Bhagavad-gītā Seriatim #77

Bhagavad-gītā Seriatim #77

Full Playlist of Bhagavad-gītā Seriatim Lectures 

Use your browser search function* to search for keywords within the lecture transcription. You can click anywhere in the audio track to jump to the respective section of the transcription text, and click anywhere in the transcription text to jump to the respective section in the audio track.
*CTRL+F on Windows, CMD+F on Mac, Find in/on Page on phone

Similarly, men declare that all kinds of fruitive activities should be given up as faultful. Yet other sages maintain that acts of sacrifice, charity and penance should never be abandoned. O best of the Bharatas, now hear my judgment about renunciation. O tiger among men, renunciation is declared in the scriptures to be of three kinds. Acts of sacrifice, charity and penance are not to be given up. They must be performed. Indeed, sacrifice, charity and penance purify even the great souls. All these activities should be performed without attachment or any expectation of result. They should be performed as a matter of duty. O son of Prtha, that is my final opinion.

Prescribed duties should never be renounced. If one gives up his prescribed duties dead because of illusion, such renunciation is said to be in the mode of ignorance.

Anyone who gives up prescribed duties as troublesome or out of fear of bodily discomfort is said to have renounced in the mode of passion. Such action never leads to the elevation of renunciation.

O Arjuna, when one performs his prescribed duty only because it ought to be done and renounces all material association and all attachment to the fruit, his renunciation is said to be in the mode of goodness. The intelligent renouncer situated in the mode of goodness, neither hateful of inauspicious work nor attached to auspicious work, has no doubts about work.

It is indeed impossible for an embodied being to give up all activities, but he who renounces the fruits of action is called one who has truly renounced. For one who has not renounced the threefold fruits of action, desirable, undesirable and mixed, accrue after death. But those who are in the renounced order of life have no such result to suffer or enjoy.

O mighty-armed Arjuna, according to the Vedanta, there are five causes for the accomplishment of all action. Now learn of these from me. The place of action, the body, the performer, the various senses, the many different kinds of endeavor and ultimately the Supersoul.

These are the five factors of action. Whatever right or wrong action a man performs by body, mind or speech is caused by these five factors.

Therefore one who thinks himself the only doer, not considering the five factors, is certainly not very intelligent and cannot see things as they are. One who is not motivated by false ego, whose intelligence is not entangled, though he kills men in this world, does not kill. Nor is he bound by his actions. Knowledge, the object of knowledge and the knower are the three factors that motivate action. The senses, the work and the doer are the three constituents of action.

So verses 1 to 12, summary of karma. In his purport to verse 1, Srila Prabhupada confirms that chapter 18 is the summary of the entire Bhagavad-gita.

Quote, As in the second chapter, a synopsis of the whole subject matter was described. In the 18th chapter also the summary of all instructions is given. The purpose of life is indicated to be renunciation and attachment to the transcendental position, above the three material modes of nature.

The summary opens with a review of the main topic of the first six chapters of Gita. Dutiful, detached work brings no reaction. In verse 1, Arjuna asks a familiar question. Should one combine work with knowledge, or should one renounce activities to perform jnana-yoga? In other words, quote, Arjuna wants to clarify the two distinct subject matters of Bhagavad-gita. Namely, renunciation, tyaga, and the renounced order of life, sannyasa. Thus he is taking the meaning of these two words. Srila Prabhupada’s purport to verse 1. Srila Baladeva Vidyabhusana describes Arjuna’s question as follows.

The doubting Arjuna asks about the meaning of the word sannyasi. Mentioned in statements such as sarva-karmani manasa sannyasyaste sukham vasi Bhagavad-gita 5.13 And the meaning of tyaga mentioned in statements such as ksatva-karma phala-sangam Bhagavad-gita 4 .20 Do the two words have completely different meanings, such as trees and stones? Or do they have similar meanings, like Kurus and Pandavas? If the words are completely different, then I want to know the different natures of sannyasi and tyaga. If they are two alternate words describing the same thing, I want to know that. O mighty-armed Krsna, Harisikesa. Because you stimulate the function of the intelligence, you alone have produced my doubt. You are also the killer of Kesi, and therefore you can kill my doubt. So now we’re getting to very essential points. Conclusion here is how this knowledge that’s been given through the whole Gita, how it’s going to be applied. And as we mentioned is that how you tell the quality of a work is by the quality of, by the purpose of the result. So you’ll say an activity is fruitive because of the desire for the result for oneself. Or self-centered because of the result for oneself. The activity is not inherently anything.

The verb is a neutral, I mean a generic, how you say, state of existence. Someone drives a car, so they’re in the state of driving. Now what is their mentality? Why they’re in that state? That’s what defines good and bad. So if one simply looks at the result, you’ve actually corrected everything else. But at the same time to be able to have that particular perspective on result, then you also have to bring everything else into line. But if you’re going to start somewhere, then this is, once we’ve started with we’re not the body, we’re the soul, that’s how then the Gita starts. Then it’s a matter of then renounce work. Because work is generic. How you identify yourself, what you see the goal is for, that’s where the change happens. But the work itself doesn’t change. You’re cooking for yourself, you’re cooking for Krishna, the technique of cooking doesn’t change. Driving doesn’t change.

Nothing changes. If it works, how will it change? If you change it, it won’t work. We’re devotees, non-devotees, they open the door to the car, get in, sit down, put the key in, turn it when the engine starts, put it in gear, and drive down the road. But devotees, now that we’re devotees, we don’t do any of that, that’s maya. We sit on top of the car and go, come on, giddy up. Like this. That’s right, isn’t it? Like that. Because like the kids, so they’re pure, right? And so actually their conscious is more close to the Krishna conscious level. And so that’s, therefore, those kids, they get around and sit there and wave their hand in the air and they think they’re going somewhere. So in the same way the devotees do. No?

No. So it’s exactly the same technique.

This is important to note because this is what Krishna is saying later. Is that if this is understood, then you’re not attached to auspicious and inauspicious work because work is work. It becomes auspicious because it’s connected to the Lord. It becomes inauspicious because it’s not. That’s one of the qualities of Narada Muni. There’s no topic he can’t discuss.

But we’ll have an idea, no, we don’t discuss this, we don’t discuss that. No, it’s only maya because it’s not connected to the Lord. And if something’s connected to the Lord, it’s not maya. So what’s the problem? Anything connected to the Lord is special.

So there’s some very important elements here. If these are understood, so this is not just a matter of something else to memorize. This is where you’re supposed to have some deep understanding. From this you get realization. Like that. So this difference between sannyas and tyag is very important.

They’re working in the same field, but there is a difference.

The Lord does not give his own opinion on the matter immediately. First he cites the opinion of the great sages. According to them the renounced road of life means giving up activities which are based on material desires. And renunciation means giving up the results of all activities. So one is, you’re doing the activity, but you may have your own idea that it’s mine. The activity will be performed, the result will be gained. Then having gained that result, that is given away. That is renounced. So that’s renunciation. In other words, there’s the concept that it’s out, you can’t call renouncing something that’s not yours. So if you have the concept that’s yours, gaining it you can renounce it. But sannyas means you never thought it was yours. So when it says giving up fruit of work, this is where the key is. It doesn’t mean activities that generate results as the common person would define. It means giving up the desire that the results are yours.

This is the difference. Therefore you have, devotee may be making money but if it’s for Krsna, it’s not fruitive. If it’s for himself that’s fruitive. But then he gives that fruitive result to Krsna, that’s renunciation. So both are devotional service, just as two different levels. Because this makes the difference between the common definition that’s given in the first six chapters, that whatever it is, your interest, your desire, your need, you connect that to Krsna. So it’s karma yoga, jnana yoga, jnana yoga. You take your need, connect it to Krsna. But then the next chapters, then they describe that sannyasa, not renunciation, where you’re doing this for Krsna. You want to serve Krsna and so it’s pure devotional service. You serve Krsna through performing of your prescribed duties. So the prescribed duties don’t change.

It’s important because otherwise we can fall into the trap of thinking that anything that produces anything nice without opulence or engaging the senses, then that is maya, because it’s fruitive. No, that is the place where fruitive people look for a result. That’s where they engage themselves. But that’s not what defines it as fruitive. What defines it as fruitive is they want the result for themselves.

As we decorate the altar very nicely, it looks nice, it smells nice, but it’s not fruitive. So you can look at the altar and go, wow, that’s beautiful. And you’re appreciating the transcendental situation.

So we all the time do this when it comes to direct devotional activities. We generally have no philosophical difficulties.

No one’s going to say that deity worship is maya, or book distribution is maya, or chanting, associating with devotees. Generally we’ll never call these. We don’t have a problem in seeing the element of, we take it naturally, it’s sannyas. That’s how we’ve been trained. That’s the proper training. And we gain that. The difficulty comes in the indirect activities. The activities dealing within the Varna Ashram. That’s where the problem comes. So that these ones are totally maya, and these ones are okay.

But it’s a matter of what’s the purpose?

That’s actually the point. So just the general definition is you perform the same activity, you consider result yours, you give it away, that’s renunciation. You perform the same activity, you never thought it was going to be yours, it’s already been given away before you do the work. And so that’s sannyas.

So as we see is, they’re both favorable to devotional service but the sex sannyas is more favorable to pure devotional service.

Thus the sages agree that sannyas and tyag are different. They disagree, however, whether one should perform its prescribed duties or not. So this comes down as that, because that’s there, so the activities that would be used as fruitive, means could be, then they would recommend not doing them, so that you stay out of, in other words, they’re saying the sannyas is better, but they also have the option that renunciation, excuse me, no, they focus on, sannyas means not doing fruitive work, so they see any work that generates a result as fruitive. This is the weakness in their presentation. Their general definition is exactly correct. Krishna uses that. But the finer point is that therefore sannyas means I don’t do any activity, but that’s not actually what it means. That’s what Krishna will give his opinion.

There are two opinions. Among them, all fruitive activities are faulty and should be given up. Two, acts of sacrifice, charity and penance should not be given up. Sacrifice, charity and penance, this is where fruitive results are generated, at least good quality ones, something that lasts. So some sages will say these should be given up because they’re fruitive. And others say they should never be given up.

So it should be given up. That’s the standard default setting of the materialistic conception.

I do the work because I want the result. If I don’t want the result, I won’t do the work. So the concept that I don’t want the result, I do the work, that just does not compute. It’s not an option. No one will think about that.

So that’s what then comes out. Yes? In Kali Yuga, it’s quite difficult to perform acts of charity, sacrifice and austerity because of our lack of proper qualities and proper facilities. We hear the story of King Riga and we think like, wow, maybe I shouldn’t invite people to my home because things may go wrong at some point and I’ll end up in trouble. So can you shed some light on what is our scope of performing charity, austerity and hospitality? Because there’s so many shortcomings in Kali Yuga and all these social interactions. Like some people feel offended because they’re not invited and other people feel like, oh I wasn’t treated properly. So how does it work out? As we see here, the generic definition always applies. That’s the principle. The difficulty comes as in the fine point of the definitions of that principle. Because that principle is defining here, giving up of fruitive work. But that means giving up, it’s only fruitive because of your desire for the result, for yourself. But work itself is not defined as fruitive or not. But that’s where the problem comes in. So sacrifice will mean that you’re doing something voluntarily for someone else’s benefit. That’s the generic principle. Austerity means the proper performance of your duties. Your willingness to perform your duties whether you want to do them or not. Because that’s where it becomes austere.

As everything is balanced, so there’s always going to be how much nice it is, there’s going to be how much it’s not nice. So the austerity is not performing your duty when it’s giving nice results, it’s performing your duty when it’s on the negative side. It’s like that, the difficulty. So austerity is defined as simply performing one’s prescribed duties. And charity simply means sharing what you have with the appropriate time, place and circumstance with the appropriate persons. Like that. That’s the generic. So that will always apply. So even Kali Yuga you can apply it, you just have to see how to do. See all the rules of the Vedas are to give basically to ensure that at all times, all places, all circumstances one is able to perform these three. If you’re in this situation then you do this, this, this, this. If you’re in that situation you do these rules. Because in previous ages then the great sages and Brahmins and that in applying that rule that’s what they did. So it was efficient. You know, just like generally in any particular skill there’s always some unique technique of that that’s given a name of the person who developed it. So and then that will become a tradition in that mind. So that’s all the Vedas is doing, is documenting. Smriti means where the great sages are through conversation then it’s documented how they applied the principle of the Vedas. Like that. So the principle is what you’re trying to obtain. They have given an idea according to the situations that they have been in and how they’ve applied it. So taking the principle taking the example we use our intelligence, we apply it to our situation. Like that. That’s time, place and circumstance. It’s not a matter of the detail doesn’t apply therefore I throw out the principle. No, it’s not like that. It’s like I get in the car, okay I’m used to a shift but this is an automatic so therefore none of the rules apply so I don’t have to sit in the front seat and you know, I can sit in the back seat or I can put my feet up on the front seat and say okay, hey, let’s go this way or that way. So it doesn’t work like that. No, it’s still the principle applies just there’s a slight detail like gears don’t go away it’s just whether you have to work them or the car works them but gears don’t go away steering mechanism doesn’t go away acceleration and brake doesn’t go away whether you have doors or not whether there’s a top or not those are details, those change so that’s what gets bewildered is that the sages think that certain things are given up because of the nature of the principle.

Does that make sense? So it can always be applied you just see, okay what to do in this situation what’s the best I can do like that and then it works because even you look at it from the downside Riga did see Krishna, so you could say the result of his hospitality is he directly saw Krishna face to face one could look at that side, though he had to go through a bit of difficulty to get there According to Srila Visvanatha Cakravarti the first opinion refers to Sankhya school the followers of Kapila recommend cessation of all activities because by their very nature activities include violence to other creatures because one living entity maintains himself by taking advantage of another it’s just the way the world is set up there’s not an alternative to that so that’s why prescribed duties are there because by your interacting with that particular group of living entities in that situation it doesn’t disturb your life their life or the universal order, but if you don’t follow the duties then you’re going to be stepping over the line and dealing with living entities in ways that you shouldn’t and it will disturb the balance The second opinion sums up the doctrine of the Karminimamsa school the followers of Jaimini hold that activities such as sacrifice cannot be given up because they are prescribed by the scriptures the injunctions of non-violence mentioned in the Vedas do not apply in the case of performing Vedic sacrifices therefore the sacrifices cannot be criticized so here we’re taking it even back to the root of performing, let’s say the Asvamedhi yajna so the Karminimamsa will say excuse me the Sankhya will say we give that up because of the violence it’s no need, we can get our benefit without doing that, so we give up those activities and the Karminimamsa says no, it’s our prescribed duty, therefore we can’t give it up no guts yeah, they don’t think about it they get very surprised so these two these are the two schools of material thought all schools go back to these two like anything, everything will be a variation or combination of these and this way you get so many seeming varieties within the material consciousness but the one is I will be happy through performance of material activities and the other is you can perform all the material activities you want and you’ll never be happy neither of them connect to the Lord and neither of them understand the actual nature of the soul the material world, anything like this they all think it’s either perfection or illusion not that it’s inferior energy not that the soul is produced separate from the material energy because both schools will say the soul is coming from, consciousness is coming generated from the material phenomena you’re conscious because of Maya otherwise you’d be Vermont you wouldn’t be conscious, I’m an individual and the other is it’s coming from material energy they don’t see beyond so these two schools will epitomize all material philosophy all material religion so you’re doing the activity because you’re supposed to and only through that you’ll be happy, the other is by doing that you’ll not be happy so you give it up having described the opinion of others in verse 5-6 the Lord gives his own opinion Krishna’s judgment on the subject that acts of sacrifice, charity and penance must be performed without attachment and without any expectation of results so that means the two are combined but this is not the combination it’s not a compromise it means it’s what is actually valuable of the two, that’s what’s kept the difficulty with the concept of compromise is that you take something this guy doesn’t want and something that guy doesn’t want and put them together so they both don’t like the result but the Veda concept it’s not compromise it’s a matter of if you take a particular thought and it’s not connected to the Lord the Lord makes the completeness so because the Lord is lacking we have to fill in for that gap that the Lord’s there so we’ll make up all kinds of stuff to fill it out but the point that is not made up that’s genuine that’s kept the part that’s made up to fill out the aspect of the Lord’s not being involved, that’s what’s dropped so then if you have two parties or two schools, they’re both doing that so you keep what is actually intended by the Veda and you drop what has been generated because of the lack of God consciousness so you’re taking is that you don’t give up the activity but you don’t expect result so the one is saying because you expect result give up the activity the other one is saying no you can’t give up the activity because that’s your duty but it doesn’t say you give up the result Krishna’s judgment on the subject that acts of sacrifice, charity and penance must be performed without attachment and without any expectation of results because they purify even the great souls as the Lord stated previously without any expectation of results means for yourself, not mean that you just do the work and if the results come or not it doesn’t matter as the Lord stated previously the yogis abandoning attachment act with body, mind, intelligence and even with the senses only for the purpose of purification so that’s why he says even with the senses because ok body, it’s engaged in some activity mind, ok intelligence, great but senses, wait a minute but the problem is body means senses, intelligence means senses mind means senses but we generally tend to leave that out does that make sense so this is the they don’t understand, no the senses being engaged for yourself, that’s a problem the senses being engaged for Krishna that’s not a problem this is then where the conclusion is coming in that you have to be able to see that it’s connection to the Lord is it’s only value if it’s not connected to the Lord it does not have a separate value that was 5.11 now 6.1 one who is unattached to the fruits of his work and who works as he’s obliged is in the renounced order of life in other words obliged means your duties but you’re doing it without the desire for the result so it’s that combination this is what’s unique we’ve never come across this before the two schools we understand them very clearly but the idea of doing work because you’re supposed to and not desiring the result the result’s not for ourself that’s something we’ve never done before so that’s the uniqueness that’s why it needs to be explained and he is the true mystic not he who lights no fire and performs no duty so the senses are engaged in the service of the Lord that’s the actual renounced person but it’s not whimsical as we were saying before if it’s whimsical it’s the mode of ignorance according to duty, according to Shastra with the proper attitude then it becomes mode of goodness that then nicely is engaged in the Lord’s service but if it’s mixed and then we do it whimsically as we like that becomes difficult Krishna’s own opinion is that the Sankhya and Kama-mimamsa philosophies are only partially correct Kapila is right to assert that material activities are inherently faulty but he is wrong in his conclusion that all actions should be rejected this is wrong because inactivity is impossible for the soul and because the soul has natural desires which can be fulfilled by action only Ananda is only gained from action means there is a minimal form of Ananda the Brahmananda which is the inherent position of soul but that is not that satisfying if it was, why do we hear that people come back from the Brahman platform because it’s boring you understand because that position of void there is nothing happening and Ananda means relationship feminine nature means relationship is active it’s dependent upon the interaction between the masculine and feminine principle does that make sense? and that’s Sankhya therefore there should be no action means they don’t actually understand their own philosophy because that’s the basis of their philosophy is the masculine and feminine principle so they don’t actually understand because they don’t understand it from the transcendental position they only see it from the material Jaimini is also correct stressing that activity should not be given up however the motive for acting should not be prolonged sense gratification but purification of the soul because Jaimini you perform the activities but you are performing them so that you will enjoy his idea is you always do good work you will always enjoy because your situation is from your previous activities if all your previous activities are good, your present situation in the future will always be good so always do good work you’ll always be happy sounds great except for he’s left out, birth, death, old age and disease stuff like that so it has its weakness thus Krishna once again establishes that the real standard of renunciation is not inactivity but work combined with knowledge I missed the part Srila Baladeva Vidyabhusana comments that sacrifice, charity and penance purify the soul through the knowledge arising within them like a lotus blossoming from a root in order to be purified by these activities one should perform them without thinking that he is the doer and without attachments for the result because the doer is the position of sambandha and the desire for the result is the position of prayojana so if that’s correct, your abhidheya your activity is correct is purified but if one of those two is off then there’s always going to be a problem if you think I’m the doer but the result is for Krishna then there’s going to be a problem but it’s for Krishna so it will be elevated everyone thinks how do you say yeah, I’m the doer so if I think I’m not the doer but the result is not for Krishna then we’ll get the liberated platform but one will come back again so it’s not actually the platform of liberation one should carry on his prescribed duties thinking that they are form of worship of the lord because they are his instructions so you’re worshipping the lord through his instructions so here again, vani is more important than vapu so the rules and regulations are because they are the lord’s instructions and so we follow according to the parampara we take those, we follow those so that’s the so, yes those activities, these three elements they purify and then raise knowledge because they contain the element of service like the eternal because they contain service I mean, contain service yes yes, service is there service is there, but that’s service means, you call it service because of the concept of result you can still be the doer and render service so here the knowledge means you actually understand the nature of the field and the knower of the field so you understand the soul super soul and the material energy that’s the knowledge so that’s inherent, so all the Vedic knowledge is based on this principle, all Vedic knowledge defines this so if one sees with that to perform an activity you have to have some knowledge but you can’t do something if you don’t know what it is so as you have knowledge, but just having the knowledge doesn’t mean you actually fully understand it, it will be a basic concept but it’s only through application that then you see the knowledge working so if the knowledge is not working you have to further contemplate or further develop that knowledge so that you can apply it as you’re applying it you’re seeing how it works, so then you get understanding of it, that improves so it improves the quality of your work that improves more than that comes to realization so that what you will understand, that will be according to the quality of if it’s sacrifice yes, service or not but one can have great material understanding and there’s not the element of necessarily of service you know what I’m saying you understand what I’m saying, because you’re taking service meaning devotional service right but if you’re taking it by generic activity performed in the mood of service that’s the only way anybody is successful anywhere right, you know what I’m saying the very wealthy man he is engaged in let’s say a particular business transaction, but during that time he’s not thinking this is mine and I’m the doer he’s thinking I am I am engaged in this process of economic action and he sees himself as just a part of that and he’s simply an instrument right, before he starts he thinks he’s the doer and when it ends he, you know, it’s his result so that’s why it’s fault that’s why it would be fruitive, but actually he’s successful because of the correct mentality while the work is going on so if you have that mentality you will be successful, if you don’t have that mentality you’ll never be successful right, does that make sense so service is there because it’s material energy and the lord it’s not you are manipulating the lord is controlling the energy you can be an instrument in that process or the spiritual energy is the lord and the spiritual energy, you can be an instrument in that process so there’s no question of ever being in a situation where we’re not certain does that make sense, so the more that’s understood, then the better it will work simply by following this proper process it’s not necessarily the person will come to that understanding by following the process you won’t come to that understanding, no, because Krishna before us says only through devotional service can you actually understand, because see as we’re dealing here, that’s just been pointed out in the second chapter is the eternal platform, Arjuna’s been looking at the temporary in the first chapter, that’s his problem but so the eternal platforms have pointed out so therefore we wouldn’t have a conclusion it’s going to be temporary so actual understanding means permanent so that will only come through devotional service, these others one can get liberation by naishthana but the problem is it will be temporary, so you have to look at it even if you look at it by perception right, means you spend lifetimes elevating yourself to the platform of liberation going through so much difficulty right, you obtain to that position of Brahman then the thing is now time for you acts on the Brahman platform so you know eternity is standard anything less than that is a short time problem is that Jiva not doing anything gets bored very quickly on the Brahman time right, but his following the process to elevate himself to that platform wasn’t on Brahman time, that was slogging through a lifetime of austerity and probably many lifetimes or hundreds or thousands of so if you actually compare it, it’s not comparable, means looking here, oh you’re Brahman, that’s eternal like this and that, it looks great just like going to heavenly planets, looks like a long time but when you’re in the heavenly planets it’s a hundred years to you you understand so the perception is no different so it’s not actually you can’t call that a solution you know what I’m saying so so so only through devotional service can it actually be done because service in the material platform will still give temporary results but as we were saying in the beginning the principle of it working doesn’t change so whether one’s a devotee serving the Lord or one’s a person serving the community or he’s just serving his senses in any case he has to serve to get the result most processes of yoga and meditation are mainly targeting Brahman realization meaning those who are properly following now how do I add the aspect of Krishna and devotional service because there’s that conditioning of the mode of goodness of knowledge and happiness which means I’m okay I’m content but it doesn’t go anywhere and that’s why there will be it will go somewhere but it will go down because anything that goes up has to come down so the only way it can go up and it stays up is transcendental so they’ll be content but they’ll get bored with their contentment and so they will try to do something to create some variety some spice because there’s you know especially there’s only there’s only so much how you say pretzel-ness that the human body can accomplish and once you’ve accomplished that then it gets pretty boring though generally it takes a whole lifetime so you kind of get too old so but you know what I’m saying so the Kumaras they we have all these examples of Brahmavadis who became devotees later on because of hearing Bhagavatam well there’s only two the four Kumaras and Sukadeva that’s it hearing Bhagavatam and smelling tulsi leaves offered to the Lord so you recite more Bhagavatam and distribute more maha tulsi the point is that if they’re actually transcendentally situated they don’t have it they know who they are and they know that they’re on the Brahman platform so the engagement of the material senses has no value to them so when they contact something where the engagement of the senses is of value they know it has to be transcendental and so they can immediately see its source is the Lord therefore they come to that because they realize they’re not afraid of moving on of continuing further in their Brahman is their identity not the process they got there the difficulty of someone’s a Hatha Yogi that’s his identity someone’s a Kriya Yogi or all these different things, that’s his identity it’s a designation therefore they’re always afraid of losing that because that’s their position because otherwise chanting you give up all these other things but that’s their identity the nicely arranged room the curtains the little gong they go boing when they start their program nobody talks and afterwards they have a very nice organic snack everyone wears their good quality leotards and stuff like that you could get into movies all these different things like that that makes up their identity and so to just chant and that’s all you need then you lose all that so they won’t necessarily be able to see that because this is very easy but when they leave that yoga studio then they don’t worry about yoga they’re just in the most passionate ignorance and that’s what they’re doing but here we’re saying how you can take that what’s there with you anywhere so that means your activity yoga is that it’s not that dynamic very intense material activities of the business or the family or this and that so you’re getting away from that and that gives the identity that gives the experience but we’re saying while you’re at your job right in the middle of a big deal or when you’re dealing with your family you could also be getting liberated if you have the proper knowledge so this is something very big because then it’s 24 hours instead of 20 minutes or 1 hour 3 nights a week that’s a lot different so it’s easy to learn those things you learn a few asanas you learn to be quiet you learn to talk nicely you get a taste for organic half cooked oatmeal cookies you develop that and so it’s something you can learn very easily but this other thing means and it doesn’t change your identity that I’m doing this to make myself happy I’m doing business to make myself happy I’m dealing with the family to make myself happy I’m doing yoga to make myself happy but here it’s a matter of knowledge rather than just I want to be happy so that knowledge and then being applied that’s what’s really going to make you happy but you have to have a bit more long term you know appreciation of faith has to go it’s greater faith that’s the main thing so the yoga system, there’s faith there but it won’t be as much as in the devotional service because then it’s complete because it’s connected to the Lord and then he’s connected to everything so then it works so in other words you’re saying the devotee is striving for sannyas in whatever ashram he is because he or she wants to connect all their activities with the Lord and doesn’t see any situation as independent of the Lord that’s the point so the Vedic system is, that’s actually what you’re supposed to do doesn’t matter what varna ashram the mentality is sannyas and that sannyas should be connected to the Lord impersonal is not enough so because that’s still a motive so heavenly planets how do you say brahman it’s still a motive but just to please Krishna devotional that’s the real thing now just to ensure that at least because that’s the purpose so at least everybody should at some point in their life do that to some degree even though it’s not perfect therefore then you have the renounced orders of the human life, varnaprastha, sannyas to do that so everybody should do that because at least, if they haven’t done it before then at least they do it then and even if they’re doing it for fruitive motives, or varnaprastha very austere because they want to go to the heavenly planets but at least the concept of renunciation and the sannyas is accepted by them so it’s favorable for the soul so at some point if they come in contact with Krishna consciousness then they’ll actually understand the real nature of sannyas so like you said is that anyone in any situation can be a sannyasi that’s the point even we’re taking it beyond in that story of Paranjana so Paranjana after he dies and becomes the queen Queen Vidarbhi right? Maharaja Malayadwaj so when they take varnaprastha at the end of the life and he dies like that, then in that purport there Prabhupada’s talking about the spiritual master disciple, husband, wife and they’re also talking about the soul and Krishna as paramahamsas so he’s talking about how how a grhastha couple can be paramahamsas because of this actual this proper knowledge and perception but it doesn’t change the activity the impersonal thought is that to change the conscious you have to change the activity and it’s direct well we understand it will be helpful because of our own concept of the particular situation but ultimately that’s not the point consciousness is independent from material engagement like that so it doesn’t actually have a connection so you can change the consciousness or whatever situation you are in and situate yourself in relationship to the Lord thus Krishna once again establishes that the real standard of renunciation is not inactivity but work combined with knowledge action by itself is not contaminated, the reactions from work come not from the work itself but from the polluted consciousness of the worker work is just work your consciousness is whether it comes to you or goes to someone else therefore one should not give up his work but should instead use it to elevate his consciousness Srila Prabhupada explains everything that leads to Krishna consciousness must be encouraged that is the highest criterion of religion devotee of the Lord should accept any kind of work sacrifice or charity which will help him in the discharge of devotional service to the Lord so religion means the inherent nature so you have an inherent nature of a human or an animal you have the inherent nature of a brahman satyavahisusudana you have the inherent nature of someone within that particular thing that particular age having that kind of wealth or that kind of power these all have their natures but the ultimate criterion of religion is that the nature of the soul connected with God and therefore connecting the situation that the soul is in to God that being done that’s the highest understanding of religion so in verse 4 the Lord mentioned that the renunciation, tyag is of three types in verses 7 to 12 he describes these three types in detail renouncing prescribed duties because of illusion is renunciation in ignorance giving up prescribed duties out of fear as troublesome is renunciation in passion so if you don’t actually understand you think oh I’m done with this I’m through with this that will be illusion or if you’re giving it up because it’s trouble that’s in the mode of passion it’s a matter of this is the time to give it up this is my duty and I am able to perform that duty in other words you take up a duty you can do, at least give it a good try it would seem that passion in the mode of passion is actually somehow worse than ignorance because you’re acting out of pure selfishness you can but the point is in one sense you can say yes because but in another sense no because only through action can you get a result so if you want a good result you can only do it through action so the man in the mode of passion is as active you know what I’m saying so therefore let’s say somebody who’s very materialistic and very dedicated to that endeavor and they’re successful they, one will say oh they’re so passionate so attached they can never be a devotee you know well the simple guy who doesn’t worry about anything and doesn’t really care and doesn’t get anything done but he’s not that attached and you know like this well he’ll, it’ll be easier for him maybe the initial concept of the detachment and like that will be easier for the person who’s not very active but in the long run you know with time he also won’t care about doing activity until he’s purified but the other person he knows only through action do you get a result but now if you show to him what the actual result you want is to please Krishna and to do that as devotional service he’ll be very active but you’ll have to use a great amount of you know explanation to convince him but once he’s convinced he’ll be in one sense better situated you know what I’m saying so that’s the that would also give a key to the technique of preaching is that this idea is that we’ll just deal in very how you say the presentation will be very gentle but we’ll also reduce the philosophy because we don’t want anything scary because they you know are favorable how you say appreciative then that’s the dynamic result but the point is they’ll continue doing what they’re doing they’ll just add a little bit of the Krishna consciousness which in the long run yes it will be good but because of not fully understanding they will continue on in their own situation and may be distracted because what’s their reason for taking up Krishna consciousness right they’re taking up you know all these new age stuff because it gives some answers to their difficulties you know Artha Artharti Jigyasu but it’s not that they want to know the Lord so if one doesn’t bring one through to that then it will be temporary or the other it will take more work to convince them you have to know the philosophy you have to be able to present Vedanta as it is and they may argue they may say this and that but once they’re convinced then they’ll do the rest so it’s more trouble so it’s seemingly this soft preaching is less but it’s actually in the mode of passion it’s trouble so it’s given up oh if I just talk nicely and that then it makes it very easy and people will like me it’s not a matter of liking me it’s a matter of convincing them you convince them then they’ll like me I should be liked first so it means of course there’s a balance here this is an extreme example but the point is this is renunciation and ignorance means giving up all types of prescribed duties Kamya, Nitya and Naimitika Kamya means for your own purpose Nitya means things that you’re supposed to do daily like take your bath brush your teeth like that and Naimitika means occasional activities so something is done on a certain occasion like that prescribed according to Srila Baladeva Yajnabhushan although rejecting the Kamyaka Karma is indeed required one should never reject Nitya and Naimitika duties you know you can give up doing Ashramedi Yajna but you don’t give up your other duties so Baladeva says these should not be given up because they produce liberation through the knowledge of Atma which is inherent in them because they also enable one to continue to support the material body the Vedic knowledge is inherent in the knowledge of the soul the soul relationship with God Bhagavatam is very direct and obvious Mahabharata it’s kind of there in other literatures it may not be obvious at all but it is there they do directly say that it’s like Manu will say everything is coming from the Lord and so he creates the world that comes from him and then within creation of the world he defines what’s good and bad so good and bad that’s your basic principle of Varnasrama and so to maintain the world so it will work nicely Varnasrama is made and to maintain Varnasrama then the Brahmins they’re the ones that teach it and the Sakis are the ones that manage it but it’s come from the Lord so that’s obviously given there but out of thousands of verses one may not notice that does that make sense so Ayurveda is also saying the same thing all the literatures are saying the same thing but one may miss it that’s what Bhagavatam is special is that it directly just points out the relationship with the Lord so all branches of knowledge in connection with the Lord does that make sense so this knowledge is inherent and then they also maintain the body because if you don’t have a body how do you run the service so if you have a spiritual body then you don’t have to worry about it but as long as one is in the material body then one spiritualizes it through that connection if a person gives up these duties completely out of a lack of knowledge, mohat thinking they will cause bondage it is in the tamasic mode since mohat is a characteristic of the mode of ignorance he thinks it will cause bondage so the Kapilites thinking that these performance of action will bind you and by giving up these things that’s the only way you’ll be liberated actually there is an illusory aspect it’s interesting to note that generally those who are interested in liberation they tend towards the worship of Lord Shiva it’s just the natural because that’s the mode they are working under so with knowledge the renouncer in ignorance gives up the duties because of lack of knowledge the renouncer in passion though knowledgeable still gives up his duties because of the bodily inconveniences accompanying them Srila Baladeva Yabhusan describes such persons as follows even after knowing that performing prescribed action with no desire is a cause of liberation if the desire of liberation gives up those actions out of fear or bodily pain such as having difficulties to obtain the materials for sacrifice or disliking the discomfort of the morning bath, his renunciation is in the mode of passion since such experience of discomfort is the quality of the mode of passion having given up the actions that person will not attain steadiness in Jnana which is the result of performing action action results in knowledge so if you give up action you also give up the understanding because the process given in the Upanishads is you’ve heard Shravana then you apply it, Manana so if you’re not applying it, how you’ll contemplate that’s what we mean by armchair speculators an armchair speculator is he’s very intelligent, he has lots of knowledge and he contemplates the knowledge but he does nothing so he’ll actually never have really a deep understanding and he’ll definitely never have realization but he’ll be very thoughtful and very intellectual these qualities will come so in other words, giving up something does that make sense? it’s just like renouncing something because let’s say someone’s managing something it’s a big trouble, so it’s too much trouble, he doesn’t want to do this, so he gives it up that’s renunciation, the mode of passion and then his nature is advantage and so management is trouble, so that’s his inspiration, not willing to give it up but he thinks that he’ll be happy by giving that up, that’s illusion so that’s ignorance does that make sense? but now, let us say the situation is such that there’s opportunity to do other activities someone else can do the management and all that and so it’s just a natural step to move forward into something else, so when it’s not doing that kind of management, then that’s just following the natural course of one’s duties so there’s a difference there so one’s not doing it not because it’s a trouble, one’s not doing it because something else is more favorable for advancement and it has to be seen that it actually works, it’s not just an idea, it can’t be whimsical it has to be an authorized natural progression yes? one of the sociological reasons why our women, these men get trapped with people from the I’d say Kalau Shudra Sambhava worker class, Shudra background and there’s some Brahmin background where we find very very few individuals who are actually inclined or good at management and at business is there some reason or what’s your understanding of the scenario? I mean, basic would be is when we talk about because we see is that the knowledge the desire for knowledge will attract, because we have that that will attract anyone who has an intellectual value in their life then and the common person just because material life is so difficult, and so here’s something to give some answers what you can do and so the one is more self how you say self inspired to study and know the other one needs just a very minimal amount of understanding, the basic understanding works for them because basically they’re working on sentiment so if that sentiment is being able to be inspired by some fundamental principles of Krishna consciousness, then they’re on the right track, it’ll keep them busy the difficulty is in between because of the mode of passion that there’s great activity and there’s great desire for results, and they are successful because they’ve contemplated, they’ve worked these things out, they know how things function, so unless you can present to them Krishna consciousness on a level that’s as convinced as they are in materialism, and as technical, as sophisticated as they are, how will they be convinced so previously you’d see we would attract such persons you know, some, because of commitment to that knowledge, and we kept it simple and just kept on these points and could basically take the simple points and apply them anywhere in the life because of the faith nowadays I would say that necessarily that faith that the those fundamentals can be applied anywhere in any situation may not be as strong as it should be so if that’s cultivated that we understand Vedanta is the ultimate philosophy and it explains the ultimate you know application of one’s life, the ultimate culture, then and one is convinced of that, then one can easily convince these persons but it’s not an area that we’ve worked in, and I would say is that it’s a dangerous area because a muda is someone who is in ignorance, doesn’t know the Lord, and is satisfied with just the day-to-day grind of material life and mayaya pratyajna is someone who just due to their pride and their knowledge they can’t understand God they can’t approach so, you know, they stay in their position. The asura just power, he just wants power so it’s a matter of niti basically just getting your work done and, you know, so they’re not so interested, you know, what’s the importance so all these ones are pretty straightforward the naradhama, now this is a little bit touchy here you can only become a naradhama in that you understand there is such a thing as devotional service and that it’s position and you reject it that makes you a naradhama so, just because you’re you know you know, very low class person or very materially absorbed, that doesn’t make you a naradhama. Naradhama means you have the opportunity for devotional service, you don’t take it so, the difficulty will come as that group that you talked about in the middle, the professionals, they’re smart enough to understand Krishna consciousness but if you don’t apply it properly then if they reject it, you’ve turned them into a naradhama and that’s not definitely that’s definitely not, you could say some valuable service so I would say at this point in time Krishna is protecting them so now they’re just, you know materially absorbed professionals but that’s better than being a naradhama you know what I’m saying does that make sense? So someone could appreciate that you give the straight philosophy to them in language and context they can understand there’s no need of compromise, because compromise all they see is compromise in the world they’re professionals because they know how to deal with compromise and how to make the best out of it so that’s, they’re sick of that, they want to see the real thing so if we’re willing to give them that they’ll take it, but if it’s just another compromise, how good are we at that? you know, so I mean, we get there and all this and that, we’re worried that oh, kirtan is you know, maybe they’ll think it’s weird and this and that, maybe we should do this maybe we should do that, we come up with all kinds of different mantras we’ll chant and different ways and maybe we should put this in and that in you know, the lack of confidence but then you get some guys from Vrindavan, from all these weirdo ashrams they’ll come in, they’ll just chant Hare Krishna they have full conviction and they got, you know they have tour programs booked, you know for the next year you know, so it’s like you know, they want somebody who’s convinced they’re convinced that material life is there and they’ve endeavored and they haven’t gotten anything they want an answer, so they don’t want some, you know, wishy-washy kind of well, maybe, and this and that political correctness is their life, they use it everyday to make money they want substance, they know that’s not real so they want substance so if we’re willing to give it to them they’ll take it when one performs one’s prescribed duties with regulation giving up all material association and attach them to the results his renunciation is in goodness so he’s performing his duties he’s giving up material association so he’s in good association with devotees and, or he sees whatever association he’s in in connection to Krishna like that, and the results are for Krishna, then that’s in the mode of goodness, verse 9 here the Lord repeats his opinion about sacrifice charity and penance, expressed in verse 6, quote all these activities should be performed without attachment or any expectation of result they should be performed as a matter of duty because attachment, ok, we give up that but we expect the result but the point is, results are Krishna, Krishna gives the results, paramatma, that’s what he deals with you want to do something so then he authorizes according to your previous activities, whether you can get that result, if you can then you’re authorized to do the activity that gives you the result so you still have to give up the attachment to getting a result because then, I have to get the result, that means I did the work I got the result, means I am the doer so it’s the other side so attachment to, means the attachment and the expectation of results means I am the doer and I am the enjoyer I’m the controller and enjoyer because in result you have the desire for it and you have the attainment of it they both are there, so you have the experience and you have the physical form, both will be there such detached, dutiful work results in transcendental knowledge so one will understand the nature of the soul the nature of the material world, still you have to connect this to Krishna because you can say that there is material, spiritual and devotional so devotional is spiritual because it’s not material but you can’t have the situation of spiritual that’s not specifically devotional it should be it’s coming from following the devotional process but just it’s not connected to the Lord the next verse describes the qualities of the intelligent renouncer neutral to inauspicious and auspicious works the intelligent renouncer in goodness has no doubt about his work Srila Prabhupada describes him as follows a person in Krishna consciousness or in the mode of goodness does not hate anyone nor anything which troubles his body he does work in the proper place and at the proper time without fearing the troublesome effects of his duty such a person situated in transcendence should be understood to be most intelligent and beyond all doubts in his activities yes you know what your duty is but that’s what we dealt with right in the beginning to figure that out because that’s easy to figure out the problem is our doubts, we don’t want to figure it out because we have some ideas of what we should be or could be because the point is as far as Krishna is concerned, it doesn’t matter if it’s connected to Krishna it’s perfect that’s the point we create the things, oh this is better, that’s better these elements are only better simply because of the essential elements Brahman is considered better because of the situation and knowledge and of knowledge then the understanding of the soul is superior and of that, understanding the soul’s relationship with God and superior to that is acting within that in devotion so if anybody has that knowledge, they’re situated on that platform of Brahman so it doesn’t matter what their occupation is or what their situation is socially does that make sense so we, these things are done the sannyas is considered better because of the element of work that’s performed without a desire for the result which everybody should be doing so because that is their occupation they’re put in a superior position does that make sense renunciation is considered better than the attachment simply because renunciation is closer to the spiritual world than material attachment but it’s only partially close it means attachment to Krishna that’s what you’re trying to get to so if you can just go from attachment to material to attachment to spiritual why bother with the in-between you know what I’m saying because automatically you go from material fruit of work to sannyas the middle is renunciation I’m attached to the material but I know the spiritual so I work in one and then give it to the other the sannyas means I don’t work in this I only work in that but it’s more natural to the soul because you can still have the element of wanting to get that result for someone’s benefit right does that make sense yes so the process of just elevating one transcendently by engaging in personal service rather than getting involved in all indirect things would be the best it would be the best but the problem is we tend to you know how do you say want to expand our options the horizons so that goes beyond just preaching all day chanting, preaching, taking prasad that’s the best situation studying, teaching that’s the ideal but if one can’t do that then one engages has all the elements of the deity worship and that regulates your life so minimal goes outside of that and if that doesn’t then you bring in all the different aspects of the social and economic family environment that’s the next so the point is all that can be connected to Krishna because one is doing it because it’s his duties and he’s doing that without a desire for his results for himself so one can be sannyas in family life because it’s a mentality that’s the whole point it’s the consciousness that defines the thing it’s not the activity we always take it that it’s the situation but it’s not right being focused on the situation that is not as in other words if the form is manipulation of the form is what’s more important to you then the situations in which there’s opportunity for that operation of the field that’s what’s going to be important but if it’s the relationship then the natural interaction between the two parties that’s actually the element that’s the spontaneous does that make sense so in the material world the form is there because where is the spontaneity it means you have material spontaneity but it still ultimately comes back to the situation right but the spiritual world then you can have that based on the rules and regulations of Vaikuntha so it’s a very nice situation and they’ll notice that more but it’s connected with the Lord he’s so great then Vaikuntha is so wonderful but in Vrindavan the situation is just the most perfect in which you can render that service to Krishna but the situation itself is not what’s important to the devotees in fact when they look at it they look at it in connection to its service to Krishna you know the forest of Vrindavan how it’s pious and it’s doing all this nice service they’ll see the devotees relationship with the Lord so they’re not actually seeing the opulence of this there’s greater opulence in Vrindavan you don’t hear of you don’t hear of trees that are made out of crystal with ruby fruits and emerald leaves I don’t remember it may be there but I don’t remember hearing that Vaikuntha has that Vrindavan has that that’s just the way it is nobody cares it’s Krishna that’s important so that spontaneity so the situation but we tend to view the situation so this situation that’s good therefore we can do devotional service situation’s not there you can’t do devotional service therefore if someone’s in a situation of Maya then you can’t do devotional service there therefore you have to give all that up to be engaged in devotional service no you have to give up the consciousness so that’s why it says one’s not has their problem with auspicious or inauspicious work whatever the situation is that’s where you start from you know what I’m saying so let’s say someone is there they’re carving Jagannath deities and you come in to check and when you come in then you notice a pack of cigarettes sitting on Jagannath’s head what are you going to do yell, scream, bring it up there’ll be meetings this guy will be thrown out he’s smoking but he’s using Jagannath as his cigarette holder and stuff like this and that this guy’s a nonsense he shouldn’t be allowed to do any service throw him out, sounds standard that’s pretty much what everyone would go for, right what did Prabhupada do he came in and go, you know, you shouldn’t smoke and so since you’re attached to this you can smoke two cigarettes a day one after breakfast, one after lunch because that’s a standard time to smoke you can’t smoke outside, it can’t be whimsical you can only smoke those two times and so basically he understood and then he stopped smoking and continued carving the deity and doing everything else you know what I’m saying so the point is to be engaged and remove what’s the obstacle to engagement not that that obstacle takes precedent over the service and so therefore the service is removed you understand so that’s an attachment to auspicious and inauspicious work you understand, it’s that we shouldn’t do because he’s engaged in auspicious, therefore does that make sense so the great sages they’re not attached to either whatever your position Narada Muni when he’s talking to Dasarathnagar both of them he’s not going oh this is a bundle you’re a hunter and this and that or a dacoit, he’s just going you’re doing all this but you understand the reaction you’re going to get so the problem is not the work itself, the problem is the reaction the work will get so it’s not favorable towards self -realization does that make sense so therefore he’s saying you know consider this and because of this he’s able to make them God conscious by starting in their own field he didn’t say first give up hunting then we can talk Krishna Conscious, no he said consider what’s going on here does that make sense so that’s the element of attachment to auspicious and inauspicious work like that there’s also the element we’re attached that inauspicious work can’t be connected you know what I’m saying, if someone else is doing it right but for ourselves we’re always looking for oh so that means then that’s what we’ve been going through the last two weeks and then before when it came up in other chapters so that means then oh so we don’t have to it’s always finding a loophole for ourselves everybody else knows so like that, that combination that balance between strictness and liberal mindedness so we found that balance we’re very strict with everyone else and we’re very liberal with ourselves so it works out so we’ll end here continue tomorrow no not tomorrow Monday

Sign In

Register

Reset Password

Please enter your username or email address, you will receive a link to create a new password via email.