Bhagavad-gītā for Everyone

[Jayanti]

Chapter 4. Transcendental Knowledge

TEXT 1

The Blessed Lord said: I instructed this imperishable science of yoga to the sun-god, Vivasvān, and Vivasvān instructed it to Manu, the father of mankind, and Manu in turn instructed it to Ikṣvāku.

PURPORT
It may seem to us that the words about Vivasvān refer us to something distant, incomprehensible, and irrelevant. This is similar to how the Bible describes who gave birth to whom: “Abraham begat Isaac; and Isaac begat Jacob; and Jacob begat Judas and his brethren..." However, developing spiritually, a person can understand and realize the entire hierarchy of the universe. In ancient times, people were associated with demigods, as evidenced by the scriptures, and buildings such as pyramids, and sculptures depicting demigods.

There is life on every planet. It exists both on the Sun and on the Moon, but we do not perceive it, since we have bodies arranged on different principles. Even on our planet there are many life forms that we can perceive only with the help of some kind of device. Among the various forms of life, there are also great demigods who control the planets and entire elements. For example, the water god extends his consciousness to all types of water throughout the universe and can control them. Matter itself is inert and cannot form itself into something. On the contrary, matter is continually disintegrating, and the activities of humans or demigods can maintain relative order. There is an Earth goddess whom we don't see, and a Sun god. In some cases, a person can contact them or even see them, but our goal is to reach God.

Since the demigods are powerful and spiritually advanced, sometimes spiritual practice may include elements associated with them. The demigods can appreciate the attention to them, and when people are on their side, the demigods become more influential, so they can bestow people with good harvests or other benefits in return. Nevertheless, the worship of the demigods is approved only in the case when it leads the worshipper to God. In itself, such worship of the demigods, "paganism," is as meaningless as any other material activity.

The demigods have a luxurious life and it is difficult for them to control their feelings, unlike humans. Therefore, although people are lower, the human form of life is privileged - an easier path of spiritual development is given. The description of creation in the Bible is the description of creation by the demigods: "Elohim" - "gods." The demigods, not God, create the universe directly; God occupies a much higher position. Nevertheless, in a general sense, accepting the context that God creates the universe is also acceptable, since creation is still carried out according to God's plan and it is He who gives the ability to do this.

The totality of all the universes of the material world is created by God, the demigods cannot do that, but the variety within each universe is created by the demigods. When people were created, the demigods were somewhat offended because the body of people consists of "dust" - a gross matter (the bodies of the demigods themselves are composed of more subtle elements, therefore their capabilities far superior those of humans). But then the demigods saw a special blessing for humanity - ease of spiritual development - and they glorified the Creator for this.

As we can see from this verse, the demigods have the opportunity to communicate with God, and also the demigods have a large hierarchy, which is natural. The Sun god told everything to Manu who occupies a lower position and who is responsible for the position of people in the world; and then the knowledge was transmitted even lower. Management principles are universal, in any structure you will find a head and subordinates. Since this is a reflection of the eternal position of God and others, then hierarchy is present in every structure of the universe, in particular, on our planet in ordinary earthly affairs.

Even such a thing as the structure of the universe can be analyzed analytically, it can be understood by analogies and laws known to us; and sages and ascetics can see the structure of the universe directly. All this forms a harmonious system with many harmonious connections, so those who study a spiritual subject have no shadow of doubts about its truth. Thus, spiritual knowledge in all its phases is always scientific.

TEXT 2

This supreme science was thus received through the chain of disciplic succession, and the saintly kings understood it in that way. But in course of time the succession was broken, and therefore the science as it is appears to be lost.

PURPORT
Any knowledge is passed along the chain of succession: people go to school or institute, where they receive knowledge from more experienced authorities. All scientific knowledge is also passed along the chain of scientific succession, where each beginner learns all previous experience. All training is always conducted according to this formula, starting from the birth of a child. Having received the necessary basics of knowledge, later a person must check everything – this will form real convictions. When a person only accepted, learned, but did not check the information received, he will always be at the level of cliches.

Without understanding the essence of the subject, a person will not be able to understand the details and how to apply the acquired knowledge. In the same way, the process of teaching is going on in spiritual science: first we listen to authorities, then we check what we hear on personal experience, logic, and analysis. This is create real convictions and makes a person knowledgeable and stable. So, theoretical study should be accompanied by practice.

In fact, all material sciences, from beginning to end, are in some sense incorrect, since they are relative. They operate with some fictional units that create only an approximate model of processes. But such a model will not be correct in all possible conditions. This applies to all parts of science and to science itself in general. The modern understanding of knowledge presupposes the endless adaptation of this model to real processes, which is considered progressive, natural, "eternal development"; and people take this approach as an absolute truth. However, in reality this is not so and such a process of ascending knowledge in any of its phases is incorrect; but people are not worried about this situation, since they receive the utilitarian result of science. Formally, this is an objective approach when the theory is confirmed by facts, but in reality such methods will never lead to real knowledge.

In contrast to modern relative science, which is based on "axioms" or, in other words, on unconfirmed dogmas that are considered obvious and do not require proof, but in fact they are not, religion operates with stable, non relative units. For example, earth, water, fire, air, and ether are five obvious aggregate states of matter: solid, liquid, and others. People think the approach of religion is primitive, but it can be used to objectively describe the whole world, moreover, including the mind, intelligence, and senses. Modern science considers everything to be derived from atoms, and now it has begun to delve endlessly into the microcosm, thinking that in this way it will find the key to the secrets of the universe. But the study of the microcosm is similar to the study of the atoms of a computer case, which gives an idea of ​​the structure of the case, but it does not explain in any way the main processes taking place inside the computer.

The world was created by intelligence and it was not assembled from beads of scattered atoms; atoms did not form themselves into complex devices, which is fully and unambiguously confirmed by the laws known to us. Modern science in this sense is more of an ideology than science as such; since, for example, evolution is not confirmed by anything and exists on the basis of an ideological cliche or atheistic propaganda. The root of this ideology lies in the denial of God, and although most of the famous scientists were believers, nevertheless, in general, in science the idea of ​​God is rejected due to deception and administrative decisions. If everything in the universe is falling apart, how is evolution possible? They say that this is possible in an open system, but we are not discussing systems, we are talking about the fact that chaos is growing in the world. Modern scientists are mostly engineers, and the very principle of science is bureaucratized, and bureaucrats make decisions about which theory to consider correct, so it would be naive to look for some truth and adherence to facts there.

The situation with bureaucracy in science, state, and religion is standard, this is due to the low universal education and the desire of people to arrange their life, but not to understand the essence. Therefore, science puts forward its own dogmas, and churches - their own, but scientific dogmas have greater practical application; accordingly, religious dogmas are considered obscurantism, and science - progress. Of course, religion has other goals, nevertheless, it also provides answers to questions about the universe. All of these are big topics, I just outlined them briefly.

Spiritual science has come to us along the chain of disciplic succession – this is how it goes through time. There are main teachers or principal figures are indicated in the enumeration of the chain of teachers (paramparā). When such succession is lost or weakened, God sends His representatives again to restore it. In this way all religions are formed. The fact that a spiritual master is “in true succession” means that he is following the main conclusions and ideas of the scripture. At the same time, he may not be formally initiated at all, or initiated in another succession (sampradāya) - there are many such examples, because it is important to understand the scripture and not formal initiation. For example, even Lord Caitanya accepted the renunciation of the Mayavadi succession (who consider God to be impersonal), which does not detract from His position as teacher and preacher.

TEXT 3

That very ancient science of the relationship with the Supreme is today told by Me to you because you are My devotee as well as My friend; therefore you can understand the transcendental mystery of this science.

PURPORT
Being skeptical or hostile to God, it will be very difficult or almost impossible to understand the spiritual message. In any case, a hostile attitude indicates a person's bias, and such people will look for only "contradictions" instead of studying. The obstacle to learning is not a person's abilities, but his desires - when a person wants to dominate, he will not accept the arguments of the scripture. A real scientist or academic will always admit the probability of the existence of God - this is an objective, scientific approach. But a dishonest person, an uneducated person, or a materialist will deny God, although there is no reason to do so. Nevertheless, it is impossible to resist facts and logic, so if one strike with the "sword" of knowledge, this path to God will be seen more and more clearly.

However, spiritual life does not mean blind acceptance. Following a teacher does not mean that one has to accept whatever the teacher says. A mentor can either teach incorrectly or make mistakes, and this can be borne in mind. A spiritual mentor is a thoughtfully practicing person who has many years of experience in following and preaching, but such mentors may have different positions, including the wrong ones, and preach different spiritual principles. At the beginning, as a rule, the student is not able to understand who is who; and in order for such an understanding to appear, it is necessary to study the scripture and follow it. However, those who are not interested in spiritual development, but only outwardly follow some kind of religion, they will not be able to understand that either at the beginning or at the end, since they are not interested in a spiritual subject. It would certainly be great if the initiating mentor were of the highest category (uttama-adhikārī); the result of his initiation would be:

- understanding all parts of devotional service,
- stable healthy enthusiasm,
- constant preaching,
- ability to apply the scripture appropriately to the situation,
- stable position, the achievement of maturity.

But the probability of getting such a spiritual master is low. Since most people want to solve their personal problems, the appropriate "professional mentors" also come to them, and initiation in some way becomes a ritual in the manner of baptism. One way or another, as an option, one can not rely on the initiating guru (dīkṣā-guru); the main process of spiritual development is described by Śrīla Prabhupāda, so one can follow Śrīla Prabhupāda. Accordingly, Śrīla Prabhupāda will be a śikṣā-guru (instructing guru). And such a śikṣā-guru is superior to all dīkṣā-gurus. After all, they are all either His disciples or disciples of His disciples, and if any of them preach something other than Prabhupāda, one can leave him and do not worry whether there was initiation or not.

Someone might remark that this is the approach of ritviks who believe that there is only one spiritual teacher, and all the others are just "ritviks" - priests who represent the spiritual master. As an example, the ritvik approach is implemented in Christianity where the eternal spiritual master is Jesus Christ, and everyone else can only be His ritual representatives (ritvik priests) who a priori never reach the maturity necessary to be a spiritual master. However, this approach contradicts the instructions of Christ Himself, since He said: "Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect;" thus, real succession presupposes the attainment of perfection. Therefore, we certainly recognize that a spiritual master may be in the highest position, but then his message should not differ from the main scripture.

Also, in a spiritual society, there is often a set of leaders who are preaching at sixes and sevens, and since any analysis or criticism within society is usually prohibited, it is difficult to trying to make sense of this all. It is clear that leaders forbid criticism out of a desire to protect society from disagreements and discord, but there is an unhealthy moment in this, since in this case it becomes impossible to discuss any mistakes or deviations. In general, when some contradictions are resolved by mechanical prohibitions, this indicates a low level of knowledge and culture. In fact, the discussion and analysis of imaginary or real (constructive criticism) mistakes are useful for spiritual development, there is no offense in this. A society in which there is no dialogue and regulations are set administratively has the hallmark of a sect.

TEXT 4

Arjuna said: The sun-god Vivasvān is senior by birth to You. How am I to understand that in the beginning You instructed this science to him?

PURPORT
As we have already said, even a liberated soul forgets its previous births. Arjuna is on friendly terms with Kṛṣṇa, so he may not understand Kṛṣṇa's position as God, although this is not a strict rule. He asks a question rather that ordinary people can figure it out. Pay attention: Kṛṣṇa has not said anywhere that a person should believe, then He will begin to describe Himself as God and confirm this to Arjuna practically. In the same way, everyone will be able to become convinced over time that Kṛṣṇa is God. This is one of the goals of spiritual life – connection with God, or Kṛṣṇa consciousness.

Sometimes Christians say that Kṛṣṇa is Satan because he is black and other similar arguments. We have two primary colors: black and white, and God, being the absolute, manifestats them both: He is dark in color, but at the same time He shines. Christians may say to this that Lucifer also shines, but in the spiritual world everyone shines and all saints also radiate shine. Of course, discussion at this level is not a serious thing, but today the situation is such that we have to discuss it this way. Black is the most exalted color, but even greater exaltation is black and gold, or the colors of the bodies of Rāḍha and Kṛṣṇa.

[Jayanti]

TEXT 5

The Blessed Lord said: Many, many births both you and I have passed. I can remember all of them, but you cannot, O subduer of the enemy!

PURPORT
There are devotees who are eternally in the spiritual world, and there are also those who are eternally preach all over the worlds. Certainly, such a preaching is the most exalted position for the soul, but it is also a responsibility. Materialists see only the outer side of such spiritual leaders - their glory and honor, but they do not understand all the work of these exalted devotees and the responsibility they bear. In the material world, everyone wants personal glory – to be smiled at and told how wonderful, great they are, and so on - but this is the position of God. Person must be qualified to receive praise, otherwise one will inevitably fall. Only God can accept glory unlimitedly, but for people it is always a test. In Russian there is a good expression about a person who has experienced a lot: "he went through fire, water, and copper pipes." "Copper pipes" here is a test of glory, when everyone proclaims how wonderful and great you are. However, God can create a situation in which the devotee becomes glorified; this is also a reflection of God's glory. When a devotee is in relationship with God, it is much stronger than human glory; that is why glory does not settle on such devotees, although they are grateful to people for it.

A devotee sees everyone within matter as a spirit soul, as a soul filled with happiness, but separated from God - all this gives rise to compassion in him. It is also because of this compassion that a devotee preaches from life to life, and of course God gives him all kinds of protection. It is difficult to say whether an ordinary person should strive for such a position, this is a personal question; but in any case, ordinary souls should not try to imitate such great leaders, and we see practically that all types of imitations crumble to dust, since the neophyte does not have enough experience or strength to do so. The more soberly and lower a person's self-assessment, the more stable his position will be; and anyone who rises above others without having the authority to do so risks getting many problems.

TEXT 6

Although I am unborn and My transcendental body never deteriorates, and although I am the Lord of all sentient beings, I still appear in every millennium in My original transcendental form.

PURPORT
People are created in the image and likeness of God. So, the original form of God is two-handed. Since God is omnipotent, He expands Himself into an infinite number of His full expansions while remaining one Personality. He comes to Earth and other planets of the universe in His different incarnations, but once a day of Brahmā, Kṛṣṇa comes directly Himself, in His original form.

People do not want to see God, so the visits Of his avatars are not so frequent and mostly religion teaches some more preliminary principles, however sometimes, very rarely, God reveals the most innermost games of the spiritual world. Kṛṣṇa comes once a day of Brahmā (the day of Brahmā lasts 4.32 billion years), or once in a thousand periods of four yugas (Satya, Tretā, Dvāpara, and Kali). The pastimes of Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu are even more innermost, it is even more difficult to understand His mood, therefore a devotee should follow the scripture avoiding concoctions. In religion, people usually like to talk about humility, but most often they mean a materialistic context; real humility is following the scripture without distortions and without trying to bring something of your own into it.

God forgets nothing and remembers everything at once. His consciousness completely covers all spiritual and material creations, and since each of us is a small but qualitatively identical part of Him, we are able to understand Him. We can also embrace something with our consciousness. However, we cannot embrace with our consciousness everything that exists because we are atomic, and God is able because He is unlimited. The soul can receive any knowledge, but he does it discretely highlighting everything in parts, and God knows everything and always. Nevertheless, the fundamental knowledge of everything is also available to the soul: we cannot cover everything completely, but it is quite accessible to us to know the basic principles of everything that exists. Later Kṛṣṇa will tell about it Himself.

Kṛṣṇa's body, unlike our material bodies, is eternal and unchanging, and all parts of His body can perform any function. We cannot understand with our mind how He is the original Personality, but in such aspiration we come into contact first with Eternity and then with Him. Some touch of knowledge (jñāna) in devotional service, the realization of the impersonal aspect does not interfere, therefore experienced devotees who have achieved this are called brāhmaṇas, which implies their spirituality or that they have realized Brahman (Holy Spirit) at least.

TEXT 7

Whenever and wherever there is a decline in religious practice, O descendant of Bharata, and a predominant rise of irreligion—at that time I descend Myself.

PURPORT
In the material world, everything is constantly degrades including religion and culture of people. Over time everything becomes covered with dust in the house, so one need to periodically clean it. The same is true for human society: it degrades from year to year, and when the decline intensifies, then God or His representative comes. This is how Moses, Buddha, Christ, or Muhammad came – they are all established the same religion in a suitable form. Although Buddhism is impersonal and speaks about emptiness as the source of existence, nevertheless, Buddhists, accepting the Buddha Himself as an authority, could ascend to paradise or the spiritual world and improve further. These individuals are not God Himself, but the souls whom He has authorized to preach and restore the principles of religion.

Sometimes people want to completely deify the preacher as happened in the case of Christ, but there is nothing good in such ideas. This desire for deification is impersonalism, and the root of this desire is self-glorification. After Christ was deified, religion fell on the ideas of humanism, since the comprehension of God became hindered and the meaning of the scripture became violated. Christians had to invent various absurdities: that God became a man and so on; they got confused in the definition of the representative of God - an avatar. Christ is the Son of God, He is one with God, but also He is different from God - He is not God, but His representative. After all, the scripture gives the answer who Christ is, but people wanted to consider themselves great and believe that Christ is not the Son of God, but God Himself. Such things do not come from a great mind and continue in Christianity even nowadays. Having declared Christ to be God, Christians did not approach God in any way, but on the contrary, distanced themselves from Him.

Religion can only be established by God or His representative. Sometimes people think that religion is established by people or that people can invent a religion, but people have not much intelligence for this, and there is no example in the world's history that a religion invented by people has existed for a long time, while true religions have existed for millennia. All the appearances of God are mentioned in the scriptures, where their mission and qualities are described.

TEXT 8

In order to deliver the pious and to annihilate the miscreants, as well as to reestablish the principles of religion, I advent Myself millennium after millennium.

PURPORT by A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupāda:
According to Bhagavad-gītā, a sādhu (holyman) is a man in Kṛṣṇa consciousness. A person may appear to be irreligious, but if he has the qualifications of Kṛṣṇa consciousness wholly and fully, he is to be understood to be a sādhu. And duṣkṛtam applies to one who doesn't care for Kṛṣṇa consciousness. Such miscreants, or duṣkṛtam, are described as foolish and the lowest of mankind, even though they may be decorated with mundane education; whereas another person, who is one hundred percent engaged in Kṛṣṇa consciousness, is accepted as sādhu, even though such a person may neither be learned nor well cultured. As far as the atheistic are concerned, it is not necessary for the Supreme Lord to appear as He is to destroy them, as He did with the demons Rāvaṇa and Kaṁsa. The Lord has many agents who are quite competent to vanquish demons. But the Lord especially descends to appease His unalloyed devotees, who are always harassed by the demonic. The demon harasses the devotee, even though the latter may happen to be his kin. Although Prahlāda Mahārāja was the son of Hiraṇyakaśipu, he was nonetheless persecuted by his father; although Devakī, the mother of Kṛṣṇa, was the sister of Kaṁsa, she and her husband Vasudeva were persecuted only because Kṛṣṇa was to be born of them. So Lord Kṛṣṇa appeared primarily to deliver Devakī, rather than kill Kaṁsa, but both were performed simultaneously. Therefore it is said here that to deliver the devotee and vanquish the demon miscreants, the Lord appears in different incarnations.
In the Caitanya-caritāmṛta of Kṛṣṇadāsa Kavirāja, the following verses summarize these principles of incarnation:

sṛṣṭi-hetu yei mūrti prapañce avatare
sei īśvara-mūrti 'avatāra' nāma dhare
māyātita paravyome savāra avasthāna
viśve 'avatāri' dhare 'avatāra' nāma.

"The avatāra, or incarnation of Godhead, descends from the kingdom of God for material manifestation. And the particular form of the Personality of Godhead who so descends is called an incarnation, or avatāra. Such incarnations are situated in the spiritual world, the kingdom of God. When they descend to the material creation, they assume the name avatāra."

There are various kinds of avatāras, such as puruṣāvatāras, guṇāvatāras, līlāvatāras, śaktyāveśa avatāras, manvantara-avatāras and yugāvatāras—all appearing on schedule all over the universe. But Lord Kṛṣṇa is the primeval Lord, the fountainhead of all avatāras. Lord Śrī Kṛṣṇa descends for the specific purposes of mitigating the anxieties of the pure devotees, who are very anxious to see Him in His original Vṛndāvana pastimes. Therefore, the prime purpose of the Kṛṣṇa avatāra is to satisfy His unalloyed devotees.

The Lord says that He incarnates Himself in every millennium. This indicates that He incarnates also in the age of Kali. As stated in the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, the incarnation in the age of Kali is Lord Caitanya Mahaprabhu, who spread the worship of Kṛṣṇa by the saṅkīrtana movement (congregational chanting of the holy names), and spread Kṛṣṇa consciousness throughout India. He predicted that this culture of saṅkīrtana would be broadcast all over the world, from town to town and village to village. Lord Caitanya as the incarnation of Kṛṣṇa, the Personality of Godhead, is described secretly but not directly in the confidential parts of the revealed scriptures, such as the Upaniṣads, Mahābhārata, Bhāgavatam, etc. The devotees of Lord Kṛṣṇa are much attracted by the saṅkīrtana movement of Lord Caitanya. This avatāra of the Lord does not kill the miscreants, but delivers them by the causeless mercy of the Lord.

PURPORT
"Lord Śrī Kṛṣṇa descends for the specific purposes." This purpose is to show the existence of a close relationship with Him. When devotees develop and want to advance further, God comes and reveals Kṛṣṇa-līlā to them.

[Jayanti]

TEXT 9

One who knows the transcendental nature of My appearance and activities does not, upon leaving the body, take his birth again in this material world, but attains My eternal abode, O Arjuna.

PURPORT
When a person realizes God or develops a desire to live and communicate with Him, he returns to the spiritual world. All scripture instructions have this very purpose. Since both God and the soul are spiritual (transcendental), the perception of God is available to us even when we are in the material world. A person can perceive Him in different ways - to see His manifestation as the greatness and beauty of material nature, to see through the eyes of scripture. In Lord Caitanya's mood of separation, the devotee does not attain direct relationship with God, but in fact he is most connected with Him. This is a manifestation of yogamāyā, or special energy of God, and a special relationship with Him. Since we preach, we can recognize all these aspects of relationships - both personal relationships and separation relationships - to illustrate them; however Lord Caitanya Himself was mainly in a mood of separation, especially in the last period of life.

TEXT 10

Being freed from attachment, fear and anger, being fully absorbed in Me and taking refuge in Me, many, many persons in the past became purifled by knowledge of Me—and thus they all attained transcendental love for Me.

PURPORT of A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupāda:
As described above, it is very difficult for a person who is too materially affected to understand the personal nature of the Supreme Absolute Truth. Generally, people who are attached to the bodily conception of life are so absorbed in materialism that it is almost impossible for them to understand that there is a transcendental body which is imperishable, full of knowledge and eternally blissful. In the materialistic concept, the body is perishable, full of ignorance and completely miserable. Therefore, people in general keep this same bodily idea in mind when they are informed of the personal form of the Lord. For such materialistic men, the form of the gigantic material manifestation is supreme. Consequently they consider the Supreme to be impersonal. And because they are too materially absorbed, the conception of retaining the personality after liberation from matter frightens them. When they are informed that spiritual life is also individual and personal, they become afraid of becoming persons again, and so they naturally prefer a kind of merging into the impersonal void. Generally, they compare the living entities to the bubbles of the ocean, which merge into the ocean. That is the highest perfection of spiritual existence attainable without individual personality. This is a kind of fearful stage of life, devoid of perfect knowledge of spiritual existence. Furthermore there are many persons who cannot understand spiritual existence at all. Being embarassed by so many theories and by contradictions of various types of philosophical speculation, they become disgusted or angry and foolishly conclude that there is no supreme cause and that everything is ultimately void. Such people are in a diseased condition of life. Some people are too materially attached and therefore do not give attention to spiritual life, some of them want to merge into the supreme spiritual cause, and some of them disbelieve in everything, being angry at all sorts of spiritual speculation out of hopelessness. This last class of men take to the shelter of some kind of intoxication, and their affective hallucinations are sometimes accepted as spiritual vision. One has to get rid of all three stages of attachment to the material world: negligence of spiritual life, fear of a spiritual personal identity, and the conception of void that underlies the frustration of life. To get free from these three stages of the material concept of life, one has to take complete shelter of the Lord, guided by the bona fide spiritual master, and follow the disciplines and regulative principles of devotional life. The last stage of the devotional life is called bhāva, or transcendental love of Godhead.

According to Bhakti-rasāmṛta-sindhu, the science of devotional service:

ādau śraddhā tataḥ sādhu-saṅgo 'tha bhajana-kriyā
tato 'nartha-nivṛttiḥ syāt tato niṣṭhā rucis tataḥ
athāsaktis tato bhāvas tataḥ premābhyudañcati
sādhakānām ayaṁ premṇaḥ prādurbhāve bhavet kramaḥ.

"In the beginning one must have a preliminary desire for self-realization. This will bring one to the stage of trying to associate with persons who are spiritually elevated. In next stage one becomes initiated by an elevated spiritual master, and under his instruction the neophyte devotee begins the process of devotional service. By execution of devotional service under the guidance of the spiritual master, one becomes free from all material attachment, attains steadiness in self-realization, and acquires a taste for hearing about the Absolute Personality of Godhead, Śrī Kṛṣṇa. This taste leads one further forward to attachment for Kṛṣṇa consciousness, which is matured in bhāva, or the preliminary stage of transcendental love of God. Real love for God is called premā, the highest perfectional stage of life." In the premā stage there is constant engagement in the transcendental loving service of the Lord. So, by the slow process of devotional service, under the guidance of the bona fide spiritual master, one can attain the highest stage, being freed from all material attachment, from the fearfulness of one's individual spiritual personality, and from the frustrations resulting from void philosophy. Then one can ultimately attain to the abode of the Supreme Lord.

PURPORT
It is important to note some points in Śrīla Prabhupāda's purport above. "By execution of devotional service under the guidance of the spiritual master, one becomes free from all material attachment..." - when the guru is true then the disciple is gradually becomes free from all basic attachments and devotes his life to preaching, otherwise both stability and development will be hampered. Initiation does not mean going through an initiation rite; initiation is a practical guru guidance that can liberate and elevate the disciple. Modern gurus who give initiations, usually do not teach anyone and they are unqualified themselves. Such gurus read general lectures, speak some general words, so their students remain busy with their own way of life and hardly develop.

"One... acquires a taste for hearing about the Absolute Personality of Godhead, Śrī Kṛṣṇa" - this means that the deciple gradually comprehends the whole science of spiritual life. "In the premā stage there is constant engagement in the transcendental loving service of the Lord" - constant engagement in devotional service means, basically, preaching from person to person. Engagement in devotional service may not mean that such a devotee is constantly serving in the temple or to Diety at home; it means that his mind, intelligence, and senses are primarily absorbed in God. When a person loves, he cannot but speak about the object of his love, therefore, when a person loves God, he cannot but speak about God or the science of Kṛṣṇa consciousness. Love of God - this is the service to Lord Caitanya Mahāprabhu through selfless, responsible, and ideally continuous preaching. All other types of love and attachment to God are preliminary.

TEXT 11

All of them—as they surrender unto Me—I reward accordingly. Everyone follows My path in all respects, O son of Pṛthā.

PURPORT of A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupāda:
Eveyone is searching for Kṛṣṇa in the different aspects of His manifestations. Kṛṣṇa, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, is partially realized in His impersonal brahmajyoti effulgence and as the all-pervading Supersoul dwelling within everything, including the particles of atoms. But Kṛṣṇa is only fully realized by His pure devotees. Consequently, Kṛṣṇa is the object of everyone's realization, and thus anyone and everyone is satisfied according to one's desire to have Him. In the transcendental world also, Kṛṣṇa reciprocates with His pure devotees in the transcendental attitude, just as the devotee wants Him. One devotee may want Kṛṣṇa as supreme master, another as his personal friend, another as his son, and still another as his lover. Kṛṣṇa rewards all the devotees equally, according to their different intensities of love for Him. In the material world, the same reciprocations of feelings are there, and they are equally exchanged by the Lord with the different types of worshipers. The pure devotees both here and in the transcendental abode associate with Him in person and are able to render personal service to the Lord and thus derive transcendental bliss in His loving service. As for those who are impersonalists and who want to commit spiritual suicide by annihilating the individual existence of the living entity, Kṛṣṇa helps also by absorbing them into His effulgence. Such impersonalists do not agree to accept the eternal, blissful Personality of Godhead; consequently they cannot relish the bliss of transcendental personal service to the Lord, having extinguished their individuality. Some of them, who are not situated even in the impersonal existence, return to this material field to exhibit their dormant desires for activities. They are not admitted in the spiritual planets, but they are again given a chance to act on the material planets. For those who are fruitive workers, the Lord awards the desired results of their prescribed duties, as the yajñeśvara; and those who are yogīs seeking mystic powers are awarded such powers. In other words, everyone is dependant for success upon His mercy alone, and all kinds of spiritual processes are but different degrees of success on the same path. Unless, therefore, one comes to the highest perfection of Kṛṣṇa consciousness, all attempts remain imperfect, as is stated in the Śrīmad Bhāgavatam:

akāmaḥ sarva-kāmo vā mokṣa-kāma udāradhīḥ
tīvreṇa bhakti-yogena yajeta puruṣaṁ param

"Whether one is without desire [the condition of the devotees], or is desirous of all fruitive results, or is after liberation, one should with all efforts try to worship the Supreme Personality of Godhead for complete perfection, culminating in Kṛṣṇa consciousness." (Bhāg. 2.3.10)

PURPORT
The concept "atom" can have different meanings. The precise meaning of the term “atom” is “an indivisible particle of matter,” but in some contexts, scripture may also consider an atom as a divisible particle. Also in modern science, atoms are called divisible particles.

TEXT 12

Men in this world desire success in fruitive activities, and therefore they worship the demigods. Quickly, of course, men get results from fruitive work in this world.

PURPORT
In other words, people worship the powerful of this world. It says "demigods" here, but in the same way people are serving politicians, businessmen, or humanity in general - just like demigods, they are all different representatives of the material world. The worship of the demigods is more effective than the worship of various kinds of officials, but now people due to materialism do not know about or do not believe in demigods. Sometimes people even think that any person is a form of God, including that the demigods are God. They say that "since everything are parts of God then everyone is God."

As we have already explained, the path and methods of spiritual life are the same for everyone, but in the same way the number of professed philosophies in the world is a fixed number. Philosophies are divided according to the answer to the question: what is the soul. For example, those who think that the soul is the body are materialists.

Therefore:
• "The soul is a body or part of material nature" - this is materialism.
• "The soul is a part of the impersonal spirit" or "the soul is God" - these are impersonalism (philosophy of infinite unity).
• "The soul is the eternal servant of Almighty God" (philosophy of infinite difference).
• “The soul is one with God and different from Him” (the philosophy of unity and difference, also including a variety of relationships with God).

When people think that any of the rulers of the universe is God, this is materialism because they accept the material bodies of the demigods as spiritual entities; but this is also impersonalism because eventually they will get that everything is God. This is because there are two basic material desires: mastery over matter and, ultimately, achieving the position of God. Pure impersonalists consider any form to be matter, an illusion, and the attainment of God for them is a way out of any forms, concepts, and, as a result, merging with the "Great Now". The followers of Śaṅkara (Vedic impersonalism) and other impersonalists think that the Universal Mind, Spirit, is an immaterial formless entity; Buddhists deny any entity, therefore their concept is "Śūnya", Emptiness, Nothing. There is not much difference between the former and the latter, since both concepts point to Brahman just in different terms. However, to be precise, Brahman, Spirit, is an entity.

All of these philosophies and various concepts exist in any religion, which can manifest itself in the form of different confessions within one religion (for example, Sufis, Sunnis, Shiites in Islam) or trends within one confession (for example, within Orthodox there are people who may consider God to be an impersonal entity, but they do not form a separate confession). Since there are people with different levels of consciousness in religion, such a situation is generally natural. The division of a single religion on confessions (Islam, Christianity, Buddhism, and Hinduism) is also a completely natural and even necessary thing, since this way people are grouped according to levels of understanding. Sometimes they want to include Judaism in the list of world religions, but Judaism is too local to be considered a world religion. Nowadays there are 2.3 billion Christians, 1.5 billion Muslims, a billion Hindus, half a billion Buddhists, and 14 million Jews on the planet. Materialism or the desire for a material result always gives rise to paganism, or the worship of the powerful. In Christianity, for example, this is worship of a pantheon of saints for the sake of some good, but such "paganism" is acceptable, since it is within the framework of the Church and the general concept of God. So, the saints do not substitute for God, and by fulfilling some material desires of people, give them a chance to progress in spiritual life. Also there are adherents of impersonal concepts in Christianity when God is presented as an impersonal Spirit, Logos and other. The philosophy of any standard religion (confession) in its purest form is the philosophy of infinite difference or the greatness of God. At the same time, in Christianity, for example, there is also a philosophy of unity and difference (the philosophy of the next, higher level); it is present in the scripture and as some elements within the confession.

All that has been said can be understood analytically: the presented philosophies are a general spectrum of all possible philosophies, proceeding from an understanding of the position of the soul and God, respectively, it does not require any faith. It is also worth noting that without worship to God or even demigods, the prosperity of society is impossible, including due to the growth of people's egoism.

[Jayanti]

TEXT 13

According to the three modes of material nature and the work ascribed to them, the four divisions of human society were created by Me. And, although I am the creator of this system, you should know that I am yet the non-doer, being unchangeable.

PURPORT of A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupāda:
The Lord is the creator of everything. Everything is born of Him, everything is sustained by Him, and everything, after annihilation, rests in Him. He is therefore the creator of the four divisions of the social order, beginning with the intelligent class of men, technically called brāhmaṇas due to their being situated in the mode of goodness. Next is the administrative class, technically called the kṣatriyas due to their being situated in the mode of passion. The mercantile men, called the vaiśyas, are situated in the mixed modes of passion and ignorance, and the śūdras, or laborer class, are situated in the ignorant mode of material nature. In spite of His creating the four divisions of human society, Lord Kṛṣṇa does not belong to any of these divisions, because He is not one of the conditioned souls, a section of whom form human society. Human society is similar to any other animal society, but to elevate men from the animal status, the abovementioned divisions are created by the Lord for the systematic development of Kṛṣṇa consciousness. The tendency of a particular man toward work is determined by the modes of material nature which he has acquired. Such symptoms of life, according to different modes of material nature, are described in the Eighteenth Chapter of this book. A person in Kṛṣṇa consciousness, however, is above even the brāhmaṇas, because a brāhmaṇa by quality is supposed to know about Brahman, the Supreme Absolute Truth. Most of them approach the impersonal Brahman manifestation of Lord Kṛṣṇa, but only a man who transcends the limited knowledge of a brāhmaṇa and reaches the knowledge of the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Lord Śrī Kṛṣṇa, becomes a person in Kṛṣṇa consciousness—or, in other words, a Vaiṣṇava. Kṛṣṇa consciousness includes knowledge of all different plenary expansions of Kṛṣṇa, namely Rāma, Nṛsiṁha, Varāha, etc. However, as Kṛṣṇa is transcendental to this system of the four divisions of human society, a person in Kṛṣṇa consciousness is also transcendental to all divisions of human society, whether we consider the divisions of community, nation or species.

PURPORT
God creates both the material world and the varṇāśrama system, however, He Himself does not obey the laws of matter or the rules of varṇāśrama, although outwardly He observes all the rules and laws. Even observing all the rules of human society, God is still outside of these rules and outside of matter, therefore He speaks of Himself as not acting, or as the non-doer (akartāram).

"Being unchangeable" means that the creation of the world of matter does not affect God, it does not diminish Him either quantitatively or qualitatively, and it does not bring Him into contact with matter. The material world is one with God and different from Him, but from the point of view of matter itself, the material world does not come into contact with God, although it was created as some kind of spiritual existence and indirectly reflects His qualities.

TEXT 14

There is no work that affects Me; nor do I aspire for the fruits of action. One who understands this truth about Me also does not become entangled in the fruitive reactions of work.

PURPORT
A person who gains the consciousness of God gets out of the influence of the laws of the world, it means he is not affected by laws, like God (all kinds of influences remain, but do not affect his consciousness). However, this does not mean that such a person walks around trying to present himself as God or as a representative of God. Śrīla Prabhupāda says that there is no need for a representative of God to declare himself; people will eventually understand who he is. In other words, the God conscious person is preoccupied with preaching, not striving for dominance and honor. In the material world, many people simply crazy of the desire to be in charge, but intelligent people and especially a pure devotee always avoid such things, although a pure devotee plays any role if necessary.

Some materialists, having no intelligence, are very eager to dominate in religion too, while other materialists are looking for some kind of "mystical teacher" instead of the truth itself. The first ones need the attention of the public to satisfy their egoism; the second ones need some fetish, because they really do not want to study anything, they need a “teacher” who, like Santa Claus, would bring them gifts, show a miracle, and miraculously send them to the spiritual world. Trusting in God or in a spiritual teacher is a correct position, but trusting in him without making proper efforts to spiritual advancement is already wrong. Any scripture gives instructions to follow, but due to materialism, some people have no interest in spiritual science and just look for some formal way to solve everything without doing anything.

As for miracles, can a miracle be the criterion of religion? To begin with, there are miracles in any religion. The Orthodox have the blessed fire for Easter, the Catholics have the blood of St. Januariya, the Muslims have an angel sitting on the sacred Kaaba and a tree that does not dry up, under which the Prophet Muhammad sat. There are also many miracles in Hinduism, which in general proves the kinship of the main religions; but problems begin when miracles are shown by people like Sai Baba, moreover he is not shown it somewhere in a closed temple, but "he personally pouring sacred ash into the hand of everyone who wants it." As a result, adherents of a particular confession, for whom a miracle is an indicator of the truth of religion, begin to divide miracles into correct and incorrect: “those miracles that occur in my confession, they are true and correct, but all the rest, of course, are from Satan or paganism".

Well, generally a miracle as an argument appears where people are not able to understand philosophy; and the second case of appearance a miracle when someone wants to deceive them. The main miracle from God is the whole world, the creation; but when people cannot understand such an obvious thing, they are given more local miracles, so one of the reasons for miracles is to help ignorant people understand the existence of God. This is the same reason why spiritual authorities often avoid showing miracles, because miracles are some kind of populism in religion. On the other hand, there are no any laws for God and, certainly, He can act in any way. The second case of using miracles – cheating – occurs when no philosophy can prove that a particular cheater is an incarnation and so on. So, when something cannot be reasonably justified, then a "miracle" is necessary.

Miracles are loved by both believers and atheists. The former are inspired by miracles, while the latter with passion and "success" expose any miracle, since the church is the "opium of the masses." By the way, sometimes scientists confirm the supernatural origin of some things, such as myrrh-streaming.

Probably there are hundreds and thousands of practical proofs of healing people after turning to God or saints. It is understandable, since God is the cause and center of everything; although the purpose of religion is not to heal, but in this way, through indirect things, people can understand the presence of God. In Christianity, there is a whole pantheon of saints who help people in different situations - this is also arose due to some stagnation of Christianity, which was forced to turn to asceticism in the absence of a clear philosophy. After the violation of the integrity of the scripture, the Christianity largely supported itself by faith and asceticism, when the ascetics spiritualized matter by the power of their asceticism or gave various blessings to people. On the one hand, all this is natural, but on the other hand, it is not entirely correct from a spiritual point of view. For example, a later religion such as Islam, in some ways carefully avoids any deification of saints, and reacts to miracles with a rather restrained, realizing the instability of such an argument.

In general, the purpose of religion is not to make someone "believe" or be cured, the purpose of religion is to help realize God in all His greatness, and there are enough miracles here if you look at everything more carefully. On the other hand, I think the every faithful has his own experience of the presence of God in His life, and over the years this experience becomes more and more extensive. God helps in both big and small, especially when we fulfill His mission and do not solve our own personal problems that we created.

The verse uses the phrase "in the fruitful reactions of work", since it implies that the reaction to actions can be different or produce different fruit. There is an expression "fruitful activity", but in this case “fruitful reactions” are meant when a person's actions have already led him to concrete results. When a person acts, then as a result the mixed fruitful reaction confuses him, which is what this verse is about.

TEXT 15

All the liberated souls in ancient times acted with this understanding and so attained liberation. Therefore, as the ancients, you should perform your duty in this divine consciousness.

PURPORT
As we already wrote, each person is arranged in a standard way; the mechanism of mind, senses, and body is basically the same for everyone, therefore the path to God is also standard. "In ancient times" means that this science has exist for many millions and billions of years, and a huge number of people have already used it. God is eternal and the spiritual world is eternal, and God constantly, millennium after millennium supports religion in the material world, so that everyone can return back to Him. As the Bible says: "Or what man is there of you, whom if his son ask bread, will he give him a stone?" Similarly, God: if a person is looking for a spiritual path, God begins to help him from inside and outside. Therefore, when a person is looking for a spiritual path, God begins to help him inside and outside. This is how a person finds spiritual literature or like-minded people. Unfortunately, most people usually formally accept religion which indicates their developed material interests. Religion is the source of all knowledge and all talents, so those who actively study spiritual science gradually become enlightened in every sense.

TEXT 16

Even the intelligent are bewildered in determining what is action and what is inaction. Now I shall explain to you what action is, knowing which you shall be liberated from all sins.

PURPORT
It is difficult to determine what is action and what is inaction, because sometimes an action can be inaction and do not bring consequences, and sometimes vice versa. The usual cliche on religion is that a religious person should live piously, attend a temple, and so on. Also people sometimes think that family, good job, wealth in the house are signs of religiosity, but sometimes it is so, sometimes it is not. In general, external attributes are not a sign of religiosity, for example, the absence of a family in some cases is more favorable than its presence. Material life is temporary and fleeting, therefore some material position of the soul in the world does not matter. More important is a person's sincerity, inquisitiveness, interest in spiritual science; when a person develops spiritual knowledge, he can gradually rise.

[Jayanti]

TEXT 17

The intricacies of action are very hard to understand. Therefore one should know properly what action is, what forbidden action is, and what inaction is.

PURPORT
Everywhere throughout the Bhagavad-gītā, it is about knowledge and understanding, because without understanding one cannot progress in spiritual life. In fact, blind faith does not lead anywhere, and we see that such people who just believe do not know anything about God. In fact, even many acknowledged saints do not write anything about God - they write about their spiritual experience, about the principles of body control, or write some kind of general wisdom, but there is almost nothing about God. When a person simply believes in God, he basically cognized only the impersonal aspect of God in the form of "grace" and other things – all these are the initial principles of spiritual life. Some say that God cannot be seen, but this is contrary to scripture and common sense. Holy scripture is the words of God or His representative. For example, Christ's words are perfect main scripture, but those followers of Christ who spoke up later cannot be accepted as self-sufficient authorities. The words of Christ, Muhammad, and Buddha themselves are the main scripture, while the words of their followers, even canonized ones, may be flawed. The foundation of any religion is the words of the founders of religion, their words are religion in the literal sense of the word. For example, there is Christianity - these are the words of Jesus Christ. On the basis of these words, dozens of churches have been created - Catholics, Protestants, Orthodox, and others; but religion is sacred scripture. Religion does not ask for money, it does not start wars, since religion is spiritual knowledge that gives rise to various churches (communities). Sometimes these churches correspond to the scriptures, sometimes they do not, and according to the will of God, such scriptures as the Bible, the Koran, or the Bhagavad-gītā are widely distributed so that anyone can read them personally, so that religion is accessible to everyone and is not usurped by materialists.

As for mentors, there are two types of communication with them: personal physical (vapu) and by following the teachings (vāṇī). Personal physical communication with the mentor is less important than his teachings; the main following is following the teachings. Great authorities are indistinguishable from their instructions, therefore, following their words, a person receives communication in every sense. The point is to acquire positive spiritual activities in the form of chanting the holy name, studying the scriptures, and preaching. So that, having started the spiritual path, to improve, get practical experience and understand the spiritual nature. Those who begin or continue to follow this path should carefully avoid the idea of personal greatness, because in general this is contrary to the spiritual nature. The scriptures of the world speak of humility, but almost all faiths, professional priests, and gurus are busy seeking recognition in the world. As a rule, they cannot seriously help, but they want to invite the whole world under their protection - this is the position of neophytes.

Generally, as long as a person is not interested in scripture, he is unlikely to be fruitful in the spiritual sense. On the other hand, there are many thinkers who can quote scripture well or show some kind of charisma as preachers, while remaining in a spiritually weak position. This means that they are engaged only in the theoretical study of the scriptures, or even following outwardly practically, they do not engage their senses and mind in the knowledge of God and pursue some other goals under the guise of religious figures. Because they are theoreticians and they do not actually apply scripture in their lives, they are also ineffective as spiritual leaders.

TEXT 18

One who sees inaction in action, and action in inaction, is intelligent among men, and he is in the tranecendental position, although engaged in all sorts of activities.

PURPORT
God explains that real inaction is preaching and activities dedicated to Him. When a person preaches, it will be difficult for him to maintain his material attachments, especially the ego. The preacher is always under the public eye, and being in the position of the enjoyer, master, or "great authority", it will be very difficult for him to preach outside of the denomination. Therefore, a real preacher naturally gets away from all such unwanted things and defilements. On the other hand, one cannot preach for a long time with pseudo-humility, so the process leads to the fact that a person takes a balanced, sane position.

TEXT 19

One is understood to be in full knowledge whose every act is devoid of desire for sense gratification. He is said by sages to be a worker whose fruitive action is burned up by the fire of perfect knowledge.

PURPORT
In other words, only such a person is truly happy in the material world. The criterion of knowledge is the renunciation of the fruits of labor (including the subtle ones, such as fame, etc.) - a person in his right mind cannot strive for what will cause his suffering. Those who can't understand it or don't believe it will face problems in their time. Whatever one gains in the material world, one has to give it up – material nature tempts one, binds one, and then it all inevitably collapses. Therefore, wise people try to avoid this kind of attachment. In the material world, everything is continuously born and faded, great civilizations appear and disappear, and God dispassionately watches this.

God as Paramātmā, the Supersoul located in everyone's heart, prompts everyone individually what is best to do, nevertheless, He Himself remains aloof from any actions and their consequences. Why doesn't God stop all this? Because rebellious souls want to create their own destiny, and even reading His advices, most people think that they are smarter and they will be able cleverly arrange their affairs, bypassing all problems. But such problems cannot be circumvented, because they are fundamentally embedded in the structure of the material world. Born and dying, a number of souls begin to understand this and strive to get out of the hellish cycle. So they gradually begin to feel Eternity, the highest poetry, the supreme happiness that is everywhere and above all the worlds.

TEXT 20

Abandoning all attachment to the results of his activities, ever satisfied and independant, he performs no fruitive action, although engaged in all kinds of undertakings.

PURPORT
A renounced and knowledgeable person is active, not inactive, and he is happy. He is happy living in Eternity, or he is happy hearing the voice of the Supersoul, the words that we read here in the Bhagavad-gītā, or he is happy in his relationship with God. The principles of true renunciation make a person happy and successful. This is quite natural: since such a person is not bound by the fruits of labor, he is free, he gets an intelligence, and naturally he gets talents and knowledge. In fact, this is a description of the perfect person. Whether good or bad happens, he is always calm and ready for anything; and since he is connected with God, all this is multiplied by infinity. When a person even to a small extent understands what is being discussed, of course, he immediately makes a choice in the spiritual direction, while the rest are doomed to vegetate in the material world.

[Jayanti]

TEXT 21

Such a man of understanding acts with mind and intelligence perfectly controlled, gives up all sense of proprietorship over his possessions and acts only for the bare necessities of life. Thus working, he is not affected by sinful reactions.

PURPORT
Śrīla Prabhupāda's famous commentary.

PURPORT of A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupāda:
A Kṛṣṇa conscious person does not expect good or bad results in his activities. His mind and intelligence are fully controlled. He knows that he is part and parcel of the Supreme, and therefore the part played by him, as a part and parcel of the whole, is not his by choice but is chosen for him by the Supreme and is done only through His agency. When the hand moves, it does not move out of its own accord, but by the endeavor of the whole body. A Kṛṣṇa conscious person is always dovetailed with the supreme desire, for he has no desire for personal sense gratification. He moves exactly like a part of a machine. As a machine part requires oiling and cleaning for maintenance, similarly, a Kṛṣṇa conscious man maintains himself by his work just to remain fit for action in the transcendental loving service of the Lord. He is therefore immune to all the reactions of his endeavors. Like an animal, he has no proprietorship even over his own body. A cruel proprietor of an animal sometimes kills the animal in his possession, yet the animal does not protest. Nor does it have any real independence. A Kṛṣṇa conscious person, fully engaged in self-realization, has very little time to falsely possess any material object. For maintaining body and soul, he does not require unfair means of accumulating money. He does not, therefore, become contaminated by such material sins. He is free from all reactions to his actions.

TEXT 22

He who is satisfied with gain which comes of its own accord, who is free from duality and does not envy, who is steady both in success and failure, is never entangled, although performing actions.

PURPORT
A person gets rid of envy when he fully realizes God, otherwise it is difficult or impossible to be free from envy. When a person is happy in union with God, all types of envy go away because he loves, he is loved, he has perfect guidance, and he does not really need anything else in life. The gradation of envy goes from lower modes to higher ones, from ignorance to goodness; envy of the lowest level is envy of material wealth, higher is envy of objects of senses, even higher is envy of power and talents. There may also be envy of spiritual leadership, envy of fame, envy of spiritual success. In theory, no one wants to be envious when he is already on the spiritual path, but in practice this is not so easy to avoid. Generally, the senses in religion are strong, and in some cases they can be quite destructive, since religion strongly affects a person's egoism and beliefs.

TEXT 23

The work of a man who is unattached to the modes of material nature and who is fully situated in transcendental knowledge merges entirely into transcendence.

PURPORT
Since God is the source of this world, when an activity is dedicated to God, all the consequences of such activity reach the Root Cause and are immersed in Him. The root of the material world (the cause of creation), the process of creation, and the entire life of the material world are based on the soul's desire to live separately from God, so as soon as a person devotes his activities to God, all these components gradually disappear. All this happens quite through law and looks like the curtailing of the subtle components of the body. The general principle of liberation is that first a person sacrifices the fruits of his labor (karma-yoga), then spiritual understanding, satisfaction, and remembrance of God come to him. The principle of devotional service is somewhat different: a person accepts spiritual activities which descend from above through scripture, so his body and mind are spiritualized. In other words, all the components of his body are spiritualized and perform a spiritual function. Theoretically, a person should first receive liberation, after which he can already be engaged in spiritual activities, but the spiritual process is absolute, so it can be accepted immediately. We do both at the same time: we dedicate the fruits of our labor to God, and we accept the principles of devotional service.

The main function of a spiritual master is to engage the individual in such devotional service. There are some general external rules, and there are also inner life and beliefs of people. The spiritual master points out how to correct the external component and helps to sort out internal issues or contradictions. Sometimes a guru can quickly inspire a disciple and further help, suggest him; sometimes a disciple will have to work for a long time before he comes from mechanical following to something more internal. As a rule, the disciple cannot assess his position or progress on his own, on the other hand, there is not always a need for some kind of literal guidance. As many people exist, so many situations exist. However, no one in the material world is in a unique position, all problems are approximately the same for everyone, only with different accents. People's problems, stereotypes, attachments or worries, and also different kinds of beliefs and philosophies are all generally the same. When we come into spiritual life, sometimes it seems to us that our beliefs are special, that our experience is special, or our problems are special, but they are all already known, there is nothing special about them.

People in the material world sometimes perceive following a religion or learning from a spiritual mentor as a kind of heart-to-heart conversations, when a person comes and tells some of his "innermost" experiences, but all these experiences are not so important. Sometimes a spiritual master may be a little flattering about some of these “revelations,” but the best thing is to do without it and just study the scriptures regularly. If a person is confused and something hinders him on the spiritual path, then the spiritual teacher can help him solve this situation. The bottom line is that as a result, a person must come to constancy in spiritual practice, and against the background of such stability, his spiritual life will increase. All material life and "big worries" must be somehow neutralized or correctly put aside, and everything spiritual must be given protection, and already on the basis of spiritual practice of a disciple, the guru can help more effectively. When disciples are materialists and they are constantly busy looking for ways to solve their material problems, they simply shower the teacher with their nonsense. To put it briefly: spiritual life does not involve solving material problems. Also, the guru is not a specialist in solving family problems, "attracting" money, restoring and maintaining health, and so on.

Sometimes, “for the purpose of preaching,” spiritual organizations act among the population using populist methods and thus attract souls who have suffered for material well-being. We will not argue that, perhaps, such preachers have a large community with the material world, however, to our great sadness, such projects do not lead to anything good, since "unto Caesar the things which are Caesar's; and unto God the things that are God's." If we are already in religion and not in a business center, then it is better to talk about God - you will think it strange, but for some reason we are more and better perceived this way. All sermons in the style "pious means rich" has already failed, and there is no point in repeating this path.

TEXT 24

A person who is fully absorbed in Kṛṣṇa consciousness is sure to attain the spiritual kingdom because of his full contribution to spiritual activities, in which the consummation is absolute and that which is offered is of the same spiritual nature.

PURPORT
A spiritual master teaches based on his own experience, his own spiritual practice. He is the one who has walked this path from beginning to end, therefore he knows many details of spiritual life and knows the final result of the spiritual path. A beginner devotee cannot know the final outcome, and our view of our own spiritual life is mostly purely sensual. On the other hand, the guru describes everything in his books, so neither the path nor the methods are a secret, and the guru does not trade spiritual life in exchange for recognition or material support. The only tuition fee is to follow the spiritual life and the preaching of the disciple.

A spiritual master generally acts universally not dividing his disciples into his own and others', he also does not wait for someone to come to him with a request for teaching or with respect to him. Following the instructions of the Bhagavad-gītā, he also preaches to those who are not expecting this. He is experienced in understanding people, in understanding how he can help a person. He has no interest in gaining nominal followers by engaging people in some kind of general religiosity. And although there is nothing wrong with blessing anyone for spiritual life, a spiritual master accepts disciples selectively, because he realizes his limited powers and he knows from his own practical experience how difficult it is to help those who have no real desire for spiritual life. He also does not seek his own worship. Neophyte leaders are happy to receive recognition, but a reasonable person does not value recognition so much, he is interested in discussing a spiritual subject. A perfect guru is a perfect disciple rather than a perfect “leader”, but if one has to accept such a position, then he will truly engage those who take the spiritual path. Real recognition is not the recognition of inexperienced people, but of the highest spiritual authorities, which is not easy to achieve.

By accepting a disciple, the guru also accepts part of his destiny. In simple terms, the guru gives away part of his luck, health, and spiritual life. Those who are experienced and sane, and who are really going to help the disciple, will not do such things easily. It is a great sadness when you try to help a person and it ends in nothing. Yes, in ten, fifty lifetimes, his spiritual advancement will continue, but we have limited resources and we do not have the opportunity to do this. Preaching as a spearhead should be aimed primarily at reasonable people, this is a more effective option than attempts to popularize it widely.

Great leaders are able to accept the fate of thousands and thousands of materialists by sacrificing themselves, just as Jesus Christ did. This is a great feat of their love for God and an extremely difficult thing - to give oneself, in return receiving only sufferings, when people solve their personal material problems and affairs at the expense of your sufferings. Thus, due to the blessings of Christ, the materialists built a large demonic civilization. That is, instead of building a spiritual life, they built a material life. We have all been involved in that to varying degrees, and therefore we are indebted to Him. Similarly, the blessings of Moses were used. The demigods did everything to create a great mission on Earth, however, as Christ said, “a wicked and adulterous generation,” that is, people seem to accept blessings for spiritual life, but use them mainly for material life. Nevertheless, even with such great effort religion still exists, and despite all the losses, people have the opportunity to rise spiritually.

This is the story of almost all preachers: as soon as the spiritual mission grows, materialists begin to gather around it to take positions in it and use all its possible potential for their own purposes. On the other hand, spiritual leaders come to help; the whole world consists of materialistic people and if these people will be removed, they will be replaced by the same ones. While a person has no power, he may seems humble, but if he gets power or a lot of money, the situation often changes. Desires of this kind are dormant in everyone and until a person has been trained, has not gone through a good school, it is unlikely that he can be free from such influences. This is one thing as long as one is pinned down by material nature, but power and fame will spoil almost anyone, except those who are in spiritual consciousness. Therefore, first of all, one should look for those who have an interest in spiritual life, because those who are materialistic will always consciously or unconsciously act destructively; and in ordinary religion, participating in the ordinary temple process, these people are unlikely to change quickly.

[Jayanti]

TEXT 25

Some yogīs perfectly worship the demigods by offering different sacrifices to them, and some of them offer sacrffices in the fire of the Supreme Brahman.

PURPORT
That is, realizing the demigods through sacrifices to them, getting some kind of practical result from such sacrifices, then a person moves to realization of the Supreme Brahman. As Kṛṣṇa says: "And I am the basis of the impersonal Brahman, which is the constitutional position of ultimate happiness..." (Bhagavad-gītā, 14.27).

Thus, the spiritual path is all aspects of spiritual life: knowledge of material nature, realization of Brahman, the Supersoul, the greatness of God, and the attainment of intimate relationship with God. However, our preaching work comes first, not our personal relationships. In the first place is the spiritual movement which is expressed not by an administrative framework, but by a common understanding. Unfortunately, almost all churches (including Vaiṣṇava ones) are administrative structures that replace the spiritual structure. That is, religious leaders are in administrative positions in them, according to the internal "table of ranks." Perhaps, in some ways, this is not so bad, since there must be some kind of structure, but the problem is that such administration kills the spiritual dialogue in the church, because any real discussion can cast doubt on the authority of high officials. Therefore, the Church is basically a very rigid structure, even if the leaders follow the principles of spiritual life. Accordingly, the spiritual movement, in fact, is never within the administrative framework of the Church or spiritual society.

First, religion is created by the founder, then it splits into many currents depending on the conditioning of people or on the basis of the division of material property. Next, positions are created within each Church and formalized postulates of the Church, after which the informal discussion is closed. Next, positions are created within each Church and formalized postulates of the Church, after which the informal discussion is closed. A "general opinion" is created and formalized answers to all questions are approved. The priest or guru of such a church will answer any questions according to the given template, but even if his answers are correct, they are usually ineffective, since this person is an administrator. If there is someone alive inside such a church, he will not be able to preach outside the given template, since the “loving brothers” will quickly point him to his place.

Therefore, in the age of Kali, spiritual life is not in the temples, but mainly in preaching and discussing (the holy name). The temple is possible only as a preaching center and a place from where preaching and distribution of spiritual books, in our case the books of Śrīla Prabhupāda, comes from all directions; everything else will fall into spiritual decay. As for the actual physical chanting, without knowledge and preaching such chanting will not last long, which we see practically. The main method of this age is saṅkīrtana, bṛhad-mṛdaṅga - the publication and distribution of Śrīla Prabhupāda's books. This is the conclusion made by Bhaktisiddhānta Ṭhākura. Everything else is only a consequence and addition of the main process.

TEXT 26

Some of them sacrifice the hearing process and the senses in the fire of the controlled mind, and others sacrifice the objects of the senses, such as sound, in the fire of sacrifice.

PURPORT
Those who are interested in spiritual knowledge may be real brahmacārīs. Brahmacārī is a Vedic term that refers to a young man who is abstaining from sex life, studying the scripture, and preaching. When a person has an inquiring mind and a developed interest in spiritual life, he may not have sexual relations, in some ways it is quite natural. This kind of brahmacārīs (with a developed interest in spiritual life, studying the scriptures, and preaching) is the ideal brahmacārīs, all other variants will be skewed. The second type of abstinence or monasticism is Sanyas. Sanyasis are usually already mature people who have taken a vow of abstinence for life. Both the first and the second practice abstinence for the sake of spiritual development and preaching, otherwise there is no special sense in abstinence. Those who abstain and develop spiritually are brahmacārīs and sanyasis, and they do not have to wear titles or special clothing.

Both brahmacārīs and family people sacrifice "sound", that is, they regularly chant and hear (read) the scripture and the holy name; but family people, unlike brahmacārīs, have more practical accents in life and they must regulate their sensory activities. Brahmacārīs and those who abstain from sexual relations have complete control over the mind; family people can have a sensual life, but they must regulate it. On the other hand, a family person who preaches may be superior than some temple brahmacārī who only eats, sleeps, and goes to services.

Family people sacrifice their entire daily life and material possessions. They can make an altar at home and offer their attention and some attributes to God. Rich people can put an entire room under the altar or build a chapel or temple, where they can hold services and give lectures to their family or anyone who wants to. The quality of lectures does not depend on the number of people present, so the size of the audience is not so important.

TEXT 27

Those who are interested in self-realization, in terms of mind and sense control, offer the functions of all the senses, as well as the vital force [breath], as oblations into the fire of the controlled mind.

PURPORT of A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupāda:
The yoga system conceived by Patañjali is referred to herein. In the Yoga-sūtra of Patañjali, the soul is called pratyag-ātmā and parag-ātmā. As long as the soul is attached to sense enjoyment, it is called parag-ātmā. The soul is subjected to the functions of ten kinds of air at work within the body, and this is perceived through the breathing system. The Pātañjala system of yoga instructs one on how to control the functions of the body's air in a technical manner so that ultimately all the functions of the air within become favorable for purifying the soul of material attachment. According to this yoga system, pratyag ātmā is the ultimate goal. This pratyag ātmā is a withdrawal from activities in matter. The senses interact with the sense objects, like the ear for hearing, eyes for seeing, nose for smelling, tongue for tasting, hand for touching, and all of them are thus engaged in activities outside the self. They are called the functions of the prāṇa-vāyu. The apāna-vāyu goes downwards, vyāna-vāyu acts to shrink and expand, samāna-vāyu adjusts equilibrium, udāna-vāyu goes upwards—and when one is enlightened, one engages all these in searching for self-realization.

TEXT 28

There are others who, enlightened by sacrificing their material possessions in severe austerities, take strict vows and practice the yoga of eightfold mysticism, and others study the Vedas for the advancement of transcendental knowledge.

PURPORT
God describes all possible categories of spiritual development. Lord Nārāyaṇa is perfectly perfect. Brahmavādi, Tattvavādī, and others who seek to understand the greatness of God try to strictly follow spiritual instructions. There is a special taste in such asceticism, in such perfection, when a person puts together a beautiful, ideal mosaic of his life where everything is orderly and perfect. However, God would not be God if there were no other qualities in Him. Kṛṣṇa lives much more freely. In close relationships, He and His friends can actively "terrorize" the neighborhood by playing. Their childish heroism causes only a smile, but He is a God, and the demigods are sometimes afraid of all this cheerful company, hiding in different "corners" and carefully peeking. Of course, without realizing greatness, all such stories will be perceived somewhat materialistically, therefore the Śrīmad Bhāgavatam must be studied consistently and gradually rise to the level of understanding such manifestations of God. Deity worship in the temple is always the worship of God in greatness, since in a more intimate relationship, the principle of worship does not exist as such.

[Jayanti]

TEXT 29

And there are even others who are inclined to the process of breath restraint to remain in trance, and they practice stopping the movement of the outgoing breath into the incoming, and incoming breath into the outgoing, and thus at last remain in trance, stopping all breathing. Some of them, curtailing the eating process, offer the outgoing breath into itself, as a sacrifice.

PURPORT
By controlling the breath, yogīs achieve stopping the mind and fixing it on the impersonal aspect of God or directly on God. In the process of such practice, they acquire many mystical powers, which becomes a certain temptation for them. Real yogīs or advanced brāhmaṇas do not engage in divinations and etc., they also carefully avoid materialists and the public, because all these will worsen their position. Materialists expend all their life force on sense gratification. Basically, all the problems of the mind and body come from this. The soul is eternal, but the process of sensory life wears out the body; while yogīs store energy, prana, gaining more and more power. However, their position is always unstable.

Nowadays yoga is mostly known as health exercise. Although people do not understand the principle of āsana and use them as physical training; it can have some healing effect, but in general, such practices are not related to real yoga. In this age, the goal of any yoga can be fully achieved by chanting the holy name, including the effect of the highest levels of yoga, samādhi. Yogīs practice passive samādhi, while devotees attain active samādhi; these are identical states, and this is possible because spiritual life is absolute.

TEXT 30

All these performers who know the meaning of sacrifice become cleansed of sinful reaction, and, having tasted the nectar of the remnants of such sacrifice, they go to the supreme eternal atmosphere.

PURPORT
Sin is a combination of personal desires and actions in the past and present. To get rid of sinfulness, it is necessary to develop God consciousness, because a righteous life in itself is not spiritual. A righteous life can give some chance to know God because if a person lives purely, he becomes peaceful. On the other hand, righteousness also increases the possibilities for sensual life, therefore, the question is always concluded in the desire of a person and not in his position. Whether the person righteous or sinful, his chances of starting a spiritual life are about the same, because the sinner, suffering from reactions, may have an additional incentive. But without knowledge of God, even righteousness will inevitably have a selfish, sensuous character.

The scriptures, speaking about what is a sin and what is not a sin, draw a line between the first and the second, which people would be able not to cross. In fact, almost everything in the material world is sinful, but since a person is not able to instantly change his life, an approximate list of what is sinful and what is not is given. On the other hand, when a person develops the God consciousness, the commandments and principles fade into the background and become just a help in spiritual life. Religion is primarily the knowledge of God; without such knowledge, various restrictions do not make much sense.

TEXT 31

O best of the Kuru dynasty, without sacrifice one can never live happily on this planet or in this life: what then of the next?

PURPORT
Sacrifice is a voluntary renunciation of something (or an offering, a ritual) for the sake of higher principles. One way or another, since most people do not have enough interest in spiritual science, the Vedas give them a wide gradation of various rituals and traditions that a person must go through, from birth to death. In the modern world, there are not so many such rituals left - for example, there is the ritual of marriage. All these are done in order to elevate people so that their whole life does not go on the level of animal functions. For those who develop spiritual knowledge and preach, such ceremonies and rituals are not very important, although preachers sometimes agree to participate in them in some way, using this as an element of preaching.

TEXT 32

All these different types of sacrifice are approved by the Vedas, and all of them are born of different types of work. Knowing them as such, you will become liberated.

PURPORT of A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupāda:
Different types of sacrifice, as discussed above, are mentioned in the Vedas to suit the different types of worker. Because men are so deeply absorbed in the bodily concept, these sacrifices are so arranged that one can work either with the body, the mind, or the intelligence. But all of them are recommended for ultimately bringing about liberation from the body. This is confirmed by the Lord herewith from His own mouth.

[Jayanti]

TEXT 33

O chastiser of the enemy, the sacrifice of knowledge is greater than the sacrifice of material possessions. O son of Pṛthā, after all, the sacrifice of work culminates in transcendental knowledge.

PURPORT
This is the summary of all sacrifices, rituals, and ceremonies - the development of knowledge. In fact, the absolutization of rituals is somewhat a manifestation of ignorance. In Russia, people are traditionally suspicious of religion. This suspiciousness is the result of centuries of instilling in people the idea of ​​their sinfulness. Therefore, when a person comes to the temple, he is often afraid of everything, afraid “to do something wrong," but all the temple rules are conditional. Both unruliness in the temple and excessive anxiety are two unwanted extremes. They sacrifice to God in order to realize Him. They sing prayers, light candles or light incense (in particular in Hinduism), and so on.

Ordinary people believe that the rituals are very innermost and sacred, but the scripture is more holy, even more holy is to start following the scripture, and even more holy is to start preaching. In fact, such a "sensitive" reverence in the temple, the declaration of some rituals as especially holy is the essence of a form of materialism, because it allows materialists to declare something extremely esoteric, incomprehensible, secret, mystery, infinitely precious to make it so "precious" that no knowledge will be possible in relation to it, only an eternal reverent attitude.

This absolutization of rituals is a form of the material-impersonal aspect of religion. So adherents of religion consider themselves exalted, possessing something innermost, but at the same time society as a whole continues to live an intense materialism, and the church is visited by a handful of believers who recognized some cup or bowl as holy and pray for it. Of course, it would be good if there was a sermon in the church, and it is desirable that this sermon and prayers were about God and not about material prosperity.

TEXT 34

Just try to learn the truth by approaching a spiritual master. Inquire from him submissively and render service unto him. The self-realized soul can impart knowledge unto you because he has seen the truth.

PURPORT
The key phrase here is "the self-realized soul." In Śrīla Prabhupāda's purport, the key phrase is "the Lord therefore advises us to approach a bona fide spiritual master." The problem here is that serving an unconscious guru and asking him will not have a significant effect. If someone is listed as a guru and even if he somehow shows that he belongs to the chain of teachers, it does not mean that he has realized himself. In this sense, Śrīla Prabhupāda's books and the scriptures are much more effective – at least it is the experience of a person in a higher position. The second point is that without some prior knowledge, we have no criteria to understand who is true and who is not. Therefore, Śrīla Prabhupāda's books and following them are the only criteria for choosing a spiritual master. The criterion for a guru can also be his disciples: if they are mainly intelligent preachers, then the guru has some qualifications.

The main criterion for a guru is his preaching. How much does it correspond to the main scripture? Do his conclusions coincide with the conclusions of the main scripture? What is theory in his sermon and what is already realized? As devotee gains experience, he sees what is theoretical and what is practically realized in the lecture. Of course, we should try to see something good rather than bad. When a person has an intelligence, he will find useful things anywhere. However, the choice of denomination or spiritual master can determine a lot. The answer is that people still choose a guru somewhere on the level of sensory perception and material preferences. To make a better, more informed choice, a person needs some kind of spiritual experience, so he needs his own following.

On the other hand, the very best guru may have unsuccessful disciples; there are many examples. Therefore, accepting a spiritual master is not a panacea for everything; the disciple must also improve himself in the spiritual field and make his own efforts. Certainly, everyone would feel better if we declared Śrīla Prabhupāda to be the eternal spiritual master, and He can give guidance; but we need spiritual masters in the present time, we need those who will try to go to perfection, take personal responsibility. That is, there are many unsuccessful examples, nevertheless, someone can still come to perfection.

According to the verse, a spiritual master is one who is self-realized, and the characteristics of such a person are described in the entire Bhagavad-gītā. There can be many spiritual masters - one initiating guru and several instructing ones. In some cases, when there are problems with the initiating guru, person can follow the instructing guru or practice on his own. The initiating guru, the instructing guru, any guru, if he is qualified, can gradually raise the disciple. A person without the status of "guru" is also can if he is self-realized. The very title "guru" or any names are just external designations, the real position of the person is important.

Kṛṣṇa says: "Ask", that is, the disciple must learn. The guru is not just a figure to worship, the guru teaches. If he teaches well, the disciple develops, and in this way the disciple comes to an understanding of spiritual life. When there is no knowledge, there will be much debate about who is the true guru and who is not the true guru. If a disciple has neither knowledge nor experience, what is the position of his guru and what is his function?

- Do one need some kind of sanction to be a guru? - Some kind of sanction is not required from the present leaders.
- What to do when in the spiritual community gurus become only due to the approval of some committees? - If these committees really make sure that the spiritual master follows at least the basic principles, then there is nothing wrong with such an idea.

It is quite difficult to help a disciple who does not preach. Preaching basically means preaching in the material world, not just communicating among the devotees in one form or another. The point here is that even technically it should be some significant actions, and not just a spiritual and sensual exchange within the denomination, in the form of some courses or even standard lectures. Courses and lectures are good in their own way, but preaching means that a person preaches on the street or on the Internet, goes out to people. A person can start smoothly, from small activity, and gradually gain experience, increase the load. This should also be based on Śrīla Prabhupāda's books.

When an inexperienced, somewhat naive soul tries, like a bird trying to drink the ocean, to offer Śrīla Prabhupāda's books to people on the street, the Almighty's heart may waver and He may come to help. Of course, when His giant bird appears in the sky, everyone will humbly fold their hands in reverence and such a devotee from a small, weak soul will immediately become an undisputed winner; nevertheless, a person must become experienced, he must learn to be invulnerable to atheists and benevolent to innocent people - in this way he becomes more and more dear to God.

TEXT 35

And when you have thus learned the truth, you will know that all living beings are but part of Me—and that they are in Me, and are Mine.

PURPORT
And again, God speaks about knowledge. Thus, it is knowledge that is the goal of all rituals, yoga, and initiation. Guidance in the development of spiritual knowledge is initiation. Through spiritual knowledge, a person sees directly that all souls are part of God. Kṛṣṇa does not say that the result of learning will be some kind of faith. Everyone is a soul; this is a fact, and the disciple comes to understand and realize this fact. And the second fact is that all souls are eternally connected with God.

TEXT 36

Even if you are considered to be the most sinful of all sinners, when you are situated in the boat of transcendental knowledge, you will be able to cross over the ocean of miseries.

PURPORT
This verse should inspire. It says not just “sinner”, but “the most sinful of all sinners,” that is, even such a person can be exalted through knowledge. God says that we live in an ocean of suffering. And indeed, there is always danger here, someone is always dying.

A person is born, in a short period of time he tries to arrange his affairs, and then he is dead. From the highest point of view, all this is meaningless. Since the soul is eternal, people live as if they have eternal bodies, although at any moment everything can end. Therefore, all believers, devotees should be engaged in preaching based on the Bible, Bhagavad-gītā, or Koran. Study the scriptures, follow them, and then preach. With this approach, something can be adjusted in the material world or in oneself personally, but those who are trying to solve directly the problems itselves, in fact, will not solve anything. Preaching is not easy, but it is inspiring.

[Jayanti]

TEXT 37

As the blazing fire turns firewood to ashes, O Arjuna, so does the fire of knowledge burn to ashes all reactions to material activities.

PURPORT of A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupāda:
Perfect knowledge of self and Superself and of their relationship is compared herein to fire. This fire not only burns up all reactions to impious activities, but also all reactions to pious activities, turning them to ashes. There are many stages of reaction: reaction in the making, reaction fructifying, reaction already achieved, and reaction a priori. But knowledge of the constitutional position of the living entity burns everything to ashes. When one is in complete knowledge, all reactious, both a priori and a posteriori, are consumed. In the Vedas it is stated: ubhe uhaivaiṣa ete taraty amṛtaḥ sādhv-asādhūnī: "One overcomes both the pious and impious interactions of work."

TEXT 38

In this world, there is nothing so sublime and pure as transcendental knowledge. Such knowledge is the mature fruit of all mysticism. And one who has achieved this enjoys the self within himself in due course of time.

PURPORT of A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupāda:
When we speak of transcendental knowledge, we do so in terms of spiritual understanding. As such, there is nothing so sublime and pure as transcendental knowledge. Ignorance is the cause of our bondage, and knowledge is the cause of our liberation. This knowledge is the mature fruit of devotional service, and when one is situated in transcendental knowledge, he need not search for peace elsewhere, for he enjoys peace within himself. In other words, this knowledge and peace are culminated in Kṛṣṇa consciousness. That is the last word in the Bhagavad-gītā.

TEXT 39

A faithful man who is absorbed in transcendental knowledge and who subdues his senses quickly attains the supreme spiritual peace.

PURPORT
In this verse, one should pay special attention to the word "faithful". According to English dictionaries, it means: "steadfast in affection or allegiance: loyal; firm in adherence to promises or in observation of duty: conscientious; given with strong assurance: binding; showing or describing something in a way that is exactly correct," «someone who is faithful to a person, organization, idea, or activity remains firm in their belief in them or support for them,» etc. And also: «the believers in and loyal adherents of a religious faith». Accordingly, in this verse, the word "faithful" refers to two contexts: (1) one who believes in God, that is, accepts His existence, and (2) one who is loyal, devoted, in this case: steadily interested in spiritual life.

Initial faith combined with the study of scripture leads to the gain of knowledge. Further, the development of knowledge must be combined with the control of the senses. As devotee progresses spiritually, accordingly, he becomes peaceful. Sometimes people say that it is impossible to know everything, but this is what the Bhagavad-gītā preaches - the fundamental knowledge of everything. Fundamentally knowing everything, a person can always understand some particulars and details.

TEXT 40

But ignorant and faithless persons who doubt the revealed scriptures do not attain God consciousness. For the doubting soul there is happiness neither in this world nor in the next.

PURPORT
Doubt is a function of intelligence, but when a person only doubts without following a spiritual process, or if he is irritated by spiritual science, he will fall. Any knowledge is subject to verification. Accordingly, any doubter can check the scripture and thus understand the truth. But those who are envious of God and those whose goal is material domination are afraid of spiritual truth like fire. After all, if God exists, then all their plans will come to an end, because their whole life is built on denying God and glorifying themselves. If God exists, then their whole messy life leads not up, but down; they do not want to think about it and they are irritated towards God. Speculative thinkers also dislike scripture because clear truth closes their way for endless speculations. And the last category of people who do not like scripture are materialists in religion. They formally recognize God, but they are afraid of any discussion, since discussion and knowledge will make their disqualification obvious, and the goal of such materialistic believers is to enjoy the material world and their own superiority.

TEXT 41

Therefore, one who has renounced the fruits of his action, whose doubts are destroyed by transcendental knowledge, and who is situated firmly in the self, is not bound by works, O conqueror of riches.

PURPORT
Kṛṣṇa says here that all doubts must be eliminated by transcendental knowledge; for this purpose the scriptures are given and the process of learning is introduced. Sometimes people study the scriptures for many years without coming to any meaningful results, which means that they do not follow the scriptures in practice enough. Generally, those who do not preach, but who are engaged only in physical chanting and temple worship, do not develop effectively enough. Even if a person preaches, it will take time to understand at least the initial principles of scripture. Knowledge means that a person becomes detached from the fruits of his actions. Therefore, as long as person retains such attachments, his spiritual life will be difficult.

Our true "self" is eternal and eternally blissful, but as long as a person's mind is absorbed in material benefit or material defeat, he cannot come to a tangible realization of this. Thus, if a person cannot delve into spiritual life to the level of practical following, his knowledge will always be theoretical and will not bring him happiness. God here very clearly describes all the signs of having real knowledge.

TEXT 42

Therefore the doubts which have arisen in your heart out of ignorance should be slashed by the weapon of knowledge. Armed with yoga, O Bhārata, stand and fight.

PURPORT
After describing the basic principles of knowledge, God calls Arjuna to be decisive. So, the result of real knowledge is manifested in activities, in the preaching of the message of God to living beings. Kṛṣṇa advises Arjuna not to sit and deal with the knot of attachment in the heart, not to deal with various private problems of live, but He advises to rise up and start act for the Supreme Personality of Godhead. The preaching of a true guru is the same. A true guru is not a family priest who is concerned with the material welfare of people; religion, having raised the banner of knowledge, should go out into the world to preach and carry a spiritual message. And there is not important the number of people - in the spiritual life even one person is a warrior. Also, the material component does not play a role - there is no doubt that God can provide any ingredients for preaching.

It is important that the person is sincere and knowledgeable. People are tired of materialists in religion, people are annoyed by materialistic leaders; so if you preach without selfish interests such as money and personal fame, you will get the green light everywhere. Religion basically does not require money for its expansion, only spiritual understanding is needed. We see churches with enormous material wealth that are simply disappearing nowadays. And what do their money and their rituals give them? Therefore, preach, and God will gradually teach us everything and send everything we need, similarly He led Arjuna in this battle to victory and success.