Link to purport by A C Bhaktivedanta Swami Srila Prabhupada

Transcript of Bhakti-Shastri class on this verse by Chaitanya Charan

We are in 9th chapter of BG we have discussed 9.1 and 9.2, the glories of the knowledge that Sri Krishna is going to give, this will free one from all inauspiciousness and this will burn all sinful reactions like that, now Sri Krishna will glorify this knowledge by talking about its converse that if one does not have faith in this knowledge and does not imbibe this knowledge what will happen? That will be described in next verse 

 

Bg 9.3

aśraddadhānāḥ puruṣā
dharmasyāsya paran-tapa
aprāpya māṁ nivartante
mṛtyu-saṁsāra-vartmani

Word for word: 

aśraddadhānāḥ — those who are faithless; puruṣāḥ — such persons; dharmasya — toward the process of religion;asya — this; param–tapa — O killer of the enemies; aprāpya — without obtaining; mām — Me; nivartante — come back; mṛtyu — of death; saṁsāra — in material existence; vartmani — on the path.

Translation: 

Those who are not faithful in this devotional service cannot attain Me, O conqueror of enemies. Therefore they return to the path of birth and death in this material world.

aśraddadhānāḥ puruṣā, those person who is not having faith 

dharmasyāsya paran-tapa, in the dharma the person doesn’t have faith 

aprāpya māṁ nivartante, such a person will not attain me but instead what will happen? 

mṛtyu-saṁsāra-vartmani, he will continue in the cycle of birth and death

So here Sri Krishna describes the consequence of faithlessness as the continuation in the cycle of birth and death for example if we don’t have faith in medicine we will not get cured and we will continue with the disease in the same condition so similarly here Krishna is telling this medicine can cure you but if we don’t take the medicine if you don’t have faith in the medicine, you will not take the medicine and if you don’t take the medicine then you have to continue on, two things will happen aprāpya māṁ, you will not attend Me when we attain Sri Krishna we will go out of cycle of birth and death when we will not attain Sri Krishna nivartante, we will return back, where? mṛtyu-saṁsāra-vartmani, the path of birth and death, now Srila Prabhupada in his purport elaborately talks about faith and he talks about faith in terms of the three adhikaris: Kanista, Madhayama and Utama (discussed in NOI).

SP Purport: the development of that faith is the process of Kṛṣṇa consciousness.

What is process of Krishna Consciousness? It is supposed to develop that faith, and if we are developing that faith we are doing Krishna Consciousness activities so naturally if we are practicing Krishna Consciousness sincerely then we will be experiencing purification we will experience purification we will experience satisfaction and that will keep increasing our faith just as a patient who is cured of a decease keep on experiencing and relishing the cure, so Srila Prabhupada talked about what is the faith which is talked about here we have discussed earlier how faith is at multiple levels, a faith that God exists, faith that God is a person, there can be different levels of faith, here the faith which is talked about is the faith in Bhakti Yoga so faith Srila Prabhupada correlated with the Bhagavatam Verse:

As stated in the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam (4.31.14),

yathā taror mūla-niṣecanena
tṛpyanti tat-skandha-bhujopaśākhāḥ
prāṇopahārāc ca yathendriyāṇāṁ
tathaiva sarvārhaṇam acyutejyā

yathā taror, taror is a tree just as and mūla-niṣecanena we water the root of the tree then tṛpyanti, satisfied. tat-skandha-bhujopaśākhāḥ, then the remaining parts of the tree, their branches, the twigs, the leaves, all of these becomes satisfied by the practice of watering the root of the tree similarly prāṇopahārāc ca yathendriyāṇāṁ so prāṇopahārāc, that means when we satisfy the stomach then Indriyanam all the senses of the body becomes satisfied tathaiva sarvārhaṇam acyutejyā, similarly everybody is worshiped and satisfied by satisfying Lord Achuta. So this verse is talking about the principle of spiritual mysticism, what is spiritual mysticism, we may be wondering how it is possible that by satisfying Krishna everyone will be satisfied that is actually mystical it is NOT mystical in the sense that it is not unclear but it is has to be experienced it is devotional mysticism, the devotional mysticism is not somebody can float in the sky, that may be one level of mystics but how much level of satisfaction that is going to give to anyone some people may appreciate but all these cannot give lasting satisfaction but when we understand, internalize and realize this principle that by satisfying Krishna I will become satisfied then we will be having lasting happiness and faith in that principle is Srila Prabhupada said is the faith that is being talked about so faith by glorifying Krishna by serving Krishna by loving Krishna we will gain the highest happiness and this faith progressively increases from the Kanishta to Madhama to Uttama Adikari.

Srila Prabhupada has mentioned about Kanishta, Those who have no faith even after hearing about Kṛṣṇa and the excellence of devotional service, who think that it is simply eulogy. Eulogy means empty praise or exaggeration. find the path very difficult, even if they are supposedly engaged in devotional service. For them there is very little hope of gaining perfection. Thus faith is very important in the discharge of devotional service. So the point is devotional service is not just the matter of external engagement it is also a matter of inner involvement, I my chant Hare Krishna, I may go to a temple, I may dance in Kirtan all this is good and also essential but through all this ultimately my heart has to be involved and if I am just going through the motions of these things and internally if I am eaten away by doubts then eventually those doubts will manifest externally and we will give up those activities. That is why if somebody is not working on resolving the doubts working on developing the faith then if the person is engaged in devotional service with some other motive apart from purification and elevation then one will not be able to continue very long so how do we work on our faith, we have to find out what are the things that increase our faith and we should do those activities it is like muscles building which we discussed earlier by exercising the muscles grow, similarly we should find out what increases our faith more it could be by studying the philosophy more it could be associating with a particular devotee doing certain activity by which we feel purification and satisfaction in the heart by that we increase our faith and certain issue we should keep in suspended judgment if it troubles us too much. And keep doing things and moving forward the activities which helps us in developing our faith.

End of transcription.