VII: 19

[Krishna Jaya]

Chapter 7, Verse 19

 

“At the end of many lives,

The wise unite with me,

Thinking, ‘Krishna is all there is.’

Great souls like this are rare.”

 

Father Bede Griffiths:

 

There are different words for these great souls in India.  Gandhi was called Mahatma, the great soul.  Aurobindo was Mahayogi, the great Yogi.  Ramana was Maharshi, the great Rishi, and Yogananda was Paramahansa, the supreme swan, the bird who takes flight to the infinite.  Each is subtly different, and the people are very acute in the way they discern the different spiritual characteristics.

 

Sri Aurobindo:

 

These knowers, says the Godhead in the Gita, are my very Self.  Theirs is the divine birth in the supreme nature, completed in will, absolute in love and whole in knowledge.  In them, the Jiva’s existence is justified, because it has exceeded itself and so found its whole and highest truth of Being.

 

Swami Shivananda:

 

Through many births, the student gradually evolves by means of Yoga practices, selfless service, devotion and constant meditation, and ultimately realizes the Self.  It is very difficult to find a great soul who has attained this wholeness.  That is why Krishna says (in verse three of this chapter) “Among thousands, one perchance strives for this wholeness, and among those strivers only a few, perchance, know me in essence.”

 

Srila Prabhupada:

 

There comes a point when devotees become attached to the Supreme Personality of Godhead and surrender to him.  At such a time they understand that Krishna’s mercy is everything, that he is the cause of all causes, and that this material manifestation is not independent from Him.  Such surrendered great souls are very rare.

 

A friend:

 

Experience is the best teacher.  It’s called the school of hard knocks. It takes a long time. "After many births," as Krishna says in this verse. I can't think myself into that state of dispassion. It takes more than thought. It takes doing something, and feeling the result of doing it. Then I think about it. But the thought is mere analysis, and doesn't change me to the core. What changes me is action and feeling, which run on their own energy below the level of thought.

 

Byron Katie advises me to change my thoughts, which is helpful only if I act-and-feel on the basis of a new thought. Then I can change. The thought alone does not do much. Prabhupad called it "hovering on the mental platform." Of course, as the Rosicrucians used to say, "thoughts have wings." To some extent, a thought is an act, and can have consequences in the world - on a mental level. But the final test is on the level of action-and-feeling. "After many births, a person of knowledge surrenders to me - 'Vasudeva is everything!' - such a Mahatma is very rare." I recall a book title, The Brilliant Function of Pain. We need to be prodded.”

 

[Re: what you were saying about thought and action and feeling, my take is that the proof of the pudding is in the eating. Thoughts do have power when they help me really make positive changes on my path in the sense of doing the dos that Prabhupad talks about and not doing the don’t dos. Many of these injunctions require deep-seated re-conditioning which is where the deep feeling, the deep longing to come into alignment with the higher power and devotion to that ideal helps big-time and is certainly necessary, speaking personally.]

Friend’s response: Concerning thought vs. action + feeling: The latter has more force in learning detachment. But in the case of attachment to the beloved, thought has great power. Thus the term Krishna Consciousness.