The Gita as a book of love – The significance of the first and last words spoken by Krishna and Arjuna

[Bhagavad-gita class at ISKCON, Brisbane, Australia]

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Transcript

This is an AI-generated transcript and may contain some errors.
Hare Krishna. Thank all of you for coming today evening. And I’ll speak today on the topic of how the Gita is not just a philosophical book but it is actually a book that is essentially a message of spiritual love.
It is a revelation of Krishna’s love for us and it is an invitation for us to love Krishna. So I’ll start with two framing narratives of the Bhagavad Gita. Srila Jiva Goswami, in his commentary on the, in his analysis of the Bhagavad Gita, explains that there are different ways in which we can understand the essential message of the book, of any book.
It’s one of the ways is that anukrama upasamhara. Anukrama is what comes in the beginning and what comes in the end. Anukrama upasamhara.
Apurvata abhyaso apurvata phalam. Abhyasa, that which is repeated again and again. Apurvata, that which is found uniquely in a particular book.
Phalam, and that which is described as a fruit. So these are five ways in which we can understand what is the essential message of a book. It’s like if you are having a class.
The speaker may say, today I’m going to speak about this topic. At the end, the speaker may summarize. This is what I spoke about.
Or the speaker may speak something repeatedly. So a point may be stressed repeatedly. Or some special story or a special example, a special thing which is not normally spoken, that is spoken out there.
And whatever the call for action, phalam, what is going to happen by this? These are broad parameters by which we can understand what is distinctive about a book. So he says, how does the Bhagavad Gita start with? The Bhagavad Gita starts, if you consider, the first chapter is known by two names, traditionally. One is, as Prabhupada uses, that is, observing the armies in the battlefield.
That is, sainya niriksha yoga, as it is called in Sanskrit. This refers to the first chapter, verses one to 26. And verses 27 to 46, the remaining half of the chapter, refers to Arjuna’s lamentation.
So the Bhagavad Gita’s first chapter is also called as Arjuna-Vishadha Yoga. And Arjuna’s lamentation is described till the second chapter also, when Arjuna puts aside his bow, critters, nayotseti govindam uktvatushi babhovaha nayotsya, he says, I cannot, I will not fight. And then, the first word that Krishna speaks is 2.11, asocyananusocastam pragyavadamsya bhashase kathasunagathasumsya nanusocanti panditaha nanusocanti.
Krishna says, the wise people do not lament for that which you are lamenting for. So the essential point in the first verse is that don’t lament. And the last instructive verse that Krishna speaks is 18.66. Yes, sarvadhaman parityajya mam ekam sharanam vraja aham tvam sarva-bhavebhyo mokshayisyami ma shuchah Again, do not lament.
Surrender to me, I’ll protect you from all sinful reactions. Do not lament. Now, after 66 verse, 67 to 72, Krishna also speaks some more verses.
But those verses are what is traditionally called as phalashruti, describing the fruit of hearing. What is the glory of hearing this? But essentially, the first message and the last message, they resonate. And that is what? Do not lament.
Do not grieve. Do not give in to negative emotions. So the message of the Bhagavad Gita is a call to free us from lamentation.
Now lamentation can have many different causes. If you have to understand what causes lamentation, we can look at how lamentation is expressed. One way it is expressed is say through crying.
When people are very sorrowful, they cry. And sometimes they don’t just cry, they may even go further and they may grieve very much by which they may actually go into depression, may even become suicidal. When people become suicidal, researchers have tried to find out what is it that tips people.
That many times we all face frustration. And even the person who becomes suicidal, that person also faces frustration. But what is it that tips people over that now I want to end my life.
So it is especially when people feel unloved, people feel rejected, people feel uncared for. But it’s even deeper. It is not just when people feel unloved, it is when people feel unlovable.
To feel unloved is depressing. But to feel unlovable is devastating. That means if someone feels that there is nothing in me, it will make anyone love me.
No one cares for me is bad enough to feel like that. But to feel that there is nothing in me because of which anyone will ever care for me. Then that is not just a relationship problem, that is the identity problem.
It is a self-worth problem. And that can be devastating. So sometimes when people are about to commit suicide, suicidal intervention often centers on just oral reception.
Just give people a hearing. Let them speak. If people just get someone to hear them in an understanding way, at least somebody considers me valuable enough to hear what I am saying.
One of the main reasons in today’s world that so many people go to psychologists or psychotherapists is not because they are crazy. Yes, some people are mentally so disturbed that they may need some medication. But many people go to psychologists just because they want to unburden themselves.
And there is no one who is ready to give them a non-judgmental hearing. Most of us when we hear someone, we hear to respond. And often we respond in a way by which we already have some opinions about the other person.
And whatever they are saying, that reinforces our opinion and then we pass a judgment. So the point which I am making over here is that if someone feels unloved, that’s bad enough. If somebody feels unlovable, then that can be devastating.
And how does the Bhagavad Gita free Arjuna from lamentation? It’s no use telling a person who is lamenting, don’t lament. And there is a cause of lamentation. Has that been addressed? The Bhagavad Gita’s essential message is that no matter whatever happens in life, there is a God who always loves us.
He always cares for us. And it is this vision of the infallible love of the Lord for us, that is the basis of the transformation that happens in Arjuna. Arjuna is a battle-hardened warrior.
Normally, even if we are in grief, in great grief, we don’t express our emotions in public. Even if you want to cry, even if you feel like crying irresistibly, then also we’ll try to withdraw into somewhere private and cry. And especially for people who consider themselves to be very masculine, very virile, they consider tears as a sign of weakness and they don’t cry in public.
Arjuna is the, you could say, the epitome. He’s a warrior. He’s the epitome of masculinity.
For a person like him to be crying in public, we just can understand, at one level, it is very uncharacteristic. But at another level, it indicates the magnitude of the agony he must be in. And he’s not just crying in public.
He is crying in public at a time when he is expected to perform his best. In war, a lot depends on appearance. Often, the enemy’s morale is strengthened or sapped by seeing how much fighting spirit the opponent has.
So, if they say that, Oh, the opponent is so confident, so powerful, then their morale gets strengthened. At one time, in the final battle that happened between Bhima and Duryodhana, Duryodhana, Bhima was hitting Duryodhana again and again, but because Duryodhana was covered by the armor that his mother Gandhari had given him, he was not getting wounded at all. And Duryodhana was also hitting Bhima.
So, at one particular point, Duryodhana very powerfully hit Bhima. Bhima was shaken. That was a moment of weakness.
If at that time, Duryodhana had followed that up with another attack, Bhima could have been killed. But Bhima completely concealed his emotions. He did not even show the slightest sign of pain.
And seeing that, Duryodhana was taken aback. He said, I know, I have an armor. Does Bhima also have an armor? And that moment of pause, that gave Bhima enough respite to just move back and to prepare himself.
I am giving this as an example that warriors are trained not to show weakness. Because showing weakness may cause the enemy to swoop in for the kill. And that can be fatal.
So, for Arjuna, in public view, and not just in any public view, but in the middle of a war field, where a lot of war strategy centers on intimidation, scare the enemy into submission, for him to be crying at that time, तन्तथा कृपयाविष्टम् अशुरू पूर्णा कुलेक्षणम् विषीदं तमिदं वाक्यम् वाचमतु सूधन कृपयाविष्टम् His eyes were filled with tears. अशुरू पूर्णा कुलेक्षणम् Like if you have a glass of water, and water is filled to the brim, then water will just spill out, spill out. Just a little moment.
Arjuna’s eyes were filled to the brim with tears. अशुरू पूर्णा कुलेक्षणम् The eyes were filled. So this was the situation of Arjuna.
So, from this situation, where Arjuna was overwhelmed, and he had put aside his bow, तन्तथा कृपयाविष्टम् अशुरू पूर्णा कृपयाविष्टम् विषीदं तमिदं वाचमतु सूधन From that position, for Arjuna, by the end of the Bhagavad Gita, what had happened? यत्रयोगेश्वर कृष्णो यत्रपार्थो धनुर्धरह Arjuna had picked up his bow, in readiness to fight. This indicates that Arjuna was transformed. So the message, Arjuna was confused.
What should I do? How can I kill my loved ones? But on one side, how can I kill my relatives? But if I don’t kill my relatives, I am going to let down my loved ones. How can I do that? He was agonized. So, at that time, the knowledge, the understanding, the realization, that whatever be the complexities of the relationships that we may have in this world, beyond it all, Krishna stands above it all and Krishna loves us always.
Sometimes our relationships can become so perplexing. If I do this, this person will get angry. If I do this, this person will get angry.
Should I do this or should I do that? If I don’t do anything, both will become angry. What do I do then? So sometimes you can get so caught in these horizontal relationships and their complexities, we may get overwhelmed. So, instead of Arjuna’s vision being caught, these people, these people, what should I do? The Bhagavad Gita raises Arjuna’s vision up.
Krishna loves us. And my defining identity is that I am a servant of Krishna. Let me see how I can best serve Krishna.
That understanding was what calmed him. So the transformation that happens in Arjuna is dramatic. From being in a position, I just can’t fight the war.
For Arjuna to say that at the peak, when the war is about to begin, it is a matter of great disgrace. It is a matter of permanent infamy for him to do that. But such was his crisis.
To give some idea of what that event is like for Arjuna to say at that time, I will not fight. Suppose, there is a world cricket final between two countries who are arch rivals. India-Pakistan are arch rivals.
India-Australia are probably second arch rivals. So now there is a match going on. And thousands and thousands of people have assembled in the stadium.
And there are millions who are watching on television. And the toss has been done. The fielders have come out.
The umpire is in position. And the batsman is about to bat. And the bowler is in the run-up to come in.
And at that time, the batsman, the striker, just walks into the middle of the pitch and calls the non-striker. And there the batsman starts crying. He says, you know, the pressure in this match is too much.
I can’t play. I can’t play. What do you mean you can’t play now? This is the national team.
This is the World Cup final. You have to play over here. So Arjuna was not a person who would have been overcome by nerves so easily.
But this was his magnitude of agony. And yet, by the end of the Bhagavad Gita, he was ready to fight. So this is the transformational power of love.
The transformational power of love that when we understand that beyond whatever happens in this world, Krishna is always with us. Not just with us, He is within us. Closer to us than the closest person can ever be.
And with this understanding, when we choose our actions, then whatever distressful situation we may face in our life, we can cope with that. So, I’ll elaborate this by using the other framing narrative. The first verse that Arjuna speaks and the last verse that Arjuna speaks.
1.21 in the Bhagavad Gita is the first verse that Arjuna speaks. He says, O Krishna, please place my head in between the two armies. By which, I can see who all have assembled over here.
The significant point over here is Achyuta is the name of Krishna which refers to His infallibility. O infallible Lord, the Lord who never commits any mistakes, the Lord who never fails us. That is the name which he uses in his first address to Krishna or the first verse that he speaks.
And the last verse that he speaks. That is 18.73. He says, Arjuna has been asked in the previous verse by Krishna, Arjuna, have you understood? Have you heard attentively? Has your illusion been dispelled to that question which has been asked in 18.72? In 18.73, Arjuna is replying and says, yes, nashto, moha, my illusion is destroyed and my memory has been restored. How has all this happened? By your mercy, O infallible Lord.
I have become well situated, free from doubt. I will do your will. So here also Krishna uses the word Achyuta.
O unfailing Lord, you have by your mercy enlightened me. Now, if the Lord is unfailing, then how is it that Arjuna went into illusion? Arjuna went into such illusion, such confusion that he was on the verge of tears in public. So at one level we see that Krishna orchestrated Arjuna and this whole incident of Arjuna going into illusion is by Krishna’s arrangement through Yoga Maya.
At another level, we can also see what was it that caused Arjuna to go into illusion and see what we can learn from that. So Arjuna is referring to the Lord as infallible in the beginning and he is referring to the Lord as infallible in the end. But in between we see Arjuna’s fallibility.
What was his fallibility? He, when he is about to start the war. It’s not that overnight something new has happened. The previous night they discussed war strategies, how we should fight the war, with whom we should fight, who will face off with which warrior.
They elaborately discussed the strategy. And it’s not that at night the opposite forces would have got some new soldiers or new commanders or somewhere. The negotiations to get people to get the various kings to choose sides that had been going on for months before the war.
And the battle lines were clearly drawn. So in a sense, Arjuna had no business saying, I want to see the forces. He knew who was there.
But when he desired to see, by seeing what happened, before he saw, he wanted to know, Who is it that is there who is siding with this evil son of Duryodhana? The evil son of Dhritarashtra is Duryodhana. But then as soon as he sees them, he starts saying, Oh, they’re my relatives. Oh Krishna, How can we, by killing our loved ones, be happy? This means his vision has changed.
From seeing them as people who have sided on the evil side, he’s looking at them as, Oh, my relatives. So he goes into illusion by seeing. And by hearing the Gita’s message, he comes out of illusion.
So the Gita demonstrates that often for us, the eyes are the way to illusion and the ears are the way out of illusion. By seeing, he goes into illusion. By hearing, he comes out of illusion.
So Krishna is always Achyuta. He’s always the unfailing Lord. But we may sometimes feel that he fails us.
We want something and that doesn’t come. Broadly speaking, there are two conceptions with which we may approach God and we may even devote ourselves to God. We may devote ourselves to God for what he does for us.
Or we may devote ourselves to God for who he is. We may love Krishna for what he does for us and we may love Krishna for who he is. And these two modes define the difference between, we could say devotion in material consciousness and devotion in spiritual consciousness.
We may have faith in Krishna. Yes, Krishna exists, Krishna is good, Krishna is my well-wisher. But if our relationship with Krishna is based on what he does for me and not just what he does for me, what he does for me in this world, then our faith will always be unsteady.
Because this world itself is an unsteady place. Yes, Krishna does help us in this world. There’s no doubt about that.
But Krishna’s primary blessing is not to help us in this world. So many times when people go to temples, especially within what we call as Hinduism, there are many devatas and these different devatas, most of them, their mudra, their posture is their blessing, hands raised. Krishna seems to be lost in his own world.
He’s playing his own flute. He’s not offering any blessing it seems. But Krishna’s blessing is something special.
Krishna’s blessing is when he’s playing the flute, he played the flute to invite the gopis in the Ras Leela to come and join him in that eternal dance of divine love. And similarly when Krishna plays his flute, at that time he’s inviting us to join him in the spiritual world in his eternally blissful pastimes. So Krishna is telling come and join me in my pastimes.
But when we are in material consciousness and when we worship Krishna, our mood is Krishna, I want to perform pastimes here. Please come and join me here. I want to achieve this.
I want to achieve that. I want to do this. And you please remove obstacles in my path.
You please do this for me. So and if at this level I have it, Krishna is unfailing. That means Krishna is unfailing means whatever I want Krishna will surely do it.
So we are trying to form a partnership with Krishna, a relationship with Krishna. But the terms of that relationship are Krishna, my plan, your strength. My intelligence, your power.
So this means okay I want to do this or this is a problem. Now I can’t remove it. You are stronger than me.
You can remove it. So actually we have trust in Krishna. But we have half trust in Krishna.
Half trust means we, God can be defined by various opulences. One of his opulences is omnipotence. He is superingly powerful.
Another of his opulences is omniscience. He is all knowing. So when we are in material consciousness, we half trust Krishna.
That means we accept his omnipotence but not his omniscience. Krishna, I have this problem. I can’t solve it.
I have faith that you are stronger than me. You can solve this problem. So please do solve it for me.
Yes, it’s good to come to Krishna for any reason. But Krishna is not just stronger than us. He is also wiser than us.
And he knows better than us what is best for us. So that’s why as long as we think of Krishna, or we relate with Krishna based on what he is doing for us, our relationship with him will be unsteady. When I was in Pune, our temple where I was staying was just next to a school.
And the school was typically materialistic children. And April was the month when their devotion would blossom. And they would all come in April.
Why? That is the time when the exams would be there. So God, please pass me this exam. Please pass.
They would come and pray. It’s good at least at that time they are coming. But that is, they are not relating with God for who he is.
They are relating with him for what he is doing for us, for me. So actually we are meant to serve Krishna. Serve Krishna means what? We accept that he is more intelligent than us.
He knows what is best for us. And we serve him as per his plan. If we are working in a boss, working in an office and we are serving the boss.
Now what does service mean? Service we can say, service means obeying someone. Obeying is one thing but there is something more in service. Service means that we understand that this person knows what is to be done and I will do it.
It doesn’t mean we reject our intelligence. It doesn’t mean we deny our intelligence. But we harmonize our intelligence with their intelligence.
So actually everyone wants to serve God. Even atheists want to serve God. But they want to serve God as advisors.
Everyone wants to serve God as an advisor. Atheists who don’t believe in the existence of God, they will also point out if God had existed he would have made this plant like this. If God had existed he would have made this like this.
So the non-existent God for the atheists, the non-existent God whenever the atheists want to give some advice to God that non-existent God pops into existence, gratefully accepts their advice with folded hands and then pops back into non-existence. Actually this conception of relating with God based on what he provides this is good but it is an unstable form of connection. Prabhupada would talk about how in the Christian tradition they have the prayer.
Oh father thou art in heaven, hallowed be thy name, give us our daily bread. So at 211 Prabhupada appreciated that at least going to God for some reason or the other. But then he said that this shows our love for bread, not love for God.
And he gave an example of what happened when the communists were ruling the Soviet Russia. At that time they would hold all the grains, they would hold all the bread and the Christian peasants would go to the church. Why are you going to the church? You are going to go to church to pray for bread.
And they would go in and pray for their daily bread and they would come out and these communists would ask them. So did you get your bread? No. So now you pray to us for bread.
Please give us bread. And they would have truckloads of bread ready and they would provide it to them. God didn’t provide bread, we provided bread.
So now they didn’t understand that God can act in many ways. The same God whom they went inside the church to pray, that God provided them bread through the communists. So God can act through Christians.
But they said, oh God didn’t provide, you provided. Then they became atheists, many of them. So the point here is that if we see God primarily as the supplier of material goods, there are two detrimental consequences to that.
One is if those goods are not provided for, then we feel God has no value. Whether He exists or He doesn’t exist, it doesn’t really matter. There is a system of thought or belief which is increasing in the world today.
Normally we think of theism, atheism and agnosticism. Those who believe in God, those who don’t believe in God are those who say that we can’t know whether God exists or not. But underlying all these three categories, there is a fourth category which is increasing in number and that is called as apatheism.
Apatheism means I don’t care whether God exists or not. I am apathetic about it. So when people see God as a supplier of worldly goods, if He doesn’t supply, they start doubting His existence, they start feeling He doesn’t care.
But the other possibility is that if they can get those material goods without God, then God becomes dispensable. God becomes irrelevant. And that’s what has happened especially in much of the westernized world.
Prabhupada, in the traditional Vedic understanding there were Dharma, Artha, Kama and Moksha. There were these four Purusha Arthas, four goals of life. We try to live virtuously following Dharma, then through Dharma we get, when we live righteously we get Artha, we get financial prosperity.
And then through Artha we can fulfill our desires, Kama. And then through Kama comes Moksha. Ultimately when we realize all these desires, fulfilling them doesn’t bring me fulfillment, I want to get out of this world, Moksha will come.
So Dharma, Artha, Kama and Moksha. Now the challenge comes, in today’s world most people have forgotten Dharma and most people have forgotten Moksha. They want only Artha and Kama.
Let me get money and let me enjoy. So if Artha can come without Dharma, if we can get our desires fulfilled without God, people say, what is the need for God? So God becomes dispensable. So at the start of the Bhagavad Gita, what was the mode of the relationship between Krishna and Arjuna? Senayor ubhayor maddera, tam sthapaya me achyuta, O Achyuta, please place my chariot in between the two armies.
Prabhupada uses the word please, sometimes in his talks over there, but there is no please over there. Take my chariot in between the two armies. So the line of command is from Arjuna to Krishna.
So in the material conception of religion, we think of God as the order supplier. We expect God to fulfill our desires. At the end of the Bhagavad Gita, the exact opposite happens.
18.73, the same word achyuta is used, but the last phrase that Arjuna speaks is, karishe vachanantava, I will do your will. I will do your will. That means rather than asking Krishna, you do my will, he says, I will do your will.
It’s interesting, Arjuna doesn’t say over here, I will fight the war. He says, I will do your will. Because the Bhagavad Gita’s essential message is not that Arjuna should fight the war.
Actually, the Bhagavad Gita’s essential message goes far beyond its context. In the whole Bhagavad Gita, there is not a single verse which talks about war strategies. There is not a single verse which could be seen as hate speech or incitation for war.
There is no recollection of the atrocities which Kauravas have performed. Therefore, you should fight and get even. Nothing like that.
The Bhagavad Gita’s vision is far, far high up. Its vision is, I know Arjuna, you are a soul. As a soul, you are a part of the whole.
And how best can you serve that whole? How best can you work in honour, in dignity, in harmony of who you really are? So Arjuna, by the end of the Bhagavad Gita is reinstated in his identity that I am the servant of Krishna. And therefore says, Krishna, I will serve you. Whatever happens, I will serve you.
And that is the basis of his confidence. Krishna, he speaks a lot of philosophy throughout. But all that philosophy is not abstract philosophy.
It is not armchair philosophy. It is actually philosophy which is filled with ardour, with concern. Krishna is concerned that Arjuna get the right understanding.
And when Arjuna gets that right understanding, his illusion is dispelled. So I quickly go over the last few verses of the Bhagavad Gita to demonstrate Krishna’s loving nature. So at 18.63, more or less, Krishna has concluded his message.
And he says that, iti guhyatvam shastram idamuktam mayanagam. He says, in this way, I have spoken. Knowledge is more confidential than what I had spoken earlier.
And he says, vimrishshaitada sheshenayate chisitathakuru. Now deliberate on this and decide what you want to do. On hearing this, Arjuna goes into deep thought.
Krishna spoke that in the third chapter. He spoke that in the fifth chapter. He spoke that in the fifteenth chapter.
He spoke that in the twelfth chapter. What am I to do now? So at this point, seeing Arjuna pencil, Krishna’s heart overflows with compassion. And then he speaks, Oh Krishna, Arjuna, don’t worry, you don’t have to worry, think so much.
I will tell you what is the most important message. sarva-guhyatam ambhuyah shrunume paramam vachah ishtosime dhrudhamiti tato vakshamite hitam You are very dear to me. dhrudhamiti ishtosime, you are dearly loved by me.
In fact, one translation of this ishtosime dhrudhamiti is, I am determined to love you. We in the material world are determined to forget Krishna. But Krishna is determined to love us.
ishtosime dhrudhamiti And because I am determined to love you, therefore, I am speaking for your benefit. tato vakshamite hitam And I speak the most confidential knowledge. And next two verses, Vishwanath Chaturthi Thakur says, they are like the jewels.
Suppose there is a treasure chest in a house and it contains many precious jewels. So the treasure chest will have an upper lid and will have a bottom lid. Suppose some people are too lazy, who will lift up this lid and find out what is inside.
And for them on the upper lid itself, some jewels are encrusted. Oh, there are such precious jewels over here. I wonder what is there inside, I want to find out.
So like that, Vishwanath Chaturthi Thakur says, Towards the end of the Bhagavad Gita, these two jewels are kept, 18.65 and 66. 18.65 is a call for love. As I said, the Bhagavad Gita is a revelation of love and an invitation for love.
So the 18.65 is an invitation for love. 18.66 is a revelation of love. 18.65 is, He says, think of me, devote yourself to me, offer your homage to me.
Worship me and this way you will come to me. I guarantee you this. Because again, You are very, very dear to me.
And next verse he says, But what about my different duties? I have my relatives, how can I fight against them? Don’t I have a duty to protect them? Don’t worry about it. Even if there are some sinful reactions, don’t worry, I will protect you from it. I will protect you.
I guarantee you this. It’s out of my love for you. And then after that, he gives a phalashruti.
Suppose somebody has fallen in a well. And then the person suffering in the well, somebody comes outside and throws a rope. Catch hold of this rope and come out.
That itself is a big mercy, a big hell for the person who is trapped in the well. But suppose that person says, You know, this rope if I have to hold on to, my arms will pain, my whole body weight will come on my fingers and my arms. It’s too painful, I can’t do it.
So like that, Krishna tells Arjuna for the first time in 68 and 69, that if you share this message, if you preach this message, you tell the world about my love for them, for love of everyone, you will get pure love for me and you will attain me. But if somebody says, My God, who is going to go and preach all over, who is going to share all this message? And Krishna says, Okay. And the person says, No, I can’t hold on to this rope.
So, okay. Then the person takes the rope up and then ties that rope into a, like a loop, a lasso. He says, You just tie this around your waist.
Put this around your body. Let it tie around your waist. I will pull you out.
So, you don’t have to pull, I will pull you out. You don’t have to hold, I will pull you out. So, Krishna says, Next level.
If you can’t share this message, just study it. Just study it. By that, you will be worshipping me with your intelligence.
Normally, when we do aarti, we worship the Lord with fire. But here, we can worship Krishna with our intelligence by studying this message in a devotional mood. If somebody says, Oh my God, I can’t study this.
This Bhagavad Gita is a very complicated book. And like somebody may say that, Oh, but if I tie the rope around my waist, my waist will pain so much. I can’t tie it like that.
It’s too painful. That person takes the rope up and then ties the rope to a big comfortable bucket. And then sends it down.
Just sit inside the bucket. I’ll pull you out. So, that is the next level Krishna says.
You can’t study, you just hear. You just hear the Gita’s message. By this, you will become purified.
By this, you will become elevated. By this, you will become liberated. So, in this way, Krishna is actually making things easier and easier.
All that we need to just hear the message will become purified. And unfortunately, what we do is, we sit inside the bucket. And when we are pulled out of the bucket, pulled up by the bucket, we turn the bucket upside down and fall down.
Actually, we can easily and joyfully practice bhakti and attain Krishna. But we just turn things upside down. Just again relapse into the things which we had earlier found as unfulfilling and given up.
But somehow if we can just do that, we can just stay fixed in connecting with Krishna. Krishna will lift us out. And the verse which I quoted earlier, Krishna asks Arjuna, Have you understood? Have you heard attentively? Have you understood? So, Vishwanath Chakra Thakur says over there, this means, he is saying, Arjuna, if you have not understood any part, I am ready to repeat that part.
If you want me to repeat the whole Gita, I am ready to do even that. For Krishna, there is great concern in what he is speaking to Arjuna. And the result of this, he becomes completely inspired, completely convinced.
And he says, Krishna, you love me so much, I will reciprocate with you. I will do your will. So, to conclude with one point, that we study the Bhagavad Gita, we practice bhakti, we may do various things.
We may chant the holy names, we worship the deities, we may recite verses, we may chant mantras. All that is good. But all this is meant to lead to a fundamental change.
And that change is in our defining identity. Defining identity means, all of us, we define ourselves in terms of some things. Some of us may define ourselves in terms of our professions.
I am an engineer, I am a doctor, I am a lawyer, whatever. More often than that, not only our professions, we also define ourselves in terms of our relations. I am the son of so and so, I am the daughter of so and so, I am the husband of so and so, I am the wife of so and so, I am the mother of so and so, I am the father of so and so.
We define ourselves either in terms of our roles or in terms of our relationships. Now the nature of this world is that both our roles and our relations, they are unsteady. I define myself as a software engineer and tomorrow I go to the office and find that I got the pink slip.
Then I get a question, who am I? I thought I was a software engineer but I am no longer. And if I don’t get a job again as a software engineer for one month, two months, three months, who am I? What am I? The question comes up. So, or we may be invested in a particular relationship and suddenly something goes wrong in that relationship.
So, then if there is a rejection in a particular relationship, then who am I? I define myself in terms of this relationship. I was rejected in this relationship. So, if we define ourselves in terms of our roles or our relationships, we set ourselves up for insecurity.
The Bhagavad Gita’s message is not to reject our roles or our relationships. But it is to subordinate the roles and relationships to our defining identity as servants of Krishna. I am a servant of Krishna.
And as a service to Krishna, I am a software engineer. I work as a software engineer. As a service to Krishna, I am a doctor.
As a service to Krishna, I am a husband. As a service to Krishna, I am a wife. As a service to Krishna, I am a daughter.
As a service to Krishna, I am a father, whatever it is. Now, the nature, once we understand that I am a servant of Krishna. In this world, some services will work out, some services may not work out.
But as long as, if we identify ourselves with our roles or relationships, if one of them doesn’t work out, we feel devastated. If we identify ourselves in terms of our identity as servant of Krishna and see everything else as roles or relationships as services to Krishna, then even if one service doesn’t work out, that doesn’t cause existential identity crisis for us. I am still a servant of Krishna.
So, we understand that my consciousness is like a river. It is meant to flow towards Krishna who is like the ocean. And my various roles and relations, they are like channels through which my consciousness will flow towards Krishna.
Sometimes one channel may get blocked. Temporarily, sometimes permanently. So, if I have defined myself only in terms of that channel, then my consciousness gets blocked.
And then, I don’t know what to do, how to live. So, when one channel gets blocked somehow, then our consciousness also gets locked with it. And then we feel choked in life.
But if you understand that this is just one channel, and I have many other channels. So, okay, if this doesn’t work out, I can do this. I can do this.
I can do this. Actually, every relationship or every role makes us believe that we are controllers. If I think I am a doctor, I think I can cure patients.
If I think I am a mother, then I think, okay, I should be able to train and control my child. So, every relationship makes us believe that we are controllers. And every relationship gives us the realization that we are not the controllers.
Every relationship gives us the realization. But actually, actually to realize that we are servants is stabilizing. Because as long as I think I am a controller, and if I can’t control, I don’t know what to do.
If I understand I am a servant, in whatever position I am in, I can serve. And thus, by becoming situated in this attitude of service, we can always feel Krishna’s love. Because as long as I think I am a controller, and if I can’t control, I feel, what is Krishna doing for me? Does Krishna exist? Does Krishna care? But if I identify myself as a servant, Krishna, I am your servant, how can I serve you now? Then that itself opens doors.
If I want to serve, I can always find some way to serve. If I want to control, there are many places where I am not able to control. So the service attitude is actually empowering.
Because it helps us to see Krishna’s love in whatever situation we are in. So it is said that sometimes we lose practically all control. I want to do this, I want to do that, I want to do that, nothing is working.
So when we are down to nothing, Krishna is up to something. When we are down to nothing, Krishna is up to something. But for understanding what Krishna is up to, we have to look up.
We have to look up and see beyond this world’s dualities. And that capacity to look up, the wisdom to look up is provided for us by the Bhagavad Gita. So to understand what God is up to, we look up by the wisdom of the Gita and just as Arjuna’s composure was restored, our composure can also be restored.
So I’ll summarize. I spoke today on the topic of how Krishna, the Gita is a revelation of love and an invitation to love. I have centered my talk on the two framing narratives of the Gita.
One is, we look at the first words that Krishna speaks and the last word that Krishna speaks of instruction. And then we look at the first word that Arjuna speaks and the last word that Arjuna speaks. So in the first word, instructive word that Krishna speaks, 2.11, do not lament.
18.66, do not lament. The essential message of the Gita is to free us from lamentation. And various things may go wrong and then it causes lamentation.
But the most devastating lamentation comes when we feel unloved and unlovable. And that we can become freed from when we look not at the various relationships in this world, but we look up to Krishna. Krishna always loves us.
He is with us, within us. And from Arjuna’s perspective, the first verse he refers to Krishna as Achyuta. Oh, I’m feeling a lot.
Last verse he refers to him as Achyuta. But the conception is different. He is expecting Krishna, you will not fail me.
Whatever I ask, you will do. So in the material conception of devotion, we see God as an order supplier, as a provider. The problem with this is that if God does not provide, we feel God doesn’t exist or God doesn’t care.
And if we can get that provision without God, then we feel God doesn’t matter. Either way, our relationship becomes unstable. And Krishna is not here to come down to our level of consciousness and satisfy our needs.
He actually satisfies our deepest desires for happiness by raising us to his level of consciousness. He wants us to join his pastimes, not that we demand he join our pastimes here. So the Bhagavad Gita, its essential messages we discuss towards the end.
Krishna reveals his love. I am determined to love you. And I’ll make things as easy as possible for you.
You share this message. If you can’t do that, study it. If you can’t do that, just hear it.
Just sit in this bucket and I’ll pull you out. So what is the bucket we sit ourselves in? That is the understanding, Krishna, I am your servant. So any other role or relationship with which we identify ourselves, that will set us up for insecurity.
Because none of those, all of those require us to be controllers. And we may be pulled off the role of controller at any moment. But if you understand I’m your servant, then that is enduring security.
And in every situation, we can move towards Krishna. Even if one particular channel in the river is blocked, if we are identifying with that channel, we can find some other channel through which we can move onwards in our service to Krishna. And thus, even when we are down to nothing, we can know that Krishna is up to something and we can look up to find that by guiding ourselves with the Gita’s wisdom.
When the eyes take us into illusion, the eyes take us into illusion, the ears can take us out of illusion. Thank you very much. Hare Krishna.
Gaunatai Bhagwan ki jai. So are there any questions or comments? Yes, Ram. Does Achyuta at the beginning and end of the Gita have the same meaning? Yes, it means O infallible one.
But how the Lord is infallible, that is understood differently. At the beginning, his thing infallible means whatever I tell, he will do. So he was more like an order giver and Krishna is an order carrier.
But by the end, he says the unfailing one means he is my greatest well-wisher. If I do what he tells me to do, that is going to be for my good. Even if I don’t understand how it is for my good.
So he is unfailing in the advice that he gives me. In the course of action that he tells me, that is for my supreme auspiciousness. So he will never misguide me.
He will always guide me towards my well-being. So initially the Achyuta is in the material conception of devotion. You will fulfill my desires.
In the spiritual conception of devotion, my dear Lord, you will always do that which is best for me. Therefore, I will obey you. So it’s the same word, meaning is also same, but the context makes the meaning different.
The conception that is associated, that makes the meaning different. Thank you. Any other questions or comments? Yes ma’am.
The Bhagavad Gita is a dialogue between Krishna and Arjuna. So how can we have a dialogue with the Lord without becoming sahajiyaik? Sahajiyaik is not just having a dialogue with Krishna. When we become sahajiyaik, we become sentimental, we start taking God cheaply.
When we think that the relationship with God does not require any commitment. Does not require any commitment. I can just do whatever I want in my life.
I can come to temple and I will have tears of ecstasy in my eyes. Krishna will speak to me. Krishna will come in my dreams.
So that Krishna can talk with us or we can talk with Krishna. Thinking like that is not sahajiyaism. Thinking that I can do that without any commitment to the relationship.
That is what is sahajiyaism. So when we take God cheaply means, I don’t do anything in the relationship, but I expect God to do wonderful things for me in that relationship. So if we are sincerely devoted to Krishna, at that time, trying to practice bhakti as well as we can, then surely Krishna can speak to us.
Prabhupada would say that when you go in front of the deities, if you see there is a stone, it will remain a stone for you. If you understand this is Krishna, this very Krishna will talk with you. So we don’t think of talking in a sahajiyaik way, but we think of talking in the sense that our voice of conscience, the higher voice within us speaks to us.
So if we have to make some decisions, we pray about it. We try to come to the mode of goodness. In a prayerful mode of consciousness we reflect and then a conviction emerges within us.
This is what I should do. You see that there is Krishna speaking to us. We don’t claim it in a supernatural way and trample over everyone and say, Krishna told me this.
But that inner calm conviction that comes, this is what I should perceive. That is the dāmi buddhi okam tam yena mām upayānti. That this is the intelligence by which you can come to me.
So Prabhupada would often tell his disciples when they would come up with some new creative plans for serving Krishna. He would say that because you are so sincerely trying to serve Krishna, therefore Krishna is guiding you from within. And the guidance, he would quote this first important point in the dāmi buddhi okam tam.
So essentially if we have some thought that are burdening us, coming in front of the deities and praying to Krishna, unburdening our heart and making our heart receptive for guidance, then Krishna will speak to us. It’s not necessarily in terms of a sudden resonant voice. But it can just come as a slow clear conviction that emerges gradually.
So we basically learn to be receptive. And as far as sharing our heart with Krishna, yes if something is burdening us, surely we can speak that to Krishna. We don’t make our relationship with Krishna conditional to the fulfillment of our desire or to the removal of that problem.
Krishna, whatever happens, I’ll serve you. This is obstructing me in my service to you, Krishna. Please guide me what I should do.
So that way, both ways, our speaking to Krishna and Krishna speaking to us, both we can do it if our overall life is in a mode of service, then both can happen and both can enhance our mode of service without our going into any sahajiya attitude. Yes, sir. You had a question? How can we devotees build relationships that are not affected by the three modes of material nature? The first point in developing any relationship is to understand that we all are alone.
Accepting our loneliness in this world is the foundation for transcending that loneliness. When we come alone in this world, we endure our karma alone to a large extent and we depart from this world alone. So in psychological terms, they say that there are three kinds of relationships.
They are dependent, independent and interdependent. So only independent people can become interdependent. And from a philosophical perspective, becoming independent means understanding that I am alone.
I come in this world alone and I will go out of this world alone. So after we do this, accept our basic existential loneliness in this world, then we can move forward towards relationships. So to the extent we become dependent on any relationship for our basic sense of identity, to that extent we become vulnerable in that relationship.
Every relationship can give us strength, every relationship can make us vulnerable. It works both ways. So we can’t control whether others will come under the modes or not.
Somebody may come in the mode of passion, somebody may come in the mode of ignorance. Somebody may be in the mode of goodness. We can’t control that.
All that we can control is whether we are under the modes or not. So if we are practicing bhakti diligently and those with whom we are relating are practicing bhakti diligently, then even if we get affected by the modes, that effect won’t stay for long. So one of the best ways to decrease the effects of the lower mode in the relationships is to not act hastily, to develop a pause button.
We normally think of what affects the relationships is sometimes in a moment of irritation or anger we just burst out. And we speak certain things which break the hearts of others, which infuriate them. And that can be very damaging.
So we normally think of our emotions in two terms. One is expressing the emotions or repressing the emotions. But we need to go beyond to a third thing.
That is processing our emotions. When I am angry with someone, if I just vent it out, then that person will feel hurt. But if I keep it inside, I feel choked.
So what do I do? I need to process it. Process it means have a pause button, don’t act at that time. But after that, no, no.
So for example, if somebody does something which makes me angry, I am a writer and I correspond with different people in different parts of the world. So I write emails. So I may write a very angry email, furious.
But I may write down the mail, but I have made a very strict policy that I will not press the send button for 24 hours. And quite often during those 24 hours, that person writes back and gives some information. I just understand there is no issue over here.
Or that person apologizes and they get resolved. Or even that doesn’t happen. And after 24 hours, when I look at it, if I don’t write that email, it’s like a choking within me.
If I send that email, that person will get choked. But in between, just write it and give some release. At least I vented my emotion.
And then after that 24 hours, when the little calm down and look at it, read through the whole email again. Okay, at this point, I’m just being too judgmental here. This is a valid point.
But maybe I can word it in softly. Here, I don’t know actually enough information. Yeah, this is a valid point.
And then I edit the email. And I send it. And I find that not all issues are resolved.
Some issues are complicated. But at least the aggravation doesn’t happen. So, this pause, pressing the pause button, so that we can process our emotions.
With respect to email correspondence, we can just write and keep it. But with respect to day-to-day conversations, we’ll have to find out some mechanism. Even if I’m angry with someone, I decide if it’s a close relationship, we decide that.
Now maybe once a week, we’ll sit together. There is a time when I will express what my concerns are, and you express what your concerns are. And both of us go into that with a calm frame of mind, ready to discuss maturely.
Otherwise, whenever we feel irritated, we try to check, check, check, check. And at one particular point, boom! We explode. And that person is not at all prepared for that.
They are having their own issues. What hit you? What hit me? So, we need to create some system by which we are able to pause, and we are able to process. So, we can’t, while living in this world, wish away the influence of the modes.
The modes of passion and ignorance are going to be there, and they are going to affect us. But we can decrease the magnitude to which they affect us. So that means, if I just get angry and I speak it out, it’s like the sine wave will be huge, the amplitude will be huge.
But if I process it, then the anger will still be there, but it will come out in a moderate way, in a more reasonable way, which the other person can also reasonably respond to. So, by trying to, this basically, processing the emotions is characteristic of the mode of goodness. In the, basically, in the mode of ignorance, when I get angry, I become destructive.
And one way that I become destructive is, I just beat myself up, you know. Everybody treats me like a doormat. Everybody tramples on me.
Nobody cares for me. Everybody takes me like a pushover. I feel sorry for myself.
Self-pity is not humility. Humility is actually Krishna-centered. Self-pity is negatively self-centered.
When I’m in the mode of passion, what happens is, that same energy comes out. In the mode of ignorance, I can’t control even myself. In the mode of passion, I want to control the other person, but I do it in a way that that person gets aggravated.
And things become worse. In the mode of goodness, I think. And then I act.
It’s said that some people make things happen, some people watch things happen, and some people wonder what happened. So that broadly correlates with goodness, passion and ignorance. So if we can learn to pause and process our emotions, then we can minimize the influence of the modes in our relationships.
Did that answer your question? Thank you. Shall we stop here? Thank you very much. Shreemad Bhagavad Gita Ki Shila Prabhupada Ki Gaur Bhakta Vrinda Ki Jai Vidhaya Gaur Pramod