BHAGAVAD-GITA 2:2

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BHAGAVAD-GITA 2:2

 

sri-bhagavan uvaca

kutas tva kasmalam idam

visame samupasthitam

anarya-justam asvargyam

akirti-karam arjuna

 

WORD FOR WORD

 

sri-bhagavan uvaca--the Supreme Personality of Godhead said;

kutah--wherefrom; tva--unto you; kasmalam--dirtiness; idam--this

lamentation; visame--in this hour of crisis; samupasthitam--arrived;

anarya--persons who do not know the value of life; justam--practiced

by; asvargyam--which does not lead to higher planets; akirti--infamy;

karam--the cause of; arjuna--O Arjuna.

 

TRANSLATION

 

The Supreme Personality of Godhead said: My dear Arjuna, how have

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

who knows the value of life. They lead not to higher planets but to

infamy.

 

PURPORT

 

Krsna and the Supreme Personality of Godhead are identical. 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

(1.2.11) 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."

 

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-samhita 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."

(SB. 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

lamentation for his kinsmen is certainly unbecoming, and therefore.

Krsna expressed His surprise with the word kutah, "wherefrom." Such

impurities 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 non-Aryans. 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.

 

Copyright 1983 The Bhaktivedanta Book Trust International. Used with

permission.