Todays Bhagavad-Gita Class "Introduction to Bhagavad-gita" First Tape Recording, Done by Srila Prabhupada Himself

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"Introduction to Bhagavad-gita"

66/02/19 New York,

First Tape Recording, Done by Srila Prabhupada Himself

listen

 

 

 

 

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Prabhupada:

 

om ajnana-timirandhasya

jnananjana-salakaya

caksur unmilitam yena

tasmai sri-gurave namah

 

[i offer my respectful obeisances unto my spiritual master, who with the

torchlight of knowledge has opened my eyes, which were blinded by the darkness

of ignorance.]

 

sri-caitanya-mano-'bhistam

sthapitam yena bhu-tale

svayam rupah kada mahyam

dadati sva-padantikam

 

[When will Srila Rupa Gosvami Prabhupada, who has established within this

material world the mission to fulfill the desire of Lord Caitanya, give me

shelter under his lotus feet?]

 

vande 'ham sri-guroh sri-yuta-pada-kamalam sri-gurun vaisnavams ca

sri-rupam sagrajatam saha-gana-raghunathanvitam tam sa-jivam

sadvaitam savadhutam parijana-sahitam krsna-caitanya-devam

sri-radha-krsna-padan saha-gana-lalita-sri-visakhanvitams ca

 

[i offer my respectful obeisances unto the lotus feet of my spiritual

master and of all the other preceptors on the path of devotional service. I

offer my respectful obeisances unto all the Vaisnavas and unto the six Gosvamis,

including Srila Rupa Gosvami, Srila Sanatana Gosvami, Raghunatha dasa Gosvami,

Jiva Gosvami and their associates. I offer my respectful obeisances unto Sri

Advaita Acarya Prabhu, Sri Nityananda Prabhu, Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu, and all

His devotees, headed by Srivasa Thakura. I then offer my respectful obeisances

unto the lotus feet of Lord Krsna, Srimati Radharani and all the gopis, headed

by Lalita and Visakha.]

 

he krsna karuna-sindho

dina-bandho jagat-pate

gopesa gopika-kanta

radha-kanta namo 'stu te

 

[O my dear Krsna, ocean of mercy, You are the friend of the distressed and

the source of creation. You are the master of the cowherdmen and the lover of

the gopis, especially Radharani. I offer my respectful obeisances unto You.]

 

tapta-kancana-gaurangi

radhe vrndavanesvari

vrsabhanu-sute devi

pranamami hari-priye

 

[i offer my respects to Radharani, whose bodily complexion is like molten

gold and who is the Queen of Vrndavana. You are the daughter of King Vrsabhanu,

and You are very dear to Lord Krsna.]

 

vancha-kalpatarubhyas ca

krpa-sindhubhya eva ca

patitanam pavanebhyo

vaisnavebhyo namo namah

 

[i offer my respectful obeisances unto all the Vaisnava devotees of the

Lord. They can fulfill the desires of everyone, just like desire trees, and they

are full of compassion for the fallen souls.]

 

sri-krsna-caitanya

prabhu-nityananda

sri-advaita gadadhara

srivasadi-gaura-bhakta-vrnda

 

[i offer my obeisances to Sri Krsna Caitanya, Prabhu Nityananda, Sri

Advaita, Gadadhara, Srivasa and all others in the line of devotion.]

 

hare krsna hare krsna krsna krsna hare hare

hare rama hare rama rama rama hare hare

 

[My dear Lord, and the spiritual energy of the Lord, kindly engage me in

Your service. I am now embarrassed with this material service. Please engage me

in Your service.]

 

Introduction to Gitopanisad by A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami, the author of

Srimad-Bhagavatam, Easy Journey to Other Planets, editor of Back to Godhead,

etc.

 

Bhagavad-gita is known also Gitopanisad, the essence of Vedic knowledge,

and one of the most important of the various Upanisads in Vedic literature. This

Bhagavad-gita, there are many commentations in English and what is the necessity

of another English commentation of the Bhagavad-gita can be explained in the

following way. One American lady, Mrs. Charlotte Le Blanc asked me to recommend

an English edition of Bhagavad-gita which she can read. Of course, in America

there are so many editions of English Bhagavad-gita, but so far I have seen

them, not only in America but also India, none of them can be said strictly as

authoritative because almost every one of them have expressed their own opinion

through the commentation of the Bhagavad-gita without touching the spirit of

Bhagavad-gita as it is.

 

The spirit of Bhagavad-gita is mentioned in the Bhagavad-gita itself. It

is just like this. If we want to take a particular medicine, then we have to

follow the particular direction mentioned on the label of the medicine. We

cannot take the particular medicine according to our own direction or by the

direction of a friend, but we have to take the medicine under the direction

given on the label of the bottle and as directed by the physician. Similarly,

the Bhagavad-gita also should be taken or accepted as it is directed by the

speaker Himself. The speaker of the Bhagavad-gita is Lord Sri Krsna. He is

mentioned in every page of the Bhagavad-gita as the Supreme Personality of

Godhead, Bhagavan. Of course, "bhagavan" is sometimes designated to any powerful

person or any powerful demigod, but here bhagavan is certainly designated to Sri

Krsna, a great personality, but at the same time we must know that Lord Sri

Krsna, as He is confirmed by all the acaryas... I mean to say, even

Sankaracarya, Ramanujacarya, Madhvacarya, Nimbarka Svami and Sri Caitanya

Mahaprabhu and many others. In India there were many authoritative scholars and

acaryas, I mean, authorities of the Vedic knowledge. All of them, including

Sankaracarya, has accepted Sri Krsna as the Supreme Personality of Godhead. The

Lord Himself has also established Himself as the Supreme Personality of Godhead

in the Bhagavad-gita. He is accepted so in the Brahma-samhita and all Puranas,

especially in the Bhagavata Purana, krsnas tu bhagavan svayam [sB 1.3.28]. So

therefore we should take Bhagavad-gita as it is directed by the Personality of

Godhead Himself.

 

So in the Fourth Chapter of Bhagavad-gita the Lord says,

 

imam vivasvate yogam

proktavan aham avyayam

vivasvan manave praha

manur iksvakave 'bravit

[bg. 4.1]

 

evam parampara-praptam

imam rajarsayo viduh

sa kaleneha mahata

yogo nastah parantapa

[bg. 4.2]

 

sa evayam maya te 'dya

yogah proktah puratanah

bhakto 'si me sakha ceti

rahasyam hy etad uttamam

[bg. 4.3]

 

The idea is the Lord said to Arjuna that "This yoga, this system of yoga,

Bhagavad-gita, was first spoken by Me to the sun-god and the sun-god explained

to Manu. Manu explained to Iksvaku, and in that way, by disciplic succession,

one after another, this yoga system is coming, and in course of time this system

is now lost. And therefore, I am speaking to you the very same yoga system

again, the very same old yoga system of Bhagavad-gita, or Gitopanisad. Because

you are My devotee and you are My friend, therefore it is possible for you only

to understand."

 

Now the purport is that Bhagavad-gita is a treatise which is specially

meant for the devotee of the Lord. There are three classes of

transcendentalists, namely the jnani, the yogi and the bhakta. Or the

impersonalist or the meditator or the devotees. So here it is clearly mentioned,

the Lord says to Arjuna that "I am speaking or I am making you the first man of

the parampara. Because the old parampara or disciplic succession is now broken,

therefore I wish to establish again another parampara in the same line of

thought as it was coming down from the sun-god to others. So you, you take it

and you distribute it. Or the system, the yoga system of Bhagavad-gita may now

be distributed through you. You become the authority of understanding

Bhagavad-gita." Now here is a direction that Bhagavad-gita is especially

instructed to Arjuna, the devotee of the Lord, the direct student of Krsna. And

not only that, he is intimately in touch with Krsna as friend. Therefore

Bhagavad-gita is understood by a person who has similar qualities like Krsna.

That means he must be a devotee, he must be in relation, direct relationship

with the Lord. As soon as one becomes a devotee of the Lord, he has a direct

relationship also with the Lord. That is a subject matter very long, but briefly

it can be stated that a devotee is in relationship with the Supreme Personality

of Godhead in five ways. One may be a devotee in a passive state, one may be a

devotee in active state, one may be a devotee as a friend, one may be a devotee

as parent, and one may be a devotee as conjugal lover.

 

So Arjuna was a devotee in relationship with the Lord as a friend. The

Lord can become a friend. Of course, this friendship and the conception of

friendship which we have got in the mundane world, there is a gulf of

difference. This is transcendental friendship which... Not that everyone will

have the relationship with the Lord. Everyone has got a particular relationship

with the Lord and that particular relationship is evoked by the perfection of

devotional service. At the present status of our life we have not only forgotten

the Supreme Lord, but also we have forgotten our eternal relationship with the

Lord. Every living being, out of many, many millions and billions of living

beings, each and every living being has got a particular relationship with the

Lord eternally. That is called svarupa. Svarupa. And by the process of

devotional service one can revive that svarupa of oneself. And that stage is

called svarupa-siddhi, perfection of one's constitutional position. So Arjuna

was a devotee and he was in touch with the Supreme Lord in friendship.

 

Now, this Bhagavad-gita was explained to Arjuna and how Arjuna accepted

it? That should also be noted. How Arjuna accepted the Bhagavad-gita is

mentioned in the Tenth Chapter. Just like

 

arjuna uvaca

param brahma param dhama

pavitram paramam bhavan

purusam sasvatam divyam

adi-devam ajam vibhum

 

ahus tvam rsayah sarve

devarsir naradas tatha

asito devalo vyasah

svayam caiva bravisi me

[bg. 10.12-13]

 

sarvam etad rtam manye

yan mam vadasi kesava

na hi te bhagavan vyaktim

vidur deva na danavah.

[bg. 10.14]

 

Now, Arjuna says, after hearing Bhagavad-gita from the Supreme Personality

of Godhead, he accepts Krsna as param brahma, the Supreme Brahman. Brahman.

Every living being is Brahman, but the supreme living being or the Supreme

Personality of Godhead is the Supreme Brahman or supreme living being. And param

dhama. Param dhama means He is the supreme rest of everything. And pavitram.

Pavitram means He is pure from material contamination. And He's addressed as

purusam. Purusam means the supreme enjoyer; sasvatam, sasvata means from very

beginning, He's the first person; divyam, transcendental; devam, the Supreme

Personality of Godhead; ajam, never born; vibhum, the greatest.

 

Now one may doubt that because Krsna was the friend of Arjuna, therefore

he might say all these things to his own friend. But Arjuna, just to drive out

this kind of doubts in the mind of the readers of Bhagavad-gita, he establishes

his proposition by the authorities. He says that Lord Sri Krsna is accepted as

the Supreme Personality of Godhead not only by himself, Arjuna, but He is so

accepted by authorities like Narada, Asita, Devala, Vyasa. These personalities

are great personalities in distributing the Vedic knowledge. They (are) accepted

by all acaryas. Therefore Arjuna says that "Whatever You have spoken so far to

me, I accept them as completely perfect." Sarvam etad rtam manye [bg. 10.14]. "I

take it, I believe it that whatever You have spoken, they are all right. And

Your Personality, Your Personality of Godhead, is very difficult to understand.

And therefore You cannot be known by even the demigods. You cannot be known even

by the demigods." That means the Supreme Personality Godhead cannot be known

even by greater personalities than the human being, and how a human being can

understand Sri Krsna without becoming His devotee?

 

Therefore Bhagavad-gita should be taken up in a spirit of devotee of Lord

Sri Krsna. One should not think that he is equal, on the same level of Sri

Krsna, or one should not think that He is an ordinary personality, maybe a very

great personality. No. Lord Sri Krsna is the Supreme Personality of Godhead. So

at least theoretically, on the statement of Bhagavad-gita or on the statement,

assertion of Arjuna, the person who is trying to understand the Bhagavad-gita,

we should accept Sri Krsna as the Supreme Personality of Godhead, and then, with

that submissive spirit... Unless one receives this Bhagavad-gita in a submissive

spirit and aural reception, it is very difficult to understand Bhagavad-gita

because it is a great mystery.

 

So in this Bhagavad-gita... We may survey what is this Bhagavad-gita. This

Bhagavad-gita is meant for delivering persons, persons from the nescience of

this material existence. Every man is in difficulty in so many ways, as Arjuna

also was in difficulty in the matter of fighting the battle of Kuruksetra. And

as such he surrendered unto Sri Krsna, and therefore this Bhagavad-gita was

spoken. Similarly, not only Arjuna but every one of us is always full of

anxieties due to our, this material existence. Asad-grahat. It is... Our

existence is in the environment or atmosphere of nonexistence. But actually, we

are not nonexistent. Our existence is eternal, but some way or other we are put

into this asat. Asat means which does not exist.

 

Now out of so many human being who are actually inquiring about his

position as to what he is, why he is put into this awkward position of

suffering... Unless one is awakened to this position, that "Why I am suffering?

I do not want all these sufferings. I have tried to make a solution of all these

sufferings, but I have failed," unless one is in that position, he is not to be

considered a perfect human being. Humanity begins when this sort of inquiries

are awakened in one's mind. In the Brahma-sutra this inquiry is called

brahma-jijnasa. Athato brahma jijnasa. And every activity of the human being is

to be considered a failure without having this inquiry in his mind. So persons

who have awakened this inquiry into his mind as to "What I am, why I am

suffering, wherefrom I have come or where I shall go after death," when these

inquiries come, are awakened in the mind of a sane human being, then he is

practically the right student for understanding Bhagavad-gita. And he must be

sraddhavan. Sraddhavan. He must have respect, a fond respect in the Supreme

Personality of Godhead. Such a person, as the ideal person was Arjuna.

 

So Lord Krsna, He descends, yada yada hi dharmasya glanir bhavati [bg.

4.7], just to establish the real purpose of life. When man forgets the real

purpose of life, the mission of human form of life, then it is called dharmasya

glanih, the disturbance of the occupation of human being. So in that

circumstances, out of many, many human being, who awakens, one who awakens the

spirit of understanding his position, for him this Bhagavad-gita is spoken. We

are just like swallowed by the tigress of nescience, and Lord, being causelessly

merciful upon the living entities, especially for the human being, He spoke

Bhagavad-gita, making His friend Arjuna as the student.

 

Arjuna was certainly, being an associate of Lord Krsna, he was above all

ignorance. But still, Arjuna was put into ignorance in the Battlefield of

Kuruksetra just to question about the problems of life to the Supreme Lord so

that the Lord can explain them for the benefit of future generation of human

being to chalk out the plan of his life and act in that way so that his life,

his mission of human life, can be perfect.

 

So in this Bhagavad-gita the subject matter is comprehending five

different truths. The first truth is what is God. It is the preliminary study of

the science of God. So that science of God is explained here. Next, the

constitutional position of the living entities, jiva. Isvara and jiva. The Lord,

the Supreme Lord, He is called isvara. Isvara means controller, and jiva, the

living entities are... Jivas, the living entities, they are not isvara, or the

controller. They are controlled. Artificially, if I say that "I am not

controlled, I am free," this is not the sign of a sane man. A living being is

controlled in every respect. At least, in his conditioned life he is controlled.

So in this Bhagavad- gita the subject matter comprehends about the isvara, the

supreme controller, and about the controlled living entities and prakrti, the

nature, the material nature. And next, the time, or duration of existence of the

whole universe, or this manifestation of the material nature, and the duration

of time, or the eternal time, and karma. Karma means activity. Everything, the

whole universe, whole cosmic manifestation is full of different activities. The

living beings especially, they are all engaged in different activities. So we

have to study from the Bhagavad-gita, isvara, what is God, jiva, what are these

living entities, and prakrti, what is this cosmic manifestation, and how it is

controlled by time, and what are these activities?

 

Now out of these five subject matter, in the Bhagavad-gita it establish

that the Supreme Godhead or Krsna or Brahman or Paramatma... You may call

whatever you like. But the supreme controller. There is a supreme controller. So

the supreme controller is the greatest of all. And the living beings, they are

in quality like the supreme controller. Just like the supreme controller, the

Lord, He has control over the universal affairs, over the material nature, how

the... It will be explained in the later chapters of Bhagavad-gita that this

material nature is not independent. She is acting under the direction of the

Supreme Lord. Mayadhyaksena prakrtih suyate sa-caracaram [bg. 9.10]. "This

material nature is working under My direction," mayadhyaksena, "under My

superintendence." So we, we are mistaken. When we see wonderful things happening

in the cosmic nature, we should know that behind these wonderful manifestations,

there is a controller. Nothing can be manifested without being controlled. It is

childish to, not to consider about the controller. Just like a very nice motor

car with very good speed and very good engineering arrangement is running on the

street. A child may think that "How this motor car is running without the help

of any horse or any pulling agent?" But a sane man or an elderly person, he

knows that in spite of all engineering arrangements in the motor car, without

the driver it cannot move. That engineering arrangement of a motor car, or in

electric powerhouse... Now at the present moment it is the day of machinery, but

we should always know that behind the machinery, behind the wonderful working of

the machinery, there is a driver. So the Supreme Lord is the driver, adhyaksa.

He is the Supreme Personality under whose direction everything is working. Now

these jiva, or the living entities, they have been accepted by the Lord in this

Bhagavad-gita, as we'll know it in later chapters, that they are parts and

parcels of the Supreme Lord. Mamaivamso jiva-bhutah [bg. 15.7]. Amsa means parts

and parcels. Now as a particle of gold is also particle, a drop of water of the

ocean is also salty, similarly, we, the living entities, being part and parcels

of the supreme controller, isvara, Bhagavan, or Lord Sri Krsna, we have got, I

mean to say, qualitatively all the qualities of the Supreme Lord in minute.

Because we are minute isvara, subordinate isvara. We are also trying to control.

We are just trying to control over the nature. In the present days you are

trying to control over the space. You are trying to float imitation planets. So

this tendency of controlling or creating is there because partially we have got

that controlling tendency. But we should know that this tendency is not

sufficient. We have the tendency of controlling over the material nature,

lording it over the material nature, but we are not the supreme controller. So

that thing is explained in the Bhagavad-gita.

 

Then what is this material nature? The nature is also explained. The

nature, material nature, is explained in the Bhagavad-gita as inferior, inferior

prakrti. Inferior prakrti, and the living entities are explained as the superior

prakrti. Prakrti means which is controlled, which is under... Prakrti, real

meaning of prakrti is a woman or a female. Just like a husband controls the

activities of his wife, similarly, the prakrti is also subordinate,

predominated. The Lord, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, is the predominator,

and this prakrti, both the living entities and the material nature, they are

different prakrtis, or predominated, controlled by the Supreme. So according to

Bhagavad-gita, the living entities, although they are parts and parcels of the

Supreme Lord, they are taken as prakrti. It is clearly mentioned in the Seventh

Chapter of the Bhagavad-gita yes, apareyam itas tu viddhi apara [bg. 7.5]. This

material nature is apara iyam. Itas tu, and beyond this there is another

prakrti. And what is that prakrti? Jiva-bhuta, these...

 

So this prakrti, the constitution of this prakrti is constituted by three

qualities: the mode of goodness, the mode of passion, and mode of ignorance. And

above these modes, three different kinds of modes, goodness, passion, and, I

mean to say, ignorance, there is eternal time. There is eternal time. And by

combination of these modes of nature and under the control, under the purview of

this eternal time, there are activities. There are activities, which is called

karma. These activities are being done from time immemorial and we are suffering

or enjoying the fruits of our activities. Just like in the present life also, we

enjoy the activities, the fruits of our activities. Suppose I am a businessman

and I have worked very hard with intelligence and I have amassed a vast amount

of bank balance. Now I am the enjoyer. Similarly, suppose I started my business

with a vast amount of money, but I failed to make a successful..., I lost all

the money. So I am sufferer. So similarly, in every field of our life we enjoy,

we enjoy the result of our work. This is called karma.

 

So these things, isvara, jiva, prakrti, or the Supreme Lord, or the living

entity, the material nature, the eternal time, and our different activities,

these things are explained in the Bhagavad-gita. Now out of these five, the

Lord, the living entities, and the material nature and time, these four items

are eternal. Now manifestation, manifestation of prakrti may be temporary, but

it is not false. Some philosophers say that this manifestation of material

nature is false, but according to the philosophy of Bhagavad-gita or according

to the philosophy of the Vaisnavas, they do not accept the manifestation of the

world as false. They accept that the manifestation is real, but it is temporary.

It is just like a cloud takes place in the sky and the rainy season begins, and

after the rainy season there are so many new green vegetation all over the

field, we can see. And as soon as the rainy season is finished, then the cloud

is vanquished. Generally, gradually, all this vegetation dry up and again the

land becomes barren. Similarly, this material manifestation takes place at a

certain interval. We'll understand it, we'll know it, from the pages of the

Bhagavad-gita. Bhutva bhutva praliyate [bg. 8.19]. This manifestation becomes

magnificent at a certain interval, and again it disappears. That is the work of

the prakrti. But it is working eternally; therefore prakrti is eternal. It is

not false. Because the Lord has accepted, mama prakrti, "My prakrti." Apareyam

itas tu viddhi me prakrtim param [bg. 7.5]. Bhinna prakrti, bhinna prakrti,

apara prakrti, this material nature is a separated energy of the Supreme Lord,

and the living entities, they are also energy of the Supreme Lord, but they are

not separated. They are eternally related. So the Lord, the living entity, the

nature, material nature, and time, they are all eternal. But the other item,

karma, is not eternal. The effects of karma or activity may be very old. We are

suffering or enjoying the results of our activities from a time immemorial, but

still, we can change the result of our karma, or activity. That will depend on

our perfect knowledge. We are engaged in various activities undoubtedly, but we

do not know what sort of activities we shall adopt that will give us relief from

the actions and reactions of all activities. That is also explained in the

Bhagavad-gita.

 

Now, the position of isvara is supreme consciousness. Position of isvara,

or the Supreme Lord, is supreme consciousness. And the jivas, or the living

entities, being parts and parcels of the Supreme Lord, he is also conscious. A

living entity is also conscious. The living entity is explained as prakrti,

energy, and the material nature is also explained as prakrti, but amongst the

two, one prakrti, the jivas, they are conscious. The other prakrti is not

conscious. That is the difference. Therefore the jiva prakrti is called superior

because the jivas has consciousness similar to the Lord. The Lord is supreme

consciousness. One should not claim that a jiva, a living entity is also

supremely conscious. No. A living being cannot be supremely conscious at any

stage of his perfection. This is a misleading theory. This is misleading theory.

But he is conscious. That's all. But he is not supreme conscious.

 

The supreme conscious, it will be explained in the Bhagavad-gita in the

chapter where the distinction between the jiva and isvara is explained.

Ksetra-ksetra-jna. This ksetra-jna has been explained that the Lord is also

ksetra-jna, or conscious, and the jivas, or the living beings, they are also

conscious. But the difference is that a living being is conscious within his

limited body, but the Lord is conscious of all bodies. Isvarah sarva-bhutanam

hrd-dese 'rjuna tisthati [bg. 18.61]. The Lord lives within the core of heart in

every living being, therefore He is conscious of the psychic movements,

activities, of the particular jiva. We should not forget. It is also explained

that the Paramatma, or the Supreme Personality of Godhead, is living in

everyone's heart as isvara, as the controller and He is giving direction. He is

giving direction. Sarvasya caham hrdi sannivisthah [bg. 15.15], everyone's heart

He is situated, and He gives direction to act as he desires. The living entity

forgets what to do. First of all he makes his determination to act in a certain

way, and then he is entangled in the actions and reactions of his own karma. But

after giving up one type of body, when he enters another type of body... Just

like we give up one kind of dress, one type of dress, for another type of dress,

similarly, it is explained in this Bhagavad-gita that vasamsi jirnani yatha

vihaya [bg. 2.22]. One, as one changes his different dresses, similarly the

living entities, they are also changing different bodies, transmigration of the

soul, and pulling on the actions and reactions of his past activities. So these

activities can be changed when a living being is in the mode of goodness, in

sanity, and he understands what sort of activities he should adopt, and if he

does so, then the whole action and reactions of his past activities can be

changed. Therefore karma is not eternal. Other things, out of the four, five

items -- isvara, jiva, prakrti, kala, and karma -- these four items are eternal,

whereas the karma, the item known as karma, that is not eternal.

 

Now the conscious isvara, the supreme conscious isvara, and difference

between the supreme conscious isvara, or the Lord, and the living being is, in

the present circumstances, is like this. Consciousness, consciousness of, both

of the Lord and the living entities, they are, this consciousness is

transcendental. It is not that this consciousness is generated by the

association of this matter. That is a mistaken idea. The theory that

consciousness develops under certain circumstances of material combination is

not accepted in the Bhagavad-gita. They cannot. Consciousness may be pervertedly

reflected by the cover of material circumstances, just like light reflected

through a colored glass may seem according to the color. Similarly, the

consciousness of Lord, it is not materially affected. The Supreme Lord, just

like Krsna, He says that mayadhyaksena prakrtih [bg. 9.10]. When He descends in

this material world, His consciousness is not materially affected. Had His

consciousness been materially affected, He was unfit to speak about the

transcendental subject matter in the Bhagavad-gita. One cannot say anything

about the transcendental world without being free from the materially

contaminated consciousness. So the Lord was not materially contaminated. But our

consciousness, at the present moment, is materially contaminated. So whole

thing, as the Bhagavad-gita teaches, we have to purify the materially

contaminated consciousness and in that pure consciousness, the actions will be

done. That will make us happy. We cannot stop. We cannot stop our activity. The

activities are to be purified. And these purified activities are called bhakti.

Bhakti means they are, they appear also just like ordinary activity, but they

are not contaminated activities They are purified activities. So an ignorant

person may see that a devotee is working like an ordinary man, but a person with

poor fund of knowledge, he does not know that the activities of a devotee or the

activities of the Lord, they are not contaminated by the impure consciousness of

matter, impurity of the three gunas, modes of nature, but transcendental

consciousness. So our consciousness is materially contaminated, we should know.

 

Now when we are such materially contaminated, that is called our

conditioned stage. Conditioned stage. And the false ego, the false

consciousness... The false consciousness is exhibited under the impression that

"I am one of the product of this material nature." That is called false ego. The

whole material activities, yasyatma-buddhih kunape tri-dhatuke [sB 10.84.13].

Yasyatma-buddhih kunape tri-dhatuke, one who is absorbed in the thought of

bodily conception. Now, the whole Bhagavad-gita was explained by the Lord

because Arjuna represented himself with bodily conception. So one has to get

free from the bodily conception of life. That is the preliminary activity for a

transcendentalist who wants to get free, who wants to be liberated. And he has

to learn first of all that he is not this material body. So this consciousness,

or material consciousness, when we are freed from this material consciousness,

that is called mukti. Mukti or liberation means to become free from material

consciousness. In the Srimad-Bhagavata also the definition of liberation is

said, muktir hitvanyatha rupam svarupena vyavasthitih [sB 2.10.6]. Svarupena

vyavasthitih. Mukti means liberation from the contaminated consciousness of this

material world and to become situated in pure consciousness. And the whole

instruction, instruction of Bhagavad-gita, is targeted to awaken that pure

consciousness. We'll find in the last stage of the instruction of Bhagavad-gita

that Krsna is asking Arjuna whether he is now in purified consciousness. Whether

he was in purified consciousness. The purified consciousness is to act according

to the direction of the Lord. That is purified consciousness. That is the whole

sum and substance of purified consciousness.

 

Consciousness is already there, but because we are part and parcels,

therefore we are affected. There is affinity of being affected by the material

modes. But the Lord being Supreme, He is never affected. He is never affected.

That is the difference between the Lord and the Supreme..., Supreme Lord and

the...

 

Now this consciousness is... What is this consciousness? This

consciousness is that "I am." What I am? When in contaminated consciousness this

"I am" means that "I am the lord of all I survey." This is impure consciousness.

And "I am the enjoyer." The whole material world is moving that every living

being is thinking that "I am the lord and I am the creator of this material

world." The consciousness has got two psychic movement or two psychic division.

One is that "I am the creator," and the other is "I am the enjoyer." So the

Supreme Lord is actually the creator and He is actually the enjoyer. And the

living entities, being part and parcel of the Supreme Lord, he's not actually

the creator or the enjoyer, but he's a cooperator. Just like the whole machine.

The part of the machine is the cooperator, is the cooperator. Or if we can study

just the constitution of our body. Now, in the body there are hands, there are

legs, there are eyes, and all these instruments, working, but all these parts

and parcels of the body, they are not enjoyer. The stomach is the enjoyer. The

leg is moving from one place to another. The hand is collecting, the hand is

preparing foodstuff, and the teeth is chewing, and everything, all parts of

body, are engaged in satisfying the stomach because the stomach is the principle

fact within the organization of this body. And everything should be given to the

stomach. Pranopaharac ca yathendriyanam [sB 4.31.14]. Just like you can see a

tree green by pouring water in the root. Or you can become healthy... The parts

of the body -- the hands, the legs, the eyes, the ears, the fingers --

everything keeps in healthy stage when the parts of the body cooperate with the

stomach. Similarly, the supreme living being, the Lord, He is the enjoyer. He is

the enjoyer and He is the creator. And we, I mean to say, subordinate living

beings, the products of the energy of the Supreme Lord, we are just to cooperate

with Him. That cooperation will help. Just for example, a good foodstuff taken

by the fingers. If the fingers think that "Why should we give it to the stomach?

Let us enjoy." That is a mistake. The fingers are unable to enjoy. If fingers

want the fruit of enjoyment of that particular foodstuff, the fingers must put

it into the stomach. So the whole arrangement is that the central figure,

central figure of creation, central figure of enjoyment, is the Supreme Lord,

and the living entities, they are simply cooperator. By cooperation, by

cooperation they enjoy. The relation is just like the master and the servant. If

the master is satisfied, if the master is fully satisfied, the servants are

automatically satisfied. That is the law. Similarly, the Supreme Lord should be

satisfied, although the tendency for becoming creator and the tendency to enjoy

this material world is, they are also in the living entities because it is there

in the Supreme Lord. He has created, He has created the manifested cosmic world.

 

Therefore we shall find in this Bhagavad-gita that the complete whole,

comprising the supreme controller, the controlled living entities, the cosmic

manifestation, the eternal time, and the activities, all of them are completely

explained. So the whole thing taking together completely is called the Absolute

Truth. The complete whole, or the Supreme Absolute Truth, is therefore the

complete Personality of Godhead Sri Krsna. As I have explained, that the

manifestation are due to His different energies, and He is the complete whole.

 

The impersonal Brahman is explained in the Bhagavad-gita that impersonal

Brahman is also subordinate to the complete person. Brahmano 'ham pratistha [bg.

14.27]. Impersonal Brahman is also. It is... The impersonal Brahman is more

explicitly explained in the Brahma-sutra as the rays. As there is the rays of

the sunshine, sun planet, similarly, the impersonal Brahman is the shining rays

of the Supreme Brahman or the Supreme Personality of Godhead. Therefore

impersonal Brahman is incomplete realization of the absolute complete whole, and

so also the conception of Paramatma. These things are also explained.

Purusottama-yoga. When we shall read the chapter of Purusottama-yoga it will be

seen that the Supreme Personality, Purusottama, is above the impersonal Brahman

and partial realization of Paramatma.

 

The Supreme Personality of Godhead is called sac-cid-ananda-vigrahah [bs.

5.1]. In the Brahma-samhita, the beginning is started like this: isvarah paramah

krsnah sac-cid-ananda-vigrahah/ anadir adir govindah sarva-karana-karanam [bs.

5.1]." Govinda, Krsna, is the cause of all causes. He is the primal Lord." So

the Supreme Personality of Godhead is sac-cid-ananda-vigrahah.

 

Impersonal Brahman realization is the realization of His sat part,

eternity. And Paramatma realization is the realization of sat-cit, eternal

knowledge part realization. But realization of the Personality of Godhead as

Krsna is realization of all the transcendental features like sat, cit, and

ananda, in complete vigraha. Vigraha means form. Vigraha means form. Avyaktam

vyaktim apannam manyante mam abuddhayah [bg. 7.24]. People with less

intelligence, they consider the Supreme Truth as impersonal, but He is a person,

a transcendental person. This is confirmed in all Vedic literature. Nityo

nityanam cetanas cetananam (Katha Upanisad 2.2.13). So, as we are also persons,

individual living beings, we are persons, we have got our individuality, we are

all individual, similarly the Supreme Truth, the Supreme Absolute, He is also,

at the ultimate issue He is a person. But realization of the Personality of

Godhead is realization of all the transcendental features like sat, cit, and

ananda, in complete vigraha. Vigraha means form. Therefore the complete whole is

not formless. If He is formless or if He is less in any other thing, He cannot

be complete whole. The complete whole must have everything within our experience

and beyond our experience. Otherwise He cannot be complete. The complete whole

Personality of Godhead has immense potencies. Parasya saktir vividhaiva sruyate

[Cc. Madhya 13.65, purport]. That is also explained in Bhagavad-gita, how He is

acting in different potencies. This phenomenal world, or the material world,

where we are now put, is also complete by itself because purnam idam

[isopanisad, Invocation]. The 24 elements of which, according to Sankhya

philosophy, the 24 elements of which this material universe is a temporary

manifestation, are completely adjusted to produce complete things which are

necessary for the maintenance and subsistence of this universe. No extraneous

effort by any other unit is required for the maintenance of the universe. It's

at its own time, fixed up by the energy of the complete whole, and when the time

is complete, these temporary manifestations will be annihilated by the complete

arrangement of the complete. There is complete facility for the small complete

units, namely, the living entities, to realize the complete. And all sorts of

incompleteness is experienced on account of incomplete knowledge of the

complete. So the Bhagavad-gita is the complete knowledge of the Vedic wisdom.

 

The whole Vedic knowledge is infallible. There are different examples how

we take Vedic knowledge as infallible. Take for example, so far the Hindus are

concerned, and how they accept the Vedic knowledge as complete, here is an

insignificant example. Just like the cow dung. The cow dung is the stool of an

animal. According to smrti or Vedic wisdom, if one touches the stool of an

animal he has to take his bath to purify himself. But in the Vedic scriptures

the cow dung is as stated as pure. Rather, impure place or impure things are

purified by touch of the cow dung. Now if one argues how it is that in one place

it is said that the stool of the animal is impure and another place it is said

that the cow dung which is also the stool of an animal, it is pure, so it is

contradictory. But actually, it may appear to be contradictory, but because it

is Vedic injunction, therefore for our practical purposes we accept it. And by

that acceptance we are not committing mistake. It has been found by modern

chemists, modern science, one Dr. Lal Mohan Gosal, he has very minutely analyzed

the cow dung and he has found that cow dung is a composition of all antiseptic

properties. So similarly, he has also analyzed the water of the Ganges out of

curiosity. So my idea is that Vedic knowledge is complete because it is above

all doubts and all mistakes. So, and Bhagavad-gita is the essence of all Vedic

knowledge. The Vedic knowledge is therefore infallible. It comes down through

the perfect disciplic succession.

 

Therefore Vedic knowledge is not a thing of research. Our research work is

imperfect because we are searching everything with imperfect senses. Therefore

the result of our research work is also imperfect. It cannot be perfect. We have

to accept the perfect knowledge. The perfect knowledge is coming down, as it is

stated in the Bhagavad-gita, just we have begun, evam parampara-praptam imam

rajarsayo viduh [bg. 4.2]. We have to receive the knowledge from the right

source in disciplic succession of spiritual master beginning from the Lord

Himself. So Bhagavad-gita is spoken by the Lord Himself. And Arjuna, the, I mean

to say, the student who took lessons of the Bhagavad-gita, he accepted the whole

story as it is, without any cutting. That is also not allowed, that we accept a

certain portion of Bhagavad-gita and reject another portion. That is also not

accepted. We must accept the Bhagavad-gita without interpretation, without any

cutting, and without our own whimsical participation in the matter because it

should be taken as the most perfect Vedic knowledge. The Vedic knowledge is

received from the transcendental sources because the first word was spoken by

the Lord Himself. The words spoken by the Lord is called apauruseya, or not

delivered by any person of the mundane world, who is infected with four

principles of imperfectness. A living being of the mundane world has four

defective principles of his life, and they are 1) that he must commit mistake,

2) he must be sometimes illusioned, and 3) he must try to cheat others, and 4)

he's endowed with imperfect senses. With all these four principles of

imperfectness, one cannot deliver the perfect form of information in the matter

of all-pervading knowledge. The Vedas are not like that. The Vedic knowledge was

imparted in the heart of Brahma, the first created living being. And Brahma in

his turn disseminated the knowledge to his sons and disciples as they were

originally received from the Lord. The Lord, being purnam or all-perfect, there

is no chance of His becoming subjected to the laws of material nature. One

should therefore be intelligent enough to know that except the Lord, nobody is

the proprietor of anything within the universe. That is explained in the

Bhagavad-gita:

 

aham sarvasya prabhavo

mattah sarvam pravartate

iti matva bhajante mam

budha bhava-samanvitah

[bg. 10.8]

 

The Lord is the original creator. He is the creator of Brahma, He is the

creator... That is also explained. He is the creator of Brahma. In the 11th

Chapter the Lord is addressed as prapitamaha [bg. 11.39] because Brahma is

addressed as pitamaha, the grandfather, but He is the creator of the grandfather

also. So nobody should claim to be the proprietor of anything, but he must

accept things which are set aside by the Lord as his quota of maintenance. Now,

there are many examples how we have to utilize the allotment of the Lord. That

is also explained in the Bhagavad-gita. Arjuna, he decided in the beginning that

he should not fight. That was his own contemplation. Arjuna said to the Lord

that it was not possible for him to enjoy the kingdom after killing his own

kinsmen. And that point of view was due to his conception of the body. Because

he was thinking that the body was himself and the bodily relatives, his

brothers, his nephews, his father-in-law or his grandfather, they were expansion

of his body, and he was thinking in that way to satisfy his bodily demands. And

the whole thing was spoken by the Lord just to change the view. And he agreed to

work under the direction of the Lord. And he said, karisye vacanam tava [bg.

18.73].

 

Therefore in this world the human being is not meant for quarreling like

the cats and dogs. They must be intelligent enough to realize the importance of

the human life and refuse to act like ordinary animal. He should... A human

being should realize the aim of human life. This direction is given in all the

Vedic literature, and the essence is given in the Bhagavad-gita. Vedic

literature are meant for the human being and not for the cats and dogs. The cats

and dogs can kill their eatable animals, and for that there is no question of

sin on their part. But if a man kills an animal for the satisfaction of his

uncontrolled taste, he must be responsible for breaking the laws of nature. And

in the Bhagavad-gita it is clearly explained that there are three kinds of

activities according to the different modes of nature: the activities of

goodness, the activities of passion, the activities of ignorance. Similarly,

there are three kinds of eatables also: eatables in goodness, eatables on

passion, eatables on ignorance. They're all clearly described, and if we

properly utilize the instructions of the Bhagavad-gita, then our whole life will

become purified and ultimately we shall (be) able to reach the destination. Yad

gatva na nivartante tad dhama paramam mama [bg. 15.6].

 

That information is given in the Bhagavad-gita, that beyond this material

sky, there is another spiritual sky; that is called sanatana sky. In this sky,

this covered sky, we find everything temporary. It is manifested, it stays for

some time, gives us some by-product, and then it becomes dwindling, and then

vanishes. That is the law of this material world. You take this body, you take a

fruit or anything what is created here, it has got its annihilation at the end.

So beyond this temporary world there is another world for which the information

is there, that paras tasmat tu bhavah anyah [bg. 8.20]. There is another nature

which is eternal, sanatana, which is eternal. And the jiva, jiva is also

described as sanatana. Mamaivamso jiva-bhutah jiva-loke sanatanah [bg. 15.7].

Sanatana, sanatana means eternal. And the Lord is also described as sanatana in

the 11th Chapter. So because we have got intimate relation with the Lord and we

are all qualitatively one... The sanatana-dhama and the sanatana Supreme

Personality and the sanatana living entities, they are on the same qualitatively

plane. Therefore the whole target of Bhagavad-gita is to revive our sanatana

occupation or sanatana..., that is called sanatana-dharma, or eternal occupation

of the living entity. We are now temporarily engaged in different activities and

all these activities being purified. When we give up all these temporary

activities, sarva-dharman parityajya [bg. 18.66], and when we take up the

activities as desired by the Supreme Lord, that is called our pure life. [break]

Therefore, sanatana-dharma, as mentioned above, that the Supreme Lord is

sanatana, and the transcendental abode, which is beyond the spiritual sky, that

is also sanatana. And the living entities, they are also sanatana. So

association of the sanatana Supreme Lord, sanatana living entities, in the

sanatana eternal abode is the ultimate aim of human form of life. The Lord is so

kind upon the living entities because the living entities are claimed to be all

sons of the Supreme Lord. The Lord declares sarva-yonisu kaunteya sambhavanti

murtayo yah [bg. 14.4]. Every living, every type of living entity... There are

different types of living entities according to their different karma, but the

Lord claims that He is the father of all living entities, and therefore the Lord

descends to reclaim all these forgotten conditioned souls back to the

sanatana-dhama, the sanatana sky, so that the sanatana living entity may again

reinstall in his sanatana position in eternal association of the Lord. He comes

Himself by different incarnations, He sends His confidential servitor as sons or

associates or acaryas to reclaim the conditioned souls.

 

And therefore sanatana-dharma does not mean any sectarian process of

religion. It is the eternal function of the eternal living entities in

relationship with the eternal Supreme Lord. So far sanatana-dharma is concerned,

it means the eternal occupation. Sripada Ramanujacarya has explained the word

sanatana as "the thing which has neither any beginning nor any end." And when we

speak of sanatana-dharma we must take it for granted on the authority of Sripada

Ramanujacarya that it has no beginning, nor any end. The word religion is a

little different from sanatana-dharma. Religion conveys the idea of faith. Faith

may change. One may have faith in a particular process, and he may change the

faith afterwards and adopt another faith. But sanatana-dharma means which cannot

be changed, which cannot be changed. Just like water and liquidity. Liquidity

cannot be changed from water. Heat and fire. Heat cannot be changed from fire.

Similarly, the eternal function of the eternal living entity, which is known as

sanatana-dharma, cannot be changed. It is not possible to change. We have to

find out what is that eternal function of the eternal living entity. When we

speak of sanatana-dharma therefore, we must take it for granted on the authority

of Sripada Ramanujacarya that it has no beginning nor any end. The thing which

has no end, no beginning, must not be any sectarian thing or limited by any

boundary. When we hold on the conference on the sanatana-dharma, people

belonging to some of the noneternal religious faiths may wrongly consider it

that we are dealing in some sectarian thing. But if we go deep into the matter

and take everything in the light of modern science, it will be possible for us

to see sanatana-dharma as the business of all the people of the world, nay, all

the living entities of the universe. Non-sanatana religious faith may have some

beginning in the annals of the human society, but there cannot be any history of

the sanatana-dharma because it continues to remain with the history of the

living entities. So far living entities are concerned, we find it from the

authority of the sastras that living entities have also no birth or death. In

the Bhagavad-gita it is clearly stated that the living entity is never born, nor

does it ever die. He's eternal, indestructible, and continues to live after the

destruction of his temporary material body. With reference to the above concept

of sanatana-dharma we may try to understand the concept of religion from the

Sanskrit root meaning of the word dharma. It means that which is constantly with

the particular object. As we have already mentioned, when we speak of fire it is

concluded at the same time that there is heat and light along with the fire.

Without heat and without light, there is no meaning of the word fire. Similarly,

we must find out the essential part of a living being which is always companion

with him. That part of constant companion of the living being is his eternal

quality, and the eternal part of the living being's quality is his eternal

religion. When Sanatana Gosvami asked Lord Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu about the

svarupa -- we have already discussed about the svarupa of every living being --

svarupa or real constitution of the living being, the Lord replied that the

constitutional position of the living being is to render service to the Supreme

Personality of Godhead. But if we analyze this part of the statement of Lord

Caitanya, we can very well see that every living being is constantly engaged in

the business of rendering service to another living being. A living being serves

another living being in different capacities, and by doing so, the living entity

enjoys life. A lower animal serves a human being, a servant serves his master, A

serves B master, B serves C master, and C serves D master, and so on. Under the

circumstances, we can see that a friend serves another friend, and the mother

serves the son, or the wife serves the husband, or husband serves the wife. If

we go on searching in that spirit, it will be seen that there is no exception in

the society of the living being where we do not find the activity of service.

The politician present his manifesto before the public and convinces voters

about his service capacity. The voter also gives the politician his valuable

vote on expectation that the politician will give service to the society. The

shopkeeper serves the customer and the artisan serves the capitalist. The

capitalist serves his family and the family serves the head man in terms of the

eternal capacity of eternal being. In this way we can see no living being is

exempted from the practice of rendering service to other living being, and

therefore we can conclude that service is a thing which is the constant

companion of the living being, and therefore it may be safely concluded that

rendering of service by a living being is the eternal religion of the living

being. When a man professes to belong to a particular type of faith with

reference to the particular time and circumstances of birth, and thus one claims

to be a Hindu, a Muslim, a Christian, Buddhist, or any other sect, and sub-sect,

such designations are non-sanatana-dharma. A Hindu may change his faith to

become a Muslim, or a Muslim may change his faith to become a Hindu or a

Christian, etc., but in all circumstances such change of religious faith does

not allow a person to change his eternal engagement of rendering service to

other. A Hindu or a Muslim or a Christian, in all circumstances, he is servant

of somebody, and thus to profess a particular type of faith is not to be

considered as sanatana-dharma, but the constant companion of the living being,

that is, rendering of service, is the sanatana-dharma. So factually, we are

related in the service relationship with the Supreme Lord. The Supreme Lord is

the supreme enjoyer, and we living entities are eternally His supreme servitors.

We are created for His enjoyment, and if we partake, participate in that eternal

enjoyment with the Supreme Personality of Godhead, that makes us happy, not

otherwise. Independently, as we have already explained that independently, any

part of the body, the hand, the feet, the fingers, or any part of the body,

independently, cannot be happy without cooperation with the stomach, similarly,

the living entity can never be happy without rendering his transcendental loving

service to the Supreme Lord. Now, in the Bhagavad-gita the worship of different

demigods is not approved, is not approved because... It is said in the

Bhagavad-gita [bg. 7.20], the Lord says, kamais tais tair hrta-jnanah

prapadyante 'nya-devatah. Kamais tais tair hrta-jnanah. Those who are directed

by lust, only they worship the demigods other than the Supreme Lord, Krsna. We

also may remember that when we speak of "Krsna" it is not a sectarian name. The

"Krsna" name means the highest pleasure. It is confirmed that the Supreme Lord

is the reservoir, is the storehouse of all pleasure. We are all hankering after

pleasure. Anandamayo 'bhyasat (Vedanta-sutra 1.1.12). The living entities or the

Lord, because we are full of consciousness, therefore our consciousness is after

happiness. Happiness. The Lord is also perpetually happy, and if we associate

with the Lord, cooperate with Him, take part in His association, then also we

become happy. The Lord descends on this mortal world to show His pastimes in

Vrndavana full of happiness. When Lord Sri Krsna was in Vrndavana, His

activities with His cowherd boys friends, with His damsels, with His friends,

damsel friends, and with the inhabitants of Vrndavana and His occupation of

cowherding in His childhood, and all these pastimes of Lord Krsna were full of

happiness. The whole of Vrndavana, the whole population of Vrndavana, was after

Him. They did not know except Krsna. Even Lord Krsna restricted His father,

Nanda Maharaja in worshiping the demigod Indra because He wanted to establish

that people need not worship any other demigod except the Supreme Personality of

Godhead. Because the ultimate aim of life is to return to the abode of the

Supreme Lord. The abode of Lord Krsna is described in the Bhagavad-gita, 15th

Chapter, 6th verse,

 

na tad bhasayate suryo

na sasanko na pavakah

yad gatva na nivartante

tad dhama paramam mama

 

Now the description of that eternal sky... When we speak of sky, because

we have material conception of the sky, therefore we think of sky with sun,

moon, stars, like that. But the Lord says that the eternal sky, there is no need

of sun. Na tad bhasayate suryo na sasanko na pavakah [bg. 15.6]. Neither in that

eternal sky there is need of moon. Na pavakah means neither there is necessity

of electricity or fire for illuminating because the spiritual sky is already

illuminated by the brahmajyoti. Brahmajyoti, yasya prabha [bs. 5.40], the rays

of the supreme abode. Now in these days when people are trying to reach other

planets, it is not very difficult to understand the abode of the Supreme Lord.

The abode of the Supreme Lord is in the spiritual sky, and it is named as

Goloka. In the Brahma-samhita it is very nicely described, goloka eva nivasaty

akhilatma-bhutah [bs. 5.37]. The Lord, although resides eternally in His abode,

Goloka, still He is akhilatma-bhutah, He can be approached from here also. And

the Lord therefore comes to manifest His real form, sac-cid-ananda-vigraha [bs.

5.1], so that we may not have to imagine. There is no question of imagination.

The Lord's presence, by His causeless mercy He presents Himself in His

Syamasundara-rupa.

 

Unfortunately, people with less intelligence deride at Him. Avajananti mam

mudha [bg. 9.11]. Because the Lord comes as one of us and just like plays with

us as a human being, therefore we need not consider that Lord is one of us. It

is His omnipotency that He presents Himself with His real form before us and

displays His pastimes, just the prototype of His abode. So that abode of Lord,

there are innumerable planets also in that brahmajyoti. Just like we have got

innumerable planets floating on the sun rays, similarly, in the brahmajyoti,

which is emanating from the abode of the Supreme Lord, Krsnaloka, Goloka,

ananda-cinmaya-rasa-pratibhavitabhis [bs. 5.37], all those planets are spiritual

planets. They are ananda-cinmaya; they are not material planets. So the Lord

says,

 

na tad bhasayate suryo

na sasanko na pavakah

yad gatva na nivartante

tad dhama paramam mama

[bg. 15.6]

 

Now anyone who can approach that spiritual sky will not be required to

come back again in this material sky. So long we are in the material sky, what

to speak of approaching the moon planet.... The moon planet, of course, is the

nearest planet, but even we approach the highest planet, which is called

Brahmaloka, there also we have the same miseries of material life, I mean to

say, the miseries of birth, death, old age, and diseases. No planets in the

material universe is free from the four principles of material existence. The

Lord therefore says in the Bhagavad-gita, abrahma-bhuvanal lokah punar avartino

'rjuna [bg. 8.16]. The living entities are traveling from one planet to another.

It is not that we can simply go to other planets by the mechanical arrangement

of the sputnik. Anyone who desires to go to other planet, there is process.

Yanti deva-vrata devan pitrn yanti pitr-vratah [bg. 9.25]. If anyone wants to go

to any other planet, say, moon planet, we need not try to go by the sputnik. The

Bhagavad-gita instructs us, yanti deva-vrata devan. These moon planets or sun

planets or the planets above this Bhuloka, they are called Svargaloka.

Svargaloka. Bhuloka, Bhuvarloka, Svargaloka. There are different status of

planets. So Devaloka, they are known just like that. The Bhagavad-gita gives a

very simple formula that you can go to the higher planets, Devaloka. Yanti

deva-vrata devan. Yanti deva-vrata devan. Deva-vrata, if we practice the process

of worshiping the particular demigod, then we can go to that particular planet

also. We can go to the sun planet even, we can go to the moon planet, we can go

to the heavenly planet, but Bhagavad-gita does not advise us to go to any one of

these planets in the material world because even we go to the Brahmaloka, the

highest planet, which is calculated by the modern scientist that we can reach

the highest planet by traveling with sputniks for 40,000 years. Now it is not

possible to live 40,000 years and reach the highest planet of this material

universe. But if one devotes his life in the worshipment of the particular

demigod he can approach the particular planet, as it is stated in the

Bhagavad-gita: yanti deva-vrata devan pitrn yanti pitr-vratah [bg. 9.25].

Similarly, there is Pitrloka. Similarly, one who likes to approach the supreme

planet, supreme planet... The supreme planet means the Krsnaloka. In the

spiritual sky there are innumerable planets, sanatana planets, eternal planets,

which are never destroyed, annihilated. But of all those spiritual planets there

is one planet, the original planet, which is called Goloka Vrndavana. So these

informations are there in the Bhagavad-gita and we are given the opportunity for

leaving this material world and get our eternal life in the eternal kingdom. Now

in the 15th Chapter of the Bhagavad-gita, the real picture of this material

world is given. It is said there that

 

urdhva-mulam adhah-sakham

asvattham prahur avyayam

chandamsi yasya parnani

yas tam veda sa veda-vit

[bg. 15.1]

 

Now, this material world is described in the Fifteenth chapter of the

Bhagavad-gita as a tree which has got its root upwards, urdhva-mulam. Have you

experience of any tree which has its root upwards? We have got this experience

of a tree, root upwards by reflection. If we stand on the bank of a river or any

reservoir of water, we can see that the tree on the bank of the reservoir of

water is reflected in the water as trunk downwards and the root upwards. So this

material world is practically a reflection of the spiritual world. Just like the

reflection of the tree on the bank of a reservoir of water is seen downwards,

similarly, this material world, it is called shadow. Shadow. As in the shadow

there cannot be any reality, but at the same time, from the shadow we can

understand that there is reality. The example of shadow in the, shadow of water

in the desert, suggests that in the desert there is no water, but there is

water. Similarly, in the reflection of the spiritual world, or in this material

world, there is undoubtedly, there is no happiness, there is no water. But the

real water, or the actual happiness, is in the spiritual world. The Lord

suggests that one has to reach that spiritual world in the following manner,

nirmana-moha.

 

nirmana-moha jita-sanga-dosa

adhyatma-nitya vinivrtta-kamah

dvandvair vimuktah sukha-duhkha-samjnair

gacchanty amudhah padam avyayam tat

(Bg. 15.5)

 

That padam avyayam, that eternal kingdom, can be reached by one who is

nirmana-moha. Nirmana-moha. Nirmana means we are after designations.

Artificially we want some designations. Somebody wants to become sir, somebody

wants to become lord, somebody wants to become the president, or somebody wants

to become a rich man, somebody wants to become something else, king. All these

designations, so long we'll have attachment for all these designations...

Because after all these designations belong to the body, and we are not this

body. This is the first conception of spiritual realization. So one has no

attraction for designation. And jita-sanga-dosa, sanga-dosa. Now we are

associated with the three modes of material qualities, and if we become detached

by devotional service of the Lord... So long we are not attracted by devotional

service of the Lord, we cannot be detached from the three modes of material

nature. Therefore the Lord says, vinivrtta-kamah, these designations or these

attachments are due to our lust, desire. We want to lord it over the material

nature. So, so long we do not give up this propensity of lording it over the

material nature, up to that time there is no possibility of going back to the

kingdom of the Supreme, the sanatana-dhama. Dvandvair vimuktah

sukha-duhkha-samjnair gacchanty amudhah, amudhah padam avyayam tat [bg. 15.5].

That eternal kingdom, which is never destructible like this material world, can

be approached by amudhah. Amudhah means nonbewildered, one who is not bewildered

by the attraction of this false enjoyment. And one is situated in the supreme

service of the Lord, he is the right person to approach that eternal kingdom.

And that eternal kingdom does not require any sun, any moon, or any electricity.

That is a glimpse idea of approaching of the eternal kingdom. In another place

in the Bhagavad-gita it is also said that

 

avyakto 'ksara ity uktas

tam ahuh paramam gatim

yam prapya na nivartante

tad dhama paramam mama

[bg. 8.21]

 

Avyakta means nonmanifested. Even the part of material world is not

manifested before us. Our senses are so imperfect that we cannot see how many

stars, how many planets there are in this material universe. Of course, through

the Vedic literature we get information of all the planets. We may believe or

not believe, but all the important planets in which we have connection, they are

described in the Vedic literature, especially in the Srimad-Bhagavatam. But the

spiritual world, which is beyond this material sky, paras tasmat tu bhavo 'nyo

[bg. 8.20], but that avyakta, that nonmanifested spiritual sky, is the paramam

gatim, that is, one should desire, one should hanker after reaching that supreme

kingdom. And once approaching that supreme kingdom, yam prapya, one approaching

or one achieving that supreme kingdom, na nivartante, one hasn't got to return

back to this material world. And that place which is the eternal abode of Lord,

that from where we haven't got to return, that is our, that should be our...

[break] Now a question may be raised, what is the way how to approach the

supreme abode of the Lord. That is also described in the Bhagavad-gita. It is

said on the 8th Chapter, verses 5, 6, 7, 8, the process of approaching the

Supreme Lord or Supreme Lord's abode is also given there. It is said like this:

 

anta-kale ca mam eva

smaran muktva kalevaram

yah prayati sa mad-bhavam

yati nasty atra samsayah

 

Anta-kale, at the end of life, at the time of death. Anta-kale ca mam eva,

one who thinks of Krsna, smaran, if he can remember. A dying person, at the time

of death, if he remembers the form of Krsna and while remembering in that way,

if he quits the present body, then surely he approaches the spiritual kingdom,

mad-bhavam. Bhavam means the spiritual nature. Yah prayati sa mad-bhavam yati.

Mad-bhavam means just like the nature or the transcendental nature of the

Supreme Being. As we have described above, that the Supreme Lord is

sac-cid-ananda-vigraha [bs. 5.1]. He has His form, but His form is eternal, sat;

and full of knowledge, cit; and full of bliss, ananda. Now just we can compare

our present body, whether this body is sac-cid-ananda. No. This body is asat.

Instead of being sat it is asat. Antavanta ime deha [bg. 2.18], Bhagavad-gita

says that this body is antavat, perishable. And... Sac-cid-ananda. Instead of

becoming sat, it is asat, just the opposite. And instead of becoming cit, full

of knowledge, it is full of ignorance. We have no knowledge of the spiritual

kingdom, neither we have got any perfect knowledge of this material world. So

many things unknown to us, therefore this body is ignorant. Instead of becoming

full of knowledge it is ignorant. The body is perishable, full of ignorance, and

nirananda. Instead of becoming full of bliss, it is full of miseries. All the

miseries that we experience in this material world, it is all due to this body.

The Lord says that anta-kale ca mam eva smaran muktva kalevaram [bg. 8.5]. One

who quits this material body, simply by remembering Lord Krsna, the Supreme

Personality of Godhead, he at once gets the spiritual body of

sac-cid-ananda-vigraha [bs. 5.1]. The process of quitting this body and getting

another body in the material world is also organized. A man dies after it has

been decided what form of body he will have in the next life. But that is

decided by higher authorities. Just like according to our service we are

promoted or degraded. Similarly, according to our acts we are... Acts of this

life, the activities of this life are preparation ground for the next life. We

are preparing for our next life by our activities of this life. So if we can

prepare our this life for getting promotion to the kingdom of God, then surely,

after leaving, after quitting this material body... The Lord says yah prayati,

one who goes, sa mad-bhavam yati [bg. 8.5], mad-bhavam, he gets the same

spiritual body as the Lord has or the same spiritual nature. Now, there are

different kinds of transcendentalists as we have already explained above. The

brahmavadi, paramatmavadi and the devotees. In spiritual sky or in the

brahmajyoti there are spiritual planets, innumerable spiritual planets, we have

already discussed. And the number of those planets are far, far greater than all

the universes of this material world. This material world is ekamsena sthito

jagat [bg. 10.42]. This is one-fourth part manifestation of the whole creation.

Three-fourths part of the creation is the spiritual world and in the one-fourth

part of this creation there are millions of universes like this which we are

experiencing at the present moment. And in one universe there are millions and

billions of planets. So there are millions and billions of suns and stars and

moons in all this material world, but all this material world constitute only

one-fourth manifestation of the whole creation. The three-fourths manifestation

is in the spiritual sky. Now, this mad-bhavam, one who desires to merge into the

existence of the Supreme Brahman, they merge in the brahmajyoti of the Supreme

Lord. Mad-bhavam means that brahmajyoti as well as the spiritual planets in the

brahmajyoti. And the devotees, who want to enjoy in the association of the Lord,

they enter into the planets, Vaikuntha planets. There are innumerable Vaikuntha

planets, and the Lord, Supreme Lord Sri Krsna, by His plenary expansion as

Narayana with four hands with different names, Pradyumna, Aniruddha, and

Madhava, Govinda... There are many innumerable names of this four-handed

Narayana. So one of the planets, that is also mad-bhavam, that is also within

the spiritual nature. So any transcendentalist who at the end of life, either he

thinks of the brahmajyoti or meditates upon the Paramatma or thinks of the

Supreme Personality of Godhead Sri Krsna, in either case, they enter into the

spiritual sky. But only the devotees, those who have practiced personal touch

with the Supreme Lord, they enter into the Vaikuntha planets or in the Goloka

Vrndavana planet. The Lord says, yah prayati sa mad-bhavam yati nasty atra

samsayah [bg. 8.5]. There is no doubt. One should not disbelieve. That is the

question. So you are reading Bhagavad-gita throughout the whole life, but when

the Lord speaks something which does not tally with our imagination, we reject

it. That is not the process of Bhagavad-gita reading. Just like Arjuna said that

sarvam etam rtam manye, "I believe in everything, whatever You have said."

Similarly, hear, hearing. The Lord says that at the time of death, whoever

thinks of Him, either as Brahman or Paramatma or the Personality of Godhead,

certainly he enters into the spiritual sky and there is no doubt about it. One

should not disbelieve it. And the process is, general rule is also stated in the

Bhagavad-gita, how one can, how it is possible to get into the spiritual kingdom

simply by thinking of the Supreme at the time of death. Because the general

process is also mentioned:

 

yam yam vapi smaran bhavam

tyajaty ante kalevaram

tam tam evaiti kaunteya

sada tad-bhava-bhavitah

[bg. 8.6]

 

There are different bhavas. Now, this material nature is also one of the

bhavas, as we have already explained, that this material nature is also the

display of one of the energies of the Supreme Lord. In the Visnu Purana the

total energies of the Supreme Lord have been summarized.

 

visnu-saktih para prokta

ksetra-jnakhya tatha par

avidya-karma-samjnanya

trtiya saktir isyate

[Cc. Madhya 6.154]

 

All the energies, potencies of the..., parasya saktir vividhaiva sruyate

[Cc. Madhya 13.65, purport]. The Supreme Lord has diverse energies, innumerable

energies, which we cannot conceive. But great learned sages, liberated souls,

they have studied and they have summarized the whole energies into three parts,

into three headings. The first is... All the energies are visnu-sakti. All the

energies, they are different potencies of the Lord Visnu. Now, that energy is

para, transcendental. And ksetra-jnakhya tatha para, and the living entities,

ksetra-jna, they are also belonging to the group of that superior energy, as it

is confirmed in the Bhagavad-gita also. We have already explained. And the other

energies, the material energy is trtiya karma-samjnanya [Cc. Madhya 6.154]. The

other energy is in the mode of ignorance. So that is material energy. So

material energy is also bhagavad-(indistinct). So at the time of death, either

we can remain in the material energy, or this material world, or we can transfer

into the spiritual world. That is the criterion. So the Bhagavad-gita says,

 

yam yam vapi smaran bhavam

tyajaty ante kalevaram

tam tam evaiti kaunteya

sada tad-bhava-bhavitah

[bg. 8.6]

 

Now, as we are accustomed to think either of this material energy or of

the spiritual energy, now, how to transfer the thinking? The thinking of the

material energy, how it can be transferred into thinking of the spiritual

energy? So for thinking in the spiritual energy the Vedic literatures are there.

Just like thinking in the material energies, there are so many literatures --

newspapers, magazines, novels, fictions, and so many things. Full of

literatures. So our thinkings are absorbed in these literatures. Similarly, if

we want to transfer our thinking in the spiritual atmosphere, then we have to

transfer our reading capacity to the Vedic literature. The learned sages

therefore made so many Vedic literatures, the Puranas. The Puranas are not

stories. They are historical records. In the Caitanya-caritamrta there is a

verse which reads as follows. anadi-bahirmukha jiva krsna bhuli' gela ataeva

krsna veda-purana kaila [Cc. Madhya 20.117]. That these forgetful living

entities, conditioned souls, they have forgotten the relationship with the

Supreme Lord, and they are engrossed in thinking of the material activities. And

just to transfer their thinking power to the spiritual capacity, the

Krsna-dvaipayana Vyasa, he has made so many Vedic literatures. Vedic literatures

means first he divided the Vedas into four. Then he explained them by the

Puranas. Then for the incapable persons, just like stri, sudra, vaisya, he made

the Mahabharata. And in the Mahabharata he introduced this Bhagavad-gita. Then

again he summarized the whole Vedic literature in the Vedanta-sutra. And the

Vedanta-sutra for future guidance, he made a natural commentation by himself

which is called Srimad-Bhagavatam. Srimad-Bhagavatam is called bhasyo 'yam

brahma-sutranam. It is the natural commentation of Vedanta-sutra. So all these

literatures, if we transfer our thought, tad-bhava-bhavitah, sada. Sada

tad-bhava-bhavitah [bg. 8.6]. One who is engaged always... Just like the

materialist is always engaged in reading some material literature like

newspaper, magazines, and fiction, novel, etc., and so many scientific or

philosophies, all these things of different degrees of thought. Similarly, if we

transfer our, that reading capacity for these Vedic literatures, as presented

by, as very kindly presented by Vyasadeva, then it is quite possible for us to

remember at the time of death the Supreme Lord. That is the only way suggested

by the Lord Himself. Not suggested, it is the fact. Nasty atra samsayah [bg.

8.5]. Undoubtedly. There is no doubt about it. Tasmat, the Lord suggested

therefore, tasmat sarvesu kalesu mam anusmara yudhya ca [bg. 8.7]. He advises

Arjuna that mam anusmara yudhya ca. He does not say that "You simply go on

remembering Me and give up your present occupational duty." No. That is not

suggested. The Lord never suggests something impractical. This material world,

to maintain this body, one has to work. The work is divided into four divisions

of social order: brahmana, ksatriya, vaisya, sudra. The intelligent class of the

society, they are working in a different way, and the administrator class of

society, they are also working in a different way. The mercantile society, the

productive society, they are also working in a different way, and the laborer

class, they are also working in different way. In the human society, either as

laborer or as mercantile men, or as politicians, administrators, or as the

highest class of intelligent class of men in literary career, scientific

researches, everybody is engaged in some work, and one has to work, struggle for

existence. So Lord advises that "You need not give up your occupation, but at

the same time you can remember." Mam anusmara [bg. 8.7]. That will make you,

that will help you in remembering Me at the time of death. If you don't practice

remembering Me always, along with your struggle for existence, then it is not

possible." It is not possible. The same thing is advised by Lord Caitanya,

kirtaniyah sada harih [Cc. Adi 17.31]. Kirtaniyah sada. One should practice to

chant the name of the Lord always. The name of Lord and the Lord is not

different. So here the instruction of Lord Krsna to Arjuna that mam anusmara

[bg. 8.7], "You just remember Me," and Lord Caitanya's instruction that "You

chant always the name of Krsna." Here Krsna says that "You always remember Me,"

or you remember Krsna, and Lord Caitanya says, "You always chant the name of

Krsna." So there is no difference because Krsna and Krsna's name are

nondifferent in the Absolute. In the absolute status there is no difference

between one thing to another. That is the absolute status. So the Lord being

absolute, there is no difference between His name and Himself. So we have to

practice like that. tasmat sarvesu kalesu [bg. 8.7]. Always, twenty-four hours,

we have to mold our activities of life in such way that we can remember it

twenty-four hours. How it is possible? Yes, it is possible. It is possible. A

very crude example is set by the acaryas in this connection. And what is that

example? It is said that a woman who is attached to another man, although she

has got a husband, still, she's attached to another man. And this sort of

attachment becomes very strong. This is called parakiya-rasa. Either in case of

man or woman. If man has got attachment for another woman besides his wife, or a

woman has got attachment for another man besides her husband, that attachment is

very strong. That attachment is very strong. So the acaryas give this example as

a bad character woman who has got attachment for other's husband, she always

thinks, at the same time, shows her husband that she is very much busy in the

family affairs so that her husband may not doubt her character. So as she is

always remembering the time of meeting with her lover at night, in spite of

doing all this household work very nicely, similarly one has to remember the

supreme husband, Sri Krsna, always in spite of doing his material duties very

nicely. That is possible. It requires a strong sense of love. When you have got

a strong sense of love for the Supreme Lord, then it is possible that we can go

on discharging our duty, at the same time remember the Lord. So we have to

develop that sense. Just like Arjuna was always thinking of Lord. He, out of

twenty-four hours, not for a second he could forget Krsna. Constant companion of

Krsna. At the same time, a warrior. Lord Krsna did not advise Arjuna to give up

his fighting, go to the forest, go to the Himalaya and meditate. When yoga

system was advised to Arjuna, Arjuna declined, that "This system is not possible

for me." Then the Lord said, yoginam api sarvesam mad-gatenantaratmana [bg.

6.47]. Mad-gatenantaratmana sraddhavan bhajate yo mam sa me yuktatamo matah. So

one who thinks of the Supreme Lord always, he's the greatest yogi, he is the

supermost jnani, and he is also the greatest devotee at the same time. The Lord

advises that tasmat sarvesu kalesu mam anusmara yudhya ca [bg. 8.7]. "As a

ksatriya you cannot give up your fighting business. You have to fight. So at the

same time if you practice remembering Me always, then it will be possible,"

anta-kale ca mam eva smaran [bg. 8.5], "then it will be possible to remember Me

also at the time of death." Mayy arpita-mano-buddhir mam evaisyasy asamsayah.

Again He says that there is no doubt. If one is completely surrendered into the

service of the Lord, into the transcendental loving service of the Lord, mayy

arpita-mano-buddhir [bg. 8.7]. Because we work not with our body actually. We

work with our mind and intelligence. So if our intelligence and mind are always

engaged in the thought of the Supreme Lord, then naturally our senses are also

engaged in the service of the Lord. That is the secret of Bhagavad-gita. One has

to learn this art, how one can be absorbed both by the mind and intelligence

twenty-four hours thinking of the Lord. And that will help one to transfer

himself into the kingdom of God or in the spiritual atmosphere after leaving

this material body. The modern scientists, they are trying for years and years

together for reaching the moon planet, and they have no approach as yet. But

here in the Bhagavad-gita, here is a suggestion. Suppose a man lives for another

fifty years and he... So nobody tries to elevate himself in the spiritual ideas

for fifty years. That's a very good idea. But even for ten years or five years

one sincerely tries for this practice, mayy arpita-mano-buddhir... [bg. 8.7] It

is simply a question of practice. And that practice can be very easily possible

by the devotional process, sravanam. Sravanam. The easiest process is to hear.

 

sravanam kirtanam visnoh

smaranam pada-sevanam

arcanam vandanam dasyam

sakhyam atma-nivedanam

[sB 7.5.23]

 

These nine processes. So the easiest process is simply hearing. Hearing of

this Bhagavad-gita or Srimad-Bhagavatam from the realized person, that will

train up oneself, one, into the thoughts of the Supreme Being twenty-four hours,

which will lead one ultimately, anta-kale, to remember the Supreme Lord, and

thus leaving this body, he will have a spiritual body, a spiritual body, just

fit for association with the Lord. The Lord therefore says,

 

abhyasa-yoga-yuktena

cetasa nanya-gamina

paramam purusam divyam

yati parthanucintayan

[bg. 8.8]

 

Anucintayan, constantly thinking of Himself only. It is not very difficult

process. One has to learn this process from the experienced person in this line.

Tad vijnanartham sa gurum evabhigacchet [MU 1.2.12]. One should approach a

person who is already in the practice. So abhyasa-yoga-yuktena. This is called

abhyasa-yoga, practicing. Abhyasa... How to remember the Supreme Lord always.

Cetasa nanya-gamina. The mind, the mind is always flying to this, to that. So

one has to practice to concentrate the mind into the form of the Supreme Lord

Sri Krsna always, or in the sound, in His name which is made easier. Instead of

concentrating my mind -- my mind may be very restless, going hither and thither,

but I can concentrate my ear into the sound vibration of Krsna and that will

also help me. That is also abhyasa-yoga. Cetasa nanya-gamina paramam purusam

divyam. Paramam purusa, that Supreme Personality of Godhead in the spiritual

kingdom, in the spiritual sky, one can approach, anucintayan, constantly

thinking. So these processes, the ways and means, all are stated in the

Bhagavad-gita and there is no bar for anyone. It is not that a particular class

of men can approach. Thinking of Lord Krsna is possible, hearing of Lord Krsna

is possible by everyone. And the Lord says in the Bhagavad-gita,

 

mam hi partha vyapasritya

ye 'pi syuh papa-yonayah

striyo vaisyas tatha sudras

te 'pi yanti param gatim

[bg. 9.32]

 

kim punar brahmanah punya

bhakta rajarsayas tatha

anityam asukham lokam

imam prapya bhajasva mam

[bg. 9.33]

 

The Lord says that even a human being in the lowest status of life, lowest

status of life, or even a fallen woman, or a mercantile man, or a laborer class

of man... The mercantile class of men, the laborer class of men, and the woman

class, they are counted in the same category because their intelligence is not

so developed. But the Lord says, they also, or even lower than them, mam hi

partha vyapasritya ye 'pi syuh [bg. 9.32], not only they or lower than them, or

anyone, it does not matter who is he, or who is she, anyone who accepts this

principle of bhakti-yoga and accepts the Supreme Lord as the summum bonum of

life, the highest target, highest goal of life, mam hi partha vyapasritya ye 'pi

syuh, te 'pi yanti param gatim, that param gatim in the spiritual kingdom and

the spiritual sky, everyone can approach. Simply one has to practice the system.

That system is hinted in the Bhagavad-gita very nicely and one can adopt it and

make his life perfect and make a permanent solution of life. That is the sum and

substance of the whole Bhagavad-gita. Therefore, the conclusion is that

Bhagavad-gita is a transcendental literature which one should read very

carefully. Gita-sastram idam punyam yah pathet prayatah puman. And the result

will be, if he properly follows the instruction, then he can be freed from all

miseries of life, all anxieties of life. Bhaya-sokadi-varjitah. All fears of

life, in this life, as well as he'll get a spiritual life in the next life.

 

gitadhyayana-silasya

pranayama-parasya ca

naiva santi hi papani

purva-janma-krtani ca

 

So another advantage is that if one reads Bhagavad-gita very sincerely and

with all seriousness, then by the grace of the Lord, the reactions of his past

misdeeds will not act upon him. The Lord says very loudly in the Bhagavad-gita

in the last portion, aham tvam sarva-papebhyo moksayisyami ma sucah [bg. 18.66].

The Lord takes the responsibility. One who surrenders unto the Lord, He takes

the responsibility to indemnify, to indemnify from all reactions of sins.

 

maline mocanam pumsam

jala-snanam dine dine

sakrd gitamrta-snanam

samsara-mala-nasanam

 

One cleanses oneself daily by taking bath in the water, but one who takes

once bath in the sacred Ganges water of Bhagavad-gita, his, the dirty material

life is altogether vanquished.

 

gita su-gita kartavya

kim anyaih sastra-vistaraih

ya svayam padmanabhasya

mukha-padmad vinihsrta

 

Because Bhagavad-gita is spoken by the Supreme Personality of Godhead,

therefore people should..., people may not read all other Vedic literatures.

Simply if he attentively and regularly reads and hears Bhagavad-gita, gita

su-gita kartavya... And one should adopt this means by all means. Gita su-gita

kartavya kim anyaih sastra-vistaraih. Because at the present age people are

embarrassed with so many things that it is hardly possible to divert his

attention in all the Vedic literatures. This one literature will do because it

is essence of all Vedic literature, and especially spoken by the Supreme

Personality of Godhead.

 

bharatamrta-sarvasvam

visnu-vaktrad vinihsrtam

gita-gangodakam pitva

punar janma na vidyate

 

As it is said that one who drinks the water of the Ganges, he also gets

salvation, then what to speak of Bhagavad-gita? Bhagavad-gita is the nectar in

the whole Mahabharata, and is spoken by Visnu. Lord Krsna is the original Visnu.

Visnu-vaktrad vinihsrtam. It is coming out of the mouth of the Supreme

Personality of Godhead. And gangodakam, the Ganges is said to be emanated from

the lotus feet of the Lord, and Bhagavad-gita is emanated from the mouth of the

Lord. Of course, there is no difference between the mouth and the feet of the

Supreme Lord. Still, from neutral position we can study that Bhagavad-gita is

even more important than the Ganges water.

 

sarvopanisado gavo

dogdha gopala-nandana

partho vatsah su-dhir bhokta

dugdham gitamrtam mahat

 

Just... This Gitopanisad is just like a cow, and the Lord is famous as cow

boy, and He was milking this cow. Sarvopanisado. And it is the essence of all

Upanisads and represented as the cow. And the Lord being expert cow boy, He is

milking the cow. And partho vatsah. And Arjuna is just like the calf. And

su-dhir bhokta. And learned scholars and pure devotees, they are to take this

milk. Su-dhir bhokta dugdham gitamrtam mahat. The nectar, the milk of

Bhagavad-gita, is meant for learned devotees.

 

ekam sastram devaki-putra-gitam

eko devo devaki-putra ev

eko mantras tasya namani yani

karmapy ekam tasya devasya seva

 

Now the world should learn from the Bhagavad-gita, the lesson. Evam

sastram devaki-putra-gitam. There is one scripture only, one common scripture

for the whole world, for the people of the whole world, and that is this

Bhagavad-gita. Devo devaki-putra eva. And there is one God for the whole world,

is Sri Krsna. And eko mantras tasya namani. And one hymn, mantra, one hymn only,

one prayer, or one hymn, is to chant His name, Hare Krsna Hare Krsna Krsna Krsna

Hare Hare, Hare Rama Hare Rama Rama Rama Hare Hare. Eko mantras tasya namani

yani karmapy ekam tasya devasya seva. And there is one work only, that is to

serve the Supreme Personality of Godhead. If one learns from Bhagavad-gita, then

the people are very much anxious to have one religion, one God, one scripture,

and one business or one activity of life. This is summarized in the

Bhagavad-gita. That one, one God, is Krsna. Krsna is not sectarian God. Krsna,

from the name of Krsna... Krsna means, as we have explained above, Krsna means

the greatest pleasure. So therefore... (break -- end)

 

Please Read Wonders of Krsna using the Index To vist Many Different Sides

of Krsna Consciousness - ( http://www.geocities.com/krsnajoe )

 

 

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© 2001 The Bhaktivedanta Book Trust International. Used with permission.

 

 

 

[Guest guest]

, "krsnajoe" <omd01788@m...> wrote:

>> Please forgive my absence,As my wife is in end-stage Liver

Failure,and I had to be with Her at this Time!I am now taking a break

 

Dear Joseph..I am really sorry to hear about your wife's illness. I

pray Krishna for her and request Him to reduce her pains and do

whatever is good for her spiritual advancement. AMEN

 

love and blessings

 

baba

 

Can anybody tell me why God who is full of love and Ananda...gives so

much troubles to simple god fearing people ?