Transcription : Sacikumara Dasa
Editing : Ramananda Raya Dasa

Hare Krishna! So did everybody get the summary of the first sixchapters? So today I will cover all the six chapters in one go. Are youall ready for that?  With rapt attention? What is Bhagavad-Gita?Bhagavad-Gita is the essence of the Vedas. The Vedas are vast,therefore Vyasadeva considered, or Krishna actually considered, thatthe essence of the Vedas should be given, presented for the conditionedsouls, for the fallen degraded souls of the age of Kali. And that’s whyHe presented that in the Mahabharata, in the form of advising Arjuna.At a very critical time when the battle of Kurukshetra was about tobegin, at that time Arjuna decided not to fight. He dropped his bow andarrows and he told Krishna, ‘Krishna I cannot fight in that way.’ Andat that time Krishna started to advise Arjuna. And that advice thatKrishna gave is the Bhagavad-Gita.

Why Krishna wanted Arjuna to fight? There are two reasons. One is,this battle was Krishna’s arrangement. You remember that verse, yadayada hi dharmasya glanir bhavati bharata? (4.7) Then what does Krishnado? Paritranaya sadhunam vinasaya ca duskrtam.(4.8) Krishna protectsthe sadhus, Krishna protects the devotees and he annihilates thedemons. Therefore Krishna made that arrangement. During His Vrindavanapastimes He killed all the demons, then He left Vrindavana and went toMathura and killed Kamsa. And then He killed many, many demons oneafter another. Then He made many other demons to be killed by Hisdevotees like Bhima and Arjuna. And then finally that battle wasarranged where all the demons put in one side and all devotees on theother side. And He caused a mass annihilation in order to re-establishdharma. Now, all this battle was arranged and now Arjuna said that heis not going to fight. That is why Krishna wanted to provoke Arjuna.

Another reason is, that all the endeavours were made by so manydevotees to stop the battle. So many learned, wise individuals advisedthem. Vyasadeva personally came to advise Duryodhana. Bhisma told,Vidura told, Gandhari told – but Duryodhana was adamant. FinallyKrishna Himself went as a messenger with a peace proposal. ButDuryodhana what to speak of listening to Him, he decided to arrestKrishna. He thought if Krishna is not there with the Pandavas, then thePandavas will become absolutely week and to win over them will be easyfor us. So he thought that he will arrest Krishna. At that time Krishnashowed His universal form.

All the efforts had already been made, and Duryodhana was adamant,completely adamant to fight the battle. And now when the battle is allset, after all these efforts of peace proposals, then Arjuna said thathe will not fight. So Krishna started to advice Arjuna aboutBhagavad-Gita. And the apparent objective of Bhagavad-Gita was toprovoke Arjuna into the battle. But the ulterior purpose ofBhagavad-gita is to give it to us, so that we can receive thatknowledge. That has been very wonderfully described in theGita-mahatmya. ‘Sarvopanishado gavo dogdha Gopalanandanaha, vatsahapartho sudhirbhokta dugdham Gitamritam mahat. Sarvopanishado gavo. Allthe Upanishads are like a cow and Krishna is the cowherd boy who milksthe cow, making Arjuna the object of that milking. The cow gives milkfor the sake of the calf. Because of the calf the cow gives the milk.But the calf doesn’t drink all the milk. Who drinks the milk? Humanbeings drink milk.  So here Arjuna is the nimitte. Arjuna is theobjective through whom the Gita was presented. But who drinks thisBhagavad-gita? This nectar of Bhagavad-Gita? Su-dhih. Those, who havevery advanced intelligence. Those, who have very beautifulintelligence,. This word ‘su’ can indicates ‘sundara’ which isbeautiful intelligence; another is advanced intelligence. People withadvanced intelligence can relish Bhagavad-Gita. So that is the purposeof Bhagavad-Gita and in this way, Krishna actually derives the essenceof the Vedas.
The Vedas have two branches: one branch is Upanishads and the otherbranch is Puranas. So the essence of Upanishads is Bhagavad-gita andthe essence of all the Puranas is the Srimad Bhagavatam. That is whythese two scriptures are absolutely essential. If anybody wants tounderstand the wisdom of the Vedas, the teachings of the Vedas, thenthese are the two scriptures that are absolutely essential. SriCaitanya Mahaprabhu established these teachings through Bhagavad-gitaand Srimad Bhagavatam. All our Acaryas have done that and finally SrilaPrabhupada also established the Krishna Consciousness movement on thebasis of these two scriptures. You see the importance of these twoscriptures. In the morning we study Srimad Bhagavatam and in theevening we study Bhagavad-Gita. So in this way Srila Prabhupadaestablished the importance of these two scriptures. Bhagavad-Gita isvery, very important. Bhagavad-Gita is a preliminary study. You beginyour spiritual study with Bhagavad-gita. And then the advanced courseis Srimad-Bhagavatam. And the post graduate course isCaitanya-Caritamrita.

In the first chapter it has been described how Arjuna decided not tofight but Krishna insisted that he must. He convinced him. Arjuna isactually telling Krishna that he is not going to fight. Then, from thesecond chapter onwards Krishna’s instructions begin.  So Krishna letsArjuna speak.  …

Second chapter of Bhagavad-Gita is known as Sankhya-yoga. But SrilaPrabhupada actually titled it as ‘the summary of the Bhagavad-Gitasummarized’. The second chapter gives the summary of the Bhagavad-Gita.Now, Sankhya is the analytical study, you analyse. We see that’s whatKrishna is doing. Krishna is telling Arjuna the difference between thebody and the soul. Arjuna gives various reasons why he won’t be able tofight this battle. Why he should not fight this battle. And it is avery difficult battle to fight as it is. Battle is a serious business.When a warrior, when a ksatriya goes into a battlefield he goes thereonly with two options open to him – either he will win the battle or hewill die. He goes to the battlefield of course with an intention to winbut at the same time he knows and his family members know, whensomebody goes into a battle the chances of his not coming back is alsothere. The ksatriya accordingly it seems so they are enjoying so much,they are having a living a royal life, and so much enjoyment and somuch fun, but actually the ksatriyas lives are very, very critical andcrucial. Can you imagine, the young man goes to the battlefield, andnot only the king but all his soldiers and many of them die. Andsometimes the king himself dies. And all of a sudden the whole familylost everything. They lost their kingdom because they have beendefeated by their enemy. It is actually very painful. That is what hasbeen pointed out in Bhagavad-gita. What does the mode of passion leadto? Mode of passion actually leads to suffering. The effort is there,the endeavour is there to enjoy but eventually it ends up in suffering.Mode of passion leads to suffering. It is only in the mode of goodnessthat one can be situated in happiness. The real happiness is in themode of goodness. And the spiritual bliss is even beyond the mode ofgoodness, in the mode of pure goodness, visuddha tattva. Therefore anintelligent person becomes situated in the mode of goodness andtranscends the mode of goodness and comes to the spiritual goodness orpure goodness.

Arjuna is there in the battlefield and he says that he can not killhis guru, his grandfather.  He is saying. He is telling Krishna, ‘howcan I kill my grandfather? How could I shot arrows – katham bhismamaham sankye dronam ca madhusudana isubhih pratiyotsyami (2.4), isubhihmeans with arrows, pratiyosyami with contest. Not only that I will shotarrows at them, they will also shot arrows at me. It’s a very difficultsituation. So he said, I’m not going to fight this battle. And Krishnaheard, Krishna heard, Krishna heard silently. Then finally when Arjunasays, ‘Krishna, I do not know what to do. I am completely confused. NowYou please tell  me what I should do. I’m assuming the role of Yourdisciple. I’m becoming Your disciple which means I am accepting You asmy spiritual master.’ So when Arjuna submitted himself to Krishna thenonly Krishna started to advise him. So here also we learn one lesson,unless and until we surrender to Krishna, Krishna is not going to takeour responsibility. Sometimes people say, why Krishna is doing this tome, why Krishna is not doing that to me? But the point is, are yousurrendering yourself to Krishna? If you are surrendering yourself toKrishna, Krishna will take your responsibility. There is no doubt aboutthat. Krishna Himself is giving that assure. So you surrender andKrishna will take control.

When Arjuna surrendered himself to Krishna, and accepted Him as hisspiritual master, then Krishna started to advise him. And those advicesare so wonderful. And that is what constitutes Bhagavad-Gita. WhenKrishna started to speak, the first thing Krishna told Arjuna, ‘Arjuna,you are speaking like a wise man but you don’t know anything. Asocyananvasocas tvam – you are lamenting over things that one should notlament for. And yet prajna-vadams ca bhasase – you are speaking like awise man. So He just smashed him straight away. And then He started togive him the advice. ‘Arjuna, you are lamenting that you will kill yourgrandfather, you will kill these kings and your friends and relatives,but there was never a time when they were not here and there will neverbe a time when they will not be here. There was never a time when you,I, all these kings were not here and there will never be a time whenthey will not be here.’ Now, who is that, that will always be here? Whohas been in the past, has presented at the moment and will continue tobe there in the future? Who is that? The soul. And then Krishna madethat point also very clear. The difference between the body and thesoul. That is why Bhagavad-Gita is actually very scientific.Bhagavad-Gita is a science. It is the science of the spiritual reality.We have different sciences, sciences of physics, science of chemistry,science of mathematics. There are so many different sciences. Those arethe sciences of material subject matters. But this is the science ofthe spiritual reality. The science of the soul. The science of the soulwill lead to the spiritual nature. And eventually it will lead to theSupreme Personality of Godhead. Therefore study this subject properly.Then Krishna actually makes this point in very simple way. It is sosimple, yet so profound. Just see, the body and the soul. Krishna isestablishing the two different elements. He is saying that the bodychanges from childhood to boyhood to youth, to old age. The bodychanges but the person doesn’t change. So in spite of the change of thebody you are not changing. None of us is changing. Our body is changingbut we are the same persons. I at a five year old, I at the age offifteen, I at the age of twenty-five and I at the age of sixty-four. Iam the same person although my body changed. And so Krishna is making aconclusion, that in spite of the changing of the body the person doesnot change. So when the body will not be there, still the person willbe there. In this way He is establishing the eternity of the soul.Dehino ‘smin yatha dehe kaumaram yauvanam jara tatha dehantara-praptir.(2.13) Tatha – just as the body changes. But in spite of the change ofthe body the person doesn’t change. So when the person will leave thebody he will take up another body. Dehantara-praptir. And dhiras tatrana muhyatia, a person situated in knowlage doesn’t lament over thatchange of the body. And then He establishes the characteristics of thesoul. Na jayate mriyate va kadacin. (2.20) The soul is never born northe will ever die. The soul cannot be destroyed by anything. The bodycan be killed but soul cannot be killed. The body can be killed byweapons, the body can be killed by fire, the body can be drowned inwater. In this way, the can be killed in so many ways. Nainam chindantisastrani nainam dahati pavakah. (2.23) The soul cannot be cut by anyweapon, the soul cannot be burned by fire, the soul cannot be drownedin water, the soul cannot be dried by air. Avinasi tu tad viddhi yenasarvam idam tatam. (2.17) So therefore you recognize that the soul isindestructible. The soul is eternal, first He established, then Heestablished that the soul is indestructible. And in this way, Krishnadealt with the initial aspect of the differentiating the soul from thebody. Unfortunately in the material nature we identified ourselves withthe body. And that is the cause of our suffering, the cause of ourdistress. Because we are identified ourselves with the body we are sofrustrated. Frustrated why? Because we are actually hankering for the,our hankerings are spiritual. Our hankerings are from the soul. We areconscious beings, we are desiring. There is another consideration. Thecharacteristic of the soul is consciousness. The characteristic of thesoul is to desire. And when the desire is fulfilled, there ishappiness. Now the problem is that our desires are spiritual and we aretrying to achieve those desires, fulfil those desires through thismaterial body. So that is why our desires are never fulfilled. And weare always ending up in disappointment and frustration. And that is thecause of our suffering. The soul is eternal, we don’t want to die.Because we are eternal by nature. We want to be eternal. But we aretrying to attain that immortality or eternity through the body. We aretrying to make this body eternal, which will never happen. We aretrying to make this body fully conscious, which will never happen. Andwe are trying to experience joy through this body, which will neverhappen. That is why our life is a series of disappointments andfrustrations. So in this way, Krishna is actually preparing us to theright form of understanding. So eventually Krishna comes to the point,what is the characteristic of a wise man. Arjuna is asking, what is thecharacteristic of a wise man. Stitha prajna, a person who is situatedin perfect knowledge. And Krishna describes the nature of a stithaprajna. And here, since we are discussing about sankhya-philosophy wecan go to the sankhya-branch of philosophy. Briefly I discuss aboutthat. Sankhya is the analytical study. The purpose of this analyticalstudy is to analyze the material nature and eventually come to thespiritual understanding. Now, the sankhya-philosophy is doing that.Sankhya-philosophy basically is dealing with first analyzing thematerial elements. There are five elements. Earth, fire, water, air,ether. Then there are five senses. We have five senses, eyes, ears,nose, tongue and tough. Now our senses interact with the five elements.And as a result of that five objects of the senses are generated. Likeeyes interact with fire – form is produced. Ear interact with ether –sound is produced. Air interacts with skin – touch is produced. Waterinteracts with tongue – taste is produced. Nose interacts with earth –smell is produced. So in this way five objects of the senses areproduced. So how many got three fives are? Fifteen. Then there are fiveworking senses. Hands, legs, anus, belly and genitals. So, twenty. Thenthere are three subtle elements, mind, intelligence and false ego. Andthen there is a sound total of material elements – mahat-tattva.Twenty-four. In this twenty-four considerations the entire materialnature has been analyzed. Now see, how thoughtful, how profound, howpenetrating they are. They consider that all these twenty-fourconsiderations are objective nature. But the object cannot existwithout the subject. So who is the subject? The subject is ‘I’. Now,the entire material nature has been analyzed with these twenty-fourconsiderations. ‘I’ couldn’t be found there. Therefore, ‘I’ is beyondmaterial. So in this way, sankhya is transcending the material platformand coming to the spiritual platform. The ‘I’ is non material,therefore the ‘I’ is spiritual. Then also they didn’t stop at that. The‘I’s’ are many and minute. So anything that is many and minute musthave an origin, master resource. So the ‘I’ ist the twenty-fifthconsideration. And the Supreme Personality of Godhead, from whom allthe ‘I’s’ have come or all the souls have come, is the twenty-sixthconsideration. So that is the general sankhya-philosophy. But Krishnais making an analysis in a rather different way. In a more simple way.Just in two verses. Bhumir apo ‘nalo vayuh kham mano buddhir eva ca.(7.4) Bhumi, earth, water, fire, air and ether, mind, intelligence andfalse ego. Krishna then is pointing out this material nature has beencomprised of this eight material elements. Earth, water, fire, air,ether, mind, intelligence and false ego. But then He is consideringthat apareyam itas tv anyam (7.5) this is inferior by nature. Butbeyond this inferior material nature there is a superior nature of mineand the jiva-bhutam, the spirit souls are coming from the superiornature and they are sustaining this material nature. Isn’t it the sameconclusion? But Krishna’s conclusion is so simple. Why? Because Krishnais not beating around the bush. He is going straight to the point. Why?Because He knows. When we do not know, then we make an extensivesearch. And then, through that we come to the conclusion. But whensomebody knows he can present it in a very simple way. Therefore thewise mans presentation is very simple and a fools presentation iselaborate. So Krishna is  just pointing it out in a very simple way.Bhinna prakrtir astadha and then apareyam itas tv anyam prakrtim viddhime param. Beyond this inferior material nature there is a superiornature. Now the consideration is, whether we are going to be life inthe world of Krishna. Krishna is saying, Krishna is the SupremePersonality of Godhead. What is the use, what is the need for Krishnato lie? What is the use of Krishna to say something which is not true?That’s why an intelligent person will accept the words of Krishnawithout any doubts or hesitations. And that is what Krishna’srepresentative always try to remind us. Accept the words of Krishna.That is what Srila Prabhupada came and told us time and time again.Just accept the words of Krishna. Then everything becomes crystalclear, everything becomes easy and our lives become full of joy. All wehave to do is simply accept it.

In the third chapter Krishna is actually presenting the arrangementof this material nature. This material nature has different demigodscontrolling the different affairs of this material nature. Who are thedemigods? They are very powerful individuals. They are empowered byKrishna to take care of different affairs of the material nature. Anexample can be given. Just as in the governmental affairs theredifferent departments. There are different individuals who are incharge. Responsible part those departments. Like we have electricsupply department, water supply department, education department,finance department, public works department, construction department,road department, atomic research department and on top there is aperson who is in charge of those departments. And what are thosedepartments doing? Those departments actually provide us with differentfacilities. They provide us with facilities. Like we are sitting in aroom we are getting electric supply. And as a result of that what wehave to do? We are getting the electricity, enjoying the facility butwe have to pay the bills. We have to pay for the facilities that we areenjoying. Now the demigods are the departmental heads. And Krishna istelling that they are going to supply you with all those necessities ofyour life and you pay them in return. And that is the system ofsacrifice, yajna.
…
This arrangement has been made, the arrangement of yajna. Which meanssimply, you enjoy the facility and pay the bill. And if you do that,then what will happen? You will enjoy. You lead a very, very nice andhappy life. But if you don’t pay then, what will happen? You enjoy theelectricity, for one month you have enjoyed it, and then the bill cameand you decided not to pay the bill. What will happen? The next monththere won’t be any electricity. They cut it off. They cut the electricsupply. So similarly in a broader sense, in the nature, we are gettingall this facilities but there we were being provided by the demigods.And we are supposed to offer them the sacrifice. We are supposed to paythe bill in the form of sacrifice. They don’t want anything else. Allthey want is just some sacrifice. It costs very little. You are gettingso much and you are paying so little. So why not? So why Krishna isadvising us to do that? Because this is how the law and order of thismaterial nature will be maintained. It’s like a large and extensivegovernment system, affairs of the material nature. And Krishna advicesthat in this way how one can life so happily. And eventually Krishna isactually saying that what is your need? An example has been given. Youneed food. That is the most essential element, ingredient for oursurvival. And the food is produced because of rain. Annad bhavantibhutani.(3.14) Living entities survive by eating food. Parjanyadanna-sambhava. The food grains were produced due to rain. And yajnadbhavati parjano. And it is because of yajna, sacrifice that rainactually comes. Yajnah karma-samudbhavah. In this way the process ofsacrifice has been established by Krishna. And in this way Krishna gavean extensive understanding of how to live happily in this nature. Thesupplier and consumer, a proper relationship must be established. Andthis relationship comes on ultimately in the form of the kings. Whowill train the people? Who will make all this arrangements? The leaderof the mankind. The kings. Unfortunately in democracy there is no king.And therefore all kinds of low class people are taking up theleadership. But actually the kings are the highest class of people.They are rajarsis, the saintly personalities who used to become theking. And they used to be trained up from their childhood to executethis job properly. They used to properly trained and then they used toassume the responsibility. But in the name of democracy what ishappening? People, those who don’t have any training, all they know ishow to bluff, how to swindle, how to cheat and get votes. And when theyget votes, then they become the leader. And that also only for five orfour years. And they know, that whatever they have to make they have tomake it in these four years time. And as a result of that, the humansociety is in such a terrible condition. But Krishna actually pointedout that this knowledge, this system was established by the royal order.

In the beginning of the forth chapter Krishna is telling, that Igive this knowledge to the sungod, Vivasvan, imam vivasvate yogamproktavan aham avyayam vivasvan manave praha.(4.1) Vivasvan gave it toManu, sungod gave it to his son, Vaivasvata Manu. And Manu gave it tohis son Iksvaku. And evam parampara-praptam imam rajarsayo vidhu.(4.2)In the line of saintly kings, in the disciplic succession of thesaintly kings this knowledge was flowing and they were actuallyestablishing this understanding and guiding their citizens in theproper path of  prosperity and happiness. So that was Krishna’s point.He just gradually mentioned it. But then Arjuna came on with aquestion. Arjuna said, ‘Vivasvan was born so long ago, and you wereborn just the other day, aparam bhavato janma param janma vivasvatah,katham etad vijaniyam tvam adau proktavan iti. (4.4) How can I believe,not believe, he said vijaniyam, how can I understand that you gave thisknowledge to Vivasvan? See, all this while in the Bhagavad-Gita andbefore also, Arjuna and Krishna they were cousins. Their relationshipswere that of cousins. And Arjuna and Krishna were of the same age.Therefore they had a very intimate, friendly relationship. Just asamong the cousins of the same age become close to each other, veryintimate to each other. So that was Arjuna’s relationship with Krishna.He was His cousin. But now his cousin was saying ‘I gave this knowledgeto Vivasvan’? So now automatically he was curious. How can He speaklike that? Then Krishna actually makes the point. Look Arjuna, bhahunime vyatitani janma tava carjuna.(4.5) Many, many times, both you and Ihave taken birth. Tany aham veda sarvani. But I know all of them. Natvam vettah parantapa. But Arjuna, you do not remember them. So in thisway Krishna is now establishing the difference between Him and Arjuna.The difference between the living entity and the Supreme Personality ofGodhead. The living entity is also eternal, the Supreme Personality ofGodhead is also eternal. But the difference is, that the SupremePersonality of Godhead knows everything whereas the living entityforgets. As soon as he dies he forgets. Then he begins with a new bodyand in that body he begins another chapter. Then, in this way, lifeafter life, in different bodies, he goes through different experiences.And he forgets about his previous life. Whereas Krishna is telling,that tany aham veda sarvani, sarvani means all. Of those lives, I havebeen, I remember everything. Then Krishna is saying, ‘Actually, Arjuna,I don’t have to take birth. You need o take birth. You have to go fromone body to another, through the cycle of birth and death. But that isnot the case with me. Ajo ‘pi sann avyayatma bhutanam isvaro ‘pi san,prakrtim svam adhistaya sambhavamy atma-mayaya.(4.6) Sambhavamyatma-mayaya, I manifest, I appear, I am actually unborn. In order tocome here I don’t have to take birth. Sometimes I take birth.Especially when I perform my pastime as a human being, in the humanlife form. Then I take birth, like Ramacandra, Krishnacandra,Caitanyacandra, I take birth. But there are many other incarnationswhere I don’t take birth, where I don’t need to take birth. LikeMatsya, Kurma. Matsya-avatara didn’t take birth from another fish. Hejust appeared to king Satyavrata. As Varahadev He appeared from thenostril of Brahma. As Kurma He just appeared from nowhere. There was aneed. Now the milk-ocean has to be churned, they got Mandara Mountainto churn the milk-ocean. But when the brought the Mandara Mountain itsank in the milk-ocean. So both, the demigods and the demons, werecompletely baffled. Now, what to do? So Krishna said, don’t worry. Iwill take care of it. So He appeared as tortoise and He supported thatmountain on His back. So in this way, Krishna can appear in any way. Hecan appear from nowhere, He can also appear from somewhere, He can alsoappear from a pillar, as Nrsimhadeva did. So that is why how wonderfulKrishna’s activities are. So, ajo api, although I am unborn but stillbhutanam isvaro ‘pi san, prakrtim svam adhisthaya, taking shelter of myeternal potency I manifest Myself. Sambhavamy atma-mayaya. And why do Icome? Yada yada hi dharmasy glanir bhavati bharata.(4.7) So in thisway, Krishna is now establishing His real identity as the SupremePersonality of Godhead. In the fourth chapter Krishnas identity hasbeen established as the Supreme Personality of Godhead. And thenKrishna advised Arjuna how and why to surrender unto Him.

And then in the fifth chapter Krishna actually goes into anotheraspect of sacrifice. Prior to that in the third chapter, Krishna spokeabout yajna or sacrifice. And He said that, offer it to the demigods.But then He pointed out that the demigods are actually granting you allthis facilities because of Me. I have given them the authority. It isMy arrangement. Therefore, there is no need to go to the demigods. Youcan come directly to Me. So in this way in the fifth chapter, Krishnavery eloquently reminded us that the real sacrifice is to offereverything to Krishna. That is the ultimate purpose of our sacrifice.

Thank you very much.

Question : The living entity is superior energy. So how come this superior energy is weaker than the inferior energy?

Guru Maharaja : Very good point. The living entities are from thesuperior energy and material nature is inferior. Then how come thesuperior energy, the living entities come under the control of thematerial nature? The living entities are not superior energy as such.They are from the superior energy. But they are minute. Whereasmaterial nature although it is inferior by nature or characteristic, itis Krishnas own potency. Daivi hy esa guna-mayi mama maya duratyaya.(7.14) Living entities therefore had been classified as marginal. Thereare two energies: inferior energy and superior energy. External energy,internal energy. And in between there is the marginal energy, theliving entities. The living entities are from the marginal energy.Marginal means, they have the option open to them. Whether they want togo to the inferior energy or whether they want to go to the superiorenergy. If they surrender to Krishna then they will be in the superiornature. If they reject Krishna, then they will be in the inferiornature. The simple option is open to them.

Question : One technical question?

Guru Maharaja : Sure.

[Question unclear]

Guru Maharaja : This disciplic succession, Krishna is saying, that Iam reestablishing the knowledge, because it is lost, through you.Because you are my friend and you are my devotee. And the disciplicsuccession that is been given there is a Gaudiya vaisnava line.Brahma-Madhva-Gaudiya line. In that line Arjuna also is not there.Right? So that it a very special line. And that line is not exactlythat line of Bhagavad-gita. That is the Bhagavata-parampara, the lineof Srimad Bhagavatam. The understanding of the Supreme Personality ofGodhead. You see, that is why the Bhagavad-gita is the primary study,it is not leading you. I mean, it is not taking you to the ultimatepoint. It is leading you towards that direction. But Srimad Bhagavatamis what will lead you to the main point.

Question : In the second chapter it is said, the second chapter isknown as Gita-sutre. Because in this separate karma and jnana has beendescribed clearly but not Bhakti. So how can I understand that point?

Guru Maharaja : Initially, Krishna is taking us step by step intothat point. Karma and jnana have been discussed but Bhakti is a veryspecial line. Indication has been given. Say for example, when Krishnais saying, that I am reestablishing all this through you, becausebhakto ‘si me sakha ceti, (7.3), indication of that is there, but theelaborate and extensive discussion didn’t take place. Krishna isreserving it from seventh to twelfth chapter. The first six chapters ofBhagavad-gita are dealing with karma, the second six chapters aredealing with Bhakti and the third six chapters are dealing with jnana.Now, one may say, that means karma and then Bhakti and then ultimatelyjnana? No, that is not the real understanding. The real understandingis, when you have something very valuable, where do you keep it? Do youkeep it outside or keep it in the middle? You protect it. So that iswhat Krishna did. The second six chapters, the midst six chapter, arethe most important part of Bhagavad-gita. And we will discuss that.

[Question unclear]

Guru Maharaja : You see, although Krishna is the Supreme Personalityof Godhead, and He gave the knowledge, but we cannot really conversewith Krishna. Like knowledge is based on question and answers. When youdon’t understand, what do you do? You have to ask. You have to present:”Well, can you please explain this or what I cannot understand?” Now,we can’t do that with Krishna. Therefore Krishna’s representatives arethere who we can ask and who can explain it to us. And thatrepresentative of Krishna is the spiritual master. So, we need aspiritual master to ask questions to who can dispel our doubts. But hisqualification is that he simply repeats what Krishna has said. Hedoesn’t concoct something new. And that is why he is a bona fiderepresentative of Krishna. Like for example, you can take a book. Butcan you master the subject just by reading the book yourself? It ispractically impossible. For example if you want to become a doctor.There are so many books on that science. But just by studying thosebooks, can you become a doctor? No. but you go to the facultyuniversity, medical science, and you study under the guidance of theteachers. And, after three, four or five years, you become a qualifieddoctor. Because you understood the subject. What is present in thebooks, has been simplified by this people, the teachers. And that ishow you have mastered the subject. Similarly the spiritual knowledgealso must be received through the guidance of a bona fide teacher. Andthose bona fide teachers are the spiritual masters. And theirqualification is, that they represent Krishna. They present the way,the knowledge has been given by Krishna. And they have received toknowledge as it has been presented by Krishna, because they havereceived it from a person who had mastered the subject himself.