0:04 Hare Krishna, I'll just offer a small prayer and then begin. Om agyan timirandhasya gyananjana shalakaya chakshurunmilitam yena tasmai shri gurave namah shri chaitanya manobhishtam sthapitam yena bhutale svayam rupa kadam ayyam dadati svapradantikam vande aham shri guru shriyutah pada kamalam shri guru shri rupam sagrajatam sahagana raghunatham vitamtam sajivam sadvaitam savadhutam parijana sahitam krishna chaitanya devam shri radha krishna padan
0:51 sahagana lalita shri vishakhanvitams cha he krishna karuna sindhu dina bandhu jagat pate gopesha gopika kanta radha kanta namostute tapta kanchana gaurangi radhe vrindavaneshwari vrishabhanu sute devi pranamami hari priye vancha kalpatarubhyas cha kripa sindhubhya eva cha patitanam pavanebhyo vaishnavebhyo namo namah jai shri krishna chaitanya prabhu nityananda shri advaita gadadhara shrivas adi gaura bhakta vrinda hare krishna hare krishna krishna
1:40 krishna hare hare hare rama hare rama rama rama hare hare Hare Krishna, good morning, good evening depending on where wherever you are you are located. Um I would like to express my gratitude and my heartfelt joy to see all of you here on this Zoom platform eagerly wanting to attend Bhagavad Gita classes and understand the entire Gita in totality in about 36 sessions. Um I have been teaching the Bhagavad Gita for years now. Probably this is the 10th batch of Gita that I'm taking in
2:25 totality. I've taken several batches and each batch usually runs for about two or three years where I'm you know teach the entire Gita in detail. But this particular batch that began I thought I'll do it in essence. You know, just in 36 sessions we complete the entire Gita. Of course, you know, this will just give you a overview of the whole Gita and you might want to dive deeper into the Gita yourself or take other classes to go much deeper into the Gita, but this will definitely give you an overview of the whole Bhagavad Gita. So the plan is to do every chapter of the Gita in two sessions. Essentially Gita has totally 18 chapters.
3:11 So each chapter considering approximately two sessions. Some chapters I might do it in one session also and some chapters might go to three sessions also, but roughly I'll I'll try to wind up this entire Bhagavad Gita batch in about 36 sessions from now. So from wherever you are in the world, I really admire your you know desire to learn the Gita and I'm hoping that I will be able to do justice to your desire to learn and absorb yourself in the Gita. Many of you um Yeah, many of you are um novices to understanding Gita. Many of you do not understand anything about Gita, and many of you are
3:57 probably PhD level on understanding Gita, you know. Uh whatever level you are of understanding Gita, you will still find a lot of benefit in these classes. Uh those who are absolutely new to the Gita philosophy, they will find uh it completely refreshing and completely changing the way you look at life itself. And for those who are experts, they will find a lot of um deeper understanding of things that you already knew. Um before I started the entire Bhagavad Gita this particular series, I did something called the journey of self-discovery. Um many of you have been a part of that as well, but many of you have straight away come to the Gita classes.
4:43 Um you know, the journey of self-discovery was a much smaller group. Uh I purposely kept it like that, but then, you know, when we started the Bhagavad Gita, we just felt why not just open it up to everybody, you know? And that's what uh this uh batch resulted in. Um so, those who have not heard the basics of Gita or journey of self-discovery course, which is a six-session course, I'm going to drop the link of the six-session course in the group itself, in the WhatsApp group, which all of you are a part of. Please go through those six sessions, uh and they will immensely aid you in this journey of understanding Gita, right? Those of you who have already gone through the journey of self-discovery course, you might want to do it again just as a revision.
5:28 All said and done, we will begin the Bhagavad Gita by diving deep into chapter one of the Bhagavad Gita. The first verse of chapter one of the Bhagavad Gita begins with a very interesting verse, Dhritarashtra uvacha, Dharmakshetre Kurukshetre samaveta yuyutsavah, mamaka Pandavas caiva, kim akurvata Sanjay. So, this verse begins with the word Dhritarashtra uvaca. And it gives us uh an understanding of the context of the Bhagavad Gita. Before we dive into the Gita, it is important to understand the context in which the Gita was spoken. And therefore, the first word of this of this holy book is Dhritarashtra uvaca.
6:16 Not exactly the best word to begin the Gita with, isn't it? Dhritarashtra. It represents the blind king. You know, it represents someone who stood for his entire life on adharma, on doing the wrong things in life. And Gita is supposed to be the life manual for all of us. It is supposed to be the guide book for all of for all humanity. And it begins with the word Dhritarashtra. Um so, which simply tells us that no matter how holy you are you always have a background which is not so holy, isn't it? Um all of us have some negative baggage that we're all carrying.
7:02 But yet, the Bhagavad Gita doesn't condemn us for only having those negative baggages. The Bhagavad Gita is a book that helps us transcend and go ahead. The Bhagavad Gita is in the context of the Mahabharata where the Mahabharata war was supposed to happen. Um the the Kauravas and the Pandavas are assembled together on a battlefield and a massive war is about to be triggered. This war uh was due to the silence of the blind king Dhritarashtra. Um there are many people in this world who are very powerful. But um if they're going doing something wrong, there should be someone who should correct them.
7:48 But, unfortunately, if no one is going to correct them, where will they learn from? There was a young boy who got sentenced in court for a lot of crime that he had done. And while he was being sentenced, his aunt was very much in the courtroom. And after the trial got over and he was sentenced, this man wanted to meet his aunt for one moment. Um the police allowed him to meet the aunt for a moment. He went and he hugged the aunt. And while hugging, he bit off the ears of the aunt. And people were shocked and bewildered seeing How can someone do that? This man, he said, "If only my aunt had corrected me the first time I'd made a mistake, I would
8:33 not be here. With this, my aunt just kept quiet. Every time I made a mistake, she just kept quiet. Uh and because, you know, she kept quiet, look at where I am today." So, Dhritarashtra represents that person who is um who didn't take the responsibility of training his dependents. The Kauravas, who headed by Duryodhana, where they were at this point in time, was because of the silence of this blind king. There are many people in this world who are blind, but just because somebody is blind, just because somebody is, you know, um having some kind of weakness, it doesn't mean they're allowed to do what they want. Dhritarashtra used his blindness
9:22 as a meanness. Every time he was asked, "Why didn't you correct your sons?" Dhritarashtra would say, "What can I do? I'm a blind person. What can I do? I'm a weak person." So, every time he was asked to own up, be responsible for his mistakes, he simply used his blindness as an excuse. So, whenever you use your weakness to become your meanness, it results in Dhritarashtra. And that's why this book begins with Dhritarashtra uvacha. Of course, um this particular, you know, it began with Dhritarashtra's mistakes. And then, eventually, there are many people who tried to correct Dhritarashtra's mistakes. There are many people who tried to, you know, help
10:08 Dhritarashtra see things. Bhishma helped him. Vidura helped him. So [snorts] many people helped him. Finally, Krishna himself came to Hastinapura, and he spoke his words of wisdom to inspire Dhritarashtra to understand the reality. But unfortunately, even when Krishna came to as a peace messenger, you know, Dhritarashtra just didn't understand. And not only did Dhritarashtra not understand, his son Duryodhana went to another level in front of Krishna in the courtroom. When when Krishna came as a peace messenger, Duryodhana had made a plot. He wanted to wanted to punish Krishna. He wanted to tie up Krishna. So, he had his people sitting in the in the courtroom waiting for his instructions.
10:56 And when Krishna came to the courtroom, he proposed a peace message. He told Duryodhana, "The Pandavas don't want to fight. But they want something. They They are Kshatriyas. They need to rule something. So, they are they are saying that they don't want their entire kingdom. Just give them five villages." Why did the Pandavas choose five villages? They specifically named five villages. And the reason they chose five villages is because, of course, one reason is that there are five Pandavas, so each one gets to, you know, at least manage one village. But more importantly, the five villages were chosen because these were the five places where Duryodhana and his brothers had hurt the Pandavas. It is explained wherever whichever place a great devotee is hurt
11:42 or maligned, disturbed, blasphemed, that place gets destroyed. Yudhishthira was concerned about the development of that place and the people of those villages because he didn't want, you know, them to suffer because of the mistakes that Duryodhana did in the in those villages. And that's why they specifically asked for those five villages. When Krishna gave this proposal, "Can you please give five villages to the Pandavas? And they don't want anything else." Duryodhana not only flatly refused, he insulted Krishna by saying, "Forget five villages. I will not even give that much land that is occupied by a needle. When a needle is pricked on the ground, how much land will it occupy?" He said, "That much land also I
12:27 won't give the Pandavas." And that's when Krishna realized that this man is beyond arrogance. Krishna Duryodhana tells the tells in front of everybody. He says, "I know what dharma is, but I won't I don't feel like following it." And he says, "I know what adharma is. I feel like following that only." Imagine the arrogance and and you know, the kind of overconfidence Duryodhana had that nobody could check him, nobody could correct him. And that's when the worst thing that possible could happened. Krishna's throne, you know, they they provided a seat for Krishna to sit on. And the seat on which Krishna sat, it broke. Duryodhana had created a seat that was very fragile. And at some point the seat broke. When the seat broke, the the the expectation that Duryodhana had was that Krishna
13:13 would fall on the ground. And the moment Krishna would fall on the ground, all the soldiers would attack him. Duryodhana's soldiers would attack him, and they would tie him up and put him in prison. And he thought if the if Krishna is imprisoned, the Pandavas will not have guts to fight. But unfortunately, the exact opposite happened. The moment the throne broke, instead of Krishna falling, he rose. And he rose to become to exhibit the vishvarupa, massive form. He showed such a massive brilliant form. It is explained before Arjun saw the vishvarupa, Duryodhana saw it. Not everybody learns the same thing, isn't it? Even when you You know, if you and me see the vishvarupa, not necessarily we will experience what Arjun experienced in Bhagavad Gita. We might experience what Duryodhana experienced, which is nothing, right?
14:00 When Duryodhana saw the vishvarupa, he is telling, "This guy is showing magic tricks. Arrest him." Imagine, he's showing vishvarupa, you know, which he's proving that he is God, and according to Duryodhana, he's a magician. Unfortunately, there are magicians who do magic tricks, and people consider them to be God. And here is God who's actually exhibiting vishvarupa, and Duryodhana is dismissing him as a magician. And that's when the the massive form of Krishna was exhibited in the courtroom. Of course, not everybody had the vision to see it, but one man, he actually saw the vishvarupa, and that was Dhritarashtra. Duryodhana saw the vishvarupa, and Dhritarashtra, the blind man who had never seen anything in his life, saw the
14:46 vishvarupa. And when Dhritarashtra saw the vishvarupa, he was bewildered. Because from his childhood, he had never seen anything. Imagine what a fortune this man had. The only thing he ever saw in his life was vishvarupa of Krishna. Isn't it? I mean, how fortunate is that? And unfortunately, after seeing the vishvarupa of Krishna, he still didn't get it. And that is how attachments are. That is the power of attachments. You know, attachments make us deaf to good advice. Attachments make us blind to the realities of life. Attachments completely strip away our intelligence to understand what is logically correct. When Krishna's Vishvarupa was visible,
15:33 Dhritarashtra saw it, and yet he was not transformed. You know, when when they catch monkeys in Africa, what they do is that they put a bottle with with a very thin neck, and inside that bottle, a glass bottle, they keep uh good nuts inside it. So, the monkeys are excited. When they see those nuts, they put their hand inside the bottle, and they catch hold of those nuts. They're trying to pull out their hand. Their hands they they have a fist filled with those nuts, right? And it gets stuck in the bottle neck, and it's not able to come out. But the monkey, he has What What does he have to do to remove his hand out? He simply has to open his hand, let go of those nuts, and just like the way his hand has went in, it'll come out.
16:19 But unfortunately, once the monkey holds those nuts, it gets so attached to those nuts, he doesn't have the capacity to drop them. He doesn't have the capacity to let go of those nuts. And that is exactly what Dhritarashtra is. You know, he was a nut. You know, he was he caught hold of something, he was attached to his son so badly, and because that attachment was so intense, therefore, he was not able to open his hand. He was not able to let go. He simply could have removed his hand. You know, at least when he saw the Vishvarupa, he could have done that. But unfortunately, he didn't do that. And therefore, uh this Bhagavad Gita first chapter starts with Dhritarashtra uvacha.
17:05 The word "Dha" it stands for the word Dharma. Dhritarashtra, the word the first letter of the Bhagavad Gita is Dha. Dhritarashtra is the first word of the Gita. But the first letter of the Gita is the. And the stands for the first part of Dharma. The and the last part of Dharma is ma, right? The word Dharma has the in the beginning and ma in the end. And the last word of the Bhagavad Gita, you know, it's it's a word spoken by Sanjaya. Yatra Yogeshwara Krishna Yatra Partho Dhanurdhara, Tatra Shri Vijayo Orbhutir Dhruva Nitir Matir Mama. This is the last word of the of the
17:51 Gita, which is ma. So, the first word of the Gita is the and the last word of the Gita is ma. And the entire Gita in between is ra. And therefore, the whole Gita is actually a manual to teach us Dharma. Right? And therefore, the first letter of the Gita starts with the. Um it teaches us what our real Dharma is. Um for a lot of people, Dharma simply means religion. But the Bhagavad Gita teaches us Dharma is not just religion. It is about understanding who you really are. It is about understanding what your constitutional duty is. Just like the Dharma of sugar is to
18:37 always be sweet. You cannot have sugar that is not sweet. The Dharma of salt is to always be salty. You cannot have salt which is not salty. Similarly, the Dharma of the Atma is to be a servant of God. Jivera Swarupa Hoye Krishnera Nitya Das. And without understanding this Dharma, there's nothing else that really matters. There's nothing else that really, you know, um makes sense. So, the Bhagavad Gita starts with the concept of the Dharma. Um when um just before the Kurukshetra war, Arjun had to make a choice. He had to choose between Krishna and Krishna's army. When Duryodhana and Arjun had gone after the peace message was done and Krishna returned back to
19:22 Dwaraka, uh Duryodhana and Krishna Duryodhana and Arjun simultaneously reached Krishna to ask him to join the war and be a part of their team. Um of course, Krishna gave Arjun the first choice. And Arjun had to choose between Krishna, who was going to be unarmed and not participating in the war by fighting, or his Narayani Sena, which was the most powerful army of that era. And of course, Arjun chose Krishna. And that choice represents his understanding of Dharma. And of course, Duryodhana was very happy that he got the Narayani Sena. And now that made his uh his entire army into 11 Akshauhini Sena.
20:09 That is 11 divisions. And Arjun, the Pandavas, had seven divisions. It was quite an unfair, uh you know, siding, right? So, Dhritarashtra, the moment the war you know, the the two armies are assembled together, he's asking Sanjaya a question. Dhritarashtra had uh his secretary named Sanjaya, who was given the blessings by Vyasa Deva to be able to see and hear everything that was happening on the battlefield while they were stationed in their own uh you know, palaces chambers. So, Dhritarashtra had what is called as Divya Drishti. He had a Doordarshan. You know, that's where the whole term of Doordarshan came from, you know. Uh so, from far away, Sanjaya could actually
20:55 see what was happening and hear what was happening in the war. Uh and Sanjaya Dhritarashtra asks Sanjaya, Dhritarashtra uvacha. So, he's um you know, he's he it begins with a question, you know? Dharmakshetre Kurukshetre Samaveta Yuyutsavah Mamakah Pandavas Chaiva Kim Akurvata Sanjay. So, he's asking Sanjay a simple question. He's saying Dharmakshetre Kurukshetre. Dharmakshetra means the place of of Dharma. And Kurukshetra is the name of the place. Why is Kurukshetra called Dharmakshetra? The reason Kurukshetra is called Dharmakshetra is for is for multiple reasons. One of the reasons is that that is the that's been a place
21:40 where many many sages in the past have performed great tapasya. And because so many exalted personalities have performed great tapasya on that land, that land is a holy land. It's a Dharmakshetra. And it will have an influence on both the Kauravas and the Pandavas. So, Dhritarashtra wants to know is Dharmakshetra influencing my sons? Are they changing their minds? Is Dharmakshetra influencing the Pandavas? Are they changing their minds? So, his question is not just a very innocent question, but it's very political question. And it's a very shrewd question. Dhritarashtra knows not only is Dharmakshetra pure because great sages have done over uh done great
22:26 tapasya over there. Dharmakshetra is pure because the father of Dharma, Krishna, himself is present over there. And the presence of the father of Dharma, Krishna, are the Pandavas and Kauravas getting affected? Things in touch with Krishna are Krishnaized. They become Krishnaized. It is explained that when Krishna blows the conch shell, when he blows the conch shell, the entire the conch shell is white in color. But the moment the conch shell comes in touch with Krishna's lips, the entire conch shell becomes pink in color. The effect of the presence of Krishna in one's life, it makes you evaluate your decisions. It makes you evaluate your
23:12 thought process, your intentions. And therefore, he's worried. Is Krishna's presence over there, the father of Dharma, influencing my sons and the sons of Pandu of the Pandavas? And then, of course, what happens in a Dharmakshetra? Kshetra also means field. And what happens in a field? In a field, good crops are sown and weeds are plucked out. So, in this Dharmakshetra Kurukshetra, that's exactly what is going to happen. The farmer named Krishna is going to sow good crops, which is the Pandavas, and is going to weed out, he's going to remove the bad crop, which is the Kauravas. So, Dhritarashtra wants to know what exactly is happening in Dharmakshetra Kurukshetra.
23:57 And then, he's saying, "Dharmakshetra Kurukshetra is samaveta yuyutsavah." Samaveta yuyutsavah means they're standing in front of each other. Yuyutsavah means with the desire to fight. And then he says, "Mamaka Pandavas chaiva." Mamaka means my sons and the sons of Pandu. The entire problem in the Mahabharat is because of this one word, mamaka. Mamaka means my sons. The problem is Dhritarashtra never saw the Pandavas as his people. Dhritarashtra never saw the Pandavas as his own children. He saw them as Pandavas chaiva. He saw them as sons of Pandu.
24:42 You know, when senior people uh differentiate and you know, create rifts by using mamaka and Pandava, you You using these words, mine and yours, it creates a lot of pain in somebody's heart, isn't it? And it creates a lot of favoritism. Uh it creates uh you know, polarism and so many things. Most problems in today's world are simply because of mama car and Pandavas Java. Because we are all looking at the world from the point of view of mine and yours. The more you look at the world from the point of view of mine and yours, there'll be more problems in this world and the Mahabharata is never going to end. The moment you start looking at everyone
25:29 as mine, that is when the Mahabharata stops. The Mahabharata begins the moment you start looking at mine and yours. You start differentiating. You start creating factions in your own mind first and then that manifests physically. Dhritarashtra was purposely doing this. Of course, he was not even realizing what he's doing, but he was doing this. And that is what the result of today's entire world is. Kim akurvata Sanjay, he wants to know what happened. He wants to know what exactly happened after they assembled together and they came together, right? So, Dhritarashtra, he was a pretty astute and a pretty intelligent person. And obviously now Sanjay understood what
26:15 his question was. And Sanjay replies to the question of um Dhritarashtra by saying, Drishtva to Pandava nikam vyudam Duryodhanas tada. Acharyam upasangyamya Raja vachanam abravit. So, essentially in the entire Bhagavad Gita, the full 700 verses of Gita, the word Dhritarashtra comes once. And rather Dhritarashtra Dhritarashtra speaks once. There is one verse that is spoken by Dhritarashtra. Only one verse in the entire Gita. Sanjay speaks 41 verses in the entire Gita. Arjun speaks 84 verses in the entire Gita. And Lord Krishna speaks 574 verses in
27:00 the entire Gita. Totally coming together to form about 700 verses roughly. So, in the entire Gita, the it's a Gita is a conversation between Arjun and Krishna. And that conversation is being told narrated as it is by Sanjaya to Dhritarashtra. So, it's a conversation within a conversation essentially. So, the Sanjaya is telling Dhritarashtra, Duryo- uh you know, um Drishtva tu Pandavanikam vyudham Duryodhanastada. So, he's saying Drishtva means seeing. So, Duryodhan saw uh the Pandavas. I know Pandava vyudham. He saw the formation uh created by the Pandavas. When he saw the formation created by the Pandavas,
27:46 Duryodhan was surprised. Why was Duryodhan surprised? Duryodhan was surprised by seeing the formation the Pandavas have created. Vyudham Duryodhanastada. Uh Drishtva tu Pandavanikam. So, the the moment Duryodhan saw the the view uh or the formation created by the Pandavas, he was surprised. Why was Duryodhan surprised? Duryodhan was surprised for several reasons. One of the reasons Duryodhan was surprised seeing the vyudham the formation of the Pandavas was because he saw something that he couldn't believe. One, he saw the formation itself. The formation was incredible. Uh as I said, uh the Pandavas had seven Akshauhini Sena and the Kauravas had 11
28:32 Akshauhini Sena. So, seven Akshauhinis one Akshauhini Sena roughly comes to this much. I'm just giving you some numbers. Uh one Akshauhini you can do the cal- Those who are mathematicians can do the calculations and see how many people were actually there in the war, you know. Uh one one uh Akshauhini Sena includes 21,870 chariots, uh 21,870 elephants, uh 109,650 infantrymen, uh 65,600 horsemen. This, put together, is one akshauhini. Multiply that by seven is seven akshauhini. And multiply that by 11 is 11 akshauhini. This is the magnitude of the Kurukshetra war. I don't think historically any war of
29:19 this magnitude has happened other than this, right? In terms of numbers, pure numbers. So, when Duryodhana saw the formation, he was shocked. Why was he shocked? See, these formations are very interesting. You know, I don't know how many of you all have experienced, you know, very large-scale dances that happen with perfect coordination. You know, when you see these very large-scale dances that happen with absolute precision, you realize the people who are organizing it are incredible. They're very intelligent and very, very organized. The second thing that you realize is this discipline, the amount of hard work and discipline that has gone into creating such formations. Why do you think every country has these march past
30:05 events, Republic Day, Independence Day? Why do you Why do you think these parades are done? These parades are done just to give people, common man, the confidence that the army is very disciplined, they're very hard-working, and they really are very organized. And that discipline and organization skill gives people a lot of confidence in the army. And that's why in Kurukshetra you'll find a lot of these formations. Chakravyuha, that's one of the common ones that people know. Makara vyuha, you know, makara vyuha is a crocodile formation. Then there's Krauncha vyuha, it's a bird formation. And then there's a Vajra vyuha. So, right now, Duryodhana saw that the Pandavas are organized in a Vajra Vyuha. Vajra Vyuha is not a defense formation. It's an attack formation. Vajra Vyuha is a impenetrable type of
30:52 formation. And, you know, when the when Duryodhana saw that the Pandavas were arranged in a Vajra Vyuha, and more than that, leading the Vajra Vyuha is Bhima. Duryodhana really got shocked. Because you know, he was There are three surprises Duryodhana had when he saw the formation. The first surprise was the numbers. How did the Pandavas, who had nothing, no money, no kingdom, no resources, how did they get together 11 seven Akshauhini Sena? Purely based on friendship. Purely based on relationships. Purely based on trust. You know, when there's an army that is formed which is based on purpose, it's a much more powerful army than an army that is based on money, right? When
31:39 an army is working because they identify with a cause, their power is much much more than an army that is working for money. The second surprise for Duryodhana was the formation itself. He saw that this formation was not a defense formation. They are not scared. They were wanting to attack. That means it was an aggressive formation. And third was strategically making Bhima lead it. It is a very very indicative thing that the Pandavas are very clear. They're here to get back all they lost. And putting Bhima there right in the front, uh it triggered Duryodhana. You know, see, you do not get envious of somebody who is having a different skill set than
32:25 you. Like say, for example, if you are a singer, you will not get, you know, uh get uh envious of somebody who is a uh let's say, for example, he's a pilot. It doesn't matter to you how much ever he flies, you know, it doesn't it doesn't make you envious. But if you are a you are a musician, you're a singer, you'll get envious of the person who is single like you. Right? That's the nature of envy. You know, you look for somebody who is in the similar field and then you choose to get envious of that person. Putting Bhima right in the front made it made Duryodhana crazy. He became really envious because Bhima and Duryodhana are exactly the same field. They were They were both mace fighters. They were both very powerful wrestlers. They were in the same field. And putting Duryodhana
33:11 right Bhima right in front, it really disturbed Duryodhana. And therefore, he ran towards his guru, Acharya. Acharya Upasangamya Raja Vachanam Abravit. He ran to his guru, uh, you know, to go and talk to him. Why did Duryodhana run to his guru? First, he ran because he was fearful. You know, Now, this is something that is very interesting. Duryodhana had a bigger army, but he was scared. You will not find, you know, um, the any verse in the Gita that says Arjuna ran to, you know, his guru. No. And Duryodhana ran to his guru because he was scared. Why was he scared? Anytime in your life if you have experienced fear,
33:57 fear is due to many reasons. And one of the reasons that fear comes is when your inner voice tells you that you are wrong. That's one of the reasons why when fear comes. Duryodhana knew that he was wrong. And when he saw his army, he suddenly got scared because he suddenly realized that, uh, I am wrong. And here is an army which is much, much more confident than my army, though I have more people. And he got scared. It is explained when the vanaras uh, uh in the Ramayana fought against the the rakshasas uh in Lanka, the rakshasas were more equipped, the rakshasas were more powerful, the
34:44 rakshasas were more trained, the rakshasas were uh in their own territory, the rakshasas had so much of armors and protection. And the vanaras had nothing except sticks and stones. But yet, when the vanaras attacked the rakshasas, the fight began. The roar of the vanaras, the the voice that came out from the mouth of the vanaras, it was like roaring of lions. When do you get that confidence? You get that confidence when you know you are on the right side. When you know that you are on the side of dharma, that's where the confidence comes from. When uh Duryodhana saw the Pandavas and the confidence with which they had made their formation, he got scared. And he ran to his guru, Acharya uh Raja Vachanam Abravit. Here, it is you know Sanjaya is telling
35:31 Dhritarashtra this verse. Raja Vachanam Abravit. He's calling Duryodhana as a Raja. Why is calling him the Raja Duryodhana as Raja? It's a very sarcastic way of, you know, telling his uh father. The king is going to talk to the to the guru. Sarcastically he's saying, "Duryodhana is supposed to be the king, but look at how scared he is." And what does he then go and tell the guru? "Pashyaitam Panduputranam Acharya Mahatim Chamum Yudham Drupadaputrena Tavashishyena Dhimata." So, Duryodhana goes to uh Acharya Drona, and he says like this. He he essentially um First, he says, "Pashyaitam Panduputranam." Pashyaitam
36:16 means see "Panduputra." You know? So, he's saying, "See what the uh Pandu sons of Pandavas have done." Pashyaitam Panduputranam "Acharya Mahatim Chamum." So, he's saying, uh you know Acharya Mahatim Chamum you know he's saying Vyuham Drupada Putrena. The Vyuha that the formation that has been organized is organized by Drupada Putra. So why does Duryodhana specifically use this word? So essentially Duryodhana is pointing out to two mistakes or he's stressing out two facts over here in front of Dronacharya. The first fact he's saying is Drona made a mistake by teaching Dhrishtadyumna who is Drupada Putra. Why is
37:01 Duryodhana bringing up this Drupada Putra concept over here in addressing Drona? Because he wants to trigger the anger of Dronacharya. Every human being has one weak point. And when you if you want to make them angry, you touch them at their weak point, right? This is called as hot buttons. We all have a hot button that we hide from the world. And then there is somebody who discovers that hot button. Once in a while they come and press it, you know. Initially they press it for fun and then they press it when they want to use you, you know? They want to trigger you specifically, right? So here that's exactly what Duryodhana is doing. He is touching Dronacharya at his weak point. And what is Dronacharya's weak point? Dronacharya's
37:47 weak point is a word named Drupada. Drona and Drupada were best of friends in their childhood. And they studied in the same school. They were best of friends. And at that time Drupada out of great love for his friend Drona he told him, "When I become a king later, I'll give you half my kingdom." And then of course they were kids at that point in time, you know, so it was all, you know, in it light fun. Dronacharya however, of course he went on to become a Brahmana and he got married and he had a son and And Drupada went on to become a king of the king of Panchala at point and eventually both of them drifted apart. They never met ever after the Gurukul. Somehow Dronacharya's wife um she felt uh that um you know, they
38:36 have they are they were in dire poverty. And their son Ashwatthama, he hardly had anything to eat or drink. Dronacharya's wife Kripi, she told Drona, "Why don't you go to your friend Drupada and ask him for something?" So immediately Dronacharya went to his friend Drupada and he told him, "See, in our childhood, you remember? We were studying in the same school and you told me when you become big, you'll give me half the kingdom. I've come to claim it." Drupada said, "Who are you?" And imagine you know, something that you you know, discuss with your friends in childhood, you actually come uh much later when you're adult and you want to claim it. Dronacharya had done no deposits in the relationship and he wanted to make such a big withdrawal. Half the kingdom only straight away, you know. Drupada said, "See, you want to ask something,
39:22 ask for some money. Ask properly, I'll give you one cow. Take the cow and get out. Don't come and ask me half the kingdom. I mean, who does that? Isn't it? Dro- Dronacharya had the guts to go and ask for half the kingdom straight away, you know. Dronacharya got very hurt. He got He felt insulted. He actually walked away from there uh vowing to take revenge. And Drona trained the Pandavas and Kauravas. He went on to become the teacher of the Pandavas and Kauravas with a specific reason. Teaching with an agenda, you know. Eventually uh when the Pandavas and Kauravas were fully trained up, uh they wanted to offer Dronacharya some uh dakshina. Uh Dronacharya said, "If you want to give me a good dakshina,
40:09 get Drupada here." So the Pandavas and Kauravas went and attacked Drupada's kingdom. Drupada had no idea where these boys came from. So many young boys came and attacked the kingdom. And eventually Arjun was the one who managed to capture Drupada and drop him at the feet of Dronacharya tied up. Dronacharya saw Drupada and he said, "You're my friend. I'm not going to be as bad as you. You didn't give me half the kingdom. Now I own your full kingdom. But because I'm your friend, I'll give you half the kingdom back. Take and go." And he actually gave him half the kingdom back and kept half the kingdom with himself. Drupada got really triggered now. You know, and now the revenge became Drupada's. Drupada invoked fire. He He did a yagna. And the purpose of the yagna was to have
40:55 a son who would kill Dronacharya. And that is how Dhrishtadyumna was born. And now this Dhrishtadyumna, after Dhrishtadyumna was born, look at Drupada's guts. He sent Dhrishtadyumna to Dronacharya only to for education, for learning martial arts, for learning weapons. And Dronacharya was Acharya, you know. That's why Duryodhana is using the word Acharya, you know, you are a teacher. At that time, Dronacharya knew Dhrishtadyumna was born only to kill him. And yet he acted as an Acharya and taught him all the knowledge. And that Dhrishtadyumna has now come and become the commander-in-chief of the Pandavas, and he has created Vajra Vyuha. So Duryodhana is telling him, you know, he's pointing out to Acharya's faults. He This is one of the very few disciples in the world who goes and finds faults
41:41 in his own guru. You know, uh Duryodhana has become so big that he is finding faults in his own teacher. He's saying, "Pashyaitam Panduputranam Acharya Mahatim Chamum Vyudham Drupada Putrena Tava Shishyena Dhimata." He says, "Vyudham Drupada Putrena." He says, "Look at the formation that Drupada Putra has made." And he says, just to rub it even harder, he says, "Tava Shishyena Dhimata." "Your intelligent disciple has done this." >> Duryodhana had a way to trigger. And the reason Duryodhana did this was simply to trigger anger in his own guru. Um so it is explained
42:26 that um ideally we should avoid fault-finding. But the worst kind of fault you can find is in your own teacher. You know, and that's what Duryodhana is doing over here. You know, so um then eventually the the Bhagavad Gita begins with a series of verses uh and eventually Duryodhana tells Acharya list of names of all different uh you know, people that were participating in the war on his side. He goes on to name Karna. He goes on to name um you know, Dushasana and you know, Yuyutsu. So many names of different different personalities Duryodhana names who are part of his army. And after naming all those people, Bhishma, Karna, Drona, Kripa, and all of
43:12 these, Ashwatthama, and all of these names, uh eventually he claims that all of them have are ready to lay down their lives on my behalf. You know, they are Duryodhana is assuming they're all going to die only. It's a very negative way of portraying it, right? You know, they're all coming to fight on my behalf is one thing. But Duryodhana is saying they all have come to die on my behalf. So he's kind of in his mind only he's these words are coming out, you know? Sometimes you yourself predict the future. So then Duryodhana um you know, he um invokes the presence of Bhishma, Drona, and he is trying to inspire all of them
43:59 uh by his words. Bhishma and Drona are getting irritated with Duryodhana's words. So Duryodhana he's think thinks he's inspiring [clears throat] them, but he's actually irritating them. And when Bhishma he hears Duryodhana again and again um show off, he got so irritated that he just took the conch and blew the conch. So, it says that the Bhishma he takes and blows his conch shell. Uh Bhishma is a commander-in-chief of the Kaurava army.
44:44 When Bhishma blows the conch shell, all other Kauravas also begin to blow the conch shell. And seeing the uh the conch shells blown by the Kauravas, all the Pandavas begin to blow their conch shells. The interesting thing over here is that the reason Bhishma blew his conch shell was to just shut this fellow up. He didn't blow the conch shell to start the war. He wanted to shut this guy's mouth, you know? And that's why he blew the conch shell. So, the conch shell is a very interesting thing. Um in in wars of the past, there would be different musical instruments used. Uh and these musical instruments had a particular effect on uh on the war and the people who are participating in the war, you know? I'm sure all of you understand the effect of
45:31 music, isn't it? Uh whether you are trying to focus on something or you you like when you go to a movie, you'll have different types of music at different scenes. Imagine there's a love scene going on and suddenly a horror music plays. It's like complete rasabhasa. It doesn't work, isn't it? Or there is a horror terribly horror scene going on and there's a very comical type of music. It completely fizzles away the the of the sound, isn't it? Sound has a very profound effect on all our lives. And here specifically in war, conscious, drums, bugles, these are used to trigger the passion in the in the in the people. Um specific specifically in the Vedic
46:16 culture, sound has a very important effect to play in all our lives. And therefore it is very important what kind of sound we uh pay attention to, you know? Different types of people spend their day focusing on different types of sounds. Like say for example, those who are traveling a lot, they spend a lot of time hearing all the uh you know, honking of horns and commuting uh you know, sounds of planes and trains and buses and all of the sounds we hear. Uh those who are in offices, they hear sounds of keyboards and you know, people having meetings and discussions, etc. So different type Those who are in the stock market, they're constantly hearing sounds of different trading happening and different kinds of you know, numbers
47:02 all the time. So depending on what your consciousness is, you hear and your ears capture different type of sound. Someone who's interested in money, if you're walking on a street and one coin drops, you'll hear that. Someone who's walking who's very conscious of nature, in a very busy street, you'll hear one bird chirping somewhere. Depending on what you're conscious of. Ideally, spiritually, we must be conscious of the holy names. When we are more conscious of the holy names of God, we will be able to capture that name in the middle of all the disturbance all around us, you know? Therefore, time and again the acharyas recommend that we
47:48 should uh practice hearing the holy name, the Hare Krishna Mahamantra. Hare Krishna Hare Krishna Krishna Krishna Hare Hare Hare Ram Hare Ram Ram Ram, Hare Hare. The more constantly we hear the holy name, that becomes a central theme of our lives. Uh so here, uh Bhishma blew the conch shell, and all the Kauravas blew the conch shell. And as soon as the conch shells were blown, uh the whole war was ready. And finally, it is explained that at this point in time, uh after all of these uh things that just happened, you know, it is explained the Bhagavad Gita brings Krishna into the into the into the whole uh you know, uh you know, war zone. It
48:33 So here, it is explained that um Dhritarashtra is asking this question to Sanjaya, "What did my sons and the sons of Pandu do?" Right? So Sanjaya begins the Gita by talking about what the sons of Pandu what his sons did. What did his son do? First, he tells he went and go and went and fired his guru, Acharya, you know? And then after that, he started finding fault in in Bhishma, you know? And then he started glorifying himself, "How so many people have come to die for me, you know?" And he was So this is essentially what Duryodhana did, you know? So Sanjaya summarizes everything that Duryodhana did in those, you know, about uh you know, 15 uh 14 13 14 verses. And then from now onwards, from the 14th
49:19 verse onwards, um you know, Sanjaya begin begins to talk about what the sons of Pandu did. So till the 14th verse, so the second verse till the 14th verse, Sanjaya till the 13th verse, Sanjaya is talking about what uh the Mamaka, sons of Dhritarashtra did. And the 14th verse onwards till the end of the Bhagavad Gita, Sanjaya is talking about Pandavas Jaya, what the sons of Pandu did. This is what the whole Gita is essentially about, right? So first thing uh Sanjaya [clears throat] introduces, "What did the Pandavas do? He introduces that by talking about how Krishna was driving the chariot of Arjun. He introduces Krishna as Madhava. The name of Krishna that that Sanjay is
50:06 using here is Madhava. What is the meaning of Madhava? Ma here refers to Lakshmi Devi, the goddess of fortune. And dhava refers to the husband of the goddess of fortune. And what was Madhava doing here in the Mahabharata in the Kurukshetra war? Madhava was driving the chariot of Arjun. Imagine, the husband of the goddess of fortune becoming a driver of Arjun. This is the way Krishna is introduced in the Gita. Usually, the hero of any movie or any story is introduced in a very dramatic way. Every single movie, especially if you if you go to South Indian movies, you know, every single movie makes the hero's appearance so dramatic, so over the top,
50:54 you know. Um and here is Krishna who is the real hero. How humbly he appears, you know. The Mahabharata is all about him. The whole Mahabharata is all about him. How does he appear? He appears His first appearance is driver. What a humble appearance, isn't it? You know, so the Mahabharata teaches us through this particular example what really leadership is, what really it means to be God. Krishna um Madhava, he blows the conch shell. His conch shell is named Panchajanya. Bhishma blows his conch shell named Paundra. Arjun blows his conch shell named Devadatta. So, each one uh Yudhishthira Maharaj blows his conch shell named Anantavijaya. Nakula
51:41 ble- blows his conch shell named Sughosha. Um and Sahadeva blows his conch shell named Manipushpaka. Each one of them blew their own conchshells. The interesting thing over here is that um all of their conchshells have names. Have you ever named your phone? Have you ever named your car? Have you ever named your, you know, piano or harmonium or flute, you know, or mridang? Do you give names to these instruments? But the Vedic culture is so beautiful even things have a name. Why do things have a name in the Vedic culture? Because they're all respected as personalities. You know, 10 20 years back, if you remember, uh we
52:26 had culture where whatever instruments you use would be worshipped once a year. And they would all be kept in one place. You You couldn't study on that day. All the kids would be very happy. All their books would be kept in the, you know, a temple and worshipped that day. So, every year, once a year, all these instruments would actually be worshipped. Why? It's a It's a culture of personalism. When things we have are named as people, treated as people, respected like people, we tend to become respectful towards people. Unfortunately today we respect things, but we use people. We disrespect people. And eventually we stop respecting things also, and we stop respecting people
53:13 also, isn't it? So, the Vedic culture teaches us to respect everyone and everything. So Krishna um he, you know, uh he is presented as uh the person who is uh going to be the instrument of change in this war. Right in the beginning, Sanjaya is making a prediction. He's calling Krishna as Madhava because wherever Krishna is present, Lakshmi Devi is present over there. That means wherever Krishna is present, wealth will be present. So, if Krishna is present at the side of the Pandavas, they will have success. They will have, you know, all the wealth in this world. All the resources in the world will be available to them. Wherever Krishna is present,
53:58 it is explained that um, you know, Krishna is personally there. So, it says, "Jayastu Pandu Putranam Yesham Pakshae Janardanae." So, whichever side uh Krishna is present, victory will definitely be present over there, you know. That is the that is the whole concept of of the of the Mahabharat, you know. Um, so in all our lives, we have problems. So, the Mahabharat recommends, and especially the Gita on this point, it recommends if you have any problem in your world in your life, do only one thing. Add Krishna into your life. That's what uh the Pandavas did. They had a big problem. What did they do? They simply added Krishna into their life. So, by adding Krishna, what do you
54:44 mean by add Krishna into your life? Uh so, Krishna is a person who is who likes to be in charge. So, the so Arjun, when he invited Krishna to be a part of his army, part of his team, uh Krishna, you know, uh told Arjun, "I will come without any weapons. I will come without uh you know, I will not be a part of the war. I will not fight." Arjun said, "Fine, no problem. Do whatever you want." And what did Krishna choose? Krishna chose to become Arjun's driver. And what does symbolically being Arjun's driver mean? Symbolically, it means that Krishna is going to drive the chariot of Arjun's life. Symbolically, it means that he is going to steer Arjun's life towards victory.
55:29 All of us, we want God in our life, but most of the time we want God in the background of our life. If you put God in the background your life, what it means is that foreground I'm the in I'm the I'm I'm driving the chariot of my life and God is my backup plan. Doesn't work like that. Krishna doesn't prefer it that way. He says, "Give me your reins. Give me the wheel of your of your car of your life of your vehicle of life. I will drive it the way I want." So, the moment you say, "Krishna, take this. I hand over my life to you." Then Krishna steers it in a way that is perfect for you. Unfortunately, for most of us, we trust our intelligent and we trust God's powers.
56:14 Doesn't work like that. We have to trust God's power, but more importantly, we have to trust God's intelligence. And that is what sharanagati is. That's what surrender is. So, Arjun not just added Krishna in his life, but he added Krishna right in the front of his life. He added Krishna he gave the reins of his chariot to Krishna. And that is what made uh the entire, you know, concept of Gita so powerful. So, Krishna's presence itself means victory. Krishna's presence means the goddess of fortune is going to be present, which means, you know, uh there will be wealth in the Pandavas' life. Third thing is the chariot on which Arjun and Krishna were standing. The chariot was given by Agni. And that chariot itself heralded victory. The horses were given by Chitraratha.
57:00 The horses themselves uh heralded, you know, definite victory. And most importantly, the conches that were blown by Krishna and the Pandavas, it created such a sound such a tumultuous sound that the hearts of the Kauravas were shattered. The Gita explains that when uh when Krishna uh and when all of them blew their conches, the heart of all the Kauravas were shattered. How does, you know, sound affect lives of people? I'm sure you would have you know if if you hear the siren of a police, does it disturb you? It doesn't disturb you, right? They are going and doing their work. But if you have just done something terribly wrong, it will definitely disturb you.
57:46 Isn't it? So the conch shell blown by Krishna, it heavily disturbed the Kauravas. It didn't disturb everybody. It definitely disturbed Duryodhana's heart because he had done something terribly wrong. And that's how sound vibration is powerful. And more importantly, on the chariot on which Arjuna was sitting, on the flag of the chariot was a Hanumanji sitting. And it is explained wherever and whenever Hanumanji is there, it's called Kapidhwaja. Wherever the Wherever Hanumanji is present, there victory is assured because in the heart of Hanumanji is present Lord Rama and Sita. And therefore, he is assured that the Kauravas are going to lose and the Pandavas are going to win. And at this point in time, you know, the battlefield
58:33 is about to be set. About to you know, the whole battle was supposed to begin and the entire army was just getting ready to face the battle. The conches hadn't been blown. The conches were you know, um you know, the declared the war was declared. And at that point in time, Arjun tells Krishna, "Please take me to the middle of both the armies. I want to see both the armies." And at this point in time, uh Arjun calls Krishna as Achyuta. So the word Chuta means fall. And the word Achyuta means the one who never falls. Arjun calls Krishna as Achyuta because he is telling Krishna,
59:21 "Krishna, I am a ordinary human being and I tend to make mistakes. I tend to fall to temptations. I tend to fall to wrongdoings. I tend to fall to the misgivings in the heart. I My integrity can falter. So many of these things. So Arjun is saying, I want you, Achyuta, to guide me. So why does Arjun say I want to go in between? What is there to see in between, you know? >> [clears throat] >> So Arjun wanted to see wanted to estimate the collective strength of the opponent's army. That is what reason he said, "Take me there." So when Krishna, you know, he listens to Arjun's command, "Please take me to the middle of the you know, both the armies."
1:00:08 At that point in time, Krishna takes Arjuna in between the two armies. When Krishna stations the chariot in between the two armies, the place where Krishna stations chariot is very interesting. You know, the armies are huge, like ocean. Such a vast army. Krishna could have put the chariot anywhere. Right? He could have put the chariot in front of Duryodhana. If he had put the chariot in front of Duryodhana, Arjun would have got really angered because all those memories of Duryodhana insulting or Duryodhana doing all terrible things would have come in his mind. But Krishna specifically put Arjun's chariot in front of two people, Bhishma and Drona. Bhishma Drona Pramukhatah. Um Uh
1:00:53 So when Arjun was faced with two of the most important people of his life, Bhishma and Drona, Arjun became totally bewildered. See, the moment you put Krishna in the chariot of your with the reins of your life, Krishna makes you face that which you hesitate facing. The very thing that you don't want to face, that's what Krishna makes you face. You know why? If you want to grow in your life, you you you will only grow when you face what you fear. When you don't want to face what you fear, you will never grow in your life. Your best friends are not those people who tell you, "Don't face your fears."
1:01:39 Your best friends are those who tell you, "Face your fears and then go ahead in life." Uh you know, Krishna brought Arjuna in front of Bhishma and Drona. The two of them represents two of the most powerful thing in anybody's life. Bhishma represents family attachments. And Drona represents attachments to your guru or, you know, instructions that you have heard. So, teachers, essentially. So, um teachers represents knowledge and it represents certain um understanding we have of life. The Bhagavad Gita begins with Bhishma and Drona pramukha ta. The moment you have you are faced with
1:02:24 two of the most important things, family traditions and uh knowledge system. See, all of us grow up with some family traditions. And all of us grow up with some teachers in our life. But at every stage of our life, we need to go to the next level. The very people that helped us reach over here are not the ones who are going to reach help us reach to the next level. Sometimes, your own understanding of what is right and wrong becomes a hurdle in you going ahead in your life. Arjun now had to face Bhishma and Drona. What Bhishma and Drona represent and why Krishna made Arjun stand in front of
1:03:10 Bhishma and Drona is something that we're going to go deep into the next time. Uh so, the next session, which is going to happen next Sunday when we meet again, I will start from this point Bhishma Droṇa pramukhatah. When Krishna has brought Arjuna in front of his most weakest points, weakest links. And how Krishna helps Arjuna face his weaknesses. Because before you face your weaknesses, you cannot learn Gita. So, the Gita is like a heart surgery. Learning Gita is like, you know, open heart surgery where we have to face our own weaknesses. We have to face our own shortcomings. We have to face things that we hate confronting. And only when we do that, can we go to the next level now on journey of life,
1:03:56 specially in our spiritual lives. And sometimes, uh the the greatest enemies are not from outside. They are within your own family, within your own system, within your own knowledge banks, within your own understanding of what is right and what is wrong. And the Bhagavad Gita is not only a book of uh knowledge, but it's a book that rips apart everything you know in life and helps you rediscover yourself. Helps you find yourself once again in a completely new context, uh in the context of uh Dharma. So, I'll stop over here. If there's any quick questions or comments, we can take up before we end. Uh I hope all of you are understanding um you know, the the concepts that I'm
1:04:42 sharing. I'm doing a little fast to this time, uh but of course, you know, I'm hoping I'm speaking in a language that is working for all of you and making sense to all of you. I'll of course try to keep it as relevant and as uh interesting as possible through the whole uh you know, 18 chapters. Uh and from next time onwards, we will have presentations also, so you will have something to see also along with just hear, okay? Um any questions? Uh yes, all the recordings of every single session will be available. In fact, it is already available. The right now the session is being uh relayed on YouTube live and the link is already with you. So, you already have the access to the recording. You can please you know, you go ahead and listen to the recording one more time. You can share
1:05:28 it with as many people as you want. You can invite as many people as you want to join the WhatsApp group so that you know, people more and more people can benefit by the entire Bhagavad Gita you know, rendition. Okay? Um anybody has any questions or comments you can you know, put up your hand and I can unmute you all and we can have a discussion. Okay. Supriyo G, please go ahead. Prabhuji, it was very very nice lecture. But only one thing I I will say that uh you please take in detail Bhagavad Gita if not this time at least in future sometime. Please do take in detail. We would really like to join for the detailed discussion with you all.
1:06:16 Yes, yes, definitely. Actually, uh those who want to go into details of the whole Gita um my previous batches Bhagavad Gita recording is already on YouTube. We can share that with you all. Entire 18 chapters, that's more than 100 100 plus lectures 120 lectures maybe of the entire Gita chapter-wise. You can you know, go go on YouTube and search for it. You'll find it there already. But this one is going to be pretty precise and concise. So, it'll be quick 36 sessions. Yeah. Thank you. >> I do have many questions but not related to this lecture. So, I will ask later. Yeah, sure. Okay. Thank you. Anyone else any other questions?
1:07:06 Yes Prabhupada go. Please go ahead. Hare Krishna, Prabhupada, pranam. Hare Krishna. Prabhuji, I just want to show my gratitude for not only this lecture, uh your Ramayana the game of life, Prabhuji. Uh I have got your entire six volumes. Uh it's a tremendous Prabhuji explanation of Ramayana the game of life. So, I just wanted to convey my gratitude to you, Prabhuji, for great understanding of Ramayana. I and my my my better half we both of both of us went through that 8 years back. And it was really very much helpful for
1:07:51 us to uh progress in bhakti, Prabhuji. Thank you very much, Prabhuji. Thank you. Thank you. Very happy and grateful. Pankaj. Oh it's Guruji, Radhe Radhe. I think it was a very well way articulated. I just want to know is there a is there your recordings for to go through with little children as well or this session itself you think will be interesting for kids as well? Absolutely. Young kids will love this. Please go ahead and share it with them. They will love it. Okay. Um Yes Prabhupada.
1:08:38 Surya Shrestha, Prabhupada. Prabhuji, Hare Krishna. Am I audible? Yes. Prabhuji, thank you for your nice class. My question is you mentioned that uh the worst kind of fault finding is to fault finding in a spiritual master. Uh but the script scripture teaches us that uh at least three times we glorify our spiritual master. The please uh give me an instruction uh to balance this uh extreme level of uh things.
1:09:24 Yeah. So, I think it's it's synchronized only. See, the point is um we should definitely appreciate teachers in our lives. Whoever have taught us any kind of knowledge, we should definitely appreciate them. But at the same time, we should be very careful when you find faults uh against them. Even if you apparently see faults, it's best not to not to openly criticize them about it. You can talk to someone whom you are, you know, whom you're close to and reveal that this is what I see as a fault. Does it make sense? Uh rather than openly criticizing because sometimes we don't understand the actions of great people. We misunderstand them and think that it is a fault. It may not be a fault at all. Okay? Okay. Thank you. Okay. Thank you.
1:10:10 Charu Shakti Mataji. Yes, go ahead. You're muted. Yeah. Hare Krishna Hare Krishna Prabhu ji. Thank you for the wonderful lecture. Prabhu ji, can you explain on the uh as you said Akshauhini senas? So, there are the seven divisions. So, uh in one of the shlokas, it was mentioned that Bhishma and the comparison of Bhishma and Bhim. So, uh but Dhrishtadyumna was the senapati. But uh Bhim was the senapati of one division. Is it like that? And uh Dhrishtadyumna was the overall senapati? Is it like that? >> Okay.
1:10:55 So, Bhima was specifically heading this particular formation. Yeah okay okay. >> that particular day and that particular formation Bhima was heading. But otherwise the entire army was commander-in-chief was uh Dhrishtadyumna. Okay, so Bhima was handling which I I didn't get it. The entire army was made in a particular formation. Bhima was heading that formation. Okay, and Dhrishtadyumna? Dhrishtadyumna was was in charge for the whole whole army. Okay okay. >> The very formation itself, the vision for you know, each day was given by Dhrishtadyumna.
1:11:41 Okay, okay, fine. Thank you, Guruji. Thank you. Yamini, your question. Hare Krishna, Guruji. Yes. And thank you for your amazing session and I loved it a lot. I would like to ask one question from the session. Yes. So, as you mentioned when Dronacharya and Drupada were studying in Gurukul, they Drupada promised Dronacharya half his kingdom. And when Dronacharya was struggling in life, he went to ask Drupada half of his kingdom. So, I was just wondering who is at fault here? Like is it Dronacharya's fault for asking half the kingdom of Drupada when or is it Drupada's fault for not keeping his promise of not giving half his kingdom to Dronacharya?
1:12:28 Very good question. So, actually it's both people's faults. See, the way relationships work is not based on one statement, right? Relationships uh is something that has to be watered on a daily basis. You cannot expect fruits from a relationship which is not watered at all, right? So, Dronacharya and Drupada
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