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It takes a lot to know Krishna || Acharya Prashant, on Bhagavad Gita (2020)
Scriptures and Saints
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2 years ago
Shrimad Bhagavad Gita
Shri Krishna
Liberation
Sin
Self-inquiry
Sadhana
Realization
Repentance
Description

Acharya Prashant explains that the simplicity of Shrimad Bhagavad Gita, chapter 10, verse three, can be deceptive. While the verse states that knowing Shri Krishna as birthless and beginningless frees one from all sins, this 'knowing' is not mere information-gathering or data transfer. It is a profound realization that requires the investment of an entire lifetime and significant sacrifice. Because humans are complex and mired in things that begin and end, realizing the beginningless truth implies admitting that one's current life and values are false. This realization demands that one rejects and stops valuing the falseness they have patronized, which is a difficult and arduous process. He clarifies that no 'clean chit' or shortcut is being offered to sinners. Sin is defined as operating from the wrong center, forgetting one's real nature, and treating limited concepts as the truth. To stop being a sinner, one must stop identifying with the limited self as real, which requires constant self-purification and cleansing in every moment. Liberation remains a difficult task despite the promises of 'instant liberation' from others. True worship of Shri Krishna is synonymous with basic self-inquiry and working on oneself to remove internal 'dirt.' Regarding the settling of 'bills' or karmic debts, Acharya Prashant notes that if one does not willingly settle them through spiritual practice (sadhana), life extracts the payment with interest and penalty through continuous suffering. One cannot perceive the timeless and formless truth of Shri Krishna without first giving up an obsession with the products of time, such as names, shapes, and forms. Therefore, attaining the truth is a process of seeing one's own falseness and undergoing a rigorous transformation of the inner self.