Remembrance of Krishna cuts karmic bondage by providing intelligence taste and love

[Bhagavatam class on 1.2.15 at Krishna House, Gainesville, USA]

Transcript

This is an AI-generated transcript and may contain some errors.
Hare Krishna. So, today morning, this very graphic metaphor used over here, sword in hand. Spiritual warfare being talked about.
So, and the weapon in this spiritual warfare is the sword, which is the remembrance of Krishna. So, I’ll talk today on the theme of how bhakti helps us to bridge the gap between knowledge and action. We all know certain things, that they are good and I should be doing them.
But that knowledge often does not translate into action. So, this bridging the gap between knowledge and action is what bhakti can empower us to do. How does that work? That will be the theme of today’s discussion.
So, the verse says, yad anudhyasena yuktah. Yad, unto that supreme Lord, who is mentioned in the previous verses. Anudhyasena, His remembrance is like a sword.
If we equip ourselves with the sword of the remembrance of the Lord, karmagranthi-nibandhanam. The knot by which we are bound to karma, which is very entangling, chindanti, we will be able to cut off that knot. And then, if this is the power of the remembrance of Krishna, then ko vidas tasyaj.
The wise people cut off that knot with the sword of remembrance. And this being so, then why will anyone not remember the Lord? Ko nakurya tatha. How do we remember the Lord? First of all, we have to hear about Him to remember Him.
Therefore, why will we not eagerly hear about the Lord? And in fact, the verses from this verse onwards, 16 to 32, will describe how the remembrance of Krishna actually cuts the knot. So let’s begin first with, what is this knot? Karmagranthi-nibandhanam. Every action that we do, it has a reaction.
This is at the level of physics, it’s the Newton’s law, third law of motion. At a level of consciousness, also it applies and it is called as the law of karma. Quite often when we think of consequences, we tend to think of external consequences.
Say somebody drives under the influence of alcohol. They meet with an accident. You got the consequence of what you did.
We may say that. But, actually the consequence is not just external, meeting with an accident. The consequence, whenever we do anything, is also internal.
The internal is, when we do a particular activity, the desire to do that activity becomes stronger. So, indulgence in our impulses leads to the strengthening of those impulses. And that is an internal reaction that is inescapable.
The internal strengthening of the impulses is a reaction that is inescapable. So, if somebody say, indulges in something undesirable, somebody drinks once. So, if this is the home, this is the bar, and while going by, they drink once.
Next time when they go by that bar, the impulse to drink will become stronger. And strengthening of the impulse happens in three ways. It is aggravated, it is intensified and it is perpetuated.
So, aggravation means, it is that, not just that bar. Whenever a person goes anywhere, 100 other objects will remind one of that object and stimulate the desire. That’s aggravation.
Intensification means, when the desire comes, it pierces more strongly. Often our desires, our cravings are like gourds. Elephants are huge, but they are controlled by tiny sharp objects called gourds.
And, when the elephant feels the pain of the gourd, the elephant just has to run. It can’t avoid it. So, like that, our desires become like gourds, which pierce us.
And we have to run to fulfil those desires. So, indulgence causes the intensification of the desire. And it also causes the perpetuation of the desire.
Perpetuation means, the desire lasts longer. The desire keeps coming again and again and again. It doesn’t go away.
In fact, many of our attachments, Bhagavatam says, Our attachments are ageless. The body grows old, but the desires don’t grow old. So, basically, this is the internal consequence of every action that we do.
Especially, this applies to all actions. But the harmful effect comes especially in terms of improper actions. When we give in to our impulses, it leads to the strengthening of those impulses.
And this itself is actually a far more damaging consequence than the particular karmic reaction that may come externally. So, actually, the reaction comes externally and internally. Externally, when we see it, that’s when we think, oh, the consequences come.
And sometimes some people don’t get the external reaction. But the internal reaction always comes to everyone. That’s why I said that we may not be caught for our wrongdoings, but we will be caught by our wrongdoings.
Nobody else may catch us and punish us. In today’s world, moral standards are changing. Many of the things which were considered wrong are considered okay in today’s world.
So, moral standards may not be there, but we will be caught by our wrongdoings. And that itself is a bondage. You know, people may be physically free.
Nowadays, people are very sensitive about anything that signifies slavery or that resembles slavery. We want all to be free. Today, physical slavery may not be so common, but there is psychological slavery.
Addiction is basically psychological slavery. People may be free moving in their cars and their planes, but they are bound by their desires. An alcoholic may fly by a plane from one part of the world to another part of the world, but even if they go there, that bondage will still be there and they will be pulled to some bar over there.
So, this is the bondage that is increasingly binding people today. So, Karma Granthi Nibandanam refers to how our desires and actions we do to fulfil those desires. Karma, the word, can have multiple meanings.
At one level, the word Karma simply means action. At another level, actually, I did a whole article on this. There are four meanings of the word Karma.
One simply means action. We do some action or the other. Krishna says, We can never live without doing any Karma.
So here, Karma refers simply to the action that we do. But other times, you also refer to Karma as the law of Karma. Nobody can escape the law of Karma.
Here, Karma refers to the system of action and reaction. By the law of Karma, we are all accountable. Here, Karma refers to the system of action and reaction.
Then, Karma also refers sometimes to the reaction that we get. We are all suffering our Karma. Here, what means, we are suffering our karmic reactions.
So, here, Karma refers to the reaction that we get. The reaction to the action that we have got. And Karma, as it is used here, refers to the fourth context usually.
It is fruitive action. It is action which is done with some desire for material results. So, now, such action binds us.
So, What keeps the soul bound to the material world is the desires to enjoy that world which have been created by past indulgence in those desires. So, actually, the soul and the body are separate. The sun and the earth are distinct.
There is no rope binding the sun to the earth. The two are separate. Krishna says in 13.34 that similarly, the sun, just as the sun illumines the world, the soul illumines the body with consciousness.
However, because the soul has a desire to enjoy this world, that desire to enjoy is what binds the soul to the world. This is how, so, we talk specifically about some addictions or compulsions by which people are bound to specific activities. But, beyond that, there are, all of us are bound.
We may not have any specific addictions, but we are all bound to the body and to the world. That bondage is by our desires. And the fundamental problem for thoughtful people is how to get out of this bondage.
In Christianity, in the western religious traditions, there is the concept of evil. And they say, oh, if some bad things happen to good people or some small children die, when they get some terrible disease and they die. Now, why is this evil present like this? So, yes, it’s a perplexing question.
But actually, why do innocent people die in natural calamities? Why do small children die? That is an evil. But the Bhagavad Gita takes it to a broader level. Why does anyone have to die? It is not that specific death is evil.
All death is actually evil. In the sense that, all, it’s not what we want. In fact, Prabhupada, in 13.9, when he translates, janma-mrtyu-jara-vyadi-dukha-doshan-udarshanam, he says, birth, old age, disease and death, he says these are the evils of material existence.
Sometimes he calls problems, sometimes he uses the word evils. So, from the point of view of the soul, the soul is eternal and for all of us, we feel death to be unnatural. Although we know that we are all going to die, still when death comes, it joins us.
Because we are not meant to die. We are eternal beings. So, for the soul, why is the soul subject to death? Because the soul is attached to the body and the body is temporary.
The body is destructible. To the extent the soul is attached to the body, to that extent the soul suffers. Just like, say, a child may be sitting comfortably in a house, with the mother nearby, but the child is watching a horror movie.
And as the child is watching the horror movie, he starts trembling, sweating, maybe screaming. Nothing is happening to the child. But still, the child is fearful.
Why? Because the consciousness is caught in the movie. And the child didn’t have to watch the horror movie. Why did the child watch it? Because of the desire, I will enjoy this.
So, the soul… In 13.22, Krishna says that the soul becomes bound. Like the child starts watching a horror movie, like that the soul starts getting situated in material nature. Why? Because of the desire to enjoy worldly objects.
And when this happens, karanam guna-sangosti, because of this attachment, the soul meets with good and bad in this world. So now, what does the child have to do to stop being fearful? What does the child have to do? Simply stop watching the movie, isn’t it? Stop watching the movie. Like that, if we could just detach ourselves from the world, we can become free from much distress.
Recently there was India-Pakistan, India-Pakistan have a traditional rivalry. So there was a champion’s trophy in which India went to the finals and India lost to Pakistan in the finals. So after that, one devotee came and told me, three nights I could not sleep after that.
How could India lose like this? So now, the match happened somewhere in England, he was in Mumbai. But what happened? There is a knot of attachment which binds the consciousness from wherever one is to wherever one’s attachment is. So basically, if it’s not attached, then we are not concerned about cricket.
We just laugh. Why are you so worked up about it? So basically, if you could become detached, then you could become free from much suffering. So the path of karma is the set of activities that we do, desiring enjoyment in this world.
Jnana is basically the intellectual knowledge by which we try to detach ourselves from the world. We understand that attachment causes suffering. If I become detached, I’ll be free from suffering.
However, this is where the knowledge-action ratio, the distance between knowledge and action comes into the picture. That this is something which applies to all of us in general, but it applies specifically on the spiritual path also. So knowledge-action ratio means, we all know there are certain things that we should not do.
We may decide I want to wake up early in the morning. But then as soon as we wake up, bang! We shut off the alarm and go to sleep. So we know something is good for me, but we are not able to do this.
This is knowledge-action distance that is there. And this applies especially to the path of jnana. In the path of jnana, the jnana is understand, actually desiring things in this world, indulging in the pleasures of this world, seeking those pleasures, all this will cause bondage.
Therefore, I want to stay detached. But, that alone is very difficult. The soul by nature is active.
To be conscious is to be desirous. To be conscious is to be desirous. Because whenever we are conscious of something, we look at something.
Hey, this looks nice. Doesn’t look so nice. This is attractive.
And naturally desires flow from consciousness. So therefore, how do we actually break free from bondage? This verse says that we break free by remembrance of Krishna. And this is where bhakti comes into the picture.
So earlier I talked about psychological slavery by which we are all bound to various objects in this world. So Krishna also talks about his asha, paash, shatair, baddha. In 16.12 he says that we are all bound by our desires.
And they are not just one or two, hundreds of desires are there. Shatair, baddha. So we are bound by these desires.
How do we break free from this? We say the remembrance of Krishna is the sword by which the ropes, the shackles that are binding us, we can cut them off. Now how does remembrance of Krishna help us to break free from desires? How does it cut off the knot of karma? So this is a whole complicated subject. I will not go into the aspect of karmic reactions in terms of external karmic reactions.
The physical reactions that we are going to do. Krishna protects us from them in various ways. Sometimes Krishna minimises the reactions.
Sometimes Krishna allows the reactions to come but then those reactions impel us to take shelter of Krishna. So the sufferings that come externally, that’s a whole different subject which can be discussed some other time. I will focus primarily on the knots of karma means the internal reactions to karma, that is our own desires, our own attachments.
So how does bhakti help us cut it off, remembrance of Krishna? We can talk about three levels. It’s intelligence, taste and love. So intelligence means when we start practising bhakti, when we start remembering Krishna, just that remembrance clarifies our intelligence.
It clarifies our intelligence, this is what I should be doing, this is what I should not be doing. Now at one level this knowledge comes, this is the knowledge that comes simply by studying scripture. So studying scripture itself equips us and it strengthens our intelligence.
Just like if I have a sword, I don’t just need to have a sword, my sword needs to be sharp. Only then the sword will cut. If the sword is blunt, it will not be able to cut.
So like that, you know, we may know about Krishna in an abstract informational sense. Yes, Krishna is God and there are so many people who know about Krishna that way. Krishna is a Hindu God or Krishna is a historical figure who appeared 5000 years ago.
That sort of informational knowledge is like a blunt sword. With that we will not be able to cut. It is the remembrance of Krishna which is devotional.
That is, we can know about God and we can know God. The two are different things. Knowing about God is abstract knowledge.
It’s more like, yeah, as I said it’s historical knowledge, cultural knowledge. That’s fine. But knowing God means it’s personal knowledge.
So when we remember Krishna in this personal sense, Krishna is my lord, I am his servant, then that itself, that reminder of our identity, that itself gives us intelligence. And that intelligence enables us to cut off. So when we are remembering Krishna, when we are remembering, I am a servant of Krishna, I am meant to serve Krishna, therein is my real happiness.
Then when the worldly pleasures allure us, we can reject them. No, I am not going to do this. So that intelligence clarifies our vision.
Without the intelligence, we start thinking that, oh, these worldly objects are so pleasurable. So with intelligence, we start seeing that behind the pleasure there is trouble. Without the intelligence, we see only the pleasure and not the trouble.
Krishna says worldly pleasures, they taste like nectar in the beginning, but poison in the end. So when we have intelligence, our intelligence is sharpened by the remembrance of Krishna. Then that intelligence helps us to see beyond the initial nectar to the eventual poison.
We see that. And then we can resist that. So this intelligence, just by remembering Krishna, how does the intelligence come about? First of all, when we remember Krishna, we remember scriptures, which give us knowledge about the nature of worldly pleasures, the nature of spiritual happiness.
And that itself equips us. Beyond that, intelligence is also given by Krishna. It’s one thing to know abstractly.
It’s like, say, if we consider the remembrance of Krishna to be like a sword or a weapon. Now if a soldier goes on the war field and a soldier is attacked, soldier says to the enemy, please please wait, I don’t have my weapons right now. Let me go back to my tent, get my weapons and we’ll fight.
It’s not going to work like that. You know, soldier has to have the weapons ready. So like that, we may have a lot of knowledge in our books, in our scriptures.
We may have knowledge in our notes also which we have made. But that’s not enough. We need the knowledge in our brain.
We need it ready when we need it. And that is what happens when we remember Krishna. When we are faced with temptations, at that time, if we are striving to remember Krishna, Krishna will give us the intelligence.
Yeah, you shouldn’t do this. So how that happens is actually miraculous. Memory itself is in many ways a miracle.
What we remember, what we don’t remember. But when devotees, as devotees, we try to remember Krishna sincerely while practising bhakti, then that remembrance grants us the intelligence at the right time. When we are tempted, we should not be doing this.
Don’t do this. We may not even at that particular moment rationally process why I should not do this. But yes, I should not do this.
And then that voice of Krishna will come and then we’ll be able to remember. This is the philosophy. These pleasures are like this.
I should not do this. I should not get angry because it will get me into trouble. Whatever it is, the impulse which you are pushing us.
So sometimes we feel that at that time I just keep forgetting when the temptation comes. But actually if we continuously, consistently strive to remember Krishna, then at that time Krishna will remember us and Krishna will give us the intelligence. And that intelligence itself acts as a means by which we cut off the bondage of karma.
The second is that the remembrance of Krishna gives us taste. The first level is this is the good thing to do. That’s what intelligence tells us to do.
This is the right thing to do. It’s basically on the level of morality. This is the right thing to do and therefore I’ll do it.
But usually people often think of morality as pleasure depriving. That this is the right thing to do. I don’t feel like doing it.
In doing this thing I will lose so much pleasure. But from the level of morality, Krishna gives us strengthens our moral intelligence. Beyond that the practise of bhakti starts giving us taste.
And when we get taste, that means remembrance of Krishna itself starts becoming joyful. And when it becomes joyful, at that time worldly pleasures can’t allure us so much. Because we feel yes there may be some pleasure there, but there is much better pleasure here.
Usually how does temptation allure us? By making us feel that we are missing something. You are missing this delicious food. You are missing this exciting match.
You are missing this, you are missing that. How long can you keep missing this? Come on enjoy it. So illusion tempts us by creating feelings of deprivation within us.
But once we have got a taste for Krishna Bhakti, once we start getting joy in the remembrance of Krishna, then we no longer feel deprived. Rather than feeling that oh I am being deprived of this pleasure because of my principles, we start feeling that indulgence in these pleasures will deprive me of the joy of remembrance of Krishna. So we feel this joy is so wonderful that I don’t want to give this up.
And that’s how Vishwanath Chakrathakur in the first canto, he says, in later chapter, Narada Vyasa Amavat, 4th, 5th, 6th chapter, he says that a devotee is haunted by the ghost of rasa. Rasa is higher spiritual happiness. And he says once a devotee tastes the remembrance of Krishna, then that taste never goes away.
The devotee may still indulge in worldly pleasures, but devotee will not get any happiness over there. Not get any happiness over there. And even if not consciously, subconsciously we will be remembering oh that joy of the kirtan, that joy of Krishna katha, that joy of worshipping the deity, that joy of serving Krishna, that was much better.
And that way we will be pulled back to Krishna. So by the practise of bhakti, consistently, by consistently remembering Krishna, we’ll get taste. And this taste acts as a much more forceful sword.
Because at intelligence level also this is the right thing to do. But I don’t, there is so much pleasure, I don’t give it up. But when it comes to taste, at that time, if I do this, I will lose pleasure.
So then what happens is we become much more convinced. The sword becomes, you could say in a sense, sharper. So the sword of taste is sharper than the sword of simply intelligence.
But beyond that there is love. As we keep remembering Krishna, initially we may not really have a personal relationship with Krishna. We understand that Krishna is a person and I am a person.
But as we keep practising bhakti, as we keep associating with devotees, as we keep hearing Krishna’s pastimes, then we start getting a sense of a personal relationship with Krishna. And we want to please Krishna. And we don’t want to displease him.
And we know that loving and serving him will please him. That love for Krishna will naturally take our thoughts towards Krishna. And when our thoughts go towards him, the thoughts will not go towards other things.
So wherever there is love, there is no effort required to think of the object of love. Naturally, a mother who has a small baby and she loves the baby, the mother doesn’t have to be reminded of the baby. Mother actually thinks of the baby.
In Virajalila it is described that the gopis who are considered the topmost devotees of Krishna, when Krishna left them, they started thinking if Krishna has left us, if Krishna has forgotten us, we will also forget him. How can we forget him? They said, you know, all the yogis, they thought, one of them thought that the yogis actually, they perform yogic meditation to forget their attachments. So we will perform yogic meditation to forget Krishna.
And they sat in meditation. And they would sit in meditation. And in a few moments they would meditate and suddenly one of the gopis would say, you know, Krishna, they would hear some bird flying in the sky, you know, Krishna would say like this and you would see this bird.
And then all of them would start talking. And they would keep talking. And they would say, hey, we are supposed to forget Krishna.
What happened? So when the love is there, the natural thoughts will go towards Krishna. So just as at present our thoughts will naturally go towards our attachments and their love for Krishna, at that time our thoughts will naturally go towards Krishna. And when that happens, then the bondage of karma will be completely cut.
So at present, it’s like the noose of desires will fall on us. Sometimes you may have seen in movies, somebody is trying to run away and somebody from behind wants to catch them, throws a noose. And the noose falls on them.
They are running and they get caught. So like that right now, you know, we all try to move towards Krishna, but the noose of desire is thrown. And we, hey, what happened? Suddenly, just now I was feeling so devotional, now what happened? What happened to my feelings? We are pulled back.
So right now, what will happen is when the noose falls, rather than getting pulled back, if somebody is pulling with the noose, it’s not just a matter of brute force. Now if that person is caught, the noose has fallen on me, I can’t pull back. I can’t pull against that.
But if I have a sword, with the sword I cut off. So like that, when our desires suddenly, actually how our desires change is quite alarming. At one moment we have been feeling devotional and the next moment, suddenly a completely opposite desire, not just a desire, a very forceful desire comes up.
So that’s how, what has happened is, the noose has suddenly fallen on us. And it’s pulling us down. So, it’s not that, we shouldn’t think that I am necessarily fallen or sinful or anything like that.
It’s just, it’s not that when we were feeling devotional that was being hypocritical or false. It’s not like that. It’s just that by our past karma we are vulnerable.
And sometimes when the noose falls, suddenly we will be pulled towards certain things. And we cannot just will away the desire. At that time we need the weapon.
So, if when the desire comes upon us, we just remember Krishna. We chant His holy names, recite some verses or just look at our favourite deities. Whichever is our most accessible and relishable way to remember Krishna, if we connect to that.
For some of us it may just be kirtans. We just remember some tune or we sing some tune. That may well attract.
Some of us it may be just songs. We recite some songs and that’s what connects us with Krishna. So, when we do that, that becomes like the sword with which we cut off the bondage.
So, right now, at our condition stage, the nooses will keep falling on us. When the noose falls, rather than getting alarmed, we need to become activated. Activated in trying to remember Krishna.
And we cut off the bonds. And to keep remembering Krishna, we need to this verses regularly keep hearing about Krishna. Because if we don’t hear regularly, then we may know about Krishna but all that knowledge goes to the background of our mind.
It is the background of our memory. It doesn’t come. It doesn’t come to our access.
Like, the noose has fallen and the sword is at home. What do I do then? The sword has to be with me at that time. And I have to also remember the sword is there.
I have to use it to cut it. So, ko na kuryat athaate. In this way, understanding the glory of remembrance of Krishna, we can wholeheartedly hear about Him.
And how this process of hearing leads to the cutting off the knot of karma, that will be described in the next verses. But I summarised, I just analysed and summarised it briefly today. So I spoke about three parts.
First is how we are bound. So, we are bound by our desires. Karma has external reaction in terms of karmic consequences that we may suffer.
That may or may not come immediately but the internal consequence always comes. That is, when we indulge in an impulse, the impulse becomes aggravated, intensified and perpetuated. So we may not be caught for our wrongdoings but we will be caught by our wrongdoings.
They become like ropes that bind us to the objects of our attachments. Today there will not be much physical slavery but there is psychological slavery in the form of addiction, compulsion. And this, breaking this bondage is very important for us if we are to be free.
Truly to do anything worthwhile in our life. And that freedom is sought by the jnanis through knowledge. Oh, this causes bondage.
So I will not do this. But that’s the second part that knowledge is not enough. There is a gap between knowledge and action.
We know something is right but we are unable to do it. Why? Because the ropes pull us. Because the noose falls on us and knowing I want to go this way but I am being pulled this way.
So we can’t resist it. So knowledge alone is not enough. And we discussed about how remembrance of Krishna helps us become free from the bondage of karma.
There are three ways. What are the three ways? Do you remember? Intelligence, taste, love. Intelligence means we clearly understand, you know, this is the best thing for me to do.
And not just in an abstract or informational sense. Remembrance of Krishna is in a devotional sense. He is my Lord.
So at that time if we cultivate the remembrance of Krishna diligently, then even when temptations come, Krishna will give us the remembrance. Krishna will sharpen our intelligence. And He will give us the sense, no, I should not do this.
And then we will remember. Okay, why I should not do this? So it’s like remembrance of Krishna provides the intelligence which is like a ready weapon. Not a weapon in the tent when we are attacked.
And then it also offers us taste. So the intelligence, we know this is the right thing to do. But the taste, we also like to do it.
Temptations, they allure us by creating feelings of deprivation within us. But when we remember Krishna and we can join the remembrance of Krishna, then we see that indulging in those temptations will be deprivation. When that perspective changes, then we can resist the temptations much more determinedly.
And beyond that when there is love, when we have personal relationship with Krishna, we want to please Him. And we don’t want to do the thing which displeases Him. And our thoughts naturally flow towards Him.
Then at that time we go beyond the noose of desires. So the noose won’t fall on us because we have gone beyond the range where desires can captivate us. But till then if the noose falls, we have to have the sword of remembrance of Krishna diligently with us with which we can cut off that bondage.
And for that we need to regularly hear about Krishna because that will give us the stuff for remembering Him. So thank you very much. Hare Krishna.
Any comments or questions? See, the desires that occur in the mind, we can distract by remembering Krishna. But if the desires originate in the body, then how can we distract ourselves from those desires? Say, if hunger arises. See, we are not meant to deprive ourselves of bodily ease.
Krishna says, Yuktahar Viharas. There has to be regulated eating and other bodily needs satisfaction. In fact, Krishna says strongly that one who eats too little or one who eats too much.
A person cannot be a yogi. Naate asanasas tu yogosti, na chai kaanta manasnatah. So in that sense, hunger is not to be denied.
Hunger is a bodily need that needs to be fulfilled. So basically there is a difference between what you could say biological hunger and psychological hunger. So biological hunger is need.
The body is a vehicle. It needs fuel and it needs to be given. Now psychological hunger is where we use food not to satisfy the body but to gratify the mind.
That means we use food for comfort, food for pleasure, food for relief. And then basically the difference between the two largely is psychological hunger is characterised by untimeliness and specificness. Let me say if I have fuelled my car and I have enough fuel to go to 100 miles.
And then suddenly after 30 miles the fuel metre starts saying, fuel is over, fuel is over. What does it mean? Then it means the fuel metre is not working properly. The fuel is there but the fuel metre is not working properly.
So say if I have taken one meal properly and it is supposed to go for 4-5 hours. But after 1-2 hours suddenly I start feeling hungry. And I have not done anything which will actually trigger my hunger.
Then basically that hunger which is untimely is psychological hunger. And secondly when the hunger is specific. Now we will be hungry for food.
But if I am hungry for gulab jamun, then that specificness is usually coming from the mind. It is not coming from the body. Now again this does not mean that we have to deprive the body.
In the process of bhakti there is a regulated fulfilment of the desires for food also. Sometimes of course when we have to do fasting then we have to distract. So how do we distract at those times? At that time basically the body when it pushes us towards something its pushing goes through phases.
That means say if we consider hunger. Say normally when we have to fast at a particular time when we eat food. We start every morning we take breakfast and say we are fasting on a particular day.
Then at that time the hunger starts tormenting us. But just as in a vehicle when it says the fuel is getting over most vehicles have some reserve fuel within it. So like that the body has reserve energy.
So when we fast at that time the reserve energy starts getting tapped. But before the reserve energy will get tapped the body will torment us. Come on eat, eat, eat.
But if you just tolerate that phase. And again the tolerance is best done through absorption. If you are busy in something, if you are absorbed in something then we will be able to tolerate it much better.
And then once that phase goes off then the body switches from the normal. Body needs energy. Either it will seek energy through the normal intake of food or it will seek it through the reserve that is there in the body.
In the fat, in the other places. All bodies have reserve energy. So that phase when the body is shifting from the normal energy through food through the reserve that is the phase when we need to tolerate.
If we tolerate then we can resist that or resist hunger also. Does it answer your question? Yes. Are the four meanings in Shastra itself? It says yes.
There krti is used which is similar to karma. I am suffering the results of my own karma. So that the word karma is used in the sense of reaction.
So yeah, I think these four words, these four senses are there in scripture itself. We can look at specific verses and find it. But more importantly the way we use it, we use it in different senses.
There is a verse where Krishna uses these different senses in one verse. akarmanya karmaya pashyet karmanincha karmaya sabuddhiman manushyeshu yukta krstha karmakrut Krishna says one who sees action in inaction and inaction in action is wise among people. Now if we hear this we think I am not wise.
What does it mean? One who sees action in inaction and inaction in action. So what he means is karmanya akarmaya pashyet. So here what Krishna is referring to is karma is action.
Here Krishna is using the word karma in the sense of simply action. Non-specifically and if one does action in the sense of scripturally following and doing in a mood of devotion then there will be no reaction. So there the word akarma refers to the absence of reaction.
So action done spiritually does not bring reaction. So here the word karma refers to action done selflessly. And the second akarma in that karma refers to reaction.
karmanya akarmaya pashyet and akarmanincha karmaya Akarmani here karma refers to action in general. Akarmani means one who does not do any action. So one may be sitting in a forest doing no karmically binding activity.
But such a person Krishna says that person is contemplating in the sense of maybe I could enjoy this, maybe I could enjoy that. Then just by that the person will be bound by karma. So akarmanichakarmaya.
So here karma refers to karmic reactions. That person is bound by karma and is going to get the karmic reactions. So this is 4.18 in the Bhagavad Gita.
This is one verse where we see multiple meanings of the word karma being used in the same verse.