“There are millions of spiritual scriptures , books on the planet Earth…”

There are millions of spiritual scriptures , books on the planet Earth .From time immemorial human beings are creating spiritual scriptures- continuously human beings are creating spiritual books. Bhagavad Gita the book on which I will be speaking, studying is incomparable. You can’t compare this book with any other book; not just because we are speaking on this book, but I can say one thing for sure, there is no other book which has penetrated human consciousness so deeply. There is no other book which has made so many enlightened beings on the planet Earth like Bhagavad Gita. There is no other book which is the complete encyclopedia of spirituality. I can say the Bhagavad Gita is the unabridged dictionary and encyclopedia of spirituality. All the spiritual scriptures can be classified in three ways. One is Shastras: Shastras mean the books which give clarity about the aim, the goal of human life; which teaches you how to live life .What is the purpose of life, the goal of life? These give an intellectual understanding about THE ULTIMATE, of man and of God. All your major questions are answered intellectually, logically. Logically you will be convinced to follow the Ultimate path .There are so many hundreds of examples we can give, the Ten Commandments they are Shastras. The books which give you regulations, which gives you do’s and don’ts-Vidhi and Nishayada. Which tells you what has to be done and what should not be done, which guides you in life; it is called Shastra.

There is an other kind of literature which is Stotra .The man who realized the Ultimate, the man who has experienced the truth , the person who has the glimpse of the Divine love ,Divine expression or himself; who has seen the reality ;he expresses his joy …it is called Stotra . You worship, you surrender yourself to Divine; it is Stotra. The literature from the heart is Stotra; the literature from the head is Shastra. There is an other kind of literature called Sutra; means which gives you the technique to realize that state. Shastras give you intellectual understanding, Stotras give you emotional feeling, Sutras give you being level experience. Shastras are like signboards you need them; intellectual scriptures which explain the basic things of life. Stotras are things which help you surrender to the Divine; the glory of the Divine is expounded by the Stotras. The third, Sutra, is literature, which gives you the technique to achieve the devotion or enlightenment. Shastras by themselves cannot lead you to enlightenment .They can be a good support; they can take you to an enlightened master. Till that point they are great, a real help. Stotras are spoken from the level of emotion, feeling. When you have a deep feeling you just express it, it just flows through you. Your whole being is flowing - That is Stotra. The third thing Sutra. Sutra means the technique which helps you achieve the goal of the Shastra or the goal of the Stotra. Goal of the Shastra is Atman; goal of the Stotra is God. Of course, both are one and the same; two different paths. There are people who are intellectually oriented, who are centered on logic, analysis, calculation for them, for that kind of mind you need Shastras you need intellectual scriptures. There are people who will not do anything unless they are intellectually convinced, unless they are clear about the whole thing. Of course we cannot say they should not come for spirituality. There are so many scriptures; Stotra level scriptures which say – don’t come inside if you don’t have faith;. But I tell you; you should look at the man with more compassion, you can’t put faith as the main criteria, the first criteria to enter into spirituality, if you put faith as the first criteria to enter spiritual life you are almost refusing to give spirituality to 90%of human beings. It is not easy to believe anything immediately. You cannot you, cannot believe especially in modern days the words belief, faith; all these words are outdated. These words can’t have anymore meaning, these words are totally out of our lives. You can’t say only the person who believes; who has faith can come to spirituality. Spirituality should be given to every being. We should create a system through which we can reach every individual. Our Vedic seers, rishis have created Shastras, scriptures which will give intellectual understanding. Logically you will be clear of what is the path, what is the goal, why are you asked to do all these things, what for we need spirituality. All these major questions, all your questions are answered logically. All these major questions are answered intellectually in the Shastras. The conclusions are given to you. We need to understand a few things about the Shastras.

Shastra is a scripture which completely takes away all your doubts - samsaya rakshasa nasana astram. Samsaya is a rakshasa, please understand samsaya is a rakshasa, doubt is a devil. Once a doubt enters your mind, till you clear it you can’t sleep, you can’t rest. Shastras help you get rid of these doubts intellectually. One thing you should understand about intellectual clarity is that unless you have a complete intellectual clarity, even if you believe your belief will be pseudo. Please be very clear your belief will be pseudo. Anybody can shake your faith. Your faith will not have a strong base. Your faith is almost like a building without foundation. If you build without a foundation, what will happen to the building, the same thing will happen to you if you don’t have the base of Shastras.

Somebody asked Vivekananda, “Swamiji what is the importance of Vedas and why should we study the Shastras?

Vivekananda says “if you study the Shastras all your faith, all your sincerity will become so strong nobody can shake your faith and sincerity”; otherwise any fool can tell you that what you are doing is superstitious and you will start thinking about it, you will start contemplating about it ‘ am I really doing superstitious things’?

‘Am I really following the right things’? ‘What am I doing ‘? You will start having doubts about yourself. You don’t believe your faith.

Please be very clear – you don’t believe your belief. That is very important. Every human being should understand you don’t believe your belief, you may think you believe something; you may think you have faith, but your faith or belief is not deep enough. It will not take you anywhere unless you have the foundation of intellectual conviction; unless you have the deep foundation of Shastras you will not be able to believe anything. I have seen the people who think they believe, please be very clear even your emotions are not so deep.

You think you have love, you think you believe. I see all kinds of people, one man came and told me “Swamiji I love the whole world”- Again and again I tell people to love the whole world is very easy but to love your wife is very difficult! That is why you are stuck –to love the whole world is very easy you can always say Vasudaiva Kutumbhum- I feel like the whole world is like my family Swamiji. The problem is you don’t feel in tune with your own family you think you love but you don’t really love. Are emotions are not deep; our faith is not deep, because you don’t have the intellectual conviction. A man who doesn’t have the intellectual conviction and just faith, his faith can be shaken by anybody. Just one person is enough you’ll be totally shocked, he can be totally shaken. Shastras, the intellectual understanding gives a base so that all your convictions, all your faith, all your belief can enter into your being and start working. Bhakt, devotion is just an alchemy process. If a touchstone touches you- have you heard about this touchstone? – Ramakrishna says beautifully “if a touchstone touches any metal it becomes gold just by a sparsha just a touch is enough any metal will be converted to gold”.

Bhakti is a touchstone. The moment bhakti touches you simply you will become God, you will become Divine. The problem is we never allow the bhakti to touch us, we never allow the devotion to work on us, we never allow the devotion to penetrate our being. We think we want God, but we are continuously afraid of the Divine. You may think you want Divine, but as long as it is superficial, as long as it is under your control things go well. The moment the devotion enters your being and starts the process, you say – NO NO not that much this is enough! I think that is too much for me! You stop at a certain point, your faith is pseudo. A small story- one guy who lived throughout his life as an atheist- he fell from the cliff and was holding, hanging on to a small root. Slowly the root also was giving way. He started shouting “Oh God I never believed you but now I do, please save me! Please save me now that I believe you. He heard a booming voice from heaven that said “Oh my son don’t worry I’ll save you just let go off the root! Let go off the root I will save you. Immediately he said “is there anybody else who can save me”. (Laughs), our faith is just pseudo. Is there anybody else who can save me?- God is only one choice for us if you don’t have any good movie on T.V, then you go to the temple. If you don’t have any other commitment, any other party that day you think of going to the temple. God is only one more choice for us in our lives. Till you have intellectual conviction about life God will be just one more choice in your life. Spirituality will be just one more choice. You will just choose. It will be just one more shop Wal- Mart, , spirituality, you will decide which shop should I enter. It will be just one more shop nothing more than that. The basic need for life is intellectual conviction. One guy was praying to Lord Venkateshwara “ oh prabhu please give me one million dollars. If you give me one million dollars I will put 200,000 dollars in your hundi. If you don’t believe me deduct 200,000 just give me 800,000- our faith is only this much, our spirituality is just a game. As long as things go well, as long as things go according to your route- God is great.

I have seen people when they pass in their exams they break coconuts, if they fail they break Ganesha!! If they pass in their exams they break coconut for Ganesha , if they fail they break Ganesha himself!! Your faith is very pseudo. If it is not life transforming we do not allow the devotion to work on ourselves. There is a beautiful shloka in the scriptures of Vedanta first thing we need to do is Vignana Bhayakoshana – the translation goes- clearing your intellect-you need to break, you need to open your intellect, you need to have a clear intellectual understanding about life, about spirituality about everything. Shastras- scriptures give you that intellectual clarity, that intellectual understanding.

If you see all the great devotees, all the great bhaktas- Chaitanya, Ramanuja, Madhva- all these great bhaktas had a very strong intellectual base. Chaitanya Mahaprabhu is a great nayaika philosopher. Nayaika means logic; he was a great philosopher of logic. Once you reach the height- the peaks of logic, only then you fall in the valley of love. Only then you are qualified to fall in love. Unless you reach the heights of logic you are not qualified to fall in the valley of love. All the great masters, all the great devotees they reach the peak of intellect, they have a strong Shastra base. Chaitanya mahaprabhu, Ramanuja, Madhva.

All these great masters of devotion had a strong intellectual base in the first category scriptures Shastras. Next comes the Stotras. Stotras means expressing your experience or expressing your love, expressing your devotion to your Master or God , the Guru or God. Expressing your deep love is Stotra. You stand in front of the Divine, you stand in front of the Lord and you express your feeling. Many people ask me “What is this Swamiji in your Hinduism you have Idol worship?” – I tell them no Hinduism doesn’t have Idol worship. We don’t worship the Idol, we worship through the Idol. When you stand in front of the God, when you stand in front of the Idol do you say “Oh stone! Give me a boon. Oh stone! Please give me, Oh stone! Please save me. No you say Oh God please save me, Oh Lord! Please save me, Oh Prabhu! Please save me. Please understand we don’t worship the Idol we worship through the Idol. So what we are doing is not Idol worship, we worship through the Idol.

In Vaishnavism there is a beautiful word Archavataara- means the Idol which is worshiped in the temple is called the incarnation of God. Archavataara-incarnation of God. It is not just a stone. Incarnation means the divine descending on the planet earth. Just like how we have all the incarnations – the 10 incarnations-the dashavataara-matsyavataara, kurmavataara, narsimhavataara,vamana—all these avataaras are there just like incarnations.

Just like all these Avataras the stone, the Idol that we worship is called is called Archavataara. We relate to the divine through the vigraha , through the moorthi. When you stand in front and pour yourself it is called Stotra. All the songs of the Alvas and Nayanmars, Meera, Chaitanya, all these songs written by the great devotees are called Stotras. People always come and ask me “Swamiji sometimes I don’t feel like chanting these Stotras . Should I do it mechanically even if I don’t like doing it? Should I do it?” I say DO IT.? One or two days you may feel it is mechanical but I tell you the moment you start enjoying the meaning , the moment you start understanding , it will become your being. It will become your feeling. When you express your heart it becomes Stotra. The next thing is Sutra. Sutra is the kind of literature that gives you the technique to reach the enlightenment which is shown by the Shastras; To reach the devotion, the ultimate bhakti which is expressed by Stotras. Shastras are from the intellectual level , Stotras from the emotional level and the Sutras are from the being level. There are 3 kinds of human beings- who are head oriented, heart oriented and being oriented. To fulfill every kind of human being, our Rishis have created three kinds of literatures. Our enlightened people have created three kinds of literature-Shastras, Stotras and Sutras.

This is a book which is all three put together and something more. Bhagavad Gita is the only book, I can say one and only book which is Stotra, Shastra and Sutra. It is Shastra- it gives a clear intellectual understanding about life, about atman, about what is to be done, what should not be done. Vidhi and nishedha – do’s and don’ts are clearly explained. I have not seen any other book explain so deeply. Please be very clear just explaining do’s and don’ts will not do. Giving the intellectual reason why it should be done, why it should not be done is necessary. There are many books which say how many times you can marry or whether you can marry at all. There are so many literatures to explain but there are very few books which give the reason why you should do or why you should not do. Gita is the only book which gives you a strong intellectual base, intellectual clarity. In Vedic literature, there are three books which are considered as authority. No other religion has got so many books like Hinduism, like Vedanta. We can be sure of one thing no other religion has so much of literature. Among the literature our Masters have chosen three books called prasthanatreya. The authorities in Spirituality are these books. One is Brahmasutra another one is Upanishad and the third is the Bhagavad Gita. Brahmasutra is written by Veda Vyasa an enlightened master. Upanishad again is written by rishis, enlightened masters. But Gita is directly from God- Incarnation – Purnavatāra.

Even among the incarnations, Krishna is considered Purna, complete, full incarnation. Why Krishna is considered as Purnavataara ? Why not other incarnations? Why only Krishna is considered as Purnavataara ? We should first understand why incarnations come to this planet earth? Why incarnations happen on the planet earth? Ramakrishna says beautifully “there was a big beautiful garden with so many trees, with so many varieties of flowers, so many varieties of fruits. Three friends were walking near the garden. There was a big wall.

One friend climbed the wall; saw the garden – Oh God! Such a beautiful garden and he just jumped into the garden and started enjoying. The second guy climbed the wall and saw the garden. He felt so beautiful but he had little bit of courtesy and he turned and said my dear friend to the friend who was below – my dear friend there is a beautiful garden below, come I’m going, he jumped and started enjoying. The third guy- he climbed the wall, saw the beautiful garden, he saw his two friends enjoying and he understood the joy and the bliss that they were enjoying. Then he decided – no I’ll go down and tell all my people there is such a beautiful garden and I will bring them all and make them enjoy this garden.” The man who comes down is the incarnation. The man who descends from he Divine is the incarnation. The person who comes back to the planet earth to tell you about divinity, to make you realize what he experienced – he is called incarnation. Scientist is a person who creates a formula to understand the things of the outer world. For example- Newton saw something happening in the garden , he saw the apple falling from the tree, suddenly some understanding came to him and he understood something; why is this falling, what is happening? Why shouldn’t it go up? Why is it coming down? He started thinking and some understanding came to him. The glimpse of the truth happened to him at that moment, immediately he analyzed, created a formula so that everybody can understand what is happening when things fall. Theory of gravity- he created a formula. Scientist is a person who creates formula for outer world. Same way mystics, spiritual mystics, enlightened person, master is the person who creates the formula to reproduce the inner world experiences. Scientists create formulas for the outer world, whereas Master is a person who creates a formula to recreate the experience of the inner world. Meditation techniques are the formulas. Incarnation is a person who can directly give the experience without even using the formula. All these great incarnations are coming down to planet Earth to give the spiritual experience, to make the people realize that they are Divine, to make people realize that they are God, to tell the people that the other side is beautiful; there’s a very big garden, come let us go and enjoy. Incarnation is a person who has come down, who has descended to teach divinity to the world. Why Krishna is Purnavataara ? because he has got all the qualities which are needed to push the human beings to divinity. To push the human beings to divinity is called JagatGuru. He is called the guru of the whole universe. There is a beautiful shloka:

vasudevasutam devam kamsachanura vardhanam | devaki parmanandam krishnam vande jagadgurum ||

The shloka says Krishna is the jagatguru. Jagat guru means a man who can help the whole world , all types of human beings from all levels, Universe is a place where all types of human beings are the in all levels. Krishna is the person who can help all kinds of people from all levels to experience divinity, to reach the Ultimate, to realize the truth in them. There are intellectual people, there are emotional people, there are people who are in the being level. Some incarnations apply more for intellectual people like Shankara. Shankara suits intellectual people, Buddha suits intellectual people, intellectual people can relate to Buddha more easily. But for emotional people it is very difficult, you can’t imagine Buddha with a flute, you can’t imagine Buddha singing and dancing, you can’t imagine Shankara singing and dancing, you can’t imagine Shankara doing raas- leela –No- only for intellectuals Buddha and Shankara will appeal. There are some incarnations for emotional people. They relate to Meera, Chaitanaya Mahaprabhu- they are always singing and dancing. An intellectual man can never understand Meera or Chaitanya Mahaprabhu. He can never understand Aandal. They can never understand these incarnations. For people who are Being level , who are centered on their being for them again it is very difficult to be able to relate with the intellectual or the emotional masters. They straight away want the experience , they are neither ready to analyze nor ready to believe. The person ready to analyze , he goes to the Shastras, person ready to believe is drawn to Stotras, but the person who wants straight experience, instant coffee, instant experience , he can neither wait for Shastras nor can he wait for Stotras. He straight away wants the technology, he wants the applied science. Shastras are like main theory the basic science. Stotras are like marketing department, publicity. Sutras are applied science. They want straight. You should know about this marketing department.

A small story.

One guy reaches Yama Dharma’s court for judgement. Yama says ( Yama is God of death) “you have done some sins and have some merit. You can be allowed to be in heaven and in hell. You have a choice. You can see both the places and choose which one you want.” The guy says “alright I’ll first go to both the places and then decide”. He went to hell. He saw that the people were so beautiful, dancing and singing. It had become completely hi-tech, computers were available, internet was available, they get the news everyday, everything was so new, air conditioned and people serving you everything. He thinks “what is this? What happened to hell?” People in hell said all the technology people are coming here, all the techies are here and so we changed the whole setup. Now we have updated the whole system. No more old time. Now everything is new.” Then he said alright let me go and see heaven also. There is a chance that some techies would have gone there also. There is some possibility. He went to heaven. In heaven he saw the same old Saints with long beards, sitting on clouds and singing Hallelujah! Hallelujah! Nothing else, nothing new. Same heaven, nothing much happening.

He went to Yama and said “I think I’ll go to hell.” Yama said “please be very clear. Are you sure?” The guy said “yes I’m sure I’ll go to hell.”

He decided and suddenly a door opened and he fell and he saw the traditional hell. People being tortured, so many devils, the regular traditional hell. He was shocked; he started saying “what is happening? What is this? When I came here half an hour ago hell was different and now the whole thing has changed.” They said “ no no that was our marketing department.” (laughs). Be very clear sometimes you are caught in the marketing department. Don’t be caught in the marketing department and when you go to the marketing department be very clear what is truth and what is exaggerated- you need to analyze. Of course when I say you go through the Stotras you need to understand. Please be very clear you go through the Puranas you need to understand what is the spirit of the Puranas. You need to understand the spirit. There is a big difference between fact and truth. Puranas are truths. They are showing you, leading you to the truth. So when you understand the Stotras you should understand the spirit of the Stotra.

The next level people who neither want Shastra nor do they want Stotra; they straight away want applied science, technology- For them Shiva, who created the Vignana Bhairava Tantra. All these great meditation techniques! For that type of people who are Being oriented, for them the meditation techniques will suit- for them the Zen masters. They will be able to relate with the Zen masters. For the intellectual crowd- one kind of incarnation , for the emotional crowd- different kind of masters. For being level people different kinds of masters. But here is Krishna, all three level people can relate with Krishna. If you are intellectual, he gives you the Gita- Gita Krishna. If you are emotional there is Radha Krishna. He can sing and dance, he can play, he can be naughty, he can fulfill your emotional Being. He can give you the ultimate emotional fulfillment. Next. Being level- you want a straight technology of enlightenment. Again he offers the truth, Dhyana Yoga in the Gita. He is complete fulfillment. His very life is Sutra! The very life of Krishna is Sutra. Sutra means the technique that leads you to enlightenment. The body language of an enlightened person is Sutra. Krishna is the person whose body language straight away leads you to enlightenment. Understand, Rama will lead you to Dharma. If you follow what Rama did, you will have Dharma but with Krishna, you will straight away have Moksha. With Krishna’s being, when you experience the being of Krishna, when you understand Krishna, his very Being is technique, his very life is technique. That is why, there is a word in Bhagvata “Leela Dhayana”.

Just remembering the leelas of Krishna is Dhyana. Please understand, no other incarnation is given the word Leela Dhyana, no other incarnation is praised, just remembering their acts is Leela. But Masters describe, remembering the acts of Krishna as Leela. All these great Rishis once go to Vrindavan, to see what is happening, why these fellows are so happy? And just always singing and dancing and we rishis are sitting with closed eyes and long faces’ trying to meditate so much and nothing is happening-except the beard nothing else is growing. We are sitting for a long time but these Gopikas, singing and dancing, always happy! What is happening? They just wanted to see. They were disturbed by the Gopikas singing and dancing- a small story- A guy was sitting on the banks of a river trying to meditate. He heard the sound of anklets and opened his eyes and saw a young lady, a young woman walking to fetch water from the river. He said “what is this? What kind of disturbance”? He closed his eyes and again started meditating. Next day same time he heard the sound again unconsciously he opened his eyes and saw and said “what kind of disturbance”? He closed his eyes and again started meditating. Third day same time- he is waiting for the sound of the anklets! These rishis must have been disturbed by the singing and dancing of the Gopikas, around Krishna. They wanted to know what is going on in Vrindavan. They came down, they went to Vrindavan just to see the Gopikas, not only didn’t the Gopikas receive them properly; they didn’t even care to listen to listen to what they had to say. They were happy, completely fulfilled, total contentment remembering Krishna, in the reminisces in the memoirs of Krishna. These rishis asked “what is this”? “We are rishis we have come all the way to see you, you guys are not even receiving us”. One Gopi came up and asked “rishi? What’s that”? We meditate on his feet in our heart. Meditate on feet? Come, we will show you, we are playing with him. “Meditating on him? Why unnecessarily? Come we will show you, we are playing with him. They say you are trying to remember him, we are trying to forget him, and he is so much in our Being. We are not able to forget him, we are not able to do any of our work, and he is completely filling up our inner space.

Many people come and ask me “Swamiji should we remember you, should we take you as our master? I tell them never do that mistake- if I am going to help you, if I am your master you will not be able to forget me. If you have to remember me with effort be very clear I am not your Master; forget carry on doing your work, carry on with your life. If you have to remember something consciously with effort it is ugly, you can’t forget, only them devotion happens in you. Gopika’s, they say, ”we are not able to forget”, “ we are not able to forget”- emotional people can also relate with Krishna, they can sing, dance, play with him, and the Being level people who are continually aspiring, seeking, straight experience, again for them also Krishna appeals, because just by will he can show, he can give enlightenment experience to Arjuna - by showing the cosmic form- Vishwa Roopa Darshana. Just by showing he is in everybody, everybody is in him, he is able to express just by will, he is able to give experience of Divine to Arjuna, and he is able to give Eternal Bliss to Arjuna. Whether you are intellectual oriented, emotional oriented or Being level oriented, you can see your fulfillment in Krishna. Krishna can give you the fulfillment. When intellect ripens it becomes intelligence, when emotion ripens it becomes devotion, when your Being ripens you become Enlightened.

All these three enlightenment, devotion and intelligence, all these three express at its peak level in Krishna. Krishna is a person who can fulfill every Being, which is why he is called Jagat Guru. Jagat Guru- guru of the whole universe. One person came to me, one swami in Bharat. He told me “I am the Jagat Guru”. Jagat Guru? I said “what is this, it’s like having a small hotel on the roadside and naming it Sheraton. I asked him Jagat Guru? What do you mean by that word? Do you know the qualifications of Jagat Guru? He said “no, no I have one disciple his name is Jagat. I am the guru for him, so I am called Jagat Guru”. So understand the word Jagat Guru means not just the guru of one person Jagat. You are supposed to be the person who leads the whole universe into the Divine Consciousness.

Krishna is the only person who is Jagat Guru. A person who is intellectually oriented Upanishads will appeal, Shastras will appeal, Brahma Sutra will appeal. Person who is emotionally oriented, for him the Stotras will appeal. The songs of Chaitanya, Meera, songs of Tulidasa will appeal. For a person who is Being level oriented, for him Vijnana Bhairava Tantra or Patanjali Yoga Sutra- which gives applied science, technology – that will appeal. But Krishna will appeal to every being, he is for intellectual people, emotional people, Being level people and something more. He has created keys to open all the locks. He has created methods which can give the spiritual experience for the whole of humanity- people who have come, people who are here and who are yet to come. He has created the technology even for next generations. He is Nithya Ananda. Gita is the Ultimate scripture which is Shastra, Stotra and Sutra. When it says – “Nainan Chindandi Sastram Nainanda Agathi Pavakaha” When it says the basic ideas, the basic concepts about the life it is shastra, when it says –

Nammo Purastat Prushtadaste Nammostute Sarvadev Sarva Arjuna is doing the Stotra, Arjuna is praising the lord, he is expressing his devotion. “ oh lord I bow down to you from all sides you are the Ultimate” This book is Stotra when you read all these lines you experience this book as a Stotra. There is another beautiful sloka

“Ananda Veeryam Idamikravat Ananda Veeryam Idamvikramustwam”