Bhagavad Gita

Arjuna lamented, “O Govinda, You certainly care for the gopīs, cows, cowherd boys, and Gokula itself. You protect them all, so why then are You not protecting me? Please tell me. Where is my fault? I do not want to kill anyone. What would I then do with myself? What use would there be in maintaining my life? How would I become happy by killing my gurus and kin such as cousins, uncles, in-laws, grandfather and so forth? O Janardana, what will I attain by killing the sons of Dhṛtarāṣṭra? Your name is Janardana, You are known to be very merciful and You have love for all. Did You ever kill Your parents or in-laws? Did You kill Your Guru? Did You ever do anything like that in Your life? If You did not, then why are You pushing me forward to do so now? Your name is Janardana; You break the pride of all. Those who are proud, arrogant, terrorists and so forth, You give them all punishment. You are the rectifier of all. You are not ordinary. Why don’t You perform this act; killing all these sinful people? Why are You instructing me to do so? Why should I knowingly perform such heinous acts as killing my uncles, cousins, gurus, grandfather and all others with my own hand..?”

If we do not follow Vraja bhakti, and vraja-rasa does not come to us, then one is not really called a devotee or follower of devotion. It is only so-called, like a showroom. Externally one might think, “I am a devotee.” Kṛṣṇa reveals this in the beginning of Bhagavad-gītā. Arjuna said, “O Kṛṣṇa, Govinda, I require no house or servants. If I killed all the sons of Dhṛtarāṣṭra, what benefit would I actually achieve? What will I gain?” Arjuna did not think that the Kurus were always disturbing and tormenting others, that Duryodhana and his followers were criminals with bad mentalities. Arjuna did not think that their association was detrimental; that those same bad qualities could come to him. If one associates with wicked people, one’s good character will also be lost. He would even join them to destroy the world. Nonsense people, rascals will not change. Kṛṣṇa Himself had tried again and again to change them for the better. Now, as he ventured near them with an empathetic mind, Arjuna also lost his steadiness and good intelligence…

God has great parental affection for His devotees and He is the fulfiller of their desires. God will even give up His supreme word of truth, but He will not give up His parental affection. If He did not have this affection, then He would have told Arjuna, “No! This is not good for you. Hear My words!” However, because of His affection for Arjuna, His heart melted. His name is Acyuta. He can never give up His nature. If a child pleads with his mother again and again for something, she will be bound by affection to fulfill his wants. The child is stubborn and will not listen to his mother if she tells him why the object he wants is not beneficial for him. Therefore she allows the child to see how harmful his desires are while keeping him protected at the same time. Then, intelligence will come. If one is forbidden from the start, then he will never submit to hear good instruction…

On one side it is seen that the materialists have a larger gathering of followers, and on the other side the number of devotees are far fewer. Seeing the devotees, it appears they are poor and unhappy and the enjoyers are wealthy and have so many followers. They show themselves to be so happy, externally. Then which side will one take? On one side, Bhīṣma-pitāmaha blew his conch shell and all the others played on their instruments making a tremendous sound. On the Pāṇḍavas’ side there is a smaller number of warriors. The Kauravas had many maharathis and atirathis on their side. They had many other soldiers, horses, elephants and opulent chariot fighters. Whereas the Pāṇḍavas had a small army compared to the Kauravas. It thus appears externally that the ability of the devotees is less than that of the materialistic demons. After seeing this some may think, “I will change sides, there is no hope.” This often occurs…

As those on the side of Duryodhana and Dhṛtarāṣṭra heard the sounds of the Pāṇḍavas and their soldiers blowing their conch shells, their hearts began to quake as they trembled. The grip on their weapons loosened. Some began to faint while standing in their chariots. Some soldiers’ armor slipped from their bodies, while others simply sat down and began to weep. The earth and sky itself began to shake from the loud reverberation of the conch shells. Wherever this sound went, the atmosphere was shaken. This is the power of God. This power is also present with the devotees. For instance, a materialist studies very hard and becomes quite learned, but still cannot maintain with ease a family, a home or a property. The devotee of God however, shakes the entire earth with his potency and personality. He makes the whole world spin because he has the potency of God present within him. When Kṛṣṇa and the Pāṇḍavas blew their respective conch shells the earth, the sky and the clouds all shook…

He said, “Bhīma only has a little power. Sometimes he goes off and collects a new wife. In the jungle he had a son with Hidimba, a rākṣasī. Sometimes he meets with Draupadī and sometimes any other. He doesn’t have any control of himself and doesn’t follow any rules and regulations.” Some people say, “I am a male, how can I be in love with God, the Supreme Male.” Yet if I consider the śakti I possess; who is its proprietor? All śakti is the property of God. Therefore if one has śakti within him, then it will be natural for him to have love for God. That is the innate tendency of śakti. When Kṛṣṇa raised the wheel of the chariot, and ran forward to kill Bhīṣma, Bhīṣma folded his hands and smiled with great love for the Lord. Previously, upon hearing that Kṛṣṇa would not engage in battle during the war Bhīṣma made a vow, “I will not call myself the son of Santanu if I cannot make the Lord raise arms in this battle.” When Duryodhana returned from meeting Kṛṣṇa in Dvārakā he told Bhīṣma, “Keśi’s killer will not fight. He will remain silent in the humble position of a charioteer.”

Duryodhana described those who were on the side of the Pāṇḍavas–-the side of dharma to his master, Droṇācārya. Why didn’t Duryodhana’s nature change? Why doesn’t the consciousness of demons change when they have darśana of the associates of God? So many people come and stay in the company of Śrī Guru and Vaiṣṇavas, but why doesn’t their nature change? Because they don’t have love for Guru and Vaiṣṇavas. They have love for others. There is a thorn hidden some place within them. They stay with Guru and Vaiṣṇavas, but their heart is embedded somewhere in the realm of sense enjoyment. They take objects from Śrī Guru and Vaiṣṇavas for their own enjoyment and they run away with that. So they don’t actually want the love and relationship available to them. Where will love come to them from? They are attached to inert material objects and gross sense gratification. Sense enjoyers, like Duryodhana, are extremely difficult to change…

What is his intention? He wanted to make Droṇācārya enthusiastic to fight, because if he won, then all the Pāṇḍavas wealth, property and women would be his own to enjoy. Therefore he went to his Guru and began to entice him into battle. He did not call him Guru, or brāhmaṇa-deva. He called out to him, “Hey Ācārya,” like one taunts an ordinary man. The nature and consciousness of sense enjoyers is always impure. Such a wicked person can never give proper respect to another because there is a fire burning within him. Kṛṣṇa thus shows the difference between the nature of prema; love, and the nature of gross sense enjoyers. Kṛṣṇa showed the distinction between the path of love and the path of lust. Although Sanjaya described this in an indirect way to Dhṛtarāṣṭra since he was materially and spiritually blind from birth, such words paid no heed to his ears…

The greatest fight in this world is over objects of sense enjoyment. This kind of fight is only over lust. As long as the seed of lust remains present in the heart, the living entities suffer. This is the disease of the heart. The foolish living entities believe that they will become happy by satiating their lusty desires through insignificant sense enjoyment. They do not know that Kṛṣṇa is the transcendental Kāmadeva, who always increases the kāma of His devotees; their inherent pure love for Him. An extremely wealthy man does not fear the expense of a few coins, while a poor man weeps if even one coin is lost or spent. What is the worry for those who have billions and billions of dollars? Kṛṣṇa always increases the love, prema or kāma of His devotees. Then His devotees never have desire to have prema for anyone other than Kṛṣṇa…