If you want the definition of bhakti, the bhakti means to use the things for the proprietor. That is right use. If somebody use for another purpose, that is misuse. So bhakti means, when things are used properly, that is called bhakti. Now we are thinking that this machine, this body, "I am born in India, so it is Indian machine. It should be utilized for India's profit." Another person is thinking, "This machine, it is gotten from America, so it should be used for America." That is going on in the name of nationality or Communism, or society or friendship and this and so on. We have invented so many "isms," but they are all misuse, because actually the machine does not belong to the American or the Indian or the African. The machine belongs to Kṛṣṇa. So this is misuse.
So when we understand that we are misusing this machine improperly, that is called pure machine. That is called pure understanding, or Kṛṣṇa consciousness. Sarvopādhi-vinirmuktam. "I am not American. I am not Indian. I am not brahmin. I am not kṣatriya. I am not human being." Ahaṁ brahmāsmi: "I am Brahman." Not the Supreme Brahman, but part and parcel of Brahman. Supreme Brahman is Kṛṣṇa, Para-brahman. He is addressed as Para-brahman. So we are part and parcel of Brahman. Therefore we are Brahman. So we have to realize this position. Ahaṁ brahmāsmi: "I am Brahman." I am not this machine. I am put into this machine, but because the machine is gotten either from America or from India or from heaven or from hell, I am designating this machine as American machine or Indian machine. Actually this machine belongs to Kṛṣṇa, and it should be used for Kṛṣṇa. Therefore the definition of bhakti means hṛṣīkeṇa hṛṣīkeśa-sevanaṁ bhaktir ucyate (CC Madhya 19.170). This is bhakti.
So Kṛṣṇa, now He has taken the position of teacher. Now no more friendly talking, because Arjuna has accepted Him as the teacher. So He's the teacher. It is the duty of the teacher to punish or to chastise the disciple when he is wrongly going on. That is the duty. So first teaching of Kṛṣṇa, because Arjuna has accepted His leadership, His teachership, His instruction, accepted that he will follow His instruction, so first instruction is aśocyān anvaśocas tvaṁ prajñā-vādāṁś ca bhāṣase (BG 2.11): "You rascal. You are rascal. You are talking like a very learned man, that 'How shall I kill my this grandfather? How shall I kill my brother, this and so on?' This is all bodily concept of life. You are talking on the bodily platform." So what is this body? It is to be neglected? "Yes." Aśocyān anvaśocas tvam: "It is not to be lamented."
- aśocyān anvaśocas tvaṁ
- prajñā-vādāṁś ca bhāṣase
- gatāsūn agatāsūṁś ca
- nānuśocanti paṇḍitāḥ
- (BG 2.11)
Paṇḍita means one who knows that, "I am not this body." That is paṇḍita. The body is a lump of matter, so what is the value of lump of matter? Either while it is moving or while it is not moving, it is a lump of matter. Suppose we are now moving with this body with nice coat, pant, hat. That's all right. But what it is? It is a lump of matter. Either coat, pant, or these bones and the skin and the blood and the stool and urine, whatever this body is composed of, it is all material. And when the living entity goes away from this body, the same lump of matter. Does it change?
So we are not lamenting at the present moment, because it is moving. And as soon as the movement is stopped, I say: "Oh, my father has gone," "My son has gone," and we lament. So actually the body is the same. The same body is lying here as dead body, whom we are lamenting, "my father," but you have never seen your father. You have seen only the coats and pants and the body. That is your education. Therefore Kṛṣṇa says, "Arjuna, you are thinking on terms of this coats and pants and bones and muscles and urine and stool. Therefore you are rascal number one." This is the first instruction, aśocyān anvaśocas tvaṁ prajñā . . . (BG 2.11). "Do any gentlemen lament for this torn-up cloth, bones and skins and urine and stool? Does any sane man lament?" This is the first instruction. So aśocyān anvaśocas tvaṁ prajñā-vādāṁś ca bhāṣase: "You are talking just like a very learned man to argue with Me, but you are fool number one because"—agatāsūṁś . . . gatāsūn agatāsūṁś ca nānuśocanti paṇḍitāḥ—"this is not the business of the paṇḍita."
So this is not the position of Arjuna only. The whole material civilization, the whole population of the whole world, they are like this aśocyān anvaśocas tvam (BG 2.11). When the body is living, when the body is moving, they are busy how to make the body comfort. And when the body is not moving they are lamenting. That is the business. Therefore brahma-bhūtaḥ prasannātmā na śocati na kāṅkṣati (BG 18.54). The . . . our business is, the material civilization means, śocati kāṅkṣati, two business. Kāṅkṣati means desiring. While the body is moving, we are desiring, making plan, "I want this. I want this. My son requires this. My nation requires this. My community requires this." This is, means, kāṅkṣati, desiring to possess, this point. And when the body is lost, then śocati: "Oh, my father is lost," "My brother is lost," "My son is lost." Two business. So long there is no spiritual knowledge, we have got on the material conception of body two business—śocati, kāṅkṣati: desiring for things which we do not possess and lamenting for things which we have lost. This is our two business. But if you become self-realized, if you become aware actually what you are, then na śocati na kāṅkṣati.
- brahma-bhūtaḥ prasannātmā
- na śocati na kāṅkṣati
- samaḥ sarveṣu bhūteṣu
- mad-bhaktiṁ labhate parām
- (BG 18.54)
This is the business.