19851121_Ratha_Yatra_Address_Bangalore The following is an address given by His Holiness Jayapataka Swami on November 21st 1985, in Bangalore, India. The address occurred during the ratha yatra festival. So on this auspicious occasion of ratha yatra festival in Bangalore, I thought to be quite appropriate to read from verses in the Bhagavat Gita, since all the acharyas have described Bhagavat Gita as an ocean of nectar. This is very hard to decide which part of the Bhagavat Gita to read from, because everywhere there is nectar. After great difficulty in deciding I thought, to begin from the 9th chapter to the beginning of the second half of the Bhagavat Gita. I hope that everyone has taken a darshan of Sri Sri Krishna, Balram in their flower mandapa, at the end of this auditorium. They are the Lord, Their Lordship and this festival is only possible because of their desire, They are the supreme object of our worship, because sometimes this auditorium is closed, They are not here on the stage with us, otherwise in heart we are here, although we are worshipping them there, so that in morning when the auditorium is closed the devotees can come and take darshan of this moving deities of Udipi Krishna, Balaram. The Bhagavat Gita, that I am reading from is Bhagavat Gita As It Is, it is translated with purport by His divine Grace A.C.Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada, the founder Acharya of ISKCON, who has spread this sanatana dharma all over the world. Some swamiji’s have gone to the West but no one has brought pure devotees or devotees of Krishna back to India, or has established even one Krishna temple in the Western world before Swami Prabhupada. So his life history which you heard in Canada, is certainly a landmark beyond any compare. Therefore we pray to his lotus feet as the greatest ambassador of Indian philosophy, culture and way of life to the entire world. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada, that he may show his blessing glance upon all of you. Text 1 of the chapter 9 of Bhagavat Gita. Sri Bhagavan uvaca, idaṁ tu te guhya-tamaṁ pravakṣyāmy anasūyave jñānaṁ vijñāna-sahitaṁ yaj jñātvā mokṣyase ’śubhāt Translation: The Supreme Personality of Godhead said: My dear Arjuna, because you are never envious of Me, anusuyave, I shall impart to you this most confidential knowledge and realization, jnana, vijnana, knowing which you shall be relieved of the miseries of material existence.

So many people, everyone is seeking some secret information or special information, how to become free from the sufferings of material nature. Our five year plans, planning commissions in India are always seeking how to end material sufferings of the masses of the people, our universities and scientists are always looking for methods how to end the sufferings of people, but here Krishna is saying to Arjuna that I am going to give you the confidential knowledge by which you can become relieved of the miseries of the material existence. The Bhagavat Gita is a practical book meant to relieve us from suffering and give us realization and knowledge of the absolute truth. One important qualification Arjuna had, why this secret was revealed to him is anusuya, that he was not envious.

There are many people who say there is no God, that Krishna is a figment of imagination, that Rama doesn’t exist, so on so forth.

For such envious people Krishna does not exist. He describes in Gita elsewhere, ye yatha mam prapadyate tams tathiva bhajamyaham, that according to how a person worships me I reciprocate with them.

So when the atheist says, I don’t believe in the Lord, so then the Lord does not also interfere with their life. He allows those people to suffer and enjoy their karmas accordingly. But for the devotee who is always praying to the Lord to be relieved from the sufferings, to be given the real knowledge and purpose of life, Krishna is always present.

So Krishna is actually equal, He is not partial in that sense.

Devotees always want His mercy, so they are praying to Krishna, give us Your mercy.

So He for them is always giving His mercy.

In the age of atheist they are saying that we don’t believe in You, therefore for them He is also.. ignores them, as they ignore Him.

So we are very honoured to be here in Bangalore, in Karnataka, which is a place in the world, where generally people do not ignore Krishna. They are more or less Krishna conscious, and for that reason we are very happy to be performing ratha yatra for Lord Krishna here in this state and the capital city of Karnataka.

We are very encouraged that the minister who are busy, political men, normally occupy with other men, they are taking the time out to encourage the people on the spiritual occasion of the ratha yatra festival.

We are encouraged that all of you have come here to grace this occasion. So we know that because you have come here, we are also anusuyave, you are also non-envious, therefore you are worthy of Krishna and this confidential knowledge whereby all your sufferings can be relieved and you can achieve the real happiness in life.

It is described further in the second verse

rāja-vidyā rāja-guhyaṁ pavitram idam uttamam pratyakṣāvagamaṁ dharmyaṁ su-sukhaṁ kartum avyayam

Translation by Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada. This knowledge is the king of education. The most secret of all secrets. It is the purest knowledge and because it gives direct perception of the self by realization, it is the perfection of religion. It is everlasting, and it is joyfully performed. This chapter of Bhagavad-gītā is known as the king of education, the essence of all doctrines philosophies, religions. In India we have so many philosophers in India are Gautama, Kaṇāda, Kapila, Yājñavalkya, Śāṇḍilya and Vaiśvānara. And finally Vyāsadeva, the guru of Madhva and the writer of all the Vedas, and the essence of all that vedic wisdom can be found here in the Bhagavat Gita, especially in this 9th chapter. That is why in India we can say that there is actually no shortage of spiritual information. You do not have only one book, we have hundreds and lakhs and lakhs of slokas, hundreds of books of spiritual knowledge. Unfortunately... generally people in the modern world are educated in external knowledge and they are not educated in this confidential knowledge. Therefore this confidential knowledge is called guhyatama, or secret. Raja Guhyam, the king of secrets. Not that it is secret because you can’t know it, it is secret because people generally they don’t inquired about it. They don’t hear about it. It’s a secret because it is something which is discussed among certain circles, well others they don’t think about it, they don’t enquired about it, the don’t hear about it, in depth Of if they hear, they don’t understand it due to a lack of proper culture. In the university you find we have maths, physics, chemistry, history, biology, anthropology, we have so many different subjects, but where do you have atma vijgyan, science of self ? Transcribed by: Sadananda Krishnaprem Das