20011105 Bhagavad-gītā 2.14

The following is a class given by His Holiness Jayapatākā Swāmi Mahārāja on November 5th, 2001 at New Pānihaṭi dhāma in Atlanta, Georgia, USA. The class begins with a reading from Bhagavad-gītā, Second Chapter, Verse 14.

mātrā-sparśās tu kaunteya
śītoṣṇa-sukha-duḥkha-dāḥ
āgamāpāyino ’nityās
tāṁs titikṣasva bhārata

Translation: O son of Kuntī, the nonpermanent appearance of happiness and distress, and their disappearance in due course, are like the appearance and disappearance of winter and summer seasons. They arise from sense perception, O scion of Bharata, and one must learn to tolerate them without being disturbed.

Purport: In the proper discharge of duty, one must learn to tolerate nonpermanent appearances and disappearances of happiness and distress. According to Vedic injunction, one has to take his bath early in the morning even during the month of Māgha (January-February). In America we have heater at homes usually, the water is heated. But this includes that going like in Kumbh mela in the month of March and the Triveni - Ganga, Yamuna, Sarasvatī are not heated. The water there was like three degrees centigrade which was like nearly thirty nine, forty degrees Fahrenheit or something like that, you know cold water. They went down to the river. River waters are warm compared to the air almost. But the water was quite cold.

It is very cold at that time, but in spite of that a man who abides by the religious principles does not hesitate to take his bath. Similarly, a woman does not hesitate to cook in the kitchen in the months of May and June, the hottest part of the summer season. One has to execute his duty in spite of climatic inconveniences. Similarly, to fight is the religious principle of the kṣatriyas, and although one has to fight with some friend or relative, one should not deviate from his prescribed duty. One has to follow the prescribed rules and regulations of religious principles in order to rise up to the platform of knowledge, because by knowledge and devotion only can one liberate himself from the clutches of māyā or illusion.The two different names of address given to Arjuna are also significant.

To address him as Kaunteya signifies his great blood relations from his mother’s side; and to address him as Bhārata signifies his greatness from his father’s side. From both sides he is supposed to have a great heritage. A great heritage brings responsibility in the matter of the proper discharge of duties; therefore, he cannot avoid fighting.

Thus ends the translation and purports of Śrīmad Bhagavad Gīta As it is Second Chapter 14th Verse in the matter of the Contents of the Gīta summarised.

Hariḥ oṁ tat sat!

Jayapatākā Swami: Arjuna was in a state of, probably what today would be considered as depression. He didn't see any happiness ahead of him by fighting. Therefore, he didn't want to fight. But his duty was right above that either because his occupation was - he was a general and chief of the army and they have all assembled to fight. So it was a contradiction. So then he asked Kṛṣṇa what he should do, what he shouldn’t do, become his  guru - his spiritual master. So then Kṛṣṇa admonished him and told him that you are talking like a very learned person about peace and about so many things, but actually no learned person will speak your words. So indirectly telling him that, that’s foolish. And then after that Kṛṣṇa is explaining why, what should be Arjuna’s duty? So this was a very spiritual verse which is already discussed in here also about the difference of the body and the soul. But this particular verse is about the nature of the material world. If we get depressed or unhappy because of our distressful situations impending and therefore we decide to be a coward or not to do our duty, that's a very weak thing to do. And if you want to get back to Kṛṣṇa ultimately we have to do our prescribed duty, to do the things that makes someone pleasing to Kṛṣṇa. When we don't do that, then ultimately although we may do it for some immediate apparent happiness, that happiness also is very fluctuating. So we may have happiness for a little while then it goes away also. So ultimately we should make decisions based on what is good for our Kṛṣṇa Consciousness, what’s the right thing to do in relation to dharma or religious principles. So there is some higher principles that are to be considered here more than just the temporary happiness and distress that you may see coming on or may be experiencing. Somebody may get an inheritance that now I have enough money, I don’t need to chant Hare Kṛṣṇa anymore. I was chanting because I was in distress. Now I have money so I can enjoy. But then after some time they spend all their money and then they are suffering again.

On the other hand, we have someone like Vipra Sudāma, he was very poor but he always performed his religious duty. He never wavered in his duty. His wife was saying, “You are the friend of Kṛṣṇa who is the richest person in existence. Why don’t you go and ask Him to give us some money so we don't have to [10:46 not clear] we are so poor. It's not good that friend of Kṛṣṇa is so poor. “So the husband will be preaching to his wife that it doesn't matter. But the wife kept pushing him to go. So then he thought anyway it would be good to go to Kṛṣṇa, may be would be a break. [Laughter] But specially he wanted to see Kṛṣṇa, he went. So he took some chivḍa with him and he went to - like he didn't have anything to give Kṛṣṇa, he had to bring some, so he begged some flat rice from some neighbours  and he went to see Kṛṣṇa. When he arrived in Dvārakā, then all the doors were opening for him as if he was like, you know, well known ambassador coming to see the ruler and he was surprised literally to see Dvārakā. He was quite amazed how everybody was, “Oh! Vipra Sudāmā, come, come. Kṛṣṇa is waiting for you.” So he finally gets through all the different security doors, right into the inner sanctum of Kṛṣṇa and then Kṛṣṇa greets His friend. And, although they were god-brothers, but now Kṛṣṇa is playing the līlā - the pastime as if He is a kṣatriya and  Vipra Sudāmā is a brāhmaṇa. So he wants to offer His friend a royal reception -  the brahminical reception . He bathed his feet and Rukmiṇi was fanning him. And they were talking about the old times together, when they were in gurukula together and how they were, you know.  What happened was, one time they were all gathering wood. And they were young boys, all gathering wood and then they got caught in the storm and they took shelter under a tree in the big rainstorm and the guru, Sāndīpani Muni was very worried because they didn't come back with the other boys. So they went out looking for them with torches and things. Then finally they found them and they brought them back. So they had all these intimate pastimes together and they were remembering everything. Kṛṣṇa was so happy to see His old friend. It was a very loving exchange of memories, nostalgia and friendship. Then He saw that there was something tied up in his dhoti to give to Kṛṣṇa . So he said, “What is it you brought to give Me?”

And then Vipra  Sudāma said, “No no, no. I have not brought - nothing. It's not good enough for You.”

“What do you mean it's not good enough for Me? Whatever My devotee brings, it’s good enough for Me.”

But I mean, Kṛṣṇa is living in this fabulous palace where the columns are made out of, you know, diamonds, different gems, studded stones, everything is so opulent. What does a bunch of, you know, flat rice begged from his neighbors and it is he’s embarrassed, to simply give this to Kṛṣṇa. He can have the best of anything He wants. Why should I give this? But then Kṛṣṇa was insistent. “No,no, whatever you  brought Me, whatever My devotee brings Me, it’s, it's very dear to Me.” So Kṛṣṇa practically by force, He opened up that cloth and took out the flat rice and He took a bite, took another bite, He is ready to take a third bite and then Lakṣmi - Rukmiṇi Devi stopped Him. She said, “Don’t take three bites, You’ll put me in big difficulty.” Because whatever Kṛṣṇa accepts from His devotees then He reciprocates and gives blessings accordingly. She was saying that since he has begged -  he doesn't have anything on His own - he had to beg. That means he was giving beyond his resources. So by taking once from him he should get - like super opulent from the world, twice should be like equal with Kṛṣṇa and three times someone should be exactly equal - that he has given more than his capacity, so then She should give him more than Kṛṣṇa’s capacity to give. That’s not possible. There is nothing beyond Kṛṣṇa. So Kṛṣṇa takes three times then She doesn’t know how She’ll reciprocate with that. So She said, “Kṛṣṇa! Give me a break. I don't know how to bless him, you know, give him three times, probably twice of already, probably three times, it would be a problem, unable to just reciprocate.”

And we know how when Vipra Sudāma went back home, he didn't see his little cottage anymore. He saw in place of his old cottage was a big palace and this beautiful woman with all kinds of maid servants came out to greet him, you know, “Well, who is this?”  He saw it wasn't his skinny wife anymore. She had gotten beautiful because she has food now. Now what all Kṛṣṇa gave us. “Thank you for asking.” He never asked Kṛṣṇa for anything. Because he could never bring himself to ask. How could he ask? He was just there to see his friend. He was so happy with all the loving affection Kṛṣṇa gave. He could never ask Kṛṣṇa give me something. It would be like you know, too cheap.  His relationship was a loving mellow. He did not, he didn’t ask. Kṛṣṇa decided and gave him some blessings. When he got all these material facilities - he was tolerant when he was poor and when he was rich, he was also tolerant. He didn't say, “Ok, now I got all these riches now let me enjoy my life. Forget about Kṛṣṇa. No, He said Kṛṣṇa has given me all these facilities, let me use that for Kṛṣṇa’s service. Let me worship Kṛṣṇa in this nice palace and establish a nice temple in His home and worship and preach.” So that’s why against of the equals of happiness and distress, we don't worry in difficult times, we don't lose hope and give up our devotional service. We stick to it. And if it's a good time we don't also give up our devotional service and say, “Well now this is okay, so I don't need it now. Make hay while the sun shines and as if let me just enjoy life now, worry about death later. Because as we know that death can come anytime, so someone is always engaged in Kṛṣṇa’s service - twelve months a year, fifty-two weeks a year, three sixty five days then doesn't matter their life and their death are all auspicious because they are always in Kṛṣṇa consciousness. So the devotees, they always remain moderate - in distress or if their opulent they are so moderate in their existence and keep Kṛṣṇa as their top priority in their life.

Now in the world we were, you know, things were a little bit looking difficult economically, but not that bad, so they know, we are like at war and there's so many people who are senselessly killed in a callous attack. So this could make somebody very much down or depressed about the whole future of things. Whether there is some difficulty or whether there is something good, we need to do our duties. We need to do our proper Kṛṣṇa conscious thing. I was thinking about this present war in relation to the vedic culture and it does say that if somebody is in the court of martyr, you can defend yourself against an arson, against an attacker - aggressor and in the Bhāgavatam Dhruva was one of them, renowned devotees of the Lord. His brother was killed by a yakśa and he demanded that, you know,  the yakśa could not begin it over the  so that he attacked the yakśas. Later the battle got so out of control that some higher personalities had to be in defendant, it was getting too much. But they never criticised that  initially attacked. They criticised that what was happening, it was becoming as a whole interplanetary war between the Yakśaloka and the Earth planet because one person was killed. So ultimately the person who did that - the responsible people - they should be punished not that the whole yakśa race should be annihilated because a yakśa did a crime. So he was thinking in that same - that’s what the authorities are at least saying they are trying to do, is to focus on the perpetrators and their supporters, what would seem to be according to the court of  - what Dhruva was following when he was rightly situated, the thing escalated, out of control and started to really involve many innocent people, then it would be getting too hard. The focus is on the rejector would seem to be quite to the courts of model - example great devotees - to take such steps while it’s the right thing to do. It is said it’s not against the religious principles to do such things in the government - Kṛṣṇa conscious government. So what we will do in this circumstance? Is .this correct and the court will think that well, we quite have a situation.

So what we find in Mahābhārata all these difficult situations the Pāṇḍavas were put in. Yudhiśṭira always made decisions based on religious principles. And the Pāṇḍavas they were always based on what was the right thing to do. The greater truth, what's the proper - based on religious principles  which was the greatest truth. And on the other hand we had Duryodhana who always would decide what was immediately better for his own selfish interest. He was expert manager, he was a good leader, he was an able politician, he was  very deft  cheater, manipulator, an atheist person. But he was considered to be a demon because he would go to any end to achieve his own interest. So sometimes he would do somethings which happens to be good, happens to be according to religious principles he will do it. If it happened to be against the religious principles but is good for him that he will do it too. Maybe all things being equal, do something religious, but if it really was good for him, he wouldn’t hesitate to sacrifice the principles. But he thought that the Pāṇḍavas are weak because they would follow the religious principles. They wouldn't lie, they wouldn’t cheat. They are innocent people. So that's why it became a clash in family between good and evil. Sometimes evil is really trouble. Sometimes evil looks kind of good from certain perspectives if you are in the mode of passion. That is why you get some people say even evil is good.

So what's very important in our own daily lives, when we make our decisions, we should consider what's the correct thing, what will be pleasing to guru and Kṛṣṇa. But then the sādhu, the śāstra, the guru says, I should do in those circumstances, we try the best we can. Maybe in some details we are not able to do anything perfectly all the time, Prabhupāda, he wrote GBC resolve this, which they also got solutions. Brought this to life in order to following some principles. Devotees shouldn’t get depressed futher. Also they lose their enthusiasm because they will not be able to follow something exactly, perfectly. But they shouldn’t. So maintain their endeavors to come up to the higher standards of Kṛṣṇa consciousness. Sometimes may be details, somethings might be their nature. Even the fact if somebody is considering what's the right things to do, it is a very big step. And some of the people, they don't even think about it - right or wrong whatever appears to be of interest to them. So because of that one of the statements. All the people have adharmas - apadharmas, channadharmas. They have irreligion, they have covered religion, they have [28:13 not clear] religion, they have different kinds of apparent religious principles which are actually misinterpretations that turns people away from religion. Sometimes people in the name of religion they are doing so many bad things. But it is like saying, you know, there are some doctors who are quacks - who are not practising medicine properly. Therefore we should give up medicine. It doesn't make any sense. Even if there are some doctors who are doing malpractice it doesn't  mean every doctor is doing malpractice so that the whole science of medicine should be given up. Whether we should leave out the bad doctors except to ban, facilitate the good doctors to do the therapies. So religion is like that. Usually in the Vedic time, the kings had a duty to maintain the people follow whatever their religion was. Prabhupāda was talking about that what to do if Kṛṣṇa consciousness were in the government were different religions. Would Kṛṣṇa consciousness be tolerant? Prabhupāda was saying that a Kṛṣṇa conscious government would not enforce people - rather facilitate people in practicing their own religion. But what to do - if the government should enforce, then anybody preaching a particular religion should be practicing what they preach. If somebody is preaching Christianity, they should not - they should be preaching according to the Christian scripture. Not - you know, in the name of Christianity they are preaching something which is against the Bible. Or some of this preaching from the Vedas, they actually find him to be an avatāra or something, which is not condoned by the Vedas to say that you are an incarnation of God. Prabhupāda cited how Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura, how he had taken steps to expose the Phalgu Bāba - the bhogi yogi - who claimed to be an avatāra of Kṛṣṇa. There are so many bhogi incarnations, always, you know, one or two around takes place in India.

Three years ago there was one in Northern Orissa who was claiming to be an incarnation of Jagannātha [laughter] in the flesh of Kṛṣṇa. See there people come and take darśana and he closes the temple door and come back after about an hour and the whole temple will be filled with mahāprasādam pots that is distributed to all the people.[31:52 not clear] so that they don't They said because he was in meditation. He was not in Jagannatha all the time but prasāda would come. That's because he was saying he was Kṛṣṇa,  he was dancing with their wives like Kṛṣṇa used to dance with the gopīs. So some husbands, some aren’t happy about this and they got the police on him. Some inspector was investigating, they found that there was smoke coming from the ground - about 100m away from his temple - forest. So that's not very usual, it is all like that - cooking rice, dal, subji. So next time when he did his meditation, he closed the door. In the raid, when they opened the door, they found that there was a trap door under the floor of the carpet on the floor of the temple and there was a tunnel. Near the underground kitchen [laughter] and they are cooking up Jagannātha bhoga - Jagannatha so-called prasāda and putting it in the temple. So he took all the villagers who had been hoodwinked by the guy that he was a bonafide incarnation just because he provided them with mahāprasādam. He was two hundred miles away from Jagannātha Pūri. When they saw how he was standing there misusing their wives for so many things, they  [33:29 not clear] him for two hours [laughter]. He had lot of hair and they pulled out the hair one by one. [laughter] So now in South India there is somebody who claims to be Kalki avatāra. Oh, came a little early. Kalki is expected 427,000 years from now. Like this it is always going on. So many people claim so many things. Innocent people accept it.

So Kṛṣṇa consciousness is trying to present the oldest teachings of Lord Kṛṣṇa as it is. Lord Caitanya came to give everybody this opportunity that by practising Kṛṣṇa consciousness  - by practising Kṛṣṇa bhakti and chanting

Hare Kṛṣṇa Hare Kṛṣṇa Kṛṣṇa Kṛṣṇa Hare Hare
 Hare Rāma Hare Rāma Rāma Rāma Hare Hare

the mantra will achieve all success in their spiritual life in this age of kali.  This came from the twenty fifth anniversary ratha-yātra, in Mexico and it is very well attended. On the twenty fifth anniversary of Kṛṣṇa consciousness in Lima, Peru there was also a very nice festival and annual festival in Russia about three thousand devotees attended there. That was in India, there was always in India. Kṛṣṇa consciousness,  whatever people practise, it is working very well. To mention how really the festivals where in Russia, there were young people came to attend the chanting for about five, six hours. Next day some of the couples came to see me and they mentioned how they never felt happy like that in their lives. So they want to know what is it that they were singing. So this chanting of Hare Kṛṣṇa even if someone doesn't know what it is, still works. Once in Hyderabad, South India, one man came up to me and said, “ Every religion  is secular have blind faith. Blind faith. Is there any religion without faith, you can still do, it works?  [laughter] This is India, you know, people always have philosophical questions. They never asked me in America but I was thinking, ‘Wow, what a question!’ Then I remembered. I said, “No. There is a process. Even without faith, if you chant the names of God, even if you don't know what the name is, it still works. Just like Ratnākara, he was chanting the word murder, murder, murder, kill, kill, kill in Sanskrit which is marā marā marā marā marā. So by chanting a word which - he was  a murderer, he was a robber.  When you chant it in sequence marā marā marā marā marā marā, it becomes Rāma Rāma Rāma Rāma. So by chanting Rāma, even he was thinking something else it still worked. So this chanting it is like  Prabhupāda says it is like fire. When you put your hand in fire, whether you believe it or don't believe it or not you will get burnt. Somebody does chant somehow with an open mind if they just chant, so you feel, some difference from the chanting. So we hope that there are some devotees here who go about their chanting so that they know they should take advantage of the chanting. Even if someone doesn’t know, they chant, they get the benefit. And we know if we don't chant that is a [38:53 not clear] this opportunity to perfect our human form of life. I don't know [39:08 not clear] if you want to see some of the slides 38:09 not clear]  August right?

Too much, shouldn’t take too long [laughter] if you want. Tell me I have a projector. Ten minutes for someone to go and bring and set it up.

On God and dharma: If you are talking about water in different countries, you know, somebody says H₂O, whatever the quality of it  is, you get a lot of information, one place someone calls it agua, someone else they call it water, someone else aqua, someone else jol, pāni, thaṇṇi. We are talking about the same thing. So what is the definition? The definition in Kṛṣṇa consciousness of the Supreme Personality of Godhead or God is basically the same, it is - in Christianity we are talking about the same person. We are saying that Kṛṣṇa is the original person, He is like origin of everything from whom everything is coming, He is all-pervasive, all-knowing and He revealed that. My Mom, she was, you know, she is a Christian. She chants Hare Kṛṣṇa, like she goes to the - very active in the church. She read - I think it’s verse 21 - 21 or 25. Get the chapter - chapter 5.21. That’s the number that comes in my mind but I may be wrong and He is telling his marshals. Don't think you are my only followers. I have many flowers of different kinds, many birds in the world. You are one of them. But I need to hold the other flowers. Then she wrote, she said - Kṛṣṇa consciousness is one of the other flowers. I just saw yesterday, somebody had a big poster of Jesus wearing tilaka. [laughter] But it is said that when Jesus was in the planet - Hare Kṛṣṇa. I was attracted to Kṛṣṇa consciousness from Buddhism  because of - may be my Christian background - I was in Buddhism, somehow, may be it did, maybe it did not, I don't know. I also heard that they asked what about the kingdom of God. Nityānanda said what, I am telling you about this world, how you are going to understand about the kingdom of public. But, so how much He revealed, I mean, protected that whatever is in the Bible, that would allow more than what he had revealed. So we find that there he invites everybody to love God. And here we are teaching how to do that. Lord Caitanya said, because of kali [not clear] chant His holy name. By engaging our bodies and minds in - to serve Him. So Prabhupāda said that Kṛṣṇa consciousness is, you don't have to give up Christianity, you don't have to give up Islam, you don't have to give up the basic beliefs of any religion. This is like postgraduate study. He said it takes you to the next higher level.

This religion existed before Christianity. It is called sanātana-dharma. There is no beginning, no end. It is always there. In the scriptures it is written - according to our calculation, five thousand years ago - according to even the most  negative anthropologists  - three thousand five hundred ago. So this much older is Christianity. The point is that, what Kṛṣṇa  consciousness is it explains that it is handed down to give by God through His incarnation Vyāsadeva - who wrote it down.

Kṛṣṇa is accepted as God by all Hindus. Similarly Rāma, Nārāyana. They may have different ways or different traditions in how they respect Him, how they worship Him. Birthday of Kṛṣṇa is His appearance day, it is a national holiday - central government, appearance of Lord Rāma. So it is not that He is not respected by everybody. We have holidays like Holi, Janmāṣṭami. In fact one of the biggest holiday is Dīpāvali with Lord Rāma is one of the biggest holidays in India. So Rāma is one of the incarnations of Kṛṣṇa. So Kṛṣṇa is universally accepted but the process that we follow as far as chanting the names of Kṛṣṇa, the process is generally respected by everyone. But they never practise it the way we do. Lord Caitanya taught how to perform pure devotion. But most people do religion for kind of, is all, just like in any religion, many people they do religion out of fear of God more than out of love of God. So Lord Caitanya taught that we should love God. But most people just kind of do religion because they do relatively get good material situation. But Lord Caitanya taught us, religion is to please God and so it is a higher perspective. So that higher perspective, not everybody accepts. That’s something that we have to explain, we have to give them. We have big festivals [49:32 not clear] people from different ethnic practices. Not only restricted to Hindu. The Nepalese also. Nepal they also worship Kṛṣṇa. Janmāṣṭami is a big festival.

Scientific technology or religion. I think some scientists did it. That's how we complain about it. It is not religion. It is science and theoretical science. It is a epistemology to gather knowledge by experimentation. But they never can give you the Absolute Truth. Say that somebody sees ten million swans and all those white, so he comes up with swan hypothesis - the swan theory like the Darwin theory -  all swans are white. And if somebody comes across a black swan, in Germany they have black swans, so then the theory because one black swan, the whole theory is - it all takes some time of observing. You may observe this side. They don't know which letter is which doesn’t have to, you may find a new kind, a new thing. So theoretical scientific study can never give you hundred percent surety. Before they approve medicines to go in the market in America, they test them extensively. Maybe 10,000, 50,000, 100,000 people. What they do, they finally put them out in the market. Then after ten years they withdraw them, because they find that they caused epilepsy or something. Because in a broader - many more people took it then they find that there were problems that didn't come up in the smaller test group. So science is like that. You just test on something, you come up with some hypothesis, put some kind of idea. But you are never sure. So ultimately for that religion to be valid has to be revealed by God, because He is beyond this defect. So it is like the scientists they may say there is no God, there is no life, life comes from chemicals, but they are unable to produce life from a chemical.  You can put the DNA, you can put all the things together and shake them up, you can shoot it with electricity but still life doesn’t come. Because the Vedas say that life is an anti-material spiritual particle which is consciousness. That comes only under certain circumstances. Without that life being there, you did have all the chemicals there is no - so we are the living forces in the body, we leave the body and the body is dead. The Christians call the soul, the Vedas call it ātmā.

I have a nun who is a disciple. I told her that she should chant the names of God. So she was chanting jesu christo, jesu christo, christo christo jesu jesu . And then after a while she started chanting Hare Kṛṣṇa, just try Hare Kṛṣṇa. So she tried chanting Hare Kṛṣṇa, then she realised that whatever she was feeling by chanting Hail Mary or jesu christo she felt the same way by chanting Hare Kṛṣṇa. She heard Kṛṣṇa was stronger. Then she started reading the Bhagavad-gītā and everything and then finally she decided that  - she still believes in Jesus and she is very faithful to Jesus, but she believes that the Father is Kṛṣṇa. Kṛṣṇa’s one of the names is God, the Father. She has taken initiation, she chants Hare Kṛṣṇa. And in Bolivia there are some priests who are my disciple. He has also taken to - he is a priest in the Catholic church - chanting Hare Kṛṣṇa. I think the future will be brighter. Different religions in Kṛṣṇa consciousness.

Transcribed by Sudhāmayī Citrā Devī Dāsī

Completed on 27/Jan/2021