06.18.07
Posted in Bhagavad-gita, Esoteric Teaching, Podcasts at 9:54 am by David Bruce Hughes
Listen 
Slokas quoted:
arjuna uvāca
jyāyasī cet karmaṇas te
matā buddhir janārdana
tat kiṁ karmaṇi ghore māṁ
niyojayasi keśava
SYNONYMS
arjunaḥ—Arjuna; uvāca—said; jyāyasī—speaking very highly; cet—although; karmaṇaḥ—than fruitive action; te—your; matā—opinion; buddhiḥ—intelligence; janārdana—O Kṛṣṇa; tat—therefore; kim—why; karmaṇi—in action; ghore—ghastly; mām—me; niyojayasi—engaging me; keśava—O Kṛṣṇa.
TRANSLATION
Arjuna said: “O Janārdana, O Keśava, why do You urge me to engage in this ghastly warfare, if You think that intelligence is better than fruitive work?” [Bhagavad-gita 3.1]
vyāmiśreṇeva vākyena
buddhiṁ mohayasīva me
tad ekaṁ vada niścitya
yena śreyo ‘ham āpnuyām
SYNONYMS
vyāmiśreṇa—by equivocal; iva—as; vākyena—words; buddhim—intelligence; mohayasi—bewildering; iva—as; me—my; tat—therefore; ekam—only one; vada—please tell; niścitya—ascertaining; yena—by which; śreyaḥ—real benefit; aham—I; āpnuyām—may have it.
TRANSLATION
“My intelligence is bewildered by Your equivocal instructions. Therefore, please tell me decisively what is most beneficial for me.” [Bhagavad-gita 3.2]
śrī-bhagavān uvāca
loke ’smin dvi-vidhā niṣṭhā
purā proktā mayānagha
jñāna-yogena sāṅkhyānāṁ
karma-yogena yoginām
SYNONYMS
śrī bhagavān uvāca—the Supreme Personality of Godhead said; loke—in the world; asmin—this; dvi-vidhā—two kinds of; niṣṭhā—faith; purā—formerly; proktā—was said; mayā—by Me; anagha—O sinless one; jñāna-yogena—by the linking process of knowledge; sāṅkhyānām—of the empiric philosophers; karma-yogena—by the linking process of devotion; yoginām—of the devotees.
TRANSLATION
The Blessed Lord said: “O sinless Arjuna, I have already explained that there are two classes of men who realize the Self. Some are inclined to understand Him by empirical, philosophical speculation, and others are inclined to know Him by devotional work.” [Bhagavad-gita 3.3]
na karmaṇām anārambhān
naiṣkarmyaṁ puruṣo ‘śnute
na ca sannyasanād eva
siddhiṁ samadhigacchati
SYNONYMS
na—without; karmaṇām—of the prescribed duties; anārambhāt—non-performance; naiṣkarmyam—freedom from reaction; puruṣah—man; aśnute—achieve; na—nor; ca—also; sannyasanāt—by renunciation; eva—simply; siddhim—success; samadhigacchati—attain.
TRANSLATION
“Not by merely abstaining from work can one achieve freedom from reaction, nor by renunciation alone can one attain perfection.” [Bhagavad-gita 3.4]
na hi kaścit kṣaṇam api
jātu tiṣṭhaty akarma-kṛt
kāryate hy avaśaḥ karma
sarvaḥ prakṛti-jair guṇaiḥ
SYNONYMS
na—nor; hi—certainly; kaścit—anyone; kṣaṇam—even a moment; api—also; jātu—even; tiṣṭhati—stands; akarma-kṛt—without doing something; kāryate—is forced to do; hi—certainly; avaśaḥ—helplessly; karma—work; sarvaḥ—everything; prakṛti-jaiḥ—out of the modes of material nature; guṇaiḥ—by the qualities.
TRANSLATION
“All men are forced to act helplessly according to the impulses born of the modes of material nature; therefore no one can refrain from doing something, not even for a moment.” [Bhagavad-gita 3.5]
Permalink
06.12.07
Posted in Bhagavad-gita, Karma-yoga, Podcasts at 11:09 am by David Bruce Hughes
Listen The esoteric master Gurdjieff defined crystallization as a point when a student of esoteric knowledge decides, “Ah, now finally I know everything I need to attain complete enlightenment.” Unfortunately, such crystallization usually occurs prematurely or on a wrong platform, making it impossible to advance beyond a certain point. Thus the best policy for continued spiritual growth is to avoid crystallization as long as possible.
When I was in High School, it seemed that everyone was in a competitive race to grow up and become an adult. I had a musician friend who was one of most popular girls in school. She married the captain of the football team right after graduation. I went away to college and lost touch.
Years later when I returned from India, I looked her up and visited her. She told me a long sad tale. Once out of school, all their friends moved away to go to college. She and her ex-football team captain husband became increasingly isolated. They had two children in quick succession. He was trying to make ends meet by working as a gas station attendant. After some time he started drinking and became physically abusive. She divorced him and now faced a difficult life as a single mother.
This is a perfect case of premature crystallization. This couple had it made in High School; they were perfect little adults at the top of the High School food chain. The problem is, High School doesn’t last very long, and as an artificially insulated social system, is a terrible preparation for the real world. The social skills this couple perfected in the artificial environment of High School failed them miserably and set them up for a disastrous life experience.
Most spiritual groups are like High School; they are insulated little social systems, food chains set up for the benefit of the people at the top. The value of such artificial environments is that they may help us concentrate on learning particular skills; the danger is that the knowledge they make available is limited, and will not help us advance in the real world of spiritual life.
If we are successful in the limited context of a particular spiritual group, we may mistakenly assume that we know all we need to know. This crystallization is very dangerous; later on when conditions change (as they must in a temporary material world ruled by time) we will find that our limited understanding and competence are insufficient to deal with a broader context of experience.
One of my Godbrothers, for example, was very successful in ISKCON as a book distributor, administrator and sannyasi. Then after Srila Prabhupada’s disappearance the situation changed, and he found himself a political liability. Pretty soon he was out of ISKCON and had to deal with a much broader social context. He greatly reduced his spiritual practices and preaching, because suddenly he had to develop the skills needed to survive in general society.
He suffered a lot because he had become complacent and allowed himself to crystallize, confident that he had all the knowledge and skills required to continue a successful career in the insulated environment of a religious organization. This lesson, while painful, contains the secret of how to prevent premature crystallization. We must always be prepared to uproot ourselves from a comfortable situation and start over. If we don’t make ourselves do it, then time and change will force us to do it.
I think of this periodic starting over as a kind of tapasya. Tapasya is a difficult concept for most Westerners, but I explain it as ‘preemptive suffering.’ We all have committed sinful activities in the past, creating karma that will cause us suffering in the future. Tapasya means accepting voluntary suffering in the present so that we will not have to suffer involuntarily in the future.
The point is that by periodically uprooting ourselves and deliberately starting over whenever we find ourselves becoming too comfortable, too complacent, we refresh the adaptive skills that keep us learning until we actually do reach a platform where we have enough knowledge to attain complete enlightenment. And by not waiting until time and change force us to adapt, we do it on our own determination. This is a very important secret that you will not find stated directly in any book. It is the secret of the true sannyasi, the avadhuta who is not dependent on any material situation.
For many years I would not stay in any one place. I traveled five times around the world, visiting nearly 30 countries. I visited great industrial cities and obscure tropical islands. Everywhere I went, I taught the glories of the Holy Names as a servant of my exalted guru. Even when I was in household life, I moved every six months. I never let the cobwebs of complacency cover over my sense of adventure, my thirst for challenge and change.
Internally (because that’s what this is really about) I never allowed myself to be satisfied with my current level of understanding. I always sought more knowledge; and even after I had read everything available in our disciplic line, I sought a deeper understanding of what I had read. This was not simply an intellectual quest for knowledge, but a deeper journey toward maturity of intuition and emotions. I sought to integrate intellectual, emotional and physical understanding on a very deep level.
Finally I came to the supreme platform of rasa-tattva: the devotional service of the Lord as seen and understood through the science of rasa, or transcendental emotion. I realized the deep ontological meaning of the Hare Krsna maha-mantra and the kama-gayatri-mantras given as initiatory mysteries in our line, and finally my path was complete. However, this was not my decision or determination; it was declared by the Lord Himself.
When our knowledge, practice and realization are complete, the Lord Himself will appear before us and accept our service. There are so many stories in the scriptures, especially Srimad-Bhagavatam, confirming this principle. Until that time, we should strenuously avoid crystallization, because we will crystallize on an incomplete platform. The only result of that will be that, voluntarily or involuntarily, we will have to suffer to break down our insufficient understanding and motivate us toward a new cycle of learning.
A big part of my responsibility as a spiritual teacher is to keep you from premature crystallization, to spur and prod you relentlessly toward a higher understanding and a better realization of the Esoteric Teaching. You may be uncomfortable, you may not like it, but I would be failing you if I did not do this. Any time you become too comfortable, too satisfied with your progress, you can expect a rebuke from me. If, God forbid, you have actually crystallized, you may need to be completely busted down to buck private and start over on the path from the beginning. Being a real spiritual teacher can be a thankless task; but without this tapasya of continually refreshing your understanding, you will never reach the goal of complete self-realization.
So to recap, there are two big lessons here. One is never to become complacent with our understanding of spiritual life until the Lord Himself recognizes our service. The other is that the exalted and recondite transcendental science of rasa-tattva is the highest platform of spiritual understanding. Until one can easily and naturally understand the final chapters of Nectar of Devotion, his knowledge and understanding of spiritual life are incomplete and will not lead to self-realization. Guard against the complacency and false pride that lead to premature crystallization, and always be willing to start over until you really understand and fully realize this Esoteric Teaching.
I used my friends from High School as an example, but actually the point was that many spiritually-inclined people exhibit the same unfortunate tendency to live in the past, relishing faded glories. The salient tendency of this world is that nothing remains the same for very long. We have to be willing to adapt and adjust, or rapidly become irrelevant. I hope and pray never to stop learning.
Please do not confuse setbacks and tests with tapasya. The difficulties of life come unbidden; tapasya is entirely intentional and voluntary. Actually it is a way to fend off the involuntary suffering of life by accepting intentional suffering of one’s own choice. When one completely surrenders his will to God’s will, his enjoyment to the Lord’s pleasure, this great tapasya nullifies all karma and dissolves all suffering. This extraordinary power of tapasya has to be experienced to be appreciated.
A couple of weeks ago Uddhava and I were in a heavily polluted, seedy section of town shooting footage for the 2012: Matrix Singularity video. Uddhava remarked that the last time he passed through this neighborhood, he became depressed just by seeing the suffering going on there. But because we were there to serve Krsna, there was no inconvenience; in fact, we were feeling very blissful. The very same impressions that had been a cause of suffering in ordinary consciousness were transformed into a cause of happiness for us because we were engaged in Krsna’s service.
I love that line of Yoda’s: “Do or not do; there is no try.” So either we love Krsna or not; ‘trying’ to love someone is just an excuse for not loving them. Actually love is not something one can ‘do’; it is a spontaneous attraction in response to the attractive features of the beloved. So if Krsna reveals Himself to us, we will be attracted by His unprecedented beauty and other transcendental qualities, and love will be the natural result.
What we have to do, then, is purify ourselves so that He will open up to us and reveal Himself.
“As soon as one chants the Hare Kṛṣṇa mantra, he sees the forms of Kṛṣṇa, Rāma and Their energies, and that is the perfect stage of trance. One should not artificially try to see the form of the Lord while chanting Hare Kṛṣṇa, but when the chanting is performed offenselessly the Lord will automatically reveal Himself to the view of the chanter. The chanter, therefore, has to concentrate on hearing the vibration, and without extra endeavor on his part, the Lord will automatically appear.” [Srimad-Bhagavatam 4.8.53 Purport]
So “there is no try,” but just by chanting without ceasing we become purified. Such pure devotion is rarely achieved because we are causelessly reluctant to allow Bhagavan to operate our mind and direct us according to His pleasure. Our experience in material existence is that when we surrender to someone, we are cheated and exploited. But when we surrender to Bhagavan, we feel transcendental pleasure. By many experiences of this transcendental pleasure, we gradually develop the trust to surrender more and more of our independence to Him.
I stay fresh by continually evolving my approach to my service. I find that if I get stuck in a rut, things stop working. Variety is the spice of life, even to Krsna. Don’t you think He gets bored with the same old rituals, day after day? After all, He is a restless young boy. He likes to see creativity and originality in worshiping Him.
Too much self-analysis leads to becoming dry. Use transcendental pleasure as your measure of how much you are pleasing Krsna. Why do you think I am doing a series of videos on the ‘Matrix’ theme? (BTW I’m surprised no one has asked this question on the forum yet.) The same old literal approach got dry. The Matrix story makes a great metaphor for being stuck in the world of maya and struggling to achieve real consciousness. Don’t worry: after I finish this series of videos, I’ll do something even more unconventional. After all, we don’t want Krsna to get bored!
Permalink
06.09.07
Posted in Bhagavad-gita, Podcasts at 12:02 pm by David Bruce Hughes
Listen 
Arjuna wanted to stop the Battle of Kuruksetra because he didn’t want to kill his kinsmen. He didn’t stop to consider how determined the other side was. Even if he ran from the battle, the fight would have come to him. It was time to fight, and even Kṛṣṇa, who tried every means to stop the battle, approved of it. Therefore there was no sin for Arjuna in fighting a war based on principles of dharma.
So the whole point of Bhagavad-gita is simply that you should not act for yourself, you should act for the pleasure of Kṛṣṇa, the Supreme Personality of Godhead. What to speak of fighting for Kṛṣṇa, even illicit sex is not abominable when it is done for Kṛṣṇa.
For example, the gopis are captivated in love of Kṛṣṇa. Kṛṣṇa is a very beautiful young boy, and the gopis are beautiful young girls. At least that is the superficial appearance of their relationship. Actually, the gopis are fully self-realized eternal associates of Kṛṣṇa.
cintamani-prakara-sadmasu kalpa-vrksa-
laksavrtesu surabhir abhipalayantam
laksmi-sahasra-sata-sambhrama-sevyamanam
govindam adi-purusam tam aham bhajami
“I worship Govinda, the primeval Lord, the first progenitor who is tending the cows, yielding all desire, in abodes built with spiritual gems, surrounded by millions of purpose trees, always served with great reverence and affection by hundreds of thousands of laksmis or gopis.”
ananda-cinmaya-rasa-pratibhavitabhis
tabhir ya eva nija-rupataya kalabhih
goloka eva nivasaty akhilatma-bhuto
govindam adi-purusam tam aham bhajami
“I worship Govinda, the primeval Lord, residing in His own realm, Goloka, with Radha, resembling His own spiritual figure, the embodiment of the ecstatic potency possessed of the sixty-four artistic activities, in the company of Her confidantes [sakhis], embodiments of the extensions of Her bodily form, permeated and vitalized by His ever-blissful spiritual rasa.” [Brahma-samhita 5.29, 37]
The gopis are expansions of Kṛṣṇa’s pleasure potency, Srimati Radharani. They are meant for Kṛṣṇa’s pleasure. They may appear to be ordinary women, but they are actually great self-realized souls. Just to teach us how to love Kṛṣṇa at the risk of losing everything, they engaged in conjugal loving affairs with Kṛṣṇa in the forest of Vrndavana.
Therefore the gopis left their homes and families when they were attracted by Kṛṣṇa playing His transcendental flute in the forest of Vrndavana at midnight. Some of the gopis were locked up by their families, and they even gave up their lifes out of separation from Kṛṣṇa. They were so much attracted to Him.
Now this kind of behavior is normally considered completely unacceptable in Vedic society. According to Vedic civilization, women cannot leave the protection of their father, husband or brother. There is no way they can go, especially to dance at midnight with a young boy. This was completely against Vedic moral and religious principles. It was openly a kind of prostitution.
But because it was done for Kṛṣṇa, the greatest spiritual authority, Lord Caitanya Mahaprabhu recommends, ramya kacid upasana vraja-vadhubhih kalpita: “There is no better type of worship of Kṛṣṇa than was conceived by the vraja gopis.” We must cultivate Kṛṣṇa consciousness favorably (anukulyena Kṛṣṇanusilanam). This means always thinking of how Kṛṣṇa will be satisfied. The Kṛṣṇa consciousness of the gopis was perfect because they had no desire other than to try to please Kṛṣṇa. That is perfection.
Vraja-vadhu means the most abominable action. For a young girl to leave the care of her husband and father, and go to another young boy, according to Vedic culture, is the most abominable sin. But because the center was Kṛṣṇa, it is accepted as the highest type of worship.
This is because the values of the material world and the spiritual world are diametrically opposite. The highest success in the material world, global domination for unlimited economic and political exploitation, is considered spiritual poverty, spiritual suicide. But when the most abominable sinful activity in the material world, illicit sex life, infidelity, is applied in the service of Kṛṣṇa, it becomes the highest form of devotional service.
This is Kṛṣṇa consciousness. We have to learn how to act only for Kṛṣṇa, how to love only Kṛṣṇa. Then our life is successful. And the human life is such a rare opportunity to attain self-realization. We have come down from Vaikuntha, the spiritual world, some millions and millions of years ago. There is a beautiful song by our predecessor, our great-great grand-guru Srila Bhaktivinod Thakur, called anadi’ karama-phale, where he sings:
“I have fallen into the ocean of material existence as a result of my selfish activities, which are without beginning, and I see no means of deliverance from this great ocean of nescience. Day and night my heart burns from the poison of these worldly activities, and on account of this my mind never finds any satisfaction or happiness.
“Hundreds and thousands of desires, like nooses around my neck, constantly give me misery and trouble. In that great ocean of nescience play the waves of materialistic tendency. In this world there are many thieves and rogues, of whom six are prominent; lust, anger, greed, illusion, and madness. They are causing me great fear, and in this way my life is coming to an end.
“The two highway robbers, mental speculation and fruitive activity, have cheated me and misled me, and finally they are throwing me into the ocean of misery. At such a time as this, my dear Kṛṣṇa, You are the only friend, and You are the ocean of mercy and compassion. I have no strength to get out of this ocean of nescience, so I pray to Your lotus feet that You will be kind and by Your strength uplift me from this ocean of suffering.
“Accept this fallen servant and fix me as a particle of dust on Your lotus feet. Kindly give me shelter to this Bhaktivinoda. O most merciful Lord, actually I am Your eternal servant, but having forgotten this I have become bound up in the network of maya.”
Anadi karama-phale: anadi’ means before the creation. We living entities, we are eternal. Even the creation is annihilated after millions and trillions of years, the living entities are not annihilated.
na jayate mriyate va kadacin
nayam bhutva bhavita va na bhuyah
ajo nityah sasvato ’yam purano
na hanyate hanyamane sarire
“For the soul there is neither birth nor death at any time. He has not come into being, does not come into being, and will not come into being. He is unborn, eternal, ever-existing and primeval. He is not slain when the body is slain.” [Bhagavad-gita 2.20]
They remain eternally, and until they attain liberation, so does their karma. So when this whole cosmic manifestation will be annihilated, the living entities will remain in suspension in the body of Maha-Visnu. Then when another creation takes place, they will come out again to fulfill their desires and act according to the karma generated by their activities in the previous creation.
The real desire, the real pleasure, the real salvation of every spirit soul is how to go to home, back to Godhead. Kṛṣṇa gives this opportunity in the Esoteric Teaching. But if this chance is misused, there is no guarantee that you will be able to qualify for the human form of life for a long, long time. There are so many millions of species of life on the different planets of this universe, and human beings are a very small minority. So to ignore the opportunity of this Esoteric Teaching is very, very risky.
If we miss this opportunity for self-realization, again we will have to accept the cycle of birth and death, samsara. And not only that, if we do not fulfill the mission of life in this creation, then after annihilation of the whole creation we will have to stay suspended within body of Lord Maha-Visnu for millions and trillions of years. And again we will have to come to this material world to suffer. So therefore it is called anadi karama-phale. Anadi means “before the creation.” This karmic cycle of birth and death is going on from before this material creation, from before the beginning of time.
So you cannot know all the intricacies of your karma. Some people think it is very impressive to remember one’s past life. Even accepting that this is possible for them, then what about the past lives extending back even before this universe was created, before the beginning of time? How can you understand those trillions of years and millions of births? It is not possible for any human being. It is beyond the capacity of human intelligence.
But Kṛṣṇa knows, and He remembers everything from all those lives. And to teach the befooled living entities, Kṛṣṇa personally comes to this material world and speaks Bhagavad-gita. Kṛṣṇa is very much anxious to take us back to home, back to Godhead, because we are part and parcel of Kṛṣṇa, we are His children.
Suppose if your son is loitering in the street, are you not anxious, “Oh, there may be some accident, and the poor boy will be killed.” So you go, try to find him and bring him safely home. Similarly, Kṛṣṇa’s position is like that. We are in this material world simply suffering life after life.
Duhkhalayam asasvatam [Bhagavad-gita 8.15]: this place is miserable. But by maya’s illusion, we are taking this miserable condition of life as happiness. This is called maya, literally, ‘that which is not.’ There is no happiness in this material world. Compared to our real existence in the spiritual world, everything here is miserable.
The sooner we understand that everything is miserable in this material world and the sooner we prepare ourselves to leave this material world and go back to home, back to Kṛṣṇa, the sooner we come to our senses. Otherwise, whatever we are doing, we are simply being defeated, because we are missing the real aim of human life.
Na te viduh svartha-gatim hi visnum [Srimad-Bhagavatam 7.5.31]. Durasaya. We are hoping against hope—it will never be fulfilled—but we are trying to adjust things here to become happy without God consciousness. It will never be accomplished. Na te viduh svartha-gatim hi visnum durasaya [Srimad-Bhagavatam 7.5.31]. Durasaya means “the hope which will never be fulfilled.”
So all these materialistic persons, they are so fools, rascals, miscreants, they are increasing these material activities. They are thinking by increasing material activities they will be happy. No. That is not possible. Durasaya: impossible hope.
All of us are tied very tight, bound by the laws of material nature, forced to accept the results of our karma. Still, we are thinking that we are independent. The scientists are trying to avoid God, to become independent of His law by science. That is not possible. We are under the grip of the material nature. Material nature means the agent of Kṛṣṇa.
So we are always in perplexity like Arjuna, thinking what to do, and what not to do. But we can transcend this difficulty if we accept the principle of the Esoteric Teaching that we must act only for Kṛṣṇa’s service. So take direction from Kṛṣṇa through Kṛṣṇa’s representative, and do it; then there is no more bondage to the law of karma.
Otherwise, we are bound by the reaction of every act, and we cannot get out. So Arjuna’s perplexity, “Whether I shall fight or not fight,” is resolved by fighting for Kṛṣṇa. Then it is all right. Just like Hanuman fought for Lord Ramacandra; he did not fight for himself.
We should understand the policy of all these materialistic persons: they are trying to enjoy God’s property without His permission. Therefore as long as there are people who are breaking the law of God, there will always be fighting and war in this material world. It must be there because the karma of those who are breaking God’s law demands it.
Permalink
06.06.07
Posted in Bhagavad-gita, Podcasts at 8:45 am by David Bruce Hughes
Listen
The Battle of Kuruksetra was inevitable because it was Kṛṣṇa’s will. All efforts to avoid violence failed, because the aggressors, Duryodhana’s party, were determined to prevail. Therefore Arjuna’s only honorable and intelligent course of action was to fight. Not only because it was a point of honor for a ksatriya to fight when challenged, even by one’s own relatives; but more importantly, because it would please Kṛṣṇa.
sa vai pumsam paro dharmo
yato bhaktir adhoksaje
ahaituky apratihata
yayatma suprasidati
“The supreme occupation [dharma] for all humanity is that by which men can attain to loving devotional service unto the transcendent Lord. Such devotional service must be unmotivated and uninterrupted to completely satisfy the self.” [Srimad-Bhagavatam 1.2.6]
Bhakti means worship or service to the Supreme Lord, bhaja-sevayam. The Sanskrit root word bhaj is used for the purpose of rendering service, bhaja. And although bhaja is a verb, in Sanskrit grammar one can use kti-pratyaya, the suffix kti, to make it a noun. So bhaj plus kti becomes bhakti.
So bhakti means to satisfy Kṛṣṇa, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, by devotional service. The word bhakti cannot be applied to other kinds of worship. If somebody says, for example, that “I am a great devotee of Kali, goddess Kali,” that is not what is meant by bhakti; that is business: because there is always some selfish material purpose behind any demigod worship.
Generally, people become a devotee of goddess Kali for eating meat. That is their selfish purpose. In Vedic culture, those who are meat-eaters have been advised that “Don’t eat meat purchased from the slaughterhouse or from the market.” Actually, this system of centralized slaughterhouses was never seen anywhere in the world. This is a recent invention of industrialized society.
Sometimes we talk with Christians, and when we inquire that “Lord Christ says ‘Thou shalt not kill’; so why you are killing?” they give evidence that “Christ also ate meat sometimes.” Even if we accept that sometimes Christ ate meat, even though it is not mentioned in the Bible, did Christ say that “You maintain huge industrial slaughterhouse, kill millions of animals, and go on eating meat?”
Jesus Christ might have eaten meat. Sometimes if he was traveling, and there was nothing else available, what could he do? That is another question. In great necessity, when there is no other food except meat, then eating meat is permissible to save your life.
That time is coming. In this age, Kali-yuga, gradually nice food like vegetables and grains will become unavailable. It is stated in the Esoteric Teaching:
saka-mulamisa-ksaudra-
phala-puspasti-bhojanah
anavrstya vinanksyanti
durbhiksa-kara-piditah
“Harassed by famine and excessive taxes, people will resort to eating leaves, roots, flesh, wild honey, fruits, flowers and seeds. Struck by drought, they will become completely ruined.” [Srimad-Bhagavatam 12.2.9]
No rice, no wheat, no milk, no sugar will be available. This is going on already in parts of Africa, but in the future it will become the condition of the majority of human beings. One will have to eat meat, and maybe even eat human flesh also, just to survive.
This sinful life is so degrading that they will become more and more sinful.
tan aham dvisatah kruran
samsaresu naradhaman
ksipamy ajasram asubhan
asurisv eva yonisu
“Those who are envious and mischievous, who are the lowest among men, are cast by Me into the ocean of material existence, into various demoniac species of life.” [Bhagavad-gita 16.19]
Nature’s law for those who are demons, who are sinful, is to place them in such a condition that they will become more and more sinful, so they will never be able to understand Kṛṣṇa. That is nature’s law. If you want to forget God, then God will put you in such a condition that you can never understand Him. That is demonic life. That time is also coming. At the present time, still a few men are interested to understand what is God. Arto artharti jijnasu jnani.
catur-vidha bhajante mam
janah sukrtino ‘rjuna
arto jijnasur artharthi
jnani ca bharatarsabha
“O best among the Bharatas [Arjuna], four kinds of pious men render devotional service unto Me: the distressed, the desirer of wealth, the inquisitive, and he who is searching for knowledge of the Absolute.” [Bhagavad-gita 7.16]
But the time is coming when there will be no sense to understand God. That is the last stage of Kali-yuga, and at that time, hundreds of thousands of years from now, the Kalki avatara will come and simply kill everybody. At that time there is no preaching of God consciousness, simply killing the demonic populace. Then again Satya-yuga, the golden age will come.
So this problem of fighting will be with us for a long, long time. We have to understand that fighting spirit is there in everyone. You cannot check it, you cannot stop it. We do not say stop. The Mayavadi philosopher says that “You stop this thing,” but that is not possible. You cannot stop. Because you are living entity, you have got all these propensities. How you can stop it?
But it should be utilized properly. That’s all. You have got the fighting spirit. How to utilize it? Yes. Narottama dasa Thakura recommends, krodha bhakta-dvesi-jane: “Those who are envious of God or God’s devotee, you can utilize your anger upon them.” You can utilize. The anger you cannot give up. Our business is how to utilize it. That is Kṛṣṇa consciousness. Everything has to be utilized. We do not say that “You stop this, stop that.” No. Kṛṣṇa says,
yat karosi yad asnasi
yaj juhosi dadasi yat
yat tapasyasi kaunteya
tat kurusva mad-arpanam
“O son of Kunti, all that you do, all that you eat, all that you offer and give away, as well as all austerities that you may perform, should be done as an offering unto Me.” [Bhagavad-gita 9.27]
Kṛṣṇa does not say that “You do this, you do that.” He says, “Whatever you do is OK, but the result should come to Me.” So here the position is that Arjuna is to fight not for himself, but for Kṛṣṇa. Yet he is only thinking in terms of himself. He says,
na caitad vidmah kataran no gariyo
yad va jayema yadi va no jayeyuh
yan eva hatva na jijivisamas
te ‘vasthitah pramukhe dhartarastrah
“Nor do we know which is better: conquering them or being conquered by them. The sons of Dhrtarastra, whom if we killed we should not care to live, are now standing before us on this battlefield.” [Bhagavad-gita 2.6]
“They are my brothers, relatives. If they die, we do not wish to live. Now they are in front of me on the battlefield. Do I have to kill them?” So still he is thinking in terms of his own satisfaction. He is preparing the background for Kṛṣṇa’s spiritual instructions by expressing exactly how materialistic persons think in terms of their selfish personal satisfaction.
So that has to be given up. We should not act for our personal satisfaction, but for Kṛṣṇa’s satisfaction. That is Kṛṣṇa consciousness. Whatever you do, whatever is your occupation, doesn’t matter. The test is whether you are doing it for Kṛṣṇa. That is your perfection, and the perfection of your mission of human life.
This human life is meant for the purpose of attaining Kṛṣṇa. In the animal species of life, they are strictly conscious of the perfection of sense gratification, personal satisfaction. They have no altruistic feeling that “I must provide for other animals also.” When there is some food, a dog will think “How I can get it?” He will never think how other dogs also will be able to share it. This is not animal nature.
Animal consciousness means acting for one’s own satisfaction. There is no question of “My friends, my family members.” They do not share food even with their own children. If there is some food, the dog and the dog’s children are all trying to take independently. This is the animal consciousness, where the propensity is to think only of oneself.
When the selfish animal nature is changed to working for Kṛṣṇa’s satisfaction with love, that is human life. That is the distinction between animal and human life. Making that change is very difficult also. Therefore the whole Vedic system of education and culture is there; Bhagavad-gita and the other Vedic scriptures teach people, “Act for Kṛṣṇa, act for God, not for your personal interest. Or else you’ll be entangled.”
yajnarthat karmano ‘nyatra
loko ‘yam karma-bandhanah
tad-artham karma kaunteya
mukta-sangah samacara
“Work done as a sacrifice for Visnu has to be performed; otherwise work binds one to this material world. Therefore, O son of Kunti, perform your prescribed duties for His satisfaction, and in that way you will always remain unattached and free from bondage.” [Bhagavad-gita 3.9]
Anything you do, good or bad, will produce some karmic reaction, and you will have to accept another material body to enjoy or suffer that reaction. Anything you do. But if you act for Kṛṣṇa, there is no more reaction. That is your freedom.
buddhi-yukto jahatiha
ubhe sukrta-duskrte
tasmad yogaya yujyasva
yogah karmasu kausalam
“A man engaged in devotional service rids himself of both good and bad actions even in this life. Therefore strive for yoga, O Arjuna, which is the art of all work.” [Bhagavad-gita 2.50]
Bhagavad-gita teaches that is the secret of success in this material world is working for the satisfaction of Kṛṣṇa. Yoga means when your consciousness is in contact with Kṛṣṇa, Kṛṣṇa consciousness. Work done for Kṛṣṇa is free from karmic results. Otherwise whatever kind of work you are doing will produce some reaction, and you will have to come to this material world again to enjoy or suffer the results of your karma.
So because apparently he does not understand this, Arjuna is thinking in selfish terms, na caitad vidmah kataran no gariyo. “We do not know which is better.” He is perplexed, “Should I fight or not fight?” He is in doubt, so he cannot do anything.
In the next slokas it will be seen that when you are in such perplexity, thinking “what to do and what not to do,” in order to get right direction, you must approach a spiritual master. That will come in the next sloka. Arjuna will say that “I do not know. I am now perplexed. Although I know it is my duty as ksatriya to fight, still I am hesitating in my duty. Therefore I am perplexed. So Kṛṣṇa, therefore I submit to You.” Up to now he is talking just like a friend with Kṛṣṇa. Then he will be prepared to take lessons from Kṛṣṇa to solve his problem.
Permalink
06.04.07
Posted in Bhagavad-gita, Podcasts at 8:07 am by David Bruce Hughes
Listen
The second chapter of Bhagavad-gita continues with Arjuna, who has lost the will to fight, summarizing his position to Kṛṣṇa before the soldiers of both armies.
na caitad vidmah kataran no gariyo
yad va jayema yadi va no jayeyuh
yan eva hatva na jijivisamas
te ’vasthitah pramukhe dhartarastrah
“Nor do we know which is better—conquering them or being conquered by them. The sons of Dhrtarastra, whom if we killed we should not care to live, are now standing before us on this battlefield.” [Bhagavad-gita 2.6]
The battle of Kuruksetra was between two groups of cousin-brothers: the Pandavas and the Kauravas. Maharaja Pandu had five sons, the Pandavas, and his brother Dhrtarastra had one hundred sons, known as the Kauravas. So it is a family feud, fighting within the royal family of the Vedic Empire, which at that time encompassed the entire planet.
Formerly it was the understanding between the Pandavas and Kauravas that when others beyond the family would come to attack them, they would join together, all 105 brothers, and fight. But then there was a fight amongst themselves—one hundred brothers on one side against five brothers on the other. Because all of them were from a ksatriya family, it is understood that despite the uneven odds, they were expected to fight to the end.
Ksatriyas are so hot-blooded that even in their marriages there would be fighting. No marriage could take place in a ksatriya family without fighting. Kṛṣṇa had 16,108 wives, and almost every time He had to fight to win the wife. For ksatriyas, fighting was their sport and the purpose of their existence. But in Bhagavad-gita, Arjuna was perplexed whether or not he should engage in fighting among close relatives.
There is a proverb in Bengal, khabo ki khabo na yadi khao tu pause: “When you are perplexed whether or not to eat, it is better not to eat.” Sometimes we find ourselves in a situation where food is available, but we are not very hungry. Then we hesitate while we consider whether or not to eat. The best course is not to eat unless we are really hungry.
So when we are confused, whether to do or not to do something, jabo ki jabo na yadi jao tu sauce: “When you think, ‘Whether I shall go or not?’ better don’t go.” But when it is a question of answering the call of nature, you must go. Jabo ki jabo na yadi jau tu sauce, khabo ki khabo na yadi khao tu pause. These are very commonsense principles.
Similarly, Arjuna is now perplexed, “Should I fight or not fight?” So his conclusion was that he should not fight. That is a common plight among diplomats. When there is declaration of war between the modern politicians, they have to consider the pros and cons of going to war. Sometimes even if they don’t want war, it comes to them anyway. For example before the Second World War, everyone knew that Hitler wanted to retaliate because in World War I the Germans were defeated. So Hitler was preparing for war. The British did not want war, so Prime Minister Chamberlain went to see Hitler to try to stop the war. But he couldn’t, because Hitler was determined to fight.
Similarly, in this fight between two sides of the Vedic royal family, Kṛṣṇa tried until the last minute to avoid the war. He proposed to Duryodhana that “Your cousin-brothers the Pandavas are ksatriyas. You have usurped their kingdom. Never mind that you have taken it unjustly. But they are ksatriyas. They must have proper means of livelihood. The only proper occupation for ksatriyas is to rule. So give the five brothers five villages. Out of the whole world, the Vedic Empire, you give them five villages.”
Duryodhana replied, “No, I am not going to part with even an inch of land without a fight.” Therefore, under such condition, the fight must occur, because a ksatriya is honor-bound to accept a challenge to fight. If he declines to fight, then he loses his qualification as a ksatriya. So there is no question of Arjuna’s considering whether he would fight or not. All attempts at diplomatic settlement had failed; the battle is sanctioned by Kṛṣṇa; so the war must go on.
Some people are pacifists, and want to raise the question “Why can’t we stop war? Even when we don’t want war, why does it take place?” That is not a very difficult subject to understand; war happens because every one of us has a fighting spirit. Even children fight, cats and dogs fight, birds fight, ants fight. This is common knowledge. So how will you stop human beings from fighting? The fighting spirit is there. Fighting is one of the symptoms of the material condition. So fighting is inevitable, but when and under what circumstances should fighting take place?
According to Vedic civilization, war means dharma-yuddha: fighting on religious principles according to Vedic directions. Not fighting on the basis of whimsical political ideas: this-ism versus that-ism. At present they fight because of the material ambitions of the politicians. But that is not Vedic warfare.
Just like now fighting is going on between the developed nations and the Islamic terrorists. The developed nations are trying to avoid a fight, but the fighting is going on anyway, because the Islamic terrorists refuse to give up. Of course, according to Vedic religious principles, they are both wrong, because their fighting causes harm to innocent bystanders. Vedic warfare was conducted according to principles of honor among members of the ksatriya class, and there was never any ‘collateral damage’ or harm to the population.
So whether honorable or dishonorable, war is going on. You cannot stop fighting; it is part of the human existential condition. Many people want to stop war, but that is impossible. It is nonsensical proposal, a waste of time and energy. It cannot be, because the fighting spirit is there in everyone. That is a symptom of the conditioned living entity. Even children, who have no politics, no real enmity, they fight for five minutes; then again they are friends. So the fighting spirit is there; you cannot stop it.
Now, the real question is, how should fighting be utilized as service to God? Our Esoteric Teaching movement says, “Change your ontology; change your consciousness.” We don’t say, “Stop fighting” or artificially try to change your nature, no. We say that whatever you are naturally doing, it should be done in Kṛṣṇa consciousness, as devotional service to the Supreme Personality of Godhead. That is our advice.
Nirbandha-Kṛṣṇa-sambandhe: whatever you do, it must have some relationship with the satisfaction of Kṛṣṇa. If Kṛṣṇa will be satisfied by your work, then act; otherwise if there is some doubt, don’t do it. That is Kṛṣṇa consciousness.
atmendriya-priti-vancha——tare bali ‘kama’
krsnendriya-priti-iccha dhare ‘prema’ nama
“The desire to gratify one’s own senses is kama (material lust), but the desire to please the senses of Lord Kṛṣṇa is prema (spiritual love).” [Caitanya-caritamrta Adi-lila 4.165]
Krsnendriya-priti-iccha dhare ‘prema’ nama: to please Kṛṣṇa’s senses is love. Just like when you love somebody; for the pleasure of your beloved, you can do anything. But without your beloved being involved, you are very reluctant to do anything. The same principle should be transferred to Kṛṣṇa. Try to educate yourself how to love Kṛṣṇa, and act for Kṛṣṇa only. This is the perfection of life.
Permalink
06.01.07
Posted in Community News at 12:09 pm by David Bruce Hughes
- Dear Reader,
-
- Well, another month has gone by in a flash. We were so busy preaching the Esoteric Teaching, there was very little time to notice anything else. More than 20 programs in May alone!
-
- The highlight of the month was definitely the Secret Teachings of Jesus seminar at Anamarie’s. We had a great group of people formed specifically for the purpose of spiritual investigations and learning. 22 students attended the seminar, which ran for four consecutive Sundays. We covered an enormous amount of material; and by the end, everyone was very satisfied. You can see the online videos of this historic seminar here.
2012: Matrix Singularity
- Just because we had a busy month in May, doesn’t mean that we are planning to slow down in June! Our new course 2012: Matrix Singularity is almost ready, and we will kick it off with a bang by promoting it at ExpoSer,the biggest New Age event in Latin America! See our listing for the main meditation room in bright red.
-
-
- We designed a very nice flyer just for this event, check out the outside and inside. We even have a new high-impact, futuristic video online to promote the course. Watch it on YouTube.
Esoteric Teaching Seminars Online
- But the real spiritual action is happening on the new Esoteric Teaching Seminars online course site. There are seven new courses very similar in content to our live seminars. Register, login and you can submit your spiritual questions directly to Master Teacher David Bruce Hughes on the Ask Baba forum, or hang out with other students in the Student Lounge forum.
-
-
- Esoteric Teaching Seminars online is your spiritual education resource. It’s a living esoteric school that you can access right from your computer. Take advantage of this great resource, and join us online for some very enlivening spiritual discussions. Oh and don’t forget, we are always available to answer your questions!
-
- All the best,
- Baba
-
-
- David Bruce Hughes,
- Master Teacher
Permalink