So anyone who takes shelter of Kṛṣṇa by the words of Kṛṣṇa, believing Him . . . so . . . just like Kṛṣṇa says, mām ekaṁ śaraṇaṁ vraja. Man-manā bhava mad-bhakto mad-yājī māṁ namaskuru (BG 18.65). Kṛṣṇa orders that, "You surrender unto Me. You become My devotee. You always think of Me." Man-manā, mad-bhaktaḥ (BG 9.34): "You become My devotee." Mad-yājī: "You worship Me. You offer your obeisances unto Me." Persons who are in poor fund of knowledge, they think, "It is too much. Kṛṣṇa is demanding too much. It is sophistry."
No, no. That is not sophistry. That is the real position. Otherwise, without surrendering to Kṛṣṇa, if you think yourself that you are Kṛṣṇa, that is in illusion, aviśuddha-buddhayaḥ, contaminated intelligence. Aviśuddha-buddhayaḥ. Ye 'nye 'ravindākṣa vimukta-māninas tvayy asta-bhāvād aviśuddha-buddhayaḥ (SB 10.2.32). Because they cannot understand Kṛṣṇa, so their knowledge is not perfect, or not purified.
Knowledge perfect is there in every living entity, but it is contaminated by the contact of māyā. So one who can understand the position of Kṛṣṇa and himself, he's called mukta. Mukta means liberated. Mukti means to know perfectly what is our relationship with Kṛṣṇa. That is called mukti. (pause)
The verse . . .
- antavanta ime dehā
- nityasyoktāḥ śarīriṇaḥ
- anāśino 'prameyasya
- tasmād yudhyasva bhārata
- (BG 2.18)
Yuddha, fighting. Arjuna was kṣatriya; it is his duty. Because here, in this material world, violence is also required. Violence. Because everyone is competitor, everyone is trying to become the Supreme, so there will be violence. Just like in your state, at the present moment, there is violence because one party is trying to become Supreme than the other. That is going on everywhere, all over the world, the struggle for existence. Everyone is trying to become supreme than the other. So there must be violence.
So expecting that there will be violence, the kṣatriya class required. Just like in the state, expecting that there will be violence, therefore the police department is maintained, the military department is maintained. So you cannot avoid violence from this material world. It is useless proposal. Our Mahatma Gandhi tried to stop violence. He started the nonviolence movement. But factually he had to die by violence.
So kṣatriya, they are trained up to violent, to become violent to stop violence. That is required. Therefore Kṛṣṇa advises that, "Don't try to become nonviolent, because . . ." Tasmād yudhyasva bhārata. "Don't think that by killing the body, your grandfather or your nephews and your brother on the other side, they will be finished. No. They'll live. The body may be destroyed," na hanyate hanyamāne śarīre (BG 2.20), but actual soul, he'll transmigrate.
According to Vedic philosophy, if a kṣatriya dies in proper fighting, then he is immediately transferred to the heavenly planet. The heavenly planet. Because he sacrifices his body for right cause. Formerly, the fight was not a very trifle thing. After much consideration, then fighting or war was declared. Just like the fighting between the Kurus and the Pāṇḍavas; first of all there was great endeavor to stop the fight. Kṛṣṇa Himself became the messenger and was going from this party to another.
Because Kṛṣṇa . . . both the parties were Kṛṣṇa's family relative. So He wanted to stop and mitigate the misunderstanding by mutual settlement. But it was not possible. The Duryodhana's party said that, "We are not prepared to spare even a small piece of land which can hold the tip of the needle." Sūcāgra-bhūmi. Then it was decided there must be fight.
That fighting was meant for the kṣatriyas. Formerly, there was no democracy, the so-called democracy. Democracy means that there was one king only; now there are hundreds of kings. One king and few ministers. Now one governor, one, I mean to say, three dozen secretaries, and three dozen . . . so many things. It is overburdened. The tax, tax is overburdened because there are so many officers, they have to be sumptually paid. So tax is required.
So in this age, Kali-yuga, by, I mean to say, finishing the monarchical system, people have accepted the democratic system, but it is not very much improvement, because the state expenditure has very much increased and people are very much overburdened with taxes. So Kṛṣṇa advises that tasmād yudhyasva.
Tasmād yudhyasva bhārata. "Don't think that your grandfather or the other party, relatives, they'll be destroyed by fighting. It is not the fact that by destruction of the body, the soul is destroyed." Real purpose is, Bhagavad-gītā, that we should understand that the soul is always existing, even . . . na hanyate hanyamāne śarīre (BG 2.20).
- ya enaṁ vetti hantāraṁ
- yaś cainaṁ manyate hatam
- ubhau tau na vijānīto
- nāyaṁ hanti na hanyate
- (BG 2.19)
There is another example. Kṛṣṇa says . . . because the soul is immortal, eternal, so if somebody kills somebody, the body is destroyed, but the soul is not destroyed. So if one thinks that, "I have killed him; he's finished," he's also foolish. And one who thinks that, "If I have died in the fight, then I will be finished," no. Ubhau tau na vijānītaḥ. Both of them are ignorant. Ubhau tau na vijānīto nāyaṁ hanti na hanyate. The living soul is never killed, neither he can kill others. For duty's sake . . . of course, when there is fight . . . that is called dharma-yuddha. Dharma-yuddha: by the order of the Supreme.
Just like Arjuna was fighting by the order of the Supreme. That is dharma-yuddha. If there is no sanction by the dharma, there is śāstra injunction, "In this case fighting should be there; in case . . . in this case, there should be no fighting . . ." So one who follows the principles of regulation in the Vedas, that is called dharma-yuddha. Even there is fight, there is religion, there is piety, even by killing and being killed. Two kṣatriyas are fighting. Either he kills or he is being killed, in both ways they are profited.