Bhagavad-gita 9.29
Бхакти Вигьяна Госвами · Копенгаген · 2023
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The ultimate purpose of acquiring knowledge
Vidya means science, vidya means methodology to know something in this world, to understand something and to have power.
To ultimately we study anything with the purpose to obtain power. To be able to manipulate and to be able to control. So Krishna says that there is a very special mysterious science of how to control God.
Usually our ambitions don't go that far. We want to control well it's good if we can control our wife. Even this is very difficult. What to speak about boss or something else?
And therefore Krishna says there is a secret. There is a very important secret which you should know. And the secret is not being revealed so easily because by knowing this secret you obtain too much power.
This is like they they speak in India. Too much power. So uh, and we read a
verse from the very beginning of this chapter, which was talking about the prerequisite to understand this science what we should have preliminarily to be able to know this secret knowledge.
And today I will kind of continue where we left yesterday, and I will read one verse from the end of the same chapter. So in this way we in some way uh cover the subject matter of this ninth chapter.
So I will read the twenty ninth uh verse uh which which is anyway you will see what it is. So let's chant together.
First invocation mantra: Oṁ namo bhagavate vāsudevāya, Oṁ namo bhagavate vāsudevāya. Oṁ namo bhagavate vāsudevāya, Oṁ namo bhagavate vāsudevāya namaḥ, oṁ namo bhagavate vāsudevāya
Samo 'haṁ sarva-bhūteṣu, samo 'haṁ sarva-bhūteṣu, samo 'haṁ sarva-bhūteṣu, sarva-bhūteṣu, na me dveṣyo 'sti na priyaḥ, na me dveṣyo 'sti na priyaḥ, ye bhajanti
tu māṁ bhaktyā, mayi te teṣu cāpy aham, mayi te teṣu cāpy aham, mayi te teṣu cāpy aham. Maity te suchapyaham. So let's read the translation of this verse in Sanskrit. Uh the translation of course, in English.
And uh the explanation of this verse which was given by His Divine Grace A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupāda, his Bhagavad-gītā As It Is.
Krishna's impartiality toward all living entities
And then we will talk a little bit about the essential message of this verse. Krishna says here, Samoham Sarva Bhatishu, I am equal to everyone. I am Samaha. Samaha means equipoist. I'm not partial.
To all Sarva Buddha, to all the living entities. I don't have any particular hatred. Sometimes people think that God doesn't like me. I'm so unfortunate, my life is so difficult. Krishna says, no, no, no.
I don't particularly have any ill feelings toward anyone, no matter what he does. Because I'm neutral, I'm distanced, uh, I'm impartial. Naṁ dveṣyo 'sti na priyaḥ, and I don't have anyone who is particularly dear to me.
Sometimes again people say, oh, I'm very lucky, or somebody is very lucky. And God favors him. Krishna says, no, no, I'm not favoring anyone.
But then he says, two, two means but uh he contrasts the content of the first line of this verse with the second line, and he says, no, but there is a special category of people.
Ye bhajanti tu māṁ bhaktyā, but those who are worshipping me with love, those who are trying to obtain love, those who are making this endeavor to enter into close loving relationship with me. Mayi te teṣu cāpy aham.
I am in them. I dwell in them, literally. Mayi teṣu, they dwell in me. Mayi teṣu te, teṣu te mayi. They are in me and cha apiaham and I am in them.
So he says I'm neutral to everyone, but if somebody is making special endeavor to enter into loving relationship with me, then I distinguish them from the rest of other living entities.
So let's uh read the Purport, the translation and Purport.
I envy no one, nor am I partial to anyone. I am equal to all. But whoever renders service unto me in devotion is a friend, is in me, and I am also a friend to him. Purport.
One may question here that if Krishna is equal to everyone and no one is his special friend then why does he take a special interest in the devotee who are always engaged in his service. But this is not discrimination.
It is natural. Any man in this material world may be very charitably disposed, yet he has a special interest in his own children. The Lord claims that every living entity, in whatever form, is his son.
And so he provides everyone with a generous supply of necessities of life. He is just like a cloud which pours rain all over, regardless of whether it fails on rock or land or water.
For his devotees, he gives specific attention. But for his devotees he gives specific attention. Such devotees are mentioned here.
They are always in Kṛṣṇa consciousness and therefore they are always transcendentally situated in Kṛṣṇa.
The very phrase Kṛṣṇa consciousness suggests that those who are in such consciousness are living transcendentally situated in Him. The Lord says here distinctly, mayi te. They are in me.
In other words, if we place our consciousness in God by remembering Him that itself is a very strong relationship, strong bond, and uh Kṛṣṇa feels obliged to reciprocate with this action of ours.
Naturally, as a result, Lord is also in them. This is reciprocal. This also explains the words ye yathā māṁ prapadyante tāṁs tathaiva bhajāmy aham. This is the quote from the fourth chapter of Bhagavad-gītā.
Whoever surrenders unto me proportionately, I take care of him. This transcendental reciprocation exists because both the Lord and the devotee are conscious. When a diamond is set in a golden ring, it looks very nice.
The gold is glorified. At the same time, the diamond is glorified. The Lord and the living entities eternally glitter because they have conscious nature.
And when a living entity becomes inclined to the service of the Supreme Lord, he looks like gold. The Lord is a diamond. And so this combination is very nice.
Living entities are a pure, in a pure state, are called devotees. The Supreme Lord becomes the devotee of his devotee. If a reciprocal relationship is not present between the devotee and the Lord, then there is no personalist philosophy.
In the impersonalist philosophy, there is no reciprocation between the supreme and the living entity, but in the personalist philosophy, there is.
The example is often given that the Lord is like a desired tree, and whatever one wants from Him, from this desired tree, the Lord supplies, but here the explanation is more complete.
The Lord is here stated to be partial to the devotees. This is the manifestation of the Lord's special mercy to the devotees. The Lord's reciprocation should not be considered to be under the law of karma.
It belongs to the transcendental situation in which the Lord and his devotees function. Devotional service of the Lord is not an activity of this material world.
It is a part of the spiritual reality where eternity, bliss, and knowledge predominate. So this is the explanation of this verse given by Śrīla Prabhupāda. Prabhupada.
Again, the verse itself, samoham Sarva Bhutashuna medveshyo stina priyaha, ye bajanti to mam bhaktia, maiteshu chapya ham. I envy no one and I am uh partial I am not n nor I am partial to anyone.
I am equal to all, but whoever renders service unto me in devotion is friend, is in me, and I am also a friend to him.
Nam Vishnu Padaya Krishna Prashthaya Bhutare, Srimati Bhaktividanta Swami Nitinamine, Namaste Saraswati Devi Goravani Pracharini Nirvisha Sunyavati Pascha desha ne Sri Krishna Chaitanya Prabhunita Syadvaita Gdat Hara Sivasa de Guru Bhakta Vrinda Hare Krishna Hare Krishna Krishna Krishna Hare Hare Hare Rama Hare Rama Rama Ramahari Hari.
Yandtah pra visi mamma vachimu mamampra suptam sanjevaya ta kila shakti daraswadamna, anyam schahastacharana sravanatva gadim prananda mahu bhagavatyam.
Understanding bhakti yoga as scientific love
So let's start thinking about this verse subjectively. As I said in the beginning, there is a special science which is called science of love. Another name of this science is Bhakti Yoga.
Yoga means the connection, the systematic process in other translation of the word yoga means the procedure, the methodology.
So bhakti yoga means the special methodology which allows individual living entity, tiny spark of consciousness, soul, to enter into close relationship with the source of everything who is Supreme Lord Himself.
And that's a very scientific process which Krishna Himself says in the beginning of this chapter when he calls this vidya. Again, as I said, vidya is the methodology, like there is a sarpa vidya.
Sarpyaavid is the science of how to control snakes. I don't know if there is Patnividya, the science how to control wives, but
but there is, uh, Rajavidya, the highest of all possible sciences, the science of controlling God. And this is exactly what Krishna is admitting here. If somebody takes the initiative and if somebody is making a
first step towards me, if somebody understands that this is something which is very important for us to know God. Then the Lord reciprocates with this initiative.
It is said that when we make one step towards God, He makes ten steps towards us. He's always in competition with the living entity which wants to enter into relationship with him.
But the main point which he is making is this reciprocation. This Rajavidya is called the highest of all sciences,
and the most secretive, most mysterious of all sciences, because love is something which is very difficult to understand.
And one of the reasons why love is very difficult to understand and even more difficult to execute, to perform, to practice, is that everyone thinks that he already knows what love is.
This is the biggest misunderstanding which is there in the human society.
Everyone thinks he already knows what love is. Everyone tries to enter into loving relationships, and everyone else at the end of this is more or less frustrated.
With all good intentions, he offers his heart, or he thinks he offers his heart. With all good intentions, he wants to receive love and exchange, and as a result, he is oftentimes frustrated.
I mean, I'm saying oftentimes just for the sake of you know being neutral. If I would manifest my, you know, heart sincerely, I would say all the time, but but I think there are some exceptions.
Frustrated, not necessarily in the sense that one is totally frustrated. Most of the time one is totally frustrated, and therefore the divorce rate is so huge.
But, uh, uh, usually we are still somewhat disappointed and disillusioned.
Something which we dreamed when we were talking about love, thinking about love, uh dreaming about love in reality becomes some sort of very ordinary routine relationship of mutual support at best.
So let's try to talk about this little bit. What is the reason why everyone thinks that he knows what love is? The reason is very important because everyone is entitled to love.
Everyone is created in such a way that love is something which is which is our inherited right, uh, right.
It is said in the Bible, it is said in Vedic literature and Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam and also in Bhagavad-gītā that God is love. And we are created in His image. We are tiny living entities, our image of God.
And therefore love is also innate in us in a sense. We are also made of love. And therefore love is the prime necessity. You know, we need water. Somebody is drinking now to prove my point. Thank you.
So we need water because we're made of water. We need air because air is functioning within our body. Without air we will not be able to survive. We need food because we are made of food. We are made of these substances.
But moreover, more than this, we need love because we are made of love. Love is very essential property and a very essential need and necessity of every living entity.
But even though love is so natural, love is so necessary, still there is a lot of uh confusion, a lot of misconceptions. And sometimes people say that sex is love. Sex is not love. Sex may be an expression of love.
And not always. So to equate love with sex is just is just absurd. So love is something completely different. Love actually elevates, love purifies, love makes our heart much soft and compassionate.
Whereas sex has a completely opposite effect.
People driven by this sex desire, they create crimes, they kill some uh people, and so so much cruelty uh is uh is being made uh you know uh in this activity of uh of human being. So this confusion is there.
And the reason uh and that's why I have chosen to speak on this verse, because this verse not explicitly but implicitly speaks about the difficulty to obtain love.
Krishna, not without reason, calls love the highest possible secret. And there is a very strong philosophical foundation for us not to understand love what love is,
because we are programmed to perform reward-seeking activities in this world. We are very much programmed to act for the sake of reward. Actually, that's the main motivation of every living entity. Why do we act?
We act because we expect some reward in return, or we act because we want to avoid some punishment.
We either want to achieve something good, something pleasurable, or we want to avoid something which is painful, which is bad for us. That's how we act, and this action, this nature of us is very strong.
When we are little children we are already acting for this sake.
You know, when the parents are trying to punish us, we know that we shouldn't do this, and when they want us to act in a certain way, they give us some chocolate or some, I don't know, orange or whatever, as a reward.
So we're programmed again and again and again—reward-seeking activities.
Karma and the nature of universal justice
And this reward-seeking activities is called karma. This concept of karma, uh, the cause-and-effect relationship is actually the natural logical result of our intention or our program to work for the reward.
Because we work for the reward, then Krishna gives us reward. He actually gives us what we're supposed to get. And uh karma is extremely just and fair. We get what we're supposed to get and what we want to get.
It is explained here in the purport, Śrīla Prabhupāda says that you know everyone Krishna is is e he like a you know rain. The rain when it falls it nourishes everything.
You know sometimes people say that this is so unjust, this world is unjust. You know, look, somebody is born in a very rich family. He is born as a very beautiful, like Princess Diana or something like this.
You know, he's so beautiful and he's so she's so famous and you know and they they are
born like this and somebody is born in in a poor family he's ugly and he's sick and somebody is healthy and you know he has all these things and they say uh God is unjust.
Krishna says no no no I mean he heard these uh accusations that he's injust since time immemorial. So to make sure that uh you know he knows that it will not help but still he wants to make it clear.
He says, no, I'm fair. I'm just. I'm only giving what you deserve to get. You know, and the example is uh is actually very appropriate, which Prabhupāda gives in the purport. The example was the rain.
When the rain comes, and there are so many different seeds, different varieties of seeds in the soil. So uh because of the rain, different seeds grow and one seed becomes a very magnificent oak tree, and another seed becomes a useless weed. Right?
Is it injustice? No. It's very just. It's just the seed is there and the rain only manifests this seed.
Only brings this seed into the vivid manifestation. The oak is oak because there was a seed of oak and the useless weed the stinging uh how you call it? Whatever.
This stinging grass is is horrible stuff but uh but uh rain is not responsible for this. Can the useless grass complain to the rain why you didn't make me into an oak? No. No no it's crazy.
The oak will say, you know sorry, the rain will say no, you my dear sir, you're crazy. I have nothing to do with this. And that's exactly what Krishna says here.
For those people who have nothing to do with me, I have nothing to do with them. I just reward them how they wanted to be rewarded.
They were acting in a certain way, and by acting in this way, they deserved some reward, and this reward is given to them. And this is called karma.
You know, you go to an astrologer, and an astrologer will say, by looking at the time of your birth, he will say, this is the seed which you have. Sometimes people don't believe in astrology.
They say, How is it possible that at the moment of my birth, you know, the my destiny or my fortune is being discovered there. No, it's possible because the moment of your birth is just little seed.
And our life is just the growth of this seed, which is already there. The DNA is there. DNA is there, you know. You believe in DNA, why you don't believe in in astrology? It's the same thing.
You know, DNA is just an information which is there, and this information is being manifest to you know come into life by creating our body.
But every moment of time is also a compressed, very compressed uh it has a lot of information inside, which astrology knows how to read.
Astrology is basically the same, the the science of astrology, which is unfortunately lost nowadays, is the same as deciphering this DNA. You know, you can make the sequence of DNA known.
In the same way the astrologer looks at your chart and says, This is what is going to be, this is the seed. This is what you did in your previous life. You have a bad, bad Jupiter.
Bad Jupiter means you didn't respect uh elderly people, you didn't respect your guru, you didn't respect your parents. And as a result of this, you will suffer. Uh you wanted to suffer because you disrespected them.
You basically disproved their existence. You wanted to reject their existence by your rebellious nature.
As a result of this, Jupiter will not be happy with you because Jupiter represents this and this, you know, position of authority in your life which you have to accept and so on, so forth.
I'm not giving an astrology lecture here. I'm speaking about the principle of karma. The principle of karma is the principle of justice.
And Krishna is speaking here: if somebody does not want to enter into personal relationship with me, then, you know, naturally I reciprocate with them, but in a personal way.
Actually, the law of karma is the reciprocation of God because everything is created by Him, the whole system is created by Him. But the law of karma is the impersonal reciprocation of the Lord.
He does not reciprocate personally; He puts law between Him and the living entity. He gives the living entity at the disposal of the law.
As much as, you know, it's again a very normal situation, a very normal occurrence in this world, you know, with some you have a very personal relationship.
You enter into personal relationships, you reciprocate with them, and they're personal. But if somebody is impersonal and you still need to somehow or other reciprocate with them, then there is strict laws.
If he violates the law, he will be punished. You know, if he abides by the law, he will be rewarded by abiding by the law. Simple. Very just. Krishna says this very clearly.
You know, this, and but this is very difficult for us to understand. Almost impossible for us to understand because we always reject this when something bad is happening.
When something good is happening, of course we say this is because I am so clever. This is because I am so intelligent. This is because I am so good.
You know, when something bad is happening, then we always say somebody else is guilty. You know, why is it so? When something good is happening, I am responsible.
When something bad is happening, somebody else is responsible. How is that possible? You know, ultimately, you're responsible for everything. Whatever good is happening, you are responsible.
Whatever bad is happening, you are responsible. God is only responsible for creating this system.
He created this system of universal justice, and he says about this: I don't have anyone who is favorite to me, I don't have anyone whom I don't like, you know. I'm just rewarding something. If you wanted the reward,
Consciousness and universal karmic connections
But if you didn't want the reward and basically you know we were talking a little while ago with Jasper about how the law of karma works. It's a very beautiful creation of God.
You know, we have consciousness. And this is a small particle consciousness. The source of consciousness is of course soul, but in the material world, the first element,
the first very subtle material element is citta. And the same citta as mahatva is also the first element of this material creation.
So our little citta, our little consciousness, is a part of universal consciousness. We are not living just in this material world.
We are not living on the earth, we're not living in the air, we are not living in the space, we are living in the space of consciousness. We are living in the informational space.
And our consciousness is a part of this informational system. And when we do something, it affects the whole system. You know this is how the law of karma works.
Why are people so puzzled and sometimes don't believe in the law of karma? Because they think that they're independent.
You know, they think, you know, I I did something, nobody saw what I did. You know, why why do I have to suffer the reaction? Why? How is that possible?
They cannot understand the logical mechanism of how karma works, but actually it's very simple. We are part of the complete system. We are a little part of the whole system. And whatever we do affects the whole system.
And therefore, the law of karma is not linear. Sometimes people are very upset with God. They say, you know, you do something little and you suffer so much. No, God is not at fault because my little
action affects the whole system. We hate some people and it affects so many other people. And therefore, the reaction which comes to us ultimately by the law of karma is also so great.
But because we are in rajas, because we are in this mode of passion, we always think that I am independent. We always think that I am separate. We always think that I am not responsible.
And these reactions are coming to me without any reason, without any cause. Anyway, first Krishna says, don't complain. Whatever is happening with you is your fault, my dear sir. You know, I'm not responsible, please.
I'm sick and tired, I'm sitting here and I always listen to all these complaints. First you say, give me, give me, give me something. Then I give you what you wanted, and then you say, no, you're, you're bad.
You asked for this. Why did you ask for this in the first place? You know there was this famous Russian novel where the main hero of this novel, he was looking for a million of, you know, he wanted to become rich.
And ultimately he became rich by hook or by crook. He performed so many sinful activities on the way. Then, and in the end, you know, he was so frustrated.
And then in the end, you know, the last exclamation of this hero at the end of this novel saying, oh, dream of an idiot was fulfilled, so that's what's happening with us. We're dreaming, dreaming, dreaming.
And then when the dream is fulfilled, we start regretting or saying, you know, God is bad. God is not bad, God is impartial. He does not have any purpose to inflict suffering to living entities. He's too big, too kind.
Too great to do this. Sometimes people say that there is a very crazy conception that God is jealous. Jealous God, yeah. Sitting there. And he just likes to see the sufferings of living entities. No, he doesn't like it.
No, he actually regrets. That's why he sends uh all the saints and everyone to to help the living entities. But then he says a very important thing which is most relevant to our today's discussion.
He says, but still, if somebody wants to enter into personal relationship with me, if somebody sees me as some impersonal power, as a power only to receive some reward then I will behave accordingly.
You know usually why do people need God? What is the use of God? You know, give me something. Give me. Give me. You know, I will put some candle to you. You know. Do you remember? You know, I put the candle.
Such ridiculous stuff, man.
You put one candle and then you have the long list of, you know, all your relatives whom you want to be benefited and long list of all your enemies whom you want to be punished. You know, and this is just for the price of one candle, you know.
This is a business relationship which people try to enter with uh God. But uh Krishna says, you know, I I don't play these childish games. I don't play this childish. I don't buy it. You know, I I'm not like this.
Approaching God as a sensitive person
I I'm just you know uh establish this law of justice and uh the law of justice is taking care of them.
But if somebody regards me as a person, if somebody understands that God is person, person means desire, person means heart, person means feeling.
If somebody treats God as a person and most loving person and most sensitive person, and God is, we know that when we evolve, when the human being evolve, they become more sensitive.
They become more, you know, the feelings become more acute when somebody is dull, you know, when somebody's, you know, he he drank a, you know, half a liter of whiskey.
You know, and uh he's not very sensitive. He's a person, but not very sensitive person. Because he's degrading himself. His consciousness is in a very low state of affairs.
very uh undeveloped and he wants to make himself less and less conscious, less and less, you know, this is unfortunately the path which many people take in this world. They want to be deprived of consciousness.
Why do people drink? Just because just to forget. Just do just to become unconscious, basically. And as a result, they become unconscious, you know. Here I am.
Why do people take drugs again to get some little reward and ultimately to become dull? Any activities of this kind makes people dull.
But when you evolve, you become less and less dull and it means that you become more and more sensitive.
The feelings which you have become more and more elevated, and the feelings which you have become more and more pure. And God is like this: He has feelings, personal feelings.
It's actually, believe it or not, it's very easy to offend God.
We know when we have very close relationship with somebody, if we love somebody, in this material world, if we have somebody who is very near and dear to us, we also have greater facility to inflict pain to this person.
If somebody on the street walks by you and says, Oh, you're a fool. Ah, you will just, you know, you will do like this and say, Oh, you're a fool yourself, no problem.
But if somebody who uh who is close to you, who enters into personal relationship with you, whom you trust, says you're a fool, you know, oh my goodness, it's it hurts so much. So love is difficult.
Love is difficult first of all because we try to enter into relationship with God as if it was a business relationship of this material world. Reward-seeking activities. Give me some Diwali gift to you.
You know in Christian tradition they put candle, in uh Hindu tradition they put lamp, but basically the same. You know.
Uh so if somebody treats God as a business partner, as a good business partner, you know, you give him something little, he will give you a lot of in return, you know.
Uh God says, no, you're not going to cheat me like this, you know. You gave me some little lamp, I'll give you also some lamp, no problem. Don't worry, you will be rewarded.
But if somebody understands that God is a person, and it means that if somebody really wants to give his heart to God, and therefore, if somebody is especially careful in this relationship, is trying to be very careful and not to be offensive in this relationship.
As Krishna says, to mām bhaktyā, those who are worshipping me or serving me the verbal root baj means to serve. Because love means service.
Love means when we want to do something which is pleasing to the person whom we love. When we love somebody, then naturally this desire to appear in our heart, appears in our heart, you know, I want to do something which will be pleasing to him.
It may be little. It may be the same candle or the same lamp. But uh because I'm so useless, you know, I I I cannot give anything but this candle. But I'm giving this candle or lamp with love.
Not because I want something in return. You know, it's the same candle. But you give the same candle to the Lord and you don't expect anything. And you say, my dear Lord, please take it. You know, I don't have much more.
Please take it. Krishna says, yes. Oh, somebody loves me. I should reciprocate with him.
And that's exactly what he says in one of the previous verses when he says, if somebody gives me just one fruit, one orange, or one apple, you know, there are so many apples here in at this time of the year in Denmark, you know.
Just give one apple to God. He will be sold to you for this apple. But the secret is that you should do it with love. You should do it with full understanding that God is a person and He doesn't like cheating.
We all know any one of you had been ever cheated in the relationship by loved ones? Please raise your hand. Does it hurt? It does. You know, you want to enter into close relationship. You're giving something sincerely.
As a result, you're being detra- betrayed. You're being, you know, let down, you're being dumped, you're being exploited. You know. Anyone did this to somebody else? It hurts, it hurts.
So that's exactly the secret which God Krishna is talking about in this chapter. He says: if somebody is sincere in this relationship.
If somebody understands God ultimately is a person and try to act in a very sincere, honest way in this relationship, God will go all the way to help such person. He will arrange everything.
How devotional love beautifies the soul
He says I'm in him and he's in me. Because this is the relationship and relationship always reciprocal.
And this relationship makes beautiful the living entity, but even God becomes more beautiful because of this relationship. Love beautifies. When somebody sincerely loves somebody, he becomes very beautiful.
You know, you know that the most beautiful you are when you are in love with somebody. You know, all this Christian paintings of Virgin Mary with little Jesus Christ. And she's so beautiful. She is glowing.
Why is it glowing? Because of love. Love makes somebody who loves beautiful, somebody who reciprocates.
So here it is explained by Śrīla Prabhupāda that love makes beautiful the living entity; the living entity becomes glowing.
When we denigrate ourselves, when we degrade our consciousness by committing sinful activities, we become very dull.
You know, the natural effulgence which is there in everyone, the aura, becomes very dull and not very nice. But when we start loving God, we become effulgent.
But the most important thing, as Prabhupāda explains, that love not only beautifies the living entity, the love beautifies God.
He says, as much as the diamond, as much as the gold becomes more brilliant in connection with the diamond, in the same way the diamond becomes more beautiful when it is uh framed in gold.
You know, when you take diamond, he's beautiful, he's always beautiful, but in connection, framed in gold, he becomes even more beautiful. So that's bhakti-yoga.
Bhakti-yoga is this very secret knowledge of how to be sincere in the relationship with God. What we should do and what we should avoid doing, entering into this relationship.
And in this way becoming beautiful in this relationship, becoming beautified in this relationship. And of course bhakti-yoga starts with chanting of the holy name.
There is this very beautiful Russian poem where the author says that the love which is deprived of the name, nameless love dies very soon. Actually, name is the nourishment for love.
We all know that the best way to express our love is to call somebody by name. You know, when the mother calls her little son or daughter by name, she invests so much love in this name.
So in the same way, bhakti-yoga, the beginning, the foundation of bhakti- yoga is to chant God's name, but to chant it with feeling.
As we did when we were chanting this kirtan, and as we are trying to do, I hope when we chant Kṛṣṇa's name in our chanting beads.
And usually when we take Vedic sciences, vidyās, as I said there are different vidyās, different sciences how to control snakes and wives and all these other creatures. So, they all involve chanting of mantra.
You know, to really master this science, you have to know the secret mantra and chant this mantra in a very pure way, then you will get the power to control the entity you want to control.
So, in the similar way, this most secret knowledge of controlling God which is called love of God starts with chanting very secret mantra which everyone knows.
Hare Krishna, Hare Krishna, Krishna Krishna, Hare Hare, Hare Rama Hare Rama Rama Rama Hare. And when you achieve the perfection and
chanting this mantra as much as in any other video as and much as in any other discipline, then you will achieve everything.
So that's the science of bhakti-yoga, which starts with the chanting of the holy name and which is a very important science for us to understand.
How to be honest and sincere, how to remain honest and sincere in this relationship with the Supreme Personality of Godhead, whose name is Krishna, one of many other names. Thank you very much, Hare Krishna.
So I was supposed to finish on time. I finished on time, but nothing else is on time. But anyway. Uh-huh. Do skalky? Okay, we have seven minutes for questions.
Story of Ramadasa and karmic justice
Don't ask me how to control the wife. I don't know the science.
About justice uh you know sometimes one who isn't who has not committed crime is put in jail and it goes like twenty years or thirty years and he's like um I mean he's released because they they actually remove the charges.
Can something like this happen? I know. I don't answer almost but there is a beautiful beautiful story in this regard. In Karnataka, one of the states of India, there is a beautiful temple of Lord Rāma.
And uh uh this place where this beautiful, magnificent temple of Lord Rāma situated, is called Bhadrachalam.
So, and there is a very moving and beautiful story connected with this place which I will describe describe without much detail.
Badrachalam is an ancient place where Lord Rāma was traveling during his exile, and still there are some places connected with his travels there.
So the temple was erected and uh some time ago maybe in uh 16th century AD or so one very great bhakta came to this place. And not only he came to this place, he was appointed as a tax collector to this place.
But he was a great bhakta and great poet. He was in love with God, with Lord Trump, and he was writing poems. And he was so much, and the temple at that time was in disrepairs.
So at one point he collected a large sum of money in tax and he repaired the whole temple. And then, because he was very honest and the king liked him very much.
Some jealous people in the court complained to the king that he misspent money which is there in the taxes.
And he was hoping to compensate to this, but, uh, the king became very angry and ultimately he investigated the whole case and put him in prison.
And for many years, I don't remember exactly how many years, maybe 12 years uh he was sitting in prison. For what? For his service to Lord Trump. You know, he sincerely wanted to serve the Supreme Lord.
He did it in such a sincere, with such a sincere heart, and as a result of it, he was put in prison. So, but uh because he was really a great devotee of the Lord, he was not complaining.
Actually, most of his songs, still people sing his songs very nu— very, you know, loving songs filled with love about Lord Trump. Most of his songs he wrote while in prison because in prison anyway there's nothing to do.
So he was writing his poems glorifying Lord Trump. So then. or maybe it was seven years. Yes, seven years. I believe it was seven years. So at one point it was a Muslim rule there.
So at one point uh Nawab, who was the ruler of this province. Guard of this Nawab said: There are two beautiful children, teenager. Are knocking at your door, they really want to do it.
And you know, somehow or other I I saw that they're very uh that they're very important and I decided uh to uh uh inform you that they are there, they're visiting. Something is very special, and they have bows and arrows.
Anyway, so to make the long story short, these two uh teenagers they gave all the gold coins which he misspent on building this temple to Nawab and said, please release him.
They are actually his debtors. And we are paying the debt to him. So this is this is our coin. And these coins are still there. These coins are very special because there are special marks of Lord Rāma there.
As you probably understand, this is Lord Rāma. Lakṣmaṇa came to pay for his devotee. And he was released the Nawab, uh, Nawab, Nawab himself, Nawab, uh, and uh he uh begged forgiveness.
He said, I didn't know that you know that you have such you know such uh people who are indebted to you, you know, they are very nice. And he couldn't understand what he is talking about, who came.
And then when he realized that Lord Rāma himself came to pay for him, he broke into tears and he said, You are much more much more fortunate than I. He didn't come to me. He came to you. You saw him personally.
He gave you these gold coins, you have this and he didn't come to me. And he started complaining.
And then you know when he was released, at one point he started crying and he started saying, My dear Lord, why did you put me in prison? Why was I so long in prison without being really guilty. I just wanted to serve you.
And the Lord revealed to him that at one point, before that, he imprisoned a pigeon in the prison, and he kept this pigeon for seven days in prison. And the poor pigeon was suffering so much.
And he said, I just wanted to teach you a lesson. And this is your karma.
You know, you imprison somebody, you will be imprisoned. You kept somebody without any reason, you inflicted sufferings to somebody, you know, you got your reward. But actually, I always was with you in your prison cell.
I was there, as Krishna says here in this particular verse, if somebody is trying to enter into relationship, I reciprocate. I am there. And that's why you wrote all these things. And he became even more in love with God.
So that's that's the answer to your question. So so we stop? Yeah, I can stop. Okay. Thank you very much, Hare Kṛṣṇa.