Bhagavad-gita 13.26
Bhakti Vijnana Goswami · Udupi · 2024
Chapters
Recitation of Bhagavad Gita thirteen twenty-six
We'll read twenty-six verse from the thirteenth chapter of Bhagavad Gita. 13th chapter 26th. Any two Evam, Ajanantaha, Arjananta, Shruva, Shrutva, Anibya, Upasate
te hāitaranti eva Mrityum Shruti Parayanaha Anyatvam Ajananta Anyatvam Ajananta, Strutwanibya Pasate, Srityanitā Paste Sru tanibya opasate, tepi chatitarant, tepi chatitarant, Tepi Catarantyva, Mrityum Sruti Parayana, Vrityam Sruti Parayana, Vrityam Sruti Parayanaha.
Okay. Anya others Ajanantaha Without spiritual knowledge. Shrutva by hearing. By shrutva. Anybhyaha from others Upasate
begin to worship they Transcend Eva Certainly the pass of death sruti paraenaha inclined to the process of hearing. You got Kanada. You can read if you want. Yeah.
Our pray pravati indagi, our puttumata savina marga sa viurattari. He is Savannah the Great Baramukia. Addika, Adunika Jagatin, Krishna Pragan Boses the Bagan Chatan in our Savannah Kitchen Otto and Needle.
Take an remain general at the Mulas in the Sarava, Saravaki Kiry, our Prakatinho Hundabod. We says a wagi, Bagonchi Chetana Prakaro, Auro, a thindri companion cared the re and
re Krishna, Ray Krishna, Krishna, Krishna here, Are Rama, Hare Rama, Rama Rama Rare. At the Rinda, Yella Purisharu, Aritagonda Ata in the Killa, Prayana, Paris Colabo. But the Krame now, Yellowna, Attomatical, Sajala.
Ega Ada Paramatana Araden in Nishanda Shawagi Nade. Bhagavan Chitanaro, Yi you go the Yalu Samadil and the Badala Bekagila, under a guatmaka tarkadina, some poonas at the modical.
Paramatmana Jana the Lirva Sivakaragalu Kale Beku. Upa Parish the Bhakti and Ashriana Pareva Bhakavitare, Awaninda, Atma Sashat Kalbaki Keri, Aunajina Sisre, Upakramena, Shouldabak Nastanakirutani.
E Padeli Diddishtavagi, Shavanakriano, Balavagi, Shifarasa Madalaghi,
Recitation of auspicious invocation prayers
Mato Itu, Tumba Suttavagidi, Samani Janu, Samani Chatanjani,
Karayus, Samarti Mundi Ru, Adikrita Vekti in the O Magyanati Mirandasya, Vyanam Jana Salakaya Chaksurum Miritamyana, Tasmay Sri Guraven Maha, Sri Chaitanyamanobishamstappi tam je na Butale,
Swaya Mrupa, Da dati swaantikam, Vandiah, Sri Guru, Sri Utapadakamalam, Srivurun Vaishnavamscha, Sri Rupam Sagradam, Sahaganalita, Srivishakitamsha E Krishna Karunas Indho, Deenaban Jagatpate,
Bob isa bopikakanta, radakantha namu tepta canchanagurangi, Rade Vrindavaneshware, Vishabanu Sudevi, Pranamami Haripri, Mancha kalpatarubia, tripasindu devacha, patitana paneb, vai snave. Sri Krishna Chaitana Prabhunitananda,
Sriadvaitagadhara, Srivastadigaura Bhta Vrinda Hare Krishna Hare Krishna Krishna Krishna Hare Hare Hare Rama Hare Rama Rama Ramahare Hare Hare Krishna Hare Krishna, Krishna Krishna Hare Hare, Hare Rama Hare Rama Rama
Rama Hare Hare, Hare Krishna Hare Krishna, Krishna Krishna Hare, Rama, Rare Ram, Ram. Yanta pravisti mamma prasubam sangiva ja takila shakti darah
swadamma, anyam shahasta charana sravanat vahadim, pranam, o bhagavate, puru sha dubam. Sasia stu viswassa kalah, prasid da tam dyan to putani, sivam mi to diyamana Shawadram
Bhajatata Doksaja Hesitam no Mati Ratya Hāituti. I am very happy to be with all of you this evening.
While we were chanting Hare Kṛṣṇa mantra and then Prabhuja was reading this purport, I was thinking how strange it is that I am somebody who is born in Tashkent, sitting in front of you who are born in Udapi
and trying to explain to you Bhagavad-gītā. It is very Vichitram, very strange. But as Prabhupāda explains in the purpose, this is the mercy of Lord Caitanya. From material point of view it's totally inconceivable.
Uh because uh logically it should be all the way around. It should be vice versa. Actually logically, but as they say, by the mercy of Lord Chaitanya, uh something very special may happen.
Because very soon there will be Palgun Purnima in one month, or little less than in one month, there will be Palgunpurnima, the day of appearance of Lord Chaitanya.
Simplicity of hearing compared to other paths
I think it's very appropriate that we're talking about this verse, which actually illustrates the mercy of Lord Chaitanya to the fullest extent.
In Bhagavad Gita there are so many different upayas are given, so many different methods how to improve the quality of your life.
Bhagavad Gita explains karma yoga, jnana yoga, ashtanga yoga, this yoga, that yoga, so many different upayas are there because one of the meaning of the word yoga it's upaya, it's a method.
But then all of a sudden among all these methods uh Lord Krishna very clearly says here that there is one very simple method. Karma yoga is a very difficult method.
Karma yoga bahu-to klesha. You have to do so many rituals, you have to be so clean, you have to follow you cannot just go to supermarket and get your rice and cook. This is not karma yoga.
Karma yoga means you have to do it in a very special way.
Karma yoga bahu-to vidhana-pavitra, bahu-to klesha-kara. I know some very Paka Madhva Brahmanas who would not eat something which is cooked in a guest, only with the wood and coal.
I with the wood if you're living in some big building, you know, on the twelfth floor, you know, you will be arrested by the fire brigade.
Ashtanga yoga is very difficult, Jnana yoga is very difficult. They are very difficult processes. But here Krishna says that there is one method which is very simple.
He says that there are people who are Ajananta, they are not very knowledgeable. And Prabhupada says in Kali Yuga everyone is not very knowledgeable.
Maybe there are a few pandits here and there, but mostly here, not there. Yes, some people still learn Sanskrit, some people still learn scriptures very thoroughly, but they are very few.
So most of the people belong in this Kaliyu. Most of the people belong to this category Ajananda. They're not very, not very, the pragnā is not very developed.
But Krishna says even though they may not be very knowledgeable, if they simply hear and uh some other people and start because of hearing some other people start worshiping the Lord then they will also at they will also cross the ocean of birth
and death, ocean of samsara. Basically what is being the point which Krishna is making in this particular verse of Bhagavad Gita is that hearing is a very powerful process to change your way of thinking.
Transformative power of humble hearing
In the Bhagavad Gita sloka, Bhagavata Krishna uses śravaṇam, hearing, you know. Śruti-parāyaṇa is a powerful method. and there is a very important condition which Krishna also explains in this verse, Sruti Parayana.
It basically means you are inclined to hear others with a humble heart. You accept what other people are saying. Yes, this vinamrata is a very important quality because without vinamrata bina kuch nahi sambhav hai.
Very nice. So Shruti Paraina Krishna says, Krishna makes this point. If you have this inclination to listen with open heart, then uh it may have a very profound effect on your life.
Because due to this hearing process you will develop the desire to worship the Supreme Lord. And Lord Chaitanya, even though this verse was always there for thousands of years, five
thousand years back, Krishna explained Bhagavad-gītā, but in reality it was Lord Chaitanya who manifested or demonstrated
the full extent of this the power of He was explaining that this hearing process is the beginning of your spiritual life.
And uh what I was supposed to hear we are supposed to hear Hare Krishna Hare Krishna Krishna Krishna Hare Hare Hare Rāma Hare Rāma Rāma Rāma Hare Hare? Now we drive Hare Krishna Hare Krishna Krishna Krishna Hari Hare Rāma Hare Rāma Rām Rām Hare.
Exactly. Hare Krishna Hare Krishna Krishna Krishna Hare Hare Hare Rāma Hare Rāma Rām Rāma Hare Hare. And just by hearing this vibration, something mysterious will happen to your heart.
Those people who are Gnostic, who are atheist, who are not inclined to worship God, just by hearing this vibration, uh will develop the inclination to worship God. If they hear with open heart.
If you explode Bhagavatam, Savana Martinla, our gay Bhagantan Maget Bhaktivati.
It's amazing that Lord Chaitanya's movement is spreading all over the world. It's in Africa, it's in Russia, it's in Ukraine, it's in America, it's in Australia.
Everywhere people uh started worshipping Krishna even though it was not their tradition even though it's not their culture still this inclination appears just because they hear this Hare Krishna mantra.
Bada Vishmaya Karicia, Ecadere, Bottas to Birrich, Australia, Africa, South America, Bible, Jaguar, the Kura, Little General, Bagantan, Pujans Ruman, Ecadre, our Christian Arake is the Mantra over here, Shauna Mariakus.
I have many friends in this BAPS Swaminarayan Sampradaya. Building this beautiful temples everywhere in London, also in in Africa, in America. They're building this beautiful temple, very impressive temples.
Africa than America then? Even in Abu Dhabi. Abu Dhabi. Yeah, amazing Abu Dhabi could be a then I asked one Swamiji who is one of the main Swamijs there. You know, do you have some other people?
He said, no, we only have Indians and uh not even all Indians, only Gujaratis in our own you know only audio pro uh BAPS is the Swamiji You know what is the use to build beautiful temple in America if only Gujaratis
will appreciate it. So as a movement in America, So uh somehow rather, you know, even though they're very I mean uh I I really appreciate what they're doing, uh they cannot really change the hearts of people outside.
They said uh th they said to me we have maybe one or two. I was asking him in London. He said we have maybe two Englishmen in our folks. Only two.
Personal journey from atheism to devotion
Um, they be on the wane and then we are gonna matter. And so Śrī Kṛṣṇa Caitanya, he proved that this verse from Bhagavad-gītā is very much true. And you know I am I am believing proof of this verse.
I didn't believe in God. My uh my parents were atheist, my grandparents were atheist, I am uh uh hereditary atheist. I was born in Soviet Union where everyone was since
this age, since three, four years of age, everyone was told that there is no God. No God. And this is not the worst part of my story.
The worst part of my story is that then I became a scientist, which is which is totally hopeless. Scientists are Because normal people they don't believe in God, but they sometimes think maybe He is there.
But scientists never think like this. Scientists... So I was brought up in this atheistic background, and then I became scientist, and I became even more hopeless atheist.
And then I don't know, a taste now, not even a necessity? then by chance I heard how my friend is chanting Hare Krishna under the shower. He was in the bathroom and was in the room.
He didn't know that I'm listening to him and he started chanting Hare Krishna, Hare Krishna. And here I am sitting in front of you and explaining Bhagavad Gita.
So uh it's very interesting because Chaitanya Mahaprabhu had uh this method, he gave this method that everyone should chant Hare Krishna, and by chanting Hare Krishna everything is supposed to happen.
Of course during this uh uh Kart Festival, Rathayatra in uh Udupi Temple, they also chant Hare Krishna sometimes. They they chant Hari Ram, Hari Ram, Ram, Ram Hare Hare, Hare Krishna, Hare Krishna.
And they would chant. And actually every traditional Madhva person has to chant Harinam at least once a day, the first first thing in the morning when he gets up from his bed. Sadachara Paddhati.
So uh I was speaking, I have a friend Surya Charia who was the principal of Sanskrit college here in Udupi? He's a very knowledgeable, big pundit. I asked him where this Hare Krishna Mahā-mantra is coming from.
You know, every Madhava is supposed to chant. What is the authority? What's the what is the pramāṇa? Where it's coming from? And he was totally puzzled. And he said, actually I don't know.
And this is my uh hypothesis, I'm not sure about this,
but my hypothesis is that this Hare Krishna mantra entered here when Lord Chaitanya came in his travels and he started chanting in front of Krishna Udupi, this mantra Hare Krishna Hare Krishna Krishna Krishna Hare Hare Hare Rāma Rāma Rāma Rāma Hare Hare. Ramadi Ram Ram Ramare.
Because you know followers of Madhvacharya, they're very Pramanic, they they know quotes for everything which they do, they can support everything.
Srila Prabhupada and the holy name
Only Hare Krishna mantra they cannot support with anything where it's coming from. But it is Lord Chaitanya's mercy when he came uh he came all over India
and then you know his movement is spreading uh and he's just preaching through this very simple method. Hare Krishna mantra.
When Śrīla Prabhupāda was taking sannyās, when there was big ceremony in Keśavjī Gaudiya Math in Mathurā, when Prabhupāda was accepting sannyāsa order. Śrīla Prabhupāda was the sannyāsī.
There was very elaborate ceremony, you know, of giving sannyas, the yagyakunda was there, you know, that mantras were chanted properly according to all the scriptures and everything else. And then among the many people were there during this ceremony and among them there was uh Krishna das Babaji Maharaj.
And disciple of Godbrother of Śrīla Prabhupāda, disciple of Bhaktisiddhānta Sarasvatī. And he had strong, very strong Namanishta.
He was very much convinced that Hare Krishna mantra is the solution for everything in this Kali Yuga.
So in the middle of this ceremony where all the mantras are chanted and all the ghees being pulled and everything else, he all of a sudden starts chanting with his Karatālas, Hare Krishna, Hare Krishna, Krishna Krishna, Hare Hare, Hare Rāma, Rāma, Rāma Rāma Hare Hare.
And then the main priest, he looked very stern at him, you know, and said, no, no, don't disturb.
And Śrīla Prabhupāda was sitting there and he said, do it, do it. Hare Krishna mantra japa bhāratyam so and then Krishna das Bhabaji Maharaj, he himself told this story and he said when he did it, when he started encouraging me to do this Hare Krishna mantra, I realize that he will do some miracle.
Because Śrīla Prabhupāda as a follower of Caitanya Mahāprabhu had 100% faith into the power of Hare Krishna mantra. He didn't believe in anything else. You know, he didn't believe in money.
He went to America with twenty rupees or whatever it is with twenty rupees in his pocket and uh yeah. One must be totally crazy to go to America with twenty rupees in a pocket.
It's it's a sheer madness to go to America because having twenty rupees you will probably uh not survive for two hours in America. America was there, very patripay the Ipatripa very America would be case
And uh but Śrīla Prabhupāda did it. Why? Because he knew Krishna is there in this Hare Krishna Mantra.
I was there in America in New York in this little Tompkins Square where Śrīla Prabhupāda started The New York City government established a special plaque. This is the tree under which Hare Krishna movement started.
New York government or Mundya Bundja Martika and a Marikishna ID movement as a start activity. And uh uh you know this is this is how it is started, just because
Śrīla Prabhupāda knew that just people will hear Hare Krishna mantra and something will happen. Something will happen.
Chanting in a Russian mental hospital
Do it a mydi jar, Arikashamatra, Arikastamatra Kirjana, Itara Power Act and the Uh, Just yesterday I received the letter. And one elderly lady from Russia she told me a story. She had very difficult mental condition.
She was very stressed and she was very I mean she had very difficult conditions so she was placed in um uh into psychic asylum with all the crazy people.
She was normal, but she was still very much under pressure and uh she was put there in this hospital. And uh it's it's it's a very difficult, very depressing situation in this hospital.
All the crazy people are around, you know, somebody is yelling, somebody is uh doing some other things. And uh uh she was thinking, what am I doing here? How I can survive in this horrible atmosphere in this hospital.
And then she remembered, you know, I can chant Hare Krishna mantra here.
And she started singing quietly, Hare Krishna, Hare Krishna, Krishna Krishna, Hare Hare, Hare Rama. And then she says that you know, people started coming and some were listening, some started chanting with me.
And then she said the whole atmosphere changed completely. Everyone is chanting Hare Krishna. I mean so many people all of a sudden in this crazy place started chanting Hare Krishna.
And then you know somebody tried to stop her, somebody said no, it's not allowed uh to sing here in this place and uh but still they were all continuing singing.
And and then she said, you know, I became so popular, so many people approached me, so many people asked me, you know, can you explain to me more?
Can you write to me this mantra and we will also do and so many people started joining her regularly with the kīrtana in the mental house in the mental hospital. and Mathe doesn't make an ambient in third out for that
popular agreement. In a couple of weeks she was discharged from the hospital. But before she went out, she said I was so surprised all
the people from all the you know rooms came out to bid farewell to me and everyone started chanting together Hare Krishna, Hare Krishna, Krishna, Krishna, Hare Hare, Hare Rāma Rāma Rāma Rāma, Hare Hare.
It was farewell kīrtana. They they were so attached to kīrtana that they didn't want... because the whole world is like mental house now, it's completely crazy. And it's becoming more and more crazy day by day.
There is only one solution. Hare Krishna, Hare Krishna, Krishna Krishna,
Heart purification and overcoming death
Hare Hare, Hare Rāma, Hare Rāma, Rāma Rāma.
Śrīla Prabhupāda explains this very beautifully in the purport, and the most important thing which is there, uh which Krishna says here is that shrutvani bhyopasate, they start just by listening, just by hearing this uh name or just by hearing this philosophy or kathao, whatever, uh they start worshiping the Lord.
And the Lord says, Te pi chatitarantie vamrityum. Uh, they will cross over the deaths. They will conquer over the deaths. Nam girl pastor durage, I'm given a mae and a both some of some day. I think nobody just when
people hear such statement, they don't believe in it. It's too good to be true. It's uh it's not believable, you know, just by chanting uh or just by hearing you can cross over this.
Big yogis they're doing all kinds of difficult postures standing upside down, you know, to cross over this and then somebody says, no no, don't need to do this, just Hare Krishna and that's it.
You know, once Prabhupada said a very beautiful say, he said Krishna consciousness is so simple that for sure you will miss it.
Kṛṣṇa sarva-bhauma-vid, Kṛṣṇa, you know, Kṛṣṇa-bhāvanā-prada, the same thing, because people have tendency to believe in something complicated.
Something is very difficult, then people are impressed. Yeah, that must be very effective means. But here Krishna himself says this is a simple method, but it works, it works, I promise it.
And Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu himself explained how it works, that this is a very scientific process. And it works for sure.
Even Rūpa Gosvāmī, his follower, he says that you don't even have you don't have to believe in this process. You just do this and it will work.
You know, even without faith, deep faith into uh in this process, if you chant Hare Kṛṣṇa mantra, then the heart will start uh getting pure, pure and pure.
Caitanya Mahāprabhu himself says, ceto-darpaṇa-mārjanam, this is the first effect of this Hare Kṛṣṇa mantra. Darpaṇa means mirror. And uh according to Sankhya philosophy, our heart is like mirror.
But because now this mirror is very dusty, it doesn't reflect the reality as it is. You know there are so many people who are atheists who don't believe in anything. Why? What is the reason? Because the heart is not clean.
But when the heart is completely clean, then the heart uh restores its reflective ability.
And when the reflective ability of the heart is completely restored, then we will be able to see the image of God within the heart. Yes, this pratibimba, the reflection of the Lord uh can be seen when the heart is clean.
We don't have to believe in God. You know, like for uh you know for Christian people, faith is everything. You know, you have to believe, you have to believe, you have to believe.
For the followers of uh Vedic tradition, uh faith is necessary, but only to push you to start the process.
Vedic system does not need faith under the as Prabhupāda says, you need only little faith to start doing something. But when you start doing something, if you do this, then you you don't need faith because you will experience that God is there. You don't need any proof.
He is there, you will see him. You will be able to see him face to face.
And we can even in the very beginning, from the very beginning Śrīla Prabhupāda is explaining this, that from the very beginning when can we can feel that there is some purification in the heart which takes place when we chant Hare Krishna.
There's people in the mental hospital, uh, when they started chanting Hare Krishna, they immediately felt some relief.
Well, to speak about people in the mental hospital, everyone can feel some relief from anxieties and from pressures if you start chanting Hare Krishna man.
And the whole atmosphere of the world is being transformed because of this vibration. And ultimately, what is the most important point which Krishna makes here is that
because by chanting Hare Krishna you always meditate on on God, on the Lord. Then ultimately, even in the moment of death, you will think about God.
And because of the moment of death you will think about God, Krishna will take care of you.
Krishna says that uh if somebody is trying to think about me during the his lifetime, then during his death I will think about him. If somebody remembers you when he lives, I will remember him when he dies.
And uh therefore this process is there and uh we are very fortunate to be the receivers of the mercy of Caitanya Mahāprabhu who came five hundred years back to give this mercy to us.
And uh as Kṛṣṇadāsa Kavirāja Gosvāmī says in Caitanya-caritāmṛta, let us think about the extent of mercy of Lord Chaitanya. Let us try to really appreciate what he has done.
Singular necessity of chanting in Kali Yuga
Yeah, that somebody who is born in Tashkent is sitting in Udupi and explaining Bhagavad-gītā. Gita. I I beg your forgiveness, I'm really sorry for that. No, no, no, no, no, take it out.
But this is the mercy of Lord Chaitanya. And uh this is the only Upaya, this is the only Kalunastyana Nastyva Nastyva Gatirad, there is not a way, there is no other way, there is not a way in the age of Kali.
So thank you very much, Hare Krishna. Thank you. Maharaj, thank you a lot for giving such a wonderful lecture on uh importance of the holy names.
And USF is a very standing example how the holy name makes all the miracles and anybody Yaragari
question did a Tribakina you care about the I'm just asking the devotees, anybody and questions we can just that much canada I can understand. There we go there. Nothing. Here we go.
People are argued it fully understood. This was not very complicated. Okay, there are some uh most of our majority of UDODs. So they fully understood what he said.
I hope they'll continue chanting and look at sometimes very simple things it's very difficult to catch. This point about the efficacy and the power of the holy name is all over the place in all the Vedic literature.
It's in Rāmāyaṇa, it's in Mahābhārata, it's in Ramcharitmanas, it's everywhere the power of the holy name is stressed. Still very few people just chant the holy name. So many people do this, you know.
All complicated rituals, this puja, that puja, but most important is the most simple thing. Hare Kṛṣṇa, Hare Kṛṣṇa, Kṛṣṇa Kṛṣṇa, Hare Rāma Hare Rāma Rāma Rāma.