Link to purport by A C Bhaktivedanta Swami Srila Prabhupada

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

Once Arjuna understand that this destruction is going to happen then what?

Bg 11.33

tasmāt tvam uttiṣṭha yaśo labhasva
jitvā śatrūn bhuṅkṣva rājyaṁ samṛddham
mayaivaite nihatāḥ pūrvam eva
nimitta-mātraṁ bhava savya-sācin

Word for word: 

tasmāt — therefore; tvam — you; uttiṣṭha — get up; yaśaḥ — fame; labhasva — gain; jitvā — conquering; śatrūn— enemies; bhuṅkṣva — enjoy; rājyam — kingdom; samṛddham — flourishing; mayā — by Me; eva — certainly;ete — all these; nihatāḥ — killed; pūrvam eva — by previous arrangement; nimitta–mātram — just the cause;bhava — become; savya–sācin — O Savyasācī.

Translation: 

Therefore get up. Prepare to fight and win glory. Conquer your enemies and enjoy a flourishing kingdom. They are already put to death by My arrangement, and you, O Savyasācī, can be but an instrument in the fight.

 

bhuṅkṣva — enjoy, normally we says devotees should not enjoy anything we are not meant to enjoy, we are meant to serve, yes that is true but within service there is enjoyment, so it is not that Krishna wants us to be deprived of all enjoyment. Actually Krishna wanted us to stop depriving of enjoyment, real enjoyment is in spiritual world. As long as we caught up seeking enjoyment at material level we cannot relish enjoyment at spiritual level. 

Also for a devotee enjoyment within the service of the Lord that is not material enjoyment. 

Is it like match fixing? It is fixing Arjuna’s consciousness and our consciousness on devotional service. 

In this world whatever God wanted to do He can do without us also. If Krishna wanted to build a temple He can build a temple without anyone of us. If He wanted to spread His message He can spread without anyone of us. 

So in one sense we can say that the results are fixed by Krishna but Krishna is not concerned only for results at material level Krishna is concerned about our transformation at spiritual level also.

Arjuna didn’t said OK Krishna you can do everything so you only do I will just sit and drink Bhang. Idea is not to give license but assurance, that Krishna is assuring Arjuna there is a process and you follow the process and the result will come to you. Therefore what you should do nimitta-mātraṁ bhava savya-sācin, just become an instrument. 

Since our intelligence and capacity is finite so the result what can come is at the best mediocre. So we should become instrument to God’s plan. Our ability is used and acknowledged in devotees circle. 

It is not that things are happening by chance everything is happening as per a perfect plan only our plan should be aligned to that, now the challenge is how to know what is God’s plan? There are broad aspects of Krishna’s plan and if we take care of broad aspect specific aspects can be taken care by Lord. When it is clear how to serve Krishna that time we should serve Him when it is not clear that time Krishna will give guidance how to serve Him. 

Sometimes devotees struggle for say controlling senses but after much endeavor also they are not successful because Krishna wanted to make us realize that success come by His grace and He wanted us to really beg for it.

Sometimes Krishna gives us failure so that He can later give us greater victory. Sometimes devotees face problem again and again that may be specific treatment for him from Krishna so that they take deeper shelter and by that return to Him. e.g. we see that Jatayu failed, but he has lost battle against Ravana but won battle against Maya.  

On the death of Abhimanu Vyasa Deva has consoled Yudhithir M who was thinking himself responsible for his death, that in this material world how much a person elevate he can always come down by temptation but Abhimnau since he died while doing devotional service has gone to such a place from where he cannot be pulled down so instead of lamenting for Abhumanu we should be lamenting for ourselves who are still in this material world.

In our KC sometimes we may lose the fight against maya but we should not lose the fighting spirit against maya we should continue there is always opportunity to serve Krishna no matter what happens.

In this world a person can rise maximum to the karmic credits he is having by his own endeavor but a devotee’s success is not limited by Karmic credits it can go far – far beyond that to as much as Krishna wants to empower that devotee. And Krishna wanted to empower the devotee unlimitedly

End of transcription.