If you are a human being and you read the Bhagavad-gītā, then you’re doing the right thing. If you are a human being and you don’t read the Bhagavad-gītā, then you’re missing the greatest opportunity, because there’s nothing better than the Bhagavad-gītā, and not many people read it. They just say they read it, or they keep it in their house and say, “We believe in the Bhagavad-gītā.” But the trick is to actually read it.
I was on a Zoom call earlier with a bunch of kids, and we have this system where, whenever we have our call, we always read a chapter of the Bhagavad-gītā together—Sanskrit and English—and then we discuss some of the purports, and the effect is amazing every time you read it. When I was in London, because we were zipping around here, there, and everywhere, every time we would jump in the car, I’d pull out my phone and open my Bhagavad-gītā app, and I started reading chapters. And so I had a minimum of three chapters a day of hearing the Bhagavad-gītā, and nobody told me to stop. Because people could have got annoyed in the cars, like, “Here he goes again,” but nobody said that because it’s so interesting to hear the Bhagavad-gītā.
I remember when I first got a Bhagavad-gītā when I was a kid; it was just translations, and I couldn’t wait to get home from school and read the Bhagavad-gītā again. And I know from that very beginning of reading the Bhagavad-gītā that it fortifies you. Now we have Bhagavad-gītā As It Is. Last year, as an international society ISKCON, we sold over 5 million Bhagavad-gītās. But I can tell you what Prabhupāda would say, because he said it to us in San Francisco in 1973 when our temple president introduced us. Prabhupāda said, “These guys sold this many books.” You know what Prabhupāda said? “You must also read my books.” He said, “I’ve not written these just for selling." We have to read the Bhagavad-gītā. We have to be up on the Bhagavad-gītā.
When your mind’s tricking you, it means you’re not reading enough Bhagavad-gītā. That is what it means. If you read at least a chapter of the Bhagavad-gītā a day—or at least a verse, anyway—then you won’t get tricked. You won’t get fooled again. The old boss, same as the new boss; it just comes in over and over again—same old trick of Māyā. But you can’t get tricked if you read the Bhagavad-gītā. In fact, you can tell people that out on the street: “You won’t get fooled again if you take this Bhagavad-gītā and read it every day.” So that’s the solution to everything. Where’s your Bhagavad-gītā? Do you know where it is right now? (one of the ladies in the audience takes out Bhagavad-gītā from her purse) In your purse? Show it. Show the Bhagavad-gītā. Look at her tilaka—she’s not bewildered, she’s not tricked by Māyā. She gets up, puts her tilaka on, because she has a Bhagavad-gītā.
If you carry a Bhagavad-gītā with you wherever you go and you read it every day, you’ll never get tricked by Māyā. That’s how to trick Māyā back. Prabhupāda said, “You should defeat death before death defeats you.” So it’s a race for time. We don’t have much time. You have to really lean into the Bhagavad-gītā.
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To connect with His Grace Vaiśeṣika Dāsa, please visit https://www.fanthespark.com/next-steps/ask-vaisesika-dasa/?utm_source=youtube&utm_medium=video&utm_campaign=launch2025
https://vaisesikadasayatra.blogspot.com/
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Add to your wisdom literature collection:
https://iskconsv.com/book-store/?utm_source=youtube&utm_medium=video&utm_campaign=launch2025
https://www.bbtacademic.com/books/?utm_source=youtube&utm_medium=video&utm_campaign=launch2025
https://thefourquestionsbook.com/?utm_source=youtube&utm_medium=video&utm_campaign=launch2025
