Uddhava Gita Series-1: Rapid Fire Interview (34 non-stop Q&As)

08 January 2023

Houston, Texas

In modern times, rapid-fire interviews are common. Rapid-fire questions & answers are instant-response to spit out the first answer that comes from the top of the mind. In modern days, this is a fun-filled task between players to learn about each other or to just play in a meaningless fashion.

Here is a rapid-fire between 2 extraordinary souls:

Krishna, The Supreme Lord, The Adhi-Atma (Ultimate or First Personality)
Udhava is an expert kriya (Intellect) & Bhakti (Devotional) yogi and also a student of Brihaspati (A demi-god and Guru of Devas & Indra).

This extraordinary rapid fire lasted for 34 questions and answers. And Krishna rapidly fires out answers one by one in the exact sequence in which Udhava shot the questions. This is one of the oldest recordings of such vivid rapid-fire interviews.

Uddhava asked the most fundamental definitions of the Ultimate personality, he indeed used this once in an eon opportunity to the fullest possible way to ask such profound questions about human existence.

In the end, Krishna sighs after defining all 34 of Udhava's questions and advises Udhava to keep the psyche in the state of non-duality where the psyche's response to opposing features like pleasant/unpleasant, cold/ hot, praise/ criticism, etc is neutralized.

Krishna says "O Uddhava, all these questions of yours are fully defined. What is the use of elaborating with many details on the characteristics of merits and demerits? It is a defect to even distinguish between a good feature and a bad one. Indeed it is virtuous to be removed from both of them. (14.45)"

** The excerpt is taken from Uddhava Gītā English- Michael Beloved / Madhvācārya dās

My Favorites Definitions out of 34:

My favorite takeaway from these verses and something that encourage me and changed my perspective by 180° are these shown below:

What is tolerance?
- Tolerance is the bearing of distress.
What is patience, O Lord?
- Steadiness is the perfect control of the tongue and sex impulse.
What is charity?
- The highest charity is to relinquish aggression.
What is austerity?
- Austerity is defined as abandoning cravings.
What is heroism?
- Heroism is the conquest of one’s nature.
What is the most desired wealth?
- Righteous duty is that desirable wealth of human beings.
What is profit O Keśava Krishna?
- The greatest profit is devotion to Me.
What is supreme beauty?
- Beauty is dispassion and other virtues.
What is happiness?
- Happiness is transcending pleasure and pain.
Who is a well-versed priest or scholar?
- A proficient priest or teacher is one who can distinguish between bondage and liberation.

Who is a fool?
- A fool is a person who identifies himself as being the intellect, the sense of initiative to act in the body and what is related to it.
Which is the path?
- The path is that which leads to Me.
Which is the wrong process?
- The wrong path is a distraction which utilizes the mental and emotional energy.
What is a home?
- The human body is the home.
Who is wealthy?
- He indeed is wealthy who has good qualities.
Who is poor?
- But one who is discontent is a pauper.
Who is miserly?
- One who has not mastered his senses is a miser.

My personal doubts clarified:

Charity:

I used to wonder what is charity.

Several scriptures have several definitions, some say giving some percentage of income to:

the poor,
family relatives
building temples, etc,

there was a lot of confusion. It would be best to hear from Ulitmate Lord himself on these topics.

Lord Krishna says giving up aggression is the highest charity. Here itself, Krishna killed any heroism connected to violence or aggression of any sort. This was never or rarely mentioned in any other scripture (to my knowledge) in such a raw manner. That changed my perspective drastically!

Heroism:

I also wonder what is heroism. A lot of movies or media or even scriptures depict several portrayals of a hero:

Violent Weapons: Wielding out physical/astral weapons or releasing powerful Brahmastra (Ultimate Weapon of Lord Brahma) from a blade of grass. Eg: Arjuna, modern sophisticated armies, etc
Non-Violent Weapons: Fighting for a cause like the freedom of a nation or protesting for a certain cause. Eg: Gandhi, Nelson Mandela, Martin Luther King, etc
Intellectual Prowess: Scientific inventors or great literary writers who can display literary or scientific prodigious gymnastics in their work. Eg: Albert Einstein, and William Shakespeare, etc who are dubbed as scientific or literary heroes.

Krishna defines Heroism as the conquest of one’s nature. It is crystal clear, Heroism for Jnana yogis is not taming or disciplining others. Heroism is taming one's own nature which is full of vulgar cravings, and tendencies in the psyche. This was also mind-boggling to me!

Verses: 14.29-14.44 are tabulated as shown below:

** The excerpt text from Uddhava Gītā English- Michael Beloved / Madhvācārya dās was given here in a tabulated fashion

Tabular version (text):

S.No.	Define	Krishna's Definition
1	Spiritual peace	Tranquility is the steady absorption of the intelligence in Me.
2	Self-control	Self-control is the mastership of the senses.
3	Tolerance	Tolerance is the bearing of distress.
4	Patience	Steadiness is the perfect control of the tongue and sex-impulse.
5	Charity	The highest charity is to relinquish aggression.
6	Austerity	Austerity is defined as abandoning cravings.
7	Heroism	Heroism is the conquest of one’s nature.
8	Realism	Realism is having a comparatively equal view of the relationship between the spirits, their bodies, and the Supreme Being.
9	Truthfulness	Truthfulness is true and agreeable speech, which is praised by the realized poets.
10	Purity	Purity is non-attachment in the performance of cultural activity.
11	Renunciation of benefits	Renunciation of cultural opportunities is the renunciation of benefits.
12	The most desired wealth	Righteous duty is that desirable wealth of human beings.
13	Religious ceremony and disciplines	I, the Supreme Lord, am the religious ceremony and discipline.
14	A fee for a teacher or priest	The instruction of knowledge is the teacher’s fee.
15	Strength of a person	The highest strength is the control of the vital energy (pranayama)
16	Fortune	Fortune is lordship which is My very nature.
17	Profit	The greatest profit is devotion to Me.
18	Technique	Technique is the removal of the idea of multiplicity in the self.

S.No.	Define	Krishna's Definition
19	Shyness	Modesty is the abhorrence of doing irreligious activities.
20	Supreme beauty	Beauty is dispassion and other virtues.
21	Happiness	Happiness is transcending pleasure and pain.
22	Misery	Misery is yearning for sense pleasure.
23	Who is a well-versed priest or scholar	A proficient priest or teacher is one who can distinguish between bondage and liberation.
24	Who is a fool	A fool is a person who identifies himself as being the intellect, the sense of initiative to act in the body and related to it.
25	Which is the path	The path is that which leads to Me.
26	Which is the wrong process	The wrong path is the distraction which utilizes the mental and emotional energy.
27	Heaven hereafter	The heavenly world is the predominance of the clarifying force.
28	Hell after death	Hell is the predominance of the retardative mode.
29	Who is a friend	friend, I am represented by the spiritual master, the true friend.
30	A Home	The human body is the home.
31	Who is wealthy	He indeed is wealthy who has good qualities.
32	Who is poor	But one who is discontent is a pauper.
33	Who is miserly	One who has not mastered his senses is a miser.
34	Who is lordly	One who is not attached to the mundane objects is a master. One whose intellect is attached to the mundane emotions is the opposite of a master.

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