Bhakti Shastri Chapter 3 V 22 - 43 by HG Radha Krsna Prabhuji

V22- There are so many people who want to follow Krsna and hence Krsna does prescribed duties even though he isn't supposed to do anything and no rule or regulations bind him. Otherwise common men would follow him as he is seen as an authority. Sometimes, he performed leelas so he could show miracles to his devotees. He sometimes became a charioteer to show that sometimes you have to take the humble position and we need to follow these instructions.

V24: Here Krsna is counteracting Arjuna's argument about varna Sankara. Here Krsna is actually stating that if you actually don't do work and prescribed duties, the consequence is that it creates unwanted population. Hence, he tells Arjuna fight and perform your prescribed duties.

V25: Ignorant don't know what is good for them, but those who are learned or advanced they act in the same way as the ignorant but they aren't attached to the results. We shouldn't do it for our sense gratification but for Krsna's pleasure (Ex - cooking for Krsna, do it with cleanliness, purity and quality) Do it so we are competent to do devotional service but at the same time we do things which are normal but just for Krsna's pleasure.

V26: Krsna's point is ignorant man don't understand what is good for them but only thinking about their sense enjoyment. Learned men understand it is for the pleasure for Krsna. Detachment from Krsna can't take place, but engage people in the service of Krsna.

V27: We think we do all the activities by ourselves, but that isn't correct. The spirit soul sitting inside our body only desires and when we desire the Super soul in our heart makes the 3 modes of material nature to make those desires come to life. Our body is just an instrument to fulfill those desires by the Supersoul's mercy and the work is carried out by the 3 modes of material nature. Hence, just purify our desires and the Supersoul will help us achieve those desires for Krsna. Desire to serve Krsna purely.

V28: Detached worker - He knows what is work in devotion. He knows his DESIRE is for Krsna's satisfaction. In the purport - He understands to get out of this material world he needs to please Krsna. The only way he can attain true happiness is by performing devotional work and he won't be attached to the results of this material world. What does he do - He engages in KC activities and the more he does KC activities the less he is attracted to material desires. The more you do material activities the less you do KC activities. Hence purify your desires so the Supersoul sitting in our heart can help us achieve the goal of life in this lifetime to achieve LOVE of Krsna and Radha. Use this lifetime itself to reach Krsna.

V29: Krsna here is merciful so we don't disturb the ignorant of the work they are doing, as it will waste our time. We should just engage in our KC activities. But the devotees of Krsna understand the real mood of Krsna which is to unite everyone to him and they still take risks and preach to bring all of them favorably to Krsna. Our situation is like the guinea pig running on the wheel, the pig feels he's moving very fast and we feel the harder we work we can enjoy later but actually we aren't going anywhere. Another ex - donkey feels when I go home the master will give me grass but actually on the way there is so much grass. Same way when we chant, the holy name is everywhere, but we just need to be KC to eat it with greed and taste it.

V30: One verse in the BG which indicates the purpose of the BG - do it enthusiastically for Krsna. Very imp verse, we need to do our prescribed duty and all instructions our SM gives us.

V31: Without envy - envy of who; envy of Krsna. We are meant to serve Krsna. When Krsna expanded into the jiva souls, still we don't want to serve him even though he gave us life. We feel we can enjoy ourselves and that is our envy. The only way to get rid of envy is to serve that person and when you keep serving someone then you find that this person is very nice. Just like SM - As you keep serving your SM, you notice that your love and relationship with your GM grows and you also notice your love for other devotees also grows. Otherwise envy will make you suffer a lot and won't allow you to progress at all. Even in the most difficult situation we should never give up faith for Krsna and association with devotees and your Guru.

V32: What happens who doesn't have any faith? Have envy to Krsna what happens - Bereft of all knowledge,defooled and ruined of in their endeavors of perfection. We need to uproot this envy towards Krsna, if we have this envy, this Divyajnana will never be revealed to us. We will see all around us people are progressing and we are right there! Hence, we need to work very hard to fix our desires so the Supersoul can help us to be laser focussed only in pleasing Krsna and uproot this envy from within our heart. If we die in this type of situation, envying Krsna, Krsna will cast us into the lowest of life forms and we are perineally in this cycle of birth and death.

V33: When you have a particular nature and have some prescribed duty. Also we have a particular nature and we should study ourself so we understand our flaws to correct ourselves and also to understand our nature of work - so we can perform it to the best of our ability to please Krsna. Also the only way to cleanse our self is to perform service for Krsna. Apart from chanting we need to do physical service for Krsna, that is very important. Just theoretical knowledge won't help - it's not going to get us out of the material nature. Do our duties properly and also doing dev service, serving spiritual master, going out for book distribution, physical activity for Krsna (cooking, etc.) We have to be practising KC for a very long time and then Krsna gives us knowledge to understand Him to get out of these modes of material nature.

V34: We shouldn't be attached or averse to something, because if we are then our mind is always agitated thinking about it. We should be very equipoised in our discharge of our duties and not be attached or averse, just perform your duty for the pleasure of Krsna.  Sense gratifications makes us identify with the material body and we feel that we are in control. Hence we should follow the rules and regulations so we can curb our senses and don't go astray. We need to be careful, as even when we are careful there may be mistakes. We should feel, even if I don't go back to Krsna, we serve someone who is doing really well so they can go back to Krsna. If we develop this kind of attitude, Krsna will have mercy on us and help us to grow spiritually.

V35: This is always our tendency. When we are told to do something, we feel we can do something else better!!! That is sinful to do something else which aren't meant to do. Everyone has to cleanse his heart gradually and not abruptly. Even if we feel we can do some service we are not purified or not advanced to do that service, hence just do what GM has asked us to do and serve him well. The prescribed duties are just for us to help us in our spiritual journey. When we are told to do, we should admit that we can't do but still try to do it to the best of our ability and if we do it well, then the spiritual master will be very pleased to give us mercy.

V36: Why do we still do such activities which are sinful even though unwillingly.

V37: MEMORIZE THIS VERSE - Lust is the ultimate enemy. It is born out of the modes of passion. When we come into this material world, we are in this mode of passion and we then get lust to satisfy our senses. Lust means - very strong craving for something we desire even if we can't ever get it. We hanker it even though we can never get it. When lust isn't satisfied we can't get it, we get angry and therefore wrath is transformed into illusion and when illusion happens our intelligence falls down and then we again fall down and get entangled. A person can be very lusty and they can hide it, but wrath is when they become so angry that they must have some kind of lust in their heart. Lust is all devouring and it is very difficult to control it and that's why Krsna says that it is because of Lust that such activites that are even sinful are done by people. It is born out of contact of material. Anything which increases our mode of passion we should avoid - seeing, eating, smelling, touching etc - anything and everything we should very carefully avoid and don't try to get agitated.

v38: Different degrees of lust - 3 types of covering smoke and fire - consciousness of the living entity and is compared to living entities; mirror and dust - compared to birds and animals; embryo in the womb - reflected to the trees they can't do anything the embryo can't do anything; When lust is so strong, the knowledge is covered of the real truth. How can we get rid of these coverings - just by engaging in KC and devotional activities just to please Krsna activities. example - manigriva and kulavera were engaged in lusty activities and Narada muni helped them by cursing them as trees. We help the living entities by giving prasadam to these living entities to help them come out of these coverings. For ourselves, we should come out of these coverings by practicing KC activities carefully.

V39: Such kind of lust is never satisfied and it keeps burning like fire - Just to stop fire we need to stop giving it fuel we need to stop our lusty desires by just stopping giving fuel to these lusty desires. Just stop doing these activities + start doing KC activities so you start getting a higher taste so we can change our lusty desires. Sex enjoyment is the biggest enemy and how do we control this enemy? next verse

V40 - From 40 to 43 Krsna helps us understand how to conquer the sitting places of this lust. - Senses, mind and intelligence are all sitting places of lust. Mind has all kinds of ideas on how to enjoy senses. Intelligence is the next door neighbor, but because intelligence isn't pure, the mind and senses overcomes the intelligence - lusty intelligence is there. Then he gets addicted to this real kind of lusty desires! In the end of this purport he speaks how there are chains to bind us to this material world.

V41- How to attack them? 1. Curb the great sin - symbol of lust by regulating our senses 2. slay this destroyer of knowledge and self realization. Senses are the easiest to control, they are the weakest link how to control - vaidhi sadhana bhakti by rules and regulations control the senses and at the same time purify our knowledge by hearing and reading and chanting - listen to Guru, Sastra and classes. Practice regulations to control our senses.

V42: Soul is higher than intelligence. Lust is in the senses, mind and intelligence so we need to work on all the sitting place of these lusted. When you keep doing work for Krsna, mind is always thinking how to serve Krsna, how to do this particular type of work better for Krsna - mind is constantly engaged by thinking of Krsna - If, therefore, the soul is directly engaged with the Supreme, naturally all other subordinates, namely, the intelligence, mind and senses, will be automatically engaged. And as we improve our intelligence by listening and hearing then all the sitting places of lust can be cleansed - do vaidhi sadhana bhakti, do our duties to serve Krsna so mind is engaged in Krsna activities and improve intelligence by understanding the philosophy. Mind is like a child, if it finds something superior and better then it will like doing it hence try to engage ourselves in this kind of activity. Focus is - chant nicely, don't do vaishnava aparadha - this way we can control our senses and mind and we can use ourselves in the service of Krsna. Unless we control our mind we will fail - so try to develop a higher taste so the mind can take over to help us get good desires just for Krsna's pleasure. Soul is superior to all.

V43: We should understand the soul is higher than the intelligence, mind and senses and when we understand we are the soul and not this body only then can we destroy this lusty behavior. We need to have strong intelligence. Desire for overlording and for sense gratification is the greatest enemy of the conditioned soul; but by the strength of Kṛṣṇa consciousness, one can control the material senses, the mind and the intelligence. One may not give up work and prescribed duties all of a sudden; but by gradually developing Kṛṣṇa consciousness, one can be situated in a transcendental position without being influenced by the material senses and the mind – by steady intelligence directed toward one’s pure identity. This is the sum total of this chapter. We are minute parts and parcels of Krsna and we are personal. We should be willing to be trained by the high intelligence by our spiritual master and authority - jsut follow his instructions.

BG Chapter 13 Verse 8-12 by HG Shyamsundar Prabhu

Aspiring to live in a solitary place - Wherever materialistic people are coming together it is like an assembly of crows. Devotees like to be in the presence of swans or saragrahis. People who have understood the essence of everything - Solitary place means simply to stay away from non-devotees or not to take their association.Example - Bharat maharaj, got attached to a deer, had he been in the association of devotees he wouldn't have gone through what he went through. We just need to be associated with devotees of Krsna ex - Gaura Kishore babaji maharaj, he didn't want to associate with non devotees so he went to the latrine and chant Hare Krsna. We should discuss the BG very scruitinizingly - all the concepts of Gita should be discussed. We should focus our time in understanding these topics - what is soul, what is Super Soul, how and why and what is Bhakti Yoga. Bhakti or dev. ser. is eternal. Service of the individual soul to the Supersoul is eternal or nityam. Knowledge - that's why SP says:
"Beginning from practicing humility up to the point of realization of the Supreme Truth, the Absolute Personality of Godhead, this process is just like a staircase beginning from the ground floor and going up to the top floor. Now on this staircase there are so many people who have reached the first floor, the second or the third floor, etc., but unless one reaches the top floor, which is the understanding of Kṛṣṇa, he is at a lower stage of knowledge. If anyone wants to compete with God and at the same time make advancement in spiritual knowledge, he will be frustrated. It is clearly stated that without humility, understanding is not truly possible. To think oneself God is most puffed up. Although the living entity is always being kicked by the stringent laws of material nature, he still thinks, “I am God” because of ignorance."

Sometimes we need to talk to non-devotees and we need to be very alert because maya devi might enter there. Vaisnava etiquette is hence very important and our sadhana. These will protect us. When interacting with non-devotees just do the needful and not more than that, if more than that then just giving them Krsna. When going to work we are actually entering the war zone of maya and hence we need to be very very alert. If we don't chant our round sincerely, we are guaranteed to fall victim to maya that day. Hence chant properly so it's our shield for the day.

Bhakti Shastri Chapter 2 v 50-72 (End of Chapter 2)

Memorize 50,51,52 - for exam - here Krsna is saying with these three verses, it will take his out of misery and raise him to Vaikunta and also there is no sin in doing work for Krsna.

V 50: By devotional service, one can ascend over the vedic reactions and just through dev service, we can go out of this life and death cycle. He also tell Arjuna that your sinful life item isn't valid and he breaks down that argument from v50 onwards. "A man engaged in dev service rids himself of karma even in this life. Therefore strive for yoga which is the art of all work" - If you have good or bad karma you still have to take birth in this material world, the process of dev service is a purifying process. It purifies the actions. It is a very important aspect of devotional service. If we are acting for Krsna we shouldn't be attached to the results. If we are attached to the results then we are bound to the material world. Simply renouncing our activities is like Jnana yogis, just by doing activities for Krsna we are not attached to the results of these activities as everything is being done for Krsna's pleasure. Ex - When using mercy by a Aryudevic doctor, they are able to purify it and is used as a medicine and it is actually very toxic.

V51: Continuing the emphasis of dev service in this verse by Krsna. Place of all liberated entities = Vaikunta. It is inclusive of all spiritual planets. padam padam yad vipadam - at every step there is difficulty in this material world. In this material world people are generally not happy. We have surges of happiness and surges of distress - most of the time we are miserable and not happy. In life we are miserable and happiness is the interruption of this misery. So what is the trick to void all this - just by devotional service. We are spirit soul and our constitution is to always serve Krsna. We are always meant to serve Krsna. The devotees understand their position and hence they take up devotional service in trying to please Krsna. As we serve in devotional service we realize that we are detached souls and hence we worship the Lord to guide us and then we become qualified to go back to Godhead. 

V52: Krsna's point here is that dense forest of delusion is the different vedic rituals described in the vedas. Just study books and take prasadam - just be doing these two activities Krsna helps us by giving knowledge and hence our devotional service becomes better. Neophytes (Neo = new) they need to take up sadhana bhakti (they need to follow rules and regulations) but we need to know the goal which is Krsna the Supreme Personality of Godhead - doing it as a service to please Krsna otherwise it is JUST A WASTE OF TIME. No ADVANCEMENT is done - just mouth goes on chanting but no cleansing happens - just a waste of time. So do every task to please Krsna. Moha Kalilam = is the dense forest of the Vedas. Persons in KC we transcend the limit of sabda brahma (range of Vedas and Upanisads)

V53: You will come into Samadhi or concentrated meditation is when you have crossed into this divine conciousness when you have realized your divine relationship with Krsna. When mind is always fixed in the trance of Krsna then you are in Samadhi. When we do dev service day in and day out properly and we are fallen souls who have forgotten Krsna then we can immediately feel that we should give up our attaction to these material things. We are practising devotees but we feel we are devotees! We aren't devotees yet, but only when every act, thought is only for Krsna's pleasure and 0only by dev service can we go to that level. Everyday we are seeing what all things are being offered to us by the material nature and in the same way we need to understand that we shouldn't be taking up unnecessary endeavors thinking that it will provide us what we need and only then we can do devotional service. Of course basic needs to be covered so we can start dev service. When we study our own lifestyles, on a day to day basis on all circumstances we are serving somebody - family members, boss - we are always serving, we are doing something to please the other person. Or we are trying to please ourselves. By studying this nature that we are always serving others or someone, that is our constitutional nature and hence we should understand that we are here to always serve the Lord - Serve Krsna. So the highest level is to realize that we are eternally the servant of Krsna and that is our only business! One way to do this is to do service - service at Temple, book distribution and by service we realize that that is our nature to always serve Krsna's mission. By performing such activites we directly come to Krsna directly. Just by following this and instructions of your spiritual master you can come directly to samadhi. This is a blessing of Krsna and SP says one is sure to achieve results by such activities and attain conclusive knowledge

V54-72: Discusses the Samadhi state and the sadhu who is in that state, Arjuna wants to know more about that sadhu's symptoms. Speech is the most important quality of a man, as soon as someone speaks we know who knowledgable a person is. Only speak of Krsna and matters relating to Him.

V54:  Questions from Arjuna - 1. How does he speak 2. Language 3. Sit and 4. Walk?

V55 - Generic qualities 56 - how he speaks 57,58 - how is he sitting and 60-72 how he walks.

From these characteristics we can look at other devotees and we can understand where each devotee is and we can look at ourselves to see how much advancement are we making!

V55 - General symptoms - Very nice thing Krsna says to Arjuna - We can all relate to this - due to our uncontrolled desires these are all artificial desires for our senses. Our mind tries in various ways to make us feel that we will be happy with different kinds of sense gratification - Mental Concoction! In our practice of chanting we see that all the anarthas come up - mind runs to something everyday we see our mind is doing something, anarthas are trying to come and stop our pure chanting. We need to see how we can check our mind to stop these anarthas and we can't, we should pray to Guru and Krsna to help us to stop these anarthas and chant purely. We try to do activities connected to Krsna and for pleasure of Guru, Krsna and devotees. By that our own senses will be dampened by the service to others. We can only curb our anarthas by doing service to other Vaishnavas because only by doing service can we dampen our own material sense desires - hence pray to Radharani to help us engage us in her service so when we serve then we lessen our own sense desires. Are we happy with what we are? Are we contented - just thinking about this answer can we figure out whether we are making tangible progress or not.

V56 - Sage of steady mind - Sthida dhih: when they are not disturbed in MIND even amidst all kinds of miseries of happiness then they are in samadhi because they only see Krsna and are not afraid of their lives. If they don't get anything they still aren't in anxiety. Such a person is fully KC. When we look inside we feel that we aren't advanced at all and book distribution helps us understand this as our false ego gets smashed. We are only instruments and don't take any credit. Success or no success a KC person is always steady in his determination.

V57- Same as 56, how does he speak - When we are mentally astute we understand that it is very difficult to live in this world. Due to KC we are on some extent on the path of purification and path back to Krsna. Our happiness is in the conciousness of whether he needs more, he needs less is he happy, is he cold, hot, does he need rest etc. When we are always looks to see how to please him then we are in Samadhi.

V58,59 (MEMORIZE) - Who is fixed in conciousenss - senses and mind - how does he sit? How is he controlling his senses and his mentality?  59 - How to control the sense of enjoyment by experiencing a higher taste. Just be restricting sense enjoyment isn't enough - we need to dovetail into a higher taste - When we feel this higher taste - kirtan, chanting, prasadam, service to Guru if we don't do these things properly we won't have such a sustained taste for Krsna. Such things are affecting our journey to Krsna. The person withdraws his senses from sense enjoyment and senses are like serpents. How much ever you give your senses enjoyment they are never satisfied. Hence they propose to the mind we want to do this what do you think. Mind thinks oh yes that was a good experience and when senses want to enjoy then they agitate the mind. But if our intelligence is strong then it can guide the mind that no that is not our goal of life and we are not the enjoyer but the enjoyed. Hence good intelligence should be higher than the mind. If we are practicing KC, we should be able to control the senses - HOW - by utilizing it only for the pleasure of Krsna's senses. How? By tasting the higher taste of transcendental lifestyles. Without a higher taste very hard to control our senses and this is another guide to see how we are making good tangible progress. This answer's Shilpa's question - are we making any progress or not? When we have a higher taste controlling senses is very easy but when we don't have a higher taste we lose and unbridled senses and a poor mind and intelligence makes us fall down! - Hence do your daily activities everyday and follow the daily activities very carefully.

V60- Krsna here says - this happens to all of us even to a man of discrimination who is endeavoring to control them. How do we experience higher taste everyday? Esp when we are working - solving some work problem? No - highest taste is when you see the deities in your temple. At the end of the day when you are able to appreciate the wonderful gifts Krsna has given you and honor prasadam with devotees and speak about good Krsna things only then we can curb our senses. Unless we develop KC completely we will never be able to control the senses. Great Yamunacharya - Whenever I think of sex life with a woman, my face at once turns from it and I spit at that thought - That is someone who is very fixed in KC. Maharaja Ambarish conquered the great yogi Durvasa - Durvasa muni when he came Maharaja Ambarish was Ekadasi fasting and when muni went to take his bath Maharaja drank water but waited to serve Durvasa muni and then Sudarshan chakra came out and drove Durvasa muni everywhere and then finally he came to ask for forgiveness from Maharaja Ambarish. 

V61: Man of steady intelligence - Highest yoga perfection is KC - Control one senses, mind and conciousness. If someone can do all this upon Krsna that is a man of steady intelligence. Maharaja Ambarish tolerated all kinds of distrubances and that is what a devotee does - just tolerate. Even between devotees we will have all kinds of disturbances and just tolerate. Learn to excuse devotees and tolerate all kinds of disturbances only for pleasing Krsna as they are all devotees of Krsna trying to please him as well. Mat paraha - How to become mat -parah in relation with Krsna how can we become always in the relation with Krsna. The senses can be completely controlled only by the strength of dev service to Krsna. We might have shortcomings but if our thoughts and acts are genuine then Krsna will himself help us to improve our service to Him. 

V62,63 - Please MEMORIZE - Show us how we fall down these are called the fall down verses can we used for preaching. Draw a chart of this. 

Contemplating the objects of senses - Someone you want to dominate, attracted to a beautiful girl, something you want to eat. When you start thinking of this day in and day out then you become attached. Hence contemplate on Krsna. Make him your object of Contemplation always think of Him.

When attachment like this happens so much that becomes Lust. But when you can't enjoy somehting that you have attachement so much and lust is not fulfilled anger arises!

When you become very angry you cannot think straight it clouds your intelligence - and hence complete delusion arises.

When such delusion arises - they get bewildered and they have no memory why they are fighting, why they are saying these things no memory.

When memory is bewildered, intelligence gets lots and hence when no intelligence, we can't guide our mind which get agitated by our senses. So most important item is to always keep your intelligence powerful!

V 64-72: He discusses how does a man Walk - how does he engage his senses.

V64: Regulative principles of freedom are - 4 regulative principles. How does he walk - how does he engage his senses and utilitze it in KC. A KC person is free from all attachement and aversion and able to control his senses. Unless senses are utilized for Krsna's pleasure there is no use. A person firmly on the KC plane even though in the material sensual plane they aren't attached to the sensual activites. Example - Ramananda Raya - he taught and bathed and dressed small girls for the pleasure of Jagannatha, Someone from the outside might think wow he is so luck, but Raya's mood was I'm doing this service for pleasure of Krsna as by dressing them, cleaning them and teaching them how to dance Jagannatah is going to be happy. Sometimes we might have to do service not very nice, but if our mood is to serve Krsna even in that plane we will not be connected to the sensual pleasures. Just by having prasadam our senses get inoculated and then we are able to control our senses. 

V65, 66 - This is what will happen when we aren't satisfied in KC - can't develop transcendental intelligence, steady mind and we won't be peaceful and how can there be happiness when we aren't peaceful. When we are waiting for our exam results we aren't steady and mind is not peaceful. Very important to think about these things and reflect on this to make progress. We are always helping Krsna to enjoy and we are servants of Krsna. We are always helping Krsna to enjoy. A person who is in full conciousness knows that he is the Supreme. How can there be any happiness withougt any peace of mind. When our mind is running behind so many sensual pleasures how will our mind be peaceful. When our mind is set on Krsna then automatically it will become peaceful and hence we become happy. This is highlighted in the 6th chapter by Krsna more.

V67- Even ONE OF A ROAMING SENSE - carries away a man's intelligence - hence all the senses should be for Krsna's service just like Maharaja Ambarish. Hence we should try to control the mind by applying all our senses on Krsna just like Maharaja Ambarish.

V68 - A sadhaka must udnerstand that we are trying to control our senses - why - so we can get the right intelligence to know Krsna and our relationship with him and also to guide our mind when it gets agitated by the senses. And that is only possible by dovetailing our senses on KC and not otherwise.

V69- Two classes of intelligent men. One in material activities and other the introspective sage trying to awake their love for Krsna. Material people are always trying to see how they can please their senses instead of the bhakti yogis who are trying to develop their love for Krsna.

V70 - A person in KC is always happy, he is never disturbed he is always in devotion. When other things come he is never disturbed just like an ocean is always still even when lots of rivers are flowing into the ocean. A KC person's desires are fulfilled, it doesn't mean he doesn't have these inclinations for material sense gratification, but because he is always in the proper intelligence, he is always completely satisfied. He is very peaceful, because he is satisfied. But material persons are always running behind temporary things and are hence never happy.

V71: How to attain real peace - Maharaja Priyavrita - very qualified person - internally he was completely renounced. Always his mind was fixed on Krsna. Example - if a bag of flour is fallen down animals take what they require but humans like to take it all, because we always want to enjoy falsely. We should understand that true happiness is only got when we understand we are parts and parcels of Krsna and are doing activities only to please Krsna. Krsna is telling Arjuna just fight to your best ability only to please Krsna even if you don't want to do it and only then you will attain real peace.

V72: Even at the hour of death - if we attain such a way of spiritual and Godly life a man isn't bewildered and one can enter into the kingdom of God. Sthitih Partha = Such a situation he is never bewildered, then he understands the goal of life and he is never bewildered. Krsna tells Arjuna - person who is not bewildered by all these material onslaughts that person o Arjuna is always in KC and then he understands we are parts and parcels of Krsna and we are here to serve Krsna, Our Guru and all parts and parcels of Krsna. When we surrender very nicely then immediately we are about to die we are able to go back to Krsna. Ex - Katvanga maharaj - just focussed his mind on Krsna, even situated at the time of death or we have to again go back through so many lifetimes again to come back to this realization on what we need to do. Hence please don't waste a minute of this life so we can go back to Godhead in this lifetime itself. Please take up dev service very seriously.

So how not to commit Vaishnava aparadha and always be able to tolerate others - CHANT VERY VERY SINCERELY. When you chant properly everything gets into order. How do you chant properly - WAKE UP IN THE MORNING and also Pray to Guru and Gauranga that I'm very fallen and please help me taste this Holy name. If we aren't able to still make progress, find devotees who have this taste for the holy name and serve them, when you serve them, they will give you the mercy to taste this holy name! WOW!!!

Also when you chant properly your mind is fixed on Krsna who will give you higher intelligence to actually help you understand that everybody around you in a devotee of Krsna, some have realized some are still in dormant stage but everybody IS a devotee of Krsna and your whole aim in life is to just help and serve this person. When that happens, and you realize it, then you are able to tolerate everyone and try to dovetail it in Krsna's service. Haribol! 

BG class BG 13.8-12 by HG Shyamsundar prabhuji

In this month of Gita Jayanti we should try to distribute as many books of Gita as we can so SP and all the acaryas can be pleased.

Detachment - SP gives an excellent solution and definition of detachment. If we understand this topic well, we can immediately get liberated. When wife, children are favorable, then we become favorable, if they aren't congenial or favorable, then family life should be abandoned. First lets understand how to make family life favorable? What this means is - we don't become hard hearted. Bhakti is actually to become soft hearted. When others are suffering devotee feels pain. If other living entities are suffering then he also feels pain. Like Arjuna, he was feeling compassionate for them, he was feeling pain for them. That is a true devotee. A devotee who has true feeling. Not having compassion for his family is hard heartedeness. We need to hence Krishnize his family life and then that is affection in the proper sense. If we don't Krishnize our family life then the affection is actually in the material platform. The goal is to how to come out of material bondage. How?

1. Chanting of Hare Krsna mantra vibration in the house
2. Everything should be offered to Krsna. Without this principle, in the name of good health some people take meat saying they want more proteins. Actually we have never heard that someone has died due to no protein, but due to excess of proteins they have heart attack etc.
3. Discussion of books like BG and SB - regular reading of BG and SB is very important for all family life. SB is so powerful that simply by the presence of this book someone can feel the shakti in the house. SB will actually drive our life. This book has transcendental sound vibration and when they are kept, they have tremendous power on all the family members.
4. Engage in deity worship. We bring deities of Radha Krsna and Gaura Nitai in our house and we take care of them completely. We need to feel, that this is their house and we are just their servants. We are their servants and we are only eating their remnants. If we are traveling, then we take them with us so we can take care of them. Deity worship brings the entire family together so the whole family comes together and prays to Krsna.

When the family comes together and does these 4 things together such a family there is no reason to renounce such a family. We should train the family members in this way. Hence, we need to become more serious in these 4 aspects everday and make it very important.

If family members are not favorable what do we do? We shouldn't abandon our family. Ex - SP's wife wasn;t favorable. He continued his spiritual life but still continued to take care of his family. That is what is meant by abandoning our family. We continue with more seriousness so we can set a great example for everyone and when they see us sincere, they will start automatically become soft. And at the same time serve the family to the best of your ability that kind of abandonment is what SP practiced and wants us to practice.

This material life is dukhalyam asaswatam - there is misery at every step of our lives and hence there is no moment to lose of this most valuable life. Follow the 4 reg principles and chant 16 rounds to the fullest. If we follow these principles, then we are truly following the right KC principles and then automatically we become equipoised and become happy internally and these small things won't agitate us. To reach that stage is unalloyed devotional service - NO MATTER WHAT, Follow your daily schedule to perform unalloyed dev service - pleasant or unpleasant, summer or winter we are still goin about what we need to do to serve Krsna continuously - think about them 24 hours a day - how are they doing, how can you take care of them, what is their mood currently. Bhakti to Krsna without any motivation, do devotional service without any personal motivation. Whether you feel good or not, you continue to keep doing your devotional service. Solitary place means - a place where Krsna Katha is going on in the association of devotees. Birth after birth, just continuously try to engage me in the service of Krsna all other work is just a ROYAL WASTE OF TIME.

As devotees we must also take this responsibility to encourage the KC and Krsna Katha. We should be detached from the general population of people - just disengage ourselves from the mundance conversation - it's just like croaking of a frog. But by the mercy of our Gurudeva, we go back to those general populace of people and give them the message of Krishna!  

Bhakti Shastri Chapter 2 v40 - 54

Lecture link - please listen to the class for complete instructions - http://recording.freeconferencecalling.com/mp3/1212152/707497/IA1205_11252014170256970_1178733.mp3

39-53 Krsna says we need to perform dev service and perform duty.

V40: Nothing is lost or dimunished. Example given is Ajamila - earlier he was a very nice brahmachari in KC but was affected by sense gratification. But at the end of his life he was able to chant the name of Krsna - hence there was nothing lost! It is consistent in the vedic scriptures that if you have faith and serve the Lord, then there is no loss. Taking up KC, there is sureity of human birth and guaranteed to get a human life. Please MEMORIZE this verse and this helps to preach to people whey it is important to get into KC as there is no loss.

V41: MEMORIZE this also - This verse affected SP a lot and is very important to ISKCON devotees.Those who are on this path are resolute on this path. Reading this verse he was thinking about how he's going to spread KC all over. SP got affected by reading Visvanath Chakravarti's purport - where he says that both at the beginning stage and also in the perfectional stage all we need to do is follow our Spiritual Master's instruction and follow it.Don't accept anything else even in dreams. Just have faith in Krsna then you will understand that you have no obligations in the material world. Otherwise you have all kinds of obligations. If you are fully KC then you don't need to endeavor for fruitive activities. So how do we know this - we are not the body but are the soul and there is a goal for the soul. The only way is by serving the spiritual master.

V42-43: As people aren't very intelligent, they aren't able to follow the actual meaning of the vedas. They just take the sense enjoyment part of the vedas and hence aren't very intelligent. About 95% of the vedas only talk about Karma kanda aspect - how to lead a good life, how to enjoy life all according to scriptural injunctions. These are all knowledge but not knowledge to get out of life and death. Here Arjuna was attached to the sense gratification - as this was all temporary. They feel that after reading vedas they want to go to the heavenly planets and can enjoy so much sense enjoyment that's the goal they understand. But the real happiness is to transcend even all these heavenly sense enjoyments and go to Goloka Vrindavan. Hence such people are said to be ignorant.

V44: Memorize these verses. Immeditately we are able to understand why we aren't tasting the HOLY Name because we are so attached to the material world - bhogaaisvarya - we need to first allow Krsna to enjoy it as we are always in the service mood. It's not that Krsna needs it, he's self satisfied. His internal potency which gives pleasure is already within him but we need it - so we need to serve Krsna. Hence we aren't able to make progress as we are so attached to sense enjoyments - even subtle enjoyments - I'd like to see my son do this or do that - I want them to become the governor a banker, have attachemnts and hence we get bewildered. As we want to enjoy these kinds of things we aren't able to focus on the Holy name. This is the reason of our slowness in KC is because of our attachement to such sense enjoyment. To get something we need to give us something Tapa - It is all about determination. Austerity for the supreme Lord, for the Lord's pleasure. Even when doing CHAD, reading SB doing your daily activities - think it's because Krsna is so happy to hear his own glories that we are doing it to please Krsna.

V45: If you don't arise above the 3 modes of material nature, the fruitive activities then we will never be able to understand Krsna. He wants us to rise above the Karma kandas. When we dovetail to Krsna then we automatically rise above the material anxieties and we become dependent on the Lord and for his mercy and then we make amazing progress. Automatically Krsna takes care. Tolerate, the dualities of the material life. One has to learn to tolerate - happiness and distress, cold and hot etc. Sometimes we get sometimes we don't get - we need to tolerate either way and try to rise above this material world.

V46: VERY Important verse MEMORIZE. So just by chanting the Holy Name is much better than all kinds of activities. Even devotees are so many different kinds, but just by chanting the Holy name all of us are making progress. Even Mahaprabhu showed to Prakashananta saraswati the importance of chanting coming directly from his Spiritual master. Similarly SP, is showing us from the puroport that there isn't any need to read the vedas etc, just need to do devotional service and also chant the holy name.

V47: Famous verse - We need to understand that we aren't the cause of these results but just the instrument of doing this work. Purport is very important - 3 types of works -  please listen to the recording and read Burijana pr. explanation

V48- 50: Listen to the recording please as I didn't hear properly. Date of recording 11/25/14

V 51: A man performing dev service can get rid of the reactions even in this life!!!! So just by performing devotional service one can transcend this material world and all these miseries and enter into Goloka Vrindavan. Example even if you do all kinds of pious activities if you are in karma kanda you can still fall down example - king giving cows to the brahmanas was cursed as a lizard. So we need to know our constitutional position as an eternal soul and then we can serve him nicely. We shouldn't think that we are the same as the Supreme Lord, otherwise we also have to take birth and death over and over again. Once we realize that we are not the body then we become eligible to go back to Godhead.

V52-54 please listen to the lecture.

Bhakti Shastri Chapter 2; v26-39 summary.

V26: SP says there were such people at that time too who would think that life comes from chemicals etc - Vaibhasika philosophy. Neo buddhism are people who believe that they can go to the planet of Buddha. Some feel we rise up from the chemicals and scientists now also believe that. Living entity feels they are getting more and more advanced but they are getting more and more delusional. Krsna is saying even if you feel this way Arjuna you should not be afraid as these are chemicals and there is no rebirth so you should still fight - so no sinful reactions. Prior to this he spoke about souls eternality and here he talks about athestics and buddhists. Here he is cornering Arjuna and no excuses and hence there is no reason to lament.

V27: After you are done with one term of activities you need to move to another set of activities and it's a natural cycle so death is part of this cycle and it generates no loss for anyone in one sense. So if someone is lamenting that someone is going to die, this verse says everyone is going to die, if one dies they are sure to take birth again.So hence, Arjuna also should not lament but at same time SP says we can't go around and kill people - this is not our philosophy. Violence is for keeping law and order. Arjuna gains from this that I shouldn't be afraid that my relatives are going to be dying - as it is part of his duty to kill and he shouldn't fear sinful reactions and they will take rebirth again as they will take birth according to their karma. Even if you don't fight they are still going to die and if he doesn't do his duty he will actually get sinful reactions so he should do his duty.

V28: Death actually doesn't cause any loss. Death is usual. Any ideology you follow, anybody who takes birth has to die and hence all created beings are unmanifest in the beginning and when they are unmanifest, there is no body and this body is created only for us to enjoy in this material world due to our desires to enjoy in this material world. This is know as Pradan, glance of the Lord and Maha shanbu agitation due to time and then the material entities are created. At time of annihilation, they all go back into the pradan.

V29: This verse is know as the "AMAZING VERSE" - look, describe, hear and see HIM as amazing. This is how people get bewildered in different ways. Factually the soul is existing. He is proving to Arjuna that he is a soul.  This can be translated into 3 ways and also the second line can be translated into 3 ways and hence - people get amazed. Looking at an ant vs whale they feel that soul can be so small and sometimes so big and because they are so intrigued by material life, they get caught up in this misconception.  But what is so important is what SP says in the last paragraph in this verse - The easiest process for understanding the subject matter of self, however, is to accept the statements of the Bhagavad-gītā spoken by the greatest authority, Lord Kṛṣṇa, without being deviated by other theories. But it also requires a great deal of penance and sacrifice, either in this life or in the previous ones, before one is able to accept Kṛṣṇa as the Supreme Personality of Godhead. Kṛṣṇa can, however, be known as such by the causeless mercy of the pure devotee and by no other way.

Verses from 11-30 are all jnana section, V30 - Here Krsna is summarizing the section saying, the soul can never be slain, so Arjuna stop grieving and please do you duty. SP, concludes this section very nicely in his purport.

V 31-38: Reason for the prescribed duty or Karma kanda section. So if you execute your dharma properly then you will have sufficient material happiness otherwise no material happiness is possible.
Common theme is by performing your prescribed duty material happiness comes by the grace of Krsna.

V31: Prabhupada explains who is a Ksatriya. He protects from harm. Who are they used to protect? Either from enemies or themselves by doing religious duties. They are trained in the forest, they are trained killing of some animals but not ruthlessly, if such animals are killed then according to the religious principles they are gotten a higher birth. They are trained to do such things - go to forest, they become fearless by fighting lions, tigers etc. Hence his desire of sanyasa is not accepted by Krsna. Therefore, killing on the battlefield on religious principles and killing animals in the sacrificial fire are not at all considered to be acts of violence, because everyone is benefited by the religious principles involved. Such animals are automatically given a higher birth in their next life and the ksatriya gets liberation directly.
Sva dharma - liberated and non liberated stage - In liberated stage we are doing our duties based on pleasing Krsna and this is pure dev. service. In non liberated stage do sadhana bhakti to come to the stage of liberated stage. Do your duty so you can set them as examples, so people can follow what's right and wrong. Sometimes people copy people they look up to, haence SP makes another description - sva dharma is called varnasrama dharma. Everyone in this nature they rise to higher planetary system and hence they are alled varnasrama dharma.  Hence we should say Davi - varnasrama dharma . You feel like are you doing for your satisfaction. If you follow nicely then in next life you get a higher life etc.Also speaks about the

V 32:Here he condemns Arjuna's speech an d Krsna also sayd that Ksatriya is happy when they get these fighting opportunity as they go to the heavenly planets. Even when they are not looking, when someone challenges they are happy and they want to fight. Arjuna was not able to appreciate this poiition. This is a karma kanda process as here Ksatriyas want to go to the heavely planets.

V33: He was a great fighter and he also had got fame and blessing from Lord Siva. This verse totally defeats his argument of incuring sins. Krsna is saying if you don't do your religious duty you will certainly incur sins. Here he is saying how Arjuna is going to suffer. It is not noble for him to leave the battlefield.

v34: Here Krsna is saying that infamy is worse than death. Arjuna is very respectable person and if someone speaks badly about you and are dishonored then you feel very bad and it is worse than death. Here Krsna is giving his final judgement to Arjuna. Dronacharya also won't be happy seeing Arjuna go away from the battlefield and everybody would say you are a coward. Infamy is worse than death. Krsna is saying even I don't want to be known as your friend then.

V35: They will all call him a coward and hence Krsna wants him to fight. It will be more painful for Arjuna to hear that. Kstariyas have the fighting nature and are chivalrous and hence we can't think like that. Similarly, as devotees we need to do our duty our instructions from SM, do our temple duties and hence we need to perform our actions nicely, if we don't do our actions properly then people will make fun of our movement.

V37: Main thing - don't worry about the result, just do what I'm telling you to do. What you are supposed to do is more important, but the outcome is based on your karma, Krsna's desire, your desires etc - just get up and do your duty and vows (chant your 16 rounds everyday, do your 5 dev services and responsibility to family) but don't worry about the end result, do your duty properly. At this time Dhirtarastra is feeling very happy

Next how one can work in knowledge. Chapter 2 is the second longest chapter. Longest is chapter 18.

V38: For sake of duty fight. You need to fight for the sake of fighting. When you are fighting you can't think of fighting or not fighting, because as a Ksatriya that is your nature and duty. Here Krsna is putting things to rest and he is telling Arjuna that this is what needs to be done. Everything should be done for the sake of Krsna. One is doing everything to please Krsna. Do fight for the sake of fighting, this is Krsna's desire. Then you shall never incur sin. But if you act for Krsna's pleasure then there is no reaction - good or bad no reaction, but these days we are doing everything for our pleasure and that's the problem. When you take birth, you already have so many debts to take of everybody that you will miss someone and karma kanda won't allow us to repay everyone's debts.example - the king giving cows to brahmanas. Karma kanda you can make mistakes, Sooner you please Krsna, everyone is pleased and that should be our way. Niskam karma yoga is what is needed - do the activity but without any desires for the results of the duty - Detached work. When we do niskam karma, we offer results of that work also to Krsna. So we are doing it for Krsna and also the results are offered to Krsna - example Book distribution - for Krsna and results are also offered to Krsna. Difference between Nishkaarm karma yoga for a devotee vs non devotee.

39-53 : Buddhi yoga - working for Krsna with his intelligence so there is no reaction.

V39:So far explained by analytical study (29-30 jnana difference between matter spirt, soul and body) sO far Krsna hasn't asked Arjuna to renounce activites. This is like niskam karma yoga - work in knowledge but detached from the results - what results misery or happiness. Practical application of how a soul can apply this knowledge. SP explains - one works for the pleasure of Krsna and that is the difference. Not just do it for Krsna but to please him - Best is to please Krsna, do something to please him. Sankhya yoga is once you understand soul and body you come to buddhi yoga. Jnana is used to perform duty but is used to please Krsna. Sankhya means looking into details but Sankhya yoga is different. Everything we have is going to pulled out from our fingers at time of death so we need to open ourselves to this fact and hence don't become attached to too many things in our life. Last paragraph is very important.Then we are doing buddhi yoga or bhakti yoga when we are doing everything for Krsna's pleasure in cooperation with others. Bottomline when we do service nicely and we are trying to please the Lord, then the Lord from within will guide him so he can understand his eternal position and help him go back home back to Godhead.

karma kanda - is only interested in fruitive results. Brahmanas guide such persons. Bottom of the pack and lower than these people are barbarians etc.
higher than karma kanda is sakaam karma yoga

Sakaam karma yoga - lot of material desires. Demigods are sakaam karma yogis but are still bhaktas for Krsna. When they are doing things for Krsna they are always hoping something for themselves. They approach Krsna but also hope something for themselves. Higher than that is niskaam karma yoga.

Niskaam karma yoga  BY Devotee of Krsna.- Higher than that. Working with no desires but their desires are to please Krsna, they are not interested in the results. Another group in this Jnanis - they will do it but they don't want any reactions. They do it with detachment but they don't want it any results but not for Krsna so it's a little lower - their desires is to merge with the brahman.

But higher than than is Bhakti yoga.

The main point is to please Krsna is whatever you do and you can advance by doing service to advanced devotees. You ask the advanced devotee what service can you do for them. When you do nice service to the best of your ability, they will be please and when Krsna's dear devotee is pleased then Krsna is pleased and then he will give you the ability to understand the scriptures and make advancement in your spiritual life. Hence it is very important to please your Spiritual Master by doing service for him based on his instructions - example - book distribution - make progress in unique ways to increase book distribution and then Gurudeva is going to be very happy and that will give allow you to make progress in devotional service.

BG Chapter 13 V8-12 by HG Shyamsundar Prabhu

Humility; pridelessness; nonviolence; tolerance; simplicity; approaching a bona fide spiritual master; cleanliness; steadiness; self-control; renunciation of the objects of sense gratification; absence of false ego; the perception of the evil of birth, death, old age and disease; detachment; freedom from entanglement with children, wife, home and the rest; even-mindedness amid pleasant and unpleasant events; constant and unalloyed devotion to Me; aspiring to live in a solitary place; detachment from the general mass of people; accepting the importance of self-realization; and philosophical search for the Absolute Truth – all these I declare to be knowledge, and besides this whatever there may be is ignorance.

Today we shall start about what is Tolerance and then the rest. In BG, these principles, Arjuna is asking several questions. So what is knowledge. Knowledge is that thing which helps us to get information about something. Knowledge means to know. We all want to acquire knowledge. Krsna is qualifying these principles as true knowledge. Knowledge as per BG. As soon as someone gets the glimpse of these descriptions they can be situated at a better platform.

Tolerance means the ability to practise to bear insult and dishonor from others. When someone is on the process of devotional service, (either if we are practicing sincerely or not), dishonor will come and they are the ones who will test our Tolerance. Material nature is designed to frustrate the living entity to the fullest. We are on a roller coaster ride, sometimes we are up, sometime we are down, sometimes happy sometimes in deep misery. That is the material life. Hence, once should tolerate just like winter and summer months come and go. Don't get to happy when things are nice and don't get sad when things don't go well. Just like winter comes, on it's own accord, even when we don't want it, similarly, nobody can adjust the thermostat of life to say I want to add some misery, some happiness in my life - it comes on it's own accord. Intelligent person just tolerates! We just tolerate the things coming to us in this material world. We are not jumping around to say this body is getting old, we need to do plastic surgery to remove the wringles. We are just tolerating, yeah we are getting old - can't complain. The world is giving this to us and this is expected as the material nature is designed for this to happen. The key to success is tolerance.

Prahlad maharaj's father tolerated so many times of his father trying to kill him. Mahaprabhu taught us Trinad api.....the principle of chanting the holy name constantly is only achieved when we are tolerant and humble. A brahmana is taking bath, scorpion is seen drowning and the brahmana picks up the scorpion bites him, so brahmana drops him, tolerates and try to save him again and again - because the sadhu's nature is such - keep trying with tolerance.

Same way we have so many challenges - challenges of our mind, body, senses, friends, relatives - all of them are challenging us to not do the right thing of practicing KC. You have no time, you have so many things to do, you have no time to do this chanting, you are still very young, the time hasn't come to chant. Hence, we are being challenged everyday everymoment to practise our KC. We are not able to tolerate these challenges and tolerate our mind and tell the mind that - let's put everything elese to rest and this is the most important thing for me right now because this will give me the joy, peace of mind and happiness eternally. To practice KC, we need to develop tolerance. When this is missing, the entire purpose of life is lost. That's why Krsna states Tolerance - simplicity - simple living and high thinking here. Simplicity means one without diplomacy can state the right truth to an enemy. Approaching a bonafide spiritual master - Guru Ashray. There are 5 principles stated in NOD
- Take shelter of a bona fide spiritual master. Without the instruction of the spiritual master one can't progress in their spiritual life. We all went to school, all have our degrees and to get those degrees we had to get information from such bonafide teachers. Similarly in our spiritual life, we are all trying to practice spirituality and learn the science of Krsna so we can have spiritual progress. We have to take Guru Ashraya. Without having a Guru, ones progress is impossible. One may actually give many arguments but this principle of accepting a Spiritual Master is very crucial.

What does it mean about having a Spiritual Master? This is not for fashion. We are not doing it just for the name or reputation or for a status. Accepting Guru is for spiritual progress - we follow the instructions of the spiritual master. No point of having a Guru if we can't follow the spiritual master. One must think and one must act. Yasya prasadad.... when the SM is satisfied then we make progress but if SM is not satisfied them there is no progress because if SM is satisfied Krsna is satisfied. We can't just ask for blessings. When you have done something right, automatically he gets the blessings. But if someone has done something wrong, then the hear of the SM cries out for that devotee. But if you do something nice and please the heart of your SM, then Krsna notes that yes my pure devotee is very happy and hence he notes who made him happy.

Cleanliness - One must always think of Krsna and chant the Hare Krsna mantra always. It is external and internal cleanliness. Cleanliness is next to Godliness. Externally we should keep very clean, dirt mean ignorance. Have you see places which are not cleaned for many days - it starts smelling and you have flies and you don't like living there and then you have ignorance and ghosts start living there. Hence, externally it is very important to keep everything clean and when you keep things clean - then your heart just feels so clean. Cleaning your body is such a refreshing experience. Why? That is the nature of a sadhu. A brahmana must take bath 3 times a day and the brahmana must be fresh and take bath 3 times a day. That is the nature of cleanliness. Lot of positiveness. Internal cleanliness is more important and that is cleanliness of mind - Ceto darpana marjanam - the mind has accumulated lots and lots of dust in terms of bad experiences - lust, anger envy, enmity .... how to clean by the mirror of the mind - Hare Krsna Mantra sincerely - it burns away your sins and cleans the mind. It is very scientific and mind the driving force for everything. The whole day we are driven by our mind. For example a person using glasses, has dust on his glasses then he sees everything hazy and can't see things clearly, same way we need to chant the holy name of Krsna to cleanse the mind of all the dust that has accumulated millions of lifetime. Why is it so important? - Our vision is contaminated and mind is dirty and hence we engage ourselves in all these dirty activities.

If we want to lead a good nice life - only possible by keeping our mind clean and that is done only by chanting the Hare Krsna Maha Mantra.

Most important concepts from Sistastakam:
Tolerance, Humbleness, No respect for us and is ready to give respects to everyone - complete humility is not possible unless you have Bhakti. Tolerance is very important because if someone can't tolerate he can never become a devotee of Krsna. The Pandavas were so tolerant. Prahlad maharaj was so tolerant, Dhruva, Ambarish, Brajavasis were so tolerant. One cannot realize Krsna without tolerance. Respecting others without expecting respect for us, in that steady state of mind we can chant the holy name of Krsna without any disturbance. One who truly wants to make progress in spiritual life then all these 4 principles are very important - this is the gateway to spiritual life. Withouth going through the gateway we can't even start our journey. Chant the holy name with feeling and you will become perfect. SP explains that crocodile of death is ready to consume us at anytime. Come out of our complacency - then Krsna in our heart will help us remember Him, wherever we are at whatever stage you are - Krsna sees your sincerity and he will help us get us to come to Him. So please chant with feelings and then you will become perfect.

Bhakti Shastri Chapter 2 Verses 16-24

V16: The point which he wants Arjuna to understand is that if you have a proper understanding of the soul and body then you will not lament. When the lease runs out a person can't continue to stay at the same place. The rule is that you are kicked out and you have to go to another place. Same way soul occupies the body and the body has a limited time of existence. The body can't extend its existence and at that time the soul is kicked out to another body. There is no endurance for the body. The soul doesn't change but when the desire is kept within our heart, then we create the subtle body and we create the next body. within this life when we start desiring all kinds of nonsense, the Supersoul understands our desires and starts creating the subtle body. The body and the spirit are different. The body is inferior and the soul is superior. The reason we are in the situation is because we are always covered with the material modes of nature. We need to understand that we are not the Lord but we are just the parts and parcels, but we forget our position. This is exactly what Krsna is teaching Arjuna to how to get out of this bewilderment so they can understand the nature of the spirit soul. The reason the Lord teaches BG is because we can all study it and drive away all ignorance and be enlightened. How can we drive this only by the mercy of a Guru and following in his footsteps with faith and devotion.

V17: Characteristics of the soul - the symptoms of the consciousness of the soul. The very first time Krsna talks about the symptoms of the soul. The soul pervades the entire body and is not destructible. This is consciousness - nature or symptom of the soul. These individual souls can experience only the pains or pleasures of this soul, but only the super soul can understand the pains and pleasures of all the souls - Only Krsna. Size of the soul - last two verses are very important and please learn it. The soul gets out only when the body dies, but if there is a heart transplant the person is still the same person as it's the same soul - there might be exchange of some karma. Even animals and plants have soul and give the argument that they are also mating, eating, defending and reproducing. Similarly, give example of the sunshine (purport) we are all fragmental parts of the Supreme soul.

V18: Material body is perishable by nature - either perishable immediately, or hundreds of years. But the soul is indestructible. Only one good use and that use is that the body is for doing devotional service or spiritual activity. Any other thing is a waste of time. This body should be used only for devotional service. The body itself is unimportant. As soon as someone dies, the spirit soul goes away - the effulgence goes away and the body starts decomposing - we know something is gone from the body.

V19: The soul cannot be killed or kill nor can it kill another soul. We don't promote violence, even killing the animals, because the soul is coming for a particular reason to do his karma. When we kill, he still needs to come back into another animal body and because we have disturbed this process, we incur karma due to that. Our only way is by eating prasadam and going out on harinam sankirtam.

V20: Krsna doesn't say differently when he speaks to different people. Example when he speaks to Uddhava it's the same philosophy. The soul doesn't take birth nor it dies. We need to go back to the spiritual realms where everything is enjoyable. He is always existing as he's an expansion of the lord. Spiriti osul is eternally existing. wE find that even when our body is going old we still think that we are more mature in the way we talk. Inside the body are two kinds of souls - paramatma and the individual soul. Who can understand the glories of the soul - only one who has the mercy of the Lord only by pleasing the spiritual master. They feel they are servants of Krsna and are just serving our Spiritual master and Krsna then they are on the spiritual realm, otherwise we are acting on the bodily concept.  This can happen only when we have the grace and mercy of the Lord. One who desires to seek Krsna then he comes back to Krsna.

V21/22- Surgeon and Judge example - the surgeon uses the same knife to help while a murderer using the knife to kill. Similarly, the judge hangs one a person but based on his karma that's ok because the judge is acting on religious principles to help him alleviate his karma. When someone dies it's like changing clothes of the soul. When the garment is old, they throw it away. The analogy is when the clothes are old and torn then we throw it away. When someone gets attached to the body or their home or their relationships or they die terribly then they become ghosts. We all have to take another body. Pious activities don't help with liberation, it actually makes us more attached with this kind of work. Based on our desires our subtle body is created. But based on our understanding of the BG, we should try to avoid these desires and only desire to serve Radha and Krsna. As we become more and more KC, our desires for material sense gratification goes away and we only want to serve Krsna and please him. Then we start thinking like a spirit soul. when we are working in that consciousness, then the subtle body (*template for the next material body) dies and we will get a spiritual body. We should conciously want to serve spiritual personalities and to serve for their pleasure and then conciousness shift that I must to I want to do for Krsna's pleasure. Example is the 2 birds. Everything is being witnessed by the Supersoul and he helps create the next body based on our desires and what we deserve. As we are parts and parcels of KRsna and because he has desires, we also have desires. Our desires are completely fulfilled if we serve Krsna and that knowledge isn't there with us. Whatever we enjoy is temporary and hence we are never satisfied. This material world bewilders us and everything is OK and as soon as we close the book we are again put into illusion. So if we are always stead fast in our spiritual devotion then we will always be in the right consciousness. Hence Krsna says now he shouldn't be worried about killing Bhisma and Dhrona - because they will be actually getting rid of their karmas as they were party of the Kauravas plan. Hence Arjuna should be happy and not sad.

V23-25: More qualities of the soul. The points are repeated to emphasize again and again with Arjuna.
By this statement of Krsna the soul remains the same eternal particle without any change. Krsna says that the soul is insoluble, if it is solube how does the soul merge into the spiritual realm. Even the soul when he's wanting to merge, he cannot lose his identigy and remains as the  spiritual soul and needs some desire for Krsna's companion. and such personalities come  back to home. We should just please the Lord so we can go back to Goloka to have the highest relationships with Krsna. Sarva-gatha - the soul can stay anywhere, it's all pervading -  in water, in oil, in air, in hot water etdc.

When we are in true spiritual conciousness - our spirit soul will itself manifest into its spiritual body. We are right now like flower buds and when we become pure, we bloom into full flowers as our contamination goes away and our spiritual identity is revealed.

Summary of Bhakti Shastri Chapter 2 Verse 9 - 17

Verse 11-30; Krishna gives knowledge about the spirit soul and the soul is eternal and can never be destroyed and the body has to go away one day.

Verse 10: He has come to a point where he doesn't know what to do. Sanjay is reported to Dhirtarastra that Krsna is smiling. The two rasas are meeting here from sakhya rasa it goes to dasya - to understand the teachings from Krsna. He agrees to be his Guru because the devotee wants to be in that relationship (free will) and also Krsna wants to experience this pleasure potency. We can understand that Krsna is a friend, a guru or anything else he is always the superior.

From Verses 11-30; Spiritual soul is eternal and can never be destroyed and the body is temporary and has to be destroyed at some point. If we understand this then we won't be bewildered. If we are ourselves sick with some disease we become bewildered, we should actually think that we are eternal and we should keep performing our daily duties and then we realize our eternal being. Inspite of all kinds of impediments we keep on performing our devotional service everyday.

V11:Here Krsna is chastizing him. He says you have been trained regarding all this and the wise never lament for living or dead.

V12 - Remember this verse asked during exams: All of us are eternal. We never ceased to be. All living entities are eternal and therefore we shouldn't lament for the death of any person. 4 defects - lie, tendency to cheat, illusion, say wrong things - the common man has these defects and Krsna doesn't have these defects and hence he isn't common man. Lot of acaryas refer to the Gita - why, because Krsna is the supreme personality and that is the spirit of the BG we should read the Gita in that spirit. We shouldn't read Mayavadi philosophy (Sankaracharya's Sariraka Bhasya - He was empowered to write this for people who didn't have any belief in vedas) as we will lose all power to understand the Gita.

V13: Remember this verse and these verses are asked during the example - Dehina is the soul is embodied. The body dies and you give up the body and the soul needs to go to another body.

V14: Memorize this verse also. We need to go through these dualities. Arjuna wanted to give us these religious duties and wanted to go to the forest. Krsna is saying he shouldn't abandon his duties just because of some changes like summer, winter etc. Material world is non permanent and despite all impediments and changes yet we should keep doing our religious duties - These are cycles in the material life - Summer, winter, fall, spring, happiness, distress - We shouldn't be attached to these things. Our senses want to enjoy these things ; Sensory perceptions. Hence, one must learn to tolerate. We should just try to tolerate. Prescribed duties are very important for us in our spiritual journey. We need to do our prescribed duties very nicely because they help us regulate our material desires as they help us come to the platform of Jyana and from this platform we can quickly come to the platform of Bhakti. Hence, we need to perform our duties very nicely. Tolerate all these things we can come to the highest goal. Everyday we should wake up early in the morning and take our shower. We need to abide by these religious principles. We are not bothered by these external factors anymore and we understand it's for our good and we keep doing it everyday/every time. Keep doing our duties - material and spiritual everyday in the same way even if you have all kinds of impediments - the intention is the most important. Only if someone is talking wrong about Krishna or Guru then you don't tolerate but for everything else tolerate everything - just tolerate and be humble like a tree or the straw in the street. Only then we will get real pleasure.

V15: Highest goal of liberation and how can you achieve it. If our focus is on the right thing, then we can easily achieve the highest goal of life - Krsna prema. If we want to be eligible for liberation from material bondage we need to be steady in one's prescribed duties. Anyone who is steady in his determination for the advanced stage of spiritual realization and can equally tolerate the onslaughts of distress and happiness is certainly a person eligible for liberation. Even in our lives, we notice that many people try to create impediments in our KC life and we just need to tolerate and despite all impediments keep going ahead with our service to Krishna and perform our dev activities and follow our daily schedule.

V16: What others also think about this and how they also think the same way. Here he is giving reference of what is revealed in the scriptures and he is trying to convince Arjuna using this about what others feel about this. This is also our instruction. We shouldn't make up stories but just stick to shastra and the seers of truth. To drive away our ignorance that we are the masters Krsna speaks the BG. This is spoken not for once but for all time, so we can understand and apply our life on this aspect and go back home back to Godhead in this life.

V17: Very imp verse. Aspect of the soul and this is what means conciousness. The soul pervades the entire body and it's not destructible. This is the spreading of conciousness all over the body.The symptom of the soul is this. We can experience the pain and pleasure of just our body but not of another body but the Lord can. This is conciousness - each and every body is the embodiment of an individual soul, and the symptom of the soul’s presence is perceived as individual consciousness.
Also, size of soul is given here and we need to know this 1/10,000 of the tip of the hair (smaller than the material atom) Without this spark, our material body is useless. “The soul is atomic in size and can be perceived by perfect intelligence. This atomic soul is floating in the five kinds of air (prāṇa, apāna, vyāna, samāna and udāna), is situated within the heart, and spreads its influence all over the body of the embodied living entities. When the soul is purified from the contamination of the five kinds of material air, its spiritual influence is exhibited.” Only by the KC process can we purify the soul of it's contaminated coverings. Doing devotional service is the original activity of the spirit soul. Hence, us engaging in dev. service is us engaging in our original service to Krsna and Radharani. 

Bhakti Shastri Chapter 2 Verses 1-9 Contents of the Gita Summarized

We should try to remember the name of each chapter so then we can understand what it is all about.

In this chapter Arjuna gives us his role as a Kstariya warrior and also his friend and he talks about he wants to be his disciple. There is a change in the rasas - from Guru to a disciple. Chapter 2 is a little more technical - lot of gyana. We should hence pay careful attention to SP's purports. It is the process of transmigration. He finally ends with the characteristics of a self realized person. Connection between chapter 1 and chapter 2 - 1st chapter doubts and lots of reasons to avoid fighting. He shows lots of doubts and Krsna in chapter 2 answers these doubts. We also see Arjuna is getting very confused. His relations towards Krsna hence changes completely. Burijan prabhu's book divides chapter 2 into 5 parts. Chapter 2 is more about Jyana yoga and some parts of Karma Yoga.

1-10 : Arjuna continues to give his last reason and surrenders to Krsna.
11-30 - Krsna speaks for the first time. He gives him the technical knowledge about the spirit soul. He directly or indirectly tells Arjuna to fight.
31-38: Counters Arjuna's reasons to not fight. Lots of ways he gives to counter his points. Karma kanda section
39-53: Buddhi Yoga. Understand the knowledge and apply that knowledge. How I can fight and not accumulate any reactions. Niskam karma yoga. Not be attached to the outcome of the battle. Just fight for the pleasure of Krsna and no reactions.
54-72: How one who works in buddhi yoga can get samadhi - All these yogas means to be connected to the Supreme then we are always situated in KC with body, mind and soul.

2 Chapters in BG 2 and 18 chapters are the longest and chapter 18 has the longest verses.

V1: Krsna has waited all this time to now speak to Krsna. Madhusudhana refers to Krsna. Krsna killed the Madhusudhana demon - kill the demon of misunderstanding that had overtaken him in the discharge of his duty. At this point Dhirtarastra is very happy but sanjaya says Krsna now says to tell him it's not done yet but just the beginning.

V2: Krsna knows Arjuna is coming from a very exalted lineage - not ordinary personality. Guided by the proper Ksatriya code and principles. Hence he says these statements - impurities have come upon you. You should know the value of life. When Ksatriya when they fight and die go to the higher planets and he is directly referring to Arjuna. Lot of sarcasam and ridicules Arjuna in these verses.
Bhagavan = Supreme Personality of Godhead = Krsna. 3 aspects of Krsna = Brahman, Paramatma and Bhagavan; example of the Sun is given here. This paragraph is very important. Analogy of the 3 features of Krsna with Sun.  Please learn the next paragraph also very nicesly. Prabhuji has given examples of Krsna to be full in all 6 opulences.
Aim of Life - to please the Supreme Personality of Godhead and to go back to Godhead and if Krsna wants us to come back then we will go back to serve Krsna but if our Spiritual Master says we need to stick around and preach then we preach. Not bound by the material nature.

V3: It;s important how the names are being used to address each other. Son of Prtha - Kunti is related to Krsna, sister of Vasudeva. So you are related to me and we come from such a pious background, how can you behave like this. If someone can't behave according to their status then it's not good.

V4: O killer of Madhu, again brings back point about superiors. It is the ettiquitte in those days that you don't fight with your superiors but give respect to them.

V5: Again looks at dharma shastra (religious) vs artha shastra (political). Killing of an agressor vs fighting with superiors. Religious principles says you forgive - tolerate more than react. Political principles you need to rule in the benefit of the person you has done right vs wrong. Arjuna is thinking he rather practice Dharma Shastra vs Artha Shastra but that is wrong as he is a Ksatriya and not a brahmana to go out and beg and hence he says he would rather go and beg like a mendicant in the street begging for survival than to kill his Guru and Grandfather to get a kingdom.

V6: So here he is confused conquering them or getting conquered by them. If he killed his brother the Ksatriyas what kind of enjoyment is there to live in a kingdom when there is nobody to enjoy with. Hence KC says we need to make sound judgments so we can please Krsna more and more and not be selfish to please our sense pleasures. He is saying many times that he wants to beg and live shows that he has detachment and he keeps turning to Krsna to show us that we should also keep turning to our Spiritual Master for guidance whenever we have questions. If senses are not controlled then we won't be able to understand the knowledge we read, otherwise it will be just reading, appreciating but not applying it in our daily lives. The most important thing about reading BG is to apply it to our daily lives and that is only possible by controlling the senses.

V7: This is good intelligence. The fact that he accepts that he is lost and can't make good decision and he turns to the person who has lot of faith in Krsna and he surrenders to him to ask what should I do. Same way we should turn to our Spiritual Master and not have our big egos that we can make our best decision ourselves. We should surrender to an authority and a well wisher. We should very carefully see who is our well wisher so we can share our problems, our questions so they can help us get out of these material life. On our own we won't be able to get out of this material life. Everybody in this material life is perplexed. We are always perplexed. But because we are covered we are not able to realize this. Here he is saying I'm not your friend but your disciple and now you show me the path. This is not easy. Even after initiation sometimes we don't want to listen to our Spiritual Master and just keep doing what we want to do. Kripanas - We should consider our kids, wife are guests of Krsna and we should take care of them but not have overly affection for them.

V8: He says nobody can help him at this stage. Even if he gets kingdom or wealth he won't be happy. So very nicely he is approaching Krsna and in the same way we need to approach the SM and how they can help us. In general we should approach them for spiritual matters and not a lot for material problems. We need to know the science of Krsna and only then we can help any person. He quotes a verse from CC.Anyone can preach and all we need to know who is Krsna and how can we approach him. Hence we need to be properly situated with shastras so we can always use it to help us in our preaching purposes. Aim is to become a Uttama Adhikari to guide other people. Key is to follow in the footsteps of a pure devotee like we are following in the footsteps of SP - exactly what he wants to do we are doing it and because we are sincerely following his instructions we will also become pure. In time all our bad qualities will go away and we will be properly situated in KC. To solve his problems of KC he is surrendering to Krsna.

V9: He still says he is competent to kill the enemies. Now because he has surrendered to Krsna he will be ready to fight again soon. 

Real meaning of Diwali.

The real celebration of Diwali is for us to go into our hearts and pray to Krsna to further ourselves in KC and also exchanges between devotees as Srila Rupa Gosvami has mentioned in NOI. When you pray to Krsna, all the thousands of Lakshmi's (Goddesses of fortune) are also worshiping him. If our rituals have Krsna in the center then all these rituals will bring us closer to Krsna, but if Krsna isn't there then these rituals will just become a matter to doing it. It won't bring any transformation of heart. It is hence very important to reflect on what Srila Prabhupada has given us.

One of the most important days in our vedic tradition. It is because Lord Rama came back to Ayodhya. In the old days people were so KC and Ram Conscious, everybody in every house would celebrate it. This is actually KC, celebrate auspicious days and commemorating the appearance and pastimes of the Lord. These festivals are the mothers of devotion and they nurture our bhakti and they help us to remember Krsna. He takes inauspicious days like amavaysa (no moon day) and he makes it Diwali. The Lord shows when someone is inauspicious but when he does something on that day it becomes auspicious. His activities and pastimes creates auspiciousness. He came back after 18 years. Let us understand what did the residents of Ayodhya were feeling.

If we love our parents a lot and we haven't seen our parents for 14 years, when we are going back after so long, imagine how happy parents are or how happy we feel going to India. We decorate, we celebrate and we make the coming of this person very special. When we love somebody, we do some much preparation for this person to come. When Bharat came to know about Ram was exiled, he said he wanted to live in the forest with Krsna, so after 14 years of separations, imagine how everybody was feeling. They were longing and meditating on the lotus feet of Sri Rama. They were feelings of pure love, that is the understanding. On Diwali day, their emotions were at the peak and they welcome Sri Rama back to Ayodya.

Acaryas say how our life if bereft of Krsna is so tasteless and no fulfillment of the heart if Krsna is not in the center. Krsna is like the sun and Maya is like the darkness. If Krsna isn't in our lives, there is darkness and hence we need to invite Krsna,Ram in our hearts and our lives will become joyful. We have all banished Krsna to the forest and we have told Krsna we don't need you and there are more things important than you and we don't care for you and now by the mercy of pure devotees like SP we are given a chance to bring back the lord. The demons who are keeping us away from the Lord like Ravana and we pray on Diwali our Lord Krsna and Rama kill the demons in our heart and invite him to come back into our heart. We pray, we offer to Krsna  - lamps, prasad. These lamps signify knowledge, the importance of spiritual knowledge and taking shelter of Krsna that is the true Diwali. That is true Diwali by celebrating the return of Rama into our hearts by taking to KC wholeheartedly and removing the darkness of our hearts. On this day Krsna also kills Narkasura and it is the broadcast that Krsna on this day kills all the demons. Krsna set free the 16,000 princesses and marries them. Saying the same thing. Our heart has so many coverings and this is keeping us from Krsna. But just by our heart, we can break all these coverings and come to Krsna. We can't even chant properly because of these layers. Krsna can kill all these demons, cut these layers so we can come closer to Krsna. Intelligence is material at the moment and it is dirty. When the soul is covered over, the heart has so many layers it is considered the covering of the soul. Mind and intelligence are part of the same thing. When the covering is there on the heart, it is reflect by the dirty mind and intelligence.

Also same day when Mother Yashoda bound Krsna. Krsna is showing that he is bound by the love of his devotees. Just simple unalloyed Love. If we understand Krsna loves us at every moment of our life, then everyday can be Diwali.

JAPA is the only way - If our Japa is good then nothing can stop us to get to Krsna. Quality and Quantity is important. The more we chant quality rounds, the faster we will have purification of the heart and the faster we will get to Krsna. It is like when you go for war, you need to refill your ammunition and next day you are again ready. So same way we need to refill ourselves everyday by chanting 16 rounds so we won't be beaten by maya and slowly we will also be able to get rid of all the coverings we have for the million of years. But if we don't chant properly then we are in illusion that we have good bullets, but actually they are all duds and we can fall prey to the war of maya. Hence very important to chant very properly so all our bullets are sharp to fight the war of maya and we are ready to fight maya - but these bullets needs to be very very sharp and hence our japa should be very sincere and refill ourselves with these bullets. There is no limit to devotional service. SP has been very merciful to say that in this Kali yuga especially in this age do at least 16 rounds so that we have our ammunition to fight maya. Holy name and Hari Katha are what is the most most most important so at every step we need to give this to all our family members this.

Bhakti Shastri Chapter 1 Verses 38 - 46 by HG Radha Krsna Prabhu

Doesn't want to incur sins:
Verse 37-38: He's trying to act as a saintly person and what he's forgetting is he needs to upload the principles of a Kshatriya.
He doesn't want to destroy the family tradition. He thinks that everyone on each side are so powerful that all will die and he doesn't want to incur that sin. If all the Kshatriya die who everyone depends on then what will happen to everyone and then the common men will become frivolous and impure and irreligion will spread.

4th Argument 39-43: Tradition will be destroyed and irreligion will spread.
Verse 39: If older people are killed then as there are no guides in the varnasrama dharma and hence the younger will develop irreligious habits and lose their chance of spiritual salvation.

V40: If traditions are lost, then women of the family become polluted and from them degradation happens. The women have a very imp role to guide the children. Men go out to work and women help the kids understand the values so they can then go ahead and face the society. The softness of the women help them imbibe these values for the children. If there is nobody to take care of the women, because they always are looking for protection and there is nobody to protect them then not nice men try to enjoy them for their own sense gratification. But in Kali-Yuga both men and women are pretty foolish except the devotees have the intelligence to always follow in KC. The result is then unwanted children. The protection of the women is very important and we should consider in the +ve aspect in protecting them. We should not focus on the less intelligent part as this was written in a different yuga and in this yuga all of us are less intelligent. By expoilting women the entire society degrades. How to protect them - by engaging them in religious principles in the guidance of father, husband and son, otherwise there is always varna sankara = unwanted progeny. Varsneya = o descendent of Vrisni Krsna comes in the line of Vrishni dynasty, so how would you feel if your own Vrishni dynasty is about to be killed.  -  1. Women become free to act and mix with men, and thus adultery is indulged in at the risk of unwanted population, hellish life  2.Risk of war. 3. Life is very bad for the unwanted children and the mother.Also Shradha ceremony - pinda dana cannot take place - ancestors waiting to get liberation. Pinda dana helps these personalities some what. The best thing to do is to offer them prasada and as soon as you offer them prasadam, their miserable life can be reduced somewhat. But, for devotees always engaged in dev service, such obligations are automatically fulfilled by performance of devotional service to the Supreme Personality of Godhead and these obligations are not necessary. Just offer everything to Krsna and then to Narayan and then forefathers best for us to offer.

V 41, 42, 43: Now Krsna is giving another reason that he has heard through different Gurus that if someone destroys some good tradition, that such people will go to hell. He is saying he is not making it up but has heard from valid sources that such people go to hell and hence he doesn't want to fight and how will such people try to atone for their sinful reactions then one will have to go to the hellish planets. Such is the destruction of the family tradition.

Saintly pepole - softness of heart, wants to forgive his aggressors, moral values should be protected - doesn't want irreligion to spread,

V 44- 46: Arjuna doesn't want to fight anymore and the 5th reaosn is given in the 2nd chapter. He would rather die than fight and kill the sons of the Dhirtarastra. While Dhirtarastra is hearing all this he is feeling very happy that Arjuna the chief of the maharathis didn't want to be fight. Both Dronacharya and Bhisma had to be killed the way they were killed with trickery was because they became party to the wrong things even though it was right under them and they didn't say anything or stop it. Arjuna never puts his bow down and he had actually taken a pledge that anyone who asks him to put his bow, he would kill them. Example - Yudhistara insulted Arjuna when Arjuna came to see him after Karna had injured him and he said you are a coward and you don't want to fight Karna so put down your bow even though Arjuna had come just to see Yudhistara's wound. So Arjuna had drawn his sword to kill Yudhistira but as Krsna was there he said instead of killing a Ksatriya better to insult them as it is worse than killing them. So it was a big thing for Arjuna to keep the Gandiva bow as he was ready to even kill his own brother. So in this verse to show that he put his bow down it was a big thing to show his soft heartedness and compassion for everyone.

Dhirtarastra was blind and he had blind love for his sons. Even though Krsna was right there with all of them yet he was blinded by his love for his sons. We are worse than Dhirtarastra as we have so much more need for sense gratification.