Bhagavad-gītā 7.1

Prabhupāda:

mayy āsakta-manāḥ pārtha yogaṁ yuñjan mad-āśrayaḥ asaṁśayam samagraṁ māṁ yathā jñāsyasi tac chṛṅu [Bg 7.1]

[Now hear, O son of Pṛthā [Arjuna], how by practicing yoga in full consciousness of Me, with mind attached to Me, you can know Me in full, free from doubt.]

The Supreme Personality of Godhead, Bhagavān, personally speaking how you can understand Him perfectly. [translated throughout into Oriya by Gaura-Govinda]

[break] ...previous chapter... [break] ...already said that,

manuṣyāṅāṁ sahasreṣu kaścid yatati siddhaye yatatām api siddhānāṁ kaścid vetti māṁ tattvataḥ [Bg 7.3]

[Out of many thousands among men, one may endeavor for perfection, and of those who have achieved perfection, hardly one knows Me in truth.]

It is not so easy to understand what is Kṛṣṅa, what is Godhead. Therefore He is personally speaking about Himself. There are many persons within this world, they are trying to understand what is God.

[aside:] What is...?

[break] When you want to study me by speculation, it is not perfect. But if I speak myself about my career, my position, then you can easily very understand [sic]. So the speculator, they are thinking that "God has no form. You can imagine any form of the Lord and try to worship Him." That is speculator.

[break] ...another type of atheism. The atheists, they say, Śūnyavādī, "There is no God." But these Māyāvādī, they say, "Yes there is God, but He has no head, no leg, no mouth, nothing." Means, indirectly, they are saying there is no God.

So Caitanya Mahāprabhu has therefore clearly said that this Māyāvādī, nirākāravādī, is more dangerous than the Śūnyavādī. Śūnyavādī, they publicly declare, "There is no God," just like modern population, that "There is no need of God." Asatyam aprathiṣṭhaṁ te jagad āhur anīśvaram [Bg 16.8]. That is also described in the Bhagavad-gītā. The atheist class, they say that "This world is asatya. There is no meaning." Asatyam jagad āhur anīśvaram. "And there is no God." We can understand that they are atheist.

[break] ...Māyāvādī philosopher, they take the shelter of Vedic literature and indirectly, directly, they try to wipe out the existence of God.

[break] The Caitanya Mahāprabhu therefore has said, māyāvādī-bhāṣya śunile haya sarva-nāśa [Cc Madhya 6.169]: "If you hear from a Māyāvādī, nirākāravādī, then you are doomed. You cannot understand about God at any time."

[break] So our request is that if you at all want to understand what is God, don't go to the Māyāvādī or Śūnyavādi, but try to understand about God from God Himself. Sometimes they may say that "What is the use of understanding God? What is the necessity of understanding God?" No. That is not the right conclusion. Human life is meant for understanding God.

[break] ...God, you may say there is no God, but there is God. There is no doubt about it.

So we must know what is God, what is our relationship with Him and how we shall act in that relationship. You cannot say, "There is no God," from logic also. Just like Kṛṣṅa says, ahaṁ bīja-pradaḥ pitā, sarva-yoniṣu kaunteya [Bg 14.4]:

[It should be understood that all species of life, O son of Kuntī, are made possible by birth in this material nature, and that I am the seed-giving father.]

"I am the bīja-pradaḥ pitā, the seed-giving father." He says that sarva-yoniṣu kaunteya sambhavanti mūrtayo yāḥ. There are different types of body, and we can see that all types of living entities, they are coming from the earth. So everything is coming out of the earth, beginning from the grass to the big, big animals or other thing. Therefore this pṛthivī, or the earth, is our mother. Everything is coming from the earth. So mātā is there, mother is there, and the offsprings or children are there—there must be father. Without father, mother cannot beget any children. So when you see so many varieties of life, the mother is the... We say dhātrī-mātā. We have got seven mothers. One of them is the earth.

ādau-mātā guroḥ patnī brāhmaṅī rāja-patnikā dhenur dhātrī tathā pṛthvī saptaitā mātaraḥ smṛtāḥ [Nīti Śāstra]

According to our śāstra, there are seven mothers: my original mother, ādau-mātā. Guroḥ patnī is my mother. Dhenu, cow, is my mother. Dhātrī, the nurse, is my mother. Tathā pṛthvī, also earth is also my mother. So mātā is there, and the sons are there. How you can deny, that "There is no father"? I may not see my father, but there is father; there is no doubt of it. That pitā is personally presenting Himself—ahaṁ bīja-pradaḥ pitā [Bg 14.4]: "I am the seed-giving father."

So therefore... So God is there, and there is no doubt of it, but because, due to our foolishness, we think there is no God, there is no father, that is our foolishness. But what is that God, how He is, what is His business, how He is formed—all these things we want to learn, and human life is meant for that purpose. In the life of cats and dogs we cannot understand God, but in the human life we can understand. Therefore in the Vedānta-sūtra the first aphorism is that athāto brahma jijñāsā. This life, in the human form of life... Because we get this human form of life after many, many evolutionary...

[break] So this is a chance to understand what is God and what is our relationship with Him. Therefore Narottama dāsa Ṭhākura has sung,

hari hari bifale, janama goṅāinu, manuṣya-janama pāiyā, rādhā-kṛṣṅa nā bhajiyā, jāniyā śuniyā biṣa khāinu [from Prārthanā]

[O Lord Hari, I have wasted my life. Although I have taken this rare human birth, like a miser, I have not served Rādhā and Kṛṣṅa, and thus I have knowingly drunk poison.]

So it is our duty to understand, and some of them are trying to understand what is God. Now, here Kṛṣṅa, bhagavān uvāca, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, said that "You can understand Me perfectly." Asaṁśayaṁ samagraṁ māṁ yathā jñāsyasi tac chṛṅu [Bg 7.1]. Bhagavān is the last word of the Absolute Truth. Brahmeti paramātmeti bhagavān iti śabdyate. Vadanti tat tattva-vidas tattvaṁ yaj jñānam advayam [SB 1.2.11].

[Learned transcendentalists who know the Absolute Truth call this nondual substance Brahman, Paramātmā or Bhagavān.]

So to understand Bhagavān is the last word of Vedānta. Vedānta means... Veda means knowledge, and anta means the last word. Everything has some end. So you can have so many knowledges, but unless you understand what is Bhagavān, your knowledge is imperfect. Therefore you'll find in the Bhagavad-gītā,

bahūnāṁ janmanām ante jñānavān māṁ prapadyate vasudevaḥ sarvam iti sa mahātmā su-durlabhaḥ [Bg 7.19]

[After many births and deaths, he who is actually in knowledge surrenders unto Me, knowing Me to be the cause of all causes and all that is. Such a great soul is very rare.]

So the conclusion is that we may be very learned scholar or scientist or philosopher—that we may be—or very good worker, very good politician, but if we do not understand what is God, then we are in the categories of mūḍha, narādhama, duṣkṛtina. As it is stated in the Bhagavad-gītā,

na māṁ duṣkṛtino mūḍhāḥ prapadyante narādhamāḥ māyayāpahṛta-jñānā āsuri-bhāvam āśritāḥ [Bg 7.15]

[Those miscreants who are grossly foolish, lowest among mankind, whose knowledge is stolen by illusion, and who partake of the atheistic nature of demons, do not surrender unto Me.]

Duṣkṛtina means one who has got brain, but the brain is utilized for mischievous activities. And one becomes sinful, mischievous, on account of his foolishness. He does not know by mischievous activities he would be punished. This is going on by the laws of nature. Daivī hy eṣā guṅamayī mama māyā duratyayā [Bg 7.14].

[This divine energy of Mine, consisting of the three modes of material nature, is difficult to overcome. But those who have surrendered unto Me can easily cross beyond it.]

Māyā is very strong. For all our mischievous activities we are being punished. Māyā is punishing us by giving different forms of body.

īśvaraḥ sarva-bhūtānāṁ hṛd-deśe 'rjuna tiṣṭhati bhrāmayan sarva-bhūtāni yantrārūḍhāni māyayā [Bg 18.61]

[The Supreme Lord is situated in everyone's heart, O Arjuna, and is directing the wanderings of all living entities, who are seated as on a machine, made of the material energy.]

Īśvara, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Paramātmā, is sitting in everyone's core of the heart, and He is witness, witnessing everything. So according to our karma, we are getting a body or a machine for movement given by māyā. So therefore we are getting different types of body. The reason is kāraṅaṁ guṅa-saṅgo 'sya sad-asad-janma-yoniṣu [Bg 13.22]. The different types of body we are getting on account of association with the material qualities.

So if we want to stop this business of repetition of birth and death in this cycle, we must understand mām eva ye prapadyante māyām etāṁ taranti te. We must understand. It is compulsory. We must understand "What is God? What is my relations with Him?" Then we can get release from this repetition of birth and death. That process is being described by Bhagavān Himself, that mayy āsakta-manāḥ. You have to increase your attachment for Bhagavān. Āsakta. Āsakta means attachment. You have to increase your attachment for Bhagavān. [break] ...recommended process, you can understand Bhagavān. This process of increasing our attachment about God, or Kṛṣṅa, is called bhakti-yoga. Mayy āsakta-manāḥ pārtha yogaṁ yuñjan mad-āśrayaḥ. Mad-āśrayaḥ: "taking shelter of Me or taking shelter of My devotee." Mad-āśrayaḥ. That yoga is called bhakti-yoga. Mad-āśrayaḥ means "taking shelter of Me" or "taking shelter of the person who has taken shelter of Me."

So in this way if we execute bhakti-yoga, then asaṁśayaṁ samagraṁ māṁ yathā jñāsyasi [Bg 7.1]: you'll be able to understand God as He is, without any doubt and in fullness. To understand Bhagavān fully means not only understand the Supreme Personality of Godhead but also understand what is Brahman, what is Paramātmā. In other words, if you understand Bhagavān, Kṛṣṅa, then you automatically understand what is Brahman, what is Paramātmā. [break] ...the instruction of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam:

vadanti tat tattva-vidas tattvaṁ yaj jñānam advayam brahmeti paramātmeti bhagavān iti śabdyate [SB 1.2.11]

[Learned transcendentalists who know the Absolute Truth call this nondual substance Brahman, Paramātmā or Bhagavān.]

So tattva-vastu, Absolute Truth, is observed from three angle of vision—Brahman, Paramātmā and Bhagavān—but all of them are the same and one object. So simply by realization of Brahman, impersonal Brahman, is not perfect knowledge of the Absolute Truth. Similarly, Paramātmā-jñāna is also not perfect knowledge of the Absolute Truth. When you understand fully the Personality of Godhead, then the knowledge is perfect. There will be no more doubt. Asaṁśayaṁ samagraṁ māṁ yathā jñāsyasi tac chṛṅu [Bg 7.1].

So let us take this opportunity of the statement by Kṛṣṅa how to understand God, and we may make our life perfect in that way. Because life's mission is to understand God. [break] ...that the process is bhakti-yogam. Bhagavān also says in another place distinctly, bhaktyā mām abhijānāti yavan yas... [Bg 18.55].

[One can understand the Supreme Personality as He is only by devotional service. And when one is in full consciousness of the Supreme Lord by such devotion, he can enter into the kingdom of God.]

[break] [end]