BG 12.5 – Bhakti-yoga—Sure, Simple, and Sublime

Giriraj Swami: So, we are reading from the Bhagavad-gītā, which is the record of Lord Krishna’s instructions on yoga, and we will read a verse from the Twelfth Chapter, which is about bhakti-yoga. Please repeat.

oṁ namo bhagavate vāsudevāya

oṁ namo bhagavate vāsudevāya

oṁ namo bhagavate vāsudevāya

So, Śrīmad Bhagavad-gītā As It Is, Chapter Twelve, Devotional Service, Text Five. I will read the Sanskrit, please repeat:

TEXT 5

kleśo ‘dhika-taras teṣām

avyaktāsakta-cetasām

avyaktā hi gatir duḥkhaṁ

dehavadbhir avāpyate

TRANSLATION

For those whose minds are attached to the unmanifested, impersonal feature of the Supreme, advancement is very troublesome. To make progress in that discipline is always difficult for those who are embodied.

COMMENT

What does embodied mean?

Devotee: In the body?

Giriraj Swami: Yes. So, who does that apply to?

Devotee: Everyone but me. [laughter]

Giriraj Swami: Everyone, everyone in the material world.

PURPORT by Srila Prabhupada

The group of transcendentalists who follow the path of the inconceivable, unmanifested, impersonal feature of the Supreme Lord are called jñāna-yogīs, and persons who are in full Kṛṣṇa consciousness, engaged in devotional service to the Lord, are called bhakti-yogīs. Now, here the difference between jñāna-yoga and bhakti-yoga is definitely expressed. The process of jñāna-yoga, although ultimately bringing one to the same goal, is very troublesome, whereas the path of bhakti-yoga, the process of being in direct service to the Supreme Personality of Godhead, is easier and is natural for the embodied soul. The individual soul is embodied since time immemorial. It is very difficult for him to simply theoretically understand that he is not the body. Therefore, the bhakti-yogī accepts the Deity of Kṛṣṇa as worshipable because there is some bodily conception fixed in the mind, which can thus be applied. Of course, worship of the Supreme Personality of Godhead in His form within the temple is not idol worship. There is evidence in the Vedic literature that worship may be saguṇa and nirguṇa – of the Supreme possessing or not possessing attributes. Worship of the Deity in the temple is saguṇa worship, for the Lord is represented by material qualities. But the form of the Lord, though represented by material qualities such as stone, wood or paint, is not actually material. That is the absolute nature of the Supreme Lord.

A crude example may be given here. We may find some mailboxes on the street, and if we post our letters in those boxes, they will naturally go to their destination without difficulty. But any old box, or an imitation which we may find somewhere but which is not authorized by the post office, will not do the work. Similarly, God has an authorized representation in the Deity form, which is called arcā-vigraha. This arcā-vigraha is an incarnation of the Supreme Lord. God will accept service through that form. The Lord is omnipotent, all-powerful; therefore, by His incarnation as arcā-vigraha He can accept the services of the devotee, just to make it convenient for the man in conditioned life.

So for a devotee there is no difficulty in approaching the Supreme immediately and directly, but for those who are following the impersonal way to spiritual realization the path is difficult. They have to understand the unmanifested representation of the Supreme through such Vedic literatures as the Upaniṣads, and they have to learn the language, understand the nonperceptual feelings, and realize all these processes. This is not very easy for a common man. A person in Kṛṣṇa consciousness, engaged in devotional service, simply by the guidance of the bona fide spiritual master, simply by offering regulative obeisances unto the Deity, simply by hearing the glories of the Lord, and simply by eating the remnants of foodstuffs offered to the Lord, realizes the Supreme Personality of Godhead very easily. There is no doubt that the impersonalists are unnecessarily taking a troublesome path with the risk of not realizing the Absolute Truth at the ultimate end. But the personalist, without any risk, trouble or difficulty, approaches the Supreme Personality directly. A similar passage appears in Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam. It is stated there that if one ultimately has to surrender unto the Supreme Personality of Godhead (this surrendering process is called bhakti), but instead takes the trouble to understand what is Brahman and what is not Brahman and spends his whole life in that way, the result is simply troublesome. Therefore it is advised here that one should not take up this troublesome path of self-realization, because there is uncertainty in the ultimate result.

A living entity is eternally an individual soul, and if he wants to merge into the spiritual whole, he may accomplish the realization of the eternal and knowledgeable aspects of his original nature, but the blissful portion is not realized. By the grace of some devotee, such a transcendentalist, highly learned in the process of jñāna-yoga, may come to the point of bhakti-yoga, or devotional service. At that time, long practice in impersonalism also becomes a source of trouble, because he cannot give up the idea. Therefore an embodied soul is always in difficulty with the unmanifest, both at the time of practice and at the time of realization. Every living soul is partially independent, and one should know for certain that this unmanifested realization is against the nature of his spiritual, blissful self. One should not take up this process. For every individual living entity the process of Kṛṣṇa consciousness, which entails full engagement in devotional service, is the best way. If one wants to ignore this devotional service, there is the danger of turning to atheism. Thus the process of centering on the unmanifested, the inconceivable, which is beyond the approach of the senses, as already expressed in this verse, should never be encouraged at any time, especially in this age. It is not advised by Lord Kṛṣṇa.

COMMENT

So, there are many important points here. The first is that the soul by nature is active. As explained earlier in the Bhagavad-gītā, The Supreme has two broad categories of energy: the spiritual, which is alive and conscious, and the material, which is dead and unconscious. So, the body by nature is dead and unconscious and the soul by nature is alive and conscious, and when the soul enters the body at the time of conception, in the case of a human being, there is consciousness and life, and when the soul leaves the body again, the body is just inert matter. So, it is not that personality or individuality are the result of being embodied. They are the very nature of the soul, and the soul within the body animates the body. The body is always dead; it is always just a machine but it works due to the presence of the soul. So therefore, it is natural for the embodied being to be active. And Krishna consciousness is so natural that anyone, even a child, can engage in the activities of devotional service, they can chant, they can dance, they can worship the deity by offering respects and prayers, and they can honor the remnants of food offered to the deity, which is called prasāda. There is nothing in the process of bhakti-yoga that a child cannot do, it is so natural. But if you talk about jnana-yoga, studying the Upanishads and analyzing the difference between matter and spirit, it is not possible for a child and it is very difficult even for a grown person. It is difficult to understand even theoretically, what to speak of practice and realize.

So, in this little temple here, we have deities, very beautiful forms of the Lord, and by fixing the mind on the deity and engaging the senses in the service of the deity, one can realize that he is not the body. In fact, this process, there are nine basic methods of bhakti-yoga. One is arcana, and this process is very powerful and those who engage in the process, strictly, according to the regulative principles given in the literature and by the spiritual master, they can actually feel their reciprocation with the Lord, that the Lord, although He has manifest Himself in a so-called material form because that is all that we can see with our material senses, but He is actually present, He is way more than that marble form or brass form or wooden form. And simultaneously, we also realize that we are beyond this body, that we are actually the soul within the body and that soul has a relationship with the Supreme Soul and we get practical realization of that through the process of arcana.

So, as described in Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, the absolute can be realized in three features: Brahman, which is impersonal light that emanates from the transcendental form of God or Krishna, then there is Paramātmā, which is the expansion of the form of the Lord within the heart, and then there is Krishna Himself with Radharani in the spiritual world, Who enjoys loving pastimes with His pure devotees. So, when we have realization of Brahman, we realize the eternal aspect of ourselves, sac-cid-ānanda. Sat means eternal, cit means knowledge, and ānanda means bliss. So, the jnana-yogis, they can realize that aspect of eternity, and the ashtanga-yogis, they can realize the Paramātmā within the heart, which includes eternity and knowledge. But only the devotees or the bhakti-yogis who entered their direct loving relationship with Krishna, they realize the blissful nature of the soul in relationship with the Supreme Soul. And therefore, the Bhagavad-gītā calls this knowledge Rāja-vidyā, the king of knowledge, and it says that it is joyfully performed, not troublesome with difficult austerities. Of course, there is a pseudo type of yoga that can be offered, which also doesn’t involve austerities, but that is not real yoga, that is just a commercialized version. But the bhakti-yogi, he does follow the basic rules and regulations of purity and otherwise, he engages in a very happy, natural, blissful way of life, hearing about God, speaking about God, remembering the forms and qualities and activities of the Lord and sharing that happiness with others, bringing others to that understanding that will enable them to be liberated from material bondage and at the same time realize supreme bliss.

I remember when I first went to Bombay, I actually lived in India for about thirty years. So, we received a letter from a very wealthy and intelligent person. In fact, before the partition of India and Pakistan, he had been the wealthiest person in Pakistan, in Karachi, and after the partition, his residence, which was called Mota Mahal, was taken by the new prime minister of Pakistan, Muhammad Ali Jinnah. And there are many, there was Mota Mahal and there was Mota Gymkhana, so many. So, he was a very intelligent person but as mentioned, here most people, unless they get the association of the pure devotee, are in the impersonal conception. So, he wrote a letter to our office saying that he wanted someone to come to his office to discuss Bhagavad-gītā. So, I went and he had his own ideas, which many people do. So, he straight away said that when Krishna says ‘surrender to me’ it doesn’t mean that you surrender to Krishna with a form. Actually, what he said is, “When Krishna says ‘surrender to me’ it doesn’t mean that you surrender to Krishna. You are saying you surrendered to something unknown, unmanifest, beyond Krishna.” And then he said that, “Krishna ultimately is spread in everyone’s heart and that Krishna, that spread within everyone’s heart, is greater than the Krishna, the person who spoke the Bhagavad-gītā.” So we had some discussion.

But afterwards, it was my practice that I would meet Srila Prabhupada and tell him about the day’s discussions. So, I told him I had met Mr. Motta and Mr. Motta had said that, “In the Bhagavad-gītā Krishna doesn’t mean Krishna.” And Srila Prabhupada said, “Then what does Krishna mean, Motta?” And actually, that is the fact that they don’t want Krishna to mean Krishna because then they have to surrender to Krishna. They want Krishna to mean themselves, whoever they are, so they don’t have to surrender to Krishna. So, then I said that Motta said that actually, singular Krishna is not as great as the Krishna who is expanded in everyone’s heart. So, he said I should ask Mr. Motta, “What is more valuable to you, ten dollars in the pocket of every human being on the planet or a million dollars in your pocket?” So, it may be that Krishna is in everyone’s heart, He is in everyone’s heart, but what is beneficial to you is to have your relationship with Krishna and that is realized with Krishna, the original Supreme Personality of Godhead.

So, it took a while and it is very difficult when people are fixed in the impersonal conception for them to give it up. It is very difficult and it usually takes a lot of association with pure devotees. And he was probably already sixty years old when he first met the devotees and then he met Srila Prabhupada and he did service, that is to his credit, he did service and that helped him. And then, in the end, he was actually chanting Hare Krishna on beads and he actually changed. So, it is possible but it takes a lot of association. And that is the purpose of the International Society for Krishna Consciousness, which Srila Prabhupada founded. It is to give people the opportunity to associate with bhakti-yogis and engage in the practice of bhakti-yoga and gradually become free from that impersonal contamination. It is darkness, actually, although their goal is light. It is ironic that their goal is light, to emerge and become one with the light, but it is actually darkness. It is like a cloud that covers their eternal, blissful, loving relationship with God, with Krishna.

So, if we chant Hare Krishna, the Hare Krishna maha-mantra, then we can realize our relationship with Krishna. But it can be that people are still attached to the impersonal concept and they chant and their chanting doesn’t have the same effect. If they keep chanting and associating with the devotees, eventually it can bring them to the ultimate goal but otherwise, it is sort of an offense to chant and harbor overtly or covertly the desire to merge and become one with God, it is an offense. So, even if we chant, the benefit is obstructed by the offense. But even then, if you keep chanting, associating with devotees, hearing the talks, taking prasāda, doing service, you can be freed from all that, sort of, obfuscation of the supreme reality and ultimately reach the ultimate goal. Hare Krishna.

So, are there any questions or comments?

Devotee: Could you elaborate that the goal is the same?

Giriraj Swami: Yes, that is a very good point. The goal is the Supreme and the Supreme is realized in three features, as I mentioned very briefly: Brahman, Paramātmā, and Bhagavān. So, in that sense, the goal is the same because it is the Supreme, but you cannot realize Bhagavān, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, without bhakti. So, it is the same in a broad sense but there is also differences within the Supreme.

The example is entering a kingdom. You can enter the kingdom and be on the outskirts or you can enter the king’s palace but still not meet the king. And then you can actually meet the king and enter into a direct relationship with him. So, the goal is the same, you could say, the goal is to reach the kingdom but there are degrees of entering. And so, the jnanis, they can enter in a more distant sense, but they can’t actually enter the palace of the king and have a direct relationship with him unless they adopt bhakti-yoga.

All right, thank you very much. Hare Krishna.