BHAGAVAD-GITA 2:12

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BHAGAVAD-GITA 2:12

 

na tv evaham jatu nasam

na tvam neme janadhipah

na caiva na bhavisyamah

sarve vayam atah param

 

WORD FOR WORD

 

na--never; tu--but; eva--certainly; aham--I; jatu--at any time;

na--did not; asam--exist; na--not; tvam--you; na--not; ime--all these;

jana-adhipah--kings; na--never; ca--also; eva--certainly; na--not;

bhavisyamah--shall exist; sarve vayam--all of us; atah

param--hereafter.

 

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 Svetasvatara

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.

 

nityo nityanam cetanas cetananam

eko bahunam yo vidadhati kaman

tam atma-stham ye 'nupasyanti dhiras

tesam santih sasvati netaresam

(Katha Upanisad 2.2.13)

 

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 and 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's is authoritative because

Krsna cannot be subject to illusion. If individuality were 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 He 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 that of a bee

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.

 

Copyright 1983 The Bhaktivedanta Book Trust International. Used with

permission.