Kunti’s Prayers 5 – (1.8.35-37) – Don’t deny human emotions in the name of transcendence

Transcript

This is an AI-generated transcript and may contain some errors.
So we have discussed till now four sections these prayers are from the 18th verse to the 23rd verse of the 8th chapter of the first Gandharva Shri Mahabharata the first major prayers in the Mahabharata and in a condensed way they discuss the full philosophy of the Bhagavad Gita so the first five verses we discussed this I am just not going to read it I am just going to recap the first five verses talk about the transcendental position of Krishna and after that the next prayers five verses talk about the transcendental nature of his protection how even in his adversarial material level there is actually his protection within that adversarial also then we discuss the transcendental nature of his pastimes from verses 28 to 30 in the next four verses and then 32 to 35 where we stopped last time where we discussed the four different reasons for his appearance now the prayers conclude 36 to 43 but the last section talks about he asks for Krishna’s protection first by asking for Krishna to stay Krishna is about to depart so his various arguments are reasons why Krishna should stay and then he concludes by saying Krishna if you don’t stay let my consciousness stay with you always and that is how he says there should be a protection so let’s start with all of you have these sheets with you so we start with 1.8.36 the sheets come so in Bhagavatam Maharaja Bhakti she doesn’t play in one sense a very significant role later anyway in the Bhagavatam in the sense that here her prayers come but if you look in the 10th canto where Krishna’s pastimes are described in detail actually there is only one place where Kunti is mentioned in somewhat specific that is when Krishna sends Akrura to Astinapur to check the well-being of the Pandavas to check if Dhritarashtra is doing anything nefarious excessively actually at that time Kunti’s prayers are described so it was Kunti’s prayers as Krishna is present right over there and he says oh Krishna please protect us so that incident is long before this, now this was the situation where the war was not over whereas that was long before the Pandavas were exiled so Kunti does not play a very significant role in the Bhagavatam after these prayers, if you want to know more about her you can look in the Mahabharata in the Mahabharata Kunti features very prominently and her devotion there also in the Mahabharata the focus is more on her being virtuous chaste and very committed to protecting her sons who have become, who have lost their father so then Kunti’s devotion comes out in 3-4 situations, one of them is when Krishna comes as Shanti Kunti at that time Krishna stays with Vidura and when he is staying with Vidura actually Kunti also during that period stays with Vidura during the first time when the Pandavas are exiled, not actually they were exiled and told to go to the forest but when the war was not over it was burnt at that time they depart from the Lakshadrama and they go to the forest, at that time Kunti is with them and then that’s when they take the hand of Draupadi and they come back, the second time when the Pandavas are exiled at that time Draupadi is being dragged with Yasandhi and at that time Subhadra she is pregnant with Abhimanyu and she has gone to Dwarka, that’s why she is not there, so in the Pandava family Draupadi Draupadi is there Pandavas are there and Kunti is there and so when they exiling, normally the exiling happens among the males so none of the females are there over there but Draupadi is summoned after she is lost so when the news reaches back so Nandhari, Kunti they are all horrified at what has happened and not only that Pandavas are lost everything but that Draupadi has been so previously dishonoured and when the Pandavas have gone to the forest Draupadi also goes and Kunti is also ready to go at that time but at that time Vidura comes to Yudhishthir and he says your mother has become aged now, now she will not be able to bear the troubles of life in forest so therefore let her stay with you and then she agrees as you said and Kunti approaches and her expressions of grief and lamentation are heart wrenching she says to Kunti right from your childhood you have only been virtuous and here such calamities have come upon you so Yudhishthir I have not seen you come to anything once and here you are suffering the only reason that I can see for your suffering is that you will be born from the womb of an unfortunate woman like me it is because of me that all this misfortune is coming upon you otherwise if only mother had lived and I had gone to the funeral pyre then you would have been saved from all this suffering and Vidura holds her gently and takes her away she wants to go with her sons to the forest but when Yudhishthira and Vidura both tell her no she will stay and within these 13 years in some way just as when Lord Rama was in the forest so Bharata was doing austerities to not the same degree but Kunti performs severe austerities for the wellbeing of her sons while they are in the forest and for the eventual regaining of the kingdom and then for 13 years she gets no news where she can’t meet her sons of course the sages come and do some news but there is no direct contact between them and then after that also there is the Adhyatma so at least in the first 12 years Kunti is getting some news that okay they are here they are there but in last year there is no news whether they are alive or they are dead and Duryodhana’s spies are coming back and Duryodhana has thousands of spies all over to see where the Pandavas are and nowhere they can be found and rather than becoming dejected at not finding Pandavas Duryodhana just glowingly assumes that the Pandavas have died and starts spreading this news and this causes such terrible grief and suspense to Kunti and finally the Pandavas are detected where the Virata Yuga takes place and Duryodhana is unrelentingly hostile refused to give up the Yuga path and the war becomes inevitable so at this time now because the Kauravas have been very hostile to the Pandavas, Krishna doesn’t give up the absence of the Pandavas and that’s why Kunti has not only not seen her sons but she has not even seen her lord and then Krishna comes as Shanti Kunti so Krishna is coming not just as a messenger on behalf of the Pandavas to Duryodhana and the Kuruvas only, Krishna comes with a message to Kunti and he is a Pandava brother and Draupadi they give messages to Kunti and when Kunti meets Krishna there is a time also when she offers Kunti special pours out her heart her heart is softened and then she tells Krishna Krishna why are you coming as a messenger to Duryodhana, he is never going to listen to you Duryodhana says I feel that you get insulted over there and Kunti says that actually the way Draupadi will piss on her Duryodhana deserves nothing less than that and he says to Duryodhana you don’t go there Krishna pacifies and tells that I am not going there for Duryodhana’s sake, I am going there for Krishna’s sake to prove to the world that the Pandavas were not responsible for the violence and then after that when Krishna goes and comes back then again he comes in throughout the day Krishna is talking Krishna says and everything leaves him nothing works then he shows the Vishwaroop and then he comes back and he stays again in the house of Duryodhana for the night the next morning he meets Karna and then he departs so when he is staying in that night again now Kunti because she has also been fasting and prostrating she has become emaciated, she is weak in the physical point of view she is of course heart sick because of the suffering that her sons are going through and she tells gives a message to Krishna that tell Yudhisthira to not mistake weakness to be virtue he is a Kshatriya and he has to do this to Yudhisthira he said that I do not desire the destruction of the Kuru dynasty but Duryodhana has brought that destruction upon himself and has bolstered even in that time the courage and the morale of her sons she sees Krishna off and then again throughout the war when the 18 days of the war were happening Sanjay is narrating the news to Dhritharashtra and later on second hand the Kuru ladies are also hearing the news.
On the 17th morning Gandhari departs from Hastinapur to come to Kurukshetra. She departs actually on the 17th morning and she travels whole day 17th because by 17th morning she got the news that 98 of her that almost 80 sons of her are dead. She wants to stop the war if possible or at least protect some of her sons.
But by the time she reaches in the evening the war is going on and by the time she reaches in the evening so she gets the news that remaining 19 sons of her are also dead. Dhritharashtra is also dead. So only one son is remaining.
She is heartbroken over that and then she of course knows that it is her own son’s fault but then she tries to imbue the make Dhritharashtra’s body impenetrable by imbuing it with her mystical power through her lungs but then Krishna baffles them. So throughout all this Gandhari goes to the battle front and comes back but Kunti is throughout this time at Hastinapur and then after the war gets over when the funeral rites are performed at that time Kunti comes and reveals Lord Yudhishthira please perform the last rites for Kali. He says Karna has several sons so most of his sons are killed.
Only one of his sons is alive and later on that son becomes very close to Arjuna. Arjuna feels the personal responsibility that he is like my nephew and I killed his father. So he takes him up and accepts him as his own son and they become very close to each other and he subsequently becomes the king of Anga but Kunti feels that although his son is there to do the last rites but Karna should get the last rites performed by Kshatriya because he is a Kshatriya and that is why she reveals, although it is a great risk to her own to reveal at that stage, she reveals Yudhishthira.
Yudhishthira is enraged if you told him this I would have obeyed you. I will do the kingdom to Karna he is the eldest. So she tells him I told this I told this to Karna Karna said this is what Yudhishthira will do and if he gives Yudhishthira the kingdom then being duty bound will be bound by friendship with Yudhishthira, I will do the kingdom back to Yudhishthira.
So he says that don’t tell Yudhishthira this. She says I was told but I could not tell because you were on the side of Kunti and we could not let even try so I tried to tell Karna on this side so Yudhishthira feels all the more angry that Kunti has revealed this to Karna but not to him and then he curses her he says from now onwards women will never be able to proceed of course it is more an expression of anger than a curse although the word curse is used in the Mahabharata but so Kunti goes through it all and then just when things seem to be settling down we see what happens is again the attack of Ashwathama on Uttarajini comes up now of course Parikshit is considered to be the only surviving descendant but again we know that there are other descendants also for example Arjuna had married several wives so he had married Chitrangada and through her he had got a son Babruvahana and later on when Yudhishthira performed the Ashwamedha yajna so there was a fight between Arjuna and Babruvahana so Babruvahana is also there as a king, Bhima had also had a son Suta Soma who had been taken to the Himalayas earlier so there were other sons of the Pandavas still there so why isn’t Parikshit alone considered to be the surviving descendant so Mahabharata explains that actually the Parikshit he because he was empowered by the lord to so within him by the arrangement of the lord the Avesh of all the five Pandavas was there and when Krishna entered into the room of Uttara to protect him at that time Krishna infused him with some of his energy also so although from the genetic point of view you are the son only of one of the Pandavas Arjuna in fact the grandson but from the point of your higher understanding the Avesh of all the five Pandavas were there so all the other sons were sons of only one of the Pandavas whereas in Parikshit all the five Pandavas and the Avesh were present and that’s why he is considered to be the only survivor of the Pandavas individually the Pandavas had surviving surviving sons but all the Pandavas combined together he was the only survivor so anyway this is the background when Kunti is praying so Jasna just when they had thought that actually now the danger is over out of nowhere this Brahmastra comes and tries to of all things not kill any of the warriors but kill a child in the womb so it was horrifying and then it is in this point because Krishna is departing Kunti is praying Krishna so she is going to request Krishna please stay and as she prays the prayer itself acts as a contact now through prayer prayer is not only a means to call Krishna but it is also a means to feel his presence because Krishna is not different from the someone who used to call out to him and she feels the presence and that’s how the form of her prayer changes so let’s start with 36th prayer all of you got your shifts now so in the previous verse she has said that Krishna when you descended to this world you give everyone an opportunity to hear and chant about you and by hearing and chanting about you the creature of what will exist in this world so around this verse she continues that theme and she is actually I think this is the internal protection in verse 32, 33, 34 she gives reasons for the descent of Krishna which are contextual you have come to glorify King Yadu you have come to protect Vasudevan Devaki and Nikhil Kamsa you have come to protect to remove the burden of the earth these are things which happened at that time dangers were there at that time and those dangers were removed but what about all subsequent times how is Krishna protected? so Krishna protected all the times from her past times and that’s why she says in this verse those who take shelter of your remembrance through Churman Digalanti Granthi to hear, to speak and Granthi’s to accept actually that is the most important part now in the Priyad Bhagavatam Sanatana Goswami explains that all the Nav Vidha Bhakti 9 are important and as far as initiating the process of Bhakti Shravanam is most important but as far as sustaining the process of Bhakti is concerned Smaranam is most important we can hear and we can speak but if you have to go steadily on in Bhakti, Smaranam is most important Churman Digalanti to hear, to speak and then Granthi, accepting within our heart Abhijasya constantly so when we accept then we can remember and not only remember we delight in so Acharyas give different meanings for this Prabhupada explains those who delight not only in themselves doing these activities but also see others doing these activities that means devotees delight in themselves getting engaged in Krishna and they delight in seeing others getting engaged in Krishna Prabhupada says this is the highest welfare work to connect people with Krishna to present Krishna in a way that is appealing that is attractive to people so Tavehitam Janaha now Tavehitam Janaha Taveva Pashyanti so those who thus have a taste for Krishna in themselves and give a taste for Krishna to others Taveva Pashyanti Achive Matavata very quickly without much delay Pashyanti Bhava Pravaham Param Padam Pujam Padam Pujam and what does it mean to you? refers to the flow of material existence and this Pravaham is actually caused by time in the 28th verse of the section in the 28th verse of the section he says that actually you are time that actually you are time so in time the flow of material existence is caused by time so Bhava Pravaham the flow of time what happens? the flow of material existence it becomes stopped when we remember Krishna when we see his lotus feet so actually how does this happen? the flow of time in the material existence will never stop but the remembrance of Krishna enables us to move from the realm of time to the realm of timelessness so it takes us beyond material existence where there is no flow of time there is time in the spiritual world also there is everything that is required for enhancing the sweetness of Krishna’s pastimes so one aspect of sweetness is variety when there is a nice feast with various items then that becomes more additional so like that in the spiritual world there is variety so Krishna has certain times when he performs pastimes with his friends then certain times when he performs pastimes with his with the younger gopis then with the young gopis so there are books like Govinda Nilambara which describe which pastime Krishna performs at which time and those who are very advanced devotees they remember those pastimes at those times that is what is Manapadhyati that is described by Raja Iyer so anyway the point is there is time in the spiritual world and Krishna performs different activities at different times but Krishna defines time as karo svi lokam kshetram this time is that which destroys so that destroying nature is not there in the material world time controls and time destroys we may want to do something but we run out of time and actually our body is decaying so that controlling and destroying has to be not there so Krishna is around 16 years old 14 years old and that is the eternal age so time flows, the clock flows but it does not age any that is the age that they are eternal so in that sense time does not destroy and time does not control that means when Krishna wants to perform his Ras Leela it is not that Krishna has to look at the clock oh now night is getting old we will wake up and then we have to come again we have to stop this pastime Krishna can expand time so the presence of time in the spiritual world is not like in this world it is not controlling it is not destroying time is also a servant of Krishna do whatever is required to enhance and resolve this pastime and that is why that when we can see lotus feet we become attached to lotus feet then one goes beyond the realm of material existence so now he is saying that by hearing me speaking accepting and remembering and relishing by doing all this we see lotus feet so seeing Krishna lotus feet is not just a matter of physical perception we are going into the alternate sphere of lotus feet it is a matter of devotional spiritual perception with a spiritual vision we see Krishna and lotus feet and then we go beyond material existence then now the next verse will say that that this is the way we can go beyond material existence so please stay with us so in one sense this verse is a continuation of the previous verse but it is also a transition to the next theme what is the next theme Krishna? you are the grantor of liberation from the miseries of material existence and we are going to suffocate the miseries what miseries? the miseries of the kings who are still hostile and therefore please protect us let’s go to the next verse But especially their sons were young, they did not fight and because Abhimanyu was so chivalrous and he was also very heroic, so a son of Abhimanyu’s age, fighting was relatively an exception. And of course, Duryodhana’s son Lakshmana was also fighting, but Duryodhana had married a girl and Lakshmana was much older and on that day, when they fought, the first battle, the major battle that happened after Abhimanyu penetrated into the Chakravyuha was this battle with Lakshmana and Abhimanyu killed Lakshmana and that infuriated Duryodhana and Duryodhana himself attacked Abhimanyu and Abhimanyu totally repulsed him and after that Duryodhana literally went mad, he goaded all the Kauravas and said, kill him and then Drona and Kripa and when nothing happened, then finally they all conspired to have six of them come together and kill him.
So the point is, generally younger sons and the Pandavas got especially angry not just because one warrior was killed by six warriors, but one warrior who was so young, who was relatively speaking underage for fighting, but it doesn’t matter, he was killed so was he. So generally the younger sons, those who are not yet of age, they don’t have to do that at all. But then if their elders, their father or their uncle or their elder brother, they have been killed, the memories remain and those memories become the roots of subsequent attacks, subsequent vices and further violence.
That’s why Kunti is saying that most of the major things have been killed, but their descendants are there, their relatives are there and they will want to take revenge. And just one sample of others, Ashwathama suddenly attacking out of nowhere. He says Krishna, we depend on you for protection.
How can you leave us and go? How can you abandon us? Now can a devotee say that to Krishna? Krishna, you are abandoning me. How can you abandon this? It may seem that Krishna, we know, don’t we know the philosophy that Krishna never abandons? So there is philosophical truth and there is emotional perception. So there are times when, even in a devotee’s life, the emotions may override.
That does not mean that the devotee has forgotten the philosophy of truth, but it is just that at that particular time, the emotions are there and emotions are real. For that time it is. That’s why we see, although Krishna tells Arjuna, we are being poised on what happens Krishna specifically says in the 3rd chapter, असत्ते रणमस्वङ्गः पुत्रदार ग्रहाविष्य। Do not be detached from son.
Before wife, he uses the word son. पुत्र and then दार. First son and then wife.
And then even after the journey specifically, what happens when Abhimanyu dies? Arjuna is devastated. So is it that Arjuna forgot the Bhagavad Gita? No, at that particular moment, Krishna does not tell Arjuna, Krishna has forgotten all this philosophy. No, Krishna is very sensitive, very concerned, very encouraging.
He gives so much, it is encouraging. So our spirituality should not shrink our human sensitivity. It should actually expand our sensitivity.
Yes, whatever emotions you are feeling, whatever breath you are feeling, that is true. But the end is not the end. A person may have died.
But at that particular moment, that doesn’t mean that person has ceased to exist. The person exists at another level. And at that level, at a spiritual level, you can still connect with him.
By your breath, by your emotion, you can still connect with him. So we cannot wish away the emotions that any people experience. Nor can we wish them away and make up those emotions.
But we, so the emotions when they come, we accept them, and then gradually we continue our life. So here she is feeling a sense of alignment. Now sometimes, we may be philosophically correct, but we may inhibit people if we are not sensitive.
Now suppose, I remember this happened once, it was such a terrible thing. There was one family, very nice family, somehow, for some reason, they then had a young son committed suicide. And then some devotee went and told them that a person who commits suicide becomes a ghost.
It’s the worst possible thing to tell at that particular time. At that time, we had to console them and help them. Even if it’s true, Krishna, when he speaks in the Bhagavad Gita, when he talks about the strength of speech, अनुद्वेद करमवात्यम् सत्यम् प्रेवितम् चल्यात् So before saying, he says, speak truthfully, he says, speak in a non-agitating way.
अनुद्वेद करमवात्यम् उद्वेद is agitation, अनुद्वेद is non-agitation. Do not agitate people. And that is a separate thing.
That does not mean that the person is not agitated, we should compromise them. So we can speak whatever is best for bringing people closer to the truth. Bringing people closer to the truth.
So in the Mahabharata, Dhritarashtra seeks solace and he knows that his sons are going to die. And he asks Vyasadev, he says, isn’t it obvious that all those who die on a war field, won’t all of them attain heaven? So Vyasadev becomes thoughtful. And then there is a long discussion of this position, but Vyasadev doesn’t answer the question.
Vyasadev says, actually, all of us have to choose our actions. And depending on the actions that we choose, we take the right actions. And you had the responsibility of choosing to stop your son from the war.
You did not do that. So again, here what does Vyasadev, now it is true that those who die on a war field, they attain heaven. But for Dhritarashtra to use that as a justification, as an excuse for letting an unnecessary war take place, that is wrong.
So Vyasadev does not allow that. So the point is that when devotees, when Kunti is now feeling that, Krishna, you are leaving us, you are abandoning us. So when a devotee feels like that, we have to understand that his emotions are natural.
And we cannot deny Krishna his emotions. But we don’t let the emotions become the only basis of our actions. It’s not that Arjuna, because of the emotions, he started blaming Krishna and he rebelled against Krishna.
What he did was, he intensified his service to Krishna. When Abhimanyu died, he actually fulfilled the cause of Krishnapati. So he said, Krishna, we have no shelter apart from you.
What will you do without me? Please don’t abandon us. As she is speaking like this, now her thoughts, she elaborates this further. Somebody may say, how can you say that you are nothing without me? That you are dependent on me? Do you think Pandavas are all heroic? They are themselves accomplished.
So she gives an example to illustrate how they are nothing without him. Kevalam namo bhavyam Yaduri samandava Bhavato darshanam jayatee Hrishikanaiveshitho The example is Hrishikanaiveshitho. Hrishik, as you know, is senses.
Kshitu is the controller, the soul, the living being. Living being, the controller of the body. So just the senses are useless without the presence of the soul.
There may be the world’s topmost singer, but if the person dies, soul leaves the body, the same throat is there, the same voice is there. But Hrishikanaiveshitho, it becomes useless. So she says, similarly, Krishna ki mayanna margupa So Arjuna may have the name as being the world’s greatest archer.
Vishnu may have the name as being Dharmaraja. But all these are of no use. Yaduri is a part of her.
Now Kunti has a relationship with both. She has a relationship with the Yadus and the Pandavas. With the Pandavas, she is their mother.
And with the Yadus, she is actually the aunt of Krishna. As we know, she was adopted by Kunti Bhoja, who was a friend of her actual father. Her father was actually a Yadu.
So she is related to both. Actually, both of them are useless without her. And here, what is happening? She is now, from this point of view, a transition.
She is thinking not only of herself, but the Pandavas. She is thinking of herself in relationship with the Yadus also. And then her prayer changes.
She says here, Bhavato Adarshanam Yaduri, Without you, we are both useless. So actually, Humility is a very important principle of the Yadus. So humility, the essence of humility, is not a feeling of helplessness.
The essence of humility is a feeling of willingness. Helplessness means, I can’t do anything. Needlessness means, without Krishna, I can’t do anything.
Krishna, I need you. So if humility is divorced from Krishna, then humility can very easily become inferiority complex. What prevents humility from dragging a person down is the focus in Krishna.
Is the focus on the highest spiritual reality. So in the name of humility, I have to be helpless, helpless, helpless. If I stay I-centred, then that is not humility at all.
That is just, that is simply frustrated falsely. That is self-centredness in a negative way. Self-obsession in the form of self-pity.
So she is saying that Krishna, without you, we are nothing. The focus is not that I am nothing. The focus is Krishna, you are everything.
Whatever I am, it is because of you. So if, in the name of humility, humility is itself a very complex subject. But if in the name of humility, we have become more self-centred, and less Krishna-centred, then that is actually pratikul to Bhamati.
That is actually unfavourable to Bhamati. And sometimes, you see, all of us have our shortcomings. All of us have our weaknesses.
And sometimes, thinking of our shortcomings and weaknesses may help us to become humble. It’s possible. Okay, I have this anartha, I can’t do this, I can’t do that.
But dwelling on our shortcomings, and our weaknesses, can help us feel the need for Krishna more. And make us want to take shelter of Krishna. There are many Bhaktivedanta songs where he does like this.
But the end of it is, Krishna, I surrender to you. Without you, I am nothing. But if our contemplating on our weaknesses ends up making us feel sorry for ourselves, making us feel self-pity, and overall, discourages us in our devotional service, then that is not humility.
That is actually simply maya coming in the name of humility to keep us at a certain condition. So even our guilt, even if we have done something wrong, guilt should also be such that, the idea of guilt is that, guilt should create, if I am here, and something sinful is here, and Krishna is here, guilt should create a wall between me and the sinful things. By which I don’t do those sinful things.
But, maya is so cunning, that the same guilt, which is meant to create a wall between us and sin, that guilt creates a wall between us and Krishna. How? Because we think, I am so sinful, I am so horrible, I am so impure, how can I reach Krishna? How can I go close to Krishna? So that same guilt, what happens is, it, instead of creating a wall between us and sin, it creates a wall between us and Krishna. And if that is, anything that creates a wall between us and Krishna, maya is a creation of maya.
So, that sort of guilt is, if one thinks that by being guilty like that, I have become humble, that is not humility, that is actually maya, and that is keeping us away from Krishna. So, you don’t need to think about our weaknesses, our shortcomings. The purpose should be to focus on Krishna.
Now, we do have our qualities, and we can use our qualities in Krishna as well, whatever strengths we have, whatever talents we have. But, we often experience that, in spite of our best challenges, sometimes we are not able to deliver. We are not able to do things that we want to do.
We want to do something for Krishna, and we are not able to do it. That time you can remember that. In my time, my abilities are also not in my control at the moment.
They alone cannot guarantee my success. So, my abilities are given by Krishna, and the results which I get using my abilities, they are also dependent on Krishna. In that sense, without Krishna, I am nothing.
So, we often spread this. But, actually, Vishinikana, we are Vishnu. Just like the soul, with the body and senses, without the soul, we are nothing.
Similarly, Krishna, without you, we are nothing. So, therefore, please know this. Please know this.
And, to the extent, actually, we feel the need for Krishna, to that extent, we strive to actively live in the presence of Krishna. I’ll conclude with this point. That surrender, sometimes people think is passive.
Generally, people have that idea, surrender, hands up. Generally, that’s the idea before we get into devotional service. You know, surrender, somebody is fighting, and somebody shoots.
Surrender, that person raises his hands. So, often we equate surrender with passivity. So, in material life, when a war is being fought, and somebody is defeated in the war, and the war is about to end, that is the time, surrender happens.
But, in Bhagavad Gita, what happens? Krishna tells Arjuna, surrender. And then, in 73, 73rd verse of Vedic chapter, Krishna, Arjuna says, I’ll surrender to you. I’ll do whatever you say.
But then, after that, in 78th verse, what happens? Arjuna has picked up his bow. So, surrender signifies not the end of the war. Surrender signifies the beginning of the war.
So, it’s completely opposite to what it is in material life. So, how is this? Surrender signifying the beginning of a war. Surrender to Krishna gives us access to his supreme power.
And by that power, we fight. Then, Tatrakshiv Jayodhuti. There, there is victory.
So, when we talk about surrender, there is certain level of passivity, there is certain level of acceptance. But that acceptance is to intensify the focus of action. Understand? The acceptance is not to give up action.
The acceptance is to intensify the focus of action. That means, if Arjuna had a choice, Arjuna would not have wanted to fight the war. And that’s what he was saying.
How can I kill my elders? How can I kill my relatives? That’s what he was saying. But, after he heard the whole philosophy, understood, this is the situation I am in right now. I accept this situation.
And in this situation, Krishna, I will do your way. I will do your way. Arjuna does not conclude the Bhagavad Gita by saying I will fight.
Because actually, by the end of the Gita, the discussion has gone to far far elevated levels. In fact, after the 8th chapter, when Krishna says, there is no reference to fighting in the Gita, except in the 11th chapter, when he shows the mirage element. So, from 4.42, when Krishna tells rise and fight, then there are only two references to fighting in the Gita.
One in the 8th chapter, and one in the 11th chapter, after that, in the last 10 chapters, there are no other references to fighting. Why? Because the essence of Gita is not to fight a violent war. Gita is not a book of violence, nor is it a book of silence.
It is a book of transcendence. And what, for Arjuna, in transcendence, his specific duty was to fight. So his was, his specific duty was to fight.
For different people, different will be different. So when Arjuna says, he doesn’t say, I will fight, he says, I will do your will. Whatever is your will.
If your will involves fighting, I will do that. So that one aspect of surrender is to accept, this is the situation I am in, I have some health problems, I have some relationship issues, I have some financial issues, Krishna, I accept the situation. And in this situation, I will keep surrendering.
So surrender means to do what we can with what we have now. To do what we can. We, if we had more talent, we could have done much more good things.
But okay, this is what I can do. To do what we can with what we have. And then, now.
Surrender is not just about passivity, it is about activity. The acceptance aspect of surrender is, what I can’t change, I will not bother about it. I will accept that.
And within that, I will act. And act to serve. So our acceptance that Krishna is the active person in our life will make us active, not passive.
And that is what we see in the life of the Pandavas. Although they have surrendered to Krishna, Krishna in themselves is extremely active, extremely enterprising, extremely heroic in his service. And that is how Kunti Maharaj used to pray to Krishna.
And she says, when should we start the prayer, she is saying that Krishna, please don’t leave us. But then, we will see as the verses are later on, Krishna, please stay in my heart always. So that we will discuss in our future sessions.
Thank you very much. Is there any question? Yes, please. Thank you.