Link to purport by A C Bhaktivedanta Swami Srila Prabhupada

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

Next three verses talk about Gyana Sadhana

Bg 18.51-53

buddhyā viśuddhayā yukto
dhṛtyātmānaṁ niyamya ca
śabdādīn viṣayāṁs tyaktvā
rāga-dveṣau vyudasya ca

vivikta-sevī laghv-āśī
yata-vāk-kāya-mānasaḥ
dhyāna-yoga-paro nityaṁ
vairāgyaṁ samupāśritaḥ

ahaṅkāraṁ balaṁ darpaṁ
kāmaṁ krodhaṁ parigraham
vimucya nirmamaḥ śānto
brahma-bhūyāya kalpate

Synonyms: 

buddhyā — with the intelligence; viśuddhayā — fully purified; yuktaḥ — engaged; dhṛtyā — by determination; ātmānam — the self; niyamya — regulating; ca — also; śabda–ādīn — such as sound; viṣayān — the sense objects; tyaktvā — giving up; rāga — attachment; dveṣau — and hatred; vyudasya — laying aside; ca — also; vivikta–sevī — living in a secluded place; laghu–āśī — eating a small quantity; yata — having controlled; vāk — speech; kāya — body; mānasaḥ — and mind; dhyāna–yoga–paraḥ — absorbed in trance; nityam — twenty-four hours a day; vairāgyam — detachment; samupāśritaḥ — having taken shelter of; ahaṅkāram — false ego; balam— false strength; darpam — false pride; kāmam — lust; krodham — anger; parigraham — and acceptance of material things; vimucya — being delivered from; nirmamaḥ — without a sense of proprietorship; śāntaḥ — peaceful; brahma–bhūyāya — for self-realization; kalpate — is qualified.

Translation: 

Being purified by his intelligence and controlling the mind with determination, giving up the objects of sense gratification, being freed from attachment and hatred, one who lives in a secluded place, who eats little, who controls his body, mind and power of speech, who is always in trance and who is detached, free from false ego, false strength, false pride, lust, anger, and acceptance of material things, free from false proprietorship, and peaceful – such a person is certainly elevated to the position of self-realization.

Here Krishna is telling buddhyā viśuddhayā yukto, so one has intelligence but one purifies the intelligence, we can have contaminated intelligence or we can have pure intelligence. Krishna has earlier talked in 3.40 how even the buddhi is residing place of lust, 

indriyāṇi mano buddhir
asyādhiṣṭhānam ucyate
etair vimohayaty eṣa
jñānam āvṛtya dehinam

Synonyms: 

indriyāṇi — the senses; manaḥ — the mind; buddhiḥ — the intelligence; asya — of this lust; adhiṣṭhānam — sitting place; ucyate — is called; etaiḥ — by all these; vimohayati — bewilders; eṣaḥ — this lust; jñānam — knowledge; āvṛtya — covering; dehinam — of the embodied.

Translation: 

The senses, the mind and the intelligence are the sitting places of this lust. Through them lust covers the real knowledge of the living entity and bewilders him.

so 3.40 He has said that lust is situated in three places the senses, the mind and the intelligence, 

And after three verse on 3.43 Krishna said:

Bg 3.43

evaṁ buddheḥ paraṁ buddhvā
saṁstabhyātmānam ātmanā
jahi śatruṁ mahā-bāho
kāma-rūpaṁ durāsadam

Synonyms: 

evam — thus; buddheḥ — to intelligence; param — superior; buddhvā — knowing; saṁstabhya — by steadying; ātmānam — the mind; ātmanā — by deliberate intelligence; jahi — conquer; śatrum — the enemy; mahā–bāho — O mighty-armed one; kāma–rūpam — in the form of lust; durāsadam — formidable.

Translation: 

Thus knowing oneself to be transcendental to the material senses, mind and intelligence, O mighty-armed Arjuna, one should steady the mind by deliberate spiritual intelligence [Kṛṣṇa consciousness] and thus – by spiritual strength – conquer this insatiable enemy known as lust.

He said therefor with intelligence know yourself to be transcendental and situate yourself on the transcendental platform and thereby conquer lust, evaṁ buddheḥ paraṁ buddhvā, knowing oneself to be transcendental what does it mean, buddhi can be a residing place for lust and buddhi can also be a tool to conquer lust, how does it work in two different ways? It depend whether the buddhi is pure or the buddhi is impure, e.g. when people do something wrong they try to do things secretly that also requires intelligence, so intelligence can be used to fulfill lusty desires or to understand the futility of one’s lusty desires and to choose desires beyond those lusty desires.  

So if one wants spiritual elevation it requires buddhyā viśuddhayā yukto, viśuddhayā, the intelligence has to be purified.

dhṛtyātmānaṁ niyamya ca, so what does it mean purifying the intelligence, ātmānaṁ niyamya, one has to be self-controlled. How? dhṛtyātmānaṁ, dhṛtyā is determination, actually if you want to achieve sense control determination is important, because without determination it is not possible, it will end up stray desires coming up in our mind. And these stray desires will end up making us miserable, therefore dhṛtyātmānaṁ, 

In confrontation with our lower desires there are four stages, there is:

  1. Helpless failure
  2. Struggle in failure
  3. Struggle and success
  4. Effortless success
  5. Helpless failure – one feel I cannot do this and so give up.
  6. Struggle in failure – Struggle and failure, one decides I am not going to involve in this, but still a person scums to it. He says no but scums to it.
  7. Struggle and success – After stage (2) there is struggle and success.One takes resolution but feels pull of temptations then prays to Krishna, takes inspiration from scripture, takes guidance from devotees, fights and survives 
  8. Effortless success – Eventually there is effortless success. This comes when we become very strong in our spiritual life. And we become situated in spiritual taste. Then there is no temptation. One goes beyond temptation. E.g. for a practicing devotee generally there is not temptation in non-veg items. Achieves it very easily.

Sometimes we feel that I am not making any progress in Krishna Consciousness, I am feeling same temptation again and again no matter what I am doing, actually we are making progress step by step.

A baby elephant is tied with shackles in the leg and when it pull again and again it starts bleeding and paining eventually the elephant grows big and has the power to uproot a tree also but when it is tied with the shackles with a pole it doesn’t try to break thinking that it will pain and I will not be able to break it based on its past experiences, it gives up trying thinking about failure and pain.  

So to avoid this misfortune one should know that one is growing and becoming stronger. So in past we may have tried to overcome our bad habits, our weaknesses against anarthas, we may found that we may get so much torment so much trouble so much suffering that I feel I don’t get involved in this thing, just forget the whole things, no fighting, whenever there is temptation I will just indulge in it and go on with my life. 

So we have to keep on practicing spiritual practices and not give up fighting spirit with anarthas so what is required is dhṛtyātmānaṁ niyamya ca, dhṛti, determination.

And how that is expressed? śabdādīn viṣayāṁs tyaktvā, so this is talking about Pratyahar, where one shuts out all the sense object, ? śabdādīn is sound etc. which is one of the sense object, all these attracts us so we shut it out.

rāga-dveṣau vyudasya ca, vyudasya ca means one stays free from raga and dvesa, putting it aside, 

vivikta-sevī laghv-āśī,
yata-vāk-kāya-mānasaḥ

vivikta-sevī, means one stays is secluded place 

Again there are three levels

  1. One can have materialistic association.
  2. One can stay away from materialistic association.
  3. One can be in devotees association.

Krishna has talked about devotees association in 10.9

mac-cittā mad-gata-prāṇā
bodhayantaḥ parasparam
kathayantaś ca māṁ nityaṁ
tuṣyanti ca ramanti ca

So He has talked about how devotees delight in the sangha of devotees but here He is talking about something else now, vivikta-sevī laghv-āśī, so He is talking about the process of Gyana, where one does not delight materialistic association but yet one has not developed taste for devotees association, then one stays away, Krishna has talked about this in 13th chapter also aratir Jana syaci, where one stays away from general people.

laghv-āśī, means one eats minimum, laghv means minimum and asi means eat. So when one eats more all the senses becomes strong and one is tempted to enjoy more. In the process of Gyana one tries to cut off from material engagement as far as possible, so by eating less one can restrict senses becoming too strong, because body doesn’t have any extra energy for sense gratification, and thereby one can focus on higher spiritual purposes, 

yata-vāk-kāya-mānasaḥ, body mind and speech one keeps under control.

dhyāna-yoga-paro nityaṁ, one does dhyana, yoga-paro nityaṁ, so this can refer to either dhyana-yoga or it can refer to dhyana, meditation, so even in path of dhyana one does meditation, it may not be same level of meditation which one practices in dhyana-yoga. So Dhyana Yoga can be one word or it can be two different words, so one does Dhyana and practices yoga paro nityaṁ, so one wants to come to the transcendental platform
vairāgyaṁ samupāśritaḥ, Krishna is emphasizing again He talked about Sanyas in the previous verse similarly He is talking about Vairagya in this verse, this whole process is centered on negation, rejection, Krishna has not talked about the positive connection which He will talk in 18.54 onwards, here He is talking about disconnection from the material world 

ahaṅkāraṁ balaṁ darpaṁ
kāmaṁ krodhaṁ parigraham
vimucya nirmamaḥ śānto
brahma-bhūyāya kalpate

So the end of all these is to come to brahma-bhūyāya kalpate, to come to the brahman level and He is giving the list of mentalities that can keep us away from the brahman platform, 

ahaṅkāraṁ balaṁ darpaṁ, arrogance and if one over relies or only relies on one’s strength and doesn’t take shelter of higher strength of God that creates problem. Darpa is arrogance.

kāmaṁ krodhaṁ parigraham, Kama-krodha, we discussed several times, wanted to enjoy but if I can’t enjoy then I destroy everything so that nobody else can enjoy, parigraha means possessiveness, Krishna has used Aparigraha earlier in 6th chapter. Aparigraha means giving up possessiveness. So here Krishna is talking about the things to give up.

 vimucya nirmamaḥ śānto, vimucya, one gives up possessiveness mentality.

nirmamaḥ śānto, without proprietorship one becomes peaceful then 

brahma-bhūyāya kalpate, once one comes to the Brahman platform one becomes peaceful. Earlier this has come up in 14.26, in 14th chapter He talked about three modes then Arjuna asks by end of 14th chapter what are the means by which one can transcends the three modes, then when the question comes up how to transcendence then He says by Bhakti Yoga one can transcendence in 14.26,

māṁ ca yo ’vyabhicāreṇa
bhakti-yogena sevate
sa guṇān samatītyaitān
brahma-bhūyāya kalpate

So one comes to brahma-bhūyāya kalpate to Brahaman platform by practicing Bhakti, 

So by practicing ’vyabhicāri bhakti one can come to brahma-bhūyāya kalpate but Krishna is not talking that here He is talking how by steady practice of Gyana by disconnection with the material world by staying equipoised with everything material one can come to the Brahman platform. 

And Srila Prabhupada quoted from the famous verse 2.7 from BG on how one can come to the Brahman Platform:

āpūryamāṇam acala-pratiṣṭhaṁ
samudram āpaḥ praviśanti yadvat
tadvat kāmā yaṁ praviśanti sarve
sa śāntim āpnoti na kāma-kāmī

“A person who is not disturbed by the incessant flow of desires – that enter like rivers into the ocean, which is ever being filled but is always still – can alone achieve peace, and not the man who strives to satisfy such desires.”

sa śāntim āpnoti na kāma-kāmī, by this one can attain perfection.

So by cultivation of awareness of one’s spiritual identity which can come by Gyana or by cultivating taste for spiritual devotional happiness which comes by Bhakti one can become internally like an ocean then one will not be disturbed.

So Srila Prabhupada has talked this is the way to give up Kama and as Krishna has talked here also 

ahaṅkāraṁ balaṁ darpaṁ
kāmaṁ krodhaṁ parigraham

So brahma-bhūyāya kalpate, by tolerating material desires one come to the spiritual platform.

End of transcription.