Bhagavad-gita 16.8
Bhakti Vijnana Goswami · 2022
Chapters
Invocational prayers and lecture opening
Om namo bhagavate vāsudevāya. Oṁ namo bhagavate vāsudevāya. Babate Pasudeva, Nārāyaṇaṁ namaskṛtya naraṁ caiva narottamam, devīṁ sarasvatīṁ vyāsaṁ tato jayam udīrayet. Hare
Krishna Hare Krishna Krishna Krishna Krishna Krishna Hare Hare Hare Ram, Hare Rama, Hare, Rama Rama, Hare, Hare Krishna So I'm very happy to be with all of you this evening for this Sunday feast program.
And we will today read the eighth verse of the sixteenth chapter of Bhagavad-gītā. Which explains the way of thinking of people who are demonian by nature.
We see now that in the world today so many tragic events take place. War is going on in Europe between Russia and Ukraine. Rāma. And actually wars are worldwide in one place or another.
I know it is very People kill each other. People inflict sufferings to each other. Sometimes without any reason. Sometimes without any reason. Why does it happen?
Śrī Kṛṣṇa explains very nicely in the 16th chapter of Bhagavad-gītā what is the reason behind it. And this is a very practical chapter of Bhagavad-gītā. Of course every chapter of Bhagavad-gītā is very practical.
But this chapter of Bhagavad-gītā is especially relevant in the modern world. Because we can see that these demoniac forces in this world becoming stronger and stronger and stronger.
Here in India it's also felt that it's also being felt to a certain extent. But what maybe one day is a day, yeah, somehow, and I'm coming myself from Russia.
I spent most of my life there, and I know how difficult it is to live there. And if we know very well what Kṛṣṇa says in Bhagavad-gītā, it can be like a vaccine against this demonic mentality.
Vaccine against the demoniac mentality. You know people are very much into this COVID shield and other vaccines against COVID. This is the medicine which prevents you to become diseased. But COVID is a very small disease.
Well we can go get what you might have. Much more serious deadly disease is this demonic mentality. So it's very good if we take vaccine of Bhagavad-gītā every day.
Kovi shield you can only take once or twice or three times, not more, but Bhagavad-gītā you can take every day. COVID shield is actually not there.
And whether COVID shield is a shield, whether it will protect from COVID or not, it's not clear. But Bhagavad-gītā 100% will protect you. But Bhagavad-gītā have called protecting it. time tested medicine.
For five thousand years it has been a very scientifically proven medicine against all kind of material diseases.
Because ultimately all the diseases, either our physical diseases, diseases of our body or diseases of our mind or diseases of social diseases, diseases of the uh society, they all come from the mind.
And if we purify our mind by reading Bhagavad-gītā every day, then we will be disease-free.
Recitation of Bhagavad-gita 16.8
Our body will be free from disease, our mind will be free from disease, and our society, our family Okay, so we'll read the verse, please chant with me. It's very important verse for us to know.
Asatyama pratishtam te asatyam pratishtam te asatyam apratistam te asatyam apratishtam Jagadahuranishwaramisham, Jagadahuranishwaram, Aparasparasambutamputam, Aparasparasamb, Kimaniaat
Kamahaitukam, Kimanyatam, Kimanyat Kamahaitukamania Asatyama pratistam te samte, Jagadahuranisbaram Aparas parasambutam paras parasambutam kimanya tamahaitukamanyatamhaitukam so translation and purport by Śrīla Prabhupāda.
They say that this world is unreal, with no foundation, no God and control. They say it is produced of sex desire and has no cause other than lust. Then purport by Śrīla Prabhupāda.
The demonic conclude that the world is phantasmagoria. There is no cause and effect, no control or no purpose, everything is unreal.
They say that this cosmic manifestation arises due to chance, material attraction actions and reactions. They do not think that the world was created by God for a certain purpose.
They have their own theory that the world has come about in its own way and there is no reason to believe that there is God behind it. For them there is no difference between spirit and matter.
And they do not accept the Supreme Spirit. Everything is matter only. And the whole cosmos is supposed to be a mass of ignorance. According to them, everything is void.
And whatever manifestation exists is due to our ignorance in perception. They take it for granted that all manifestation of diversity is a display of ignorance.
Just as in a dream we may create so many things which actually have no existence, so when we are awake we shall see that everything is simply a dream.
But factually, although the demons say that the life is a dream, they are very expert in enjoying this dream. So I will speak a little bit and then maybe then for read the end.
Namah Om Vishnu Padaya Krsnah Prasthaya Bhutale Srimati Bhaktivedanta Svamin iti namaste 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.
Denial of God as demonic seed
high. So Sri Krishna very clearly speaks about the beginning, the seed of demoniac mentality. He explains that the seed of demonic mentality is denial of the existence of God. Asatyam apratistham te jagad ahur anisvaram.
When we see this world, every normal human being asks, where it is coming from. What is the reason of this huge material manifestation? But those people who have this demonic mentality they say it just happens by chance.
It doesn't make any sense. Nothing happens by chance. But is it by a t which we're going to keep by trans Can you say that this building happened by chance?
If Yasumatinandan Prabhu and his team you know would get this land and they would sit and say you know let's let's wait a little bit maybe by chance this building will come up into what country Does it make any sense?
It doesn't make any sense. It's stupid. But big big scientists with big big brains they say it's all happened by chance. There was a little story about Newton.
There was this very big scientist in the 17th century, he was a big physicist, Isaac Newton, Isaac Newton. So he was believing in God, he was a believer in God.
But his friend, he had a friend, also a scientist, his friend didn't believe in God. And they were always arguing with each other whether this world, whether there is God or there is no God.
So at one point he decided to make a different proof to different move to prove to his friend that there is God.
So he made a big big model of the solar system with sun in the center and earth and all the planets so beautiful model of solar system. And he put this model, placed this model in his office.
And next time when his friend, his friend, came to his office, he saw this model, and this model was so beautiful, he started looking at it and he said, Oh yeah, very beautiful model. Who did it?
And Newton said nobody did it. He said, you're joking at me, what does it mean nobody did it? He said, no, it just happened. It just appeared like this. Why are you joking at me, the friend said.
But why you're saying this? You know, it cannot appear like this. He said, if this little tiny model cannot appear like this, how this world can appear on its own without any reason?
It's so clear that this world is created for a purpose by a creator which is infinitely greater than us. But nevertheless, these people say there is no God.
I'm coming from Russia and Russia for some time was a very strictly atheistic state. You know, when I was a little child I was taught that there is no God.
In my family, my parents didn't believe in God, my grandparents didn't believe in God, although my great-grandmother, she believed in God. And when I was six years old, I was preaching to my great-grandmother that there is no God.
Some some sixty years later I'm preaching to you that there is God.
Selfish motives driving modern atheism
Because it doesn't make any sense. But this sort of idea is not innocent because it has very grave consequences. And ultimately Śrīla Prabhupāda explains very beautifully why people do not believe in God.
Because they do not want to. they want to do what they want to do, they don't want to follow anything. Like sometimes a little child when he becomes angry at his parent.
He puts over a blanket over himself and says, You don't exist. Because why he becomes angry? Because mother and father don't allow him to do what he wants to do. He wants to do all kinds of nonsense.
Mother and father say, Don't do it, don't do this, don't do this, and then he becomes very angry and he he says, You don't I don't want to have anything to do with you.
He and then he says, you know, in the same way, Śrīla Prabhupāda explains, people put ignorance over their consciousness in the same way as the child puts blanket over his eyes.
There was one very big scientist recently, he passed away recently, his name was Dawkins in England. People on the earth. His IQ was 200 or 2000, I don't remember which, but it was very high IQ.
But because he was demonic inside his heart, he didn't believe in God. What was the result of his intelligence? He said, this earth is finished, it's already spoiled, there is no hope for this earth.
Let's find some other planet and go to other planet and live in another planet. When people stop believing in God, they approve the existence of their soul. The soul doesn't exist for them either.
If God doesn't exist, the soul doesn't exist, what exists? Only material enjoyment. But what's the way that's been funny and took this touchdown?
Then the meaning of life is just to squeeze out material enjoyment as much as possible. And as a result of this, everything is being destroyed. This mentality is very destructive mentality.
Śrīla Prabhupāda when he came he said that the humanity is in a very critical condition in this moment of time. The solution for all the problems is not to go to another planet as this Dawkins says.
Because if people with the same mentality go to another planet very quickly they destroy another planet.
And even before that they will destroy everything, they will destroy their body, they will destroy their mind, everything is being destroyed. You know, like I'm living in Vṛndāvana.
I spent a lot of time in Vṛndāvana and Govardhana. It's supposed to be a very holy place. But every now and then I see the shop and it is said Western shop selling the western wine.
This destructive mentality is coming from the west to the east and it's destroying everything. I remember one time I was driving in a car in Delhi and I saw a big billboard with the new movie from Bollywood.
And in this you know Billboard there was a macho man and you I don't remember what was there. Some ugly picture was there. And the name of the movie was The End of Innocence.
And I was thinking the end of innocence, the beginning of nonsense.
Chanting for protection and soul purity
When people lose their innocence, they become nonsense, total nonsense. The most important quality of the soul is the purity of the soul. By nature we are very pure.
But under the influence of the bad association, we become impure. And because of this, the destructive mentality takes precedence, they take over our mentality and we start destroying ourselves and everyone else.
And the only protection from this destructive mentality is the faith in God
And Śrīla Prabhupāda explains that the best way to always remember about God, to strengthen the faith in God and to get the real experience of God is to chant His holy names.
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 Rama Rama Rama Hare. This Hare Kṛṣṇa Mahā-mantra is a very powerful means to protect us from demonic mentality.
Because when we chant the holy Hare Kṛṣṇa Mahā-mantra, we're always in contact with the most pure. And when we are in contact with the most pure, this is the protection from impurity which is coming from outside.
As I said, by nature we are pure and to be pure is actually very nice. We are very we feel very happy when we are pure. When we take shower in the morning, we feel very fresh and nice.
And when we are dirty, when there is some dirt external, then we feel very bad. But we are living in this environment which is very contaminated.
You know, according to strict Vedic rules, you know, you have to take shower when you see somebody uh well you have to go to Ganga when you see somebody who is an atheist. Who is an atheist?
You have to take snāna in Gaṅgā. We didn't hear me nasty uh In Kali Yuga in you know if you live in Ahmedabad you probably have to go to Ganga ten times a day or if not less than this.
Vedas said that even if you see somebody who has bad mentality, it's uh even this is contaminating for your heart. And we can see all these kinds of billboards and all kinds of nonsense everywhere in Kali Yuga.
So, how to protect ourselves from this dirt, from this contamination which is coming to us? The only possibility for this is to chant Hare Krishna Hare Krishna Krishna Krishna Hare Hare Hare Ram Hare Ram Ram
Dual natures and two dogs analogy
Ram Hare Hare! Yeah, Hare Krishna, it helps us now. In the beginning of this chapter, actually, Krishna says a very important thing in the beginning of this 16th chapter. He says that there are two natures, two sampad,
daivī-sampad and āsurī-sampad, the demoniac nature and divine nature. Not svabhāva, sampad, sampad. Sampat. Sampat. Sampat means actually wealth.
This daivī and āsurī sampad, wealth, means the certain uh energy which you have to do some work. And Krishna says that if you have this daivi sampad, you will be liberated, you will go up, you will evolve and you will
go to the higher destination, but asuri-sampad, you will go down, you will go to naraka, you will suffer there. So these two natures are inside our heart. We have two natures, both natures are there.
Sometimes people say that there are two dogs who live in our heart. One dog is a white dog, another dog is a is a black dog, asurī sampad is this black dog, this bad mentality which we all have.
And uh the good dog is a is a white dog and it's also there. The divine mentality is also there. And these dogs are barking all the time. They're always barking. And sometimes the black dog is barking very loudly.
Oh, oh, oh, oh. You know, the black dog is saying to us, do something bad, you know, do this, do that, you know, get some money by uh in on a dishonest means,
you know, enjoy, enjoy, enjoy. This is the black dog is barking all the time. And the white dog sometimes also barks, tuk tuk tuk tuk, very fair. So there is this yuddha within our heart.
Therefore, see, Krishna, he told Bhagavad-gītā on a battlefield. Because this battle is going inside. So the question is, you know, what shall we do to make this divine mentality, daivī-sampad, more strong?
Prashna is speaks some personally. And the answer which is given, you know, if you want to if you want to make uh one dog strong and one dog very weak, just don't give food to one dog.
Don't give food to this black dog and only feed the white dog.
And for that we have this temple, for that we chant Hare Krishna and for that we preach and for that we read Bhagavad-gītā. And basically this is my humble request to you, please remain pure, please remain innocent, read Bhagavad-gītā every day, protect yourself from this external contamination, and ultimately be happy.
Maharaj, we can be saying Krishna wants us his sons and daughters, his children to always become happy, to always be happy. Therefore, He came as Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu 500 years back.
And He said, in this age of Kali-yuga, there are no rules. You cannot follow very strictly all the Vedas and all the uh rules of Dharma Shastra. There is no way.
There is only one means to remain always pure; is to chant the holy name.
Some 40 years back my friend when I was a student, postgraduate student, I was doing my PhD degree, he gave me mala and he said, you please try to chant Hare Krishna mantra. Maharsi klesa-phalī-bhūta-janma-pradāni
And at that time I didn't know anything about Krishna, I didn't know anything about Bhagavad Gita, I just had some little respect or and uh you know and some love to my friend.
And I said to my friend, okay, I will chant this Hare Krishna mantra on this bits, but when I kind of become bored and when I don't like it, I will, I will stop chanting.
So, so far 40 years I am still chanting, no problem. This is the power of the holy name. It purifies your heart, it purifies your mind, and ultimately it purifies your existence.
Therefore, please chant always Hare Krishna, Hare Krishna, Krishna Krishna, Hare Hare, Hare Rāma, Hare Rāma, Rāma Rāma, Hare Hare. Thank you very much, Hare Krishna. Śrīla Prabhupāda kī jaya!
You think about the second video? Yes.
Subduing material samskaras through holy association
Interesting. But see, uh, I would like to have a point to share with you. There are two dollars in size for the product. And the one format is two. So it was literally an elaboration on this analogy.
A big dog and a state of heart. We have some saṁskāras of the past, some previous experiences of the past. And whatever memories we have, it, it remains with us and it has some energy.
It is very elaborately explained in Yoga-sūtra by Patañjali Muni, how it happens.
So when there are some saṁskāras with some energy, this saṁskāras with energy, when we see some external trigger which uh awakens these memories uh we want to do the same thing.
Like if people would take some drugs or some alcohol or something like this, and then you know they get this experience and then they see alcohol again and then the desire to repeat this experience comes back.
And in the same way, also good experiences which we have, this white dog, also have some energy. So I know Shakira Mudia is to Hamakuana.
We conduct our life on the basis of the saṁskāras which we have in the mind, of the basis of our memory. And being intelligent beings, we can choose between the good and bad. Every bad uh act action of us uh
will make us more prone, will will reinforce our bad nature and every good act will reinforce our good nature.
Therefore, by using our discrimination, our intelligence, we have to knowing what is good, what is bad, we really have to avoid something which is bad and uh strengthen something which is good.
But sometimes it's very difficult, even Arjuna says, what is the force which pushes me to do even though I don't want to do it.
Sometimes we feel that by being forced to do it even though we know we don't we shouldn't do it, right? But there is a solution for this problem as well. Yes, we are weak. Sometimes we cannot avoid doing some bad things.
But because of the power of association, it can quickly change us. If we closely associate with pure people, with saintly people, this influence of saintly people will give us strength to resist from these tendencies.
And therefore Vedic scriptures they always they they give the rules but they always stress sādhu sanga, sadhu sanga, sad Sadhashuang Shaha Sadang Shaank Sarakita Sastana Paraku Sadus Sankada because by associating
with the sādhu you'll get their strengths, not your own strengths. By your own strengths, you may not be able to resist it, but by their association, you will be able to protect to protect yourself.
Should be sad those comes under Hamaky and Shakti Bildi. And contrary is also true.
Asatsangha, you know, gives you a lot of strength to do some nonsense. Not even Chizon, you know, if you just see Dur Darsan no, whatever, if you see tv then then this is a satsangha tvarsan videogasats So actually it's a question of association.
We should avoid bad association and strive for good association.