Bhagavad-gītā 2.10

Pradyumna: Oṁ namo bhagavate vāsudevāya. Oṁ namo bhagavate vāsudevāya. Oṁ namo bhagavate vāsudevāya. [leads chanting of verse] [Prabhupāda and devotees repeat]

tam uvāca hṛṣīkeśaḥ prahasann iva bhārata senayor ubhayor madhye viṣīdantam idaṁ vacaḥ [Bg 2.10]

[O descendant of Bharata, at that time Kṛṣṅa, smiling, in the midst of both the armies, spoke the following words to the grief-stricken Arjuna.]

tam—unto him; uvāca—said; hṛṣīkeśaḥ—the master of the senses, Kṛṣṅa; prahasan—smiling; iva—like that; bhārata—O Dhṛtarāṣṭra, descendant of Bharata; senayoḥ—of the armies; ubhayoḥ—of both armies; madhye—between; viṣīdantam—unto the lamenting one; idam—the following; vacaḥ—words.

[02:04]

Translation: "O descendant of Bharata, at that time Kṛṣṅa, smiling, in the midst of both armies, spoke the following words to the grief-stricken Arjuna."

Prabhupāda: Hm. So hṛṣīkeśaḥ, prahasann iva. Kṛṣṅa began to laugh, smiling: "What a nonsense this is, Arjuna." First of all he said, "Put me..." Senayor ubhayor madhye rathaṁ sthāpaya me acyuta [Bg 1.21]:

[Arjuna said: O infallible one, please draw my chariot between the two armies so that I may see who is present here, who is desirous of fighting, and with whom I must contend in this great battle attempt.]

"Kṛṣṅa, just put my chariot between the two parties of soldiers."

[coughs, aside:] Bring me water.

And now... He was so enthusiastic in the beginning, that "Put my chariot between the two armies." Now this rascal is saying na yotsya, "I'll not fight." Just see the rascaldom.

So even Arjuna, Kṛṣṅa's direct friend, māyā is so strong that he also becomes a rascal, what to speak of others. First of all very enthusiasm: "Yes, put my chariot between the two armies." And now in the..., na yotsya iti govindam [Bg 2.9]:

[Sañjaya said: Having spoken thus, Arjuna, chastiser of enemies, told Kṛṣṅa, "Govinda, I shall not fight," and fell silent.]

"I am not going to fight." This is rascaldom. So he was smiling, that "He is My friend, direct friend, and such a big..., and he is now saying that 'I will not fight.' "

So Kṛṣṅa smiling, this smiling is very significant, prahasann. Tam uvāca hṛṣīkeśaḥ prahasann iva bhārata, senayor ubhayor viṣīdantam, lamenting. First of all he came with great enthusiasm to fight; now he is lamenting. And Kṛṣṅa is mentioned here as Hṛṣīkeśa. He is solid. He is Acyuta. He is solid. He is not changed. Another significance of this word Hṛṣīkeśa...

Because in Nārada-Pañcarātra the bhakti means hṛṣīkeśa-sevanam. Therefore this very name is mentioned here, Hṛṣīkeśa. Hṛṣīkeśa-sevanaṁ bhaktir ucyate. Bhakti means to serve Hṛṣīkeśa, the master of the senses. And the master of senses... Some rascals are describing that Kṛṣṅa is immoral. He is master of senses, and He is immoral. Just see how he has studied Bhagavad-gītā.

If Kṛṣṅa is perfect brahmacārī... Kṛṣṅa is perfect brahmacārī, for... It was declared by Bhīṣmadeva. Bhīṣmadeva is the first-grade brahmacārī in the universe. He promised to Satyavatī's father... You know the story. Satyavatī's father... His, Bhīṣmadeva's father was attracted by a fisher woman, fisher girl. So he wanted to marry. And the father of the girl denied: "No, I cannot give my daughter to you." So "Why? I am king, I am asking your daughter." "No, you have got a son." Bhīṣmadeva was the son of his first wife, Mother Ganges.

The Mother Ganges was wife of Santanu Mahārāja, and Bhīṣmadeva was the only remaining son. The contract was between Santanu Mahārāja and Ganges, Mother Ganges, that "I can marry you if you allow me that all the children born I shall throw in the water of the Ganges. And if you do not allow me, then immediately I shall leave your company." So Santanu Mahārāja said, "All right, still I shall marry you." So she was throwing all the children in the Ganges. So this Bhīṣmadeva... So after all, father, so he became very much sorry, that "What is this? What kind of wife I have got? She is simply throwing all the children in the water." So at the time of Bhīṣmadeva, Santanu Mahārāja said, "No, I cannot allow it. I cannot allow it." Then Mother Ganges said, "Then I am going." "Yes, you can go. I don't want you. I want this son."

So he was wifeless. Again he wanted to marry the Satyavatī. So the father said, "No, I cannot give my daughter to you, because you have got a son, grown-up son. He will be king. So I cannot give my daughter to you to become your maidservant. Her... If I would have thought that her son would be the king, then I can offer you my daughter." So he said, "No, that is not possible." But Bhīṣmadeva understood that "My father is attracted with this girl." So he approached, that... He said to the fisherman that "You can offer your daughter to my father, but you are thinking that I shall become king. So your daughter's son will be king.

On this condition you can offer your daughter." So he replied, "No, I cannot." "Why?" "Now, you may not be king, but your son may be king." Just see, this material calculation. Then at that time he said, "No, I shall not marry. That's all. I promise. I shall not marry." So he remained brahmacārī. Therefore his name is Bhīṣma. Bhīṣma means very solid, firmly fixed. So he was a brahmacārī. For the sake, for the satisfaction of his father's senses, he remained brahmacārī.

So Bhīṣmadeva, in Rājasūya yajña, admitted that "Nobody is better brahmacārī than Kṛṣṅa. He was within the gopīs, all young girls, but He remained a brahmacārī. If I would have been within the gopīs, I do not know what was..., what would have been my condition." So therefore Kṛṣṅa is the perfect brahmacārī, Hṛṣīkeśa. And these rascals, they are saying that Kṛṣṅa is immoral. No. Kṛṣṅa is perfect brahmacārī, dhīra. Dhīra means one who is not agitated even there is cause of being agitated.

So Kṛṣṅa is such a brahmacārī. In spite of in His..., just on the verge of youthhood, at the age of fifteen, sixteen years, all the village girls were friends; they were very much attracted with Kṛṣṅa's beauty. They used to come to Kṛṣṅa for dancing in the village. But He was brahmacārī. You will never hear that Kṛṣṅa had some illicit sex. No. There was no such thing description. The dancing is description, but no contraceptive pill. No. That is not described here. Therefore He is Hṛṣīkeśa. Hṛṣīkeśa means perfect brahmacārī. Vikāra-hetu, even there is cause of being agitated, He is not agitated. That is Kṛṣṅa. He has got thousands and thousands of devotees, and some of the devotees, if they want Kṛṣṅa as lover, Kṛṣṅa accepts that, but He does not require anyone else. He does not require. He is self-sufficient. He does not require anyone's help for His sense gratification. Therefore Kṛṣṅa is Hṛṣīkeśa, the master of the senses.

So at least Kṛṣṅa's devotees... There are many instances of Kṛṣṅa's devotees, they are also... Why many? Almost all devotees, they are master of the senses, gosvāmī. Just like Haridāsa Ṭhākura, you know. Haridāsa Ṭhākura was young man, and the village zamindar, he was Muhammadan. So everyone was eulogizing Haridāsa Ṭhākura, such a great devotee. So the zamindar, the village zamindar, he became very much envious. So he employed one prostitute to pollute Haridāsa Ṭhākura. And she came at dead of night, nicely dressed, attractive. She was also young, very beautiful. So she proposed that "I have come, being attracted by your beauty." Haridāsa Ṭhākura said, "Yes, that's all right. Come on, sit down. Let me finish my chanting. Then we shall enjoy." So she sat down. But Haridāsa Ṭhākura chanting, he was chanting... We, we cannot chant even sixteen rounds, and he was chanting three times sixty-four rounds. How many it is?

Revatinandana: A hundred and ninety-six.

Prabhupāda: Hundred and ninety-six rounds. That was his only business: Hare Kṛṣṅa, Hare Kṛṣṅa, Kṛṣṅa... So sometimes somebody wants to imitate Haridāsa Ṭhākura. It is not possible.

So Haridāsa Ṭhākura, when it became morning, the prostitute, "Sir, now it is morning." "Yes, next night I shall... Come next night. Today I could not finish my chanting." That was a plea. In this way three days passed. Then the prostitute became converted, fell down on his [her]..., "Sir, I came to pollute you. Now save me; I am so fallen." So Haridāsa Ṭhākura said, "Yes, I know that. I could have leaved this place immediately when you came, but I wanted that you have come to me, you may be converted to this Vaiṣṅavism." So the prostitute became a great devotee by the mercy of... Haridāsa Ṭhākura said that "You sit down in this place. You chant Hare Kṛṣṅa before this tulasī plant. Now I am leaving this place."

So kṛṣṅa-bhakti is like that—full control over the senses. As Kṛṣṅa has got full control over the senses, similarly, those who are actually Kṛṣṅa devotees, they have got full control over the senses. Hṛṣīkeśa. Just like Yamunacārya, he is praying, he is speaking,

yad-avadhi mama cetaḥ kṛṣṅa-pādāravinde nava-nava-dhāmany udyataṁ rantum āsīt

"Since I have begun to feel transcendental bliss, being taken shelter of the lotus feet of Kṛṣṅa," yad-avadhi mama cittaḥ kṛṣṅa-padāravinde, kṛṣṅa-padāravinde, the lotus feet of Kṛṣṅa. "Since my citta, my heart, has been attracted by the lotus feet of Kṛṣṅa," tad-avadhi bata nārī-saṅgame, "since then, as soon as I think of sex life," bhavati mukha-vikāraḥ, "I hate; I spite on it." This is kṛṣṅa-bhakti. Kṛṣṅa-bhakti is like that. Bhakti-pareśānubhava viraktir anyatra syāt [SB 11.2.42].

[Devotion, direct experience of the Supreme Lord, and detachment from other things—these three occur simultaneously for one who has taken shelter of the Supreme Personality of Godhead, in the same way that pleasure, nourishment and relief from hunger come simultaneously and increasingly, with each bite, for a person engaged in eating.]

This most attractive feature in this material world is sex. That is the foundation of material life. All these people are working so hard day and night only for that sex enjoyment. Yan maithunādi-gṛha... They have taken so much risk. They are working, karmis, they are working so hard. What is their pleasure of life? The pleasure of life is sex. Yan maitunādi-gṛhamedhi-sukhaṁ hi tuccham. Very abominable activities, but that is their pleasure. This is material life.

So Kṛṣṅa is not like that. But the rascals, they paint picture, and that pictures are very much appreciated, that Kṛṣṅa is embracing gopīs. Somebody was telling me that... Last... Who came? That Kṛṣṅa's picture.

Haṁsadūta: [indistinct]

Prabhupāda: So when Kṛṣṅa is killing Putanā, that picture they will not paint; or killing Kaṁsa, or... Kṛṣṅa has got so many pictures. These pictures they will not, artist. They will simply paint the pictures, His confidential dealing with the gopīs. One who cannot understand Kṛṣṅa, what is Kṛṣṅa, which Vyāsadeva has described what is Kṛṣṅa in nine cantos to understand Kṛṣṅa, and then in the Tenth Canto he begins the birth advent of Kṛṣṅa... But these rascals, they jump over immediately to the rāsa-līlā.

First of all understand Kṛṣṅa. Just like if you become a friend of some very big man, so first of all try to understand him. Then you'll try to understand his family affairs or confidential things. But these people jump over to the rāsa-līlā, and misunderstand. And therefore they sometimes say, "Kṛṣṅa is immoral." How Kṛṣṅa can be immoral? By accepting, by chanting Kṛṣṅa's name, the immoral persons are becoming moral, and Kṛṣṅa is immoral. Just see the foolishness. Simply by chanting Kṛṣṅa's name, all immoral persons are becoming moral. And Kṛṣṅa is immoral. And it is spoken by a rascal professor.

So it is very difficult. Nobody can understand Kṛṣṅa without become a pure devotee of Kṛṣṅa. Because Kṛṣṅa says, bhaktyā mām abhijānāti yāvān yas cāsmi tattvataḥ [Bg 18.55].

[One can understand the Supreme Personality as He is only by devotional service. And when one is in full consciousness of the Supreme Lord by such devotion, he can enter into the kingdom of God.]

Tattvataḥ, in truth. Tattvataḥ means truth. If one wants to understand Kṛṣṅa as He is, then he has to take this process of devotional service, bhakta, bhakti. Hṛṣīkeṅa hṛṣīkeśa-sevanaṁ bhaktir ucyate [Cc Madhya 19.170].

[Bhakti, or devotional service, means engaging all our senses in the service of the Lord, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, the master of all the senses. When the spirit soul renders service unto the Supreme, there are two side effects. One is freed from all material designations, and one’s senses are purified simply by being employed in the service of the Lord.]

When one is employed as the servitor of Hṛṣīkeśa, the master of senses... Master, and hṛsīkeṅa, when your senses are also engaged in the service of the master of the senses, then you also become master of the senses. You also. Because your senses are engaged in the service of the Hṛṣīkeśa, the senses have no other opportunity to be engaged. Locked up. Sa vai manaḥ kṛṣṅa-padāravindayoḥ [SB 9.4.18].

[Mahārāja Ambarīṣa always engaged his mind in meditating upon the lotus feet of Kṛṣṅa, his words in describing the glories of the Lord, his hands in cleansing the Lord's temple, and his ears in hearing the words spoken by Kṛṣṅa or about Kṛṣṅa. He engaged his eyes in seeing the Deity of Kṛṣṅa, Kṛṣṅa's temples and Kṛṣṅa's places like Mathurā and Vṛndāvana, he engaged his sense of touch in touching the bodies of the Lord's devotees, he engaged his sense of smell in smelling the fragrance of tulasī offered to the Lord, and he engaged his tongue in tasting the Lord's prasāda. He engaged his legs in walking to the holy places and temples of the Lord, his head in bowing down before the Lord, and all his desires in serving the Lord, twenty-four hours a day. Indeed, Mahārāja Ambarīṣa never desired anything for his own sense gratification. He engaged all his senses in devotional service, in various engagements related to the Lord. This is the way to increase attachment for the Lord and be completely free from all material desires.]

So this is the process of devotional service. If you want to become master of the senses, gosvāmī, svāmī, then you should always keep your senses engaged in the service of Hṛṣīkeśa. That is the only way. Otherwise it is not possible. As soon as you become a little slack to engage your senses in the service of the master of the senses, immediately māyā is there: "Come on, please." This is the process.

kṛṣṅa bhuliyā jīva bhoga vāñchā kare pāsate māyā tāre jāpaṭiyā dhare [Prema-vivarta 6.2]

[When an individual soul forgets his eternal relationship with God and tries to lord it over the material nature or resources, that condition, that forgetful condition, is called māyā, or illusion.]

As soon as you forget Kṛṣṅa, even for a moment, immediately māyā is there: "Please, my dear friend, come here." Therefore we have to become very cautious. We cannot forget Kṛṣṅa even for a moment. Therefore the chanting process, Hare Kṛṣṅa, Hare Kṛṣṅa, Kṛṣṅa Kṛṣṅa, Hare Hare / Hare Rāma, Hare Rāma, Rāma... Always remember Kṛṣṅa. Then māyā will not be able to touch you. Mām eva ye prapadyante māyām etān taranti [Bg 7.14].

[This divine energy of Mine, consisting of the three modes of material nature, is difficult to overcome. But those who have surrendered unto Me can easily cross beyond it.]

Māyā cannot touch. Just like Haridāsa Ṭhākura, he was engaged in the service of Hṛṣīkeśa. Māyā came in full-fledged strength. Still, she was defeated; Haridāsa Ṭhākura was not defeated. So try to understand Kṛṣṅa as Hṛṣīkeśa.

So Hṛṣīkeśa, Kṛṣṅa, began to laugh, that "He is My friend, constant associate, and such weakness. He first of all was enthusiastic to ask Me to keep his chariot, senayor ubhayor madhye. Now viṣīdantan, now he is lamenting." So... We are all fools like that. Arjuna is not fool. Arjuna has been described as Guḍākeśa. How he can be fool? But he is playing the part of fool. If he does not play the part of a fool, how this Bhagavad-gītā will come from the mouth of Śrī Kṛṣṅa? And because he is devotee, he is perfectly playing in such a way that Kṛṣṅa is giving instruction. So perfect teacher and the perfect disciple, Arjuna. We have to learn from their de... Our position... Arjuna is representing just like ordinary man like us, and Kṛṣṅa as Hṛṣīkeśa, giving His advice, perfect advice. If we take..., if we read Bhagavad-gītā in the spirit of understanding like Arjuna, the perfect disciple, and if we accept the advice and instruction of Kṛṣṅa, the perfect teacher, then we should know that we have understood Bhagavad-gītā.

By my mental speculation, by rascal interpretation, by showing one's scholarship, you cannot understand Bhagavad-gītā. That is not possible. Submissive. Therefore in the Bhagavad-gītā it is said, tad viddhi praṅipātena paripraśnena sevayā [Bg 4.34].

[Just try to learn the truth by approaching a spiritual master. Inquire from him submissively and render service unto him. The self-realized soul can impart knowledge unto you because he has seen the truth.]

So we have to surrender as Arjuna, he surrendered. Śiṣyas te 'haṁ śādhi māṁ prapannam [Bg 2.7]:

[Now I am confused about my duty and have lost all composure because of weakness. In this condition I am asking You to tell me clearly what is best for me. Now I am Your disciple, and a soul surrendered unto You. Please instruct me.]

"I surrender unto You. I become Your disciple." To become disciple means to surrender, voluntarily accepting the instruction, the advice, the order of the spiritual master. So Arjuna has already accepted that, although he is speaking that na yotsye, "Kṛṣṅa, I shall not fight." But master, when He explains everything, he will fight. Master's order. Not to fight, that is his own sense gratification. And to fight in spite of he had no desire to fight, that is the satisfaction of the master. This is the sum and substance of Bhagavad-gītā.

So Kṛṣṅa, seeing Arjuna viṣīdantam, very much affected, lamenting, that he is not prepared to do his duty, therefore in the next verse He begins that aśocyān anvaśocas tvaṁ prajña-vādāṁś ca bhāṣase [Bg 2.11]: "My dear Arjuna, you are My friend. Never mind māyā is very strong. Despite your being My friend, personal, you are so much overwhelmed with false compassion. So just hear Me." Therefore He said, aśocyān: "You are lamenting on a subject matter which is not at all good." Aśocya. Śocya means lamentation, and aśocya means one should not lament. Aśocya. So aśocyān anvaśocas tvaṁ prajña-vādāṁś ca bhāṣase. "But you are talking like very learned scholar." Because he has talked. But those things are right.

What Arjuna has said, that varṅa-saṅkara, when the women become polluted, the population is varṅa-saṅkara, that is fact. Whatever Arjuna has said to Kṛṣṅa in order to avoid the fighting, so those things are correct. But from the spiritual platform... Those things may be correct or incorrect, but from spiritual platform, they are not to be considered very serious. Therefore aśocyān anvaśocas tvam. Because his lamentation was on the bodily concept of life. That bodily concept of life, in the very beginning of Kṛṣṅa's instructions, it is condemned. Aśocyān anvaśocas tvam [Bg 2.11]: "You are lamenting on the bodily concept of life." Because anyone who is in the bodily concept of life, he is no better than animal.

So our all morality, all social status, all politics, all philosophy—everything is on this bodily concept of life. We want to enjoy senses. Senses mean different parts of the body. So one who is interested with the body—that means one who is interested with the senses—their only business is how to... [end]