BG 5.18, 5.29 – Karma Yoga: Action in Krishna Consciousness

Giriraj Swami: We shall read from Bhagavad-gītā As It Is, Chapter Five, “Karma-yoga—Action in Kṛṣṇa Consciousness.” And I am going to speak on two verses in particular, Text Eighteen, and then Text Twenty-nine, which is the last verse in the Chapter. I will start with Text Eighteen.

oṁ namo bhagavate vāsudevāya

oṁ namo bhagavate vāsudevāya

oṁ namo bhagavate vāsudevāya

TEXT 18

vidyā-vinaya-sampanne
brāhmaṇe gavi hastini
śuni caiva śva-pāke ca
paṇḍitāḥ sama-darśinaḥ

TRANSLATION

The humble sages, by virtue of true knowledge, see with equal vision a learned and gentle brāhmaṇa, a cow, an elephant, a dog and a dog-eater [outcaste].

PURPORT by Srila Prabhupada

A Kṛṣṇa conscious person does not make any distinction between species or castes. The brāhmaṇa and the outcaste may be different from the social point of view, or a dog, a cow and an elephant may be different from the point of view of species, but these differences of body are meaningless from the viewpoint of a learned transcendentalist. This is due to their relationship to the Supreme, for the Supreme Lord, by His plenary portion as Paramātmā, is present in everyone’s heart. Such an understanding of the Supreme is real knowledge. As far as the bodies are concerned in different castes or different species of life, the Lord is equally kind to everyone because He treats every living being as a friend yet maintains Himself as Paramātmā regardless of the circumstances of the living entities.

COMMENT

So the Lord is the Supreme father and the Supreme friend of every living entity. And He is so kind that as the Paramātmā, he accompanies the individual soul or jīvātmā wherever the individual soul goes, in whatever caste or species of life. And the Lord does not make any distinction amongst these different categories of caste or species. But He always remains the kindly friend of every living entity. And we will come across the same idea in the last verse of the chapter, suhṛdaṁ sarva-bhūtānāṁ, that Lord Krishna is the well-wishing friend of every living entity.

Purport (continued)

The Lord as Paramātmā is present both in the outcaste and in the brāhmaṇa, although the body of a brāhmaṇa and that of an outcaste are not the same. The bodies are material productions of different modes of material nature, but the soul and the Supersoul within the body are of the same spiritual quality. 

COMMENT

So this is a very significant point that the different types of bodies are created by different combinations of the modes of nature. And relatively, the mode of goodness, sattva-guṇa is the best, and then next is the mode of passion or raja-guṇa, and then the worst is the mode of ignorance or tama-guṇa. But the quality of this of the individual soul and the Super Soul are the same; they are both spiritual. sac-cid-ānanda.

PURPORT (continued)

The similarity in the quality of the soul and the Supersoul, however, does not make them equal in quantity, for the individual soul is present only in that particular body whereas the Paramātmā is present in each and every body. 

COMMENT

This is the sublime philosophy of Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu called acintya-bhedābheda-tattva, inconceivable simultaneous oneness and difference. The individual soul and the Supreme Soul are one in quality because they are both spiritual but they are different in quantity, because the Supreme soul is infinite, and the individual soul is, as Srila Prabhupada pronounces it, infinitesimal, or as we would say, infinitesimal. So again, the similarity in the quality of the soul and the Super Soul, however, does not make them equal in quantity, for the individual soul is present only in that particular body, whereas the Paramātmā is present in each and every body. As Srila Prabhupada says, I am conscious of the pains and pleasures in my body, but I am not conscious of the pains and pleasures in your body, or in his body, or in her body. But the Paramātmā or the Super Soul is conscious of the pains and pleasures in everybody and we should surrender unto Him.

PURPORT (continued)

A Kṛṣṇa conscious person has full knowledge of this, and therefore he is truly learned and has equal vision. The similar characteristics of the soul and Supersoul are that they are both conscious, eternal and blissful. But the difference is that the individual soul is conscious within the limited jurisdiction of the body whereas the Supersoul is conscious of all bodies. The Supersoul is present in all bodies without distinction.

COMMENT

So this verse has some personal significance for me because when I was a new devotee in the Boston Temple, the first time I was ever asked to give a class, I was given this verse to speak on. And I was quite nervous because it was the first time that I was giving class. But her grace Jadurani devi dasi gave me some words of advice and encouragement and I spoke on this verse. This verse also has significance because I was present for a conversation with Srila Prabhupada in India, in which he quoted this verse in a very significant way. In December of 1970, on the invitation of Gita-Bhavan, in Indore, Srila Prabhupada and his party of disciples, which included me, traveled to Indore to participate in the week-long celebrations of Gita-jayanti. Unfortunately, most of the speakers were Mayavadi impersonalists who did not preach the Bhagavad-gītā As It Is or present Krishna as He is.

In Indore, many gentlemen would come to meet Srila Prabhupada in his room, usually with their own ideas of spiritual life. In fact, Srila Prabhupada had complained, they come to the guru with their own opinions to see if the guru will agree. If the guru agrees; he is very good. If the guru disagrees, they think he not good. So, one argument between Srila Prabhupada and some guests was especially instructive. The previous night, Srila Prabhupada had gone to a Gītā Samītī, and there was no picture of Krishna; there was just a lamp. And so the next day, Prabhupada brought this up with the guests that, “What is this? Krishna is the speaker of the Bhagavad-gītā; there is no picture of Krishna in the Gītā Samītī, only a lamp.” So, Srila Prabhupada said, “They invited me because we are preaching the Bhagavad-gītā, and that was the Gītā’s Jayanti, and the speaker of the Gītā is not present. Therefore, I say that there are so many places, even here, that are wrongly presenting the Bhagavad-gītā. So, our position is to rectify that wrong propaganda.” Then one guest asks, “What is that wrong propaganda?” So Srila Prabhupada said, “Just like in the Ninth Chapter, man-manā bhava mad-bhakto mad-yājī māṁ namaskuru. Lord Krishna says, “Engage your mind always in thinking of Me, become My devotee, offer obeisances to Me, and worship Me. But Dr. Radha Krishnan says, it is not to the person Krishna. Where does he get this nonsense idea?” You can see how bold Srila Prabhupada was, Abhay, fearless, just preaching as it is, without compromise.

So, Srila Prabhupada said, “Where does he get this nonsense idea?” And then one of the other guests says, “No, Vivekananda has also said that.” And Prabhupada replied, “Therefore, I say they are all nonsense. They are all nonsense whoever deviates from the original text of the Bhagavad-gītā.” The guests challenged Srila Prabhupada’s statement that his presentation of the Bhagavad-gītā was correct, whereas others’ presentations were not. They said that he should see and treat others with equal vision. So, we are coming to the point of this verse about equal vision. So, another guest started to advise Srila Prabhupada, “Each and every person has an individual identity of soul, above the body unless you treat him as equal.” And then Prabhupada replied, “There are three gunas—modes of nature—and the Bhagavad-gītā analyzes, these persons are in sattva-guṇa, these persons are in raja-guṇa, and these persons are in tama-guṇa.” And that guest said, “That is not the personality of the ātmā. The ātmā is everybody’s soul, if you have the potency to rise and go higher and higher.” So Srila Prabhupada said, “You are not on ātmā stage, I am not on ātmā stage. you are in the bodily stage.”

Then Prabhupada, in turn, challenged the guests, if they saw everyone equally, why did they find fault with him? “If you are in the ātmā stage,” he asserted, “You have no argument with me. paṇḍitāḥ sama-darśinaḥ, that is stated in the Bhagavad-gītā.” And so, he quoted the verse: “The humble sage, by virtue of true knowledge, sees with equality a vision a learned and gentle brahman, a cow, an elephant, a dog, and a dog-eater.” And another guest agreed, “That is the correct position.” And Prabhupada replied, “That is the correct position, but if you find that Swamiji is not on the standard, that means you are not in the position, sama-darśinaḥ.” This is a very interesting discussion. So then, that guest said, “But that means that if a person commits a murder, a sinner,” And Prabhupada replied, “Yes, that is a very high state, sama-darśinaḥ. sama-darśinaḥ means there is no distinction between what is sin and what is virtue. As soon as you see this is sin and this is virtue, this is not sama-darśinaḥ. He sees a dog and a learned brahman the same.” Now, the dog is supposed to be sinful, and this learned brahman is supposed to be virtuous. Therefore, in his vision, the virtuous and the sinful are the same. That is sama-darśinaḥ.

So then, another guest said, “I think they have made many mistakes in writing the shlokas.” Prabhupada said, “Now you are finding faults in Vyasa, so who can talk with you? Please excuse me, please go out. You are finding faults with Vyasa.” And one of the guests said, “We only want you to be understood here,” as if he is doing Srila Prabhupada a service—to help him to be understood nicely by the people there. Prabhupada shouted, ‘I am not sama-darśi. I don’t say I am sama-darśi. You say sama-darśi.’” Then the guest said, “You should be sama-darśi.” And Prabhupada replied, “But I am not in that stage. I say, because you don’t surrender to Krishna, you are sinful. That is my darshan.” Another guest said, “You should be seen as sama-darśinaḥ.” And Prabhupada said, “No, why shall I. I am not on that position. I am simply repeating the words of Krishna. That is my point. I maybe sama-darśi or may not be sama-darśi. My position is simply to repeat.”

So, in response to Prabhupada’s statement that his business is simply to repeat, a sixth guest raised one last question. So, one guest said, “But every successive teacher has added some interpretations of the knowledge, no? You are the successor of somebody.” And Prabhupada said, “Yes, yes.” The guest said, “Then what is your contribution? That is what we are asking. What are sama-darśi? Have you become sama-darśi?” And here Prabhupada answered their challenge. He said, “My sama-darśi is, why should only Hindus know Krishna. The whole world should know Krishna.” And here, Srila Prabhupada answered their challenge. By his practical work, he had made Krishna consciousness available to all people all over the world. That was his equal vision, and that was his contribution to his predecessors and to us. Srila Prabhupada presented Krishna as the Supreme Personality of Godhead and the Bhagavad-gītā As It Is, and people all over the world were accepting and becoming Krishna’s devotees. The guests were impressed, and if they wanted, they could also follow and benefit.

So then, the other verse I wanted to discuss was the last verse in the Chapter, Text Twenty-nine. We spent so much time on Text Eighteen, I will give a little overview of this verse, and then I will focus on one word in the verse which Srila Prabhupada have emphasized.

bhoktāraṁ yajña-tapasāṁ
sarva-loka-maheśvaram
suhṛdaṁ sarva-bhūtānāṁ
jñātvā māṁ śāntim ṛcchati

TRANSLATION

A person in full consciousness of Me, knowing Me to be the ultimate beneficiary of all sacrifices and austerities, the Supreme Lord of all planets and demigods, and the benefactor and well-wisher of all living entities, attains peace from the pangs of material miseries.

PURPORT by Srila Prabhupada

This is the sense of Kṛṣṇa consciousness: Lord Kṛṣṇa is the supreme predominator, and all living entities, including the great demigods, are His subordinates. One can attain perfect peace only in complete Kṛṣṇa consciousness.

COMMENT

So, in preparing for this class, I came across a beautiful a description by Srila Prabhupada of this word suhṛdaṁ. And Srila Prabhupada said, “Actually the proprietor is God. One should know it that Krishna is the benefactor and well-wisher of all living entities.” In the Vedas, it is said, nityo nityānāṁ cetanaś cetanānām, eko bahūnāṁ yo vidadhāti kāmān, that among the many plural eternal living entities, there is one singular living entity. And among many plural conscious beings, there is one singular conscious being, eko bahūnāṁ yo vidadhāti kāmān, that one singular eternal conscious living being is providing the necessities for all the plural numbers eternal conscious beings. So, Srila Prabhupada says, “The state is arranging for supplying the necessities of the citizens, but how many? The human beings only. But are the humans the only living entities in this world? There are many millions and billions of living entities besides humans. So, who is supplying them necessities of life? Therefore, Krishna is the well-wisher of all living entities. You can supply food to a certain limited numbers of living entity but Krishna, the Supreme Lord supplying to millions and millions and trillions of living entities within the sky, within the water, within the mountains, within the forest. Who is supplying them? It is Krishna, who is the real well-wisher of all living entities.”

Now, Prabhupada comes to very significant point. “He is supplying for all living entities, why not for you? Therefore, those who are actually saintly persons simply depend on Krishna. Why? If Krishna is supplying food to the elephants, from the elephant to the ant, why not to me? I am engaged in His service. Is He so ungrateful? If you render some service somewhere, the master pays you, gives you some wages.” “So, if you are engaged in Krishna’s service, do you think you will starve? Why? You cannot starve. Krishna is the well-wisher of every living entity. Why not for you? This confidence must be there. If He is the well-wisher for everyone and I am engaged in His service, He will not be my well-wisher? So, we should simply depend on Krishna, and we shall simply exert all our energies for the service of Krishna, and everything will be all right. This is called surrender; this is called confidence. Krishna will supply everything, let me engage in His service. He is the well-wisher.” And then Prabhupada quotes that a sentence from a phrase from the translation: “Attain peace from the pangs of material miseries. Those who are not confident that Krishna will protect me, they are in anxiety. “What shall I eat? Where shall I live? What can do? How shall I protect myself?” They are always in anxiety. Actually, we are dependent on Krishna. He is the supplier. He is giving us food, everything. So, we must have confidence. That is training. Our only business should be simply to serve Krishna. Then everything is there.”

And then I will read one last discussion because specifically on this phrase, suhṛdaṁ sarva-bhūtānāṁ, the well-wisher of all living entities. This is from a lecture given on October 14, 1968, in Seattle. So, Srila Prabhupada said,

“Krishna is always our natural friend. That is stated in the Bhagavad-gītā: suhṛdaṁ sarva-bhūtānāṁ. “Suri” there are different words in Sanskrit for different kinds of friends. One friend is called “bandhu,” one friend is called “mitra,” and one friend is called “suhṛt.” Krishna says, “I am suhṛt,” which means such a friend who sincerely wants your happiness. Suhrt is a real friend, a sincere friend. Krishna is suhṛt; He is always wishing me good, and therefore He is always canvassing, “Please, surrender unto Me.” Just like a father says, “My dear boy, why are you acting independently? Foolishly, you are suffering. Just surrender unto me. I shall give you protection.” Similarly, Krishna is a friend like a father. He is always asking, and He is accompanying me in every type of body, even if I get the body of a dog, Krishna is always there with me. He has no hesitation. He is so friendly that wherever His friend goes, He also goes there. As Paramātmā, He is engaged in friendly activities. He is sending His bona fide servant as a spiritual master. He is coming as incarnations. He coming as a devotee, Lord Chaitanya. He is helping us in so many ways but we are so foolish that we are not accepting. Nobody can be a better friend than Krishna. But we are so much unfortunate, so much captivated by the external energy, that we don’t accept Krishna as our friend.”

So, Krishna is the best friend of every living entity. That includes us. He is also our best friend, and He will take care of us. Just engage in His service and be confident of His protection.

So, do we have time for a discussion? Questions and comments?

Host: Yes, so far, there is no question. If there are any questions, please unmute yourself and propose a question to Guru Maharaja. Yes, Prabhu, please. I don’t know your name.

Giriraj Swami: The devotee named Pavitra Bhatt, she preaches to deaf people. So, he is asking his question, and I imagine that she will put his question into words for us.

Devotee: Hare Krishna guru Maharaja. Please accept my humble obeisances. All glories to Srila Prabhupada. All glories to you, guru Maharaja. Bala Govinda Prabhu has a question, and his question is: Does Krishna, because He is all over, does the stone also have an ātmā? His question is that.

Giriraj Swami: It is true that Krishna is everywhere, and therefore there is consciousness everywhere. But the stone does not have an individual soul or jīvātmā. There are eight million four hundred thousand species of life, but a stone is not one of those species.

Devotee: Okay, he got it. Thank you so much guru Maharaja.

Host: How can we develop faith that Krishna is our only friend? This is from Akashni, on Facebook, because this class is also transmitted on Facebook. How can one develop faith that Krishna is our only friend?

Giriraj Swami: All the devotees who engage in Krishna’s service, experience Krishna’s reciprocation. And they experience that He is their well-wishing friend. But we should also understand what is meant by the word “Krishna.” In The Nectar of Devotion, which is Srila Prabhupada’s summary study of Rupa Gosvami’s Bhakti-rasāmṛta-sindhu, elaborates on the meaning of the word “Krishna.” In the definition of pure devotional service, Rupa Gosvami says,

anyābhilāṣitā-śūnyaṁ
jñāna-karmādy-anāvṛtam
ānukūlyena kṛṣṇānu-
śīlanaṁ bhaktir uttamā

So, what is that kṛṣṇā in that verse? In The Nectar of Devotion, and incidentally, in the Introduction to The Nectar of Devotion, Srila Prabhupada has incorporated many of the commentaries of the previous acharyas on Bhakti-rasāmṛta-sindhu. And there, Srila Prabhupada explains that Krishna includes Krishna, His different incarnations and expansions, His names, His forms, His qualities, His pastimes, and His pure devotees. So when we say Krishna is our only friend or Krishna is our best friend, it includes Krishna’s name, for example. A devotee prays, “My dear Lord, You are so kind that as Your holy name, You are my constant companion.” And the devotees are also counted within that category of Krishna. So when we say Krishna is my only friend or Krishna is my best friend, that also includes the devotees, especially pure devotees.

I see that Hari Krishna has his hand raised.

Hare Krishna Prabhu: Yes. Hare Krishna, is it possible you can read the last paragraph of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam 8.3.17? It actually is very appropriate, I think, for this topic.

Only Kṛṣṇa can deliver us from this material existence. Indeed, He is always trying to deliver us. Īśvaraḥ sarva-bhūtānāṁ hṛd-deśe ‘rjuna tiṣṭhati. He is within our hearts and is not at all inattentive. His only aim is to deliver us from material life. It is not that He becomes attentive to us only when we offer prayers to Him. Even before we offer our prayers, He incessantly tries to deliver us. He is never lazy in regard to our deliverance. Therefore this verse says, bhūri-karuṇāya namo ‘layāya. It is the causeless mercy of the Supreme Lord that He always tries to bring us back home, back to Godhead. God is liberated, and He tries to make us liberated, but although He is constantly trying, we refuse to accept His instructions (sarva-dharmān parityajya mām ekaṁ śaraṇaṁ vraja). Nonetheless, He has not become angry. Therefore He is described here as bhūri-karuṇāya, unlimitedly merciful in delivering us from this miserable material condition of life and taking us back home, back to Godhead.

Giriraj Swami: Well, that is beautiful and most appropriate. Thank you for that reference.

Devotee: Dearest guru Maharaja, we can depend on Krishna and have no anxiety that He will provide. If, however, the situation that one is in is not favorable, how much do we depend on Krishna, and how much do we also endeavor to improve the situation? Hare Krishna. Your servant, Yamuna dasi.

Giriraj Swami: So, there are six divisions of surrender or Śaraṇāgati. And the first two are, anukulasya sankalpam pratikulya vivarjanam. That one should accept whatever is favorable for Krishna consciousness and reject whatever is unfavorable. So if we are in a situation that is unfavorable for Krishna consciousness, and if we have the ability to move into a more congenial situation, then we should do so if it is practical. In his discussion with Bob Cohen in Mayapur, which was published as the book Perfect Questions, Perfect Answers, Srila Prabhupada made a very practical statement. He said that, “Becoming a devotee doesn’t mean you challenge the laws of nature. He said, “So long you are in the material world, what is physical law you cannot neglect that. Just like if you go to a jungle and there is a tiger, it is known that it will attack you. Why should you voluntarily go and be attached? It is not that the devotees should take physical risks so long he has got some physical body. It is not a challenge to the physical laws. Oh, I have become a devotee, I challenge everything. That is foolishness.” We should use our intelligence to be in a situation that is favorable as far as possible. Of course, we shouldn’t take unnecessary risks in relation to our physical body. We shouldn’t take unnecessarily necessary risks in relation to our Krishna consciousness.

Can we ask her if that answers her question or if she wants more elaboration?

Devotee: Well, she must be listening on Facebook. Maybe she will leave some message. I would like to ask something also. Please accept my humble obeisances. So, I have no doubt that Krishna is our best friend and He will provide for us. I have been having this experience for some time that I feel like I am going to lack something, and suddenly there is this Krishna arrangement, and everything is okay. And that is a bit scary, I think, because it does require lots of faith and to take total refuge in Krishna. And I am so far away from being able to do that. But the other thing that makes me more scared is that I know that Krishna gives us what we need, but sometimes what we need may not be what we wish, because sometimes what we wish in the moment is not exactly what is the best for us. So, my question is, if you could help me to understand what would be the best way to overcome this fear mentally, because I know the theory. I totally believe Krishna wants the best for me, but I do have this fear and it gives me some anxiety, a bit scared of what will Krishna send me now. Maybe later I can understand, “Oh, this was the best,” but till I get to that conclusion, I feel a little bit scared.

Giriraj Swami: Well, when something comes your way, how do you know that it is Krishna that is sending it?

Devotee: Oh, actually, I always figure that everything that comes is from Krishna, good or bad. This is from Krishna for some arrangement from my karma, whatever, everything comes from Krishna.

Giriraj Swami: That is true because Krishna is sarva-kāraṇa-kāraṇam. He is the cause of all causes. But that doesn’t mean that every situation, well, in a way, every situation is coming from Krishna, but there are also other factors. In India, I heard people give very strange arguments that Krishna created marijuana, so He must have meant for us to smoke it; otherwise, why would He have created it? So although it is true that Krishna is the cause of all causes, it doesn’t mean that everything that He caused is meant for us to accept for ourselves. Because Krishna is the cause of maya, but maya has a different function. Srila Prabhupada said that specially in the beginning, maya will test the devotee. She will give some difficulties. There is a test to the devotee there to see whether that devotee is sincere about serving Krishna or wants to disturb Krishna with material desires. Will the devotee persevere in his or her spiritual practices even in difficult situations or not? And if the devotee continues in Krishna consciousness even in the difficult situations, then the devotee is passing that test. And it is said that Krishna will not give you the same test again if you pass it once, He won’t give you the same test again.

Devotee: That already inspired me and took a little bit of my fear away.

Giriraj Swami: All right, so then I think we can end now. And I would like to conclude with offering Vaishnava praṇāma.

Host: Okay, I just want to thank you so much for your coming here, and we really think, and everyone thinks, and can feel that you are really our true well-wisher because you carry with you always every well-wisher Srila Prabhupada and also you carry with you also Lord Chaitanya in your heart. So because Srila Prabhupada is our best well-wisher, and you are always meditating on Srila Prabhupada’s instructions, you are also our best well-wisher, Maharaja. And your presence also gives us much confidence because this process of anartha-nivṛtti is so long, and it is like a big, big desert without much variety sometimes. And your presence in our life and your blissful nature and smiling instructions give us hope to continue and carry on, although we are going through some challenges in life. Thank you so much guru Maharaja.

Giriraj Swami: Well, thank you. That was nice.

So let us offer very respectful obeisances to all the Vaishnava devotees of the Lord, who are just like desire trees, who can fulfill the desires of everyone, and they are full of compassion for the fallen conditioned souls.

vāñchā-kalpatarubhyaś ca kṛpā-sindhubhya eva ca 

patitānāṁ pāvanebhyo vaiṣṇavebhyo namo namaḥ

Ananta-kotivaishnava-vrinda ki jaya!

Srila Prabhupada ki jaya!

Devotee: His Holiness Giriraj Swami Maharaja ki jaya!