Bhagavad-gita 2.54
Бхакти Вигьяна Госвами · Bangalore · 2024
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Invocation and verse introduction
Omna Bhagavate Vasudeva, Omnamo Bhagavate Vasude sova Devaya Omnamo Bhavate Vasudeva sarayanamaskritya naramcha narotamam So tonight we will read. I was asked to read uh fifty-fourth verse from the second chapter of
Bhagavad-gītā, which is the question by Arjuna. And in one sense, it's Arjuna speaking, Arjuna is asking questions. So naturally, when we speak about Bhagavad-gītā, we expect Krishna to speak.
But Bhagavad-gītā is a beautiful book, even the questions by Arjuna are very, very significant. And I will try to explain how and why it is so in the example of this particular verse. So Arjunuvacha Arjunuvacha Stitapyasya,
Ka, Basha, Samadistasya, Samadistasya, Kesava, stidi, kim, prambasita, aseta, kim, asita, Stita pragyas bhaša, Samadhista Kesava, Samadhista Kesha, Samadhistasiekesava, stitadih kim prabasheta,basheta,
stitadih kim prabashet, Kimasi tavraje tekim, kimasi tavraje tekim, Arjunuvacha, stitapragyasya kabhasha, samadistasya keshava Stitadhikim prabhaseta, kimasitavraje
Verse recitation and English translation
takim, Translation Anuad Arjuna said O Krishna, what are the symptoms of one whose consciousness is thus merged in transcendence? How does he speak and what is his language? How does he sit and how does he walk?
As there are symptoms for each and every man in terms of his particular situation, similarly, one who is Krishna conscious has his particular nature. Talking, walking, thinking, feeling, etc.
As a rich man has his symptoms by which he is known as a rich man. As a diseased man has his symptoms by which he is known as diseased, or as a learned man has his symptoms, so a man in
transcendental consciousness of Krishna has specific symptoms in various dealings. One can know his specific symptoms from the Bhagavad-gītā. Most important is how the man in Krishna consciousness speaks.
For speech is the most important quality of any man. It is said that a fool is undiscovered as long as he does not speak. And certainly a well-dressed fool cannot be identified unless he speaks.
But as soon as he speaks, he reveals himself at once. The immediate symptom of a Krishna-conscious man is that he speaks only of Krishna and of matters relating to him.
Other symptoms then automatically follow as stated below.
Arjuna uvāca: sthita-prajñasya kā bhāṣā samādhi-sthasya keśava Translation, Arjuna said: O Krishna, O Keshava, what are the symptoms of those of one whose consciousness is thus merged in transcendence? How does he speak?
And what is his language? How does he sit and how does he walk?
Namaḥ oṁ viṣṇu-pādāya kṛṣṇa-preṣṭhāya bhū-tale śrīmate bhaktivedānta- svāmin iti nāmine namaste sarasvate deve gaura-vṇāṇī- pracāriṇe nirviśeṣa-śūnyavādi-pāścātya-deśa- tāraṇe śrī-kṛṣṇa-caitanya prabhu-nityānanda śrī-advaita gadādhara śrīvāsādi-gaura-bhakta-vṛnda, Hare Kṛṣṇa, Hare Kṛṣṇa, Kṛṣṇa Kṛṣṇa, Hare Hare, Hare Rāma, Hare Rāma, Rāma Rāma, Hare Hare, Hare Kṛṣṇa, Hare Kṛṣṇa, Kṛṣṇa Kṛṣṇa, Hare Hare, Hare Rāma, Hare Rāma, Rāma Rāma, Kṛṣṇa Hare, Kṛṣṇa, Kṛṣṇa, Kṛṣṇa, Hare Hare, Hare Rāma, Hare Rāma,
Rama Ramayay Yantah Pravishi Mammachima Prasuptam Sanji Bayata Kila Shakti Darah Swadamna, Anjam Shahasta Charana Shravanatva Gadim Prananamo Bhagavatem Purushay tubi, svasastu vishwasya kalah prasidatam, dyan tu putani shivam mitodya, manaschavadram bajatata doksaj, ha vesjetam no matir apya hai to kiare Krishna.
So I am very happy to be with all of you this evening.
Consciousness and material entanglement
And I will try to share some thoughts in relationship to this particular verse.
Krishna explained to Arjuna that the main symptom of a person who transcended the power of material nature, who is basically free from the modes of material nature.
The main symptom of such a person is that his consciousness is not merged into this matter.
We ordinary human beings, bound by the laws of material nature, bound by our habits, by our attachments. Our consciousness is there in the matter. We're always concerned about some material things, uh, who will win general elections.
I don't know if it's uh such a concern because probably Modi wins but for some it's a big concern. But besides that, we have so many material considerations. What's going to happen tomorrow? What are the prices?
Petrol prices? Water is shortage. Food is a consideration. Family matters. Job. Whether I will get some good job. You know, there are so many. I was told yesterday so many uh engineers are driving trucks now in Bangalore.
So this is all concerns, valid concerns. We don't speak that it's not valid, it's valid, it has limited value. But Krishna is speaking now how to change our status.
Krishna is trying to help Arjuna and with Arjuna all of us to understand what is the transition, how the transition takes place, how we can change our status from somebody who is enslaved by matter.
We are even though we are spirit soul, we are spiritual by nature, we are souls, we are free, free souls, but we are totally enslaved by matter. When it's time to eat, we need to eat.
When it's time to sleep, we definitely need to sleep. You know, the matter always dictates us.
So much so that most of the scientists who are trying to study the nature of consciousness, they say consciousness is nothing but matter. Any sane person understands that consciousness is beyond matter.
But scientists say, you know, that everything is happening in your brain. It's a very bold claim, and uh unfortunately I don't have time to discuss this particular notion now.
But what I want to say is that what scientists say has some truth in it. When they say that consciousness is a product of matter, they say it because we see regularly that our consciousness depends on matter.
They bring us some chemical into the brain and you know we are unconscious for some time. And they say this is the proof. No, this is not the proof.
This is only the proof that you are still in the conditioned state. You are still enslaved by matter. You are still influenced by matter. That's what it proves.
It doesn't prove that there is no other people who are not dependent on matter.
And basically, what what Krishna is trying to explain to Arjuna and all of us how we can be free from the influence of matter, how we can be free from all these anxieties, how we can be free from all these worries, how we can be free from the pain.
You know, we're so much dependent on the matter. And if something is wrong with our little finger, little pinky here, you know, all our consciousness will be in the pinky. We will only think about pinky, not about Krishna.
You know, if something is wrong with our body, if something is painful our consciousness goes there. Again, why? Because we are very much dependent on matter. And that's not good. Because, uh, fear is coming.
You know, if we're only totally, completely identifying with this body, it means that when the body is finished, we are finished. We will be dead and nothing will happen after that.
And all these fears are coming, and so many other problems are coming because of our dependence on matter.
Basically, that's the problem of Bhagavad-gītā, the initial point of Bhagavad-gītā, Arjuna found himself that he is ready to completely change his behavior, run away from the battlefield.
Be defamed for being, you know cowardly. That he defected, you know, he was ready to give up everything. Why? Because, and Krishna immediately detected it, because he depended on matter.
He depended on subtle matter of our mind and on the gross matter of the body. And therefore, all the symptoms were there that described vividly in the first chapter of Bhagavad-gītā. Gita.
Arjuna says, oh my, my hands are shaking. And Gāṇḍīva is slipping out of my hands. And Śrīla Prabhupāda says, why are you shaking? The shaking is the symptom of fear. And the fear is the symptom of dependence on the matter.
When we completely understand that I am not dependent on matter, that I am eternal soul, and I will continue to exist after my death and I, it doesn't matter what matter tells me to do.
It doesn't matter. But because we're dependent, we have so many problems, psychological problems, physical problems, economical problems, all kinds of problems we have because we are so tightly identifying with the matter.
And Krishna is explaining how to change this position. What we should do, what we're supposed to do. He says it's a process of gradually withdrawing your mind from the matter and concentrating your mind on God.
So that's the process. It doesn't work miraculously. Krishna doesn't say, you know, here I will teach you the trick. Just, you know, mumble this mantra and everything will be okay. No, no.
Krishna says it's a difficult process because we're too used to thinking about matter, but he says it's possible, it's doable.
You know, you just have to withdraw your mind gradually, gradually from the matter by thinking about God. And it's very simple, you just chant the name of God.
Hare Krishna, Hare Krishna, Krishna Krishna, Hare Hare, Hare Rama, Hare Rama, Rama Rama, Hare Hare. Of course you have to know who is Hare and Krishna and Rama. But still the methods are there.
Spirituality as a scientific process
You know, if we understand why it is necessary, then we can follow. And Krishna is explaining actually to Arjuna the science of spirituality.
Śrīla Prabhupāda again and again and again stresses this point that Bhagavad-gītā is a science. It's a science of God. And science means there is very rational systematic processes with predictable results.
That's what science means. I mean I I had some uh connection with science so I can speak with authority. But basically it means that you follow something and you can predict the result.
And Krishna is explaining how it is scientific, how it is, what we are supposed to do. And he says basically you have to change the focus of your consciousness.
You have to change the concentration or target of your consciousness.
Unfortunately, many people who are attracted to spirituality, who are coming to all these temples which are there in Bangalore or in any other cities, uh, or basically you know, all over the world, some people are attracted to spirituality.
They don't understand that spirituality is the science. Basically, what is going on here? Krishna is speaking, spirituality is the science, and Arjuna understands this and therefore he is asking scientific question.
Arjuna is asking Krishna, "Please, give me very clear, very clear-cut definition of how I can recognize whose consciousness is not connected with matter. Because there are so many people who claim, "I am avatāra of God."
You know, Śrīla Prabhupāda once said that, uh, you know, India, of course, now it's Bhārat, has become the biggest exporter of avatāras.
You know, some other people, you know, Japan exports computers or, uh, cars, and America exports iPhones, and Germany exports again some cars, and India exports avatāras. They're going to the West and they gain a lot of followers.
And Prabhupāda was actually pained when he was saying this. He was not deriding. He said, because these people, they try to make mockery out of spiritual science.
Instead of explaining how spiritual science is rational, how it is completely scientific, and how it is the science of spirit, they're just showing some miracles.
You know, Krishna doesn't tell Arjuna, "Arjuna, listen, I will tell you how to recognize a person whose consciousness is spiritual. He is the one who gives you some vibhūti from his hand."
At least I never heard this verse from Bhagavad-gītā. Krishna doesn't give this definition. Krishna is very specific. He knows how to teach.
And he wants us to know this science because he also knows that there will be so many people who will misuse it. He knows that there will be people who will take advantage of this,
who will only try to turn the whole spirituality
into some hocus-pocus, into some miracle-making business. You know, there are some people who are, you know, doing all these miracles in a circus, and they are very honest people because then they don't claim that they are avatāra.
And there are some people who are doing this hocus-pocus, you know, miracles, and they claim that they have some—they may have some spiritual powers.
But the point is that never Krishna says that you should define somebody who has spiritual consciousness by the by the sign that he's doing some miracles.
Patanjali Muni in his Yoga-sūtra, he says all these miracles, all these mystic powers, they're obstructions. They're actually bad. There are obstacles on your spiritual path.
People think that this is the greatest achievement. If I become some miracle man and if I do some mystical mystic power things, then it's very great.
Uh, Patañjali Muni says, no, no, you're completely lost, my dear sir. You lost the track. You are not on the right track.
You you you will be just going here and there and showing all these miracles. You know there are so many stories about this, you know. But anyway, probably I will not go into this. My point is very clear.
Krishna says: here is the real spirituality. Real spirituality is where your consciousness is. And that's why Srila Prabhupada called our society as society for Krishna consciousness.
It's the society which gives you opportunity to change the focus of your consciousness.
Which gives you the scientific methodology by which you can change your consciousness and make your consciousness completely spiritual and by making your consciousness completely spiritual, obtain the real spiritual experience.
It's actually said in the third sūtra of Yoga Sūtra of Patañjali muni.
He says the first sūtra: now it's time to speak about yoga, and then he says yogaś citta-vṛtti-nirodhaḥ and then Tadrāṣṭuḥ Svarūpa-avasthānāt. The third sūtra of the science of yoga explained by Patañjali Muni is that as soon as your mind is completely calm, as soon as all these vṛttis, all these waves on the surface of your mind are completely cleared, then draṣṭuḥ, you, the soul, the seer, the observer, draṣṭuḥ, the somebody who has consciousness, Svarūpa-avasthāna. He changes his status.
He is not anymore identifying with this body because this body is not svarūpa. This body is kūrūpa. Kūrūpa means very bad looking, kūrūpa. Svarūpa is a beautiful spiritual form which we all have, which the spirit soul has, but we can obtain svarūpa when our mind is completely calm, when the nature of our mind, which is now very disturbed all the time without any reason when the nature of our mind is changed.
So Krishna explains the same.
Krishna of course explains in much more details than Patanjali Muni in uh in Yoga Sutras. But basically the science is the same. Science is exactly the same. How to change the focus of your consciousness.
Symptoms of steady spiritual intelligence
And therefore, Krishna says: what is the sign of spiritual advancement? How you can recognize somebody who's who, when he claims that I'm spiritually advanced person, that he is right.
And Krishna says, achala buddhi. Krishna gives this very clear understanding achala buddhi, his intelligence is not wavering, achala means it's steady, the man of steady intelligence, the man who has the goal and who can achieve the goal, and this goal is very high.
The goal is spiritual. So that's the sign. You know, that's the definition given by Krishna. And Arjuna says, how do I understand if he or she or somebody else has this achala buddhi?
What are the clear signs by which I can define that this person has this immovable, steady intelligence. You know, of course, there are some external signs. You know, if somebody is like, you know,
you can look in the eyes of a person if the eyes is going, you know, all over the place. You can understand probably his buddhi is not so achala.
Or if he's, you know, shaking and you know running everywhere, uh probably his body is not achala. But you know some people sometimes they can pretend, they can sit for maybe you know, ten minutes. Are you convinced?
Some people can do some sort of show to do this. And therefore, Arjuna asks, please tell me what are the external signs? How can I visibly or very clearly understand if this person is a pretender or if this person is real.
How I can understand if he is really spiritual and his consciousness is connected with God, who is immovable. Why somebody becomes achala buddhi, why his consciousness becomes so fixed?
Because he is connected with somebody who is fixed. Krishna is immovable. Krishna is immovable because you know there is no place for him to move. He is everywhere.
You know, if you are everywhere it's very difficult to move because you're already there. So Krishna is this immovable object. He is unchanging.
He's also immovable, but because he's not changing, you know, he's always young, he's always, he always looks like sixteen years old. Of course, sometimes people, you know, some artists who are not very knowledgeable they make a picture of Krishna with some moustache or sometimes even with beard.
No, Krishna never had moustache or beard. He's a 16-year-old boy. His form is the same. He never changed his form. He is the same. You know, when you see Krishna, you know, you will understand that he is the same.
So he's immobile, his name is the same. For thousands of years, people call Krishna God, uh, Rama, Hari, the same name, same appearance, same look, same form, same words. Bhagavad-gītā is not changed.
You know, in uh university or college when you have handbooks, the handbooks are changed every ten years. You know, here we're telling you the ultimate truth, this is the ultimate truth about medical science.
In five years this truth will be completely changed. But Krishna's words are not changed. They are the same. Everywhere the same.
They are the same in India, the same in Russia, the same in America, all people, they read the same things. So Krishna is immovable, Krishna is the same, and if you think about Krishna, you will also become immovable.
And that's exactly what Krishna says, and that's exactly what Arjuna wants to hear.
Evaluating spiritual authority before surrendering
Arjuna says, please tell me by which external signs I can understand that somebody is really on a very high level of spiritual advancement. Because it's a very there is a very important reason why Arjuna is asking this.
Spirituality requires some faith. Spirituality requires trust. Spirituality uh requires uh surrender.
No matter where you go, will you go to mosque or you go to church or you go to this church or that church or this temple or that temple? Everywhere you will hear surrender.
Any spiritual tradition is speaking that you have to really give up your false ego, the false independence, because we are not independent and follow God.
But because any religion, any spiritual discipline requires surrender, it's very dangerous.
If somebody unworthy who is not really worthy of being surrendered to demands your surrender and you foolishly surrender yourself, you will be cheated.
This is one of the very great and very important lessons of Bhagavad-gītā, oh sorry not Bhagavad-gītā, Mahābhārata; in Mahābhārata Krishna speaks
very clearly speaks and shows very clearly that somebody who is spiritual he is not exploiting everyone, anyone, but he does not allow to be exploited either.
That's a very important lesson we have to understand very clearly because sometimes people are very sentimental. People say, yeah, yeah, yeah, I surrender, you know, exploit me. Krishna says, you're fool.
You think I am so surrendered, I am so spiritual. And Krishna thinks you're fool. Why do you allow to be cheated? We should not cheat anyone, but we should not allow anyone to cheat us.
That's a lesson of Mahabharata, very important lesson. And Krishna says very clearly in Mahabharata if somebody cheats you, if somebody behaves with you against dharma, you cannot practice dharma on him.
He tells Arjuna, kill Karṇa. And Arjuna says, how I can kill Karṇa? You know, he is without his weapons and his, uh, the uh, the wheel of his, uh, ratha of his chariot stuck in the mud and Krishna says kill him.
And Arjuna says, no no I cannot do this. And Krishna says, kill him. Because he's a cheater. He's a cheater. He will not think about this. You know, again and again and again. Krishna repeats this thing.
If somebody doesn't follow dharma, you're not obliged to follow dharma with him. This is actually how very dharmic pious kings were defeated by those invaders who didn't follow dharma.
They were trying to fight with these invaders following dharma. And they were defeated because they followed dharma, unfortunately. And Krishna says, no, you shouldn't do this.
Krishna says this, and Krishna says, don't allow to be cheated. Don't allow to be exploited. Don't allow to be taken advantage of. You know, have some dignity. Yes, we should follow dharma.
Yes, internally we should definitely know that we have to come to Krishna. But uh externally we can adjust our behavior. And therefore Arjuna is asking very important questions.
That's the main theme from which I started my talk. Even though it's a question, what what you can talk about question. He's asking the question. But the very question is important. Why? Because he's teaching us.
Don't be too naive. Don't be foolish. You know, ask the proper questions. Investigate. Probe before you invest your faith. Yes, ultimately we have to invest our faith. Ultimately we have to invest our heart into somebody.
It's very important in a spiritual path. We have to believe in some person, some saintly person, we have to follow him. The very word shraddha. It's a very interesting thing.
Shraddha in Sanskrit means uh there are different explanations of what Śraddhā, which is translated into English as faith means but one explanation is that śraddhā, śraddhā is the place where you invest your heart.
Where you place your heart. When we believe somebody, we literally place our heart in Him. They say I completely trust you, I trust your integrity, I trust your uh purity, everything. You tell me I will do what you do.
It's very important in the spiritual path. But before you do this, you have to investigate. Don't do it foolishly, don't do it blindly, don't do it too quickly. Remember that spirituality is the science.
And science means the process. And the process is you first investigate, clear your doubts. And then when your doubts are clear, then invest your heart, invest your faith into somebody who is there.
And Śrīla Prabhupāda, very interestingly, Arjuna asked four questions. And this one verse Arjuna asked four questions.
He says, uh, sthita-prajñasya bhāṣā. Please give me the definition of somebody whose mind, whose intelligence uh is very steady. Bhāṣā means basically tell me what is his characteristic.
And Krishna will uh tell in the next verse that uh prajahāti yadā kāmān, the somebody who doesn't have desires.
And uh but interestingly enough, that even though Arjuna asks four questions, Śrīla Prabhupāda explains in the purport only one question, gives the answer to only one question.
And he says that if you know this answer to this one question, everything else will be known to you.
So the four questions which Arjuna asks, the first question is: what is the definition? How you describe the person whose intelligence is steady?
And Krishna says: here is the description: somebody who doesn't have desires. And Arjuna says, no, no, it's not practical. How do I know whether you have desires or not?
You know, you may be dressed in a very nice Vaishnava dress and in kantimala and everything else. But still the desires will be in your heart. So it's not a very clear uh definition.
Definition is very clear, but it's not very practical because it's very difficult to use. And then Arjuna says, sthita-prajñasya, so he says: Tell me, you know, how I can understand if a person is in samadhi, o Keśava.
You know you are in his heart, you are Keśava, you know everything.
Speech as the primary spiritual symptom
you know you are in his heart, you are Keshava, you know everything.
But, uh, kiṁ bhāṣeta, how he speaks, and Śrīla Prabhupāda says this is the most important question, and the answer to this question is also the most important.
We can understand what is in the mind of the person by listening how he speaks. Of course sometimes people speak lie, but even this we can understand.
If we're a little perceptive, if if they're a little, you know clever we can see you know and there are some courses we teach you you know if person is just you know speaking something and he's not very comfortable then he's speaking lie.
But Srila Prabhupada gives a beautiful definition of how to define somebody who has spiritual consciousness. Listen what he speaks.
Listen how he speaks by any other subject matter and bringing this subject matter to Krishna. You know, Śrīla Prabhupāda was very expert, was a very ideal example of this sort of person.
Because with Śrīla Prabhupāda whatever you would speak with him, he would inevitably you know bring the conversation back to Krishna.
You can start with any subject matter; Śrīla Prabhupāda would inevitably somehow or other will make some philosophical point connected with Krishna or will speak something about Krishna and people
always his disciples were amazed. You know, there was one little story. Srila Prabhupada was walking in San Francisco in a park.
There was a beautiful Golden Gate park in San Francisco where the devotees started, this Rathayatra and everything, the kirtans.
And then early in the morning Srila Prabhupada is walking and he stops under one tree. And under this tree, there is a lot of you know stool of birds under the tree. The you know the signs that the birds are there.
And Śrīla Prabhupāda shows points out to this stool of the birds and says, What does it mean? You know what does it mean? It means that birds eat something and then and then they have stoop. What does it mean?
And i Prabhupāda's followers, disciples, they're very puzzled what does it mean, you know, and uh in uh ancient Rome, in Roman Empire, there was a method of divination
when you can make some predictions about the future uh by uh observing the stol of the birds. So some more knowledgeable disciple they think does he mean some you know some astrological thing.
Does he see the future by looking at this, you know, special patterns of the stool of the birds? Anyway, nobody dared to give uh answer to this question, what does it mean?
And then Prabhupāda says, it means that even birds are attached to this tree. He brings it back to the philosophy of Krishna consciousness.
He says it means that the same birds are coming to the same tree and making stool under the same tree because they're attached to this particular tree as their toilet place. Or whatever.
So anyway, so this is how it is, this is just one little silly example. But Śrīla Prabhupāda was exactly like this because his consciousness was fixed on Krishna.
When our consciousness is not fixed on Krishna, then it's very easy to distract us. It's very easy, you know, we strike some conversation, we start speaking about this, you know, cricket match.
You know who is the who is what is the cricket match now? I I'm not into cricket so I don't really know but you know your consciousness immediately goes to this cricket match or this thing or that thing.
But if you think about Krishna, then you will speak about Krishna. And then whoever will speak with you, uh you will immediately speak about Krishna with him. No matter what the initial conversation would be.
So Śrīla Prabhupāda says that you can recognize somebody who is spiritual by the way he speaks. And if he is speaking, and you immediately can uh feel it.
You know if somebody is speaking with realization uh then uh it's uh you you can feel that there is something which penetrates deeper.
You know you can hear the same thing so many times, and then somebody repeats something which you have heard many times, and you realize, yes, that's true. Now I understand this is true.
You know, so this is the this is a very beautiful science how Śrīla Prabhupāda explaining very practically with this practical example how you can understand who is really spiritual?
I will tell you another very funny little story. This is the story which one sannyāsī told me. He went to Bhaktivedanta Hospital in Mumbai.
There is Bhaktivedanta Hospital, which is run by devotees of ISKCON. It's a nice hospital. And after that he was discovered that there is some gallbladder stones in his gallbladder.
And he came to Śrīla Rādhānātha Mahārāja, who is behind this project of Bhaktivedanta Hospital, and he started complaining.
He said, your disciples, Mahārāja, your disciples, they found out that I have uh stones in my gallbladder.
And Śrīla Rādhānātha Mahārāja looked at him and said, Mahārāja, it must be Śālagrāma śīlas. And this and told me it's not possible to to change the subject matter with him. He always brings it to the point of spirituality.
So, this is exactly the point which Krishna, which uh Śrīla Prabhupāda actually makes in this purport. You know, you just please listen very carefully.
Before believing anyone, the sign of whom you in whom you should invest your trust you will recognize him by listening. Listen again and again and again.
And if you have doubts, listen to somebody else. And uh try to come to the level when you have no doubts.
Speaking on behalf of Krishna
You listen to somebody and you understand. That's true. Because actually in reality and Śrīla Prabhupāda explained it many times when we speak about Krishna we are not supposed to speak on our own.
We are speaking on behalf of Krishna. We are repeating his words, we are elaborating on his words. We are basically speaking on behalf of him.
So and it's it and it is explained that Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, whenever Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam was spoken, it was spoken by Krishna himself.
When Śukadeva Gosvāmī was explaining Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam to Mahārāja Parīkṣit, it was Krishna who was speaking through Śukadeva Gosvāmī to Mahārāja Parīkṣit.
When Nārada Muni was explaining Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam to Vyāsadeva, it was Krishna who was speaking through Nārada Muni to Vyāsadeva. Any time when the spiritual discourse is taking place, it is supposed to be Krishna who is speaking through the speaker.
Depending on the purity of the speaker.
And if the speaker is pure, if the speaker is really speaking from his heart and trying to repeat the same philosophy without changing, without twisting it to his own interest, then you will recognize it.
As much as Arjuna, Arjuna, he is listening to Krishna and Krishna didn't show him universal form in the 11th chapter. But before the 11th chapter, in the tenth chapter, Arjuna says, oh, I understand you are God.
Please prove to anyone else. But I understand you're God. Paraṁ brahma, paraṁ dhāma, paraṁ pavitraṁ.
You know, he's glorifying Krishna, uh, saying that you are the most pure, you are Param Brahman, you are this, you are that. How he recognized that before Krishna showed his universal form? Just by listening.
Just by hearing how Krishna speaks. And that's the proof, not the miracles. Not any kind of, you know, things which some other people are trying to show you to prove that they're divine.
The divinity of a person is defined by the way he speaks.
So that's the very important lesson from this verses of Bhagavad-gītā, from this verse of Bhagavad-gītā and from the explanation which is given by Śrīla Prabhupāda.
Spirituality is the science, science of God, and science means rational understanding of the causes and effects, the ultimate result to which we should come and how the process work and how we systematically can approach Krishna by uh following the path uh which was shown
to us by previous ācāryas by chanting Hare Krishna Hare Krishna Krishna Krishna Hare Hare Hare Rāma Hare Rāma Rāma Rāma Hare, thank you very much, Hare Krishna. Hare Krishna. Hare Krishna.
So thank you so much Maharaj for the wonderful session. So I think we all really took us into the depth of what Krishna has tried to tell Arjuna and how Arjuna has to understand it.
So now if there are any questions then I request devotees to Mahārāja can take one or two questions. Sure. So prasna is very paribhāṣā. So already now careful. My question was that when it comes
to speaking, you know, one may actually just uh learn some tricks, some you know logic, right?
And try. Therefore you should not only listen when people speak when he sits on Vyāsāsana. When you speak on Vyāsāsana, of course you will speak something nice. Listen how he speaks outside of Vyāsāsana. What he's interested in and you know what is his focus and everything else.
Vyāsāsana, yes, that's a certain format which we have. So Vyāsāsana, yeah, anyone can say something.
Practical care versus bodily attachment
But um in reality, you know you should you should observe. Being observant you will understand where the consciousness of the person is. Where it is, where it is invested.
Uh as you said in the beginning that all types of problems are because we identified too much with matter. Yes uh in regards to the patient in the body and focus naturally goes there whether it is a small thing.
So I just but as age progresses as the body ages, we start realizing that if we don't uh take care of our body enough, then it will affect our sādhana and our siddhi and everything else.
So uh and we cannot be at that scripture level that something is pain but still we we cannot be able to focus on our japa and things like that. So how can we strike that back There is a very great difference
between taking care of the body and being obsessed with the body. Taking care is not is normal, it's proper.
You know, we have to take care, we're taking care of our car. We're taking care it doesn't mean that we become identified with the car. We have to take care of the car, we have to take care of our house.
And we have to spend time taking care means spending some time, spending some energy, spending even some resources. That's not a problem.
But you know people who are identifying with the body uh they're probably you know at least many of them they don't take care of the body. They're exploiting body. They're trying to exploit body for their sensual enjoyments and this and that.
You know it's actually those people who are not so much identifying with the body they take care of the body. Those who are not identifying with the body they don't take care of the body, they just exploit the body.
So there's nothing wrong with taking care of the body. So there's one more question beside you. Hare Kṛṣṇa, thank you so much for the wonderful class. And you just probably just touched the tip of the iceberg.
There is so much more hid into the verse that we have taken under.
The question that I had was I see there are many other organizations out there also. But how important is it that each organization should have a scriptural reference to their philosophies? Thank you. Thank you.
Thank you very much. Yeah. Thank you very much.
Scriptural foundation in spiritual practice
That's a very important question. When we look in the history, in the recent history, particularly of India, we can see that in many cases this scriptural basis was neglected.
Unfortunately, sometimes people were overly emotional, too much emphasis on the stories and this and that.
You know if we don't have the very strong philosophical foundation of our belief and practice, then inevitably we will be lost, we will be deviated. And therefore, this is the glory of Śrīla Prabhupāda.
He was preaching to hippies. People who are not very philosophical and definitely not very satvik. You know, some people who were loitering in the streets of New York and San Francisco and this and that.
And even for them, he was speaking philosophy. Because he knows how important it is. And he taught his followers: if you want to speak, find from the book. Speak philosophy. Follow strictly. Quote the book.
Learn the verses by heart. And uh this is the way to not to be lost because the scriptures is the guiding light. The shastra is the guiding light. There is no other guiding light.
Krishna Himself says, He speaks in the 16th chapter of Bhagavad-gītā.
If somebody rejects scriptures, if somebody doesn't follow strictly Shastra Vidi, the rules of the Shastras, Nasasidhi Mawapnati, they will not have any perfection, they will not have any success in life, na succumb, they will not obtain any happiness naparamgatiam. And ultimately, their ultimate destination will also be unclear.
So everything should be based on the shastras, and shastras are revealing some truths which are not revealed anywhere else. That's the definition of Shastra. What is Shastra?
Shastra is speaking something which is not realizable or understandable by your own intelligence. It gives you some information which is outside of the range of your logic and experiment.
And therefore it's very important when we're talking about spirituality we're talking about the path, the clear path is the path of Shastra. And therefore we should know Shastra, we should learn Shastra and we we should hear how others speak Shastra and how others uh explain Shastra to us. That's very important.
So thank you very much. And if somebody neglects this or you know there are so many groups like this, yeah that's that's that's not so good. What can I say? It's just uh it's just it's watering down the tradition.
We are the you know followers of the greatest tradition, the most amazing literary tradition, which reveals so many deepest secrets of life.
And neglecting Shastra means basically neglecting this great you know Rishis and Munis who were at the So,
and that's those people who don't stress Shastra, they do a lot of disservice to humanity, to their followers and the culture, thank you for the slide of last manage. Maladj have two two questions.
Uh the first one was for the Krishna bunch person, it's not a T anyone, and it's not allowed anyone for T. Okay.
Contextual interpretation of sacred scripture
So if you can elaborate a little bit on this because mostly in the working environment, because code selected was from the power data and uh later usually use the primary quantity rather than devotional service.
Yeah, there are so many interpretations. The problem with interpretations is that at one point of history, the science of proper interpretation was lost.
You know, a few centuries back, actually, probably more than 1,000 years back, people were very clear how to interpret Shastra. There was a you know very elaborate science of interpreting Shastra.
But because now people don't know how to do this, you know, somebody quotes this verse or somebody quotes that verse and try to overemphasize the point of this verse, do your duty, and bhakti is not so important.
Yes, you easily can be cheated in this way.
But the remedy is, you know, when people misquote or when people uh you know overemphasize point which is should not be emphasized. The remedy for from this is uh to know the context.
You know, one of the most important uh rules of proper interpretation of the Shastra is to know the context from which this particular quote is coming. You know if you take out, cut out the previous verse, the this verse, then you know then you can easily be cheated.
There is uh there is beautiful story about one Muslim who was saying that in Quran it is said uh drink uh eat drink and be merry uh and uh he was always saying I'm following Quran because in Quran it is said, "Eat, drink, and be merry."
And then he met with some scholar of Quran, Mullah, and he said, I'm following Quran, what you following Quran? He said, "Eat, drink, and be married is there in Quran."
And Mullah said, "But the next line is that eat, drink, and be married and you will go to hell" and this person said, "No, no, I nobody can follow the whole Quran, I follow this particular" verse.
So you know when people cut something from the context, then for sure that you will be misled.
And therefore, before understanding, coming to conclusion what Bhagavad-gītā is all about, read till the last verse when Krishna says sarvadharmān parityajya mām ekaḿ śaraṇaṁ vraja and then try to understand the whole thing.
And uh of course try to find somebody who knows systematically the scriptures. But otherwise yes, unfortunately this science of proper interpreting Shastras is to a greater extent lost.
Thank you so much for the wonderful class, the wonderful question and answers. I thought we were uh speaking about uh the last one about what? So uh what I have observed is generally Prabhupāda's books.
Many many people trust start immediately trusting. So they know, you know, uh Prabhupāda is giving lots of facts to the Shastras. So they went to us and but some people still they try to keep away.
So everything is good. is good. But still they they wanted to keep themselves away. They don't want to take the next step and completely take shelter. So uh how to uh uh we can uh just uh read it.
Can somebody repeat to me the gist of the question? Read proper words and easily get faith and trust Yes. But some people don't get that faith and trust by reading by reading books.
You know, some people are mistrustful by nature because they were betrayed many times, especially if their parents were not so good, or you know, because of some childhood traumas. Some people are very very mistrust.
There's no doubt about it. And it's just their nature.
But because internally we all have the quest, we want to find the truth. We want and we want to find the person who embodies the truth. We want to find somebody who really is, you know guiding
us towards the truth, then if these people are sincere, they can overcome their mistrustful nature. Yes, there are people who are; it's very hard for them to trust anyone. There's no doubt about it.
Many, many of such people, especially because of Kali Yuga, so many times we were betrayed or let down by other people.
But you know, if if the desire to find out the truth is very strong, then this mistrustful nature could be replaced, could be overcome. That's the only question which I can uh answer which I can give. Thank you.
Very Christian