Bhagavad-gita 2.7
Бхакти Вигьяна Госвами · Москва · 2005
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Reciting the verse on surrender
Oṁ namo bhagavate vāsudevāya. Oṁ namo bhagavate vāsudevāya. Vasudevaya Sudevaya. something which I want to continue. So I'm going to read the seventh verse of the second chapter of the Bhagavad-gītā.
Karpanya docha, karpanya doša, Upahatam, Swabaha, Prichani, Vicham Dharma samudha, dharma, chetaha, cheta, yat, shreyaha, sreya, sjat, vischitam Schitam Bruhi Brietand Sisyaha Sishya Te Aham Sadhi Mam Tvamprapan Karpanya Doh Shapada Sabava, Karpanya Doshamp May Sadhama. Sishyasteham Sadhima Twamprapanamant. something like this. Karpanya Karpanya of miserliness. Of miserliness. Of miserliness. Dosha Dosha by the weakness. Upahatā being afflicted. Being afflicted. Swabavaha. Swabava. Nature. Nature. Pichami Pichami. I'm asking. I'm asking. Dwam unto you. Unto you Dharma Religion Samudha Samudha Bewildered Bewildered Shetaha in heart in heart Yada What? What? Shreyaha. Oh good. Syat. Maybe. Maybe Nishitan Nishitan Confidently. Confidently. Bruhi Disciple Disciple Te Your Your Aham I am Shadi Shadi Just instruct instruct Mam me um me unto you prapanam surrendered surrender translation Now I'm confused about my duty and have lost all composure, because of my weakness. In this condition, I am asking you to tell me for certain what is best for me.
Addressing material perplexities with guidance
Now I am your disciple and the soul surrendered unto you. Please instruct me. By nature's own way, the complete system of material activities is a source of perplexity for everyone. In every step there is perplexity.
And therefore it behooves one to approach a bona fide spiritual master who can give one proper guidance for executing the purpose of life.
All Vedic literatures advise us to approach a bona fide spiritual master to get free from the perplexities of life which happen without our desire.
They are like a forest fire that somehow blazes without being set by anyone. Similarly, the world situation is such that perplexities of life automatically appear without our wanting such confusion.
No one wants fire, and yet it takes place and we become perplexed. The Vedic wisdom therefore advises that in order to solve the perplexions, uh, perplexities of life and to understand the science of the solution,
one must approach a spiritual master who is in the disciplic succession. A person with a bona fide spiritual master is supposed to know everything.
One should not therefore remain in material perplexities and should approach a spiritual master. This is the purport of this verse. Who is the man in these material perplexities?
It is he who does not understand the problems of life. In the Brihadaranyaka Upanishad, the perplexed man is described as follows: Yovaitat,ks Aaram Garg, Avid Avidit Vasmalokat Prayti Sakripanaha.
He is a miserly man who does not solve the problems of life as a human and who thus quits this world like cats and dogs without understanding the science of self realization.
This human form of life is most valuable asset for the living entity who can utilize it for solving the problems of life. Therefore one who does not utilize this opportunity properly is a miser.
On the other hand, uh, there is a brāhmaṇa or he who is intelligent enough to utilize the body to solve all the problems of life. Yayata Daksharam Gargi Viditva Smal Lokat Praiti Sabramana
The Kripana or miserly persons waste their time in being overly affectionate for family, society, country, etc., in the material conception of life.
One is often attached to family life, namely to wife, children and other members, on the basis of skin disease. The Kreepana thinks that he is able to protect his family members from death.
Or the kṛpaṇa thinks that his family or society can save him from the verge of death.
Arjuna accepting Krishna as spiritual master
Such family attachment can be found in even in lower animals. Who take care of children also.
Being intelligent, Arjuna could understand that his affection for family members and his wish to protect them from death were the causes of his perplexities.
Although he could understand that his duty is to fight, awaiting him, still on account of miserly weakness he could not discharge the duties.
He therefore is asking Krishna, the Supreme Spiritual Master, to make a definite solution. He offers himself to Krishna as a disciple. He wants to stop friendly talks.
Talks between the master and disciple are serious and now Arjuna wants to talk very seriously before the recognized spiritual master.
Krishna is therefore the original spiritual master of the science of Bhagavad-gītā, and Arjuna is the first disciple for understanding the Gītā. How Arjuna understands the Bhagavad-gītā is stated in Gītā himself.
And yet foolish mundane scholars explain that one need not submit to Krishna as a person, but to one born within Krishna. There is no difference between Krishna's within and without.
And one who has no sense of this understanding is the greatest fool in trying to understand Bhagavad-gītā.
Kārpaṇya-doṣopahata-svabhāvaḥ pṛcchāmi tvāṁ dharma-sammūḍha-cetāḥ. Now I'm confused about my duty and have lost all composure because of miserly weakness. In this condition I am asking you to tell me for certain what is best for me.
Now I'm your disciple and the soul surrender unto you. Please instruct me.
Nama oṁ viṣṇu-pādāya kṛṣṇa-preṣṭhāya bhū-tale śrīmate bhaktivedānta-svāmin iti nāmine. Namaste sārasvate deve gaura-vāṇī- प्रचारिणे निर्विशेष-शūnyavādi-pāścātya-deśa-tāriṇهِ Vhevachar, Patiampachnav Krishna Hare Hare, Hare Hare.
So There are many beginnings of Bhagavad-gītā and this is one of them. This is one of the verses from which the real story of Bhagavad-gītā unfolds.
Basically this is the real beginning. Everything which was before that was just introduction. Here we can see the beginning of the spiritual quest.
Actually to understand this point and Bhagavad-gītā, It means to understand everything. The whole book, the understanding of the whole book, is hidden in this particular verse.
Because this verse is like the border between two parts of Gītā. The first part of Gītā introductory part of Gītā is describing our way of seeing the problems.
In the very first verse, when Viśvanātha Cakravartī Ṭhākura comments in the first verse, he explains that Arjuna represents a common man. And actually Śrīla Prabhupāda starts the explanation of this verse from the very same point, when he says that everyone, no matter who you are, everyone has to face difficulties in this life.
Everyone sooner or later will find oneself in an extremely difficult situation. And Krishna, as a speaker of Bhagavad-gītā, arranged it in such a way that the difficulty which Arjuna experiences is more or less typical.
More or less the kind of difficulty which we all find ourselves.
Recognizing sincerity in facing life problems
And he will point to the root of the difficulties and give the solution. But before for us to understand the solution, we have to understand how we react.
Basically that's what uh Śrīla Prabhupāda explains in the purport that there are two ways of reacting on our problems. One is our reaction. And this has been described in the first chapter of Bhagavad-gītā.
How Arjuna reacts on his difficulties. And another one is how Krishna reacts on the difficulties. Another one is the solution given by Krishna. Before that, the solution was given by Arjuna.
Arjuna was seeing himself in this difficulty, explaining his difficulty to Krishna and more or less giving the solution. But in this verse he says, enough.
I told you this solution and I deep down inside my heart I know it will not work. Because he is sincere. Actually, even though Arjuna does represent a common man, there is a very serious difference between us and him.
Between vast majority of people and Arjuna. Arjuna is sincere. And his sincerity, his sincerity is is described in this particular verse.
Because most of the people, even though they do have some ideas and they do have some kind of understanding uh of their problems. They will not be sincere enough.
They will go the way Arjuna was going, but they will not cross the point where Arjuna is now.
Most of the people facing the difficulties will stay where Arjuna is. And they will be good people and they will give nice reasons and they will quote different scriptures. And they will say, I'm doing this because this is said in this scripture and I'm doing this because of that.
And because I heard and somebody gave me an advice and you know so many reasons In other words, most of the people when they face the problem they start philosophizing the problems. They start rationalizing the problems.
And they will ultimately cheat themselves. Because what we want to do and what we usually do, this is our reaction on the problem, I know better. Somehow or other I will solve it.
And uh, yeah, yeah, yeah, I read the books, yes, yes, I read Bhagavad-gītā, I read this book and that book. And I heard something from this guy and that guy. And yes, I heard a lecture in uh in Hare Krishna temple too.
But most of the people they will not again cross this particular point. They will not surrender. They will not say, "I'm a fool."
Like Arjuna here very clearly says, kārpaṇya-doṣa-hat-svabhāvaḥ pṛcchāmi tvāṁ dharma-sammūḍha-cetāḥ, He basically says, "I'm a fool." And Krishna will confirm it very soon.
He says, "Yes, Arjuna, you're a fool." You're right.
Weakness of heart and inner paralysis
He will say this is bona fide, yes. He says, "Kārpaṇya-doṣa." He says, "doṣa." Dosa. Doṣa means flaw. And doṣa means, kārpaṇya-doṣa means kṛpaṇa and kṛpaṇa.
Uh, it says miserliness. Prabhupada translates it, says miserliness. And basically means it's it's weak heartedness. And Arjuna says this.
And of course Krishna will confirm it, he says, klaibyaṁ smā gamaḥ pārtha. He says, you know, you're just you're just unique. You're you're klība. You're you're not a man. You're a coward.
And basically Arjuna says, "Yes, yes, I cannot do anything." I'm paralyzed. The weakness in the heart, the weakness in the mind is so great that even though I am so strong I cannot do anything.
What we find here in Arjuna's uh situation is that even
though his body is so strong, his mind is weak, his heart is weak. And because of the weakness of the heart, because of the weakness of the mind, because of the weakness of his consciousness. He cannot do anything.
He's paralyzed. He's losing his composure, his uh his bow is falling out of his hands. He has a heavy bow. He couldn't even hold it nicely and he's shivering. And he says, "Yes, I'm at fault."
He says, Karpanya Dosa Pahata Svabhava Pichami Twam Dharmasa Mudhacha He says, I'm totally bewildered about Dharma. I cannot understand what. So this is actually the point uh where the sincere seeker goes.
Sincere seeker admits I'm a fool. Those who are just pious, they will never admit it. They will say, yes, yes, yes, I'm very pious, I'm nice, and I'm in difficulty, yes. And I will pray.
And I will do this ritual and that ritual. And I will and I will f you know, do some puja to this God and that God. And somehow or other we will find some solution. He will not come to this point.
So that's again the difference between the sincere seeker and uh an Arjuna. Between the sincere seeker and majority of people. Majority of people. They read Bhagavad-gītā. Many people read Bhagavad-gītā.
Many people like Bhagavad-gītā. Many people say Bhagavad-gītā is great. But majority of people practice only the first chapter of Bhagavad-gītā. This is their spiritual practice. They don't go further.
They don't open their heart to the words of Krishna.
They remain in the same condition of And uh they will not come to Krishna with the sincere pain in heart, with the tears in their eyes, saying, you know, I don't know anything.
Here Prabhupada explains that basically to understand Bhagavad-gītā you have to surrender yourself. And you have to surrenderrender. Sur means person. You cannot just surrender to some abstract truth.
You cannot surrender to book. Sometimes people say, yes, I'm very surrendered. I read Bhagavad-gītā very nicely. Prabhupada once explained uh the difference between the book Bhagavatam and the person Bhagavatam.
He says it's better you know it's good to read the book Bhagavatam and the book Bhagavad-gītā. But it's much better to listen the person Bhagavatam. And somebody asked why? What's the difference?
Because when we listen we are not very attentive and when we read we can be very attentive, we can go back and go, And Prabhupāda explained because the book cannot hit you on the head.
And the person can't be able to do that. The difference is that when you start speculating and then you start relying on yourself,
on your own power to solve the problems, and then you start you know more or less entangling yourself even more and more and more into these complexities of life, uh uh, the book will not save you.
You will quote the book, you will know the book. But the book will not bring about the change within your heart. And the real spiritual path starts from this sincere surrender. When we say I couldn't find anything.
Prabhupāda very nicely explains in the end of the purport he says God is a person and because God is a person, only because God is a person he requires complete surrender.
If he was not a person, he wouldn't require this because he wouldn't care. He couldn't care less, you know.
If he was not a person, he wouldn't say sarvadharmān parityajya. He would say just do whatever you like. Don't care. But he's a person.
And person means he has personal feelings and he has also personal relationships. And relationship especially relationship with God means the relationship of surrender. This is the way to acquire the intelligence.
The only way to acquire the higher intelligence which will be uh which will help you to make the solution, to find the solution for all the problems, is to surrender.
And to discard, to relinquish your own intelligence. Because unless and until you uh only rely on your own intelligence, the solution will be crippled.
You will not find the real solution. Krishna starts Bhagavad-gītā from very simple understanding. He says the soul is eternal.
But even this simple understanding is not possible to understand by your own intelligence without the surrendering. Krishna will say this.
He will say in Bhagavad-gītā that some say some speak about the soul as the wonder. S some some will talk, some will hear about the soul as some miracle and some will discuss it and still nobody will know what it is.
You can listen it again and again and again, but without this special quality of listening, this quality of surrender.
You will not understand yes, I'm eternal. But as uh as soon as this kind of uh understanding comes to your heart, the real realization of eternity of the soul, of eternity of myself, will immediately come.
You will know it for sure. So how it will happen, I I wanted to describe a little bit, because I don't have so much time, how it happens and why? What is the problem?
Material conditioning and split personal identity
Why we cannot understand anything on our own? Because one may say that this is just a good dogma. This is just, this is just very clever. This is the Soviet way of explaining everything.
And actually there is something to it. There is some truth in this kind of understanding that everything in this world exists because of some you know some hidden motive that somebody wants to explain to exploit you.
So somebody will read this purport. And will say, very good, very nice, very clever system. This is just a sect. And the sect, the guru wants to exploit everyone.
That's why he says, Yes, yes, surrender unto me and we will exploit you. So one may reject it as a dogma. And in one sense, yes, we have to understand why it is so important.
Why again and again in the Vedic literature it is stressed that the first uh step for spiritual realization is the complete surrender. Why? What is the reason for this?
Is it for real or this is just some kind of crazy system? So uh that's what I wanted to explain a little bit about this.
The problem comes and Prabhupada explains this that inevitably everyone finds oneself in a problematic condition of life, in a very difficult situation. The problem of the soul. Is the false ego, right? Right?
We know Kṛṣṇa explains this. We have this ahaṅkāra. And ahankar means that we identify with something which we are not.
In this material condition, in this material world, in this situation, in this framework of the material nature, the soul uh uh adjusts oneself to the nature and tries to emulate some kind of you know qualities of the surrounding what happens here, and
this is our real problem, is that uh uh we develop some kind of false identity and this false identity is split. Śrīla Prabhupāda explains this in the purport.
He says the false identity is inevitably split because I play so many roles in this material world. I'm a husband of such and such woman.
I am a you know father of such and such children. I am a citizen of such and such country. I am you know this and I am that and this and that. So many different things.
And this is all basically the description of our conditioned nature. Our conditioned nature has this split personality. In medicine it's called schizophrenia. And we're all more or less little bits schizophrenics.
You know we are more or less uh you know we're Like for example, very nice example. Why person does not keep his word? Sometimes he gives the word.
Oftentimes, especially nowadays in uh when the Kali Yuga is getting heavier and heavier, more and more developed. You know, he gives his word.
And in this particular moment when he gives his word of honor he is totally completely convinced, Yes, I will do it. Oh, sometimes this is a very common situation with Hare Krishna movement.
A disciple comes to the spiritual master and says, I give you the vow, I will follow four regulative principles and then chant the sixteen rounds of Hare Kṛṣṇa Mahā-mantra every day, just give me very nice spiritual name and I will be very good.
But a few days later, you know, he changes his mind. He says, no no, why should I do it?
And the reason is very deep. The reason is that when he was giving this vow on when he was giving this vow of honor, he was one person. And then a few days later he became a different person. He adopted a different ego.
And in this if different ego, you know, he doesn't care because it's somebody else gave the the word of honor. You know, this is not my word. I don't have to follow this. I'm different now. The situation changed.
And something changed within myself. Or sometimes because we have this split personality, because our ego is so split, is so divided, you know, these different personalities they come and go.
Today I'm one and I'm I identify myself as a devotee, you know. Very nice, Hare Kṛṣṇa, Hare Kṛṣṇa.
But then somehow or other I I change myself and then you know I'm when I'm with devotees I'm very nice devotee. But when I'm with somebody else, I'm very nice somebody else.
When I'm with somebody else, I'm again different. Because I am in different environment. And this is the nature of the soul is to change uh one's conditioned nature according to environment.
Emotional conflict from changing material roles
And that's exactly what uh Arjuna is confessing here in this verse to Krishna. He says, My Svabhava, my conditioned nature became overwhelmed with this motherliness. I'm a different person.
Just a few minutes before I was ready to fight and I identified myself as a big fighter. My whole purpose in life was to fight. But because of my split personality now I'm looking and I am not the fighter anymore.
I am his little grandson. And he is my protector and grandfather. And he, he, he loves me so much and I like him so much, and how, what, what can I do?
I'm just, I'm just a little child, and I'm, you know, I'm shivering now. Please forgive me. I will go up to him and sit on his lap. And he looks at somebody else and finds some other relation in his life.
And his ego changes. And that's exactly what's happening with us.
They come to one association or to one group of people and they behave in a certain way because there are certain set of values in this particular environment or in this particular society.
But then we go to another, uh, you know, society and we behave differently, because there is a different set of values and we don't even feel bad about it. Because our ego allows this, you know.
I have completely different thinking. I, I don't care. So that's the problem. And that's exactly this kind of split personality is the cause of our problems.
These so many problems come from this, because sometimes we don't even know who we are anymore. We don't even know how to react to the different situations.
And because of all this, and the main problem is this, because all these roles which we play, sometimes very enthusiastically, sometimes really enthusiastic about particular role which we have to play now.
A few days down the road we become bored about it and find some other role. But the problem is that they're all temporary, they're all non-, they're all not real. No problem
of these, children, but for how long it will last? Not long. Now yes, I am the, you know, the husband of this particular woman, but how, how long it will last? It will not last long.
And the problem with this kind of life is that it doesn't have the permanent foundation. The permanent ego. Everything is changing. And I don't know who I am.
I don't know and because I don't have this permanent ego, permanent understanding of who I am, which doesn't change uh day to day, from day to day.
It doesn't change when the season changes, it doesn't change when the time changes. But it doesn't change which is constant. The whole my life is on a very flickering platform.
It just just it you know, it's always tottering. It's not stable. This is exactly what Prahlāda Mahārāja says to Hiraṇyakaśipu. And he says what was this first Suravarya Dehina? He says my my dear father, best of the demons.
The the very best demon I've ever encountered in my life. I will tell you what is the best thing in this world. He says that the the the the the best thing which I learned is that people are crazy.
This is the number one which I know. Because they try to identify with something which is impermanent, which is not permanent, which is changing.
They're trying to hold, they're trying to somehow rather to hold for something which which doesn't have a permanent existence in this world. And therefore sadasabu samudvignadiywasad, therefore they are always in anxiety.
Always, constantly. Constantly they are you know, they are in complete anxiety. They have no peace. Because they are holding, they are clinging uh uh uh uh onto something which doesn't have permanent existence.
And therefore, you know the best thing is śravaṇaṁ kīrtanaṁ viṣṇoḥ smaraṇaṁ pāda-sevanam arcanaṁ... This is the best thing which I learned because this gives you the permanent ego.
Finding eternal identity through surrender
And basically the problem which is described in Bhagavad-gītā. This is the problem of our split ego.
How to get rid of this split personality of personality problem because our conditioned personality, our problematic personality, which brings about so many problems to us, is this conditioned personality which is more or less superimposed onto us by the circumstances, by their minds.
And we have to find deep down within our heart our real ego. Who I am. And for that you have to have a crisis. Without crisis you cannot do this. If everything is nice you will never be able to do this.
For that you have to have the tears on your eyes. And for that you have to say, yes, I couldn't solve anything. And I have to surrender. And at the moment of surrender the wonder, the miracle happens.
What happens at this particular moment is that you find your permanent ego which doesn't change. Here I am. And that's exactly what Arjuna is asking here in this verse. He says, please tell me what will be best for me.
śiṣyaste 'haṁ śādhi māṁ tvāṁ prapannam. I'm surrendered unto you, I am your disciple, and this is my eternal identity. Actually my eternal I'm always disciple. I'm never a master. Never.
Never should I identify myself or seeing myself that I know better.
And this is in this way, in this kind of emotional state the heart opens and then you really uh feel your real identity which is changeless. That's the point.
Because we still no matter who we are, we will still go on playing the roles.
Like uh one should not think that uh um Krishna wants everyone to be bachelorless or to kill their own wives just to get rid of them, to get rid of the attachments. No. No, we have to we have to play the roles.
But if behind this role, underneath all the roles which we play, there is our real ego, then we can play all these roles nicely.
If underneath everything which we do there is this real identity of ours and we live our life with this real identity which is changeless, which lives according to certain principles, according to certain values, which are changeless, which are eternal.
If we understand that there is eternal relationship which identify or which basically defined our ego or ourselves, the relationship with God.
Which doesn't change with death, which doesn't change with anything, then our life becomes very stable. There is a foundation in our life. I am always servant. No matter what, I'm always servant.
And the life becomes very easy. And no disturbances comes and even they if they come, they come and go. You know, you don't really care about the disturbances. You just smile.
You know, no matter how difficult it is, you just smile and become very much uh enlightened about everything.
Overcoming confusion through spiritual wisdom
Moreover, the more difficult it becomes you think, yeah, this is good, you know, because this is Krishna is really trying Krishna hard to help me to get rid of all my nonsense. Before, if this understanding is not there, we will have this crazy identity and depression. We will have depression after depression after depression.
And that's exactly what Arjuna found himself in. He was the first uh in history described case of uh uh very heavy deep depression.
And he would, if he would come not to Krishna, but to a psychiatrist, he would give him some nice medicine from the depression. Some other doctor.
He would say, you know, take this anti-depressant and depression will be gone. But Krishna gives the real solution. Krishna says that all these solutions are not real. This is all illusions. You know.
You can get all the drugs in the apothecary which you like and take them one after another. You will not solve your problems. Because the problem is deep.
The problem is wrong self-identity, the split identity, the conditioned nature which was superimposed upon us. And the way to surrender, the way to understand our real nature, permanent nature, is to surrender.
There is no other way. You have to find a spiritual master or you have to find God Himself and surrender unto Him. If you don't trust anyone, that's fine.
But at least you have to be so determined that to say, you know, if I see God face to face then I will surrender to him.
And then maybe he will come to you if if you're so surrendered because he is very compassionate. He may come to you. But basically, usually he comes in the form of guru.
He says himself in the Eleventh Canto of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, ācāryam māṁ vijānīyāt. You should know, you have to know that I'm coming here in the form of ācārya.
If somebody if you find somebody who lives according to the eternal principles which are not changing which are not changing uh no matter what, you know, which which is not changing according to the climate.
You know sometimes people say that you have the Indian religion, you know. And sometimes we even ourselves believe it. This is Indian religion. This is I'm sorry. This is not Indian religion. This is not Hinduism.
Sometimes people, they say, you know, Prabhupada himself says this is not Hinduism because this is not Hinduism. Because this is eternal truth.
Because this is, these principles are eternal. The soul is eternal, the soul has eternal qualities, and these eternal qualities reflect. And Krishna in Bhagavad-gītā speaks, where does he speak about Hinduism?
Does he speak when Arjuna comes to him and says, śādhi māṃ tvāṃ, you know, śiṣyās te 'haṃ śādhi māṃ tvāṃ prapannam, says, Krishna says, now I will explain to you the concept of Hinduism. You will become a nice Hindu.
No, he says, I will explain to you who you are. And this is eternal nature. And this is eternal nature and this is eternally true in all times, in all countries, in all circumstances.
That by nature we are servants, by nature we are always disciples, and by nature we always surrender and when this happens we become happy because at this particular moment we acquire the foundation for all our roles in the society.
We still continue to be nice fathers, nice husbands, nice relatives, nice you know.
Of course Arjuna had to kill Bhīṣma, but this is this is an exception. But he had to kill not Bhīṣma himself, he had to kill his wrong attachment, his wrong false identification. That's what he has to kill.
And that's what we have to kill too. I don't have to kill anyone. This is not good.
You know sometimes you know people, foolish people say this, Hare Kṛṣṇa, they say, you know, kill, kill, and Christians says, kill, kill, kill, kill, kill. And this high Christians they read, but and then they go and kill.
But Kṛṣṇa says heal your ignorance. Heal your false attachments. Heal your false identification. Heal your problems.
The problems which which are not real, which are really, you know, more or less uh artificial, which you yourself created because of your split personality. And this you you cannot really avoid this step.
Cannot because if you avoid this step and they're trying to avoid it by all means. As much as Arjuna is trying to avoid it before uh you know we will find so many different you know reasons to avoid this.
And even Bhagavad Gita, we will quote Bhagavad Gita. Like I know that in India one of the most famous quotes from Bhagavad Gita when Krishna when Van Arjuna says Kula Dharma Sanatana. This is Kula Dharma.
This is my family dharma. Sanatana. It's Sanatana. Sanatana. It's eternal. So but people they will not go further. They will just philosophize, rationalize, and find some reasons for this.
And uh they will not understand the real solutions. They will not hear the real solution which Kṛṣṇa gives. They will listen and they will not hear. They will listen and they will not understand.
So the way of spiritual life is to surrender. And the way to surrender is to say I am I'm a fool. I'm a fool. I cannot I cannot find solution myself. And this is painful.
And it's not it's not that you know you just listen this lecture and then you say you say I'm foolish. Because in this particular society it's it's it's nice to say that I'm a fool.
This is this this will be nicely appreciated by everybody. No, you have to feel it. Which is painful. You have to really feel I couldn't find the solution for all my problems.
I couldn't find the eternal ego within. And this eternal ego comes, the understanding or the touch with this eternal ego comes when this understanding comes. I'm a fool.
So far I couldn't find any solutions to all these problems.
Realizing foolishness to gain spiritual knowledge
And to find the solutions I have to find somebody who will guide me. And though today is a story I I read recently, which is a very nice story from a completely different tradition.
Again, to prove that Gītā is not speaking some kind of sectarian truth. The Gītā is speaking eternal truth which is again, truth everywhere in all countries, in all times.
This is the story from Judaic tradition, from Judaism. Very nice story, extremely nice story. There was one guru in Judaism. In Judaism there is also Guru. There is also spiritual masters there.
And he was living with his wife in a humble way. And once somebody knocked at his door in the morning. And he said, who are you? And he answered from behind the closed door. No, no, no.
He asked from the behind the closed door, who are you? And the person answered, you know, I came I came to you I heard that you are spiritual master and I want to learn scriptures from you.
He said, get out from here, you fool. I don't want to have anything to do with you, I'm not teaching scriptures here. And the wife became very surprised.
The wife says, he wants to know the scriptures He wants to know scriptures. He says, I'm not there to teach scriptures. Because usually people use scriptures just to rationalize their foolishness.
That's what they use the scriptures. Just to hide behind the scriptures. Just to, you know, to make sure that everything is nice and I know the scriptures.
You know, I'm not going to teach him scriptures because he's a fool. Usually fools come to learn the scriptures. So I don't want to have anything to do with the fools.
So the next morning, or a few days later, somebody again knocks on his door and he asks, "Who are you? What do you want?"
And a voice from behind the door says, "I want to help all the people and I want to do good to all the people. Can you teach me how to do this? He says, get out of here, you fool. I don't teach this.
The wife became even more perplexed. The wife said, and a nice person he wants to help everyone. He wants to help everyone.
Why don't you want to teach him?" Because he's a fool, he says, you know, because how he can help anyone if he doesn't know who he is.
He can only make troubles, you know, and I don't want to make any other troublemaker, you know. then a few days later somebody else knocks at his door and he asks who you are.
He says, teacher, teacher, I don't know anything. I am such a fool. You know, please... I... and it's so bad for me. Please help me. Somehow or other I don't know how to live. Can you teach me how to live?
He opens the door and opens his embrace and he says, finally somebody came with the right motivation, with the right intention. Finally somebody came. Not to philosophize, as the first one.
Finally somebody came not to think good about himself as the second one. Finally somebody came who has the sincere desire to learn the truth. And the sincere desire to learn the truth starts from this point. I'm a fool.
From this deep feeling, I'm a fool. I don't know anything. Please teach me how to live. And that's exactly what Arjuna speaks. Basically this story is the illustration of this verse where Arjuna says Susyaske Ham Sadimant.
Please tell me in certain terms. Nishcitam bruhi tva, what is good for me? I don't know what is good. Because everything which I think so far — tell me certain truth, what is good and what is bad.
And from that Bhagavad-gītā starts. And Krishna says, yes, I will tell you. Yes, you're right, you're a fool. Because intelligent people they don't become depressed. This is the diagnosis.
Somebody comes to you and says, I am depressed, I have the depression. And the doctor says, Yes, I know you're depressed because you're a fool. Let's go from this point onwards. Because you put yourself in this situation.
This is your fault. And your depression can be cured if you make this very radical step of surrendering yourself. And basically when Krishna describes the whole Gita, he repeats the same thing.
He says, Sarva-dharmān parityajya mām ekāṁ śaraṇaṁ vraja.
If you want to get rid of all the problems in your life, mā śucaḥ, if you want to be peaceful, if you want to be completely free from all anxieties and all the troubles. Just surrender unto me. Do what I say. Practice.
Not just the first chapter of Bhagavad-gītā. There are seventeen more chapters in Bhagavad-gītā. Practice, practice detachment. Practice detachment from the fruits of your work.
Practice the deep spiritual emotional love towards the Supreme and develop this. Practice everything which I say and then you will be mā śucaḥ. Then you will be very peaceful. Then you will be very happy.
And there is no way around it. There's no way. You have to do this. You have to go you have to go through this door. This is the only door to spiritual experience, to real spiritual experience.
Everything else is just nice religion. This religion or that religion. So many religions are there. But who needs them? Anyway, who needs religions? They're not very practical.
Gita is practical because Gita if we hear what Krishna has to say to us, he give us a chance to put the end to all our problems. Thank you very much. I'm already six minutes late.
Combining internal surrender with active duty
Do you have any questions? Very difficult, I know. Don't tell me Surrendering doesn't mean that you should give up maintaining your family. Surrendering means that deep down within your heart you depend on God.
And the formula which is given in this regard is that when you pray, you pray as if everything is dependent on God. And therefore in the morning we pray and we have to pray in this mood of complete total dependence.
Śrīla Prabhupāda explained the mood. When the real spiritual experience should come to our heart, then the mood will be like a child who is crying for his mother. You know, I'm a little child, I'm I'm little, I'm helpless.
And in this helpless state of mind I'm asking Hare Kṛṣṇa, Hare Kṛṣṇa, Kṛṣṇa Kṛṣṇa, Hare Hare, Hare Rāma, Hare Rāma, Rāma Rāma, Hare Hare. And if we want that Krishna hears our prayers, We have to do it in this mood.
Because like mother, she always knows when the child is crying for real and when he is just crying just because he's crying and because he wants to you know attract attention.
The mother is doing something and the child is... the mother says, Yeah, yeah and something real happens, you know, and the child cries the mother runs to the child.
So if we want God to run to us, we have to chant in this mood. Hare Krishna Hare Krishna. Complete surrender.
But then when we stop praying, and at one point it starts, then we have to maintain our family and do our business and everything, as if everything depends on us. This is the rule.
Uh the our real identity should be there in all the situations. But then externally we have to play all the roles. But this roles, uh, will be false if there is not... if this internal identity is missing, is absent.
But if this eternal identity of little tiny soul dependent on God in all circumstances is missing, then it's useless.
But if it's there then uh then it's it makes sense, you know. You can maintain your family and it it it will be it will be something meaningful.
That will be meaningful and that will bring ultimately a good result because you will be able to do it properly. But if this identity is not there, uh if this mood is not there within our heart. Then it will be useless, meaningless.
And ultimately we will be we will become completely entangled, completely perplexed and lost. And that's usually what happens with people in this world.
They're doing this and they're doing that and sometimes they're successful. But ultimately they're, you know, this feeling of being closed is very much prominent in this world.
People just don't know why, how, what happens with me. So surrender is uh is an internal it's it's it's uh it's a work which has to be done within our heart, within our consciousness, within our psyche.
Um it doesn't mean to be crazy. It doesn't mean to become lazy. It doesn't mean to become you know useless to be Sometimes
people when they hear this surrender surrender then when they hear this cry they they they fly, they they they just ran. You know, let's let's surrender that surrender means to become totally useless and dysfunctional.
And we have many of these people here with this telephone, you know, they come. No, but it doesn't mean this. It means and and that's exactly what Krishna asked from Arjuna. He says you fight. Not just sit and pray.
Like Prabhupada gave one nice lecture and he says, Krishna doesn't say toward Arjuna, you sit and smoke marihuana and I will find it. Because sometimes people think that smoking marihuana is very spiritual.
It's my bhajan, you know. I'm sitting and I so Prabhupada says, Krishna doesn't say this. Krishna says, no.
He says, Mayarpita manobudhir, Mamanus Mara Yudya He says, Mama Nusmara, you remember about me, Yudhyacha, and you you fight. Maya artita manobuddhir. To me, artita artita means surrender.
Artita Mayartitamanobudhir means you give me your mind and your intelligence. And intelligence basically means uh this quality of of action. Intelligence means determination. Intelligence means our ability to act.
So Krishna says, My Artita Manobudhir. You give me your mind, but not only mind, also your buddhi. Your intelligence which which basically guides you in your activities in this life.
Mama Nusmara, and remember about me, Yudhyacha. And and you fight. You do what you do with duty. You do whatever you have to do. Because you're a fighter you have to fight. If you're a businessman you have to do business.
If you are uh if you are a doctor you have to uh you know give some bogus medicine to people and you have to do it. Any other questions? Anyway, thank you very much for coming.
I'm really sorry that there's not so many people here. But I promise that I will come very often now. Yeah I know this is Christmas vacation. So but sometime in January I will come again. I miss very much your association.
And actually I like to give lectures in English somehow or other. I don't know why. Probably because I can't speak properly, but Śrīla Prabhupāda said also. He said very nice thing.
He said, if you know a language, you will want to speak in this language. You will have the urge to speak. So this is my chance to you delight this urge. Somehow or other for Krishna. Thank you. Very nice.
Śrīla Prabhupāda keeps the