The Divine Bliss, which is the source of all happiness, is related to its Knowledge that was revealed in its original form by the Supreme Divine power, Krishna, during His miraculous appearance in this world. That was the Gita. The origin of all the spiritual “isms” and the knowledge of all the knowledges, which has now been further simplified by His Divinity Swami Prakashanand Saraswati, the foremost disciple of Jagadguru Shri Kripalu Ji Maharaj, who is the Supreme Divine descension of this age.
The Gita is not only a philosophy. It is a promise of God.
अनन्याश्चिन्तयन्तो मां ये जना: पर्युपासते |
तेषां नित्याभियुक्तानां योगक्षेमं वहाम्यहम् || 22||
Ananyāśh chintayanto māṁ ye janāḥ paryupāsate
Teṣhāṁ nityābhiyuktānāṁ yoga-kṣhemaṁ vahāmyaham
It tells to merge all the spiritual formalities into the exclusiveness of loving devotion to the Supreme form of God, and you will receive His vision.
The Divine souls!
In the last speech, I described about Shankaracharya and his writings. Shankaracharya gave two views of soul and God. One for the extremely renounced people where he speaks aboutthe unity of soul and God and the other view that ‘soul is soul’ and ‘Krishna is Krishna’. Soul’s existence is because of Krishna.That is for bhaktas,for devotees, of Godheadpersonality. I also explained about Jeev Goswami’sShatsandarbh in which he explains in great detail the philosophy of soul, the philosophy of maya, the philosophy of God, the philosophy of Paramatma, the philosophy of Krishna, the philosophy of Divine love, the philosophy of Divine Vrindaban all in detail. However, what Gita says about soul and God and maya in general. There’s a very famousverse,
ममैवांशो जीवलोके जीवभूत: सनातन: |
Mamaivānśho jeev-loke jeev-bhūtaḥ sanātanaḥ.
‘Mamaivānśha’– one thing and ‘jeev-bhūtaḥ sanātanaḥ’. (Gita says,) “This soul has two qualities. It is sanatan – from eternity. It was never born and it is a part of Mine.”
Ansh– actually the word anshis just a word. Jeev Goswami has further explained this word ansh. Ansh means part. When I say part, part of what? Part of something. And that something must be demarcated to take out one part of that. If that thing is unlimited, there cannot be a part of that. So, he explains that part means that Krishna has two main powers. His personal power is called chid shakti. He has two more powers : jeev shakti and maya shakti. Maya shakti is His external potency. Jeev shaktiare all the souls.Soul power means soul that is marginal potency – neither this side nor that side. (Its’) in the middle and Krishna’s own personal power is called chid shakti or anandshakti or swaroop shaktior antarang shakti or Yogamayashakti –it has many names in our scriptures. It means His own personal power that Krishna and Krishna’s external power (called) maya.The whole cosmos that was created by mayaand all the souls, all the uncountable souls.It means the souls are in the middle;They can move to either side – towards mayaor towards God. So soul is also a power, not one single soul but in general. So that is called a power of Krishna, Krishna’s personal power, Krishna’s soul power, and Krishna’s maya power – three powers. So maya power is only one kind and that benefits the whole of this universe, His personal power. Soul is also one single power; out of one single power there are uncountable souls, just like fragments.Supposethere’s a glass of water and in a glass of water it looks all one, not separated,but there are molecules, individual atoms, individual molecules.They all collectively make the glass of water. How many individual atoms or how many individual molecules? They’re also beyond count. You can say uncountable. Not unlimited, but uncountable. So, they are uncountable, but not unlimited. So uncountable atoms make a glass of water; but atoms are individual. It’s just an example. Souls are not only uncountable, they are unlimited. So, in the soul power of Krishna, it’s called jeev shaktiin Sanskrit. The jeev shaktiof Krishna has uncountable, unlimited souls in that. Our souls are individual, just like one particular soul is individual. It’s like one molecule or one atom is individual –it’s an example. So, souls are all individuals, just like an atom is also a part of that glass of water. So, you can say souls are part of God’s jeev shakti.It means Krishna’s jeev shaktiand of the jeev shakti, souls are a part of that.
So, for that reason, it is said,“Soul is a fraction of Krishna.”
It was never fragmented, never departed from Krishna. Sometime people think that soul might have been one with God at some time then it departed. No, it’s a very wrong notion! If something could make you depart from God then unity makes no sense. If you are united you can be again departed for the same reason. So there was no departation. Soul was never totally one with God. Whatever it is, it issince eternity. So sanatanword is there – jeev bhootah (जीवभूत) means all the unlimited souls. Sanatan (सनातन:)means since eternity they are same; whatever they are today with no difference. So they are unlimited souls and unlimited galaxies, but they are all parts of Krishna’s soul power or His jeev shakti – a collective soul power and one single soul,you can say.It’s Krishna’s collective soul power,jeev shakti, and out of collective soul power is one individual, one soul.So,one soul is said to be a part of Krishna.It is said (like that) just to make you understand, but it is not actually a part of Krishna’s personal power.If it were part of Krishna’s personal power, it would never have been under the control of maya.This soul shakti, jeev shakti, is entirely separate from Krishna’s personal power.So,in Gita is very distinctly explained,
ममैवांशः…
Mamaivāṇah…
“Although it is a part of Mine from eternity..”
It is like that, but further Gita explains how a soul can join Krishna.
And maya?
मयाध्यक्षेण प्रकृति: सूयते सचराचरम् |
Mayādhyakṣheṇ prakṛitiḥ sūyate sa-charācharam.
“Maya in Gita is also a power.”
Mayādhyakṣheṇ prakṛitiḥ…prakṛitiḥmeans this cosmic power and mayādhyakṣheṇmeans with My associationit becomes active and evolves this whole universe.
यस्मात्क्षरमतीतोऽहमक्षरादपि चोत्तम: |
अतोऽस्मि लोके वेदे च प्रथित: पुरुषोत्तम: ||
Yasmāt kṣharam atīto ’ham akṣharād api chottamaḥ
Ato ’smi loke vede cha prathitaḥ puruṣhottamaḥ
(I am transcendental to the perishable world of matter, and even to the imperishable soul; hence I am celebrated, both in the Vedas and the Smṛitis, as the Supreme Divine Personality.)
Further Gita says three things. There are two powers: maya power and jeevpower – kshar/akshar. Kshar – maya and akshar – jeev. Actually, Gita has its own phrases: kshar (क्षर्)-maya andakshar (अक्षरा)-jeev. In some other scriptures it has been said indifferent words, but Gita says ksharand akshar. Kshar means that which is deteriorating.So, this world, you see, is always deteriorating. Anything that comes into being, from the same day, starts moving towards its death;there’s deterioration in your physical body. Every second your cells are deteriorating. That’s why you age. You don’t notice.You see every day your face in the mirror that you look same. But if somebody has seen you 10 years ago and thensees you again after 10 years, he can see,
“Oh yes, your hair is greying, you are getting old! (There are a) few wrinkles on your face.”
So, he can see.It didn’t happen overnight, in a day or so or in a few months.Slowly it has happened; it means that every day, every hour, every moment, every fraction of a moment, your body is aging and deteriorating. So kshar means maya; all this maya, this whole world is kchar meaning it is deteriorating, it is unstable, and jeev does not deteriorate. Jeev is the same,meaningit has never changed its own situation. Situation means soul as a soul. Soul takes a body andbody deteriorates, but not the soul. Soul means what?
Soul means your inner soul plus mind.(It’s the) soul and mind that takes this body. So soul means actual soul and mind. The energy of this body that’s called soul. Whatever the soul is today, it was same unlimited years ago.It was exactly the same with no change; It never deteriorated.It isthe same. And it won’t change because it is a power.It will remain forever like that.(There’s) only one change could happen and, that is. that the soul could become Divinized and realize God. That’s all; but the soul as a power will always remain the same. So, these two are eternal: souls are eternal. mayais eternal.
…लोके वेदे च प्रथित: पुरुषोत्तम: ||
…loke vede cha prathitaḥ puruṣhottamaḥ.
And Krishna says in Vedas in Puranas, in Upanishads, “Everywhere I’m called purushottamah.”
It means He is the Supreme. Why is He the Supreme? Because He governs everything, controls everything. Controlling means that He’s not controlling your ideas. He simply just insights or enlivens the mayicpower and maya evolves on its own. It means He’s a master of maya. So He is supreme God, He is supreme purushotah.
So, Gita clearly explains the three identities: Krishna on His own, the supreme form of God in His own personal Divine love power,Divine Almighty power and this external potency maya. Maya is lifeless –mayādhyakṣheṇ (मयाध्यक्षेण).When he receives power from Krishna then that evolves and takes the shape of the universe. It does not do on its own. So it is a lifeless power – lifeless. It’s not called chaitanya. It has no life. It is lifeless, but it is also eternal. And will this power ever finish? No, this will never finish. It will remain forever. And soul power (jeev shakti), is it lifeless? No, it’s not lifeless. It’s called chaitanya – chaitanya shakti. It has life. It’s not dead. So, you see all the souls feel alive. A piece of a stone cannot feel this because it has no mind. There’s no soul. But the souls, human beings, birds, animals, all those, have life. They are alive. They feel their own self. They have their own mind, their own little brain. The souls are chaitanya, Krishna is chaitanya and is mayais lifeless, and souls are unlimitedand they are fractions of the unlimited power, soul power orjeev shakti,of Krishna.
So, there are some more phrases in the Gita that sometimes confuse people like (the words) gyan gyani, yogi. Normally the word gyani and the word yogi as people know, normally means the one who practices yoga is called yogi. The one who practices the theory of Shankaracharya of absolute monism is called a gyani. (This) is a normal understanding of normal people. But Gita has a very different meaning of the word yogi and gyani. So, if you take it in that sense, it becomes very wrong. What Gita says,
योगिनामपि सर्वेषां मद्गतेनान्तरात्मना |
श्रद्धावान्भजते यो मां स मे युक्ततमो मत: ||
Yoginām api sarveṣhāṁ mad-gatenāntar-ātmanā.
Shraddhāvān bhajate yo māṁ sa me yuktatamo mataḥ.
Here it says the word yogi. ‘…mad-gatenāntar-ātmanā. Shraddhāvān bhajatah…’. Here yogi means ‘the one who has surrendered to God’. That is the meaning of yogi. The soul who has surrendered himself to God. That is ‘yogi’ – yuj: two separate things then are joined. Yog means to join. The yogi(is the one) who has joined his heart and mind with God in any form to Whomhe has surrendered. He is a yogi. So,yogi is not only the yogi who practices yoga.Yogi means bhaktalso. So in Gita yogi means bhakt.Yogimeans yogi.Yogi means karmi – the one who is following karm yog. Yogi means any soul who has surrendered to God. That’s it.
And similarly you see (the word) gyaniis also quite confusing to people if they take it according to traditional meaning of the word gyan. But literally gyanmeans gyan – knowledge, understanding. But normally what people think of the word gyani is the one whois thinking that God and his own soul are on the same platform – he is called gyani. Itis a normal term, but Gita is entirely different.
…ज्ञानी त्वात्मैव मे मतम् |
…gyānī tvātmaiva me matam.
बहूनां जन्मनामन्ते ज्ञानवान्मां प्रपद्यते |
Bahūnāṁ janmanām ante gyānavān māṁ prapadyate.
‘Māṁ prapadyate’…”That gyani surrenders to Me!”
Imagine!Because he is a gyani, he surrenders to Me! So gyanihere means ‘the one who understood that this world is maya and,“My aim is to find the love of God.”‘
That is gyani.Gyani and agyani – knowledgeable and ignorant. Who is not ignorant? He is gyani. And who is ignorant? (The one) who understands that this world is full of happiness, enjoy the world, forget God.This is ignorance. (It’s) just opposite.
“Oh no! World can give you some happiness, not ultimate happiness.”
So, your soul is longing for Krishna unity, for Krishna love, so seek for His love. Don’t indulge in material gratifications. Look for His love. Look for His grace. Surrender to Him. This is knowledge. Knowledge means gyan – ‘gya’. The word ‘gya’ in Sanskrit means ‘to know’. ‘Gya’: to know – Knowledge. Gyani – the one who has knowledge. So ‘gya’ means knowledge. Who has knowledge? Gyani meansa knowledgeable person; that is gyani.So, the one who is knowledgeable is a gyani. So who is knowledgeable? The one who surrenders to God.So, in Gita again this gyani word has come for any of those devotees who surrender to God in any form without asking for anything from God.
So he clarifies two things: Those who love God with some selfish motive, but they exclusively love God, and those who love God without any worldly motive are gyanis. So, if you know a few things, a few terminologiesabout Gita there’s no confusion. Gita has a very straightforward and a direct approach to God realization.
And there has also been quite a few bhashyason Gita, means explanations.Ramanujacharya wrote a bhashyaon Gita.Madhwacharyaalso wrote a bhashya. Vallabhacharya wrote an explanation of Gita and in his sampradhaya (his sect) he wrote atmatarangani tika.One important personality,Madhusudhan Saraswati,also wrote Gita explanations.All thesebhashyas, except Shankaracharya,are all very similar and reveal the same fact as I just described.And Shankaracharya’s explanation on the Gita refers to, as I explained before, those people who have extremely renounced the world and are only desiring liberation.For such souls, he has written his bhashya on Brahmasutraand in that he refers to the same thing as is in Gita. But in general, other explanations are also relevant and they are quite genuine.
Furthermore I will explain in the next speech.
