Chapter 08, Text 15 - Chaitanya Charan Das, Bhagavad Gita ISKCON: Recent Episodes
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Link to purport by A C Bhaktivedanta Swami Srila Prabhupada
Transcript of Bhakti-Shastri class on this verse by Chaitanya
So now He continues that theme and He seamlessly jells that theme with the next theme. How does on gets impetus to fix the mind on Krishna. Krishna says if you fix mind on Him you can easily attain Him but then how does one get impetus to fix his mind on Krishna, so Krishna is saying actually one can think of result of fixing the mind onto Him and of not fixing the mind on Him or result of letting the mind dwell on other things.
So let us look at the next verse so this is next section starting:
Bg 8.15
mām upetya punar janma
duḥkhālayam aśāśvatam
nāpnuvanti mahātmānaḥ
saṁsiddhiṁ paramāṁ gatāḥ
Word for word:
mām — Me; upetya — achieving; punaḥ — again; janma — birth; duḥkha–ālayam — place of miseries; aśāśvatam— temporary; na — never; āpnuvanti — attain; mahā–ātmānaḥ — the great souls; saṁsiddhim — perfection;paramām — ultimate; gatāḥ — having achieved.
Translation:
After attaining Me, the great souls, who are yogīs in devotion, never return to this temporary world, which is full of miseries, because they have attained the highest perfection.
This is famous verse we often quote duḥkhālayam aśāśvatam section of it, yes this world is temporary and place of misery this is exactly opposite to the ideas posted by movies and nobles that live happily ever after. So happily ever after is exactly opposite to that, Krishna says duḥkhālayam aśāśvatam, so it is not happy and it is aśāśvatam there is no ever after in this world. So it is exactly the opposite conception but this is the focus of our quoting the verse normally but let us look at what is the context of the verse and what whole verse is saying.
So Krishna is not making it as a declaration that I am declaring that this world is duḥkhālayam aśāśvatam, He is just making it as a passing fact, yes it is taken for granted that this world is duḥkhālayam aśāśvatam but if you worship Me then you won’t have to come in this world, those who worship Me they don’t have to take birth again but they will attain the Supreme destination paramāṁ gatāḥ. So from the BG perspective that it is taken for granted that this world is duḥkhālayam aśāśvatam, there is no need to argue and debate and declare it is something which both the conversation have accepted. It is like a doctor tells a person who is sick. If you take this and this treatment then you will be discharged from hospital you don’t have to come back to this miserable place. So there is no need to debate or discuss that hospital is a miserable place. Like a jailer say if you behave properly then you will be discharged from the jail and then you don’t have to come back to this stinking filthy place. So now neither the jail warden nor the prisoner they are thinking that O this is a desirable place and I don’t want to go out of here, both of them know that the prisoner wants to go out, the question is how to go out. So like that the context of the Gita says that this world is duḥkhālayam aśāśvatam no doubt and if you mām upetya, if you worship Me then you don’t have to come back to this world. saṁsiddhiṁ paramāṁ gatāḥ, So those are mahatma they will attain the supreme destination. So now this is the second time BG uses the word Mahatma, earlier Krishna uses it is in 7.19, where He says those who understand Him to be Vasudevan Servan Eti Sa mahatma Sa durlabha. These souls are the great souls Mahatmah, and they are very rare, so that is clearly referring to devotees, isn’t it because the point is Mam Prapdyate, surrender is essentially the act of Bhakti, so it is referring to those Mahatmas as devotees and here also the previous verse …and BG is again referring to Mahatmah in next chapter where 9.13 it will declare mahatmans to mam partha devim prakriti asritah, …. So those who worship Me whole heartedly knowing that I am imperishable I am everything that understanding is similar to Vasudevan Servam Eti, so they are also referring Mahatma is actually focusing on Krishna and not on anything else. So nāpnuvanti mahātmānaḥ so actually this is the ultimate reality and there is no reality beyond this. So the Mahatma’s are those who understand Sri Krishna to be ultimate reality nothing else. So now when we talk about paramāṁ gatāḥ, what is the paramāṁ gatāḥ? Krishna will more elaborately talk about Supreme Abode in this chapter only little later in 8.20 & 21-22 & 15.6 & 15.7 also. We know that paramāṁ gatāḥ is the Supreme abode of Krishna Loka, Goloka Vrindavan which is described in the Brahma Samhita. Here the point is those who worship Krishna need not have to come back to this world, they will be Na punar janma, they will go back to Him, they will attain Supreme destination. Now what is the Supreme Destination is not mentioned here but we can correlate with what Krishna has talked about earlier. Now Krishna has said in BG 4.9, that those who understand the transcendental nature of His activity what happens? janma karma ca me divyam …naiti mām eti so ’rjuna. So those who understand even truth they come back to Him, and Here Krishna is saying those who worship Me mām upetya they attain supreme destination so what is the Supreme Destination, Supreme Destination is going back to Krishna. That can be inferred from that way.
End of transcription.
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When the Bhagavad-gita (08.15) deems the world a place of distress (dukhalaya), what does this imply for our efforts to combat distress in our life? To understand, consider a parallel: the Himalayas, which, as the name indicates, is a place of ice and consequently cold.
Suppose we are in the Himalayas and are feeling cold. We will naturally make efforts to avoid the cold, but we won’t be able to always avoid it entirely. Whenever we can find specific causes for the cold we are experiencing, we can and should try to fix those causes. But sometimes such causes may not be fixable. At those times, we need to endure the cold as well as we can. To persevere thus, we need a purpose that is meaningful enough for us to make the cold bearable. For example, if we aspire to scale a lofty mountain peak, the resulting inspiration may empower us to bear the trek’s unavoidable difficulties.
Similarly, that the world is dukhalaya means that while we will naturally strive to avoid distress, we shouldn’t make avoiding distress our life’s defining purpose. Why not? Because despite our best efforts, problems will sneak in somehow or the other. If we define our progress or success solely by how well we can avoid problems, we will set ourselves up for frustration. Instead, we can focus on finding a purpose that is meaningful enough for us to make life’s inevitable problems bearable. Helping us all find such a purpose is the purpose of Gita wisdom.
One-sentence summary:
The world is a place of distress — this doesn’t mean that we never make any attempt to avoid any distress; it just means that we don’t make avoiding distress our life’s primary purpose.
Think it over:
- What can the Himalaya metaphor teach us about the dukhalaya world?
- Focusing on avoiding problems leads to frustration — do you have any realization of this?
- ‘Focusing on a meaningful purpose can make problems bearable — do you have any realization of this?
08.15: After attaining Me, the great souls, who are yogis in devotion, never return to this temporary world, which is full of miseries, because they have attained the highest perfection.
To know more about this verse, please click on the image
The post When the world is a place of distress, how should we deal with distress in our life? first appeared on Chaitanya Charan Das, Bhagavad Gita ISKCON.
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