Bhagavad-gita 2.54

Om Namo Bhagavate Vasudevaya Om Namo Bhagavate Vasudevaya Om Namo Bhagavate Vasudevaya Narayanam Namaskrittya Naramcaiva Narotamam Devim Sarasvati Vyasam Tato Jaya Mudiraye So, tonight we will read, I was asked to read 54th verse from the second chapter of Bhagavad Gita, which is the question by Arjuna. And in one sense, it's Arjuna speaking, Arjuna is asking questions. So, naturally when we speak about Bhagavad Gita, we expect Krishna to speak. But Bhagavad Gita is a beautiful book. Even the questions by Arjuna are very, very significant. And I will try to explain how and why it is so in the example of this particular verse. So, Arjuna Vaca, Stita Pragyasya, Kha-bhasa-samadhisthasyah-keshava-sthita-dhi-kim-brambhasheta-kim-asita-vrajeta-kim-arjuna-vacha- Sthita pragyasya kabhasa Samadhisthasya keshava Sthita Dhickeem Prabhaseta Khyem Asita Vrajeta Kim Arjuna Vacha Sthita Pragyasya Kabasha Samadhisthasya Keshava Sthita Dhickeem Prabhaseta Kimasitavrajeta Kim Translation, Anuvad Arjuna said, O Krishna, what are the symptoms of one whose consciousness is thus merged in transcendence? How does he speak and what is his language? How does he sit and how does he walk? Report by Srila Prabhupada. as there are symptoms for each and every man in terms of his particular situation similarly one who is Krishna conscious has his particular nature talking, walking, thinking, feeling, etc. as a rich man has his symptoms by which he is known as a rich man As a diseased man has his symptoms by which he is known as diseased, or as a learned man has his symptoms, so a man in transcendental consciousness of Krishna has specific symptoms in various dealings. One can know his specific symptoms from the Bhagavad Gita. Most important is how the man in Krishna consciousness speaks. For speech is the most important quality of any man. It is said that a fool is undiscovered as long as he does not speak. And certainly a well-dressed fool cannot be identified unless he speaks. But as soon as he speaks, he reveals himself at once. The immediate symptom of a Krishna conscious man is that he speaks only of Krishna and of matters relating to him. Other symptoms then automatically follow as stated below. Arjuna Vaca Stita Pragyasya Kaabasha Samadhisthasya Keshava Stita Dih Kim Prabhasita Kim Asita Vrajeta Kim Again translation Arjuna said, O Krishna O Keshava What are the symptoms of those of one whose consciousness is thus merged in transcendence? How does he speak? and what is his language? How does he sit and how does he walk? Sri Advaita Gadathara Sri Vasadi Gaurabhakta Vrinda Hare Krishna Hare Krishna Krishna Krishna Hare Hare Hare Rama Hare Rama Rama Rama Hare Hare Hare Krishna Hare Krishna Krishna Krishna Hare Hare Hare Rama Hare Rama Rama Rama Hare Hare Hare Hare Krishna Hare Krishna Hare Hare Hare Hare Hare Hare Hare Hare Hare Hare Hare Hare Hare Hare Hare Hare Hare Hare Hare Hare Hare Hare Hare Hare Hare Hare Hare Hare Hare Hare Hare Hare Hare Hare Hare Hare Hare Hare Hare Hare Hare Hare Hare Hare Hare Hare Hare Hare Hare Hare Hare Hare Hare Hare Hare Hare Hare Hare Hare Hare Hare Hare Hare Hare Hare Hare Hare Hare Hare Hare Hare Hare Hare Hare Hare Hare Hare Hare Hare Hare Hare Hare Hare Hare Hare Hare Hare Hare Hare Hare Hare Hare Hare Hare Hare Hare Hare Hare Hare Hare Hare Hare Hare Hare Hare Hare Hare Hare Hare Hare Hare Hare Hare Hare Hare Hare Hare Hare Hare Hare Hare Hare Hare Hare Hare Hare Hare Hare Hare Hare Hare Hare Hare Hare Hare Hare Hare Hare Hare Hare Hare Hare Hare Hare Hare Hare Hare Hare Hare Hare Hare Hare Hare Hare Hare Hare Hare Hare Hare Hare Hare Hare Hare Hare Hare Hare Hare Hare Hare Hare Hare Hare Hare Hare Hare Hare Hare Hare Hare Hare Hare Hare Hare Hare Hare Hare Hare Hare Hare Hare Hare Hare Hare Hare Hare Hare Hare Hare Hare Hare Hare Hare Hare Hare Hare Hare Hare Hare Hare Hare Hare Hare Hare Hare Hare Hare Hare Hare Hare Hare Hare Hare Hare Hare Krishna. So I am very happy to be with all of you this evening. And I will try to share some thoughts in relationship to this particular verse. Krishna explained to Arjuna that the main symptom of a person who transcended the power of material nature who is basically free from the modes of material nature the main symptom of such a person is that his consciousness is not merged into this matter. We ordinary human beings, bound by the laws of material nature, bound by our habits, by our attachments, our consciousness is there in the matter. We're always concerned about some material things who will win general elections. I don't know if it's such a concern because probably Modi wins, but for some it's a big concern. But besides that, we have so many material considerations. What's going to happen tomorrow? What are the prices, petrol prices? Water is shortage. Food is a consideration. Family matters. job, whether I will get some good job. You know, there are so many, I was told yesterday, so many engineers are driving krikshas now in Bangalore. So, this is all concerns, valid concerns. We don't speak that it's not valid. It's valid. It has limited value. But Krishna is speaking now how to change our status. Krishna is trying to help Arjuna and with Arjuna all of us to understand what is the transition how the transition takes place how we can change our status from somebody who is enslaved by matter we are even though we are spirit soul we are spiritual by nature we are souls we are free, free souls but we are totally enslaved by matter. When it's time to eat, we need to eat. When it's time to sleep, we definitely need to sleep. You know, the matter always dictates us. So much so that most of the scientists who are trying to study the nature of consciousness, they say consciousness is nothing but matter. any sane person understands that consciousness is beyond matter but scientists say you know that everything is happening in your brain it's a very bold claim and unfortunately I don't have time to discuss this particular notion now But what I want to say is that what scientists say has some truth in it. When they say that consciousness is a product of matter, they say it because we see regularly that our consciousness depends on matter. They bring us some chemical into the brain and, you know, we are unconscious for some time. And they say this is the proof. No, this is not the proof. This is only the proof that you are still in the conditioned state. You are still enslaved by matter. You are still influenced by matter. That's what it proves. It doesn't prove that there is no other people who are not dependent on matter. And basically what Krishna is trying to explain to Arjuna and all of us, how we can be free from the influence of matter. How we can be free from all these anxieties? How we can be free from all these worries? How we can be free from the pain? You know, we are so much dependent on the matter, and if something is wrong, with our little finger, little pinky here, you know, all our consciousness will be in the pinky. We will only think about pinky, not about Krishna. You know, if something is wrong with our body, if something is painful, our consciousness goes there. Again, why? Because we are very much dependent on matter. And that's not good. Because fear is coming. You know, if we are only totally, completely identifying with this body, it means that when the body is finished, we are finished. we will be dead and nothing will happen after that and all these fears are coming and so many other problems are coming because of our dependence on matter basically that's the problem of Bhagavad Gita the initial point of Bhagavad Gita Arjuna found himself that he is ready to completely change his behavior run away from the battlefield guilt, be defamed for being very, you know, cowardly, that he defected, you know, he was ready to give up everything. Why? Because, and Krishna immediately detected it, because he depended on matter. He depended on subtle matter of our mind and on the gross matter of the body. and therefore all the symptoms that are described vividly in the first chapter of Bhagavad Gita Arjuna says oh my hands are shaking and Gandiva is slipping out of my hands and Srila Prabhupada says why you are shaking shaking is the symptom of fear and the fear is the symptom of dependence on the matter when we completely understand that I'm not dependent on matter that I'm eternal soul and I will continue to exist after my death and I it doesn't matter what matter tells me to do it doesn't matter but because we're dependent we have so many problems psychological problems physical problems, economical problems, all kinds of problems we have because we are so tightly identifying with the matter. And Krishna is explaining how to change this position, what we should do, what we are supposed to do. He says it's a process of gradually withdrawing your mind from the matter and concentrating your mind on God. So that's the process. It doesn't work miraculously. Krishna doesn't say, you know, here I will teach you the trick. Just, you know, mumble this mantra and everything will be okay. no no Krishna says it's a difficult process because we're too used to think about matter but he says it's possible it's doable you know you just have to withdraw your mind gradually gradually from the matter by thinking about God and it's very simple you just chant the name of God Hare Krishna Hare Krishna Krishna Krishna Hare Hare Hare Rama Hare Rama of course you have to know who is Hare and Krishna and Rama but still the methods are there you know if we understand why it is necessary then we can follow and Krishna is explaining actually to Arjuna the science of spirituality Srila Prabhupada again and again and again stressed this point that Bhagavad Gita is a science. It's a science of God. And science means there is very rational, systematic processes with predictable results. That's what science means. I mean, I had some connection with science, so I can speak with authority. But basically it means that you follow something and you can predict the result. And Krishna is explaining how it is scientific, how it is, what we are supposed to do. And he says, basically, you have to change the focus of your consciousness. You have to change the concentration or target of your consciousness. Unfortunately, many people who are attracted to spirituality, who are coming to all these temples which are there in Bangalore or in any other cities or basically, you know, all over the world. Some people are attracted to spirituality. They don't understand that spirituality is the science. Basically, what is going on here, Krishna is speaking, spirituality is the science and Arjuna understands this. And therefore, he is asking scientific question. Arjuna is asking Krishna please give me very clear 10% very clear cut definition of how I can recognize whose consciousness is not connected with matter because there are so many people who claim I am avatar of God you know Srila Prabhupada once said that you know India of course now it's Bharat has become the biggest exporters of avatars you know some other people Japan exports computers or cars and America exports iPhones and Germany exports again some cars and India exports avatars they're going to the west and they gain a lot of followers and Prabhupada was actually paining when he was saying this he was not deriding he said because these people they tried to make mockery out of spiritual science instead of explaining how spiritual science is rational how it is completely scientific and how it is the science of spirit they just showing some miracles. You know, Krishna doesn't tell Arjuna, Arjuna, listen, I will tell you how to recognize person whose consciousness is spiritual. He is the one who gives you some vibhuti from his hand. At least I never heard this verse from Bhagavad Gita. Krishna doesn't give this definition. Krishna is very specific. He knows how to teach. And He wants us to know this science. Because He also knows that there will be so many people who will misuse it. He knows that there will be people who will take advantage of this. who will only try to turn the whole spirituality into some focus-pocus, into some miracle-making business. You know, there are some people who are, you know, doing all these miracles in a circus, and they are very honest people, because then they claim that they are avatar. And there are some people who are doing this focus-pocus, you know, miracles. and they claim that they have some, they may have some spiritual powers. But the point is that never Krishna says that you should define somebody who has spiritual consciousness by the sign that he's doing some miracles. Patanjali Muni in his Yoga Sutra, he says all these miracles, all these mystic powers, they are destructions. They are actually bad. They are obstacles on your spiritual path. People think that this is the greatest achievement. If I become some miracle man and if I do some mystic power things, then it's very great. Patanjali Muni says, no, no, you are completely lost. My dear sir, you lost the track. You are not in the right track. You will be just going here and there and showing all these miracles. You know, there are so many stories about this, you know. But anyway, probably I will not go into this. My point is very clear. Krishna says, here is the real spirituality. Real spirituality is where your consciousness is. And that's why Srila Prabhupada called our society as Society for Krishna Consciousness. It's the society which gives you opportunity to change the focus of your consciousness. Which gives you the scientific methodology by which you can change your consciousness. And make your consciousness completely spiritual. and by making your consciousness completely spiritual, obtain the real spiritual experience. It's actually set in the third Yoga Sutra of Patanjali Muni. He says the first sutra, now it's time to speak about yoga, and then he says, Yoga Shittavriti Niroda, and then, Tadadrashtu Svarupa Avastanaha. The third sutra of the science of yoga, explained by Patanjali Muni, is that as soon as your mind is completely calm, as soon as all these vrittis, all these waves on the surface of your mind are completely cleared, then drashtu, you, the soul, the seer, the observer, drashtu, the somebody who has consciousness, Svarupa Avastana he changes his status he is not anymore identifying with this body because this body is not Svarupa this body is Kurupa Kurupa means very bad looking Kurupa Svarupa is a beautiful spiritual form which we all have which the spirit soul has but we can obtain Svarupa when our mind is completely calm. When the nature of our mind which is now very disturbed all the time without any reason, when the nature of our mind is changed. So Krishna explains the same. Krishna of course explains in much more details than Patanjali Muni in Yoga Sutras. But basically the science is the same. Science is exactly the same. How to change the focus of your consciousness. And therefore Krishna says, what is the sign of spiritual advancement? How you can recognize somebody who is who, when he claims that I am spiritually advanced person, that he is right? And Krishna says Achala Bodhi. Krishna gives this very clear understanding. Achala Bodhi. His intelligence is not wavering. Achala means it's steady. The man of steady intelligence, the man who has the goal and who can achieve the goal, and this goal is very high. The goal is spiritual. So, that's the sign, you know, that's the definition given by Krishna. And Arjuna says, how do I understand if he or she or somebody else has this Achala Bodhi? What is the clear signs by which I can define that this person has this immovable, steady intelligence? You know, of course, there are some external signs. You know, if somebody is like, you know, you know, you can look in the eyes of a person if the eyes is going, you know, all over the place, you can understand and probably his Buddha is not so Achala. Or if he is, you know, shaking and, you know, running everywhere, probably his Buddha is not Achala. But, you know, some people sometimes they can pretend, they can sit for maybe, you know, 10 minutes. Are you convinced? Some people can do some sort of show to do this. And therefore, Arjuna asked, please tell me what are the external signs? How can I visibly or very clearly understand if this person is a pretender or if this person is real? How can I understand if he is really spiritual and his consciousness is connected with God, who is immovable? Why somebody becomes Achala Bodhi? Why his consciousness becomes so fixed? Because he is connected with somebody who is fixed. Krishna is immovable. Krishna is immovable because, you know, there is no place for him to move. He's everywhere. You know, if you are everywhere, it's very difficult to move because you're already there. So, Krishna is this immovable object. He's unchanging. He's also immovable because he's not changing. You know, he is always young. He always looks like 16 years old. Of course, sometimes people, you know, some artists who are not very knowledgeable, they make a picture of Krishna with some moustache or sometimes even with beard. No, Krishna never had moustache or beard. He is a 16-year-old boy. His form is the same. He never changed his form. He is the same. When you see Krishna, you will understand that he is the same. So, he is immobile. his name is the same for thousands of years people call Krishna God, Rama Hari, the same name same appearance same look, same form same words Bhagavad Gita is not changed you know in university or college when you have handbooks, the handbooks are changed every 10 years you know here that telling you the ultimate truth, this is the ultimate truth about medical science. In five years, this truth will be completely changed. But Krishna's words are not changed. They are the same. Everywhere the same. They are the same in India, same in Russia, same in America. Old people, they read the same things. So Krishna is immovable. Krishna is the same. And if you think about Krishna, you will also become immovable. And that's exactly what Krishna says and that's exactly what Arjuna wants to hear. Arjuna says, please tell me by which external signs I can understand that somebody is really on a very high level of spiritual advancement. Because it's a very, there is a very important reason why Arjuna is asking this. Spirituality requires some faith. Spirituality requires trust. Spirituality requires surrender. No matter where you go, will you go to mosque or you go to church or you go to this church or that church or this temple or that temple, everywhere you will hear surrender. Any spiritual tradition is speaking that you have to really give up your false ego, the false independence, because we are not independent, and follow God. But because any religion, any spiritual discipline requires surrender, it's very dangerous. If somebody unworthy, who is not really worthy of being surrendered to demands your surrender and you foolishly surrender yourself you will be cheated. This is one of the very great and very important lessons of Bhagavad Gita sorry not Bhagavad Gita Mahabharata. In Mahabharata Krishna speaks very clearly speaks and shows very clearly that somebody who is spiritual he is not exploiting anyone but he does not allow to be exploited either that's a very important lesson we have to understand very clearly because sometimes people are very sentimental people say yeah yeah yeah I surrender you know exploit me Krishna says you're fool you think I'm so surrendered I'm so spiritual and Krishna thinks you're fool why do you allow to be cheated we should not cheat anyone but we should not allow anyone to cheat us that's a lesson of Mahabharata very important lesson and Krishna says very clearly in Mahabharata if somebody cheats you if somebody behaves with you against Dharma you cannot practice Dharma on him he tells Arjuna kill Karna and Arjuna says how I can kill Karna you know he is without his weapons and his the the will of his rat of his chariot stuck in the mud and Krishna says kill him and Arjuna says no no I cannot do this and Krishna says kill him because he is a cheater he is a cheater he will not think about this you know again and again and again, Krishna repeats this thing. If somebody doesn't follow Dharma, you're not obliged to follow Dharma with him. This is actually how very dharmic, pious kings were defeated by those invaders who didn't follow Dharma. They were trying to fight with these invaders following Dharma. And they were defeated because they followed Dharma, unfortunately. And Krishna says, no, you shouldn't do this. Krishna says this, and Krishna says, don't allow to be cheated. Don't allow to be exploited. Don't allow to be taken advantage of. You know, have some dignity. Yes, we should follow Dharma. Yes, internally we should definitely know that we have to come to Krishna. But externally we can adjust our behavior. And therefore, Juno is asking very important questions. That's the main theme from which I started my talk. Even though it's a question, what you can talk about question, he's asking the question. But the very question is important. Why? Because he's teaching us. Don't be too naive. Don't be foolish. you know ask the proper questions investigate probe before you invest your faith yes ultimately we have to invest our faith ultimately we have to invest our heart into somebody it's very important in a spiritual path we have to believe in some person some saintly person we have to follow him the very word shraddha it's a very interesting thing Shraddha in Sanskrit means, there are different explanations of what Shraddha, which is translated into English as face, means. But one explanation is that Hrithdha. Shraddha is the place where you invest your heart. Hrith is the heart where you place your heart. when we believe somebody we literally place our heart into him we say I completely trust you I trust your integrity I trust your purity everything you tell me I will do what you do it's very important in the spiritual past but before you do this you have to investigate don't do it foolishly don't do it blindly don't do it too quickly. Remember that spirituality is the science. And science means the process. And the process is you first investigate, clear your doubts. And then when your doubts are clear, then invest your heart, invest your faith into somebody who is there. And Srila Prabhupada, very interestingly, Arjuna asked four questions. In this one verse, Arjuna asked four questions. He says, Please give me the definition of somebody whose mind, whose intelligence is very steady. Kabasha means basically, tell me what is his characteristic. And Krishna will tell in the next verse that Prajahati, Yadakaman, somebody who doesn't have desires. But interestingly enough, even though Arjuna asks four questions, Srila Prabhupada explains in the purport only one question, gives the answer to only one question. And he says that if you know this answer to this one question, everything else will be known to you. So the four questions which Arjuna asks, The first question is, what is the definition? How you describe the person whose intelligence is steady? And Krishna says, here is the description. Somebody who doesn't have desires. And Arjuna says, no, no, it's not practical. How do I know whether you have desires or not? You know, you may be dressed in a very nice Vaishnava dress, and in Kantimala and everything else. But still, the desires will be in your heart. So it's not a very clear definition. Definition is very clear, but it's not very practical because it's very difficult to use. And then Arjuna says, So, he says, tell me, you know, how I can understand if a person is in Samadhi or Keshava. You know, you are in his heart, you are Keshava, you know everything. But Kim Bhasheta, how he speaks. And Srila Prabhupada, he says, this is the most important question and the answer to this question is also the most important. We can understand what is in the mind of the person by listening how he speaks. Of course, sometimes people speak lie, but even this we can understand. If we are a little perceptive, if we are a little clever, we can see, you know, and there are some courses we teach you, you know, if a person is just, you know, speaking something and he's not very comfortable, then he's speaking lie. But Srila Prabhupada gives a beautiful definition of how to define somebody who has spiritual consciousness. Listen what he speaks. Listen how he speaks by any other subject matter and bringing this subject matter to Krishna. You know, Srila Prabhupada was very expert, was a very ideal example of this sort of, you know, person. Because with Srila Prabhupada, whatever you would speak with him, he would inevitably, you know, bring the conversation back to Krishna. You can start with any subject matter. Srila Prabhupada would inevitably, somehow or other, will make some philosophical point connected with Krishna or will speak something about Krishna. And people always amazed. His disciples were amazed. You know, there was one little story. And Srila Prabhupada was walking in San Francisco. in the park. There is a beautiful Golden Gate Park in San Francisco where the devotees started this Radhayatra and everything, the kirtans there. And then early in the morning Srila Prabhupada is walking and he stops under one tree. And under this tree there is a lot of, you know, stool of birds under the tree. There are, you know, the signs that the birds are there. And Srila Prabhupada shows, points out to this stool of the birds and says, what does it mean? You know, what does it mean? It means that birds eat something and then they have a stool. What does it mean? Prabhupada's followers, disciples, they're very puzzled. What does it mean? You know, in ancient Rome, in Roman Empire, there was a method of divination when you can make some predictions about the future by observing the stool of the birds. So some more knowledgeable disciples, they think, Does he mean some astrological thing? Does he see the future by looking at these special patterns of the stool of the birds? Anyway, nobody dared to give an answer to this question, what does it mean? And then Prabhupada says, it means that even birds are attached to this tree. he brings it back to the philosophy of Krishna consciousness he says it means that the same birds are coming to the same tree and making stool under the same tree because they are attached to this particular tree as their toilet place or whatever so anyway so this is how it is this is just one little silly example but Srila Prabhupada was exactly like this because his consciousness was fixed on Krishna. When our consciousness is not fixed on Krishna, then it's very easy to distract us. It's very easy, you know, we strike some conversation, we start speaking about this, you know, cricket match. You know, who is the, what is the cricket match now? I'm not into cricket, so I don't really know. But, you know, your consciousness immediately goes to this cricket match or this thing or that thing. But if you think about Krishna, then you will speak about Krishna. And then whoever will speak with you, you will immediately speak about Krishna with him. No matter what the initial conversation would be. So Srila Prabhupada says that you can recognize somebody who is spiritual by the way he speaks. and if he's speaking and you immediately can feel it you know if somebody is speaking with realization then it's you can feel that there is something which penetrates deeper you know you can hear the same thing so many times and then somebody repeats something which you have heard many times and you realize, yes, that's true. Now I understand this is true. You know, so this is a very beautiful science how Prabhupada explaining very practically with this practical example how you can understand who is really spiritual. I will tell you another very funny little story. This is the story which one Sanyasi told me. He went to Bhaktivedanta Hospital in Mumbai. There is Bhaktivedanta Hospital which is run by devotees of ISKCON. It's a nice hospital. And after that, he was discovered that there is some gallbladder stones in his gallbladder. and he came to Shilradhanath Maraj who is behind this project of Bhaktivedanta Hospital and he started complaining he said your disciples Maraj your disciples they found out that I have stones in my gallbladder and Shilradhanath Maraj looked at him and said Maraj it must be Shaligram Shilas and this sannyasi told me it's not possible to to change the subject matter with him he always brings it to the point of spirituality so this is exactly the point which Srila Prabhupada actually makes in this purport. You know, you just please listen very carefully. Before believing anyone, the sign in whom you should invest your trust, you will recognize him by listening. Listen again and again and again. And if you have doubts, listen to somebody else. and try to come to the level when you have no doubts. You listen to somebody and you understand. That's true. Because actually in reality, and Srila Prabhupada explained it many times, when we speak about Krishna, we are not supposed to speak on our own. We are speaking on behalf of Krishna. We are repeating his words. They are elaborating on his words. They are basically speaking on behalf of him. So, and it is explained that Simad Bhagavatam, whenever Simad Bhagavatam was spoken, it was spoken by Krishna himself. When Sukadeva Goswami was explaining Simad Bhagavatam to Maharaja Pariksit, it was Krishna who was speaking through Sukadeva Goswami to Maharaja Pariksit. When Narada Muni was explaining Simad Bhagavatam to Vyasadeva, it was Krishna who was speaking through Vyasadeva through Narada Muni to Vyasadeva. Anytime when the spiritual discourse is taking place it is supposed to be Krishna who is speaking through the speaker. Depending on the purity of the speaker. And if the speaker is pure if the speaker is really speaking from his heart and trying to repeat the same philosophy without changing, without twisting it to his own interest, then you will recognize it. As much as Arjuna, Arjuna is listening to Krishna and Krishna didn't show him universal form in the 11th chapter. But before the 11th chapter, in the 10th chapter, Arjuna says, oh, I understand your God. Please prove to anyone else. but I understand you are God. Param Brahma, Parandhama, you are Pavitram. You know, he's glorifying Krishna, saying that you are the most pure, you are Param Brahman, you are this, you are that. How he recognized it before Krishna showed his universal form? Just by listening. Just by hearing how Krishna speaks. And that's the proof, not the miracles. not any kind of you know things which some other people trying to show you to prove that they are divine the divinity of a person is defined by the way he speaks so that's the very important lesson from this verses of Bhagavad Gita from this verse of Bhagavad Gita and from the explanation which is given by Srila Prabhupada spirituality is the science science of God, and science means rational understanding of the causes and effects, the ultimate result to which we should come, and how the process works, and how we systematically can approach Krishna by following the path which was shown to us by previous Acharyas by chanting, Hare Krishna, Hare Krishna, Krishna Krishna, Hare Hare, Hare Rama, Hare Rama, Rama Rama, Hare Hare. Thank you very much, Hare Krishna. So, thank you so much Maharaj for the wonderful session. So, I think we all really took us into the depth of what Krishna has to explain in Ajuna and how Ajuna has to understand it. So, now if there are any questions then I think we will teach you. Maharaj, we can take one or two questions. Sure. So, yes. The impression is that it's very clear for them. So, all the details are now. The impression is not clear for them. Ava Adish. Maharaj, thank you so much. For this beautiful moment, I think, of this verse. My question was, that when it comes to speaking, you know, one may actually just learn some tricks. some inner logic, right? And try to become a little simplistic without the realization. So then how do we basically understand? Therefore you should not only listen when people speak when he sits on Vyasa-san. When you speak on Vyasa-san, of course you will speak something nice. Listen how he speaks outside of Vyasa-san. What he is interested in and what is his focus and everything else. Vyasa-san, yes, that's a certain format which we have. So, Vyasa-san, yeah, anyone can say something. But in reality, you should observe. Being observant, you will understand where the consciousness of the person is, where it is, where it is invested. Yes. care of our body enough, then it will affect our satana and our sova and all this. And we cannot be at that spiritual level that something is sitting but still no need. We cannot be able to focus on our chanting and things like that. So how can we strike that back? There is a very great difference between taking care of the body and being obsessed with the body. taking care is normal, it's proper you know, we have to take care we're taking care of our car we're taking care, it doesn't mean that we become identified with the car we have to take care of the car, we have to take care of our house and we have to spend time taking care means spending some time spending some energy, spending even some resources, that's not a problem but you know people who are identifying with the body, they're probably, you know, at least many of them, they don't take care of the body. They're exploiting body. They're trying to exploit body for their sensual enjoyments and this and that. You know, it's actually those people who are not so much identifying with the body, they take care of the body. Those who are not identifying with the body, they don't take care of the body, they just exploit body. So there is nothing wrong with taking care of the body. So there is one more question this side. Yes, sir. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you very much. Yeah. Thank you very much. very important question. When we look in the history, in the recent history, particularly of India, we can see that in many cases this scriptural basis was neglected. Unfortunately, sometimes people were overly emotional, too much emphasis on the stories and this and that. You know, if we don't have the very strong philosophical foundation of our belief and practice, then inevitably we will be lost, we will be deviated. And therefore, this is the glory of Srila Prabhupada. He was preaching to hippies, people who are not very philosophical and definitely not very sattvic. You know, some people who were loitering in the streets of New York and San Francisco and this and that, And even for them, he was speaking philosophy. Because he knows how important it is. And he taught his followers, if you want to speak, speak from the book. Speak philosophy. Follow strictly. Quote the book. Learn the verses by heart. And this is the way not to be lost. because the scriptures is the guiding light. The shastra is the guiding light. There is no other guiding light. Krishna himself says, He speaks in the 16th chapter of Bhagavad Gita. If somebody rejects scriptures, if somebody doesn't follow strictly shastra vidya, the rules of the Shastras. They will not have any perfection. They will not have any success in life. They will not obtain any happiness. And ultimately, their ultimate destination will also be unclear. So everything should be based on the Shastra. And Shastras are revealing some truths which are not revealed anywhere else. That's the definition of Shastra. What is Shastra? Shastra is speaking something which is not realizable or understandable by your own intelligence. It gives you some information which is outside of the range of your logic and experiment. And therefore it's very important when we're talking about spirituality, we're talking about the path, the clear path is the path of Shastra. And therefore we should know Shastra, we should learn Shastra, and we should hear how others speak Shastra and how others explain Shastra to us. That's very important. Thank you very much. And if somebody neglects this or, you know, there are so many groups like this, yeah, that's not so good. What can I say? It's just, it's just, it's watering down the tradition. We are the, you know, followers of the greatest tradition. The most amazing literary tradition, which reveals so many deepest secrets of life. And neglecting Shastra means basically neglecting these great, you know, rishis and munis who were the founders of this Vedic tradition. So, and those people who don't stress Shastra, they do a lot of disservice to humanity, to their followers, and to Vedic culture. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . and you are thinking is the right important, rather than the ocean itself? Yeah, there are so many interpretations. The problem with interpretations is that at one point of history, the science of proper interpretation was lost. lost. You know, a few centuries back, actually probably more than one thousand years back, people were very clear how to interpret Shastra. There was a, you know, very elaborate science of interpreting Shastra. But because now people don't know how to do this, you know, somebody quotes this verse or somebody quotes that verse and try to over-emphasize the point of this verse, do your duty and bhakti is not so important. Yes, you easily can be cheated in this way. But the remedy is, you know, when people misquote or when people, you know, over-emphasize point which should not be emphasized, the remedy from this is to know the context. You know, one of the most important rules of proper interpretation of the Shastra is to know the context from which this particular quote is coming. You know, if you take out, cut out the previous verse, this verse, then, you know, then you can easily be cheated. There is a beautiful story about one Muslim who was saying that in the Quran it is said, eat, drink and be merry. And he was always saying, I'm following the Quran because in the Quran it is said, eat, drink and be merry. And then he met with some scholar of the Quran, Mullah, and he said, I'm following the Quran. what you follow in Quran, he said, eat, drink, and be married is there in Quran. And Mullah said, but the next line is that eat, drink, and be married, and you will go to hell. And this person said, no, no, nobody can follow the whole Quran. I follow this particular verse. So, you know, when people cut something something from the context, then for sure that you will be misled. And therefore, before understanding, coming to conclusion what Bhagavad Gita is all about, read till the last verse when Krishna says, Sarva-dharman-paritya-jama-mikam-shmenam-raja, and then try to understand the whole thing. And I, of course, try to find somebody who knows systematically the scriptures. But otherwise, yes, unfortunately, this science of proper interpreting Shastras is to a greater extent lost. Maharas, thank you so much. Thank you so much for the wonderful class, the wonderful questions and answers. Hey Krishna, I have a question about the class class. I have heard about the class class. About what? Trust. Trust. Trust. So, what I have observed is, generally in Propas books, many people start immediately trusting. So they know Propas is sending lots of bags to the Shastras. So they eventually trust. But some people still try to keep away. They know what will be. Everything is good. But still, they want to keep themselves away. They don't want to take the next step and completely trust. So how do we know how we can discuss? Can somebody repeat to me the gist of the question? Some people don't get trust even by reading books. You know, some people are mistrustful by nature because they were betrayed many times, especially if their parents were not so good or, you know, because of some childhood traumas. Some people are very, very mistrustful. There's no doubt about it. And it's just their nature. But because internally we all have the quest, we want to find the truth. And we want to find the person who embodies the truth. we want to find somebody who really is, you know, guiding us towards the truth, then if these people are sincere, they can overcome their mistrustful nature. Yes, there are people who are, it's very hard for them to trust anyone. There is no doubt about it. Many, many of such people, especially because of Kali Yuga, so many times we were betrayed or, you know, let down. by other people. But, you know, if the desire to find out the truth is very strong, then this mistrustful nature could be replaced, could be overcome. That's the only question which I can answer, which I can give. Thank you.