Our teacher who led with the Bhagavad-gītā when he came to the west called it the Vedic intelligence. One of the practices of Krishna Consciousness is to, as my god brother told me in New York City just a couple of months ago—his name is Pradyumna; he's always bugging me to continue learning Sanskrit, which I've done in fits and starts. I usually do it to procrastinate when I'm writing a book and I think, "Well, maybe I'll learn Sanskrit instead because it seems easier." And I saw him on the street out in front of one of our centers in New York City called The Bhakti Center, and we greeted one another and just asked how we were. I asked how he was doing; he asked how I was doing. I said, "Fine," and he said, "Fine." Then he asked, "How's the Sanskrit?" I said, "Well, um..." and he already knows my Sanskrit teacher and had already told him that I hadn't talked to him in a couple months. So, he looked at me and goes, "Crack a book," and then he walked away. So that's my mantra in my head: "Crack a book."
There's a way in which we look all around the room and think, "What could preoccupy me nowadays?" There's one object that especially attracts everyone's attention. I've noticed it because if you go to a bus stop, a train stop, an airport, and you look at people waiting for anything, have you had this experience? Do you know where I'm going with this? What are they doing? Looking at a screen, right? And usually, their thumbs are moving. wring, wring, wring. This is not yogic samadhi. It's different. It's very different. There is a way in which the human brain can be engaged in such a way that it can touch the web of transcendence, and that's called reading Bhagavad-gītā. It's the Vedic intelligence.
One of our main practices is to read Bhagavad-gītā, and what we claim is, if you read Bhagavad-gītā, you'll have an intervention in your life. Did you ever feel like you needed an intervention? Yes. Did you ever feel like you needed rehab? Yes. Okay, yeah. In fact, it's trendy nowadays. "Where have you been? Rehab." "Yeah, I'm rehabbing." Practically living in the world, there's such an assault on the senses from every direction, and I just get swept away by habits, and we need some intervention. We need some rehab, and Bhagavad-gītā has both of those. The intervention of knowledge is quite enticing because the voice of the Bhagavad-gītā is gentle, like a friend. In fact, it's a conversation between The Great Krishna and His great friend Arjuna. Krishna speaks authoritatively, but there's also a sense that he's speaking to his friend. But there's also another sense, because He, Krishna, is the Supreme appearing in a human form, that He's talking to all of us. The intervention can happen for anyone, in any language. (Excerpt from the talk)
To connect with His Grace Vaiśeṣika Dāsa, please visit https://www.fanthespark.com/next-steps/ask-vaisesika-dasa/
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