Bhagavad-gita 18.17. The Essence of Saranagati is Gratitude
Bhakti Vijnana Goswami · Alachua · 2022
Chapters
Oṁ namo bhagavate vāsudevāya, oṁ namo bhagavate vāsudevāya. Oṁ namo bhagavate, Nārāyaṇaṁ namaskṛtya, nāraṁ caiva narottamaṁ, devīṁ sarasvatīṁ vyāsaṁ, tato jayam udīrayet. Hare Krishna.
Very honored and at the same time humbled to speak in front of all of you. To speak during Sunday feast class is the most difficult thing in the world
because you have an audience people who have been listening Sunday Feast lectures for 40 plus years and know everything.
And at the same time, sometimes you have completely new people and it's very difficult to figure out how to speak and what to speak.
So I'm praying for the mercy of Śrīla Prabhupāda to give me some inspiration to say something which would also be worthwhile for you and perhaps for myself.
Bhagavad-gita verse on action without ego
So I thought a little bit of the topic and I will speak on the 17th verse of the 18th chapter of Bhagavad-gītā, where Kṛṣṇa makes a very potentially very controversial statement.
Statement which some people may not appreciate. Yasya yasya nāhaṅkṛto bhāvo buddhir yasya na lipyate, hatvāpi sa imāṁ lokān na hanti na nibadhyate.
lokam, lokam na hanti hanti na nibadate nibadhyate yasana hamkritobavo sanahamitobavo Buddhiryasyanalipyate, Buddhirasyanaliate, Hattwapina Imalucan, Hattwima Lokam Hatwapisaimalokamantinanibadhyate,
Nahanti na nibadhyate. Yasana Hamkrito Bavu, Buddhiryasyanalipyate, Budityasyanalipyate, Katvapina Saimaloakan, Patwati Sai, Nahantina nibadate,
Yasya: one whose; na: never; ahaṅkṛtaḥ: of false ego; bhāvaḥ: nature; buddhiḥ: intelligence; yasya: one whose; na lipyate: is not attached; hatvā: killing; imān: this; lokaṁ: world; na: never; hanti: kills; na: never; ni bhadhyate becomes entangled Translation and purport by His Divine Grace A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Śrīla Prabhupāda.
One who is not motivated by false ego, whose intelligence is not entangled, though he kills man of this world does not kill, nor is he bound by his actions. Purport.
In this verse the Lord informs Arjuna that the desire not to fight arises from false ego. Arjuna thought himself to be the doer of action, but he did not consider the supreme sanction within and without.
If one does not know that a supersanction is there, why should he act? But one who knows the instruments of work, himself as a worker, and the Supreme Lord as the Supreme Sanctioner is perfect in doing everything.
Such a person is never an illusion. Personal activity and responsibility arise from false ego and godlessness or lack of Krishna consciousness. It's very interesting.
Personal activity and responsibility arise from false ego and godlessness or lack of Krishna consciousness. So it means that all devotees have to be irresponsible, very liberating statement. Very nice.
Anyone who is acting in Krishna consciousness under the direction of the super soul or the supreme personality of Godhead, even though killing does not kill, nor is he ever affected by the reaction of such killing?
When a soldier kills under the command of a superior officer, he is not subject to be judged. But if a soldier kills on his own personal account, he is certainly judged by a court of law.
Yasyana Hankritobhavobudhir Yasyana Lipya te hatva api sa imallokanahanti na nibaddya te.
One who is not motivated by the false eag by false ego, whose intelligence is not entangled, though he kills men of this world, does not kill nor is he bound by his action.
Misconceptions around divine authority and action
Among Vishnu Padaya Krishna Krishna Bhutale Srimate Bhaktividanta Swami Tinamini Namaste Saraswati Devi Burani Pracharny, Nirviche Sunnawadi, Paschatya Sarini, Vanchakau Pataru Veschripa Sindhu Devacha Patianam Pavane Byow Vaishnavywamon Maha, Jay Sri Krishna Chaitanya Prabunitananda, Shriadvait Hara Sivaiv Sasadhguru Bhakta Vrinda Hare Krishna Hare Krishna Krishna Krishna Hare Hare Hare Rama Hare Rama Rama Rama Hare Hare Hare Krishna Hare Krishna Krishna Krishna Hare Hare Hare Rama Hare Rama Rama Rama Hare Hare Hare Krishna Hare Krishna, Krishna, Krishna Hare Hare, Hare Rama Hare Rama Rama Rama Hare Hare.
So as I said, Sri Krishna makes a very drastic statement, which superficially may be interpreted as a justification for murder, for killing.
And in fact, many people, especially anti-cult people, they accuse devotees or followers of Hinduism that they basically have the indulgence to do whatever they like.
Under the pretext of being under the higher direction, or as Prabhupada puts it, under super sanction. Of course, nothing can be further from truth than this sort of interpretation of this statement.
Krishna purposefully makes this very drastic statement and he he wants to emphasize the point that even up to the point of killing somebody, Hatvapi, even he kills, he doesn't kill.
But he of course makes a very strong condition.
He says that for somebody who has no ahitabhav, not even a hangar, but this bhaf. Bhaaf means the feeling, the feeling that I'm the doer, I am solely responsible for what I'm doing.
And who doesn't have this even the tinge of this buff in this condition when he acts trying to figure out what is the supreme sanction of supreme will.
The one who is who has surrendered his individual will to the supreme will, the one who is truly surrendered because having no ahankar means to be surrendered, to be completely under the shelter of the Supreme Lord.
Only such people they are, you know, they can do whatever they like. They will not do whatever they like. They will never do whatever they like. They do what Krishna wants them to do.
And it's a very uh bold claim, you know. Of course, uh the possibility of misuse of such statements is there. There is no doubt about it. We know that the religious history of the world has plenty of such examples when people claimed that they know the will of the Lord and they created or they did some horrendous activities under this pretext or excuse.
But you know, putting aside this misuse of such statements, let's consider whether there is scientific criteria when and under which circumstances and uh yeah, when you're really entitled to use this verse as an excuse of killing somebody or doing something else.
You know it's definitely this verse is not en invitation to anyone to do whatever he likes and say you're completely Krishna conscious so you know you you guys shut up. I know what I'm doing. So that's definitely not the case.
How false ego causes material entanglement
But still Krishna wants to make us understand the whole point of Bhagavad-gītā is to teach us how to act without being entangled into actions.
And here he clearly says that somebody who doesn't have this ahaṅkāra bhāva, this bhāva of independence, this feeling of independence that I am independent and I can do whatever I like to do, whatever I feel is right.
He is na lipyate. Na lipyate basically means that his intelligence will not become tainted by the by this action.
Normally, when we act and when we have this ahaṅkāra or ahaṅkāra bhāva, when we have this bhāva, I am the doer, the normal result of this is always inevitably is that there will be some impression in your consciousness.
I am doing this and I am doing this for a particular purpose, I want to enjoy or I want to avoid some negative consequences or whatever.
And the result will be the impression, saṁskāra in your mind, and in this way you get entangled.
Because the mechanism of this, saṁskāras of these impressions, the expectations of some result from your work, which is concomitant a factor of your ahaṅkāra. You know, you're acting for a particular result, and it is and the the most important result which you get is not the result which you think is the most important but the most important result is that you get the saṁskāra and you will become prone to repeat the same action again and again and again. And in this way, you get entangled.
You act, you perform certain action, and then you know the impression is there, and this impression accumulates some energy. And this energy will push you to act in a similar
way, to get a similar result and this saṁskāra becomes deeper and deeper and deeper then it becomes vāsanā and vāsanā becomes the cause of your getting another body in which this vāsanā will be full-fledged, and you will act according to the habit which you acquired in a previous life.
Your character is formed by your previous action. So, one very important sign or one very important condition which not condition, but indication which Krishna makes in this verse is that nalipyate.
You know that there is no trace of your action in your consciousness.
And the ācāryas which explain these verses and this science of how to work without being entangled, they say that basically, either there are two kinds of emotional reactions to our action. Either we become very happy.
Oh, I did such a good thing, you know, I gave such a good lecture. My goodness. I never, I never saw that I am capable of giving such a good lecture. And you're you're happy for maybe half an hour or something like this.
You know, and you know people clap you and you're you're very happy. Or you have the guilt feeling. You did something wrong, you feel that you did something wrong, somebody didn't like it.
So these two kind of emotional reactions are there, and that's a sure sign that you're not acting without ahaṅkāra-bhāva. It's a sure sign that you are acting with this ahaṅkāra and therefore the trace, the the the impression of your activity is being imprinted in your consciousness.
And you are getting more and more entangled. Congratulations, you know, welcome to the material world. It's a big place, enjoy it, no problem.
The protective and separating nature of ego
So that's one very important consideration. So this in general, this our emotional reaction,
how do we recognize whether there is a ahaṅkāra-bhāva, this bhāva of feeling that I'm the doer? bhav, this bhav of feeling that I'm the doer.
You know, the ahaṅkāra, our false ego, false identity is very closely related to the emotional side of our nature. Ahaṅkāra is basically directing our emotions.
The emotions which we experience here, please don't mix it on, don't you know, don't misunderstand me.
There are spiritual emotions which are not at all directed by the false ego, which can only be experienced when you're free from false ego.
But the material emotions, which are usually stressful emotions, you know, all this kind of, you know, either you're too much elated and too much joyful or you are too much you know morose about something.
All these emotions of stress, anxiety, fear, all you know all the spectrum of emotions. They all ultimately the substratum for this is a hunger.
The substratum for all the emotions is an actually when we analyze these emotions, why we emotionally react to certain things, we can very clearly see that these emotions are defined by our ahaṅkāra.
When we see somebody who is you know similar to myself, we become joyful, you know, it's uh because ahaṅkāra, the main function of ahaṅkāra is to separate you from the rest of reality.
You're the separate entity, you're very special. You know, can you imagine how many very special people sitting just in one room? You know. Seven billion very special people living in this earth.
And everyone is totally special and away from everyone else. That's what ahaṅkāra does. You're very special, you're very unique, nobody else is such
a unique person, you know, and uh the ahaṅkāra separates you from everyone else and ahaṅkāra uh being the false identity uh divides the whole world into somebody who is like you and somebody who is to your friends and your enemies.
That's a very fundamental action of ahaṅkāra. And of course the majority of the world is my enemies. You know I have a few friends there and the rest is, you know, there is this famous Roman saying, homo homini lupusest.
It means that man to a man is a wolf. How you call it wolf wolf wolf yeah so we're just living with
so many wolves around us you know that's that's ahaṅkāra that's what ahaṅkāra does ahaṅkāra separates you and ahaṅkāra basically it's a protective mechanism. It's a mechanism of your survival.
The most basic instincts of survival are recorded within our false ego, within our ahaṅkāra. And it's a very deeply rooted mechanism structure within our conditioned consciousness.
You know, so when Krishna says, when you have no Ahankritabhava, please don't take it cheaply. It's not an easy achievement. It's not something which you can achieve in a in a moment, you know, I don't I have no ahaṅkāra.
You know, sometimes we feel I have no false ego, you know. I'm yeah, I am a spirit soul, you know, I am a little manjari in a spiritual world serving the divine couple.
You just just just wait when somebody offends your false ego. So all the stressful emotions starting with anger is actually directed by our false identity, this sense of false identity.
And we have this very, very strong sense of false identity which which defines us. It's our definition. You know this is how we define us according to our conception and how we trying to act in this material world.
So it's a very deep script which is encrypted within our consciousness and which has been with us for many, many lifetimes. We are bringing this false identity which manifests externally as a pride.
And we become proud of some certain part of our false identity which we which we perhaps perfected, which we uh you know cherished the most and that's the that's the main problem.
So, Krishna, the main point, the main point of Bhagavad-gītā is actually to teach us how to act in this world without getting entangled into the complexities of this world, into the meshes of karma, how to act without being caught into this intricate chain of cause and effect and how to ultimately get liberated.
Surrender as the remedy for false ego
So that's that's a very difficult subject, but we have to clearly understand and hear Krishna is explaining this that the main enemy of ours is this false false ego.
So Krishna starts from criticizing Arjuna for having false identity, and he ends with the same thing. And he gives the remedy. The remedy is surrender.
The remedy is when you surrender your false identity, when you come to the Lord and say, I'm yours, I'm the part of you, I'm not an independent entity. I'm not on my own.
I uh you know I can only uh live happily in this world, uh even in this world, if I always remember about you and uh try to get your sanctions for everything.
Then only we can na nibadhyate as Krishna says then only uh we can be not entangled or not tainted by our actions.
And we really have to be very, how to say this, very honest and sincere when it comes to judge whether we have false ego or not have false ego. That's basically the constant work.
Everything else will come more or less automatically. Shila Prabhupada liked to impress upon us the beauty of the process of Krishna consciousness, that when we act properly, then so many gifts are being given.
But still, nevertheless, even though there is a lot of things which are coming on its own by Krishna's mercy, there is one area which we should apply our conscious endeavors, that's our false identity, false ego.
And therefore, Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura and Śrī Caitanya-śikṣāmṛta, he makes this amazingly beautiful and profound point.
Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura, in one section, it's a famous, fairly famous section of this book, he explains that different anartas which we have, they more or less go on their own,
they walk away from our consciousness when we read the Bhāgavatam, when we read the līlās of Krishna, when we talk about this.
But then he says: still, nevertheless, there are two anarthas which will not walk away from you, which you have to drive by your conscious endeavors.
And he says these two anarthas are signified by the two demons who are killed by Balarāma.
And Balarāma is the manifestation of our ego in one sense, because Saṅkarṣaṇa is coming from Balarāma and Saṅkarṣaṇa is the manifestation of our ego.
So he said, Dhenukāsura and Pralambāsura, these are the two enemies which we have to make a conscious endeavors to conquer over.
And if we don't do this, then the process of Krishna consciousness will not act automatically.
It will act automatically upon us and it will give us so many beautiful gifts, and it will purify our consciousness from all these unwanted things.
Only if we consciously endeavor to kill the Dhenukāsura, the ass demon, which is braying inside our heart all the time. And Pralambasura, which is a very long and you know, very deep-rooted demon.
And the first, Dhenukāsura, is basically the manifestation of our false ego. An attachment to the fruits, which are a concomitant factor of false ego. If you have false ego, you will be attached to the fruits.
There is no chance that you will not be you may pretend even to yourself that you are not attached to the fruits. I am so detached. But if you have the false identity, no way, no chance.
False identity means you attach to the fruits like this ass demon in Krishna līlā. You know, he is guarding these tall fruits which Krishna wants to take.
He's not even capable of enjoying these fruits himself, but he will not let Krishna to enjoy these fruits either.
This is the ass which is braying within the, you know, within our heart and which is guarding Krishna know within our heart and which is guarding Krishna to enjoy the fruits of our endeavors. Never.
You know, Krishna, no, no, no, no. This is mine. This is this is this gross demonic mentality, this mentality, this is all mine.
And by the way, when Śrīla Prabhupāda says the sense of responsibility is coming from this false ego, he really means this false responsibility.
You know, when sometimes people become overly responsible, overly, you know, they are so diligent and this and that. And again, this is just a manifestation of their false ego and false identity.
Looks how good I am, how responsible I am. And you know, we know the asses besides being utterly stupid, they also like to carry a lot of loads, you know, and they're doing it very responsibly.
You know, this is this is the responsibility. You know, I'm carrying this and I'm look how good I am at these things.
So this is all different shades and different manifestations, different features, different aspects of our false ego, which is the main enemy of ours. Even though we consider it as the best friend.
As I said, the false identity is the protective mechanism. Why is it so difficult to let the false ego go? Because we become very vulnerable and seemingly unprotected when we are without false ego.
False ego is like a shield around us. You know, we're protecting, we're always...
False ego is a very aggressive thing. You know, it's always it's always ready to punch somebody. You know, and if if nobody punches me, I just punch him just in case he wants to punish me.
This is how people think, you know. Nobody attacks you, but you know we know that you know the offense is the best way to defend. This is what is going on in this material world.
This aggressive false identity is there, and it's basically ready to fight with the rest of the world and protect ourselves.
And therefore, coming from this quite cruel and aggressive world where we have to really protect ourselves and there is only one mechanism which protects us that is our false identity, we come to the devotee community and they say, you know, you just become humble and you give up your false
and we say, yes, yes, but I'm not so stupid. You know, I'm not going to do it too fast. Let me hold for this.
It's really, as I said, the ahaṅkāra, uh within ahaṅkāra, this is a certain program, very deeply rooted program within our consciousness.
So within this ahankar, all these survival instincts are recorded or ingrained in it, and it actually teaches us how to protect ourselves.
So, but Krishna says that ultimately, if you want not to be entangled, you have to give up this false, false single, false identity. You know, I remember sometime ago I listened Jayadev Prabhu.
Jayadev Prabhu, I don't know if you know him, his famous devotee from UK, who is doing this, all these regressions, you know.
He was doing his regression thing to to his I believe his daughter uh who who happened to be Mozart in her previous life you know, whether it's like this, it's not the point.
But the point which she did in her regression is very beautiful. And I really appreciated this point which she did. She explained that you know she was a very good musician and this and that.
And she said that I was especially in her trance state, she said I was especially proud of my fingers. You know, the musicians, especially good musicians, they have very long fingers.
You know, to play piano, especially to play these difficult passages in piano. You really have to have—she said, remembering her past life, she said I was very proud of my fingers. And then she said I died.
And Yamadutus took care of me, took nice care of me. And the first things which they did, they started breaking my fingers because this was the thing which I was the most proud of.
So, whether it's whether this is true or not, the point is very apt and very important for us to understand.
Because of this false identity, false ego, we tend to give too much importance to certain things which we have and we we become very proud openly or sometimes not so openly, but within ourselves, we know, you know, I'm I'm good at this. I'm so good. I am the doer.
And you know, Yamadutas say, yes, yes, yeah, very good.
So this is the thing, this—this mentality, this ahaṅkāra-bhāva, this and the bhāva of feeling "I'm the doer" is the cause of all problems and the cause of entanglement and the cause of suffering. This is what we have to clearly understand, very clearly.
If we have this bhāva, this feeling that I'm special and this is my specialty, this is my—the best thing, you know. And if we don't have the real buff, the real buff is this Saranagati buff.
I'm the part of the Lord, I'm the servant of the Lord, I'm doing this. Yes, he gave this to me.
He gave this whole mechanism of the body and the mind, subtle body and gross body, everything is given to me, you know he arranged everything.
So you know the only thing which I the only man whom I could be proud of is my Lord who is so so amazing and who arranged all this amazing mechanism which I'm using
Replacing false pride with conscious gratitude
and the the real feeling what to how to replace this 100k above. Because this is the buff. Bove means emotion.
And basically, we have this emotion of pride, we are proud of this, we are proud of that, we are proud of something which we should not be proud of, sometimes we are proud of right things, but it doesn't matter. Pride is pride, pride is entangling.
And it's emotion, and we can replace one emotion by another emotion.
So the proper emotion which should be the replacement of the false emotion generated by the false ego, by by the whole spectrum of false emotions, starting with anger, anxiety, fear, and so on and so forth, is the emotion of gratitude.
If this emotion of gratitude is being cultivated, and the beauty of this is that you can consciously cultivate this emotion. Certain emotions are not within your command.
You cannot really, for example, even the emotion of love you cannot really cultivate, because it's beyond, it's a gift. It's something different.
But the emotion of gratitude is an emotion which can be consciously cultivated within ourselves in our day-to-day interactions with other people.
What to speak about our interaction with the holy name, our interaction with the deities.
If this emotion, you know, and cultivation means we may not have it so deep, but still nevertheless, searching within our heart, we still say, I am grateful. We are coming to the deities, we are coming to other devotees and with this, with this you know, readiness to recognize their input within our life with this readiness to say what they did and how they contributed in us and what they did good for us.
So this emotion of gratitude will gradually replace the false emotions generated by the false ego.
And uh you know and m when we consider very carefully and minutely uh the description of Saranagati, the six elements of Saranagati and Anukulyasya Sankalpah prati Kulyasya Varjanam Vakshishati Vishva Suvoptritvevaranam Tatha Atmaniksepa Karpaniev.
We will see that uh the whole taking together these elements or features of Saranagati they represent our gratitude towards the Lord. The Lord is protecting me. The Lord is giving everything to me.
This is, according to Jiva Goswami, is the heart of Saranagati, is this Goptritve Nam Tattha. The Lord is my not only my protector in a physical sense, but He is my maintainer. He maintains me.
He gives everything which I have. And that's gratitude. So the essence of Saranagati is gratitude, which can and should be cultivated.
True humility and non-doership in practice
Because as much as Krishna is teaching us to act properly, he's also teaching us surrender and uh this is this is the same this is uh actually the same thing he is teaching us how to act properly it means uh acting with gratitude and with humility.
Gratitude is also a synonym of humility. You know, sometimes people think that humility is some sort of inferiority complex. You know, I'm sitting in one corner and I'm so humble and I'm you know and
I'm afraid that somebody, you know, somebody will recognize that I actually I'm not so humble, but you know, I'm uh and I put chatter on myself and then uh no no actually the the real humility is this uh it has a dignity.
You know, you look at Śrīla Prabhupāda. Śrīla Prabhupāda is a manifestation of humility, but it's a very unusual version of humility. You know, sometimes Prabhupada looks like this, you know. In a very majestic way.
But that's his humility. That's his recognition of his you know deep relationship with the Lord and his gratitude.
And actually that's what Śrīla Prabhupāda himself said that you know never was in my life that I was thinking that you know I'm independent of the Lord.
He made this statement once that people give me credit for this and credit for that. And he said, if I have to be given credit to anything that is that I never considered myself independent.
That I never considered myself as an independent doer who is, you know, who is who requires some credit for for what I'm doing.
So that's that's the thing and you know that's certain you know uh considerations I I could go on but uh I guess you already got the point that we shouldn't jump into conclusion that I'm already f too quickly, that I'm free from this 100 above.
But we should work on this. The main point of this is that that is the area of our work. That is the area of where we should apply our conscious endeavors.
And when the ahaṅkāra of false identity is weakened by our conscious endeavors then you know the holy name will make the rest.
While we are chanting with the false identity, if we chant the holy name with this ahaṅkāra, that's offense.
And until and unless we are chanting with this false identity, we commit offenses, and because we commit offenses, the result of the holy name is not as impressive as it should be.
It still works, but it doesn't work to the same extent it could work. Therefore, the main endeavor, the main area of our endeavors is this area of false ego.
And it means repentance it means humility, it means service, it means gratitude, it means so many things which can help us to become more wholesome and more capable of really chanting.
Because like Sanātana Gosvāmī he says that false Sigur while we're chanting, he says that it has plenty of room to manifest itself. You know, sometimes people are becoming proud that they chant so many rounds.
They go around and they ask, Prabhu, how many rounds do you chant? You know, and they really don't care how many rounds he chants. The idea behind this question is to say, oh, so little and I change so much.
And you know it's not a secret here. We chance 64 rounds and then we become very proud, you know. But you know, we're still not satisfied because you know not many people recognize this.
So we go around and we say you know you know you should chant one luck you know and basically when people start preaching this very vigorously it basically means that they want to show look,, I'm doing this, and you're not doing this.
I am superior than you, you are inferior than myself.
Sanātana Gosvāmī says that sometimes people become very proud, the pride or ahaṅkāra in our devotional career or the field of devotional service can manifest in a sens that si, I'm such a good preacher. Oh I'm I'm such a such an empowered servant of the Holy Name. I spread the glory of the Holy Name all over the place and I chant such good kīrtans, you know.
Nobody does this and you know everyone becomes ecstatic when I open my divine holy mouth and chant the holy holy name.
There is so much room of being proud, even in our devotional career, but the point which Krishna makes again and again and again and again is that you know if you want to do something this is what you should do.
This is what we should do. This is what Krishna will not do to us. Krishna will help, Krishna may arrange some situations where our false ego may become a little not so inflated. There is no doubt about it.
But Krishna will not take, will not snatch away our false ego. He's Hari, he is the thief, he can snatch away anything, but he will not touch this.
He said, This is, you know, this is something very precious to you so only if you want to give it to me I will take it. If you don't want live with it no problem. I have no problem with it.
You have the problem living with this false ego, false identity.
So you know this this false ego, this ass demon which is living within us, this is something which we should conscientiously work upon and try to solve this problem. Then as it is said here, Hatvapi Nahanyate.
Such people, even if they kill, they will not kill. Because if the need is there, the killing will not be done with emotions.
The emotions which are switched or triggered by our false ego will not be involved and there will be no nālipate, the our consciousness will not be tainted by our actions and ultimately, nāni badyate, we will not become entangled into this chain.
So that's important and we should not count on the automatic process of Krishna consciousness when it comes to this.
Yes, there is a lot of things which are happening automatically by the mercy of the holy name, but uh the uh the freedom from the false identity from false ego will not come uh by the mercy of the holy name. It's something which you have to desire to achieve. And you can achieve.
Krishna will give you all the facilities.
Otherwise, everything else is a mercy and we are the product of mercy and we always have to remember and actually the very fact you know if we remember that uh we're dependent on the mercy of the holy name, that's already uh something
you know to start with to work with our false ego false sense of pride I'm the doer and I only know what I'm doing and nobody else is has to do it. So that's um that's a few things, few points which I could make.
Discussion on subtle ego and community support
Maybe somebody else, Mahatma Prabhu is here with so many great souls are here.
So you don't tell us enough about what Pralambhasura. Pralambasura is uh lust, is you know, is our attachment to the to sex relationship, that's mainly this. And see, in my analysis
of the Dhenukasura and Pralambasura, these are two aspects of the same problem, but the Dhenukasura is more our gross identity and our attachment to the fruits of actions and of our actions and attachment to the enjoyment of the by the fruits of our actions. Whereas pralambasura is more like our most subtle identity uh identification with the subtle body with all the programs which are there you know starting with the last.
So these are two aspects of the false ego. First is the gross identification with gross body and the second one
is the uh another aspect of Pralambasura is the pretense, because when we know the lila of Pralambasura, Pralambasura comes and he pretends to be the friend Basura, Pra Lam Basura comes and he pretends to be the friend of Krishna as a little cowhard boy. So it basically means that also this pretentious mentality of hypocrisy which we carry in even in the field of devotional service. You know, I'm coming, but I want to, you know, I failed to enjoy in this material world by the conventional means. So now I will enjoy in this material world by the means of Krishna consciousness.
Like one devotee, I remember he said. I wanted first I wanted to become the great sportsman, it didn't work. Then I wanted to become the great military man, it didn't work. Now I want to become a great devotee.
The same concept, the same false ego, the same uh program is there, we're bringing it here, that's Pralambasura. He is pretending I'm a friend of Krishna, why I'm you know, I'm just you know a little bit friend, just help me to enjoy help me to win so
that's that's another area. Yes, Aknath, I'm curious about whether you know if it if devotees are acting with without you know, the bhava and uh Oh thank you if devotees I'm curious about whether there would be always you know with this super sanction there will always be harmony that they'll always
agree like I'm thinking of pastimes where you know for example, Krishna wants our trend to marry some Rukmini, but Balaram doesn't want it.
And I'm wondering whether two devotees, advanced devotees who are acting with supersanction, still may disagree on what the right course of action is or may even have conflict with one another.
That may be that maybe even though Prabhupada says that in Krishna consciousness there is not two opinions, there is this famous statement which is very puzzling.
I know in Krishna consciousness there are so many opinions about Prabhupada nevertheless makes this statement.
But you know if you're really surrendered and somebody else is really surrendered which is rare enough coincidence two completely surrendered souls together in one room and on the top of the deck quarrelling.
If this rare occasion takes place, then it's definitely for Krishna's pleasure. Krishna is arranging this. And he is behind this disagreement.
So but in most of the cases the reason may be much more, uh how to say this, much more ordinary, not less esoteric, little less esoteric.
So but there is one little point which I m perhaps may add to what I said, which is I was stressing mostly the point of uh what we should do individually working in this area of all
Sigol, but there is a very important area how the community of devotees can help in this regard because if we have the atmosphere which is not threatening, and the atmosphere when all the people you know try to support each other and protect each other, then there is no need for this protective shield of false ego. It will be much easier for people to surrender this protective mechanism and be themselves and be really happy in this environment.
Therefore, the social aspect of this problem is very important. We will never be able to solve this problem individually if we are in a hostile environment. If the environment is still very competitive and very hostile.
Questions on pastimes and brain structure functions
So there is a very important role of the healthy society or social environment to to help us to disarm, to give up this false ego. So that's another important aspect.
Yes, Hare Kṛṣṇa. Very nice class, thank you. I was wondering that in Arjuna's case, according to your uh beautiful explanation, it was aligned with the instrument of Krishna, Nivta Matra. But what about Bhīṣmadev?
Was his activity in destiny or was he making his destiny?
Because when the story goes that Prabhupada gives five arrows, that he took a bab to kill the panda was next day. Was he bound to the karma or svatantra to be? Oh definitely it was ahaṅkāra because first of all Duryodhana comes to him and ignites his false ego, you know, he starts offending him left and right.
And actually the best way to turn on your false ego is just start offending you. And he's saying this and he's saying that. But also there is definitely this element uh you
you know Bhīṣmadev is such a complex personality, so he knows that Krishna will protect Arjuna. So he says this as a response, and uh externally the response
of Bhīṣmadev is as if his false ego turned on and he's saying, Yes, I do this.
But deep inside he says, let me see how Krishna will protect it, how Krishna will solve this problem, how Krishna will solve this conundrum which I will make for him. So it's a mixture, you know.
Uh externally uh there is element of it, probably.
But because Bhīṣmadev is a great devotee, internally it's just a part of his līlā with Krishna and he says, Oh, Krishna will play such a beautiful līlā, I just want to be a part of it. So that's that's the point.
Yes, Prabhupada. and false ego. So can you please elaborate more on that because uh emotions come from the mind, right?
And the body pieces of mind is but emotion comes from the mind but the mind is the switchboard is in the false ego so you know the the false ego is is basically manipulating
the mind mind uh uh creating different emotional reactions but uh the program uh which is uh you know creating this because uh the mind is again is a weapon for the false ego false ego is is there but you know it
uses the mind as its because the mind manas uh is the evolute of ahaṅkāra according to Sāṅkhya philosophy?
You know, ahaṅkāra is the modification of prakṛti in the mode of tamas and when the sāttvika portion of tāmasika ahaṅkāra is being modified for the second time, then manas appears.
When the rājasika portion of tāmasika ahaṅkāra
is modified then this vikṛti will become buddhi and when and when Tamasik portion of Tamasika Hankar, then all the Tanmatras and everything else is created. So mind is totally dependent on false ego.
It's, it's an instrument. It's, it's basically, it's a limp, a limp of the false ego. So the switchboard is there and the external manifestation is coming from the mind.
Practicing gratitude during times of suffering
And this also you can clearly see in the structure of your brain, which is the mechanism of all this manas, buddhi, and so the limbic system, which is the emotional system in the brain is uh, is very much dependent on the deeper layers of, uh, of the brain, which is stem, reptile, so, uh, it switchboard is there.
Thank you, Marash. Grateful that you're here. Um you mentioned gratitude uh as a way of working on ourselves to overcome the false ego.
And it seems easier to be grateful when things are more or less going well in your life.
You know, if uh things are coming to you or somebody appreciates you for some ability that you have, you know, you can say, I'm grateful that you know Krishna has given me this. But when there's suffering or suffering comes upon us, or maybe some bad health comes, you know, I at least I know for myself when I try to say I'm grateful, it feels very artificial.
So if we're in that situation where there's um some suffering or some pain, then how to cultivate gratitude in a sincere way?
Because sometimes just saying that I'm grateful for this, like Queen Kuntī prays, you know, I'm grateful for the calamities, but uh it seems artificial when I say that when I am suffering.
So what do I do what does a person do when they're suffering and they want to react in the right way?
Um, you still say I'm grateful, you know, because if you say this, it still you know has some effect upon your consciousness. You know it's artificial, yes, you know this and Krishna definitely knows it's artificial.
But if you buy uh still nevertheless you're saying this, uh you know Krishna, I don't understand why you're sending this all to me, but still I you know theoretically I understand that you probably won't wish me well. And this is the manifestation of your goodwill upon my wretched self.
So, so if you say this, Krishna will appreciate this and he will relieve you from the sufferings uh sooner. You know, Queen Kuntī could say it with complete sincerity.
We cannot say this with the same sincerity. We will say this reluctantly. But still, if we at least theoretically understand, you know, Krishna,
I know that you know so many times you were with me and you helped me in many situations.
And you know looking back, we can really see that the difficulties which we underwent ultimately was brought some good gifts in our life.
You know, if we philosophically understand this, then even though we may not say it with the full sincerity, but still we may say that yes theoretically I understand that sooner or later or later the the fruit of this will be good and I will appreciate it later.
So you know you can say to Krishna, I can't really appreciate what you're doing to me.
Thank you very much for it, but you know at this moment of time, excuse me, but I cannot really fully appreciate your your grace upon me. But I hope that in the future I will be able to do this I
I don't have a question but I want to thank you for coming and putting the teachings of the Gita in such a beautiful funny way that opens up my heart to to grasp those teachings.
And considering that English is a second language for you, your uh deep understanding and eloquence is so amazing. My phone singer is very happy.