Shravan Utsav 2025 | Day 2 | ISKCON Chennai | HH Bhanu Swami Maharaj | Feb 1 2025
Section – 1: BG : 12.8~12 – Process to realize Krsna or realize Lord’s majestic aspect:
So yesterday we were discussing these verses in the 12th chapter of Bhagavad Gita with Vishwanath Chakravarti’s explanation. And we ended up with this verse explaining about Nishkama Karma Yoga, etc. And ultimately there was a progression. If you can’t do this, do this, If you can’t do that, do this. So at the bottom we have Nishkama Karma Yoga. Then we have doing the external activities of bhakti like hearing and chanting. Then we progress to practicing internal things like smaranam. And then we continue with internal contemplation of the scriptures meaning. And finally we were able to meditate and do smaranam and whatever, but do it with concentration.
So Vishwanath Chakravarti equated this to the level of bhava where we no longer have any interest in liberation. And from there of course we progress to prema. So this is what he indicated when he first started this whole section by saying concentrate your mind on me completely with no interest in Brahman.
After this then Krishna describes the qualities of a devotee. And then he ends with this verse.
Those devotees who completely develop all the spiritual qualities just thought who are full of faith and most devoted are most dear to me. So what happens is, through the process of bhakti we develop sense control and we develop all wonderful spiritual qualities. In the verse 11, it talked about by attaining bhava of course we have shanti or peacefulness. So this means sense control. But it is not sense control practiced independently. It arises through the process of bhakti. And thus it is not material at all.
In Padyavali it says, Krishna is pleased by bhakti, not by good material qualities. And in Nectar Devotion also, we will find that in the first section Rupa Goswami talks about cultivating good qualities. And he says discrimination and other material qualities cannot be considered angas of Uttama Bhakti. And why because, if you practice Uttama Bhakti all good qualities develop anyway. So things like rules of conduct which are called Yama, rules of cleanliness then other actions they automatically appear in a devotee. So they are not a separate type of cultivation.
And then he mentions that even the activities like Nitya Kriyas or Naimittika Kriyas which are part of Varna Ashram, again not part of bhakti. And those activities are there to purify an individual and develop good qualities, but if you do bhakti you develop the qualities anyway. So you don’t need to do the Nitya Kriyas or Naimittika Kriyas. So in other words, the devotee practices bhakti and independent of other processes it gives all results.
So, Vishwanatha Chakravarti concludes this chapter with a nice comparison [Laughs]. At the beginning, Arjuna asks the question, should I do Jnana or Bhakti? Krishna says that, if you do Jnana, it is very difficult and gives suffering. Here at the end he says that, Jnana is like a bitter fruit, Bhakti is sweet like grape juice [Laughs]. So instead of drinking neem juice, we would rather drink grape juice! But still some people do not choose grape juice, they would rather drink neem juice. So he says, these two processes are taken up by the respective followers who crave that particular taste. Some people like that Jnana and impersonalism, so they practice that even if they suffer [Laughs].
So, let’s compare now this section with Baladeva’s commentary. There is some interesting differences. So he starts of more or less the same, you concentrate your mind completely on Krishna etc. And he indicates that this is much better than the sanistha devotee who mixes his bhakti with Karma Yoga. The person who starts out with mixture with Karma Yoga ends up with realizing a majestic form of the Lord. But if we simply practice pure bhakti without all this, we end up with the sweet form of the Lord.
So, if you cannot do this fully then you practice. So practice of course means repetition. So repeatedly you try to concentrate on the Lord. Then you can attain that intimate realization of the Supreme Lord.
But if you can’t do this, then you do the external activities. Because everyone will protest that the mind is too uncontrollable. So, he gives examples. You can build temples for the Lord. Water the flowers in the garden. So, activities involving the body. You do those activities as service for the Lord. This is direct bhakti.
By doing those activities eventually your mind becomes absorbed in the form of Krishna. And then you will get a position close to Krishna. So this also is very good. And very approved. So this whole section therefore leads to intimate realization of the Lord. So in many ways this is very similar to Vishwanath Chakravarti’s interpretation.
However then there is some difference [Laughs]. So this is the section, the verse that deals with if you can’t do this then do this. And finally you end up doing Nishkama Karma Yoga. So for the previous stages like Abhyasa and Jnana etc, he gives a different interpretation.
So he talks about the Niskama Karma Yoga part first. So he mentions here fire sacrifices, full moon sacrifices but without the desire to attain Svarga Loka. In itself that will not produce bhakti. However somehow if we connect it with the goal of worshipping Krishna, then it becomes slightly bhakti [Laughs]. So through this process of doing Karma Yoga and connecting it to bhakti without material desires you go through a gradual realization.
So one will realize Atma, one’s own position. Then we realize Paramatma. And then we realize Bhagavan. So this is a gradual process going from Atma Jnana to Paramatma realization to Bhagavan. So you can do that process, but if we switch to doing all our activities for the Lord then fixing the mind on the Lord etc, we can get intimate realization.
So in this verse 12 where he talks about these different preferences, if you can’t do this do that, then it ends up with this Nishkama Karma Yoga. So his interpretation of these words Jnanam, Abhyasa, Dhyanam are a little bit different. So if we want this Abhyasa, Abhyasa he means not simply practicing, but repeated remembrance of the Lord. Because Abhyasa means repetition, so you are always remembering the Lord, so this is the highest position.
And previous to that we have realizing atma Jnana, that is Jnana. And previous to that is practice of meditating on atma, which is dhyana. And before that, of course then we have Nishkama Karma Yoga, in which you eventually get control of your senses and you get a purified mind. So again he is representing how you go from Nishkama Karma Yoga to realization of Atma, realization of Supreme Lord, Paramatma etc. and then ultimately we get an Aishwarya or a majestic realization of the Lord.
Whereas in Vishnavanath’s progression we end up simply with intimate realization of Krishna. So as I said, if you follow this sequence and you are attached to this Nishkama Karma Yoga etc. and you are doing Bhakti, you end up with realization of the Lord in Aishwarya. But Baladeva Vidya bhushan says, well this is a process you can follow and you get realization of the Lord even if it is majestic, but it is difficult also.
So this is not an instruction for Arjuna because he was Ekanta devotee, he was practicing pure Bhakti [Laughs]. So yesterday I talked about the Sanishta devotee, this is the one who is doing his Karma Yoga with some attachment and he is also doing Bhakti. Through that they realize Atma, from there, they go to Paramatma and then realize Bhagavan, but it is majestic form of the Lord they realize. So this is one method of progressing gradually through Bhakti. But actually he says better you just do pure Bhakti [Laughs].
And the first sequence from 8 to 11 that was just doing the pure Bhakti. So therefore verse 12 is different from the progression from 8 to 11 in Baladeva Vidyabushan. Whereas in Vishwanath’s the two are the same, 8 to 11 and 12 are actually the same. So all this takes place because of interpreting certain words like Jnana and Abhyasa and Dhyana in a different way.
So we cannot say one is right and one is wrong [Laughs]. They both are reasonable way of explaining the verse [Laughs]. But we have different conceptions behind it [Laughs]. So as I said Baladeva has his conception of the Sanishta devotee, the Parinishta devotee and the Nirapaksha devotee. So a lot of his interpretation of the whole Gita is based on this.
And then I will show next in interpreting this verse “Brahmaputa Prasannatma..”. Again he introduces this idea of the Sanishta, Parinishta and Nirapaksha devotee. So that finishes this. Any question there?
Q & A
1) Hare Krishna Maharaj, Dandavat Pranams Maharaj. So from yesterday’s class and today’s class you said about Bhakti is secret. We are hearing many things about Bhakti. My question is, is there anything which cannot be discussed about Bhakti in the assembly of devotees, because Bhakti is secret? And what can be a heart to heart communication between spiritual master and disciple in the matter of Bhakti, about Bhakti?
So of course Rahasya means secret. But this word is used in the scripture with a certain context. Rahasya means secret. Bhakti is secret but yet we distribute Bhagavad Gita every day [Laughs]. So yes, it is secret, because it is difficult to understand for a lot of people. And even we distribute Bhagavad Gita and they read it, they may not come to the proper conclusion to do Bhakti [Laughs]. So it is a little difficult for people who are unqualified to understand. In that sense it is secret.
In the Bhagavatam, Vishwanath… and of course the Bhagavatam itself makes a nice comparison. So Bhagavatam is compared to Mohini Avatar. And what did Mohini Avatar do? Mohini Avatar is a form of the Lord, a very beautiful woman. Mohini means one who bewilders. So who did she bewilder? She came to the demons and bewildered them. They had the amrita, the nectar and then she said give me the nectar. So they gave her the nectar. And they were thinking she will give us the nectar back. So she bewildered them. She didn’t give it back. She gave it to the devatas [Laughs]. So this example is used. Bhagavatam is like Mohini, because it cheats the demons, the materialists of the sweetness of Bhagavatam.
So Bhagavatam is not secret, but if they read it they won’t get the real meaning. Whereas Mohini – Bhagavatam gives the meaning, the real sweetness to the devotees. At the end, we will cover that later on here, at the end of Bhagavad Gita, Krishna says, yes, bhakti is very nice, to do bhakti, but do not preach to the faithless people, the envious people. So it is not available for some people, in that sense it is secret [Laughs].
So the realization of Krishna is, of course, it is described in Bhagavatam and other scriptures. But when we first hear those words, we will not have realization. The more we progress in bhakti, the more we will appreciate the descriptions of Krishna. So not only is bhakti only for devotees, but according to your level of advancement, you will actually understand those words. In that sense, it is secret.
Yesterday we were talking about bhava, when you have bhava then of course you disregard liberation. The other quality was sudurlabha, that means very rare. So to get that realization is also not for everybody [Laughs]. Jnanis, karmis, yogis will never realize Krishna. And even the devotees, first they have to go to the sadhana bhakti, then come to nistha, ruchi, ashakti, then they get bhava and realization of Krishna. So in that sense, it is rare.
2) Hare Krishna Maharaj. Maharaj, in yesterday’s session you told that in bhava stage only the devotees reject the liberation. But the sadhana devotees, they have the knowledge that we should not aspire for liberation, we should aspire to serve the Lord. So how we can understand between these two, Maharaj?
So in sadhana bhakti, yes, we get the knowledge that we should not strive for liberation. But we have not realized Brahman, nor have we realized Krishna [Laughs]. In bhava, we realize Krishna. And we experience ananda in relation to Krishna. We establish a sthayi bhava, that is the meaning of bhava, sthayi bhava, and we get some rasa, as a result of rasa, we get ananda. When we attain that stage of bhava, we have also destroyed all karmas and ahankara.
So we surpass liberation. So the bliss of experiencing Krishna in bhava is so strong that definitely the realization of Brahman etc. becomes insignificant. And it is a realization, not just a statement of knowledge.
3) Hare Krsna Maharaj, Thank you. Maharaj, I understand that the external bhakti is sadhana bhakti, and at which stage this transforms into internal bhakti and what is the intermediate abhyasya stage of manana and dhyana ?
[Clarification of qn]
Well, we say sadhana bhakti is external, it is largely external, but there is an internal element also. Actually in the commentary on nectar devotion, Vishwanath describes we have two types of bhakti. Cheshta rupa is one and bhava rupa bhakti. And this is all part of Krishna anusilanam or uttama bhakti. Chesta means the activities. Such as hearing, chanting, deity worship, etc. So this is prominent in sadhana bhakti.
But if we always do external activities, we never remember the Lord, and we are not trying to favorably please the Lord, then that is not bhakti also. So there is some internal element of devotion there also. But the external activities become more prominent.
But even among the external activities of bhakti, we are using external senses, we have the mind, and then we have smaranam and dhyana within sadhana bhakti also. But at the beginning of course people cannot immediately take to that, so we do the other processes. So as we advance and we approach bhava stage, then we can say that the internal aspect becomes stronger.
And we get to bhava stage, the sthayi bhava or the bhava rupa bhakti manifests because we realize the Lord and our relationship with the Lord. So we can say the meditation or the internal aspect would be spontaneous. And even the chesta rupa bhakti is performed in our spiritual body with our spiritual senses at that point [Laughs].
So Vishwanath Chakravarti identified this absorption in the Lord with the bhava stage. And then all the other things would be sadhana leading up to that. So the external activities and practicing the meditation etc. and the manana is part of the sadhana.
Section 2 : BG : 18.50~55 – Process to realize and attain Brahman !
Okay, So let’s go on to this other topic, attaining brahman, we are back to brahman again [Laughs]. So this is an interesting section, particularly the verse ‘brahmaputa prasannatma’, it’s a little puzzling for many devotees.
So in verse 50, Krishna says, understand how a person attains brahman. When we hear that word brahman, of course we usually mean impersonal brahman. And this is how Vishwanath takes the word.
Ok, it means impersonal brahman attained to jnana. And we’ve had in the first six chapters also some discussion of jnana and how it leads to impersonal brahman. So verse 50 kind of introduces the topic, it talks about jnana, being fixed in jnana. And by that we get siddhi, we get perfection of brahman.
And then Krishna discusses the process or the different activities you do. So you should have sattvic intelligence, give up the sense objects, give up attachment and repulsion, live in a solitary place, eat little food, control your speech, your body and your mind. Then he says “dhyana yoga paro nityam”, be completely fixed in meditation.
However, Vishwanath in his explanation says, this means to meditate on supreme Lord. Not on brahman, Not on brahman [Laughs]. And of course you take shelter of detachment, free from false ego, etc. And at the end, he finally mentions that you stop even sattva guna. That’s called sama and then you attain brahman.
So in this interpretation of Vishwanath, he makes the point that even within jnana, there should be bhakti ! So therefore he interprets “dhyana yoga param” as meditation on the Lord. There is the bhakti [Laughs]. So I mentioned yesterday that without the mercy of the Lord, you cannot get liberation. And therefore a genuine Jnani will also include worship of the Lord. So here at the end, he also mentions that we have to give up the cessation of sattva guna.
So to attain brahman, you have to give up all the gunas, including sattva! Now the interesting thing is, as mentioned in the 11th canto by Krishna when he teaches Uddhava, he says that jnana arises from sattva guna. So to attain liberation, you have to give up the whole process of jnana which were all these activities mentioned here. Of course we have to give up avidya, that is lust, anger, pride, ahankara, all those things. But we also have to give up the good qualities, even sattva. We have to give up the whole practice of jnana, even studying Upanishads, everything we have to give it up. So this sounds, for us it sounds a little strange [Laughs]. We do bhakti and at the end when we get prema we give up bhakti, it doesn’t sound natural. We actually continue our bhakti [Laughs]. So therefore in the jnana process, because jnana is also material, it has to be given up [Laughs].
So of course, Maya has two aspects. That is ajnana and jnana – avidya and avidya. They are part of maya. So naturally we give up the avidya or the jnana, but we also have to give up the vidya, the jnana, we have to give that up also. And if we give both up, then we get to brahman [Laughs]. So therefore, it’s quite an extreme process. You have to give up everything that you are used to, even the process of jnana.
Here’s the verse from Srimad Bhagavatam explaining about vidya and avidya. Understand that vidya and avidya are my shaktis. They are created by my maya. They are without beginning. And they create liberation and bondage for the living being.
So interestingly enough, generally we think of maya as all being ignorance. But within maya, the Lord also has knowledge, he has vidya. So in that sense, it’s not all bad, it cannot all be condemned [Laughs]. So if you reach sattva, that is where you access the vidya.
If we look in Bhagavad Gita, Krishna explains that the quality of sattva is prakash. So prakash means light or revelation. So our acharyas say that this means understanding that you are not the body, you are atma. So even within matter itself, we have the possibility of understanding you are not the body [Laughs]. So when you get to sattva guna, you are qualified for jnana yoga. And the result is we can understand atma or brahman. So that much is within the material world itself. Krishna makes that arrangement. But if we want to get liberation, we have to give up that even sattva, jnana, etc [Laughs].
So then we have this verse here, ‘brahma bhuta, prasanna atma’ – Having attained this state of brahman, ‘brahma bhuta’, being a pure soul, ‘prasanna atma’, he does not lament at loss, nor does he desire what he has not attained. He looks at all beings equally. That’s natural. There’s nothing wrong with that.
But then the next statement, ‘mad-bhaktim labhate param’, then he manifests pure bhakti and even prema bhakti. How is it possible after going through jnana, suddenly you become a devotee [Laughs] ? So therefore, Vishwanath has a very interesting explanation here. So, we get rid of all the upadis, the misconceptions, appearances, illusions, etc. We get to brahma bhuta.
This is a state of the atma with no coverings of maya. Therefore, he’s called prasanna atma, a pure atma. So, no misconceptions, no coverings at all, he doesn’t lament if he loses something, or when he fails to get something, and if he loses, whatever, there’s no problem for him. There’s no lamentation, no desire. And consequently, everything in the world is equal. He gives a comparison, like an innocent child, innocent children, look everywhere, they don’t see good or bad or anything.
Of course, we know the concepts of good and bad, right and wrong, etc., all due to the coverings of ignorance. But then, even jnana, which is sattva, is gone. He compares this, a fire dies when there’s no fuel [Laughs]. So, the fuel of material things, even sattva disappears, so jnana also disappears. Then, he gets bhakti to the Lord, how is it possible [Laughs] ? So, when jnana ceases, and all the lower gunas and sattva gunas cease, then suddenly bhakti appears [Laughs].
So, he explains that bhakti was always there [Laughs]. Everything else disappears – vidya, avidya, everything disappears, the bhakti which was there stays. And it must be pure bhakti, because there’s no gunas anymore. But then, how did the bhakti get there in the first place [Laughs]?
So, then he gives an explanation. So, in the practice of jnana, an intelligent Jnani will also do bhakti. And, it’s not prominent, it’s just a little bit [Laughs]. So, we call the process jnana with a little bhakti as a secondary process.
And, the scriptures say, if that bhakti is not there, the Jnani, in spite of perfection of all the processes, cannot get liberation. Nevertheless, if a person practices that bhakti, it is there, and when we give up all the other things, the coverings, sattva etc, the process of Jnana, the bhakti remains, that’s how it is there. So, it manifests after the destruction of all your gunas, including giving up jnana yoga, if you had practiced bhakti in that process! Then, you get liberation. Atma is there with Bhakti, that bhakti gives you liberation. If you are an unintelligent Jnani, you don’t do any bhakti at all, you don’t get liberation [Laughs].
So, he said, ’madhbhaktim labhate param’. So, actually it’s not attaining, it means he discovers it, it becomes manifested at that point, because it was always there. He gives the example of a golden jewel inside a pile of golden grains [Laughs]. Because they are both golden or yellow, you don’t see the gem at first. But, if we take away all the grains or the doll or whatever, then we see the jewel is obvious.
So, when we take away all the jnana and all the ignorance and everything else, then the bhakti, which was a little bit at the beginning, becomes very obvious. So, because there is no mixture of any of the gunas at all, it is kevala, it is pure.
So, of course, there is a possibility of going further at this point. You have discarded all the material things, you have a little bhakti, atma is there, then if you get good association, you could progress through bhakti and get prema. So, that is also possible.
But in the next verse, he says something else. There it says, ‘visate’ [Laughs] – “you enter into me”, this is what the verse says. So, the person is there cultivating jnana, he gives up jnana, etc. Only the bhakti is there. And then, he knows me, as brahman, who does he know? He knows me as brahman, by that bhakti, and then he enters into me, brahman [Laughs]. So, the person who wants impersonal liberation, but does practice bhakti, then he merges into brahman at this point. So, here the word mam, he interprets not as Krishna with his personal form, but Krishna as brahman.
So, by bhakti, the person knows Krishna as brahman. And then, knowing Krishna as brahman by the process, he merges into Krishna. So, this is the explanation he gives.
So, this is one case, where he wants brahman, merges into brahman, he gets that. So, the bhakti is there, because jnana is not so powerful. So, of course, Krishna says, you can only know me by bhakti. So, that even applies, even knowing Krishna as brahman, can only be done by bhakti [Laughs]. So, by that bhakti, then the Jnani is able to merge into brahman. So, this is his explanation of this verse.
So, that’s one case. There are other jnanis that do not practice bhakti at all. But they desire to merge into brahman. What is the result? Nothing [Laughs]. Only suffering. They don’t get liberation. So, they are condemned.
So, others understand that, okay, we need jnana, but we also have to do a little bhakti. So, they do the bhakti, but they think, okay, I’m worshipping supreme Lord. But actually, this is all false. The Lord has no form. It’s all maya [Laughs]. We can meditate on the form of the Lord, but the form of the Lord is guna, so it’s all maya. So, then they think, okay, I’m progressing. I got my realization. I’m liberated. But this is not bhakti actually. It is false bhakti. So, they are offenders. They also don’t get liberation. And these persons fall down.
So, those that don’t do any bhakti, they don’t attain liberation. Those who do bhakti which is false and is offensive, they also don’t get liberation.
So, Vishwanath Chakravarti, of course, repeats this in many places, including his commentaries on Bhagavatam. There’s the famous verse, this verse here from 10th canto. So, the people who are not devotees, they may do austerities and penances and whatever, as Jnanis, and they think themselves liberated. But they fall down.
They think they are liberated, but they fall because they don’t respect the lotus feet of the Lord. So, either they didn’t worship at all, or they worship, but they said, oh, these lotus feet are material [Laughs]. So, in either case, they fall. So, they think they are liberated, and they fall. They are not actually liberated. Of course, our sastras also explain that one can be almost liberated because one can be jivanmukta.
So, they’ve got a realization of brahman, but they still have a material body. But, if they don’t worship the Lord, or they worship at his false worship, they don’t get liberation. When they give up their body, they get another body [Laughs].
Those jivanmuktas who worship the Lord genuinely, a little bit, whatever, they give up their body, and then they enter brahman. So, of the different persons, the one who actually gets liberation by worship, he is considered to be at least somewhat praiseworthy [Laughs]. So, that’s what is spoken of in this verse – ‘brahma-bhuta-prasanna-atma’.
He had that little bit of genuine bhakti, and when all the coverings were removed, including jnana itself, the bhakti remained. Through that bhakti, he’s allowed to merge in brahman. So, he says, that person is praiseworthy. Of course, usually we condemn even the person who merges in brahman, but he says, at least he attains brahman, the other people don’t at all [Laughs].
So, this is the one type, and then the other type is the one who turns into a devotee. So, he gives the example of Sukadeva Goswami. So, he was atmarama, which means technically he was completely absorbed in atma or brahman, but he still had a body. But, he gave up that peace of atmarama, being liberated, and he began hearing Bhagavatam and doing bhakti. Why? Because of association of devotees.
So, that type of jnana is even more praiseworthy than the one who actually gets liberation. So, therefore, we find that this verse ‘atmarama ca munayo’, this is the one that describes how Sukadeva was atmarama. But, then he gave up that (atmarama mentality), because he began to hear the topics of the Lord.
So, therefore, we get four types of jnanis. Two are useless, because they fall from the position. Two are praiseworthy, but they get beyond samsara. But, of course, of those two, the one like Sukadeva Goswami is the one who attains brahman, he is the most praiseworthy of all. So, we get these four types here.
The one who practices jnana yoga, no result. One who practices jnana yoga with false bhakti, thinking the Lord’s form is useless, also no result. And then the jnana yogi does genuine bhakti, a little bit of bhakti, he gets liberation. So, he gets some permanent result. But, then the Jnani who practices a little bhakti by his association, he becomes a great devotee and develops prema. That’s the most praiseworthy of all.
Section 3 : BG_18.56~57 – Karma Mishra bhaktas and their destination
After this Bhagavad Gita gives more descriptions. Verse 56 describes someone doing devotion, but he also got some material desires. He is the one who is performing karmas, that is his karma yoga. But, fortunately, more prominent than doing the karmas, is his activity of bhakti. So, this person, he says, attains my indestructible abode just by my mercy.
So, therefore, now he is describing not about the Jnani, but the people who are doing devotion. So, even this mixed bhakti is superior to jnana. So, of course, we saw, if a true Jnani wants liberation, he includes a little bhakti.
But, a person who is superior to that, does most bhakti, he may have a little jnana or little karma. So, that person is superior to the Jnani with a little bhakti. So, such a person, if he continues with this little bit of karma and little bit of material desires, he becomes purified, he can get sarupya, salokya or sarasthi.
So, these are types of liberation. But, they are superior to sayuja. We have other persons who do karma yoga mostly, and if they are intelligent, they do a little bhakti and they go to swargaloka. And then we do the foolish people who do only karma yoga, no bhakti at all, or they do bhakti with offense to the Lord, they don’t even get swargaloka [Laughs]. So, in any case, if we do prominent bhakti, this is much better than doing jnana or karma. So, he says, this person attains my eternal abode. So, they get salokya.
So, then of course we can say, well, these dhamas are all material, what happens at pralaya, and the answer is no, these are indestructible dhamas in the spiritual world, avyayam. So, in this way, the person, even with mixed bhakti, gets a very good result.
And the Jnani has to strive, and as we saw, he is full of suffering. How is it possible, the devotee is doing his karmas, etc., he is doing mostly bhakti, that’s also external bhakti, whatever, how can he get something superior to the jnanis? And the answer is, through bhakti, one gets mercy of the Lord. That mercy is inconceivable, so we get very great results from the mercy due to bhakti.
Of course, we saw, you can get liberation if you do a little bhakti, or you can get swargaloka and karma yoga if you do a little bhakti. But the mixed devotee is doing much more bhakti, so he gets better results. So, of course, in chapter 12, Krishna said, very quickly I will deliver the person who practices pure bhakti. But even if you do mixed bhakti, you get very, very good results. So, one can do karma mishra bhakti with no material desires. That is, we can do the activities of karma yoga, but we don’t have any material desires for swargaloka or any enjoyment at all.
Section 4 : BG_18.57 – Mixing angas of Karma with bhakti but not the desires
So, this verse here, ‘cetasa sarva karmani’, indicates that we can do the activities, sarva karmani means the activities, but we are free from material desires. So, this person is a little bit in between [Laughs]. We talk about ananya bhakti, just do bhakti, nothing else, but this person is still doing the karmas. But he is superior to the person who is doing the karmas, also has desires. So, this is, we can say, a preferable position, doing the karmas, but no material desire at all. So, therefore, this is one recommendation of Krishna, and also we can say it is a good recommendation for Arjuna.
So, it is superior to just doing karma yoga, superior to doing bhakti yoga with a mixture of karma yoga. So, now what is the fault of this? The fault is that we do the activities of varna ashram, etc., occupational duties, etc., and then we offer it to the Lord after it is performed. So, it is bhakti because we are offering it to the Lord.
But it is also different from the activities of pure bhakti. And that is because activities of pure bhakti are offered from the very beginning, even before we do them [Laughs]. These are taking other activities, then offering to the Lord.
The activities of bhakti are dedicated from the beginning. Chanting the Lord’s name is glorifying the Lord, intention is to glorify the Lord itself before we even start it [Laughs]. Anyway, it is a step above having material desires and whatever in your karmas. So, superior to karma yoga is superior to Nishkama karma yoga. Why? Because no desire and also everything is offered to the Lord.
And also, it is similar to jnana-mishra bhakti. Because in this, the person has an acceptance of atma, an acceptance of paramatma. He accepts and recognizes atma and paramatma. But it is superior to jnana-mishra bhakti because he also appreciates the personal features of the Lord, Bhagavan. But it is also a little different from pure bhakti because not always fixed on the Lord and you offer the activities after you perform them. But still, it surpasses liberation.
So, of course, even in chapter 9, Krishna has given this kind of middle type of bhakti, which is not just pure bhakti with doing nothing else, but a mixture with the karma. And that is ‘yat karosi, yat asnasi’ etc. So, nevertheless, we get direct service to the Lord as the ultimate position, so it is praiseworthy.
So, I have 15 minutes left. I will continue tomorrow with the rest of it. Up to Sarva-dharman paritajya, I guess. Maybe I should get up to that. Okay, I guess so. Any questions there?
Q & A
1) Hare Krishna Maharaj. Maharaj, this Jivan Mukta platform, can you please explain a little bit more about this Jeevan Mukta? Because that platform, is it like Jeeva gets liberated or is it the platform before liberation? It is a little bit confusing, Maharaj.
So, Jivan Mukta literally means liberated in this body. So, we have some realization of Brahman or whatever, but we still have a material body. But then we just say Mukta means you are beyond the body, no more body, no material body at all, you are merged in Brahman.
So, there is a verse about falling down, if you disrespect the lotus feet of the Lord, Vishwanath says this refers to the Jeevan Mukta, he is not merged in Brahman. He still has material body. So, he can fall from that position. So, the inference is, if he actually attains merging in Brahman, he wouldn’t fall from that. And in that sense, it’s praiseworthy [Laughs].
2) Maharaj, can we take this Karma Mishra Bhakti or this Jnana Mishra Bhakti as pradhānī-bhūta Bhakti or little bit explanation about guṇī-bhūta Bhakti and pradhānī-bhūta Bhakti ?
So, by the word Pradhani Bhuta Bhakti means Bhakti is the main element. We know that Bhakti is in Jnana and Bhakti is in Karma, otherwise don’t give results. That is Bhakti in a minor position. So, we may do Karma Yoga with the Bhakti, Bhakti is most Bhakti and little bit of Karma, then we call it Pradhani Bhuta Bhakti.
We can also have a little bit of Jnana or a little bit of Yoga, but mostly Bhakti. So, they are more powerful than the other process where it’s mostly Karma Yoga, Jnana Yoga with a little Bhakti. So, they become faulty if we have, or not so good, because they have material desire or desire for liberation in them, then it’s not so good. But if they practice without the material desire or the desire for liberation, then they are better.
3) Maharaj, I have two questions. One is, when you talk about that verse that you explained that Vishwanath Chakrawarthy Thakur explained that Jeevan Mukta can fall down. But those who have entered into the Brahman effulgence, that is eternal position, don’t fall down. But in some of the purports, Bhakti Vedanta purports which is explained by Srila Prabhupada that, that kind of person entering into effulgence also can fall down to the material platform. So, that is the first question.
And second question is, in Karma Mishra Bhakti, if he is having some material desires, Sakama, then how he can enter into the spiritual world?
So, we have a distinction here, the Jivan Mukta and the person who is actually merged in Brahman. And Vishwanath Chakravarthy, also Jiva Goswami says that Jeevan Mukta can fall. But as I said, this also indicates that if you actually merged in Brahman, you are not a Jeevan Mukta, you emerged in Brahman, you wouldn’t fall.
So, I believe the reason for this is, we have so many Upanishadic statements, you merged in Brahman, it’s eternal, whatever like that. So, of course, Prabhupada says, you fall from Brahman, I don’t think he makes a distinction between Jeevan Mukta or actually merged in Brahman, there is no distinction there, so we don’t know [Laughs]. So, if the person who attained Brahman, by having a little Bhakti, if it were not permanent, then Vishwanath would not say he is praiseworthy at all, because he would be the same as the people that fall, if they also fall, so it wouldn’t make any sense at all, so at least he says he is praiseworthy in the sense that it’s eternal.
So, the second question about mixed Bhakti and attaining Vaikuntha and Saloka, how do you even get there if you have material desires, the answer is that by doing mixed Bhakti, we are doing a little bit of Karma Yoga and we do have a little material desires, by that process, eventually, we destroy all the material desires. Now, of course, we could do mixed Bhakti by association, start practicing pure Bhakti, give up those desires. Then, we could actually go beyond Salokya, Sarsti, we could get Prema.
However, if we don’t have the good fortune of association with people practicing pure Bhakti and we continue our Karma Mishra Bhakti, whatever, due to that mixture, the Bhakti is a little weaker, even if gradually the desires are destroyed. So, the Bhakti will destroy ultimately all the anarthas, etc., so we can go beyond liberation. The Jnani with a little Bhakti gets liberation, the mixed devotee with a lot of Bhakti and a little Karma Bhakti, he gets more than liberation.
But, the person who does Bhakti, no mixture of anything, he gets Prema. So then, what happens to this person who does the mixed Bhakti, he gets more than liberation, less than Prema [Laughs]. So therefore, he gets Salokya Sarasti, etc.
So, because he did the Bhakti and eventually got purified, he goes to the spiritual world, no material contamination, but the Bhakti is a little weaker because of that previous mixture. Because he did have these material desires, the Lord transforms those desires into material rewards, spiritual rewards, like nice body, nice place, etc., nice wealth in the spiritual world. So, this person does have a relationship with the Lord, but it is quite weak compared to the person who does pure Bhakti.
4) Hare Krishna Maharaj. Thank you for your excellent narrations. I have two questions. First question is, in one of the PPTs, I have seen Arjuna was an exclusive devotee. Whether Bhakti Yoga process is an exclusive or inclusive process? That’s my first question.
So, we have different types of Bhakti, as I mentioned here. We have Karma Mishra Bhakti, Jnana Mishra Bhakti, Yoga Mishra Bhakti, and you can have it with desires or with no desires, or we can have just Bhakti, no mixture at all. That’s the exclusive ultimately. So, all types of Bhakti are good in one sense, we get better than Karma, Jnana or Yoga, but the pure Bhakti, exclusive Bhakti is the best, because we get Prema.
Even there, we get two varieties, one with Aishwarya and one with Madhurya. Thank you Maharaj.
5) My second question is, in the PPTs, you also explained that Jnana Yoga plus some kind of Bhakti only leads to liberation or Brahman. But there are various sages in previous Yugas also, there are many sages are there, who are mostly Jnanis. How do we understand whether their status and, in fact, Bhrigu Muni went to Vaikuntha and kicked the chest of Narayan. How do we understand in terms of these explanations?
Are they Jnanis or there is some Bhakti also there for those sages of Naimisaranya and previous Yugas, sages like Bhrigu and all those sages. Are they Jnanis or there is Bhakti element? Because, Bhrigu went to Vaikuntha and kicked the chest of Narayan. They go and face to face Narayan and they see many sages. They went to Vaikuntha and see Narayan.
So, we get sages of different types. Some are just devotees, like Narada Muni [Laughs]. He is also a Shakti avesh avatar [Laughs]. He teaches Bhakti. We get some sages like the Kumaras, they are teaching Jnana. They are also Shakti avesh avatars.
We get some sages teaching Karma Yoga – Bhrigu, Paulasya etc. We get some sages teaching Karma Yoga. So, all of the different sages are empowered by the Lord to preach different things.
Now, sometimes we will see these sages, they don’t look so qualified as devotees, they end up seeing Vishnu or whatever, going to talk to Vishnu, like Durvasa goes up there and speaks to the Lord, whatever. So, one explanation of course is, this is temporary, just for pastimes, they are not really qualified to live there eternally.
Another explanation is, there is a Vaikuntha in the material world [Laughs]. One form of the Lord called Vaikuntha created for his mother, Vaikuntha planet there. So, there is a Supreme Lord, there is Vaikuntha and there is a little bit easier to access than going to the spiritual world.
Okay, I think time is up.
Devotees: HH Bhanu Swami Maharaj Ki.. Jai !! HDG AC Bhakti Vedanta Swami Prabhupad Ki.. Jai !!