Bhagavagd Gita - Session 31- Track 3106

Question: Would you say these Rakshasas and Asuras are Tamasic?

No, Rakshasas and Asuras…Rakshasas are purely Rajasic and Asuras are also Rajasic with some kind of Sattwa in them, but Sattwa used for the purposes of Rajas. Those who make Sattwa also utilised for purposes of Rajas.

Pure Sattwa who go even beyond, because daivīṁ prakṛtimis beyond Sattwa. Prakriti consists of Sattwa, Rajas and Tamas, but daivīṁ prakṛtimgoes beyond Sattwa, Rajas and Tamas. So, those who want to apply this knowledge certainly pass through the Sattwa because it is Sattwa which leads them, but then they become āśritāḥ, they become gripped, gripped by daivīṁ prakṛtim, by the higher nature: mahātmānas tu māṁ pārtha daivīṁ prakṛtim āśritāḥ |, and when they are gripped by the higher nature then automatically the movement of Bhakti originates. The real Bhakti originates when there is resort to the higher nature.

bhajanty ananyamanaso jñātvā bhūtādim avyayam ||13|| (IX)

This devotion arises out of the knowledge. It is when the knowledge is given…as the prophet Mohamed has said: ‘To see God and not to love Him is impossible’. To see God is to know God. Once you know God it is impossible for you not to fall in love with Him. So, jñātvā, having known that reality, bhajanty ananya-manaso, then they begin to love Me, ananya-manaso, one-pointedly: their mind become ananya-manaso, without any distraction whatsoever. This happens when they come to know Me, bhūtādim avyayam, when they come to know Me as the origin of all the creatures and avyayam, one who is indestructible. Having known Me to be the origin of all things, having known Me as something that is indestructible, they fall into My devotion without any kind of destruction in their mind. Once they enter into devotion, then now there is intensification of devotion which is now given in the next verse.

satataṁ kīrtayanto māṁ yatantaś ca dṛḍhavratāḥ |

namasyantaś ca māṁ bhaktyā nityayuktā upasate ||14|| (IX)

There is intensification of devotion, satataṁ kīrtayanto, they constantly say the praise of the Lord, satataṁ, without any break, all the time, uninterruptedly, kīrtayanto, they become singers of the glory of the Supreme.

Yes, because in love there is only one word: love, and love, and love. You might even say love, greater love, intensest love, ecstasy. What more can you say about it? About knowledge you can describe in many ways, in Karma there is so much variety, but in love there is only one: love, and more love, and more intense love. So again and again the same words are repeated.

Comment: Just one word, here

Even if you open the last paragraph, the last verse of this chapter, there is the climax of this chapter, 9th chapter, verse 34, this is the last message of this chapter: man-manā bhava, become My minded; man-manā bhava, become My minded; mad-bhakto, become My devotee; mad-yājī, worshipper of Me; māṁ namaskuru, you surrender to Me, bow down to Me; mām evaiṣyasi, you will come to Me only; yuktaivaṁ ātmānaṁ mat-parāyaṇaḥ: mat-parāyaṇaḥ, when you become fully endowed engaged in Me, then you will unfailingly come to Me.

So, even that sentence, even at the climax, it is the same thing. What more can you say? The tongue has no language to describe the sweetness, and the ecstasy of the Love of the Divine, so, in human language, it goes on repeating the same and that is why among all yajña (s), Japa yajña , is regarded as the highest. As we shall see later on in the Bhagavad Gita that when you approach the Supreme…how will you approach Him? By repeating His name; there is nothing more to be done; you repeat Him all the time. In fact, love experience, experience of love is nothing but repetition of the name of the beloved. At every repetition it becomes more and more intense; and that is the Bhakti yoga. Bhakti yoga is nothing but Japa yajña , in which you repeat the name of the Lord again, and again, and again, and again, and again, endlessly.

Yes, your mind becomes endowed with Me, mad-bhakto, My devotee; mad-yājī, My worshipper; and mat-parāyaṇaḥ. So, all of them actually are one and the same but they are different levels of consciousness where mind itself becomes full of devotion: ‘when you become devoted to Me, you become worshipper of Me and you become completely engaged in Me mat-parāyaṇaḥ.

Comment : śaraṇagat bhava?

Yes, that is śaraṇagat, even to say śaraṇagat, is becoming little more dry; ‘surrender’ is even dry, mat-parāyaṇaḥ, as He says mad-yājī māṁ namaskuru, that is surrender, but mat-parāyaṇaḥ, you become completely engaged in Me, in śaraṇa also there is some kind of a distinction between you and Him, but mat-parāyaṇaḥ you become engaged in Me, completely.