Two Simple Comparisons For The Elevator Pitch For Bhakti

“Arjuna said: O my dear Krishna, I wish to know about prakriti [nature], Purusha [the enjoyer], and the field and the knower of the field, and of knowledge and the end of knowledge. The Blessed Lord then said: This body, O son of Kunti, is called the field, and one who knows this body is called the knower of the field.” (Bhagavad-gita, 13.1-2)

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अर्जुन उवाच
प्रकृतिं पुरुषं चैव क्षेत्रं क्षेत्रज्ञमेव च
एतद्वेदितुमिच्छामि ज्ञानं ज्ञेयं च केशव
श्रीभगवानुवाच
इदं शरीरं कौन्तेय क्षेत्रमित्यभिधीयते
एतद्यो वेत्ति तं प्राहु: क्षेत्रज्ञ इति तद्विद:

arjuna uvāca
prakṛtiṁ puruṣaṁ caiva
kṣetraṁ kṣetra-jñam eva ca
etad veditum icchāmi
jñānaṁ jñeyaṁ ca keśava

śrī-bhagavān uvāca
idaṁ śarīraṁ kaunteya
kṣetram ity abhidhīyate
etad yo vetti taṁ prāhuḥ
kṣetra-jña iti tad-vidaḥ

For a thought exercise we will pretend that there is interaction with a newcomer to the culture of bhakti-yoga. We are in the setting of a casual conversation. We cannot necessarily rely on a visual to help explain deep, meaningful, and timeless concepts like transmigration of the soul, the difference between matter and spirit, the various kinds of karma, and the ability to influence the future destination of the individual, who can never actually cease to exist.

न जायते म्रियते वा कदाचिन्
नायं भूत्वा भविता वा न भूयः
अजो नित्यः शाश्वतो ऽयं पुराणो
न हन्यते हन्यमाने शरीरे

na jāyate mriyate vā kadācin
nāyaṁ bhūtvā bhavitā vā na bhūyaḥ
ajo nityaḥ śāśvato ‘yaṁ purāṇo
na hanyate hanyamāne śarīre

“For the soul there is never birth nor death. Nor, having once been, does he ever cease to be. He is unborn, eternal, ever-existing, undying and primeval. He is not slain when the body is slain.” (Lord Krishna, Bhagavad-gita, 2.20)

Within just a few minutes, using concepts with which the average person is familiar, we wish to explain what bhakti-yoga is, why people follow it, and what they hope to get out of it. In the manner of Shri Krishna once posing the question of “kim phalam” to His father, Nanda Maharaja, on the precipice of preparing for the Indra-yajna, we make an attempt at providing justification for the external activities of chanting the holy names, lighting incense sticks and waving them in a reverential manner in front of the deity, eating food in the mode of goodness [sattva-guna], and reading ancient texts originally composed in the Sanskrit language.

कथ्यतां मे पित: कोऽयं सम्भ्रमो व उपागत:
किं फलं कस्य वोद्देश: केन वा साध्यते मख:

kathyatāṁ me pitaḥ ko ’yaṁ
sambhramo va upāgataḥ
kiṁ phalaṁ kasya voddeśaḥ
kena vā sādhyate makhaḥ

“My dear father, I am very respectfully and humbly inquiring. What is this arrangement? Why you are busy in making some sacrificial ceremony, what is the reason, and what is the result? For whose benefit is it and by what means will it be accomplished?” (Shrimad Bhagavatam, 10.24.3)

1. Children playing in a sandbox

We take the concept of parents bringing their children to a playground that has a sandbox. In this particular instance, the sandbox is quite large. There are many children who visit on a daily basis. The parents sit close by on a park bench. They hardly get involved. Unless specifically asked to intervene, for perhaps fixing an issue or providing further clarity on something over which the child is uncertain, the parents sit back and have no active role in what takes place inside of the sandbox.

The children move here and there. Some children pick a certain spot and sit down. This is something like their place of residence. They have some tools, like a bucket, a shovel, and plastic toys of different shapes. They may attract other children to their specific game, such that a sort of community forms.

In another section of the sandbox, children are busy building a large castle. This one child has influence over everyone else. It is like they are born to be a leader. They feel as if they have made the most of their time in the sandbox. They are speeding ahead of everyone else, in terms of progress. They attract followers who volunteer to sacrifice the fruits of their efforts. The leader suddenly has an assortment of castles resembling a city skyline.

In another section, some children are sitting sad and depressed. They are sulking. They are not particularly happy in this place. The play of the other children does not interest them. They would rather rest and do nothing. They are content to wait out the time until the parents are ready to go back home.

This sandbox represents the experience of the living beings in the material world. The difference is that the playing field, kshetra, can be much larger. The individual inside can be considered one of the knowers of the playing field. They are kshetrajna, and they either enjoy or suffer based on the choices they make within the large sandbox.

कार्यकारणकर्तृत्वे हेतु: प्रकृतिरुच्यते
पुरुष: सुखदु:खानां भोक्तृत्वे हेतुरुच्यते

kārya-kāraṇa-kartṛtve
hetuḥ prakṛtir ucyate
puruṣaḥ sukha-duḥkhānāṁ
bhoktṛtve hetur ucyate

“Nature is said to be the cause of all material activities and effects, whereas the living entity is the cause of the various sufferings and enjoyments in this world.” (Lord Krishna, Bhagavad-gita, 13.21)

The duration spent playing in the sandbox which is the entire world can be considered a lifetime. The parents are like the controllers of nature, with the person of topmost authority representing the Supreme Lord, Ishvara. We children get to return to the sandbox as many times as we like. In fact, our parents allow us to remain in the sandbox until we finally want out. When we no longer wish to play, when we finally realize the temporary nature to the results of our activities in that sandbox, our life in true knowledge actually begins. We realize that we are only a knower at the local level, kshetrajna within a specific field of activity, whereas Ishvara is the knower across all fields of activity.

That supreme knower is neutral to our cause, in the manner of parents lovingly bringing their children to the sandbox. The parents understand that there is higher work to pursue, but they are indulging the desires of the children. Whether the child builds an entire city skyline made of sand or simply sits and does nothing, the parents are not affected. They are always outside of the sandbox, though they are within close proximity.

2. The infinitely extending induction speech

The sandbox analogy helps to explain the scientific reality of the difference between matter and spirit and how the initial focus to the instruction in spiritual life is for realizing the trap that is the large sandbox representing the material creation. This illusion has a name in Sanskrit: maya. Genuine religion is for reducing the influence of maya to the point that inherent knowledge can rise to the top and serve as the dominant guiding force in decision-making.

The second concept to consider, for understanding the nature of activities followed after a spiritual awakening, is the awards show. Be it for actors, entertainers, politicians, or athletes, the shows follow a similar flow. There are different categories of awards, and for each award there is some kind of presentation. Another person of prominence shares a few kind words, in praise, to introduce the honoree. For the higher honors, there might be a formal induction into an elite group.

This kind of ceremony can last several minutes, such as when introducing a respected speaker at a formal gathering. Imagine if the same praise continued for several hours. Extend that out to several days, with the praise repeating. The amount of appreciation is so great that the words cannot appropriately be captured in memory. The presenters feel the need to write their thoughts down, to be preserved for the future.

Those words can then be consulted. Since the subject matter in this case is someone who is timeless in their relevance, in their influence, in their position of dominance, the same properties extend to the praise. This means that if you have a lengthy volume of published words, in a book, consisting of praise, people can access that book today, tomorrow, and even one hundred years from now. In any period of time, they will be uplifted. The praise they assimilate will be of the nature of Arjuna speaking to the glories of Shri Krishna after seeing the virat-rupa, which is the universal form.

अर्जुन उवाच
परं ब्रह्म परं धाम पवित्रं परमं भवान्
पुरुषं शाश्वतं दिव्यमादिदेवमजं विभुम्
आहुस्त्वामृषय: सर्वे देवर्षिर्नारदस्तथा
असितो देवलो व्यास: स्वयं चैव ब्रवीषि मे

arjuna uvāca
paraṁ brahma paraṁ dhāma
pavitraṁ paramaṁ bhavān
puruṣaṁ śāśvataṁ divyam
ādi-devam ajaṁ vibhum

āhus tvām ṛṣayaḥ sarve
devarṣir nāradas tathā
asito devalo vyāsaḥ
svayaṁ caiva bravīṣi me

“Arjuna said: You are the Supreme Brahman, the ultimate, the supreme abode and purifier, the Absolute Truth and the eternal divine person. You are the primal God, transcendental and original, and You are the unborn and all-pervading beauty. All the great sages such as Narada, Asita, Devala, and Vyasa proclaim this of You, and now You Yourself are declaring it to me.” (Bhagavad-gita, 10.12-13)

This offering of praise is extremely blissful. The joy cannot be accurately categorized, since there is nothing like it. This is a kind of higher taste, which is at the essence of genuine religion. This immersion into praise, which is based on a steadily increasing understanding of the world that surrounds us, is so blissful that it has the potential to become second-nature. In other words, bhakti-yoga turns into a way of life instead of a promise of a future life. It is followed spontaneously instead of with conditions for the purpose of self-improvement. Happiness becomes the condition instead of a condition paired with misery.

In Closing:

Like children to sandcastle sent,
In variety of ways spent.

The time there day after day,
The parents sanctioning the play.

Until finally wanting out,
Realizing purpose without.

The material creation largest field known,
Bhakti-yoga for happiness alone.