Lesson Four: Bhagavad Gita Chapters 7 to 10
There is no truth superior to Krishna. Everything rests upon Krishna as pearls strung on a thread. Though everything comes from Him, He is fully independent. He is the controller of the three modes that delude everyone in the material existence. So, those who surrender to Him can cross over His divine energy.
Grossly foolish, lowest among mankind, those whose knowledge is stolen by illusion and those who willfully take to demoniac nature do not surrender to Krishna. Those who are distressed, who desire wealth, who are inquisitive and who seek knowledge surrender to Krishna.
The material manifestation is temporary. It is periodically created and annihilated. Any place within the material existence is full of miseries where repeated birth and death take place. But those who surrender to Krishna, can cross this ocean of birth and death and attain the Lord’s abode which is eternal and transcendental. He is attainable only by unalloyed devotional service.
Sense enjoyment through the Vedas results in repeated birth and death. Since Krishna is the supreme controller those who worship the demigods are worshipping Him only, but in a wrong way. They take birth among the demigods as much as the worshipers of ancestors and ghosts take birth amongst them. But those who worship Krishna attain Him. Krishna can be worshiped with genuine love by offering even a leaf, a drop of water, a fruit or a flower.
If one does not become perfect in worshipping Krishna in one life, he can continue from where he left off in his next life. There is no loss or diminution for devotional service.
All wondrous displays of beauty, grandeur or sublimity, either in the material or spiritual world, are but partial manifestations of Krishna’s divine energies and opulences. As the supreme cause of all causes and the support and essence of everything Krishna is the Supreme object of worship for all beings.
Lesson Five: Bhagavad Gita Chapters 10 to 13
Lord Krishna grants Arjuna divine vision and reveals His spectacular, unlimited form as the cosmic universe. Thus He conclusively establishes His divinity. Krishna explains that His own, all beautiful human-like form is the original form of Godhead, One can perceive this form only by pure devotional service.
The universal from is material and temporary, just as the material world is temporary. A devotee is not much interested in the universal form, for it does not enable one to reciprocate loving feelings.
Bhakti yoga, loving devotional service to Lord Krishna, is the highest and the most expedient means for attaining pure love for Krishna, which is the highest conclusion of spiritual existence. Those who follow this supreme path develop divine qualities.
One should be attracted to the personal form of Krishna, for that is the highest spiritual realization. The path of impersonalism is troublesome for those who have a body. As far as a devotee is concerned, Krishna Himself delivers His pure devotee. Therefore one should not try to deliver himself in spiritual realization. Everyone must take shelter of the supreme omnipotent Godhead, Krishna, by practicing the process of Krishna consciousness and fully engaging himself in devotional service.
To reach the highest goal, Krishna, there are two processes:
Renouncing the fruits of one’s activity and coming to knowledge by such renunciation, and then to the stage of meditation and then to the stage of understanding Supersoul and, at last, approaching the Supreme Personality of Godhead, is the step by step, indirect process.
Devotional service is the direct method. In this process there are two stages. To practice the regulative principles of Bhakti yoga under the guidance of an expert spiritual master for the purification of the senses is the first stage. In this stage, one can finally develop an attachment for Krishna. In the second stage, when that attachment develops into a natural transcendental love for Krishna, one is in direct relationship with the Supreme Lord in devotional service.
The preliminary stage of understanding devotional service perfectly, is known as knowledge. In terms of Vedic literatures, perfect knowledge of the constitution of the body, the constitution of the soul, and the constitution of the Supersoul is that knowledge.
The purpose of knowledge is to understand distinctly that the living entity has by chance fallen into the material existence. If he reverts to spiritual or Krishna consciousness by the process of devotional service, then it is certain that he will never come again into this material existence. He will be transferred to the spiritual world for a blissful, eternal life of knowledge.
Lesson Six: Bhagavad Gita Chapters 14 to 16
Krishna is the seed giving father of all the living beings conceived by the material nature. When the living beings come into contact with the material nature they become conditioned by the three modes, goodness, passion and ignorance.
Goodness conditions one to happiness, passion to fruitive actions and ignorance covers one’s knowledge and binds one to madness. Those in goodness go upward to the higher planets; those in passion come back to earthly life. Those in ignorance go down to hellish worlds.
In his constitutional position a living entity is above the three modes of material nature. By engagement in devotional service in full Krishna consciousness, he is immediately re-situated in the transcendental position and his unlawful desire to control the material nature is removed. Therefore the process of devotional service beginning with hearing, chanting and remembering should be practiced in the association of devotees under the guidance of the spiritual master. Thus one can become firmly situated in Krishna’s transcendental loving service.
The purpose of the Vedas is to cut down the illusory tree of the material world and attain the real tree of the spiritual world. The problems of material existence are due to weakness of the heart. By understanding the philosophy of the Supreme Personality of Godhead and engaging in His service, everyone can become free from this weakness.
Everything comes from Krishna; He is the maintainer of the world. He is the object of all the Vedas. He is the source of the Supersoul too. He is celebrated both in this world and in the Vedas as the Supreme Person. One who knows Krishna as such is the knower of everything. Therefore he engages in His service and attains to His eternal abode.
Those who are in the modes of passion and ignorance deride the scriptures, deride the holy men and deride the proper understanding of Krishna. They are not attracted to devotional service. Gradually they sink down to the most abominable type of existence and thus lose the chance of approaching Krishna. But there are others who develop the divine qualities and gradually become situated in realization of Krishna. In dividing the divine and demoniac natures there is no other criteria but obedience to the regulative principles of scriptures.
Lesson Seven: Bhagavad Gita Chapters 17 to 18
The living being is originally a part and parcel of the Supreme Lord. Therefore one is originally transcendental to all the modes of material nature. So, when one forgets his constitutional position, influenced by goodness, passion and ignorance one develops resultant artificial faiths which are material. In goodness one worships demigods, in passion powerful humans and demons, and in the mode of ignorance the ghosts and spirits.
The real principle of religious faith is situated in the mode of pure goodness. But because the heart is tainted we find different types of religious principles. According to different types of faith based on different modes of nature there are different kinds of worship.
In the pursuit of all Vedic instructions, the ultimate goal is the understanding of Krishna. One can achieve faith in Krishna by accepting the proper spiritual master and receiving training under his direction. When that faith matures, in course of time, it is called love of God. This is the ultimate goal of all living entities. One should, therefore, take to Krishna consciousness directly.
One who surrenders to Krishna does not have to execute so many different methods. That simple surrender unto Krishna will save him from unnecessarily wasting time.
One can thus make all progress at once and be freed from all sinful reactions. If one is perplexed about giving up all kinds of religious forms and simply surrendering unto Krishna, such worry is useless, because Krishna says, “Do not worry.”
Anyone who tries sincerely to present Bhagavad-gita as it is, will advance in devotional activities and reach to the pure devotional state of life. As a result of such pure devotion, by chanting hare krishna hare krishna krishna krishna hare hare / hare rama hare rama rama rama hare hare and engaging all his senses in active devotional service, he is sure to go back home, back to Godhead.
source: https://www.indiadivine.org
