Has AI Made the Bhagavad Gita Irrelevant?

Every year, in the month of December, Mokshada Ekadashi is observed, which is also celebrated as Gita Jayanti. It is the day on which the Mahabharata War began, and it was on this very day that Lord Krishna spoke the Bhagavad Gita to Arjuna.

Every year during this month, devotees come out onto the streets to distribute copies of the Bhagavad Gita so that its message may reach every home and every individual.

I also try to make a small contribution to this service every year with my seniors. We form a group and choose a busy public place where many people regularly pass by.

This service brings many different experiences.

Most people simply ignore us. Some respectfully offer their obeisances to the Bhagavad Gita and continue on their way. Some make a voluntary donation according to their faith and happily accept a copy of the Bhagavad Gita. There are also people who make a donation but do not take the book.

Once, while listening to a morning Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam class, I heard a Prabhu narrate something that Śrīla Prabhupāda had said. He explained that if a person merely sees the Bhagavad Gita in the hands of a devotee, that person also becomes eligible to attain the spiritual world. Therefore, Śrīla Prabhupāda encouraged all devotees to continue making sincere efforts to distribute the Bhagavad Gita.

During one such book distribution service, we met a shopkeeper.

Showing him the Bhagavad Gita, we politely requested him to accept a copy.

Instead, he became irritated and said,

"Why are you people still distributing this old book? The humanity has already reached the Moon, and you are still distributing the Bhagavad Gita. This is the age of Artificial Intelligence (AI). Who is going to read such an old book?"

We still tried our best to speak with him, but he was not interested.

At that time, however, I could not explain these things to him because when we perform book distribution in a group, we follow the guidance of our seniors. Our duty is simply to make a humble and loving attempt to distribute the Bhagavad Gita. If someone does not wish to accept the book, we respectfully thank them and move on to the next person.

However, I believe there are many people like that shopkeeper who are unable to experience the nectar of the Bhagavad Gita because they have similar questions in their minds.

I realized that the real question was not about Artificial Intelligence. The real question was whether modern scientific achievements have made God irrelevant.

If we think carefully, we will find that every invention made by human beings is possible only because we make use of the resources and intelligence already present within this material nature.

Take the example of Artificial Intelligence itself. Human beings did not create intelligence. The intelligence required to create AI is ultimately bestowed by the Supreme Lord through His material nature.

The Bhagavad Gita explains that this entire material nature works under the supervision of Lord Krishna.

In Bhagavad Gītā 9.10, Lord Krishna says:

मयाध्यक्षेण प्रकृतिः सूयते सचराचरम् ।

mayādhyakṣeṇa prakṛtiḥ sūyate sa-carācaram

Meaning:

"Under My supervision, material nature is producing all moving and non-moving beings."

We only learned how to use the laws of nature, mathematics, electronics, and computing to develop AI. Without these natural principles and the facilities provided by nature, we cannot create anything independently.

Suppose we ask a five-year-old child to prepare a medicine in a laboratory. The child will not be able to do it.

The same child, however, will eventually grow up. After studying pharmaceutical science and gaining the necessary knowledge, he may become capable of developing that medicine.

Later, when the same person reaches old age, his memory gradually begins to decline. At that stage, if we ask him about the same medicine, he may not even be able to explain it properly.

Who is governing this entire process?

Where do these natural laws come from?

Childhood, youth, intelligence, learning, memory, forgetfulness, and old age all operate according to the laws of nature, which work under His direction.

Lord Krishna Himself explains this in the Bhagavad Gītā (15.15):

सर्वस्य चाहं हृदि सन्निविष्टो, मत्तः स्मृतिर्ज्ञानमपोहनं च ।

Transliteration:

sarvasya cāhaṁ hṛdi sanniviṣṭo, mattaḥ smṛtir jñānam apohanaṁ ca

Meaning:

"I am seated in everyone's heart, and from Me come remembrance, knowledge, and forgetfulness."

If that is the reality, then why should we become so proud simply because humanity has reached the Moon or developed Artificial Intelligence?

The materials used to build computers, the laws of mathematics and physics that govern them, and even the intelligence required to understand and apply those laws are all ultimately provided by the Supreme Lord.

Hare Krishna!

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