THE BHAGAVAD GITA AS IT IS

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THE BHAGAVAD GITA AS IT IS

Dear Friends,This IsTaken From ,Srila Prabhupada's Orginal ,1972-1973

Bhagavad Gita,As It is, I just did not have time, to put in the

Sanskrit Verses,and Word By word ,Translations!!Please forgive me,As

i Will Post, as Always ,With Word By word ,Translation ,of sanskrit,

Next Time!

 

Your Servant ,Jaya Kesava Dasa

 

Contents of the Gita Summarized

 

TEXT 9

 

TRANSLATION

 

Sanjaya said: Having spoken thus, Arjuna, chastiser of enemies, told

Krsna, "Govinda, I shall not fight," and fell silent.

 

PURPORT

 

Dhrtarastra must have been very glad to understand that Arjuna was

not going to fight and was instead leaving the battlefield for the

begging pro­fession. But Sanjaya disappointed him again in relating

that Arjuna was competent to kill his enemies (parantapah). Although

Arjuna was for the time being overwhelmed with false grief due to

family affection, he sur­rendered unto Krsna the supreme spiritual

master, as a disciple. This indi­cated that he would soon be free from

the false lamentation resulting from family affection and would be

enlightened with perfect knowledge of self-realization, or Krsna

consciousness, and would then surely fight. Thus Dhrtarastra's joy

would be frustrated, since Arjuna would be enlightened. by Krsna and

would fight to the end.

 

 

TEXT 10

 

TRANSLATION

 

O descendant of Bharata, at that time Krsna, smiling, in the midst of

both the armies, spoke the following words to the grief-

stricken Arjuna.

 

PURPORT

 

The talk was going on between intimate friends, namely the Hrsikesa

and the Gudakesa. As friends, both of them were on the same level,

but one of them voluntarily became a student of the other. Krsna was

smiling because a friend had chosen to become a disciple. As Lord of

all, He is always in the superior position as the master of everyone,

and yet the Lord accepts one who wishes to be a friend, a son, a

lover or a devotee, or who wants Him in such a role. But when He was

accepted as the master, He at once assumed the role and talked with

the disciple like the master- with gravity, as it is required. It

appears that the talk between the master and the disciple was openly

exchanged in the presence of both armies so that all were benefitted.

So the talks of Bhagavad-gita are not for any par­ticular person,

society, or community, but they are for all, and friends or enemies

are equally entitled to hear them.

 

 

TEXT 11

 

TRANSLATION

 

The Blessed Lord said: While speaking learned words, you are mourning

for what is not worthy of grief. Those who are wise lament neither

for the living nor the dead.

 

PURPORT

 

The Lord at once took the position of the teacher and chastised the

student, calling him, indirectly, a fool. The Lord said, you are

talking like a learned man, but you do not know that one who is

learned-one who knows what is body and what is soul-does not lament

for any stage of the body, neither in the living nor in the dead

condition. As it will be ex­plained in later chapters, it will be

clear that a learned man, but you do not know that one who is

learned-one who knows what is body and what is soul-does not lament

for any stage of the body, neither in the living nor in the dead

condition. As it will be ex­plained in later chapters, it will be

clear that know ledge means to know matter and spirit and the

controller of both. Arjuna argued that religious principles should be

given more importance than politics or sociology, but he did not know

that knowledge of matter, soul and the Supreme is even more important

than religious formularies. And, because he was lacking in that

knowledge, he should not have posed himself as a very learned man. As

he did not happen to be a very learned man, he was consequently

lamenting for something which was unworthy of lamentation. The body

is born and is destined to be vanquished today or tomorrow; therefore

the body is not as important as the soul. One who knows this is

actually learned, and for him there is no cause for lamentation,

regardless of the condition of the material body.

 

 

TEXT 12

 

TRANSLATION

 

Never was there a time when I did not exist, nor you, nor all these

kings; nor in the future shall any of us cease to be.

 

PURPORT

 

In the Vedas, in the Katha Upanisad as well as in the Svetasivatara

Upani­sad, it is said that the Supreme Personality of Godhead is the

maintainer of innumerable living entities, in terms of their

different situations accord­ing to individual work and reaction of

work. That Supreme Personality of Godhead is also, by His plenary

portions, alive in the heart of every living entity. Only saintly

persons who can see, within and without, the same Supreme Lord, can

actually attain to perfect and eternal peace.

 

The same Vedic truth given to Arjuna is given to all persons in the

world who pose themselves as very learned but factually have but a

poor fund of knowledge. The Lord says clearly that He Himself,

Arjuna, and all the kings who are assembled on the battlefield, are

eternally individual beings and that the Lord is eternally the

maintainer of the individual living entities both in their

conditioned as well as in their liberated situa­tions. The Supreme

Personality of Godhead is the supreme individual person, and Arjuna,

the Lord's eternal associate, and all the kings assembled there are

individual, eternal persons. It is not that they did not exist as

individuals in the past, and it is not that they will not remain

eternal persons. Their individuality existed in the past, and their

individuality will continue in the future without interruption.

Therefore, there is no cause for lamentation for anyone.

The Mayavadi theory that after liberation the individual soul,

separated by the covering of maya or illusion, will merge into the

impersonal Brahman and lose its individual existence is not supported

herein by Lord Krsna the supreme authority. Nor is the theory that we

only think of individuality in the conditioned state supported

herein. Krsna clearly says herein that in the future also the

individuality of the Lord and others, as it is confirmed in the

Upanisads, will continue eternally. This statement of Krsna is

authoritative because Krsna cannot be subject to illusion. If

individuality is not a fact, then Krsna would not have stressed it so

much

-even for the future. The Mayavadi may argue that the individuality

spoken of by Krsna is not spiritual, but material. Even accepting the

argument that the individuality is material, then how can one

distinguish Krsna's individuality? Krsna affirms His individuality in

the past and confirms His individuality in the future also. He has

confirmed His individuality in many ways, and impersonal Brahman has

been declared to be subordinate to Him. Krsna has maintained

spiritual individuality

all along; if lie is accepted as an ordinary conditioned soul in

individual consciousness, then His Bhagavad-gita has no value as

authoritative scrip­ture. A common man with all the four defects of

human frailty is unable to teach that which is worth hearing. The

Gita is above such literature. No mundane book compares with the

Bhagavad-gita When one accepts Krsna as an ordinary man, the Gita

loses all importance. The Mayavadi argues that the plurality

mentioned in this verse is conventional and that it refers to the

body. But previous to this verse such a bodily conception is already

condemned. After condemning the bodily conception of the living

entities, how was it possible for Krsna to place a conventional

proposition on the body again? Therefore, individuality is maintained

on spiritual grounds and is thus confirmed by great acaryas like Sri

Ramanuja and others. It is clearly mentioned in many places in the

Gita that this spiritual individuality is understood by those who are

devotees of the Lord. Those who are envious of Krsna as the Supreme

Personality of Godhead have no bona fide access to the great

literature. The nondevotee's approach to the teachings of the Gita is

something like bees licking on a bottle of honey. One cannot have a

taste of honey unless one opens the bottle. Similarly, the mysticism

of the Bhagavad-gita can be understood only by devotees, and no one

else can taste it, as it is stated in the Fourth Chapter of the book.

Nor can the Gita be touched by persons who envy the very existence of

the Lord. Therefore, the Mayavadi explanation of the Gita is a most

misleading presentation of the whole truth. Lord Caitanya has

forbidden us to read commentations made by the Mayavadis and warns

that one who takes to such an understanding of the Mayavadi

philosophy loses all power to understand the real mystery of the Gita

If individuality refers to the empirical universe, then there is no

need of teaching by the Lord. The plurality of the individual soul

and of the Lord is an eternal fact, and it is confirmed by the Vedas

as above mentioned.

 

TEXT 13

 

TRANSLATION

 

As the embodied soul continually passes, in this body, from boyhood

to youth to old age, the soul similarly passes into another body at

death. The self-realized soul is not bewildered by such a change.

 

PURPORT

 

Since every living entity is an individual soul, each is changing his

body every moment, manifesting sometimes as a child, sometimes as a

youth, and sometimes as an old man. Yet the same spirit soul is there

and does not undergo any change. This individual soul finally changes

the body at death and transmigrates to another body; and since it is

sure to have another body in the next birth-either material or

spiritual-there was no cause for lamentation by Arjuna on account of

death, neither for Bhisma nor for Drona, for whom he was so much

concerned. Rather, he should rejoice for their changing bodies from

old to new ones, thereby rejuve­nating their energy. Such changes of

body account for varieties of enjoy­ment or suffering, according to

one's work in life. So Bhisma and Droiia, being noble souls, were

surely going to have either spiritual bodies in the next life, or at

least life in heavenly bodies for superior enjoyment of material

existence. So, in either case, there was no cause of lamentation.

Any man who has perfect knowledge of the constitution of the individu­

al soul, the Supersoul, and nature-both material and spiritual-is

called a dhira or a most sober man. Such a man is never deluded by

the change of bodies. The Mayavadi theory of oneness of the spirit

soul cannot be enter­tained on the ground that spirit soul cannot be

cut into pieces as a frag­mental portion. Such cutting into different

individual souls would make the Supreme cleavable or changeable,

against the principle of the Supreme Soul being unchangeable.

As confirmed in the Gita, the fragmental portions of the Supreme

exist eternally (sanatana) and are called ksara; that is, they have a

tendency to fall down into material nature. These fragmental portions

are eternally so,

and even after liberation, the individual soul remains the same-

fragmental. But once liberated, he lives an eternal life in bliss and

knowledge with the Personality of Godhead. The theory of reflection

can be applied to the Supersoul who is present in each and every

individual body and is known as the Paramatma who is different from

the individual living entity. When the sky is reflected in water, the

reflections represent both the sun and the moon and the stars also.

The stars can be compared to the living entities and the sun or the

moon to the Supreme Lord. The individual fragmental spirit soul is

represented by Arjuna, and the Supreme Soul is the Per­sonality of

Godhead Sri Krsna They are not on the same level, as it will be

apparent in the beginning of the Fourth Chapter. If Arjuna is on the

same level with Krsna, and Krsna is not superior to Arjuna, then

their relation­ship of instructor and instructed becomes meaningless.

If both of them are deluded by the illusory energy (maya), then there

is no need of one being the instructor and the other the instructed.

Such instruction would be useless because, in the clutches of maya no

one can be an authoritative instructor. Under the circumstances, it

is admitted that Lord Krsna is the Supreme Lord, superior in position

to the living entity, Arjuna, who is a forgotten soul deluded by maya.

TEXT 14

 

TRANSLATION

 

O son of Kunti, the nonpermanent appearance of happiness and

distress, and their disappearance in due course, are like the

appearance and dis­appearance of winter and summer seasons. They arise

from sense percep­tion, 0 scion of Bharata, and one must learn to

tolerate them without being disturbed.

 

 

PURPORT

 

In the proper discharge of duty, one has to learn to tolerate nonper­

marient appearances and disappearances of happiness and distress. Ac­

cording to Vedic injunction, one has to take his bath early in the

morning even during the month of Magha (January-February). It is very

cold at that time, but in spite of that a man who abides by the

religious principles does not hesitate to take his bath. Similarly, a

woman does not hesitate to cook in the kitchen in the months of May

and June, the hottest part of the summer season. One has to execute

his duty in spite of climatic incon­veniences. Similarly, to fight is

the religious principle of the ksatriyas, and although one has to

fight with some friend or relative, one should not deviate from his

prescribed duty. One has to follow the prescribed rules and

regulations of religious principles in order to rise up to the

platform of knowledge because by knowledge and devotion only can one

liberate him­self from the clutches of maya (illusion).

The two different names of address given to Arjuna are also

significant. To address him as Kaunteya signifies his great blood

relations from his mother's side; and to address him as Bharata

signifies his greatness from his father's side. From both sides he is

supposed to have a great heritage. A great heritage brings

responsibility in the matter of proper discharge of duties;

therefore, he cannot avoid fighting.

 

 

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ALL GLORIES TO HIS DIVINE GRACE SRILA PRABHUPADA