaprabhu said that is going to happen, but Prabhupada took the lord's prophecy as his responsibility, he took the lord's prophecy, the lord said this is going to happen, now it doesn't mean that Krishna will make it happen, it's his responsibility, no, his prophecy is my responsibility, and this is the dynamic mode of devotional surrender that the Bhagavad Gita concludes with, and we see at the end of the Gita, Arjuna has lifted up his bow and is ready to fight, at the start of the Gita, Arjuna's bow has come down, 1.46 says, put aside his bow, I will not fight, but the Bhagavad Gita concludes with, yatra yogeshwara krishno yatra partha dhanur dhara dhanur dhara, Arjuna has picked up his bow and is ready to fight again, so at one level, Arjuna's Gandiva bow represents the soul's determination to Sir Krishna, so in this world, many things happen which make us give up our determination to Sir Krishna, we become discouraged, we put aside our bow, we put aside our bow, we think, bhakti nahi hogi mujhse, I can't do all this, I can't serve Krishna, but if we hear Krishna's message, then we will also, our determination will get restored and dhanur dhara, we will also rise and become confident to practice bhakti and march back on the journey back to Krishna, so I'll conclude with repeating the verse we started the class with, we'll repeat that as a prayer, that may Krishna manifest in our heart also on this day and whenever in future we study the Gita.