Bhagavad-gita 7.1
Бхакти Вигьяна Госвами · Ottawa · 2005
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Recitation of Seventh Chapter verse
Asaktamana Parta Yogam Yundjam Mat Ashraya Ashraya Asamsayam, asam, samagram, samadram, yata, Vyasy, Yasata, Sri no, Sribagavanuvacha, Sribagamana, Maia Saktamanahparta, Maya Sattamana Bana, Yogam
Yunjamadasraya, Yogam Yunjamadasraya Asamsayam samagraman samagrama, Yathagyasya Sitachrinu, Yathya Sitachru, Maiasakta Manahparta Yogam Yunja Mada Shraya, Yodamada Shraya, Pasamsayam Samagram, Samsayamam, Yathavyayas
Sita Srinu Yatavya Sita Chrinu Sri Bhagavanu Vacha Sri Bhava. The Supreme Lord said Mai to me Asaktamanaha Asaktamana Mind attached Parta Osana Pritha Osana Pritta Yoga Self-Realization Self-Realization. Unjan practicing.
Practicing. Matashraya. Matashraya. In consciousness of me. In consciousness of me. Hasam Shayamam Has without doubts without doubts Samagram Samagram completely completely Ma Mi Yata Yata How? Yassi Yasyasi. You can know.
You can know. Ta Ta That Sri Nu. Try to hear. Try to hear. Translation. The Supreme Personality of God had said, Now hear, O son of Pritha, how by practicing yoga in full consciousness of me with
mind attached to me you can know me in full free from doubt poor port by his divine grace says bhaktividhanta swana In this seventh chapter of Bhagavad-gītā, the nature of Krishna consciousness is fully described.
Krishna is full of all opulences and how he manifests such opulences is described herein. Krishna is full of all opulences and how he manifests such opulences is described herein.
Also, four kinds of fortunate people who become attached to Krishna and four kinds of In the first six chapters of Bhagavad-gītā, the living entity has been described as non-material
In the first six chapters of Bhagavad Gita, the living entity has been described as non-material spirit soul, capable of elevating himself to self-realization by different types of yogas.
At the end of the sixth chapter, it has been clearly stated that the steady
concentration of the mind upon Krishna, or in other words, Krishna consciousness, is the highest platform of all yoga. By concentrating one's mind upon Krishna, one is able to know the absolute truth completely, but not otherwise.
Impersonal Brahman-jyoti or localized Paramātmā realizations is not perfect knowledge of the absolute truth because it is partial.
But full and scientific knowledge is Krishna and everything is revealed to the person in Krishna consciousness. In complete Krishna consciousness, one knows that Krishna is ultimate knowledge beyond all doubts.
Different types of yoga are only stepping stones in the path of Krishna consciousness. One who takes directly to Krishna consciousness automatically knows about Brahman-jyoti and Paramātmā in full.
By practice of Krishna conscious yoga, one can know everything in full, namely the absolute truth, the living entities, the material nature, and their manifestations with paraphernalia.
One should therefore begin yoga practice as directed in the last verse of the sixth chapter of Bhagavad-gītā. Concentration of the mind upon Krishna the Supreme is made possible by prescribed
devotional service in nine different forms of which śravaṇaṁ is the first and most important. The Lord therefore says to Arjuna, tac chṛṇu, hear from me.
No one can be a greater authority than Krishna, and therefore by hearing from him one receives the greatest opportunity to become a perfectly Krishna conscious person.
Srimad Bhagavatam verses on hearing
One has therefore to learn from Krishna directly, or from a pure devotee of Krishna, not from a non-devotee upstart, puffed up with academic education.
In the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, this process of understanding Krishna, the supreme personality of Godhead, the absolute truth, is described in the second chapter of the first canto as follows.
Śṛṇvatāṁ sva-kathāḥ kṛṣṇaḥ puṇya-śravaṇa-kīrtanaḥ hṛdy antaḥ-stho hy abhadrāṇi vidhunoti suhṛt satām Naṣṭa-prāyeṣv abhadreṣu nityaṁ bhāgavata-sevayā bhagavaty uttama-śloke bhaktir bhavati naiṣṭhikī tadā rajas-tamo-bhāvāḥ kāma-lobhādayaś ca ye ceta etair anāviddhaṁ sthitaṁ sattve prasīdati evam prasanna-manaso bhagavad-bhakti-yogataḥ bhagavat tattva-vijñānaṁ mukta-saṅgasya jāyate bhidyate hṛdaya-granthiś chidyante sarva-saṁśayāḥ kṣīyante cāsya karmāṇi dṛṣṭevāśvare 'vare
To hear about Krishna from the Vedic literature and to hear from him directly through the Bhagavad-gītā is itself righteous activity.
And for one who hears about Krishna, Lord Krishna, who is dwelling within everyone's heart, acts as the best wishing friend and purifies the devotee who constantly engages in hearing of him.
In this way, the devotee naturally develops his dormant transcendental knowledge as he hears more and more about Krishna from the Bhāgavatam and from the devotees. He becomes fixed in the devotional service of the Lord.
By development of devotional service, one becomes freed from the modes of passion and ignorance, and thus material lusts and avarice are diminished.
When these impurities are wiped away, the candidate remains steady in his position of pure goodness. He becomes enlivened by devotional service and understands the science of God perfectly.
Thus, Bhakti Yoga serves severes the hard note of material affection and enables one to come at once to the stage of Asam Samagram understanding of the Supreme Truth, personality of Godhead.
Therefore, only by hearing from Krishna or His devotee in Krishna consciousness can one understand the science of Krishna. Śrīla Prabhupāda ki jaya!
Sibhagavanu Vacham Maya Saktamana Parta Yogam Yunjam Madashrayaha Samshayam Samagramam Yatagasya Sita Chirinu.
Now here, O son of Pritta, how by practicing yoga in full consciousness of me with mind attached to me, you can know me in full, free from doubt.
Understanding yoga in Bhagavad Gita
Sri Advaita Bdata Rasivasa Diguru Bhakta Brinda Ray Krishna Ray Krishna Krishna Krishna Rem, Rama Ringam Ram Ram Ram. So, Gita is primarily dealing with the subject matter of yoga.
And yoga, as we all know, is the mystical process which is meant to connect our tiny individual soul with the Supreme Soul. Without this connection, we cannot be happy. There is no chance.
Our separation with the Supreme Lord is artificial, and because of the artificiality of our situation within this world, we undergo so much suffering.
Yoga is the means to be happy, is the only means to realize our eternal nature. Without realizing our eternal nature, which is not possible without the connection with the Supreme Lord. We cannot be happy in this world.
And therefore each and every chapter of Bhagavad Gita is called yoga. Different kinds of yogas are there, starting with Arjuna Vishada Yoga. The first yoga is the yoga of depression of Arjuna.
It's the yoga of desperation, of despair of Arjuna, Which is the stepping stone or initial state of one's consciousness when one acutely realizes one's uh incompleteness. Ultimately every one of us is incomplete.
Without connection with God, who is complete whole. One cannot be complete himself. And without this feeling of fullness, of completeness, one cannot be happy. Ultimately every one of us is seeking for happiness.
Happiness is the main problem in life. And the whole Bhagavad Gita is describing how to become happy.
But the initial premise of Bhagavad Gita is that you can only become happy when you realize that you need a connection with the Supreme. Unless and until you realize this, there is no chance, there is no question of you being happy. You will try and try again and try again, you will make this attempt and that attempt, but you will be ultimately frustrated.
But this frustration, in a way if you are pious by your nature is fruitful because it will ultimately bring you to some search, some eternal some internal kind of search for the supreme, for the connection with the Supreme.
And this is what Bhagavad-gītā is all about. This is what spiritual culture is all about. Spiritual culture is only about one thing.
Astanga yoga and controlling mind
It is only about how to connect oneself with the Lord. And sixth chapter, the previous chapter of the Bhagavad-gītā, is describing this glorious invention of Indian culture which has no parallels in any other culture.
Aṣṭāṅga-yoga, rāja-yoga, the king's yoga.
The most most um mystical process that is the mystical process of uh meditation and connecting oneself uh with the supreme through eternal through internal meditation process through dhyāna.
When gradually gradually you calm your mind. In Yoga-sūtra, Patañjali starts his treatise on yoga explaining the inner meaning of yoga, not by saying that you have to sit down and sit position or that position.
Now yoga is very popular. But usually it boils down to some kind of gymnastic, you know. People they stand upside down and they think, Yeah, I'm a yogi. You are not a yogi, you're just standing upside down.
That's this is this is not the same.
And it's not enough to stand upside down to realize the Supreme. It's by far not the adequate method. You know you may stand upside down as long as you want, but it doesn't bring you anywhere. Not too far at least.
It's just a very childish kind of understanding of yoga. It's, uh, Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura, he was the first one who said yoga is not gymnastics. It's not, you know, it's not something which you do in a gym.
Yoga is a mystical process of meditation, and this is all preparatory stages which can ultimately lead you to this connection with the Supreme. But this mystical process described in the sixth
chapter of Bhagavad-gītā is extremely, extremely difficult. It's a discipline. It's a very strict discipline which requires certain kind of um conditions around you and uh a lot of determination.
So Patañjali Muni, he starts his treatise saying, "Yogaś citta-vṛtti-nirodhaḥ." Yoga means to control the Yoga means to control the modifications of the mind. There are so many different problems within the mind.
Here Prabhupada quotes Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam and sometimes these problems within the mind are described in yoga as grantis or notes within your consciousness.
Sometimes the subconscious state of our existence is described as karmāśaya. And karmāśaya sometimes metaphorically described as as a cloth.
When we take clothes, there are so many threads and these threads they have certain nodes, or they somehow or other they uh they are woven together to create the cloth.
So in the same way, uh the cloth of our subconsciousness or consciousness has so many different little nodes or little you know threads which are woven together to create our the fabric of our consciousness.
It's very difficult, it's very complicated, you know. You go to a psychologist, and psychologist will start you know going deeper and deeper, and he will find this knot.
And if you are lucky, he will be able to somehow or other to dishevel one knot. If you're really lucky and if the psychologist is really good, you know, he's going deeper, deeper, deeper.
Here it is, you know. Psh. You know, but it's only one.
There are so many of them, it's the whole fabric is there, you know, there are so many different complications this memory and that memory this impression that impression all the saṁskāras from our past lives, so many, so many problems, so many times we have been dying and this is a very traumatic experience and it's all inside it's all kept within us we're all carrying all this you know so
yoga is meant. Citta-vṛtti-nirodha means basically, citta-vṛtti, all these different modifications within the mind which are caused by these different little problems which are there, little or big problems, to completely calm them down.
You have to really completely undo what you have done through so many lifetimes. You really have to try hard to undo it. But it's not easy. It's not an easy thing.
And uh uh the mind is very difficult to deal with because the mind is you you know first of all, the main problem to deal with the mind is that you don't know how to deal with the mind because you totally completely identify yourself with the mind.
First of all, even to separate yourself from the mind is very difficult. You know. To see the problems within the mind you have to separate yourself. Otherwise you don't see the problems because you're the problem.
And usually that's what it is. We cannot see our own problems because we totally identify with the problems, which is the mind. And we are totally one with the mind.
And we we we cannot really uh you know, it's a complete very difficult process.
You have first of all you have to take your ātmā and you have to look uh at your mind from a a different vantage point and you somehow or other have to calm it down and so on and so forth. And you know, and it's difficult.
And even Arjuna, after listening, he was listening and listening and listening and listening and listening and listening.
And then ultimately he says, Krishna, tell me what will happen with somebody who does it and then it doesn't work. You know, because he kind of knew it's not going to work. It's very difficult.
And then he says, Krishna, you know, you you tell me that I have to calm down my mind. And I have to sit and I have to really concentrate on the inner self and I have to really be in some other. But how is that possible?
It's easy to to catch the wind. You know, this is a little wind and it's very difficult to catch the wind. Arjuna says it's uh it's a hopeless endeavor.
You know the mind is much more turbulent than the wind. You know, it's psh because the wind only blows in a very limited space, but the mind blows, you know, all over the place.
The mind goes from here to there, from there to here, you know. You and here you are, you have to calm it down, right? Good luck. Very good proposal. You know. How do you do this?
It's it's not that easy and therefore the whole discipline is very rigorous. It's rigorous discipline. It's it's a genius invention.
You have to control your breath because the breathing process first of all it's very intimately connected with the mind and when your breathing process is more or less under your control then you can start gradually gradually pratyāhāra you can start gradually gradually withdraw your senses you know and uh to withdraw the senses from the sense objects.
Four Kumaras discuss sense control
Even the greatest yogis cannot do this. This is this the question was asked once by Kumaras. Kumaras came to Brahman, who is their father. It's Eleventh Canto of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam.
And he is the creator of this world. And Kumaras are supposed to be the greatest yogis. They are very self-controlled, extremely. They remain by their yogic power, they remained little boys.
They didn't want to grow up because they knew if you grew up, if you grow up, you will have so many problems. You know, hormones will start flowing throughout your body.
You will have all kinds of strange ideas within your mind. They said, no, no, we'll remain little boys. It's safer. But even they got bewildered.
Once they came to Brahma and they said, my dear father, we have been thinking how to do this pratyāhāra, how to withdraw the senses from the sense objects. And what we realized that you, the creator of this world,
created the senses and the sense objects as the perfect match. The senses and sense objects they constitute a very perfect kind of combination.
You know, the sense object of the sound is perfectly, uh, you know, fit within the sense of hearing.
And it's just when when the hearing and the the sound go together, it's it's it's just you know it's it's as if it's it should be like this.
You know, when you listen to a beautiful music and a beautiful music goes to your ear. It's just you know that's it. It's beautiful, and your ear is meant to listen to the beautiful music. Your eyes are meant to see beauty.
You know, when you see something beautiful. And we will not go into details of what is beautiful within this world, you know, but we all know what it is. Your eyes go automatically.
You don't you know, your mind cannot even control this. You see some kind of roop, beautiful form.
You know, especially if it's half naked, and you just, you know, eyes just go there, you know. You cannot do anything with the eyes. Because the eyes are created in a, and rūpa and eyes are created in a complementary way.
It's it's a perfect match. In the same way all other sense objects uh and the senses are created in this way.
And so Kumāras said, you know, how is that possible in principle if there is an affinity between the senses and sense objects,
how you can do this, you know, it's not possible because they're there, and they're just, you know, they're already there.
So and Brahmā, they said, you have created the senses in a certain way so that they will match with the sense objects. How we are supposed to undo it? And Brahma started scratching his head and he said, I don't know.
You're right. This world is created in a certain way and it's unnatural. It's practically almost unnatural to do this, to separate the senses and the sense objects. And that's and that's a very beginning stage.
And this is a very beginning stage of yoga, pratyāhāra. You know, pratyāhāra means And pratyāhāra means against the food. It means that you don't feed your senses. You just starve.
You know, and uh, you have to starve all your senses. You have to starve, you know you basically have to block all your senses. Yeah.
And then what you will do? You will sleep because if the senses are not working, you know, you will snore very peacefully. So.
Arjuna rejects difficult Dhyana yoga
And Arjuna says this. Krishna is explaining it to him, not to teach him yoga. Krishna is explaining this dhyāna-yoga of the sixth chapter of Bhagavad-gītā, not to tell him.
Some people they say that look, Krishna is teaching dhyāna-yoga here in Bhagavad-gītā. Therefore, we have to practice dhyāna-yoga. But Krishna is teaching dhyāna-yoga not to tell us to practice
dhyāna-yoga, but to tell us that you cannot do this. That's the point of the sixth chapter. And Arjuna says, No, I cannot do this, Krishna. Please leave me alone. I cannot I cannot practice this.
And Krishna calms him down and he says, Yeah, yeah, it's difficult, but it's possible. If you really practice hard, you can do it.
You can do it through abhyāsa, through the practice, and through vairāgya, through detachment. But it is it is not easy. It's not easy. Uh don't even try. You know you can go to the gym, you know, and stand ups out down.
But don't call it yoga. You know, you can do gymnastics, but don't call it yoga. Because it's not going to bring you any closer to the Supreme Lord.
And therefore, when Krishna finishes this Gītā, when he explained to Arjuna the fate
of unsuccessful yogī, when he finishes Gītā, he says, yogīnām api sarveṣām mad-gatenāntar-ātmanā. He is yuktatama, he is the best, absolutely the best. This is a superlative expression in Sanskrit, yuktatama.
The best of the yogīs, yogīnām api sarveṣām, out of all the yogīs, out of all possible pilgrims on a spiritual path, those who practice consciousness of me, Sami Yukta Mamataha, Yogi Namapisarvisam Madgaten and Taratmanam who are whose mind is connected with me, Shraddhavan Bajate Yomam, with Shraddha, with face, who worship me with space, they are the best one, they are the most firmly and the most intimately connected.
And now, of course, the question arises how to achieve this stage.
Because when Krishna says this is the best kind of yoga, he doesn't, and this is very important, this chapter is not uh doesn't start with the question of Arjun.
In other chapters of the Bhagavad-gītā, oftentimes Arjuna first asks the question. And then Krishna goes on to answer his question.
But here see Bhagavān uvāca. The first verse of this seventh chapter, Śrī Bhagavān uvāca, Krishna continues speaking. In other words, this whole seventh chapter is the explanation of the last verse of the sixth chapter.
It's the continuation of the same topic, how to become the best of the yogis. And therefore, in this particular verse, which we are reading today, the first
verse of the seventh chapter of Bhagavad-gītā, uh Krishna says, Mayy āsakta-manāḥ pārtha. He answers this particular question which naturally arises when you hear the last verse of the Bhagavad-gītā of the sixth chapter of Bhagavad-gītā. The best of the yogis is one who always thinks about Krishna. The best of the yogis is one who is always connected with Krishna in his mind.
And therefore Krishna starts off saying, Maya Sakta Manahparta. You can attach your mind to me. Tachirinu. Now hear how you can do this.
Now I will describe to you how to connect your mind with me and how always uh twenty four hours a day to be connected with me no matter what happens with you.
How you can be in perfectly in perfect consciousness no matter what is going on around you. No matter where you are, whether you are in Himalay or in Ottawa, it doesn't matter. You can be the perfect yogi.
You you don't don't have to go to Himalayas, you don't have to uh even go to Jim. You can be perfectly a perfect yogi even at home.
Tāc chṛṇu, and Prabhupāda, he takes this last words of this verse to say that this is the beginning of Bhakti Yoga and its effect. In the seventh chapter, the main topic of Bhagavad Gita is being described.
That's the beginning or starting point of description of bhakti. And where the bhakti starts, because bhakti is this emotional connection with the Supreme.
Why astanga yoga lacks emotion
Why let's go a little bit back and let's answer one question. Why yoga is so difficult? Why such a great yoga as Vishwamitramuni has to fall down from the yoga.
Vishvamitra Muni has been practicing yoga for hundreds and hundreds of years in Himalayas. In perfect discipline. He was such a great yogi, he was such a determined person. He has such a willpower. He's practicing there.
But then some manaka comes and she just jingles little you know, little uh how you call it, nupur, yeah, nupur ankle bells little nopur you know boom ding ding ding ding and this great yogi you know for years he was in meditation in samadhi, in perfect samadhi.
You know. Oh you know he was perfectly calm. And little little little lady calm saying ding ding ding ding ding hell and here you are. He is at the feet of this lady. You know, and he's his her dancing dog.
You know, he's ready to do whatever she says to him, you know. She says, Yeah, you're such a great yogi. Come here, come here, come close. I like good yogis. Why?
There is very important answer to this because yoga do not involve you emotionally.
Yoga is a discipline which involves definitely involves some kind of very mystical processes and it really you know it's a very n it is a very important and genius process but it doesn't involve you emotionally ultimately and therefore it's so difficult you kind of feel unfulfilled yourself because emotional side which is so important for the human being is not really connected is not really involved into this process.
Once Radhanath Swami told a story about one yogi who came to New Vrindavan. And he was a yogi who was practicing many many years in Himalayas. And he came to New Vrindavan and he started and he said, I'm a yogi, and I know you're also kind of yogis, but I want to show you what I can. And he started doing all kinds of stuff.
He took a bulb, electric bulb, and he kind of he he smashed this electric bulb into powder, into into the dust, and then he took all this powder and ate it. No problem.
You know then but that's not that's not the the greatest thing. Then he took he took an iron rod. What did he do? How did he do this? He put the iron rod against the wall and he put an eye.
You know, he he put little little cotton between the eye and iron rod. And uh I don't know. Anyways, he was he started you know pushing this iron rod uh uh in the eye with the great force.
And then he took it off and the eye was still there, no problem. And then and then he went into Samadhi. And then he said, is there any before that he said is there any doctor among you? And there was some medical doctor.
And he will say, Now I will die and you will uh by your means you have to determine that I'm dead. I will die now in front of all of you and then you please tell me when uh uh should I come back to life?
And somebody told him forty-five minutes. Yeah, he said no problem. So he went, uh he sat down and he started breathing very deeply. He made a few deep, deep breaths. And then and then he died.
You know, then he just he dropped. And this doctor he started mm taking his pulse. There was no pulse. There was no signs of life whatsoever. He said Medically this man is dead.
I can if necessary I can make a certificate and I can stamp it. He is dead. You know. That's it, you know. He's no more. He's gone. That's it. You know, there is no signs of life in this body whatsoever.
Then, you know, they were watching and watching and watching for forty five minutes. Exactly forty five minutes. I don't know whether he had an alarm clock in his samadhi state or how did it happen?
You know, forty five minutes later he started breathing again and he opened his eyes and he said, Yes, here I am and then and then and then he said can you make some shows for me?
I want to make shows and I want to make money. And I asked him my dear sir why did you why do you want money? He said because I want an American wife.
I was practicing uh yoga in Himalayas too long and now I want a wife in America. Nice American lady is a wife. And the body said, no, you please find wife somewhere else.
We are not we're not going to help you in this regard.
But the point here is that one of the reasons why yoga is so difficult, why why the way to establish your connection with the Supreme through yoga is so difficult because it's not involving you emotionally.
Story of Yamunacarya and yogi
And here Krishna says, here I am going to really disclose to you the way how to be involved with me, how to be connected with me. But the way to be connected with me is only through bhakti.
Because bhakti means your heart melts, bhakti means you love God, bhakti means... I saw Rāmānujācārya here, and I was inspired by his mūrti to tell a story about Rāmānuja.
There is a very interesting story about Yāmunācārya. Yes, I believe it's... it's in Yāmunācārya. Yeah. Yeah, I think it's Yāmunācārya.
Uh, because Nāthamuni, who is the great Ācārya, the first ācārya in this line of sampradāya, he created... he left two disciples.
And one disciple was, of course, Rāmāmiśra, who was actually he was a disciple of a disciple. Anyway, it doesn't matter. So he knew that Yamunā is coming, that a great successor, Yāmunācārya is coming.
And he left two disciples, and to one of the disciples he told, You teach him bhakti.
And to another of his disciples, his disciple was a great yogi, and he said, You teach the grandson of mine, Yāmunācārya, yoga. So that was the direct instruction
of Nāthamuni to his disciple, that he was supposed to disclose the secrets of yoga to the future Yāmunācārya. And in the meantime, he was sitting there, he was sitting and sitting and meditating and meditating and meditating, many, many years passed... probably more than a hundred years. So anyway, many, many years passed.
Then ultimately there was a meeting between this disciple and Yāmunācārya. Yāmunācārya came.
When Yāmunācārya already became an ācārya in this line, he came to meet with this disciple of Nāthamuni, who is a great yogi. And somebody took him to him and they said it's very difficult to meet with him
because he's always in Samadhi. He's always sits there and he's always in samādhi, and he rarely comes to the external consciousness. Rarely you can really drag him out of his samādhi into the external world.
So they come and he's sitting in a in a room, and Yāmunācārya stands in front of the room with great awe and reverence. Because inside the room somebody is in Samadhi. And all of a sudden, the voice, the thunderous voice, is coming from this room.
Who is there behind this? Who is disturbing my samadhi? Who is who is completely you know it must be some descendant of Nathamuni. I uh I I swear somebody who belongs to my great venerable master is behind the uh wall.
And Yamuna Chari comes to his room and says, yes, here I am. My dear sir, how did you know that I'm here? And why did you come out from the samadhi? How did I disturb your samadhi?
Your your connection or your mystic trends with the Supreme? And this man says, he says, you know, I'm a great yogi. And when I go into Samadhi, I see the Supreme Lord right in front of me.
She's just sitting in front of me. Because my samadhi is so deep that I can see the Lord in front of me. And I look at the Lord. And my samadhi is nothing else but looking at the Lord. And he's so beautiful.
Then I can look at him for years in a row, you know, and he's so beautiful. And he looks at me. And here we are, we're sitting together and we're perfect match. He's wondering what this yogi is doing, you know.
He's so absorbed in me. And I'm looking at him and I'm wondering how one can be so beautiful. You know, and we are looking and looking and looking, and this is my samadhi.
And when you came, we were sitting together with the Lord and He was looking at me and I was looking at him. And then all of a sudden I saw him looking around and trying to you know trying to look at you.
And I realized there must be some much more powerful yogi behind this wall. Therefore my Lord is distracted. He he doesn't want to see me anymore. He wants to see you.
I saw somebody who is much more connected with my Lord, who is much more emotionally involved with my Lord, who is m much ha has stronger tie with my Lord because your love is so strong that my Lord you know he he's you know he's he's just looking at you he doesn't want to see me anymore he wants to see you and then I realized this is this must be some descendant of my great master, Nathamuni, who who told me to teach you yoga.
Do you want me to teach you yoga? He said no I don't want you to teach me yoga because I already know what yoga is. Yoga means to be notionally involved with the Lord.
To be totally absorbed this Maya Sakta Manakparta, this absorption of the mind in the Lord can only be possible when you em areotionally involved. And Kṛṣṇa says here, "Tacchṛṇu, please hear how to achieve this stage."
And Śrīla Prabhupāda, he takes this indication and he says, this is the beginning of real yoga. This is the beginning of bhakti yoga. Bhakti yoga starts with what? It starts with hearing.
Sravanam is the most important process, is the foundation of of uh bhakti yoga and the result of śravaṇam is described
in this verse: mayy āsakta-manāḥ pārtha yogaṁ yuñjan mad-āśrayaḥ asaṁśayaṁ samagraṁ māṁ yathā jñāsyasi tac chṛṇu. He said, if you want to know me samagrammam yataga He said, if you want to know me perfectly, if you are after complete, full knowledge of the Lord, of the Supreme Truths. You have to hear and you have to start the process of yoga through the engaging your ears in this mystic process and uh uh as a result of this you will get your mind attached to the Lord
mayy āsakta-manāḥ pārtha yogaṁ yuñjan mad-āśrayaḥ, you will establish this connection and mad-āśrayaḥ, you will take shelter of me. Asaṁśayaṁ samagraṁ, all your doubts will be totally destroyed.
Your mind will be completely free from all the doubts. In other words, you will have complete realization of the Lord in front of you.
Perceiving through hearing versus vision
How to know this, please hear. So here Here the most important process is being described of hearing. And it is said also in nīti-śāstra that
the that that uh that the dog sees the world through the nose you know the dog the most developed sense of a dog is a nose. Basically his whole face is a big nose. There's nothing else. There's not much else going on. It's just a big nose. And his nose is very sensitive, you know.
And he he really sees the world through the nose, you know, he he just you know and he he comes to somebody. You know, that's his interaction with the world.
And that gives him some kind of understanding of the world, very limited understanding, but he knows something about this world.
Then it is said in this nīti-śāstra verse that materialist he sees the world through the eye.
You know for the materialist the main sense the main perception the main understanding is the eye therefore the knowledge uh uh empiric knowledge is basically the knowledge which you gather through the eye.
If you take modern science, the whole knowledge w of the modern science is is is basically the pratyakṣa. Pratyakṣa means through your eyes, pratyakṣa. It's through the eyes which you can, you know, know.
And this is we can see this is the main, the this is dominant, predominant process of knowledge in this world, pratyaksha, empiric science.
But in the same verse of Nithisastra, it is said that the spiritualist, somebody who has developed his spiritual intelligence, He sees the world through the ear.
The ear is a very special sense which can in reality bring you much higher. Eye is a very unique sense because the information which you get through eye is immense.
You know, if we try to, I don't know, is somebody of you a computer specialist? Yes, okay.
So there is this big problem in computer science of the recognition, How to teach computers to recognize different shapes and forms. It's very difficult because you know to distinguish between one subject matter,
between one, you know, object and another object of this world is very difficult. You know how to learn, how to teach computers, you know, to recognize an apple. apple. It's a big, it's a big problem.
They call it image processing. Yeah. So, you know, because you have apples of all kinds of different kinds of shapes and forms and colors and this and that, they are so, so variegated. But we know this are all apples.
You know, how do we know these are all apples? It's very difficult, you know, but we know this is an apple. For human beings it's a simple task.
But the point here is that the eye is a very unique sense organ because the information which we gather through the eyes is immense, you know.
At this particular moment when we see around, you know, if we try to, you know, what will be the size of the file of the information which we, you know, without any difficulties now see, you know, it's immense, you know, so many different shapes and shades and colors and this and that, and we perfectly know this because this is the drum and this is the sofa, you know, and we know what it is.
This is all eye, and this way eye is unique. It gives you unique information about the world. But it also bewilders you completely because of too much information
because of too much, you know, too much is going on within this world and you are totally bewildered, you know.
You look here and you look there, but the ear, if we compare these two senses, the sense of hearing and the sense of vision of eyesight. There is a very unique distinction between one and another one.
Eyes give you a wide range, immense amount of information at once. When you hear the information is much more uh it's it's much more meager. It's it's very little, you know.
When you hear the voice, it's it's very little information, it's there. But at the same time, it really has the power to concentrate your mind. And that's a very important point.
Uh like for example, the advertisements, they work, they're based on this principle. What is advertisement? What is it all about? You you see some kind of completely stupid picture, you know, some kind of commercial there.
Uh s stupid kind of stuff. But then there has to be what? The name of the product. And that's the essence of all.
you you you you you do all kinds of stuff there, but then you know you you get the essence, the brand, the name. And then next time somehow or other this b this name, this sound sticks within your mind.
And then next time you go to shop and you see the whole kind of let's say juices, you know, and your mind automatically somehow or other is attracted to the juice, which name you heard in the commercial.
You heard this name in the commercial, and then your mind is just you know pew, it's there. So the sound is there to concentrate your mind.
It really, out of the wide range of the varieties of different products or whatever, the sound is there to really to lead your mind to a certain destination.
Power of sound and japa
Actually that's uh that's the basis of uh of the hearing process uh and uh basically that's the basis of the spiritual practice. You know, why do we chant Hare Kṛṣṇa mantra? Why do we chant mantras at all?
Why do people chant mantras? Mantras are certain vibrations, and this certain vibrations are there to concentrate our mind and to connect our mind with the object of this vibration.
As much as the names in this world are there to connect our mind with the with the object of this name.
If let's say let's imagine that there are different kinds of you know productions in this world but there is no names there is no brand you know this juice and this juice and this juice but there is no brand you know you you would be bewildered you don't know what to choose.
The name is there to really lead your mind to this object. The sound is there to connect your mind with this object, really, to make this connection.
And therefore, in the ancient Vedic science, there is this science of chanting Japa. And Krishna says in Bhagavad-gītā that out of all the sacrifices, out of different kinds of sacrifices. I am what?
I am japa. I am japa-yajña. Among all the yajñas, the greatest yajña is japa-yajña or chanting the name of God or chanting, uh, sacred syllable ohm, you know.
Because immediately your mind takes a completely different shape or completely different uh process takes place within your mind. We can we can try it. We can just chant together all.
We can just you know sit down very calmly and observe the changes within the mind. We can close our eyes. Let's close it. Let's do it. Let's do some chanting. Let's close our eyes.
Let's really deeply concentrate our uh consciousness within and then let's produce the sound aum let's take a deep breath. That's
it immediately you can feel the changes right your mind is totally calmed and this is the vibration the sound which ultimately can bring you to a deeper state of consciousness uh through the vibrations because ultimately how the brain works okay I think I should stop very soon otherwise your brain will stop working all three.
Is it possible to accept uh love God as well as uh not restrain your senses? As with not with what? Not restraining your senses. I'll come to this. Let me let me finish my topic. I'm not No, it's okay.
Let me finish this little topic.
Brain wave states and Aum
Because I'm a scientist by background, so I will I will tell you a few scientific things. Ultimately, the mind, the brain, there is brain waves, right? And, uh, uh, there are basically four kinds of brave, uh, brain waves.
The scientist neuroscience uh knows about four kinds of brain waves uh with a certain frequency. In uh I I will come to your question a little later.
Uh when we are in a wakeful state, when we are awake, the frequency of the brain wave is called beta, beta wave, and this beta wave is one frequency.
Then we are when we are in a dreaming state uh then uh the frequency is less and this is called alpha and then uh there is theta and uh and some more whatever huh delta yeah. Theta and delta.
When we are in a very deep sleep, in a very deep sleep or in a very deep meditation, uh then uh there is this uh theta wave and then when
we are in complete samadhi, and the only the deepest state of our consciousness, the deepest uh state of samadhi, which is the goal of yoga is called this delta wave, which is this state of consciousness where the mind is totally calm and when the mystic experience comes to you.
And ultimately, there is a as I said, there is a certain frequency of these waves, brain waves. The mantras are there because they're ultimately bringing frequency of your mind uh uh into a certain range.
We just had this experience now, recent just just a couple of minutes ago, we had this experience when the mind was calmed down just by certain frequency of the sound.
And it is explained those people who are doing this kind of yoga, who are meditating on the sound, and this is what is called japayagya, meditation on the sound. They are explaining that when you say ah in this let's
analyze this aum sound or um the sound um first is ah and ah goes somewhere here in Svadistan chakra or even even deeper in Muladhar chakra and ah Ah uh uh uh corresponds to the wakeful state of the consciousness.
It's when we are wake this is a when we say ah, therefore this is the first letter of the alphabet. Ah you know, ah is the main sound. This is the sound or the frequency of the wakeful state of our consciousness.
Then you say u, aum. Yeah, the oo you can even feel the vibration goes deeper. It comes it it comes to your heart. Actually ooh