CHAPTER 7, TEXT 8: O son of Kuntī, I am the taste of water, the light of the sun and the moon, the syllable oṁ in the Vedic mantras; I am the sound in ether and ability in man.
From personal experience, a broken heart from betrayed love is probably the most excruciating pain I've ever endured.
Also from personal experience, a whole heart to give and receive love with another human being is probably the most joy I've ever known.
Love is pain.
Love is joy.
See the problem here??
We all want love, but love could be our downfall OR our salvation. So what is love?
Love, at its core, is an exchange between two people. Brene Brown, a Ph.D. researcher on shame and connection, writes, "Love is not something we give or get; it is something that we nurture and grow, a connection that can only be cultivated between two people..." (https://brenebrown.com/definitions/). This means that love is not an object to be given or an object to give away. And if love cannot be given or taken away, then that must mean that love eternally resides within the heart of each and every one of us. Essentially, love is a connection that is either cultivated or neglected.
Bhakti is the love that exists between God (Bhagavan) and the spirit soul (bhakta) - that love is not given to us, nor can it be given away. The propensity to love and serve God is intrinsic to our very nature. Bhakti is either dormant (and neglected) or active. What's more, "We cultivate love when we allow our most vulnerable and powerful selves to be seen and known" (Brene Brown, https://brenebrown.com/definitions/). Bhagavan in His most sweet and vulnerable form is when he goes by the personal name of Krishna. (An equivalent would be like calling President Obama by his first name, Barack.)
Calling God by His "first name" - Krishna - is very intimate. By saying the name Krishna, we are invoking God's most vulnerable and powerful self, and Krishna is allowing Himself to be seen and known.
So what does this all have to do with this Chapter 7, Verse 8 of the Bhagavad-gita?? What does being hardwired to love, being scared to love, and using God's personal name have to do with Krishna sharing that He is, say, the syllable om in the Vedic mantras?
Prabhupad writes, "Because the impersonalists are very much afraid of addressing the Supreme Lord Kṛṣṇa by His innumerable names, they prefer to vibrate the transcendental sound oṁ-kāra." The key word in this sentence is "afraid." The very reason why people become impersonalists and refute the existence of a personal God who has a form and a name is because they're afraid... of love.
We all know how painful love can be, and so impersonalists have simply chosen to not cultivate that connection of love with God the person. After all, a broken heart on the scale of loving God could be cataclysmic!
Still, there's a secret: "But [the impersonalists] do not realize that oṁ-kāra is the sound representation of Kṛṣṇa."
There's no escape ;)
Krishna says in this verse that He is the om-kara, so for those who are afraid to connect to God in a loving relationship, He still makes Himself accessible through an impersonal sound. Prabhupad writes, "The Supreme Lord can be preliminarily perceived by His different energies, and in this way He is realized impersonally." When loving God seems too far away, too scary, too impossible, then we can start here, in this preliminary way: experiencing His energies. They're all representations of Krishna Himself that we can experience right now, in this moment.
A glass of New York City tap water (which is famous for being drawn from natural springs) sits on my desk; I just took a sip. That clean taste is Krishna.
The morning sunlight shines with brilliance upon light brown bricks of the apartment building outside my window. That light is Krishna.
Sitting here at my desk, I just vibrated the syllable om. That syllable is Krishna.
Right now I can hear the clock tick. That sound vibrating through ether is Krishna.
I move my fingers across this keyboard and look upon this screen. The ability to do so is Krishna.
Right here, right now, I can experience God, if only I have the vision. No need to fear any kind of personal relationship or connection that could end in a broken heart, because maybe - if I'm honest - I'm scared and a little intimidated to really love God. So Krishna says here: Just experience the original and purest lights, sounds, smells, tastes, and movements of this world and You will know me.
In this way, Krishna is allowing His most powerful self to be known through these energies. Maybe He's not so vulnerable - like using his personal name of Krishna - but that's okay. In this way, Krishna is emphasizing that all pathways to experiencing, knowing, and loving God are valid. Prabhupad points out, "Practically speaking, there is no conflict between personalism and impersonalism. One who knows God knows that the impersonal conception and personal conception are simultaneously present in everything and that there is no contradiction." In this way, the spiritual journey is meant to be understandable and accessible to all.
Right now.
Right here.
Bhakti is meant to be cultivated through the simple medium of appreciation. Just appreciating the glass of water, the sunlight, and sound, our heart grows and softens. We begin to understand that God is not vaulted off in some inaccessible cloud in the sky looking down on us. He is infused within every moment and every movement of our lives, if we only have the vision to see.
"When we focus on our gratitude, the tide of disappointment goes out and the tide of love rushes in."
Kristin Armstrong
Full purport by Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupad here: https://vedabase.io/en/library/bg/7/8/
From personal experience, a broken heart from betrayed love is probably the most excruciating pain I've ever endured.
Also from personal experience, a whole heart to give and receive love with another human being is probably the most joy I've ever known.
Love is pain.
Love is joy.
See the problem here??
We all want love, but love could be our downfall OR our salvation. So what is love?
Love, at its core, is an exchange between two people. Brene Brown, a Ph.D. researcher on shame and connection, writes, "Love is not something we give or get; it is something that we nurture and grow, a connection that can only be cultivated between two people..." (https://brenebrown.com/definitions/). This means that love is not an object to be given or an object to give away. And if love cannot be given or taken away, then that must mean that love eternally resides within the heart of each and every one of us. Essentially, love is a connection that is either cultivated or neglected.
Calling God by His "first name" - Krishna - is very intimate. By saying the name Krishna, we are invoking God's most vulnerable and powerful self, and Krishna is allowing Himself to be seen and known.
So what does this all have to do with this Chapter 7, Verse 8 of the Bhagavad-gita?? What does being hardwired to love, being scared to love, and using God's personal name have to do with Krishna sharing that He is, say, the syllable om in the Vedic mantras?
Prabhupad writes, "Because the impersonalists are very much afraid of addressing the Supreme Lord Kṛṣṇa by His innumerable names, they prefer to vibrate the transcendental sound oṁ-kāra." The key word in this sentence is "afraid." The very reason why people become impersonalists and refute the existence of a personal God who has a form and a name is because they're afraid... of love.
We all know how painful love can be, and so impersonalists have simply chosen to not cultivate that connection of love with God the person. After all, a broken heart on the scale of loving God could be cataclysmic!
Still, there's a secret: "But [the impersonalists] do not realize that oṁ-kāra is the sound representation of Kṛṣṇa."
There's no escape ;)
Krishna says in this verse that He is the om-kara, so for those who are afraid to connect to God in a loving relationship, He still makes Himself accessible through an impersonal sound. Prabhupad writes, "The Supreme Lord can be preliminarily perceived by His different energies, and in this way He is realized impersonally." When loving God seems too far away, too scary, too impossible, then we can start here, in this preliminary way: experiencing His energies. They're all representations of Krishna Himself that we can experience right now, in this moment.
A glass of New York City tap water (which is famous for being drawn from natural springs) sits on my desk; I just took a sip. That clean taste is Krishna.
The morning sunlight shines with brilliance upon light brown bricks of the apartment building outside my window. That light is Krishna.
Sitting here at my desk, I just vibrated the syllable om. That syllable is Krishna.
Right now I can hear the clock tick. That sound vibrating through ether is Krishna.
I move my fingers across this keyboard and look upon this screen. The ability to do so is Krishna.
Right here, right now, I can experience God, if only I have the vision. No need to fear any kind of personal relationship or connection that could end in a broken heart, because maybe - if I'm honest - I'm scared and a little intimidated to really love God. So Krishna says here: Just experience the original and purest lights, sounds, smells, tastes, and movements of this world and You will know me.
In this way, Krishna is allowing His most powerful self to be known through these energies. Maybe He's not so vulnerable - like using his personal name of Krishna - but that's okay. In this way, Krishna is emphasizing that all pathways to experiencing, knowing, and loving God are valid. Prabhupad points out, "Practically speaking, there is no conflict between personalism and impersonalism. One who knows God knows that the impersonal conception and personal conception are simultaneously present in everything and that there is no contradiction." In this way, the spiritual journey is meant to be understandable and accessible to all.
Right now.
Right here.
Bhakti is meant to be cultivated through the simple medium of appreciation. Just appreciating the glass of water, the sunlight, and sound, our heart grows and softens. We begin to understand that God is not vaulted off in some inaccessible cloud in the sky looking down on us. He is infused within every moment and every movement of our lives, if we only have the vision to see.
"When we focus on our gratitude, the tide of disappointment goes out and the tide of love rushes in."
Kristin Armstrong
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