Review of 8th Chapter of Bhagavad-gita
Бхакти Вигьяна Госвами · Indian Institute of Technology Mandi · 2023
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Overview of the eighth chapter
So today we will speak about the eighth chapter of Bhagavad-gītā, which is called Akṣara-brahma-yoga or attaining the Supreme.
This chapter is a very important chapter because it explains how we can change our ontological position. We are constantly changing.
We are you know living beings and being like this, we constantly interact with the world. And some changes are taking place, whether for good or for worse. We are either evolving or devolving.
But this particular chapter of Bhagavad Gita is not talking about some gradual process of evolution. This chapter of Bhagavad Gita is talking about the radical change in the status of a living entity.
And at least for curiosity's sake, we should be interested in this. Like yesterday after lecture, one young man approached me and he said, Why God did this world, you know, that everything is being destroyed and decayed?
It's just because this world is not for the purpose of us being permanently here. So basically, the topic of this chapter is how to change what changes have to take place within us.
How we can accomplish these changes within our way of thinking and interacting with the world so that ultimately we will change our
position from being immersed into this material energy to living entities who are spiritually fulfilled. So that's in very short the essence of this chapter.
So basically in the end of the seventh chapter, and I heard that you studied seventh chapter, Krishna, the speaker of Bhagavad Gita, formulated very important problem which every one of us is born with.
It's the fault which is inherent to all of us. And he says, He says that the main problem is that we are all absorbed in these two things: ichha and dvesha.
Ichha means something which I like, dvesha means something which I hate. And I gave class this morning and I said in this
class that, uh, these two emotions, liking and disliking, is actually a determining factor of our life. Even though we proclaim to be homo sapiens, intelligent entities, actually we are more emotional than intelligent.
We are more emotional than rational. So Krishna says that's the problem. Unless and until you're trying to squeeze out happiness from dealing in this duality. This I like, this I don't like.
And that's exactly the essence of our life. We're trying to increase these things which we like. And when these things which we like increase in our life, we call it happiness.
You know, I like this, I like this, I like this, and I have many things which I like, I'm happy. And we are trying to decrease or to avoid things which we don't like, which we hate.
So the success of our life we measure according to this measurement whether we are capable of increasing things which we like and avoiding things which we don't like.
And Krishna says that's the problem every one of us is born with.
And it's deeply ingrained in our consciousness, you know, our limbic system of the brain is programmed in this way: hatred and love, attachment and disgust. So plus, minus.
You know, you take any mechanism of our brain in the limbic system and it will react accordingly.
Karma and overcoming sinful mentality
This I like, this I don't like. So Krishna formulated this problem and then he says, but there is a way to overcome this problem. And he mentions it very briefly at the end of the seventh chapter.
He says that those people who could overcome the sinful mentality. Sinful mentality, we should not really understand sinful mentality in religious sense.
We have to understand that in Bhagavad-gītā Krishna is talking about science. What is sin?
Sin is a certain activity which bounds us, which binds us to this world and which forces us to repeat this activity again and again and again. People are bound by sins and at the same time they are attracted by sins.
Sinful activity is something which we do once, and we get into this vicious circle. We are obliged to repeat it again and again and again.
Actually, any sin, you know, eating some things is sinful. Eating other things is not sinful. Why? Because some things we get addicted to this. There is an addictive process.
An addictive process is actually binding us in this world. So Krishna says this hatred and love which we are programmed with, which is deeply ingrained in our consciousness, is a result of our sinful activities.
We did some activities and results of them were pleasant and we got addicted to them. And results of certain activities were totally negative, and we are trying to avoid this. And this keeps us bound to this existence.
So, Krishna said that you can overcome this. Even though you're born with it, even though you're programmed by your previous activities, which is called karma, and very surely programmed by this.
Still you can overcome this, and for that you have to worship me. And at the end of the seventh chapter, he says that if one knows what is Brahman, what is Adiyagya, Adi Buddha, Adi Daiva?
You know, he mentions some very vague terms and he says that ultimately if you remember you can get rid of old age, deaths and disease. If you remember about me at the end of your life.
If you remember, he specifically says that this is the last verse of the seventh chapter. Sorry, the thirtieth verse.
Those in full consciousness of me who know me, the Supreme Lord, to be the governing principle of the material manifestation of the demigods and the methods of sacrifice can understand and know me the Supreme Personality of Godhead at the time of death.
So he says: this is the condition, if we understand that there is one source of all existence. If we really understand that everything which we are now
and in which we exist and which we want is coming from one source. And if we remember about this one source, then we can overcome this and we can remember about him even at the time of death.
Arjuna questions the Supreme Lord
So that was the end of the seventh chapter. And the eighth chapter starts from the seventh questions of Arjuna. Krishna mentioned very quickly all these difficult terms,
which I will not get into because it would take too much time. I would like to give the essence of this chapter. So he mentioned testament. Yeah. Is the class which is supposed to be there?
Is there some notice the other room in we inform all the students we inform all the students morning, but we are going in that direction in that reference.
I'm just afraid if some people are just going there and, uh, so there is in Shri Kamakhya. In Shri Kamakhya. No. Our regular class. Yoga. Yoga Albada. Nobody was there. Everybody is here. Why did you change the uh menu?
Sorry, Maharaj, sorry. I just wanted to show that everything. Okay. So anyway, that's the topic of the seventh chapter, and in the beginning, Arjuna is asking questions.
And Krishna specifically he mentioned this to invoke his interest. You all know if you listen too long, your mind tends to go somewhere. And the speaker either has to tell you some joke or to
tell you some story to get you back or to intrigue you by some hints. So Krishna in one sense intrigued Arjuna by very briefly mentioning all this vague terms of philosophical terms.
So Arjuna being very and also in this way Krishna is checking whether he is listening attentively or not. It's very important for the speaker to make sure that the audience is listening to him.
So uh Arjuna passed the test. That was little exam. Not the final exam, but the intermediate exam. So uh Arjuna passed the test. He's asking uh seven questions. And again, Krishna very quickly answers six questions.
And then the rest of the chapter he is devoted by answering the last question of Arjuna. And the last question of Arjuna is how to remember about God at the moment of death.
The last question of Arjuna, which he asks in the fourth verse of this eighth chapter is uh is this he says uh uh sorry uh the fourth sorry the in the in this yeah uh in the second chapter.
And how can those engaged in devotional service know you at the time of death?
Mental impressions at death
So Krishna in two verses uh very quickly answers this in the third and fourth, and from the fifth he starts answering the main question of Arjuna. You know, this last moment of our life is a crucial moment.
And those people who underwent near-death experience, they all report, or most of them, they report the same phenomena. They say that at the moment of this they see the whole life in a very compact way.
They see like a movie in front of their eyes.
I personally spoke with one individual who went through this and he explained to me that you know all of a sudden he saw his whole life and especially all these moments or all these events of his life where he was committing bad things and good things as well.
You know, in the case of this particular person, he said, in my case, I did so many bad things, you know, there were very few good things.
So the people who are reporting this experience of near-death experience say they see the whole life as a movie, and at the end they see the sum total of the whole life.
The whole life takes a form because what is happening with us during the life, we are acting in a certain way, we are thinking in a certain way, by speaking in a certain way, and every action, every thought which we have is recorded within our memory.
You know, some easily erased from the memory, but there is a lot of things, especially the bad things, the things which created bad consequences. They are recorded very deeply in a very deep layers of our psyche.
And while acting in this world, we are already creating our next body.
Every thought, every action, every word which we produce contributes to the next to the mental state, changes our mental state, modifies mental state to a certain extent and actually preparing the next body.
Because our next body will be in accordance with the form or the shape of our subtle body which we create by acting in this world, by speaking in this world, by thinking in this world, by interacting with this world.
Therefore, knowing this, the great sages who were the fathers of Vedic culture they had such a careful, you know, they they created such a diligent and careful system which ensures that our subtle body will be improved.
And the modern style of life, Western style of life is actually destroying our subtle body. They don't know the subtle science of how to improve and rectify our subtle body.
Story illustrating deep subconscious impressions
I wanted to tell you a very little story anecdote which is historical anecdote, the real story, which actually stresses the importance of this samskaras.
Because the whole essence of this chapter is how to create good samskaras to create a conducive state of our mind at the moment of this.
So this story happened in Punjab in the end of 19th century and uh there was still a very pious very kingdom at that time and uh uh the king was extremely pious and uh it so happened and uh the cow, some you know, stray cow was drinking some water and somehow or other she stuck in the in the wall and they couldn't release her by her horns.
So uh there was as usually in India you know the big crowd of people immediately got together around this cow, and everyone was trying to help how to release the cow from this situation.
And you know, of course, you know, somebody was doing something, everyone else was giving some advice. That's a normal procedure.
So but then at one point one person he said why don't we just cut the horns of this cow. You know, and this way release this poor cow from this situation.
Of course, there were spies in this crowd, and the spies in the evening they reported to the king. This is what happened in your city. And somebody suggested this horrible thing. Nobody accepted it.
They didn't do this, but for you know, pious Hindu person to inflict some pain to cow was very abominable. So the king became very enraged and he summoned
this person, uh he found this person and he asked this person who you are? You cannot be Hindu because this crazy thought came to your mind that uh uh you can m mm uh give pain to this cow.
Uh even if you wanted to release her. And but he was saying, no, no, I'm Hindu, I am Hindu, I'm Hindu. Anyway, the king was enraged, he put him in prison, and he asked his mother to come.
His mother came and he started interrogating the mother. You know, what happened? You're probably unchaste. You know, the for somebody who has pure upbringing, this kind of thought would not come to his mind.
You know, this is we can estimate the purity of people even 100 to 120 years back. So the woman she was objecting, she was saying, no, no, I'm chaste, I didn't think about any other man even in my dreams.
But finally, she said, You know what happened?
After the night of conception, when I conceived this boy, the first person whom I saw when I woke up in the morning, and when you woke up in the morning, you're still very vulnerable and impressible.
So she said, I looked out of the window and I saw a butcher.
And because I saw a butcher, I had this impression in my mind how horrible life he lives. He kills these poor animals and he's, you know, he lives this bloody life. And it gave such a deep impression. And she said that probably that's the reason why my son had
such a thought. You know, and after this, this uh this custom is still current in Punjab. You know, the king said he made a law. And he said that every Hindu woman is supposed to have a ring with a little mirror.
And the first thing which they should see in the morning when they wake up is their own reflection in the mirror. And in this way protect themselves from the bad impressions. Why did I tell this story?
Because this story contains a very important lesson. How careful we should be. How easy it is to get bad impressions within our psyche,
especially with this internet, with all these, you know, things which are so charged with bad energy, you know how easily it is to get in and how difficult it will be to get them out of our psyche.
So the whole Vedic culture is about protecting our subtle body which consists of mind, intelligence, false ego from all these bad impressions because these bad impressions by accumulating in our subtle body ultimately define our next life.
They ultimately define what we will see at the moment of death.
Reincarnation guided by final thoughts
That's the essence of this particular chapter. Krishna will explain in the sixth verse the general principle of reincarnation.
In the fifth verse he says, Antakāle ca mām evāṁ smaran muktvā kalevaram yaḥ prayāti sa mad-bhāvaṁ yāti nāsty atra saṁśayaḥ. Samad Bavam Yati Nastatra Samsaha.
And uh whoever at the end of his life quits his body, remembering me alone, at once attains my nature of this, there is no doubt.
Krishna says, if you remember about me, if you remember about God, if you remember the name of God or whatever, at the moment of death you will be saved, you will change your status. But it's not so easy.
Sometimes people think, oh, I know the trick. I will live my life as I want, and at the moment of death, okay, Hare Krishna. No problem. No, no, it's not going to work. You cannot cheat God.
You know, you will remember only those things which you are accustomed to remember during your life.
Because we can only remember those things which we repeatedly remember again and again and again, which actually forms our subtle body by repeated remembrance.
And therefore, in the sixth verse, which is a key verse to this chapter, Krishna explains the general rule. The general rule, very important for us to know, Yam Yamba Pismaran Balam, Kya Jatante Kale
Krishna is addressing Arjuna Kaunteya, and Kaunteya means your son of my aunt, you're very dear to me. Actually by revealing this truth, which is a very important truth, Krishna is manifesting his compassion to all of us.
With practically tears in his eyes, he says, please remember these things. Whatever you will remember at the time of death will be your next destination.
So please try to live your life in such a way that you will not remember something bad. You know, like nowadays it's very fashionable even in India, you know, to have the dogs, you know.
It's very funny to see, you know, Indian people with the dogs. In the West everyone has a dog. But in India it's still not so common.
But people they tend to be attached to dogs, and there is a great chance if you're attached to dog that you will remember about the dog at the last moment of your life. And what will happen to you?
You know, even people, I've seen it personally because uh I'm from this western part of the world where people uh it's very common to have uh dogs, you know, you can see, you can see the dog, and you can see the master of the dog.
And sometimes you see very clear similarity between the dog and the master because the meditation process is so intense. You basically become like the object upon which you meditate. That's the principle of meditation.
You're changing your subtle body. Your subtle body is very flexible. Your gross body is not so flexible, but ultimately,
your gross body is the outer covering of the subtle body, and subtle body is easily changeable, is very pliable. So that's why any thought or any actions which you do contributes to the form of your subtle body.
And ultimately it will be reflected even in your gross body. You know if you're very much attached to a dog, you will look like a dog.
If you very much attach to, you know, some people are attached to eating meat, you know, they will look like pigs or hogs or whatever. And that can be seen.
There is a very great I don't know if you read it, Oscar Wilde was a very great writer, English writer, and he he wrote this story of Dorian Grey: where he explains very beautifully this principle of karma: that any action may not reflect immediately upon your gross body, but still it's stored in your subtle body, and it changes the form of your subtle body, and
you become either beautiful if you think about beautiful things, if your thought process is very beautiful, elevated, or you become very ugly.
And at the end of your life, you will only remember something which was the constant object of your meditation. That's the principle which Krishna is defining here.
Whatever state of being one remembers when he quits this body, his body, or son of Kuntī, the state he will attain without fail. Sadā tad-bhāva-bhāvitaḥ.
You know, whatever sadā tad-bhāva-bhāvitaḥ, you will obtain something which was your predominant bhāva or your emotional state. If you are emotionally attached to something, that will be your next destination.
So you will not be able to cheat Krishna.
Balancing active duty and remembrance
And therefore, from that point on Krishna develops this point and he said tasmāt, which means therefore, that's the conclusion. Tasmāt sarveṣu kāleṣu mām anusmara yudhyaca.
So uh Krishna gives this formula which should be the guiding formula of our life. If you understood this principle. If you understood this very scientific principle and very rational principle,
you know Krishna is not saying, you know, you will go to hell.
You know, like in other religion traditions, they, you know, without any reason sometimes they condemned you to be in hell. Sometimes it's funny, sometimes it's not so funny. Krishna doesn't say this.
Krishna says, here is the principle. Here is the law. If and if you follow the law, that will be the result of following the law. Whatever you remember during the life, you will remember at the moment of death.
Whatever you will remember at the moment of death, you will become like this. And therefore he says, Tasmat, this is the order.
Tasmat sarveshu kaleshu mam Therefore, you should remember about me all the time, but at the same time you should fight.
And the implication of this statement, very important statement, is that remembering about God doesn't mean that you have to become secluded yogi, doesn't mean that you have to renounce the world. It doesn't mean anything like this.
You can still live your life. You should still live your life. Because he says to Arjuna, yudhyaca, you should fight.
It means that fighting, we're all fighting. You know, somebody is fighting with enemies, somebody is fighting with their professors during exam. It's all fight. So you live your normal life.
But at the same time, mām anusmara. Anusmara means not just remember me, try to remember me constantly. Anu, and the prefix anu means try to remember me constantly.
And that's basically the essence of Bhagavad-gītā. If we want to say what is the essence of Bhagavad-gītā, what is the teaching of Bhagavad-gītā, there's only two words.
You know, it's very easy to remember what Krishna wants us to say. Man-manāḥ. Think about me. Mad-bhaktaḥ. Constantly remember me. That's the essence. Everything else is just the rationale, how he explains why
this is the solution for all our problems. If we want the solution of our problems, we have to remember God. We have to train our mind to remember about Him. Then we will be immune to all the problems of life.
Even if we have disease or whatever. First of all, we will have much less disease because our psyche will be much more harmonious.
But the main point is that even if we are in a difficult situation we still will be happy inside. We still will be completely satisfied by remembering, by meditating on God.
That's the whole point, and that's the point of this eighth chapter where Krishna says, mayy-ārpita-mano-buddhir mām evaiṣyasy asaṁśayaḥ. Krishna says, mayy-ārpita, if you offer to me your mind and your intelligence.
Again, very important point which Krishna is making. My Arpita, please offer to me your mind, and your offering to Krishna your mind means actively remembering him. Mind is this entity in us which is constantly thinking.
So he says, offering your mind to me, you please remember about me constantly, actively. But buddhir, buddhir means buddhi means intelligence.
Intelligence means this function of our consciousness which determines the way of our life. Buddhi basically means: make me the goal of your endeavors.
Buddhi means that you cannot, you know, you can say how I can remember God all the time, I have to pass this exam, I have to learn this subject matter, that subject matter, biolog biology, math, this, that.
You know, Krishna says, no, uh, you know, you you don't have to remember about me constantly in an active way.
But if your body is tuned to attain me, if you really understand that this is the world's goal to be attained, then it's also fine.
You know, he doesn't expect us to constantly meditate upon him, upon his form or whatever.
But uh he's explaining yes, you can uh offer to him your intelligence, it means that whatever you do, your ultimate goal, you ultimately have to have the goal of him. He is the highest destination.
Meditating on the personal God
So that's the that's basically the process. And then Krishna gives the conclusion of this process.
Anu-cintayan. He says, by this process of anu-cintayan, of meditation, of constantly thinking about him, you will attain paramaṁ puruṣam divyam, this supreme person, supreme personality.
It's a very important point of this chapter. You know, I remember in the very beginning of my spiritual path, somebody told me, you remember about God. You should remember about God. Yeah, and I tried to remember about God.
It didn't really work because I didn't know how to remember about Him. You know, what to remember about him. You know, yeah, God, okay, fine. Let's do something more practical.
So and therefore Krishna says, no, if you know that Person has qualities. Person has qualities. If I tell you, remember quality-less Brahman. Okay? Yeah. How to remember this quality-less Brahman? It's impossible.
It's not virtually impossible, it's absolutely impossible. Remembering means remembering something concrete. And therefore Krishna says, you know, remember about me.
Remembering about him means remembering Bhagavad-gītā, remembering how he is talking with Arjuna, remembering how he is kind, how he is beautiful, you know, and therefore all the scriptures they explain all his qualities. He is the sum total of all Kalyāṇa-guṇas, of all auspicious qualities.
And by knowing him, by uh studying about him, hearing about him. Our thought process can easily remember him. You know because if we if we hear about somebody who is very brilliant, very beautiful.
You know, we naturally our mind is remembering about him. So it's not difficult to remember about Krishna. And therefore, Krishna says, Abhyasa Yoga Yyktanachasa Nanya Gamina.
If you understand that this is the goal, this is the goal of endeavor, and it's achievable goal. It's not enough to say that this is the goal. You also have to know that this is goal which is easily achievable by me.
And Krishna says: yes, do this abhyas. Do this training, do this sadhana, repeat it, repetition. Actually, any learning process is based on repetition, on abyas.
You know, so if you do this abias again and again and again, if you train your mind, then very easily you will be able to remember about God.
So the beauty, again, this is the very important point of Vedic culture, is that we are programmable. And if we don't program ourselves consciously, somebody else will program us. You know, TV is constantly programming us.
Somebody told me today that you know that people they spoke with Prime Minister of New Zealand. Who was it who told me this today? So, this Prime Minister of New Zealand vary friendly miters.
And he said: before all these poor people before who were the rulers they had to have spies, they had to have such an elaborate system of watching their citizens, you know, so that they would not do something. You know, for us it's very easy. We just show some TV programs and everyone is, you know, everyone is programmed in the way we want them to be programmed.
We have to understand very clearly that we are constantly being programmed. We are programmed by the internet, by TV, by advertisement, by all kinds of stuff.
So if we want to be in control of our life, if we really want to know where we are going, not to be the victim of some programming of sometimes unscrupulous people, people who are dishonest. We really have to know the process of programming, and this process of programming is called abyas, it's called sadhana, it's called some systematic uh activity, spiritual activity or spiritual program which we have to do.
This is the way to change our thinking process. This is the way to change our sattb bodh. And therefore Krishna sa, sabya sa yoga yukta, sanja gamina. Plis mak mi your go of your endeavor. Chaitasa Nanya Gamina.
When you're doing this abhyas, this training of your mind, try to be concentrated. Na Anya Gamina.
Don't deviate your mind because sometimes people for performance sake they meditate or sometimes you know you can see plenty of this advertisement in the internet, five minutes of meditation a day and you're done.
You know no. It's bogus. You know. Beautiful course on meditation, five minutes of meditation a day, and uh rest you can do all nonsense, whatever you like. No, Krishna doesn't say this. Naanyagami, nah.
You know, you do it every day, and Abyasa means that you do it for a long time. Dirgakal, you do it uninterrupted, Nirantar,
and you do it with Satkar with certain this is uh Yoga Sutra from Patanjali Muni, you do it with a certain reverence in mind, Satkar, understanding how important it is.
If in the morning, in this very early morning before sunrise, we do this spiritual practice, we will be immune from this unfavorable bad influences which are there plenty in the environment.
Therefore, this very wise king of Punjab, he said, first thing you look at yourself at your pious reflection, and then you're more or less protected.
So this is very important and again very scientific. According to the construction of our brain to do this.
Pure devotion versus yogic meditation
But then it's very interesting. Krishna formulated this thing in the next verse, in the ninth verse he is explaining a slightly different process.
In this chapter, Krishna is explaining basically three ways. Two ways he recommends, and the third way he mentions as something which is not desirable.
This eighth chapter he recommends first pure remembering about himself. And whatever few verses which we read with you very clearly indicate this. He says, This is I am. I am the person.
Paramam Purusham Diviam. I am the transcendental person. I am beyond this matter. You remember about me constantly, and then for sure you will come to me of this, there is no doubt. Mame Vaishasi Asamshaya.
But then you know, and I'm sure you will understand and you will relate to the reason why Krishna switches to another past because when we hear this, somehow or other we're not really attracted to this path.
And there is a very deep psychological reason why this easy path is not very attractive to a majority of people. And therefore, Krishna switches the topic and he starts explaining the different styles of meditation.
He is explaining Yoga Mishra Bhakti. The first thing which he explained was pure bhakti, which is nothing but remembrance about God when you basically completely surrendered unto him.
And being surrendered unto him, naturally you think about him and you feel his protection. But somehow or other, even though this process is simple, it's difficult. Why it is difficult because of our independent ego.
This process of bhakti yoga is not so popular. Even you know, I'm I'm speaking on my experience.
Even those people who proclaim practicing bhakti-yoga actually are not practicing bhakti-yoga. Because bhakti yoga implies surrender. You surrender first, everything else comes next.
It's very difficult for people to surrender completely. Very difficult. The idea is somehow or other because we have very deeply ingrained spirit of independence. We have this Pṛthak Bhāv.
I was speaking about this in the morning, in the morning lecture. The ahaṅkāra is programmed by this: I am independent. I myself have to decide what I'm doing.
And Krishna knowing this, he says, okay, if you want to decide what you're doing, here is another process which is much more difficult, but you will like it.
Somehow or other people don't like simple processes. They don't have trust. If something is very complicated, oh that's very good. That must be very good. Simple things, no, no. Hare Krishna, no, no. It's too simple.
So ultimately, you know, when Krishna speaks about the first path, he is meaning a very simple thing. Just repeat his name. By repetition of his name, which is ontologically non-different from him.
The sound of God's name and he himself are not different. That's the verdict of all the scriptures. So you know the first passage he recommends in the beginning is simple.
Just repeat his name and you know do your things, but you know, and and in this way you will be constantly reminded, yeah, there is God, and he has particular name.
But uh Krishna knows that uh this simple proposition will not be very attractive to us. And therefore, he gives us yogic meditation.
It's very interesting now, you know, especially in the West, this yoga meditation, Buddhist meditation are extremely popular. You are going crazy from this meditation.
They pay a lot of money for the course of this meditation. Krishna is giving it for free. You know how much Bhagavad-gītā costs? Not much. But he gives in the next few verses in
the next five verses from the ninth to thirteenth he explained this path of yogic meditation. He explains that you should concentrate your mind between your brows here in the Agya chakra.
And he says you have to bring your energy from the bottom to ultimately to Yogya chakra, and you have to chant the sacred syllable om.
And by doing this and meditating on the all-pervasive absolute truth which is everywhere, which is smaller than the smallest, which is bigger than the biggest, Kavim Purana, Anushasitaram, which is beyond this world, which is brilliant like a sun. He gives the process of meditation upon the supreme truth in clearly yogic terms.
And again, what is the reason? The reason is that when you're doing yoga, you are in control. Whereas when you're doing bhakti yoga, you are not in control anymore.
You say, no, no, I'm not in control, you are controlling my life and uh and people uh it's very difficult for them to lose the control of their life.
You know, like Arjuna, in this Bhagavad-gītā, he is giving the reins of his life to whom? To Krishna. Krishna is his guide.
Krishna, and that's a very important thing, that's the process of yoga. You give the reins of your life to God. You please guide me, and I will follow whatever it is, you know, you I I I know that ultimately you wish me well.
But people they don't want to do it, so they prefer no.
I myself am sitting there at the steering wheel of my Mercedes Benz and or BMW and I'm driving my car to my destination. So therefore Krishna Krishna is forced to give this alternative.
His preferences the first pass, but he is giving the second pass because he knows that there will be so many people who will be attracted to this particular process of meditation.
But we should be very clear that his intention is to And bhakti-yoga again is simple. And bhakti yoga again is simple. Just chant his name, remember about him and speak about him.
Remember Bhagavad-gītā, speak about Bhagavad-gītā. And in this way you gradually, gradually purify your consciousness.
And your at the end of your life you will remember about him in a very natural, easy, and spontaneous way. So that's the essence of the next verse starting from the ninth and up to the verse number thirteen.
Krishna says that if you understand that I have a chinty rupa, achintia rupa means inconceivable root, roop form, which is localized at the same time is all pervading. Totally inconceivable.
If you remember about me by placing all your energy between your brows, and in this way you will leave this body, then you will achieve me also. So that's the topic of the next verses.
Prayana Kali at the time of death, uh if you make your mind uh completely immovable, uh Bhaktia Yukto Yoga Balena Chaiva Bruvor Madhye, if you put it between the brows Bruvor Madhy Pranam Avesya Samyak and you surrender at this moment Paramam Purusham Paiti Divyam.
Again, the same destination but by different different process. So that's the that's the next
section of this chapter and to make the conclusion to really make it clear that ultimately Krishna doesn't want us to sit in this lotus position, which is difficult to sit.
He doesn't want us to you know raise this energy among the brows. He just wants us to remember about him. He again makes the same point in the 14th verse of this chapter.
He again says, Ananya cheta satatam yomam smarati nitya shaha tasya ham sula bahparta, Nitya Yuk Tasya Yogi Naha. He says, Sula Bahparta.
I'm very easily being attained by somebody who is Ananya Chaita Satatam, who is constantly concentrating his mind upon me.
Personal relationship with the Lord
You know, who is doing this simple process, Yomam Smarati nitya shaha, constantly, tasya ham sula bhahfarta nitya yuk tasya yogi naha. And the main point here, main and difficult point here is that nitya yogtasya yoginaha, you have to be constantly engaged in this process.
So if you're neatly uh if you achieve this stage when you are uh more or less uh designed your life in such a way that uh uh you're uh capable of thinking about Krishna, for sure uh you will attain him. And that's the essence. And this is how you can change your ontological status.
From somebody who is constantly absorbed in this matter, trying to become happy in this matter by increasing something desirable and decreasing something undesirable to a completely happy person related to God.
So Nitya Yuktasya, it's very interesting because Nitya Yuktasya basically means that by this process of sadhana. Please listen very carefully. How is it possible to be constantly engaged in this process of meditation?
It is possible. It is possible because when you meditate on God, ultimately at one point you will start interacting with Him. Something changes in your life, and you will enter into personal relationship with God.
God will not remain somebody who doesn't hear your prayers. You will feel his presence in your life. You will feel how he is guiding you. You will hear his voice, how he is speaking with you.
This is the only way to achieve this state about which Krishna is talking here. Nitya Yogtasya Yoginaha.
Nitya Yoktasya Yoginaha means at one point of your spiritual development you will be engaged in a personal relationship with God.
Which is very you know interesting sometimes God will tell you some joke and you will uh you will laugh or sometimes uh God
will put you in some very difficult situation and you will complain to God, you will say to him, why you're doing this to me? I am so devoted to you. And you will quarrel with God.
And God will reply to you, yeah, because I love you so much and I want you to get rid of some things.
So this nitya yukta syoginaha, the yogi who is nitya yukta is this yogi who managed to enter into very how to say very dynamic relationship with God.
The meditation doesn't have to be this boring activity when you're just half asleep and you're trying, you're struggling, you know and when it will finish.
No, at one point meditation will become a very joyful and dynamic process. But for that you have to you know work. For that you need to have some abhyasa, some some practice.
Impermanent nature of the world
But for sure at one point uh this uh this situation will happen and therefore Krishna in the fifteenth verse uh which
is the next verse he says, mām upetyāpunar janma duḥkhālayam aśāśvatam / nāpnuvanti mahātmānaḥ saṁsiddhiṁ paramāṁ gatāḥ. He says that those great souls who are doing this, says that those great souls who are doing this,
mām upetyāpunar janma, duḥkhālayam aśāśvatam, they will never come back.
If you enter into personal relationship with God, uh there is no question of you coming back into this world which Krishna is is not very positively defines as duḥkhālayam aśāśvatam.
He says this world is not a happy place. And you know, he gave this warning. Sometimes people complain. God is very bad, He created this world in a very bad way.
No, Krishna Krishna, you know, and sometimes people say, some religious people, not very intelligent religious people, they say, you know, God is good, but you know, you know, he did, you know, he created this world not in a very nice way just because he wanted to do something nice, but you know, somehow rather this is what happened, you know, some mistakes are there.
You know, God is good, He is well meaning, but He created something bad just because He is not very intelligent. That's a very stupid idea. Krishna is very intelligent. This world is bad by design. He thinks about this.
By design, he created this world which is duḥkhālayam aśāśvatam.
You know, for people, the main reason why most of the atheists say that God doesn't exist because they say there is so much suffering in this world. You know, that's the main argument of the atheist.
If God is there, why did he create such a world where there is so much suffering? Krishna is explaining this. If you have a little intelligence, you will understand This is your school. This is your place of study.
You know, you're coming here in IIT Mandi. But this is not your permanent place. You are here for a certain purpose and you have to graduate from this. So and there are difficulties in IIT Mandi by design.
You know, IIT Mandi is not a recreation place. And people they they look at this world and they say, oh, why God didn't create this place as a recreation for me? No, He created a school. And school means difficulties.
School means problems. School means you probably can relate to this statement, right? So it's by design. And Krishna says, no, don't stay in this world. This is the way out of this world. Graduate from this world.
Get your diploma. You know, you know, you your professors will shake your hands, will give you diploma and you will go out of this world.
And he says that, you know, if you do this, you come to me and you will never come back. There will be no reason because you will be completely happy in the other sphere of existence.
And the problem with this world, as Krishna explains, Dukhalayam Asashvatam, it's Dukhalaem, it's like there is Vidyalaya, there is Nyalaya, there is Shomani Laya, Bhajanalaya. And you know, and this world is dukkha laya.
You know, it's not bhajanalaya, it's Dukalaya, it's the place of misery. And uh and Asashvatam, it's impermanent. You know, even if you are completely happy, which will never happen.
But even if you achieve this state of complete happiness, you will still be unhappy because you know it will finish at one point.
And Krishna says there is no reason you know if you achieve me, if you achieve this perfection, and perfection means you change your way of looking in this reality.
And by changing the way of looking in this reality you will see the higher reality. And by seeing the higher reality, you will enter into personal relationship with the higher reality.
And when you enter into personal relationship with the higher reality which is God, there will be no reason for you to come back. You will be there will be absolutely no reason to come back.
So that's how Krishna explains this process. And then he says to stress the same point, Abrahma Buvan Aloka, Punara Vartinarjuna, Mamu petyetuko. You know, you may achieve any position in this life.
You may achieve very high position, you know, president, prime minister, you know, Pratamantri, whatever it is. You may achieve higher position in the higher planets, in the higher planets.
You may go to America, you may go to Hawaii. Krishna says, Abrahma Bhuvanalla ka punaravarti narjuna. Whatever position you attain in this world is impermanent. Punaravarti Narjuna. You will have to come back.
You know, this process of evolution is there, and we're trying to evolve, right? We are trying to be more evolved, we are trying to achieve higher stage.
But at the same time, the process of devolution is working at the same time. You know, you're coming up and then you will come down.
And then you will come again, climb up, and then you will again climb down because it's difficult to climb up and it's very easy to go down. You probably went trekking. It's difficult, you know.
You climb up, up, up, up, up, and then you reach something, and then very easily you go down. This is what people do in this world.
They're climbing up, going down, climbing up, and it's not nice down, so you again try to climb up and then you again go down.
Krishna says the only permanent position you can achieve if you get out from this existence, from material existence. Don't try to improve your position in this world.
Try to improve, no problem of improving, but don't think that you will be able to improve it permanently.
You know, some people they improve their position by the time they're 60 years old and you know what is the point of having improved position because they're completely sick in the process of improving this material position.
So Krishna is saying this that you know don't go for this, go for the place where there is no punarjanma, where there is no this useless process of rebirth.
Universal cycles and Brahma's lifespan
And that's what he's explaining. And in the 17th verse, he's continuing the same topic of of this universal universal you know coming up and down.
He's explaining this samsara in the next, in the seventeenth verse, he's explaining this uh completely uh unbelievable life spans of Brahma and life spans of this universe.
And he's saying that even if you achieve very long life span, it's still not the solution.
Basically, he's saying while explaining the next verse, 17th verse, Sahasra Yuga, by human calculation, a thousand ages taking together form duration of Brahman's one day and such also is the duration of his night.
You know, and then he's explaining this Brahma's day and Brahma's night, you know, people uh or souls which are within this universe they live for some time for very long time, then they go into unconscious state during the night of Brahma, then they come back and then they go back into unconscious state, and it's constantly going on.
And ultimately, Krishna is saying this just to give us impetus.
Don't stay in this place permanently. This is not the place for permanent stay. This is the place to learn something and what we should learn, we should learn the process how to change our way of thinking. How to change our subtle body in such a way that we meditate on God and ultimately leave this material sphere of creation for good.
So I'll probably stop here because I'm speaking long enough and you're probably you know ready for some change so please if you have any questions we can open for questions.
But that's basically the review of the beginning versus of the eighth chapter of Bhagavad-gītā.
Uh thank you Maharaj for nicely explaining the chapter right uh uh the point I would like a little more explanation on this that at the time of death the the the the form of all our actions would manifest the very form that we will take back or we will take in the next life.
So the my question here is when people are performing so much of sinfull aid and you know literally the if you look at the present day they are violating four regulative principles from left and right and uh given that what kind of form they must be seeing it or or you know how can we uh my my point is you know how how can we present this to the people who are young who never meditate on their death, what is going to happen in the death and what what is the right way to present them?
This is what is going to hap F first of all, you know everyone knows that he will die. We may try to forget about this. Many people are living the life like ostrich.
Ostrich, as you know, if some danger is there, he puts his head into the sand and you know he pretends that there is no danger. So many people they you know follow this ostrich policy and they try to forget about this.
But even such people, you know, in some bright moments of their life they understand I will die.
And if people have some sort of, you know, and most of the people they still have uh some sort of understanding that uh it will not be the final end of my life because there's something which is not which will not die at this moment, they very clearly could understand that you know we have to we have to be conscious about this.
You know, first of all, and that's why this modern study of near-death experience experiences are so important.
You know, there is such a huge experimental material which was collected, the data which was collected recently, because before there was no equipment which would bring people back from the clinical deaths.
It's just recent achievement that so many people you know went through this experience. And this information is massive. So we should we should know about this and we should be intelligent enough to be prepared.
You know, like you all studying here and you're trying to pass exam and you know to pass exam uh you have to study during the semester. Of course some people they prefer to study just two days before the exam.
You know, or two nights before the exam. So I was a student too. I know. I know how it works.
You know, you know you have a happy life during the semester and then you know some austerity during few nights before the exam, and then and then you pass the exam and you forget everything about it, and again you're happy.
So I in the same way, some people they want to cheat God uh they think you know okay I will live a happy life and then just few days before my death I will somehow rather change it.
It's not going to work with with this exam. So you know we have to understand very clearly I am going to die. I am going to die.
You know, usually we think he's going to die and she's going to die and he's going to die. But with a with a kind of philosophy that is all already is that this is the only life we have to live.
Let's enjoy and just who cares? Death is as natural as everything. So why to bother? Yeah. So with people who are convinced that there will be nothing after that, you know you, can do anything.
These people who are you know completely brainwashed by this modern way of thinking, you know, you can you cannot do anything. You cannot do much.
But still, you know, even such people who don't believe in the life, they want better life in this life and they know to live the better life, uh, in this life they they have to follow certain principles, right?
Uh you know, it's foolish because all this uh propaganda of basically rampant sinful activity. They make people miserable, not after death, they make people miserable right now.
You know, drugs and illicit sex, it's all m it's it's miserable from beginning to end. So people are destroying their life even now.
And uh you know when people when people they get diseases because of this, because of living this unwholesome life. They become very invalid and diseased very quickly.
And then they start sinking and then they you know leave a different life, and when they live a different life, the different idea comes to their mind.
Because when you live this life which is absorbed in this Ichhad Vesha, like don't like.
If you're completely whimsical, if your whole idea of life, I want to do what I want to do and I don't care about anything else, please do it. No problem. My blessings is there. But you will suffer.
And when you will suffer, you will change your life. It may be too late. Because you will by that time you will destroy your body, your mind, and everything else.
But you know if if you you change your lifestyle then the different ideas will come to your mind that maybe there is something. It's not that easy.
And you know, but if you are intelligent, you don't have to bring yourself to this position. You can just treat all these, you know, numerous stories about near-death experiences and about.
I personally know at least four or five people who went through this experience. Slightly different, there are different variations, but they said it's it's completely real.
There are, for example, sometimes they say it's just some imagination at the moment of death because the mind is completely frantic and it's in denial, it starts creating some images.
You know, there is one it's not one, there are many cases like this, but one is very interesting.
You know, there was a boy who was blind uh from birth. He never saw the uh the light of the sun, he doesn't know what it means to see.
So this boy, when he was uh I believe 15-16 years old, he had this near-death experience. He had some operations, so he went out.
And then after coming back to his blind body, which uh in which he couldn't see, he explained very clearly everything which is there in the hospital, in the yard of the hospital where they have some equipment and this and that.
You know, he explained in great details, you know, how he could imagine these things. He couldn't. He saw it in his subtle body. He left in his subtle body from the gross body he traveled and in the subtle
body he could see. And then he came back in the gross body which was blind and again he was blind. But this is recorded experience of him in all details.
So, all these uh explanations which materialists are trying to give to this near-death experience, they just don't work. They don't work.
And there are so many other scientifically proven things which show that life does not end with the end of this body. And we have to be very clear and therefore we have to be prepared for this last moment.
Brain function versus subtle memory
Any other question? Good evening, sir. Sir, you said that uh after death we can uh remember things from our past life. So according to uh neuroscience research.
Neuroscientists have shown that if we remove certain organs from certain parts of the brain, we cease to remember certain things. Like for example, if we remove a certain part, we don't remember names anymore.
Every part has a certain function that helps us to remember certain things. So my question is that how is that after death when uh the brain is destroyed completely then we somehow remember everything? Okay, no problem.
See, the brain is the mechanism which our subtle body uses, and if there is some problems with these mechanisms, definitely there will be some deficiencies. But you know this mechanism is,
you know, if you are sitting in a car uh then naturally you are limited by the you know abilities of this car you cannot you know if you are an ambassador car you cannot drive with you know 100 km or 200 km per hour because ambassador car just is not meant for this speedy driving or whatever.
You're limited by being in the car. But as soon as you get out of the car, the limitations of the car does not apply to you in the same way as the limitations were totally imposed upon you while you were in the car.
So that's the example. It may not be perfect example, but at least you can understand how it is. Yes, when you are in some car with some deficiencies, some functions may not work.
But it doesn't really mean that you are permanently damaged by this. And I read a very interesting book in this regard. This book was written by a neurosurgeon.
And being a neurosurgeon, he probably knows about the structure of the brain more than every one of us together. He was the first class American. He is. He is still alive. His book is called Proof of Heaven.
So he is a neurosurgeon. He knows exactly how the brain works. He knows exactly when the brain uh you know completely dead and stops working. And he explains his own case. His case, he had very rare disease.
At one point, suddenly, his brain was, according to his estimation, because he knew his diagnosis, his brain at one point was completely totally dead.
Still, he explained he was in coma with completely dead brain, and all the medical doctors, his colleagues who were treating his case, he said there is no chance, he is gone, he is for some time in coma.
There is no chance, even if he comes back somehow or other the the body becomes alive, he will become like a vegetable. He came back, he had very vivid experience.
And he says again and again and again, I'm sure God made me go through this experience because he wanted an expert opinion about this. Here is my expert opinion.
And swear that my brain was clinically dead for many, many days. He was in coma, I don't remember exactly one month or so. So he was not present in the body.
Still, his organs of the senses, everything else was working very nicely while he was outside of the body, because ultimately this memory is not in the brain.
You know, there are some parts of our brain which are in charge of short-term memories. Like this Hippokampus? Hippocampus and amygdala. You know that's short term.
Actually, you know, still we don't know where the where the whole storage of the uh huge long-term memory is there. They don't know.
You know, short term, whatever little things you say, I I don't remember the names. It's uh it may be long term, but it's not such an impressive thing.
But you know, it's ultimately the memory is there in a subtle space. It's not recorded. Everything which we remember is not recorded in the gross hardware which we have in terms of brain.
So, yes, while we are using this machine, we are limited by the machine, but it doesn't mean that we are permanently damaged. It doesn't mean that this function will not work when we are free from this machine.
Like in case of this surgeon. I can give you the reference of this book. It's a very interesting book and uh very professionally done book. So, Dr. Alexander. Yeah, Dr. Alexander, exactly. The Proof of Heaven.
It's exactly like this other example which I gave about the blind boy, his body cannot see. He leaves the body and he can see.
Because his ability to see is still there but because the body is defective, because the body is damaged, he cannot see.
Life as a spiritual battle
But it doesn't mean that the ability of seeing will not manifest in other circumstances. So, in the context of Bhagavad-gītā, oh, what is life?
You said it, it may be school, that who is the teacher, who is the student. Students we are all. Unfortunately we are very bad students, therefore we have to come to the same course again and again and again.
We still cannot get the proper credits for the course. That's why we have to take it again and again and again.
And the teacher is our ultimate teacher is God, who created this world as an experiential place, as the place for us to get some experience and to learn something and become a little more wise than we naturally are.
So our life is a journey. Our life is a journey to a certain destination, and we really need to follow this journey to be successful in this journey and to ultimately come to a good end of this journey.
We have to really understand, you know, how our body works, how the reality works, we have to know the laws of reality. Then only we can do the journey. Ultimately, life is a journey.
And, or you know, if you take the terms of Bhagavad-gītā, life is a battle. Gita, life is a battle.
Like Bhagavad-gītā was, uh, was told in the battlefield and that's symbolic, that's the symbolic understanding is that we have to fight in this life. We have to fight with the bad tendencies.
You know, in the battlefield of Kurukṣetra there were bad guys and good guys. And Krishna is on the side of the pious people and uh it's like this we have within our heart we have bad tendencies we have good tendencies and there is a battle.
You know we're constantly witnessing this struggle within, you know, some bad tendencies are trying to take over. And you know, bad tendencies are much more powerful.
Like on a battlefield of Kurukṣetra, you know, Koravas were how many? Eleven Akshohinis and Pandavas were only seven Akshohinis. So bad tendencies in us are prevalent and good tendencies in us are lesser.
But if we take the help of God or our guide, spiritual master, spiritual guide, then we will be able to conquer this. So that's the the meta metaphor of life, what life is all about.
You know, we have to struggle and we have to see what's going on within our heart. And ultimately win. Okay. Can I ask one more question? So the uh when and how soul decides to leave the body?
When and how Soul doesn't decide to leave the body. Soul wants to remain in the body as much as possible. Very rarely people want to leave the body. It's a rare ability which only yogis can obtain.
Normal people they they grab the life, they cling the life in this body. Even if they are very old, they still want to live in the body.
So, but it is said that there is some you know laws which govern it and it's more or less predetermined at the moment of our birth how many years we're destined to live.
And then when the time is finished, it's beyond our capacity to say I want to stay little more. You know, we we cannot stay even one second more. But you know, there are some it's not that the soul decides.
And that's the proof that we're not independent. If we were independent, we would determine the moment of our death ourselves.
But if we are pure hearted we can know when we will die and we can be completely prepared for this and it will not be a difficult and dramatic experience. It will be actually a joyful experience.
Gross body subtle body and soul
So that's the whole point of Bhagavad-gītā. And especially of this chapter. Sir there are two terms subtle body and soul. So what is the exact difference between the two?
There is gross body which is called Sthula sarira, there is subtle body which is called Suksma Sharira, and there is Atma the Soul. The difference is that soul is the source of consciousness.
To take a familiar example, if we take computer, laptop. In a laptop, you have software, software is like subtle body. You can put software, and there is hardware. Hardware is gross body. And there is the battery.
And if you take out the battery, which actually energizes and facilitates the work of the computer.
If you take the battery, you know, even though the software is there, hardware is there, computer is dead, so soul is the source of spiritual energy, which is the energy upon which the subtle body and gross body work.
Ultimately it's all coming from the same source. And when the soul leaves the body, then the body is just a useless, you know, piece of matter which is not. So that's that's the difference.
So the energy of consciousness, and sometimes we you know, sometimes we think that our mind is conscious.
Our mind is actually a mechanism but it looks conscious because it's very close to the source of consciousness and therefore it behaves as if it's conscious.
And our body, because it is penetrated by the energy of consciousness, it also conscious, you know, we can feel it and so on and so forth.
But as soon as the source of consciousness leaves the body, you know the body is that you you can do whatever you like with the body, there will be no feeling.
So when we are born again in some other body, the soul remains the same. Soul remains the same and subtle body remains with.
When the soul leaves the body, the gross body is left behind because it's not usable anymore, it's useless. But the soul lives with the subtle body. So the memory and past experiences are coming together with the soul.
Therefore, when we get another gross body, some memories sometimes people remember, some most of the time they don't remember, but still nevertheless the subconscious memory is there. Yes. Soul with the body.
But the soul is the same, the source of consciousness, this I principle. What is soul? Soul is this thing, the self, which says, this is I am, this is me.
You know, there is no area of the brain which is in charge of this. You know, the scientists which map the brain, they say that this is the Brooke Center which is in charge of our speaking ability. This is the seeing ability.
This is this center. But who is doing this? Who is seeing? Who is speaking? Who is thinking? You know, this is me, this is I. And there is no center in the brain which is in charge of this.
They're trying to define it, it's not there. So because uh it's uh it's a different entity, completely, entirely different entity, which uses the machine of subtle and gross body. Okay, thank you very much, Hare Kṛṣṇa.