"Transfer Your Attachment"

75/01/25 Hong Kong, Bhagavad-gita 7.1


Nitai: "Now hear, O son of Prtha (Arjuna), how by practicing yoga in full consciousness of Me, with mind attached to Me, you can know Me in full, free from doubt."

Prabhupada:

sri bhagavan uvaca
mayy asakta-manah partha
yogam yunjan mad-asrayah
asamsayam samagram mam
yatha jnasyasi tac chrnu
[Bg. 7.1]

Arjuna is hearing from Krsna, and Krsna is speaking to Arjuna directly. How fortunate is Arjuna, that he is directly hearing from Krsna, the Supreme Personality of Godhead. Here, therefore, it is said, bhagavan uvaca. Bhagavan. Not ordinary teacher, a human being, or a living being, but Bhagavan.

There are two living beings. One is Bhagavan, and the other is the living being as we are. That is the Vedic version. Nityo nityanam cetanas cetananam. Bhagavan means He is also a living being. He is not nirakara. When we say bhagavan nirakara, that means either we have no knowledge of Bhagavan or nirakara means He is not a form like us. Our form and Krsna's form -- different. Krsna is complete spiritual, divine, and we are, at the present moment, although we have got our spiritual form within this body, but because we have no vision of the spiritual form, we are taking this body as our form. This is called illusion.

The spiritual form is there. That is realization of Brahman, aham brahmasmi. The Vedic injunction is just to understand that I am not this body. If anyone is under the concept of this body -- "I am this body," "I am Hindu," "I am Muslim," "I am Christian," "I am American," "I am Indian" -- in this way, with the bodily concept of life, we are thinking we are different from one another. At the same time, we desire that there may be unity of the human society, of the human being, and we can live peacefully. That is very desirable thing. That is the thing we require to understand. But so long we are on the bodily concept of life, this goal cannot be achieved.

Unless we have got spiritual understanding, we'll have to present ourself with this bodily designation. This is designation: "I am Hindu," "I am Muslim," "I am Christian," "I am Bengali," "I am Sindhi," "I am Punjabi," "I am American" These are all bodily conception of life. And so long we are in the bodily concepts of our life, we are no better than the animals, cats and dogs. That is the statement of Vedic literature.

yasyatma-buddhih kunape tri-dhatuke
sva-dhih kalatradisu bhauma ijya-dhih
yat-tirtha-buddhih salile na karhicij
janesv abhijnesu sa eva go-kharah
[SB 10.84.13]

Go means cow, and kharah means asses. So yasya atma-buddhih: "A person who thinks himself atma-buddhih, as ‘I am this body...' " Yasyatma-buddhih kunape tri-dhatuke. This body is made of tri-dhatu, three dhatus: kapha, pitta, vayu. "So this kapha, pitta, vayu, this body, I am not this body." This is self-realization. "I am different from this bag of flesh and bone." When we realize completely, that is the first point of self-realization.

In the Second Chapter of the Bhagavad-gita Krsna has begun the philosophy of Bhagavad-gita from this point, that "I am not this body." This is the beginning of spiritual knowledge. So long we are entrapped with the bodily concept of life, there is no question of spiritual life. That is the beginning. What is that? Dehino 'smin yatha dehe kaumaram yauvanam jara, tatha dehantara-praptih [Bg. 2.13]. The soul, the spirit soul, dehi, one who possesses the deha, body... Just like grhi. Grhi means one who remains in a home. He is called grhi, grhastha. Grhastha. Grha, the room or the apartment, and stha, who is staying there with husband, wife, children -- he is called grhastha. But the grhi is not the person who is staying within the grha. He is different from the grha. Similarly, dehi and deha. Deha means this body, and dehi means who lives within the body. That is first of all explained. Dehinah asmin dehe: "In this body there is the resident of the body." That is soul. That is the beginning of spiritual knowledge. Dehino 'smin yatha dehe kaumaram yauvanam jara, tatha dehantara-praptih [Bg. 2.13].

So dehi... Just like we change from one place to another, from one apartment to another. That you have got experience. Similarly, in the material condition of life we, the proprietor of the body, we are changing, tatha dehantara-praptih, from one body to another. This is the first knowledge, preliminary knowledge. People have no preliminary knowledge even. Everyone is thinking, "I am this body." "I am Indian," "I am American," "I am Hindu," "I am Muslim," "I am brahmana," "I am ksatriya." It is not this body I am. I am put into this body under certain circumstances. Otherwise I am not this body.

So this realization can be possible by yoga practice, mystic yoga. So there are many yogis. Generally, the hatha-yogis or astanga-yogis who try to understand himself by mystic yoga process... But this has been summarized in the Bhagavad-gita at the end of the Sixth Chapter. I am just trying to read from the Seventh Chapter. So at the end of the Sixth Chapter, Bhagavan says, yoginam api sarvesam: "There are many yogis. So out of all the yogis..." Yoginam api sarvesam [Bg. 6.47]. Sarvesam means "of all." There are different yogis. Yoginam api sarvesam mad-gata, mad-gatenantar-atmana. The yogic practice is to meditate upon the Supreme Personality of Godhead Visnu within the heart. Dhyanavasthita-tad-gatena manasa pasyanti yam yoginah [SB 12.13.1]. Those who are yogis, they see the Paramatma. The Paramatma is in everyone's heart. So they want to find out where is Paramatma within the heart. This is sum and substance of yoga system.

So yoga means connecting link. We are... Our link is now separated. Somehow or other, we are thinking separate from God. But actually that is not the fact. We are interlinked always with God, with Krsna. But some way or other, there is some difficulty. That is called maya. Just like we are living under the sunshine always. At night there is some difficulty to see the sun, but sun is there, and I am also here. That's a fact. Everyone knows. Now, the earthly planet has turned around. The sun is on the back side of this earth. It is in America now. So sun is there, the American people are seeing sun, but on account of the different position of this earth we cannot see the sun. That does not mean there is no sun. The sunshine is always existing. It is shadowed by this earthly planet. Similarly when... Our relationship with God or Krsna is always existing, but when there is some intervention, maya, then we think, "There is no God" or "I am God," like that.

So this misconception of life, that "I am God," "There is no God..." Atheists and voidists, they say like that. The voidists, they say sunyavadi. They say, "There is no God." And the impersonalists, they say that there is God, but there is no head, there is no leg, there is no hand, there is no mouth, there is no, no, no... Ultimately, what is their God? If God has no head, no leg, no body, no mouth, then what is that God? That is also another way of explaining God as zero. The voidists, they directly say, "There is no God. We don't believe in God." That is understandable. But this impersonal explanation of God, that is not understandable. What is this? "God has no leg, neither God has no head, God has no hand, God has no mouth." Then what is that God? They cannot say.

So this impersonalists and the voidists, they are of the same group, denying the existence of God. But that is not the fact. There is God. The devotees know there is God, and He is Bhagavan. God is called Bhagavan Therefore although it is said here... Bhagavad-gita is spoken by Krsna, everyone knows. But in some places in the Bhagavad-gita it is described as bhagavan uvaca. Bhagavan and Krsna -- the same person. Krsnas tu bhagavan svayam. Bhagavan, there is a definition of the word bhagavan.

aisvaryasya samagrasya
viryasya yasasah sriyah
jnana-vairagyayos caiva
sannam bhaga itingana

Bhaga, we understand the word bhagyavan, bhagya. The bhagya, bhagyavan, this word comes from bhaga. Bhaga means opulence. Opulence means riches. How one man can be opulent? If he has got money, if he has got intelligence, if he has got beauty, if he has got reputation, if he has got knowledge, if he has got renunciation -- this is the meaning of Bhagavan.

So when we speak "Bhagavan," this Bhagavan, the Paramesvara... Isvara, Paramesvara; Atma, Paramatma; Brahman, Parabrahman -- there is two words. One is ordinary, and the other is parama, supreme. Just like in our cooking process we can cook varieties of rice. Rice is there. The varieties of names are there: anna, paramanna, puspanna, kicoranna, like that. So the supreme anna is called paramanna. Parama means the supreme. Anna, the rice, is there, but it has become supreme. Ordinary rice is not called supreme rice. This is also rice. And when you prepare rice with ksira, means milk, and other nice ingredients, it is called paramanna. Similarly, the symptoms of living entities and Bhagavan -- one is practically the same. Bhagavan... We have got this body; Bhagavan has got this body. Bhagavan is also living being; we are also living being. Bhagavan has got creative energy; we have also creative energy. But the difference is He is very great. Eko yo bahunam vidadhati kaman. When Bhagavan creates this whole universe, He does not require anyone's help. He creates the sky. From the sky there is sound; from the sound there is air; from the air there is fire; from fire there is water; and from water the earth is there.

So Bhagavan creates by His energy. That is stated in the Bhagavad-gita, bhumir apo 'nalo vayuh kham mano buddhir eva ca, bhinna me prakrtir astadha. He can create. Just like, take for example, water. Water... Sometimes we also create water by perspiration. Perspiration, we may create one satap(?), one ounce or two ounce water, or say four ounce, five ounce. So similarly, this same creative power is of Krsna, but He can create millions of Pacific Oceans. The process is the same. We can create a little thing. We have created this airplane; that is also flying in the sky. And there are millions and millions of planets; that is also flying and floating in the sky. So that is the difference. We can create a small airplane, airship, and flying in the sky, and Bhagavan has created innumerable universes flying in the sky, and He has created the sky also. The creative energy is there. You have got the creative energy, but you cannot create another planet which is floating in the sky. That is not possible. That is the difference between living entity and Bhagavan. The similarity is there. We are creating big, big factories, big, big cities, and Bhagavan is creating big, big universes. How He is creating, that is also stated in the sastra. Yasyaika-nisvasita-kalam athavalambya jivanti loma-vilaja jagad-anda-nathah [Bs. 5.48]. Bhagavan is creating by His breathing process innumerable universes. So we can create a skyscraper building, and we become very proud that "How we have become advanced. We have created a skyscraper building." But we do not see that Bhagavan is creating millions of planets where millions and millions of skyscraper buildings are standing. This is understanding of Bhagavan.

So how we can understand Bhagavan's energy, how we can understand His creative energy, and what is the potency of Bhagavan, how He is doing that, everything -- that is also a great science. That is called Krsna science. Krsna-tattva-jnana. Yei krsna-tattva-vetta, sei guru haya [Cc. Madhya 8.128]. Caitanya Mahaprabhu says that who is guru. Guru means yei krsna-tattva-vetta sei guru haya: "Anyone who knows Krsna, he is guru." Guru cannot be manufactured. Anyone who knows about Krsna as far as possible... We cannot know. We cannot know Krsna cent percent. That is not possible. Krsna's energies are so multi. Parasya saktir vividhaiva sruyate. One energy is working in one way, another energy is working another way. But they are all Krsna's energy. Parasya saktir vividhaiva sruyate. Mayadhyaksena prakrtih suyate sa-caracaram [Bg. 9.10]. The prakrti... We see this flower is coming out of the nature, and not only flower, so many things are coming out -- through the seed. The rose seed, there will be rose tree. Bela seed, there will be bela tree. So how it is happening? The same ground, the same water, and seed also looks like the same, but it is coming out differently. How it is possible? That is called parasya saktir vividhaiva sruyate svabhaviki jnana. The ordinary man or the so-called scientist, they say, "It is nature producing." But they do not know what is nature, who is supervising the natural activities, the material nature, how it is working.

That is said in the Bhagavad-gita, mayadhyaksena [Bg. 9.10]. Krsna says, "Under My superintendence the nature is working." That is the fact. Nature, the matter... Matter cannot combine together automatically. These skyscraper buildings, they are created with matter, but the matter has not come to become skyscraper building automatically. That is not possible. There is a small, tiny spirit soul, the engineer or the architect, who takes the matter and decorate it and creates a skyscraper building. That is our experience. So how we can say that the matter is working automatically? Matter does not work automatically. It requires higher brain, higher manipulation, therefore higher order. Just like in this material world we have got the highest order, the sun, movement of the sun, the heat energy, light energy of the sun. So how it is being utilized? That is stated in the sastra: yasyajnaya bhramati sambhrta-kala-cakro govindam adi-purusam tam aham bhajami **. This sun planet is also a planet like this planet. As in this planet there may be many presidents, but formerly there was one president only, so similarly, in each planet there is a president. In the sun planet we receive this knowledge from Bhagavad-gita. Krsna says, imam vivasvate yogam proktavan aham avyayam: [Bg. 4.1] "I first of all spoke this science of Bhagavad-gita to Vivasvan." Vivasvan means the president of the sun globe, and his son is Manu. This is the time. This time is going on. It is called Vaivasvata Manu period. Vaivasvata means from Vivasvan, the son of Vivasvan. He is called Vaivasvata Manu.

So everything is there in the sastra. So it is our duty the human life to get knowledge from sastra. That is, means Veda. Veda means knowledge. Get knowledge from the standard Veda. Tad-vijnanartham sa gurum evabhigacchet: [MU 1.2.12] "In order to understand that Vedic knowledge, one has to go to the proper master, teacher." Tad viddhi pranipatena pariprasnena sevaya [Bg. 4.34]. These are the things. Now, if you want to know Krsna, Bhagavan... Here it is said, bhagavan uvaca, Bhagavan says, mayy asakta, mayi asakta. Therefore if you become attached... We have got attachment for so many things. But if we transfer that attachment to Krsna, then, Krsna says, mayy asakta-manah partha yogam yunjan mad-asrayah. You have to adopt this yogic process, meditation. Meditation... Unless you have got love for somebody, attachment for somebody, how you can think of him always? That is not possible. By force I cannot say that "You think of this thing or this man." That is not possible. If I have got attachment for a certain thing or a certain person, then we can think of that person or that thing. That is called yoga, connecting always, keeping linked always. That is called yoga. So if you want to know perfectly or as far as you can understand through your senses, mayy asakta-manah, then you transfer your attachment to Krsna. This is the advice. If we want to know Krsna, then we have to transfer our attachment to Krsna. Mayy asakta-manah. The mind should be attached to Krsna.

Now, Krsna is there. We have got Krsna's picture, Krsna's photo, Krsna's temple, so many Krsna's. They are not fictitious. They are not imagination, as the Mayavadi philosopher thinks, that "You can imagine in your mind." No. God cannot be imagined. That is another foolishness. How you can imagine God? Then God become subject matter of your imagination. He is no substance. That is not God. What is imagined, that is not God. God is present before you, Krsna. He comes here on this planet. Tadatmanam srjamy aham, sambhavami yuge yuge. So those who have seen God, you take information from them.

tad viddhi pranipatena
pariprasnena sevaya
upadeksyanti te jnanam
jnaninas tattva-darsinah
[Bg. 4.34]

Tattva-darsinah. Unless you have seen, how you can give information of the truth to others? So God is seen, not only seen in the history. In the history, when Krsna was present on this planet, the history of Battle of Kuruksetra where this Bhagavad-gita was spoken, that is a historical fact. So we can see through history also Bhagavan Sri Krsna and through sastra also. Sastra-caksusa. Just like at the present moment, Krsna is not physically present, but we understand through sastra what is Krsna.

So sastra-caksusa. Sastra... Either you take direct perception or through the sastra... Through the sastra the perception is better than direct perception. Therefore our knowledge, those who are following the Vedic principles, their knowledge is derived from the Vedas. They do not manufacture any knowledge. If one thing is understood by the evidence of the Vedas, that is fact. So Krsna is understood through the Vedas. Vedais ca sarvair aham eva vedyah [Bg. 15.15]. That is stated in the Bhagavad-gita. You cannot imagine of Krsna. If some rascal says that "I am imagining," that is rascaldom. You have to see Krsna through the Vedas. Vedais ca sarvair aham eva vedyah [Bg. 15.15]. That is the purpose of studying Vedas. Therefore it is called Vedanta. Krsna's knowledge is Vedanta. Anta means the end, the last word, last word. So last word... What is the last word of Vedic knowledge? Brahmeti paramatmeti bhagavan iti sabdyate. First of all knowledge of the Brahman, then Paramatma, then last knowledge is Krsna. Krsnas tu bhagavan svayam. Janmady asya yatah [SB 1.1.1]. Krsna says, aham sarvasya prabhavah. Sarvasya, or Brahman, Paramatma, and Bhagavan. The Bhagavan is the origin of Paramatma and Brahman. Brahmanah aham pratistha.

So in this way you have to understand what is Krsna, not superficially. Even superficially you understand, even you do not understand, if you accept Krsna, the Supreme, then either you read Vedas or not Vedas, the same thing, because you have come to the conclusion. Suppose if there is fire. So the fire burns. So if you come to fire, if you have felt the heat and light, then either you know chemically what is fire, wherefrom it is coming... You know or may not know, but because you have come to the fire, the action of the fire will be perceived by you. Similarly, Krsna says either you are very learned scholar or not, whatever you may be, if you simply concentrate your mind and attachment for Krsna... Mayy asakta-manah. Asakta means attachment. And mind, manas means mind.

So if you practice this yoga... This is yoga. Mayy asakta-manah partha yogam yunjan. This is yoga. Yes, I was speaking that when Krsna explained yoga system, He concluded,

yoginam api sarvesam
mad-gatenantar-atmana
sraddhavan bhajate yo mam
sa me yuktatamo matah
[Bg. 6.47]

Anyone... There are hundreds and thousands varieties of yogi. The first-class yogi is he who is always thinking of Krsna. He is first-class yogi. Mayy asakta... Yoginam api sarvesam mad-gatenantar-atmana. Antar-atmana is in the core of heart. He is keeping the picture of Krsna. Krsna is there, but because we cannot see now in the present condition, so we are seeing the formation of Krsna, either from picture or from the Deity in the temple. And keep it within your heart always and think of Him -- you become first-class yogi. Yoginam api sarvesam. And if you continue this yoga system, yogam yunjan mad-asrayah...

So how you can practice this yoga? This yoga system is that yogam yunjan mad-asrayah, and in the previous verse it is said that mad-gatena antar-atmana. If you keep Krsna always within your heart in this way, mayy asakta-manah, the mind being, thus being attached, mayy asakta, this is yoga. This yoga has to be practiced, how to keep Krsna always within your heart. That is first-class yoga. Mayy asakta-manah partha. Yogam, this yogam yunjan mad-asrayah. And this yoga practice can be possible by the process: mad-asrayah. Mad-asrayah means "one who has taken shelter of Me." Mat means "Me," and asrayah means to take shelter. That means devotee. Or mad-asrayah means one who has taken the shelter of a devotee. A devotee is also mad-asrayah. A devotee means who has taken shelter of the lotus feet of Krsna completely. So either you... Of course, it is not possible to take the shelter of Krsna directly. That is not possible. May be possible by Krsna's special mercy, but general process is you have to go through the mercy or process of accepting a guru. Tad-vijnanartham sa gurum eva abhigacchet [MU 1.2.12]. Guru. And who is guru? Yei krsna-tattva-vetta sei guru haya [Cc. Madhya 8.128]. There is no difficulty to find out. Sometimes they plead that "Whom I can accept as guru?" That is... Caitanya Mahaprabhu has cleared: ye krsna-tattva-vetta sei guru haya. You haven't got any trouble to find out guru. Anyone who knows about Krsna, he is guru.

So mad-asrayah means directly we cannot take shelter of Krsna. Therefore, one who has taken shelter of Krsna, one who knows the science of Krsna, one who knows what is Krsna -- you take shelter of that person. Mad-asrayah. Taking shelter, adau gurv-asrayam, that is the process of this Krsna consciousness movement. Adau, in the beginning, you have to take shelter of guru. Adau gurv-asrayam sad-dharma-prccha: "Then you inquire from him about Krsna." Sad-dharma-prccha, sadhu-marganugamanam: "Then follow the footstep of big, big devotees." Just like Prahlada Maharaja, a great devotee; Kapiladeva, a great devotee; and similarly, Brahma, a great devotee. Lord Siva is great devotee; Narada Muni, a great devotee. There are... Especially twelve names are given in the sastras, that we have to follow them. That is called sampradaya. Sampradaya means coming in disciplic succession from the original guru. Just like Krsna instructed Brahma, so Brahma is one of the gurus. So Brahma-sampradaya there is. Brahma-sampradaya. Our this Gaudiya-sampradaya belongs to that Brahma-sampradaya. In this way there is Ramanuja-sampradaya. This sampradaya comes from the goddess of fortune, Laksmiji. Sri-sampradaya. In this way there are twelve mahajanas. They are stated in the sastra. Mahajano yena gatah sa panthah. We have to take the path of mahajana, and the purpose is how to increase your attachment for Krsna. This is the business. And this business, you can occupy yourself in this human form of life. In other form of life...

We are changing our form of life from one body to another, but if we want to understand God... That is essential. So long we do not understand God, so long we do not go back to home, back to Godhead, our struggle for existence will continue. Manah sasthanindriyani prakrti-sthani karsati [Bg. 15.7]. They struggle. Everyone struggles hard to become happy, but that is not possible. Simply searching after, searching after happiness, our time comes: "Finished. Your business is finished. Now get out." That is called death. So death is also Krsna. Krsna says in the Bhagavad-gita, mrtyuh sarva-haras caham. Mrtyu, Krsna, comes as death. During your lifetime, if you do not understand Krsna consciousness, this Krsna will come as death and take away everything what you have got. Sarva-harah. Then your body, your family, your country, your bank, everything business, business -- finished. "Now you have to accept another body. You forget about all these things." This is going on. Bhutva bhutva praliyate.

So this Krsna consciousness movement is the greatest benefactory movement to the human society because it is giving information to the human society that "You make your life... You have got this nice human form of body. Make this life perfect by understanding Krsna." This is the opportunity. You may think of independent of Krsna. You are not independent of Krsna. You are under the rules and regulation of Krsna, because we are under the rules and regulation of material nature. But what is this material nature? Material nature is agent of Krsna. Mama maya. Krsna says, mama maya duratyaya. You cannot surmount the stringent laws of material ways. And this maya is Krsna's maya. Therefore the conclusion is given by Krsna, mam eva ye prapadyante mayam etam taranti te [Bg. 7.14]. If you want to get out of the maya's activities, prakrteh kriyamanani gunaih karmani [Bg. 3.27], then you have to take to Krsna consciousness. There is no way out. This is a scientific movement. Anyone, intelligent person, any thoughtful person, he must take to Krsna consciousness. Otherwise he is doomed.

Thank you very much. (end)

>>> Ref. VedaBase => Bhagavad-gita 7.1 -- Hong Kong, January 25, 1975