MantraOnNet.com: Bhagavad Gita – Chapter II

• tani sarvani samyamya
• yukta asita mat-parah
• vase hi yasyendriyani
• tasya prajna pratisthita.

One who restrains his senses, keeping them under full control, and
fixes his consciousness upon Me, is known as a man of steady
intelligence.

Purport:
That the highest conception of yoga perfection is Lord Krishna conscious-
ness is clearly explained in this verse. And unless one is Lord Krishna
conscious it is not at all possible to control the senses. As cited
above, the great sage Durvasa Muni picked a quarrel with Maharaja
Ambarisa, and Durvasa Muni unnecessarily became angry out of
pride and therefore could not check his senses. On the other hand,
the king, although not as powerful a yogi as the sage, but a devotee
of the Lord, silently tolerated all the sage’s injustices and thereby
emerged victorious. The king was able to control his senses because
of the following qualifications, as mentioned in the Srimad-
Bhagavatam:

“King Ambarisa fixed his mind on the lotus feet of Lord Krishna,
engaged his words in describing the abode of the Lord, his hands in
cleansing the temple of the Lord, his ears in hearing the pastimes of
the Lord, his eyes in seeing the form of the Lord, his body in
touching the body of the devotee, his nostrils in smelling the flavor of
the flowers offered to the lotus feet of the Lord, his tongue in tasting
the tulsi leaves offered to Him, his legs in traveling to the holy place
where His temple is situated, his head in offering obeisance unto the
Lord, and his desires in fulfilling the desires of the Lord… and all
these qualifications made him fit to become a mat-para devotee of
the Lord.”

The word mat-para is most significant in this connection. How one
can become mat-para is described in the life of Maharaja Ambarisa.
Srila Baladeva Vidyabhusana, a great scholar and acarya in the line
of the mat-para, remarks, mad-bhakti-prabhavena sarvendriya-
vijaya-purvikd svdtma-drstih sulabheti bhdvah. “The senses can be
completely controlled only by the strength of devotional service to
Lord Krishna.” Also, the example of fire is sometimes given: “As a blazing
fire burns everything within a room. Lord Visnu, situated in the
heart of the yogi, burns up all kinds of impurities.” The Yoga-sutra
also prescribes meditation on Visnu, and not meditation on the void.
The so-called yogis who meditate on something which is not on the
Visnu platform simply waste their time in a vain search after some
phantasmagoria. We have to be Lord Krishna conscious?devoted to the
Personality of Godhead. This is the aim of the real yoga.

Sanskrit working:

English Wording:

English Translation:

While contemplating the objects of the senses, a person develops attachment for them, and from such attachment lust develops, and from lust anger arises.

Purport:
One who is not Lord Krishna conscious is subjected to material desires
while contemplating the objects of the senses. The senses require real
engagements, and if they are not engaged in the transcendental

loving service of the Lord, they will certainly seek engagement in the
service of materialism. In the material world everyone, including
Lord Siva and Lord Brahma?to say nothing of other demigods in
the heavenly planets?is subjected to the influence of sense objects,
and the only method to get out of this puzzle of material existence is
to become Lord Krishna conscious. Lord Siva was deep in meditation, but
when Parvati agitated him for sense pleasure, he agreed to the
proposal, and as a result Kartikeya was born.

When Haridasa
Thakura was a young devotee of the Lord, he was similarly allured
by the incarnation of Maya-devi, but Haridasa easily passed the test
because of his unalloyed devotion to LordKrishna. As illustrated in
the above-mentioned verse of Sri Yamunacarya, a sincere devotee of
the Lord shuns all material sense enjoyment due to his higher taste
for spiritual enjoyment in the association of the Lord. That is the
secret of success. One who is not, therefore, in Lord Krishna consciousness,
however powerful he may be in controlling the senses by artificial
repression, is sure ultimately to fail, for the slightest thought of sense
pleasure will agitate him to gratify his desires.

Sanskrit working:

English Wording:

English Translation:

From anger, complete delusion arises, and from delusion bewilderment of memory. When memory is bewildered, intelligence is lost, and when intelligence is lost one falls down again into the material
pool.

Purport:
By development of Lord Krishna consciousness one can know that every-
thing has its use in the service of the Lord. Those who are without
knowledge of Lord Krishna consciousness artificially try to avoid material
objects, and as a result, although they desire liberation from materi-
al bondage, they do not attain to the perfect stage of renunciation.
Their so-called renunciation is called phalgu, or less important. On
the other hand, a person in Lord Krishna consciousness knows how to use
everything in the service of the Lord; therefore he does not become a
victim of material consciousness.

For example, for an impersonalist,
the Lord, or the Absolute, being impersonal, cannot eat. Whereas an
impersonalist tries to avoid good eatables, a devotee knows that
Lord Krishna is the supreme enjoyer and that He eats all that is offered to
Him in devotion. So, after offering good eatables to the Lord, the
devotee takes the remnants, called prasddam. Thus everything
becomes spiritualized, and there is no danger of a downfall. The
devotee takes prasddam in Lord Krishna consciousness, whereas the non-
devotee rejects it as material. The impersonalist, therefore, cannot
enjoy life, due to his artificial renunciation; and for this reason, a
slight agitation of the mind pulls him down again into the pool of
material existence. It is said that such a soul, even though rising up
to the point of liberation, falls down again due to his not having
Support in devotional service.

Sanskrit working:

English Wording:

English Translation:
But a person free from all attachment and aversion and able to control his senses through regulative principles of freedom can obtain the complete mercy of the Lord.

Purport:
It is already explained that one may externally control the senses by
some artificial process, but unless the senses are engaged in the
transcendental service of the Lord, there is every chance of a fall.
Although the person in full Lord Krishna consciousness may apparently be
on the sensual plane, because of his being Lord Krishna conscious he has no
attachment to sensual activities. The Lord Krishna conscious person is
concerned only with the satisfaction of Lord Krishna, and nothing else.
Therefore he is transcendental to all attachment and detachment.

If
Lord Krishna wants, the devotee can do anything which is ordinarily unde-
sirable; and if Lord Krishna does not want, he shall not do that which he
would have ordinarily done for his own satisfaction. Therefore to act
or not to act is within his control because he acts only under the
direction of Lord Krishna. This consciousness is the causeless mercy of the
Lord, which the devotee can achieve in spite of his being attached to
the sensual platform.

Sanskrit working:

English Wording:

English Translation:
For one thus satisfied [in Lord Krishna consciousness], the threefold miseries of material existence exist no longer; in such satisfied consciousness, one’s intelligence is soon well established.

Sanskrit working:

English Wording:

English Translation:

One who is not connected with the Supreme [in Lord Krishna conscious-ness] can have neither transcendental intelligence nor a steady mind, without which there is no possibility of peace. And how can there be any happiness without peace?

Purport:
Unless one is in Lord Krishna consciousness, there is no possibility of peace.
So it is confirmed in the Fifth Chapter (5.29) that when one under-
stands that Lord Krishna is the only enjoyer of all the good results of
sacrifice and penance, that He is the proprietor of all universal
manifestations, and that He is the real friend of all living entities,
then only can one have real peace. Therefore, if one is not in Lord Krishna
consciousness, there cannot be a final goal for the mind.

Disturbance is due to want of an ultimate goal, and when one is certain that Lord Krishna is the enjoyer, proprietor and friend of everyone and everything, then one can, with a steady mind, bring about peace. There-
fore, one who is engaged without a relationship with Lord Krishna is
certainly always in distress and is without peace, however much he
may make a show of peace and spiritual advancement in life. Lord Krishna
consciousness is a self-manifested peaceful condition which can be
achieved only in relationship with Lord Krishna.

Sanskrit working:

English Translation:

As a strong wind sweeps away a boat on the water, even one of the roaming senses on which the mind focuses can carry away a man’s intelligence.

Purport:
Unless all of the senses are engaged in the service of the Lord, even
one of them engaged in sense gratification can deviate the devotee
from the path of transcendental advancement. As mentioned in the
life of Maharaja Ambarisa, all of the senses must be engaged in
Lord Krishna consciousness, for that is the correct technique for controlling
the mind.

Sanskrit working:

English Wording:

English Translation:

Therefore, 0 mighty-armed, one whose senses are restrained from their objects is certainly of steady intelligence.

Purport:
One can curb the forces of sense gratification only by means of
Lord Krishna consciousness, or engaging all the senses in the transcendental
loving service of the Lord. As enemies are curbed by superior force,
the senses can similarly be curbed, not by any human endeavor, but
only by keeping them engaged in the service of the Lord. One who
has understood this?that only by Lord Krishna consciousness is one really
established in intelligence and that one should practice this art under
the guidance of a bona fide spiritual master?is called sadhaka, or a
suitable candidate for liberation.

Sanskrit working:

English Wording:

English Translation:

What is night for all beings is the time of awakening for the self-controlled; and the time of awakening for all beings is night for the introspective sage.

Purport:
There are two classes of intelligent men. One is intelligent in material
activities for sense gratification, and the other is introspective and
awake to the cultivation of self-realization. Activities of the introspective sage, or thoughtful man, are night for persons materially
absorbed. Materialistic persons remain asleep in such a night due to
their ignorance of self-realization. The introspective sage remains
alert in the “night” of the materialistic men. The sage feels transcendental pleasure in the gradual advancement of spiritual culture,
whereas the man in materialistic activities, being asleep to self-
realization, dreams of varieties of sense pleasure, feeling sometimes
happy and sometimes distressed in his sleeping condition. The introspective man is always indifferent to materialistic happiness and
distress. He goes on with his self-realization activities undisturbed
by material reactions.

Sanskrit working:

English wording:

English Translation:
A person who is not disturbed by the incessant flow of desires?that enter like rivers into the ocean, which is ever being filled but is always still?can alone achieve peace, and not the man who strives to satisfy such desires.

Purport:

Although the vast ocean is always filled with water, it is always,
especially during the rainy season, being filled with much more
water. But the ocean remains the same?steady; it is not agitated,
nor does it cross beyond the limit of its brink. That is also true of a
person fixed in Lord Krishna consciousness. As long as one has the material
body, the demands of the body for sense gratification will continue.
The devotee, however, is not disturbed by such desires, because of
his fullness. A Lord Krishna conscious man is not in need of anything,
because the Lord fulfills all his material necessities. Therefore he is
like the ocean?always full in himself. Desires may come to him like
the waters of the river that flow into the ocean, but he is steady in his
activities, and he is not even slightly disturbed by desires for sense
gratification.

That is the proof of a Lord Krishna conscious man?one who
has lost all inclinations for material sense gratification, although the
desires are present. Because he remains satisfied in the transcenden-
tal loving service of the Lord, he can remain steady, like the ocean,
and therefore enjoy full peace. Others, however, who want to fulfill
desires even up to the limit of liberation, what to speak of material
success, never attain peace. The fruitive workers, the Salvationists,
and also the yogis who are after mystic powers are all unhappy
because of unfulfilled desires. But the person in Lord Krishna consciousness
is happy in the service of the Lord, and he has no desires to be
fulfilled. In fact, he does not even desire liberation from the so-called
material bondage. The devotees of Lord Krishna have no material desires,
and therefore they are in perfect peace.

Sanskrit working:

English wording:

English Translation:
A person who has given up all desires for sense gratification, who lives free from desires, who has given up all sense of proprietorship and is devoid of false ego?he alone can attain real peace.

Purport:

To become desireless means not to desire anything for sense gratifi-
cation. In other words, desire for becoming Lord Krishna conscious is
actually desirelessness. To understand one’s actual position as the
eternal servitor of Lord Krishna, without falsely claiming this material body
to be oneself and without falsely claiming proprietorship over any-
thing in the world, is the perfect stage of Lord Krishna consciousness. One
who is situated in this perfect stage knows that because Lord Krishna is the
proprietor of everything, everything must be used for the satisfac-
tion of Lord Krishna.

Arjuna did not want to fight for his own sense
satisfaction, but when he became fully Lord Krishna conscious he fought
because Lord Krishna wanted him to fight. For himself there was no desire
to fight, but for Lord Krishna the same Arjuna fought to his best ability.
Real desirelessness is desire for the satisfaction of Lord Krishna, not an
artificial attempt to abolish desires. The living entity cannot be
desireless or senseless, but he does have to change the quality of the
desires.

A materially desireless person certainly knows that every-
thing belongs to Lord Krishna (isavasyam idam sarvam), and therefore he
does not falsely claim proprietorship over anything. This transcen-
dental knowledge is based on self-realization?namely, knowing
perfectly well that every living entity is an eternal part and parcel of
Lord Krishna in spiritual identity, and that the eternal position of the living
entity is therefore never on the level of Lord Krishna or greater than Him.
This understanding of Lord Krishna consciousness is the basic principle of
real peace.

Sanskrit working:

English wording:

English Translation:
That is the way of the spiritual and godly life, after attaining which a man is not bewildered. If one is thus situated even at the hour of death, one can enter into the kingdom of God.

Purport:

One can attain Lord Krishna consciousness or divine life at once, within a
second?or one may not attain such a state of life even after millions
of births. It is only a matter of understanding and accepting the fact.
Khatvanga Maharaja attained this state of life just a few minutes
before his death, by surrendering unto Lord Krishna. Nirvana means ending the process of materialistic life. According to Buddhist philosophy, there is only void after the completion of this material life, but Bhagavad-gitd teaches differently.

Actual life begins after the com-
pletion of this material life. For the gross materialist it is sufficient to
know that one has to end this materialistic way of life, but for
persons who are spiritually advanced, there is another life after this
materialistic life. Before ending this life, if one fortunately becomes
Lord Krishna conscious, he at once attains the stage of brahma-nirvana.
There is no difference between the kingdom of God and the devotional service of the Lord. Since both of them are on the absolute plane, to be engaged in the transcendental loving service of the Lord
is to have attained the spiritual kingdom. In the material world there
are activities of sense gratification, whereas in the spiritual world
there are activities of Lord Krishna consciousness. Attainment of Lord Krishna
consciousness even during this life is immediate attainment of
Brahman, and one who is situated in Lord Krishna consciousness has
certainly already entered into the kingdom of God.

Brahman is just the opposite of matter. Therefore brahmi sthiti
means “not on the platform of material activities.” Devotional
service of the Lord is accepted in the Bhagavad-Gita as the liberated
stage. Therefore, brahmi sthiti is liberation from material bondage.

Srila Bhaktivinoda Thakura has summarized this Second Chap-
ter of the Bhagavad-gita as being the contents for the whole text. In
the Bhagavad-gita, the subject matters are karma-yoga, jndna-yoga,
and bhakti-yoga. In the Second Chapter karma-yoga and jnana-
yoga have been clearly discussed, and a glimpse of bhakti-yoga has
also been given, as the contents for the complete text.