DAILY SB/BG 20-Nov-2009 Friday
MALA:6 BEAD:071 |
NITYAM BHAGAVATA SEVAYA SB 1. 2. 18
(Regularly reading/hearing Srimad Bhagavatam or Serving the pure Devotee) |
| Karma Yoga |
(Do Your Duty, Leave the result to Krsna) |
Great (easy to do) |
| Gnana Yoga |
Realising Self by controlling senses and mind |
Very Great (tough) |
Bakthi Yoga
KC |
Realising the Paramatma is Everything and
Surrender to Krishna is the Ultimate goal |
Very Very Great
(very easy to do) |
When our beloved God brother H.G. Devakinandan prabhuji came to Abudhabi, Prabhuji spoke very wonderfully on the following famous verse from Srimad Bhagavad Gita 11.33:
tasmaat tvam uttishta yasho labhasva
jitvaa shatrun bhunksva raajyam samrddham
mayaivaite nihataah purvam eva
nimitta-maatram bhava savyasaachin
"Therefore get up. Prepare to fight and win glory. Conquer your enemies and enjoy a flourishing kingdmm. They are already put to death by My arrangement, and you, O Savyasaaci, can be but an instrument in the fight."
I shall try to summarize a few of the essential points from the lecture.
If we can just absorb this verse, we will be very very peaceful in our lives. If we miss the point of this verse, we will always be in trouble. In the Battlefield of Kuruksetra, Krishna has already decided who is going to be killed and who is not going to be killed. The question is, if Krishna has already arranged these things, what is the purpose of Arjuna being there? Our question in our lives is that if everything happens according to Krishna’s plan, then what purpose are we to serve on His behalf?
The answer Krishna says ‘nimitta-maatram bhava’- ‘Just become My instrument.’
The next question is ‘How to become an instrument?’ The answer to this question is given in this verse in the way Arjuna is described. Savyasaacin – One who is very expert in shooting the arrows. The secret is that Arjuna is very expert in the performance of his duties but he was just told by Krishna "All your skills will mean nothing in the battlefield because it is not your skill which is going to kill the warriors. It is My arrangement that they are to be killed." So Krishna tells Arjuna that Arjuna has so much potency but finally if that potency works according to Krishna’s plan, Arjuna will be happy. So we should understand that we may be experts in singing or cooking or playing instruments or preaching but if we do not perform these activities for the satisfaction of Krishna and according to His plan, the result will be that we will be disturbed. Arjuna was disturbed because he did not want to fight and thought that it was the right thing to do. He was advancing so many arguments and Krishna told him, "The right thing is, you do what I tell you to do."
The next question is "How will I know what Krishna wants?" Arjuna was lucky but we are not next door to Krishna . But we have the presence of the Deities and if we sincerely pray, They will suggest to us in our hearts what we have to do. We have to always accept that our plan should become second to Krishna’s plan. That means second to our Guru’s plan. Sometimes we approach our Guru and phrase our question in such a way that Guru will have to say ‘yes’. This is not the way.
The best way to understand Krishna ’s plan is explained by Bhishmadeva in Srimad Bhagavatam verse 1.9.16:
na hy asya karhicid raajan / pumaan veda vidhitsitam
yad vijijnaasayaa yuktaa / muhyanti kavayo ’pi hi
"O King, no one can know the plan of the Lord [Sri Krishna]. Even though great philosophers inquire exhaustively, they are bewildered."
From this, we have to understand that we cannot understand Krishna’s plan. Then Bhishmadev says it is ‘daiva tantram’- enchantment of providence. Now the question is, having understood that we cannot understand Krishna’s plan, how should we act? The answer is we should accept everything that happens to us as the plan of Krishna. We must see Krishna’s hand in everything that happens to us. Sometimes it appears as good and sometimes it appears as reverses. The more we make elaborate plans, the more we have experience that we have very less control over our lives. The best thing to do is to do our best and be prepared to adjust our plans according to what Krishna wants.
The mood of the devotee is to submit to Krishna’s plans. In the pastime of churning the milky ocean for nectar, the demigods went through a lot of obstacles but they were just depending on Krishna. Krishna had a plan and His devotees were executing the plan and when we execute the Lord’s plans, the Lord removes all our obstacles. Obstacles will be there but if we become discouraged, we are demons. If we keep depending on Krishna, we become demigods. It may appear that materially we are in difficulty. We should continue with our devotional service and ultimately the devotee is the winner just by submitting to the plan of the Lord. The main key is not to have a vision separate from that of the Lord as suggested in Srimad Bhagavatam 1.5.14:
tato ’nyathaa kincana yad vivakshatah
prthag drshas tat-krta-rupa-naamabhih
na karhicit kvaapi ca duhsthitaa matir
labheta vaataahata-naur ivaaspadam
"Whatever you desire to describe that is separate in vision from the Lord simply reacts, with different forms, names and results, to agitate the mind as the wind agitates a boat which has no resting place."
If our plans make us agitated, then it is not in line with the Lord. If it makes us peaceful and fixed in our devotional service, it is in line with the Lord’s vision.
Thank you very much.
Yours in the service of Srila Prabhupada and Gurudev,
Vaijayanthimala devi dasi
Abudhabi.
Disclaimer: This article was originally published in the Yahoo Groups granthraj – run by the disciples of H H Mahavishnu Goswami Maharaj – by the devotee name mentioned above. The posting in this article, is original realizations of our Guru Maharaj and the devotee who wrote this. Any comments regarding this article would be passed on directly to the devotee. In this article, ‘Maharaj’ and ‘Gurudev’ implicitly refer to our spiritual master H H Mahavishnu Goswami Maharaj.
