BG 7 Summary, Knowledge of the Absolute Truth | Rus - split | 22 Sep 1989 | Gopal Krishna Goswami

Om Namah Bhagavate Vasudevaya. Om Namah Bhagavate Vasudevaya. Om Namah Bhagavate Vasudevaya. Om Namah Bhagavate Vasudevaya. They can come in the front, some of them. So what chapter are we supposed to discuss today? 7th. Somebody said 6th. So we're going to start discussing the 7th chapter. Discussing each chapter takes about an hour and a half. Who knows what was discussed in the 6th chapter last night? Who knows? Anyone can say anything? I'm surprised that nobody is offering to say anything. What was the key point in the 6th chapter? Control the mind. Okay, good. So we have discussed in the past few days Chapters 2 to Chapter 6. Now the 7th chapter is called Knowledge of the Absolute. So in this chapter, Kṛṣṇa is giving more information about Himself. In other words, as Prabhupāda says, the full nature of Kṛṣṇa consciousness is described in this 7th chapter. Kṛṣṇa is full in all opulences, and in this chapter it is described. His opulences are described. So once again, Kṛṣṇa is starting His instructions in this chapter by telling Arjuna that by practicing yoga in full consciousness of Him, with minds dedicated to Him, one can know Him without any doubt. In other words, to know Kṛṣṇa, you have to dedicate your mind and senses to Him. Otherwise, you cannot know Him. This has been made clear. Krishna cannot be known through mundane speculation or knowledge or beauty or wealth. He can only be known through devotion. So Krishna is telling Arjuna that in this 7th chapter He is going to declare full knowledge, both phenomenal and numinous. And beyond this, there's nothing else that it needs to be known. In other words, everything that we need to know is there in this chapter. Just like Prabhupada often told us, Everything we need to know about religion is there in His books. So Kṛṣṇa says, manuṣya-nāma-sāsreṣu kāśyeditāti siddhaḥ, yatātama pi siddha-nāma kāśyimāṁ vetti-tattvataḥ. "Out of thousands among men, one may endeavor for perfection, and of those who have achieved perfection, hardly one knows Me in truth." So Kṛṣṇa is clearly saying, that this Kṛṣṇa consciousness is not for everyone. Once Prabhupāda was giving a lecture at the Convoy Hall in London, and the hall was not packed, crowded. So one person in the audience said, "If your Kṛṣṇa consciousness is so perfect, why isn't this hall full?" Prabhupāda said, "When you are selling diamonds, only few will buy, but when you are selling broken cut glass, thousands of fools will buy." So this Kṛṣṇa consciousness is a diamond. So not everybody will take to Kṛṣṇa consciousness. Just like in a city of Moscow, not everybody has a Mercedes car. So Kṛṣṇa says, "Out of thousands of men, one may endeavor for perfection. And even among those who have achieved perfection, hardly one knows Him." That means hardly one becomes His pure devotee. So in order to know Kṛṣṇa, one has to take to the path of devotion.— So there may be thousands of so-called transcendentalists, but only few will take to the path of pure devotion. So you can never think that there will be millions of real followers of Kṛṣṇa consciousness, because we are presenting the real dharma, which is independent of sense gratification. So naturally there will be few buyers for it. So in this sense, seventh chapter, Kṛṣṇa also explains the science of God which analyzes the constitutional position of God and His diverse energies. Material nature is called prakṛti. I had some Russian doctor friends in Kenya, and when I used to talk to them and ask them, "Who is the cause of everything?" They used to say, "Nature, nature." But nature also has a boss. So Kṛṣṇa says, bhūmīrapoṇalavāya khaṁ manabuddhi eva ca Āṅkar ityam e bhinnā prakṛtiṭ astadā. Earth, water, fire, air, ether, mind, intelligence, and false ego. Altogether these constitute my 8 separate material energies. So in this material energy, there are 8 types of manifestations, 5 of which are gross and 3 are subtle. So within the 5 gross elements, gigantic material elements, earth, water, fire, air, ether, There is a manifestation of physical sound, touch, form, taste, and smell. Just like with the eyes we want to see something beautiful, with the ears we want to hear something nice, with the tongue we want to taste something, and so on. So all this is due to a combination of earth, water, fire, air, ether. Now Kṛṣṇa also says that besides these gross elements of mind, there's another, that is a living entity. This is very nicely stated by Kṛṣṇa in the following verse: aparayām ittas vānyām prakatim viddhi me pānaṁ jīvabhūtana mahā-bāho yāvadām dharīyate jagāt. This is a very important verse. Since all of you, since the Soviet devotees have a special inclination towards philosophy, therefore on this trip I am giving you so much of philosophy. And this trip has, this verse has very important philosophical meaning. Besides these, O mighty arm, Arjuna, there's another superior energy of mine. So what Krishna has— Krishna in the previous verse has already stated that there is one inferior energy of mine. Now he's saying that there's a superior energy of his also. And who is in the superior energy? The living entity. So the superior energy, the living entity, is exploiting the inferior energy. This cosmic manifestation has no power to move. Unless there is somebody who moves it, pushes it. Just like you may have a Mercedes car downstairs, but unless there's a driver to drive it, it will not move. You may have the oil below the earth, but unless somebody drills for that oil, there will not be any oil. So the point is that the superior energy, the living entity, is the one who exploits the inferior energy. That's okay. So we must understand— that this material nature, earth, water, fire, ether, the mind, intelligence, false ego, these are all created by the Lord. But this is inferior nature, and the superior nature is the jīva or the living entity. Now the living entity is considered to be belonging to the superior energy because he is also eternal like the Supreme Lord is eternal. He is one in quality with the Lord, but not one in quantity. Just like You may, you have that river that runs, that Moscow River. So if you take one spoon of taste from that Moscow River and the rest of the water, it is the same taste, but that one spoon of water is less in quantity than the vast ocean. So similarly, we are one in quality with the Lord, but not one in quantity. You may have 10 rubles in your pocket and the millionaire may also have rubles, But he may have millions of rubles and you may have 10. So, and they're one in quality but not in quantity. So Krishna clearly says that material and spiritual, whatever you say, everything is actually coming from me. Because everything that exists is a product of either matter or spirit. This material energy is created based on spiritual energy. The material world is created based on spiritual energy. So we must understand that no knowledge is superior to Krishna's wisdom. Therefore Krishna says, matah parthara nanya kimchid asti dhananjaya, there is no truth superior to Me. Everything rests upon Me as pearls are hung together on a thread. Just like in this japa mala, all the beads are being held together because they are strung on the thread, isn't it? So just like that thread is holding all the beads, Kṛṣṇa says that the entire creation is resting on Me. So like the pearls are strung on a thread, similarly, all this material and spiritual world is strung on Kṛṣṇa's energy or is being maintained by Kṛṣṇa. Now very often people say, "Can you show me God?" And they say, "Have you seen God?" So we say, "Of course we have seen God." Don't you see the sun every day? The sun is one of the eyes of God. And don't you and I taste water? Doesn't matter whether you live in a communist or capitalist society, you cannot live without water. So Krishna says, "Rasoham apso kauntya." I am the taste of water, the light of the sun and the moon, and I am the sound in ether. And whatever ability that man has is actually coming from Krishna. Somebody may design a very nice building and he may even get the Nobel Prize. But Krishna says, "I am the ability in man. Whatever ability you have is because of me." And he's also the original fragrance on this earth. Everything has a fragrance, like the flower has a fragrance. So that fragrance is Krishna. If you buy flowers and they don't have a fragrance, you don't want to— you don't want it. And if you light fire and there's no heat, you don't want that fire. You can't have fire without heat. So Kṛṣṇa says the heat in the fire is Him. You cannot live without fire. Do you know that your stomach produces fire? When you eat and if your stomach doesn't produce fire, then you have to go to the doctor for indigestion. Normally when you have fire, you call the fire brigade. But when your stomach produces fire, you don't have to call the fire brigade. And He's the life of all that lives. So the life that you have is Kṛṣṇa. And whatever austerities that one may perform, that is also Krishna. So if there is any powerful man who has strength, that is Krishna. Krishna is the seed of everything. So you may see different species of life— birds, animals, insects, human beings, trees, plants, mountains, rivers, oceans, clouds, sky— Krishna is the cause of everything. So a strong man who is not exhibiting passion, and desire, that strength represents Kṛṣṇa, or that strength is coming from Kṛṣṇa. Kṛṣṇa says, "I am also sex life." That is not contrary to religious principles. So sex life should be used for producing children for God. So sex, according to religious principles, has a function. It is not that we are against the use of sex life, but it must be used properly for the right purpose. And when sex life is being misused, then it becomes animalistic life. So whether something is manifested due to the mode of goodness, passion, or ignorance, it is actually all coming from the Supreme Lord. You and I are under the control of the different material modes, but Kṛṣṇa is not under the control of the different modes. He is completely independent, svārat. Brahmasaḥ Bhāgavatam says, teṇa brahmāḥ iti ādika-vayem uyaṇṭi-ād svārat. So this spiritual knowledge was imparted in the heart of Brahmā by that person who is completely independent. Prasad RAVAL. So as long as we are under the influence of the material modes—three modes are there: goodness, passion, and ignorance—we cannot know God in His pure form. No doubt the mode of goodness is superior to the mode of passion, and passion is superior to ignorance, but nevertheless it should be understood that even the mode of goodness doesn't create pure love of God. Therefore, Kṛṣṇa consciousness is described as a stage of pure goodness. Goodness means today you're doing something good, but later on you'll also do something bad. Just like we see in India, sometimes a man is in goodness, he's doing puja, and he's giving us a donation, but the same man in the evening will go and drink or gamble. So we are not trying to come to the level of goodness, but go beyond that. The three modes will be discussed in another chapter later on in great detail when we— later on in the Gita. So Kṛṣṇa says, devī-eṣa gunamāyimamamāya-dūrata-yāmām evām eprapadyante māyāmitāṁ talanti te. That is, under this material energy of mind consisting of the three modes is very difficult to overcome. But one who surrenders to Me can overcome the influence of the modes. So very often we meet people who say, "Oh, I cannot overcome māyā, Swāmiji. Māyāji, māyā is very strong." Yes, Maya is strong. We say that ourselves. So you may say, "Then why are you wasting our time and wasting your time? If Maya is so strong, then let us all go back home." But thou, Maya is strong. Fortunately, it is weaker than Kṛṣṇa. So Kṛṣṇa says, "Yes, it is a fact that my material energy is very strong. So you cannot easily defeat it." "But if you surrender to Me, then I will help you to defeat the material energy." So we must surrender to that person who is complete, who is the most powerful and completely pure. In the fourth chapter of the Gītā, we have already read that in order to get out of this illusion, one must approach a bona fide spiritual master. Prabhupāda gives an example that just like if a man is tied with— if his hands and legs are tied with a rope, then how can he free himself? If your hands and legs are tied and you're tied with a pillar, you can't free yourself. But if somebody who is free, whose hands and legs are not tied, he can come and untie you and make you free again. So that is the business of the spiritual master, to free one who's entangled in the cycle of birth and death by giving him this Vedic wisdom, how to surrender to Kṛṣṇa. So we can defeat Maya. Please don't think that the attraction for sex life, let's say gambling, etc., is so strong that you cannot give it up. You can easily give it up once you take to the process of chanting the holy names and engaging in devotional service. So we must have full faith and confidence that we are on the path of devotional service, which is very strong and which gives us pleasure far superior to anything that Maya can ever give you. So, just like for example, Japan is the richest country in the world, America, these countries also have very high suicide rates and so many other evil tendencies are increasing because one cannot be happy without spiritual life. So Krishna, after explaining to Arjuna that, "Arjuna, don't worry, now this Maya is strong." "It is weaker than Me." He goes on to explain that there are 4 types of people who surrender to Him and 4 types who don't surrender to Him. Are you all understanding this? I'm not going too fast. Are you understanding all this? I'm telling you the Bhagavad-gītā in a storybook fashion. So the 4 types of people who don't understand Kṛṣṇa, who don't want to go to Kṛṣṇa. Na mām dhoṣkṛdṇo mūḍhaḥ prapadeyante naraḍa-mām ayaḥ partha-jñānaśrāmbhavan-āśṛtahaḥ. One consists of those who are grossly foolish, lowest among mankind, whose knowledge is stolen by illusion, and who are atheistic in nature. They don't surrender to Krishna. So one is lowest of mankind, narādhama. They may have a human being, but their mentality is very low, like the cats and dogs. And then they are the mūḍhas. They work hard, Like the ass, but no time for spiritual life. In your country you don't see too many asses, but in India you see a lot of asses on the road. And the ass is carrying such a heavy burden of load. The ass is thinking, "Unless I carry this heavy burden of load, I will not get my food to eat." The ass is thinking. He does not understand that the little bit of grass that he needs is already provided by material nature. But he's thinking, unless I carry this heavy burden, I cannot get my food to eat. So similarly, we are carrying so many responsibilities and no time for spiritual life. Yes. So very often we talk to people in India, America, everywhere, say, sir, please take to spiritual life. No time, no time. I'm very busy. And then there are those, um, who are very proud of their academic knowledge. These are so-called intellectuals of society. They have PhD degrees and so on. But they think that they know so much that no one can know more than them. So when it comes to God, no, there's no God. Even in India, the so-called educated people, they say, "Bogha niat." Yeah. And then there are those who are openly atheistic, who openly say, "No, no, there's no God. How can there be God?" You tell these people who don't believe in God, "Can You just produce a small nail, Sir, or one hair?" That they cannot. So after explaining the four categories of people who don't surrender to Him, Kṛṣṇa explains those who do surrender to Him. Cāturbidābhojante mām jānahaḥ sūkṛtiṇo rājunaḥ artho jijyāsir arthaḥ tī jñāniḥ ca baharthaḥ sabaḥ. Four types of people who surrender to Kṛṣṇa are One who's in distress. Second is one who wants money, wealth. Third is one who's inquisitive. Fourth is one who is genuine seeker of knowledge. Just see how perfect the Bhagavad-gītā is. Each of you who has come to Kṛṣṇa consciousness, if you analyze carefully within your heart and find out, "How did I come to Kṛṣṇa?" first, you will see either you were distressed or you wanted some wealth or some favors, or you were inquisitive, or you wanted knowledge. Is that right? Am I saying that? Is Bhagavad-gītā speaking the truth or no? So even if you want wealth, even if you want rubles, don't do black market, but come to Kṛṣṇa. And if you're very sad, you don't know what to do, don't drink vodka, but come to Kṛṣṇa. Don't drink cigarettes, but come to Kṛṣṇa. Because generally people smoke cigarettes because of being nervous. The materialist, when he has many problems, what does he do? Watch TV, smoke cigarettes, and drink whiskey. But if you are distressed, come to Kṛṣṇa. And everybody is in distress. Who is not in distress? You think that just because your album has all pictures of yours smiling, that means you're not in distress? Haha. So actually everybody is in distress. Na saṁjeli śiv-bijīya. And some people may come to Kṛṣṇa consciousness because they are inquisitive. They may say, "Okay, let me go and see what are those crazy people doing." Or some may say, "Okay, let me find out what is their philosophy." So whatever the reason may be, Kṛṣṇa says, "Come to Me." But one thing that Kṛṣṇa makes clear, that even though these four types of people surrender to Me, one who comes to Me in full knowledge and who's always engaged in devotional service to Me, he is the best of all four. For example, If you understand that here I am, Kṛṣṇa is the Supreme, and as part and parcel, my business is to serve Him, and you engage in devotional service with knowledge, then that is considered the best type of service. In the beginning, one may approach Kṛṣṇa for material motives also, but if one is sincere, gradually he gets purified and he comes to the path of pure devotion. In the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, there's a very wonderful story of Dhruva Mahārāja. Druva Maharaj. In the beginning, Druva Maharaj practiced austerity in the forest because he wanted to have a kingdom which was the most opulent, more opulent than his father, grandfather, great-grandfather. But then he got so purified by the austerities that he performed that in the end when he saw the beautiful form of the Lord, he said, "Now, now I don't want anything but just devotion to You. I was a fool looking for broken cut glass." But now I found a diamond. So I don't want any material opulence from You, but just the association of devotees so that I can serve You. So when you're looking for some material benefit in exchange for your devotion, it is like broken cut glass. When you step on broken cut glass, you will cut yourself. But devotional service is a diamond. So Krishna says, Bahunam janmanam ante jnanamam prapadyante vasudeva sarva-mithi-sabhatma Sadhguru Lahiri Mahāprabhu. After many, many births is he the fortunate soul who takes to the path of pure devotion, understanding Me to be the cause of all causes. So all of you who have now come to the path of devotional service have gone through many previous births where you did some service, but now you have come to this after many, many births. So we should take to this path with complete determination, and then you will succeed. And after explaining all this, Krishna is again coming back to the topics of demigods. You may remember that in the previous second chapter, third chapter, Krishna has already talked, given us hints about demigod worship and pointed out how it is subordinate to his worship. So you may want to question, why do people go to demigods? Why? Why? After all, why doesn't everybody go to Krishna? So Krishna replies to this question by saying, Kame sete hṛta-jñāna prapadantiniya-devata tam tam niyamam āstaya prakṛtya-niyataḥ svāraḥ. That those whose intelligence has been stolen by material desire, they go to the demigods and they follow some rules and regulations. So in exchange for that, they can get their material benediction rewarded. So generally those who worship demigods are those who have material desires to obtain. And those who worship the Supreme Lord are those who want pure devotion. So the point is that we approach the Supreme Lord because we want pure devotion. So we must understand that Kṛṣṇa is situated in everyone's heart as the Supersoul, and because He is situated as the Supersoul, He guides us according to our desires. How is it that one man comes to Kṛṣṇa, one goes to demigods, one becomes an atheist? How is it that one man is walking around as a free citizen and another man is in the jail? The man who's in the prison house is in the prison because he has violated the laws of God. And the man who is free is walking on as a free citizen because he has not violated the laws of the government. So similarly, the Lord is in everyone's heart. And if you want to go to the demigods, he'll give you that type of intelligence. If you want to forget him, he'll give you that type of intelligence. And if you want to come to Krishna, he'll give you the same intelligence. Intelligence. Now, the less intelligent people think that if they're worshiping some demigod and they get some material benediction, that benediction is actually coming from them. Actually, everything is coming from the Supreme Lord. Just like in the Soviet government, you have Mr. Gorbachev as the head, and then you have different ministers. So if a minister approves something, it must be understood that the minister is approving it because it has the blessings of Mr. Gorbachev. So whatever the demigods give, actually they are able to give because of the blessings of the Supreme Lord. So, some, the scorpion lays his eggs in the rice, and sometimes less intelligent people will say, "Oh, the rice gave birth to the eggs," but actually the eggs were laid by the scorpion. So those who want to worship demigods are given the intelligence in the heart by the Super Soul to worship the demigods. But you cannot think, and Kṛṣṇa confirms this, that by worshiping demigods you can come back to Me. The result of demigod worship is temporary benefit only. Anyway, when you worship the Supreme Lord, then there's permanent benefit. And those who worship demigods go to the demigods, and those who worship Me, only they come to Me. Just like you cannot expect that you can buy a ticket to Leningrad and with that ticket travel to Tashkent. You cannot buy an Aeroflot ticket to Leningrad and think that ticket will take you to New York. So if you worship demigods, you go to demigods and again go through the cycle of birth and death. And if you worship Krishna, you go to Krishna and you terminate cycle of birth and death. Krishna has already explained that those who worship demigods are considered to be less intelligent. Now Krishna also explains that those who think that at one time he was impersonal, but now He has assumed a personal form, are also less intelligent. Kṛṣṇa says, because of their small knowledge, they do not know His higher nature which is imperishable and supreme. Why is it that you and I can understand Kṛṣṇa, or at least we are trying to understand Kṛṣṇa, and some others do not? Nāham prakāśa-sarvasya yogamaya samāvṛtaha mūruyam nami janāti loka-mām ajama-avyāyaṁ. Kṛṣṇa says, "I never manifest to the foolish and unintelligent. For them I am always covered by my internal potency, and therefore they do not know that I am unborn and I never make any mistakes. I am infallible." So Kṛṣṇa has already explained, if you remember, in the 4th chapter, that He is unborn and He never makes any mistakes. You and I always make mistakes. But Kṛṣṇa doesn't make any mistakes. Even when Kṛṣṇa was on the planet 5,000 years ago, only few people could understand here is Supreme Lord. Even the cousins of the Pandavas, the Kurus, could not understand that here is the Supreme Lord. So Kuntidevi says that, "My dear Lord, You are covered by Your internal potency, namely yoga-maya, and therefore people cannot understand Him." Just like the sun is covered by the clouds, and when the clouds are covering the sun, you cannot see the sun. So the point is, when Kṛṣṇa is covered by māyā, He cannot be understood. Another feature of the Lord is He knows everything that happened in the past, everything that's happening today, everything that will happen tomorrow. Just like in the 4th chapter we saw that when Kṛṣṇa told Arjuna that He explained this knowledge to the sangaṇ-vivasvan, Arjuna was confused and he said, "How am I to believe that you gave this knowledge to Vivasvan when he is senior to you by birth?" So Krishna knows everything about the past, he knows today, and he also knows what is tomorrow. Therefore, this knowledge is called sanatana-dharma, which means eternal religion. We cannot think that this religion belongs to India or this philosophy is 5,000 years old, so it cannot be applied today. So this philosophy is for entire humanity. So we must understand that this is Sanatana Dharma, or the eternal religion of the living entity. Just like the dharma of water is to be liquid, and what is the dharma of sugar? Who knows? Sweet. Be sweet. And the dharma of sugar is sweetness. So the dharma of every living entity is to serve God. So the living entity is born under ignorance. And because he is born in ignorance, he is influenced by the duality which arise from desire and hate. Today you like something, tomorrow you hate it. So that is on desire and hate. Today you get married, tomorrow you have a divorce. That's why in your country the divorce rate is what, 60% they say. So there is desire and hate. Today you like someone, tomorrow you hate that person. We have to be transcendental to that understanding. So as long as you are transmigrating, as long as you stay in material world, you have to go through the cycle of birth and death. So those who are trying to get freedom from the cycle of birth and death, Kṛṣṇa says, they come to me. So coming to Kṛṣṇa means engaging in devotional service. They are the real brahmins. One, because he understands aham brahmasmi. Aham brahmasmi means I am not this body but pure spirit soul. So being on the Brahman, Brahman, Brahman platform means being on the transcendental platform of devotional service. So Krishna says, if you have this understanding that I am the cause of everything material and spiritual, there is no truth higher than me, and everything material and spiritual is all coming from me, and the demigods are also under my control, and all sacrifices meant to understand me. Then even at the moment of death, one will remember Me and come back to Me. So this is briefly the summary of the 7th chapter. Prabhupada explains that in the 7th chapter, you, you understand, Krishna explains how one can become fully Krishna conscious. The beginning of Krishna consciousness is association with devotees. And as we associate with devotees and chant and read, our faith in the process increases. Just like as the patient takes medicine, his recovery becomes better. So by this knowledge of the Absolute, we gain a proper understanding of who God is. And when you know who God is and how great God is, then you know how small you are. And when you know how small you are, then you surrender and serve that great Master. Hare Krishna. Hare Krishna. Hale Krishna, Hale Krishna, Krishna Krishna, Hare Hare, Hare Rama, Hare Rama, Rama Rama, Hare Hare. Hare Krishna, Hare Krishna.