Bhagavad Gita Ch18 part 35 on 16 April 2022

Full Transcript(Not Corrected)

Om Jananem Sharadam Devim Ramakrishnam Jagadgurum Pada Padme Tayo Shritva Pranamami Mohur Mohur Vasudevasutam Devam Kamsa Januram Ardhanam Devaki Paramanandam Krishnam Vande Jagadgurum Sarvopanishadogavo Dogda Gopalanandana Partho Vatsa Sudhir Bhokta Dogdam Geetamritam Mahat Mukam Karudivachalam Pangum Langhayate Girim Yath Kripathamam Vande Paramanandamadham In our last class, we have started the 61st verse, one of the most important of all the verses in the Bhagavad Gita, which is nothing but the very essence of every Upanishad. That means it is nothing short of the words of the Vedas, teachings of the Vedas. And here the Lord is saying that Ishwaraha Sarvabhutanaam Krideshe Arjunatishthati Brahmayan Sarvabhutani Yantrarudhani Mayaya The Lord is finally telling the ultimate truth, Ishwaraha, means the Divine Lord, the Creator, the Maintainer and the one who takes everything back into Himself. To understand this, the Upanishads give the analogy of a spider. A spider weaves a great amount of what we call the threads. It is produced from itself, maintained for some time and it is a very apt analogy because whatever insect alights on that, immediately the spider runs there. It is produced by itself and it maintains it with absolute accuracy. And it is so sensitive that even the slightest vibration of the lightest insect immediately alerts this one and unerringly it lights up upon the insect. And then even danger threatens it, it withdraws itself. I have seen this phenomenon, some of you must definitely have seen it. Like that, the whole creation is not separate from Ishwaraha, it comes from Ishwaraha and He is only appearing in every form and He is performing all these gimmicks like a magician. That is the beautiful example Shankaracharya gives in his Mandukya Karike Bhashya. I am just telling, what is this creation? It is like the magic of a musician. There is a famous story, nobody had ever seen it, but it is supposed to be known to some few people. It is called the Indian rope trick. There is a musician and he gathers some audience. In front of them, he takes up a small rope and throws it into the sky and it extends beyond the ken of anybody and the musician himself climbs very soon, goes beyond the sight of everybody there and within a few seconds, small pieces of flesh, hands, feet, etc. are falling down and the audience was completely mesmerized. Then the magic comes to an end and the rope disappears and the musician is all the time standing there. He has created the magic, but the real musician is standing there. There is nothing. We have to take the analogy, what is the throwing of the rope? Mandukya Karika gives the analogy, every Jeeva goes through the waking, dream, dreamless state and that is called the throwing of the rope into the sky. In this case, it is the state of the mind. It is the formation of a particular thought. Everything is a vibration of the mind, Manas Pandana. All the three states, waking, dream as well as sleeping state. So we have to understand Vedanta has understood it, but according to our spiritual development and spiritual development means progress in knowledge and this progress in knowledge takes in three stages. The first stage is I am separate from everything including God. This is the lowest state, but it is a far superior spiritual state to anything we can even imagine. Why? Because this person accepts the world, the reality of the world, but accepts the reality of Ishwara, where from this world has come? From God. Therefore, God is the cause. Therefore, God is the controller. God is the all-powerful. I may be weak, but if I can take refuge in Him, then He is going to completely support me, protect me, nourish me, remove all suffering from my life and make me one of the happiest beings in the world. This is called duality, not merely saying I am separate and God is separate. Without the element of God, the word dualism, qualified non-dualism and non-dualism is completely meaningless. That's why we do not call Buddhism as a philosophy, a religion of dualism. So this is the first stage. Second stage, when this person, through spiritual practices, develops more devotion to God, surrenders more. These go together. The more devotion, the more self-surrender. The more self-surrender, the more devotion. What is this business of self-surrender? It is like approaching. Supposing you are walking and it is semi-dark and you see at a distance some object. You may be hesitated, frightened because you don't know exactly what that is, living, non-living, dangerous or very beneficial, known or unknown. But as you come near, the object comes near. As a devotee progresses in spiritual life, God seems to be coming near. In fact, Sri Ramakrishna used to say, if a devotee takes one step towards God, God comes ten steps nearer to the devotee. So in any case, both the object and the person, you, are approaching together. The nearer you approach, two things take place. One, the light is slowly increasing. Second, the object is becoming clearer. That means you have better knowledge of the object. And when you are having better knowledge and you recognize that it is God I am seeing and the person understands, everything, everybody comes from God. Not only me, but everything. The nearer I move to God, the whole world also moves nearer to God. Automatically, it takes place. So the whole world comes nearer to God in the knowledge of the person who is progressing, nearing God. And that's why moving towards God, nearer to God, is called Yoga, any Yoga. This is the second stage. When the knowledge becomes more, I thought I was separate earlier from God, from everything. Now I see that it is an inseparable triangle. God is there, the world is there, I am there. This is called qualified non-dualism. And this is what Ramanujacharya Shishtadvaita advocates. There is no separation. That's why it is Ishwara, Chit and Achit. Ishwara means creator. Chit means conscious beings. Achit means so-called inert beings. And then as the person moves still nearer to God, then to his great surprise, he understands it is nothing but my reflection. What is God? My reflection. Or I am God's reflection. What is the world? God's reflection. What is the reflecting instrument? Mind of everybody. So there is no world, there is no Ishwara, there is no God, all is one, one is all. Three in one, one in three. This is called pure non-dualism. So that is how the knowledge helps us. So in this analogy of the magician with the rope trick, when the audience are horrified, seeing that the magician is cut into pieces, small bits, a hand, a leg, etc. is falling down, but then when the show is over, when they have experienced this tremendous grief, agony, suddenly the whole thing disappears and the magician is seen smiling at the audience and a great relief takes over. Now the magician and the magic become completely one. So in this analogy, the magician is Ishwara, his magic is this world, and all of us are the audience. And when we see the magician, not only we realize that we are also part of the magic only. There is no separation. But the Divine Lord never condemns anybody like a small child growing up. His understanding is everything is different. But a child, so long as the mother is there, is absolutely fearless, feels highly secure and feels extremely joyful. All that he needs to do is eat, drink mother's milk, and play and sleep. Eat, play and sleep. That is the condition of a realized soul and that is what Bhagavan Krishna is slowly leading Arjuna to this highest vision. In the 59th shloka we have seen, यग अहंकार्म आश्रित्य नयोचेति मन्यसे मिठ्य एश व्यवसायः ते प्रकृतिस्त्वाम् नियक्षति If taking your stand on egotism, you think I will not fight, when this resolve of yours, nature, your very nature, your very habits, samskaras, will drive you to the act, you are completely helpless. And in the next shloka, if this is true, if what has been said in the 59th is true, then स्वभावजेन कौन्तेय निवथः स्रेण कर्मणा कर्तुम्न इच्छस्यत् मोहात् करिष्यसि अवशः अपी तत् Hey Kaunteya, Arjuna, that action too, which you are not willing to undertake due to ignorance, you will perforce perform. Why? Bound by your own duty-borne nature. We are all duty-borne. We think that only when we go to the office, we are duty-borne. No. If you are a husband, you have duty towards your parents, your wife, your husband, your children, your friends, not only in the office, but if there is a body, it is your duty to look after it, to feed it, to drink water, to give rest, and only to eat healthy food and to do exercise. If you do not do the duty, then you will suffer. What is the definition of duty? Very simple definition of duty is that which, when it is not performed, will create tremendous suffering and that is the negligence of the duty. And by performing which, we keep our bodies, our minds, our life with greater freedom, with greater joy and we feel that life is worth living, it is meaningful. That is called duty. So we are all bound. Bound by what? By our previous habits. This is what Indian philosophy again and again emphasizes that every creature is bound. A mosquito, oh, this damned mosquito is biting me. Don't say damned. What can, if you are a mosquito, you will do exactly the same thing, probably you are more, with more ferociousness. A tiger doesn't kill because it is its nature to survive, but it is only a human being, not only he has to work for survival, but he can take a completely opposite tack and he can go against one's own dharma by adopting other people's dharmas, etc. Simple example, applicable in our day-to-day practical life is a country elects a person to be its leader who doesn't have the true leader's qualifications. Who is a true leader? He who always thinks the welfare of the country and has that buddhi, that intelligence to understand what's good for my country. So these people have given me the responsibility. I am responsible. That's my duty. I am a trustee of this country. I must see to the best of my ability how can I keep my country completely happy as much as possible. That's my duty. But we are all electing deluded by show. Nowadays it is said, previously we used to see experience. Somebody, some social analyser, psychologist have noticed a specific trend. If they are good looking, if they are young, if they are mesmerizing, if they are attractive, magnetic, then whether man or woman, they are taken. Popularity always is because of the especially physical beauty nowadays, young looking, etc. Whether a sportsman, cine actors and actresses, they are becoming politicians. You can understand what is going to be the consequence of it. We should have thought earlier, does this person, is he a good person? This person, does he love? Does he care for the country? Has he done anything good in his life? Has he got the intelligence? These are some of the qualifications we have to look into. So in the 60th verse, the Lord is making very clear that every creature is bound, not only living creature. A river flows. How does it flow? Wherever there is low land, water naturally flows. You don't need to direct it. You don't need to command it. That is why if you want some water, you just dig a channel. That's all. If it is low enough, you don't need to do anything. Automatically, the water will flow. A rock is bound by its nature. There is nothing you can do about it. So every single thing in this world is bound by its own nature. A mirror, for example, helplessly reflects whether it wants or not. All our duty is to see that the mirror is kept clean so that it retains its full capacity. So this is being said. Nobody is free. Everybody is bound by his or her own nature. A child is also bound by its own nature. A dog is bound by its own nature. So, that action too, which you are not willing to undertake due to ignorance, you will perforce perform. That means, whether you like it or not, whether you know it or not, consciously and unconsciously, there is nothing we can do but we will be bound. Supposing Arjuna is approved by Krishna, okay, go and take sannyasa. You know, one of our senior Swamis funnily told. So this fellow, he takes to sannyasa, monastic life, and then he goes. There are some places where food is given freely, dharmashala, or it is called Sada Anna or something like that. So he goes there and then he stands. And then he sees Swami Khandanandaji Maharaj was remarking like that. Swami Turiyanandaji Maharaj was remarking like this. I saw a person and then there are some places where they give very tasty food but to a very limited number of people. So these fellows, they are elbowing each other and trying to push away each other so that they will fall within the required numbers. All because of what? Because of the tasty food. There are some people who are... there are other places they will give. It may not be tasty food but very nutritious, sufficient food. But these people are forced, they are forced as it were to run to this place and to occupy a first place. And we see this phenomena if there is a popular cinema, popular drama, popular speaker, popular singer, anything, each one will be elbowing each other to secure the best seat that one can possibly do. So everybody is bound. You are also bound. You may think you may not bound. So Arjuna will go to some such place. He finds that there are already the required number is filled. And what do you think he will do? He will elbow out somebody because he is very strong. Because the Kshatriya nature has not disappeared from him. And then if the other fellow says this person is very strong, he had fought before and he could easily overcome anybody and he will be doing exactly that. And not only that. I don't want to go into details. I have mentioned in my past talks. Arjuna had married twice after putting the robes of a monk. And then the last, after marrying to producing children, at last he reached Dwaraka and at Krishna's prompting, he carries away Subhadra. Now this fellow wants to say I don't want to fight. It is better to beg food. And then all this nonsensical sermon he had given. But Krishna, the Divine Lord, He knows everything. Not only about Arjuna. He knows about everybody. Why? Because He is in the heart of everybody. He is outside the heart of everybody. He is everybody. He is everything. That is the meaning, that is the Gnanam, knowledge which the Lord is driving all of us to accept. And then ultimately these few shlokas, what are they telling? You are helpless. You don't have freedom. The only freedom you have is even that is also you don't have. Take refuge. If you don't take refuge happily, consciously, you will be forced to take refuge forcefully after suffering a lot. That's what the Lord is going to tell very soon. So that every action which you are not willing to undertake due to ignorance, every duty, you will force perform, bound by your own duty or nature. These shlokas, earlier shlokas, are leading to this most marvellous 61st shloka. What is it? O Arjuna, the Lord dwells in the hearts of all beings. O Arjuna, and by His Maya, causes everybody to revolve as though they are mounted on a machine. Ramakrishna often used to sing a most meaningful spiritual song. This is the ultimate spiritual attainment expressed through this song. Everything is Thy will. Nobody has got any will. There is no will. There is no freedom. But for each one, it is given to a small extent. Freedom is given by the giver of freedom to a small extent for our joy. You see, many times a mother wants to feed the baby because the baby is not in a condition to feed itself. But the baby's ego doesn't want to accept. I can also do. So he tries to put his hand in the small cup where mother had mixed everything. What is the baby doing? Trying to lift the spoon. I have seen this pathetic scene. Once an English lady brought her baby and we invited her to take food. And we were all sitting in the dining hall and there is one small baby chair which can be hanged to any table. And then she simply put it there. The baby, one apron is put and a small cup and bits of some food and a small fork. And then this is the training the mother wants to give even at that stage. I was watching very curiously. And then you can understand to the amusement of all of us, practically 80% of all the food is falling all over the table, all over the apron, all over the floor. Of course mother, she is taking now and then. But the baby's ahankara. I want to do it myself. So if the baby wants to do, that freedom is given by the mother. Like that each one of us have been given some freedom. And understand this. Hindus, one of the main pillars of Hinduism is the law of karma. And the law of karma means if I do something, I have to reap the consequences. But only there is a condition is there. That condition is only when I have freedom and freely I choose to do something, only then I reap the karma phala. An animal for example, a tiger for example, decides to kill some other animal, prey animal, and it kills. It doesn't incur any sin thereby. Why? Because first of all, it has no freedom. It's own nature. And then most important, it doesn't have any ulterior motives. It wants to survive simply killing is the only way it can survive. God has made it like that. Whereas a deer, it never eats non-vegetarian. Only eats vegetables, grass, leaves, etc. That is its freedom. So every freedom is given by the Divine Lord. But only when we feel that I have the freedom. Human beings have been given that freedom. It is wrong to say we don't have freedom. Two things we have to understand. We have freedom. But it is very little freedom. Why we say very little? Because as just now we discussed, however we have exercised our freedom in our past births and the consequences are this particular body, this particular talent, this particular energy, this particular health, this particular social environment. These are all binding materials. But because karma phala cannot happen if I don't have freedom. That is the most important principle. So in this life also, even though I am bound by the consequences of my past life, but if I can use my intellect, say some things I have done right, many things I have done wrong, in this life I use my intelligence and my freedom to do more of what is right and to lessen what is wrong. That much freedom we have. That is how spiritual progress is to be made. But the important point is are we free completely? No. And Shri Ram Krishna gives a beautiful analogy. The only solution I have ever found anywhere. What is that solution? There is a farmer and there is a field. He had a cow and the cow is tied to a tree with a certain length of rope and the cow is free within that length of the rope to do whatever it likes. It can sit down. It can eat the grass around it. It can dirty the whole place. It can dirty the whole thing and make a mess of it. But if the cow uses it properly and surprisingly some cows do that some cows do the opposite then the farmer comes and judges and says this cow is very good. Now he can lengthen the... usually he lengthens the rope so that it has much more freedom. And if the cow is more intelligent and it doesn't destroy any other things unintentionally but uses its freedom properly the farmer will make it completely free. I have come across this in England. There was a pattern area. I forget his name. All things wise and wonderful all things small and beautiful etc. James Harriot. One of his stories goes one day he went to visit a farmer whose horses needed their teeth to be knocked down trimmed or removed. And this Harriot was seeing when he reached vast fields this farmer was more than 70 years old he hefted a huge bundle of grass and he was practically running towards two horses which had given him service. And these two horses are completely free. They are not tied anywhere. Only when they are tied they can come to the stall. And then Harriot was observing. He asked the farmer how come everybody ties them up or sells them for a butcher? He said no. These dangies, they have served me very well. After all they are creatures of God. So they deserved their retirement complete freedom. Now everyday I carry this. And this Harriot had terrible time keeping up with 70 years old farmer who was running with that very heavy bundle. At last when the horses saw him from a distance they came running at great speed and started showing their love and affection for their master, this farmer. And he was uttering some bad words with the greatest love but he was feeding them. And they knew it is not what words are uttered but with what emotion that is uttered behind. And then Harriot is remarking there are people who are loving, lovable and their life is totally different. Of course fortunate are the horses who could be there. Now why am I talking? That even the small freedom that we have is given by the Divine Lord. But He also is watching us. Is this person, has he got also that common sense, what they call horse sense to use this freedom properly? Then slowly the Lord will make us free. This is the secret of four ashramas. When a person learns what is to be learned what is the truth, what is the goal of life and what is the way to near the truth or to realize the truth. Tattva, Purushartha and Hitha. Then most of the people enter into the second stage Kriyasthashrama. And it is full of responsibilities, worries etc. Not for everybody, only for those who have done lot of sinful actions in their life. But there are quite a number of people whose families are very harmonious. Husband, wife, children, parents and friends. Everybody is very harmonious and loving and supporting each other. Don't think that everybody is suffering. There are quite a number of good families there. And slowly these persons, they understand. They worship God. Most of such kind of families, though rare they are very devoted to God. They never do anything wrong. They never do anything that can offend the Divine Lord which we will talk later on. And slowly these people are progressing in life. This is the point I wanted to tell. So from lesser freedom to greater freedom. And then a time will come, when God has given sufficient knowledge both to the husband, wife, parents, children, everybody. And we get so many of such stories in Mahabharata. Even Duryodhana's father Dhritarashtra along with his wife, he was advised by Vidura and Sanjaya. And then they also retire. We have done so many bad things. But it is time to be completely free. They enter into the third ashrama called Vanaprastha ashrama. What is this Vanaprastha ashrama? So much more freedom from the burdens of a householder's life. Now let us not worry. Remember, this is not a physical freedom merely. This is mostly mental freedom. So having taken up this third stage of life's spiritual journey, this person is not thinking about responsibilities, etc. He internalizes all his spiritual efforts and slowly, slowly he will be progressing further. When he becomes totally free, like a child totally depending upon its mother, like a baby, that is called monastic life. Let us remember, monastic life is total dependence upon God. That is possible only when one annihilates the egotism. In other words, the purpose of life is to attenuate, to lessen. That is called blessing. Bless means to be less. When you ask for some person's blessing, the real meaning is you be less. That means let your ego be less and less and less and less. Then who will take that place? The full egoism, ego, belongs to God and He will take responsibility. We have appropriated this from God and we are giving back that ego, which belongs to God. That is called spiritual practice and the more we succeed, the further we progress and the greater is the freedom and the greater is joy. At one point we have to understand freedom is the real joy, whether it is physical things or intellectual things, aesthetic things or spiritual things, moral things or spiritual things. Simple example, you are suffering, constrained by hunger. Then what happens? Eat food. It is not the eating the food that gives you freedom. It is you are free from that sense of hunger, lacking, and that freedom is your true nature. And that is that freedom which will give you real joy, even if it be the tastiest food. It is not the taste. It is only what happens when there is no taste. Very interesting. I call it a shovel or a piston because many times food, even though you are hungry, doesn't want to go inside. You add some spices and then it goes easily down. And so you can finish the job very quickly and then the quicker you finish the job, the more you will be free from hunger and the more freedom you will get and the more joy will come. Apply it to any want, any desire that oppresses us. So a desire is a limitation, is a bondage. It is less of freedom. And freedom from that desire by fulfilling it or by removing it by one way or the other is called obtaining freedom. Freedom is the song that the soul sings. That's what Swami Vivekananda says. So every stage of life, life after life, we are moving from a lower state of freedom to a higher state of freedom and another name for that freedom is called Truth. Another name for it is called Consciousness. That is what Swami Vivekananda says. Man is not moving from untruth to truth because untruth means non-existence. We are not moving from non-existence to existence. We are moving from lower truth to higher truth which I prefer to call from a lower state of consciousness to a higher state of consciousness. And the full state of consciousness is called God and we are moving all the time towards God and when we become merged, we become completely pure. That's what we have to understand. So there are three possible scenarios after hearing this 61st verse. First state is a very lower state of remember not worldly life, spiritual life. What is it? I am separate from the Self, from everything. And the second, higher achievement, the nearer we move to God, I am part of the Self, everything is part of the Self. And the third stage, not only I, the whole world is one with the Self and that is the goal and this is called spiritual progress. So where is this Ishwara? The Lord says He is there in the hearts of everybody. Ishwara means remember our true state, pure consciousness, the cause of what at this stage we call the whole universe. Now where is He? He is inside the heart. What does it mean? Is it physical heart? No. It is called the cave of the heart. What is it? That particular place which facilitates better understanding, more understanding, that is what we really mean. Understanding is the only measurement. The more understanding, the more the knowledge, the nearer we move to God. So it works in a beautiful way. The more the understanding, the more knowledge. The more knowledge, the more devotion. The more devotion, the more joy. The more the joy, the more we strive to move to the Divine Light. Just as a plant, its growth is always heliocentric towards the light of the sun. So also here, this every jiva, right from the lowest one-celled creature, amoeba, is moving towards the Divine Lord, but it is developing the instruments necessary, which is first the physical body, then at the same time, appropriate to the physical body, the appropriate brain, the engine. When these two are ready, which is in the human life, then the person's real journey will start slowly, slowly. So where is this Lord? It is in our understanding. And our understanding, we always feel somewhere inside our head or inside our heart. Most likely inside our heart. Why do I say so? Because dry knowledge has never given anybody any joy. But if the emotion is very positive, very joyous, and which gives enthusiasm, and fills us with energy and more love, because it is the natural tendency of each one of us, the more joy we want, still more joy. We move only, this one particular word we have to remember, it is a journey towards lower state of happiness, towards the highest state of happiness. Our consciousness, Sat, Chit, Ananda. So the Lord is sitting. In what form is He sitting? In the form of understanding. What do we mean by understanding? Depending upon whatever actions we are doing, whatever habits we have developed, so the reactions and the habits that produce the knowledge of this is right, this is wrong, this is good, this is evil, this is desirable, this is undesirable, this gives me happiness, this gives me suffering, this is called Raga and Dvesha. So the Lord, means understanding, the Lord in the form of knowledge is right sitting in the heart and depending upon how much freedom or how much growth we can give to that knowledge. That knowledge is in the form of a seed. That is why Swami Vivekananda was very fond of saying each soul is potentially divine. What does this divinity mean? Divinity means Sat, Chit and Ananda. I don't want to die, I want to be immortal. I don't want to be a fool, I want to have right knowledge. I don't want to be unhappy, I want to be always happy. That's why three beautiful mantras in the Brihadaranyaka Upanishad which every creature, including the lowest of the creatures, unconsciously utters Asatoma Sadgamaya, Tamasoma Jyotirgamaya, Mrutyorma Amrutangamaya. So this development of this understanding which is nothing but the Divine Lord in a potential form. How does the seed grow? It has to be brought into soil. What is the soil? Our life. Then we have to nurture it. That means we have to think where to put, when to put and how to protect it, how to nourish it, how to remove all the pests, etc. In the science of the growth of every plant, there are only these four activities. First of all, bring it into soil at the right time in the right soil. That is the first step. Second step is remove all the obstacles, stones and lot of things which will hamper the spread of the roots, the growth of the tree, etc. Third, any external nuisances like pests, etc. use pesticides. Fourth, supply the required nutrition in the form of fertilizer, etc. And that is all we have to do. And the rest is done by nature itself. And if we can understand it, the Divine Lord is sitting within everyone's heart in the form of this seed knowledge. Each soul is potentially divine. A bird, an insect, a plant, an animal, an aquatic animal, every living creature is evolving towards this. What about the non-living creature? It is also evolving because when the scientists claim that the inorganic matter at some point of time became organic, is every inorganic matter going to be imbued manifesting life? No. Only certain inorganic matter. It must have been evolving and it has evolved into the right state and then automatically that which is hidden as a potential life suddenly breaks forth like a seed, breaks forth into a small seedling. That is what we have to understand. The Lord is sitting inside. Inside one. No, inside the whole world. Inside even the rock. Yes, inside the rock. How do we know? The story of Pralada. Hiranyakashipu asked, Where is your Lord? He is everywhere. What they replied? Is He in this pillar? Yes, He is in the pillar. Not only He is in the pillar, He is outside the pillar and He is the pillar itself. What does Pralada mean? I am Narayana. I am not Pralada. I am Narayana with the guise of Pralada. You are not Hiranyakashipu. You are Narayana in the guise of your body and your dress, etc. And what about this pillar? This pillar is also the body of Narayana. So whatever is outside the pillar, inside the pillar means the very basic material out of which the pillar is made. And inside the pillar, it is the Ishwaraha and He is waiting. And when this pillar is broken, pillar means that terrible egotism which is so concrete, which is so strong. And as soon as that Ahankara breaks down, Hiranyakashipu realizes, O Lord, Thou art me. I am Thine. Which Madhusudana Saraswati so beautifully expressed how a devotee will progress. How does he know? The first is a firm conviction, I belong to You because I came from You. There is no other way. The effect completely belongs to the cause. And the second thing is not only I belong to You, but You belong to me because the cause belongs to the effect. The effect is nothing but the cause. The cause cannot separate itself from the effect. The effect also cannot separate itself from the cause. So the effect first knows You are my cause. You belong to me. And then I belong to You. You belong to me. And then in the end it comes. Cause and effect are only two expressions of reality. There is no cause. There is no effect. And He goes beyond cause and effect relationship, which is the very purpose of the Upanishads that is slowly taking us to the Divine Lord to that realization. That's what we need to accept. So where is this Lord? Sarvabhutanaam Hriddheeshwaraha Sarvabhutanaam Hriddheeshaya Arjuna Thistathi Thistathi means not sitting. Thistathi means He is in the form of the knowledge. And what does knowledge do? It never allows us to keep quiet. That with tremendous force. As soon as electricity is there, then if the fuse is okay, the body-mind is the fuse, immediately the light goes off. The bulb gives the light. And the heater gives the heat. The fan gives wind. And the magnet attracts. Everything is happening only because of that. So Ishwara is like that electricity. Just as a comparison we are giving it. So this Ishwara is there since eternity. So therefore it is not that at some point He comes and sits there. So that is what He is telling. What does He do? Does He inspire us? Yes, He inspires us. How does He inspire us? Here Vedanta goes very deep, very great depth and says, it's not like a driver is sitting in a car and he is manipulating the wheel and the system of the car and it is moving forward. No. By the very presence. So how does it happen? Like the owner of the car and he sits behind and then the driver knows, my owner wants me to take him to the office or to the club or to the swimming pool or to home or to cinema hall. He understands by his mere wish that even wish is not accepted in Vedanta. By His mere presence. The example given is if you sit near the fire, not that the fire is heating you up, it is its very nature to produce heat and if your body is capable of absorbing that heat, if you ask the fire, why are you heating me up? It doesn't say that I am heating you up. I don't know anything about you. It's up to you. You stand at a distance, you won't get effect of the heat. Stand nearer, some heat. Still nearer, some more heat. Then fall into the fire and you will become fire. It will absorb you. But it doesn't have that sense, I am doing it. The sun, it shines its light and in the light of the sun, every activity is going on. Without light, no activity can go on. And that light could be in the form of light or it could be in the form of ideas, everything. Or it could be in the form of sight, it could be in the form of sound, could be in the form of the smell, could be in the form of touch, could be in the form of taste, any form by the very presence of the Divine Lord who is both inside, outside, everywhere. But somehow, because of our ignorance, we think He is inside us, inside everybody. He is inspiring. So Sarvabhata, how does he do? Like the example or analogy of a puppeteer. Here is a puppeteer and then he makes some puppets, ties them with a string and then he ties it to different sticks and then he goes on moving them. And how does he move them? According to the nature of the puppets. Some puppets are Kauravas, some puppets are Pandavas and among them one puppet is Arjuna, another is Yudhishthira, another is Kaurava, this Duryodhana. How do we know? Because we have to learn these lessons from Mahabharata. We have to understand that this 60, this entire Bhagavad Gita is from the Mahabharata only. And Mahabharata by some is considered as the elaborate commentary of this entire Bhagavad Gita. Curiously, Bhagavad Gita has got 18 chapters, Mahabharata is called also 18 chapters, only they are called Parvas. And tremendous wisdom, highest, not only spiritual but the highest goal is enumerated and the different duties of different castes, different people and different stages of life that is enumerated, what is Dharma, what is Adharma and what should be avoided, what can never be avoided, should never be avoided. Everything with marvellous side stories, what we call moral stories, this Mahabharata is truly astounding. And that's why some people said whatever is there in the Mahabharata, anywhere is in the Mahabharata. And whatever is not to be found in the Mahabharata, you cannot find it anywhere else. It is the encyclopedia in compendium of every type of knowledge in this world. And some people go to the extremes of saying there are many people who use these astras, divya astras, divine weapons, so they can produce snakes, they can produce fire, they can produce anything. I wonder sometimes, after all, is this not now war is going on? You sit at hundreds of miles and you fire and that astra, call it only a long range weapon or missile, whatever you call it, it goes and reaches exactly the target, it could be fire, it could be incendiary, it could be cluster bomb, it could be even tipped with nuclear power, whatever way it is destroyed. And we see it clearly. So how did these weapons come into being? Because of the scientists. What did the scientists do? Did they produce it from their pocket? Did they strike two stones and produce it? No, it came because of the intelligence God has given, but this intelligence is in the form of scientific understanding. So in the Mahabharata also, instead of saying it is scientific understanding, it is with the help of certain mantras. So I think this is how I would like to interpret all those astras that are there. It is nothing but a thought of human being, the more powerful the thought and it produces a revolution, whatever effect, good or bad, not only within us, but outside also. This is our explanation of the astras, divya astras. So this knowledge, human being's knowledge is there. Not only that, Hindus also believe in cyclical creation, that means the same universe with the same situations has been played out any number of times, like some American, what you call Lion King drama, or whatever you call it, how many times every night it is being played, like that only one night of Brahma is compared to 1000 yugas, millions of years, etc. So I believe in all those things. So the Arjuna, you cannot but do, because it is not only in you, but the whole universe, every object, living or non-living, it is sustained by the existence of the Lord, it is moved by the knowledge of the Lord, and it is done for a purpose, and the Lord is running every show, and if you think out of egotism, that you have the freedom, you are completely mistaken. It is the Divine Lord who is playing this entire drama. This marvelous truth, we will talk about it in tomorrow's night's class. May Ramakrishna, Holy Mother, and Swami Vivekananda bless us all with Bhakti. Jai Ramakrishna.