The Bhagavad-gita As It Is----- Contents of the Gita Summarized

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The Bhagavad-gita As It Is

 

Contents of the Gita Summarized

 

TEXT 1

sanjaya uvaca

tam tatha krpayavistam

asru-purnakuleksanam

visidantam idam vakyam

uvaca madhusudanah

 

sanjayah uvaca—Sanjaya said; tam—unto Arjuna; tatha—thus; krpaya— by

compassion; dvistam overwhelmed; asru-purna — full of tears; akula —

depressed; iksanam— eyes; visidantam-- —lamenting; idam— this;

vakyam —words; uvaca—said; mad madhusudanah—the killer of Madhu.

 

TRANSLATION

 

Sanjaya said: Seeing Arjuna full of compassion and very sorrowful,

his eyes brimming with tears, Madhusudana Krsna, spoke the following

words.

PURPORT

 

Material compassion, lamentation and tears are all signs of ignorance

of the real self. Compassion for the eternal soul is self-

realization. The word "Madhusudana" is significant in this verse.

Lord Krsna killed the demon Madhu, and now Arjuna wanted Krsna to

kill the demon of misunder­standing that had overtaken him in the

discharge of his duty. No one knows where compassion should be

applied. Compassion for the dress of a drowning man is senseless. A

man fallen in the ocean of nescience cannot be saved simply by

rescuing his outward dress—the gross material body. One who does not

know this and laments for the outward dress is called a sudra, or one

who laments unnecessarily. Arjuna was a ksatriya, and this conduct

was not expected from him. Lord Krsna, however, can dissipate the

lamentation of the ignorant man, and for this purpose the Bhagavad­

gita was sung by Him. This chapter instructs us in self-realization

by an analytical study of the material body and the spirit soul, as

explained by the supreme authority, Lord Sri Krsna. This realization

is made possible by working with the fruitive being situated in the

fixed conception of the real self.

 

TEXT 2

sri bhagavan uvaca

kutas tva kasmalam idam

visame samupasthitam

anarya-justam asvargyam

akirti-karam arjuna

 

Sri bhagavan uvaca—the Supreme Personality of Godhead said; kutah—

wherefrom; tva—unto you; kasmalam—dirtiness; idam—this lamentation;

visame—this hour of crisis; samupasthitam—arrived; anarya—persons who

do not know the value of life; justam—practiced by; asvargyam—that

which does not lead to higher planets; akirti—infamy; karam—the cause

of; arjuna—O Arjuna.

TRANSLATION

 

The Supreme Person [bhagavan] said: My dear Arjuna, how have these

impurities come upon you? They are not at all befitting a man who

knows the progressive values of life. They do not lead to higher

planets, but to infamy.

PURPORT

 

Krsna and the Supreme Personality of Godhead are idenLical. Therefore

Lord Krsna is referred to as "Bhagavan" throughout the Gita Bhagavan

is the ultimate in the Absolute Truth. Absolute Truth is realized in

three phases of understanding, namely Brahman or the impersonal all-

pervasive spirit; Paramatma, or the localized aspect of the Supreme

within the heart of all living entities; and Bhagavan, or the Supreme

Personality of Godhead, Lord Krsna. In the Srimad-Bhagavatam this

conception of the Absolute Truth is explained thus:

 

vadanti tat tattva-vidas tattvam yaj jnanam advayam

brahmeti paramatmeti bhagavan iti sabdyate.

 

"The Absolute Truth is realized in three phases of understanding by

the knower of the Absolute Truth, and all of them are identical. Such

phases of the Absolute Truth are expressed as Brahman, Paramatma, and

Bhagavan." (Bhag.1.2.11 1.2.11) These three divine aspects can be

explained by the example of the sun, which also has three different

aspects, namely the sunshine, the sun's surface and the sun planet

itself. One who studies the sunshine only is the preliminary student.

One who understands the sun's surface is further advanced. And one

who can enter into the sun planet is the highest. Ordinary students

who are satisfied by simply understanding the sunshine—its universal

pervasiveness and the glaring effulgence of its impersonal nature—may

be compared to those who can realize only the Brahman feature of the

Absolute Truth. The student who has advanced still further can know

the sun disc, which is compared to knowledge of the Paramatma feature

of the Absolute Truth. And the student who can enter into the heart

of the sun planet is compared to those who realize the personal

features of the Supreme Absolute Truth. Therefore, the bhaktas, or

the transcendentalists who have realized the Bhagavan feature of the

Absolute Truth, are the topmost transcendentalists, although all

students who are engaged in the study of the Absolute Truth are

engaged in the same subject matter. The sunshine, the sun disc and

the inner affairs of the sun planet cannot be separated from one

another, and yet the students of the three different phases are not

in the same category.

The Sanskrit word Bhagavan is explained by the great authority,

Parasara Muni, the father of Vyasadeva. The Supreme Personality who

possesses all riches, all strength, all fame, all beauty, all

knowledge and all renunciation is called Bhagavan. There are many

persons who are very rich, very powerful, very beautiful, very

famous, very learned, and very much detached, but no one can claim

that he possesses all riches, all strength, etc., entirely. Only

Krsna can claim this because He is the Supreme Per­sonality of

Godhead. No living entity, including Brahma, Lord Siva, or Narayana,

can possess opulences as fully as Krsna Therefore it is concluded in

the Brahma-samhita by Lord Brahma himself that Lord Krsna is the

Supreme Personality of Godhead. No one is equal to or above Him. He

is the primeval Lord, or Bhagavan, known as Govinda, and He is the

supreme cause of all causes.

 

isvarah paramah krsnah sac-cid-ananda-vigrahah

anadir adir govindah sarva-karana-karanam

 

"There are many personalities possessing the qualities of Bhagavan,

but Krsna is the supreme because none can excel Him. He is the

Supreme Person, and His body is eternal, full of knowledge and bliss.

He is the primeval Lord Govinda and the cause of all causes." (Brahma-

samhitia 5.1)

In the Bhagavatam also there is a list of many incarnations of the

Supreme Personality of Godhead, but Krsna is described as the original

Personality of Godhead, from whom many, many incarnations and

Personalities of Godhead expand:

 

ete camsa-kalah pumsah krsnas tu bhagavan svayam

indrari-vyakulam lokam mrdayanti yuge yuge

 

"All the lists of the incarnations of Godhead submitted herewith are

either plenary expansions or parts of the plenary expansions of the

Supreme Godhead, but Krsna is the Supreme Personality of Godhead

Himself." (Bhag. 1.3.28)

Therefore, Krsna is the original Supreme Personality of Godhead, the

Absolute Truth, the source of both the Supersoul and the impersonal

Brahman.

In the presence of the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Arjuna's lamen­

tation for his kinsmen is certainly unbecoming, and therefore Krsna

expressed His surprise with the word kutas, "wherefrom." Such unmanly

sentiments were never expected from a person belonging to the

civilized class of men known as Aryans. The word aryan is applicable

to persons who know the value of life and have a civilization based

on spiritual realization. Persons who are led by the material

conception of life do not know that the aim of life is realization of

the Absolute Truth, Visnu, or Bhagavan, and they are captivated by

the external features of the material world, and therefore they do

not know what liberation is. Persons who have no knowledge of

liberation from material bondage are called non­Aryans. Although

Arjuna was a ksatriya, he was deviating from his prescribed duties by

declining to fight. This act of cowardice is described as befitting

the non-Aryans. Such deviation from duty does not help one in the

progress of spiritual life, nor does it even give one the opportunity

to become famous in this world. Lord Krsna did not approve of the so­

called compassion of Arjuna for his kinsmen.

 

HARE KRSNA!ALL TRANSLATIONS ARE DONE BY HIS DIVINE GRACE

SRILA PRABHUPADA

 

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