Bhagavad Gita Chapter 12 | Sarartha Varsini Tika

So first I would like to present a little bit of a summary of Chapter 12 based upon Vishwanatha Cakravarti Thakura’s explanation followed by Baladeva’s explanation. So Bhagavad Gita of course is very famous in India. And it’s also a work which should be commented on by a major Sampradaya. So we see that Madhvacharya and Ramanujacharya personally made commentaries on Bhagavad Gita. Significantly we see that Rupa and Sanatana and Jiva Gosvami didn’t comment on Bhagavad Gita [Laughs]. All their energy went into commentaries on Srimad Bhagavatam. And we see of course that most of the quotations that we have in their literature come from Bhagavatam. However, in one sense, if you don’t have these commentaries on Bhagavad Gita, also Brahma Sutras, Sampradaya is not considered to be very serious. So, several hundred years after the Gosvamis, Vishwanatha Cakravarti Thakura wrote a commentary on Bhagavad Gita. And interestingly enough, Baladeva Vidyabhushana almost about the same time wrote a commentary on Bhagavad Gita [Laughs]. So we have two commentaries on Bhagavad Gita now. Later on, Srila Bhaktivinoda Thakur wrote two commentaries on Bhagavad Gita, one based on Vishwanath and one based upon Baladeva [Laughs]. And we see Srila Prabhupada at the beginning of his Bhagavad Gita, he also mentions Baladeva Vidyabhushana. So, in any case, Bhagavad Gita is very very famous and the commentary of Vishwanath Cakravarti is not only very intelligent but also very sweet.

At the beginning of his commentary on Bhagavad Gita, he says that we have three divisions of Bhagavad Gita, first six chapters, second six chapters and last six chapters. The first six chapters largely deal with Niskama Karma Yoga. The second six chapters deal with Bhakti Yoga. And the third six chapters deal with Jnana Yoga. Of course, in the first six chapters, it’s not all Niskama Karma Yoga, we have some Jnana, we also have some Bhakti. But by prominence, we take the first six chapters as Niskama Karma Yoga, second as Bhakti Yoga and third part as Jnana Yoga. So the question will arise, why this particular order? First we do Niskama Karma Yoga, then we do Jnana, then we do Bhakti, so why Bhakti is not at the end? Of course, at chapter 18, the last chapter, we do find that Krishna comes back to Bhakti Yoga again.

But here, at the beginning, Vishwanath gives an interesting reason why Bhakti Yoga chapters, six chapters are not at the end, rather they’re in the middle. One reason is that Bhakti is most secret, so it should not be advertised so prominently. Therefore, it’s placed in the middle. Another reason is that if Bhakti is in the middle, it touches the Karma Yoga chapters and the Jnana Yoga chapters. And within his commentary on Bhagavad Gita, he shows that Karma Yoga and Jnana Yoga have no life unless they have Bhakti.

And a third reason is that these two groups of chapters at the beginning and end are like a protection for the precious jewel of Bhakti. If we have a precious jewel, we don’t leave it out in the public. We put it in a special box [Laughs]. So the first six chapters are like the box and the last six chapters are like the cover, and this way they protect the jewel of Bhakti.

So, the middle six chapters are very definitely all about Bhakti and the twelfth chapter is usually called Bhakti Yoga by most of the commentators. So, at the beginning of the chapter, Arjuna asks this question, which is better – Bhakti Yoga or Jnana Yoga? So, this is a very important question.

That is because a lot of people who study the Vedic literature, and in particular Upanishads, will think Jnana is most important. So of course, Krishna answers very explicitly. “So those who absorb themselves in me and worship me, they are the best.” There is no way of interpreting this any other way. So in this way, we have a presentation of Bhakti as most important. And of course not just Bhakti, but pure Bhakti. There are different types of Bhakti, but the best is pure Bhakti. So though that is not directly mentioned here, by the description we see that pure Bhakti is meant. So He says “the people absorb themselves in me and they are constantly engaged in worship and nothing else.” So, therefore, this pure Bhakti is the best process.

So in the Bhagavad Gita and Srimad Bhagavatam also, we have this very basic concept of which Yogas are superior to others. Everything gets praised. So Krishna talks about Karma Yoga, he says, do Karma Yoga. We have whole chapters dedicated to Karma Yoga in Kapila’s discussion and he will praise it like anything. And of course, eventually Prabhupada will say, oh Karma Yoga is very good, Varnashrama is so nice, everybody should do. But if we look at Jnana, that also gets praised, if we look at Bhakti, that also gets praised, so we have to take everything in proper perspective.

For instance, at the end of Chapter 6, then Krishna ultimately says Bhakti Yoga is the best. So, in all these different works everything gets praised, but nevertheless we look at analytically, then we have to class all these different Yogas. So Karma Yoga ends up at the bottom. If you can’t do anything else, you do Karma Yoga. The least qualified people who have no faith in the Lord, they do Karma Yoga. And the reason for that is that Karma Yoga is there to fulfill your material desires. We have Artha, Dharma, Kama, so that is basically what Karma Yoga does. So Karma Yoga has two divisions, Sakama Karma, where explicitly people are doing it for material enjoyment. And superior to that is Niskama Karma Yoga, we do the same activities but we start withdrawing ourselves from material goals. So instead of trying to fulfill our desires by this Karma Yoga, the goal is to purify ourselves by following the rules. So, Karma Yoga of course covers many subjects. So of course we are familiar with Karma Yoga, ok Karma kanda, do sacrifices to go to Svargaloka. So that is explicitly Sakama Karma.

But of course we have all the rules of Varnashrama included within this Karma Yoga. And of course we say the Varna rules are there so you have a profession so that you can eat, so you can get a house, so in one sense it is material also. So we have Varnashrama system again dedicated to giving you material support. So, the unique feature of Karma Yoga that makes it included in the Vedas is, there are rules to regulate a person, so gradually you get purified through those rules. Among the different rules of course, apart from the Varna rules of different occupations are what we call the Nitya and Naimitika Karmas. And when our Acharyas talk about Karma Yoga, they often mean performing your Nitya and Naimitika Karmas, that is what they mean. Of course in ISKCON we don’t talk about these things. But this means all the rituals that you do all day long like Tarpanas and Sandhya vandanas and Pancha mahayagyas, that especially the Brahmins should do every day.

How many people do Sandhya vandanas? Anybody? Nobody? We do a little bit aspect because we do chant the Brahma Gayatri Mantra but we don’t do the whole ceremony for Sandhya vandanas so in a sense we are not doing it. Nobody does Tarpanas, nobody does other things like Pancha mahayagyas every day. But when we talk about Varanashrama system then basically that is what you are supposed to do. But later on we will see that actually Vishwanath Cakravarti says if you are doing pure bhakti, you reject all this [Laughs].

So we have some defence why we are not doing all this. So anyway we have these two levels of karma which their whole nature there is to let you survive in the material world and get some enjoyment, so they are put at the bottom.

However, because the rules are made in a certain way ultimately by Supreme Lord, they purify you until you get to Sattva guna. The nature of Sattva guna is to understand you are not the body, you are atma. So in Sattva, you become qualified for Jnana Yoga. And the goal of Jnana Yoga is not to enjoy in the material world but to give up the enjoyment and get Mukti. So because it is detachment from the world and getting out of the world, destroying samsara, it is superior. So many people read scriptures they get that far and they say Jnana is superior, Mukti is supreme. But higher than that, if we look carefully, we will find that Bhakti is considered superior to that, as we see in Bhagavad Gita.

Of these three processes, Niskama Karma Yoga and Jnana, we see are in the Gunas, Jnana arises from Sattva guna. And karma Yoga is dealing with people in tamo guna and Rajo guna, trying to get them up to sattva guna [Laughs]. But Bhakti is nirguna, it is beyond the gunas. Why? Because it comes from the Supreme Lord who is Nirguna. So other processes come out of Prakriti, out of the Gunas of material nature, Bhakti comes out of the Supreme Lord. In that sense, very rare. More difficult to understand. And thus we say it is a secret knowledge. So of this Bhakti Yoga we have two types, Mixed Bhakti and Pure Bhakti. Krishna of course says either Bhakti is ok, it is better than Jnana or Karma but Pure Bhakti is the best.

So Mixed Bhakti is Bhakti, but it has some mixture of material elements, Sattva, Raja, Tamas in it. So Arjuna asks this question about Jnana and Bhakti, he didn’t even mention Karma because it is at the bottom. So he describes in these two verses all about this Jnana. In Jnana Yoga, the goal is realization of Brahman. So he describes this Brahman as Aksaram, Anirdesyam, Avyaktam, Acintyam, Acalam. So all of these things A, A, A are negative, not this, not this. Not visible, not moving, not able to think about it, etc. So this Brahman of course is no form, no qualities, no activities. So definitely difficult to think about or meditate upon because usually like to think of something that has form and qualities.

So of course then Krishna says even they attain me because I am also Brahman. He says ‘te Prapnuvanti mam’, they attain me. But then what does that mean? You just do Jnana and then you realize Krishna, doesn’t seem proper. Or we do Jnana Yoga, complete that, then we do Bhakti Yoga. But we know that’s not inevitable, not all Jnanis turn into Bhaktas [Laughs]. So Vishwanath interprets this, ‘mam’ meaning of course Krishna, Supreme Lord Bhagavan, He says they attain me as Brahman, in my form of Brahman, that’s all not me personal Bhagavan, me in the form of this, not as Bhagavan but as impersonal Brahman only. So what is wrong with this realizing Brahman?

The people who do this are inferior because they have to suffer so much [Laughs]. It is very difficult as a process because there is no form, no qualities etc. The reward of course is that they do attain the Lord but not as Krishna, not as Bhagavan. They attain an aspect of the Lord that is Brahman. So, therefore, the process itself is difficult and the result is quite different from personal form of the Lord.

So, it says here ‘klesa’, ‘klesa’ of course means suffering. And ‘adhikatara’ means more, more suffering [Laughs]. Or we can say extreme suffering. So if we are attached to that Brahman and we want to realize it, we have to experience excessive difficulties.

Because it is difficult to manifest anything without qualities, form etc. and we have our senses etc. Our senses naturally are attracted to qualities. So how do we concentrate our senses on Brahman that has no qualities? It is difficult [Laughs].

So actually you can’t concentrate your senses on anything, you have to stop your senses completely to realize Brahman. So this of course is the goal of Yoga, to stop all the functions of the senses and the mind completely. So Vishwanatha Cakravarti says stopping the senses is like trying to stop a river. And thus the Jnanis and the Yogis may take thousands of years to stop their senses, finally if they do, they can attain this Brahman. He also makes the point here that yes, you can attain Brahman but it will take years.

It’s not a lot of bhakti, so we don’t call it bhakti yoga. And the goal is not Bhagavan, so we don’t call it bhakti. But there is recognition of the Lord and some respect for the Lord. And if that bhakti is there, by the mercy of bhakti, the person can get mukti. And if there is no bhakti at all, only suffering, not even Brahman [Laughs].

So here at the top when we have a little bit of bhakti in the pink and all this jnana yoga, goal is liberation, the bhakti, mercy of the Lord will give liberation if you really want it. But if there is no bhakti at all, all the Jnana is there, no liberation. So all suffering, no liberation.

So in verses 6 and 7, then Krishna says, better you do bhakti yoga than Jnana yoga. And here particularly he says ‘ananya bhakti’, this is in the red there. And what happens is Krishna says, very quickly I will deliver you from the ocean of samsara.

So the Jnanis and the Yogis to get brahman take a long time. And there has to be a little bhakti, not even pure bhakti, a little bhakti. If you do pure bhakti to the Lord and not do anything else, quickly you get out of samsara. You get the same result much quicker. So these persons that do this, give up every other process and simply concentrate on bhakti. So bhakti is not dependent on Jnana or karma or varnashrama or anything else. So simply by depending on the Supreme Lord, they attain the Supreme Lord.

So when we talk about ‘ananya bhakti’ or ‘ananyena yogena’, it means no karma, no jnana, no tapas, nothing else. So of course, liberation from samsara means, freedom from samsara, destroying samsara, means liberation out of the material world. So this is attained very easily through bhakti. Why? Because one gets the mercy of the Lord. So just by surrendering to the Lord, you can get out of the ocean of samsara. Why? Because the Lord gives you mercy. In chapter 9, Krishna says, I am equal to everyone but I have affection for my devotees. So it is this affection which helps the devotee. That affection is not there for the Jnanis or the Yogis. Of course, after a long time, the Lord has a little affection, so he gives a little mercy by giving them liberation after a long time.

So then, there is a whole series of verses. This is actually the whole purpose of why I was presenting this, because the next verses are a little confusing for many devotees. He says, concentrate your mind on me, not on impersonal Brahman, fix your intelligence on me, you will attain residence with me after leaving the body without doubt. Then He says, otherwise, if you are not able to concentrate your mind on me steadily, then seek to attain me by the method of repetition, of fixing your mind on me, some practice. And if you are unable to practice, then do services for me, not karma.

Performing activities for my pleasure, you get perfection. Then he says in verse 11, if you cannot do this, take shelter of dedicating prescribed actions to me. Dedicate all your karmas to me. Control your mind, act with attachment. Basically, this is Niskama Karma Yoga. So, in one sense, this is okay. We can understand what this means. If you can’t completely concentrate, you practice. If you can’t practice so much meditating, then you do activities.

If you can’t do activities, at least do Karma Yoga.

But then, the next verse is the one that becomes puzzling. Because we have the word Jnana, Abhyasa and Dhyana, and then Karma follows ‘tyaga’. So definitely, we had Abhyasa mentioned previously, practice. And we can say, Jnana is there, meditate, concentrate on the Lord completely. But how does Jnana get in there [Laughs]? So therefore, this is where Vishwanatha Cakravarti gives a nice explanation.

So, Manana, which means contemplation using your intellect or Jnana, is better than practice. But meditation is better than Manana or using your intelligence. Because through that meditation, you get to Bhava. If we attain Bhava, we are completely detached from Karma, Bhukti and Mukti, etc. And then one becomes peaceful. So, actually in these verses, he is teaching, just do Bhakti, nothing else.

Other processes, we talked about verse 11, if you can’t do Bhakti, then you do this Nishkama Karma Yoga. That’s not Bhakti. So, when we say one is better than the other, if you can’t do this, do this, it simply means that if you are completely unqualified, you start with Nishkama Karma Yoga, then you do these other things if you are more qualified.

So, the best process then is, concentrate your mind on me, not on Brahman. And then he talks about Buddhi, fix your intelligence on me. And then you attain my abode. So, ‘mayy eva’ means “only on me”. And who is me? Me means Krishna, Syamasundara form with the yellow cloth and the forest garland, nothing else, not Brahman [Laughs].

And he talks about engaging his intelligence, Buddhi. So, what does Buddhi do? Buddhi makes distinctions. So, we can say, we use our intelligence to distinguish one thing from another or whatever. So, Vishwanatha Cakravarti says here, that means using your intelligence means Manana, contemplation, philosophical contemplation.

So, we think of the scriptures and we try to figure out what is the conclusion of the scriptures using your intelligence. So, that last verse talking about one is better than the other, he is talking about Jnana, he is referring to this using the intelligence in that particular verse. But better than just using your intelligence, that should finally lead to complete absorption of the mind in Krishna, that is Dhyana. And when we do that, then we get abode of the Lord.

Then, if you can’t do this concentration, whatever, or even use your intelligence, Manana, contemplation, then you practice. Very few people can immediately do meditation. So, we practice, meditating on the Lord. So, this is called Abhyasa. So, therefore, all this is called internal, using mind, intelligence, etc. We do Abhyasa, then we do the contemplation, Manana, then we concentrate the mind completely, then we get Prema. So, therefore, through practice, eventually we attain perfection of meditation on the Lord, then we get Prema, that’s the idea.

If you cannot even practice like this, then you do service, external services. And if you do those activities of service, then you will eventually get perfection.

So, of course, this is reasonable. Trying to practice controlling the mind also is difficult for people. So, if we are in ignorance, very difficult to concentrate the mind on the Lord. Just as if you have a jaundice, sugar candy does not taste sweet. So, if we are in ignorance, again, we have no taste for meditating, etc.

So, therefore, Krishna recommends, you do these external activities, engaging the senses. Of course, in Nectar of Devotion, Rupa Goswami gives the definition of Bhakti. So we have hearing, kirtan, bowing down to the Lord, worshipping the Lord, sweeping the Lord, the temple, washing the temple, etc. So even if you don’t remember the Lord when you do these activities, because it is related to the Lord, you get results. So, therefore, if we can’t even do the abhyas or the mental things, then at least we do the external things.

However, if we can’t do this, which are all these things, external bhakti, internal bhakti, then you do this Niskama Karma Yoga. Of course, in this Niskama Karma Yoga, offering your activities to me, doing your activities, they are offered to the Lord. So, they become devotional.

So, it’s not just Niskama Karma Yoga, but there is some direct involvement of the Lord by offering the results to the Lord. So, therefore, this is like the bottom recommendation, the last recommendation of the Lord, the lowest. So, internal bhakti, manana and then Jnana, difficult, if we don’t have intelligence. External bhakti, easier. Everyone can do it. So, that’s why he recommends that. So, using the intelligence and the mind etc. is rarer. But the external bhakti is for everyone.

Nevertheless, all of these are part of bhakti process. And one should lead to the other until we get to prema. So, if you can’t do that, you don’t have faith in the Lord, you can’t fix your senses on the Lord, then you offer Niskama Karmas to the Lord.

So, that is what he is saying by this verse, if you can’t do this, do that, if you can’t do that, do this. Yeah, so therefore, we have at the bottom, we have Niskama Karma Yoga, better than that of course is external activities of bhakti, better than that is internal activities, starting with intellectual stuff and scriptures, going to meditation or practice verse and then internal meditation and then finally we get to prema.

Then at the end we find Shanti, you get peace [Laughs]. So, the result, the idea there is that we get, we surpass everything by the process of bhakti. When we practice bhakti and then we get to bhava and prema, we surpass liberation. And in fact, liberation becomes insignificant. What to speak of desiring fruits of svarga loka or material things, even liberation becomes insignificant to one who has got to that realization of the Lord through dhyana. This of course is stated directly in Nectar of Devotion by Rupa Gosvami.

And there, at the beginning of the whole work, there is a list of six unique qualities of bhakti. The first two, klesa-ghni, subhada, destruction of suffering and bestowal of good qualities, start to manifest in sadhana bhakti. The second two qualities are disregard for liberation and rareness. They manifest in bhava. And then the last two qualities, sandrananda or condensed bliss and Krishna’s attraction to the devotee, manifest in prema.

So, in this analysis of Vishwanatha Cakravarti, talking about dhyana, he equates that with bhava bhakti, there you become completely disregard liberation. So, in the verse he mentioned ‘karma-phala-tyaga’, giving up, renouncing the results of your karmas, etc. So that means complete detachment from bhukti and mukti. So, that quality of even disregarding liberation takes place in bhava stage, stage of dhyana. So, in this diagram we have sadhana bhakti, which is largely external, engaging the senses. You get your first two qualities, klesa-ghni, subhadha begin to manifest.

They continue, more klesa-ghni and subhadha in bhava, but we get these two extra qualities, disregard for liberation and rarity. So, in prema we get the four qualities of bhava there, more intense, plus the two extra qualities, sandrananda and krishnakarshini. So, that’s what he means by through dhyana we get ‘karma-phala-tyaga’ complete, through bhava, complete rejection of liberation and karma and material enjoyment.

So, he attains peace. What this means is, no more attraction of the senses to sense objects, senses only concentrated on Supreme Lord.

So, in this explanation of Vishwanatha Cakravarti, we got a whole explanation of different stages, from people with no faith in bhakti, all the way with sadhana bhakti and going through bhava, up to prema.

And previously in verse 8, this is what He said, by doing this, concentrating on me completely using your intelligence, you will attain my residence, you will attain spiritual world.

So, we are supposed to have questions or something? It’s not finished, but anyway, I’ll do this tomorrow.

Q & A

1) So, in the beginning of the 12th chapter, we see the difference between Baladeva Vidyabhushana’s commentary and Visvanatha Chakravarti Thakur’s commentary. Baladeva Vidyabhushana says that devotional service is better than realizing the self but Visvanatha Chakravarti Thakur takes the first one.

Anyway, whatever. Obviously, if Baladeva is writing another commentary on the same work, it must be different. If it’s the same, why would he write the work? And we see in Visvanatha Chakravarti Thakur’s works, generally he is rejecting Dharma, Kārma, Varṇāśrama and all that. That’s quite emphatically. Whereas, Baladeva is a little more conservative and he also has some regard for you know Kārma-yoga, Varṇāśrama, etc,. So, he has a unique explanation of Bhaktī.

Baladeva defines Bhaktī in terms of your attachment to Varṇāśrama. So, the lowest stage is called Saniṣṭha-Bhaktī, where you do the Bhaktī, but you got attachment to your nitya naimitikka Kriyās, Kārma-yoga, etc,.

The second type of person is called Pariṇiṣṭhā devotees. He does Pure Bhaktī, no attachment to anything, but still he does his Varṇāśrama system. So he does it only to teach others. So, we have examples like Ambarish Maharaj, or yudhistrar, who do their Kārma, rule the kingdom, all that, but they have no attachment to it. They are actually pure devotees.

And then we have next category called Nirapēkṣa. They just do the Bhaktī, Pure Bhaktī and they completely reject all the duties of Varṇāśrama, Dharma, Kārma-yoga, etc,. So, that idea he puts into the Bhagavad Gita, in this chapter on Bhaktī-yoga and in Brahma, Pūrvā, Sanātana, he puts this idea again. So, he has a little bit unique way of explaining things in terms of attachment to Varṇāśrama.

2) When we say, Kārma naivayi samsiddhim asita janaka daya, when we say Janaka Maharaj, just by doing Kārma he has attained perfection, does it mean he is a Niśkāmakarma-yogi or he is a Bhaktī-yogi?

Janaka Maharaj. Well, our Ācāryas don’t mention much about Janaka, so I don’t know. But his class is a mahajan, so we accept him as some sort of devotee, doing Pure Bhaktī, but probably we put him in the Pariṇiṣṭhā category again. He is a mahajan, a Pure Bhakta . So, we put him in the Pariṇiṣṭhā category.

3) So, when we say Klesha Adhikara Stesha, we have more suffering. Suffering more means suffering more than what? What is the deliverance from suffering means?

Kleshagni, you are talking about Klesha Adhikara or Klesha Adhikarata, you mean the Jñānī suffers more, extreme suffering. What is the extreme suffering? He has to suffer because he tries to control his senses but it is difficult to control the senses. So, the goal is to stop the senses and the mind from functioning. So, that is very difficult. It can be done, but difficult.

Just like we have children, they like to play. So, we say, “don’t, stop playing”. Still they want to play. Of course, ultimately we can punish them and do this and that and after much endeavor, we can stop them and do nothing. They will sit there in the room doing nothing all day. But it is a big endeavor.

4) So, when we say Niśkāmakarma-yoga is the lowest thing, why Arjuna was advised to do Niśkāmakarma-yoga, being a Pure Devotee?

Kṛṣṇa advised Arjuna, you are not qualified for Jñāna, you do Niśkāmakarma-yoga. This is an external instruction. It is not the ultimate truth. Arjuna is eternal śākhā of Kṛṣṇa. He is Nityasiddha. So, he is beyond all of this.

But he is also playing the role of a Kṣatriyā. And from the material point of view, Kṣatriyās are a mixture of Sāttva and Rajas. They are not qualified for Jñāna. To be qualified for Jñāna, you have to be Sāttvic. So, according to the scriptures, if you are a Vaiśyas, Kṣatriyās or Śūdras, you are not qualified for Jñāna. Only the Brāhmaṇas are qualified to study the Upanishads and the Brahma-Sutras.

5) Since Arjuna was recommending or asking for Jñāna-Yoga, so Kṛṣṇa recommended, no, you are not qualified for Jñāna-Yoga, so take up Niśkāmakarma-yoga. If Arjuna would have asked for devotional service, then he may not recommend Niśkāmakarma-yoga like that?

Well ,this is a ‘if’ question. We don’t know! Because Bhagavat Gita is constructed to teach certain principles. So, he teaches, don’t do Jñāna-Yoga, you are not qualified to do Kārma-yoga, so the principle is, you act according to your qualification. Later, in Chapter 9, of course, Kṛṣṇa, kind of makes a mixture there, when he says, you know, do all your activities for me, whatever you do, your Tapasya or whatever you offer to me.

So, he tells Kṛṣṇa to do Bhaktī-yoga, but actually also Karma-yoga, offering the activities to the Lord, as we see in this verse, Niśkāmakarma-yoga, offering the activities to the Lord. So, this again is because of qualification. Well, you can do Bhaktī-yoga kind of, but do Kārma-yoga also because you are a Kṣatriyā.

But, then at the end of the Bhagavad Gita, Kṛṣṇa says, don’t do any of this, just do Bhaktī, surrender to me. So, if you have faith in the Lord and surrender to Him, you don’t have to do anything else, that’s the conclusion finally. So, that is the final recommendation of Kṛṣṇa to Arjuna, just do Bhaktī-yoga.

6) Hare Krishna Maharaj! Regarding Niśkāmakarma-yoga, are there two types of Niśkāmakarma-yoga, one with offering the fruits to Krishna and one without offering the fruits to Krishna, is there two types of Niśkāmakarma-yoga?

Of course, in all Karma-Yoga, Niśkāmakarma-yoga or Sakāmakarma-Yoga, Visvanatha also states that if there is not a little bit of Bhaktī, also it is useless, as with Jnāṇa( check if it’s Jñānis).

So, we can do that with a little bit of Bhaktī, Sakāma or Niśkāma. We can go a step further and do Kṛṣṇa-Arpaṇa, offer the results of that Niśkāmakarma-yoga to Kṛṣṇa, so that’s even better because it’s more of a direct relationship with Kṛṣṇa. So, then we’ll say, well, this looks like Bhaktī-yoga then. The answer is, “No”.

Bhaktī-yoga are direct activities like chanting the Lord’s name, hearing the activities of the Lord, worshipping the deity. This Niśkāmakarma-yoga involves Sandhyavandana, Tarpaṇas, all this sort of things. So, different activities. So, this is called, Jiva Goswami calls it āropa siddha bhakti. The Kārma-yoga becomes kind of Bhaktī-yoga by being connected to Bhaktī-yoga. Still, the direct processes of Bhaktī are superior.

One other difference, also mentioned later on, I’ll explain, is that in this offering of activities, you do the activity, then you offer it to the Lord. In Bhaktī-yoga, the activity is offered to the Lord before you do it. In Bhaktī-yoga, the activity is directly dedicated to the Lord, whereas in Niśkāmakarma-yoga, the activity is later dedicated to the Lord.

7) Hare Krishna! Pranams Maharaj. Sloka number 10, doing activities for Kṛṣṇa, is it also included in Sādhanā-Bhaktī? It was mentioned as external activities. So, is it also included in Sādhanā-Bhaktī?

This is the Mad-artham Karmāṇi, this is the one, then 10.So, this is external Bhaktī. So, basically, we can equate that with Sādhanā-Bhaktī. Of course, within Sādhanā-Bhaktī, I mentioned, we do have internal elements like concentrating, Smaraṇam is using the mind, Jñāna is also an Anga of Bhakti. But there is a large, great emphasis upon engaging the senses. So, we can say this is the external Bhaktī, but it is Sādhanā-Bhaktī.

8) Hare Krishna Maharaj! Dandavat Pranams. Thank you for the wonderful class, Maharaj. I have a question. Like you mentioned the external Bhaktī is Sādhanā-Bhaktī, which may involve Smaraṇam and Mananā. My internal Bhaktī, they are always in Smaraṇam and Mananā and what will be their activities, Maharaj? Do they do Angas of Sādhanā-Bhaktī also, like worshipping deity, Japa?

HH Bhanu Swami Maharaj: Those on a higher level, like Bhāva, you are talking about?

Devotee: Maharaj? Those who are on a higher level.

HH Bhanu Swami Maharaj: So, those who are more involved in internal Sādhanā, like Smaraṇam, Mananā, Jñāna, etc,. do not, on purpose, neglect external Bhaktī and even if they are very advanced in Bhāva or Prema, they still use their external body to do activities.

So, we have example of the Goswamis in Vrindavan, they were chanting, they were hearing, they were worshipping deity, etc., using external senses. So, we can see how the Goswamis in Vrindavan used their external body to worship deity.

9) Hare Krishna Maharaj! Dandavat Pranams. Actually, in Jñāna also, there is little bit of Bhaktī, right? So, Jñāna means like knowledgeable person, right? When they have been instructed that you have to do little bit Bhaktī, why they are not taking the Bhaktī? Why they are doing Jñāna?

Well, Some people are interested in Brahman, some people are interested in Paramātmā, some are interested in Bhāgavān. Some are interested in Viṣṇu, some are interested in Rāmā, some are interested in Kṛṣṇa and we cannot force people above their interest.

Of course, by association with the devotees, hopefully a Jñāni could change. Some of them don’t. Some of them do. Sukadeva was a Jñāni, he became a Bhakta. So, it’s individual choice.

10) So, it confirms that Jīva has a free will. And also, like every Jiva has a svarūpa, right Maharaj? So, even though the Jñāni goes to Brahman also, at any Kalpa, eternally, they have to go to the svarūpa, right? Like belongings, spiritual world.

For people who merge in Brahman, their svarūpa is that. They like that.

11) Dandavat Pranams. If one worships Narasiṃha, he gets the remembrance of Prahlād. If one worships Rāmā, he gets the remembrance of Hanuman. So, if these thoughts come in the ladder where the mind is fixed, in the Bhaktī-yoga ladder, how to find on which level he is fixed? Or Sādhanā, Bhāva or Prema? When they worship a particular deity, some character role comes.

Oh, that could happen even at the beginning of Bhaktī. The Supreme Lord is never separate from the devotees. We cannot simply meditate only on Supreme Lord. There must be some devotee there. And that’s why Prabhupada often said, you never depict Kṛṣṇa just alone, nothing there. So, Kṛṣṇa is there, but there will always be some devotee there. Maybe Radha, maybe Sakis, maybe cowherd boys, maybe cows, maybe peacocks, something is there. So, that can happen from the very beginning of our Bhaktī.

12) Guru Maharaj, while handling a critical situation, there are both Dharmaśāstra and Arthaśāstra. So, how should a devotee approach it?

So actually Baladeva Vidyabhusan talks about this at the beginning of his commentary and the different Scriptures give different recommendations. So, we’ll get confused because they give opposite directions. But basically, Artha is at the bottom, Dharma is higher, Jñāna is higher and Bhaktī is the highest.

13) Hare Krishna Maharaj. Maharaj, your slide was mentioning Gnani realized Brahman and part of Bhāgavān. What is part of Bhāgavān Maharaj?

So we see from Bhagavatham that Brahman, Paramātmā and Bhāgavān are “Advaya”-they are all part of one entity. So, Bhāgavān includes everything. But, if we start taking away his qualities and activities, ultimately we are left with Brahman. So, Brahman is Bhāgavān where none of his Śaktis manifest to reveal his form, qualities and activities. So, it is Bhāgavān, but Bhāgavān not manifesting form, qualities and activities. So, that’s Brahman.

Devotees: Srimad Bhagavad Gita Ki.. Jai !! HH Bhanu Swami Maharaj Ki.. Jai !! HDG AC Bhakti Vedanta Swami Srila Prabhupad Ki.. Jai !!