Bhagavad Gita Ch18 part 43 on 14 May 2022

Full Transcript(Not Corrected)

Om Jananem Sharadam Devem Ramakrishnam Jagadgurum Pada Padme Tayo Sritva Pranamami Mohur Mohur Om Vasudevasutam Devam Kamsachanuram Ardhanam Devaki Paramanandam Krishnam Vande Jagadgurum Sarvopanishadokavo Dogdha Gopalanandana Partho Vatsa Sudhir Bokta Dogdham Geetam Ritam Mahat Mookam Karuti Vachalam Pankum Langayate Girim Yath Kripathamaham Vande Paramananda Madhavam What I have taught you with one-pointed mind, and if you had, then the inevitable result should be that you would be free from all problems and your delusion should have gone and you must have obtained something most wonderful. When delusion goes, what a person really is, that alone comes to the fore. So everything will be alright if only we pay attention and listen to it very nicely. This is what is being introduced in the 72nd verse. Why is the Acharya, the teacher asking his student, why is Krishna asking? Shankaracharya introduces this verse saying that by asking this question Bhagavan makes a point here. What is the point? If Arjuna, his student, has not understood what he taught and what Krishna taught was complete Shastra, scripture and the purpose of every scripture is to tell us what our nature is, what the goal of life is and how to attain to that goal. Tattva, Purushartha and Hita. So it is the teacher's duty, every teacher's duty, not only Krishna, not only in the field of spirituality, but in every field, any field, if there is a teacher and there is a student and the student and teacher both are working very hard towards one goal, the teacher wants to pass on his experience, his knowledge and the student wants to make it his own, not mere information. So therefore the student should necessarily discover that he got what he asked for and then only he becomes a fulfilled person. Kritaar Tattvam. That I have attained what I set about. Shankaracharya in his inimitable, beautiful Sanskrit language says Tat agrahane, that means Upadesha agrahane, Gnana agrahane. If the student has not grasped what the teacher wants to convey, Punahagrahayasyami, because it is the teacher's duty, he will not leave until the student really understands and becomes fulfilled. Ramakrishna has something to say about it and I will come to it very soon. Shankaracharya continues, If my student Arjuna, who is Arjuna? Anybody who is sincerely seeking the fulfilment of life, trying to find out the meaning of life, what Viktor Frankl calls the search for meaning, what is the meaning of my life? And then only we can attain to that sense of fulfilment I have been born a human being and I have fulfilled my destiny. So if the student has not understood, a real teacher will not give him up. Of course there are three types of teachers according to Ramakrishna. Third class, second class and first class. And he illustrates it. A third class teacher is one, like a doctor, third class doctor, physician, he gives the medicine and tells him, look, you please take this medicine, you will be alright. And afterwards never bothers about him. The second class physician, every now and then goes on telling him, are you taking the medicine? Are you taking the medicine? And he will go on telling as many number of times as it is necessary. But the first class physician, if the patient doesn't listen, he will throw him down on the floor, sits on his chest, presses his throat, opens the mouth and pours the medicine until the medicine completely goes inside. This is actually what veterinarians do to animals. He is a first class teacher who does this one. This is what he is telling. If my student doesn't understand, I will see that he must know what I am trying to pass. If the methodology I adopted was not successful, I will adopt another methodology. So that is called real teacher. And then both the teacher and the student must do work very hard. That is why we go on praying to God. Sahana bhavatu, sahana ubhunaktu. Let God bless both of us so that the teacher is able to convey in the best manner possible to the student. And the student who is also very sincere and working hard should be able to grasp it but by the grace of God. And that grace of God is very important. We will come to that point. And a teacher who does this, he is a real teacher and that is his dharma, that is his duty. The duty of a teacher is clearly shown by Krishna, not by himself but by everybody else. So what is the 72nd verse which we have already raised in our last class? And Krishna has a very special purpose in mind by addressing Arjuna as a dhananjaya. Jaya means who conquered, who obtained dhana, wealth, plenty of wealth. But there are various types of wealth, material wealth, intellectual wealth, aesthetic wealth, moral wealth, of course the highest which includes all these things that is called spiritual wealth. And what Krishna has been teaching is the spiritual wealth. So Krishna is asking, this is the only question Krishna ever asks, O dhananjaya, O Arjuna, has this been listened to by you with a single pointed mind and if you had? How do we know? Because your delusion is your delusion that is caused by ignorance. Is it destroyed, Arjuna? We see in the gospel of Ramakrishna, Ramakrishna asks M an empty number of times. He asks Naren. He asks other devotees also. What did I say? Did you understand? And if they say something which Ramakrishna did not say, No, that's not what I said. This is what I said. Until the student stands corrected, understands it rightly, he will not do it. Not only Ramakrishna used to ask while he was alive, he used to ask also after his giving of the physical body. Swami Brahmanandaji's experience, many years later, when he was the president of the Ramakrishna order, Swami Brahmanandaji, he remembered many of the precious sayings of Ramakrishna which he heard and remembered and he wanted to compile them and there was a particular story and he attributed it to Ramakrishna and one midnight, suddenly Swami Brahmanandaji got up and woke up his attendant and said, Quick, bring some paper and pen. And the attendant, of course, he ran and brought and the next day he asked, Maharaj, why was it? And then he said, You know, Ramakrishna came to me and said, What you have written earlier, that is not correct. I did not say that story. I heard it from somebody. I repeated it, but I failed to acknowledge the source from which I got. So meticulous was Ramakrishna. So the teacher works hard to explain and the student works hard to understand. That is why we say, O Lord, bless us both. May Lord grant us the power, both the physical power to sit and explain, to sit and to listen and the intellectual power to understand and the spiritual power to put it into practice. So this effort on the part of both the teacher and the student aimed at the destruction of the student's ignorance. Only one goal. The student wants to know. Why does he want to know? Because he doesn't know. That not knowing is called ignorance. This destruction of ignorance is the real purpose. But every student must be endowed with Shraddha. There is a very special Vedic hymn called Medha Suktam. Anybody who wants this capacity to understand not only spiritual things, whatever type of knowledge, he must recite it every day. It is a prayer to the Divine Mother. Like Gayathri, may you enlighten my mind. May you give me the right understanding. So Arjuna has this scripture been listened by you. If then the inevitable result will be destruction of your Moha, ignorance, delusion. Delusion is the offspring of ignorance. Now let us see some examples. Ekalavya. The story comes in the Mahabharata. He was a low caste man. He had the tremendous desire to become one of the greatest archers. That shows caste is no barrier for becoming anything, for knowing anything. So he approached Dronacharya, the greatest contemporary teacher of archery. And this fellow Dronacharya, he behaved like an idiot. He is an immoral person. And he rejected outside. Because there is a rule in the Vedas itself. If any worthy student comes, approaches for instruction, a real teacher will never reject, should never reject. Otherwise, he will become a papi, a sinner. Because the teacher obtained it from God. And if he refuses to share it with worthy disciples, worthy recipients, then he is going against God's will and incurs God's displeasure. So Ekalavya refused. But he said, you may refuse me, but I am not going to give you up. He went into a forest. He fashioned an image. Every day he used to bow down. Oh Acharya, please teach me. Of course, God is the real Acharya. Through that image, whatever was necessary, Ekalavya learned. And one day, Ekalavya proved that he was even a superior student to the student called Arjuna by Dronacharya. And what does the teacher do? Who taught you? Well, you taught me. How did I teach you? I don't remember you. Well, sir, I fashioned your image. Then this rascal Dronacharya comes alive and says, Oh, you are my student, but you have not offered me my fee. Yes, sir, I will offer you my fee because I know that you are my Acharya. Oh, you give your right thumb. If it is a right-handed man, give right thumb. If it is a left-handed man, it will be left thumb. What a cruel illustration! That is why Dronacharya had to be outright killed, eliminated. Unrighteous people have no place on this earth. Then comes Swami Adbhutananda. Ramakrishna wanted to make him a bit literate so that he can read. And purposefully he failed. But that is no failure because when the world teacher resolves, I will teach, there is nobody who can remain ignorant. Swami Adbhutananda later on, in his Vedanta, the highest spiritual teachings, just flowed like river Ganga through his mouth. So now Krishna asked this question, Did you hear this? Ekagrena cetasa. That is, with one-pointed mind, but not merely one-pointed. Because one-pointed mind can be with Shraddha, endowed Shraddha. If somebody is endowed with Shraddha, true faith, and faith comes only from God, belief from the world. So that which comes from God will not allow the recipient to remain satisfied with worthless knowledge. It must be only knowledge of God, God knowledge, spiritual knowledge. So this is what he is telling. Did you hear it? If you had done it, then your life would have been transformed. Only that information, which becomes knowledge, and which transforms the whole life of a human being, that is true knowledge. And there is something wonderful about it. What is that wonderful thing? Knowledge always transforms. Information never transforms. I know God exists, but it will not alter my way of life. But I know that some physical something exists. That is knowledge. Even if anybody mistakes, here is a snake. Until he comes to the right knowledge, mistaking a rope for a snake is wrong knowledge. But wrong knowledge, that it is a wrong knowledge, can be known only when light is really brought out. Until that time, that is the right knowledge. But that transforms. Fear comes. Palpitation comes. The impulse to run away comes. All these things happen because the person doesn't know it is a wrong knowledge until light is brought into the knowledge of the rope. This fear will not go. Palpitation will not go. Every knowledge, false or right, until it is sublated, it transforms our knowledge. This is a beautiful definition we have to keep. Millions of devotees claim they have faith in God. But it is not faith. It is information. They are clinging to their body, clinging to their mind, clinging to their wealth, clinging to their good name and fame, clinging to everything. Terrible selfishness has possessed them. And yet they do some japa, some meditation, some reading. They go to the monasteries. They meet some monks, some nuns, but there is no guarantee that that person is a devotee because a true devotee is one who has the knowledge through faith, of course, that God exists. And where is God? He is everywhere. If a devotee has that shraddha, God is everywhere, he can never think anything wrong. He can never do anything wrong. He cannot contemplate harming anybody, stealing anything and remain selfish. Why? Because if any devotee knows that God is here and what is the nature of God? Fearlessness and joy, brahmananda. In the presence of God, if a devotee feels that there is God, he cannot escape being joyful. And when a person is joyful, he doesn't want to cheat because the purpose of right or wrong, cheating or not, everything is for one purpose. How to be happy? So this is how we judge a person. Not by what he claims, not even by what he does, but whether he is joyful or not, whether he is cheating or not. So this is the real meaning of it. If you have understood, I am blessed and the student is also blessed. Ekagrena cetasa. What does it mean? One has to, at least for the time being, suspend all the prejudices, all the wrong knowledges. We are terribly prejudiced. I will give an example. Supposing there are some religions and what the religious teacher passes on as right understanding, it rubs on the listeners. My religion alone is true. The name of God my religion uses alone is the right name. Everybody else will go to dogs. There are many religions who think that like Hindus, for example, they are not religious. They are not believers. They are non-believers. Why? Because they don't believe in our religion the way I interpret the scriptures. And they just say they are kafirs, like that. So this capacity to suspend all one's prejudices, ideas and say, Lord, You teach me because You alone can give me right knowledge and You are the embodiment of right knowledge that is called Ekagra cetasa and then Shankaracharya. Did you listen without indifference? What is indifference? Okay, it is a good scripture. I have to listen but my mind is elsewhere and if I have listened to it with one-pointed mind but with full of faith then what should happen? agnana sammoha pranashtaha Did your delusion born of ignorance, is it completely gone? Is it not a question? If you had heard, it should have happened. So this moha means delusion. Sammoha means terrible delusion. What is delusion? Confusion. What is confusion? The inability to distinguish, to discriminate what is right, what is wrong, what is true self, what is non-self, that is called confusion. And there are again two types of delusions, worldly delusion and spiritual delusion. Most people, they are worldly people but at least are you intelligent person, worldly wise? No. What is it? This is a relative confusion between what is right and what is wrong. I am giving a small example, you will have to extend it, think over it. Suppose here is a patient, he is diabetic and then the doctor forbids, he reads literature that excessive sweet is not good, so he has to make lot of discrimination. So he is confused. Oh, is honey good or is mangoes good? Are they harmful? No, no. They only said sugar should not be taken. But mango is a fruit, so that is absolutely fine. Honey is absolutely fine. This is called confusion in the relative worldly realm. But when we come to the spiritual level, at the absolute level, the confusion between what is the Self and what is the non-Self. And this confusion progresses in four steps. First, Sukha Dukha, what leads to real happiness and even if it be worldly happiness, that which lasts longer than other types of happiness. What can lead me for suffering? Then, what shall I do? If I want to get more of Sukha, reduce my Dukha, Karya Akarya, Sukha Dukha Viveka, Karya Akarya Viveka, then only the mind will be relatively capable of understanding third type of discrimination, what is permanent and what is temporary. Only after a long time, you will come to Vastu, Avasthu, what is Self, what is non-Self. Simply sitting here, I am not on the first step, I am thinking, how can I transcend from the seventh step to the eighth step? That is impossible. And both these confusions are born of simply ignorance. So Krishna asks, as your confusion disappeared, what is the confusion here? Moha, delusion. What is the delusion? It is born of ignorance, Ajnana. What is Ajnana? I am the body, I am the mind, I am Jivatma. What is Jnanam, true knowledge? I am the Atman, I have no body, I have no mind, I am not the mind, I am not the body. Chittaninam, Shivoham, Shivoham. So, this is what Krishna is telling and what is the answer He gives. And then it is to eliminate both worldly point of view, this delusion, confusion, also spiritual point of view. What is the confusion of Arjuna? That I am the body and Bhishma, Drona are bodies and I am going to kill them. This body is going to destroy those bodies. How did you know, Sir? Maybe they will destroy you. Is there any guarantee? Without knowing Oh, I am going to destroy them and that will give me terrible amount of sin and then I have to pay for it. Very interesting discussion, this one. If Arjuna really continued to contemplate on his delusion, soon he would have lost this misunderstanding. What is it? Supposing, Arjuna, you kill both Bhishma, Drona and many others. Who are dear to you? Oh, Arjuna, first question we can put. Are you also feeling that if you kill Duryodhana, are you going to incur any sin? Because from the body point of view, what is the difference between Bhishma, Drona and Duryodhana and Dushyasana? Bodies are bodies. I am the body. Duryodhana is a body. Bhishma is a body. So, whether you can kill only Bhishma, Drona? Are you not going to kill Duryodhana, Dushyasana, Karna, Shakuni? Yes, of course, I am going to kill them. What is your plan? I want not to kill Bhishma, Drona, etc. but I want to kill. Why this confusion? Because if you don't kill any of them, for example, Bhishma and Drona, are they going to live forever and ever and ever because Arjuna doesn't kill them? Stupidity. Second question you ask. Supposing you kill Bhishma, Drona, what will happen? Oh, I will incur terrible sin. When are you going to experience the Karmaphala, the result of the sin after life, after death of this body? Ah, what did you say? Earlier, what did you say? I said, I am the body. And now what are you saying? I live even when the body is destroyed. Arjuna says, did I say that? Of course, you said just now. Papa will come. There is no guarantee by anybody that one is going to experience either Papa or Punya, merit or demerit in this life itself. There is no such thing. There is a 99 years old man. He is on death bed and he has got a shotgun and he kills 5-6 people and definitely that karma has a full time. After killing them, the shock itself kills him. When is he going to experience the result of his evil deed? Definitely, many religions tell us that after the fall of the body, he is going to be there. That means he is totally separate from the body. Body is only temporary dress. So even Arjuna has to admit if I have to experience the karma phala, result of killing Bhishma, Drona, etc. I have to be reborn. If I have to be reborn, then what is your relationship with the body? If you are the body, that is the end of the affair. You become non-existent. But no, on the contrary, you say you are really confused who you are and what you want to do. This is the second point. Third point is why are you cherishing these kind of things? Because where is Bhishma and Drona? Are they in your party or in the opposite party? They are in the opposite party. Are they ready to kill you? Yes, of course, they are ready to kill. Mahabharata is a marvellous story. Arjuna himself goes finding Bhishma invincible. He enters into the camp one night and Bhishma says, Grandpa, tell me how you can be killed? Bhishma cheerfully tells him this is how you have to kill. You take Sikhandi and place him in front of you. I know at one time he was born but they dressed him as a man trained him up as a man and I will never fight a woman so you can discharge your arrows against me but I am not going to discharge because if I discharge they will hit Sikhandi and that I cannot do it. Arjuna got the secret and he bowed down and got the blessings. What is the blessing? May you die in my hands. Bhishma also blesses him may I die in your hands. What a funny story. You will not get it anywhere. So he will come back and that's what exactly he did next morning. So what is this teaching? From the beginning of the Bhagavad Gita you are grieving for no reason because grief has no place in human life. If you are thinking you are the body, nobody can escape grief. Nobody can escape birth, growth, old age, disease, death. Whether you are there or not anybody who is born is going to die. But if they are not body then they must be somebody and that is bodilessness and that belongs to the Atman in which case you do not need to grieve. You are unnecessarily grieving because of your ignorance Agnana. So from beginning 11th shloka of the 2nd chapter until now Krishna is teaching that you are the Atman. You are not the body-mind. You are potentially divine. The goal of your life through whatever be the duty and now it happens to be because you are Kshatriya to fight this righteous war whatever after the war is over you are not going to declare wars anymore on anybody then your duty is to rule over to protect the people see that wicked people are punished good people are rewarded the society is made safe all these things are your particular duties. You will have to do them and this confusion came only from one root cause thinking that I am the body I am not even the mind. So Arjuna if you had listened then you would have been getting rid of what is the ignorance. Then you get knowledge What is the knowledge? I am the soul. Incidentally I have been trapped in this body-mind. My goal in life is to get out of this body-mind and for that any duty every day there are certain way I cannot escape any duty whether it is bodily duties or timely duties or mental duties or moral duties or spiritual duties I cannot escape them. But if I adopt a spiritual attitude that I do everything as a worship of God. Ishwara Arpana Buddhi and whatever be the result I see in my life I accept gladly as a grace of God. Ishwara Prasada Buddhi Then that shows your delusion is gone. This is what we are going to see how Arjuna is going to without the least bit of doubt categorically he is going to answer this. Now we enter into the 73rd how Arjuna answered Lord Krishna's question. And Arjuna answers Bhagwan Sri Krishna's question very positively and therefore the Gita comes to an end. Why does it come to an end? Because had he replied in a negative way that means he has not understood. Then Bhagwan Krishna the teacher must adopt another method to convey the final message of the Gita in some other way. But then he says I understood it. How do we know? That's why we will get it here. 73rd verse Arjuna replied He is telling Hey Achyuta I will come to the beautiful meaning little later on. Arjuna said Oh Achyuta my delusion is gone. What is the delusion? That I am the body mind complex. I am the Jeevatma. That delusion is forever gone. And I have regained my memory. What memory did I regain? That I am not the body mind. Then who am I? I am the pure self. Atman. Brahman. But how did you gain? Through your grace. Oh Krishna I am firm. That means this is not a temporary solution. Temporary understanding. It's a permanent understanding. How do I know? I am free from all doubt. Now there is not the slightest to doubt because Bhagavan Krishna's teaching starts with a doubt of Arjuna. Oh Lord I thought I understood everything. But now I understand if I have understood I would not have been tormented by grief. But I see even if I conquer all the three worlds I am the unchallenged emperor of all the three worlds. This grief of mine will never come to an end. I understood that one. So I take total refuge in you. I surrender myself completely to you. Seshas Teham. That is the meaning. I surrender myself. Shadimam. Command me because I have complete faith in you. Whatever you ask me to do, I will do. Only then Krishna opened his mouth and this is what we are seeing. I am free from all doubts. And then if I am free from doubts, I will act as you commanded me to do. This is the simple meaning. We will explore the real meaning. Dhananjaya, Arjuna very specifically said Achyuta. Achyuta means to stray from one's nature is to slip away, to be somebody else, to be something else. That is the meaning of Achyuta. But God can never become non-God. Brahman can never become the world. Brahman can never become creation. Maybe appearing, but it's impossible for the rope to become a snake. Impossible. But appearance is there. The rope is not saying I am appearing to you. It is the person who is seeing because of three conditions. First, insufficient light. Second, something resembling a snake. And how do I know it is resembling a snake? Because of the memory of my past experience. Third, if these three conditions are not fulfilled, delusion will not take place, superimposition will not take place. Oh Lord, you are Achyuta. Another meaning of Achyuta is Rama says to Vibhishana, if anybody says to me once, Oh Rama, I am yours. I belong to you. I will never again give up that person. Once a person hands over his hand to me, I am not going to give him up. I will firmly hold his hand and I will keep him with me always. I will see that even if he wants to run away, I will see that he will become one with me. This is my promise. This is Ramayana. In the Ramayana, Rama's promise. This is called Achyuta. Once a person prays to God to say, Oh Lord, I am yours. Only once in life. And God will never give up that devotee. He might teach him in various ways, sometimes through valleys, sometimes through mountains, but ultimately, all the time, he was holding the hands of God only. The Lord is holding the hands of the surrendered person. So, this is called Achyuta. And then, crystal clearly, what was the question? If you had heard it properly, then your delusion, born of ignorance, kashchit ajnana sammohaha pranashtaha is your delusion, born of ignorance, gone. What is a delusion? For example, this is a snake. This delusion came because of what? Insufficient light. And insufficient light, we mistake something for something else. But because we mistake, that thing which we mistake never changes. The rope never becomes anything else. It remains all the time the rope only. So, that is called ignorance. Semi-light is called the root cause of this superimposition. And because of that semi-light, all sorts of superimpositions take place. That is called, and out of that, this delusion will come. What is the delusion? Because it is insufficient light, this is off. This is a snake. And it is a poisonous snake. And it is awaiting to bite me and finish me off. So, mistaking is called moha, delusion. And the results that follow, fear, trying to run away, palpitations, heart attacks, etc., everything is the result. If the original cause is removed, all the effects also will be automatically removed. Arjuna categorically replies, nasto mohaha, my delusion is gone. And here, what are we talking about? This delusion that I am the body, I am born, I am going to die, Bhishma, Drona, etc., are also bodies, they are going to die and I am going to be the cause of their destruction. So, I am going to get lot of papa because they are good people. Because if they are evil people, I will get punya. If they are good, I will get papa. If they are good people, I will get punya. But I know Bhishma, Drona, they are good people. Here also, Arjuna mistakes. If they are such good people, how is it that they are still clinging to Duryodhana who is the evil person? And how come that you are still clinging that these are good people? They are ready to finish you off whereas you are still laboring under the delusion that they are good people. They are not good people. Anybody who joins an evil person is himself or herself an evil person. And if you think after joining wicked people, trying to do the most horrendous evil, trying to do it, whether they succeed or not, that person has already become an evil person as good as the original person. But you are still laboring under the delusion that they are ready to kill me but they are still good people. You must be really stupid. This moha, delusion is gone. This moha, delusion is caused by ignorance. What is ignorance? Agnana. What is Agnana? I am the body, I am the mind. It is gone. What remains then? True knowledge. What is right knowledge? That I am the Atman, I don't have anything to do with body and mind. This is called regaining one's memory. Now my memory is I am Arjuna, I am a Pandava, I am born, I have a body, I am such and such age. But that is the what is called memory and we all suffer from this memory. What is the true knowledge? I am not the body, I have no body, I am the pure Atman. Shuddhosmi, Buddhosmi, Mukthosmi, Ananthosmi, Shashvatosmi, Ajowasmi, etc. That is what Arjuna gained. Recognition. What is the recognition? Smriti. It is called in Sanskrit Smriti. What is Smriti? That I am the Self. Because that is my nature. I am the Self. That memory has come. And then only this delusion will go. How did I get it? Padprasadat. Nobody can get it by one's own effort. Because what covered it? Maya. Maya means the terrible delusion. And this Maya belongs to whom? To God. Divine power. So if divine power has covered my knowledge, can I remove it? Only God can remove it. Because only God has power over His power. Therefore Arjuna says, O Lord, out of my grace. And how did Your grace come? Your grace came because I was prepared to receive Your grace. How did I come to prepare myself ready to receive Your grace? By erasing my understanding, my selfhood, everything. That is called surrender. I surrendered myself. That means I belong to You. My heart is open. Whatever you say, that is the Veda Vakya, Veda Pramana. And that is what Bhagawan had taught all these 17 chapters until the end of that. And then Your teaching had removed my, destroyed. And what did you get? I did not get the knowledge that I am the Self by Your grace. There is no need. Here is a rope. There is a dim darkness. I superimpose a snake upon it and I labour under fear. And then somebody brings the light. The function of the light is not to reveal the rope. The function of the light is to destroy the darkness. And once darkness goes, the rope knowledge need not be given. You don't need a special grace. Now that your fear of the snake is gone, the next thing you have to do is to know what is the nature of this one. No. Once this delusion is gone, darkness is gone, the rope self-reveals itself. The Self reveals itself. There is no need for the Self. There is no need to find out another light by lighting up another light. The lamp is self-revealing and other revealing. And this is the most important point we have to understand. Your prasada, your grace, extends only to the extent of destroying the ignorance, destroying the darkness. That is all. By your grace, you have removed, destroyed my darkness and by your grace I know who I am because this is what I am. And then what is the result of it? That is all my delusion is gone. And then what is the result? Now I am completely bereft of any doubts. Doubts come when there is confusing knowledge. When the confusion goes, the knowledge is absolutely right knowledge. So Arjuna has no longer any sense of dearship, bodyship, enjoyership, knowership, desirership. Everything is destroyed. I obtained this Smriti that I am the Self. How? By your grace. What did your grace do? Your grace has removed the darkness. That's all. Shankaracharya says the result of the study of the entire Gita Shastra is to the elimination of delusion, moha. And once this delusion is gone, what remains is the truth and the truth is only one. Truth is only one, that is Brahman. There is nothing else. Once there is Brahman, there is no grief. There is no reason for grief because grief comes from delusion. Delusion is to think that I am an individual. You are an individual. There is a relationship between you and me. Sometimes it is good relationship, so it gives happiness. Many times it is bad relationship. Any relationship has to come to an end sooner or later. The truth is pure Advaita. This destruction of the delusion, I am one, you are second, there is a third, etc. takes place by true knowledge. There is only one Self and there is no yourself, myself and this has been obtained purely by the teaching of the scripture that you kindly say. This is corroborated from the Chandogya and many other Upanishads. Shankaracharya quotes many Upanishads but here is something very relevant. In Chandogya, 7th chapter, there was a great soul called Narada, very famous character in Indian mythology. This Narada goes to a great teacher of the Brahman and then he is called Sanathkumara. He was the Manasa Putra, mental offspring of Brahma himself. He says Sir, I am in sorrow, deep sorrow. I am grieving like Arjuna and Sir, why are you in sorrow? Because I do not know who I am. Not knowing who I am is knowing who I am not and all grief comes only because of that. Such is the mental disease. Somebody says forgetting himself that I am Napoleon, I am Abraham Lincoln, I am Mahatma Gandhi, etc. and that brings tremendous amount of grief because the person may be happily deluded but the world does not behave with him as Mahatma Gandhi, Abraham Lincoln or Napoleon. They deal with him in a quite different way and that is not acceptable for that person until that delusion is totally removed. So Narada replies, I am in sorrow because I do not know myself. I am anatmavit. I am an ignorant of my true self. Therefore this grief comes. Grief comes from a second nithyadvai bhayambhavati and Sanathkumara says, yes you are right. I will teach you. You will become completely free from all delusion. That means I will teach you so you know that you are the self. Once you know you are the self, you will not require any more teaching and along with this the offspring of delusion which is called grief, it disappears. Grief doesn't remain always. Only unhappiness or suffering. Happiness itself is one of the most terrible manifestations of this grief because every time we are happy and then it will not be there. We are plunged into severe depression because everything in this world changes. That is why happiness also changes, unhappiness also changes. So Narada requests Bhagawan Please take me out of this ocean of this grief. Grief comes from delusion and delusion comes from ignorance. Take me out of ignorance. Grant me true knowledge and that is what Arjuna is telling now I know I am the self. I have no doubts and then Now I will tell you that I will do whatever you ask me. What did the Lord ask you to do? Simply as an instrument in the hands of God, you do whatever you need to do because your body, mind needs to do something and before hand, before knowledge came, this doing duty will conduce to your happiness, your what is called longevity, a good birth and tremendous happiness with the minimum of unhappiness you will be granted. But once you become Atmavit, a knower of self, you don't require all those things but whatever you do, if still the body is there and everybody has to do that particular duty only, if they do that, then that person will become doing the greatest Loka Sangraha. He is not even doing Karma Yoga. He has gone beyond Karma Yoga. Karma Yoga is done first for the sake of purifying oneself, second for the sake of obtaining the knowledge of the Atman or one's own self and that is all the purpose of Karma Yoga that has been fulfilled long back by this knower of the self. There is only one thing. You are not there. Only God will remain if that body-mind, should it remain, should it continue, should it be destroyed. As soon as the knowledge dawns, this is not in your hands. You have handed over this body-mind totally to God and that is what Arjuna, that is what every Jeevan Mukta says. Once a person obtains the knowledge, he doesn't say I surrender. He doesn't say what shall I do now. He doesn't exist. What exists is God. Even so, God decides whether that particular instrument through which this spiritual aspirant had attained to the highest self-knowledge, whether that body and mind should continue or not. It is God ever since that time occupies that body-mind. He is not a Jeevatma anymore. He is called Jeevan Mukta and whatever happens through that body-mind, it is for the good of the world because Swartha, good of one's own self, has been attained long back and then whatever, even his very breathing is for the good of the world. This is called Loka Sangraha, serving the world. That is the true purpose of Naishkarmiya Karma Yoga. Naishkarmiya means true Karma Yoga can be done only by a realized soul but not by anybody. That is why Arjuna says I have nothing to accomplish in this world. I have attained whatever needs to be attained. I have become a Krithartha, fulfilled person and I have no duty because I am not the body. I am not the mind but since the body will be there as if it is telling I will do whatever but whatever is done by me is done only for your pleasure but not even for your pleasure because God doesn't require your pleasure but for the good of the people who are still as I was before this realization. This is how I am putting it. Really as I said, Jeevan Mukta has no such idea. It is God who says that. So Shankaracharya beautiful commentary says by your grace I am fulfilled, Krithartham and there is nothing that remains to be done by me. From this we understand that the pursuit of any scripture not only of Gita, Bible, Koran is only until the delusion is destroyed until the ignorance is completely gone. After that there is nothing more to do but before we conclude we must always remember this one. What is it? First of all this understanding that I am grief stricken first. Second there is a way out of this situation. Third I cannot do it. I need the help of somebody, a teacher. Fourth, I have to surrender to that teacher. Fifth, I will have to do what the teacher commands me to do not asks me, not cajoles me, not requests me, not suggests to me but commands. Shruti never cajoles. It commands. That is why it is called Shastra. Shastra teeti Shastra. And then lastly I must do what best I can do all the while depending on only God who can reveal himself. It is only light which can reveal itself. I cannot light another lamp to find out another lighted lamp. So this is called the grace of God. The light of the knowledge of God is self illumining and that is called the grace of God and that light must come to us and it will come to us. For it in order to come to me I must surrender completely to the Divine Lord and remain in that humility that it is possible only by your grace. So, hey Achyuta, Tvad Prasadat, by your grace First, Mohaha Nastaha. My delusion is totally destroyed. Not temporarily not little but completely gone. That means my ignorance is gone. That means I know I am the self. Second, my true knowledge has come along with the disappearance of ignorance. Smriti, memory. What is the memory? I am not the body mind but I am the self. As soon as my memory comes, Gatasamohaha just as when light is brought all darkness is destroyed, disappears Gatasamohaha. I am completely free. Stithahasmi that I am now in that stage, I have absolutely no doubts, nothing to obtain, nothing to lose I am in that condition and then what remains? Tava Vachanam Karishiye. I will do whatever is absolutely necessary. With this earlier itself Gita is over. With this we know Arjuna has been enlightened Anybody who surrenders to God will attain to the same state as Arjuna has attained and that is the essence of the scripture, destruction of Ajnana and we have to surrender to God means to the Guru, means to the scripture and that is the one way we have to do it. May Sri Ramakrishna, Holy Mother and Swami Vivekananda bless us all with Bhakti. Jai Ramakrishna.