Gītā 3-5

03/31/2026 · Tue/Thu 10:30-11:45 AM · Brad Bannon · Boston College

📄 Synopsis

In this class session, Instructor Brad Bannon introduces the final unit of the course, focusing on Bhakti Mārga, the path of devotion. The lecture distinguishes Bhakti from the paths of knowledge (Jñāna) and action (Karma), emphasizing that Bhakti is characterized by its 'ease' and the 'vibe' of unconditional love and grace from the Divine. Bannon explores the ontological relationship between the individual and God through the lens of Krishna, whose primary attribute is līlā or divine play. The session includes a detailed examination of the Iṣṭa-devatā doctrine—the practice of devoting oneself to a specific form of the one Absolute—and the concept of avatars as divine descents. Through storytelling, the class reviews the origins of Ganesha and the nature of sacred images (mūrtis) as aids for spiritual focus.

⚡ Key Takeaways

Bhakti Mārga is described as the 'easy' path to liberation because it relies on the grace and unconditional love of God rather than rigorous study or ritual.
The term līlā signifies 'divine play,' suggesting that God’s creative actions and incarnations are effortless and playful rather than burdensome.
An avatar is a 'divine descent' where God takes a form on Earth to fix worldly imbalances or restore order.
The Iṣṭa-devatā doctrine allows practitioners to choose a specific form of the Divine to worship, acknowledging that while Truth is one, it is perceived through many names and forms.
Śabda (the word) becomes śruti (that which is heard) only when it is received personally and without mediation by an attentive student from a caring teacher.
A mūrti (sacred image) functions as a 'pointing finger' or a 'seat' (pīṭha) for the Divine, serving as an aid for focus rather than an object of idolatry.
Darśana involves a reciprocal act of 'seeing and being seen' by the deity, facilitating a moment of grace between the devotee and the Divine.
The Bhagavad-Gītā broadens the definition of karma from specific Vedic rituals to include all human actions, including breathing and eating.

🎤 Transcript Tap any timestamp to jump the audio player

Opening Transition and Group Breathing

Student

So let's take a moment to transition.

Brad

It's very hard to cross my legs.

Student

Was?

Brad

Let's take a breath together. And breathe in and out. Word?

Student

Word. Word. Um, this the last—

1:36

Attendance and Course Schedule Update

Brad

we're on the last attendance sheet of the semester.

Student

Final, final unit.

Brad

Final 6 classes, or 6 classes after today.

Brad

And we're missing Christine and Manny.

Brad

That's it, right?

Student

We're missing Christine and Manny? Anybody else absent, speak up now.

Brad

All right, these are some of my favorite chapters of the Gītā today.

Brad

Yeah, 3, 4, 5, and 6.

Student

I mean, 2 is the best.

Brad

I mean, 2 is, 2 is everything, but unfortunately we're not really going to talk as much about them today as I would like because I The good news is I have 3 lectures today. The bad news is I only wrote one of them.

Brad

So I don't know.

Brad

We're just going to roll with it.

Brad

I'm just going to roll with it. I feel like there's a button here. I always push the wrong one. Yep, that's the wrong one. Feels like it should be F12, doesn't it?

Student

This first paragraph is totally unrelated to anything that follows.

Brad

Total non sequitur.

Brad

Actually, I started writing this—

Brad

when I started writing the first paragraph, this was going to be your final podcast assignment, and then somewhere in the middle it turned into a lecture, and then somewhere in the middle I realized that I needed a lecture for today, so it turned into the lecture for for today, and then I realized that I had other lectures to give for today.

3:32

Theology of Reading: Sabda and Sruti as Pramana

Brad

Anyway, let's just read it.

Student

So a mentor of mine gave me the best advice I've ever received.

Brad

She said, don't stop experimenting.

Brad

She said, most professors give it their best shot—

Brad

well, all professors, I hope— give it their best shot their first year of teaching, and they experiment a little, but then after a few years, they get into a pattern and they just stop experimenting. And she said, don't stop experimenting.

Brad

So every semester I try something new, right? This is the first time we've done Mark's Gospel. There's a lot of things I've done new this semester.

Brad

I try, try to do something new every semester. Um, sometimes it doesn't work.

Brad

Um, this semester my goal has been to empower you to read these ancient and highly treasured masterpieces of theology.

Brad

And by reading, I don't mean what you think I mean.

Brad

Some of you have probably already zoned out by now.

Brad

What I mean is this: to truly read Vedanta, one must learn to listen to them.

Brad

I didn't really know what pronoun to use there.

Brad

Listening is different than reading.

Brad

Listening is a pramāṇa. It's the first pramāṇa, in fact.

Brad

Pratyakṣa, as I taught you in Unit 1—

Brad

should definitely have some diacritics there—

Brad

is direct perception, right?

Brad

Perception without mediation. I emphasize that a lot, right? Direct, immediate perception without any mediation.

Student

Not looking at a screen.

Brad

Not reading through a text.

Brad

Not any mediation. Not hearing from somebody else.

Brad

But direct perception.

Brad

Which means that listening to the word—

Brad

or that means listening to the word without socially constructed categories, obviously.

Brad

Without biases, without preconceptions, all the things I talked about in my initial lecture. Listening doesn't sound difficult, and I guess it's kind of not really, but listening without mediation is definitely easier said than done. So reading is not a pramāṇa at all.

Brad

Listening is.

Brad

Reading is not. Śabda, a Sanskrit word that means word, is a pramāṇa.

Brad

It's the third pramāṇa, right after logic and reason. Please remember that the pramanas are not placed in order of reliability, because all of the pramanas are reliable. Śabda is not any less reliable than direct perception, but it is third due to the difficulty of hearing the word. ⚠

Brad

You have to learn how to hear the word and to, you know, obviously grasp its meaning.

Brad

You can hear something but not understand it.

Brad

Daily occurrence in my class.

Brad

The word is trustworthy, but our interpretation of the words ain't trustworthy, sister.

Brad

I don't know why I went sister there. I was just feeling it.

Brad

In fact, it could be that we even misinterpret the words that communicate the word.

Brad

Why?

Brad

Well, in most cases, it's due to poor skills of the reader.

Brad

Maybe due to insufficient grammatical skills, inattentive or careless reading, eisegesis.

Brad

Eisegesis is reading what you want the text to say, right? Reading like you have ideas.

Brad

It's kind of another preconceived notion.

Brad

Or in some cases, excessive exposure to Kanye.

Brad

He's a guy used to be famous a while back.

Student

Words?

Brad

Thank you.

Brad

Therefore, śabda is absolutely a reliable pramāṇa that reveals truth that cannot be known by any other pramāṇa. Remember, the word pramāṇa means a valid source of knowledge that reveals knowledge that can't be known by any other source and cannot be in contradiction to them.

Brad

But wait for it, don't read ahead.

Brad

I put it on the next page.

Brad

Here it comes.

Brad

It's going to be big.

Brad

The word is a pramāṇa, but reading the text is not a pramāṇa according to Mīmāṃsā.

Brad

Which is a view also held by Śaṅkara's Vedanta, and I'm frankly not sure about Rāmānuja's Vedanta, but instead of looking it up, I just went with probably. That's a problem, no? Right?

Brad

It should be a big problem.

Brad

If you're one of the many students in the class that not only understand what I'm talking about, but already know the answer—

Brad

I say word— definitely some of you do.

Brad

So the answer, of course, from Chapter 13 is that if you train your ears properly, the Śabda becomes śruti. Or to say the same thing in English, the word becomes heard only when the sacred word is spoken to me directly and personally without mediation by a caring teacher to a student who is eager to hear it and receives it humbly.

Brad

Tat tvam asi, O Śvetaketu, my dear son. Father and son, intimate relationship.

Brad

Or another example, Ayam ātmā brahma, or as I wrote in Chapter 13, quote, the truth can't be transmitted through a textbook or whatever this thing is that you're reading, because it's a lecture now. The truth has to be spoken by someone who sees you and really sees you, to someone who trusts them enough to hear it. In other words, the śruti literally must be heard. ⚠

Student

Word?

Brad

And of course, one must have learned how to hear the harmony, the samanvaya, between and amongst the words of the word that is to be heard.

Brad

Oh, but I bet you see the problem that we've arrived at now, right?

Brad

What makes the word trustworthy?

Brad

Why should we even listen to it when we could be playing 2K or just rotting? You don't like choose the rot, right? I don't know.

Brad

It's a thing you say, right?

Brad

I wasn't sure if I was using that word correctly.

Brad

Is the word spoken by God?

Brad

It seems like an option.

Brad

I definitely taught you that Nyāya and Vaiśeṣika perspectives teach that the word comes from God, authored by God. But let's keep experimenting and consider a second option, right?

Brad

Maybe the Śabda is the very vibration of being.

Brad

This word spanda is super cool.

Brad

That is the primordial source of being that is discernible in the form of mutually arising partners that we name knower and known.

Brad

There's other names too, of course, like that signify this non-dual form, such as I and not I, or I and thou, ich and du— those of you who had me last semester— ⚠

Brad

seer and seen, or in Sanskrit, Dṛg-dṛśya-viveka.

Brad

As some of you will recall from Rambachan reading.

Brad

Okay, so those are two very different options, right? We've arrived at another conundrum.

Brad

Which one is right? Or even, are they even discordant?

Brad

Is it just a matter of choice? Well, let's consider both options, right? One is really, really easy to understand: the word is from God.

Student

So we'll save that for the last unit of the course, which we're at, right?

10:46

Introduction to Bhakti Marga: The Path of Devotion and Grace

Brad

Oh snap, that's right now. I used to say snap all the time. Now I just say word.

Student

Word.

Brad

Uh, okay, well, I guess we're done talking about the really hard one, the Jñāna Mārga. So let's focus on Bhakti Mārga for the rest of the semester. Um, wasn't there another one too?

Brad

You're reading ahead. Karma Mārga.

Brad

That was a midterm question, I'm pretty sure.

Brad

The three paths to liberation.

Brad

So let's try and cover both of them together. Actually, low-key think we have to. To be honest, there might be a lot more to understand than some of you will assume. Anyway, enough banter, Brad. Let's just get to it. Sometimes I get bored with myself. Bhakti Mārga is the path to devotion.

Brad

Like the other two paths, it leads to liberation, or moksha.

Brad

Unlike the other two paths, which only very few people can even understand, or even have option to understand because it's only available to certain people, right?

Brad

That's part of what the Brāhmaṇas say is that only certain people are even open to some of these paths. And for Jñāna Mārga, you obviously have to know Sanskrit and memorize all the texts.

Brad

So they're hard, right?

Brad

Very hard I totally forgot my place.

Brad

So unlike the other two paths, which only very few people can understand, the path of devotion to God is easy. In fact, it's so easy that the real challenge of Bhakti Mārga is to embrace its simplicity.

Brad

A lot of the texts are actually about that, just letting go, just letting go, just letting go, just trying, trying to feel the grace of God. Of God. ⚠

Brad

Because everything in bhakti is connected to grace. God loves you exactly and precisely as you are.

Brad

Emphasis on the present tense.

Brad

God wants you to be you because being you is the reason that God created you.

Brad

If God didn't want you to be you, then God wouldn't have created you. That doesn't mean that God approves of everything you do, all of your actions. Not at all.

Brad

But God is gracious and forgiving and loves you unconditionally. So bhakti is not about action, right? That's karma, marga. Bhakti is about love and devotion. Because God loves me, little old Brad, I feel loved and that enables me to love.

Brad

It's like a sunbeam warming my face as I gaze at a rainbow, therefore, thereby putting a smile on my face that spreads to the barista at Hillside.

Brad

It's kind of like what I wrote way back in Chapter 1 with regard to St. Anselm of Canterbury.

Brad

To feel seen by God is to feel loved by God, which empowers me to see my neighbor as a unique creature of the Creator.

Brad

And if my—

Brad

if, uh, and, uh, if, uh, created my—

Brad

that's something wrong there.

Brad

Um, It's probably God there.

Brad

If God created my neighbor and if God loves my neighbor, then maybe I should try to find out what makes my neighbor so dope.

Brad

Word? So bhakti is not something you know.

Brad

That's Jñāna Mārga.

Brad

Bhakti is not about your actions. That's Karma Mārga.

Brad

Bhakti is like your whole vibe, man.

Brad

So what's the vibe? What's the frequency, Kenneth? Swapna Parda joke. This is an REM song. As I write this on Monday evening, fully aware that I'm the only person that will even find that joke funny or recognize it as a joke.

Brad

That's fine.

Student

REM's a band.

Brad

REM's also like rapid eye movement.

Brad

It's a stage of sleep, just one of the swapnas from the four stages of consciousness, which which is the vibe.

Student

Uh, here's the vibe, man.

Brad

Uh, so imagine that you're out in nature, your favorite nature spots, and you're holding hands with the person that you love, and you're both lying on the grass listening to the birds and the bees and the wind whispering with the leaves.

Brad

I like that—

Brad

whispering with the leaves, not through the leaves, but whispering with the leaves. And you feel warm and safe and natural and fully at peace. Śānti śānti śānti. Peace in your body, peace in your mind, and peace in your heart.

Brad

So they covered in the first 15 minutes of the semester.

Student

Got the vibe?

Brad

So bhakti, bhakti is a vibe.

Brad

So what does bhakti say about the ontological relationship between the individual self and God?

Brad

Two of those first principles, I think.

Student

Says bhakti personifying here, well, that's a fire question, not gonna lie.

Brad

Let's pull out the Lord's song, the Bhagavad Gītā, to find out. We can do a deep dive into that very question.

Brad

We should do a deep dive into that very question.

Brad

But before we do exactly that, let's not forget that bhakti is about the vibe, right?

Brad

It begins with feeling loved by God and feeling seen by God and feeling accepted by God. And when the vibe is flowing, that it flows through you like a smile or a laughter or kindness.

Student

Okay, fine, I hear you.

Brad

But Brad, every time I talk to you, you're all like ethics this and ethics that and being good means doing good things, yada yada, justice, yada yada, action, whatever.

Student

I'm down for feeling a vibe on the weekends, but look around, brah, there's injustice and inequality and corruption and bad actors right, left, and in my doom scroll.

Brad

Natural harmonic vibes out in nature with the sun in my face sounds amazing, but you just can't escape the realities that many of our neighbors are experiencing right now in Massachusetts and elsewhere by just saying, God loves me and forgives me, therefore I could just do my thing and not look in the direction where my neighbors are being victimized. ⚠

Brad

That's not the vibe, gang. Actually, the vibe is as much feeling—

Brad

that's what feeling the vibe as manifesting the vibe. I told you bhakti is easy, so let me lay it out. If you're feeling some vibe and the vibe you're feeling is like off, like not harmonious, like most stuff contrary to the whole mountain hand-holding scene that I described earlier, then bhakti would say, "You gotta feel the vibe. ⚠

Brad

You gotta read the vibe.

Brad

You gotta figure out who you are in the situation." and then, you know, act accordingly.

Brad

That whole svadharma thing that I talked about last Tuesday.

Student

For example, some of you—

Brad

suppose, for example, suppose you're walking down the streets of Minneapolis.

Brad

I think that's a song.

Student

And you see an older woman get pepper sprayed in the face.

Brad

Random, random example.

Student

That's a vibe, right?

Brad

It's not the bhakti vibe. But suppose you were feeling the bhakti vibe and you were feeling loved by God and feeling seen by God and you just felt in your bones that this woman is also seen by God and also loved by God.

Brad

In other words, if you view the woman as beloved, as a beloved creature of the Creator, then maybe you don't do nothing.

Brad

Even if she's not your cousin or whatever.

Brad

Maybe you don't, maybe you do what Alex Pretty did. "The vibe that you feel from God is the vibe you begin to feel for God's creatures. And that vibe will lead you towards the right action." Ooh, we got to karma. ⚠

Student

Now, there are many different forms of bhakti. How many?

Brad

Well, some bhakti theologians, actually most bhakti theologians, would say that there are at least as many different forms of bhakti as there are people.

Student

Why more than the number of people? Because we change over time, right?

Brad

Some change over time.

Student

For this unit of the course, we're going to focus very narrowly on one particular bhakti tradition, which also happens to be the largest in terms of practitioners in the world today.

Brad

Devotion to God in the name and form, nāma and rūpa, of Krishna, the black one. Now, if you had to describe Krishna in exactly one and only one word, it would have to be play, or līlā.

Student

Right, yeah, sorry, that's the end of the lecture, and I know it's like, Brent's like, that's not an ending, brah.

Brad

Yeah, I'm not even doing that.

Brad

So the other two lectures are on līlā and and Iṣṭa-devatā. ⚠

Brad

We'll start with questions.

Student

So we got the basic gist of what bhakti is, right?

Brad

So just kind of like about the vibe, right?

Student

So you've got Karma Mārga, which is about actions, and karma, the primary meaning of karma, is Vedic rituals, right?

Brad

Performing of the sacrifices, performing of the rituals, the as described in the Brāhmaṇas. But one of the things that I want to emphasize for the rest of the course is that the Bhagavad Gītā radically and significantly broadens the definition of karma from what it meant before the Gītā, which is practice of the Vedic sacrifices, the Vedic rituals, right, as I've emphasized all semester. But the Gītā, and beginning especially here in Chapter 3 that you read for today, broadens karma to all action, right?

Student

You can't even be alive without performing actions. Everything, even breathing is an action, right?

Brad

So eating is an action. Every—

Student

you can't—

Brad

I mean, survival, existence depends upon action. So that's a significant broadening of the term.

Brad

Karma. But we're talking about bhakti today, right? So actually, let's do, let's do Iṣṭa-devatā first, and then we'll come back to Līlā. I mentioned my daughter's name is Līlā. Yeah, I do have this 85-slide PowerPoint, but probably won't go through all of that. Seems like that would be too much.

21:30

Hindu Iconography: Murti, Ganesha, and the Story of Parvati

Brad

So, all right, so this is, this is Vishnu.

Student

Vishnu laying down, he's chilling.

Student

This is like kind of the moment of creation.

Brad

So Krishna—

Student

or Vishnu creates so effortlessly easily that he's just chilling, right? He didn't have to do anything. He's not even totally maybe aware that it's even happening. So he's just chilling, everybody's around him chilling, and as he's chilling, he's laying on a snake. So this is like coils of a snake. So And it's got, it's one snake with many heads, and they're kind of like protecting while he's chilling. And as he's chilling, it's broken. This is a few thousand years old, but this vine here that you can see is kind of wrapped around him, it's supposed to be growing out of his navel. So it's a lotus. So a lotus vine grows out of his navel. And it emerges up here. ⚠

Brad

We can turn off some lights. There we go.

Student

Is that a little better?

Brad

That's too much, right?

Student

Y'all gonna fall asleep? So up there, so this is the lotus.

Student

So the lotus opens, and then from the lotus emerges brahma, the creator.

Brad

And brahma, he's 3 heads or 3 faces. One head, 3 faces. Or according to some, 4, right?

Brad

So the 4 cardinal directions looking in all 4 directions.

Brad

If it's 3, then it's probably more interpreted like past, present, and future, right?

Brad

So either the 4 cardinal directions or past, present, and future, or maybe both.

Brad

And he creates the universe.

Brad

And anyway, that's what that says. We won't talk about Shiva. He's dope too, though. I'll talk about Shiva just super fast. ⚠

Student

This is a huge statue of Shiva from Kanyakumari area, like where the tip of—

Student

southern tip of India, where like the Indian Ocean and the South China Sea and Pacific, maybe, all meat.

Student

And anyway, so Shiva's whole thing is meditation, meditating.

Student

He like super meditates a lot, and one time he was meditating, he was the only thing that existed, and he was meditating, and as he was meditating, usually he keeps his eyes closed, but then he opened his eyes, and when he opened his eyes the entire universe came into being, right? ⚠

Brad

So creating through seeing.

Brad

So, you know, it's just by seeing Kali and seeing Kaustalya, that's what brings the universe into being. And eventually he'll close his eyes again. ⚠

Brad

Three Paths to Liberation, you know, all this, this is like literally on the midterm. ⚠

Student

There's also devi.

Brad

I don't think we'll talk about her today. Yeah, we're just cruising through these slides.

Brad

Where I wanted to get to is—

Student

sure, we can linger here. So I did mention some of this earlier when I first—

Brad

one of my first—

Brad

yeah, see, I think the light's out. I think the lights are gonna affect—

Student

When I was—

Student

so yeah, so I was talking about murtis, right, in Unit 1.

Brad

And so I brought some murtis. I think I passed these around earlier, but this is a murti of Saraswati, the god of learning and education, also music.

Brad

Definitely, definitely Maya, I think.

Student

This is Ganesha.

Student

Yeah, I'll tell a quick story about him.

Brad

There's like nowhere in the room, nowhere in the course to tell this story, so I'll just tell the story.

Student

But in the, in the puranas, there's lots of stories, right? And there's a number of stories about how Ganesha got his head.

Brad

He's human, but he has an elephant head. He's not an elephant.

Brad

He's a human with an elephant head.

Brad

So the question is, how did he get his elephant head?

Student

And there's lots of different stories, but this is a fun one.

Student

So when—

Brad

so there's shiva.

Student

I just talked about him, right? The guy who opened his eyes and created the universe.

Brad

And he was married to this chick named Parvati, which means the mountain, like Himalayas, like the mountains, or she's the goddess of all— ⚠

Brad

she is the mountains, actually.

Student

And she's also super into meditating.

Brad

That's actually how they fell in love.

Student

Shiva was just like walking, he's on his way to like go meditate, and he sees this chick. And she's meditating, and he's like, "Well, that's cool." Like, super into meditating, and there's somebody who's meditating. ⚠

Brad

And then he went and he meditated, meditated for like a really, really, really long time. It's what he does.

Student

And then, you know, got tired of meditating and went home to go to sleep.

Brad

And on his way home, she was still meditating. She meditated longer than him. So he like immediately fell in love with her, and, uh, they eventually get married. They never ever, ever, ever, ever have sex because that was entailed the destruction of the entire universe, generally to be avoided. And so they just spend all their time not eating and not doing anything. So really super into meditating and just being. ⚠

Student

And anyway, one day— I digress.

Student

One day, Parvati—

Brad

shiva was out doing whatever shiva does.

Student

And Parvati stayed at home. And she was feeling a little grimy, a little bit dirty. And so she decided she was going to go take a bath. ⚠

Brad

Just go down to the river and take a bath.

Student

But you don't want people walking in on you while you're taking a bath, right?

Brad

So she needed somebody to guard the path. She didn't have anybody to guard the path because Shiv was out doing the grocery shopping or whatever.

Student

Shankaracharya is like, "Doesn't matter if the lights are on or not." And so she does this, right? ⚠

Brad

She's feeling grimy, she needs a shower, so she does this and she pulls sweat and dirt and grime off of her arm, and she shapes it into a person and breathes life into him, and that's Ganesha. ⚠

Student

And she tells Ganesha—

Brad

so he's, you know, I don't know if you call it the virgin birth just because she has never had sex. But it's more that she molds him by hand. So he doesn't have a dad. ⚠

Student

Anyway, and she puts him there and says, hey, I want you to guard the path while I go down to the river and take a bath.

Brad

And he's like, on it. And while she's down there, shiva comes home. Shiva's like, "I don't know you, bro." They don't know each other. ⚠

Student

Shiva starts going down the path because it's his house, it's his path.

Brad

Ganesha's like, "No, man, you can't go down here. Mom just created me for the purpose of guarding the path, and so I'm gonna do my job." Shiva's like, "You literally don't know who I am.

Student

I'm the god, the supreme god of the universe." universe, and like, this is my house, and that's my wife, and I'm gonna go down there. And Ganesha's like, I don't know you, bro, right? You can't go down here. I'm doing my job. ⚠

Brad

And Shiva has like, I mean, like kind of serious anger management issues, like definitely Moses-level anger management issues. And he chops his head off. And then he goes down to the path, goes down to the river, sees Parvati.

Student

He's like, hey, babe.

Student

And she's like, how'd you get down here?

Brad

He's like, I just came down here.

Student

And she's like, well, what about the guy that I created to guard the path?

Brad

And he's like, I cut that guy's head off.

Student

And she gets all mad.

Brad

She's got anger management issues too. Probably the whole no sex thing.

Student

So she gets mad. And she's like, you know.

Student

"Fix this, right? I created Ganesha.

Brad

You just killed him." He's like, "Fine, I'll do that." And so he goes back and he's like, brings Ganesha back to life, right? ⚠

Student

But like literally, who knows where his head is?

Brad

His head's like not around. And shiva's like, "It's not my problem, dude. Like, go find your own head." And so headless Ganesha starts wandering all around. The streets, and first thing he comes through is an elephant, and so he just like chops that elephant's head off, puts it on his head, therefore that's the story. ⚠

Student

Questions?

Brad

That's the gist.

Student

So Ganesha is the guardian of pathways, he's the guardian of—

Student

so almost any Hindu temple you go to Almost any Hindu house you'll go to, you usually see Ganesha, you'll often see Ganesha above the doors or around the doors, either painted or a murti somewhere around the doors.

Brad

He's the guardian of the doors, he's the guardian of pathways, he's the guardian, you get the gist, right?

Student

And so when you go to a Hindu temple, typically you'll see Ganesha and you'll pay homage to Ganesha before you go in, and then you go in and maybe there's other deities or other Murtis inside.

Brad

And so this is a picture from—

Student

it's pretty pixelated, sorry about that—

Brad

but this is a picture from Ganesha Chaturthi, which is the 14-day celebration of Ganesha.

Student

And during Ganesha Chaturthi, devotees will go and they'll buy a new, or make, usually buy, buy a new murti. ⚠

Brad

So murti, of course, is made by a human, right?

Student

So this human is, I mean, they're experts. They're, you know, this is what they do. And so they'll very carefully craft and, you know, create this murti out of clay or something like that.

Brad

And one of the things about, and so these things that I said before, right? The murti or the idol is created in time, it's used for a period of time, and devotion to God or bhakti is seen through the idol, so the idol is like a pointing finger, right? ⚠

Student

I talked about the whole pointing finger earlier, so in order to see what I'm pointing at, you first have to look at my finger, right? But in order to see what I'm pointing at, you have to stop looking at my finger and look at that at which it points, right?

Student

So that's what a murti is. So the murti isn't God, the murti is the pointing finger, right? So it's a way to focus your attention, to see and be seen.

Student

I told that whole story, right, about the, like, riding a motorcycle in Bangalore and people get off their bike to like give the, for darshana, right? ⚠

Brad

Which is not just about seeing the murti, even more importantly, being seen by the murti, right?

Student

Because as an act of grace, the idol is both a tirtha, crossing point or bridge, it's very much like the pointing finger idea, but also a pitha, or a seat.

Student

So the idea is that, you know, I create this thing, I know that it's just created by a human person, right, carved out of wood or whatever, It's just an inanimate object. But then God, out of God's grace, descends— avatar— ⚠

Brad

so God descends and takes a seat in this murti.

Brad

I mean, God can sit in multiple seats at the same time.

Student

But so God takes a seat in the murti and therefore can see and be seen.

Brad

Seen, right?

Student

So, but that's not anything— God doesn't get anything out of this.

Brad

It's an act of grace, right? So an act of making—

Student

I said the whole point of bhakti is ease, right?

Brad

Easiness. So it's easy, and it's easy because God makes it easy, right? So as an act of grace, the whole point of it is to be easy. Back to the story.

Student

So during Ganesha Chaturthi, at the beginning of these 14 days, you'll go and buy a new murti, not one like this.

Brad

This one's made of brass, but you want one for Ganesha Chaturthi that's made of clay.

Brad

I feel like I've heard that somewhere before.

Student

That is not fired.

Student

Why not?

Brad

What's the difference between fired clay and not fired clay?

Student

Yeah, Brent? For sure, it gets brittle and that kind of stuff.

Brad

Can't shape it, can't change its form.

Brad

Absolutely.

Brad

And if you take a fired piece of clay and you throw it into, say, a lake or something versus an unfired piece of clay and throw it into the lake or something, what's going to happen in those two cases?

Brad

What's the difference between them? Yeah, Anna.

Student

The fired would just like keep its shape and sit in the bottom of the water, whereas the unfired would like dissolve into the water and become— ⚠

Student

Yeah, and I mean like, you know, in time maybe the fired one would eventually break down, but the one that's not fired, it's going to break down super fast, right? ⚠

Brad

So it's just going to become mud again.

Student

So the whole point of this is to remember that the murti is just clay, right?

Brad

It's just, it's something temporary. It's just the pointing finger, right? If you, if someone's pointing, right, and you're, you don't want to worship the pointing finger. ⚠

Student

You get the point, right?

Brad

That would be idolatry.

Student

So idolatry is decried in Hindu tradition just like it is in Christian tradition.

Brad

And so the whole, right, the whole logic also behind like a crucifix or something like that, right? So it's not It's not— I mean, it is an idol, but it's not idol worship. You're not worshiping the idol. You're not idolizing the idol. The idol is just the pointing finger, right? ⚠

Brad

It's an aid, or—

Brad

you got it.

Brad

We don't need to do this philosophy stuff.

Brad

All right, here, this is a very, very, very famous scene from the Bhagavad Gītā, which we'll get to I think 3 classes from now, the most famous passage from the Gītā, which is the big theophany. Easy comparisons, I think, if you're looking for places to compare Hindu, the Hindu texts and the Christian texts, then this would be a good spot, right? ⚠

38:08

Theophanies and the Doctrine of Ishta-Devata

Student

Because we saw the Transfiguration in chapter 9 of Mark's Gospel. Here we have another. They're both theophanies.

Brad

So, I mean, you use the same word to describe them. Theophany is a revelation of God, where God reveals God's self. ⚠

Student

Right?

Brad

So, we will come back to this. Just giving a little bit of foreshadowing, because it's super important.

Brad

This revelation of God's self in the universal form, or the form of the universe.

Brad

Vishwa-rūpa.

Brad

rūpa means form, and vishwa means the universe.

Student

So it can mean both the universal form, like the form that applies in every situation, but really it means the form of the universe, or the form that—

Student

here, the idea is that if God has any form at all, God has every form because God is infinite. Right?

Brad

So the highest truth according to Śaṅkara is that God is beyond all form, right? So formless, beyond all form. But it can also be true— both of them are not mutually exclusive, right?

Student

So God can be beyond all form, like the silence after Om, right?

Brad

But then also be the letters of Om, right?

Brad

So both the particular—

Brad

the totality of all particulars, but also something beyond everything, right? A source, if you will.

Brad

Arjuna says to Krishna, "If you think that I am able to behold your cosmic form, O my dear Lord, O master of all mystic power, then kindly," right, out of grace, "kindly show me that universal self." And then Krishna says, "You can't see me with your present eyes.

Brad

You need divine eyes to behold my mystic opulence." And Arjuna, at that time, could see the universal form of the Lord, the unlimited expansions of the universe situated in one place, although divided into many, many thousands. We'll come back to this later.

Brad

And then a little bit later, "O Lord of the universe, I see your universal body, many, many forms expanded without limit.

Student

There is no end.

Brad

There is no beginning." there is no middle to all of this.

Brad

Although you are one, you are spread throughout the sky and the planets and all the space between. Oh, all-pervading vishnu—

Brad

Krishna is vishnu, I should have mentioned that somewhere, we'll come back to that—

Student

I can no longer maintain my equilibrium.

Brad

I'm afraid, Lord of Lords, refuge of the worlds.

Brad

Please be gracious to me. I cannot keep my balance seeing this. I am bewildered.

Brad

So then as Arjuna looked up, the light dazzled him.

Student

He saw it in all beings.

Brad

It seemed to him as if he were looking at creation, the whole of creation, everything in creation, looking at the whole of the past, present, and future all at once.

Brad

It was a sight that no one had seen before.

Brad

It staggered and stupefied him. He was as if the observer of the whole drama of life.

Brad

So here's another scene of that, right? So we're on the battlefield, on the Kurukshetra, Krishna and Arjuna and their chariot with 5 horses representing the 5 senses, all that kind of stuff.

Student

You see all the armies on both sides ready to go to battle, and then Krishna reveals this.

Brad

The armies can't see it, right?

Student

Because as we just heard, Krishna gave Arjuna that divine eye And then he sees the whole thing.

Student

He even sees the battle that they are fighting.

Brad

He sees it like in progress, and he sees it's like already over.

Student

He sees past, present, and future.

Student

How do you think that would make you feel if you saw everything from all time, all at once?

Student

Like kind of confused because you don't know what is in the moment, what's going on currently, what's the future, and what's the past? ⚠

Student

I mean, your mind would just like start to explode, right? Yeah, it'd be like, I can't take this, right?

Student

So, do you understand why Arjuna said like, wait, Scott, like you're God, right? Like, can you— like, I know this, but like, can you show me, right? And then so Scott's like, yes, as an act of grace, Brad, I'll show you. ⚠

Brad

My universal form, and then very quickly, you know, I'd be like, whoa, go back, bro, right? I can't take it anymore, right? So the infinity of God is overwhelming, incomprehensible, beyond conception. Or this great verse from the Rigveda: Ekam sat viprahabhavadi vedanti. ⚠

Brad

Truth is one, but wise people call it by many names.

Student

Actually, if you If you talk to, you know, almost any Hindu in India, it doesn't really matter whether Karma Mārga, Bhakti Mārga, Jñāna Mārga, if they're vaishnava or shaiva or shakti, it doesn't matter what tradition they are. In my experience, everybody knows this verse. ⚠

Brad

Everybody knows the one thing that everybody knows. Truth is one, but wise people call it by many names. Right?

Student

It's like a few, right?

Brad

Like the playing die is one, but we all see it from different angles kind of things. Like the one and the many, all these things I've been teaching all semester.

Brad

Right?

Student

Which brings us to the thing that I, that this lecture is on, or this part of the lecture.

Brad

Max Mueller thinks that we have to say it in Greek.

Brad

It doesn't matter.

Student

He calls it Katha-notheism, which means worshiping one God by devoting oneself entirely to one particular form of God at a time.

Brad

Ishta-Deva, or I think Rāmānuja says it so way better.

Brad

Everything he does, I just got to be honest, just to break to break the lecture also.

Brad

I love my dad. My dad's great.

Brad

My dad's perfect.

Brad

Nothing— this is not about my dad.

Student

But a teeny tiny part of me would like love Anat to be my dad.

Student

I just kind of want to curl up with him on the couch and like listen to him talk about the Bhagavad Gītā all day.

Brad

He's just, yeah, he's like, you know, 14 feet tall.

Brad

He's like this big guy with his deep voice.

Brad

He's from Trinidad, but he lives in Minnesota, and he's also Indian, so he has this accent that like literally nobody else in the world has because it's like all of these things. ⚠

Brad

And anyway, if you saw the video of him earlier, you've seen it, you've heard him talk.

Student

This is a great little explanation of Iṣṭa-devatā, which he actually— this is from the World Council of Churches website. It was a— ⚠

Brad

yeah, anyway, let's just read it.

Brad

So the Ishta Deva—

Brad

deva means God, and ishta kind of means like one's own, right? One's own form, or the form for oneself.

Brad

So the Ishta Deva doctrine, as Rāmānuja writes, suggests a rejection of the real existence of many gods. It's not polytheism.

Brad

And the position that the absolute is one. Right?

Brad

So very strong monotheism, if any number goes on it.

Brad

And at the same time, the doctrine presupposes that this one God is imagined, named, and worshiped in different ways—

Brad

something like that, I don't know if that means anything—

Student

in different ways, and that human beings are choosing from among the many names and images of the one.

Brad

While affirming that God is not literally many, Iṣṭa-devatā calls our attention to the plurality of names and conceptions of God.

Brad

It points to a diversity of human conceptions, conceiving human concepts or how we think phenomena, right? So our phenomena of the thing itself, in this case, God. ⚠

Brad

It points to a diversity of human conceptions and responses to God while at the same time denying multiple divinities. Definitely more to this quote.

Brad

The absence of exclusivity, however, does not imply a weak and lukewarm commitment to one's Ishta Deva. The doctrine of Ishta Deva implies deep commitment emotionally and intellectually to one's choice.

Brad

Choice is not exactly the right word here, but I'm not exactly sure what it should be.

Brad

Knowing that others have chosen the same god under different names and conceptions.

Student

So the reason choice is a little bit problematic here is it's not just that Andrew chooses which form speaks to him best.

Brad

It's just as much that God chooses to reveal Godself to Andrew in this way, right?

Student

And so again, it comes down to grace and ease, right?

Brad

So God, out of God's grace, chooses to reveal Godself in the way that is going to most appeal to Kellan, that's going to most connect with Kellan, right?

Student

So God chooses the storm, and then Kellan's like, yeah, that's—

Student

I vibe with that, right? It's like a vibe.

Brad

Cool, got it? Yesterday, but this is a super, super important thing.

Student

Any more slides in here?

Brad

This is all Shiva also likes to dance. We can't do shaivism, sadly.

Brad

I have to take my religion class for that, which this is not. I think I mentioned that.

Brad

If I press this, is it going to go there?

48:41

The Ten Avatars of Vishnu and the Role of Krishna

Student

Words. So I think this was—

Brad

we had one question on the midterm about the avatars.

Student

But okay, so Vishnu, the kid that was laying on the shaesha, right? Where the lotus flower grows out of him, all that kind of stuff. So that's Vishnu. ⚠

Student

We encountered Vishnu's name in the Katha Upanishad.

Brad

Remember the highest step of Vishnu?

Brad

That's the last thing to achieve, as Yama teaches Naciketas.

Student

But the whole point of Vishnu is he has 10 avatars.

Brad

I mean, kind of 9.

Brad

9 plus 1.

Student

And those—

Student

so, Avatar, the word Avatar, as I wrote there, means divine descent.

Student

It's often translated as incarnation, but incarnation is—

Brad

incarnation means in the meat, right?

Brad

So in the body.

Brad

So there's like a spirit that goes into the body. So then you've got, right, that could very well be what we see in Gospel of Mark or Gospel certainly John's Gospel.

Student

So, God going into the flesh, right?

Brad

So, not being the flesh, but being in the flesh.

Student

Whereas an avatar is really a descent, right?

Brad

God has a body and God descends, or, you know, it's a little bit different.

Student

I'm not saying like night and day different, but a little bit different.

Brad

And The whole point of Avatar, and we do see this in the chapters that we read for today, is that out of God's grace, God comes down to fix shit.

Student

Things are broken. God creates the universe.

Brad

Everything's perfect.

Brad

But then over time, things get a little bit stagnant, a little bit messed up, you get some calcification in your pipes, right? So you get some grime buildup on your—

Student

you get the point, right?

Student

So things get a little mucky over time. Or maybe you get somebody who's like a royal asshole that just comes and screws everything up, right?

Brad

Somebody who, for various reasons, needs a, you know, needs to be taken care of.

Student

So then God says, you know, I'm going to come down out of grace and fix stuff, right?

Brad

I'm going to come down and fix things.

Student

And so each avatar, or descent—

Brad

God descends to the earth in order to fix things.

Student

A lot of them actually have to do with the flood.

Student

The first several of them have to do with the flood.

Brad

And so Matsya, fish, comes down because the whole world is flooded, so he comes in the form of a fish to fix things. Kurma, tortoise, comes down in the form of a tortoise because the whole world is flooded and he needs to fix things.

Student

The boar, actually the same thing.

Student

You can see the whole world was flooded and then the boar came down and lifted all the dry land up on his, you know, boring stuff, whatever, and saves the thing. Narasimha.

Brad

Here's a story.

Student

So Nara means human, and Simha means lion, like Simba, like The Lion King.

Student

So this is a very typical story. Almost— I mean, the most common trope It's kind of crazy how common it is, but when you're reading the puranas, so many, so many different puranas, all these different legendary stories about the deities, many, many of them follow the same trope.

Brad

Here's the trope.

Student

Somebody does something great. Colin does something great. He raises lots of money for Charity: Water.

Student

People are like, well, let's give more stuff to Colin.

Student

So Colin does great things.

Brad

So if somebody does great things, you want to empower them to do more great things.

Student

And then so we empower Colin to do great things.

Brad

And then Colin does even greater things than before. And we're like, word, let's give Colin more power.

Student

And so then Colin gets more power, does greater things.

Brad

And then we're like, let's give Colin more power.

Student

So then he gets more power.

Student

And then eventually, You hit a tipping point, and Colin's like, I'm way more powerful than everybody else.

Student

And I can do whatever I want.

Brad

And nobody can stop me.

Student

So basic trope is you do good things, you get rewarded. You get empowered.

Student

But then that power, as it builds, that power can eventually corrupt.

Brad

And then you've got a corrupt highly empowered person that needs to be taken care of.

Student

So there was this kid, his name wasn't Colin, his name was, it's a fun name to say, you should say it with me, Hiranya Kashipu. ⚠

Brad

Say it.

Brad

Hiranya Kashipu. Yeah.

Student

Hiranya, you know, means gold, right?

Brad

I forget the rest of it.

Student

Hiranyakashipu, though, is his name. So Hiranyakashipu comes, and he does some good things.

Student

And the deities are like, word, right on.

Student

So let's give Hiranyakashipu—

Student

you can have whatever you want.

Student

And Hiranyakashipu is like, I want to be immortal.

Brad

And they're like, can't ask for that.

Brad

It's like you can't ask for infinite wishes.

Student

You can't ask for immortality. You can ask for some things. You can't ask for everything.

Brad

You know, anything.

Student

Can't ask for that. And then Hiranyakashipu was like, fine. I don't want to be killed by any human or any non-human.

Brad

And they're like, we can do that. We can give you, like, what do you call it, shielding against those kind of things, right? ⚠

Student

It's like when you're playing no build in Fortnite.

Brad

You take a couple hits before you get—

Student

before you take any HP damage. And then he does some more good things, right? And then they're like, we can give you another boon, right?

Brad

And Hiranyakashipu is like, I don't want to be killed during the day or during the night. And they're like, all right, right on.

Student

We can do that.

Brad

And then Hiranyakashipu does more good stuff.

Brad

You get the gist.

Student

He said, I don't want to be killed inside or outside.

Student

I don't want to be killed—

Student

all these different things.

Brad

And then, as I already said, the power corrupts.

Student

Becomes a bad guy, and then what do you do?

Brad

Because this bad guy has been empowered not just by the voters but by the gods, right?

Student

And then what do you do to have like a check on that sort of power?

Brad

So Vishnu is like, "I'll take care of it," right?

Student

So Vishnu descends and he comes in the form of Narasimha.

Student

He comes not during the day and not during the night, but right at that dusk time, right in between day and night.

Brad

He comes in the door area, right?

Student

So it's not inside and not outside. He comes and he's half man and half lion. So he's neither human nor non-human, but something in between, right? And you can't see it here, but he's actually got—

Brad

He's sitting on a throne and you got Hiranyakashipu in his lap and he's just ripping him open. Yeah, it's kind of cool. ⚠

Student

So anyway, that's the basic things.

Brad

There's Bali, similar kind of story.

Brad

And then you've got Rama and Krishna.

Brad

So here, Krishna, you can always sell Krishna because Krishna's got the flute.

Brad

And so, so yeah, so Krishna, but there's a difference about Krishna, right?

Student

So Krishna, Krishna does do cool things. He battles demons and he does all kinds of things. But the Bhagavad Gītā, so here we don't have demons, right? It does not follow that trope.

Brad

That I just gave.

Student

There's no superhuman people.

Brad

There's just humans.

Brad

There's Arjuna and his clan or his family.

Student

And then there's his cousins and their family.

Brad

They're all humans.

Student

No non-humans here.

Brad

No super powerful demons or anything here.

Student

So then Krishna, his job isn't to come and battle humans.

Brad

His whole vibe is battling supernatural things. So he's like, this is a you problem. So I'm not here to fix Kellan's problems, but I can help Kellan.

Student

I can guide Kellan. I can give you some advice. I can guide you. You get the thing, right?

Brad

So he comes as a teacher.

Student

So the Bhagavad Gītā is not him. He doesn't have any weapons.

Brad

He's just the charioteer.

Student

God, but he's not—

Student

he's God that's in the battle, but he's not fighting, right?

Brad

He's there to teach and to guide and to help Krishna.

Brad

He's also, I mean, total player.

Brad

I mean, he's like, yeah, this is the Gītā Govinda, which is all about him getting busy.

Brad

But most of the stories are about Krishna's līlā.

Student

And so, which brings us to— we are going to talk about the chapters that you read for today.

Brad

We just maybe won't talk about them today.

Brad

So here's a very famous scene from the Bhagavad Gītā purana, which is the stories of Krishna, all these puranas, stories about Krishna.

Student

And this is One of the most famous ones. So another viswarupa, another revelation, another theophany. This is Krishna's mom.

Brad

And, well, let's see.

Student

The whole universe in Krishna's mouth. One day Krishna, Radha, Balaram, and their friends went near the river to play. All of them jumped in the river turn by turn. Radha was sitting and watching them. They were swimming, splashing water on each other, and having a great time. Radha too was very happy to see them playing. ⚠

Student

Radha is his boo.

Student

Krishna splashed water at Radha. Radha got wet and angry. Krishna came out of the water to talk to Radha. Radha, don't get angry. Why did you splash water on me? Oh, come on, I was just having fun.

Student

He likes to play.

Student

Tell me, what should I do? To make you happy. Play some nice music for me. Krishna took his flute and started playing. Balaram and the other friends also came out of the water and gathered around Krishna. All of them were enjoying the music. After some time, come on Krishna, now let's play something. 'But what should we play?' 'I can tell you a nice game. See that mango tree? Whoever gets me a mango from that tree first wins the game.' Everyone ran towards the tree. Krishna's friends started throwing stones to get the mangoes. Even Balaram tried the same thing. But Krishna took his sling, aimed at the mango, and shot. Krishna's aim was perfect. The stone hit a mango and the mango fell down on the ground. Krishna ran towards the mango and picked it up. He then came to Radha and gave her the mango. Radha was very happy. This is not fair, Krishna! You always win. Oh, don't worry, we all are friends. Next time I will let you win, okay? Krishna used his sling and got a few more mangoes for his friends as well. Everyone ate the mangoes. ⚠

Student

After some time, they decided to go back home. On the way home, when everyone was walking, Krishna suddenly bent down, took a handful of mud in his hands, and ate it.

Student

Everyone was shocked to see this.

Student

Krishna, what are you doing? Krishna, remove that mud from your mouth immediately. Krishna, throw away that mud. But Krishna stood there smiling with the mud still in his mouth. Bhagavan ran towards Krishna's house to call Yashoda. He narrated the whole incident to Yashoda. Both Yashoda and Balaram came running towards Krishna. Krishna, what are you eating? But Krishna did not reply. He kept smiling. Open your mouth now. Krishna did not open his mouth. Krishna, I said open your mouth now. Finally, Krishna opened his mouth. Everyone was shocked. They did not see any mud, but the entire universe, including the sun, moon, stars, skies, galaxy, oceans, hills, rivers, and mountains. Yashoda and the others realized that Krishna is not an ordinary child but the God himself. Everyone joined hands and prayed to Krishna. Duryodhana took Krishna close to her and hugged him. Balaram, Radha, and the others started clapping. Krishna continued to do various miracles throughout his lifetime. ⚠

Student

I'm sure you enjoyed watching this video. Please click on the subscribe button to subscribe to our channel and watch more interesting videos.

Student

Lots of different versions of that story.

Student

Usually he's a little bit younger, but he's also called Makhan Kor, which means the butter thief. ⚠

Student

He's a big fan of butter, and so Yashoda leaves him at home And she goes out to do laundry or something. And he sneaks out of his home and goes in the neighbor's house, which is probably a relative. But he goes in the neighbor's house and he knocks over the butter jar. ⚠

Brad

And he just starts eating all this butter and shares it with his friends. He's got like animals friends, like a monkey and cats and stuff like that. Oh, I thought I had more there. ⚠

Brad

This is all becomes about the Gītā Govinda.

Student

Okay, I think that's all I have slide-wise.

Brad

Not done yet though.

Student

So a couple of things.

Student

Shoot, I had a plan, Georgia.

Brad

I had that all mapped out just like seconds ago.

Student

Yeah, so bhakti is about the whole vibe thing, right?

Brad

And largely about love.

Student

Obviously love, right?

Brad

Love's kind of a big deal.

Student

But when you think about love, let's do a—

1:06:00

Phenomenology of Love and Divine Play (Lila)

Student

Phenomenology of love. You remember phenomenology? Way back from like day 1?

Student

Brent's like, "Yeah, I remember that." All right, so phenomenology, like take a thing itself, you know, like a playing die or something, put it at the center of the circle, right? And then you're trying to see this thing, right, from multiple different perspectives. Yeah, so love, you know the word love? Can we think of, does the word love, it means a lot of different things, right? So what are some of the ways that we use the word love? ⚠

Brad

Feeling, describe feeling.

Student

So it is a feeling, yeah, in all the cases it's going to be a feeling. Is there, do you love your parents? Yeah, so do you think that the love that a child has for a parent. Do you think that the love— I mean, none of you are parents, I don't know. But do you think that the love that a child has for a parent is exactly the same as the love that a parent has for a child? ⚠

Brad

It's definitely way different.

Student

I didn't even know— I kind of knew that the kind of way that you know it until my daughter was born.

Brad

And then when I saw her first time, held her first time, it's like, oh, well, this is really different, right? ⚠

Brad

Super different.

Student

So the love that a child has for a parent is different than the love that a parent has for a child. Good. Other kinds of love?

Brad

Yeah.

Student

Like friends.

Brad

For sure.

Student

You love your friends, right?

Student

And so the kind of love between friends is still love, right? It's still love, but it's a different kind of love, right? What are some other kinds of love?

Brad

Yeah, go on. Between partners.

Student

Between partners. This sort of—

Brad

yeah. Yeah, we just call it lovers, but I mean, like, you know, those are kind of, yeah, little, yeah, yeah, little shot egg, that kind of thing. ⚠

Student

Yeah.

Student

Is it like pets, animals?

Brad

For sure.

Student

Yeah.

Brad

Yeah, absolutely.

Student

Is your dog okay, by the way?

Student

Right?

Student

One of you had a dog?

Brad

Is your dog okay?

Student

Huh?

Brad

Your dog daughter? Okay, good.

Student

Danny?

Student

Like something you're passionate about, like a hobby.

Student

For the love that you have for whatever career you've chosen, the love that you do, so the, yeah, for sure.

Student

What would we say for that, the love of, what do you call that?

Student

Hang on.

Student

How did you just say it? The things that you do. I understand.

Student

Passion for—

Student

yeah. Yeah, I feel like you're a medical doctor, right?

Brad

Hopefully you become a medical doctor because you're passionate for it.

Student

You love doing it. You love healing people.

Student

You love helping people, right?

Brad

Or love teaching, or love financing.

Brad

Yeah.

Brad

Yeah.

Student

Sophia?

Student

Like the love you have for your siblings.

Student

That's a different kind of love, right? It's different than the love for friends.

Brad

So yeah, siblings.

Brad

I'm just going to put siblings.

Student

Got it. Good.

Brad

Probably come up with some other ones, but it's a pretty good list, right?

Student

And so part of the point is that all of these are love, and they're all different. Krishna's whole thing is he's really super into the vibe of love.

Student

Really cares about love.

Brad

He wants to experience love.

Student

Remember back to—

Brad

I mentioned this so many times before because it's super important, but Brihadaranyaka, book 1, chapter 4. For me to say. ⚠

Student

In the beginning was this one. This one was afraid, right?

Student

And then it realized what?

Student

In the beginning was the one was afraid, and then I realized— yeah, Kayla?

Student

There's nothing to be afraid of if you're alone.

Student

And then—

Student

yeah, exactly right.

Student

Realized there's nothing to be afraid of because I'm all alone, which then made him feel Lonely, right?

Student

And it's like, whoa, this whole existence alone sucks, right?

Brad

So then let me become many.

Student

So then it unfolded. The one unfolded as the many, right?

Student

Because why would you just be one when you could be, right?

Student

Kaelin and Jongir and Evan and Anna and Veer and Eva and Lauren, right? Why not be everything? If you could be everything, would you want to be everything? Experience what it's like to be everything. ⚠

Student

And so he wants to experience all these different forms of love. I showed you all those pictures of Krishna with Radha, those kind of lovers, lover and beloved, and their sort of, their whole that whole kind of thing. He does have, I mean, he does have pets actually. He's got, he loves animals. ⚠

Brad

He loves cows especially. He's called Govinda, the cow herder.

Student

So he takes care of cows.

Student

And we saw here that he's playing.

Student

So he's sort of playing the role of child, right? ⚠

Student

And so he can experience that love.

Student

But then he has this moment, right, where he eats the mud.

Student

And his mom looks in and sees. And she's like, oh, you're God, right?

Student

And then what happens to all the friends and the mom and everybody?

Brad

What do they do?

Brad

Yeah, Aiden?

Brad

They start clapping.

Student

Yeah, they start clapping and also worshiping.

Student

Yeah.

Student

And then— yeah, I know we're out of time.

Student

But the point is, so the thing that's not in the video that happens right after it is as soon as they start to worship him, he wipes their memory so that they don't remember that he's God. Because he doesn't want to be worshiped.

Student

The whole point of becoming a child is not to be worshiped. The whole point of becoming a child is to be a child, right?

Student

To play with others, to play with friends, to play with siblings, to play with Radha, and to play, you know, child, to be loved by his mom and to love his mom.

Student

Got it? It's a quick intro to bhakti. Have a very happy Easter. I'll see you on Tuesday.