Chapter 09, Text 32 - Chaitanya Charan Das, Bhagavad Gita ISKCON: Recent Episodes
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Most conventional religious paths present rigid boundaries to differentiate between the pure and the impure, which eventually translates into the qualified and the unqualified. Even in the Vedic tradition, many classes of people who were considered lowborn were not allowed to participate in several rituals that comprised mainstream religiosity in those times. The path of [...]
Link to purport by A C Bhaktivedanta Swami Srila Prabhupada Transcript of Bhakti-Shastri class on this verse by Chaitanya Charan In varansharam system higher varan are more suitable for practice of Dharma (not devotional service) than lower varan but Krishna says Bhakti does not recognise such discrimination. They can also be elevated if they practice [...]
In every classroom, some students are perpetual backbenchers – they don’t like to study; they attend classes just because they have to. Predictably, they fare poorly in their exams. But suppose some teaching method transformed backbenchers into toppers – wouldn’t that be amazing? Bhakti-yoga is such a spiritually transformative process. Gita wisdom explains that the [...]
When we try to grow spiritually, we may seek perfect self-control. But just as a child falls before learning to walk, so too do we slip before attaining self-control. Rather than becoming discouraged by such inevitable lapses, we need to accept that improvement in any path is usually incremental. The Bhagavad-gita (09.32) assures that even [...]
Devotee-seekers sometimes ask, “I am devoting myself to Krishna – why then am I still getting miseries in my life?” Because misery is an intrinsic characteristic of material existence. Let’s understand with a light-shadow metaphor. Krishna being the reservoir of all happiness is like the supreme sun, whereas miseries are like the shadow. When we [...]
Some people think that everything in scripture is the teaching of scripture. But scripture gives the thoughts, words and actions of not just God and his devotees, but also demons. Thus for example in the Srimad Bhagavatam when a demon like Hiranyakashipu propitiates a god like Brahma and praises him as if he were supreme, those [...]
We are often plagued by deficiencies of some kind or the other. And given our materialistic culture that glamorizes idealized specimens of various material attributes, feelings of insecurity and inferiority may haunt us: “I am not beautiful enough, smart enough, rich enough, fluent enough, cool enough, … nothing enough.” If we obsess over our shortcomings, [...]
Failure is an unpleasant but unavoidable part of life. Different failures call for different responses. In some cases, we may persevere despite the failures; in others, we may pursue a new avenue. Success in most fields of life requires some material abilities. A singer needs to have a decent voice. This necessity of material abilities [...]
Our normal material tendency is to go by externals. We form impressions about people based on how they look, where they stay, what they drive in and what their designation is. When we carry this tendency into spiritual life, we judge devotees based on their positions within ecclesiastical hierarchies. What is worse than such judgment [...]
Ours is an age that idealizes the equality of all human beings. The American Declaration of Rights which enshrines this equality is widely considered a watershedin human history. Significantly,a similar egalitarian declaration wasmade by the Bhagavad-gita thousands of years earlier. The Gita espouses the path of bhakti-yoga – the path of pure love for God, [...]