Mahabharata characters 48 – Arjuna 11 – The divine heart calls the human heart to the path of love

This talk is a part of the “Fascinating Mahabharata Characters” series. To know more about this course, please visit: bhakticourses.com

Transcript

This is an AI-generated transcript and may contain some errors.
Hare Krishna. Welcome back to the Mahabharata Character Series. We are discussing the conversation between Krishna and Arjuna, which is celebrated as the Bhagavad Gita.
We come to the third chapter where Krishna has urged Arjuna to perform his duty and set an example for others thereby. Arjuna gets the question at this point after Krishna has responded to all his arguments. He asks, you know, when people want duty, what is it that drags them away from duty? And one of the most universally, eternally resonant sections of the Bhagavatam, the Bhagavad Gita, Krishna answers, it is lust only, Arjuna, which attracts people and allures them and then degrades them.
And Krishna, after telling how lust is situated in the mind, intellects and senses, not in the person or the things or the forms that evoke lust. Lust is situated within and therefore it is our responsibility to curb lust. And then he says, gives a two-step formula.
First is regulate the senses. Don’t let the senses unrestrictedly interact with the sense objects, be exposed to the sense objects. And then he says, use the intelligence to become situated in the spiritual platform.
And what that spiritual platform is and how bhakti is the best way to be situated in the spiritual platform, Krishna will talk about later. And at that point, Krishna says, the third chapter and in the fourth chapter, suddenly Krishna seems to take off in a different direction. He says, oh Arjuna, this knowledge of performing one’s duty, of conquering the lower passions that obstruct one in one’s duty, this knowledge is eternal.
I have given it to the sun god long ago and now I’m giving it to you. Because the lineage that had been started from the sun god is lost. And because you are my devotee and friend, so you’re a worthy recipient of this knowledge for the revival of that, for the starting of a new lineage.
Now, when Krishna speaks this, that I give this knowledge to sun god, it’s the first time in the Bhagavad Gita that Krishna reveals his divinity. He has not directly mentioned that till now and he mentions Arjuna in keeping with Krishna’s plan that spiritual knowledge be revealed. He asks Krishna, how is it that you spoke this knowledge to the sun god? Because you are almost my equal.
You were born recently. Sun god is far older. And this is the place in the Bhagavad Gita where Krishna talks about the avataras.
How is it whenever there’s disorder in this world, when adharma increases, dharma decreases, Krishna says, I descend to this world and I raise people up. And after describing this, he moves forward and thereafter he talks about life, about how he re-establishes religion and the real purpose he comes is not just to re-establish dharma in this world but to attract people back to him. To attract people so that by hearing his past and by knowing about him in truth, they can become, they can learn to love him and come back to him.
And again, after describing his position and how he reciprocates with everyone, Krishna returns to talking about Ishkama Karma Yoga. And then he describes various ways in which knowledge can be acquired, right, from doing fasting, doing yoga, going to holy places. And then he recommends Arjuna, what you should do for understanding that, go to a spiritual master.
And then he talks about the glory of spiritual knowledge, how it is a boat that helps one to cross over the dangerous ocean of eternal existence, how it is a blazing fire that reduces to ashes all the sinful reactions, all the karma, how it is a supremely pure thing, how it brings supreme fulfillment and how it can be acquired by the faithful, not the faithless. And then Krishna again in the fourth chapter with a clarion call to Arjuna, armed with knowledge, fight, armed with the sword of knowledge. So Arjuna, when he is thinking about cultivating knowledge, he’s thinking more of a reflective, introspective mode.
You sit and study and think. And suddenly the call for fighting seems a little odd. So he asks Krishna, oh, do you want me to fight or do you want me to cultivate knowledge? Please tell me this.
The same question is asked in the third chapter. And then Krishna answers that actually both are good, renouncing the world and working in yoga is also good. Working in yoga is better because activity is natural for us and activity will purify us.
And then Krishna talks about the secret of how one can act without becoming bound if one stays detached, just as the dirt in the water around a lotus. The water just trickles off and the lotus stays unaffected. Like that, karma will not affect a person who can work with detachment.
And then Krishna talks about who is the actual doer, how it is we who initiate activities with our desires, how it is the super soul’s actions and what nature executes. And then he talks about a famous verse which talks about the universal family, universal brotherhood, universal fraternity when he says that a wise person sees all living beings equally, whether it be an elephant or a dog or a dog-eater or a cow or a low-level human being or a spiritually evolved human being, everybody equally because one sees everyone as souls. And then he says that for cultivating such a spiritual vision, sensual indulgence must be minimized because sensual indulgence makes one trapped in material consciousness.
In the sense, enjoyment is actually pregnant with misery, such is. And the delivery will come in the form of misery sooner or later, it can’t be aborted. And therefore, he says tolerate and turn inward and find happiness within.
And then he gives a hint of bhakti when he says, work for me as your enjoyer, knowing that I am your best friend, knowing that I am the lord of everything and then you will attain supreme peace. So Krishna now moves the dialogue much inward. He’s saying peace will not just come by resisting from violence.
Peace will come by stopping doing violence to one’s own soul. As long as we live disconnected from Krishna, who is our eternal lord with whom we have eternal connection, we’re doing violence to our soul and violence to our soul expresses itself eventually as violence in the world. And then Krishna in the sixth chapter begins ashtanga yoga.
So now what is Krishna doing? After one does karma yoga and attains a certain level of spiritual perfection, then one can, for making further advancement, go to the jungle and sit in the asana, meditate on the tip of the nose, meditate on the ear, meditate on the either the space between the eyebrows or on the tip of the nose and renounce all worldly possessions, learn to discipline the mind. There is here the famous verse about how the mind can be the enemy or the friend, depending on whether we leave it under control or learn to control it. And then by the practice of yoga one can control the mind and one realizes gradually the absolute truth.
So here there’s a beautiful description in the verses of Samadhi, how one experiences unlimited happiness, happiness that is inalienable, that even when great miseries come, one is not shaken. And this comprises the supreme fulfillment of life. And as the discussion evolves, Krishna says the topmost spiritual realization is to see him everywhere and to see everything in him.
And then when one sees like this, a person is never lost to Krishna, nor is Krishna ever lost to him. And then one can look at all living beings equally and work for their spiritual well-being. Now Arjuna thinks, how can I possibly look at the virtuous Yudhishtira and the vicious Duryodhana equally? For that it requires a level of mind control that is impossible.
And he says, oh Krishna, now I can, even if my enemies hurl ferocious storm weapons at me, I can control them. But the mind is such a ferocious storm weapon that I can’t control it. What should I do? So Krishna tells Arjuna, yes, the mind is difficult.
Krishna is surprisingly empathetic, saying that, yes, the mind is difficult to control, but by practice it is possible. He does not specify what the practice is. Here Arjuna asks another apprehension.
Okay, it may be possible. It will take a long time. And what if I die before that? What if I am not able to persist in the practice lifelong? Then won’t I be unsuccessful? I will have given up material life for the sake of spiritual life.
So I am not materially successful and I won’t be spiritually successful also. Won’t it be a disaster? Krishna assures Arjuna, no, it won’t be. Because whatever spiritual credits one attains are eternal and either one will get birth in a wealthy or learned family or one will be born in a spiritually enlightened family and there one will continue one’s spiritual journey and automatically one will be attracted to spirituality in one’s next life.
And Krishna assures, one of the most hope-giving verses in the Bhagavad Gita, he says, one who does welfare to Arjuna is never lost, neither in this world nor in the next. Such a person will meet with inauspiciousness. Person who does good will always attain good, Krishna assures.
And that good will come eventually when after many lifetimes of practice one can attain the supreme perfection. And then Krishna says the easiest way to attain this perfection is, he’s just talking about Dhyana Yoga in this chapter, but he says that the best, the topmost of the yogis is Bhakti yogi. For the Bhakti yogi constantly thinks of him within the heart.
So it’s significant that even in the path of Dhyana Yoga, the ascent concludes with Bhakti. And then in the next chapter, now the first section of the Bhagavad Gita is over. The first section of the Bhagavad Gita is often called the Karma section.
It’s the section where from Karma one comes to Bhakti. And then there is another section in the Bhagavad Gita, which is the middle section, the Bhakti section. It focuses on Bhakti.
And then the last section, which is the Dhyana section, in which one comes from Dhyana to Bhakti. So here Arjuna is thinking, do I have to go to the forest? That’s what Krishna has recommended. And he says that’s how one will attain perfection.
But then Krishna says, no, no, there’s no need for you to do that. There’s another way to attain that perfection. The whole purpose of going to a forest, controlling the mind and learning to see everyone equally is to ultimately make the mind attached to me.
And there’s an alternative way to make the mind attached to me. And that is the practice of Bhakti Yoga. So till now, the Bhagavad Gita has been focusing primarily on detachment from the world.
But now the Bhagavad Gita introduces a significant theme, much more insistent, almost opposing theme. It’s now attachment. Again and those whose minds are attached to Him.
And then Krishna describes how He pervades material existence. Everything in material existence is His energy. We are also His parts.
We are also His spiritual energy. And how He underlies all of existence like a thread underlying a pearl necklace. And how He permeates everything as if it’s His essence.
He’s the taste of water. He’s the strength of the strong. He is the fragrance of the earth.
Everything that exists is under His control by His manifestation, by His energy that is being manifested. And then Krishna says, this material nature which controls all of us, it can be overcome if we turn to Krishna and surrender to Him. And then He describes people who don’t surrender to Him, the godless, the aggressively godless, the foolish, the materialistic and the demoniac.
So like that He describes. Then He describes kind of people who come to Him, the inquisitive, the distressed, the wealth seeker and the knowledgeable. And He recommends the knowledgeable because their motive is relatively pure and they can easily develop a relationship with Him.
And Krishna says that all of them will become jnanavan over a period of time. All of them will become enlightened and surrender to Him. And now Krishna talks about how He is so accommodating that if people can’t worship Him, He is talking about two extremes, those who surrender to Him and those who don’t, those who approach Him and those who don’t approach Him.
And He describes the people in between, those who approach someone else. And He said that it is He who has created a system of demigod worship. Those who can’t worship Him, Krishna is not a jealous God.
He says, if you don’t worship me, go to hell. No, He accommodates them. And He says, OK, if you won’t represent someone else, then I will go for you.
I represent you. So I will give them power. Whatever blessings they give, those blessings come from me only.
And He says, not only will I bless the blessers, but I will bless the seekers also. So if you won’t worship a particular devata, I will give you faith by which you will be able to worship. So why is Krishna so selfless that rather than insisting that we all worship Him, He facilitates our worship of other gods, because Krishna is not concerned with His own glorification.
He’s concerned with our elevation. And then He talks about how the result of worshipping other gods cannot be as, is not as glorious as worshipping Him. It’s not eternal.
But still, that result also comes from Him. And then He describes how He is never under ignorance. All living beings are covered by illusion, but He is beyond illusion.
He knows past, present and future. And then He goes into some technical terms, which Arjuna immediately picks up. Adhibhuta, Adhiyagyandhi.
What are these terms? Arjuna asks. That’s the eighth chapter, beginning. And then in that eighth chapter, a significant theme comes up of death.
Arjuna, Krishna has mentioned at the end of the seventh chapter that if one remembers Him at the time of death, one will attain perfection. And Krishna immediately asks, how can one remember? Arjuna asks, how can we remember at the time of death? And then Krishna describes that by meditating on His glories. He gives general principle that whatever we remember at the time of death, that state we will attain.
And therefore, we should strive to remember Him. As he strives to remember Him, by practice, it will become possible. So then tells Arjuna, Arjuna, you have to fight.
That’s your external activity. But internally, you should focus on remembering Me. And do this simultaneously, and then you will surely attain perfection.
And here, now Krishna compares Ashtanga Yoga and Bhakti Yoga explicitly. There’s an implicit comparison when Krishna has declared Bhakti Yoga to be the highest. But now he says, actually, the only place in the Bhagavad Gita where Krishna says this, Sulabha, a perfection can be attained easily by those who practice Bhakti Yoga.
And then he describes the eternal world that is beyond this temporary world, which is a place of misery, and how that world can be attained by being devoted to Him. Krishna describes, analyses the whole material existence, even the abode of the greatest of all gods like Brahma as temporary. And His abode alone is eternal.
Then the Bhagavad Gita goes back to the Vedic themes of the two paths, Devyan and Pitrayan, and how one leads to an eternal destination and another to the destination that is elevated, but then it is not eternal. And finally, Krishna concludes, oh, don’t bother about these technicalities, just devote yourself to Me. And whatever results might have been attained by various other paths, you will get that, and you’ll get even greater result.
Oh, Arjuna, keep marching ahead confidently in devotion. And in the 9th chapter, Krishna again, without any question from Arjuna, speaks further on the theme of devotion. And whatever is the 3rd and 5th chapters of the Gita are similar, similarly 7th and 9th are similar.
And in the 9th chapter, Krishna talks about how this is the most secret knowledge that He is telling him. And therein He describes how, again, He pervades the material existence, how material existence was under His nature, how those who decry His personal form, they suffer frustration in all their endeavours, and how He, how those who devote themselves to Him single-mindedly are personally protected by Him. And He describes the worship of Bhaktivedanta, He describes the Virata Rupa, He describes Vibhuti, themes which we’ll elaborate in the next chapter.
And then here, especially in the 9th chapter, Krishna describes His, the glory of His devotion in very moving terms. He describes how He is so accessible in contrast with the worship of the demigods, which requires elaborate sacrifices, which are often expensive and cumbersome. Krishna says that all that He asks for is devotion.
And if we just offer Him a fruit, a flower, a leaf, or just some water, He accepts it. And it is offered with devotion. And then He is so accommodating that even if one does not have devotion, He says, at least whatever you do, you offer it to Me.
And by that, you become elevated. So, describing the glory of Bhakti, He says the result is eternal as compared to the result of the worship of other gods. And He says it’s simple.
And not only simple, He says that actually, even if one commits sinful activities, still one remains the same. This is a very moving section in Bhagavad Gita where Krishna says that even if My devotee falls to sin again and again, still that devotee is glorious because that devotee is determined in service to Me. My devotee will never perish, Krishna says.
My devotee will never perish. So, this is not just talking about protection of the physical body that Krishna can give if He wants. But more importantly, it also refers to spiritual protection.
And even devotee falls down, a devotee never falls away. Fall down means to not be able to stay up to the standards. Fall away means to give up Krishna Bhakti.
So, Krishna says as long as a devotee doesn’t give up Krishna Bhakti, devotee continues serving, then that person is to be considered a saint, Krishna says. And soon that person will be reformed and I will protect that person personally. So, in this chapter come two moving expressions.
First in 9.22 and then 9.32 again, 9.31 again, Krishna says, I carry what My devotees have, possess and I provide what they lack. And then He says, I will ensure they are protected even if they fall away. So, here He says that Bhakti protects one or cures one of one’s sinful activities.
And then He says, Bhakti is so universal that even people who are low born, they can also practice Bhakti. There is no material qualification required for the practice of Bhakti. And in this way, Krishna invites Arjuna, man-mana bhava mad-bhakta, the same verse that will repeat at the end of the Gita is now repeated.
Just practice devotion to Me and by that you will come to Me. It’s one of the very stirring section in the Gita where Krishna glorifies the eternality, the result of the Bhakti, the simplicity of Bhakti, the purity of Bhakti and the potency of Bhakti. And in that way, He urges Arjuna to practice Bhakti.
And then Krishna goes further and He talks about how He is now to inspire Arjuna to practice Bhakti more. Krishna talks about His glories more and how He is the source of all living beings in the world and how knowing Him is the means to become free from material existence. And then from 10.8 to 11 comes the Chatur Shloki Gita, what Ramanujacharya in his commentary is called and many other acharyas have told us.
The four verses that give the distilled essence of the Gita. The first verse says, Krishna says, I am the source of everything and those who know Me become wise and devote themselves to Me. So here Krishna says that the heart follows the head.
So it’s not that when one becomes intelligent, one gives up devotion. No! When one becomes intelligent, when one becomes Buddha, one accepts, embraces devotion wholeheartedly. And then after that next verse says that those devotees who accept Him with the whole heart, they delight in talking about Him and in that they experience supreme bliss.
Their words, their life, their body, everything is devoted to Krishna. And then He says, those who engage themselves in the service, Krishna says, I personally give guidance for them to overcome all obstacles and come to Me. And even if their heart is dark because of any past sinful activities, Krishna says that I will provide the light of knowledge and free them from the darkness, remove the darkness over there.
On hearing this, Arjuna is moved. Arjuna says, Krishna, I accept you as the supreme truth. I accept you as the Parambrahma.
I accept you as the ultimate, absolute truth. This is what the great sages have spoken about in the past. And now this is what you have repeated.
And now sometimes people say the Bhagavad Gita has as many meanings, no one consistent meaning, but this Bhagavad Gita has many layers of meaning, but many layers of meaning in terms of that it talks about many paths. But if you want to know the conclusion of the Gita, we have to look at the understanding of the original student of the Gita and Krishna and Arjuna is clearly telling His understanding over here. Krishna, you are the absolute truth and there is no truth higher than you.
So then He says, Krishna, I accept all that you say, but I want to hear more about you. Your glories are so sweet. When we love someone, we want to hear more and more about that person.
So I want to hear about you, Krishna. Please speak more and more of your glories. And please tell me how you pervade material existence, because people cannot think about your transcendental glories directly.
So if you tell how you pervade this existence, how we can think of you while you are in this existence, then we will be able to think of you more easily. And Krishna describes how He is Indra among the gods, how He is the Himalayas among the mountains, how He is the shark among the aquatics, how He is the lion among the animals. And He describes how the best of everything manifests His glory.
So what is Krishna telling over here? He’s saying that actually He is the one above everything, who also manifests as the one in everything. That means Krishna is transcendental, beyond material existence. But the one above the many, the transcendental, manifests as the one in the many.
As the immanent, He manifests as the best among all this. So a lion has phenomenal speed and strength that makes Him the king. What has made the lion like that? That is Krishna’s grace.
So whatever attracts us in this world, how does it get its attractive potency? Krishna comes from a spark of His splendor. So whatever attracts us, actually it is Krishna to whom we are attracted. So in this way, the Bhagavad Gita offers a profound principle for redirecting our love from this world to Krishna by saying that whatever we are attracted to, we don’t deny that it is not attractive.
We don’t say that, oh, it’s all illusory. We say, yes, it is a spark of Krishna’s attractiveness. So just as a spark cannot provide the same illumination and warmth as a full flame can, a full fire can, similarly, the things of this world cannot fully satisfy us.
But knowing that this beauty comes, this potency comes from Krishna, it’s a spark, rather than rejecting it as false, we can use it as a reminder. Oh, this is so attractive. How much more attractive will Krishna be? Let me become attracted to Krishna.
Therein, let me find supreme satisfaction. And in this way, we can all direct our attention, our thought from the things of this world to Krishna. And eventually, we can return back to Krishna, to eternal life with Him.
And this is how Krishna is now telling Arjuna that you are on the battlefield. And how will you practice bhakti yoga? You will see great, great warriors on this battlefield. This is the implication that who is your power you see.
You should know that that power comes from me. Indeed, your great prowess, oh Arjuna, also comes from me. He says that, So by remembering this, we can let our attraction to the things of this world become a means for reviving and strengthening our attraction to Krishna.
And this is the mystery of devotion, of devotional love, where everything in this world becomes an impetus for us to love Krishna. Thank you very much. We’ll continue discussing on the Bhagavad Gita in our next