19950128 Bhagavad-gītā 2.20 Evening Program Part 1

 The following is a lecturegiven by His Holiness Jayapatākā Swami Maharāja on January 28th, 1995 in Mathurādeśa. The class begins from a reading from the Bhagavad-gītā chapter 2 verse 20.

na jāyate mriyate vā kadācin
nāyaṁ bhūtvā bhavitā vā na bhūyaḥ
ajo nityaḥ śāśvato ’yaṁ purāṇo
na hanyate hanyamāne śarīre

Translation: 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.

Purport: Qualitatively, the small atomic fragmental part of the Supreme Spirit is one with the Supreme. He undergoes no changes like the body. Sometimes the soul is called the steady, or kūṭa-stha. The body is subject to six kinds of transformations. It takes its birth from the womb of the mother’s body, remains for some time, grows, produces some effects, gradually dwindles, and at last vanishes into oblivion.

The soul, however, does not go through such changes. The soul is not born, but, because he takes on a material body, the body takes its birth. The soul does not take birth there, and the soul does not die. Anything which has birth also has death. And because the soul has no birth, he therefore has no past, present or future. He is eternal, ever-existing and primeval – that is, there is no trace in history of his coming into being. Under the impression of the body, we seek the history of birth, etc., of the soul. The soul does not at any time become old, as the body does. The so-called old man, therefore, feels himself to be in the same spirit as in his childhood or youth. The changes of the body do not affect the soul. The soul does not deteriorate like a tree, nor anything material. The soul has no by-product either. The by-products of the body, namely children, are also different individual souls; and, owing to the body, they appear as children of a particular man. The body develops because of the soul’s presence, but the soul has neither offshoots nor change. Therefore, the soul is free from the six changes of the body. 

In the Kaṭha Upaniṣad (1.2.18) we also find a similar passage, which reads:

na jāyate mriyate vā vipaścin
nāyaṁ kutaścin na babhūva kaścit
ajo nityaḥ śāśvato ’yaṁ purāṇo
na hanyate hanyamāne śarīre

The meaning and purport of this verse is the same as in the Bhagavad-gītā, but here in this verse there is one special word, vipaścit, which means learned or with knowledge.

The soul is full of knowledge, or full always with consciousness. Therefore, consciousness is the symptom of the soul. Even if one does not find the soul within the heart, where he is situated, one can still understand the presence of the soul simply by the presence of consciousness. Sometimes we do not find the sun in the sky owing to clouds, or for some other reason, but the light of the sun is always there, and we are convinced that it is therefore daytime. As soon as there is a little light in the sky early in the morning, we can understand that the sun is in the sky. Similarly, since there is some consciousness in all bodies – whether man or animal – we can understand the presence of the soul. This consciousness of the soul is, however, different from the consciousness of the Supreme because the supreme consciousness is all-knowledge – past, present and future. The consciousness of the individual soul is prone to be forgetful. When he is forgetful of his real nature, he obtains education and enlightenment from the superior lessons of Kṛṣṇa. But Kṛṣṇa is not like the forgetful soul. If so, Kṛṣṇa’s teachings of Bhagavad-gītā would be useless.

There are two kinds of souls – namely the minute particle soul (aṇu-ātmā) and the Supersoul (vibhu-ātmā). This is also confirmed in the Kaṭha Upaniṣad (1.2.20) in this way:

aṇor aṇīyān mahato mahīyān
ātmāsya jantor nihito guhāyām
tam akratuḥ paśyati vīta-śoko
dhātuḥ prasādān mahimānam ātmanaḥ

“Both the Supersoul [Paramātmā] and the atomic soul [ jīvātmā] are situated on the same tree of the body within the same heart of the living being, and only one who has become free from all material desires as well as lamentations can, by the grace of the Supreme, understand the glories of the soul.” Kṛṣṇa is the fountainhead of the Supersoul also, as it will be disclosed in the following chapters, and Arjuna is the atomic soul, forgetful of his real nature; therefore he requires to be enlightened by Kṛṣṇa, or by His bona fide representative (the spiritual master).

Thus end the Bhaktivedanta Swami translation and purport of the Bhagavad-gītā As It Is chapter 2 text 20 in the matter of Contents of the Gita Summarized.

Oṁ tat sat!

Jayapatākā Swami: And this very important verse, one of the main verses that everyone should memorize in the Bhagavad-gītā. It tells us the difference between the soul and the body which is the first in spiritual development. We should know what is the difference between the soul and the body. The soul is never born, soul never dies, the ātmā is nityaḥ śāśvato, purāṇo, eternal, ever-existing and it is primeval, since time immemorial it’s been existing. Lord Kṛṣṇa also previously mentioned that there was never a time when the soul did not exist, never a time when the soul will cease to be and the soul is existing today. Biggest fear of the living entity is in survival. When there is a earthquake like there was recently in Kobe, Japan or earlier, it was last year in Los Angeles and San Francisco and many other places around the world, there was also in Maharashtra of India. In those moments and what does anyone think but their survival. And the biggest of this fear on survival is something very deep within us because it’s our nature not to die. Even a small insect if you appear to be attacking it they will run the other way, it wants to preserve itself because our nature is to always exist, so for us death is something very unnatural, due to by nature we are eternal. We covered up by the body and therefore we forget our real nature. But some conscious remain the tendency they want to always exist is there, we can not take that away.

Prabhupāda brings up an interesting point the soul doesn’t age. So even though our body ages we don’t feel intellectually like a different person. Somehow in spite in the changes in the body there is a type of continuity because the consciousness is riding in this body. The body is going through by changes of time, but the atma is no changing. There’s sometimes you can even see old people playing and jumping around like kids on rare occasions. So these things are very crucial information but unfortunately in the colleges, in the high schools, in the educational institutions of the world this basic truth of life is not available. There’s no subject about ātmā-vijñāna, science of self, science of the soul. I was studying in Ivy League university in America, Brown university connected with Harvard and Cornell, Yale, Columbia. The thing that I found that there was nobody knew what the purpose of life was. I would ask the professors what are we doing all these for, they said don’t ask stupid question, study your physics, study your chemistry. There was no scope to know what is the higher purpose to life, you just have to go with the flow, and don’t think too much. But here in the Bhagavad-gītā this is really essential information for any civilized human being. With this information a person can achieve real inner peace just by knowing that I don’t die, no one dies.

One Hare Kṛṣṇa preaching devotee was distributing books in the airport, in New Orleans of United States and one business man, actually that day there’s nobody buying any Bhagavad-gītā. So she prayed to Kṛṣṇa at this anybody that you can send me who can, I can help with the Bhagavad-gītā, please use me as your nimitta-mātram, as your instrument. Another plane landed and then the group of people passengers went by. There was one businessman he was in a big hurry. She said my dear sir, and he said don’t talk to me. Today is the worse day in my life, so don’t talk to me. So the lady preacher said well, if today is the worst day in your life I’m here to help people who have bad days. This is what Kṛṣṇa devotees do, just they help people with bad days. What’s wrong? You tell me, may be I can help you. Why is it today the worst day in your life? He said, the whole life what am I working for? I’m going to school, going to college, getting a good job, what am I working for? I’m doing everything to please my mother. For me my mother is the dearest person in my life and today I got the news, my mother has died. So what? What am I living for? I don’t have any purpose to my life. So then the preacher said that, look at, you see here is the book Bhagavad-gītā, Bhagavad-gītā has the information and showed this verse. You see here, for the soul there’s neither birth nor death, there’s never in time when it ceases to exist. Your mother is not dead, your mother is still living right now, she simply left her body and now she’s gone somewhere else. The consciousness which is the vital person, not the body, she is still existing. And she explained this basic philosophy a person never heard this, never knew! And he said you made this, you made me completely peaceful. Took the Bhagavad-gītā, gave a $25 donation, so thank you very much.

Many people misunderstand why the devotees are there distributing the books, around the world just helping with this knowledge. That is amazing thing that although we have such a so called advanced civilization, rockets, airplanes, jet, telephones, satellites and so many technological wonders, computers. But the vast advanced overwhelming rejoy the people don’t know what is the purpose of life. They don’t know this basic fact of life that we are the eternal soul and what is the nature of this eternal soul. So what happens to the most people they just go on blindly and think like everyone else. This is called it’s gadhā. Like the fish in the river, whichever way the fish swim they all swim, this way that way. Inside of Bengal, in the river there’s a type of fishing contraption they have, they made out of bamboo. I don’t know Bengal Kerala other places, but the Bengal I’ve seen. There is got like a funnel entrance through the little whole. So the fish swim in the funnel and when they’re inside the whole basket they can’t find the little hole like, they naturally go along the side of the basket and they get caught, they can’t get out, they don’t look in the center where the whole is. Psychologically the fish always go by the side, they swim along the side. So one fish goes inside that trap then all the fish follow one after another. Even inside there might be a fish there telling the other fish don’t come! (laughing) It’s a trap don’t come inside! But why everyone’s going (laughing), but they’re all going! But I’m inside, I’m trapped here, don’t come in! Oh but they’re all going I’m going to see you (laughing).

That is the nature, you know modern time things that people, you have to hear if you start practicing the Bhagavad-gītā, start practicing bhakti yoga, self-realization, people are, why everyone not going? One should do like everyone else! Just like the fish philosophy, do like all the fish getting caught in the net. Don’t be free, gadha gadha nika, just follow with everyone into the trap. Actually, to take up spiritual life a person has to be a very (inaudible 23:13) individual thinker. Because the tendency is just go like everyone’s going and not to think about it. But what is the, what is the Veda telling us, ‘Jāgrata’, wake up, ‘Athāto brahma jijñāsā’, inquire, make inquiry, think, wake up! Consider what is the purpose of life, ‘sa vai puṁsāṁ paro dharmo yato bhaktir adhokṣaje’, what is the paro dharma, what is the supreme occupational duty of the human being, all these things the vedas are telling us. They’re actually trying to awaken our intellectual search for the truth. We don’t have to look very far, Bhagavad-gītā gives us the basic information we’re looking for. Lord Kṛṣṇa has collected everything, that’s why even Shankaracharya stated that all the Vedas if you take it like a cow and Kṛṣṇa is like the milk man and Arjuna as like the calf. The Kṛṣṇa is taking the milk out of the cow, the cream of the Vedas, taking the cream and the milk out of all the Vedas and giving to Arjuna. What is the most important thing you get from the, give right from the cow you get the milk, but that is been taken out and given. So we can get the essence of all the Vedas right in the 700 verses 18 chapters of Bhagavad-gītā. It is one literature we can get a clear overview of what life is. How there is advance order to everything and how there is underlying reality. So wonder of human life, the human being can understand what is the ātmā. Animals can’t understand, never tried to tell a cat, you are not a cat. My dear cat you are not the body, you are not the cat.

There’s that they made Hitopadeśa story how the, that once there fox fell into some blue color. And all the animals in the jungle thought that he was special, so they made him the king of the jungle. Even the lion never saw blue animal, so thought well, he’s something more than I am. So then all of a sudden in the night when one fox started to go the ho ho hoo (laughing), he couldn’t resist. Then he also and the jackal started to go hoo (laughing). Then he was exposed, and the lion said, this is just a jackal and it’s finished. So the animals they gonna follow their nature, that’s their instinct, that’s the way they are programmed, very difficult for them. But a human being has got higher intelligence that says more than a human being is a twice born. And everyone should be born twice, first who born by mother and father, then we had a dīkṣā ceremony people took initiation, to be born by guru and śāstra. This is essential for human development. If you’re not born by the guru, if it is born by the flesh then we’re, we’re not really considered to be a fully developed human being here. We were only developed animalistically, we had not developed spiritually. So everyone needs to find a guru, man, woman, they need to serve Kṛṣṇa, serve Viṣṇu under the guidance of a guru and understand all this science that’s been revealed I Bhagavad-gītā, Śrīmad Bhāgavatam. This is essential for a human development. Otherwise what Bhagavad-gītā is telling us, we go to the human life but we don’t awakened it’s a big waste! You go to the life, those changes are there, what are the changes? First we’re born, then we stay for sometime, we grow, we produce some children, then we gradually diminish get old, then the body dies. These are the changes we go through. Now again what happens

dehino ’smin yathā dehe
kaumāraṁ yauvanaṁ jarā
tathā dehāntara-prāptir
dhīras tatra na muhyati

Ātmā get goes to a new body, whole cycle repeats itself. So we go like that birth after birth. Someone wants to be musician, maybe they go again and again becoming born in a family of musicians. Someone may be a scientist they get born again and again in a family of someone who will become a scientist again. Because in previous life they, they didn’t finish what they wanted to do and back there here. But that way you can go on again and again so many births, and not really make progress. But this life progress in one field. But the real goal of human life is to end this whole cycle of birth and death, to make a very great change and go, be completely liberated from the cycle of birth and death. So actually we regain our knowledge of the self and knowledge about Kṛṣṇa, about Viṣṇu the origin of everything the Parabrahma, ‘Athāto brahma jijñāsā’, we should inquire. But that was missing in the modern scientist, everything is been oriented around the body. Little relief for the mind through the art, music in the mode of passion, but to actually understand the self, the purpose of life this is the big lack, this was the whole culture of India. Previously what did people do, there was no television, no radio, we know, you can still go in the Guruvayur you can see the dramas all night. They perform the traditional dramas of our Rāmāyaṇa, Kṛṣṇa, Mahābhārata, Kṛṣṇa-līlā. People would entertain them self by remembering the different histories of the Vedas, about the avatāras. In this way we would get some spiritual inspiration. They would all listen to classes, they would chant bhajans, Nārayaṇīya, or Viṣṇu Sahasranāmam, whatever different mantras. So the general public, drama was a very big, and different kinds of bhajans. Now Caitanya mahāprabhu, He revealed that in all the vedas for spiritually awakening ourselves the most affective and the most highly recommended means for this modern age is to chant the mantras. Even someone might not be very inclined in all these things, but if we chant

Hare Kṛṣṇa Hare Kṛṣṇa Kṛṣṇa Kṛṣṇa Hare Hare
Hare Rāma Hare Rāma Rāma Rāma Hare Hare

Then this spiritual interest awakens and we become inspired to go deeper into what is the real purpose of life. We were not just meant to be born, stay around, go, produce some byproducts, dwindle and we finished, and that’s over. That’s a futile, hopeless kind of existence. And if we really understand that I’m not the body then I’m the soul and I’m going to live after this body, I will, our parents have given so much emphasis to go to college, get the degree, get a good job, think of your future, then the same train impart. Isn’t it good once we got all the education, what about our spiritual education, what about the next life? Where are we gonna go after this? Now we may have a nice flat, just like people, you’re working here, now the company gives you a good house, such a nice hall is here. But you know that what we are if contract is over you have to go back wherever you came from. So you save up money and you build a house in your own homeland, or make some arrangement for the future. If you just spend all the money here then what would you gain? When you leave and where would you stay? So that’s everybody thinks, what will happen when my contract is over, to save money. In fact Indians are famous for saving the money, that they're very good that consuming and saving and investing in a good house, famous. This one of the western people tend to just spend it off, credit cards. So in the same way doesn't make sense also what about the next life? We didn’t have to leave this life, and where do we go next? By putting all energy into our house in India, but that house, how many years you live there. Someone works still they are 60, they go India retire, 65 they leave (laughing). Five years they may spend in the house, or may be they go earlier when they’re 45 or 50 and spend 15 years, then it goes to their children, where they’ll go on next life. Whether you born in India or they be born in Muscat or in, where in Dubai or in America or in Borneo or Africa where, in, or in the other planet.

The human beings have a option to plan out not only this life but the next life. And if we don’t do it what can be more foolish? If we just leave this life and not even think on, think what would be the next life, does it make any sense? But the way modern world is setup we can spend the whole life in front of the television, right? Here we could know that how the time is going. One of my disciples, I said how is the wife doing? She said well she’s having 44, she said she wants to watch television for six more years before she can chant Hare Kṛṣṇa. Others sometimes come and say that, it depends every family. But in out India the craze is the channels, so many lot channels, star tv, cable tv, so people are all going mad after watching all the channels. When we had a big festival we had to schedule when there’s not a movie going on. Soon as the movie is over you see the crowd coming in front of the pandal. So, so many in the west people already fed up, only of our 40-50% of the people watch tv anymore, we’re fed up. Even the children, they use it as a bribe, your do all your studies, you can watch one hour a day, or one hour a week (laughing). They let watch all the time, the brain finished, they call it the idiot 2, scientifically proven not to make your brain work. All the pictures do the work for you, you read a book your brain works much more.

So, any way those are relative, we do stay there, we have so many videos. But the real point I wanna get to is that how as a human being we should take advantage. So this was the glory of India, this is lot of sense inside Indian and ancient culture, it said spirituality is the way of life. It wasn’t just something you do on sundays, it wasn’t something you do only once in awhile, it is a whole way of life. And the westernization on India is a big loss. If people give up the spiritual way of life and imitate the west what could be a bigger loss. Forget all the prime, the drug addiction, the problems in the west. That’s what Prabhupāda, he said, let’s take western economic development and technological development, it’s like Lakṣmī. And Sarasvatī is there like India’s culture, music, spiritual development, the higher cultural and spiritual development of mankind. The two should be combined together like the two sisters Lakṣmī and Sarasvatī. Just the one is empty, it’s not enough, we need the both to have a complete human civilization. So that’s why we find this synthesis, so we will use the material things, we’re not adverse to using whatever material thing. But will use it to promote Indian culture, Indian for spiritual, not the mundane aspect, but the ancient continent of India’s spiritual heritage, that we want to preserve and promote. So Lord Caitanya said that everyone who’s born in that culture of Bhārata, they should perfect their lives and they should help others to perfect their lives there after.

 bhārata-bhūmite haila manuṣya-janma yāra
janma sārthaka kari' kara para-upakāra

We should really set our priorities, what is our priority in life? What we want to achieve in life? Everything you can have, you know, want a good health and happy life, peaceful mind. And we want also that we can have a spiritual life, we can have understanding what is my purpose of life, after this life I can go back to Kṛṣṇa and go back to Vaikuṇṭha. You know this world is temporary, in this world people all tend to have so much greed and so many vices. Prabhupāda once said that this world is not a place for a gentleman or gentle woman.

Hare Kṛṣṇa!